Disclaimer: It's not mine, because not even in my wildest imaginings would I be able to come up with a story as incredible as Eric is giving us right now! Or anything as amazing as Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The shows are owned respectively by Eric Kripke and Joss Whedon.

Author's Note: I'm working ahead of betas all mistakes are mine.

AN2: This will is kind of a filler chapter; I need to get a few "hello"s out of the way before the boys can have their chat. Sorry for the delay, I caught a nasty stomach-flu and then got thrown into the chaos that is finals. It's best for everybody if I don't go into details.

Gilligan Had It Easy

She was gonna kill him. Dean's baby brother or not, one more worried glance upstairs followed by an angry huff and he was a dead man. Faith could understand why he was worried, after a three hour tour of the facility Willow and Dean were still upstairs talking. Hell, Faith was worried too, but you don't see her huffing and puffing up a storm. The only reason baby bro was still breathing was because of Dawn.

It seems the littlest Summers had a thing for tall, dark, and puppy. A fact which Faith took great joy in teasing her about behind Sam's back during the tour. Faith wasn't sure if Sam reciprocated Dawnie's crush, he was a hard one to get a read on. He was smart, spent the last three hours in an incredibly boring series of conversations with Dawn which both of them found fascinating. And he worried too much about Dean.

That's all she knew.

Every time she tried to find out anything about him or what Dean'd been up to for the past two years, Sam would smile and bat those puppy-dog eyes at her and by the time she realized he hadn't answered her question they were onto a different topic. For three goddamn hours he'd evaded her inquiries with ease, and more then a little smug glee. But the moment they walked in the door and found out Dean was still in Willow's rooms Sam shut down.

He wouldn't talk, answer questions, he barely even responded to his own name. He just sat in the downstairs waiting room, staring into space; and every five minutes like clockwork, he'd shoot a glance at the stairway across the hall, glare, and huff.

Faith had kept her peace for forty-nine minutes, twenty-three seconds, and a fucking three hour tour! Great. Now she had the Gilligan's Island theme song stuck in her head. Not necessarily Sam's fault but Faith wasn't in a mood to be forgiving. One more huff was her limit. Thirty seconds from now either Dean showed or Sammy boy was taking a long walk off a short pier.

xxx

In twenty-one seconds Sam was going to huff, and Dawn wasn't sure what Faith would do when he did. At first the huffs caused a minor twitch of irritation in Faith, but her reaction had been becoming increasingly violent with each huff. Last time Faith shattered the mug she'd been holding, fortunately she finished all the coffee first. Unfortunately the pissed off, caffeine-hyped slayer no longer had anything readily at hand to smash other then Sam.

Eight seconds …. Fuck!

xxx

Sam, unaware of the violence about to befall him, glanced once more at the stair case. Just as he was drawing in a deep breath, to better convey his impatience and worry, a strange man wearing an eyesore of a Hawaiian shirt and sporting an eye patch walked through the waiting room's open door.

"Xander!" Dawn cried in relief, running over to give him a hug for his wonderful timing.

Sam ignored the slight pang of disappointment at the sight of Dawn in the other man's arms. It's not like he came here to get laid, he just thought she was a nice girl…really smart too…and pretty.

"Mitts off my man Dawnie," Faith said playfully as she uncoiled from her cross-legged yoga position on the center cushion of the couch. She'd been trying to do some of that deep breathing yoga crap that Red had said should help keep her temper in check. It did alright, but no breathing exorcise invented could release the stress she'd built up like the sight of her man looking at her like she was the only woman in the world.

Dawn sat on the arm of Sam's chair as Faith sauntered over to Xander like sex on legs.

"Xander's been on assignment in the Congo for the past two weeks," Dawn explained in a whisper to Sam. "Faith normally goes with him on Council trips, but he had to meet with an informant who was kinda jumpy about Faith…mostly because the last time he saw her she broke his arm in two places," Sam looked at the dark haired slayer in surprise, but quickly looked away again as he didn't need to witness whatever mating ritual was going on between Faith and Xander.

Dawn was slightly offended by the look she'd spotted cross Sam's face. Did all men see woman as weak little girls?

"She broke his arm?" Sam asked in a tone Dawn couldn't quite place. It wasn't incredulous or judgmental…surprised. That's what it was, surprise. He couldn't believe that Faith had broken some guy's arm.

"What?" Dawn said with building temper. "It's not ladylike to break a man's arm? Cause if I had been in her place and that asshole has copped a feel I would have done a whole lot worse."

Sam held his hands up in a gesture of surrender, trying to mollify the pissed brunette practically sitting in his lap.

"No, I would never assume any woman, especially one who lives here, isn't capable of handling herself," he said, sincerity pouring out of his puppy eyes, making Dawn melt a little. "I just thought there were special rules regarding slayers and humans."

"Oh," Dawn replied, her righteous indignation deflating, quickly replaced by embarrassment. "There are, but the slayers are allowed to defend themselves, and anyone who gropes a slayer's gonna get what's coming to them," Dawn explained, blushing faintly.

"Besides," Xander jumped in, having finally come up for air. "He was a chaos demon, not human."

Sam opened his mouth to ask what a 'Chaos Demon' was and why Xander was using it as an informant instead of just killing the thing when he heard a door open and close up the stairs, closely followed by the unmistakable muffled thump of his brother's boots as Dean made his way down the carpeted hall one floor up.


54 Minutes Ago

Willow reluctantly pulled out of Dean's arms, a million emotions and questions swirling about in her brain, colliding at light speed. In the midst of all that chaos one thought make its way safely to the forefront of her mind.

"How long do we have?" Willow hadn't planned on voicing her query but now it was out there, settling between them.

"A year…we've got one year," Willow tried to muster the strength to be angry, but she couldn't. She was numb all over, Dean had only just come back into her life and she was going to lose him again. Tears stung her eyes as the reality struck home. Willow threw herself into Dean's arms once more with a small sob.

"It's not enough time," she whispered hart brokenly, soft lips pressed against the shell of Dean's ear.

'I just got him back; you can't take him away again so soon,' she silently pleaded with the fates. 'Please, I love him,' her heart screamed as her arms held Dean tighter.

Willow took a deep breath to center herself. Taking in Dean's scent along with the oxygen; a unique blend of leather, whiskey, chocolate and something she could only identify as "Dean". The leather and whiskey were easy to explain, they screamed "Alpha male" and drove her hormones wild. The chocolate less explicable unless you know Dean and his weakness for all things sweet; if the whiskey and leather were meant to drive the ladies crazy then the chocolate was as soothing reassurance, wrapping you in a cocoon of safety. The final component of his scent, the "Dean Factor" tied everything else together, intermingling the different elements into one perfect bouquet. It swirled around you, through you, sensual rather then sexual.

There was only one word for Dean, from his unbelievably expressive green eyes and freckles to his classic rock and the Impala, from sleep mussed hair to biker boots: Addictive.

Willow had cut him out of her life before and it had almost destroyed them both. It was one of the biggest mistakes in her life, and coming from the girl who flayed a guy and almost ended the world that's saying something.

She was not going to make that mistake again; she wasn't going to let Dean go to hell. Not while she had an ounce of strength left in her body.

Dean felt the shift in Willow, from despair to resolve, and when she pulled out of his hold Dean knew he was going to have a fight on his hands. She wasn't about to let him die in peace…damn it.

Dean didn't have time to argue with Willow about accepting his death. They'd been sequestered together for a little over three hours and he knew Sam had to be getting anxious. But there was one more thing he had to do before he could meet up with Sammy.

"Willow," he said breaking through her reverie. "Remember that favor I said I'd need to ask of you?"


'Well,' Dean thought to himself as he made his way down the hall almost an hour later. 'That went better then I expected.'

Sam stood as he saw Dean descend the staircase, everyone else in the room fading to the background as he focused on his brother, trying to ascertain how his meeting with the ex had gone. Sam strode over to Dean as he reached the bottom step, the two sharing a wordless conversation. Dean ended it with a small wink and a smirk before heading over to greet the others properly.

A grin grew on Sam's face as he saw Dean hug Faith and Dawn, then giving Xander a manly handshake and a clap on the back. The talk must have gone well, whatever the burden he had been carrying, that weight had been lifted and Dean looked years younger even though he only had the one left.

Dean looked back at Sammy, his eyes sparkling in joy at the reunion with his former friends. If he felt betrayed by their shutting him out before he wasn't showing it now.

Faith broke the happy silence that had fallen over everyone with her usual brand of tact and sensitivity.

"So lover boy, what brings you back after two years? If all this was about a booty call I'm going to be seriously pissed. Sasquatch over there's been driving everyone nuts with the huffing and puffing. Was his last job at a phone sex line or something?"

Sam blushed as Dean's grin grew even wider, Sam couldn't help thinking to himself that he was lucky Dean had gone for Willow instead of Faith, the two of them would be a terror the world might have never recovered from.

"Nah," Dean spoke up slinging an arm around Sam's shoulders for effect. "He's just lost without me is all. Had to try and bolster his courage so he wouldn't cry in front of the ladies," Sam shoved Dean's arm off him with a disgruntled huff causing everyone to start laughing again. Sam reluctantly joined in knowing he'd set himself up for that one.

Dean had effectively deflected Faith's question for the moment but he knew it wouldn't last long. Once she realized he was charming and joking to keep her off balance her slayer instincts would kick in and there'd be no deterring her line of questioning.

It only took about five minutes of joking before Faith remembered that Dean hadn't answered her question about why he was here. She felt a brief flash of irritation at the Winchester line.

'Don't these guys ever just tell it to you straight?!'

Faith conveniently forgot all the times Dean was honest to the point of being brutal as it didn't help with her current mind rant. She was just beginning to work herself up into a real temper when Dean spoke again, halting the amusing tale Xander was telling Sam about a hunt he, Dean, and Spike had gone on involving Civil War re-enactors and a troop of vampires who refused to believe that the south had lost.

"Xan, it's a great story but I'm pretty sure you need to attend to your lady. I think she's planning on giving Medusa a run for her money," Xander tuned his head 90 degrees to see Faith, since she was in his blind spot, and quickly squashed the smart-alec remark he'd had planned.

"Yeah…I wonder if only half of me will be turned to stone since I've just got the one eye," alright so maybe the smart-alec wasn't entirely squashed.

Faith turned her icy glare on Xander, who froze like a deer in headlights.

"Guess that answers his question," Dean mused out loud before ducking behind Sammy in mock terror as Faith turned to look at him. Dean peaked out from behind one of Sammy's massive shoulders before bobbing back out of sight with a girlish squeak. Faith laughed ruefully at Dean's antics and the tension level in the room dropped.

She circled around Sam and pulled Dean into another hug.

"I have missed you Winchester," she said softly.

"Yeah, me too Faithie," Dean whispered into her hair, his eyes closing briefly.

They let each other go with a slightly embarrassed smile and Faith punched Dean on the arm lightly to prove how unaffected by emotions they were.

Dean sighed rubbing his arm slightly.

"All jokes aside Faith I can't tell you, it's not my place right now," Dean took her hands in his. "Willow needs to tell you, all of you, together. She needs to do this, she needs to say it out loud to people she can trust."

"Jesus Winchester," Faith breathed out gently. "What did you do?"

"What I had to," Dean dropped Faith's hands and turned to face the others, bringing them into the conversation, even though they'd been eavesdropping already.

"I wanted to say something to the three of you before Buffy, Giles, and Spike get here. I know that they'll understand why I did what I did, and I think you will too but…. I just needed you to know that I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the pain I've caused and will be causing. I'm sorry I had to come here and dump all of this on you. I'm sorry we won't have more time together. I'm sorry I can never make this right, make it better," with this said Dean turned to face Sam. Apologizing to him even more then to his former friends. Sam's eyes met Dean's in pain and understanding.

"But I need all of you to remember this, for all that I'm sorry, I would do what I did again in a heartbeat. No hesitation. No second thoughts. And for that I'm not sorry."

Dean broke eye contact with his brother and turned to the Scoobies in the room, noticing that Buffy, Giles, and Spike had joined them while he and Sam were focused on each other.

Buffy spoke first, breaking the worried silence that had fallen.

"Nice to know I'm not the only one with a penchant for depressing speeches." Dean smiled and picked Buffy up, spinning her around as the slayer gave him a bone-crushing hug.

"Can't let you have all the fun now can I Princess?" Buffy squeezed harder and Dean felt his spinal column realign. Dean's arms released Buffy but the Slayer clung on even tighter. "Sorry," he gasped. "I forgot how much you hated that nickname." Buffy let go with a grin as Dean stumbled back a few steps, Sam steadying him.

"That was equal parts payback for calling you the "P" word and punishment for coming back here and upsetting Will right?" Dean asked massaging his ribs.

"Pretty much," Buffy replied flipping her hair over her shoulder as she turned to face Sam. "And you must be the brother we've heard so much about," she said cheerily. "Dean was constantly talking about you. From what he told us you're an absolute genius, I mean a full ride to Stanford, that's incredible!"

Sam's jaw dropped as he looked incredulously at his brother, taking the hand Buffy had offered and shaking it dazedly.

"I didn't know he…I mean…thanks, yeah…" Sam floundered for something sensible to say.

"He was captain of the debate team too," Dean teased. Sam smacked Dean's arm, and Dean quickly smacked him back.

Brotherly balance restored Sam redeemed himself by being witty and charming until Cookie the newbie Vampire Slayer came into the room and let the others know that Willow was waiting for them in the Scoobies Library.

"Showtime," Dean smiled sadly and gave everyone a hug before they went upstairs to where Willow was waiting. He knew there was a good chance they would hate him, or at least resent him for what he'd done, so Dean took this last chance to fix the image of his friends smiling and laughing in his mind.

Faith and Dawn were the last up the staircase; once they were gone Dean nodded towards the door and headed out.

"We leaving?" Sam asked hurrying to catch up.

"Not yet Sammy. Willow's got some things to tell the others, and…I've got some things to tell you. Figured it'd be best if we took this outside."

"Why?" Sam questioned again. Dean smiled slightly, Sam was always asking questions. Always. Hell his first word had been "Why?" Actually his first word was "Damn" but Sam had said the word like it was a question, so that was close enough for Dean.

Luckily Dad had been on a hunt when Sam decided to say his first word so Dean had a whole week with just the two of them to train Sam to say something cute. Not Dean's fault Sam picked up on what he heard around him.

Dean was finally able to change "Damn" into "Dean" and he'd just started getting "Dean" into "Dad" by the time John returned. Unfortunately Sam's brain decided to combine the two words, so John spent a few days wondering just why it was that his son's first word was "Deed", of course another job came along and pretty soon first words were pushed to the back of John Winchester's mind. But twenty years later the memory of walking through the motel room door to be greeted by Sam yelling "Deed!" at the top of his lungs and Dean smacking his hand against his forehead could still bring a smile to John's face.

"Dean?" Sam questioned softly, dragging Dean back to the present.

"Yeah Sammy?"

"Why do we need to take this conversation outside?" Sam stopped walking and Dean spun to face him, they'd made it about a hundred yards from the main house while Dean was lost in thought.

"Because I don't want you boxed in, and if you're going to take a swing at something I don't want you to break your fist on a slayer," Dean answered tactfully.

"A couple hundred more yards due north and we'll come to a lake, it's got a couple benches and some nice trees for shade. It's also spelled so conversations are private. We'll talk there." Dean started walking again, a reluctant Sam following behind him.

Dean snuck a glance back at his brother, his thoughts swirling frantically as he tried to find a way to explain all the revelations this afternoon had brought. Unconsciously slowing his steps in the hope of buying more time.

'Please don't let me screw this up,' he prayed silently, a lifetime of memories and responsibilities weighing him down as they crested a small hill and walked down towards the lake.