'You little fucking bastard,' thought Dean. 'If I ever get my hands on you, there won't be anyone in this world – not your parents, your brother, the sheriff, or even my father – who'll be able to help you."
Underneath the table, Dean clenched and unclenched his fists in an attempt to alleviate his anger. Everyone was staring at him. Everyone that is – except Sam. Sam was staring down at his hands, softly pressing his hands onto the table and trying his best to pretend that he wasn't here.
Dean focused on his little brother, silently willing him to look at him. 'See what you've done? See how much trouble you've caused just because you didn't want to stand up to Rick? I hope you can see what he's really like now.'
Dean stopped scrutinizing his brother and let his eyes wander around the room, halting briefly to look at each occupant in the room. He knew they were all waiting for him to respond to Rick's allegations. But why should he? They were just that – allegations. And he had no way to back them up. Not unless he had depositions from any of the kids who were in the park - or Sammy opened his big mouth and agreed with him. But Dean didn't think either one of those was likely.
No, he had no intention of responding; he was just going to wait to see what happened next.
Sam slowly lifted his head and glared at Rick. "You're lying," he accused vehemently. "You and your buddies did this to me and you know it. You just want to pin it on Dean so the sheriff will charge him with assaulting you. You knew that the minute I told the sheriff that you did this to me, your stupid assault charge didn't hold water."
"Now, just a minute, young man…" started Mr. Leavey.
"No," interrupted Sam cantankerously. "Your son and his friends were ganging up on me. Dean only jumped in to stop them. No one else was going to help me. Dean doesn't deserve any of this."
John reached out and put his hand on Sam's arm to silence him. Sam may have been right, but antagonizing the Leaveys wasn't going to help Dean. They had to be patient and let the sheriff reveal all the facts; that way, Mr. Leavey wouldn't be able to hide behind his role as deputy-mayor in order to ensure that Dean was charged.
"Son," said Sheriff Durham gently to Sam, "Did your brother threaten you at the park like Rick said?"
"No," huffed Sam. "It wasn't like that," "He was just mad because I wouldn't get in the car."
"And why wouldn't you get in the car?" asked the sheriff.
"Because I was mad at him."
"For what?"
"For getting involved in the argument between Rick and I at school. I wanted to handle it myself and I was mad that he just jumped in."
"You mean when he asked you if there was a problem?" asked the sheriff, trying to get the order of events clear in his head.
"Yeah. I knew it would just make things worse with Rick. I just wanted Rick to leave me alone but, after Dean had jumped in, I knew that wasn't going to happen," explained Sam irritably. "So I didn't want to talk to him when he drove up to the park. That's why I headed back the other way."
"And that made your brother mad?"
"Well, yeah…I guess," conceded Sam and he glanced at his brother, "I mean…Rick and his friends were at the park and when Dean saw them, I guess he was afraid of what might have happened if he hadn't shown up when he did. I suppose it pissed him off when I turned around and started walking away, so he just drove the car onto the grass to catch up to me as fast as he could."
"But did he threaten you when he reached you?" asked Rick's father impatiently.
It was Rick who answered, "Yeah, he did. We could all hear it from where we were standing. He yelled at Sam and said told him he'd be sorry if he had to get out and drag him back to the car. That's when Sam turned around and went over to the car. But you could tell he was scared, because he just stood there for a minute before he opened the door and actually got in the car."
"Look, Genius…" replied Dean, leaning forward in his seat and pointing a finger at Rick.
"OKAY, PEOPLE," intervened the sheriff. "Seems like a few too many people in this room are a little hot under the collar right now." Then he turned to Dean and declared, "If you make any more moves or gestures towards him," indicating Rick, "I will immediately have you removed from this room and charged. There'll be no more time for discussion. Do you understand that?"
"Yes, Sir," answered Dean as he sat back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. He refrained from looking at his father, knowing full well that he would not be amused by his little outburst.
The sheriff looked at Sam and asked, "Did your brother intimidate you into getting in the car?"
"No," stated Sam emphatically. "Dean can be pretty dramatic sometimes and he tends to act like he's one of my parents, but I wasn't afraid of him, or worried that he'd hurt me. I had really just wanted to piss him off for getting involved in the argument at school. That's why I left my friend's before he got there and why I turned around when I saw him at the park. But I wasn't afraid of getting into the car with him."
"And I gather you succeeded in making him mad?" asked the sheriff, sounding a bit amused.
Sam stole a quick glance at Dean, "Yeah. He was really pissed. So I figured I might as well get in the car and let him drive me home. I really didn't want to make him any madder so that he would decide to just leave me there and I'd have to walk home by myself."
"But wasn't that what you wanted when you left your friend's house?"
"Not really," conceded Sam. "I knew he'd come looking for me. You'd have to know Dean to know that he would never just go home without me. He'd have spent all night looking for me if he hadn't found me." He shrugged as he added, "He's just like that."
"But once he found you at the park – would he have just gone home without you?" asked Sheriff Durham.
"He never would have left me there alone, especially seeing as Rick was there. But he was pretty mad. I guess I figured there was no point making him any madder," admitted Sam. "Besides, I'm really not supposed to walk home by myself. If I hadn't gotten into the car, I'd have been in real trouble with my Dad."
"So," contemplated the sheriff, "You brother was really just looking out for you. That's why he was mad – because he didn't think you were being careful enough? And you were disobeying your father?"
"Something like that," agreed Sam.
Sheriff Durham thought for a few minutes. It was obvious that Dean hadn't been the cause of Sam's injuries. He had simply reacted to Sam's behavior the same way that thousands of parents do with their children every day. Hell, he was only a teenager himself and he had been frustrated by his brother's actions. Lots of people far older than Dean say the same types of things to their kids when they're frustrated with them; it doesn't mean that they'd actually hurt them. Dean had just been vocalizing his frustration, not threatening his brother.
But he still had the issue of Sam's injuries to think about. He was sure that Rick Leavey had been involved in harming him somehow; he'd heard lots of stories about the Leavey boy's using their father's position in this town to get away with everything this side of murder.
Sheriff Durham addressed Rick. "So…why are you giving Sam a hard time? He seems like a nice enough boy."
Rick realized that he had some backpedaling to do; it wouldn't look good for him if it sounded like he was picking on Sam. "I don't really give him a hard time. It's just that he doesn't really fit in with the rest of the kids at school. We all kinda laugh and joke round all the time and he doesn't like to do that. I've been trying to get him to join in with the rest of us since he moved here – so he'll be accepted. But he just gets mad at me. Like when we were goofing around the other day and he took a swing at me."
"I did not," shot back Sam furiously. "You've been trying to provoke me since we moved here and I've just been trying to stay away from you."
"If he took a swing at you, Rick," questioned Sheriff Durham, "Why is he the only one with injuries?"
"Because he missed. He fights like a girl."
"And how would you know?" inquired the sheriff. "Didn't I hear you say you don't fight?"
"I'll defend myself if I have to," responded Rick, haughtily.
"Then why didn't you?" asked the sheriff.
"Because I didn't have to. Sam couldn't hit a barn door if it was closed and he was stuck on the inside."
"So why did Carl and Jimmy have to grab hold of Sam to stop him from swinging at you?"
"I already told you," replied Rick impatiently. "I didn't want to fight him. But he wouldn't stop."
"So, let me get this straight," added Sheriff Durham. "He fights like a girl. And you will defend yourself when you have to. But you couldn't stop Sam from trying to hit you all by yourself. You had to have your friends do it?"
"They were just trying to help me," retorted Rick in desperation. "That's all."
"So it was okay for them to help you, but not okay for Sam's brother to help him? Is that what you're telling me?"
"Well…" answered Rick, confused, "No…I mean…" and he looked at his father for help. "Dad?"
Greg Leavey sat up in his seat and leaned toward Sheriff Durham. "Bob, are you trying to make this whole thing look like it was my son's fault?" he asked accusingly.
Sheriff Durham shook his head. "No, Greg. I'm just trying to find out exactly what happened."
"By blaming it all on my son," shot back Mr. Leavey angrily.
"Well," responded the sheriff cautiously, "I don't believe he's as innocent as he's pretending he is." He paused and stared directly at the deputy major. "Come on, Greg. Take a look at him. He's a little bit taller than Sam over there - and he has about 20 lbs on him. Yet he can't prevent him from trying to hit him? So, his friends jump in to help him by restraining Sam, who, according to Rick, couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag. If that's all true, how is it that Sam got hurt?"
"I think you need to take a second look at his brother," challenged Mr. Leavey.
"No, I don't think so," stated Sheriff Durham flatly. "I think the only thing he did wrong was tell your son to leave his brother alone. And, under the circumstances, I think anyone else would have done the same thing. Even your oldest boy - if the tables were turned and Rick was in Sam's position." He looked at Rick's mother and asked, "Wouldn't you agree Helen?"
"Well, Robin would certainly watch out for Rick," stammered Mrs. Leavey, not quite sure what she should be saying. "But I definitely know that he wouldn't stoop so low to frighten someone younger than him." She seemed to have gained some confidence as she added, "And Rick was certainly afraid when he came home and told Robin about it."
"He told Robin about it first?" asked the sheriff in disbelief. "Not you or Greg?"
"No, he talked to Robin first and Robin convinced him he should talk to us about it."
Sheriff Durham turned to Dean. "And do you know Robin?"
"Yes, Sir," responded Dean curtly.
"And how do you two get along?"
"Fine," lied Dean. "We have a few classes together. That's all. We really don't know each other and I like it that way."
"Look," barged in Mr. Leavey, "I don't see what any of this has to do with the fact that this boy threatened Rick." He looked at John and continued, "He's obviously some kind of thug and I don't want him getting away with this type of behavior."
"He's not a thug," responded John, forcefully. He was becoming increasingly annoyed with this man's insistence that Dean was the only one who had overstepped his bounds in this instance. "He was simply looking out for his brother."
"You know," claimed Mr. Leavey, staring at John. "It's people like you and your family that we'd like to keep out of this town. It's a nice, friendly town and when outsiders move in, they always bring trouble with them."
"You mean to say that they move in and aren't intimidated by you or your position in this town?" interrupted the sheriff. "That this boy didn't even give it a second thought that Rick was your son before he stopped him from harming his brother? And now you're upset because they haven't rolled over and played dead over this trumped-up assault charge?"
"Bob," threatened Mr. Leavey, "You're an elected official in this town…"
"Yes, I am," stated the sheriff empathically, "And it's my job to uphold the law for all its citizens – not just it's prominent ones. And until it's not my job, I intend to do just that." He stood up and leaned on the table towards the deputy major. "So if you insist on going ahead with these charges, I'll have no other option but to lay a counter-charge against Rick for assault and battery. And I don't think that's what you want."
Sheriff Durham glared at Rick's father, daring him to put up a challenge, but the man said nothing. The sheriff reached into the file that was sitting on the table in front of him and he pulled out a single piece of paper.
"Just so we know that we're all in agreement," he remarked, "I want you to destroy this complaint yourself," and he held out the document to Mr. Leavey.
The deputy major glared at the sheriff as he snatched the piece of paper from his hand. He hesitated before he made any attempt to rip up the complaint he had filed on behalf of his son. "Bob, if you think this is funny…"
"I think it's justice," responded the sheriff categorically.
After Mr. Leavey had torn up the complaint he, his wife and his son left the sheriff's station as quickly as they could. John had thanked the sheriff for his help before he ushered his boys out of the room.
As they were walking down the hall, the sheriff spoke quietly to John, "You may want to tell your sons to steer clear of the Leavey boys. They can be real trouble."
Oh, I wouldn't worry about them," replied John as he shook the sheriff's hand, "They can take care of themselves."
The three Winchesters got in the truck and John pulled out of the parking lot, heading back to the motel.
Dean smirked at Sam and said, "So… I hear you fight like a girl?"
"Shut up, Dean," replied Sam, not even glancing at his brother.
"Will you two just stop," ordered John, tired of listening to the constant bickering between his sons. "We have more important things to think about now. I spent most of today altering that hospital document to get rid of all mention of the bruising on Sam's neck and I didn't have time to figure out where the Aswang will hunt tonight."
"Won't it just go back to that subdivision?" asked Dean.
"No," responded John. "It won't go back there. We've thwarted it too many times, so it will look for a new location hoping it can avoid us. I just don't know where yet. That's what we have to figure out before it gets dark."
John drove into a parking spot in front of their motel room and exited the truck, with Dean and Sam following him.
As he slipped the key into the lock on the motel room door, he heard Dean mutter almost inaudibly behind him, "Ahh…Dad. I don't feel so good."
"What's wrong, Sport?" asked John. He turned around just in time to see his eldest son collapse in a heap on the ground.
"Dean!" he called as he ran over to him, but Dean lay unconscious beside the truck. John told Sam to open the motel room door and he threw Dean over his shoulder to get him inside as quickly as possible.
Sam opened the door and hastily stepped inside. He narrowly missed tripping over a chair and he glanced around the room. He couldn't believe what he saw. The table had been overturned, chairs were upside down, the beds were disheveled, and all the drawers were open, their contents strewn all around the room.
Sam spun around to block his father's entrance before he came in and stumbled over something.
"Dad, the room's been ransacked."