Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They all belong to Eric Kripke and his show, Supernatural.

Summary: This story picks up right where "The Rapture" ended. Dean is desperate to keep Sam from going dark-side. How far is he really willing to go?

SPOILER ALERT: 4.20 "The Rapture"

A.N.: Wow, thank you guys so much for all the support so far! I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint!

Dean turned his back to the iron door and made his way into the house, partially to find Bobby but mostly to escape his brother's pleading. He barely took two steps into the kitchen when a beer was pressed against his chest. He looked down and took it from his friend.

"Aren't you supposed to be tellin' me drinkin' doesn't solve anything?" He smirked half-heartedly.

"Well it ain't gonna stop the apocalypse but it might lower the volume of all those voices in your head."

Dean raised his bottle in a mock salute. "I'll drink to that." He took a deep swig then slumped wearily into one of the seats at the table. Bobby sat across from him giving him a calculating stare. Dean glanced back up at him.

"What?"

"Just wonderin' where your head is at."

Dean chuckled humorlessly. "Trust me, you don't wanna know."

"Try me."

"How did everything get so screwed up, Bobby? I mean, was there a sign that I missed? Some indication that everything we've ever tried to fix would be pointless in the end? Here I was thinkin' we spent the last twenty-some-odd years savin' people and doin' good, completely oblivious to the fact that it would all be undone when my weakness began the freakin' apocalypse."

"What's done is done, Dean. There's no changin' it now. I ain't givin' up yet though. There's still a chance we can win this thing."

There was a long, pregnant pause as they each downed about half of their beers. Dean was the first to break the silence.

"You know, Sammy used to be the most innocent kid around. I did everything I could to keep him that way. I kept my eyes on him when we were at school so the bullies wouldn't start shit, I kept the doors and windows salted at all times, I got him fed and dressed every day when dad wasn't around, and I kept him in the dark about what happened to mom for as long as I could. He was always askin' questions though. Too damn smart for his own good. I kept tellin' him to quit askin'; that he didn't really want to know." Tears were streaming down Dean's face now. Keeping his right hand clenched around his beer bottle, he used his left hand to forcefully wipe the tears away. "I should have protected him, Bobby. I've screwed up before, but never this freakin' bad."

Bobby reached across the small table and cupped the back of the boy's neck. "Dean, listen to me. None of this is your fault."

Dean let out a choked sob of disbelief but didn't respond otherwise.

"Sometimes bad things happen to good people, and you and Sam are known for drawing the short straws. But it's not too late for him yet. We still have a chance to save him. I know this ain't easy, son, but your brother is addicted to demon blood and that is not the best addiction to have right now if you catch my drift."

Dean took a steadying breath and wiped away the last few tear tracks, pulling himself back together to face the problem at hand.

"Yeah, Sam and I had this conversation not too long ago."

Bobby gave Dean's neck a gentle squeeze before releasing him and sitting back in his chair. "Bet that went over well."

"I told him if I didn't know him, I'd want to hunt him."

"I think other hunters are the least of our problems right now."

"How bad is it, Bobby? Do you think he can kick this cold turkey?"

"I don't think we've got a hell of a lot of choice here. If things start to get real dodgy though, we might have to summon…"

"I won't give him demon blood. I won't do it. I won't let my brother turn into a monster." The finality in his voice left little room for discussion.

Both men ignored the elephant in the room; the fact that Sam may have crossed that line already on his own. Bobby cleared his throat before continuing.

"Maybe your angel friend can give us a little help."

"No. Somethin' happened to him when he got bungeed back upstairs. He's not really Cas anymore. I don't know what the hell they did to him, but he's definitely changed."

"Seems to be a lot of changes happenin' these days."

"You're tellin' me." Dean paused, wondering how to broach the subject that had been plaguing his mind for a while now. "Hey, Bobby? Can I ask you a question?"

"Ya just did, didn't ya?"

"Right. Did dad ever talk to you about Sam and the whole demon thing?"

"You mean Azazel bleedin' in the kid's mouth?"

"Yeah, that and all the demon army shit?"

"I heard a good amount of it. Why do you ask?"

"It's just… The demon told Sam straight up that it had plans for him and all the children like him. Turns out he only had a plan for the one who remained standing after he pitted them against each other. Not even the angels figured out what his master plan was."

"But you think you did?"

Dean dropped his chin to his chest and bit his lower lip. Bobby set his beer down and leaned forward again, resting his forearms on the table.

"Spit it out, son."

"Just… try to follow my logic, okay? Yellow eyes was choosing specific kids that he thought were special and he gave them a taste of demon blood. Whether they would have had their abilities even without the blood, I guess we'll never know. But he had tons of these amped-up kids runnin' around that he could have used to build his supposed army."

"But he turned them against each other instead…"

"Exactly. Why would he do that? Seems like a waste of demonic talent to me. He only wanted one. The strongest. The best. Sam lost the first round, but I brought him back. I made him a freakin' target with that deal, Bobby."

"You didn't know, Dean. You just wanted your brother back."

"That bastard Azazel actually thanked me for what I did, sayin' his favorite was back in the mix now because of me. He took dad without giving him an extra day to live, but they gave me a whole year."

"Supposed to give ya ten."

"Yeah, but she knew she didn't have to. I would have agreed to go with her right then and there if it brought Sammy back to life. So why did she give me the extra time? Because she made the contract unbreakable but knew Sam would spend every damn day of that year trying to save me. Because she knew when my number came due that it would destroy him. He's been getting darker and darker ever since. I've been tryin' to work out why Ruby was looking after him for the four months I was gone. She's been poisoning him with her damned blood. She's got him thinkin' it'll help him be strong enough to kill Lilith."

"Not sure I'm followin' you on this."

"It has nothin' to do with Lilith! The bitch has him all screwed in the head, tellin' him he's the only one who can stop her and in turn stop the apocalypse. She knew he was in a fragile state when I died and she used what was left of the Sammy we knew to make him feel like he has no other choice. They have been tryin' to turn Sam dark-side since he was six months old, and he's been playin' right into their hands. Dad knew it was going to happen and before he died, he told me I'd have to save him, and if I couldn't, I'd have to kill him. What the hell could be so bad that a father would tell his boy to kill his own brother? His own flesh and blood? I think dad figured out the master plan."

"I'll bite. What is it?"

"Bobby, Lilith is trying to break Lucifer free and he's gonna need a host. I think they're preparing Sam to be his vessel."

TBC

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