The Fire

A/n: Y/n- your name

Y/l/n- your last name

Y/n/n- your Nick name

Three years later

"Hey!" You wave over to Sam and Jessica.

Their faces light up in recognition as they walk over to your table.

You hug Jessica and Sam and settle back onto the table. The two had gone for a small weekend getaway. You hadn't got a chance to meet them before but the three of you set a time to have lunch at a restaurant near campus.

Since the party three years back, you and Sam had been the best of friends. Other than Maddie, at the time, he was your only other best friend. Over the course of three years, you attended way more parties and from a really introverted person, you became a mild introvert.

You made many more friends and you and Brady had been the ones to introduce Sam to Jessica and they immediately hit it off. It was more off Brady's idea but he convinced you and you helped him. You both were like each other's wingmen. He tried to set you up with many of his friends, but it never worked out.

"Guys, listen!" You exclaim, getting excited. "I spoke to my parents."

At that both of them looked at you.

"And what did they say?" Jessica asked you as she placed the restaurant's menu card on the table.

"They're not happy, but they said that they would support me!"

Sam and Jessica chuckle and hold your hand.

"That's amazing, Y/n/n!" Sam congratulates you.

You had never wanted to be a lawyer. Your parents were lawyers and they wanted you to walk in their footsteps. But you wanted to be a photographer. Like taking scenic pictures and even taking videos which everyone in your group admired. Obviously, your parents didn't support you then but with a bit of help from Sam and Jess, you were able to convince them.

And finally, after three years of doing something you didn't want to do, your parents were finally supporting you. You started crying happy tears thinking about it.

"Oh no, my face is leaking."

Sam and Jess chuckle and both of them stand up to hug you.

You start laughing.

This basically described your relationship with them. You were the weird one. Always cracking jokes at inappropriate times. Jess was the supportive one and Sam would always back you up no matter what.

All of you spent time together that day. You told them that you were going to leave the next week when the semester was going to end. Though they were sad, they planned on throwing a farewell party for you.

After some time, you said your goodbyes and left for your dorm.

The next night

You had been exhausted from the the party you, Jess and Sam had gone to. You slept as soon as you entered your dorm room and didn't even have time to change from your bunny costume.

~

"What the f-" You try not to swear too loud in an attempt of not waking up your roommate. You feel your head throb in exhaustion.

You look at your phone and check who was calling you at like 1 in the morning.

"Hey? Jess, are you fine?" You whisper in your phone. You were worried at why Jessica would call you up now. Your voice is hoarse with sleep.

"No, I'm fine. It's just... Something strange just happened."

You sit up on your bed, mentally preparing yourself for said strange news. You look down with distaste at your outfit.

"What's up?"

"Well, I was sleeping when I heard something in the living room of our apartment."

You hum when she pauses for a response.

"I noticed that Sam wasn't in bed and when I went to check what the sound was, I saw Sam with his brother, Dean talking."

"Mhm."

"And Sam just left with Dean to help their dad on a hunting trip or something."

"On a hunting trip?"

"Yeah. Sam never talked much about his dad to me. Did he to you?"

"No, he didn't."

You think back to all the conversations you had about your families with Sam. Sam's mom had died in a car accident. He mostly had talked about Dean to you. About how you and Dean were almost similar.

"So, is he leaving now?" You enquire.

"He's already left."

"Wait, seriously! He didn't even call me!" You widen your eyes a bit when you see Hailey, your roommate stir in her bed.

"Yeah, he just left abruptly."

"Ok, we should probably talk about this tomorrow. Unlike you lucky assholes, I don't have an apartment but I have a really short-tempered roommate who's gonna wake up."

You hear Jessica chuckle on the phone and sigh. You could still hear the strain of worry in her voice when she spoke.

"Yeah, you're right. Goodnight, Y/n."

"Yeah, goodnight, Jess."

The next day

"So, does Dean look hot?"

Jessica almost spits out the coffee she was drinking and glares at you.

"What! Apparently, I'm similar to him in many ways. Maybe.." You wiggle your eyebrows at Jessica who seems to get the message.

"He was kinda a flirt. He looked me up and down before Sam introduced me as his girlfriend."

You widen your eyes and chuckle before you both start making plans of how you would spend your last week in Stanford with her and Sam. You made plans to hang out with Maddie and Emily too. Emily was Maddie's friend and the both of you got along just fine.

You told her of your plan to go on a drive the next day to take pictures. You liked keeping a portfolio of your pictures. You knew that you ought to take good pictures to work with your favourite photographer Frans Lanting. You wanted to work for Natural Geographic and wanted some advice from Frans.

After you get a call from Hailey to help in some of her assignments as you had promised, you make your way back to your dorm while Jessica walks back to her apartment.

You feel the worry and a bit of anger start to affect your thinking on your way to the library where Hails was. How dare Sam not call you before going for his hunting trip. You knew that Sam would inform you, he always did.  At least a text? Last year, in a concert you, Sam and a few others had gone to, you left him to meet someone without him knowing and he almost got a panic attack when he thought someone had kidnapped you. Since then it was always a rule for you guys to text and inform each other where you were in concerts, which slowly became an everyday sort of thing.

What an ass!

Without thinking, you open your phone and scroll through your contacts. You bring the phone to your ear after clicking on Sam's number and stop walking; tapping your feet on the ground.

You don't even know why you're feeling this angry. It's not like he was out there hunting something so dangerous that it could kill him. But then he probably wouldn't have cell reception so how would he be able to answer-

"Hello?"

"Sam!"

"Y/n? Are you fine?"

"Uh, yeah." You frown, thinking that you probably disturbed him from helping his dad. "So, where are you?"

"Oh. Uh, I'm with Dean and my dad on a... hunting trip."

"Sam. You don't hunt."

"Yeahhh, but I thought I would start. I mean I'm only 22."

You scoff at his statement and roll your eyes, even though he couldn't see you.

"Did you just roll your eyes?"

You stop midway and chuckle.

"Yes. I always roll my eyes when I scoff, Sammy. Keep up!"

You hear him chuckle.

"Ok, um- Just be safe. Wouldn't want a moose killing you or anything." You whisper into the phone, still not believing that Sam would hunt.

"Yeah. I'll be back tomorrow night or something."

"Yeah okay. See you later."

"Bye."

The next day

You spent an entire day going around Cali and clicking pictures. Usually, you preferred taking pictures of nature and wildlife. But today you clicked pictures of the bustling crowd on the sidewalks and tourist attractions of California. You took pictures with fictional characters in front of the Chinese Theatre entrance too.

All in all, it had been a productive yet exhausting day. You couldn't wait to jump into your bed. It was all you could think about.

"I can't do this." You whisper to yourself. You were very exhausted and hungry and it was already dark.

You decided to visit Sam and Jess' apartment since that was closer than your dorm. You didn't feel safe out in the dark.

Walking briskly, you almost reach the entrance to their apartment when you see Sam leaning over a black car and talking to someone in the car. You sneak up behind him and shout in his ear.

"Boo!"

"Fuck!"

Sam stands straight and in doing that, bumps his head at the top of the car.

"Y/n! What the hell are you doing here?!" Sam says as he rubs his head in circles, frowning as he sees you use your knees as support when you almost topple down from laughing.

"Sam, what- who's this?"

You look up to see the man in the car in front of you. He was shorter than Sam by a few inches. He was handsome in a boyish way, with spiky close cropped dirty blonde hair and a faint stubble.  You always loved people with unique coloured eyes but you couldn't see his eye colour cause of how dark it was.

You immediately stand up straight because if you learnt anything in your years in college it was that first impressions were absolutely key and you certainly wanted to make an impression on this guy. His voice was rough and you thought there was a bit of a Texan accent in his voice.

"Hey, I'm Y/n." You smile and nod your head.

He smirks slightly and speaks again.

"I'm Dean. Sammy's brother."

You feel yourself choke on air. So this was Dean. You almost thought that Dean would look and act awkward, not look freakishly good. He also had a 67 Chevrolet Impala which meant that he had good taste.

Then how could a man like him be like you?

You look questioningly at Sam and he nods to clear your doubts.

You look back at him and smile; thinking how no one could match a smile like his.

"Sam has told me a lot about you."

"Oh really? All good things I hope."

"I'm talking to the same brother who put nair in Sam's shampoo as a prank, right?" You question seriously, cracking up when Dean hesitates. "That's crazy. It's funny but it's crazy."

Dean chuckles too, glancing at Sam. "Can't believe he told you that and not the time I gave him a dog food sandwich and he started crying when I wouldn't give him more."

"I. I have so many questions." You chuckle and look at Sam. Sam seems to get the message and stutters.

"Uh- ok I'm gonna head back now. You both... Uh- I'll see you later, Dean."

Dean looks at Sam in amusement as you smile innocently at him.

"Sam!" Sam turns around when the older Winchester called him.

"We know we made a hell of a team back there."

You scrunch your face in confusion.

Sam nods and hesitates in answering his brother.

"Yeah," was all he said.

Sam walks into the building, waving at you when he left. You look back at Dean and smile.

"So, you take pictures?"

You look down at the camera hanging from your neck and chuckle.

"Yeah, I'm leaving this place to become a photographer."

Dean looks at you questioningly. You make your way towards him, leaning against the hood as he does.

"Long story short, my parents were lawyers and they wanted me to study law too. I allowed myself to be pushed around for three long years before I stood up to them. I told them that I wanted to be a photographer and not something that I didn't want to be."

"That's... brave of you." You can see Dean struggle for words to use in the situation and you chuckle.

"I would still be studying here if it weren't for Sam."

Dean frowns as he looks down at you. "What do you mean?"

You hesitate a bit, not really knowing the dynamic between Dean and his dad. "I mean that it was Sam that encouraged me to stand up to my parents. He told me about the family business-"

Dean's eyes immediately widen and he swivels his head to you. "Wait, really? Sammy told you?"

You hesitate a bit as thoughts run behind Dean's eyes. "Yeah, you guys trade car parts, right? Explains the sweet ride, honestly." You pat the car behind you twice.

Dean relaxes his face and nods, shaking his head to himself and scoffing softly. "Yeah, yeah. Traders, family biz. Yeah, Baby's been with us a while," he gestures to his car.

"Right now, I have nothing cause I totalled my Toyota last month," you groan, remembering the incident and how mad your parents got at you. It was funny how Sam and Jess got more mad than your parents.

"Okay, two takeaways from that." Dean puts up two fingers with a slightly mischevious look on his face. "One," he puts his finger down,"you totalled a toyota. Second, you have a Toyota."

"Yeah, reinventor of vehicles, inspiration to many car designers," you deadpan, like its obvious. "Your point?"

"I don't associate with people who have Toyotas," he says, putting his hands in mock surrender and looking down at you. "There are rules that I live by and I just can't break them."

"You don't seem like you follow rules," you grin, watching a smile slowly grow on Dean's face as well. He chuckles and turns, the light hitting his eyes in a way that you can finally notice the colour of them.

"What?"

"Your eyes are..." You trail off, not wanting to come off too weird. Dean raises his eyebrow, encouraging you to continue.

"Can I take a picture of you?"

Dean looks at you like you're crazy. "Always knew I had a model face but," he hesitates looking at you again. You hit him with your puppy dog look, the one thing you learnt from Sam. He widens his eyes in surprise and laughs softly.

"Okay. Fine."

You giggle and walk back.

"Ok, so just lean against the hood. No not that much. Yeah- that's fine. And um- now tilt your head towards the light. No not like that."

You frown and walk toward him in the dark. You place your palm on his cheek and turn it towards the light of the lobby of the apartment. You don't realize how close you are until while moving away slightly, you realise how cold your body gets without the warmth emanating from his.

"Noo!"

Dean snaps his head away from yours and pauses for a second before running into the apartment. You hear someone shout again before you realize that it's Sam's voice.

"Sam." You whisper under your breath as you frantically look for their balcony on the building's exterior.

Right when you find it, you see flames of fire finding their way into the balcony. They licked the walls of the apartment, leaving black scorch marks behind.

"Sam!" You shout once more.

Wait a minute. Jessica is in there.

You feel tears welling up in your eyes.

"No, no, no, no, no."

You feel the panic paralyzing your body, and your mind. You can't think. You sink down to your knees and look at the entrance. Tears slide down your cheeks. You stay there in shock, mouth open and gasping for air.

"What the-"

You see Dean lugging Sam behind him while Sam wailed in Dean's arms.

He sobbed and beat against Dean's hold but Dean refused to let him go. You don't see Jessica with them and feel your heart sink deeper.

"Call 911!" Dean yells at you and you feel your arms work on their own accord.

You bring the phone up to your ear as you use the Impala to stand up.

"Hello? There's a fire here and my friend- she's in there and it's really big-"

"Slow down, honey. Where are you?"

You give her the apartment's address and hang up. You run to where Sam and Dean are standing, right outside the building.

You barrel into Sam and hug him tight. You bury your face into his chest and listen to his frantic heartbeat as he circles his arms around you and buries his head in the crook of your neck.

You sniffle into his chest, unable to get any words out. You hold him tighter when you feel his chest shake as he takes in a shuddering breath.

"Sam, you're okay. Nothing happened to you." You whisper random sentences into his chest, hoping he would hear you. You both stood like that until you heard the wailing of the fire truck. You both stood there, anchoring each other; reassuring each other.

~

You sniff when the fire gets extinguished.

All the plans you and Jess had made. Everything you were going to do in the last week of your stay.

You feel the tears fall again. But this time no one was there to hold you. You look around for Sam. You notice the black Impala parked on the road and two tall men there.

It's probably them.

You push your way past the gathering crowd and wipe at your tears with the palms of your hand. You were surprised that your camera survived through all of this craziness.

"Sam." You clear your throat when he doesn't hear you.

Your voice was rough with crying.

"Sam." You say a bit louder this time as you circled the car and to the tall men standing, looking at the trunk of the car.

Dean looks at you and savagely shut the trunk, a bit too hard. He winces and looks at you, leaning awkwardly on the trunk while Sam looks at you expressionless.

"Gee, you're gonna break the trunk if you slam it that hard."

Dean slightly smiles at your statement.

You look up at Sam who's eyes are red rimmed with crying.

"Dean, do you mind?" You ask quietly. You didn't have the energy in you to speak up out loud.

Dean looks at Sam and back at you and nods. He makes his way to the driver's seat of Impala and sat inside.

You walk towards Sam; shoving your hands in the pockets of your shorts.

"They're saying that the fire was caused by a gas leak."

Sam casts his eyes down and doesn't reply.

Your lips shake as you feel tears threatening to start flowing again.

"Sammy, look at me."

You walk towards him and look up. You were standing close enough that you could just extend your arm and hug him. Forget that she ever died.

"I was going to propose," he whispers under his breath.

Your heart shatters and you feel ice flowing through your veins.

"I was going to ask her to be my wife."

You shudder and move forward, pulling Sam into a hug. He shakes as he sobs into your shoulder.

Your heart breaks into smaller pieces. An unsettling feeling set on your gut.

You rubbed his back and held him as he sobbed.

After a while, he pulled back, tears gone and no expression on his face. You involuntarily brush the hair away from his eyes. He closes his eyes and leans into your touch for a second before building his walls back up and stepping away from you.

"Sam?"

"I'm going on a road trip with my brother."

You process what he just said. You chuckle in disbelief but it comes out as a croak through your dried throat. "Now?"

"Yes."

"Sam," you take a step towards him and place your palm on his cheek. "You're hurting. I know- I am too. But, you can't run away from your problems."

He clenches his jaw and looks at you. He just looks so tired. But, his eyes. His eyes are the worst. They didn't shine anymore.

"Y/n, I have to go." His words are final.

"Sam..." You start but he walks away from you and into the passenger seat of the car.

"Sam!"

You stand there, physically and emotionally drained for the day.

The Impala drives off into the night, as you stand and feel the exhaustion, anger and confusion creeping up on you.

A/n: Hey guys!!

This is my first Sam Winchester imagine so tell me how it is.

My chapters are pretty long. This one was about 3000 words. I know!

I'll try cutting them short to about half.

~~~ means a big time skip

~~ means an medium time skip

~ means a small time skip.

Hopefully you guys enjoyed!