AUTHOR'S NOTE:
This chapter is long, and it's a little depressing, as well as extremely informative.
Next chapter is pretty depressing.
I promise there will be some light fluff soon though.
****
Sam woke up with a bit of a start in the middle of an abandoned town somewhere he couldn't place at the moment. He needed to get his bearings and check on Haley, but he went for his cell phone and pulled it out, he realized that he in fact had no signal at all so he did what any hunter would do—he started to take a look around. Just a little bit ago he had been getting rather excited to be able to spend some alone time with his new fiancé, and now? Now he was in the middle of nowhere and he had no way on contacting anyone…he had no way of knowing if Haley had gotten away from the demon that napped him.
Remembering that he had in fact smelled quite a lot of sulfur before he blacked out, he heard a door creaking and grabbed a nearby wood stick to defend himself with in case things got anymore hairy. When he came face to face with his possible attacker though, he realized it was none other than Andy—a fellow psychic that he had met on a hunt with Brooke and Dean, who had the power to make people do things. It had been the first time that he had realized just how scared Dean was of his brother being so different, and it had been the first time that Brooke had seen that side of Dean as well…and part of the reason why Brooke so scared to tell him about her dreams and about who she thought her real father was.
"Andy?" Sam asked him, lowering the stick a little.
Andy looked at Sam rather bewildered as well. "Sam. What are you doing here?"
"I don't know." Sam admitted.
"What am I doing here?" Andy asked him, now rather panicked. "Where are we?"
Sam held his hands up and Andy stopped for a moment. "Andy, look, just calm down, all right?"
Andy gave Sam a look as he tossed the stick to the ground. "I can't calm down—I just woke up in freaking frontier land. Honestly the last thing I remember is my fourth bong load. It was weird. All of a sudden, there was this really intense smell, like uh..."
"Like sulfur?" Sam asked Andy worried, and when Andy nodded, Sam took a deep breath. "This can't be good…Haley."
Sam was suddenly a lot more worried than before about Haley's safety, and Andy now had a rather confused look on his face. He didn't remember meeting a 'Haley' when the Winchesters had shown up out of the blue, but he had remembered a 'Brooke'. The look on Sam's face suggested that whoever this 'Haley' she was very important to him, and so Andy knew he had to try his best to be supportive and help Sam to get back to her.
"Haley?" Andy asked Sam.
Sam looked at Andy and smiled sadly. "Last thing I remember is her agreeing to marry me and then heading out to bring the car around while I paid for the check."
Andy was about to say something when a young woman started yelling and so the two of them headed for the place the screams came from. It seemed that she was locked up in a shed with a padlock, and she was hammering on the door for somebody to help her and let her out. Sam asked her to calm down and then picked up a stone and broke the padlock, rather surprised to have Ava come out of it and face him. She was another hunter he'd run across on a hunt, and she had the same power that he did—visions. This was definitely no coincidence.
"So, I guess you guys know each other?" Andy asked as Ava huddled up against Sam.
"How did you…I mean, how did…?" Ava tried to ask, but she trailed off.
"Ava, have you been here this whole time?" Sam asked her, clearly remembering her going missing and Sam and Dean trying to find her after they'd found her fiancé murdered at her home with sulfur around.
Ava gave him a quizzical look. "What whole time? I just woke up in there a half an hour ago."
That puzzled Sam immensely. "Well, you've been gone for five months. My brother and I have been looking for you everywhere."
Ava seemed genuinely confused as to what was going on and she wasn't the only one. Sam explained to her that she really had been gone that long and when she started to freak out about her fiancé and how he must be worrying about her, she noticed Andy before Sam could tell her anything. He wanted to tell her the truth, but for right now they really had to figure out what in the world was going on, and it didn't help that Andy and Ava were both freaking out while Sam was trying to think.
"Okay. What's happening?" Ava asked Sam.
Sam shook his head. "Well, I, uh…I don't really know yet, but I-I know one thing. I know what the three of us have in common."
"Hello? Anybody there?" A voice called out from the distance.
Sam nodded slowly. "Maybe more than three."
He, Ava and Andy headed towards the place the voices were coming from, and they met two more people wandering around the deserted town unsure of how they got there. If there was one thing that Sam was sure of, it was that this was all some sort of elaborate plan, but he wasn't sure why this happening or who was behind it. All he knew was that there were two more psychics—Jake, a soldier and Lily—that were freaking out and wanting to get out of here, and Sam needed to think and he needed to contact Brooke, Haley and Dean.
"Are there any more of you?" Sam asked them and they shook their head. "Well let me just take a wild guess…you two are both 23? We all are, and we all have abilities. It started a little over a year ago. You find you can do things, things you didn't think were possible. I have visions. I see things before they happen."
Ava nodded. "Yeah, me too."
"I can put thoughts into people's heads." Andy told Jake and Lily. "Like, make them do stuff—oh, but don't worry, I don't think it works on you guys. Oh, but get this, um, I've been practicing, training my brain, like meditation, right? So now it's not just thoughts that I can beam out, but images, too—like, anything I want. It's like 'bam!' people, they see it. This one guy I know—total dick—I used it on him. Gay porn all hours of the day. It's just like…you should have seen the look on his face!" Andy said laughing, but neither Jake nor Lily seemed to find it funny in the slightest so in a low voice before standing next to Sam Andy said, "Okay."
"So you go, 'Simon says give me your wallet', and they do?" Lily asked Andy and then turned to Sam and Ava. "And you have visions? That's great—I'd kill for something like that."
Sam looked at her. "Lily, listen, its okay."
"No, its not." She snapped back. "I touch people. Their hearts stop. I can barely leave my house. My life's not exactly improved. So screw you, I just want to go home."
"And what, we don't?" Jake asked her after she started to leave.
She turned around and came back towards them. "You know, don't talk to me like that."
"Hey, guys, come on." Sam intervened. "Look, whether we like it or not, we're all here, and so we all have to deal with this."
Sam then explained to them the one thing he hadn't want to bring up: that they had been brought there by a demon."
****
"I couldn't take you." The man told her, his eyes flashing yellow.
Brooke looked at him and took a breath. "What are you talking about?"
He smiled at her and reached out to stroke her hair. "You're too important to have to go through the trials. You have far too much potential. All I need out of this is someone to open the door."
Brooke was still confused but let him touch her hair. "I'm going to need a little more to go off of than that."
"I can't give you anymore than that, Brooke…this isn't your battle…don't try to find Sam." He told her.
Brooke woke up with a start in the backseat of the Impala, Haley running her fingers through Brooke's hair. Haley was really worried about Brooke, but at the same time she was really the most worried about Sam. Everything had seemed like it was going to be so easy, and yet the minute she'd said 'yes' to Sam's proposal, something bad had happened to him and she was starting to wonder if she was a bad luck charm. If there was one thing Haley had wanted, it was to be married to Sam without any problems, and that wasn't going to happen now…not if they couldn't find Sam before the demon killed him.
"I think I'm going to be sick." Brooke said suddenly.
She knew it wasn't morning sickness, but she got out of the car anyway, Dean on the phone, but worried about her when she leaned over and clutched her stomach. There were no chunks coming up, but she felt the desperate need to hurl, and suddenly she was seeing things as she squeezed her eyes shut.
"Just so you know, that was a demon." Sam told Andy and three other people that Brooke didn't recognize. "And that thing?" Sam added as they got out of the house they were in. "I'm not sure, but I think it was an Achiri—a demon that disguises itself as a little girl. Still doesn't tell us where we are. Andy, you with me or what?"
Andy held up his hand. "Give me a minute. I'm still working through 'demons are real'."
"Brooke, honey? Are you all right?" Haley asked her, stroking her hair.
Dean hung up the phone and went over to her, resting his hand on her stomach and Brooke bit her lip. This really wasn't the time to be prideful of how she knew Dean was going to react to her having somewhat psychic powers, so she decided to just suck it up and deal. Sam meant everything to her, and if there was a chance that she could save him, then she was going to have to take the chance that Dean would pull away again. Honestly, Brooke would rather have Sam safe, than have Dean around…even if she really didn't think she could stand it if Dean broke her heart again.
"I, uh…you know how Sam has visions?" Brooke asked slowly, making eye contact with Dean as he nodded slowly. "Well…it seems that I do too. Right now Sammy's alive, but I don't know where he is. They're going up against an Achiri—that's what Sam thinks it is anyway. Andy is with him and three other people I really didn't recognize. Hold on."
Brooke squeezed her eyes shut again as she was fed some more, trying to figure out why she wasn't getting the flashes in dreams—why she was living the now instead of the future like Sam did. There was something off about what was going on, and she really couldn't understand what was happening to her.
"Wait, hold on. Lily, the only way out is through miles of woods." Sam told her.
Lily shrugged. "Beats hanging out with demons."
"Lily, look, we don't know what's going on yet. I mean, we don't even know how many of them are out there right now." Sam tried to explain to the obviously stubborn girl.
"Yeah, he's right. We should just—" The man who wasn't Andy tried.
"—don't say 'we'! I'm not part of 'we'! I have nothing in common with any of you." Lily protested.
Sam was really not looking like he was in the mood for this kind of squabble when he was trying to get a job done, and Brooke couldn't blame him. All she wanted was for Sam to be safe, and for that, he needed to get the others around him prepared for a demon attack and Lily was being stubborn and that could get them all killed. It wasn't fair that she had to be separated from him…Sam needed Brooke in that moment and she couldn't be there for him because she couldn't get to him.
"Okay, look. Look, I know—" Sam tried.
"—you don't know anything." Lily shot at him. "I touched…I accidentally touched my girlfriend."
Sam nodded at her. "I'm sorry."
"Whatever. I feel like I'm in a nightmare, and it just keeps getting worse and worse." Lily admitted.
Brooke knew how Lily felt in that moment and it made her feel the need to be with Sam even more, wishing there was something she could do—wishing there was some clue out there to tell her where Sam was, because if she knew where he was, there would be a way she could get to him—a way she could help. For now, Sam had to rely on Andy, Lily and the other two, and Brooke prayed to God that would be enough.
"I've lost people, too." Sam told Lily. "I have a brother, a best friend and a fiancé out there right now. In fact my fiancé could be dead, for all I know, right now. We're all in bad shape, but I'm telling you, the best way out of this is to stick together."
Lily nodded after a pause. "Fine."
Sam nodded too and then had them all start looking for weapons and Brooke found the scene starting to get a little fuzzy. She was glad that Sam was getting them all in gear, and it was kind of nice to see Andy again, even if they weren't anywhere near each other. Andy had definitely been one of Brooke's favorite people to meet on the hunts, and she wanted them all to be kept as safe as possible.
"Salt is a weapon?" The man who wasn't Andy asked Sam surprised.
Sam nodded. "It's a brave new world, Jake."
"Well, hopefully, there's food in your world, 'cause I'm freaking starving!" Andy exclaimed.
Brooke laughed a little and Dean looked at her. "Andy's always hungry, isn't he?"
"Brooke, what did you see?" Dean asked her, mostly worried about Sam.
Brooke shook her head a little. "Just them getting ready to take on the demon. I really just…I don't know where they are."
Dean nodded and then explained that Ash needed them all to go to the roadhouse and so they got back into the Impala and Dean looked at the rearview mirror and saw Brooke and Haley holding onto each other. This whole experience was rather traumatizing for them, and Dean didn't know how to make it all right for them, and he knew he probably couldn't. Especially when they arrived at the roadhouse to see that it was completely burned down.
Brooke really couldn't handle anymore of this, and neither did Haley, her strong exterior crumbling down as they saw the beginning of one long end. It was in that moment that Brooke decided it was time to tell Haley everything…even though she knew that the dream of Sam dying was going to be a little much for her. If the events were going to happen, then there was a way that she could change them and save Sam, and save Dean from making a crossroads deal. She knew she had to tell Haley everything—especially when Dean exclaimed that Ash was dead.
****
Sam and Ava were still looking for weapons, Sam wishing he could just get out of there, but he had a job to do—he had to kill the Achiri. He would have given anything to be in the company of Brooke, Haley and Dean again, but for now he had to tough his way through this hunt and then he could get back to his life. In that moment, Sam wasn't sure he actually wanted to do it anymore—the hunting—he just wanted to be with Haley, and have a family.
Sam found a knife and then noticed Ava holding her head. "Hey, you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm just…I don't know …a little dizzy." Ava replied. "And no, it's not some kind of freaky vision thing. It's more like I'd kill for a sandwich. I haven't eaten since…well, who knows? No, it's…don't worry, I'm fine, except for every single thing that's happening."
"You guys, I found something!" Andy shouted from the other room and they all came to join him and smiled: salt.
Sam felt a little better about the situation now. "That's great, Andy. Now we all can start…hey…where's Lily?"
Sam, Jake, Ava and Andy headed out to find her, Ava and Sam calling out her name, but only hearing a little girl's laughter in response. Following the noise out into the street, they found Lily strung up in the windmill and Sam swallowed. It was becoming more and more clear to Sam that whatever this plan was, it was focused on all of them staying right where they were, and Lily had learned that the hard way.
"Oh, my God!" Ava exclaimed. "Okay, that…that's officially just…Sam, she's dead! She's dead! You said we were chosen for a reason. That is not chosen, that is...killed. Okay, you know, we have to get out of here."
Andy nodded. "You know, I second that emotion."
"Not sure that's an option." Jake replied with a shake of his head.
"Lily was trying to leave." Sam added with a nod. "The demon's not gonna let us get away that easy. We got to gear up for the next attack."
"Well, I'm not a soldier. I can't do that!" Ava exclaimed in a worried voice.
Sam nodded and then he gave her a reassuring look. "Look, if you want to stay alive, you're gonna have to. Let's go."
"I'll get her down." Jake told them, pointing to Lily's body.
Sam would have given anything right that moment to have Dean with him to help him with this hunt, and he knew there was really only one person here with him he could talk to about that. Andy seemed to realize that something was up, and he looked at Sam as Sam tried to come up with the words to say. It was best to be honest, and he knew that with everything going on around them, Andy would find a way to help Sam to make it all happen.
"You know…I was just thinking about how much Dean would help right now." Sam told Andy with a small shrug. "I'd give my arm for a working phone."
"You know, you may not need one. I, uh, I mean, I've never tried it long-distance before. But do…do you have anything of Dean's on you, like something he touched?" Andy asked him.
"Uh…I got a…a receipt." Sam answered, taking a piece of paper out of his pocket. "Will that work?"
Andy nodded and snatched it up. "D. Hasselhoff?"
"Yeah, that's…that's Dean's signature. It…it's hard to explain." Sam managed to say.
Andy nodded and took it like as it was. "Alright."
Sam nodded too and wished he knew what Dean was doing right that second and how Haley was, not at all aware that Haley was kind of numb. She really hadn't spoken much since Brooke had spilled about her dreams, and though Dean knew that something was going on with the two of them, he was too busy trying to hash things out with Bobby to find Sam. After they found Sam, Dean would be able to focus his attention on Brooke and Haley, but only after he knew that his brother was safe. Part of him felt like that was selfish seeing as how Brooke had been attacked just a little bit ago, but at the same time, Sam could be dead anytime now if they didn't get to him soon.
"What the hell did Ash know? We got no way of knowing where Ellen is or if she's even alive. We got no clue what Ash was gonna tell us. Now, how the hell are we gonna find Sam?" Dean asked rather annoyed and dismal.
"We'll find him." Bobby assure him and then suddenly, Dean got a headache and winced. "Dean?
Dean winced again in pain and saw a bell. "No!"
"What was that?" Bobby asked him.
Brooke heard Dean cry out in pain and got out of the backseat of the car, going over to him as he told Bobby it was just a headache but that he thought he saw something, and Bobby asked if he was psychic like Sam…and Brooke. Dean quickly waved it off that, that was indeed not the case, but soon he was holding his head in pain again and Brooke was worried. He was seeing things right now and she wasn't sure exactly how that was possible, but if it got them to where Sam was before anything bad happened to him, then she was willing to deal with this.
"Dean? Baby? Are you all right?" Brooke asked him.
Dean nodded slowly as the pain subsided. "Yeah, I think so. I saw Sam. I saw him."
Brooke bit her lip as Bobby said, "It was a vision."
Dean made a face. "Yeah. I don't know how, but…but yeah. Whew! That was about as fun as getting kicked in the jewels."
Brooke kissed his cheek softly as she smiled a little and nodded, knowing that Sam complained about his headaches before, but Brooke had always had dreams…and now she had sick pains. Bobby asked Dean what it was that he had seen and when he said it was a bell with an oak tree engraving on it, they all knew that Sam was in Cold Oak Colorado, and they had to book it there because Sam and Ava were pouring salt in front of the door and the windows of the room where they were going to stay during the night. Luckily no one else had died, but sadly Sam knew that there was a potential for more bloodshed before they wasted the demon once and for all.
"My horoscope said I shouldn't have gotten out of bed." Ava told Sam to make small talk. "How you doing? Holding up?"
"I'm okay. What about you?" Sam asked her, thoroughly concerned.
Ava shook her head a little. "Not so okay. Why us, Sam? What did we do to deserve this?"
Sam looked at her. "Just lucky, I guess."
"If it wasn't for bad luck, wouldn't have no luck at all. Just can't wait for this all to be over so I can just pretend it never happened. Just want to curl up with Brady and watch bad TV. What is it?" She asked Sam noting the change of expression on his face. "Sam, do you…know something that I don't?"
Sam had really hoped he wouldn't have to ruin this for Ava, but if she was going to get out of this alive with him and return to her life, she needed to know that her fiancé was dead. It was really hard for him to get out when he thought about how Haley could be dead right that second and he didn't even know for sure, and here Ava was, oblivious to it all. If there was one thing that Sam couldn't bear to think about, it was Haley dead because of him—because he was a freak that the demon wanted.
"Look, Ava. I…I'm sorry, I wish I didn't have to tell you this." Sam began slowly.
"Tell me what?" Ava asked him.
Sam took a deep breath. "When the demon broke into your house to take you, your fiancé didn't make it. I'm sorry."
"No, it's…" She didn't finish, she just took refuge in Sam's arms to cry while Brooke had another dream in the backseat with Haley.
"You weren't like the others." Her father told her.
Brooke swallowed. "I don't know if I want to know anymore."
Her father smiled at her. "You weren't like Sam and Ava and Andy and all the others, Brooke…I didn't have to drip blood in your mouth. You were born with more demon blood than the others could even begin to imagine. I was surprised that you weren't out of balance—blood thirsty. You were just human Brooke…but you have so much potential."
"Potential for what? What is your plan? I don't understand this at all and you know that I don't. How did this even happen to me?" Brooke asked him sadly. "I just don't understand why you'd even want me."
He nodded and then leaned in a little. "You're my little pride and joy, Brooke…I'm going to need you later on down the road. For now? For now I just need Sammy."
Brooke was suddenly awake again, Haley looking at her rather upset, and Brooke bit her lip and looked at Haley sadly. Haley really wished that Brooke wasn't there with them right now when she had a baby to protect, but she knew how stubborn Brooke was, and she knew how much Sam meant to her. Brooke was going to be here no matter what, and even after she was attacked, she was still putting Sam first and Haley wondered how she could do it. She wondered how in the world Brooke could deal with everything that was going on as strongly as she could.
"How are you holding up?" Haley asked her, stroking her hair.
Brooke rested her head on Haley's shoulder. "I'm hanging in there…but I'd be doing a lot better if we could find Sam."
Haley nodded and then asked the question she'd been waiting to ask Brooke. "Brooke? Are you all right…after your attack?"
"Hales, I'm fine." Brooke replied, but it was too quick of a response and everyone in the car knew it, Bobby even shifting uncomfortably in the passenger seat.
Haley kissed Brooke's head. "You can talk to me about it, you know? You and I have been through way too much to slip up now."
"I just…I never asked for any of this to happen, and it's not getting any better." Brooke replied, Haley holding her tighter and Brooke returning the embrace. "He was possessing my father."
Haley nodded, knowing that Brooke would be the most broken up about that, and not sure just how right Brooke had been about things getting worse. Screaming had forced Sam and Jake to Ava, Andy dead on the floor and things suddenly became all too clear to Sam as Ava began to tell her story about what happened. Sam knew Andy better than the Andy that Ava was describing, and it forced a rather unsettling feeling into his stomach as Jake looked at Andy's dead body.
"Andy wouldn't do that. Ava, that line wasn't broken when I left. Ava." Sam told her, wishing she would confess.
Ava looked at him, terrified. "What? You don't think…?"
Sam nodded slowly. "I'll tell you what I think. Five months. You're the only one with all that time you can't account for—and that headache you got…right when the demon got Lily."
"What are you trying to say?" Ava asked him, tears in her eyes at the harsh words Sam was spouting out.
"What happened to you?" Sam asked her.
Ava realized the charade was over and wiped the fake tears off. "Had you going, though, didn't I? Yeah, I've been here a long time, and not alone, either. People just keep showing up. Children, like us. Batches of three or four at a time."
Sam looked at her rather stunned. "You killed them? All of them?"
"I'm the undefeated heavyweight champ." She admitted with a grin.
Sam really couldn't believe that the sweet, doubtful girl she had once been could turn into something like this, and he couldn't believe that this had been going on for five long months. There was definitely a plan here, and he was pretty sure that it wasn't getting them all together—it was weeding through them to find the strongest one, and so far that was Ava. Ava was controlling the Achiri, and she was the one responsible for Lily's and Andy's death, and the deaths of the scads of others.
"Oh, my God." Sam said out loud.
Ava smiled a little. "I don't think God has much to do with this, Sam."
"How could you?" Sam asked her disgusted.
"I had no choice. It's me or them. After a while, it was easy. It was even kind of fun. I just stopped fighting it." Ava replied with a shrug.
Sam looked at her confused. "Fighting what?"
"Who we are, Sam. If you'd just quit your hand-wringing and open yourself up, you have no idea what you can do. The learning curve is so fast. It's crazy, the switches that just flip in your brain. I can't believe I started out just having dreams. Do you know what I can do now?" Ava asked him excitedly.
"Control demons." Sam told her.
She smiled. "Ah. You are quick on the draw." She concentrated a little and summoned the Achiri. "Yeah, I'm sorry, Sam, but…it's over."
She was going to sick the demon on him as Dean parked the Impala in Cold Oak, but Jake came up behind her and broke her neck, the Achiri demon vanishing instantly. It was time for Dean, Bobby, Brooke and Haley to get Sam and get him out of there, but Dean didn't want Brooke coming along. He was worried about the baby of theirs that was resting contentedly in its mother's stomach right then, and he couldn't bear the though of her coming to any more physical harm.
"You're not coming with us." Dean told her, pinning her to the car.
Brooke looked up into his eyes. "What if you need my help to save, Sammy? Dean I can't just hang back in the car and do nothing."
Dean stroked her hair and kissed her softly. "I can't have anything happen to our baby, Brooke…please stay here."
Brooke was about to say something when she had it—a cap of what was happening right that second with Sam.
"No, no, no, Ava was summoning it, controlling it. It shouldn't come back now that she's dead. We got to go." Sam told Jake hurriedly.
"No. Not 'we', Sam. Only one of us is getting out of here. I'm sorry." Jake explained to him.
Sam looked at him rather confused. "What?"
"I had a vision. That yellow-eyed demon, or whatever it was, he talked to me. He told me how it was." Jake replied with a shrug.
"No, Jake, listen. You can't listen to him." Sam pleaded with him.
Jake shook his head a little and shrugged. "Sam, Sam, he's not letting us go. Only one. Now, we don't play along, he'll kill us both. Now, I…I like you, man. I do. But do the math, here. What good's it do for both of us to die? Now, I can get out of here, I get close to the demon, I can kill the bastard."
"Come with me. We can kill him together." Sam tried.
"How do I know you won't turn on me?" Jake asked him honestly.
Brooke pushed on Dean's chest, but he was stronger than her and wouldn't back off until he knew exactly what was going on and what was wrong. He hated seeing her like this—scared and in pain—and he really needed to understand what was happening. This whole night had been rather nerve-wracking for him and he really just needed straight answers.
"What's going on?" Dean asked her.
"Sam's in trouble!" Brooke replied, effectively pushing Dean off this time and running towards where Sam had been in her first dream. "I can't let him die!"
Dean felt the panic rise in him as he watched Brooke run off into certain danger and he hurried after her, determined to protect her as Haley and Bobby came at his heels. They got there at the same point in Brooke's dream that they had before, and Brooke couldn't let it happen twice—she couldn't watch it twice.
"SAMMY! LOOK OUT!" Brooke cried as Jake was getting up off of the ground.
Sam was confused, but glad to see Haley running towards him, feeling the knife in his back as Brooke screamed again, her feet pounding on the ground to get to him. She had never felt her heart beat this hard or this fast before, and she got to Sam first as his knees hit the ground, Bobby running after Jake as Haley let out a cry of anguish and knelt beside Sam, Dean joining and grabbing onto his brother's jacket.
"No! No. Sam. Whoa, Sam. Sam. Sam, hey. Hey, come here. Let me look at you, and…" Dean trailed off as he rested his hand on Sam's back and realized that Sam's wound was damn fatal. "Hey, look. Look at me. It's not even that bad. It's not even that bad, alright? Sammy? Sam! Hey, listen to me. We're gonna patch you up, okay? You'll be good as new. Huh? I'm gonna take care of you."
Brooke stood up and though Haley and Dean both protested, she headed off in search of Jake, the tears streaming down her cheeks. How could she have just lost the one guy in this world that she had always been able to count on no matter what? She was in love with Dean and she knew she always would be, and she knew he'd protect her and care about her and even love her, but Sam was her rock. They'd been together through so much and now? Now he had been taken from her—taken from Haley—and Brooke could not let Jake get away with that.
Dean held onto Sam when he realized there was little life left in him. "I'll take care of you. I got you. That's my job, right? Watch out for my pain-in-the-ass little brother. Sam? Sam. Sam! Sammy! No. No, no, no, no, no. Oh, God. Oh, God. Sam!"
Dean started to cry as he held Sam to him, knowing he was dead in his arms, Haley crying next to him. She was going to stand and go after Brooke but Dean shook his head and stopped her, letting her hold onto Sam while he got up to head after the stubborn and reckless woman that he was so madly in love with. He was not going to lose her and his baby too, especially when Brooke was supposed to be on bed rest and she was over-exerting herself, and she was rather stressed.
"Baby, I love you." Haley whispered to Sam, even though she knew he was already gone. "God I love you so much."
"BROOKE!" Dean yelled out, Bobby having already stopped her.
Brooke struggled against him, sobbing. "Bobby just let me go! Jake has to pay!"
"And he will, but not right now." Bobby said, just as upset, but trying not to let Brooke endanger not just her own life but her unborn child's.
Dean made his way over to her and she beat his chest with her fists as she cried, Dean understanding that she needed to let out her frustration. She had tried so hard to stop it and it hadn't worked and now she was blaming herself, and Dean wished she wouldn't. He held her as she calmed down a little and sank into him, both of them sinking down onto the ground and holding each other. Bobby watched them there as they cried, grasping at each other trying to stay as close to each other as possible, Haley still running her fingers through Sam's hair…none of them could believe that Sam Winchester was dead.
Note: In case any of you are curious…the flashback to what made Sam and Brooke so close will be in the next chapter. I keep mentioning it and you'll finally know. This chapter was VERY long, but the next chapter and most of the chapters following it won't be this long…there was just sooooo much to include. More soon!