"He settle down any?" Suzie asked quietly, voice a whisper. "He's quiet."

Sam shifted his hip, lounging against the door frame, arms crossed over his chest as Suzette came up behind him in the doorway.

"He's asleep." unlike Suzie who was a stranger, Dean wasn't likely to be disturbed by Sam's voice so he didn't bother to keep it down. He laid his head against the frame. "Finally."

"About time." she stood on tiptoe but still couldn't see over Sam's shoulder. "He had a rough day." she shoved at his elbow until he moved aside enough for her to squeeze into the doorway with him. "Let me see." she didn't enter the room; Sam's actions clearly told her she wasn't welcome to do so. "He looks better, think he'll sleep awhile?"

"Doubt it."

She let her gaze linger on the man on the bed who was sprawled on his belly, blankets kicked to his waist. He looked a hell of a lot better than he had when Sam had dragged him into the house. He'd been pale and sweaty, streaked with dirt, mud and blood and dried sweat, his t-shirt stained with vomit and blood.

He'd also been combative until exhaustion wore him down, maybe he finally recognized Sam but if he had, he hadn't been content to relax and obey any orders or suggestions his brother had voiced. Nothing Sam said had calmed him down and he'd been forced to wrestle his brother into submission and obviously, he'd pushed as far as he was going to for now. All Sam had done was get Dean out of the soiled clothing, wipe the worst of the grime from his face and wrap bandages around his wrists to stop the bleeding.

She had a strong idea he wouldn't remain so settled if Sam were to go and leave him alone with her. Once they'd gotten back to the house where she insisted they were safe, Dean hadn't wanted anything to do with her and Sam had chased her from the bedroom had seen to his brother himself.

"If he'd let me near him, I'd help you clean him up."

All Sam had wanted, was his brother back. And he had him, was with him, where he could watch over him, take care of him and ensure no one hurt him further, but nothing was right. Dean had yet to regain complete consciousness and Sam still didn't know the extent of any injuries he was sporting. Dean fought him over everything, being picked up, being carried, being held, being undressed, being cleaned up. At first Sam blamed it on the presence of Suzie but even after he sent her from the room, Dean remained insensible.

He was going to find the person or persons responsible for the condition his brother was in and make them pay. He would have thought by now, after everything in his life, he would have learned vengeance and revenge were something he should let go, but he couldn't. Someone had hurt his brother, had tried to take him away from him and he'd be damned if they were going to get away with it.

They would learn, that just because the Winchester brothers had a fight, it didn't mean they wouldn't be there for the other. Someone had made a serious mistake. A person could do a lot to Sam Winchester. Use him, lie to him, manipulate him, mislead him, hurt him, torture him, kill him and Sam would find it in his heart to forgive and forget. Take his brother away from him and you were going to die. No doubt about it, you were going to find yourself ripped apart by Sam's own two hands. Sam only had one thing in his life and no one was ever going to take it away from him and live to tell about it.

"I managed."

"You want to try to get him to eat anything?" she asked softly. Now that Dean was somewhat cleaned up and settled in a bed with clean sheets, his sleep aided by the administration of ibuprofen, his cheek caressed by a hugged pillow, she was surprised to notice how young he looked. With his features lax, the harsh lines of life around his eyes, and the lines of pain around his mouth were gone, leaving him looking vulnerable and her with a fierce desire to protect him.

"No, got him to take some water and when he kept it down, he was willing to drink some PowerAde." he was quiet. "Didn't stay down."

"It's a start." she still spoke softly. "You sure you don't want to take him to the hospital? You can make him go."

"He's doing ok." Sam had yet to take his eyes from the bed. It was almost as if he needed the reassurance of seeing his brother breathe to believe it. "But all I did was clean up the worst and change his clothes, he smelled. I still have to make him take a shower and let me see his back. I doubt he's going to do much about it himself."

"He has time to sleep awhile before you have to do that." she watched as Dean's shoulders flexed and hunched before relaxing. Sam had him dressed in a short sleeve shirt, his bandaged wrists peeking out from under the pillow that cradled his head. "Think he's cold?"

She snuck a peek up at Sam's face when he didn't answer her. She wasn't sure what she expected from him, maybe anger, or maybe relief. Certainly not the stark unveiled emotions he let play across his features. He was chewing on the inside of one cheek but it was his eyes that had her breath catching. Oh, there was no anger, no ire, no fury, and no rage…..just an emotion she couldn't quite identify.

Like all that mattered to him, his entire world was right there, in that room, on that bed in front of him and as long as he had that, everything was ok.

Sam blinked, unfolding from his relaxed position and walking over to the bed, where he pulled the blankets up to cover his slumbering sibling. Sam caught his hand lingering at Dean's shoulder and reached out to adjust the blankets over both shoulders. Dean stirred, moving restlessly but settled back down without waking. Sam wiped his eyes and joined Suzie at the door.

"Come on." she whispered, turning the light off by the wall switch. "Let him get some sleep." she pushed Sam through the door and pulled it closed behind him. She saw his hesitation and pushed the door half way open. "Better?"

"He doesn't like the dark." Sam reached for the wall switch, not fighting her when she stilled his hand. "He won't sleep….."

"We'll hear him." she put a hand on Sam's arm, giving it a reassuring squeeze when he didn't pull away from her. "We'll leave the light out here in the hallway on. It's bright enough that the room won't be too dark. You can peek in on him through the door, okay? Come on, you need to eat something."

Sam followed her down the hallway but stopped by the sofa, she paused in the kitchen entryway and turned around to see why he wasn't still behind her.

"I'm gonna lay down for a while. I'll eat when I wake up." he didn't feel tired, but experience told him he was exhausted. He'd been running on adrenaline and fear and while his mind had yet to wind down, his body had.

"Sure." she nodded. "Can take the other bedroom."

"Sofa's fine." he sat down and lifted one foot to lay across his knee and worked on unknotting the laces on his boot. "Thanks, aah, for everything, you…..just thanks."

"You bet."

Suzie left him alone in the living room with the TV on for company. He was cautious around her and she couldn't blame him. He didn't know her, had no reason to trust her and was too tired to control the situation he found himself. Best thing to do was give him time.

Sam slept; not soundly and not long, just over an hour, but it was enough that he woke up feeling hungry. Time to get something to eat, take a hot shower and go to bed. Morning would be soon enough to tackle Dean and force him to obey. He heard Suzie in the kitchen and got up to join her, finally realizing it was the smell of food that had awoken him.

"How's he doing?" Suzie stood at the stove, whisking eggs. She didn't hold out much hope she'd be able to tempt Sam into eating much, if anything, but thought an egg omelet might entice him to at least sit down at the table.

"Still asleep."

"And you? You doing ok?"

He shrugged and sat down at the table, reaching for a piece of toast. "Would feel a lot better if he'd wake up."

"He will."

"Guess." he took a bite of the warm bread, licking the butter from his lips. He didn't know Suzie at all, didn't feel comfortable enough with her to share his inner fears. Worst part of waiting to see if Dean was going to wake up on his own was he had no one to share the wait time with. He had no one to lean on and draw support from and while Suzie seemed supportive, he didn't know her.

He finally understood the emotional torment Dean had suffered when he'd been waiting for Sam to wake up from having his soul restored, from waking up after the wall fell, from waking up coherent after detoxing from his addiction. Maybe it helped that Dean had Bobby with him during those hours of wait, but Sam didn't see how anything would make the wait more bearable.

"I've…just always had him, you know? Maybe Bobby…..but…..I dunno, he was always there….always took care of everything…..always made things right and he just….always did it." he rubbed his face up and down his hands. "Can't say I find it much fun being on this end of the situation, you know? I'm not known to be….very patient when I have to wait."

"Your dad? Wasn't he around?"

"Yeah…he was but Dean…." Sam shrugged. "He looked out for me and maybe I didn't always appreciate him, or acknowledge all he did for me, but he never stopped being there. I thought my childhood was so fucked up. Never had a home, always the new kid in school, hell I didn't even realize how normal my childhood was compared to his."

"He had you."

"Guess."