A/N: Hello my dear readers and welcome to the continued journey of the brothers in the universe I created. This is number three of the trilogy and will delve into issues left unanswered in the previous story. I have spent weeks editing and rewriting trying to decide if I have given enough or too much to get you interested in this story. It seems like the first chapter is always the hardest to do because that's what will get the reader's attention. I hope the beginning will draw you in and keep you interested for the ride. There will be highs and lows, darkness and light for the brothers. I do love reviews so if you can please leave me one I would love it. Enough from me, enjoy. NC

Disclaimer: I do not own SPN and this is my own creation.

Chapter 1

Lightening flashed in the distance brightening the ebony sky and a few minutes later the rumble of thunder sounded letting people know the storm was heading their way. The night was darker than usual with the cloud cover and made it seem more ominous and dreary for anyone having to be out in it. The heaviness of the rain could be smelled and felt in the air as the trees bent with wind that was preceding the storm. The mood outside reflected the mood inside the small room of the hospital where two brothers waited on the storm to pass. One was sleeping fitfully and the other was keeping his vigilant watch over him like a good brother would. He sipped some lukewarm coffee and grimaced at the taste deciding it wasn't worth drinking anymore to help keep him awake. He tossed it in the trash can nearby and settled back into the recliner trying to let himself wind down and the adrenaline rush to wear off.

The room was dimly lit by the off set lighting that cast long shadows throughout. The only sound was the soft hiss of the air coming from the vent overhead making the room feel cool. The brother in the bed moved slightly and rolled his head that was raised slightly so he could breathe easier. Movement beside the bed had the other lanky body getting up and pulling a blanket up over his brother not wanting him to get cold. He smoothed and tucked it around him, checking to be sure he wasn't running a fever before sitting back down in the recliner that was positioned as close to the bed as possible. The younger of the two drew in a couple of deep breaths as he leaned back in the recliner trying to relax his tense body. He was exhausted and running on empty, but was afraid to close his eyes for fear his brother might need him even though he had bribed the doctor into mildly sedating him so he would hopefully sleep through the night. He knew if his brother was alert enough, he would be out of here no matter what the doctors said. He was still berating himself for not seeing sooner how sick his older brother was and had forced him to go to the doctor, even if he had to knock him out and drag him there.

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They had found a hunt a couple weeks back and everything that could go wrong went wrong and then some. They were banged up pretty bad afterwards and Sam didn't think anything of it when Dean seemed to get moody and withdrawn and wouldn't let him check his injuries. He thought it might have to do with the fact that it would be a year the following week since Everlee, Dean's girlfriend, had been murdered by a stalker. Dean had taken her loss very hard. She had been the love of his life and losing her had left a huge hole in his soul and shattered his heart. He actually couldn't believe how quickly time had passed and she had been gone for this long. Even though Dean hadn't mentioned anything about it, Sam could tell he knew it was getting close by the way he zoned out with a lost, faraway look on his face and the emptiness of his eyes. He had hoped they would be near Bobby's and Sam could get Dean to take a break for a few days or a week to let him grieve his loss.

Neither of them complained about their injuries, but he noticed Dean was acting like he was in more pain than usual. He was moving slower and was holding his stomach, but when Sam asked him about it; Dean told him something he ate didn't agree with him. He accepted that answer and didn't press Dean further about it. A couple of days later Sam had found a possible hunt and they were heading to the town when Dean had to keep stopping so he could throw up or have a bout of dry heaves. After the third stop, Sam bullied him into letting him drive. He noticed a thin sheen of sweat on his brow, and Dean was curled in on himself with his arms wrapped around his upper body as he shivered. Sam's first thought was Dean was coming down with the flu and decided to call in other hunters to take the case and find them a motel room for a few days so he could recoup and maybe head for Bobby's.

Sam knew for sure that Dean was really, really sick when he didn't complain about him stopping and getting a room for them and handing the case to other hunters. Dean went straight to the bathroom and closed the door before Sam could question him about his sickness. He took the Impala and found a drug store so he could stock up on medicine, Gatorade and a few other items to take care of his brother. He found Dean was already in bed, buried beneath several blankets when he got back. He unpacked his purchases and opened the thermometer to read the directions before going over to his brother and running it across his forehead much to Dean's grumbling and slapping at his hands. He frowned when the reading was just over 100 degrees and went to look through the medicine he had gotten deciding what would be best to give him. After some protest from Dean, Sam finally got some medicine in him and got him to drink a little Gatorade before he began to doze.

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A couple of hours later, Sam had gone out for dinner and came back to find him curled up on the bathroom floor in intense, excruciating pain. He tried to help him up and saw Dean couldn't straighten up and he felt hotter than before. After Sam got him to the bed, he checked his temperature finding that it had gone up to 101.7 and his pulse was racing. When Dean cried out in pain from Sam touching his right side, Sam knew he needed to get him to the hospital immediately. There was no doubt that Dean had appendicitis and he was pretty sure it was close to rupturing, if it hadn't already. Sam got him up and to the Impala, then ran back in and packed up what little was unpacked before finding the nearest hospital and rushing to it.

Dean was taken almost immediately to surgery once they got to the emergency room and Sam waited impatiently in the waiting room for any news. He knew having your appendix out was pretty common, but if it had ruptured, from what he found online could be very dangerous and life threatening. He was shaken up and worried as he got up and paced the room wishing someone would come and tell him something about his brother. It seemed like hours had passed to him, but it really hadn't when finally a doctor came out to talk to him. He explained that Dean's appendix had indeed ruptured before they were able to remove it. They had irrigated and flushed the area and started him on antibiotics that he would need to continue for at least a week. He questioned the scrapes and bruising on Dean's body and Sam convinced him they had been hiking and Dean had been climbing a steep slope slipping and falling before Sam could stop him. His reason was accepted by the doctor without too many more questions, though he still had a doubtful look on his face. The doctor explained that he was in recovery and should be fine and if he didn't show any signs of infection then he could be discharged in a couple of days. Sam had been so relieved with the news that he had to step into the restroom to let himself breakdown and cry so as to let his body get rid of some of the stress he had been under. Sam was so focused on taking care of Dean, he was not taking care of himself and Dean was not in the right mind to see just how worn out, worried, the weight loss and stress his brother was under or he would have intervened. He pulled himself together, sniffing and wiping his face before splashing cold water on it. He dried his face and hands and drew in a long breath and let it out, doing this several times before heading back out to see when Dean would be put in a room.

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Movement from the bed had Sam getting back up to check on his brother. Dean shifted and moaned softly, but didn't wake as Sam helped him get comfortable again and adjusted his covers. He looked down at his sleeping brother and it hit him at how close he came to losing him to something as simple as appendicitis. Once it seemed that he was resting easy again, Sam dropped back into the recliner and started thinking back over the past year. He pulled his journal from his pack and absently began to flip through the pages. He had documented their hunts since he had started hunting with Dean. He knew Dean had a journal too, but out of respect neither read the others. He found the first hunt after the tragic incident with Everlee and started reading from there. Some he just scanned, others he took a little extra time reading. He would scribble an extra note on some of the pages giving a little more detail or missed fact. He hoped doing this would help him stay awake and keep his mind occupied.

He had taken Dean to the cabin to give him some time after Everlee's funeral and it took him getting really sick to snap Dean from his funk and down the road toward healing. They had stayed there for a couple of weeks after Castiel had healed him to give Dean time to adjust and come to terms with what had happened. From there the brothers traveled back to Bobby's where Dean threw himself into fixing anything that was broken around the place, from cars to steps to leaking roof to cabinet doors. Sam could only stand back and watch his brother trying to make an effort to move on and keep busy and helped where he could. He was starting to worry about him until out of the blue Dean found a possible hunt a half day away. Sam figured Dean wanted to get back into the game to keep his mind off his loss. He didn't argue with him and went along with going back to hunting, but he was going to keep a close eye on Dean. Even thought he acted like he was better, Sam could still feel a deep sadness in his soul. He tried to hide it from Sam, but he could tell, plus the special bond that they had let Sam know his brother all too well.

The brothers had gone to Blackwater Ridge, Lost Creek, Colorado to investigate reports of missing hikers. At first they didn't know whether it was an animal attack or something else until they ran into a sister and brother, Haley and Ben Collins, who were looking for their older brother, Tommy. He had been hiking with two friends and all of them had disappeared. She showed them the last message sent to her by Tommy and Sam spotted something on the video. When he slowed the video down, looking at it frame by frame, it showed a shadow running by the tent so fast if you blinked you didn't see it. Not able to stop Haley and Ben from heading into the forest to search for their brother, they tagged along knowing whatever was out there was dangerous and deadly and the siblings would be no match for it. They found the wrecked camp site, but no sign of what happened to Tommy and his two friends. Turned out they were being hunted by a wendigo that captured Dean and Haley and Sam and Ben had to try and rescue them. They found Tommy, who was still alive, but got trapped in the old mine by the wendigo. It was Dean who used himself as bait and finally killed the monster with a flare gun and they were able to hike out, a little beat up but alive. Of course the story for the authorities was a huge bear attacked them. Haley thanked the brothers for saving her family and wished them well.

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Sam barely had time to catch his breath when Dean had them racing off to Toledo, Ohio to check out the sudden death of Steven Shoemaker. They blended in with the mourners at the house and learned from the younger daughter, Lilly, she and her friends had summoned Bloody Mary and that's why their father died. She blamed herself that it had happened. Donna, Lilly's older sister, ridiculed her for telling the story, but her friend Charlie was spooked. Another friend, Jill, teased Charlie by saying Bloody Mary three times and pretended she was attacked only to actually die later. Sam and Dean snuck into Donna's house and discovered a message on back of the bathroom mirror pointing to Mr. Shoemaker possibly killing his wife and tell Donna who kicked them out not believing them. When she says Bloody Mary three times, Mary goes after Charlie and she called Sam for help. They take her back to their motel room and covered or removed anything that was reflective to protect her. Sam found the Mary that was murdered in front of a mirror and they track the mirror down to an antique shop in town. Dean decides he will try and summon Mary to the mirror and destroy it, but Sam doesn't want him too because he thinks it will be too dangerous. Dean is determined to do it over his brother's protests that he knows she will come after him. In the end, Dean fell under Mary's spell until Sam used another mirror so she would see herself, thus drawing her into the mirror and then he destroyed it. Sam couldn't get Dean to talk about what happened and had to let it drop for fear of him completely shutting him out.

Sam looked up when a nurse came in and quietly checked Dean's vitals before leaving them alone. He leaned forward as Dean mumbled something in his sleep and wondered if he was dreaming of Everlee again. The first few months after her death, had Dean screaming himself awake nearly every night and Sam trying his best to comfort him. Sam hoped the nightmares wouldn't invade his brother's thoughts so he could rest and heal. He took out his cell and tried calling their father to tell him about what had happened and where they were in case he might be nearby and could stop by, but he doubted he would. He got his voice mail and left a brief message not sure if he would get it or not. It seemed things were distance with their father and they had seen less of him this past year and that bothered Sam. He was not sure what was going on with him and John wasn't one to share.

Sam was too preoccupied to sense the presence of the angel as he stood by Dean's bed and looked down on him. Castiel had made sure Dean wouldn't have any ill effects from the surgery and having his appendix rupture before it could be removed. He knew not to completely heal him because it would be noticed by his brothers and would cause trouble for him. He wanted to stay here on Earth with these brothers and didn't want to jeopardize it. Castiel gently placed a hand on Dean's forehead and drew happy memories to the surface to allow him to rest easier. Dean shifted in the bed and the younger brother was instantly alert and speaking softly to him. The angel knew he wasn't needed now and vanished, causing Sam to glance where he had been when he heard the faint disturbance in the air, but figured it was just him being exhausted and stressed. He didn't think about the angel or that he might be there checking on his brother.

"Its ok bro, you're in the hospital." Sam whispered to him as he rubbed his arm to calm him. "You were really sick...You should of told me." he continued to talk to him in a soft voice. "You had to have emergency surgery so they could remove your appendix. Can you believe that would take you out of the game for a while? Something as simple as that?" he chuckled for a moment gripping his hand and squeezing gently. "What if I play you your music list? Maybe it'll help keep you relaxed." Sam said pulling out Dean's phone and finding his music. He lowered the volume and laid the phone on the pillow near his ear. He could just hear the soft melody of a song coming from the cell as Dean turned his head toward the music like he wanted to listen to it.

"...I'll rise up
Rise like the day
I'll rise up
In spite of the ache
I will rise a thousand times again
And we'll rise up
High like the waves
We'll rise up
In spite of the ache
We'll rise up
And we'll do it a thousand times again
For you oh oh oh oh oh"

Sam remembered the song from when they were at the cabin and smiled as he saw his brother's face in his mind. He wasn't surprised that Dean had this song in his play list because of the meaning behind it. He thought it was what helped Dean to finally start the process of healing. Another song began that pulled Sam back from his thoughts and he listened to the words.

"Ramblers in the wilderness we can't find what we need
We get a little restless from the searching
Get a little worn down in between
Like a bull chasing the matador is the man left to his own schemes
Everybody needs someone beside em' shining like a lighthouse from the sea

Brother, let me be your shelter
Never leave you all alone
I can be the one you call
When you're low
Brother, let me be your fortress
When the night winds are driving on
Be the one to light the way
Bring you home..."

Tears came to Sam's eyes as the song continued and he wondered if Dean had saved this because of the bond that they had and the support they gave each other. He looked up from his journal reading and continued listening to the song.

"...And when you call and need me near
Sayin' where'd you go?
Brother, I'm right here
And on those days when the sky begins to fall
You're the blood of my blood
We can get through it all

Brother, let me be your shelter
Never leave you all alone
I can be the one you call
When you're feelin' low
Brother, let me be your fortress
When the night winds are driving on
Be the one to light the way
Bring you home..."

Not able to contain his emotions, Sam slipped into the bathroom and sat on the commode as he sobbed. He grabbed a towel and pressed it to his mouth to suppress any noise of his breakdown. Nearly a year had gone by now and Dean still wouldn't really talk about Everlee or what happened. Sam tried not to be a pest, but he tried to broach the subject a number of times to be shot down by Dean immediately. He would either change the subject, but usually got up and left without any explanation and came back later smelling of alcohol. Sam didn't know if he was hurting or helping trying to get Dean to talk, but he knew it wasn't good for him to hold all those pent up emotions inside because one day he was going to explode. Sam coughed and cleared his throat as he wiped his tear stained face. He got up and turned on the cold water to splash it on his face as he pulled himself together. Sam knew he needed to be the one to be strong right now and in the coming week. After wiping his face, he stepped back out and resumed his vigil by his brother's bed. A new song began to play he had not heard before and he looked to his brother's dimly lit face with a frown. He wondered what had Dean saving this song and if there were any hidden meanings behind the words that he should be worried about or did he have it just because it was soulful sad song.