Thank You for Being a Friend
Chapter 3
Summary: When John decides that Dean is old enough to start hunting, Sam is left behind for the summer.
AN: Another one for Robbie.
Sam was lying under the shade of a large tree in Jim's backyard, reading flipping through a book. He was looking at the words, but he wasn't really reading them. He never thought it was possible to die from boredom until now.
It was ridiculous really, he found himself wishing that he hadn't sent Brian away. The summer as nearly over and Sam felt like he had wasted it.
"Sam?" Jim called from the porch. Sam sat up and trotted over to the man. "Lunch is ready, go wash up."
"Yes Sir."
Minutes later Sam slipped into his chair at the table. He bowed his head as Jim insisted on saying a quick prayer over the food and then he started to eat his sandwich.
"Do you have anything fun to do today?" Jim asked.
"No Sir."
"I saw you talking to Brian Parson at church a while ago, he's a nice boy."
Sam shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."
"You could ask him over if you wanted to."
"Thanks, maybe I'll ask him some time..." Sam known he would never ask Brian over, he was pretty sure Brian hated him now. Not that Sam blamed him, Sam knew he had been a jerk and he felt bad about it.
Jim was hoping for a more animated response from Sam, but he wasn't surprised, Sam had always had trouble with other children. Jim sighed. "I have a fishing pole. If you want you can take Tiny and go down to the river and fish for a while."
"Okay." Sam was more enthusiastic now, he and Dean went fishing sometimes with Caleb and they always had a good time. He took another quick bite of his sandwich and then tossed the remaining crust to Tiny, who swallowed it. He pushed in his chair and jumped to his feet. "Where's that fishin' pole?"
Jim smiled at Sam's excitement. "Out in the shed. If you would wait until I finish my lunch, I would go get it for you. It's dusty out there and I don't want you having an attack."
Sam waved the suggestion away with his hand. "I'll be fine...I can handle a bit of dust."
"Just try not to inhale."
"I won't." Sam headed to the door. "Thanks for lunch, we'll be back soon." He slapped his thigh and called over his shoulder. "C'mon Tiny!"
Sam hold his breath as he went into the dusty shed, he grabbed the fishing and jogged off towards the river, with Tiny following at a more leisurely pace.
When he passed the tree where he had met Brian the first time, he looked up into the branches in the hopes that he would find him there again, but no one was there. He sighed and continued towards the river.
Fishing just wasn't as fun without Caleb's constant chattering and Dean splashing Sam with water and all of the boys playing little pranks on each other.
Sam flashed back to one of his favorite fishing memories.
He could see Dean bent forward trying to get the small fish that he had just caught off his hook. Caleb was so focused. He was trying to be sneaky as he stuck his fishing hook through Dean's underwear, his tongue stick out of the corner of his mouth in concentration. He was dead set on giving Dean the ultimate wedgie.
Sam was covering his mouth with his hand to stifle his laughter; Caleb shot him a warning glance and mouthed a firm 'shut up'. Caleb had been so busy trying to quiet Sam that he forgot to watch what he was doing and jabbed Dean right in the caboose with the sharp hook.
Dean let out a loud yelp, dropped his fishing pole and the fish that was attached to it and jumped nearly his own height in the air.
Sam was laughing so hard that he was crying and Caleb was rolling on the ground with glee. Poor Dean was rubbing his butt and glaring intensely at the two boys.
Sam laughed softly at the memory.
He was lying back, with his head resting on Tiny's stomach. He was sitting close to the water, with the fishing pole held lazily in his hand. He had almost drifted off when a he heard footsteps coming towards him.
He pushed himself up to find two boys, about Dean's age, standing before him. They had overly friendly smiles on their faces and their arms were crossed over their chests, they towered over Sam.
"Hey." An ugly blond boy said. The other boy, a red head, went behind Sam.
"Hi." Sam replied nervously. He nudged Tiny with his elbow. "Some guard dog you are." In response, Tiny stretched and sniffed the boy behind Sam, after licking the boy's hand, Tiny trotted off towards home. "Great." Sam mumbled under his breath.
"Ya know you really shouldn't go around in the woods by yourself...they're hunted you know." The red head warned.
Sam scoffed these boys wouldn't a ghost if it poked them in the eye.
"You don't believe me?" The red head asked. Sam shook his head.
"He's callin' ya a lair Chad." The blond said.
"Are you calling me a lair Kid?"
San thought for a moment and then nodded. "Yes."
"I don't take kindly to be called a lair."
"I think a dip in the river might be just what he needs to knock some sense into him." The blond suggested.
The red head nodded in agreement. "Empty your pockets first...we wouldn't want you to loss anything important, like money."
"I don't have any money."
"I don't believe you, show us."
Sam turned his pockets out. He pulled out a gum wrapper, some lint and 64 cents. "Happy now?"
The blond boy shrugged. "Well, I guess if you don't have anything for us, it's time for your swim."
There was no way that Sam was going in that stupid river, he spared a second to think about how he could get a way, while the two bullies were arguing over how to split the 64 cents.
He looked around trying to find the best escape route, out of the corner of his eye. He saw something that didn't quite fit in with the rest of the forest. Leaning stealthily against a thick tree stood Brian, he put his index finger to his lips, signaling to Sam not to say anything.
Sam gave a very discreet nod to acknowledge Brian. Brian grabbed a few pebbles off the forest floor and through them at the two boys as a distraction.
"What the hell?" The boys asked looking around to see where the pebbles had come from, Brian throw a couple more pebbles at them hitting them in the head.
"Come on Sam, run!" Brian called. He led the way running through the forest, hopping over rocks and logs. Sam spared a look back at the boys—they looked pissed and they were chasing after Sam and Brian.
Sam was trailing a ways behind Brian. Brian turned around to see where Sam was, when he saw Sam lagging behind, he turned back around and jogged over to him. "Ya gotta hurry up Sam, they're gonna catch up with us."
Sam fall to his knees trying to suck in the precious air, he shook his head. "Go." He said waving for Brian to keep running.
"I can't just leave ya here, they'll kill ya! Just a bit further."
Sam wheezed loudly he had just occurred to him that he didn't have his inhaler. He knew exactly where it was, he could see it sitting in the pocket of the jeans that he had been wearing yesterday.
"Can't..." Sam gasped.
Brian looked up to see the two older boys come into view, pointing toward him and Sam, Brian gulped. "Well I guess they'll kill us both then."
Brian and Sam sat helplessly was the bullies sprinted towards them; they had resigned to their faith.
"Leave 'em alone!" A loud voice called causing the bullies to skid to a stop. They looked around trying to see where the voice had come from, they saw no one. "I said leave them alone. Go."
The two older boys looked frightened; the blond looked at the red head. "I told you there were ghosts out here!" They both took off running the other way.
Brian also looked slightly afraid, but Sam smiled weakly, he knew the voice well. "De..." He wheezed.
Dean hurried over to the two boys. "Sammy! What the hell happened? I can't leave you alone for five minutes without you getting into trouble."
"You're...back."
"No kidding?" Dean scoffed. "Where's your inhaler?"
"Other...pants."
"Don't tell me you were running through the woods without your inhaler." Dean scolded. "Don't panic okay?—you're gonna be just fine." He soothed then turned to Brian. "Who are you?"
"Brian."
"I need you to run to Pastor Jim's house, can you do that Brian? My dad and Jim went into town, but go into the laundry room and check all the pants for an inhaler."
"Yeah, I'll be back in a second." Brian jumped to his feet and ran towards Jim's house.
Dean had Sam sitting up, leaning against his chest trying to ease his breathing.
No matter how many attacks Sam had in his lifetime, he would never get used to being unable to breathe. He tried to take his mind off it, this wasn't anywhere near his worst attack, but his first instinct was to panic.
"When...get back?" Sam asked breathlessly.
"Shh, shut up, don't talk. Dad and I just got back. Jim told me you went fishing at the river, so I came to find you. This was not the welcome I expecting—really a manly handshake would have been sufficient."
Sam could only smile in response. "Missed...you."
Dean hugged Sam tightly. "I missed you too Little Brother."
"Where those two boys pickin' on you?" Dean asked.
Sam nodded.
"I don't think they'll be coming back."
"Scared 'em..."
"Yeah I did, they probably pissed their pants and ran home to their mommies."
"Hunting...fun?"
"Hell yeah hunting is fun. You seen Dad in action from the car, but it's even better close up. And I got to help Dad torch a spook. It was awesome!"
"Glad...back." Sam leaned further into Dean's chest.
"I'm glad to be back too. Didn't you have any fun around here?"
Sam shook his head.
"No? What about that kid who was with you? Brian, his name's Brian right? He seems cool. Who is he?"
Sam didn't even hesitate, he replied confidently. "Friend."
Brian came sprinting back towards Sam and Dean. He hadn't taken very long, but Sam's attack had practically passed on it's own by the time he got back.
He was panting heavily as a handed the inhaler to Dean and abruptly sat on the ground in front of Sam. He watched worriedly as Dean helped Sam take a hit from his inhaler.
"Is he gonna be okay?" Brian asked.
"I'm fine." Sam told Brian.
"Shh, didn't I just tell you not to talk?" Dean flicked Sam in the forehead and then turned to Brian. "He'll be fine."
"Good." Brian said with a nod.
"Why don't you come back to the house with us Brian, my dad got a pizza."
"Yeah! Come have some food." Sam pleaded.
Brian shrugged. "Okay."
Dean grabbed Sam under his arms and lifted him to his feet. "Take it easy." He warned as they started walking slowly toward Jim's house. He kept a firm grip on the back of Sam's shirt.
"Dean!" Sam whined trying to swat his brother's hand away. "Let go!"
"No, it's your punishment for forgetting your inhaler." Dean said with a smirk.
"Humph!" Sam pouted.
It seemed to take forever for the boys to get back to the house, but when they did, they devoured the pizza ravenously.
"I'm going to take a shower." Dean announced leaving the two younger boys in the living room. "Hey Brian."
"Huh?" Brian asked.
"Thanks for taking care of Sammy." Dean said before leaving the room.
"I told you Dean wasn't imaginary." Sam said with a smirk.
"I guess he's not." Brian laughed.
"Hey Brian?"
"Huh?"
"I'm sorry that I yelled at you that time at church."
"Oh that's okay. My mom says I have that effect on people."
"Yeah, well I was still rude and you didn't deserve it. Can you forgive me?" Sam asked sheepishly.
"Okay." Brian agreed easily.
"Thanks." Sam said. The boys sat in a comfortable silence for a while, just watching TV.
"Summers almost over." Brain stated softly.
"Yeah."
"Are ya leavin' soon?" Brian asked sadly.
Sam nodded and quickly added. "But I'll be back next summer."
Brian immediately perked up. "Okay! I'll see ya next summer."
"Okay...but what if we don't recognize each other? It's a long time 'til next summer, what if you don't look the same?"
Brian thought for a minute. "I know! We'll meet at that tree where we first met."
Hey there friends, thanks for reading!
Thank you to those of you who take the time to review.
Have an awesome day!
P.S. Thin Line readers: I apologize for the wait, I had chapter 10 finished, but I wasn't happy with it so I'm in the process of rewriting it...sorry to leave you with that cliffy, but the next update will be up ASAP.
