Dean rolls over and glances at the clock.10:00am. Sam would have usually been in to check on him by now. Of course, Dean can function alone again, he was only slightly dizzy at times, but his fever is gone, and the pounding in his head has decreased to a mild ache. This wouldn't have stopped Sam though.

He pushes himself up and stretches. He's sore and stiff from laying in bed for four days, not to mention weak from his fever. It feels good to move around, and a shower is definitely in order. Deciding to take advantage of Sam's absence though, he makes his way to the kitchen to finally have the cup of coffee he's been denied of. He is surprised when he walks in though to see Sam in the kitchen. What seems weirder is the fact that Sam seems nonchalant about the fact that Dean is out of bed.

Hey, Sam says when he sees Dean.

"Hey," he says, "where have you been?"

Went to kill the shifter. Dean narrows his eyes as he reads Sam's lips. Sam almost always signs if he can. Speaking a whole sentence like that seems wrong. He is really more surprised that Sam had gone after the shifter alone without even telling him.

"Great," he responds, trying not to make anything of it yet. "How'd it go?"

Sam dries his hands on the dish towel. Pretty good–

Dean can't read anymore from Sam's lips though because Sam had turned away from him mid-sentence, and that's when Dean knows that this is not his brother. Pretty stupid shifter if it had forgotten that Dean was deaf.

He doesn't have a weapon on him, but they are in the kitchen. A knife wouldn't be hard to get; he begins inching toward the counter. His hand is outstretched toward the knife block, reaching for the one silver knife they keep there for emergencies, when the shifter turns. For a split second, the face that catches him is fully his brother's and Dean pauses, but Sam's face contorts into an expression that Sam never makes. His brother's eyes, nose, and mouth, but a face completely foreign to Dean.

In one quick move, Dean has the silver knife gripped in his hand and is advancing toward the shifter. Without a second thought, he slashes the knife. The shifter lifts an arm in defense, and instead of the knife sinking into his chest, Dean slices the knife down its arm. The shifter rears its head back, its mouth open in a scream Dean cannot hear, and before he can process what has happened, it whips its arm at Dean, knocking the knife from his hand and splattering him with blood.

With his weapon gone, Dean is now defenseless, and just barely dodges the shifter's punch aimed at his face. He grasps the edge of the counter as the sudden movement makes his head spin, still not completely steady on his feet after the concussion. The shifter advances on him and he quickly backs away, putting one of the kitchen chairs in between them.

The shifter raises its hands to sign. 'Won't fight your little brother?' Dean glares and hurls the chair at it. The shifter barely misses getting hit, but Dean is quicker this time and comes forward, thrusting his fist at the face he knows only too well.

They go back and forth for a while. Dean wonders if the shifter, having Sam's memories at his disposal, is able to predict his moves. He tries not to let it distract him though, and fights just as hard back. Finally remember what always gets Sam in the end, he uses his brother's height against him, and is able to pin the shifter down. He reaches out and grabs the fallen silver knife. It is then that he makes his mistake and looks into the shifter's face. Sam's face.

He is mouthing Dean or please. Dean isn't sure, he's too panicked to decipher it any clearer. It doesn't matter though, all he sees is his brother pleading for him to stop.

It's down, weapon gone, its last chance shot. All Dean has to do is make the final stab with the silver knife. Only one more second, and the hunt will be over. But he can't do it.

"Damnit."

Being this close, staring at those too familiar eyes, seeing his own name on his brother's mouth over and over... he just can't do it. He knows it isn't actually Sam, he knows the real Sam is out there somewhere counting on him...

Making up his mind, he drops the knife in favor of his fist. He makes sure the shifter is really unconscious before handcuffing him to the leg of the table, and quickly backs out of the room.

"Sam!"

It's a reflex. A memory of what he would have done. Of course he knows he isn't going to be able to hear a response, but that doesn't matter. Yelling for Sam gives him something to do. It convinces him that he is one step closer to finding his brother. He leaves the shifter alone in the kitchen and begins scouring the halls, one hand dragging along the wall at all times.

"Sam, come one, give me something," he mutters.

After checking the entire Bunker twice, making sure to look in the secret dungeon as well, Dean knows there is very little chance that Sam is there. The shifter must have taken him from the Bunker. Dean hurries to the garage, trying not to let the fact that Sam can be anywhere make him any more anxious than he already is.

Dean is surprisingly calm as he pulls the handle on the door the Impala and slides into the driver's seat. He doesn't want to leave the shifter alone in the Bunker, but he has no other choice. Sam has to be somewhere between the Bunker and the lot. Dean just has to find him.

He puts the keys in the ignition and is about the start the car, when it shakes.

Normally, he wouldn't have noticed it, but since he's lost his hearing, his other senses have increased and he definitely feels the car shake beneath him slightly. He looks in the backseat, but all that is there is the cooler and blanket they keep for emergencies. Glancing out the windows, he sees no one on the outside, but he can definitely still feel it.

He gets out of the car and pulls his knife from his boot. He stands still, as if listening. It is times like these that he really feels the disadvantages of not being able to hear. Now that he isn't as focused on leaving, he can see the car rocking, and that it is coming from the trunk. He treads carefully closer the the car and fits the key into the trunk's lock. The vibration stops immediately. Holding his knife ready, he opens the lid and steps back.

It is Sam. The real Sam. It has to be, because Dean had handcuffed shifter Sam in the Bunker. Sam–the real Sam– is crammed into the trunk, his hands tied in front of him. There is barely any room for anything else, and Dean is surprised his brother fits at all.

Suddenly he is leaning over his brother, fingers fumbling with the zip-ties. There is blood on Sam's wrists from where the plastic had bit into his skin, and Dean's fingers slip. Sam jerks back away from Dean, and Dean stops in confusion. He looks at his brother's face and sees that Sam's expression is not one of relief as he'd expected, but one of fright.

With a jolt, Dean realizes that the shifter must have disguised itself as Dean to be convincing when he kidnapped Sam. He also remembers that he is splattered with an unsettling amount of the shifter's blood.

"It's just me, Sammy," he says. Sam's eyes flash from Dean's pocket where he'd stashed the knife, and then back to Dean's face. Dean can tell Sam doesn't believe him. "Okay," Dean says, taking the knife from his pocket. He holds his arm out and grazes the knife's edge against his skin. When the silver against his skin causes no reaction, he looks back at Sam and sees him nodding. Dean quickly breaks the zip-tie binding Sam's hands with the knife, and helps his brother out of the trunk. Sam rubs his wrists for a second before signing.

'Where's the shifter?' he asks.

"Kitchen," Dean says, "I couldn't–" he pauses, unable to find the words to explain how he couldn't kill his brother. "It's not dead."

Sam nods, seeming to understand immediately, but turns back toward the trunk of the Impala. Opening the false bottom, he retrieves his own silver knife and nods his head back toward the Bunker.

'We'll do it together,' he signs. Dean smiles.

And with that, they head back inside to finish the hunt they'd started.

END