I'm back!

Seasonal depression absolutely kicked my ass this year so thank you time change for the happy chemicals again!

Shoutout to the new followers and reviewers! Welcome! Hope you enjoy your stay!

On with the show!

"We need to do something about this."

"John, will you just let it go already? He's doing enough already."

"No son of mine will stay in bed all day and do nothing."

"He isn't doing nothing! He is grieving his girlfriend. This is part of it."

Sam closed his eyes and pushed into his temples with his fingers. His parents had been going at it all morning, arguing about him once again, unaware that he could hear everything they said travel throughout the house. The auto shop was closed for a week for the holidays, and Sam didn't have anything else going on. Without work, he'd stay up in his room, claiming that he just wanted time alone. He wasn't sure how much longer he could keep getting away with it.

"He needs to man up and get over it. That happened, what, almost two months ago?"

Pause. "And if I had died in the same horrific manner, would you have gotten over it so quickly?"

"Oh don't be so ridiculous. Of course, I wouldn't have! But a thirty-year relationship and marriage compared to one year in college?"

"John Winchester, I hope for your mother's sake, she doesn't know how much of an ass you truly are sometimes."

Well, guess that ended today's argument.

Sam tried his best to curl up and pull the blankets over his head. He waited in anticipation as he listened to his mom come upstairs.

Knock, knock. "Sammy? Are you awake?"

Sam continued to listen as Mary quietly opened his door, flipped on his light, and walked over to the bed. She sat on the edge as she pulled the blanket back, causing Sam to groan and quickly shut his eyes to block out the new sudden light.

"Why don't you try a shower and come downstairs?" she suggested, slowly revealing more of Sam's face under the blanket. "I'm sure you'll feel a lot better." When Sam failed to react, she added: "Dean's coming by in an hour. He has a surprise for you."

Now Sam's curiosity was piqued. "A surprise?" he asked, his morning voice sounding deeper than usual. He cleared his throat. "For me?"

Mary smiled in a way that only played with his curiosity even more. "The only way you'll find out is if you shower and come downstairs."

Dean snuck his head in through the front door. "Mom?" he called. "Dad?"

John appeared in the living room with a cup of coffee. "Coast is clear. He's upstairs."

"Sweet!" Dean threw open the door. "Welcome to Casa de Winchester."

Brady entered behind him. "I can't believe this is the first time I'm seeing Sam's house. I feel like I'm picking him up for a first date," Brady joked.

"I mean, in a way, you kind of are," Dean joked back, closing the door behind him.

"Brady!" Mary said, coming down the stairs. "Thank you for coming on short notice."

"Thank you for inviting me. You have a lovely home."

"Thank you!" Mary gave her son a look that said, See what a real gentleman looks like?

Dean gave her a look back that said, I don't know what you're talking about; you're the one that raised me.

Oblivious to all the looks, John said, "Well, I sure hope Sam is excited about you being here. Hate for you to fly out here just for him to continue to lock himself away in his room."

Mary smacked her husband's shoulder.

"So what's the plan?" Brady asked. "Do I hide in his closet? Pop up from the backseat? Wake him up in the middle of the night?"

"You can wait in his room," Mary said, "he should be out of the shower soon."

Dean gave Brady a quick tour of the house before leading him upstairs towards Sam's bedroom.

Sam exited the shower, feeling the same as he did before. Cleaner, but still the same. His headache wouldn't go away and all his muscles felt tight and sore. He threw on clean underwear, followed by the same pajamas; he's not disgusting.

He opened the bathroom door leading to his bedroom, finding Brady spread out on top, like someone waiting for their lover to return home. One leg up in the air and his head propped up on his elbow.

"Hello Samuel," Brady said in a sultry voice.

It took a minute for Sam's brain to accept this was real. "Oh my fucking god," he mumbled.

Brady jumped up off the bed. "Ha ha! Surprise!" He walked over to Sam to greet him with a bro hug. "We so got you!"

"We?"

Dean threw open the bedroom door laughing. "Um, yeah, we!" he added. "Man, I wish I grabbed Dad's camcorder. You should've seen your face!"

Anger started to bubble in Sam's chest. This was the absolute last thing he wanted right now. "What the hell are you even doing here, Brady?"

"Your 'rents invited me to stay for a few days," Brady explained, "before I gotta fly back for spring semester."

Spring semester is starting already?

Guilt joined the anger. Sam should be getting ready to go back to Stanford. Packing his bags one last time for his final semester. Planning graduation and law school. Moving to a real apartment away from student housing and proposing to Jess... All of that is just gone and Sam had never even thought of trying to go back.

Fuck, what should I even do now?

"Yeah, I thought you two could go out on a date tonight," Dean added, not aware of the dilemma his brother was currently facing. "Then tomorrow you can bring your boyfriend to meet the guys from the shop and Monday, you can give him a romantic farewell at the airport."

Sam took a deep breath and weighed his options. He had not felt like going out lately so on one hand, it might feel good to spend time with friends. On the other, he might be sticking out like a wet blanket and ruin everyone's night. On the third, Brady did fly all the way out here for one little weekend just for him. On the fourth, Sam knew it was going to feel like the longest weekend of his life.

"Sure," Sam said with a fake smile. "What's the worst that can happen?"

coffeeaddict13