"Hey Dean?"

Dean looked up from watching Sam sleep. "Yeah?"

Kevin rubbed his hand over his face, concealing a yawn. "I think I found something. Something in the tablet about the Trials."

"Dude, have you slept?" Dean looked at Kevin in concern. He was starting to look almost as bad as Sam.

Shrugging, Kevin turned into the other room. "I've been busy."

Dean decided to let it drop and leaned over the desk to look at the angel tablet. "So, what did you find?"

"It's not good."

"Kevin."

Kevin sighed. "Sam's going to die."

Dean froze. No. Sam couldn't die, he'd made sure that wouldn't happen. Sam had stopped the Trials, he was in the clear. "But, I thought…"

"Sam would have died if he'd have finished the Trials, but he'll die even quicker now that he's refused to finish them. And it'll hurt."

Abruptly standing, Dean marched away from Kevin and sat next to his brother. He looked down at Sam, seeing the gaunt face and shadowed eyes, the sheen of sweat that never left his skin. Sam was dying. And there was nothing Dean could do to stop it.

"Shit." Dean took Sam's hand. "Shit, Sammy…I'm sorry. I can't stop this."

Tears were choking Dean, but he cleared his throat and fought through them. "I tried, Sammy. God knows I tried to stop it coming to this. I just…I never thought you'd be the one leaving me. I always thought I was gonna get myself killed saving your ass. Because that's what I was supposed to do. Take care of Sammy, Dean. Take care of your little brother. That's what Dad always said. But I can't…"

The tears had spilled down Dean's cheeks, but he didn't care. The words were flowing out of him; things he'd been meaning to admit for so long.

"I can't stop this, Sam. I want to. I'd give anything for it to be me right now, not you. I don't know how I'm gonna do this…with you…"

Dean's voice left him. He couldn't say it. He and Sam had always depended on each other, they'd always been scarily co-dependant, and he couldn't find it in him to admit that Sam was dying. That this time he wouldn't come back.

"I love you, Sammy. I know I never said it before, but I do. You're my brother. You're everything that matters, always have been."

Sam breathed shallowly, unaware that Dean was so close to breaking. Unaware that one delayed breath would send Dean over the edge.

But Dean knew. Knew that he was barely holding it all in. Knew that if Sam died, he would lose it, and never get it back.