Live and Let Live
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Supernatural and I'm not making any money from this fic
Summary: Sam is willing to do anything to try and get his brother out of the deal... even lie, cheat, and steal
Prompt: 45 – coffee shop, borrowing, alibi
Implement: Belt
Type of story: Gen
Warning(s): Mentions of strong violence; some swearing; spoilers up to the end of season 2, beginning of season 3; some swearing; spanking
Sam played with the spoon in his cup of coffee, knowing that he probably needed it, but couldn't muster up the energy to actually drink it. He could barely keep his eyes open, but he was trying to hide that. If Dean noticed how tired his brother was, he'd ask – and Sam wasn't sure he'd be able to lie to him.
"Hey, Sam. You need to be alert. You know how it is on a hunt. If you're not in top form, you'll end up dead."
"I'm fine," Sam replied. Despite his misgivings, the lie tripped easily off his lips. He drank some of the coffee, and made a slight face. "It's too bitter here." He avoided making eye contact with Dean. The real reason behind not wanting to drink so much was that he'd had too much coffee lately. He had been pulling all-nighters lately... Sure, he'd done a few at Stanford...
But never quite this many this close together. It was kind of Dean's fault, though. If his brother hadn't forbidden him from researching this thing, Sam would have been able to do it during the day, rather than hide it from Dean.
Unfortunately, if Dean found out, Sam knew that he'd be furious.
Pushing his coffee to one side, Sam stood up. "I need to borrow the Impala," he muttered, holding his hand out for the keys. Really, he was too tired to make driving anywhere close to safe; but he'd found a possible lead, and he had to check it out as soon as possible. He was willing to do anything to get Dean out of the deal. If he wasn't so sure Dean would kick his ass, he'd probably try and make another deal – his life in exchange for Dean's.
Of course, that would create a vicious circle.
Dean frowned slightly, eyeing Sam with concern. "If you need to go somewhere in particular, I can drive you there," he said. "Because right now, you look like you need to lie down somewhere and sleep. I think you should head back to the motel. I won't be far behind you; just need to find out a few more things." He grimaced. "I'll head on to the library. If I'm not back when you wake up, just do some research on your laptop, okay? If you find anything, you can just call me."
There were times when Sam could argue with his brother and change Dean's mind. However, he knew instinctively that this was not one of those times. Dean had a truly stubborn look on his face, and it only took Sam a moment to figure that his brother wasn't about to budge on this subject.
When it came to Sam's safety, Dean didn't compromise.
"Maybe you're right," Sam allowed. "I guess I am a little tired. As he headed past Dean, he tripped over his own feet and fell against his brother. "Ow," he muttered, slowly standing up. "Sorry about that."
Dean shook his head, and nudged Sam's shoulder. "You sure you're not having another growth spurt? I remember you only being this clumsy right before you started becoming a giant." His eyes darkened in concern. "You're probably more tired than you thought. Be careful. Do you need me to go back with you?"
Sam rolled his eyes. "I'm not a baby." Without giving Dean a chance to respond, he quickly started moving towards the door of the coffee shop. With his back to his brother, he glanced down at his hand, where he was holding the keys to the Impala.
It was nice to know his fingers could still move quickly.
Dean was just finishing off Sam's coffee – it wasn't bitter at all – when he heard the sound of a familiar engine revving. He was out of the door just as the Impala pulled away, with Sam in the driver's seat.
"Shit!"
Sam tried not to think about just how Dean was going to react to him taking the Impala – after having been told he couldn't – and the fact that he hadn't gone straight back to the motel. Hopefully, though, he'd be able to convince Dean that he hadn't wanted to walk back to the motel.
Of course, there was still the whole stealing part... But since Sam fully intended to bring the car back, he could – in his head at least – term it as 'borrowing' rather than 'stealing.'
It didn't take long for Sam to get to the place – only about ten minutes. That was good, since he was nearly falling asleep at the wheel. He didn't know how he was going to cope with the drive back. Maybe he should walk it, and come back to collect the car after he'd had some sleep. Of course, that meant that he couldn't tell Dean he'd gone straight back to the motel.
Well, he could always figure that out when the time came.
Sam parked the Impala, and got out, heading over to the shop. There was a young man loading boxes onto a truck outside, and he nodded politely to Sam, who paused next to him. "Are you Kieran Enslin?"
"No, that's my father. He's inside." The man nodded towards the shop. "We're just moving sites."
"Good luck." Sam stepped into the store, inhaling the smell of dusty books. If he had the time, he'd browse through some of the titles; see if there was anything interesting he hadn't read yet. But he was more concerned with getting his brother out of the deal; and from the research he'd done, he'd found that Kieran Enslin had done the same thing.
"We're not open."
Sam glanced at the man who was putting books in boxes, and stepped over to him. "I'm not here to buy a book. I take it you're Kieran Enslin? I e-mailed you last night. My name's Sam Winchester. You mentioned that you'd got your son out of a deal with a crossroads demon." He lowered his voice after glancing towards the door, figuring that it wasn't the sort of thing Kieran's son wanted to talk about.
Slowly – almost warily – Kieran nodded. "But it's not as easy as he sounds. First of all, you have to have something the demon wants." He looked Sam slowly up and down. "My wife was a hunter. She stopped after our son was born, but she still took out a lot of those things. There were several demons in hell just dying to meet her." He smiled, and it wasn't a nice smile. "She exchanged her life for his."
Sam flinched back, realising that this wasn't going to turn out to be anything more than a dead end. Even though he'd exchange a hunter's life for Dean's, his brother would never go for it; and the demon probably wouldn't accept another sacrifice in place of a Winchester who'd killed one of the biggest demons in hell.
"If you take my advice, son, you'll enjoy the time you have left with your loved one. Make the most of it."
"Thank you," Sam whispered, moving away. This had been merely a wild goose chase, and he didn't look up even as Kieran's son went past him. Right now, all Sam could do was keep looking.
But he was scared that Dean was running out of time.
When Sam got back to the motel room, he was somewhat relieved to find that there was no sign of Dean. Sighing, he flopped down onto his bed. Something was going to have to give. He couldn't keep this up. Doing research all night was just going to wear him out; and there'd be no time to spend with his brother.
Dean barged into the room only moments later, and stood there, glaring at his brother. "Where the hell were you?"
"I've been here the whole time."
"No, you haven't." Dean took a threatening step towards him. "I came here about five minutes after you left the coffee shop. I've been looking for you. Also used your laptop to try and figure out what was going on. I guess now I know why you've been so tired and unable to do anything." He glared at his brother, then took another step towards Sam, slowly removing his belt.
Immediately, Sam started to move back, staring at his brother. "Dean... you can't do this. I just wanted to help you."
"You can help me by not wasting your time trying to find a way out of the deal! It isn't gonna happen, Sam! If you try, you'll just end up dying again. I won't live with that." Dean's mouth twisted into a grimace as he paused next to the bed. "Roll over, Sam. You know how I feel about you doing things that are stupid and dangerous. I'd rather just make the most of the time we have left."
Sam felt kind of bad about it, but he still moved back on the bed. "I'm not gonna let you hit me, Dean. I don't deserve it."
"Remember that time you used yourself as bait on a hunt? What makes you think this is any different?" As he spoke, Dean doubled the belt over in his hand. "Supposing you can't find a way out, Sam? You'll have wasted the time we could have spent together, and it's no good feeling bad about it later." When Sam looked away, Dean continued, "You lied to me and you stole, Sam. Is this what our last year is going to be like? You keeping things from me, rather than wanting to spend time with me?"
Sam's vision blurred as tears filled his eyes. He knew his brother well enough to realise that his actions had hurt Dean, no matter how much he tried to hide his feelings. And Dean had a point about the time thing...
Slowly, Sam rolled over. He flinched as Dean rested the belt on his behind, and clenched his fists in the covers of the bed. The first lick stung even through his jeans, and he gasped. When Dean brought the belt down again, he wanted to reach a hand back to rub at the burning stripe. It was with a lot of difficulty that he kept his hands out of the way as Dean worked his way from the top of his bottom to the sensitive place on the tops of his thighs. When Dean started the second circuit, Sam found it harder to stay still, as the belt landed on already sore spots.
Dean finished after three circuits, and then dropped the belt to the floor, sitting next to his brother and resting a hand on his shoulder. "I need to know that you're gonna be okay, Sam."
Sam wanted to ask how Dean expected him to be okay without his brother, but knew that wasn't fair. He held onto his brother with one hand, while the other tried ineffectively to rub the sting out of his bottom, before wiping at his eyes. "I'm sorry, Dean. But... you have to let me help you."
Dean just shook his head. "If you try to get me out of the deal, you'll end up dead anyway. A year isn't a long time, but at least it's better than nothing." He held onto his brother, not fighting the contact like he would have done normally. "You need to live on, Sam. For me. Dad escaped from hell – you saw him just like I did. If he can do it, so can I."
"You're not Dad... though you sure felt like him just now." Sam leaned into his brother, then tried to stifle a yawn.
Dean smiled, and released his brother. "You need to get some sleep." When Sam would have argued, he cut him off. "After you've had some rest, we can do something together. Something normal, like go to the movies. After all, when I'm gone, you'll be free to go back to your normal life."
"You've never made me feel trapped, Dean," Sam whispered, stretching out to his full length – though on his stomach. "I should have told you this long ago... I'm glad you came to Stanford; and thank you. For pulling me out of the fire again."
The End