Title: No Matter What the Cost

Author: Kalmiel

Rating: T

Spoilers: Definitely contains spoilers from 'All Hell Breaks Loose Pt 1' and 'What is and What Should Never Be'

Summary: (A little tag on to 2X21 "All Hell Breaks Loose Pt 1") Dean isn't going to let Sam go without a fight.

Disclaimer:- I do not own any Supernatural people, places, or demons. Nor the Impala. (But if offered Jensen Ackles, I would gladly accept) They all belong to Eric Kripke

Author's Note: I can't recall all of the dialogue that was said at the end of the episode… so I'm improvising. And yeah, I haven't finished my other fics… muse is off on vacation. So I thought I'd try a one-shot, see if I could resuscitate her. Hope it isn't too horrible

(Sorry, once I posted this the first time, and was looking it over... I spotted a couple of errors. Just a few, but they were bothering me. So here it is again, re-posted and hopefully all fixed up)

Also, a major thanks to Ridley C. James, the Queen of the Supernatural, for letting me borrow her Caleb.

I'm kneeling in the dirt, surrounded by fog and my own despair, clutching my brother's bleeding body tightly to my chest.

Bobby had taken off after that chickenshit bastard who stabbed my brother in the back.

You couldn't get more cowardly than that.

I've tuned out Bobby and the fleeing asshole... tuned out the whole world in fact except for one thing.

Because they weren't my concern right now. All of my focus was on the precious being that I had my arms gently wrapped around.

I leaned forward ever so slightly... an action which had made me die inside as I caught a full glimpse of the grotesque wound in his back.

But I grasp his chin, as his head continues to try to loll off to the side. "Sammy-Sammy, hey stay with me here man."

My voice is cracking because even as I plead with him to hold on, I see the look in those hazel-brown eyes I know so well.

A look that so many victims that I haven't been able to get into time… only to watch them die.

That horribly glazed confused look as the heart struggles to continue pumping, lungs inflating, the blood circulating.

With a renewed burst of mingled shock and fear, I grab his face harder, and was rewarded with a hazy half-lidded glance.

A glance that was so full of pain… pain not only for him, I knew but for me.

Because he knew was dying, and in doing that, would be leaving me all alone.

"Come on man… I'm your big brother, remember? I'm supposed to protect you… supposed to save you!"

If anyone should be dying, it should be me… not you Sammy. Never you. This wasn't my plan at all kiddo. It was supposed to be me, dammit, me!

But despite all of my frantic pleadings for my little brother to stay with me… it was all futile.

Sammy… my baby brother and my best friend gave one last shuddering breath and went still.

No, I shrieked mentally, No no, no, NO!

This can't be real… I must be sleeping and-and… it's-it's a nightmare, just like S-ssammy's. I'll just pinch myself and wake up in some roach-infested motel with him snoring in the bed next to me. Yep, that's it. Has to be.

"Dean?" came a voice, familiar in it's gravel-and-whiskey-soaked tone.

Bobby.

I squeezed my eyes shut, as because if I acknowledged the other hunter… then everything would become real.

"Dean?" Bobby's voice came more insistently, and a hand down on my shoulder… next to Sammy.

Suddenly, a wave of violence, familiar and barely throttled, surged up in me, and I snarled at Bobby.

Backing away on my hindquarters towards the Impala, Sam's body clutched securely, but gently in my arms.

Dean's jade-green eyes were gleaming with a feral intensity that scared Bobby. "Stay away, Bobby. I mean it. Leave us alone."

Leave us alone…

With each passing minute, Bobby began to fear more and more for the last remaining Winchester.

When Bobby said nothing, Dean continued to glare… Bobby wondered if the young man even noticed the tears that were falling from those desolate eyes that now appeared completely hollowed out and empty. There was no spark, no glimmer… they looked flat and dark.

Suddenly, with a sick feeling of complete dread and each passing minute, Bobby strongly suspected that the stabbing had not just killed one brother, but two.

He still might be breathing at the moment, but for all intents and purposes… Dean Winchester was gone. Had been since the moment Sam drew his last breath.

Bobby took a careful step next to Dean; and slowly squatted down beside him.
He watched for a moment, wondering if Dean was even aware of his presence anymore.

His head was down, vacant eyes locked on his brother's pale, still face.

As gently as he knew how, Bobby said. "We need to get out of here-"

Dean's head whipped up, the feral gleam in his eyes intensifying more, if that was even possible.

"I'm not going anywhere. I'm NOT leavi-" he swallowed hard, choking on the white-hot pain that was raging through his chest… through his heart. He clutched his brother tighter, ignoring the fluid soaking through the back of Sam's clothes… ignoring the fact that it was his brother's blood.

"I'm not going anywhere without Sammy."

"Not asking you to leave Sam," he took Dean's arm gently, trying to separate him from his brother's corpse… and hoping that it wasn't a mistake, "I'll take him for you, all right?"

Dean snatched him arm away, while issuing a sub-vocalized growl that set the hair on the back of Bobby's neck straight on edge. "No." he stated flatly, his tone, flat and dead, leaving no room argument.

"Dean…" he spoke softly, and once again, he tried to reach down and take Sam… and found himself flat on his back after receiving a roundhouse punch from Dean.

As he got unsteadily back to his feet, he warily eyed the last remaining Winchester for anymore signs of violence that might come his way… and decided wisely, to leave Dean alone.

Because he knew damn well if it came down to a fight between them… there would be no contest. Not only was Dean fitter and younger… but as much as Bobby had hated to admit it, the kid was better trained.

John Winchester had been a marine, and damn good teacher; Dean a dutiful and downright devoted student since the tender age of five.

Not to mention the other hunters from the Brotherhood who had chipped in those years of training… Bobby himself, back in his younger days, Joshua Sawyer, and most importantly Caleb Reaves, half-demon, psychic, John's protégé… and after, Bobby swallowed hard, after Sam, was Dean's closest and most trusted friend.

Caleb, whose presence was desperately needed right now.

Because Bobby was at a complete and total loss at what to do.

Finally recognizing that it would be futile to try and relieve Sam from Dean's shaking arms, Bobby slowly took a step back. "Okay… okay Dean. I won't try to take Sam. But let's just get in the car, and get outta here, all right?"

He spoke softly and evenly, hoping that he could get through to the young man on some level.

Empty silence met his statement, but Dean got his feet, slowly and carefully, as to not jar the precious cargo in his arms.

Bobby's eyes stung with unshed tears as he watched as Dean brush a strand of Sam's too-long hair that had fallen across his face and heard him whisper.

"It's okay little brother… I've got you. I won't let you go."

He watched as Dean gently deposited Sam in the backseat of the Impala… along with himself. He sat in the backseat, arms still wrapped tightly wrapped around Sam.

Looking like he wasn't planning on letting go anytime soon.

Watching them, Dean clinging so desperately to his dead brother, Bobby felt his worry kick up another notch.

He flipped open his phone, scrolling through the numbers until he came to Caleb.

He couldn't help Dean alone.

In fact, even as he dialed, he seriously doubted that anyone could.

Because the only person who had ever been able to put Dean back together when he was in danger of loosing himself was dead, his body wrapped in his brother's embrace.

I'm sitting in the back of the Impala, still holding tight to Sammy, and not planning on letting him go anytime soon.

I caught Bobby's sideways glance as I had climbed in the backseat with Sam.

He thinks I've lost it.

Guess what… I think he's probably right.

He's standing outside right now, on the phone with Caleb right now, I know.

I look down at Sam's face… it's so peaceful and calm, it just looks like he's sleeping.

If it wasn't for the ugly wound in his back that is still slowly dripping blood onto me.

I'm still staring down at his face when Bobby gets into the driver's seat, throwing worried glances surreptitiously over his shoulder.

And by that time, I've come to a decision.

I had came back from the Djinn's twisted little world just for one thing… just for Sammy.

Now I've lost him anyway.

How am I supposed to fix this?

Because remember back when I said the three of us was all we have?

Then Dad went off and made that damn deal… and all we had was each other, man.

All I had was you.

How am I supposed to fix this?

I'm not really sure… but if there's way, I swear to god, I'm gonna find it.

No matter what the cost.

Well... there you go. Hope it turned out okay, and I'm sorry I had to re-post it. And I hope on Thursday they find a way to bring Sam back, so my two favorite brothers can go back to kicking demon butt.