Sorry folks! I've been busy working on my original works and everything fell to the wayside. I apologize. I'm back and plan on trying to get this story done before I work on other things.

And if you're looking for an update for Stories in My Head, the next chapter is almost done. Bear with me.

Sam stared at Dean's cellphone. He only meant to look up Caleb's contact number, he lost the other hunter's old one, and he really didn't mean to read Dean's messages to McGarrett. Honestly.

But here he is reading everything Dean's texted to the SEAL, only feeling slight guilt at invading his brother's privacy. It's not like he's reading anything embarrassing or scarring, no need of brain bleach this time. But what he's reading is sending his anger levels through the roof. He won't even imagine what their dad's reaction would be like if he read the texts.

Especially when Dad reads the timestamp. They're all within the past week. Dean has been texting McGarrett since Nebraska, playing an updated version of Marco Polo. He's got to hand it to McGarrett though. The SEAL is getting closer and closer to finding them, using the old "Warmer/Colder" method whenever McGarrett texts a possible location of where Dean's at. More often than not, McGarrett has been getting warmer and warmer. At this rate, the man will find them by the end of the month.

He's grudgingly impressed.

What's pissing him off is that Dean is all but telling McGarrett to come find him and take him back "home". He's basically telling the older man he wants to go back to Hawaii. He wants to leave Sam and their dad to go back to a family he thinks is better.

If this is what Dean felt when Sam left for Stanford, how in the hell is Dean still not mad at him? It hurts to think that Dean would rather be with some other family than with them.

Finding Detective Williams' messages was a bit of a surprise. Sam wonders if McGarrett knows about Dean texting his partner. Those messages seem to be about apologizing for taking off like he did. They even shared some photos with each other, Grace is featured quite often, not that that's surprising. Williams adores his daughter. She's the center of his universe. And Dean adores her as well.

Scrolling down some more, Sam found that Dean's been texting everyone he knows from the islands, apologizing for his actions, and catching up with everything he's missed since he's been gone. Grace is apparently still giving him the cold shoulder. There's a hint of thawing though.

Dean's putting a lot into making things right with them, like he's paving the way for him going back.

Sam needs to digest this and think it through before he confronts Dean about it. Preferably without their dad being there, fat chance of that though. Dad is never far from their side. Even now Dad's standing watch over Dean swimming in the pool, after making sure that Sam won't leave the hotel without telling him first. Not that Sam has any inclination to leave. The hotel is nice. The room is one of the best they've stayed in and the pool has a water slide.

He's tempted to throw on the swim trunks Dad bought them. The purchase had puzzled Sam and Dean, exchanging perplexed looks until they pulled up to the incredibly nice hotel. They could see the pool and had them getting excited like they were kids.

Maybe that's what he should do. Go swimming. Bond with his brother...and their father. It's been so long since they just had fun together.

Decision made, Sam put Dean's phone away and changed into his swim trunks, grabbing their dad's on the way out and made his way down to the pool. He tossed their dad's swim trunks on his head, laughing when he tilted his head at Sam, trunks still covering his head.

"Go change, Dad," Sam said.

Their dad pulled the trunks from off his head and stared at Sam before switching his gaze to Dean, who stared at them questioningly. Dean practically lit up like a Christmas tree when he realized what Sam wanted.

Sam saw the instant their dad agreed to the suggestion. He smiled at them and went upstairs to change. Sam looked at Dean and grinned.

"Cannonball!" he yelled, and hopped into the pool, splashing Dean with a mini tidal wave of water. When Sam popped back up, Dean was grinning at him with a wide, happy smile. It grew even more when their dad dove into the pool, coming up to the surface like a breaching dolphin. He splashed the both of them before taking off towards the slide.

Dean gave chase and pulled their dad back into the pool just before he lifted himself out of the water. Sam swam towards them and dunked Dean just as their dad splashed him. They laughed and shouted, truly enjoying themselves for the first time in forever.

Thank god there wasn't that much people there or they'd be getting weird looks with three grown ass men acting like little kids in the pool.

Sam took a turn on the water slide while Dean floated around adjacent to the water slide and their dad got out to go do something. A thrill of childish exhileration ran through Sam as he whizzed down the slide, laughter bubbling out of him uninhibited. His resulting tidal wave swamped Dean, making him splutter and spit out water, glaring at Sam, who shrugged back at him, unrepentatent.

Their dad came back and dived in.

"Where'd you go?" Sam asked. He swam over to the edge of the pool and relaxed against the wall.

"Called for pizza," their dad answered. "Thought we'd have a nice supper and watch a movie."

Dean laughed in delight, making Sam and John grin goofily. It's the most normal and active Dean's been since Pastor Jim's. Hell, Sam'd do anything to keep Dean happy like this for as long as he can. Because if he does, maybe Dean won't leave them when McGarrett eventually finds them.

Intellectually, Sam knows that even if he and their dad start spoiling Dean and acting like the family his older brother yearns for, it is no guarantee that it'll make Dean change his mind and stay with them. Dean already found a family that welcomed him with open arms and even forgave Dean for some of his transgressions while he lived on the island with them, and, with his accidental snooping, are sounding like they're ready to forgive him again and will let him go back home.

Home.

Dean has a home whereas Sam abandoned his in search of a better one. How is he supposed to have the moral high ground when Sam did to Dean what Dean is doing to him and their dad?

All his older brother ever wanted from him and their dad was to get along and be a family. It didn't bother Dean that they hunted or that they moved from place to place every other month. It never did. He raised Sam, he took care of their dad, and all he asked for in return was for them not to fight as much.

That's it. Not for them to quit fighting but to cut back on it. They could have done that. Easy peasy.

When they couldn't do that, he went off and found a new family. And his new family welcomed him with open arms, found someone who loved him. Who loved him so much that it scared Dean and his brother hit the self-destruct button on everything he had on the island.

He listened to Dean talk about how he started flirting and encouraging Detective Williams feelings for him because he's an emotionally stunted dumbass, and for that he blames their dad. But Dean is doing his best now to patch things up so he could go back to a home that loved him. His brother could thrive there. His brother was healthy, in every way, living on the island.

Sam gets the award for worst brother ever.

The younger Winchester should have told Dean to pull his head out of his ass before he screwed everything up but he didn't because he's a jerk of the highest level and a colossal spoiled child. He just wanted his brother back.

Their dad breached like a whale right beside Sam, making him scream in quite the unmanly manner before he got dunked under the water. When he came back up, his dad and older brother were red in the face as they laughed their asses off. His own face turning red, but in embarrassment instead of mirth, Sam retaliated by sending a wave their way. They double teamed him, dunking him over and over until he cried "Uncle!"

Then they switched to trying to dunk the other while Sam caught his breath. Sam hauled himself out of the water and flopped down on the beach chairs. He watched Dean and their dad chase each around the pool, laughing loudly. Sam could almost pretend they were a normal family on vacation.

By the time the pizza arrived, Sam was mostly dry and Dean and their dad took turns on the waterslide.

"Pizza's here!" he called, and went over to claim the food.

Their dad got out of the pool and ran up the stairs to grab his wallet, leaving a trail of wet footprints leading all the way up to their room. Dean seemed to find it hilarious.

The food paid for, Sam took the pizza up to their room, Dean trailing behind him like a puppy. Their dad wasn't that far behind them. Sam placed the pizzas on the table and called dibs on the shower first, not that Dean cared. The words had barely left his lips before Dean tore into the food.

Dad nodded at him to show he heard and followed Dean's lead.

Sam took a quick shower because he was afraid his dad and older brother would eat up the two large pizzas on him and drink up the Coca Cola. Good thing too. Dean had already started on the second pizza.

He used his long legs to get across the floor in two steps and swooped up the second pizza box. He laughed at Dean's outraged expression then immediately looked away when he saw his brother switch from outrage to puppy dog eyes. Sam has yet to build up an immunity to them. And to think of it, neither has their dad. They cave like wet tissue paper whenever Dean uses them. Thankfully, Dean pulling out the puppy dog eyes is a rare, incredibly rare, occurance.

Dean turned on the TV and found a movie for them to watch. They all settled in and watched Cujo, a movie their dad hates with a passion because he's a big baby when it comes to dogs. Their dad does not like them at all.

Night descended and all three Winchester men crashed hard from their earlier activities.

Sam had just started to wake up into consciousness when he heard Dean's phone chime, indicating a text message. In that instant, Sam was wide awake, and he tried to listen to the keypad tones to figure out what Dean is texting. It was short, so he's guessing Steve. Probably playing Marco Polo again or Warmer/Cooler. The man must be getting close or something because he heard Dean stifle a chuckle.

Ice slowly started to flood his veins. In his mind, Sam decided to let Dean go when the time came, but if McGarrett is close, then he'll only have maybe a couple of days left with his brother. He's not ready to let his brother go so soon. It's too soon dammit!

Sam peeked an eye to see if their dad was awake as well but found their dad putting a chainsaw to shame. No wonder Dean's freely texting McGarrett. If their dad was awake he'd have to wait a bit before responding because if their dad heard his phone going off, he'd ask who the hell is texting him this early in the morning, and it is early. Sam just registered the time: six in the goddamn morning. What the hell, McGarrett?

"Stupid SEAL," Sam muttered darkly to himself. He didn't want Dean to know he's awake.

Dean's phone chimed again and this time Dean huffed in amusement. What the hell are they talking about? Rendezvouing their time and date for Dean's extraction from Sam and their dad?

This went on for another five minutes before Dean put his cell down and got up to shower. Perfect. Sam can see what they were texting each other, and yes, Sam realizes what a dick move that is but so what? He has every right to know when exactly his brother is leaving him. He doesn't want to be blindsided like Dean was when Sam left for Stanford.

Yeah, Sam screwed that one up. He's still paying for it.

Making sure Dean was actually in the shower and not playing a game with him, Sam reached over with his (blessedly) long arms and grabbed Dean's phone. He quickly put in Dean's screen lock code and pulled up the messages and read what they were talking about.

I tripped over a bulldog -SM

Dumbass -DW

Be nice. The old lady wacked me with her cane. it HURT -SM

Hahaha! -DW

God, youre a dick. why do I love you again? -SM

Because you just do -DW

On and on it went, saying cutesy stuff to each other that had Sam wondering when exactly he got a big sister, or even when his brother and McGarrett forgave each other. Unless they're pretending everything's all right, like how they lived their last few months together before everything imploded, and if they are, Sam is not pulling out his Dr. Phil hat to help them. Nope. The last time he did, Sam exacerbated the situation. He is not the one for them to go to with help with their relationship. He's too petty and jealous, and going to their dad would be certifiably insane.

He also found a couple of texts from Detective Williams and Kamekona. Chin, Kono and Cath will most likely text Dean later talking about their day so far or ask when Dean is going to come home.

Sam fought the urge to throw Dean's phone against the hotel room wall but if he did, then Dean would know he had been snooping through his phone and would be very disappointed in him, and that is worse than having Dean mad at him. Disappointment hurts a lot more than anger. Especially coming from his brother.

"You know," a voice said from the other bed, and it sounded suspiciously like his dad but that couldn't be. Dad is sound asleep. "Snooping is a bad habit to get into, Sam. And if you do start snooping, don't get caught," their dad drawled in amusment. "You suck at snooping."

Face heating up, Sam ducked his head, ashamed, and held Dean's phone out for their dad to take, and waited for their dad to grab the phone and chastise him for his nosiness. It didn't come.

A slight whoosh of displaced air signaled his dad's movement but he didn't hear the covers move or the bed squeak. Damn, his dad must be part ninja or something. It must be a learned ability because neither he nor his brother have that skill in their immense arsenal of techniques taught by their dad. Oh, they've been trained in other fighting styles but they both like the art of "bar fighting". It makes people think they don't know how to handle themselves with opponents who know Judo or the ever popular MMA-style of fighting. Dean especially loves to show them just how wrong their assumptions are.

Like he did with McGarrett.

My god, all of Sam's thought processes lead back to his brother and Mr. SuperSEAL.

Well isn't that just fantastic. What's next? He'll start thinking of Oahu as home? He'll start considering McGarrett and his "ohana" as family? Not friggin' likely! It'll be a cold day in hell before he ever considers McGarrett anything other than mildly tolerable.

"Put it back before Dean gets out of the shower," his dad breathed on his cheek, earning a slight shriek of surprise out of Sam that had their dad throwing his head back and laughing his ass off.

The sound of the showering shutting off had Sam tossing Dean's phone at their dad in panic. They played Hot Potato for a solid minute before Dad caught it and placed it on the bedstand, shooting Sam a glare of reproach before throwing himself on the bed and looking nonchalant. Sam tried to affect the same pose. His attempt is not as successful as his dad's. He's looks awkward as all hell and he's starting to get a cramp.

Squeak! cried the doorknob with malicious glee, making Sam's pulse jump and his muscles to spasm in panic. Their dad stifled a laugh and turned on the TV. Where the hell did Dad find the remote?

Sam flopped onto his stomach and stared at the TV like his life depended on it.

Dean came out of the bathroom humming, thankfully dressed. Sam still has nightmares about the time Dean emerged wearing only a towel, and unfortunately, Dean lost his grip on the towel and Sam got a full frontal view of his brother, who had the audacity to laugh and shake his naked butt in Sam's face. It was very traumatizing. Sam couldn't look his brother in the eye for a good long while. Dad found the whole incident hilarious.

In fact, Dad every now and then still chortles to himself, and Sam knows exactly what his dad is thinking. How? Because his eyes flick from Sam to Dean to the bathroom and back again.

Dean continued humming a familiar song, oblivious to Sam's weirdness.

He walked to the window the table was near, half a pizza lay in the box. Picking up a cold slice, he stuffed half of it into his mouth and smiled at Sam, earning a disgusted groan from his little brother. Chuckling, Dean chewed his food while he walked over to the little refrigerator to grab a 2 liter bottle and drank from it. Earning another groan from Sam.

"That's gross, Dean!" Sam had half a mind to whine to their dad and force Dean to go get them a new pop because Dean defiled the one they had.

Dad shook his head at them and rolled his eyes heavenward.

Dean's phone rang. All three Winchester men turned as one to look at it, the screen lighting up on the bedside stand, and Sam swore the little device seemed to get louder the longer it went unanswered. Dean hopped across the bed, intentionally hitting Sam to get a squawk of annoyance, swooped up his phone and answered with a cheerful, "Dean Winchester, how may I help you?"

Sam exchanged looks with Dad, both with raised eyebrows at Dean's greeting. That is not how his brother answers the phone. That was too professional.

Dean bobbed his head every now and then, the occasional uh-huh, yeah, hmm popping up in the conversation, and then his tone switched into something serious.

"No. You are not going to do that, man! You can't. It's just - it's a crime against nature, that's why. No, man. No. You putting Spam on pizza is just wrong. It's worse than putting pineapple on pizza. Way worse. No, I'm not kidding. Don't do it. Your truck'll tank. People wouldn't trust your idea of food, let alone experimental food. You need trust for people to try your bizarre creations."

Dean listened some more, shaking his head.

"No. If you do that, I swear I'll tell Danny and he'll be at your truck every day screeching at you about monstrosities that should never exist," threatened Dean with a fond grin. "You know I'm not joking. Yeah, huh. Thought so. Shelve that idea for now, big man. I'll talk to you later."

He hung up and had a small yet happy smile on his face.

Sam very deliberately didn't look at Dad or Dean. He's a little afraid of what he'll say or what his face is saying. So, pretending he wasn't listening to everything Dean said is the best source of recourse for Sam at the moment. He's a little afraid Dean'll take it the wrong way.

Dean sat on top of Sam's back, ignoring Sam's squawk of protest at being used as a chair. Sam squirmed a bit before finding a spot that didn't have him being suffocated underneath his brother's weight. Dad tossed Sam a small bag of pretzels, his favorite, and threw a packet of Skittles at Dean's head but Dean caught it without looking. Dad looked grudgingly impressed.

"There's a hunt in Oregon. Shapeshifter," Dad said. He grinned ferally at them. "Wanna kill something?"

Sam and Dean grinned back at him.

"Sounds good," Dean said, making Sam and their dad light up at him finally talking to them.

"Sounds good," Sam confirmed with a goofy smile.

"Good," their dad grunted.

ALK

Steve blocked a punch to the face but failed to stop the roundhouse kick to the side of the head. Cheaters.

He's currently fighting two men-ish, humanoids. They're fast, strong, and seemed to like the taste of his blood. Steve has no idea what the hell they are but he has first hand knowledge that silver doesn't work on them because his silver tipped knife is still in the giant with a large nose's chest. The thing doesn't even seem to notice it.

Iron maybe?

Steve rapid punched Giant with the Long Neck in the stomach then threw a massive upper cut that sent it sprawling backwards. He turned his attention to Big Nose. The thing hissed at him and Steve saw sharp ass teeth. Oh, boy.

Shaking his head at his life at the moment, Steve pulled out another knife, steel this time, and shot forward, knife first, aiming for the heart when Big Nose caught his hand in an iron grip, swung him around and threw him into the wall with a flick of the wrist. Landing with a pained grunt, Steve rolled to his feet and fell back into a fighting stance. Big Nose gnashed his teeth at him before charging. Steve sidestepped him, grabbed the silver knife in its chest and pulled as hard as he can.

The sickening sound of flesh being torn and fresh blood splurted from the creature.

Steve swung behind the creature and used both his knives to sever the head. More blood. Enough that he's actually, completely covered in it. Gross.

The thing didn't get back up and reattach its head. So, decapitation then.

Without wasting time, Steve strode over to Long Neck and cut the head off of it with only a little trouble. He knew he should have sharpened his knives. This is what he gets for slacking off.

Now what the hell is he going to do with the bodies? Does he burn them? Bury them? Do they decompose by themselves? Biodegradable monsters with super fast microorganisms that love to eat them? That'd be handy.

Steve waited for a bit, watching, hoping that the bodies would disappear by themselves. When nothing happened he muttered a tired, "Son of a bitch."

Great, now he's got to find some tarps, lighter fluid, matches, and clothes to change into. Not in that order. At least he hopes. He doesn't think anyone would take too kindly to him walking around with holsters, guns, a tac vest, and covered in blood that is starting to smell.

He can hear Danny ranting at him for being an idiot about looking into the string of deaths that had been plaguing Spokane, Washington. He honestly thought it was a serial killer. Although he really hadn't any actual experience with serial killers but at least they're human, it felt like he needed to take a step back from hunting monsters to find his wayward boyfriend to think clearly.

Instead he found vampire-type things that could only be killed by beheading. Do - Are - Can vampires be killed that way? On Buffy the Vampire Slayer they turned to dust when beheaded. So, maybe? Can they be killed through a stake to the heart?

Shaking his head, Steve grabbed the feet of Big Nose and pulled its body to his rental. He clicked the fob to unlock and open the trunk, and threw the body into it, pushing it to the back and went back to Long Neck's body to haul that into the trunk as well. Once Long Neck got situated, Steve went back for the heads, grimacing slightly when Big Nose's scalp made a tearing noise. He looked down to see the scalp starting to give.

Quickening his steps, Steve all but threw the heads into the trunk and slammed it shut with satisfied air. Okay, now for some salt and lighter fluid. Oh, and a shovel.

Can't really bury a body without a shovel, no? Or a Bobcat. A Bobcat would be really handy about now.

Steve drove deep into the middle of nowhere after pilfering his supplies from a store that really needed to upgrade their security system, past the last farmhouse for miles, or so it seemed. Double checking to make sure no one is around, he hauled the bodies out of the trunk, despairing slightly at the amount of work he'll have to do to get all the blood out.

"Next time I'm just going to leave the bodies," Steve grumbled to himself.

Digging a hole big enough to put the bodies in and deep enough so he could set them on fire without attracting attention, took quite a while. More than he likes to admit.

His muscles ached pleasantly. It's been a while since he's done something this strenuous. It's been even longer since he went swimming. He misses swimming. He misses swimming and coming out of the water to see Dean dozing in the beach chair, a towel lay on top of him like a blanket.

He had a lot of fun flicking water at Dean to wake him up. The squawk of annoyance and the resulting glare would have Steve smiling his shit-eating grin and swooping down to kiss the glare away before it gained traction and turned into a full blown pout. A pouty Dean is not fun in the morning, especially if he goes to work like that and then he'd have to hear it from Kamekona and everyone else at the shrimp truck and he'd have to think of a way to pull Dean out of his funk.

Those hazy, crazy summer days are much missed.

He'll need to move on once he's sure the fire won't spread. He will not be the reason why the entire county catches fire because he's an idiot that didn't watch what he was doing. The lecture he'd undoubtedly get from Danny is already playing in his head at full volume.

No. No fires. No lectures.

He hasn't heard from Dean in the past couple of days. His texts have gone unanswered and he's a little worried. Only a little though. Dean can handle himself, even his family. Now at least.

Steve let out a tired sigh. Not the bad kind of tired sigh but the accomplished tired sigh. He feels good doing this. No wonder Dean likes it. Hell, even Sam admitted to missing hunting and doing something as good as killing a monster and protecting people, makes you feel like a superhero. Without magical powers or super serums, of course.

Captain America is his favorite super hero though, and not because Danny sometimes likes to yell at him that he's not a super soldier. During his younger years, Steve used to pretend he was named after Steve Rogers because they were so alike. Or so his younger mind thought.

Steve shook his head. He's going on a tangent. He must be more exhausted than he originally thought. Okay, he'll drive for a couple of hours, pull off somewhere and sleep for a couple of hours before continuing his search for his wayward boyfriend.

He should just ask Dean where he's at. Money's becoming a little tight. He can't keep going as he's been, and not just because of the money situation but because he's starting to miss home.

It's so quiet out. No insects. It's a little too cold for them right now. The only thing out in the isolated field with him is the waxing moon above and the crackling fire pit below, and if that's indictive of anything about his life, he'd rather not see or acknowledge it. Breathing through his mouth, Steve patiently waited for the fire to die down enough for him to start shoveling the dirt over the now burnt corpses.

More stretched muscles that still felt quite good and Steve is done filling in the improvised crematorium.

No wonder Dean has such strong shoulders and back muscles. Geez.

Rotating his shoulders, Steve gathered up his gear and hiked back to his rental, sighing again when he realized his night is not yet done. He still has to clean up the blood in the trunk and that is going to take the rest of the night to do so. Thankful he bought cleaning supplies along with the lighter fluid and shovel, which is an odd combination and he's glad he paid with cash, Steve rolled up his metaphorical sleeves and got to work.

By the time the sun rose above the horizon, Steve felt dead tired. He hasn't felt like this since BUD/s, and that is saying something. Unfortunately, he can't stay here. A car alone out in the field will raise some questions and he's too tired to think of a plausible explanation why he's there.

Steve yawned so widely his jaw popped numerous times and he had to blink back tears of exhaustion. He's not going to be able to sleep until much later.

Being in the Navy sure does come in handy sometimes, especially when it comes to sleep deprivation. He can do this. He can drive until he's 2-3 towns over and find a motel to stay at where he can rest for the next 16 hours.

With a solid plan in mind, Steve dropped exhaustedly into the driver seat, started up the car and drove far away from the improvised burial site.

One more week then he's going home. With Dean or no Dean. He needs to go home.