Hey guys :) this one stars Jack and Sam. Next one will have more of our family in it, I promise but I felt kind of in a Sam mood today. I hope you guys like this. Thanks for all of your support. Enjoy -Lola
Lately, attention had been hard to come by in the Winchester household. Jack didn't mind it, because Dean needed help, but he still felt lonely sometimes. After all, Jack was human, and he had human emotions. Humans were naturally social, it was just in their biology it was the way Chuck made them. That's why Sam knew he had to do something to take a weight off of Jack because his brother and Cas were both trying to prepare for what was to come.
Jack was sitting in the kitchen when Sam came and sat down across from him with a box. Jack glanced up his Dad before looking at the box. A small smile broke out on his face as he picked up the box. "A five-hundred-piece, Death Star, puzzle." Jack said with a grin looking up at his Dad. "Where did you get this?"
Sam smiled at Jack, he was glad he had gotten his boy to smile. He knew Jack was having a hard time right now with everything changing around him. Sam was having his own issues. His brother was going off the rails and Cas was trying to trouble shoot with the angels, but Sam didn't have much hope. Well, he had a little hope. He and his brother had a way of wiggling out of things or rewriting the playbook when they were totally backed against the wall. Sam wasn't sure how they did it, but he knew not to totally count Team Free Will out yet, even though things felt impossible.
"From the craft store in town," Sam said with a nod of his head. "They ordered it for me. I thought we could do something together. Dean hates puzzles, so we never did them when we were kids, but I find them enjoyable." Sam said, he could hear Dean calling him a nerd in his head.
"This looks awesome," Jack said before putting the puzzle down looking up at Sam with a sigh. "But what about Dean, and Michael?" Jack didn't want to take Sam away from Dean because this was important. Dean needed his brother and who was Jack to take that away from him?
Sam could see the wheels turning in his son's head, so he put a hand up. "There is nothing else we can do for Dean at the moment. Now it is just a waiting game and sitting around thinking about it isn't going to make things better." Sam told his son as he stood up and carried the puzzle out of the room. Jack got up and followed him as he watched Sam dump the puzzle out onto one of the long brown tables in the middle of the Bunker. "So, we're going to do this puzzle to pass the time."
Jack shrugged his shoulders as he took a seat at the table and began to help Sam sort the pieces. "There are so many pieces," Jack said as he flipped them over. "How are we supposed to solve this thing in a reasonable amount of time."
Sam smiled, this was a teachable moment. He had been noticing those more and more with Jack around. No matter how much Dean called him a girl he would always take the chance to impose wisdom on his son. "Well, puzzles are a lot like life. The pieces are all on the table and they will fall into place when you find a way to put them together." Sam said connecting two pieces together. "See? Just like that."
Jack sighed, he knew Sam was right, but it was hard to be patient with life and the puzzle. "It doesn't feel like the pieces will fall into place or that we will ever be able to put them together." Jack said looking up at his Dad. "It feels like we tell that to ourselves to make ourselves feel better about bad situations. It's like almost like pretending the problem isn't there." Jack said as he connected the pieces together with a small, satisfied grin.
Sam shook his head, he didn't like how hopeless Jack sounded. Sam couldn't exactly blame him, because his life hadn't been stellar. "A hunter's life doesn't play by the rules. The pieces are all sorts of different shapes in a hunter's life and will come together when they feel like it, but they will come together." Sam assured his son as he moved the edges pieces to four different places, so he knew the framework of the puzzle. "Just maybe not when we need them to."
Jack knew his father was wise but sometimes it was frustrating because Sam was giving him wisdom, but wisdom was not what he needed. He needed to yell in the car to AC/DC with Dean. He needed Cas to be home and not at risk to be taken away at any moment. Jack was tired of being burdened with secrets and that's how he felt. He wanted to hit something and sitting here doing a puzzle wasn't helping so he sat back for a second.
"Sam," Jack said catching his Dads attention. "Can we train and then do the puzzle? Since Dean has been having problems I haven't really gotten any training." Jack said scratching the back of his head.
Sam looked at his son in surprise, he thought Jack would like the break. He knew Dean could run you ragged, when his Dad had been gone Dean trained him and his muscles would ache. Dean was a hard trainer, but his father was even harder and meaner. He would much rather have Dean, because Dean knew when to stop pushing. His Dad did not.
"Alright," Sam said as he got up. He knew Jack probably just wanted to spar and get whatever was bugging him out of his system. "We can do that."
Jack sighed in relief as he stood up and began to walk to the room they changed into a gym. Jack turned around and faced his father waiting for instruction as Sam took his shirt off. Sam was not going to let himself be constricted by his flannel shirt when he knew Jack had gotten good enough to give Dean a bruise. Dean had been so proud of Jack for it, Sam shook his head at the memory. His brother was something else.
"Let's spar, Dean had told me you've been getting pretty good." Sam said holding up his fists as if urging Jack to come at him.
Jack smiled and nodded his head as he held his own fists up. Jack kind of had the advantage because he saw Sam beat things up on a normal basis while Sam didn't see Jack do the same. Jack was usually the one having to dig up bones or guarding something that couldn't be touched. He never got to do the exciting stuff, but maybe that would change when he showed Sam what he had been working on.
Jack came at Sam carefully, but Sam blocked his blow towards his gut before making one of his own that Jack blocked. Sam looked mildly impressed because he was so much taller and had longer arms, he didn't expect Jack to do that well. Jack sent a sharp punch that landed on Sam's shoulder, and Sam quickly spun out, so Jack couldn't follow through with hitting him again.
If there was one thing Sam Winchester had learned about fighting is that no matter what you were going to get hurt. It did not matter how good of a fighter you thought you were you were going to feel pain. What was important was having the ability to endure the pain given to you. Sam had gotten pretty good at enduring pain. Hell had really helped with that and having Dean as a brother meant you got beat up pretty often when you were a kid. Sam shook his head with a grin as he avoided another punch from Jack as he thought about the memories of him pissing Dean off.
"Stop tensing up," Sam advised his son. He could tell Jack was getting frustrated and anxious at the fact he couldn't get many hits on Sam. "Your movements are way slower and way more predictable when you are tense."
Jack took a deep breath as he tried to relax his muscles, but it was hard when Sam took the opportunity to take his big body over to you and try to pin you down. Sam did succeed in knocking Jack down to the ground pretty hard, but Jack did fight for a little to avoid being pinned. He wasn't successful though because Sam finally pinned him down.
"Also," Sam said with a slight grin down at his son because he knew he screwed Jack up. "Never let your guard down in a fight. The monster or whatever you are fighting may look beat but that doesn't mean anything. Not until the breath goes out of it." Sam said getting up and offering Jack a hand.
Jack took it as he let Sam help him stand up. Sam was so much bigger and older than he was, it was frustrating. Jack knew from what Dean told him that that's how it's going to be every time. He was told to always assume your opponent has an edge on you, it will motivate you not to lose.
"That was unfair," Jack said with a small grin which let Sam know they were all good. "But I'll get you back next to time."
Sam laughed silently, a grin coming out onto his face. "I'm sure you will," Sam looked at the door to the gym and then back to Jack. "Come on, we've got a puzzle to do." Sam said as he began to walk out of the gym with Jack on his heels.
