Chapter Seven: What the hell do we do now?
The rest of the day proved to be pretty uneventful despite the big news of finding the youngest Winchester. After Dean promised Sam he was never going back to whatever room he kept talking about everyone spent the next few hours unsure what to do now. Sam hadn't said anything else in the last three hours and while everyone wanted to give him his space they couldn't help but think he would vanish into thin air the second they took their eyes off him. So they decided to take turns in the room with him, trying to get something out of him.
But they had another issue.
Telling Mary.
Sam being taken had a huge effect on the entire Winchester family but it seemed to have impacted Mary the worst. She changed from the warm mother Dean remembered her being to an empty emotionless shell of herself. It hadn't taken long before she and John unofficially divorced and slowly Dean went from seeing her every week to once a month to a couple times a year. Which, yeah it sucked but she was still hunting for whatever or whoever took Sammy so Dean saw it as more people looking at different places. Meaning hopefully they'd find Sam quicker than if they stuck together. That excuse he made dimmed over the years.
So yeah, calling his mom for the first time in over a year was a little scary but she had a right to know they had her son, that they'd finally found Sammy.
"Who's this?" She asked after the fifth ring.
It was a punch to the stomach hearing her voice after so long, it actually took Dean a moment to find his words. "It's me, Mom, Dean. We found him, we found Sammy" he made sure to clarify, though he was sure she'd be able to connect the dots.
"Is your father there?"
Despite wanting to bring up how she didn't sound as surprised as he thought she'd be, he called John over and handed the phone to him. Heading into the kitchen where Sam still resided in the corner between the counter and oven. Even when all of them insisted the couch in the other room would be more comfortable Sam would just shake his head with a mix of fear and sadness.
"You're really comfy there?" Dean asked knowing he wouldn't get a verbal response. And he was proven right when Sam nodded. "You know who I am?" he asked without waiting for any reply, "I'm Dean, your older brother. And that other scary looking dude is our dad, John. He's a lot nicer than he looks I promise" no response. "Do you have any questions? or do you need anything? food? water?"
This time he waited, giving Sam as long as he needed to come up with an answer. After nearly a minute of silence Dean thought he'd have to keep talking to himself, but Sam actually looked up, looked right at him.
"Water," Sam whispered, barely loud enough for him to hear, then put his chin on his knees like he was afraid Dean was going to get up and hit him. "B-Bobby said I can have water," he explained.
Dean gave him a small sad smile but then stood up to grab a cup and fill it with water, ignoring Sam's eyes following his every move which made him sick. How many basic rights had he been denied all these years? That alone made bile rise in Dean's throat.
Sam chugged the water in one go and Dean took this as his chance to keep talking, figure out what Sam did remember. "Do you remember me at all? Mom, Dad? I know you were young but I thought maybe you'd remember one of us" he hoped it was him.
Sam ran his answer through his head six times before deciding it was good enough to say out loud, "I lived with Dad. And-" his voice shook a little, "And all my other siblings" he said, a warmth in his chest at completing his sentence without a stutter.
Dean couldn't even mask his surprise at what Sam said, out of everything he expected it was never that. "You lived with Dad?" he repeated, Sam nodding. "So the man who came in with me earlier. . .that's not your dad?"
Sam shook his confidently, "Dad's eyes are yellow not green" he assured with a goofy look, like Dean was out of his mind for ever thinking John was his dad. It sent anger through his body, Sam thought his kidnapper was his dad. And he had other siblings. Although he told himself Sam was going to be a mess he never expected this. How was he supposed to convince him the man who he'd been living with as a prisoner for the last 15 years wasn't his dad?
Dean tried his best to keep himself composed, not letting one tear fall from his watering eyes. He slowly walked toward Sam and leaned on his knees, trying to keep eye contact with the teen who despised it. "That man isn't your dad, your dad's in the other room. And I'm your brother, you were taken when you were little but, but we found you. We got you back Sammy, and you're never going back there again"
Sam wasn't sure whether Dean wanted him to actually believe what he was saying as the truth or if he was supposed to play along, maybe this was fathers test all along, to see if he'd betrayed him. He weighed his options and decided right now the smartest thing was to make his new owners happy, at least happy enough to let him go back home.
With a smile Sam nodded, in a way so different then his look before. Dean noticed the fake smile he plastered on his face, hoping one day he'd actually get to see the real thing.
"My dads in the other room" Sam repeated, like a mantra he'd rehearsed over and over in his head until it sounded right.
Dean wanted to punch a wall, punch something, particularly the monster that did this. Instead he sent a fake smile to Sam, stood up and switched watch with Bobby while he looked around the backyard for something to break.
What the hell do they do now?
