Disclaimer: Saddly the Winchesters and their world belong to Eric Kripke. I don't own them, but I wish that I did.

The Beginning of the end

The battle had been fierce. The outcome too important to each of them to let the other win, but in the end it was Dean that won. Regretfully, but with the knowledge that he had no choice he had used the broken table leg to knock Sam unconscious.

His eyes filled with unshed tears as he lifted his brother into the one chair left unbroken in the small cabin they had been staying in for the past week. Swiftly, but efficiently he tied Sam to it making sure that the ropes were not too tight. He knew his brother, knew he would be able get out of the binds that tied him to the chair, but not before Dean was safely on his way.

Dean went to the sink wetting a clean cloth and bringing it back to clean the blood from side of his brothers' head. Deciding stitches were unnecessary he used two butterfly tapes, some Neosporin and a large band aid to repair the worst of the damage he had done his sibling. Once that task was complete Dean sat on the edge of the table and waited for Sam to wake. A single tear slid down his cheek.

- - - - -

Fury filled Sam as sat bound to the chair with Dean kneeling beside him. "Untie me, Dean," he demanded.

Dean shook his head, his face filled with sadness. "I'm sorry Sammy," he said. "I can't do that."

"Please," Sam begged. "Don't do this Dean. Let me fight for you."

"The fight's over Sam," Dean said. "There's no way out of the deal. You tried. I know you did and… I'm… I'm sorry there wasn't a way, but I won't have you hurt when the hounds come for me. I can't, it would make all this meaningless."

Sam struggled uselessly to get of the ropes his brother had used to tie him to the chair. He had a knife up his sleeve to cut them, but if he revealed it now Dean would just take it away. He be stuck later using the one he had hidden in his shoe and that one would take more time to get to. "Dean…" Sam said earnestly as tears filled his eyes and began rolling down his cheeks.

Dean reached out resting his palm on the side of Sam's face and using his thumb to wipe the tears from his cheek. "Don't Sam," he said. "Please." He choked up as tears began to stream down his face too. "I… I have to do this alone… and I have to know you're safe when I do. It's all that matters to me now." Dean stood up. "I want you to quit hunting Sammy. Go back to school. Get married. Raise a couple kids. Grow old with someone you love." He stopped. The emotions running through him were far stronger then he would have ever thought possible. "Don't be like Dad… like me," he told Sam. "Live a long, happy life. Live it for me."

Despair filled Sam as he realized that Dean was saying goodbye. "Dean no...," Sam cried.

"You're not allowed to say no, Sam," Dean said shaking his head. "Not to this." Dean walked to the other side of the room, grabbed his bag, opened it and pulled out his favorite .45 then reached under the pillow of his bed and pulled out his knife. He walked back to Sam who was struggling with his bonds again. "Don't Sam," he said resolutely. "Please… I don't want to have to knock you out again." He set the gun and the knife on the table. "I know how long it will take you to get that knife out of your sleeve and cut the ropes. Just wait… please."

Sam stopped struggling. He looked into Dean's eyes and read the sadness and the determination to do whatever he had to do to protect Sam. He nodded. "Dean I…" It was Sam's turn to choke up.

"I know Sam," Dean told him. "Me too." He bent down and placed a kiss on Sam's forehead shocking both himself and his brother. It was something he'd always done when Sam was little and hurting. It was strangely comforting to both of them.

Dean placed his phone on the table next to his gun and knife. "Call Bobby when you get loose. He's not that far away." He reached into his jacket and pulled out an envelope setting it with the phone and weapons. "Dad wasn't the only one to keep secrets Sammy," he told his brother. "Everything you need to start over is in here. You're name's been cleared with the law, your record expunged. You have a clean slate."

Shock ripped through Sam. "How?"

Dean smiled at him. "Friends in high places," he replied. "Dad and I did a job in DC while you were at Stanford, saved a judge and his family from a nasty demon that was possessing his youngest daughter. Let's just say he owed us a favor."

Rage rumbled right over the top of the sadness that had gripped Sam only moments before. "I don't want it!" Sam told him angrily. "I'm not going back to school. I'm never getting married. Screw having kids. I don't care about any of that anymore, Dean!" He stopped long enough to take a breath. "How long?" he demanded. "How long have you been planning my future without asking me what I wanted? Well I don't want that! I want you... alive!"

"Sam…" Dean said.

"No!" Sam yelled. "How long Dean? How long have you been wasting your time on me, when you should have been finding a way to save yourself?"

"We tried Sam," Dean told him.

"No we didn't!" Sam yelled. "I tried… you didn't… never once did you make any effort to get out of this deal."

"I couldn't," Dean said shrugging his shoulders.

"Why not Dean," Sam demanded. "Why could you spend your final year trying to save me when you should have been trying to save yourself?"

"Because any attempt on my part to wheedle my way out of the deal would have negated it," he told his brother. "You would have died."

Sam looked at his brother in shock, his face pale. "What?" he asked wondering to himself how he ever could have doubted that his brother wanted to live. Dean wanted to live, but not at the expense of his death.

"If I had tried to get out of the deal," Dean explained. "You would have died. I couldn't do anything to help or I would have broken the deal." Dean stood and put his hand on his brothers' shoulder, looking him in the eye. "You're the most important person in my life Sam. I would do anything for you. The price I'm paying… it's a small price to pay to save you."

Sam shook his head. "It's too high a price," he said. "I'm not worth it… just… let me go. Try and break the deal… let me die. I was supposed to die… not you."

"You're worth it Sam," he said once again wiping the tears from his brothers face and ignoring his own. "You're stronger then I am. You always have been."

Dean turned and walked to the door of the cabin and Sam realized that this was it. His brother was leaving and he'd never see him again. "Dean!" he said his voice full of emotion.

Dean opened the door but at Sam's call he turned again. "I love you Sammy," he said. Then, alone and unarmed, Dean walked out into the darkness knowing that he would never see his brother again.

A/N - I'm not sure if I want to leave this one as a one shot and end it here or continue on with this story. I have some idea's that I think would work for a few more chapters, but I'm not sure if I should continue or end it here... what do you think?