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Oh Sam H/C Challenge:
Vail Kagami prompt:
Gen. Season 5 or later, please.
Dean makes a wish and something (a god/an angel/whatever) puts him into a world where his life is happy and rather normal. Everything he ever wished for is there: his mother never died, his dad is just an awesome dad who played baseball with him and took him to movies as a kid and all. The family never moved so he grew up with lots of friends, he has an awesome girlfriend/fiance/wife (maybe even kids) now, a job he can live with, hobbies he enjoys, etc.. Also, he never went to hell, which is a big bonus. But most of all, his parents are alive and he has the family he always wanted and needed. And all that was made possible simply by removing the one thing from existence that doomed his family: in this world, Sam has never been born.
And eventually, Dean is forced to decide what he wants more: this great, happy life in which everyone he loves is fine, or his doomed mess of a little brother.
Here is my response:
Disclaimer: Supernatural and its characters don’t belong to me, except in my dreams.
Warning: Spoilers up to Season 6.11
Rating: PG13
Some may call this AU, I call it a missing scene, but everyone is entitled to their opinion and I don’t mind.
Consequences of a Wish
Part 1
It’s been a year, a year since he made the wish, since he had started to live with the memories of two lives. The first one, the one he had lived for more than thirty years, had ended after his brother had returned from hell without a soul. Sure Dean had tried. First he’d tried to live with Sam the way he was, had tried to be his conscience, his soul. When that hadn’t work, he’d tried whatever else he could to get Sam’s soul back, had even gone so far as working for Crowley, self appointed ‘King of Hell’. Only that had gone wrong too, because Crowley had lied to them, like that really had been news, he’d been a demon after all. He hadn’t been able get Sam’s soul out of hell and so Castiel had burned his bones and Crowley with them.
So as a last solution he’d made a deal with Death, that’s right, the one and only Death and as payment had taken over for twenty-four hours for the big guy. Only he’d screwed up, had completely failed and the moment he’d taken the ring off, he’d known that he’d lost Sam. It had become even clearer, when he’d gotten back to Bobby’s just at the moment his brother had tried to cut their surrogate father’s throat. Sure, he’d prevented it and they’d gotten Sam locked up in the panic room, chained to the cot with handcuffs. But there had been no doubt in his mind that this neither could nor would last forever. His mind had desperately asked the question, how was he going to live with this?
So just for a moment he’d lost it, had wished that this never had happened and that things could be normal again. He never once had thought that anything would come off that fleeting thought. Not until he suddenly had found himself lying in bed beside Lisa. And at the same time he had remembered a whole other life, the one he was living now.
He remembered everything up to that very moment. His father and mother, John and Mary Winchester were both alive and still living in Lawrence, Kansas, where his dad was part owner of a garage and did pretty well for himself. He, Dean had grown up playing little league and later high school baseball. He had been an average student, who’d inherited his love for cars and mullet rock from his dad and he now was the owner of the other part of the garage.
He’d met Lisa on a road trip after graduating High School. He’d fallen in love with her instantly, tried to stay in contact with her after the summer had been over, but she hadn’t answered his calls. He’d found out a year later, when he’d gone back to see her, to ask her face to face, why she hadn’t answered him. She had a baby, a little boy, who had been four month old at the time. And Dean hadn’t been born yesterday; he’d done the math and figured out that it had to be his kid. So she finally had told him that she didn’t want him to feel like he was obligated to her or her child. After that they had agreed to give it some time and now they had been married for the last ten years. Ben was twelve now and a little less than two years ago, they added another addition to their family - his sister Samantha.
But there was no Sam. He remembered naming his daughter after her great grandfather, because his mother had miscarried the child, she had planned to name after him, when Dean had been four years old. Sam Winchester, his brother had never been born.
If someone would have told Dean that this was what would come out of his wish for a normal life, he would have told them this was far from what he would want it to be. Normal would have been a live including Sammy, but without the tragedy, which led them into the hunting life.
If Dean was honest though, life was good. For the last year, he worked closely with his father at a job that he loved. He loved Lisa and there was no question that their marriage was happy. It seemed like they completed one another. Ben was doing alright in school and already showed interest in cars and little Samantha was smart as a whip and had no problems wrapping her father around her little finger. He saw his parents at least once a week outside of working with his dad and their relationship was great too. He couldn’t have been happier and yet, if he really thought about it, something very important was missing that left him empty, even now, a year later
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When Dean Winchester walked into the house after a long day at work, Ben looked up from the desk in the corner, where he was doing his homework. He started to talk to him, but it seemed like the words coming from far away. And without warning the scene in front of him changed.
Where only a moment ago was a brightly decorated living room, there was now a shabby looking motel room with two queen-sized beds. A twelve year old Sam was sitting cross-legged on one of them, papers strewn out in front of him, his head buried in a book. The door opened and his dad came in with a bag of fast food in his hand.
“Hey Sam, where is your brother? He was supposed to clean the weapons before the hunt tonight.”
Sam’s face almost disappeared behind his too long bangs and he never looked up, when he answered, “He finished an hour ago, they are in the bag over on the table.”
“Oh…that doesn’t answer my question about where he is now, though!” John replied gruffly.
Still not looking up, the preteen said, “He just went to fill up the car, thought the tank wasn’t full enough for tonight.”
The scene faded and Dean stood there with a smile on his face. He remembered that day. They had been after a Wendigo, had spent almost a month in that little town to figure out what was going on, because of a lot of conflicting reports. There had been a lot of hot chicks in that school and that last day he had finally gotten lucky with Mindy McPherson. He had dropped by Sam’s school, told him to walk home and that he would fill the Impala up and be home by seven. Only later had he remembered that dad had told him to check and clean the weapons. Coming back to the motel, he had expected to be in deep trouble, only to find his dad praise him for his good work. Sammy had bailed him out, once again.
“Da’ad” The slightly whiny voice stirred him out of his thoughts, “Are you going to help me with your homework or not?”
Shaking off his momentary confusion, Dean pulled himself together, “Sure, let me see what I can do!”
He sat down and looked over the math problems, but his mind wasn’t really on it, as the face of his son continued to change into that of his brother. He was almost relieved, when Lisa called them for dinner, as he noticed that Ben was starting to get slightly irritated by his absentmindedness.
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It was almost nine o’clock by the time both kids were in bed. It was Lisa’s night out with her friends, so Dean found himself alone. Settling down in the recliner, he took the newspaper off the side table and opened it. For a while he read through the headlines, until his eyes fell on an entry that was only a few lines long. Somehow drawn to it, he read through it, realizing that it was talking about the disappearances several pet dogs in one of the neighboring towns. The assumption was that they had been snatched and sold to some medical labs for experiments. He could almost see Sam stand in front of him, trying to convince him to investigate this case, if he was here right now. In the younger man’s mind it would have been clear that there had to be something supernatural behind this and even if not, he would have wanted to check it out anyway, just because he had a soft spot for animals, especially dogs.
Dean’s mind went back to the poor excuse for an apartment they’ve been calling home. He’d been about twelve at the time…
It was one of those icy Wisconsin winter days, when your spit freezes before it hits the ground. Surprised by not finding his brother in the living room doing homework or engulfed in some book, Dean went to look for the younger boy. Opening the door to their shared room, he heard a door slam and saw Sam standing with his back to the closet door.
“What are you doing there?” He asked suspiciously.
“A… ahem, nothing…” was the stammered answered coming from his visibly blushing younger sibling.
“Come on, Sammy, I know you. What’re you hiding?”
“Really, it’s nothing!” Sam kept insisting.
A horrible thought suddenly crossed the older boy’s mind, “Did you use my Metallica shirt, even though I told you not to?” Seeing the seemingly stricken look on his brother’s face, he said, “You did, didn’t you? What did you do to it?”
He walked towards the door, trying to push the smaller boy aside.
Resisting with all he had, Sam cried out, “No Dean, I promise, I didn’t use your shirt!”
Almost having pushed his little brother away from the closet, he stopped, as a whining sound came from within it, only to increase his force a moment later. Having free access, he opened the door and looked inside, finding a small puppy lying on a blanket.
“P…please Dean, it’s hurt, please don’t tell dad.”
If the desperate pleading wouldn’t have melted the older brother’s heart already, the distraught look in the large hazel eyes would have definitely finished him off. Crouching down, he picked the little dog up, causing it to wince slightly.
“Be careful, don’t hurt him!”
“I won’t, just looking at him.” Dean replied, checking the little thing out. Its fur was too dirty to identify the original color, but the older Winchester figured from the size and build the dog was probably a retriever mix and barely weaned from its mother. It was bleeding from the pads of its left hind leg, probably because of the ice and snow tearing it up. It was also shaking in his arms, probably from fear and cold.
“Why don’t you take the blanket and sit down on the bed!”
After Sam followed his orders, Dean laid the puppy in his lap and wrapped it into the blanket.
“Keep it warm, I heat some milk. I’ll be right back.”
“What about its leg?” Sam was visibly worried.
“It’s not that bad. Right now it needs a lot of warmth.”
“Okay, I make sure Max will be warm and cozy!” The smaller boy said eagerly.
“Max, why Max?”
“Oh, I don’t know, he just looks like a Max.”
Dean smiled; leave it to Sammy to get attached in such a short time. Going to the kitchen, he heated some milk in the microwave and poured it into a bowl. Carrying it back to their room, he stopped, when he saw his brother lying on the bed, protectively curled around the little pup, both of them fast asleep.
“Guess the milk can wait till later.” He thought to himself, quietly leaving the room to make a phone call.
By the time their dad returned the next morning from his latest hunt, the dog was patched up and bathed, turned out he was a pureblooded golden retriever and Bobby had agreed to come by the next week and take Max to his place. Even John couldn’t be too upset about keeping the puppy for a week and Sammy certainly was in heaven, because he would be able to see him, whenever they went to see Bobby.
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The garage was extremely busy the next day. Between trying to finish three repairs that were promised for this afternoon, his father’s car had developed some unknown problem and wasn’t running right. He was driving a 68 Camaro, never bought the Impala, probably because Dean never went back in time and talked him into it. The engine problem wouldn’t have been a big deal, except that his parents were planning on going out of town for the weekend. It was their anniversary and they did something special for it every year.
By the time both men finally took a break it was already two in the afternoon. Cleaning up a little, they sat down to eat their lunch.
Watching his son eat with a smile on his face, John said, “Leave some room, your mom made some apple pie yesterday, she made me bring a few pieces for you.”
“Awesome, I’ll always have room for mom’s pie!” Dean called out excitedly.
“Yeah, I know, too bad Lisa can’t seem to get it right.”
“She is a great cook, but pie is just not her thing. Can’t have it all, for that her roast beef is awesome!” The younger man exclaimed.
Snorting John agreed, “Yeah well, your mom’s is just a little on the dry side most of the time.”
“A little dry? Just a little above dust is probably a better description.” Dean laughed. He loved his mother dearly, but other than pie, her cooking skills were average at best.
“I know, but I really don’t want to hurt her feelings. Why do you think I eat more veggies and salad when she cooks?” Now John was laughing too.
It suddenly hit Dean how much Sam was like his father. The way dad laid his head back at times when he laughed and the sound of his voice… It was almost uncanny.
“Sam loves salads, eats more of the green stuff than meat!”
He didn’t realize what he said, until his dad responded, “Really, I haven’t seen her put any veggies in her mouth when I’m around?”
For a moment Dean stared as the other man, before he stammered, “Ahem, well, she seemed to have developed a taste for them over the last few days.” He just hoped his father would forget about the conversation and not call him on it later on.
Why in the world did he have to remember his old life anyway? And why was he even here? Who had brought him here? He never spoke the wish out loud; it had been only in his mind. He really shouldn’t complain though. It was great to have dad around. The eldest Winchester taught him everything he knew about cars. And not just that, he taught him to ride a bike, how to play baseball, how to drive a car, took him to movies, bought him his first beer. He even had that man to man talk with him. Really, John was a great dad, sure he had his faults, but didn’t everyone?
And having his mom, he couldn’t even describe how he felt about it. He remembered the first four years of his other life, but that was nothing compared to the time he got to spend with her in this one. Not having to grow up, when you were only four was awesome. Getting tucked into bed, having her sit with him when he was ill, patching up the scraped knees and elbows over the years, cheering for him during baseball games, although she really wasn’t interested in the sport otherwise that was so great, if he only wouldn’t have this empty spot in his heart. Why couldn’t Sammy be here too? He shook his head, deciding that he needed to get over it, he got what he wanted, well at least kind of, and that should be enough!
“Everything alright, son?” John asked slightly worried.
“Yeah, why?”
“You seemed kinda out of it!” The older man explained.
“I’m fine, just been thinking about the kids.”
“Any of them sick?” John continued to pry.
Dean smiled, “They’re fine, just thought Ben’s game tomorrow. It’s the last one before vacation start.”
“Really? That makes me feel bad that we are not here to see it.”
“He understands, after all, you were at all his other games. I know how you and mom look forward to this weekend.” Dean said.
“We do.” John smiled, “We always go to this little bed and breakfast, make all these plans and then end up spending most the day in bed, having…”
“Whoa there, way too much information!” Dean grinned, remembering, how it would always be Sam saying these words to him.
“Like you don’t know how that goes.”
“Yeah, but that’s different.”
“How is that different?”
“It’s different, because you are my parents and that just makes it…, well that’s just, just wrong.”
At that his father laughed out loud, “How do you think you came to be?”
“Okay, let’s just change the subject here” Once more he felt himself pushed into the role his brother would usually play, “I need to get back to work anyway.”
He still heard his father laugh when he got to his spot in the repair shop.
TBC
Part 2