Sunscreen
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The Winchesters were stretched out on an old frayed blanket that had inhabited the Impala for as long as they could remember, used for everything from a nest for baby Sammy, to keeping them warm on the cold nights spent in the car, to camping out.
However, anyone who had more than a passing acquaintance with the Winchesters, a rare breed now that most of them were unfortunately dead, would have agreed that Sam and Dean lying bare-chested lapping up the sun was an anomaly for the two hunters; yet here they were.
"Dean," Sam chided, his eyes hidden behind an old pair of sunglasses, "Apply the sun-screen on your skin like you're supposed to. You know the risks."
He lobbed the plastic bottle onto his brother's flat stomach, soliciting an annoyed grunt from his sibling.
"I sometimes wonder if I have a sister instead of a brother, Sam. Girlie shampoo, prissiness, copious visits to the laundry-mat and now almond-scented sunscreen," Dean complained rolling his eyes.
Sam huffed in exasperation.
x
"There's no need to huff, dude!" Dean grumbled. "We've died so many times, yet here you are taking precautions against ultra-violet rays. As far as I can remember, they've never tried to kill us!"
"Dean, You're a big boy," Sam bitched, tired of the argument. "If you don't want to ruin your macho image by protecting your skin, then just let the sun burn you!"
Sam turned onto his stomach exposing his back to the warm rays, and he was startled to feel the cool waxy liquid drip onto his back, followed by Dean's calloused hand spreading it over his skin.
Sam lifted his head, taking off his glasses to stare at his big brother.
"What the hell, man. You've been bitching about this cream and now you're covering my back with it."
"Well, Sammy," Dean shrugged continuing to rub the oil into his little brother's back "If you get sunburn, you won't stop bitching for weeks so I might as well avoid that at least."
"You just can't stop, can you?" Sam sighed. "Dean, I'm thirty. I'm perfectly able to look after myself. Sometimes I think you're the kid in this family!"
x
"I'm the big brother, Sam and that will never change," Dean declared firmly, continuing to spread the liquid expertly, pulling back only when he was certain to have covered every inch of his little brother's exposed back.
"Little brothers have rights too, Dean," Sam grinned. "I have the right to keep you as healthy as I can, so you'll always be there to look out for me! Put on the sun-screen, dude!"
Dean rolled his eyes but he lathered the cream onto his chest, under Sam's critical gaze.
"Happy now, princess?" he muttered wiping off his oily hands on the grass.
"For now," Sam answered smirking. "I'll do your back when you turn over."
"Oh joy!" I can hardly wait!" Dean said sarcastically settling down next to his brother.
X
Do you still think of her?" Dean asked, his question invading the comfortable silence between them.
" Could you be a little more precise, dude?" Sam asked sleepily.
"That Amelia chick."
Sam rolled onto his side, facing his brother. "What brought that on?"
"Just.. I got the idea that she was a big thing for you," Dean shrugged.
Sam frowned. "Looking back, the time I spent with Amelia seems like a fantasy, something I lived out in a dream-world. Sometimes I can hardly remember her face."
"Really, Sam? That doesn't sound like you. You're the biggest brooder on the planet!" Dean commented, surprised by his little brother's emotionless answer.
"You know, man, when I think back on everything, it all seems so strange somehow. I told you I didn't look for you because I thought you were dead, but now even that seems hazy."
He looked at Dean with earnest eyes. "If this happened right this minute, if you were to disappear without leaving a body, I know without doubt I wouldn't stop until I'd found out where you'd gone. What I don't understand is why I didn't do that back when you disappeared in the laboratory."
"I drove around for months before meeting Amelia, I could have looked for you but I didn't and there's no logical reason why," Sam added in a puzzled tone.
X
"I think you were whammied, Sam. If you'd been in your right mind, you'd have tried to find out what happened to me. I couldn't be more convinced of that. Maybe someone didn't want you to investigate my disappearance, or maybe they wanted you to remain on your own, by yourself, vulnerable." Dean observed.
"Maybe," Sam agreed thoughtfully. " One Winchester on his own, especially one who had given up hunting, would cause no more trouble to anyone."
"Yeah, " Dean concluded. "Only they didn't expect me to get out of Purgatory."
x
He hesitated before continuing. "You don't think Amelia could have been in on some plot, do you Sammy?"
"No way, Dean! I met her completely by accident."
"Listen, Sammy. I have a gut feeling about this. We're not too far from Texas, why don't we pay a little visit to Kermit?"
"Dean, I can't see any reason why we should. It's been months since the last time I saw her," Sam said, becoming agitated.
"I get it Sam, you can stay in the motel if you don't want to see her again, but I want to have a look."
x
"This has to be the weirdest thing you've come up with in a while, but if you're so set on it...!
I feel like a stalker!" Sam bitched.
"Remember that time you had that hard-on for Meg, way back in Chicago. Look how that turned out!"
"That was years ago, Dean. Amelia isn't a demon."
"And you know that how, Sam?"
Sam got up and stalked off.
"You're being ridiculous, Dean," he yelled back.
x
The next day the Impala roared into Kermit and the brothers parked surreptitiously behind a line of cars that gave them a clear view of the Veterinary Clinic where Sam had met Amelia.
Sam had barely let our a grunt the entire journey, angry with his brother, but Dean hadn't been able to let go of the feeling that Amelia had been more than she'd seemed.
After hours of sitting in awkward silence in the car, and when Dean decided he'd just about had enough, and maybe apologies were due to Sam for this wild goose chase, a brunette exited the clinic, and by Sam's intake of breath, she had to be the elusive Amelia.
She hesitated before walking down the steps to the street and the two watchers clearly saw that Amelia was heavily pregnant.
x
"Could you have anything to do with that?" Dean turned to his brother.
"No, Dean," Sam replied uncomfortably." The last time I saw Amelia was after we argued about her and Benny."
"And that was?"
"Around nine months ago."
"Did you have sex?" Dean asked without preamble.
Sam thought back to the motel room. That was the last time he'd seen her and they'd definitely had sex.
"Yeah. But I was always careful to take precautions. Then Don was already around. It's far more logical that he's the father." Sam scowled.
x
Dean looked back through the windscreen at the woman.
" It certainly would be if that wasn't Crowley who's just come over to talk to her," Dean said coldly.
"You know what happens when a human has a child with a demon don't you Sammy, and you're no ordinary human even if you like to pretend you are. As far as we know, you still have Azazel's blood in your veins which would add a nice kick to the value of a child controlled by the actual King of Hell."
Sam's face blanched. "It still doesn't mean I'm the father, Dean," Sam said, not wanting to believe such a thing.
I think we should pay a little visit to the sweet Amelia," Dean decided. "If the kid's yours, she doesn't get to keep it."
"And just how are we going to find that out?" Sam asked.
"There has to be a demon possessing her. A good old exorcism will reveal all!" Dean grimaced. "Now where was this little love-nest of yours?" he asked, putting the car into drive.
TBC