Alright, here si the next chapter. It is kind of a filler one, but it was necessary to broach the next subject that will come up. Plus we had to mend the brother's broken hearts, of course!
Chapter 2
Psychics and Safe Houses
They had flown to Washington. In an airplane. From the other end of the continental US. Dean sat in the back seat of the very large Jeep, staring straight ahead. The deep rumble of the car did little to appease Dean's lingering trauma of being forced into the air by vampires, throwing the little amount of control that he had over flying right out the window. He had had absolutely no control, over anything, since leaving the convent in Ilchester, Maryland and he was getting sick of it.
Dean turned to say something to Sam, but the words died on his lips when he saw his brother's vacant stare, glaring at nothing beyond the walls of green that surrounded them. He could not stand Sam's empty gaze, the look that made him seem as though his body were already just a shell.
"Edward, what is he thinking?" Dean asked without thinking if Sam could hear him or not. He wouldn't have answered if he could. Edward waited for several minutes to respond, and he seemed abnormally hesitant to reveal Sam's thoughts to the guy's own brother. "You…You really don't want to know, Dean, but you will find out later, anyways."
"I don't care about later, Ed. I want to know how many ways my brother is thinking of killing himself this time, right now!" Dean kept his voice relatively quiet, despite the anger that was beginning to rage in his stomach. "He's actually not thinking of committing suicide, per-say." Edward said this without turning around, whispering into Bella's ear and ignoring Dean after having said it.
"You know that I can hear you, right?" Sam's dead voice could have startled a rock; it was the first time he had said anything since the Cullen's kidnapped them. Dean refused to let his shock show through, making a typically him comment instead. "Well, you could have fooled me, bud. I think that tree over there was paying more attention to us than you were." Dean pointed out the window towards one of the thousands of trees that they had passed in the last twenty minutes alone, but the gesture was lost on Sam; He had returned to staring mindlessly out said window.
The rest of the ride was spent in near silence.
Dean awoke when the car slid to a stop in front of one of the largest houses he had ever seen; in the middle of nowhere. "Dude, how many of you live here?" he asked, staring at the massive wrap-around porch and the immense canopy of trees that hung over the clearing; their yard alone must have been around three acres!(3 acres is about the area of 2 ½ football fields) "Around ten of us." Dean nodded, realizing that was appropriate for a vampire coven. "It's actually not normal." He replied to Dean's thoughts. "Generally, we travel in pairs, or groups of three. Ours is the largest coven in the world, apart from one in Italy. We're more of a family though." Edward went on to briefly explain the family history, and everyone in it. Dean couldn't wait to meet the wolf and the half-vamp!
"Dean, could you help get your brother out of the car? I don't want to manhandle him again; it was rude the first time." Bella asked politely, standing by the open door of the car. Sam was just sitting there, not moving while staring straight ahead at nothing; again. "I dunno, Bella, he might like it. You know, he's all about the women taking charge." Dean said that loud enough that Sam could hear him, smiling while he taunted his brother. It worked; Sam gave Dean a weak glare and got out of the car on his own, knowing that the vampire girl really would carry him instead of letting him stay out here.
A loud voice drew their attention from Sam and towards the door. Edward sighed as Emmett came bounding down to the cars, an enormous smile on his face. "Who just said that?! I swear I'm going to leave Rosalie and marry whoever finally just brought a sense of humor to this place!"
"That's Emmett, the vampire who is more childish than my daughter." Edward said that mirthlessly, a dark look coming onto his pale face. Dean ignored it and turned to the newcomer, who had stopped to stare at the two of them. "Sorry dude, but I don't swing that way. Ladies love me too much for me to break their hearts like that." Dean replied, winking at the big vampire who then spontaneously burst into laughter. "I really, really like this dude, Eddie. Tell me they're going to hang with us for a while?"
"Yeah, at least for now. Can we go inside? It's going to rain soon." Sure enough, Dean felt the first drops of rain splatter on his hand, causing him to glance up at the grey sky. The six of them migrated to the house, stepping underneath the protection of the porch just as the rain began to fall in earnest. "Good call. You're a future seer too, now?" Dean asked Edward, his eyebrows scrunching together. "No, that's Alice's job. She just told me." He replied, opening the front door.
Something tiny and rock hard smashed into Dean the second the door was open, knocking the wind out of his and sending them both to the ground. "Oh, thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Oh, you can't possibly understand how much this means to us, Dean! Thank you so, so much!" He could feel tiny arms trying to wrap themselves around his torso while the voice shuddered and sobbed. He was slightly confused when he didn't feel any tears dripping through his shirt, but forgot about that when Edward collapsed to the ground with his head in his hands, an enormous smile on his face.
Carlisle gently pulled Dean and Alice from the porch, introducing the crying girl as he pulled her from Dean. Alice's mouth turned up into a broad grin while she still shook with sobs, but Dean could tell that they were happy tears; or not-tears. "You save so many people, both of you. Jasper's future just reappeared, along with the entire Denali coven. That is already four vampires, and just from you showing up! I knew that calling you was the right idea, you're a genius, Edward!" She turned away and sprinted back into the house. Dean heard a sharp crack followed by laughing and crying, so he assumed that the rock-hard girl had just tackled another rock-hard family member.
The two boys met the rest of the family, but Sam remained completely silent through it all. Esme gave them some food –the best meal that Dean had ever had, in his opinion! –and showed them to the room that they could stay in. She told them it was Edward's old room, but that he shared a cottage out back with Bella and Renesmée. Dean had yet to see the 'adorable little girl', and he was dying to meet her 'disgusting puppy'. That hot blond Rosalie sure knew how to describe people.
"Hey, Dean, your car's on its way here, by the way. Your brother called Bobby, while you were asleep, and told him where we are. Don't worry, we won't hurt him." Edward began to leave, but Dean's silent musings brought his attention back. "He's another hunter? Do you think that he could help us?"
"Undoubtedly. Bobby is probably one of the smartest, bravest people I've ever met. I know that he's helped Sam and me out in the past, and he probably wouldn't hesitate to again." Dean frowned when he thought of the last words spoken between him and Bobby, not liking how abruptly they had parted.
Sam crashed onto the bed that the Cullens had brought in for him; a double bed that looked softer and warmer than any marshmallow he had ever seen. Dean went to sit on his identical bed and turned to look at his brother. Sam had dropped down without changing clothes, or removing his shoes, face first into the down-feather pillow. His arms were pulled up around said pillow, making a wall around his head that blocked what little to see of it there was. Dean did however, notice Sam's shaking shoulders.
Dean silently crossed the space between them and sat on his brother's bed, pausing as Sam flinched. He spent only two seconds thinking, of why his brother could be crying, before he remembered the semi-talk at the convent. "Sam, if you got my message then why are you scared of me?" Dean jumped right into the topic, keeping the hate he felt for moments like this from his voice; this was a necessary chick-flick scene. Sam remained silent for over an entire minute before he sat up to glare at Dean with a weak, watery stare.
"Dean…why would that message do anything but scare me, since I made it out of there alive? Do you want to know what my biggest fear is?" Sam continued when Dean remained silent, confused at the turn of the conversation, but egging him on with his eyes. "My biggest fear isn't being manipulated by a stupid whore of a demon, or turning into a freak. Those things are already done and gone, and I'm not going to be afraid of something that already screwed me over! My biggest fear, Dean, is you.
"My fears have always stemmed from you, in some way. When I was four, it was fear that you would think I was too baby-ish for you to play with me anymore. From my eighth Christmas on, when I knew about monsters, my fear was that you would get hurt. Not that Dad would, that you would, Dean." Tears were falling silently down Sam's face now as he continued his rant. Dean listened to his brother, hearing all of this for the first time, even though he had always known in some way that it was like this.
"As I got older, along with the constant fear of you getting hurt, I began to get scared that you would find a girl and leave me. Every girl that I ever saw you with could have been the one to take you away, leaving me alone with Dad. When I got accepted into Stanford, my fear was that you wouldn't accept it, and that you would be mad at me for leaving you. You confirmed that fear, Dean, for the first time ever, you brought one of my fears to life. After that, they all came true." The two boys remained silent for a few seconds, hearing nothing from downstairs to indicate that they were being listened to, but Dean knew that Sam would continue.
"First college, when you got mad at me for leaving. Then I was scared that you would cut me off, just like Dad; you did that too. Once we started hunting again, you began getting hurt, even more than was usual for you, bringing back that old fear and making that real! And then…and then you died. I have never been more grateful to Dad in my entire life, than I was when he made that Deal to bring you back. I was sad that he was gone, but I was overjoyed that I wouldn't have one of my other massive fears taken from me; you dying.
"The next time you confirmed my fear, was when you made your own Deal. You signed away your soul, bringing me back to life. You really did die that time, Dean. You brought about the worst pain that I had ever felt in my entire life, by giving my greatest fear substance.
"I'm not scared of you dying, anymore. No, my biggest fear now, Dean, is you. I made you promise to kill me if I ever went dark-side, to kill me for the safety of others. I didn't want you to kill me because you hated me; I wanted you to kill me to save me. Yesterday, when I listened to your message, I felt worse than when you had died. When you died, I tried everything to save you, because that's what you did for me. When you called me a bloodsucking freak, there was nothing I could do. I-"
"Wait." Dean cut him off, stopping Sam at the first incorrect word from his brother's mouth. "I never called you a bloodsucking freak. "
"Yeah, Dean, you did. You called me a monster, a vampire." Sam chuckled humorlessly and gestured towards the door. "Don't think our company would like that."
"Sam, give me your phone. Right now." Dean was angry. His mind flashed back to the Green Room and Zachariah's words about Sam. "Sam…has a very important part to play. He may need a little nudging in the right direction, but I'll make sure he plays it."
Sam's phone pressed against his arm, pulling him from the angry nostalgia plaguing him. He opened the voicemail and waited for the voice. "First message: Listen to me, you bloodsucking freak, Dad always said I'd either have to save you or kill you. Well I'm giving you fair warning: I'm done trying to save you. You're a monster, Sam, a vampire. You're not you anymore and there's no going back." Dean fumed as he heard his voice talking to his brother like that. He couldn't wait to get his hands on that 'angel's' old white throat and squeeze while chanting the most powerful exorcism he knew; the guy was a demon, it should work fine.
"Dean?" Sam was confused at his brother's anger. Hadn't he left that message on his own, or was he trying to build up the anger to kill Sam now? Sam slumped on the bed, waiting for his brother to get it over with. He flinched when the phone pushed itself against his ear, and he listened to the voicemail that was now playing. His mind began to work at a mile a minute the instant he heard Dean's reasoning voice come on. His head was fit to burst by the end; he had heard Dean threatening his life, and Dean begging for him to come back, all in the supposedly same message.
"This was the message that I left for you, Sam. That stupid son of a- There just aren't words in this language that can describe him! I like Alistair better than that self-righteous, winged-king of whores! Zachariah screwed with you, okay man? He screwed with me, he screwed with you, we've both been screwed with! I'm not going to kill you, because of this. I may kill you if you don't stop moping! I won't kill you for being a 'bloodsucking vampire'." Dean said the last part with the most sarcasm he could muster, to take the sting out of the words that had come from his own voice.
Sam still didn't believe him; he could tell. Edward popped his head in the door before he could say anything else, however, and called them downstairs. "Nessie and Jake are here. You guys want to meet them?" He asked, obviously sensing the tension rolling from both of the boys.
"Yeah, sure." Sam got up and strode past Edward, leaving Dean fuming on the bed. Dean got up to follow, but more slowly. Sam obviously needed space to think, and Dean would respect that. For a little while at least.
Downstairs, Dean saw two newcomers; an extremely tall Native American dude, and a little girl sitting on his lap. She had the most adorable look he had ever seen, even on grown women. With her long, curly bronze hair and deep chocolate brown eyes you could tell that she was Edward and Bella's daughter. Her face was smooth and clear, not an ounce of baby fat on the six-year-old face. Her body was long and thin, and Dean could tell that she would grow up to give her blond aunt a run for her money in the looks department.
"Dude, is this guy checking Nessie out?" The huge guy asked, looking at Edward. Edward nodded and he turned his gaze back to Dean. "Dude, she's…six!" He wrapped his arms around her in a motion that clearly stated, and she's mine. "Actually, she's just under one, if what Edward tells me is correct." Dean replied, giving the man his cheekiest grin. "I'm Dean."
"I'm Jake. So, you're totally fine with admitting that you were just checking out a one year old? Dude, you're totally messed up!"
"Jake, if pedophilia had ever occurred to me, it would be the least of my problems; not to mention the most normal." Dean replied, shaking his head.
"Wow, that's…really sad." Jake laughed and Nessie began to laugh as well, her tiny form shaking as his trembled. She put her hand up to his face and he let it rest there a moment before saying, "Yeah, these are the two guys that will help us out." Another beat. "Don't worry, they'll be okay. They may be human, but Alice says that they're the toughest humans she has ever seen." The little girl shook her head no, and moved to jump down from Jake's lap. Dean was confused at the exchange, and Edward began explaining her gift while she walked over to Sam.
Sam's eyes were staring down at the floor, ignoring the adorable little girl and her monstrous friend that had just walked in. He was replaying the two phone messages over in his head, when he felt a tiny hand touch his knee. He looked up to see Nessie looking at him with eyes that held more sorrow than any kid's ever should.
She was too short to climb up by herself, and he could tell that she wanted to. Sam was feeling okay, and his head hadn't been hurting since Ilchester, so he focused on the little girl. He grabbed her with invisible hands and lifted her up onto his lap, not having moved a muscle. Her face was glowing before Dean coughed, glaring daggers at Sam. "Dean, I just unleashed the apocalypse and you're worried about me going dark-side? Trust me; I can't get a whole lot darker, at this point." Sam turned his attention back to Nessie while Dean grumbled quietly about 'stupid demon-blood powers'.
Nessie reached towards Sam's face with a tiny hand, and gasped when she touched his cheek. Sam frowned as she began to tremble, tears forming in her eyes; her hand would not let go of Sam's face. "Nessie?" Edward asked concernedly, flashing over to take his daughter. He stopped at her mental plea, inches from taking her from Sam's lap. Tears were falling down her face now as she relived all that Sam had been through in the past few days.
She turned to stare at Dean before looking to her dad. He reached out and touched her hand, and she felt everything that had been happening to Dean come flooding into her mind as Edward thought of what he had heard. Double images were snapping around in her head, distracting her from the family that was staring at her with immense concern.
Renesmée turned back to Sam and put both arms around his neck, hugging him tight enough to slow his air intake, but not stop it. She began throwing images into his head; pictures of him in pain, him detoxing, him killing Lilith. Then she threw images of Dean at him; Dean's last words in person, Dean's real phone call, the way he stared at Sam and worried about his brother's health. She began to show Sam the thoughts of both boys during their talk upstairs, giving him Dean's side of view and allowing him to see the raw concern and love that Dean felt for his brother.
Nessie felt water leaking into her shirt as big arms wrapped around her, crushing her to the man she was holding. His arms were incredibly strong, but she was part-vampire; no human could hurt her by brute strength. Nessie began to put soothing images and words into his head while listening to him running through everything she had shown him, thinking about the best ways to apologize for doing that to Dean. "Thank you so much, Renesmée. I don't know how you knew, but that was exactly what I needed. Thank you." Sam whispered this so quietly that Nessie knew that even her family hadn't heard it.
Nessie pulled back and looked at Jake, showing Sam what she wanted. Sam focused his thoughts back on the little girl and lifted her into the air. She soared across the room and landed gently on Jacob's thighs, giggling as he grabbed her ribs and began to tickle her, whispering what a good job she had done.
"It's been a really, really long day for you guys." Esme broke in through the near-silence. "Let's call it a night, and let you boys get some sleep. We can discuss everything that will happen tomorrow. Okay? If you need a shower, feel free; they're everywhere. There are clean clothes for both of you in the wardrobes, and they should all fit; Alice went shopping while you were on your way here."
Dean and Sam thanked Esme and everyone else and walked back upstairs, side-by-side. "So, the future run-way model got through to you, huh Sammy?" He always loved mocking his little brother after a very serious discussion, talking about what a pansy he was. "Say that again." Sam stopped walking and looked to his older brother, a light shining in his eyes. "What?"
"Say it again; call me Sammy."
"You're a pansy, Sammy." Dean replied, turning back to their room. "What was with the sudden want for your goofy nickname?"
"You haven't called me Sammy, when one of us isn't in danger, in months. It…feels good…to know that you can still call me that." And here comes the part where Dean says that he'll always be his little Sammy, and that will never change. Dean dropped into his bed and turned off the lights before saying the predictable line: "Night, bitch."
Sam chuckled before laying down into his own bed, a genuine smile on his face for the first time in weeks. "Jerk." He said affectionately as he drifted off to sleep.
I'm going to get the next chapter out pretty quick. Tell me what you thought, please, and i will respond to the reveiw. I've never been all that great at it, but I swear I'll reply. Please and thank you!