The Brothers Winchester Book Three:The Only One-Part Four
Chapter Four
By the time Sam and Dean got home the sun was on it's way to setting, coloring the entire farm in deep oranges and reds. Sam looked out across the fields and was stunned by the beauty of the West Texas countryside and wondered how anyone could live anywhere else. He felt Dean's arms move around his waist and Dean's face press against his back. Sam smiled and put his hands over Dean's as they stood there an enjoyed the moment. “It's gonna be ok.” he said to Dean after a few minutes.
“How can you say that?” Dean said, not lifting his head from Sam's back.
Sam turned around and looked at him for a moment. “Because we're together, and that's all that counts.” Dean felt the rock solid commitment in his brother's voice and it put him at an odd peace.
“You are such a fag.” Dean said with a smirk.
Sam pushed him off of him. “We'll see who's a fag tonight.” he said ominously. “See if you get any.”
Dean tried to lean into his brother who was having none of it. “Ah come on Sammy...admit you're gay for me.”
“Get off me.” Sam said in mock protest as he pushed him off. “You're gay.”
Sam began to walk towards the house when Dean's hands grabbed both of Sam's firm ass cheeks. “Gotta get me some of that!” he said squeezing. Sam yelped as he jumped forward, swatting at Dean's hands behind him.
They busted into the kitchen and stopped cold when they saw the scene in the living room, lit by the flickering light of the widescreen TV. Chace and Adam were asleep on the couch, Chace cuddled behind Adam, his arms wrapped around the other boy's waist as his head rested on his shoulder. The two of them looked as peaceful as any two people in the world could, their legs intertwined clad in white socks.
“He named the puppy big time.” Sam whispered to Dean who sighed heavily as he walked into the living room and turned off the TV. “Tell me about it.” he said gesturing towards Chace as he carefully picked up Adam from the couch.
“You know who they remind me of?” Sam said lifting Chace as if he weighed nothing.
“Those two idiot dogs in that move with the spaghetti?”
Sam nodded with a huge grin. “Us.” he said as he walked Chace up the stairs to his room, leaving Dean stunned in the living room as he realized his brother was right.
Dean walked Adam to the guest room, taking a second to really look at the teenager for the first time since he showed up. He had to admit as he laid him down in the bed, he looked a little like Sam in the face...Dean brushed a lock of his bangs out of his face and Adam came awake suddenly. “NO!” he screamed swatting Dean's hand and pushing away from him.
Dean jumped back as if bit, falling off the bed with a loud thump followed by muttered cursing. “God damn skittish....” he said as he lifted himself off the floor.
“Dean?” Adam said through huge panting breaths.
“Well you can damn well be sure it ain't Santa with that kind of attitude.” he said rubbing the back of his head where it hit the floor.
“I didn't...I'm sorry.” he said softly.
“Don't sweat it.” he said with more than a little bitterness in his voice. “Just get some sleep.” He stood up and began to walk out when Adam called out to him. “Dean?”
The older man turned back and asked. “Whats up?”
“Thanks for letting me stay here.” he said, sounding even more pathetic than before. Dean forced down a sigh as he waved his hand in dismissal.
“Don't thank me, thank Cha...thank your brother.” he said with a small grin. “Get to sleep.” he said closing the door.
Adam counted to thirty and then jumped off the bed and locked the door in a flash. It took another few minutes to move the dresser in front of the door, blocking it from opening.
By the time Dean got to the bedroom and began to undress Sam came in chuckling. “I think our little brother is a little bit crazy.”
Dean sat down and began to pull off his boots. “Kind of a prerequisite to be a Winchester isn't it?”
Sam pulled his shirt off as he answered. “He asked me to talk to you about being nice to Adam. And when I asked him how I was supposed to do that he said 'Use your Sam sex magic on him or something.'”
“You got sex magic?” Dean asked with an eyebrow raised.
“Apparently so.” Sam answered unbuttoning his jeans.
“Man that must have been some crazy ass fishing trip you guys had.” he said pulling his own jeans off.
“You saying I don't have sex magic?” Sam asked, standing there in his boxers, hands on his hips.
Dean paused and took the full 6 foot six inches of his brother's impressive body and smirked. “Ok standing there almost naked is not fair.”
Sam stuck his thumbs under the waistband and pushed them down. “Who said I was playing fair?”
Dean almost forgot to tell him to close the door before he came to bed.
The next morning Dean remembered to put some clothes on before heading out to the kitchen and tossed a pair of jeans on top of Sam before heading out. He found Adam and Chace sitting at the table, both of them gulping food down like there were men headed to the house to take it from them by force. “There is food left right?” he said pouring himself a cup of coffee.
“Thares some on the ounter.” Chace said with a full mouth of food.
Dean found two plates of eggs and bacon sitting there with a paper towel over them waiting for Sam and Dean. “Someone wants something.” Dean muttered under his breath smiling.
“So I'm gonna take Adam out to help out with chores.” Chace said after a hard swallow. “Anything you need done?” he asked a bit too eagerly.
Dean shook his head before turning to the two angelic faces beaming at him expectantly. He paused for a moment and then shrugged. “Might as well take advantage of it.” he said to himself. “Yeah Impala's stall is getting ripe. Why don't you two take a swing at it?”
Chace's smile faltered for a half a second before he nodded robotically. “Yeah. Sure, that's be...great.” he said after a pause.
“Awesome.” Dean said rubbing his hands. “And if you guys have time why don't you take a whack at washing my truck?”
“Your?” Chace coughed while Adam patted his back for a few seconds. After a second through gritted teeth Chace said. “We'd be happy to wash your truck.”
“Fantastic.” he said chomping down a piece of bacon. “And don't forget to clean out the interior. More than a couple empties on the floorboard.”
Chace's smile was now a thin, pressed line of flesh. “Ok.”
“And a wax never killed anyone.” Dean said thinking about it for a second.
“You know there is no...” Chace started to yell but Adam pulled him back and covered his mouth.
“That's great Dean.” Adam said over the mumbled threats of Chace. “We'll get right on it,.” and he began to pull Chace outside.
Dean heard the two of them argue for a few seconds before they headed to the barn, leaving him to bark out in laughter as Sam walked in.
“What's so funny?” he asked pouring himself a cup of coffee with bleary eyes.
“Chace is trying to butter me up so he volunteered to do some chores.”
Sam looked over in confusion for a second and then looked out the kitchen window. “Dean, you know we have a guy come out and clean that stall every month.”
Dean nodded as he kept laughing. “Chace doesn't. He thinks I do it!”
Sam watched the two of them ponder how to tackle the task, scratching their head on what to do with the horse. “You're a mean one Mr. Grinch.” Sam said smiling, watching them march into the barn.
“Hey if I gotta be nice...I might as well get something out of it.” he said taking the paper towel of the other plate.
Sam looked down and swatted Dean's hand. “Back off, I know a plate of breakfast bribery when I see one.”
Dean rubbed his hand as he scowled at Sam. “Man you're mean in the morning.”
Sam gave Dean a Cheshire cat grin as he began to eat his bacon. “I ain't the one who has our little brothers out there doing slave labor.”
Dean grabbed the last half of the bacon out of Sam's hand and put it in his mouth. “Builds character.” he said grinning a victory smile at Sam.
“That's my bacon.” Sam said pulling Dean close.
Dean had the stub of bacon poking out of his mouth. “Come and get it.” he mumbled.
Sam moved into grab more than the meat when there was a shout and the sound of a wood cracking from the barn. They both looked out as Impala raced out of the barn...two teenage boys chasing after her. The two of them burst out laughing as they watched them try to get the excited horse back under control.
“You made up your mind didn't you?” Sam asked, coming behind Dean and hugging him.
Dean nodded as he watched the two boys try everything they knew to stop the horse, who had suddenly decided that this was just a game of tag and she was definitely not going to be it. Chace lunged at the horse as it sidestepped him, braying slightly as if laughing. Adam laughed out loud before the horse turned around and slapped him with her tail before taking off across the fields. The two teenagers laughter filled the kitchen...and Dean's heart. “Yeah I have.”
Later that evening, after a shower and change of clothes Dean called the two of them down to the living room to have a talk. Both boys sat with their hands in their lap as if they were about to be chastised as they waited for Dean's talk.
“Adam.” Dean said pacing the length of the room as he talked. “You were done wrong. No other way to put it. Our dad...” and he paused and looked at him. “...your dad did you a disservice. And it falls on me as head of this family to make it right.”
“Since when are you in charge?” Sam asked from the chair.
“Shut up.” he said curtly and began to pace again. “I've thought long and hard about this and I came to only one decision that made sense.” Both boys leaned forward in anticipation. Dean saw them both out of the corner of his eye and grinned slightly as he drew another breath. “A decision that didn't come lightly, and one that will weigh heavily on this family.” He saw them lean even father in as he took another breath. “Because family is important but there are limits to what we can do.” Another lean forward. “We don't want to rush into anything that might...”
“COME ON DEAN!” Chace finally shouted.
Dean broke out laughing as he saw his little brother's face turn three shades of angry red. “Ok fine.” he looked at Adam. “You cannot stay in the guest room any more.” he said flatly.
Both of their faces froze as the air in the room got pulled out suddenly from the shock. “But what?” Chace sputtered.
After a few seconds Adam said in a quiet voice. “I understand.” he said. “I'll get my things together.”
Dean nodded. “Good, you do that. While you're at it, Chace you should too.”
Chace looked from Adam to Dean to Adam again before asking. “You're kicking me out too?”
Dean nodded. “Fraid so Tex.”
“Where am I supposed to go?” Chace asked as Sam covered his mouth with his hand.
“Same place he is?” Dean offered, gesturing at Adam.
“This is not fair!” Chace said standing up. “I am part of this family and so is he!” Dean had never sen Chace so worked up before, he actually looked like he was going to take a swing.
“I know.” Dean said, keeping his best poker face on.
“Chace, it's ok.” he said trying to pull the other teen back. “Please don't take this out on him.” he said looking at Dean. “He didn't mean anything...”
“My mind is made up. You can't stay in the guest room and you are going with him.” Dean announced.
“And where the hell is that?” Chace demanded, hands balled into fists.
“The attic.”
“What the hell would we do in...wait what?” Chace said his face pausing mid sentence. “Your attic?”
“Our attic.” Sam amended.
“My attic.” Dean said speaking over Sam. “And now...your attic.”
Chace just stood there, smoke coming out of his ears from the shift from fourth gear to reverse suddenly in his mind. “I don't...you mean...huh?”
Sam finally broke out laughing. “You two are going to move into our old room, because Adam is staying here.” he stood up and put a hand on each other their shoulders. “With his brothers.”
Adam looked up suddenly now. “I am?”
Dean nodded. “There are chores, and you live by my rule, and you will go and finish school.” he said firmly. “But besides that...welcome to the Winchesters.” his face broke into a wide smile and Adam rushed forward and hugged him tight.
Chace stood there stunned as Sam patted him on the back. “It's ok, give it a few seconds....you'll get it.”
“You're letting him stay?” Chace finally exploded and hugged Dean too.
“Um...I let him stay also.” Sam said, felling left out.
Dean pulled him into the hug. “And you boys thank your mother Sam too, she helped a lot.”
Sam kicked Dean in the shin as they all stood there, hugging each other tightly.
“Welcome home.” Chace said to Adam who was crying freely. He just nodded and hugged tighter.
It was the happiest they had been in a long time.
To be continued...