Tall, Dark, and Dangerous
K Hanna Korossy

I've known those two Winchester boys a long time now.

We hunters tend to be loners, sort of comes with the job. A few have an unusually understanding wife—or, in one case, husband—but most can't afford the ties and wouldn't know what to do with them if we had them. So when I first met John, those two little boys in tow, I had my doubts. Kids get in the way, weigh you down, are ten kinds of vulnerable. But Winchester, nothing was gonna keep him from the hunting life, so he just dragged those two boys in right along with him.

I watched them grow up, a year or two at a time, so the changes were obvious. Dean got old fast, soaking up everything his dad taught him, taking care of his brother. Didn't take long for him to develop that attitude, either, his own way of not wanting to turn out like his dad. The kid does have a flare for life that nothing, not even John's boot camp, could crush. Nothing except his family, because maybe they couldn't see the adoration in the kid's eyes when he looked at his father and brother, but the rest of us sure could. Dean had his dad's skills but didn't lose his heart like John did, and that made him one of the best of us.

Sam, however, I had my doubts about. He never depended on John like Dean did because he had his big brother to look out for him, and he never bought into the mission. Instead of a soldier, John's youngest got to stay a kid, and the things we hunt were just roadblocks to his normal life. He loves his family as fierce as his brother and father, but they weren't all he had. None of us were really surprised when he left them and hunting, and struck out to find that safe life he always wanted. It happens, usually to the ones with too much heart, or the ones with not enough, no pain to motivate them. Sammy was one of the former.

I only saw Dean once during those years Sam was away, and he'd changed. The cockiness and the grin were still there, but the light behind them was mighty dim. He was at the top of his game as a hunter: sharp, aware, driven. But he'd buried his heart deep, and I figured in a few years, he'd a carbon copy of his dad. For the first time I saw John recognize it, too, but what was he gonna do about it now? He'd set those boys on this path a long time ago; he couldn't blame Dean for walking it to the end.

Then Sam came back.

We all heard through the grapevine, of course, about the demon going after the Winchesters a second time and Sam's girl getting in the way. Wasn't sure of the details but I didn't want to ask. What mattered was that John had gone under even our radar to track this thing that was after his family, while his boys reunited and carried on the family business.

Including, inevitably, a stop at yours truly.

I found what I was looking for in my ammo chest and went back out into what had once been a living room and was now a base of operations. "I've only got a handful of these left, Dean, but you're welcome to 'em." I held out the box.

He took it, examining the iron rounds with a practiced eye. I didn't agree with everything John Winchester did, but you had to admit he'd trained his boys well. "Looks good," Dean agreed with a nod, box disappearing into his pocket. Then that conman grin of his showed up again. "How about wards—anything new on the scene?"

I rolled my eyes; the kid was half my age and still thought he could charm something out of me with that snake-oil look. Maybe if I wore a skirt, but he was barking up the wrong tree there. Still, I grinned back at him because we're all conmen in this life, after all, and that glint in the eye's the closest we come to a secret handshake. "Got a new book recently, found it on eBay. Haven't had a chance to read the whole thing, but you're welcome to take a look, see if there's something you can use."

A glance at his silent partner next to him, who looked back at him with raised eyebrows. "Uh, actually, that's more Sammy's department. Sam, you wanna check it out?"

A half-shrug of interest. "Sure, sounds good."

This was the first time I'd seen Sam in more than four years, and the kid had finally turned into a man. Not just in size, though I would've thought twice about taking him on now, but in his face and his eyes. You can tell he's lost somebody, that he's haunted like Dean never was, like their dad still is. Determined. He's taken over Dean's drive from the last few years, because Dean doesn't need it anymore. He got back what he'd lost. Sam…I don't know if he ever will. Funny how he was the one who ended up being more John's son.

But as I settled him with my book and sat down nearby to talk shop and gossip with Dean, I realized some other things. For one, Sam was only half paying attention to what he was reading because he kept an eye and an ear on us, too. Well, on Dean, anyway. It had been the same the whole time we were going over supplies before. It took me a while to place that look, 'cause I was used to seeing it on a different Winchester. But it was the way Dean had always looked at his little brother: fond, tuned to him, intensely protective. Sammy had always taken Dean for granted before he went off to school, but I suspect the taste of his normal life, and of death, has made him realize most of us don't have a big brother looking out for us. I just didn't expect him to turn the tables and throw himself into playing defense for his brother. It wouldn't be the first or the last time we underestimated Sam Winchester.

We shot the breeze for another hour or two while Sam took notes and Dean managed to finagle me out of a few more supplies, because that boy is a born smooth-talker. And I was feeling good for him because that light was back and the grin was for real and he watched Sam with the same look Sam watched him. Dean was enjoying life again, and you don't see a lot of that in our tribe. There was still that seriousness underneath saying he knew it couldn't last and the storm was coming, but for now, both of us could pretend. Well, not pretend so much as appreciate it while it lasted. One of the number one lessons of the hunting life, because if Sam is his dad's son, Dean is still the one born hunter in the family.

As for Sam, he smiled at me when he handed the book back and we shook hands and said good-bye, and I looked deep into his eyes. He's gonna have a lot harder time of it, this one with his still-too-much heart and the anger that drives him and the dreams he's hung on to. There's a silent danger to him now, Dean's new shadow, and he's no longer the innocent: protector now instead of just protectee, partner instead of just kid brother.

But that's the part that makes me think for the first time that the Winchesters might survive the coming battle. Sam's become his brother's guardian, like Dean was always his, and while it's hard giving up the spotlight, it makes you safer, too. They can watch each other's backs now. Heck, it's obvious they already do. So if Sam's smile is more serious and Dean's become more of a realist, I think its probably been worth the price. They're gonna need each other to get through what lies ahead.

I wave to them from the door, wonder if I'm gonna see them again. But just before the car peels out of the yard, I see Sam say something with a grin and Dean throw his head back and honest-to-God laugh, and yeah, I think they're gonna make it. Because John Winchester may not have given his sons many things, but he gave them each other, and that just might be enough.

The End