Seventh piece to my 'Someplace to call home'-verse. Sam tries out plumbing... slight crack ensues...


Gone with the… drain?


"Dean just. Wait-- What the fuck are you doing?!"

"Would you stop squirming already? Okay, just lemme--"

"Fuck! Stop! Stop!"

"Huh. It's stuck."

"No, you think Einstein?"

Dean glared at him, "Do you want to stay stuck?"

Sam glared back, "Obviously not, genius."

"Then shut the fuck up and let me get your gianormous hand out of our kitchen sink drain!"

Sam grunted something incomprehensible and rolled his eyes.

"Hey, more lip and I'll leave your stupid ass stuck to the sink!"

"Just do something," Sam sighed, tired of bickering.

Dean set to work, moving to go stand behind his brother so he could look over his shoulder. Sam was slightly bent over as he was in wrist-deep, his left shoulder now aching.

"Ok," Dean whispered in his ear, "Can you turn your hand in there?"

"No," Sam replied with a sigh, "Just don't pull at it; it feels swollen."

"Don't worry," Dean assured him and opened the cold water. "This should help."

Sam rolled his eyes and sighed. Why hadn't he thought of that?

Dean smirked at his brother's reaction. "Next time you want to play plumber, Sammy, don't."

"Oh because you're so much better at it," Sam whispered back with a scowl.

Dean laughed and kissed him on his cheek. "That's why I always call a plumber. I know when to call a stop to my ego."

Sam chose to ignore the comment and instead winced when he finally managed to move his hand a little. "Ow. I think it's sprained."

"Easy," Dean carefully wrapped his hand around his brother's wrist and gently pulled. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just don't pull too hard."

"It's okay, just relax It'll get out."

Sam moaned at the pain that shot up his arm, groaning at the added pain in his shoulder. "Fuck…"

"We're almost there, Sam come on."

Sam gritted his teeth as he felt his hand slowly come out of the hole and then gave a loud growl when it finally came free. "Ah! Shit!"

"It's okay, let me look at it," Dean took a dishtowel from the counter behind him and put it under Sam's swollen hand. The skin around his wrist looked bruised. "Alright, it's not that bad, Sammy."

"It still hurts like a bitch," Sam complained with a pout that made Dean smile in endearment.

There was suddenly a piercing scream coming from the first floor, followed by rapid footsteps descending the stairs.

Julie suddenly stood in the archway of the kitchen in her dark red bathrobe, hair a sloppy wet mess on her shoulders. She was still holding her toothbrush.

"Don't tell me you tried to play at plumbing again, dad!"

Dean grinned and looked at his brother. "Lemme guess, you accidentally turned off the boiler downstairs while trying to cut off the water supply, is that it?"

Sam suddenly strangely intrigued by the fruit bowl standing on the breakfast table.

Julie rolled her eyes. "I'm going over to Elise!"

"So what was it that was stuck in the drain anyway?" Dean asked with an amused expression, watching their 16 year old daughter stomp back up the stairs.

Sam scowled , huffing. He mumbled something beneath his breath that Dean didn't catch.

"Your what?"

"My ring fell in there, Dean," he mumbled a little louder.

Dean shook his head, still smiling. "Why didn't you just unscrew the pipe down there?"

"Because by the time the idea occurred to me, I was already stuck!"

Dean laughed at that for a good two minutes.

Sam rolled his eyes with another huff, holding his right hand loosely with his left one. "Hardy har har, you gonna drive me to the hospital or what?"

"Just as long as you swear that you will never try to plumb anything ever again. Both for mine and Julie's sake."

Sam's face turned an angry shade of red and he turned away from Dean and towards the door leading to the garage.

Dean's smile slowly faded and he glanced back at the sink. He looked down into the drain and sure enough, he could see the silver ring glistening at the bottom. He took the ladle of the utensils' rack and turned it around, dipping it curved ending into the pipe. It didn't even take him a minute to fish to the ring back out.

He looked at it for a while after he washed it, remembering when he gave it to Sam nearly ten years ago. Their anniversary was coming up, so he pocketed the platinum band and thought about what he could put on the inside of the ring to commemorate the fifteen years of their hunting-free life.

Or perhaps he should just get him a book. Or dinner or something.

He'd figure something out, as long as it prevented his brother from losing it down the drain again.