Title: My Reward
Genre: Gen, Tag Scene
Characters: Sam, Dean, that'd be telling
Rating: PG
Words: 502
Spoilers: Up to 5.22
Summary: Sam had always been on the outside looking in.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A/N: So I finally got to see 5.22 again. And this happened. Ridiculous speculation which will most likely be - er - Gambled in September.
MY REWARD
It had always been this way for Sam, he mused.
Always on the outside looking in.
A man, a woman, a boy at a dinner table.
A family.
Growing up, Dean had been the loyal son, the obedient son, Daddy's good little soldier.
Sam was the kid who ran off to spend Thanksgiving with strangers.
At school, he'd been the freak with the knife. The one who beat up bullies twice his size.
Respected, feared, but a freak all the same.
In college he'd been surrounded by normal kids.
Happy, neurotic, hopelessly screwed up, impossibly well-adjusted.
Possessed.
And Sam.
The boy with the demon blood in his veins.
Not that he'd ever used that as an excuse.
Not like Lucifer.
"Daddy made me this way."
The only time Sam ever felt he fit was with Jessica.
And with Dean.
Jessica burned because of Sam.
Dean went to Hell because of Sam.
Always protected. Always cursed. They died and they sacrificed for him.
And what had he done in return?
Released Lucifer from Hell.
Started the Apocalypse.
And saved the world.
It had been a long and arduous battle.
The cage was small on a cosmic scale, but endless to human perception.
Certainly bigger than that boneyard at Stull.
The Gateway.
The tip of the iceberg.
Hell was the chosen field, after all.
Two brothers had fought, one brother had triumphed.
And as one lay defeated, another had been rewarded.
Zachariah had made a promise to Adam Milligan.
And when the battle had finally been won, the terms of the deal had been fulfilled.
Adam had received his reward.
He had seen his mother again.
Safe. Where angels, demons and ghouls could never find them.
When Dean Winchester asked for his reward, Sam had thought it was this: a woman, a child, a family. The life Dean thought he craved. The life Sam thought Dean craved.
Sam had sent him here.
Sam had sent him to his reward.
Except… Sam perhaps didn't understand his brother quite as well as he believed.
This was not Dean's reward.
He had said "no" and in the eyes of many, he deserved nothing.
But in the eyes of the few, he deserved everything.
Fate. Destiny. Family. Blood.
John Winchester's bloodline had triumphed.
Sam's blood may have been tainted by Azazel's, but like Dean, like Adam, Sam was still John Winchester's bloodline.
Fate.
Destiny.
Family.
Blood.
The cage had fallen open.
There had been one chance of escape.
And here he was.
As Michael stepped out from beneath the broken streetlight and walked toward the brightly lit house, he knew what he must do.
He would give Dean the reward he deserved. The reward he had earned.
The reward he truly desired.
Michael would give Dean back his brother, whole and unharmed.
The brother Michael had tightly gripped and raised up from Perdition.
The brother Michael had saved.
The brother who had saved Michael.
Michael would return Dean's brother to him, and Sam would finally receive his reward.
The End
