Disclaimer: I own nothing related to the Winchesters. They belong to a lot of other people including Eric Kripke and I will be forever grateful to him for sharing them with us. I hope he doesn't mind me borrowing them from time to time; I promise to return them as I found them.

And I know the rule. If I break them, I buy them.

A/N: Okay, this is more one-offy than the last couple of parts.

Breakdown

Part Four

Kristine was sitting on the porch of her mother's house, looking through the paint and fabric swatches Julia had left outside, when she heard the cell phone in her jacket pocket start to ring. She was expecting several calls and didn't bother to check the caller ID display.

"Hello?"

"It's me."

"Hey, where are you?"

"I'm not exactly sure. We'll make it there tomorrow afternoon – it's still okay that we come?"

"Of course it is. You don't sound well; what's going on?"

Dean told her a little of what had been going on, feeling more frantic as he voiced some of the thoughts in his head.

"Dean, he's in the middle of what used to be called a nervous breakdown. What he's feeling and doing is normal for that."

"He doesn't trust me –"

"Just keep doing what you're doing. Talk to him, reassure him, be patient with him,"

"I'm scared, Kris." Dean said, having no apprehension about admitting that to her.

"I know you are, but we're going to take care of him."

After a few more minutes her Kristine's calming voice, Dean was ready to go back to his brother.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Sam opened his eyes and saw the empty space where Dean should be sitting. His first thought was that Dean had left him, but Sam knew Dean would never leave his car. He lifted his head slightly and saw Dean standing near a building, talking on his cell phone. Sam assumed he was talking to one of the people his brother told him about. He wondered if they really were friends or if Dean thought he was crazy and was just going to drop him off at a hospital somewhere. Sam had screwed up; he'd gotten weak. Their father wouldn't put up with that and he was afraid Dean wouldn't either.

Things were coming at him too fast; the thoughts and images in his head were jumbled and made no sense. With all the confusion in his head, it didn't occur to him that Dean had always been there for him. From his earliest memories, it was always Dean.

Although he could see the car from where he was standing, Dean stopped at the vending machines and wasn't able to see Sam's panic. By the time he was close enough to see detail within the vehicle, Sam had slipped back into the malaise that worried Dean the night before.

"Sam?" he slipped into the driver's seat.

There was no response.

"Sam? Do you need to use the bathroom?"

Sam shook his head.

"I got some stuff out of the vending machine –"

Sam shook his head again.

Dean secured the snacks in the backseat and started the engine. "Let me know if you need anything, okay?"

Sam nodded.

While Dean drove, Sam stared out of the passenger window and tried to sort out the images in his head. He remembered bits of fights between him and his brother; Dean walking away as a young Sam watched through a window. There were other images of Dean turning his back and leaving a grieving Sam alone. But the more he thought about it, the more confused and scared he got.

He started to feel trapped in the car; it was getting hard to breathe.

Dean glanced at him as he started to mumble. He couldn't see Sam's face clearly, but he was sitting perfectly straight so he knew his brother was awake.

"Sam?"

"Stop the car!" he exclaimed.

There was little traffic on the road and Dean was able to navigate to the side without incident. As soon as the car was stopped, Sam pushed the door open and jumped out. He fell to his knees and Dean was next to him almost immediately.

"What is it, Sam? Tell me, what's wrong!"

"Why, Dean? Why?"

"Why, what?"

"Why did you always leave?"

Dean looked confused. "I don't know what you mean, Sam."

"You always left me." Sam said, sitting down and rocking. "Always left."

"I never left you." Dean said gently.

Sam closed his eyes, leaning against the car, muttering "always left, always left."

Dean sat down next to his brother and pulled him close. Sam's head rested against his chest. "Sam, what do you mean? I never left you." He could feel his younger brother shaking and he struggled to remain calm.

Sam continued to speak, but his words became unintelligible. Dean held him, gently stroking his arm. After a few minutes, Sam was quiet.

"Sam?"

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"I don't know how to stop. I feel like I'm spiraling out of control; nothing makes sense and I'm afraid – no weakness."

Dean suddenly understood.

"Is that why you've been afraid I would leave you?"

He felt Sam's head nod.

"Sam," Dean maneuvered so that Sam was sitting up and looking at him. "Sam, listen to me. I know things are confusing. You've been through a lot and there's some stuff you need to work through. But you have to believe me; I have never left you and I never will."

"But Dad said –"

"Dad said never leave a member of the team behind."

Sam searched his brother's eyes. "Never leave a member of the team behind."

Dean nodded. "That's right."

Sam rubbed his face. "I'm sorry, Dean."

"Stop saying that, okay? There's nothing to be sorry about."

"I don't want to go to your friend's." Sam said suddenly.

"Why not?"

"I can't meet new people right now."

"I understand, but maybe there's something I can tell you that will make you change your mind."

"What?"

"Why don't we find some place other than the side of the road to talk, okay?"

OOOOOOOOOOO

Dean joined Kristine at the bar after another round of pool. John and Julia had said goodnight for the evening and Dean didn't want to know what they were doing.

"Another beer?" she asked.

"Yeah, thanks."

She put a bottle in front of him. "So where are you headed?"

"My dad and I are just kind of on a road trip. We're not really going anywhere in particular right now."

Kristine nodded. "Looks like you've been in a fight recently."

Dean's hand moved to his forehead where the cut was beginning to heal. He still had the remnants of a black eye and his ribs were a little sore.

"Something like that."

She smiled. "You're not going to cause trouble in here, are you?"

"No." he returned the smile.

"Good."

"So, what about you? Your mom mentioned she owns the bar; you run it or something?"

"Or something. I'm going to school in Asheville, but I'm on break right now. I like being here and I like tending bar. We have a manager who runs the place, but I'm kind of learning the ropes from him."

"Your mom also owns the motel –"

"My family owns a lot of things around here. We've been in the area for generations." she said. "But I don't really want to talk about all our holdings."

"Fair enough. What are you going to school for?"

"I'm majoring in business and minoring in psychology. All businesspeople are crazy." she smiled. "It will come in handy."

Another customer sat down at the bar and Kristine excused herself to take care of him. The place was beginning to fill up and it was getting noisy. Kristine seemed to know the newcomer, although Dean assumed she knew most of the people who came into the bar. He watched as she interacted with other people; she had an easy laugh and it seemed like everyone liked her. Dean realized he liked her even though he knew next to nothing about her, and tended to separate himself from other people.

"Sorry about that." she said turning her attention back to Dean.

He shook his head. "No problem."

"Maybe this is forward of me, but I can get out of here in a few minutes. You wanna go somewhere else?"

Dean grinned. "Is there somewhere else?"

Kristine laughed. "Not so much. But if you're into quiet, we got a lot of that."

"Sounds good."

They walked around, ending up at the diner Julia had mentioned to Dean and John earlier.

"So any other family?" Kristine asked after they ordered coffee and pie. "Or just you and your dad?"

"I have a brother. Sam. He's going to school in California."

"Oh. Good for him."

Dean nodded, noncommittal.

"Are you close?"

"We were." Dean said. "It's hard with him being far away."

"You don't live in California?"

Dean shook his head as the coffee was delivered. "No. We're kinda nomads right now."

"That sounds interesting."

"What about you? Just you and your mom?"

She nodded. "Now, yeah."

Dean wasn't sure if she was going to continue, but after a moment she did. "My dad died when I was a kid. And I had a older sister. She – uh – she died in a fire."

Dean caught something in her voice. "A fire?"

"Yeah. She got married young and had a baby." Kristine's face clouded. "She and the baby both died in the fire."

"I'm sorry. How long ago?"

"About two years."

"I'm sorry, Kristine. My mom died in a fire when I was a kid."

Kristine looked at him. She felt a connection she couldn't explain.

"What about the baby's father?" Dean asked, clearing his throat.

"Patrick. He's still around."

"He's in town?"

"He travels a lot." Kristine took a long sip of her coffee. "I – uh – I was at the house the night of the fire. Patrick was working late and we were celebrating the baby's birthday."

"Oh yeah? How old?"

Kristine smiled, looking embarrassed. "Six months actually. My sister was really a freak for the whole celebration thing."

Dean felt cold. "Six months? Exactly?"

Kristine nodded.

"My brother was exactly six months old when our mom died."

Now Kristine felt cold. She wrapped her hands around the coffee cup.

"When Patrick is out of town; what does he do?" Dean asked quietly.

"He – uh – he's kind of like a detective."

Dean looked into her eyes. "That's kind of what me and my dad are."

"Maybe kind of like a hunter?" Kristine asked.

Dean nodded.

"Oh my God." she breathed.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Sam looked at Dean in surprise. Dean looked at him and nodded.

"You didn't tell me this before. Why?"

"We've had a few things to deal with, Sam."

"So we're going to where Kristine is?"

"Yeah." Dean said quietly. "Patrick will be there."

"He's a hunter? Like us?"

"Not exactly. Not anymore. He's more of a researcher. He tried the hunting gig for a while and he didn't do so well. He ended up pretty messed up. So you see, Sam? These people know our business and they can help us."

"Help me, you mean."

"Sam, we're a team."

Sam smiled as tears formed in his eyes. "A team."

Dean patted his arm. "You're stuck with me, Kid."

Sam put a hand on Dean's arm. "I'm glad."