Writer's note: A bit of a technical chapter here, but very important to the story! Stay with me... I promise lots and LOTS of brother fluff later! And Sam-girls, I'm asking for a little trust here... I'm going to try to show BOTH sides. Special thanks to shahenaaz80 for helping to shed some light on a few things! :)


Ghosts and angels are but memories and visions
And revenants are out there taking up positions
But back when I believed in you
You'd raise the sun and set the moon
How could I help but love you holy as religion
Away you are going, away you are gone

But back when I believed in luck and words as spoken
I found a lie could break and split the world clean open
And grief became my company
Pain so deep I could not breathe
All betrayal is like dying in slow motion

The Swords We Carried ~ Mary Chapin Carpenter

He was pretty sure he had figured it out. He'd gone over it a dozen times in his head, but it didn't make a lot of sense. It would be nice, Sam thought, to have someone to run it by because it all seemed completely crazy. But that wasn't going to happen. His brother only had one thing on his mind right now, and it wasn't how to help Sam.

Sam had swallowed his frustration and weighed the risks of going alone. There were still a few missing pieces to the puzzle, but he was fairly certain that none of them were in danger. Fairly certain.

He had wandered out to the woods about twenty minutes after Dean had left to where they'd been looking the day before. The sky was getting a little dark again, threatening another possible storm later in the day. He wandered in a circle around the area that Sammy had taken them to, poking at rocks, moving the leaves around with his feet.

"Ok," Sam said to the open air. "I'm here. I'm ready to listen."

For several moments, there was no response but the wind rustling the leaves at his feet. Then there was a low humming sound, and even though a part of him had been expecting it, the slight flash of light caught him off guard, and he shielded his face.

When he dropped his arm, he was not alone in the forest. A old man stood about 20 feet away from him. He was dressed in khaki pants and a button up shirt with a dark blazer. His beard was a silvery gray and his white, wispy hair fluttered in the slight breeze. He was smiling and walking, slightly hunched over, towards Sam. He didn't look at all threatening, but Sam pulled out his blade.

"Ah, Sam Winchester. It is a pleasure to finally meet you face to face," he said, completely ignoring Sam's weapon.

"Frank?" Sam asked suspiciously, poised to strike if needed. "Frank Dobbs?"

The man nodded. "I thought you'd figure it out. Though I have to admit, I underestimated you. It only took you a day and a half? That's not bad."

"You're the physicist... from Princeton? The one who found the gateway. So it's real."

"Formerly from Princeton," he corrected jovially. "And of course it's real! Why, you've had a 5 year old bundle of living proof that it's real for the past couple of days."

"Where's your sister? Are you alone?"

Frank looked suddenly more serious, almost sad. "Althea passed away. Many years ago. Yes," he said, looking pointedly at Sam. "I'm very much alone. I have been for some time."

Sam still regarded him nervously, his posture tense and ready. "So are you here to take Sammy back to where he belongs? Or at least explain what the hell is going on?"

Frank shook his head, completely unfazed by the knife Sam was holding. "I think you know what's going on, don't you?"

Sam faltered slightly. "I have a theory. But it doesn't make a lot of sense. That 'lesson for the Winchester boys'- that's for me and my brother... not our younger counterparts, isn't it?"

Frank's eyes shone like he was almost proud of Sam for figuring it out.

"What I can't figure out is why," Sam went on, keeping his knife out and keeping his distance from the strange man who had appeared in the woods before his eyes. "Why are you doing this? I mean, why do you care? You can go anywhere, see anything and this is what you decide to do? Create some overly dramatic situation to help resolve a disagreement between Dean and me?"

Frank, smiled. "Well, when you put it that way, it doesn't sound very noble at all," he chuckled in amusement. "Sam, first of all, I assure you, I mean no harm to any of you. My intention is only to help."

"To help?" Sam said, raising his eyebrows. "You drop a little 5 year old kid off in the middle of nowhere in a rainstorm, scared to death with a couple of strangers, and this is how you help?"

"You're not strangers. Haven't you seen how he's taken to your brother? He knows you. At least, he knows Dean. He's not sure about you, but he knows Dean."

"How do you do it?" Sam asked, curiosity beginning to win out over defensive suspicion.

"What, sliding between the universes?"

Sam's eyes were wide with fascination. "Yeah, I mean... how?"

Frank chuckled again and shook his head. "Sam. When you get your degree in quantum mechanics, perhaps you could come and find me in another universe. Until then, one thing at a time. Why don't we work on something a bit more basic that you should be able to understand. For example, this... problem you've been having with your brother." Frank's demeanor changed suddenly and now he was looking very stern, like a frustrated grandfather.

Sam clenched his jaw and narrowed his eyes at Frank, returning to his previous train of thought. "This doesn't make any sense. Why do you care? You act like you know us. Do you?"

"Not exactly. I have my reasons. My time is running out in this universe. I do not have time to explain my background, my family history, or quantum entanglement and string theory to you, nor do I have the desire to. My sister and I had a very, very bad argument right before she passed away and I was lucky that things were resolved before it was too late. I have seen my impending death and I plan to spend the time I have left with Althea in a different universe, the same universe Sammy is from."

Sam just stared at him, trying to take in everything Frank was telling him. He still wasn't making any sense.

"Before I go, I wanted to do something good here in the dimension I am from. This was my timeline, Sam. I wanted you to really see what you were doing. What you were giving up on. And I think your eyes have been opened, at least somewhat."

"So, you came back to your timeline to do a good deed and you picked us out of the billions of people in the world?"

Frank smiled and nodded. "I did. Now it's time to return things to the way they were meant to be," he said and reached into the pocket of his jacket.

Sam tensed and raised his knife.

Frank shook his head, as though Sam were a petulant child. "Here. This is how I do it," he said, handing Sam a dark, flat disk with a reflective surface.

"What is this?"

"It's a shew stone. It belonged to John Dee." Frank said, the slight smile back on his face. He fully expected Sam to know who he was talking about.

"The mage... from the 1500's?"

"The very same."

"I've seen this. I mean, pictures of it. It's in a museum in England."

"No, it's in your hand. The one in the museum is a replica. Oh, they think it's the real thing, but what they don't know won't hurt them."

"How do you have this?" Sam asked, taking the disc and examining it carefully. He looked back at Frank then, having remembered something else. "This John Dee... he worked with a medium, Edward Kelly. They were claiming to have contact with the angels. How is-"

Frank continued to smile as he saw the lightbulb go on over Sam's head.

"He was a Man of Letters," Sam breathed.

Frank nodded. "One of the originals."

"And you- but I thought they were all wiped out by Abbadon?"

Frank laughed. "All what? All four of them? Sam, the Men of Letters had chapters scattered across the country. Artifacts, too. But the key was gone, the demons were after us... we all went into hiding. And... slowly began to die off, waiting for Henry to return. But he never did."

Sam just stared at him. "That's why you're here. That's why you chose us."

"Althea and I knew Henry. He was a good man. A very good man. We grew up together. I've been researching time travel and parallel universes since I was old enough to sign books out of the library. Now, Henry was no physicist, but he was a smart kid. He, Althea and I did a lot of work together. We figured out the time travel spell- the blood sigil. And we also figured out that it wasn't something that should be messed with. But...in a pinch, a Winchester will do whatever it takes. As you know." Frank raised his eyebrows, his expression somewhat scolding.

Sam met his gaze and looked away quickly.

"So, that's when my sister and I started really working on the idea of the parallel universes, after Henry disappeared. It's not time travel, not exactly... not quite as easy to mess things up, you know what I mean?"

Sam just looked at him blankly. He didn't know. And although Frank kept providing answers, Sam just kept coming up with more questions.

Frank sighed. "You and your brother have battled ghosts, monsters, and some of the greatest evil this world has ever known. You have saved so many lives. You are part of what little is left of a once powerful legacy. And now? Now you behave like... like common fools!" Frank spat the last part of his sentence in a fury. Or as much of a fury as a little old man in a blazer could muster.

Sam held his gaze, but could hardly defend himself against what Frank was saying.

Frank lowered his voice and Sam was sure he saw tears rimming the edges of the old man's eyes. "I will not go quietly from this life as you tear apart what is left of the only family I ever knew."

Sam was still processing everything when Frank reached over and turned the disc in his hand.

"Here," Frank said, pointing to the reflective surface. "Look."

Sam studied the disc where an image was slowly appearing. He could make out a young boy in what looked like a bedroom and as the image was just starting to come into focus, Frank placed a small gold coin over the top of the disc, angled the disc in Sam's hand towards where the sun was just struggling to peek out from behind a cloud and uttered something in Enochian. There was a sudden flash of light.

"What the hell just happened?" Sam asked, looking around. They were still in the woods, but something was off. The woods looked different. "What did you do?" Sam lunged at him, putting the blade to his throat.

Frank didn't even flinch. "Come with me," he said quietly, but with a tone that dared Sam to argue with him.

They walked through the woods back to the motel. But even that was different. The cars were different. The sky was terribly dark. Everything was wrong.

"What's going on?"

"I needed your help with something. Dean needs to come with us to get young Sam. Sam is not going to come back with me willingly and your brother is not going to give him up if he doesn't want to go."

"And what if Dean refuses to let him go?"

"Then we have a very big problem."

"Then I think you just took a very big risk. I don't think you know what he's capable of when it comes to... me."

"Nor do you, Sam. Nor do you."

Sam followed along behind Frank, surprised at how quickly the little old man moved.

"The most important part of this lesson, Sam, is something your brother needs to see."

Sam tensed at the thought of this stranger threatening to teach his brother anything. "What do you mean 'something he needs to see'?"

Frank let out a humorless laugh. "Oh, Sam. Your brother is about to see things more clearly than he ever has before."

Sam grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. "You've done enough to him already- seeing this... this little version of me is tearing him apart!"

Frank staggered a bit and straightened his blazer, annoyed. He composed himself and regarded Sam coolly. "Yes. And why do you think that is?"

Sam lowered his eyebrows and clenched his jaw, not able to answer. He knew why, but it was tearing him apart inside, too.

Frank didn't hesitate to answer for him. "He's remembering how much you used to love and respect him. How much you used to rely on him... trust him. These are not things that diminish with age, Sam. They simply change. Your brother still wants your respect and your trust and he's seeing very clearly now that he has lost them. You're supposed to be 'the smart one'- the studious brother, reading the books, finding the answers, and yet this simple thing you have refused to see for so long. Dean sacrifices and protects and exhibits a level of devotion rarely found in mankind and has done so for his entire life. The decisions he's had to make in his lifetime have been nothing short of monumental. And he has to make them repeatedly, sometimes in a split second. Unfortunately, this means that when he makes mistakes, they can be pretty damn big ones. You were right to call him out on this most recent one, but you've gone beyond 'calling him out' at this point. Now you're responding with cruelty because of your own lack of self worth!"

Sam dropped his gaze.

"You have made him doubt his own strength, made him lose so much faith in himself and he didn't have much to begin with. I am sorry. I know this is harsh, and your brother has made terrible mistakes, but he has also made enormous sacrifices. I could list them for you, but let's just go right to the top of that list, shall we? Have you forgotten the day he let you fall into the pit? Do you know how hard it was for him to let you go that day? Even having you back with him now, he will carry that scar forever."

The words hit Sam like a punch to the stomach.

"Sam. You have a right to be angry for what was done to you. You have a right to express this anger to your brother and even the right to deny him forgiveness. But if that is the path you have chosen, then the right thing is to take your own advice and let him go. Walk away. Do not continue to torture him by dragging him through the agony of experiencing your anger and resentment day after day. To continuously remind him that you don't trust him any more, that you don't love him-"

That was too much. Sam looked back at Frank, his eyes blazing. "I love my brother! Don't you dare tell me-"

"Really? Do you think he knows this?"

Does he love you to the moon and back? Sam remembered Sammy asking Dean this question. And he remembered that Dean couldn't answer.

"Sam, I wanted you to be reminded of the depth of his love and devotion to you so that you could see that even after what he's done, even if you decide that you don't owe him your forgiveness this time, you at least owe him his freedom." Frank turned again and was moving with agitated determination across the motel parking lot.

Sam followed him, becoming more and more nervous about the fact that everything looked so familiar and yet... not.

"I need you to get your brother and bring him to the portal."

They were standing beside the motel as Sam looked at him confused. "He isn't here. He took Sammy and-"

Frank looked positively exasperated. "Your young brother, Sam. We are no longer in your universe."

Sam looked over to the motel window where a young boy shoved the curtains back and looked out into the parking lot. His frightened green eyes were filled with tears as he glanced around and retreated back into the room.

Dean...