Faith tag

The Winchesters had been on the road for maybe twenty minutes when Sam shocked Dean - his breath hitched and he let out a gasping sob, his whole body shuddering. "Sammy, you okay? What's wrong? Are you hurt?" a frantic Dean pressed as he pulled over, trying to check his little brother for previously unseen injuries.

Sam rubbed his arms, his body continuing to shake. "I'm okay," he finally answered, letting out more sobs. Fuck, he needed to stop this - Dean was fine. He had managed to save him. But that was the whole crux of the situation - he had nearly lost his brother to something as mundane as a heart attack (caused by a hunt, but still).

"Don't lie to me," Dean chided, sighing in relief when he found no sign of injury. But Sam was still crying, which scared the shit out of him. "You want to tell me what this is about?" He had a pretty good idea but needed his little brother to say it.

An incredulous Sam managed to shoot him a glare despite the fact that he still hadn't been able to pull himself together. "You nearly died - I almost lost you," he sobbed.

"But you saved me. Yeah, there was a price but you fucking pulled through and found a way for me to survive, Sammy." Dean's heart clenched at the sight of his crying brother, wishing he could find a way to comfort him.

"I searched high and low for three days for a solution. I wasn't about to give up." His breath hitched again and Sam wrapped his arms around himself in an effort to calm down - it didn't help much at all.

"And you didn't. You're a stubborn fuck," Dean teased. He frowned when Sam didn't laugh. Guess he'd just have to try harder.

"And I left Dad a few messages but he hasn't called me back yet." Sam hoped he would but didn't have much faith in the man. If he was worried about them, he would have called sooner to check on Dean, make sure a solution had been found. He had called him again after Dean had been given a clean bill of health, of course, but it would have been nice to hear back from him.

Dean's face registered a brief look of surprise before his walls went back up. "I'm sure Dad will return your messages soon - maybe he's on a hunt."

They both knew he was grasping at straws but Sam was too raw to call him on it, something Dean was thankful for. "Maybe." Sam gasped, still desperately trying to stop crying. At least his tears were finally starting to slow down. "Fuck," he muttered underneath his breath.

"Kid, you might as well let it all out. It's been a long, miserable few days for you too." He cursed himself for not thinking about how his little brother was coping with his imminent death.

"Your devil may care attitude slash acceptance wasn't exactly helping me either," Sam pointed out.

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry - I was scared shitless and trying to make it better for both of us." Dean hated appearing vulnerable but he figured Sam needed to hear the truth from him right now.

"Can we get out of the car for a minute?" Sam rasped. His head was already starting to pound and knew the crying hangover was likely going to be pretty bad.

Dean eyed him warily but got out of the car anyway. He gasped when Sam rushed over to him and pulled him in for a hug. Dean patted his back for a few seconds before giving in and hugging him right back. "No more chick flick moments after this. You got a free pass this time."

Sam chuckled, even as the tears continued to stream down his face and drip onto his brother. "Whatever you say, dude."

"Let's get the fuck out of dodge and find ourselves another hunt. What do you say?" Dean asked, wiping the tears off Sam's cheek then pretending like he hadn't just done so.

Sam nodded, his voice too wrecked to see any more. "Sure," he rasped as he made his way back over to the passenger side.

Dean winced at how shredded his brother's voice sounded. He reached into the back and found the cooler, sighing in relief when he quickly found a water bottle. He even opened it and then handed the bottle over to his younger brother.

Still shaken up by the near loss of his older brother, Sam could only thank him. They both pretended like the tears still weren't pouring down his face (Dean figured he deserved a good cry after the hell he had been through recently) and started heading out, wondering what their next hunt would be. Sam would be fine again in due time, and Dean would try everything in his arsenal to cheer him up once they got to their latest weird ass motel.