Not a oneshot, just a thought I can't stop thinking about.
We all know that in the first episode of SPN, Dean shows up at Stanford to see Sam because John is missing and he needs his brother's help.
But what if he didn't?
Think about it.
You get the impression in the first episode that it's been awhile since Sam and Dean have spoken to each other, seeing as Sam ran away to go to school and Dean stayed with John in the hunting life. There are some inaccuracies in the show, so I'm not sure how long it's been since the boys saw each other.
But if it's been awhile, then why would Dean suddenly go visit Sam? Sure, John is missing, but it's not like it's the first time he's disappeared. And surely Dean is capable of finding John on his own, and if he's not, why not call Bobby, Ellen, or any other hunter friends they have?
Why would he go to Sam, who's rusty at hunting and is trying to escape the whole life? Sure, he wants to see his little brother and check on him because Dean is a worried little Momma bear, but logically here. If Dean's top priority was finding John, why would he drag Sam into the mix?
So what if he didn't? What if Dean never went to Stanford, and Sam had his interview and got into Law school, but Jess still burned on the ceiling.
Sam, alone, has to decide whether he abandons everything he's worked for to go back to the hunting life and find Jess and his mother's killer, or to stay at school and follow his dream.
And Sam, being Sam, decides to do both.
Dean calls him, of course, because even though they aren't really talking, you know damn well that Dean has a hundred tabs open on Stanford all the time, and that if anything even SLIGHTLY out of the ordinary happens, he's on it to make sure Sammy's okay. He heard about the fire, a strangely caused blaze ending in a girl's death, and recognizes the similarity. He calls Sam to make sure he's safe, and to figure out what happened.
Sam tells him what happened, but refuses to leave Stanford to hunt Jess's killer down. All Jess wanted for him was to follow his dream and be a lawyer. She wouldn't have wanted him to throw all that away because she died. But Sam is also not going to let her death go. So he multitasks, going on cases with Dean, tracking down John while at the same time studying for his law school exams and going to class. He uses his psychic abilities to help him at school, instead of turning more dark side.
He aces school while also facing off against the Yellow eyed demon and like, LITERALLY DYING.
And when graduation date finally comes, Dean is there in the audience, cheering on his little brother.
And then they continue hunting, using Sam's legal lawyer status to help them on more cases. And when any other hunter runs into trouble with the law, Bobby just calls Sam up, and he goes and defends them. He gains a reputation as the hunter's personal lawyer, and he never loses.
Sam builds up confidence with this, and he's happier, because even though the hunting life is rough, he's still always helping people. They always do, but Sam gets to actually see how he helps people when he's in the courtroom.
And Dean has never been so damn proud of him.
But this double life also keeps Sam busy, so he doesn't have time to turn dark and get addicted to demon blood. He never works with Ruby.
Dean still breaks the first seal in hell, but the boys don't have the power to kill Lilith, and Castiel explains to them that they can't kill her because she's the last seal.
So they end up locking Lilith in Bobby's panic room or something and move on. Lucifer never rises, the Apocalypse never goes down, Adam stays dead and unknown and Michael stays up in heaven.
Everything with Cas, Crowley, and the Leviathans goes down still, and while Dean and Cas are stuck in Purgatory, Sam works for a small law firm instead of meeting and dating Amelia. He still takes up hunter cases, and even convinces the law firm to specialize in hunter cases, after the lawyers there discover the truth about monsters, of course.
He set up his own little office in the bunker, and he's more sure of himself. Being an actual lawyer makes Sam more focused, and it helps him better evaluate situations before he and Dean charge into them without reason. This prevents a lot of problems the Winchesters have had, and saves a lot of their friends.
Sam doesn't get Charlie involved with the Styne's, so she lives. Same with Eileen, and a few others.
And overall, it just completely changes the Winchester's entire story line, and makes Sam into the leader we all know he is capable of being, and I just can't stop thinking about how different the Winchesters lives would be if Sam hadn't left Stanford.
Plus, because I can, this confident Sam works up the courage to roll his eyes at Dean and Cas and yell at them, "Oh just kiss already."
Which they do.