Title: Like Before

Summary: Sam and Dean talk about the world they experienced when the Titanic had never sunk.

Spoilers: Up to and including 6x17, 'My Heart Will Go On.'

Pairings: No pairings

Characters: Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester

Warnings: Unbeta'd/written really early in the morning so it's probably full of grammatical errors

Disclaimer: I just stepped into the SPN sandbox, and plan on returning Sam and Dean as soon as possible. I do not own Supernatural, or any of its characters and or storylines; they below to the CW/Warner Brothers/Kripke and Gamble Co.

Word Count: 745

Like Before

After covering Bobby with a blanket, Sam and Dean walked back out to the garage, each with a bottle of beer in hand. Dean guzzled the liquid down, while Sam sat and thumbed the wrapper absent-mindedly.

"Dude, the beer not good or something?" Dean teased; Sam didn't even crack a smirk. "Sam?" He asked, starting to worry when Sam still didn't reply. "Earth to Sam. Is everything okay in that Sasquatch brain of yours?"

That seemed to snap Sam out of his head long enough to look up at Dean with a confused look. "You say something?"

"Yeah I asked how the beer tasted."

"It tastes fine, Dean."

"Bull shit you haven't even opened the bottle yet." Sam looked down sheepishly; Dean sighed and put his bottle down. "What is it?"

"S'nothing." Sam mumbled.

"Obviously it's something so spit it out."

"It's stupid, alright, just drop it." Sam remarked bitterly and tore the cap off his beer before taking a swig. But Dean wasn't going to be knocked down by a grumpy little brother.

"Well, I promise not to tease you if you tell me," he tried.

Sam shook his head. "Just forget it."

"Is this about our trip in another alter reality? Because if it is, I'm all ears for whatever you gotta say."

Sam sighed and put his bottle down next to his brother's. "It's just," he let out a breath and ran his fingers through his hair. "It's just we were so much closer in that world."

Okay, so that's not what Dean was expecting to hear. "What do you mean by 'so much closer.'?"

"I mean we joked around, played rock paper scissors – genuinely enjoyed each other's company."

"I occasionally enjoy your company, geek boy."

"No, I mean, it felt like old times. Before the Apocalypse, before the Demon Blood, before Hell and the deal; it felt like when we were looking for Dad and we were starting to become brothers again and had fun." Sam closed his eyes and shrugged. "It just felt nice, and sitting here with our beer and Bobby in the next room, just, made me realize that we're not those same guys."

Dean let out a sad sigh and silently agreed. The two people they were in that reality were so different from how Sam and he were now. They hunted together and were starting to really get back in their groove, but there was still something off – some line of trust that still hadn't been fixed. He wasn't sure whose trust it was that needed fixing; all he knew was that something still wasn't right, and it was keeping them off-balance.

"Well, maybe those guys did something we don't do."

"Like talk about our feelings?" Sam joked. Dean gave him the finger, which made Sam laugh. "I meant, maybe they tried to move past the past and look toward the future. You know, stop trying to correct past mistakes and go forward so you can make new ones."

"When did you become so philosophical?"

"I didn't I'm just saying." They were quiet for a few minutes, letting the information sink in.

"We could try that," Sam offered after a while.

"The whole sharing and caring?"

"Well that, but the moving past the past. Getting over mistakes and trying to go forward. I like that idea a lot."

"I do too."

They heard a crash in the library and a loud swear which told them that Bobby was awake and would be wondering which one of them covered him up like a little child. Sam finished off his beer and followed Dean inside.

"Hey, Dean."

Dean turned to face his brother. "Yeah?"

"I'm glad you want to try to be brothers again."

Dean smiled wide. "Yeah, you might want to fix your plurals. Pretty sure you mean siblings, since you've become a bigger girl than usual." That earned him a punch in the shoulder.

Yeah the Sam and Dean in the "Titanic-less" reality were closer than the real ones, but at least these guys didn't lose it all. They still had each other, they just had to figure out how to get as in sync as those guys.

And the boys didn't think it'd be so hard after all.

~Fin