Sam entered their motel room triumphantly holding two bags of groceries.

"I did it Dean! We'll have plenty to eat now and I made sure to be a careful shopper. The store has sales flyers with coupons right when you walk in the door."

Dean resisted the urge to lay into Sam who was his responsibility. The last time when the kid took off it was Dean who paid for it in spades when John found out. Not only that, if anything happened to his brother, Dean would never forgive himself. Sam was his everything.

"Were you planning on going shopping by yourself?"

While putting away the supplies away he only shrugged.

"Sam, were you going to do this alone?"

"Yeah but Linda was going shopping anyway so I went with her."

Dean turned him around and held his shoulders, "Your lucky Linda took you there. Don't ever try to run off on your own again, not for groceries, not for anything. If you need something I'll get it for you myself. Do you understand me?"

That took the wind out of his sails, "I understand. I did it so you wouldn't have to. I know you don't feel good and I wanted to help." He raised his head and looked straight into his brother's eyes, "I'm not a baby."

Dean pressed Sam to his chest and kissed his mop top, "You're still my baby." It would take a while to normalize and until then he was riding a teen hormone driven rollercoaster.

Sam hugged him back and pressed his nose against Dean's armpit but was disappointed to smell cloying deodorant instead of big brother sweat and all the safety and comfort it afforded.

Even though he didn't understand this whole omega thing, Sam wasn't complaining over the changes to his brother. He adored all these long buried bits of softness coming out that he just knew were hiding inside Dean.

…..

That evening the brothers made the last of the microwave popcorn and settled in to watch Death Wish with one of Dean's favorite tough guys, Charles Bronson.

Sensing Dean was relatively content and his belly full of junk food, Sam attempted once again to ask his brother some of the questions he had, during commercials of course.

"Dean, did I buy you the right things?"

"You mean the personal stuff, yeah it's great and thanks for the book but it's too expensive."

"I didn't buy it."

Dean gave him a sly grin, "Welcome to the dark side."

"I swear I didn't steal it! Linda must have bought it."

"Sure, Linda bought it."

"So you're really and truly an omega."

Dean let out a sigh, "Yeah."

"Are you still my brother?"

"Of course I'm your brother! Geez what do you think I am? I still got a dick and balls you know. I'm just a guy with extra fancy plumbing."

"Whew, ok good. I wasn't sure what to call you."

"Call me "brother" because that's what I am." Dean inwardly groaned because he knew he was in for more questions from Sam, the most inquisitive kid on the planet.

"Can you have babies?"

"What? No, I mean I guess so but I'm never going to have any! Hunters don't have babies and I sure as hell never want to be tied down to anything or anyone."

"Except for you, Sammy…"

"Ok."

"Ok because I don't want a gross guy doing stuff with you to make a baby…"

"Will I be an omega?"

"I have no clue; I never thought I'd be one either so you'll just have to wait."

"According to the book, as soon as an egg is fertilized and the baby is growing it's already determined if it's a female, omega, alpha or beta. You just can't tell until puberty except for girls."

"Why are you asking me questions if you know it all already and hello, you're still a kid. Stop worrying about this stuff."

"I'm not worried I'm just curious."

Dean tossed the last of the popcorn at Sam. "Now shut up, it's my favorite part of the movie coming up where the bad guy gets wacked in the mouth with a board."

After the scene Sam and Dean looked at each other and said "teef" at the same time and burst of laughing.

….

John was packed and ready to go and Bobby still hadn't gotten an answer about the boys. Bobby bought himself some time by making the surly alpha a big breakfast to grease the wheels and make another case for Sam and Dean.

Bobby stabbed another pancake and dropped on John's overflowing plate, "you know who likes my pancakes, Sam. His eyes light right up especially when I get out the blueberry syrup. Now Dean, he's a bacon and eggs sorta kid and he can really pack in the food." The elder alpha let out a rare chuckle, "That kid could eat me outta house and home but I don't mind. I like cooking for them because they appreciate whatever I put on the table."

John nodded as he cut into the pancake, "I know what you're getting at but I'm their dad."

"We talked about this, I know I ain't their daddy but I care about the little buggers. You know me, I'll make 'em practice their shooting and I've got a whole damn library they can dig into. "I might even teach them some potions and spells."

John looked at that weathered face across the table from him, each line and wrinkle earned the hard way. Bobby was a good man and over the years he'd been a safe haven for the boys when John was on hot lead or just needed a break.

The possessive and controlling part of John wanted to reach across the table and shake Bobby by his old flannel shirt and yell at him for wanting to take the boys away. Another part of John wanted to let them go and get on with the job of hunting. John didn't see a place for Dean in all this considering what he was.

The alpha needed time to figure it all out. Would he let Dean hunt, marry him off, keep him around for Sam or let him live with Bobby where one of his kind would be safe. During a bender, John even considered using Dean as hunting bait because the kid was fast on his feet and for some reason monsters, demons and the like seemed attracted to omegas but then again so were males.

"I'll drop them off and you can have them for a while until I figure out what to do with Dean."

"What the hell do you mean by that, he's your son yah damn jackass!"

"Good."

…

John watched from the car as Sam said goodbye to Linda. For Dean it was tough to watch. It was yet another person in Sam's life he had to let go of. Dean had become pretty desensitized to leaving people behind. It was the nature of the job and the strange life they lived.

"Dean, go get him."

Dean jogged over to get his brother and play the bad guy. Sam held a big soft sided cooler that looked pretty heavy.

"Look Dean, Linda made us road food."

He messed up Sam's mop of hair, "awesome. Dad's waiting for you."

Linda kissed her sweet, dimpled little doll on the cheek and waved as Sam crossed the parking lot.

The woman placed a hand on Dean's shoulder and smiled, "Sam told me you're both going to live with Uncle Bobby."

"Yeah, Bobby is a great guy." Dean handed her a card with a couple numbers on it, "If you ever have any supernatural problems just give me a call."

"You mean like ghosts?"

"Don't forget monsters and demons."

Linda didn't bat an eye; she just slipped the card in her shirt pocket, "Thank you Dean. Did you take a couple cards with the motel info?"

"Sam did that already." He winked at her, "Oh yeah, thanks for the book."

She waved until the Impala crested a hill and vanished.

"Goodbye boys, I hope you find some peace."

TBC

A/N-Things will move at a faster clip after this. If you haven't watched Death Wish, it's a total Dean Winchester kind of movie.

"Thanks, I'll keep the card handy just in case."

She didn't have to hug Sam because he hugged her first.

John showed up the next morning and collected the kids while Linda watched from the office window.

"Goodbye Sam and Dean. I hope someday your journeys lead you some place safe and you find a little happiness."

….

Dean was determined to act as if nothing had happened to him and they could fall into their old patterns so he rode shotgun and John didn't seem to mind. They drove for hours before finally stopping for the night at a place quite a few steps down from where they were before.

Later they went to a local restaurant for a bite before going to bed. The Winchesters ate like wolves, gorging when they could because the next meal wasn't promised.

John took a corner table and sat facing the room because as he told the boys, "Always protect your back." The food was decent enough and plenty greasy but then John and Dean weren't too picky. Sam settled on a grilled cheese and fruit plate. It wasn't until Sam took off for the bathroom that John finally talked to Dean about the elephant in the room.

John rubbed his big rough hands together massaging the knuckles that were dark with bruises, as he talked.

"You presented, I can smell it on you."

Dean stared out the window, "Yes Sir. I swear I put deodorant everywhere and I'm not trying to stand out."

"Relax, I can tell because I'm your dad and no amount of deodorant is going to block it all from me. Dean, I know you didn't ask for this but here you are. I'm not sure what to do with you now. I need time to think, figure this out. This is why I'm bringing you and Sam to stay with Bobby.

Sam slid in next to his brother, "What about Uncle Bobby?"

John switched his attention to Sam, glad for the rescue, "I was telling Dean after I drop you two off I'm not sure when I'll be back. I've got a lead and there's no sense in dragging you two along."

Sam bumped his sneaker against Dean's and smiled. For Sam this was great and all he wanted, stability with a stable father figure. Dean on the other hand felt like he failed his dad in some way and now wasn't good enough to do what he was destined for.

….

When they pulled into Singer Salvage the boys tried their best to hide their excitement. Dean knew instinctively that John was a possessive man and any show of joy he and his brother showed would mean John would feel slighted and might even change his mind.

Bobby stood on the porch wearing his best poker face.

"Welcome home boys."

TBC