Chapter 25

The second Ruby left Dean asked the one question that was buzzing around like an angry bee in his head, super desperate to get out. "How did you do it?"

Sam glanced at him then looked away. "Do what?"

Dean was forced to do the same, almost like his mind couldn't quite wrap itself around the fact that his little brother was back, and more, that he was now wearing Dean's old body.

Still, he felt a flare of momentary annoyance at the evasion. Was Sam going to make him spell it out? So be it. "You know what, dude. How the hell did you get out of Hell?"

Sam sat down on the bed nearest to him, almost tripping over himself, obviously having a little trouble adjusting to the new leg size and height as Dean had done.

When the answer came, he almost didn't hear it.

"I don't know…" His brother still wasn't looking at him.

"Don't fuck around with me, Sammy! Surely you have some idea."

The gaze that met his then appeared haunted and dark. "I researched this before, Dean. There's no way for someone to get pulled out without a deal. I've no idea how this happened."

"What do you remember?" Dean started to come in close, but stopped himself. He wanted to touch him, to reassure himself Sammy was really there. Instead he sat down on the bed across from him and tried not to crowd him.

Sam looked away again. "I recall making the deal to switch places. Then I woke up in your coffin. In your body. All healed and patched back together again. That's it." His hand came up and he started chewing on a nail.

Dean was tempted to slap the hand away, those being his fingers Sam was doing that to and the nails were already broken and dirty to boot, but didn't. He wasn't sure how to take his brother's answer, his emotions splitting two ways on what he'd told him. Could they be so lucky? Could Sammy have done what he did yet come back not remembering one iota of his months/years downstairs? It would be glorious, absolutely wonderful, but he just couldn't bring himself to believe it. Why would anyone do Sam the favor of sparing him the awful memories?

"I, I did find one thing though. I just don't know what it means." Without looking at him, Sam pulled up the left arm of the black t-shirt.

Dean hissed in a breath as he stared at what looked like a swollen burn high up Sam's arm, almost on the shoulder. He leaned forward to take a closer look and was totally creeped out as he noticed that it looked like a hand print. As if someone had latched onto Sammy from above and yanked. "WTF?"

"Yeah." Sam re-hid the burn then stared at his hands. "And that's not all." His brother looked up and met his gaze. "The area around the gravesite was devastated. Like a bomb had gone off. And the epicenter of it was your grave."

Dean's jaw dropped trying to picture what that looked like. "What could have done that?"

Sam shook his head. "I don't have the faintest idea. But there's something else…"

"Shit. There's more?" He wasn't sure he could handle hearing it. What in the world was going on? Who had yanked Sam out? And worse, what did they want in exchange?

"After I dug my way out and left the woods, I stopped at a closed gas station. While I was there, something…something came." Though the words came out easily enough, he noticed his brother's hands were lightly shaking. Seemed way wrong on his bod. Hell, way wrong for his brother, too. Not possible he didn't remember things. "The TV and radio turned on on their own. Then a keening sound started. The, the thing had this, this high piercing shriek that got worse and worse and it busted in all the windows of the place." Sam looked up again. "It didn't come in and I never saw it. But I'm pretty sure it was there because of me."

Lilith had sent a group of demons up here to investigate, but if they'd found Sam, they wouldn't have just left him. Could there be a new player in town? As if things weren't complicated enough already!

Dean stood up. "Come on. I want to see the grave and the gas station. Maybe we can get some intel we can use on this mess. That someone pulled you out of Hell has to mean something." He glanced at his brother when the latter didn't move. "Sam?"

Sam's eyes shifted back and forth as if weighing options. Dean didn't have the faintest idea what that was about.

"Something else you need to tell me?"

"No!"

Dean's brows shot up at his brother's total panicked tone.

Sam hurried to his feet, not looking anywhere near him. "No. There's nothing else. I was just, I was just thinking the authorities are probably out there by now. And who knows what else."

His brother had a point. The demons he and Ruby had been following could possibly be snooping around. Not that he couldn't handle them. He was more than capable anymore. "Won't know unless we look."

"Right."

Dean stared at him hard, but Sammy seemed okay. Well, as okay as he could seem wearing someone else's body. There were loads of things Dean wanted to ask him. Things he needed to check into with regards to what had been going on with him downstairs. But this wasn't the time.

He smacked Sam in the arm more for his own benefit than his brother's, needing that little extra proof he really really was there. "So let's do it."

Grabbing the shotgun off the TV, Dean pulled back on the broken door and stepped out into the sunshine. It hit him almost like a slap, somewhere deep inside him thinking the jig was finally up and he'd just opened the door to reveal an amused Alistair who would then drag him back where he belonged. Worse this would turn out to be just another nasty nightmare and he'd wake up at some motel with only his loss, pain, and guilt for company.

Yet reality stayed still and when he shot a glance over his shoulder, Sam, wearing Dean's meat, was still there, crowded close.

Ruby glanced over from where she sat atop the old clunker's hood keeping guard. "That was quick."

"Sammy and I need to go check out a couple of things." He threw the next bit at Sam. "I'm assuming this old sucker's stolen?"

His brother gave him a nod while slipping back into his dirt coated green outer shirt.

Dean turned back toward Ruby. "If you don't mind, ditch this thing somewhere then come back and keep the place clear. We'll probably be gone a couple of hours at least."

"Swell." The latter was delivered with just a touch of snarkiness. "Just remember to keep your eyes open. We don't know where those others are."

"Yeah, yeah, I haven't forgotten." He steered Sam toward the gap between buildings and squeezed in.

"You and Ruby get along now?" His tone of disbelief was heavy. Not that Dean blamed him. It's not like Sam had ever seen the two of them being all that civil to each other before.

"As if." Dean snorted. "No, we just have us an understanding. She's handy to have around when hunting down demons."

Sam gasped behind him and Dean had no clue what to make of that. Neither of them said anything else and just concentrated on getting through to the other side.