A/N: A response to my friends' prompt: "It was the one thing he most coveted."
Disclaimer: Disclaiming Supernatural and the correct use of the word covet.
Family Picture
It was the one thing he most coveted. It was faded and old and yellow, but he slept with it under his pillow. He loved that stupid thing so much. His brother gave it to him when he finally couldn't take his persistent questions.
Was she pretty?
What color eyes did she have?
What about her hair?
And instead of answering them, Dean shoved an old picture in his hands.
She was hardly there anymore, but he could tell it was her all the same.
He could see his dad in the picture. He looked me that now, even though the picture was taken almost twenty-two years ago. He knew which one he was in the picture because he was a baby, and his brother prodded the picture of baby-him with his finger and said, "You were a chubby baby." He was. His brother was there too. His hair was lighter than it was now. Almost blonde. Like their mom. His mom was holding him. He was awake and smiling in his mother's arms. His brother was sitting in their Dad's lap. He used to bring the picture to school to show the losers that said he siding have a mom that he did too have a mom. Now, he just liked to look at it. Actual proof to remind himself he had a mom and that mom loved him.
He lost a lot in that fire. A lot of things really important to him. A lot of really important (and not to mention expensive) things. A lot of irreplaceable things. That picture was one of them. Now he was homeless again, and he lost any proof that his family loved him. He lost all confirmation that he even belonged to a family. So he had a brother and a dad, but he hadn't seen his dad in five years, and his brother… Well, his brother, his big brother, was his brother, but big brothers can be overbearing, especially HIS big brother, and his big brother couldn't be more overbearing right now of he tried. Actually, that was also a lie. His brother was trying really hard to give him some space. But big brothers aside, he was almost part of a family. Twice. Both times his chance at a normal, peaceful life was snatched from him. He missed a mother he never knew; he missed a father he wouldn't admit he missed; he missed joking around with a big brother who put all other big brothers to shame. And now he missed his girlfriend. And his stupid brother was all he had left of his family. It was what he coveted most.