Ah, getting closer to the end of the story here. I'm thinking probably chapter 25 will be where it hits the finale, at least somewhere around there. I think I've got it mapped out pretty close to that anyway. I certainly hope you guys enjoy the coming story!

Chapter 22: Codependency

The lake water's glistened out in front of Dean, calm and glassy underneath the afternoon sun. His fishing pole rested lightly in his fingers, ready to snap into a firm grip at the slightest tug. It had been a while since a fish had bothered with the bait, but he wasn't that worried. The activity for him was never really about actually catching anything as it was relaxing.

Of course, the fact he was dreaming probably also had something with his lack of concern on any little aquatic lifeforms biting onto his hook.

"Dean."

It was all that had been said to announce the angel's presence, and he turned a bit from where he was sitting to regard the intrusion. It wasn't the first time he'd been visited by the angel like this and he doubted very much that it would be the last. Just like before, it seemed the being didn't seem to want to look him in the eye, focusing intently on a spot just over his shoulder that almost made Dean feel like something was stuck to his jacket. The angel had barely been able to explain to him about Chuck being a prophet of the Lord, and when he'd given him the hint about the archangels he'd been scuffing one shoe on the ground the whole time.

The whole thing almost made Dean feel bad about his initial freak out over losing his memories and being given a new life. Almost.

"What's the word, Big Bird?" he asked him. The reference caused Castiel to look confused for a moment as he looked questioningly, actually meeting gazes with him.

"I've come to discuss Sam," he stated after a few moments of silence between them.

Dean sighed a bit before rubbing at his forehead. Okay, this he didn't need. The thing between them was finally starting to even out and be kind of nice. He didn't want the boat to get rocked.

"Look, if Heaven has a problem with it, they can suck it up," he stated firmly. "Maybe they shouldn't have jacked my whole life to try to teach me some stupid life lesson. I can suck face with whoever I want to, and that includes my brother. I know you guys aren't going to throw me into Hell so I can sin all I want to."

Castiel only looked more confused at that.

"You believe Heaven disapproves of your relations?" he asked in the same tone someone would use if they were inquiring about the oncoming weather.

"I… Don't they?" he asked. "I mean, brotherly incest has probably got to be a big no-no for you guys, right?"

"That's not why I am here, no. History is full of humans we've worked with you have sexual bonds between them, regardless of blood. To my knowledge it's not a cause for concern in your case either," Cas assured him. "Though that might have to do with our own relationships in Heaven. We might not look at it the way you do."

"Wait, relationships? You guys up there have sex?" he asked as he spun his chair around to face Cas fully and leaned forward. This might be interesting to hear about.

"It's not in the same way you do," he replied slowly. Holy shit, Dean was fairly sure the guy was blushing. "There are different mechanics involved when we're not in human bodies, but some of my siblings have taken partners to face the years with. I understand even Lucifer once had one."

"Ugh. Bet that was a bad break-up."

"I wasn't personally there," he replied with a shrug. "No one ever asked Michael about how he felt putting his brother away considering the love between them. It never struck anyone as wise."

Michael? As in the angel who locked Lucifer up in the first place? Wow, that was kind of messed up, in a tragic soap opera kind of way.

"So the thing between me and Sam really is cool?" he asked, more concerned with that point anyway. "It's not a problem?"

"I have not been instructed to correct it. That's all I know," he admitted. "Though I will admit I do find it a bit uncomfortable, considering how it came about. You seemed less than pleased with me over everything that happened."

Dean couldn't help but feel the angel was hoping for some forgiveness, and admittedly it had all worked out in the end, mostly anyway. So things weren't perfect, but when were they ever?

"I still didn't like being jerked around like that," he muttered. "But it's not like holding a grudge over you will help me out in any way. So, if you aren't here to smite me for being a bad boy with Sammy, then what are you here for?"

"It's concerning Lilith. It seems she's taken to ground and we need to-"

He stopped suddenly, looking decidedly uncomfortable. Suddenly he was staring up at the sky in a blatant move of not being able to look anywhere close to Dean.

"Cas?" he asked. "Something wrong?"

"I… I should leave. I can inform you of Heaven's progress later."

"Why? Don't you think this is kind of important?"

"I don't wish to interrupt an intimate moment," he replied, his tone gruff and all of a sudden he was gone and so was everything else. For a split second it was all black around him, as if he'd been thrown down to the bottom of the lack. Groaning a bit, it started to ease a bit as his eyes opened from where he was laying out in the front seat of the Impala. Confused, he tried to get his bearings, wondering why he felt kind of cold. Might have to do with the fact his shirt was pushed up and his pants were unzipped.

A sudden gasp escaped him at the sight of his brother, for lack of a better term, waking him up. His face so close that his bangs were tickling Dean's stomach.

"Sammy," he groaned out as his head fell back and hit the window. "That's… ugh… Wow."

"Good morning," he replied cheekily as he pulled away to look at him. "How'd you sleep?"

Dean didn't even have any words, the driver's door open and Sam hanging half out of it, his knees resting on the ground. The older Winchester glanced away at the sight of the lake they were parked in front of, not nearly as nice as the one in his dream with muggy and cold weather. Still, the activity he was involved in was certainly a lot nicer than fishing.

"You into somnophilia now?" he asked before Sam stared at him disbelievingly.

"Big word for you."

"How many times do I have to tell you that I do read?"

"Sorry, professor," he snorted. "Though I guess with the subject matter, you would be pretty knowledgeable. To answer you though, not really. Just thought it'd be a nice way to wake you up."

"Be pretty rude not to finish the job," he pointed out."

"Oh. Well, we wouldn't want that," Sam breathed, his expression dark and intense in a way that made Dean shiver.

Good thing that they were in the middle of nowhere, having driven out of Kripke's Hollow and put Ohio behind them. Despite being outside there was no one around to catch them having their fun.

The pace was slow and lazy, and Dean watched almost sleepily as his little brother worked. Aside from the waves, all he could hear was the soft slurps and smacking of Sam's lips. Settling his head back to allow himself to enjoy it, he smiled a bit. It was a perfect mood before a chime of a phone ringing brought him back to reality. He sighed as he opened the glove compartment and rummaged around in it, curious over who could be calling so early in the morning.

"Isn't that Dad's phone?" Sam asked as he stopped what he was doing. While Dean wanted him to get back to it, this was probably work related so he had to focus for the moment as he flipped it open.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Uh… is this John?" a soft voice asked uncertainly.

"He can't come to the phone. Can I help you?"

"N-no, no, no. I really need to talk to John. This is Adam Milligan. He knows me."

"Well, sorry to be the one to break this to you but John died more than two years ago," he explained as Sam watching him curiously. A broken sound of shock was all he got in reply. "Who is this?"

"I'm his son."

Dean felt his blood go cold at the answer, anger bubbling in his stomach.

It was a strange sensation to know everything in your life was a lie. Dean had grown up thinking he'd known a lot about the truth of what the world was really like. He knew about things most people didn't, hunted down the evil and twisted things that went bump in the night, and was pretty confident about his place in the world. Well, that last part had been kind of shaky as of late, but he was pretty good at keeping his two feet on the ground in most crises.

This though had blown him away. The suburban house, the pictures of Adam, and the idea that he'd had a second brother who'd never even known. It was hitting a little hard to say the least, even as he stared at the body now wrapped in linen and ready to be burned.

"You sure we should do this?" Sam asked, and the question didn't even surprise him in the slightest. Sam had taken to the role of the older brother pretty well. A little too well to be perfectly fair. Dean had always thought of Sam as the young one, the one who needed to be looked after and who had to ask for permission to do stuff. The one who'd needed to learn how to hunt, not the one who taught all the lessons. Yet there he'd been, hitting it off with the ghoul they'd thought was Adam like it was easy and he'd been born to do it.

"Ghouls didn't fake those pictures. They didn't fake Dad's journal," he stated. "Adam was our brother. He died like a hunter. He deserves to go out like one."

"Maybe we can bring him back. Get a hold of Cas, call in a favor," Sam suggested but Dean only lit a match and tossed it onto the pyre in front of them to allow it to burn.

"No, Adam's in a better place," he replied even as he tried to mentally deny the jealousy he'd felt at the sight of the two of them getting along so well, how badly it had torn him up inside. It wasn't why he was saying no. Adam was just a kid. If he was brought back it would be to nightmares, a dead mom, a war between demons and angels he would have no idea how to fight in. Sadly, dead and ignorant really was the better option than being alive, and wasn't that messed up?

It actually made him miss being Smith a little bit, knowing the cooperate employee never would have had to weigh the options of his imaginary sister Jo being resurrected or not. He certainly wouldn't have known this feeling of guilt clawing at his belly, the thought that maybe it wasn't just out of concern for Adam that he was saying no, that maybe there was a part of him that just didn't want to share Sam. He stomped that down though, not willing to examine it too closely. He hadn't killed the kid but he was still staying dead on his say so. Was there much of a difference?

He really hoped there was. At the very least it had to be better than allowing a poor kid get dragged into hunting like Sam had been willing to allow, had even seemed eager for as he'd quote John's lines about their life's work as if it had been some kind of gospel.

"You know, I finally get why you and Dad butted heads so much. You two were practically the same person," he breathed out. "I mean, I worshiped the guy, you know? I dressed like him, I acted like him, I listen to the same music. But you were more like him than I will ever be. And I see that now."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Sam stated.

"You take it any way you want."

Sam opened his mouth for a second before shaking his head. For a second it didn't seem like he was going to say anything before he frowned at him.

"Just what is that supposed to mean?" he asked. "Because it really sounds like you're trying to start a fight with me."

"You know just because it was a ghoul doesn't change all the things you said," he shot back at him. "You hated what hunting was like for us, and now you're acting just like him, bad habits and all!"

"What bad habits? The hell are you talking about, Dean?"

"He was obsessed with getting that demon, Sam! Nothing was ever more important than that, no matter who it took, himself included! Now I'm seeing you do the exact same thing here! What was your end goal here anyway?! Get Adam so tied up in the life he'd never have a chance to get out?! Use him as another Winchester against Lilith?!"

Sam looked at him shocked, seemingly wanting to protest but not having the words.

"Or maybe," he continued, really on a roll now. "Maybe you wanted to build up to a little threesome."

"What?! Are you kidding me, Dean?!" Sam snapped back at him. "That's not… I didn't even… Oh god, no! I wasn't out to seduce our younger brother!"

"You sure did look like you were getting pretty cozy with him," he accused.

"I was showing him how to clean a gun and make molotov cocktails. Not even close to the same thing," he argued. "You can not tell me you were jealous of that."

Dean only glared at him even as Sam's expression softened.

"Oh god, you were, weren't you?" he asked quietly. "Dean, what I shared Adam… the ghoul… it was different than you. Even if we weren't together like we are now, it never would have been the same with him as what's between us. You're the most important person in the world to me."

"Yeah, unless you count your obsession with Lilith, and your desire to keep Ruby close," he muttered.

"Those were because I wanted to save you from Hell!"

"And now it's just revenge! I'm alive and you still care more about avenging me than you do about the fact I'm right here in front of you!"

Sam looked away, clearly uncomfortable.

"Ruby is a damn demon, Sam, and she's far from trustworthy. You think she's on your side so much, why the hell did she put you in the hospital? Yet a message from her on some weak ass lead and you're ready to go, no questions asked? Hell, you were willing to throw the hex bags away just to try to go one on one with Lilith!"

"I put them back," Sam argued, though his tone was far from firm.

"Yeah, you did, and you're damn lucky she didn't show up before you came to your senses. How am I supposed to know that will last though? What if something comes around that seems like a golden opportunity to you and you throw me to the side to get it? You know what, Mom could have shown right back up when you were ten and Dad still would have gone after the thing that got her."

A few minutes passed before Sam sighed and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"We shouldn't be arguing like this at Adam's funeral," he said softly.

It was a weak attempt to kill the conversation but Dean allowed it, mostly because he didn't really want to keep on about it either. What was even the point? He'd been yelling at Sam about Ruby since before Hell. What were the odds he was going to listen now? It was just too damn much, and he was exhausted.

They waited until the pyre was completely burned down, only smoking embers remaining. Neither of them said another word throughout it, just watching silently. It was just as dead quiet for the drive back to the hotel to collect their stuff. Adam would be declared missing after a while, and they'd been one of the last people seen with him. It would be better to put the town behind them before it caused trouble. The fact there was a sudden well of unpleasant memories there helped along that decision too.

It wasn't until they were hundreds of miles away and settled into an entirely different motel did any more words get exchanged between them.

"I don't care about revenge more than you, Dean," Sam said as he walked up behind him while he was forcefully unpacking his duffle bag.

"That's nice," he muttered.

"Dean, I mean it," he said as arms wrapped loosely around his waist. Dean stiffened a bit but his brother only rested his forehead on his shoulder, holding him close. "I care about you so much. It's just… she took you away from me. It hurt so much it was driving me insane. I was so desperate to get you back."

"Sam, I'm alive now. We're both alive. I-"

"I'm still desperate," he breathed as he turned Dean around to face him. "You are alive now, yeah, but that could change. The angels keep telling you that you have to fix all of this but you aren't you anymore. You're shaken up by what happened down there, what you were forced to do. What if you slip up? What if you get killed again?"

He wanted to deny that but not too far back he'd tried to quit entirely? He'd told Castiel to find someone stronger than him to do it. He was loathe to admit it, but it was an understandable fear.

"I was willing to do anything it took to keep that from happening. All I wanted was to keep you safe from that. It was worth any price, even destroying me," he breathed. "I would have gladly gone to Hell to get you out, and I would have gone that far to keep you from getting hurt again but I never wanted you to think you weren't important to me anymore."

"Sammy, this is-"

"I don't trust Ruby anymore," he said suddenly. "I trust you. You're right. She's been manipulating me from the start and I was too stupid to see it. I… I have to tell you something. We had a plan to kill her by using my powers."

"Yeah, I know that already," he muttered.

"That's not all," Sam said before taking a deep breath. "I've been getting stronger so fast by drinking her blood."

It felt like the room's temperature plummeted as Sam confessed to him, and he pulled out of his brother's grip without even thinking about it. His brother's expression spoke volumes of pain and pleading, but he was too shocked to even think about reassuring him.

"What?" he hissed out.

"I've been drinking her blood. It helps power me up quickly, helps me exorcise and kill demons. It's why she attacked me when I didn't know it was her, to make me drink it. Originally she was just going to slip it to me while I'd been sleeping to avoid angels finding her, or at least that's what she said. The rest of the time though I did it willingly," he explained, sounding ashamed even as he did so. "Dean it was only ever to avenge and help you. I wasn't doing it for kicks."

"That's how you planned to fight Lilith, by doing the same thing that yellow-eyed freak did to you as a baby?" he demanded.

"I wanted to stop, I swear! I tried to!" he insisted. "But then that whole mess with Jay in Sioux City happened and I thought about being old and alone, not even having you anymore and I just… I was weak, okay. I took power because I thought I could save you with it. I never wanted it to be more important than you."

"You're going to stop," Dean demanded.

"Of course," he said immediately.

"No, I mean it. You are going to stop, and you're going to stop now," he hissed. "No more blood, no more Ruby, no more of any of this."

Sam looked a little take back before he nodded.

"If that's what it takes for you to trust in me, then okay. This second, no more I promise. It's just… I don't know how to stop. I don't know if I can on my own."

Dean rubbed the back of his neck, thinking it over.

"I'll get a hold of Bobby, see if he knows something," he said. "Why don't you get some sleep for now. It's been a long couple of days."

"You're pissed at me," Sam noted.

"Damn right I am!" he snapped before he forced himself to appear calm. "We'll fix this. Just… look, I need to get away for a bit. Alright? Just stay in here until I'm back. I can trust you to do that, right?"

He looked a bit insulted at the insinuation but didn't argue about it, just nodding his head.

"I'm going to shower and then get some rest," he offered up.

Dean waited for him to go before quickly grabbing Sam's things and rummaged through them. When he found what he needed, he quickly pocketed it and headed out. He'd need privacy for what he was going to have to do, and he wouldn't be able to do it in front of his brother. The guy might get a last minute change of mind again and he wasn't risking that.

An empty house was all he needed, a for sale sign in the front yard to let him know there would be no one inside to bother him. Breaking in was easy, as was getting downstairs to the basement with the tools he already had on hand. He got to work quickly, the summoning circle drawn in chalk as well as the crude devil's trap on the ceiling. It probably wouldn't hold for long, but he didn't need long.

Fishing Sam's phone out of his pocket, he sent a message to the number that he knew was Ruby's phone. Just a short line.

'We need to talk, face to face. NOW'

It was urgent enough that she wouldn't question it when she got summoned, would think it was Sam reaching out to her. She wouldn't fight the pull to bring her to him.

"Got to admit, I've seen worse places for a date," she admitted, right in the middle of the room. She looked surprised when she saw Dean though, scoffing. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me."

"Shut the hell up, bitch!" he snapped at her. "I know what you've been doing to Sam?"

"Oh, he give you the blow by blow as I made his ever sinful fantasy come true?" she asked tauntingly. "Want to know some of the tricks to get his engine running since you're the main bitch now?"

"I know about the blood," he snarled, pleased to see when she seemed genuinely shocked at that. "He told me the truth, all of it."

"Let me guess. You're here to warn me to stay away from him?" she asked with a scoff. "I'm the best chance either of you have. If you hadn't been such a wimpy little bitch last time she'd be gone by now."

"I don't buy that. I don't buy anything you're selling," he informed her. "I'm here to tell you one thing and one thing only."

"Yeah? What's that?"

"I'm jealous," he hissed out. "I'm jealous enough to allow someone to stay dead if it means he might get between me and Sam. Yeah, I can rationalize it with good reasons, and there are good reasons, but it's not why I did it deep down. I'm jealous enough to have him I sold my soul just so I could get one more year with him. You want to turn him into some dark little servant of Hell? Well, I already became one under a demon a hundred times scary than you."

"Nice speech," she said as she clapped sarcastically. "Might have been more effective if I didn't know for a fact that said demon made you bawl like a baby with the things he did to you. Telling me about your torture supposed to scare me, Dean?"

He didn't bother wasting any more words, just pulled out her former knife from his belt. She eyed it warily, taking a step back before he back slammed into the invisible wall of the trap. Eyes widening, she looked up at it before jerking her gaze back to him.

"Wait!" she demanded. "You need me, damn it! Sam needs me! You'll never kill her without me!"

Most of the time, Dean liked to chatter on the hunt. He liked to talk, to taunt the thing he was about to kill to make it feel small and powerless. He didn't bother this time, too angry and focused on this moment. He lunged without a word and tackled her to the ground, shoving the blade right into her gut. A howl of pain escaped her but he pulled it out before it could finish her off, stabbing it into her throat next to silence her shriek into nothing but broken gurgling as blood erupted from her neck and mouth.

He stabbed her again and again, long after whatever passed for her soul had flared red and orange just under the skin to signal her death. It sunk into her and was yanked out over and over to the point he was only stabbing a body long gone cold, the ripping of flesh and the splatter of that cursed blood she'd dare to put in his brother the only sound in the basement. He stabbed her until his arm hurt, until her whole torso practically hamburger under his ministration. Only then did he stop, leaning in to look into her dead eyes.

"Sammy belongs to me, bitch," he hissed at the corpse angrily.

End of Chapter 22

Welp, that happened. Be sure to give me a review, see what you thought!