Title: Drifting on the Wind
Author: [livejournal.com profile] starrylizard
Word count: Around 800
Fandom: Supernatural
Rating: G, Gen, pre-season
Characters: John, Sam, Dean
Summary: One of Dean’s earliest memories is of bubbles.
Notes: This fic started out as thoughts within a scene I was writing for another (as yet unfinished) fic and then just grew into it's own thing. This is really, really sappy! The kind of sappy you write when you’re on a plane flying home from a wedding sappy. (That’s my excuse anyway.) Thanks to [livejournal.com profile] celtic_sky for the beta. Any remaining mistakes are mine. Comments and con crit. are loved.



Drifting on the Wind
by Starrylizard


Ooo Dean ooO



One of Dean’s earliest memories is of bubbles. He never told anyone (because how girly is that?), but he’d never forget it, or trade it. Bubbles.

In his memory, he’s standing at the window with his mother, bubble blowers at the ready. They laugh, reaching out to touch the bubbles before they can float away into the garden down below.

He remembers the warmth of the sunlight where it touched his outstretched fingers and scattered rainbows off the soapy spheres. He remembers how it seemed like magic.

It is the only memory he has of his mother’s face that he is sure didn’t come from staring at a dog-eared photograph. His mother is ethereal in his memory, beautiful blonde hair burnished and haloed in the sunlight, her yellow dress fluttering and her smile wide and open.

His mother.

And if he closes his eyes, lets the memory take over his senses… If he does that, he thinks he can feel her love – almost like a physical presence – and he knows why his dad does what he does, and why he can’t let her go.

He’s never told his dad or Sam or anyone else about his memory, yet he shared it as best he could. He shared the experience in the only way he knew how with his little brother and he’s pretty sure that Sam understood.


Ooo Sam ooO



Many of Sam’s happy childhood memories are of bubbles. Bubbles and his brother.

Dean would mix a little detergent with water and they’d find somewhere high up to sit. Sometimes Dean would hoist him up into a tree, or they’d clamber onto the roof of a caravan, or occasionally they’d get to stay somewhere that had a balcony and Dean would pick him up so he could peer over the railing.

Then Dean would produce a bubble blower and he’d laugh watching as Sam’s face lit up. Watching as Sam reached his fingers out toward the bubbles that drifted on the breeze, as if he could touch the rainbows that danced inside.

In all these memories, Dean was always happy, always laughing, and so was he.

Sam had shown Jess one day. They’d just moved into the house (the rent supplemented heavily by Jess’ parents) and had stopped for a break in their unpacking. He’d dragged her out to the balcony overlooking the yard and, with soapy water and a makeshift bubble blower made from a drinking straw, they’d sent bubbles out into the remaining sunlight.

“Thank you, Sam. They’re beautiful,” she’d said, and he remembers how sappy he’d felt when he’d told her that she was just as beautiful.

And she was beautiful, standing there in her old gym pants and a baggy t-shirt, her wild hair coming loose where it had escaped from its ponytail, and her features limned in gold by the setting sun.

Sam never really talked about his family, and Jess had often found her probing questions avoided, but he got the feeling that night that she understood that he was showing her a piece of himself. And that he was making it a piece of them.


Ooo John ooO



When John sees bubbles, he thinks of his family, of the wife he lost and of the sons he raised as best he could.

John remembers the bubbles that showered him, as he’d exited the church that day – a day that seems so distant now – with Mary at his side. Mary, the woman of his dreams, who had become his wife that day, and he remembers sadly how he’d thought that life couldn’t get any better than that.

He thinks of all the times he bathed his kids when they were young, splish-splashing about in the water, and especially the way the bath bubbles seemed to enchant Sammy. Then he remembers the day he’d realised exactly why that was.

He’d heard his sons before he’d seen them, their voices and laughter drifting down from the roof of the hotel where they were staying. The owners had put some tables up there and fenced it off, so that the guests could take in what little view the place afforded.

“Here you go, Sammy. That’s right.”

Something had made John pause, stilling beneath a tree that blocked him from his sons’ sight… and then John had been surrounded by bubbles. They’d popped against his skin and clothes and hair, and they flew all around him carried by the breeze. He remembered how Mary used to do the same thing with Dean and he’d felt his heart constrict for a moment in a mix of grief and happiness.

He’d stood there quietly for a long time, listening to his sons’ voices until finally the storm of bubbles had stopped raining down.

Like memories drifting on the wind.
Tags:

From: [identity profile] starrylizard.livejournal.com


As long as it's happy crying! :D
*Hands you a tissue with a smile*
Thanks for commenting on my sappy, sappy fic! :)

From: [identity profile] tehuberfangirl.livejournal.com


-blows nose- you should read my sappy Jared/Sandy fic lol.

From: [identity profile] bakarini.livejournal.com


Oh gosh, that was wonderful. A little sad but also heart warming and happy. Exactly what I needed at 1:35am while taking a study break. :D A little bit of the boys & dad in the past and now I'm ready to go to the dredges again.

Thank you. It was fantastic!

From: [identity profile] starrylizard.livejournal.com


Oh god, I share your study pain, as I'm in thesis write-up mode myself. The wedding this weeked was a very welcome break.

Thanks so much for commenting and I'm so glad to provide you with a study break! 1:30am! Holy Hannah! Good luck with it!

Cheers
SL
lark_ascends: Blue and purple dragonfly, green background (Default)

From: [personal profile] lark_ascends


*sniffles*

Alternatively absolutely gorgeous and heartbreaking.

Oh, Dean.

Oh, Sam and Jess.

From: [identity profile] starrylizard.livejournal.com


*hands you tissues too* I'll have to buy a new box methinks.
Thanks for reading, Rinne! :)

From: [identity profile] starrylizard.livejournal.com


Thanks for reading. Yeah, oh boys!

Ha! I just realised I was reading your fic...and you were reading mine! That's awesome! I love your icon btw!


From: [identity profile] kellifer-fic.livejournal.com


Nehehee!! Snap!

Thanks! It was made by [livejournal.com profile] meret and I loves it... :D

From: [identity profile] vampyric-lycan.livejournal.com


Ohhh, that was just lovely -- I need to go have a good cry now, lol. Thanks for sharing that ^_^

From: [identity profile] starrylizard.livejournal.com


Hee! *hands out more tissues*
Thank you so much for commenting! :)
fufaraw: mist drift upslope (brothers)

From: [personal profile] fufaraw


Made me cry, dammit.

This is lovely. Just enough detail to let us supply the rest, and the heart of the emotion all there. Thank you.

From: [identity profile] starrylizard.livejournal.com


*digs out a virtual clean hanky and offers it to you*

Sorry about the tears. What a nice comment. Thank you so much! :D

From: [identity profile] alias_chick.livejournal.com


Absolutely beautiful! I love how the bubbles mean so much to all three of them, such a small thing, but so significant. Thanks for the lovely read!

From: [identity profile] iamstealthyone.livejournal.com


Beautifully written. The imagery and sentiment are gorgeous, and I love the quietness. So, so nicely done. Just a really lovely way to tie all the Winchesters, and even Jess, together.

Favorite lines:

In his memory, he’s standing at the window with his mother, bubble blowers at the ready. They laugh, reaching out to touch the bubbles before they can float away into the garden down below.

Love this image. Very sweet.

“Thank you, Sam. They’re beautiful,” she’d said, and he remembers how sappy he’d felt when he’d told her that she was just as beautiful.

Aww. *pets Sam*

And she was beautiful, standing there in her old gym pants and a baggy t-shirt, her wild hair coming loose where it had escaped from its ponytail, and her features limned in gold by the setting sun.

Great description.

They’d popped against his skin and clothes and hair, and they flew all around him carried by the breeze.

I love the image of John surrounded by bubbles.

He’d stood there quietly for a long time, listening to his sons’ voices until finally the storm of bubbles had stopped raining down.

Like memories drifting on the wind.


Oh, such a lovely, lovely ending.

From: [identity profile] starrylizard.livejournal.com


Thank you so much! I really appreciate you taking the time to point out your favourite parts and I'm so glad the descriptive style worked for you. *big happy grin*

ext_11786: (weewinchesterpic)

From: [identity profile] dotfic.livejournal.com


Great idea to use bubbles as a way to look at the Winchesters, and I really like how you did each point of view.

From: [identity profile] swanseajill.livejournal.com


Nicely done. Clever idea and very believable. I liked the way you wrote each part from a different POV and they tie together very nicely.

From: [identity profile] starrylizard.livejournal.com


Thank you so much! I was hoping the POV changes would work okay for people. You never know how others will see it until you put it out there though.

*happy face*

Cheers
SL

From: [identity profile] gwendolyngrace.livejournal.com


Very nice. I especially like the comment about Sam deflecting questions about his family, but using the bubbles as a symbolic way to open up.

From: [identity profile] starrylizard.livejournal.com


Thank you! I'm glad the Sam/Jess bit came across alright. :)
.

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