A/N- Spoilers to 5x17 Dark Side of the Moon. Dean- "This is a good memory for you? You ran away on my watch. I looked everywhere for you, I thought you were dead. And when dad came home…" I know it's been done before, but I wanted a crack at it as well. Also as a side note I didn't add Sam's dog into the story just because. Enjoy! LPI3
Disclaimer- I don't own supernatural or any of its characters.
~*~
"Sam! Where the hell are you? You better answer your damn phone and call me back or I swear your ass is mine when I find you!" Dean hung up the cell phone and threw it angrily into the passenger's seat of the impala. He growled out a string of curses and hit the steering wheel with his fist. Sam had been missing now for forty- eight hours and Dean was going out of his mind with worry.
The kid had slipped out of his bedroom window after Dean had passed out in the other room drinking beer and watching an old monster movie marathon. The next morning when Dean had gotten up to get Sam ready for school he found a note on the kid's bed saying he had to leave and not to worry.
Not worry. Ha! How was he not supposed to worry? His thirteen year old little brother was out there somewhere. Hurt? Was he in some kind of trouble? Dead? What killed Dean the most was that he had let Sam run off. He was supposed to watching the kid and instead let him run away. Their dad was going to kill him. Dad. Dean groaned and rubbed at his eyes with the palm of his hand, he hadn't slept since Sam had gone and his eyes burned with tiredness. Dad's number one rule was 'watch out for Sammy'. What was he going to do when he found out Dean couldn't even handle that?
The cell phone began ringing and Dean nearly swerved off the road trying to reach for it. He quickly answered it hoping to hear Sam's annoying voice.
"Dean?" It was John's voice however at the other end of the receiver much to Dean's dismay.
"Yes sir?" Dean asked his heart and stomach sinking.
"Are you boys ok?" John asked.
Dean hesitated a moment. Should he come clean now or hope and pray he finds Sam before their Dad gets home next week? He decided to go with the latter. "Yes sir. Everything is fine, we're doing fine." He hoped he sounded more convincing then he felt, he hated lying to their father.
"Good. How's training? You drilling Sammy hard?" So far so good, the man seemed to be buying it.
"You know me Dad, train hard first, play later." Where was that damn kid?!
John chuckled. "That's what I like to hear. Listen, you know the hunt I'm on, the one with the poltergeist?"
Dean nodded, "yes sir?"
"Turns out its nothing, just some dumbass teenagers playing pranks on their neighbors, so I'm going to be coming home early."
Dean was not one to express his emotions, especially being a sixteen year old boy, but he could have cried right then and there. Never the less he choked out a "Great!" through gritted teeth. "When will you be back?"
"I'm leaving first thing in the morning, so late tomorrow night; unless I decide to stop, then probably the next morning sometime."
"Yeah, yeah that sounds good, alright. I have to go Dad, I have to…look over Sam's homework."
John let out a laugh, "Right! Well you have fun with that then. Tell Sam I will see him later."
Dean didn't know if he should feel a little insulted at his father's comment, but he decided now was not the time. "Will do." He said and hung up quickly before dialing Sam's number again.
Once again it went straight to voicemail. "Sam. Please answer your phone!" Dean pleaded.
~*~
Two days later Dean sat on their old run down sofa staring at the clock on the wall. 2:13pm it was only a matter of time before John was due home and Dean had had no luck in finding Sam. For the past four days he had searched the town high and low at all the spots Sam would and wouldn't be and yet nothing. Dean hadn't believed Sam could have gotten further then the city limits, but he must have. He could be anywhere at this point. So he sat, defeated, watching the seconds slip away while he waited for fate to catch up to him.
The low rumble of John's engine came into earshot and Dean never thought that a simple noise like that could make him so sick. Thousands of excuses and apologies ran though his brain in the last few seconds before John walked in through the front door looking tired and solemn as always.
"Hey, Dean." John grumbled with a nod at his eldest son.
Dean stood and nodded back at his father letting out a quiet "hey," in return. It was then that he realized just how scared he actually was.
John stared at Dean a moment and then panned around at the quiet and empty apartment. "Where's Sam?" he asked suspiciously.
Dean felt his mouth go dry and his heart was pounding out of his chest. Moment of truth. No more hiding, he had to come clean now. He opened his mouth to say something but couldn't force the words out.
"Dean." John demanded with his no nonsense voice. Dean hated that voice.
"He's…he's gone." Dean managed out just barely.
John stopped a moment, just staring at his son. "What do you mean he's gone?" He asked slowly.
Dean felt it all come pouring out of him as he told the truth to his father, "He took off when I was sleeping the other night, I've been calling his phone but he's not picking up and I've searched the whole town from top to bottom. I just can't find him Dad, I'm so sorry."
John stared at Dean. "You let your brother run away?" He asked slowly in his quiet judgmental voice. Dean hated that voice even worse.
"It was an accident." Dean said quietly, swallowing nervously.
"That's not the point!" John threw his bag against the wall causing Dean to jump. "You were supposed to be watching him! You know what's out, what could get him if he's unprotected! Damn it, Dean, I thought you had more common sense than that!"
"I'm sorry! I was asleep and he snuck out his window!"
"How long has he been gone, Dean?" John demanded.
Here it comes. "Four days ago." Dean looked down at the floor, unable to meet his father's eyes.
"Four days? I called you two days ago and you said Sam was fine!" John quickly closed the distance between him and Dean and grabbed his son's shirt collar in his fist and pulled him closer. "I have a right mind to shove my foot up your ass right now, do you hear me? You better look at me when I'm talking to you!"
Dean forced himself to look up into his father's anger filled face. "I'm sorry." It was all he could manage to say.
"You're sorry? Not as sorry as you're gonna be, I can tell you that right now." John yelled. "What were you thinking Dean?" He back handed Dean across the jaw, "Answer me!"
"I wasn't thinking!" Dean cried his cheek stinging immensely from the abuse.
"Damn right you weren't thinking. One job, Dean, you have one job. What is that job?" John pushed Dean back roughly against the wall.
"Watch out for Sammy, sir." Dean could feel he was close to tears and it took everything he had not to let his father see that, it would just add more fuel to the fire if he did.
"Watch out for Sam. And what do you go and do?" John backhanded him again.
"I fucked it up." Dean knew he had to take this, if he struggled it would only make John that much more angry and would be that much worse. Plus he knew he deserved it.
"That's right you fucked it up. Just like you fuck up everything else! I give you one simple job and you can't even handle that. I never thought you would be stupid enough to do something like this. Your brother's probably dead out there and that's on you!" John grabbed a handful of Dean's hair and threw him into the coffee table which broke instantly on impact.
Dean lay there in a pile of broken wood and glass, his only defense. He heard John's heavy footsteps closing in on him before he was kicked roughly in the midsection again and again.
John stopped his attack after six or seven kicks and leaned down next to Dean. He yanked his head up by the hair and looked at his bleeding and bruised face. "You better go out there and bring him back. I don't care how long it takes you. You screwed this up so you better damn well fix it. I don't want to see you back here without your brother. Do you understand me?" John growled into the boy's face.
"Yes sir." Dean coughed out; it was hard to breath let alone talk as his ribs screamed in pain at the slightest movement.
"Get out now!" John yelled pulling Dean to his feet and pushing him towards the door. Dean grabbed his jacket and staggered the last few feet quickly out the door before his father changed his mind and decided to lay into him more.
Once he was outside and in his car he let out the tears he had been holding back, but only for a minute or two. He didn't have time to play pity party, he had a job to do and he would be damned if he wasn't going to find Sam and give him a piece of his mind. He wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand and roared the engine into life.
~*~
Sam had been living the good life for the past two weeks. He had found a little abandoned house in the middle of nowhere one state away and was doing whatever he pleased, which included eating junk food and staying up late. And best of all no Dad to boss him around and force him to hunt. The only thing was he missed Dean. He regretted the way he had just up and left, but Dean had to understand that he didn't belong there with them, he was nothing like their father and he would never be.
Sam was reading his history text book when he heard a knock at the door. He stared at it cautiously before quietly getting to his feet and grabbing the hand gun off the counter. He hadn't quite made it to the door when it swung open and in walked-
"Dean?" Sam asked a little in disbelief. He slowly lowered the gun.
"Hey, Sammy. You're a pain in the ass to track down, you know that?" Dean looked around the run down room.
"How did you find me?" Sam sounded only a little disappointed.
"You start using Dad's credit cards at the Quicky-Mart in the next state over and it makes it pretty easy." Sam could tell Dean was upset he was even telling jokes in a serous tone.
"Dean…" Sam began but he was cut off by a sharp slap to the face. He staggered back a few steps and grabbed his cheek, staring at Dean in disbelief and pain.
"Don't you ever do that to me again!" Dean yelled in the meanest voice he could muster, which was pretty mean considering all he had been through. "Do you understand me?"He hated that he sounded like their father.
Sam, still clutching his pink throbbing cheek nodded and began crying. "I'm sorry, Dean!"
Dean felt his heart shatter and he pulled Sam to him in a tight hug. "You scared the crap out of me man. I thought you were dead!" He said in a calmer quieter voice.
"I just needed to get away from him for awhile." Sam sobbed into Dean's shoulder.
Dean hated to admit it, but he knew how the kid felt. "Then next time you tell me and we'll go together. It's my job to protect you and I can't do that if you don't talk to me and tell me where you're going."
"I'm sorry. I won't do it again." Sam sniffed and pulled away from Dean. "I guess it's time to go back now?"
Dean nodded, "afraid so kid. Hurry and get your stuff. I've got an ice pack in the trunk you can put it on your cheek before it starts swelling."
Sam went about collecting the few belongings he had and followed Dean out to the Impala. It wasn't until they were all set in the car, Sam holding an ice pack to his cheek that he noticed some fading bruises and cuts on Dean's face.
"What happened to you? You get in a fight?" Sam asked.
Dean shrugged, "Doesn't matter now. What matters is that I found you and nothing like this is going to ever happen again." He smiled over at his brother. However he wasn't so sure on the inside. Sam was an angry caged tiger just itching to get out; it had to be only a matter of time before he screwed up again and let Sam slip through his fingers. He couldn't bear to think about what would happen that day. The Impala's engine purred and Dean shook the thoughts quickly out of his head. He was just relieved he found Sam this time. He turned the music up loud to drown out the long awkward silence that was to follow on their way back to their father.
End.