Author's Notes: Drabble because I don't think Sam came back well at all. He's gonna break down sooner or later.
Summary: Season 6. Sam couldn't be 'okay' forever. And when the dam broke, it broke.
Flawed Together
Dean stared, bereft, at the picture his brother presented. Sam was curled up, impossibly small in the corner. His knees were pulled up to his chest, forehead resting on them. Sam's fingers were clenched tight in his hair, hands over his ears trying to !.
Dean crouched in front of his Cage-freed little brother. He didn't dare touch him. Dean ran his hand over his mouth and took a breath.
"Hey...you remember what Pastor Jim told us that summer we stayed with him?"
Sam didn't move, didn't hear him, still whispering his mantra . 'I'm trying Sammy'
"He said...'our flaws are what make us human.'"
Sam didn't move, but the fingers pulling his hair out at the roots relaxed.
Dean sat next to his brother, still curled up against the wall, and sprawled out comfortably, Sam relaxing in incriments beside him.
"Who's more flawed than us, Sam?"
This wouldn't last, this momentary peace with Sam, within Sam. The youngest Winchester would always have these moments when hell caught up with him in a more horrifying way than Dean could have ever imagined. He would withdraw again. He would see things that weren't there and bash himself against walls and do anything to hurt himself, to punish himself, to make them be quiet again.
But for now...
Dean grinned.
He would take every moment he could get