Day 29 - Nothing is Ever Set in Stone [Supernatural]
Title: Nothing is Ever Set in Stone
Series: Family Doesn't End With Blood
Author: Twisted_Slinky
Crossover: Supernatural
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Sam thinks he's still the odd man out in this family. Buffy thinks that doesn't matter.
Wordcount: ~1600
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy or Supernatural, and I'm making no money off this fanwork.
A/N: This is the third story in a series where the monks gave Dawn extra protection when they made her, altering reality so that Joyce has been married to John Winchester the past few years, and their family has settled in Sunnydale. Pre-series for SPN; season 5 for BtVS. The first story was about Dean, "Coming Home". The second was about John/Joyce, " A Bed Shared." At this point, they can be read out of order.
The Summers-Winchester household was suffering from what Buffy commonly referred to as "slammed door syndrome." She was very familiar with the illness, especially since the symptoms were pretty obvious, the main one being in the name itself. While usually, it was a certain little sister who put on the dramatics, this morning the males were being particularly aggresive with their entering and exiting.
Buffy rolled over in her bed, wincing when one door slammed downstairs. A few seconds later, she heard footsteps running up the stairs. Another slam quickly followed, this one just down the hall from her.
This had been happening since five in the morning. Which wouldn't have been as annoying to Buffy if she hadn't spent most of the night running after a baby vampire who, apparently, had been a track star and possibly a parkour enthusiast in life. It hadn't been a particularly dangerous hunt, but it had been annoying, and she and Dean had stayed out chasing the would-be evil-doer until nearly 3 A.M. Which was the reason that, a few hours after her arrival home, Dean had been excused from his father's Saturday training regiment. Mom was out running errands, Dawn was at her friend's house for the weekend, and Dean was snoring so loudly, she could hear him from his basement bedroom. So, Buffy had an easy time deciding who was going on her hit list for making so much damn noise.
She didn't have to go far, just across the hallway, to the next bedroom, which used to be Dawn's until the guys had moved in. When Dean had turned half the basement into his visiting living quarters, Dawn had pitched a fit, declaring her room wasn't cool enough. John had been a trooper, helping to rework the attic into a bedroom space, and Sam had been a trooper because he'd basically shrugged off the fact that he wasn't getting a choice. In fact, he seemed delighted to be getting the "regular" room. Remembering that, and the fact that she'd declared him her favorite whenever he did her chores for her, she hesitated.
Then she remembered those two hours of undisturbed sleep. She only knocked because she'd made the mistake of walking in on a teenage boy once before. That was so not happening again.
"Go away."
Oh, no. He didn't. "Sam Winchester," she snapped.
There was movement on the other side of the door. It quickly opened, and he looked a little sheepish, his floppy brown hair damp with sweat. "Sorry, Buff. Thought you were someone else."
"Sorry is right," she returned, but with less fire. "You're talking to me. You're talking to me right now, because obviously you and John both want to get someone's attention so you can vent your frustrations. Believe me, we girls understand the language of the slammed door. So, you're going to talk to me, and then I can go back to sleep and wake up and eat breakfast at lunch. Understood?"
"I woke you up," he realized, blinking.
"Uh, duh. Who were you wanting to wake up? Dean?"
Sam shook his head. Buffy rolled her eyes. Yeah, sure. Sometimes she was a little jealous of how close those two were, but she was completely not jealous of why they were so close. It had taken a long time for her to wrap her head around how Sam and Dean were raised. Moving, hunting, living in each other's pockets...She sighed.
"Well, you're stuck with me, because Dean is out for the count and also planning to enjoy breakfast at noon."
He opened the door slightly wider, and she barged in, her fuzzy socks slapping against his rug. She sat on the edge of his desk chair and he took the bed. If it had been Dean, Buffy knew she'd never of gotten in so easily. They were as different as she and Dawnie when it came to how they handled the emotional stuff.
"College," Sam said, as if there were a question floating in the air.
"Ah," Buffy replied.
She understood the Winchester men considered it a touchy subject. Or maybe just a subject not worth touching, since John seemed to dismiss it every time Sam brought it up.
"John still wants you to go to UC Sunnydale?"
"He says I should stay close." Sam rolled his eyes. "That way I can help with any hunts and be near the family and..." He trailed off.
"You want to run away," Buffy said, quietly.
Sam made a face, as if that were ridiculous. "It's not...It's not like that. I just don't want to be doing this the rest of my life. I don't want to be a friggin' hunter. I want to be something normal, and Dad doesn't get that, and Dean thinks the very idea is nuts, because he lives and breathes hunting." Sam cut off, then frowned, his voice quieter when it returned. "I shouldn't be telling you this."
Buffy smiled, but it wasn't very bright. "No. You should. Just because I have this destiny thing going on, doesn't mean everyone has to be in the same line of work. Trust me, I get it Sam... Normal. Being normal used to be all that I thought of. But at some point, I just accepted who I was. Who I am. I'm the Slayer."
Sam sat up straighter. "You don't have to be...You could go, too. You could transfer, when I go to college. And -"
"And we could be roomies?" Buffy filled in. "That's not how it works, Sam. If I leave, I'm still the slayer. If you're around me, the hunts will come to you. Trust me. I've tried getting away before."
"So, you're saying I shouldn't go?"
"I'm saying, you should go for the right reasons, Sam." She crossed the room, sitting down beside him. "If you want to go to a college here or in another state or wherever, it's your life. And if you want to go because you don't want to live on a Hellmouth...actually, that's probably a good investment in your future."
Sam chuckled.
"But," Buffy said, tapping his shoulder with her own, "if you're wanting to get away from your family, I think you should think twice. I know you fight with your dad, and you two don't see eye to eye on, well, everything. But, you love them, and they love you. You'd have to be blind not to see how much you care for one another."
"But my dad doesn't trust me to make the call, which he basically said while we were out training. That's why..." Sam rolled his eyes. "That's why I was pissed off."
"Why you slammed the door," Buffy corrected.
"Fine. That's why I slammed the door," Sam relented. "He's never going to trust me to make my own choices. He wants control of everything. That's why he likes Dean so much; he can practically rule his life. He tells him to take a day job at the garage with him, Dean gets a job at the garage. He tells Dean to go on extra patrols, Dean goes on extra patrols. It's like Dean doesn't have a mind of his own."
Buffy shook her head. "I think you see what you want to see," she said. "I've seen your brother stand up to your dad before. But not because of what he wanted. Because of what you wanted. He might not take up for himself when he should, but you're not giving him near enough credit."
Sam didn't reply, instead staring down at his rug, as if it might start to grow. "I just...I don't think I'm like the rest of you."
"You're not. You're special, and that's not a bad thing," Buffy assured. "You don't have to be like us to be one of us, Sam. You're family, even if you end up, God, somewhere terrible. Like law school or something. You're still family, and we'll love you anyway."
Sam snorted to cover his blush. "This is getting a little girly."
"Yeah, well, I'm sappy when I'm running low on sleep." Buffy clapped her hands together. "Now, good talk?"
"Good talk," Sam said.
She got up to walk away.
"Hey, Buff?"
Buffy glanced over her shoulder. "Yeah?"
"Did we hunt a chupacabra last year? Like...Just Dad and Dean and me? Do you remember us going on that trip?"
Buffy slowly shook her head. "No...Pretty sure I'd remember that story. Why?"
Sam shrugged. "It's just, I had this weird dream about that hunt, but it felt kind of like a memory. But when I woke up, I realized it couldn't have been, because in the dream, it wasn't long ago, because Dean still had that cast on his wrist...And I'm pretty sure we didn't leave Sunnydale while right after he as hurt...I mean, Joyce would have killed Dad if he sent him on a hunt then. Still, it just seemed so real..."
Buffy swallowed hard. She wasn't sure why, but the confusion on his face left her with a chill she couldn't quite shake. "That is weird," she said, after a moment.
"Yeah." Sam gave her a tight smile. "It's probably nothing. Have a good nap. I promise, I won't slam any more doors."
Series: Family Doesn't End With Blood
Author: Twisted_Slinky
Crossover: Supernatural
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Sam thinks he's still the odd man out in this family. Buffy thinks that doesn't matter.
Wordcount: ~1600
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy or Supernatural, and I'm making no money off this fanwork.
A/N: This is the third story in a series where the monks gave Dawn extra protection when they made her, altering reality so that Joyce has been married to John Winchester the past few years, and their family has settled in Sunnydale. Pre-series for SPN; season 5 for BtVS. The first story was about Dean, "Coming Home". The second was about John/Joyce, " A Bed Shared." At this point, they can be read out of order.
The Summers-Winchester household was suffering from what Buffy commonly referred to as "slammed door syndrome." She was very familiar with the illness, especially since the symptoms were pretty obvious, the main one being in the name itself. While usually, it was a certain little sister who put on the dramatics, this morning the males were being particularly aggresive with their entering and exiting.
Buffy rolled over in her bed, wincing when one door slammed downstairs. A few seconds later, she heard footsteps running up the stairs. Another slam quickly followed, this one just down the hall from her.
This had been happening since five in the morning. Which wouldn't have been as annoying to Buffy if she hadn't spent most of the night running after a baby vampire who, apparently, had been a track star and possibly a parkour enthusiast in life. It hadn't been a particularly dangerous hunt, but it had been annoying, and she and Dean had stayed out chasing the would-be evil-doer until nearly 3 A.M. Which was the reason that, a few hours after her arrival home, Dean had been excused from his father's Saturday training regiment. Mom was out running errands, Dawn was at her friend's house for the weekend, and Dean was snoring so loudly, she could hear him from his basement bedroom. So, Buffy had an easy time deciding who was going on her hit list for making so much damn noise.
She didn't have to go far, just across the hallway, to the next bedroom, which used to be Dawn's until the guys had moved in. When Dean had turned half the basement into his visiting living quarters, Dawn had pitched a fit, declaring her room wasn't cool enough. John had been a trooper, helping to rework the attic into a bedroom space, and Sam had been a trooper because he'd basically shrugged off the fact that he wasn't getting a choice. In fact, he seemed delighted to be getting the "regular" room. Remembering that, and the fact that she'd declared him her favorite whenever he did her chores for her, she hesitated.
Then she remembered those two hours of undisturbed sleep. She only knocked because she'd made the mistake of walking in on a teenage boy once before. That was so not happening again.
"Go away."
Oh, no. He didn't. "Sam Winchester," she snapped.
There was movement on the other side of the door. It quickly opened, and he looked a little sheepish, his floppy brown hair damp with sweat. "Sorry, Buff. Thought you were someone else."
"Sorry is right," she returned, but with less fire. "You're talking to me. You're talking to me right now, because obviously you and John both want to get someone's attention so you can vent your frustrations. Believe me, we girls understand the language of the slammed door. So, you're going to talk to me, and then I can go back to sleep and wake up and eat breakfast at lunch. Understood?"
"I woke you up," he realized, blinking.
"Uh, duh. Who were you wanting to wake up? Dean?"
Sam shook his head. Buffy rolled her eyes. Yeah, sure. Sometimes she was a little jealous of how close those two were, but she was completely not jealous of why they were so close. It had taken a long time for her to wrap her head around how Sam and Dean were raised. Moving, hunting, living in each other's pockets...She sighed.
"Well, you're stuck with me, because Dean is out for the count and also planning to enjoy breakfast at noon."
He opened the door slightly wider, and she barged in, her fuzzy socks slapping against his rug. She sat on the edge of his desk chair and he took the bed. If it had been Dean, Buffy knew she'd never of gotten in so easily. They were as different as she and Dawnie when it came to how they handled the emotional stuff.
"College," Sam said, as if there were a question floating in the air.
"Ah," Buffy replied.
She understood the Winchester men considered it a touchy subject. Or maybe just a subject not worth touching, since John seemed to dismiss it every time Sam brought it up.
"John still wants you to go to UC Sunnydale?"
"He says I should stay close." Sam rolled his eyes. "That way I can help with any hunts and be near the family and..." He trailed off.
"You want to run away," Buffy said, quietly.
Sam made a face, as if that were ridiculous. "It's not...It's not like that. I just don't want to be doing this the rest of my life. I don't want to be a friggin' hunter. I want to be something normal, and Dad doesn't get that, and Dean thinks the very idea is nuts, because he lives and breathes hunting." Sam cut off, then frowned, his voice quieter when it returned. "I shouldn't be telling you this."
Buffy smiled, but it wasn't very bright. "No. You should. Just because I have this destiny thing going on, doesn't mean everyone has to be in the same line of work. Trust me, I get it Sam... Normal. Being normal used to be all that I thought of. But at some point, I just accepted who I was. Who I am. I'm the Slayer."
Sam sat up straighter. "You don't have to be...You could go, too. You could transfer, when I go to college. And -"
"And we could be roomies?" Buffy filled in. "That's not how it works, Sam. If I leave, I'm still the slayer. If you're around me, the hunts will come to you. Trust me. I've tried getting away before."
"So, you're saying I shouldn't go?"
"I'm saying, you should go for the right reasons, Sam." She crossed the room, sitting down beside him. "If you want to go to a college here or in another state or wherever, it's your life. And if you want to go because you don't want to live on a Hellmouth...actually, that's probably a good investment in your future."
Sam chuckled.
"But," Buffy said, tapping his shoulder with her own, "if you're wanting to get away from your family, I think you should think twice. I know you fight with your dad, and you two don't see eye to eye on, well, everything. But, you love them, and they love you. You'd have to be blind not to see how much you care for one another."
"But my dad doesn't trust me to make the call, which he basically said while we were out training. That's why..." Sam rolled his eyes. "That's why I was pissed off."
"Why you slammed the door," Buffy corrected.
"Fine. That's why I slammed the door," Sam relented. "He's never going to trust me to make my own choices. He wants control of everything. That's why he likes Dean so much; he can practically rule his life. He tells him to take a day job at the garage with him, Dean gets a job at the garage. He tells Dean to go on extra patrols, Dean goes on extra patrols. It's like Dean doesn't have a mind of his own."
Buffy shook her head. "I think you see what you want to see," she said. "I've seen your brother stand up to your dad before. But not because of what he wanted. Because of what you wanted. He might not take up for himself when he should, but you're not giving him near enough credit."
Sam didn't reply, instead staring down at his rug, as if it might start to grow. "I just...I don't think I'm like the rest of you."
"You're not. You're special, and that's not a bad thing," Buffy assured. "You don't have to be like us to be one of us, Sam. You're family, even if you end up, God, somewhere terrible. Like law school or something. You're still family, and we'll love you anyway."
Sam snorted to cover his blush. "This is getting a little girly."
"Yeah, well, I'm sappy when I'm running low on sleep." Buffy clapped her hands together. "Now, good talk?"
"Good talk," Sam said.
She got up to walk away.
"Hey, Buff?"
Buffy glanced over her shoulder. "Yeah?"
"Did we hunt a chupacabra last year? Like...Just Dad and Dean and me? Do you remember us going on that trip?"
Buffy slowly shook her head. "No...Pretty sure I'd remember that story. Why?"
Sam shrugged. "It's just, I had this weird dream about that hunt, but it felt kind of like a memory. But when I woke up, I realized it couldn't have been, because in the dream, it wasn't long ago, because Dean still had that cast on his wrist...And I'm pretty sure we didn't leave Sunnydale while right after he as hurt...I mean, Joyce would have killed Dad if he sent him on a hunt then. Still, it just seemed so real..."
Buffy swallowed hard. She wasn't sure why, but the confusion on his face left her with a chill she couldn't quite shake. "That is weird," she said, after a moment.
"Yeah." Sam gave her a tight smile. "It's probably nothing. Have a good nap. I promise, I won't slam any more doors."