The buzzing wakes him up.
Sam's eyes snap open to the soft bzz of his phone on the bedside table, gently shaking its surface. He blinks once, twice, squinting at the late morning light streaming through the thin motel curtains.
A soft whump on the side of the bed and the cold nose that pokes at Sam's cheek tells him that Miracle woke up to it too. He levers himself up, putting a hand on Miracle's head and ruffling it gently. The call can wait. It always can, these days.
The phone buzzes gently for a few more seconds before stopping completely, plunging the room back into calm quiet. Miracle seems to like it as well, leaning against Sam's side, tail wagging at a slow pace. Sam almost doesn't want to pick up the phone, return the call, but he probably should. Someone might need him out there.
He reaches out a hand and disconnects the phone from the charger, bringing up his notifications. The missed call is from Jody, and as he reads her name, a text pops up on his screen.
HEY, SAM. EVERYTHING'S OKAY, BUT I WANTED TO ASK YOU SOMETHING. CALL ME WHEN YOU CAN.
Okay, then. Sam scratches Miracle behind the ears. He should probably call her back.
He checks the time. 10:18 AM. He's probably slept enough.
He glances at his phone again, and that's when he notices. 10:18 AM, May 2nd. He's thirty eight years old today.
It doesn't take Sam that long to get ready these days. Going back on the road without needing to pick up after himself or wash or clean or maintain the space has saved up a lot of time. He just needs to pack his stuff and go. Quick, easy, and disconnected.
Sam's out on the road with Miracle in the backseat in under half an hour, breakfast bagel in hand and coffee stationed in the closest cup holder. It's when he situates himself in the parking lot near the town's diner, knowing that he's got to come around to it eventually, that he pulls out his phone. He takes a deep breath, then hits Jody's name.
The phone barely completes its first ring before Jody picks up. "Hey Sam," She says, gentle, always gentle. "How're you doing?"
"I'm good," Sam says. His voice comes out a bit funny. He tries to think about the last time he spoke aloud. "How about you guys? Donna and the girls okay?"
"Yeah we're all fine here," Jody says. Sam takes a sip of his coffee. "Claire's been concentrating on her classes more. She's probably graduate this year, with a degree in accounting if you can believe it. Kaia's been a good influence, bless her. Alex and Patience have started this show together, and they talk about it constantly. Some CW crap, I can't keep up with them anymore."
Sam finds it in him to chuckle. "We haven't been able to keep up with them for a while."
"Aw come on," Jody says. "You're not even out of your thirties yet. Oh, speaking of which, happy birthday, Sam."
Sam swallows, puts his coffee back down. "How'd you know?"
The slight hesitation tells him everything he needs to know. "I have my sources," She says, tensely humorous. "Thirty eight is a big one though. Staring down the barrel of forty now, huh?"
"Guess so," Sam says. "Doesn't feel much different from thirty, to tell you the truth."
Jody lets out a disbelieving laugh. "You won't feel that way when you get there," She says, not knowing he already has, many times over. "Anyway, are you close by?"
Sam leans back in his seat, does the math in his head. "About an hour away," he responds. "Why?"
"Oh, you're so close!" Jody says. "Excellent. You know, you could always come by for some cake. We have a place nearby that does these great—"
"I'm good," Sam cuts her off. "It's, you know. No big deal. I don't really want to...celebrate or anything."
"Sam," Jody says, but he cuts her off again.
"Please," He says. "I'm good, really. I just want it to be a normal day."
"I understand," Jody says, and Sam's heart tightens at the idea that he's disappointed her.
"So," He says, diverting the conversation. "Did you need anything from me?"
There's a short pause. "Yeah," Jody says. "It's kind of a big favor, but I didn't know who else to turn to. You're, uh, kind of our last hope for this."
Sam shifts in his seat. "What is it?" He asks, alarm inexplicably rising.
Jody pauses again. "We found this kid," She starts out. "On a ghost hunt. He was alone, and he needed help."
There's a shoe about to drop. Sam just knows it. "Okay," He says cautiously.
"So we took him in," Jody continues. "And, well. He can do things. Like, psychic things. Move around things with his mind level psychic."
Sam draws in a breath. "Okay," He repeats. "Did you need my help with him?"
"Yeah," Jody says. "But not because he's dangerous or anything. He isn't. He's just a little lost, a lot scared. And I don't know how to help him, because I've never been there. But you have. And I think...we really need your help with this. Please."
The "please" is enough, but Sam has to ask. "He's not getting along with Patience and Kaia?"
"No, they're getting along fine," Jody says. "But they're just kids, you know? I'm not gonna expect them to be fully responsible for this kid when they're figuring out their own situations. I think...I think we need an adult here. An adult who understands."
Sam nods slightly. Starts the car. "I'm on my way," He says.
Sam pulls up at around noon, parking a little ways away from Jody's place. He takes a second to breathe: eyes closed, hands still on the wheel, a deep breath.
Miracles whines and noses his arm, snapping Sam out of it. "Okay," He tells Miracle, opening the door. "Okay. Let's go."
Miracle bounds to the house the second he can squeeze out the car, giving a joyful bark on the way. The door opens before Sam fully makes it there, and Miracle runs in before Jody can fully react.
She laughs. "He's excited, huh?"
"You bet," Sam says, trying out a smile. Excited screams emerge from in the house, and Miracle barks in response. "Everyone in?"
"Everyone's here," Jody says, catching him in a hug. He returns it, squeezing gently. "It's Sunday brunch day, so. Always guarantees they see me at least once a week."
Sam pats her back, releases her. "Good plan."
She takes a step back, still holding on to his arms. "The kid," She begins. "He was trying to protect his family from the ghost and...well..." She trails off. "It backfired. They freaked out, kicked him out of the house. He found us when we were investigating the next house over, a guy apparently pointed him towards us."
Sam gives a tight nod. He understands that.
"Hey," She says, and Sam meets her eyes. "It's nice to see you. Happy birthday."
He ducks his head. "Thanks." He mumbles.
"Alright," Jody says, pulling him towards the door. "Come on in. I want you to meet him."
Sam allows himself to be led inside, past the cluttered living room into the full and bright kitchen. The girls are sitting around haphazardly: Alex and Kaia around the table, Claire leaning against the counter, Patience sitting on the floor with Miracle in her lap, Donna wiping down the sink. A chorus of "hi, Sam" erupts, a couple of "happy birthdays" tossed in for good measure. To Sam's relief, nobody sings.
Sitting at the table with Alex and Kaia is a boy, no older than ten or eleven. He looks thin and quiet, dark bags under his deep brown eyes. He doesn't say a word.
Sam manages another smile. "Hey," He addresses the room. "How are you guys?"
Another chorus of "good" erupts, Kaia flashing a thumbs up. Donna saunters over, wiping her hands on her damp shirt. "It's good to see you Sam," She says, giving him a slightly soapy hug.
"Better seeing Miracle!" Claire says, and laughter erupts through the kitchen, Miracle wagging his tail enthusiastically in response. The boy still doesn't smile.
Jody notices, and nudges him from behind so that he's closer to the kitchen table. "Let's do introductions," She says cheerfully. "Sam, meet Jack. Jack, this is Sam. He's a good friend, and a really good guy."
But Sam isn't listening, his brain tripped at "Jack" and he hasn't recovered, he's just stopped himself from looking around the room, trying to look for the Jack he knows isn't there but he knows kind of is anyway, the kid who never got to finish the clone wars and whose Netflix profile is still there, with his name proudly displayed below a little purple penguin.
Sam swallows the heaviness in his throat. "Hey, Jack," He says, just managing to save his voice from cracking at the end of the word. "How's it going?"
The kid shrugs, mutters "Good." He doesn't make eye contact.
Jody pats Sam on the arm. "See?" she says. "You two share so much in common already. Sit down, and I'll get you something, okay? We can work after we eat."
She pushes Sam towards the closest chair, and, despite his protests, he sits down.
"So," Sam says.
The kid sits there, staring at his shoes. He doesn't say a word.
Sam fidgets. "It's kinda cramped in here, huh?" He says, gesturing around at Jody's study.
The kid shrugs. "Yeah," He mumbles, not looking up.
A few more minutes go by. Sam takes a deep breath.
"Listen," He says, sitting across from the kid, trying to get on his level. "Do you know why Jody called me?"
"To help me," the kid mutters again, barely audible.
"Right," Sam says. "To help you. With your powers. I..." he hesitates. This part is still difficult to talk about. "I had them too. Or still have, I don't actually know. But, um. Yeah. I had these...visions, and they hurt a lot. I was scared all the time."
The kid is still silent, but Sam can see his eyes dart in his direction, then back to the floor. He's listening.
"There was more," Sam says. "I pushed myself, hurt myself and others using my powers because I thought it was the right thing to do. It wasn't. I was scared, I felt alone, and I turned to the only person who I thought understood. It turned out she was just using me."
The kid lifts his head at this point. He still stays silent.
"All this to say," Sam says. "I get it. I don't have your exact story, but it's close enough that I understand how you're feeling right now. And I can help you with it."
This, out of everything, gets the kid to speak. "How?" He whispers.
"Practice," Sam says. "Concentration. We can do this, I know we can. But we have to work at it, right?"
The kid shrinks into himself. This isn't working.
Sam tries another track. "I can stick around here for a couple days," He says. "We can work on this together. I promise, if we just focus and get through it, we'll be able to..."
He trails off. The kid is shaking, drawing deep breaths. The hair on the back of Sam's neck stands on end: there's a feeling in the air, a feeling like electricity. Like danger.
"Oh," Sam says. "It's okay, really. Don't worry, you're safe here," He stands up, slowly, walking over to the kid. "We can do this, I'll be here for-"
The quick feeling of heat behind his eyes is the only warning he gets. The next thing he knows, he's thrown back over the desk, hitting the wall and knocking the wind out of him. He slides down, landing on a book, and crouches over himself, trying to catch his breath.
Oh no. He thinks. I did this wrong. Oh no. Oh no.
By the time he looks up, the kid is gone
The second he's able to get out a full breath, Sam reaches out, clutches the desk, and uses it to pull himself onto his feet.
He stumbles out of the room and straight into Jody, almost falling back to the floor again. "Jody," He gasps out. "I messed up. He left. He's..."
Jody grabs onto him before he fully tips over. "He's fine. He's in his room," She looks beyond him to her study. "What happened here?"
Sam turns around. The study is trashed: chairs knocked over, books everywhere, papers ripped out. "I messed up," He repeats. "I told him I was gonna help him, that we could practice together, but I think I said the wrong thing because he just..."
"Okay," Jody says, releasing him, letting her hands hover slightly above his forearms. "It's okay, he's a little fragile right now, let's try to figure out what set him off so that we don't repeat it."
To his horror, Sam feels his eyes fill. "His name, Jody," He chokes out, seeing the confusion in her eyes widen to shock.
Her hovering arms come back down to his forearms. "Sam," She says. "I'm so sorr—"
"I know it's a common name," He says, blinking furiously. "But I wasn't...I wasn't expecting it, you know, it knocked me for a loop and I wasn't ready and I let that get in the way. I'm not ready for this, Jody, I'm gonna mess this up because I can't even pull it together long enough to—"
Jody gives his arms a quick squeeze. "Sam," She repeats. "It's okay. It's okay. You've been through a lot, I know, but...you can help each other, okay? You can honor our Jack by looking out for the new one. I...I want you to be okay. Both of you. And I think this way...you can find a way forward again. You can unstick yourself from where you are. You need it, Sam. You need to keep on living."
Sam feels a tear sneak down the side of his face, dripping off his chin.
"So," Jody says, a little more gently. "What happened, exactly? I'll help you figure it out."
Sam takes a deep breath, wiping a hand over his eyes. "Okay," He says. "I started by saying..I got it. I told him I had power. I said I could help him, we could practice together if we put work and focus into it. And then I said..." He trails off. "Oh."
"Oh?" Jody repeats. "What?"
"I got it," Sam breathes out. "I think I know what freaked him out." He looks at her. "He's in his room?"
Jody nods, releasing him. "Down the hallway, last door on the left." She smiles at him. "I'll leave you to it."
Sam gives the door three short knocks. "Hi," He says, feeling a little silly speaking to a door. "Can you let me in? I'm not mad or anything. If I was upset at everyone who threw me at a wall, I wouldn't have any friends left."
He crosses his fingers, prays his attempt at humor worked. A few seconds go by, and then the kid cracks open the door. His eyes are red. "You're not mad?"
"No," Sam says, trying to project the most casual manner he can manage. "Like I said, it's pretty common for us. I've thrown my fair share of people into walls too. It's okay, it's all okay." He shifts on his feet. "Can I come in?"
There's a pause before the kid swings open the door the rest of the way. "Yeah," He mumbles, backing away into the room. Sam follows him into a small guest room with a bed on one side and a closet in the other. Besides the two pieces of furniture, it's almost completely bare.
Sam makes his way to the wall facing the bed, leans against it. The kid—Jack—makes his way to the foot of the bed and sinks into it. His head is bowed, but he's facing Sam.
"So," Sam begins. "Let's try this again, okay? This time, though," He takes a breath. "This time, I'm not gonna say I'll only be here a couple days. This time I'm not gonna say we have to rush into practice. See, for most of my life I've had to deal with disaster after disaster with a deadline, but now...now, there's no deadline. You can take your time, and so can I. I'm sticking around, so don't worry about that. We'll figure out how to get control of your powers together, okay?"
Jack lifts his head and keeps it up. "I..." he begins shakily. "I'm...I'm dangerous. I've hurt people...I..."
"You're not," Sam says. "I promise, you're not. It wasn't your fault. I...I want to tell you about someone. His name was Jack, too."
A peak of a smile emerges. "Yeah?"
"Yeah," Sam says, hinting at a smile back. "He was a lot like you, actually. He had powers too, powers he was afraid of. Accidents happened with him too. And, I messed up with him at the start as well. But we figured it out, and he was able to get a good grasp on his powers. He's a good kid."
Jack nods slowly.
"That's not all," Sam says. "Because I told you about my own experiences with my powers earlier, right? But I didn't tell you everything. I had help, too. My best friend was a guy named Cas. He took a while to trust me, but when he did, the trust was never broken. And he helped me through a lot of that fallout."
Sam takes a breath, prays he'll make it through the next part.
"And my brother," His voice cracks, just slightly. "Dean. He saw all of it. And he made mistakes too, don't get me wrong. But he tried his best to stick around, to understand what I was going through so he could support me as best as he could. All this to say: I've been like you, but I've also seen them. And, I think I've learned enough that I can get both of us through this next part. Does that sound good?"
Jack nods, keeping eye contact. "Yeah," He says. "It does."
Sam gives him a nod. "That's good," He says, levering himself back up from the bedroom wall. "Let's take the rest of the day off, okay? We'll start figuring it out tomorrow."
He gives Jack a final nod, then starts out of the room. "Sam," he hears, and turns to see Jack giving him a watery smile. "That guy was right about you."
Sam frowns. "What guy?"
"The guy ," He said. "The one that showed me where Jody was. After...after what happened. He said that Sam would help me. He was right."
Sam, stunned, can only nod before exiting the room.
Sam is back in the kitchen. It's inching towards six PM, and the kitchen is full once more. He's sitting at the table this time, banished there by Donna when he tried to help her dinner, claiming that he was a guest (and it was his birthday) and that guests didn't set the table or cook the food.
It's okay, though, because Patience went to sit with him to "keep him company" (I didn't want to set the table, she admits) and started telling him about her classes at the community college, and, well...despite all the years that've passed since his own time, Sam still loves talking about college.
"The classes are great," Patience says, smiling wide. "And I really wanna transfer to Georgia Tech at some point."
"Good school," Sam says, leaning back. "Any particular reason?"
"It's my dream school," Patience admits. "And I'm technically still a Georgia resident, so. If I get a scholarship, it should be doable."
Sam smiles softly. "Let me know if you need any help with applications or anything," He says. "And I encourage you to go for it, you'll love it. I know I did."
"Yeah?" Patience asks. "Where'd you go?"
"Stanford," Sam replies, and her eyes go big. Before she can respond, Miracle bounds into the kitchen, followed closely by Claire and Kaia.
"Are Jody, Jack, and Alex back?" Claire asks, depositing the plate of salad onto the table.
"They should be here soon," Donna says, walking in behind them. "We need that pumpkin filling. Sam, have you thought about where you'll be staying tonight?"
Sam shrugs. "I can find a motel easy," He says.
Donna scoffs. "At this time of night? No way. We have a free couch right here."
"You don't have t—" Sam starts before Donna cuts him off.
"And anyway," She says. "If you're thinking of staying here for a while, a motel is not sustainable. We'll find something more stable for you for the time that you're here and I won't hear any more about it."
Sam feels his face heat up. "Thank you," He says, reddening further when he hears Claire snicker in the background.
"Of course," Donna says, and that's when they hear the front door opening. "They're back! Good. I can get started on dessert now."
Sam gets up and moves to the door to help with carrying any bags, almost running smack into Jody. "Hey," She says, shifting a bag from one arm to the other. "There's still stuff in the car, can you grab some?"
"Sure," Sam says as Alex squeezes through the door with more bags.
He waits until the door is clear and then heads out towards the direction of the car, where he sees Jack reaching into the back and pulling out a bag. "Here," Sam says, rushing over. "Let me help you with that."
Jack looks up at him, smiles. "Thanks," He says, moving to the backseat of the car and rummaging around.
Sam glanced into the trunk and removes both remaining bags, carrying one in each hand. "Is that everything?" He asks Jack.
Jack emerges from the backseat carrying a small box. "Yeah," He says, but instead of starting their walk back into the house, Jack stops to face Sam instead.
"We got you something," Jack says, gesturing at the box. "They said it was your birthday and you didn't want anything big so we thought...maybe you'd like this."
Heart pounding, Sam looks down, focuses on the box. Inside, through the clear plastic on top, is a singular chocolate cupcake, slightly squished from the journey and listing sideways in the box.
Sam blinks hard.
"Do you like it?" Jack asks, tentative.
Sam looks back up at him, smiles tremulously. "I like it," He says. "Thank you."