Oshea limped, leaning her head against Bobby's chest as he lead her back to the place that they had made their temporary camp. Blood was drying on her side and she had a hand placed over the wounds that the demon's claws had caused. It was a small abandoned home on the edge of the town where Sam and the others had been taken to. Bobby smiled a little at Ella, who was standing on the porch outside. "I found a stray psychic kid. Think she belongs to you." Oshea looked up at Ella.
"Oh, Ella." She said quietly, stepping away from Bobby and limping toward her sister.
Ella touched her sisters arm and pulled her over to where she was standing. "Dean's inside… with Sam…" She murmured quietly.
Oshea released a relieved sigh. "So he's okay? Sam's okay? Dean was able to get to him before my vision came true?"
Tears started to form in Ella's bright green eyes, as she shook her head and looked away, pulling away from Oshea for a moment as she stepped across the porch and leaned against the railing. Oshea frowned as she felt Ella pull away. "Ella… why… why aren't you answering me? What happened? Sam and I got separated…"
"Oshea… Sam's gone. Jake got to him," She said quietly.
Oshea's eyes widened and she brought a hand to her lips, covering her mouth as she shook her head. "No…" She swallowed hard. "How… how is Dean?"
"He's… alive… but he's… not doing too good," She sighed.
Oshea turned toward the building, but she did not go inside. Much as she wanted to see him again, she knew that he was not in the mood for company. Bobby put a hand on her back and propelled her into the house anyway, a bag of food on his other arm. "Come on. Dean's two loves in life, food and girls. Maybe you can breathe some life back into him."
"I don't think he'll want to see me." Oshea stammered.
"Dean," Bobby said, stepping into the dining area of the small home. He sat down the bag of food and started to unpack it onto the table. "Dean, come on, you need to eat something, and you have company."
Dean was sitting in an old wooden chair, staring down at Sam's lifeless body that was laying on an old, ratty mattress in the middle of the dark room. "I'm not hungry." Bobby stopped in the middle of putting out the food and stared at him.
"Dean. You're always hungry, you're a bottomless pit. Come on. I brought pie and a girl. Your psychic friend." He said, giving Oshea a little push in his direction. "Just eat a little something. Sam wouldn't want you to be this way."
"I said, I'm not hungry." he mumbled again.
"Okay, Dean… I know this is probably…. Look, we need to… we need to bury Sam, Dean." Bobby said slowly.
Dean shook his head, still not looking up. "No, not yet…"
"Dean, we have work to do. If we don't do something soon the world is going to end."
Dean jumped up from the chair. "Then let it end!" He shouted at Bobby, his voice echoing in the empty house. Oshea flinched and curled her arms around her chest. Bobby sighed and shook his head.
"Dean, you don't mean that."
"I don't?" Dean said, raising his eyebrows. "You think I haven't paid enough, you think I haven't given enough? I've done all I could… and I'm done, I'm just done…" He stepped up closer to him, glancing over at Oshea and then back at Bobby. "And if you know what's good for you you'll get the hell out of here now."
Bobby stood there, a mixture of sadness and shock on his face.
"GET OUT!" Dean yelled, and then after a moment, he shook his head, "I'm sorry…"
Bobby frowned and sighed. "Well, you know where I'll be…" He muttered, and pulled along Oshea as they walked out of the house.
A while after Bobby and Oshea left the house, Dean remained in the spot he was before, sitting in the chair staring down at Sam's body. The only light in the room was the moonlight from outside the broken window, reflecting onto his face and Sam's body.
"You know, when we were little… you couldn't have been more than five. You just started asking questions. 'How come we didn't have a mom?' 'Why do we always have to move around?' 'Where'd dad go?' He'd take off days at a time…" Dean paused for a moment. "Remember I begged you to quit asking, Sammy, you don't wanna know… I just wanted you to be a kid, just for a little while longer. I always tried to protect you. Keep you safe. Dad didn't even have to tell me.. It was always my responsibility, you know. It's like I had one job… that one job… and I screwed it up." His voice broke and tears welled in his eyes. "I blew it. And for that I'm sorry," a couple of tears escaped from his dark green eyes and he lifted a hand to wipe them away. "I guess that's what I do. I let down the people I love. I let dad down, and now I guess I'm just supposed to let you down too. How can I? How am I supposed to live with that? What am I supposed to do, Sammy? What am I supposed to do?" He inhaled sharply and sat back a moment before standing up and kicking the chair. "WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?"
Oshea was sitting on a stiff, old chair on the front porch, her arms curled around herself. Tears were running silently down her face. "This is my fault." She said, sniffing. "When I… when I had the vision and we couldn't get him on the phone… I should have come and told Dean in person. Maybe this… maybe it wouldn't have happened." Bobby had left, but Oshea had opted to remain behind. She was very worried about Dean, and wanted to make sure that he was going to be alright. She flinched when she heard his muffled yelling and the chair skittering across the floor inside. She closed her eyes and brought a hand to her mouth, covering it to stifle a small sob. Suddenly, she heard footsteps and the door open and slam shut. "Dean?" She opened her eyes and stood up, carefully walking down the building's front steps. "Dean!"
The Impala roared to life and tore down the drive, skidding and going down the dirt road. Oshea took a few steps after it, but there was no way she could follow. "DEAN!"
Back at the house, Oshea was pacing on the porch, pausing every once and a while to turn in the direction of the road, listening for Dean's car. "Dean, where did you go…?" She whispered to herself with a soft sigh. Inside, Sam's eyes suddenly opened and he jerked up in the bed with a gasp. He looked around the room slowly, not knowing where he was or what had happened. The last thing he could remember was walking down the road toward Dean, then a terrible pain, and then nothing. His eyes fell on Ella who was sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Ella?" He whispered.
Ella leapt off of the bed, stumbling backwards, her eyes wide. "SAM?" She backed away against the rotting wall of the house. "Sam… you're alive?"
Sam stood up slowly, grimacing a bit in pain as he walked toward her slowly. "Yeah, yeah… I'm okay. What happened? When did you get here?" He paused and looked around the room again. "Where's Oshea? Is she alright? We got separated back at the ghost town… she was attacked."
Ella did not take her eyes off Sam. "Jake… he stabbed you, right in the back… you were… you were dead…"
Sam's brows furrowed as he watched her. He looked away from her and stepped away toward a mirror, tugging up his shirt and looking over his shoulder at the reflection of his back in the glass. There was a scar on his back from where he had been stabbed. He grimaced and held his shirt with one hand while he brushed his fingertips against the wound with the other hand. "I… I died…?"
Ella stepped forward, standing behind Sam and slowly moved her hands towards the scar and brushing it gently, biting her lip as she hoped it wouldn't hurt him. Sam flinched slightly and closed his eyes, feeling his cheeks darken with a slight blush as he felt her fingers against his bare skin. He let his shirt fall down over the wound and turned to face Ella. "I really… I died?" He swallowed hard then his face grew very serious. "Ella… where is Dean?"
Ella frowned a little. "Well, we thought you were dead, at least… Maybe… maybe we were wrong…" She was quiet for a moment before nodding her head in the direction of the door. "He took off a while ago… He should be back soon…"
Sam swallowed hard, his jaw tight. He cursed and shook his head. "I have to find him." He said, stepping toward the door as quickly as he could.
Ella followed quickly behind him and hurried in front of him, stopping him from going through the door. "Sam… you need to lay down, rest a little. You… you died. Or almost died."
"That's what scares me, Ella. If I did die then how am I back now?" He said darkly. "I am going to find my brother, and when I do…" He let his voice trail off as he moved by her and went through the door onto the porch. "Oshea?" he said, taking the girl's hand to stop her from pacing.
The girl screamed and stiffened, bringing a hand to her lips. "S-Sam…?"
"Yeah, Oshea. It's me. Where is Dean? Did he say where he was going?"
Oshea shook her head. "No… he went driving off in that direction." She said, pointing down the path that the Impala had taken. Sam nodded and started down the front steps.
Just as they were walking down the steps of the abandoned home, the familiar black '67 Chevy Impala pulled up onto the grassy area in front of the house. Dean stepped out of the car, his eyes on the ground, but when he looked up, his eyes widened at Sam. "Sammy… good to see you up and around," he said, scratching the back of his neck a little nervously.
Sam walked carefully down the stairs. "What did you do, Dean?"
"What do you mean, Sammy? I just went to go get us some food," he said, holding up his hand to show him the McDonalds bag he was carrying. "I didn't figure you'd wake up before I got back."
Sam narrowed his eyes, keeping them locked with his brother's. "That's funny. Ella says that I died, and Oshea nearly had a heart attack when I talked to her." He said lowly. "WHAT DID YOU DO, DEAN!" He shouted. He grimaced in pain and closed his eyes, gritting his teeth.
Dean's eyes widened a little and he was quiet for a moment. "I swear Sammy, I didn't do anything. Bobby patched you up and left, and I stayed a little while and then I figured you'd be starving when you woke up, so I went and got us some food. That's it, I swear."
"You can't patch up a wound like this, Dean." Sam said, walking closer toward him. "And what about Ella and Oshea? And there is tons of food getting cold on the table in there." He said, pointing back toward the house. "Untouched food. We would have had plenty… you lie as easily as you breathe… but I really hope you wouldn't lie like this to me… not about something important."
Dean felt like telling him then and there, but he couldn't. Not yet. "Bobby could. And he did. That's the truth."
Sam watched him a long moment then sighed and nodded. "Alright, Dean." He said quietly. "I am kind of hungry." He added, eyeing the bags of food. "Let's eat." He turned his back on his brother and walked back up the steps, going back into the house. Oshea put her hand down on the old banister and walked to Dean.
"Dean… Bobby didn't patch Sam up," She whispered. "Where did you really go?"
Dean looked at the ground. "Like I said… I just went to go food," He said quietly, starting to walk past her into the house. Oshea shook her head and stepped in front of him.
"Dean. I was there, you can't fool me. Sam was dead. Bobby was talking about burying him. You stormed out of the house and you expect me to believe Sam just magically came back from the dead?" She whispered, her brows furrowing.
Dean sighed deeply, turning around and leading her away from the entrance of the house. "Listen… you… you can't tell Sammy. I just… I couldn't let him die. He's my brother."
Oshea sighed and swallowed hard. "You… you made a deal, didn't you?" She whispered sadly. She turned her head away, curling her arms around herself. "How… how long do you have?" Her voice was a little unsteady.
"One year," He said, looking down at the ground.
Oshea gave a little gasp and lifted a hand, covering her mouth as tears gathered in her eyes. "Only a year…?" She whispered weakly, turning to face him.
Dean nodded and then cleared his throat. "We should uh, we should go inside. I got you and Ella something to eat, too."
Oshea shook her head slowly, tilting it down. "You go ahead. I'll be in there in a minute."
Dean nodded his head a bit and then walked into the house.