SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT! You have been warned... If you have not seen 7x03, you might not want to read this. Either you don't want to be spoiled or you might not get it.
Summary: Alternate ending to 7x03. Instead of the little boy standing at the door, Dean turns and finds Sam.
Dean catches Amy before she can collapse to the floor and slowly eases her onto the bed. The thing's eyes are wide open, staring into nothingness. And although Dean is beyond grateful that she would kill her own mother to protect Sam, she was also a monster. And monsters had to die.
He pulls the knife out of her mid-section. It slides out almost too easily; it does nothing to ease the guilt that's already slowly eating away at his soul.
Job done, Dean turns to leave, but freezes when he sees the large shadow standing in the open doorway. His breath leaves him, and he can only gape stupidly, mouth hanging open like a fish out of water.
Sam stares back, hands clenched at his sides, gaze lingering on Amy's limp body. He must've hotwired a car and followed him.
"How did you know I was here?" Dean breathes.
Sam laughs lightly. "Since when did you follow doctor's orders?"
Dean shrugs.
Sam's swallowing hard, Adam's apple bobbing up and down. Finally, he raises his eyes to his brother's. They aren't overflowing with tears, but they are shining in the setting sun's light. Finally, he speaks again. "You said that you trusted me."
Dean takes a step forward and automatically defends himself. "Sam, you know what we do..."
"She didn't do anything wrong, Dean!" Sam's temper is getting the better of him, and he races in quickly, raises his hand, and nails his brother square on his left cheek. Dean staggers back, collapsing onto the bed next to Amy. "You trusted me!" Sam seethes. "Or, at least, you said you did. Why did you kill her?"
"Because she was a monster, damnit!" Dean snaps, glaring up at his tall little brother. "And like it or not, she was gonna be hunted in the end."
"She said that she didn't work like that," Sam sobs. "She didn't live off of live humans, she took the dead ones. I told you that, and I'm sure as hell she did, too."
Dean looks at the knife in his hands, Amy's blood covering the blade and oozing down the side. "I had no choice, Sam," he whisperes. "She would feed again, they always do."
Sam backs off. His body sags, shoulders collapsing and head drooping. He gulps loudly, then exhales shakily. "I'll be at the room," he mumbles so softly that Dean has to strain to hear.
When he processes the words, Sam's already outside. He hears a car shuddering as Sam struggles to hotwire it again, and then the car is speeding down the road.
Dean trembles slightly, then looks down at the pretty blonde girl who had saved his brother's life once. In return, he had killed her, leaving one monster down and her beast of a kid running loose somewhere. Slowly, he reaches out a quaking hand and slides her lids closed. He takes one look at her still form, then walks back out to the Impala.
It doesn't take long for him to find the room in which Sam has been given. First off, there's no car outside the door, and second off the room is so shut off that it could possibly attract the wrong kind of attention for the wrong idea.
Dean's able to pick the lock with no problem. Once he's inside, he turns to see Sam curled up away from him, facing the windows which are dark from the thick red curtains. Dean pauses, then shrugs off his jacket and dumps it on the nearby chair.
Sam shifts a little, moving a little farther away from Dean.
Dean sighs. "Sam, I'm sorry..."
"Don't even bother," Sam's voice is rough, hoarse, and Dean suspects either his little brother was sobbing or he was screaming. Either way, it sounds painful.
Dean looks down, rubbing his temples. Finally, he looks at Sam, who's still facing away and refuses to look at his brother. "You know what, Sam?" he asks. "I am sorry for what I had to do, but I had no other choice. She was a monster, murdering innocent people to satisfy an unnatural hunger. And even if it was for her kid, how do you know that she didn't have a bite now and then?"
Sam starts to tremble visibly, and Dean curses under his breath before snatching up the top cover on his own bed to lay it over Sam. "I am grateful that she saved your life," he whispers. "Really, I am. But she was a monster, Sam, good or not. And we hunt monsters, right?"
"You said you trusted me," Sam cries, voice shaking. "You said that you trusted me when I told you that she was good! And then you turn around and kill her?"
Dean sits pressed against the middle of his brother's back and rubs Sam's shoulder with one hand, ignoring the way Sam continuously tries to pull away. "It had to be done," he clarifies one last time.
"We don't kill every monster we meet," Sam shoots back. "What about that vampire coven back when we met Gordon? Or Jack, who tried so hard to stay human and not give into temptation?"
"That's different," Dean scoffs, never ceasing his massaging. "The vampires weren't killing live people and probably never had. And Jack did try his hardest, but he ended up falling for the temptation and we ended up having to kill him, remember Sam?"
Sam sniffles, then, in a small, helpless voice, asks, "What about me?"
Dean stops then. His body shuts down as memories flood his vision, of Sam using his powers to stop Samhain, Sam drinking blood in front of Dean for the first time from the demon that held Jimmy's family hostage, Lilith dead and opening the gate for Lucifer to roam free again because of Sam's powers...
He stops thinking when Sam sobs out. "I'm a monster too! I'm no better than them! They all give into the temptation, and so did I!"
"Sammy, no..."
"Don't deny it," Sam sits up, and Dean can only stare into his baby brother's hurt eyes as the tears build up and flood over. "I had a weakness. It bothered me, making me crave for it, and when I gave into the temptation, I couldn't get enough."
"Sam, that's different," Dean pleads, begging his brother to understand. "You're my brother, and you're the kindest, friendliest person I have ever known. You didn't do it because it was needed. You did it because you were tricked into thinking that it was something good."
"Stop making up excuses Dean," Sam snaps, and more tears fall down his face. "I was doing it partly because Ruby told me it was right, and partly because I craved it. It felt so right, Dean..."
Dean can't stand it anymore, and he grabs his brother in a bone-crushing hug. Sam doesn't resist, just buries his face into Dean's shoulder and sobs and sobs loudly. Dean rubs his back comfortingly, shushing him and holding him close. "Shh, Sammy," he soothes. "It's gonna be okay, I promise. It'll all turn out better, you'll see."
And then, after listening to his brother continue to cry, he tilts his head slightly on top of Sam's. "I'll make it better, I promise."
Sam sobs and cries for a long time, but finally, when he's reduced to sniffling and sighing shakily, Dean hears a muffled, "I trust you."