Fic: Destiny Always Finds You (10/?)
Jensen had immediately known that Dean wouldn’t leave Sam’s side to go home with him and Jared as soon as his shift had ended, so he had given the younger teen another quick checkup to make sure that his condition hadn’t deteriorated. The kid had still been drifting in and out of consciousness under the influence of the pain meds he had given him but that was to be expected considering the kid’s age, built and the dosage Jensen had given him to alleviate the pain. Altogether Jensen had deemed Sam to be well enough to be moved and since he didn’t need any special medical care, they would be taking him home with Dean and Sean.
After telling the front desk to send any bills to their address, Jensen and Jared had transferred the sleeping teen from his gurney onto the backseat of their truck. Dean had slipped into the back as well, cradling Sam’s head in his lap and generally making sure that he wouldn’t tumble around as Jensen drove home. Meanwhile Jared had put Sean in his car seat and followed them in their second car.
Getting Sam settled in the room that Dean had been occupying hadn’t taken too much effort but again, the older teen had stubbornly refused to leave his boyfriend to have dinner with Jared and Jensen.
“God, Sammy… What did dad do to get you in this condition?” Dean asked his sleeping brother softly. “I really hoped he would take care of you and that he wouldn’t drag you along on the more dangerous hunts… but I should’ve known better.” He laughed bitterly because he really should have seen it coming that their dad would replace him with Sammy after he had left. Dad had always told them that only someone with a death wish would hunt solo because everyone slipped up every once in a while and that was why having backup was so essential in their business. When Dean had ran away their dad had not only been missing one son but effectively been one man down and that had been the reason why Sammy had had to step up and fill the void, having their dad’s back on hunts.
“Not your fault…” a hoarse voice broke Dean out of his gloomy thoughts and he smiled in relief when he saw that Sam was alert.
The older Winchester was about to argue that Sam had only been dragged along on whatever hunt it was that had gotten him into the hospital because he had left, when he realized how pointless that discussion would be. No matter how bad he felt or how much he would beat himself up for leaving Sam at their father’s mercy, there was absolutely nothing he could do to change what had happened. “How are you feeling, Sammy?” he finally opted for asking instead.
“I’m fine,” Sam replied but his voice was obviously weak and the frown lines on his forehead gave away that he was still in pain.
Dean shook his head. “Don’t even try to use that line on me, Sammy. That’s my line and it won’t work on me so you better stick with the truth,” he warned only half joking before adding, “We’re alone… You can tell me what happened.”
Cautiously turning his head sideways, Sam took a second to make sure that they were indeed all by themselves. “Where are we?”
“This is Jensen and Jared’s place,” the older teen said before remembering that Sam would probably not be familiar with any of their names. “Jensen was your doctor at the hospital and Jared is his… boyfriend.”
The frown lines on Sam’s forehead deepened but Dean could tell that it had nothing to do with pain and everything to do with his brother brooding mind. “Why did the ER doctor take us home? And wasn’t the other guy with you when you came into my room?”
“It’s a long story, Sam…” Dean tried to evade the questions because he wasn’t sure how or where to start explaining but at the same time he knew that Sam wouldn’t let go until he gave him answers. “I’ll tell you the whole story after you’ve answered my question and before you ask why… It’s because I asked first… and I’m older. So come on, Sammy. How’re you feeling?”
“My chest hurts and I have a headache but it’s both manageable,” Sam at least admitted grudgingly.
Dean nodded as if he was satisfied with that answer but then started asking more questions. “Do you need more painkillers? Jensen said you could take some Vicodin if you needed them… And how exactly did you get hurt, Sam?”
“I thought you had one question…”
“Now I have more, though shit, Sammy,” Dean shot back out of habit and then his voice softened again. “I’m sorry that dad dragged you along on his hunts…”
Sam’s face turned grim. “I can hunt. Dad trained both of us and he started taking you along on hunts when you were fifteen.”
“Yeah, I know he trained both of us but you mainly did research because you’re so smart, Sammy, and…” the older teen pointed out, hoping to calm Sam down again.
“I’m almost sixteen! I’m not a kid and I can take care of myself!”
Before Dean could open his mouth to tell his brother to lower his voice Sean woke up from the noise and started crying. “Damnit!” He threw a look over his shoulder and back at Sam who was evidently confused by the sound.
“What’s that?” he asked, trying to push himself into a sitting position to look past Dean.
Gently pressing Sam’s shoulders back against the mattress, Dean stood up. “Lay back down, Sammy. I’ll bring him over,” he said softly and walked across the room to the small basinet, leaning down and picking up the baby in his light blue romper suit. Dean smiled ruefully as he sat back down on the edge of the bed, facing Sam with a guilty look. “Meet Sean, Sammy…”
Sam’s expression went from confused to surprised and then his eyes widened with realization after watching Dean rock the dark-haired infant in order to calm him down again. “He’s… yours, isn’t he?”
“Yes, and he’s twelve days old,” Dean replied, gazing down at the baby with an affectionate smile.
“You told me I was the first… the only guy you ever allowed to…” the younger Winchester started saying, sounding really upset again.
“And it’s true,” Dean confirmed, locking deep green eyes with Sam’s hazel ones.
A shiver ran through Sam’s body and his eyes looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets. “Then I’m… he’s… Ohmygod you left because you were…”
Dean could only nod, feeling guiltier than he had thought possible. He tried to swallow around the lump in his throat before speaking up again. “I wanted to tell you but I… I didn’t want to put any more pressure on you, Sammy…” He couldn’t look at his brother, so he lowered his eyes towards Sean, trying to keep the tears at bay. “I couldn’t stay because I was afraid dad would find out about us and… I don’t know what he might have done if he knew about…” he broke off, stroking the fussing baby’s cheek lovingly.
“You would never have told me that we had a son if I hadn’t laded in that ER, would you?” Now Sam’s voice sounded accusing.
“I wanted to tell you, Sammy… Everyday… I missed you so much and I wished…” Dean choked and shook his head, still not looking at Sam. “I’m sorry… I need a minute. He can sense that I’m upset and he won’t calm down if I’m…” He shook his head one more time for lack of words and tried to stand up to leave the room.
A knock at the door made him stop in his tracks though.
“Dean, are you okay in there?” Jensen voice carried through the door, waiting a few seconds before mumbling something unintelligible, probably talking to Jared and then adding in a louder voice again. “We’re coming in now.” The door was slowly pushed open revealing both Jensen and Jared, looking rather worried.
Leaving Jared standing in the open doorway, Jensen closed the distance between Dean and himself in a few hurried paces and enveloped the clearly distressed teen in a sideway embrace, mindful of not crushing Sean between them. “Let’s go sit in the living-room for a couple of minutes, kiddo,” he suggested and gently steered Dean past Jared out of the room.
Jared took a moment to see the situation through and then walked further into the room, slowly approaching Sam. “Hey, I’m Jared…” he introduced himself pulling up the chair next to the nightstand to sit down and not look too intimidating. The last thing the kid in their guestroom needed was to have a stranger looming over him. “I’m a friend of Dean’s and… I’d like to be your friend, too.” Jared knew how trite his statement sounded but he couldn’t come up with anything better and the kid indeed looked like he could use a friend.
“Leave me alone,” Sam grumbled, trying to look defiant but obviously close to tears.
“If you think you can get rid of me that easily I have to disappoint you, kid. You think you’re stubborn but I’m twice as old as you so I’ve got twice as much experience at being stubborn. Just do the math.” Jared tried to joke, hoping to get through to Sam.
“I’m sixteen!” Sam shot back stubbornly, still not budging to Jared attempts to make small talk. He tried to cross his arms in front of his chest but grimaced as he put pressure on his bruised ribcage.
Jared quickly got hold of the teen’s wrists and gently pulled his arms back so they were resting on the mattress on each side of his torso. “Alright, then Jensen’s twice your age. I can still ‘out-stubborn’ you, so you might as well stop resisting my charm and talk to me,” he said indifferently, watching the kid’s moist hazel eyes intently.
The way that Sam turned his head away from Jared, staring at the wall instead, made it clear that he wouldn’t make it easy.
“Okay, if you don’t want to talk to me then I’m just going to sum up what I think happened in here while Jen and I were having dinner.” He waiting another beat to see if that would get any reaction out of Sam and when he didn’t so much as twitch, Jared went on. “So I assume you’ve met Sean and freaked out a little…”
Sam didn’t take the bait and kept staring at the far wall, ignoring Jared.
“I can totally understand that you would freak out after such a revelation. I’m sure I would be shocked as well if I were in your shoes but…”
“I didn’t freak out, I’m angry,” Sam finally retorted.
Jared nodded even if it was a pointless gesture because Sam was still facing away from him. “Then tell me why you got so angry that you got Dean and yourself so upset.” He could fairly well imagine why Dean’s confession would have made Sam angry but Jared was hoping that talking about it to an outsider would help the younger teen deal with the unexpected news. He was pretty sure that Jensen was trying a similar approach with Jensen in the living-room.
“It’s all about Dean! He left me! He lied to me! And now you’re scolding me for getting him upset?” Sam was yelling again and it was clearly visible that the effort was doing nothing for his bruised ribs.
“Dean’s been out of his mind with worry since you turned up at the ER and he saw you.” Jared really didn’t want to play the guilt card on the poor kid but he was getting annoyed by Sam’s antagonizing behavior. “He sat with you for hours while Jensen finished his shift before driving home. Hell, he even refused to drink anything until we got here because he was afraid you could wake up while he took a leak and would freak out when you realized you were in a hospital… It took Jensen almost five minutes to talk him into letting go of you so I could carry you inside when we got here… Dean’s still healing himself and needs his rest but I’m sure he’ll keep vigil at your bedside until either you get back on your feet or he keels over from exhaustion, so don’t be such a brat because it’s actually all about you!”
Sam finally turned his head and faced Jared, his eyes reddened as the first tears rolled down his cheeks.
“I get that you are upset about how things between you and Dean went but give him the chance to explain himself before you get angry at him, alright?” Jared advised, his voice softening again as he saw the kid was now crying. He felt bad for being so gruff with him but there were things that had to be said. Hesitantly he laid a hand on Sam’s shoulder. “It’ll be alright. You and Dean just need to talk about it and…” The choked sound coming from Sam made Jared break off his sentence. “Take it easy, kid. Try to take deep breaths and I’ll help you sit up a little,” he soothed, getting up from his chair and walking over to the closet to get a couple of extra pillows and a soft blanket. When he came back to the bed, he set everything down on the chair and leaned down to very carefully pull Sam into a half sitting position, so he would be able to breathe easier. “You’ll be all settled in just a second…” he mumbled half to himself as he arranged the folded blanket and the pillows behind the kid’s back before gently lowering him back down. “There you go.”
Seeing that Sam wasn’t flinching away from his touch, Jared let his hands linger on the kid’s bony shoulders as he tried to establish eye contact with him. “Just take your time. I can bring Dean in whenever you’re ready.”
“Okay,” Sam choked out, trying to calm down again. As embarrassing as crying in front of a stranger was, there were just too many emotions that had overcome him as he listened to the other man’s words. “How did Dean… How did he get here? How long…”
“Jensen found him but that’s Dean’s story. Just ask him I’m sure he’ll tell you everything,” Jared assured in a calm tone and kept watching the teen fight to regain his composure.
They sat in silence for a couple of minutes but Sam’s sobs finally died down and he wiped the back of his hand over his eyes to erase the reminders of his tears. “I think I’m…” He took a deep breath and reorganized his thoughts. “Can you get Dean, please?”
Jared nodded and got up from his seat. “Sure, I’ll tell him you want to talk. If you need anything then call, alright?”
This time it was Sam who nodded slowly and then took another deep breath to brace himself for facing Dean again as Jared went out the door. He must have zoned out a little because he almost fell off the bed when he heard Dean’s voice.
“Hey, Sammy.”
The younger teen blinked his eyes a couple of times to focus on his brother, who was slowly approaching the bed with the baby, their baby, in his arms.
Dean noticed how Sam’s gaze went to Sean and he felt the need to explain himself as he sat down on the chair that Jared had left standing right next to the bed. “He was really upset and I didn’t want to leave him with Jensen and Jared,” he said, sounding like he was apologizing.
“I asked Jared how you ended up here with them…” Sam started tentatively, searching for the right words to ask what he wanted to know. “How long have you been living with them?” From what he had seen both men seemed to care a lot about Dean and his brother was really comfortable around them, so Dean certainly had been staying with Jensen and Jared for quite a while already. On one hand Sam was happy that Dean hadn’t been alone but on the other hand he was jealous that those two strangers had been there for Dean when that chance had been taken from him.
“I was hitchhiking and…” Dean stopped to decide how much he wanted to tell Sam. He didn’t want to lie or keep secrets from him but he didn’t want to upset him either. It was a tough choice but he went for telling the whole truth because Sam simply deserved to know. “I knew I had to be due soon but I really thought I was only having fake labor pains… That’s until the truck driver, that had picked me up, kicked me out at a gas station and my water broke...” He saw how Sam’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Jensen found me there and took care of me.”
“You went into labor and that asshole just left you alone instead of taking you to a hospital?” Sam was getting worked up again but Dean intervened immediately, rocking Sean gently to keep him calm as Sam’s voice rose.
“I was wearing baggy clothes and trying to hide it… I just wanted to get to get a motel room because I couldn’t go to a hospital. They would have called the cops and taken Sean away from me. I couldn’t take that risk!” Dean looked down at his son again to calm his own warring emotions again. The little boy seemed to be sleeping but his tiny mouth was making sucking motions so Dean just held the tip of his pinky finger out and let Sean suckle on it.
Sam watched the interaction silently, calming down himself at the peaceful intimate gesture. “So you weren’t alone when you delivered?” He needed Dean to confirm it for him.
“No, Jensen was there and helped me… He and Jared said I could stay with them until I turn eighteen, so I won’t have to worry about Child Protective Services.” He smiled softly and finally looked back up at Sam. “They’ve done a lot for me and Sean.”
Once more jealousy started bubbling up in Sam’s chest and while he was able to keep his voice down this time, he was still visibly upset. “I would’ve been there for you if you hadn’t left like that. Why didn’t you say anything, Dean?”
Dean’s vision blurred with the tears that welled up in his eyes and he had to clear his throat before he spoke. “I’m so sorry for not telling you, Sammy. It was a shock when I realized why I wasn’t feeling so well. I freaked out… I didn’t want to… burden you…”
“You were having our baby, Dean! You shouldn’t have had to deal with that alone. I’m not a clueless little kid anymore, you need to see that.” Sam said resolutely. He sounded more worried and sad than angry.
“Dad would’ve gone ballistic…” Dean replied in a small voice, looking down at Sean once more.
Sam didn’t even have to think about his next words, knowing that he would have stuck with his brother. “Then so be it, I would’ve left with you.”
“I missed you so much, Sammy,” the older teen admitted close to tears.
“Me too. I’m so glad that you’re back.” Sam was just as choked up as his brother but he managed to lift his arm, even if it pulled the sore muscles in his chest, and wipe a stray tear from Dean’s cheek.
A small teary smile appeared on Dean’s face and he slowly leaned in to press a soft kiss to Sam’s lips, the unspoken ‘I love you’ hanging in the air.
Before their kisses could go from chaste to something heated Dean pulled back because Sean woke up and started fussing again, clearly ready for his next meal. He looked back at Sam apologetically. “He’s hungry… I can go outside to feed him.”
“Stay.”
The short reply made Dean understand that things were fine between them. They were both just happy to be together again and Sam wasn’t mad at him anymore. Awkwardly Dean pulled one arm out of the sleeve of his sweater, feeling little self-conscious and exposed as Sam watched him feeding Sean. When he saw his brother reaching out to touch their baby boy’s cheek, he finally relaxed.
“He’s beautiful,” Sam whispered in awe and Dean heard the unspoken ‘I love you’ behind the words.
After a few more peaceful moments, in which Dean finished feeding Sean and burped him, it was Sam who broke the silence. “You know that we’ll have to tell dad.” He frowned as he waited for Dean’s nod.
“I know, but not today. We’ll start looking for him when you feel a bit better.”
“Yeah, alright,” Sam agreed, feeling sleepy and exhausted again.
“Just close your eyes and rest, Sammy,” Dean said softly and stood up to put Sean back in his crib before carefully removing the extra pillows and blankets from behind Sam’s back so he could lie down properly. “I’ll be right here,” he added, crawling under the covers next to his brother. It had been an eventful day and there was a lot more to come but he would worry about that later.
Chapter 11