Family Orientation - Supernatural (4/?)
Aug. 3rd, 2008 01:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jebbypalTitle: Family orientation (4/?)
author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jebbypal
rating: everyone
Summary: Everyone else had family at Stanford's convocation. Sam never expected anyone to show up for him.
Author notes: Thanks todeathisyourart for giving me feedback on this section.
1 / 2/ 3
Sam spends the rest of the weekend and much of the next week of classes thinking. Sheila Winchester lives in Saratoga, only 15 miles from Stanford. It’s an easy enough bus ride. He almost dials Dean’s number more than once. The idea that they always had grandparents, and Dean didn’t tell him once? Dad, he gets. Dean…
Then again, Dean only told him about how Mom died and Dad’s real job after Sam found Dad’s journal. He was always very big on keeping secrets, especially if Dad ordered him too. Not for the first time, he wonders what else Dad, and therefore Dean, decided Sam didn’t need to know. No one’s ever talked about Mom’s parents. There’d never been any mention of family friends from Lawrence. Of course, if the entire state of Kansas could be dropped into a black hole, Dad would see to it. They never drive through the state if they can help it.
By Thursday, the bus schedule to Saratoga and back has been memorized. In his free time, he googles everything there is to know about Sheila Winchester. Most of her life was pre-internet, so he doesn’t find much. An obituary for her late husband that mentions Dad, Dean and him, and says that Dad had an older brother that died during Vietnam. Before that are documents for the sale of the family home in Missouri, presumably when they moved to Saratoga, California. These few facts and even fewer details.
He still has to get through classes on Friday before he can go down to Saratoga. He wants to get the lay of the land before he actually calls to say he’s visiting though. Sam desperately wants to ask someone, anyone, for advice on how to go about doing this. He’s never been around any family other than Dad and Dean – somehow, he doubts the lessons learned growing up with them will hold with his grandmother. He’d call Bobby, but he doubts there’s much that he knows since he only met the Winchesters after Dad had been hunting for a while. Talk of family other than those that accompany you or that are in the world is pretty much off limits for hunters.
However, there’s one resource he hasn’t tapped about Sheila. One person that have been close enough to the Winchesters to practically be family (or at least, that’s the only explanation for why he never turns them away when the Impala drives up, no matter how inconvenient), and who has known Dad long enough to know about his life before.
He dials the number and waits as the phone rings four times before it’s answered. Unlike most of the people he might have called, there’s no cussing on the other end for the time. Instead, just a professional, calm answer as if the man hadn’t been dragged awake from his sleep. “This is Trinity Church, Pastor Murphy speaking.”
“Pastor Jim, it’s Sam. Sam Winchester.”
“Sammy! It’s great to hear from you, son. How’s college?” Unlike Dad’s, Jim’s tone carries no recrimination.
“You heard, huh?”
“I’m proud of you. Couldn’t be prouder unless you tell me you’re majoring in religious studies.” Jim had always said he hoped to pass the church on to Sam – said no one else in the circle of hunters he knew wouldn’t be struck dead by lightning if they lingered near the altar too long.
“I haven’t decided yet. And classes are going okay, but that’s not why I called.”
Jim snorted. “No, you and Dean haven’t called to just chat in a long time. If you’ve found a hunt though, my advice is to call Bobby if you won’t call your Dad. It’s not safe to hunt alone.”
“No, it’s nothing to do with a hunt. At least I don’t think so. I don’t really know how to-“
“Spit it out, Sam. Can’t be worse than anything your brother has confessed to me in the past.”
“Has Dad ever talked about his family?” It’s a struggle to keep his voice from breaking. “His parents?”
Silence stretches for a few minutes. “Your Dad’s never been much of a talker, Sam.”
“But you knew him even before – surely he said something over the years.”
“I really think this is something you should ask your father.”
“Jim, even if he was talking to me, do you really think he’d suddenly talk about that?”
“Why the sudden interest in the family tree?”
“A woman showed up at freshman convocation. She claimed she was my grandmother and handed me a photo album before she left. It has pictures of my Mom and Dad. Pictures of me and Dean as little kids. I don’t know what to think. I mean, I know Dad’s tight lipped about the past, but I can’t imagine Dean keeping this from me all this time.”
A bed squeaks in the background and footsteps sound on the hard wood floor. Great, whatever big secret loomed, it’s enough to get Pastor Jim out of bed and pacing. “After the fire, your father was a mess, and I couldn’t tell who was hurting more, John or your brother. By the time Dean’s next birthday had rolled around, circumstances were such that I managed to persuade your father that it would be better to leave you boys with family. He chose to take you to your grandparents and let them look after you for a bit; I knew the local pastor and would be able to give him a head’s up if anything went south.”
Sam shook his head. If anything could convince him of a higher power, it was hearing someone say that they’d managed to persuade Dad to do anything. “How long?”
“Almost four years, if I remember right.”
Sam drops into the hard wood chair in front of his desk. Four years. Hard to believe he didn’t recall any of it, but then again, after a life of moving from place to place every three to eight months, any amount of time in one place must have started to seem like a far away dream that he had because that was what he saw on TV. He grabs the photo album and flips to a page of him crawling on grass towards Dean, a tire swing visible in the background. “What happened?”
“It was complicated, Sam. Your brother never really adapted – he blamed himself for your Mom, for John leaving. He was getting into fights and about to be suspended from school.”
Flipping through the pages, Sam has to agree with Jim. Dean only really smiles when Sam’s in the picture – the rest of the time, he looks closed off, sullen. Something Sam would never associate with his brother. Dean always fit in – he’d go off and play sports. Sometimes go on dates. Growing up, Sam was the sullen one, always arguing with Dad.
“That doesn’t explain why he never mentioned them. Or why we never visited,” Sam insists.
Jim sighs deeply – a common occurrence when he talked to any Winchester. “I’m sure John had his reasons, Sam. Are you going to keep in touch with your grandmother now?”
Sam shrugs even though Jim can’t see it. “I thought I’d go visit her before classes get too intense.”
“That’s good. Try not to cross-examine her about John too much. You missed out on getting to know your grandparents. She missed out not only on you and Dean, but on her son too.”
“I’ll remember. Thanks, Jim.”
“Anytime, Sam.”
After hanging up, Sam opens the photo album up. He falls asleep with his cheek plastered to the plastic page containing a picture of John, Dean, and a very pregnant Mary.
part 5
author:
jebbypalrating: everyone
Summary: Everyone else had family at Stanford's convocation. Sam never expected anyone to show up for him.
Author notes: Thanks to
deathisyourart for giving me feedback on this section. 1 / 2/ 3
Sam spends the rest of the weekend and much of the next week of classes thinking. Sheila Winchester lives in Saratoga, only 15 miles from Stanford. It’s an easy enough bus ride. He almost dials Dean’s number more than once. The idea that they always had grandparents, and Dean didn’t tell him once? Dad, he gets. Dean…
Then again, Dean only told him about how Mom died and Dad’s real job after Sam found Dad’s journal. He was always very big on keeping secrets, especially if Dad ordered him too. Not for the first time, he wonders what else Dad, and therefore Dean, decided Sam didn’t need to know. No one’s ever talked about Mom’s parents. There’d never been any mention of family friends from Lawrence. Of course, if the entire state of Kansas could be dropped into a black hole, Dad would see to it. They never drive through the state if they can help it.
By Thursday, the bus schedule to Saratoga and back has been memorized. In his free time, he googles everything there is to know about Sheila Winchester. Most of her life was pre-internet, so he doesn’t find much. An obituary for her late husband that mentions Dad, Dean and him, and says that Dad had an older brother that died during Vietnam. Before that are documents for the sale of the family home in Missouri, presumably when they moved to Saratoga, California. These few facts and even fewer details.
He still has to get through classes on Friday before he can go down to Saratoga. He wants to get the lay of the land before he actually calls to say he’s visiting though. Sam desperately wants to ask someone, anyone, for advice on how to go about doing this. He’s never been around any family other than Dad and Dean – somehow, he doubts the lessons learned growing up with them will hold with his grandmother. He’d call Bobby, but he doubts there’s much that he knows since he only met the Winchesters after Dad had been hunting for a while. Talk of family other than those that accompany you or that are in the world is pretty much off limits for hunters.
However, there’s one resource he hasn’t tapped about Sheila. One person that have been close enough to the Winchesters to practically be family (or at least, that’s the only explanation for why he never turns them away when the Impala drives up, no matter how inconvenient), and who has known Dad long enough to know about his life before.
He dials the number and waits as the phone rings four times before it’s answered. Unlike most of the people he might have called, there’s no cussing on the other end for the time. Instead, just a professional, calm answer as if the man hadn’t been dragged awake from his sleep. “This is Trinity Church, Pastor Murphy speaking.”
“Pastor Jim, it’s Sam. Sam Winchester.”
“Sammy! It’s great to hear from you, son. How’s college?” Unlike Dad’s, Jim’s tone carries no recrimination.
“You heard, huh?”
“I’m proud of you. Couldn’t be prouder unless you tell me you’re majoring in religious studies.” Jim had always said he hoped to pass the church on to Sam – said no one else in the circle of hunters he knew wouldn’t be struck dead by lightning if they lingered near the altar too long.
“I haven’t decided yet. And classes are going okay, but that’s not why I called.”
Jim snorted. “No, you and Dean haven’t called to just chat in a long time. If you’ve found a hunt though, my advice is to call Bobby if you won’t call your Dad. It’s not safe to hunt alone.”
“No, it’s nothing to do with a hunt. At least I don’t think so. I don’t really know how to-“
“Spit it out, Sam. Can’t be worse than anything your brother has confessed to me in the past.”
“Has Dad ever talked about his family?” It’s a struggle to keep his voice from breaking. “His parents?”
Silence stretches for a few minutes. “Your Dad’s never been much of a talker, Sam.”
“But you knew him even before – surely he said something over the years.”
“I really think this is something you should ask your father.”
“Jim, even if he was talking to me, do you really think he’d suddenly talk about that?”
“Why the sudden interest in the family tree?”
“A woman showed up at freshman convocation. She claimed she was my grandmother and handed me a photo album before she left. It has pictures of my Mom and Dad. Pictures of me and Dean as little kids. I don’t know what to think. I mean, I know Dad’s tight lipped about the past, but I can’t imagine Dean keeping this from me all this time.”
A bed squeaks in the background and footsteps sound on the hard wood floor. Great, whatever big secret loomed, it’s enough to get Pastor Jim out of bed and pacing. “After the fire, your father was a mess, and I couldn’t tell who was hurting more, John or your brother. By the time Dean’s next birthday had rolled around, circumstances were such that I managed to persuade your father that it would be better to leave you boys with family. He chose to take you to your grandparents and let them look after you for a bit; I knew the local pastor and would be able to give him a head’s up if anything went south.”
Sam shook his head. If anything could convince him of a higher power, it was hearing someone say that they’d managed to persuade Dad to do anything. “How long?”
“Almost four years, if I remember right.”
Sam drops into the hard wood chair in front of his desk. Four years. Hard to believe he didn’t recall any of it, but then again, after a life of moving from place to place every three to eight months, any amount of time in one place must have started to seem like a far away dream that he had because that was what he saw on TV. He grabs the photo album and flips to a page of him crawling on grass towards Dean, a tire swing visible in the background. “What happened?”
“It was complicated, Sam. Your brother never really adapted – he blamed himself for your Mom, for John leaving. He was getting into fights and about to be suspended from school.”
Flipping through the pages, Sam has to agree with Jim. Dean only really smiles when Sam’s in the picture – the rest of the time, he looks closed off, sullen. Something Sam would never associate with his brother. Dean always fit in – he’d go off and play sports. Sometimes go on dates. Growing up, Sam was the sullen one, always arguing with Dad.
“That doesn’t explain why he never mentioned them. Or why we never visited,” Sam insists.
Jim sighs deeply – a common occurrence when he talked to any Winchester. “I’m sure John had his reasons, Sam. Are you going to keep in touch with your grandmother now?”
Sam shrugs even though Jim can’t see it. “I thought I’d go visit her before classes get too intense.”
“That’s good. Try not to cross-examine her about John too much. You missed out on getting to know your grandparents. She missed out not only on you and Dean, but on her son too.”
“I’ll remember. Thanks, Jim.”
“Anytime, Sam.”
After hanging up, Sam opens the photo album up. He falls asleep with his cheek plastered to the plastic page containing a picture of John, Dean, and a very pregnant Mary.
part 5