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“Woah, easy tiger.”
Sam knew that voice.
It didn't sound exactly the same as when she’d last heard it, though granted the last time they’d heard it had been over the phone more than two years ago, and it had been longer still since the last time she’d heard it in person. But it was deeper now. More masculine.
And it was coming from the guy who had broken into her and Jess’ apartment in the middle of the night and currently had her pinned to the ground.
The guy who, now that she was getting a good look at his face, was looking very familiar.
“Deanna?”
The guy grinned. “Close.” He looked Sam up and down, took in what she was wearing, and raised an eyebrow. “You still Sam?”
They nodded. “You scared the crap out of me.”
He laughed. “That’s ‘cause you’re out of practice.”
Sam grabbed him and pulled, flipping them both over and pinning him to the ground.
“Or not.”
Sam leaned back on her heels. She held out their hand, he took it, and they helped each other stand.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“Well,” he said, eyes darting around the room and grin still plastered on his face, “I was looking for a beer.”
Sam didn’t smile back. “What the hell are you doing here?” she said again, slower this time.
His smile finally dropped. “Okay, alright. We gotta talk.”
“Uh, the phone?”
“If I’d called, would you have picked up?”
Sam opened their mouth to answer, to say that yes, she would have picked up the phone if he’d called, and that he should have at least given her a heads up before breaking into her apartment in the middle of the night, but they were interrupted by the light turning on.
“Sam?” said Jess from the doorway, squinting in the light.
“Jess,” said Sam. “Hey, De-” she cut herself off. Cleared her throat. “This is my girlfriend, Jessica. Jess, this is my-” they cut themself off again.
His smile was back.
Sam sighed. “Help me out here.”
“Nah,” he said. “I’m enjoying watching you struggle.”
Jess blinked a few times heavily and focused on Sam. “You do know this guy, right?”
Sam nodded. “Unfortunately,” they said, “but apparently a lot’s changed since the last time we saw each other.”
“Hey, I’m not the only one who’s changed.” He turned to Jess. “I’m Dean,” he said, finally taking pity on Sam. “Sam’s brother.”
“Brother?” She glanced towards Sam. “I didn’t know you had a brother.”
“Until tonight, neither did I,” said Sam. “In fairness, he thought he was coming here to see his brother, and, well.” Sam gestured at herself.
Jess was silent for a moment as she worked through it. Sam could tell the moment she understood the situation, because she stood up straighter and suddenly looked wide awake. “Oh,” she said. “Hi.”
“Hey,” said Dean. “You know, I gotta tell you, you are way outta my-” he stopped mid-sentence and sent an almost panicked look Sam’s way.
Sam stared levelly back at him.
“C’mon,” said Dean. “You just said you’re not my brother. What do I call you instead?”
“You know what, Dean? I think I want to enjoy watching you struggle.”
Dean laughed. “That’s fair.”
“Sam,” said Jess, a small smile on her face and a slight admonishment in her voice.
“Sibling,” said Sam, caving immediately. They always did when Jess was involved. “And I use both she and they.”
“Sweet,” said Dean. He turned back to Jess. “You are way outta my sibling’s league. Anyway, I gotta borrow said sibling for a sec, talk about some private family business. But nice meeting you.”
“No,” said Sam. She crossed over to Jess and put her arm around her shoulder. “No, whatever you want to say, you can say it in front of her.”
Dean looked briefly thrown. “Um. Dad hasn’t been home in a few days.”
Sam shrugged. “So he’s working overtime on a Miller Time shift. He’ll stumble back in sooner or later.”
All traces of smiles and humor disappeared from Dean’s face. He looked Sam dead in the eye and said, “Dad’s on a hunting trip. And he hasn’t been home in a few days.”
Oh.
“Jess,” said Sam, “excuse us. We have to go outside.”
The gender thing didn’t get brought up until they were two hours away from Palo Alto.
“So,” started Dean. “Sibling? She and they?”
“Brother?” said Sam, keeping their gaze fixed on looking firmly straight ahead, and not looking over at him. “He?”
Dean drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. Sam could hear the smile in his voice. “When did you figure it out?”
“Couple years before I left.”
“Jeez, that long?”
Sam nodded. “Wasn’t really much I could do about it back then.”
“You could’a told me about it.”
Sam looked over at him. “Could I?”
Dean took a few seconds to respond, mulling it over. “Yes,” he said. “But I get why you didn’t.”
“When did you figure it out?”
“You’re gonna love this,” said Dean, “but I figured it out a couple of years before you left as well.”
Sam had to laugh. “I don’t believe it. We could’ve talked to each other about it this whole time!”
“Well,” said Dean. “You live and learn.”
Sam’s smile faded as a thought occurred to her. “How did Dad react?”
Dean’s smile disappeared as well. “He mostly ignores it,” he said. “He doesn’t really care what I do so long as I can still hunt, and he doesn’t hassle me about anything to do with it. But he doesn’t call me he and he doesn’t call me Dean.” He caught Sam’s eye for a split second before looking back at the road. “He’d probably have more to say about you going in the other direction though. Sorry.”
“Yeah,” said Sam. “That’s about what I figured.”
“You want me to keep your gender under wraps when we find him?”
Sam smiled. “Please. Thank you.”
“It’s no problem, Sammy.”
Sam groaned. “Not the nickname.”
“Hey,” said Dean, grin reappearing, “if your name’s still Sam then I still get to call you Sammy. It’s my right as your older brother.”
Sam rolled their eyes. “Yeah, yeah,” she said. “Whatever.”
She was smiling again too.