Dean's eyes instantly lit up. "You'll bring him back?"

"Don't do this, Dean…" Sam moaned. "Please just don't."

"I will." She replied with a small smile. "I'll bring back your brother—in exchange for your soul. Little Sammy wakes up perfectly healthy with his whole life ahead of him—and you go straight to hell…just like that…" She snapped her fingers and grinned. "So…what's it gonna be, Dean? Is it a deal?"

Time seemed to stop. Dean shut his eyes and paused for a brief moment to consider his two options: life without Sam or an eternity in Hell. Both such great choices...but there really wasn't a question about what he would choose. He opened his eyes and looked straight at the demon."Yes," he replied solemnly, "It's a deal."

"No!" Sam shouted frantically, realizing . "No!" he turned to Rebecca. "Do something!"

She shook her head. "I already have, Sam…this is what I want to happen…someday you'll understand—you'll be better off when your brother's dead."

The demon stepped toward Dean and stopped inches away from him. "Well…" she breathed, "I'm ready when you are sweetheart."

Dean looked at her suspiciously. "How do I know you're even going to keep your end of the deal? How do I know you'll bring Sam back?"

"I always keep my word." She promised. "Always...and don't even bother asking me to let you see him alive before you go—not gonna happen. You're just going to have to trust me…is that so hard?"

Dean looked skeptical. "Yeah, well, forgive me if I have a problem with trusting demons…"

"Oh, stop wasting my time." She growled. "It doesn't matter if you trust me or not, I am the only thing that can bring your precious Sammy back from the dead…" a sadistic smile flitted across her face, "Or do you have another option? After all, you are the big brother, Dean…it's your job to watch after Sam. Is there a Plan B that you're not telling me about?"

Dean sighed and looked away. "…no."

Her smile widened. "How…tragic. The infamous Dean Winchester…powerless to stop his brother from dying and powerless to bring him back—good thing you have me to help you."

"Shut up!" Sam yelled at her. "Just shut up! Dean—don't listen to her. Don't—"

Dean just stared at the ground, accepting her cruel words as the truth. He was ready to die…he deserved it. He had failed Sam, let him die—everything was always his fault—Sam would be so much better off without him around—

The demon sighed and waved a hand in front of Dean's face to get his attention. "Look Dean, can we speed this up a little? As much as I would love to stand here all day and bask in all your misery and despair, I do have other things to do."

Dean nodded listlessly. "…yeah…" he said, his voice barely a whisper. "I'm ready."

Sam watched in horror as Dean slowly leaned toward her to seal the deal with a kiss—this couldn't be happening, it couldn't—Dean couldn't sell his soul for him, he would never get over it, never—how was he supposed to live without Dean—he was his brother—all he had—he couldn't—he'd be all alone—never get over it—

"NOO!!" Sam shrieked. Without thinking, he shot his hand out, grabbed onto his brother's shoulder, and yanked as hard as he could on his arm, sending Dean crashing safely to the ground alive and out of danger. Completely enraged, Sam turned away from Dean and glared furiously at the demon "STAY AWAY FROM HIM!!" he screamed, inches away from her face, "YOU CAN'T HAVE HIM—I WON'T LET YOU HAVE HIM!!"

The crossroad demon's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open in shock. "S-am?" she gasped. "But—but—you're dead!"

"Yeah," Sam said coldly, "I'm dead…and I'm staying that way! The deal is off!"

Her mouth opened and closed soundlessly as she struggled to find words that expressed her confusion.

"Sam…" Rebecca said menacingly. "Though it is…lovely...that you have finally decided to start using your powers and show yourself to the living—what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"S-sammy?" Dean whispered shakily from where he had fallen, his eyes locked on the transparent ghost of his younger brother. At the sound of his voice, Sam turned around and stared at his brother, glad to see him looking back. "You okay, Dean?" he asked softly. Dean nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

"Sam, Sam, Sam…I am very disappointed in you." Rebecca said resentfully. "You're messing up my plan—I don't know if you forgot, but Dean was supposed to die, remember?"

Sam turned his head to glare at her. "He's not going to die—not while I'm here."

She laughed. "Aww, how sweet! Little Sammy's trying to save his big brother…" she glanced at Dean and winked at him. "But Sam, what's the point—why even bother?"

"What's the point??" Sam snapped. "What's the point?? He's my brother, Rebecca!"

"So? He's still a pathetic waste of life—"

"No!" Sam interrupted forcefully, "He isn't."

"How can you say that?!" she yelled, and pointed an accusing finger at Dean, "Guess what, Sam? You're dead because of him! You're dead because he distracted you!"

"No, Rebecca!" Sam shouted, "I am not dead because of him—if you want to get technical, it's actually your fault that I'm dead now because you were the one that brought us here to relive the past again!"

"I did it for—"

"Okay, that's enough, everybody just stop!" the crossroad demon interrupted crossly, glaring at Rebecca, "You people are giving me a major migraine! First of all, who are you, what are you talking about, and why are you here?!"

"It's none of your concern." Rebecca said flatly. "This is between me and Sam…stay out of it."

"It is too my concern!" she said hotly, "How dare you come here and interrupt one of my deals?! Who do you think you are?!"

"I don't have time for this…" Rebecca muttered testily. Without another word she waved her arm in the direction of the crossroad demon and the demon exploded in a fiery flash.

For a few moments no one spoke, and then Rebecca sighed and rolled her eyes. "Well now…I guess my entire plan just went awry. Dean's still alive, the crossroad demon is…indisposed…" she trailed off and bit her lip. "And you just refuse to cooperate, Sammy."

"It's Sam."

"Whatever. Things just aren't—oh no you don't!" she shrieked suddenly, staring past Sam's shoulder. Sam spun around and saw Dean ready to shoot Rebecca with a gun—only she had frozen him in place.

"Bad idea, Dean." Rebecca snarled. She flicked a finger and Dean's wrist snapped. He cried out in pain and dropped the gun.

"Stop it!" Sam yelled at her. "No, Rebecca! Stop!"

Rebecca glanced at Sam and smiled wryly, "Sure thing, Sam…anything for you." she released her hold on Dean and watched with satisfaction as he fell to his knees, disoriented.

Dean quickly regained his footing and stood back up staring straight at his brother, his chest heaving with every breath he took. "Sammy…?"

"Dean—I—oh God, Dean…Just stand there, okay? Don't make her mad…she's really powerful and she wants you dead." Sam said quickly.

"What is going on?" he demanded, completely confused. He turned to Rebecca. "Who are you?"

Rebecca snorted. "I don't think you're in a position to ask questions, Dean…"

"Her name's Rebecca Winters, Dean—you know that!" Sam broke in urgently. "Come on, you have to remember!"

"I—I don't—Sam, I don't know what you're talking about! What am I supposed to remember?"

"Dean, Rebecca brought us back to the past—we're reliving the past! This all happened four months ago!" when Dean still looked lost Sam continued, "Four months ago Jake stabbed me in the back, I died, and you made a deal with the crossroad demon to bring me back."

"Four months ago? But—but that just happened. Besides, you—you got stabbed in the chest, not the back…" Dean stammered.

"That's because I knew it was coming so I tried to change it and ended up dying differently." Sam said, becoming frustrated, "Look, that doesn't really matter."

"What do you mean it doesn't matter, Sam? Of course it matters—"

"The crossroad demon gave you one year, Dean." Sam said flatly.

Dean blinked. "No she didn't—she wanted my soul as soon as the deal was made."

"Dean trust me, I know what I'm talking about. When it happened four months ago the demon gave you one year! Rebecca's just trying to twist the timeline because she wants you dead early!"

"Why don't you just shut-it, Sammy dear, that's enough talking." Rebecca interrupted. Sam turned and looked back at her and saw that she had her hands placed firmly on her hips in an annoyed fashion. "Dean's too stupid to understand what's going on, so why bother telling him? Why waste any time on him, for that matter? I've had enough—say goodbye to your brother, Sam."

In that instant, Sam knew that Rebecca was completely serious. She was going to kill Dean. Before she could move, Sam threw himself on top of her and knocked her to the ground. "Dean, run! Get out of here—"

Rebecca let out a scream of rage and flung Sam away from her. He landed on the ground a few yards away and quickly stood back up. Dean ran over and stood beside him. "What are you doing, Dean?? Go!"

"I'm not leaving you with that pissed off freak!" Dean said, "Besides, I don't think you made her too happy with that last move…"

Sam had to agree. Rebecca looked livid; her face was twisted into a mask of hate and her eyes were glowing red. She glared at Sam. "What are you doing?!" she hissed. "I'm trying to help you, Sam! That was my goal! And you—you—refuse—to be helped!"

"You want to kill my brother!" Sam snapped, "That's not helping me!"

"Yes it is!" she shrieked, and pointed an accusing finger at Dean. "He's ordinary, Sam! He doesn't understand you! He's terrified of you! He'll never understand you—and one day he'll probably end up killing you!"

"Why, because your husband tried to kill you?!" Sam yelled back angrily. "Is that what you think?! What happened in your past has nothing to do with Dean! Leave him out of this!"

Rebecca just glared at him, her eyes seeming to dig into his soul. The world around them was growing dark and cloudy and a fierce wind blew all around them. "Sam…" she growled. "I'll give you one more chance…"

"To do what? Choose you over Dean? Is that what you want me to do, Rebecca? Is that what you want?!"

"Yes." She said, her hair blowing wildly around her head, her eyes locked on his. "Yes Sam, that's exactly what I want!"

"And do you think that having me on your side will make you happy? That we'll become the best of friends and everything will suddenly be okay again, like it was when you had a family?"

"You're psychic like me!" she snapped, "We're the same! We belong together!"

"No we don't!" Sam yelled over the wind. "I already have a family Rebecca, and killing Dean isn't going to make me forget that! I would never replace Dean with anyone—especially not you!"

Rebecca's eyes narrowed, and she was silent for several long seconds. "You're gonna regret this, Sam…" she said finally, her voice dangerously low, "You're going to regret choosing your worthless brother over me—together you and I could have had endless power, gotten whatever we wanted—but hey, I'm fair…you want Dean alive—I won't hurt him. But you're dead Sam...dead…and since Dean never made the deal to bring you back, you're staying dead." She looked at Dean and laughed softly. "Enjoy your life Dean—once again your brother is dead because of you." Without another word, she vanished in the blink of an eye leaving Dean and Sam alone at the crossroads.

The storm continued to rage around them, and Sam could tell that it was going to get worse. A thunderclap echoed through the air and a hard, steady flow of rain began to pour. Sam turned to Dean, who hadn't moved a muscle and was still staring at the place where Rebecca had stood. "Dean…Dean…DEAN!" he yelled, finally getting his brother's attention on the third try, "It isn't safe out here! You need to go somewhere out of the storm!"

Dean's eyes locked on his brother's, but he didn't move. "Sam…" he said, "I'm totally drenched—"

A bolt of lightning suddenly lit up the sky and seemed to touch the ground nearby. "I know, this storm is wicked, you're not safe—"

"Sam." Dean said softly, and Sam stopped when he saw the pained look in his eyes. "I'm totally drenched…and you're completely dry…and I can see right through you."

"Can we talk about this later?" Sam said, nervous about Dean's wellbeing as more lightning lit up the sky and the wind started blowing smaller branches out of the trees.

"You're really dead, aren't you?" Dean whispered, as though he was realizing it for the first time. "You're dead…" he slowly reached out his good hand to touch Sam's shoulder—and went right through him. He quickly pulled his hand back as though he had been burned. "You—y-you…"

Sam looked down at his own arm and studied it, realizing that he was more transparent than before—fading away— "Dean," he said, "I promise we'll talk, but first I want to get you somewhere safe."

Dean shook his head. "No."

"No?!" Sam said in disbelief. "Why the hell not?!"

"She's right…" he said sadly, "It's my fault that you're dead."

Sam's mouth fell open as he realized what Dean was thinking. "She was not right!" he said loudly. "How can you say that?!"

"I always tried to keep you safe, Sam, always! But I failed—I distracted you and Jake stabbed you! That was my fault—"

"No, Dean—"

"Yes it was!" Dean shouted back, "It was all my fault…and now I've failed again because I didn't make the deal to bring you back like last time."

Sam froze. "Last time?"

Dean winced. "I remember now…" he muttered, and looked away. "I remember the past four months, Room 37…everything."

"Then I bet you remember how furious I was that you made the deal and sold your soul for me in the first place! Do you remember that?!" Sam shouted.

"That's not the point!" Dean protested, "I didn't care if I had to die as long as you would be okay—and now you're…you're…"

"I'm what?" Sam shouted angrily, "I'm what, Dean?!"

"You're dead, Sammy!" Dean shouted brokenly. He turned away, the pouring rain barely concealing the tears that began pouring down his face, "You're dead, and this time I can't do anything to bring you back! How am I supposed to live with that…" his voice trailed off and he let out a sob, "How am I supposed to live without you? I—I don't have anyone left…Mom died, Dad died…everyone died! You were the only person I had left, Sam! You were the one constant thing in my life and now—now—now you're dead too."

All of Sam's anger vanished instantly. He stepped closer to his brother, wanting more than anything to hug him but knowing that he couldn't—he was fading faster now, and soon he would be completely gone. "Dean…Dean, don't. Please don't cry, alright? I…" he shut his eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I died—but you have to understand that it wasn't your fault."

Dean's eyes remained downcast. "But I was supposed to watch out for you…"

"You did." Sam said gratefully. "You saved me time and time again—" He laughed weakly, and continued, "You know I'm a magnet for trouble, it's like there's some demonic bulls eye on my back. The only reason I lived as long as I did was because you hovered over me 24/7."

"Well I obviously didn't hover enough." Dean said fiercely.

Sam shook his head. "Even you couldn't protect me forever, Dean." He said softly.

Dean finally looked up at his brother. Sam was almost completely transparent…his voice was getting harder and harder to hear over the storm… "You're leaving me, aren't you?" Dean whispered.

Sam sighed. "I don't have a choice…"

Dean nodded and let out a shaky breath. "Yeah…" he muttered, and paused for a few seconds. The rain started to pour harder, but he didn't pay any attention to it—his attention was completely focused on his brother. "Sam," he said, "I just wanted you to know that I—I—" his throat seemed to close and he stopped, unable to continue.

"I know, Dean…" Sam said softly. "I've always known, you never actually had to say it—I'm psychic, remember?" he smiled sadly. "You know I love you too, right?" he questioned, and then laughed to himself, "Even though you drive me insane half the time—but hey, that's what family's for, right?"

The lump in Dean's throat seemed to get even bigger. "Sammy…"

"Dean." Sam said seriously, stopping him. "Promise me that you won't let my death destroy you…promise me that you'll move on."

Dean stood perfectly still for several moments and then nodded, unable to speak.

Sam gave him a small smile. "Good…that's good." he said, and sighed. "Goodbye Dean."

He disappeared.

Dean stared at the place where his brother had been, his mind numb from the shock of what had just happened. Sam was gone. "No…" he muttered brokenly. "No, Sam! Come back! Please! Please just come back…you can't leave me here alone...not again!" he fell to his knees in the mud, clutching his head in his hands. "Sammy…"

The storm continued to rage around him, but Dean didn't notice, he didn't care. His brother was dead…nothing else mattered. For what seemed like forever he remained crouched in that position, wishing more than anything that he had Sam back again.

"Dean…" A voice said tentatively. Dean jerked at the sudden sound and quickly looked up to see someone standing above him—it wasn't Sam. "You…" he muttered angrily, leaping to his feet. "What the hell are you doing here?! Come to gloat, have you??"

Rebecca shook her head, "It's not what you think."

"Why don't you just get out of here, you got what you wanted—Sam's dead! DEAD! Are you happy now??!" he yelled, his voice shaking with rage.

Rebecca looked away. "No…" she admitted softly. "I'm not."

Dean opened his mouth to yell at her again and then stopped as he realized what she had said. "…what?"

She sighed. "I'm sorry."

"Excuse me?" Dean said in disbelief.

"I'm sorry," Rebecca said again, "I—I didn't know. I thought that you would desert Sam just like my husband deserted me all those years ago…I've been so bitter for so long. I didn't know that you loved your brother…I didn't know that you cared about him…I just didn't know."

"Of course I loved him!" Dean said angrily, "He's my brother! I would have done anything for him!"

Rebecca sighed deeply and nodded. "I can see that now."

"Well it's a little late for that!" Dean shouted, his voice breaking, "Sam's already dead!"

Rebecca looked away and bit her lip, thinking hard. "Dean…I can help. I have another ability…something that you never found out about."

Dean ran a hand over his face, wiping away a mixture of tears and rain-water. "Unless you can somehow bring Sam back…I don't care. Just leave me alone."

Rebecca reached out and gently placed a hand on Dean's shoulder. "Go."

He looked up at her, trying to resist the impulse to push her hand away and strangle her. "What? Go where?"

"You know where." She said softly. Dean stared at her in confusion so she removed her hand from his shoulder. "Go to Sam, Dean."

Dean studied her, unsure of what she was saying. "Why? He's dead."

She looked right into his eyes, the faint beginning of a smile on her face. "He was…"

Before Dean could question her again she vanished into thin air leaving him alone at the crossroads again. His heart was pounding in his chest. What had she meant?? Was Sam—

Hardly daring to hope, Dean dashed over to the Impala. He leaped into the drivers seat and started the car, barely remembering to shut the door before he floored the gas pedal and speeded away. The fairly short drive to the building seemed to take forever, and when he finally arrived he threw open the car door without even taking the keys out of the car and ran over to the front door—

And stopped.

He froze, his hand inches away from the doorknob. What if Rebecca had just been playing with him—what if Sam was still dead—what if—

The door was suddenly yanked opened from the inside and Dean found himself staring up at the person who had opened it. For a moment they just stared at each other.

"…Sammy?"

"Dean."

Well, there you have it! I really had a lot of fun writing this story and hope that you all enjoyed reading it! I'm hoping to write an epilogue, but if I do it'll be awhile because I leave for college tomorrow.

Please Review!