Sam looked up, his brow furrowing as he quickly swallowed his coffee. “Where are we going?”
Gulping, Dean clenched his jaw. “It...It’s not that kind of job.” Sam blinked, clearly confused. “I’m tired, Sammy.” He shook his head, rubbing his hand over his face and pinching the bridge of his nose. “We’ve done fucking everything. Literally. It’s just...It’s just not worth it anymore.”
Sam set his coffee down with enough force that some nearly sloshed over the rim of his mug. “But-but what about the job? The saving people, hunting things bullshit you fed me all those years ago to drag me back into this mess? Aren’t we still gonna do that?”
Dean shrugged, looking up at the clicking of Miracle’s claws on the tile floor, smiling as he hurried over to him, tail wagging. His head rested on his thigh and he looked up at him with those big, adorable brown eyes, his tail wagging faster as he stroked his shaggy head. “You can, if you want.”
Sam scoffed, and Dean didn’t have to look up to know that he was probably rolling his eyes. “I thought this is what you were all about, Dean!” He didn’t look up from Miracle as Sam’s voice raised. “You can’t just leave this life. This is what you were made to do, and you know it.”
He huffed a quiet sigh, Miracle licking his hand as he stopped petting him and finally met his brother’s livid gaze. As much as he hoped that Sam would be understanding, he expected this. The anger, the resentment. He couldn’t even blame him, since he would have probably felt the same way if he were in Sam’s shoes.
“You can keep hunting if you want to. My number isn’t gonna be changing, so if you need me, just call.” He pushed away from the table, and Miracle ran to the hallway, looking back at him as he stared down at Sam, who was now avoiding his gaze with stony silence. “See ya, Sammy.”
Sam didn’t so much as look at him, though he did feel the weight of his gaze as soon as he turned his back. He packed quickly, and he stared down at the dufflebag that held all of his possessions. He’d been in this world too long to have made such an insignificant mark.
But that was all about to change.
“Come on, boy,” he said, picking up his dufflebag and smiling at Miracle’s excited yip. “Let’s load up.”
Silence greeted him as he made his way through the bunker this one last time. Miracle sat excitedly by the door, his tail wagging harder as he let him out into the yard. He bounded for the car, hopping through the open window and curling up on the front seat, his tail thumping against the worn leather as Dean slid behind the wheel.
The Impala purred to life as he turned the keys, the chorus of “I’ve Been Everywhere” playing as he pulled out of the yard and onto the road. Wind tore through the open windows, buffeting him as he picked up speed.
Something stirred in his chest, something he didn’t recognize at first. It took a few moments for him to realize that it was peace.
That life was firmly behind him. He had been to hell and back -- literally -- and he survived. Nothing and no one could ever, would ever take that away from him.
Breathing came a little easier at this realization. He could work a 9-5 like everyone else. He could settle down with someone. Start a family, if he wanted.
Smiling now, Dean turned up the radio and pressed the gas a little harder.
