He returned to Dean's bedside, "Oliver says thanks for scolding him. It sounds like he and Thea had a good talk."

The corners of Dean's lips twitched up for a brief moment, hinting at a smile then he opened his eyes and Sam saw small sliver of happiness in them, "Good, nice to know I managed to do one thing right still somehow. Why'd you call Oliver?"

"As soon as we can check you out I'm taking you to his Lake house, not home."

"Wasn't that where he took you after my trip to Hell?"

"Yes."

Sam watched curiosity war with apathy on his brother's face. Curiosity won out, which gave Sam a minute amount of hope. "Why?"

"One, it's a hell of a lot closer, two no weapons, three it will be easier to communicate with Felicity on what she finds..." he trailed off.

"And?"

"Look, when Oliver took me there at first I thought it was useless but once I got there, well it helped. A new place, a beautiful place and it's away from everything."

"You mean from people," Dean just cut straight to the chase.

"Yes."

"But you'll still be there right?"

"Of course." He didn't quite understand what Dean was hinting at.

Dean wearily shook his head, "'You mentioned I said kill him, not them. Who do you think I, or rather it, was referring to?"

"I know and don't care."

The little bit of life that Oliver's thank you had brought out faded from Dean's face. "Ever occur to you I do."

"Yeah, so? Since when did my caring about not wanting to be saved ever stop you from saving me? Well, now it's your turn. You're stuck with me. Deal with it, either fight the Mark or kill me. I'm not leaving." He sat down in the chair and stared Dean down.

Temper flared in Dean's eyes then he looked away, "Last thing I'm saying on this topic, remember how badly I screwed things up the last time I saved you."

"Well, it's a good thing I tend to research before I act then, unlike you," he shot back. Dean didn't reply and the rest of the day passed in silence that was only disturbed when he went and got food or when they brought food in for Dean. Visiting hours had long since ended but the staff got the hint that he wasn't leaving and rolled in an extra bed for him. He figured Dean wouldn't be wandering the halls with his leg stitched up, his arm in a sling and doped up on painkillers so he got the first full night's sleep he'd had in months.

They dissuaded Dr. Winston's test requests by stating they were from out of state and wanted to handle all that back home and checked Dean out the next day. Dig drove up just as they stepped out of the lobby and pulled a wheelchair out of the trunk of his car. "Figured you guys would need this."

"Good timing and yeah we do," Sam replied. They transferred Dean to the passenger seat of the Impala, folded up the wheelchair and shoved it in the trunk. "Can you give me the address to the Lake House so I can GPS it?"

"Just follow me, I'm heading up there anyway. I need to pick up a few things and take them back to the Club." Dig shifted his eyes to Dean then back to Sam who got the hint. There were weapons at the house now and those needed to go.

"Sure, sounds good. I may have a few things for you to take back too," he replied as he eyed Baby's trunk.

Dig nodded, "No problem." Dig got back in his car, Sam slid into Baby's driver's seat and they left the hospital.

They were half way up the mountain road when Dean finally spoke, "I have to give Oliver's family this. They sure know how to pick real estate." It was the middle of fall and the trees were alive with colors as they faded into their winter hibernation, the smell of crackling leaves and crisp, sharp pre-winter air rushed past them as they drove.

"Yeah, I was up here during the spring, saw tons of deer, heard some wolves, there were lots of birds and the lake has plenty of fish. The sunsets are gorgeous too."

"When was the last time we fished?" Dean asked out of nowhere.

"We were teenagers, you were sixteen I think. It was the time we stole a car when Dad was on a hunt and we were bored out of our minds. The first time and last time I ever ditched school."

Dean chuckled, "Yeah, we almost got caught too. Didn't we get back to the room like ten minutes before Dad did?"

"Yup, and your dumb ass was sunburned because you were too macho to wear sunscreen. I still can't believe Dad bought that idiotic story you told."

"Come on Sam, you know he didn't. I think he was just happy we had a normal weekend for once."

He thought about it as he took a quick glance at Dean, Damn, I've missed that smile. He looks almost normal again, at least for now. The smile managed to stay on Dean's face for the rest of the drive, but it became more strained, more faked and he didn't speak again.

"Oliver's got to have some poles hidden in that place, you're going to be sitting a lot anyway," Sam offered as they pulled up to the house, "We could try our luck."

"Maybe. You giving the weapons in the trunk to Dig?"

He hadn't been expecting that and didn't reply at first.

"Makes sense," Dean continued, "Since the whole point of bringing me here is to keep me as far away from weapons as possible."

"Yeah."

"Wouldn't hurt to lock up the kitchen knives too," he said in an empty voice, "Just a suggestion."

"Oh...uh, okay." So much for sleeping better up here. He got out of the car, pulled the wheelchair out, helped Dean get into it then caught up with Dig who was holding the front door open.

"Felicity wanted me to tell you she'll be up later to hook up a computer for you to use. It's going to be directly linked with hers so you can see what she's found."

"Sounds good," he replied as he pushed Dean into the foyer. The first thing he noticed was there was less furniture and what remained was covered with drop cloths and sheets. "Did Oliver sell stuff off?"

"Yeah, he had to make it look like he was getting rid of the place. He actually transferred ownership to some sort of trust that he and Felicity managed to cobble together last minute, so on paper it doesn't look like he owns it."

"Oh, sneaky," Dean mentioned. "Hope there's still a bed or two."

"There is," Dig stated, "I think the best option for you is the master bedroom. Less cornering required to get to the bathroom, wheelchairs aren't known for their ease of turning."

"Finally, I get the big room," Dean managed to joke.

"Hey, you picked that room in the Bunker."

"That's because it's closer to the kitchen."

They wheeled Dean to his new accommodations and got him back into bed after he managed to change into sweats and t-shirt. "I'm good," he muttered as he closed his eyes again as the most recent dose of pain pills kicked in. Sam kept Dean's prescriptions with him, just in case.

Dig led him down to the basement where there was a rather large stash of weapons. "This may take a few trips," Dig said, "I'd forgotten how many we had up here. How's he doing?"

He grabbed as many guns as he could carry safely and walked back up the stairs, "Well, between not talking for hours, then when he does talk he's telling me I should have aimed lower on his chest, just great. I know it's only been a day but has she found anything yet?"

"Oddly enough, the Vatican has better cybersecurity than our government, which is rather disconcerting," Dig replied as they loaded guns into the trunk of his car. "So she's still trying to crack that but she has managed to hack into a lot of museums and found a few things, which judging by how pale her face went when the translations finished were probably not filled with good news. She didn't tell me, she said she wanted to see what you made of it first."

He leaned against the back door of the car, "Why am I not surprised it's bad news? Just one break, that's all I fucking want Dig."

"She'll find it, that I can promise you."

"What if there's not one to be found?"

"If I've learned anything from you two, it's that nothing, not even death is permanent. There's always a loophole, a weakness, that's just the nature of things. Look around you." Dig pointed towards the lake. "Millions of years ago this was the top of a mountain, we're standing on an extinct volcano. I don't care who created this Mark, it's the most basic rule of anything natural or supernatural from what you two have always said. There's always a weakness. We'll find it Sam."

He just nodded and they went down to get another load of weapons. Dig left about twenty minutes later and he went to check on Dean who was still sleeping, or acting like it. The master bedroom faced the lake and had a rather large sliding glass door that was attached to a deck complete with a hot tub. He walked closer to the door and saw that the tub was covered up and he assumed empty. The lake was completely still, there wasn't even the slightest ripple, the view drew him in and he opened the door as quietly as he could, stepped out and ended up leaning against the railing. Fall always has that sense of waiting to it, a stillness no other season has. We've always been so bad about waiting, not doing anything, accepting what's ahead of us. Maybe that's where we need to be right now. He looked over his shoulder and saw that Dean was watching him and his world tilted. In that moment he saw what his brother must have looked like when he begged Cas to make sure he didn't commit another massacre. It wasn't defeat or even fear that he saw. It was acceptance of what Dean was feeling, what the Mark was doing to him and it was a look he'd seen so often on his own face over the years he knew what he had to do next and he went in and sat down on the bed next to Dean. Sam focused on his eyes, trying to pull that last bit of strength out of his brother that he hoped was still there.

"I understand, I do," Sam started, "We both know how many times I've been right where you are and I promise you that if it comes to that either Cas or I will take care of it, we won't let you become that thing. But you have to promise me one more fight. This ritual, it's the first thing we've heard of that can fix this, but it's going to take both of us fighting to pull it off. Not just me."

Dean's eyes held his for a few moments and Sam saw him struggling with it, trying to come up with the strength but then he looked away. "Take it easy, I'll go make some food."

"Not all that hungry."

"Neither am I, but that doesn't matter," he said as he walked out of the room and headed to the kitchen. When he was just about done he heard the front door open and Felicity's voice, "Sam? Where are you?"

"Kitchen. Need help?" He asked as he moved towards the door.

"Yeah kind of."

As soon as he turned the corner into the foyer he had to smile. She was in jeans, sneakers and a t-shirt and had a monitor and keyboard precariously balanced on top of a basket filled with routers and random other bits. He grabbed the monitor and keyboard from the top of the pile and looked down into the basket. "I thought you were just going to be bringing one system, that looks like you're setting up a network."

"Well, I had planned on just one," she said as they walked down towards the media room, "Then I started running more and more searches and thought it'd be easier for you to sort through things if you had a few different screens. Then it dawned on me that maybe Dean would want to help too so I brought a whole system for him we could set up in the master bedroom if you think that's a good idea."

"Admit it," he chuckled, "You can't handle the idea that someone could just need one system."

She gave him a slightly sheepish look, "Well, I mean why would you want just one. That's so limiting."

They set the stuff down and she started to turn around to go get another load when he stopped her, "Dig said you found something already and that it didn't seem all that good. What was it?"

She paused, "I'm running it through another translation program because the notes from the museum said the scroll was damaged so it may not be accurate."

"Felicity. Please."

She sighed and faced him, "I'll show you the whole thing when we get up and running but the short version is that the Mark was designed by Lucifer to pervert the bonds between brothers. That he was jealous of Cain's willingness to sacrifice himself for Abel and wanted to destroy that love however he could. That Cain's curse isn't just about making his descendants more willing to kill, it's about making brothers kill each other. It said that the Mark searches for brothers whose love for each other is especially strong because that love is the most powerful and by destroying it the Mark itself grows stronger."

"So the more we love each other, the stronger the Mark gets?"

"That's what it seemed to say," she answered with sorrow in her eyes, "But like I said, it could be a bad translation."

"It isn't, trust me. I spent enough time with Lucifer to know that's how he thinks."

"What?"

"I'll tell you later." Now it's personal, if I didn't know better I'd think he designed this just to torment me even more. Who knows, maybe he did. Dean and I said no to you once already asshole, we can do it again. The months of being lost, of not having any actual direction and the overwhelming frustration with his failure to find answers coalesced into a mountain of rage with a very slow burning fuse. He had to control it, for now.