Summary: Sam Winchester wakes up on Halloween in the year 2005 with vivid memories of a future he's trying hard not to believe. Dean not showing up in his kitchen that night makes his job that much easier and he continues his life as normal. A week passes after Jess's supposed death day with her alive and healthy, but Sam can't shake the feeling that something is horribly wrong. So does what he's always done in situations like these. He calls his big brother.
"Sam? What are you still doing up, honey?"
Looking up from his staring contest with his cup of milk, Sam Winchester smiled at his girlfriend, who was standing in the doorway to their kitchen with a worried expression on her face.
Waving her over, Sam wordlessly wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close and resting his cheek against her tummy. Using his free hand, he tangled his fingers with hers, bringing her hand up to kiss her knuckles.
"I love you so much," he whispered, and she just smiled, stroking her fingers through his hair.
"What's gotten into you, silly?"
"Nothing," mumbled Sam, his eyes drifting closed for a second as he let himself revel in the fact that Jess was alive. Alive and not burning on their bedroom ceiling.
They stood there in companionable silence for a few minutes before Jess pulled away slightly, saying, "Come on, Sam. Let's get to bed."
And as he sat there, Jess still alive and whole and waiting patiently for him to come to bed, he finally made his decision.
"I'll be there soon. I just need to make a call."
"A call?" she asked. "Who are you going to call at two in the morning?"
"My brother," he replied simply, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Just feels like this silly feud between us has been going on too long and I'm tired, you know? I want my big brother back."
Jessica looked taken aback for a second, but then she smiled a tender smile and ruffled his hair, saying, "That's great, Sam. You know I've always wanted you to get back in touch with your family. But don't you think you should wait until tomorrow morning? You know, instead of waking him up in the middle of the night?"
This startled a small laugh out of Sam and he shook his head, saying in a quiet voice, "I'm scared I'll lose my nerve before tomorrow morning. I've always idolized Dean, you know? And there's a big chance he's going to be real angry at me, so…"
Jess just stared at him a while before nodding and taking the seat in front of him.
Sam just smiled, happy that he had her presence there for moral support before taking a deep breath and picking up the cell phone that had been lying on the table.
Dean's cellphone number had probably changed since the last time Sam had talked to him, and the only person Sam could contact who'd know it was Bobby. But instead of dialling his surrogate uncle's phone number, his traitorous fingers dialled in the number for Dean's "other other cell" which probably didn't actually exist and would give him one of those "this number is not in order please try again" messages.
But Sam was surprised when, lo and behold, a dial tone came on when he put the phone to his ear, and after three rings, it went straight to voice mail, and his brother's voice came on the line.
"This is Dean's other other cell and if you're listening to it, then you're Sammy, and you have the same memories of the future that I do. It also means that I'm dead."
Sam felt his heart stop, and his fingers began trembling. Across from him, Jess's expression grew worried. Dean's voice continued.
"Hey, hey, I can practically hear you crying right now, Samantha. What's there to cry about? I actually went down fighting, if you can believe it. Closed the gates of hell all by myself! And maybe a little help from a certain angel, but that's not important. Now you can live that normal life you're always going on about! And with Jess no less! No stupid big brother to drag you back into a world you had no place in, so you can be that hotshot lawyer you've dreamed of all your life! Just…promise me you'll have a good life, alright? Bye Sammy. I love you."
By now, there were tears streaming non-stop down Sam's cheeks and great big ugly sobs were escaping from his throat as he lowered the cell phone from his ear.
Within seconds, Jess was up and out of her seat, wrapping him in a tight hug and taking the cell phone from him.
Flipping it closed, she sat the phone down on the table and asked, "What's wrong, sweetie? What happened? You didn't even say anything!"
Turning to bury her face into her tummy again, Sam said a muffled, "He's dead."
"What?" asked Jessica, sounding completely bewildered. "How…?"
"His v-voicemail. He recorded it knowing he wouldn't survive what he was planning to do. I didn't even get a proper goodbye, Jess! He knew he was going to die, and all he left me was a fucking voicemail message!"
And Jessica didn't reply, just hugged her boyfriend tighter, letting him crying into her shirt for what seemed like hours.
And when his tears had finally run out, and he was dropping from fatigue, she helped him to his feet and brought him back to their shared bedroom.
That night, Sam fell asleep to gentle fingers running through his hair, just like Dean used to when he was younger and had crawled into his older brother's bed after having a nightmare.
The next day was a Saturday, and Sam and Jessica spent it in bed, cuddling.
And when there came a knock on their door, Jessica got up to answer it, leaving Sam curled up into a tight little ball in their bed, his eyes red and puffy.
Upon opening the door, the blond didn't quite know how to react when she saw two guys roughly her height, maybe a few years older than her. The one with deep blue eyes and messy black hair was supporting his green-eyed companion, who looked as if he should be in a hospital bed at the moment with pale skin, dark purple bruises under his eyes and a bandage wrapped around his head. His dirty blond hair was sticking out at odd angles, and he looked as if he would collapse at any moment, but he was wearing a determined expression.
"Can I help you?" asked Jessica, slightly worried.
But the green-eyed man just smiled brightly at her, seeming almost awed at seeing her standing there, which was strange, to say the least.
"Hey Jess," he said with a soft, almost tender voice, and Jessica was immediately on guard.
"How do you know my name?" she asked, backing up a little.
"I know your boyfriend," replied the green-eyed man, and Jessica felt herself relax just a little bit. "Anyways, when I woke up this morning in the hospital, I saw that I'd had a missed call from the night before from Sammy. And when I realized I'd completely forgotten to erase that stupid message, well, I kinda thought I should probably get here before that kid goes into depression."
He grimaced apologetically after he finished speaking, and Jessica's eyes widened in complete and utter shock as her mind registered just who was standing in front of her.
"Dean?" she gasped, and the guy winked once in what she thought was supposed to be a charming manner.
"The one and only," he replied.
Rushing forward to help his companion support the obviously sick Winchester, Jessica wrapped an arm around his waist, helping him into the apartment.
"Sam!" she yelled after she'd kicked the door closed. "Get in here right now!"
Wincing in reply, Dean just smiled, saying, "Damn, girl, you've got a powerful pair of lungs on you."
"Sorry," she replied as she and Dean's companion helped him into a chair.
Before Jessica could ask the other man who he was, there came the sound of padding feet and Sam's voice asking, "Who is-?"
He stopped midsentence, however, as he got into the room and saw the blue-eyed man, and asked in a stunned voice, "Cas?"
Then his gaze settled on his brother, whose chair was facing away from the door, and his eyes widened dramatically and Jessica saw that he'd stopped breathing.
Then Dean turned around, smiling widely at his younger brother and stood, swaying slightly.
"D-Dean," he choked out, stepping forward and crushing his brother into a tight hug.
"Hey, Samantha. What's with all the tears?"