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It had taken three months to convince Dean to leave Kayla and go hunting. At first, just small jobs close by, leaving his girl with Bobby, Caleb or Sam. Slowly his area expanded, and he was able to leave for overnight hunts. Six months after Bobby performed the reversal spell on him, he felt trusting enough to leave Kayla in Bobby and Caleb's care and take off with Sam for a three-night trip. This was mostly due to the fact that all weapons, spell ingredients and charmed objects had been taken and stored in Bobby's study, with the door handle moved up to five feet above floor level and a deadlock.
Sam was leaning against the Impala waiting for Dean to finish his phone call.
"So, she's still all good?" Dean asked.
"Yes. She's right here. Do you want me to put her on the phone?" Caleb asked.
"No, she'll only lick it anyway. Just give her a kiss from me."
"And me!" Sam called.
"And Sam. We're just going to grab some food and a few drinks, and we'll be hitting the road tomorrow morning." Dean said.
"Okay, see you tomorrow."
"Yep, bye." Dean ended the call and Sam pushed off the vehicle and fell in step beside his brother.
Now, Sam was conscious of his height and always walked slouched slightly to reduce the impact his size had on people. This was a habit Dean had long since given up trying to break Sam of, so they walked toward the bar, Sam slouched slightly with his hands in his pocket and Dean recounting his conversation with Caleb. Seems Kayla had learned a new trick and emptied a container of flour all over the kitchen, so Bobby had spent the day putting child locks on all the lower cupboards.
"Well, looky here. If it isn't the Winchester's."
"Jonah, Clinton." Dean greeted the other hunters as they walked toward them.
Sam nodded and stopped behind his brother.
"What are you two doing here?" Jonah enquired.
"Just finished up a hunt." Dean said.
"Really? You boys back in the game then?" Jonah asked.
"Was never out of it." Dean answered.
"Not what I heard."
"Now tell me, just what exactly did you hear?" Dean asked.
"Heard you found yourself a pretty little thing to shack up with."
"Is that so?"
"Yep, even heard you got yourself a little girl out of it." Jonah smirked.
"And where'd you hear that?"
"The Winchester's drop off the radar for two years, you think no one is gonna notice that? People talk." Jonah shrugged.
"Maybe we just don't like broadcasting our movements on arsehat hunters dot com." Dean snarled.
"Maybe you just like causing a whole heap of trouble then disappearing, leaving others to clean up your mess." Jonah said.
"Must have been nice playin' happy families with the misses and kiddo while others do all the dirty work." Clinton chimed in. "Here she's a pretty little one too, maybe we'll drop around in ten or twelve years."
Eighteen months apart had done nothing to diminish the brother's synchronicity. Dean could feel the tension that was rolling off Sam at the mention of Kayla and shoved his hands in his pockets, curling his shoulders to reduce his size at the exact time that Sam pulled his back, lifting his head and standing at his full height.
"Might wanna watch what you say there." Dean warned them, his voice low and dangerous.
"You might wanna consider everyone else before you go starting the apocalypse and leaving us to clean up after you." Jonah shot back.
Now, see there's a misconception amongst hunters that Dean is the most dangerous of the Winchester siblings and this line of thinking is bound to get someone killed. Sure, Deans a cold, brutal and efficient killer but Sam... well Sam is just as efficient but much more calculating than his older brother. He is always assessing his foe, always two steps ahead. Always calculating the next hit, searching out the weak spot.
"We may have started it, but we ended it too." Sam snarled. "And where were you? Don't give me your shit about cleaning our mess. We were there, we were in that cemetery, but where were you? Hiding under your beds? Okay, so you may have had to deal with some lower level demons, a few extra ghouls and ghosties, but we had all of Heaven and Hell coming down on us. And where were any of you? You all turned your back on us when we needed the support the most. Where were you when we were in that cemetery? Where were you when my brother was lying beaten and bloody on the ground? Where were you when I stood at Hells mouth ready to ride Lucifer back into the pit? Where were you when Dean was trying to perform the spell with broken hands and blood pooling in his lungs? Where were you when we locked the Devil back in his cage? You were nowhere. So, fuck you! We clean up our own messes and you? Well, you just come along like a parasite and pick off the stranglers."
Jonah opened his mouth to speak but closed it when suddenly the blade of a razor-sharp knife was held to his throat. He hadn't even seen Sam move. Dean smirked and uncurled himself to his full height again. He allowed Sam a few more moments.
"And as for Kayla? You stay away from me and mine. If I so much as see you within the same city limits as my niece, if you so much as speak her name or look sideways at her, I will summon a hell hound and feed you to it, piece by piece while you are still lying bloody and screaming on the ground. Do I make myself clear?"
Jonah has frozen in place, afraid to move. He was hesitant to risk speaking with the sharp knife at his throat, but Sam eased up the pressure, just ever so slightly.
"Crystal." He answered.
Dean had decided that as much fun as he was having watching Sam put these boys in their place, it was time to end it. He reached out and gently wrapped his hand around Sams, carefully guiding it away from the other hunter. Sam dropped the knife and stepped back behind Dean, his shoulders relaxing slightly but his head still up and his eyes still boring into the two men in front of him.
"Okay Sammy. I'm sure these two didn't mean what they were saying." Dean said, glaring at the pair with hard green eyes. "I mean, surely they know better than to threaten harm on a child, especially the child of a Winchester."
"Yeah, yeah, just kiddin' Sam, honestly." Clinton rushed out.
"There see, now I suggest you two disappear so Sammy and I can go get some grub. He gets kind of cranky if he doesn't eat."
Jonah and Clinton turned and rushed into the bar and grill that the brothers were about to enter.
"Let's go somewhere else, I don't want to go into an establishment that will serve scum like them."
"Are you good Sam?" Dean asked, genuinely concerned.
"Yeah, I'm good." He spun the knife on the palm of his hand and put it back in its sheath. "So, you mentioned something about a steak?"