Six months later:

Through the six months after the murder of his brother and sister Sam had engulfed himself in hunting. He buried all of his agonizing grief filled feelings and ignored all of Bobby's attempts at communication as he hunted as well as obsessed over his search for the trickster.

"Sam? It's Bobby. Heard about that demon thing you took care of in Death Valley. Nice job. Been about three months we talked, though. Be nice to hear your voice. Give a call. I'm here."

Sam spent that six months killing every monster he came across. The only thing he could think about was the obsession he had for finding the trickster. He patched up his own wounds and had very little regard for running head first into dangerous hunts alone. Never once answering any of Bobby's phone calls or returning his voicemails. In every motel he stayed in he filled the walls with maps, newspaper clippings and security camera stills featuring the Trickster, arranged in neat lines with none overlapping.

"Sam? Bobby again. Look, I'm worried about you. Just tell me you're not sitting alone somewhere obsessing over this damn Trickster. Call me, Sam. We can find it together. No one man should take something like this on alone. You hear me? By the way, that vampire nest in Austin, hell of a job."

"Sam? It's Bobby. I found him."

At the Mystery Spot, late at night…

Bobby was kneeling on the floor turning the pages of a book, which was dead center of a chalked diagram. It had three candles and three bowls of unidentified substances surrounding it.

When Sam entered the room behind him, Bobby stood, "It's good to see you, boy."

He hugged Sam, who didn't respond to that sentiment, "What are we doing here, Bobby?"

"Well, it's the last place we're sure the Trickster worked his magic."

"So?"

"So you want this thing?" He turned and walked back towards the outline, "I found a summoning ritual to bring the Trickster here."

Sam looked from the outline to Bobby expressionless, "What do we need?"

"Blood."

"How much blood?"

"Ritual says near a gallon. And it's gotta be fresh, too."

Sam paused as his eyebrows raised a little, "Meaning we have to bleed a person dry."

"And it's gotta be tonight…" Bobby nodded, "Or not for another fifty years."

"Then let's go get some."

Sam turned to leave, but Bobby didn't move. Sam noticed and turned back from heading to the door.

Sadness filled the older man's face as he shook his head, "You break my heart, kid."

"What?"

"I'm not gonna let you murder an innocent man."

"Then why'd you bring me here?"

"Why? 'Cause it was the only way you'd see me! 'Cause I'm trying to knock some sense into you! 'Cause I thought you'd back down from killing a man!"

"Well, you thought wrong." Sam glared dejectedly as Bobby stepped closer to him, "Leave the stuff, I'll do it myself."

"I told you, I'm not gonna let you kill-"

Sam shouted at him angrily, "It's none of your damn business what I do!"

Bobby's eyes widened at the anger and rage in his voice and eyes, "You want your brother and sister back so bad?" He leaned down and pulled a knife out of his bag before holding it up to Sam, "Fine."

Sam eyed the knife, "What are you talking about?"

He continued to hold the knife out to him, "Better me than a civilian."

"You're crazy, Bobby. I'm not killing you."

"Oh, now I'm the crazy one." He scoffed, "Look, Sam, I'm old. I'm coming near the end of my trail. But you can keep fighting, saving folk. But you need your brother and your sister… So let me get them back to you."

"Bobby-"

"You, Angel and Dean… You three are the closest thing I have to family. I wanna do this."

Sam tensely studied the older man as wetness filled his eyes before he took the knife, "Okay."

"Good." Bobby nodded at him before turning and dropping to his knees, "Just make it quick." As Sam waited Bobby pressed him, "Do it, son."

"Yeah, okay, Bobby." Sam pulled a stake out of his shirt, "But you wanna know why?" He grabbed Bobby around the throat and shoved the stake through his back so the tip came out of his chest, "Because you're not Bobby."

Sam twisted the stake making blood spurt out of the wound. Bobby went still before falling forward as Sam let go of him. He then stared at Bobbys corpse as nothing happened.

"Bobby?" Sam tensed as he realized he might've been wrong, "Bobby!"

Just then Bobby's corpse vanished. The stake fell over to the floor. Then it shot over Sam's shoulder into the hand of the Trickster as Sam turned to face him.

"You're right. I was just screwing with you. Pretty good, though, Sam. Smart." He smirked as he started circling the hunter, "Let me tell you, whoever said Angel or Dean were the dysfunctional ones has never seen you with a sharp object in your hands." He chuckled as he came to a stop, "Holy Full Metal Jacket."

Despair filled Sam's face and voice, "Bring them back."

"Who? Angel? Dean? Didn't my girl send you flowers? They're dead. They ain't coming back. Deans soul is prancin' around in heaven while Angels soul's downstairs doing the hellfire rumba as we speak."

"Just take us back to that Tuesday- er, Wednesday, when it all started. Please. We won't come after you, I swear."

He deadpanned at Sam, "You swear?"

"Yes."

"I don't know." He rolled his eyes dramatically, "Even if I could…"

"You can."

"True. But that don't mean I should. Sam, there's a lesson here that I've been trying to drill into that freakish Cro-Magnon skull of yours."

"A lesson? What lesson?"

"This obsession to save Angel?" The Trickster's face went serious as he walked closer to Sam, "The way you three keep sacrificing yourselves for each other? Nothing good comes out of it. Just blood and pain. Angel and Dean are your weaknesses. The bad guys know it, too. It's gonna be the death of you, Sam." He shrugged as he backed up, "Sometimes you just gotta let people go."

Tears filled the youngest Winchesters eyes, "They're my brother and sister."

"Yup. And like it or not, this is what life's gonna be like without them."

"Please. Just… please."

"I swear, it's like talking to a brick wall." He sighed dramatically as he hung his head and then looked up at Sam, "Okay, look. This all stopped being fun months ago. You're Travis Bickle in a skirt, pal. I'm over it."

Sam shook his head in confusion, "Meaning what?"

"Meaning that's for me to know and you to find out."

The trickster snapped his fingers one last time and once again Sam's eyes snapped open to the loud music coming from the bedside radio.

"But you'd better promise me I'll be back in time!"

It wasn't Asia, this time it was the song from the final Wednesday he shared with Angel and Dean .

"Got to get back in time!"

He jumped and sat up in bed when someone slapped his foot. He gaped in equal shock and relief when he saw it was Angel.

She cocked a brow at him, "You gonna sleep all day or what?"

Sam's shocked eyes moved from her to Dean who was standing by the bathroom sink brushing his teeth, "I know, no Asia." Dean grumbled after he spit, "This station sucks."

Sam turned and quickly checked the clock radio where it said WED.

He looked from Dean to Angel with glossy eyes as his voice broke, "It's Wednesday."

"It is." Angel said boredly as she zipped up her bag after retrieving her gun, "Wednesday usually comes after Tuesday, Sam."

Dean motioned before rinsing his toothbrush, "Turn that thing off, will you?"

Sam hurriedly threw off the covers, walked to Dean who was the closest in distance, and pulled him into a strong hug.

"Dude." Dean stood wide eyed in his embrace and patted his back awkwardly when he stayed like that for a while, "How many Tuesdays did you have?"

His voice broke again as he answered, "Enough."

He then let go of Dean to turn to Angel who was frowning between them in worried confusion. When he crossed the room and wrapped her in a big tight hug she squeaked in surprise before patting his back in reassurance.

"Uh, Sam?" After a few seconds she hurriedly patted his back as he voice came out breathy, "Can't breathe."

"Oh, sorry. Sorry." He pulled back immediately, tears still in his eyes as he looked between them, "What, uh, what do you guys remember?"

"I remember you were pretty whacked out of it yesterday." Dean answered first as he still eyed Sam like he lost it, "Then I remember running into the Trickster."

Angel nodded as well, sharing the same expression as Dean, "That's about it for me too."

Sam nodded before taking a minute to collect himself and looking between them, "Let's go."

Dean frowned, "No breakfast?"

Sam chuckled a little, "No breakfast." He turned to Angel who was watching him with her own frown at his grief stricken behavior, "No coffee either."

"Okay…" She nodded then motioned to Dean, "Well, we'll pack the car and head out then."

"Wait." He took her arm in his hand as she picked up her bag and headed for the door, "You two arent going anywhere without me."

Dean cocked an eyebrow, "It's the parking lot, Sam."

"Just- just trust me."

After Sam got dressed and they packed up all of their stuff Dean opened the door to head out.

He turned back to study his little brother, "Hey, you don't look so good. Something else happen?"

Sam stayed silent for a moment as he zipped his bag, "I just… had a really weird dream."

Dean nodded, "Clowns or midgets?"

Sam looked up and caught Dean's grin. He tried to smile back as he picked up his bag but it came out more sad than anything.

"Was it spiders?" Angel asked, earning his attention as she walked out of the bathroom with her toiletry bag, "I bet it was spiders." She shuddered and swung her duffle bag over her shoulder earning another sad smile from Sam as she passed him to follow Dean out, "I get that traumatized look after a spider dream."

As the two of them walked out Sam followed silently. He stopped at the door to look back at the unmade bed before turning off the light and closing the door behind him.