Here goes nothing.
The best part about having friends is that I can post things to you all first before dealing with the pressure of posting for an entire community
Title: Family.
Author: bitchandjerk
Characters: Sam/Dean, OMC, Brief Ellen
Rating :R for language
Words: 6,486
Warnings:Non graphic wincest, very vague spoliers for the entire series.
Summary: Sam and Dean meet someone in Chicago who changes their lives.
Notes: Hmm. If you hate this, blame as_rare_as. I started randomly writing this unsure of what was going to happen and I found myself totally consumed for a few days. This is a test, as I am completely unaware of where it's going.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. Except Jeff who is hot.
Feedback: Makes me hard.
Dean had been aware of someone following them for the last few blocks. It was a Friday night in Chicago, the wind was whipping around them every turn they took. Dean purposefully took extra turns back to the motel, seeing if their stalker would follow.
They crossed the street and Dean looked back to see the man hesitate a moment before getting behind them again.
“That guy is following us.”
“What guy?” Sam asked.
“There’s a guy behind us. Don’t look.”
“Is he hot?” Sam asked, keeping his eyes on the sidewalk in front of him.
Dean looked over his shoulder, watching the man stop and quickly feign interest in a store front advertisement.
“I can’t tell.” Dean said.
“Think it’s a cop?”
“No, he looks pretty young, follow me.”
Dean crossed to the opposite side of the street again before turning down the street away from their motel.
Dean didn’t want to be so paranoid but what were the chances this guy wasn’t about to try and kill them.
“I think I can take him.” Dean said, crossing into an alley and hiding in a shadow.
“You’re just going to jump him? Sam asked.
“He’s following us.”
Dean had wanted to drive to the bar but Sam insisted on walking. Dean refused to let him walk alone and went with him.
“If I had my car.” Dean said annoyed. “I could just run him over.”
Sam laughed before Dean elbowed him in the ribs. “Shut up.”
The stalker appeared a second later, searching down the alley for them.
Dean reached out and grabbed him by his coat before tossing him into the wall.
“Dean!” Sam yelled.
In the light from the street Dean could see it wasn’t a man following them, their stalker was some punk kid.
“Why are you following us?” Dean yelled, pushing him harder against the wall.
“I wasn’t!” The kid yelled back.
“Bullshit!”
“Dean, take it easy.” Sam said tugging at Dean’s shoulder.
Dean studied the kids face, he didn’t have even the slightest hint of fear in his eyes.
“I hate to break up the party.”
Dean turned to see another guy appear out of nowhere. He didn’t look scared either, possibly because out of the four of them, he was the only one with a gun.
“He’s got a gun.” Sam whispered.
“I can see that.”
“Give me your wallets.”
First a stalker and now a mugger, Dean decided he wouldn’t be coming back to Chicago anytime soon.
“Alright.” Dean said reaching into his pocket. “Take it easy.”
He shook the gun. “Stay there, give it to the kid.”
“I’m not a kid.”
“Shut up, and take their wallets.”
Dean handed over his wallet. Apparently these two were working together. Dean had shitty luck but running into a stalker and a mugged within the same five minutes seemed a little much even for him.
“You too sasquatch.” The man said, pointing the gun at Sam.
“Hey!”
Dean had to laugh, he thought he even saw the kid crack a smile as he took Sam’s wallet.
“Nice and slow, bring them over here.”
Sam moved to Dean’s side as the watched the kid walk slowly towards the mugger.
“He better not try to be a hero.” Sam said under his breath.
“Put them on the ground.”
“Okay.”
He squatted down to place the wallets in the middle of the space between them.
Just as the mugger bent down to pick up the wallets, keeping the gun level with them, Dean watched as the kid spun around and kicked the gun out of his hand. It went flying across the alley landing against a dumpster with a metallic clang.
“Oh shit.” Dean said, as the mugger lunged forward and was greeted with another kick to the chest.
Sam and Dean watched in awe as the mugger flew backwards, slamming into a row of garbage cans.
“Did you see that?” Sam said, motionless at Dean’s side.
Dean nodded, watching the man struggle to stand up. The kid was at his side in an instant, hoisting him to his feet by his collar.
“I’m not a kid.” He said before straightening the man and delivering another devastating kick that launched him ten feet away into a brick wall.
Dean swore he could hear the bricks crack beneath him. The mugger slumped to the ground unconscious.
“What the hell was that?” Dean asked looking at Sam.
“Did you kill that guy?” Sam yelled.
“I hope not.”
“Who the hell are you?” Dean asked.
“I’m Jeff.”
Jeff walked back towards them, stopping to pick up their wallets.
“Here.” He said, handing both to Sam before walking away.
“Wait a minute.” Dean yelled, running after him. “How did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“You kicked that guys ass.” Sam said. “He probably had two hundred pounds on you.”
“And a gun.” Dean added.
Jeff shrugged. “He looked like a bitch.”
Dean studied him for a minute. He had dark hair and clear blue eyes. Dean tried to figure out who was shorter by moving closer to him.
“What are you doing?”
“Uh, nothing.” Dean said, moving away again. “Why were you following us?”
“I just saved your life.”
“I had a plan.” Dean said while Sam started at him.
“What was it?” Jeff asked. “Use your boyfriend as body armor?”
“You little shit.” Dean said, grabbing him by the coat again.
Sam was laughing as Dean shook him. “Why were you following us?”
Jeff brought his arms out against Dean’s chest and shoved.
“Son of a bitch.” Dean said, stumbling backwards against the force.
Sam stopped Dean rushing back towards him determined to kick his ass.
“Dean, he’ll kick your ass.”
“I will.” Jeff added.
Something was wrong with this picture. Dean had just seen a scrawny punk kid kick a huge guy across an alley and not even break a sweat. Still, he didn’t think twice about throwing a punch.
Jeff reached up faster than Dean could register to catch and stop his fist.
“Is he always this stubborn?” Jeff asked Sam.
Dean was pushing against Jeff’s hand with all his strength and he didn’t budge.
“Usually.” Sam said.
Jeff looked back to Dean and shrugged before ramming his fist into the underside of his chin, sending Dean flying.
“He’ll be okay.” Jeff said to a stunned Sam.
“Mother fucker.” Dean yelled, rubbing his chin.
Sam rushed to his side, helping him to his feet. “Demon?”
“Who the fuck knows. He punched the shit out of me.”
“I saw that.”
Dean looked up to see Jeff standing there with his hands in his pocket.
“He stopped the mugger.” Dean whispered. “I don’t remember running into any helpful demons.”
“Did you say demon?” Jeff asked walking towards them.
Dean brushed off his clothes, aching from the force of impact.
“So, you’re pretty strong and you’ve got excellent hearing. Anything else?”
“Yeah, I crap cotton candy.”
Sam started laughing but stopped when Dean shot him a look.
“Let’s talk.” Jeff said walking away.
“Where are you going?” Sam yelled after him.
“Back to the motel. I’m in room seven.”
Back in their motel room, Dean was pacing back and forth.
“I say we kill him.”
“Why?” Sam asked, digging through his bag.
“He kicked my ass.”
“You get your ass kicked all the time.
“No I don’t!” Dean yelled.
They were in room five, Dean thought it awfully coincidental, that Jeff was following them, fought off a mugger, and was staying in the same motel as them.
Sam pulled out a flask. “Holy water.”
Dean stopped pacing. “That’s a good idea. Let’s go.”
Dean was at the door when Sam stopped reaching under his shirt.
Sam pulled out the gun tucked into Dean’s jeans. “Is this necessary?”
“You saw what he did, I’m not taking any chances.” Dean said, taking the gun back.
Dean barely got in one proper knock on door number seven before it swung open.
“That’s going to leave one hell of a bruise.”
“Shut up.” Dean said, pushing past him.
“Hi.” Sam said awkwardly waiting for a proper invitation.
“Come on in.”
They each took a seat at the small table. Dean wasted no time in pushing the flask towards Jeff. “Drink that.”
Jeff picked it up. “Why would I drink this.”
Dean took the gun out of his jeans and placed it on the table. “If I wanted to kill you, I would have shot you as soon as you opened the door.”
Jeff shrugged. “Makes sense.”
They watched as he downed the entire contents of the flask in one fell swoop before turning it upside down to let the last drop fall out.
“Happy?”
“Hardly.” Dean said.
“How long have you been following us?” Sam asked.
“Since Nevada.”
Dean looked over at Sam, trying to remember when they were last in Nevada. They had a routine haunting, and weren’t there for more than a couple days.
“It’s been over a month since we were in Nevada.” Sam said. “How did you follow us that long?”
“I lojacked your car.”
“You did what to my car?” Dean said furious.
“Lojacked it.” Jeff said, reaching behind him to produce a laptop.
“Sweet.” Sam said, eyeing the high end computer.
“Sweet?” Dean said before slapping Sam in the back of the head. “Why did you do that?”
Jeff shrugged. “I wanted to keep track of you.”
“Why?” Dean was getting impatient.
Jeff opened the computer and after a few keystrokes turned it towards Sam.
“This has every place we’ve been since Nevada.”
“Well that’s unsettling.” Dean said, leaning over to look at the screen. “Start talking.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything.” Dean said while Sam toyed with the computer.
“I was born in California. My mom put me up for adoption and I spent my childhood in and out of foster homes. I turned eighteen and got a hold of my birth records, so I tracked you two down.”
Sam looked up at him. “Why us?”
“I looked up all the other Winchester’s I could find.”
Dean stared at him from across the table. “So, again, why us?”
Jeff shifted in the chair, suddenly looking very uncomfortable.
“I thought you might be able to tell me where to find my dad. My mom died and I don’t have any family left.”
“Look kid,” Dean started. “We’re not exactly a close knit group. We know each other, that’s about it.”
Sam looked up, knowing all to well the sadness behind Jeff’s eyes.
“I’m sorry Jeff.”
“It’s okay.” He said. “I’m sure someone’s got to know where I can find John Winchester.”
Dean froze. “John Winchester?”
“Yeah.”
“Dean,” Sam started
“What’s your mom’s name?”
“Jamie Redmond, why?”
“Jeff, I…” Sam started before Dean cut him off.
“Call Ellen.”
Sam stared at him for a second before Dean pounded his fist against the table.
“Call Ellen!”
Sam got up and quickly exited the room, leaving Dean staring at Jeff from across the table.
He dropped his cell phone twice before he could find Ellen’s number.
“Roadhouse.”
“Hey, Ellen?”
“Sam, is that you?”
“Yeah, how are you?” He asked.
There was lot of noise in the background, songs from the jukebox and guys yelling over each other.
“Hold on, got a group of loud sons of bitches in here tonight.”
Sam waited impatiently, staring into the room through the tiny space the curtains left. Jeff was looking around the room nervously while Dean stayed completely motionless, the color gone from his face.
“What’s up Sam?” Ellen asked, free from the noise inside the bar.
“You ever heard of a Jamie Redmond?”
Ellen was silent for a second. “Yeah, why?”
“Was she a friend of dad’s?”
“A lifetime ago, why do you ask?”
Sam sighed. “Close friends?”
Ellen laughed on the other end of the line. “As close as your daddy would let a woman get, you know.”
Sam suddenly had a splitting headache. “Did they date?”
Ellen laughed again. It was really starting to annoy Sam.
“Well,” She said. “Wasn’t often John didn’t pass through without paying her a…uh, visit.”
The realization that his father had a fuck buddy was almost as disturbing as realizing his little brother just kicked Dean’s ass.
“Thanks Ellen.”
“What’s this about Sam?”
Sam groaned. “I’ll let you know when I figure it out.”
He clicked his phone shut before slumping against the door, trying to sort out the mess in his head. The door swung open and Sam fell back, hitting his head against the floor of the motel room.
“Help me up.” He said, extending his hand to Dean who quickly pulled him to his feet.
“What’d she say?” Dean asked.
Sam stumbled back to his chair, sitting down to face Jeff.
“Who’s Ellen?” He asked.
“Sam, what did she say?” Dean asked again.
Sam couldn’t make the words come out. He spent the next minute, darting his eyes between Jeff and Dean. The Winchester’s had redefined the meaning of family secrets but this one was too much to handle.
“Ellen said John knew Jeff’s mom.” He said when his eyes finally settled on Dean.
Dean brought his hands to his head and Sam was almost happy that he wasn’t the only one with a splitting headache.
“So you do know my dad?” Jeff asked as Dean slid against the wall settling onto the floor.
“Are you okay?” Jeff asked Dean, watching his head fall into his hands.
“We knew him Jeff, he passed away about a year ago.” Sam said, his heart breaking as he watched Jeff’s face fall.
Even behind his carefully constructed stoic exterior Jeff couldn’t hide his sadness.
“What was he like?” He asked, fighting back the tears behind his eyes.
“He was a good man.” Dean said, his voice muffled by his hands.
“He was great.” Sam said, wishing he could find some way to comfort Jeff. Finding and losing a parent all in the same day had to be devastating.
“At least,” Jeff said, sucking in his breath. “I can stop looking for a family I don’t have.”
Sam looked over as Dean’s face rose out of his hands. His eyes were red and glossed over.
“No.” Dean said, rising to his feet. “You’ve got family.”
Jeff looked over to him. “What?”
“John was our dad.” Sam said. “You’re our brother.”
Jeff got up and quickly darted across the room slamming the bathroom door behind him.
“That didn’t go too well.” Sam said.
Dean listened to the sick splashing sound of Jeff throwing up.
“I don’t know,” Dean said. “I kind of feel like puking too.”
“Me too.” Sam said standing to wrap his arms around Dean.
“Are you sure about this Sammy?”
“Ellen said they were close.”
Dean looked up through tear stained eyes. When he would sleep with women he always referred to them as “close”.
“What are we going to do?” Dean said into Sam’s chest.
“I don’t know.”
Sam’s hand was at the back of Dean’s neck. He felt much tenser than he normally did. Dean choked out a sob, totally drained against Sam’s body.
“Maybe it’s not a good idea for him to find out he has brothers and that they…you know.”
Dean looked up at Sam and quickly untangled himself.
“Yeah.” Dean said, forcing a laugh. “Probably not a good idea.”
“Why didn’t dad tell us?” Sam said, as the toilet flushed and Jeff walked back into the room.
“He didn’t know.” Jeff said, sitting on the edge of the bed.
Sam went to sit next to him. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I guess.” He said. “I found my grandma, she told me John never knew about me. She died a few weeks ago.”
Dean watched them from across the room. Comforting people came so natural to Sam. He fell a little more in love with him watching them together.
“I’m sorry.” Sam said.
Dean walked out the room, rushing to the Impala. He popped the trunk open and started rummaging through the weapons.
“Come on.” He muttered, knocking things out of the way until he found the small wooden box lodged under a case of knives.
He opened it quickly, sorting through the photos inside until he had a handful of his father. Jeff’s father.
“Where’d you go?” Sam asked him when he came back into the room.
Dean sat on the bed opposite Jeff and handed him the pictures.
“That’s our dad.” He said pointing at the picture. “That’s me and that’s Sam, I’m the good looking one.”
Jeff laughed. “I kind of look like him.”
“You do actually.” Sam said, staring at Jeff.
“We don’t have a lot of pictures.” Dean said while Jeff looked over the rest of them.
Jeff handed the pictures back to Dean. “Sorry I kicked your ass.”
“You didn’t kick my ass. I will still standing.”
“Dude, he kicked your ass.” Sam added.
“No one asked you.” Dean shot back. “How’d you do that?”
Jeff shrugged. “I don’t know. I was living with a foster family when I was 16. The dad used to beat the shit out of me.”
Dean felt the anger boiling up inside of him.
“One day I just hit him back, broke his jaw.”
Dean couldn’t imagine what it was like for Jeff growing up, but at least he had managed to get out of it and kick a little ass in the process. Still his above average strength worried Dean.
“Are you just really strong?” Sam asked.
“Yeah, I guess so. I started training when I realized I was stronger than I should be.”
“That explains how you kicked Dean’s ass.”
“I’m going to kick you ass.” Dean told Sam.
Sam looked down at his watch. “It’s pretty late. Why don’t we pick this up tomorrow.”
“Okay.” Jeff said standing.
Dean knew it was coming. Sam stood to wrap his arms around Jeff. Jeff stayed still for a second before wrapping his arms around Sam.
“Come get us when you wake up, we’ll get breakfast.” Sam told him, patting his shoulders.
As Sam walked to the door, Dean stood there staring at Jeff.
“You didn’t kick my ass.”
“Pretty sure I did.” Jeff said smiling.
“I don’t hug, that’s his thing.” Dean said, pointing at Sam in the doorway.
Jeff held out his hand for Dean. He looked so much like Sam when he was that age. Dean took his hand and pulled him into a hug causing Jeff and Sam to both laugh.
“Before we go,” Dean said. “I’m the oldest, so I’m always right and if you touch my car again, I’ll kill you.”
“You’d try.” Jeff said smiling.
“No, he really will.” Sam added. “Better not risk it.”
Dean pushed him back onto the bed before joining Sam at the door.
“See you in the morning. Don’t order any porn.” Dean said pointing at the television and then back to Jeff.
“I’m just going to crash.”
“Night Jeff.” Sam said before walking out the room.
“Night.” Jeff called out as they closed the door behind them.
Dean laid in bed alternating between counting the cracks and in the ceiling and watching the alarm clock.
“Sam, are you awake?”
“No.” Sam replied.
“Really?”
“Yes, I’m sleeping yet able to carry on this conversation.”
“I can’t sleep” Dean said.
“Me neither. Wanna have sex?”
Dean sighed. “No.”
Sam sat up in bed, suddenly extremely worried about Dean.
“No?”
“Well,” Dean said. “Yeah but let’s not.”
“What’s wrong?”
Dean kicked the covers off of his body before turning to get out of bed.
“I just feel like,” He started. “I have no idea how to finish that.”
Sam laughed watching Dean pace in the dim light of the room. “I know what you mean.”
He had to wonder if it was just the long lost Winchester that worried Dean so much, of the fact that he was far from normal. Sam wasn’t normal either. It didn’t mean he was necessarily abnormal either. Jeff had tremendous power, the question was what was he doing with it?
“I just don’t know what to do.” Dean said.
“I doubt he does either, Dean.”
“We should have thought this over more before we told him about dad.”
Sam got out of bed to walk over to Dean. He looked tired and worried.
“Did you want to leave him wondering where his dad was?”
“No.” Dean said softly.
“We’ll figure it out, why don’t you try to sleep. You look like shit.”
“How are you okay with this?”
Sam shrugged. “I’m not. I’m confused and I don’t know what to do either.”
Sam reached to wrap his arms around Dean. He felt lighter than usual, cold in the night.
“What are we going to tell him?” Dean asked, his mouth moving against Sam’s shoulder.
“We’ll answer his questions.”
“Honestly?” Dean asked, looking up at Sam.
“Well, as honestly as we can.” Sam said. “Come on, I’m cold.”
Sam led him back to bed, to the safety of each other’s arms.
Dean was still counting the cracks in the ceiling when Sam’s soft sleep sounds started.
By the time the sun rose Jeff had taken a shower, updated his iPod and wrote four sprawling emails. He hadn’t slept. He always felt guilty sleeping unless he was utterly exhausted.
Dawn breaking was the only indication that night had actually passed. He started out the window watching the sun rise over the horizon as the wind whipped trees back and forth. It was supposed to snow today.
As a child, between his fifth and sixth foster homes he decided to find his real family. Now in the cold gray morning, he had and yet what should have been a much happier experience was eclipsed by loss.
No matter how much searching he did, he’d never find his father. John never knew about him, he never would. As much as he tried, reminding himself of all the kids in foster families that hated their parents, he couldn’t get over the gnawing pain of losing someone you never knew.
Brothers, he thought, would be enough. Sam seemed nice and Dean’s arrogance must have been hard earned. Brothers were better than nothing.
After dressing in endless layers and slipping earphones on, he exited the room into the cold of morning.
It didn’t seem as cold as it actually was as he walked to room number five. The curtains were closed tight as he tried to look through the window before slumping to the cold concrete ground.
With his music blocking out the sounds of the city waking up, he could think. After years of actually having a family, Sam and Dean might not want a third wheel. Jeff wasn’t even sure if it’s what he wanted. Perhaps the knowledge that he did have family out there would be enough.
He didn’t know why they constantly drove back and forth across the country. He thought of the best way to have his questions answered without being overtly obvious in asking them.
Five songs passed before he heard the squeaking of the motel room door.
“What are you doing?” Sam asked staring down at him.
He stopped the music to look up.
“What?”
“What are you doing?” Sam repeated, rubbing his hands together. “It’s freezing out here.”
“I didn’t think anyone was up yet.”
“Aren’t you cold?”
“Not really.” Jeff said, pushing himself up the wall.
“Come get coffee with me.” Sam said, softly closing the door. “He’s sleeping.”
“Okay.”
Jeff walked next to Sam quietly. There was a coffee shop a few blocks away. Jeff had watched Sam walk there alone yesterday morning. He drank a cup inside before leaving with two more.
“He’ll be out for while.” Sam said, laughing. “You sleep okay?”
“Yeah.” Jeff lied. “I like your bag.”
Sam shifted the bag across his shoulders. “Thanks.”
Dean had given it to him for his birthday insisting it was a purchase from manpurses.com.
“What were you listening to?” Sam asked, pointing at the earphones around his neck.
Jeff replied by holding them up for Sam to listen. Once he had them pressed against his ear, Jeff resumed the slow melodic classical music.
“Vivaldi?” Sam asked, listening more intently.
“Yeah.” Jeff said. “Four Seasons.”
Sam laughed. “You better not tell Dean.”
Jeff switched tracks so that Jimi Hendrix was blaring in his ear.
“Better?”
“I’d rather Vivaldi.”
Sam returned the headphones. “Classical and rock?.”
“I like to keep it balanced.”
They arrived to the empty coffee shop, the smell of freshly ground beans hitting them as soon as they stepped inside.
“I love that smell.” Jeff said smiling.
“Me too. What do you want?”
“Just coffee, black.”
Sam ordered two coffees before joining Jeff at a table near the window.
“Do you get coffee every morning?” He asked.
Sam was blowing against the lid. “Yeah, trust me, you don’t want to deal with Dean unleaded.”
Jeff laughed, trying to imagine Dean any grumpier than he had been last night.
“What’s he like?”
“Dean? He’s a jerk.” Sam said smiling. “Most of the time at least. He’s stubborn and arrogant as all hell.”
“But?”
Sam swallowed down some of the boiling hot coffee, wincing against the heat.
“But, he’s my brother. He may be a pain in the ass, but he’s my brother.”
“Have you ever tried bitch slapping him?” Jeff asked.
“Oh yeah. He gets bitch slapped like four times a day. Sometimes five.”
They sat laughing at Dean for a few minutes, each playing with the lids on their cups.
“I was thinking,” Sam started. “We could take you to see Ellen, she knew your mom.”
“Really?” Jeff asked.
“Yeah, she might be able to tell you something.”
“You don’t mind?”
“Of course not, I never knew my mom either. I know what it’s like.”
Jeff looked up at Sam knowing all to well the sadness behind his eyes.
“What happened?”
Sam sighed. “She died when I was a baby. There was a fire. Dad was always gone, Dean pretty much raised me.”
“And yet you seem so well adjusted.” Jeff said laughing. “Where was your dad?”
Jeff hadn’t decided yet if it was appropriate to call Sam’s dad his dad too.
“He uh.” Sam paused to think. “He was out of town a lot for work.”
Sam looked down at his watch suddenly desperate to not tell Jeff too much without Dean being there.
“We should get back.”
“Okay.” Jeff said, tossing his empty cup away.
Sam ordered another coffee for Dean before meeting Jeff outside.
“I think it’s going to snow.”
“Yeah, later today.”
They walked back to the motel talking about the weather. Sam was dominating the conversation in hopes of keeping Jeff distracted until Dean was awake.
“You don’t have to do that.” Jeff said interrupting Sam’s rambling on global warming.
“So what?” Sam asked, stopping outside the motel room.
“I know you want to wait for Dean to talk to me.”
“Why do you think that?”
“It’s what I would do.” Jeff started.
Sam smiled at him before opening the door and letting Jeff in first. Dean was still sleeping, sprawled out flat against the mattress, his arm stretched out over where Sam had been sleeping.
Jeff looked around the room, there were empty pizza boxes and beer bottles strewn about. Like a giant elephant in the middle of the room, he immediately noticed that the second bed was still made.
“Wake up.” Sam said, from across the room.
Sam shrugged off his coat and threw it across the room where it landed on Dean’s head.
“Wake up.” He repeated, taking off his bag. “Damnit.”
Dean wasn’t moving at all, oblivious to anything else except sleep.
“He’s dead.” Jeff said, still staring at the made bed.
“Not again.” Sam said before realizing his mistake, luckily Jeff laughed it off.
Sam walked over and started kicking the bed which caused Dean to grumble a little.
“Wake up.”
“Blow me.” Dean muttered into the pillow.
Sam was about to take him up on the offer when he remembered they weren’t alone.
“Jeff, do you think you could throw him against the wall?”
Dean shot up at the mention of Jeff’s name. “Jeff?”
“Yes.” Sam said under his breath.
Dean rubbed his eyes into focus as he saw Jeff standing across the room. Apparently finding out that he had another brother hadn’t been a very vivid dream.
“Hi.” He said, turning to pull off his coat and scarf.
“Coffee.” Dean said, staring at Sam.
Jeff grabbed the extra cup off the table and handed it to Sam.
“Thanks.” Dean said, taking off the top and throwing it across the room.
Sam went to the table to check the forecast on his laptop while Dean laid in bed, downing the coffee.
“You can sit Jeff.” Sam said while flipping open his computer.
Jeff sat in the chair next to Sam and the three of them spent the next three minutes staring at each other.
“Awkward.” Dean muttered.
“It is going to snow.” Sam said, reading over the news.
“I told you.” Jeff added.
Dean sat up in bed, still rubbing his eyes before he pulled on his shirt. “Fucking snow. What do you do for fun Jeff?”
Dean was hoping he didn’t say something retarded like snowboarding.
“I build websites.”
“Really?” Sam asked. “That’s so cool.”
“Yeah.” Jeff reached over to slide the laptop away from Sam, after a few strokes he turned it back.
“Holy shit.” Sam said, as he saw the screen. “This is porn.”
Dean shot up out of bed and rushed to Sam’s side.
“Dude, you run a porn site?”
Jeff laughed. “No, I make sure a porn site runs.”
“I’ve been here before.” Dean said, smirking at Sam. “Oh yeah.”
“Not surprising.” Sam muttered. “Did you go to school for this?”
“You can go to school for porn?” Dean asked, overly excited.
“You’re an idiot.”
Dean slapped Sam on the back of his head. “You’re an idiot.”
“No, I just figured it out and started working.” Jeff said shrugging.
“You are like,” Dean started, transfixed by the computer. “At least ten times cooler than Sam.”
“Jerk.”
“Bitch.”
“That’s funny,” Jeff said. “He said I was fifteen times cooler than you.”
Sam had to laughed even more impressed with Jeff.
“Dude!”
“He’s joking Dean…kinda.”
“Whatever.” Dean grumbled walking to the bathroom. “I want some pancakes.”
Luckily the restaurant they ended up at had very few people inside. Dean didn’t know if this was a good thing or not. Sure they’d have privacy but in his experience few customers meant crap food.
They took a seat in the back corner away from the other customers, slouched down in the shadows.
“Why are we way back here?” Jeff asked, staring at Sam and Dean.
It had become a common enough practice to talk over things in semi-seclusions, Dean didn’t even realize they were doing anything wrong until Jeff pointed it out.
“What are you drinking?” The waitress who appeared out of nowhere asked.
“Coffee.” All three replied in unison.
“That’s cute.” She said sarcastically. “What are you eating?”
They all took turns answering pancakes.
“Bacon or sausage?”
Dean thought for a second. “Bacon.”
“Sausage.” Sam said as Dean started laughing at him. No surprises there.
“Do you want mine?” Jeff asked.
“Dude, what?” Dean asked nervously, assuming it was a come on.
“My bacon or sausage, I’m a vegetarian.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. Sausage” Dean said laughing
After the waitress left, Dean stared at Jeff.
“A vegetarian?” He asked.
“Yeah, what’s wrong with that?”
Sam interrupted them. “Ignore him Jeff.”
After the coffee came they sat for a moment, exchanging pleasantries about the weather and Chicago in general until Dean couldn’t take it anymore.
“Okay, enough.” He said. “Let’s talk.”
“We are talking.” Sam said.
“Let’s talk.” Dean repeated with more emphasis. “What do you want to know.”
Jeff shrugged. “Tell me about you.”
Dean blinked a few times. “Me?”
“Yeah, what’s up with you?”
Sam laughed. Jeff was really starting to grow on him.
“What the hell does that mean?” Dean asked indignant
“You were ready to kick my ass when I was following you, you know, right before I kicked your ass.”
Dean sat back in his chair. “First of all, you didn’t kick my ass, secondly you were following us!”
“So you just decided to throw me against a building? What if I had been some freak?”
“As far as I know you could still be a freak.”
“Dean.” Sam said.
“I’m not a freak.” Jeff shot back.
“Then why don’t I have super powers?” Dean asked
“I don’t know, maybe you eat too much sausage.”
Sam was still laughing when the waitress brought their food. Dean kept his eyes on Jeff as he took an oversized bite of sausage.
“So, what do you do?” Jeff asked while cutting up his pancakes.
“We hunt evil things and kill them.”
Sam dropped his fork and stared at Dean.
“Like Buffy?”
Dean threw his hands up in the air. “Not like Buffy!”
“That’s what Buffy does.” Jeff said, turning his attention to his pancakes. “What kind of evil things?”
“You believe him?” Sam asked.
“Sure, I mean, I’m not a freak but I’m not normal, I know that. I thought you two were cons or something.”
“That too.” Dean said, his mouth full of pancakes.
Sam lowered his voice. “We hunt spirits, demons, occasionally vampires. Stuff like that.”
“Like Buffy.”
“Dude.” Dean said staring at Sam. “Tell him not like Buffy.”
“I miss Buffy.” Sam said, staring out the window.
“Me too.” Jeff added.
Dean looked at both of them. “Get a grip.”
“So you thought I was a demon?” Jeff asked.
“Stranger stuff has happened.”
“Like what?”
“I died.” Sam said flatly. “Like Buffy.”
“Christ, enough with the Buffy, I’m banning that word from the table.”
The last word Dean had banned was “Brotherfucker” after Sam had called him that for a whole week.
“I was trapped in an alternate reality. I died, twice.”
Sam interrupted him. “What no you didn’t.”
“Almost.”
“This is the strangest conversation I’ve ever had.” Jeff said when they were done arguing.
“Tell me about it.” Dean said, pouring more syrup onto his pancakes. “So, what else can you do?”
“What do you mean?” Jeff asked.
“You’re just strong?”
“I guess so.”
“The cheese stands alone.” Dean said, beckoning the waitress for a refill. “Sammy here, he’s a freak too.”
“I’m not a freak.”
“You’re pretty freaky.” Dean said, while the waitress filled their mugs. “Freaky freaky.”
“What do you do?” Jeff asked interested.
“I have visions.”
“I shoot things.” Dean added.
“Aside from that we’re pretty normal.” Sam said smiling.
“Except that you sleep together.”
Dean’s fork clattering against his plate drew the attention of everyone in the restaurant. He turned his head slowly to see Sam frozen, coffee mug in hand, staring forward in horror.
Jeff shrugged and returned to his pancakes. “I don’t care.”
“We don’t!” Dean said once the shock had faded.
“Okay.” Jeff said in between bites.
“How did you know that?” Sam asked.
“Jesus Sam!” Dean yelled, causing everyone to look at him again.
“The other bed was still made.”
Their lives had been so private for the last few years. Sam hadn’t even remembered one bed was still made when he brought Jeff into the room. He assumed he’d get an earful from Dean once they were alone.
“Are you like in love or do you just fuck?”
Dean silently prayed that Sam was able to answer that question because he honestly had no idea.
“Both.” Sam said flatly.
“That’s cool.” Jeff said nodding. “These pancakes kick ass.”
They continued to stare at Jeff as he finished off his pancakes.
“What?” He asked.
“You’re fine with that?” Sam asked.
“I finally have family, what does it matter what you two do?”
Dean had never heard anything explained so simply and with such clarity.
“You are so cool.” Dean finally said, breaking his silence.
“I know, right.” Jeff said before setting down his mug. “Everyone’s a little gay.”
“I’m not gay.” Dean whispered.
“Right.” Sam said laughing.
“I’m not!”
Dean had never identified as gay. He didn’t think that one relationship should completely overwrite his entire orientation. If he was gay and had a relationship with one woman, no one would think he was straight, but sleep with your brother and the whole world has you branded for life. He didn’t find himself attracted to anyone besides Sam. So in theory he wasn’t gay.
“What about you?” Sam asked.
Jeff looked up from his coffee and shrugged.
“You do that a lot.” Dean said.
“I’ll be back.” He said, getting up and making his way to the bathroom.
Alone at the table Dean turned to Sam. “I can’t believe to let him into the room.”
“How was I supposed to know?” Sam asked. “I can’t believe you told him about hunting.”
“You said we were going to be honest with him.”
“I didn’t think you’d just blurt it out.”
“Why does that matter? He’s probably out the window already. He thinks we’re crazy brotherfuckers.”
“I highly doubt that. All he wants is a family.”
“I don’t know about that.” Dean said. “He seems a little well adjusted.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know Sam, if you just found your brothers and found out they were Buffy and fucking, would you react like he did?”
“I thought we weren’t Buffy.” Sam said laughing.
Dean elbowed him in the ribs. “You know what I mean.”
“If I didn’t have anything else, I’d probably just be happy to have found family.”
“I don’t know.” Dean said slumping down in his chair.
“He’s cool.” Sam said quietly.
“I guess so.”
“And he could help.”
Dean looked back over at Sam. “You want him to come with us?”
“I think we should at least offer.”
“You’re crazy.”
Dean hadn’t even consider that a possibility. He had enough trouble taking care of Sam, he didn’t think he’d be able to keep them both safe.
“He’s not even trained.” Dean added.
“So we’ll train him. I’m not just going to say nice to meet you, exchange numbers and walk away.”
“I think he’s gay.” Dean said.
“What? Why?”
“I can tell.”
“Shut up, you cannot.”
Just when Dean was about to list a whole slew of reasons based on minimal information Jeff returned from the bathroom.
“What now?” He asked after sitting down.
“Do you want to come with us?” Dean blurted out, wanting to get it over with.
“Where?”
“On the road.”
“Sure.”
“I told him we’d go see Ellen.” Sam said.
Dean nodded. “We’ll start there. You ever shot a gun?”
“No.”
“Time you learned.” Dean said throwing a twenty on the table before grabbing his coat. “Let’s go.”
Title: Family.
Author: bitchandjerk
Characters: Sam/Dean, OMC, Brief Ellen
Rating :R for language
Words: 6,486
Warnings:Non graphic wincest, very vague spoliers for the entire series.
Summary: Sam and Dean meet someone in Chicago who changes their lives.
Notes: Hmm. If you hate this, blame as_rare_as. I started randomly writing this unsure of what was going to happen and I found myself totally consumed for a few days. This is a test, as I am completely unaware of where it's going.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. Except Jeff who is hot.
Feedback: Makes me hard.
Dean had been aware of someone following them for the last few blocks. It was a Friday night in Chicago, the wind was whipping around them every turn they took. Dean purposefully took extra turns back to the motel, seeing if their stalker would follow.
They crossed the street and Dean looked back to see the man hesitate a moment before getting behind them again.
“That guy is following us.”
“What guy?” Sam asked.
“There’s a guy behind us. Don’t look.”
“Is he hot?” Sam asked, keeping his eyes on the sidewalk in front of him.
Dean looked over his shoulder, watching the man stop and quickly feign interest in a store front advertisement.
“I can’t tell.” Dean said.
“Think it’s a cop?”
“No, he looks pretty young, follow me.”
Dean crossed to the opposite side of the street again before turning down the street away from their motel.
Dean didn’t want to be so paranoid but what were the chances this guy wasn’t about to try and kill them.
“I think I can take him.” Dean said, crossing into an alley and hiding in a shadow.
“You’re just going to jump him? Sam asked.
“He’s following us.”
Dean had wanted to drive to the bar but Sam insisted on walking. Dean refused to let him walk alone and went with him.
“If I had my car.” Dean said annoyed. “I could just run him over.”
Sam laughed before Dean elbowed him in the ribs. “Shut up.”
The stalker appeared a second later, searching down the alley for them.
Dean reached out and grabbed him by his coat before tossing him into the wall.
“Dean!” Sam yelled.
In the light from the street Dean could see it wasn’t a man following them, their stalker was some punk kid.
“Why are you following us?” Dean yelled, pushing him harder against the wall.
“I wasn’t!” The kid yelled back.
“Bullshit!”
“Dean, take it easy.” Sam said tugging at Dean’s shoulder.
Dean studied the kids face, he didn’t have even the slightest hint of fear in his eyes.
“I hate to break up the party.”
Dean turned to see another guy appear out of nowhere. He didn’t look scared either, possibly because out of the four of them, he was the only one with a gun.
“He’s got a gun.” Sam whispered.
“I can see that.”
“Give me your wallets.”
First a stalker and now a mugger, Dean decided he wouldn’t be coming back to Chicago anytime soon.
“Alright.” Dean said reaching into his pocket. “Take it easy.”
He shook the gun. “Stay there, give it to the kid.”
“I’m not a kid.”
“Shut up, and take their wallets.”
Dean handed over his wallet. Apparently these two were working together. Dean had shitty luck but running into a stalker and a mugged within the same five minutes seemed a little much even for him.
“You too sasquatch.” The man said, pointing the gun at Sam.
“Hey!”
Dean had to laugh, he thought he even saw the kid crack a smile as he took Sam’s wallet.
“Nice and slow, bring them over here.”
Sam moved to Dean’s side as the watched the kid walk slowly towards the mugger.
“He better not try to be a hero.” Sam said under his breath.
“Put them on the ground.”
“Okay.”
He squatted down to place the wallets in the middle of the space between them.
Just as the mugger bent down to pick up the wallets, keeping the gun level with them, Dean watched as the kid spun around and kicked the gun out of his hand. It went flying across the alley landing against a dumpster with a metallic clang.
“Oh shit.” Dean said, as the mugger lunged forward and was greeted with another kick to the chest.
Sam and Dean watched in awe as the mugger flew backwards, slamming into a row of garbage cans.
“Did you see that?” Sam said, motionless at Dean’s side.
Dean nodded, watching the man struggle to stand up. The kid was at his side in an instant, hoisting him to his feet by his collar.
“I’m not a kid.” He said before straightening the man and delivering another devastating kick that launched him ten feet away into a brick wall.
Dean swore he could hear the bricks crack beneath him. The mugger slumped to the ground unconscious.
“What the hell was that?” Dean asked looking at Sam.
“Did you kill that guy?” Sam yelled.
“I hope not.”
“Who the hell are you?” Dean asked.
“I’m Jeff.”
Jeff walked back towards them, stopping to pick up their wallets.
“Here.” He said, handing both to Sam before walking away.
“Wait a minute.” Dean yelled, running after him. “How did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“You kicked that guys ass.” Sam said. “He probably had two hundred pounds on you.”
“And a gun.” Dean added.
Jeff shrugged. “He looked like a bitch.”
Dean studied him for a minute. He had dark hair and clear blue eyes. Dean tried to figure out who was shorter by moving closer to him.
“What are you doing?”
“Uh, nothing.” Dean said, moving away again. “Why were you following us?”
“I just saved your life.”
“I had a plan.” Dean said while Sam started at him.
“What was it?” Jeff asked. “Use your boyfriend as body armor?”
“You little shit.” Dean said, grabbing him by the coat again.
Sam was laughing as Dean shook him. “Why were you following us?”
Jeff brought his arms out against Dean’s chest and shoved.
“Son of a bitch.” Dean said, stumbling backwards against the force.
Sam stopped Dean rushing back towards him determined to kick his ass.
“Dean, he’ll kick your ass.”
“I will.” Jeff added.
Something was wrong with this picture. Dean had just seen a scrawny punk kid kick a huge guy across an alley and not even break a sweat. Still, he didn’t think twice about throwing a punch.
Jeff reached up faster than Dean could register to catch and stop his fist.
“Is he always this stubborn?” Jeff asked Sam.
Dean was pushing against Jeff’s hand with all his strength and he didn’t budge.
“Usually.” Sam said.
Jeff looked back to Dean and shrugged before ramming his fist into the underside of his chin, sending Dean flying.
“He’ll be okay.” Jeff said to a stunned Sam.
“Mother fucker.” Dean yelled, rubbing his chin.
Sam rushed to his side, helping him to his feet. “Demon?”
“Who the fuck knows. He punched the shit out of me.”
“I saw that.”
Dean looked up to see Jeff standing there with his hands in his pocket.
“He stopped the mugger.” Dean whispered. “I don’t remember running into any helpful demons.”
“Did you say demon?” Jeff asked walking towards them.
Dean brushed off his clothes, aching from the force of impact.
“So, you’re pretty strong and you’ve got excellent hearing. Anything else?”
“Yeah, I crap cotton candy.”
Sam started laughing but stopped when Dean shot him a look.
“Let’s talk.” Jeff said walking away.
“Where are you going?” Sam yelled after him.
“Back to the motel. I’m in room seven.”
Back in their motel room, Dean was pacing back and forth.
“I say we kill him.”
“Why?” Sam asked, digging through his bag.
“He kicked my ass.”
“You get your ass kicked all the time.
“No I don’t!” Dean yelled.
They were in room five, Dean thought it awfully coincidental, that Jeff was following them, fought off a mugger, and was staying in the same motel as them.
Sam pulled out a flask. “Holy water.”
Dean stopped pacing. “That’s a good idea. Let’s go.”
Dean was at the door when Sam stopped reaching under his shirt.
Sam pulled out the gun tucked into Dean’s jeans. “Is this necessary?”
“You saw what he did, I’m not taking any chances.” Dean said, taking the gun back.
Dean barely got in one proper knock on door number seven before it swung open.
“That’s going to leave one hell of a bruise.”
“Shut up.” Dean said, pushing past him.
“Hi.” Sam said awkwardly waiting for a proper invitation.
“Come on in.”
They each took a seat at the small table. Dean wasted no time in pushing the flask towards Jeff. “Drink that.”
Jeff picked it up. “Why would I drink this.”
Dean took the gun out of his jeans and placed it on the table. “If I wanted to kill you, I would have shot you as soon as you opened the door.”
Jeff shrugged. “Makes sense.”
They watched as he downed the entire contents of the flask in one fell swoop before turning it upside down to let the last drop fall out.
“Happy?”
“Hardly.” Dean said.
“How long have you been following us?” Sam asked.
“Since Nevada.”
Dean looked over at Sam, trying to remember when they were last in Nevada. They had a routine haunting, and weren’t there for more than a couple days.
“It’s been over a month since we were in Nevada.” Sam said. “How did you follow us that long?”
“I lojacked your car.”
“You did what to my car?” Dean said furious.
“Lojacked it.” Jeff said, reaching behind him to produce a laptop.
“Sweet.” Sam said, eyeing the high end computer.
“Sweet?” Dean said before slapping Sam in the back of the head. “Why did you do that?”
Jeff shrugged. “I wanted to keep track of you.”
“Why?” Dean was getting impatient.
Jeff opened the computer and after a few keystrokes turned it towards Sam.
“This has every place we’ve been since Nevada.”
“Well that’s unsettling.” Dean said, leaning over to look at the screen. “Start talking.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything.” Dean said while Sam toyed with the computer.
“I was born in California. My mom put me up for adoption and I spent my childhood in and out of foster homes. I turned eighteen and got a hold of my birth records, so I tracked you two down.”
Sam looked up at him. “Why us?”
“I looked up all the other Winchester’s I could find.”
Dean stared at him from across the table. “So, again, why us?”
Jeff shifted in the chair, suddenly looking very uncomfortable.
“I thought you might be able to tell me where to find my dad. My mom died and I don’t have any family left.”
“Look kid,” Dean started. “We’re not exactly a close knit group. We know each other, that’s about it.”
Sam looked up, knowing all to well the sadness behind Jeff’s eyes.
“I’m sorry Jeff.”
“It’s okay.” He said. “I’m sure someone’s got to know where I can find John Winchester.”
Dean froze. “John Winchester?”
“Yeah.”
“Dean,” Sam started
“What’s your mom’s name?”
“Jamie Redmond, why?”
“Jeff, I…” Sam started before Dean cut him off.
“Call Ellen.”
Sam stared at him for a second before Dean pounded his fist against the table.
“Call Ellen!”
Sam got up and quickly exited the room, leaving Dean staring at Jeff from across the table.
He dropped his cell phone twice before he could find Ellen’s number.
“Roadhouse.”
“Hey, Ellen?”
“Sam, is that you?”
“Yeah, how are you?” He asked.
There was lot of noise in the background, songs from the jukebox and guys yelling over each other.
“Hold on, got a group of loud sons of bitches in here tonight.”
Sam waited impatiently, staring into the room through the tiny space the curtains left. Jeff was looking around the room nervously while Dean stayed completely motionless, the color gone from his face.
“What’s up Sam?” Ellen asked, free from the noise inside the bar.
“You ever heard of a Jamie Redmond?”
Ellen was silent for a second. “Yeah, why?”
“Was she a friend of dad’s?”
“A lifetime ago, why do you ask?”
Sam sighed. “Close friends?”
Ellen laughed on the other end of the line. “As close as your daddy would let a woman get, you know.”
Sam suddenly had a splitting headache. “Did they date?”
Ellen laughed again. It was really starting to annoy Sam.
“Well,” She said. “Wasn’t often John didn’t pass through without paying her a…uh, visit.”
The realization that his father had a fuck buddy was almost as disturbing as realizing his little brother just kicked Dean’s ass.
“Thanks Ellen.”
“What’s this about Sam?”
Sam groaned. “I’ll let you know when I figure it out.”
He clicked his phone shut before slumping against the door, trying to sort out the mess in his head. The door swung open and Sam fell back, hitting his head against the floor of the motel room.
“Help me up.” He said, extending his hand to Dean who quickly pulled him to his feet.
“What’d she say?” Dean asked.
Sam stumbled back to his chair, sitting down to face Jeff.
“Who’s Ellen?” He asked.
“Sam, what did she say?” Dean asked again.
Sam couldn’t make the words come out. He spent the next minute, darting his eyes between Jeff and Dean. The Winchester’s had redefined the meaning of family secrets but this one was too much to handle.
“Ellen said John knew Jeff’s mom.” He said when his eyes finally settled on Dean.
Dean brought his hands to his head and Sam was almost happy that he wasn’t the only one with a splitting headache.
“So you do know my dad?” Jeff asked as Dean slid against the wall settling onto the floor.
“Are you okay?” Jeff asked Dean, watching his head fall into his hands.
“We knew him Jeff, he passed away about a year ago.” Sam said, his heart breaking as he watched Jeff’s face fall.
Even behind his carefully constructed stoic exterior Jeff couldn’t hide his sadness.
“What was he like?” He asked, fighting back the tears behind his eyes.
“He was a good man.” Dean said, his voice muffled by his hands.
“He was great.” Sam said, wishing he could find some way to comfort Jeff. Finding and losing a parent all in the same day had to be devastating.
“At least,” Jeff said, sucking in his breath. “I can stop looking for a family I don’t have.”
Sam looked over as Dean’s face rose out of his hands. His eyes were red and glossed over.
“No.” Dean said, rising to his feet. “You’ve got family.”
Jeff looked over to him. “What?”
“John was our dad.” Sam said. “You’re our brother.”
Jeff got up and quickly darted across the room slamming the bathroom door behind him.
“That didn’t go too well.” Sam said.
Dean listened to the sick splashing sound of Jeff throwing up.
“I don’t know,” Dean said. “I kind of feel like puking too.”
“Me too.” Sam said standing to wrap his arms around Dean.
“Are you sure about this Sammy?”
“Ellen said they were close.”
Dean looked up through tear stained eyes. When he would sleep with women he always referred to them as “close”.
“What are we going to do?” Dean said into Sam’s chest.
“I don’t know.”
Sam’s hand was at the back of Dean’s neck. He felt much tenser than he normally did. Dean choked out a sob, totally drained against Sam’s body.
“Maybe it’s not a good idea for him to find out he has brothers and that they…you know.”
Dean looked up at Sam and quickly untangled himself.
“Yeah.” Dean said, forcing a laugh. “Probably not a good idea.”
“Why didn’t dad tell us?” Sam said, as the toilet flushed and Jeff walked back into the room.
“He didn’t know.” Jeff said, sitting on the edge of the bed.
Sam went to sit next to him. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I guess.” He said. “I found my grandma, she told me John never knew about me. She died a few weeks ago.”
Dean watched them from across the room. Comforting people came so natural to Sam. He fell a little more in love with him watching them together.
“I’m sorry.” Sam said.
Dean walked out the room, rushing to the Impala. He popped the trunk open and started rummaging through the weapons.
“Come on.” He muttered, knocking things out of the way until he found the small wooden box lodged under a case of knives.
He opened it quickly, sorting through the photos inside until he had a handful of his father. Jeff’s father.
“Where’d you go?” Sam asked him when he came back into the room.
Dean sat on the bed opposite Jeff and handed him the pictures.
“That’s our dad.” He said pointing at the picture. “That’s me and that’s Sam, I’m the good looking one.”
Jeff laughed. “I kind of look like him.”
“You do actually.” Sam said, staring at Jeff.
“We don’t have a lot of pictures.” Dean said while Jeff looked over the rest of them.
Jeff handed the pictures back to Dean. “Sorry I kicked your ass.”
“You didn’t kick my ass. I will still standing.”
“Dude, he kicked your ass.” Sam added.
“No one asked you.” Dean shot back. “How’d you do that?”
Jeff shrugged. “I don’t know. I was living with a foster family when I was 16. The dad used to beat the shit out of me.”
Dean felt the anger boiling up inside of him.
“One day I just hit him back, broke his jaw.”
Dean couldn’t imagine what it was like for Jeff growing up, but at least he had managed to get out of it and kick a little ass in the process. Still his above average strength worried Dean.
“Are you just really strong?” Sam asked.
“Yeah, I guess so. I started training when I realized I was stronger than I should be.”
“That explains how you kicked Dean’s ass.”
“I’m going to kick you ass.” Dean told Sam.
Sam looked down at his watch. “It’s pretty late. Why don’t we pick this up tomorrow.”
“Okay.” Jeff said standing.
Dean knew it was coming. Sam stood to wrap his arms around Jeff. Jeff stayed still for a second before wrapping his arms around Sam.
“Come get us when you wake up, we’ll get breakfast.” Sam told him, patting his shoulders.
As Sam walked to the door, Dean stood there staring at Jeff.
“You didn’t kick my ass.”
“Pretty sure I did.” Jeff said smiling.
“I don’t hug, that’s his thing.” Dean said, pointing at Sam in the doorway.
Jeff held out his hand for Dean. He looked so much like Sam when he was that age. Dean took his hand and pulled him into a hug causing Jeff and Sam to both laugh.
“Before we go,” Dean said. “I’m the oldest, so I’m always right and if you touch my car again, I’ll kill you.”
“You’d try.” Jeff said smiling.
“No, he really will.” Sam added. “Better not risk it.”
Dean pushed him back onto the bed before joining Sam at the door.
“See you in the morning. Don’t order any porn.” Dean said pointing at the television and then back to Jeff.
“I’m just going to crash.”
“Night Jeff.” Sam said before walking out the room.
“Night.” Jeff called out as they closed the door behind them.
Dean laid in bed alternating between counting the cracks and in the ceiling and watching the alarm clock.
“Sam, are you awake?”
“No.” Sam replied.
“Really?”
“Yes, I’m sleeping yet able to carry on this conversation.”
“I can’t sleep” Dean said.
“Me neither. Wanna have sex?”
Dean sighed. “No.”
Sam sat up in bed, suddenly extremely worried about Dean.
“No?”
“Well,” Dean said. “Yeah but let’s not.”
“What’s wrong?”
Dean kicked the covers off of his body before turning to get out of bed.
“I just feel like,” He started. “I have no idea how to finish that.”
Sam laughed watching Dean pace in the dim light of the room. “I know what you mean.”
He had to wonder if it was just the long lost Winchester that worried Dean so much, of the fact that he was far from normal. Sam wasn’t normal either. It didn’t mean he was necessarily abnormal either. Jeff had tremendous power, the question was what was he doing with it?
“I just don’t know what to do.” Dean said.
“I doubt he does either, Dean.”
“We should have thought this over more before we told him about dad.”
Sam got out of bed to walk over to Dean. He looked tired and worried.
“Did you want to leave him wondering where his dad was?”
“No.” Dean said softly.
“We’ll figure it out, why don’t you try to sleep. You look like shit.”
“How are you okay with this?”
Sam shrugged. “I’m not. I’m confused and I don’t know what to do either.”
Sam reached to wrap his arms around Dean. He felt lighter than usual, cold in the night.
“What are we going to tell him?” Dean asked, his mouth moving against Sam’s shoulder.
“We’ll answer his questions.”
“Honestly?” Dean asked, looking up at Sam.
“Well, as honestly as we can.” Sam said. “Come on, I’m cold.”
Sam led him back to bed, to the safety of each other’s arms.
Dean was still counting the cracks in the ceiling when Sam’s soft sleep sounds started.
By the time the sun rose Jeff had taken a shower, updated his iPod and wrote four sprawling emails. He hadn’t slept. He always felt guilty sleeping unless he was utterly exhausted.
Dawn breaking was the only indication that night had actually passed. He started out the window watching the sun rise over the horizon as the wind whipped trees back and forth. It was supposed to snow today.
As a child, between his fifth and sixth foster homes he decided to find his real family. Now in the cold gray morning, he had and yet what should have been a much happier experience was eclipsed by loss.
No matter how much searching he did, he’d never find his father. John never knew about him, he never would. As much as he tried, reminding himself of all the kids in foster families that hated their parents, he couldn’t get over the gnawing pain of losing someone you never knew.
Brothers, he thought, would be enough. Sam seemed nice and Dean’s arrogance must have been hard earned. Brothers were better than nothing.
After dressing in endless layers and slipping earphones on, he exited the room into the cold of morning.
It didn’t seem as cold as it actually was as he walked to room number five. The curtains were closed tight as he tried to look through the window before slumping to the cold concrete ground.
With his music blocking out the sounds of the city waking up, he could think. After years of actually having a family, Sam and Dean might not want a third wheel. Jeff wasn’t even sure if it’s what he wanted. Perhaps the knowledge that he did have family out there would be enough.
He didn’t know why they constantly drove back and forth across the country. He thought of the best way to have his questions answered without being overtly obvious in asking them.
Five songs passed before he heard the squeaking of the motel room door.
“What are you doing?” Sam asked staring down at him.
He stopped the music to look up.
“What?”
“What are you doing?” Sam repeated, rubbing his hands together. “It’s freezing out here.”
“I didn’t think anyone was up yet.”
“Aren’t you cold?”
“Not really.” Jeff said, pushing himself up the wall.
“Come get coffee with me.” Sam said, softly closing the door. “He’s sleeping.”
“Okay.”
Jeff walked next to Sam quietly. There was a coffee shop a few blocks away. Jeff had watched Sam walk there alone yesterday morning. He drank a cup inside before leaving with two more.
“He’ll be out for while.” Sam said, laughing. “You sleep okay?”
“Yeah.” Jeff lied. “I like your bag.”
Sam shifted the bag across his shoulders. “Thanks.”
Dean had given it to him for his birthday insisting it was a purchase from manpurses.com.
“What were you listening to?” Sam asked, pointing at the earphones around his neck.
Jeff replied by holding them up for Sam to listen. Once he had them pressed against his ear, Jeff resumed the slow melodic classical music.
“Vivaldi?” Sam asked, listening more intently.
“Yeah.” Jeff said. “Four Seasons.”
Sam laughed. “You better not tell Dean.”
Jeff switched tracks so that Jimi Hendrix was blaring in his ear.
“Better?”
“I’d rather Vivaldi.”
Sam returned the headphones. “Classical and rock?.”
“I like to keep it balanced.”
They arrived to the empty coffee shop, the smell of freshly ground beans hitting them as soon as they stepped inside.
“I love that smell.” Jeff said smiling.
“Me too. What do you want?”
“Just coffee, black.”
Sam ordered two coffees before joining Jeff at a table near the window.
“Do you get coffee every morning?” He asked.
Sam was blowing against the lid. “Yeah, trust me, you don’t want to deal with Dean unleaded.”
Jeff laughed, trying to imagine Dean any grumpier than he had been last night.
“What’s he like?”
“Dean? He’s a jerk.” Sam said smiling. “Most of the time at least. He’s stubborn and arrogant as all hell.”
“But?”
Sam swallowed down some of the boiling hot coffee, wincing against the heat.
“But, he’s my brother. He may be a pain in the ass, but he’s my brother.”
“Have you ever tried bitch slapping him?” Jeff asked.
“Oh yeah. He gets bitch slapped like four times a day. Sometimes five.”
They sat laughing at Dean for a few minutes, each playing with the lids on their cups.
“I was thinking,” Sam started. “We could take you to see Ellen, she knew your mom.”
“Really?” Jeff asked.
“Yeah, she might be able to tell you something.”
“You don’t mind?”
“Of course not, I never knew my mom either. I know what it’s like.”
Jeff looked up at Sam knowing all to well the sadness behind his eyes.
“What happened?”
Sam sighed. “She died when I was a baby. There was a fire. Dad was always gone, Dean pretty much raised me.”
“And yet you seem so well adjusted.” Jeff said laughing. “Where was your dad?”
Jeff hadn’t decided yet if it was appropriate to call Sam’s dad his dad too.
“He uh.” Sam paused to think. “He was out of town a lot for work.”
Sam looked down at his watch suddenly desperate to not tell Jeff too much without Dean being there.
“We should get back.”
“Okay.” Jeff said, tossing his empty cup away.
Sam ordered another coffee for Dean before meeting Jeff outside.
“I think it’s going to snow.”
“Yeah, later today.”
They walked back to the motel talking about the weather. Sam was dominating the conversation in hopes of keeping Jeff distracted until Dean was awake.
“You don’t have to do that.” Jeff said interrupting Sam’s rambling on global warming.
“So what?” Sam asked, stopping outside the motel room.
“I know you want to wait for Dean to talk to me.”
“Why do you think that?”
“It’s what I would do.” Jeff started.
Sam smiled at him before opening the door and letting Jeff in first. Dean was still sleeping, sprawled out flat against the mattress, his arm stretched out over where Sam had been sleeping.
Jeff looked around the room, there were empty pizza boxes and beer bottles strewn about. Like a giant elephant in the middle of the room, he immediately noticed that the second bed was still made.
“Wake up.” Sam said, from across the room.
Sam shrugged off his coat and threw it across the room where it landed on Dean’s head.
“Wake up.” He repeated, taking off his bag. “Damnit.”
Dean wasn’t moving at all, oblivious to anything else except sleep.
“He’s dead.” Jeff said, still staring at the made bed.
“Not again.” Sam said before realizing his mistake, luckily Jeff laughed it off.
Sam walked over and started kicking the bed which caused Dean to grumble a little.
“Wake up.”
“Blow me.” Dean muttered into the pillow.
Sam was about to take him up on the offer when he remembered they weren’t alone.
“Jeff, do you think you could throw him against the wall?”
Dean shot up at the mention of Jeff’s name. “Jeff?”
“Yes.” Sam said under his breath.
Dean rubbed his eyes into focus as he saw Jeff standing across the room. Apparently finding out that he had another brother hadn’t been a very vivid dream.
“Hi.” He said, turning to pull off his coat and scarf.
“Coffee.” Dean said, staring at Sam.
Jeff grabbed the extra cup off the table and handed it to Sam.
“Thanks.” Dean said, taking off the top and throwing it across the room.
Sam went to the table to check the forecast on his laptop while Dean laid in bed, downing the coffee.
“You can sit Jeff.” Sam said while flipping open his computer.
Jeff sat in the chair next to Sam and the three of them spent the next three minutes staring at each other.
“Awkward.” Dean muttered.
“It is going to snow.” Sam said, reading over the news.
“I told you.” Jeff added.
Dean sat up in bed, still rubbing his eyes before he pulled on his shirt. “Fucking snow. What do you do for fun Jeff?”
Dean was hoping he didn’t say something retarded like snowboarding.
“I build websites.”
“Really?” Sam asked. “That’s so cool.”
“Yeah.” Jeff reached over to slide the laptop away from Sam, after a few strokes he turned it back.
“Holy shit.” Sam said, as he saw the screen. “This is porn.”
Dean shot up out of bed and rushed to Sam’s side.
“Dude, you run a porn site?”
Jeff laughed. “No, I make sure a porn site runs.”
“I’ve been here before.” Dean said, smirking at Sam. “Oh yeah.”
“Not surprising.” Sam muttered. “Did you go to school for this?”
“You can go to school for porn?” Dean asked, overly excited.
“You’re an idiot.”
Dean slapped Sam on the back of his head. “You’re an idiot.”
“No, I just figured it out and started working.” Jeff said shrugging.
“You are like,” Dean started, transfixed by the computer. “At least ten times cooler than Sam.”
“Jerk.”
“Bitch.”
“That’s funny,” Jeff said. “He said I was fifteen times cooler than you.”
Sam had to laughed even more impressed with Jeff.
“Dude!”
“He’s joking Dean…kinda.”
“Whatever.” Dean grumbled walking to the bathroom. “I want some pancakes.”
Luckily the restaurant they ended up at had very few people inside. Dean didn’t know if this was a good thing or not. Sure they’d have privacy but in his experience few customers meant crap food.
They took a seat in the back corner away from the other customers, slouched down in the shadows.
“Why are we way back here?” Jeff asked, staring at Sam and Dean.
It had become a common enough practice to talk over things in semi-seclusions, Dean didn’t even realize they were doing anything wrong until Jeff pointed it out.
“What are you drinking?” The waitress who appeared out of nowhere asked.
“Coffee.” All three replied in unison.
“That’s cute.” She said sarcastically. “What are you eating?”
They all took turns answering pancakes.
“Bacon or sausage?”
Dean thought for a second. “Bacon.”
“Sausage.” Sam said as Dean started laughing at him. No surprises there.
“Do you want mine?” Jeff asked.
“Dude, what?” Dean asked nervously, assuming it was a come on.
“My bacon or sausage, I’m a vegetarian.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. Sausage” Dean said laughing
After the waitress left, Dean stared at Jeff.
“A vegetarian?” He asked.
“Yeah, what’s wrong with that?”
Sam interrupted them. “Ignore him Jeff.”
After the coffee came they sat for a moment, exchanging pleasantries about the weather and Chicago in general until Dean couldn’t take it anymore.
“Okay, enough.” He said. “Let’s talk.”
“We are talking.” Sam said.
“Let’s talk.” Dean repeated with more emphasis. “What do you want to know.”
Jeff shrugged. “Tell me about you.”
Dean blinked a few times. “Me?”
“Yeah, what’s up with you?”
Sam laughed. Jeff was really starting to grow on him.
“What the hell does that mean?” Dean asked indignant
“You were ready to kick my ass when I was following you, you know, right before I kicked your ass.”
Dean sat back in his chair. “First of all, you didn’t kick my ass, secondly you were following us!”
“So you just decided to throw me against a building? What if I had been some freak?”
“As far as I know you could still be a freak.”
“Dean.” Sam said.
“I’m not a freak.” Jeff shot back.
“Then why don’t I have super powers?” Dean asked
“I don’t know, maybe you eat too much sausage.”
Sam was still laughing when the waitress brought their food. Dean kept his eyes on Jeff as he took an oversized bite of sausage.
“So, what do you do?” Jeff asked while cutting up his pancakes.
“We hunt evil things and kill them.”
Sam dropped his fork and stared at Dean.
“Like Buffy?”
Dean threw his hands up in the air. “Not like Buffy!”
“That’s what Buffy does.” Jeff said, turning his attention to his pancakes. “What kind of evil things?”
“You believe him?” Sam asked.
“Sure, I mean, I’m not a freak but I’m not normal, I know that. I thought you two were cons or something.”
“That too.” Dean said, his mouth full of pancakes.
Sam lowered his voice. “We hunt spirits, demons, occasionally vampires. Stuff like that.”
“Like Buffy.”
“Dude.” Dean said staring at Sam. “Tell him not like Buffy.”
“I miss Buffy.” Sam said, staring out the window.
“Me too.” Jeff added.
Dean looked at both of them. “Get a grip.”
“So you thought I was a demon?” Jeff asked.
“Stranger stuff has happened.”
“Like what?”
“I died.” Sam said flatly. “Like Buffy.”
“Christ, enough with the Buffy, I’m banning that word from the table.”
The last word Dean had banned was “Brotherfucker” after Sam had called him that for a whole week.
“I was trapped in an alternate reality. I died, twice.”
Sam interrupted him. “What no you didn’t.”
“Almost.”
“This is the strangest conversation I’ve ever had.” Jeff said when they were done arguing.
“Tell me about it.” Dean said, pouring more syrup onto his pancakes. “So, what else can you do?”
“What do you mean?” Jeff asked.
“You’re just strong?”
“I guess so.”
“The cheese stands alone.” Dean said, beckoning the waitress for a refill. “Sammy here, he’s a freak too.”
“I’m not a freak.”
“You’re pretty freaky.” Dean said, while the waitress filled their mugs. “Freaky freaky.”
“What do you do?” Jeff asked interested.
“I have visions.”
“I shoot things.” Dean added.
“Aside from that we’re pretty normal.” Sam said smiling.
“Except that you sleep together.”
Dean’s fork clattering against his plate drew the attention of everyone in the restaurant. He turned his head slowly to see Sam frozen, coffee mug in hand, staring forward in horror.
Jeff shrugged and returned to his pancakes. “I don’t care.”
“We don’t!” Dean said once the shock had faded.
“Okay.” Jeff said in between bites.
“How did you know that?” Sam asked.
“Jesus Sam!” Dean yelled, causing everyone to look at him again.
“The other bed was still made.”
Their lives had been so private for the last few years. Sam hadn’t even remembered one bed was still made when he brought Jeff into the room. He assumed he’d get an earful from Dean once they were alone.
“Are you like in love or do you just fuck?”
Dean silently prayed that Sam was able to answer that question because he honestly had no idea.
“Both.” Sam said flatly.
“That’s cool.” Jeff said nodding. “These pancakes kick ass.”
They continued to stare at Jeff as he finished off his pancakes.
“What?” He asked.
“You’re fine with that?” Sam asked.
“I finally have family, what does it matter what you two do?”
Dean had never heard anything explained so simply and with such clarity.
“You are so cool.” Dean finally said, breaking his silence.
“I know, right.” Jeff said before setting down his mug. “Everyone’s a little gay.”
“I’m not gay.” Dean whispered.
“Right.” Sam said laughing.
“I’m not!”
Dean had never identified as gay. He didn’t think that one relationship should completely overwrite his entire orientation. If he was gay and had a relationship with one woman, no one would think he was straight, but sleep with your brother and the whole world has you branded for life. He didn’t find himself attracted to anyone besides Sam. So in theory he wasn’t gay.
“What about you?” Sam asked.
Jeff looked up from his coffee and shrugged.
“You do that a lot.” Dean said.
“I’ll be back.” He said, getting up and making his way to the bathroom.
Alone at the table Dean turned to Sam. “I can’t believe to let him into the room.”
“How was I supposed to know?” Sam asked. “I can’t believe you told him about hunting.”
“You said we were going to be honest with him.”
“I didn’t think you’d just blurt it out.”
“Why does that matter? He’s probably out the window already. He thinks we’re crazy brotherfuckers.”
“I highly doubt that. All he wants is a family.”
“I don’t know about that.” Dean said. “He seems a little well adjusted.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know Sam, if you just found your brothers and found out they were Buffy and fucking, would you react like he did?”
“I thought we weren’t Buffy.” Sam said laughing.
Dean elbowed him in the ribs. “You know what I mean.”
“If I didn’t have anything else, I’d probably just be happy to have found family.”
“I don’t know.” Dean said slumping down in his chair.
“He’s cool.” Sam said quietly.
“I guess so.”
“And he could help.”
Dean looked back over at Sam. “You want him to come with us?”
“I think we should at least offer.”
“You’re crazy.”
Dean hadn’t even consider that a possibility. He had enough trouble taking care of Sam, he didn’t think he’d be able to keep them both safe.
“He’s not even trained.” Dean added.
“So we’ll train him. I’m not just going to say nice to meet you, exchange numbers and walk away.”
“I think he’s gay.” Dean said.
“What? Why?”
“I can tell.”
“Shut up, you cannot.”
Just when Dean was about to list a whole slew of reasons based on minimal information Jeff returned from the bathroom.
“What now?” He asked after sitting down.
“Do you want to come with us?” Dean blurted out, wanting to get it over with.
“Where?”
“On the road.”
“Sure.”
“I told him we’d go see Ellen.” Sam said.
Dean nodded. “We’ll start there. You ever shot a gun?”
“No.”
“Time you learned.” Dean said throwing a twenty on the table before grabbing his coat. “Let’s go.”