Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or its characters
Dean Winchester was nothing if not realistic. From the moment that his little brother had announced that he was back in the hunt, he had always known that there would be, what was that word that they used on Oprah, oh yeah "teething problems". Sure Sam had reverted back to his role as researcher, much to Dean's delight, and once in the hunt he never had any doubt that his brother would always have his back. But it was watching his brother in the down time between hunts that had Dean worried.
Sam had always been a troubled sleeper, suffering from nightmares that would have him screaming in the middle of the night, but once awake refusing to tell what they were about. At first their Dad had been the model father and tried to comfort his son as he would sob uncontrollably but as Sam got older their father's tolerance lessened until one night he shouted at Sam telling him that he needed to grow up and that he needed to stop waking everyone in the middle of the night.
Of course Dean knew that the real reason that his father had reacted like that was because he was frustrated that Sam would not tell him what the nightmares were about and on the night in question he had just returned from a hunt where he hadn't slept in 48 hours as he hunted a particularly nasty poltergeist and was suffering from a mild concussion and a dislocated shoulder. The next day he had tried to apologise to Sam, but as usual the miscommunication between the two reared it's ugly head and his brother continued to believe that he was that he needed to hide his nightmares from his family.
While John Winchester seemed to believed that they had stopped, Dean knew different. He and Sam had always shared a room, he watched as his brother would toss and turn in his sleep, wake up gasping, all the while trying to muffle the scream that would accompany his awakening. It was hard to watch his brother suffering in silence but there was nothing he could do, he tried to confront Sam, get him to tell him what was going on, he even went so far as to tell his brother that he knew that he was still having nightmares but Sam denied it, saying that he wasn't having any nightmares and didn't know what Dean was talking about.
God, how something's never change. Ever since they had left Palo Alto, Sam had awoken from a nightmare almost every night, usually with Jess's name escaping his lips, but that was not always the case. It had Dean worried, more than he would care to admit – especially to Sam, but he could see his brother wasting away in front of him.
The problem of Sam's lack of sleep was only surpassed by his appetite or to be more accurate his lack of it. Trying to get Sam to eat was like trying to pull teeth. His brother had never been a big eater even though his size implied otherwise, but this was stupid and Dean was getting sick of watching his brother waste away before his eyes.
He had tried everything he could think of, he bought salads - the usual rabbit food that his brother used to like before he went to Stanford, when that didn't work he had moved onto the foods that had always were the main feature in the Winchester's diet, burgers and fries. This was all met in the usual manner by his brother, being pushed around a plate, with a few bites making their way into Sam's mouth.
Trying to get Sam to talk about his nightmares was the equivalent of talking to a brick wall. His brother would quickly turn the conversation to their latest hunt, the seemingly never ending search for their father or in usual Sam Winchester style, he would get angry, tell Dean that there was nothing going on and he didn't know or understand what his brother was talking about.
Dean was shaken from his thoughts as the waitress approached their table with their respective orders – Dean a healthy burger, fries and soda and Sam with his black coffee and toasted sandwich. As he ate his own food he watched as Sam drank the coffee down as he ate less than half the sandwich. After Sam pushed the plate away and had called the waitress back to the table so he could get a refill of his coffee, Dean cautiously ventured to get his brother to talk.
"What's up with the sandwich? Is there something wrong with it, cause you can order something else." Dean said, trying to sound casual, but he knew by the look on his brother's face that Sam wasn't buying it.
"God Dean would you please just let it go. I'm fine, I'm just not hungry that's all, ok?" Sam tried to sound as if he was not irritated by Dean's constant prodding that he was not eating enough or not sleeping enough but it was really starting to play on his nerves.
He was fine; he just wished that his brother would stop fussing over him. Sam had been expecting Dean to be in mother hen mood after everything that had happened in Palo Alto but this was just getting out of control.
"You're not fine Sam. I know you're not sleeping and you're not eating enough, look at you, you must have lost a stone since we left Stanford." Dean was fighting the urge to shake his brother until he saw reason. Expecting Sam to get angry, he watched in surprise as Sam began to laugh.
"Don't you think you're being a bit dramatic there Dean?" As Sam continued to laugh, Dean felt his blood pressure rise.
"You think this is funny, you're no good to me Sam if you collapse in the middle of a hunt cause you haven't had enough to eat, I mean for crying out loud; you're supposed to be watching my back – how can you do that if you've passed out?"
The laughter coming from his brother had died the moment Dean had started his tirade and Dean watched as unshed tears emerged in his little brothers eyes.
"I'm sorry Dean, I'll try harder." Sam whispered as he reached forward and started in on his sandwich again.
Dean had thought that the sight of his brother eating would make him happy but as he watched as Sam seemed to force himself to eat and struggle to swallow every bite, he began to wonder if he had achieved anything other than making Sam shut him out the way he had his father all those years ago?
Tbc???????????????
Please read and review. Should I continue???