Author notes: Just a therapeutic AU piece for how "Bad Day at Black Rock," should have ended, if Dean had happened to be in-character for that scene.
Lessons Learned
"I know you're not the type -"
She pulled the trigger.
Dean turned, saw Sam reeling, clutching his shoulder with his mouth gaping and the first wave of shock and pain in his eyes, and something in Dean snapped. No - not again, never again.
Past the tide of fury, with the old inescapable terror underneath, Dean made a perfectly calm, rational decision.
It took serious willpower not to pull out his Beretta right then, but willpower was something Dean Winchester had carefully honed from a young age. Bela still had her gun raised, still had that pitiless killer's smile on her lips, and he could not gamble with Sam's luck.
So he raised his hands, continued the charade nice and easy - tossed her the rabbit foot, got her to drop it into the fire - and the moment the flames engulfed it, Dean said, "Good," raised his gun, and emptied the clip into the bitch's chest.
It didn't feel much different from the first time he fired the Colt, killing that demon on top of Sam.
After her body was still on the ground, not even the slightest twitch left, Sam said, "Dean," though it didn't hold the horror it would have a year ago. Dean turned to look him in the eye.
"I would say sorry, Sammy, but, eh, I'm not." He pushed Sam's chest lightly, away from his wound, before turning to where they had parked. "Only got one soul, don't have much left for the bargaining table."