Chapter Three - Support

"Ok, yes, how many of you are there? 10, that many, ok well, let me look up an incantation for you and I'll email it to you" Bobby was staring at Sam and when the man on the phone didn't ask about his missing son, he gave the younger man a small smile. "Yep, no probs…. Oh really? Well I haven't heard from him" Now that got Sam's attention "Yeah… well you know he is old enough to make his own decisions" that makes Sam smile "Hey, don't take that shit out on me, I'm just saying he's 18, he's a man…" Bobby has to move the phone away from his ear because of John's loud voice "Look, I'm not taking sides, I'm just saying he doesn't have to stay with you if he doesn't want to" Bobby rolls his eyes and then just hangs up on the man as he just kept getting louder and louder. "That man is an ass... your father is an asshole" Bobby said to Sam with an irritated air.

Sam laughed bitterly at that "I know… my father didn't see me as his son, I was a tool that he could use to take his frustrations and impatience out on. I had been the sole bearer of his dislike for so many years, but it was always behind closed doors, no one ever knew or paid attention" Sam looked down at his hands in his lap

"I'd seen it… I've seen things before when I was working with your father that I didn't immediately realise what it meant… but now that I know what he did to you, I can see now that where there was smoke there was fire" Dean said sympathetically

"Really?" Sam asked, he didn't think that anyone had noticed. "What did you see?" he asked curiously

"I saw the bruises Sam, I noticed the way your father would talk to you, how he would grab your arm and just treated you like shit. I wish I had said something" Dean said sincerely

"I could see it as well Sam… it was more the way you acted around him than anything I witnessed but you would always shrink back and hide when he was around" Bobby said soothingly "I just didn't do anything about it which I will always regret, especially now that I know what he did to you, I could have prevented it"

"No, please Bobby, Dean… I'm not sure that it would have stopped him to be honest. My father told me that it was my fault that my own mother died" Sam pointed to himself and swallowed down the emotion that bubble up "Every time I did something to piss him off, he would take his anger out on me. He called it disciplining me, he would say that he did it because I deserved it, that it was my penance for killing my mother. I really don't think that you would have changed his mind, that I didn't deserve every bruise or whip mark" Sam wiped his eyes quickly and looked away.

Dean shook his head angrily "I feel like if I ever see him again, I'm going to tie him down and give him a taste of his own medicine" Dean said angrily, he was imagining using all the ways he hurt Sam to give him a little payback.

"Well, I can tell you, it was not your fault, how could it be, you were a baby for god's sake!" Bobby said angrily. "You can stay here as long as you need and if that man, comes anywhere near here or comes to get you, I will personally fill him full of buck shot"

Sam chuckled wetly and Dean moved over to him and rubbed his back soothingly. "Now we need to get you ready for Stanford, you need to complete those forms and we can get you all the stuff you need for your accommodation and anything else you need"

"Oh yeah, there is so much I have to do… god, thank you so much Bobby, I don't know what I would have done or where I would have gone if you didn't come and get me" Sam said with a sniffle.

Bobby waved his hand dismissively "I told you to call me if you ever needed me, of course I was going to help you if you called"

"Well thanks… I just hope that Dad doesn't even think I would be here" Sam said anxiously

"If he does, I'm going to kick his ass" Dean said vehemently

Sam laughed again and for the first time in quite a while he actually felt happy. "Well, I better get started on getting my housing and financing sorted"

"Dean you can have the spare room if you want" Bobby said as Sam cleared up the coffee cups and put them in the sink.

"Thanks Bobby, I'll just get my stuff from my Baby" Dean said pointing to the front door

"No worries" Bobby replied

Sam walked up the stairs as Dean walked out the door "Hey Bobby, can I use your Wi-Fi upstairs?"

"Yep, I got it all over the place. I'm going to bed, don't stay up to late alright" Bobby said as he opened the door to his room and watched the younger man do the same to the room that he always used when he stayed with Bobby.

"Ok Cool, I just want to grab a shower first" Sam said motioning to the bathroom.

"Alright, have a good night's sleep" Bobby replied with a smile.

Sam walked into his room and grabbed all his stuff for his shower, he took off his clothes and thought as Bobby was already out for the night that he could walk over to the bathroom without disturbing him. As he walked out of his room with his change of clothes, his towel and bathroom supplies, he bumps right into a solid block of muscle. "Shit sorry" he exclaims as he teeters backwards.

"Whoa" Dean says in reply as his arms come up to stop Sam from falling over. He realises after a second that he is holding onto a shirtless young man who is decidedly more filled out and muscular than he used to be. "Have you been holding out on my Sammy?" he asks cheekily as he looked Sam up and down taking notice of all the changes to his physic. "you're not as scrawny as you think you are".

Sam gulps down his embarrassment as he looks down at his current state of undress "Um… I don't… I've just upped my training regime… I wanted to be stronger" he says with a shrug, he knows that he has gone from tall and skinny to having the start of a six pack and more muscular arms.

Dean can imagine the rest of that statement, his father must have shown his unhappiness at Sam's supposed failings, so Sam had forced himself to do more exercise and to lift weights so he could be stronger. Whatever it was, the results certainly spoke for themselves. "Well, I'm impressed Sammy" Dean said softly as he squeezed the young man's arms and then run them up and down and when he saw Sam's cheeks turn pink, he let go before he did anything further to embarrass the other man.

Sam cleared his throat and brought his arms holding his clothes and towel, closer to his chest to try and cover himself a little better. "OK well… I'm gonna… just" Sam says pointing his thumb towards the bathroom and shuffles off as quickly as his socked feet will carry him.

Dean watched him leave and once he catches himself watching the underwear clad young man a little too closely, he turns and continues his walk to the guest bedroom and closes the door with a soft click. He leans against the door and takes a deep breath. Ever since he had walked into Bobby's house and had seen Sam with his face covered in bruises and had noticed how gown up, he was with his floppy hair and strong lean body that he had been holding himself back from becoming to overprotective and from just taking him to the nearest hotel and just ravishing him to within an inch of his life.

He had always known that he was bisexual and had taken part in the joys of one-night stands, however he didn't know what Sam's sexual preference was, so he didn't want to freak him out if Dean made a move. However, with the reaction that he just witnessed, he has little doubt that Sam is coming to a realisation and working through some feelings so could be either gay or bisexual. Dean will wait for Sam to come to him if he has any questions or just wanted to talk to him about anything and will come clean when the time comes.

TBC