Authors note: I meant this to be the last chapter but I found I still had too much story to tell. Therefore there are two final chapters instead of only one. Hope you enjoy.

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Chapter 9 Reality.

An uneasy truce was formed after the museum fiasco. Sam played nursemaid, something Dean never would have allowed him to do, for the first few weeks it took for Chris's arm to heal. At first Chris was hesitant. While he could manage by himself, Sam just seemed so helpful, so needy, that Chris let Sam hover as much as he could stand. John made the decision to stay in town until Chris had healed enough and busied himself doing research for other hunts. Secretly he dreaded the thought of leaving town and leaving 'Dean' behind. He made the promise though and John was going to stand by it no matter how painful it was going to be.

Chris didn't have to be a mind reader to notice the Winchesters were itching to get back on the road. As he spent more time with them though he wasn't sure he would be able to leave. He had grown quite fond of Sam in a big brother sorta way. He hadn't realized how much he had missed his own brother until he started hanging out with Sam. Impromptu wrestling matches over the remote and the occasional touch football game in the parking lot left Chris torn over how he was going to leave them behind. Even John was growing on him in his gruff way.

Chris could see Sam struggling at times though. The longer he stayed the harder it seemed for Sam to differentiate between Chris and his brother. Most days he had no problem calling him Chris, and treating him like he wasn't Dean, but then there were times in the middle of a conversation, Sam would call Chris 'Dean' by accident. Chris would let it slide, but it was hard not to notice the look on Sam's face when he realized his mistake.

Now Sammy was accidentally referencing past hunts that he had done with his brother and Chris was having to remind him that he had done those things with Dean and not him. Chris grew his hair out and had it cut the way he used to wear it 'before'. That combined with his new clothes and not ever wearing anything that was Dean's, helped a little but not enough. Desperate he bought at pair of non-prescriptive glasses and thought about growing a beard but shaved it off when John made a comment about how scruffy he looked.

"Yeah like, what the hell is on your face John?" He joked back to John after his comment.

"Damn Chris, are you trying to look like someone else?" Sam remarked the day he started wearing the glasses.

"I am someone else Sam." Chris answered back knowing he would have to step up his plans on leaving sooner.

"Aww gees I don't even look like myself anymore, I look like some geeky school teacher."

"Hey I was some geeky school teacher Dean." Chris said inside his head back to Dean.

John was able to find a few more hunts locally and he and Sam would take off at odd hours of the night leaving Chris behind to wonder what was going on. Even though he knew enough of what they did to accept what happened at the museum he still didn't have a clue about what they really did. His ignorance ended the night Sam accidentally left John's journal behind. As he scanned through the pages he felt his heart beating wildly in his chest. Things he had only heard about in movies or bad TV shows were suddenly very real as he read though John's journal page by page. It was that night that he confronted them about what they did and John reluctantly told him about everything. Given what had happened, John didn't see he had much choice. He took the gamble. Chris was either going to accept their occupation or not. If he accepted it, maybe he would want to stay and leave town with them. If he didn't, John knew he would be gone before daylight.

Chris was shocked and thought about leaving right then and there. He stopped knowing he couldn't leave without at least a warning. To just up and runaway would be too crushing for Sam.

"This is all true? This is what you do all the time? You hunt these….." Chris asked Sam waiting for the confirmation that would change is life.

"Yes." Chris's mind spun around when he heard Sam's answer. The part of him that wanted to runaway was quickly being countered by the part of him that wanted to protect Sam from the things that they hunted. He wondered if that was Dean's influence over him.

"Sorry Chris I can't help it. You're the only way I can still keep an eye on my little brother."

"I'm not sure if I'm crazy or not but I guess I'm staying. But listen when I say you're never leaving me behind on a hunt again do you hear me." Chris said making up his mind. John nodded grimly while Sam practically knocked Chris over jumping on him.

Hours later they were packed and heading out of town on I-40. John led in the truck while Sam drove the Impala behind him. Chris could only stare out the window as they drove west out of town. When they got near the city limits Sam could have sworn he heard Chris whisper his wife's name and glanced over in time to see Chris rubbing his eyes. It was suddenly all too real for Chris. No more going to some of his old hangouts. No more asking Sam to drive past his house to catch a peek at his wife. Once he left town he would never see Marybeth again. The finality of it made his heart ache. He took one more look out the window catching a glimpse of his school as they drove on the elevated portion of the interstate. After that he just faced forward and never looked back.

For months afterwards, John worked him hard, training him to handle all the weapons they would need on a hunt. At times Chris baulked but picked it up quickly much to John's surprise. It helped having Dean inside his head giving him tips to use and Sam at his side encouraging him when he wanted to give up. Still if John thought a hunt might get too hairy he kept Chris in the back safely behind him. It took a while to realize John was holding him back to protect him. Finally Chris knew he was going to have to prove his worth on a hunt. He found a story in the paper and did his own research. Sam started to protest Chris's plan when he told him but went along anyway. It was a simple salt and burn, and everything went as plan, that was until they got back to the motel room and had to face John. Sam thought he was going to have to turn on the fire hoses when Chris and John got into it again. When things calmed down, Chris proved to John he could handle himself and John conceded that maybe he could…maybe. Well it was a start.

They were heading up to South Dakota to check out some rumors of a haunted day care center when John called and told them to pull over for gas off the next exit. As soon as the two vehicles pulled into the gas station, Sam jumped out and started to pump the gas. Chris was starting to help with the driving now, and stayed behind in the Impala, something Sam still had a problem with occasionally. It was still weird to look over and see his 'brother' next to him behind the wheel. Months ago that would have been the most normal thing in the world but not now and not Chris. While Sam was inside paying Chris fished around inside the car and accidentally came across Dean's box of tapes. Not thinking or realizing, he slipped one in and was listening as Sammy came out of the gas station. Sam slipped into the passenger side and soon they were following John back on the road.

AC/DC filled the car and Chris started lowly singing to Hells Bells. Sam looked over at Chris, just smiled, and closed his eyes relaxing to the sound of his 'brothers' voice. It was all too easy to and all too familiar.

"Hell yeah, crank it up."

"Wow I haven't heard this tape since I was college." Chris said as the tape flipped around and started the other side. Not opening his eyes Sammy smiled.

"Dean you never went to college dude." He mumbled as he leaned his head against the door. Suddenly he sat straight up and looked horrified at Chris.

"Pull over." He said as he started turning green."

What?" Chris asked, "Why do you want me to pull over."

"Just pull over I'm gonna be sick." Sam said desperately.

Chris didn't even check the mirror before he rocketed to the side of the road. John ahead in the truck saw them pull over and had to make a u turn to get back to them. Once stopped, Sammy raced from the car and started running into the wooded area next to the road.

"What the hell." Chris yelled as he leaped from the car and started after Sam. Soon John was also parked and went after the two of them coming up on Chris first looking for Sam.

"What the hell is going on?" John bellowed seeing Chris's panicked look

"I don't know, Sam said he was getting sick and asked me to pull over. Then he raced into the woods and I don't know where he is."

"Go back to the car and wait. I'll go looking for Sammy." John ordered.

"But wait, I can help."

"He doesn't want to see you right now Chris." Chris looked over and John and suddenly knew what he was talking about.

Minutes later John came across his youngest son, leaning breathless against a tree, trembling, tears running down his face. He looked up as he saw his father approach.

"Dad…I want Dean….I want my brother back…Dean…." he sobbed as John pulled him up and pulled him to his chest.

"I wondered when this was going to happen." John said as he held Sam close to him. "I want Dean back just as much as you do, son, but it's not going to happen. Your brother is gone Sammy, we have to accept that. We have Chris now…"

"Chris oh god, he must think I hate him." Sam said pulling away from his father wiping his face.

"He thinks no such thing. He would do anything for you, Sammy, even leave if he thought it was too much for you to have him around anymore. He knows how much you miss your brother and he knows you're having some trouble with that. He and I talked about it several weeks ago. You've been calling him Dean more often and Chris was afraid that his presence here was making it difficult for you to accept that Dean wasn't with us anymore." John spoke softly to his youngest son. He too at times found it difficult to watch Chris knowing the man who stood in front of him was no longer his son. "You know the reason he stayed with us is because of you."

"That's not the only reason, John." Chris spoke up suddenly behind them, looking straight at Sammy.

"Dean, he asked me to stay because he said that was the only way he could still keep any eye on you."

"Oh god, Dean." Sammy said managing to looked pained and hopeful at the same time.

"Let me talk to him Chris."

"Are you sure that's such a wise thing to do?" Chris silently asked back. The last thing he wanted to do was to hurt Sam any further.

"He's a Winchester dude, I think he can handle it." Dean answered back. Chris started to nod to himself causing John and Sam to both give him a quizzical look.

"Dean wants to talk to Sam." Chris offered quietly.

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Authors note: Hang on there is still one to go. Thanks for reading.