The first few hours on the road Sam asked every question he could think of about Bobby. He was looking forward to see this man but at the same time he was worried, almost scared. According to Dean they knew Bobby since they'd been kids and the man was something like a fatherly friend to them. Dean showed him a picture, them with Bobby, and for such young kids the guns in their hands looked awfully big. But all three of them smiled into the camera like they were having fun.
He could see Dean in the older kid and a younger version of the face he'd learned to recognize as his own in the small child sitting in the man's lap. The man, however, was a stranger to him. There was not that much of his face he could see between the trucker cap and the beard but he was smiling and young Sam was leaning against his chest, trusting and relaxed. His younger self had felt comfortable with this man.
It could have been just an ordinary snap shot of a family if it hadn't been for the gun in his and Dean's hand.
He wondered not for the first time what kind of father trained his kids to fight monster at an age that young. John Winchester apparently did.
"We spent the summer at Bobby's." Dean explained. "This was when Dad came to pick us up. We hadn't practiced with the guns as much as we should, Bobby always tried to let us just be kids most of the time." He paused, a wistful expression on his face and suddenly Sam had to blink against misty eyes.
"We were kids." Sam pointed out.
"Not really." Dean muttered more to himself than anything else.
Sam looked out of the window and just watched the landscape passing by. The scenery hadn't changed since they'd left the town but the monotony was comforting. He let his mind drift and was close to dozing off, the purr of the engine a lullaby in his ears.
"Listen to her purr. Have you ever heard anything so sweet?" Sam thought he heard Dean's voice. Maybe it was just in his head, he wasn't sure.
"Hm?" He made but was too content to turn his head. Dean didn't answer and just kept tapping the beat of a Metallica song on the steering wheel.
"Purr." Sam mumbled. "She's good as new, you fixed her up real good."
"What?" Dean stopped the drumming and for a second the car drifted to the side of the road before he had it back under control again.
"You fixed her up real good." Sam repeated but then stopped, realizing what he'd just said.
"You remember that?" Dean did a poor job at concealing his excitement.
"She was totaled." He was sure about that. He'd no idea when or how it happened but he knew for certain that the car had been t-boned.
"Yeah, there was an accident." Dean prompted.
Searching for more Sam only ran into the dark wall of nothingness again. Just this one bit and nothing more.
"Sorry." He said meekly after a moment. "What happened?"
"One of the demon's minions." Dean explained. "He rammed us with a semi. You got out with light injuries and Dad looked fine at first, too. He died later in the hospital."
The way Dean said it Sam knew there was more to it but that wasn't the direction his mind wanted to go right now. An image flashed in his mind. Dean in a hospital bed, pale with a tube down his throat, the beeping of the machines that were keeping him alive.
"You were in a coma." He paused, searching for more. "I was scared."
Dean could die. Sam was alone. He could lose Dean and he had no idea what to do.
With his arms wrapped tightly around his body to hold himself together he drowned in emotions suddenly washing over him.
"I'm here." Dean's hand was on the nape of his neck, squeezing gently.
Sam nodded and swallowed against the lump in his throat.
"This is stupid." He sniffed and wiped his eyes with the heel of his hand. He took a deep breath and slowly the emotions died down, leaving him hollow.
"You okay now?" Dean asked but left his hand where it was. It was more comforting than Sam would ever admit and it helped him to let go of the memory and to come back to the here and now.
"I'm good."
"What just happened?" Dean ask. "A vision?"
"Memory." At least he thought so. Only now he noticed that they were no longer driving. The engine was still on but they stood on the shoulder of the road.
"I saw you." Sam had to clear his throat. "In the hospital. And for a moment … I felt … I felt like I had then." He wasn't sure if that even made sense but when he glanced over to his brother he read understanding in his eyes.
"That's good." Dean gave his neck a last squeeze and then let go of him. "You're starting to remember. That's good."
Sam wasn't so sure about that. If there were more memories with this kind of emotions tied to them waiting for him, he wasn't keen on finding out.
His episode left him drained and tired so he wasn't complaining when Dean stopped for the night rather early.
In the morning Sam was pretty sure that he had dreamed for the first time since he could remember but the images faded away and by the time he was awake enough to make sense out of them they were gone. For a moment he just lay there with his eyes closed and tried to recall what his dreams had been about but except for a vague feeling of sadness he came up with nothing.
"Can't force it." He reminded himself and rolled out of bed. After a quick shower, he seemed to be a master at showering with a cast on his arm, he felt refreshed and rather hungry but when he came back out of the bathroom Dean was still sound asleep. A quick look at the alarm clock confirmed that it was only 6:30 in the morning, too early to wake Dean.
So Sam scribbled a quick note and then left to get them some breakfast. The morning was nice and he'd seen a diner not far down the road when they'd come here yesterday so he didn't take the car, Dean would kill him if he did, and walked the short distance.
Hands deep in his pockets he thought about the fact that he had noticed the diner. They had been looking for a motel, food hadn't been on his mind and still he'd looked out for it. He also knew that there was a laundromat a bit farther down the street and he knew the quickest way out of town.
He could only guess but this had to be due to his life on the road with Dean. The last bit, however, confused him. Until he thought of his rather abrupt leave from the first hospital. Maybe knowing the quickest way out of a place came in handy in their line of work.
Dean had told him that they were hunting monsters and Sam had read their dad's journal but so far it had all been theory.
"Should ask Dean more about the practical side of this hunting stuff." Sam mumbled to himself when he reached the diner. They had another day in the car ahead which had the advantage that Dean couldn't run from his questions. So far Dean had answered all his questions but Sam also knew that there were things Dean wasn't telling him.
Still deep in thoughts he didn't notice the man coming out of the diner until they literally crashed into each other. The cup of coffee the man was carrying got smashed between them, the rich aroma of the coffee instantly filling the air. Sam felt warm liquid soaking his shirts but the other man got it worse.
"I'm sorry." Sam jumped back, unsure what to do, while the man just stared at him. His whole front was dripping with coffee and he had splatters all over his face but he didn't seem to notice.
"I buy you a new one." Sam promised. "And I pay for the cleaning, of course." He reached for the door to let him back inside, the man probably wanted to go to the bathroom to clean up, but as soon as he raised his hand the man stepped back as if Sam was about to hit him.
"That's not necessary." The man said, still not acknowledging the coffee burning his skin, no doubt. His right hand was behind his back now and for a silly second Sam thought he would draw a gun on him.
The expression on his dark face was stone-cold but in his eyes Sam could read something like confusion. For a second they just stood there, staring at each other, and for some reason Sam was painfully aware of the fact that he was unarmed. He didn't know why he would need a gun but he really wanted one right now.
They were interrupted by a couple heading their way and they had to step aside to let them into the diner. The couple didn't even notice the stand-off they were walking into and for a second Sam wondered – feared? – what the other man would do. But then he just hurried over to his car, never leaving Sam out of his sight.
Sam watched him driving away and then followed the couple inside.
"Strange guy." He shook his head but didn't think much of it.
By the time he was back at the motel Dean was up and close to climbing the walls. He did try to hide that fact but Sam caught him pacing the room when he came in with their breakfast.
"Next time just wake me up when you want to go out for a morning stroll." Dean muttered but took the offered breakfast.
"I was only down the street." Sam defended his action. "I'm a big boy, I can handle a breakfast run."
"I can see that." Dean pointed at the coffee strains on his shirt.
"That was an accident." Sam pried the lid off his fruit salad and reached for the plastic fork. "Ran into a guy when I entered the diner. Dude, that guy was creepy."
"Creepy?" Dean perked up at that. "Creepy how?"
"Dunno." He chewed on a piece of pineapple. "He just stared at me as if he expected me to eat him alive or something."
"You can be pretty intimidating."
"Yeah, maybe."
They finished their breakfast and not long after that they way on the road again.
They made good time and Dean steered the car through a gate announcing Singer's Salvage Yard a bit after eight in the evening.
Cramped up in the car all day Sam was happy that they were finally there. His stomach grumbled and he was longing for a bed to stretch out but mostly he was nervous.
"We're here." Dean announced and parked the car in front of the house. It was too dark to see much but the light behind the curtains looked inviting.
"Let's do this." Sam gave him a shaky smile and rubbed his suddenly sweaty hands at his jeans.
By the time they got out of the car a man was standing in the open door. He looked older than in the picture but there was no doubt that this was the same man.
"Bobby." Dean greeted him with a hug.
"Good to see you, boy."
They parted and now Bobby's attention was on Sam.
"Sam." He stepped forward, obviously unsure how to greet him.
Sam had hoped that as soon as he saw the man he would remember him but this was still a stranger to him. So instead of a hug he held out his hand for a shake.
"Nice to meet you, sir."