Hey everyone here is my next story. It is heavy on the angst especially for Sam. Dean has a lot of emotional angst though. I hope everyone enjoys it. Thanks for all the support for my last fic Forgotten I appreciate it.

Disclaimer—Still don't own Supernatural or any of its characters.

Black Dog

Chapter 1

"Come on Sammy, this is chick music." Dean complained reaching for his box of classic rock tapes.

"Driver picks the music, Dean." Sam smiled and turned up the volume.

"The only reason you're driving is because you wouldn't stop bugging the hell out of me." Dean grumbled and fingered through his cassettes. "Come on why don't we listen to something else?"

"I want to listen to this." Sam said stubbornly trying his best to ignore Dean's protests. Sam had only been driving for twenty minutes and Dean was already complaining.

"How long until we get to Black Water Ridge?" Dean asked hopefully.

"A couple hours at least." Sam said shrugging his shoulders and giving his brother a side-glance.

"Great stuck with chick music for two hours." Dean muttered so low that Sam almost didn't hear it. Almost.

"What's the matter Dean? My music bugging you?" Sam grinned.

"Not as much as your pink hair." Dean smirked back knocking the grin off Sam's face.

Sam tugged at his pinks strands with a free hand and grimaced. The result of their last prank war, which Sam had lost. "As soon as we get into town I'm going to a hair saloon to get this fixed. I'm sick of people staring at me."

Dean snorted. His last prank, which had caused him the ultimate win, had been to place an ad in a newspaper requiring a picture of a pink haired man. Some lady answered the ad by snapping Sam's picture the morning they were heading out, as an added bonus Sam had been having a hang over at the time. "Come on Sam. I thought you liked to be recognized."

"For things I do not what color my hair is jerk." Sam snapped and narrowing his eyebrows as he determinedly concentrated on the road in front of them.

"You're just a sore looser." Dean smirked and settled against the leather seat.

"You don't play fair." Sam said in a defeated tone. He knew all too well that he had been the one to call the truce. He didn't want anymore of Dean's little surprises.

"Yeah well, I'm the big brother I don't have to play fair." Dean smiled at this thought. He closed his eyes against the glaring sun and sunk even lower in his seat. "Wake me up when we get there."

Sam didn't answer, but turned down the music so Dean could sleep in peace. Sam's mind wandered over the past few months and he kept giving his brother glances. A quick reassurance that Dean was alive, and well. Sam was often surprised that they survived all the things they endured, in one whole but slightly chiseled piece.

Dean moaned and turned so he was facing the window as the sun settled on the mountain peaks. The bright orange-red glow made Dean's skin dance with unnatural colors. The innocence of the picture in front of him made Sam smile. Dean hardly ever looked so innocent. 'Well except for the two weeks when he had no memory of who he was.' Sam thought and smiled.

Dean had gone back to a lost childhood after he had gotten amnesia, something Sam found endearing and annoying at the same time. He thought it was a bit odd that he had to baby-sit his older brother, literally. It had taken Dean two weeks to come back to him, two very long weeks. That was something Dean was still having trouble letting go of. The fact that he hadn't been there for Sam for two weeks was still eating away at his insides.

Sam's attention wandered back to the road as the sun sank even lower, shrouding the pavement and black impala into the dark. Sam flipped on the headlights and looked for street signs. Hoping to see how close they were to Black Water Ridge.

Dean had received a call from their friend Caleb, telling them there was a creature that needed to be hunted in the woods up here. Dean had accepted the job and had hauled Sam's hung over ass into the car. Sam had slept for most of the ride only waking up to tell Dean to pull over so he could continue to empty the contents of his stomach on the side of the road. Dean had kept to the back roads, mainly for this purpose. Sam was grateful for his brother's thoughtfulness.

People often said that Dean was a bad ass who did what he wanted no matter what other people thought of him. Sam knew a different side of his brother. Although Dean would deny it saying that it was girly Sam knew his brother was sensitive when it came to Sam. He had always been there when Sam needed him and Sam hoped he could return the favor someday when Dean needed him the most.

Spotting a sign telling him that Black Water was only two miles away Sam pressed on the accelerator a little harder. He was tired from the long day of being stuffed in the car and driving around for six hours. He wanted to find a place to stay and fast.

He and Dean had decided to stay in town this time. They both remembered all too well what had happened last time they stayed in the woods, and neither were in a hurry to do that again.

Sam sat next to his brother on the hood of the impala watching as Haley Collins got into the ambulance with her two brothers. She smiled warmly at them before the paramedics closed the back doors hiding them from view.

"Man, I hate camping." Dean grumbled not bothering to look at Sam.

"Yeah, me too." Sam agreed he was sore and tired. He desperately wanted to check into a motel and wash off all the dry blood and dirt.

"You know we're going to find Dad? Right Sam?" Dean asked still not looking his way.

"Yeah, I know." Sam said then seeing the opportunity decided to take his brother up on his earlier offer. "But in the meantime I'm driving." Sam looked at his brother taking in all the injuries Dean had gotten on this hunt. Dean had several cuts all over his face; none of them serious but caked with dry blood. Sam knew his brother's body was a little sore from being dragged around by the Wendigo before being tied to the ceiling by his arms and hanging there until rescued.

Sam didn't have long to look at his brother though. Dean looked down to his lap and a moment later the keys to the impala came flying up and Sam snatched them. He and his brother got into the car and took off to try and find a motel for the night.

Sam's reminiscing was broken as a large animal dashed in front of the impala making Sam desperately slam on the brakes and swerve trying to avoid it. He stopped a few inches away and raised his eyebrows in shock.

A large black dog with yellow eyes, and bared white teeth stood growling at the car. It's eyes fixed with Sam's it barked loudly making Sam's hair prickle uncomfortably.

"Sam! What the hell are you doing? Trying to give me a heart attack? Why did you stop like that?" Sam turned to see Dean struggling to sit up right his brother's face torn somewhere between worry and anger.

Sam turned back to where the dog was and felt his jaw drop when he saw the dog had disappeared. He turned back to his brother who was still staring at him curiously "You didn't see it?"

"See what? There is nothing out there Sam." Dean asked frowning slightly as worry for his brother filled his whole body.

"There was a dog. A big black dog." Sam turned back to the road as if hoping to see it again. The dog wasn't there and there wasn't a trace that there had been one there. The only sounds in the night were the crickets chirping and the idling engine. The only light were the bright beams emanating from the impala. The night was still.