Two updates in one day? I'm on a roll! Any who, this is a bit different from what I've normally written. For the Unnatural Writer's Club prompt this week, it was "What ifs" meaning you basically had to take an event or situation in the show and go "okay, but what if x happened?" only we couldn't use Jess' or Mary's deaths as what ifs because that's been used far too many times. So I went a different route.

I basically asked myself: "what if Dean Winchester never asked Sam to help him find their father?" and well, a lot would be different if Dean had chose to not include his little brother.

Warnings: major character death, non canon death

Dean sits in the driver's seat of the impala, green eyes focused on the apartment window not too far away, watching the two shadows of figures moving around behind closed curtains. They get ready to soon go to sleep as it gets darker and darker outside. He on the other hand, doesn't leave, remaining in the car. He's been here for hours, checking up on his baby brother, seeing how the kid is doing after not talking for so long. Dean had noticed earlier the pretty girl that held his hand and had grinned; impressed Sam got a girl like that.

He knows he should've left by now but still can't get himself to do so. Originally he had driven up here to talk to Sam, asking for his brother's help because their father's off on another hunting trip and it's been weeks without a single text or bit of communication, which leaves Dean worried. Dad never does this which was why he wanted to get Sam to help him, travel through the states to track down their MIA father and make sure he's alright, maybe even start hunting again, together. Multiple times today Dean was ready to get out of this car and walk up to the front door, knock and talk to Sam but each time he's about to, he stops himself, especially after seeing Sam's girl.

She's beautiful, yes, but that's not what stops him. No, it's the smile Sam had on when with her, dimples and everything. It was the same smile and look Dad used to give Mom before the fire and so Dean knows he can't do this. He can't bring himself to rip Sam away from this girl and send him back into the dark, dangerous world of hunting when right here he is happy, living a perfect, normal life. Sam worked so hard to get out, to get to college and there was no way in hell Dean was going to be the asshole that wrecked everything just to find their dad. So he doesn't do what he came here to do.

Once the lights in the apartment go off, Dean starts up the impala and drives away. He can deal with this on his own and leave Sam to live his apple pie life.

Everything is smooth for the first year or so, Dean narrowly avoiding death with each monster he takes down, all while trying to find his father. He gets real close a few times and almost thinks of driving back up to Palo Alto and getting Sam but pushes that thought away because Sam's happy. And so Dean doesn't.

But after a year, something goes wrong and Dean finds himself limping back to the impala, world spinning, and head light. One hand clenches his gun in a white knuckle grip, the other pressed against the wounds on his chest that are gushing blood profusely. The damn thing snuck up on his while he was letting the last victim escape and it had claws that were a lot sharper than Dean had originally expected. He knows this is bad, real bad, and stitches won't do shit with fixing this. Plus he's too far away from the nearest hospital, even if he wanted to go to one and so when he arrives at the impala, he collapses to the ground, leaning against it. His back is against the driver's door and he gives a low hiss through clenched teeth as the wound tears more from the movement of sitting. He drops the gun and fishes out his old phone, battered and somehow still working, despite everything.

He wants to call Sam, one last time and say goodbye to his little brother, tell him he's proud of everything Sam's done in his life but his hand is too shaky and the world's spinning far too much now.

Dean never expected he'd die like this, still so young but when you're a hunter, this long is like centuries.

He mumbles something softly, the words lost and unclear as he releases his final breath and closes his eyes, body slumping against the dark impala.

Elsewhere, states away, Sam Winchester and his girlfriend graduate with high marks, Sam becoming valedictorian. A few weeks later he proposes to her and when she gleefully exclaims "yes!" calls his brother to share with him the good news and hope he'd be his best man. Dean hadn't been able to make the graduation, he knew that sadly as his brother was off on a hunt on the other side of the country, but surely the older Winchester would spare a few minutes to hear the great news. But when Sam calls, the phone just rings.

Dean never picks up the ringing phone in his hand, long gone.

So someone else is chosen to be the best man, and both Sam and Jess are happy, even if deep down Sam's upset because although the last time they had talked wasn't the greatest – it was mostly yelling and screaming and Dean telling him to think this through before silence – Sam never expected Dean to ignore his phone call. They a little while later, have a baby boy, who's middle name is Dean, after his brother, and nothing could be any more perfect. Sam's gotten the life he wanted, away from hunting with a family of his own and is oblivious to what happened to his older brother. That is, until he receives a phone call from Bobby, an old friend he hasn't seen or spoken to in years, five years after the death of his brother, telling him what happened. Explaining a hunter in the area found the impala parked near a woodsy area, away from everyone else and the remains of a person slumped beside it. It wasn't hard to tell who it was, after all, Dean had gathered quite a name for himself, and many knew of the Winchester surname in the hunter community, and one phone call led to another and soon to a certain little brother.

Dean Winchester was dead, and with him gone, many others dead as well from the things that went bump in the night, all lives that would've originally been saved had Dean approached Sam asking for him to help find their father and Sam agreeing to go with. But that had never happened and Sam had lived out his apple pie life with Jess and their son, not knowing the truth.

Sam agrees to go and pick up the impala, it now his as Dean's gone and no one's heard from John in ages and the younger Winchester thinks to himself, what if things had been different? What if I could've gone with Dean on that hunt and saved him? Would I still have this? But he knew he'd never know the answer.

Let me know if you want more with Jess and Sam being all domestic and stuff with their kid (cause I've got a few ideas if anyone's up for it!). And yeah, it might seem a bit unrealistic of Dean dying but seriously, the guy near got himself killed twice during the first season alone but Sam helped save him so yeah, if Sam wasn't there, there would definitely be the chance Dean would get himself killed for doing something stupid while hunting.

Also, leave me comments if you liked this or what you want to see more of!

-Twist