They had no idea what to do. They didn't even have the slightest idea of where to even start to look for Sam. His parents and Bobby were all yelling at each other but he had slowly tuned them all out, trying to focus on what he should do.

At some point he just got up and grabbed his jacket and car keys, ignoring everyone else, and just left. Got into his car and onto the road back into town. He still wasn't familiar enough with the town to really be looking anywhere specific, but it was better than being back at the house listening to everyone argue.

He drove slowly through the town, trying to see a hint of his brother anywhere around. He didn't keep his hopes up but at the same time...he wasn't ready to let it go and just give up.

He stopped his car suddenly when he saw Sam's car parked right next to the park from yesterday. He immediately parked and got out, looking around wildly before he picked his brother out.

Sam was sitting on a bench, by himself thank fuck, hunched over on himself and staring at the ground. Swallowing hard Dean half jogged to him, stopping in front of his brother just staring down at him.

Sam didn't move, didn't even acknowledge that he was there. From his angle he could see that Sam's eyes were closed as well.

"You here to drag me back?" Sam finally asked, his voice low and rough.

"No." Dean said, finally just kneeling in front of his brother and looking up at him. It took Sam a moment but then slowly he brought his head up enough to open his eyes and look him in the eyes.

Sam's eyes were heavily red rimmed and had dark circles under them. Sam himself looked strung out and Dean could see that his entire body was shaking.

"What are you doing here Sam?" he asked in a quiet voice.

Sam just stared at him before answering. "Had to get away." he mumbled, closing his eyes and bowing his head again. "Didn't want to stay there anymore."

Dean nodded, moving enough to sit next to Sam on the bench, sitting as close as he could to him. "Did you talk to Ruby?"

Sam didn't answer and Dean wasn't sure how to take that.

"She was texting me and calling me." Sam finally said. "Telling me that she can get here in another day or two. That she can't wait to see me again. That she-" he stopped to take a deep breath. "That she wishes that it was like the way it was before. Just me and her together dealing with all this crap."

"You guys were together a lot?" Dean asked, keeping his voice steady and ignoring his phone vibrating in his pocket.

Sam nodded. "She's on the run from demons so we stayed together for protection. She was a witch in her human life so she knew all sorts of spellwork to keep us safe and well...it made it a lot easier for me to drink her blood if she was always there."

Dean nodded once more, putting the tidbit of, 'in her human life,' away to be asked later. "So what changed? Why'd you guys separate?"

"She got spooked after an encounter with angels." Sam told him. "She's a lower ranking demon and any angel could easily kill her. The more we ran into them, the more on edge she got until she decided to try her luck and run."

"And the other day when she called, she was talking about how much she missed it, missed us always being together." Sam continued, his head still bowed. "So she said we should get back together like that. Just me and her on the road."

"I told her no."

Dean couldn't deny the feeling of relief that shot through him at that. "So what'd she say to that?"

"She got upset, pissed off. Said a few things about us, about everything." Sam said. "Said that she can't keep risking coming back to Sioux Falls just to give me blood. So…"

Sam's hands went into his hair, entangling in the strands and gripping them tightly. "So I told her not to come at all then."

"She got even more mad. Talked about my powers, talked about everything, wanted to know what I was going to do to keep them going and everything else." he continued. "So I told her-" his voice broke off at that, shaking his head.

"Dean, I'm a mess. I can barely move a pencil like this let alone my knife." Sam pulled his hands out of his hair and in front of them, watching them shake. "I can't handle this."

"Yeah you can." Dean said, turning so that he could try his best to look Sam in the eyes. "Sam...you've decided on this. You've decided to not go to her. You decided not to call her here, demanding that she came back. You're...you've decided to kick off the whole demon blood."

He could hear Sam swallow hard. "I can't do this." he whispered.

"Yes you can." Dean told him firmly. He reached out and placed his hand on Sam's shoulder, feeling just how much his brother was shaking now. "Sam you've already gone this far, you're already in this much withdrawal, you should go through the rest because after that...you're pretty much in the clear."

Sam shook his head. "This is just the start, it's just the beginning." he muttered. "It's going to get a lot worse very fast."

"Then we'll deal." Dean said simply. "I'll be right there with you to help you and so will our parents."

"And Bobby will be there to throw me into the dungeon." Sam said with a snort.

"I think that if Bobby suggests that again then dad is going to punch him and not stop till the man stops talking nonsense." Dean told him. "Cause I'm sure that dads close to that point if he hadn't reached it while we're here."

It worked and Sam gave a small barely there smile, but it was there and it made Dean's heart just a bit lighter. He reached out and moved his hand so that he could wrap his arm around Sam's shoulders, bringing him closer to him.

"You know what I think?" Dean asked him rhetorically. "I don't think we should go back. I don't think it's a good idea to go through withdrawal there. I think we should go somewhere else, somewhere we won't be disrupted, and just...wait the withdrawal out. Let it pass and then go from there."

"I don't know how long it'll take." Sam mumbled, hand coming up to rub at his face.

"Well however long it'll take, that's how long we'll get through it." Dean told him. "If it takes a week, a month, or even a year. We'll get through it together Sammy, I'm not gonna leave your side."

He felt Sam shake at that once more, head bowing forward. Dean moved and half tucked Sam against his head and shoulder. He felt Sam's hand come up and clumsily grip at his jacket.

"You're going to get through this. We're going to get through this." Dean told him. "You can do this Sammy, I believe in you."

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