A/N: Yeah, I'm late for Sam's birthday. What's he gonna do?

Checking In

The apartment was silent except for the occasional scribbling of pencils and the pretty much constant tapping of keyboards. There were also the odd annoyed sighs and pained groans, but apart from that, completely silent. Both Jess and Sam were working hard on their papers and revising for exams. They'd taken the night off earlier that week to celebrate Sam's birthday and were paying for it now. Their hangovers were long gone, but they were still keenly missing that extra day of work.

That isn't to say that Jess regretted taking the day off for Sam at all. She'd done her best to make sure Sam wouldn't regret it either and she thought that she'd probably succeeded on that front. Still, they were approaching six hours of solid working now and Jess would be lying if she said she wasn't secretly hoping for something to interrupt them.

Jess felt a little guilty about that, because Sam was pretty on edge and would probably snap anything (or anyone) that broke the silence in two. Sam worried far too much about school work for someone as clever as he was; he'd be able to get away with doing half the work he did. Still, he would be the Sam Jess loved if he slacked on his work. His dedicated attitude was just one of the many things about Sam that Jess found entrancing.

Jess jumped nearly a foot in the air when Sam's phone rang. Sam slammed his pencil down on the table and looked at the screen of his phone. Jess could tell that whoever it was was not going to get a friendly welcome, though Jess would be surprised if he even picked up. Sam looked up at Jess briefly and then stood, bringing the phone up to his ear.

"What do you want?" he said as he left the room, clearly not wanting Jess to hear the conversation. Jess wavered between continuing with her essay and eavesdropping on Sam, then she remembered that Sam had read her emails and ruined his own birthday surprise (seriously, who does that?) and that this was just the interruption she'd been hoping for. Plus, she wanted to know who was stupid enough to come between Sam and his studies. She tiptoed to the door that Sam had failed to close properly when he stormed out.

"You serious?" Oh yeah, Sam was pissed.

"You missed it, Dean, it was two days ago." Dean? Another phone call with Dean? And Dean had even been the one to do the actual calling, which was an improvement. He really didn't have the best timing, though.

"That's a real convenient excuse," Sam snorted. Jess couldn't blame him. His family hadn't done anything for his birthday and now they call? It was a valiant effort, but really, too little too late.

"Maybe you should try actually calling on my birthday." Sam obviously felt the same way as Jess.

"No, no I'm just a bit stressed. I've got papers and stuff due." Except that his voice softened and he seemed a little less tense. If Jess could see him, she was sure she'd see that his angry scowl was gone.

"I don't think so. Not unless you're suddenly an expert in law." Using her brilliant skills of deduction, Jess guessed that Dean had just offered to help with Sam's paper, which was laughable, really. If Sam couldn't do it, it wasn't likely that Dean would be able to. Unless Dean was just as much of a genius as Sam was, which was possible, but from what she'd heard of Dean, was unlikely. He couldn't remember his own brother's birthday.

"Harpies?" That had got to be the most abrupt subject change ever. Law degree to harpies in 2.4 seconds. Add to that the pure what-the-hell?-factor of someone mentioning harpies and it left Jess pretty confused. That was nothing new when it came to Sam's family, though.

"Really?" Sam at least seemed to understand what was going on, and if Jess wasn't mistaken, he sounded like he might just be smiling, which was actually impressive.

"Jesus, he okay?" There was worry in his voice now, which wasn't surprising considering that he must have just got news that someone had been hurt. Sam didn't hate his family, he just didn't talk about them. Or to them. Just because he didn't have anything to do with them, didn't mean he didn't love them. It was just complicated. Far too complicated for Jess to keep track of when she barely had any of the facts.

"Just as well he landed on his head, then." That was said jokingly and Jess wondered who this 'he' was. It wasn't Dean, so Jess' first guess was Sam's dad, but who knows how many other people there were from Sam's past that he didn't keep in touch with any more. It worried Jess sometimes – when she thought about it – that Sam seemed to have had this whole other life before Stanford and he wouldn't let anyone else in on it.

"You sure he's okay?" Jess could easily picture the concern on Sam's face, Sam did concern well, it suited him.

"Can't say I envy you looking after him." Jess was pretty sure that his dad must be the hurt one after hearing that. One of the few things that Jess knew about Sam's family was that Dean stuck by their father through everything. Whatever that 'everything' may be.

"Like what?" And then Sam was straight back into pissed. Sam could be like that. Unfortunately, it didn't look the conversation would end well from here. It would take some pretty skilful Sam-wrangling to rescue it.

"I'm doing okay." Sam's answer was clipped and short. This was the Sam she'd been living with for the past two days, the one that bit everyone's head off (ever hers a few times).

"Yes. I'm okay. What do you want to hear, Dean? That it's really awful here? That I really miss you and Dad? That I regret leaving? Because I don't." The silence following was somehow more tense than any other silence so far that day. Jess knew that Sam had overstepped some invisible mark by the way that she couldn't even hear his breathing. Sam sighed.

"Dean, I... Dean? Dean! Fuck."

"There something wrong?" said Jess, pushing open the door, belatedly realised that she'd just revealed exactly how close to the door she'd been standing. Seeing Sam sitting on the table looking like a kicked puppy made Jess concentrate on the important things in life, like Sam, and forget stupid things like getting caught eavesdropping, though. "Sam?"

"No," said Sam in a way that made it obvious there was something wrong. "I just, I said something stupid."

"He'll forgive you," said Jess, hoping that Dean would.

"Yeah, I know. I just wish it didn't have to be this way sometimes, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," said Jess, hugging Sam, wishing that she could make everything better for him. Sam deserved everything to be better.

The End.

Except: both sides of the conversation again! Woo!

"What do you want?"

"Happy birthday!"

"What?"

"Happy birthday!"

"You serious?"

"Uh, yes?"

"You missed it, Dean, it was two days ago."

"I know, but I didn't have any signal where I was."

"That's a real convenient excuse."

"Look, you called for my birthday, I was just trying to return the favour."

"Maybe you should try actually calling on my birthday."

"Christ, Sam, what crawled up your ass and died? You need me to come get it out?"

"No, no I'm just a bit stressed. I've got papers and stuff due."

"A bit stressed? Dude, you haven't been that wound up since you... since... yeah. Any subjects I can help with?"

"I don't think so. Not unless you're suddenly an expert in law."

"I don't know, you might be doing something on ancient Greece. I could give you some info on harpies."

"Harpies?"

"Yes! Real, live harpies! Man, they were a complete bitch to kill; guns won't cut it , you have to use a sword or a spear. They're all flapping around your head screeching and yelling and shit and they're fast. I mean, like, bullet fast."

"Really?"

"Well, no, not quite that fast, but pretty damn fast. A few of them got the drop on Dad, and I mean that literally. They picked him up by his jacket and dropped him."

"Jesus, he okay?"

"Yeah, he's got a thick skull, you know that."

"Just as well he landed on his head, then."

"Yeah... wait, hold on... what is it?... no, it's Sammy... looks like it... no, don't get up, I'll get it, Jesus... Dad says happy birthday."

"You sure he's okay?"

"Bedridden, and you know how much he loves that."

"Can't say I envy you looking after him."

"Man, it's harder than killing harpies, I'm tellin' ya. Wait a minute... what?... Okay, let's talk about something else before Dad kicks my ass for bitching."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, Sammy, maybe like how you're doing?"

"I'm doing okay."

"Okay? That's it? You go off for two years and you're just okay?"

"Yes. I'm okay. What do you want to hear, Dean? That it's really awful here? That I really miss you and Dad? That I regret leaving? Because I don't."

"No, man, I just... You know what? Never mind. I called to say happy birthday and I said it. Hope you get your papers in on time or whatever."

"Dean, I... Dean? Dean! Fuck."

The Real End.

Hope you enjoyed!