A/N: Love your betas!
See first chapter for disclaimer.
My Brother's Keeper
Chapter 11: Secrets
"I need you to stand right over here." Kara said leading Sam to the edge of the charm circle. She reconsidered, looking at his pale face, "Maybe you should sit. Save your strength."
Sam gratefully sank to the floor, resting the heavy pistol in his lap. The trek into the house and up the stairs had taken it's toll on him, making his whole body ache. He almost regretted coming, but this was for Dean. He could suck it up if it meant getting his brother back to his normal self.
John gently laid Dean's unconscious body on the ground and made his way to Sam. Putting a hand on his son's shoulder he asked, "Are you okay, Sammy?"
"Yeah." Sam said. John nodded and was about to turn away, but Sam spoke again, "Dad?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For this. You were right. I should have been paying more attention. If I had been checking on Dean none of this would have happened. I get it now." Sam's words spilled out, filled with remorse.
"It's over now. Okay?" John told the boy.
Sam bobbed his head, swallowing hard. He looked down to the floor saying, "Okay."
John squeezed his son's shoulder before turning away and walking back over to Dean. As he got there Kara smacked his shoulder. He looked into furious eyes, asking, "What?"
Kara stood with her hands on her hips, tapping the floor impatiently with one foot. She kept her voice to an angry whisper, "What is wrong with you? Your son was looking for comfort, and you all but told him it was his fault! How can this be his fault? Where were you when it happened?"
"Listen, I will not be told how to raise my children by you? Everything I do teaches them how to stay alive. Sam will learn from this, so it's not going to happen again!" John said, matching her tone with his own quiet outburst.
Kara looked as if she was going to say something else, but decided against it. She held up her battered book, "Shall we begin?" She waited for John's nod before saying to him, "Remember, you need to hold onto Dean. The curse will fight to stay in his body and this will most likely make him wake up. Don't let him get near the circle." She turned to Sam, "You need to shoot the statue precisely when it stops glowing, not sooner, not later. It's very important."
"It's going to glow? Isn't that a little cliche?" Sam asked, furrowing his eyebrows in disbelief. He could imagine it looking like some badly done special effect. He might be too busy laughing to shoot it.
Kara huffed in frustration, "What is it with you people? You're all cynics! People can be raised from the dead and ghosts can remain with the living, but unholy energy can't make objects glow? Why is that so hard to believe?"
"Whoa! Hey, I'm sorry. I was just saying. Jeez!" Sam replied, putting his good hand up in a calming manner.
John laughed, earning a glare from Kara. His earlier anger was now forgotten. It was good to see the woman getting her feathers ruffled for once, especially over such a trivial matter. He could see now that any kind of non-believers were a sore spot for her. He filed that useful piece of information away for later.
"Why don't we get started." Kara said with a sigh. "Remember what I said." She didn't wait for a reply before she started reading from the old book in her hands.
The older Winchester wasn't sure what he had expected, but it was not this. Dean immediately shot up as soon as the first words left Kara's mouth. His bound fists connected solidly with John's face. The force of the blow knocked him backwards onto the floor and away from Dean. Dean took the advantage, quickly picking out Sam and rushing towards him.
"Dad!" Sam yelled as his brother started for him. He tried to slide backwards, using his legs to push him. The pistol lay forgotten on the floor. He could never shoot his brother--even to protect himself.
Kara ignored everything, continuing to read the Latin phrases out loud. She had given the Winchesters jobs, and there was no doubt in her mind that they would complete their tasks. All she had to worry about was her own.
Dean went around the charm circle grabbing Sam by the throat and pushing him up against the wall. He held him up, a few inches off of the ground, choking the younger boy. Dean's bound hands had a surprisingly good hold around Sam's neck and no matter how much he tried the younger teenager could not squirm out.
"This is all your fault! You turned dad against me! What did you do to him?" Dean yelled in his brother's face, shaking him with each word.
Sam felt himself slide to the ground as he saw his father pulling Dean away. He coughed, trying to pull air into his already injured throat.
"Sam, the gun! Get the gun!" John yelled to his youngest as he struggled to keep Dean away from the boy. His older son was screaming again, this time unintelligibly. He let Dean go, so that he could turn him around by the shoulder and punch him in the face. Dean went down and didn't get up. John turned to see Sam on his knees, holding the gun steady, aiming at the statue.
Sam took a small moment to feel impressed by the red light coming from the statue. It wasn't nearly as corny as he thought it would be. He was quickly back to business though, pulling the trigger as the light blinked out. The bullet hit the middle of the statue, sending tiny chunks of marble flying around the room. He kept staring at where the cause of this nightmare had once been, until his father gently pulled the gun from his lax grip.
"Are you all right?" John asked the teenager softly. He looked at the newest marks around Sam's neck and blew out an angry breath.
Sam didn't answer, but slowly made his way over to Dean. He looked him over, noting the new bruise forming on his jaw. Sam looked at his father, then Kara, "Is he okay now?"
Kara nodded, "He should be just fine. He's going to be rather confused when he wakes up, but that can be fixed."
Sam paused in untying Dean to look up at her again, "Why would he be confused?"
"He's not going to remember any of this. I'd definitely be confused." Kara answered.
"He's not?"
"No. The curse took over, pushed him aside. Dean kind of, just, blacked out. He's probably not going to be feeling so great when you tell him what he's been up to, though."
Sam shook his head, "We're not telling him."
"Sam-" John started.
"No. Dean is going to hate himself. He didn't do any of this, so why should he have to suffer?"
"He'll want to know what happened to you, Sam."
"We can tell him the spirit got me before you killed it."
"He's going to be missing a few days."
"Dean never knows what the date is anyway. Dad, he's going to sulk and not want to come near me. I don't want that. I just want him to be back to normal. Please!" Sam pleaded. He tried giving his dad the 'puppy dog' eyes, as Dean had come to call them. He was never sure if it worked on his father, but it was worth a shot.
John sighed. Sam was making sense. There was no need to hurt Dean for something he hadn't done. It would be a lot easier to get past this if they didn't have te deal with Dean's guilt in the mix. He just hoped that it wouldn't come back to bite them. "Fine. We won't tell him."
"Thank you." Sam said gratefully. He looked back down at his brother, praying that what the curse made him do would always be a secret from him.
TBC
