Long Live BRUCAS - I know I'm so evil muwahahaha
Kathy - Yay Bobby! I had to, it'll make more sense eventually. What a twist, huh?
On with the show!
Sam woke up the next day to his cell phone ringing on the bedside table. He looked at the caller ID and saw Brady's name.
"Yeah?" he answered.
"Dude, are you alright?" Brady asked, sounding slightly panicked. "None of us have heard from you in days, man."
Sam sat up in bed and groaned. "Yeah, I've just been laying low, you know?"
"Yeah... We all saw that news broadcast last night."
Sam wanted to throw his phone. He was so hoping that was just another fucked up dream.
"Thank god you're not here," Brady continued. "The campus is flooded with investigators and reporters. So many classes were canceled today."
Sam bit his lip. "So... everyone knows, huh?"
"About the serial killer?" Brady asked, practically screeching into the phone. "Dude, that's fucked up, right? They can't actually be serious with that shit, can they? I mean-"
"No!" Sam interrupted, trying not to get upset. "No, Brady, I mean the other thing."
Oh. "Yeah. Yeah man, we all know now."
Sam went silent for a minute to collect himself. "Did anyone else know? You know, before?"
Brady sighed. "Becca said something earlier. She might have known."
Sam took a deep breath. Becca and Jess were in the same class, one year behind him, Brady, and Zack. They weren't besties, but everyone considered them to be pretty close.
"By the way," Brady said, not wanting his friend to get too upset with him on the phone, "I got the first package of your belongings ready to ship to ya. It's mostly your stuff but I managed to convince Jess' parents to leave some of her things for you to keep."
Sam smiled at that. He figured Jess' parents would let him keep something to remember her by. He wondered what they agreed to let him have. "Thanks man."
"Samuel?" he heard his dad call as he knocked on Sam's door.
"I gotta go."
"Please call me later? We worry, Sam."
"I promise," Sam said, hanging up the phone. He tossed it back on the bedside table. "Come in."
John opened the door and entered the dark bedroom. He flicked on the light switch, amused by his son who, judging by his bedhead, just woke up.
"It's late so I thought I'd check up on ya."
"Where's Mom?" Sam asked, betting that she asked his dad to check up on him for her.
"Lunch with a friend," John casually explained. He sat on the edge of the bed across from his son. "You didn't know did you?"
Sam shook his head. "I don't understand. There's just no way! I mean, it's not possible!" Sam answered earnestly. "Dad, I am so, so sorry!"
John watched as tears started to form in Sam's eyes. He put his hand on Sam's thigh. "Hey, Mom and I aren't mad at you," he said quietly, hoping his cool demeanor will help calm his son down.
Sam was confused. "You were mad at Dean," he accused.
John knew immediately where he was going with that argument. "Stop it." he snapped. "That's not fair. To him or to you. We would have welcomed Jessica and that baby into this family."
Sam scoffed. "Really? You wouldn't throw me out in the middle of the night to go stay with her forever? You wouldn't disown me as your son?"
John took a breath and bit his tongue. There were a lot of things he did when he was drunk that he regrets. "You're upset so I know you don't mean that," he noted, patting Sam's leg as he stood up to leave the room. "I'm making grilled cheese for lunch. If you want one, come down."
Sam watched his dad leave as tears slowly started to roll down his face. He grabbed his pillow from behind him, desperately wanting to throw something. He watched as it knocked over a cup of pens and a couple of books off his desk.
Wanting to keep his own pity party going, Sam picked up his phone, scrolled through his contacts list, and dialed a number.
"Sam!" a girl screamed when she answered. "How are you? I miss you!"
"You knew!?" Sam asked, not caring how he came off. "You fucking knew!?"
Becca remained on the line, stunned. "Sam, I-"
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"It wasn't my place to tell you!" Becca tried to argue. "Jess had a whole thing planned and she was going to tell you when you came back from Tahoe."
"You should have warned me!" Sam was sobbing at this point. "When it happened! At the funeral! Anytime before the rest of the world found out!"
Becca choked back a sob of her own. "Sam, please believe me. I didn't think anyone would ever find out."
"That doesn't matter! The right thing to do would have been to tell me!"
"Sam-"
Anger bubbled up inside Sam. He hung up the phone and began pacing around his room. He stripped off his pajamas, threw on an old tee shirt and pair of jeans, and dialed another number.
"What do you want?" Dean answered, in that playful older sibling answering the phone sort of tone.
"Can you come get me?" Sam asked, trying to put on a brave face.
"I'm working, Sam," Dean responded nonchalantly. "And last I checked, you're not on the schedule for today."
"Please Dean," Sam pleaded. "I just- I can't- I have to get out of this house. I'll just hang out. I won't even get in your way."
Sam listened as he heard what sounded like a door opening and Dean calling out to someone. "Bobby! I'm taking my break!" Dean grabbed his wallet and keys. "I'll be there in fifteen. Meet me at the curb."
Sam went back to the apartment with Dean after the shop closed for the day.
"Here we are, home sweet home," Dean said, walking in through the door carrying a pizza. Sam walked in behind him, closing and locking the door as Dean set the pizza down on the small kitchen table and opened the fridge. "Do you drink beer?" he asked. Sam nodded. Dean grabbed two beers and got down a couple of plates from one of the cabinets.
Sam walked around the small living room. The last time he was at this apartment was right before he left for Stanford. Dean had invited him over to hang out. That was the night Sam learned to never touch spiked lemonade.
"Here, bitch, come make your plate," Dean said, already helping himself.
Sam pointed to a picture of a little boy, standing in a graduation cap and gown. The caption read 'Preschool, Class of 2003'. "Is this Ben?"
Dean looked at the picture on the wall Sam was pointing to and smiled. "Yeah, it is."
"God, he's so big," Sam said, admiring how freaking adorable his nephew is. "He's, what, eight now?"
"Seven," Dean clarified. "He'll be eight in April."
Sam noticed the look of guilt Dean had on his face for a second. "I'm sorry you lost custody."
Dean scoffed. "Can't lose what you never had."
"Does Lisa at least let you see him?"
Dean shrugged. "I mean, I try to do as much as I can. Hard to do when I have no legal rights over the kid."
Sam sighed for his brother. The breakup and custody battle with Lisa and her family was so hard on Dean. He's tried to take Lisa to family court a couple of times to negotiate a fair custody arrangement, but every time something goes wrong in his favor. Sam only knew parts of it when his mom would call him every week while he was away at school. Dean never really shared any of it with him.
They both sat on the couch eating pizza and drinking beer. Well, Dean started eating pizza and drinking beer. Sam was anxiously twiddling his thumbs and trying to figure out his next question.
"What did you do? When you found out Lisa was pregnant?"
"Why are you asking so many questions?" Dean whined.
"I'm never gonna know how I would react to Jess telling me, so I guess I'm trying to live vicariously."
That got Dean to laugh. "Oh, dude, you don't want to react like I did. I mean, I was fucking terrified. We were eighteen and Lisa was about to start college. I was dicking around doing fucking knows what. I'm still convinced she's mad at me for ruining our lives."
Sam lost himself in the train of thought. Lisa dropped out of college to be a single mom, even though Dean was right there. Even when they got in a huge fight and broke up, he was still right there. If Jess stayed pregnant, would she have dropped out during her last year? Would she have given up on nursing school to be a stay-at-home mom? Sam could only imagine the conversation they would have if he volunteered to be a stay-at-home dad instead of doing law school so Jess could do what she always wanted. He thought about marrying Jess one day, but would it look like he was marrying her only because of the baby?
"What the fuck you wanna watch?" Dean asked, scrolling through tv channels. Sam didn't even notice he had turned it on.
coffeeaddict13
