Sam sat back, pressing his palms flat to both eyes. "I don't know what we're missing here, but it's important." He sighed.

Dean studied him. The kid looked tired.

Too tired.

"You okay, Sammy?"

Sam nodded, "Just … my eyes are tired."

Dean reached over and closed the laptop. "I guess so. What's it been? Four, five hours straight? You know it's okay to take a break."

Sam nodded. "I know. It's just …"

Dean stood up, stretching, "Just … you wanna crack this case so you can get started on the real research?"

Jory frowned, "Real research?"

Sam shot his brother a warning look, but Dean, uncharacteristically, wasn't attuned to his brother's channel. He nodded. "Yeah, Sam's color blind. He's gonna do a little research on how to make these glasses he found out at the mall."

Jory stared, "Color blind? Really? That's … gotta suck."

"Well, it did. But now we know it's fixable, so there's that." Sam answered quietly. There was just something about Jory …

Dean, however, was harboring more and more respect for the guy. Just listening to the stories he told - kid had seen some real action - and had taken down some nasty big bads.

All by himself.

"Take a break, Sammy. Lie down and rest for a while." Dean urged. He turned to Jory, "Hey, you wanna head over to the library with me? Check out the local papers? See if anything like this has happened here before?"

Jory perked up immediately, sitting up on the bed and reaching for his shoes. "Sure, man. Sounds like a solid idea."

Sam watched, a sick feeling forming in the pit of his stomach. "I'll get my jacket." He said, rising.

Dean shook his head. "No, you won't. You'll get your pillow is what you'll get."

"Dean …" Sam started.

"Uh unh. No way you're traipsing all over town after a marathon research session, Sam. Your foot needs time to heal, and I can tell you got a headache."

"Yeah," Jory cut in. "I was wondering about that foot. Get hurt on a hunt, Sam?" He asked, tying bright green shoelaces.

"I'm fine." Sam said between clenched teeth. "Dean." He shot his brother a pleading look. "I'm FINE."

"Don't wanna hear it, geek boy. You're stayin'. We're goin'. That's final." He placed a hand on the door and turned to Jory. "You ready?"

Jory nodded and joined Dean at the door. Once the older boy was through, he turned to look back at Sam, speaking quietly. "Done a lot of hunts, Sam. Never managed to get myself quite that mangled up." He winked, "Shit like that? Gets people killed." He rapped his knuckles twice on the door and grinned before stepping out and closing it behind him.

And from his corner of the room, Sam sank down on the edge of his bed, letting his jacket fall from lifeless fingers, and feeling a cold loneliness settle like fog over his heart.

###

"Where's your brother?" John asked, stripping off his weapons and placing them on the table as he eyed the exhausted kid in front of him.

"Library."

John nodded. "Alone? You passed up a chance to hit the library? That's not like you."

Sam shrugged.

John studied him, "What's goin' on, Sam?"

Sam shook his head.

"Spill it, son."

"Nothing's going on. Dean went to the library and took Jory with him. I stayed here." Sam continued to stare at the screen in front of him.

John blinked. Dean leaving Sam behind? "That his idea or yours?"

"His."

John nodded, noting the deflated tone in the kid's voice. "Well … he was probably just worried about you."

Sam snorted. "Yeah. Probably."

"Sam …" John started.

But Sam interrupted him. "I'm tired." He said, rising from the table and closing the laptop. "I'm gonna lay down for a bit."

John watched as his youngest lowered himself gingerly to the bed and curled up in a ball on his side facing the wall. He sank down on the edge of the other bed and sighed. Timing was a bitch.

"Sam."

"What?"

"I … uh … I think I have a lead, but I have to leave for a few days." John tossed out, guilt washing over him like an ocean tide.

Sam frowned, leaning up on both elbows. "Everything okay?" He asked, concerned.

John smiled. "Yeah, son. Everything is fine. I just have something I need to check out. I want you and Dean to hang around here and keep chipping away. We'll find that missing piece."

Sam nodded. "I could go with you. Dean … Dean has Jory."

John made a mental note to kick Dean's ass. "Dean has you, Sam. And you have him. I know I've taught you both better than to rely on strangers, even other hunters."

Sam stared, "Better tell Dean that. I think he forgot." he mumbled, feeling a mixture of guilt at ratting his brother out and satisfaction at sharing his misery.

"First think I'll do when I get back."

Sam nodded.

"I'll call your brother when I get where I'm going. In the meantime, you get some rest, okay? Need me to take a look at that foot before I go?"

Sam had a brief moment of indecision, but ultimately opted not to mention the slow fire that was building in the heel of his injured foot. Dean would be back soon, and Sam just felt more comfortable letting himself be vulnerable in front of his brother than he did his father. "No, it's fine."

John nodded. "Okay then." He stepped forward and reached down to clasp Sam on the shoulder. "You be careful, you hear? Remember what I taught you? I'll be back in three days, no more."

Sam nodded. "Sure, Dad."

John smiled, "Look after your brother."

"I will."

"Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Jory is … a novelty. The new will wear off soon. You get what I'm saying?"

Sam paused, silent. He wasn't so sure. He nodded anyway. "Yeah. I get it."

"Okay then." John picked up his bag and strode to the door, winking. "Be good, son."

###

Dean couldn't remember the last time he'd laughed so hard as Jory sat across from him in the Impala and regaled him with tales taller than any Bobby had ever concocted.

"So she was naked?" Dean chuckled, eyebrows raised. "That's your story?"

Jory raised his hand to the sky. "If I'm lyin', I'm dyin', Dean. Naked as the day is long, fingernails like claws, dripping blood in puddles 'round her feet, and she still kept comin'. And I swear, she was SMILING, Dean. SMILING!"

Dean slapped his knee and guffawed. "Damn Jory. Maybe you shoulda took her up on it. Witch or no witch?"

Jory snorted, leaning back. "Nah. You know, I thought it was pretty obvious which way my door swings, but for a witch, she sure didn't have the second sight, you know?"

Dean chuckled. "No, apparently not."

"Now, a warlock …" Jory began, and Dean lost it completely.

"Ah," He sniffed, swiping at his eyes. "You gotta tell Sammy some of these. Kid could use something to laugh about these days."

Jory smiled, nodding. "Yeah, I'll have to do that." he said, falling silent. Then, "So … color blind, hunh?"

Dean nodded, "Since birth. Sucks too. If there's anybody who's able to see the good in the world, even in its darkest places, it's Sammy. It's not fair the world can't give back a little."

Jory nodded, "And these glasses you mentioned?"

"Introspecs, I think they were called. Purple and ugly as shit, but the fuckers worked."

"So why didn't you get 'em for him? Doesn't seem like you deny him much of anything."

Dean looked crosswise at Jory. "Sam's not spoiled." He clarified. "He just never asks for anything. The kid just takes whatever shit me and Dad and the world throw at him, turns it into something good and gives it back, new and improved." Dean thought about that. "He's like a freakin' recycling plant, my brother."

"So?"

"So what?"

"So, why not buy him the glasses?"

Dean shot him a sideways glance. "You got an extra $4,000 lyin' around?"

"Ah." Jory answered, nodding. "Gotcha."

"Yeah, but we'll figure it out though. Sammy, he's the sharpest tack in the box. He says he's gonna make a pair, he'll make a pair."

Jory was silent, thinking. "You're proud of him, hunh?"

"Hell yeah, I'm proud of him. Sam's the best person I know. Best person I've ever known."

Jory nodded, pulling out a flask and taking a long pull. He handed it to Dean. "Had a brother once."

Dean drank, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Yeah? Older or younger?"

"Older."

Dean nodded, waiting.

"He … uh … It was a … uh … an okami."

Dean swallowed hard. Okami were nasty things. "Oh."

"Yeah."

"Sorry."

Jory shrugged. "Lowell was sorta like you, I guess. I wasn't much like Sam though."

Dean struggled for something to say that didn't sound canned. "So … when?"

"Two years ago. Had a hunt down in Texas. I made it back. He didn't."

Dean cleared his throat. "That's rough, man. Sorry." Then, "I can't even imagine …" Dean felt a little sick, picturing himself in the same situation, picturing Sam being forced to face off against an okami, picturing the thing's pointed, yellow fangs coming toward his innocent kid brother …

Dean shuddered.

Jory shrugged. "Shit happens, yeah?" He took another swig from the flask.

Dean nodded. "Yeah." he agreed, swallowing hard.

"Say, you wanna ... uh ... stop off somewhere? Night's still young?" Jory suddenly asked.

And Dean didn't. All he really wanted to do was get home to Sam, but he glanced sideways at the kid on the seat beside him and felt guilty. Kid obviously needed someone to talk to. He wavered.

"Nah, it's okay. I get it. You need to get back to the kid. I'd feel the same way if it was Lowell waitin' for me." Jory took a long pull on the flask and turned his head away to stare at the passing scenery.

And Dean made a decision. "Yeah. Hell, yeah. We can stop off somewhere. Dad's with Sam. They'll be fine." He pulled the Impala over to the side of the road and sat drumming his fingers on the wheel. "Did I see a bar back there about five miles back?" He asked, trying to remember if the bright neon sign had heralded a bar or a diner.

Jory grinned, "Yeah. That place with the shit-green neon?"

Dean snorted. "You know we gotta check THAT place out."

Jory nodded happily as Dean made the three-point turn right there in the middle of the deserted highway. He liked Dean. Liked him a lot, he thought. And in the back of his mind, a small idea was born that would eventually mature into a nightmare.

Well, at least if your name was Sam Winchester.

Jory leaned over and cranked up the radio, shooting Dean a smile.

Yeah, he liked Dean.