Title: Harder to Swallow Than Most (9/30)

Author: Silverkitsune1

Summary: Connor finds Sam Winchester, a young man whose mind has been ripped apart.

Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural. I don't own Angel.

Rating: PG

Warnings: AU with a side of deep fried crack

Thanks go to: wild wolf free17 and LJ user Samcandoit my wonderful betas.

Author's Note: The start of this universe is set at the beginning of Angel, season four, right after the season's second episode Deep Down. That means the year is 2002. Connor is about 18 (I don't think the show every specifically says) and Sam is 18 or 19. There are spoilers up the wazoo for all five seasons of Angel, and spoilers for the first two seasons of Supernatural…kind of.


Superstition

"Are we staying here?"

It was the first sane sentence Connor had heard Sam utter since the Beast barged into their home. The teenager emerged from the bathroom, his own hair still damp from the shower, and his body thanking him for the clean shirt and jeans he'd pulled on.

Sam sat cross-legged on the queen-sized bed that filled most of the room. "Are we?"

"For a little bit," Connor said. The mattress was firm and unyielding underneath him, and he bounced on it experimentally.

Sam scowled. "I don't like it here. There are too many ghosts and none of them respond to Latin."

"When the sun comes back out and there isn't fire raining down from the sky, we'll go back to the warehouse," Connor promised. Peeling away the layers of hotel bed sheets and blankets he tried to settle Sam under the covers.

"Can we go get the Bear?" Sam pleaded his eyes large and wet. "We left the Bear behind. You shouldn't leave important things behind."

"He's huge. He's got claws, and he's already dead," Connor soothed. The sheets smelled musty, and felt stiff. No one had used this bed in a long while. "He can take care of himself."

Sam clenched his jaw and looked away. "Everyone always says that. You always say that, but you have to watch out for yourself. When are you going to learn to watch out for yourself? You can't just follow the man blindly, and not expect to pay the price one day."

"Who are you talking about? Angel? I am not following Angel anywhere." Connor felt a bubbling spring of anger break through his heart at the very thought of letting the souled vampire lead him around by the nose without question. He was not a solider in Angel's little army.

"She's going to take you away. He's going to get you killed and she's going to take you away and you'll go because the bell will toll, and you'll have to answer it just like he did." Sam buried his head in his hands. "Did I break a mirror? When I'm twenty-one will I have paid my dues and will it all go away? Every time I want to stay we have to move. I try to build houses, but they're always made of gingerbread and then the rats show up for a free meal."

"It's not permanent, Sam." Connor brushed the bangs away from his forehead. "It's something that we have to do for right now. We can't stay in the warehouse. The Beast knows we're there. He'll kill us if he sees us, but it's safer in the Hyperion, for you, for Cordelia, and for me. I can't protect you out there. Do you understand? Do you get why we had to move?"

Sam pulled away from the other teenager's touch. With a huff he stretched out across the mess of bedding, and turned to his side, his face to the wall. "Yes, sir."

Connor didn't know how to react to the unfamiliar moniker, or to the cold chipped tone that accompanied it. "Sam?"

"Death is an escape and sleep is death's brother," Sam muttered and pulled one of the blue cotton sheets over his head. "I'm sleep, and death is gone, and I can't hear you."

"Fine," Connor snapped. Wounded he climbed off the bed and headed for the door. "Get some sleep."

He stomped out of the room, shutting the door with enough force to make the wood groan. The voices of the rest of Angel Investigations drifted up from the lobby and filled the hotel's hallways. Connor turned away from the sound, and headed for the kitchen. There was never a time when he wasn't hungry, and emptying Angel's freezer sounded like a good plan for now. Connor hoped he could find something other than pig's blood.