"What in God's name is this?"

John Winchester was a very blunt man. If he wasn't pleased with something you were doing, you knew that immediately. Sam knew this well, and was almost proud of himself for this reaction because he was almost positive that this would be the way that this would go.

Almost, because he wasn't expecting this to happen. He was expecting to be able to sneak out quietly one night when it was just him and his siblings, or tell his dad that he wanted to stay with Bobby for awhile and just go while he was supposedly staying at the old hunter's house. John wasn't supposed to find the Stanford letter. Sam had been so careful.

But obviously, not careful enough.

"I asked you a friggin' question, Samuel Eric. What. Is. This?"

"That wasn't the question you asked." Sam muttered under his breath, arms crossed.

"Excuse me?"

"It's an acceptance letter."

"To what? The army? Explain a bit better, boy."

"Can't you read?" Deanna, who was sitting in the corner of the room, gasped. That was a stupid move on Sam's part, and she was about to get up and let him know it before John turned to look at her, silenced her with a glare, and motioned for her to sit back down.

"I'm not finished with you yet, young lady. I'm sure you had something-"

"I didn't do anything! I'm just as shocked as you are!" She protested, pain and fear clearly written across her face.

"She didn't. She didn't even know I tried." Sam hissed through clenched teeth. "I did it. I sent in the application. I got a full ride scholarship. Not her, not Dean, not you. Most fathers would be proud-"

"So you're just going to leave your family?" John bellowed, face turning red as he slammed his hand down on the table. The letter was cast aside and Deanna hesitantly leaned forward to pick it up, pulled it out of the envelope, and began reading. Sam couldn't keep his eyes off of her, fearing what she must be thinking. Considering, he really hadn't told her anything about even applying, much less what they had offered him if he went. She would have been behind him every step of the way. But not now, not after this.

Except, he didn't get to watch her read it. John grabbed his chin and turned Sam to look him in the eye.

"You're going to just leave? After all I've done for you? After all we've done for you?"

"I'm not going to just leave! I'm going to college, like any normal kid my age!"

"And what? Come and hunt with us on the holidays?"

Sam was quiet.

"You can't have your cake and eat it too, boy." John let go of his son's chin, turned towards the door, and grabbed his jacket. "If you're going, Sam, go. But I want you out before I get back. And if you walk out that door…don't you ever come back." With that, John Winchester left the room, slamming the door behind himself and leaving two very shell-shocked children in his wake.

The room was silent for a moment.

Sam's chair squeaked as he shifted about nervously. Deanna was looking at him with such a quiet rage that it suffocated him; he physically could no longer breathe through his nose, and had to turn to deep breaths through his mouth. He had taken ten deep breathes before Deanna finally, finally stood up and walked over to him, sat down in front of him and set the letter on the table.

She grabbed his hand and gave it a tight squeeze. "Congratulations."

He looked at her in disbelief. Had that really just come out of her mouth? "Er, thank you."

"I mean, it's not every day that you see that many zeros on a piece of paper with your little brother's name. And Stanford? Wow. Better pack lots of sunscreen, Sammy." Deanna said, not able to keep a bitter tone out of her voice. She was proud of him, but the betrayal she felt canceled most other things out at the moment.

Her hand holding his almost felt like a tease with her tone. Slowly, Sam brought his hand back to himself and rubbed his sweaty palms on his jeans. "I'm sorry. I was going to tell you sooner, but…I just couldn't."

Deanna stood immediately, towering over her little brother for once. "And why the heck not? I'm your sister. You could have trusted me and we could have thought of a better way to tell him!" Her voice rose as she spoke, the pain in her chest now very clear in her tone. "But, instead, you just shut me out. You treated me just like…just like Dad, Sam, and that hurts."

Sam sighed, crossed his arms, and took another deep breath, trying not to get too overwhelmed. "I know it hurts and I'm sorry. I kept telling myself I'd do it when he was on his next hunt or when he was out and I chickened out every time. I didn't want you to think that I was trying to get away from you. I want to be with you and Dean. If it weren't so good an offer I wouldn't even consider going, but…God."

He's screwed up. He's screwed up big time.

"Deanna, I'm sorry." He's close to pleading with her now. "I wanted to tell you, I did. I just freaked myself out of doing it."

Deanna closed her eyes and rubbed her temples as she tried to calm down and really listen to Sam. "We wouldn't have thought that you were trying to get away from us if you had just given us a heads up about it," She told him, taking a step closer. "Dean and I have always been so proud of you so of course we'd want to help you go. But now, we have a lot more to deal with."

Sam bit his lip. That was a low blow, bringing up how proud they always were. He knew that. He loved them for that and so much more. He'd reminded himself of all of that more times than he could count, just in the last five minutes. He chewed on his lip for a few more seconds before looking up at her.

"I'm not going to ask you to pick a side, Deanna. It's me that has stuff to deal with now. You don't have to unless you want to."

Sam's cut off by the door opening to reveal their brother, Dean. He's got a smirk on his face, but it dissipates when he feels the heavy tension in the room. He zeros in on his twin and their little brother, steps all the way into the room, and closes the door behind himself slowly.

His eyes flick between his siblings once again. "What's goin' on in here?"

Deanna gave Dean a fake smile. "Our little brother got accepted to Stanford. Full ride. Dad flipped and said if Sam goes, Sam goes tonight before he gets back." She looked back over. "Did I miss anything, Sammy?"

The youngest of the trio looked down at the floor, feeling much like he did as a child when he got caught playing with Deanna's knives. "Dad also said I couldn't come back."

"Oh, yeah. The best part." Deanna rolled her eyes and plopped on the couch, about to speak before Dean interrupted.

Dean was shocked, to say the least. He took a step towards his brother. "Stanford? Thought you said you weren't applyin' anywhere, Sammy."

Sam looked up at his brother,albeit sheepishly. "I…I told you that because, well, I freaked myself out of telling you I was trying to go away."

Dean looked over at his sister as if to ask her what she thought about this before she sighed and met his eyes. "So, what's our move now?"

Dean gave his brother a "we will talk later glare" and looked back at Deanna. "So, he's really trying to kick Sam out?"

"Ohhh, yeah. If he leaves, he leaves for good. Old man was pretty clear on that point." Deanna winced a bit, trying but failing to forget the look on their father's face when he'd said such a thing.

Dean sighed and put a hand to his face. "Sam, I need you to stay in here for a moment." Without waiting for any confirmation, Dean motioned for Deanna to get up and follow him outside. Deanna looked back at Sam only as she was shutting the door, and her eyes quickly flicked back to Dean.

"How are we going to handle this, Dean?"

The oldest shook his head, sighed. "We can't let dad kick him out, can't make the kid stay." Dean thinks about it for a second, leans back against the door with his arms crossed.

"Dad won't kick us all out," He finally muses, looks at his twin. "Why don't we call his bluff, go with Sam? Dad'll come to his senses eventually and we can keep an eye on Sammy."

Deanna nodded, sat down on a concrete divider on the edge of the sidewalk and then pulled one leg up and rested her chin on her knee, took a minute to collect her thoughts. "What exactly are we gonna do in Palo Alto, Dean? We couldn't even afford a parking ticket in that town."

"Never said we had to live in Palo. We could get an apartment or somethin' in a surroundin' city." He sat down next to his sister, guided her head onto his shoulder. He may have had a no chick-flick moments rule, but that changed when it came to his twin. "Can't just let him think we wouldn't fight to keep him around."

Deanna smiled and let her head rest against him in their usual positions. Dean was right, for once. Yes, she'd been hurt by Sam's lie. They both were. But, he was too important to them to lose. Dean's last statement pulled her out of her thoughts and she looked at him, jaw almost coming unhinged, even though he probably hadn't meant any harm.

"Of course not!" She paused for a moment, collected herself, and settled back down on Dean's shoulder. She looked up at her brother. "Stanford. Can you believe that, Dean? He really did it."

He smiled back down at her, too proud of their little brother, who, in all actuality, was their son to be too angry. "I knew he had somethin' like that in him. I'm glad he tried…not so glad that he tried to Mission Impossible his way through it." Dean sighed, then put up a stern front as he got to his feet. "We don't have too long 'fore Dad gets back. You wanna start packin' bags while I talk to the trouble maker or do ya want me to pack?"

Deanna stood up, dusted herself off. "I should probably apologize, so I'll talk to him. I think I hurt him back there so I should fix that fast. " She went to open the door, but turned back to Dean. "I say thirty minutes and we're gone. Dad'll be drinking most of the night so that'll give us a good few hours between him and us. "

Opening the door and re-entering the room, the mother-figure of the trio found a very uneasy Sam. She walked over to him quickly, sat down next to him, and immediately wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Sam jerked a little at the unexpected hug but squeezed her back tightly and rested his chin on her shoulder. Deanna began to speak.

"We are so proud of you, Sam. I'm sorry I lost my temper with you earlier. " She drew back, but kept her hands on his shoulders and he rested his hands on her knees, neither of them willing to let go of the other. "All three of us are taking a road trip to Palo Alto." She smiled a bit. "You didn't actually think that you could get away from the two of us, did you?"

Sam's eyes widened, his breath hitching. But, they couldn't…

"Sammy? Hey, what's wrong?" Deanna looked worried and Sam had to pull away from her, try to pull himself together.

"But you all love hunting. You all are good at it, and Dad'll-"

Deanna shook her head, cupped his face in her hands. "Hey, hey. Listen. Do you really think we'd leave you out to dry because of how much we love hunting or dad? We've been taking care of you our whole lives. We ain't gonna stop now."

Deanna stood to her feet and reached out to Sam, about ready to help him up from the couch before the sound of someone jingling their keys in the door made them all freeze. Dean grabbed Sam's packed duffel and his Stanford letter and pushed the two of them into the bathroom, grabbing the remote and turning on the TV as he did.

"Get him to the bus station." He hissed to Deanna, not out of anger but out of panic. "We'll come later."

She nodded and pushed Sam further into the bathroom, closed the door, and made quick work of getting both of them out of the windowbefore grabbing her little brother's hand and racing over to the impala that the twins shared. She said nothing as they got in and she started the car, but was shaking a little and Sam couldn't help but feel guilty.

"You don't think he heard us, do you?"

She bit her lip. "Dean turned the T.V. on, so maybe not."

There was a small silence. "You'll call, right? Let me know when you guys can come?"

"Of course. We'll be with you as soon as we can."

She'd given him two-hundred and fifty dollars that day, more than he'd need, really.

Sam couldn't believe that had already been a month ago. He finished putting his stuff in his duffels; Bobby had seen to it that Sam got some new clothes and a few more belongings for college before he left. After taking a quick scan of the room he'd been living in for the past month, he picked up his bags and walked on down the stairs. He set his stuff by the door and went off to find Bobby, who'd been busy preparing a breakfast fit more for twenty people than two.

He leaned against the door frame, crossed his arms. He was touched, to say the least.

"You didn't have to do this, Bobby."

The man didn't even look up, didn't speak for a few minutes. "Yeah," was his gruff response.

Sam smirked. "You alright there, Bobby?"

Still not looking back at his adopted son, he turned to put some pans in the sink. "Wipe that grin off your face, boy. Eat." He motioned to the table and Sam did as asked, but not before slipping the one-hundred and eighty dollars he had left from Deanna under Bobby's knife-holder. The older hunter deserved it and would have it.

Sam didn't have too much trouble adjusting at Stanford; he was happy, had a few relationships, even.

But, months passed, and threre was no word from Deanna or Dean. Christmas, his birthday, their birthdays; he could never get a hold of them, and two years into his stay, all of their lines had been disconnected.

He became a slave to his phone, jumping at every text or phone call, as he waited for the promised call that never came.