Sam and Dean stood in silence watching the flames encompass their newly discovered brother. Dean was surprised at how bad he felt for this brother that he had never known. Watching the body burn also spiked a few old memories, his dad in particular.
Soft footsteps sounded across the leaves behind them. It could only be Jen, and neither boy turned to look until she stepped up beside Dean and stopped.
"I'm sorry I couldn't be here earlier." She said softly.
"It's okay." Dean responded, reaching for her hand. She took his and gave it a squeeze. They knew not to ask where Jen had been. The Angels weren't the only ones trying to keep seals from being broken, and sometimes it seemed Jen was gone more than around lately. It didn't help that Sam was still hiding things from both her and Dean. If she was more useful elsewhere, Dean knew that was better for everyone, even though he wished she were around more than he would ever admit.
Dean let Jen's hand go again and the three stood in silence watching the body burn. As the flames began to die down, Sam yawned.
"Hey, umm, I'm really beat. I think I'm going to sleep."
"Yeah, go ahead and take the back. I'll just be a bit longer." Dean responded. He was glad Sam was going, because he wanted some time with Jen anyway. Sam caught her quickly in a hug before disappearing.
"Thanks for being here." He said.
"Of course." She responded.
Sam walked away, and a moment later the Impala's door shut. Almost simultaneously, Jen was beside Dean gently rubbing his back.
"You okay?"
Dean looked up and formed a weak smile as his eyes filled with tears.
"No. Not really." He looked at Jen. "I assume you caught up on what happened."
"I did."
"You know, the whole time we thought it was Adam, I envied him, because he did all that father-son stuff with Dad, but now, knowing he died without ever really knowing why, now I kind of feel bad for him. He didn't deserve this."
"No he didn't." Jen responded as she moved her hand upward to gently squeeze Dean's shoulder. That's when Dean realized that his face was already wet, and so he turned to Jen and let her hold him tightly as tears simply kept falling.
It wasn't just Adam, it seemed that Sam was slipping farther and farther away from Dean by the minute as well. He whispered into Jen's ear.
"I don't know what to do with Sam anymore. He's so different, so … I don't know, single-minded I guess. Nothing matters to him except hunting, except killing Lillith."
"Yes, I've seen that."
Jen's response was simple and quiet, but Dean could hear, just barely beneath her controlled tone, sadness in her voice. It was almost too much for Dean; if Jen couldn't do anything, what could he do? Jen spoke again.
"He still cares about you, Dean. Use that when you can. We can do this."
He knew that she was being optimistic for his sake, but it did make him feel a little better, a little. Dean could feel the fatigue of the evening beginning to set in and he took a few deep breaths still holding on to Jen before pushing himself away. For a moment he just looked at Jen, hoping that she had some other answers, or at least that she could stay and watch Sam with him. Jen smiled at Dean and reached her hand to his cheek.
"I always hear you. Now, get to sleep."
Dean smiled back at Jen as she slowly dissolved away before his eyes.
"Thanks." He whispered to the empty air. Then he walked back to the car and carefully got in his seat, glancing back at his brother curled up on the back seat. He certainly looked the same while sleeping. Just like Dean always remembered. Dean sigh, leaned back, and shut his eyes. He drifted off, remaining hopeful, or at least trying.