Disclaimer: I don't own the story of Supernatural or any of it's characters.
April 23, 2006
Dean took in a deep breath of fresh spring air. It was hard to imagine that less than twelve hours ago he was watching the scenery pass, appreciating how nice it would be that he would die in the spring. He didn't have to worry about that anymore, however. His heart had been 'healed' whatever the hell that was supposed to mean and judging by the information they'd gotten from the doctor they'd just visited, it might not be a completely good thing. Perfectly healthy swimmers don't just drop dead with heart failures on a daily basis after all.
Dean swung the passenger's side door closed (Sam still wasn't letting him drive) and rolled his eyes when he found his brother was already halfway around the car, with his intentions clearly set on helping him walk to the room. Not waiting for the assistance, Dean turned on his heal and made a quick beeline towards the motel before his brother could catch up.
Dean pushed through the door, intent on getting some privacy. Maybe taking a shower or ditching his brother and heading out to pick up some dinner for them; however Dean didn't get that far, stopping dead in his tracks not two steps into the room when his eyes fell on a figure strewn across the far bed.
The next instant his mind stopped working when the head on the pillows snapped up to meet him. He deftly heard Sam inquire behind him, but he really wasn't paying enough attention to hear what he said. His feet were carrying across the room in long strides, his brain only starting to make sensible thought again when Adam jumped to his feet only to almost fall to the ground in apparent pain. Dean managed to jump forward take a hold under his brother's arm and grab a handful of his t-shirt before Adam could make contact with the floor.
"Whoa, easy there, bro. What was that? Are you okay? What's the matter with you? What're you doing here? Where's dad? Is he okay? Do you have any idea how worried about you I've been?"
At some point soon after Dean started talking, Adam jumped in and they ended up talking over each other.
"What the hell do you mean, am I okay? Sam called dad's phone and said you were dying. Dad was being an idiot about it so I came by myself. He wasn't going to come at all, can you believe that? So, seriously are you okay? You don't look sick."
Both Winchesters ended up trailing off at about the same time, Dean still not having relinquished his hold on his brother and bent down slightly so he was at eye level with him while Adam gestured wildly as he ranted. When both remained silent, waiting for answers to their own questions neither having really heard the other's, Dean frowned down at his brother.
"Did you listen anything I just said, or am I gonna have to repeat myself?"
Adam only frowned back at him, "Did you hear anything I just said? You were being kind of loud."
Dean huffed a laugh and was knocked back a step as Adam lunged forward and a pair of arms wrapped around his middle. Dean didn't even bother rolling his eyes, just wrapped his own arms around his brother's shoulders and gave the kid's hair a little brush through, offering Sam, who was standing rather awkwardly just inside the door, a happy smile over the kid's head. Yeah, Dean was feeling pretty whole at the moment. It was the first time he'd ever had both baby brothers in one room at the same time, and the lack of worry he always held when either one brother or the other was absent (which Dean wouldn't dare call separation anxiety) left Dean feeling slightly giddy.
"Alright," Dean finally said; worry for Adam's well-being winning over the want to keep his brother close. He pulled far enough away so he could look Adam in the face. "So about that whole 'almost collapsing' thing that happened when you got up…" He trailed off waiting for his brother to continue.
Adam only glared, "How bout that whole, 'you're dying' thing." he retorted, reattaching himself around Dean's middle, actually making Dean role his eyes this time, "You're not actually dying, right? It was like a joke or a trick or Sam was lying or something…" Adam muttered into his chest, sounding much younger than he actually was, Dean's shirt making the sound come out muted; barely loud enough for the ears in the room to pick up.
Dean's jaw twitched at the fear in his brother's voice and saw Sam shift out of the corner of his eye, clearly more than just a little uncomfortable, unsure of what to do.
"Okay. Alright. C'mon, kiddo." Taking his brother's forearms in his hands and physically detaching himself, but didn't let go of his arms and looked Adam in the eyes.
"Do I look like I'm dying? I'm fine, seriously, perfectly healthy. Sam wasn't lying, I was pretty sick for a while there but we fixed it. I'm healed." Dean explained, giving a reassuring grin.
Adam's narrowed his eyes, "For sure?" he asked a little more steadily.
"For sure."
Dean was suddenly on the receiving end of a none-to-light punch to the shoulder, causing Dean's breath to leave him.
"Hey! What the hell was that for?!" Dean said rubbing at his shoulder.
"For letting me bawl all over you for nothing! You could have said something." Adam returned defensively.
"Well it's not like you were giving me much chance, you kept talking over me."
"Only because you weren't answering any of my questions, you just kept asking a bunch of your own." Adam argued.
"I hope you realized I'd have you in a face plant with the floor by now if I didn't know you were already injured. That was a fricken hard punch, dude, save those for the real thing or you'll end up breaking a knuckle."
"What? Afraid of some real competition?" Adam asked, grinning wickedly.
"I'm only worried that you're far too small and fragile to be throwing punches like that." Dean needled.
"Or you're far too small and fragile to take punches like that."
"Oh please, don't even begin to talk to me about size, midget."
"Well, I'm gaining on you."
"Ha, I doubt you've grown an inch since I last saw you."
"Two."
"Bullshit."
They were both grinning like mad men by this point, the familiar banter putting them both more at ease than they'd felt in months.
Dean was first to break eye contact, shaking his head and took a seat on the bed.
"So what's actually wrong with you? Anything I have to worry about? You don't really seem in any pain now unless you count being a pain in the ass."
Adam shrugged, not saying anything which instantly set Dean on edge: Adam had that same look on his face that he got when he really didn't want to tell Dean something, but knew it was gonna be pulled from him regardless.
"Adam…" Dean started in a firm voice, knowing that's all he'd need.
The kid just shrugged, looking at his shoes, "I, uh, kinda got stabbed."
Dean was on his feet again in a second.
"Sit," Dean ordered, herding his brother towards the closest bed. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sam making a sort of jerking movement, still unsure of where he actually fit. Dean would fix that. One brother at a time for now.
Adam didn't resist but tried to sooth his brother's worry as he sat down on the edge of the bed, "Dean, it's okay; it's like a week old. Dad already took care of it."
"Well, now I can take care of it."
"Dean, it's not like I damaged anything vital or I wouldn't be walking. Stab wounds just tend to hurt for a while, you know that." Adam tried to reason.
"I at least want a look at it. I can change the bandage or something." Dean shot right back.
"I just changed it this morning." Adam said, rolling his eyes at his brother's persistence.
"Good, then it's due for changing, isn't it?" Dean returned, not really saying it like a question, pushing his brother to lay back on the bed.
"Uh, no it's not. Seriously, it barely has any discharge."
"It has discharge?"
Adam rolled his eyes again, knowing he wasn't about to win the argument.
"Where is it?"
Adam lifted his shirt halfway up his torso to reveal a white bandage plastered to his side. Dean worked silently as he pealed it away to reveal the nasty looking wound, but Dean had to admit, it looked pretty clean and was stitched up closely. With any luck Adam would come out with only a small scar, however just seeing how close it was to some vital regions made Dean's stomach clench painfully.
"Alright, I'm just gonna go grab some stuff from the first aid kit. I'll be right back, stay still."
Dean got to his feet, turning on his heal in the same motion, only to almost run straight into Sam who was hovering at his shoulder trying to get a look at the wound with a creased brow. He quickly stepped back, giving Dean a sheepish look.
Dean paused long enough to give Sam an encouraging quirk of his mouth and miniscule nod towards Adam before heading out the door.
……………………………………………
After Dean passed by him, Sam's gaze wandered back to Adam to find his eyes lingering on the door as it shut behind their brother. As soon as the door snapped shut Adam sat up in bed, shirt falling back into place, gaze anchored on him, causing Sam raise amused eyebrows at the kid's blatant disobedience to Dean's order.
Adam just shrugged at the gesture, "He's over reacting."
Sam snorted, disbelieving, "Oh yeah, over reacting at finding out his little brother got stabbed. Now I know you're a Winchester."
Adam grinned, "It's not gonna kill me to sit."
"Well no, but still stab wounds aren't exactly something to take lightly. You can't blame him," Sam said, letting a little worry creep onto his face.
Adam gave another little shrug and let the subject trail off as he looked up at who he assumed was his brother.
Sam chewed at the side of his cheek, feeling awkward and self conscious once again and he sat down on the bed opposite. Adam had those same eyes as Dean; the kind that made you feel like they saw right through you.
"So you're Sam…?"
"Yeah, that would be me," he answered weakly, hands fidgeting with each other as he leaned forward on his knees.
Adam nodded, looking to his own hands, "I'm Adam…"
A smile quirked the side of Sam's mouth, "Yeah, I guessed. Dean's reaction didn't give that away or anything"
Adam just shrugged.
Silence wore for a moment before Adam spoke, "So is Dean this overprotective of you too or does he just like annoying me."
Sam huffed a little laugh, "Naw, I think if I showed up with a stab wound he'd sentence me to bed rest for at least a week."
His brother groaned, "But it's already been a week and I'm fine."
"Won't matter."
Adam just frowned, knowing the truth in that all too well.
Sam smiled a little, "It's just 'cause he's worried." He tried soothing.
Adam made a sound of begrudging acknowledgment.
Sam studied his brother's face for a second before giving a disbelieving snort, "You know, I keep forgetting that you've already been doing this for a few years now. It really doesn't feel like it's been four years since I've been doing this."
"That's just 'cause you've been off doing boring shit at college." Adam smiled, teasing lightly.
Sam huffed a little laugh, "Not interested in school then?"
"Not really, no." Adam answered, choosing not to elaborate, thinking saying something like 'I'd rather stay with my family' would be a rather nasty sting to his brother, even if it wasn't meant to be.
"It actually feels like forever to me," Adam continued, referring to Sam's earlier comment.
"Yeah, well, Dean tends to make life interesting," Sam said, smiling fondly, "When you have something to remember every day, time stretches a bit."
Adam laughed, agreeing whole-heartedly. His brother's passion for life was one of the reasons he looked up to him so much.
The silence stretched again for a moment, both brothers ingesting their first impressions.
Sam noticed Adam kept looking at him like he had something on the tip of his tongue causing him to shifted a little uncomfortably, "What?"
A smirk pulled at the side of Adam's mouth, "No, it's nothing. It's just Dean's always threatening me about how I better not get any taller than him, but he really wasn't kidding when he said you could be mistaken as the guy from 'Big Fish'."
Sam couldn't help but laugh.
……………………………………………
Dean walked in carrying a white bandage and some cleaning salve and made his way across the room.
"I thought I told you not to move." Dean huffed, looking at Adam with exasperated eyes.
"Ooooh, you meant 'still' as in don't move? I thought you meant 'still' as in a place where beer is kept. See, I thought that was kinda weird; didn't make any sense, but you were looking kind of stressed so I didn't bother asking. But if you meant 'still' as in 'don't move' you should have just said so..." Adam rambled giving his brother a cocky grin.
"Shut up, Adam. I'll pass on the smart-ass, thanks," Dean snapped, as he knelt down next to his brother and began peeling back the wrapping on the bandage he'd retrieved.
Adam calmed his grin into a small smirk, not really wanting to piss off his brother too badly after just reuniting with him. He pulled his shirt back up and leaned back on his hands so Dean could have easy access to his wound, knowing he wasn't about to convince his brother to let him do the simple task himself.
There was a short moment's silence as Dean twisted open the salve.
"So how'd you end up with this anyway?" Dean raised his eyebrows at Sam's brave question and glanced in his direction, glad to note his brothers hadn't just sat in uncomfortable silence in his absence.
He knew it sounded a little parentish of him, but he really hoped the two would get along and worried they wouldn't; he had no interest in another Dad/Sam sort of feud. Neither really had much reason not to like each other. He supposed Adam had a legitimate reason or two to have a bit of a grudge against his brother, but the kid didn't really have it in him to hold anything against anyone for long. Plus, it wasn't like it was Sam's fault that he hadn't met Adam till now; you can't meet someone you never knew existed after all, and really that was the whole family's fault. They'd all had a part in driving each other away or not telling each other things that they maybe should have.
"Well, me and dad had been having quite a bit of trouble since the beginning of the month; I'm guessing we should have listened to dad when he said to keep that phone call short. There was a demon waiting for us at a motel room dad and I had rented. It was pretty much just stupidity on my part, I walked into the room without really looking and the thing was standing to the side of the door and just reached out and stuck me. Not entirely sure what happened after that, was in quite a bit of pain and I ended up passing out after a minute or two, I was bleeding a hell of a lot, but from what I gather Dad kicked some demonic ass" Adam explained.
By this point, Dean was spreading some of the cream he'd retrieved over his brother's wound, frowning down at it. Only snorting lightly at Adam's words and muttering an exasperated "Demons" to himself; astounded at the sheer amount of demonic activity that had been going on, and his family's apparent stupid attraction they seemed to have to them.
Adam continued after a minute, when both brother's remained in thoughtful silence.
"I think he was kinda glad to get rid of me after that. Didn't want to worry about hunting with a liability," Adam glared down at his own wound.
The two oldest Winchester brothers glanced up at hearing the resentment in their youngest's voice. Dean frowned a little deeper before turning back to the job at hand; choosing not to comment as he taped the white bandage over the wound, finishing off.
"Alright, kiddo. You rest. Sam and I've got some research to do and a reverend to see."
"What? No, I can help," Adam protested, moving to get up but was held back by a firm hand.
"Lay down or I tie you there," Dean ordered, raising his eyebrows challengingly, leaving no room for debate.
Adam glared a little bit, "Fine, but if you're gonna sentence me to bed rest than at least let me get up and change into something that isn't jeans."
"Where's your bag?" Dean asked, standing up.
Adam rolled his eyes, "Seriously?"
"Found it," Sam announced, reaching backwards to the other side of the bed he was sitting on and pulled the duffel out of the space between the bed and the wall, tossing it to Dean, who set it down next to a frowning Adam and began shuffling through it, eventually pulling out a ratty pair of plaid pajama bottoms and passed them to his brother.
"There," Dean said, offering a mocking smile.
"Thanks." Adam returned sarcastically.
Dean laughed at the look on his face, "No problem, kiddo," and set the bag down between the beds.
"Alright, lets get started on that research you seem so keen on," Sam declared, getting to his feet and heading in the direction he'd abandoned his laptop.
"Right…" Dean didn't move to follow right away but stood, looking down at Adam for another moment, who was fiddling with some loose strings on the PJ pants he'd just received.
Dean was still having a little trouble processing the fact that his baby brother was sitting right there, safe in his motel room. Right there where Dean could protect him or just look over and know he was safe: something he was so used to doing, but which had now been absent for many months.
A big relieved smile tried pulling at his lips as he processed all this, but Dean kept it to himself, knowing he'd look like a complete loon if he let a smile that big slide onto his face.
Dean settled for just combing a hand through his brother's hair once (he honestly didn't remember when that had become such a habit) and gave a little smirk.
"Good to have you back, baby brother."
A/N: Yes, I know it has been forever since my last post again. I'm now looking for a new beta, because as good as the one now is, she takes far too long to get chapters back to me. I've had 3 chapters just sitting here for months, so if anyone's interested let me know.
Sorry, if this one's a little rough grammar wise. It hasn't been proof read by anyone other than myself, but hopefully you all enjoyed it and didn't have to work too hard at remembering what has been going on in chapters previous. I know I hate it when authors take forever updating. Apologies.