Summary: The fight before Sam leaves. Sam's first weeks at Stanford. How he meets Jess. Possible Hurt! Or Limp!Sam. Dean will probably make an appearance probably as protective! Probably if not definitely AU. NEVER any wincest. We'll just see how it goes.

Disclaimer: I'm trying to win them in the route 666 contest, but for the moment I only own my season 1 dvd's that I'm hopelessly addicted to.

AN: Unbeta'd This is going to take on a life of it's own, I know that right now, so I make no promises (except that there will be NO wincest). Please be a little patient. Feel free to skip ahead to the part you want to read. Enjoy.

Sam walked through the graveyard alone. It was the only place in Palo Alto that he could really go to think. He laughed a bit at the irony, he leaves hunting and the supernatural for normal, and then he runs away from normal to a graveyard.

&&&&

Sam pretty much slept on the bus all the way to his stop. Honestly, he had no idea of where he had just come from unless he looked at the ticket. There were only two bus transfers until he got to Palo Alto.

But there was something he forgot. Normal people, people who weren't freaking out or knew nothing about hunting, could be pretty damn annoying.

There was someone always asking, "Where ya headed?" which was the easy question, but the "Where ya from," was a bit worse. Either way, both made him cringe a little.

&&&&

"Did the Great Pumpkin come yet?"

Dean sighed and said firmly, "Sam. The Great Pumpkin isn't real."

XXXXXXXXXX— SsUuPpEeRrNnAaTtUuRrAaLl—XXXXXXXXXXX

This was the third night Sam came to the graveyard. He either would walk around or flop on a bench by a giant willow tree or just sit on the grass leaning against one of the statues. He'd stay from dusk to about when the stars came out.

This time after a walk, he had chosen a statue of an angel to lean against. Sam didn't know what happened exactly after a person died, but he did believe in God and heaven. If there was a hell with demons, then there had to be something to balance it out.

FLASH BACK YET AGAIN

When he finally got to Stanford, he was given the usual 'freshman orientation and tour' fest. It seemed to take forever and Sam really only paid attention to what might concern him; the rest was just a whole new level of boring and dull.

At the end of the day, he was given a paper that listed his dorm, class order, and supplies needed.

Sam really just wanted to relax. So he went with the 'investigate the dorm' option and would deal with the rest later. 'I think there's a word for this... oh yeah, procrastination.' Sam thought and laughed. Procrastination wasn't something he got to do often.

He made it up to the dorms and discovered that they were nice. Nice didn't even begin to describe it. Between all of the dumpy hotels that he'd passed through in his life, it was possibly the best living condition he'd ever seen. 'But that's probably get when you go to one of the top schools… Must be due to some of the rich kids.' he thought.

Sam entered his room and found his roommate laying on the couch reading "The Scarlet Letter."

"That, is quite possibly one of the most boring books in the world," Sam stated to get his attention.

"Oh, hey I didn't see you come in."

"I mean, don't get me wrong, it has a good plot to it. But reading it is like walking through thick, frozen mud." Sam set his duffle down and walked over and offered a hand, "I'm Sam by the way, and if I'm not totally lost, I'm your new roommate."

"Ah, hey nice to meet you," he took Sam's hand, "I'm Zach. Yeah, I agree, but it's for a class." Zach paused and added, "I'm from St. Louis, how about you?"

Sam let out a sigh at the question and replied, "I'm from the circus."

Zach laughed, "So what's your story there?"

"Well, after my mom died when I was a baby, my dad did some thinking, talked to a few people, and decided to join. He took my brother and me with him. We traveled a lot."

Still laughing Zach asked, "So as a kid you threatened to run away from the circus I take it. What was your dad's role?"

"Uhhh… My dad, my dad would flip between some things. He was a magician, ring leader, lion tamer, and a strong man at one point. And yeah, I did threaten to run away. I guess I finally did," he said the last part silently and more to himself.

"Never a clown though huh?"

"Oh God no!"

"All right, all right. Well, I'm assuming you're not really from the circus, what's the real truth?"

"That's not exactly very far from the real truth," Sam muttered.

"Ok. Don't ask, don't tell. Right?"

"That's about it, yeah."

There was a bit of an awkward silence.

"You look like a new arrival. They usually room freshman with people who have been here at least a year. I'm a sophomore. My sister's a freshman too, they probably figured that I'd help her around and that she's visited so they put her with another freshman."

"Yeah, I'm a freshman. I've got an older brother too. What's your sister's name?"

"Rebecca, but people close to her just call her 'little Becky'."

"Yeah, I know how family can be, my brother used to call me Sammy. I hated it," Sam laughed quetly.

"What's this brother's name?"

"His name's Dean," he was suddenly serious.

"So he doesn't call you that anymore?"

"Well... It's complicated," Sam looked away.

"Alright, I get it. Enough about your family. I'm from Missouri. Growing up it was just me and little Becky. The past couple years my parents spend half the year in France since I'm in college and my sister could take care of herself. Pretty much the nuclear family. But we don't really like apple pie that much," he said laughing

"Sounds nice," Sam said softly and looked down.

"Hey, Becky's not far from here, I'll introduce you," Zach picked up on Sam's mood and headed to the door.

"Alright, that sounds like an idea," he perked up a little.

Sam followed and they headed up a flight of stairs.

"Hey Sam, her room is just one flight up. I need to ask a buddy something. Think you can manage?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, I'll be right up. Just tell her you're with me if I'm not up yet."

"Will do," Sam headed up the stairs.

He came to the door just as a girl was coming out.

"Oh, sorry. Excuse me."

"It's alright. Are you Rebecca by any chance?" Sam asked.

Zach came up behind Sam and laughed, "Hey Zach. And no, I'm not Becky, I'm Jess, and I've gotta go. Becky's inside, you're welcome to go in. See ya around," she looked at Sam.

Sam and Zach entered the open door.

END FLASH BACK

"Hey."

Sam was pulled out of his thoughts by a voice.

AN: See, where one door closes, another opens lol. It's a little shorter than the last one, but we're getting there. I at least threw Jess, Becky, and Zach in. I plan on more Jess and Sam dialogue next time God laughs. Cliffy I know.

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