Dean Winchester pulled into the small, slightly run down house, in the new town he had just drove fourteen hours to get to.
He glanced back at his little bothers Sam and Adam, smiling at Adam's lanky form curled next to him in the passenger seat and Sam's giant body sprawled out in the back seat.
He wished they were smaller so he didn't have to wake them up, wished he could just carry them into the house. They were both mad at him, even if they knew why they had to move, it didn't make it any easier to leave.
Dean rubbed his eyes, sighing and wishing that their life was different from what it was...but wishing had never gotten him anywhere.
"Sam. Adam...we're here."
He watched as Sam's eyes slowly opened, focusing on his face. "I thought you were gonna wake me up to drive, Dean?"
Dean smiled softly and shrugged, turning to a still sleeping Adam, "You still have a fever, you needed your sleep. Come on, get Adam up. I'll grab the overnight bags for right now."
He saw Sam open his mouth but they were cut off by a large snore coming from Adam. Dean chuckled and got out of the '68 Chevy Impala.
It took them twenty minutes to get ready for bed and then Dean checked over the house, making sure everything was safe.
He had chosen the downstairs bedroom so he would be in between anything that tried to get to Sam and Adam, and he smiled when he realized he had his own connected bathroom.
Dean picked up his phone, pressing his speed dial and waiting for the gruff voice to answer, "Dean."
He grinned at Bobby's voice on the other end, "Hey Bobby. We just got here."
Bobby let out a sigh of relief although he would never admit it, "Good. How's the house?"
Dean looked at the small kitchen, "Good. It's been very well maintained. Won't be hard to fix up...how...how are Ellen and Jo?"
Ellen and Jo had helped them out...and now where staying with Bobby to recuperate from what had happened. The incident. "They're good. Both say hi and that they love you."
Dean felt his throat constrict, he didn't deserve their love, "Well...good. I'll keep in touch."
He flipped the phone shut before sighing and rubbing his hands over his face, He had to be up in five hours to sign up Sam and Adam for school, then he had to get to his first job, come home and make sure he was there for dinner and then run to his second job.
Dean barely remembered falling asleep but he groaned when the sun hit his face and he glanced at the clock. 5:30 am.
He shook off sleep, jumping in the shower. He barely had time to enjoy the warmth before he had to get out and dressing quickly.
Dean walked to the kitchen, loving Bobby for packing them a cooler of food so the fridge wouldn't be barren when they got up the next morning. They had enough food to last them a week.
He started some coffee and pancakes. Chocolate chip for Adam and blueberry for Sam.
"Sam! Adam!"
Dean chuckled when he heard the 'thunk' from one end of the upstairs and then an even bigger one from the opposite end.
"Pancakes!"
He could always here Adam's voice from a mile away. Sam's was deeper, harder to understand but just as easy to detect. He could pick them out in a crowd even if they weren't half giant...especially Sasquatch Sam.
"Come on ladies! You have school in an hour."
Dean hid a smile as he watched them sleepily tumble down the stairs, "I love this house! My room is going to turn out awesome."
He smiled at Adam's voice, it had just changed last year when he turned sixteen and now being seventeen it was like watching a caterpillar form into a butterfly, as cheesy and girly as that sounded. Adam was growing up...
Sam was old for his grade, turning nineteen in a couple months and Dean couldn't figure out how he was still growing.
"You don't have to work today right Dean?"
Dean flinched a little, clearing his throat and refusing to look at his two brothers, "Yeah, but after I'm done registering you, I'm leaving Baby so you guys have transportation."
The air turned tense and he knew both boys were pissed, "Dean, you can't-."
Dean shook his head, filling up his coffee cup and cutting Sam off, "Look, I have it all figured out. I'll be here in the mornings and when you get home from school. You'll only be alone for a few hours when I go-."
He saw Adam tense, "Two jobs? That's not fair Dean! You won't let us get jobs-."
Dean slammed is fist down on the counter, hating how both of this brother's flinched, "You will focus on school. That's your job. You're teenagers, your job is school."
He saw Sam's hazel eyes flash before his long hair covered his eyes, "Sam get a haircut."
He walked to the table and plopped down, rubbing his eyes and trying to think of something that would diffuse the tension. Great, twenty minutes into their new life and he was already fucking up.
Dean saw Adam shift in his seat and he looked up, his youngest brother's hazel eyes staring at him, "What, loser?"
Adam smiled, glancing at Sam until Sam was smiling too, "We're like the Brady's."
Dean pushed through the heat inside the factory, and focused on his job. It was simple and mundane but it paid very well.
He could feel a few of the woman and some of the men staring at him. The outsider, or maybe it was because he was attractive.
The town was relatively small, everyone knew everyone and prospered from the factory and tourism. They knew who where the new, the passerby's, and the ones that had been here forever.
He took his break outside, slipping a cigarette into his mouth. He would have to eat a mint and spray some cologne to hide it from Sam and Adam, but he just couldn't give up the one thing that remotely relaxed him.
"That's a nasty habit."
Dean had heard the woman coming a couple moments before and was on the balls of his feet, waiting to run, or attach if he had to.
It was a young woman, dressed in a blue suit that went nicely with her red hair, "Yeah I'm trying to quit."
She smiled and pulled a pack out of her purse, "I'm Anna Milton. You're Dean Wesson?"
He smiled slightly at her, watching the cars on the road pass, "You just moved in last night."
Red flags and bull horns blared inside Dean's head and he turned, giving the woman a sharp look. She blinked and backed up a little, holding her hands up, "Oh, sorry. You live next door to my brother. He told me this morning that you guys moved in."
Dean relaxed slightly, still watching her for any signs that he should attack, "Sorry...it's just me and my brothers...and I'm a little protective of them."
Anna smiled and bobbed her red hair, "I have four older brothers. I understand completely, they get really protective."
Dean checked his watch and excused himself, "It was nice meeting you Anna."
The rest of the day he was on edge, he watched for any sign of danger and when he rode the bus back to the house, he couldn't wait to get back inside.
He slowly walked down the street, trying to relax enough so he wouldn't spook Sam and Adam when they got home.
When he got closer, he saw a man coming out of the house next door and wondered if he was Anna's brother. They didn't look alike.
Anna's hair was bright red and primped, this man's was jet black and slightly messy. His body was also tall and lithe, reminding Dean of a dancer. Anna reminded him more of a powerhouse, corporate woman.
The man turned. Their eyes caught and Dean was instantly captivated. The man had blue eyes. Like the ocean on a clear day or a crayon. They were almost… supernatural.
"Hi."
He hadn't meant to say anything, but those eyes where drawing him in.
The man quirked his head to the side, like a dog, watching him for a second, looking him over so thoroughly that Dean couldn't help but blush, "Hi...you're my new neighbor."
Dean nodded his head, looking down at his feet, "Yeah...me and my brothers. You wouldn't happen to be Anna Milton's brother?"
He saw the man quirk his head even farther to the side and the blue eyes registered curiosity, "Yes, I'm Castiel Milton...can I help you?"
This feeling...it was new for Dean. He was actually interested in this odd man, "No I just...I met her at my new job today, and she told me you lived next door."
There was silence for a few seconds and Dean could still feel the man's gaze on his body, "You are working at the Blue Castle?"
Dean jerked back, his brain coming on the defense again. He studied Castiel for a moment, and he saw the man take a step back, flinching underneath his scrutiny, "Yeah...how did you know?"
Castiel pulled his jacket closer to his body, and Dean glanced down at his outfit. It was a waiters outfit and Dean smiled, "You work their too?"
Castiel nodded, his serious lips, pulling up into a small lopsided smile, "Yes, I work until midnight."
Dean smiled at the man's clipped sentences. Most people would have thought he was being rude, but Dean could see the kindness in his eyes. He guessed the guy didn't socialize often, kept to himself.
"Well it was nice meeting you Cas; I'll see you tonight." It took some pushing to get him to walk into his house. He didn't understand it, but he wanted to talk to Castiel...get to know him, and that scared the hell out of Dean.
He glanced at the clock, registering that the boys would be home in an hour and he smiled, he'd have time to get started on the house before he had to make dinner.
The owner before them had been a friend of Bobby's and gave them the house for a very cheap price. (Dean thought the man owed Bobby a favor, but Bobby refused any such claims.)
Some of the furniture was worth keeping, and surprisingly for a hunter, it actually looked kind of nice. Rough and a little dingy, but Dean thought that portrayed him pretty well, so he kept it the way it was. He liked it.
He threw Adam's and Sam's bags into their room, grinning at the plans Adam had strung out on the floor...the kid would make a good architect.
Sam's room would reflect exactly what the boy knew about his future, nerdy. Both boys were really smart, freaky genius smart, and while Adam had found his calling, Sam was still undecided.
His room would have books strung every where, chemistry, law, forensic science, biology, engineering, literature, poetry. That boy had every book known to man.
Dean lugged up Sam's and Adam's books before heading down to the kitchen to make a list. He would need paint, and a new mower, shingles, shelves, and a new dinning room set if they stayed long enough.
He winced at the thought, he would need to work extra hard to stay here. He wanted Sam's and Adam's last years of adolescence to be stable and happy...they deserved that much.
He heard the Impala pulling up and he smiled, because that's how his brothers made him feel. Glad to be alive...happy to be here.
Sam was the first to come through the door looking a little flushed, and Dean had to grin, he knew what his brothers did in their spare time, even if they thought they did a good job of hiding it.
He couldn't find it in his heart to judge them, or be disgusted by them, because it was love. If he had learned anything, it was that love was constantly missing from this world.
"Hey Sammy. Meet a girl or something. You got that 'oh la la' look."
Dean hid his smile again as Sam blushed. Adam glared at Sam's head when he finally came through the door, "No. He didn't meet a girl."
Dean could hardly keep from laughing, so he turned towards the fridge, "So what do you guys want for dinner?"
He heard them whispering for a second and then Sam cleared his throat, "How about spaghetti?"
"Easy. Go get your homework done and then you got your half hour of studying to do."
They both groaned, and he shot them a look. Sam sat at the table, pulling out his books and Adam sat on the couch, looking for the remote before Dean pulled it out of his back pocket, "Not until you're done, Adam."
Adam stuck his tongue out, before pulling out some books, "It sucks starting a new school. I have two things of homework, and they'll take me ten minutes."
Dean tensed a little, looking away from the boy and back down at his list. He heard Sam clear his throat, "Yeah but it's cool because now we're the mysterious new comers."
Dean recognized Sam's attempt to make him feel better and he sighed, setting down his pencil and throwing the remote on the couch, next to Adam. "I'm gonna take a shower. And look...I'm sorry guys... I promise; I'll make this work..."