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"What?!" Dean's eyes shot up to meet Sonny's.

"Yeah, I picked him up last night on the side of the road. Kid was in bad shape. I tried to take him to the hospital but he wouldn't let me. Looking back I probably should have anyways. He didn't give me a last name or anything. I had no way of knowing he was your baby bro."

Dean made a move for the stairs, but Sonny stopped him.

"Have you seen him lately?" Sonny asked with concern in his voice.

Dean nodded.

"Dean you can't let him go back to your old man. He wont survive it." Sonny didn't want to be so blunt but he didn't know how else to say it. He remembered that Dean had always defended his father's actions. Even the ones that hurt him bad.

"Sonny, this wasn't – "

"Dean, you don't have to make excuses. Just promise me that you won't send him back. He can stay here if you want."

"I won't. I um," Dean cleared his throat, he didn't want to cry, "I can't. My dad is uh, well he…" Dean pinched the bridge of his nose. Ah hell, the tears were coming whether he liked it or not.

"Oh. I'm sorry Dean." Sonny said pulling his boy in for a hug. He may not have ever understood Deans undying respect for the man he called his father, but he didn't have to understand the complex Winchester family dynamics in order to see that Dean was in need of a little comfort.

After a minute Dean had his emotions under control. Or at least, he had his emotions under a face that appeared controlled.

"So he's with you now?" Sonny asked.

"Yeah, just since yesterday" Dean nodded, "but he's not happy about it. I guess I can't blame him."

"He give you that?" Sonny asked pointing to the lovely bruise Dean was sporting.

"Hhm, yeah."

"Dean. I'm sure he's much better off with you than, well…look he's just gotta have some time to adjust. I can think of another Winchester boy who needed a little time." Sonny offered a smile.

"Guess you're right." Dean sighed.

"Always am." Sonny placed a hand on Dean's shoulder. "Now, why don't you go see to your bro. I'll be down here cleaning up the mess I made in the kitchen if you need me." Sonny had about a million questions for Dean but he figured this wasn't the time. Later.

Dean nodded and started up the stairs.

Sam heard a creak and looked up from his breakfast. Dean was standing in the doorway. Sam scowled and lowered his head again. Great.

"Good to see you too." Dean said with a half smile. This kid. "You really had me worried."

Silence.

"Sam, I can't live in this perpetual awkwardness. We're going to have to talk."

"I have nothing to say to you." Sam said, looking down at his Frankenstein stitches.

"Really? Cus it seems to me you have a lot you need to get off your chest." Dean took a seat opposite Sam on the bed. "And I know I have some things I'd like to say to you. Like for starters…what the hell were you thinking running off last night?"

Sam shrugged. This was becoming his signature move.

"Sam. Answer."

"What do you want me to say?" Sam looked up at his brother with rage in his eyes. "What do you want from me?"

"I just want you to be honest with me. Tell me what's going on with you. I'm not a freaking mind reader. If you're angry about something tell me. Don't just go storming off into the night with an open wound!"

Dean gently rubbed his bruised face. Waiting for Sam to say something, anything. Minutes past. They weren't going to get anywhere with the heart to heart stuff today.

"I'm picking up the Impala today." Dean said. That got Sam's attention. "Don't worry, I took it out of the cops lot before they could really search her through and through. But she's just sitting in a motel parking lot down in Bethlehem right now. And I'm uh, also picking up…uh" Dean cleared his throat, "dad's ashes."

Sam stiffened.

"Had him cremated. Seemed like the right thing to do. Not sure what to do with them though. The ashes."

Sam wanted to say something. He wanted to tell Dean to keep those filthy ashes as far away from him as possible.

"Guess I'll figure out what to do with them soon enough."

Both brothers sat in silence. Their minds spinning with thoughts of the late John Winchester: hunter, drill sergeant, trainer…father.

"Well maybe I'll see if it's cool with Sonny for you to stay here for the next few hours. Robin's at the diner, she was going to come with me to find you but she's missed so much time there and now that's she's practically running the place, I told her to go… anyways… I have those errands to run. So. You good here?"

"I don't need a frickin' babysitter." Sam muttered.

"Yeah ok sure," Dean stood, "be back soon."

Sam inhaled sharply. "Be back soon." Dean had said that exact phrase before leaving for a routine grocery run five years ago.

….

A few hours later

"Thanks again Sonny," Dean said watching Sam make his way down the porch and into the truck.

"Anytime D-Dawg. And hey, swing by again soon and let's talk." Sonny said with a warm smile.

"You got it." Dean liked that idea. Over the years Sonny had been an amazing source of wisdom, advice, and genuine affection.

"Nice day?" Dean asked as he started up the truck.

Sam shrugged. It had been quiet at Sonny's. Mostly he just slept.

"Hmm well. Anyways, your shrink called me this today. Wants to meet you tomorrow after school." Dean watched for any sudden movement. School had set him off the other night, and Dean didn't want a repeat of that conversation.

"I'm not seeing a shrink…and I'm not going to school." Sam stated matter-of-factly.

"Yeah well your doctors and the state of New York say differently." Dean was trying hard to keep his tone of voice level and calm. "When did dad pull you out?"

"Last time I was in a real school, I was twelve." Sam said. He let that sink in for a minute before adding, "Then dad started homeschool."

Dean remembered their dad's homeschool system. It would go into effect when they were somewhere during the school year for too short of a time to get into the public school system. All it meant was a lot of physical education, target practice, and… more physical education. Basically it was hunter boot camp, and it sucked.

"Dad said I could get a GED at sixteen, but that never happened. Too busy I guess."

"Yeah, well looks like that turned out to be a good thing cus now you can get a high school diploma."

"Don't care."

"Come on Sam, you don't have to play the apathetic card all the time. You've always been the smarter brother, I could tell right off the bat, I thought you'd be excited to get back into it."

"Yeah well, you thought wrong." Sam lied. The idea of getting a formal education did excite him, but it also made him extremely nervous. As of late his peers were hunters, hustlers, and himself. He wasn't exactly ready to jump into being a regular teenager. Yeah, he'd dreamed of it for years, but now that it was actually within reach, he wasn't so sure that it wasn't a nightmare.

"Plus, I'm in a lot of pain." Sam added. He wasn't actually in that much pain. Mostly just some discomfort.

Dean pulled out a bottle of pain pills from his pocket, "Picked these up from the pharmacy for you."

Sam looked down at the pills; there were a lot of them.

"You tired?" Dean asked as they pulled into the driveway of the Winchester residence.

"No?" Sam said, a bit unsure of what his response would mean.

"Good, because Robin is taking you to get some clothes for school."

"Actually," Sam faked a yawn, "I'm not feeling so great."

"Too bad. Because you're going."

Robin came out the truck and swapped seats with Dean. She gave him a kiss through the open window. Then she turned her attention to Sam.

"I was glad to hear you were ok. You had us worried last night." Robin said. She put the truck in reverse and started in towards town.

"Sorry, ma'am."

"Robin."

"Sorry Robin." Sam looked out his window.

"Just don't do it again." Robin was kind but there was firmness in her voice as well.

"Yes m—Robin."

"You know Sam, I'm not your drill sergeant. I'm your sister-in-law, and I feel like I don't even know you. I only know that you like chicken and… that's pretty much it actually. I'm going to tell you a secret: Dean talked about you once or twice, when he was drunk."

Sam looked over at Robin, watching her face as she spoke. He wondered what Dean might have said.

"He said one time you came back early from school and found him watching tv and crying. He said he told you it was some manly movie or something, but really it was Little House on the Prairie." Robin stole a quick glance at Sam. Her secret telling had paid off; Sam was wearing a little smile. "But tell me something else about you Sam."

Sam thought for a minute. What was there to say?

"What's your favorite thing to do in your spare time?" Robin asked. She could see Sam was struggling with something to share.

"Um." Spare time? Time between hunts. Time when he wasn't training or resting up from a fight gone wrong. "Read?"

"Awesome! What kind of books?"

Again Sam had to think. What was the last book he had read that wasn't research for a hunt?

"Moby Dick?" It had taken him forever to finish, not just because it was a lengthy book, but because he could only read when John wasn't around.

"Really? Wow. I could never finish it, not even for school." Robin smiled, happy to be having a conversation with Sam, it wasn't anything too crazy but it was some back and forth. "You must be pretty smart."

Sam just shrugged, unsure of how to respond to that.

"Well let's get you some clothes." Robin said pulling into a spot in front of the store.

The shopping excursion ended up taking longer than anticipated. Not because Sam was a big shopper, but because he almost flat out refused to get anything. He kept insisting that he had enough to which Robin would argue that one duffle bag full of clothes was simply not enough. They were both stubborn, but it was Robin who won in the end. Much to Sam's dismay, they left the store with new jeans, shoes, underwear, sweat pants, socks, t-shirts, flannels, a backpack and a jacket.

"Thank you." Sam said for the umpteenth time as they arrived home.

"Sam, it's not a problem. You needed some new clothes. Now quit thanking me. Besides, it's Dean's money we were spending."

"Maybe I should have gotten a few more things." Sam said with a little smile.

Robin laughed, she was glad that she had taken the opportunity to try and get to know Sam a little bit better. He was genuinely good. She could just sense it. She looked forward to watching him start to open up more and shake off all the negativity that had surrounded him. Sam's name had always been shrouded with mystery, she was glad that now she would finally get to see who he really was.

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That's it for this chapter! Hope you enjoyed :) Please leave a review and let me know what you think if you have a minute! :)