A/N – Again I'm advising that this chapter may contain graphic images and references to self-harm.

I would like to say a big THANK YOU to my Beta buttercupgalaxy.

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"Do you remember when he was six and he kept going on and on and on about getting a dog?" Bobby asked as he took another mouthful of beer.

"Do I remember? Bobby, I honestly thought that Dad was going to go insane if he didn't stop asking. He just wouldn't shut about it. We tried being reasonable with him, you know, like even back then he was a smart kid and Dad sat him down and said that we travelled around too much. So Sammy asks him, how did the circus get away with moving their animals around like that? I mean really Bobby, he was six and he had an answer for everything." Dean began to laugh.

"God, I'll never forget the look on Dad's face – I had to try so hard not to laugh. Course Dad made it a lot easier for me when he shouted at Sammy, told him the answer was no and not to ask again. He cried himself to sleep that night." Dean said as he sighed.

"I know your Daddy loves you boys Dean, but God, he was never really good at getting it across to Sam." Bobby said cautiously, unsure of how Dean would take the criticism of his father.

Dean looked up at Bobby, a little bit taken back by the older hunters statement.

"He always tried his best Bobby, and to be fair there were a good few times when Sam gave as good as he got."

This time it was Bobby's turn to laugh.

"That's for sure, they definitely had a few blow outs in their time. But don't get me wrong kid, I know your father did his best but sometimes I think he forgot that you and Sam are two separate people. You gotta realise Dean, you are a hard act to follow. I mean when your Mom died, your Dad threw himself into the hunt and you followed him, no questions asked. But you said it yourself Dean, Sam isn't like ye; he doesn't see things the same way as you and your Dad and you got to imagine that that has to be hard for your brother. It must be like being on the outside looking in when you and your Daddy are together."

"I've never made Sam feel like he wasn't wanted. I would do anything for him, you know that." Dean said, angry that Bobby would question Sam's place in his family.

"Yeah I do Dean, but what I'm trying to say is; try to imagine things from Sam's point of view. He sees you as the model son, and as you said, he's never been stupid, he knows you're different. So if you're the model son in your Daddy's eyes, then he has to have asked himself what that makes him?" Seeing Dean about to object, Bobby held you his hand to silence him.

"I'm not saying that that is how it is, all I'm telling you is, if you are going to help Sam then you are going to have to talk to him, I mean really talk to him Dean. You've got to listen to what he has to say, accept that he believes it to be true – even if you don't agree with him, and work it out. You wont be able to help Sam if you don't understand everything that is going on in his head."

Realising that Bobby was right, Dean put down his beer and headed up to check on his brother, feeling the need to be there when his brother woke up.

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Walking into the room he saw Sam asleep on the bed, head buried under the covers. His brother finally looked at peace and Dean was glad that he at last was getting the rest that he needed.

As he was about to sit down when something caught his attention in the bathroom. Moving towards the room, he saw the first aid kit sitting on the floor and on the counter the bottle of sleeping tablets that he had used earlier. Knowing that he had put it away so that his brother wouldn't find out that he had given him the tablets, his heart started to race. Picking up the bottle, he moved back out to the bedroom and suddenly froze.

Looking between the bottle in his hand and his brother, barely visible in the bed, his panic grew.

"Oh no." He breathed out.

"Dean, what is it what's wrong?" Bobby asked as he came to the door, watching as Dean had turned a deathly shade of pale. He looked on in confusion as he moved quickly towards the bed and began to shake his brother as if trying to wake him.

Bobby strode into the room, grabbed Dean by the shoulders and pulled him away from Sam.

"Are you crazy? Let the boy rest."

"You don't understand Bobby, he took more of the pills." Dean shouted as he pulled away from Bobby, showing him the bottle in his hand.

Bobby turned back towards the bed, and watched as Sam turned away from them. Taking Sam's wrist in his hand, he checked his pulse, finding it to be regular he turned back towards Dean.

"How many did he take?"

"I don't know, I didn't check." Dean said. With a shaky hand he emptied the contents of the bottle onto the dresser.

"Ok, there were thirty in the bottle, I gave him two, and there are twenty six left." He said turning to face Bobby, relief coursing through him.

"So the kid took two, not an overdose Dean, he wasn't trying to kill himself. In fact seeing as how he didn't know he had already taken the first two he took a normal dose."

"Maybe we should take him to be checked out just to be on the safe side?" Dean asked, hoping that Bobby would give him the answer that he was looking for.

"Nah, he'll be fine, just sleep it off. At least he'll get the rest he needs." Bobby muttered, a smile creeping across his face.

"I swear to God, you boy's will be the death of me! Now Dean, you head off to bed and get some rest." Bobby said sternly, turning to face the younger man. Seeing as Dean was going to argue, he raised his hand.

"Don't even think about it Dean, I'm not taking no for an answer. Go to the spare room and get some rest. I'll stay here and watch out for Sam. Seriously Dean, get some rest, Sam doesn't need you right now, but he will when he wakes up."

Realising that Bobby was right, although there was no way in hell he was going to admit it, Dean nodded his head. He turned back to his little brother; Sam was currently in the process of burying himself under the covers again, and Dean could only smile as he remembered six-year-old Sam, who had cried himself to sleep because he couldn't have a dog. He always found it strange that Sam looked so young when he slept; finding that his hand had automatically made it's way to Sam's face, he slowly pushed his bangs back.

"Sleep well Sam. God knows you've took enough sleeping tablets to knock out a horse!" Dean said softly, his trademark grin coming to his face. Turning to Bobby, he slapped his hand onto Bobby's chest.

"He's all yours Bobby. He better be in once piece when I get back!" Dean said, glancing at Sam once more before he left the room.

SN

Bobby had taken up position in a chair beside Sam's bed. He had been sitting there for almost six hours when Sam began to stir, then mumble, which suddenly turned into trashing and finally came to an end with Sam sitting straight up in bed gasping for air.

"Well that looked like a one hell of a nightmare." Bobby said, clearing stating the obvious.

Sam's head snapped to the side in an attempt to locate that source of the voice in the room. Seeing Bobby sitting back in the chair, he pulled his knees up to his chest and lowered his head.

"I'm fine Bobby."

"Sure you are kid and I'm bet you've been telling yourself and your brother the same thing for quite some time judging by the state of you, but you can't kid a kidder Sam and you are certainly not pulling the wool over my eyes or Dean's for that matter. What's going on with you Sam, you're not the emotionally stunted Winchester – that's Dean's job. I have never known you to shut yourself off like this, refusing the help of your brother."

Sam sighed and lifted his head turning to face Bobby.

"I'm twenty two Bobby, all grown up. I'm well able to look after myself, managed fine for two years, I don't need to go running to my big brother." Sam snapped.

"Don't get testy with me boy. Just because your all grown up as you put it doesn't mean that you can't ask for help. Your brother wants to help you so why won't you let him?"

"Dean came to Stanford so that I could help him find Dad, not to baby-sit me, Bobby. He needs a partner, someone who is going to get Dad back, not someone….." Sam stopped seeming unable to finish the sentence.

"I thought you and Dean talked this out, that he told you that he wanted to help you…."

"I heard him Bobby, I heard him downstairs talking to you, I heard him say that he forgot how emotional I am and how I'm not like him and Dad. I'm not stupid Bobby, I know I disappoint Dad, but I never thought that Dean felt the same way." Sam said as he turned away from Bobby and began to look straight ahead.

" God, for someone so smart you sure can be stupid! Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." Sam replied, not looking at Bobby

"Would it be fair to say that your brother is loud, cocky, arrogant, sometimes down right rude while also being a brilliant hunter, a great tactician and a really good brother?"

"Yeah that sounds like him." Sam said, finally turning to face Bobby, with a confused look on his face.

"Would you change him?"

"No, well maybe his need to blare his mullet rock in the car the whole freakin time, but other than that no."

"Why?"

"Why, what?"

"Why wouldn't you change him?"

"Well he wouldn't be Dean if I changed him."

"Now would it be fair to say that you're different to Dean in the way that your prefer books to bars and hustling pool, that you approach a hunt differently to him and that you like to talk things through rather than ignore them?"

Sam scrunched up his eyebrows, as if trying to work out where Bobby was going with this.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Do you love your brother Sam?" Bobby asked as he leaned forward in his chair and closer to Sam.

"Of course Bobby, how can you even ask that?" Sam replied, appalled that Bobby would question his love for his brother.

"Even though he is so different from you?"

"Bobby, of course. I don't know why you're asking me this. Dean is my brother – I would do anything for him."

"So why do you doubt that he would do the same for you? It doesn't matter to you that Dean's not like you, all that matters to you is that he is your brother, so why can't you see that that is all that matters to him."

As Bobby finished speaking he heard a noise coming from behind him, turning around he saw Dean entering the room. Looking back to Sam as he got up out of his seat, he put his hand on his arm.

"Let your brother be your brother Sam." With that being said he turned to head out of the room, only stopping on his way past Dean put his hand on his shoulder and giving it a small squeeze, finally closing the door behind him as he left.

Tbc...

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