A/N: Hi everybody! Hope everyone is having a good week! I'm pretty tired but that's just par for the course lately. Just holding out until March Break, then we'll be okay.

I'd like to thank Crystal, Black Fungus (x2), Guest, bagelcat1, Colby's girl, hectatess, and shadowhuntingdauntlessdemigod for the reviews. You guys are awesome.

This chapter is tagged to episode 10x16, Paint It Black. A bit of a strange episode if I'm being honest. Loved the concept but I didn't really have many places to take it. Hopefully you all enjoy the chapter. Please let me know what you think of it!

Disclaimer: Nothing recognizable belongs to me.

Sex Talks and Motivational Speeches

Sam and Dean bid farewell to Sister Mathias and headed out into the glaring light of the sunset over Worcester, Massachusetts.

"Hold on, hold on," Sam called, tugging Dean to a stop.

"What? Sam? Ah, get off!" Dean protested as Sam angled his brother's chin up and crouched down a little to look at the bruises forming on Dean's neck. "I'm fine!"

"Yeah, these bruises say otherwise." Sam left his brother under the streetlight and rummaged through their emergency kit. "Here," he threw a couple of ice packs at Dean. "Keep those on your neck. 15 on, 15 off."

"Yeah, and how am I supposed to do that while I'm driving, Boy Wonder?" Dean asked, rolling his eyes as he strode over to the driver's side of the Impala.

"Yeah, you must have some brain damage from Isabella almost knocking you out if you think I'm gonna let you drive after all that," Sam replied, beating him to the driver's side and sitting behind the wheel before Dean even knew what was happening.

"Sam—"

"Keys." Sam held his hand out expectantly and Dean grumbled under his breath as he dug them out of his jeans' pocket. He knew better than to argue with Sam when he got that look in his eyes.

"You know, I totally had her, by the way," Dean stated confidently as he took his seat in the passenger side. "Tiny little nun like that, I coulda taken her."

"Tiny little nun possessed by a centuries old vengeful spirit, hellbent on taking out any guy who plays fast and loose with the ladies? Yeah, Dean. I'm sure you could've taken her," Sam snarked, rolling his eyes as Dean squawked in his seat, fumbling for a comeback. "It's alright, man. She has centuries of teenage angst pent up. You're lucky if you even remember your teenage years." Sam barely held back a smirk as he heard Dean's wordless protesting get louder and angrier. "It's okay, Dean. Happens to everyone."

"Ooh, Sammy, if you weren't driving right now…"

Sam released the laugh he had been holding in. "Oh yeah, Dean. I'm quaking in my boots."

"Should be," Dean grumbled. "I mean, I didn't want to hurt her! She's a freaking nun, man! That kinda crap gets you sent straight to hell! And I've already done that tour once, Sammy, I ain't doin' it again!"

"Oh, so hurting a nun is against the rules? What about flirting with one? Fantasizing about one? You don't think that will get you a return ticket?"

Dean smirked. "Now, that woulda been worth it. Besides, she was into me too! Wouldn't be my fault she broke her vows or whatever. In fact, if she had come on to me, I would've been helping her out! You know, I wouldn't want to make her uncomfortable or break her heart or nothin'. I think that woulda earned me bonus points!"

"How chivalrous of you," Sam muttered.

"God, she was hot though, wasn't she? Isabella though…" Dean shuddered. "Even if she was alive, I would have to take a pass. That girl was too crazy, and that's coming from me. I'm not gonna lie to you, Sammy, I don't mind the wild ones. The ones who don't mind spicing things up a little. Back in the day, I even dated a few psycho chicks. Do you remember Arlene Masterson? She was into some freaky crap, but damn was she down for pretty much anything. Or Rhonda Hurley? Her kinks had kinks."

"Dean, do you really think I wanna hear this?" Sam asked, face scrunching up into a near-pout.

"Sorry, Sammy, forgot you're still kind of a prude." Dean ignored the massive bitch face Sam sent his way and continued. "I'm just saying, you've got to draw the line somewhere. I don't mind goth chicks, but once we get into Satan worshipping, you know I'm gonna cut and run. I've been with a lot of girls, Sam, but this is the first time I've ever met one who was willing to mutilate herself for a dude. I mean, who mixes their blood and bones into paint?" Dean laughed. "No woman's ever done that for me."

Sam shook his head in amazement. "Is this you thanking me for not doing what you told me to do?"

Dean thought about it for a minute, his face in an exaggerated pout as he moved his head from side to side, waving a hand in the air. "You know, if you would have burned the journal, then we wouldn't know how to kill it, would we?"

Sam chuckled. Only his brother could turn an uncomfortable sex talk into a thank you for disobeying orders.

"Yeah, you're welcome." Dean joined him in his laughter for a moment. The air in the Impala was light for the first time in a while, but Sam could feel himself sobering up as he went through the facts of the case in his mind. "You know…" Sam started hesitantly. "You were in that confessional a long time." Sam didn't have to look at Dean to know that his brother had tensed up. "Look man, I'm just saying…" Sam considered how to handle this topic. He knew from experience that Dean didn't handle direct questioning well, but he also knew that he couldn't just let this sit. They needed to talk about it, and Dean needed to know where Sam's head was at. "I'm your brother, Dean. If you ever need to talk about anything with anybody, you got somebody right here next to you."

"Okay."

Sam fought back the words he wanted to snap back at his brother. 'Okay' wasn't really what he was going for. He wanted, no, needed Dean to know that Sam was willing to listen and to fight and to do whatever it took for Dean to be safe again. Sam wasn't just going to retire into some cushy normal life because Dean went AWOL again. He'd done that before and, looking back, those years had been gone were some of the worst of Sam's life. Sam wasn't going to let it happen again.

"I heard what Sister Mathias was saying about, you know, hiding pain by taking on a mission, and I…I know that's what you're doing a little bit. And it's okay. I mean, it's fine. I get it. I've done it before, too. But…I don't buy for one second that the Mark is a terminal diagnosis, so don't go making peace with that idea. There has to be a way. There will be a way, and we will find it. That's what we do. So, believe that."

Believe in me, Sam wanted to add, but he knew that, if he did, Dean would probably smack him or make some sort of snarky comment about chick flicks.

"Okay, Sammy," Dean sighed, rubbing a hand down his face tiredly.

Sam bit back a sigh of disappointment. Again, he felt like Dean was just trying to placate him by agreeing, not agreeing because he actually believed it. "You want to…Uh, try that again like you mean it?"

Sam watched Dean out of the corner of his eye and smiled as a look of determination came across Dean's face.

"Okay."

A/N: Well, I hope you all enjoyed that chapter! Reading it back, I think it's one of my more recent favourites. The banter was definitely fun to write. Please let me know what you think and I'll see you all back here on Wednesday!