I think that this hug is very emotional even although it is only one sided, but Dean couldn't have known that his little brother had
been callously resurrected with no soul.
X
Chapter Four.
X
Exile on Main Street.
X
Dean nursed his beer.
To a casual onlooker he was merely a strikingly handsome young man enjoying a quiet drink with an old acquaintance before
heading off home.
Nothing more, nothing less; but that casual observer would be way mistaken, for the young man was one of a kind;
no, one of a pair; a pair of brothers who were now legend, if not among the majority of unsuspecting humans busily immersed in
their daily lives, then in the veiled supernatural world that surrounded them.
X
The man plying him with questions about his past was one of those humans; seeing Dean only as the good-natured
companion of Lisa, his next-door neighbour.
Sid could never imagine in his wildest dreams just what was hidden behind that pleasant exterior.
X
He would never be witness to the mass of pain, remorse, helplessness, frustration and yearning that was churning inside Dean
Winchester; especially the yearning; the longing to be reunited with that part of him that was at this very moment undergoing
unthinkable agony in the Cage.
His heart and soul continually cried out for his brother, day and night; the nights were the worst for then he had no distractions,
and his traitorous mind catalogued all the agonies that Sam would be suffering. He tried his best to keep the images from flooding
his brain, but regularly each night they would re-present themselves, and the growing quantity of whisky that he guzzled before
climbing the stairs to bed, was never enough to give him one peaceful night's sleep.
X
He had promised Sammy that he would go and live the apple pie life, but truly he had never had any intention of keeping that
promise; there were many others he had broken when it came to Sam's welfare;
keeping a promise was nothing if weighed against the safety his baby brother.
He would lie to God himself if it would help Sam.
X
The problem was that he had just not been able to come up with anything that seemed remotely useful for rescuing his brother
from Lucifer's clutches, and the fruitless search was eating away at him like a ghoul slowly chewing on his flesh.
He just didn't know what more to do.
There was no info about the Cage, for it had been designed exclusively to contain Lucifer, not as a locus that contemplated
entering and exiting.
X
He had thought about calling Bobby to see if he had found anything, but the emotional impact of hearing his voice would have
been too much for Dean to take at this moment.
He just couldn't have coped with Bobby's pity.
Anyway he was certain that if the older hunter had come across anything useful to help get Sam out, then he would already have
contacted him.
X
He was completely caught up his thoughts and barely felt the feather touch of the pretty waitress on his arm, but it was enough
to shake him back to reality.
She had handed him the bill and he smiled ironically as he noticed the telephone number at the bottom.
Now that he had everything he needed with Lisa, the women were throwing themselves at him like never before;
now when even sex was no longer distraction enough to keep his mind occupied and sane.
X
The two men left the bar and said their good-nights.
Dean was beginning to feel strangely dizzy when a shrill scream from a near-by renovation site grabbed his attention.
He pulled out a gun from his car and entered the building.
X
Claw marks and blood!
He made his way carefully though the old place but other than being nearly scared to death by a couple of pigeons, there was
nothing else.
His senses had been put on alert though, and the next day he noticed more claw marks.
Now seriously alarmed, he followed them to a garden shed where he nearly ganked the Glickman's Yorkie under the horrified gaze
of his drinking companion, Sid..
X
He had managed to come up with a weak excuse about possums and rabies; but he was more shocked than Sid, for the Yorkie
might not have been dangerous, but the yellow sulphur that he had found on the door-step was a clear sign that something was
going on and that he, Dean Winchester had better prepare for the worst; but the worst sometimes can't be anticipated and when
he saw Azazel, complete with yellow eyes coming into Lisa's garage, he almost freaked out.
X
The demon had him in its powerful grasp, taunting him.
"No, it couldn't be. He had killed the demon himself", was the litany that repeated itself in his confused mind.
He just couldn't take any more, and Dean welcomed the blessed darkness into which his brain plunged, as it just switched itself
off.
X
X
X
As his senses sluggishly started to return to him, the first thing he felt was the painful sensation in his chest.
It seemed as if someone had plunged a dagger into it, but the pain was magically forgotten as he saw what seemed to be the
effigy of his brother, sitting watching him.
He pulled himself up from the cot on which he was lying, eyes wide, as the image spoke. "Hey Dean."
X
Two simple words that Dean had never thought to hear his little brother pronounce again, but sometimes miracles did
happen and if what he was seeing was true, then this was Dean Winchester's.
He remained motionless on the cot just staring at Sam, afraid that if he took his eyes from him, he'd disappear.
But Sam remained there in front of him and even bantered about expecting a hug or some holy water in the face.
X
Dean just kept on staring, a living statue in a dark shirt and blue jeans.
X
Stilling his throbbing heart, he managed to say three words. "So I'm dead,?" unable to comprehend how he could have been
with his brother if not through dying, but the very fact of his brother's presence made him wonder if he was in Heaven,
because Dean's heaven is where Sam is.
X
"Are YOU real, Sammy?" Dean asked apprehensively, when his brother explained that the Djinn had poisoned him
and that all that he thought he had seen, including Azazel was just a vision.
X
Sam assured him that he was, and put himself through all the standard tests to prove it, while Dean looked on, eyes big with
unshed tears.
He pulled himself up awkwardly from the cot, and the "Sammy?" that passed his lips was more eloquent than a thousand words.
X
"Yeah, it's me," Sam replied.
Dean made his way slowly towards the brother that he had thought never to see again, his moist expressive green eyes
professing all the love that he felt for him, and his happiness in seeing him again.
X
He came right up into his personal space and while Sam stood unmoving, Dean threw himself on to him, pulling him in tight,
his arms circling his neck, hanging on; never wanting to let go, ever again.
X
Dean was so ecstatic to feel his arms full of real live Sammy that he wasn't conscious of the almost non-existent response from
his usually so emo baby brother.
X
Dean didn't yet know all the pain that would be reserved for both of them from that moment on, and even if he had, there was
nothing that could have ruined that perfect moment, when after a whole year of being without his baby brother, he finally had him
in his arms again.
X
XXXX TBC XXXX
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