A baseball game.
A freaking baseball game.
Dean fumed as he stalked out of the motel room and toward the bar he had seen down the street when they checked in.
He knew Sam was probably warring between annoyance at his behavior and a little brother worry over him, but he really couldn't care less.
Let Sam and Adam have their little heart-to-heart, exposé over the real John Winchester.
Dean had had enough.
Pushing open the stout wooden door, Dean paused to let the hazy air of the bar wash over him before taking a seat at the counter.
He caught the bartender's eye, motioned to a bottle of Scotch and turned to survey the crowd. Some rough-looking bikers and a few scattered couples snuggled in dark corners made up most of the patrons, but it was the college-age kids clustered around the pool table that caught Dean's eye.
Watching the rambunctious group, listening to the good-natured ribbing and loud laughter, made of him think of Sam. Of Adam.
Scowling, he turned back to the bar, grabbed his glass and downed the waiting drink. And the next one. And the next.
All the while humming Metallica in his head and trying not to think.
About empty holidays and forgotten birthdays.
About being left alone with Sam in ratty motel rooms for days on end. About waiting anxiously for his father's gruff voice and heavy knock to tell him that everything was okay.
About the times when Dad was late, too late, and the food and money ran out.
Dean would push away the cramps in his empty belly, giving whatever food he was able to scrounge or steal to his little brother, hoping all the while that his dad was alive and well.
And whenever John did stride back into their lives, Dean would breathe a sigh of relief, fill his stomach with as much food as it could handle as soon as he could get it and bury any resentment by telling himself that it wouldn't happen again. Or again. Or again.
He had never given much thought to what his dad had been doing while he was away. Had assumed that it was a rawhead, demon or vengeful spirit that kept him away.
Never imagined that Dad was out playing make-believe with a 'normal' family while he left his kids alone.
Growling, Dean pushed the thoughts away and ordered a beer. No sense getting wasted when they had so much work to do on the case.
Slapping some money on the sticky counter, he grabbed the beer and left the bar, walking back to the motel.
Walking through the parking lot, he decided against going into room, choosing instead to lean against the Impala and watch his...brothers.
Brothers.
He watched as Adam lifted one of their homemade flame-throwers and pantomimed throwing it like an oversized grenade. Laughing, Sam shook his head, motioning with his hands as he explained the weapon.
At least, that's what Dean assumed he was doing. He couldn't really be sure, since he was on the outside, cut off from the pair. Alone in the darkness. Again.
Dean had never really fit in anywhere. With other kids his age, he had always been the new kid, the freak with the smooth moves and smart mouth. Someone to admire from a distance.
Even with Sam he had never quite fit. Didn't understand the desire or need, even, for normalcy. Had watched his brother excel, make friends and get out.
And though Dean didn't get it, he didn't begrudge his brother it at all. Sammy had always been better and deserved more than the rest of them.
He was the best of them and Dean only wanted to make sure that his brother had the chance to do and be all that he wanted.
Because he was the big brother and that's what big brothers were for. To protect little brothers from whatever would hurt them. From monsters and demons and burdens that were too heavy.
From a life that would bring all that and much more.
Dean sighed and fingered the slick glass of his beer, all remnants of anger dulled to acceptance.
Just because Adam hadn't grown up with them didn't make him any less John Winchester's son. Their brother.
Their little brother.
And Dean would do what he had always done. Dad had wanted Adam safe, wanted him away from the pain and danger of a hunter's life and that was what Dean was going to do.
Return Adam safely to his apple-pie life and get the hell out of Dodge before they could bring any more danger to him.
Because Adam was family and that was all that mattered.