Gifts on the Road

Sam barreled down the two lanes highway with most of his family in the car. He couldn't help but feel weird about leaving Dean behind, but Sam couldn't do anything about it. When he called Dean to tell him about the case Ben found, it seemed like he could care less. So now, Sam is in charge of making sure what is left of his family stays in one piece; the heavy weight once on Dean's shoulders has been moved down the line and Sam wasn't so sure he was ready.

"What now?" Ben spoke up from the seat behind Ashley's.

"Go home, regroup then hop in the Mustang and go to Vegas" Ashley responded sweetly.

"What about Papa?" Justin mumbled as he stared out he driver's side window.

"He's fine" Sam spoke up as he relaxed more into the seat behind the wheel. "He'll meet up with us eventually." Sam put his unlaced boot up on the door pane, just like Dean often did and continued to drive over the speed limit to home.

"But I miss him" Justin sniffles as he collapsed against the door frame.

"I know, Tiger," Sam sighed as he snuck a hand back to rub Justin's leg "just try to sleep some."

Ashley glanced over her shoulder at Sam. He was the family head now, and he didn't look so comfortable in his skin anymore. He was used to being taken care of, now he had to be the caretaker, the one watching out for herself as well as the three kids in the backseat. "It's going to be alright" she whispered into Sam's ear as she scooted into his side.

"Yeah, doubt that."

Ashley eased the black Impala up the driveway, she was happy to see her Mom sitting on the porch reading a book. No matter how many times she sees her mom or hears her voice, Ashley couldn't completely wrap her head around the fact that she was alive and home to stay.

Before getting out of the car, Ashley looked around at her sleeping family in the car with her. Sam had his head resting on his arm on the windowsill, Ben was slumped down in his seat, and Justin was curled up into himself with his head eating on the edge of Tara's car seat. Ashley felt a smile take over her entire face before she poked her brother next to her. "Rise and shine" she sang as she slapped Ben's thigh.

"Mm, I'll be right out" Ben mumbled as he unhooked Tara's straps.

"Take your time" Sam yawned as he got out picking up Justin so Ashley could grab Tara.

"Hey Mom" Ashley smiled as she hugged the woman coming down the driveway with the one free arm she had left.

"Hey baby" she smiled "how is everyone?"

"Fine Mom" Sam said as he slung an arm over his mother's shoulder. "Dean's alright for now, I think."

"Ah, that boy" she muttered sadly into Sam's chest. "Sure he will be fine."

"Hope you're right" Ben yawned as he walked past his grandmother and into the house.

"Right" Sam said as he followed a sulking teen into the house with his arms around Justin's back.

After spending one night in their own bed's Ben, Sam, and Ashley said their goodbyes and piled into the dark blue Mustang. "Ready for a little fun on the side?" Ben chuckled as Ashley headed for the highway that'll take them into Vegas.

"Reminds me," Sam cleared his throat "I got something for you." After digging around in the bag at his feet for a few moments, Sam pulled out a rectangular envelope. It was haphazardly wrapped in a plain brown paper bag cut for the occasion. In neat capital letters, Sam had written Ben's name on the front. He continued to look at it for a little while longer before turning around to face his nephew. "Your dad asked me to make this for you a couple weeks ago. He wanted to give it to you sometime himself, but uh, I think this is a good time."

Ashley glanced up in the rear view mirror right as Ben tore a corner on the paper.

"It that-?" she asked with a smirk.

"-a fake ID!" Ben exclaimed.

"Ah, boy's first" she smiled. "Guess we're going out once we finish this shit."

"That's the plan" Sam smiled back at Ben then over at his sister. "No kids to take care of, going off the rails!"

"But business first" Ashley said in her best mother voice as she pulled into a motel just a few blocks away from the strip.

Sam went in to the office to book a room while Ashley read up on the finger details Ben scraped together. "Alright, so first one you found was..?"

"1982" Ben answered "then 1985, '87, 1991, '93, '94, '97, '99, whit load in 2000 and so on."

"Got a room," Sam said leaning into Ashley's open window "260."

"Cool, meet you there" Ashley replied putting the car back in gear.

Ashley walked out of the bathroom holding her pencil skirt for Sam to zip up. "Alright Ben, you man the fort" she ordered as she slipped on her heels. "See if you can find the next possible victims, we'll call with news." She turned to finish tying Sam's tie while Ben muttered something about wanting to go out, but stopped suddenly when Sam shot a look over Ashley's shoulder. "Be back for dinner" she smiled as she headed out the door and into the Mustang.

"You stay here till we are back" Sam warned as he closed the door behind him.

Ben didn't entirely listen to his two guardians; as soon as the Mustang was out of the parking lot he reached for his phone. He knew better than to leave the motel room while the Winchesters were on a case, so instead he shut the laptop and pulled up Dean's contact. "I'll look for victims later" Ben mumbled as he put the phone to his ear.

Yeah came the familiar voice, clearly distracted as he answered right before his voice mail did. Ben, you okay?

"H-hey Dad," Ben stammered "yeah I'm good."

Then what's up? Something wrong with Sam or Ash?

"What, no" Ben said into the phone "can't I call my father if I want to?"

Your right, I'm sorry Ben. What's up?

"Nothing," Ben responded, much calmer now that Dean was willing to talk. "I wanna say thanks though."

For what, exactly?

"For the ID. Sam gave it to me today so we can go out once this case is done."

Sure, yeah. You're welcome.

Ben couldn't help but feel those words were just empty sounds filling a necessary void. Without even saying goodbye he pulled the phone away from his face and stared at the screen. This wasn't the same man who spent a year living with him and his mom, the same man who slept with his sister to keep her personal demons from destroying her. As a single tear rolled down his cheek and his father called out his name, Ben hit the red button at the bottom of his screen and ended the call. "Guess I got research to do" Ben sniffles as he turned on the laptop already put on the table.

AN: Sorry, finals week is starting to kick my butt and I'm not even there yet. Tell me what you think, I beg of you! Always deeply appreciated and I promise I will listen! ~Ash