It’s just a scratch
Jun 21, 1995.
After that first time, Dean was always alert and watching John carefully. Since that night, John had become more distant and strict, especially with Sam, he also drank more and more everyday, he snapped at Sam for everything and although something like what had happened that night hadn't happened again, Dean could see a dark cloud in his father's eyes, every time he looked at his little brother and he didn’t know what to think about it.
Dean had asked John more than once, why was he so hard on Sam? Dean thought that maybe it was because of all of john's drinking but he never told his father that. John had told Dean that he wanted to prepare Sam to face the monsters that were out there, he said he was training him so he could defend himself and help them with the mission of killing their mother's killer. Dean knew his dad was right, Sam needed to learn how to hunt and how to defend himself but the memory of what had happened that night six years ago, it still made Dean felt uneasy.
Sam had noticed the change in his father too and Dean was able to see the hurt in Sam's eyes every time John spoke to him in a contemptuous tone, or found some flaw in Sam's performance in the hunt.
Since Sam had learned about the things that go bump in the night, his father had started training him and including him in the hunt but until now, Sam's role had been to do research, he hadn't actively participated in many hunts, due to Dean’s insistence, except for some ghosts and a cursed object.
Dean knew it was only a matter of time before Sam was part of the killing but he thought they still had time, after all, Sam was barely twelve years old, he was still a kid. But John was determined that Sam would to tag along to them this time.
They were renting a small cabin near the forest on the edge of the city, it was old and ugly but it was a roof over their heads, it had a small living room, an even smaller kitchen, two bedrooms and a bathroom. It had no heating but it wasn’t very cold in this part of the country at this time of the year, so, it didn’t worry Dean much, he also knew that as soon as the hunt was over, they would go back on the road.
Sam and Dean opened the door of the old cabin and found their dad sitting at the table checking a map.
"Well, you finally arrived" said John without looking up from the map.
Immediately, Sam went to his bedroom to leave his backpack on the bed and from the door, he saw his dad's weapon duffel packed over his father’s bed. Dean sat next to John at the table.
"Yes sir, we came here as soon as school was over"
"Ok. There are two burgers for you in the kitchen and as soon as you finish eating, I need both of you to get ready to leave, we are leaving at 5 to the forest. If everything goes right, we’ll be leaving this town on the weekend"
"Yes, Sir" Dean said, heading toward the kitchen to grab the burgers and give Sam his.
Sam heard John's words and for the first time in a long time, he was eager to get back on the road. Even though, he longed for a normal life where Dean and he didn’t have to change schools every other month, he didn’t like this town, he was repeating lessons that he had already learned in his previous school, the cabin they were renting was a mess and he was also looking forward to spending the end of the year at uncle Bobby's house. His father had promised them.
Sam went back to the living room and Dean handed him his burger, Sam opened the wrapping and realized it had pickles in it.
"Dean, you gave me the wrong one, this one has pickles" Sam said, thinking his brother had mistaken their food because he didn't like pickles and Dean did.
Dean had already bitten the burger he had in his hand, so he knew that it had pickles in it too. But his father spoke before he could tell Sam that.
"You always have to make fuss about everything Sam, just eat whatever the hell I give you" John said with barely contained fury in his voice and glaring at Sam.
Sam was tired, he hadn’t slept well in all week, between school work, doing research for the hunt and his father's exhaustive training, Sam was exhausted, he didn’t understand why his father treated him like this, John was constantly berating him about something, sometimes even for things that were beyond Sam's control and Sam was always trying to please his father, to make him proud of him, trying to be more like Dean but no matter how hard Sam tried, it was never enough for John.
Sam wanted to shout at his father, to ask him what he had ever done to him, for john to hated him so much, he wanted to throw the damn burger at his face and leave the damn house and never return, but before Sam could do anything at all, Dean took him by the hand and looked at his eyes pleadingly. Sam breathed and nodded to his father.
"Yes sir"
The ride to the forest was tense and completely silent, John was driving the Impala, Dean was seated next to him and Sam was sulking in the back seat.
John didn't bother explaining the plan to them, not even to Dean, they only knew they were hunting a werewolf, something that made Dean very nervous, since it was the first time Sammy was facing one of those and werewolves were nasties sons of bitches.
Dean had thought that due to Sam's age and inexperience, his brother was going to stay and make guard in the car, so imagine his surprise, when his father after explaining to Dean that they were going to split up to cover more ground, handed Sam a silver knife and instructed him to follow him.
"wait what?, isn't Sammy going to stay in the car?"
"No Dean," John replied exasperated, "If I had brought him to leave him in the car, I would have left him back at home".
"But he's just a kid, he's not ready to kill a werewolf"
"You made your first kill before 12"
"Yeah, but it wasn’t a freaking werewolf"
"Dean!! Sam's coming with me and that's final"
Dean clenched his Jaw but nodded.
"yes, sir"
Dean was not happy about Sam being on the open in the hunt but he knew this was bound to happen sooner or later, hunting was the family business after all. Nevertheless, that didn't mean he liked the situation any better.
Dean grabbed Sam by the shoulders, Sam was scared and trying not to look like it.
"Don't worry Sammy, Dad has your back and this will be over before you know it, right Dad?"
Dean looked at his father in the eyes and John nodded without saying a word.
Sam nodded and started walking in front of his father toward the clearing, John followed him with a shotgun loaded with silver bullets.
Dean walked toward the left, losing sight of them a few minutes later, according to his dad, Dean was now in the werewolf's hunting area. The plan was for Dean to serve as bait and lead the werewolf to the clearing where Sam and his father were waiting for them.
Dean had been walking for about 15 minutes without hearing anything around him, when a scream of pain pierced through the woods from the area where John and Sam were. "SAM" Dean screamed and began running toward the clearing, he heard more crying, several shots and the werewolf's pained howl coming from the same area.
The first thing Dean saw in the clearing was his father kneeling beside the body of the werewolf which appeared to be dead, and the next thing, was Sam lying on the ground in fetal position behind them, Sam was crying and touching his shoulder, Dean immediately ran to the side of his little brother, he kneeled next to Sam and gently removed Sam's hair from his face so he could see his eyes.
"Sammy, talk to me, what happened?" Dean asked worried.
"It hurts Dean, hurts" Sam said, writhing on the floor.
Dean put his other hand on Sam's waist to steady him. "Alright Sammy, c'mon help me out and stay still, so I can take a look at you"
Dean took away Sam's hands from his shoulder and he could clearly see three the long gashes across the shoulder, he pulled a bandana out of his back pocket and applied pressure over Sam's wounds to try to stop the bleeding. "Ughhh," Sam moaned softly.
"I'm sorry Sammy, I know it hurts but I need to stop the bleeding, just until we can patch you up. Okay"
Dean looked around for the first time since arriving to the clearing, trying to find his father so they could leave as soon as possible to attend to Sam. John was walking towards them coming from the other side of the clearing, where he had buried the werewolf's body.
"Dad, we need to go home, Sam is hurt and he needs stitches"
John approached Dean to inspect Sam's injuries.
"It's just a scratch Dean" - that’s nothing, compared to what he deserves - John thought bitterly.
Dean could not believe the words his father just said, Sam was in pain and was bleeding in the middle of nowhere, he needed sutures and pain killers, and his father was more concerned about hiding the body of a monster than for the health of his own son, to say Dean was pissed was an understatement.
“I don’t care what they look like to you dad, I’m taking my brother somewhere safe and I’m doing it now!”
John got up from the floor and raised his hands in surrender.
"Calm down Dean, it's not that bad and as you can see we're done here, so let's go back the car I'll take Sam"
John approached Sam to help him stand up.
Dean put himself over Sam, preventing John from grabbing him.
"I'm not leaving Sam out of my sight, so go ahead and start the car, we’ll follow you"
Dean helped Sam get up and together they walked slowly to the car, mindful of Sam's injuries. This time John drove while Dean seated next to his little brother in the back seat.
Sam's eyelids felt very heavy, he was confused, his mouth was dry, he opened his eyes and saw Dean sitting next to him on the bed, Sam realized he was lying on his stomach, he tried to turn around but felt the skin of his left shoulder pulled and Dean put his hands on him stopping his movements.
"Ahgg" moaned Sam
"Careful Sam, you have to stay on your stomach so you don’t open up your stitches, try not to move your left arm much"
"What h’pend?" Sam asked in a soft and raspy voice.
"The werewolf caught you in the shoulder" Dean said brushing Sam’s bangs with his hand.
"Ohh"
After a few seconds in completely silent, Dean spoked again.
"What happened Sammy, you were supposed to be in front of dad?" Dean asked.
"I don’t know, I was. Dad was b’hind me the wh’le time, maybe he got distracted for a second and it caught me. I don’t know"
Those were the words Dean had feared the most. Since he had found his brother lying on the ground and his father more concerned about the corpse of the monster they were hunting than about Sam, Dean had had and uneasy feeling growing in the pit of his stomach, something wasn’t right and Sam's words confirmed it, but he still could not believe his father had let that monster hurt Sammy. He needed to found out the whole true and he needed to do it now.
“It’s alright Sammy don’t worry about it, you're safe now.Rest little brother”
“kay, De’”
As soon as Sam was sleep Dean went to the living room and found his father on the sofa with a glass of whiskey in his hand and a little smile on his face.
“So, How’s Sam?” John asked.
“Fine... What the hell happened out there, dad?”
"Sam was distracted as usual and the werewolf attacked him" John said while putting his boots on.
"You were supposed to have his back out there, dad" Dean said forcefully.
"I was. But I can’t be taking care of your brother's ass while I'm trying to kill a werewolf, Dean”
"He is a child dad! of course you are supposed to take care of him in the middle of a hunt of a freaking werewolf"
"He's not a child Dean, he's" - a monster - he thought "old enough to take care of himself, it was barely a scratch and hopefully it'll teach him a lesson"
Dean was speechless, it was clear as a day now that his father had seen everything happened, he could have prevented it but he didn't do anything because he had intended for Sam to get hurt.
"I'm going to the bar" John said from the door and without another word he left the cabin.
Dean felt a chill invade his body, imagining everything that could have gone wrong for Sam today. He promised to himself to protect Sam from everything, he would make sure nothing happened to him. No one was going to hurt Sammy, not even John.