Thanks to Fanpire101 for kicking my Muse in the butt with just one simple remark. Enjoy everyone!

Cas had wandered off to his room, to attempt calling in his big brother, and Dean missed him already. 'Geez. I hope this sappy stuff wears thin soon. It's hard to concentrate on preventing the End to end all Endings when I can't see past those amazing eyes or those tempting lips...' Dean thought and sighed wistfully. "I wonder why Cas could feel his brother's Grace last year. Must have done something pretty big to have it noticed after so long." Sam said and his hazel eyes were trained on his brother. Dean shrugged. "Who knows? Any miracles happen this time last year? I was a bit pre-occupied with going to Hell to keep an eye out." He saw Sam shift his gaze to Bobby, who looked uneasy too. "Well? Wanna share with the class?" Sam heaved a big breath and Bobby grabbed a bottle of whiskey, even though it was just after eleven. Dean kept staring them down. Finally, Sam cracked. "Mystery Spot." he said swiftly, as to get it over with. Dean turned his head, as if he hadn't heard. "What was that?" Sam did his exasperated 'I-don't-wanna-do-this' head move and licked his lips, before glaring at Dean. Who was suitably unimpressed. "Mystery Spot. We were caught in Mystery Spot this time last year." Dean pouted his lips. "Hm. But that was a timeloop the Trickster had made. Nothing angelic or miraculous about that."

Bobby let his head fall to his left shoulder, his eyes weary. "You didn't keep stuff from him, did ya?" he asked, and there was resignation in his gruff voice. Sam tapped all tips of his righthand fingers on the table nervously. "Might have..." he conceded softly, and Bobby rolled his whole head along with his eyes. "When will you idjets learn to be honest with eachother?" Sam ducked his head, and Dean felt trepidition fill him up. "What am I missing?" he asked cautiously. No answer. "Sam?" Sam worried his lip between his teeth. "It was when I broke the loop, well, more after I broke it." Dean frowned. "We caught the bastard, and he broke it, end of story. We never saw him again." Sam looked at Bobby pleadingly, but Bobby crossed his arms. "You kept it a secret, not me." Bobby said with finality. Sam sat down on a chair, hard, as if something had broken. "Not quite end of story, Dean... see, when we were leaving and you were packing Baby, I got the last stuff." Dean opened his mouth, but Bobby put a hand on his arm and silently shook his head. "I heard a shot..." Sam said, voice so low Dean had to lean in to hear. "... you... you were lying on the parking lot, bleeding out. I kept trying to wake up, but I didn't..." Tears were sliding down Sam's face and dripping on his clasped hands. "You were gone, Dean... really gone... The loop was broken, so no turning back." He looked up, his chameleon eyes dark grey with grief, but also anger. "I wanted to kill that Trickster so bad... I hunted mainly for him, taking other jobs at the side." Wordlessly, Dean took Sam's tear soaked hands in his own. Bobby filled the silence. "He scared the living crap outta me, I can tell ya that. He was so focussed. Reminded me of John, just after... ya know. Never called, never answered calls. If I hadn't heard from others who bumped into him, I might as well had lost him too." Dean blanched. He never thought Sam could be like that.

"How... what... what happened?" he rasped. Sam's mouth quirked humourlessly. " Months ... so many frigging months, I hunted that SOB. Then I get a call from Bobby, that he got him." Dean glanced at his surrogate father, but Bobby deadpanned. "When I got there... no Trickster. Bobby was there, and he basically told me that we needed all the blood from one human to trap it. Something felt off... so, I thought it was him, posing as Bobby. I killed him, but of course it wasn't him... just a mirage again." Sam's shoulders tensed a bit. "That asshat had the nerve to chew me out. To tell me to..." He glanced up at Dean. "... to stop trying to save you." His eyes shone with tears. "How could I, Dean? You were gone, but still... I had to find a way." Dean remembered how devestated Sam had seemed when he told him no demon would deal for him, that he couldn't get Dean back. "It's ok, Sammy. I would have done the same. Hell, I did do the same!" Dean said softly, squeezing his brother's big hands. "I begged and begged him to give you back... to turn back time... Finally, he gave in. Said it had stopped being 'fun'." The bitterness with which Sam said the last word... Dean had never thought he would hear the word fun and not think it funny at all. "He just snapped his frigging fingers, and we were back... back at that Wednesday." Sam sighed tremulously. "That's why you squeezed the ever loving crap outta me..." Dean mused. Sam scoffed and wiped one big hand over his face. "Yeah..." Dean got up, pulling Sam along, and hugged his little brother so tight. "Geez Sammy... I'm sorry..." Sam hugged back and they both blinked back tears. "If I ever get my hands on that Trickster... I'm gonna rip out his lungs!" Dean growled.