Okay for those reading this I have a question. I keep vacillating between John knowing where Dean is and not knowing. The moment I plan the story one way the other seems better. So for all of my faithful readers you tell me in comments "Does John know where Dean is?" Thank you for those of you that followed/favorite "Dogs" Tallin Mackay, 118, JensenIsIt, ncsupnatfan, Suzseb, Ilovethisbar, bk18, beakers47, SPN-bean, gabelle5577, and Dean's Worshiper. And for the reviews they keep me motivated so thank you Dean's Worshiper. ncsupnatfan- yes Dean is a skinwalker...but I hope to answer the other question in the coming chapters.
For the first ten minutes, after his son left John packed the room ranting about the lack of respect Sam had for him. He was the father and it was going to be his way or the highway. He paused a shirt halfway into the duffle bag when he realized that was exactly what Sam did, he took the highway. Sometimes he wished his son were less like him and more like Mary. He pulled the pictures down from the wall and threw them in the trash. He grabbed his bag, carried it out to the car, and threw it in the back. He was going to find Sam and they were going to reach some sort of compromise.
John drove for several blocks in the direction he watch Sam go. He knew that if the boy wanted to disappear he could and for the first, he hoped his son wasn't going to be that stubborn. About twenty minutes and several miles John found his wayward son standing by the opposite side of the road talking on the cell phone. He ignored the traffic, pulled up over the middle divide, and turned into the traffic. He touched the horn and gratified when Sam looked up and waved in acknowledgement. He pulled up to the curb and left the truck in idle as he waited for his son to join him.
Sam did not know what to make of the phone call he just received. He had tried to call the number back but all he got was a generic voice mail response. Not to mention John's timing on coming to get him. His father never caved first or gave an inch unless Sam backed down or Dean persuaded him that the hunting would suffer if they didn't work it out.
Sam tossed his bag into the back and climbed into the cab. "Dad."
John remained parked where he was and turned to the man sitting next to him. "Sam, you're my son and I hate the fact that every time we see each other it turns into a battle."
"Dad..."
"No Sam let me finish. I keep getting told that we butt heads like we do because we are so much alike."
John paused when Sam scoffed but for the first time in a while chose to not to let it start another fight. "I know that's not what you want to hear but it is true. I didn't mean to raise you like soldiers it just happened because that's what I knew. And your not falling into line just ... reinforced that I didn't know what I was doing."
"Dad we were kids we weren't supposed to fall in."
"Sam, I am trying. How about you meet me half way?"
He couldn't count on two hands the amounts of times his father had suggested meeting halfway. It always started out good and then went back to same old same old. On the other hand if his father did try maybe they could find Dean before they reverted back to the same pattern. "Alright halfway."
"Good. But Sam even if we are looking for your brother we can't ignore cases. People are being killed and we can stop it."
Sam sighed he figured it would not last long although he had hoped longer than it took his father to get the promise out of his mouth.
John shook his head and said, "Don't do that. We have a job to do. Your brother would understand."
"How the hell is this halfway? This whole spiel was about getting me to agree to hunt with you."
John gripped the steering wheel as until his knuckles were white. Why did the boy have to make it as difficult as he did? "Fine Sam. Lets go live your normal life and let everyone die."
"God dad. Listen to yourself. One minute you are saying compromise and as soon as I agree you become commander in chief and begin barking orders. You really don't want to find Dean do you?"
"Just because I will not abandon my job to find Dean you want to assume I don't want to find your brother?"
Sam debated telling his father about the phone call. He wanted more to go on before he brought it up. But if John didn't want to find Dean he would want a replacement for him on this never ending battle against everything that was out there. "I said we could me halfway and your answer is the job. You tell me DAD where does Dean fit in there?"
John counted to ten and not for the hundredth time tonight did he wish he was dealing with his oldest and not Sam. This time his guilt was a little stronger as he thought about the real reason he hadn't realized in time that his oldest was missing. "Alright Sam you want a compromise, here. We will not look for new cases until we find Dean but ...if we find something or someone calls we will follow up on it."
Sam did a double take this was a major compromise from his father. He could work with this but his interview was Monday and if he agreed to his father's terms, he would miss it. Yet at the same time, something about that call bugged him. What if Dean was in trouble and he was his only hope. "Okay dad, you can compromise so can I. I will take the winter semester off and we will find Dean and then I will go back to school."
To say John was surprised was an understatement. He figured he could get Sam to grudgingly give him a few weeks and whine about the meeting he missed the entire time. So he wasn't surprised when Sam held up a hand to add to his comment.
"But I want three things. I want to make the appointment on Monday and let the school know I am taking a leave of absence."
John could work with this and nodded in agreement.
Sam continued. "Us, we don't work even when we try. I want different rooms when we stop for the night."
"Sam..."
Sam cut the older man off and said, "No. It's the only way we are going to work. We are constantly at each others throat and I am not going to spend the winter like that."
John gritted his teeth in an effort not to snap and realized this was exactly what Sam was referring to, but the boy was being completely ridiculous. He was going to teach the boy a lesson. "Alright Sam, but you know that it means more pool hustling and credit card fraud."
"Because it would kill you do things the legal way, right dad. Fine whatever. I want to go get the impala from Bobby. If we find Dean, I want him to have his car."
John regarded Sam for a moment. The boy was practically screaming he wanted nothing to do with him. He didn't want to stay in the same room or even ride in the same car. He hated the fact that they couldn't do any better than this. "You really hate me don't you?"
John held up his hand to stop Sam's automatic protest. "We can work like that. Dean and I did. I agree to your terms but you will have to keep the impala gassed up and cleaned the way Dean did. And we are going to finish this case."
Sam's jaw tightened and his mouth pulled to a slight smirk. He had figured John was going to make that part of the deal but it didn't bother him too much since he had agreed to his terms. Now he would just have to make Jessica understand taking off from her and school. That was going to be more difficult than this was. "Fine dad, whatever you say. We just have to be at Stanford on Monday. I have an appointment for one of the top law schools in the states."
On one hand, he was proud of Sam and his accomplishments but he raised his son to hunt evil. But he knew what his son was going to become and a lawyer wouldn't stop it. Only a hunter could and right now Dean wasn't available, which meant for the time being he would have to watch and wait.
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