I'd like to (again) thank everyone who's reviewed for even bothering to read the story, let alone talk about reading the story :)
"Why'd he lie to me, Sam?" John asked the minute Dean had disappeared behind the door.
Sam was taken aback for a minute, so shocked that he almost didn't answer. "What do you mean?" he finally asked, glancing nervously at the bedroom door.
John smiled slyly. "I checked over every inch of this room before leaving my sons alone. The windows don't open. They're nailed shut. There's no way that a demon got in through a window. That was lie number one. Lie number two was that you broke down the door. If you had really done that, it wouldn't have opened so smoothly and there'd be evidence of a break-in. Now, I'm pretty sure he's lying about the whole 'training-and-hunting' thing, too. You boys went to the carnival to have a little fun today, didn't you?"
Sam glanced down at his hands, watching his thumbs battle with each other as he avoided his father's gaze. "He was telling you the truth."
"The boys left the room, didn't they, Sam? That's when the demon attacked. And even Dean isn't stupid enough to disclose information about coming events. Somehow, my kids figured it out, didn't they? My only real question to you, son, is why would he lie?"
Sam just shrugged weakly, still twiddling his thumbs. "I think," he finally mumbled, "that he was trying… trying to protect the kids. Or, at least, himself."
"Why would he need to protect himself?" John asked coolly, causing Sam's head to snap up.
The younger Winchester didn't like what he saw in his father's eyes. It was some sort of foreign mixture of disappointment, hatred, and fear. And suddenly, Sam understood. It hit him with such force that he actually gasped. Because having Dean around was like taking a vacation. The kid didn't need to worry about his brother, didn't even have to fear their father's wrath. Suddenly, someone else was there to take on the burdens.
"Because of you," Sam muttered, his eyes narrowing, "it's been a year since the shtriga attack, right? And you've just had this kind of weird aversion to him, haven't you? Because he made a mistake. Well, let me tell you something, dad, he's sure as hell never gonna make another one. You know why? Eighteen years later, he still remembers what happened, and it kills him."
John sighed. "It was just a question. You don't have to get angry about it."
"I do," Sam replied, "because you need to hear this now. Dean's all for changing the past, and at first I wasn't sure why, but now I think I am. No one's ever treated him like a human being. He was my guardian, your soldier, and every monster's punching bag. That kid deserves an ounce of compassion before it ruins him."
"Sam, stop. I can't hear this. It'll change things."
"No, you really need to hear this, because what he told you to make you believe us, it wasn't entirely crap, dad. At least, not in his mind. True, you never got over the shtriga thing, and, true, you never treated him the same after that, but you didn't hate him. He just thought you did."
John looked his son in the eyes, a sudden question bubbling to the front of his mind faster than he could push it away. It unnerved him, but he had to ask, had to know. "Why the past tense, son? Is something going to happen to me?"
"Yeah," Sam nodded, not really caring about the freaking time stream anymore, "yeah, it is. You're gonna die. And it's gonna bug both of us. It's gonna hit him the hardest, though. But he's never gonna tell me. I'm gonna have to guess, because some idiot told him that emotion is a sign of weakness. Gee, I wonder who that was."
"Sam-"
"You started it. Let me finish. You died, and he had trouble dealing with that. And now you're here, yelling at him for messing up the time stream, treating him like some sort of plague victim because last year he almost let me get eaten. Well, here I am, dad, all grown up and not a scratch on me. You might wanna check Dean for some emotional scars, though. I'm sure you'll find a lot."
"Sammy."
"What?"
"Are you done now?"
Sam sighed, taking a deep breath and exhaling it as he again averted his eyes. "Yes, sir."
"Good. Because your brother isn't going to stay in that room forever."