And now Dean makes it home :)
Let's see how that goes lol
This was already written but I was super busy yesterday, sorry about that.
Anyway, enjoy!

~TH~

Dean stared out of the window, trying not to cry. He hated himself for it. Hated that he was so upset. He shouldn't want to stay at Sonny's. He should be glad that he's with his family, with Sammy. But he knows if Sam hadn't been in the car he wouldn't have left. He'd have asked Sonny to fight for him. But he couldn't do that to Sammy.

This was Mac's fault. Or really his own fault for calling attention to himself. And he hated himself for being mad at him. He knew that Mac was just trying to help him. That Caleb's experiences were terrible and that neither of them trusted the system. But he'd wanted to stay. He'd wanted to hang onto that normal. He should have known better.

John had decided to drive straight through the twelve hour drive. Not much had been said. Sam had fallen asleep after rambling about how much he'd missed Dean. Made him feel even worse. Sam had asked if he was okay after being lost for so long on a hunt. The glare from John told Dean to play along with what Sam had been told.

Now it was silent. A few tears escaped, but he was quick to wipe them away. John had barely spoken a word to him since they'd gotten in the car. He had to wonder if he was angry at him. Maybe he was mad that Jim was making him get Dean back. Maybe Dean was a little mad that Jim was making John pick him up.

"Dean,"

Dean stiffened, hoping his voice didn't crack when he responded, "Sir?"

"They didn't- they didn't hurt you or anything, right?"

"No," He whispered, "It was fine. They didn't do anything."

There was silence for a long moment. John cleared his throat, "What happened to your arm?" Dean pulled his sleeve down from where it had come up slightly.

"Broke a plate. It cut my arm a bit. It's fine. The stitches can come out in a couple of days. I can always take them out myself if I need to."

John didn't answer for a few seconds. "We'll be at Jim's for a couple of weeks. Mac can take them out."

"Okay."

The rest of the drive was spent in silence. It was almost nine in the morning when they pulled into Jim's. Sam woke up just as they were parking the car. Dean had never managed to fall asleep.

Sam jumped out of the car and went straight inside the hose. John and Dean sat in silence for a moment. Eventually they both moved to get their things out of the back. Dean froze for a moment, looking at his duffel next to the bag of stuff he'd gotten from Sonny's. Sonny had let him keep everything he'd been bought. The stuff was nicer than anything he'd owned before. He ended up grabbing both bags, ignoring the questioning look from his father.

As they were about to enter the house Sam came barreling out. "Pastor Jim said I could go feed the horses and that I'm old enough to do it myself!"

His lips twitched, "That's awesome Sammy."

The boy didn't say anything else before running towards the barn. Dean looked at his dad who was staring straight ahead. John made the first move, crossing the threshold. Dean reluctantly followed.

They were all standing there, waiting. All eyes turned to him with varying levels of pitying looks. He saw Mac's eyes travel down to his arm. He was wearing long sleeves but he still hugged his arm closer to him.

Dean's eyes bounced between each of the faces before Jim cleared his throat. "We're glad you're back Dean." He said with a soft smile.

Dean was sure that he was going to throw up. He couldn't deal with this. He was fine . He was fine and everyone was acting weird. And he knew he was expected to answer but he couldn't get his voice to work and if he opened his mouth he was pretty sure a sob would come out.

Instead he forced a smile and nodded to Jim before heading straight for the stairs leading to his bedroom. He felt their eyes on him. He had to get away from them.

"Deuce-" Caleb started, but Mac grabbed his arm and gave a small shake to his head. Dean didn't care. He didn't want to see Caleb, his dad, or anyone else. He managed to make it to his and Sammy's room, dump the bags on the floor, and fall on the bed, before the tears started to fall.

~SPN~

"What were you thinking?!" Mac advanced on John as soon as they heard the door shut upstairs. "You left him there for months without even checking in?!"

John clenched his jaw, the guilt clearly sitting in his eyes. "I had some things to take care of. I didn't have time to deal with-"

"To deal with your son, John?" Jim inserted. "Your son who was caught doing nothing but providing for Sam? What you've raised him to do?"

"I didn't raise him to get caught! And he lost the money I had left him. That's not my fault!"

"And you couldn't be bothered to bail him out?! It doesn't matter what he did John, how could you let him stay in custody for that long?" Jim continued.

"I was teaching him a lesson! One he clearly needed to learn!"

"What? That you'll abandon him whenever he's needed most?" It was the first thing Caleb had said since they'd gotten there. He thought he was being pretty generous considering.

"You don't get a say in this, Junior. You're too close to the situation."

Caleb laughed at that, "Why? Because I actually care about your son? Or maybe because I've been in that position and wouldn't wish it on my worse enemy."

John didn't answer, crossing his arms. "The fact remains," he said instead, "That he is my son. I'll deal with him how I see fit."

"Even if it means leaving him to be abused in a corrupt system?" Mackland stepped in.

"He's fine. Nothing happened."

"How can you say nothing happened?! Look at him, John! He's traumatized!"

John looked away from his best friend. "He'll be okay. He's always okay."

Caleb didn't wait for one of the others to answer. He slipped up the stairs unnoticed while the triad continued to argue.

The door to Dean's room was shut, but he could feel him behind it. He'd felt it the moment Dean had walked through the door downstairs. The pain, the anger, the confusion, the hurt, and worst of all, the guilt. There was nothing for Dean to feel guilty about. Dean hadn't done anything wrong. If anyone should feel guilty it should be John.

He knocked lightly at the door but there was no answer. Caleb pushed the door open slightly.

"Deuce?"

Dean was curled up on his side, facing away from the door, shaking slightly. The teen was trying to mask his emotions, throwing up his mental blocks, but they weren't strong enough to block the overwhelming myriad of negative emotions.

"Dean?"

Leave me alone, Caleb.

The words weren't spoken out loud but they were just as clear as if they had been. Caleb frowned. Dean hadn't shut him out like this for years. And a silent Dean was never a good thing. Caleb had been the one to help Dean start talking and he could typically get him to talk even if no one else could. At least he was communicating. That was something.

Caleb sat down on the bed, keeping his back to Dean's. "You don't have to talk to me but I'm not leaving."

Why.

"Because you're hurting. And you're scared. And you want me here whether you think you do or not."

Dean let out a snort that sounded a lot like a sob. You don't know me.

"Come on, Deuce. Talk to me."

I'm okay.

It was Caleb's turn to laugh, "Don't lie to me man. Psychic, remember?"

"Dude," Dean's voice was coarse from crying, but the very sound of it made Caleb smile. "Privacy."

"Can't help it. Your emotions are too strong. You know how it is."

"I'm okay." He finally sat up, furiously wiping his face. "I'm fine. You can tell them not to worry. They didn't have to send you."

"They didn't send me. I wanted to talk to you."

Dean swung his legs over, not quite touching Caleb. "Don't do this, Damien." He whispered. "Please, I'll be fine."

And Caleb felt sick. The guilt and shame rolling off of Dean was enough to make him want to cry. The idea of Dean feeling so guilty about something that had nothing to do with him. About something that was so out of his control, of him being guilty about something happening to him. It made him wonder what exactly happened. It made his mind go to some very dark places that he didn't want to think about.

"Come on, man. You know if anyone would get it, it'd be me. Maybe if you talk to me, Mac will spare you all the psychology crap." He took a risk and bumped shoulders with Dean. Dean pulled away almost immediately, but even with that slight touch he felt all of the hidden emotions. The deep shame and guilt, but also the anger. The self hatred mixed with the bitter anger at the world in general.

"There's nothing to talk about." He snapped.

"Dean, what happened to you-"

"Nothing happened." He snapped. "I was gone and now I'm back. That's it. Life back to normal."

"We both know that's not true. Deuce, I can feel the emotions rolling off of you. You're not okay."

"Just drop it, Caleb." He looked away, voice coming out barely above a whisper.

"No, you were gone for two months. That's a long time to be… there." He finished quietly.

"I'm not you, Damien."

"I know that. But you're human."

They sat in silence for a moment. Dean staring straight ahead, trying to pull up his walls to block Caleb from reading him.

"Who was your foster dad?" Caleb finally ventured.

"It wasn't like that. He wasn't really- His name was Sonny."

Caleb frowned. That didn't sound encouraging.

"Were there other kids there?"

"Yeah," he shrugged, "Some other guys. It was an all boys home."

"How'd he treat you guys?"

"He was fine."

The walls were slamming back up after starting to relax. That was really not good.

"You know you can tell me anything."

"There's nothing to tell!"

"Dean-"

"Nothing happened, Caleb! It was awesome, okay?" The tears were back, making Dean's words come out half choked. Tears flowing more freely with every word. "We had food we could eat whenever we wanted and we got to go to school every day and I was allowed to go to dances and I was the star wrestler in my weight division and I was making good grades and I was learning guitar and I didn't have to take care of anyone or hunt or worry about anything, and everything was perfect, okay?!" He broke down into sobs, folding over on himself. The waves of grief and pain hit Caleb like an almost physical force.

"Oh, Dean." Caleb whispered, wrapping his arms around Dean. The teen didn't push him away this time, leaning into his best friend. "It's okay, it's going to be okay."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He sobbed into Caleb's shirt. Dean had always felt deeply, but to see such an open display of emotions was startling."

"It's okay, it's okay, you don't have to be sorry, you didn't do anything wrong."

"I didn't want to come back. I wanted to stay. I just- I just wanted to be normal. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You hate me."

"No, no, shh, it's okay, Dean. No one hates you. You have nothing to be sorry for. Nothing, okay? It doesn't matter what happened or where you wanted to be, it's okay. Nothing that happened was your fault at all. You're okay, you're okay." He kept repeating, slightly rocking the teenager as he cried.

"You can't tell them. You have to promise you can't tell them that I didn't want to come back. You have to promise!"

"Okay, okay I promise Deuce. I won't tell. Just calm down. Take deep breaths."

Dean had dissolved into apologies between sobs. Caleb kept shushing him and reassuring him he hadn't done anything wrong. Eventually the sobs tampered off and Dean fell into a deep, exhausted sleep.

Caleb didn't stop rocking him, he felt tears in his own eyes. He'd never seen Dean like this. Not in the decade he'd known the Winchesters. He'd seen Dean hurt and devastated but never so deeply broken. It made him hate his mentor. John did this. Dean said that nothing bad happened. That he had wanted to stay. But Caleb had a hard time believing it. If everything was fine and good then why was Dean such a mess? It was true that not every place he had stayed had been bad, but more places had been bad then not. And he's always felt indifferent or even resentful towards the good ones. He had never wanted to stay with any of them. Maybe it was Dean burying it, trying to rationalize the hurt. If that was true then there was probably nothing Caleb could do about it. Not right now at least. He would either come to terms with it and be okay, or he would break and finally tell someone what happened. But they couldn't push. He knew better than that.

A brief knock at the door brought Caleb out of his thoughts. He could feel his dad's presence. "You can come in." He spoke quietly.

Mac pushed the door open, taking in the scene before him.

"He cried himself to sleep." He whispered, running a hand over Dean's hair. "He was really messed up." He wouldn't betray Dean's confidence, but he just didn't know what to make of what had happened.

"Did he tell you anything?"

Caleb gave his dad a pleading look.

"Right, of course." Mac sighed. "Jim is giving John a good talking to. I think he was about ready to take his ring." He forced a small smile, but it dropped as he looked back down towards Dean. "John's taking off for another hunt."

Caleb glared at his father, "He wouldn't."

"He is. And Jim is letting him because he knows how compassionate John can be on his best days.

"But he's the one who did this to him!"

Mac ran a hand over his face. "I know. I came to check on Dean's stitches but if he's asleep we should probably just let him be."

"Yeah, just let him sleep." He rocked slightly, surprised that Dean had slept through their entire conversation. He wanted to lay him down but needed the physical contact to ensure to him that Dean was back and okay. Mac gave a sad smile before shutting the door. "Yeah, I've got him. I've got him. I've got you." He whispered as he continued to rock the teenager in his a rms.

~TH~

Reviews:

Guest: I mean.. if you consider me and other adults not approving of John leaving his son to "rot" (his own words) in jail for two months "John negative" then I guess it is... I'm not going after John in this story but you've got to admit what he did wasn't okay?

EmilyAnnMcGarrett-Winchester: Me too :)

Kathy: Thank you! Caleb is rightfully upset at John!

Sensue: i can understand the confusion. Basically John has been keeping Caleb so busy that he didn't have time to question John's statement of "Dean's at Bobby's just leave it for now". He thought he knew where Dean was and wasn't close enough to sense that he wasn't where he was supposed to be. I hope that makes sense... If not, just chalk it up to a bad writing decision 😅

But thank you for reading! I'm excited to continue writing and reading within the Brotherhood Universe!

Meilean: Thank you! I wrote it very quickly because I loved the idea so much so I'm glad you're enjoying it! As for two months, you can read a bit about that in my previous answer. In short, Caleb would have dragged him out as soon as he heard what was happening (or yell at John to) and cannon had him there for two months so I needed him to not find out until later. And for the sensing he was hurt, I think at this point it wasn't quite as strong, especially from a distance (I'm thinking like when Dean was a teenager and working on Jim's truck and it fell on him. He was bleeding out and Caleb was right there on the farm and didn't even sense the danger).

There definitely would have been a good amount of swears thrown in but I don't curse or write cursing because of personal conviction. Hopefully I sold the atmosphere without the language lol.

Thank you so much for reading and commenting!

Okay so sorry if that was a bit odd. I know Dean is sixteen but he's still a hurt kid. He's allowed to break every once in awhile.
That was originally supposed to be the last chapter but I have ideas on how to continue it, do you guys want more or do you want me to end it there?

Regardless, thanks so much for tagging along! I've really loved writing this ❤️
I'll definitely be around the Brotherhood more even if I don't write more of this.

Love you guys!

Stay safe and God bless,

Jamie