A/N: Here's the chapter I promised today. More angst and a little more action as the guys start out for the hunt in Washington. Hope you all enjoy. Thanks for all the great reviews and fave/story alerts. I'm hoping to hear from you all again. Those of you who are silent readers, you are appreciated! Maybe you'll drop me a line sometime.

Chapter 2

Sam's alarm went off at seven o'clock. He jumped awake instantly and felt like he hadn't slept at all. He climbed out of bed and headed for the bathroom, taking his school clothes with him. After his shower he came out to the kitchen and found Dean sitting at the table, sipping black coffee and looking like he hadn't slept either. He was wearing his black jeans and his blue short sleeved work shirt. The patch on the front read Jake's Garage.

"Hey Sammy."

"Hey Dean."

"You sleep?" Dean asked, looking his brother over.

"I think so. Doesn't feel like it though." Sam said, pulling a chocolate chip granola bar out of the torn box on the counter and grabbing a carton of milk from the fridge. He unwrapped the sticky bar and bit into it, taking a swig of the milk while he chewed. He soon had his breakfast done and finished off the carton of milk as he leaned against the kitchen sink. He had to work to conceal the pain in his badly bruised jaw while he ate. "What about you?"

"Pretty much the same. I called Jake this morning and let him know that today was my last day. He said he's not gonna pay me unless I get that '67 half year Camaro done. I have about three days of work to get done today. That's three grand for restoring that car. We really need that money. I have to get to work. I can't pick you up from school."

"It's okay Dean. I can walk."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Get goin'."

Dean stood from the table and looked at his brother, turning his head to look at the black bruise that marred his jaw bone. "Damn Dad." Dean muttered, dropping his hand and heading for the front door. "Be careful Sammy."

"I will." Dean left.

Sam shrugged into his backpack and was headed out the door to walk to school when he came face to face with his Dad. John's eyes fell on the bruise on his cheek. "Sammy…"

"Save it. And it's Sam." Sam brushed past his father and walked down the drive to the road, heading briskly in the direction of the school. He made it to just outside the doors when he heard the first bell ring. His long legs carried him inside the school for his last day. Sitting through classes was a chore as the teachers kept drawing everyone's attention to him by announcing it was his last day as a student there. Sam ducked his head as he heard the teachers repeatedly call his name. His chin length hair gratefully fell into his eyes and obscured the bruise along his jaw line. He made it through the day, receiving pats on the back from people who were sad to see him go, and snide remarks from the jocks that took it upon themselves to make everyone else miserable. The only person who said nothing was the jock, Mark, that walked by Sam head lowered and cradling his bruised ribs with an arm.

"Sam wait!" Rachel called out, running up from behind, as he turned at the sound of her voice. He watched her long black hair flutter as she moved at a fast pace until she caught up to him. She stopped beside him and they fell into step to go to their last class, which they had together. She put her hand on his forearm, which was wrapped around his only remaining book. "I'm sorry to hear that you're moving. I'm going to miss you." She turned and stopped, stopping him with her. He looked down at her and took in her olive complexion. Her eyes turned into round green saucers. "Oh my god, what happened Sam?" She asked, reaching up to tenderly cup the cheek that bore the bruise. She carefully avoided the sore spot.

"Oh, I got mad when I found out what was goin' on. I got clumsy and slammed my bedroom door. The latch broke and it bounced open and clocked me." Sam pulled back some. "I'm going to miss you too." She smiled and dropped her hand, lacing her fingers with his empty hand, stepping around him to walk on his other side.

"Come on. Let's get to class." She said, smiling up at him.

History class went uneventfully and the dismissal bell rang. He turned in his book, and got a surprise hug from the matronly teacher. He walked out of the school empty handed save for Rachel's warm fingers twined with his. Outside the school she stopped him again. "Do you need help packing? I'm free tonight."

"No thanks. I couldn't sleep last night so I got a good start." He responded, the lie forming easily even as he thought Oh, God. I'm turning into Dad.

"Oh, okay." Rachel said, sounding disappointed. "Look, keep in touch with me okay? Maybe you can come back someday, y'know, to see me." Sam leaned down and kissed her on the cheek.

"I'll do that. Take care of yourself Rachel." Rachel turned quickly back to face him and threw her arms around his neck, stretching to touch her lips to his. He caught her around the waist and returned the kiss. She pulled back a few seconds later and looked at him, running a hand through his unruly hair.

"You too." She said and dropped out of his arms, quickly walking the other way, turning the bend in the road to walk to her own house. His sharp hearing caught her sob as she disappeared from his sight. Sam watched, wanting nothing more than to run after her and beg her to forget about him, and then he lowered his eyes to the pavement and sighed. He made the walk home last a lot longer than it should have. Opening the door of the house he walked inside to be greeted by packed duffle bags and random other stuff that was ready to be piled into their vehicles for the trek to Washington State. John glared at his youngest.

"Where the hell have you been?"

"I had a couple friends that I wanted to say goodbye to." Sam muttered quietly, refusing to look at his father as his jaw throbbed with remembered pain.

"Sam. I'm sorry. I know this whole thing has been hard, but if Bobby has a lead on the thing that killed your mom then we have to follow through with it."

"But why the hunt in Washington?"

"Sam, there's something in that cave that's killing people. We have to stop it. And we're going to. Now pack up your stuff. Dean should be home in a couple hours. We wait for him to finish and then we leave. I want to make it to Kentucky tonight. Then we sleep and drive the rest of the way tomorrow."

"Fine." Sam skirted his father, keeping his back to the man just as Dean came through the door looking exhausted and covered in grease. The only clean part of him was his hands. Dean pried open his eyes and took in the tense scene before him.

"What the hell…?" Dean first looked at his father then shifted his eyes to his little brother as John dropped his gaze from the hard green eyes of his oldest. Sam had stopped on his flight to his room when he heard Dean enter the house. He turned back to meet his brother's eyes. Sam tipped his head in the direction of his bedroom. Dean gave an imperceptible nod and Sam turned and disappeared down the short hall.

John fidgeted and resumed packing some small things that lay on the couch. "Dean, did you get the half year Camaro finished?"

"Yeah. Nearly killed myself, but yeah. Three grand in pocket. That can get us to Washington and a lot further. I'm beat."

"Well, pack up. I wanna hit the road tonight and make it to Kentucky. We can drive the rest of the way tomorrow. It's a weekend so the research teams won't be in the caves. Hopefully we can get in there and kill this thing."

"Dad, Kentucky is seven hours away. I don't wanna drive that far after putting in a fourteen hour day."

"Sam can drive."

"Whatever."

"Don't take that tone."

Dean stared hard at his father, memory of a swinging fist connecting with his Sammy's face making him not like what he saw. "Fine." Dean hissed and walked away, leaving John to stare after him wondering when he'd begun to lose his boys again. He shrugged off the morose feeling and went back to cleaning the house of any traces of their odd lifestyle. He swept all salt traces away and packed up the cat's eye shells and other protection wards.

Dean walked down the hallway and stopped outside Sam's door. He knocked eight short soft raps. Their knock to let each other know it was one of them, and opened the door. "Hey Sammy."

"Hey Dean." Sam was bounding about the room, tossing his few possessions onto the bed in a messy pile. Clothes and a few books, along with weapons and a few other things. Next a duffle bag came sailing from the small closet to land on the floor beside the bed. He came back to the bed and began stuffing rolled up clothes and books haphazardly into the bag.

"Sammy." Dean said, looking at his brother's stiffly held shoulders. Sam didn't stop his flurry of activity. Dean rushed forward and grabbed his brother by those shoulders. "Sam stop, Damnit." Sam stilled and turned to face Dean, raising his hazel eyes that rapidly gained an unwelcome shine. He blinked furiously and stared at his brother as Dean raised his hands again to plant them firmly on his shoulders. Dean stepped forward, pushing Sam back until his thighs connected with the mattress. Dean shoved the mess aside and cleared a spot for them to sit. "Sit down." He barked.

Sam dropped to the bed and Dean sat beside him, bumping shoulders with his little brother. Sam leaned into the contact so Dean didn't pull away. "What happened today?"

"I told Rachel last night that we were moving. That I couldn't take her to the dance."

"She get upset?"

"Not really. We never see each other until the bell for last class. History. She saw this." Sam said, pointing to his jaw. "I lied to her about it, how it happened. All this time, everything that he's done to me, to us, and I still lie to protect him. I lie about what he does, what we do. I don't know why."

"Because he's our dad. I do it too. What else happened with the girl?"

"Rach. After last class she walked out with me. Held my hand and asked if I needed help packing. I told her no and then she kissed me."

"Alright, Sammy!" Dean grinned. Sam scowled darkly at him, and then rolled his eyes.

"That's just it. I like her…a lot. I wanted to take her to the dance and finish the year here so I could see if it, y'know, worked out. Anyhow, she told me to take care, keep in touch and that she'd miss me. Then she ran away crying. I came home and you pretty much know the rest.

"So it's another case of yadda, yadda, yadda, Dad's an ass."

"Yeah."

"I pretty much gathered that. I'm gonna take a shower and pack. You're ridin' shotgun with me so I stay awake. He wants to leave tonight."

"He told me."

"Bring ear plugs. Kentucky is gonna hear us comin'. Do me a favor?"

"Yeah Dean."

"Avoid dad until we leave."

"No problem there." Sam said as Dean stood to leave the room. Sam smiled wanly at Dean and resumed packing his meager belongings, this time calmer and with more care. He heard Dean enter his bedroom and then he heard the bathroom door shut as he finished packing.

They hit the road an hour later, Zeppelin blaring from the speakers. Sam felt better, being back in the big black car that had become more of a home to him than anywhere else in his seventeen years. Dean tailed his dad over seemingly endless roads for about three hours, progressively turning up the music and lowering the window as he drove. "Dean you're beat. Let me drive before you wreck her."

"Probably a good idea." Dean flashed the headlights at his dad's big black GMC and they pulled off at the next wide spot in the road. Dean slid over the bench while Sam got out and went around the back of the car to get in the driver's seat. "Be careful with my baby. I hear anything that sounds like metal to metal-or anything else- and I'm gonna kick your ass." With that Dean leaned his head against his arm on the door panel and was softly snoring in minutes. Sam turned down the music to a tolerable level and flashed the lights again. His father pulled back onto the open road and Sam followed, resisting the temptation to spin the car around and floor the gas in the opposite direction. He was getting a bad feeling about this hunt.

A/N: There's the second chapter. Still a little slow but hopefully a good lead in for what's to come. Those of you who wanted Winchester Whumpage will get it in spades over the next few chapters. Thanks for reading and please hit that little button. See it, it's right down there.