"What's in the shed, Dean?"
The blonde tenses up at the question. His shoulders go rigid and for a moment he stops breathing altogether. He feels his younger brother's eyes piercing into him doubtfully. There was not any way that Sam could have known. He had been so incredibly careful all week, trying to keep his brother from seeing the angel that had saved him from committing suicide.
Dean clenches his teeth behind his lips, taking a deep breath through his nose and trying to feign innocence. "I have no clue what you're talking about Sam," he says carefully, staring his brother hard in the eyes.
This causes the taller man to scoff. He looks away and runs a hand through his hair. "You're unbelievable, you know that?" When Sam finally looks back to Dean, it is with a look of disappointment.
"I'm unbelievable?" Dean fusses, "You're the one who's about to go off on a hunt!"
His attempt to change the subject is cut off by Sam promptly turning and walking away from him with a look on his face mixed partly of determination and partly of anger.
"Where the hell do you think you're going?" The blonde yells after the other man, only a bit too late to realize that his brother is heading in the direction of the shed. With this discovery, he darts after Sam quickly, eyes narrowed angrily. "Seriously? There's nothing there!"
This does not deter Sam from continuing forward, not stopping until he is in front of the old wooden doors and feels his brother's hand clamp down on his shoulder.
"Seriously, Sam knock it off!" Dean spins his brother around quickly, only to have Sam knock his hand away.
"You went through my things!" Sam finally yells back, "You don't trust me so why should I trust you?!"
With that, Sam is turning again and pulling the doors to the shed open quickly regardless of his brother trying to stop him by grabbing onto his arm and squeezing tightly. Despite the slight pain, he still manages to open the door.
Once the barn door is open, Sam's hazel eyes are darting around the area before him. They trail quickly over the dusty floor and spare car parts before narrowing at an abandoned mattress in the corner of the shed, walking in slowly.
Dean holds his breath as Sam walks in. He watches his brother for a reaction before directing his gaze throughout the old room. "It's empty?" he asks breathily, not meaning to sound as surprised as he does.
Where had Castiel gone? When did he leave?
Dean shakes the concerning thoughts from his head, quickly trying to recover from his previous astonishment. "It's empty," he repeats again, this time in a tone that seems as though the thought was obvious, "See? Nothing's here."
He looks at the abandoned mattress, noticing a bit more light streaming downward than had been before. This causes him to look upward to a hole in the roof, much larger than any of the other holes that had been worn in by time.
"Come on, Sam," he pushes with a frown, "You have some explaining to do, man."
At this comment, Sam turns around quickly. "Are you serious?" he says with a raised voice, "I don't need to explain myself to you!"
"The hell you don't. I'm your brother and you're going hunting again? What the hell is up with tha-"
"I need to. You don't understand. If you'd just trust me just this once-!"
"I can't lose you too!" Dean is shocked by the sheer volume of his own voice. It made the shouting match that the two had been engaged in before seem like a normal conversation. Suddenly everything is quiet again.
Sam's frustrated expression immediately falls into one of shame. He lowers his head, staring at the ground for a moment. It wasn't his intention to put Dean through this. He wanted their visit to be a good one, and was disappointed that it had to end so badly.
"I didn't want you to worry," Sam finally says softly, not looking up at his brother yet. "I knew you would if you found out. I'm sorry, Dean," he pauses slightly as he finally looks back to his brother, "I need to do this."
Dean cannot believe what is happening. He feels betrayed to know that his brother would hide this from him, even if it was to protect him. In his stomach sits the familiar feeling of dread, knowing that Sam could be putting himself into danger.
"Then I'll come with you," he says this without thinking. It was not as if he particularly wanted to go hunting again, but he knew that if there was no way to stop Sam, then he could keep him safe.
"No," The taller of the two shakes his head.
"Why not-"
"I have to do this alone," Sam interjects quickly. "I can't really explain it. I just need to do this on my own." A sad smile slides across his face. Before his brother can speak, the brunette is continuing, "I promise I'm not in danger. And I'll come see you as much as I can. Please can I just," he pauses and looks down sadly again, "Can I just have my keys?"
Dean was too in shock to argue. His brain was finally processing the fact that Sam was hunting again. He stared at his brother in astonishment before slowly, as if in a trance, he hands Sam his keys back. "What are you hunting?" he asks hesitantly, voice hollow and distant. His mind was wandering, finding it hard to comprehend the fact that Sam's life would be in danger once again.
Sam takes the keys from his brother's hand, frowning as he walks past him toward the door. "I'll let you know as soon as I do."
Dean watches his brother stop at the doorway and turn to face the blond once again.
"I'll call you when I stop for tonight," Sam says quietly, before turning and hurrying away.
The older brother does not move from where he stands in the shed. He stays in place until he finally hears the sound of Sam's car driving away.
Please leave a review. What happens with Sam wont be revealed until I start the sequel and I'm sorry for that but I thought it'd be great to tie the two stories in together.