Chapter 44
Dean had spoken to Bobby on the way home, working extra hard to hide his concern and conversation through ambiguous wording that he knew Bobby could figure out. The only answer Bobby had at the moment was to wait and see if things change. Sometimes spells take time to wear off, some hours, some days, some weeks, or even years. But Bobby had said that it was very, very rare for a spell to last an entire lifetime without being tied to something and a powerful spellcaster casting it. Granted, a Tink could be considered a powerful spellcaster, if she was dead, there seemed little chance that the spell was still tied to something. Bobby figured the spell would wear off. Until then, Dean would just have to be patient.
Sitting in a chair in their motel room Dean was doing his best at being patient. Sammy was truly a kid again. He seemed to have no moments of adult maturity anymore. He only hoped that it wasn't a sign that Sammy would never turn back into an adult.
Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Dean looked at his brother. He was filthy, and he didn't even need to look at himself to know that he was a mess. He forced himself out of his chair and onto his feet.
"Come on, Sammy." He said to the kid as he headed to the bathroom.
"What?" Sammy said, heading over to his older brother.
"We're a mess. Let's clean up."
"Fine." Sammy whined. He had never liked bath time as a kid and would always pitch a fit for Dad. But for Dean he'd do it, though he usually wouldn't be happy about it. Sammy had always had a respect for Dean and a comfortableness around Dean that he definitely didn't have with Dad.
He set up the shower for little Sammy and left him to clean himself off, but left the door cracked. He figured he wouldn't need anything, but part of his over-protectiveness wouldn't let him totally shut the door. It didn't take Sammy any more than fifteen minutes to finish his shower. Dean helped him dry off and then turned the t.v. on to Cartoon Network before peeling off his clothes and jumping in the shower himself.
Dean stood under the hot water of the shower with his little brother ion his mind. It brought him back to their real childhoods. They often were stuck in run-down motels that no responsible parent would ever even have nightmares of keeping their kids in. Many times they'd be in a rush to get going, often because Dad knew it wouldn't be long before the authorities would find a suspicious body from one of his hunts and start looking for answers. This often resulted in Sam and Dean having to shower up as quickly as possible. Not this time. He lingered under the warm water as he considered the predicament he and his brother were in. Killing the Tink hadn't returned Sam to normal. What now? He shook his head as he could think of no options other than what Bobby had already offered him. All he could do was wait and see what would happen.
The water felt both good against his aching muscles and sore skin, but stung his cuts, scratches and bullet wound. He had fished the bullet out just before hopping in the shower, so it was still bleeding, but at the moment Dean just didn't care. He'd fix it up later, though he'd hate doing it. When Sammy was an adult, he would fix Dean up. He did it better.
Once he was all cleaned, he turned the shower off and wrapped a cheap motel towel around his waist before stepping back out to the room he shared with Sammy. He tried to walk as if he was fine, but in truth, his body was beaten. He was in pain, but it was worth it.
"Are you okay?" Sammy asked, looking up at his brother.
"Yeah." Dean smiled placing one hand on his still-open bullet wound and the other on Sammy's damp head. "Just glad you're safe."
"I'm glad you're safe!" Sammy smiled hugging his brother as tightly as he could.
"Thanks." Dean said, still struggling with mixed feelings. He knew the moment Sammy was grown up again he wouldn't get hugs anymore. He wouldn't hear the loving words of his five-year-old brother. But it had to be so. Sammy couldn't stay a kid forever. No decent older brother would leave his little brother like that. And if Bobby was right, it was only a matter of time now.
Finishing their hug, he sighed a sigh of relief. The nightmare was practically over. All they had to do now was wait for Sammy to sprout back up to his gargantuan size so they could get back on with their rough lives. But they were rough lives that Dean couldn't see himself trading for anything. As long as Sammy was with him, little or big, he could face Hell itself again.
He got Sammy dressed into his pajamas before drying himself off and pulling up a pair of boxer-briefs. "You cool if we head to bed, Sammy?" Dean asked eyeing the clock. It was only 7:30, but Dean was wiped. "I'm just too tired to stay awake."
Sammy walked over to Dean and hopped up onto his bed. "You deserve to sleep." He smiled a kid's heart-melting smile.
"Thanks." Dean said through a light chuckle. Sammy was always thinking about Dean's needs. He hoped against hope that even as an adult, when he was working with Ruby he was still, somewhere in that confused mind and heart, thinking about his needs, just like Dean was always thinking about Sammy's needs.
Dean hopped into his bed and Sammy snuggled up beside him and pressed tightly against him. Dean looked at Sammy a bit confused and smiled. "You know we beat the monsters, right? It's safe for you to sleep in your own bed."
Sammy's face scrunched up. "I don't wanna' sleep where Clark slept." Dean nodded his understanding. That was a fair point. "And I wanna' sleep with you. I don't like sleeping alone." Dean laughed at Sammy's words. It was amazing how growing up changed people. It was true that growing up Sammy never wanted to sleep alone, and he definitely didn't want to sleep with Dad. He always, always wanted to sleep with Dean. Then one day he was too old to want to sleep with Dean anymore. It was both a sad day and a happy day for Dean. On one side, he'd miss sleeping with Sammy. He loved Sammy more than anything in the world. Maybe even more than Lisa, the closest woman to a serious girlfriend or wife he'd ever had. But on the other side he did like having an entire bed to himself.
Dean pulled Sammy in as tightly to him as he could and turned the lights off. "Good night, Sammy." He said, kissing the kid on his head. "Tomorrow we'll head back to Uncle Bobby's house, sound good?"
"Sounds good." Sammy said and yawned.
The brothers slept comfortably for the first time in several nights. There was no stranger in the room. There was no threat of goblins or trolls sneaking in and stealing people away. There was no hunt to focus on. It was just a night to sleep.
It wasn't until the loud sound of fabric tearing that Dean woke up in the middle of the night with his arm around a very different, but just as familiar body. Sleep still lingering in his eyes and slowing his mind, Dean slowly smiled knowing that he had his sasquatch of a brother back. Killing the fairy had really broken the spell. He could tell Sammy was also awake, but just barely, like him. He pulled his giant brother in tightly against him and smiled. It was good to have him back. Then something occurred to him.
"Sammy?" He said tiredly.
"Yeah?" Came the sleep-filled, deep voice of the brother Dean drank beer with. The brother he drove across the country with. The brother he talked girls and sex with. The brother he did everything with. The brother he hunted with.
"You're naked, aren't you?"
There was a long pause.
"Yeah."
Another long pause.
Finally Dean tightened his arm around Sammy for one last sappy hug like he had when he was little and then with all the force he could muster, he kicked him out of his bed. "Get outta' my bed you weird perv!" He hollered while stifling a giggle.
Sammy grunted as he landed on the floor hard. "What the hell, dude!?" He stood up and turned the lights on.
"Clothing, Sammy. We're not cavemen here." Dean said giving Sammy his best 'duh' face. "I'll kick your ass in the morning for climbing into my freakin' twin sized bed without any clothes on in the morning." With that Dean fell silent.
Sammy remembered being a kid. He remembered everything. "Hey, Dean." Sammy said quietly.
"Mmm?" Was all his older brother managed to get out as he propped himself up to look at his brother.
"Thanks."
"For?"
"Everything. For taking care of me." Sammy started. "I remember it all. Thanks for protecting me. Feeding me. Bathing me. Thank you for saving me and never giving up." Sammy sighed through a comfortable smile. He was happy to be with his brother. "And please know that I do love you. I always have and I always will. Don't think that just because I'm an adult again that I don't love you."
"Sammy..." Dean said calmly and then fell silent for a few long seconds. "Clothing." He said plainly. "Why you gotta' make this weird?" Dean faux-complained.
"Seriously, Dean. I love you."
Another lingering silence.
"Love you, too."
Sammy could tell Dean meant those words and went over to Dean's duffel bag, since Dean had moved his adult clothes back into the Impala, and threw on a pair of what he hoped were clean briefs. "Oh, and Dean."
"Yeah?" Dean said through a long yawn.
"Technically, I got into this bed with clothes on. I just outgrew them really fast."
"Whatever. Technicalities won't save you from a beating in the morning."
Sammy chuckled. "Good luck, since I'm bigger than you now." He went into the bathroom and grabbed their first aid kit before sitting beside Dean on his bed.
"Still a sissy, though."
"We'll see tomorrow." Sam taunted him. "Now let me fix this up." Dean sat up, despite how badly he wanted to just fall asleep, and let Sammy work on him. It seemed like a better choice than bleeding out on the motel bed.
The procedure took a few minutes and only dragged a few groans and gritted teeth out of Dean as Sammy pulled the bullet out and patched up the wound. With that, Sammy stood back up and looked at the bed Clark had slept in. "I still don't really want to sleep in his bed."
"Sorry. You're too big for this was, Gigantor."
"Have you seen yourself? I wouldn't wanna' sleep with your beat-up self anyway." Sam furrowed at him in faux-disgust. "You'd probably bleed on me."
"Bitch." Dean said while resisting a smile and turned the lights back off before falling comfortably back onto his bed.
"Jerk."
