Summary: It's like looking at crystal. You never thought it could be more beautiful when it's broken, and can't help but be proud that you were the one who did it.

Disclaimer: Nothing Supernatural is mine, and no money is being made.

It's like looking at crystal… clear, clean, sparkling and whole. The way the light catches it just right, shining through it. It's so beautiful, you can't help yourself for wanting to touch it, hold it in your hands. You shouldn't, but you do it anyway.

What results in the end are dirty smudges, marks, and cracks. It's devastating, and at the same time, beautiful. You never thought it could be more beautiful when it's broken, and can't help but be proud that you were that one who did it. You left the smudges, the marks, the cracks so thoroughly, it's as if you've made it permanently yours. It's your fingerprints etched in the glass. And even broken, it's a prize worth keeping.

So you wait now, hoping that the one who kept the crystal clean and whole, treasured it all these years, will now abandon it, toss it away because its damaged goods and no longer useful to them, no longer special and beautiful. Not like it is to you. You find yourself hoping that the policy 'You Break It, You Bought It' will apply today.

However, as you watch him, the one who had tried to hard and managed for so long to keep this crystal clean and whole, you see the way he holds your fragile and broken mess, the way he looks at it. A sadness sweeps across his face and you smile a little more, hoping, knowing that he'll do what you expects. Throw away this broken, beautiful thing, let you keep the shattered remains for your own.

A pause and then the unexpected happens. He gathers this damages treasure closer to himself, still holds it dear, and it's now clear to you, he doesn't intend to throw it away, he intends to repair it, to wash away the smudges, to erase the marks, to seal the cracks and put the pieces back together again.

This angers you as he intends to undo all that you've done, to erase the evidence of your crime. A single though stops your anger for a moment. Perhaps this now broken treasure will become whole again, but never as it once was, never fully whole. You'll still leave a mark, invisible, but you know it'll be there. And you're satisfied, for now.

You turn and leave this shattered crystal behind and wonder if it will be just as beautiful when you find it again, and after you've broken it again.

******

He's dirty and broken and quietly sobbing into the warm body in front of him, trying to focus on the strong arms wrapped around him, holding him close, protecting him… not the hands of another, a stranger who was cold and careless, left him with unwanted marks. He's shaking at the memory, the sobs catching in his chest, closing his throat and he's finding it hard to breathe now.

******

He wraps his arms a little tighter around the shaking form, one of his hands resting on the others nape, making soothing strokes with his thumb as his fingers gently move through the others hair. His own tears well up as he realizes he's failed in his protection of the one thing that means the most to him in the world, his brother. And now there's nothing he can say or do to erase the pain so clearly etched on his face. But he'll be damned if he doesn't try. Pulling back slightly, he cups the tear-stained cheek in his hand, stared into those eyes that had always spoke volumes more than words, and swears 'never again' as he pulls his brother to him into another embrace, one filled with a promise of comfort, understanding, and safety.

******

"It'll be okay, Sammy. I'll fix this. I swear to god, I'll fix this."