,Late nights after traveling…
Dean sitting up at the rickety old table in the old motel room…
Sammy sitting in a chair next to him, his chair shoved as close to Dean's as he could manage without actually sitting on top of the other.
The brothers are hovering over open worn books that talk about grammar and history and maths. Dean is steadily working with his brother, making sure little Sammy doesn't fall behind as it takes a week long hunt before their father enrolls them in a new school. Dean is going to make sure his brother knows his sums, knows his facts, and is smarter than Dean. He wants his brother to have a better future, one without having to be his dad's perfect little soldier.
Sammy doesn't know it at the time. He just knows he has the best big brother in the whole world. One who sits up with him and helps him do his homework. One who gives up his Lucky Charms and who holds him close, chasing away all the nightmares and bad things that plague Sammy's mind. All Sammy knows is that he wants to make Dean proud.
And years later, when Sam is fighting with his dad outside about Stanford, anger and hatred seething through their pores, yelling at each other and pulsing with every fiber of their being, Dean is sitting inside, looking at the acceptance letter half hanging in his hands. The typed black words glaring at him from the page.
When Dean first saw Sam's name at the top of the letter, his pride in his little brother left him speechless. This was Sam's future. His better future without demons, without the monsters, without all the killing and the fire. Tears trailed down his dirty cheeks and fell on the white paper. His fist clenched as he let it fall to the floor. This was Sammy's better future.
And it was without him.