Stay With Me (Hold My Hand) ⋆ SPN

4. Bring Your Kid to Work Day

It had been just over a week since Jess had died, and Dean said they would be leaving Stanford soon. Dean had been helping Sam pack up what was left of his and Jess' dorm and unsuccessfully trying to find what killed Jess while Abby went to the elementary school nearby. Abby had never gone to the same school for more than a month, but every time she moved to a new one Dean altered her school records so it looked like she had only gone to one school her whole life. He said this was because otherwise, the cops would make them stay in one place so Abby could get a consistent environment. Abby thought that was bullshit.

Sam and Abby had just gotten back from the funeral so Sam was still in his suit and Abby was still in the black dress Dean had gotten for her the night before. For the past eight days, Sam had been so rushed to get everything done that Abby wondered if he was even taking time to sleep or eat. But now there was nothing else to do. Jess' parents had taken all of her un-burnt stuff two days before and everything else had been donated or sold, so now the dorm was almost empty and Sam had nothing left to pack.

When Abby had gotten out of Baby, going to head into the dorm after Sam, Dean had stopped her. "Hey, Abs, uh can you, y'know, talk to him?" he had said, looking over at Sam's back, retreating into the dorm building.

"About what?"

"I dunno. Just don't let him dwell on it," Abby knew he was talking about how Jess was dead, and Sam thought it was his fault because if it wasn't for him then she never would have been caught up in anything supernatural, and Sam made the stupid to decision to never tell her anything about anything.

"He'll be fine. He doesn't need help," Abby knew that only little kids needed help because that's what Dad always said when she got scared, or on the rare occasion when she went to him crying about something.

"Abs, don't be mean," Dean told Abby. He didn't say anything else, just drove away as she rolled her eyes.

Abby headed into the building, up the stairs, and into what was formerly Sam and Jess' room. Sam was sitting on a couch, one of the last pieces of furniture left, with his head in his hands. Abby went over and sat down next to him, trying to be as quiet as possible.

"She seemed nice," Abby's small voice sounded deafening in the quiet room as she tried very, very hard to not be mean.

"Yeah." there was a long pause before Sam added, "I think she really woulda liked you" Abby, who had been looking at the sunset through the window across the room from them, glanced over at Sam. He was looking at her with a strange look on his face that Abby didn't know what to make of. He looked sad, but there was something else Abby couldn't quite identify.

"I think I woulda liked her too," this lie made Sam smile, and though it was a sad smile, it was a smile nonetheless so Abby counted it as a win. From the stories people had told at Jess' funeral, Abby thought she seemed superficial and decided that dating Jess showed how different Sam was from before he left for Stanford. Jess couldn't even protect herself, and "if you can't protect yourself, there's only so much other people can do for ya," is what Dad had told Abby, and she thought it sounded true. Abby knew that it was Sam's fault and Jess' fault that she was dead, but Dean had said not to be mean so she decided not to bring it up.

~

From the way Dean kept glancing at Sam as he drove, Abby could tell he was worried. Whenever Dean got worried, he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel and bit the inside of his lip. Abby knew Dean was worried because Sam hadn't really said anything after they left Stanford, just quietly got in the car.

And every time Sam fell asleep he had a nightmare. Dean always got worried and quiet when Abby had nightmares, so she wasn't surprised that he was worried about Sam. She just thought it was stupid. In her opinion, and Dad's, Dean cared too much about his younger siblings. Sam definitely needed to get over himself Abby thought.