This Chapter Warnings: OCs (but they're plot devices and not Mary Sues)
AN: Tera Earth on asked an interesting question: did Dean intend on making Sam forget that much?
Short answer: Yes. Longer answer: Dean wanted to get rid of all of Sam's memories relating to the supernatural (to keep his brother safe). Their family started hunting when Sam was 6 months old. So whether Sam realized it at the time or not, most of his memories are connected to the supernatural so Dean made him forget a lot. Not everything, bits and pieces came back to him. His memory isn't completely gone but has some major holes.
This chapter gives a window into Sam's new life. There will be more explanation of what happened during the time jump in chapter 5. Without further ado Enjoy!
13 years later:
About 50 miles west of Palo Alto, lays the small town of Menlo Park. It developed in the midst of the Northern California forests nearly 150 years ago. The forest still surrounds it, almost like a blanket. Approximately 37,000 people live there, most of them families. The town isn't a bustling metropolis but, it's not in the middle of nowhere either. It's just to the left of the action. In a way, that's what makes it the perfect place to hide in plain sight.
It's a calm Saturday afternoon in Menlo Park. It's still hot enough to feel like summer but, an occasional chilly wind reminds the towns people that fall will be here soon. In certain places the laughter of children can be heard as they try to hold on to these last days of freedom. Adults stand on the sidelines making quiet conversation. There is also the intermittent call of a bird or dog which interrupts the silence.
A man emerges from the dense forest. His short brown hair just barely moves in the wind. His eyes are hidden by his dark sunglasses. He is dressed casually in blue-jeans, a brown leather coat and a black shirt. An amulet shaped like a tiny golden head hangs on a black cord around his neck.
His pace is steady, even as he walks up or down hills his gait remains unchanged. His eyes are firmly focused on his destination in the distance. He walks like this for a few miles until he suddenly turns and approaches a two level house that looks as though it is made of tan stone. He pushes open the short white gate. The lawn is a healthy green with toys scattered around it. He steps onto the porch and rings the bell.
Another man appears at the door. This man is taller but, they appear to be around the same age. Small creases are just beginning to form around the other man's eyes. They are more laugh lines than wrinkles, the evidence of a pleasant life. Both of their faces break into smiles.
"Dean," the man inside the house says, pulling the visitor into a hug.
"Dude. Don't turn this into a chick flick." Dean says stepping into living room. "It hasn't been that long since you've seen me."
"It's been three weeks," Sam argues. "Dude you missed two chances for a free home cooked meal. You wouldn't even explain. I thought you were in some sort of trouble."
"Now Sammy you worry too much. It was just work stuff," Dean tells him, brushing off his brother's concern.
"What does that mean, Dean? What is 'work stuff'?" Sam asks using air quotes.
"Work stuff means work stuff, the stuff I do while at work. It shouldn't be a hard concept for college boy like you," Dean teases.
Sam is about to open his mouth to argue but, their conversation is interrupted by a small ball of energy and noise rocketing toward them.
"Uncle De!" yells a tiny voice.
Dean turns, just in time to catch the young girl as she jumps into his arms. She wraps her arms around his neck as he spins her in around twice before letting her lean back so that he can look at her.
"Hey Bin. You've gotten so big since I've last seen you. What's your secret?"
Robin Eve Winchester wasn't especially tall but, she was one of the tallest kids in her 2nd grade class. She was very proud of that fact and hoped to one day be "as tall as Daddy." She even liked to make herself taller in the short black boots that Dean had gotten her for her birthday. She'd asked her parents for them for 3 months before Dean finally decided to risk her mother's wrath and gave them to her as a birthday present. At the moment though, she is bootless, her feet clad only in white socks. She wears jeans and a t-shirt that reads "Homework is evil. It must be stopped." Her brown hair, so light that it sometimes looked blond, is put into a ponytail. It looks as though she has a little exploding fire cracker coming from her head.
"Mama says that I'm so big because I always eat all my vegetables." She leans in and attempts to whisper in her uncle's ear "but I feed them to Dottie sometimes so that can't be it." As is common with children she doesn't exactly have a handle on whispering yet. She imitated the hissing quality that most people's voice have when they whispering but, didn't lower the volume enough. Dottie is their black and white spotted mutt dog that Sam had gotten from the rescue center when the children were young. Since Dean is hasn't been nearly licked to death by 90 pounds of exited dog he assumes that she's probably in the back yard soaking up the last rays of the summer sun.
Robin giggles and Dean spins her around one more time before setting her down.
Standing a few feet way is a small boy. He looks about 5 years old and slightly on the cubby side. He's dressed in kaki short, gym shoes and a shirt with a cartoon character on it that Dean doesn't recognize. Dean kneels down so he's at eye-level.
"Hey Nate-man come give your uncle a hug." The boy smiles at the request and rushes into his uncle's arms. Nathan Jesse Winchester is the spitting image of his father that age. It amazes Dean sometimes how much they look alike. Nate, however, seems to suffer from a crippling shyness that Dean doesn't remember affecting Sam. It's probably not going to last. When he's a teenager he's probably going to be a stubborn and argumentative as his old man.
"Uncle Dean?" the boy begins nervously.
"Yeah Nate?"
"I'm taking good care of the present you gave me. Look." The child rummages in his pockets and pulls out an impala just like his uncle's except that this one is only 3 inches long. "I cleaned it jus' like you showed me 'cause proper car mayenence is important." He holds the car out to his uncle, waiting for inspection. Dean puts on a serious face and makes a big show of spinning the wheels and checking for dust.
He smiles big and proclaims: "This car is in marvelous condition. Truly amazing. The best kept car I've seen in years." Nate's nervous face breaks into an ear-to-ear grin of pride. Nate begins to walk off, his 5 year old attention span having run out, when his sister interjects with a question.
"Uncle Dean, where's uncle Cas?" Her face is full of confusion, as if she just realized that he is missing. Dean's face flashes a 'oh shit' look but, he covers it quickly. Sam is the only one who notices.
"He had to work today, Bin. Someone had to man the fort while I'm indulging in your mother's amazing pie." She accepts that answer and walks off to play with her brother trailing behind her.
Dean and Sam are left in the living room alone once again. An uncomfortable silence fills the room. Sam is the one who breaks it.
"So… is there a… problem between you and Lucas?" Sam asks.
"No Sammy…" Dean informs his brother.
"Because I'm sure he could forgive you if you did something stupid. You just need to do a little groveling. Did you forget your anniversary? Last year I…"
"No Sam," Dean interrupts. "I made dinner and we had awesome anniversary sex. Work is just crazy right now. I was barely able to get away. There was no way both Cas and I could get away. We're seriously fine." Sam gives him a skeptical look but, doesn't argue. Dean quickly changes the subject. "Now come on let's see what mouth watering things your wife is cooking."
Sam and Dean head for the kitchen, their concerns forgotten for the moment.
The kitchen was one of the few areas of the house where Sam and his wife had decided to indulge. Sam's in-laws had both been chefs so his wife had learned to cook at an early age. She finds cooking really relaxing and loves having a big area in which to work. The kitchen is covered with black and white checkered tile. Wooden cabinets and black marble counters take up most of the wall on one side of the room. On the other side of the room, a large 6-burner stove takes up most of the space. On the smaller wall, opposite the door, is the silver double-door fridge.
The most beautiful thing in that kitchen at this moment however is Diana Tobias-Winchester (at least in Sam's opinion). Her dark hair falls just past her shoulder blades and is held back by a plain black scrunchie. She was dressed casually in jeans and a well-fitting purple t-shirt. She is pretty tall, only an inch or so shorter than Dean. She has an enticing figure. She isn't model thin but, far from overweight. She falls somewhere in between, probably best labeled as curvy. She is currently focused on chopping vegetables atop one a large wooden cutting board. The pair brothers stand just inside the kitchen doorway, making sure to stay out of Diana's way.
"Hey sis, did you miss me?" Dean asks, a huge grin on his face. She doesn't even look up.
"Not really. I was just getting used to having leftovers," Diana replies, her voice monotone.
"Oh come on. Don't tell me you weren't worried," Dean says still smiling.
"Nope. Unlike my worry wart of a husband I knew that you'd eventually come back when you got hungry enough." She scoops up the vegetables and throws them into a boiling pot on the stove.
"You know you love me," Dean declares.
"Only because it was part of the fine print when I married you brother," Diana teases. "If I'd known that the tall hunk came with a shorter motor mouth I would have reconsidered the offer, no matter how good Sam is in bed." She turns back to the stove. Dean suppresses a laugh. His brother frowns.
"Oh Sam don't pout. I'm just kidding" She kissed Sam briefly on the lips as she passed him. His face softens. "And it is nice to see you Dean. Now both of you out of the kitchen before the pies end up burning. "
"You heard the woman, Sammy. For the sake of the pie we need to vamoose." Dean is still grinning as they head out of the house to the backyard.
On the back patio are two well worn lawn chairs. They each take a seat and Sam hands both of them a beer from the cooler on the ground between them. They both just sit for a moment without saying anything. The silence is comfortable, as if they'd done this a hundred times before.
"So, that Diana," Dean begins with a mischievous look on his face. "She's a hottie. You hit that yet?" Sam nearly cokes on his beer.
"Dean, I've been married to her for nearly 9 years and we've had two children together. You and Cas babysat the kids on our last anniversary just so I could hit that. So to answer your question: yeah Dean, I hit that." Dean tries to hide a smirk by taking a sip of his beer. They slip back into silence for awhile. Something seems to be weighing heavily on Sam's mind.
"Stop it," Dean suddenly demands, shocking Sam out of his thoughts.
"Stop what?" Sam asks confused.
"The brooding. Stop the brooding. You're nearly 40 years old it's time to stop making teenage girl faces, seriously."
"Sorry" Sam apologizes looking a bit sheepish. "I've just got a lot on my mind right now?"
"Let me guess, you're going to act like a little girl until you get this off your chest right?" Sam doesn't answer but, Dean continues talking anyway. "So I'll listen if it's the only way to turn you back into a man, Samantha." Sam glares at him half-heartedly while he tries to figure out where to begin.
"Where were you for the 3 weeks?" he suddenly blurts out. "I tried to call you but, my calls kept going straight to voice mail. I was worried."
"Sammy, I was out of cell range on a business trip. That's all. It's nothing to be worried about." Dean tries to reassure his brother. "Why is this bothering you so much now? I've been out of cell range before."
"I started having The Dreams again, just like after my accident. I see things that I know aren't real, couldn't possibly be real but, they feel so real. I see monsters that are so obscure that I had to look through 30 pages of Google search to just find their name. Yet in my dreams I know exactly how to kill them.
I watch people die. I can't remember ever seeing them before but, sometimes I know their names. I feel like I know them. Madison, Ron, Meg, Pamela, Andy…
Sometimes it's you Dean. Some nights I watched you get ripped apart by things I can't even see then, I hold you mangled body. Other times it's me. I die. I feel the knife slice into me before everything goes black. It's driving me crazy, Dean. They feel like memories but, they can't be. I don't want them to be but, for all I know they could be. There's still so much I don't remember from before the accident. You think after 13 years I'd be used to having a memory that looks like Swiss cheese but, sometimes it's still hard. I hate it. "
Sam finally falls silent. He fills a little empty now that all the problems that have been bothering him are out in the open but, it also feels good. He feels cleansed. It's like all his problems were poisoning him from the inside. Now they're out and they can't hurt him anymore.
Dean tries to think of something to tell his brother to make this ok but, nothing is coming to mind. He wants to tell him that everything will be all right. He wants to but, he's not sure it's true.
"Boys, time for dinner." The call comes from the house, saving Dean from having to say anything. They both head back inside.
'Why can't I have one normal dinner?' Dean thinks as he enters the house. 'Come on, even the Prince of Hell deserves a little R&R every once in awhile.'
AN: Lucas/Cas is Castiel (in case you didn't get that). Dean just introduced him as Lucas because he could still use the nickname Cas and it won't raise suspicion the way an odd name like Cas would. Please review. Castiel will be back next chapter as will the sexins. Until next time : )