"Why don't you like him?" Sam asked quietly. Rory sighed, looking up reluctantly from her book.

"It's not that I don't like him Sam, I promise."
"Then what is it?" he leaned forward.

"Honestly?" she asked. He nodded slowly.

"He's a good man, a very good man. But he's damaged Sam." Sam opened his mouth to speak and she shook her head. "No, I don't think you get it. He's broken, and it isn't something you can just fix with a kiss and a bandaid, or even stitches. The emotions that he fights everyday? I can feel them. All of the energy that he uses to fight them? I can feel it. It's exhausting being in the same room with him, let alone interacting with him." she put her book down and looked straight into Sam's eyes. "He needs you Sam, you're the only one who can help him and the only one he'll trust." Sam scoffed and leaned back in his chair.

"Trust me my ass."

"Shut it, asshole. I'm serious. At the end of the day Sam, he'd sacrifice everyone else in this bunker for you, regardless of whatever it is you've done." Rory glared at him and he shook his head sadly.

"You don't know what I've done."

"And you clearly don't know your brother like you should." she leaned back in her chair and buried her face back in her book. "Just watch him for a couple of days, then come back to me."

Sam did watch. He watched for almost three days before Dean caught him staring and threatened to deck him. He noted the subtle differences in Dean's behavior that he'd missed when he'd first come back.

He didn't drink a beer with breakfast anymore and held off the scotch till after 12. He didn't talk as much as he used to, and when he did it was always serious. Still kept his gun loaded and a knife nearby and he made an effort to stay in shape.

He wanted to believe these were all signs that Dean was getting better, that he was healing and moving on. It'd been quite the past two years, hell it'd been quite the life. But Sam knew. He watched Dean drink four cups of coffee, he could hear him watching tv till 3 in the morning, he saw the tense military stance that'd kept since he'd returned.