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Spencer Shay hadn’t thought about law school in years. He got swept up in taking care of his kid sister and then her friends that never seemed to like going home. Despite what Spencer may say, he really didn’t mind having them over everyday, especially after meeting their mothers.
Then suddenly, their lives took an interesting turn. Carly, Sam, and Freddy were practically celebrities in need of managing. And when Spencer said “managing,” he really meant keeping the teens alive as they got into all sorts of crazy shenanigans. Which often led the gang into legal trouble. Spencer knew a little bit of law despite only going to school for three days. Other than getting them out of a pinch, Spencer didn’t think about his past very much. It wasn’t like his old friends kept in contact. He’s pretty sure most of them forgot he was even there from how fast he left.
So when Spencer was putting together a cell phone tower sculpture made from old cell phones, Spencer didn’t expect one of them to still be working. The small square screen glowed as he picked it out of the box of old phones. It was a shitty, yet durable, nokia phone that he had throughout undergrad. On the screen read a singular voice message waiting for him to open. He fumbled with the buttons until he heard a very familiar voice, and his heart stopped.
“Hey Spence… Uh, I’m- uh, I’m probably the last person you want to talk to right now, but Jessica is… Jess died last night. I can’t explain much, but I’m going away for a while and I just wanted you to know… fuck… I should’ve left with you…” There was a break for static, and a distant, deep voice. “I have to go, but you can try to contact me through” - he gives a phone number- “if you want to talk. I gotta go. Bye, Spencer.”
Spencer's hands shook as he stared down at the phone. The message had been sent five years ago, but he needed to try the number. The only response was a robotic voice stating that the number had been disconnected. All Spencer could do was sit on the steps in his apartment staring at the tiny screen. He didn’t know how long he had stayed there, but the next thing he knew three loud teens busted through his apartment door arguing over something school related.
“Spencer?” Freddie asked, noticing him on the steps before the girls.
“Spencer?” Carly echoed, rushing to his side. “What’s wrong?”
Spencer looked up at his sister and her friends unsure of what to say. He thought about lying but knew that wouldn’t do anyone any good. “I was, um, making a sculpture and found an old phone. A friend from college left a message saying one of our friends had passed.”
“Oh, shit.” Sam said, receiving a glare from Carly. “What?” She asked defensively.
Carly ignored her best friend. “I’m sorry, Spencer. Who were they?”
”Her name was Jessica. She was…” Sam’s girlfriend. “She was the smartest in our friend group.”
“Did you call your friend back?” Carly always tried to be optimistic.
Freddie answered for him. “If it’s an old phone, it’ll be difficult to contact anyone. Everyone’s been updating to pear phones. No one has the same phone number anymore.”
“I tried, but Freddie’s right. The message was sent five years ago.” Spencer put his head in his hands. “Five years.”
Sam piped up again, “hey, I bet Fredward could track the guy down.” She received another glare from Carly. “What? I bet he could. What’s all that tech knowledge good for if we can’t stalk some guy from Spencer’s law school days.”
Freddie thought about it for a minute. “Maybe…”
“No guys, I appreciate it, but it’s alright.” He paused solemnly. “He probably doesn’t even remember me.”
Carly decided to jump on the bandwagon. “Just give Freddie a chance. It’s obviously really important to you.”
“Thanks, Carly.” He finally smiled, hugging her close. Spencer, then hopped onto two feet. “Ok, Freddie. Let’s get to work.”
Describing Sam Winchester was rather difficult when the last time Spencer saw the man it was through rose-colored lenses. They started out by googling his name, but didn’t come up with much. The only thing that was promising was a low selling book series written by Carver Edlund. Later after the teens went up to record their webshow, Spencer went ahead and ordered the entire Supernatural series in secret just to have at least something. A couple days passed and Freddie’s research was a bust. Meanwhile, Spencer was sucked into the fantastical, dangerous world that was the Supernatural book series. A part of him wishes that this is what Sam had gotten up to, but the other half of him knows that he couldn’t bear thinking about the real Sam going through the horrors that book Sam does.
That, of course, doesn’t stop Spencer’s mind from wandering. Imagining himself alongside Sam saving people, hunting things, and joining the family business. Spencer did have his own theories on the origins of the books. Either Sam or a close friend had to be the one writing the series. There were just too many coincidences. Obviously, the monsters and ghosts were a stretch, and there were some weapons and maneuvers the brothers used that he wasn’t exactly convinced were feasible, but there was a familiarity in the writing. That was his Sam in the book. That was how his Sam talked, and how he would react to certain situations.
Spencer remembered meeting the shy, tall young man in the prep sessions his dad made him go to. At the beginning, Spencer skipped the first few sessions, but after talking to Sam once, Spencer didn’t miss a single one. They used to steal glances at each other, and try to make the other laugh during tests. Spencer didn’t think he’d actually pass his LSATs if it wasn’t for Sam’s help and good looks. The four weeks they spent together an hour a day felt like a lifetime, and Spencer wasn’t going to fuck it up by not getting into the same school as Sam.
The night they got their acceptance letters, the whole study group went out to party. After one night out, Spencer and Sam thought they’d be inseparable for their entire time at Stanford. Then, Spencer’s mom died. Carly was home alone, and Dad was stationed somewhere in Europe unable to come home. Spencer made the only choice he could, and moved home to Seattle. He promised his Dad he’d transfer schools, but never actually did. His college fund was now used to keep Carly happy, and Spencer out of a boring office job.
He only had three days to say goodbye to Sam. He only had three days to try to convince Sam to come with him, but Spencer knew that Stanford had been Sam’s dream. He finally achieved something his family would’ve never allowed him to do, and Spencer didn’t want to take that away from him. Their last night together Spencer almost said something that he knew would change everything. Three words to try to keep Sam with him, but he couldn’t do it. He loved him so much he couldn’t vocalize it. It would’ve made leaving even harder.
It only took a few months for Spencer to completely lose contact with their old study group. Last he heard from any of them was a social media post announcing that Jessica and Sam were official. The image of the two holding each other in their arms, looking at each other lovingly, was burned into Spencer’s brain. Sam had moved on, and it was time Spencer did too.
Spencer wouldn’t say he had the best track record with women, but he wouldn’t say he was unlucky. Ladies just didn’t seem to stick around for there to be a real serious relationship. They usually left the first time he set something on fire. The longest relationship he had was with Socko. They went out for nearly a year before realizing that they were better friends than a couple. He and Socko are still best friends, and Spencer wasn’t really sure if Carly ever realized that they were dating. Usually with women, it’s pretty obvious that they were going out. He did the whole show of making dinner and romancing. But with other guys, it was just easier. He wasn’t any casanova, it just came more naturally. It was like one day they were friends, and then next, they were kissing. And if Spencer sometimes forgot to tell his kid sister, then so what?
He certainly wasn’t afraid of coming out. Spencer was an eccentric artist in funny socks. He didn’t think he had to come out. He thought he was pretty self explanatory.
“Find anything new, Freddy?” Carly asked hopefully.
“Not yet,” he answered, defeated. It wasn’t often that Freddy couldn’t find someone on the internet. “I’m starting to think this guy doesn’t exist. You’d have to try really hard to leave this little of a mark on the internet.”
Sam slammed the fridge with her back after pulling out a full plate of ribs. “Maybe he doesn’t want to be found. My Uncle Frank lives off the grid. It’s not like it’s hard.”
“Is that the uncle that threw a laser printer out a window?” Carly asked, resting her arms on the island counter.
Sam sighed, “yeah.”
Freddy continued, exchanging a concerned look with Carly, “anyway… Any information on Sam Winchester has been pretty much buried over the years by books, guns, and unrelated police reports.”
“Police reports?” Carly nudged Freddy away from the computer and clicked the link he was referencing. “Oh my god!” She exclaimed incredulously.
“What is it?” Sam abandoned her plate of ribs to shove herself between her friends. “Woah, I haven’t seen a rap sheet like that since my Uncle Carmine…”- she paused, thought for a moment- “nevermind.”
Carly ignored that for the moment. “It says here that all of these crimes have been attributed to a faceless Sam Winchester. It looks like they have his name and aliases but not much description of him.”
“That’s weird.” Freddy cut back in. “Usually it would be the other way around. How do they know it’s the same guy if he uses a different name every time and they don’t know what he looks like?”
“Freddy’s right,” Sam hated saying it. “That’s really weird.”
“Hey, kiddos!” Spencer announced himself lugging a large laundry bag through the front door.
“Hey.” The trio responded without much enthusiasm.
Spencer dropped the bag with a thud, making the kids jump. “Find anything new?”
“Not really.” Freddy answered first.
“Unless your buddy from college is a master criminal, we got nothing.” Sam retreated back into the kitchen suddenly remembering the ribs left on the table.
Carly walked toward her brother. “I’m sorry, Spencer.”
Spencer simply shrugged. “It’s alright. I really appreciate you guys trying though.” He took a seat on the sofa and began digging through the laundry bag.
“What’s that?” Carly sat next to him.
“Oh, uh, just a bag full of old factory uniforms.”
“What are you doing with them?” Freddy asked.
“I don’t know yet.” Spencer kept digging, growing more frustrated. “I dropped my phone in here, and there’s just so many pockets it could be in. It’s been buzzing like crazy though.” Carly shook her head, smiling fondly at him. He looked back at them, still elbows deep in the bag, and asked, “what was that about Sam being a master criminal?”
His little sister gestured to the computer. “Freddy found some weird police reports under the name Sam Winchester. There’s a long list of charges and aliases, but no physical description.”
“Huh, weird.” Spencer then shouted, “ha! Found it!” Clothing scraps scattered across the living room as the artist ripped his hands out of the bag, gripping his phone in one of them. Spencer frantically answered it. “Hello?… Yes… Awesome! Thanks, Becky!… Of course… Yeah, we’ll see you there! Bye.” He hung up with a huge grin.
“Oooo, who’s Becky?” Freddy chirped.
“She’s this girl I met on a Supernatural chat forum.” Carly groaned at her brother’s answer. Spencer shook her off. “She has been talking about this Supernatural fan convention for months apparently, and they finally have enough people to officially do it.”
“Oh god, is this gonna be like that space fight thing you dragged us to last summer?” Sam groaned, getting up from the table and joining them in the living room.
“No, and the Galaxy Wars convention was fun!” Spencer defended his beloved franchise. “This is gonna be different. Book conventions are smaller and a little more down to earth.” The artist fought the urge to say what he wanted to next.
Carly knew immediately. “You’re gonna dress us up, aren’t you?”
“Yes, please, I promise it’ll be so cool.” He leaned against the couch in excitement.
His sister laughed, conceding. “Yeah, whatever. At least the books are good, and the costumes aren’t ridiculous.”
“Can I be De-” Freddy began before being shoved to the ground by Sam.
“Back off, I’m Dean.” She asserted.
Spencer offered to help him up. “You can be Castiel, Freddy.” The kid nodded. Spencer then rounded back at his sister. “And you’ll be Sam.”
Carly shrugged with a smile. “Ok. Who are you going to be?”
“I,” he paused for dramatic effect. “I shall be the yellow-eyed demon.” He added in a pose.
“Wait, what? The demons are an option?” Sam whined, receiving a laugh from the group. “Spencer, trade me!” She begged. “Makes more sense if you two are Sam and Dean anyway.”
Carly agreed. “Hey, your new haircut fits Dean too!”
“I guess it does.” Spencer grinned. He enjoyed moments like this with his sister and her friends, but he couldn’t help thinking of his old friends and all the moments he had missed with them. Then, he would think about Jess. He really didn’t try to depress himself. He just never got to say goodbye. One day he’d go back to California and visit her grave. For some reason he felt like he needed to find Sam first.