A/N: Okay, so only four chapters left. I'll be posting two today and then one both tomorrow and Friday to finish up. :-)

Disclaimer: If this were mine, the show would consist of nothing but chick-flick moments and brotherly schmoop. But as it is, Supernatural has a plot. So clearly, it does not belong to me.

AU after episode 7x04

"Um- What now?" Dean choked, hand tightening around the food bag, hunger completely vanished. And that was a real shame because Dean wanted the food.

"If Sam does what they want, he can come back!" she said, eyes wide as if he should understand what she was trying to say. Shockingly enough, he didn't. It all just swirled around in his mind and he kind of hoped that somehow, it'd manage to sort itself out on its own. Because focusing on it, trying to figure it out for himself, would probably make his brain explode.

"What?" That was all he had to say, all he could really think. Because What!?

Kathleen paused, eyes glancing between the two leviathans that had taken a sudden interest in their conversation. "They're opening the doors," she told him, head cocked to the side as if she couldn't understand why he didn't already know this. And that was just great. Dean loved being the last to know. It was a hobby of his. "Y'know, the backdoor entrance to Purgatory. Through the cage?" She paused, as if waiting for him to tell her that Yes! Yes, of course he did! Who didn't know about the freaking backdoor entrance to Purgatory through the cage? Pursing his lips, he just shook his head. Because no, he didn't know and he had no idea what she was talking about.

Vaguely, distantly, he remembered someone telling him that Purgatory was Hell adjacent. Cas? Crowley? It didn't matter. But that person also said that it was almost impossible to access, Hell-adjacent or not.

"One of the doors connecting Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory?" she continued, rolling her eyes at him. "Sam's supposed to get Lucifer to open his side of it."

Oh no.

Oh shit.

Oh no, oh shit.

Yeah. Yeah, okay. Dean could see how Purgatory would be nearly impossible to get to.

For everyone but Lucifer.

And Lucifer was impossible to get to.

For everyone but Sam.

Grabbing the woman by her shoulders, Dean demanded, "What side? Are we talkin' about a joined hotel room situation here? What're they doing?" He heard the two leviathans hiss out a laugh, because to them, this situation was hilarious. So funny. So funny that Dean was about two seconds from tearing their heads off with his bare hands.

"Um... Yeah, I guess? They opened the one on Heaven's side when they were the angel and they opened the two in Purgatory when they were there. They just need Lucifer to open his-"

"Why?" Because Dean had never been known for his patience. And she certainly wasn't talking fast enough.

"Okay! Okay, I'm telling you!" Dean knew he should have felt bad about how freaked out she looked. He would've normally, but nothing about this was normal. And the second she put Sam's life on the line, no matter what the reason, his ability to feel any true, full-out regret for her kind of shorted out. "They're trying to take over. They want to rule not only this planet but Heaven and Hell as well. Kind of a revenge thing for being locked up for so long. They wanna be kings of all."

Well, then. That was quite an explanation. And even as his blood ran cold in his veins, he had to wonder if Heaven and Hell didn't somehow deserve it. Or at least, should have expected this. Because if he had been locked up in Purgatory for however many centuries, just like the leviathans, he would've been pretty pissed too.

"So... what?" he hissed, taking a step back and allowing his hands to fall away from her shoulders. "They're gonna grab your brother's soul out of heaven? Drag him here, is that it?"

It was silent for a moment, just a moment, as she shifted on her feet, raising her chin with an amount of defiance that managed to impress even Dean. "Yes." And he had no idea what to say to that. No idea at all. Because if he had been in her position, he couldn't swear that he wouldn't have done the same thing. In reality, he knew that he would've probably done worse. There was no way he would have held out as long as she had without Sam. And he would have done anything, absolutely anything, to bring him back.

"Little brothers..." he sighed. "They're a constant pain in our ass. And I don't know what it is, what they do to us, but no matter what, we're always gonna jump into Hell for 'em." Always. No matter what. Though in Dean's case, he at least knew that his little brother would do the same for him. And there wasn't a fiber in his body that regretted that. There wasn't a piece of him that wished it to be any different. Sure, he wished that they didn't have to go to Hell so damn often, but he didn't wish that he didn't need Sam. Because without Sam, he wasn't sure who he'd be, but he knew he wouldn't like it.

Running his hand down his face, he took a deep breath because she had to know this was wrong, had to know that the leviathans couldn't do what they said they were going to. "They can't help you, Kathleen. If they take over Heaven? Everyone's gonna die, and then? We're all gonna be trapped as leviathan slaves for the rest of forever. It's not gonna save him."

But he could tell from the set of her jaw that nothing he said was going to make any difference. Because it wouldn't have made any difference to him either. "Just tell your brother not to screw this up or your deaths are going to be more painful than anything either of you felt in Hell," she spat and then she was gone, leaving Dean with a bag of food and a cold, sickness in his stomach.

Glancing at the two leviathans, he pushed the door back open, returning to his prison cell.

"Hey." Dean jumped, realizing that he had been staring at the ground for who knew how long. Probably awhile, saying as his body had started to hurt and his knees had locked. Turning, he found Sam staring at him, heel of his hand digging into his eye as if he had just woken up. "You okay?"

Somehow, Dean managed to muster up a tight smile, crossing the room to sit next to his brother. "Yeah. Everything's fine." The lie was thick on his tongue and he could tell Sam didn't believe him either but he was nice enough not to say anything. Though that may have been because all his attention was suddenly on the greasy bag Dean had dumped between them. "I bear gifts." And honestly, Dean wasn't sure there was any gift better at this point. Well, other than the ability to escape, but that one was kind of obvious.

Pulling his sandwich out, Dean started to unwrap it, not even realizing that Sam was staring at him, making no move towards the food. Though he should have noticed. He was trained to recognize a threat up to fifty feet away, if not farther. He had been trained to register, assess, and target an enemy in any number of conditions, all turning him into the insanely badass, ruggedly handsome hunter he was today.

The fact that he hadn't noticed the threat sitting right next to him was inexcusable.

That was why he suddenly found himself sitting on the ground with a sandwich-less hand and an open mouth where said-sandwich was supposed to have gone. "Hey-! ...Bitch!" he exclaimed, though there was a smile in his voice that even he heard when he found Sam against the opposite wall, taking an exaggerated bite out of his sandwich.

And Dean was going to let it go. He really was. Because he was old and mature and a good person and this was really not the time. But then Sam had to act all of two years old and stick his tongue out at him and... And really? He'd totally asked for it.

So that was why Dean full-on tackled his hysterically laughing brother to the ground.

Once they reached an even playing field, the fight for the sandwich was pretty evenly matched. That was until Sam bit him and licked the sandwich bun. And at that point, it was no longer about the sandwich. It was a matter of principle.

So admittedly Dean cheated and used a move on Sam that he hadn't since his brother was eight and it had been banned by their father.

He tickled him.

And from Sam's indignant squawk, it worked just as effectively now as it had then.

The sandwich fell to the ground, giving Dean the perfect opportunity to bound over him and snatch it from the ground. "Ha!" he shouted, stumbling to his feet and sticking his tongue out at his brother. He could be just as immature as Sam. And he didn't even have to work at it.

Taking a huge, exaggerated, smug bite out of the burger, it wasn't until he met his brother's eyes that he remembered that he had just bitten into a sandwich that not only Sam had eaten but had also been all over a floor that most likely hadn't been cleaned once in its entire existence. And that realization was all it took to have him making retching sounds as he spat it back out, dropping the burger and scraping at his tongue with his hand which he would later register was no cleaner.

But then Sam's hysterical laughter cut through his disgusted haze and sent a warmness running through his chest, chasing away the cold his confrontation with Kathleen had left there. It even chased away, for a moment, the knowledge that they were trapped in a room surrounded by creatures that would rather eat them than do anything else with them at all. "That's what- you get... for bein' a jerk!" Sam said as he gasped for air and Dean smiled, scraping his tongue across his front teeth.

"Wouldn't've had to've if you hadn't been a bitch," he returned but there was no heat, no anger behind the statement and it only had Sam laughing harder, grabbing at his stomach.

Which was perfect because laughter made Sam weak. So Dean grabbed the hamburger off the ground and completely ignored his brother's shouts of denial as he proceeded to try and force-feed him the ruined, completely disgusting sandwich.

The distraction from the deep shit they were in was nice, comfortable. And it made him realize he hadn't felt so at home since he had gotten back from Hell.

When Sam finally called a truce and stomped the burger into oblivion against the ground, a wide smile on his face, Dean knew in that moment that no matter what happened next, they were going to be okay. That his Sammy, the one that bitched about his eating habits and knew more about monster lore than was healthy, the one that knew Dean better than anyone and yet, still trusted him more than anyone, was making a comeback. And that finally, they were on the same page. As long as that was true, they could face anything. They always had and always would. So long as they were together.

"How're we takin' 'em down, Sam?" Dean asked, wiping his hands on his pants. Because they had ruined one hamburger, they had had to split the other one. Not that Dean regretted trashing the first one because yeah, he had eaten some gross stuff before but that was a little extreme, even for him.

"Hm?" Sam asked, licking the juice off of his hand and a thought started to poke at the front of Dean's mind. Why wasn't Sam freaking out? Why was he able to eat a hamburger when just a few days ago, he couldn't even look at bacon? Why was he here, laughing and joking around, when a few days ago, he couldn't even look at Dean without screaming his head off?

And Dean wanted to just pass if off as Lucifer having found something else to occupy his time, but the fact that Sam could miraculously stand to be around him, that he had miraculously started getting better the second Dean had taken off to hunt down the leviathans, raised warning flags. Many of them. In bright colors. Specifically shades of red and orange.

"The big mouths," Dean clarified, wishing that Kathleen had included fries in her peace offering. "Kathleen has a habit of spilling secrets and making lives generally miserable so I know all about what the things are doing. My questions is what are we doing?"

Sam sighed, tossing the sandwich wrapper into the bag. "You are going to get the hell out of here," he said, pulling his knees into his chest. And Dean found himself replaying the words in his mind, just to make sure he fully grasped the amount of stupid coming out of his brother's mouth.

"Um... what?" Huh. Second time he had said that in the last four hours.

Shaking his head, swiping his bangs from his eyes, Sam continued, "When things start to go bad, they're gonna get pissed. And they're gonna make sure you get caught in the crossfire." Sam turned to face him, smoothing his hands down his shirt. "So right when things start goin' wrong, they're gonna be distracted and you are going to run."

"What- No," Dean growled, half-offended that Sam would even think he would think about doing that, that he would even consider that as an option. Because it wasn't. Nothing about that was even vaguely a possibility.

"Look, I've already talked to Bobby. He knows what's going down. We have it all planned and he's gonna get me out... Maybe. But you can't be here-"

"No, Sam," he interrupted, turning away from his brother, staring straight ahead at the door. And that was all he was going to say on the matter because it should have been so painfully clear to Sam that it wasn't even funny. It wasn't though, clear or funny. And Dean figured that was probably his fault.

But his brother just seemed content to keep talking. "Dean-"

"No." He turned back, twisting so that his shoulder was pressed against the hard, concrete wall. "How many times do I have to say it to get it through your abnormally thick skull? We're in this together. I know I've screwed up bad. I know I've-" Broken you, but he didn't say that. Instead, he swallowed, continuing, "But it's you and me against the world. In no universe would I ever leave you here." Sam stared at him, jaw working, searching for something to say, maybe something that would make this okay again. Finally, his gaze fell to his lap, hands twisting in the hem of his shirt.

"You and me against the world," he repeated quietly, unsure, as if he couldn't believe that Dean even remembered what that meant. Which wasn't okay because this was the one thing Dean was sure of. Other things, like if they were going to come out of this alive, he wasn't so sure of. But the fact that they were in this together? There was no question.

"Always." Because that was the way it was always going to be, the way it always should have been. And he wasn't going to let anything change that. "So you're gonna cut the crap and tell me what we're doing."

It was quiet for a moment until a small smile pulled at Sam's lip, a real one, strong and reckless. And that spark of defiance started to burn deep in his eyes, the one Dean had been so sure he had killed.

Looking up at Dean, satisfaction filling his voice, Sam said, "I'm only supposed to open one door, the one to Purgatory. So Hell and Heaven connect to Purgatory and Purgatory connects here. What they don't know is that I can yank open the door connecting Hell to here and that Michael can order his angels to open the door from Heaven to here."

Swallowing thickly, Dean pushed his hand through his hair. "Um... okay. What does that mean?"

Sam's smile widened, a dangerous edge to it that Dean couldn't help but mimic. "We're gonna open all the doors. And we're gonna tear this place to shreds."

A/N: Hope this whole thing isn't too disappointing. Next chapter will be up soon!