Disclaimer: This is a transformative work based on the original creation of E. Kripke. No monetary gain is being made here – seriously… you can even turn my pockets out – better yet, send Dean…
E/O CHALLENGE
A/N: Technically this is a double-drabble. This word would NOT leave me alone. I still owe people reviews. I still suck. And real life is still screwing with me… but I had to get this off my chest…
Word: Drag(ged)
Word count: 200 on the nose (technically still cheating)
Spoilers for season 4 (I guess)….
It was a small tell, but one that informed a much larger picture. Sam noticed when Dean dragged the toe of his left foot as they made their way back to the Impala.
All of Dean's tells were small. It didn't matter, though, how far apart they might have grown in recent months. You couldn't undo a lifetime of conditioning.
So as distracted as Sam might have been, as angry as Sam might have been – at Dean, at the world, at Lillith, at nothing, Sam still noticed, catalogued, and waited.
A slight irregular hitch of breath.
A small shift off centre.
That tiny hesitation in forward momentum.
"Dean?"
"Smmeee?" and Dean's eyes rolled back in his head.
Classic Dean concussion manifesting after a five minute tirade of I'm fines….
Sam caught him on the way down, gently eased him to the pavement, and waited the count of 100 – was ready to roll Dean to his knees to lose everything he'd eaten in the last week.
"Shut up, Dean," Sam cut his brother off before he could roll back into denial.
The demon blood that coursed through Sam's veins had changed him, but some things ran too deep to ever change.