tommygirl | Keeping a Promise (PG)

Title: Keeping a Promise
Series: Dean as a Whitelighter 'verse
Author: Tommygirl/

storydivagirl
Rating: PG
Pairing: None. Gen crossover. (Supernatural & Charmed)
Summary: Piper checks in on Sam for Dean. You should read A Different Light.
A/N: This was originally supposed to be for

javajunkie13 who asked for Sam Winchester and Piper Halliwell in my Mix & Match Meme. It ended up becoming part of my Whitelighter 'Verse. Enjoy and feedback is always appreciated.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Paige asked as she and Piper orbed in behind a small town library. She looked around and said, “Wow, Iowa looks dull.”

“We’re not here to party it up, just to check up on Sam.”

“Correction, you’re here to check up on Sam. I didn't agree to this.”

“Paige…”

“I understand why Dean needed you to do this and I even get why you agreed, but I’m not sure this is going to help either one of them, Piper. It might make it hurt more and harder for Dean to focus on his new path.”

Piper knew Paige was right. After all, Paige had been through something similar with revisiting her adoptive parents' death awhile ago. But Piper also knew that Dean was of no use to anyone at the moment and, god help her, she had taken a liking to him – as had her boys. Dean needed to deal with the loss of his life and family somehow and if her checking up on his little brother accomplished that, she was more than happy to accommodate.

She just hoped this didn’t go the route of everything else in their magical lives and really mess things up. She took a deep breath and said, “I have to try, Paige. I don’t want him to get removed or for him to give up his duties as the boys’ whitelighter because he can't adjust.”

“Look who went and developed a crush on the newbie.”

Piper rolled her eyes and said, “He’s good with the boys. They adore him already. And I won’t have them lose someone else if I can help it.” She peeked around the corner of the building and said, “You wait here and I’ll go find Dean’s brother.”

“Are you sure you can do this?”

Piper glared at her sister. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’re only a step or so above Phoebe when it comes to lying and keeping secrets.”

“I won’t say anything I’m not supposed to. I'm just going to walk up to him, make small talk, and leave.”

“Okay, if you say so.”

“Thanks for the encouragement,” Piper muttered. She ran her fingers through her hair, straightening it, and made her way to the walkway leading to the library. There was only one car in the parking lot and beyond that only a handful of cars on a dusty road. It wouldn’t be too hard to locate him in a place like this, and sure enough, as soon as she entered the library, she saw him sitting at a corner desk. He had a pile of books around him, but he was staring out into space.

She sighed as her mom instincts kicked into overdrive. He looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks and he was way too skinny. Neither of these were things she could share with Dean. It would only make him worry more. She stepped over to his table and said, “Jeremy Conrad is that you? Where have you been hiding?”

Sam looked up at her with a small smile and said, “I’m sorry. I think you have me confused with someone else.”

“Oh, you’re right. This is so embarrassing.”

“It’s okay. No harm.”

She nodded and said, “I hope you don’t mind my asking, but are you okay? You don’t look so great.”

He stared at her for a few seconds before replying, “I’m fine, thank you.”

She sat down across from him, which elicited a strange expression from Sam. Probably trying to figure out if she was a threat. She said, “I know a liar when I see one.”

“Really, ma’am, I appreciate the concern, but I'm okay.”

“It’s Piper.”

“Well, thank you, Piper, but I’ve got a lot of reading to do, so...”

“I understand what you're going through. I lost a sister a few years ago,” Piper said. She immediately regretted it when Sam’s head snapped up and his face contorted with anger. She groaned and said, “Look Sam, your hunting world is a big place. There are a lot of us. I know...knew...Dean.”

“He never mentioned you.”

“You were out of his life for four years. There’s a lot you probably didn’t know,” she replied. Again, with the inserting her foot into her mouth, as Sam bit down on his lip and looked anywhere but at her. Piper was sure Dean would love to hear how she made his brother cry. This was going ridiculously bad, even for her. She dropped her head onto the desk and sighed. “Totally not how I wanted this to go.”

“It’s okay.”

She looked up and met his gaze. “No, it’s not. I promised him that I would do this and I’m messing it all up.”

“What?”

“Your brother asked me to check up on you...if anything ever happened to him, he wanted to know that you were okay, that you were taking care of yourself.”

Sam smiled and said, “That sounds like Dean.”

“He loves you a lot.”

“Yeah, me too. I just...I never got to tell him.”

Piper reached across the table and took Sam’s hand. She said, “He knew, Sam, and he wouldn’t want you so miserable.”

“It’s my fault."

"No, it's not. I doubt he would've blamed you."

Sam shook his head. "Dean wouldn't blame me, but I still know I it's my fault. And my father blames me. I could've kept Dean from getting hurt in the accident, but I didn't."

"Sam. Please. Crappy things happen and it's nobobdy's fault. From what Dean told me about your father, he probably knows that too and doesn't hold you responsible."

"You've never met John Winchster," Sam replied with a mirthless laugh. He shrugged and said, "We fight all the time. I mean, we always have, but it's gotten worse. He blames me and I’m so mad at him all the time for how he handled things with Dean while he was alive. My brother was the one that held us together and now I feel like everything’s falling apart.”

Piper squeezed his hand and said, “Dean told me a bit about your relationship with your dad. He said you were both always too busy yelling at each other to listen to what the other was saying. Maybe that’s what’s going on right now.”

“How did you know Dean anyway?”

“It’s a long, complicated story,” she replied. She folded her arms protectively across her chest and said, “I’m really sorry for your loss, Sam. I know people will tell you that they understand what you’re going through, but I really do. My big sister, Prue, was everything to me. She practically raised me after my mother died, and when she was gone, it was one of the hardest things that I ever had to deal with. There were days where I honestly thought I wouldn’t get through it.”

Sam nodded and said, “Sounds about right."

"But you do get through it. And you'll see Dean again."

Sam smiled weakly. "I really do need to get back to these books. Working a case with my dad.”

“I always hate the research part. It gives me a headache.”

Sam laughed and said, “That’s probably why you and Dean got along.”

“Part of it anyway,” she replied. She stood up and said, “I’m gonna check in on you from time to time if you don’t mind.”

“You don’t have to. I know you promised Dean, but he could be overprotective sometimes.”

“A promise is a promise, and I want to know that you’re okay.”

“Thank you, Piper.”

Piper resisted the urge to hug him. She felt completely useless to help Sam through his loss. She wanted to blurt it out – that Dean was living at her house as a whitelighter - and bring Sam and his father home with her. She knew if Prue was out there somewhere, rules be damned, she would want to know, but she couldn’t risk Dean’s well being. She had to share Leo's faith that if it was meant to be, Dean would see his family again.

Piper had done what she promised to do, and she had meant what she said to Sam. She would check up on him from time to time, even if she didn’t tell Dean. In the meantime, she was needed back home. God only knew how many demon crises were awaiting her return.

Piper patted his shoulder and said, “Take care of yourself, Sam. And your dad.”

“I’ll try. Thanks again.”

She nodded in response and hurried out of the library and around to the back where Paige was waiting for her. She tried to fight back the tears, but knew she had failed the battle when Paige wrapped her arms around Piper in a hug.

“That bad?”

“He’s so...lost. I just wanted to grab him and bring him home with us.”

“Please tell me that prudence prevailed?”

Piper wiped the straggling tears away from her eyes and took a deep breath to calm down. She said, “I said that I wanted to, I didn’t actually do it. He has no idea that Dean's alive and residing at the Manor. I really hate this world of ours sometimes.”

“Yeah, but doesn’t it make you feel better to know that Dean was rewarded for all he did?”

“Was he? How is knowing you have family out there but not being able to see them a reward?”

Paige shrugged and said, “I don’t know a whole lot of whitelighters, but most of them seem okay with it after some time. They get to help people and that was usually important enough to them when they were alive that it outweighed the bad.”

“I hope so. And I really hope my talk with Sam actually helped him.”

“What are you going to tell Dean?”

“That his brother wanted him to know that he loved him, and that he misses him, but he’s doing okay,” Piper replied. She took Paige’s hand and said, “Let’s get out of here.”

Paige squeezed Piper's hand and said, "You did a good thing, Piper."

Piper nodded as they disappeared in a circle of blue light. Piper only hoped that everything worked out in the end.

{Fin}