Chapter 3
Disclaimer- Still don't own them, still wish I did. I promise to return them when I am done playing. I just can't guarantee what shape Dean will be in though.
A/N Again I want to say a huge thank you to Soar for all her beta work, any mistakes are mine.
"Yes, son. That was someone who wants to meet you. I told him I would talk to you boys and get back to him."
"Who, dad?" asked Sam.
"Francis Jackson, your grandfather."
Sam and Dean both stared at their father. They were speechless.
"Our what?" asked Dean.
"Dad, you said that he wanted nothing to do with us," Sam added.
"I know, Sam, I was shocked as well, but he seems to have a life full of regrets."
"Did you know he was going to be here?" asked Dean. He was suspicious and he wondered if this was his father's way of getting him to talk about his mom.
"No, son, I swear. I promise, I had no idea. If I had known, I would have waited until tomorrow. He was the last person I expected, or wanted to run into."
"Then why is it even an issue that we have to meet this guy?" asked Sam. "I don't want to. He's the one who rejected us. You aren't going to order us are you?"
John's first thought was That's my boy! Sam knew the real story behind the reason they had no contact with Mary's parents. Sam was defending his brother, even if Dean didn't know it.
"What about you, Dean? It's completely up to you. No pressure."
Dean didn't answer right away.
"I don't know," he said hesitantly. "Do you think that... I mean would, um, would..."
Dean couldn't find the words, but John knew what his son was thinking and finished the thought for him.
"I want you to do what you want to do. Please don't make this decision based on what you think your mom would or wouldn't want you to do. Do what feels right for you, son."
"I ah... I want... I'm not sure." Dean said finally.
John did not want Dean getting upset over this, so he decided to change the subject, something he knew that would give Dean the emotional lift he needed.
"Hey, kiddo, we're in no hurry, okay. You don't have to decide this right now. It's a lot to think about. How about we get a hotel room and check out some potential leads for a hunt? You can think this over and decide when you're ready."
As mixed up emotionally as Dean was about his grandfather, he was also he was also secretly ecstatic that his only wish in life was coming true, even if it was temporary. He, John and Sam were a family again and they were going hunting. A huge grin lit up his face.
"Time to let evil know that the Winchester's are back in the game. Let's go kick its ass."
They checked into a local Super 8 motel. Sam quickly booted up his laptop, leaving Dean and John to scour the local papers. Unfortunately, there weren't too many leads. There was one story about the death of a couple. They had a nine year old son who claimed that it was the work of an invisible killer. It wasn't much of a lead, but it was better than nothing. They all decided it was worth checking into.
THE NEXT DAY
John dropped the boys at the local library to do some background research.
"What are you going to do, dad?" questioned Sam.
"I am going to meet with Frank. We will be at Jackie's Diner, it's on the main street in town. I mean it boys, no pressure. You want to meet him, you can meet me there. If you don't, then give me a call on my cell when your're done. It's totally up to you."
"Why you're even giving him the time of day, dad, I'll never know," Sam stated defiantly.
"With everything that's happened recently, I realized that life's too short to hold a grudge. When I first met the man, he was very intimidating. Yesterday, he reminded me of me after your mother... um your mother died. Mary was everything to him. He told me that he retired last year and to me he looked like a man who had lost everything."
"I thought you said his wife was still alive," Sam said.
"She is, but even your mother would agree that she is a cold hearted bitch," John commented.
"Is she really that bad?" Sam asked curiously.
"Yes, Sam, she is," John said.
"I still don't understand why you want to associate with either of them," Sam muttered sullenly.
"We all do things in life that we aren't proud of, Sam. I made a lot of mistakes with you and your brother, but you both forgave me," John replied.
Sam couldn't think of anything to say to that. His dad made a good point but Sam was still angry over what his dad had told him.
Dean had been listening to their conversation. He knew just want to say. "If you two are done with your chick flick moment, we got work to do."
"Shut up, jerk," Sam replied affectionately.
"Bitch," came the expected response.
"BOYS!"
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John had called Frank the night before and set up the meeting. John had meant what he said, he was willing to give Frank the benefit of the doubt. Frank was disappointed that Sam had declined to meet him, but he was hopeful his other grandson would come around. John spotted the man and joined him in the booth that Frank was already sitting in. He gave his order to the waitress who appeared quickly at his side. The silence was awkward at first, neither really knew how to start the conversation.
"I wish Dean was here," John commented finally. "He would have some perfect smart alec remark to break the tension."
Frank chuckled at that. "John, I want you to know I really do appreciate you meeting me here. It means a lot to me. I have so many things I wish I could take back and do over again."
"I do too, Frank, and that's the reason I agreed to this," John said.
"Will you tell me about the boys? What are they doing now? What do they like to do? Their hobbies and interests?" Frank asked eagerly.
"They're the best sons a man could ask for. Where to start? Hold on, I got an idea, I'll be back in a minute." John exited the diner to retrieve a medium sized box out from the car.
"What's that?" Frank asked John.
"It's what I call my memory box. It's filled with keep sakes from the boys that I collected over the years," John replied.
For the next hour, John showed Frank birthday and father's day cards the boys had made for him over the years, and some photos from the boy's youth. He told Mary's father some stories, edited of course, from their childhood. He told Frank about Dean's love of cars and Sam's love of books. Then he showed Frank a hospital bracelet from a time when Dean was seven.
Frank looked solemnly at John. "I had a heart attack last year, that's why I retired, had to have bypass surgery. It was the most painful thing I ever went through and I'm an old man. I couldn't even begin to think of what the prospect of open heart surgery was like to a kid."
"It was rough, Frank, but Dean's a tough kid. He came through it like a champ," John said proudly.
A few months after Dean had been born, doctors had discovered he had a hole in his heart. Back in 1979, it was a huge operation to fix it. At first, it didn't seem to cause Dean any complications and given Dean's health after he was born, the doctors did not think that he would survive the operation. They decided to wait until they had no choice but to repair it. It was after Dean turned seven and John had really started training him that it started to bother him, and it had to be repaired.
Next, John showed Frank some old report cards and a couple of school projects. When Frank looked at Dean's old report cards, John knew what Frank had to be thinking. After Dean's premature birth, the doctors had told John and Mary that if Dean survived, he would most likely be both physically and mentally impaired.
"Sam was like his mother." John commented. "He loved school. Dean on the other hand, did not. He is smart though, Frank, very smart, just like Sam. It's just that he..."
"Just didn't apply himself," finished Frank.
"How did you know I was going to say that?" John asked in surprise.
"Mary was the same way at first," Frank said.
John was shocked and Frank didn't miss it.
"Her mother felt that Mary didn't need to do well in school, she just had to be smart enough to get a rich husband. I wanted my daughter to succeed, so we had long talks about her school work. Thank God she came around," Frank explained.
"When Dean was 15, we found out that he had dyslexia. Here's his report cards after that, his grades started to improve. He graduated with honors. Dean is really good with math and numbers. Here's proof." John handed Frank a copy of Dean's acceptance letter and full scholarship offer to MIT.
"That's really impressive," Frank said in genuine awe.
"Sam, he was a genius from the start. Straight A's on every report card. He also got offered a full ride to Stanford. You have to read this essay this Sam wrote," John said, handing Sam's early works over to Frank, pleased to have someone to share his paternal pride with.
Frank read Sam's essay, it was far better than any 9 year old should have been able to write. It was entitled 'My Brother, My Hero'.
"Did you know that Sam actually got in trouble over that essay?" John commented.
"How? It's so good." It was Frank's turn to be surprised.
"That was the problem. The teacher didn't believe he wrote it, called me to the school and everything. Then she had the nerve to try to tell me that there was no way Sam could have felt that way about his brother. Said she had an older sister that didn't want her around and treated her like she was a pain so I must have wrote it about the way I wished things were between my sons," John commented.
"What did you do?" Frank asked.
"I couldn't help myself, I was in a really foul mood at this point and it just came out. I told her it shouldn't come as a big surprise her sister treated her like that, she was a pain. I then not only told her she was jealous of my boys' relationship, but that she shouldn't accuse Sam of cheating just because she was upset that he was smarter than she was."
"You didn't?" Frank chuckled.
'I did. She just kind of looked at me. That shut her up. Then I went to the principal and had Sam transferred out her class." John smiled in remembered satisfaction.
"That sounds like something Mary would have done," Frank said wistfully, a sad smile playing about his lips.
"She was like a mother bear when it came to people she loved," John commented.
"That's why Sam didn't want to see me, isn't it? You said he knew the truth, I insulted his brother."
"Yes. Frank, I know you never liked me, but can I ask you why? Why did you reject Dean?"
"I have no real explanation. It was never about you, John, or Dean. Mary stood up for what she believed in, I wish I could say I did the same. I was a weak fool." Frank rubbed a hand over his wrinkled forehead.
"You ran a major finance company. You're an extremely powerful man, how could you say you're weak?" John asked, trying to understand.
"I'm strong in business. It was the expectations of my parents. My father and my wife's father were good friends. They felt it would be beneficial if we merged our two households. It was politely suggested that we marry. I never really got along that well with Margaret, but she wanted a wealthy husband so she agreed. I didn't, but my dad was not someone you said no to. I wanted to make him proud so I went along with the arranged marriage and that is what it was. Margaret did not want kids, but my father told me that I had to have the family name carried on, so I pushed and eventually she did agree to have one, mainly, because one of our neighbour's gave a huge party with all the right social contacts. Margaret was beyond humiliated and furious when she didn't receive an invite. I pointed out that it was the Mortenson's son's birthday party and that is when she caved. When we first found out that Margaret was expecting, the first thought that came to me was 'daddy's little girl.' My father was disappointed when Margaret had a girl and he let me know it. I was upset that I let my father down, but I wasn't upset with my daughter, she was my princess. Margaret didn't really care what we had, she was now on the invite list."
"My daughter was such a kind soul and a lot of people took advantage of her, and when I first met you, I thought that you were another one. Then I came to realize that you truly cared about her, but for me no one was good enough for my little girl. When I found out that Mary was having a son though, I saw it as another chance to redeem myself in my father's eyes and when Dean was born, all I could hear was my father's voice, that I'd lost another chance to make him proud. I should have had faith in my daughter. She was right about Dean. I just couldn't stand up to an old man. Just once in my life I wanted to do something that would please him. When Sam was born, I thought once again it was my chance. I didn't even think about how it looked to you or Mary. I just wish I could have that moment to do all over again. Pathetic excuse, I know." Frank sighed heavily and his head dropped forward.
"You really did like me?" John couldn't hide his surprise, he had always been under the impression that Frank despised him.
"Yeah, believe it or not I did. What about Dean, any chance he'll see me?"
"I really don't know. He had a really hard time with his mother's death. I don't know if he's ever really dealt with it. I don't want to pressure him, he's been through a rough spot like I said," John explained.
"He didn't say no. I'll hold on to that. How long are you and the boys here for?" Frank queried.
"I'm not sure," said John, thinking about the hunt.
"While you're in town, we should take Dean's acceptance letter and go show it to Dr. Keeping," Frank proposed.
John just looked at Frank. Dr. Nathan Keeping was a friend of both Frank and his wife and he had been Mary's obstetrician. "Why?"
"He's the one who was convinced that Dean would be mentally challenged. The pompous, arrogant jerk wanted to go to MIT but couldn't get in. Let's go show him Dean did," Frank said with a spark of excitement in his eyes.
John got a twinkle in his eye that had not been there in a very long time. He couldn't believe that this was Mary's father. "I'm an adult and that sounds like something a teenager would do, but for the life of me, I can't think of anything I would enjoy more. I really hated that guy."
As John and Frank were making plans to do just that, they heard the group of girls comment, "Oh my lord, did you see the guy that just came in. He is SOO cute."
It caused John to look up and he couldn't believe his eyes when he saw Dean coming toward them.