New Years one-shot || So when you feel like hope is gone, look inside you and be strong Sam hoped he didn't look as awkward as he felt.
He'd been meeting with Ruby in secret. It wasn't easy to get away from Dean and Bobby, so progress was slow, but he was getting there. Eventually he'd be able to tap into his psychic ability and use it to their advantage. It could lead him to Dean's soul. And when that happened, he needed to be prepared to act. That's exactly what he was doing: preparing. No one else would see it that way though, so he was keeping everything to himself ... and that's why he felt guilty. He didn't like lying, but he didn't see that he had any other choice. They were still looking for alternative options. The problem was they weren't finding any.
God knows they'd tried, but it always led to a dead end. At the end of the day, Sam had to believe that what he was doing was the right thing. He couldn't just sit back and watch Dean slip away forever when there were resources they were intentionally ignoring. If he could save his brother, the risk was worth it, and he was aware that there were risks. He remained skeptical about using power given to him by a demon he despised more than any other. That's why when Dean was back to normal, he'd quit using it. Until then, he was being cautious. He asked a lot of questions and did his research. That should count for something, right?
For the sake of argument, he'd deliberately failed to mention where he'd been slipping off to. Thankfully his absence usually went unnoticed. The times he had gotten caught, he was able to give a partially truthful answer as to where he'd been. Because he was such a terrible liar, he made sure to go someplace he was likely to visit so that he would have a legitimate alibi. That way, technically he wasn't lying, and that lessoned the feeling of uneasiness that came crushing down on him whenever he suspected that Dean knew. Most of the time he was just being paranoid. He'd gotten the 'you better not be off doing what I think you're doing' speech once or twice, but the conversation had swayed drastically in a different direction not long after the other had made his point.
Dean knew that if he kept lecturing, Sam would try to get him to change his position on the matter, and then they'd eventually come back around to their usual stalemate. Neither of them were willing to budge, so generally they didn't bother wasting their time by trying to argue their point for the millionth time.
As for tonight, Sam had no other plans. Dean had gotten it in his head that they should lounge around the hotel and stir up some mischief, which from the get-go should've set off a big, red, flashing warning light in his head. What kind of trouble could they possibly get into within the confines of their hotel room/living quarters? Stupid question. His brother was capable of embarrassing him, even when there didn't seem to be an audience around to witness his discomfort.
At first it wasn't so bad. Bobby grumbled, Dean responded with a stream of sarcastic remarks, and then they'd convinced their huffy mentor to make a run for food. Sam volunteered to go instead, but apparently that wouldn't do.
So now they didn't trust him to go to the store? Seemed kind of unfair ... Although he had been sneaking around behind their backs, but still ... they didn't know that.
Dean wanted to check out the pay-per-view movies, but Sam made it clear that he was not watching porn. He'd leave or go to bed before that happened, neither of which his brother wanted him to do. So with a defeated sigh and a reminder of how much fun Sam wasn't, Dean cooked up something equally ridiculous for them to do, only this time he waited awhile to share what his idea was. Why the gap? Because the food had arrived, and eating always trumped everything else in his brother's eyes. For Sam, one of the commonest forms of entertainment for him was watching Dean munch away at everything he could get his hands on. Was that considered a talent?
To fill the silence, they took turns picking out the most random stories they could think of and swapping them. It was almost funny to hear which memories they selected when pulling them out of thin air. A few of them weren't pleasant, but for the most part, the ones they chose were those extremely rare moments where things had been pretty okay. Sometimes better than okay. It was so easy to forget about the good with everything else going on, but that didn't erase it from their pasts. It was actually beneficial for both of them. Dean had started it, rambling on about some lame incident that Sam hadn't remembered at first. Of course his brother then had to convince him it had happened by going on and on about every detail.
It was a night to remember. Especially with all the craziness constantly going on around them, they'd really needed this.
When the clock struck twelve, Dean flashed an almost overly enthusiastic smile over to Sam. "Happy New Years, Sammy."
Sam repeated the sentiment - then stared at his brother in disbelief when he suggested they make some prank calls. At first he refused, but then Dean started guilt-tripping him with everything he could think of, so he reluctantly gave in and agreed. It's not like impersonating someone they weren't was a rare thing for them, and not having to be face-to-face sort of helped. Though there was one condition: Dean had to do something he didn't want to do whenever Sam instructed him to. You know, to keep it fair.
Looks like they had a deal.
What he'd also failed to mention to Dean was that he'd told Jo where they were staying and had invited her to swing by if she didn't have anyplace else to be. What Sam really wanted was for the two to bury the hatchet, and he knew that'd never happen if his brother kept on avoiding her calls, and she continued to keep her distance because he didn't act like he wanted to speak to her. Sometimes you had to give people that little push they needed - kind of like now.
Jo had finally shown up at their door, and even though Dean hadn't been thrilled by her unexpected arrival, he wasn't rude to her, although he didn't like that their game of 'let's humiliate Sammy over the phone' had been interrupted.
As he'd suspected, the two were able to sit down together and get along fairly well ( for them ) after a half hour or so passed. The compliments weren't rolling off the tongue either, but it was a start.