The Pay-Off For Having Faith

22

It was after noon when Dean made his way to the kitchen. He hesitated inside the kitchen doorway as his eyes fell on John, whom was sitting at the table. The man hadn't a class to teach today, he recalled. John raised his blue gaze from his newspaper to look at him. He nodded an acknowledgement as his father greeted him.

Dean retrieved a bottle of water from the fridge and turned to leave the kitchen, but paused as John spoke his name,
"Dean."

He glanced over at the man, and his father asked,
"Dean, you do understand that you and Sam can't – " John hesitated for a moment, "That you can't be together like – like that. In a romantic way. Right?"

Dean stared at him for a moment before saying quietly, "We belong together."

He saw a muscle in his father's jaw twitch, and John reminded him, "You're brothers, Dean. You don't have that kind of relationship with your brother."

His brow furrowed slightly and he fidgeted with the bottle of water he held. "We – we're –" He searched for the words he needed to make John understand, "We're soulmates."

John ran a hand over his mouth and shook his head, before repeating his earlier words, "You're brothers, Dean. Please tell me you understand that."

"I know we're brothers, John," he shot back crossly, annoyance touching his voice.

"Then you know you can't be together."

Dean bit his bottom lip for a moment before muttering, "You don't understand."

"No," John agreed, "I don't understand. What I do understand is that you're obsessed with Sam and he's infatuated with the mystery of you."

"Why do you say it like that?" Dean shifted in agitation, eyes flicking from John, to the far wall, to the floor, back to John, "Like it's – like it doesn't mean anything."

"It can't mean anything!" he heard the anger tracing the man's declaration.
"Well it does!" he shot back, hand clenching around the water bottle he held still.

"No," John shook his head as he shoved his chair back and stood, "You're not thinking clearly, Dean, and neither is Sam. He's young and you're – " The man fell silent abruptly, leaving the sentence unfinished.

"I'm crazy?" Dean questioned, "Is that what you were going to say? I might be, but I know how I feel, and Sam is everything to me."

"Enough," John's voice was harsh, "That's enough, Dean. I don't want to hear anymore of this, and I don't want you filling Sam's head with it."

"You think that's what I'm doing? You think I'm corrupting him?"

"Just stop," there was real anger on John's face, "I meant what I said: you keep your hands off him and you don't speak of this anymore. Any more of this nonsense and I will send you back to that hospital!"

Dean swallowed hard at the threat, eyes troubled. "You – you can't take Sam from me again. You can't."

"I can and I will," the man warned as he crossed toward him, "You touch him again, and I certainly will."

There was a note of desperation in Dean's voice as he whispered, "But I love him."

The man stared at him for a moment, features softening slightly, "You can't, Dean," he answered, "You can't love him like that. It's wrong."

Dean was motionless for a moment: he shook his head suddenly, raised angry eyes to John. "No. It's not. We're supposed to be together!"

"You're supposed to be in the hospital!" John snapped, "Not here trying to commit incest with Sam!"