A/n: Thank you so much to everyone who reads, reviews, follows, and/or favorites this story.

Special thank you to LilyBolt, Awerry, Guest, and SparksFlyAngel for your recent reviews.

Chapter 13

Sam!"

A young woman a few years younger than him bolted from behind the counter as he entered the coffee shop and rushed at him, her long black ponytail swinging wildly as she ran. The force that he was hit with when she collided with him was surprisingly strong for someone who was a whole foot shorter than Sam was. He staggered back slightly before finding and keeping his footing. Sam looked down at the girl who had wrapped her arms the best she could around his torso in a tight embrace. Slowly he moved his right hand up to give her an appreciative pat on the back. "I heard about what happened a couple of nights ago. I'm so sorry, but at least you're alright," she said. Then turning her face so that she was looking directly up at him she quickly added, "you are alright, right?" The young man gave her another pat, noticing his brother's eyes were fixed on him.

"I'm...managing. Thanks Valerie." He gave her a feeable attempt at a smile.

"No you're not, you look terrible. Of course you're not ok, how could I even ask that?" the girl replied with a sigh. Her lips dropped into a frown and she removed her arms from around him, resting one hand gently on his forearm.

"It's been a long couple of days."

She nodded. He moved his arm causing Valerie to remove her hand from it, her cheeks turning pink."Can I uh, can I help you with anything?" Sam shook his head at her.

"No, but thanks all the same," he responded politely.

Valerie snapped her fingers as a revelation hit her, "I know just what you need." Once she had disappeared back behind the counter, Dean elbowed his little brother in the arm. Sam hissed at him, but before he could say anything, Valerie was back with a tall paper cup in her hand.

"Here you go. Don't worry about paying, it's on me." She handed him the cup with a grin on her face. Sam sniffed it cautiously, coughing and pulling his head away within seconds of smelling it.

"What is that?" He choked.

"It'll help with your hangover and make you feel nice and relaxed," Valerie explained.

"How do you know I have a hangover?" Sam asked raising an eyebrow. The young woman gave him a look that reminded him of the kind Jessica would give whenever he had said something obvious.

"I work at a coffee shop Sam, by a college. Do you honestly think I don't know what a hangover looks like? Besides, I remember the morning after your twenty first birthday which I'm sure you don't. In fact, I made you one of those then too. Mom was smart not to schedule you to work that day." Now it was Sam's face that grew pink.

"Wait, Are you saying my little brother actually went out and got shitfaced for his twenty first birthday?" Dean piped up with an amused grin. She turned her dark eyes to the older brother.

"He looked awful," she answered regretfully. "I blame Brady. That guy's a dick, I don't know why you're friends with him Sam." She scolded, then her face grew quizical as if noticing the second slightly shorter man for the first time. "Wait, you're Sam's older brother?"

"Let me guess, you didn't know he had a brother," Dean offered bitterly.

"No, I knew he had one, just...by the way he talked about you, I thought you were...younger."

"Valerie!" The girl whipped around to see an older woman standing with her hands on her hips. She may have only been five feet two inches, but she stood like an eight foot tall brick wall. "Valerie, go-" the woman's face softened as her attention fell on the tall young man her daughter had been standing with. "Sam! How are you? You're not scheduled to be in until tomorrow morning."

"I-I know Mrs. Flores, I just uh, can I speak with you? In private?"

"Of course you can Sam, step into my office." Her gentle smile faltered as she turned back to her daughter. "Valerie, go help customers," the woman barked.

"There's no one to help Mom," Valerie countered.

"Then go clean," the woman fired back. The young woman rolled her eyes and marched back behind the counter where she pulled out a rag and began sliding it around on the countertop. Satisfied, The store owner headed to the tiny room in the back with Sam in tow, closing the door with the label "employees only" behind him.

The woman's office was tiny; containing a desk, a small computer, a black desk chair and a brown leather conference chair. Sam immediately sat himself at the latter, making the already small furniture look even smaller. Behind her desk were three pictures. One was of an older couple who were smiling at the camera. The man had his arm around the woman while she had one hand placed on his arm. He had never met them in person being that they were back in her home town in the Philippines, but he knew from all the stories she told that they were her parents. Next to that picture was a photograph of a round boy with a big goofy grin standing behind a chair where a thin young girl sat with her hands clasped together, her long black hair was up in a neat bun and the corner of her lips were up in a small toothless smile. Sam hadn't had the chance to meet the boy, but the girl he knew was a young Valerie, no older than six years old. The final picture was of a younger Wanda and her husband on their wedding day. He had her wrapped in his arms, resting his hands on hers and kissing her cheek. The blushing bride's face shone with utter happiness, the camera had captured her in mid laugh. Sam gave a small grin at it as memories of his own big day came back to him, closely followed by the realization that he wasn't as fortune as Wanda. He didn't have any pictures of their wedding, they had all been claimed along with his wife by the fire. All Sam had were some pictures he had taken of her on his phone, but it was better than nothing at all, even if they weren't the best quality.

Wanda took up the desk chair. Her warm smile faded as she peered into a pair of shining hazel eyes and she reached over and collected his massive hands into her tiny ones.

"Sam, I'm so sorry about your wife. Jessica was a beautiful strong girl. Smart too." Sam nodded at her and lifted his head up as to stop the tears from running down his face. "I know it's hard, I still find tears of my own sometimes and Phillip's been gone for a few years now. Don't be ashamed to grieve my boy, it's only natural."

"Thank you Mrs. Flores," he replied with a sniff.

"Call me Wanda, I've known you for a couple years now. You're practically family here anyways. Now, is there something you want to talk to me about?"

Sam looked at the small woman then looked away biting his lower lip.

"I uh I know I had planned on taking time off to go on...for our...for our honeymoon. I was thinking it would be best if I took some time off starting now instead of in a week."

"Of course, that's not a problem. Take some time to go and heal, but be safe." She gave him a stern look. "It works out well actually, my son Marcus is coming home in a few days, he can help take some of your shifts."

"Thank you Mrs. Flor-er I mean Wanda. Thank you so much."

"Of course Sam, anything we can do to help, let us know. Is there anything else?" Sam broke free of her grip and brought hid hands together in his lap, his eyes followed them. "What is it? Don't be shy to ask if you need something more."

"Mrs.-er- Wanda, have you um...since Mr. Flores passed away, have you...seen him? I mean like in a dream or... something?" He finally managed to ask. The corner of Wanda's lips lifted in a smile much like the one Valerie was wearing in the picture behind her.

"Yes."

Sam's eyes widened and his lips parted in a silent awe.

"You have?"

"In a dream once, not long after Phillip passed. He came to me and told me everything will be alright."

The young man's head dropped and the feeling his pattering heart slowed in disappointment.

"Have you seen Jessica?" At that his gaze jumped back up to meet hers.

"In a dream," he confessed sadly. Wanda noticed his tone and gave him an encouraging smirk.

"She's with you, just like Phillip is with me. Always." Sam nodded and returned a grin.

"Thank you again Wanda, really. I can't thank you enough." He rose from his seat and the owner followed.

"Of course Sam, anytime."

XXX

Sam exited the room and found his brother sitting at a table, twirling his thumbs and leaning back in his chair. His eyes were fixed on his hands and his lips were pursued as a strange sound escaped them.

"Really?" Hearing his sibling's voice, he flew forward, landing the chair on all fours with a bang and getting to his feet as his eyes met Sam's.

"You good?" He asked. The younger man started towards the door with Dean not far behind him.

"Bye Sam! Be careful, call me if you need anything!" Valerie called out with a smile and a wave. "And drink that, it'll help."

"Thanks Val, take care," he replied.

"You too!"

XXX

Following the stop at the coffee shop, the boys went to the Goodwill for some new clothes for Sam, which was quite a task for the long legged, broad shouldered almost 6'5 young man. Dean offered they go somewhere else that might be better, but his brother shot the idea down. After the clothes run, the older man swung them by a fast food joint, Sam had unsurprisingly declined food of any kind.

The ride was quiet as he drove his sibling back to his motel room. Dean's eyes slid over to the occupied passenger seat and watched as his brother's fingers moved as though twirling something in them. His attention was set on his task at hand. A harder look told Dean exactly what it was that had his awareness.

"So, what's on the agenda tomorrow?" He asked.

"Don't know," the younger mumbled not turning from what he was doing.

"I was thinking maybe a movie or something."

"No thanks, you go."

Dean pulled the Chevy into a parking spot of the familiar motel. He came to a stop and killed the engine, his eyes on his brother.

"I know it's hard, but you've got to do something that makes you happy, Sammy. You can't keep having nights like last night." His words finally earned him Sam's eyes. "I'm not saying forget her, I'm just saying...take it easy."

"Who are you to tell me 'you know it's hard?' Have you ever lost the woman you loved?"

"Well excuse me for trying to help," Dean shot back. "I may not have lost a wife and I may not be you or Mom, but I've had to deal with loses. Dad's death wasn't exactly a fucking picnic for me, not that you would know or care."

Sam spun in his seat so that he was facing his brother.

"Don't bring him into this like you did back at the station."

"I just mean-"

"And why did you Dean? Why did you bring him up?"

"Sam-"

"Just tell me why."

"It doesn't matter, it has nothing to do with anything."

"Then why did you say something about it? Don't tell me you didn't. That cop wanted to know what your relationship was like with Dad, and it wasn't because of me." Dean rolled his eyes and launched himself from the car. Sam struggled to unbuckled himself then followed. "Hey! Don't walk away!"

The older man spun on his heels.

"Why?! Why do you want to know? So you can bitch at me about something you don't need to bitch about?!" It was silent between the two of them. Dean was the first to speak. "Here," he threw him the keys. "Get your stuff." Sam caught them in his hand and scoffed.

"You're unbelievable," he retorted. When nothing else was said, he marched back to the car, pulled out the bags, slammed the door and started off.

"Hey! Keys." With a sigh he threw the keys back at the elder brother who stepped into Sam's way, making it clear that what he was about to say next needed to be heard very clearly. "I'm going to tell you this once. Don't slam the fucking door of my car. You hear me?"

The young man stared him down then pushed his way pass Dean and continued on to his room where he stayed for the remainder of the day and into the night. With his hangover mostly cleared up, exhaustion took hold of him and he fell asleep.

Another nightmare, the same as the night before ripped Sam from his dream and startled him awake. His eyes flew open and his heartbeat quickened as sweat rolled off his body. He lay staring at the ceiling for a while before his attention was caught by the flicking of the lights as it had the night before. Sam's eyes moved over to study the lamp next to his bed that he had forgotten to turn off before he fell asleep. It buzzed and the light from it danced as it had the previous night. Sam rose from the mattress and let out a breath. It was visible once again. He felt his heart beating rapidly in his chest as he looked around the room. The light settled and the room fell still. The hair on Sam's arms and the back of his neck stood on end and he swung his attention to the unoccupied side of his motel bed. The figure he had seen the night before was standing in perfect clarity, smiling at him. His breath caught in his throat and his eyes began to water. Sam tried to swallow the lump that had formed and in a hoarse voice he managed to choke out, "Jess?"

A/n: Guest: The boys have their moments, the end was definitely a nicer one than they've had since they've talked lol. Yes, Sam is still mad and he's still upset and heartbroken and therefore there is still conflict with Dean. I'm glad you're still excited an looking forward to the story. Thank you so much!

SparksFlyAngel: Wish granted lol. Yeah they finally had a none hostel conversation. Sam's just having trouble letting go of the past. I'm glad you liked that chapter. You're welcome, thank you so much for reading.