Chapter 9:
It had been two weeks, and Sam's hands were finally healed up leaving behind nothing but a few scars that would fade with time, and he seemed to be returning to his normal self. At least that was what it would look like from anyone from the outside looking in, but Dean knew better, even Caleb could still tell that something was still wrong with the teenager. If it was just the sudden need for neatness that was all that was wrong with his brother, Dean could deal with that, he would just add it to his list of weird Sammy quirks, but it was the other thing that was beginning to worry him.
Dean had never been the touchy feely type, and he had never noticed how much Sam and him usually touched everyday. Between caring for each other's injuries, or sparring, or simple brotherly pats on the back, Sam and Dean were very hands on, and it definitely didn't help that they basically lived in each other's pockets. But lately Sam had been avoiding all of that. When he sparred, he sparred with Caleb, and he went out of his way to keep a certain distance from everyone around him. During dinners, and other times where he was forced to sit next to his family, he kept himself tense and squished attempting to keep himself from touching them, and when he would accidentally brush up against someone, he would wince like it was hurting him.
Sam was currently upstairs in the shower and Dean was sitting in the kitchen sipping coffee, and watching the clock. Sam had been in the shower for twenty minutes, too long by Dean's standards, especially when the Winchesters took five minute military length showers most of the time, that was about all that was possible in motels with no water pressure, and barely any hot water. Caleb walked into the kitchen and poured himself some coffee and leaned against the counter watching Dean. Dean ignored him at first, but he could only hold in his frustration for so long, and he was getting annoyed that everyone was brushing off Sam's issues and acted like he was worrying too much.
"Any chance you could stop staring at me Damien? It's fucking creepy." Caleb continued to stare at Dean intensely.
"Yeah, you are timing your brothers showers down to the millisecond, and I'm the creepy one." Caleb said. Dean glared at his best friend. Caleb sighed and sat down across from Dean. "Look kid, I know you are freaked out, but he is doing fine, just give him some time." Dean scoffed.
"Seriously, you think he is fine? He won't even let anyone but you near him. That's messed up."
"Don't be jealous Deuce, I'm not gonna take over the big brother role, that's your job." Dean knew that Caleb was trying to take his mind off of the problem, but Dean played along.
"Like you could handle Sammy on his good days, never mind his broody teenager days."
"I dunno, I dealt with you."
"I was never broody." Caleb laughed.
"Yeah, you keep thinking that Deuce." Jim walked in from the kitchen porch, and nodded his greeting to the two men in the kitchen.
"Morning boys, I am afraid I have to put a wrench in your weekend plans Caleb, I have a job for you. " Jim said.
"What weekend plans Jim?" Caleb asked. "What's the hunt?"
"We have a skin walker problem about a hundred miles south of here, needs to be cleaned up as quickly as possible, I was going to get John to take care of it, but he took another job in Wisconsin and won't be back until next week."
"Alright, who's going with me?" Jim met Dean's eyes, and the younger man tensed.
"Oh hell no, you are not sending him on a hunt." Dean snapped.
"Sam is healed up, and he is next on rotation. He isn't just a hunter; he is part of the Brotherhood that means he has to do his job. There is nothing I can do, son."
"You are the Guardian, take him off rotation for now, he isn't ready." Jim smiled sadly.
"I cannot pull him out just because I am afraid he is going to get hurt Dean, it doesn't work that way and you know it. If I start playing favorites this entire organization falls apart. All hunters must carry their own weight, you know that." Dean rubbed a hand over his face, he knew he didn't have a choice, and he had to let Sam go.
"Fine, but I am going with them." Dean said. Jim smiled, but he wasn't going to argue, Dean was fiercely protective over his brother and trusted nobody fully with Sam, not even Caleb, and most definitely not their father.
"Understood, pack up, I want you on your way out here after lunch, research is in the Tomb, get Sam to go over it on the drive."
"Yes sir, I'm gonna go tell him." Dean made his way up the stairs and towards their bedroom; Sam was running a towel through his long hair. He smiled tensely as Dean walked through the door.
"Hey." Sam whispered.
"You know if you grow your hair any longer, you are gonna have creepy guys hitting on you Samantha." Sam laughed.
"Shut up Dean."
"Hey Sammy, a hunt came up, you are next on rotation." Sam sighed.
"Awesome… who am I going with?"
"Me and Caleb." Sam quirked an eyebrow at his brother, who squirmed under the scrutiny, Sam wasn't stupid he knew what Dean was doing.
"You just got back from a hunt with Josh, you aren't on rotation." Dean shrugged.
"I'll get bored hanging out here alone."
"Or you want to keep an eye on me."
"No, I just like going on hunts with you and Caleb, it is more fun, I mean Josh is a good hunter and everything, but that guys is an ass." Sam smiled and sat down on the bed, keeping a healthy distance between him and Dean, and Dean didn't comment on it, but he didn't like it.
"I'm know you are worried Dean, but I'm okay, you don't need to watch me every second of the day."
"It's my job kid, has nothing to do with being worried." Sam nodded, but Dean knew he was just trying to avoid an argument, he didn't actually believe a word his brother was saying.
"When do we leave?"
"After lunch, research is waiting in the tomb for my trusty geek boy sidekick to go over, and find everything Jim missed."
"Hey, you are the one tagging along on this trip, that makes you the sidekick." Sam said. Dean laughed.
"Some of us aren't sidekick material Sammy, but every Batman needs a Robin."
After lunch the three hunters piled themselves into the Impala, Dean and Caleb in the front, Sam sequestered in the back with books and research, silently going over the information looking for anything that could tell them who the skin walker was. Once they figured that out, the rest was easy, just like every other type of shapeshifter it would only take a silver bullet to the heart to bring him down.
Once they got to the motel Sam dropped his stuff on the floor and began tacking pages to the wall attempting to create some order to the bits of information he had been given. Every once in awhile he would type something into the computer on the desk, but he stayed completely silent. He was ignoring the other hunters, and was reading over each piece of information carefully, trying to find some kind of connection between the victims. Dean and Caleb stayed away, knowing it was better to let Sam handle this part of the hunt, he was a better researcher then them, and he always seemed to be able to uncover patterns in the hunts that even the most experienced hunters missed. When Dean came back with dinner, Sam stopped what he was doing and came over to the table.
"How's it going over there? Anything on the victim profile?" Caleb asked.
"All male, mid thirties, brown hair, not married, no kids, and they are all hunters, animal hunters not our kind of hunters. All have records for drunk and disorderly, and assaults. Not the warm and fuzzy type."
"So they were all dicks. How does that help us?" Dean said.
"They all have arrests at the same bar in town, seems a little weird considering this is a town of 36,000 people." Dean nodded.
"So all male loners who are bad drinkers and all like to hang out at the same bar. That's pretty specific. How did you figure out where they were all arrested?" Caleb asked.
"I hacked the police database." Dean choked on his beer.
"You can do that?" Sam shrugged.
"Ain't that hard." Caleb laughed.
"Oh yeah, every sixteen year old knows how to do that." Caleb said.
"Whatever, anyway I'm assuming whoever our skinwalker is, is either an employee, or a regular, but only one person showed up on all the witness lists in the police reports." Sam said, as he unfolded a napkin so he could dump his fries somewhere else besides on the wrapper with his burger. Dean frowned as he watched Sam organize his food before he could eat it.
"Alright so tell me Sammy, who is your suspect?"
"Katherine Rogers, twenty two years old, native of Buffalo she was admitted to the ER four years ago with an infected dog bite on the back of her thigh. She moved here fourteen months ago just before the killings began."
"And geekboy strikes again, way to go Sammy." Caleb said. "So how do you want to handle this?"
"Well she gets off work at one in the morning, and guess we'll follow her from there, and do what we gotta do." Sam said.
"You know Sammy, you did all the work here, so you don't have to come tonight if you don't want…" Dean said. Sam glared at his brother.
"You trying to something to me right now Dean?" Sam asked angrily.
"No… I'm just saying-"
"Well don't just say, you aren't even supposed to be here, so stop with the bullshit, and stop trying to bench me, you aren't Jim." Sam stood from the table and went into the bathroom slamming the door behind him.
"That went well." Caleb said.
"Shut up Damien."
"Look Deuce, I know what you are doing, but the kid has had a tough month, if he wants to go out and kill something, let him. Maybe it'll blow off some steam." Dean laughed.
"You know how fucked up that sounds?"
"Hey, its normal in our world." The water turned on in the bathroom, and Caleb quirked an eyebrow. "Is he showering again?"
"No just washing his hands… for the fiftieth time today, but you know whatever, perfectly normal." Dean ground out.
"Look Deuce, I know it isn't normal okay? But if this is what he has to do to deal, is it really so bad? It could be so much worse…"
"I know… I just… I just wish he would stop avoiding me. I kinda miss the little brat."
"It'll get better kid, just give him sometime, those nightmares really freaked him out. Eventually he will figure out there is nothing wrong with him, just give him sometime."
"Yeah okay…"
"So for now, lets hunt us as a shapeshifter, I'll go get the guns, and load them with silver."
Stakeouts were always the boring part of the hunt. Hunters were usually adrenaline junkies, they had to be in order to run at monsters everyday, and so sitting in a car for hours waiting was torture. Eventually Sam pointed to the girl as she left the bar, and they left the car, following her down an alley and into the woods, they separated so they each be on a different side of the girl, and suddenly she stopped in the woods.
"You know, I can smell you, not many people can sneak up on me." She said. Once they knew they were caught, they stepped into the clearing.
Didn't think we could, but we might as well try right?" Caleb said, keeping his gun pointed at the girl.
"Hunters right?" Her eyes went to Sam and she tilted her head. "You are so young, how did you get dragged into this?"
"Family business." Sam answered. Katherine smiled sadly at Sam.
"So you were forced into this? You and me aren't so different, I didn't choose this life either, but at least I am doing something good with it. I only kill those who deserve it."
"You don't get to make that call." Dean said. Katherine turned to him.
"And you do? What makes me a monster, but you a hunter? I need human hearts to live, you kill us just for the sheer pleasure." She turned back to Sam. "You should get away from these people kid, before you are just as much a monster as me." Sam visibly flinched. Dean had had enough, and he fired one shot, Katherine moved at the sound of gunfire, and the bullet grazed her arm, and the silver burnt her flesh making her scream. She turned and ran into the woods, the three hunters attempting to keep up, but they lost her.
"Damn it that bitch is fast." Dean said.
"Yeah well, there are some perks to being a shapeshifter, speed and strength being the obvious ones." Caleb said.
"Can you track her?" Sam asked. Dean was a good tracker, but Caleb was better, and everyone knew it.
"Yeah I'm sure she won't be hard to find, not like she was trying to hide her tracks, she is scared and bleeding." The conversation stopped and Sam was knocked over by the large dog and pinned to the forest floor.
"Jesus Christ!" Caleb yelled, he raised his gun but he couldn't get a shot off without hurting Sam. "Dean do you have a shot?"
"No!" Dean dropped his gun on the ground and jumped on the dogs back pulling him up off of Sam, who was holding the dog by the throat. Nobody could use the guns in this situation, so Sam pulled a silver knife out of his boot and stabbed the dog in the heart, and twisted. The dog yelped and fell next to Sam, and slowly shifted back into human form. Dean fell backwards onto the ground and Caleb ran towards the brothers, crouching down beside them.
"Everyone okay?"
"Yeah I'm good." Dean said. "Sammy you okay?" Sam was facing away from the other two men, breathing heavily. Caleb crawled around to face Sam; Sam was staring at his hands, which were covered in the skin walkers blood.
"Sammy you okay?" Caleb asked. Sam slowly lifted his eyes to meet Caleb's.
"My hands are covered in blood…" Caleb frowned and looked at Dean who came around to kneel in front of Sam.
"It's okay Sammy, it's just the skin walkers blood."
"It's dirty."
"It's okay." Sam shook his head and wiped the blood on the leaves in the grass.
"No, it's dirty, I need to get it off."
"Okay here." Dean passed Sam a water bottle out of his pack and Sam dumped the water out of the bottle and cleaned the blood of his hands. "You okay now?" Sam nodded.
"Yeah for now… lets salt and burn her so we can go back to the motel." The salt and burn was quick, Sam stood to the side and let Dean and Caleb do most of it, rubbing his hands together every once in awhile. The ride back to the motel was quiet, and Sam made a beeline for the bathroom the second they stepped through the door, locking the door to keep his brother and Caleb on the other side. He peeled off his jacket wincing at a pain in his side, he must have hit a branch when he hit the ground in the woods, the gash was painful but not life threatening, he would deal with it later, for now he just wanted to get the blood off of his hands. He kept the water lukewarm this time, not wanting a repeat of the incident weeks earlier. He scrubbed gently, just wanting to get the blood off of his hands, but not wanting to cause any damage. He jumped when he heard a knock at the door.
"Sammy open up." Dean called.
"In a minute!"
"No now, I just want to make sure you are alright."
"I'm fine."
"This isn't a negotiation little brother, open up." Sam sighed, he knew if he didn't open the door, Dean would kick it down, so he unlocked it, and sat down on the toilet with a towel drying his hands. Dean crouched down in front of him.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine… I just had to get the blood off." Sam continued to pat his hands with the towel, and flinched when Dean reached up to grab it, but it was okay, he was touching the towel, he wasn't touching Sam.
"Enough Sammy, you're hands are clean I promise." Sam nodded and let go, allowing Dean to put the towel on the floor. Dean stood and Sam followed suit, but as he attempted to walk by Dean and into the main room, Sam flinched away as Dean caught him by the shoulder, but Dena didn't let go.
"Dean, let go please?"
"Sammy, you are bleeding."
"It's just a scratch, please Dean stop it!" Sam was breathing heavily now, attempting to pull away from Dean's hold.
"Sam stop it! Let me look!"
"NO! Let go!" Caleb was standing back watching the scene as Dean pulled Sam out of the bathroom. Dean grabbed Sam by the wrists as gently as he could while still maintaining control, and he pushed Sam down on the bed.
"Sammy please… I need to look, let me. Don't you trust me anymore?" Sam looked up sharply.
"Of course I do…"
"Then I promise everything will be fine, just let me fix you…" Sam took a deep breath, and he was shaking but he nodded his head, and let Dean pull up his shirt.
"I am just gonna clean it up and put on some butterfly strips okay? It doesn't need stitches." Sam nodded, he was obviously going back into quiet mode.
Once Sam was stitched up he rolled onto his side away from Dean and went to sleep, Dean watched his brother before turning to Caleb who had stayed quiet through out the freak out.
"I don't care what any of you say something is wrong with my brother, and I am going to figure out what, with or without the Brotherhoods help…" Dean said darkly.
"I know you are…" Caleb replied. "And I am with you all the way. We will figure this out Deuce, I promise."
