Disclaimer:Not mine... Kripke and CW own... sneak into his sandbox and play... have to run like hell when they see me...
NOTE#1: 2nd Half of the challenge. Well. Scratch that! The plot got away from me and ran off, took me a little while to catch it… total mushy chapter… kinda pointless except they need mush in their lives, (Since they aren't getting it in s6 so far), I like angst, but have to have my share of mushy- to-equal things out... so there will be one more chapter…
NOTE#2: Thanks to SandyDee84 and Colby's girl for their reviews of Chapter 1 of this story! Also thanks for favs and alerts!
Chapter 2
Dean glanced over at Sam and smiled. Sam had finally fallen asleep and they still had a couple hours to kill before reaching Bobby's place. He'd already called Bobby and given him a heads up that they were on the way now instead of in the morning. Watching his brother, Dean thought it was funny that a grown man could look so much like an innocent child when he slept. But Sammy could. It was like he turned back time while he slept and Dean saw him as he was when he was younger. Dean shook his head, God, he was getting sappy! Only Sammy…
What had the kid seen that caused him to believe such shit? He went back to watching the road. God, enough was enough, really they were emotionally all tapped out. Going back to their childhood home and finding mom and then her telling Sam, sorry… what the hell was she apologizing… shit! That's why Sam believes that demon's vomit! He glanced at Sam, now if that hadn't been perfect timing on a demon's part. Show up when he's down and then attack… Sam still hadn't recovered from Jess. He was getting better but still a long ways from over her, probably never would be. Then mom. The call he'd made while at the motel… probably fueled by the fact that he'd called dad and asked for help in Lawrence… no he'd begged… and the old man hadn't shown, called, nothing. He had been hurt, angry… he'd been scared. And no dad… well, he gets one more chance. Dean meant what he said… he didn't show and they were done. They'd walk away from it all. Screw it! Sammy was more important! Now that he was starting to have visions… God… He wanted to ask for help, if every he wanted to pray… now would be it. But mom was still too raw, the pain renewed… He ran a hand through his hair…
Sam moaned in his sleep, shoving both hands out in front of him, like he was trying to shove something off. Then his feet came out to press against the dashboard as he shoved his head back against the seat and screamed.
Dean put his hand on Sam's shoulder, squeezing as he steered the impala to the side of the road and slammed her into park. Then taking both hands he pulled Sam back against him as Sam grabbed his head with both hands and continued to scream. He cradled Sam's head in the crook of his arm as he took his other hand to rub Sam's chest. "Sam, dude… I got you… it's okay… I'm here with you… I gotcha…" After what seemed an eternity to Dean, Sam's screams turned to whimpers. "Sammy… wake up… come on, dude." Dean was getting even more worried that Sam wasn't waking up. He tapped lightly on Sam's cheek as he said in a whisper, "Sammy… I need to know your okay… I need you to wake up and talk to me…"
Sam struggled to open his eyes as he moaned out, "D…"
Dean smiled in relief, " The one and only…"
"Wha… ha' nned?" Sam slurred out, trying to sit up.
"No… not so fast…" Dean ordered, holding him in place.
Sam looked up at him, then closed his eyes, a look of shame clearly darkening his features.
"Hey… hey, Sammy…" Dean gave him a little shake… "What the hell, man?"
Sam wouldn't look at Dean, he'd seen it all again and if Dean only knew… well, Dean would walk away too. Sam wasn't the only one the demon had been to see… Sam curled up into to a ball and cried… Who was he? He felt so lost… this… this was worse than everything… cause it meant he wasn't…
Dean was finding it hard to breathe… What the hell? Sammy had been sleeping peacefully, then all hell breaks loose… Shit. Dad had better show up and fix this… He held Sam… time forgotten while he tried his best to comfort his little brother… the same baby brother that wouldn't tell him everything. How could he fix it if he didn't know what it was?
Hours later they got back on the road, Sam sleeping once again. Propped up against Dean, fist clutching the corner of Dean's jacket. A habit Sammy had started when he was two and employed whenever he was scared or emotionally at his limit.
Dean sped up to make up for time lost, Bobby would be worried. He didn't take the time to call though. If Bobby got worried enough he'd call. Dean could apologize then or when he arrived, which ever came first.
They finally arrived at Bobby's when the sun was starting to shine brightly over the top of the house. As Dean pulled up close to the porch he wasn't surprised to find Bobby sitting there waiting. Dean smiled at Bobby as he got out of the impala anticipating an angry-to- cover-the-worry snapage directed at him.
Before he'd even closed his door, Bobby growled at him, "Where the hell have you been? You're over two and a half hours later than you said you'd be…"
"Sorry, Bobby… Sammy had a nightmare on the way here… it took awhile to calm him down…" Dean said wearily. "I'm sorry we worried you." Dean added as he walked over to the passenger side of the car.
"You want to fill me in? What kind of side-affects are we talking about here?" Bobby asked, worry unmasked this time as he started down the steps.
"Unfortunately, only dad can fix this… he fucking better show… " Dean wearily ran a hand through his hair.
Bobby stopped in mid-stride… "What? I don't…"
"A demon fucked with Sammy's head and only dad can convince him that what he saw and was told ain't real." Dean looked in the window at his sleeping brother. "But, Bobby…" Dean said, looking Bobby in the eye, "If he doesn't show this time… I'm walking away from everything… dad, huntin'… hell, all of it. And I'll take Sammy with me… he won't find us. Nobody will." Dean's voice and gaze matched, steely determination.
Bobby blinked, Damn, if the kid wasn't serious. He knew Dean, and Dean meant every word. Bobby sighed, He'd better make a call to John later and stress how important that he not ignore his boys on this. "How long did you give him to get here again?"
"Two days." Dean sighed. "The kid's a wreck, Bobby… This is really messin' with his head." Dean touched the glass that Sam's head was currently resting against then glanced at Bobby. The worry evident in his features, "He won't tell me everything, I know he's not. I think he's afraid I'll leave…" Dean looked back at his sleeping brother, before murmuring, "The kid should know better…"
"Well, we'll fix it, with or without your father… Let's get him inside and feed the boy before he wastes away to nothing…" Bobby said, waiting for a response from Dean…
"Have you not seen him lately? The kid's huge…" Dean said incredulous.
There he is, the Dean he needed to get this fixed. Bobby smiled at him, " Yeah, I guess he is."
Dean tapped on the window to wake Sam then opened the door and grabbed Sam before he could fall, "Easy, Sammy, I gotcha… we're here… Breakfast's waiting and so's Uncle Bobby…" Dean said, smiling at Bobby.
Bobby grinned back, "Smart ass…"
"That'd be me…" Dean said helping Sam out of the car.
"Mr. Smartass himself…" Sammy murmured, looking up at Dean as Dean pulled him to a standing position.
"Now, whose the smartass?" Dean questioned Sammy with a smile, if Sammy was joking… Dean watched Sam closely.
Sam shrugged, then grinned as he leaned into Dean, before saying softly, "Takin' lessons from the master…" At Dean's snort, Sam continued, "Gotta learn from the best."
Dean said, grinning back as they walked toward the porch, "Damn right, only the best for our Sammy."
Sammy just shook his head, when he got to Bobby, he said quietly, "Hey, Bobby… thanks for letting us stay."
Bobby ruffled Sam's hair, "You need to come home more often; your room needs cleaned, there's a layer of dust an inch thick in there."
"Yeah," Dean snorted, "Bobby… Sammy'll get right on that. Won't ya Sammy?"
Sammy raised an eyebrow before saying with a glare at Dean, "Yeah, Bobby… We'll get right on that…"
Bobby laughed, "You idgits… let's go eat before it gets any colder…"
By the end of the day, the boys had cleaned their bedroom spotless. The cleanest it had been in years, Bobby thought that was a testament itself to how nervous both boys were. So far, there had been no calls from John and he hadn't shown up. Bobby had went out to the garage an hour before to pick up a mess he'd left earlier, at least that's what he told the boys. Instead he'd called John, nothing, just voice mail. When he'd come back in, Dean was waiting in the living room for him. Bobby looked up, surprised. "Where's your brother?" Dean hadn't let Sammy out of his site since getting there that morning.
"Library." Dean said with a smile… waiting for Bobby's predictable response.
"Shit!" Bobby said, every time Sammy was feeling antsy, he rearranged Bobby's books. In alphabetical order. Took him weeks to get everything back in his chaotic system so he could find things he needed. "I have a system…" Bobby muttered unhappily.
Dean laughed at the look on Bobby's face, thinking about his "system."
Bobby glared… then grinned back at the little shit, damn if his laugh and smile wasn't contagious.
Dean sobered as he asked, "Did you reach him?"
Bobby looked at him like he didn't know what he was talking about…
"Don't Bobby, please… I know you went out to call dad… if your going to lie… at least make it believable…" Dean said sarcastically.
"Excuse me…" Bobby asked… pretending ignorance.
"Bobby, come on… going out to clean up a mess you left in the garage… Bobby you never leave the garage in a mess…" Dean said, then a Bobby's blank stare, he lowered his voice to imitate Bobby, " Every thing has a place…put the shit back…" Dean quoted Bobby.
Bobby smiled then said softly, "Voicemail."
Dean nodded, "Thanks." he said then followed Bobby to the library.
Bobby shook his head, "Damn boy, your quick." He told Sammy, looking around the library in amazement. All the books that had been in stacks all over the place… well, they were gone.
Sammy smiled over his shoulder at Bobby, "Least I can do. Going to get the books in the other rooms, now… Dean, want to help me?"
Dean shrugged, Not really he thought, but followed his brother anyway. He knew Sammy was just trying to keep his mind occupied.
Bobby thought he might just have to learn to live with this system, every time Sammy got nervous, bored or just wanted to be helpful… his library got attacked… As he glanced around he thought, I could fit more books in here now…. Bobby's eyebrows lifted at that thought.
"I can build you more shelves in the hallway tomorrow if you want…" Sammy said, coming back with a stack of books from… somewhere. When had he left?
"We'll see, boy… How about we call it a night?" Bobby smiled at Sammy.
Sammy jerked, then mumbled, "Let me just finish this stack."
The next morning, Dean had fallen a sleep on the couch in the library and Sammy was organizing books on newly built shelves in the hallway.
"What the hell?" Bobby muttered… when had that boy slept? Not last night apparently.
"Do you not like the shelves, Bobby?" Sammy seemed wired, "I can take them out, redo them?" Sam said, as he fidgeted from one foot to the other.
"No, Sammy… they look good. I'm just trying to figure out how you made them, got them in here and you didn't wake me or Dean up?" Bobby said, shaking his head. His house hadn't been this de-cluttered in a long time. Sammy always did this when he was nervous, but not to this degree. "You want to tell me what's bugging you, boy?"
"No…nothing, I just wasn't tired is all." Sammy said, looking at his feet.
"Well," Bobby snorted, "Neither me nor your feet believe ya. So, why don't you try again."
Sammy looked around nervously, glancing around for anything to distract Bobby, "Oh, there's a couple of stacks of books I pulled out of the attic. Can you look at them and see if you want me to shelves those too?"
Bobby's eyes took on saucer like qualities, "I had books in the attic?" as he scrambled to get to his desk and check them out. He didn't remember even putting any books up there.
"About ten or so boxes… these were the ones not in a box." Sammy stated coming over to stand by the desk.
"I don't remember buying these…" Bobby muttered.
"Maybe they were here when you bought the house?" Sammy suggested, a mystery to keep him awake…
"Well, the attic had a bunch of stuff in it when we moved in… I never looked at it… ya know, newly married…" Bobby said turned an interesting shade of pink… "and I just put stuff up there, adding to it, never really thought about what might be…" He stopped, staring at a book in his hand… he looked up at Sam in wonder… "Do you know how long I've looked for a copy of this book?" He shook the book at Sam.
Sam shook his head, a small smiling playing on his lips. Bobby looked like a little kid on Christmas morning.
"Sammy, just in this stack alone, there's thousands of dollars worth of rare books… these are first and second additions… these books were on burn lists during the inquisition…" Bobby sat down heavily. "This book, Sam…" Still holding the one he'd shaken at Sam, "This book is a 1578, Nicolas Eymerich… it's A Witch Hunter's Manual… it was THE handbook they followed during the Spanish Inquisition…" He sat stunned… these had been in his attic since he moved in to the house, forty plus years ago… "It's amazing these survived… These… there aren't that many copies… How many boxes did you say…" Bobby couldn't wrap his head around… if Sam hadn't done this… "Sammy you can clean my house anytime…" Bobby said passionately.
Sam laughed so genuinely that he woke Dean.
Dean shot straight up and stared at Sam, blinking owlishly, "What?" hair sticking up everywhere.
Bobby and Sammy both smiled at how young Dean looked.
"Your brother has been up all night finding thousands of dollars for me…" Bobby said with a smile, putting the manual down and picking up another book.
Sammy told Bobby, "Let's clean off the bookshelves directly behind your desk for your rare books until we can get a glass book self that you can lock, for them."
Bobby nodded enthusiastically, while Dean stared at them like they'd lost their minds.
"You want to lock up books?" Dean asked, frowning at them, he was so confused.
They both laughed at him, before Bobby held up the book he was holding, "This book Dean is a 1579, Johannes Wierus in French, it's the most complete work on demonology ever published. The guy was a disciple of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, the greatest magician of the Renaissance." Bobby put it down and picked up another, "This is a 1589 Leonardo Vairo, it's De Facino Libri Tres, it's in Latin, Dean!" Bobby sighed at Dean's blank look, "Different ways to fight the illusions of demons."
Dean looked surprised, "That's cool. But I don't understand why you need to loc…"
"Dean, they're worth a lot of money…" Sammy said, at the still blank stare from Dean, "They're really old!"
Dean glared at him, stating peevishly. "Ya don't have to talk to me like I'm five, dude…"
Bobby interrupted, "How many boxes did you say were up there?"
"A lot, at least ten, maybe more." Sam stated with a smile.
Bobby jumped up, huge grin on his face, "Boys help me bring um down… to think they were here all this time." Shaking his head in wonder.
Dean rolled his eyes, but followed them anyway.
Sam and Bobby had all the boxes of books strung all over the newly cleaned library.
"Looks like it did before, so…" Dean asked crankily, "Tell me again, what was the point of dragging all this crap down from the attic?" Arms flung wide to encompass the room.
Bobby and Sam gave him twin glares as Bobby snapped, "This is the find of the century… This makes my collection, the best private collection in the country!" Sam beamed at Bobby.
Dean growled at them, "Great, I'm over here starving to death, but that's ok, because the man's got the greatest book collection in the country…"
Bobby interrupted, "Wow, the two volume addition from L'abbe Bordelon… 1754... Demonology and witchcraft."
Dean sighed dramatically, "Starving here…"
"Hey, Bobby… what about this one? Jacob Bohme…" Sammy opened it, "Latin… um… 1st edition, Phychologia vera, looks like 1632..."
Bobby's eyes widened in shock, "Sammy that book was put on the index of forbidden books in 1633."
"Wow," Sammy breathed, totally impressed.
"Dying… starvation… come on, let's go get something to eat!" Dean was resorting to begging. At twin blank stares, he threw up his hands and left to get food to bring back, by himself. When he got back they were still in the library… He sat the food down on the table and went to drag them away from the old books.
"Freeze!" Dean yelled from the doorway, causing both Sam and Bobby to jump and turn to stare at him.
He glared right back at them, "Do you realize I left, have been gone over an hour and just brought dinner in for us?"
At the twin guilty looks, Dean continued, "I didn't think so… Get off your asses and come eat." After he turned away he smiled… at least this was keeping Sam's mind off the fact that their dad hadn't called or shown up, and his time was almost up. Dean was leaving tonight if dad didn't show.
After settling down around the table, Dean said causally, "Sammy, I was thinking… how about we head up towards Canada? Never been there… could be fun… do some sight seeing. What ya say?"
Sammy stilled and Bobby looked upset.
Bobby cleared his throat, "I've been thinking… You boys could stay here…"
At Dean's raised eyebrow, Bobby rushed on, "You could be my new ace mechanic… I been thinking about retiring, so I research more for the other hunters. And Sammy here, he could be my research assistant… What do you boys think?"
Dean smiled at Bobby, "That would be awesome, Bobby. But when I said we were walking away from everything… I didn't mean you. We'll keep in touch with you… but being here… it would be too easy for dad to come here when he's damn good and ready to drag us back into hunting. We leave tonight if he doesn't show… right, Sammy?"
Sammy smiled sadly at Bobby, "Right, I'm going with Dean."
Dean smiled at Sammy, baby brothers are something else.
Bobby cleared his throat, "I understand, but you know you have a home, here… when you get ready."
Dean smiled at Bobby, as both boys replied together, "Thanks…"
TBC