The Hug That Could Have Been.
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As if he had a pack of hellhounds on his heels, Dean violently pushed open the warehouse door; his Sammy sensors telling him that his brother was in all kinds of trouble, but the last thing he expected was to see Sam waving a pistol at him.
He perceived the confusion in the wide green eyes as he moved slowly forward into the room. Sam was looking at him as if he was a ghoul or a shape shifter of some kind.
"Sammy?" Dean murmured softly, trying to soothe the uncertainty he saw reflected in the familiar eyes. "It's okay man, I'm here."
Puzzled, Sam looked away to something only he could see, for to Dean the warehouse was empty but for them.
"I know," Sam answered panicked, his eyes practically rotating in their sockets. "I came here with you!"
"Sam, I just got here. Whatever you think you were seeing, it's not real." Dean assured him
Sam waved the gun about again, not trusting his perception of the facts.
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He was like a spooked horse and Dean understood that he had to calm his brother down quickly.
He held up his hands as if in surrender "Look Sam, no gun. Put yours down. If you think there are two of us, then you wouldn't want to kill the wrong one now, would you?"
Sam seemed as if he was going to fire off a clip anyway just for precaution, but then he slowly lowered the gun, allowing Dean to come up and stand in front of him.
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"Hey man," he began as if he was talking to a frightened child. "You think there's two us here and you don't know who's real?" Sam just watched nervously as Dean reached out and pulled Sam's hand into his own.
"I've been to Hell too, Sammy and I know its pain is different from Earth's. It's the pain of the soul, while this," he declared as he pressed his thumb into the wound on Sam's hand. "Is of the body."
Sam flinched at the hurt, but Dean kept his hand steady. "This is real, Sam. I'm the Dean who sewed it up," he swore earnestly. "I'm your true blood brother. Whoever else you're seeing in here is a crappy fake!"
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Sam stared at his brother in bewilderment, wanting to trust; hoping that the Dean who was causing his hand such pain was the real one, and he felt the beginnings of hope building up in him as the Lucifer image started to flicker out.
"Sam," Dean ordered as he saw the wide green eyes focusing on some image behind him. "Look at me! Trust me! I'm going to be your stone number one and you're gonna build a friggin' pyramid on top of me," he declared firmly. " Believe in me!"
He let go of the tortured hand and with the easing up of the pain, Sam saw Lucifer starting to reappear. His long fingers went to his palm and started to push into the wound where his brother had just removed his own blood-speckled ones, and to his relief, when the pain returned, Lucifer vanished.
"Dean, it's really you," he whispered as he stared at his brother, his eyes filling with certainty.
Dean smirked and he went with " The one and only!" trying for normal, but his heart was heavy for what he had just witnessed.
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He felt as if an emotional atom bomb had nuked him, as he gazed at his little brother.
Just what had he done when he had allowed Sam to take that leap into the Cage. It had seemed the best thing to do at the time but what had he condemned his baby brother to? He knew in his heart that if he had the chance to go back and repeat the whole thing, he would have stopped Sam from doing what he did.
They would have found another way, and if not, then the whole crap world could just have gone up in flames, but Sam had fallen into the pit and now they would have to deal.
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The sight of his gigantic little brother who at the moment appeared all of five years old, looking at him as if he was his saviour and could right all the wrongs, made Dean's legs go forward of their own volition and he felt his arms rising as if directed by some puppeteer's strings, to wrap themselves around the kid.
He pulled him into a hug, a hand going to the back of Sam's neck and directing his shaggy head down into the hollow of his shoulder. He could feel the fine tremors shaking Sam's body and he tightened his hold. At first Sam seemed to resist but then he relaxed into his big brother's arms as he had done since he was old enough to understand and recognise the unique scent of Dean.
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His brother was an enigma in many ways, Dean mused.
Sam had always been a gentle child, sweet and giving and yet he was also an exceptional hunter, though he would never have picked that life for himself if he had the choice. Thing was, Dean thought sadly, Sammy had never had the luxury of a choice and for that matter, neither had he.
He felt Sam burrow in closer and he tightened his hold, chick-flick moments be damned. There was no-one here to see; Sam needed him and he needed his brother.
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Anger washed over him as he remembered what the being he had once likened to a brother had done to Sam, bringing down his wall to prevent them from following him. It had been an evil inhuman thing to do. Castiel, could have come up with a thousand ways of stopping them, yet he had purposely hurt his gentle little brother, allowing all his Hell memories and those of what he had done while soulless, to wash over him.
It was a true paradox that Death, who was supposed to instil terror into the hearts of men, had been more considerate than the angel, going into the Cage, getting Sam's soul out and providing him with a wall.
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Sam stirred in the circle of his arms but Dean still clung on. If holding on to Sam like this could give his brother comfort, he would stand here until doomsday if necessary, for he knew that once outside this warehouse, they would only find more strife, unhappiness and worry.
"Dean," Sam murmured into his shoulder. "I'm okay now."
"You sure, Sammy?"
"Yeah, I think so."
Dean nodded at the words, but before releasing him, he whispered. "I'm gonna let go, Sammy but know that I'll always be here for you little brother."
He stepped away from Sam but his eyes never left him.
"We're brothers Sammy and nothing is ever gonna come between us. And if Lucifer shows up again you just tell me and I'll kick his bony ass."
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Sam cracked a watery smile.
Dean was his. There was nobody in the world he would rather be than Sam Winchester; Lucifer and the Cage be damned.
He took his place at his brother's side as in complete synch they walked towards the door and to what they would find beyond it, secure in the warmth of their brotherly bond.
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