This is my first fanfiction. Just playing around, really. Beta'd by bardicvoice. Thanks for your help, hon! This was originally written for the spnquotefic community on LJ for the prompt:
Dean: "Growin' up in a place like this would freak me out".
Sam: "Why?"
Dean: "Well, manicured lawns, "How was your day, honey?" - I'd blow my brains out."
Dean eased the truck into the driveway, put it into 'park', and reached to turn off the ignition, stopping with his hand on the key. He'd had a less-than-stellar day. The douchebag foreman spent the entire day riding his ass just because he'd been a few minutes late. He was only late because he'd had a flat tire, no doubt a slow leak from a nail picked up on the stupid work site. And it had turned hot as hell outside with hardly any breeze, so tempers were frayed all around. Two of the guys never showed for their shifts, forcing the short-handed crew to work even harder just to stay on schedule. And to top it all off, his girl had packed a tuna salad sandwich with pickles in his lunchbox and hadn't even had the decency to add any Cheetos. All in all, a craptastic day.
He should be impatient to be home right now, to call this day a bust and forget about it. All he had to do was walk through that door, kiss his girl, maybe help the kid with some homework, and eat a tasty dinner before heading up to sleep in his comfy bed. But as he sat there with his hand on the keys and the truck engine idling smoothly, his eyes caught on the garage door in front of him. The garage door with his baby behind it under a dusty tarp. An unforgiving remembrance of someone he lost and a life he no longer lives.
Swiping a hand across his face, he killed the ignition, got out of the truck, and turned resolutely toward his new home. He trudged up a nicely paved walkway flanked by neatly-trimmed bushes and a well-manicured lawn and paused outside the tastefully painted front door.
"Damn it," he whispered, almost unaware he'd even said anything. Then he pasted a smile on his face, squared his shoulders, and turned the knob. Lisa looked up when he entered, her own smile not quite reaching her eyes. "How was your day, Honey?"
"Fine," he responded, his plastered smile firmly in place. He kissed her lightly on the cheek and went to see how Ben was doing with his homework.