Dean is roused from his warm and blissful sleep by rough hands and a low murmur of 'Wake up, kiddo.' He yawns and rubs tired eyes, mussing hair that's getting too long for his liking. 'Wh-what's the matter, dad?' He asks, stifling a yawn, before John shushes him and pushes his shoulder again to gently wake him further. 'Shh, you'll wake Sammy.' He says, before pushing himself off the bed and walking to the small table.

The fourteen year old looks across at the other bed in the room, at Sammy as he snores lightly in undisturbed slumber. He sniffs and stretches, before getting out of his bed, making it carefully, and slowly padding around getting ready.

'What are we doin, dad?' He asks again, but he's already learnt it's useless to ask a question more than once if it wasn't answered the first time. John sips from a chipped cup of coffee, eyes gazing around the empty motel parking lot. 'Come on, it'll be light soon.' He says, before disappearing into the bathroom. 'I want you ready to go in ten.' He mutters as he shuts the door.

'Ok..' Dean sighs, flattening down his hair a little as he pulls on his clothes. With half a sock on he walks over to the fridge, swigging juice from the carton as he contemplates grabbing something to eat. He casts a look over at his brother, noting a chill in the air as he pulls his thin jumper on. Dad must have left the window open last night again, he muses as he pads over and shuts it, before going over to his own bed and pulling off the blanket, turning and draping it over Sam as the door to the bathroom opens and John walks back through it. He smiles across at the snuggled Sam as Dean shoves his shoes on as he sits on the sofa. 'We won't be long,' he whispers, as if reading Dean's mind, 'he won't even know we're gone.'

'Where are we going?' Dean dares to ask a third time. He stands, eyes a little wide as John walks to the door and opens it. 'You'll see.' Comes his answer. 'I got a special job for you.'

This piques Dean's interest. 'Are we going on a trip?'

'Sort of, yeah.'

'Cool,' Dean enthuses, before guilt trickles into his gut. 'What about Sam?'

'This is just for you, Dean.' John says, before motioning him to get out the door. 'He'll be taught soon enough.'

Taught. The word makes Dean a little nervous. A couple weeks ago he was taught how to shoot a shotgun, and he'd almost messed that up by letting the muzzle go a little loose as he shot. He still felt the bruise on his shoulder if he moved wrong. 'Its not going to hurt, is it?' He asks as he walks next to his dad down the gravel path to the car.

'Only if you do it wrong.' John replies, before unlocking the car. 'Don't worry, I'll teach you properly.'

'Teach me what?' Dean asks as he sidles into the passenger seat.

'You'll see.' John mutters as he swings the Impala round and turns out towards the interstate.

The wasteland was vast, empty, and freezing. Dead trees lined the asphalt covered ground, and clumps of overgrown bushes were dashed here and there. The buildings, long abandoned, stood forlorn and dirty. John turns the engine off and they sit a while, with Dean getting more and more nervous despite himself. He knew what their dad did for a job, but dad had said he wouldn't be a part of it until he was older. He peers round with wide eyes, wondering whether to expect a zombie or something to come lurching out the fog towards them. A tinny radio jingle is playing into the silent car as John continues to sit there, and as Dean shivers he catches a look at the luminous part of the dash between them, at the clock that's glowing. 4.03 it reads, and Dean wishes he was still asleep. School was gonna be a real blast today...

'What are we doin, dad?' He asks, his breath coming in a clump of white fog in front of his mouth. He'd turn on the heater (without hesitation if Sammy was in the car) but he knew that John would switch it off, bemoaning the cost of gas.

'What do you see?' The question is thrown out as John ignores his son's query.

Dean looks round, shrugging. 'Nothing. Emptiness.'

'What could be out there?'

'Monsters.' The word is out before Dean can stop it. It's become a reflex- he knew better than to say "nothing", even if he was trying to be smart. 'Evil.' He adds, watching for his dad's reply.

'That's right-' he opens the car door and gets out. '-climb over into the driver's seat.'

'Really?' Dean's mouth opens in an awed smile. He eagerly crosses over and plonks himself on the leather seat. 'Cool,' he whispers, running his hands over the steering wheel.

'Know how to turn it on?'

'The key.' Dean replies with an inward roll of his eyes, figuring this was gonna just be another theory test and "name the part" game that dad liked to play on long journeys. A rattle of metal makes him look to his right- John waved the bunch of keys in his face. He passes them to a wide eyed Dean, who weighs them in his smaller hands.

'I can turn it on?'

'I didn't give em to you so you could look at them.'

Dean switches on the ignition, feeling a small thrill as the car came to life under him. He felt nerves flare seconds later; the car was off limits, he knew that- a short joyride in the car to the mini-mart at midnight when Sammy was starving cost him dearly a few months back. His backside had been raw for days after, and Sam had been too scared to ask for food again if they were short.

He sits back, unsure of himself. 'You sure, dad?' He asks, hands back on his lap. 'You said-'

'I know what I said before.' John cuts across him, and a smile crosses his face. 'And I shouldn't have done.' He ruffles Dean's hair and motions the vast empty space around them. 'I thought you'd like the chance to learn how to control a car in a place like this, instead of risking your neck out on the streets.' He kneels down and smiles across at his eldest son.

'If you don't want to, we can go back and-'

'No, Sir, I'd like you to teach me!' Dean yelps, feeling like he'd ruin the good mood if he refused. 'It'll be fun, right?'

'Right.' John grins, before crossing the car and getting into the passenger seat. 'Right, let's at least get moving, shall we?' He chuckles, as Dean carefully nudges it into gear and they set off slowly across the foggy ground.

Dean can only just reach the peddles, but he soon gets the hang of it. Soon he's drifting along fine, braking and parking under John's direction. A few turns go a bit awry and he nearly gives up, his hands shaky and his eyes watery with fear, but John makes him keep going, to keep trying and trying, and soon he's flying back and forth, with John barking directions of where he should be looking and where his hands should be. Reversing takes a little longer, and the sun is coming up sooner than they'd both like;Dean is reluctant to stop as John says they should be getting back to Sammy.

'I can't wait to tell Sammy I've been driving!' Dean laughs as he and his dad swap seats. He flops back into the passenger seat, his legs a little wobbly as he waits for his dad to get back in his seat.

'He'll be so jealous!' He adds, grinning to himself. He's breathing heavily with adrenaline, and wipes back slightly sweaty hair as John fires up the car.

As he drives along, the mood turns stony again, but Dean doesn't really mind this time. He's thinking about driving too much, and the look on Sam's face when he tells him that Dad let him drive the car.

'You like driving?' John finally asks, and Dean looks across at him, a smile still latched onto his face.

'You bet!' He enthuses. 'Thanks Dad.' He adds hastily.

'You think you'd like to drive this weekend, if I needed you to?'

'What do you mean?' Dean asks, quizzical. 'You mean drive on a proper road?'

'More like a deserted country track.' John looks across at him. 'You up for it?'

The question makes Dean frown. 'I thought this was just for fun.' He says in a quiet voice.

'I said it was practice,' John mutters, looking sideways at his son. 'You think you could drive if I needed you to?' He asks again.

'Drive where?'

'That doesn't matter- could you?'

'N-' Dean knows the n-word was like a rag to a bull when it came to their dad. 'I could try.' He corrects himself in a small voice.

'Good boy.' John turns the car into the motel parking lot and switches off the engine. 'I got an important job coming up with an old friend.' He says. His dad talking about his job usually got Dean interested, but all he could concentrate on was the heavy feeling settling in his stomach. He knew his dad would never do anything with him just for fun, he thinks bitterly. 'And it could turn nasty- we need someone to drive quickly when we come back.' He opens the door. 'We'll tell Sam we're gonna look for another motel or something,' he adds.

'Sammy's not coming?'

'On a hunt? Don't be stupid Dean- you wanna get him killed?'

'No, sir.' Dean mutters, looking across at their motel room and spying Sam peering out the window at them, a frown knitting his eyebrows together as he pressed his forehead to the glass.

'Good- come on, before he starts asking questions.' John says, and he leads Dean to the door. Dean traipses through, knowing he'd be worried for the rest of the week, wondering what he'd be asked to do in the future that he knew other kids his age didn't have to do.

He plasters a smile- his game face- on his lips as Sammy shoots across the room at him and starts asking questions, as usual. He looks across at John, but he's already rootling through the day's paper, completely oblivious to his sons.

'Hey Sammy, you hungry?' He asks, distracting the ten year old with food like he usually does. He fixes their breakfasts and soon they get ready for school. 'C'mon Sammy.' He cajoles, hitching his brother's backpack on his own shoulders. The school wasn't far and Dean usually walked them there and back. 'See you later.' He calls at John, but he gets ignored.

'Bye dad!' Sam shouts, and at this John looks up, a smile on his face.

'Bye boys- be good for Dean.' He calls. 'Look after your brother.' He adds, nodding at Dean.

'I will.' Dean replies, before shutting the door, leaving John in silence.

Thanks for reading, please review!

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