Chapter 13: Normal

Author's Note: After all the hell and anguish I put our two sexy little stud muffins through, I figured they needed a day off. So this chapter is a little fluffy but not disgustingly so. It does give some spoilers to the next story I will be starting.

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Sam sat on the side of his hospital bed waiting for Dean to show up and take him out of here. He was being released today and he was so ready to leave. He'd spent the past five days lying in this bed, although he had been asleep for the first two of them.

He still remembered clearly the look of relief on Dean's face when he finally came to. Of course all Dean had said to him was 'Well it's about fucking time you woke up." Yep, Dean definitely had a way with words. Of course, Sam wasn't stupid anymore when it came to Dean. He knew how Dean felt, and he knew Dean had been scared.

The same day Sam woke up Dean was technically released from the hospital, but since Dean stayed there from morning till night his release had been more of an inconvenience for Dean than a help.

Dean didn't talk too much during the twelve hours he spent visiting everyday. Often he would just read the papers and tabloids. A couple of times he stepped out to make a few phone calls. Sam would ask who he had called but Dean would just say not to worry about it. Once again Dean had gone into mother hen mode and was trying to shelter Sam from something. Sam wanted to be a help to his brother, not a burden, but then Dean had appointed himself as protector a long time ago and he was to set in his ways to change now.

Sam had to admit he hated when visiting hours came to an end and Dean would have to leave. It wasn't that he hated to be alone. No, sometimes that was actually nice. He hated the fact that at the moment he was somewhat helpless and vulnerable. He knew the horseman was gone, but it was unsettling none the less.

Well, he wasn't totally helpless. Dean had taken to the habit of every night pouring a circle of salt around Sam's bed. The first night he'd done it Sam actually laughed, but then Sam saw the significance of the gesture and appreciated Dean all the more.

Dean had been by his side constantly since he entered the hospital, and now that he was about to be released Dean was gone. Sam exhaled a breath and blew his hair out of his eyes. If he didn't get a haircut soon he would start to resemble a sheepdog.

"Come on, Dean. Any time now would be great."

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Dean drove as fast as he could to the hospital. His errands had taken longer than he expected this morning but he was feeling quite pleased with himself. Last night the sheriff had stopped by the motel with the $8,000 reward money. Dean couldn't remember ever having that much money in his hand at one time. None of it would be wasted though. Like Dad had taught them, focus on the necessities.

So Dean had gone shopping this morning and bought a bunch of necessities. He couldn't wait to surprise Sam. Actually, he had a lot of surprises for Sam. Sam wanted to be normal, and by god he was going to have one day of normal today. Dean couldn't fight the smile that crept on to his face.

He pulled into the hospital parking lot and grabbed a couple of the shopping bags from the back seat. Then he hurried into the hospital towards Sam's room. As he neared the room he slowed down and then put the bags on the floor just outside the door.

Sam was sitting on the side of his bed looking bored, but looking much better than when he arrived. His neck was no longer wrapped like a mummy's. It now had a large rectangular bandage taped into place to keep the cut clean. Also, Sam's arm wasn't bound to his chest anymore. A simple bandage taped in place was all that was left there as well.

"Well you're looking better. Still ugly of course, but better."

"Where have you been?" Sam asked. "I was released over an hour ago."

"Sorry, I had some stuff to do."

"Stuff?"

"Yeah, you know, stuff."

"And this stuff was more important than picking me up from the hospital."

"Hey, I'm here aren't I," Dean smirked. He was enjoying messing with Sam.

"Where are my clothes?" Sam asked.

"Oh damn! I knew I was forgetting something!"

"What! You forgot my clothes! How am I supposed to leave here with no clothes!" Sam was definitely getting pissed. Now he would have to stay here and wait for Dean to run back to the motel and get him something to wear.

"Well, I'm sure they'll let you wear the gown. We can always return it to them later."

"I am not leaving here in a hospital gown with my ass on display for all the world to see! Not to mention it's freezing out there!"

"Okay, okay. Calm down. Give me a minute to see what I can do," Dean laughed. He hurried to the hall before Sam decided to throttle him and grabbed the shopping bags.

"Oh, look what I found," Dean said proudly.

Sam looked confused. "What's that?"

"Your clothes," Dean said and tossed the bags to Sam. Sam managed to catch one but the other hit the floor. He opened the bag in his hand and pulled out a new gray turtleneck shirt and a long sleeve blue button down shirt.

"Where did these come from?" Sam asked.

"I bought them for you, stupid. You were running out of shirts. For some reason all your clothes have puncture wounds in them."

"Thanks," Sam said. He picked up the bag on the floor and found a new pair of pants, a pack of underwear, and a pack of socks. "Cool." He pulled the curtain around his bed so he could have some privacy and put on the new clothes. He was impressed, Dean had got all the sizes right. He almost forgot what it felt like to put on something without rips or holes.

"I don't suppose you remembered shoes?" Sam asked as he pulled the curtain back.

Dean was standing there holding a new pair of lace up brown suede boots by his two fingers. He had a big grin on his face. He was obviously enjoying the roll of Santa Claus. Sam took the shoes and put them on. They were a little stiff but they would get broken in soon enough.

"Okay, Santa, I'm ready to go when you are."

"Wait," Dean said. "You still need one more thing." From behind the other bed he pulled out a tan military style coat. It was definitely thicker than his blue jean jacket had been.

"Wow, you thought of everything," Sam asked. "But, where did you get the money for this? This must have cost a small fortune."

"Don't worry, little brother. I didn't rob a liquor store. It turns out there was an $8,000 reward for the capture of the murderer cutting off peoples heads. The sheriff decided to give it to us since we defeated the horseman. He also arranged to pay for our medical bills."

"You're kidding," Sam gasped.

"Nope, for once the Winchester boys actually got credit where credit was due."

"So what did you do with the rest of the money?" Sam asked.

"I bought a few other necessities and the rest is safe and sound. That kind of money will keep us solvent for a while."

Sam nodded his head in agreement. He slipped the coat on and then grabbed his prescriptions off the bedside table.

Sam assumed they were driving back to the motel but noticed Dean was driving somewhere out to the country.

"Where are we going?" Sam asked.

"You'll see," Dean replied mysteriously.

About twenty minutes later Dean turned into a driveway where the sign said Westview Country Orchards. Sam couldn't help but smile.

"What are we doing here?" he asked.

"You were the one who wanted cider and doughnuts," Dean replied.

"Yeah, but you made it pretty clear you weren't interested in this kind of thing."

"Yeah, well, it couldn't hurt to take a break every now and then," Dean said with a shrug of his shoulders.

They got out of the car and started walking to the entrance. Instantly the smell of apples and sugar and cinnamon wafted into their noses. Even Dean had to admit the aroma was intoxicating.

"Patty from the café told me that they have horse drawn hay rides out here," Dean said eagerly, and then tried to back track. "I mean, personally I think it's silly, but ya know, if you want to do it, then…I guess we can."

Sam just smiled and nodded. They spent the next couple of hours walking around, eating doughnuts and drinking cider until they were ready to be sick, and they even went on the hay ride. That turned out to be pretty funny because a family with four small children also went on it with them and the kids seemed to take an instant liking to Dean and proceeded to talk to him endlessly. Every now and then Dean would roll his eyes and give Sam the death stare which would just make Sam laugh.

Three hours later Sam was running out of energy. Even the sugar high was wearing off and he couldn't stop the yawn from escaping. By the third yawn Dean was ushering him back to the car.

"We can't have you over doing it on your first day out of the hospital," Dean told him. He hadn't expected Sam to last that long before needing rest, but then, he had rested plenty at the hospital and been fed healthy, if bland, food on a regular basis. "Stay here," he told Sam, "I'll be right back." Dean ran back into the little farmer's market.

Sam sat back in the car and relaxed. He was tired. Not from being hurt, but from good old fashioned fresh air. A day in the country always did that. Sam smiled happily. He would remember this day for the rest of his life. The day Dean laughed and had fun and acted like a normal person doing normal things. Of course, Dean would never admit to having fun, but Sam knew.

Sam noticed a couple of more bags in the back seat and saw that they also held shirts. From what he could see Dean had bought him two more t-shirts and another long sleeve shirt. Dean also picked up a few pieces of clothing for himself. Sam was surprised at how wisely Dean had spent the money they got. Dean was known as shoot first, ask questions later. For some reason Sam just assumed Dean would have been the same way with money, but after a life time of watching every penny and even going hungry every now and then, he had obviously learned to be responsible when a windfall did come his way.

About ten minutes later Dean came back carrying two grocery bags. He passed them to Sam to set in the floor before starting the car.

Sam peeked inside and saw a half a gallon of cider, a dozen doughnuts, and some apples and pears.

"Snacks for tonight," Dean said casually. "It'll be better than vending machine munchies."

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Dean parked in front of their new room at the motel. The other room was too damaged to stay in any longer. He looked at Sam and smiled. He was sound asleep. He hated to wake him but he knew he would be more comfortable in a bed.

"Sammy, wake up."

Sam jerked his head up and groaned at the kink in his neck. He followed Dean in their new room, which looked a lot like the old one, and didn't even fuss when Dean pulled back the covers on his bed. Sam kicked off his new boots and lay on the bed. He rolled on his side and made himself comfortable.

"Dean."

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

Dean smiled. "You're welcome. Just don't get used to this. Come Christmas time I'm not riding a horse drawn sleigh."

Sam chuckled and drifted off to sleep.

Dean ran out to the car to get their packages and food and brought them inside. He stretched and looked at his own bed. The fresh air had worked its magic on him too. He kicked off his boots and crawled in to his own bed for a nice long nap.

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The need to relieve himself of all the cider he drank earlier woke Sam from his sleep. He looked at the clock and saw it was after five. It was already getting dark outside. He climbed from the bed and went to the bathroom. He tried to be as quiet as he could, but he knew Dean would wake up anyway. Necessity had made him a light sleeper.

Sure enough, when he exited the bathroom Dean was sitting up on his bed. One side of his hair was sticking up from having slept on it funny.

"It's time for you to take your prescription," Dean said.

"I know," Sam replied. He pulled out the allotted pills and downed them with a swig of cider.

"Give me a minute and we'll go get some dinner."

"Sure," Sam said. He walked around the room to stretch out his legs and saw two more shopping bags in the floor. He opened them and found big heavy parkas inside. He was guessing one was for him and the other was for Dean. It looked like they would be staying in the northern states for a while.

Then Sam walked over the table and saw newspaper clippings and pictures scattered about. Obviously Dean had already selected their next case.

Dean came out of the bathroom and saw Sam looking at the clippings.

"So what's this?" Sam asked.

"That's research I've been doing on our next job."

"Where are we going?"

"We are going to Beaver Island, Michigan. It's an island located at the top of Lake Michigan. You and I are going to be the new lighthouse keepers. That's what the parkas are for."

"We're going to be light house keepers!"

"Yep, and we start in three days."

"Why?"

"Because over the past sixty years they have never been able to get anyone to work there for longer than two years. In that time four went mad and at least seven of them vanished. The last one to vanish happened just two weeks ago."

"Ah." Sam replied.

"I figure we're dealing with a good old fashioned haunting. You and I will go there for a couple of weeks, actually earn a pay check or two, and send the ghost packing in the process. It sounds perfect if you ask me."

"Actually, it does sound like a good idea," Sam agreed. He especially liked the part about earning paychecks. It was nice to have honest money.

"Heck, I'll bet we even have a little fun. Lighthouses are cool."

"All right, I'm convinced. Let's go get some dinner. I'm guessing we'll be leaving bright and early come morning."

"You got it."

Just like that a day of being normal came to an end and they were hunters once more.

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Author's note: Beaver Head Island Lighthouse is a real place and will appear in my next story. It is currently not operating nor does it have keepers, but for the purpose of the story you'll just have to go with it:-) They do still have a radio operated light for fog that is located in a second structure.