Lies Become Truth Chapter 2
Sam drove as long as he could force himself to while cursing Dean’s love affair with this damn car. It would be so much easier if he could just dump the thing somewhere. It wasn’t exactly inconspicuous. As much as it might make things slightly less complicated in the short run, he knew if he did abandon it he might as well slit his own throat.
It wasn’t even about what Dean would do to him; it was what it would do to Dean. This stupid car was one of the only things Dean had been able to hold onto. He knew Dean didn’t think he got that, but he got a lot more about Dean than his brother thought.
It didn’t matter if he had to keep driving all the way to Alaska and then load the car onto a boat to China. The Impala wasn’t going anywhere. And neither was Dean.
Anxiously Sam glanced over to the rearview mirror. He had been winding around back streets, driving in circles for all he knew, but the street behind him was clear so he had to be doing something right. This time though he wasn’t looking to see if he was being followed, but was checking on his still silent brother.
Dean remained slumped haphazardly on the back seat. The jostling of the car driving down the road didn’t allow Sam the comfort of being able to make out the movement of Dean’s chest, but his brother was going to be fine. He had to be. That was the only option Sam was accepting.
That was the only certainty in his mind as he struggled to concoct a plan. At this point he wasn’t even sure where they were let alone where he was planning on going. All he knew was that staying hadn’t been an option. There was no way he could have risked the police separating them when he didn’t even know what Dean’s condition was.
Of course he likely would have ran even if nothing had happened to Dean. If his brother ended up locked in an interrogation room, or worse, it would end bloody for all involved. Dean was walking a scary fine line lately. Sam knew it was because his brother thought there was nothing left to lose, but that just wasn’t true.
As for the cops, they were just trying to do their job. There was no way that they could understand that they were trying to protect the world from the guys that were struggling to save it. Knowing that fact still didn’t make the unnecessary stress of having the human law after them any easier. It was getting real old and they didn’t have time for it. Dean didn’t have the time.
Despite all the distance he wanted to put between them and the police, it wouldn’t actually do any good unless they left the county and Dean had already made it crystal clear that he wasn’t going for that. The FBI would hunt them wherever they ran in this country, but that was nothing new. Right now he just needed the distance between them and the Camden city police.
With any luck he was soon going to hit the Benjamin Franklin Bridge back over the state line into Pennsylvania. He couldn’t go much further than that because unfortunately the chances were good that he was going to have to hunt down these demons to figure out what they had done to his brother. That was assuming that the demons didn’t track them down first.
When he heard a pained moan come from the back seat Sam took the first possible turn off the road. He pulled into an empty loading area and killed the engine. The area was nicely isolated and lit thanks to the harsh light from the warehouse’s loading gate.
He practically flew out of the car and threw open the backdoor. There was no way of knowing what to expect when Dean awoke or even if it would be Dean at all. He knew he should be taking precautions for that latter option, but if these demons had the ability to bypass their anti-possession tattoos then he couldn’t imagine that they would have been screwing around with injections.
Reaching into the car, Sam carefully worked to adjust Dean’s awkward position on the back seat. It looked like his brother was going to have enough trouble telling up from down without his head actually hanging upside down off the seat. His hand was still supporting Dean’s head when his brother started to come to.
“Hey,” Sam coaxed as Dean’s ridiculously long eyelashes began to flutter.
“Sammy?” he asked groggily.
Dean’s eyes were distant, as if they really weren’t seeing him, but his brother remembered his name. Sort of. It was at least what Dean insisted his name was. That was a good sign anyway. Right now he couldn’t have been more relieved to hear that stupid little kid nickname.
“Yeah. I gotcha, Dean.”
He started to slowly help Dean into a seated position but a second later his brother jerked from his arms and scooted further into the car. Dean’s glassy hazel eyes darted around wildly, but the burst of movement nearly instantly caught up with his brother.
Sam had to climb part way into the back of the car to steady Dean when his brother began tipping over again. As he grabbed Dean’s arm he could feel how painfully tense the muscles were. He prayed that the sudden panic clouding his brother’s features was just Dean remembering what had happened.
“Hey, you’re alright, man,” Sam assured him.
“Demons.”
Sam shot a look behind his back just to be sure before answering. “They’re gone. Just slow down, okay? You took some nasty blows to the head back there. How do you feel?”
“It hurts.”
That simple phrase terrified Sam. Unhelpful sarcasm he expected, but it was clear from his brother’s tone that this wasn’t him being funny. It wasn’t at all like Dean to admit to being hurt even when he literally had his guts hanging out. If his brother was verbally acknowledging it, then he had to be in serious pain and it wasn’t like Sam could take him to a hospital anywhere near here.
“What does?”
Despite how scared he was for his brother, he forced his tone to remain calm as he spoke. Freaking out wasn’t going to help Dean. He just had to figure out what was wrong and deal with it.
“My head. My back...everything,” Dean closed his eyes and absently flexed his sore hand.
Sam grimaced and choked back the anger rising in him. He was going to find those demons and they were going to pay for this. But that was for later. Right now he had to take care of his brother.
He settled onto the seat beside Dean and reached his hand behind Dean’s head to make sure he still couldn’t find any serious quantities of blood. There was a nasty, tender lump but it wasn’t anything Dean hadn’t had before. Though the repeated head injuries might explain a few things... He’d have to remember to harass Dean about that later when he wasn’t too worried to try to cheer Dean up.
His eyes moved to his brother’s awkwardly clenched fist. It would be no surprise if Dean had a broken finger or two, but they could deal with that later. If Dean said he was hurting there had to be a serious injury that he was missing somewhere.
Dean’s tolerance for Sam checking him over ended abruptly when Sam started to pull the bottom of his brother’s dress shirt free from his pants. He was pushed away with far more strength than Sam would have thought Dean capable of considering how injured his brother said he was. The sudden force caught him so off guard that Sam was just barely able to catch himself to stop from falling backwards out of the car.
“Dude! Why the hell are you stripping me?”
When Sam’s surprised eyes looked back at Dean he saw that the disoriented look was all but gone from his brother. Sam moved his finger in front of Dean’s eyes. His brother seemed to be focusing in on him fine now and looked pissed. That irritated glare shooting at him gave Sam much needed relief.
“I’m just checking to see if anything’s broken,” Sam explained.
“Your head is. Leave my damn clothes on. I’ve been worked over enough for one night.”
Despite his relief, he gave Dean a concerned look. A moment ago everything hurt and now his brother was acting completely normal. Something wasn’t right here.
Dean straightened his posture on the seat and looked around. It was obvious from the way Dean was moving that everything did still hurt, it just looked like his brother had gone back to not caring. Dean still looked confused, but that was probably just because he had no idea where they were. That made two of them.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know, Dean. Do you feel...different?”
“I feel like some bitch tried to crush my skull in...so no. I guess there’s nothing new there.”
“Okay...”
Sam was far from convinced that anything was okay. He knew that Dean needed to know what had happened, but the fact was that Sam didn’t even know. Obviously he was going to have to tell Dean that the demons had put something in him. It was just that he knew Dean was going to freak out royally about it and what he needed first was to make sure that Dean was physically stable.
Even if he did find that Dean was acting totally out of character there was no saying whether it was from demon injections or just a concussion. Right. Just a concussion. It was little wonder that Dean wasn’t disappointed about the idea of checking out. Their lives really did suck.
As he watched Dean closely it occurred to him that most brothers didn’t have to watch each other suffer on a regular basis. Brothers didn’t usually have to know field medicine just to keep each other alive. They didn’t usually have to worry about trying to stop their brother from going to hell for them after they did die.
But things were going to get better for his brother. He was going to make sure of that and he was going to give Dean reason to want to be here. First he had to figure out what was going on with Dean right now. While his brother had more room to stretch out on the back bench, he needed to be able to keep a closer eye on him and preferably keep him conscious.
“Come on, let’s get you in the front seat.”
Dean didn’t make a verbal reply, but seemed to agree. Sam caught the look of pain that flashed over Dean’s face as he moved across the back seat towards the door.
“Do you need help?” Sam asked.
“Probably.”
Again Dean’s answer scared him. Usually Dean wouldn’t let him help him if he was dying, he sure never asked for help after getting beat by some demons. The weird thing was that Dean seemed to be moving okay. Everything considered at least.
Sam reached in to assist Dean only to get an annoyed look from his brother. “What’re you doing?”
“Uh...helping you out of the car.”
“Why?”
“Because you said you needed help.”
Dean looked bewildered as if trying to recall his own words, but then waved Sam away. “Just because I need help doesn’t mean I want it. Give me some room here.”
With a frustrated shake of his head, Sam let his brother get out on his own, but stayed close behind him in case he collapsed. Something was seriously wrong, but Dean obviously wasn’t going to make figuring out what it was easy.
~~~
Dixon's Diner - Philadelphia, PA
It had been tougher than exorcising a room full of demons, but finally Dean had convinced Sam to take him for dinner. Not that he should have to beg his little brother for food. He should also be the one driving his own car, but Sam wouldn’t give him the keys back. Some crap about not wanting to die when he passed out and crashed the car.
Like that would ever happen. Maybe he’d pass out, but no way he’d crash the car. He shouldn’t have to put up with this, but he didn’t actually feel like wrestling the keys away from Sam right now so whatever. For some annoying reason he was completely drained.
That’s why he needed to eat and it wasn’t as if Sam didn’t want him to. His brother was just freaking out about the cops. If Dean heard one more implied ‘I told you so’, he was going to forget how worn-out he was and take Sam down.
No matter how many times he had been beat over the head, he still wasn’t stupid. He knew they shouldn’t be hanging around in public right now, but this dumpy little diner was basically empty so he wasn’t worried. And he really was starving.
His brother had seemed relieved at that since Sam was convinced he had a concussion. Dean was going to personally give Sam a concussion if his brother didn’t back off. He didn’t know why Sam wouldn’t stop fussing over him. Sure he’d gotten kicked around and he felt like crap. Welcome to life. It wasn’t anything new and he was fine. Not that this whole injection thing didn’t give him the serious creeps.
“What if they’re trying to turn me into a freak like you?” Dean asked as he tried to digest what Sam was telling him.
“Uh...thanks, Dean.”
His brother’s eyes abruptly turned from concerned to hurt. By the time Dean realized why, his own face flooded with confusion. Why the hell had he just said that out loud? Sure he’d been thinking it, but he hadn’t intended to actually say it to Sam’s face.
“I didn’t mean to say that.”
“It’s fine. Let’s just focus on these demons.”
Sam took his words as an apology, but that’s not what he meant either. Sure he was sorry, but Sam should know better than to think he was just going to sit here and admit it.
“No. I mean...I really didn’t mean to say that.”
“Yeah, I got it. Don’t worry about it.”
“No, you don’t get it,” Dean insisted. “Sam, something’s wrong with me.”
“Yeah, I noticed,” Sam agreed far too readily.
Before he could tell Sam to can it, the young waitress came back by the table with their meals. She smiled in response to his appraising stare. There was no way that even his luck sucked bad enough that two chicks in a row were being ridden by demons. He was pretty confident about his chances here and he’d be able to prove to Sam just how okay he was.
“What time do you get off tonight, Mindy?” he asked as he read her nametag.
Mindy shook her head, but was still smiling as she set down their plates. She looked curiously between him and Sam. “So you two...”
It would be so much easier to pick up girls with his brother if Sam didn’t look so much like an Amazonian version of Xena Warrior Princess. They were going to have to talk about getting that hair cut to something not gay. It would only be for a year anyway and then Sam could go all Willie Nelson for all he cared.
“Are brothers. I’m totally available, but you’d be better off with him,” he said with a nod towards Sam. “I’d just sleep with you so that I could pretend someone loves me and to try to make myself forget that I’m never going to have a real family.”
The cocky grin playing on his lips vanished as his own words registered. “Holy crap.”
There was no way he’d just said that out loud, but both the puzzled faces staring at him confirmed that he had. The girl gave him the look he despised most of all then just smiled politely before leaving them to their meal. Once her back was turned he sneered after her. She could take her pity and shove it.
After she was gone he stared at his burger and fries, determinedly ignoring the fact that Sam’s eyes were trying to bore holes through him. His brother was waiting for some kind of explanation. He’d give one if he had one. Right now he was fresh out of anything to say.
“Aside from being the world’s suckiest pickup line, what the hell was that?” Sam finally asked.
“The truth.”
He gritted his jaw as soon as the words came out. He hadn’t planned on answering at all, but obviously his mouth had plans of its own. Dean rubbed his hands over his eyes. He didn’t know what was going on, but he was ready to gag himself.
“Told you...there’s something wrong with me. Those damn demons broke my freakin’ edit button.”
Sam chuckled at first, but as he stared at him his expression turned to disbelief. “No.” His brother shook his head. “No way.”
“What?” Dean asked indignantly.
“That can’t be the truth. You don’t really...”
Dean’s hand shot up to cut him off. “Don’t even,” he warned. “Don’t you dare touch it.”
He didn’t know what was wrong with him, but there was no way in hell he was going to sit here and indulge Sam in his long awaited therapy session. While he didn’t have a gag on hand, he did have a heaping pile of french fries. He quickly began stuffing them into his mouth in quantity. Tonight couldn’t get any worse.
~~~
Dinner had been awkward to say the least. Dean was convinced that the demons had injected him with some kind of truth serum, which made about as much sense as anything only because none of this made any sense. Now Dean was refusing to say anything at all and that was making Sam’s job of checking that Dean was still awake ten times harder than it needed to be.
Dean didn’t actually tend to sleep that much. He liked to sleep in but that was mostly because he stayed up all night. These days it didn’t seem that Dean was sleeping much at all so the fact that Dean kept nodding off had him all the more worried.
Sam glanced over to his brother and saw that Dean’s head had fallen to the side. Reaching over he nudged Dean’s shoulder again. He glanced anxiously over at his brother when he didn’t get any reaction to the jolt.
“Hey, Dean.” He shoved him again and got nothing. “Dean!”
“Stop freakin’ yelling in my ear, man!” Dean shouted back as he shot up in the car seat.
“You okay?”
“No! Dude, I’m so far from okay.”
“Sorry.”
He looked over to Dean, but his brother’s eyes were fixed out the window on the passing streets. It wasn’t that he was sorry for waking Dean up. He was sorry any of this had happened. Sam was trying so hard to protect his brother from hell and he couldn’t even protect him here on earth.
“Not your fault.”
Sam had to stop himself from asking what Dean meant. He was pretty sure that Dean was going to pull out his gun and shoot one or both of them if he asked anything else. At least they had finally found a motel. It was about as trashy as they came, but they weren’t in a position to be picky. He just hoped they were far enough out of range of the police for now.
He knew he should leave Dean in the car so they weren’t seen together, but he couldn’t just leave Dean alone right now. Not only was he not buying Dean’s truth serum conclusion, but they also didn’t know if they had been followed by the demons.
There was no way that Dean could defend himself if they tried to move in on him now. Not that he dared to say as much to Dean. His brother would probably just tell him to prop him up with a shot gun or some macho crap. Leaving Dean alone was definitely out of the question.
After stepping out of the car he poked his head back in and nodded to Dean. “Let’s go check in.”
Dean glared at him and resolutely crossed his arms over his chest. “No thanks. I can baby sit myself for two minutes.”
“I know. I just think we should stay together for now.”
“Right. Because you being there was so helpful last time.”
Sam couldn’t keep the scowl from his face. Dean wasn’t wrong. “I’m not going to let anything else happen to you.”
Dean’s eyes softened, but he shook his head. “You can’t stop it.”
Sam wasn’t sure whether Dean was just referring to the demons or the bigger picture, but it didn’t matter. Whether it was hell or demons, he was going to figure out what was happening and he wasn’t letting anyone else touch Dean. He walked over to the passenger side of the car and pulled open the door before staring down expectantly at his stubborn brother.
“Dean, get out of the car.”
His tone made it more than clear that he wasn’t messing around here. It was the same tone Dad would have used. He hated when he used it and even more hated how easily it always rolled off his tongue when he did break down and use it. It wasn’t anymore fair than the pout induced guilt trips he pulled, but barking an order was sometimes the only way to snap Dean out of an immovable state.
He just plain wasn’t letting Dean out of his sight. Anyway, it wasn’t like Dean could argue that he was more comfortable here. Sam could clearly see by the awkward way that Dean was sitting forward that the car seat was killing his brother’s bruised up back.
Grumbling some string of dirty insults under his breath, Dean stiffly rose from the seat and reluctantly followed him. Out of the corner of his eye he watched Dean as he walked to make sure that he didn’t look unsteady.
As Sam opened the lobby door for Dean the man at the front desk jumped and stuffed the magazine he had been ‘reading’ into a drawer. He looked them over closely as they approached. At first Sam was afraid that the man recognized them with as closely as the guy was looking Dean over, but he realized a moment later that the bruising on Dean’s face and throat were starting to color up.
“One queen?” the man asked.
“What?” He caught Dean’s exasperated look and quickly shook his head. “Two singles,” he corrected before Dean could say something monumentally stupid.
“Sure...” The man accepted Sam’s credit card and read the name off it. “Roy Vanderford?”
“Yeah, that’s me.”
“That’s not your name,” Dean interrupted.
Sam threw a shocked looked towards his brother, but he was starting to think that Dean’s truth serum idea might not be total crap after all. Dean really couldn’t stop himself.
“What?” Dean asked at his look.
“This isn’t his card?” the man behind the desk asked.
“It’s his now. I gave it to him. That’s just not his name.”
He should have dragged Dean back to the car then and there, but he was momentarily stuck in place as he studied his brother. It was like Dean didn’t even realize what he was saying.
“Are you the card holder, Mr. Vanderford?” the baffled man asked Dean
“No, he’s...” But Sam wasn’t quick enough to stop his brother’s casual reply.
“I’m Dean Winchester. That card is totally fake. I mean it’ll work fine, but it’s a phony ID. So will you just run it so we can...”
Dean’s words trailed off as his mildly annoyed expression suddenly twisted into confusion. The words had obviously caught up with his brother though Dean still sent him a questioning look as if to confirm that he’d really said what he thought. Sam reluctantly nodded a silent confirmation.
“Son of a bitch,” Dean hissed.
His brother looked at him anxiously for an explanation that Sam just didn’t have. All he could do was put his hand on Dean’s shoulder and turn him back towards the door.
“Sorry. My brother’s had a really rough night. We’re leaving,” Sam assured the man behind the desk.
He snatched the card back, not that they could use it now. Stuffing it in his pocket, he grabbed a hold of Dean’s arm and yanked him out of the motel with him. As soon as they were out the door Dean pulled free and stormed down the sidewalk like he was looking for something to hit.
“Damn it!”
Dean clutched his head in hands before throwing his arms down to his side. Sam waited for Dean to pace it off. If he went over to him now, he probably would be the one getting punched. A minute later Dean finally rejoined. Without looking at him, Dean climbed into the car. There was a long silence before Dean finally spoke.
“What the hell did they do to me?”
“It’s okay. We’ll figure this out,” Sam promised him as he drove out of the lot. “Let’s just try a different motel. Next time you can wait in the car.”
Continue to Chapter 3
It wasn’t even about what Dean would do to him; it was what it would do to Dean. This stupid car was one of the only things Dean had been able to hold onto. He knew Dean didn’t think he got that, but he got a lot more about Dean than his brother thought.
It didn’t matter if he had to keep driving all the way to Alaska and then load the car onto a boat to China. The Impala wasn’t going anywhere. And neither was Dean.
Anxiously Sam glanced over to the rearview mirror. He had been winding around back streets, driving in circles for all he knew, but the street behind him was clear so he had to be doing something right. This time though he wasn’t looking to see if he was being followed, but was checking on his still silent brother.
Dean remained slumped haphazardly on the back seat. The jostling of the car driving down the road didn’t allow Sam the comfort of being able to make out the movement of Dean’s chest, but his brother was going to be fine. He had to be. That was the only option Sam was accepting.
That was the only certainty in his mind as he struggled to concoct a plan. At this point he wasn’t even sure where they were let alone where he was planning on going. All he knew was that staying hadn’t been an option. There was no way he could have risked the police separating them when he didn’t even know what Dean’s condition was.
Of course he likely would have ran even if nothing had happened to Dean. If his brother ended up locked in an interrogation room, or worse, it would end bloody for all involved. Dean was walking a scary fine line lately. Sam knew it was because his brother thought there was nothing left to lose, but that just wasn’t true.
As for the cops, they were just trying to do their job. There was no way that they could understand that they were trying to protect the world from the guys that were struggling to save it. Knowing that fact still didn’t make the unnecessary stress of having the human law after them any easier. It was getting real old and they didn’t have time for it. Dean didn’t have the time.
Despite all the distance he wanted to put between them and the police, it wouldn’t actually do any good unless they left the county and Dean had already made it crystal clear that he wasn’t going for that. The FBI would hunt them wherever they ran in this country, but that was nothing new. Right now he just needed the distance between them and the Camden city police.
With any luck he was soon going to hit the Benjamin Franklin Bridge back over the state line into Pennsylvania. He couldn’t go much further than that because unfortunately the chances were good that he was going to have to hunt down these demons to figure out what they had done to his brother. That was assuming that the demons didn’t track them down first.
When he heard a pained moan come from the back seat Sam took the first possible turn off the road. He pulled into an empty loading area and killed the engine. The area was nicely isolated and lit thanks to the harsh light from the warehouse’s loading gate.
He practically flew out of the car and threw open the backdoor. There was no way of knowing what to expect when Dean awoke or even if it would be Dean at all. He knew he should be taking precautions for that latter option, but if these demons had the ability to bypass their anti-possession tattoos then he couldn’t imagine that they would have been screwing around with injections.
Reaching into the car, Sam carefully worked to adjust Dean’s awkward position on the back seat. It looked like his brother was going to have enough trouble telling up from down without his head actually hanging upside down off the seat. His hand was still supporting Dean’s head when his brother started to come to.
“Hey,” Sam coaxed as Dean’s ridiculously long eyelashes began to flutter.
“Sammy?” he asked groggily.
Dean’s eyes were distant, as if they really weren’t seeing him, but his brother remembered his name. Sort of. It was at least what Dean insisted his name was. That was a good sign anyway. Right now he couldn’t have been more relieved to hear that stupid little kid nickname.
“Yeah. I gotcha, Dean.”
He started to slowly help Dean into a seated position but a second later his brother jerked from his arms and scooted further into the car. Dean’s glassy hazel eyes darted around wildly, but the burst of movement nearly instantly caught up with his brother.
Sam had to climb part way into the back of the car to steady Dean when his brother began tipping over again. As he grabbed Dean’s arm he could feel how painfully tense the muscles were. He prayed that the sudden panic clouding his brother’s features was just Dean remembering what had happened.
“Hey, you’re alright, man,” Sam assured him.
“Demons.”
Sam shot a look behind his back just to be sure before answering. “They’re gone. Just slow down, okay? You took some nasty blows to the head back there. How do you feel?”
“It hurts.”
That simple phrase terrified Sam. Unhelpful sarcasm he expected, but it was clear from his brother’s tone that this wasn’t him being funny. It wasn’t at all like Dean to admit to being hurt even when he literally had his guts hanging out. If his brother was verbally acknowledging it, then he had to be in serious pain and it wasn’t like Sam could take him to a hospital anywhere near here.
“What does?”
Despite how scared he was for his brother, he forced his tone to remain calm as he spoke. Freaking out wasn’t going to help Dean. He just had to figure out what was wrong and deal with it.
“My head. My back...everything,” Dean closed his eyes and absently flexed his sore hand.
Sam grimaced and choked back the anger rising in him. He was going to find those demons and they were going to pay for this. But that was for later. Right now he had to take care of his brother.
He settled onto the seat beside Dean and reached his hand behind Dean’s head to make sure he still couldn’t find any serious quantities of blood. There was a nasty, tender lump but it wasn’t anything Dean hadn’t had before. Though the repeated head injuries might explain a few things... He’d have to remember to harass Dean about that later when he wasn’t too worried to try to cheer Dean up.
His eyes moved to his brother’s awkwardly clenched fist. It would be no surprise if Dean had a broken finger or two, but they could deal with that later. If Dean said he was hurting there had to be a serious injury that he was missing somewhere.
Dean’s tolerance for Sam checking him over ended abruptly when Sam started to pull the bottom of his brother’s dress shirt free from his pants. He was pushed away with far more strength than Sam would have thought Dean capable of considering how injured his brother said he was. The sudden force caught him so off guard that Sam was just barely able to catch himself to stop from falling backwards out of the car.
“Dude! Why the hell are you stripping me?”
When Sam’s surprised eyes looked back at Dean he saw that the disoriented look was all but gone from his brother. Sam moved his finger in front of Dean’s eyes. His brother seemed to be focusing in on him fine now and looked pissed. That irritated glare shooting at him gave Sam much needed relief.
“I’m just checking to see if anything’s broken,” Sam explained.
“Your head is. Leave my damn clothes on. I’ve been worked over enough for one night.”
Despite his relief, he gave Dean a concerned look. A moment ago everything hurt and now his brother was acting completely normal. Something wasn’t right here.
Dean straightened his posture on the seat and looked around. It was obvious from the way Dean was moving that everything did still hurt, it just looked like his brother had gone back to not caring. Dean still looked confused, but that was probably just because he had no idea where they were. That made two of them.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know, Dean. Do you feel...different?”
“I feel like some bitch tried to crush my skull in...so no. I guess there’s nothing new there.”
“Okay...”
Sam was far from convinced that anything was okay. He knew that Dean needed to know what had happened, but the fact was that Sam didn’t even know. Obviously he was going to have to tell Dean that the demons had put something in him. It was just that he knew Dean was going to freak out royally about it and what he needed first was to make sure that Dean was physically stable.
Even if he did find that Dean was acting totally out of character there was no saying whether it was from demon injections or just a concussion. Right. Just a concussion. It was little wonder that Dean wasn’t disappointed about the idea of checking out. Their lives really did suck.
As he watched Dean closely it occurred to him that most brothers didn’t have to watch each other suffer on a regular basis. Brothers didn’t usually have to know field medicine just to keep each other alive. They didn’t usually have to worry about trying to stop their brother from going to hell for them after they did die.
But things were going to get better for his brother. He was going to make sure of that and he was going to give Dean reason to want to be here. First he had to figure out what was going on with Dean right now. While his brother had more room to stretch out on the back bench, he needed to be able to keep a closer eye on him and preferably keep him conscious.
“Come on, let’s get you in the front seat.”
Dean didn’t make a verbal reply, but seemed to agree. Sam caught the look of pain that flashed over Dean’s face as he moved across the back seat towards the door.
“Do you need help?” Sam asked.
“Probably.”
Again Dean’s answer scared him. Usually Dean wouldn’t let him help him if he was dying, he sure never asked for help after getting beat by some demons. The weird thing was that Dean seemed to be moving okay. Everything considered at least.
Sam reached in to assist Dean only to get an annoyed look from his brother. “What’re you doing?”
“Uh...helping you out of the car.”
“Why?”
“Because you said you needed help.”
Dean looked bewildered as if trying to recall his own words, but then waved Sam away. “Just because I need help doesn’t mean I want it. Give me some room here.”
With a frustrated shake of his head, Sam let his brother get out on his own, but stayed close behind him in case he collapsed. Something was seriously wrong, but Dean obviously wasn’t going to make figuring out what it was easy.
~~~
Dixon's Diner - Philadelphia, PA
It had been tougher than exorcising a room full of demons, but finally Dean had convinced Sam to take him for dinner. Not that he should have to beg his little brother for food. He should also be the one driving his own car, but Sam wouldn’t give him the keys back. Some crap about not wanting to die when he passed out and crashed the car.
Like that would ever happen. Maybe he’d pass out, but no way he’d crash the car. He shouldn’t have to put up with this, but he didn’t actually feel like wrestling the keys away from Sam right now so whatever. For some annoying reason he was completely drained.
That’s why he needed to eat and it wasn’t as if Sam didn’t want him to. His brother was just freaking out about the cops. If Dean heard one more implied ‘I told you so’, he was going to forget how worn-out he was and take Sam down.
No matter how many times he had been beat over the head, he still wasn’t stupid. He knew they shouldn’t be hanging around in public right now, but this dumpy little diner was basically empty so he wasn’t worried. And he really was starving.
His brother had seemed relieved at that since Sam was convinced he had a concussion. Dean was going to personally give Sam a concussion if his brother didn’t back off. He didn’t know why Sam wouldn’t stop fussing over him. Sure he’d gotten kicked around and he felt like crap. Welcome to life. It wasn’t anything new and he was fine. Not that this whole injection thing didn’t give him the serious creeps.
“What if they’re trying to turn me into a freak like you?” Dean asked as he tried to digest what Sam was telling him.
“Uh...thanks, Dean.”
His brother’s eyes abruptly turned from concerned to hurt. By the time Dean realized why, his own face flooded with confusion. Why the hell had he just said that out loud? Sure he’d been thinking it, but he hadn’t intended to actually say it to Sam’s face.
“I didn’t mean to say that.”
“It’s fine. Let’s just focus on these demons.”
Sam took his words as an apology, but that’s not what he meant either. Sure he was sorry, but Sam should know better than to think he was just going to sit here and admit it.
“No. I mean...I really didn’t mean to say that.”
“Yeah, I got it. Don’t worry about it.”
“No, you don’t get it,” Dean insisted. “Sam, something’s wrong with me.”
“Yeah, I noticed,” Sam agreed far too readily.
Before he could tell Sam to can it, the young waitress came back by the table with their meals. She smiled in response to his appraising stare. There was no way that even his luck sucked bad enough that two chicks in a row were being ridden by demons. He was pretty confident about his chances here and he’d be able to prove to Sam just how okay he was.
“What time do you get off tonight, Mindy?” he asked as he read her nametag.
Mindy shook her head, but was still smiling as she set down their plates. She looked curiously between him and Sam. “So you two...”
It would be so much easier to pick up girls with his brother if Sam didn’t look so much like an Amazonian version of Xena Warrior Princess. They were going to have to talk about getting that hair cut to something not gay. It would only be for a year anyway and then Sam could go all Willie Nelson for all he cared.
“Are brothers. I’m totally available, but you’d be better off with him,” he said with a nod towards Sam. “I’d just sleep with you so that I could pretend someone loves me and to try to make myself forget that I’m never going to have a real family.”
The cocky grin playing on his lips vanished as his own words registered. “Holy crap.”
There was no way he’d just said that out loud, but both the puzzled faces staring at him confirmed that he had. The girl gave him the look he despised most of all then just smiled politely before leaving them to their meal. Once her back was turned he sneered after her. She could take her pity and shove it.
After she was gone he stared at his burger and fries, determinedly ignoring the fact that Sam’s eyes were trying to bore holes through him. His brother was waiting for some kind of explanation. He’d give one if he had one. Right now he was fresh out of anything to say.
“Aside from being the world’s suckiest pickup line, what the hell was that?” Sam finally asked.
“The truth.”
He gritted his jaw as soon as the words came out. He hadn’t planned on answering at all, but obviously his mouth had plans of its own. Dean rubbed his hands over his eyes. He didn’t know what was going on, but he was ready to gag himself.
“Told you...there’s something wrong with me. Those damn demons broke my freakin’ edit button.”
Sam chuckled at first, but as he stared at him his expression turned to disbelief. “No.” His brother shook his head. “No way.”
“What?” Dean asked indignantly.
“That can’t be the truth. You don’t really...”
Dean’s hand shot up to cut him off. “Don’t even,” he warned. “Don’t you dare touch it.”
He didn’t know what was wrong with him, but there was no way in hell he was going to sit here and indulge Sam in his long awaited therapy session. While he didn’t have a gag on hand, he did have a heaping pile of french fries. He quickly began stuffing them into his mouth in quantity. Tonight couldn’t get any worse.
~~~
Dinner had been awkward to say the least. Dean was convinced that the demons had injected him with some kind of truth serum, which made about as much sense as anything only because none of this made any sense. Now Dean was refusing to say anything at all and that was making Sam’s job of checking that Dean was still awake ten times harder than it needed to be.
Dean didn’t actually tend to sleep that much. He liked to sleep in but that was mostly because he stayed up all night. These days it didn’t seem that Dean was sleeping much at all so the fact that Dean kept nodding off had him all the more worried.
Sam glanced over to his brother and saw that Dean’s head had fallen to the side. Reaching over he nudged Dean’s shoulder again. He glanced anxiously over at his brother when he didn’t get any reaction to the jolt.
“Hey, Dean.” He shoved him again and got nothing. “Dean!”
“Stop freakin’ yelling in my ear, man!” Dean shouted back as he shot up in the car seat.
“You okay?”
“No! Dude, I’m so far from okay.”
“Sorry.”
He looked over to Dean, but his brother’s eyes were fixed out the window on the passing streets. It wasn’t that he was sorry for waking Dean up. He was sorry any of this had happened. Sam was trying so hard to protect his brother from hell and he couldn’t even protect him here on earth.
“Not your fault.”
Sam had to stop himself from asking what Dean meant. He was pretty sure that Dean was going to pull out his gun and shoot one or both of them if he asked anything else. At least they had finally found a motel. It was about as trashy as they came, but they weren’t in a position to be picky. He just hoped they were far enough out of range of the police for now.
He knew he should leave Dean in the car so they weren’t seen together, but he couldn’t just leave Dean alone right now. Not only was he not buying Dean’s truth serum conclusion, but they also didn’t know if they had been followed by the demons.
There was no way that Dean could defend himself if they tried to move in on him now. Not that he dared to say as much to Dean. His brother would probably just tell him to prop him up with a shot gun or some macho crap. Leaving Dean alone was definitely out of the question.
After stepping out of the car he poked his head back in and nodded to Dean. “Let’s go check in.”
Dean glared at him and resolutely crossed his arms over his chest. “No thanks. I can baby sit myself for two minutes.”
“I know. I just think we should stay together for now.”
“Right. Because you being there was so helpful last time.”
Sam couldn’t keep the scowl from his face. Dean wasn’t wrong. “I’m not going to let anything else happen to you.”
Dean’s eyes softened, but he shook his head. “You can’t stop it.”
Sam wasn’t sure whether Dean was just referring to the demons or the bigger picture, but it didn’t matter. Whether it was hell or demons, he was going to figure out what was happening and he wasn’t letting anyone else touch Dean. He walked over to the passenger side of the car and pulled open the door before staring down expectantly at his stubborn brother.
“Dean, get out of the car.”
His tone made it more than clear that he wasn’t messing around here. It was the same tone Dad would have used. He hated when he used it and even more hated how easily it always rolled off his tongue when he did break down and use it. It wasn’t anymore fair than the pout induced guilt trips he pulled, but barking an order was sometimes the only way to snap Dean out of an immovable state.
He just plain wasn’t letting Dean out of his sight. Anyway, it wasn’t like Dean could argue that he was more comfortable here. Sam could clearly see by the awkward way that Dean was sitting forward that the car seat was killing his brother’s bruised up back.
Grumbling some string of dirty insults under his breath, Dean stiffly rose from the seat and reluctantly followed him. Out of the corner of his eye he watched Dean as he walked to make sure that he didn’t look unsteady.
As Sam opened the lobby door for Dean the man at the front desk jumped and stuffed the magazine he had been ‘reading’ into a drawer. He looked them over closely as they approached. At first Sam was afraid that the man recognized them with as closely as the guy was looking Dean over, but he realized a moment later that the bruising on Dean’s face and throat were starting to color up.
“One queen?” the man asked.
“What?” He caught Dean’s exasperated look and quickly shook his head. “Two singles,” he corrected before Dean could say something monumentally stupid.
“Sure...” The man accepted Sam’s credit card and read the name off it. “Roy Vanderford?”
“Yeah, that’s me.”
“That’s not your name,” Dean interrupted.
Sam threw a shocked looked towards his brother, but he was starting to think that Dean’s truth serum idea might not be total crap after all. Dean really couldn’t stop himself.
“What?” Dean asked at his look.
“This isn’t his card?” the man behind the desk asked.
“It’s his now. I gave it to him. That’s just not his name.”
He should have dragged Dean back to the car then and there, but he was momentarily stuck in place as he studied his brother. It was like Dean didn’t even realize what he was saying.
“Are you the card holder, Mr. Vanderford?” the baffled man asked Dean
“No, he’s...” But Sam wasn’t quick enough to stop his brother’s casual reply.
“I’m Dean Winchester. That card is totally fake. I mean it’ll work fine, but it’s a phony ID. So will you just run it so we can...”
Dean’s words trailed off as his mildly annoyed expression suddenly twisted into confusion. The words had obviously caught up with his brother though Dean still sent him a questioning look as if to confirm that he’d really said what he thought. Sam reluctantly nodded a silent confirmation.
“Son of a bitch,” Dean hissed.
His brother looked at him anxiously for an explanation that Sam just didn’t have. All he could do was put his hand on Dean’s shoulder and turn him back towards the door.
“Sorry. My brother’s had a really rough night. We’re leaving,” Sam assured the man behind the desk.
He snatched the card back, not that they could use it now. Stuffing it in his pocket, he grabbed a hold of Dean’s arm and yanked him out of the motel with him. As soon as they were out the door Dean pulled free and stormed down the sidewalk like he was looking for something to hit.
“Damn it!”
Dean clutched his head in hands before throwing his arms down to his side. Sam waited for Dean to pace it off. If he went over to him now, he probably would be the one getting punched. A minute later Dean finally rejoined. Without looking at him, Dean climbed into the car. There was a long silence before Dean finally spoke.
“What the hell did they do to me?”
“It’s okay. We’ll figure this out,” Sam promised him as he drove out of the lot. “Let’s just try a different motel. Next time you can wait in the car.”
Continue to Chapter 3