**Nothing from Charmed or Supernatural belongs to me.**

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Leo found Dean outside, sitting on the ground by the Impala, with his head in his hands. Leo sighed, and Dean looked up at him, then shook his head. Leo crossed his arms and leaned up against the car, close to Dean.

"I don't get it, Leo."
"I know, son."
"How could this have happened?"

Leo shook his head as Dean blew out his breath.

"I should have seen it."
"Stop."

Dean looked up at Leo, who smiled.

"It's not your fault, Dean. Don't blame yourself."
"My brother is drinking demon blood."
"Nowhere in that sentence did I hear anything that places blame on you. It's not your fault. You weren't even here when it started."

Dean nodded.

"I'm the reason it started."

Leo sighed, letting his arms fall.

"Dean, this… This was Sam's choice. Maybe he felt like he had no other option. Maybe Ruby tricked him. I—I don't know."

Leo took in a deep breath, then let it out.

"What I do know is that you need to find out without a shadow of a doubt that he's truly stopped drinking the demon blood. If he hasn't…"
"What's it like, Leo?"

Leo looked down, but Dean was glancing out across the garage, his arms resting on his drawn-up knees. Dean cleared his throat.

"The … the blood, I mean. Why would he drink it?"

Leo sighed, crossing his arms back over his chest.

"Demon blood is like a drug. It's sweet, very addictive. And that's just for … well, for lack of a better word, someone "normal." For someone like Sam, who already has demon blood inside of him… It's like coming home. Something he's been missing all along, but hasn't realized it. In all actuality, one taste of that blood, Sam was probably hooked. And because he's already got the blood in his system, drinking it makes him stronger. Sharper. Have you noticed anything different about him when he's hunting?"

Dean nodded, still looking out, seemingly at nothing.

"Ever since I got back topside, I've noticed how good he is at hunting. Like he has an extra sense about it all of a sudden. He was always good, you know? But now… He's stronger than I am. Better at it. I thought I just wasn't strong enough anymore, but—"
"The blood heightens his abilities, psychically and physically. He's stronger with his psychic abilities, yes, but I've noticed that he's bigger than he was when we last saw him. More muscular, sleek almost."

Dean shook his head, looking down.

"Damn it. What can I do, Leo? How do I get him off of it?"

Leo sighed.

"First, you've got to make sure he's still on it."
"He's been gone for two days with Ruby. He's got to be on something."

Leo let out a laugh.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

Dean got to his feet, letting out a breath when his back popped. He turned to Leo and ran his hand across the back of his neck.

"I think I have an idea on how we can find out."

Dean found Melinda an hour later, curled up on her bed with her back to the door, looking out the window. He leaned against the doorframe until she rolled over in the bed, looking over to him. He smiled at her. She watched as he walked in the room, tugging his boots off before crawling onto the bed beside her.

"Scoot over."

She did, for just a second. Dean stretched out on the bed and reached over, taking hold of her and pulling her to him. Melinda let out a sigh, then wrapped her arms around him and put her face in his chest. Dean pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

"I'm not mad at you, Mel. And I could never, ever hate you, so just stop."

She let out a breath, and Dean sighed.

"Come on, babe. I know you didn't want to have to tell me. This whole thing is just— This is not your fault; you are not to blame. I'm going to fix it."

She was still for a second, and he blew out his breath.

"Give me some credit, would you?"
"Would you get out of my head? It's weird."

He laughed, and she moved her ear over his heart. He moved a hand to run it through her hair, which Peyton had curled for her that morning.

"I'm sorry, Mel."
"Don't."

She sat up, looking him in the face.

"Now you stop. This isn't your fault. You are not to blame for this either, so stop blaming yourself. You were in hell, Dean!"

He sighed.

"No, no. Quit doing that. Do you really believe that?"
"Now you get out of my head."

He sat up, leaning back against the headboard. Melinda moved to sit in front of him, basically in his lap, facing him. She took hold of his hands.

"Let's just break this down, shall we? If you hadn't gone to hell, Sam wouldn't be a blood junkie now, right?"
"Mel, do you have to put it like that?"
"I call 'em like I see 'em, honey."

Dean sighed, but nodded. Melinda went on.

"Okay, so let's say you didn't go to hell. You not going to hell means you never would have made that deal with the Crossroads demon. And that means that Sammy would be dead."

Dean stopped, looking down at their hands before coming back to meet Melinda's eyes. She sighed.

"You didn't think about that, did you?"

He shook his head. Melinda sighed.

"In all honesty, I think I'd take demon blood-addict Sam over dead Sam."

Dean nodded.

"You're right. I … Oh, I never thought of it like that."

Melinda let her hand come up, cupping Dean's cheek. He leaned into her touch and sighed.

"Fate is a tricky bitch, Dean. Things that are supposed to happen have a way of happening, no matter what we do. I think this was supposed to happen. I don't know why. I don't know if I'll ever know why. What I do know is that he needs our help. We need to get him off of it."
"Your dad wants me to make 100% sure that he's still on it."

Melinda gave him a look.

"He's been gone for two days with Ruby. He's got to be on something, Dean."

Dean laughed, sitting up to move closer to her.

"That's exactly what I said."

Melinda scooted closer to him and let her hand drift up, to the back of his neck. She ran her fingers gently through his hair and he closed his eyes with a sigh.

"So what's the plan, Winchester?"
"I think I've got one."

Melinda's mouth dropped open when she read what he was thinking. Her hand fell, and Dean's eyes opened, confused. He stopped when he saw her face.

"Mel…"
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me."
"It's the only way."
"Are you high, Dean? That never works out. Never!"
"It will for us."

She shook her head, letting out a long sigh. Dean watched her.

"Leo thought it was a good plan."

Melinda met his eyes again.

"Daddy's usually a lot smarter than that."

Dean laced his fingers with hers, and Melinda looked from their hands to his face. He smiled.

"It'll work, Mel."
"So you want me to stay here while you go and basically throw Sam to the wolves?"
"To see what he does in ... Uh…"
"In the heat of the moment?"
"Leave Asia out of this, please."

Melinda rolled her eyes. For some strange reason that she didn't quite get, both Dean and Sam had an aversion to the song Heat of the Moment by Asia. Melinda liked it, but both of them would completely wig out anytime they heard it. She shook her head.

"So you go hunt, and I … What? Sit home and knit?"

Dean smiled.

"Don't you know me better than that by now, Winchester?"
"I don't expect you to just sit back and let me go. That's not my Melinda."

She smiled this time, and he squeezed her hand.

"I thought maybe you could take the time to make a few wedding plans."

Melinda's eyes widened, and so did Dean's smile.

"What?"
"We're getting damn close to Apocalypse Now, Mel. And I don't want to wait anymore."

She leaned back, looking closer at him.

"What?"
"Who are you, and what have you done with Dean?"

He let out a laugh.

"Mel, I—"
"Christo."

He threw his head back laughing and Melinda couldn't help but join him. When he quieted down, he shook his head.

"I'm not a demon, Halliwell."
"Can't be too careful these days."

Dean reached over to brush his fingers through the curls on her head.

"I never thought I'd get married, Mel. Too risky for a hunter. Then I met you, and you screwed me up. In the best possible way, of course."
"Of course."

She smiled, and he ran his thumb across her cheek.

"Let's get Sammy clean, and we'll get married."
"Okay."
"Okay?"

Melinda smiled, rolling her eyes again.

"Yes. It's been a long time since it was just you and Sam together. Maybe if it's just the two of you, you'll …"
"I know, Mel."

They leaned in, lips coming together softly. Melinda pulled back just a bit.

"I still think your plan is going to backfire on us."
"Well, do you have a better one?"

Melinda sighed.

"No."
"Then trust me."

She smiled, reaching up to touch his face.

"Oh, I do."

They kissed again, and just as Dean took her in his arms, lowering her to the bed, Melinda pulled away from him with a gasp.

"What? What is it, Mel? What's wrong?"

She laid a hand to her forehead with a groan.

"My … my head. Ruby's here. They're back."