TITLE: Different by Nature

DISCLAIMER: Much to my chagrin, I own nothing related to Supernatural.

SUMMARY: Sam has a nightmare after the events in 'Skin' that end up revealing more than intended. Continues on about what happens afterwords through Dean's deal and the third season.

WARNINGS: Warnings for some strong language and Wincest of the Sam/Dean persuasion. If you don't like wincest, don't read, simple as that. Spoilers will eventually be through the third season.

FEEDBACK: Reviews are marvelous. However, flames will just be used to roast wieners, because you've all been warned.


Dean walked over and ripped his necklace from around the shape shifter's neck and shoved it carefully into his pocket. Sam just stared at him in disbelief at what he had just seen. He had just watched his brother shoot…well, himself, in essence, which rattled him to the core.

Dean saw the shocked look on Sam's face and was about to go to him, when Becky rushed over and held Sam in her arms, a steady rush of "Oh my god!"sand "Are you ok?!"s tumbling from her.

He knew that she just wanted to see if Sam was alright, but the small yet insistent pang of jealously he experienced when people touched Sam made its nagging presence known. But the questionable emotion was quickly pushed aside by another wave of concern for his little brother. Once Dean made sure that Sam was in one well operating piece, he went straight from "protective older brother mode" to "it's time to evade the law" mode in about five seconds.

"Sam, on your feet." Dean barked, with a little more aggression than he had intended. "We need to get all these weapons and get out of here. Except the gun I shot the shape shifter with, Becky needs to keep it so she can say she shot him with it." He said as he wiped it down, after which he tossed to Sam who caught it with ease.

"Becky, tell the police that the shape shifter is Dean. Tell them that he broke in and tried and attacked you, but you got his gun away from him and shot him in self defense." Sam instructed Becky, who was nodding with every word. "You can't tell them what really happened or what we do."

"Ok. Got it." Becky replied and she took the gun from Sam. It was then they heard the police sirens not too far away. Sam lent down and gave Becky a tight hug.

"Sam, come on, we gotta go now!" Dean yelled as he climbed out the back window.

"I'm coming!" Sam shouted back, and with that he grabbed their duffel, threw out the window and scrambled out after it.


In the Impala, Leaving town…)

"Yeah, that's 'cause you're a freak." Dean said very matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, thanks." Sam replied with a short huff of a laugh.

"Well, I'm a freak too. I'm right there with ya' all the way." Dean stated softly and little more seriously.

"Yeah," Sam sighed with a slight smile, "I know you are."

This was followed by another ever present clever Dean like remark from the direction of the driver's seat, "You know I gotta say, I'm sorry I'm gonna miss it." Dean said, leaving the statement open ended.

"What?" Sam asked simply.

"How many chances am I gonna have to see my own funeral?" Dean asked with a cocky grin as classic as the car he drove.

The slightly curious and amused smile Sam had been wearing at the first half of Dean's statement slid from his face as he furrowed his brow and quickly looked down at his hands resting in his lap. "That's not funny." He said quietly.

"Oh, come on Sammy, I was just kidding." Dean said, confused as to the sudden change in the jovial mood and a slight twinge of guilt for putting that look on Sam's face.

"I know, I'm sorry." Sam began, "It's just that…back there, I knew it wasn't you, but…looked just like you…watched you get shot…just dead, looking like you…" Sam trailed, as a pained expression crossed his features.

"Oh." Was all Dean had to say in reply. When he looked over and saw the look on Sam's face he quickly added, "Nothings gonna happen to me Sammy, I promise."

Sam just nodded and exhaled slowly as he turned to look out the window.


Sam woke up when he felt his bed dip. He wiped at his sleep blurry eyes and looked up to see Dean looking at him with an expression he'd never seen before. "Dean…wat'er you do…" Same began to ask groggily, but the question was cut short by Dean's lips crashing into his own.

Sam was too shocked to respond at first, but after a moment he gave in and parted his lips as Dean all but forced his was in. He felt Dean slide on top of him and relished in the comforting pressure of being pushed back into the mattress.

Urgent kisses turned more and more heated, but soon Sam felt the need to breath. When Sam pulled back he looked up at his brother through the darkness. What he saw took what little breath he had left. Instead of his brothers striking hazel eyes, there was a set of glowering dark silver eyes in their place. Immediately Sam started to struggle and get away, but was pinned under the shape-shifter's unnatural strength.

After a few rather vicious punches to the face Sam managed to claw his way out from under the shape-shifter, only to have a strong and muscled arm lurch him backwards as it squeezed tightly around his neck. Sam sputtered and gasped for air as the shape-shifter began to whisper fiercely into his ear.

"Did you think I would die that easily?" it hissed as Sam kept uselessly trying to escape the shape-shifter's strangling hold. "I know things about you…and your brother…" it continued "how you two really feel about each other…all the wanting, the longing. You two are pathetic, you know that? I could feel all your wretched thoughts for each other as if they were my own. When I was pretending to be you two…I felt everything."

Sam kept helplessly scratching at the imposter's arm and managed a choked "You don't know anything about us!" trying to deny what he knew was true.

"Oh hoo…..now, you are smarter than that Sammy…" Sam cringed at the use of his brother's nickname, the shape-shifter caught this and breathed into Sam's ear once again tightening his hold. "I bet this is really killing you, isn't it? Hearing your brother's voice saying all these horrible things to you…feeling his arm wringing the life from your lungs…" he finished with malice and began trying to strangle Sam in genuine.

Sam vision was begging to blur when he caught the almost innocent sparkle of the gun still under his pillow. Then he suddenly remembered what Dean had said to him as he handed Sam the gun before they had fallen asleep, "There's still three silver bullets in that gun. Shape-shifter or no shape-shifter, they'll still kill things."

Sam began to desperately trying to reach for the gun, but his arms felt so heavy from a lack of oxygen. He felt himself losing consciousness when he heard the shape-shifter starting to urgently say "Sammy wake up! Wake up Sammy! Sam! Please wake up for me! You have to wake up! Sammy…."

He was becoming more and more aware of a strong, gripping pair of hands clasped to his arms shaking his and repeating over and over "Sammy, wake up man, you've got to wake up…your having a nightmare." He gasped and opened his eyes at Dean.

"What…I what…you were…" Sam barely managed between shallow rapid breathes, looking around the room with wild eyes.

"Sam, calm down, your okay, I've got you, it was just a dream." Dean said soothingly as he ran a hand down Sam's face. "Just calm down Sammy." Dean said quietly as he pulled Sam into a hug, rubbing broad circles over his back.

After Sam's Breathing had returned to normal, Dena reluctantly pulled away to look at his brother, his heart breaking at was he saw there, just now noticing the tears staining his face.

"Tell me." Dean said simply, not needing more words, knowing Sam would understand.

"I…I thought I woke up, and…and…" Sam began shakily.

"Slow down Sam, just take your time." Dean said calmly, resuming the soothing circles on Sam's back, trying not to think of how good Sam's strong lean muscles felt under his hand.

Sam exhaled loudly and began again, "I thought I had woken up when you sat on my bed. I tried to ask you why you were awake and you leaned over and…and…" Sam trailed, embarrassed, a rather incriminating blush trying to give away his secret desire.

"What was it Sammy?" Dean asked after a moment. "I wasn't hurting you was I?" he asked, so quiet it almost sounded ashamed.

"No, nothing like that, not at first anyways." Sam answered cryptically.

"Then what was it?" Dean asked again. At this Sam looked imploringly at Dean through the darkness of the room, which suddenly felt very heavy. Sam looked at Dean for the longest moment before leaning in ever so slowly and whispering "This." before softly yet firmly pressing a kiss to his brother's lips.

"I…was kissing you?" Dean spluttered in a voice so deep it was almost husky.

"Yeah." Sam continued, mouth still barely inches away from Dean's. "It just kept getting more and more serious…" Sam trailed.

"And you just, you just let me?" Dean asked, his breath coming in short bursts, his heart racing, daring to hope for what he knew no brother ever should.

"Yeah." Sam repeated, "until…" he trailed once again, a horrified expression crossing his ragged features and the memory of what came next. Dean's encouragement to continue came in the form of hi reaching up his free arm and gently rubbing Sam's upper arm.

At this simply touch Sam went on "You pulled away, and it wasn't you. I mean it looked like you, except for its eyes, they were silver. It was the shape-shifter." Sam stated and continued "You started, it started," he corrected himself "to hit me, over and over…it had me pinned. It took so long to get away, but when I finally did it was so fast. It was right there again, grabbing me from behind." Sam said quickly, the words that were so hard to say before coming out almost on top of each other now. "It started to whisper in my ear, saying that it knew things."

"Things? What things?" Dean asked.

"Just that it knew things from when it became us. Knew our thoughts, our feelings, how…how really we felt about each other." Sam said the last part so softly it was barely audible. Sam's whose breathe was coming rapidly, heart also racing. He looked up at Dean to try and gauge his reaction. What he saw was a great deal of confusion and what he thought what he mistook for frustration in his brothers furrowed brow.

At this Sam immediately looked away and began backtracking, thinking himself an idiot for ever thinking his brother felt the same way he did. "It was just a dream, it doesn't mean anything…" he said rushing.

Dean's face fell, he had thought that Sam…no. He knew what he'd seen, what was written all over Sam's face. It was the same repressed desire, love, and shame that reflected his own feelings. He carefully hooked a finger and lifted Sam's face back up to meet his own, still only inches away and simply breathed his brother's name before brushing his lips against Sam's and pressing the gentlest of kisses to his soft mouth. Dena barely pulled away enough to say "Sammy, you dream, god you know I would never hurt you right?" with that he paused only a moment to see Sam nod his head 'yes' before going on "Even though that part of your nightmare will never, never happen, what you told me he said was true. I love you, more than just as a brother. I love you in every sense of the word. And I know that your thinking it's wrong, cause I thought that to, but I just can't hide anymore." And with that kissed Sam with everything he had.

Just as in the dream the kissing became more and more heated, Dean pushing Sam down on the bed, their lips never breaking contact. It was only when Sam reached for Dean's belt did he stop. Sam, thinking that Dean had realized what was going on and regretted it, started to pull away and say "I sorry…"

"Sammy," Dean said and quickly pressed a sweet kiss to Sam's lips. "I love you so much, and I want to, oh god, do I want to, just…just not like this…not," he paused and Sam looked up at him once again patiently wait for him to go on "not the first time." he finished meekly.

"Dean, it's…" Sam began, but was swiftly cut-off by Dean.

"I just don't want it to be because you were scared and I took advantage of you." Dean words came rushing out, and he sighed and gently flopped down on the bed next to Sam, who understood instantly. Sam rolled onto his side so he was facing Dean, who wrapped a large protective arm around him.

Sam said "I love you." Before he curled more fully into Dean, his exhaustion forms his nightmare finally taking its toll as he felt his eyes become heavy with sleep.

With that Dean's heart swelled and he knew it was going to be ok. Dean pressed a kiss to the top of Sam's head and said "I love you too Sammy." before falling asleep with his arms wrapped around his brother.