A/N: How Benny could come back! I don't think this is going to be slash, but it will definitely feature heavy Dean/Benny bromance with some slash overtones. This story contains slight spoilers about Crowley in season 9 which I think are pretty minor—it's from the Comic-con preview that was posted on youtube and was what I reckoned was going to happen anyway. However, if you're very strict about such things, beware.

Dean was fussing around Sam. He could admit it, if not to Sam, then at least to himself.

He hadn't seen Sam as sick as he'd been after he stopped the trials since he'd gone off the blood years ago, before they'd accidently raised Lucifer, and the memories of that merry-go-round did nothing to reassure him this time.

Sam was looking better now, but Dean couldn't quite let go of his worry. Sam was still nowhere near fighting strength.

And Dean was driving Sam mental.

Sam, Dean and Kevin had been hiding out in the bunker, with Crowley locked away in the recently discovered dungeon.

Crowley had been uncooperative so far, but Dean imagined he'd talk eventually, when they found something he wanted, or if the right motivation came up. He wasn't too worried about Crowley right at the moment; he was happy the man—demon—creature, whatever—had stopped killing the people they had saved. As far as Dean was concerned, he didn't care if Crowley never said a word, as long as Crowley was unhappy and being kept from doing evil and fulfilling his ambitions.

Kevin and Sam were getting pretty annoyed with Crowley's silence, but Dean thought it was possible they were even more annoyed with Dean's behaviour. He was stir-crazy, fussing over Sam, listening to loud music, and bossing everyone around. He knew he was doing it, but knowing didn't make him stop. He just couldn't seem to help himself.

The call from Elizabeth couldn't have come at a better moment.

When his cell rang he was sitting on his bed listening to records. He lifted the needle and answered the call.

"Dean Winchester," he said.

"Dean? It's Elizabeth. Benny's granddaughter," she said.

Dean mentally noted she had missed a great in there, but said nothing about it. He felt a familiar twinge of guilt and loss in his gut: the same he always felt when he thought about Benny. He reminded himself that Sam had said Benny hadn't wanted to come back from Purgatory. It didn't make Dean feel any better about inadvertently helping his best friend to suicide, though. And if he'd been a good friend to Benny, he wouldn't have wanted to stay dead, would he? If Dean had been there for him, and helped him 'keep his ducks in a row', life probably wouldn't have gotten unbearable for the vampire.

"Dean? You there?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yeah, Elizabeth," he said. He cleared his throat, tried again. "How can I help you?"

She paused. "I don't know if you can. I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Something's wrong with you?" he asked.

There was another pause—this one so long Dean thought for a moment they'd lost the connection. "Can you come here?" she asked finally.

"To Carencro?"

"Yeah, I'm still here at the grill," she said.

"Is there someone there with you? Are you being threatened?" he asked.

"It's not like it was last time. No hunters, no vampires," she said. "I just have this strange feeling that I can't explain that you're the only one who can help me. I don't want to talk about it on the phone. Can you come here?"

"Yeah," Dean said. He did some mental calculations. "I'm in Kansas right now, and I have to do some preparations before I leave. I can probably be there about ten tomorrow night."

"That would be great. Don't get a hotel, you can stay with me," she said. She paused again. "I didn't mean that as a come on—or a—I mean you're a friend, and I've got a sofa."

Dean chuckled softly. "I don't think there's any danger of me seeing you that way. Not now that I know you're Benny's descendant. It's like hitting on a friend's daughter. I'll behave."

"I'll text you the address. See you soon, Dean," she said.

When he hung up the phone he wondered briefly why knowing Elizabeth was Benny's descendent truly made her unappealing to him, but shook away his confusion, thinking her problem, whatever it was, was the perfect thing to get him out of the bunker and out of Sam and Kevin's hair.

He spent a couple of hours making sure the spare car, an old junker, was in working order in case Kevin needed to go out. Dean made sure Kevin had credit cards and ID to match, knew all his numbers, and where to take Sam and what ID to use if he needed to go to the hospital. He hadn't had to so far, but literally, God, or maybe that dick with wings Metatron, only knew what the long term effects of the trials would be on his brother.

He was unprepared for Sam's objections.

"Dean, you shouldn't go into a situation like this without backup," he said.

"I can hunt on my own, Sam. And I don't even know it's a hunt. She was pretty vague about what was wrong with her."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better? Dean, I know things have died down since the angels fell, but there's gotta be a lot of angels out there incognito. And we don't even know what happened to Cas. He could have been attacked by angels himself. What if some of the angels have a grudge against you for stopping the apocalypse? What if Naomi comes after you? This is too dangerous."

"Come on, Sam. Let him go. He needs to get out. We need him to get out," Kevin said.

"I'm not going to let my brother do something stupid and dangerous just because he's annoying," Sam said to Kevin.

"I've been doing stupid and dangerous things my whole life. You've never been able to stop me before. Besides, this is just doing a favour for a friend. Not dangerous at all," Dean said.

"Dean, I just told you. It's not Elizabeth that worries me—there's dozens of other reasons that you should stay here," Sam said.

"Sam, your concern is noted. I won't piss off any angels while I'm out of the bunker. As long as Kevin doesn't mind doing the cooking and shopping while I'm gone—"

"—believe me, I love this plan," Kevin put in.

"—I don't think you can stop me," Dean finished. "I promise I'll stay in touch."

Sam sighed. Dean smirked, recognizing Sam's acceptance. He picked up his rucksack and threw it over his shoulder.

Dean felt himself relax as he finally felt the road stretching out in front of his Baby. As much as the Impala felt strange without Sam sitting by his side, just being on the road and driving felt so much better than being in the bunker. The bunker was home—and Dean loved having a room of his own for the first time in forever, and a place to accumulate possessions like normal people did—but he was meant for the open road, and his Baby needed to stretch her legs.

Wheels.

Whatever.

The way she purred along the highway filled Dean with the first real sense of wellbeing he'd felt since the sky had fallen a few weeks before. The angels had caused some major chaos at first, but they seemed to have settled down, some. But then, the Winchesters weren't exactly looking for hunts at the moment. The whole country—hell, the world—could be full of strange occurrences, and they wouldn't know. It was a novel experience, having a place to hide out and lick their wounds, and Dean wasn't sure it was a good thing.

"We're getting too old to let ourselves get complacent—or soft," he murmured to himself.

He figured a hunt would straighten him out—work out the kinks—if nothing else would.

Or whatever this call was.

Elizabeth had made it clear it wasn't a booty call, which was good. Although she was hot. But she was family. And she made pie, or at least dished it out for a living, which was just as good.

But she was Benny's great-granddaughter, and that made her off-limits, if for no other reason than the fact that if Benny ever came back, he'd—well, Dean didn't know what he'd do. They'd almost come to blows when Sam and Martin had accused Benny of killing again, and while it probably wouldn't come to that over Elizabeth, Benny wouldn't trust Dean the same way he always had if Dean had done the nasty with Elizabeth, knowing who she was.

And somehow he'd rather imagine himself and Benny engaged in mortal combat than imagine Benny not trusting him the way he trusted the vampire.

Their friendship was just about perfect; Benny had never let him down and he was damned if he would ever let Benny down any more than he'd already done. Dean blamed himself for Benny's death, but he knew he took responsibility for a lot of things that most people said weren't his fault, and Benny hadn't blamed him for anything. That being said, even if his friend never came back to life, Dean wanted to know that he'd lived up to the faith Benny had in him.

And Benny had died to help guide Sam to safety—and had helped Sam save Bobby from hell. Elizabeth, by virtue of being her great grandfather's descendent, deserved Dean's loyalty the same way Sam did. She was a part of his family—Benny's actions had made her one.

He ate lunch at a diner he knew in Tulsa, and felt his sense of wellbeing growing. He wasn't sure what Elizabeth's problem was—he hadn't said anything to Sam but she'd sounded really odd, and really worried, on the phone—but what couldn't he handle?

He'd do whatever it took to make sure she was okay.

Better than okay. Happy and healthy.

He owed that much to Benny.