When did it all begin?
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Dean glanced over at his brother dozing awkwardly in the passenger seat, and wondered. When had this never-ending pull between him and Sam originated, this undeclared love that made them unable to fully function without the other by their side?
Dean couldn't see inside Sam's head, their bond hadn't quite reached that level of intimacy!
He knew his younger brother as no other human ever would, however Dean could only answer for himself.
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That day in the alley, a cupid had candidly told them Heaven had pre-arranged events to culminate in the birth of the brothers, to be used as the vessels of Michael and Lucifer. But, Dean mused, that hadn't necessarily meant he and Sam would become as close as they had.
They could have grown up hating each other, or simply tolerating the other's presence as many pairs of siblings did, as Dean himself had experienced in the Djinn's dream world, instead of becoming so attached at the hip that selling one's soul, defying death or destroying the world to keep their brother safe was a preferable option to losing him.
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At his side, Sam shuffled, trying to find a more comfortable position, but that was an impossible feat! The Impala's dimensions were what they were, and his overgrown baby brother was never gonna be more comfortable than a pretzel, however much he twisted and turned!
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The road stretched ahead, dark and long, and Dean returned to his musings.
The bond between him and Sam. When had it been forged?
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He could still remember the moment his mom told him he was gonna have a little brother or sister.
Glowing with happiness, she'd lifted him up and hugged him. "I want to tell you first, Dean, even before I tell your dad. You're gonna be a big brother."
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Strange how some childhood memories never leave you.
That, along with the one where Sam was placed cautiously in his arms for the first time, were two moments etched eternally into Dean's mind.
The baby had looked solemnly up at him, and even then, though he'd not known how or why, he'd felt an immediate kinship with the new-born, a churning in his childish gut that told him Sammy's birth was going to be the most important event in his life.
Had that been the moment this chain that bound him to Sam had begun to form, link by steel link?
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Or was it that fateful night when the Winchesters' destiny was set in motion.
"Run. Take Sammy outside, Dean!" his father had yelled.
Was it the instant when dad had given Sam into his four-year old self's custody that the bond between him and his brother had flared up, right there along with the flames that were consuming his beloved mother.
Or had it been more gradual, developing through the years of their childhood when an absent father left him to practically raise Sammy on his own, feeding, nurturing, and defending his younger brother as best he could.
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No, Dean couldn't pin-point the exact moment; there were so many that could have generated this bond of love and brotherhood with Sam.
All he knew for sure was that when he'd held his dead brother in his arms at Cold Oak, the pain was so unsupportable, the concept of living out his life alone without Sam by his side, never to see his sunny smile or even his bitch-face again, unbearable, and Dean understood it would either drive him to madness or suicide.
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Their bond had been fully-formed by then, there was no doubt about that.
Dean knew he would have accepted any terms the crossroad demon had proposed to get Sam back, even if she'd offered him a mere day.
Yet the logical part of his brain told him how much that bond had cost them, but as Dean cast his eyes over to his brother, he couldn't feel any regrets. It had all been worth it.
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Would he do it all the same way again if he could go back and change things. Maybe. But that was for another life.
In this one he had Sam by his side and that was all that mattered.
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The End.