Fic: It's a Long, Long Road - Supernatural (Pre-series gen ft. Dean & Adam) - Part 2/2
Title: It's a Long, Long Road
Author: Twisted-Slinky
Artist: amber1960 (Amberdreams2013)
Rating: PG13
Wordcount: 9300
Summary: Pre-series AU. Dean's sleeping off a hunt when he gets a call from a kid claiming to be his half brother. The weirdest part? It's true. He's already had one brother leave him, and Dean doesn't want to chance another rejection from his own blood, but for some reason, he can't simply forget Adam Milligan exists, even if he knows it would probably be safer for both of them.
Notes: Setting is early 2004. Sam, while a constant presence in Dean's mind, isn't featured in this story. Created as a mini-bang for the spn_gen_bigbang. A huge thank you to amber1960 for the wonderful art, and a thank you to patriciatepes for giving this a quick beta read.
Disclaimer: I claim no rights to Supernatural.
Link: Story Masterpost
PART 2
Dad called in March. He'd called before, too, right after the visit to Windom. It had went as expected, with words exchanged. Heatedly. The dead silence that followed was as expected too. Pastor Jim had been the one to give Dean details on a new job.
So the call in March, it felt overdue, and Dean was ready to say he was sorry when he wasn't, not at all. Not anymore. There was no way he could fully apologize for going to meet Adam without John, but he could apologize for not giving him a heads-up.
But John cut him off before he could begin, his voice loose and easy with liquid encouragement, if not slurred. He asked about the job. Muttered his agreement when Dean laid out his plan for taking out the ghost he was currently after.
"…Kate told me about your conversation. She said you wanted to know why I didn't tell her about you boys, back when I first met her."
Dean was thrown. He blinked out at the empty space in front of him, holding the phone a bit too tightly. And tried to chuckle, or huff, or make some sound that would dismiss that whole stream of thought. "Dad, I get it. We don't over-share while we're on the job, and we certainly don't paint them our family tree - we do what we do, and we shut up about it."
"That we do," John agreed, a smile in his voice. "But you need to know something, Dean, because I thought about telling her, and I made the choice not to. And then I made that choice again, after I found out about Adam, and it didn't have anything to do with you being a hunter or putting the kid in danger...Son, the truth is, I was too ashamed to tell her I had two sons already, that I had left them behind for this job and…"
Dean could hear the man swallow, and he cut him off. "We do what we do, and we shut up about it," he repeated, his voice harder.
John sighed on the other end. "It'll be different with Adam," he said.
It seemed like a reminder. A warning. A promise. But to Dean, it mostly sounded like a man trying to reassure himself that he'd stop a bad habit.
"Yeah," Dean replied, hoping he didn't sound too doubtful. "Things will be different with him."
Birthday parties weren't a big deal in the Winchester family. Dean remembered his last one, the one that really counted. His mom's belly was rounding out, and his little-kid brain was beginning to comprehend that Sammy really was inside. She'd made him a warm pie instead of a cake, and Dad had laughed when she tried sticking four candles in it. Dean wasn't even sure how much of that was a real memory and how much of it was what he'd told himself over the years. But the point was, he and Dad, neither of them cared much for holidays, and birthdays were at the bottom of that totem pole unless it meant ditching a fake ID.
Except when it came to Sammy. When Sammy was a kid, Dean had always tried to celebrate every year, because he knew it would make his brother smile. Some years John would get in on it, other years Dean had bribed lunch ladies into letting him take home the extra cake or cookies. Granted, as Sammy got older, that tradition began to fade out, too, but, still, Dean never missed the chance to at least tell him "Happy Birthday."
He figured that would disappear too after last year. Last time May 2nd had rolled around, he'd made this same call.
'Hi, you've reached Sam. I'm probably studying right now, so leave a message at the beep.'
Sam hadn't answered that time either.
"Geek," Dean muttered, cancelling the call before it could record.
He stared down at the phone, thumb hovering over the buttons, wanting to re-dial. But he couldn't. Last year, he'd spent most of the day in a hospital after a hunt, and apparently his stupid ass had called while he was still high as a kite on meds. He could barely remember what he'd said, but he was sure it involved cupcakes from lunch ladies.
Sam had thought he was drunk off his ass and left him a clipped return message about his friends hearing the recording.
Dean had shrugged it off, not wanting to explain, but he'd expected to get the chance. He hadn't. Somehow…somehow it had been a whole year, and he'd still not managed to get a hold of his brother. In all fairness, he hadn't really put in much effort on his end either. Sure, he knew Sam was safe - Dad kept good tabs. Dean thought about him enough, practically heard the kid's voice in his head every day, so it almost felt like they were still on speaking terms.
Dean almost dropped the phone when it flashed to life with an incoming call. For a split second he thought…Dean raised a brow when he saw the name across the screen, smiling without realizing it. He answered before it could ring out.
"Don't you have a lame-ass oral report on 'poetic forms' you're supposed to be working on?" Dean answered.
There was a beat of silence before Adam's voice replied. "Yes - no - I mean, I've already memorized the…How'd you even know about that?"
Dean chuckled. "Because I know everything. Faster you learn that, the better off you'll be."
"You've talked to Mom, haven't you?" Adam sighed, the aggravation clear in his voice. "I guess you're also going to tell me I shouldn't be on the phone after nine?"
"I'm going to hazard a guess here…You two got into an argument today?"
"I don't want to talk about it."
Dean smirked to himself. It wasn't too long ago that teen-angst tone of voice had been a daily occurrence in his life. Sammy had spewed out that same line a fair number of times, but he'd usually immediately went into ranting about the very thing he didn't "want to talk about". After a moment's beat, Dean realized Adam really wasn't planning on going into detail.
"Well, kid, you gotta talk about something. Since, you know, phone and all - oh, and by 'something' I don't mean Green Day again. I get it, you want the new album when it comes out - conveniently before your birthday…" Dean slipped on the comment, shaking off the sting the word brought with it, and continued before the kid could catch it, " - but I swear if that's what you're calling about again - "
"I'm not calling about that, loser. But, now that you mentioned it…you're a PI, so you have to like 'I Fought the Law', right?"
"Dude, that is so far from being my theme song. My soundtrack includes only decent music. And I thought that was by The Clash?"
Adam sighed, annoyed, and Dean chuckled, letting it go. "It's a cover...of a cover," Adam muttered, "and that's not - never mind. You missed seeing Hellboy, by the way."
"Nice transition."
"Big word, old man."
"Big mouth, kid. Worth seeing?"
"Eh, it was okay."
Which was teen for "I liked it." Dean snorted.
It was almost surreal how completely friggin' normal Adam was, with his suburban life - nurse for a mom, video games, graphic T-shirts, and questionable taste in music included. And a few months ago, all that would have made Dean squirm. In high school, it always had left him a little bitter, a little frustrated, all this normal teen crap, but somehow he'd adapted quickly to, well, Adam. He hadn't wanted to really. He'd wanted the first time he'd hung out with the kid to be awkward, but instead they'd spent half the night playing games, laughing over graphics and combo moves (and for the record, Dean had kicked his ass, as promised). He'd wanted his first dinner with the Milligans to make him feel like an alien on some strange planet, but instead he'd eaten two plates of Kate's cooking and gotten a kick out of telling Adam about the time their dad broke the toaster with a hanger. He hadn't planned on any of this being…easy. But it was.
Somewhere, in the pit of his stomach, that felt a bit like a betrayal. To the hunter lifestyle. To Dad. Hell, even to Sam, if only by default.
Still, Dean couldn't help but answer the phone each time the kid or Kate called - and that was way more frequently than he'd anticipated when they said they'd keep in touch.
"Seriously, man, why'd you call?" Dean asked. "You finally man up and ask that Britney chick out?"
"She said no. Another thing I don't want to talk about," Adam noted.
Dean winced. "Ouch, man."
"Yeah, sucks to be me…" But there was a crooked grin in his voice. Dean could almost see it. "And I don't have a 'reason'. I just thought I'd call. It's been, like, nearly a week…Did you ever catch that bail jumper in Wyoming?"
Dean blinked out at the space in front of him, something scratching at the back of his throat. A week. He hadn't went a whole week without talking to Adam since they'd first met. But one day the kid would move off from his mom's place, go to college like all the other civilians, and before that ever happened, he'd probably grow bored with pseudo-relatives who were never in town.
"Uh, Earth to Dean?"
"Sorry," Dean choked out, then took a short swig off the lukewarm beer sitting on the motel's wobbly table. "Yeah, kid. I caught the guy. You heard from Dad?"
The 'bail jumper' had been a ghost who liked to take an annual victim to commemorate the anniversary of the day he'd played a game of murder-suicide. And the asshole had made him miss Hellboy, so Dean hadn't been stingy with the salt and gasoline.
There was a moment of silence from the other end before Adam replied. "Just the once. A couple days ago. He called. Which is kind of what I'm fighting with Mom about…I wanted to ask him about, uh, about any other relatives, and he dodged the question. Hung up. I wanted to call back, but I was angry and… Then tonight, I was going to call him, told Mom I was, and before she went to work, she went on this spill about not calling after nine, like I'm a kid or something. I think she just didn't want me calling John back."
'John' instead of Dad - Dean caught the change and shook his head. This explained the pissy attitude John had been in when Dean had spoken to him yesterday. "By 'relatives' I'm assuming you asked about Sam?"
There had been a moment, during his first visit, when Adam had asked about Sam. Kate must have known it was hostile territory, Dad must have said something to her, because she'd changed the subject, but Dean had told him the basics about Sammy. Made a joke about him being a geek with a scholarship. But he'd been glad not to go on.
"Did Sam do something that…? I know he and John got into a fight. And they haven't spoken since." Adam cut off. "John hasn't called me back since I asked about Sam, and I haven't tried to call him…What if he doesn't…"
There was another question hanging in the air: 'what if he never calls me back?' Dean's frown hardened. Note to self, kick Dad's ass. "Listen to me, Adam. Dad's not pissed at you. And he's not avoiding you. He's on a job - you know how wrapped up he gets. What happened between him and Sam, it wasn't just one fight. It's…complicated. And, no, Sam didn't do anything bad, he just… He left."
"Okay." Adam didn't sound convinced. There was a rustling on the other end, the light squeal of a mattress as the kid stood up. "You miss Sam, don't you?"
"Yeah. I do. Today's his birthday."
Dean regretted saying it. He waited for Adam's inevitable question, 'Have you called him yet?' Waited for the pain that came with explaining why a call wasn't cutting it anymore.
"Tell me about him, about Sam. Other than 'he's a geek, like you'. What's he like?"
Dean smiled to himself, his throat tight when he managed an answer. "You fishing for embarrassing stories, kid?" He leaned back in his chair. "Well…other than being a geek - like you - he's also a giant. Seriously, I fed that kid way too many Wheaties when we were growing up. And he's got awful taste in music. And, God, his friggin' hair. Kid won't get it cut unless you sneak up on him with pair of sheers. Which, hell, this one time, I made the mistake of trying that…"
The summer sun beamed down on his neck as he leaned over the Impala, slipping the dipstick back into place. Dean eased the heavy hood down on his baby, satisfied, and went over his mental check list again before circling to the side of the car.
"Baby's good, tunes are good, weapons are good and hidden," he muttered to himself, opening the back passenger's door. "Christ, I know I'm forgetting something."
"Food?"
He would have startled if he hadn't heard the loud rumble of the cooler's wheels against the sidewalk. He glanced over his shoulder, at the woman, a bemused expression on his face. "Me? Forget food? Lady, you don't know me very well."
Kate laughed, stepping back to let him lift the cooler into the back seat. "Well, since I'm letting you cross the country with my baby boy, let's hope I know you better than you thing…" She gave the cooler a nod. "There's leftover chicken and sandwiches inside. A banana pudding for Adam and half a strawberry pie for you." She raised a finger, cutting him off. "Would have been a whole pie if 'someone' hadn't snuck into the kitchen before breakfast."
Dean was the face of innocence. "Adam?"
"Sure. It was Adam." Kate snorted and pulled a fold of paper from her pocket. "I know, I know…you already have all the numbers you need. But, just in case, here's the number for my floor at the hospital. And if you can't reach me for some reason, I have an aunt…" She pointed at the bottom of the page. "She has twenty cats and thinks the president is after her teeth, but - "
"Is that Adam's social security number and a list of medical allergies?" Dean asked, brow raised. She didn't need to know that he'd already 'acquired' that information himself.
"I'm being paranoid Mom." Kate took a calming breath, then gave Dean a serious look. "Are you sure this is okay? It's not too late to say no."
He understood her doubts. Hell, he'd had to listen to a damn speech from Dad about this trip, and that was with John only knowing the first half of it. But it was happening. He'd made a promise, and Dean didn't intend to back out of it.
Dean glanced past her, where Adam was bounding out the front door, his backpack slung over his shoulder. The teen's duffle bag was already in the trunk beside Dean's.
"Actually, it is," he replied, then grinned. "We'll be fine, Kate. It's only two weeks. We'll be safe." He put an extra emphasis on the word, knowing she'd catch the meaning: no hunting, no attempted hunting, no even looking in the direction of a cemetery. "I won't let anything happen to Adam."
"I know." Kate's smile was soft. Maybe a little sad. "I trust you, Dean."
And she sounded like she meant it. Dean hoped it was the sun warming his cheeks. He cleared his throat, calling out, "Kid, I'm leaving you behind if that's a Gameboy in that bag."
"Liar," Adam shouted back, grinning.
Dean turned, keeping his eyes down as he slipped into the driver's seat and purposely trying not to watch Kate and Adam hug and pass their goodbyes and promises back and forth. He heard Adam made an embarrassed groan when Kate repeated the process and chuckled to himself, turning the key to bring the Impala to life. A guitar rift drifted out from the speakers.
Adam slid into the passenger's seat a few seconds later, tossing his bag behind him. The kid's smile was wide and excited, if a little nervous, his blue eyes twinkling. "So…we're doing this. We're really going to California."
"I promised," Dean reminded.
And he had. He'd promised Adam a roadtrip to Sammy's.
John had been told about the roadtrip part, and hated the idea. Of Adam being out there, spotted with Dean. Of Dean taking two weeks off. But he'd come around. Begrudgingly. Dean doubted the man would have approved of their final destination though, and it wasn't exactly set in stone. He'd had Caleb make sure Sammy was staying the summer in Palo Alto, but Dean hadn't been able to force himself to make the call. In truth, he wasn't sure if he should. Making the call meant giving Sam time to come up with an excuse for why it was a bad time to visit. Making the call meant explaining why he was coming in the first place:
Sam didn't know about Adam. But he would, before the summer was gone.
Dean pushed his nerves to the backseat and bit down a teasing grin. "You know, if you're having doubts, we can stay in town. Go to the movies and hang out at the mall…I mean, you sure you're up for this? We're talking crap motels, crap AC, greasy food… Sure you wouldn't rather be going to band camp instead?"
Adam narrowed his eyes, the grin still in that blue gaze. "You know, you're kind of a jerk."
Dean laughed, throwing the car in reverse. "Yeah, I've been told."
END
End Notes: Thanks for reading! Okay, so I'm kind of dying to continue this universe as a series. Maybe a couple road-trip one-shots. Maybe Sam's reaction to meeting Adam. What say you? If I wrote it, would it be read?