Title: Dean's Treasures
Fandom: Supernatural
Author: Apache Firecat
Dedicated To: Dizzo, JJ, and all the rest for all the wonderful years at SPN BigPretzel
Characters: Dean, Sam, Baby
Rating: PG/K+
Summary: Dean reflects on the road at late night.
Word Count: 1,071
Written For: Fan FlashWorks 390: Treasure
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.









Sometimes he wishes his life had been different. He wishes he could have gone to school or built a career where he could make actual money. He wishes he could have found a stable home, not one on wheels no matter how much he loves Baby, a good, solid girl, and settled down, possibly even had kids of his own by now. He'd never asked to be his brother's caretaker, but he certainly doesn't regret that one aspect of his life.

The injured man snoring deeply in the seat next to him is the only thing that's actually good about this life. Oh, he enjoys the fighting sometimes, but what kind of a future can he possibly have as a fighter, as a hunter particularly? One of these nights, Dean knows, he's going to be too slow, or they're going to be too fast or too deadly, and he's going to die. Moreover, one of these times that he dies, he's actually going to stay dead. No hunter is impervious. No man is.

Then what's going to become of Sammy? Dean wonders. His brother had almost had a future. Neither his father nor he himself had actually wanted Sam to have to become involved in this life, but since letting him tag along, he's gotten to the point where he couldn't imagine doing this without him. It would be like doing it without Baby. Or worse. It would be like... Like trying to fight Demons with only one arm and one leg, his other half gone.

They've gotten some weird looks over the years, had more than one girl think that their brothership meant more to them than she. of course, that wasn't entirely wrong. Sammy had been the most important person in Dean's life... well, pretty much since their mother had brought him home from the hospital. His father had had his mother. She had had him. He'd known even then some strange things had been happening, though he'd had no idea what, but he'd also known, while the adults had all been busy with other, more adult things, that the little baby in the crib had had nobody far too much of the time. Just as Dean himself had had nobody.

His eyes lift to the stars for a moment, and he's taken aback to a time many years ago when he'd entertained a crying Sammy by climbing on top of his crib and acting as though the crib had been a Pirate ship. He'd pretended to be using his bottle to look out of like a spyglass and had carried on with Pirate talk, even screeching and flapping his wings when he'd spoken first to and then for the parrot that should have been sitting on his shoulder. Pirates were actually pretty lame -- Dean had fought more than one specter that had not wanted to retire from their old, sea dog life --, but back then, looking through a child's eyes, they'd seemed cool. And he supposed -- he hoped -- he had seemed cool to his little brother.

Sammy grunts. Dean looks down at him with worry. They've been through rough scraps than the one tonight, but his brother had still lost a good deal of blood. Baby's seats, and the cleaning he was going to have to give her when they got stopped again, were both ample proof of that. "Sam? You okay?"

Sammy mumbles in his sleep, but Dean can't make out a word he's saying. "Of course, you're okay," he says. "You're a Winchester." Thinking Sam's still asleep and still recollecting that fond memory from their childhood, Dean comments in a different, staged voice, "Buck up, me boyo. It's just th' ol' salt air."

"Lame," Sam spits out beside him. He coughs again.

"I was just kidding," Dean covers quickly. "Trying to see if you were actually asleep or not. How you holding up?"

"I'll be fine... thanks to a pretty cool punch."

Dean smirks; he can hear the approving, grateful smile in Sammy's voice. "They were messing with my brother," he says softly. "I had to do something."

"You did all right." Sam turns his head. He grins up at him, a smile Dean only partially sees as they continue to pass between trees underneath the full moonlight. "You always have."

Dean's beaming though glad Sammy can't see him. His heart swells with pride even at this age at the knowledge that his brother thinks he's cool. Yeah, their bond is greater than anything either of them ever shared with a woman. He could have tried to have a life of his own. Sammy had. He'd always put his choices down to the fact that somebody had to stop the monsters, but the truth is, he wouldn't have given anything for the life he's had, that he's still sharing every night, with his kid brother.

"Wasn't there some kinda game we used to play?" Sammy asks, squinting through puffed and battered eyes up at the stars. "Something about you setting our course by the stars? You still doing that?" he asks weakly. They both know he's kidding, but Dean decides to play along.

"Of course, First Mate Winchester. You wanna sit up and find a hotel ahoy for us?"

"How about a diner first?" Sammy grumbles, pulling out his phone.

Dean grins. If he's hungry already, that's a good sign. "Greasy burgers for two and straight on to morning, yo." He feels, rather than sees, Sam roll his eyes, but he can't help it. He's pretty darn lucky to still have his brother in his life, for them to have both survived and continue surviving as much as they have. Other people can keep the mundane lives of schools, careers, wives, and families. All the family, all the treasure, he'll ever need is right here beside him.

Suddenly, Sammy's making hacking noises. Dean slams on the brakes. "NOT IN BABY, YOU DON'T!" Sam throws open the door just in time to puke outside the car, and Dean lets out a sigh of relief and pets his girl's seats. "I promise, Baby, soon as we get stopped, I'm gonna see about Sammy, and then see about you." Yeah, these two are all the treasure he'll ever need, and Hell, he thinks with a grin, between them and fighting monsters, it's a wonder he does as good as he does with them. They'll definitely all he'll ever need.




The End