Meet Me on the Battlefield

Chapter 21

We're Standing Face to Face

Neither Sam nor Dean slept well. Of course, neither one of them would admit it out loud, but their sleep was frequently disturbed by dreams of what had happened to Adam Masters. They both felt guilty for letting the poor man fall victim to the ghost's machinations and even though it seemed the ghost was probably gone and everything was over, they still counted the whole thing as a failure.

When the morning sun filtered in through the gap in the motel curtain, both boys finally woke up, more tired than they had been when they first laid down.

"How'd you sleep?" Sam asked a yawning Dean as he tried to stifle his own yawn.

"Fine. How about you?"

"Fine."

Dean pushed himself up to sit on the edge of the bed, kicking his legs out as they got caught up in the sheets. He ran his hands over his face and then through his hair before turning to his brother.

"What time is it?"

Sam looked at his phone. "It's almost seven," he answered as he climbed out of bed. "I call dibs on first shower."

"Not if I beat you in there," Dean said as he tried to jump up. Unfortunately, his foot was still caught up in the sheet and he felt himself falling forward. "Damn it!"

Sam laughed as he grabbed his duffle bag and made his way into the bathroom. Dean could hear him still laughing as he shut the door and started the shower. As he untangled himself from the sheet and picked himself up off the floor, he heard several sharp knocks on the door.

"Damn it," he said again, thinking it was much too early to be dealing with an angry John Winchester. However reluctant he was to answer the door, though, he quickly made his way over to it. "Who is it?" he called out, trying not to laugh at how annoyed his dad would be.

"Open the door, Dean," John bellowed. "It's too early for your crap."

"We don't need Housekeeping. Thanks anyway."

"Dean!" John bellowed even louder.

"Who is this?" Dean asked. "Identify yourself."

He could hear John cursing through the door and knew if he didn't open it, the man would be kicking it in very shortly. Opening the door, he looked up at his dad, giving him his most charismatic grin. "Morning, Dad!"

"Knock it off, Dean. It's too early for your crap."

"Well, it looks like someone got up on the wrong side of the bed…"

"Dean!" John glared at his son, looking like he was just about ready to knock him upside the head. Dean knew it was time to back off before he pushed his dad too far. And once John saw that Dean was backing down, he looked around the room. "Where's Sam?"

"He's in the shower. Should be almost done."

"Good. We need to talk."

Dean didn't like the sound of that, but he knew it was inevitable. There was no way John Winchester was going to let anything slide. He just didn't operate that way.

While they were waiting for Sam to get done in the bathroom, John paced the small room and Dean sat uncomfortably on his bed. He really wanted coffee, but since there wasn't any available, he got up and grabbed a beer out of the small refrigerator.

"It's a little early for beer, Dean," John scolded.

"It's five o'clock somewhere," Dean answered with a grin.

"Put the beer away."

Dean started back towards the refrigerator, but stopped after a few steps. "You do realize that I'm an adult, right? That I can drink a beer if I want to?"

John didn't answer, but his glare never left his son. Dean figured he wasn't really up to arguing about something as innocuous as a beer, so he decided to take the path of least resistance and just put the beer away. Several more minutes of awkward silence filled the room before John stepped over to the bathroom and pounded on the door.

"Sam! Hurry up!"

Dean heard the shower shut off and knowing his brother would be out of the bathroom soon, he started to prepare himself for what was to come. John was obviously in a surly mood and Dean knew how poorly Sam reacted to that side of their father. They were more than likely in for a doozy of a morning.

Sam was enjoying the hot shower, marveling at the more than adequate water pressure that was usually missing from the motels they stayed in. He was just beginning to think about getting out of the shower, knowing that Dean would kill him if he used all the hot water, when he heard pounding on the bathroom door.

"Sam! Hurry up!"

Sam wasn't surprised to hear his father yelling through the thin door. When he woke up that morning, he figured it wouldn't be too long before their father showed up, anxious to talk about all the ways his boys had screwed up the day before.

Turning off the shower, Sam quickly dried himself off with the thin towel and got dressed. He really wanted to shave and brush his teeth, but he figured he'd better get out there and save his brother from facing John's wrath alone.

Once he opened the door, he looked around, taking in the scene before him. John was pacing back and forth, his hands stuffed into his pants pockets. Dean was sitting on the edge of the bed, trying to look like he didn't have a care in the world, but profoundly failing. They both looked up at him when they heard the door open.

"It's about time," John growled, looking at his youngest.

"You leave me any hot water, Sammy?" Dean asked. "You were in there a long time."

"There's still some left."

"Okay, then I'm gonna grab a shower." Dean stood up and grabbed his own duffle bag.

"Hold up, Dean. We're going to talk first."

"Come on, Dad. I could really use a shower. And what about breakfast? Or coffee?"

"I said we're going to talk first," John answered.

"Dad, Dean needs to take his medicine. And he needs to take them with food. Let me run out and grab something while Dean showers."

John didn't look happy to have to wait, but he could understand Sam's reasoning. "Fine. Dean, get in the shower while Sam grabs some breakfast."

Dean and Sam shared a quick look. "Hey, Sammy…. Bring me back some bacon, okay? And pancakes. And don't forget the coffee."

"Anything else, your highness?" Sam laughed.

"Yeah. I could eat an omelet, too. One with meat and real eggs, though, okay? I don't want none of that vegan, vegetarian crap that you usually get."

Sam rolled his eyes at Dean before grabbing the keys to the Impala and leaving. Dean figured he probably had about twenty minutes, so he immediately headed into the shower. His whole body still ached, so he was looking forward to standing under a hot shower. When he closed the bathroom door, his last view was of John still pacing back and forth in the small room. Yep, it was going to be a long day.

Sam made it back to the motel room with the food and coffee after thirty minutes. He found Dean sitting against the headboard of his bed, looking a little worse for wear. Sam could tell by the pinched look on his brother's face that he was in pain. And he wasn't sure, but he thought Dean looked a little flushed. Hoping it was just from the hot shower he had taken and not from a fever, Sam handed Dean his food, followed by his medication.

Dean didn't argue when the medication was handed to him. He immediately took it all with a gulp of coffee and then dug into his food. Sam settled down on his own bed and started eating his own food, while John finally stepped over to the window and stared out of it as he sipped his cup of coffee.

Ten minutes later, Dean pushed the food away from him. It didn't escape Sam's notice that he had barely eaten half of the food, but Sam didn't say anything. He knew that the antibiotics his brother was taking usually made him a little nauseous, despite the fact that he made sure to take them with food.

A few minutes later, Sam finished his own breakfast and stood up. He picked up Dean's discarded food and threw it away in the small trashcan. Then, not knowing what else to do, he headed back over to the bed and sat down. He looked over at his brother, who looked a little pale at the moment, and then turned his attention to John. By the look on the man's face, Sam could tell it was going to be a really long morning.

John didn't think he had it in him to wait much longer. He thought he had been more than patient with his boys so far, but his patience was running thin. Looking over at Dean, he noticed that the kid was looking rather pale. Sam just looked annoyed.

John knew that he really needed to control his temper if he didn't want everything to go sideways, but he was really pissed. Somehow, he had to get his boys back on track. He didn't think it would be too hard to rein Dean back in. His oldest son was programmed to follow orders from a young age and other than the occasional side trip, he usually stayed on the straight and narrow path of Life with John Winchester. Dean usually responded well to a few harsh verbal reminders of what was expected of him.

Sam was a different story all together. John hadn't ever known a more stubborn child than his youngest. Sam was the type of kid to balk at anything and everything he was ever told to do. Well, only if the telling came from his father. Sam had a healthy respect for most authority figures and if John was being honest, Sam even respected him. That wasn't to say that the kid didn't go out of his way to tell John exactly what he thought of their lives and of the expectations John held for him.

Sam was the type of kid that rolled his eyes and huffed and sighed whenever he was mad or unhappy. John, of course, was quick to nip that behavior in the bud, but it still happened more often than he was happy with. And he really wasn't prepared to deal with that now.

Deciding to get the easiest part out of the way first, he turned to Dean. "What the hell were you thinking, Dean? I told you to stay put, but you didn't listen."

"Here we go," Dean whispered to his brother, before turning to face his father. "I wasn't going to stay here when you two were heading out there to deal with a pissed off ghost, Dad."

"Did it ever occur to you that she was pissed off at you, Dean? You're the one she wanted to hurt. Not Sam. And not me."

"I don't know, Dad. I think she wanted to hurt you, too. I mean, you did take a shot at her, remember?" Dean tried to lighten the mood a little, even though he knew it was a hopeless gesture.

"You were already injured, Dean. You just got out of the hospital. You were in no condition to be traipsing back to the lake and throwing yourself into the center of that mess. You could have ended up back in the hospital."

"But I didn't," Dean argued.

"But you could have. What's the rule about putting yourself in danger, son?" John asked.

"Are you serious right now?" Dean asked incredulously. "Dude, I'm not five years old. I've been putting myself in danger continuously ever since my first hunt. It's what we do, Dad."

"I'm not your dude, Dean. Show me some respect."

"Sorry, sir," Dean capitulated. "But, could you please stop treating me like a kid? I'm almost twenty-five, Dad. And I can take care of myself. I've been doing it for a long time, remember?"

Sam couldn't believe what he was hearing. Dean never talked to their father the way he was talking to him at the moment. And by the look on John's face, he was just as shocked as Sam. Sam held his breath and waited to see how John would respond to Dean's last statement. It didn't take long.

"This is different, Dean. You nearly died the last time you were out at that lake. You had no business going back there yesterday."

"Of course, I did. Sammy was there, so I needed to be there, too. It's my…."

"Dean….." Sammy interrupted his brother. "It's not your responsibility to look out for me anymore."

"Of course it is, Sammy. It will always be my responsibility."

Sam started to argue, but John cut him off before he could get a complete word out. "I don't care how justified you think your actions were, Dean. You disobeyed a direct order."

"Yeah, and I'd do again if I had to. Dad, you know I try to follow your orders. But, sometimes I can't. Sometimes I have to make up my own mind and do what I think is right. You taught me that, remember? You can't expect me to apply that to everything and everyone else, but not to you. I'm not a kid anymore. I can make my own decisions."

John stood there staring at Dean for almost a full minute before moving his attention to Sam. Sam immediately straightened himself up on the bed, preparing himself to meet his father's disappointment head on. Before he could, though, Dean continued.

"The same goes for Sammy, Dad. He's not a kid anymore, either."

"It's not a matter of whether or not you're still a kid, Dean. It's a matter of whether or not you're ready to deal with the evil that's out there. It's my job to prepare you for that and to make sure that you remember your training."

"We remember our training, Dad. I've been hunting since I was twelve years old. Sam's been hunting since he was fifteen. You taught us well, Dad, and we're both good hunters. You just have to have a little faith in us."

"Is that what you think? That I don't have faith in you?"

"No," Dean answered. "I think that you're just used to everyone doing things your way and you don't like it when someone doesn't."

"Maybe you're right, son. But that's because I have years and years of experience. I've faced things that you've never even heard of. When I tell you to do something, I'm drawing on years and years of experience and knowledge. I guess I expect you to respect that."

"We do respect that, Dad. But that doesn't mean we can't have our own independent thoughts and ideas. You're not the only one with experience. And maybe there are times when you can learn something from us."

John's answer to that never came, because his phone suddenly started ringing. Sam and Dean watched as the man dug it out of his pocket and answered it. They couldn't quite make out what he was saying, but it didn't matter because a few seconds later, John hung up the phone.

"Listen, boys….. I need to step outside and make a few phone calls. It shouldn't take long and then we can continue this conversation." John turned and walked out of the motel room, leaving Dean and Sam to stare at each other.

"Dude! Who are you and what have you done with my brother?" Sam asked suddenly.

"Shut up, Sam."

"No, I mean it, Dean. Since when do you talk to Dad like that?!"

"I don't know. Since today, I guess. I'm tired of him treating me like a kid, Sam. He never treated Caleb that way when he was my age."

"Caleb isn't his son, Dean."

"Well, I just thought it was time to remind him that we're not kids anymore. Do you think it worked?"

"I don't know, but I guess it's a good sign that he hasn't tried to send either of us to bed or threatened to tear us a new one. What exactly does he mean by that anyway?"

"Do you need an anatomy lesson, Sammy?" Dean said with a laugh. "I'd say it's pretty self-explanatory."

"Just doesn't make sense," Sam grumbled.

"It really doesn't, does it?" Dean laughed.

Author's note: I'm so proud of Dean for sticking up for himself and his brother. I think that was probably a long time coming, don't you?

I'm not sure exactly where I'm heading with this story, but I'm not quite done with it yet. I hope you all will stick with me a little longer. Thanks so much for being awesome readers and reviewers.