Believe in Us
K Hanna Korossy

It almost felt like a typical hunt. Haunted house. EMF reader and salt-loaded shotguns. Shining flashlights into dark corners, at least until Sam found the light switch.

Nothing was typical that day, though. They were in Nick's house, Lucifer's tainted vessel. Dean's face was drawn, his eyes walls, not windows. And Sam, he was trying not to think about how he had no plan to save his brother from a ticked-off archangel. Or rather, no plan except for Dean's suicidal one. The one where he didn't actually commit suicide, just doomed himself to being trapped for an eternity in a small box with a ticked-off archangel.

Sam had seen his brother's scabbed fingers, and the bloody scratch marks on the motel wall the other morning where Dean had tried to claw his way out in his dreams.

They wouldn't have even tackled a hunt in these conditions, except one of the alt-world hunters had brought the ghost sighting to Sam's attention. And that said sighting was in Nick's old house. Sam still hadn't been sure about taking the case, but Dean had insisted, intent on normalcy to the end. At least he hadn't made any "one last case for the Winchester brothers" comments this time.

"Anything?" Dean asked, and Sam was shaken back to the present.

He glanced at the meter in his hand. "Not— Wait."

Dean looked back at him just as the EMF detector began to squeal, lights flaring. Then they were both searching the room as the temperature dropped and Sam's breath fogged the air.

The woman was in her nightgown, and Sam had a second of déja vu. But their mother was blonde, and Nick's wife—Sam had looked up a picture beforehand—had dark hair and large eyes. She studied them both with a frown.

Dean moved forward. "Sarah?"

Sarah's gaze jumped to him, and her eyes drew together in confusion. "You know me?"

"Sorta. We know Nick."

Bewilderment immediately changed to anger, and the air in the room crackled with ozone.

Sam quickly stepped up. "We're not friends. We, uh… We're trying to stop him, actually. He…" Yeah, how was he supposed to explain Lucifer?

"I know." Sarah seemed to shrink before them. "I know about...Lucifer."

Sam and Dean exchanged a look: unexpected. Dean took the lead. "You, uh...saw it happen?"

"Yes. He used my form to seduce Nick. But Nick wouldn't've accepted if…"

"...if there hadn't been some part of him that wanted it," Sam finished. He'd believed for years that Nick had just been a dupe, not knowing what he was agreeing to. But maybe he had known and been just fine with it, Sam had recently realized. Lucifer hadn't corrupted him, only awakened that part of him.

Sarah nodded, clearly upset. "Even now, Nick refuses to reject him. Even to give me peace! He's the reason I'm trapped here now, because he wouldn't choose me."

So Nick had been here recently? Sam's mind spun around that. And stopped at one word from Dean.

"Bull."

Sam blinked. So did Sarah.

"If you're stuck here, that's because you've got unfinished business, not Nick," Dean said bluntly. "No one else can hold you here. You need to let go."

Sam felt his eyebrows go up, but no one was looking at him, Dean and Sarah focused on each other.

"But...he's my husband. We made vows to each other. I still love him."

"Yeah, well, ever heard of ''til death do you part'? 'Sides, I think ol' Nick already broke those vows a long time ago. I'm sorry, but if he still loved you, like, real love, he would let you go, no matter what it cost him. Shut up, Sam," he added without looking at him as Sam's head jerked back.

Real love meant letting go? Yeah, that was real subtle.

Sam stepped around to plant himself in his brother's peripheral vision. "If he really loved her," he said quietly, firmly, "she wouldn't be here in the first place."

Dean faced him full on, his expression clearly asking, are we doing this now? His jaw set at what he saw in Sam's expression. "So, you're saying I shouldn't've let Michael in."

"No, that's not what I'm saying. What you did saved Jack, and me, and who knows how many others. Lucifer had to be stopped."

Dean threw up his hands. "Then what are you saying, Sam?! If you really love somebody, everything'll turn out okay in the end? We're gonna magically find an answer to everything because, hey, love'll get us through? Right? Isn't that what you said, 'believe in us'?"

Sarah interjected weakly, "I don't understand what—"

"Hold on, lady." Dean held up a hand, stare not budging from Sam.

Sam blinked blurred eyes. "Nick chose Lucifer over Sarah. He didn't love her enough, not really. They're not us." He crumpled under Dean's glare, looked away. "But I get it, you know. Why it's so hard for you to trust me. I mean, I've promised to save you, how many times? But I didn't get you out of your deal. Instead of getting revenge on Lilith, I let her manipulate me. I never even looked for you in Purgatory. And, yeah, okay, I found a cure to the Mark, but it got Charlie killed and released Amara." His mouth twisted. "I keep screwing it up. Why should this time be any different?"

Dean's anger faltered, his eyes softening. "Dude, you think that's…?" He shook his head. "I never thought that, man, not once." He took a step closer to Sam, his voice lowering. "Don't you get it? You save me every freakin' day, Sammy."

"I-I think I see a light," Sarah whispered.

Sam barely heard her. "Then why—?" he asked his brother.

"Because it shouldn't always be on you, okay?" Dean snapped. "I know you'd trade places with me in a second—I know that. This was never about how much I trust you or, or how much you, you know, love me." Sam almost smiled; even deep in an emotional scene, Dean stumbled over the L-word. "Sometimes we just can't win, and it sucks man, it does. But that doesn't change us, okay? No matter how our story ends, I will always believe in us."

There was a blinding flash, and both brothers startled, looking up.

"Uh, did Sarah just—" Sam began.

"—go into the light while we were having a moment?" Dean nodded. "Yeah, looks like."

"Wow. That's, uh…"

"Right. Let's talk about this again, never."

Sam laughed, heart lightened along with the atmosphere in the now ghost-free house. He still had a serious problem to solve, a murderous Nick to track down, fledgling hunters to train.

But he also still had his brother. And he was determined to keep him.

The End