It was a few days later while doing laundry that Sam found the nameplate bundled in Dean's dirty clothes. He remembered then his brother stuffing it into his duffle and obviously they had both promptly forgot about it. It was an ordinary brassplated nameplate with 'Al Smith' engraved in its shiny surface. Sam turned it over in his hands thoughtfully. It didn't look like it had any answers about the demon that had so thoroughy ruined his and his family's lives.
"Hey, Sam, you forgot the fabric softener. You know how scratchy clothes irritate my skin." Dean walked into the laundry room of the motel. This town had been too small for a Holiday Inn, so they had been forced to go back to their old ways, but not without checking the place out first. Sam was sure that they were going to end up in jail for stalking the desk clerk before they had even checked in, but when they had watched the middle-aged woman buying feminine products at the local drugstore, Dean had decided that she wasn't a demon plotting to safehouse them in another dimension.
"What do you think this was about?" Sam gestured at Dean with the nameplate.
"I don't know." Dean shrugged. He started sorting through the laundry with a frown. "Stupid demon game to throw us off." He picked a blood spattered t-shirt out of the pile. "Sam, you can't do laundry worth crap. You have to soak this in cold water first. Didn't they teach you anything at college?"
"I skipped Advanced Laundry Techniques seeing as how I didn't own many blood spattered clothes while I was there and before then you always did my laundry." Sam's face was the one that wore the smirk for once. "I'm going to check this out anyway now that you're here to take over."
Dean rolled his eyes and shook his head as he watched his little brother skip out on the chores. He really was too lenient with the little shit. "Next time, I'll show you how this done right and then you will be on laundry duty for a month," he muttered to himself as he resorted the clothes. Honestly, had Sam done this with his eyes closed - some of these stains were not going to come out without some extra attention.
"Dean!" Sam came barrelling into the laundry room just as Dean was adding the fabric softener to the first load. "Dean, I found something."
"Really? What did you do? Look up Al the Demon on the internet?"
That took the wind out of Sam's sails as he stopped and his face fell. "Well, basically, yeah."
"So, what did you find?" Dean gave Sam his undivided attention. "Is our friend Al some sort of enemy of the fire demon?"
"No, I don't think our friend was Al." Sam took a deep breath and met Dean's eyes. "Al is an Armenian demon made of fire. He was supposed to be a companion for Adam, but they weren't compatible, so God made Eve..."
"Good call on God's part - fire demon, naked chick." Dean held out his hands like a scale and clearly tipped in the naked chick's direction.
Sam glared at the interruption. "Anyway, Al was infuriated with being replaced and jealous of Eve so he's been out to destroy women ever since. He attacks pregnant women and sometimes steals newborns up to seven months of age. Dean, this could be him."
Dean shook his head. "I don't think so, Sam, it didn't say anything about sacrificing the mother and what about Jess? She wouldn't fit into that scenario at all, unless..."
"No, Jess wasn't pregnant." Sam looked down at the floor. "But if Al isn't the demon, then why did the desk clerk tell us this would help?"
"I don't know, Sam. Demons lie." Dean grasped his brother's shoulder. "Maybe Al isn't our guy, but part of the same happy demon family. We won't abandon this lead, Sam, we just need some more information."
Sam nodded, taking comfort in his brother's words. "Thanks, Dean."
"Oh, well, you won't be saying those words after you hear what I've got in store for you." Dean pushed Sam toward the washing machine. "Today, dear brother, is the day I teach you Advanced Laundry Techniques so you can't punk out on it anymore." Dean laughed as his brother groaned.
--
The motel room was quiet in the early morning hours, but unfortunately Sam was awake. He curled up on his side and burrowed under the covers. His insomnia had gotten even worse since he had been abducted by the demon. He would fall asleep for only a few minutes before abruptly waking up to make sure that Dean was still in the bed across from him. And for the first time ever, Dean seemed to be having the same problem. This was the first night, though that Dean had fallen asleep immediately and was still softly snoring. Sam grinned. It must have been the arduious job of teaching his younger brother the fine art of doing laundry. If there was one thing he was grateful to their demon friend for, it was that things between he and his brother were back to normal. He wasn't going to let anything seperate him from his brother again. The cell phone on the nightstand rang, interrupting Sam's thoughts of solidarity. "Dean," he called, but there was no response. Sam reached out and answered the phone. "Hello." He sat up at the sound of the other person's voice. "Dad."
The end.
A/N: I know that in the episode it looks like Sam and Dean went to
their motel room after the events in the asylum for some much needed
rest and then got the phone call from their father, but if you look at
the start of 'Scarecrow' (and I know you did) Dean doesn't have any
wounds on his chest, so I'm going with the theory that the phone call
took place some time after asylum and that is where this story fits in.
Thank you to everyone who has read this and enjoyed it and a big
special thank you to those of you who have reviewed. I hope the ending
met with your expectations.
S