Being a Soldier

The Woman in White

Stanford University

"Sam! Get a move on, would ya? We were supposed to be there 15 minutes ago," A woman, Jessica, says, as she puts on some earrings. She walks into their bedroom. "Sam, are you coming or what?" Sam peaks out of the bathroom," Do I have to?" "Yes, it'll be fun." Jessica is dressed in a nurse costume. Sam walks out in normal clothes. Jess asks," And where's your costume?" Sam scoffs," You know how I feel about Halloween.

Sam and Jess go to a bar near Stanford. They meet up with their friend, Luis. As the three were taking shots, Jess makes a toast, "So, here's to Sam and his LSAT victory." "Alright, alright. It's not that big of a deal." Jess protests as their shots clink together, "He acts all humble, but he scored a 174." Luis asks, "Is that good?" "Scary good." They take their shots. Luis says, "See, there you go. You are first round pick. You can go to any law school you want." Sam looks down, smiling, "Actually, I got an interview here, Monday. If it goes okay, I think I got a full ride next year." Jess encourages him, "It's gonna go great." Sam smiles again, "It better." Luis asks, "How does it feels to be the golden boy in your family?" "Ah, they don't know." Jess was confused by that answer. Luis says, "Oh, no, I would be gloating. Why not?" "Cause, we're not exactly the Brady's," Sam says, as he throws a peanut at him. Luis throws one back, "And I'm not exactly the huxible. More shots?" Jess and Sam try to tell him no, but he doesn't listen. Sam turns to Jess. Jess says, "Seriously, I'm proud of you, and you're gonna knock them dead on Monday. You're gonna get that full ride, I know it." Sam asks," What would I do without you?" "Crash and burn." Jess smiles and pulls Sam into a kiss. They both pull away and Sam notices someone. It looks like his childhood friend, Nikki. Sam blinks a few times, and she disappears. Jess asks, "You okay, Sam?" He looks back at her, "I'm fine."

They get home and fall asleep. Sam wakes up to a crash. He gets out of bed and checks it out. He looks at a window to see it open. He hears the floor creaking. Sam sees a figure walk by, so he goes after the figure. Sam hides behind a door. The figure walks in and Sam attacks him. They fight until Sam is on the ground. "Woah, easy tiger." Sam recognizes him, "Dean?" Dean chuckles. "You scared the crap out of me." Dean smiles," That's because you're out of practice." Sam flips him and Dean's now on the floor. Dean chuckles, "Or not. Get off me." Sam gets up and helps Dean up. Sam asks, "Dean, what the hell are you doing here?" "I was looking for a beer." The lights turn on, blinding both boys for a second. "Sam?" Jess calls out. "Jess, hey." Sam looks at Dean, "Dean this is my girlfriend, Jessica." "Wait, your brother Dean?" Jess smiles. Dean starts flirting with her, "I love the smurfs." Jess starts to get uncomfortable. Dean walks up to her, "I gotta tell you, you are completely out of my brother's league." Jess nods, "Let me put something on." Dean shakes his head, stopping her, "No, no, no. I wouldn't dream of it, seriously." Jess gives Sam a look as Dean walks back to Sam."Anyway, I got to borrow your boyfriend here, talk about some private family business, but nice meeting you," Dean says, as he points at her. Sam looks at her, "No." He goes and stands next to her, "Whatever you want to say, you can say in front of her." "Okay, um, Dad hasn't been home in a few days."' So, he's working on a "miller" time shift, he'll stumble back sooner or later." Dean nods. The next words will change Sam's life, "Dad's on a hunting trip, and he hasn't been home in a few days." Sam knew what Dean meant, "Jess, excuse us."

"Come on, you can't just break in the middle of the night and expect me to hit the road with you," Sam says, as the walk down the stairs. "You're not hearing me, Sammy, Dad's missing. I need you to help me find him." Sam wasn't having it, "You remember the poltergeist in Amherst, or the devil's gate in Clifton? He was missing then, too. He's always missing, and he's always fine." Dean turns to Sam, stopping him," Not for this long. Now are you coming with me or not?" "I'm not." "Why not?" "I swore I was done hunting, for good." Dean couldn't believe him, "Come on, it wasn't easy, but it wasn't bad. Unless it's because of Nikki." Sam flinched, "It's not about her. Besides, I haven't seen or heard from her since the accident." Sam goes back to the subject they were talking about," When I told Dad I was scared of the thing in my closet, he gave me a .45." They start walking until they reach the door that leads outside. Dean asks, "What was he supposed to do?" "I was 9 years old. He was supposed to say, "don't be afraid of the dark."" "Don't be afraid of the dark? Are you kidding me? Of course, you should be afraid of the dark. You know what's out there." "Yeah, I know, still, the way we grew up, after Mom was killed, and Dad's obsession to find the thing that killed her and Nikki's mom, but we still haven't found the damn thing, so we kill everything we find." "Saved a lot of people doing it, too." Sam scoffs, "You think Mom would've wanted this for us?" Dean pushes the door open, ignoring Sam's question. Sam follows," The weapon training and melting silver into bullets? Man, Dean, we were raised like warriors." They stop at Dean's 1967 Chevy Impala. Dean asks, "So, what are you gonna do? Are you gonna live some normal, apple-pie life? Just like Nikki probably did? Is that it?" Sam shakes his head, "Not normal, safe." "And that's why you ram away?" "I was just going to college. It was Dad that said if I was gonna go, I should stay gone. And that's what I'm doing." Dean protests, "Dad's in trouble right now, if he's not dead already, I can feel it." Sam and Dean look at each other for a moment. Dean finally speaks, "I can't do alone." "Yes, you can." Dean looks down, "Yeah, well, I don't want to." Sam sighs, "What was he hunting?" Dean opens the trunk and lifts the false bottom to see an arsenal. Dean holds up the bottom with a rifle, "Alright, let's see. Where the hell did I put that thing?" Sam leans on the car, "So when Dad left, why didn't you go with him?" Dean says, while still looking, "I was working my own gig. This voodoo thing down in New Orleans." Sam's surprised, "Dad let you go on a hunting trip by yourself?" Dean looks at Sam, "I'm 26 dude." Dean continues searching until he finds what he's looking for, "Alright, here we go. So, Dad was checking out this two-lane blacktop, just outside of Jerico, California. About a month ago, this guy-" Dean hands Som some papers, "They found his car, but he vanished, completely MIA." Sam stars looking through the papers, "So, maybe he was kidnapped." "Yeah, well, here's one in April, another in December '04, '03, '98, 92'- 10 of them over the past 20 years- all men, all the same 5-mile stretch of road." Dean grabs a recorder, "It started happening more and more, so Dad went to go dig around. That was about 3 weeks ago. I hadn't heard from him since, which is bad enough, and then I get this voicemail, yesterday." Dean plays the recording, "Dean, something is starting to happen. I think it's serious. I need to try to figure out what's going on. Be very careful, Dean, we're all in danger." Dean stops the recording. Sam looks back at Dean, "You know there's EVP on that." Dean's impressed. "Not bad, Sammy. Kind of like riding a bike, isn't it? Alright, I slowed the message down and ran it through a gold wave, took out the hiss, and this is what I got." Dean plays it again, "I can never go home." Sam repeats, "Never go home." Dean closes the trunk, "You know, in almost 2 years, I've never bothered you, never asked you for a thing." Sam sighs, "Alright, I'll go. I'll help you find him, but I have to get back first thing Monday." Sam starts walking to the building. Dean asks, "What's first thing Monday?" Sam stops and turns to him, "I have an interview." "What a job interview? Skip it." Sam gives him a small smile," It's a law school interview, and it's my whole future on a plate." "Law school?" Sam asks, "So, we got a deal or not?" Sam walks back into the building. Across the street, Nikki looks at Dean as she walks into the streetlight.