Even while struggling under Bobby's weight, Sam barely noticed it. The physical weight was nothing compared to wondering how badly Bobby was really hurt and what was being done to Dean right now. He should never have left his brother.

As useless as it was, in his mind he was already playing how he could have done it differently, but they'd had to get Bobby out and he'd had every reason to believe that Dean had been right. One demon with Dean should have meant a pile more with Bobby and him, but they'd made it out of the house and no one had so much as tried to stop them.

Bobby was walking on his own two feet, but just barely. Most of his weight was on Sam, which made the progress through the woods awkward and slow. Even though he couldn't see anyone following them, it didn't mean that no one was. Walking out down the long, narrow private drive hadn't been an option. At least they'd managed to find some less dense areas of the woods to move through. It made the walking a little easier and made their path more difficult to follow since they weren't leaving crushed vegetation in their wake.

"We're almost there," Sam assured Bobby when the primer splotched hood of the hidden car finally came into view.

He'd yet to hear Bobby say a word, which only had him all the more worried, but he didn't push Bobby to talk. Despite the fact that he looked terrible, Bobby was moving okay so Sam was pretty sure that Bobby was just conserving energy. Either that or he was as busy trying to figure this out as Sam was.

This wasn't the first time he'd left Dean with the thing they were hunting, but demons in general were a whole different thing. His brother also wasn't even close to all there and they had already established that these demons were up to something more than the usual. If Dean didn't get himself killed it would be a miracle and Sam was praying for one of those right now.

He still half wondered if getting killed was Dean's intent. It was hard not to think that considering his brother's words and actions lately, but really he knew Dean wasn't actually suicidal, not even close. His brother was just way too willing to sacrifice himself because he thought he was already dead.

When they reached the car Sam found himself wishing for the cumbersome Impala he had been cursing last night. The junky little coupe he was staring at right now didn't have anywhere spacious to let Bobby lay down. It would have to do for now. Awkwardly Sam pulled the door open and tried to help maneuver Bobby into the cramped passenger seat.

"Stop fussing with me, will ya?" Bobby finally grumbled. His voice was ragged, but it was a relief to hear it. "Go get your brother."

He wouldn't have liked the idea of leaving Bobby if the man wasn't covered in blood, but Bobby's shirt was soaked with his own blood. Sam had never seen Bobby hurt, not like this and it was difficult for him to turn his worried eyes away.

"Bobby...you sure you're okay?"

"I've had worse. Go on now."

Even before he could turn to leave Bobby had pulled out another couple hidden bottles of holy water. Bobby tossed one to Sam and clutched the other in his own unsteady hand. It was more than Dean had and it was pretty clear that the demons didn't actually want Bobby. If the demon would do this to Bobby, Sam didn't want to think what they'd do to his brother.

"And Sam..."

"Yeah, Bobby?"

"Watch yourself, kid."

Sam nodded before turning and sprinting back through the woods. Without having to support Bobby he closed the distance back to the mansion in a fraction of the time. He nearly hit the clearing before he realized that he wasn't as alone as he thought. Suddenly he dropped down, ducking behind some of the denser vegetation. The gaudy building was completely surrounded by police.

He had heard the sirens in the distance. Vaguely in the background he'd heard cars heading down the road, but he hadn't been paying enough attention to realize that the cars had been filing down the private drive. They'd had enough going on with the demons. He hadn't honestly thought there was anyway the cops could have followed them here.

It took him a moment to realize that his cell phone was ringing. Quickly he rummaged through his pocket and flipped it out. He moved back deeper again into the woods before talking.

"Dean? What's going on? Where are you?"

"I don't know...one question at a time!" Dean called back over the phone. "Sam, I can't get out of here."

Dean was scared. His brother was too panicked to even try to hide it and that screamed worlds of bad to Sam. Dean had almost twenty years of training and fighting under his belt. They were stuck in some kind of nasty situation on every day that ended with 'y' so it wasn't often they found their way into a situation that one of them couldn't at least think of possible ways out of.

On the few occasions that it did happen Dean stopped thinking and switched to acting impulsively. His brother needed to feel like he had some level of control over a situation. When that fell through Dean could get stupid in an attempt to recover that control.

"Are you still inside?" Sam asked. He prayed like hell that the answer was no.

"Yeah. All the doors are sealed. I'm going to have to wait until the cops bust in and try to fight out."

And there came the stupid. Only his idiot brother could look out the window, see a force of armed officers that obviously knew they were surrounding one of the FBI's most wanted and think that coming out guns blazing was a viable plan.

But he knew that even Dean didn't think it was a good idea and it wasn't one his brother would begin to consider if he was at his side. By the tone of Dean's voice, he was just so desperate that he saw it as the only option, which meant Sam had about thirty seconds to come up with an alternative that didn't end in Dean dying today.

"No! Dean, don't even think about it. Have you looked outside?"

"Sam, go. Take Bobby and go somewhere I'd never look for you. These guys get a hold of me and I'm going to sing like a freakin' canary. Damn it!"

Sam was kicking himself for not having thought about that first thing. That was why Dean was freaking out. He couldn't play games with the cops and FBI like he had before, anything they asked he would tell them. He'd sell out his own brother without being able to stop himself though he'd probably come off as so many kinds of crazy that no one would believe him anyway, which was just going to make things all the worse for Dean.

"Don't go back to the hotel. Don't drive my car...but keep her safe," Dean continued. "I'm going to try to find a back window..."

"Dean, stop. The house is surrounded. There's no way out."

"Thanks so much for the pep talk Mr. Obvious!" Dean's annoyed sarcasm melted back into carefully controlled distress that would have fooled anyone else, but not Sam. "This place is full of cameras. Strieter...I kinda shot him. A lot."

"You shot the guy?"

"I wasn't aiming for the guy. I was aiming for the damn demon! I think the demons cut the power so this guy could go all black smoke without it ending up on the video. I knew he wanted me to shoot his ass and I didn't give a crap..."

"Okay...just calm down, Dean...oh man."

All the other serious charges could have maybe sort of been construed as circumstantial. Even the stuff at the parking lot, was at least weird, but if Dean had blown away this guy in front of the man's own security camera the FBI wouldn't have any trouble pinning the rest on Dean.

"Tell me about it. I might have screwed every damn thing up, but I don't wanna get locked away."

"I know, and you won't. I won't let you, but there's way too many of them to fight."

"If you got a better plan, I'm listening."

"Getting yourself killed isn't a plan. You have to surrender."

"That's your great plan? Screw that. I'd rather spend my last year dead than behind bars dropping the soap for Tiny's evil twin."

Sam rubbed his forehead, but only gave himself a split second to contemplate the complete stupidity of Dean's statement. His brother might be ready to die, but Sam wasn't ready to let him and he wasn't going to stand here and watch his brother be taken out in a hail of gunfire. Not by humans. Not after everything they'd been through. Dean wasn't dying like this.

"Just let them, Dean. You have to let them take you."

"No, I don't. Sorry, Sammy."

"Wait! If they pick you up, Bobby and I can get you out. If you go all Bonnie and Clyde now you're going to hell."

"Right. My FBI's most wanted brother and his accomplice will make a super lawyer team. It's eternal hellfire any way I flip the coin, Sam. How I get there is the only choice I've got left."

He had no doubt that right now Dean didn't have that big of a problem with walking out of that house and getting shot full of lead. As long as it felt like a fight Dean probably thought it was better than waiting around for death to come snatch him up itself.

For Dean it probably was, but what his brother didn't get was that it wouldn't be a fight. It would only be a firing squad. The bigger thing Dean was missing was that this wasn't his last year. Not if Sam had anything to say about it.

"They're just humans and I'm a damn good shot," Dean added.

Dean obviously knew what Sam was thinking. Of course he always did. He was trying to spin it like there was a chance of him getting out, but Dean knew as well as him that he'd get one shot before every officer out there rightfully opened fire on him. The only difference between how they saw the situation was that Dean didn't care how it ended.

They both also knew that Dean wouldn't even take that first shot. Not because he wasn't physically able, but because Dean did everything he could to save lives. There was a hell of a long shot between shooting an attacking demon wearing a human that was maybe already dead and shooting a man that was just human. Dean wouldn't do it. No matter what the FBI thought, his brother would never shoot a man in cold blood.

"Are you even listening to yourself? Even if they just stood there waiting for you to shoot them you don't have that many bullets. Do you even have any bullets left?"

"No," his brother admitted. "But I think I can get close enough to grab one of their guns before they kill me."

"Dean, if you don't promise me that you're walking out of there I'm going over and turning myself in."

"You stay away from this."

"Then walk out. You try anything stupid and I'm calling Henricksen myself."

"Just give me a freakin' minute here, Sam!"

Dean was in full freak out mode. He didn't have to see his brother to know that he was waving a gun around as he paced through the hallways of the mansion. This was no way that this ended well for anyone involved. These cops were wrong about most...well, at least the major things Dean was being accused of, but they weren't wrong about one thing. Compared to normal civilians, as Dean liked to call them, his brother was about as dangerous as they came.

While he usually wasn't a homicidal maniac when it came to humans, when push came to shove Dean was far more deadly than most of those maniacs. Especially when he was armed. His big brother was not someone that you wanted to corner on a good day and right now Dean already had the ugliest kind of death sentence on his head. In his mind, Dean didn't have anything to lose. While Dean might stand to lose nothing, Sam stood to lose everything if Dean made the wrong move here.

"Dean, come on, man. Don't do this to me," Sam practically pleaded.

There was nothing but dead air on the other end of the phone for so long that Sam had almost thought that Dean had hung up.

"Dean?"

"Yeah...okay," his brother replied reluctantly. "Couldn't go all Clyde without my Bonnie, right?" The sincerity in the meaning behind the words twisted at Sam's heart. "Clyde was a total douchebag anyway."

A sad smile crept across Sam's lips. "Yeah, he was," he agreed. "But I hear that Dean Winchester guy is pretty cool."

"Shut up." But he could hear the slight smile in Dean's voice.

"Dean, I'll find you. I promise."

"Don't worry about it. What's one year of hell on earth compared to an eternity of the real thing anyway, huh?" Dean's dry chuckle wasn't fooling either of them. Not even Dean's own brain was buying it because the statement was quickly prefaced with the truth. "Can't think of much worse...you bitch. The things I do for you."

Sam would have smiled again if he hadn't heard the defeat in Dean's voice. Even if Dean hadn't said it Sam would have known that there wasn't a worse thought for his brother.

In Dean's mind he had less than one year left to live and Dean was pretty clear on how he wanted to spend that year. Dean wanted that year to be one big party surrounded by food, booze, women and what family he had left. And fighting. Lots of fighting. Dean needed to go down fighting and he needed to be with what was left of his family, not locked up in isolation in some maximum security prison.

If Dean ended up in hell, he'd storm the gates to get him out. At least prison was an easier opponent. There was no way he was letting Dean walk out of that house thinking that this was the last time they were talking.

"I'm going to get you out."

"Yeah, about that. Do me a favor."

"What?"

"Don't."

"Don't what?"

"Don't come after me. Just leave it alone. You and Bobby got bigger fish to fry."

"Not happening."

"You don't want me to go out in a blaze of glory? Fine. Whatever. It all ends the same way anyway, but buying me a few extra free months isn't exactly priority here, Sam. I couldn't stop that gate from being opened, but I'm not going have you wasting your time trying to save my damned soul while people that didn't have a thing to do with opening that gate are being slaughtered."

"It's not an either or, Dean."

"The few months you could buy me compared to all the innocent lives you could save in that time. No competition. Just go kill some sorry demon sons of bitches for me."

What bothered Sam about Dean's words wasn't just that he was saying them, but the fact that he knew in his hearts of hearts that it was what Dean believed. He wasn't speaking anything but the truth. It wasn't a cover just to get Sam to stay out of trouble. Dean really thought he should be left there until hell came for him.

"What do you expect me to do?"

"Whatever you do, don't do anything I'd do."

"I'm not going to just forget about you."

"How could you? I'm totally unforgettable...I'm just not worth it." Sam didn't have a chance to protest before Dean cut him off again. "Well, it's been a real blast, Sammy."

"Dean...Dean!" Sam hissed into the phone, but his brother had already hung up. "Damn it!"

Sam shoved the phone back into this pocket and moved back to the forest's edge. He crouched down and watched the front door anxiously. The SWAT team had arrived while he'd been talking to Dean and they obviously didn't plan on messing around. If they had feed from the security cameras in the house they didn't have any reason to wait for Dean to surrender. He had figured as much, that's why he'd known an extended stand off wasn't an option. Dean didn't have any collateral to hold them back with.

"Come on, Dean," Sam pleaded under his breath.

Less than a minute later there was a commotion at the front door. He could just barely make out the shouting coming from the house.

"I'm coming out. Don't shoot!" Dean yelled from inside.

Even Sam wasn't sure if he believed Dean was really just going to walk out so he sure couldn't blame the cops for looking unconvinced.

There were too many guns aimed at that front door. If just one of those officers got jumpy there wouldn't be any getting out of the way. Sam held his breath as Dean and the cops continued to shout at each other.

He could only make out pieces from where he was, but it was going on for too long. The longer the talking went on the higher the chances of Dean saying something stupid enough that the cops would shoot.

Finally the front door pushed opened slowly. Sam let out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding when he saw Dean walk out. Like Dean had promised, he came out unarmed with his hands locked behind his head. Sam barely caught a full glimpse of his brother before the police descended down on him.

In an instant Dean was forced down onto the front steps. It took every bit of resistance Sam had to just stand there and watch his overwhelmed brother be pinned down and cuffed with guns trained on him. He didn't have to see Dean's overly expressive eyes to visualize the pained defiance that was no doubt in them now. Sam prayed he was right about this.

----

Why the hell had he listened to Sam? As far as plans went this one sucked. Dean wasn't about to claim that his had been all that much better. It wasn't like he had a death wish and he sure didn't want to go to hell, but tough luck. He had already booked a one way, nonrefundable ticket.

The problem was that he and Sam weren't looking at this the same way. He was sure in his dense brother's head it had been a choice between him living or dying. But whether or not Sam liked it, he was already as good as dead. The choice was just between whether he got to go out like a man with half a chance or be locked away until the reaper came a knocking.

If he hadn't been so sure that Sam had a clear view from wherever the hell he was hiding, he would have done it his own way. Truth be told, it was a bit of a fantasy of his. The fantasy had never ended in him dying, but real life was a bitch. And he was a sucker.

He'd do damn near anything Sam asked. From the second that kid brother of his could talk, even before, Sam had Dean wrapped around his finger. Thankfully Sam had never fully figured that one out. Hell, as wrong as it sounded, Sam was practically his son as much as he was his brother.

His brother didn't see it that way and Dean got that. He and Sam might have been by each other's side for nearly all of their growing up, but they hadn't lived it from the same point of view. Dean had made sure of that. That was why Sam would never understand why he was like he was. He didn't need him to. He didn't even want him to.

Since Mom had died only one of them had ever been the kid. Sam had been the one that had needed to be protected and cared for. Sometimes Dad had needed someone to care for him as much as Sam had. That had only left one of them to make it happen. He'd given everything he had to make it happen, but in the end he'd let it all go to hell. Literally. So, yeah, he was tired.

All he had wanted to do was get in a little fun before he got sucked into the pit, but he wasn't going to make Sam watch him get shot to pieces if his brother couldn't wrap his mind around what was really happening here. Sam had wanted him to walk into the arms of the cops so he did it and as soon as the cuffs clicked tight around his wrists he was done.

Some of the excessive number of officers that had rushed him backed off and a couple stayed to haul him to his feet and read him his rights. One familiar, self-satisfied face was waiting beside one of the cars for him. It was the cop from last night. If that guy, who had only just met him, was so damn giddy he couldn't wait to see Henricksen's face.

"Dean Winchester...and here they said you were unstoppable."

"You can wipe that smug ass smirk off your face. You got my brother to thank for this."

"I really do. I wasn't sure when I saw you in that bar, but I heard your brother shouting 'Dean' in the parking lot. I don't believe in coincidences, 'Agent'. Then you left everything we needed to verify your identity at the scene of the crime. For such a slippery criminal you're one sloppy little prick."

"Not usually, but we were a little busy with the demons."

"The only demon in that parking lot last night was you. I'm never gonna forgive myself for not having grabbed you at that bar. To think how many people would still be alive if I hadn't hesitated."

"Look, man, I'm sorry those people are dead. I really am, but I was just trying to protect my family."

"Heads up kid, most people don't break every federal law this country has and go around murdering and torturing innocent civilians to 'protect' their families."

"Yeah, well, most people don't have to. Welcome to my world."

With a sharp tug on his arms and a guiding hand on his head, the officer pushed him into the back of the squad car. Dean settled into the back, keeping his eyes staring straight ahead at nothing until the officer spoke again.

"The feds were right. You're a regular cutup."

Dean raised his brows to the man. "Oh you ain't heard nothing yet."

"Save it for the confession."

----

Bobby hadn't been able to focus his pain muddled mind enough to place the vehicle noises until Sam had gone. Now he could hear the cars speeding towards Dean's location. No good was going to come of anyone else getting involved in this. It was too late to call after Sam without drawing attention to the boy, so his only option was to hope the kid was paying attention.

This was a royal mess and Bobby still didn't understand the full of it. The demons had wanted Dean to come after them. That was all he got. Why they hadn't just picked the boy up in the parking garage, he couldn't figure, but he was sick with worry thinking what it could all mean.

He'd mostly stopped the bleeding of the biggest gash in his arm when he finally saw the top of Sam's head coming back this way. The relief flooded through him until he saw the kid's devastated face. A moment later he realized Sam had come walking back alone and Bobby's stomach dropped out.

"Where's Dean?" Bobby asked. Sam just collapsed into the driver's seat next to him. The kid wouldn't even look at him. "Sam?"

"They took him, Bobby."

"The demons?"

"The cops. I made him surrender and they took him away."

Bobby looked in confusion to the boy that was still looking everywhere but at him. Sam's statement of making his brother surrender just didn't make any sense. Between all the trouble they got into and the worry they caused, these boys were going to be the death of him. Some things were worth dying for and these boys ranked at the top of his list.

"You two met up again and the cops only took him? You sure they were human?"

"Yeah, they were human...I think, but I didn't meet up with Dean. He um...he just called to say goodbye."

He heard the pain in Sam's words and felt it in his own heart as he processed what was being said. No question what Dean had been thinking, but what that kid thought and what was going to happen were two completely different things. They weren't letting Dean rot in some jail cell. He and Sam both knew that so there was no point sitting around and thinking about it.

"And that's what you're going to let him do?"

Sam shook his head and seemed to pull out of his dark thoughts. "No. Of course not."

"Then get your ass in gear, kid. We got a lot of work to do if we're going to save that idiot brother of yours."