Series and Chapter Title: Downtime

Author: Obi the Kid

Rating: PG

Chapter Summary: (Season 8) The boys figure out the next step after the events in "Torn and Frayed". Tag to that episode.

Series Summary: A series of short stories about how Sam and Dean spend their downtime. First stories will take place in Season 8, but I hope to branch into previous seasons as well.

*Any typos/grammatical errors are my own. Please forgive them.

The fight was over. Huh. Guess you could read that two ways, right?

I meant the fight on TV. The boxing match Sam and I had become entrenched in as we downed some borderline still-in-date canned chili and a couple cold beers. That other fight was also over though; our most recent fray into discontentment. It's what Sam and I did, ever since he was old enough to make his own decisions. Somehow we kept cramming ourselves into crap that did it's best to rip us apart, in more ways than one. We always brought it back though. We always found the other again. Thirty years together, an aside from a few times when Hell or Purgatory got in the way, Sammy and I were there saving each other's bacon and driving each other nuts 24/7.

I shoulda come clean with him about Benny. He should have looked for me in Purgatory. That's what did it this time. Thankfully, yet again, we were smart enough to eventually see the stupidity of our ways. And now, here we were. Housed up in Rufus' old cabin, watching bad boxing on a tiny TV, eating crap canned chili and hell...well, at least we had cold beer.

The fight was over. The drama done. We were in downtime. Something we needed to get our feet back under us and our relationship as brothers – rather than hunters - reassured.

It was late and we were coming off one of the most emotionally confusing days we'd seen in a long damn time. I was tired and knew I'd sleep through anything tonight. As Sam stacked the bowls in the sink and I saw the fatigue in the position of his shoulders, I made the offer.

"You take the bedroom, Sam. I'll crash on the couch tonight."

There wasn't much space in the rickety cabin, but the bed was ten times more comfortable than the old cruddy couch.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, man. You're too long for the damn couch anyway."

"Thanks. Hey, what's the plan for tomorrow? Take a ride to check on Kevin?"

I thought about that. We could. But Kevin would have called if he'd gotten anything. No point in wasting the time and gas for nothing. And as I said before, we could use a little downtime.

"Nah. The kid's okay. We need a couple days."

"You wanna just sit around the cabin for a couple days, Dean? You'll be bored out of your mind."

True. "True. We'll figure something out. There's gotta be something to do in town. Maybe hustle up some pool. We could use the cash. Do a little sightseeing maybe?"

"In Whitefish, Montana?"

"Well, yeah. There's mountains and water and grass and hills and stuff. Come on, Sam, work with me here! We can find something to do that doesn't require the use of firearms, Latin, salt or running for our lives. Hell, we can just drive into a field or something and watch the stars like we used to do. Downtime. Remember downtime? You and me, doing nothing that required us to bleed?"

"I remember it, I just can't think of when's the last time we actually had it."

"Fishing. How about fishing?"

"We have no fishing poles, Dean."

"There's a sporting goods place in town. We could get a couple cheap poles and find a decent lake and just do a damn bit of nothing for the next two days."

Sam stared at me, as I expected. I just couldn't tell if he was thinking I was being serious, or just being an idiot. I was making the effort though and eventually he recognized it.

"Yeah, okay. Fishing. We'll do that. Bobby told me once about a lake nearby. Downtime. I think it's a good idea, Dean."

Part of me thought Sam would reject the offer and start case shopping; finding something evil to hunt if for no other reason than to take out his stress and discontent on an object that really deserved it. Mercifully, that part of me thought wrong.

"Good. Tomorrow then. We'll head out early. Ah, but not too early."

"What's not too early, Dean?"

"Well, you know - anything before 11 am."

My little brother laughed at me. I smiled back. Felt good. The two of us together again. Strong again. Brothers again.

"Whatever, man. G'night."

I kept smiling; a smile that broadened as I said, "Night, Sam. Sleep tight. Don't let the bed bugs bite."

"Really, Dean?"

"What? You remember that. It's Bobby's fault. When Dad dropped us off with him, every night before bed, he'd say it. I didn't know what the hell a bed bug was! For all I knew they were the size of New York City rats with teeth the size of Great Whites."

"Dean."

"Okay, maybe not rats or Great Whites, but you get my point, damn it. Just, don't let them bite. No idea what's been hanging around in this cabin when we're not here."

"Dean!"

I had him now, working my big brother magic. Driving Sammy nuts and…one more push and... Yup, empty beer can flying at my head. I ducked. It missed.

"Ha! Little off on that aim there, boy! Gotta…Ouch! Damn it!" The second one didn't miss. "Lucky shot."

"Sure it was. I'm going to bed."

I grabbed Sam's attention one last time before he disappeared into the back room.

"Hey, Sammy?"

He turned back toward me, the anger and bitterness from the last few days and months now vanished from both our faces.

"Yeah?"

"I missed ya, little brother."

I got then what I'd been after since we'd started on that chili. A genuine Sam smile.

"Yeah. Me too, Dean."

"Tomorrow. 11 am. Downtime. Got it?"

"I'll be there. Night."

"Night, Sam."

Two days later, we were fishless, had been eaten alive by goat-sized mosquitoes and had gotten stuck knee deep in the mud, not once but four times. We smelled like…nasty.

But our first foray, since forever, into a bit of downtime? Success!

The End.