May The Circle... chp 5

Appreciate the reviews. Any disclaimers, see chp 1.

The tickle session only lasted a few minutes, but it helped bridge some of the gaps that remained between them. Tommy sat up and grinned at his little brother, whose hair was standing almost completely straight up.

"Seems your hair has as much of a stand up personality as the rest of you Sam." He chuckled softly.

Sam just glared at him as he tried to fix it, but gave up and shook his head. "Yeah well, having you two giving me noogies can do that." He got up and went over to the table, looking through the bags Dean had brought in.

Dean shook his head and walked over to his middle brother. "Want to make sure nothing got knocked around again." He started checking the wrap around Tommy's ribs. "I shouldn't have thrown dad into your face."

Tommy flinched a bit as Dean pressed against the area closest to his sternum, causing his older brother to frown. "You reacted the way you usually do Dean when one of us isn't taking care of ourselves. I should have remembered that."

He sat back and looked at his middle brother. "I don't like the tenderness in that area around your sternum. It wasn't that bad before."

"And I hadn't had a chance to sit and get really stiff before then either. I'm okay Dean. Like I told Sam earlier, I'm tired, sore and hurting a bit, but I'm okay. I got tossed around a bit more the past couple of cases than normal and been pushing harder than usual."

"So you haven't been giving yourself a chance to heal fully." Sam said, handing his brothers each a plate.

"Not really. There wasn't a lot of time for either case and I only learned that you two were coming to take care of this poltergeist after the fact." He started in slowly on the mac and cheese. His appetite slowly started kicking in as he ate.

"Well, you're sticking with us for a bit and you can give Caleb back his truck before it totally falls apart." Dean stated, starting in on his own dinner.

Tommy chuckled softly. "It is in sad shape, isn't? Swear the thing's held together with baling wire and duct tape."

Dean snorted. "Duct tape might have a lot of uses, but its sacrilege to use it on a car."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Good grief, here we go again."

A raised eyebrow greeted his youngest brother's statement. "He still ranting about the Impala when it comes to getting sticky stuff around it?"

A fork was shaken in his face. "It's not funny Tommy. I had to scrub the seats to get that crap off the last time you decided to play 'tape up the youngest brother because you can'. The two of you about gave me a heart attack when I saw the inside."

He couldn't help it. Despite the glare Dean was giving him, a snort shot from him followed by full blown laughter. "I was fourteen when that happened and you still haven't gotten over it?"

Sam laughed softly. "Dude, he won't even let me get in the car with wet clothes unless I sit on a towel."

Tommy shook his head. "And I thought you were weird when you were sixteen and finally talked dad into giving you that, that-" He met his oldest brother's eyes and grinned. "That thing."

"If you weren't already hurt, I'd make you say uncle." Dean rolled his eyes at his middle brother, then smirked before visibly relaxing a bit. It was good to have his brothers with him once again.

They finished eating before anyone spoke again. "So how about it?" Sam looked at his older brother as he spoke. "Are you going to join us for a bit?"

Dean spoke next. "Help us look for dad, kick a little evil ass." He grinned. "Meet some fine looking women."

A snort issued from Tommy before he could stop himself. "Sorry Dean, but those images all together remind me of the time you almost got 'seduced' by that werewolf in Boston."

"That was not my fault."

Sam raised an eyebrow, looking at both of them. "Now, I know you had a thing for women with attitude Dean, but werewolves, especially bitches?"

"It wasn't like that--" Dean started, but didn't finish as Sam grabbed his forehead in pain. "Sammy?"

Tommy watched them both for a moment, then went over to his jacket and dug a small pad and pencil from its pocket before going back over to Sam. He didn't look at Dean as he settled himself next to his youngest brother. After removing his injured arm from the sling, he used that one to put a hand on his little brother before taking a deep breath and closing his eyes.