Chapter 10

Dean yawned, rolling stiff shoulders. He glanced at his watch and saw it was past ten. He bit his lip. He held some idea of what was probably going on inside the viewing room -- just not how long it would be likely to take. The one thing he knew for sure was there was no way he was going to leave his brother to make his way back to the motel on his own -- especially not in his current state.

He glanced over toward the funeral home's main doors, the fingers of his left hand drumming on the steering wheel. The urge to go take a peek and check in on Sam had been itching at him for a while. He doubted his brother would appreciate it though.

Movement inside caught at his attention. Someone was in the large hallway. About a minute later he saw his brother come out the front doors. His hands were shoved deep in his pockets, head hung low.

Dean waited to see what he would do, but he did nothing. Sam only stood in the parking lot, half covered in shadow. Dean rolled down the window.

"Hey, college boy, need a ride?"

Sammy glanced up, blinking, a look of utter befuddlement on his face.

Dean started up the Impala and drove over. He reached across the seat and opened the passenger door. "Get in."

"D-Dean?" Sam just stood there, scrunched down and staring at him, as if still unable to believe he was there. His eyes were red and puffy.

"No, I'm a pod person." He put as much sarcasm into the statement as he could. "Just get in, dude. Quit messing around." He was surprised to see a debate clash back and forth over Sam's face. What the hell? "Now, Sammy!"

His brother finally got in, not looking at him. "I told you I'd get back on my own." There was just a touch of reproach in the statement and something else Dean couldn't make heads or tails of.

"Big brother prerogative says I don't have to do what you say and could wait if I wanted to. And I wanted to, so just zip it."

Sam just scrunched down in his seat and stared out the window. "Thanks…"

Dean only shrugged and got them on their way.

"I was thinking we might stop somewhere and grab some grub." Though he'd been able to filch some food here and there for himself he knew that aside from coffee, water, and soda, Sam had had nothing substantial all day -- again.

"I just want to go bed…" Sam never moved.

Dean frowned at him. "Come on, Sammy. This isn't healthy. You're not doing anyone any good doing this."

His brother ignored him.

"Sam?" Worry gnawed at his gut, but knew he couldn't force his brother to eat. There had to be something that would motivate him though, something that would drag him out of this hole he'd thrown himself into. "I know we haven't been able to find any clues about the thing that killed Jessica and it's driving you nuts. Whatever did this though covered its tracks real good. So I was thinking we should concentrate on finding Dad first. He'll know what to make of this. Him disappearing and this thing coming back, surely they're connected somehow, you know? Maybe it means Dad's getting close and it's panicking."

His brother shot up in his seat, his head snapping in his direction. "You really think that?"

Dean wasn't able to maintain eye contact. He was reaching at straws and he knew it. But straws were all he had. "We'll know when we find him."

Sam deflated like a balloon. "I see."

"Dammit, Sam! It's the only thing we've got!"

"Sure…" His head turned away, gaze once more out the window.

Dean gnashed his teeth, gripping the steering wheel until his hands hurt. So much for that idea. He parked the car once they got back to the motel and opened the door of the Impala a little harder than normal. He heard the passenger door open as well, but when he turned as he got out, didn't see his brother's head towering over the roof as it should have. Half ducking to take a look back in the car, he didn't find him there either.

"Sammy?" Dean jumped over the hood of the car, blind panic telling him his brother had vanished just like their Dad. Instead he found him on the asphalt on his hands and knees, his whole body shaking. "Sam!"

He grabbed his brother up, helping him sit, his gaze frantically checking every part of him. Sam's face was sheet white, his eyes large and unfocused.

Dean pushed his brother back against the side of the car. He loosened Sam's tie, undoing the first couple of buttons on his shirt before grabbing his cold face in his hands. "Hey, Sammy, come on! Look at me. I'm here. Look at me."

Sam's gaze continued to wander unfocused, but after a couple of moments seemed to become aware of him and narrowed in on Dean's face. "Dean..."

"That's right. It's big brother." His worry eased just a notch. "Now tell me what's going on."

"It..." Sam's eyes closed, his face scrunching for a moment as if battling to concentrate and put some thoughts together. "I stood up and everything just...flipped over..." He opened his eyes again looking lost and scared.

The answering pang at seeing this made Dean's stomach clench. "That's it. I've had it. We're getting you something to eat and you're going to eat it."

"No..."

Dean grabbed Sammy by the armpits and heaved him to his feet keeping a tight hold just in case. "It's not open for discussion. Got it? Unless you're planning to do a swan dive at the funeral tomorrow? Think about how that would go over. Do you really want to go there?"

Color suddenly flushed his brother's cheeks. He shook his head, no longer meeting Dean's gaze.

"Glad to hear it." He pushed the passenger door open further with his foot and helped his brother inside a lot more gently than his tone had been.

Dean drove around town looking for a likely place. He knew from Jeff his brother had drank a little soup when they went out, so he figured that would be his best bet. However, finding an open restaurant was proving to be a problem. Who would have thought a college town would be rolling up the carpet at ten? Were they nuts?

After a half hour of fruitless searching he hit a 7-11 and bought some ready to eat Campbell's soup and heated three up in their microwave. He scarfed down a couple of Smoky Big Bites while he waited for the food to heat up and chased them with a Super Big Gulp. Then he grabbed a couple of yogurt type drinks on the way out and a way overpriced bottle of vitamins.

The moment he slipped inside the Impala he slapped one of the soup containers into Sam's hands. "I want that gone in five. You get me?"

His brother didn't say anything but did bring the cup up to his lips.

He handed Sam a second one as soon as the first was gone. "Again."

By the time they made it back to the motel, his brother was on the third container of soup.

Dean parked the car. "Sit. I'll come around for you."

That earned him a frowning glare. Good, the soup was doing its job already.

Dean opened the passenger door, plastic bag in one hand, and stayed close as his brother unfolded himself out of the car. He didn't seem to be having any problems. Nevertheless, he made Sammy go first so he could keep an eye on him and react if needed.

As soon as they were inside, he pointed his brother to the nearest chair then set the two yogurt drinks on the table beside it. "Those need to go too. Get cracking."

The frown was now accompanied by a half pout. Better and better.

"I'm not eight, Dean. I don't need to be told what to do."

Dean gave Sam a raised brow. "Really? Cause from where I'm standing, it's totally obvious you haven't been taking care of business. As soon as you decide to straighten up and take care of yourself, though, I'll happily back off."

Sam glared hard at him, swiped one of the yogurt drinks off the table and opened it up. "Fine. I will."

Dean pulled out the vitamins and set them on the dresser. "About time."

"Jerk."

"Bitch." Dean made sure to keep his back turned, not wanting to risk Sammy seeing his relieved smile. Maybe they would get through this.