Somewhere,USA
Present Day
Dean entered yet another dingy room in yet another forgettable town with a sigh of relief. Under his right arm he carried a six pack; in his left hand he balanced a Pizza. As he entered the room he had no thought in his mind except relief that another job was finished and they'd be moving on to another nameless town in the morning.
As he moved into the room he noted Sammy hunched over his computer, Dean snorted to himself. Job's not been over for an hour and Sam was already looking for the next. Dean carefully set the pizza on the table, as he lifted the lid and removed a slice his mouth practically watered at the smell.
Dean began eating the pizza as quickly as possible, Settling on the bed with the slice in one hand and a beer in another he noticed that Sam had yet to say anything. "MMMM... God, I'm telling you Sam you better grab a slice before I finish it all." Dean watched as Sam simply nodded, still staring at the screen before him.
Sam couldn't believe what he was looking at, no matter how many times he read the words his mind just wouldn't accept them. He had heard his brother enter the room, and had smelled the pizza he carried. Twenty minutes ago, Sam would have been right there with his brother, eating the pie and fighting over the last slice. Now though, since he had seen it he knew that he wouldn't be able to swallow past the lump in his throat.
Sam wasn't sure what this would do to Dean, the years since they had never talked about her, and about what had happened in that small town. Sam knew that he had often contemplated what had become of her. And now here in front of him was the truth.
Dean actually became worried as Sam continued to stare at the computer in front of him. He moved towards his brother and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Sammy?" he asked his voice a question. It was then that Dean saw the photo on the screen in front of Sam
Smiling eyes staring up at him, eyes that were every bit as familiar as the ones that stared out of the mirror each morning. Dean felt his knees give and he sank to the bed behind him, he quickly scanned the article and then read it slowly once more.
"We're going Dean, gather up I'm hitting the road in twenty minutes with or without you." With these words, Sam quickly began gathering his gear. Dean simply sat on the bed eyes roaming the features of the woman pictured in the article.
Sam looked across the front seat of the Impala and breathed a sigh of relief. Not only had Dean gathered up and loaded the car he had slid into the driver's seat with a simple "I'm planning on getting there by tomorrow Grandma, so you might as well get some sleep." Sam smiled; he had been serious when he had said that he would leave Dean behind this time.
The thought of actually doing it though, that made Sam feel slightly queasy. Lately the thought of going anywhere without Dean made him feel slightly queasy. Sam settled back against the black leather and allowed his mind to wander back to that long ago summer.
Rapid Falls, New York
9 Years Earlier
Sam watched as his Dad sat at the small scarred table, mounds of paper and research spread out before him. Sam often sat just so, watching as his Dad took pieces of seemingly random information, and compiled it into a hunt. Sometimes his Dad even let him help; those quiet moments were some of the few that Sam really treasured. Sam knew that in this way he really could help his father.
Hunting had never held Sam's interest, not really. Not like it did for Dean, no for Sam the hunt happened on paper, first locating the evil, identifying it and then learning how to destroy it. That's what got Sam's mind really going, and he knew he was good at it. That maybe someday he might even surpass his Dad in this area. He already had Dean beat hands down at research, Dean's constant energy and vitality made it difficult for him to focus. Not that he couldn't when needed to it's just that it chafed to do it so he left it to his father and brother.
Dean, thought Sam to himself. Dean hadn't looked good lately; Sam was worried mostly because it wasn't due to an injury. He just seemed sad, as lame as that sounded even to Sam's own ears. Sam had been worried all summer as the Winchesters had moved from town to town.
About a month ago Sam had heard Dean ask his father if he could drop out of school. He argued that there was no reason to bother graduating. His father had considered for a moment. Sam had to actually hold himself back, to stop himself from pleading with his father to make Dean finish. Not to take the only thing from Dean's life that didn't require a blood sacrifice, the only thing that could be construed as somewhat normal.
Dad had finally answered his son, telling him that Mary would have wanted him to graduate, so graduate he would. Dean had silently accepted John's decree like always and hadn't brought it up since.
Sam straightened and moved towards, his Dad. Dean that's why he was doing this, he was doing it for Dean. Sam squared his shoulders, and stood before his Dad. He cleared his throat and waited until the elder Winchester looked up from the book in front of him.
John looked up from the battered volume he was reading and barely smothered a long suffering sigh. Sam stood before him, a mutinous expression on his face. John closed his eyes for a moment remembering the little boy that had thought he hung the moon. As he opened his eyes he saw instead a thirteen year old, with shaggy hair, slim and long limbed. Sammy had been growing like a weed all summer and wore a pinched look as if he was constantly hungry.
"What's up Sam, I've got a lot of work to get done here." John said sitting back in his chair and giving Sam his attention.
Sam cleared his throat and began "well sir, it's about Dean. You know this is his senior year, he's going to be eighteen in January."
John looked at Sam arms crossed and frowned "I already told him he can't quite, and I expected him to take it like a man. Not send his baby brother to bargain for him."
Sam frowned even harder at his father. He shook his head knowing that if he couldn't manage to keep his temper this time, he was going blow this. "Dad, you know that Dean would never ask me to interfere. It's just, I was hoping that this year we could stay in one town. Last year we were in three different schools and the year before it was four."
John frowned at Sam, "It wasn't three last year." John knew they moved a lot but three times. It was hard for him to remember, he remembered the past only in terms of what he had killed.
Sam tried to stop the words coming out of his mouth from sounding too bitter. "Yeah, dad we did. And well it being Dean's last year and all I just thought, maybe we could pick a place and stay. I was thinking if we picked somewhere middle of the country you could keep hunting and Dean could help out on weekends."
John rubbed a hand over his tired eyes. Mary would have never permitted her boys to be raised in this way; in his mind John knew that. In his heart though was the never ending rage against the evil that had taken away Mary's choice in the situation. He thought back of the last couple of years and tried to count the number of times, he had registered his kids at a new school.
Shit, John thought to himself. Over the last couple of years, Sam and Dean had registered themselves and John had only needed to take them in on the first day to sign paperwork. He looked longingly at the papers in front of him; he had been in one place too long he could feel the pressure to leave. But, was that fair to his boys especially Dean who followed every order and had been doing a man's work for years now.
"I'll tell you what Sam, you find the town. Get the school info, start day and all that and we'll see okay. I'm not promising we'll stay the whole year, but I'll try Sam, I'll try." John saw the look of relief pass over Sam's young features. He nodded and turned towards the work at hand.
Present Day
Dean watched the road ahead, it seemed never ending. No matter what the day brought there was always a road reaching out ahead. He took a quick glance at Sam, and noticed that he had finally fallen asleep. Dean had been avoiding meeting Sam's eyes for the last hour. He knew that Sam had it in mind to talk, to rehash things better left in the past.
Dean hadn't wanted to oblige him. His thoughts were so scrambled right now, that he was worried he wouldn't be able to dodge Sam's persistent questions. Dean just wanted to drive, to focus on the driving beat, that came from the speakers. The feel of the engine, the sense of motion. Dean liked motion, he liked moving he had never been one to remain still for long.
He suddenly remembered sitting in that old library, tapping out some aimless tune with a couple of pencils. She always managed to catch him making noise, and bam up the back of his head would go her hand. Before he could even retaliate, she would slip past him throwing a grin over her shoulder.
Dean closed his eyes for a second. Yeah, thoughts scrambled. He reached for the radio dial and turned it up another notch. Sorry, Sammy but better you awake then me left with my thoughts.
