On The Road
On The Road
“She was totally into me.”
“You’re delusional.”
“Could have had her out back-“
“Gross Dean! Shut up!”
The car door opened and John looked back at the boys, both giving innocent eyes that never looked innocent. Not to a father anyway. Oh, he’d seen a good many people fooled by Sam’s big eyes and the charming smirk on Dean’s lips, but they didn’t know his boys like he did.
“You boys ready to go?”
Sam’s annoyance turned into that sulk that he’d learned to do so well. At 13 he was more than a handful. Where Dean had been ready to do what they needed to do at that age, Sam fought him on everything. There was a fight behind that sulk. He was angry at leaving school again. John understood, he really did, but there was nothing else he could do.
He’d thought about it, a lot. Especially in the early days when he’d first been faced with leaving Sam and Dean alone in a crappy motel room so he could hunt. Mary’s family was all gone and John had never had anyone else to turn to. Mike might have understood John needing to take off every so often, but he didn’t believe John had really seen anything. He’d tried to have his boys taken from him and that had been the last straw really. He’d realized then he could never go back to Lawrence, and he could never give up on the hunt. Even if he could have forgotten about Mary’s death, and he knew he’d never be able to do that, he couldn’t forget that she had burned up over Sam’s crib. That something had set her on fire in his boy’s room and if John hadn’t woken Sam would have burned as well.
“Yes sir.” Dean dutifully reported, though he was looking askance at his brother. Sam just continued to look down at his shoes and John noted with a shake of his head that both his boys needed new shoes. He’d have to find someplace to hustle this week, get some extra cash to cover it. He was down to one last card and he had to get them settled in for the next hunt before he could stop by any of their PO Boxes.
“New place is supposed to have a great school.” John called into the back as he settled into the Impala. The hunt was a town over, but he’d done a little research and the place he was renting was in a good school district. Sam never seemed to notice when he went out of his way like that, but Dean did and it was Dean that smiled up at him through the rear view mirror.
“Ah look Sammy. You can be a real boy now.”
“Shut up Dean.”
“I’ve got no strings…”
“Dean, shut up!” There was laughter in Sam’s voice though as Dean continued to sing the song from Pinocchio. “You’re the wooden boy!” Sam said with a punch to Dean’s shoulder.
Dean laughed. “Well we do know I have something that grows…”
“Dude!”
“Hush up now Jiminy and let me sleep.”
“Poor Dean. Are you tired from all that work?”
It was Dean’s turn to scowl but it wasn’t real. At least, the part that was real wasn’t directed at Sam who was teasing because John had left him out of the last hunt. Dean had been complaining night and day about having nothing to do but clean the dishes and cook and look after Sam.
“Shut up Sammy.”
“Cinderelli, Cinderelli, night and day its Cinderelli…”
“That would make you the ugly step sister Sam.”
It was more than John could take. He started laughing at the outraged look on Sam’s face. He knew he didn’t laugh enough with his boys, but their reaction brought it home. Dean’s lips instantly turned up to join in, but his eyes were wide as he looked up at his father. Sam looked downright shocked, but when he took a peek at his brother, his lips turned up as well. A minute later they were all laughing and it felt good. Really damn good.
John Winchester might not be the best dad in the world, but he was doing what he could in a bad situation. Anyone who wanted to say his boys weren’t something to be proud of though, well, they’d learn not to say anything about his kids the hard way. They kept at it, Dean and Sam bickering back and forth the whole way and John continued to smile through it all.
That night when they settled into their new place, he grabbed take out and even stopped to get a few movies to watch. He didn’t really have the extra money for such luxuries really, but the look on their faces when they saw the movies he threw their way was enough.
It never stopped to make him smile, knowing that somewhere buried in all their gear and clothes, Sam and Dean still carried Pinocchio and Cinderella on the road.