Hello Darlings! I hope you enjoy this story. I have had the idea for a few weeks now and have only just gotten around to writing it ^^
Keep Going
The motel room was a little better quality than that the Winchesters were used to. The walls were freshly painted and the carpet cleaned. The sheets on the two queen beds weren't disgusting and had proper pillows. The kitchenette was cleaned and polished, coming with cups and a complimentary packet of coffee. The bathroom was in the best state they had ever seen. It was evening, early evening, but the Winchesters had arrived merely an hour ago and were taking in the luxury a newly opened motel in Kansas City.
Dean had gone out to get dinner and Sam was researching, though he was fairly distracted by his work. He was just looking through the news of the Kansas City, trying to find anything that would be considered strange, when a familiar flap of wings sounded from behind him. He looked up from where he sat on his bed to find Castiel holding a plate.
"Hello Sam," Castiel said in his usual tone.
"Hey, Cas- are those your cookies?" Sam asked, and Castiel handed him the plate with a smile.
"You looked rather upset when you left the bunker a few hours ago so I thought I would make some to cheer you up," the Angel explained, making Sam look to him in confusion.
"I looked upset?" he asked. Castiel nodded.
"I know you like these a lot so I brought you some, with fresh icing. Thought it might cheer you up,"
Sam placed the plate on his bed and picked up one of the cookies, the one with the yellow and black bumblebee on it. He took a bite, smiling at the familiar taste.
"May I ask what's gotten you do down lately?" Castiel asked the younger hunter. Sam let out a sigh.
"I dunno. Just been feeling very... blah lately. Thought it was the mid-winter blues but I've just been finding everything a little irritating," Sam turned back to his computer, constantly looking up at Castiel every few seconds as he continued with his work. "I keep questioning everything from politics to why did I wear these itchy socks today," at the mention of the socks Sam's unoccupied hand scratched his feet irritatedly. "Just not been a good week, I guess." Castiel took a small step forward so he was closer to Sam as he gave a reply.
"Forgive me, Sam, but I can't resist the urge to give you a piece of advice from probably the greatest man to ever walk the face of the Earth," the Angel said. Sam gave him his full attention.
"When life beats you down, never give up. Always Keep Fighting,"
A brief silence came over the pair, but it was a nice silence. A favoured one. Sam gave Castiel a smile.
"That's great advice, Cas. I'll remember that, thanks." Sam said. Castiel nodded with a matching smile. Sam's phone ringing interrupted the nice moment, it was Dean.
"Hey, Dean, what's up?" Sam asked, holding the phone to his ear.
"You remember Jack Snowden?" Dean asked.
"Hello to you too. Yeah, I remember him, Dad's friend. Retired hunter. What about him?" Sam questioned.
"Never guess where he is?"
"In the same diner as you?"
"Nope, but close. Dead on the road outside it."
Sam and Castiel shared a look, one of confusion and surprise.
Three blocks from the motel was a diner, and outside that diner was a taped off section of the road. A dead body lay in the middle of the road, blood surrounding the body and police officers there too. One man, Dean Winchester. dressed in jeans, plaid shirt and a leather jacket stood talking to a police officer. His fake FBI badge sat in his inside pocket. The busy scene around them almost distracted the man from the two approaching men, one in a similar plaid shirt and dark jacket, his brother Sam, and one in a suit, blue tie and trench coat, Castiel.
"Excuse me," Dean said to the police officer before he made his way to Sam and Castiel who had just ducked under the tape.
"Glad you could make it," Dean said to them, leading them towards the body that lay on the ground.
"How'd he die?" Sam asked, kneeling next to the body of Jack Snowden.
"Got hit by a car, most of the road saw it. KCPD is actually being quite helpful, allowed us to take full reigns of the case, which is good because something just doesn't seem right about this," Dean explained. The Medical Examiner, dressed in a jumpsuit and latex gloves, came over with a body bag.
"I've often said this street needs a speed bump, or a proper speed limit. It's like the Indy 500 here during the day," the ME said, mostly to herself, as she too knelt next to the body. Sam gave a smile.
"Sam," Dean said, getting his brothers attention, "Cas and I are gonna go and get the statements," Sam nodded, and Dean and Castiel began making their way over the crowd of witnesses with just the words "let's see if binge-watching those crime shows did you any good, Cas".
"Friends of yours?" The ME asked Sam.
"Brothers," Sam replied, "we all work together in the FBI."
"That's a lie," the ME told him, looking over the old hunter on the ground. Sam's attention was fully on her now, and the ME noticed.
"I know a Hunter when I see one, sir. And that badge on your belt is entirely fake," she told him, "don't worry, I won't tell. We get a lot of hunters here in Kansas City, so much so tat the Boss lets them off the hook pretty much every time. Everyone on the Force knows about hunting in one way or another. My parents were hunters, little brother is one too. Besides, why would the FBI be interested in a retired hunter?" She looked up at Sam and held out her clean hand, "Angie Clarke, Medical Examiner for the KCPD," Sam shook the hand.
"Sam Winchester,"
"As in, Sam and Dean Winchester? Hm, never thought I'd get the honour to meet you," Angie said, "think you could get me the gurney from the truck?" She asked, pointing to the truck she had arrived in. Sam got up and made his way over.
He didn't get the gurney, though, because one look upwards at the old, six-story office building to his left sent him running inside.
"I was checking my balance at the ATM when I heard this ungodly sound behind me. The car was gone by the time I had turned around," an elderly lady said to Dean and Castiel, who were taking notes on a notepad as they asked questions to everyone, "the man's son had come over, screaming "Dad! Dad!" over and over as he tried to wake his father. I tried to talk to him, but he was crying so hard."
"Thank you, ma'am," Dean said before he and Castiel began to walk away from the witnesses. "She's the twelfth witness to talk about Jack's son, Daniel."
"Do you know Daniel?" Castiel asked Dean, and the Older Winchester nodded.
"Yeah, met him once when I was a kid. He was only a baby, though," Dean explained, "doesn't seem to be anything Supernatural about this case, so why else would he have been run over?"
"Maybe just a driver not paying attention?" Castiel suggested.
Whispers and murmurs of shock and surprise began all around them, and many began pointing upwards and crying out. Dean took one look upwards and got his answer.
Up on the sixth floor of the old office building was a man with short hair and in a red plaid jacket, matching the description the witnesses had given of Daniel Snowden.
"Brooks, call the fire department!" The Police officer in charge called out to the Officer Brooks, who was on the phone within moments. Dean called out orders within a moment.
"Get Mr Snowden off the street," Dean told Angie, who nodded and got to work, "Cas, let's go," Within a moment, Dean and Castiel were running into the building and up the stairs.
"Mr Winchester do you have the gur- Mr Wichester?" Angie asked, looking around for any signs of Sam, but there were none.
"Oh my God!" Brooks exclaimed, pointing upwards. Angie looked up.
On the very same ledge, inching closer to Daniel, was Sam.
Sam shuffled along the ledge, which was wide enough for his ginormous feet to stand safely on. His back was pressed against the outside wall as he continued to shuffle closer to the young man. His right hand grabbed a hold of a pipe and his left grabbed the belt loop of the man's trousers just as the young man went to take the fateful fall down into the street below. Sam pulled him back, firmly against the wall, but the man wasn't happy.
"What do you think you're doing?" The Man said, trying his best to push Sam off but Sam kept his grip, keeping the pair of them on that ledge. The man cried out as he pushed at Sam's hand. He kept crying "Please let me go, please let me go,"
Two heads poked out from the window to Sam's right, those of Dean and Castiel, but as they went to climb onto the ledge they caught sight of Sam.
"Sammy, what are you doing?" Dean asked, his voice slightly raised to get Sam's attention over the roaring wind. Sam looked back and forth between his brother and friend, and the man whose live he was trying to save. His breaths were heavy as he did his best to not make te fatal mistake of looking down at the six-story drop.
"Let me go! I don't want to hurt you," the young man pleaded as he tried to pull away more and more.
"I would love to help you not hurt me so please don't jump, okay!" Sam replied, keeping his grip tight.
"Sam," Dean called again, getting Sam to look at him once more, "what were you thinking?"
"I wasn't," Sam admitted, "just reacted and before I knew it I was out here." Dean began to climb out of the window, but the young man's voice stopped him dead in his tracks.
"No, stay back!" He shouted, "or I'll take him with me!"
"No, please don't jump," Sam said, trying his best to hide his fear for the man's sake. The man began to cry, tears streaking his cheeks. His sobs grew louder and louder.
"My dad's dead, and it's my fault," the man cried, "it's all my fault."
Sam and Dean looked at each other, and after a single nod from Sam, Dean climbed back into the room.
"Cas, can you do anything to stop this?" Dean asked, his voice quiet so no to spook the man, but Castiel shook his head.
"Not without revealing myself to everyone below and possibly more," he explained, and Dean sighed.
"Okay, okay," Dean said, more to himself, before looking back out of the window, "Sam!" Sam looked to his brother once again, "keep going."
The young man began to pull away again, grabbing Sam's arm in an attempt to loosen the hunter's grip, but Sam was a lot stronger than he looked.
"Okay, okay, if you won't come inside, let's just sit down and talk about this," Sam suggested, but the man gritted his teeth and kept pulling.
"No, I'm not sitting, or talking, Man, I'm jumping," he said, "and no hero's gonna stop me." He went for the jump again, but Sam pulled him back once more.
"No, no, I'm no hero!" Sam told the young man, "I'm no hero, my name is Sam. My name is Sam, what's yours? What's your name?" The man sighed and smiled, leaning back against the wall as the tears continued to fall.
"It's Daniel," he said eventually, but his hands were still trying to loosen Sam's.
"Daniel, Daniel, right, you mind if I call you Dan? or Danny?" Sam asked, but red seemed to flash before Daniel's eyes.
"Only my dad can call me Danny!" Daniel shouted at Sam, trying again to pull away.
"Really?" Sam asked, "I only let my brother call me Sammy!" It didn't seem to do anything. Sam found himself talking. "Look, Daniel, I never thought I'd be a hero," he said, risking a glance down at the road below. Fire engines had arrived by this point. "Especially not after I screwed up quite a lot a few years ago, but a very good person I met set me straight. I was told by the man who adopted me that I wasn't going to be cut out of anything and that I was still a part of the team no matter what, and later he had told me that he knew why I did it, that I did the only think I thought I could do and when I was on the path I couldn't stop. And with that very healthy sense of self-preservation, I ask you to please stay alive so we can both die as heroes a very long time from now when we're both old and grey, alright?" Sam struggled against Daniel, trying his utmost hardest to keep them both on that ledge.
"My dad was fifty-three, he was a hunter and the best in the lot! Thanks to me he didn't die like a hero." Daniel argued.
"Why? Why thanks to you?" Sam questioned, leaning closer to Daniel to look into the younger man's eyes. "Why?" More sobs escaped Daniel's throat.
"Everything I touch, I swear, please let me go!" Daniel begged. A second fire engine began to drive up, sirens blaring, and it only caused Daniel to plead more and more.
Dean got out his phone and the card the Police Officer in charge had given him and called the number on it. The officer answered.
"Keep the emergency services down there," he ordered, "we can't risk spooking this kid whilst he's got a hold of Sam." The affirmative he got from the other end of the phone made him happy to have a fake badge. An officer came in through the doors to the room, a female officer with dark hair.
"Officer Ryan Collins," she said, flashing her badge, "the boss sent me up here to help. Our officers are taking the body and all the evidence back to the station a street over." She explained.
"I'll go to the station," Castiel said, though Dean tried to stop him. "Dean, I know what to do, you and Sam have taught me well," he argued. Dena paused, but then nodded and turned to Ryan and the second officer who had arrived.
"He's in charge until I turn up," Dean said, and both officers nodded. Castiel glanced out of the window one last time before leaving the room with the second officer, who held up a camera screen to him.
"Sir, look at these skid marks," the officer, whose nametag read 'Bishop', showed a photograph of the road to Castiel.
"I don't see any skid marks," Castiel replied, though he wasn't entirely sure what 'skid marks' were. Thankfully that seemed to be the right answer.
"Exactly," Bishop replied.
Sam pulled again, pulling Daniel back onto the ledge as he continued his attempts to jump. His right hand continued to cling onto the pipe for dear life.
"No, no, no, no!" Sam said, as Daniel leant forward over the edge, but Sam was quick to yank him back, "You know, it's funny, Daniel, not 'ha ha' funny but when I think about my brother who definitely doesn't find this funny at all, it's funny because if I had to do this all over again, I probably would be out here once again with you-"
"No!" Daniel argued, "I'd be dead by now. You say you have a brother?"
"Two actually," Sam told, "they're both inside that room and I love them both very much, Daniel."
"Then let me go! You've got too much to live for, man I don't!" Daniel begged, but Sam was having none of it. He kept his grip, tightened it around the belt this time instead of just the belt loop.
"No, I'm sure that you do too, Daniel," Sam replied, but Daniel wasn't listening, just repeating "no, no" over again.
"Not anymore, I've gone and screwed up,"
"What's wrong with screwing up?" Sam asked, "It's fine to screw up, it's evidence that you're trying."
"I just got my Dad killed!" Daniel screamed, staring Sam in the eyes, but it only left Sam more confused.
"Daniel, what happened? Why are you blaming yourself?"
"If I hadn't screwed up on the hunt I wouldn't have needed my Dad's help," Daniel explained, "He wouldn't have gotten out to get dinner. He would be alive right now if not for me!"
Dean's phone rang and he answered in a moment.
"Dean, there were no skid marks on the road," Castiel told him, "Whoever hit Jack Snowden never tried to brake before or after the hit. Not even a swerving pattern to suggest he lost control. This wasn't an accident, but I'm not sure if it was of Supernatural origin,"
"Look for any signs that this may be related to 'our work' " Dean said, before walking back to the window and leaning out to look at Sam and Daniel.
"Daniel," he called out over the wind, "you get a look at the car that killed your dad?" The answer was no. "What case were you working on? We're hunters, too, you can tell us,"
"A ghost that kills people in the city during this week each year by taking control of their cars and crashing them deliberately," Daniel explained, "but why do you care? Why do you all care so much!" Daniel made another break for it, and Sam tried his best to hold on but his right hand slipped off the pipe and he was yanked to the side by Daniel. Dean made to climb out of the window, but Daniel's hands gripping a hold of Sam's shirt and pulling forward stopped him. "Climb out here and I'll take him too, I swear!" Daniel shouted, causing Dean to reluctantly climb back inside.
"Don't do it, Daniel," Dean said calmly. Sam tried his best to grab a hold of the pipe again.
"Then get away! I don't trust you!" Daniel slowly released Sam's shirt when Dean moved to go back inside.
"Sam, don't let him jump," Dean said, but Sam didn't need to be told twice. His right hand grabbed the pipe and his left grabbed Daniel's belt, pulling the young hunter back from the ledge after the first close call.
Dean, inside the room, turned to Officer Ryan Collins. "And, you," he said, pointing a finger at her, "do not let him fall." Ryan nodded and took Dean's place at the window. Dena held his phone back up to his ear, where he could hear Castiel's voice calling in a panic. "I'm on my way, Cas. The kid blames himself for his dad's death, let's go find out who or what killed him."
"Agent Jones, are you there?"
"Just arrived at the station, Collins, and call me Dean. Hold on," Dean said as he made his way into the police station and over to where Castiel was waiting for him with some officers. It appeared Castiel had been doing very well, probably because of all the crime dramas and cop shows he had been binge watching on Netflix these past few weeks, but it was a good thing as it meant this case would go quicker and smoother. "What do we know, Cas?"
"The victim is Jack Snowden, a former hunter, widowed, one child, retired after an injury to his left shoulder which means he cannot move his left arm properly," Castiel read off of a sheet of paper as Dean stood next to him at a large table covered in research.
"Anything on Daniel?"
"Not much, I'm still looking, but I do have his driver's license here," Castiel held up the license for Dean to see, "it was in the car."
"Check out his date of birth," the officer on the other side of the table who was helping Castiel said, " it's today."
"Daniel lost his dad on his birthday?" Dean asked, checking the date for himself but there it was: 2/2/1986. That day was the second of the second. He held up his phone and spoke to Ryan on the other end. "Do you know if he's told Sam that?"
"To be honest I cannot hear much, it;s too windy," Ryan replied. The officer behind the table didn't even need an order before he told Dean and Castiel he was 'on it' and left the room. As he left, Angie came hurrying over.
"Is here anything I can do to help?" She asked Dean as the older Winchester began to look through the research.
"You can do your job and find out all you can from Jack Snowden," Dean told her, and Angie nodded and hurried off towards the stairs.
"An officer told me the Forensic expert is studying all the recordings from the cameras of nearby buildings to see what he can find, and he is also gathering all the data he can about the hunt Daniel told you about," Castiel said. Dean turned to him and placed a hand on each shoulder.
"You're doing great, Cas, keep up the good work," Dean told him with a smile, just as a third officer walked over to them.
"Mr Snowden's neighbour and best friend is waiting down the hall for you, Sir, he said he may be able to help."
Everyone got to work doing something, something that would be able to help save Daniel and get him and Sam off of the ledge. Dean? Dean was praying to whoever was out there listening that things would go alright.
"What can you tell us about Jack?" Dean asked Jack's neighbour, Dave Franks, as they sat in a small conference room.
"I can tell you he was the kind of man everyone loved and a great hunter too. No one would ever do anything to harm him and would always lend a hand when he needed it. He talked about his son every day and always talked about how much he loved his boy. I can't imagine that someone would do this to Jack," Dave explained. That left only one option.
Supernatural involvement.
The crowd had grown bigger on the road, and Sam was certain he could see news reporters down there, though he tried his best to not look down. It wasn't the best idea at the time. Sirens of police cars blared and lights flashed brightly.
"On the bright side, at least there's no pigeons!" Ryan told the pair on the ledge with a smile, "they must have flown south for the winter,"
"Actually pigeons don't fly south, Officer, but I appreciate your bright side," Sam replied with a similar, yet more nervous smile.
"How long is she going to be there?" Daniel asked.
"My guess? As long as we stay here," Sam said back. Daniel scoffed.
"Unbelievable, can't even kill myself without messing it up," he muttered.
"In my defence," Sam spoke, "I'm the one who messed this one up, so don't go blaming yoursel-"
"But I do," Daniel argued, "I do blame myself. This isn't the first time I've tried this. Dad was the only thing stopping me." Silence overcame them, if only for a moment.
"You didn't want to break his heart," Sam realised, and Daniel nodded.
"That and prove him right. I already disappointed him enough. He never said he was disappointed but he didn't have to. He wanted me in the military but I chose Uni. He wanted me to study business but I switched to architecture. When I didn't get a job in architecture he thought maybe he'd wasted my tuition. So I took up hunting in my free time to try and make him proud,"
"Hardly anybody gets their dream job right out of school," Sam said, "I didn't, I could have done but I didn't. I didn't get to finish my course at Stanford as I was pulled back into hunting. I was lucky enough to even get to stay at Stanford seeing as how I nearly blew it at the end of my first semester,"
"I'm glad it worked out for you, and I'm sorry you didn't get to finish your course," Daniel said, "I am. I've been bouncing around between Entry level jobs for years now. Decided to hunt in my free time."
"What kind of things do you hunt?" Sam asked, letting go of the pipe for a mere second to shake his hand as his fingers began to seize up from the constant clinging.
"Just the simple things; salt and burns, ghosts, the occasional werewolf," Daniel said.
"Lucky," Sam told him, earning the strangest look possible from Daniel, "My brothers and I are caught up in some weird crap most days, a simple salt and burn would be nice every once in a while. Don't get me wrong, I love it, I do."
At the window, Ryan's phone rang and she moved to answer it.
"Well most days," Sam continued. "Even hunting has its ups and downs. So this one hunt didn't go to plan, there's always another hunt. If you can't do this one, just remember that there's always another hunter who can, and most of the time they're always happy to teach you how to get it done right. You Are Not Alone, Daniel. 'When one door closes another opens', uh, 'there's always darkness before the light', 'they define success by what you go throu-"
"Man, is this some kind of self-help karaoke?" Daniel asked, his face holding the classic bitchface.
"Honestly, I have a whole load of these, I could so this all night long," Sam replied, his face sincere. Daniel rolled his eyes and scoffed, looking away to the road below just as Ryan poked her head out of the window.
"Hey, you two hungry?" Ryan asked them, "Dean said he's gonna send us up some food. Burgers okay with you?" Sam nodded and asked for 'his usual', but Daniel made no reply.
Castiel turned down the winding corridors, his trench coat flowing behind him as he followed the officer to the Forensics Lab. Here, in this room filled with beeping monitors, fridges of chemicals and shelves of other scientific equipment, a man of about Castiel's height stood working at a monitor. His back was turned, but he wore a white lab coat and had light blonde hair.
"James McCallum?" Castiel called out, and the man turned around. A smile lit up on his face.
"Agent Hunter!" The man, James said, as Castiel moved to stand next to him before the computer.
"Cas, please," Castiel replied, "what have you gotten so far?" James turned to the computer and typed away, pulling up the camera recordings from all around the street.
"You'd think for a busy street there'd be more cameras," James mused, and Castiel nodded though, in all honesty, he had no idea. "I managed to catch out hit and run, but the only good camera came from the ATM machine and even then it's all a black blur." James pulled up the camera in question and it played on the screen, showing Jack Snowden getting out of his car and crossing the street to the diner, only to be hit by a black SUV in a large blur.
Castiel found himself at a loss for words. He was used to interviewing suspects and gathering research, not analysing videos. His mind came up blank, but thankfully he had been watching a lot of TV lately. "Can you sort out the blur?" he asked, and James began to type again. This time the video went by in slow motion with each tap of the keys.
"All I can get is a black SUV, no plates, no driver, not even sure of the exact colour, James explained, and a frown appeared over Castiel's features. A dead end. Well, it would have been if a familiar voice didn't appear from behind them at the doorway.
"Black, charcoal, ebony, noir, whatever they call the paint, some of it scraped off onto Mr Snowden's watch," Angie said as she walked over and handed James a bag labelled 'EVIDENCE' with a watch inside. She then turned to Castiel. "I've already told Dean this but he told me to tell you. Mr Snowden suffered a crushed parietal lobe that killed him instantly. The poor fellow literally never saw what hit him,"
Castiel had no idea what any of that meant. Maybe being an FBI agent was a little more difficult than he thought.
"And then there's this," Angie continued, holding up a wallet and handing it to the angel, "the boy will want his father's wallet once Mr Winchester had successfully talked him down." Angie made to leave with a quick goodbye.
"There's enough paint on this watch to match it to a specific vehicle," James said, and Castiel nodded as he too began to leave.
"Match is quick," he said, "great job!"
"This building, what type of architecture is it?" Sam asked, his voice working on automatic as he continued to talk. Things had calmed down ever so slightly, but that didn't mean Sam was taking any chances.
"This one is a ... Bozar. Library style. Ornamental," Daniel said, looking around at the building from the ledge they stood on. "Y'know, most newer buildings don't even have ledges."
"I'm glad this one does," Sam said, more to himself.
"I swear, I thought I'd be a proper architect by now," Daniel told, "I'm in my thirties and I've never gotten anywhere." Sam gave a sympathetic smile Daniel's way, though the younger man didn't see.
"I know what you mean," he spoke, "I'm in my mid-thirties, and when I was younger I always thought by now I'd be a successful Lawyer with a family of my own, always seemed like it was all just out of reach,"
"Meanwhile," Daniel continued, "everyone on social media is kicking butt. Promotions, weddings, holidays,"
"Yeah but there's no b-sides," Sam explained, but this only got a confused "what?" to escape from Daniel, "everyone only posts their greatest hits. No one talks about their lousy days, like when one of my brothers, especially Dean, is in a bad mood. I always try to reason with him like the thirty-odd-year-old he is instead of the two-year-old he's acting like- the point is, you can't compare yourself."
Daniel leant forwards ever so slightly, risking a glance at the scene down below them before he turned to Sam. "You wanna sit down?" He asked, and although quite surprised Sam nodded and agreed. Slowly and carefully the two of them began to sit down on the ledge, legs dangling off of the edge and Sam's right hand still clutching the pipe tightly.
"Ah, that's so much better, right?" Sam asked, watching as Daniel wrapped himself up more in his flimsy jacket. "Plus, I wore these really itchy socks today and -"
"Hey!" Ryan called out to the pair from the window, gaining both of their full attention, "food's here." She moved to go back inside the room where Dean had turned up with not only burgers but a black case with equipment but leant out the window one last time. "No jumping," she said, pointing at them both. Both Sam and Daniel rolled their eyes.
Inside the room, Dean set the case down and opened it up, revealing fancy equipment used for listening in. It was the kind of things you'd see in spy movies, but it was all real devices and Dean had been assured they would work like a charm.
"How are they doing?" Dean asked the Officer, but she shook her head and shrugged.
"I'm not really sure, to be honest, this will need to be quick," she replied.
"Social media is great for keeping in touch," Sam went on to say to Daniel as the pair sat on that ledge, "but there's no substitute for in-person, human, contact. Like when I'm having a lousy day, my friends and my brothers know just how to cheer me up. Just a few hours ago Cas brought me a plate of homemade cookies with bumblebee icing because he said I looked upset. I hadn't even noticed I was upset!"
"That's a very good friend," Daniel replied, nodding slightly as he did so, and Sam couldn't stop the smile that appeared on his face.
"Yeah, yeah he really is,"
"I don't have friends like that," Daniel spoke, and the smile soon fell from Sam's features again. The two shared a look. "I'm sorry," Daniel said, but before Sam could register anything an elbow was shoved into his ribs and he was pushed to the side, letting go of Daniel's belt in the process. Daniel tried to make his escape, Sam tried to grab him again but only managed to slip and soon found himself clinging onto the ledge for dear live as gasps of shock sounded loudly below him. He called out for Daniel, his grip loosening as he tried to pull himself up.
"Hang on!" Daniel shouted over the wind, and very soon Sam felt himself being pulled back up onto the not-so-safe ledge. Once safe, Daniel went to jump, but Sam had a hold of his belt once again.
"Let go of me!"
"You don't want to die," Sam told, but Daniel argued saying he did. "You saved me, Daniel,"
"I don't want you on my conscience," came Daniel's argument.
"If you went over with me, you'd be dead too, that makes no sense!" Sam argued back.
As if nothing had even happened, Dean stuck his head out of the window announcing that dinner was served.
"You wouldn't have saved me if you didn't want to live yourself," Sam continued, but Daniel kept arguing against Sam's words.
"You don't know me,"
"Okay, daredevils," Dean placed a box on the window sill and stuck his head out the window," two double cheeseburgers, coming right up! Special delivery," his face was laced with concern for the two men, mostly for Sam as Sammy always came first for Dean, but he pushed it aside to climb out of the window onto the ledge.
"What are you doing!" Daniel shouted at him, "stay back!"
"Do you wanna eat or not?" Dean asked, but Daniel told him to say away. "Okay," he picked up the burgers in their box, "Sammy, meet me half way,"
"I can't," Sam said, his eyes wide as she spoke to his big brother, "I can't I-I can't risk letting go."
Dean climbed back inside the room and gave Officer Ryan a look. Now how was he supposed to get their food to them? The mic Dean had in his left hand, the tiny little listening device he'd held up earlier, was useless unless they could get it close enough to Sam.
Ryan walked out into the hallway and returned moments later with a broom. "Pass me that Blu-tac?" She asked, and Dean gave her the adhesive substance. She attached the Blu-tac to the side of the box and then took the device from Dean and stuck it on the box. Then, she handed him the broom. "All sorted,"
Why didn't Dean think of such a thing?
"Let's just pray they don't toss the box over," Ryan commented, but Dean smiled.
"Sam doesn't litter,"
"Just admit it, you saved us," Sam said to Daniel.
"I saved you," Daniel countered.
"Alright, let's try this again," Dean said from the window as he placed the burger box on the ledge with the mini-mic facing away from them both. Using the broom, he slid the box towards the two men until Sam announced he had a hold of it.
"Near-death experiences sure do make you hungry," Sam said, handing one burger to Daniel and taking the other for himself.
Dean went back inside the room and Ryan gave him a thumbs up. The mic was working, the sound was good, now all he needed was to get back to the station and help Castiel.
"You got sound, Cas?"
"Yes, Dean, it works perfectly," Castiel told Dean over the phone as he listened to the conversation Sam and Daniel had through a speaker on the desk. The plan had gone brilliantly. "I've got a lot of information on the hunt Daniel had been on: the ghost is that of a young lady who was killed when her car suddenly spun out of control because her car had been manufactured wrong."
"What type of car?"
"... A black SUV," The curses Dean gave from the other end of the phone were enough to get Castiel digging through his stacks of research, courteous of James in Forensics who just so happens to have been from a hunting family. "The only problem is that it doesn't seem to be this ghost's usual nature. The ghost is known to inhabit the roads on the outskirts of town, not the centre."
"I'm on my way back, Cas, keep digging," Dean instructed, and although he knew Dean couldn't see Castiel nodded and pressed the button on the speaker to make the volume louder.
"I usually eat a lot healthier than this," Sam said, "but given the circumstances, nothing beats a good burger,"
"Yeah, just like Mum used to make," Daniel said, staring at his burger before taking a bite out of it.
"Where is your Mum? You haven't mentioned her," Sam said, and Daniel let out a loud sigh.
"She died of cancer when I was twelve," he explained. Sam found himself apologising. "She was diagnosed in June, dead by July. Dad was never the same."
"What about you?" Sam asked him, taking a bite of his burger.
"I... I was angry," Daniel admitted. "Dad he... he tried to be all things. He was Mr Discipline one minute and the next he... he'd feel bad and baby me like she used to."
"Baby you?"
"Yeah, he'd shake his head all pissed off and then bend over backwards to fix whatever jam I'd be in." Sam smiled a sad smile.
"My dad was never anything like that," he said, "we lost my Mum when I was just six months old. She died in a fire... in my nursery. Dad was always so caught up trying the find the monster that started it that he wasn't really there for me or my big brother. Dean practically raised me. Dad was always off hunting, moving us across the country at every turn he got."
"Though he wasn't the best dad, he cared a lot. He just wasn't the best at showing it and often forgot that we were just children. He'd drop us off with our Uncle Bobby up in South Dakota quite a lot, but Dean and I never complained about that. We love Bobby, he's like a second father to us. He would always be there for us whenever we needed him and he really did love us a lot. He practically adopted us after Dad died."
Castiel looked up from his papers when Dean walked into the room, face slightly flushed as if he had been running in the cold weather.
"What did I miss?" He asked, but Castiel shushed him.
"You close with your brother?"
"Really close! He practically raised me all his life. Whenever Dad wasn't around, I could always count on Dean to be there for me,"
Sam couldn't stop the smile that spread over his face. "He'd always put me before himself and would go out of his way to make sure I was happy. Even when I left for college he still came to check up on me every now and again. When my girlfriend died at the hands of the same demon that killed Mum, he let me come back with him to hunt. He would stow away any problems he had to make sure I was okay." The smile soon fell.
"How did I repay him? I trusted a demon over him, betrayed his trust and turned myself into a monster. I repaid him by going against everything we stood for and I abandoned him. When I finally realised when I was doing was wrong, I felt so ashamed, but by that point, the damage had been done,"
The pain in Sam's voice was enough to make Dean collapse into a nearby chair. The apocalypse wasn't a time anyone liked talking about and Sam was the one who avoided it the most.
"Who's the other brother you talk about?"
"Oh, Cas. The guy in the dirty trench coat and the messy hair? He isn't actually our brother, but he's close enough to be one,"
"I'm telling ya, he's probably the toughest guy I've ever met," Sam said, looking over at Daniel who was listening intently. "I know it seems like some people have it much easier while others have it much rougher, but I think it's safe to say that there's no one who has had a tougher life than Castiel, and he's an Angel,"
"A real angel?" Daniel asked, and Sam nodded.
"Yeah, and he's one of the greatest people I have ever gotten the chance to meet,"
"You wouldn't see it if you looked at him, but he's been through a lot and he shouldn't have had to. He lost one two of his big brothers when he was young, one ran away and the other was cast out of the family, and then his Dad, God himself, he just up and left soon afterwards. Everything changed. He was brought up a soldier, expected to follow orders given to him by higher up angels without question. When I first met him I was scared because he was all-powerful and had the ability to smite me with a single touch, and I was quite scared he would."
The room had fallen silent. It's occupants, just Castiel and Dean, seemed to have frozen in their places. If Sam knew about the microphone, he wouldn't be saying any of this right now.
"He rebelled against Heaven and against everything he had ever known because Dean asked him to. He helped us fight against demons, monsters, other hunters and even his own siblings all because we asked him to. But you never hear him complain. No, he just buries it all and continues to help us."
Dean glanced over at Castiel, who was looking down at the table of paper like it was the most interesting thing in the world.
"He bakes cookies in his free time - which taste awesome, by the way. He's not much of a hugger, at least not to me. But he's always there for us, and we were so horrible to him."
Sam let his free hand rub his face, especially his lips, and he shook his head. "When he was fighting a war against Heaven, we didn't help him. Instead, Dean and I expected him to drop everything whenever we wanted his help. We left him in a mental hospital at one point and after he had become human, something that would have never have happened if we hadn't asked him to rebel, we kicked him out of the only safe place there was for him and expected him to fend for himself when he had no idea how to be human." Sam turned to Daniel, who had practically forgotten his burger to listen to Sam's story.
"He was always there for us, yet we treated him like crap. We didn't treat him as a friend, we treated him as a tool and he is everything BUT a tool."
Sam bit his lip and sighed. The thought of what had happened not too long ago before they had all sorted things out was something he didn't like thinking about. He'd rather it be erased from his mind.
"We rely on him so much." Sam continued, "Castiel has the weight of the world on his shoulders, but you'd never know it. I really worry about him. But as tough as Castiel is, on my darkest day when I genuinely thought I could not go on - and I've had a lot of days like that - Cas was the one who comforted me most."
"Like today, when he turned up at the motel room before we came here, he gave me some great advice. He told me to Always Keep Fighting. And he was right, it's the greatest piece of advice I've ever gotten. Hugs or no hugs, I will never forget his kindness earlier today. And all he did was bring me cookies."
A smile played on Castiel's lips.
"He cared, and Daniel as tough as your father was I'm sure you can think of many times where he was just as kind," Daniel turned away from Sam, back to hs burger.
"Yeah," he said, a grin splitting on his face, "try all the time! If anything he cared too much. I never questioned whether he loved me, I just... I wasn't sure if he knew how much I loved him back."
"I am sure he did, Daniel," Sam said, but Daniel argued again.
"No, we fought too much," the smile was gone now. "Right up until today. All he wanted to do was take me out for my birthday, and when he found out I'd almost been killed in that hunt he blew his top,"
"Damn near caused an accident, he was so angry... So pissed off he cut off a couple of cars at an intersection."
"Intersection?" Dean repeated, getting up from his chair again. The conversation from the ledge continued as Dean asked "what intersection?" to the speaker.
"Dean, it's a one-way speaker," Castiel told him, but there was no need to as seconds after-
"What intersection?"
"Regner and Holt Street,"
"How does he do that?" Castiel asked. Dean wrote the streets down on a sheet of paper and hurried out of the room to the lab.
"I've managed to get the tapes of the intersection five minutes before Mr Snowden was struck," James said as he typed away at his keyboard. The video footage played, showing Jack Snowden's car narrowly missing a collision with two other cars, a silver Ford and a Black SUV.
"Can you get a number plate from that car?" Dean asked, but the answer he received was a no. "What about a driver?" James searched, zooming the footage in, but came up empty. "Play the rest of the video," Dean instructed, and James did.
The black SUV turned and went in the same direction as Jack Snowden's car.
"That could be your criminal," James said.
"This could just simply be a case of road rage," Dean finished, turning to leave the room. "Find that car! And good job!"
It had now been three hours since Sam had climbed out onto that ledge, and because of all the talking and all the interruptions, he and Daniel had only just finished eating their burgers.
"That hit the spot," Sam mused as he put his empty wrapper into the box, "any chance you need a bathroom break?"
"Nope, but you go right ahead," Daniel replied, and Sam couldn't stop the chuckle that escaped him.
"No, no, I'm good," Sam said.
"They've been up there for three hours," Castiel told Dean as they continued to look through all their findings, "I think it's time we let the firefighters do their job." Dean didn't give a direct answer, not to begin with, but he soon nodded.
"Tell the firefighters they can put the pad out down below, nothing upstairs," Dean said to the officer in the room with them, "we can't risk Sammy's safety with any sudden movements." The officer was on it right away.
"Is that really as big as it gets?" Daniel asked as the two looked down at the pad the firefighters were setting out.
"A person could easily miss that," Sam said, biting his tongue when he realised just what he had said. Daniel scoffed.
"With my luck, I'd try to miss and land straight in the middle," he said solemnly.
"I would call that good luck," Sam countered.
"I'm sure you would,"
Sam gave a huff, his shoulders slumping ever so slightly as he turned to Daniel in disbelief. "Do you ever think that maybe you are your own worst enemy?" He asked, turning as much as he could to look Daniel straight in the eye. "Constantly making fun of yourself, comparing yourself on social media, maybe you are the only one keeping score here Daniel,"
"It's my life, alright, I know the score."
"Do you? Really?" Sam asked. "What counts as a point? What about relationships?"
"I've had my share," Daniel told after a moment of thought, nothing long term; I can't settle down until I've got my career under control," Sam scoffed again.
"Right, of course, who came up with that rule?"
"What do you want from me?" Daniel asked Sam angrily.
"I want you to not jump!" Sam replied, getting frustrated by the second.
"This conversation is not helping!"
"I'm just saying if you change how you measure success you might actually opt for happiness," Sam explained, his voice growing calmer.
"Really? Do you 'opt for happiness' as a hunter when you could have been a Lawyer? Like you've never wanted more?"
"Of course I wanted more!" Sam argued, and really he once did. "I wanted nothing more than to go back to college and escape hunting, but after my girlfriend died and was so caught up in getting revenge for her I just couldn't. I always wanted more."
A brief silence came over the pair, only interrupted by the noise of the surroundings.
"Y'know," Sam began, "I didn't just take Law at college. I took a course in Psychology too. Granted I wasn't very good at it at first, and I only really took it because my roommate and good friend took it, but I liked it so much I continued to take the course. Passed the class with good grades,"
"You could've been like that guy on the TV show Bull, the one Michael Weatherly plays," Daniel said, and Sam agreed with a nod.
"I could have been. It was my backup plan in case I failed my Law class. So much so that I even chose to take the Psychologists test," Sam admitted. "No one else knows this,"
"Did you pass?" Daniel asked, and a sly smile lit up Sam's face.
"Why do you care, Daniel?" Sam asked back, and it caused Daniel to scoff.
"Fine, you got me!" he said, turning away to look at the road below, "my dying with is to know whether you passed the test,"
"No, I didn't. Not the first time, or the second, or third, or fourth. It's why I haven't Dean or Cas,"
James from the Lab came running into the room Deana and Cas were holed up in, calling out Dean's name only to be shushed by them both.
"They still don't know,"
"Know what?"
"About the fifth time, when I passed,"
"You passed the Psychologists test?"
"Yeah. I aced it,"
James and Castiel gave Dean a look, hoping for answers more than anything, but Dean? Dean gave no reply. He, too, was just as surprised as they were.
"Yet you keep hunting? You keep travelling the country doing dangerous hunts when you could be the world's greatest Psychologist right now! Why?"
"Because although I could have at any time up and left, I could have pursued this course and become all these things you talk about, I didn't want to go anywhere else. I wanted to stay and hunt with my brother." Sam admitted.
"So, you're an actual doctor now?" Daniel asked.
"Yeah. Yeah, I guess I am," Sam replied. "I just... forgot all about it after Jess died. Still, Dean and Cas don't know. We've got a special dynamic, I don't wanna mess anything up, and in the hunting world one single thing like that is enough to change everything,"
"But you could go anywhere,"
"And I will, one day. Nothing lasts forever. I have had so many friends and family members come and go, and live and die, but where I am right now working with Dean and Cas for what I believe to be a noble cause, why would I wanna leave that? I'd rather be happy. So every day I get up and put on my plaid shirt or a cheap FBI suit, I get to work with my research, and I opt for happiness."
Dean, composing himself, turned to James. "What's up?"
"I traced the partial plate from the SUV to a car rental place in Kansas City," James explained, holding up a tablet screen for Dean to see. A driver's licence was on show. "It was rented by a Rodger Stump, a Handi-man who has multiple DUIs and a Vehicular Harassment conviction."
"So this is all just road rage?" Dean summed up, and James nodded. "Address?"
"Better than that!" James swiped across the screen and a map appeared, "I have his GPS location,"
The officer by the door was straight to work, sending out squadrons to arrest the man before Dean could even bark the order.
"Hey!" Ryan called out from the window, "it's nice and toasty inside," She said to Sam and Daniel. Daniel turned his attention away.
"You know that there's no failure in not killing yourself, right?" Sam questioned as Ryan disappeared back inside.
"There's not much of a future either."
"Sure there is!" Sam argued, "the future's coming with or without you, you might as well be there,"
"It'll be hell without my dad," Daniel stated, "I got no job, got some ok friends but not like yours. And look at the world! You turn on the news and we're all just pointing fingers and yelling and there's just so much meanness out there."
"Stop looking for it,"
"Who's looking for it? You can't get away from it,"
"Well then you look around and you look for the good, it's out there, I promise. If you find meanness then kill it with kindness. "
"Oh, here we go,"
"You're damn right here we go! You open doors for strangers, you let a car go ahead of you in traffic, who cares! Just smile more! And if you want good friends, be a good friend! They will find you, I promise.
"You could really go all night," Daniel said, turning to Sam, "but you don't have an answer for my Dad,"
"No, I don't," Sam replied, rubbing his eyes and running a hand through his hair. "No, I don't. But I have seen more dead people than anyone you know. All of them gone too soon. And none of them peaceful. My mum, my girlfriend, my dad, Ash, Jo and Elle, Bobby, Kevin, Charlie. All of them my friends, and all of them dead because of me or because of something I had a hand in. I only seem to get to see the b-sides on my table, and it is every day. I've also seen the friends and families of the victims of the monsters I hunt, Daniel, and most of them let themselves drown in their misery and their guilt. Other, others like myself, and Dean and Cas and other hunters out there, we choose to make our darkest hour our defining moment. We choose to take something bad and turn it into something good. Like your dad did,"
"My dad?"
"When you lost your mum, he chose to put everything he had into you. You are the something good that he left behind." Sam explained, "now you've got the same choice to make."
Dean suddenly appeared at the window, leaning out next to Ryan with Castiel standing just behind him on the other side.
"Daniel," He called out, and got the young hunter's attention, "The car that hit your dad, he was a road rager, didn't like being cut off. He'd have come after your dad's car no matter where he stopped,"
"That means it wasn't your fault, Daniel," Sam continue and watched as a small ounce of hope lit up behind Daniel's eyes.
"And if you wanna get this guy we need you to testify at the trial," Ryan added. Dean held up an item and tossed it to Daniel, who caught it with ease.
"My dad's wallet," Daniel stated.
"There's something in there you're gonna want," Dean said.
Daniel opened the wallet up, and sitting in the slot for notes was a worn and folded photograph. One of a young Daniel and his father.
"My senior theses project,"
"Plenty of miles on that photo. He showed it off a lot. He was proud of you," Sam said. Daniel nodded, not tearing his eyes from the photograph despite his falling tears.
"And what was it that Cas said today?" Sam asked, closing his eyes to think, "he said 'When life beats you down, never give up. Always Keep Fighting'." Slowly, but surely, Sam's grip on Daniel's belt loosened until he had fully let go. The two hunters looked at each other, to which Sam simply nodded.
"I would have never have taken you with me, you know," Daniel told him. Sam just nodded again.
"Let's go inside," Sam suggested, and with a nod from Daniel the two slowly but carefully stood up on that ledge and inched their way towards the window. Dean grabbed Sam's arm and Ryan and Castiel began to help Daniel climb back inside as the crowds down below cheered and clapped.
Once Daniel was back inside, Sam risked one more look over the ledge before turning to climb inside himself. His foot, too close to the edge to be safe, slipped, and if it hadn't been for Ryan grabbing him by the shirt he would have fallen.
"I gotcha!" Ryan said as she pulled him back onto that ledge and against the window frame. She helped Sam inside, and the latter all but collapsed to the floor of the room with a relieved sigh as he watched Castiel help Daniel out of the room into the hallway. Dean was giving Ryan a look. "You told me not to let him fall," she said, before making her exit.
"Good job out there, Sammy," Dean said, kneeling down next to his brother and pulling him to his feet. Sam soon found himself wrapped up in his big brother's arms, and Sam hadn't even noticed he was clinging to him for dear life. That's what a second near death experience will do to you.
"You were listening?" Sam said when he caught sight of the equipment on the table. Dean pulled out of the hug and smiled, moving to close everything up.
"We all were," he replied, and once he was finished putting everything away he placed his free hand on the small of Sam's back and led him out of the room. "So, when were you gonna tell me about that test, Dr Winchester?"
Hours later, once everything had settled down and Team Free Will was back at the motel room, Dean had conked out for the night- well, morning- but Sam was still awake, sitting at his computer. Castiel had disappeared once again a few hours ago, but a familiar rustle of wings announced his return to Sam and soon Sam found a plate of fresh cookies on the bed next to him. When Sam looked up, Castiel had moved to look out of the window.
"You okay, Cas?" Sam asked, but got no reply from the angel. Sam shifted on the bed so his legs were over the side and he dusted the crumbs from his previous batch of cookies onto the floor.
"Okay, first of all I didn't know that you all were listening earlier," Sam said, his eyes becoming more focused on his hands than anything else, "and I know I may have said some things, some highly personal things about you and your personal life but I-I just shouldn't have." Still, no reply, though Castiel did look up from the window.
"Cas what I said about your family and everything that happened to you, I was just pulling out all the stops, ya know, and once I got on a roll I just couldn't stop and then I-" His ramblings became interrupted when Sam looked up again, because Castiel had moved so he was now in front of Sam. Within a second, the angel had pulled Sam to his feet and wrapped his arms around the taller hunter, puling him down and in for a hug. Sam, quite surprised, wrapped his arms around Castiel too.