wolfish_willow | Worth Saving Me Masterpost

Title: Worth Saving Me
Author:

sailorhathor
Rating: PG-13 (maybe R for language)
Fandom: Supernatural
Characters/Pairings: Sam, Dean, Ellen, Bobby, Jo, Rufus // General, no pairings
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort
Warnings: Mean!John,
Disclaimer: The characters belong to Kripke and co. This is a work of non-profit fiction.
Word Count: ~28,000
Summary: Pre-series AU, Alternating POV. Nearly 9 years after Dean's little brother ran away, Dean walks into the Roadhouse for the first time. He's taken by surprise at the sight of Sam, now an adult, acting like a brother to a blond named Jo, and calling the bar's owner, Ellen, "Mom". Sam looks terrified to see him and the shot gun Ellen trains on Dean's chest leaves him angry and confused when all he wants to do is grab his brother into a hug and never let him out of his sight again. And soon, Dean will find out the truth behind why and how Sam left them 8 years ago.

Link to art: Awesome Art Masterpost

Worth Saving Me banner by sailorhathor

One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven

Author's Notes:

OMG, guys. I can't believe I actually finished this monster! This is my first foray into General fic, my first time finishing a big bang challenge, my first time writing anything like this. I'm incredibly nervous about it. I really like this story, but I can't help but worry it's not quite as angsty as one would expect from an Angst Big Bang. But there is angst and hurt/comfort and I hope people enjoy it!

I started writing this last summer, but had to put it aside to finish my

sabriel_mini. When

angstbigbang popped up, I knew it was a great way to give myself a deadline and actually get this thing finished. It ended up around 10k words longer than I thought it would, which is just crazy.

My idea girl, who has been there for me through this entire thing even when she wasn't going to read it, helped me come up with the title. :D It's from Nickelback's Savin' Me. :D

As far as the story goes, I have mean!John in the warnings. This just worked for the story itself. I know a lot of people don't like mean!John fics and I understand that. I also understand that this is very much OOC for papa Winchester, but it was kind of necessary here. I'm sorry for those who don't enjoy that. Just know that while I have my issues with John, I acknowledge that he wasn't actually evil. ;)

I really hope you all enjoy my contribution to Round 1 of angstbigbang.

Acknowledgements and Thanks

How's about some thanks, now? First off, thanks so much to

sailorhathor for going way above and beyond what you needed. The chapter title cards are all so wonderful and the banner is amazing. Everyone should go check out the art here. Seriously. Go and leave lovely feedback. ;D

Also, I might have gone a little overboard with the comfort. There are just so many hurt/comfort fics out there that are all hurt and little-to-no comfort, and I apparently decided to compensate for that. LOL

Second, thanks so much to

seawitch27 for beta'ing this for me. You really helped me out when I started going crazy about how I was going to change things. Your feedback was very much needed and appreciated. Also, I've tweaked this SO MUCH since I got it beta'd, so any remaining mistakes are my own. >_>;;;

Third, thanks so much to all of my friends who let me whine and moan and groan and freak out without a word of complaint.

priceless_pixie listened to me basically every time I was stuck, and a lot this week when I was scared about posting.

insertcode11, for pushing me to get started on this and assuring me that there is enough angst when I wasn't sure. And everyone else who let me freak out to them. THANKS SO MUCH GUYS.

And lastly, thanks to the mods at

angstbigbang for creating this challenge! It's been just as fun as it has been freak-out worthy and it's awesome. :D