Witching Hour | Winchester

Thirty-Seven

Dean leaves his dad a voicemail, and Sam sets a couple duffels on the bed.

"Voicemail?"

Dean nods at Sam. "Yeah." He motions to the duffels. "Jesus, what'd you get?"

"I ransacked that trunk," Sam chuckles. "Holy water, every weapon that I could think of, exorcism rituals from about a half dozen religions. I'm not sure what to expect, so I guess we should just expect everything, huh?"

Dean nods, and the brothers begin preparing their weapons. Sensing the tension, Roxanne steps into the bathroom to tie up her hair and give them some space.

"Big night," Dean says absently.

Sam nods. "Yeah. You nervous?"

"No... Why? Are you?"

"No. No way... God, could you imagine if we actually found that damn thing? That demon?"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, alright?"

"I know. I'm just saying, what if we did? What if this whole thing was over tonight? Man, I'd sleep for a month. Go back to school, be a person again."

"You wanna go back to school?"

Roxanne stares at herself in the mirror, wincing at the turn in conversation. It can't end well. She feels like she's invading their privacy, but there's not really anywhere for her to go.

"Yeah, once we're done huntin' the thing."

"Huh," Dean nods.

"Why? Is there something wrong with that?"

"No. No, it's, uh, great. Good for you."

"I mean, what are you gonna do when it's all over?" Sam asks.

"It's never gonna be over. There's gonna be others. There's always gonna be somethin' to hunt."

"But there's got to be something that you want for yourself-"

"Yeah, I don't want you to leave the second this thing's over, Sam!" Dean walks over to the dresser, leaning against it. He squeezes his eyes shut.

"Dude, what's your problem?"

Dean takes a deep breath, opening his eyes. Slowly, he turns to face his brother.

"Why do you think I drag you everywhere? Huh? I mean, why do you think I came and got you at Stanford in the first place?"

"Cause Dad was in trouble," Sam responds. "Cause you wanted to find the thing that killed Mom."

"Yes, that, but it's more than that, man..." He turns to the dresser again, then turns back to Sam. "You and me and Dad... I mean, I want us... I want us to be together again. I want us to be a family again."

"Dean, we are a family," Sam says, glancing toward the bathroom as he thinks of Roxanne. "I'd do anything for you... But things will never be the way they were before."

Dean's heart breaks as he listens to the words that, deep down, he knows to be true. He just doesn't want to accept that he'll never have that again. That he'll never have a family.

"Could be," he suggests, throat burning.

Sam thinks it over for a moment, pursing his lips as all the painful memories bring tears to his eyes. He nods, speaking slowly and harshly. "I don't want them to be... I'm not gonna live this life forever... Dean, when this is all over, you're gonna have to let me go my own way."

Roxanne leans against the bathroom door frame, watching Sam leave the room and shut the door behind him. Dean stares after his brother, then closes his eyes for a moment. He runs a hand down his face, then turns to continue gearing up.