-1Samuel M. Winchester, U.S. Army
A/N: This an A/U, like is Sam didn't stay in college. It hit me after I read WinchestersGirl's story "Where Were You When?" and wouldn't leave me alone. So, this is my own idea. Hope you enjoy!
~1993~
Ten-year-old Sam Winchester set on his bed, wrapped up in a blanket as he watched the scene on TV. John and Dean weren't there with him, and frankly he was downright scared. They were staying in Eastern New York, but it still didn't make him feel any better. For all he knew, they could've been to the city to get better research done than could be done here in the cheapest motel in Richford. Neither had called him yet and he fought tears, but he couldn't handle them anymore when he heard this...
"Many of the casualties were children that were in the daycare where the bomb exploded."
Sam cried. He curled up against his pillow and cried. He pulled his blanket over his head so he wouldn't have to see the scene anymore. He just wanted Dean and John here. He just wanted all those children to be alive again, and if they could then he hoped that they felt no more pain. He just wanted all the evils of the world to go away. That's when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"It's okay Sammy." Dean said softly. "We're all fine. Everything's going to be all right." Sam cried for all the little children all night.
~2001~
Eighteen-year-old Sam Winchester smiled happily as him and Jessica Moore walked home from political science class. They walked hand and hand, not a care in the world. Well, until their friend ran up to them, tears in her eyes.
"What is it Mia?" Jess asked as she let go of Sam's hand and looked at Mia. She bust out crying then.
"My...dad...New...York...towers!" She cried. Jess looked back at Sam, who's phone rang. It was Dean.
"Hey." Sam said, unsure of what was going on.
"Sammy, where are you?" Dean asked, not even saying hello. He could hear John in the background, demanding to have the phone.
"Uh...Palo Alto. The same place I've been for months." Sam said. He could hear Dean give a breath of relief.
"Thank God." He said. Suddenly, the phone was ripped from his hands and Dean's voice was replaced with John's.
"Sammy, just talk to me. Say something." John demanded.
"Uh...hi?" Sam said. "Dad, what's going on? Why are you and Dean acting so weird?" He looked over at Jess and Mia. Mia hadn't told Jess anything else, so maybe John would.
"Sammy, we're under attack." John said.
"What?" Sam asked. "What is attacking you guys? Why are you calling instead of fighting?" Sam asked in a hushed tone.
"Not us." John said. Sam could hear Dean wanting control of the phone again. "America. The World Trade Centers in New York. Remember, I took you boys there back in '95? Well, a plane flew into one of them not too..." John stopped.
"Dad?" Sam asked. "Dad!"
"Oh my God." John said. "Sammy, I want you to pack your stuff. I'm coming to get you right now. You're not staying there by yourself. California is a perfect target." John added.
"Dad, tell me what happened?" Sam said. John sighed.
"The second tower was just hit." John said. Sam stared in shock. Jess looked over at him, his mouth hung open. The phone fell out of his hand.
"Sammy?" John said. "Sammy!" Dean stole the phone.
"Sammy, answer me!" Dean yelled. Sam picked up the phone.
"I'll...I'll call you back." Sam said, much to Dean's protest. Sam went over to Jess and Mia and grabbed them both in a hug. He started to cry to. Jess had no idea what was going on until Sam whispered it to her. She started to cry to.
People gathered in Sam and Jess's apartment. Their closest friends set in the living room, watching the TV. They learned everything that had happened over the course of the day. Sam curled up next to Jess. He forgot to call Dean back.
~2 Days Later~
Not even five minutes after Sam left the apartment, John and Dean showed up. They pounded on the door. Jess, still half asleep and working on making some coffee, slowly opened the door. She had only seen John and Dean in pictures, but never face to face. They could actually be pretty scary.
"Is Sam here?" Dean asked, knowing that if John were to talk he may scare her worse.
"You just missed him." Jess said sleepily. "Would you like to come in and wait for him?"
"Sure." Dean said. They moved into the apartment and set on the couch. Jess served them coffee and the Winchester's and Miss Moore got to know each other. Sam came home about two hours later, a proud look in his eyes. He didn't see John or Dean sitting on the couch.
"Where did you go?" Jess asked. Sam looked her in the eyes and smiled.
"In about a week, I go to Georgia for basic training, and from there I go to wherever they need me." Sam explained.
"Go?" Jess asked. "Go where?"
"I'm a member of the United States Army now." That's when Dean stood and made it clear that he wasn't happy about Sam's choice. There was some yelling among the three Winchester's which resulted in Sam storming out. John and Dean had learned to deal with Sam's college days, because at least he was here and they could protect him still. But now, now he was going to go to some foreign land where John could run over there and shoot whatever was hurting his son.
Dean found Sam at a restaurant later, sitting in the back by himself, watching the news. The U.S. was going to go to war with Iraq. It was impossible to deny. Dean was scared out of his mind, knowing that he could die at any minute if he went to the Middle East, but he wouldn't tell Sam or John that. He could tell Jess already had her own fears. Dean set down by Sam and ordered a beer. He didn't say anything. Almost a week later found the boys sitting in the same spots they were earlier. This time, Dean talked.
"I'm proud of you Sammy." Dean said. "No matter what Dad says, we're both proud of you." Sam smiled and wiped a tear away from his eyes.
"I'm scared." Sam replied. "I don't want to die over there, but it's better than watching from behind a TV screen as people die and there's nothing I can do to stop it. There's no spirit I can burn or no demon I can exercise. This attack was human."
"I know Sam." I'm scared too little brother.
~January 24th, 2002
"Dear Dean. Happy Birthday! You're twenty-three, you lucky bastard! I'm sitting here in Germany and can't even order a beer! My squad was supposed to report to Saudi Arabia, but we were held over because of this wicked snowstorm. We stopped in England to refuel. Tell Jess not to worry, none of them are as pretty as her! Once this let's up, I'll be there and may be reassigned to Iraq, Iran, or even Afghanistan. Sometimes, I'm glad you're not here, because you hate planes and we fly EVERYWHERE! But, I miss you Dean. And Dad. I'm glad he gave us all that training as kids, because basic training wasn't as hard then. But I still miss him yelling at me instead of some guy I'll probably never see again. Anyway, tell him I said hi. I would say to tell him I love him, but he's that type of guy. No chick-flick moments right? I was hoping that I'd be able to write a letter, seeing as it would be a little more personal, but the commander says its not safe. I don't quiet see how e-mails are safe, but you know how democracy works! We'll, lights out in ten. I have to brush my teeth before I get stuck wondering in the dark again. Almost broke my friggin' toe on my bunk. I'll talk to you soon. Love you. Sammy."
~May 2nd, 2002~
"Dear Sammy. You're nineteen now. We'll, I'm still going to say this, hahahahaha, you still can't legally drink a beer! Well, knowing you guys, you probably don't care. Jess told me that you took up smoking. That's cool and all, 'cuz I've done it my fair share of times, but you do know that I'm hooking you up on the patch the minute you get back to the states. So, you still in Egypt or did they finally tell you to get your lazy ass outta the sandbox and go over to Saudi Arabia? Jess says hi, though I know she's sending you a little bit more personal e-mails. Oh well. I can still extend and extra greeting from her. Dad...well, Dad's burying himself in work, trying to get you off his mind. I've been hanging around Cali, taking care of hunts here while he continues to travel the country. Bobby and Pastor Jim said the last time they spoke to him, he was dealing with a Tulpa in Indiana. Speaking of them, Bobby wants to e-mail you some time and Pastor Jim says he's praying for you. Actually, I am too. I know, I'm a hypocrite, but you know what, they can suck it. I'll pray to everyone from God to Zeus and Buddha if it'll mean that you'll get to come home. Oh, look, you made me go all chick-flicky. Damn. Well, since I'm already there, I may as well just finish it. I know you're scared Sammy. Hell, I'm scared shitless, sitting here, watching the news. Everyday, they have a new list of the fallen and Jess and me sit there, praying it's not you. I freak when you tell me that things are getting rougher over there. I'm counting down the days until your tour is up and you come home. Just don't do anything stupid, like pull a Klinger and get a section 8 or volunteer for another tour. I don't have enough finger nails left for you to do another tour. Well, I promised Jess that I'd help her clean up your guy's apartment. Her parents are going over, so she says I have to clean my room or no cookies. Please be careful. I love you Sammy. Dean."
~December 24th, 2002~
Sam settled down in front of his laptop as his friends went to play ping-pong and watch TV. He opened up his AOL account and saw an unfamiliar e-mail address. Jess and Dean's e-mails were there, along with Pastor Jim, Caleb, Bobby, and a few other hunters he had met over the years. He read the familiar ones first before reluctantly opening the unfamiliar one. What he found brought a tear to his eye.
"Hey Sammy. Dean and Bobby walked me through setting this up, and you shoulda seen me when I got mad at them. You know me though, I hate computers. Can barely work a toaster. If it doesn't run on gas, have tires and a motor, and will get me from point A to point B, I don't want anything to do with it. Look at me, I'm babbling. Anyway, what I really wanted to say was I'm sorry I didn't get a hold of Dean or Jess or one of the millions of other people who are e-mailing you and tell them to say that I said happy birthday. I'm sorry that I didn't make amends before you left for Georgia. I was scared Sam. Now I know how my parents felt when I went to Vietnam. I just wanted to let you know that I'm proud of you Sammy. When you come home, I'm going to try to be a better dad. I swear. Well, I have to go. I'm here in Cali helping Dean with a hunt and I'm doing research. At least I'm supposed to be. I didn't want him to know yet that I'm e-mailing you. Not yet anyway. I'll talk to you soon son. Dad."
Sam set there for a minute. He was in shock. John had actually pushed past his shield and sent his son something. Sam went outside with some of his friends to smoke. He set there for a minute before he started to cry.
~April 14th, 2003~
Sam had been talking on and off with John. Until today. This morning he had awoke to the sounds of yelling. He ran with his group out of the building, grabbing guns as they were bombed at. There was nothing they could do about it but hope that their own planes came soon. There was an explosion nearby and one of Sam's friends was hurt. He grabbed him and began to run. He managed to get him to a safe place before he felt a pain in his back and fell onto the ground. The world around him seemed to mute as a man appeared in front of him. He didn't seem to care that bullets were flying at him or that bombs were going off all around him. He walked to Sam.
"Sam." He said.
"Are...are you a re...reaper?" Sam asked. He shook his head no.
"My name is Castiel." He said. "You won't remember me when you are back to your healthy state, but I'm here to save you. You have a destiny that must be fulfilled. We weren't expecting you to join this pointless war, but that's no difference. You must live." With that, Castiel touched his forehead and Sam felt no more pain. The next thing he remembered was waking up at a hospital in Georgia with a purple heart and a medal of honor.
~April 15th, 2003~
"Hey Jess." Dean said as him and John came in through the door. Jess looked up from them from the cookies she was making. She smiled.
"How was the hunt?" She asked. She had figured out the Winchester secret about a year ago, and strangely, she took it better than Dean thought she would. He expected her to throw them out, but she must have really been in love with Sam to put up with them.
"Good." Dean replied. John went to turn on the TV. The news was on.
"Good evening. In war news, an Army base in Iraq was attacked today. Only three members of the base survived the attack. One of the men, a Private Samuel M. Winchester will be awarded the Purple Heart and the Medal of Honor when he arrives back in the states later this week." Dean, John, and Jess just looked at each other.
"Sammy." Jess whispered before she fell to the floor and cried. Sammy, her Sammy, had been injured and was coming home. She prayed that he was okay. She prayed that he'd live a normal life after this.
~April 22nd, 2003~
After spending a week in a hospital in Georgia, Sam was sent to a hospital in L.A., then Oakland. Jess, Dean, and John came as soon as they heard. Sam was glad that he was able to see their faces. After about a month or so of therapy, Sam was able to walk with just a limp and a cane. He had lost some of his mobility after a piece of metal broke his back and the doctors were afraid he'd never walk again. Fortunately, the spinal cord wasn't broken and Sam gained his legs back. A few months after he was officially released from the hospital, Jessica Moore and Sam Winchester were married at Palo Alto and honeymooned in Los Angeles. John and Dean went on some hunts out of town. Then, on Halloween weekend in 2005, Sam came home from an evening with Dean to find Jess pinned to the ceiling...
.: End :.
Okay, it was just a little one shot. I hope you guys don't get too made at me. It was wrote in about a half-hour. I wasn't sure if I should post it or not. I flipped a coin. It said I should. Coins never lie. So, there you have it. I ended it so that it would fit perfectly with the series beginning. ;-)