Hey, so finally I have an update for this story! Don't think that it is going to be finished before Friday and the season premiere but you never know, live in hope and all that. I need to let you know that I saw a promo for the new season and this story looks as if it may sail close to where they are going so I am not going to watch S6 until I finish this! (There's an incentive for me to get my backside moving!) If any of this story comes to pass it will be co-incidental. That said, I could write this and find that it is nothing like what they do! Just wanted to get that out there. Of course if I could have found the time to get this written, then it wouldn't have mattered. **sigh**

Anyway, this chapter grew into a monster so I have halved it, the second half will be up soon! (God and my muse willing). It is mainly Sam getting to see what his brother has been doing since Stull and meet the people in Dean's life now. Hope you enjoy!

Sam woke to the smell of coffee as a cup was waved under his nose. He shifted slightly and opened his eyes to the sight of his fully clothed brother sitting on the edge of his bed. "Some guard dog you are, sleepy head. Here, one girly coffee, just for you."

Pulling himself up to a sitting position Sam gratefully took the cup and sipped at the contents. He savoured the hit of caffeine as his body protested that it wasn't ready to face the day yet even though the sun streaming through the curtains hold him it was way past time he should be up. He looked to Dean to clarify that for him. "Time is it?"

"Ten thirty."

"Damn." Sam said with feeling.

"Soft, clean bed suck you in there little bro'?" Dean chuckled slightly and reached for the cup as his brother handed it back to him.

Swinging his legs free of the covers Sam stood up and surveyed the room." How long have you been up? How are you feeling?"

"Our Ben alarm clock woke us up at seven. We were warned to let you sleep, on pain of death by Lisa." Dean turned so that they were facing one another over the bed. "As for your second question, I feel like warmed over roadkill but since that's a thousand times better than I felt at seven, I'm gonna go with my stock answer of fine."

"Where's my clothes?" Sam did a second search of the room as his brother climbed onto the bed and rested against the headboard, legs crossed.

"Guess?," Dean offered as help.

Sam turned and scowled at him, then it hit him and he smiled. "Lisa washed them?"

"Good guess. They're dry, she left them in the bathroom with some clean towels for you. Think she threw a pair of my shorts and socks in there too. Her subtle way of saying that you stink." Dean flicked a little grin at his brother.

"I notice that you're cleaned and changed too," Sam obversed wryly retrieving the coffee and downing the rest of it. He watched the way his brother gingerly got himself upright. "You sure you're okay?" Concern floated in his tone.

"Just a little stiff, probably shouldn't have gone into work at all," Dean replied as he held out his hand for the empty cup and started for the door. Sam followed in his wake.

"You went to work?," the younger brother asked incredulously. "And Lisa let you?"

Dean stopped and Sam almost ran into him, sidestepping into the hall at the very last minute to avoid the collision. "I do still get to make some of my own decisions," Dean shot at him a little icily. "Just because I take Lisa's feelings into account doesn't mean that I can't wipe my backside without her permission you know."

Sam held his hands up in surrender. "Sorry, didn't mean it the way it came out, just that she was worried about you, didn't think she'd be happy with you heading off to work with an arm you could barely lift last night."

"She wasn't," Dean conceded. He raised his hands above his head cursing as the last dregs of Sam's coffee managed to escape and drip onto his head. "See? Both arms are working. Left side's a little sore but I've had worse and had to hunt, think I can manage to work on a few cars." He brushed the drips of coffee from his hair and turned to the stairs. "Hurry up, get cleaned and we can get this over with."

Standing for a few seconds Sam watched as his brother descended the stairs, pondering the words. Sighing he headed to get washed and dressed.

They left the girl Meg had possessed, and the ID she had on her, at the back of a picnic stop. None of them were happy about it, none thought it ideal, but with an anonymous call to the cops she shouldn't be there too long. Dean waited until they'd put some distance between her and them and then made that very call.

An hour later he eased Bobby's van into a clearing that Sam recognised instantly even though he'd only been here once before and that had been over four years ago. Why Dean had brought Rufus here of all places, the place where they has said goodbye to John was something that he wanted to ask but knew he couldn't. Dean's face as they exited the van indicated that. Feeling like he needed a little space after the silent tension of the journey Sam headed straight over to the woods behind the clearing and started to gather the largest branches he could find to start the pyre. Soon Dean and Bobby were working beside him, still all in silence as they completed the task. Finally, when it was done to Dean's exacting standard, they lifted the body up and on. Sam noted the pained look on his brother's face as he overreached with his left arm and Rufus' corpse wobbled for a second. Stepping to the side a little Sam quietly took the strain for him. Dean shot him a small grateful look and then turned away to get the fuel.

Bobby nudged Sam and they fetched the salt, Sam using his height to reach the top of the pile and Rufus while Bobby worked at circling where the body lay. When they'd finished Dean moved in and soaked the wood with gasoline and then took the torch that Bobby had brought with him. Soaking the head in the gas he flicked the lighter and lit it up then he slowly circled Rufus' funeral pyre, igniting the pile and then throwing the torch on top, igniting the man himself.

Sam watched the fires eat greedily at the man they had called a friend as Dean step back from the heat and came to a stop beside him.

"Anyone want to say something?," Bobby enquired after a bit.

"Like what?," Dean asked as he turned to him. "Another one bites the dust? Need to be careful Bobby, you're the only real friend that we got left to loose. Least Rufus got a proper send off, not like Jo and Ellen." With that he turned on his heel and headed to the van, climbing into the driver's seat and starting her up.

"Guess that's our cue to go," Sam said as he started to turn too, one last quick glance at the pyre, one last prayer that Rufus would find peace in his thoughts.

"Guess so." Bobby gathered the few items that remained on the ground and loaded them into the van. "You sit with him, I'll ride in the back." With that they got in and headed back to Cicero, the journey home as quiet as the one there, each one lost to their own thoughts.

Bobby went back that night but Sam stayed. Refusing Dean and Lisa's offer of a room he checked into a bed and breakfast a few miles down the road, wanting to avoid the motel he'd stay at when Ruby had started her sales pitch to him and pointed them all down this path. He needed some distance from Dean's new life but he found he didn't want to leave Cicero now. Didn't want to leave Dean. He didn't want drag his brother back into their life, knew how that felt, to be forced back into hunting when you had washed your hands clean of the kill. Still, he also knew what it felt like, to be out there hunting on your own, no one to have your back, finally getting an understanding of what Dean had meant that night so long ago. Sam could hunt just fine on his own, he just wasn't sure that he wanted to any longer.

Since there had been no invite for Sam to join his brother at the garage he did research during the day while Dean worked. The first task that he gave himself was to check for omens that could signal any other dangers lurking in the shadows nearby and then he looked to see if there where any hunts in the area that could keep him near his brother for a spell. Sam worried that he might just have got open season declared on Dean and his new little adopted family. He wanted to be near enough and on guard enough to stop any attack at the pass before they got near Lisa, Ben or his brother.

At night he spent the early evening with Dean and the Braedens, just having dinner and getting to know them a little better. He tried not to think of Jess when he watched the way Lisa interacted with his brother, the casual touches and the light that they brought to his brother's eyes. A light he hadn't seen there in a long time, maybe even never. Dean might still have his crosses to bear, hell Sam knew that he was probably one of them, but he seemed more at peace with himself, had a contentment about him that Sam hadn't seen since they were kids. He hoped that his presence here wasn't going to steal that from him.

Since his brother didn't ask if he wanted to go with him to the bar to work either, he spent the some of the nights really getting to know Lisa and Ben better, stopping to wonder if that was maybe his brother's plan all along. Lisa, Sam had to concede, was great. Sam could see why she and his brother had hit it off so easily. She had a quick wit and an easy charm that reminded him of Dean and she was a good listener, not pushing him to talk but letting him when he found he wanted to.

On the first night, a quick walk to the shops showed him something else. Lisa was liked here in the town that she had been born and brought up in, so Dean was accepted by default. People stopped them a few times, asking after Dean, enquiring eyes looking at Sam all kind and welcoming when Lisa explained who he was. It was only as they past the local church that Sam heard Lisa groan. "Mum's friends," she offered as an explanation. "Wait for it," she whispered as the two people exited from the church and approached them, a quick conversation between them and a look at Sam before they stopped.

"Who's this handsome young man you're with now Lisa? Haven't traded Dean in already have you?," the elder of the two women asked, the hint of disapproval in her voice.

"No Brenda I haven't. This is Sam, Dean's brother."

Sam held out his hand and Brenda took it. "Sam, eh? Don't look much like your brother."

Sam choked at the accusation behind that and threw Lisa a pleading look for help. She coughed into her hand to hide the laugh. "Dean looks like his mother, Sam more like his dad, but I can assure you Brenda, this is Dean's brother."

"I'll need to tell him I've met Sam next time I see him." She gave Lisa a pointed look. "Not that you and he ever comes to church, such a shame. We could do with more younger blood in the congregation. Maybe you can persuade them to come on Sunday Sam? You've more than welcome to come too."

Lisa grabbed Sam's arm and started to pull him away. "Sam doesn't go to church either Brenda and you already know that Dean doesn't. We're in a hurry, see you later." Sam almost had to trot to keep up with Lisa, despite his long legs as she hurried away. "God, that woman is a pain. So I was wild when I was younger, doesn't mean that I am now, not with Ben in the house. Yet she still thinks I'm sleeping with every man she sees me with. I need to warn Dean, she'll hunt him down until she confirms that you are his brother."

Seeing that they were still be watched Sam slipped his arm round Lisa's back and pulled her in. "Let's add some fuel to the fire."

Lisa giggled against him and then slipped her arm round his back too. "Yeah, lets!"

He found out as they walked on that her family had lived in Cicero for generations and even when she had decided to rebel against her quiet church upbringing she hadn't been able to leave. Move out of the house, sure. Sleep with people that her mother wouldn't have even let in the door, and lots of them? Yeah. But leaving Cicero behind? That hadn't been an option. Leaving the people she loved here. Leaving her friends, her family.

Bailing on your family. Dean's voice from that night that they'd shared up in heaven sounded in his ears and he tried to shut it out. He hadn't bailed on them he argued with the voice. He'd wanted space. Freedom. A life. And he took it the way John had trained him. By deceit, cunning and fighting for it. He caught Lisa watching him as he tore himself from his thoughts and he smiled, tried to ease away the worried look on her face. Her hand gently rested on his arm for a minute and she spoke. "I couldn't be what my family wanted me to be either," she said before she walked up to the front door and opened it, leaving him wondering how she could read him so easily.

Ben excused himself to his room when they got back and Sam and Lisa sat back and shared a few bottles of beer. She made him laugh at a few of the things that she had dragged his brother to, enjoying the thought of Dean being the cook at a neighbourhood barbeque or helping out at the local community hall's monthly old folk's dinner and dance. He seriously thought that he'd done himself a mischief laughing too hard when she described how two of the old ladies had cornered Dean and insisted that he partner them in a dance each. That Sam would have paid to have seen. As they got more wasted the stories became wilder and he knew that she was making most of it up to make him laugh, so he traded a few embellished ones of his own that he knew Dean would kill him for later. Still, he liked his brother's girl, she was nice and best of all, he could see that however much fun she made of him, she would defend Dean with her last breath, just the way Dean would have for anyone that he cared about. It made him like her more.

For a few of the next nights Ben commandeered Sam for help with homework and strangely he found that he enjoyed it, feeling really useful for the first time since they had gotten rid of Meg as he helped the boy solve maths problems and with his history project. Ben for his part chattered constantly about Dean as they worked on the maths together, letting Sam know that Dean usually was the one that spared the time to go over his assignments with him, the boy clearly in awe of the elder Winchester. That made Sam smile, remembering a time when he had seen his brother in the same way that Ben was talking of him now and leaving him wondering again why and when that had changed. Then Ben had let slip that Dean had been teaching him to shoot without Lisa's knowledge and within her earshot. So much for Lisa's house, Lisa's rules Sam thought as she let her son know exactly what she thought of that and then went off to decide on a suitably cruel and unusual punishment for his brother leaving Sam with a smile on his face and in no doubt that his sibling had definitely more than met his match in this woman.

He finally got the nod to go to work with Dean in the middle of the week and spent one morning at the garage watching his brother work. Sam helped out with a few of the heavy manual tasks but was waved away by his brother for the more complex ones, Dean pointing in the direction of a small room with a desk and a coffee machine in it. The old man, Graham, that owned the place finally cornered him as his brother worked on an old pick-up.

"So, I don't recall Dean mentioning that he had a brother. You guys fall out or something?," he prodded gently.

"Or something," Sam offered in reply. "I was away. Dean didn't like or agree with where I'd gone but he understood the reason I had to go, kept his promise not to follow me." Hide the truth in a lie and it always comes out easier. John's advice drifted through his thoughts as the old man smiled at him.

"Wow, well that's specific," Graham chortled. "Can see that your brothers. Never can get Dean to give me a straight answer unless it's about a car." The guy stood and went to the coffee machine. "Want one?"

Sam shook his head.

Graham filled his cup and eased himself into the chair behind the desk. "Brother is one of the best mechanics I've had in here, natural gift, although I nearly didn't give him the chance to prove it."

Sam raise his eyebrows in question.

"Dean had a real problem when Lisa brought him to me. Can't quite believe that the guy out there is the one that sat slump in that very chair your on four months ago. He looked like…damn what's the word I'm looking for….one of them living dead guys, you know what I mean?"

"A zombie?," Sam offered helpfully.

"That's it. A zombie. Never seen someone look so pale and still be breathing. That and it was obvious that he'd been drinking. A lot. If there's one thing I know…alcohol and cars don't mix, even when you ain't driving them. If it hadn't been that Lisa's daddy and I go way back he'd have been shown the door, right there and then." He paused and leaned back on the chair, turning to look out at Dean as he did. "It'd have been my loss too at that because once he straightened himself out, that brother of yours is a worker. Nice guy too, when he isn't trying to pretend that he's a hard ass." Graham looked back at Sam. "Thought things were settling down for him, especially when he finally took that car of his out of mothballs."

"Mothballs?" Sam looked out to where the Impala sat on the forecourt gleaming in the dying sunlight.

"Sure, he only got her back on the road the last week or so before you turned up. She was part of the reason that I gave him a chance in the first place. Can't keep a beauty like that on the road without knowing your way round a car and she's in good knick for an old lady with so many miles on her. Was surprised when he asked could he store her. Car seemed to mean a lot to him but he barely looked at it for the time it was out back. Was glad that he finally had a change of heart. Car like that needs to be loved. Cherished. You know?"

Sam nodded. "She's family. My brother's had her a long time, dad gave her to him."

"So she an heirloom eh?"

"Yeah. She means a lot to him. To both of us."

They both stared out at the car then, sitting in silence until Graham broke it. "Like I said, car's a tribute to your brother's skill. So, things seemed to be picking up for him but he seems unsettled again since you showed up plus I can't help noticing that he's still favouring his left side and that arm. What's up with that? That your doing?"

"Dean and I don't ever really fight like that," Sam explained. "Not often anyway." He'd heard the accusation thrown his way in the man's tone but it made him smile. Dean had someone else that was looking out for him. "But yeah, we've got a few issues to smooth out."

"U-huh? That'll happen with brothers, god knows I know that. Got four of 'em myself." The old man finally smiled at him. "You boys see that you do. Family's important."

Sam acknowledged the man's words with a nod and then Dean rescued him from any further grilling as he finished up and dropped the lid down on the truck. Grabbing a rag off the bench next to him he wiped his hands at he walked towards them and then came to a stop at the door, leaning on the frame. "Pick-up's a bust. Needs more work than she's worth. Think we can talk Martha into driving something that isn't an accident that's waiting to happen?"

Graham lent back on his chair. "I can't but I know you could. One smile from you and the old girl's putty in your hands."

Dean laughed at that. "You either got it Graham or you ain't."

"Yeah, but I think you got more than your fair share of it and I missed out on the whole damn lot. I'll call her, tell her the bad news." Graham reached for the phone. "So what you boys got planned for the rest of the day?"

"Thought I'd put my brother to work at the bar tonight," Dean answered as he shrugged his overalls off and reached for his jacket.

"That'll be a joy for him." Graham shot Sam an evil grin. "You got insurance right?"

"It isn't that bad, stop scaring him off," Dean admonished the old man with a snort.

"Not since you arrived anyway, they're all scared of your brother. Best damn right hook I've ever seen. George was wearing that bruise for a more than a week," the old man chuckled.

"George is an ass." Dean turned to Sam. "Guy thought that I was getting in his way of his shot at Lisa. Not that he ever had a shot."

Graham laughed at that. "Lisa's too much girl for George to handle, still he thought that roughing Dean up one night at work would scare him off."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Yeah because throwing a punch or a challenge at my brother is the way to get him to back off. Guy's an idiot then?"

Dean nodded. "And then some. Let's head. See you tomorrow Graham, and don't forget to phone Martha."

"I won't. You boys take care and I see you tomorrow. Nice meeting you Sam, don't be a stranger now."

Sam nodded and the brothers waved their goodbye. On the way out Dean said his goodbyes to a few of the other guys that were there before he led his brother out to where the Impala was parked. "What?," he asked as he caught the look in Sam's eye as he looked at the car.

"Graham said you weren't driving her." The younger brother ran his hand over the smooth paint of the roof as he walked to the passenger door.

"No, I wasn't." Something flashed quickly through Dean eyes, gone before Sam could really tell what it was but he thought he knew. Pain. The car was part of what happened at Stull, that was why his brother would have stored her, but then she was the only thing that he had left so that was probably why he'd finally put her back on the road. Sam had had the same debate when Dean had died, the need to have something to show that you weren't alone winning over the pain of the memories just looking at it caused.

Dean opening the car door and changed the subject dragged him back from his musings. "So you up for a night at the social hub of this part of Cicero?" The grin sounded Sam's warning bell.

"What will I be doing?"

"Depends on whose called in sick," Dean answered with a little shrug. "Get in and let's get something to eat then we'll head out."