AU: Brothers Saved
Timeline: Sam is 10, Dean is 14
After John finished checking Dean, the rest of the drive was silent. The radio was turned off, and the hunter often glanced in his rearview mirror. They took more turns than Sam remembered, and the trip to Bobby’s was over two hours longer than it should have been, but he didn’t care. He couldn’t look away from Dean.
At one point, he was worried his hands were growing clammy. He fidgeted in place, until he saw how much each movement was affecting Dean where he lay prone. That was enough to make Sam freeze back up.
As the drive went on and the initial panic and fear began to wear off, Sam grew fascinated by the sight of Dean. Every detail was precise and perfect. If Sam squinted, he could make out a near-microscopic amulet resting on his older brother’s chest. If he stayed like that long enough, he could actually make out the slight motion of Dean’s chest as he breathed in and out in a steady rhythm, as though he was just asleep, no matter that gentle nudges to his shoulder had no effect.
Dean slept on.
When they reached Bobby Singer’s home in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Sam was bustled out of the car. John grabbed all the remaining supplies that hadn’t been left behind in that motel room during the attack. Sam walked slowly to the front door, each step taken with a cautious gravity and focus that he didn’t normally show. Usually he would have run on ahead, eager to greet Bobby and see what new cars were at the salvage yard out back.
“Hey, Bobby,” John greeted as the door opened. One hand on Sam’s shoulder, he guided his youngest into the house as Bobby stepped back to admit them, picking up John’s mood just from the tone of voice. “We’ve got a problem.”
The reveal of Dean to Bobby went as well as could be expected. His face turned white as he saw where the teenager lay. Sam looked up at him, hopeful that Bobby would give him a reassurance that he knew what was happening, that they would fix Dean and this would all be over and Sam would be back to looking up at his older brother.
Reassurance never came. Sam found himself sitting at the kitchen table with a hotdog left nearby and a puddle of ketchup while John pulled Bobby aside to talk where Sam couldn’t hear them.
Sam caught a few scattered phrases as he sat there, unhappily spearing the hotdog with a fork and wishing someone had thought to put it all on a bun. He didn’t want to risk doing too much so long as Dean was in his hand, and so far he hadn’t thought of a way to put him down.
“–can’t risk him–”
“There’s no way Dean would–”
Sam chewed slowly, every sense in him tuned towards the hall by the kitchen. The voices were hushed and urgent. Things were bad. Bobby was never this upset.
“–never saw this before.”
By the time he finished his food, Bobby came back into the room and the front door slammed shut as John stormed out. Bobby squatted down next to Sam, understanding in his clear blue eyes.
“Sam,” he greeted evenly. “How you holdin’ up?”
“I’m okay,” Sam confirmed. His eyes fell. “But Dean–”
“Don’t you worry about Dean,” Bobby cut Sam off. “We’re going to do everything we can to track that witch down and wring a cure out of her for what she did to him. You know no one can mess with your Dad when he’s on a mission.”
Sam nodded. “He can be scary when he’s on cases.”
“Right, but he’s scary for the monsters, not for us,” Bobby said with a smile. “What we need you to do is keep a close eye on Dean for us. Once I call up some friends of mine, we’re going to head back to Haven. You remember how to shoot a colt?”
Sam’s eyes were wide as Bobby held out a gun. It was older than Dean’s, now resting in Sam’s breast pocket so they didn’t lose it, but there was no doubt in his mind that it would work like new. Bobby knew weapons better than John and Dean together.
“Dean let me shoot his when we had time,” Sam breathed. Bobby let him take the gun and he hurriedly put it on the table.
“It’s for you to use if you need to protect yourself and Dean, and that’s it,” Bobby said. “Watch yourself, alright?”
He mussed Sam’s hair, leaving the young boy alone at the table, staring between the gun and Dean.
“Dean, please wake up and be okay,” Sam said quietly.
Asks and prompts open for this AU! More coming tomorrow!
Brothers Apart 