Authors Note: Thanks to everyone who reviewed my first chapter :-)

Summer Camp

Chapter 2. Stubborn Fathers

John Winchester closed the book that he had been reading and scrubbed at his tired eyes. He had been looking over some ancient books in Jim's secret library of Supernatural reading when he came across one that he hadn't seen before. When he had asked Jim where it had come from his friend had been surprised to see it. He had said that he thought that that particular book had been lost years ago.

The book was very ancient so John had taken the book back to the house to have a look through it, hoping to find something that might bring him a little closer to finding the thing that had killed his wife.

Although the book was an extremely interesting read and definitely shed some light on some things, it didn't get him any closer in figuring out what had murdered his beloved Mary thirteen years ago.

He looked up when he heard the familiar sound of the Impala pulling into the driveway. /Damn that car sounds nice/ John thought as he walked over to the kitchen window and looked outside to see his two sons getting out of the Black Chevy. John did have to admit that he did miss that car just a bit. Mary had loved it and he had spent so many years in it up until his son's 16th birthday. Dean had never nagged for anything for himself and John could see that the boy did truly adore the car as well. He was quite confident that Dean would look after the Impala and he was not disappointed. In fact Dean treated his car almost like it was human, a 4th family member.

He walked over to the fridge and got himself a beer and then sat down waiting for the boys to come inside. He wasn't waiting long. A couple of moments later he heard the front door open followed by Dean coming around the corner into the kitchen a moment later, Sam not far behind.

"Hey boys," John greeted, "How was your day?" he decided to ask.

"Good." "Boring" both boys said simultaneously.

John wasn't surprised by the answers he got and again wasn't surprised to see Dean had headed straight for the fridge, poking his head in then coming back up a moment later with two cans of soda, throwing one to Sam who caught it easily.

He was surprised to see that Sam hadn't really said much since walking in the door. Granted ever since Sam had turned thirteen he never chatted as much as he used to and he was starting to question everything John told him to do but he was never really silent.

"Have you heard from Caleb yet?" Dean asked interrupting John's thoughts.

"Dean, schools not out for two more weeks and Caleb said he wasn't coming until then."

"Yeah I know … I just really wanna get back into things ya know." Dean told him sitting down at the table in between his father and brother.

"Speaking of getting back into things how about you two get your training out the way." John suggested, although both boys knew he was actually telling them to go do it.

"Yes Sir," Sam said getting up, "Meet you outside Dean." Sam said looking at his brother, picking up his bag and making a detour upstairs to the bedroom he was sharing with Dean to put it away.

John watched Sam walk upstairs with a surprised but suspicious look on his face. Lately whenever he ordered them to train, be it sparring or target practice, Sam never outright complained but John could tell that he didn't like it.

He looked over at his eldest son who just shrugged and headed off upstairs after his brother, to put his bag away as well. Something was definitely up with Sam but he thought he would give the kid a chance to come to him about it or at least speak to Dean about what ever was bothering him.

John stood up, picked up the book and walked outside the house and over to the church to return Jim's book and was at least thankful that there had been no arguments this afternoon.

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Dean followed Sam out the back door and into the back yard. Their father expected them to get in at least half an hour training everyday after school just to keep them fresh. In their line of work it was important that they were always prepared.

"Why didn't you ask Dad about the camp in there?" Dean asked walking the small shed to get out the crossbows he knew were in there.

"I dunno … I guess I haven't figured out the best way to ask him yet."

Dean unlocked the shed door and stepped inside collecting the two crossbows, then walked back out and handed one to his brother.

"Sammy I don't think it's gonna matter how you ask him. The answers still gonna be the same."

"Well hopefully I'll hit all my bulls' eyes today; it might make him a little more generous." Sam said hopefully.

Dean shook his head as he walked towards the back of the yard to put the targets up. It was amazing what Sam would do when he wanted something.

Luckily Pastor Jim had a long backyard so the boys didn't have to go elsewhere to practice. It was also good because it gave them the privacy of being in backyard away from prying eyes.

Dean finished setting up the targets then made his way back to the front of the yard to stand next to Sam, "Whenever you're ready Sammy-boy."

Dean took his attention away from Sam and lifted his crossbow, aiming it at the faraway target. When he was sure that he had it lined up he fired. Dean smiled when he looked at the target and saw that he had hit it dead centre. Dean never missed in target practice anymore in fact he rarely missed a moving target either. He still remembered his first supernatural kill. It had happened only last year. He had shot the evil son of a bitch in the heart with a silver tipped arrow, fired from a crossbow.

Sam on the other hand wasn't as confident. Dean looked beside him to his brother and watched him lift up his crossbow and aim. He noticed it was a little unsteady but he didn't say anything. He wanted to see how he was going to go first.

Sam fired the crossbow and both boys turned to the target and saw that Sam hadn't gotten anywhere near the middle.

"You know he's going to expect at least ten bulls' eyes." Dean commented.

"How am I supposed to hit the middle when I can't even hold the bow steady … its heavy man,"

"Sammy Dad has shown you this a million times."

"No Dean Dad just barks orders and expects me to do it."

Dean had to admit it. His father was not the most patient of people, more so with Sam. Dean had always caught onto these types of things easy and he thought that maybe his father expected that Sam should be able to, too.

"Let me see you aim?" Dean asked his brother.

Sam lifted up his crossbow once again and took aim, Dean looking on.

"No, no, no see your standing all wrong." Dean said moving over closer to Sam and began moving him into a better position.

"Okay how does that feel? Do you have a better hold of it now?" Dean asked seriously.

"Yeah actually," Sam said surprised.

"Okay well load up and try again." Dean ordered, automatically going from big brother to trainer.

Sam did as he was told and when he had loaded the bow into the crossbow he took the stance Dean had showed him, Dean making some final adjustments when Sam didn't get it exactly right.

"Okay, try again."

Sam aimed the crossbow and concentrated on the target at the other end of the yard. When he finally felt comfortable he fired.

"That's better." Dean said proudly when Sam almost hit it dead centre. Sam was pretty pleased with himself as well.

He liked it better when it was Dean teaching him because it didn't feel as much pressure, which allowed him to do better. Dean knew the exact way to teach him and their training sessions always seemed to go a lot quicker when it was just the two of them.

Dean and Sam continued their training session, Dean hitting ten for ten. Sam wasn't so fortunate but with his brothers instructions he was getting there. Dean got a couple more shots in while he was waiting for Sam to finish.

"That's my boy!" Dean said loudly when Sam managed to get his last few shots dead centre.

"You're getting better and better with that Sammy." Pastor Jim Murphy said from behind the boys.

"Thanks Pastor Jim." Sam smiled, whether he liked doing this or not it was always nice to get some praise.

"How was your day, boys?" he asked putting a hand on Dean's shoulder.

"Not bad I guess," Dean answered, "You?"

"Good and I have some news I'm sure you'll be happy about."

"What's that?"

"Caleb called just as I got in … he'll be getting here a couple of days earlier than expected."

"That's great!"

"I thought you might think that" Pastor Jim smirked, "Dean why don't you pack all this away and Sammy can come help me with dinner."

"Yes Sir."

Jim watched as Dean went to go collect all the arrows and then turned to his friend's youngest son.

"What about you Sammy, how was your day?"

"Good. There's going to be a school camp for the first month of the holidays. Do you think Dad will let me go?"

"I don't know Sammy. Have you asked him?" Jim asked as he guided the boy back inside the house.

"Not yet because I know that he wants me to go on this hunt with Caleb and Dean."

"Why don't you wait until after dinner? The worse he can say is no."

"Exactly," Sam replied glumly.

"Well let's not worry about that for now and let's worry about dinner." Jim suggested and he and Sam walked into the kitchen.

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Dinner had been eaten in a quiet but comfortable silence. A little talk about the new hunt and school but other than that everyone seemed to be lost in their own thoughts.

Dean put his fork and knife down and smiled across at Jim, "That was great Pastor Jim." Dean commended when everyone had finished their meal.

"Thank you Dean."

"Here pass me your plates." Dean held his hands out and everyone passed him their plates.

Dean always felt compelled to do the dishes whenever Pastor Jim cooked. The older man had done a hell of a lot for his family so it was the least he could he supposed. Besides he knew that Sam wanted to ask his father about the camp so he thought he may as well make himself useful and hopefully he wouldn't be dragged into this argument.

Sam looked at his Dad and realized he was about to get up and retreat to the lounge room and thought that this moment was as good as any and decided to pop the question.

"Dad?"

"Yeah Sammy?" John asked looking directly at his son, having got the feeling all night that Sam had wanted to ask or tell him something.

"I wanted to ask you something and … I want you to try and have an open mind."

"What is it?"

"I want to go on summer camp this summer." Sam stated looking at his father.

John started shaking his head but was cut off by Sam, "Dad, just hear me out please?"

"Go on." John said warily.

"Well it's gonna be at this old orphanage that's been restored in this place called Leota. It's about 2 hours from here. It's for one month and they'll be a whole lot of cool stuff to do."

"Sammy you know I need you on this hunt."

"Dad you don't need me you'll have Dean and Caleb." Sam said trying to convince him.

"Sammy this is important."

"Well this is important to me. Come on Dad. Please. All my friends are going."

"Oh well if all your friends are going…" John said sarcastically

"Dad it's only one month and you, me and Caleb are more than capable of handling this job." Dean piped in from where he was leaning against the sink, watching the exchange.

"Dean, keep out of this."

Dean gave Sam a look that was in between an I told you so and I tried.

"Sam, you're not going, end of story." John told his youngest son earning him a glare.

"Why not?"

"You know why. For one you're not skipping out of this hunt and secondly it's too dangerous."

"Dangerous? I'll be surrounded by students and teachers. How dangerous could it be?" Sam asked incredulously.

"You'll be unprotected and at least this way I can keep an eye on you."

"I can't believe this. I'm not a baby you know!"

"No but you know what's out there Sammy. Now I gave you your answer and it's final."

"That's not fair!"

"Life isn't fair Sam. You're going on this hunt!" John told him sternly leaving no room for argument.

"Fine!" Sam yelled and stomped up the stairs and up to his room.

John was angry. This last year he couldn't work out why Sam was being so difficult. Didn't he understand that this was all for their own good. They needed to be prepared to fight whatever might come to harm them. They needed to find Mary's killer. John knew deep down that whatever it was that had taken Mary from them that night when Sam was 6 months old was after Sam. Knowing this John needed Sam prepared and he needed Dean prepared. It was hard to be so tough on his children sometimes but it was the way things had to be if they were going to survive.

John didn't need to turn around to know Dean was giving him a disapproving look. He had brought Dean up, drilling it into him that Sam was his responsibility and if he knew one thing about his eldest son it was that he took his responsibilities very seriously and Sam was no exception.

He turned around to face Dean, "Have you got something to say?"

Dean looked at him for a moment and then answered with the expected "No Sir."

"I'm going upstairs. See you in the morning."

"Good night Dean." Jim said reminding the two Winchester's that he was still in the room.

"Night Pastor Jim, Dad." Dean nodded to his father and then headed up the stairs.

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John sat at the kitchen table for a while thinking, after Dean left to go upstairs. He heard Jim come and sit down at the table with him.

"I don't want to hear it Jim." John greeted the older man.

Jim waited a moment but then decided to push on because he believed that this needed to be said.

"John I understand where you're coming from. I really do. I know what's out there but you have to remember that Sam he's still a kid. Doesn't he deserve to be allowed to act like one sometimes?"

John sighed and ran his hands over his head in frustration, "I wish we had that luxury."

"John I think you should really consider letting him go. It might do him some good to do something with kids his own age to do something normal for a change."

"Dean was never this difficult. He never needed normal."

"John, Dean has never had the chance to want anything different but Sam wants to try it out, he may even need to." Jim thought that Sam couldn't say that he didn't try.

"I don't want him too far away Jim. What if something happens? Our family doesn't have the best track record."

"Look John I'm not trying to tell you how to raise your boys but I think you should at least sleep on it. Now I'm going to go upstairs and write my sermon for Sunday. I'll see you tomorrow. Think about what I have said." Jim said then stood up and left John alone with his thoughts.

John sat there at the kitchen table for another half an hour before he decided that he may as well get some sleep. Before heading to Jim's study, which had been John's bedroom for the last two months, John headed upstairs to check on the boys. As he got further down the hall he head the shower running in the bathroom and figured Dean was in the shower. He would have been more surprised if he had of found him asleep because it was still kind of early for Dean to be asleep. Walking to his son's room he saw that the door was open a crack and poked his head in.

Sam was fast asleep under the covers. John took a moment to actually look at his son and saw what Jim was trying to tell him. Sammy was still a child and he looked even younger when he was asleep. He got so used to being their drill sergeant that he had already missed Dean growing up and he was going to do the same thing with Sam.

He still thought that it was too dangerous for Sam to go away alone but watching his baby boy sleeping right now made him wonder if maybe be should let him go. If only he knew he would be safe. Taking one last look at Sam, John left the bedroom and headed downstairs to the study. Maybe everything would seem clearer in the morning.

TBC ...

Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. This was my first time writing John and Pastor Jim so i hope i did okay. Reviews are more than welcome :-)