Disclaimer: I do not receive any profit for my fanfictions, nor do I own Supernatural or Sam and Dean Winchester.

Title: Brother, Where Art Thou?

Chapter Title: Chapter Seven

Setting: Part of this story is AU. Part of it isn't. The real Supernatural world is set a couple months after AHBL. Sam's 24, Dean's 28.

Summary: What if, along with killing Mary that night, the demon also kidnapped Sam? Dean missed his brother greatly throughout his life, but learned to move on, hunting and killing things with his father. But now they've heard about a young Stanford student dying the same way Mary had, and this mystery leads him to the one person who's been missing from his life…

Authors Note:

Warnings: probably a few typos here and there...

-.-.-.- Non-AU -.-.-.-

God, this pain was terrible. Sam felt like someone was taking a very dull knife and shoving it through the back of his head, without any consideration on how the youngest Winchester boy might take it. He could've sworn his hair was on fire and burning his scalp at that very moment. Sam felt like grabbing one of Dean's hunting knives and surgically removing his brain so the freaking pain would just stop. Unfortunately, when he had tried that, Dean smacked him upside the head. Which just made his headache worse. So he had settled with banging his head against the window of the impala. Which Dean didn't seem too fond of. Hey, at least he was partially getting the rain drops off of the offending surface. That was something, right? … Not, not really.

"Dude, you're going to break the window!" the oldest Winchester had complained not five minutes ago. But Sam had ignored him. The banging seemed to make his headache lighten up a bit. Or maybe that was just because he was focusing on the pain that was now being directed at the bruise he was sure that was forming. Yeah, that was probably it.

Dean looked over at his little brother with concerned eyes, sighing silently as he looked back at the road. He had managed to get Sam's fever down, if only slightly. So he had taken that chance to lug his brother into the car and start for Bobby's house, though not without much complaint from Sam.

"Dean, we're not supposed to be out in the open like this," Sam mumbled, still banging his head against the window. God, what was that damn noise? He wished it would just shut up! … Oh. Wait. That was the engine. Damnit.

"Sam, you're sick. From a vision! For over ten hours, I might add. We're going to Bobby's. Maybe he can help us out," Dean said, shrugging slightly, not taking his eyes off the road. He didn't care what Sam said. They were getting help. Because god damn, this wasn't normal!

Groaning slightly, Sam stopped banging his head against the glass and squinted as light started to break through the clouds overhead. Why did daylight have to be so damn bright? He needed sunglasses. Maybe he could steal Dean's for a little while. Figuring his headache would make him forget, he decided not to make a mental note to remind himself later. Sam rubbed the assaulted spot on his head before looking at his brother for a moment, before closing his eyes and laying back against the seat. "Dean," he practically whined, sounding like a five year old who didn't get the toy he wanted in his Happy Meal, "it's too bright out. Tell the sun to go away."

Dean looked up out the windshield, where the clouds were starting to disperse slowly. He cast a concerned glance at his brother for the briefest of seconds, before turning back to the road. "Sorry, Sammy. I have a feeling it wouldn't listen to me." Though he'd love nothing better than to help out his little brother. He was sure that headache was a bitch. It seemed worse than visions. And, well, thanks to Andy? He now knew what that felt like. He hated to imagine what Sam was going through.

Reaching into the glove box, while looking back at the road every few seconds, Dean grabbed his sunglasses and threw them in Sam's lap. "Put those on. They might help."

"Yeah, might being the operative word there," Sam grumbled, grabbing the object and sliding it onto his face. He dug himself further in his seat, crossing his arms across his chest as he closed his eyes behind the tinted glasses, arching his knees up just a little bit so he'd have some room. Unfortunately, his head didn't seem to agree with being pushed against the cushion of the seat, pain shooting throughout his skull. Sam quickly groaned in pain, sitting up in the position he had been in earlier.

Hearing his little brother in pain was enough to break Dean's heart and cause him to put the pedal to the metal (well, almost). "Don't worry, Sammy. We're going to figure out what's going on."

-.-.-.- AU -.-.-.-

"I can't believe this," Sam said, in awe as he looked through the windshield at a motel the two brothers had just pulled up to. He allowed himself a small smile. Okay, okay, yeah. He wanted to leave. He wanted that more than anything at the moment. But Dean wasn't going to let him just leave. So while he tried to figure out how to get the upper hand on his older brother, he might as well enjoy the time he was spending with him at the moment. And he might as well enjoy meeting his father for the first time – at least, the first time that he would remember meeting him. That wasn't so bad, was it? No. No way. He was allowed a little indulgence now and then. It just so happened that was he wanted to indulge on at the moment was his father… Which sounded very, very wrong…

"Well, believe it, Sammy," Dean said, starting towards the motel door. When he realized that his long lost brother wasn't following him, Dean turned and cocked an eyebrow, giving Sam that 'well, what's the problem?' expression. Sam didn't seem to notice. He looked like a deer caught in headlights or something. "Earth to Sam? Do you read me?"

"Huh?" Sam asked suddenly, seeming to come back to reality with a sharp shake of his head. "Oh, sorry. Um, yeah, let's go." Sam took a step towards the door, but then stopped suddenly. Yeah, yeah, he wanted to meet his father. But say he met John and he liked the dude. Then what? Sam wanted to leave. Sam was freakin' set on leaving. He couldn't just not leave. Well, okay, technically he could; but he wanted to leave. So if he got close to John like he was already close to Dean, then it would make it that much harder to just abandon his new family. What was Sam to do, though? Dean knew that he was trying to take off, sure, but that didn't mean anything. Sam just wanted to be able to run off and not have to worry about the people he left behind. But if he met John, that's what was going to happen. And he wasn't so sure he was okay with that.

"Sam, you cool?" Dean asked, raising his eyebrows as he took a step towards his brother. This kid seemed more screwed up than most of the demons that Dean had met in his lifetime. And, yeah, that was saying something.

"Yeah, yeah, fine," Sam said, nodding. Yeah, if freaking out about meeting your father because you know you're just going to end up having to leave him is fine, then I'm great, Dean! Yeah, I wish… God damn. Sam swallowed hard and walked the rest of the way towards the motel room before knocking on the door a couple times. He didn't have the chance to knock more, because suddenly the door swung open, sporting an ecstatic John.

-.-.-.- Non-AU -.-.-.-

"So, Bobby, do you know what's wrong with him?" Dean asked as he looked over at Sam, who was practically curled up into the fetal position on Bobby's couch, holding onto his head with dear life. Whatever was happening wasn't good, and Dean was going to make it stop. He had less than a year to live, and he wasn't going to spend those months trying to help his sick brother. Because that's what Sam was, apparently. Sick. And while Dean would gladly take care of him until the day he died – literally – that didn't mean that he wouldn't rather have a few beers with his brother instead of a few bottles of Pepto Bismol.

"I think so, but I can't be certain," Bobby said, casting a bemused and worried glance in Sam's direction. The poor kid looked like his head was going to explode; he could very well drop dead at any moment. Bobby wasn't going to deny that fact. Sure, Dean had managed to get his brother's temperature down earlier, but in the time that it had taken them to travel the couple hours to Bobby's house, it had gone up dangerously high again. "I'll make a few calls. Get a second opinion."

"No, Bobby, what do you think it is?" Dean asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Dean – "

"No, damnit, tell me!" Dean yelled, glaring at Bobby. He didn't care what it was. Dean wanted to help Sam get better. He did not trade his soul for Sam to live just so Sam could go and die on him from some mysterious psychic flu or whatever the hell was going on. Even if Bobby wasn't sure, that was good enough for Dean. He knew he needed all the facts before he just dived in, but this was Sam's life they were talking about! At best, Dean and Sam could do something with what Bobby thought it was while the older hunter made a few calls to check his facts. That was something, wasn't it? At least Dean wouldn't be doing nothing. Dean hated doing nothing. Especially when it came to Sam.

Bobby sighed and shook his head at Dean. What could he expect? The boy was way too protective over his brother for his own good. Bobby understood it, though. He did. That's just how Winchesters were. Family came first, before everything. John proved that much when he died for Dean. And Dean proved it when he sold his soul to bring Sam back to life. Bobby couldn't fight that. So it was better that he'd just tell Dean his theory before the kid decided to get it out of him some other way. "Sam's sick because of his visions. But – "

"Well, duh, I knew that much."

Bobby gave Dean a 'shut the hell up and let me finish' look, causing Dean to immediately shut his mouth, before he continued. "But they're not normal visions." At the look Dean gave him, Bobby allowed himself to glare at the kid a little bit so he wouldn't interrupt him again. "He said the demon was still alive?" Dean nodded. "I think that in some other universe He's not. That's what Sam's seeing. Another universe with you two in it."

"Then how do we fix it?" Dean asked, casting a concerned glance over at his brother.

Bobby shrugged slightly. "Simple. You go to that alternate universe and kill the demon."

-.-.-.-

Haley: I know, confusing. Let –

Dean: Yeah, just a bit.

Sam: Dean, you have a really bad habit of interrupting people.

Haley: ignoring Dean Let me explain a bit. Basically, there's two different universes here. There's the real supernatural universe, which we view every wonderful Thursday night at 9 (8 central) on The CW… Well, in America, at least. That's the universe that I name 'non-au,' where Sam is sick. And then there's the other supernatural universe that follows the story line introduced in the first chapter, which this story was originally based off of. That's the universe where Sam and Dean didn't know each other. But since Sam is getting sick because of visions from this alternate universe, the brothers now need to travel there (to the universe where Sam and Dean didn't know each other) so Sammy can get all un-sick and stuff. I hope that makes sense.

Dean: Is un-sick even a word?

Haley: It is in Haley-land. I love Haley-land. It's a wonderful place, really. With sunshine, daisies, unicorns and lollipops.

Dean: Somehow I don't believe that.

Haley: Yeah, me either. Haley-land's a pretty emo place, actually. But it still has lollipops. Cause lollies are yummy.

Dean: Yeah, sure. Just end the chapter, Haley.

Sam: Don't be a jerk, Dean.

Dean: Bitch.

Haley: Anyway, I must go now. Review or I shall stalk you. Not really. I don't have the money for that. But I'll stalk you with my mind. Big grin! Bye!