Title: Together Always

Fandom: Supernatural

Summary: A young Sam hates having to keep moving from town to town. Sam is 9. Dean is 13.

"You know Dad has to go where the monsters are, Sammy. Where people need help. And that's all over, not just here. We can't stay in one place too long. Dad says the monsters can find where you live if you stay. It's not safe for us or for other people."

The 'we're moving again' speech. Young Sam had heard it so many times, bouncing from hotel to hotel, town to town, all across the country. Two weeks here, a month there, a week in the next place. It's what he knew. What he lived.

This time though...this time was different. These last four months Sam had found a home in this small town in Tennessee. He'd made friends. He had teachers that understood him. People that actually liked him. He didn't want to leave. He hated to leave.

None of those things had mattered in the past though and Sam's previous pleas to his big brother were always for nothing. Not that Dean didn't want more than anything for his baby brother to have friends and go to school like a normal kid. Lord knew how hard Dean tried to make Sam's life as normal as possible while their vengeful father dragged them down back roads and through cheap hotel rooms. Dean just knew the reality. And the more he humored Sam's dreams of being just like any other kid, the more painful it would be to pack up and move the next time.

So when that time came, Dean's speech was always the same.

And as much as Sam fought him this part of their lives, this time was different. This was the closest thing to a real home that'd he'd ever found, but beaten down from a life of packing up and moving, Sam surrendered with very little of the usual pleading. His big brother was right. His big brother was always right and Sam turned his head away from the window of the bus. The old Greyhound that they'd boarded moments ago. Shifting to the left, the youngest Winchester leaned onto Dean's shoulder.

"I don't care about all that, Dean." Sam sighed, his voice hushed. Defeated. "I don't care about monsters and...I just want to be a normal family."

And as it always did, the bleak sadness in the small voice jabbed Dean right in the heart. In response, he adjusted his position so that his little brother was comfortable. He spoke softly then as touched his head to Sam's.

"Our family's not normal, Sammy, you know that."

"We could be if we tried," the smaller boy pleaded, shrugging against Dean's shoulder.

"I don't think so, Sammy. Here," Dean lifted his head and pulled a candy bar out of his pocket. Milky Way. Sam's favorite. He'd stolen it out of the old motel vending machine. "I grabbed this for you."

Sam took the chocolate bar, but didn't move away from the contact with his brother. "It's the giant size bar."

"Yup, giant size for my little brother."

Sam smiled at the comparison and pressed harder against Dean, opening the wrapper and breaking the bar in half. "Half for you, Dean. You think Dad will be mad that we're eating chocolate for dinner?"

"Dad won't know."

"Just our secret?"

"Just our secret, Sammy."

They devoured the candy, then Sam settled in for the long ride north. Adjusting his small body so that he was catty corner to his brother, he leaned against Dean's chest, tucking his head under his chin.

"Do you think Dad will be happy to see us, Dean?"

"You know he will. I promise."

"Okay," Sam said, trusting his brother. "But Dean, I still don't want to leave. I still want to be normal. I want to have a normal home and a normal life."

"Normal is me, Sam. You've got me. I'm home. And Dad. And the Impala."

Sam sighed heavy in surrender before and nuzzling in further. "I have you, Dean."

There was no mention of Dad or the car in Sam's statement. In Sam's world, Dean was his world. And in the end of it all, despite how much he hated to leave the life he'd created in Tennessee, he'd never be without his big brother. He'd give up anything to always be with him.

"You'll always have me, Sammy." Dean said firmly. "Always."

The comforting words of his big brother. The only person with the ability to make a saddened, lonely and scared nine year old feel loved and secure. And when Dean topped off his promise by wrapping his arms around that little brother and pulling him tight against his chest, Sam tucked himself hard into the embrace, sniffed heavily and whipped at his moist eyes.

The bus rumbled to life and jerked into gear. They were off to the next uncertain chapter of their lives. Always moving. Always struggling. Always fighting. Always watching their backs and covering their tracks. Always together.

Always...together.

It was their promise to each other.

One that neither ever intended to break.

The end