I hope this is any good. Ugh, I can't wait for this semester to be over...

-"The reason it hurts so much to separate is because our souls are connected."- Unknown

Ever since Sam had confessed to Dean when they were in the Impala that he was sick from the blood infection because of the whole Darkness-Is-Here-and-Is-A-Girl problem, his big brother had been trying to find cases that wouldn't cause Sam to get injured. Yes, now Sam was cured but protective big brother Dean was insisting that any cases they take for the next few weeks be easy and stress-free…

Well...at least he tried…

"Sir? Sir! Why won't he wake up?"

"Damnit Hannah, I'm a blogger not a doctor!"

"You run a pointless board about Lost theories! The show ended five years ago!"

"And I'll have you know that I am 87% sure that those are true!"

"You know what, never mind. What should we do about this guy?"

"I dunno. Is he dead?"

"No idiot, he's breathing, see his chest!?"

"Oh boy do I…"

"This is so not the time for this…."

Sam tried opening his eyes to locate the two strange voices although it was easier said than done. Sam clenched his teeth painfully as he started moving which only sent pain straight through his whole body. He groaned under his breath as he heard the voices resume once again.

"Oh thank God. Sir, we called an ambulance, they should be here soon." One of the female voices said in a worried tone. Sam groaned, needing to get away from this. Ugh, everything hurt...

He didn't know how he ended up wherever he was, last thing he remembered was that he and his brother had found a shape shifter attacking a nearby town, they were called Selkie, and they were a nasty bunch. Usually they were in groups, hunting and feeding off of humans but this time there was just a loner, making the brothers assume it wouldn't be a difficult hunt.

Sam wanted to go back twelve hours and slap him and his brother's younger selves for that moronic thought.

Last thing he remembered was being cornered by the creature. It was on top of him, landed hard on his back with almost bone-breaking strength. Last he knew, his handgun was pushed out of his grip, leaving him defenseless.

Well, almost defenseless.

Dean had come to his aid, stabbing the Selkie in the back but not fatally. The monster gave an earth shattering screech and made a swipe and Sam, banging his head against the Impala and he remembered no more.

They had to find the Selkie, but he knew that he needed to get up, get Dean, and get the hell out of dodge. The only problem was-

Where's Dean? The thought was running through his head like a chant. It didn't matter who these people were, he needed to find Dean. Sam started to sit himself up.

A blurry face with blonde hair and concerned blue eyes moved into his vision, trying to sit him back down. "I-I don't think you should be moving-" The girl tried, timidly trying to push him back.

"Where's Dean?" Sam mumbled in a weak voice, unsure where he was but he knew that Dean wasn't there with him, so therefore he didn't want to be there.

"Who?" The blonde girl asked, looking at her brunette friend who shrugged unhelpfully with a "how am I supposed to know" look on her face. Turning back to Sam, the girl frowned in confusion. "There's no one else here, just you."

And that set Sam off.

Sam reaches over and grabs the girl by her coat sleeve urgently and started pulling her closer, and from the sudden fear in her eyes, he must look and hysterical as he felt. But caring about this girl's feelings wasn't at the top of his list, nor was the girl's friend who was screaming something about pepper spray at Sam while digging through her purse.

"Was there a man here before?" Sam demanded, pulling the girl (Hannah, was it?) closer while ignoring her confusion and her friend's current pursuit to look for her pepper spray, and Sam could have swore that he heard her mutter something about being in the first five minutes of a Carver Edlund book. "Was there?!" Sam demanded.

Shaking her head truthfully, Hannah's expression brought Sam back to his sense and he hurriedly lets her go, to which she immediately and hastily moved away from him, her friend now abandoning her futile search for a weapon was now behind Hannah and grabbing her shoulders comfortingly. "Some help you were." Hannah muttered under her breath as she stayed by her friend's side.

"I'm not good at stressful situations." The brunette answered defensibly.

But as guilty as Sam felt for scaring these girls who were just trying to help him on this empty road, he found himself unable to properly care. Not with Dean missing.

"I need to go, I need to find my brother." Sam proclaimed in a shaky voice, wobbly standing up. A sigh of relief escaped his lips at the sight of the Impala, still here and currently undamaged. Neither girls responded towards his answer; they could only stand next to each other, away from him yet still engrossed in whatever happening with the strange man they had found that was knocked out next to his car.

Sam opened the Impala car door and shifted her into gear, leaving the young women still entirely confused although safe and with an interesting story to tell the cops. Sam ignored them and drove away, needing to get back to their motel room and find out where his brother is.

Although his stomach disagreed with his mission.

Pulling off to the side of the road, Sam put the car in park, promptly got out of the car, and tried not to puke as he dry heaved off the side off the road.

Okay, so let's see here: Dean is missing, a shapeshifter had him, and Sam has no idea where it could have taken him or if he's even still in the town. As much as Sam was thankful that Dean was not dead (Sam refused to have the opposite conclusion be an option, if he was dead, it would have killed them both. Therefore Dean was alive), he didn't know where to begin with locating the creature.

Sam hunched over the side of the road, tears of frustration sliding down his cheeks. With a growl of defiance, Sam rose up and slide back into the Impala's driving seat. Breathing deeply, Sam thought back to what he and Dean had researched about these Selkie, once his head stopped throbbing from the force of the hit to the side of his head.

"From what the Men of Letters say," Dean exclaimed with a small hint of interest, it wasn't often that they found a creature that they had never encountered before. "Is that the Selkie tend to impersonate people of the town for years, decades even."

Sam leaned over Dean's shoulder, glancing at the book that Dean was skimming. "Random people or certain people?"

"Eh, looks like random." Dean sulked. "But it says that they kill the real person, and basically take over their life."

"So, what if we go over the missing persons list of the town?" Sam suggested. "It's a small town, maybe it won't be too hard."

They had found the house of a missing person who was gone for a week before returning, she was a deputy. Her disappearance didn't get much attention because she claimed she had just gone through a painful breakup and needed a break, not telling anyone.

Yeah right.

"So we'll spilt up on the road since this is where the last person when missing." Sam said, gesturing his flashlight to the road as they had just finished searching the empty house.

"Now remember Sammy, if you see an ominous dark figure, the appropriate response is to run." Dean said matter-of-factly in his mock serious voice, a hint of a smirk on his lips.

Sam was about to offer a rebuttal when the Selkie jumped at him, landing on his back. Pain exploded from his head. Sam could feel its mouth close to his face when the monster suddenly gave a blood-curling scream by his ear, damn near making him deaf. Before he felt darkness start to surround his vision, Sam saw Dean holding a hunting knife with fresh blood on it from stabbing the creature in the back.

And that was when he last saw his brother and the shifter.

Sam slammed his fist against the steering wheel, his feeling of helplessness rising. He had no idea where the shifter would be. It clearly wouldn't be back in its usual fortress and they had no other leads other than what the shifter's human form looked like.

Sam's head snapped up at the last thought. He knew what it looked like, the whole town did. Closing the car door with a slam, Sam speed towards the police station, praying he wasn't too late.

SPNSPNSPNSPNSPNSPN

"Yeah we saw Helen, 'but an hour ago." The sheriff, his name Jacob, confessed, staring at Sam with a worried expression. "You look…edgy. You okay? Where's that partner of yours?"

"I need an answer for when you last saw her." Sam insisted, gripping the edges of the sheriff's desk. "What did she say? Did she mention where she was going?"

The sheriff frowned his brows, deep in thought. "Well, she was supposed to take the shift with me tonight, but she said she had some family emergency, that she'd be back tomorrow."

"Did she say where she was going?!" Sam's patience snapped like a daisy chain, he couldn't wait any longer; Sam needed his brother back now.

"I think Helen said she was going to her cabin?" Jacob half raised his hands in a guess, unsure why this was important. "It's been in her family for decades. She was in a rush, I don't think she said how long she would be-"

"I need that address now." Sam's voice was dangerously low. He stayed silent as he watched Jacob quickly scramble down her address on paper. Sam pulled the paper out of the man's hand before he even had time to ask Sam what was going on. Muttering out a quick word of thanks, Sam rushed out, already planning out the different ways he was going to slaughter the Selkie when he got his hands on it.

SPNSPNSPNSPNSPNSPN

Sam parked the Impala on the side of the road, far enough where Helen couldn't see it from her cabin. His head threating to implode and his gun gripped in his hands, Sam stayed out of sight, hidden behind trees as he observed the cabin. Lights were on inside, proving that Helen was home, and hopefully still had Dean.

"Not very quiet, are we?" Said a female voice.

Sam didn't even have time to turn around when he felt a hard object land against his head, sending him harshly onto the ground. Helen stood above him, a sneer on her lip at the sight of the fallen Winchester. Helen took a few steps closer, putting a foot on Sam's chest to keep him from moving.

"You know, your brother is quite the fighter." Helen lightly touched her jaw, revealing a bruise that Sam could only assume Dean had given her. Sam fought to stay awake, the head wound forcing his brain to try and stay conscious. He couldn't pass out, he would not pass out, he needed Dean, he had to get to Dean.

"I had to brag that I slaughtered you back on that road, though that only pissed him off more." She shrugged, pushing more weight onto Sam's stomach, enjoying the sound of him crying out in pain. "I'll relish the sight of your brother when I bring him back your head."

Abruptly, too quick for Sam to even blink, Helen's eyes widen, his gaze held pain, confusion.

She fell to the ground, showing a butcher knife buried deep into the back of her head.

And there, directly behind where Helen once stood, was Dean. Weak, barely standing, but Dean. "Stupid bitch really should have checked to make sure I was really unconscious." And with that, Dean promptly fell to his knees, exhaustion beating him.

Relief hitting him like a punch in the gut, Sam quickly scrambled up despite the pain and soon he was falling to the ground in front of his brother.

"Hiya baby brother." The rasping, completely broken tone that was wrapped Dean's words tore into Sam's heart. Grasping his big brother's wrists, Sam slowly pulled Dean up from the forest ground; his grip both tight and protective.

Teeth chattering rapidly, Dean's eyes were slightly unfocused from the head injury yet despite that he could tell that it was Sam in front of him.

"Hey buddy,' Sam soothed, pulling his brother into his arms without any more delay. Bowing his head, Sam leaned his forehead against his brother's cool skin, his tears mixing with the blood on his brother's cheek. "I'm here Dean, it's okay. It's okay." Pressing his lips against Dean's bruised cheek with tenderness, Sam forgot his own pains and could only center his attention on his big brother.

Dean's fingers gripped either side of Sam's shoulders, holding him tightly and wishing that could never let go.

"What took you so long?' Dean mumbled, giving a weak laugh.

Sam didn't stop himself from grinning.

SPNSPNSPNSPNSPNSPN

"We're home Sammy." Dean shakes his sleeping brother awake, carefully tugging on Sam's arm to help him out of the Impala. Sam blinked his eyes several times, memories of the night coming back to him in a rush. Dean doesn't say anything as he tenderly helps Sam out of the car and to the bunker's front door.

Sam leaned his worn-out body against the doorway of their home, his energy failing by the second. God, he was so tired.

"Hey Sammy, it's okay, we're okay." Dean soothed, his arm was around Sam's waist, comfortingly leading him towards their room.

"I was so scared." Sam whispered softly, plopping onto the bed with a sense of fear and anxiety that was still in his body language. He could have lost Dean, he could have lost his brother. There were too many situations like this where Dean had almost died and every time, Sam feels like someone tore off a piece of his soul and left him for dead.

"I'm sorry Sammy." Dean sat down next to Sam, wrapping an arm around Sam's back and pulling him against his chest. "I'm so sorry."

Sam held on as he bit his bottom lip to keep from letting out a break in his voice. "I was-I thought-"

"But it didn't." Dean answered, knowing what is brother was thinking. They were both alive, and that was all they needed. "We're safe Sammy…"

Dean hugged Sam and wrapped his arms hard and possessively around Sam, letting his little brother burying his face against his shoulder, turning his head until he can feel Dean's heart beating against his face. Sam then moves his arms up possessively around Dean's firm back and sighs, moving his head so that he rested his cheek against Dean's chest.

They didn't say anything else, though they understood what the other was thinking. How glad they were that the other was safe. How they wanted with all their heart to never leave the other side. And how much they valued the other as their soulmate.

"I love you De…" Sam's voice was muffled against Dean's chest but his brother heard him.

"Love you Sammy." Dean whispered, reaching down to brush his lips against Sam's hair.

It was difficult to be a Winchester, but most days it was the best thing that could have ever happened to them. As long as they had each other, it made everything they went through, every pain they had endured and horrors they had been forced to see from a young age was worth it, because they had each other.

And that was something that was never going to change.

Creature: Selkie-Shapeshifting monsters who can look like humans.

Appearances: Black eyes, razor sharp teeth, and gray skin.

Powers: super strength, super speed, enhances sense.

Weaknesses: Fatal wounds involving their heads or chests.

The next chapter is another prompt that one of my lovely reviewers asked for. When Sam and Dean go looking for a ghost and it takes Dean. I have a weakness for hurt!Dean. I can't help it.

I hope you have a wonderful rest of the day!