Charlie Brandt sat on the bed of another no-tell-motel, elbows propped on his knees, shaking his head. Dean could see the resemblance now there was enough light to mark it. Charlie was bigger in body type than Jerry, his face strong where Jerry's was narrow, but they both shared the same eyes.

"I can't believe it. I was there and I can't believe it."

"I hear that," Dean agreed, standing up for more coffee.

Jerry sat opposite him, staring. He could hardly keep his eyes off his brother for more than a second. Sam sat in the chair by the table.

"So this deal," he asked of Sam. "Even though you got me back, that doesn't affect why I made it in the first place."

Dean leaned against the kitchenette and watched cautiously.

A soft smile touched Sam's face, and Dean squirmed, knowing Sam was thinking of him, of the ridiculous correlations this job had with them. The guy had just been ripped out of a four month tour in Hell and all he was interested in was making sure busting out and being alive didn't mean Jerry getting sick again.

"No," Sam finally answered gently. "No it doesn't work like that."

Charlie nodded. "So … so what now?"

"Now you get on with your life," Sam said, nodding at Jerry. "With your brother."

Charlie looked at Jerry and smiled, his brother returning it.

"You guys - you helped us, and you didn't have to. Thankyou. And if a couple of regular guys can ever do anything to repay the favour, just ask."

Sam nodded. "You're welcome."

Sam and Dean dropped the Brandt brothers off at the bus station the next day.

"They're gonna be okay," Dean said, leaning against the impala and raising a hand in farewell as the bus peeled out onto the road.

"Yeah, Jerry got his brother back," Sam agreed, smiling in a way that made Dean squirm.

"And you're sure it worked, everything was contained."

"We'd have known about it if it wasn't."

Dean nodded, moving toward the door, Sam mirroring him on the other side. Dean slowed, keys in hand, and looked at Sam over the roof of the impala.

"Sam … are you okay? Really?"

Sam shrugged lightly, lacing his hands on the roof of the car.

"Yeah I mean, sure there's gonna be crap ahead, and I don't know if I can pull this off, but … cases like this just make you grateful for what you got, y'know?"

Grateful to have your brother safe. Yeah, sure, Dean thought sadly, looking down at the keys in his hand. There had been no hellhound on Charlie's tail, and Sam was still taking the fall for him. Again, he thought of finding a deal with a due date and waiting out the hellhound, but he wasn't even certain it would work for him anymore. He couldn't see any way to fix this.

"Dean," Sam's voice drew him, and he looked up to find his brother dipping to catch his eyes.

"It's gonna be fine, okay. Lets just get back on the road."

He swung into the impala. Dean took a moment, drew a breath, and joined him.