"You turned yourself into a monster, but you didn't need a feather to fly." Ruby's triumphant face leered up at him. "It had to be you, Sammy. It always had to be you!"

"No, " Sam yelled as she disappeared from view. "Noooo,...no...no..."

:

:

"Hey, man...Sammy. Wake up!"

Sam's eyelids creaked apart to find Dean's worried face replacing the demonic one in his dreams, his brother's arms tightly gripping his shoulders. Shaking him.

"Dean..." he croaked. "What..?"

"You back to having nightmares, dude? It must have been a doozy, cos you were screaming the place down."

"I was..?

"Yeah. Thought there was a legion of demons after your ass. So, gonna share with the class?"

:

Dean released him and Sam ran a hand through his sweaty hair. "Just run of the mill stuff," he offered. "Nothing important."

"Come on, Sammy. Get it off your chest. Tell me, otherwise you'll be brooding about it all day."

"It was Ruby," Sam sighed knowing Dean wouldn't let it go until he spilled. "That time in the convent, when I killed Lilith. Don't know why I was having a dream about it after all this time. It's not as if we haven't had more recent crap to hit us."

"That bitch," Dean growled. "I wish someone would resurrect her so I could tear her apart with my bare hands."

:

Despite the remnants of the nightmare still holding him in its grasp, Sam couldn't stop the ironic huff that came to his lips.

"It wasn't all her fault Dean. I took the bait like a newbie, let myself be led down the garden path."

"No!" Dean retorted emphatically. "She got her claws into you when you were at your lowest. I know, 'cos when I lost you at Cold Oak, I'd have done anything, fallen in with anyone, to get you back.

Being an easy target when you've lost your brother isn't exclusive to you, Sammy. We're both guilty of not being able to let go."

:

"Not even now, Dean? " Sam asked softly. "Now that we've died so many times."

"Nope," Dean confirmed. "Not even now. When I see you down, Sam, my gut twists and turns like a ball of writhing snakes. Terrified this might be the time you don't get up again."

"Would you be surprised if I said it's the same for me?"

Sam caught his brother's gaze.

:

Dean shrugged. "What can I say, Sammy. We're hopeless cases. Worse than a married couple for we can't even divorce."

"A lifetime commitment, huh?" Sam said, a rueful grin on his lips.

"Yeah. For better for worse, I guess."

:

But Dean had used up all his chick-flick allowance for the night. Reaching across his brother, he grabbed the TV remote.

"Scoot over, dude. I'm in the mood for some brain-numbing TV."

:

As Godzilla's roars filled the room, the brothers left all their worries and fears outside their little bubble of two.

Like little boys they laughed and elbowed their way through the movie they'd seen so often they knew the script by heart, secure in the knowledge that nothing could touch them as long as they were together.

:

The end