Not What He Seems

Chapter 1

When Dean comes back from Purgatory and sees Sam for the first time, it's a bittersweet moment. On one hand, they're both alive and together and ready to hit the road like old times. On the other hand, Dean has to admit that Cas is gone and Sam has to admit that he gave up hunting, which doesn't go over well for either of them. It only gets worse when Dean starts sifting through Sam's messages from a lost and angry Kevin Tran, whom Sam hadn't even realized was on his own until now.

And that's where they are now. Dean is still listening to his messages, and Sam is glad he has earbuds in because he's not sure he could handle listening to them himself. Sam, meanwhile, is on his computer, pretending to look for a case but really just trying to process everything that's happened in the last few hours.

Woof!

Sam glances at Dean, expecting him to groan or roll his eyes or something, but instead, Dean yanks his earbuds out, his hand going straight to his gun.

"Dude, calm down," Sam says. "It's just a dog or something." Why there's a dog in the middle of the woods, he doesn't quite understand, but there's a lot that he doesn't understand. This certainly isn't keeping him up at night.

Woof woof!

Sam sighs and turns his attention back to his computer. All this barking just makes him miss Riot. It even sounds like Riot's bark, one that he has ingrained in his head from hearing it so much. He loved that little dog, but Amelia can take better care of him than he could on the road.

Woof woof woof! Woof!

"Alright, that's it." Dean throws the phone down on the couch and storms over to the door, gun drawn.

"What? Dude!" Sam scrambles after him, desperately trying to stop him before he starts opening fire on a pet.

Ignoring him, Dean pulls the door open, his gun already pointed out in front of him. Sam was right; it was a dog, lost in the woods all alone. Except, Sam realizes as the dog sprints inside, it's not lost. At least, not anymore.

The dog — an Australian Shepherd with a beautiful coat — runs inside and straight to Sam. The dog jumps up on him, his front paws on the bottom of Sam's flannel. His tail is wagging so quickly, he almost looks like he's going to knock himself over. Sam would recognize him anywhere.

"Riot?" Sam scoffs. "Buddy, what are you doing here?" He takes the dog's paws and carefully rests them on the floor, then crouches down to pet the dog. He scratches under Riot's ear, which has always been the easiest way to calm him down. He just leans into the war scratch, tail still wagging and looking all-around content.

"Dude, don't pet random forest dogs!" Dean hisses. "It could have rabies or something!"

"He's not just 'some random forest dog,'" Sam says, earning some very wet and sloppy kisses on the face that get a laugh from him

"How is it not a random forest dog?" Dean asks. "It's a random dog that came from the forest. Random. Forest. Dog."

"No, he's my dog," Sam says, and regrets it as soon as he finishes speaking.

Dean's face says it all — not only did Sam quit hunting, but he settled down and got a dog. Sam's always known Dean wasn't a fan of the animal — or any animals, really — so knowing Sam would adopt a dog at all must be a slap in the face. Without context, it probably looks like Sam chose the dog over his own brother... which, in hindsight, is actually almost true. He did settle down with him instead of searching for a way to save Dean, but it's not like he would have known where to start looking, anyway.

"I was just taking care of him 'cause I hit him with my car," Sam says quickly. "It wasn't like I just decided one day that I wanted a dog or something."

That just makes Dean more upset.

"Your car?" Dean repeats. "You mean the Impala? You ran my baby into a dog?"

"I didn't mean to!" Sam says defensively. "He just ran out into the street. He could've died, so I brought him to the vet. I couldn't just leave him in the middle of the street, you know?"

"So you put a half-dead dog in the back of my car?" Dean repeats incredulously. "I disappear for a year, and, what, all my rules go out the window?"

"It wasn't your car anymore, Dean!" Sam says, maybe a little too loudly. "You were gone, Cas gone, and that car was just about everything I had left, so, yeah, I started treating it like my own car. Sue me."

"You hurt my baby and I just might," Dean snaps.

As their conversation progresses, Riot starts to calm down, getting used to being with Sam again. He lies down by his side, his gaze never leaving Dean's face. Sam sits down on the floor too, trying to find a more comfortable position to give Riot his believed ear scratches, but the dog rests his head on Sam's lap as soon as the opportunity appears, so Sam opts to just gently stroke his face instead.

After watching the dog for a few moments, Dean's anger turns to defeat. "Alright, whatever. Why'd you bring the thing, anyway, if you were just gonna leave it outside?"

"I didn't bring him," Sam says. "He should be back in Texas. I don't know how he got here."

"How the hell could he get here from Texas?" Dean asks. "What, he drove here in a car he hotwired with his paws?"

"I don't know," Sam repeats. "But he's here."

Riot sits up and slides closer to Sam, leaning hs whole body against Sam's side. The hunter puts an arm around him to pet him, but Riot evidently decides this still isn't comfortable enough because he climbs over Sam, stretching out and lying down on his lap. Sam can't help but chuckle as he ruffles the dog's fur.

"Oh, aren't you two just the cutest," Dean says sarcastically. "Well, you two go get your snuggle on, and I'm going to look for Kevin."

"How are you going to do that?" Sam asks. "We have no idea where he is, and it doesn't sound like he's jumping to pick up the phone anymore."

"Well, we gotta start somewhere," Dean says.

Sam sighs. Dean's not wrong, and he knows that, but he doesn't know where to start. Kevin isn't exactly dropping hints about where he is.

And what does Sam do when he doesn't know where to start?

He grabs his computer and starts grasping at straws.