Fraternal

The police questioned him for hours. Lucas was really starting to worry. Even Sam knew how incriminating the circumstantial evidence looked. First his father died allegedly by some animal attack and now his mother in almost the same way. Though Deborah Scott’s body was mangled like Dan Scott’s, there were bite and claw marks on her.

Sam lingered nearby, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible while Dean made himself scarce. Lucas vouched for Nathan’s whereabouts at the time of the murder. He debated on whether to admit to being Nathan’s brother. He wasn’t sure how much the Tree Hill police department would find out. In the end, he said nothing but he knew with a little bit of checking, it would be easy to find out that he had been with Nathan at the time of Dan’s death and maybe that he and Lucas had attended the same school.

He hated lying to the police but both Dean and Sam thought the less he said the better. When Nathan was finally released, it was with a warning not to leave town. Nathan and Lucas got in the car Nate had used earlier. Sam walked a few blocks and they picked him up after.

Sam opened his cell phone and dialed a number. “Mulder, we’re coming in.”

Nathan and Lucas looked at each other puzzled. Sam offered an embarrassed smile. “Just something we’ve worked out between us.”

“Uh huh.,” Lucas answered.

“So are you cleared?” Sam said, leaning forward from the back seat.

“They believe it was an animal attack but they’re questioning the coincidence between my dad and her death. They also said…”

It occurred to Lucas when his brother’s voice broke, that his brother was now an orphan. He was all the family he had left. He reached across to the passenger side and clutched his brother’s hand. Sam likewise, clasped Nathan’s shoulder.

“They said she appeared to be sexually assaulted. How could they think I could do something like that?” Nathan questioned through his tears.

“Go to the library,” Sam suddenly instructed.

“It’s late,” Lucas said, still patting his brother’s hand. “The library’s closed.”

“I know, but that’s where Dean is waiting.”

Nathan looked over his shoulder, baffled. He swiped the tears from his eyes. “Why would he be at the library?”

“Because I called him Mulder,” Sam smiled. “It’s our base of operations just like Scully and Mulder had their base of operations in the basement of the F.B.I.”

When Nathan laughed, Lucas was worried he was having a breakdown.

“I guess that makes you Scully, huh.” Nathan laughed again and this time Lucas joined him.

Sam sat back, arms folded in mock anger. He remembered the first time Dean had called him that. He felt his cock stir so he pushed the thought out of his mind. Now was not the time to be thinking with his downstairs brain.

Naturally, when they pulled up to the library the first thing out of his brother’s mouth was, “What took you so long Scully, I’m freezing my ass off out here.”

The Scott brothers broke out into another fit of laughter as Dean climbed into the back seat with Sam.

“What’s so funny?” Dean looked around bewildered.

“I was just explaining to them about Mulder and the library.”

A devilish grin broke out across Dean’s face. “Did you tell them about Scully?”

Sam blushed and looked away. Lucas watched the two briefly through the rearview mirror.

“Hey, didn’t Scully end up having Mulder’s baby?” Nathan asked, enjoying the light mood the Winchesters always seemed to set.

“Yep,” Dean quipped, rubbing Sam’s stomach.

“Knock it off,” Sam shot back, brushing his brother’s hand away.

“Where are we going now?” Lucas asked, still smiling at the Sam and Dean’s antics.

“I think Sammy and I need to lay low until this investigation blows over, but in the meantime, we need to get a look at your mom’s house. Drop Lucas and I off close and we’ll hoof it the rest of the way. Nate, take Sam to a motel. We’ll catch up with you later.”

“I think I should go with you,” Nathan insisted. “I know the house. I grew up there.”

Dean looked at Sam for direction. Sam shook his head no slightly. Lucas caught the communication between the two brothers and spoke up on their behalf.

“Nate, if you’re caught, it could look bad. Dean and Sam have experience doing this sort of thing.”

One look across into his brother’s pleading eyes and Nathan conceded to the group. Lucas drove them as close to the house as he could approaching from a road behind the Scott estate. Armed with flashlights, latex gloves and other equipment, Lucas lead Dean across the highway and through a field towards Nathan’s former home. Sam and Nathan drove away.

“Is there a motel called the Tree Hill in town?”

“Yeah, the Tree Hill Inn. Why?”

“Take me there. Dean will know where to find me.”

“How?”

“Whenever we go to a new town and get separated, we know to find each other at a motel with the town’s name.”

Nathan shook his head, amazed at the intricate communication between the brothers. He hoped that someday he and Lucas could communicate so clearly with just a few spoken words. He hoped he’d made the right decision joining Sam and Dean. So far, since he’d met them, two people died. He wanted nothing more than to be in that house with Lucas, making sure he was safe but he knew if they were going to be a team, he would have to go along with the group’s plan. This wasn’t basketball. There were no superstars needed in the work Sam and Dean did. He suddenly started to feel queasy and asked Sam to pull over.

Sam was glad one, that Nathan actually made it out of the car and two, that in case he didn’t they weren’t driving Dean’s Impala.

“Where is your car?” Lucas asked after they climbed through a back window of Deb and Dan Scott’s home.

“Parked at Dan Scott’s auto.”

“Have you had some trouble with the law before?”

Dean was glad the lights were out and he was facing away from Lucas. He didn’t want to scare the younger man but the truth was he’d had plenty of run ins with law enforcement. Nothing that stuck, but he was in their radar and his name popping up in yet another criminal investigation was something he wasn’t looking forward too. Luckily for him, he and his dad had helped just as many law enforcement agencies as they’d ticked off. For every arrest, Dean was able to make one phone call and call in one favor. Even so, he knew favors ran out, so he tried his best to stay out of the authorities crosshairs.

“What are we looking for?” Lucas whispered. Then he got a whiff of that same smell he’d encountered at his mom’s shop. “Sulfur?”

“Good boy,” Dean teased. “Do you know where her bedroom was?”

Lucas got in front of him and led Dean upstairs.

“You have your gloves on?” Dean demanded.

“Yes sir.”

“Where’s your hat?”

“”I’m wearing it. Why do I need a hat anyway?”

“Watch CSI and find out.”

Lucas shrugged and led Dean to Deb’s bedroom. Once inside, Lucas was glad Nathan hadn’t come to see this.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” Lucas moaned.

“Hold it in. We can’t afford to leave any trace of us being here. Go wait outside.”

By the time Sam and Nate got him checked into a room, Sam was feeling ill. Nathan could see it from the older man’s demeanor.

“What’s wrong?” He asked.

“Nothing. Just feeling a bit nauseous myself.”

“I’ll stay until Dean comes.”

“No, you should get home,” Sam said holding his stomach. “I’ll be alright.”

“Are you sure?” Nathan was worried. He was sure his own sickness was stress from the evening’s news. He hoped Sam’s wasn’t something else.

“I’ll be alright. Just a nervous stomach,” Sam assured.

“I’ll call to check on you.”

“No, don’t. Just in case the police access your cell phone records. I’ll be fine. You should get home.”

Nathan left reluctantly and headed back to the beach house. The prospect of being in that house alone frightened him. He didn’t want to say anything to Sam, but he was almost positive that the break in at Karen’s and now his mom’s death was connected. He remembered what Dean had said about the salt. As soon as he got home, he was salting the hell out of the place and sitting in a salt circle until Lucas got back.

Lucas dropped Dean off at the Tree Hill Inn. He wasn’t sure how Dean knew where to find him or how he knew what room to go to. He was pretty sure the Winchester’s could have made a hell of a spy team though. He pulled over momentarily, battling another wave of nausea. The sight of the blood soaked bed still ingrained in his mind.

He got home to the beach house and would have laughed at the site of his brother curled up in a giant salt circle with every light in the house on, had it not been for what he’d seen. He grabbed the bag laying just outside Nathan’s reach and salted all the entrances to the house. He made a quick dash upstairs, rinsed his mouth and brushed his teeth, grabbed some pillows and blankets and joined his brother, careful not to break the ring.

Nathan startled awake by his brother’s touch looked fearfully over his shoulder before relaxing against Lucas’s chest.

“It’s okay baby, I’m here,” Lucas soothed.

“The house?”

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”

“That bad, huh?”

“Sshh, go to sleep,” Lucas said, wrapping his arms around Nathan tightly.

Dean walked around the motel until he saw the red bandana in the window. It was a inside joke about Rahab the harlot from the old testament. Dean knocked the customary knock. It took Sam a while to open the door and when he did, Dean saw why.

“You look like shit, are you okay?”

Sam stepped aside, wiping his mouth with a washcloth. “I think the visions are coming back.”

Dean closed the door, ordering Sam into bed while he secured the room.

“What happened at the house? “ Sam asked as he climbed into the king size bed.

“I’ll tell you tomorrow.” Dean stripped down to his underwear and climbed into bed with his brother.

With Sam on his back and Dean resting against his chest, the older Winchester placed a hand on his brother’s forehead and turned out the lights. Neither knew why it worked, but one touch from Dean chased the headaches away.