Summary: After the car accident, Blaire discovers things about herself that really begin to frighten her, but on their quest to stop the yellow-eyed demon, the Winchesters realise they have to be stronger than ever before. Please R&R.

Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or its characters. I only own Blaire Winchester. I don't own some of the lines used either.

The Paths We Tread: Facing Our Truth

Chapter Twenty-One

Blaire bit her nails nervously as Dean spoke to Ellen on the phone, panicking over the sudden disappearance of her baby brother. Both Dean and Blaire stood under a large bridge near a parking lot, resting against the Impala under the pouring rain. The sky was a light grey, the grass muddy and their souls dampened, not helped by the rain.

"Ellen, it's me again..." Dean breathed, "Any chance you've heard from him?"

He sighed.

"I swear, it's like looking for Dad all over again. I'm losing my mind here and so's Blaire."

Dean wasn't wrong. Blaire and Dean were both losing their minds. They hadn't slept properly in days, and Blaire had been refusing to eat. She was tired and falling ill, and Dean wasn't far behind her. He looked down for a moment as Blaire slid her hand into his, her other hand shaking as she scrubbed it over her face. She shivered because of the cold rain and the fact that she needed some food in her system. Yet she couldn't bring herself to put a morsel of food in her mouth until she knew her baby brother was safe. Her blonde hair was darkened by the falling water and her coat was slowly getting wetter by the minute.

"I've called him a thousand times! Nothing but voicemail." Dean told Ellen, "I mean, I don't know where he went or why. Blaire doesn't know either and damnit, she hasn't eaten much since he left. Sam's just gone..."

He got another incoming call and realised it could be Sam.

"Hang on." He said, pulling back to see that indeed it was Sam, "Sammy? Where the hell are you? Are you okay?"

Blaire looked up as her brother began to sound panicked.

"Hey, hey...calm down." He began, "Where are you?"

Dean listened for a moment before speaking to Sam again.

"Alright, don't move. We're on our way." He said, hanging up, "Blaire, get in the car."

"Is he okay?" Blaire asked.

"Just get in the fucking car." Dean snapped, Blaire knowing that whatever had been said was serious and just doing as Dean told her to.

"Where are we going?" She asked, Dean ignoring her and just speeding away in the Impala.

"Sam?"

Dean and Blaire entered motel room 109 cautiously, not knowing quite what to expect on the other side of that door.

"Hey." Dean said, Sam not even acknowledging them.

"Hey, Dean..." He replied, "Hey, Blaire..."

Dean and Blaire saw the blood on his hands and knelt down before him, Blaire realising he was in a state of shock. Whatever had happened to him, he was truly traumatised, and she feared for him more than she ever had in her life.

"Are you bleeding?" Dean asked.

"I tried to wash it off..." Sam replied weakly, Blaire spotting more blood all over Sam's shirt.

"Oh, my God..." She breathed, reaching a hand up Sam's shirt to feel for a wound and getting a hitching of breath in response.

"I don't think it's my blood..." Sam said, his siblings looking a little nervous.

A million possibilities shot through Blaire's head at this point. Who the hell did the blood belong to? Had someone been hurt and Sam just couldn't remember? Had Sam...? No...no, Sam wouldn't have hurt anyone, right? He just didn't have it in him to.

"Whose is it?" She asked softly, knowing that now wasn't the time to be angry with her baby brother.

"I don't know..." Sam replied.

"Sam, what the hell happened?" Dean asked, Sam looking up with tearful eyes and the most frightened look in them that Blaire had seen in a long time.

"Dean...I don't remember anything..."

"Sammy..." Blaire whispered, cupping Sam's face, "Sam, it's okay...it's alright..."

"Blaire, what happened to me?" Sam asked, a tear falling down his face.

"I don't know, baby, but we'll find out, okay?" She breathed, kissing his temple and sitting beside him on the bed.

"I'll find out." Dean said, "Get him changed into something else, okay?"

Blaire nodded as Dean left the room, going to Sam's bag and picking out a shirt for him to wear. She turned to see him sat shivering on the spot and her heart broke. She remembered the last time Sam had been this scared. Dean and John had gone out for a hunt, Blaire left to take care of Sam. Dean had come back with a bad enough injury for John to have to take him to hospital and both Blaire and Sam had been terrified of losing their brother.

"Here, sweetie..." She said softly, beginning to unbutton the blood covered shirt Sam was already wearing, "It's okay..."

Sam let out a sob and took the shirt off, replacing it with the one Blaire had given him. He looked at her with sad, lost eyes, eyes like a frightened child's and all Blaire could think of to do was wrap her arms around him. They held each other for a moment and Sam sighed, Blaire realising suddenly that he'd smelt her hair.

"Did you just...smell me?" She asked, Sam sighing.

"Needed something familiar." He whispered, "You smell like the Impala...and coconut shampoo..."

Blaire smiled a little and kissed her brother's head, cupping his face and stroking his cheeks gently. She kissed his forehead and pressed their heads together, sighing and wrapping her arms around him again. She rocked him for a while, deciding to maybe try and soothe his fears with a familiar song which she'd sing to him as a baby for a lullaby (to the best of her ability for a three year old).

"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now I'm found.
Was blind, but now I see..."

"Thank you." Sam whispered, resting his head on her shoulder and kissing it gently, "Love you."

"Love you too."

Dean entered the motel room with a bag of food in his hand, Sam standing to look at his brother while Blaire emerged from the bathroom, her stomach grumbling. She hadn't eaten much in the time Sam had been missing. Dean was lucky if he could get a decent meal and a snack or something into her every day. There were days when she just plainly refused food and that had worried the older Winchester greatly.

"You gonna eat now?" Dean asked, Blaire nodding in response, "Good, 'cause I got you something."

"What did you find out?" Sam asked, Dean putting the bag down on the motel room's red table.

"You checked in two days ago under the name Richard Sambora." Dean said, "And I think the scariest part about this whole thing is the fact that you're a Bon Jovi fan..."

There was Dean's defence mechanism. Sarcasm and humour. He'd always been the same. He'd put on a front to hide his fear and how uncomfortable he was with whatever situation he was thrown into, and Blaire just wished he'd tell the truth sometimes instead of lying about it to them.

"Your room's been quiet." Dean said, "Nobody's noticed anything unusual."

"You mean no-one saw me walking around covered in blood?" Sam asked, almost a little pissed that people hadn't noticed.

"Yeah, that's what I mean." Dean said.

"Which leaves us with a bigger mystery to solve." Blaire thought, "How the hell did you get back in here without the blood being noticed by anyone, Sammy?"

"Then how the hell did I get here, Dean?" Sam asked, Blaire almost chuckling at how they'd thought of the same thing, "What happened to me?"

"I don't know, alright." Dean replied, putting his coat over a chair, "But you're okay. That's what matters. Everything else we can deal with."

"Oh, really?" Sam said, Blaire raising an eyebrow, "'Cause what if I hurt someone? Or worse...?"

"Sam..." Blaire breathed, grimacing at her brother.

"What if this is what Dad warned Dean about, huh?" He asked, Blaire sighing and running her hands through her blonde waves.

"Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa..." She said immediately, "Let's not jump the gun here, okay? We don't know what happened."

Sam huffed out a sigh and grimaced, Blaire reaching out and taking his hand in her own tiny ones, running a hand through his hair.

"We just gotta treat this as if it were any other job, alright?" She said, "What's the last thing you remember?"

"Just me, you and Dean in that motel room in West Texas." Sam replied, "I went out to grab some burgers..."

"West Texas?" Dean asked, walking towards his siblings, "That was over a week ago."

"That's it." Sam replied, "Next thing I knew, I was sitting here. Bloody...It felt like I'd been asleep for a month."

"Okay." Blaire said softly, "Retrace your steps."

"Manager said you left yesterday afternoon and never saw you come back, so..." Dean began, walking over to the window and pulling back the curtains to see blood on the handle of the window, "Hey..."

Sam and Blaire looked up, a little confused before getting up to have a look. Blaire swallowed thickly as she examined the bloody hand-print and prayed to God that her brother hadn't hurt anyone. If he had, it certainly wouldn't have been intentional...that wasn't in Sam's nature. She needed some thinking time. Time to work things out in her head, to process details and to analyse the situation...to evaluate it in a way. Her mind worked very much that way and she knew her brothers wouldn't appreciate her staying behind while they went out to see if they could retrace Sam's steps.

"Guys, I'm gonna stay here." She said, "I need to think."

The boys really didn't say much and they left the room, Blaire grabbing the food Dean had bought her and sitting on one of the beds, taking a drink and eating properly for the first time in a week. She tapped her feet on the motel room floor and began to pace slowly. Her head was screaming at her that something wasn't right with her brother. His answers and questions seemed to lead on to other questions and ideas...like the power of suggestion. The way he smelt her hair and body had creeped her out a little too, and the way he'd kissed her shoulder. He just didn't seem like...Sam...like the Sam she knew and loved.

She had a feeling that something was wrong and she began to make notes in her diary about every possibility. Illness, possession, plain and simple confusion, mental breakdown, shapeshifter. She wrote down everything and began to work it out in her mind. She feared that Sam was possessed but couldn't know for sure. She didn't want to subject him to an exorcism if he actually wasn't possessed and she knew she needed more proof.

Her cell phone rang, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Blaire, it's Ellen."

Blaire smiled.

"Hey, Ellen." She said softly, "You okay?"

"Yeah, are you?" Ellen replied, "You heard from Sam?"

"Yeah, we've got him...it's okay, he's fine..." Blaire lied, "He just needed a little breathing space that was all...we're fine."

"You sure, sweetie?" Ellen asked, "You sound a little nervous..."

"I'm fine, honestly." Blaire lied again, "I just haven't eaten much since Sam went missing, y'know...the worry and all, I just...I couldn't bring myself to."

"But he's okay now?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Ellen."

"You need anything, you can call me, honey." Ellen told her, "Bye, sweetie."

"Bye, Ellen."

With that, the pair hung up.

Blaire had just woken up from a nap as her cell began to ring again, the display showing the caller to be Dean.

"Hi, Dean..." She said softly, "You find anything?"

"Sam killed someone." Dean replied, Blaire's heart stopping at the words, "A hunter..."

"Oh, my God..." She replied, "Dean, you're lying to me."

"Wish I was, honey." Dean said, "Look, we'll be back at the motel in a half hour, okay? Start packing."

"Okay...bye, Dean."

"Bye, sweetie."

Blaire had just managed to hang up before her cell phone slipped from her grasp, landing on the bed beside her. Sam had killed someone. Actually killed somebody...a hunter of all people. Blaire began to cry, trying to get some control over herself as she started to pack her bags. This could not be happening. Sam wasn't a killer...he wasn't a killer. He was not a killer. She kept telling herself that, but she knew the truth. Dean wouldn't lie to her about that...and...Sam couldn't remember a thing. What if he had killed someone? Finishing her packing, Blaire tried desperately to pull herself together, succeeding after taking several gulps of whiskey from her flask.

"Alright, we get a couple of hours sleep, then put this place in our rear-view mirror." Dean said as he and Sam entered the room, "Short stuff, you're sharing with me."

Blaire nodded and swallowed thickly, looking at her brothers. Sam looked horrified with himself, yet Blaire had a feeling that everything wasn't as it seemed with him. His brain seemed to be in gear all the time, his eyes darting about quickly as he seemed to think about something.

"Look, I know this is bad, okay?" Dean said to Sam, "You gotta snap out of it."

"Dean." Blaire warned, Sam looking like he was going to just cry.

"Sam, say something." Dean said.

"Just get some sleep and leave in the morning?" Sam asked, "Murder, Dean. That's what I did."

"Maybe, okay?" Dean replied, "Hey, we don't...shapeshifter."

"Oh, come on! It wasn't!" Sam protested, "You saw the tape! There was no eye flare, no distortion."

He turned to Blaire.

"I'm sorry, Blaire..." He breathed, "I'm sorry..."

Blaire just looked helplessly at her brother. It couldn't have been him that killed the hunter...he just wouldn't kill an innocent man.

"But it wasn't you!" Dean exclaimed, "Alright? Yeah, it may have been you but it wasn't you."

"I think it was." Sam said in a low voice, Blaire feeling a little wary, "I think maybe more than you know."

"What the hell does that mean?" Dean asked.

"For the last few weeks, I've been having...I've been having these feelings..." Sam began.

"What feelings?" Blaire asked, sitting on the bed she was supposed to be sharing with Dean.

"Rage. Hate."

Dean sat beside her and cautiously put an arm behind her, Blaire reaching back slightly with one hand and beginning to trace the word 'DEMON' into Dean's hand letter by letter. There was just something in the air that she was picking up from him. It wasn't good and the energy was so full of maliciousness that it seemed Sam's normal energy had just disappeared.

"And I can't stop it." Sam replied, "It just gets worse. Day by day, it gets worse."

"Fucking liar." Blaire thought angrily, "Fucking disgusting hell-spawn...LIAR!"

"You never told us this..." Dean said, feeling Blaire beginning to quake with anger.

"I didn't wanna scare you."

Oh, this thing was fucking priceless. Dean slapped Sam on the knee and stood up, Blaire knowing he'd gotten the message.

"Well...bang-up job on that." He said, Sam grimacing and looking to his hands.

"Dean, the yellow-eyed demon..." He began, "You know he has plans for me. And we all know he's turned other children into killers before too."

"No-one can control you but you." Dean told him.

Damn...Dean was doing pretty good at this. Blaire didn't know how long she could keep this up for; this lie, this pretence that they believed the creature inside her brother.

"Sure doesn't seem like that, Dean." Sam continued, "It feels like no matter what I do, slowly but surely, I'm...I'm just becoming..."

"What?" Blaire asked.

"Who I'm meant to be." Sam replied, "I mean, you said it once yourself, Dean! I gotta face up to who I am."

"I didn't mean this!" Dean yelled, Sam standing up while Blaire braced herself.

"But it's still true!" Sam replied, "You know that! Dad knew that too. That's why he told you if it ever came to this."

"Shut up, Sam." Dean said.

Blaire felt tears pooling in her eyes as she stared at the two men she loved more than anything in the world. Two brothers breaking and falling apart, one currently being possessed while the other one didn't really quite know what to do. Dean's mask was beginning to break.

"Dean, you promised him." Sam said, "You promised me."

Dean looked down and Blaire wiped her eyes, unable to believe that this was even being brought up.

"No." Dean replied, "Listen to me. We're gonna figure this out, okay? I mean, there's gotta be a way, right?"

"Exactly." Blaire added weakly.

"Yeah, there is." Sam said, taking Dean's gun and pressing it against his chest, offering it to him, "I don't wanna hurt anyone else. I don't wanna hurt you or Blaire."

"You won't." Dean replied, trying not to break at the sight of his brother's anguished face whether he was possessed or not, "Whatever this is, you can fight it."

"Fight it, Sam." Blaire thought, "Fight it, baby boy...fight it..."

"No. I can't." Sam replied, both Dean and Blaire picking up how much this thing wanted to get Dean to kill Sam, "Not forever. Here you gotta do it."

Dean just stood staring at Sam who forced the gun into his hand. Blaire stood and walked over to Dean's side, her heart racing in her chest at the thought of the bloodshed this could lead to.

"You know, I've tried so hard to keep you safe." Dean said, "So has Blaire."

"I know." Sam replied, both he and Dean sharing tearful looks.

"I can't." Dean whispered, "I'd rather die."

Blaire turned away and covered her mouth with one hand, fighting a sob that was just waiting to escape her lips. She couldn't cry. She had to be strong right now; she could not cry.

"No." Sam said quietly, "You'll live."

Dean and Blaire turned at the words, watching Sam pick up the gun.

"You'll live to regret this." He said, suddenly swinging around and hitting Dean in the face with the gun.

He looked at Blaire and headed for the door regardless, Blaire running straight after him only for her to be hit too. She fell to the floor, consciousness fading in degrees as she tried to register what had just happened. She'd been right. Sam wasn't Sam at all. Her heart thundered in her chest for a moment, eyes fluttering as she slipped into darkness. She and Dean had to keep strong and fight...

They had to find Sam.

-TBC-

Duh, duh, duhhhhhhh!

Hope you enjoyed!

Thanks for all the support so far! It means a lot!

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