Chapter 2:
Sam woke up in his old apartment at Stanford. He smelled pizza as Jess walked in the door with two liters and candy. He was still dazed from the sudden jolt he felt when he woke up. "Good Morning sleepy head, or should I say good evening." She said as she chuckled at him. Sam just stared in awe at her, he felt like he hadn't seen her in years. Why did he feel like that? "Hey, I must have accidentally fallen asleep waiting for you."
He watched as she came down and sat beside him on the couch. "Are you okay?" She asked. It was weird, Sam could see no concern in her eyes. It was like she was reading lines off of a page. "I'm… I'm fine. I think." Sam was so confused and his vision was still a little fuzzy. It was starting to come back though.
He almost jumped out of his skin as Jess' hot hand touched his. It felt like her hand was on fire. "Jess, why is your hand so hot?" Sam looked at her with concern in his eyes, but saw none in hers. "That's because I burned." She said. Sam froze, all his memories came rushing back and the picture that haunted him almost every night shot to the front of his mind. Jess was staring at Sam with cold eyes. "You killed me!" She yelled, as she grabbed Sam's throat.
"Jess… what… are you… doing." Sam gasped for air, but couldn't get big enough breaths. He wasn't gonna hit his long dead girlfriend. He loved her. "Come on Sam!" Yelled a voice across the room. "Hit her, throw her off of you!" Sam turned in the direction of the voice and looked in horror as Lucifer appeared. "This isn't real!" Sam yelled, trying to get a hold of his breath.
Jess vanished and suddenly Sam was in his nursery. "No, no, no, not here. Please, no, not again." Sam wished he could escape but the windows were locked and he couldn't reach the door in time before his mother ran into the room. Sam watched in horror as the whole event folded out in front of him. "Sammy!" His mother yelled, as Azazul forced her up to the ceiling.
"No!" Sam yelled as he tried to cover his eyes. He knew the only thing he could do was look away. This was all Lucifer's doing, he wasn't about to let Sam intervene. He jumped when he felt hands grab his arms and pull them down. Lucifer was holding his arms down and making him watch as his mother burned alive on the ceiling. All he could do was try and look past what was happening to him and imagine the life he hoped Dean was having right now.
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Dean hadn't seen Cas ever since he told him he was going back to Heaven and vanished out of Baby. He was getting his clothes for the barbeque on when Lisa walked in. "Are you sure you're up for this, because I don't want to force this." Lisa said with a worried look on her face. It had been a few weeks since Dean had mentioned his brother.
Maybe he was finally moving on, but she threw the thought away. She knew Dean would never be truly happy without Sam. "I'm sure. I'm ready. I want to try whatever this is. You do make me happy. You and Ben." Dean said, swallowing the lump he felt in his throat. Lisa smiled and squeezed his hand.
The barbeque was about to start. People were already driving up to their house. It still felt weird to say or think that phrase. Lisa went to greet people at the door while Dean hung back. He didn't want to just throw himself out there so soon. He took a few deep breaths and walked outside with a smile on his face. He didn't know if it was because he was happy or if it was because he didn't want people to see how sad he really was. Probably the ladder.
Everyone was laughing and talking with each other. He felt so out of place. Until Lisa walked over and grabbed his hand. "You ready for this?" She asked, squeezing his hand a little bit. "Let's do it…" Dean said as she led him around the crowd. Lisa introduced him to the first couple of people there, but soon after Dean started to get ahead of the game. He was somehow starting to feel not so out of place as before.
"Hey, I'm Dean." He said sticking his hand out to two guys. "We're not together.. By the way. People always seem to assume. We're just brothers." The taller one said. His name was Max. Dean chuckled and said, "Yeah, people used to get me and Sam mixed up like that all the time." He hadn't realized what he said until they asked him who Sam was.
"Uh… he was my brother." Dean said hesitantly. "Sorry for your loss." The shorter one named Brandon said. "Thank you. He's in a better place." Dean said through clenched teeth. He knew with every bone in his body that Sam was not in a better place and cursed himself for even bringing Sam up. The rest of the barbeque after that was actually not that bad. Dean found himself having a little fun. He didn't even think about Sam until that night when Bobby called to do his normal check in. Just because he was out of the game, didn't mean he couldn't get updates.