Still His Brother

Warning: Some violence in this chapter. Also keep in mind that Dean's reactions now, how he looks at certain things will be different & he doesn't hold back some opinions that he has been.

Chapter Two

Jody had been stunned by hitting the far wall and then dropping to the hardwood floor. Shaking her head, she heard the damn mocking voice threatening to crucify Sam and felt her stomach drop to her boots. "No!" she shouted, trying to get up and reach some type of weapon only to be shoved back against the wall by an invisible power and held there as several black eyed men began to wrestle the weakly struggling hunter up from the floor.

The salt barrier she'd put down had been broken and she cursed violently. "Don't you touch him!" she yelled, wondering why the cavalry never seemed to show up in real life. "Sam!"

"I watched what his brother did to others in Hell. I always wanted to try a few of the tricks the legendary Dean Winchester did to souls in the Pit," the demon laughed as his power easily held the human still. He walked over to where it still took four of his best to control Sam's weak struggles. "Big brother won't be charging in to save you this time," he grabbed a handful of hair to jerk Sam's head back to slap him with a vicious backhand to the face before forcing a leather strap in his mouth.

"I want you to scream but we don't want to risk any nasty exorcisms," he gave another hard slap before smiling cruelly. "I might've gone easy on you if you hadn't escaped and made us chase you, hunter. Now I'm going to enjoy keeping you alive while I give you an up close and personal look at some of the things your hero did to others while he was Alastair's pet project. String him up!"

Sam's body was in agony and as the demons started to drag him to the cross he tried to fight but was unable to. He could hear Jody screaming for them to stop, to let him go but he knew that wasn't a possibility. Sam just wished he could help her.

He screamed as his back was slammed into the cross after it was pulled off the wall where it had hung ever since the church had been built.

Power held him in place as his broken arm was wrenched out straight to be held against the heavy polished wood and Sam struggled to not look away as the head demon held out a large rusty spike while hefting a hammer.

A piece of him wanted the bliss of unconsciousness so he wouldn't be awake to watch the spike be driven into his palm like he knew it was about to be but the side of him that had grown up with an ex-Marine for a father and an older brother who never flinched at anything had been taught better so despite the pain he was in, the shock and nausea rolling through his head and stomach Sam forced his eyes to stay as open as the swelling around one would allow to watch.

The sickening sound of metal striking flesh had Jody's stomach flipping as she looked away at the painful scream while demons laughed. "Bastards!" she screamed, more enraged at the callous torture Sam was enduring than the danger to herself. "Stop hurting him!"

"Oh, we haven't even begun to hurt him yet," the demon sneered, reaching for another spike as another demon yanked Sam's head back from where it had fallen to his heaving chest. "By the time I'm done, he'll be begging to die. It's just a shame that big brother isn't here to see us crucify you, boy. Maybe we should call him so he can hear you scream or…what the hell?"

He'd been about to drive the other spike into soft flesh when suddenly it seemed like a strong surge of power blew through the old church just as the heavy double doors that had still been barred blew open with a resounding slam that echoed through the old building while also causing a ripple of pain to shoot through the demons closest to the door.

Jody had been struggling against the power that still held her when it suddenly vanished and she dropped with a curse. She was about to try her luck against the demons who were determined to crucify Sam when she heard a deep, husky and totally pissed off voice speak and wasn't sure to be relieved or more worried.

"Hey! I think you assholes have something that still belongs to me."

Dean Winchester was beyond pissed off and it showed in not only the cold steel in his deep voice but also in the way his intense green eyes flashed to pure black the moment he stepped foot into the old church and saw the demons with his brother half nailed to a cross.

It hadn't taken half the amount of energy that he thought it would to teleport not only himself but also the Impala from where he was in Illinois to Blue Earth, Minnesota. The moment he'd stepped out of the car and heard the muffled agonized scream that tore through whatever good was still in his twisting soul the former hunter was glad to have power to spare because he planned to now do serious damages to the bastards inside.

Stepping into the church that still had memories from his youth, Dean's gaze flicked to Jody before shooting to the demon with the hammer and spike in his hand. "Two choices," he began slowly, voice pure hard steel as his one hand reached for the blade under his jacket while his other shot out to send four people who'd lunged toward him sailing across the main church floor without pausing a step.

"You can get your goddamn hands off of my brother and leave here with your possessed asses intact to take a message back to whoever the hell was stupid enough to send you after him to start with or…" Dean's eyes flashed to pure black while his lips curved into a slow cold smile as he grabbed one man by the throat to stab the bone blade that had once belonged to Cain through his chest. "…or I kill every single one of you for putting your hands on Sam," he dropped the corpse with a shrug. "Your choice."

The demon's leader felt the power and could also see his followers wavering as it was very easy to see that this man, this former hunter, had more power than they'd been led to believe. "Kill as many of them as you can, Winchester," he invited with a cold sneer, dropping both hammer and spike to reach back to grab Sam's throat while his minions took his bravado as a cue to all rush Dean. "I can still kill your brother before you could…ugh!"

"No, not with that demon killing blade stuck in your chest you can't," Dean didn't watch the demon fall after he used the power he now had to find and throw the blade to end the bragging demon's boasts. He heard a muffled cry of pain as Sam's body sagged without anyone holding him, the spike in his one hand the only thing keeping the hunter from collapsing to the ground. "Jody! Get to Sam!" he snapped, seeing the Sheriff had a clue path since the demons were either rushing him or running for escape…of which there was none. "Try to support him to keep the weight off that hand until I get to you!"

It had briefly stunned the woman when she'd seen the obvious change in Dean, when she'd watched him calmly kill the first demon as well as when the other one fell at what could only have been caused by a power she was just starting to realize he now had.

Jody knew she should feel afraid, to see whatever this was now in place of the hunter she'd known for the last five years but instead she pushed all of that aside to grab her dropped weapons and bolt the distance in order to get to a barely conscious Sam. "Don't take all day showing off!" she yelled back to him as she struggled to get an arm around Sam's waist to try to keep the pressure off of his pinned hand. "I think they're already impressed by the new tricks. I'll be impressed when you get your ass up here to help your brother!"

"Coming…mother," Dean smirked, the First Blade held in one hand while with a thought the demon killing blade they'd kept from Ruby landed in his other. He calmly looked at the demons still surrounding him to motion with the First Blade. "Bring it."

The fight was seriously one-sided. There were still close to a dozen, maybe more, demons that hadn't run or tried to as those who had attempted to flee were killed by a burst of power that didn't even slow Dean down as he met each attack with an eerie, almost calm, and effortless skill that soon left the floor of the church littered with burned out dead bodies.

When the last one fell he stood still to stare at the carnage before slowly taking a shaky breath to push the power back down, to make his eyes return to normal before he forgot about the dead demons as a sharp voice snapped his name in a tone that only Jody Mills could still use on him and he broke into a run. "Sam!"

"Well at least you still remember his name," Jody muttered, voice strained from trying to hold up nearly 200 pounds of dead weight of a badly injured Sam. "I'm so glad to see you could stop whatever you were doing to come play hero. Now do you want to get that goddamn spike out of your brother's hand or should I do that while still trying to hold him up?"

Even before he got to be like this, the Sheriff from Sioux Falls was about the only person left in his and Sam's lives that Dean would take that tone or attitude from without reacting without either snark or a fist. He thought this time would be different but as he hurried up to where she was trying to support Sam, he just shot her his usual look when humoring her 'Mom' tone and sarcasm. Then his full focus went to his brother.

"Sam," he murmured, gut clenching as he took in the actual damage that had been inflicted on his brother and wished he'd taken more time to make the demons suffer like he was almost certain Sam had suffered. "Sammy."

A soft whimper was heard as Sam's body shook from shock and pain. He jerked when his barely conscious body felt hands too big to be Jody's reach out to touch his face and tried to move but was trapped in agony with every move until a sharp voice was heard close to him; a voice that Sam knew he could never forget no matter what.

"Settle down and don't try to move. Let me get you free." Dean ordered swiftly after seeing that giving a harder snap to his brother's name seemed to settle his attempts to jerk free. He was surprised to see that his hands were shaking now when they hadn't before as he slid one arm carefully around his hurt brother to take the weight off of Jody and not missing the spots of blood soaking through Sam's shirt or how hot his body felt even through Dean's jacket sleeve. "Go out to the car, get in the trunk and grab a couple blankets, and the First Aid kit," he tossed this order to Jody while he eyed the spike that was pinning Sam's hand to the cross.

"Can you…" Jody paused to see him look at her and she nodded. "They gone?" she asked, deciding to take her water gun with her to be safe.

"Yeah, they're gone," Dean grunted, waiting for the woman to argue about leaving him alone with Sam but just felt her hand lightly touch his arm as she went to do what he told her to.

Dean knew he could have waited to send Jody to the car but he really didn't want her to watch as he pulled the bloody spike from where it was embedded in his little brother's hand. With his newfound strength he easily held Sam's weight while gently lifting his face with his hand to see bruised, bloody and swollen features along with one glassy eye that was fluttering as if trying to open.

"Hey, little brother," Dean was surprised to feel such weight in his chest as he looked at Sam now, knowing if he'd just have taken any of his brother's phone calls or if he hadn't left him like he had that this might not have happened. "Sammy, if you can hear me I need you to listen to me," he wasn't sure how far into his subconscious the pain might have driven his brother but he hoped he could hear him a little to understand this next part. "I know when you start to wake up that you're going to be scared and that you probably won't believe I'm real but right now I need to pull this out of your hand so I can get you off of this cross and down to the basement to see how bad they hurt you. This will hurt."

Jody had hurried out to the Impala, refusing to even wonder how the hell Dean had gotten here as quickly as he had. She'd only seen the inside of the trunk once and had been too busy not pointing out how illegal it was to have half of the stuff she'd seen. As she popped it now to grab what she was told to bring she jerked her head up at the cut off scream and knew now why Dean had wanted her out of the church.

By the time she collected the blankets, found the First Aid kit buried behind boxes of ammo and a few other things she thought might come in handy to hurry back inside Jody paused to take in the scene in front of her.

Dean had gotten the spike out of Sam's hand which allowed him to lower the younger man to the floor well away from the cross and had removed the leather gag. Now he was sitting with his back to it with Sam held loosely in his arms while applying pressure to his bleeding hand and appeared to be talking softly to him even though Sam was clearly, mercifully, unconscious.

"You're going to be fine, Sam. It's all going to be fine," he was saying, knowing his brother had passed out fully after the painful scream when the damn spike had come free and was just talking to let him hear his voice and also to stop the anger that had built again at the knowledge that demons had gone after his brother. "I guess I've been making too many waves with the demon factions and they thought it wise to target you. It looks like I need to make a stronger impression that touching you will mean certain death and…really? Dousing me with Holy water from a squirt gun?"

Dean had felt Jody's return and had been lifting his head when he had a face full of Holy water hit him and he coughed more from it nearly choking him than any real pain. "Seriously, Sheriff?"

"Just had the urge come over me," she shrugged, frowning when she saw a flash of deeper green but noticing that his eyes didn't go fully black like the others had. "Why aren't you steaming or stuff like those other…they did?" she asked, dropping the stuff to unfold a blanket to get it wrapped around a badly in shock Sam.

"I'm not possessed, Jody," Dean replied, adjusting his arms so she could wrap the heavy blanket around his brother.

"Black eyes and powers, Dean," Jody countered, kneeling down beside the brothers to carefully feel Sam's pulse and not liking how shallow and erratic it was. "Sam said you got a mark on your arm, a blade made from a bone that started making you change when a crazy angel stabbed you, killed you and here you are. Now you tell me what you are and whether or not I should be scared for him."

Dean glanced down at his brother's face to sigh. He knew she probably should be. When he first woke up he'd been scared for his brother which had been one of the main reasons he'd taken off on his own to begin with. Now he realized that while his temper was more intense, his reactions and moods darker there was one thing at least that hadn't changed and that was the way he felt for his brother.

"No," he looked up at her fully. "You don't have to be scared for him while he's with me. Despite what I thought at first, despite maybe even what Crowley thought would happen I'm still Sam's brother and that, the need to protect him, doesn't look to be leaving me anytime soon. Now as for the rest? I can let you call the King of Hell so he can try to explain what the hell might have happened to me."

"Oh, hell no," Jody refused that plan while watching Dean begin to move as if to stand up but noticed that he didn't seem to be having any trouble bearing Sam's weight as he kept his brother in his arms. "If I got that little toad on the phone I'd let him have an earful for nearly killing me and then I'd let him have it for whatever his part was in whatever happened to you," she grabbed the extra blankets and First-Aid kit to frown. "He needs a hospital, Dean."

"There isn't one close enough to help him and I don't think he's strong enough to survive a teleport since mine are still too rough," Dean knew what his brother needed. He just wasn't sure how to get it for him.

Right then he just wanted him safe and that meant one of the rooms in the basement. "Take Sam's phone and start hitting redial on the first number that isn't mine since the last time I checked that thing he had every one of my phones stored in it. We need the guy on the next number and I know he won't pick up if I call," Dean replied while heading for the church basement. "If he answers, tell him who you are and what happened to Sam. Tell him Sammy's hurt and needs more than I can do even like this."

Dean hadn't seen or spoken with Castiel since waking up a very unusual demon but he knew the Angel probably wouldn't talk to him right then anyway. He was just hoping with his waning Grace that he could still help Sam.

As he got to the door that led downstairs, he paused. "Oh, and Jody?" he glanced back at her, eyes going hard as he added. "If he gives you come excuse or says something stupid like he's too busy or Heaven needs him? Tell him that if he doesn't come for my brother that I will hunt his feathered ass down to the ends of the earth and rip those goddamn wings right out of his back. Then bring this stuff down. The demons won't be back and by the time they get brave enough to try we'll be gone or I'll have made it where they can't get close."

"Yeah, but he hadn't gotten more intense or anything," Jody sighed and reached for the phone to begin to scroll through the numbers to find the one she thought Dean probably meant.

The church basement looked normal unless one knew where the hidden doors to the two rooms that James Murphy had added were and luckily for them Dean still knew where they were. He was just glad and relieved that after Meg had murdered the pastor turned hunter that no one else had taken over this parish.

The one room used to and probably did still hold weapons, books, and other hunter related items. The other lesser used room had a bed, some supplies that used to include bottled water, dried food and items that he hoped could help Sam.

"Hey, shh, shh, simmer down there, Sasquatch," Dean was quick to soothe when Sam moaned in pain as he carefully eased him down onto the bed. "You need to stay still while I check these wounds out and not lecture you on not letting the good Sheriff at least attempt to stitch a few of these up."

Dean sat still on the edge of the bed for a long time to just gaze at his brother before slowly letting his fingers card back through damp, bloody tacky long dark hair to growl lowly at the wounds he could see better now and knew from long buried experience just what the demons had put Sam through.

Filling a clean basin with warm water from the tap that would bring clean well water to the room, Dean sat back to slowly remove Sam's tattered shirt and let out several harsh curses when he took in the burns, cuts, welts, bruises on top of the broken arm; the arm with the hand that was still bleeding from the palm.

Even a basic look told him most of the wounds were infected and he was glad the Impala still had some bottles of whiskey in the trunk or he might have to go see if Jim's old stash was still untouched. The broken arm worried Dean the most as he could tell just by looking that it had been broke in multiple places and needed more than just a simple splint and sling or else the arm would never heal correctly.

"Damn it," he muttered darkly, catching the left hand that swung wildly as Sam's reactions began to react to the feel of someone with him. "Sam, hey, calm down and stay still for me," he sighed even as he said it because he knew that even if his brother had been conscious and alert he would still probably swing on him right then.

The trick as Dean knew would be to keep Sam down long enough to clean the wounds as best as he can and without either of them getting hurt in the process. He knew he could use the power but as he figured the demons who had tortured his brother had probably held him like that he didn't want to use it and scare him more.

Dean could feel the fever raging on his brother's skin, soaking his hair as he began to twist restlessly, jerking and trying to fight against the hands that Sam could feel and thought were there to hurt him rather than help. "Sam, let me clean these so we can start fixing you up before Jody starts bitching at me again."

"N…no…don't touch," Sam's voice was soft, slurred from pain, shock and fear. He wasn't awake fully but his thoughts had cleared enough that he could feel hands on him, feel the burning pain all over his body, feel something touching his wounds and flashed to his last real memory and that was the black eyed demon impaling his hand onto the wooden cross. "No! No, let…go! Let…" he started thrashing more as his panic began to build.

Sam had accepted that he was on his own. He hated what had happened to his brother, and had sworn to fix it but without Dean around fixing it would be useless. Even if he could complete the trials he needed Dean there with him to do that and his brother was gone. Dean had made it clear that he would take whatever he was and make it his own and by ignoring all of Sam's calls that told the younger Winchester just how broken he and his brother had finally become.

Sam had hoped before it all went wrong that if he could find a way, a spell, a deal to bring Dean back to life that they could start to finish healing the rifts between them. Even though the agony searing his body right then he could still see the last time Dean had spoken to him in that damn warehouse.

For Sam, the memory of his brother's last words would forever scar his soul because to hear Dean say that he was proud of them had meant so much and he had wanted so badly to fix this as Dean had fixed things for him so many times.

Then to remember the last words that Dean had said to him after they'd fought over Sam's vow to fix what the Mark of Cain had done to him made his heart hurt nearly as much as the burns, broken bones and open wounds from this attack did.

To hear every time he closed his eyes his brother's voice saying that the man he was had died, that the brother he'd been had died with Metatron's blade tore Sam's heart out and a piece of him blearily wondered if dying from infection or blood loss might not be better.

Sam thought that even as he felt strong hands that almost felt familiar to him trying to control his attempts to break free of the demons still torturing him but that would mean betraying everything that Dean had taught him. Sam had failed his brother too many times to let it happen again so he would fight, he would escape, he would find Dean and he would reverse this nightmares…even if it killed him.

"Damn it, Sam! How the hell can you be this unruly with a broken arm and more wounds than I care to count?" Dean was muttering, able to avoid the wild blows and weak kicks as his brother struggled blindly against images he thought were real. "I'm considering knocking your ass out again, little brother. You were easier to handle when you were five or 16 and drunk!"

"Let…go!" Sam fought harder when a hand clamped down on his arm to push him back down. "No! Kill me! I'll kill…you before you…touch me…not again. Not again you…De'n! De'n, don' go! Please…don' go like this! Dean!"

There hadn't been a lot in his life that had left Dean Winchester stunned to the point where he dropped his guard but the sudden switch in not only tone but words as Sam went from fighting against the demons who had hurt him clearly a lot more than either Dean or Jody had first suspected to begging him not to leave did just that.

Dean went still at the scream of his name that he could recall hearing from his brother only during Sam's worst nightmares and he realized his mistake as soon as he'd made it.

The second he relaxed his hold on Sam was when his injured brother managed to lash out with his left hand to hit him in the face with only a fraction of his normal strength but it was enough that the blow snapped a stunned Dean's head back and made him taste blood.

Now anytime when Dean was struck hard enough to draw blood it pissed him off. That was usually when the gloves came off and he stopped trying to use reason in a fight, even in a fight with his too often emotional younger brother.

Since waking up a demon with a soul his temper was more hair triggered than before and this time he had to fight to urge to lash out back at the fighting body in front of him. It took a lot of willpower that the former hunter was shocked he still had to stop his fist from curling and giving as good as he'd taken but instead as Sam's voice broke as it seemed his mind was flipping between the demons and probably the last time they'd seen one another he forced that burning temper down.

"Sam!" he put a snap to his tone, trying to get through the shock and fog in Sam's brain but when he dodged another punch this time when Sam went to try to roll off the bed, Dean moved. "Sammy!"

This time when he grabbed for his brother he closed any distance between them. Dean's one arm went flat to press it against Sam's chest to try to pin his shoulders to the bed while using his other hand to grab his jaw to hold his face still while snapping his brother's name; choosing to use the one name that only he had ever been allowed to use for Sam.

"Sammy, stop!" Dean swore as he felt his brother's struggles slowly become weaker, trying to remember that now he had more than his normal strength and not wanting to cause Sam any further injury trying to restrain him. "Sammy, please. Open your eyes. Look at me. You're safe. The demons are gone. Jody called me. I came. The demons are dead and you and Jody are safe," he paused to carefully shift his fingers back to card them through Sam's hair to push it out of eyes that one looked too swelled to even open a little.

Sam's chest was heaving from the exertion of trying to break free but between pain, lack of food or sleep, shock and blood loss he was too weak to keep it up. He slumped back to the bed, feeling the strength of the arm over his chest, in the hand that held his face before fingers slowly moved to push his hair back out of his face…like Dean used to do when he'd been younger or sick.

Gasping in pain, mind and body fighting the need to regain consciousness to face what else was in store for him slowly the voice he could hear speaking to him and thought he'd heard it before…after his hand had been impaled.

The voice was deep, husky with concern but slightly more gravelly than usual if Sam wanted to let himself believe the voice was real and not a part of his fevered and pain filled mind. Then he began to pay attention or try to in between the pain shooting through his body and head and Sam began to hear more than the mocking voices of the demons who'd tortured him he heard a voice saying a name that he never thought he'd hear again.

"Sammy, give me a sign that you can hear me, kiddo. Look at me or do something that doesn't involve trying to knock my head off when I'm trying to stop you from bleeding out of this hand and get these other wounds cleaned. Dude, I swear Sheriff Mills will bitch at both of us if you don't stop fighting me and let me clean some of these before she gets down here," Dean had given up reason now. He was just talking and saying whatever came to mind to try to get his voice to get through to his now still and unmoving brother. "Sammy. I know you hurt and maybe waking up is not a good plan given what I have to do to clean some of these but I need to know that you know it's me with you and not a dream or a nightmare.

"I…I know what I said when I left the bunker. I know I said the brother you knew was dead but…that isn't true," he slowly relaxed the arm that had pinned Sam's shoulders to the bed but left his other hand where it was on the side of his brother's neck to gently squeeze it; something that he hoped Sam might still respond to. "I…I thought it might be. I thought the longer this mark twists my soul into whatever it is that I might become a threat to you and I'd rather hurt you by saying those words to you than ever hurt you with that blade. Leaving was my way to look out for you but it doesn't seemed to have worked out too well."

Dean wasn't sure if his words were getting through to his brother or not but since Sam was no longer fighting and his chest seemed to be calming down he plunged ahead while silently wondering where the hell Jody Mills was during all this.

"Yeah, I've changed or maybe I haven't and I just stopped letting all of Dad's rules run me. The things I do, the things that I've been doing since leaving you are on me. I can't blame the mark, I can't blame the blade. I knew what I was doing when I did the stuff and while you might not approve of it all I haven't really gone all that far dark. I'm just using what I've got now to hunt in a different way," Dean watched for any signs of reaction in his brother while carefully using the hand not on Sam's neck to squeeze the cloth he'd tied around his brother's injured hand to help to stem the still trickling blood from the hole in his palm.

"Okay, when you wake up and after you feel better you can gripe that I'm doing the same thing you tried to do with the demon blood and I bitched at you. I know it but I'm not working with Crowley despite what he thought might actually happen. I'm no one's pawn. I know I'm not a normal demon despite the powers or extra strength. I have a soul that's slowly being twisted by this mark but I guess we could say right now I'm more in the gray area than light or black," he sighed, letting his fingers squeeze again and this time frowning as he thought he saw the slightly twitch of Sam's face.

"I'll tell you what else that I've just figured out I am," Dean took a slow breath and took a giant leap of faith with this one. "I figured out that I'm still your big brother, Sammy. And that it'll take more than black eyes, some powers and a worse temper to make me stop being your brother or to make me stop believing that despite all the crap in our lives that you will ever stop being…my Sammy," he had to swallow the sudden lump in his throat at saying the words that he hadn't said out loud since his brother had been nine and scared of monsters.

"You were my Sammy when Mom first let me hold you, you were mine when I carried you out of that house, you were mine when I sold my soul to save your life and no matter what else happens from this moment on you will be my Sammy, my pain in the ass little brother until the day one of us actually manages to buy it for real and it sticks," Dean blinked a few times to clear his suddenly blurry vision when he felt weak fingers trying to close.

"… … De'n?"

"Hey, little brother," Dean heard his voice but knew this time the gruff low tone was more from buried emotion than anything else. "You with me enough to tell me you're gonna let me clean these wounds?"

Sam struggled to open one eye far enough to see if what he thought he was hearing was right or if the pain had finally driven him over the edge. He could feel the pain so he knew he was hurt and hurt bad but right then all he wanted was to focus on the voice, on the man, beside him.

When he first started hearing Dean he believed he was dreaming but the longer it went, the more actual emotion he heard, Sam started to reach for that voice as well as the hand he could feel.

He went to close his fingers around the ones he could feel holding is only to gasp as sharp stabbing pain went through his arm.

"No, don't try to move yet," Dean was quick to apply more pressure while also slipping his hand up to touch a fevered cheek wet with tears he knew Sam didn't realize where there. "You're hurt. Some of these I can deal with while others will take more than even I can do but you will be fine. I'm here now and I'll make this better."

Sam had finally gotten one eye open enough to stare up at his brother, feeling something untighten in his chest as he looked at Dean and only saw his brother and not what he'd become.

"You…real?" he asked in a voice stretched tight with pain, managing to get his left hand to work with him to reach up weakly to try to touch the side of Dean's face that still had a line of blood showing. "I…sorry?"

"Nah, my fault," Dean forced a smile because he could feel the pulse jumping in a way that told him he was losing time. "I know how cranky a patient you can be when hurt or sick…or drunk. It's all good, Sammy," he told him. "I'm sorry this happened."

"Still…still proud, De'n?" Sam thought it weird that things seemed so far away as he made a grab for Dean as if needing that connection.

"I will always be proud of you, of us and the things we've done and accomplished, Sam. None of this will ever change that," Dean assured him, settling his hand over the center of Sam's chest to focus and hoped these damn powers could actually do some good when the hair on the back of his neck began to stand up, telling him he wouldn't be alone much longer. "You can go to sleep. I'm going to clean and stitch some of these. Why didn't you let Jody?" he asked but knew the answer even before catching the weak bitch face.

"… she's…not you," Sam gasped when pain bloomed in his chest but then evened out, allowing him to breathe a little better. "Dying."

Dean frowned, refusing to let that word even enter into this. "You are not dying," he replied firmly. "I've gotten you through worse and I'll get you through this no matter who I have to threaten but you are not dying…unless it's…what you really want to do."

Saving Sam without taking into consideration what his little brother might have wanted was a huge part of how all of their recent issues had gone down. And while Dean's basic instinct still was to protect and save he also knew he had to let Sam make the choice.

"I…" Sam thought he was ready before but that was when he thought his brother was alright. Now he really didn't want to die. He wanted to fix Dean. So slowly he shook his head. "Wanna…help you," he groaned in pain, trying to move where his back was on fire. "You…really…came for…me?" he asked between clenched teeth.

"Yeah, Sammy, I really came for you," Dean hated that Sam had ever thought he wouldn't but accepted that he'd given him every reason to believe that. "Demon or not, I'm still your brother."

Sam wanted to say something but he was suddenly so tired and just wanted to sleep. "Tired," he mumbled, wondering if his voice sounded muffled or if it was just his ears. "De'n?"

Dean carefully will what power he had to heal what he could but had no idea if he could do what it would take to heal Sam enough so his brother could begin to heal on his own.

"Just close your eyes and go to sleep, Sammy. I'll be with you when you wake up," he promised, smoothing his fingers back through Sam's hair until he felt his brother's body go limp as pain and injuries took him back under.

Only once he was certain Sam was fully asleep did Dean allow his face to harden, his eyes stayed on Sam's pale face but he shifted one hand back slightly. He'd felt the change in energy and knew the Angel was close.

"Hey, Cas," he greeted tightly without looking over his shoulder. "I'm honestly shocked you even bothered to come."

"Sheriff Mills was very explicit when she quoted your words. Unlike others in the Garrison or those who have underestimated you I do not believe that you were…bluffing," Castiel stepped into the room slowly, allowing his waning grace to not only gauge the injuries he could feel from Sam but also the difference in his older brother.

While he and Dean hadn't seen one another since the last time in bunker the trench coat wearing angel had spoken with Sam on multiple occasions to know what had happened. He was just at a loss to what he was seeing now.

"My feelings for my brother haven't changed it seems," Dean let his fingers brush down Sam's broken arm with a light touch to feel where the bones were broke when he shot a hard glance over his shoulder. "Our friendship? Seriously changed."

The Angel supposed he should have seen that coming. He had done many things since meeting the Winchesters that had caused both hunters harm and while Dean, who he had saved from the Pit, had always been willing to give him leeway Castiel knew there had been things he hadn't been forgiven for and it was plain that this side of Dean Winchester was very good at letting all the buried anger at those betrayals come out.

"Gadreel and I were trapped. My plan to distract Metatron failed. I did not think he would…" Castiel sighed as Dean stood up. "I failed to...I'm…"

"No, not this time. I don't want the excuses, I don't want the lies or even to hear how you did your best to help us because I honestly don't give a damn," the former hunter began, voice hard as he faced the Angel that had brought him out of the Pit but who had also been responsible for not only Sam's sanity nearly being destroyed but also letting loose the goddamn Leviathans who ended up killing Bobby Singer.

"I ignored everything else you've done. I ignored when you let Sam out of the Panic Room to go with Ruby cause you were the only one who could've done that. I ignored when you brought Sam out of the Cage…without his soul. I ignored that it was you that knocked the wall down in Sam's mind that was shielding him from those memories. I ignored when you sided with Crowley to get to Purgatory. I have ignored that you opened Purgatory and stuck us with Dick Roman and the black gooey monsters that came with him.

"Dude, I have ignored or made excuses for you for crap that would've gotten anyone else killed! I did it because I honestly believed you wanted to help us and because I owed you for getting me out of Hell. I'll even give you and that asshole that killed Kevin credit for both being played by Metatron but what I won't give you is the fact that odds are high that you probably knew Sam had been nailed and did nothing to help him!" Dean glared at Angel, no longer making excuses or caring about the bigger picture. "The mark had already started twisting me so that is on me for listening to Crowley and letting my anger rule over my common sense. I don't know what I am really…"

Castiel cocked his head to look at him. "When I look at demons I can see their true face and not that of their vessel. When I look at you…I still see you. The only change is your aura is…slightly darker than it normally is," he honestly found this transformation interesting as a human had never become a demon while still retaining their soul. "The mark on your arm in combination with the First Blade is twisting your soul but…you're still in control. You have power to rival Crowley but your choices are…"

"Mine," Dean finished, moving his hand to touch Sam when he heard his brother moan in his sleep. "Between Hell, Purgatory and now Cain's mark and the blade…this is what you get," he held out a hand to motion to himself while meeting the Angel's stunned look with a smirk. "A demon with a soul that still knows right from wrong but doesn't give a damn unless it suits me. I give a damn about Sam. I am still his brother. He is still the only thing I care about. Now, you want to make it up to me about all the times you've screwed us? Heal him."

Castiel would neither confirm nor deny if he knew that Sam was in danger. He took a longer look at the younger Winchester to gauge his injuries, feeling both the internal damage as well as the physical wounds.

"Sam's bleeding internally," he began grimly, tone going to the deep emotionless one it tended to when he was leading up to something he knew wouldn't be taken well. "His right arm has been broken in three places, his shoulder shattered. He has blood infection from the wounds on his back that have gotten infected and he's lost blood. There is more but I don't think you need to hear about those."

"I know how bad he's hurt, Cas. I felt that the first time I touched him before pulling the spike out of his hand from where they tried to crucify him. I don't need a play by play. I need him healed by someone more in the light than I am right now," Dean rolled his eyes, sensing Jody before she appeared in the door. "You're an angel. You owe him more than you owe me for your screw-ups. Heal him."

"I…can't heal him," the Angel replied slowly, grimly and with apology in his eyes. "I'm sorry."

TBC