The Journey:Gateway - Dean/Sam - NC17 - 5-6/6
Title: The Journey: Gateway
Authors: sasskitten and jeyhawk
Rating: NC-17
Fandom: Supernatural
Pairing: Dean/Sam
Summary: A vision brings Sam and Dean back to Lawrence, Kansas and they learn a few things about family and what they are to each other.
Disclaimer: We don’t own Supernatural, we make no money from it, it’s just for fun.
Note: This follows directly from The Journey: Love Sick. The Journey is an ongoing series written in 'episodes' of about five chapters. So every five chapters or so it will change its name according to the new adventure they are setting out on.
All the earlier parts can be found here.
Chapter Five
"I don't get it," Sam said to Dean as the older man came into the room. Sam was sat on the bed with his laptop, trying to find more information on the gateway. "If my Grandma has all those protection tats then how did this thing get in her head?"
"I dunno, but Bobby insisted on talking to Missouri, they're gassing right now. Don't worry, Sam, we'll find a way," Dean told him as he came to sit beside him on the bed.
"You're just trying to make me feel better aren't you?"
Dean looked down at the bedspread, ashamed. "Yeah." He felt Sam's hand clover his own and he turned to look at him. "Will you do it? I mean, could you do it?"
"Kill her?"
Sam just nodded.
"To save the world? Yeah, I could." He stared into Sam's face. "I know what that makes me, Sam. Sometimes, in this job, you lose a part of yourself, sometimes it scares me, what I'm willing to do."
Sam found himself reaching out and cupping Dean's face. "I don't hate you, I'm sorry I said that."
Dean leaned into the touch and closed his eyes. "What're you doing, Sam? You don't want this."
"Yes, I do," Sam whispered, pushing the lap top to the side and bending forward until their lips were touching. Dean growled softly, moving closer until he was practically on Sam's lap at the same time as his tongue speared deep into Sam's all too willing mouth. Sam groaned, reaching down to grab Dean's ass, pulling him closer while Dean's hands tangled in his hair. He'd never known desire like this, sure he'd loved Jess and they'd had some pretty fantastic sex, but it didn't even come close to the feeling of just kissing Dean. The other man's lips hard and demanding, his stubble rasping Sam's face and his tongue touching, twining and stroking in ways Sam hadn't even known was possible.
"Boys." Someone said sharply and they jumped apart with a start, turning their heads to find Missouri looking at them with a grin on her face. "Even though I do appreciate that you actually seem to have been listening to me... This is not the time."
Dean and Sam exchanged a chagrined look.
"Bobby had some ideas," Missouri said, keeping a wary eye on them like she expected them to start kissing again. Given the fact that she could read minds, she was right to worry. "He said that for them to be able to get at her, they must have been weakening her strength for quite a while. Maybe through something she wore... Once she was weak enough they would have captured her, or ambushed her, using something to break the protection she gets from her tats."
"But wouldn't the tats have protected her from the thing zapping her strength too?" Sam asked.
"Maybe not," Dean said with a frown. "Sam, you get sick right?"
"Huh?" Sam asked.
"You catch flus and bugs just like anyone else."
"Yeah, but what..."
"Maybe they didn't target her powers, maybe they targeted her immune system..."
Sam's eyes widened. "I have to ask my aunt to be sure, but I think grandma was sick a lot, like normal sick, before she suddenly got like this."
Missouri nodded. "She wouldn't even have known herself there was anything supernatural about it."
Sam suddenly got up from the bed, his eyes wide, a hesitant smile breaking out across his face. "You're telling me that all we have to do is find this thing, this cursed object, destroy it, and my Grandma'll go back to how she was before?"
Dean's eyes darted to Missouri's and they shared a look. "It might not be that simple Sam," the woman said, placing her hand on his shoulder. "The cursed object isn't what's keeping her in this catatonic state, but it could be enough to make her stronger, better able to fight this thing. Think, Sam, is there something in her room or in this house that you aren't sure where it came from?"
Sam shook his head. "No, I mean... I don't even know where to start," he said helplessly.
"Let's go in her room, look around," Dean suggested. The three of them made their way across the hall and into Juna's room. Abby was just putting an IV into her arm because it had become hard to get her to eat or drink anything lately.
"Now isn't a good time," she told them only for Missouri to smile at her and put her hand on her arm.
"Abby," she said, without needing to be told the woman's name. "Can you tell us if you've noticed something in here that maybe makes you feel a little uneasy, or seems out of place?"
Abby frowned at them like they were nuts. "Um, no?"
Dean began looking round, checking the figurines and vases. "It could even have been something she already had."
Abby placed the IV into Juna's wrist, going back to her work. She pulled a tube of antiseptic cream out of her bag and began applying it to the scratches the old woman had made on her chest. Dean turned and watched her with a frown on his face. "Did she do that?"
Abby nodded and sighed sadly. "She's always doing it. I clip her nails to keep them short."
Sam looked to Dean, knowing that he was working out a theory in his head. "Dean?"
"The necklace," Dean said. "It's the same she had in that picture, yes?"
"Yeah," Sam said. "She always wears it."
"But that necklace had a green stone, didn't it?"
"Yeah, an emerald..." The both turned their heads to look at the necklace resting against Juna's pale, malnourished ribcage; the stone glinting dully in it's center was blood red.
They shared a look. "Abby, would you leave for a minute," Sam said, his eyes on the necklace.
"I..." The motherly looking woman started, but Missouri caught her arm.
"If you hurry home now... You may be able to stop the fire."
"What fire?" Abby asked, sounding scared.
"You forgot to turn off the iron this morning," Missouri said. "Your cat... Albin... Knocked it over when playing in the laundry room."
Abby's eyes turned impossibly wide with fear, her cheeks growing pale. "How can you..."
"She knows these things," Sam said. "You better do as she says."
Abby's mouth open and closed a few times before she hurried out the room without looking back.
Sam kneeled in front of his Grandma. "So what do I do? Just rip it off?"
Missouri came to join him and reached her hand out to it. "Even in this state she knew it was there, was trying to get it off."
Dean placed his hands on Sam's shoulders and watched as Missouri reached round to unclasp the necklace. She clasped in her hand, wincing at the bad feelings it was causing in her. She felt kind of sick and knew they had to destroy it. "Dean, go outside and start a fire, we've gotta burn this."
Dean nodded and ran out of the room, shortly followed by Missouri. Sam stayed there with his Grandma, holding her hand and watching as her breathing changed into something more even, less shallow. Her thin pale lips pinked before his eyes and he let out an almost hysterically grateful laugh.
"Oh Grandma, you got in my head. You showed me, didn't you?" He placed his other hand on her knee. "Show me again, how do we wake you up? Please, show me?"
By the time Missouri and Dean came back upstairs Rosemary and David were sitting with Sam on the floor around Juna's chair. Neither of them had any great knowledge about any of this stuff and they felt helpless as they waited.
"She talked to you in your dreams, didn't she?" Missouri said, looking at Sam.
"Yeah," he murmured, still looking up at his grandmother, searching her face for more signs of life.
"Dean," Missouri said in a very commanding tone. "Knock Sam out."
"What?" Both Sam and Dean said, staring at Missouri with disbelief.
"You fall asleep after sex boy?" She asked Sam, staring straight at him with a stern face.
"I'm not gonna answer that," Sam said, blushing furiously.
"So you do," Missouri said, sounding pleased. "Dean weren't you listening to me right now? Take that boy to the other room and knock him out. You’ve managed it before."
"I'm not hitting him," Dean said hotly.
"Just how dense are you," Rosemary said, directing her words to both Sam and Dean. "Sam you need to fall asleep so mom can get through to you, but Dean can't knock you over the head." She gave Dean a stern look. "And sleeping pills take too long..."
Sam blushed crimson as he suddenly understood what they were saying. "Okay, that's the most fucked up thing I've ever heard."
"Yeah," David agreed. "Being told you have to let your friend get you off so that you can fall asleep and save your Grandma, all the while knowing that we all know what you're doing." He looked at Sam sympathetically. "Well, good luck with that. We'll all go wait down stairs."
Dean looked at them all horrified as the three people left the room. "Um, you can maybe do it yourself."
Sam looked up at him. "I don’t think that’ll work. And what did she mean by you’ve done it before?”
Dean shrugged a little sheepishly and looked down at his feet. “I hate mind readers.”
Sam let out a long breath. He looked over at his Grandma, hoping to God that he didn't think of her at all. "Come one," he said to Dean as he left the room.
Dean followed Sam into the bedroom, it was dark and he knew it was probably best that way but Sam switched on the lamp beside the bed and crawled onto it. They stared at each for a moment before Sam nodded his head. "Okay, come on."
Dean just looked at him like he was repulsed by the very idea of it, which they both knew not to be true. "Sam, I'm suddenly not feeling very... I mean... I feel like I'm taking a test or something... not to mention that you don't actually want to... but maybe you do want to, I mean you seemed to want to earlier..."
"Dean, shut up," Sam simply said. "Or are you telling me you'd find it easier to shoot my grandmother then get me off?"
"No of course not, but... I mean... It might not be that great... What if..."
"Dean," Sam said again. "Shut up."
Dean closed his mouth.
"Now come here and kiss me."
Dean smiled, kissing he could do. Without hesitation he crawled on to the bed and on top of Sam, bracing himself with his legs on either side of Sam's slim hips. Sam's face came up to meet him halfway and suddenly all his stage fright disappeared. They kissed hungrily for a few minutes, grinding against each other while their tongues tangled in desperation. It was amazing how fast they forgot about the goal and just focused on the now. When Dean finally lifted his head, Sam's lips were swollen and red from kissing and his eyes looked almost black in the dim light from the bedside lamp.
Keeping their eyes locked, Dean let one of his hands slide down over Sam's chest and stomach until it was resting over the impressive bulge in his pants. Sam bit his lip, a whimper escaping him when Dean squeezed him lightly.
"You sure?" Dean asked, sliding his hand slowly over the hard length.
"What does it feel like?" Sam rasped.
Dean grinned and moved his hand to slowly open the fly, button after button popping open under his deft fingers. Sam squirmed, pushing his cock against Dean's hand eagerly. He pulled the jeans down slowly over Sam's legs and tossed them to the floor. Sam sat up just enough to remove his t-shirt and he laid back down, licking his suddenly dry lips.
"What um... what are you gonna do?" he asked, feeling that a little of his previous nerves had returned.
Dean smiled at him and crawled up his body, placing a kiss to the side of his neck. "Knock you out," he whispered before slowly making his way down to Sam's chest, his wet tongue finding Sam's nipples and teasing them in turn, his hand back on the bulge under Sam's boxer shorts.
Sam closed his eyes and just let himself feel. He felt completely blanketed by Dean and when the other man moved even lower, his mouth leaving open mouthed kisses over his navel and down the strip of hair that disappeared under his shorts, Sam bit his lip, knowing hat was about to come.
Dean kissed the encased erection, his eyes forcing Sam's to watch, to see the way he nuzzled the bulge, smelling his arousal.
"Dean," Sam gasped, his hand coming down to rest on the back of Dean's head. Dean closed his mouth around the clothed cock and moaned in the back of his throat as he tasted Sam through the fabric.
Sam writhed on the bed, pushing his hips against Dean's mouth and digging his fingers into his short hair. His breath was already coming in short jerky pants and his cock was drooling freely against the thin fabric of his boxers. Dean looked up at Sam's flushed face as he pulled the boxers down, but his eyes were soon drawn back to Sam's very impressive cock, curling up against his stomach in an elegant arch.
"Seems all of you is proportional," Dean said, before licking a stripe up the underside of Sam's cock, making him arch off the bed with a groan. "Easy," Dean murmured, pressing a firm hand against Sam's hip before letting the bulbous head of Sam's cock slide into his mouth. Sam's unique taste exploded over Dean's tongue, making him groan with pleasure as he inhaled as much of Sam's cock as he could.
The other man was moaning loudly and thrashing back and forth while Dean slowly worked his mouth up and down the rock hard shaft. One of his hands finding Sam's balls and toying lightly with them while he sucked, which made Sam make even more noise. Dean was very pleased to find that Sam was a screamer, he couldn't deny that he liked for his partners to be vocal. He let Sam's cock fall from his lips with a wet pop, grinning at the dismayed sound that Sam made. He caught and held Sam's dark eyed gaze as he let two of his own fingers slide into his own mouth, wetting them thoroughly.
Sam spread his legs wide without asking any questions, pulling his knees up to expose himself to Dean's hungry gaze. He breathed in deeply, too in need, too desperate to even think about what was happening to him, what was about to happen, he didn't care, he just wanted to come.
Dean’s wet fingers trailed around Sam's opening and even that alone was enough to make the younger man moan. He tried not to twitch on the bed but he was finding it hard to stay still, especially when his hole was stroked and why the hell wasn't Dean touching his cock anymore?
"Relax, Sammy," Dean told him through a husky voice. "I'm gonna make you feel good," he promised as he slid one of his finger into the tight entrance. One of Sam's hands tightened in the bed cover and the other reached up to grip the headboard. He groaned as the finger slowly moved in and out, wiggling and stretching him just enough so that Dean could add the other finger.
Sam's head fell back when he felt his hole stretched around the two fingers and he looked down into time to see Dean grin as he crooked his fingers inside him and found what he was looking for. Sam cried out and tried desperately not to beg, to plead but a hoarse. "Yeah," came out of his mouth and he felt himself twist down on the fingers.
Dean's eyes were glued on Sam's face as he moved his fingers in and out, rubbing over his prostate each and every time and loving the guttural sounds coming from the other man. Sam's slim body was shaking with pleasure, sweat glistening on his chest and forehead. The most delicious sounds were spilling from his lips with every scissored thrust of Dean's fingers. It only took a few more thrusts for Sam to arch of the bed with a choked scream, thick ropes of semen spurting out of him, covering his stomach and chest. His eyes locked with Dean's for a few heart stopping moments before he slumped down on the bed, his eyes falling shut.
Dean blinked, raising his head to look at Sam's face, but Sam didn't seem to be faking it, he really was out cold. Taking care not to jostle the bed Dean slid off of it, biting back a groan when his rock hard cock rubbed against the edge, before his knees found the floor. Swallowing he got up, deciding to ignore his aching erection for the time being and searched through the nightstand until he found the expected tissues. He already knew that Sam slept like the dead, but he was still very careful as he wiped the cooling come off of Sam's stomach before throwing away the tissues. He gave Sam one last long look, before leaving the room to go downstairs and join the others.
Chapter Six
They all looked up at Dean as he entered the room and he couldn't help a slight blush from creeping up his cheeks. He was pretty sure they must have heard Sam, the other man hadn't exactly been keeping his voice down and he was sure they all were wondering what they'd been doing. Well except for Missouri who was giving him a knowing smirk.
"Did it work?" Rosemary asked.
Dean shrugged, willing himself to stop blushing. "He's sleeping."
He took a seat beside Missouri and felt like he was waiting for judgment day, the four of them all sat around waiting for something to happen. Finally after a good ten minutes of silence David announced he was going to go and make some coffee, thinking it would probably be a long night. Rosemary hurriedly said she would help him and the second they were out the door Dean turned to Missouri.
"There wasn't another way?" he demanded.
The woman just smiled at him. "Of course there was. But you both wanted it and weren't doing anything about it."
Dean just looked at her like he couldn't quite believe how conniving the woman was. "And what if things are.... weird now?"
"Dean honey, your life couldn't get any weirder, but now you've got someone and I wont have to worry about you like I do your daddy," she told him.
Interfering old bat, he thought in his head, only for her to turn round and smack him around the back of his head, giving him a warning glare.
After drinking their coffee Dean decided to go back up to Sam, just in case he needed him when he woke up. This entire thing was so fucked up. He'd literally knocked a few lovers/one nightstands out before and he bet that Missouri had seen that in his mind.
As he walked down the hallway to the bedroom he stopped outside the door, looking from Sam to Sam's Grandma, both of them twitching where they were.
"Jesus," he said before going into Sam's room and sitting carefully on the bed.
Sam didn't stir, but his eyes were moving rapidly under his eyelids, fluttering back and forth. Dean patted his hand awkwardly and got up from the bed again. Just looking at Sam's laid out naked body was getting him all hot and bothered again. He spotted the comforter on the cot none of them had used last night and pulled it off, using it to cover Sam's sleeping form. Maybe it made him a pussy, but he didn't want Sam getting cold. He silently paced back and forth wondering what would happen now. Sam'd had his taste of gay sex now, maybe the only taste he would ever need and where did that leave them?
For all his thoughts about running, Dean wasn't ready to let Sam go just yet. But if this worked and they saved Sam's grandma, then he might have to. She probably wouldn't want her grandchild to disappear and Dean couldn’t stick around here forever, however nice he thought it was. With a gasp Sam sat up straight in bed and Dean was by his side immediately.
"Did it work?" Dean asked his hand fluttering nervously over Sam's shoulder.
Sam gave him an amused look. "You were there, what do you think?"
Dean swatted him at the back of the head with a slight smile. "You know that's not what I meant. Did she talk to you?"
Sam nodded, about to get up from bed when he realized he was still naked. "Um," He said.
"I'll leave you alone to get dressed," Dean said quickly not wanting to get kicked out.
"Dude," Sam said sounding exasperated. "You just had your fingers up my ass, I don't think I care if you see me naked."
"Then what?"
"Would you close the door? I don't want grandma to see me."
Dean did as he told him and waited patiently, trying to look at anything but Sam's naked body. He didn't think he could handle being turned on anymore in one day. "So, you spoke to her? What did she say."
"It was kinda jumbled, but she told me to look at her shoulder," Sam told him and Dean could hear the zipping up of his jeans.
"Her shoulder? Did you see why?"
"No, I woke up," Sam told him. Dean finally looked at him just in time to see him pulling his shirt down over his body. "Call Missouri to come up."
Dean opened the door and called the woman to come up, which made David and Rosemary come up too. The three of them looked at Sam. David seemed awkward and Missouri seemed pleased, whereas Rosemary just wanted her mother back.
"We gotta look at her shoulder," he told them as they entered Juna's room. Rosemary went over to the old woman and pulled her nightgown down a little at the back, just enough to see a tattoo.
"What am I looking for? The tattoo? Isn't it just one of her protection symbols?" Rosemary asked, moving aside so that Missouri and Dean could take a look. The tattoo looked like the number three with a tail and an eye beside it.
"It's a Hindu symbol. Om," Dean told them. "The four parts symbolize four stages of consciousness: Awake, sleeping, dreaming, and a trance like state. People chant it when meditating." He looked over at Missouri confused.
"It's gotta be what's locking her in," Sam said. "How do we get rid of it?"
Dean shook his head in confusion. "But it's a peaceful symbol."
"Dean," Missouri said patiently. "And the cross is a symbol of God, until it's turned upside down. The pentacle is a symbol of protection until reversed. We're going to have to burn it off her, I'm sorry, there's no other way."
Rosemary looked horrified at the idea of it but knew that it had to be done, it was a small price to pay to get her mom back. "I have a curling iron in my room," she suggested.
"Get it," Missouri told her, grabbing the antiseptic cream that Abby had used earlier and placing it near by.
Sam bit his lip, moving slightly closer to Dean, who put a hand on the small of his back seemingly without thinking about it.
Sam shuddered, half of him wanting to run away and the other half needing to stay. He really hoped no one would ask him to do the burning because he really didn't think he would be able to. He knew it would be doing his grandmother a favor, but he still didn't think he would be able to do it. The mere thought made Jess' burning body pass before his inner eye and he swallowed thickly.
"You want to leave?" Dean asked him, keeping his voice low.
Sam stubbornly shook his head, but slid one of his hands into Dean's back pocket, needing to feel his warmth against his skin. Dean didn't move away, he just gave him a brief smile before turning back to study the symbol.
When Rosemary reappeared with the curling iron she quickly plugged it in and handed it over to Dean. "It gets pretty hot straight away."
Dean nodded and swallowed hard as he came to stand behind the woman who looked much older than she really was. Sam had told him she was only sixty-eight, but he had seen healthier looking corpses. He waved his hand over the ceramic iron, feeling the intense heat and took a deep breath as he pressed it against her shoulder.
Everyone in the room hissed at the sound of sizzling flesh. He held it there long enough to ruin the symbol and quickly pulled away as the woman in the chair before him sucked in a deep breath and screamed out in pain, her eyes opening wide and fixing on Sam.
"Sam," she cried, almost falling off the chair in pain. Missouri ran into the bathroom and started filling the tub with water, not so cold as to give the woman a shock but cold enough to sooth the burn. She left the water running and called out to Sam, who was in front of his Grandma, on his knees holding her hand.
"Sam, carry her in here, now."
Sam did as he was told, picking up the frail woman like she was nothing. Rosemary stood there with her hand over her mouth, like she couldn't quite believe what had happened. He gently lowered his grandmother's waif thin body into the bath, holding her steady with one of his large hands. She smiled at him for a few moments, one of her skeletal hands reaching up to touch his face before she promptly passed out. Sam's first impulse was to shake her awake, but then Missouri gently touched his shoulder and shook her head.
"She's just sleeping now," she said. "And God knows she needs it."
Sam nodded, giving Missouri a grateful smile. He kept Juna in the bath for a few minutes longer before lifting her up and with Missouri's help he put a bath towel around her. He carried her back into the bedroom and put her down on the bed.
"We’ll take it from here," Rosemary said, suddenly sounding efficient and business like. "She wouldn't want you to see her like this. I'll keep watch over her tonight and if she calls for you, I promise I'll come and get you."
"She's my grandmother," Sam said stubbornly, not yet ready to let his grandma out of his sight.
"But she is my mother," Rosemary said, pulling herself up to her full height. "Samuel Eugene Nova, I changed your diapers when you were just a little baby, just because you've grown a few feet it doesn't mean you can do as you please."
"Eugene," Dean snickered behind his back, but Sam ignored him.
He stared Rosemary down for a few moments, before nodding tersely. She was right of course, however much of a mother Juna had been for him, Rosemary had first dibs. Besides, he'd just be across the hall; they could easily get him if anything changed. Giving his grandma one last long look, Sam turned on his heel and walked across the hall into his bedroom. Dean followed right behind him and closed the door after them.
"Well, what an introduction to the in laws," he joked, watching as Sam threw himself down on the bed. "I drudge up the past, make you question your entire life, including your sexuality, they not only know what we did but were the one's who insisted we do it and then to put the icing on the cake I burn Grandma."
Sam turned onto his back and just looked at him, his eyes showing complete exhaustion. "It's done, right? I mean we did our thing... so why don't I feel like we saved the day?"
Dean shrugged. "Cos it's not just another job, it's your family. You've had a rough couple of days, hell, you've had a rough couple of weeks." He looked down at Sam and wanted so much to crawl into bed with him but he didn't, instead he sat down on the cot and pulled off his shirt. "You'll have plenty of time to catch up with your Grandma again, Sam. Get some sleep tonight."
Sam nodded and frowned when Dean sat down on the cot. "What're you doing down there?"
Dean sighed and looked up at him. "I'm going to sleep."
"Dean, just come up here," Sam said impatiently.
"I don't think that's a good idea, Sammy. We both need to sleep, and I was thinking I'd probably take off in the morning."
"Take off," Sam said sitting upright. "Why would you do that?"
Dean shrugged. "I gotta move on sometime, yeah?"
"No... I mean... What? You're just gonna leave me here?"
"What do you mean, leave you? This is your home."
Sam shook his head. "Dean, this hasn't been my home for years, in fact it never really was."
"Oh," Dean said, standing up and pushing his jeans down his hips. "I see."
Sam let his eyes slide over Dean's flat muscled stomach and well-defined chest. He really didn't see Dean without his clothes on often enough.
"So," Sam said, patting the bed beside him. "How about it?"
Dean smiled a crooked little smile, rubbing his hand over his face. "I don't know."
"Dean," Sam said in exasperation. "Don't make me get Missouri to knock some sense into you."
Without waiting for Dean to answer, Sam got up on his feet and pulled his shirt off, throwing it on the floor. His jeans followed next despite the fact that he wasn't wearing any underwear since their little rendezvous earlier. He could feel Dean's eyes on him as he pulled the covers back and crawled into the bed, but the other man wasn't moving.
"Dean," Sam said tiredly. "As a wise man once said to me... Quit being an asshole and get into bed."
Dean snorted at Sam for using his own words against him and got into the bed. He laid down and instantly Sam was at his side, his hand sliding over his chest. Dean turned his head and smiled at him. "I'm exhausted, can we just sleep?"
Sam looked at him with a confused frown but nodded anyway. "Yeah, I just thought you'd be..."
Dean felt like an asshole but he just couldn't bring himself to let Sam touch him because once he had he'd need to have it again and he had no guarantee that Sam was sticking around past summer, once school started up again.
"Night, Sam," he whispered into the darkness and held his arm out for Sam to sleep against him.
The younger man smiled at the gesture and snuggled into Dean's side, placing a chaste kiss on his chest. "Goodnight, Dean."
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The following morning Dean woke up to an empty bed and for a minute he panicked, then he realized he was in Sam's house, it wouldn't be very easy for him to get away. He got of bed and pulled some clothes on, picking a clean set from his duffel bag, wondering if it wasn't time to do some laundry. Then he pushed the door to the bedroom open only to be faced with Sam sitting at his grandmother’s bedside holding her hand. She still looked pale and thin, but there was strength in her hazel eyes as she zeroed in on Dean.
"Now you must be Dean," she said, motioning for him to come closer.
"Yeah," he said, with a bleak smile.
Sam looked so happy were he was sitting, happy and young, that Dean didn't know how he'd ever be able to pull him away from her. He thought briefly about hitting him over the head and trussing him up in the trunk, then he realized that wouldn't be very productive, because Sam would run back home the first chance he got.
"So Dean," Juna said. "Sam tells me you were the one to burn me last night."
Dean swallowed and glared at Sam. "Yeah," he admitted, since his vocabulary seemed to have run off.
"Good," she said. "I admire a man that is willing to do the dirty work."
Dean smiled, moving slightly closer to the bed. "Someone had to do it," he said. He wondered what else Sam had told his grandma about, an image of Sam's face as he came popping unbidden into his mind.
"So where are you boys heading next?" Juna asked, smiling up at her grandson.
Dean gave Sam a surprised look, but Sam just grinned at him. "I don't quite know," Dean admitted.
"You'll find something," she said with a smile. "God knows there is enough evil out there to last a life time."
"But don't you want to keep Sam here," Dean blurted out.
Juna laughed. "He's too old to hang off my skirts. Besides I'll have a lot to do once I'm fully recovered. Wards have to be strengthened and such. Besides it's more than time for me to find the person that will take over after me, we came too close this time."
"I thought Sam..." Dean started.
Juna shook her head, giving Sam a fond look. "It's not that I don't think he would be capable, but being a guardian was never meant for him."
"I still don't even know what it entails," Sam confessed, only for his Grandma to pat his hand.
"And you never will, there're still some things I can protect you from," she told him. She closed her eyes, still smiling and breathed in the fresh air from the open window. The curtains were drawn back and it felt so good to feel the sunlight on her face again. "Oh," she suddenly said with a laugh, opening her eyes again. "Poor Abby, what'll she think when she sees me? And the doctors, they'll wanna write me up in a medical journal."
Dean found himself laughing with her, feeling as if the weight of loosing Sam was off his shoulders for the time being. "So, Mrs. Nova, you got any embarrassing Sammy stories for me?" he said, nodding towards Dean.
Sam's eyes widened and he sent his Grandma a warning look. "Don't you dare."
"Oh relax... Eugene," Dean said with a snicker.
"Sam," the familiar voice of Missouri came bellowing up the stairs. Sam looked as if he thought he was in trouble and quickly got up, running down the stairs. Dean was about to follow him when Mrs. Nova's hand shot out and grabbed his wrist.
"I trust you," she said when Dean turned to her with a frown. "Even though you don't trust yourself."
"People seem to have a little too much faith in me lately," Dean told her, looking down to where they were touching.
"Or maybe you don't have enough."
Dean smiled weakly. "I can't protect him," he said.
"You've been doing a great job of it so far," Juna said. "Sure, he'll be hurt. It's practically part of the job description, but with you watching his back... I'm sure he won't end up dead until his time has run out for sure."
Dean shivered. "Aren't you mad... For..." He winced.
"For turning my grandson into a pansy?" Juna laughed. "I'm happy when he’s happy, and who makes him happy doesn't matter to me."
Dean looked away, staring out the window. He wasn't sure he was making Sam happy, in fact he was pretty sure he would turn out to be yet another one of the things hurting him.
"Whatever happens, happens," Juna said, patting his hand before letting it go. "You just got to have some faith in yourself, and it will all work out."
Dean smiled weakly and nodded. "I'll take care of him," he said.
"I know you will."
Juna gave him another smile, before closing her eyes and resting back into the pillows. Dean watched her for a few minutes before turning on his heel and following Sam downstairs. Their work here was done; it was time to start looking for something new to kill. Something that hopefully would take their mind off whatever it was between them, postponing the painfully awkward conversation Dean just knew was coming, for as long as possible.
The End
Authors: sasskitten and jeyhawk
Rating: NC-17
Fandom: Supernatural
Pairing: Dean/Sam
Summary: A vision brings Sam and Dean back to Lawrence, Kansas and they learn a few things about family and what they are to each other.
Disclaimer: We don’t own Supernatural, we make no money from it, it’s just for fun.
Note: This follows directly from The Journey: Love Sick. The Journey is an ongoing series written in 'episodes' of about five chapters. So every five chapters or so it will change its name according to the new adventure they are setting out on.
All the earlier parts can be found here.
Chapter Five
"I don't get it," Sam said to Dean as the older man came into the room. Sam was sat on the bed with his laptop, trying to find more information on the gateway. "If my Grandma has all those protection tats then how did this thing get in her head?"
"I dunno, but Bobby insisted on talking to Missouri, they're gassing right now. Don't worry, Sam, we'll find a way," Dean told him as he came to sit beside him on the bed.
"You're just trying to make me feel better aren't you?"
Dean looked down at the bedspread, ashamed. "Yeah." He felt Sam's hand clover his own and he turned to look at him. "Will you do it? I mean, could you do it?"
"Kill her?"
Sam just nodded.
"To save the world? Yeah, I could." He stared into Sam's face. "I know what that makes me, Sam. Sometimes, in this job, you lose a part of yourself, sometimes it scares me, what I'm willing to do."
Sam found himself reaching out and cupping Dean's face. "I don't hate you, I'm sorry I said that."
Dean leaned into the touch and closed his eyes. "What're you doing, Sam? You don't want this."
"Yes, I do," Sam whispered, pushing the lap top to the side and bending forward until their lips were touching. Dean growled softly, moving closer until he was practically on Sam's lap at the same time as his tongue speared deep into Sam's all too willing mouth. Sam groaned, reaching down to grab Dean's ass, pulling him closer while Dean's hands tangled in his hair. He'd never known desire like this, sure he'd loved Jess and they'd had some pretty fantastic sex, but it didn't even come close to the feeling of just kissing Dean. The other man's lips hard and demanding, his stubble rasping Sam's face and his tongue touching, twining and stroking in ways Sam hadn't even known was possible.
"Boys." Someone said sharply and they jumped apart with a start, turning their heads to find Missouri looking at them with a grin on her face. "Even though I do appreciate that you actually seem to have been listening to me... This is not the time."
Dean and Sam exchanged a chagrined look.
"Bobby had some ideas," Missouri said, keeping a wary eye on them like she expected them to start kissing again. Given the fact that she could read minds, she was right to worry. "He said that for them to be able to get at her, they must have been weakening her strength for quite a while. Maybe through something she wore... Once she was weak enough they would have captured her, or ambushed her, using something to break the protection she gets from her tats."
"But wouldn't the tats have protected her from the thing zapping her strength too?" Sam asked.
"Maybe not," Dean said with a frown. "Sam, you get sick right?"
"Huh?" Sam asked.
"You catch flus and bugs just like anyone else."
"Yeah, but what..."
"Maybe they didn't target her powers, maybe they targeted her immune system..."
Sam's eyes widened. "I have to ask my aunt to be sure, but I think grandma was sick a lot, like normal sick, before she suddenly got like this."
Missouri nodded. "She wouldn't even have known herself there was anything supernatural about it."
Sam suddenly got up from the bed, his eyes wide, a hesitant smile breaking out across his face. "You're telling me that all we have to do is find this thing, this cursed object, destroy it, and my Grandma'll go back to how she was before?"
Dean's eyes darted to Missouri's and they shared a look. "It might not be that simple Sam," the woman said, placing her hand on his shoulder. "The cursed object isn't what's keeping her in this catatonic state, but it could be enough to make her stronger, better able to fight this thing. Think, Sam, is there something in her room or in this house that you aren't sure where it came from?"
Sam shook his head. "No, I mean... I don't even know where to start," he said helplessly.
"Let's go in her room, look around," Dean suggested. The three of them made their way across the hall and into Juna's room. Abby was just putting an IV into her arm because it had become hard to get her to eat or drink anything lately.
"Now isn't a good time," she told them only for Missouri to smile at her and put her hand on her arm.
"Abby," she said, without needing to be told the woman's name. "Can you tell us if you've noticed something in here that maybe makes you feel a little uneasy, or seems out of place?"
Abby frowned at them like they were nuts. "Um, no?"
Dean began looking round, checking the figurines and vases. "It could even have been something she already had."
Abby placed the IV into Juna's wrist, going back to her work. She pulled a tube of antiseptic cream out of her bag and began applying it to the scratches the old woman had made on her chest. Dean turned and watched her with a frown on his face. "Did she do that?"
Abby nodded and sighed sadly. "She's always doing it. I clip her nails to keep them short."
Sam looked to Dean, knowing that he was working out a theory in his head. "Dean?"
"The necklace," Dean said. "It's the same she had in that picture, yes?"
"Yeah," Sam said. "She always wears it."
"But that necklace had a green stone, didn't it?"
"Yeah, an emerald..." The both turned their heads to look at the necklace resting against Juna's pale, malnourished ribcage; the stone glinting dully in it's center was blood red.
They shared a look. "Abby, would you leave for a minute," Sam said, his eyes on the necklace.
"I..." The motherly looking woman started, but Missouri caught her arm.
"If you hurry home now... You may be able to stop the fire."
"What fire?" Abby asked, sounding scared.
"You forgot to turn off the iron this morning," Missouri said. "Your cat... Albin... Knocked it over when playing in the laundry room."
Abby's eyes turned impossibly wide with fear, her cheeks growing pale. "How can you..."
"She knows these things," Sam said. "You better do as she says."
Abby's mouth open and closed a few times before she hurried out the room without looking back.
Sam kneeled in front of his Grandma. "So what do I do? Just rip it off?"
Missouri came to join him and reached her hand out to it. "Even in this state she knew it was there, was trying to get it off."
Dean placed his hands on Sam's shoulders and watched as Missouri reached round to unclasp the necklace. She clasped in her hand, wincing at the bad feelings it was causing in her. She felt kind of sick and knew they had to destroy it. "Dean, go outside and start a fire, we've gotta burn this."
Dean nodded and ran out of the room, shortly followed by Missouri. Sam stayed there with his Grandma, holding her hand and watching as her breathing changed into something more even, less shallow. Her thin pale lips pinked before his eyes and he let out an almost hysterically grateful laugh.
"Oh Grandma, you got in my head. You showed me, didn't you?" He placed his other hand on her knee. "Show me again, how do we wake you up? Please, show me?"
By the time Missouri and Dean came back upstairs Rosemary and David were sitting with Sam on the floor around Juna's chair. Neither of them had any great knowledge about any of this stuff and they felt helpless as they waited.
"She talked to you in your dreams, didn't she?" Missouri said, looking at Sam.
"Yeah," he murmured, still looking up at his grandmother, searching her face for more signs of life.
"Dean," Missouri said in a very commanding tone. "Knock Sam out."
"What?" Both Sam and Dean said, staring at Missouri with disbelief.
"You fall asleep after sex boy?" She asked Sam, staring straight at him with a stern face.
"I'm not gonna answer that," Sam said, blushing furiously.
"So you do," Missouri said, sounding pleased. "Dean weren't you listening to me right now? Take that boy to the other room and knock him out. You’ve managed it before."
"I'm not hitting him," Dean said hotly.
"Just how dense are you," Rosemary said, directing her words to both Sam and Dean. "Sam you need to fall asleep so mom can get through to you, but Dean can't knock you over the head." She gave Dean a stern look. "And sleeping pills take too long..."
Sam blushed crimson as he suddenly understood what they were saying. "Okay, that's the most fucked up thing I've ever heard."
"Yeah," David agreed. "Being told you have to let your friend get you off so that you can fall asleep and save your Grandma, all the while knowing that we all know what you're doing." He looked at Sam sympathetically. "Well, good luck with that. We'll all go wait down stairs."
Dean looked at them all horrified as the three people left the room. "Um, you can maybe do it yourself."
Sam looked up at him. "I don’t think that’ll work. And what did she mean by you’ve done it before?”
Dean shrugged a little sheepishly and looked down at his feet. “I hate mind readers.”
Sam let out a long breath. He looked over at his Grandma, hoping to God that he didn't think of her at all. "Come one," he said to Dean as he left the room.
Dean followed Sam into the bedroom, it was dark and he knew it was probably best that way but Sam switched on the lamp beside the bed and crawled onto it. They stared at each for a moment before Sam nodded his head. "Okay, come on."
Dean just looked at him like he was repulsed by the very idea of it, which they both knew not to be true. "Sam, I'm suddenly not feeling very... I mean... I feel like I'm taking a test or something... not to mention that you don't actually want to... but maybe you do want to, I mean you seemed to want to earlier..."
"Dean, shut up," Sam simply said. "Or are you telling me you'd find it easier to shoot my grandmother then get me off?"
"No of course not, but... I mean... It might not be that great... What if..."
"Dean," Sam said again. "Shut up."
Dean closed his mouth.
"Now come here and kiss me."
Dean smiled, kissing he could do. Without hesitation he crawled on to the bed and on top of Sam, bracing himself with his legs on either side of Sam's slim hips. Sam's face came up to meet him halfway and suddenly all his stage fright disappeared. They kissed hungrily for a few minutes, grinding against each other while their tongues tangled in desperation. It was amazing how fast they forgot about the goal and just focused on the now. When Dean finally lifted his head, Sam's lips were swollen and red from kissing and his eyes looked almost black in the dim light from the bedside lamp.
Keeping their eyes locked, Dean let one of his hands slide down over Sam's chest and stomach until it was resting over the impressive bulge in his pants. Sam bit his lip, a whimper escaping him when Dean squeezed him lightly.
"You sure?" Dean asked, sliding his hand slowly over the hard length.
"What does it feel like?" Sam rasped.
Dean grinned and moved his hand to slowly open the fly, button after button popping open under his deft fingers. Sam squirmed, pushing his cock against Dean's hand eagerly. He pulled the jeans down slowly over Sam's legs and tossed them to the floor. Sam sat up just enough to remove his t-shirt and he laid back down, licking his suddenly dry lips.
"What um... what are you gonna do?" he asked, feeling that a little of his previous nerves had returned.
Dean smiled at him and crawled up his body, placing a kiss to the side of his neck. "Knock you out," he whispered before slowly making his way down to Sam's chest, his wet tongue finding Sam's nipples and teasing them in turn, his hand back on the bulge under Sam's boxer shorts.
Sam closed his eyes and just let himself feel. He felt completely blanketed by Dean and when the other man moved even lower, his mouth leaving open mouthed kisses over his navel and down the strip of hair that disappeared under his shorts, Sam bit his lip, knowing hat was about to come.
Dean kissed the encased erection, his eyes forcing Sam's to watch, to see the way he nuzzled the bulge, smelling his arousal.
"Dean," Sam gasped, his hand coming down to rest on the back of Dean's head. Dean closed his mouth around the clothed cock and moaned in the back of his throat as he tasted Sam through the fabric.
Sam writhed on the bed, pushing his hips against Dean's mouth and digging his fingers into his short hair. His breath was already coming in short jerky pants and his cock was drooling freely against the thin fabric of his boxers. Dean looked up at Sam's flushed face as he pulled the boxers down, but his eyes were soon drawn back to Sam's very impressive cock, curling up against his stomach in an elegant arch.
"Seems all of you is proportional," Dean said, before licking a stripe up the underside of Sam's cock, making him arch off the bed with a groan. "Easy," Dean murmured, pressing a firm hand against Sam's hip before letting the bulbous head of Sam's cock slide into his mouth. Sam's unique taste exploded over Dean's tongue, making him groan with pleasure as he inhaled as much of Sam's cock as he could.
The other man was moaning loudly and thrashing back and forth while Dean slowly worked his mouth up and down the rock hard shaft. One of his hands finding Sam's balls and toying lightly with them while he sucked, which made Sam make even more noise. Dean was very pleased to find that Sam was a screamer, he couldn't deny that he liked for his partners to be vocal. He let Sam's cock fall from his lips with a wet pop, grinning at the dismayed sound that Sam made. He caught and held Sam's dark eyed gaze as he let two of his own fingers slide into his own mouth, wetting them thoroughly.
Sam spread his legs wide without asking any questions, pulling his knees up to expose himself to Dean's hungry gaze. He breathed in deeply, too in need, too desperate to even think about what was happening to him, what was about to happen, he didn't care, he just wanted to come.
Dean’s wet fingers trailed around Sam's opening and even that alone was enough to make the younger man moan. He tried not to twitch on the bed but he was finding it hard to stay still, especially when his hole was stroked and why the hell wasn't Dean touching his cock anymore?
"Relax, Sammy," Dean told him through a husky voice. "I'm gonna make you feel good," he promised as he slid one of his finger into the tight entrance. One of Sam's hands tightened in the bed cover and the other reached up to grip the headboard. He groaned as the finger slowly moved in and out, wiggling and stretching him just enough so that Dean could add the other finger.
Sam's head fell back when he felt his hole stretched around the two fingers and he looked down into time to see Dean grin as he crooked his fingers inside him and found what he was looking for. Sam cried out and tried desperately not to beg, to plead but a hoarse. "Yeah," came out of his mouth and he felt himself twist down on the fingers.
Dean's eyes were glued on Sam's face as he moved his fingers in and out, rubbing over his prostate each and every time and loving the guttural sounds coming from the other man. Sam's slim body was shaking with pleasure, sweat glistening on his chest and forehead. The most delicious sounds were spilling from his lips with every scissored thrust of Dean's fingers. It only took a few more thrusts for Sam to arch of the bed with a choked scream, thick ropes of semen spurting out of him, covering his stomach and chest. His eyes locked with Dean's for a few heart stopping moments before he slumped down on the bed, his eyes falling shut.
Dean blinked, raising his head to look at Sam's face, but Sam didn't seem to be faking it, he really was out cold. Taking care not to jostle the bed Dean slid off of it, biting back a groan when his rock hard cock rubbed against the edge, before his knees found the floor. Swallowing he got up, deciding to ignore his aching erection for the time being and searched through the nightstand until he found the expected tissues. He already knew that Sam slept like the dead, but he was still very careful as he wiped the cooling come off of Sam's stomach before throwing away the tissues. He gave Sam one last long look, before leaving the room to go downstairs and join the others.
Chapter Six
They all looked up at Dean as he entered the room and he couldn't help a slight blush from creeping up his cheeks. He was pretty sure they must have heard Sam, the other man hadn't exactly been keeping his voice down and he was sure they all were wondering what they'd been doing. Well except for Missouri who was giving him a knowing smirk.
"Did it work?" Rosemary asked.
Dean shrugged, willing himself to stop blushing. "He's sleeping."
He took a seat beside Missouri and felt like he was waiting for judgment day, the four of them all sat around waiting for something to happen. Finally after a good ten minutes of silence David announced he was going to go and make some coffee, thinking it would probably be a long night. Rosemary hurriedly said she would help him and the second they were out the door Dean turned to Missouri.
"There wasn't another way?" he demanded.
The woman just smiled at him. "Of course there was. But you both wanted it and weren't doing anything about it."
Dean just looked at her like he couldn't quite believe how conniving the woman was. "And what if things are.... weird now?"
"Dean honey, your life couldn't get any weirder, but now you've got someone and I wont have to worry about you like I do your daddy," she told him.
Interfering old bat, he thought in his head, only for her to turn round and smack him around the back of his head, giving him a warning glare.
After drinking their coffee Dean decided to go back up to Sam, just in case he needed him when he woke up. This entire thing was so fucked up. He'd literally knocked a few lovers/one nightstands out before and he bet that Missouri had seen that in his mind.
As he walked down the hallway to the bedroom he stopped outside the door, looking from Sam to Sam's Grandma, both of them twitching where they were.
"Jesus," he said before going into Sam's room and sitting carefully on the bed.
Sam didn't stir, but his eyes were moving rapidly under his eyelids, fluttering back and forth. Dean patted his hand awkwardly and got up from the bed again. Just looking at Sam's laid out naked body was getting him all hot and bothered again. He spotted the comforter on the cot none of them had used last night and pulled it off, using it to cover Sam's sleeping form. Maybe it made him a pussy, but he didn't want Sam getting cold. He silently paced back and forth wondering what would happen now. Sam'd had his taste of gay sex now, maybe the only taste he would ever need and where did that leave them?
For all his thoughts about running, Dean wasn't ready to let Sam go just yet. But if this worked and they saved Sam's grandma, then he might have to. She probably wouldn't want her grandchild to disappear and Dean couldn’t stick around here forever, however nice he thought it was. With a gasp Sam sat up straight in bed and Dean was by his side immediately.
"Did it work?" Dean asked his hand fluttering nervously over Sam's shoulder.
Sam gave him an amused look. "You were there, what do you think?"
Dean swatted him at the back of the head with a slight smile. "You know that's not what I meant. Did she talk to you?"
Sam nodded, about to get up from bed when he realized he was still naked. "Um," He said.
"I'll leave you alone to get dressed," Dean said quickly not wanting to get kicked out.
"Dude," Sam said sounding exasperated. "You just had your fingers up my ass, I don't think I care if you see me naked."
"Then what?"
"Would you close the door? I don't want grandma to see me."
Dean did as he told him and waited patiently, trying to look at anything but Sam's naked body. He didn't think he could handle being turned on anymore in one day. "So, you spoke to her? What did she say."
"It was kinda jumbled, but she told me to look at her shoulder," Sam told him and Dean could hear the zipping up of his jeans.
"Her shoulder? Did you see why?"
"No, I woke up," Sam told him. Dean finally looked at him just in time to see him pulling his shirt down over his body. "Call Missouri to come up."
Dean opened the door and called the woman to come up, which made David and Rosemary come up too. The three of them looked at Sam. David seemed awkward and Missouri seemed pleased, whereas Rosemary just wanted her mother back.
"We gotta look at her shoulder," he told them as they entered Juna's room. Rosemary went over to the old woman and pulled her nightgown down a little at the back, just enough to see a tattoo.
"What am I looking for? The tattoo? Isn't it just one of her protection symbols?" Rosemary asked, moving aside so that Missouri and Dean could take a look. The tattoo looked like the number three with a tail and an eye beside it.
"It's a Hindu symbol. Om," Dean told them. "The four parts symbolize four stages of consciousness: Awake, sleeping, dreaming, and a trance like state. People chant it when meditating." He looked over at Missouri confused.
"It's gotta be what's locking her in," Sam said. "How do we get rid of it?"
Dean shook his head in confusion. "But it's a peaceful symbol."
"Dean," Missouri said patiently. "And the cross is a symbol of God, until it's turned upside down. The pentacle is a symbol of protection until reversed. We're going to have to burn it off her, I'm sorry, there's no other way."
Rosemary looked horrified at the idea of it but knew that it had to be done, it was a small price to pay to get her mom back. "I have a curling iron in my room," she suggested.
"Get it," Missouri told her, grabbing the antiseptic cream that Abby had used earlier and placing it near by.
Sam bit his lip, moving slightly closer to Dean, who put a hand on the small of his back seemingly without thinking about it.
Sam shuddered, half of him wanting to run away and the other half needing to stay. He really hoped no one would ask him to do the burning because he really didn't think he would be able to. He knew it would be doing his grandmother a favor, but he still didn't think he would be able to do it. The mere thought made Jess' burning body pass before his inner eye and he swallowed thickly.
"You want to leave?" Dean asked him, keeping his voice low.
Sam stubbornly shook his head, but slid one of his hands into Dean's back pocket, needing to feel his warmth against his skin. Dean didn't move away, he just gave him a brief smile before turning back to study the symbol.
When Rosemary reappeared with the curling iron she quickly plugged it in and handed it over to Dean. "It gets pretty hot straight away."
Dean nodded and swallowed hard as he came to stand behind the woman who looked much older than she really was. Sam had told him she was only sixty-eight, but he had seen healthier looking corpses. He waved his hand over the ceramic iron, feeling the intense heat and took a deep breath as he pressed it against her shoulder.
Everyone in the room hissed at the sound of sizzling flesh. He held it there long enough to ruin the symbol and quickly pulled away as the woman in the chair before him sucked in a deep breath and screamed out in pain, her eyes opening wide and fixing on Sam.
"Sam," she cried, almost falling off the chair in pain. Missouri ran into the bathroom and started filling the tub with water, not so cold as to give the woman a shock but cold enough to sooth the burn. She left the water running and called out to Sam, who was in front of his Grandma, on his knees holding her hand.
"Sam, carry her in here, now."
Sam did as he was told, picking up the frail woman like she was nothing. Rosemary stood there with her hand over her mouth, like she couldn't quite believe what had happened. He gently lowered his grandmother's waif thin body into the bath, holding her steady with one of his large hands. She smiled at him for a few moments, one of her skeletal hands reaching up to touch his face before she promptly passed out. Sam's first impulse was to shake her awake, but then Missouri gently touched his shoulder and shook her head.
"She's just sleeping now," she said. "And God knows she needs it."
Sam nodded, giving Missouri a grateful smile. He kept Juna in the bath for a few minutes longer before lifting her up and with Missouri's help he put a bath towel around her. He carried her back into the bedroom and put her down on the bed.
"We’ll take it from here," Rosemary said, suddenly sounding efficient and business like. "She wouldn't want you to see her like this. I'll keep watch over her tonight and if she calls for you, I promise I'll come and get you."
"She's my grandmother," Sam said stubbornly, not yet ready to let his grandma out of his sight.
"But she is my mother," Rosemary said, pulling herself up to her full height. "Samuel Eugene Nova, I changed your diapers when you were just a little baby, just because you've grown a few feet it doesn't mean you can do as you please."
"Eugene," Dean snickered behind his back, but Sam ignored him.
He stared Rosemary down for a few moments, before nodding tersely. She was right of course, however much of a mother Juna had been for him, Rosemary had first dibs. Besides, he'd just be across the hall; they could easily get him if anything changed. Giving his grandma one last long look, Sam turned on his heel and walked across the hall into his bedroom. Dean followed right behind him and closed the door after them.
"Well, what an introduction to the in laws," he joked, watching as Sam threw himself down on the bed. "I drudge up the past, make you question your entire life, including your sexuality, they not only know what we did but were the one's who insisted we do it and then to put the icing on the cake I burn Grandma."
Sam turned onto his back and just looked at him, his eyes showing complete exhaustion. "It's done, right? I mean we did our thing... so why don't I feel like we saved the day?"
Dean shrugged. "Cos it's not just another job, it's your family. You've had a rough couple of days, hell, you've had a rough couple of weeks." He looked down at Sam and wanted so much to crawl into bed with him but he didn't, instead he sat down on the cot and pulled off his shirt. "You'll have plenty of time to catch up with your Grandma again, Sam. Get some sleep tonight."
Sam nodded and frowned when Dean sat down on the cot. "What're you doing down there?"
Dean sighed and looked up at him. "I'm going to sleep."
"Dean, just come up here," Sam said impatiently.
"I don't think that's a good idea, Sammy. We both need to sleep, and I was thinking I'd probably take off in the morning."
"Take off," Sam said sitting upright. "Why would you do that?"
Dean shrugged. "I gotta move on sometime, yeah?"
"No... I mean... What? You're just gonna leave me here?"
"What do you mean, leave you? This is your home."
Sam shook his head. "Dean, this hasn't been my home for years, in fact it never really was."
"Oh," Dean said, standing up and pushing his jeans down his hips. "I see."
Sam let his eyes slide over Dean's flat muscled stomach and well-defined chest. He really didn't see Dean without his clothes on often enough.
"So," Sam said, patting the bed beside him. "How about it?"
Dean smiled a crooked little smile, rubbing his hand over his face. "I don't know."
"Dean," Sam said in exasperation. "Don't make me get Missouri to knock some sense into you."
Without waiting for Dean to answer, Sam got up on his feet and pulled his shirt off, throwing it on the floor. His jeans followed next despite the fact that he wasn't wearing any underwear since their little rendezvous earlier. He could feel Dean's eyes on him as he pulled the covers back and crawled into the bed, but the other man wasn't moving.
"Dean," Sam said tiredly. "As a wise man once said to me... Quit being an asshole and get into bed."
Dean snorted at Sam for using his own words against him and got into the bed. He laid down and instantly Sam was at his side, his hand sliding over his chest. Dean turned his head and smiled at him. "I'm exhausted, can we just sleep?"
Sam looked at him with a confused frown but nodded anyway. "Yeah, I just thought you'd be..."
Dean felt like an asshole but he just couldn't bring himself to let Sam touch him because once he had he'd need to have it again and he had no guarantee that Sam was sticking around past summer, once school started up again.
"Night, Sam," he whispered into the darkness and held his arm out for Sam to sleep against him.
The younger man smiled at the gesture and snuggled into Dean's side, placing a chaste kiss on his chest. "Goodnight, Dean."
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The following morning Dean woke up to an empty bed and for a minute he panicked, then he realized he was in Sam's house, it wouldn't be very easy for him to get away. He got of bed and pulled some clothes on, picking a clean set from his duffel bag, wondering if it wasn't time to do some laundry. Then he pushed the door to the bedroom open only to be faced with Sam sitting at his grandmother’s bedside holding her hand. She still looked pale and thin, but there was strength in her hazel eyes as she zeroed in on Dean.
"Now you must be Dean," she said, motioning for him to come closer.
"Yeah," he said, with a bleak smile.
Sam looked so happy were he was sitting, happy and young, that Dean didn't know how he'd ever be able to pull him away from her. He thought briefly about hitting him over the head and trussing him up in the trunk, then he realized that wouldn't be very productive, because Sam would run back home the first chance he got.
"So Dean," Juna said. "Sam tells me you were the one to burn me last night."
Dean swallowed and glared at Sam. "Yeah," he admitted, since his vocabulary seemed to have run off.
"Good," she said. "I admire a man that is willing to do the dirty work."
Dean smiled, moving slightly closer to the bed. "Someone had to do it," he said. He wondered what else Sam had told his grandma about, an image of Sam's face as he came popping unbidden into his mind.
"So where are you boys heading next?" Juna asked, smiling up at her grandson.
Dean gave Sam a surprised look, but Sam just grinned at him. "I don't quite know," Dean admitted.
"You'll find something," she said with a smile. "God knows there is enough evil out there to last a life time."
"But don't you want to keep Sam here," Dean blurted out.
Juna laughed. "He's too old to hang off my skirts. Besides I'll have a lot to do once I'm fully recovered. Wards have to be strengthened and such. Besides it's more than time for me to find the person that will take over after me, we came too close this time."
"I thought Sam..." Dean started.
Juna shook her head, giving Sam a fond look. "It's not that I don't think he would be capable, but being a guardian was never meant for him."
"I still don't even know what it entails," Sam confessed, only for his Grandma to pat his hand.
"And you never will, there're still some things I can protect you from," she told him. She closed her eyes, still smiling and breathed in the fresh air from the open window. The curtains were drawn back and it felt so good to feel the sunlight on her face again. "Oh," she suddenly said with a laugh, opening her eyes again. "Poor Abby, what'll she think when she sees me? And the doctors, they'll wanna write me up in a medical journal."
Dean found himself laughing with her, feeling as if the weight of loosing Sam was off his shoulders for the time being. "So, Mrs. Nova, you got any embarrassing Sammy stories for me?" he said, nodding towards Dean.
Sam's eyes widened and he sent his Grandma a warning look. "Don't you dare."
"Oh relax... Eugene," Dean said with a snicker.
"Sam," the familiar voice of Missouri came bellowing up the stairs. Sam looked as if he thought he was in trouble and quickly got up, running down the stairs. Dean was about to follow him when Mrs. Nova's hand shot out and grabbed his wrist.
"I trust you," she said when Dean turned to her with a frown. "Even though you don't trust yourself."
"People seem to have a little too much faith in me lately," Dean told her, looking down to where they were touching.
"Or maybe you don't have enough."
Dean smiled weakly. "I can't protect him," he said.
"You've been doing a great job of it so far," Juna said. "Sure, he'll be hurt. It's practically part of the job description, but with you watching his back... I'm sure he won't end up dead until his time has run out for sure."
Dean shivered. "Aren't you mad... For..." He winced.
"For turning my grandson into a pansy?" Juna laughed. "I'm happy when he’s happy, and who makes him happy doesn't matter to me."
Dean looked away, staring out the window. He wasn't sure he was making Sam happy, in fact he was pretty sure he would turn out to be yet another one of the things hurting him.
"Whatever happens, happens," Juna said, patting his hand before letting it go. "You just got to have some faith in yourself, and it will all work out."
Dean smiled weakly and nodded. "I'll take care of him," he said.
"I know you will."
Juna gave him another smile, before closing her eyes and resting back into the pillows. Dean watched her for a few minutes before turning on his heel and following Sam downstairs. Their work here was done; it was time to start looking for something new to kill. Something that hopefully would take their mind off whatever it was between them, postponing the painfully awkward conversation Dean just knew was coming, for as long as possible.
The End