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Sam jumped away from the corner immediately and grabbed Dean in a quick hug.
"I'm sorry I was bad," Sam said.
"You aren't bad, Sammy, you are just too curious for your own good. You've served your time, so what do you say we do something else, just the two of us?"
"Yay!" Sam yelled. Grabbing Dean's hand, Sam led him towards the front door. "I saw a ball outside. Let's play ball."
Dean obligingly followed alongside his brother. He was glad that everything was fine between the two of them again, and he was willing to do whatever Sam wanted to for the rest of the day. There would be time to worry about demons and psychic kids later; now, it was time to play some ball.
Pulling back the covers, Dean allowed Sam to scramble onto the bed. Once Sam was settled comfortably, the blankets were pulled up, Dean's hand lingering on his brother's small shoulder. Sam drowsily smiled up at him while struggling to keep his eyes open.
"Will you tell me a story, Dean?" Sam pleaded.
Dean blew out a breath while lounging next to Sam and putting an arm around his brother. Sam eagerly scooted over and snuggled up against Dean, clutching a fistful of his shirt in his hand.
"I don't know a lot of bedtime stories, Sam, but when we go to the store tomorrow, we can buy you some books too."
"Okay," Sam pouted, disappointed.
Squeezing Sam against him, Dean continued, "I promise, Sam. I'll read you as many stories as you want tomorrow night."
"As many as I want?" Sam impishly smiled.
"Well…"
Laughing, Sam cuddled closer and laid his head down on Dean's chest.
"How about I just stay here until you fall asleep?" Dean asked in compromise.
Yawning, Sam just nodded his head. The heavy weight of his brother lying against him felt wonderful. Absentmindedly, Dean rubbed his hand in circles over Sam's back.
Twenty-four hours ago he had believed that he would never see Sam again. Now he had his brother back, even though Sam wasn't himself right now. Dean didn't know if there was any way to bring his brother back, but he promised himself that he would make the most of the time that he had. If Sam never changed back, he would make sure that Sam had a better childhood this time around.
Hearing the slow deep breathing, Dean realized that his brother was asleep. Carefully extricating himself from the firm grip Sam had on his shirt, he slid off of the bed. The door softly closed behind him as he left the room to hunt down Bobby. The older man was in the kitchen staring out the window, one hand braced against the counter while the other raised a bottle to his lips to take a swig of beer.
"Sam asleep?" Bobby asked without turning around.
"Yeah," Dean replied, walking over and standing beside Bobby. "What did you find out today?"
Finally, Bobby turned and started walking out of the room, gesturing for Dean to join him. When they entered the living room, Dean noticed a map lying on the desk surrounded by several open books.
"What am I looking at?" Dean questioned as his eyes roamed over the map.
"Southern Wyoming. There have been several demonic omens in the area: cattle deaths, electrical storms."
"What do you think is happening? When we were looking for Sam, you said that there was nothing, and now, there's demonic omens popping up all over this area."
"I've got no clue. I've been researching all afternoon, and I've got nothing."
Rubbing a hand over his face hard, Dean turned away and let out a frustrated sigh.
"The Yellow Eyed Demon is up to something. Why did he want Sam? What's going to happen in Wyoming?"
Bobby leaned against the table and took another swig.
"We'll find out, Dean. I know you won't give up when it comes to that boy."
Dean started to respond, but a noise outside stopped the conversation. Bobby quickly sat down his bottle and grabbed his shotgun while Dean slipped his gun out of his jacket pocket. Sharing a meaningful look, Bobby started for the front door as Dean headed towards Sam's room. If anyone or anything managed to slip around Bobby, Dean was prepared to defend his little brother.
Cracking the door open and quietly entering, Dean noticed that Sam was still asleep. The bedroom had a window on one of the walls, so Dean walked over and made sure that the window was locked before pulling the shades back over the glass.
"Dean." Bobby's quiet voice came from the hallway. "It's okay."
Releasing a sigh of relief, Dean checked on his brother one more time before heading back to the living room. Upon walking into the room, Dean stopped in disbelief.
"Surprised to see me?" Ellen quietly teased, a sad smile on her face.
"Ellen," Dean breathed before walking over and engulfing the woman in a strong hug. "We thought that you were dead."
"Damn near was," Ellen replied.
Pulling away so that he could look into Ellen's eyes, Dean hesitated before saying, "We saw the Roadhouse. We saw Ash."
Ellen stepped away and turned her back on the two men. Her arms folded across her chest as she stared into space.
"A lot of good people died in that fire."
Dean knew that she was hurting, but he had to see if she knew anything more than they did.
"Before Ash died he called us and said that he had found something, but he wouldn't talk about it over the phone. Do you know what he was talking about?"
"Yeah," Ellen replied as she turned around and pulled a map out of her pocket. Unfolding the map on the desk, Dean realized that it was another map of Wyoming.
"He showed me this map not long before the fire started."
"What do the marks mean?" Dean asked.
Ellen shook her head, but Bobby suddenly started flipping rapidly through a book which had been open on his desk.
"Where's Sam?" Ellen questioned, finally realizing his absence.
"We did find him after he disappeared, but…"
Dean trailed off, not wanting to discuss his brother's death. Bobby glanced up as he continued to trail his finger down a page.
Hearing Dean's reluctance, Ellen shifted closer and gave him an encouraging look.
"One of the other psychic kids that had been taken stabbed Sam in the back."
Gasping, Ellen put one hand over her mouth while placing her other hand gently on Dean's shoulder.
"Is he okay? What happened?"
Shrugging her hand off, Dean avoided everyone's eyes as he paced back and forth.
"Sam died in my arms. I couldn't let him stay dead, so I made a deal." Noticing the look on Ellen's face, Dean got defensive. "I don't need another lecture from you too. Bobby has already said enough. Sam is my only family left. I would do anything for him. I couldn't live without him."
Dean's voice cracked at the end. Clearing his throat, Dean tried to subtly swipe his arm over his eye.
Quietly, Ellen said, "I wasn't going to reprimand you, Dean, but if you brought him back, where is he?"
"I've got it," Bobby interrupted.
"What've you got, Bobby?" Dean asked, perking up.
"The marks on Ash's map represent old churches built by Samuel Colt. Each of the churches were connected by iron railroads like this," Bobby explained as he drew lines over the map. "So essentially, he created one large…"
"Devil's Trap," Dean excitedly interjected.
"Exactly."
A low whimper cause the three of them to freeze. Dean was the first one to recover as he ran down the hallway and threw open the bedroom door. Sam was sitting up in bed, tears running down his cheeks. As soon as he spotted Dean, Sam opened his arms, reaching for his brother.
"Dean," Sam cried out.
"It's okay, Sammy," Dean reassured him as Sam crawled into his lap. "Did you have a nightmare?"
"Uh huh," Sam sniffled.
Dean grimaced, thinking about the snot being smeared all over his shirt.
A loud gasp in the doorway caused Dean to cradle Sam more snugly against him as he turned his body. Ellen stood in shock staring at the boy in his arms.
"What…how…"
"Come on," Bobby said, gently taking her elbow and steering her back to the living room. "Let's leave them alone. I'll explain everything to you."
Seeing the strange woman, Sam stiffened in his arms. His hold on Dean's shirt tightened as his eyes followed her.
"Who is that?"
Dean rubbed a hand up and down Sam's back trying to release some of the tension.
"Her name is Ellen. She is a friend of Dad and Bobby. I'll introduce you to her later. Do you want to tell me about your nightmare, bud?"
Sam shuddered and his breath hitched.
"I was back in that town. All alone. It was scary."
Clutching his brother tightly, Dean wished that he could take Sam's pain away. He wished that Sam hadn't woken up in Cold Oak all alone, especially since he was now younger and didn't have his adult memories.
"I swear I'll keep you safe, Sam. It was just a dream. You're okay."
It had taken about an hour before Sam calmed down enough to fall back asleep. There were several times when Dean thought that his brother was asleep only for Sam's eyes to snap widely open and sit up when Dean tried to get off the bed.
By the time that Dean did slip out of the room, he was exhausted. It was late and he knew that it would be even later when he finally did get to sleep. There were several more things that he, Bobby, and Ellen needed to discuss.
When he got to the living room, Bobby was relaxing in his desk chair while Ellen was slumped over on the couch. She straightened up when Dean entered.
"Is it true? Was that really Sam?"
Leaning against the wall, Dean replied. "It's true. That demon bitch brought him back as a kid. I don't know why or what we can do about it, but it's him."
"Okay," Ellen answered, still slightly stunned at the news.
"Bobby," Dean said as he looked over at the man, "we need to talk about what we are going to do about the Yellow Eyed Demon. You know that we're going to have to go to Wyoming."
Giving Dean a once over, Bobby responded. "You're tired, Dean. We all are, but you've been through a big shock. We can talk about this more tomorrow."
Immediately Dean shook his head.
"We need to talk about this now. We won't have time tomorrow with Sam hanging around."
"I can watch over Sam tomorrow so that you and Bobby can talk," Ellen volunteered. "I can even take somewhere if you don't want him in the house."
"I don't know, Ellen," Dean said reluctantly. "Sam doesn't want to be far away from me, and he doesn't even know you."
"Well, I can spend some time with him tomorrow morning with you around. If neither you nor he are comfortable with me taking him away from the house after that, then we can just do something outside."
"I trust you Ellen," Dean immediately answered. "It's just that Sam is having a hard time right now."
"I understand."
Pushing off of the wall, Dean straightened up.
"I think I'll stay with Sammy tonight just in case he has more nightmares. We can talk more in the morning," Dean said as he walked out of the room.
Once he was back in the bedroom, Dean was glad to see that Sam was sleeping peacefully. Slowly, Dean lowered himself onto the bed and rolled onto his side facing his brother. Unconsciously, Sam's body moved over until he was lying against Dean. Smiling at his brother's movement, Dean put an arm over Sam's body and immediately fell asleep.
