Chapter 10: A Night Off

John drove home from work listening to the country music station. He knew as soon as Dean climbed into the truck he would say something rude about his taste in music and then whine because John wouldn't let him put on the hard rock station. One thing that had crushed Dean about the accident was the loss of his beloved cassette tapes. That had almost been as upsetting to him as the loss of the car itself.

John wondered what Sammy had planned for tonight. Today was Wednesday, family night. He hoped Sam didn't plan something stupid for them to do. Sam was probably going to drag them to a museum or a poetry reading or only god knew only what. At least his boys were too old to ask him to take them to Chucky Cheese or something like that.

He pulled into the driveway and turned off the engine. He grabbed his empty lunchbox and went into the house. Sam was sewing something he couldn't figure out and Dean was studying the newspaper.

"Sammy, what's that?"

"I'm making the pouches to hold the southernwood and valerian when it arrives," he answered.

"That's right. Dean what are you doing?"

"I think I found a job for us this weekend."

"What kind of job?" John asked.

"It's in Springwood, that's a town about two hours from here. There have been six children to disappear in the past two years. All the kids lived within a few blocks of each other and all of them were between the ages of three and five."

"What makes you think it is our kind of thing," Sam asked.

"The last time anyone had seen these kids they had been playing by a small stream that cuts through the neighborhood where an old covered bridge is," Dean explained.

"That sounds like a troll," Sam said.

"Sure does," John agreed. "Friday I'll drive out there and check it out."

"We're coming too," Dean said.

"I can handle it," John said.

"Dad, you gotta let me come. I need to get out of this house and do something besides help Sammy with research. He's the bookworm, not me."

"Actually, I never thought I would say this but going after a child eating troll this weekend sounds like a good idea to me too. Dean's not the only one bored out of his mind."

"Boys, I just think you might be more of a hindrance than a help," John said.

"Dad, Sam and have both hunted in the past with casts and injuries far worse than what we are now," Dean pointed out. "Hell, I once went on a hunt with a fever of a 104 degrees. I was practically delirious."

"I remember the hunt I went on with you two when I had appendicitis. I could barely move and I still helped you hunt that Bigfoot."

"If I remember both of those hunts ended up being near disasters when you two literally fell down on the job," John pointed out.

"Yeah, but we still killed the bad guy in the end," Dean grinned.

"Fine, if you two want to come wallow in the mud and muck under a bridge this weekend that's fine with me. Just know I'm not jumping in to save your ass when you fall in the river."

Sam and Dean just ginned at each other. "Sure Dad." Both boys knew their Dad would jump in after them in a heart beat if they were truly in danger. John knew it too.

"So what are we doing tonight for this family night?" John asked. He became very worried when he saw the evil looking smile Sam and Dean shared between them before turning innocent faces to him.

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"Tell me this is a joke," John begged.

"Nope," Dean chuckled.

"Guys, don't you think we are a little bit old to be doing this?"

"Come on, Dad. Where's your sense of adventure," Dean asked, struggling not to laugh.

"Dad, I thought you would like this. You get to shoot things," Sam said, choking back a laugh.

"Keep laughing and I'm going to shoot you two!"

"Dad, you agreed to Sammy's terms. You said Wednesday would be family night." Dean had been totally blown away when Dad had agreed to this, but he was now in the spirit of it and ready to have a little fun at his father's expense.

"I was thinking maybe we'd see a movie or play poker. Laser tag! You two actually want to do laser tag? How are you even going to play?"

"Dean's cast doesn't slow him down at all anymore," Sam pointed out, "and luckily for me my gun hand isn't the one in a cast. Don't worry about us, we'll be fine."

"How much is this little adventure going to cost me?" John asked. "I don't have that much money and pay day is still two days away?"

"It's only five dollars a person and you get twenty minutes inside," Dean said.

Finally John relented. "Fine, let's just get this over with." 'Who knows, it might actually be fun,' John thought. He might just show his boys a thing or two about picking on their old man.

They went inside and John paid for their round. They had to wait about ten minutes for the current game to come to an end.

"What's your name?" the girl at the register asked.

"Sam." He watched her type it in.

"Okay, when you come out you can look at the monitor over there and it will tell you your number of hits and kills."

"Cool," Dean said. "My name is Dean, what's yours?"

"Kara."

"Well, Kara, do you think I can get your phone number."

"I'm married with two kids."

"So I'm guessing that's a no," Dean replied.

Sam smacked Dean upside of his head once he stepped away from the counter.

"Dude, what's your problem?"

"Do you always have to think with your downstairs brain?"

"What? Nothing ventured, nothing gained!" Dean said with his full swagger.

John just rolled his eyes at his sons' antics and gave the girl his name.

Ten minutes later the three of them, along with about a dozen other people, were led into a room where they put on their gear. There was a chest cover that had several sensors on it to record when they were hit as well as a head band with a sensor on the forehead and the back of the head.

Honestly, John felt like an idiot putting all that junk on, but he had to admit that it felt good when he picked up his 'assault weapon' and flicked on the switch.

A man in his thirties stepped into the room to give the directions. John guessed he was probably the owner.

"Okay, when you go inside the maze it is very dark. The maze it lit with black light so you will see your laser beams very clearly. All sensors also glow a soft red color so you will see your targets. If at any time you need help simple call out game over and someone will escort you out of the room. Any questions?"

When no questions were forthcoming he told them to have fun and then opened the door to the maze. Instantly the lights in the changing room turned off and everyone filed into the maze and headed off in different directions.

John lost sight of Sam and Dean almost instantly but that was okay. He knew they were here and he felt it was time to remind them just who their father was. In the next two minutes he managed to hit six different people without getting hit once. It wasn't easy because there were holes in the maze walls and also reflective mirrors that could bounce the beam and allow someone to shoot you in the back.

He ducked down when he saw a beam coming at him and managed to avoid it. He then popped up and shot the other person. Their vest then vibrated and the lights blinked. He saw the person he had just shot was Dean. John smiled and then ducked down and took off running, but not before Dean saw who had nailed him.

"Shit," Dean grumbled and then hurried off in his own direction.

Sam was having a blast as he ducked this way and that. He had tagged several people with the laser already and had only been hit twice, both times in the back. Now he was making a better effort at keeping his back to the wall. He bounced his laser off a mirror and hit two more guys. He turned a corner and came face to face with his father. He momentarily froze and by the time he got over his initial shock his Dad had already tagged him and had taken off running.

Sam took off after his Dad but lost sight of him. He bumped into Dean and the two shot each other simultaneously. Both of their vests started vibrating.

"You see Dad?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, he's gone commando," Dean replied.

Suddenly Sam's and then Dean's vests started vibrating again. They looked back and saw their father and even in the dimness of the black light they could see him grinning at them. He was gone before they even had their guns lifted.

"Dean, have you ever noticed how scary Dad can be sometimes?"

"Oh yeah," Dean replied.

"You realize he'll never let us live this down if he kicks our asses."

"Tell me about it." Dean slapped Sam on the arm and the two split up.

Over the next fifteen minutes the Winchesters stalked the other players as well as each other. When the game finally came to an end the lights turned on and their vests automatically shut off. Everyone in the maze followed the now visible exit signs and went back to the gear room where they stripped off the vests and headbands.

John was surprised that he had actually broken out in a sweat from all the activity. Truth was he'd had a blast!

"I need something to drink," Sam said. He was also covered in sweat, as was Dean.

Back in the main entrance they looked at the monitor and saw that John had come if first place with the most kills and the fewest hits. Dean had come in second and Sam third. Dean teased Sam on the fact that he had been hit a dozen times.

"Dude if that had been a real hunt you would be nothing but Swiss cheese right now!"

"Yeah, well you wouldn't be much better. You were hit nine times."

"You'd both be dead," John said. "You boys did a lousy job in there."

"Dad, we came in second and third," Dean pointed out.

"Yeah, but you'd still be dead."

"What about you?" Sam asked. "You were hit four times. You might be tough but I think four bullets would bring even you down."

"I'd still have better odds of surviving than you two. Now let's go get some food. I'm starving."

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Sam sat next to Dean and across from his father in the booth. He looked over his menu. He was happy to see that the prices weren't too expensive here. He didn't want to use up more money than necessary. He had been surprised when Dad had suggested this place. Usually when the three of them went out it was to some cheap diner or to the bar where the evening meal would consist of cheese sticks and jalapeño poppers.

"Dad, what did we come here for?" Dean grumbled.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's a Chinese restaurant."

"Dean, people usually go to a restaurant when they want to eat," John said.

"Yeah, but we usually go to the bar. I mean, there're no pool tables, no dart boards, no beer, and no women. This place is full of senior citizens."

Sam bit his lip to keep from laughing. Poor Dean, his brother really wasn't having a good time.

John just gave Dean a forced smile. "It's supposed to be family night, not Dean's getting laid night. Besides, I don't drink anymore, remember?"

Dean, thoroughly chastised, stuck his head in his menu and looked for something to order. He had forgotten that Dad had stopped drinking. The man had never been a full blown alcoholic but he could certainly put away the liquor when the mood hit him, and a drunken John Winchester was a mean John Winchester.

When the waitress came they placed their orders. John chose the hot and spicy chicken, Dean got sweet and sour shrimp, and Sam ordered almond chicken. All chose the wanton soup with some Cokes to come before the meal.

"So tell the truth, Dad. You had fun at laser tag," Dean spoke up.

John smiled. "It was better than I thought it would be. I don't know if I would want to do it again, but it was fun for a one time thing."

"It was Sam's idea."

"No it wasn't," Sam protested. "You're the one who suggested it."

"Yeah, but I was just joking. You're the one who said we should make Dad do it."

"Did not."

"Boys!" John called. "It doesn't matter. We had fun."

"Wow," Sam said. "I don't know if I've ever heard you say that before."

John was about to tell Sam he was being silly but when he stopped to think about it he honestly couldn't say if he had ever said those words in front of Sammy. He suddenly felt really bad as he realized that while he had prepared his boys to face their future he had also stolen their childhoods from them. Would it have really been so bad to have let Sammy play soccer once in a while, or let Dean play a little baseball?

"Dad, you okay?" Sam asked.

John shook off the feelings of guilt and forced a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. I guess I was just thinking about the past."

The three spent the rest of the evening having their dinner and John even told several stories of his time in the Marines and some of the jokes they played on his sergeant. When dinner was finally done they drove back home and went inside.

"Boys, make sure you get exact locations found for this troll this weekend, and…"

"Uh huh, Dad. No talk of hunting on Wednesdays," Sam spoke up. "It can keep till tomorrow."

John sighed but there was no anger in his voice when he spoke. "Fine, we'll talk about it tomorrow."

Sam graced him with an appreciative smile and then turned to head towards his room.

"Hey, Sammy?"

"Yeah Dad?"

"I…" John paused for a moment and both Sam and Dean were waiting for him to finish his sentence. "I'm glad you suggested this."

"What?" Sam asked, not entirely sure what Dad was talking about.

"This, Wednesdays, family night, I'm glad we did this."

Sam smiled again and this time it almost reached ear to ear. "Me too."

Not one to be ignored Dean added a, "Me three," to the mix.

"So does that me we're on again for next Wednesday?" Sam asked.

"I wouldn't miss it," John replied.

A/N: I hope you like this chapter. It was actually hard to write. I mean, how do you make John Winchester have FUN? Is that even possible? I hope I didn't go too over the top with this. I figured laser tag would be a good route to go since John would at least get to 'shoot' things. Tell me what you think. Also, coming next chapter our gorgeous, hot, buff, (is it getting hot in here?) hunky heroes go TROLLING for trouble. What will happen to poor Sam? Will Dean save him in time? Will John be a third wheel once more? Dum da da dum…dum……