Jump The Shark
"Grab your stuff. We'll hit the road." Dean told Adam after we broke into his house that was taped off with yellow caution tape.
Adam nodded his head, walking off through the dark house. He flicked on the kitchen light as he disappeared down the hall.
Sam sat down at the small kitchen table, propping his leg up on another chair. "We shouldn't leave."
"Yeah, and stay here where the kid's mom got ganked." Dean nodded along. "Good one."
"I'm serious." Sam insisted.
"No, Sam, we're gonna take the kid, drop him off at Bobby's, then you and me are gonna come back here and finish what Dad started." Dean circled the table to the fridge.
We decided that Millie should just take the kids now and leave since we still had to get Adam ready to go. There was a chance whatever it was might attack again. It was safer this way.
"How? We got no leads, no witnesses." Sam listed off as Dean stared at the photo of Adam and his mom on the fridge.
"We'll figure it out. We always do." I shrugged. "Plus, we're heading to Bobby's. He's the smartest guy I know. He'll help us out."
"He's the smartest guy you know?" Dean asked.
"He's more knowledgeable when it comes to the different type of monsters."
"But we do have what this thing wants." Sam continued.
Dean turned to look at his brother. "You wanna use the kid as bait? That's why you wanna stay?"
"Maybe this thing will come back. We could train Adam, get him ready." Sam stated.
"Ready for what? To be eaten alive?" I asked. "Sorry but if I murder a person it's gonna be unintentional."
"She's right. He could die, Sam." Dean placed his hands on the tabletop, leaning down slightly.
"We could all die, Dean." Sam replied. "Even if we do kill this thing, there are tons of other freaks that want revenge. On dad, on us. What if they find the kid instead, and he's not ready?"
"I'll do it." Adam's voice made me look over. He stood in the doorway of the hall. "Whatever it takes, I'll do it. I wanna do it."
_____
"Remember when we were kids and had to do this?" I asked as Dean and I leaned against the car the next morning. We were in the middle of the woods. Sam was standing with Adam, shooting dead center of the metal sign we'd painted a red target on.
"Whoa." Adam mumbled.
"It's ready. Just feel the recoil and time the trigger pulls." Sam told him. "Three taps."
"Yeah, I remember. It was when you shot me." Dean replied.
"Okay, that was one time. I was eight. You were standing in the way." I sighed.
"You shot me!"
"You're alive."
Sam handed Adam the gun. "Go ahead."
Adam raised the gun. He missed the sign completely with the first shot but hit the inner circle of the target with the last three.
Dean shook his head, rolling his eyes.
"That at me or them?" I asked.
"Both." Dean replied.
"Beginner's luck, right?" Adam asked.
"No, man, you're a natural." Sam told him.
"Sorry about shooting you when we were kids." I told him.
"I think that's the one scar I miss." Dean shrugged his shoulders.
____
"Then we lit it on fire." Sam told Adam as they sat at the table in his dining room that night.
I stepped between Dean's legs as he sat on the kitchen table just a doorway away from the others. I circled my arms around his shoulders.
"With a homemade flamethrower?" Adam asked.
"What do you say we go back to the motel, huh?" I whispered, pressing a kiss to his lips. "Those dorks will be talking monsters all night."
"Yeah. They're easy to build. I'll show you." Sam nodded.
Dean circled his arms around me. "As if you're not a geek."
"Rude." I kissed him again.
"This is some job you got, man." Adam remarked.
"Being a hunter isn't a job, Adam." Sam told him. "It's life."
I felt Dean tense against me.
"You're premed. You got a girlfriend? Friends?" Sam asked. Adam nodded his head. "Not anymore you don't. If you're really gonna do this, you can't have those kinds of connections, ever. They're weaknesses. You'll just put those people in danger, get them killed. That's the price we pay. You cut them out and you don't look back."
Adam's eyes drifted to Dean and I, then back at Sam. The question of 'what about them' clear in his eyes. .
"There's only one thing you can count on." Sam continued. "Family."
"Sam? Can I talk to you?" Dean asked.
"I'll just...sit here." I mumbled.
"No, you're family. You're coming with me." Dean grabbed my elbow in his hand, pulling me down the hall as Sam stood to follow. "What the hell was that?"
"What?" Sam asked.
"'Hunting is life. You can't have any connections.'?" Dean repeated. "Dad gave you that exact same speech, remember? It was just before you ditched us for Stanford."
"He gave it to you too." Sam pointed out. "Right before you went and spent a week at Saige's house."
"I didn't stay away. I stayed with the job, with you and Dad." Dean replied. "You hated dad for saying that stuff, now you're quoting him?"
"Can I go?" I asked. "This is...uncomfortable."
"Yeah, well, turns out dad was right." Sam shrugged.
"Since when?" Dean asked.
"Since always." Sam insisted. "When I look at Adam, you know what I see?"
"A normal kid."
"No. Meat." Sam stated. "Because to the demons and monsters out there, that's all he is. And no offence--I love them, I do-- but that's what your kids will be one day. I hated dad for a long time. I did. But now, I think I understand. So we didn't have a dog and a white picket fence, so what? Dad did right by us. He taught us how to protect ourselves. Adam deserves the same."
"Listen to yourself, man." Dean said.
"You think I'm wrong?"
"I think it's too late for us." Dean stated. "This is our life, this is who we are, okay? And it's fine. I accept that. I don't accept that fact that Si stays of her own accord because she can still get out, but whatever."
