Fears & Dreams

Chapter Eleven

"Dean, get your brother. I have this."

Moving on instinct, Dean only stopped when his mind kicked back in and he froze to look back to see… "Dad?" he breathed, wondering if this was still a false image until he felt Cas's hand on his arm but his gaze was locked on that of John Winchester.

However, unlike the image he had seen in that place, this was his father as he'd been in those last days before the accident, before John had given his life to save Dean's own. Only the tone in John's voice was one that Dean couldn't recall ever hearing his Father use before.

Quiet but dark, threatening… no, warning as John seemed to put himself between his sons and his wife's father. "Dean," he said again, only this was said in the way his son remembered.

"Gwen, kill him now!" Samuel shouted, lunging with the knife but John easily caught the wrist and disarmed the older man while hoping his boys would be alright.

Tossing the blade aside, John gazed at his father-in-law for a long moment. "Did you honestly think you could hurt my boys, Mary's boys, and not have to deal with one of us?" he asked, unsure how long he had to handle this but refusing to allow this burden to fall on the shoulders of his eldest.

"You're a figment that Angel brought!" Samuel snapped, grabbing for something when a fist grabbed his arm. "You're not real!"

"You've attacked, drugged, and hurt my boys. You should've hoped I wasn't," John's voice was a low growl.

Refusing to believe this, Dean shrugged free of Castiel even as the Angel was moving to handle the men near the youngest Winchester. "Sam!" he yelled, freezing when he caught sight of Gwen. "Get away from him."

"You killed Christian," she spat, hand held steady in the IV controllers that were hooked into Sam's arms. "You killed him!"

"Choice between him and my brother? Yeah, I did," Dean acknowledged, eyes hard as he stepped closer. "Did you take part in what Christian said Samuel allowed to happen to Sam last year?" he asked, fighting the urge to look behind him at what was happening but needing to keep his eyes locked on Gwen because if he looked at how small and helpless his brother looked again he'd forget himself and go for her throat.

Gwen looked between the brothers for a moment as if considering but when she lifted her eyes, Dean saw a smile that chilled him to the core. "Sweetie, how'd you think your baby brother got that wound on his back?" she challenged. "I'm much better with a knife than Christian or Mark," she smirked, seeing the anger on his face. "He was so ruined in that place when he saw that he'd killed you. I almost felt sorry for him…almost but not enough to regret this."

"No!" lunging, Dean swore even as the woman's hand pushed the controller to force all the liquid in the IV tubes to drain into his brother's veins at once to cause an instant and violent reaction in Sam. "Sammy!"

"Pay attention to yourself, hero," she warned, pulled a pistol out to aim it at Dean's back even as he fought to stop the sudden convulsions in his younger brother. "A simple bullet to the back isn't what you deserve, Dean but I have to go help…who?"

Castiel had appeared to touch the weapon, making it vanish before he touched two fingers to Gwen's forehead to render her unconscious and no longer a threat as he stepped up to Dean. "Can you handle…?"

"Deal with the rest of these assholes!" Dean snapped, no longer caring what was happening around him since he was confident that between Castiel and Bobby, they'd deal with any leftover hunters and that damn joke playing Archangel owed them enough to at least keep any higher powered foes off his back. "Sammy!"

Swearing violently, Dean ignored the pain in his own body in order to concentrate on his little brother. Hating the straps and chains that held Sam to the damn rack, Dean was forced to leave them be while he tried to stop the convulsions.

Moving quickly yet carefully, he once again pulled the Ivs free from Sam's battered arms and was shocked to see how much worse his brother was hurt physically than he was. Relieved that the IV tracks didn't bleed when removed, he was quick to put both hands on his brother's neck and gripped the back tightly toward the base where Pastor Jim had once taught him when learning first aid. Squeezing the fingers into coiled muscles a few times, the violent convulsions slowly eased into hard tremors and then into jerks.

"It's okay, little brother. I'm here and Bobby's here and…I hate that damn Angel but Rufus is here too so we'll ignore Gabriel for the time being," Dean spoke quickly but soothingly, letting his hands slowly ease back to cup Sam's face in his palms; not liking how clammy his skin was or how pale or… "Sonuvabitch!"

He'd been expecting Sam to be hurt considering what he'd learned and he still recalled the state he'd found the kid in before but he hadn't expected such brutal wounds in this short a time period. Nor did he expect the tube that had been inserted down his brother's throat or the smaller one that seemed to be hooked to the back of… "Oh, God, Sammy," he whispered, not wanting to touch the smaller one but wanting it off his brother so after jerking the straps off with every violent oath he knew, he gently eased the younger man to his side to remove the tube that was going to the base of his skull.

Dean swallowed the bile that had risen in his throat while he quickly put a pressure pad over the small seeping wound before returning his brother to his back to work on the tube in his throat when he noticed something else.

"What the hell…" using hands that he was amazed didn't shake, Dean eased his brother's ripped shirt to one side and felt his hate raise.

While both he and Sam carried the anti-possession tattoos, those were by personal choice…well mostly since he'd practically dragged Sam in to get it down but it was still a choice. The deeply embedded and obviously very raw and infected brand that had been burned into his younger brother's chest, right under the tattoo, was a different matter entirely.

"Dean? You alright, boy?" Bobby, clutching a rag to his own gunshot wound, appeared by his side looking worried as he glanced between the boys and over to where he was pretty sure the ghost of his long dead friend was beating the crap out of Samuel Campbell. "Dean?"

"They branded him, Bobby," the voice that came out of Dean was tight with suppressed fury and anguish. "One of these sons of bitches put a goddamn hunters brand on my little brother."

As Dean went back to unhook and remove the tube, Rufus nudged Bobby's good arm. "Hunters brand?" he lifted a brow, having heard of it but never seeing one before. "That what I think it is?"

"Back in the early days, hunters would brand their prey if they didn't kill 'em right off," Bobby nodded, keeping his voice low so it didn't upset an already pissed off Dean Winchester. "They'd brand witches and the like so other hunters would always know when they came across one."

"So by branding the mark on Sam, they were…" Rufus blew out a breath when a grunt from across the room made him look. "By the way, is it me or is that the boy's dead father beating the hell outta their Granddad?"

"That bastard ain't no damn relation to us," Dean gritted, fingers shaking now as they brushed Sam's lax face and felt the still damp tears that his brother had sometime cried while enduring this new horror. "If that is or isn't my Dad, I don't care. I just want this crap off of Sam!"

Struggling not to jerk the tube out, he was more than careful as he slowly extracted the heavy tubing from his brother's throat until it came free with a sickening sound. "Sam," carding trembling fingers through damp brown hair, Dean finally gave up and with a muttered curse pulled his brother's limp body up from the rack until he had him pressed into his arms. "It's alright, Sammy. You're safe now," he promised, needing the contact right and could shrug off the huge chick-flick moment as infection when he pressed his face closer to Sam and that's when he noticed it. "Sam? Sammy?"

Hearing the sudden alarm building in the boy's voice, both Bobby and Rufus turned from watching John and Samuel have it out to where Castiel was motioning around him to a smirking Gabriel. "Dean? What's wrong?" Bobby demanded, not liking the sudden stricken look on the older boy's face when he held his brother easily in one arm while he pressed his other hand to Sam's chest. "Boy, answer me! What's…"

"He's not breathing, Bobby," Dean muttered, forgetting his normal calm and losing his usual cocky composure as that sank in. "Sam's not breathing!"

"Shit!" Bobby growled, grabbing Rufus by the shoulder. "Help Dean get Sam on the floor," he snapped, explaining at the blank look. "We need room and we want him off this damn thing."

Not even hearing Bobby's words, Dean was already moving. Without waiting for help and ignoring the now freely bleeding wound in his shoulder, he had his brother off the rack and laid on the stone floor as gently as he could while fighting panic.

"C'mon, Sammy, don't do this to me," he urged, not paying attention to what was going on around him as he began CPR on his unresponsive brother. "You can fight this. I know you can. You're stronger than these assholes and didn't I promise that I'd make it better if you gave me a chance?"

Reacting before Bobby could do it himself, Rufus nudged the boy's hands aside to take over the chest compressions which allowed Dean to try to force air back into Sam's unmoving lungs.

After several moments of trying to force his little brother to breathe on his own and upon feeling how cold his body was becoming, Dean forgot the shields he'd always kept up. He forgot that he'd always been the brave one when it came to protecting Sammy and he protect his rule to never show any emotion that could possibly be used against him.

"Sam?" his voice nothing but a whisper when he touched Sam's face, the realization setting in that his baby brother wasn't breathing and that his heart wasn't beating. With this came sheer terror and a reaction that he hadn't had since he'd been in his early teens and Sam had been hurt on a hunt, pulling Sam up tight against his best he whirled. "Dad!"

Not knowing what was happening across the room with his sons, John Winchester struggled to tamp down the rage in his heart as he faced his wife's own father…a man that he had watched Mary bury even before they married.

"Who brought you back?" he demanded, knowing that some deal would have had to have been made to accomplish that. "You had a knife plunged in your gut so how…"

"Your Yellow-Eyed pal had control when that happened and yeah, I died after he forced Mary to make a deal to save you but he hadn't known that I'd already made a deal long before that," Samuel replied, the blade still held ready in his fist as he circled John. "Damn demon was supposed to kill you long before you had a chance to ruin my daughter. I gave up everything so that Mary would stay with her family but she screwed it up by saving you."

Staring at the older man in shock, John was openly shocked by this revelation. "Damn," he blew out a breath. "I knew you hated me, Samuel. I knew that you never thought I was good enough for Mary but I never thought you'd risk her or your family on a deal just to get rid of me. Why?"

Cold eyes shifted to look over John's shoulder, Samuel's expression seemed to take on an even more dark expression. "I heard Mary telling her mother that she was going to run away with you. That she didn't want to be a hunter, that she wanted a normal life with you and I wasn't going to lose my daughter," he replied, clutching the knife to thrust it forward in an experienced feint move that should have gutted the younger man…if John hadn't been expecting it.

"The first defense move that Jim Murphy ever taught me was how to tell a knife feint, Samuel," he explained grimly, easily disarming his father-in-law and hurling the knife away. "I'm not the same small time mechanic I was when you were really alive, Samuel. I stopped being that man the night that Mary died."

"My daughter shouldn't have died!" Samuel yelled, enraged. "She should have stayed with her family, married a man chosen for her and passed on what she knew to a proper generation. Not marry some two-some nobody with no prospects and have two bastard sons not worthy to carry the Campbell blood in their…ugh!"

A hard fist to the jaw cut the older man's tirade off as he was knocked backwards only to have a hand reach down, pull him back up and punch him again, harder this time as unexpected fury exploded at those words.

"You can call me any damn thing you want, old man," John gritted, eyes furious as his fist continued to punch. "God knows you did before when Mary and I first started dating. You can call me anything, you can say whatever the hell you want to me, about me but the two things you don't ever speak against are my wife and my sons," he snapped, throwing a final punch before jerking Samuel up to slam him against a wall with force. "You don't ever call my boys bastards because they are better men than you or your so-called family will ever be and Mary loved them."

Thinking back on memories of the happier days, John could see his wife on the day each of their sons were born and the joy they shared before that fateful night happened. "Did you know what would happen?"

Despite being bloodied, Samuel's cold features never changed as he spat blood out his mouth. "A hunter always has a contingency plan, Winchester and…I had mine. If I lost my daughter then I'd make damn sure you and anything that came out of that marriage would live to regret it," he replied evenly, adding with a dark smirk. "Or, in this case, not live."

"What?" John frowned, not liking the words or the possible meaning when another sound penetrated the haze of anger he was still feeling toward Samuel. The sheer and absolute panic in his oldest son's voice as he screamed for John like he had only one other time.

"Dad!"

Turning quickly, it took John no time to take in the fear on Dean's face to how white and unmoving Sam was in his brother's arms to understand something serious had happened. "What the hell did you do, Samuel?" he demanded, fist gripping the older man's shirt tighter when he laughed. "What did you do to my son?"

"The one drug we used, when Gwen emptied the IV into the boy it not only completely paralyzed his body but also his respiratory system as well as all of his neurological movements," Samuel explained, seeing the horrified expression building. "It wasn't as painful as I would have liked him to have died but to die totally aware but unable to fight it…well, it'll have to do," he tried to shrug. "Pity this only claimed one son. I was aiming for a clean sweep."

"You son of a…" John's fist drew back when Dean screamed for him again and he hesitated, torn between wanting to go to his boys and dealing with the man who had put them in this position.

"John, get your ass over here or dead or not I'll find some damn way to unload a round of buckshot in you!" Bobby snapped, barely keeping Dean in control while Rufus tried to get Sam away from his brother to continue some type of first aid. "This is your big Plan?" he growled when Castiel dragged Gabriel over to the brothers. "You bring John back to deal with Samuel and Sam still dies?"

Choking on his candy bar, the now offended Archangel blinked. "You do recall me telling you that you really needed to unload that shotgun into Daddy Winchester a few times, right?" he complained, rolling his eyes. "I don't know how he came to be here because I sure didn't poof him in."

"Who did you owe the favor to, Gabriel?" Castiel demanded, kneeling down next to Dean to see what, if anything, could be done. "Who is your Plan C?"

Muttering about dense brothers and hunters, the Archangel pointed to where John Winchester was still deciding which decision to make. "Her."

Dean was oblivious by this point to anything but the limp body in his arms and so he missed the gaping stares of the older hunters. Even Castiel sent his brother an odd look before gazing back down.

"Help him, Gabriel," he didn't make it sound like a suggestion, not understanding why his own renewed powers weren't bringing Sam back like he expected them to. "My powers aren't healing him. You're an Archangel. You can bring him back."

"Sure, the question is, why should I?" the other countered smartly, dropping his eyes just as Dean lifted his head and despite the tears that were opening being shed there was also no mistaking the dangerous intent. "This is gonna be just like that talk I had with Sammy after the whole Mystery Spot thing, ain't it?"

Refusing to let go of his little brother, Dean locked eyes with the Archangel that most times he wanted to burn. "You dragged him outta the damn Cage. You wanted Sam out. Now you're going to let him die? He didn't ask for this shit! Now heal him or you'll be the next son of a bitch on my list to Holy Oil out of existence once I can feel my damn arm again!" he warned.

Taking a deep breath, Gabriel was slow to let it out. He liked these two kids, he really did. So he honestly hated what was happening but even he had limits, much to his disgust. "It's not up to me, kiddo," he finally replied, jerking a thumb back to John. "It's up to your old man. If he chooses to deal with baldy then Sammy bites it for real and nothing me, Cas, or any Angel can change that."

"That's great," Bobby wanted to go over and drag the man but held off when Dean's gaze fell on Sam's boyish looking face again and the grizzled hunter knew just by the way the older brother's lips thinned that he knew the outcome then. "Dean…" the name was drawn out in warning.

Being as gentle as he had when his brother had been a fragile infant, Dean laid Sam back on the floor but kept a palm pressed to his cheek for a moment longer. "I'll be right back, Sammy," he promised quietly, fighting to stand despite the ringing in his head and the twisting in his stomach. "Big brother needs to go kick someone's ass and maybe cram something sharp into that bald freak while I'm at it."

"This should be fun," Gabriel had pulled an apple from his pocket, leaning against a pole with his ankles crossed to watch as the elder Winchester brother seemed to gain some strength as he walked to where his Father and Grandfather were in a stalemate. "Course, she'll kill 'em both if either of those jackasses touch him."

"You can kill me, John, since Sam's already dead," Samuel invited, his own hand gripping the fist that was holding him against the wall. "Then, it was always clear which son you preferred, wasn't it?"

John's eyes narrowed but then he found himself jerked away from his father-in-law and looking into the too large but still intense green eyes of his eldest. "Dean."

"Get your ass over there and help Sam," Dean gritted, not caring if he was in his Father's face or not. "My less than favorite Archangel said you could help him so do it and…" he spun to throw a weak punch with his good arm into Samuel's chin. "You are first on my list to kill for touching Sammy because he had nothing to do with this crap. You hated me so you should've come after me, not touch my brother!" he snapped, blinking when his eyes seemed to blur out of focus.

"Boy, touching your brother has always been the best way to get to you," Samuel replied when he suddenly moved with more speed than anyone had counted on, a small penknife held in his fist as he plunged it toward the distracted young hunter.

"Dean!" John grabbed for his son but swore when it became hard to hold on to anything and he realized his time here was running out.

Hearing his father's voice as well as a shout from Bobby, Dean went to back away on instinct when he felt the gentle hand on his back that moved him well out of danger even as he seemed to sense a smaller, frailer form place itself between him and Samuel.

"You've touched my sons enough so how about you sucking this up and facing me now…Daddy?"

"Mom?" Dean's vision was coming back as the pain in his shoulder evened off but seeing his Mother as she had been before she died in the fire nearly brought him to his knees.

Mary Winchester didn't take her blue eyes off those of her father, the knife she'd given Sam held firmly in her hand. "Dean, go back to your brother and don't let go of him," she instructed gently as if feeling his fear. "It'll be alright."

Wanting to argue that it wouldn't be, Dean recognized the tone of voice when she addressed John and decided to follow those orders.

"Mary…" John had been startled by this appearance and prayed, for Dean's sake, that it was real when she took her free hand and still without looking away from Samuel, slapped him hard across the face. "I guess I deserved that."

"For raising our sons in a life I detested, yes. You deserved that," Mary agreed, voice hardening. "If we had more time, I'd show you what you deserved for raising your damn hand to my sons and eventually we will be dealing with that but now, you have to do one damn good thing for Dean, John," she replied evenly. "You have to lose your bitterness, lose your anger and give him his brother back."

Staring, John seemed confused. "Mary, I'm not sure how I got here or why. I just know that I had to stop Samuel but this…" he hesitated. "Sammy's been down too long, I don't have…"

"When you were brought here, you were told that you had the power to do one good thing, John," she reminded him, not bothering to explain how she knew that. "You can choose to kill my Father or save our son…" now she looked away from Samuel briefly to hold the wet eyes of her husband. "No matter what was done to him or how he grew up or anything else, Sam is still our baby, John. Our youngest and if you let this happen, you and I both know that his brother won't survive for long without him. If you hurt those boys again, I will kick your ass all through the damn afterlife and beyond!" she snapped.

Feeling that his time was running out and seeing the shadows almost hovering over his boys, John nodded. "I'm sorry it turned out this way, Mary," he murmured, lightly kissing her goodbye before walking away and leaving her to face Samuel alone.

"Damn Angels and their tricks," Samuel spat, shifting but freezing when the blade rose and he recognized it. "You're not my little girl."

"I grew up in the ten years after you died, Daddy," she tossed back, eyes sad as she gazed at her Father. "I always knew how obsessed you were with hunting but I never imagined that you'd do this. Hurting me and John would be one thing but to hurt my sons? Why?"

"They were his, not Mary's," Samuel looked over. "They took my daughter and I've made deals to get her back so you'll be…"

Mary shook her head, stepping to the side as if keeping between her Father and her family. "You will never bring back the daughter you want because she stopped existing a long time ago and you will never live to touch my sons again. I won't allow it. I won't allow you to hurt them like you've hurt Sam and…"

"So sorry, my dear, but I'm afraid that Samuel and his crew are still much too useful to me to be allowed to meet an end here tonight."

"Crowley," Bobby growled, shoving his shotgun at Rufus. "Shoot that damn son of a bitch!"

The former King of the Crossroads clucked his tongue as he simply snapped his fingers and Samuel and the hunters in his charge vanished without a trace. "Boys, boys, boys, don't be too disappointed. I mean, I did bring Samuel back and he was going to double-cross me with Raphael of all people so I will most certainly be telling him how wrong that was…not to mention I had people who would've paid a lot to have Sammy in this position."

The blade was at his throat in the next instant. "Go back to hell, demon," Mary hissed, nothing but lethal certainty in her voice. "Your kind has hurt my family enough so keep in mind if you sic my Father on my boys again, your bones will burn."

"Well, I certainly see where the dimwits get their moxy," Crowley smiled, stepping back carefully to avoid the knife in her hand. "We'll see who wins in the end, little Mary. Your eldest or your dear old Dad." he paused before turning. "Dean? You might not like what you bring back, just an FYI so you know."

"Me you want to burn in Holy Oil but he gets nothing but a glare?" Gabriel was astonished, throwing his arms up in outrage but grew silent when he didn't get the reply he expected.

Dean had sat back on the floor to ease Sam's lifeless body into his arms, smoothing a hand through shaggy hair and fought the rage building inside. He vividly recalled the last time he'd held his lifeless little brother. In Cold Oaks after Jake had stabbed him in the back, he'd held Sam like this too. Too angry at himself for failing to protect him better even when he knew the danger his brother was in and too weak to go on alone. Just like this time.

He had known that Sam was worried about being alone. He'd seen the fear in the boy but had rationalized it as it only being because Sam was still recovering from being held for a year by that damn 'shifter. "I shouldn't have left him," his voice was rough as he buried the burning tears, eyes locked on his brother's face. "This wouldn't have happened if I just hadn't left him."

Castiel started to speak when a hard elbow was shoved into his ribs as Gabriel shook his head but it was more the grim look in the older Angel's gaze that kept him silent.

"Son," John knelt next to his two boys, swallowing the lump that had formed when he saw the tears glistening in his eldest boy's eyes and remembered another time he had seen Dean holding his little brother with tears shining but that time the tears were mixed with hate for their father. Sam had been sixteen, another mistake John had made that he'd never be able to make up for.

"You gave your soul, you went to Hell to save me after the accident," Dean spoke hesitantly, clearly trying to make his voice steady despite the fact that he'd started to shake. "I'll make any type of deal, promise anything if Sammy can live."

"The hell you will, boy!" Bobby's blood pressure, which was already high, soared at this. "The whole damn lot of you, one sacrifice after another! When is it enough?"

Blinding grief livid on Dean's face when he looked up at the older man. "I'm his brother! I'm supposed to protect him!" he yelled back, not giving a damn at this point. "I swore to him this time, I swore when I took him outta that damn warehouse in Lawrence and stayed by his side for weeks afterward that I would never let him be hurt like that again, Bobby! I promised Sammy and I let this happen! He's dead! I don't give a damn about anything if I lose him again," shooting a desperate look to his father, Dean dropped the last wall he had and begged. "Please, Dad. If you can do anything, just make Sammy wake up."

Feeling that his brief time back in reality was coming to a close, John looked up into Mary's soft eyes with a sudden understanding. "You know that Sam's been hurt bad this time, son," he spoke gently, laying a hand on his uninjured shoulder. "Even if I can do something, I can't promise how he'll be or…"

"I'll handle it, Dad," Dean assured him, grasping onto that slimmest hope. "I know what he saw in that place. I know he'll be scared but I handled him after Lawrence and I can do it this time too…just bring him back…just let me have my little brother and maybe I won't find a way to beat the crap outta you for letting Stanton hurt him or anything else I may or may not learn."

"Oh, I'll beat the crap out of your Father for that, Dean," Mary smiled sweetly, running a hand over his short hair and felt her heart nearly break for the child he had once been. "John, we need to go. Do this."

Still unsure, John Winchester wiped his own eyes as he once again gazed at his grown sons but deeper down saw the boys they'd once been. He could recall Dean's laugh when baby Sammy had first grasped onto his finger. He recalled how Dean had never been two steps behind his baby brother growing up except for the few times when John himself had come between them.

"You know that I never meant to place all this on you, son," he began grimly, gripping Dean's neck in a move that Bobby had often caught the boy doing with his brother. "If I could do it all again, I'd like to say that I'd give you and Sam better lives but I don't know if I could've. I don't know if I can do this but after the pain I've caused both of you boys, I'll try because I don't want either of my sons dead, Dean. I know that your brother had his doubts, especially after that last fight, but I did love both of you."

"We know that, Dad," Dean murmured, feeling the touch getting lighter even while watching as John placed a hand on Sam's forehead before leaning closer to whisper something to both of his boys. "I know, Dad. Sammy loved you too."

Meeting Mary's eyes, Gabriel finished his apple before straightening. "We're square now. You helped me once and now I've helped you as best as this has," he remarked. "The boys are on their own because visits like this break a lot of rules and the new Sheriff here can't be known for breaking his own rules."

"Shut up, Gabriel," Castiel muttered, not liking the feeling he was getting.

"Be strong, Dean and don't give up…on either of you," Mary whispered, ghosting a kiss across his forehead before jabbing a finger into the former Trickster's chest. "And you. If you ever drop a piano on my son again, you'll find your next piece of candy could be your last."

Groaning about the threats of every Winchester available, he waited until both parents had joined hands to snap his fingers and soon, the warehouse was just two Angels, two grizzled hunters and two brothers who it was still up in the air on their condition.

"We need to get them outta here," Rufus was saying.

Dean's hand shook as it laid on Sam's chest, praying silently to anyone who would listen that it moved. He'd convinced himself that Gabriel was right…for once and that John had the ability to do one good thing and saving Sammy would be it.

"Sammy?" he whispered, placing two fingers on the side of his neck to feel for a pulse but only felt his own slowly draining away. "Sam?" he called again, louder this time as he tried shaking the limp form again but nothing happened. "Sonuvabitch!" his yell took Bobby and Rufus off guard but before either man could move, Dean was pulling his little brother up fully into his arms to just hold on as he let the grief finally spill out with the hard punch to the gut that his little brother, his Sammy…was dead. "Noooo!"

As the grief filled screamed echoed in the now empty room, Gabriel tossed away his barely started candy bar as his appetite left with a sickening drop to his stomach. "I am so gonna burn," he decided.

A/N: Okay, just a reminder that cliffhangers are good. They build reader/writer trust, patience and the knowledge that one must not virtually kill the author before she writes Chapter 12. I don't write death fics so Sam isn't…dead and yes, he'll have a soul (I'm not heartless) but how will he be and how will Dean handle the fallout of his brother's injuries? Also, is this the last we've seen of Samuel? Chapter 12 coming soon.