fic: ripples in the river of time [4/4]
Title: ripples in the river of time
Author: Miss ‘Drea/placeofinsanity
Rating: Hard R (for sexual content)
Word Count: ~17,300
Summary: Set just after the end of Season 3, pre-Season 4. And just after “Serenity”. Castiel pulls Dean out of Hell, expecting the elder Winchester to become the pawn he’s supposed to. Instead, Dean wakes up on Serenity with no memories. Sam moves heaven and earth to find him.
Disclaimer: Firefly/Serenity and Supernatural don’t belong to me.
Notes: Title from “Time-Travel” by Indira Babbellapati
| Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four |
| 4 |
*
Once the world finishes swirling around him, Sam looks at his surroundings. He’s in a small room with a narrow but long bed. “Uh, Cas?” he says, after blinking, because he’s not sure what he was expecting, but a small tidy room with a bed that would fit him wasn’t it. “Cas, hello?”
There’s a familiar sound of displaced air and suddenly Castiel is standing in front of him. “Sam,” he says with such relief in his voice that Sam is surprised. He’s about to say something but then the angel is hugging him. “Sam, I thought the worst.”
“What the - Cas, it’s been like five minutes!” he protests, pushing at Castiel’s arms.
“No, Sam. It’s been five hundred years.” The angel is so serious that Sam almost laughs, but the look on Cas’s face stops him. “We waited at Bobby’s for days, waiting for a sign. But you never prayed. Eventually, we stopped waiting. We’d meet up at Bobby’s every year on the day, looking for some sign. I tracked down Gabriel, but he evaded me. We stopped meeting when the world began to crumble, and Crowley came to me one last time. He told me to hide in Heaven until you prayed. Crowley took his vessel on one of the ships off of Earth. I don’t know where he is now... demons cannot pray.”
Sam takes a deep breath. “Then I guess... I should find a way to get Crowley here.”
“Did I hear my name?” Sam turns to see Crowley - a thinner, mangier Crowley, but Crowley all the same - standing a few feet from them. “Christ!” he swears. “Sam Winchester!” Sam finds himself in yet another hug.
“What is going on with you two?” Sam wonders out loud.
“Never mind that,” Crowley says, dismissive. “We need to find Dean.”
Confused beyond all measure, Sam sits down on the bed that’s just behind him. “What the hell is going on?” he says, bewildered. “Why did Gabriel send me five hundred years into the future?”
Crowley runs a hand through his hair as he takes a seat next to Sam. “The humans didn’t need the apocalypse to kill the world. The Earth doesn’t exist anymore, or if it does, it’s so far away from where we are that it’s a moot point anyway.”
“How did you end up here?” Sam asks, looking over at Crowley, who’s smiling. Though still obviously different, when he grins like that he looks exactly the same as the demon who drank coffee with them in Bobby’s kitchen.
“Oh, I’m a natural at self preservation, Sam,” Crowley says expansively, waving one hand. “When the world started killing us back, the humans built space ships, and those with enough money or enough brains got on them.” Sam opens his mouth to ask, but Crowley holds up a finger. “I got Bobby on them with me. But the trip to the ‘Verse took too long and Bobby died.”
Sam winces. “How many years did it take?”
“About forty,” the demon answers. “When we landed, we landed here, on the planet we now call Londonium. Then Andromeda was the next planet terraformed, then Miranda. Miranda was the closest to Earth... it was wrong. Everything about this ‘Verse is wrong.”
Crowley looks down and away and Castiel takes over the narrative. “We met up, eventually. We only had to wait for Dean.”
“Have we found him?” Sam asks, not daring to hope.
“No,” Crowley said bluntly. “But it’s only a matter of time.”
Sam licked his lips. “What can I do now?”
Rubbing the place between his eyes, Crowley sighs. “I changed my name, they call me Badger. I... live on Persephone, and I have some cargo I think you’ll be very interested in.” Sam raises one eyebrow in question. “I got the Impala, here. We didn’t know how long we’d be, but Dean would want his ‘baby’, wouldn’t he?”
Laughing softly to himself, Sam nods. “He would.”
Castiel sits beside Sam, trench coat crinkling quietly in the sudden silence. “We’ll create your new identity. Keep in touch.”
*
“The Hunter is always watching.” That’s what they say in the underground of Londonium. The Hunter is always waiting. But no one knows for what.
Sam watches with flat, uninterested eyes as people move around the bar he now owns. It took a lot of Crowley’s - no, Badger now - money but he made it back within a few months. Crowley - Badger! - had told him to make a big enough name for himself, something that would be obvious to Dean.
Months and he’s heard nothing, seen nothing. Castiel tells him to keep hope. Badger tells him to ask more questions.
There’s a pop and the sound of displaced air that signifies Castiel’s appearance somewhere behind him. “Hey, Cas,” Sam says tiredly, rubbing his eyes. “Any news?”
“Yes,” Cas breathes, leaning down to whisper in his ear. “Crowley found him.”
Sam nearly upsets the table, he stands up so fast. “What?!” he shouts excitedly. “Where? How?”
Cas places a calming hand on Sam’s shoulder. “He’s managed to make a life for himself on the smugglers’ ship Serenity. The Captain deals with Crowley’s alter-ego often enough that it was entirely random to find Dean. But Sam... you should know. Dean remembers nothing.”
Feeling like his heart has dropped out of his chest to land somewhere on the dirty floor, Sam sinks back to his seat. “Nothing?”
“He remembers Hell. And very little of you.” Cas takes the seat beside him and leans forward with his elbows on his knees. “He’s coming here. A few weeks maybe... bringing you the cargo that he actually wants himself.”
“And?” Sam asks cautiously.
The angel smiles a little. “And you don’t have to be so suspicious all the time,” he says, not unkindly. “Relax. Breathe. Your brother is coming.”
It’s the only thing that keeps him going for the two weeks it takes for Serenity to dock at his planet.
*
When he sees Dean for the first time in almost two years, he can’t help his knee-jerk reaction and seals his lips over Dean’s. Dean is definitely not unwilling, giving as good as he gets, and Sam goes weak-kneed at the familiar taste and feel of his brother.
Then someone says, from somewhere behind Dean, “Ohh... brothers. I get it now,” and Sam is snapped back to the present.
“Dean,” he says reverently. “Dean, you have no idea how long I’ve been looking for you.” He holds Dean’s face between his hands and watches as Dean’s eyes search his face.
Another voice says, “All right. What the gorram hell is going on?” But it sounds amused, and Dean pulls away enough to turn and look at the crew of people he walked in with.
“This is Sam,” Dean says simply. “We found Sam.”
There isn’t much of a reaction from the people Dean came in with and Sam smiles, letting go of his brother. He knows how this looks. He knows it’s probably not something he wants to explain. “Hello,” he says, genially. “It’s great to meet you.”
The man in the red shirt and suspenders makes a face. “Howdy,” he responds. “I’m Captain Malcolm Reynolds, this is Jayne Cobb, and Zoe Washburne,” he introduces quickly. “We have cargo for you, I think, and then there’s a matter of payment.”
Sam nods quickly, letting Dean go. “Right. Um. Cas, can you take care of Captain Reynolds?”
*
A man that no one had noticed steps out of the shadows by the table and comes into the light. He wears a brown trench coat and Mal smiles reflexively. “Hello. I have your payment.”
Dean leans close to Sam. “Who is that guy?”
Pressing his forehead to Dean’s temple, Sam murmurs back, “That’s Castiel... he’s the guy who pulled you out of Hell.”
“Pulled me out of...?” Dean feels bile in his throat and he swallows hard. “I don’t remember.”
“I know,” Sam says gently. “I know that already. We’ll figure it out.”
*
Sam’s not entirely sure how he managed to get onto Serenity - he suspects that Cas whammied Reynolds - back next to the familiar body of his brother. “It isn’t like Mal to let people on his ship so easily,” Dean says, voice close to his ear. “So what did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything,” Sam says honestly. “But Cas did.”
Dean turns Sam around so they’re facing each other. “Yeah,” Dean says with a small smile. “And what exactly is Cas, anyway? Because I saw you sitting there... and then there was Cas. But he wasn’t sitting with you.”
Instead of responding, Sam leans forward those few inches and kisses Dean lightly. “Cas is an angel.”
“Like, of God?” Dean says blankly.
Sam chuckles. “Yeah. He’s an angel of the Lord. He’s the one who pulled you out of Hell, and the Trickster is the one who put you here.”
“And... we’re brothers?” Dean questions, even as he drifts closer to Sam. “Because it doesn’t feel like we’re brothers.”
Sam’s smile fades and he looks away. “We’re brothers. Sam and Dean Winchester, but I’ve been going by Sam Colt.”
*
“Like the gun?” Dean asks.
When the smile comes back, Dean feels unaccountably pleased. “Yeah, like the gun. But, uh... we’re a little more than that.”
Dean grins, thrusting his hips lightly against Sam’s to show his budding erection. “I figured that out for myself.”
Sam groans softly and catches Dean around the waist. “When Crowley and Cas told me you didn’t remember anything, I thought I was going to have to start from scratch and convince you that this is okay.”
“You had to convince me in the first place?” Dean asks, a little surprised. “I dreamt about this. Or, you. I dreamt about you.”
Sam draws Dean over to the bunk and settles there. He’s probably too tall, but he hasn’t lain down so Dean’s not sure. “When I was sixteen, we started... this. Dad left us alone for... I don’t know, five months, maybe? You almost died... and I kissed you.”
Dean leans his body against Sam’s, soaking up his warmth. “I knew you were looking for me. I don’t know how... but I knew.” Sam smiles, and it gives Dean a warm feeling low in his stomach.
Sam turns his head and suddenly they’re kissing again. He kisses with his whole body, dragging Dean close to him, slotting their groins together. Dean gasps when everything lines up perfectly, and the second his mouth opens, Sam is there. Sam slides his hands into Dean’s hair, surprised at the length of it. Dean presses closer, trying to climb inside Sam. He presses Sam back against his bed, nudging him into place.
He looks good down there and Dean grins before kissing him again. He lays himself out on top of his brother and sucks Sam’s lower lip into his mouth. “We’re good at this,” Dean murmurs. “I can tell.”
Sam flips them without warning, and Dean laughs up into his brother’s mouth. “Oh yeah,” he agrees. “We were always good at this part.”
They’re still kissing when Mal slides down the ladder. “You know,” he says shortly, “once you started bunking with me, you could have told us Sam wasn’t really your brother.”
Dean lifts up on his elbows and grins. “I had amnesia,” he says. “That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.”
Mal snorts. “That’s because you’re ya bun duh,” he tells Dean. [12]
Looking offended, Dean retorts, “I’ll have you know I’m a gorram tyen tsai, Mal.” [13]
Sam sits up, pulling Dean with him. “If it bothers you - wait a second, bunking with him?” There’s a flash of hurt in Sam’s eyes that Dean can’t stand knowing he put there.
Holding up his hands in the universal gesture of surrender, Mal says, “I didn’t mean to be steppin’ on your toes, Colt. He said you two were brothers. I took that literal like.”
Dean can’t really remember being torn between two people, but he doesn’t much like the feeling. He licks his lips, feeling both Sam’s and Mal’s gazes on him as he does. “I knew I was missing... someone. Sam.” He starts talking, but he’s not sure why he’s saying what he’s saying. He hates moments like this. “But I didn’t know if he was alive, or if he was dead. If he was dead, then I’d be waiting for a ghost. If he was alive, there was no way to tell if I would ever see him again.”
Sam turns to face him. “It’s okay, Dean.”
“No, it ain’t,” Mal interrupts him. “I’m no poacher.”
It’s a standoff, Sam versus Mal, and Dean can’t even referee the two. “Sam. Mal...”
The Captain shakes his head in a short jerk. “No. I ain’t about to make you choose, Winchester. We’ve been together, what? Three, four weeks? I’ll lose. I’ll drop you off wherever you choose.” Mal turns to leave the bunk, and Dean can tell he feels like it’s Inara all over again.
*
Dean’s been gone a year, but Sam can still read his expression as easily as ever. “Wait,” Sam says just before Mal reaches the ladder that leads to the hallway. “No one is making him choose.”
Mal snorts. “Ain’t that the point?”
Sam shakes his head. “No. Dean and I were never exclusive. At least, not before Hell. It’s not his way. I can handle sharing.” He raises one eyebrow in clear challenge. “Can you?” He can feel Dean’s shock from beside him and Mal’s incredulity, but he holds the position.
“Yeah...” Mal drawls. “I reckon so.” He continues his way up the ladder, with a grin and a wink at Dean. Sam can hear Mal chuckling as he walks down the hall, just before the door bangs closed on them.
Dean punches Sam in the arm. “What the hell, man?”
Sam shoots a grin at Dean. “What? Can’t handle it?”
Dean answers him by tackling him to the bed. Sam wraps his arms around Dean, kissing him deeply. It’s all they do, all night, but it feels better than Sam remembered.
*
Sam is given his own bunk, and he settles easily enough. “Hey, Cas,” he calls quietly once everyone is asleep. “You around?”
He doesn’t startle when Castiel pops in, and he smiles when he feels the angel’s familiar presence just behind him. “Sam,” he says. “I see you have succeeded.”
“Yeah,” Sam responds dryly, “and I think you had something to do with that.” He turns to look at him.
There’s a faint smile dancing around the corners of Castiel’s lips. “Would I do something like that?” he asks amicably.
“After five hundred years with only Crowley to talk to? Yes,” Sam points out. “Any thoughts?”
Cas crosses his arms over his chest, trench coat rustling. “There are a few options. You stay here, on this Firefly class ship, as a smuggler, with Dean and his Captain. You could also take Dean back to Londonium, or any other planet of your choosing, and settle down.” Sam makes a face and the smile comes back to Castiel’s face. “Your other option is... we send you home.”
“Won’t that jumpstart the apocalypse?” Sam questions, running a hand through his hair tiredly. “Because that’s pretty much the last thing I want.”
Ducking his head, Castiel bites his wind-chapped lips. “Time travel is not an exact science. I will attempt to bring you to a point in time after the apocalypse is supposed to happen.” Sam is obviously torn, and Cas puts his hand on the top of Sam’s head. “This is not a decision you must make now, nor is it one you should make alone. Sleep now, Sam. I will keep the dreams away.”
Sam shakes his head. “No. Guard Dean’s dreams tonight. He’ll remember more than me.” Cas holds up a hand and brushes it over Sam’s forehead.
“Goodnight, Sam,” he says, and vanishes to appear unseen in Dean’s bunk, where he keeps the dreams away.
*
Mal corners Sam in the kitchen two days later. “Colt,” he barks sharply and Sam jumps, eerily reminded of his father.
“Yes, Captain?” he asks, purposefully blank.
“Come with me.”
His tone brooks no discussion, so Sam stands and follows Mal to the bridge. He watches with some confusion as Mal brushes his fingers over one of the dinosaurs sitting at one of the seats. “Tzuh muh luh?” Sam asks, carefully. [14]
“Dean didn’t dream last night,” Mal answers, and it isn’t a question. Sam nods and shrugs once. “You’re good for him, Colt.”
Sam presses his lips together and admits, “So are you.”
Mal steps into his space and Sam can’t help but tense. “You two react in a lot of same ways. Your... other name. The Hunter. Explain.”
It’s also not a question and Sam sighs. “Before Hell, Dean and I were hunters.”
“Like bounty hunters?” Mal asks sharply. “Because I don’t cross with bounty hunters.”
Sam shakes his head rapidly. “No, not bounty hunters. The... planet we grew up on, it wasn’t like these other terraformed planets. It was already formed, breathable atmosphere, sustainable life. But it had... problems.” Sam crosses his arms over his chest. “Two ships’ worth of people landed on that planet. I was born there, planet side, but we weren’t the only ones there. We became hunters, Dean and I, because that was the only way to survive. Once we managed to get passage to someplace not there... Dean got sent to Hell, and I spent the last year and four months trying to find him.”
It’s the perfect blend of lies and the truth. Mal stares at him for a long moment before speaking. “How did Dean get sent to Hell?”
“It was me,” Sam murmurs. “One of the other hunters, he was killing other people. I confronted him. I killed him. When the authorities were closing in, when I thought for sure it was my end, Dean stepped forward and confessed. He was given some time to say his goodbyes. And then he was gone.” Slowly, Sam drags his eyes up look at Mal. “It was me,” he repeats, simply.
Mal takes another step forward and uses the forefinger of his right hand to tilt Sam’s face up towards his. “No it wasn’t,” Mal says, his voice matter-of-fact. “It was them, an’ whoever it was you killed.”
Sam opens his mouth to deny it, but Mal drops a kiss, light and chaste and completely surprising, onto Sam’s upturned lips. “Wh...?” he starts to say but Mal cuts him off again.
“Bizui,” Mal suggests. “I don’t much like sharing. Besides, you an’ Dean are some bit of...” He trails off with a cavalier grin. “We all have something to hide, and we all have people we left behind. I ain’t about to get in the way of you two. Between you two, maybe, but not in the way of.”
At first Sam is completely lost. As Mal turns to walk away though, the reality of the Captain’s words sink in, and Sam can’t help but laugh.
*
When Dean goes looking for his brother, he passes Kaylee and River in the kitchen. He’s about to ask if they’ve seen Sam, when he hears Kaylee say, “I saw the Captain kissin’ Sam in the cockpit not five minutes ago!” to River.
River’s response is unclear to Dean; he doesn’t know what she says, but he’s too shocked to really care. “Hoo-tsuh!” she says as Dean decides not to finish walking into the room. [15]
He’d been worried that they’d have to leave. That Sam would take him back to Earth, or wherever it is they come from, and he’d leave this life behind.
Maybe now he doesn’t have to worry.
That night he goes back to his bunk, and when he hears the hatch door open and two sets of footsteps coming down the ladder, he grins in the darkness.
Jing tsai. [16]
*
Mal’s never pegged himself as the kind of fella who liked to watch. He’s surprised to find himself now leaning against the chair in Dean’s bunk, watching Winchester and Colt kiss heatedly. Colt - Sam - said that they’d been together for most of their lives, but Dean can’t remember any of it. It’s all new to him, and to Mal.
Sam hauls Dean closer, and Mal’s cock twitches in his pants when Dean groans into the other man’s mouth. Mal drops a hand down to his groin and palms himself roughly, groaning himself.
Sam breaks the kiss at the noise to look over at Mal, his lips kiss-swollen and red. “You’re awful far away, Captain,” Dean drawls, pressing closer to Sam.
“I ain’t allowed to admire a pretty picture?” Mal responds with a wide grin. “You two were busy.”
Dean glances at Sam, and Mal watches a whole conversation happen in their eyes before he finds himself suddenly grabbed and yanked into the circle of their arms. He’s shorter than either man, and he feels dwarfed by them as they begin stripping him efficiently. Sam takes his suspenders, looping them playfully around his wrists before tugging Mal fully onto the bed and discarding them.
He’s momentarily distracted by Dean’s full mouth, and Sam immediately starts in on Mal’s pants. Before long, Mal is naked between them and he has a quick thought that he should start stripping them before Sam’s mouth is suddenly on Mal’s cock.
Mal would swear in front of Shepherd Book that he doesn’t keen when Sam swallows him down. Dean shifts off the bunk to nudge Sam onto his hands and knees, who remains cradled between Mal’s open thighs. Mal isn’t entirely sure what to do with his hands at first - some of his partners loved their hair being pulled, but some didn’t, and he doesn’t want to misstep with Sam.
As Sam slides his tongue down the shaft of Mal’s cock, he spreads Mal’s thighs wider. Mal gasps, shoving one fist in his mouth to keep from making too much noise. Sam grins when he does, and Dean takes it upon himself to wipe the expression from Sam’s face. He spreads Sam’s legs, pushing them to the very limits of the bed.
Mal bites down on his hand when Sam swallows around him, his nose pressed to Mal’s body. He bites down harder when Dean starts in on Sam, spreading his cheeks and pressing his lips to the skin he finds there. Sam groans around Mal, who seizes when he does. “Gwai!” Mal hisses as Sam begins to suck. [17]
Sam seems to agree with him, because he doubles his efforts and then Dean is moving too. Mal’s brain melts away as he watches without blinking as Dean slicks himself with spit and slides his cock into Sam’s willing body.
They’re connected, in every way, and Mal can’t even - he can’t - and his whole body feels like molten lava burning and he comes. When Sam pulls off him, Mal immediately moves up the bed to push at Sam’s broad chest. Dean helps him get Sam up far enough so Mal can push Sam’s pants down the rest of the way.
They don’t last long. Dean and Sam come hard, Sam all over Mal’s hand, and Dean deep inside Sam. The three collapse to the bed together.
“Liuo mahng,” Mal says, breathing hard. [18]
*
Sam presses his forehead to Dean’s shoulder and listens as Mal’s and Dean’s breathing evens out in sleep. “Cas?” he questions quietly, shifting up and pulling the sheet up to cover his lovers.
“I am here, Sam,” the angel answers just as quietly from the shadows. “Sleep. I will guard your dreams.”
He snuggles down between Dean and the wall, feeling Castiel’s fingers brush over his forehead. “Night, Cas,” he murmurs, and falls under the grip of Grace.
Castiel takes a seat in the kitchen, away from the small, slightly claustrophobic room, hiding himself from prying eyes. He looks up when the girl named River Tam glides through the room to get to the bridge. She stops just before leaving the room and turns to look back at the table.
“Don’t worry,” she says.
He looks down at himself to make sure he’s still invisible to human eyes.
River smiles. “I won’t tell anyone you’re here.”
*end
Author: Miss ‘Drea/placeofinsanity
Rating: Hard R (for sexual content)
Word Count: ~17,300
Summary: Set just after the end of Season 3, pre-Season 4. And just after “Serenity”. Castiel pulls Dean out of Hell, expecting the elder Winchester to become the pawn he’s supposed to. Instead, Dean wakes up on Serenity with no memories. Sam moves heaven and earth to find him.
Disclaimer: Firefly/Serenity and Supernatural don’t belong to me.
Notes: Title from “Time-Travel” by Indira Babbellapati
| Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four |
| 4 |
*
Once the world finishes swirling around him, Sam looks at his surroundings. He’s in a small room with a narrow but long bed. “Uh, Cas?” he says, after blinking, because he’s not sure what he was expecting, but a small tidy room with a bed that would fit him wasn’t it. “Cas, hello?”
There’s a familiar sound of displaced air and suddenly Castiel is standing in front of him. “Sam,” he says with such relief in his voice that Sam is surprised. He’s about to say something but then the angel is hugging him. “Sam, I thought the worst.”
“What the - Cas, it’s been like five minutes!” he protests, pushing at Castiel’s arms.
“No, Sam. It’s been five hundred years.” The angel is so serious that Sam almost laughs, but the look on Cas’s face stops him. “We waited at Bobby’s for days, waiting for a sign. But you never prayed. Eventually, we stopped waiting. We’d meet up at Bobby’s every year on the day, looking for some sign. I tracked down Gabriel, but he evaded me. We stopped meeting when the world began to crumble, and Crowley came to me one last time. He told me to hide in Heaven until you prayed. Crowley took his vessel on one of the ships off of Earth. I don’t know where he is now... demons cannot pray.”
Sam takes a deep breath. “Then I guess... I should find a way to get Crowley here.”
“Did I hear my name?” Sam turns to see Crowley - a thinner, mangier Crowley, but Crowley all the same - standing a few feet from them. “Christ!” he swears. “Sam Winchester!” Sam finds himself in yet another hug.
“What is going on with you two?” Sam wonders out loud.
“Never mind that,” Crowley says, dismissive. “We need to find Dean.”
Confused beyond all measure, Sam sits down on the bed that’s just behind him. “What the hell is going on?” he says, bewildered. “Why did Gabriel send me five hundred years into the future?”
Crowley runs a hand through his hair as he takes a seat next to Sam. “The humans didn’t need the apocalypse to kill the world. The Earth doesn’t exist anymore, or if it does, it’s so far away from where we are that it’s a moot point anyway.”
“How did you end up here?” Sam asks, looking over at Crowley, who’s smiling. Though still obviously different, when he grins like that he looks exactly the same as the demon who drank coffee with them in Bobby’s kitchen.
“Oh, I’m a natural at self preservation, Sam,” Crowley says expansively, waving one hand. “When the world started killing us back, the humans built space ships, and those with enough money or enough brains got on them.” Sam opens his mouth to ask, but Crowley holds up a finger. “I got Bobby on them with me. But the trip to the ‘Verse took too long and Bobby died.”
Sam winces. “How many years did it take?”
“About forty,” the demon answers. “When we landed, we landed here, on the planet we now call Londonium. Then Andromeda was the next planet terraformed, then Miranda. Miranda was the closest to Earth... it was wrong. Everything about this ‘Verse is wrong.”
Crowley looks down and away and Castiel takes over the narrative. “We met up, eventually. We only had to wait for Dean.”
“Have we found him?” Sam asks, not daring to hope.
“No,” Crowley said bluntly. “But it’s only a matter of time.”
Sam licked his lips. “What can I do now?”
Rubbing the place between his eyes, Crowley sighs. “I changed my name, they call me Badger. I... live on Persephone, and I have some cargo I think you’ll be very interested in.” Sam raises one eyebrow in question. “I got the Impala, here. We didn’t know how long we’d be, but Dean would want his ‘baby’, wouldn’t he?”
Laughing softly to himself, Sam nods. “He would.”
Castiel sits beside Sam, trench coat crinkling quietly in the sudden silence. “We’ll create your new identity. Keep in touch.”
*
“The Hunter is always watching.” That’s what they say in the underground of Londonium. The Hunter is always waiting. But no one knows for what.
Sam watches with flat, uninterested eyes as people move around the bar he now owns. It took a lot of Crowley’s - no, Badger now - money but he made it back within a few months. Crowley - Badger! - had told him to make a big enough name for himself, something that would be obvious to Dean.
Months and he’s heard nothing, seen nothing. Castiel tells him to keep hope. Badger tells him to ask more questions.
There’s a pop and the sound of displaced air that signifies Castiel’s appearance somewhere behind him. “Hey, Cas,” Sam says tiredly, rubbing his eyes. “Any news?”
“Yes,” Cas breathes, leaning down to whisper in his ear. “Crowley found him.”
Sam nearly upsets the table, he stands up so fast. “What?!” he shouts excitedly. “Where? How?”
Cas places a calming hand on Sam’s shoulder. “He’s managed to make a life for himself on the smugglers’ ship Serenity. The Captain deals with Crowley’s alter-ego often enough that it was entirely random to find Dean. But Sam... you should know. Dean remembers nothing.”
Feeling like his heart has dropped out of his chest to land somewhere on the dirty floor, Sam sinks back to his seat. “Nothing?”
“He remembers Hell. And very little of you.” Cas takes the seat beside him and leans forward with his elbows on his knees. “He’s coming here. A few weeks maybe... bringing you the cargo that he actually wants himself.”
“And?” Sam asks cautiously.
The angel smiles a little. “And you don’t have to be so suspicious all the time,” he says, not unkindly. “Relax. Breathe. Your brother is coming.”
It’s the only thing that keeps him going for the two weeks it takes for Serenity to dock at his planet.
*
When he sees Dean for the first time in almost two years, he can’t help his knee-jerk reaction and seals his lips over Dean’s. Dean is definitely not unwilling, giving as good as he gets, and Sam goes weak-kneed at the familiar taste and feel of his brother.
Then someone says, from somewhere behind Dean, “Ohh... brothers. I get it now,” and Sam is snapped back to the present.
“Dean,” he says reverently. “Dean, you have no idea how long I’ve been looking for you.” He holds Dean’s face between his hands and watches as Dean’s eyes search his face.
Another voice says, “All right. What the gorram hell is going on?” But it sounds amused, and Dean pulls away enough to turn and look at the crew of people he walked in with.
“This is Sam,” Dean says simply. “We found Sam.”
There isn’t much of a reaction from the people Dean came in with and Sam smiles, letting go of his brother. He knows how this looks. He knows it’s probably not something he wants to explain. “Hello,” he says, genially. “It’s great to meet you.”
The man in the red shirt and suspenders makes a face. “Howdy,” he responds. “I’m Captain Malcolm Reynolds, this is Jayne Cobb, and Zoe Washburne,” he introduces quickly. “We have cargo for you, I think, and then there’s a matter of payment.”
Sam nods quickly, letting Dean go. “Right. Um. Cas, can you take care of Captain Reynolds?”
*
A man that no one had noticed steps out of the shadows by the table and comes into the light. He wears a brown trench coat and Mal smiles reflexively. “Hello. I have your payment.”
Dean leans close to Sam. “Who is that guy?”
Pressing his forehead to Dean’s temple, Sam murmurs back, “That’s Castiel... he’s the guy who pulled you out of Hell.”
“Pulled me out of...?” Dean feels bile in his throat and he swallows hard. “I don’t remember.”
“I know,” Sam says gently. “I know that already. We’ll figure it out.”
*
Sam’s not entirely sure how he managed to get onto Serenity - he suspects that Cas whammied Reynolds - back next to the familiar body of his brother. “It isn’t like Mal to let people on his ship so easily,” Dean says, voice close to his ear. “So what did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything,” Sam says honestly. “But Cas did.”
Dean turns Sam around so they’re facing each other. “Yeah,” Dean says with a small smile. “And what exactly is Cas, anyway? Because I saw you sitting there... and then there was Cas. But he wasn’t sitting with you.”
Instead of responding, Sam leans forward those few inches and kisses Dean lightly. “Cas is an angel.”
“Like, of God?” Dean says blankly.
Sam chuckles. “Yeah. He’s an angel of the Lord. He’s the one who pulled you out of Hell, and the Trickster is the one who put you here.”
“And... we’re brothers?” Dean questions, even as he drifts closer to Sam. “Because it doesn’t feel like we’re brothers.”
Sam’s smile fades and he looks away. “We’re brothers. Sam and Dean Winchester, but I’ve been going by Sam Colt.”
*
“Like the gun?” Dean asks.
When the smile comes back, Dean feels unaccountably pleased. “Yeah, like the gun. But, uh... we’re a little more than that.”
Dean grins, thrusting his hips lightly against Sam’s to show his budding erection. “I figured that out for myself.”
Sam groans softly and catches Dean around the waist. “When Crowley and Cas told me you didn’t remember anything, I thought I was going to have to start from scratch and convince you that this is okay.”
“You had to convince me in the first place?” Dean asks, a little surprised. “I dreamt about this. Or, you. I dreamt about you.”
Sam draws Dean over to the bunk and settles there. He’s probably too tall, but he hasn’t lain down so Dean’s not sure. “When I was sixteen, we started... this. Dad left us alone for... I don’t know, five months, maybe? You almost died... and I kissed you.”
Dean leans his body against Sam’s, soaking up his warmth. “I knew you were looking for me. I don’t know how... but I knew.” Sam smiles, and it gives Dean a warm feeling low in his stomach.
Sam turns his head and suddenly they’re kissing again. He kisses with his whole body, dragging Dean close to him, slotting their groins together. Dean gasps when everything lines up perfectly, and the second his mouth opens, Sam is there. Sam slides his hands into Dean’s hair, surprised at the length of it. Dean presses closer, trying to climb inside Sam. He presses Sam back against his bed, nudging him into place.
He looks good down there and Dean grins before kissing him again. He lays himself out on top of his brother and sucks Sam’s lower lip into his mouth. “We’re good at this,” Dean murmurs. “I can tell.”
Sam flips them without warning, and Dean laughs up into his brother’s mouth. “Oh yeah,” he agrees. “We were always good at this part.”
They’re still kissing when Mal slides down the ladder. “You know,” he says shortly, “once you started bunking with me, you could have told us Sam wasn’t really your brother.”
Dean lifts up on his elbows and grins. “I had amnesia,” he says. “That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.”
Mal snorts. “That’s because you’re ya bun duh,” he tells Dean. [12]
Looking offended, Dean retorts, “I’ll have you know I’m a gorram tyen tsai, Mal.” [13]
Sam sits up, pulling Dean with him. “If it bothers you - wait a second, bunking with him?” There’s a flash of hurt in Sam’s eyes that Dean can’t stand knowing he put there.
Holding up his hands in the universal gesture of surrender, Mal says, “I didn’t mean to be steppin’ on your toes, Colt. He said you two were brothers. I took that literal like.”
Dean can’t really remember being torn between two people, but he doesn’t much like the feeling. He licks his lips, feeling both Sam’s and Mal’s gazes on him as he does. “I knew I was missing... someone. Sam.” He starts talking, but he’s not sure why he’s saying what he’s saying. He hates moments like this. “But I didn’t know if he was alive, or if he was dead. If he was dead, then I’d be waiting for a ghost. If he was alive, there was no way to tell if I would ever see him again.”
Sam turns to face him. “It’s okay, Dean.”
“No, it ain’t,” Mal interrupts him. “I’m no poacher.”
It’s a standoff, Sam versus Mal, and Dean can’t even referee the two. “Sam. Mal...”
The Captain shakes his head in a short jerk. “No. I ain’t about to make you choose, Winchester. We’ve been together, what? Three, four weeks? I’ll lose. I’ll drop you off wherever you choose.” Mal turns to leave the bunk, and Dean can tell he feels like it’s Inara all over again.
*
Dean’s been gone a year, but Sam can still read his expression as easily as ever. “Wait,” Sam says just before Mal reaches the ladder that leads to the hallway. “No one is making him choose.”
Mal snorts. “Ain’t that the point?”
Sam shakes his head. “No. Dean and I were never exclusive. At least, not before Hell. It’s not his way. I can handle sharing.” He raises one eyebrow in clear challenge. “Can you?” He can feel Dean’s shock from beside him and Mal’s incredulity, but he holds the position.
“Yeah...” Mal drawls. “I reckon so.” He continues his way up the ladder, with a grin and a wink at Dean. Sam can hear Mal chuckling as he walks down the hall, just before the door bangs closed on them.
Dean punches Sam in the arm. “What the hell, man?”
Sam shoots a grin at Dean. “What? Can’t handle it?”
Dean answers him by tackling him to the bed. Sam wraps his arms around Dean, kissing him deeply. It’s all they do, all night, but it feels better than Sam remembered.
*
Sam is given his own bunk, and he settles easily enough. “Hey, Cas,” he calls quietly once everyone is asleep. “You around?”
He doesn’t startle when Castiel pops in, and he smiles when he feels the angel’s familiar presence just behind him. “Sam,” he says. “I see you have succeeded.”
“Yeah,” Sam responds dryly, “and I think you had something to do with that.” He turns to look at him.
There’s a faint smile dancing around the corners of Castiel’s lips. “Would I do something like that?” he asks amicably.
“After five hundred years with only Crowley to talk to? Yes,” Sam points out. “Any thoughts?”
Cas crosses his arms over his chest, trench coat rustling. “There are a few options. You stay here, on this Firefly class ship, as a smuggler, with Dean and his Captain. You could also take Dean back to Londonium, or any other planet of your choosing, and settle down.” Sam makes a face and the smile comes back to Castiel’s face. “Your other option is... we send you home.”
“Won’t that jumpstart the apocalypse?” Sam questions, running a hand through his hair tiredly. “Because that’s pretty much the last thing I want.”
Ducking his head, Castiel bites his wind-chapped lips. “Time travel is not an exact science. I will attempt to bring you to a point in time after the apocalypse is supposed to happen.” Sam is obviously torn, and Cas puts his hand on the top of Sam’s head. “This is not a decision you must make now, nor is it one you should make alone. Sleep now, Sam. I will keep the dreams away.”
Sam shakes his head. “No. Guard Dean’s dreams tonight. He’ll remember more than me.” Cas holds up a hand and brushes it over Sam’s forehead.
“Goodnight, Sam,” he says, and vanishes to appear unseen in Dean’s bunk, where he keeps the dreams away.
*
Mal corners Sam in the kitchen two days later. “Colt,” he barks sharply and Sam jumps, eerily reminded of his father.
“Yes, Captain?” he asks, purposefully blank.
“Come with me.”
His tone brooks no discussion, so Sam stands and follows Mal to the bridge. He watches with some confusion as Mal brushes his fingers over one of the dinosaurs sitting at one of the seats. “Tzuh muh luh?” Sam asks, carefully. [14]
“Dean didn’t dream last night,” Mal answers, and it isn’t a question. Sam nods and shrugs once. “You’re good for him, Colt.”
Sam presses his lips together and admits, “So are you.”
Mal steps into his space and Sam can’t help but tense. “You two react in a lot of same ways. Your... other name. The Hunter. Explain.”
It’s also not a question and Sam sighs. “Before Hell, Dean and I were hunters.”
“Like bounty hunters?” Mal asks sharply. “Because I don’t cross with bounty hunters.”
Sam shakes his head rapidly. “No, not bounty hunters. The... planet we grew up on, it wasn’t like these other terraformed planets. It was already formed, breathable atmosphere, sustainable life. But it had... problems.” Sam crosses his arms over his chest. “Two ships’ worth of people landed on that planet. I was born there, planet side, but we weren’t the only ones there. We became hunters, Dean and I, because that was the only way to survive. Once we managed to get passage to someplace not there... Dean got sent to Hell, and I spent the last year and four months trying to find him.”
It’s the perfect blend of lies and the truth. Mal stares at him for a long moment before speaking. “How did Dean get sent to Hell?”
“It was me,” Sam murmurs. “One of the other hunters, he was killing other people. I confronted him. I killed him. When the authorities were closing in, when I thought for sure it was my end, Dean stepped forward and confessed. He was given some time to say his goodbyes. And then he was gone.” Slowly, Sam drags his eyes up look at Mal. “It was me,” he repeats, simply.
Mal takes another step forward and uses the forefinger of his right hand to tilt Sam’s face up towards his. “No it wasn’t,” Mal says, his voice matter-of-fact. “It was them, an’ whoever it was you killed.”
Sam opens his mouth to deny it, but Mal drops a kiss, light and chaste and completely surprising, onto Sam’s upturned lips. “Wh...?” he starts to say but Mal cuts him off again.
“Bizui,” Mal suggests. “I don’t much like sharing. Besides, you an’ Dean are some bit of...” He trails off with a cavalier grin. “We all have something to hide, and we all have people we left behind. I ain’t about to get in the way of you two. Between you two, maybe, but not in the way of.”
At first Sam is completely lost. As Mal turns to walk away though, the reality of the Captain’s words sink in, and Sam can’t help but laugh.
*
When Dean goes looking for his brother, he passes Kaylee and River in the kitchen. He’s about to ask if they’ve seen Sam, when he hears Kaylee say, “I saw the Captain kissin’ Sam in the cockpit not five minutes ago!” to River.
River’s response is unclear to Dean; he doesn’t know what she says, but he’s too shocked to really care. “Hoo-tsuh!” she says as Dean decides not to finish walking into the room. [15]
He’d been worried that they’d have to leave. That Sam would take him back to Earth, or wherever it is they come from, and he’d leave this life behind.
Maybe now he doesn’t have to worry.
That night he goes back to his bunk, and when he hears the hatch door open and two sets of footsteps coming down the ladder, he grins in the darkness.
Jing tsai. [16]
*
Mal’s never pegged himself as the kind of fella who liked to watch. He’s surprised to find himself now leaning against the chair in Dean’s bunk, watching Winchester and Colt kiss heatedly. Colt - Sam - said that they’d been together for most of their lives, but Dean can’t remember any of it. It’s all new to him, and to Mal.
Sam hauls Dean closer, and Mal’s cock twitches in his pants when Dean groans into the other man’s mouth. Mal drops a hand down to his groin and palms himself roughly, groaning himself.
Sam breaks the kiss at the noise to look over at Mal, his lips kiss-swollen and red. “You’re awful far away, Captain,” Dean drawls, pressing closer to Sam.
“I ain’t allowed to admire a pretty picture?” Mal responds with a wide grin. “You two were busy.”
Dean glances at Sam, and Mal watches a whole conversation happen in their eyes before he finds himself suddenly grabbed and yanked into the circle of their arms. He’s shorter than either man, and he feels dwarfed by them as they begin stripping him efficiently. Sam takes his suspenders, looping them playfully around his wrists before tugging Mal fully onto the bed and discarding them.
He’s momentarily distracted by Dean’s full mouth, and Sam immediately starts in on Mal’s pants. Before long, Mal is naked between them and he has a quick thought that he should start stripping them before Sam’s mouth is suddenly on Mal’s cock.
Mal would swear in front of Shepherd Book that he doesn’t keen when Sam swallows him down. Dean shifts off the bunk to nudge Sam onto his hands and knees, who remains cradled between Mal’s open thighs. Mal isn’t entirely sure what to do with his hands at first - some of his partners loved their hair being pulled, but some didn’t, and he doesn’t want to misstep with Sam.
As Sam slides his tongue down the shaft of Mal’s cock, he spreads Mal’s thighs wider. Mal gasps, shoving one fist in his mouth to keep from making too much noise. Sam grins when he does, and Dean takes it upon himself to wipe the expression from Sam’s face. He spreads Sam’s legs, pushing them to the very limits of the bed.
Mal bites down on his hand when Sam swallows around him, his nose pressed to Mal’s body. He bites down harder when Dean starts in on Sam, spreading his cheeks and pressing his lips to the skin he finds there. Sam groans around Mal, who seizes when he does. “Gwai!” Mal hisses as Sam begins to suck. [17]
Sam seems to agree with him, because he doubles his efforts and then Dean is moving too. Mal’s brain melts away as he watches without blinking as Dean slicks himself with spit and slides his cock into Sam’s willing body.
They’re connected, in every way, and Mal can’t even - he can’t - and his whole body feels like molten lava burning and he comes. When Sam pulls off him, Mal immediately moves up the bed to push at Sam’s broad chest. Dean helps him get Sam up far enough so Mal can push Sam’s pants down the rest of the way.
They don’t last long. Dean and Sam come hard, Sam all over Mal’s hand, and Dean deep inside Sam. The three collapse to the bed together.
“Liuo mahng,” Mal says, breathing hard. [18]
*
Sam presses his forehead to Dean’s shoulder and listens as Mal’s and Dean’s breathing evens out in sleep. “Cas?” he questions quietly, shifting up and pulling the sheet up to cover his lovers.
“I am here, Sam,” the angel answers just as quietly from the shadows. “Sleep. I will guard your dreams.”
He snuggles down between Dean and the wall, feeling Castiel’s fingers brush over his forehead. “Night, Cas,” he murmurs, and falls under the grip of Grace.
Castiel takes a seat in the kitchen, away from the small, slightly claustrophobic room, hiding himself from prying eyes. He looks up when the girl named River Tam glides through the room to get to the bridge. She stops just before leaving the room and turns to look back at the table.
“Don’t worry,” she says.
He looks down at himself to make sure he’s still invisible to human eyes.
River smiles. “I won’t tell anyone you’re here.”
*end