Part Six

Sam woke up a couple hours later to an unfamiliar ceiling. There was a stain that he didn't recognize just above his head. He blinked a couple times, willing it to go away. Nope. Still there. The mattress dipped as an unfamiliar weight sank down beside him. Sam nearly banged his head against the wall as he tried to scramble away from the new person.

"Whoa, whoa, Sammy. It's me. It's Dean," Dean said as he stood back up.

Sam paused and looked at him. His brother, dressed in a black tee shirt and boxers, hair wet like he just stepped out of a shower, stared back at him. For a moment, Sam couldn't understand why his older brother was here. But then memories of Dean's visit came flooding back. Oh crap. "Dean," he said dumbly.

"In the flesh," Dean smirked.

Sam wanted to roll his eyes. An image of Jess flashed in his head. Sam gasped, clutching his head. It was throbbing with pain suddenly. "Sam?" his brother was calling to him. He could feel Dean gripping his shoulders. "Hey, hey, look at me. You okay, little bro?"

"Jess," Sam said through clenched teeth. "Is she okay?" He forced himself to lift his head so that he could see Dean's face.

Dean was nodding, "Yeah, she's fine, man. She's here too. On the other bed. She's just sleeping, Sam. Promise."

Sam turned to see that Dean was right. Jess was sleeping rather peacefully on the other bed. He sighed in relief before looking around. "Where is here anyways?" It certainly wasn't his apartment.

Dean hesitated for a second. "My motel room. I was just renting it for the night."

"Oh. Right," Sam said, vaguely remembering Dean said something about having a motel room close by. He looked out the window closest to him to see that it was completely dark out. He could hear the pitter patter of the rain outside. He shuddered just thinking about being out there this late at night. Even though this wasn't his home, it would have to do until morning. He looked back up at his brother and said, "Uh, well, thanks for earlier." The words slid off his tongue awkwardly and stiffly. It had been years since he had seen Dean and he still wasn't sure what exactly happened when they had been back at the apartment, just that Dean had saved them both somehow.

"It's no problem, Sam," Dean said, a genuine smile on his face that made him impossibly radiant, even in the poorly lit room. "It's what family is for, right? We take care of each other." It was said so obviously, so matter-of-a-factly, like Dean was talking about the weather.

"Yeah, right," Sam said, feeling like an awkward teenager all over again.

Dean was quiet for a moment, before he sat back on the edge of the bed with a sigh. He looked as tired as Sam felt. "Look, we can talk more in the morning. Okay, little brother?"

Sam wanted to protest. He still had questions. A lot of them. But it was as if Dean could read his mind because he turned around to face him. "This isn't exactly up for debate, Sammy," Dean said. "I mean it. We're both tired. You only slept for a few hours and," he glanced over to the sleeping form of Jess, Sam following his gaze, "Jess also needs her rest. And honestly I don't really want to have this conversation more than once."

Sam pondered that, surprised that Dean was going to go for the truth. Jess was a civilian and as far as he remembered from hunting with their dad, they were rarely ever honest with the folks they saved. He wasn't sure how he felt about Jess learning the truth about the supernatural, though, from what he remembered, there probably wasn't any way to preserve Jess's innocence after what happened to her. It both upset him and relieved him.

On the one hand, he didn't have to lie to her anymore.

On the other hand, Jess was never going to be the same again. Neither was Sam but Sam was able to handle it when he was a kid. Sure he would've liked it if he had been oblivious to the dangers lurking in the shadows, if his dad hadn't become so obsessed with hunting the supernatural that he'd leave his kids in motel rooms for days on end by themselves. He hated the way he grew up, missed the days when mom had been alive and he got to watch cartoons and eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with the crusts cut off.

He missed being normal...but he got out.

He made his own choices and got out and went to college, and now it was all coming back and it had taken hold of Jess. The one person he swore the supernatural wouldn't taint. That the Winchester curse wouldn't touch.

He told himself the first day they met, he told himself that he wouldn't fuck it up, wouldn't fuck her up. And now his brother was going to tell her. He was going to tell her about everything. About the supernatural and what was out there. About them and what they did. What Sam did. His secret was going to be out in the open and he could just imagine the look of disgust on Jess's face. The pain and betrayal of Sam lying to her.

What was she going to say? What was she going to do? What the hell did this mean for their relationship?

He couldn't let Dean do this. It'd fuck her up. Fuck what he and Jess had. "Look, Dean, maybe there's another way," Sam said suddenly, sitting back up.

Dean looked at him, an eyebrow raised. "What are you talking about?"

"Maybe we can tell Jess later," he said, desperate for Dean to realize what he meant without actually having to admit it. He was scared. He was so fucking scared.

Dean got a funny look on his face for a moment. Then it was smoothed over by an impassive mask. "Look, Sammy, why don't you go to bed? Like I said, we're all tired. We can talk more about this in the morning," his brother said, pushing Sam gently back so that he was laying on the pillows.

Sam wanted to protest but exhaustion was finally catching up to him. "Dean, please," he said, blinking up tiredly at his brother.

Dean sat back as he studied Sam. "Don't worry, Sam. I was just going to give her the shortened version of the talk. If you want to talk about how we got involved in the life, you can. I won't say anything about that though." He paused to gauge Sam for his response. Sam didn't say anything though, just waited with bated breath for Dean to continue. His brother stood up. "I'm gonna get some shut eye too. Got a sleeping bag packed so you two kiddos could take the beds."

He turned around to leave. "Wait," Sam said loud enough for Dean to pause. He wasn't sure what to say though. He didn't want Dean to leave.

"You're going to be okay, Sam," Dean said, turning back to look at him. His green eyes pierced the darkness. "Both of you are going to be okay. Whatever she does with the truth isn't on you. It's her choice." Sam knew that deep down. He knew that Jess had the right to know what happened to her. What really happened. Whatever she did after she was given the information was her choice. His heart ached at the possibility of her leaving. "For what it's worth, I don't think she's going to dump your sorry ass," Dean said, his eyes twinkling with affection.

Dean left to grab the sleeping bag shortly after.

Sam was left awake, staring up at the ceiling. He was tired and yet he wasn't sure he could sleep with so much on his mind. His brother's light snoring soon filled the room and Sam knew he wasn't going to get answers until morning.

He sighed and closed his eyes, trying to get some sleep.