Born Again Part Eleven: The Great Home Coming
Author: Twilight
Feedback: Always welcome
Rated: PG-13
Summary: Dean is going out of his mind and Sam…Sam’s just gone.
Notes: Parts of this story is based on a documentary I saw a year or so ago. The story is completely plotted and outlined and I began before I saw many episodes into season five. I would say this takes place mid season five, somewhere before Abandon all Hope and then goes AU.
Part One
Part Eleven: The Great Homecoming
“Canned chili…yummy…” Dean eyed the steaming bowl Bobby had plopped in front of him, but the older man ignored him, rolling around to his own side of the table and taking a huge bite of his own meal, eyeing Dean, daring him to say more about Bobby’s choice for dinner.
He picked up his own spoon, digging in, because even if he liked to give Bobby grief, he was thankful to have a hot dinner to sit down too and while he was feeling so grateful, he was thankful to have Bobby too.
Today was one of his good days.
He had rolled into town the night before, having been hunting… something for over three weeks, following the creature…Bobby could probably pronounce whatever the hell it was, but that’s beside the point…he had been on a hunt and had caught up with the…however you say it…after three long weeks and managed to gank it with the herbs and fire torch Bobby’s intel had gotten him and then he was free to…well to come home, so he did…to Bobby’s, because nowadays, Bobby was his home.
It was still hard…even after all this time, to think about Sam and know, that even though they were still looking for new leads and that even though his brother was never far from Dean’s thoughts, Sam was more than likely gone for good.
And that hurt Dean's heart, because in a lot of ways, if Bobby was his home, Sam was his heart.
“So,” Bobby started, but took a big bite of his bread and slowly chewed, like he was waiting for Dean to answer the unasked question…like Dean could read Bobby’s mind.
And maybe he could, because he found himself answering, “I swung by and saw her…she said that something had changed, but she still couldn’t really feel him, whatever that means.”
Bobby nodded, but didn’t say more.
“Missouri thought that maybe…” and he didn’t know how to say it, because he didn’t want to offer false hope, for Bobby, but for him too, because Missouri told him that even though she still couldn’t feel Sam’s soul or whatever it was that she could feel from people, she sensed he was close.
Close, that was it.
She couldn’t explain what the feeling had meant and so he couldn’t explain what she had said to Bobby.
He was about to try when he heard a familiar voice and Bobby’s eyes bugged out and the spoon he had a hold of dropped into the bowl and spilt his chili.
“Jesus, Cas…what did I tell you…”
He turned to look at the angel, ready to give him hell for scaring the shit out of them again when Cas said, “I found him, Dean…I know where Sam is.”
His own food forgotten, Dean quickly pushed back from the table, ears ringing, hoping he had heard Cas right. “What did you just say?”
“Sam,” Cas said, “I found your brother.”
“What?” the room was spinning now too. “What did you say?”
Cas moved closer, putting his hands on Dean’s shoulders, to steady him or to shake some sense into him, Dean wasn’t really sure which. “I have located your brother and I’m going to take you to him now.”
Dean yanked away, not wanting to take a magic ride just yet. He wanted…needed to understand what was happening and get some answers, right now.
“How…I mean what…”
Bobby came around the table then, tapping Dean on the small of his back, “sit down before ya fall down and you,” he pointed to Cas, "pull up a damn chair."
Dean sat and so did Cas and Bobby said, “Explain.”
So Cas did. He told them he had located Sam, but he glossed over the actual details of how he had managed to track his brother. Dean filed that away for later, because right now he just wanted to know where the hell Sam was and had been for almost a whole year.
“He’s in a little town in Maryland…has been there and something…something strong is holding him there.”
“You mean he’s been held prisoner all this time?” And something heavy and queasy lumped in Dean’s gut, images of his brother in a cage and in chains popped into his brain.
“Not prisoner, Dean…Sam’s been living… as Sam…”
“What does that mean,” Dean demanded. Did Sam choose to leave…could have come back to Dean anytime he wanted and decided not too…maybe Dean had been wrong.
“No,” Cas interrupted his downward spiraling thoughts. “Sam is still mostly Sam…he just doesn’t know it.”
“The hell…” Bobby didn’t seem to be understanding the situation any better then Dean.
“He has no memory of his life, his real life. Whatever had taken him had erased his memories, all his memories.”
Dean’s head jerked up, “So he doesn’t know about me? He doesn’t know he has a brother.”
Bobby shifted in his chair, looking at Cas and then to Dean, “That ain’t all he don’t know.”
And then the light bulb finally flicked on.
If Sam couldn’t remember who he was, then he didn’t remember any of it, not the monsters or the angels and for sure not the devil…was Sam safe now?
“It’s not that simple,” Cas stood up, “he’s…remembering. I think that’s why I was able to find him and if I can find him…”
So could Lucifer.
“Let's go then,” and Bobby rolled toward his office, “Pack a bag, I’ll drive the first shift.”
Dean nodded, running up the stairs to grab his backpack, “I want to know everything,’ he told Cas on his way past. “Even the parts you don’t want to tell me,” and then he took the steps two at a time.
He yanked some clothes from the small dresser in his room and went to the bathroom to grab his toiletries bag. Before he left he spotted Sam’s duffle tucked under the desk and grabbed that too.
He didn’t know why, but he thought he may need it.
Bobby had the van fired up by the time he got down the steps and Cas was gone.
“Where’d he go,” Dean asked as he slid into the seat, tossing both bags into the back.
Bobby pulled out, using his remote to close the gate that circled his property. “Said he was going to go on ahead, meet us there. You can call him if you want…”
“Nah,” Dean shifted in his seat, a bubble of excitement and maybe a little dread curling in his chest. “Cas will keep an eye on him and a few more days won’t matter.”
He didn’t think Bobby believed him, but he nodded anyway, the county road under the tires giving way to the Interstate and they drove on until eventually Bobby pulled over for gas and a quick bite to eat.
When they were finished with their microwaved cheeseburgers and cans of coke, Dean got behind the wheel.
They didn’t stop for the night, were making good time and by early afternoon they hit the Maryland state line.
Cas landed in the back seat, but this time Dean managed not to wreck the van. “Whatcha got,” he asked.
“I’ve seen him this morning coming from…well; I’m not sure what it is.”
“What the hell does that mean,” Dean asked, pulling off the interstate on to the beltway that circled Baltimore city.
“It means, I don’t know what it is,” and damn if Cas didn’t have that look on his face, like maybe he was talking to an imbecile. “He just seemed to have driven from out of a forest, right through a corps of trees and then headed into town. It’s there, waiting for him, I think we should go, Dean.”
“Pull over,” Bobby told him, already fiddling with his seatbelt.
Dean saw the sign for I-95 North and took it, following it until he found a rest area to pull off and shut down the engine. He pulled the arm rest up and found the board Bobby kept tucked between the seats and rested it between the two captain chairs.
Bobby slid over to the driver’s seat and started the engine. “I’ll meet you there.”
But before Dean could tell him okay, Cas had touched his head and he was gone, flying through space and maybe time and landed hard on a side walk in small town USA.
He was woozy and tired, but he shook his head like he could displace those feelings given enough force.
“Let’s sit,” Cas grabbed his arm and bodily hauled him to a nearby bench.
“Where are we…when are we?” he panted, trying to get his equilibrium back.
“We have not travel through time, Dean.” And Cas was sitting too close; he would be in Dean’s lap if he were any closer. “We have just traversed a few counties in the state of Maryland.”
“Right…traversed…so,” he said, trying to straighten up on the bench. “Now what?”
“Lunch,” Cas told him, helping him to stand. “At a very strange place called Crabby Dick’s.”
Dean let himself be led, but bulked a little at the name of the shack in front of him. It was old and run down, a huge red crab with the name Crabby Dick’s painted in white block lettering and there were lots of people waiting around in the front.
There was a full patio with picnic tables lined in brown paper, piles of steaming crabs scattered in the middle of each and ears of corn and mounds of fries too.
It must have been a popular lunch spot and Dean thought they might have to wait forever to just get in the front door, but Cas dragged him along, telling the hostess they had a reservation. “Two for Castiel.”
She led them to their seats and Dean was secretly pleased that he was positioned to see the other tables, although maybe he was rubbing off a little on the angel, who had made them reservations…
“He should be arriving soon,” Cas spoke from across from him but before Dean could answer, a waitress came to take their order. “I would like to try a Crabby Dick, please.”
Dean huffed, still feeling a little shell shocked, but the waitress took it in stride and turned to him, “I’ll ah…" he hadn’t even really looked at the menu, “I’ll have the special…and a beer, whatever’s on tap.”
“Yes, a beer,” Cas repeated and she gathered up their menus and returned with two mugs of beer and a basket of heavenly smelling yeast rolls.
“Thanks,” he managed, turning to Cas. “So, now talk.”
“I really don’t know, Dean.” Cas picked up the bread and smelled it, before pulling off a small piece and nibbling on it like a squirrel.
“You have to know something…how did you know where to look for Sam if you can’t see him anymore…how did you know he would be coming here for lunch…how did you…”
Cas picked up the mug and drained the whole thing in one go, slamming it back to the table. “I still have some connections, Dean. Angels I can trust…”
“You told,” he started, his voice carrying over the crowded space, so he looked around to see if anyone was listening and then lowered his voice, “you told other angels to look for Sam? Are you nuts? Angels want Sam just as much as Demons…”
The waitress came with a tray full of steamed crabs, smelling of the ocean and Old Bay seasoning and dumped them on the table between them. She left some mallets and butter knives and a plate of corn and fries. Cas picked one up with just his thumb and first finger, looking at it like it might still be alive enough to pinch him with the front claws. “What is this creature?”
“You’re crabby dick, now shut up and eat it.” Dean decided that in the end, what did it matter, as long as he got Sam back, he didn’t need to worry so much about the why's and how’s.
He picked one of the crabs up as the waitress returned to refill Cas’ mug. He hadn’t had crabs…of any kind…for a long time, but he still remembered how his dad had showed him and Sam to crack them open and pull the meat from all the shelled chambers.
He used his knife to stick between the seam on the underside, flicking the top shell off and scraping all the mess out of the middle. He noted Cas watching and trying to do what Dean had done and couldn’t help laughing when the top shell of Cas’ crab flew off and hit the wall behind Dean’s head.
“Close enough,” he told him, watching as Cas used his knife to scrape the innards out onto the newspaper on the table.
Dean cracked the crab in half, but left the legs on, because it was easier to get the meat that way. Once he had a manageable piece, he used his fingers to clean the meat out of the chambers, before moving on to crack the legs. The claw meat was the sweetest and his favorite. When he was younger, his dad would give him the claws to work on, since he got tired of picking the bodies.
Cas had a pile of shells in front of him by the time Dean was done with his half dozen, but Dean wasn’t sure how much meat he had actually gotten out of them. “I don’t see the purpose of trying to eat the meat out of such a small creature and it is a lot of work for so little reward.” He held up a piece of back fin lump on the tip of his finger, sucking it off and making a weird face, like he was trying to decide if he liked it or not.
“Try the corn,” Dean told him. “Not as good as a cheese burger, but you might like it.’
Dean used the napkin and then the wet nap the waitress brought to clean the Old Bay and crab guts off his fingers.
Cas grabbed the ear of corn and took a big bite off the end. Dean thought about telling him he should just eat the kernels, but then what fun would that be?
After another huge bite, the angel put the cob down and wiped his fingers on a napkin and that’s when Dean spotted him.
It was Sam!
He knew that Cas had told him that Sam was here and that he was coming, but something deep down wasn’t willing to believe it until he saw it with his own eyes.
Cas turned to look too, but when Sam glanced around the room they both quickly went back to their lunches. Dean covertly watched as Sam’s eyes skittered right over him, no recognition in his brother’s eyes.
He was trying to figure out his next move when a woman approached Sam’s table and when Dean saw who it was; he couldn’t help but ask, “Jess?”
How the hell could Jessica be here?
He looked to Cas as he stood, but the angel didn’t offer up an explanation. Before he even realized it, he was out of his seat and walking toward his brother.
“Doctor Morgan?” Sam asked, looking beyond Dean to Cas, but Dean couldn’t think about that now, all he could think about was getting to his brother and when he did, he wrapped him in his arms and hung on.
“Sam…oh god, Sammy…it’s really you.”
Sam froze for a second or two, but then his body relaxed and his brother’s arms came up to awkwardly pat Dean on the back.
He hung on for a long time, probably too long, but Dean didn’t care.
He had missed him…he had missed Sam and he had him now…he might not ever let go, that was until Sam said, “Um…who are you?”
Dean jerked back, seeing the look of confusion in Sam’s eyes, like Dean was clearly someone he should know, but didn’t.
“Sammy…I’m Dean…I’m your brother.” Dean told him, watching as a look of surprise replaced the confusion for a second or two.
He stepped out of Dean’s embrace, looking toward Jess and then Cas. “I don’t understand…I don’t have a brother…my parents are dead…”
Dean winced on that last part because it was true…their parents where dead.
Sam stepped back, closer to Jessica’s side, looking anxious and a little scared and Dean was quickly losing control, not that he really had any to begin with. That thing, whatever it was, that Sam was seeking support in, had stolen his brother.
Dean reached around to the small of his back, feeling the blade tucked there, pulling it, but Cas grabbed his arm and the thing grabbed Sam and the next thing he knew, he was standing in a living room of someone’s house.
Sam gasped, backing up toward the far wall, screaming, “What the hell?”
He reached toward him, trying for reassuring, “It’s okay Sammy…” but Sam moved toward the couch, putting the coffee table between them and Dean could see the fear in his brother’s eyes.
Sam was afraid of him.
“What the hell is happening?” his brother asked, eyes skimming over him and Cas, before looking at Jessica. “Tess…what’s going on?”
The thing moved closer, putting a hand on Sam’s arm, but Dean could see his brother jump, like he wasn’t sure if he could trust whatever it was.
“Sam,” Cas said, moving toward him now. “It’s okay…we are not here to hurt you.”
Sam nodded, looking unsteady on his feet, so he sank down to the cushion and pulled a pillow over his lap, wrapping his arms around it and drawing it closer to his chest and Dean’s heart was breaking.
“I don’t understand Dr. Morgan…why are you here and who is that really?” Sam asked, looking right at Dean again.
“I m not this doctor Morgan person, Sam…I am an angel and so is that,” Cas said, pointing toward Jessica.
“Am I still in the nut house,” Sam asked, voice cracking. “That’s it, right…I’m bat shit crazy and just figured it out…that’s what’s happening, right.” And Dean couldn’t stand to hear the warble in his brother’s voice.
“No, Sammy…You’re not crazy and I really am your brother and that,” he pointed to Cas, "really is an angel, that’s why he could transport us here from the restaurant and I don’t know who that is,” he looked toward the thing wearing Jess’ body, "but if Cas says it’s an angel, it’s an angel, you can trust us.”
Sam was shaking his head though; sinking back into the couch like maybe it would open up and swallow him whole. “No, that’s not…that’s not possible. It’s not possible.”
Cas spoke, looking toward the thing, “You have to tell him.”
Jess rolled her eyes again and then in a blink of an eye she shifted into another image.
“Anna?” Dean asked while his brother yelled, “Lanna!”
“I’m not Lanna, Sam…it’s true, I am an angel and I did this to protect you. I know you don’t understand, but you were in danger and I needed to stop it, to stop the end from coming.”
Sam was shaking his head, jumping back when she stepped closer, “Please, don’t be afraid. I don’t want to hurt you,” and then she rubbed her fingers over Sam's forehead.
“Sam,” Dean called when Sam slumped down and onto the couch, out cold.
“He’s fine, Dean…or he will be…until Lucifer finds him,” and before Dean could answer or scream or attack, Anna disappeared.
With one look toward Cas, he rushed to his brother, checking for a pulse, knowing that it would be there…that if Anna wanted to kill Sam, she wouldn’t have set up, whatever this was.
“He’ll sleep for a while, Dean.” Cas told him. “When he wakes he should remember…maybe not everything, but enough and the rest will come back in time.”
Dean nodded, pulling the blanket from the back of the sofa to cover his brother. “Did you know about this?” he asked, steal in his voice.
“No, Dean. I did not. Not until today…”
He nodded, getting up from his crouched position. “Okay then…okay. We’ll need to get Bobby to meet us and then we’ll take Sam home.”
“I’ll go,” Cas offered and was gone before Dean could answer.
The adrenaline and sheer relief of finding his brother was wearing off. He went into the kitchen to pour a glass of water, seeing a mug and the local paper sitting at the small table and it hit him, Sam had been living here for over ten months, with Anna, thinking she was someone else, thinking he was someone else and it pissed Dean off, so instead of drinking the glass of water he flung it against the far wall, watching it shatter and sending water and shards of glass down to the floor, but it didn’t seem like enough, so he picked up the chair and tossed it toward the sliding glass door, the door didn’t break, but the wooden chair did, so he picked it up again, smashing it over the table again and again until it was only splinters and pulp.
When he was done, he decided he was just tired, so he sank down to the floor and if his eyes were a little wet, so what? There was no one here to see it…not until Sam woke up and when he did, they were gonna get as far away from this place as they could.
Sometime later, outside the wooded area that Sam saw as his home, Cas met with Anna, whose vestige quickly shifted to Jess, Zack, Ms. Stills, Cas, anyone who Sam had seen as real, before settling on his true form, Cas’ brother Gabriel.
“They mustn’t know the truth,” Cas said, watching the slow smile spread across Gabriel’s face.
“Hey, don’t worry about me, little brother…I won’t spill your grand plan and anyway, I had a blast and any chance I can get to screw a Winchester, literally this time, I’ll be there.” Gabriel patted him awkwardly on the shoulder before vanishing and Cas followed, popping in to Bobby’s van that was parked just off Main Street.
He would give Dean and Sam a little more time and then he would take Bobby to them.
Part Twelve
Feedback: Always welcome
Rated: PG-13
Summary: Dean is going out of his mind and Sam…Sam’s just gone.
Notes: Parts of this story is based on a documentary I saw a year or so ago. The story is completely plotted and outlined and I began before I saw many episodes into season five. I would say this takes place mid season five, somewhere before Abandon all Hope and then goes AU.
Part One
Part Eleven: The Great Homecoming
“Canned chili…yummy…” Dean eyed the steaming bowl Bobby had plopped in front of him, but the older man ignored him, rolling around to his own side of the table and taking a huge bite of his own meal, eyeing Dean, daring him to say more about Bobby’s choice for dinner.
He picked up his own spoon, digging in, because even if he liked to give Bobby grief, he was thankful to have a hot dinner to sit down too and while he was feeling so grateful, he was thankful to have Bobby too.
Today was one of his good days.
He had rolled into town the night before, having been hunting… something for over three weeks, following the creature…Bobby could probably pronounce whatever the hell it was, but that’s beside the point…he had been on a hunt and had caught up with the…however you say it…after three long weeks and managed to gank it with the herbs and fire torch Bobby’s intel had gotten him and then he was free to…well to come home, so he did…to Bobby’s, because nowadays, Bobby was his home.
It was still hard…even after all this time, to think about Sam and know, that even though they were still looking for new leads and that even though his brother was never far from Dean’s thoughts, Sam was more than likely gone for good.
And that hurt Dean's heart, because in a lot of ways, if Bobby was his home, Sam was his heart.
“So,” Bobby started, but took a big bite of his bread and slowly chewed, like he was waiting for Dean to answer the unasked question…like Dean could read Bobby’s mind.
And maybe he could, because he found himself answering, “I swung by and saw her…she said that something had changed, but she still couldn’t really feel him, whatever that means.”
Bobby nodded, but didn’t say more.
“Missouri thought that maybe…” and he didn’t know how to say it, because he didn’t want to offer false hope, for Bobby, but for him too, because Missouri told him that even though she still couldn’t feel Sam’s soul or whatever it was that she could feel from people, she sensed he was close.
Close, that was it.
She couldn’t explain what the feeling had meant and so he couldn’t explain what she had said to Bobby.
He was about to try when he heard a familiar voice and Bobby’s eyes bugged out and the spoon he had a hold of dropped into the bowl and spilt his chili.
“Jesus, Cas…what did I tell you…”
He turned to look at the angel, ready to give him hell for scaring the shit out of them again when Cas said, “I found him, Dean…I know where Sam is.”
His own food forgotten, Dean quickly pushed back from the table, ears ringing, hoping he had heard Cas right. “What did you just say?”
“Sam,” Cas said, “I found your brother.”
“What?” the room was spinning now too. “What did you say?”
Cas moved closer, putting his hands on Dean’s shoulders, to steady him or to shake some sense into him, Dean wasn’t really sure which. “I have located your brother and I’m going to take you to him now.”
Dean yanked away, not wanting to take a magic ride just yet. He wanted…needed to understand what was happening and get some answers, right now.
“How…I mean what…”
Bobby came around the table then, tapping Dean on the small of his back, “sit down before ya fall down and you,” he pointed to Cas, "pull up a damn chair."
Dean sat and so did Cas and Bobby said, “Explain.”
So Cas did. He told them he had located Sam, but he glossed over the actual details of how he had managed to track his brother. Dean filed that away for later, because right now he just wanted to know where the hell Sam was and had been for almost a whole year.
“He’s in a little town in Maryland…has been there and something…something strong is holding him there.”
“You mean he’s been held prisoner all this time?” And something heavy and queasy lumped in Dean’s gut, images of his brother in a cage and in chains popped into his brain.
“Not prisoner, Dean…Sam’s been living… as Sam…”
“What does that mean,” Dean demanded. Did Sam choose to leave…could have come back to Dean anytime he wanted and decided not too…maybe Dean had been wrong.
“No,” Cas interrupted his downward spiraling thoughts. “Sam is still mostly Sam…he just doesn’t know it.”
“The hell…” Bobby didn’t seem to be understanding the situation any better then Dean.
“He has no memory of his life, his real life. Whatever had taken him had erased his memories, all his memories.”
Dean’s head jerked up, “So he doesn’t know about me? He doesn’t know he has a brother.”
Bobby shifted in his chair, looking at Cas and then to Dean, “That ain’t all he don’t know.”
And then the light bulb finally flicked on.
If Sam couldn’t remember who he was, then he didn’t remember any of it, not the monsters or the angels and for sure not the devil…was Sam safe now?
“It’s not that simple,” Cas stood up, “he’s…remembering. I think that’s why I was able to find him and if I can find him…”
So could Lucifer.
“Let's go then,” and Bobby rolled toward his office, “Pack a bag, I’ll drive the first shift.”
Dean nodded, running up the stairs to grab his backpack, “I want to know everything,’ he told Cas on his way past. “Even the parts you don’t want to tell me,” and then he took the steps two at a time.
He yanked some clothes from the small dresser in his room and went to the bathroom to grab his toiletries bag. Before he left he spotted Sam’s duffle tucked under the desk and grabbed that too.
He didn’t know why, but he thought he may need it.
Bobby had the van fired up by the time he got down the steps and Cas was gone.
“Where’d he go,” Dean asked as he slid into the seat, tossing both bags into the back.
Bobby pulled out, using his remote to close the gate that circled his property. “Said he was going to go on ahead, meet us there. You can call him if you want…”
“Nah,” Dean shifted in his seat, a bubble of excitement and maybe a little dread curling in his chest. “Cas will keep an eye on him and a few more days won’t matter.”
He didn’t think Bobby believed him, but he nodded anyway, the county road under the tires giving way to the Interstate and they drove on until eventually Bobby pulled over for gas and a quick bite to eat.
When they were finished with their microwaved cheeseburgers and cans of coke, Dean got behind the wheel.
They didn’t stop for the night, were making good time and by early afternoon they hit the Maryland state line.
Cas landed in the back seat, but this time Dean managed not to wreck the van. “Whatcha got,” he asked.
“I’ve seen him this morning coming from…well; I’m not sure what it is.”
“What the hell does that mean,” Dean asked, pulling off the interstate on to the beltway that circled Baltimore city.
“It means, I don’t know what it is,” and damn if Cas didn’t have that look on his face, like maybe he was talking to an imbecile. “He just seemed to have driven from out of a forest, right through a corps of trees and then headed into town. It’s there, waiting for him, I think we should go, Dean.”
“Pull over,” Bobby told him, already fiddling with his seatbelt.
Dean saw the sign for I-95 North and took it, following it until he found a rest area to pull off and shut down the engine. He pulled the arm rest up and found the board Bobby kept tucked between the seats and rested it between the two captain chairs.
Bobby slid over to the driver’s seat and started the engine. “I’ll meet you there.”
But before Dean could tell him okay, Cas had touched his head and he was gone, flying through space and maybe time and landed hard on a side walk in small town USA.
He was woozy and tired, but he shook his head like he could displace those feelings given enough force.
“Let’s sit,” Cas grabbed his arm and bodily hauled him to a nearby bench.
“Where are we…when are we?” he panted, trying to get his equilibrium back.
“We have not travel through time, Dean.” And Cas was sitting too close; he would be in Dean’s lap if he were any closer. “We have just traversed a few counties in the state of Maryland.”
“Right…traversed…so,” he said, trying to straighten up on the bench. “Now what?”
“Lunch,” Cas told him, helping him to stand. “At a very strange place called Crabby Dick’s.”
Dean let himself be led, but bulked a little at the name of the shack in front of him. It was old and run down, a huge red crab with the name Crabby Dick’s painted in white block lettering and there were lots of people waiting around in the front.
There was a full patio with picnic tables lined in brown paper, piles of steaming crabs scattered in the middle of each and ears of corn and mounds of fries too.
It must have been a popular lunch spot and Dean thought they might have to wait forever to just get in the front door, but Cas dragged him along, telling the hostess they had a reservation. “Two for Castiel.”
She led them to their seats and Dean was secretly pleased that he was positioned to see the other tables, although maybe he was rubbing off a little on the angel, who had made them reservations…
“He should be arriving soon,” Cas spoke from across from him but before Dean could answer, a waitress came to take their order. “I would like to try a Crabby Dick, please.”
Dean huffed, still feeling a little shell shocked, but the waitress took it in stride and turned to him, “I’ll ah…" he hadn’t even really looked at the menu, “I’ll have the special…and a beer, whatever’s on tap.”
“Yes, a beer,” Cas repeated and she gathered up their menus and returned with two mugs of beer and a basket of heavenly smelling yeast rolls.
“Thanks,” he managed, turning to Cas. “So, now talk.”
“I really don’t know, Dean.” Cas picked up the bread and smelled it, before pulling off a small piece and nibbling on it like a squirrel.
“You have to know something…how did you know where to look for Sam if you can’t see him anymore…how did you know he would be coming here for lunch…how did you…”
Cas picked up the mug and drained the whole thing in one go, slamming it back to the table. “I still have some connections, Dean. Angels I can trust…”
“You told,” he started, his voice carrying over the crowded space, so he looked around to see if anyone was listening and then lowered his voice, “you told other angels to look for Sam? Are you nuts? Angels want Sam just as much as Demons…”
The waitress came with a tray full of steamed crabs, smelling of the ocean and Old Bay seasoning and dumped them on the table between them. She left some mallets and butter knives and a plate of corn and fries. Cas picked one up with just his thumb and first finger, looking at it like it might still be alive enough to pinch him with the front claws. “What is this creature?”
“You’re crabby dick, now shut up and eat it.” Dean decided that in the end, what did it matter, as long as he got Sam back, he didn’t need to worry so much about the why's and how’s.
He picked one of the crabs up as the waitress returned to refill Cas’ mug. He hadn’t had crabs…of any kind…for a long time, but he still remembered how his dad had showed him and Sam to crack them open and pull the meat from all the shelled chambers.
He used his knife to stick between the seam on the underside, flicking the top shell off and scraping all the mess out of the middle. He noted Cas watching and trying to do what Dean had done and couldn’t help laughing when the top shell of Cas’ crab flew off and hit the wall behind Dean’s head.
“Close enough,” he told him, watching as Cas used his knife to scrape the innards out onto the newspaper on the table.
Dean cracked the crab in half, but left the legs on, because it was easier to get the meat that way. Once he had a manageable piece, he used his fingers to clean the meat out of the chambers, before moving on to crack the legs. The claw meat was the sweetest and his favorite. When he was younger, his dad would give him the claws to work on, since he got tired of picking the bodies.
Cas had a pile of shells in front of him by the time Dean was done with his half dozen, but Dean wasn’t sure how much meat he had actually gotten out of them. “I don’t see the purpose of trying to eat the meat out of such a small creature and it is a lot of work for so little reward.” He held up a piece of back fin lump on the tip of his finger, sucking it off and making a weird face, like he was trying to decide if he liked it or not.
“Try the corn,” Dean told him. “Not as good as a cheese burger, but you might like it.’
Dean used the napkin and then the wet nap the waitress brought to clean the Old Bay and crab guts off his fingers.
Cas grabbed the ear of corn and took a big bite off the end. Dean thought about telling him he should just eat the kernels, but then what fun would that be?
After another huge bite, the angel put the cob down and wiped his fingers on a napkin and that’s when Dean spotted him.
It was Sam!
He knew that Cas had told him that Sam was here and that he was coming, but something deep down wasn’t willing to believe it until he saw it with his own eyes.
Cas turned to look too, but when Sam glanced around the room they both quickly went back to their lunches. Dean covertly watched as Sam’s eyes skittered right over him, no recognition in his brother’s eyes.
He was trying to figure out his next move when a woman approached Sam’s table and when Dean saw who it was; he couldn’t help but ask, “Jess?”
How the hell could Jessica be here?
He looked to Cas as he stood, but the angel didn’t offer up an explanation. Before he even realized it, he was out of his seat and walking toward his brother.
“Doctor Morgan?” Sam asked, looking beyond Dean to Cas, but Dean couldn’t think about that now, all he could think about was getting to his brother and when he did, he wrapped him in his arms and hung on.
“Sam…oh god, Sammy…it’s really you.”
Sam froze for a second or two, but then his body relaxed and his brother’s arms came up to awkwardly pat Dean on the back.
He hung on for a long time, probably too long, but Dean didn’t care.
He had missed him…he had missed Sam and he had him now…he might not ever let go, that was until Sam said, “Um…who are you?”
Dean jerked back, seeing the look of confusion in Sam’s eyes, like Dean was clearly someone he should know, but didn’t.
“Sammy…I’m Dean…I’m your brother.” Dean told him, watching as a look of surprise replaced the confusion for a second or two.
He stepped out of Dean’s embrace, looking toward Jess and then Cas. “I don’t understand…I don’t have a brother…my parents are dead…”
Dean winced on that last part because it was true…their parents where dead.
Sam stepped back, closer to Jessica’s side, looking anxious and a little scared and Dean was quickly losing control, not that he really had any to begin with. That thing, whatever it was, that Sam was seeking support in, had stolen his brother.
Dean reached around to the small of his back, feeling the blade tucked there, pulling it, but Cas grabbed his arm and the thing grabbed Sam and the next thing he knew, he was standing in a living room of someone’s house.
Sam gasped, backing up toward the far wall, screaming, “What the hell?”
He reached toward him, trying for reassuring, “It’s okay Sammy…” but Sam moved toward the couch, putting the coffee table between them and Dean could see the fear in his brother’s eyes.
Sam was afraid of him.
“What the hell is happening?” his brother asked, eyes skimming over him and Cas, before looking at Jessica. “Tess…what’s going on?”
The thing moved closer, putting a hand on Sam’s arm, but Dean could see his brother jump, like he wasn’t sure if he could trust whatever it was.
“Sam,” Cas said, moving toward him now. “It’s okay…we are not here to hurt you.”
Sam nodded, looking unsteady on his feet, so he sank down to the cushion and pulled a pillow over his lap, wrapping his arms around it and drawing it closer to his chest and Dean’s heart was breaking.
“I don’t understand Dr. Morgan…why are you here and who is that really?” Sam asked, looking right at Dean again.
“I m not this doctor Morgan person, Sam…I am an angel and so is that,” Cas said, pointing toward Jessica.
“Am I still in the nut house,” Sam asked, voice cracking. “That’s it, right…I’m bat shit crazy and just figured it out…that’s what’s happening, right.” And Dean couldn’t stand to hear the warble in his brother’s voice.
“No, Sammy…You’re not crazy and I really am your brother and that,” he pointed to Cas, "really is an angel, that’s why he could transport us here from the restaurant and I don’t know who that is,” he looked toward the thing wearing Jess’ body, "but if Cas says it’s an angel, it’s an angel, you can trust us.”
Sam was shaking his head though; sinking back into the couch like maybe it would open up and swallow him whole. “No, that’s not…that’s not possible. It’s not possible.”
Cas spoke, looking toward the thing, “You have to tell him.”
Jess rolled her eyes again and then in a blink of an eye she shifted into another image.
“Anna?” Dean asked while his brother yelled, “Lanna!”
“I’m not Lanna, Sam…it’s true, I am an angel and I did this to protect you. I know you don’t understand, but you were in danger and I needed to stop it, to stop the end from coming.”
Sam was shaking his head, jumping back when she stepped closer, “Please, don’t be afraid. I don’t want to hurt you,” and then she rubbed her fingers over Sam's forehead.
“Sam,” Dean called when Sam slumped down and onto the couch, out cold.
“He’s fine, Dean…or he will be…until Lucifer finds him,” and before Dean could answer or scream or attack, Anna disappeared.
With one look toward Cas, he rushed to his brother, checking for a pulse, knowing that it would be there…that if Anna wanted to kill Sam, she wouldn’t have set up, whatever this was.
“He’ll sleep for a while, Dean.” Cas told him. “When he wakes he should remember…maybe not everything, but enough and the rest will come back in time.”
Dean nodded, pulling the blanket from the back of the sofa to cover his brother. “Did you know about this?” he asked, steal in his voice.
“No, Dean. I did not. Not until today…”
He nodded, getting up from his crouched position. “Okay then…okay. We’ll need to get Bobby to meet us and then we’ll take Sam home.”
“I’ll go,” Cas offered and was gone before Dean could answer.
The adrenaline and sheer relief of finding his brother was wearing off. He went into the kitchen to pour a glass of water, seeing a mug and the local paper sitting at the small table and it hit him, Sam had been living here for over ten months, with Anna, thinking she was someone else, thinking he was someone else and it pissed Dean off, so instead of drinking the glass of water he flung it against the far wall, watching it shatter and sending water and shards of glass down to the floor, but it didn’t seem like enough, so he picked up the chair and tossed it toward the sliding glass door, the door didn’t break, but the wooden chair did, so he picked it up again, smashing it over the table again and again until it was only splinters and pulp.
When he was done, he decided he was just tired, so he sank down to the floor and if his eyes were a little wet, so what? There was no one here to see it…not until Sam woke up and when he did, they were gonna get as far away from this place as they could.
Sometime later, outside the wooded area that Sam saw as his home, Cas met with Anna, whose vestige quickly shifted to Jess, Zack, Ms. Stills, Cas, anyone who Sam had seen as real, before settling on his true form, Cas’ brother Gabriel.
“They mustn’t know the truth,” Cas said, watching the slow smile spread across Gabriel’s face.
“Hey, don’t worry about me, little brother…I won’t spill your grand plan and anyway, I had a blast and any chance I can get to screw a Winchester, literally this time, I’ll be there.” Gabriel patted him awkwardly on the shoulder before vanishing and Cas followed, popping in to Bobby’s van that was parked just off Main Street.
He would give Dean and Sam a little more time and then he would take Bobby to them.
Part Twelve