He knew Bobby was right, but it was so incredulous to know Dean was gone. The thought brought hushed tears to Sam's eyes once again. He squeezed Dean with his entire forte. "Dean…I…God…please make him alright.. I… can't…" Sam's voice was stolen by a sob. He closed his eyes, allowing the pain to shoot through his body. Suddenly, a gush of warmth fell upon his neck. Sam startled.

"Sam?"

Sam's expression was electric as second burst of warmth fell upon his neck.

"Bobby, He's alive. I just felt him breathe."

"Sam. I checked his pulse 20 minutes ago. I want him to be alright too, but…we just can't."

Sam had rolled Dean back to look upon his face. Shaking Dean lightly, he whispered "Dean, wake up. Come on." Dean didn't move. He lingered his hand near Dean's mouth. Warmth covered Sam's awaiting hand. "Bobby, he's… ha… he's okay."

"Sam!" Bobby said sternly and bent down grabbing Dean's wrist. "Feel this, he's got no pul……………Jesus, I got a heart beat…I don't understand…he.. he was...I "

"I don't care Bobby. He's alive."

"We're both going crazy… you and I both…know..it," Bobby watched a deep breath rise and fall in Dean's chest. "HOLY SHIT"

Sam continued shaking Dean lightly, but Dean showed no signs of waking.

-x-x-x-xx-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Bobby set foot into the motel door. He measured his steps, stealthily scrutinizing the room for signs of intruders.

"All clear, Sam."

Sam cradled Dean's cataleptic form to the motel's lumpy bed. Sam soothingly placed Dean on the bed. Bobby mused at the lengths Sam was attempting to coddle Dean. Sam removed his brother's jacket and boots, then stripped his own blanket from the other bed to enwrap Dean in it. Some part of Sam still clung to disbelief and worry and he stood watching Dean breathe for several minutes.

"He's still kickin' Sam… best I can figure is that his pulse was so weak, that we…"

"He is pretty stubborn," Sam forced out with a fake smile.

Bobby pulled back Dean's carefully placed blanket. He searched Dean's upper body and arms for clues to what might have attacked him. The story was the same as the other hunters who had been attacked.

"No defensive wounds, Sam. And it ain't like Dean to not put up a fight. What I can't figure is why it, whatever it is, attacked Dean. It was supposed to be after me. We need to take another look at what we've got. That website is the only clue we have to what's goin' on."

Sam stood over his brother as if he budged Dean would leave him again. Normally, Bobby would have pushed Sam to move forward with the hunt, as John taught Sam years before. Somehow, Bobby felt more inclined than usual to give Sam leeway. Since John's death, he felt responsible to look after the boys. He knew the boys placed themselves in front of harm all the time. Bobby tried all these reason to justify why he wasn't pushing Sam, but the truth was he was just as bothered as Sam. He knew Dean had stopped breathing, his heart had stopped beating, and the light in Dean's eyes had stopped shining. He needed the moment to regroup as much as Sam. Bringing himself back to the matter at hand, Bobby placed a hand on Sam's back.

"In any case, the thing has picked the wrong guys to piss off. You mess with one of us, you mess with us all. Let's look at the website. If we can figure anything out, we can get this thing….and we might help Dean."

The thought of seeing his brother wake and be his-- swaggered, devoted, robust, compassionate, and sometimes jackass-- self brought Sam to push his worry into determination. He wasn't sure why Dean started to breathe again, but he wasn't going to let his brother fight alone. If Dean wouldn't wake on his own, he would find a way. Dean never gives up on him, even when he commanded Dean to. Sam wasn't sure if Dean's tendency to sacrifice for him was what he loved most or hated most. He peered back at Dean for an epigrammatic second and a diminutive sheepish grin sneaked on Sam's face.

"Yeah, it couldn't hurt to look again." Sam pulled the blanket back around Dean's shoulders. He took a deep soothing breath to direct his mind and body to relax and focus on the things he could control at the moment. After that brief respiration, Sam grabbed his laptop and clicked back to the Supernatural site.