"Sammy?" Dean asked as he pounded a nail down on the shingle he was attaching to the roof.
"Yeah?" Sam asked from below wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. Dean had handed him a bandanna some hours ago to tie his hair back with, and his baby brother, looked a little stupid in Dean's opinion, but he figured that if the girls at Stanford could see him now they would be drooling all over the tall 26 year old, who was tanned, muscled and soaking wet. Dean laughed a little to himself remembering that half of that wet was when he pushed Sam into the river when they stopped earlier in the day to wash up before lunch. Bobby had not been pleased when he saw both brothers dripping water. He had mumbled something about staying here to get a house ready for adults not children, but under the gruff and the intended insult was a love and respect, and a happiness that the boys were okay enough at the moment to be able to play a little.
"What?" Sam asked a little more impatiently. "Dean? Dean? You okay?" he asked. Dean shook his head.
"Yeah, sorry Sammy, just drifted there for a second."
"What did you want?"
"I was just wondering if you had considered leading that demon army." Dean said as casually as possible. He had been thinking it for days, weeks even, and he just hadn't had the courage to ask his brother.
"What the hell Dean? This morning you are dunking me in the river like I'm a five year old and now you are asking me if I've considered leading the demon army? What were you doing? Just softening me up for the kill?!" Sam demanded suddenly angry.
"No. I wasn't softening you up."
"Then how dare you bring up something like that? On the roof of a house we are fixing. A house that will be the only home we've ever had? How dare you Dean?" Sam threw the board down that he had been cutting and threw his gloves on the ground and headed towards the river. Dean closed his eyes, felt slightly ashamed and tired, put the nails and the hammer back into his tool belt and got off the roof and went after his big sasquach of a brother.
"Sam?" He called out as he headed to the river.
"What?" Sam called bitterly back. He was willing to walk away from his brother, but most certainly not far enough that he couldn't hear him if he called. Dean sat down next to Sam, pulled off his work boots and put his feet in the river.
"I shouldn't' have asked it right then."
"Really? Wow. Mark the calendar, Dean Winchester realized he asked something at the inappropriate time." Sam threw a rock into the water, watched the splash, and turned back to Dean.
"Why are you even thinking about that?"
"I think about it all of the time really." Dean admitted starring out over the water avoiding Sam's eyes.
"Why?"
"Because I'm constantly fighting the demons."
"Demons can't get inside."
"They're already inside."
"What the hell?"
"That's just it Sammy. My soul is back but the demons left marks on it. I fight the darkness, that panic every single day. And I smell you, I feel you, I know your thoughts almost when you do, because you are marked by hell, and as Bobby so eloquently put it, I'm hell's bitch." Sam swallowed.
"Do you need me to leave?" Dean's head snapped up and turned to his brother, who had tears in his eyes.
"Why would you ask that? Did you take the same idiot pill I apparently took this morning?"
"If you can sense the.." Sam paused and tried to say it.
"Demon blood."
Sam nodded. "Then doesn't that bother you?"
"No. Really it doesn't. It lets me know you are still there. It is comforting really. Easier to take care of you."
"Then…"
"I was just thinking, that there are so many demons out there, that it might be a good thing for you to be their leader."
"I don't want to lead freaking demons, I don't want visions, I don't want powers, I don't want the demon blood inside of me. I want nothing other than…"
"To be normal."
"Yeah."
"Well let's face it Sammy. You aren't normal. Neither am I. Not anymore. Not with my experiences. We can't always have what we want." Sam thought about that for a minute.
"I don't want to be a freak." Dean nodded.
"Too late for that." Sam turned and Dean smiled.
"Come on. We have a lot of work left to do on the house. Let's get it done."
"Dean.."
"Just think it over. You'd make a good leader." Dean stood. "Come on Sammy." Sam looked up at his big brother and Dean forced a smile, turned and headed back towards the house. Sam hauled his butt up and followed after.