The Bringer – 21

After Sam's innocent question, Dean leapt from their bed like his shorts were on fire. He was not ready to talk about this. He didn't know if he would ever be ready to talk about this. There was no going back to sleep now. He dressed quickly, packed what was left of his gear, and told Sam to get a move on. If they left now, they would be in Ouray before midnight.

Sam was startled at the abrupt change in Dean's demeanor. He had been so calm, so…soft. Not at all like his brother, but it was exactly what Sam needed after that nightmare vision. And now they were leaving. Or were they running? Yeah, they were. Running to Dad, but John Winchester couldn't make this better. Something inside Sam told him that Dean could make it better. That Dean could save him. From what he wasn't sure, but that same something deep inside whispered that his brother knew.

Sam didn't blame Dean for wanting to relinquish responsibility to their father, not one bit. He knew he was a burden to his big brother at the best of times, but Sam couldn't imagine talking to his father about the things that had happened, were still happening, to him since Jessica was murdered. When John Winchester learned the truth about Sam, his visions and his inability to protect himself, well, the inevitable screaming match didn't bear thinking about.

Dean pulled out his phone to notify their father of their new ETA, but it wouldn't keep a signal.

Damn. Shoulda recharged last night.

"Sam, gimme me your phone."

Sam tossed his phone to Dean and headed towards the manager's office. While the younger man returned the room keys, Dean flipped open the phone to call their Dad. A shiver ran down his spine as he noted Sam had a new text message. It was an uncomfortable reminder of what he had gone through every morning since Sam was taken. With a guilty peek towards his brother, Dean opened the message.

"For the longest, most intense orgasm of your life, call…"

"What the? Ha! Sammy spam."

Delete.

Retrieve.

Forward to DEAN.

Delete.

An idea came to Dean. He opened Sam's photos with the intent of removing the ones that had been forwarded to Dean's email by the shifter. There was no need for Sam to see those – he had lived them.

Dean easily found the pictures of his Sam in the hands of the monster. After they helped their Dad with whatever, Dean was sending Sam to Pastor Jim's while the elder Winchesters hunted down and extracted their own form of vengeance against this thing.

As Dean was deleting the pictures, he ran across some he hadn't been forwarded. All of them were of Sam. Some of them included the shifter doing…things…to Sam, but many were obviously taken while Sam was asleep. He felt as if he were destroying something precious when he deleted those. Sam really was beautiful when he slept. Dean was nearing the end of the saved photos when he came to the most recent one; the date stamp said it had been taken the same day that the shifter had called with Sammy in hysterics. Dean didn't remember getting photos on that day, so it was with some trepidation that Dean opened the picture.

It took his breath away.

Sammy, naked, chained to the hood of the Impala.

Tears sprang to Dean's eyes. Tears of sympathy for Sam, tears of hatred once again for the shifter, and tears of disgust for himself as his body reacted strongly to the erotic image. This had been a special fantasy of Dean's, one he treasured because it never failed to get him off and it contained the two people...things?...whatever, that he loved most in the world. And now it was ruined.

Dean heard Sam returning and quickly deleted the photo. He dropped the phone into the passenger seat along with a certain book he had pulled from his gear. Then he hastily rubbed his eyes and started the car. Time to hit the road.

Sam opened the door to the Impala and found his phone and…a Necronomicon? He gathered the items and folded himself gently into the seat once again, trying to mask the pain this action caused. Of course, Dean noticed, but other than a tightening of hands on the wheel, he showed no sign and made no comment.

Sam skimmed through the book as they neared the Colorado border. He had seen Dean's contemplative look about two hours back when they passed the exit for Las Vegas. He would be forever thankful to whatever it was that had Dean changing his mind about a little side trip to test Sam's shining in a more 'fun' atmosphere. Sam didn't think he was ready to be around that many strangers. It was just the kind of place a shape-shifter would like. Plenty of potential skins and no way to know who was real until it was too late.

OK, Sam. Time to focus.

"Dean, I get that you're trying to tell me something in your own way, but what does this book…"

"Goddammit! Who the hell are these people?" Dean's outburst coincided with an increase in traffic into the Centennial State. "Don't you have jobs?"

In a gruff and slightly lower tone, Dean advised Sam, "Page 198."

Sam flipped through to the appropriate page, and his eyes immediately found the word 'Bringer.'

Child of fire, twice blessed by mothers' blood, he will have the knowledge of all times. Power enough to break the seal between worlds, he shall be the bringer of light and Great Chaos shall revere him.

Sam read the words several times, trying to divine their meaning. They hadn't changed a syllable since the first read-through, and each time he felt chills rippling through his soul.

Child of fire. Could mean a lot of things. Hell, that could be Dean! Didn't have to mean Sam Winchester.

Twice blessed by mothers' blood. Mom, obviously. Although he couldn't remember, a drunken John had once told him everything about that night. About the blood that dripped onto his forehead. So the other mother was who, Jessica? He still woke up some nights with the feeling of warm wetness on his brow. But the other couldn't be Jess. A nasty car accident when she was fourteen had removed any chance of her having children. What was he missing?

A twinge from one of his many still-healing wounds reminded him of something he had tried to force to the back of mind.

The Fouke. Sam's visions of the creature's life had shown him that the creature had undergone dichogamy, changed from male to female for the purposes of procreation, due to the death of its mate. It had, in fact, been pregnant when Dean – no - the shifter had blown its brains out…all over Sam.

That's two. The knowledge of all times probably referred to his visions.

The other things - power, bringer of light, Great Chaos - they made no sense. He needed to do some research. He needed to (sigh) talk to John Winchester.

"How did you know?" Sam gestured with the book. "I never heard of this until the shape-shifter called me 'Bringer'." A memory, long lost, gave lie to that statement and teased him with the image of Santa Claus. Damn. He really needed to get some sleep.

Dean's head snapped around at that information. The shifter knew? God, what else out there knew what Sam was? What he could do?

"Dean? Please tell me."

"Tell me about your vision first."

"Deeeaann!"

"Saaaammmm!"

"Fine," huffed Sam. He turned his head and stared out the window as he recounted his vision. When he was finished, he glanced at Dean and saw his brother running his fingers over his lips.

Sam gave Dean a small smile, touched him gently on the arm, and said, "Hey. They're fine. I checked, remember? Now it's your turn."

Dean had a happy, panicky moment thinking that Sam wanted Dean to kiss him. Luckily his upstairs brain caught on and kept him from doing something monumentally stupid. Dean blew out a heavy sigh and told Sam everything. Dad's journal scribblings about the Bringer, Dean's own dreams and visions, everything. Except the part where he killed their father and sucked Sam off. And the part about Eros and the fact that the brothers were supposed to have sex so that Sam wouldn't get possessed by a demon or something worse that wanted to use Sam's powers to destroy the world. Other than that, yeah. Everything.

Sam had been learning to read Dean since the day he was born, so it didn't take a genius to know that his brother was hiding something. They would hit Ouray in about an hour and he would face his father for the first time in years, for the first time since those awful words were spoken. Dad had seemed sincere on the phone, but it hadn't taken long for him to start ordering Sam around again and for the two of them to start in on the fighting. Sam made a vow that he would do better this time and keep his mouth shut. Once they did what they had to do then he and Dean would leave, and Sam would make Dean spill his guts.

Sorry about the delay. I tried to post this for hours yesterday and pftt! Nothing. I have been a little distracted recently with Transformers and Psych, but I'm back for now. BTW, yesterday I read the Supernatural novel Nevermore. Pretty good, although there is no slash. Ha! Could you imagine finding that in Walmart?

Anyway, this is kind of a nothing chapter, but they had to get to Ouray, Dean had to find the picture, and Sam had to know about the prophecy before meeting John and Rezzy.

Which is coming up in the next chapter. Stay tuned!