Gemini for Chris9065

[summergen-mod.livejournal.com]

Title: Gemini
Recipient: Chris9065
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 3,865 words
Warnings: Mild Language, Mentions of death
Author's Notes: Thank you to my headphones for being the real MVP while writing.

Summary: Dean Winchester is about to return home after staying a year in the international space station. Bigger adventures await him at home.




The Gemini II project, also called the family initiative, was supposed to run for 10 missions, each being a sibling pair. The project was going to test a new spaceship design for how a pair could withstand long distance travel, while also testing how sibling bonds change space travel missions. The project was disbanded after a few months of work. Not a single flight was carried out.






The haloed earth reflected in the eyes of Dean, the greenery and puffs of clouds miles away for a few more seconds. Everytime Dean saw the earth, he knew he was not ready to return to its surface. Too much chaos. Too much. Dean focused on the hull of the space station, on the mandatory checks. The endless abyss of stars rotated around him, his space suit attaching him to the space station through a small tube. Dean always thought the space suit made him look childish, rolls in every single spot possible and the inability to walk normally. Maybe the tube connecting him to the space station was an umbilical cord, in a way.

Wait.

“Hey Dean, a call is coming for ya.” Benny told Dean as he finished his last item on his checklist.

“Yeah alright. Be in in a minute.” Dean hastily responded, hoping it would be his idiot of a younger brother. Dean always thought positively of his younger brother; always supporting him in everything he did. Hell, he even helped pay for his law school tuition. But he never could have been more disappointed in him than the moment he found out he rejected NASA’s offer.

Dean moved around the outside of the ship, his husky gloves and childish baby suit stopping him from moving faster than he hoped. He moved into the opening of the ship, the bay doors behind him closing. He pressed the button on the wall, cool air hissed until he saw the green light. Dean took off his helmet, and pushed his sweaty hair back. He took off most of his suit, leaving the rest to hang inside the duct, leaving Dean in a grey NASA t-shirt and sweatpants. Dean floated out into the small hallway, quickly looking into astronaut Castiel’s room to see how he was doing. Despite what many may think, the space station is a pretty peaceful place. Many of the astronauts from different parts around the globe had no issues with each other. Besides the language barriers of course.

Castiel was from Russia and studied the effects of space on humans. He had been up in space for so long, it seemed as if he had forgotten how to communicate with the very humans he has been studying. Until Dean came along.

“Hey Cas, I hope you’ve been eating.” Dean quickly mentioned into Castiel’s crowded room as he floated by. Castiel only muttered something back, but didn’t even realize Dean was already long gone.

Next to Castiel’s room was Jo. She was a person who could be described as a flame. She stood abalazed on any topic she truly believed in, and if she wanted something she would get it. No questions asked.

Dean floated on by and smacked her door, hoping she was still asleep. The slam on the sleeping pod and muttered ‘asshole’ told him the answer.

Dean hovered into the control room at the end of the hallway, taping Benny on the shoulder to tell him to stop yapping to Sam about the fun aspects of space travel and maybe let his brother talk to him. Benny nodded and handed the wired headset to Dean, excitement bubbling inside his stomach as he replaced Benny in the seat.

“Heyo Bitch”

“Ugh can’t you start the call ANY other way. Jerk” Dean grinned.

“Nahh I can't. You know that Sammy. So, whats up?” Dean buckled himself into the seat, readying for a long conversation.

“You. No but, I wanted to check in. It’s getting close to be the time that you come home and I wanted to see how you were holding up.” Ahh. Classic Sammy. Always so sappy.

“Well, I’m fine thank you. I just finished some mandatory checks and was about to eat some lunch or wait- what time is it?” Dean heard Sam’s quick laugh, knowing he successfully cheered him up. He can be so serious sometimes.

“I mean- On one page alright but on another, how ARE you? I know how long you’ve waited to be up in space. How does it feel for it to almost be over?” This took Dean by surprise.

“Well.. I mean I don’t know Sammy. I think dad would be pretty proud consid-”

“No no Dean. I know dad would be proud, in his own assholish way, but how are you? You worked hard for this. I know how much you love space- I mean I remember when we ran around in our underwear while dad was working on some paperwork with cardboard helmets on our heads and-”

“OK Sammy I- That’s enough” Dean laughed, “I think that’s enough sappy talk for a while. I’m fine. You’re, apparently fine yeah? Yeah. So, I’ll be OK coming back home.”

Sam sighed.

“Dean, please. I know you were upset when I declined to help start the second Gemini program, but that does not warrant this. I understand you are mad about being put on the waiting list for 5 years and I know you wanted both of us going up into space, brothers in union kinda deal, but Dean please-”

“Yeah yeah Sammy yeah. I know you didn’t want to follow in mom’s footsteps. I know you were too scared but honestly was this about you in the first place? You were the one who disbanded my project. ”

Silence.

“I’m going to make lunch or-or dinner or whatever meal it is right now OK. Talk to you later.” Dean said as he hung up, not waiting for his brothers response. Dean tossed the headset towards the control panel, only for it to float away. Dean dropped his shoulder back and pinched his nose. Sam could be such an idiot.

“You know, that headset isn’t going to replace itself if it gets broken.” Benny noted while drifting into the control room. Dean grunted back as a response.

“Well, not every chat is going to go well. Kinda part of being brothers ya know?” Benny leaned into the seat and grabbed the headset that was floating around Deans vicinity. “It going to be OK Dean. Just call him back. Today, tomorrow, please just do. This radio silence has been rough on not only him, but me. He cares for you Dean. He love-”

“Yeah yeah he loves me. I know. Now excuse me I gotta make dinner- lunch- whatever it is.”

Dean abruptly unbuckled from the seat and floated out of the control room. Benny sighed audible as Dean rushed as quickly as he could manage into the kitchen.

The kitchen was on the left of the control room. It wasn’t a normal kitchen, with a sink,dishwasher, and fancy dishes. It had a compartment of food, and a water dispenser that look like the tube to fill stuffed animals at Build-a-Bear. No tables. No chairs. The astronauts would float around, most of the time the food ‘chemically’ would be too stuck together to float away anyways.

Dean sailed into the room, too distracted to notice Jo’s face glaring at him from the other side of the room. Dean opened the compartment, looking through various foods like peanuts, frozen strawberries, and fruit. Those had no interest to Dean.

After a few minutes of looking, Dean slammed the compartment and turned around to see Castiel and Jo floating around on the other side of the room, looking at him.

“Who took my last Twinkie?!” Jo and Castiel looked at each other.

“Well...I would not consider eating such odious food, especially being so close to going home.” Castiel looked down towards his frozen strawberries, slowly putting one of them into his mouth. Dean landed his eyes on Jo.

“I uhh...would never consider eating your Twinkie….. your highness?... I uhh..” Dean glared at her, then looked down, cracking his knuckles.

“I would ‘throw hands’, Jo, but I’m not really in the mood…..”

“Oh thank god.” Jo sighed.

“Or am I?” Dean glared at her, starting to push himself against the wall towards her.

“Oh..oh shit.” Jo pushed herself against the other wall with her foot, propelling herself away from Castiel towards the hallway, leaving her peanuts behind.

Dean was too slow, maybe purposefully, but landed next to Castiel (who was still eating his strawberries, slowly by the way).

“This isn’t over Harvelle!” Dean grabbed Jo’s peanuts, somewhat in revenge.

“So Cas, how ya doing?” Dean and Castiel had become very close on the mission. Although Castiel had been in space for a year and a half, Dean had only been up for a year. At first they didn’t get along, always fighting who got what and what went where. But, in the past half a year, they have gotten along surprisingly well. Dean was able to coax Castiel out of his room, and sometimes they talked late into the night about their countries and strange siblings. Dean, although he would never admit it, felt like Castiel understood him and his brothers debacle better than anyone else on the station.

“I’ve been doing OK I guess. I found a new research question to study when I get back home. ‘How does space travel and anti-gravity affect eye dilation and individuals with impaired sight?’”

“That’s great Cas but… I thought you were going home soon? What about your family, your brothers? Won’t they want to hear from you?”

“Mm. I guess. I’m required to go back for at least 2 years, to make sure my body doesn’t become affected by the gravity. It will be nice to be home for a while, but I would like to be back again.” Cas munched into his last strawberry and crossed his arms, the empty plastic container floating around him.

“Dean, what about you going home? You back next week correct?”

“I… yeah. I’m suppose to go back. I..I’m not sure if I want to though…”

“How so Dean? You been looking forward to see some of your friends you have been talking about. Like, if I remember right, Charlie and Jack are working in command and are always talking about seeing you again. Or, what about Jody, Donna, and the girls? What about Sa-”

“Cas...I… don’t want to talk about it.” Dean put a peanut into his mouth, letting the salty taste fill his mouth. Definitely not as good as a Twinkie.

“Dean...I don’t know what happened between you and Sam on your call tonight, but it’s not worth it to wait any longer. You have friends no- Family waiting for you back home. Please go back. If I remember, this isn’t the space trip you wanted, but got.” Dean shuffled at the mention of the trip.

“I...I don’t know Cas. I worked so hard for Gemini II to start, and...it just feels like he said no only to disappoint me.” Dean munched into another peanut. Salt.

“Dean, you know that’s not true. He said no because he was getting married. He was working on his second degree, to work at NASA I should mention, and he did not want to follow in his father and mother's footsteps. I know you worked for 10 years on this project before he said no, but Dean, the project can still run. YOU can still run this project. Maybe not as a participant, but as a director, or as a man in charge. I-I think after all this time you have spent working for NASA, they would consider it.” Cas gazed at Dean while speaking, simply trying to convince him of his thoughts otherwise.

Dean shoved the rest of the peanuts into his mouth, leaning into Cas’s personal space to grab the plastic container floating around, and pushed off the wall to float towards the garbage compartment.

“Cas I would prefer not to talk about this.” Dean closed the compartment, staying awfully silent.

“Dean I- I can not convince you otherwise but please at least talk to him tomorrow. You two have not been talking much since you arrived here and-knowing you and what I’ve heard about Sam- I think it would be best to talk to him. Please go home, as you were saying to me”

Castiel uncrossed his arms and propelled himself out of the room, Dean’s back towards him as he went to his room (probably to read a book or write, Dean thought). Dean, after Castiel had left, pushed himself out of the kitchen and veered right down the hallway towards his room.

His room was across from Jo’s, and Benny’s to the right of Deans. Benny barely went into his room, but even more rarely would sleep in his sleeping pod. Most nights he fell asleep in the control room’s chair.

Dean floated back and forth in front of Jo’s door, contemplating whether to ask her opinion or to ‘throw hands’ with her about the Twinkie. Before Dean got to decide though, Jo floated out of her door and smirked at him as he turned around, nearly floating into her.

“Hey Dean. What cha doing here?”

“I uhh..I need to talk to you.” Dean grabbed onto the hefty door, trying to stay put. Jo glared at him.

“Is it...is it about the Twinkies?” Dean shook his head no.

“I uhh..OK good then come on in to my abode” Jo practically pushed him into her room, grabbing the book she was reading that was floating in midair and placing it into a compartment she had near her sleeping pod. Dean floated around the room for a minute, not really wanting to talk to her about his..situation. But Cas had some good points. And Dean was kinda crap at talking to people and Jo was good at talking so…

“What’s goin’ on Dean?” Dean rubbed his fingers together, feeling uneasy about talking to her about this.

“I uhh...Jo I need your help.” Jo made her way back over to Dean, hovering just a foot or so away from him.

“Yeah I figur-”

“About Sam. We fought. Again.” Jo exhaled slightly. She knew this game they played.

“Dean, if you want to get along with your brother at all you need to talk to the man.”

“Yeah well...what if it doesn’t help? He sometimes isn’t the..bargaining type.” Dean crossed his arms across his chest.

“Yeah Dean well neither are you. Let him talk to you. Answer his questions without getting...mad. Talk to him about your disappointments about this trip. I know that this space trip was what you did not want, but what your father wanted. To do tests on the spaceship designs HE made. But Dean, you have to let that go. Yes, it’s unfair but you need to keep moving forward Dean. Work on your Gemini project again! NASA liked it enough, so bring it back.” Jo moved her arm to Dean’s shoulder, Dean’s face wrinkled in thought. They stayed like this for a moment. Dean, being completely in thought. Jo, trying to convince her friend to decide on the better option.

Jo moved her arm and went across the room, letting Dean be in thought. Dean thought of the long hours he spent working on his project at night, and his father’s projects during the day. The brothers father had become obsessed with working on new technology for space travel after their mother had passed during an engine failure. Dean remembered the long hours he spent working on his project, only to have his father say to work on his. Dean remembered his father’s death from working on a new spaceship design, the engine failing causing a contained explosion. Dean remembered-

“Here” Jo handed Dean a food package, snapping him out of his racing thoughts. The contents visible inside the package looking like brown mush, but Dean knew better.

“Is this... “

“Yeah..sorry about the Twinkie.”

“Jo I thought all the apple pie packages were out four months ago!” Dean looked at her, a gleam returning to his eyes.

“Yeah well...I snagged one before the last one was eaten. I was going to wait to eat it until you left but...I feel like this occasion warrants it.” Jo smiled at him softly, hoping her advice came through to him.

Dean smiled back.

“I’m going to sleep Jo umm...I need to hit the hay. Good night.”

“Good night Dean. I hope I helped.”

“Mm” Dean floated out of the room, and without even looking back towards Jo, he knew she was looking at him as he left.

Dean floated out towards his room, sleep growing in his eyes. Dean took his apple pie package and stored it inside his compartment beside his sleeping pod. The sleeping pods, not horizontal but vertical, were like neat little rooms with padding. The astronauts would sleep in an insulated sleeping bag, inside the small rooms. It was a strange way to sleep, floating around the compact room, but after being in space for a few months to a year, it became normal.

Dean floated into his sleeping pod and tucked himself into his sleeping bag, thinking about the past hour or so of time. He knew his friends were right, but should he take their advice? He knew Sam could make his own choices, but was it right? Was it right for his own brother to disband his project?

Dean fumed for a few minutes, before deciding to go to bed. He flicked the light off in the sleeping pod, and after some contemplating, was fast asleep.






Dean woke into the darkness, as he did every morning. He needed to call Sam today. Dean turned on the light and stripped out of the sleeping bag. Dean was a man with a mission.
Dean rushed out of his room into the control area, tapping Benny on the shoulder.

“Mmm yeah?” Half asleep, Benny turned around to face him.

“Can you...can you call Sam?” Benny glared at him like he had said to call the local martians.

“You..you want me to call Sam?” Dean nodded, twiddling his thumbs a bit now.

“OK umm..give me a few OK?” Dean nodded, not responding vocally. Dean went out into the kitchen, preparing to see someone in the room. Empty.

Dean opened the container full of food and grabbed some walnuts. He needed something to do before Benny calls him back. Dean turned around to see Castiel, who was still half asleep, floating sleepily towards the food container.

“Morning Cas”

“доброе утро” Dean took that as he was too tired to talk. English at least. Dean munched on another walnut.

“Dean, Sam is ready for the call” Dean shoved the rest of the walnuts into mouth, his hands shaking a bit. Man he wasn’t good at this. As Dean threw away the plastic container from the walnuts, Castiel grabbed his shoulder.

“не беспокойся.” Dean looked at him funny, until Castiel rolled his eyes. Most likely at himself.

“Don’t worry” Dean looked at Castiel, a small smile arriving on Dean’s face. Dean hoved away from Castiel’s touch, as ready as he could be to talk to his brother.

Although his hands were still shaking a bit, Dean took Benny’s place in the control room chair and put on the headset.

“Press that button to call the phone line he will be on. I’ll be getting breakfast so take your time.” Benny hovered out of the control room.

This was it. Dean was going to talk to him. Yes, Dean did feel bad about last night, but he knew he needed to talk to him more about the elephant in the room.
Dean pressed the button

Ring.

Ring.

“Hey Dean” Dean tensed up at his brothers sleepy voice.

“Hey Sammy uh..What time is it down there?”

“Uhh...5 AM?” Oh.

“I uh...didn’t realize I’ll call you back”

“Dean! uhh... Wait.”

Dean stopped his finger before it pressed the call button.

“Dean I- I’m sorry about last night. I was thinking too much about my own uhh...self righteousness than your own thoughts and feelings. I’m sorry.” Dean took a minute to think about this.

“Sam I- I need to talk to you about more than just last night.”

Silence.

Waiting.

“I… If you want me to be honest Sam, I’m really mad at you. Like…..mad. YOU disbanded the project, the project I worked on for 10 years, just to be in mission control and have me follow Dad’s footsteps? You could have just said no, or even better even say why you said no! Why did you have this radio silence attitude?”

Silence.

“Dean I'm ...I'm so sorry.”

More silence.

“If I’m being honest, I was afraid. Not for me, but for you.”

Thoughtful silence.

“The spaceship design was something I have never seen before, and I was afraid. Afraid of losing you. Dean, we just lost Dad. I...I couldn’t imagine losing you too.”

Silence.

“Dean?”

“You can be such an idiot Sammy.” An exhale came from Sam’s mouth.

“If that was your worry, then you and your big brain could have helped me improve it.”

“Well, Jerk, if that is your thoughts on it, maybe we should work on bringing the project back.”

Dean smiled a bit. This conversation may become promising.

“Yeah. Listen, I know we just started talking but I actually haven’t done my morning routine checks. Can I call you back, say, 30 to 40 mins from now?” Sam chuckled a bit.

“So you called me right away because you were nervous?”

“Uhh no. I called because I was worried. Bitch.” Another chuckle from Sam.

“Jerk” Dean hung up, relief flooding over him. And, if Dean would be honest with himself, excitement bubbled in his stomach about his call with Sam later. He wondered to himself why he was so concerned about the call.

Dean put the headset onto the console of the control softly, and floated out across the hall towards the exit duct. He started to put on his astronaut gear, readying to conduct his daily tests outside. Before Dean pressed the button to open the ducts door, he gazed at the earth in front of him for a moment. The haloed glow around it radiated hope, the puffs of clouds smoke among the climbing trees. Dean knew he was finally ready to return home.






The Gemini II project was assembled again after astronaut Dean Winchester spent a year at the space station. After returning he designed a better spacecraft, and with Sam Winchester, his brother, they built the longest running space initiative. With Dean Winchester’s time in space, he grew to have a companion from Russia (Castiel Novak) who helped the project grow internationally. Without their efforts, modern day space travel would not be possible.