Nightmare
By the time they pulled up to the house both Winchester brother's knew they were too late. Dean had seen the fear in Sam's face as he turned away from the crowd of neighbours and instantly turned to follow. He leaned casually beside Sam and tried as always to comfort his little brother.
"Sam, we got here as fast as we could."
"Not fast enough. Which doesn't make any sense, man. Why would I even have these premonitions unless there was a chance I could stop them?"
"I don't know."
Sam sighed.
"So what do you think killed him?" Sam asked.
"Maybe the guy just killed himself, you know maybe there is nothing supernatural going on at all."
"I'm telling you, I watched it happen. He was murdered by something Dean. It trapped him in the garage."
"Like what? A spirit? A poltergeist? What?"
"I don't know what it was. I don't know why I'm having these dream. I don't know what the hell is happening man."
Dean stared at Sam, which made his skin crawl.
"What?" Sam growled.
"Nothing, man...I'm just- I'm worried about you."
"Well don't look at me like that!"
"I'm not looking at you like anything... although I gotta say you look like crap..."
"Nice, thanks..."
Sam knew what his brother was doing, trying to camouflage his own fears... but for now he let it slide and followed Dean back to the car. They would talk to the family in the morning.
Watching Sam slide to floor in pain jump started Dean who dropped the gun he was holding on the bed and kneeled in front of him.
"Hey, what's going on, talk to me!"
Dean had both his hands on Sam's shoulders squeezing a little harshly. For a moment Sam looked up at him, but it didn't take long to realize Sam seemed to be looking straight through him.
"Sammy? Can you hear me?" Dean yelled.
He squeezed even harder, but his brother just continued to stare forward.
It felt like hours to Dean, but suddenly he felt Sam take a big gulp of air.
"Something's gonna kill Roger Miller!" Sam yelled.
The younger Winchester attempted to pull himself up but was halted by Dean's hold.
"Just a second-"
"No, we have to go now!"
Sam pushed Dean off and attempted to stand again before falling to his knees.
"Damnit Sam. I'm not saying we won't go, okay? Just take a second and breathe. You were gone for a minute there and I didn't know if-"
Dean didn't want to finish that sentence, because he honestly thought that Sam was having some sort of stroke. Instead, he kneeled back down to the floor and sat with his back against the bed watching as Sam gulped in air.
"Are you okay?" Dean asked.
Sam's eyes finally slid off the carpet and met his, and Dean finally felt like he could breathe again. Sam was looking at him instead of through him.
"Yeah, I'm good."
Sam stood slowly and was obviously a little green around the gills, but if he said he was good Dean wasn't going to question it. The two brothers made their way toward the car and towards Roger Miller.
After leaving the hotel both brothers were quiet as they drove out of town, each lost in their own thoughts, but it didn't take long for Dean to notice the stiffness of Sam's shoulders and the way he was staring out the passenger window.
"Sammy... you, okay?"
"Yeah... I'm just thinking about Dad."
Dean frowned.
"Okay... any reason thinking about Dad is causing your pensive shoulders and broody face?"
Sam laughed softly and turned his body towards his brother.
"You couldn't even see my face jerk."
"Don't need to see it to know exactly what it looks like, Bitch. Come on spill, what's on your mind?"
Sam sighed.
"Do you think Dad ever let a monster go?"
"I doubt it. Not on purpose anyway. Why do you ask?"
Sam nodded. He had obviously come to the same conclusion.
"Yeah... I guess Dad was never good at seeing shades of grey."
"I guess..."
"Listen Dean... I need you to promise me something."
"You want me to pinkie swear or anything?"
"I'm being serious."
Dean sighed.
"Okay fine. What do you need?"
"When we do finally find Dad... you can't tell him about these visions."
"Sammy, I can't promise that... he would want to know."
"Yeah, he would. But as we both just agreed, he doesn't see in shades of grey."
Dean paused for a second as the words washed over him.
"You aren't seriously suggesting that Dad would... that he would want to..."
"I'm not suggesting anything. All I am saying is Dad and I have enough to work through. Lets not add anything else to the pile of shit."
Dean didn't bother to respond to the comment, and he knew Sam didn't expect him to. At the end of the day they both knew that he would do anything to keep his brother safe. But Dean thought about his father, and he wanted to believe that John could accept this newfound power of Sam's. Sam had not always understood his father's motivations or agreed with most of the things the man had to say. But Sam was right about one thing, and for some reason it left an empty feeling in the pit of his stomach.
John Winchester had never been known for seeing in shades of grey. And maybe at one time, Dean had been the same way, but these past few days watching Sam struggle with what could only be described as something supernatural... a little grey had seeped in. And Dean was fine with that, as long as his brother was still riding shotgun.