Fic: Fellowship of the Nine 9/?
Chapter 9
For a second I was sure that the tree had crushed the car. Through the heavy snowfall it was hard to tell.
"Son of a bitch!" Dean got out of the car and on the other side Sam's door opened as well. I breathed in relief, they didn't seem hurt.
"Sam, you alright?" Brenda was the first who found her voice again and then we were all rushing to see the damage.
"We're fine." Sam reassured us but shared a glance with his brother. When we came near I saw the whole disaster. The tree had missed the car but the hood was buried under snow and branches.
"Oh, baby." Dean ran his fingers over the hood. He was more concerned about his car than his brother, figures.
The tree did a pretty good job blocking the road. We'd need a chainsaw to cut the tree in pieces and by the time we would have cleared the road the snow would have done the rest.
Sam and his brother had to stay with us, I realized.
"Dammit." Dean kicked the trunk and Sam stood one the other side of the car eyes on the offending thing in front of him.
"Hey, at least it didn't drop on the car." Sam finally spoke, trying to clam his brother who just threw a murderous glare at him.
"She's half buried under a frigging tree." Dean crawled half under the branches himself to examine the damage. "The hood is dented and the paintwork … Oh, baby." Apologizing he ran his fingers over the black metal.
"Looks like you'll stay after all." Brenda smiled at Sam and as an afterthought included Dean as well. "Both of you."
"Looks like." Sam didn't sound enthusiastic and the glare on Dean's face spoke for itself.
"I've room for one more person." Cole hurried to say. "I can't wait to get to know Sam's famous brother." He was lying through his teeth and we all knew it, except for Dean how didn't look like he cared.
"Let me get the car outa here first." Dean said and hushed Sam and us out of the way before he maneuvered the car backwards. He looked like he was in physical pain when the car moved slowly and with more scratching out under the tree.
It didn't look too bad. Yes, the hood was dented and there were deep scratches in the black paint but that was it. Maybe a busted headlight, nothing a good mechanic couldn't repair. An old battle ship like that thing, it'd take more than one lousy tree to put it down.
While Dean parked the car Cole turned to me. "I think it would be the best to give Sam and his brother a room for themselves. We can share, if you don't mind."
I did mind. If I could help it I would never let Sam be with Dean alone ever again but I didn't know how to prevent that without spilling the dirty truth. And that was the last thing Sam wanted, I got that. Overhearing Cole's offer Sam pinned me down with that look of his.
"Thanks, Cole." Sam said but his gaze was never leaving me. "That would be great."
"I'll get my stuff." I didn't like it but I packed my things and dumped them in the master bedroom. I left the laptop, though.
On the stairs I met Sam and his brother. Dean was still cursing under his breath about "frigging trees".
"All yours." I said with a forced smile. With the house full of people Sam should be safe from Dean for the moment. Or so I hoped.
"Thanks, dude." Dean had his bag over his should which looked pretty much like Sam's. Old and battered and I wondered why he had a packed bag with him.
Road trip, I remembered. They both had probably a packed bag with them all the time.
An icy fist wrenched my guts but I could only watch when the door closed behind the brothers.
"Brenda, I need your laptop." Without waiting for her answer I entered her room and fired up her computer. Maybe I couldn't be there in person but I could keep an eye on the brothers. I owed Sam that much.
"What are you doing?" Brenda looked over my shoulder while I waited for the connection. Then I got a picture.
"Are you spying on them?" She whispered.
"They can't hear us. Mike's off." I reassured her and waited what she'd do. The right thing would have been to shut the laptop. Instead we both watched what happened in the other room.
Sam sat on his bed while Dean got some things out of his bag.
"They seem pretty glad that you'll stay for a while longer." Dean said with a side glance at Sam. "Not so glad that I'll be stuck here with them, though. Especially this Luis guy. Man, I think he tried to burn a whole into my head. Did I do something to him?"
Now Sam snorted. "He thinks you did something to me."
Dean set the bag aside and sat down on the bed facing Sam. "What does that mean?"
"He saw me shirtless."
"And what? Did he start drooling all over you?" Dean teased clearly not getting the point. Maybe he was so used to Sam's bruises that he didn't think much of them anymore.
"I got banged up good at our last gig." Sam reminded him. Brenda and I shared a look. What was he talking about?
"What did you tell him?" Calm and relaxed, Dean seemed sure that Sam wouldn't tell us about him doing that to Sam.
"That I fell down some stairs." Sam shrugged it off.
Dean blinked at him. "Dude, you know that's code for somebody is using me as a punching bag, right?"
"Hey, I fell down those stairs."
"You were thrown down those stairs." Dean corrected him and shook his head in disbelief.
"You know, Luis is right with one point." Holding up his arm Sam smiled at his brother. "I have your hand prints imprinted here."
Now Dean rolled his eyes. "Okay, next time you're dangling two stories above the floor I'll just drop you."
"Sure you will."
The fell silent for a while and Brenda and I didn't speak either. This wasn't what I'd expected.
"That's why you wanted to leave?" Dean broke the silence. "One of your friends thinks I'm lashing out on you?"
Sam leaned back on his bed and rested on his elbows. "Everybody is asking me to come back. They say I'm wasting my time and my brilliance with a stupid road trip. With you. Then Luis offered to help me to get away from you. That's when I decided to leave."
Dean swallowed visibly and when he spoke his voice was husky. "Do you want to go back?"
It hit me like a sledge-hammer. I had never asked Sam if he actually wanted to come back and neither had the others. Brenda's sharp inhale right next to my ear told me that she hadn't bothered to ask that question either. Because, this was Sam. He belonged to Stanford, he had a brilliant future ahead, of course he wanted to come back. Let's say, Sam answer surprised me.
"No!" Sam shook his head to empathize the word. "Even if I could go back, no, I wouldn't want to."
"What do you want, Sammy?" His brother asked the next question I never even had considered to ask.
"I want to find that son of a bitch that killed Jess."
continue to chapter 10
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