Title: Behind Those Eyes
Author: Katie
Summary: A look at the Winchester life between Sam leaving and the pilot.
Spoilers: None really, at least not so far but a general understanding of the show would help
Ratings: PG for language
Pairing: None
Authors Note: I hope you like it. Oh, and since I don't have a beta all mistakes are mine.
Distribution: Please! Just let me know.
Feedback: Please!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything Supernatural. I wish I did though. Much of the dialoge in this chapter came straight from the pilot ep.
Chapter Five: Back to Being Brothers
Dean Winchester was 26 years old the last time he would feel truly alone.
Dean was just finishing up the ridiculous voodoo gig in New Orleans, the whole thing was insane, scorned lovers and the sort playing with magic they didn't even really believe in let alone understand.
It had been too long since he had spoken to his father. John Winchester always made sure that they checked in with each other once a day at the very least. He tried to get in contact with his dad every way he knew how but nothing worked. He decided to stay in his hotel that night and head to Jericho, California where his dad was working a case the next morning.
Around 2:30 that night/the next morning Dean's phone rang. He rolled over, onto his back and rubbed the back of his hand over his eyes. "You've got to be kidding me" he mumbled and his hand found the phone on the night table just as it clicked over to voice mail.
He pulled the phone to him and clicked on his missed call list. He saw his Dad's name staring back at him and smiled. Excitedly Dean clicked to hear the voice mail.
"Dean, something is starting to happen, I think it's serious. I need to try to figure out what's going on static be very careful Dean, we're all in danger."
Dean shot up, suddenly very awake. He listened to the voice mail again, instantly recognizing it as having an EVP under it. He ran out to the car and got what he needed. He recorded the message on to a tape so he could slow it down; he then ran it through a gold wave and took out the hiss. He pressed play ready to listen to his brand new EVP.
A woman saying "I can never go home"
Dean tried to call his father several more times but never got a hold of him. He knew that whatever this was, it was big. Just from his dad's voice when he said that 'they were all in danger' no good was going to come of this.
Wait… 'all in danger'… 'all'. Sammy! If Sam was in danger he had to do something about it, he couldn't just let him be a sitting duck to danger. Dean checked his map, if I shag ass I can make it before morning.
The drive to Palo Alto felt long, I fucking hate California.
When Dean finally parked his car out side Sam's apartment complex he got out and looked up at Sam's window, no lights. He sighed before climbing up the fire escape. He walked around the apartment slowly, thinking to himself that if Sam didn't hear him soon he would be a little worried.
Dean sees a shadow move out of the corner of his eye and has to smile before grabbing Sam and doing a basic move to him. Dean knows that Sam doesn't realize it's him as they fight and that's when he realizes how long its really been since they've talked. Dean takes him to the ground and sits on top of him with a triumphant smile. "Whoa, easy, tiger." He taunts.
"Dean?" Sam asked and Dean kind of wants to smack him, what you forget about me all ready? He thinks and laughs. "You scared the crap out of me."
Dean smiles and nods once, "That's cause you're out of practice" Dean is taken by surprise when Sam does a move and lands himself on top with a triumphant smile of his own. "Or not…Get off me."
They both stand up and suddenly Sam is serious, "Dean, what the hell are you doing here?"
Dean's not ready to be serious quite yet, "Well I was looking for a beer."
"What the hell are you doing here?" Sam asks again, not happy to see me little bro? Dean thinks and cant keep the spite out of it.
"Okay, all right, we gotta talk." Dean remembers his dad and the kind of danger he thinks that all three of them are in.
"Uh, the phone?" Sam says like it's the most obvious thing in the world and Dean flashes back to all the times he called just to get Sam's voicemail.
"If I'd have called, would you have picked up?"
Sam is saved of having to answer when Jessica walks in. "Sam?"
"Jess, hey. Dean, this is my girlfriend Jessica." Sam says glancing between the two.
"Wait, your brother dean?" Jess asks and Dean realizes that she didn't tell that they met when he was sick.
He goes along with it, "I love the Smurfs." And it's true; he always did "You know I gotta tell you, you are completely out of my brother's league."
He's made her self conscious, "Just let me put something on"
"No, no, no, I wouldn't dream of it…Seriously" I don't plan on being here long anyway Dean added silently. "Anyway, I gotta borrow your boyfriend here, talk about some private family business, but, uh, nice meeting you." Yeah, meeting you. Dean thought sarcastically to himself.
"No. No. Whatever you wanna say you can say it in front of her." Sam said moving to stand by Jessica and Dean couldn't help but be upset for a moment.
"Okay. Um…dad hasn't been home in a few days." Dean said hoping that Sam would take the hint. He didn't.
"So he's working over-time on a "Miller Time" shift; he'll stumble back in sooner or later." And Dean couldn't believe how little Sam seemed to think of their dad.
"Dad's on a hunting trip and he hasn't been home in a few days." Don't try me, little brother Dean hoped the warning came through in his voice. He was dangerously close to saying exactly what he meant right in front of Jessica.
"Jess, excuse us. We have to go outside." Sam said, defeated. And Dean followed him down a flight of stairs before Sam abruptly turned around. "What the hell, Dean"
Dean sighed, "Dad's missing, has been for more than a week, even got a weird voice mail from him. I need your help" It wasn't exactly what Dean had intended to say, but it worked well enough.
Sam shook his head a little, "I mean come on; you can't just break in, in the middle of the night, and expect me to hit the road with you."
Dean closes his eyes and sighs trying to think of a way to make Sam hear him, "You're not hearing me Sammy. Dad's missing;I need you to help me find him."
Sam shakes his head again and Dean had a split second urge to smack him, "You remember the poltergeist in Amherst, or the devil's gates in Clifton? He was missing then too, he's always missing and he's always fine"
It was Dean's turn to shake his head, this was different, he could feel it, he'd been hunting well past long enough to trust an instinct as strong as this one, "Not for this long. Now you gonna come with me or not?" Dean was loosing his patience, and time that could prove precious.
"I'm not" was Sam's only answer and Dean was a little blind sided.
"Why not?"
"I swore I was done hunting for good." Sam said and Dean rolled his eyes.
"Come on, it wasn't easy, but it wasn't that bad." Sissy Dean added to himself.
Sam shook his head again and Dean clinched his fist by his side to keep from reaching out and smacking him, "Yeah? When I told dad when I was scared of the thing in my closet he gave me a .45."
Dean gave him a yeah…and… look and added, "Well what was he supposed to do?"
"I was 9 years old. He was supposed to say 'Don't be afraid of the dark.'" Sam said and Dean sighed, remembering most clearly that there had in fact been a thing in Sammy's closet.
"Don't be afraid of the dark? What are you kidding me of course you should be afraid of the dark! You know what's out there!" That made Dean angry, they didn't have the luxury of ignorance.
Sam didn't have a real response so he shook his head once, "Yeah I know but still-- the way we grew up after mom was killed, and dad's obsession to find the thing that killed her, but we still haven't found the damn thing, so we kill everything we can find."
"Save a lot of people doing it, too." Dean was proud of that. He wasn't always the best person in the world, didn't always do the right thing at the right time, but he had saved dozens, maybe hundreds of lives in his own lifetime and he would be doing it until he couldn't anymore.
"You think mom would have wanted this for us?" Dean turns on heels and starts to walk outside, don't you dare use mom against me, little brother Dean thought but Sam continued. "The weapon training and melting the silver into bullets? Man, Dean, we were raised like warriors."
Dean's angry and its becoming harder and harder to hide, "So, what are you gonna do? You just gonna live some normal, apple-pie life? Is that it?"
Sam rolls his eyes, "No. Not normal. Safe"
Dean scoffs and nods his head once, "And that's why you ran away?"
Sam looks down at the ground before answering, "I was just going to college. It was dad who said if I was gonna go, I should stay gone. And that's what I'm doing."
If you really believe that dad meant that I give you way more credit than you deserve Dean though to himself and shook his head once, as if trying to physically force the memory of the fight from his mind. "Yeah well dad's in real trouble if he's not dead already, I can feel it. I can't do this alone."
"Yes, you can" Sam says and they both know he's right.
"Yeah. Well, I don't want to." Is Dean's response. This could not be more of a family thing.
Sam sighed, knowing that he's never really been able to say know to Dean, but couldn't help the small smile when he remembered that it went both ways, "What was he hunting?"
Dean smirked before opening the trunk of the Impala, then the locked compartment with his weaponry, "All right, let's see. Where the hell did I put that thing?" mumbling to himself.
"So when dad left, why didn't you go with him?" Sam asked, the thought just occurring to him.
"I was working my own gig. This voodoo thing down in New Orleans" bush league. Dean answered still rifling through his things.
"Dad let you go on a hunting trip by yourself?" Sam was really surprised.
"I'm 26, dude" a lot changes in 4 years. Dean found what he was looking for and pulls a piece of paper out of the book, "All right, here we go. So dad was checking out this two-lane blacktop outside of Jericho, California. About a month ago this guy…" Dean pointed to the newspaper clipping, "…they found his car but he'd vanished, completely M.I.A."
"So maybe he was kidnapped." Sam countered. He always tried so hard to find the logical answer; problem was that it was never there.
"Yeah well, here's another one in April," Dean hands several news clipping to Sam pointing to each one to prove his point, "another one in December '04, '03, '98, '92. Ten of them over the past 20 years, all men, all same 5-mile stretch of road. Started happening more and more so dad went to go dig around. That was about three weeks ago. I hadn't heard from him since, which is bad enough." Dean pulls out his cell phone and plays the voice mail for his brother, "Then I get this voicemail yesterday"
When the voice mail is over Sam looks at his brother, "You know there's EVP on that?"
Dean smiled, he was a little proud, "Not bad, Sammy. Kind of like riding a bike isn't it? All right. I slowed the message down, and ran it through a Gold Wave took out the hiss, and this is what I got."
"I can never go home" played the EVP
"Never go home" Sam repeated as if that would help him make sense of it.
Dean threw his phone back in the trunk and slammed it shut; it's probably not smart to have his weapons on display at Stanford, even if it was the middle of the night. "You know in almost two years I've never bothered you. Never asked you for a thing…" Dean trailed off, knowing that Sam knew exactly where he was going with that.
Sam rolled his eyes, "All right. I'll go. I'll help you find him. But I have to get back first thing Monday. Just wait here."
"What's first thing Monday?" Dean would always be curious by nature. Its always safer to know John Winchester's voice rang in his ear.
Sam was almost embarrassed to say, "I have this…I have an interview"
"What, a job interview? Skip it." Do now – think later. That was Dean.
Sam rolled his eye, some things never change, "It's a law-school interview, and it's my whole future on a plate."
"Law school" Dean repeated his voice a mix of pride and disbelief.
"So we got a deal or not?" Sam asked and when Dean nodded he went back upstairs to pack.
Dean walked over to the Impala and sat on the hood. He glanced up at Sam's window and could see the shadows of him packing and Jessica walking around behind him, presumably asking questions. He shook his head again, who would have thought.
Dean was happy to have Sam coming with him, they had to find John and Sam would be able to help greatly with that. But more, Dean hadn't seen…really seen his baby brother in 4 years. But at the same time Dean felt like he never should have come here, never should have pulled Sam out of his picture perfect 'I'm going to be a lawyer' life.
Luckily for him, Dean didn't have much time to contemplate his decisions because Sam came down the stairs and outside with a duffle bag in one hand. "Lets do this" Sam mumbled threw his duffle next to Dean's in the back seat of the Impala and slid in the passenger seat of Dean's car. Dean slid in to drivers seat, put the key in the ignition and turned it, turned the volume dial on the radio to the right, causing 'highway to hell' to come through the speakers Dean spent 3 weeks installing when he was 17, and pulled away from Stanford, and toward their job. "This feels oddly familiar" Sam mumbled and Dean smiled.
"Oh, yeah, just like old times" Dean teased in a sing-song voice and Sam lightly hit his arm. Dean couldn't help but smile.
A little time passed before either one of them spoke again. It wasn't quite awkward, but it wasn't quite comfortable either.
Sam, finally tiring of the AC/DC tape reached out and turned the volume down to next to nothing. Dean rolled his eyes and turned it back up. Sam reached out again and Dean smacked their hand. Both of them laughed a little and Sam put his hands up in surrender.
Not long after that Sam leaned his head against the window and fell asleep. Dean smiled before reaching over and turning the tape off.
Sam didn't wake up until Dean was pulling the Impala into a gas station. "I'll be right back" Dean said but knew that his words hardly even registered with his younger brother.
Dean got out and filled the Impala's gas tank before going inside the small station. He picked up the kind of breakfast bar a juice he liked before turning to find the weird kind that Sam liked. He glanced out the window of the station at his little brother, sitting in the passenger seat, riffling through the old shoe box of rock and roll cassette tapes that lived under the passenger side seat. And for that moment Dean could see 12 year old Sammy, the first time John let Sam ride with Dean. Dean smiled sadly before paying for the food he was carrying and the gas he had pumped.
Dean walked back toward the car and when Sam looked up he waved the food "Hey, you want breakfast?"
Sam shook his head once, abandoning his search for music to answer his brother, "No thanks. So how'd you pay for that stuff? You and dad still running credit card scams?"
Dean chuckled, "Yeah well…" he shrugged, "hunting ain't exactly a pro-ball career. Besides, all we do is apply, it's not our fault they send us the cards."
"Yeah and what names did you write on the application this time?" Sam's voice was knowing and Dean smiled.
Dean took his seat in the car as he answered. "Uh…Bert Aframian and his son, Hector. Scored two cards out of the deal."
Sam laughed, "Sounds about right. I swear man; you gotta update your cassette-tape collection."
"Why?" he sounded defensive.
Sam rolled his eyes, "Well for one they are cassette tapes, and two," Sam pulled out a tape, "Black Sabbath? Motorhead? Metallica? It's the greatest hits of mullet rock"
Dean rolled his eyes and grabbed the Black Sabbath tape from Sam's hand, "House rules, Sammy. Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cake hole." Even Dean could hear John's voice saying it as he did.
"You know Sammy is a chubby 12 year old. It's Sam, okay?" And Dean could remember Sammy's 16th birthday when he declared that he was no longer Sammy but Sam, an adult. Both Dean and John had been nice enough to wait 'till Sam left the room to burst into uncontrollable laughter. It was his birthday after all.
Dean smiled and turned the volume on the radio higher, "I'm sorry, I can't hear you. The music's too loud." Dean smirked and pulled out of the gas station. 7 miles to Jericho.
Dean reached into the back seat when they stopped at a red light. When he turned back around he was holding a folder, which he handed to Sam. Sam opened it to find phone numbers to all the hospitals and morgues within a 30 mile radius of Jericho. Sam didn't have to ask what Dean wanted him to do; they'd done it before after all. Sam pulled out his cell phone and started.
About 20 minutes later Sam closed his phone then the folder, "All right, so there's no one matching dad at the hospital or morgue, so that's something, I guess."
Dean nodded slightly. They reached the bridge where the 'accident' had happened and Dean let out a long breath when he saw the cop cars around. "Check it out" Dean said as he parked and Sam looked up as Dean reached in front of Sam, into the glove box to retrieve the box of fake IDs that lived there. He pulled out two and handed one to Sam. "Let's go" He said before getting out of the car and walking toward the scene.
One of the police on the bridge yelled down to one on the ground below, "Did you guys find anything?" and Dean was careful to listen to everything going on to see if he could find anything new out.
"No, nothing" was the response and Dean shook his head once.
The first police man walked over to the only car sitting on the bridge and started to look at it, talking to another cop standing behind him, "No sign of struggle, no footprints, no fingerprints. Spotless, it's almost too clean."
"So this kid Troy, he's dating your daughter isn't he?" the cop from behind the first one asked.
"Yeah" accompanied by a sigh was the response.
"How's Amy doing?" Dean stored the information away.
"She's putting up missing posters downtown."
Dean felt that he had learned all he was going to at this point, it was time to jump in, "You fella's had another one just like this last month, didn't ya?"
"Who are you?"
Dean put on a cocky smile and flipped open his wallet, "Federal Marshals''
"You two are a little young for Marshals, aren't you?"
Dean smiled, "Thanks, that's awfully kind of you. You did have another one just like this correct?"
Dean knew the police man was skeptical, but push to shove he had to answer, "Yeah, about a mile up the road. There have been others before that."
Sam spoke up and it was almost like he had never left, "So this victim, you knew him?"
The cop nodded, "In a town like this, everybody knows everybody"
Dean started to circle the car, "Any connections between the victims besides that they're all men?"
"No, not so far as we can tell."
Sam spoke up again, and it hit Dean how much he missed having Sam on these trips "So what's the theory?"
"Honestly? We don't know. Serial murder? Kidnapping ring?"
"Well that is exactly the kind of crack police work that I'd expect out of you guys." Dean taunted, letting himself have some fun. Sam stepped on his foot; then again there were time where Dean wouldn't mind Sam being away at school. Or at least that's what he liked to tell himself.
"Thank you for your time" Sam glanced between the police men, "Gentlemen." Sam and Dean start to walk away and once they are a good distance Dean reached up and smacked the back of Dean's head, "Ow! What was that for?"
"Why do you have to step on my foot?" Dean asked
"Why do you have to talk to police like that?" Sam countered. Some things never change, Dean thought to himself.
Dean rolled his eyes, "Come on. They don't really know what's going on. We're all alone on this. I mean if we're gonna find dad we've gotta get to the bottom of this thing ourselves."
Sam cleared his through loudly to get Dean's attention and nodded behind Dean to let him know that a few official looking men had joined the cops that they had just been talking to.
"Can I help you boys" one of them asked.
"No sir, we were just leaving." Dean answered and smiled broadly at the two men that walked by, "Agent Mulder, Agent Scully" this time Sam let him have his fun and they walked back to the Impala.
They got back in the car and Sam looked over at Dean, "Smart ass"
Dean smirked and pulled the Impala away from the bridge. "Where we going now?" Sam asked and Dean shook his head.
"To find Amy" he answered. When the only response was a 'what the hell' look from Sam he continued, "The guy, Troy, that was taken or killed or what ever…Amy's his girl"
Sam shook his head, sometimes, Dean amazed him. He was so damn good at what he did. Sam just wished that 'what he did' wasn't hunting.
They drove the main street of the tiny town until they saw a girl hanging 'missing' posters and Dean stated the obvious, "I'll bet you that's her."
A passive "Yeah" was all Sam said.
Dean parked the car and fed the meter before him and Sam walked up to the girl, "You must be Amy."
"Yeah" was her only response and Dean nodded.
"Troy told us about you, we're his uncles. I'm Dean, this is Sammy."
Amy looked between them, "He never mentioned you to me"
Dean nodded again, "Well that's Troy, I guess. We're not around much; we're up in Modesto. So we're looking for him too, and we're kind of asking around"
Another girl, about the same age as Amy walked over and put a comforting hand on Amy's back, "Hey, are you okay?"
Amy nodded weakly, "Yeah"
Sam smiled sympathetically, "Do you mind if we ask you a couple questions?"
Amy attempted a smile, "Um, yeah, sure, I guess" she nodded and pointed inside the small restaurant that she had just been hanging posters outside of.
They sat down and a booth and when a waiter came over to take their order the two girls got coke a cola and Sam and Dean got coffee.
Sam spoke up, he was always better with that touchy-feely-self-help-yoga crap (as Dean put it), "So, what do you know about his…disappearance?"
Amy stared down into her soda and took a deep breath before looking up and answering Sam's question "I was on the phone with Troy. He was driving home. He said he would call me right back, and he never did"
Sam's eyebrow's furrowed together in a mix of confusion and sympathy, "He didn't say anything strange or out of the ordinary?"
Amy shook her head, "No, nothing I can remember."
Sam noticed the pentagram necklace that Amy was wearing and smiled, "I like your necklace."
Amy smiled and pulled the necklace all the way out of her shirt, holding it up a little, "Troy gave it to me. Mostly to scare my parents with all that devil stuff."
Sam shook his head once, "Actually, it means just the opposite. A pentagram is protection against evil, really powerful. I mean, if you believe in that kind of thing." Once a hunter…
Dean rolled his eyes, "Okay, thank you "Unsolved Mysteries". Here's the deal ladies--the way Troy disappeared—something's not right. So if you've heard anything…"
Amy and her friend glanced at each other and Dean looks between them, "What is it?"
Amy's friend looked up from her soda, "Well, it's just…with all these guys going missing, people talk."
"What do they talk about?" Sam and Dean asked at the same time and looked at each other, Dean gave Sam a 'don't do that look' and Sam rolled his eyes.
The girl spoke up again, telling the story carefully, as if she was afraid they would find her crazy, "It's kind of this local legend. This one girl, she got murdered out on Centennial like…decades ago. Well supposedly she's still out there. She hitchhikes, and whoever picks her up—Well, they disappear forever."
Sam and Dean exchange a look and Dean nods once jackpot before turning his attention back to the girls, "Well, we gotta go, but we'll be around if you think of anything else"
The girls smiled and Sam and Dean slid out of the booth and walked back to the Impala. They both get in, "That has to be it right?" Sam asked
"How many times has it just been talk?" Dean countered. They drove to the town's small library and walked in. They walked to a corner, farthest away from people as they could get.
Dean sat down in front of the computer and Sam snagged the chair from the computer next to it and watched over Dean's shoulder as Dean pulled up the 'Jericho Herald' web page and typed 'Female Murder Hitchhiking' in the search bar. The page loads only to say 'No results found' and Dean rolls his eyes. He deleted the words and types 'Female Murder Centennial Highway' in the search bar. It came back 'No results found' again and Dean sighed before deleted the words again he went to type again but Sam reached across him and grabbed the mouse, "Let me try"
Dean smacked his hand, "I got it" Sam pushed Dean's computer chair and it rolled about a foot away. "Dude" Dean said when he stopped his chair. He rolled back over in front of the computer, "You're such a control freak."
Sam didn't even acknowledge his statement, "So angry spirits are born out of violent death, right?"
Why do you ask questions when you all ready know the answer, "Yeah" Dean said.
Sam nodded once and leaned over Dean again, "Maybe it's not murder" Sam mumbled as he typed 'Female Suicide Centennial Highway' a results page came up and Sam smiled cockily at his brother. He then read from the computer screen, "This was 1981. Constance Welch, 24 years old; Jumps off Sylvania Bridge, drowns in the river."
Dean ignored his brother's cocky smile, "Does it say why she did it?"
"Yeah"
"What?"
Sam glanced from his brother to the computer, "An hour before they found her, she calls 911. Her two little kids are in the bathtub, she leaves them alone for a minute, she comes back, they aren't breathing. Both die."
"Hmm…" Dean nods once.
Sam scrolled down to find an interview with the woman's husband, ""Our baby's were gone and Constance just couldn't bear it," said husband, Joseph Welch."
Dean looks up at the computer and sees a picture. He reached across Sam and put the picture in the center of the screen, "That bridge look familiar to you?" it was the one the just left.
"It'll be dark soon, we'll go then" Dean said with a slight nod. "Lets go get some food" Dean said and stood up. They walked to the Impala and drove to the Wendy's Dean had seen down the street. They went in and ate.
They talked about little things, Jessica, and hunts Dean had been on. Nothing too important or heavy. Not wanting to break what ever silent agreement they had fallen into. It amazed Dean that after 4 years of being mad at Sam, of not talking to him once, of wanting so badly to hate him for abandoning he and their father that they could so easily slip back into being brothers. That they could so easily ignore the last for years. Dean half smiled and took a bite of his cheeseburger.
As darkness fell Dean and Sam threw away the trash from their meal and walked out to the Impala. They got in and Dean drove the small streets to the old bridge. He parked at the end of the bridge, pulled the keys from the ignition and dropped them into his pocket. They got out of the car and started walking the bridge.
"So this is where Constance took the swan dive." Dean spoke up.
Sam glanced at Dean then looked over the edge, down at the muddy water below before speaking, "So you think dad would have been here?"
In that moment, Sam sounded to Dean like the little kid he used to care of in hotel rooms. When John would be gone longer than anticipated, Sam would always be the one to work first and Dean would pull out the worn copy of the 'Dr. Seuss's Baker's Dozen' book and let Sam pick a story for Dean to read to him. Dean shook the memory from his head before answering, "Well he's chasing the same story and we're chasing him."
Sam shrugged, "Okay so now what?"
The answer was obvious to Dean and he didn't understand how it couldn't be to Sam, "Now we keep digging till we find him. It might take a while."
Sam fought the erge to roll his eyes, "Dean, I told you, I've gotta get back by -"
"Monday" Dean interrupted, his voice coming out harsher than he intended, he forced his voice to calm before he continued, "Right, the interview."
Sam nodded once, "Yeah"
"Yeah, I forgot. You're really serious about this aren't you? You think you're just gonna become some lawyer? Marry your girl?" Dean smirked. There was a time that Dean thought about 'marrying his girl' back when 'his girl' was Cassie, but then she found out the truth and I became crazy in her eyes. He shook his head.
"Maybe. Why not?" Sam shrugged.
Dean raised his eyebrows, "Does Jessica know the truth about you? I mean, does she know about the things you've done?"
Sam shook his head once before answering, "No and she's not ever going to know."
Dean smirked, "Well that's healthy. You can pretend all you want, Sammy. But sooner or later you're going to have to face up to who you really are." Dean started walking down the bridge.
Sam followed him, "Who is that?"
"One of us" Dean answered simply.
"No, I'm not like you. This is not going to be my life." Sam shook his head harshly.
What the hell is so wrong with me? Dean thought but settled for, "Well you've got a responsibility."
Sam spoke, his voice becoming harsher and angrier with every word, "To dad and his crusade? If it weren't for pictures I wouldn't even know what mom looks like. What difference would it make? Even if we do find the thing that killed her, mom's gone, and she isn't coming back."
For a split second Dean lost his temper, if he wasn't doing this for him mom what the hell was he doing? Dean grabbed his younger brother by his shirt and slammed him against a rail holding the bridge over the water beneath. "Don't talk about her like that." Dean let his younger brother go all ready feeling bad about loosing it on him like that. He tuned his head and saw a woman in white on the side of the bridge, "Sam…"
Sam turned to look at her and without warning the woman let go of the bridge. She fell and Sam and Dean ran to where she was but she wasn't in the water, the water hadn't been disturbed, and there he been no slashing sound. "Where'd she go?" Dean asked.
"I don't know" Sam answered. The sound of the Impala roaring to life filled the air and Dean and Sam both turned to look over at it.
"What the…" Dean's voice, Dean's everything was furious. That was his car.
"Who's driving your car?" Sam asked.
Dean couldn't stop himself from rolling his eyes. He pulled the car's keys from his pocket and held them in front of Sam's face. Suddenly the car starts driving toward them and Dean stuffs the keys back into his pocket before him and Sam start to run.
Sam was panicked, "Come on Dean. Let's go! Go!"
Realizing that they are not going to be able to out run the car they both jump off the side of the bridge. Well…kind of. Dean fell into the murky water below but Sam was able to hold onto the railing of the bridge.
Sam slowly pulled himself back on the bridge and looked down at the muddy water below him, searching for his older brother, "Dean…Dean…" He screamed searching.
Dean pulled himself from the water, now covered in the mud that filled the lake, "What?"
Sam breathed a sigh of relief, "Hey, are you all right?"
Dean looks down at himself, covered in mud and God knows what else, "I'm super"
Sam laughs and Dean Walks back up the bridge. He starts inspecting the car and after a long moment Sam speaks up, "Car all right?"
Dean nodded, "Yeah whatever she did to it, it seems all right now. That Constance chick…" Dean paused before yelling, "What a bitch!" all most hoping she had stuck around to hear him. MY CAR!
"Well she doesn't want us digging around, that's for sure" Sam said and they both sat on the hood of the car, "So where's the trail go from here, genius?" Sam paused and looked at his older brother clearly enjoying taunting him, "You smell like a toilet."
"Shut the fuck up" Dean said, but couldn't keep the smile from his voice. He reached over and pushed Sam lightly. Sam pushed Dean back and they both laughed before jumping off the hood of the car and getting in. They drove back in to the main part of town and Dean stopped at the first little motel he saw. They walked in and Dean dropped 'his' credit card on the counter, "One room please"
The man at the desk picked up the card and looked it over, he seemed just a little to interested for Dean's liking. "You guys having a reunion or something?"
Sam spoke before Dean got a chance to, "What do you mean?"
The desk clerk looked up at them, "That other guy, Bert Aframian. He came in and bought out a room for the whole month."
Sam and Dean exchanged a look, "What room?" Dean asked. The desk clerk gave them the number and Dean walked to the concrete side walk that to all the doors in the motel. He stood out side of 'Bert Aframian's' room and waited with his back toward the room, making sure no one came in.
Dean is momentarily thrown when a hand reaches out from the room and grabs the back of his jacket, it pulls him into the room and shuts the door behind him. When Sam lets go he straightens his jacket and looks around the room. The bed was unmade, not that a messy bed was unnatural for a Winchester, but there were photos and news paper clippings wallpapering the walls.
"Whoa" Is all Sam can say as he looks around.
Dean turns on a light and looks around. He sees a half eaten hamburger, "I don't think he's been here for a couple days, at least." he shakes his head once before focusing on the clipping on the walls.
San is on the other side of the room, looking at the salt circle by the door, "Salt, cats-eye shells. He was worried. Trying to keep something from coming in." He notices Dean looking at the newspaper on the wall, "What do you got here?"
Dean glances at his brother before facing the wall again, "Centennial Highway victims. I don't get it. I mean different men," Sam moves closer to where Dean is "different jobs, ages, ethnicities. There's always a connection, right? What do these guys have in common?"
One of the papers says 'Woman in white' on it and that catches Sam's eye. He turned the light to better see it and laughed to himself. "Dad figured it out" he said it matter-of-factly.
Dean turned to face Sam, "What do you mean?"
Sam pointed at the clipping, "He found the same article we did. Constance Welch, she's a woman in white."
Dean shakes his head and looked over the pictures, "You sly dogs… All right, so if we're dealing with a woman in white, dad would have found the corpse and destroyed it."
Sam countered, "She might have another weakness."
"No, dad would want to make sure, he'd dig her up. Does it say where she's buried?" Dean asked.
Sam shook his head, "No, not that I can tell. If I were dad though, I'd go ask her husband. If he's still alive."
Dean nodded, "All right, why don't you see if you can find an address. I'm gonna get cleaned up."
Sam nodded, and turned to face his older brother, "Hey Dean--What I said earlier, about mom and dad, I'm sorry."
Dean held his hand in front of himself to silence his younger brother, he knew that Sam was sorry. He knew that Sam knew using mom against him was a low blow and most importantly he knew Sam wouldn't be doing it again, "No chick flick moments."
Sam laughed, "All right, jerk."
"Bitch" Dean smiled, oh yeah, just like old times.
Dean walked into the bathroom and took a shower. When he walked back out of the bathroom he saw his brother messing with his cell phone, "Hey man, I'm starving. I'm gonna grab a little something to eat at that diner down the street. You want anything?"
"No" was all Sam said.
"Aframian's buying." Dean smiled and walked out of the room. Dean walked towards his car but saw two cops talking to the hotel clerk that had checked them in and shook his head once before pulling out her cell phone and calling his little brother.
"What" Sam asked when he finally answered.
"Dude, five-o take off."
"What about you?"
"Uh, they kind of spotted me. Go find dad" Dean shut his phone, slid it into his pocket and turned to face the cops. He put a big fake smile on his face, "Problem officers."
"Where's your partner?" the cop asked him.
"Partner? What—What partner?" Dean asked in his best innocent voice.
One cop signaled for the other to go check Dean's hotel room, yeah right, you'll have to try a little harder than that to get Sammy Dean thought to himself.
The cop's eyes narrowed, "So. Fake US Marshal, fake credit cards. You got anything that's real?"
Dean's cocky smile did not falter, "my boobs"
The cop shoved him into the back of the cop car, hard, "You have the right to remain silent…" The cop did his speech then pushed him in to the back of the car and drove him to the station. Then put Dean in an interrogation room.
Ten minutes later, here they were.
The cop sighed, "So you want to give us your real name?"
Dean smirked, "I told you, it's Nugent. Ted Nugent."
"I'm not sure you realize just how much trouble you're in here." The cop warned.
"We talking like misdemeanor kind of trouble? Or uh…'squeal like a pig' kind of trouble?" Dean asked mocking seriousness the whole time.
"You got the faces of ten missing persons taped to your wall. Along with a whole lot of satanic mumbo jumbo. Boy, you are officially a suspect."
Dean couldn't help but roll his eyes, "That makes sense. Cause when the first one went missing in '82, I was three."
"I know you got partners; one of them's an older guy. Maybe he started the whole thing. So tell me…Dean." Dean's head shot up and the cop pulled John Winchester's journal out from below the table and dropped it in front of Dean, Dad NEVER goes ANYWHERE with out that thing "Is this his?" Dean says nothing, just stares at his fathers journal "I thought that might be your name. See, I leafed through this, what little I could make out. I mean, it's nine kinds of crazy. But I found this, too." The cop opened to a page that read 'Dean 35-111' "Now, you're staying right here till you tell me exactly what the hell that means." Dean can't tear his eyes away from his father's journal.
"What's it mean?" The cop asked after a long moment had passed.
"Um…" Dean faltered for a moment, "It's my, uh, locker combination…from high school" Dean finally said knowing the explanation was flimsily at best but not being able to come up with anything else quick enough.
Twenty minutes later, here they were.
"I don't know how many times I gotta tell you. It's my high-school locker combo."
"Are we gonna do this all night long?" The cop asked.
Dean was saved of having to answer when the second cop poked his head in, "We just got a 911, shots fired over at Whiteford Road."
The first cop looked at Dean, "Do you have to go to the bathroom?"
Dean was confused, shook his head, "No"
"Good" the cop answered and handcuffed Dean to the table.
The cops leave and Dean looks over at his father's journal. He sees a paper clip poking out and grabs it with a smile, Just leave me a key why don't you he picked the handcuff lock and grabbed the journal. He climbed out of the window in the room and down the fire escape. He ran a few blocks before stopping at a pay phone. He dialed his little brother's number and listened to it ring a few times before he picked up.
"Fake 911 phone call Sammy? I don't know, that's pretty illegal." Dean teased.
"You're welcome."
Dean rolled his eyes and smiled. "Listen, we gotta talk"
"Tell me about it. So the husband was unfaithful, we are dealing with a woman in white. She's buried behind her old house. So that should have been dad's next stop."
Dean rolled his eyes again, "Sammy would you shut up for a second."
Sam ignored him, "I just can't figure out why he hasn't destroyed the corpse yet."
Dean nodded even though Sam couldn't see him, "Well that's what I'm trying to tell you. He's gone. Dad left Jericho"
"What? How do you know?" Sam sounded all most panicked.
"I've got his journal."
Sam's voice had an edge of worry, "He doesn't go anywhere without that."
"Yeah, well he did this time." Dean tried not to let his worry into his voice.
"What's it say?" Sam asked.
Dean shook his head once, "Same old ex-marine crap when he wants to let us know where he's going"
"Coordinates. Where to?" Sam knew. He may have been gone for the last 4 years but he still grew up with them.
"I'm not sure yet" Dean admitted.
"I don't understand, I mean what could be so important that dad would just skip out in the middle of a job? Dean, what the hell is going on? Whoa!" Sam screamed.
Dean panicked, "Sam! Sam!"
Dean ran back to the hotel hoping to be able to track down his little brother. He got a gun from the room and wedged in his belt so it wouldn't be seen. He ran as fast and as hard as he could. He went to the bridge and followed the only road that left from it until he came to a fork in the road; one side looked like the tire tracks were more recent so he went that way.
He finally found what he was looking for. He saw his car, with Sam inside with the woman in white on top of him, way to go Sammy he thought before raising his gun and firing, his bullets going right through the woman. It provided the distraction Dean was hoping for and Sam made his move.
Sam turned the engine over and put the car in gear, "I'm taking you home." He said before flooring it and driving straight in to the house... through the wall.
"Sam!" Dean ran into the house, his gun ready, "Sam! You okay?"
"I think"
"Can you move?"
"Yeah. Help me"
Dean helped Sam out of the car and the woman in white pulled a photo of her dead children off the floor. She drops the photo on the floor and throws a dresser with her mind to pin Dean and Sam between it and the Impala. The lights flicker and water starts to leak down the stairs. Constance's children appear at the top of the stairs and join hands, "You've come home to us mommy" they say in unison and Sam and Dean glance at each other before looking back at the scene in front of them.
Suddenly Constance's children are behind her. They reach up and grab her. All three of them liquefy and turn into a sort of puddle on the ground. Sam and Dean finally push the dresser off of them selves and walk over to the puddle on the ground.
"So this is where she drowned her kids." Dean said.
Sam nodded, "That's why she could never go home. She was too scared to face them."
"You found her weak spot. Nice work Sammy." Dean commented.
Sam laughed, "I wish I could say the same for you. What were you thinking shooting Casper in the face, you freak?"
Dean shrugged, "Hey, saved your ass. I'll tell you another thing. If you screwed up my car, I'll kill you." Dean starts to pull wood from the car.
After a few minutes they have the car cleaned up and out of the house. It has a blown out head light but all in all it's all right.
They get in and start down the road. Sam is looking on a map for '35-11'. "Okay here's where dad went. It's called Blackwater Ridge, Colorado."
Dean nodded once, "Sounds charming. How far?"
"About 600 miles." Sam answered.
"If we shag ass we can make it by morning."
Sam looked at his older brother, "Dean, um…"
"You're not going" Sadness lined Dean's voice.
"The interview's in 10 hours, I gotta be there."
Dean nodded, "Yeah. Yeah, whatever. I'll take you home." All he ever really wanted was for Sam to be happy and if this was what made Sam happy…
About an hour later they pulled up in front of Sammy's apartment. Sam got out and grabbed his bag from the back seat. He looked in the passenger side window, "You'll call me if you find him?"
Dean nodded.
Sam tried to smile, "Maybe I can meet up with you later, huh?"
Dean nodded again "Yeah, all right."
Sam started to walk away but Dean's voice stopped him, "Sam" Sam turned around, "You know we made a hell of a team back there"
"Yeah" Sam answered and went inside.
Dean pulled away from the apartment complex. It wasn't fair. He got his little brother back, got to hang out with him, got to be brothers again, as if nothing had changed. But just as fast it had been ripped away. Dean glanced at his watch. Something wasn't right. Something didn't feel right to Dean. He turned his car around, back toward Stanford. From the small parking lot he could see flames in Sammy's room.
He ran out of the car and up the stairs. He kicked the door down, "Sam!"
Sam was sitting on his bed, staring up at his girlfriend, pinned there, just as his mother had been all those years ago. "Jess!"
"Sam!" Dean screamed again.
"No. No!" Sam screamed still looking up at her.
Dean grabbed Sam pulling him away, "We gotta get out of here."
"Jess! No!" Sam screamed.
Dean pulled Sam all the way out of the room and out of the building. They were standing in the grass when firemen arrived. A hour and a half later the fire is out and Sam is standing by Dean's car loading a rifle.
Sam and Dean look at each other for a long moment before Sam sighs and nods his head. He throws the loaded rifle in the car, "We got work to do" he states before slamming the door shut.
Dean watched his little brother. He sighed, he wanted his kid brother back but not like this, not because he lost the most important person to him. He didn't say anything just nodded once.
He'd so anything for Sammy.
END
wow, this chapter took forever to come out. sorry about that. i am planning a tag to this fic to be tittled 'you hide' which be the same basic idea only it'll follow Sam though the same time period. i hope you check it out.
And as always, please review!