Chapter 4: Confusion

"Dean, get back." John ordered, in a way which demanded no argument. He slowly stalked closer to the sleeping wolf, pulling his gun out of his waistband as he did so. That damned witch, he thought angrily, grinding his teeth. She stole his son, replaced him with this… thing… and she was going to pay. First the wolf, and then he'd find her. She'd soon realise that double crossing a Winchester was the worst mistake she ever made.

"Wait, Dad no!" Dean shouted, panicked as he went to grab his father's arm. "You can't shoot him!"

"It's not your brother Dean, it's a monster. It needs to be put down." John replied coldly, aiming the gun at the beast on the seat.

"But it is! I saw him change in front of my eyes- that witch, she did something to him!" Dean argued desperately. He couldn't just stand by as his father murdered his baby brother. But when his dad's only response was to continue to take aim, Dean reached for his own gun, and surprised both of them by pointing it at his father as he jumped in between him and the car.

"Stand down, Dean." John growled, without taking his eyes off of the creature.

"If you want to shoot Sam, you'll have to kill me first." Dean said, a determined glint in his eyes. John wasn't expecting that. Not only was his eldest defying him- a very rare occurrence- he seemed to have no qualms about doing it. It shook John slightly in his reserve, but he still refused to lower his gun. That thing was dangerous.

"Dean, move!" John yelled at his son.

"No." Dean responded coolly, refusing to move an inch. John would not hurt Sam, not whilst he was still standing. It was just at that moment that the wolf on the seat behind him began to stir. It rose it's head, blinking groggily, before releasing a huge toothy yawn. When it saw the gun, it yelped and scrambled back as far as the seat would allow, confusion and betrayal burning in its hazel eyes before looking down, defeated. It seemed to be then that the wolf noticed its own paws, and it once again yelped and looked itself up and down. If it wasn't a life or death situation, Dean thought, it might have actually been quite funny.

"Dad look at him, that's Sammy. He didn't even realise what he is! That's my little brother you're pointing your gun at, and I swear to God, if you don't lower it-" Dean didn't have to finish; his father was already slowly lowering the gun, a look of utter shock on his face.

"Sam?" He asked questioningly. The wolf- Sam- crept forward, tail tucked between his legs and belly scraping the seat submissively, fearful of what his father's reaction would be. He was definitely not expecting his Dad to spin away from him and stride back towards his 4x4, saying over his shoulder to Dean, "Get back into the Impala, I'll meet you at Bobby's, as planned. Don't let that thing escape."

Dean stared at his father's quickly retreating form, dumbfounded. The wolf was so obviously Sam, and yet he was still treating him with contempt. Did he not even care how his youngest might be feeling? Dean was seriously beginning to get the urge to punch his father. Couldn't hurt, he thought, might knock a small bit of idiocy out of him to make some room for common sense! The sooner we get to Bobby's the better. Slowly turning towards his brother, he wasn't quite sure what to say. 'Good Boy'? No, Sam would definitely kill him for that one, something he didn't want to risk when his brother was armed with deadly teeth and claws. 'Don't pee on my baby'? Nope, that would definitely get a massive bitchface, which Dean was certain Sam could still pull, even if he was a wolf. In fact, he could probably pull it even better now, he thought with a smirk.

"Um, Sam?" Dean asked, even though he was still not quite sure what else to say. Sam perked his ears up at the sound of his name, but still looked as depressed as ever. "Er, well, I guess we'd better get going. Don't worry; I'm sure Bobby can fix this." Dean reassured, and not just for Sam's benefit.

-SPN-

Sam's life officially sucked. First he has a fight with his dad- although that's pretty normal. Then a ghost gets one over on him (Dean would definitely make fun of him for that, when this was all over) and the next thing he knows, he's waking up in the Impala as a freaking wolf! No normal person should ever experience any of that, much less all of it! Dean had told him that he'd spent a week in hospital, with a broken- well, everything really. He was going to be pretty much crippled. Then cue the kindly witch with her funny smelling herbs and weird words. But said kindly witch ended up being not so kindly, and yes, whilst she had healed him and everything seemed perfect, except from her sudden disappearance, she'd also…changed him. A change Sam was most definitely not happy with.

He sat on the back seat of the Impala, head resting on his paws with his tail- which was beyond weird- wrapped around him comfortingly. It was definitely a strange sensation, waking up with a whole new limb, one he had very little control over. He just prayed that in time he'd get the hang of using it. Sam's mind kept going over and over the incident with his dad. He couldn't believe how his father reacted, how even when he knew who Sam was, he still kept his gun aimed at him. Although, when he thought about it, he didn't really blame him. He hadn't exactly been the son of the year recently, not like Dean. First he'd wanted to leave the 'Family Business', and had then fought over it. Not only that, but he messed up on a hunt. Again. It was no wonder he wanted to get rid of him. Sam's heart panged with sadness, but one glance at Dean, who was driving whilst drumming his fingers on the steering wheel in time with the music, lessened the feeling slightly. Dean had stood by him, shielded him from their father. Dean's faith in him made Sam's tail thump slightly in happiness, causing his brother to look over to him in the rear-view mirror.

"You ok there Sammy-Boy?" Dean asked, not entirely sure what he was expecting in response. Sam woofed lowly, raising his head slightly and allowing his tail to gently move up and down a few times. Dean took this as a sign of content, and asked no more. 2 hours after the 'change', and he still had no clue what to say to his brother. He knew he should just talk to him normally, but things were just so awkward. How do you talk to someone who can't talk back? Dean couldn't believe that only a day ago he'd been praying to be able to talk to his brother again, and now he could, he had no idea what to say. It seemed like some cruel trick of fate, having Sammy so close and yet still being separated, in a sense.

Suddenly Sam sat up in the seat, eyes wide, which looked rather comical on a wolf. Nature was calling, so to speak. He whined to his brother, embarrassed, and attempted scratching at the door, which wasn't exactly easy in a moving car.

"Hey, Sammy! If you scratch up my car I'm turning you into a fur rug…" Dean warned, a dark look in his eyes when he heard the scratching. However, one glance at his little brother soon had him cursing. "I swear to God, Sam, you dare pee in my car…" Sam gave him probably the best bitchface Dean had ever seen, and that was saying something. Pulling over as soon as he could, he jumped out of the car and opened the door for Sam, who quickly jumped out and ran out of sight to do his business. Jesus, Sam, Dean thought, this is not going to be fun. He just prayed that his brother wouldn't get lost, as that would be typical Winchester luck. He needn't have worried though, as Sam quickly came trotting back from behind a bush. As Sam came towards him, Dean couldn't help but notice how, well, magnificent his brother looked as a wolf (in a completely non-creepy way- they were brothers, for crying out loud!). He had long thick fur, with variations of brown and black, amd a the dark tipped tail, as if it had been dipped into a bucket of black dye. Sam had kept his signature hazel eyes, and if anything, they were even more stunning on a wolf his colour, not something you'd usually see. Dean couldn't believe he was analysing the way his brother now looked, but it was hard not to when the kid you'd known for years was suddenly a wolf.

"Prude." Dean sniggered when Sam reached him, causing the wolf to flash look that seemed to be saying 'Bite me!'

"Somebody's a bit grouchy!" He joked, trying to diffuse some of the lingering tension. Sam, on the other hand, decided he couldn't be bothered with his brother's messed up sense of humour and so sauntered past, tail and head held high in the air, as he jumped gracefully into the car. Well, it would have been graceful, if he hadn't landed face first. Trying to recover his composure was quite difficult when his brother was rolling on the floor laughing, so Sam settled with jumping over onto the front passenger seat- his seat- and pointing his muzzle upwards in an act of indifference. Dean, however, was too absorbed in his laughter to even notice his brother's change of seating at first, let alone his attempts at being the bigger person- or wolf, as it was.

When Dean did finally notice that Sam had gotten over his initial nervousness and rejoined him where he belonged, by Dean's side, he couldn't stop the small smile escaping. His brother still trusted him, despite all of his unspoken fears. And, all things considering, that made today pretty good.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed the update! Felt like I kinda owed it to you guys after not updating for so long XD But I feel like I've finally got my inspiration back, so hopefully updates should be coming at least weekly from now on- plus I love writing Wolf Sam. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favourited or followed the previous chapter, and the ones before it, it means a lot :) Please keep it up! Like I say, it really does inspire me to keep writing (so that could mean faster updates for you too!) Anyway, see you next time ;)