I'm back! Allow me to let you in on a little secret: I've been dying to write this one since forever. Finally got the chance. Reviews are greatly apprciated.

Title: You Will Believe A Man Can Fly

Summary: Sam decides that his father might have locked away the secret to saving Dean's soul in his locker at Black Rock and drags the older man along for the search. While there, Dean stumbles across an old Halloween costume of their father's that turns out to be much more. Turns out Tom Welling has it easy, because "every hero needs a villain."

Rating: T for language, violence, and some innuendo

Warnings: None

A/N: This is NOT a crossover story. It does, however, make multiple references to Smallville. References are also made to the CW's new post-strike schedule, just for fun :)

Spoilers: Supernatural seasons 2 (The Deal) and 3 from BDABR through 'Malleus Malificarum;' Smallville seasons 1-6

Bonus: All chapters are named for lines in songs that either mention Superman or have something to do with this story. 8 different songs are used in all. How many can you identify?

Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural. I don't own Smallville. I don't own Superman. I don't own Reaper. Basically, nothing mentioned in this story but the story itself is mine. I know. It's so sad.

You Will Believe A Man Can Fly

Prologue

And After All, You're My Wonderwall

October 31, 1983

Watching his oldest son run down the street, clutching a bag of candy, long red cape trailing out behind him, John had trouble believing that the boy was almost five. Five meant school and teachers and friends and long days away from home. Five meant that his little boy was growing up, wouldn't be so little anymore. One day he would go off to college, get married, have two-point-five kids, a house with a white picket fence, the works.

For the moment, though, Dean was just a spastic four-year-old, his slight depression at the fact that he couldn't share Halloween with his new baby brother all but forgotten in the sugar rush that had recently overtaken him.

The boy jumped up the stairs leading to the latest door and stood on tip-toes to ring the doorbell, stepping back and holding his candy bag out expectantly as the lock was clicked and the tumblers fell back.

Mike Guenther opened the door and gazed down at the boy, a smile on his usually grease-streaked face. "Well," he boomed, reaching into the house to grab a bowl full of candy, "I'll be. It's a bird. It's a plane. It's-"

"Superman!" Dean answered, placing his little hands on his hips and puffing up his chest in an imitation of his favorite superhero.

"Superman," Mike nodded. He looked down the driveway at John, his smile widening, "and his daddy. Well, I'll be, it's the Supers."

"Hey, Mike," John grinned, raising a hand in greeting as he joined his son on his friend's front porch, "how's it going?"

"Going great, Johnny," Mike replied, "getting' a lot of kids this year. Say, speaking of kids, where's your other one?"

"Home with his mother. We didn't want to tucker him out too early."

Mike nodded in agreement. "I like the costumes. You match."

John glanced down at his son and ruffled the boy's hair. "Yeah, well, Dean picked 'em out. He's going through a Superman phase."

"It's not a phase," Dan insisted, "Superman's my favorite. I wanna be him someday and fly all around and save everybody… daddy, what's a phase?"

"A period of time," John answered, "it means that sometimes what people like changes."

"Well, I'm gonna like Superman forever, 'cause he's just like you."

The boy's father raised his eyebrows. "How's that?" He glanced at Mike, who shrugged and held out the bowl of candy to the boy.

"Superman can't die," Dan said simply, taking a piece of candy from the bowl. He thanked Mike and wandered off down the path toward the driveway, swinging his bag at his side as he added his latest treasure to it.

John turned wide eyes toward his friend. "What am I gonna do about that?" It was to soon to have to give the boy the first lesson in the Facts of Life, the one that said that no one was invincible, that parents died. He'd wanted to hold that lesson off for as long as possible.

"Don't sweat it," Mike advised, stowing his candy bowl back in the house, "kids say stuff like that all the time. He'll figure it out on his own eventually, but until then there's no need to rush things. Let him be a kid."

Smiling, the mechanic nodded in agreement. "Guess you're right." He looked down the darkened driveway to where his son stood, hopping impatiently from foot to foot, barely missing stepping on the long cape that trailed behind him. "I should go before he blasts me with his heat vision."

Mike grinned, waving as father and son set off down the street together. Looking down at his boy, John knew that Mike had been right. He needed to let the kid be a kid for as long as he could. There was no need to tell about parental mortality, to reveal the harsh truths of life to him. With luck, he'd never have to learn them.

o0o0o0o0o0o

Two days later, Dean learned. His house, his mother, his childhood, his life as he'd known it went up in smoke. Suddenly, he didn't want to be Superman. He couldn't be. He had to be a dad. And with the transferring of responsibility from father to son on that fateful November night, Dean faced mortality- not just his mother's, but his own.

Don't worry. The chapters to follow are definitely longer.

So, about those reviews... :)