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Series One, Episode Two, Chapter Three

Stupid*

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Dean interviewed all of the victims' husbands and neighbors and came up with nothing. No one had seen anything odd or heard anything suspicious on the days surrounding the days of the victims' deaths. He returned to the motel a few hours after dropping Sam off, figuring he had left his brother alone long enough for the Archangel to have come and gone.

The elder Winchester opened the door to find his younger brother sitting at the kitchen table drinking a beer, bearing an intense stare at his computer screen.

"Did Gabriel tell you how to gank the bitch?" Dean asked.

Sam nodded, "He brought us these." He patted the box of bullets on the table. "Lead bullets. He said in order to kill the Al, we need to shoot them once in the chest, and once in the heart."

"Gabriel actually helped us that much? What, does he have a crush on you or something?"

Sam gagged. Dean laughed.

A few moments went by...

"So... are we going to gank the bitch or not?"

"Dean, we have to be able to find the bitch before we can gank it."

"I know that, I just figured that you, being the smartypants that you are, would have figured out where it is by now."

"Actually... I did. At least I think I did. Turns out all three women shopped at the same baby supplies store. And one of their employees, Francine Hughes, lives in a cabin by Lake Langhofer."

"Ok, I'm going to the bathroom, then we can gank ourselves an Al."

"Yeah, sure thing, Dean."

When Dean went into the bathroom, Sam darted over to the front door, locked it and plopped down in front of the only way out of the room. He took the bullets out of the clip and placed them in his pocket, then put the clip back in the gun and hid it behind his back. Sam was going to take one last crack at trying to get his brother to talk. After all of Dean's protests about calling Cas, the hunter not talking to Sam about the angel, and Dean's comment that Gabriel had a crush on him, Sam was pretty pissed and desperately close to letting Gabriel have his turn at his brother.

Dean came out of the bathroom to find that Sam had parked his giant self in front of the only exit to the room. "Sammy?"

"Dean, we need to talk..."

God I hope this isn't about Cas.

"...about Cas."

Fuck! "No."

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes, and I swear to God, Dean, if you say no one more time," Sam took out the gun that he had tucked behind his back, "I'm going to shoot you."

Dean knew that Sam was getting pissed off at the whole 'avoiding Cas' thing, but he doubted that his brother would actually shoot him. "Yeah, right, sure thing Sammy."

"I mean it Dean. I'm getting sick and tired of your bullshit. Now tell me what happened with Cas, or," Sam took off the safety and waved the gun at Dean's knees, "Eeny, Meany, Miney, Mo..."

Sam had a level six bitchface on, but Dean was not worried. "Sammy, stop it."

"...catch a tiger by its toe..."

Dean smiled nervously. "Sammy, I think that's enough."

"...if he hollers..."

"What, did you lose your soul again?" Dean asked as he started to panic.

"...let him go..."

Sam's bitchface went from a level six to a level nine. Now Dean was pretty freaked. "SAM!"

"...Eeny, Meany, Miney..." Sam cocked the hammer...

"Ok-alright-fine! You win! You want to know what happened? Cas told me that I wasn't there for him when he needed me. That's why he went to the King of the Demon Dicks for help. He said that he kept asking for help the only way he could, but I wouldn't listen. But he never asked me directly! He said he couldn't have asked directly because he was an angel and I was a human and God would look down on him for asking or something. But, that doesn't explain how I was supposed to know that he needed help without him sayin' anything!"

Sam thought back on all the times the angel had told them it was bad in Heaven. Realization hit him and he replaced the hammer, put the safety back on, and put the gun on the floor. He closed his eyes and hit his head against the door. "Fuck. Dean, he was trying to tell us something was wrong. He tried so many times but I was just too soulless half the time to care, and the other half of the time I was just as much of a self-involved jerk as you to notice. Cas was right, we should have know something was wrong, that he was asking for help."

Dean thought about that, and replayed every time that Cas had told him about the war in Heaven. He closed his eyes tight. Sam was right, Cas was crying out for help every time he saw them in the only way he could; the only way his Father would have allowed. And he would not listen. Still, telling Sam he was right was out of the question.

Dean sat on the edge of his bed. "So, you're saying this is both our faults?"

"Maybe," Sam answered sincerely. "But I know for sure that we both took him for granted, that we both ignored Cas's needs, and that we both didn't want to see that Cas was having problems too. And his problems were way bigger than ours could have possibly been. Yet he helped us; he put us first." Put you first, Sam silently added. He gave a dark chuckle. "I guess we really are partially to blame. From Cas going to Crowley, to every death caused by the hands - or mouths - of a Leviathan."

Dean sighed. He shook his head, "No, Sam. It isn't our fault, it's mine. You have an excuse for for not noticing it from the beginning, but I didn't. I knew Cas well enough to know that he needed help. I don't know why I didn't even think of asking him if he needed it."

Sam looked over at his brother, the sadness and pain of the situation covered Dean's face and was audible in his voice. "Dean, I think we both need to apologize, but, I think it would mean the most if it came from you."

Dean nodded, not being able to agree with Sam out loud. He would talk to Cas, right after they ganked the fucking Al.

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*Stupid is a song by Sarah McLachlan.