Growing Pains

Sam: 16

Dean: 20

Caleb: 28

It had been a while since Caleb had seen Sam, ever since Sam had hit his teenaged years he had started growing more and more argumentative and moody and the environment in the Winchester household was getting tense. It has only gotten worse since Sam had gotten his ring and became an official member of the Brotherhood. It was no secret that Sam didn't want this life, and now he felt like getting his ring was just another way for his family to keep him from leaving. Usually whenever Caleb was in town he would meet Dean at a diner or bar because Caleb knew the guy needed a break from all the fighting. Dean loved his Dad and brother, and when they fought, he tried to be the peacemaker and the other two Winchester couldn't see that all the fighting was tearing them apart. This week though, Caleb was planning on meeting Sam and Dean in Texas at their latest home. Sam had just finished school for the year and John had left the boys in a motel for the month while him and Bobby went to deal with some hunts in the area. John had basically left Dean with the responsibility of knocking the attitude out of Sam when he was gone. Caleb decided to go and help Dean out because he knew a thing or two about moody teenagers, after all he had lived through Dean's teenaged angst, and although he would never admit it to his father, he had been a handful too. He pulled into the motel parking lot a little after one in the morning, and grimaced at the run down motel in front of him. Another classic Winchester home base, definitely a place you could rent by the month, day, or hour. He knocked on the door and wasn't surprised when it swung open and there was a nine millimeter pointing at his chest. Dean quickly lowered the weapon and put the safety on and Caleb stepped into the room.

"You know Deuce, in any world but ours it would be weird to have your closest friend point a gun at you as a hello." Caleb said calmly dropping his bag on the floor. Dean smirked and closed the door behind Caleb.

"Yeah well gotta keep you on your toes Damien." Caleb rolled his eyes.

"Where's the Runt?"

"Wish I knew." Dean sighed. "I told him to be home by ten, shows how much he listens to me."

"Are you sure he is okay?" Caleb was genuinely concerned, he never liked when one of the Winchesters was off on their own without any protection. "Should we go look for him?"

"Nah, he just likes to break curfew lately." Caleb frowned and shook his head.

"I always knew he was going to be the rebellious one out of the two of you, I just never thought I would see the day Sammy stopped listening to you, your Dad maybe, but never you." Dean sighed, and ran his hand through his hair.

"It's been almost a year since you have seen him, he ain't the same kid that you knew." Caleb felt guilty; he should have been around more. "You thought he was mouthy before? Just wait; you will see why I always go out with you instead of bringing you back here. Oh and you may want to rethink the Runt nickname, the kid is growing like a friggin' weed." Caleb and Dean were sitting in the kitchen drinking beers when Sam finally strolled in at two thirty in the morning. Dean was right about one thing, the kid must be narrowing in on six feet tell and he was starting to fill out, much less gangly since the last time Caleb had seen him. His hair had only gotten longer, and a curtain of thick bangs covered his eyes.

"What the hell have you been feeding this kid Deuce?" Caleb said, Sam nodded his greeting to Caleb and want to the fridge. He grabbed an apple and sat down across from Dean who was staring at his little brother with anger and heat, Sam just calmly stared back while he chewed on his food.

"So you gonna tell me?" Dean said evenly, Sam quirked an eyebrow at his brother, in a way that reminded Caleb of John.

"Tell you what?" Sam asked innocently.

"How about where you have been for the last four hours?"

"Around." Sam replied coolly. Caleb ducked his head trying to hide his smirk, he had to give it to Sam, the kid had balls.

"Well thanks for that Sam, do you care to elaborate?"

"Not really, I was just out with some people."

"And you missed curfew because?" Sam tossed the apple core into the trashcan, and stared back at his brother.

"Because I am not going to be home at ten o'clock for the rest of the summer and you are not my fucking father, so stop trying to enforce your stupid rules on me." Dean flinched; Caleb knew that hurt his friend, Dean had practically raised the kid alone while John had been off killing monsters.

"Right." Dean responded sarcastically. "Because you always do exactly as Dad says without argument." Sam grunted and left the table; he put his bag on the bed and began pulling clothes out of his duffel.

"Well I made it home safe and sound, so now you and Caleb can go out, get drunk and pick up cheap hookers." Sam walked out of the room and slammed the bathroom door behind him.

"We weren't done Sam!" Dean yelled.

"Go to hell Dean!" Dean mumbled something under his breath and downed the rest of his beer, and when he looked over at Caleb, who was smiling wildly.

"What the hell are you smiling about Reaves? I swear to God I am gonna kill the little brat by the end of the summer." Caleb laughed out loud at that.

"No, you won't. There were lots of times I wanted to kill you, but I didn't." Dean looked deeply offended at the comment.

"Please Damien, I was never that bad."

"Oh yes, you were, you drove me crazy, but you calmed down eventually, and so will he." Dean sighed.

"Any way to make it go by faster?" Caleb smirked.

"Well… you got better once I took you to the Red Caboose…" Dean choked on his beer, and looked absolutely horrified.

"No way in hell Damien."

"Hey, Sammy is older then you were when I first took you there, maybe it's time for him to get laid, work out that teenaged angst on something fun."

"Yeah but Sam's… you know, Sam…" Caleb laughed and shook his head.

"I was joking kid, Sam is definitely gonna have to wait a little longer then we did. Maybe we could just make him run extra drills or something." Sam came out of the bathroom and sat down on the third bed farthest from the door with his headphones in his ears ignoring the other two men in the room. He fell asleep quickly; after all it was early in the morning. Dean took the CD player and headphones away from his brother and stood there watching him for a second, a small grin making its way across his face.

"He still looks like a little kid when he is asleep…" Dean said.

"Yeah well, cherish it Deuce, because before you know it, he is gonna be awake again." Dean smirked, and both men went to their separate beds to get some much needed rest. Caleb was woken up a few hours later by a feeling of panic, and it wasn't his panic that he was feeling. He had always been emotionally connected to the Winchesters, and he sat up in his bed, looking around in the dark.

"Deuce?" Caleb said.

"Mmmm…. What?" Dean grumbled.

"Are you okay?" Dean sat up and turned on the light.

"Of course I'm okay, what are you talking about?"

"Something's wrong…" Caleb and Dean turned towards Sam as he began to move and whine in his sleep. Dean was at his side quickly attempting to wake him up, Caleb followed, feeling the panic increase as their youngest tossed and turned on the bed.

"Sammy, wake up." Dean grabbed Sam's shoulder, and Sam screamed. "Sam!" Dean yelled and Sam's eyes flew open, he felt the hand on his shoulder, and back away from it falling off the other side of the bed. He curled into himself, and looked up with glazed eyes, staring at the ceiling above the bed, his breathing ragged and choppy.

"Dean, he is having a frigging panic attack."

"I know." Dean pulled his brother up onto his chest, and put his hand over Sam's heart. "Sammy, can you hear me?" Sam nodded his head, but kept his eyes firmly planted on the ceiling. "Can you look at me?" Dean turned Sam's head towards him and Sam tore his eyes from the ceiling and focused on Dean, flicking his eyes between Dean and Caleb, who was now crouched down on the floor beside the brothers watching as Sam struggled to take a deep breath. Sam was still struggling to breath, and his eyes began to close as the darkness began to close in around him. His grip tightened on Dean's shirt trying to communicate that he couldn't get any air into his lungs.

"Hey! C'mon kid, stay awake." Caleb said. Sam's eyes flew back open, and he listened to his brother's heartbeat, trying to match his breathing to Dean's just like he used to when he was a little kid and after a few minutes his own breathing evened out, and Sam pushed away from Dean, stood up on uneasy legs and went into the bathroom and turned on the tap. Caleb and Dean remained sitting on the floor, unsure of what to do next listening to the sound of the tap running in the bathroom.

"Well that was a hell of a nightmare…" Caleb said.

"Yeah… I didn't think he still had nightmares… but that was definitely the worst I have seen in a long time." Dean walked over to the bathroom door and knocked on the door softly. "Sammy? You alright in there?" The tap turned off, and Sam opened the door, but didn't look at Dean, he kept his eyes downcast.

"M'fine…" Sam said, but Caleb could tell he wasn't Sam was hiding something from them, but when Caleb went looking he felt a pain in his head, Sam was blocking him out.

"Stay out of my head Caleb." Sam said sharply. He sat down at the table and seemed to be deep in thought. Dean gave him his space, and Caleb and him went back to the other side of the room, and sat on their beds, waiting for Sam to say something. After awhile Sam came over and sat on the end Dean's bed, he rubbed his eyes, his head was hurting. "Dean?"

"What's up kid?"

"I… I need to ask you something… but you can't get mad at me okay?" Dean frowned, and looked at Caleb, who shrugged.

"Sammy, you know you can ask me anything…" Sam met his brother's eyes, and all Dean saw was the five year old Dean had raised instead of the moody sixteen year old Sam now was.

"Dean, just promise me…"

"Okay Sam, I promise."

"The night that Mom died…" Dean tensed, but said nothing, he had promised he wouldn't get mad, even though every time he thought about his Mom it hurt him. "Was she wearing a white nightgown?" Dean's eyes flew up to look at his little brother and then he looked over at Caleb who was watching the brothers carefully.

"Why would you ask that Sam?"

"Dean, was she wearing a white nightgown!" Sam asked again. Dean couldn't lie to his brother.

"Yeah, she was…" Sam's eyes filled out with tears and he began to breath heavily again. "No Sam, don't start that again, breathe." Sam nodded and took a deep breath and wiped the tears from his eyes. He stood up and attempted to walk back to his bed, when Dean grabbed his arm.

"Dean, let me go."

"No Sammy, please just tell me, what the hell is scaring you?"

"Let me go!" Sam screamed and he elbowed Dean in the stomach hard, Sam wasn't exactly a beanpole anymore, and he was getting hard to control. Caleb jumped off the bed, and pulled Sam off of Dean, trying to keep Sam from hurting anyone, including himself.

"Calm down kid, its okay." Sam was fighting Caleb and Dean's hold, but eventually calmed down and started crying again, Caleb and Dean looked at each other with the same concern written all over there face. Sam was the youngest and he wore his heart on his sleeve, but he didn't cry, hadn't in years and here they stood holding a sobbing six foot tall Sam Winchester.

"Sammy? What's going on?" Dean asked, pushing his bangs out of his little brothers face. Sam shook in Dean's hold.

"She was wearing white, and she was on the ceiling… Dad came in, and leaned over my crib and her blood dripped onto us, and he screamed… He told you to go, told you to go outside as fast as you could… and you ran outside with me…" Dean's eyes got wide, and Caleb stared at Sam, he had heard the story before, but Sam had never heard the whole story before, they wanted to protect him from that. He knew his mom was killed by something Supernatural that was all he had to know.

"Sammy, how do you know all that?"

"I dreamt it…" Sam said. "Why would I dream that?" Dean put his brothers head under his chin, and looked at Caleb who was sitting beside them in silence.

"I don't know Sammy… but you are going to be okay."