"Dude, come on!" Dean yelled impatiently as he walked to the Impala.

He hears Sam scream "Hold on" faintly as he walks out of the motel room. They had just finished a job in Idaho and were about to drive to Pennsylvania to check out their next case. When Sam finally did come out of the motel room he looked like crap. He hadn't been sleeping much lately.

"Dude, what were you doing in there?" Dean quipped half-heartedly, not really expecting a response

Sam just glared at him but Dean could tell he was distracted. Sam went into the passenger's side of the impala and Dean followed, going into the driver's side. He turns the radio to a Soft Rock station, hoping Sam would finally give in and rest, and then he pushes down on the gas peddle and drives them to Pennsylvania.


"We're sorry for your loss," Sam said to an elderly woman after they'd gotten settled in her living room.

"Do I have to go over this again?" The woman asked the fake FBI agents in front of her.

"We're sorry. We work for the Federal government so we have to do a separate investigation. We promise we'll make it quick," Sam said. He really did feel bad.

The elderly woman nods her head in a gesture to continue.

"Can you tell us what happened?"

"There's an underground tunnel not too far from here. My grandson loved exploring it and when I was at the store he decided to go there. I didn't know this so I asked his sister where he was and she said he had gone exploring again.

I had gotten nervous around the four-hour mark when he hadn't come back so me and my granddaughter went looking for him. When we found him he was in those tunnels unconscious. We had rushed him to the hospital but it was too late. They said he died from blood loss and some sort of venom." She finished, choking up a bit at the end.

"I'm sorry," Sam said again, not any less sincerely.

"We'll get out of your hair now. Thank you for your time," Dean said to the woman.

She nods her head at them.

Sam looks over at Dean to make sure there wasn't anything else he wanted to ask as he had been quiet for most of the inquiry. Dean shakes his head almost imperceptibly and they walk back to the impala.

After they both get in the impala and no one can hear them Dean said to his brother, "You wanna go to the coroner's office and check out the body?"

"Yeah. I've never heard of a supernatural creature that kills a person with venom before, have you?"

Dean shakes his head no and then starts the impala and drives away from the woman's house.


They flash their fake FBI credentials at the coroner who looks at the badges closely before being satisfied that these men are who they say they are. You could never be too careful.

"Can we see the body of Nicholas Johnson?" Dean asked the coroner.

"Sure."

The coroner walks over to one of the mortuary cabinets and pulls it out to show them the body.

"This was a weird one. The victim has two nasty bite marks on his arm that go almost down to the bone. He also has some sort of venom in his system according to the toxicology report. As for what he died from I assume it was blood loss.

His family said he wasn't found for a good four hours, give or take, and that is certainly enough time to die from two bites that deep since the fangs seemed to have hit an artery in his lower arm. It almost looked like it was deliberate but I don't know how that's possible. My best guess is that the animal that he was bitten by was a Gaboon viper or some other type of snake."

"Thank you."

The coroner sees this as a dismissal and she leaves not wanting to get in the FBI's way.

Sam walks over to the body and examines it.

"I don't know about the venom but she's right. The bites on his arm look like they went through his artery. That's why he bled out. He was probably dead before his grandmother and sister found him."

Dean nods having assessed the body himself and coming to the same conclusion. They would just have to take her on her word as far as the venom went because there was no way they could check for something like that.

When they get back in the impala Sam immediately slumps against the window. Dean, having seen this and wondering what was going on asked, "Sammy you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good, just a little tired."

Dean knew a "little tired" didn't even begin to cover it. Sam had been having bad nightmares and instead of letting Dean help he had pushed him away and stayed up while Dean was sleeping.

"Okay, well I'm gonna drop you off at the motel, and then I'm going to get dinner. Maybe you should get some sle…"

Sam didn't even let Dean finish before he said, "Okay, I'll do some research then see if I can figure out what we're fighting."

Dean sighed. He hoped Sam would just fall asleep involuntarily at this point because this was getting ridiculous.


When Dean comes back into the motel room after getting him and his brother dinner, he sees Sam slumped over the table with his computer still opened in front of him. Dean quickly grabs the laptop, turns off the light, turns the bathroom light on so he can see the laptop, and then gets on the bed closest to the door.

He decides to let Sam continue to sleep where he is - God knows the kid needs it and he doesn't want to do anything to jeopardize his sleep - while he does the research for the hunt. If he manages to find a creature that fits the M.O. he would ask Sam if he agreed tomorrow.


When Sam wakes up early the next morning he realizes that he slept at the table all night. He looks to the right of him and sees Dean sleeping on the bed with the laptop resting by him on the bed. Dean must have taken the laptop from him when he fell asleep last night. He crosses over to the bed and quietly takes the laptop away from his brother. He wants to know what information Dean got on the hunt.

It looks like Dean was looking at snakes, probably because of what the coroner said, then snakes from mythology. One of the snakes from Norse mythology was the World Serpent but that didn't fit the M.O. Then it looks like he looked at spiders from mythology and settled on Arachne before he must have fallen asleep.

Arachne was an interesting choice but Sam didn't necessarily think it was the wrong one. Arachne had been human at one time and had been turned into a spider in ancient times by the goddess Athena. She was technically a hybrid creature meaning she had enough brains to bite in places with arteries. The venom, of course, would have come from the bites. Idly, Sam wondered if the venom had any effects on the person she bit. Some spider venom from normal spiders could kill you and had other nasty side effects but what would the effects from a hybrid spider be? He decided he'd rather him and his brother not find out.

When Dean wakes up he realizes that Sam must have taken the laptop away from him to check his research. He looks at the clock on the nightstand and sees that it's 8 am. He looks around the room and realizes Sam must be out getting breakfast. Standing up, he sees a note that confirms his suspicions. After taking a shower and getting dressed he comes out of the bathroom to see Sam back with breakfast.

"Hey, did you see my research for the hunt?" Dean asks once they're sitting down and eating at a table in the motel room.

"Yeah. Arachne right?"

Dean nods.

"I don't see why it would be wrong. It fits the M.O. as far as the bites being deliberate since she's a hybrid and would be smart enough to do it."

"Okay. Do you have any idea how to kill her though, because that's one thing I couldn't figure out."

"Not really. My best guess would be to cut off her head and then burn the head and the body. I mean not many creatures can survive without their head right?"

"Probably not but you never know," Dean said.

How do you want to do this?" Sam asked

"Go at night, chop off her head, burn the body. Easy."

"Yeah, easy," Sam said, laughing a little.


After Sam made sure he knew where the underground tunnel was Dean drove the impala to a place nearby. It was out of the way but still close enough in case it was needed for an emergency. They had wanted to do the hunt at night so it had been a pretty normal day but now they were ready.

Dean got out of the impala and after lifting up the false bottom took a machete out of the car and then took out another one and handed it to Sam. Dean kept Sam behind him, as he always tried to do when going into dangerous territory, but he could tell from Sam's glare when he pushed him back before going down the stairs leading to the underground tunnel that Sam was not happy about it.

They walked along the wall of the tunnel, Sam using the flashlight so they could both see without the creature, hopefully, seeing them. That worked for about 5 minutes until they heard the sound of scuttling above them.

They both got out of the way before the spider could drop down on them since Sam assumed that was her intention, but it was a close thing. Arachne looked like a seething black mass of limbs with the body of a spider and a head that resembled a human one.

Sam kind of felt bad for her since she had been a human at one time and had only gotten turned into a spider because of a pissed Greek god but considering she was trying to kill both him and his brother at the moment he didn't feel too bad.

He heard Dean's "shit" as he saw the spider for the first time.

He looks at his brother trying to figure out the next plan of attack. Dean used his hands to make a 'go behind her gesture' before he focused back on Arachne. Sam didn't want his brother to play bait but he wasn't going to jeopardize the hunt either. If something happened he would run in to help.

As if something had heard him thinking, Arachne had gone above Dean while he had momentarily been distracted and was about to pounce on him.

"Dean!" Sam yelled.

He ran over and football tackled his brother. Dean was unharmed but Sam hadn't gotten that lucky. His leg had still been in her sight and when she jumped down she stuck her fangs in the artery of Sam's leg.

"Sammy!" Dean yelled.

Dean quickly got up from his place on the floor and cut off her head before she could remove her fangs from his brother's leg. He moved the head out of the way and then moved the body, wincing as he removed the fangs from Sam's leg and Sam cried out. The bite was deep and was located right above his knee.

"Shit."

This was bad. Sam could bleed out in the next ten minutes and he wouldn't be able to do anything.

"Sammy?" Dean asked, making sure his voice was gentle as he cradled his brother's face trying to keep him awake.

"Sammy, I'll be right back okay? Stay awake."

Sam looked like he was trying to nod but he was fading fast. Dean ran down the tunnel and up the stairs as fast as he possibly could. He had his phone with him but the first aid kit was still in the impala because neither of them could carry that without it impeding their ability to fight monsters.

Dean ran to the impala, got the first aid kit, and ran back to his brother in record time. Sam was pretty out of it when Dean got back but his eyes were still opened. He quickly moved down to his brother's leg so he could at least put a pressure bandage on it before Sam bled out. Once he got the bandage on he decided to call 911. There was no one he was getting Sam down the tunnel and up the stairs if he could barely keep him awake. After he called the operators and told them where they were he tried to keep Sam awake until the paramedics got there.

"Sammy? You got to stay awake, alright? I called 911. I'm going to get you to a real hospital and you're going to be just fine."

Dean could tell Sam wasn't really hearing him. The blood loss had very quickly taken its toll on Sam and he had a feeling the venom was doing something as well. Was it possible the venom was thinning his blood so it wouldn't clot? And could it have some kind of neurotoxin component as well? Make him see things?

He looked at his brother and almost had a heart attack. His eyes were glassy and it looked like he wasn't moving. Dean quickly checked his pulse which was fast but there and he checked his respirations. He was breathing but it was shallow. He kept his hand on Sam's chest to make sure he continued to breathe.

He started to hear sirens and quickly took Arachne's body and head and brought it to another place in the tunnel where the paramedics wouldn't see. He did it quickly not wanting to leave his brother when he needed to check his breathing but the last thing they needed was the paramedics seeing a human spider hybrid dead on the floor. He hid their weapons as well and then went back to his post beside his brother.

He would come to collect their stuff when he knew Sam was okay but for now, he just wanted to get them out of the way so they didn't get arrested. About five minutes later the paramedics found them. They had a stretcher and quickly got it ready to carry Sam out on. They had checked the bandage first and had decided that Dean had done a good job. The biggest problem was the blood loss but they couldn't get him more blood until they got him to the hospital.


Dean followed the ambulance workers, keeping his eyes on his brother and a death grip on his arm. He went into the back of the ambulance with Sam and thankfully for them, no one said anything. He probably would have had to be physically restrained if they had said something.

Sam didn't get any worse while he was in the ambulance. Dean had been checking his respirations with his hand on his chest the entire ride. The ambulance workers had put on a stronger bandage before they started driving to make sure he didn't lose any more blood. As long as they got to the hospital soon Sam wouldn't bleed out and he wouldn't die. But Dean thought they may have had another problem. His brother's eyes were opened but they were unseeing. It was extremely unnerving. It had to have something to do with the venom from the spider.

Just as the ambulance turned to get into the parking lot Sam started seizing. Dean immediately screamed for help and then was forcefully pushed out of the ambulance once it came to a complete stop. The ambulance workers quickly took Sam out on a stretcher and brought him inside.

Dean walked into the hospital and sank down into a chair. He wanted to be with his brother but they had been in hospitals enough before for him to know that that wouldn't be happening. He had a feeling the seizure was a side effect of the venom. He would have to talk to the doctor for him to know for sure and maybe they could do something for venom although he doubted it would work on Arachne's venom being a hybrid spider thing and all.


Sam didn't know where he was. He woke up in a motel room he couldn't remember having checked into with his brother. The last thing he remembered was a burning sensation in his leg and then nothing.

He looked over to the right of him and saw something that would haunt his dreams for the rest of his life. He saw Dean, dead, in the bed next to him. It looked like he had been shot in the heart and there was blood everywhere. He quickly went over to his brother but he knew it was too late.

"Dean," he breathed softly.

He wanted to break, but he was still a hunter and his analytical mind took over. If Dean had been shot in their motel room that meant that he was probably next. He almost welcomed it not sure what he would do, but he knew Dean would kill him. He had to try to make it out of this alive if not for his sake than for Dean's.

The shooter had to be trying to shoot them from the window and he must have been at a higher vantage point. He knew the only way to maybe save himself was to leave but he couldn't leave his brother's body. He would need his body for when Sam got him back.

Just as he was about to make a decision he saw the green laser lock onto his heart. He just had time to utter an "oh shit" before he was shot through the heart. He died almost immediately, his last conscious thought on his brother as he closed his eyes for the last time.


Two hours later the doctor finally called for Dean so he could get an update on his brother. Dean had been pacing the waiting room for much of the night having way too much nervous energy to sit still.

Once Dean made his way over to the doctor he asked, "Is Sam going to be okay?"

"Well, the prognosis is guarded. Your brother lost a lot of blood from his leg because the spider bit into a blood vessel. We stopped the bleeding but it took quite a long time because his blood refused to clot properly.

Once the bleeding stopped we managed to get his leg closed up and bandaged. He lost more than the two pints that adults can lose before it becomes serious so we currently have him getting more blood. We also figured out the cause of the seizures.

The spider that bit him was poisonous and he has quite a good amount of venom in his system. He is running quite a high fever as a result of the venom and he is completely unresponsive to stimuli.

We have him on antivenom medication but as we have never seen any venom that can do this we have to wait and hope for the best. If Sam wakes up he will have a full recovery and regain full function of his leg."

"He will wake up," Dean said, his voice shaking with emotion.

"I certainly hope so," the doctor said sincerely.

His patient was young, college-age and he didn't want to see someone that young die but he was also a doctor.

"Would you like to see him?"

"Yes," Dean said.

He had a need to be with his brother right now, something he felt anytime Sam was hurt and he wasn't with him.

"Okay. I'll take you to his room."

Dean followed silently behind the doctor as he brought him to Sam's room. When Dean got to Sam's room he immediately pulled up a chair by his bedside. The doctor left after checking the equipment and Dean settled in to keep watch over his brother.


Sam woke up a couple of hours later gasping as he regained consciousness. The last thing he remembered was finding Dean dead and then unbearable pain as he was killed himself.

So why was he currently laying down on a sidewalk facing the front of a building completely unharmed? And where was his brother? If he wasn't dead was there a chance Dean wasn't dead either?

He quickly got up to study the building. It was a motel building and he had a bad feeling it was the one he and Dean had been 'killed' in. He had looked away for a second while he had been thinking and when he looked back the building had burst into flames.

He quickly ran towards the building. He didn't know why but he had a bad feeling Dean was in there. He ran towards the back of the building where he knew instinctively Dean was. The motel building was only one story but it wasn't easy running through the fire and smoke.

When he got to the room he saw Dean on the floor. He ran to him trying to stay under the fire to escape the worst of it but it was of no use. Once he was by Dean he checked his pulse but as he feared his brother was dead.

Logically, Sam knew there was something more going on. This was the second time Dean had died and although he wasn't clear on the time it didn't seem like much had passed between the first time Dean died and now.

Emotionally, though he didn't know how much longer he could go on. Seeing his brother dead, not being able to save him, it was awful. As he was focused on Dean he realized he was probably about to die himself if the last time was anything to go by.

He didn't want to die, again, but he wondered how many times the loop would go on. He tried to get up, but now that he was trying to move the smoke was getting to him. He tried to get his brother's body as well but as soon as he managed to stand up the roof of the motel caved in. Sam cried out as a huge part of the roof fell on top of him. As he lost consciousness his last thought was that he hoped he could save Dean the next time he woke up, if he woke up again.


Dean sat in the chair by Sam's bed staring at his brother. He had his feet resting on Sam's bed and he was holding his hand, absent-mindedly drawing symbols in his palm. He felt Sam move a bit and at first thought that he was waking up.

"Sammy?" He asked.

Dean had been waiting for Sam to wake up for the past day and although that wasn't truly a long time it had seemed like an eternity. Dean soon realized though that he was moving because he was distressed not because he was waking.

Dean immediately pressed the call button realizing that Sam was probably having another seizure because of the venom. A nurse walked into the room and upon seeing her patient starting to convulse quite violently she ran to get the doctor at the same time as Dean yelled at her to "stop staring and get someone who could help."

A doctor came into the room soon after and Dean was pushed slightly to the side as the doctor worked to help Sam. The doctor put Sam on his side to keep his airway clear and then timed the seizure to see if it lasted longer than five minutes. As long as Sam didn't stop breathing and the seizure stopped before the five-minute mark Sam would be okay.

Dean went back up to Sam's bed and started talking to him. He didn't know if he could reach his brother but he knew he was the only one who could. After a while, his quiet reassurances seemed to have calmed Sam down.

The seizure had lasted about 2 minutes and then the convulsions had died down. The doctor checked the machines Sam was hooked up to and then gave him more medicine to help with the seizures before leaving.

Sam continuing to have the seizures could negatively affect the rest of his injuries. Thankfully, the leg wound hadn't gotten any worse with the last seizure. After Dean knew for sure that Sam was safe he went back to his original position to continue his vigil and hoped that Sam would wake up soon.


This time when Sam woke up he was tied to a chair. He looked across from him and realized that Dean was staring at him. Sam wondered what was going on as he took in his surroundings. He and his brother had now died two times and he assumed this time would be the third.

Was the person looking at him really Dean? He knew all of Dean's mannerisms and expressions and not one seemed off as far as he could tell in the situation that they were in. The situation didn't seem right for the Dean staring at him with concern to be a shapeshifter so he quickly ruled that out. It didn't make any sense for him to be possessed either.

Maybe he was in some sort of dream? He tried to remember what had happened but the last thing he remembered was dying the first time. Before that … not much. He wasn't sure why he couldn't remember but he had a feeling this wasn't the real world.

He thought maybe he had been injured and this was the result of it but he didn't know for sure. Every time he tried to remember he got an intense headache - not unlike the ones he would get before and after visions - almost like something was blocking him from remembering fully.

He looked back at his brother and was startled as he realized there was now a gun pointed at Dean's head.

"Please don't kill him," Sam pleaded.

He didn't know what the person with the gun was saying - his ears were ringing like mad, although he didn't know why - but he did know that if this was going to end just like the last two scenarios had, he at least had to try to change the outcome or he would never forgive himself.

"Please I can't hear what you're saying," Sam tried to explain with puppy dog eyes full force.

The guy hit him in the side of the head with the gun causing Sam to see stars and barely hold on to consciousness. Dean screamed Sam's name and the gun quickly whipped towards him and a shot went off.

Sam closed his eyes not wanting to see his brother be killed for the third time. Before he could open them the man rested the gun on Sam's head and pulled the trigger. Sam died instantly, barely feeling any pain as he sank into the darkness.


The seizure had scared Dean. The first time he had barely seen it before Sam was whisked away. The second time he had been there the whole time. He would of course have it no other way - he would always be there for his brother, of course - but it still scared him more than he would ever admit out loud to see his brother's body seizing uncontrollably like it had not even 24 hours ago.

He had been somewhat prepared when it happened again. He had been on the phone with Bobby a lot since Sam had been in the hospital. Bobby had said he would take care of the medical bills plus would research what was happening to Sam.

He had soon found out that venom from Arachne caused someone to live out their greatest fear several times in different ways until the venom was completely out of the person's system. It could cause a violent reaction, such as seizures, but it wouldn't kill the person.

So, yes, Dean was more prepared but it still scared him when he realized Sam was having another one. Instead of pressing the call button immediately, he went a different route. He held Sam down lightly after putting him on his side.

"Sammy, I'm here. Whatever you're seeing, it's not real okay?"

He repeated that a couple of times and eventually Sam stopped seizing and the heart monitor went back to a normal rhythm. He didn't know if he had penetrated Sam's dream or if it was more of an instinctual thing but he was glad he had a way to help his brother without the assistance of a doctor.

When the doctor did finally check up on them he would see Dean sitting on the bed with his head against the headboard. Sam would still be sleeping but Dean would have his arm protectively around Sam while he was watching the TV. Dean glared at the doctor when he realized someone was watching them and the doctor quickly retreated. If looks could kill…


Four hours after his last seizure and three days since Sam was admitted to the hospital he finally woke up. He looked around wildly not knowing at first if this was still part of his dream.

Dean shifted to sit on the side of the bed and turned so he could look at Sam.

"Sammy? You okay?"

Dean asked upon realizing that Sam looked a little scared. Sam looked around the hospital room and slowly started to realize that this had to be real. Dean was actually looking at him and talking to him and why would one of his dreams of Dean dying be in a hospital where he was the one in the bed anyway?

He moved forward and hugged his brother. He had watched Dean die three times and it had really freaked him out. Dean hugged Sam back quite aware that something had happened but also happy that Sam was awake and no longer suffering from seizures.

They stayed in the embrace for a moment and then Dean said, "Hey, you want to watch some TV? You won't be getting out of here for a little while yet."

Sam nodded his head and then leaned back against the bed. Dean got the remote and then moved back to the chair by Sam's bed and put his feet on top of the bed again.


A couple days later Sam was finally allowed to leave the hospital. He had finally managed to convince Dean to go get some rest in a bed and have some good food last night so he was waiting for Dean to come back so they could leave.

He had felt guilty when he had realized that Dean had barely gotten any sleep for the last five days and had had to eat the gross hospital food since he wouldn't leave Sam's side. He had finally managed to convince Dean after a long argument.

Dean had been in complete mother hen mode and although he loved his brother for it, he had started to feel smothered.

It had been an interesting task trying to get dressed with his leg still bothering him and not letting him walk 100% the correct way but he had eventually managed it.

His leg would take another two weeks before it was healed fully but the mobility of it was increasing everyday so he figured once he managed to find another hunt he would be good to go.

Dean came back to pick Sam up about a half an hour later and they walked back out to the impala together in silence.

Sam was ecstatic to leave the hospital. He had hated them ever since he was a kid, because in his mind, hospitals had a connection with death, and every time Dean and his dad had left him for a hunt he had been scared they wouldn't come back.

"Earth to Sammy."

Dean snapped his fingers in his brother's face to get his attention. He could practically see the gears in Sam's head turning.

"You ready to go? You've been staring into space and not moving for the last two minutes."

Sam glared at him and then got into the impala. Dean copied his brother and then started the car. He was more than happy to leave this town behind, which was more than evident when he blasted "Highway to Hell" from the speakers as he drove onto the main road.

He looked over at his brother and smiled a bit to himself. As long as Sam was good Dean was happy.