*Hi! This is part of my 'Lessons' series. Just the boys learning how to do stuff hands on, by the ways of John Winchester. Enjoy!*

Dean – 20

Sam 16

We'll just say this takes place about 3 months after 'Lesson Number 1', you don't have to read that story to understand this one.

~*SPN*~

It was a nice fall day in a small little town they were driving by, when John noticed a huge patch of woods that could be used to his advantage. He knew his boys were properly trained, but it never hurt to brush up on the basics like tracking. Tracking is very important, especially when you're looking for a wendigo a lost person or some other supernatural creature in the middle of the woods, in the middle of nowhere.

He pulled up and parked near the entrance, both his sons looked at him, his youngest putting down his book of 'The Great Gatsby' he got for his last birthday.

"Dad what's going on?" Dean asked. Last he knew they were on their way to a city like area to hustle some pool.

"Boys, this is a training exercise."

Both Sam and Dean sighed. They were familiar with their father's 'training exercises,' and they were hard and extensive.

"What kind of training are we doing in the woods?" Sam asked, still a little tired from their last hunt of a stubborn poltergeist.

"I want to see how long it takes you two to find your way out from the other side of these woods. I'm going to drop you off here, I'll swing around the other side, and time you two. Usually I would only have one of you do this at a time, but I think learning about teamwork is in favor."

Dean scoffed. "What? Me and Sammy make a great team! Don't we Sam?"

Dean looked in the backseat where Sam was glaring at him.

"Yeah Dean. If you count 'hey Sam go attract the angry monster in the open field so me and dad could shoot it,' teamwork."

"I do not say that!"

"You have ever since I got my growth spirt!"

Dean thought about it and nodded. Sam was as tall as he was, and the kid was all legs. He could run like it was nothing, why not have him run in the middle of the open field to attract the monster?

"First of all that thing was already wounded, no way it going to catch you, second me and dad were going to shoot it befit could even get close to you."

Before Sam could say anything John spoke.

"Ok boys that's enough. Get your duffels, I'll meet you on the other side."

Both Sam and Dean grabbed their duffels and got out of the car. They stood there as they watched their father drive away. Dean turned and slapped his brother on the shoulder making him wince.

"Lighten up there Sam. That ghost didn't throw you that hard."

"It threw me into a wall, I dislocated my shoulder, the shoulder you just hit."

"Well. It'll toughen you up."

Dean hit the same shoulder as before, and Sam closed his eyes and took a long breath in to try and hide the pain while Dean just walked away with a smirk on his face. Sam followed after him, making sure to get him back for that. Once his shoulder wasn't so messed up.

~*SPN*~

Both boys were walking in the woods. They knew what to look for when it came to finding your way out of the woods to get to civilization, without the need for a compass or a man-made path. They stayed quiet for a while, their father didn't mention anything about supernatural creatures being in these woods, but it didn't mean that there wasn't any. Even if you look up the history of a place, it could still hold its secrets.

After a while it started to get dark. They've been walking for hours, and they were more than certain that somehow they got lost. Horribly lost to be perfectly honest.

"Dam it Dean I thought you said that you were positive this way would lead to the where dad would be."

"I didn't say I was positive I said I was almost positive. There's a difference. Plus I don't see you offering any useful tips for getting us out of here."

"How about don't get lost to begin with. I hate it when dad does this. We're still tired from the last job. He couldn't have waited until we recovered a little?"

"Creatures don't wait until we recover. They just attack at any given moment."

"Yeah I get that, but it's getting dark and we are lost!"

"Ye have little faith little brother. In a little bit we will build a fire, and camp out. Find our way out in the morning."

"Camp out?! Dean dad will be pissed if we don't show tonight. Hell I'm sure he's pissed now!"

"What's got your panties in a bunch?"

Sam shook his head and looked away from Dean.

"I can get us out of here."

Dean took a look at Sam.

"How do you know how to get us out of here when I can't get us out of here?"

"I'm better at directions than you are. That's all."

The boys look at each other. Dean has a scowl on his face and Sam is starting to smirk. Sam knows every time Dean navigates, he gets them lost. But the once in a while that Sam will navigate, he's perfect every time.

"Better at direction?"

"Yeah. I don't know maybe I have more iron in my nose than you do."

Dean raised an eyebrow at his brother, then a thought came to mind and he started laughing.

"Oh my dude, did you just quote home improvement?"

"What?" Sam thought about it and started laughing.

"Yeah I did, but they were on the right track." Sam said.

"Oh man. I'm so used to you quoting things from science geek books, not t.v shows.!"

The boys had a good laugh for a while until it got dark, then the nervousness started to settle in.

"Dean wait, I think it's this way." Sam pointed to a row of trees, opposite where Dean was looking.

Dean stopped walking and looked at Sam.

" No way, it's definitely this way." Dean argued.

The boys were at a standstill, both figuring they were right, and neither wanting to back down.

"What makes you think it's that way?" Dean asked, daring Sam to come up with a logical answer.

"I just have a feeling. Plus how do you know your way is right?"

Of course Sam had the same come back as Dean.

"Look, we don't have time to stand around and argue. We have to get out of these woods now, or we settle in for the night."

"I can tell you right now we are not getting out of these woods anytime soon."

"Fine then. You stay here and I'll start collecting wood to make a fire."

"You're not serious?! Dean we need to get back to dad or else he's going to be seriously pissed!"

"He's going to be pissed either way, might as well make a fire."

Dean turned around and started walking away, his flashlight being the only source of light other than the moon and the stars.

Sam laid down on the ground and put his flashlight next to him on the ground. One thing about being out in the middle of the woods was how clear the night sky was. He was in total bliss at the sight, and after a while slowly started to close his eyes.

~*SPN*~

Sam's eyes were closed for only a few minutes when he heard rustling coming from the bushes behind him. He grabbed his flashlight, got to his feet, and looked towards the bushes. There was no wind, and it sounded larger than a mere rabbit that was in those bushes, yet he saw nothing. He started inching towards the site looking for the culprit when he felt a presence behind him. He was hoping it was only Dean, but with his luck he knew that wasn't the case.

Sam was just about to turn around when a hand clamped over his mouth, and he dropped his flashlight.

~*SPN*~

Dean just got finished collecting the perfect assortment of sticks for the fire, and was headed back from the way he just came.

"Hey Sam these are a little heavy, can I get some help here?"

Dean didn't hear his sibling's voice so continued to walk. He could see the light from the flashlight, but it was on the ground, and he saw no Sam. He dropped the bundle of sticks and made a mad dash towards the fallen flashlight. He picked it up and started looking around, becoming frantic when there was no sight of Sam.

"Sam!"

"Sammy!"

Dean strained his ears to listen for a faint 'Dean', but he heard nothing.

"Oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap."

Dean started panicking and ripping threw his duffel. He pulled out his cell phone and of course, no signal. He slammed the phone shut and threw it back in the duffel. He wiped his hand down his face.

"Ok, dad said there was nothing in the woods, but there always could be. Uuummm my best guess would be wendigo, I have to look for the lair."

Dean was more talking to himself then anything. Of course it would be easier to bounce ideas off of Sam, but much to Dean's dismay Sam wasn't here, and neither was his dad. He was all alone, and his only options were to either keep trying to find his way out of the woods and find his dad, or stay in the woods and try and find Sam. Knowing that his brother could be hurt or worse by the time he found their dad and they found Sam, he decided to find Sam first then find their dad. Finding Sam was the number one priority, no matter what. He would take the punishment his dad was going to dish out to him after he found Sam. He grabbed his and Sam's duffels, both flashlights, and started on tracking his brother.

~*SPN*~

To say Sam was pissed was an understatement. If he belonged to a normal family he wouldn't have to put up with this shit. But here he was, stuck in a cave, loosely tied up yet again, and his father was sitting beside him. He wouldn't even look at him.

"Oh come on Sam. You and Dean were getting nowhere fast."

Sam looked at his dad.

"That's because we are both tired and frustrated, and how is taking me AGAIN going to help the situation? All it's going to do is freak out Dean."

"Dean will try and find you, then I'll know how good he is at tracking."

"Why don't you ever kidnap Dean and make me find him?!"

"Because, I was actually following you boys, and when you came to the area where you guys couldn't figure out which way to go, you were right. Your way would have gotten you guys out of the woods, and Dean would have gotten more lost. So Dean needs this exercise more than you do. But don't worry I'll give you one, one of these days."

Sam looked away from his father. Well he was right, that was something. It was almost worth being tied up…almost.

"But dam it dad why do you have to tie me up to prove a point?"

"If I didn't you would go looking for your brother and I need him to find you not the other way around. I know how you operate son."

Uhhhgg. His dad was right. Once his dad's back was turned he would have run out of the cave to find Dean. He knew the ropes around his wrists and ankles weren't tied to tight, and if he tried he could certainly get out of them, but not while his dad was sitting right next to him. He sighed and banged his head against the wall behind him, and closed his eyes. He knew Dean was freaking out right now, and he hated it.

"Consider this a lesson. 1 you guys need to listen to each other as team mates, and two you both need to learn to listen to your instincts. There were several times when I saw Dean lead you two, and when he was going to choose the right path, he choose the wrong one each time, making you guys more and more lost, and you didn't speak up even though you knew it was the wrong one."

"Fine, but next time how about you try and teach me a lesson and tie up Dean."

Sam tried to say it in his most pissed off voice he could muster, but in the end he knew his dad was right in his own way.

John smiled and ruffled Sam's hair which made the kid crack a small smile. He knew both his boys were capable, but they are also still young and still learning.

~*SPN*~

After a little while Dean noticed two sets of boot prints in the ground, and they were walking one set in front of the other. The only thing Dean could think of was this wasn't a wendigo, this was a human, and whoever it was had Sam walking in front of him, and walking close. Like Sam was positioned right in front of the guy's chest, being held in place. And seeing some of the marks made him conclude that his brother was struggling with whoever was holding him.

Dean became deathly serious. Some crazed man had his brother. He could be human, or it could be a werewolf in human form that was walking through the woods and happened upon Sam. Either scenario didn't sit well with Dean, and pushed himself harder to follow the tracks. Sure his brother was more than capable of taking care of himself, but if the person came at him from behind and surprised him, then he would have less of a fighting chance.

~*SPN*~

Dean finally saw a little bit of light up ahead. It looked as if it was coming out of the hole of a cave. 'BINGO.' Dean thought. This must be where Grizzly Adams was keeping Sam.

He drew his gun, and slowly but surely made his way to the mouth of the cave. He went to go peek in when something heavy tackled him from the side, knocking him down.

~*SPN*~

Sam was still pissed, especially now that his dad gagged him, again. John had put up a silent trap that would make noise if someone was approaching the cave mouth, and once it alerted him he knew it was Dean. He quickly gagged Sam and made his way outside.

Sam heard a loud grunt and turned towards the mouth of the cave. He saw two figures fighting and recognized them right away as his dad and Dean. He rolled his eyes and grunted as he heard the struggle outside.

Finally after about fifteen minutes Sam heard laughter, talk about Déjà vu. It was just like the first time his dad had the brilliant idea of teaching them a 'lesson' about not properly securing the room, and Sam found himself in the same exact predicament.

His dad 'taking' him out of the room.

His dad throwing him in the back of the truck.

His dad tying him up.

His dad and Dean coming out of said motel room laughing and joking it up while Sam was practically being held hostage in the truck.

Go figure. Sometimes being the youngest sucked.

Once again he heard laughter, and turned to see his dad and Dean laughing while the two of them were bloody and bruised and had dirt covering them from head to toe and were decorated with some pretty nice bruises.

John went to the back of the cave to get his supplies as Dean kneeled in front of Sam, still with a smirk on his face.

"You can't keep letting dad push you around like this Sam." Dean said with laughter still evident in his voice.

Without even thinking about it Sam pulled his bound wrists back and brought them hard into his brother's cheek, making Dean fall backwards.

"What the hell Sam? This wasn't my idea."

"Boys play nice. Dean untie your brother and we can have a camp out, then go to the impala in the morning."

John walked out of the mouth of the cave leaving his boys alone.

Dean slowly walked up to a fuming Sam, and before anything else happened quickly grabbed his wrists and held them.

"I'm not untying you until you promise not to hit me."

With his free hand he pulled Sam's gag down.

"I promise I won't hit you."

"Now why don't I believe you?"

Sam rolled his eyes.

"Really though Sammy why are you mad at me? This wasn't my idea. Not to mention I did in fact end up finding you."

"Why am I the one who get in trouble all the time in these scenarios?"

Dean reached forward and ruffled Sam's hair, messing it up.

"Cause you're a princess, and apparently I'm the one who needs to be taught these lessons. Now if you promise not to hit me, I'll untie you."

Sam rolled his eyes yet again and lifted up his wrists. Dean let go and grabbed for his knife from behind his back, and started sawing at the ropes. Once those were free he started at his ankles.

"So. What was the lesson this time?" Sam asked. Sure John mentioned it, but he wanted to see if he and Dean were on the same page.

"Oh I don't know. Teamwork, listening to each other, tracking blah blah blah blah."

The ropes fell free from his ankles. Dean stood up and reached a hand out to Sam who took it. Dean helped his brother up, and they both headed towards the mouth of the cave.

"I'm sick of these 'lessons'." Sam whined.

"Yeah well he means well. Besides it's good experience to get actual hands on training."

Sam looks at Dean.

"So. What did you do when you saw I was missing? What do you think took me?"

Dean chuckled and smiled at Sam

"I knew it was dad."

"You so did not! There was no way!"

"Aw Sammy I knew you weren't in any real trouble."

Sam smiles.

"Dude you are such a liar!"

"Am not!"

"If you knew it was dad the whole time and I wasn't in any real danger then why did you come at all?"

"Cause…..dad would have killed me otherwise."

Sam's smile widened.

"Just admit you were worried about me."

"Fine. Maybe a little."

"I knew it!" Sam laughed.

"If I lost you on dad's watch he would kill me."

"Sure Dean sure."

"Hurry up boys! I got a fire started!"

Sam nudged Dean with his good shoulder and ran off towards their dad's voice. Dean stood looking at Sam's back and smiled.

"I would never forgive myself if something happened to you." Dean whispered under his breath before running off in the same direction as his brother.

Sam was pushing for it, but Dean kept telling himself, No chick flick moments.