Chapter Twelve

Bobby walked in smiling as he carried in the bags of food that he had purchased. He had all of Dean's favorites and even grabbed a couple pieces of fruit for Sam. His smile however was quickly replaced with confusion and then fear. The lamp close to the chair that Dean should've been sitting in lay broken on the floor. The floor was damp with the water that had spilled along with it. He quickly strode across the room to the bathroom checking on what he already knew to be true. Sam and Dean were gone. His heart raced glancing around the room to trying to figure out what could've happened to the brothers; then he noticed Sam's suitcase was missing.

Bobby rushed out the door the thoughts of Dean trying to leave tormenting his brain. He would've immediately gone to the Impala, Bobby had left the keys on the small counter not realizing at the time that the older Winchester would be a flight risk, he should've known better. The oldest hunter tore around the corner of the apartment to the back lot hoping beyond hope that the gleam of the sleek black Impala would greet his eyes. He wasn't disappointed but his excitement was short lived. In the front seat of the Impala Dean lay slumped against the steering column and he wasn't moving.

Bobby ran toward the Impala immediately pulling the door open as he reached it. "Bobby?" Dean questioned turning his head toward the hunter and slowing easing his torso into a seated position.

"Dean? What in the world are you out here for?" Bobby questioned, relieved that Dean appeared to be okay.

"Just had to spend some time with my baby, it's been way too long." Dean stated covering up his thoughtless sprint to freedom that had only been stopped by the intense pain of reality. He stroked his dashboard to make the lie look good.

"Uh huh. Sure. Well you've spent enough time now. You better get your idjit self back into that apartment and explain what the frick happened to that lamp."

Getting Dean back out of the car and into the apartment was just about as easy as getting out had been, not at all. By the time Dean got to the apartment and sat back down on the recliner he was breathing heavily and his face was ashen and shining with sweat.

Bobby gave him a minute to catch his breath, "So what happened? Where's Sam?"

"Gone." Dean stated bitterly his face hardening slightly in anger.

"What do you mean gone?"

"By this point probably halfway to Stanford, heaven knows he wouldn't wait til morning." He said with the same bitter tone.

"Dean, he came all this way to make sure it wasn't you…"

"Yep and he's on his way back now…So what'd you get for grub?" Dean quickly changed the subject, he didn't need a sermon.

Bobby stopped pushing at that point knowing that he would get nowhere and passed out the food.

Sam leaned his head against the glass window of the airplane enjoying the coolness of it against his forehead. He couldn't get Dean's outburst out of his head. He had flown all the way from California on a whim and that was his reaction? The more Sam thought about the angrier he got. At least he had come, Dad hadn't even shown up and he was actually informed, at least by voicemail about what was going on. How could Dean have treated him like that? Sam continued fuming thinking about all the reasons that he was glad to be heading back to Stanford back to Jess and the systematic world of book and law that he had grown so accustomed to. But just as he was falling asleep the anger left him and instead he was once again left with the raw hurt that had shown itself on his brother's lonely face.