Before I start, I want to say a massive thank you once again to everyone who has given me support with this story, it means the world to me! Thank you so much for taking the time to read, to review and to favourite and follow!

This chapter isn't as long as the others have been, I had only finished the first half of Chapter Three (which is this), but I didn't want to leave it any longer without an update.

Anyway, thank you again and I hope you all enjoy!

Men Don't Cry, They Bleed

Chapter Three: Suspicion Always Catches You In The End

Dean raised his eyebrows as Sam pulled open the door to his house, and offered up a small smile. In all honesty, he had expected he would get one in return, but Sam only looked at him, as if he was debating between inviting him in and slamming the door closed in his face, and Dean couldn't comprehend what had his brother acting so strangely. It was as though something was going on there, and he just didn't want Dean to find out about it, as though the house held some big secret that only Sam could shoulder. But his brother wouldn't keep anything important from him, would he? He had always thought Sam knew well enough to be sure he could tell him anything, that there was nothing bad enough to make Dean refuse him help should he need it. He just didn't understand.

After a moment of silence, he managed a small nod and smiled. "Heya, Sammy."

Sam opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, as though he was in some kind of a mental battle as to what to say. But he eventually found his voice again, and he cleared his throat. "Hey." he muttered, almost tentative.

Slowly, he took a step back from the doorway and gave the smallest, most uncertain nod for Dean to enter the house. His brother brushed passed him, curious, and turned to him with a frown on his face. Sam was quiet, way too quiet for Dean's liking.

"So," he began, his tone remaining upbeat despite Sam's clear hesitance of him being there. Sam closed the door over and looked to his brother, expectant. "Do I get to hold her, or are you afraid I'll drop her?" he quipped, clearly not what Sam had been expecting to hear.

For the smallest moment, Dean could've sworn that he looked confused, as though he wasn't sure what he was taking about, despite there being a six month old girl in his arms. And then his eyes fell down to her, and he realised how protective he was being, when he didn't need to be. Not there, not now, not with him. Lately, with everything that had been going on, with Chloe getting worse and worse around their daughter, he had been seeing the entire world around him as nothing but a threat to his child. But, if anything, a part of him knew that she was even safer now that her uncle was there, because Sam just knew how far Dean would go should something happen to her. Even if he wasn't always around, there wasn't a doubt in Sam's mind that Dean would go to the end of the earth and back for her should he need to. He would protect her from anything.

"Sure." he nodded, holding Leah out towards his brother. "You wanna beer or something?"

Dean frowned a little, it was almost like he didn't want to be in the same room as him, he hadn't even made eye contact with him since he had opened the door. His eyes hadn't really left the floor—something about that worried him. There had been a time when all they would have to do was catch each other's eye for that brief second and everything would seem okay again, when they would know with the smallest look that they had each other's backs. It was almost like Sam was afraid to look at him, for fear of what he might see if he were to look into his eyes, like he knew his brother could see right into his soul and identify all of his darkest thoughts and feelings.

"Sure." he replied as he took Leah from him, saying nothing more. He didn't mention the strange behaviour, didn't bring up the sudden change in attitude or press the clear reluctance to spend any time with him. "Thanks."

Sam gave a brief nod and turned away from him to head towards the kitchen, never glancing back or uttering another word to him, the only sound was his footsteps echoing around the cold hallway before they faded into silence.

Dean stood there for a moment, just watching the empty space after his brother, he couldn't help but notice, something there was different. To him, it seemed more like a house and less like a home. He just had a feeling inside him, something was off there. Everything just gave him an unwelcome and cold aura, not what he was used to when he visited. He took a moment to gather his thoughts before his eyes fell to the small girl in his arms. She looked up at him with large hazel eyes, somehow tinted with a faint green, and smiled. It had been a long time since he had seen her, too long. It had been a long time since he had held a child in his arms like that. There was something about it that made his mind drift back to when he and Sam had been kids, before everything had gone wrong for them, back when they had been just a normal family.

And that was when he really noticed, she looked exactly like Sam had done at that age—she had the same facial features as him, the same hair—it was like looking at his kid sibling all over again. And somewhere in the back of his mind he wished that Sam could have grown up in the kind of family Leah had. He wished they could've had a normal mom and dad to raise the, rather than having grown up in a situation where the closest father figure he'd had was his own brother. It hadn't been fair, on any of them.

Dean looked up as Sam approached, two beers in his hands, and found a smile tugging at his lips. "She looks like you," he said to him, noticing how he seemed to be a lot more composed than he had been a minute ago. "She has your eyes," He glanced between them again and smirked. "And your nose."

Sam scoffed and popped the cap off of the beer for him. "You think?" He nodded for him to follow him out of the hallway and into the next room, before he placed both beers down on the table and turned to him again.

He nodded. "Are you kidding," A smirk spread over his lips. "She's gonna be a knockout, just like her uncle, aren't you? Hm?"

Dean grinned down at her, and Sam couldn't hold back the smile when his daughter giggled back at him and reached up a small hand to his face. There was something about watching them together that made him feel better about everything, whether that was knowing that he wasn't the only one there who loved his daughter, or that he was safe in the knowledge there was always someone there to take care of her should something happen, he didn't know. But it was like some form of reassurance to him. It made things seem okay. Dean had a way of doing that.

Still, that didn't make him being there any smarter. He couldn't be around them, he couldn't hang around there long enough to find anything out—it was too risky. Hell, what would he even say if he were to work it out? Sam wouldn't even be able to look him in the face. How could he tell his brother—a man who hunted down and killed monsters every single day of his life without an ounce of fear—that he was being beaten by a woman? How did that make him sound? He couldn't tell him, he just couldn't. And that was why he needed to leave.

"What are you doing here, Dean?" Sam asked him, blunt and to the point, in a way that only had Dean more curious than he had been before.

Sam should have known, the stranger he acted the longer Dean would stay. He would not set foot out of that house until he knew that everything there was okay, until he was sure that both his brother and his niece were fine.

But still, Dean didn't press it. He gave a small shrug, as though contemplating the question. "Nothing much," he said simply, serene. "Thought I'd stop by to say hey, so, you know," he shrugged. "Hey."

Sam closed his eyes for a moment and let out a deep breath. "Right." he replied, voice clearly strained.

And that was when Dean decided he'd had enough. When it got to the point his brother couldn't even be bothered to fake it, that's when he knew something was wrong. Or maybe he was trying to act, and he could just see right through it. Either way, it had gone far enough. If Sam wasn't going to tell him what was going on, he was going to have to find out for himself. No matter how hard he had to push him.

Like I said, shorter chapter than the first two have been, I know—little bit of a filler really because I didn't want to leave it any longer without an update. I hope you're all still liking it, and thank you so much for reading, I really appreciate your support!

You can probably take a guess at what is coming next chapter—I'll give you a clue, the title is going to be 'When Dark Secrets Come To Light', so watch out for that! It should be up much sooner than this one was.

Thank you again for reading, don't forget to review! :)