Chapter Text
“Tell me again why we’re breaking into Sam’s apartment?” Kyle whispered angrily, no real heat behind his words. “Why can’t we just knock? He or Jess will answer.”
“It’s more fun this way,” Dean answered as he turned the corner of the fire escape. The cool metal was slick from the rain an hour before.
Kyle rolled his eyes. “Fine. Whatever.” He knew this was an argument he wouldn’t win. “But if you flirt with Jess, I’m stabbing you.” Kyle grabbed the switchblade from his pant pocket and flipped it open to prove his point.
“Point taken. No flirting.” Dean raised his hands in surrender. After another pointed look, Kyle stuffed the knife back in his pocket. He looked up to see Dean looking at him, looking slightly sheepish.
“What?” Kyle asked with a slight wave of his hands, trying to keep his voice low so they wouldn’t wake whoever was in the apartment next to them.
“Uh… what floor was it again?” Dean looked over to the brick wall of the complex.
“Seriously? I told you like 3 minutes ago!” Kyle cried exasperatedly.
“I forgot!” Dean replied defensively.
“Four. One more level.” Kyle answered, motioning for Dean to keep moving.
“Right, of course.” Dean started up the stairs again. They reached the window, which Kyle knew from his previous visits led to the kitchen. He leaned against the railing and watched Dean fiddle with the latch and open the window, clambering inside.
“Nice one,” Kyle deapanned as Dean thumped onto the ground. He waited for Dean to move out of the way and climbed silently inside. He smirked as Dean muttered a ‘show off’ under his breath. He was a couple of inches shorter than Dean and more slender. It put him at a disadvantage when they sparred, but he was faster and more agile, which helped in situations like this.
Dean immediately went for the fridge, and Kyle knew he was looking for a beer. Kyle instead went to the pantry where he knew Jess kept all the “unhealthy” snacks. Aha! He grabbed a bag of Doritos and took the clip off, immediately popping a few in his mouth.
He stopped with a chip halfway to his mouth when he heard a creak to his left; no doubt Sam coming to attack whoever had broken in. He slunk into the blackness of the pantry, wanting to surprise him. Kyle heard Dean make his way into the living room, and a few seconds later, a scuffle broke out. Kyle grinned, imagining the fight. Sam and Dean made their way back into the kitchen. A cry and a few grunts later, a body hit the floor.
“Woah, easy tiger.” Kyle could hear Dean’s smirk from his hiding spot. Dean had won, it looked like.
“Dean? You scared the crap outta me!” Sam cried.
“That’s cuz you’re out of practice,” Dean ribbed. Kyle rolled his eyes. I think it’s probably cuz we broke into his apartment, Dean. There was another thud and a grunt, this time from Dean. “Or not,” Dean said, laughing. “Get off me.” Kyle heard the two of them get up and decided to make his entrance then. He slipped out of the pantry, still holding the bag of Doritos.
“Nice little scuffle there,” Kyle commented. Sam swung around, clearly not expecting another person.
“Yeah, thanks for your help,” Dean grumbled.
“Sounded like you had it under control,” Kyle replied, eating another chip and grinning impishly. Dean threw him a glare, and Kyle only widened his grin.
“Kyle!” Sam exclaimed. “What the hell are you guys doing here? Why did you break in?”
“Well, Dean wanted to be a nuisance,” Kyle said pointedly. Dean opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Jess turned on the light.
“Sam?” Jess stood by the kitchen door, taking in the scene. She was wearing a Smurf’s crop top and underwear. Kyle shot Dean another glare before greeting her.
“Hey Jess!” Kyle smiled and waved his empty hand as if there was nothing amiss.
Looking slightly bewildered, Jess replied. “Hey Kyle. What’re you doing here?” Kyle started to reply, but Dean interrupted him.
“You must be Jess,” Dean grinned, and Kyle prepared himself for the flirting he had warned against. Luckily, Sam stepped in before that happened.
“Jess, this is Dean. Dean, Jess.” Sam said as he motioned to his older brother. Dean once again grinned, and Jess smiled back in a way that told Kyle Sam had warned her how he would act.
“Well, it’s great to meet you, Jess. We just need to borrow Sam,” Dean said, and Kyle rolled his eyes at his lack of tact. Sam scoffed and moved over to stand by Jessica.
“Whatever you have to say, you can say it to both of us,” Sam replied firmly.
“Sammy, c’mon, just give us a few minutes,” Dean urged not unkindly. Sam stayed where he was, and Dean sighed. “Dad’s on a hunting trip and he hasn’t been home in a few days.” Kyle saw Sam’s face change and knew Dean had won.
“Jess, give us a moment,” Sam asked. Kyle pulled himself off the counter he was leaning against and set the bag of chips down. Jessica looked at Sam, considering.
“Alright,” She nodded, and gave Sam’s hand a little squeeze before heading back to their bedroom.
“C’mon, let’s talk down at the car.” Dean moved to the front door, Kyle behind him, and Sam somewhat reluctantly following. Sam grabbed a pair of shoes and slipped them on before leaving the apartment and closing the door behind him.
“Dean, Kyle, what the hell is going on? You can’t just break into my apartment like that!” Sam cried.
“I tried to tell Dean not to,” Kyle answered.
“Kyle, just leave it,” Dean said sharply. “Sam, Dad’s missing. We’ve got to go find him.” Kyle decided not to add that he wasn’t too sure he was missing; Dean seemed peeved enough as it was.
“Remember that poltergeist in Amherst? He’s always missing, and he’s always fine.” Sam insisted as they made their way down the stairs.
“See! Sam agrees!” The youngest Winchester exclaimed. Dean turned and leveled him with a glare.
“Not this time, not for this long,” Dean said firmly, turning back around and continuing down the stairs. Kyle sighed and followed.
“Dean, I can’t just up and leave with you. I swore I was done hunting, for good,” Sam argued.
“C’mon, it wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t that bad,” The oldest replied dismissively.
“Enough! We’re not doing this tonight. Dean, if you want to try to convince Sam to come, do it. I’m not stopping you. I’m just going on record and saying I think this is dumb. Sam doesn’t need to come with us.” Kyle folded his arms and stared at his brother.
Dean closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening them and sighing. “Fine. Sam, would you just come look and listen to what I have to say?”
There was a moment of silence until Sam let out a sigh. “Fine. What do you want to show me?” Dean smiled and left the building, heading towards the Impala. Kyle internally cheered, grateful he had avoided another fight about hunting between his brothers.
As they made their way to the car, Sam asked, “Why didn’t you guys go with Dad?”
“We were working our own case in New Orleans,” Kyle answered, leaning against the side of the car.
“Dad let you guys work a case by yourselves?” Sam asked a little incredulously.
Dean scoffed as he lifted the false trunk bottom. “I’m twenty-six, dude.”
“And I’m nineteen, in case you guys wanted to know.” Kyle chimed in, raising a hand.
“Nah, still too young,” Dean commented good-naturedly. Kyle shook his head, not letting his smile show. “Where the hell did I put that thing?” Dean said under his breath as he rummaged around the trunk. “Aha! Alright, here we go. So Dad was checking out this two-lane blacktop just outside of Jericho, California. About a month ago, this guy. They found his car, but he’d vanished, completely M.I.A.” Dean handed Sam a print-out of a news article detailing the vanishing.
“So maybe he was kidnapped,” Sam remarked, looking at the paper. Kyle was busy pulling out a packet of gum from one of many pockets on his cargo pants and sticking a piece in his mouth.
“Yeah, well, here’s another one in April, another one in December ‘04, ‘03, ‘98, ‘92. Ten of them over the past twenty years. All men, all same five-mile stretch of road.” Dean explained as he showed all the news clippings.
“Dad went to investigate about three weeks ago,” Kyle chimed in.
“Right. And we haven’t heard from him since,” Dean continued. “Which is bad enough.”
“Yeah, cuz Dad’s always so great about keeping in touch,” Kyle muttered irritably, completely lying against the car with his head resting on the top. Dean shot him a glare that Kyle didn’t see and continued.
“Then I got this voicemail yesterday.” He pulled out his phone and played the message as Sam leaned in to listen.
“Dean, something is -arting to -appen. I -ink it’s s-rious. I need to -ry and -igure out wh-t’s -oing on. Be -ery -are-f-l.” The message was warbly and cut out randomly, making it a little hard to hear what John was saying, but the last part was clear. “We’re all in danger.” The eldest looked up at Sam expectantly.
Without missing a beat, Sam replied, “You know there’s E.V.P. on that?” Kyle smiled at his brother’s perception.
“Not bad, Sammy. Kinda like riding a bike, isn’t it?” Sam shook his head good-naturedly.
“Alright, I slowed the message down-” Dean started.
“Dude, he knows how it works, just play the message.” Kyle interrupted.
Dean rolled his eyes. “Alright, geez. Impatient much?”
“I just don’t want to be wasting time while you dick around. Just show Sam so he can decide if he’s coming, and then we can leave on this stupid rescue trip.” Kyle felt a little bad for snapping, but he was tired of being dragged around because Dean was paranoid. And yes, he was sleep-deprived and needed a cigarette, sue him.
“Alright, playing it,” Dean said, raising his hands in surrender. He pressed play, and the whispery voice of a woman came through.
“I can never go home,” Sam echoed thoughtfully. Dean threw the recorder back into the trunk pointedly and lowered the shotgun holding up the false bottom.
“Y’know, in almost two years, I’ve never bothered you, never asked you for a thing.” Dean sat on the closed trunk and looked expectantly at the middle Winchester.
Sam looked up and sighed, clearly thinking. Kyle didn’t think Sam needed to come, but he couldn’t help but hold out a little hope that he would agree. It would be nice to be with both of his brothers again, even if it was for something like this.
“Alright fine. I’ll help you find him,” Sam said finally. “But I have to be back first thing Monday. Just wait here.” Sam turned around to start back to the building.
“What’s first thing Monday?” Dean asked. Kyle sat up straighter, curious to hear his brother’s answer.
“Interview. Law school interview,” Sam answered, looking over at Kyle.
“Nice,” Kyle congratulated, smiling. The last time he had visited, Sam had been working on how to study for the LSAT. He reminded himself to ask Sam how it had gone once they were on the road.
“Thanks,” Sam smiled back. “So, do we have a deal or not?”
“Deal,” Dean replied, and Sam started back towards the brick building.“Hurry, Oscar the Grouch over here is getting impatient, apparently.” Dean got off of the trunk and moved towards the front seat, and Kyle punched him in the arm as he passed. Dean cried out in exaggerated pain.
“How do you even know about Oscar the Grouch? You didn’t watch Sesame Street.” Kyle grumbled as he opened the door to the back seat.
“Sure I did! Mom turned it on all the time,” Dean answered. The air tightened at the mention of Dean’s mom. Kyle stayed silent as he settled into his place in the Impala, unsure of how to continue that conversation. He glanced up at the front mirror and saw Dean lost in thought.
After a few moments, his oldest brother cleared his throat. “Listen, I know you’re not too keen on this trip, but can you just leave it? We’re going, and Sam’s coming with.”
Kyle looked away from the mirror, feeling slightly guilty. “Yeah, fine. But if it turns out he’s fine, I won’t hold back from saying I told you so.” He fished the crumpled-up gum wrapper out of his pocket and tossed it into the cupholder on the other side of the car. He caught Dean rolling his eyes out of the corner of his own and allowed himself a small smile, knowing that Dean wasn’t too annoyed with him. He sighed and stretched out across the back seat, comforted by the familiar lines of the cushion, waiting for Sam to pop out of the apartment building with the duffel bag so they could head into the night.