Facade – Forty-Fifth Chapter
Rory came down the stairs, wearing her favourite dark blue jeans, a white off-one shoulder top and a fitted black jacket. It was the first day of her senior year, and she was determined to look good.

Her determination had absolutely nothing to do with a certain, temporary houseguest of course...

"Morning," she called as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Hey," Sam smiled at her from the table. He was reading that day's copy of the Smallville Ledger. "You look good."

"Thank you," Rory smiled back, controlling her blush and heartbeat... somehow. "Seen any more on Jason?"

Sam shook his head. "I'm sure he's in town," he confessed, "with his new girlfriend, but I don't know where."

Sam was lying, of course. He knew perfectly well that Jason's new girlfriend was Lana Lang, and that Jason had taken a coaching job at Smallville High.

He also knew that telling anybody, even a girl keeping the world's biggest secret, could get his brother fired.

And if the delay in finding Jason let him spend more time with said girl, well then, he wasn't complaining.

Sam looked back to the newspaper as Rory made her breakfast. He turned the page and the headline instantly caught his attention:

Smallville High hires new assistant coach

Sam sighed, resigned. The picture that went with the article showed Jason, of course. The caption read Jason Teague, 25 years old, new assistant football coach at Smallville High.

Rory glanced over his shoulder. "Hey," she asked, surprised, "what's Dean doing in the Ledger?"

"That's not Dean," Sam replied. "It's Jason."

Rory leaned in closer, reading the article over his shoulder. Sam could smell her – coconut and vanilla and strawberry – or was that just her shampoo?

"Well, now you know where he is," Rory said, hiding her sadness. Sam hadn't yet had time to tell her that he and Dean were coming back.

"Rory, you coming?" Clark asked from the doorway.

"Yes, Clark," Rory said exaggeratedly. She supersped up the stairs and was back in a moment with a bag over her shoulder. "See ya, Sammy," she said to her friend, hugging him around the shoulders and leaving.

Sammy stared after her for a moment. Dean came in through the door just as Clark started the truck outside.

"Hey," Dean said.

Sam knew he'd find out eventually; and the sooner they left, the sooner they could come back.

"Check it out," he said, tossing the newspaper to his brother.

Dean caught it one-handed and read the article on Jason quickly.

He nodded slowly. "All right, let's head into the school today and say hi."

"Are we telling him straight away?" Sam asked. Every time he talked about anything even connected with leaving, it made him feel sick to his stomach.

Dean shook his head. "Remember what you said about springing it on him? Probably not a good idea. Especially not when he's practically disowned us. I mean," he tapped the picture, "Teague? I don't recall that being the name on my birth certificate."

Sam nodded his assent. "So we drop by, tell him we're in town, have a couple minutes of awkward conversation, take off, see him again another day?"

Dean shrugged. "Sounds all right. But I did find something that might be a hunt."

Sam sighed. "We'd better be quick then."

Smallville High
Sam and Dean walked into the school's reception. A middle-aged woman at the desk smiled at them and asked kindly, "Can I help you?"

"Ah, yeah," Dean said, walking over to the desk. "We were hoping to have a quick talk with our brother?"

"Is he a student at the school, Mr. Teague?" she asked him.

"What?" Dean was puzzled. "Oh, sorry, no, Mr. Teague is our brother. Identical twins," he explained.

The woman made an understanding noise and, rummaging through her desk drawers, pulled out a map.

"Your brother should be right about here," she said, pointing to a room on the map. "Go this way..." she traced a path through the halls. "There you go."

"Thank you," Sam smiled at her. The brothers left the reception, following her directions.

"We still don't know what to say to him," Sam pointed out, agitated.

"Improvise, Sammy," Dean clapped him on the back. "It's what we're best at."

A minute later, they reached a door labelled 'Coach's Office'.

"All righty then," Dean shook himself a little. "Let's do this thing."

He opened the door and stepped inside. Sam followed him, shutting the door behind himself.

The room was empty.

"Okay, guess he's not here yet," Sam stated the obvious.

Dean went over to an armchair and sat down in it, relaxing.

"So now we just wait," Sam said disbelievingly.

"Patience is a virtue, Sammy," Dean replied.

Sam started to pace the room. He stopped just behind the door to turn around and the door suddenly opened, almost hitting him.

A girl he recognised from dreams and visions stepped through the door, a folded up note in her hand. She saw Dean and her face lit up with a beautiful smile.

"Hey," she said quietly, shutting the door and walking over to him. She didn't see Sam.

Dean looked a little confused and replied, "Hi."

What she did next confused him much more, however.

Lana Lang leant over Dean and kissed him full on the mouth.

Dean shot out of the chair, pushing Lana off him a little but keeping hold of her shoulders. "Whoa there," he said, extremely confused. "What are you doing?"

Lana looked just as confused. "Are you okay, Jason?"

Dean looked over at Sam and asked him, "Who is she?"

Lana followed his gaze to see Sam and her mouth opened involuntarily.

"Uhm..." Sam stalled. "You know, the only thing that could make this any worse..."

The door opened once again and a man, identical to Dean, stepped inside.

"...would be that," Sam finished with a sigh.

Lana looked from the man holding onto her shoulders to the man who had just come through the door. "What the hell is going on here?" she asked angrily.

Jason shut the door behind him and looked at Sam. He looked at Dean, then back at Sam once again, and realised who they were.

"Jason," Dean said faux-cheerfully, a grin on his face. "Long time no see, eh?"

"Dean," Jason replied in the same sarcastic tone. He glanced at Sam and nodded. "Sam."

Lana looked at the three brothers in turn. "What?"

Dean let go of her shoulders and stepped back. Jason walked over to her and, standing close by, said, "Lana, these are my brothers, Sam and Dean."

"I thought you were an only child," Lana said, even more confused.

"He doesn't talk about us much," Sam said awkwardly.

"What are you two doing here?" Jason asked matter-of-factly.

"Visiting an old friend," Sam replied. "We saw the article on you in the paper, thought we'd catch up."

Jason glanced at Lana and said, "Look, now's not the greatest time. How about you swing by here, around half past five this afternoon, after practice?"

Sam nodded. Dean crossed his arms and said nothing.

"Great," Dean replied stoically. "See ya, Jase."

He went to the door, opened it for Sam and, after a last lingering stare at his twin, left the room.

Lana looked up at Jason. "What was that about?"

Jason sighed and rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. "It's a long, complicated story."

"No it's not," Lana realised, "you just don't want to tell me."

Jason looked away from her.

"Whatever happened, I'll understand," Lana told him sincerely.

"I-" Before Jason could say anymore, there was a knock on the door.

Lana jumped away from him, trying to look casual. Clark entered the office and said, almost as a question, "Coach Teague?"

Lana looked at Jason quizzically.

"I'm Clark Kent," Clark introduced himself, holding out his hand for Jason to shake and hiding his surprise at Jason's appearance well.

"Hi," Jason said with a smile.

Clark noticed Lana for the first time, and asked in surprise, "Lana. What are you doing here?"

Lana stammered for a moment before Jason said smoothly, "The principal asked this young lady to give me the grand tour."

Lana held back her laughter with difficulty as Clark looked back at Jason.

"It's good to meet you, Clark," Jason said sincerely.

"You know, they didn't tell me you were Jason Teague," Clark said admiringly, talking more about Sam and Dean than the school. He turned to Lana and told her, "This guy threw a passing record his freshman year at Metropolis University. He could've gone pro."

"Yeah, well, now I'm just a transfer to Central Kansas A&M," Jason said, sounding rather sheepish. "It's amazing how quickly you fall off a recruiter's list when you tear your rotator cuff."

"Well, then, uh, I guess we're lucky to have you here, Coach," Lana said, almost laughing. Clark looked at her strangely.

"Assistant coach... Miss Lang," Jason responded. The pair shared a quiet look, which Clark missed. He was trying to match up the two Jasons; the one he had heard of from Sam and Dean, and the one that he had hero-worshipped for the last year.

"Quigley's still gonna be calling the plays for you guys," Jason said, drawing Clark's attention back to the present.

"Actually, I'm not on the team," Clark told him. He glanced at Lana for a second before saying, "I was hoping I could try out."

Jason looked him up and down, considering. "You look big enough. Sure," he agreed.

Clark felt Lana looking at him, surprise all over her face. This time, however, he refused to look back at her.

We just keep going up and down, and back and forth, like a yo-yo on crack, he told himself. This time, I should just stay away.

Kent Farm
Rory slammed the door of the truck shut and, rearranging the bag on her shoulder, walked towards the house.

"Hey," Sam called from the barn.

She turned to see him, a smile rising on her face. He grinned back at her.

"Hey," she called back, jogging over to him. "Did you talk to Jason?"

Sam nodded. "We were interrupted by your friend Lana, though. We're going back to talk to him properly in about-" he checked his watch, "-half an hour."

"And here I was hoping I could get a fully qualified college dropout to tutor me," Rory replied with a smile.

Sam tried to suppress the rush of memories at her words. "Dean and I are leaving tomorrow," he confessed in a rush.

Rory's eyes widened and she couldn't stop the disappointment showing clearly on her face.

"But we also agreed to come back and visit, in between hunts," Sam explained hurriedly, realising he hadn't actually told her about that.

"Visit who?" Rory asked, knowing the answer but desperate to stop herself slipping and showing how deeply obsessed she really was.

Sam stared at her for a second, before replying quickly, "Jason."

Rory nodded and smiled. "Okay."

She turned and walked towards the house. Sam jogged to catch up with her, asking in disbelief, "That's it? You're not..."

"Angry?" Rory asked, turning once again to face him. "You're coming back, right? And you're helping people. I've lived my whole life being restricted by my family because I'm breakable. I wouldn't want you to be held back by me, just because I'm harder to hurt than you are."

"Your family thinks you're breakable?" Sam questioned, making a face.

"Clark does, and Dad does, and Mom would rather I stayed out of trouble altogether," she laughed. "But they do get scared for me. I'm constantly in the hospital because of various meteor-infected people."

"At least you're not constantly avoiding hospitals because of various mythological creatures," Sam said quietly.

"I am gonna miss you, though," Rory consoled him, still smiling.

"I'm gonna miss you too," Sam replied, smiling down at her.

"Funny how it doesn't seem to go away, even after a year of nothing," Rory mused. "I've got work to do, so I'll talk to you when you get back."

Sam nodded and hugged her one-armed. She hugged back with her free arm, then left for the house.

Sam allowed himself a second to stare after her forlornly like some kid in a teenage soap opera, then went back into the barn to get Dean.

Smallville High
Sam waited impatiently in the school's foyer. Dean finally came through the doors, grinning.

"Where the hell were you?" Sam asked edgily. "We're already late."

"So?" was Dean's only response.

The two brothers walked once again through the school hallways. Sam fidgeted nervously the whole way, while Dean was his usual cocky, grinning self.

They stopped outside the coach's office.

"Dude," Dean finally spoke, turning to Sam. "Stop twitching already, you're making me feel nervous."

Sam scowled and knocked on the door. Dean opened it without waiting for an invitation.

Sam rolled his eyes and followed Dean inside. Jason sat at the desk, twiddling his thumbs.

"Jason," Dean nodded.

Jason looked up and nodded back. "Dean, Sam."

"Hi," Sam said uncomfortably.

"What are you doing here?" Jason asked bluntly. "And don't feed me that crap about an old friend, please."

"Actually, we really are visiting an old friend," Sam defended himself. "But we heard you were in town, so we thought we'd stop by."

"And that's it?" Jason questioned sullenly. "Ten years ago, I run away from all that hunting crap. And now you two decide to drag it back into my perfectly good life for no reason?"

"Dad's dead," Dean said flatly.

There was silence for several long seconds.

"How?" Jason asked monotonously, almost like he didn't believe it.

"Don't know," Sam answered quietly. "We think it had something to do with the thing that killed Mom."

Jason took a step backwards, holding his hands up. "No," he said sternly. "It always comes back to that with you two, doesn't it? The thing that killed Mom. Well, you two might be obsessed-"

"It killed my girlfriend Jessica too," Sam said brusquely. "It's a demon, with yellow eyes. The only thing that can kill it is a supernatural gun, made by a guy called Samuel Colt. The gun is called the Colt. It disappeared with Dad."

"So what, you want me to help you out?" Jason asked caustically. "I travelled halfway across the world to be with the girl I love; I'm not giving her up for some stupid vengeance quest."

"We're not asking you to," Dean said abruptly. "We just thought you might want to know. That's all. That's why we came here. Because you're our brother, whatever you call yourself nowadays, and that's what really counts."

Jason looked at his twin grudgingly.

"Besides," Dean added, his cocky grin back in place, "I missed not having to look in mirrors to see how wonderful I truly am."

Jason sighed and shook his head. "And listen, about Lana..."

"Your secret is safe with us," Sam cut in, a small smile on his face.

"Besides, Sammy's hardly one to lay the blame, eh?" Dean punched his brother playfully on the arm.

Jason ignored Dean. "So who's your old friend?"

"Rory Kent," Sam said. "Clark Kent's sister, Lana's friend."

"Hang on," Jason said, startled. "You actually have an old friend?"

Sam laughed a little. "Yes."

There was silence for a moment as all three brothers tried to think of something else to say.

"So what are you two gonna do now?" Jason asked suddenly.

"Hunt, of course," Dean replied immediately. "People need us out there."

"Look, man, if you're trying to blackmail me into joining your crusade again..." Jason began warningly.

"I think we'll do just fine without you," Sam told him quickly. "Anyway, we should probably go. We'll see you when we come back."

Jason nodded and held out his hand. Sam shook it awkwardly, then Dean did the same thing.

"See ya," Dean grinned.

"Bye," Jason muttered.

Sam and Dean left and Jason sank into the chair in the corner, thinking wearily, Maybe I wouldn't have followed Lana here if I'd known about them.

Later that night
Rory sat in her room, reading her chemistry textbook. Thank god for photographic memory, she thought happily.

A noise outside her window made her stand and go to it, peering out.

Sam and Dean stood behind the Impala. The trunk was open, and they were putting bags into it lightly. They had a short, quiet argument; then they both started to push the car, trying not to make any noise.

Rory stifled a laugh, then wondered why they were leaving... so late at night... without saying goodbye...

She stood, ignoring the fact that she was only wearing her pyjamas, and supersped downstairs, past the brothers, and out to the gate. She climbed onto it and sat there.

She focused on the ground in front of, moving the earth out of the way to create a ditch across the driveway. Satisfied, she crossed her arms and waited.

The Impala was only about halfway towards her when Dean looked over it and saw her. He muttered something she couldn't quite make out and Sam looked up too.

He immediately looked guilty and Rory mock-glared at him.

Sam walked around the car and started jogging out to her. He saw the ditch just in time and stopped.

"What's this?" he demanded.

"I could ask you the same thing," Rory retorted. "Sneaking out? Without saying goodbye? I'm disappointed."

"I left you a note," Sam replied. "Would you mind-"

"I'm not filling in the ditch until you give me a proper goodbye," Rory said firmly.

Sam half-smiled and pointed out, "I can hardly do that from this side of the ditch."

Rory grinned and focused on him. Suddenly, he lifted off the ground, flew over the ditch, and fell to the ground in a heap.

She jumped down from the gate as he got to his feet. "Happy?" she asked mischievously.

He shook his head and hugged her, getting dirt all over her light-coloured pyjamas. "I'll see you in about a week, maybe less," he murmured in her ear. "I didn't really think there was a point in saying goodbye."

"There's always a point in saying goodbye," she murmured back. "This could be the time you don't come back. What then?"

Sam pulled away and shook his head. "Dean and I have been doing this a while. I've almost died at least five times, but I'm still here, because we always find a way out of it. You don't have to worry."

"Of course I do," she smiled. "You don't have built in protection like I do."

"I'll be fine," he promised. "Less than a week and I'll be back to see you."

Rory ignored that he'd said he was coming back to see Jason, not her and said, "I'd also like to say goodbye to Dean, if I could."

"Fill in the ditch..." Sam trailed off.

Rory looked around him and focused once again on the earth. The ditch slowly disappeared as dirt refilled it and she walked around Sam.

He followed her all the way back to the Impala, where she was hugging Dean. "Next time he tries to sneak off without me knowing," she said, pulling away, "you get to stop him. Okay?"

"Okay," Dean grinned. "Does that mean you give me permission to use force?"

"You needed permission?" Rory grinned back.

He laughed and Sam smiled grudgingly.

They all said one last goodbye, and the brothers told Rory to thank Martha and Jonathan for everything they did.

Then, Sam and Dean got into the car, and drove away.

Rory stood in the driveway and watched them go, thinking that nothing had changed her so much that year – dating Lex, watching Adam die, being sucked into a wall, flying – as the arrival of two supernatural hunters in her hometown.

A/N Okay, so this is the part where I apologise for being gone so long, you guys ignore this message, and we all live happily ever after! Yeah, I'm sorry... senior is much harder than I thought it would be, and I didn't realise so much time had passed since I last updated.
You guys are so incredibly amazing for sticking with me all this time. I know I say that every chapter, but it's true! Thank you!

By the way, if anybody thinks any of the characters are OOC, or there's something I could do better, or anything, tell me! I love constructive criticism. Thanks again!