Bright White Light - Supernatural/X-Files fic: Epilogue
Warnings, rating and summary are in the Master Post.
Sam chomped on his French fries. "And then we had to hide under a loading dock for three hours before the Air Force went away. And Dean threw up, twice. At least they didn't take the car we borrowed. That would have totally sucked."
"Language, Sammy." Dad, looking slightly worse for wear after three days in Air Force custody, ate his own hamburger one-handed as he drove south.
"Okay then, it would have been totally bad. But they didn't find Max, either."
Dean butted in. "But while we were hiding, you escaped!"
"They called the guards away to help with the search." Dad shrugged. "The cells were just makeshift. It was no trouble getting out of one as soon as no-one was watching me."
"Still, that was pretty cool." The backs of Dean's hands were still lobster red like sunburn. He was wearing a ratty baseball cap backwards to hide the blobby yellow cream and taped-on dressings on the back of his head and neck, even though Sam and Dad knew perfectly well what was there.
"You two did pretty well yourself. Got that ludverc penned up no problems."
Dean shrugged. "Maybe - Bobby didn't even know what happened to Max, or where it took him. Or even why he showed up there."
"Some people just aren't cut out to be hunters, and that's the way it is." Dad was gruff. "We all warned him about carrying salt, and we all warned him that it wasn't some friendly alien coming to visit him."
"And he was working with the FBI anyway." Sam wriggled grumpily in his seat, but it could have been the salt of the French fries stinging the cut on his lip. "We couldn't help him after he started hanging around them."
"Oh come on, Sammy, we could - " Dean started, but caught a look from Dad and subsided. "Yeah. It's not like those FBI agents would have listened to us if we started talking about a ludverc."
"Yeah." Sam still had a defensive note to his voice, but he stopped there.
Dad handed his empty hamburger wrapper to Dean. "No, you were caught on the hop, but you got yourselves safe and kept the ludverc away from anyone who didn't go looking for it. The Kovacs family curse is lifted and Heather is doing well. That's good work right there, boys."
Sam was fairly sure that Dean was blushing at the praise, though since his ears were bright pink from the burns anyway, it was hard to tell from behind. Sam sat back in his seat, trying to feel content that - after all the doubt he had heard in Dean's voice while their dad was missing - everything was back to normal again. The big white Band-Aid over the scab on Sam's chin said otherwise, but he was trying not to care. Of course they had done a good job, just as their dad said, but something inside Sam still roiled angrily - Dad saved no-one, he shouldn't have left them, the Kovacs house burned down, all those men had died, Max was just gone. Why couldn't his dad just stay right here with him and Dean, safe in the steel heart of the Impala, until the end of time?
The flat green of the plains flew past outside, and Sam stared out the window, the much-folded maps forgotten on the bench seat beside him.
Back to Chapter 7
Master Post
Sam chomped on his French fries. "And then we had to hide under a loading dock for three hours before the Air Force went away. And Dean threw up, twice. At least they didn't take the car we borrowed. That would have totally sucked."
"Language, Sammy." Dad, looking slightly worse for wear after three days in Air Force custody, ate his own hamburger one-handed as he drove south.
"Okay then, it would have been totally bad. But they didn't find Max, either."
Dean butted in. "But while we were hiding, you escaped!"
"They called the guards away to help with the search." Dad shrugged. "The cells were just makeshift. It was no trouble getting out of one as soon as no-one was watching me."
"Still, that was pretty cool." The backs of Dean's hands were still lobster red like sunburn. He was wearing a ratty baseball cap backwards to hide the blobby yellow cream and taped-on dressings on the back of his head and neck, even though Sam and Dad knew perfectly well what was there.
"You two did pretty well yourself. Got that ludverc penned up no problems."
Dean shrugged. "Maybe - Bobby didn't even know what happened to Max, or where it took him. Or even why he showed up there."
"Some people just aren't cut out to be hunters, and that's the way it is." Dad was gruff. "We all warned him about carrying salt, and we all warned him that it wasn't some friendly alien coming to visit him."
"And he was working with the FBI anyway." Sam wriggled grumpily in his seat, but it could have been the salt of the French fries stinging the cut on his lip. "We couldn't help him after he started hanging around them."
"Oh come on, Sammy, we could - " Dean started, but caught a look from Dad and subsided. "Yeah. It's not like those FBI agents would have listened to us if we started talking about a ludverc."
"Yeah." Sam still had a defensive note to his voice, but he stopped there.
Dad handed his empty hamburger wrapper to Dean. "No, you were caught on the hop, but you got yourselves safe and kept the ludverc away from anyone who didn't go looking for it. The Kovacs family curse is lifted and Heather is doing well. That's good work right there, boys."
Sam was fairly sure that Dean was blushing at the praise, though since his ears were bright pink from the burns anyway, it was hard to tell from behind. Sam sat back in his seat, trying to feel content that - after all the doubt he had heard in Dean's voice while their dad was missing - everything was back to normal again. The big white Band-Aid over the scab on Sam's chin said otherwise, but he was trying not to care. Of course they had done a good job, just as their dad said, but something inside Sam still roiled angrily - Dad saved no-one, he shouldn't have left them, the Kovacs house burned down, all those men had died, Max was just gone. Why couldn't his dad just stay right here with him and Dean, safe in the steel heart of the Impala, until the end of time?
The flat green of the plains flew past outside, and Sam stared out the window, the much-folded maps forgotten on the bench seat beside him.
Back to Chapter 7
Master Post