Title: Everything Changes
Author: keb1991
Rating: T for Teen (I always wanted to say that…you know, like a video game…yeah…)
Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural, the CW does. Darn them! (all this means that I'm not making any money, just having good ol' fun)
Summary: Pre-series. John and Dean receive an unwelcome wake-up call when Sam is injured on a hunt. Sam is 9, Dean is 13 Sammy angst!
AN: Thank you all for the reviews, I really do enjoy reading everyone's opinions/comments, and thanks Carikube for reading this over for me. Let me tell you, this chapter gave me some trouble, so I hope y'all like it as much as the first two (and when I have trouble writing I usually resort to the 'chick-flick' type brotherly moments!). So here's the next part!
Everything Changes
Chapter Three
Thirty minutes, and a very agitated John Winchester, later the old Chevy pulled into an empty parking spot in front of Larry's Motel in Thomas County – the only motel, to be exact.
"Okay boys, stay in the car while I go get us a room," John commanded of his children before exiting the car and walking to the motel's front office.
The motel's check-in office was like all the others John had seen in his lifetime. Random pictures hanging on the walls, but pretty bare overall. The only other additions to the room were a small desk near the back and, of course, the man behind the desk who was eyeing John as he approached.
"Can I help you?" the man, who turned out to be Larry, asked.
"Yes, I'd like a two-bed room for the next two days please," John replied while reaching into his back pocket to retrieve his wallet and, most importantly, his credit card.
"That'll be sixty-nine dollars. Will you be paying it all now, or later?" Larry inquired as he looked under the desk for the room key.
"Now's good," John answered as he extracted his fake credit card and handed it to the man.
"Okay," Larry started, swiping the card through the machine before handing it back along with the room key. "You're in room number twelve, and if there's anything you need there will always be someone in here."
"Thank you," John said before leaving the office and climbing back into the driver's side of his car to park it in front of room twelve.
xxxxxx
Ten minutes later all three Winchesters were in the motel room, Sam and Dean on one bed watching television, and John sitting at the small table looking through his papers.
John stood from the table, keys in hand, saying, "All right, I'm going to go ask around town, see what I can dig up on our missing people."
"Can we come?" Dean questioned with a look of happy anticipation on his young face.
"Sorry buddy, it would be easier for me to get information without you two tagging along. Stay in the motel room; don't let anyone in, you know the drill. I'll be back in a few hours," John insisted before leaving the room and his boys alone.
xxxxxx
"So, what do you want to do?" Dean wondered. Sam and Dean were still sitting on the bed, only now it seemed that neither of them was paying any attention to the cartoons on the television screen since their father's departure.
Sam was lying next to Dean on the queen-sized bed and, as he was earlier, appeared to be in his own little world.
"Hey Sam, what's up?" Dean questioned, tentatively hitting the younger boy on the shoulder.
"Nothing," was the barely audible whisper that came from Sam's lips.
"Don't give me that, Sammy. I'm your big brother, I think I would know when there was something up with you," Dean argued.
"It's just …" Sam started before halting his words and looking over his shoulder at the wall, the opposite direction of Dean.
"It's just …?" Dean repeated. "What is it, Sammy?"
"I'm scared," was his weak reply, turning big, sorrowful eyes to his brother's sympathetic ones.
"Oh, it's okay to be scared, Sammy," Dead reassured, putting his arm around the younger boy's shoulders and pulling him closer. "It's normal. I was scared on my first hunt, too."
"You were?" was Sam's shocked voice. In Sam's eyes Dean was invincible, never afraid of anything.
"You bet I was, so don't worry about being scared, okay? You can always talk to me about anything, you know that right?" Dean comforted, feeling his brother nod into his shoulder. "All right, I think you should try to get some sleep until Dad gets back."
Sam didn't need telling to twice, snuggling up deeper into his brother's side, falling asleep almost instantly.
xxxxxx
Four hours later John walked cautiously into the motel room, noticing his boys asleep on their bed. But, no matter how quiet he was, nothing could get by his eldest son, whose eyes shot open almost immediately upon him entering the room.
Dean turned to his brother and slowly shook the younger boy awake.
"Hey Sam, get up, Dad's back," he whispered, still shaking him until the boy was fully awake again.
Sam sluggishly sat up in the bed, stretching his sore muscles and taking a deep yawn, both boys watching as their father placed his belongings on the table and walked around to sit heavily on his own bed.
"So did you find out anything," Dean spoke up first, studying his father as the older man sighed, loudly.
"Yeah, I'm almost completely sure that we're dealing with the spirit of a man who died in that park twenty years ago back in '72, Howard Townsen. It seems that this wasn't the first time people have gone missing in huge clumps. Five years ago five people went missing in the same area, never to be seen again. It appears that every five years five people go missing and never come back."
"So, this ghost has a thing for the number five?" Sam wondered aloud.
"That's what it looks like," John answered, a little more to himself then Sam.
"Do you know where he's buried?" Dean asked, excited to be able to go on a hunt soon.
"Not yet, but I'm going to go check out the county's public records after we go eat some breakfast. So are you two ready? There's a diner down the street that looked pretty nice," John informed his boys.
"Sure," Sam answered, jumping up from the bed to pull on his shoes, Dean mimicking his motions.
"Ready? Let's go."
xxxxxx
"So did you find where the guy's buried?" Dean asked as he saw John approaching. After eating breakfast John had driven them all over to the public records office, and that was more than two hours ago.
"I did," John started, looking down at his watch, "it's almost two. We're going to go check out the grave now so we don't come across any unsuspected interferences. Then we'll head back to the motel and get ready."
"All right," Dean agreed.
"Hey Sammy, what's up?" John wondered. Sam was being unusually quiet lately, and that just wasn't normal. The Sam that John knew would be talking a mile a minute about how excited he was; bouncing all over the place like when he had found out he was going on a hunt.
"Nothing," Sam replied.
"All right then, let's get a move on," John announced, dismissing Sam's quietness as being his nerves finally catching up with him.
For the second time that day, as they wordlessly drove to the graveyard, John wished for his boys' protection tonight.
TBC…
xxxxxx
Phew, I hope that chapter was okay. Review and let me know if it was any good, 'kay? (grin)