Set after Lucifer Rising. Thank you Red Hardy for the wonderful beta. I tinkered a bit after she finished and since I have been throwing up all day, take pity on my errears :P I hope you like - let me know!

When Bobby Talks

"You know," Bobby Singer started slowly, as he leaned against the open door frame and watched Sam shuffle away from the house and towards the wrecks. The kid's shoulders were hunched, his hands jammed in his pockets. "I've been thinking…"

Dean, standing on the edge of the stairs, was also watching his brother leave. It was habit to them by now that after Sam ate he'd disappear for hours, shelved away among the old cars in the junkyard. The older Winchester cast a quick glance over his shoulder at the man standing behind him. Bobby was obviously waiting for him to say something. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Okay, so Bobby was going to make him work for this. Dean rolled his eyes and gave the older hunter his full attention. "Yeah. And what?"

Bobby met his gaze steadily. "That it's a good thing it was Sam who killed Lilith."

"What?" Dean was shocked and stalked towards the other man. "Bobby? What? Sam killing that bitch is what released Lucifer. It started the whole damn apocalypse! How exactly is that good?"

"I didn't say it was good," Bobby refused to back down. "I said it was a good thing it was Sam who did it."

"Oh yeah?" Dean couldn't believe what he was hearing. Bobby was practically a father to them. "And how exactly do you figure that?'

"Well because," the older man started slowly, "one way or the other, both Heaven and Hell wanted this… so if it wasn't Sam who did it, it just would have been someone else… and we'd still have the Devil on the loose and a whole lot of mess to clean up."

Dean chewed the thought around for a bit but knew he was missing something. "So that makes it good that it was Sam then?"

"Hell, yeah," Bobby was adamant. "Just think for a second will'ya? Let's say that you never made the deal."

Sam dying in his arms. Dead, cold, spread out on a dirty mattress. Dean paled and shook his head to clear the image. His brother was alive. Sam was, well maybe safe wasn't the right word, but definitely alive. The other man, seemingly oblivious, carried on, thankfully skipping over the most obvious effect of Dean never going to the Crossroads.

"Then Jake still would have opened the Devil's Gate but we wouldn't have been there to close it as quickly as we did."

"So there'd be a whole lot more demons on the go." Dean was following so far but still skeptical how any of this could be good.

"Yes and Lilith still would have needed to be the final seal except it'd be Jake who killed her, not your brother."

Dean swallowed hard; any time Bobby wanted to get to the 'good' part would be fine with him.

"But see, here's the difference, well one of them anyways," Bobby mumbled the last part under his breath but continued before the younger hunter could question him on it. "Jake ain't your brother, he ain't anywhere near the caliber of the man… We saw that when he stabbed Sam in the back after Sam spared his life. So do you think Jake would be hell bent for leather to put Lucifer back in his cage afterwards when he realized what he'd done? Or do you think Jake would have opened his arms for the Devil and accepted whatever tainted gifts the beast offered?"

Dean didn't have to say anything; they both knew the answer.

"So, personally, I'd rather have Sam break that damn last seal then some other hyped up super-kid backing the wrong team and eager to cut his teeth on our ribs… wouldn't you? We don't need any more enemies on that front."

Dean had never looked at things like that… He chewed his lip in consideration.

"Dean?"

Turning towards where his brother had gone, knowing that he could no longer see him, Dean still drew comfort from the impression of the younger man's boot prints in the dust, showing him clearly the path Sam had taken.

"So that's good?" he hedged after a moment, desperate for this assurance. He wanted so badly to believe there could be something good, something that they could start to rebuild from, in all this… could this be it? That it was Sam, Sammy, who started the apocalypse instead of Jake?

Bobby didn't answer him right away but his words spoke truth. "You'd still have gone to hell, Dean, just a whole lot sooner." Dean's frame of mind after Sam's death allowed him one of two choices: a deal for his brother's life or a bullet to end his own.

"And I still would have broken the first seal," Dean admitted, not enjoying some truths.

"No," Bobby's denial was vehement, startling Dean. "No, you wouldn't have."

The implication shook the younger man. His gaze dropped. Suicide was not righteous.

"So… in this screwed up circle of things, yeah, it was good."

Dean snorted bitterly and shook his head. Yeah that was pretty screwed up… He looked again towards the path his brother had taken and then back at Bobby.

"Do you think it might be enough?" Dean asked quietly thinking of the shadow of a man his brother had become. "For him?" They both knew he was talking about Sam.

"No," Bobby admitted, his tone laced with regret. "But," he added, "it might just be enough to help him get his head back above water."

Dean nodded and slowly started to move down the stairs. He had a little brother he needed to talk to. "It just might be…" He stopped and shot Bobby an appreciative smirk. "You know, for a guy who doesn't like to talk? You do okay."

Bobby snorted and then turned to go inside but not before his words had Dean chuckling and trotting away.

"When Bobby talks, boy, you damn well better listen...."

The End