Disclaimer: Supernatural and its characters are not my intellectual property.
The weather was rainy outside the doors of the Men of Letters' bunker. Sam briskly walked back inside, carrying groceries with him. He went down to the kitchen and put away the groceries, and went to check on Dean in his room.
He knocked on the door. Dean called, "Yeah?"
"I brought back some groceries from the store," Sam said.
"Thanks for the heads-up."
Sam turned away from the door and walked out to the living room.
Sam couldn't bear watching his brother these days. He felt as if he had been jettisoned from the comforts of being the little brother, and now, when the time had come to hold Dean up, he felt like he couldn't do much.
He searched and searched for an answer, for the secret that would help Dean overcome the Mark of Cain. Every day it seemed more and more hopeless, and his brother seemed closer to becoming a monster again.
He remembered that. When Dean had become a demon, he had been terrified. Terrified of what Dean might do, terrified of having to kill his own brother.
Sam was still terrified. He sat down at the table and opened up his laptop. He had six tabs open about the Mark of Cain, and another three about potential cases. He didn't want to look at any more research by now; he was sick of it. But it was his duty. He had to save his brother before he turned into a monster. A demon. Again.
His phone rang, and he fished it out of his pocket. "Hey, Cas."
"Hello, Sam. How are you?"
"I'm good," Sam replied, scrolling down an article on the hidden meanings of the book of Genesis. "What do you need?"
"How's Dean?"
"He's back at the bunker. Same as he's been lately. Y'know, depressed, mopey, eating junk food, the whole nine yards."
"I'm sorry to hear that. Listen, I think I may have a lead."
"What? You do?" Sam closed his laptop and looked around to make sure Dean was still in his room. "Where are you?"
Castiel coughed. "I'm in Colorado. How fast can you get here? And don't-"
"Don't bring Dean," Sam finished. "I know. I'll tell him I've got to go to a funeral or something, one of my old college buddies maybe."
"Okay. Goodbye, Sam."
"Bye, Cas. I'll be there as quick as I can." Cas hung up, and Sam stood. He walked back to Dean's room and knocked on the door. "Hey, Dean?"
"Yeah?"
"I've gotta go to Colorado. Will you be okay back here?"
"Uh, yeah, I guess. What is it?"
"It's, um, it's an old friend of mine, from Stanford. He got killed in a car accident and his funeral's tomorrow," Sam said.
Dean's answer came back through the door. "Okay. When will you get back?"
"Pretty soon, within the week. Anyway, I'm gonna take the Impala. You've got enough food to keep you fed for a week here."
"All right. Drive safe, Sammy."
Sam nodded even though his brother couldn't see him. The truth was, unless there was a case, Dean spent most of his time in his room with a tub of chocolate ice cream and his classic rock playlist. Sam did most of the cleaning and heavy lifting around the bunker these days.
Sam grabbed the keys to the Impala and headed outside, back into the rain. He got in and turned on the engine. Time to go meet up with Castiel and see what he had to say.