September 2000
The backpack on his shoulders felt heavier than it should. He thought it might be the guilt that weighed it down rather than the actual articles of clothing. Sam stared at the back of the social worker who had been assigned to his case. Normally he was great with names, but hers escaped him. To his credit, when she had introduced herself, she had also been taking him away from his brother and father. He wanted to blame her, curse at her like Dean had, but he knew she was just doing her job. If anyone was to blame, it was him.
"You ready, Sam?" The social worker said, coming back down the steps from the decently sized house. The only places this nice that he had been to had all been haunted. From what he could tell from the drive in, Stars Hollow was a quiet, sleepy town.
"Not really," Sam said. He had hit his growth spurt over the last year and he towered over the social worker. She had clearly met her fair share of children; she looked up at him in a no nonsense way that made him feel like he was still that same tiny kid he had been just a few years before.
"We were lucky to find your father's cousin here," The social worker said. "A lot of children end up with strangers."
"I've never met this people in my life," Sam said, his eyes darting up to the faces of the nice, suburban family that matched the nice, suburban home. "They might as well be strangers."
"Sam, I'm sorry you had to leave your brother and your father, but the Foresters are nice people," She assured.
"Nice people I had to be dragged to Connecticut to stay with," Sam said. He squeezed the shoulder straps of his backpack. He wasn't usually so argumentative. That was Dean's job.
The social worker pursed her lips at him, clutching the binder to her chest that he was sure contained his case file. "From what I understand, you're used to being dragged around."
"That's different," Sam snapped back.
"Sam, I know this is frustrating," The social worker sighed. "But you know that my job is to do what's best for you." Sam scoffed. "Now, let's go."
Sam trudged up the steps behind the social worker. The pleasant family consisted of a brunette wife and blonde husband and daughter, a girl who looked to be about ten. Judging by the pictures on the wall, it looked like there was an older daughter as well.
"It's nice to have you here, Sam," The mother said with a reassuring smile. Sam was sure that in any other circumstance, he would love to be in this comfortable home, the smell of freshly baked cookies coming from the kitchen and a kind faced mother welcoming him, but right now, he wanted nothing more to be back in the ratty motel that he had been in with Dean and John. "I'm May, and this is Randy, and Clara."
"Hi," Sam said, looking anywhere but May's eyes.
"You look just like John when he was your age," May said. "That's about the last time I saw him, actually."
"I'll let you get settled in here, Sam," The social worker said. "You have my card in case you need anything."
Dean's voice in his head told him to say he needed to go back home, but Sam bit back any snide comment. He nodded to the social worker and watched as she climbed back into her car and drove off, stranding him in Nowhere, Connecticut.
"Sorry for the mess," Randy said, drawing Sam's attention back to the family. "We actually just moved here ourselves. You got here at the right time, school starts back up tomorrow."
"If you want to just put your stuff down, we can actually head over to the school," May said. "I think Nicole said she got you registered already, but you have to just fill out some papers for your classes." He knew he didn't really have much say in the matter, so Sam merely nodded. "Great, I'll show you upstairs to your room."
Sam followed May up the stairs to a bedroom that had clearly been made up with a typical teenage boy in mind: a tv on the dresser and sports posters on the wall. Sam guessed the dad may have been tired of only having a feminine presence around the house. He wondered how he would break it to him that Sam wasn't a sports guy either.
"It's actually not that cold out," May said, pointing to the leather jacket Sam wore, the one his brother had made him take as the social worker was making Sam pack up his things in the motel room. "New England is pretty mild in the late summer, actually."
Sam dropped his backpack on the twin bed and shoved his hands into the pockets of his brother's jacket. He could feel the silver pocket knife John had slipped in there as well, the smooth handle acting as a sort of talisman for Sam as he ran his thumb across it. "I'm good," Sam said.
May gave him a sympathetic smile, one that was meant as a comforting gesture, but it made Sam feel sick. "I know you don't want to be here, Sam, but please know I want you to feel like this is your home too."
"I'm not going to be here long," Sam assured, parroting what his father had told him. "My dad isn't a bad guy."
May reached out and touched his shoulder, looking up at him with pity in her eyes. "I know he's not Sam. I knew your dad when we were kids. I think he just took your mother's death really hard."
"He's not crazy," Sam defended.
"I don't think he is," May said. "And you know, your brother is more than welcome to come and stay here with us as well. You're both family."
"I won't be here long," Sam repeated. "Can we just go?"
May looked like she wanted to say more to him but decided against it. He felt bad as he followed her back down the stairs and out the door. It was almost like he was channeling his older brother's snarky attitude in the elder Winchester boy's absence.
Sam knew that Stars Hollow was small town, but he didn't realize that the school was in walking distance. This would be the kind of town he would have begged John to let them stay in. John wouldn't allow it because small towns are gossip mills and were impossible to stay anonymous in. Even though May hadn't been there that long either, everyone waved to her, asking her how her day was going. They all casted Sam curious looks, but waved to him as well.
"Friendly," Sam noted as they passed the sixth eager townsperson, a woman with wild eyes and even wilder blonde curls.
"Everyone knows everyone and we're new," May said. "Talk of the town."
"Yeah," Sam snorted. "They probably think I'm trouble."
"And why do you think that?" May asked.
"I've been in foster homes before this," Sam said. "Everyone always thinks the kids are bad news."
"I won't tell them if you won't," May said with a shrug. Sam hadn't noticed before, but she had his dad's eyes. He wondered how close May and John had been as kids. Why they hadn't talked after John joined the service. "Do you want a coffee?" She asked as they approached what looked like a diner from what he saw of the inside, but according to the sign, it was a hardware store.
"I'll wait out here if it's alright," Sam said. May ducked into the crowded diner, again bombarded with greetings from cheery townsfolk. The man at the counter, a scruffy guy with a backwards cap and a flannel, eyed him through the window. Sam chuckled a little to himself as he realized the man looked a lot like John. Even John's doppelganger didn't seem to like Sam much.
He leaned against the side of the diner, surveying what he could see of the town from where he stood. He didn't think he would be there very long, but his dad drilled into him from an early age that you should know your surroundings.
His eyes landed on a pretty girl coming out of the bookstore across the street. Her hair was long and in her face as she kept her focus trained on the book in her arms as she walked towards him, headphones over her ears. Sam was almost too distracted to notice the car coming towards her as she stepped off into the street. The driver was preoccupied with his car radio to see her either.
"Hey!" Sam yelled, going towards the girl. She didn't look up, still walking into the street. Sam cursed under his breath as he broke into a run, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her onto the sidewalk just in time for the car to run passed the stop sign right where the girl had been.
"Oh!" The girl said in surprise as she seemed to just notice where she was. Her headphones slipped off her head as she looked up at Sam.
Sam searched for something coherent to say, but he was distracted by her wide, blue eyes that looked more like glass as she gaped at him. He tried to remember every trick Dean taught him about talking to beautiful girls.
"Hi," Sam said finally.
"You just saved my life," The girl said. "Because I walked into the street like an idiot."
"Rory!" A woman yelled across the street from the doorway of the market, just as the diner guy came outside, also flustered, followed shortly by May.
"What the hell was that, Rory?" The man said, grabbing the girl from Sam and checking her over. He hadn't realized he had still had his arms around her. "Are you okay? You coulda been killed. I'm gonna wring Kurt's neck."
The woman ran across the street towards them. Sam was struck by how much she looked like the girl, who he assumed was Rory, with the same striking blue eyes. The woman was younger, maybe in her early thirties, but he figured these must be her parents by how they were hugging her and making her look embarrassed.
"I wasn't looking where I was going," Rory said.
"I'll say that's for damn sure," The woman said, finally releasing her. "Thank god for Young Clark Kent over here." The man seemed to just notice Sam there. He looked him up and down, finally giving him an approving nod. "We don't know you," The woman said bluntly. She didn't sound mistrusting, just curious.
"Oh, yeah," Sam said, his flashing to May as he remembered what she said. I won't tell them if you won't. "I just moved here."
The man looked over to May and back to Sam. "You the Foresters' kid?" He asked. Sam nodded.
"Well, thank you for saving my space case daughter," The woman said. "I'm Lorelai, and this way with words is Luke."
"Dean," Sam said without thinking. He thought May would say something by the look on her face but she held her tongue. Sam didn't even know why he lied. He hadn't really felt like himself ever since the social worker had taken him from his family a few days before, but lying about his identity wasn't usually his thing unless he was talking to cops. And he especially didn't pretend to be his brother.
"What do you say to nice, cute boys who pull you out of the street, Rory," Lorelai said.
"Mom," Rory hissed. Her face burned red as she shoved her mother away from her. She looked back up at Sam. "Thank you."
"No problem," Sam said, shoving his hands back into his pockets. He looked at May where she had stayed quietly away from the action this whole time. "We have to go."
"That coffee is on the house," Luke said to her as she handed one of the to go cups to Sam.
"Oh, so he gets free coffee," Lorelai said as she stirred Rory into the diner after Luke.
"I'll give you free coffee if you can stay quiet for more than five minutes, Lorelai," Sam heard Luke say as Sam and May started back on the sidewalk.
"Well, you're having an exciting first day in Stars Hollow, Dean," May said pointedly. When Sam didn't say anything, choosing to nurse his coffee instead, May pressed on. "Isn't that your older brother's name?"
"It's a joke we have," Sam lied.
"Ah," May said, clearly not believing him.
"Is it cool if you just call me that, actually," Sam said, again without thinking. Maybe it was that his brother had always been better with pretty girls and pretending to be him was easier than being himself when one approached him or maybe it was just that he wanted a part of Dean there. Maybe it was both. He had always wanted to be just like his older brother. Even just wearing his old jacket and adopting his sarcastic attitude made him feel a little less alone.
"Whatever you'd like, sweetie," May said.
I'm not going to be here long, Sam said to himself. Nothing wrong with being someone else for a while.