Dean wasn't alone.

Standing in a corner, next to the window was the cause of all their problems.

Benny.

He was looking out the window and apparently had yet to notice them.

Sam opened his mouth to yell at the monster when Cas grabbed him by his arm and pulled him away.

"Sam. No." he warned.

"What the hell is that thing doing in there?" Sam hissed indignantly.

"Did you even see Dean? He was right there, too! But you didn't even ask what has happened to him or what's wrong with him now. Clearly all you could see was Benny." Castiel berated him. "You really don't care." he deduced.

Sam grabbed his collar and pinned him against the wall, "He's my brother and I do care about his well-being but it's not my fault that he's stupid enough to hunt alone and then call a monster for help instead of his own brother."

"Dean hasn't chosen a monster over his brother." Cas used the words that knew Sam had in mind and then pushed himself away from the wall with no effort, making Sam move back. "It's not his fault that you closed every door in his face before knowing the whole story. He didn't have any other choice."

Sam winced inwardly as he remembered closing the door in his brother's face. Literally.

Cas saw the wince, though. "See? You're just angry because over the years, you have chosen monsters over him and now you just want to make him feel like he's doing the same, so you could call it even. Because despite what you keep saying, you still feel guilty over those mistakes. And you feel guilty for giving up on him so easily when he disappeared before your eyes and you're jealous that he's called Benny and trusted him when it was always you he'd call for help, before."

Sam turned around to hide the hurt and sadness that was written all over his face.

"You can turn around, but you can't hide. Not from me, Sam." Cas called, but Sam didn't move from his spot. "Benny was there for him when no one else was. Benny has proved himself; he's not a monster. You know perfectly well that not every vampire is a monster. You've seen some of them for yourself. So even if I couldn't read your feelings so well, I'd be able to understand that the only reason that you hate Benny so much is because you're jealous of him."

"He killed Martin. He IS a monster." Sam justified.

"Are you absolutely sure? You weren't there."

"Were you? Tell me what happened. Come on, fill me in." Sam challenged heatedly.

"That's something you should ask your brother. He's tried to explain it to you but you always refuse to listen." Cas sighed. "He tried to call you, before calling Benny. You didn't answer. I couldn't get to him right away when he called for me. When I got there, Benny was already with him."

Blue eyes narrowed and studied Sam for a few seconds. "Do you get what I'm trying to say? Dean tried to avoid calling Benny as long as possible. He considers Benny a friend; he trusts him, but he doesn't want to rely on him. You're always his first choice, but when you turn your back?" The angel shook his head." You don't expect him to just lie there and die because you're too self-centered, are you? Heaven is tired of your childish behavior and I'm talking about both of you. You used to be there for each other, no matter what, but it seems like in the past few years, you've been looking for a reason to be at each other's throat. It's past the time to grow up. Open up to him and let him talk to you without being so hostile."

"Let him talk? He doesn't WANT to talk. He doesn't want to know about Amelia and sure doesn't want me to know about Purgatory." Sam growled in frustration.

"I was there, Sam. It's not easy to talk about, especially for him." Castiel's tone softened." Because even I can't say what he's been through; I'm an angel and things are different for me. Find a way. You are going to have bigger problems."

"What do you-" Sam started to ask what problem he was talking about, but the angel disappeared into thin air; leaving Sam alone with his thoughts, confusion, guilt and anger.

Resigning to what he knew he had to do, Sam slowly walked towards Dean's room, remembering that he still didn't know what was wrong with his brother. He didn't know if he should ask the staff or just ask Benny about it.

The latter seemed rather unpleasant. He didn't want to talk to that mons-... Should he call Benny a monster? First Dean and now Cas; they both insisted that Benny wasn't on the wrong side. Still, Sam didn't like him and didn't want to ask a stranger about his brother. HIS brother!

But asking the staff wasn't really an option, either. What surname was Dean using? What was Sam supposed to say or ask in order to not look like a complete idiot or a jerk who didn't know anything about his brother?

Of course, he could walk into Dean's room and find the name Dean was using, but it meant that he had to face Benny anyway. So why not asking him in the first place?

Sam was sure that if Benny tried to throw in any witty comments, he wouldn't be able to hold his anger back and would find a way to get him out of hospital and kill him; but to his surprise, Benny didn't act smug when he saw him. He looked just... concerned? Tired?

What was that look? Was that thing really worried about his brother? Were they really that close?

Nodding his head in lieu of greeting, Sam's eye lingered on Dean's prone body, but before he could put his pride aside, Benny started to talk.

"He has two broken ribs, one punctured his right lung and made him bleed in the pleural cavity; they put in a chest tube to drain the blood. He's intubated but the machine is just there to help him breathe, he's mostly breathing on his own. They'll take him off the ventilator probably by tomorrow morning, but the chest tube has to stay a bit longer."

Sam's eyes darkened; he knew the drill and had witnessed Dean going through it a few times.

"His left leg is also broken." the vampire added. "But it was a clean break, so he'll be back on his feet pretty quickly."

"What else?" Sam asked curtly.

"Some superficial abrasions and contusions; nothing serious and a slight concussion." Benny answered as he walked towards Dean's bed. Putting his hand on the fallen hunter's shoulder, he continued, "I told them that he was mugged and that his brother is on his way to here. So they expect you."

"Don't think they know I'm here yet."

Benny nodded his understanding; he knew that Cas had gone to bring him to the hospital. "I will be out of your way, now that you're here. Just tell him-" he swallowed and sighed. "Never mind." squeezing his friends' shoulder one last time, Benny started to walk out, but Sam's voice stopped him.

"You can stay if you want."

Sam was more shocked than Benny at his own words. He didn't know where those words had come from, but they were out of his mouth before he could think about them.

"I don't want to disturb you. I know how important family is to you two. Dean had told me and I promised him to stay away."

Sam shrugged. "He trusts you more. If there's anyone he wants here it's probably you." he said bitterly.

"That's not true. He thinks highly of you. You were the only reason he fought tooth and nail to get out of Purgatory." Benny said without hesitation. "But I haven't lied to him and have so far stayed true to my words. I'm clean." he declared, showing that Dean's trust wasn't misplaced.

"Right." Sam snorted. "Look, I don't trust you. I can't. But my brother trusts you and right now he's the only thing that matters. So, you can stay if you want to make sure he's alright and then you'll be out of here. And you make one wrong step and I promise you that it'll be your last step on earth. I don't care how many times Dean and Cas say you're trustworthy, you're not in my eyes."

Benny shrugged. "Fair enough. As long as you don't act just on your gut and have some good reasons to believe that I've gone rogue. Because I don't want to be alive if I ever hurt anyone again."

Sam rolled his eyes. "That won't work on me. Dean is softer than me if he feels he's in someone's debt."

"Dean doesn't owe me squat. He paid off his debt by helping me out of Purgatory. Like I said, I've never done anything to make him doubt me." the vampire started for the door. "I'll go for a walk."

"Like hell you are." Sam stopped him by grabbing his arm. "You think I'm stupid? You're in a hospital, the scent of blood must be killing you; I'm not gonna let you kill-"

Pulling his arms away, Benny gritted his teeth. "I don't drink people." he took a deep breath and tried to calm down his nerves. "You can come with me if you don't believe me but you can't keep me here. I've been told I'm a good company." he smirked.

When there was no response from Sam but a deadly glare, Benny shrugged and walked out of the room, murmuring under his breath, "Don't say I didn't offer."

Sam didn't know how long he'd been staring at his brother's still figure before a voice from the door startled him.

"Excuse me, sir?"

Turning around, Sam saw a middle-aged woman in medical scrubs. Licking his lips, Sam tried to pull up a smile on his face. "Hi, I'm Sam. Dean's brother."

She smiled at that, "Right, I'm Doctor Linda Casey; your brother's physician. Your friend told us you'd come."

Sam fought the urge to say that Benny was NOT his 'friend'.

"I'll just check his vitals and leave you two alone." she said while starting to do what she said she would.

Sam expected her to leave when she was done, but when the woman lingered in the doorway, Sam narrowed his eyes and asked, "everything OK?"

Dr. Casey looked at Dean for a few more seconds before looking back at Sam and motioning her head towards the corridor. "Wanna join me for a coffee?"

Sam knew it wasn't exactly a request, so he just nodded and followed the woman outside the room.

"Hmm, this is actually good." Sam sounded amazed as he tasted the coffee.

"I know, right?" Linda smiled. "But hey, it's for the staff, of course it's good."

"So, you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yes. It's about your brother."

"I figured."

"OK, I'm gonna be straightforward, has your brother been a torture victim or something?"

"What?" Sam was happy he hadn't taken a sip of his coffee before hearing Dr. Casey's last sentence.

"There are some scars on his body. Some really nasty scars." She explained. "Our first thought was that he's been to war but it looked more like he's been imprisoned and tortured for a long time. I didn't see anything in his file."

"It's complicated." Sam really didn't know what to say. He had no idea what had happened to Dean or what scar the doctor was talking about.

Dr. Casey being the experienced woman saw the confusion in Sam's eyes, though. "You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

"I.. Umm-"

"Are you even his brother for real?" she suddenly stiffed.

"He is." said a voice behind them.

They both looked back to find Benny standing there, holding his hat in his hands. "Dr. Casey." he nodded his greeting, before coming up with an explanation for Sam's confusion. "Dean has recently reunited with Sam. That's why Sam doesn't know much yet."

She still didn't look convinced.

"You could've asked me." Benny smiled at her. "Dean and I served together. That's why I told you he's like a brother to me. Brothers in arms. I'm sure you know how it is in the army."

Once again Sam found himself stifling a growl since he knew it wouldn't help the situation.

"But those scars-" Casey left the sentence unfinished.

Benny rubbed his forehead. "Yes, he was taken during a mission. It took us a while to find him." he sighed. "And before you ask, it was a secret mission and that's why there's nothing in his file. In fact when we left the army they left everything out of our files."

The doctor still looked a bit unsure, but didn't question them anymore. "Then maybe it's a good thing he has his brother by his side. Familiar faces are always helpful. Has he seen any professionals? Scars like the ones he has, are always deeper than meets the eye."

"He has." Benny lied easily. "It really was a hard time, but he's doing much better. That's another reason why we left the army. We needed some constants in our lives. He's spending more time with his brother now." Benny smiled warmly.

Sam kept silent and felt actually ashamed for not knowing about Dean's scars. Ashamed AND mad, of course. That thing knew about his brother more than he did.

'And whose fault is that?' A voice said in his head making Sam want to bang his head against a wall.

"I'll leave you alone, then. Call me if you need anything, but if everything goes the way we hope, which I think they would, then my colleague will remove the vent tomorrow morning and then we just have to wait for Dean to wake up."

Sam nodded his thanks before turning towards Benny and staring at him.

"What?" Benny put his hat in his pocket. "You prefer to be thrown out of here instead of me jumping in, just because you didn't know what she was talking about?"

"And what exactly was she talking about?" Sam demanded.

"I gather you two don't talk much, huh?" Benny asked in return.

"None of your damn business." Sam growled.

"True."

"What's with the scars?" Sam asked again.

"What? You thought he was taking a sunbath down there? Of course there are scars on his body and you know how they usually get there."

"How bad are they?"

"Bad."

"Dammit-"

"Sam." Benny stepped forward. "I haven't seen his scars, I just have seen some of the actual wounds and I can imagine the kind of scars that they'd leave. I don't know more. We both care about Dean and want him to recover. Don't make them throw us out."

Sam glared at the vampire for a few more seconds before walking past him towards Dean's room.

"You need to ask him." Benny offered when he joined Sam in the room. "It'll probably help him, too."

Sam snorted. "Like he'd tell me anything."

"Maybe if you asked nicely-"

"It doesn't matter how I ask." Sam clenched his fists. "He never, and I mean NEVER, talks to me. He always expects me to talk to him, to tell him what's wrong and what's going on with me, but that stubborn jerk never opens up himself."

"Have you asked?"

"YES, Dammit. I HAVE." Sam barely stopped himself from shouting.

"Are you sure you've done it the right way? I'm not talking about demanding some answers. I mean asking him; like a brother."

'Is that thing preaching at me now? How dare he.' Sam thought furiously. "You know what?" he shook his head in exasperation. "Whatever. I... I need some fresh air." And with that he was out of the room.

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... TBC ...

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A/N: Please leave me a review and tell me what you think. :)

Sorry for any mistakes.

Thanks for your support. :)

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