Disclaimer: The characters of Supernatural do not belong to me.

Life for twelve-year-old Sam Winchester was finally good.

The best he had been able to hope for up to this point was that life was okay. For him, there was a big difference between okay and good. Okay, for Sam, was when he was attending a school he liked, he was somewhat getting along with his father, and his brother wasn't being too annoying. Often, though, life was miserable. He and his father would be fighting, his older brother would treat him like he was nothing more than a little kid who needed to be bossed around all the time, and at times he wouldn't even be attending school. His father had even brought up the idea of 'homeschooling' Sam, an idea that had been met with such fierce resistance from Sam that, for the first and only time ever, John had backed down.

Sam had given up the idea that life could ever really be good. He could dream of good, he could hope for it, but ultimately the search for good was a foolish endeavor that would only cause him pain.

That was why he couldn't quite believe it when his father and brother had come to him six weeks earlier with the news that was too good to be true.

The demon that John had been hunting Sam's entire life, the one that had murdered his mother and ripped apart the three Winchester men's lives, had been found and killed. Not exorcised and sent back to hell to possibly come back one day but physically killed. Though there was still bad things out there in the world, and there was a possibility John would have to go back out there and hunt them one day, they were moving to Blue Earth and in with John's friend Jim Murphy to let Sam attend middle and high school all in one place.

Was it really possible?

Was Sam really about to have his dream come true?

While Sam was happy beyond anything that he'd thought possible, he hadn't yet quite allowed himself to believe that his dream was coming true. He'd chosen to live the life his dad and brother had told him they'd be living for a while, and if they stayed at pastor Jim's house for six weeks, Sam decided, he'd allow himself to really believe it.

The six weeks were almost over. Pastor Jim seemed more alive than Sam had ever seen him. He seemed to thrive with having Sam around to take care of. Sam often volunteered to help with chores before anyone ever even hinted at asking. He relished all the time he got to go for a walk without having to worry about training, to read for fun without having to research, to walk the neighborhood and find new friends that he was actually allowed to have fun with.

What amazed Sam the most was the change in his father and brother.

John seemed much more relaxed than Sam had ever seen him. He would get frustrated trying to search for a job, but after so long of living the lifestyle of a hunter, the search so far had been fruitless. Dean, after a long and drawn out mostly one-sided argument with his father, had decided to get his GED and found a job nearly right away at the local garage. Dean seemed as restless as always, but somewhat more content now that their constant moving around was at an end.

John and Dean were not looking forward to the conversation they were about to have with Sam.

Both were happy that the demon that had killed Mary was dead. It felt as unreal to them as it did to Sam, but for entirely different reasons. For John and Dean, killing the demon had become their life's work. Now that they'd accomplished it, they wondered what good they both were able to do with their lives now. For the moment, without actually talking about it, both of them had decided to let Sam bask in his own happiness for a while.

Six weeks after killing the demon, and only one thing seemed to make sense to the both of them.

They braced themselves as much as was possible. They had decided to talk to Sam that night after dinner. Both of them prayed that Sam would take it well, but they knew the truth. He'd see their decision as a betrayal, that they were going back on their promise and letting him down. Again. They both tried to convince themselves that it was all for the best. That Sam would be fine. He'd be taken care of. He'd get the chance at a good education, friends, and, what was most important to John and Dean, he'd get the chance to be the one Winchester who could do some good in a way that didn't have anything to do with hunting.

In the hours before talking to Sam, Dean wondered what it was that Sam would do with his life. Would he become a doctor? Would he be a teacher, a lawyer, a businessman? Whatever it was Sam wanted to be, Dean knew, Sam would become just that and he would excel at it. He'd make his father and brother proud no matter what he decided to do.

Dean held on to that thought as tightly as he possibly could, and it gave him some comfort.

John felt the same way as Dean. Though he loved watching how happy Sam was, he was lost and drifting and didn't feel right staying in one place. He too had no doubt that whatever Sam chose to do with his life, he'd be great at it.

John and Dean had a talk with pastor Jim before dinner that night. The kindly pastor tried hard to get the two of them to change their minds, to convince them that their plan was not actually in Sam's best interests but gave up the fight and simply glared at both of them throughout dinner. Despite how vehemently he disagreed with what it was John and Dean planned to do, he would do right by Sam. Sam chatted at dinner that night about starting high school in three days, asking his brother questions about it and begging his father and pastor Jim for advice on how to get through it. John, still not used to a chatty Sam actually talking with him in a way that didn't end with an argument, nearly abandoned his plan. He knew that Dean would go along with whatever his father decided, but in the end he took a deep breath and broke the news to his baby boy.

"Sam, listen. We need to talk."

A nervous Sam looked around the table, finally noticing that everyone looked somber. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, son. Honest. Dean and I just need to talk to you about something."

Sam's heart sank. He'd known that it was too good to be true. His dream was about to come crashing down on him. Sam berated himself for daring to hope that it could last. Though Sam wanted to fight his father on the decision, he knew that it would do no good at all. Crossing his arms over his chest, Sam sat back in his chair and scowled, waiting for the inevitable axe to fall. In the corner of his vision, Sam could see his father looking to pastor Jim for some kind of guidance but receiving nothing more than a shake of the head in return. Dean was carefully avoiding looking at his little brother, staring off into the corner of the room as if the small spider web there was a beautiful, priceless work of art.

"Sam, Dean and I are going back to hunting full-time."