Hi there! I come bearing gifts! ...meager gifts.
Technically, this isn't even a chapter, more like a coda to the previous one. But it wouldn't get out of my head until I wrote it down, and I thought I might as well share it. :)
Hope you can enjoy it, even though it's short.
It's honestly too early to be up.
Sam wouldn't be up, but he woke suddenly, with an exceptionally dry mouth. And naturally the pitcher he keeps beside his bed is empty.
It's too early to be up, except he runs into Jack on his way to the kitchen. Jack, who sticks to a fairly regular sleeping schedule, unless he's had a bad dream.
But he's smiling.
"Hey, Sam," he says, a note of...cheeriness? coloring his tone. His stride is open, more confident than other times he's wandered the bunker halls at night.
"Hey, Jack," he answers with a bewildered smile. "You okay?"
He contemplates this a minute. "Yeah. I am."
"Okay. Good."
What happened?
Sam is even more confused when he enters the kitchen and sees Dean there. Dean, in the same room that Jack has just left—left, with a smile on his face.
Something is weird about that.
"Hey," Dean greets him, barely glancing up from the screen. "We havin' a party?"
"Dean..." Sam moves in close to his brother, lowering his voice to almost a whisper. "What did you say to him? He's...smiling."
Dean rolls his eyes. "Just told the truth—that Cas thought he was worth it."
Sam exhales, one hand running through his hair. Dean just said something nice to Jack. He might not consider it a big deal, but Sam knows—he just saw—how important it was to Jack.
This is what Sam has wanted—for Dean to just make an effort.
"Dean...Thank you."
He knows how hard it is to vy for the approval of someone who refuses to give it. The fact that Dean has shifted his viewpoint even a little, to not only respect Cas's wishes, but show Jack a sliver of compassion is...a call for celebration.
...
It's still too early to be up.
Even so, Sam can't return to bed without checking in with Jack. Of course Dean's blanket statement hasn't cured Jack of his fears. He's still struggling to relax, to succumb to unconsciousness, where his nightmares live.
It's too early to be up—but Sam stays up anyway, his presence and the occasional soft-spoken reassurance being enough to soothe Jack back to sleep.
It's definitely too early to be up, because when Dean finally gives in to his sagging eyelids and heads for bed, he passes by Sam's open doorway and surveys an empty room. And when he passes Jack's room, he sees his kid brother dozing in a chair, next to the bed of their soundly sleeping kid nephilim.
So there it is! Keep a (skeptical) eye out for more updates. Thanks to everyone, especially guests, who has reviewed so far; it means a lot!
Thanks for reading KylerM!