A/N: I ship Dean and Lisa so much! I wish they would bring them back. Just for a short while. Like the Braedens run into another Supernatural trouble or something because they're as much dragged into the hunting life as Dean is and I don't know. Just something! Even if they won't remember Dean which is going to hurt. Honestly, anything! I'll take anything. Even just a mention of them. Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter. Let me know what you think.

Disclaimer: Supernatural is not mine.

Summary: Dean, Sam, and Mary find Ben Braeden with his memories intact. AU.

CHAPTER 4

"How's your mom been?"

They were in a motel getting ready for bed. Sam and Mary shared a room while Dean and Ben bunked together. Mary has most likely figured it out and insisted that Dean should stay with the kid at all times.

"She's okay." Ben said between tidying his clothes before going to bed. He can pretend to be nonchalant all he wanted but Dean can see the stiffness of his shoulders from where he's sitting. Suddenly, he can see the kid who drove across the country and found their motel looking like he's got bones to pick with Den all over again.

"Yeah?" Dean asked but it was a loaded question. Ben turned and looked at him, evaluating, gauging his sincerity. Ben's eyes swirled with emotion, each of them flashing momentarily on the surface. Dean saw his anger, pain, confusion, and mistrust until the kid locked them all away. He didn't blame the kid. He deserved it after all. But Ben must've seen how much he wanted to hear about Lisa because he sighed and crossed his arms, giving Dean the olive branch he's desperately been grasping for.

"Sometimes, I catch her having this vacant look on her face as if she's trying to remember something she forgot but she usually shrugs it off. But I can tell, even if she doesn't remember or understand it, that she misses you a lot." Ben said quietly, looking away.

Dean's mouth suddenly felt dry, pins and needles slowly crawling across his chest. "I'm sorry." Empty words but there was nothing else he could say.

Ben sighed, getting into bed. He paused for a moment before turning back to Dean. The mask he wore fell off leaving the worn and weary kid he was when he first showed up hours ago. Dean knew that whatever Ben's been through hadn't been easy. It was bad enough that it drove Ben to find him, to learn what he does. But Dean will never do that to Ben. He'll never ruin him like how this life ruined Dean. It was a curse bad enough to be shared with his little brother but not with Ben. Anyone else but Ben…

"I asked you to come home." Ben whispered to him, barely audible but there's no way Dean would've missed it. He sounded so young then, so much like the thirteen-year-old boy who called a third date an emergency and begged him to just come home. It made Dean suddenly cold.

"And you know why I didn't." Dean answered him, pleading for some understanding.

Ben's eyes flashed with hurt before he blinked it away, looking anywhere but him. Dean wanted to tell him that whatever he was thinking, it wasn't it. It was never them. It's not their fault. It was Dean. It was all Dean's fault. It was Dean's choice. Dean just didn't choose them. But he couldn't tell him that. He knew no matter how hard he tries to explain, Ben wouldn't understand.

The kid shrugged, his voice wavering slightly when he spoke. "Sam was alive. The world needed someone to save it, I know. I get it. I mean, how do we compete against a calling like that? What's mom and I against the rest of the universe?"

Dean shook his head. "It's not that."

"No, it was. And it's okay, Dean. I get it." Ben said, finally looking at him with burning chocolate brown eyes, too wise for his age. "We needed you but something out there just needed you more. You did what you thought was best for your family even if the rest of us didn't agree with your decision. We just have to learn to live with that."

Dean swallowed, a grin forced on his lips but his voice came out shakier than he would've liked. "How'd you get so smart?"

Ben scoffed, quick to ride along, but his words sounded empty. "Dude, full ride to MIT."

Dean's grin morphed into a genuine smile. There was a moment when he just took the kid in, no longer looking at him as the boy he once knew but someone growing up to be a good man. Dean knew he can expect great things from Benjamin Isaac Braeden.

So, he told Ben sincerely, "I'm so proud of you, Ben."

Ben's chocolate brown eyes slowly lit up and Dean thought he'd never seen anything so beautiful as that spark in the kid's shining eyes. "Thanks, Dean."