Now's a Bad Time As Any by kashmir1

[cathybites.livejournal.com]

Fandom:SUPERNATURAL
Pairing: Sam/Dean
Author on LJ: kashmir1
Author Website: her fic in her journal
Why this must be read:

I have such a soft spot for first-time stories, especially ones that are as well-written as this one. Takes place after the s2 finale, with the boys trying to come to terms with Dean's deal in their own ways. But more than the relationship between Sam and Dean developing into something more, this also has an interesting plotline. Written for the spn_50states challenge, it focuses on a local legend in the author's hometown. As well as she writes the boys, Jules also writes about the locale in such vivid detail that it's so easy to imagine myself there. Just a lovely, lovely fic all around - hot, plotty, with bits of humor and angst thrown in.

"New hunt?" Dean asks, looking up at Sam through his eyelashes. His tone manages not to sound incredulous; it’s the same tone he’s been using every hunt since Wyoming, when they’d wasted the demon with their father looking on.

Dean hadn't been too subtle about his belief that Sam should leave again, especially after Dean's 'year' was up. Forget Dean, leave the life, the hunt. Even if he'd never come out and say it, it was obvious to Sam. The first few weeks, Dean had done nothing but find hunts in the vicinity of Palo Alto, until one day Sam had just ignored Dean's suggested idea of checking out a possible poltergeist and found them a hunt clear down in North Carolina. Dean had just shrugged and pointed the Impala east, but Sam knew the issue wasn't dead.

It was like Dean was just ignoring the huge ticking clock that was always in the back of Sam's head, ticking off days, hours, minutes, seconds until the hell hounds would come for Dean and Sam wasn't sure just how exactly to convince Dean that Sam wasn't going to let that happen, that there was no way for Sam to ever go back to a normal life. Even if Sam wanted it, not that he did. It had taken a lot, including Dean almost dying twice and Sam actually dying for him to come to the realization that this was his life and that he wanted it. Every time he tried to bring the deal Dean had made up, Dean brushed it aside or changed the subject, or, on one memorable occasion, had even got up and walked out of the room.

Now's a Bad Time As Any