The Pay-Off For Having Faith

23

"What are you going to do?"

Sam glanced at Jessica as the girl asked the question – she was sitting in the bleachers, watching the soccer team practice. Sam and Gabriel were sitting next to her, taking advantage of the 15 minute break their coach had given them before going back to drills.

Sam had filled his friends in on the past week: everything that had happened, the way John watched them constantly, how he hadn't been able to so much as lay a hand on Dean's arm, without receiving a glare, in days.

"I don't know," he screwed the cap off his water bottle, then screwed it back on, then removed it again, "Dad brings his class work home with him now, so he's there before I get home from soccer practice. He doesn't want me and Dean alone in a room together, hell we can barely be in the same room even if he and Bobby are there." He frowned as he twisted the cap back on the bottle again, "It's – I think it's starting to get to Dean. I hear him in his room at night, talking to himself - or Lucifer probably, that guy's a real asshole, from what I can tell – and he hasn't been sleeping, or eating, or –" Sam slung the lid, which he had twisted off the water bottle again, away from him suddenly, "Shit, guys, I don't know what to do. I can't even touch him to let him know he's not stuck in some nightmare or something, because dad freaks the hell out."

Sam raised his eyes to Jessica as the girl laid a hand on his shoulder and asked softly, "What can we do to help?"

"Maybe there's a way we can distract your dad," Gabriel offered, "so you can spend some time with Dean."

"How are we going to do that?" Jess asked, tilting her head to look at him.

"Uh.." Gabriel scratched his head, a frown on his face, "Set the Impala on fire? I don't know! There has to be something, though, right?"

Sam huffed a soft laugh and shook his head, "Let's not set the Impala on fire. I like that car. Dean loves that car."

"Maybe we can unhook the battery cables while your dad is on campus," Gabe grinned, "We all know how bad he sucks with cars, it would take him forever to figure out why it won't start."

Sam raised a brow and opened his mouth to protest, but paused: that might actually work. He shook his head – it was a crazy idea. Still, desperate times and all..

He and Gabe jumped, startled, as they heard their coach shout, "Sam! Gabe! You boys done napping? Let's go!"

"I'll see you guys later," Jess told them, standing to gather her stuff, "I have to go study for that biology test tomorrow."

They waved goodbye as they jogged onto the field, ready for more of their coach's endless drills.

It was Sam's luck that he received a text just before practice ended, from his father, stating that the man had to stay late on campus tonight. Bobby had left earlier, he knew, to meet a "lady friend" for an early dinner and a movie. That meant he was going to have time with his brother before his father made it home (or so he hoped). He would have a chance to give Dean the much-needed touch that helped to ground his brother and remind him that he wasn't caught up in some kind of dream, as Lucifer liked to tell him.

He was silently rejoicing that fact when his coach decided that, because he hadn't been focused in practice (and he certainly hadn't), he could stay late for an extra half-hour of drills.

"Damn," Sam muttered as he bent to tie his cleat, "Dad and Bobby are gone and I'm stuck here. And Dean's been alone all day. I hope he's okay." He raised eyes to his best friend as Gabriel asked,
"Want me to run by and check on him?"
"Would you? Man, you're the best, Gabe."
"I know, I know. Uh.. he's not going to bite me, is he?"
Sam shot his friend a grin as he jogged back onto the field, calling over his shoulder, "No promises!"