Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or its characters
Dean closed the phone and breathed a sigh of relief. He felt as if a massive weight had been lifted from his shoulders, the pressure of trying to keep Sam's head above water was beginning to cause him to go under as well. Watching his little brother suffer while being helpless to do anything about it was just not the Dean Winchester way.
After half an hour on the phone with Bobby, he had unloaded everything, he told him about how Sam wasn't coping with Jess's death, their Dad still being missing, the nightmares, the not eating and the fact that the person, who just a few weeks before, had not wanted anything to do with hunting was now spending every waking hour researching for hunts.
Bobby had listened to Dean unleash everything that he had been forced to keep to himself, with Dean's main worry being that he would loose Sam in a hunt. It was hard for Dean to admit that he didn't know what to do, that for the first time in his life he didn't know how to help his brother, but that was just what he did. He told Bobby that he was completely out of ideas and felt like he was at breaking point.
Bobby had stepped in straight away and told Dean to bring Sam to his place, when Dean began to object and say that there was no way that Sam would take time off, Bobby came up with a solution straight away.
"You tell Sam that I called you. Tell him I have noticed some strange omens showing up and I'm not sure what they mean. If he doesn't go for it, then you just knock him out, tie him up and throw him in that car of yours. Whatever you have to do Dean, just get him here."
Dean could hear the concern in Bobby's voice, and appreciated it. It also struck him as a bit odd that although he had left numerous messages for his Dad, begging him to get in touch, that he needed him and never got any reply and yet here he was after speaking with Bobby, who last time they had saw him, he had gone after their father with a shotgun, was willing to put a hold on everything to help them.
As soon as the thought had come, it pretty much passed, Dean's logic quickly overriding the feelings of disappointment in his father. The only explanation in Dean's mind was that his father was not able to get in contact, though this thought was also not welcome.
Opening the motel room door, he saw his brother was still asleep at the table. Part of him wanted to wake his brother, knowing that the position that his brother was in could not be comfortable and that he would feel it in the morning, the other part was telling him to leave his brother where he was as it looked like he finely was getting some rest. Deciding that he needed to have a shower, he would wait until he was finished before waking his brother.
SN
Twenty minutes later he emerged from the bathroom feeling refreshed and for the first time in a long time, he actually felt relaxed. As he took note of his brother, still sleeping he could see that his brother's brow was beginning to crease, as if he was upset and then suddenly his brother startled awake. Sam took in the room, a dazed look on his face. Dean watched as his brother began to become aware of his surroundings. He recoiled when he realised that Dean was awake and watching him, towel drying his hair.
"You ok?" Dean couldn't help it, he had tried to ignore what was going on, worried at how his acknowledgement would be taken by Sam, but he couldn't just brush over it now.
"Yeah, I'm fine Dean, just didn't realise that I had fallen asleep. Sorry."
Immediately Sam looked back at the laptop, the screen saver now running. As his fingers began to move across the keypad, Dean decided to give something a try.
"Hey Sammy, now that you're awake I was just wondering, there's a Rocky marathon on this week, there showing Rocky 1 tonight, how 'bout I get us a few beers and we watch. It'll be like when we were little, but I swear dude if you start to cry when Apollo puts Rocky down, I'm going to disown you. What do you think?" He tried to keep his voice light, but inside he was screaming for his brother to reach out and accept the chance to just relax even if it was just for a few hours.
Dean watched as a small smile spread across his brother's face and his heart leapt.
"I don't know man, I mean I haven't found us a new hunt yet and there are some databases I need to crack to check and see if I can get a lead on Dad." Sam said as he again looked away from Dean and back to the laptop.
Seeing how close his brother had come to maybe saying yes, and realising he had an opportunity to test the water with his little brother's willingness to go to Bobby's, he tried again.
"Well you know Sammy, you don't have to look for a hunt, cause your fantastic, and need I mention extremely good looking older brother has already got the gig sorted." He smiled as he watched the confusion on his brother's face, raising his eyebrows at his little brother and putting on his best shit-eating grin, he continued.
"Bobby called, said he has come across some omens or something. He thinks something bad is about to go down, wants us to stop by to see if we can help him make heads or tails of it. What do ya think, you interested?"
He watched as Sam turned his head slightly to the side and knew that his brother was weighing up the options, while also try to work out if his brother has an ulterior motive. Dean watched, as Sam seemed to find one.
"What about Dad, we need to keep looking?" Sam asked quietly
Dean never thought he would be relieved to hear those words come out of his brother's mouth, if that was the only obstacle that Sam could see then he could deal with that.
"We'd only be going to Bobby's Sammy, he does have an Internet connection. We can give him a hand and continue to look, in fact he might be able to come up with a few ideas about what is going on." Dean was very proud of his performance; he was, in his opinion, doing a fantastic job of keeping it casual when all he really wanted to do tell Sam that they were going to Bobby's whether he liked it or not.
"Yeah, I guess your right. I mean if Bobby needs our help we should go, and anyway I haven't been able to find anything worth looking into on the net." As he said this he turned back to the laptop
"Well you still haven't answered my original question, you up for some beers and watching Rocky? Come on Sam, don't be a wet blanket!"
"Fine if it'll make you happy." Sam said, but Dean knew there was no real frustration there, he was just doing the usual Sammy thing and pretend that he was doing Dean a favour.
"Ok good, well I'll go get the beers, I want that laptop shut off by the time I get back." Watching, as his brother was about to object, he quickly moved to cut him off.
"No arguments Sam, how am I meant to enjoy my beer and watch Rocky if all I can hear is you tapping away?"
For the second time in the last few minutes, Dean watched as a smile crept onto his brothers' face and all he could think was that he had made the right move by calling Bobby.
As he grabbed his wallet and headed out the door, he turned back to his brother grinning.
"Hey Sam, if you are pretending to be Rocky again when I come back there'll be no beer for you!"
Sam looked up from the laptop, a mortified look on his face.
"I was four Dean, when are you going to let that go?" Sam said, trying his best to sound indignant.
"Let me think about that, mmmm never." Dean laughed as he headed out the door. Once outside, he took a deep breath, the weight that been bearing down on his chest seemed to be lifting.