Supernatural does not belong to me, although I wish it did. I am simply playing in Kripke's sandbox for a bit. All rights and ownership are the property of Kripke and the CW network. I am not making any money from this; it is for my own personal pleasure.

Synopsis: Set at the start of Season One, Dean had been in a wheelchair since his father disappeared more than a year ago and he finally has to tell Sam… There'd been an accident that night and Dean had paid a very high price…one he still doesn't understand. The story will have some hunts from season one and possibly into season two…the brothers will continue their search for their father…there will be alterations to the hunts to accommodate Dean's new situation. I have every intention of returning Dean to good health before this ends…but getting there is going to be bumpy.

Please keep in mind that I do not have a Beta, so all grammatical errors are my own. Not Slash. Brotherly love and Angst only…

Please Review: They keep me motivated. Also thank you to any reviewers that are 'guests' since I cannot PM and you guys personally.

Chapter 22

Sam, Why didn't you tell Me

They were standing…well, Dean was sitting…and the rest of them were standing outside an old abandoned warehouse just off the waterfront in Portland. The sun was setting in a spectacular display of oranges and reds coloring a slowly darkening sky. The rain was falling in an almost mist-like manner. Not really drops but certainly enough to get you wet if you remained outside for too long. The Impala was parked up the block, so it wouldn't be quite so noticeable by the men they were here to kill.

Dean looked over at his brother, and the worried expression that seemed to be plastered onto his usually jovial face, was still there and had been since they'd left the motel for this place. Absent since they'd left the motel and met up with their father earlier. He thought to himself. Bobby hadn't been any keener about having John involved in this attempt to stop fate, than Dean…but Sam had overruled them all and decided they had to have the man involved. Somehow he was instrumental in getting Dean out of the ritual or spell, whatever it was they were here to stop, alive. And if that meant that they would be able to heal the elder Winchester brother…and get the demons out of their lives…then that was what had to happen. Because the alternative was simply unthinkable.

Dean looked down at his silver pearl handled Taurus that was currently tucked down next to his hip and then his eyes were lifting to look up at his father. "So…what do I need to do?" He asked finally as he allowed his green gaze to flicker from the oldest Winchester to the youngest one. Sam's eyebrows were furrowed together, almost like he was in physical pain, as he waited quietly for an answer as well. Dean knew Sam wasn't at all happy about this development…but they didn't know any other way to help his brother. And unfortunately, Sam also knew that the demons weren't going to leave him and Dean alone until they dealt with the multitude of balls that their father had set into motion more than a year ago…maybe longer. But whether not they were being forced into this plan… certainly didn't mean that Sam was happy about this proposed solution…and he was going to do everything in his power to ensure that if someone had to pay a price here…it wasn't going to be his brother. Dean had already paid enough for all of them…he didn't owe anything more to this crazy crusade that John had been on since the night Mary died…and eventually culminating in this meeting tonight.

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Sam stood silently in a corner, hidden by the sheer lack of light in the large room. His muscles were coiled like a cobra ready to strike and still couldn't believe that it had come to this…that he'd allowed those bastards to tie his brother down…to incapacitate him and lay him out on that stone slab like a sacrificial lamb. There were candles in a multitude of colors surrounding the prostrate form of his brother. Small bones from, what Sam could only assume were other sacrifices, encircling Dean. Four witches total were surrounding the black stone alter, their hands raised as one in particular looked almost hungrily at the incapacitated man. Dean's legs were tied down…yeah, because he couldn't move them anyways, so why waste the rope? Sam's head shot at him as he struggled to remain in place.

He watched as one of the witch's stepped up next to the table, he's been the one to trace the charcoal symbols onto Dean's naked chest and was now laying something that Sam couldn't quite recognize from his angled position, next to his brother. It glinted in the low light and Sam caught his breath as he bit down on his lower lip to keep from yelling out a warning to his unconscious brother. The witch was talking in a low voice to the other three, things that Sam couldn't hear…and he was sure that what they were saying was somehow very important. He strained further…hoping to catch any relevant pieces of information.

His father and Bobby had come in through separate entrances and he was praying to every god that he knew of that they wouldn't be too late to save Dean. They had figured that an attack from several points would have the most chance of success. But as he watched the witch pick up the blade he suddenly wondered if they maybe should have simply gone in using old World War I tactics…full frontal assault. They had allowed Dean to be seen and then captured…and that been some of the scariest moments in Sam's young life…watching the witch hit his brother with a spell. Dean had slumped in his chair and then slipped to the floor as his muscles gave way to inactivity.

It was currently taking every ounce of self-control at an almost cellular level within Sam's body to not rush head long into that room and simply kill the witches and save Dean. But he knew that this was the only way to trap or kill the demon and get Dean's back repaired…and then maybe…just maybe….they could move past this…move on with their lives. His worried eyes flickered as the witch started the trace the patterns into Dean's skin with the glinting dragon blade…blood running in rivulets down the sides of Dean's chest and his flanks. The witch was now chanting and the strange green light, from Sam's vision, had begun to twist itself through and around Dean's body, his muscles repairing themselves, reflecting what they had been…before the whole spell inside that damn cabin had nearly killed him. One of witches turned suddenly and looked directly where Sam was hiding and smiled…and there was nothing friendly about that smile…it was cruel and evil and laced in humor.

"Time to come out from the shadows Sam." The man called as his brown gaze shifted to where Sam was currently hiding. Even though he'd seen this in a vision and he had known that he would have to be involved in the actual ceremony…it still scared the shit out of him. What if he wasn't able to save his brother? What if he simply wasn't strong enough?

Sam inched out from where he'd been hiding and the feeling of helplessness was even worse than he'd imagined…being out in the open…seeing his brother lying splayed out and ready to be killed in a ritual that would send his undeserving soul straight to hell and give demons a level of power that they should never have. "You knew that it would come to this Sam…the visions would have 'shown' you that." The witch tilted his head and smiled at the youngest Winchester as he continued to carve bloody sigils into his older brother's chest. "You didn't think we knew about that…did you? Sam…we've know what you would become the whole time…since that night in your nursery twenty-two years ago…the visions were just the only way to get you to see it…but him…he isn't important other than using his soul as a spring board." he pointed at Dean with a bloody blade and then raised an eyebrow. "He can't be a part of this Sam…Dean has to go, it's just that simple…his usefulness is done once he dies on this table." The words were pouring out of the witch and they were twisting around inside of Sam's head like a snake…and evil snake that wanted him to kill his brother.

"What the hell are you talking about you fucking freak?" Sam said tightly through clenched teeth, he pulled his own curved blade and looked at the witch through narrowed eyes. His breathing was increasing as he watched Dean's eyelids start to flutter…shit…he was waking up…and that means this night was either almost over…or just getting started. That wasn't in the vision…he wasn't supposed to wake up until the yellow eyed demon showed up.

"I think you know what I'm talking about Sammy." The witch purred as the others shifted so that they were between Sam and Dean.

"You don't get to call me that." Sam managed through his gritted teeth. His anger rising rapidly to the surface that this bastard thought that he had the right to call Sam by Dean's brotherly name. "Let him go." Sam said in low voice.

"Now Sam…I think we both know that isn't going to happen. Either you finish this, or I will and trust me when I say that your way will be far less painful for your brother." To prove his point he raised the blade and drug it down Dean's chest…over the scar from the Bender's, reopening the large wound and causing blood to simply cascade across Dean's pale flesh. Sam sucked in a breath as he watched the witch start into what now was simply torture…for Sam's benefit…not because of the ritual. "All you have to do is finish the ritual and this will all be over Sam." He was very careful in how he said the youngest Winchester's name. "And either you finish this…or…" he let the last part of the threat hang in the air between them.

"No! Stop." Sam cried out as the witch lifted the blade again. Fine. I'll do it…just stop hurting him." His eyes were watery as he tried to move his frozen feet.

The man stepped back into the shadows and watched with interest as Sam stepped up next to the alter, his blue-green gaze inching up and down the sigils carved into Dean's flesh…the wounds were healing even as he watched. He raised the curved blade….his hands shaking badly as he stared at his older brother…the same brother that had almost literally given his entire childhood for Sam. Nausea rose inside of him and flew up his throat as he looked down at Dean and then his hands started shaking even harder, if that was possible, as he watched his brother's eyelids begin to slowly inch open and the confused green of Dean's eyes was suddenly looking at him. "Sammy…?" His brother's deep gravelly voice floated up from the table where he was looking up at the dragon blade angled directly for his chest. He'd known that there was something that Sam hadn't been telling him…some part of this particular vision that Sam hadn't been telling them about…and apparently this had been it. "It's okay Sammy…I understand…" he said quietly and turned his eyes away from his little brother. Dean didn't want to make this any harder on Sam than it had to be…but at least this way they could stop the whole ritual…he knew that Sam's involvement meant that their plan was working. A of him knew that this was the way it had to be, that he needed to convince the witch that Sam would betray and kill him…but a small part buried deep inside him, one that he would deny even existed, thought there was simply no way that that could be true.

Sam couldn't believe that he was hearing his brother tell him that it was okay to kill him. He gulped down the swelling emotions inside himself and plunged the blade down…it slammed into the alter next to Dean and the thing cracked in half…spilling Dean's body onto the floor as Sam scrambled to try and catch his brother before he hit the ground. And then all hell broke loose, the witches scrambled forward to try and take out both the boys before they could ruin this spell…Bobby and John came out from the shadows…and Sam felt a blade go to his neck. The cold steel pressing into the soft skin so hard that he felt a trickle of blood run down and soak into the material of his shirt.

"SAM!" a voice from the darkness called frantically and his father lurched forward just as Bobby crashed through the other side of the room, like a bull in a china shop. The witch had scrambled up behind Sam and before John or Bobby could stop him, he moved the silver knife from Sam's neck and plunged the blade deep into Sam's back. A strangled cry escaped Sam's lips as he felt the burning sensation race along his nervous system.

The long curved silver blade sank to its hilt and the witch twisted it for good measure…severing Sam's spinal cord and causing the young man's legs to buckle beneath him. Sam crashed to his knees…never seeing the fatal blow as his father plunged a blade that was specially made, one that was supposed to be able to kill demons into the witch. This blade had been molded out of an ancient cross that he had melted down and then had sigils etched into the blade and several other spells spoken by Missouri as it cooled. The brilliant yellow light flashed from the wound as the witch's eyes shifted to black and he tossed his head back as the lightning flickered through the hole and the demon died. Two of the other witches also died almost instantly as Bobby managed to catch them from behind…but the yellow eyed demon…he wasn't among the dead.

Dean's eyes shot to Sam…where he'd just been stabbed by the blade that had been meant to take his life in the ritual. Dean could finally feel his legs…yet it seemed such a hollow victory… and as much as he wanted to celebrate that fact, he found himself lurching up onto his knees and then crawling on all fours across the dirty floor as Sam started to fall forward. Dean reared up onto his knees catching Sam before he could face plant on the dirty cement of the warehouse.

"Sam!?" He cried, anguish filling every syllable as Dean felt the heavy weight of his brother settle against his chest. He reached up and ran his fingers through his brother's hair and tried to hold up his head as it fell forward onto his chest…his own dying muscles unable to hold it up any longer. Dean wrapped his arms firmly around his brother, holding onto him as he prayed that this wasn't happening, and his left palm landed on the wet spot in the small of Sam's back…where Sam'd been stabbed…and his own heart nearly stopping when he realized exactly where the wound was. Dean's heart trying to deny something that his mind already knew was fact…this was a fatal wound.

"It's gonna be okay Sam…I'm gonna take care of you…that's what I'm here for right? Take care of my pain in the ass little brother." Dean was rambling…he knew he was…but he couldn't stop the words from tumbling out his mouth as he simply held Sam's dying body. Because this couldn't have happened…he didn't just lose Sam. He couldn't accept that he'd failed in his one responsibility…the only one that he'd carried with him since he was four years old and his father had laid the squirming bundle of blankets in his tiny arms and told him to 'run'.

Dean finally noticed that Sam wasn't looking at him anymore…he wasn't even supporting his own weight. NO…no…no…no…this can't be happening…I can't lose you Sam…not now…not like this…not for me. Tears were pooling in Dean's brilliant green eyes as he tried to feel his brother's heartbeat…or Sam's ragged breathing…something, anything that would indicate that he hadn't just lost the most important person in his life….there was nothing.

Bobby stepped up behind Dean…where the brothers were both kneeling next to the alter table. He knew that the yellow eyed demon was supposed to have been here…but they definitely hadn't seen that bastard. He looked around suddenly as he remembered the oldest Winchester…and was surprised that he didn't see anything…the man was gone…and he'd left the tattered remains of the Winchester family bleeding and dying on the dusty floor of this room. Damn that man! He thought silently.

Dean's breathing was ragged and uneven as he simply held onto Sam. His shaggy head leaning heavily against Dean's shoulders as they shook with his emotions as they rampaged through his body.

"Dean, we need to get him out of here." Bobby stepped up slowly and gently tried to help haul Dean to his feet. The older Winchester only now realizing that he could climb to his feet…but the price of that one victory was too high. The older hunter watched as Dean struggled to get his legs under him and pull his weary body into an upright position. His hands never leaving Sam, he wouldn't allow his brother to fall onto the floor…he would keep him from crumbling inside of this warehouse.

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Dean slowly leaned against the doorway looking down at his brother's body…the thought nearly frozen inside his head…his brother's body. "Sammy…why didn't you tell me?" He asked brokenly, the silent room offering no answers to his question. His eyes were filling with tears for the…he couldn't even remember how many times he'd cried at this point…as he pulled a bottle to his lips and swallowed back the burning liquid. He knew that it was just numbing the pain, but he couldn't handle the death of his brother. Sam had tried to protect him…to repair the damage to his back and he'd paid for that attempt with his own life. And that was a price that Dean never would have asked…hell he would never have allowed Sam anywhere near that place if he'd known that this was the price. Those black eyed bastards hadn't gotten what they wanted…but they had broken up the bonded souls of the Winchester brother's without even trying…and it that they had gotten something…because Dean didn't want this life without Sam. He didn't want to survive the death of his brother.

"Dean, I brought you something to eat." Bobby said as he came through the door of the warehouse and set a bucket of chicken down on a bench. Dean hadn't even known that he'd left…nor had he heard the man return.

Dean never moved from his silent vigil over his brother's body. "No thanks, I'm not hungry." He said tiredly as he tried to remember if he'd even eaten since this had happened…he wasn't even sure that he could keep food down if he tried. Dean hadn't seen his father since the night of the ritual and a part of him wondered if they were able to find the man, if he would have a solution to this… "Did you find dad?" he asked. Dean wasn't sure if John had been killed, taken, or if he'd simply abandoned his sons that night. The last thought hurt so much he wanted to find a corner and simply curl up…the idea that his father had simply left Sam there to die. But it wouldn't be the first time he'd left a son to die in his place. The thought had no more than slashed through his head before he heard a booted heel striking the ground behind him. He turned and was surprised as he came face to face with the angry gaze of his father.

"Dean…?" John ground out as he stared the red-rimmed eyes of his eldest son…his gaze flickered to the prone form of his youngest and tears stung as he blinked rapidly to clear the emotion. He didn't have much time and he had to make sure that Sam was okay before he…

"Dean…?" A deep familiar voice, that Dean was certain he would never hear again, called from the direction where Sam's body had been laying for the better part of two days. He spun his head at the sound and his knees turned to jelly as he saw Sam trying to sit up, his hands going to his head as he tried to focus around the confused haze in his brain. His brother was alive…how? Dean pushed those thoughts down as he took in the sight of Sam sitting up and looking blearily at him.

"Sammy…?" Dean breathed as he closed the distance between them, sinking to his knees and reaching out to pull his younger brother into a hug. He pressed his face into Sam's neck and closed his eyes as he felt the strong thrum of Sam's heartbeat through the ward skin.

Sam's faced scrunched in pain. "Dean…Dean…ouch…" he finished as his older brother finally realized what was happening and released him. He looked into the soulful blue-green eyes of his little brother and couldn't help the grin that spread across his face.

"Sorry…sorry." Dean mumbled quietly…although he wasn't sorry at all. Sam couldn't help the smile that spread across his own face when he realized that his brother was standing. He wasn't rolling in a wheelchair…he was using his own legs.

"You're walking Dean." He said slowly. Sam's eyes moved over to connect with his father's and then narrowed, Sam knew that he wasn't supposed to survive that encounter with the witch…so how was he alive and Dean was walking? What exactly had their father done?

"Dad." Sam said as his father simply nodded at him. John wanted to hug his son…to tell him how proud he was and that as long as he and Dean were together that they could withstand anything those evil sons a bitches could throw at them…but he didn't…he didn't say a word about his son's twin destinies.

"Glad you're okay Sam." John said as he turned to walk from the room. His time was up…he'd gotten what he'd wanted. He knew that Sam was alive and that Dean had been healed…that was all he had bargained for…and now it was time to pay up.

Bobby watched the interaction with rising concern and he couldn't seem to put his finger on what was wrong here…but something wasn't adding up and he just couldn't seem to understand exactly what it was. John simply nodded at Bobby as he walked by and slowly exited the room.

It took Dean a moment to notice that his father had left them…he wanted to go after him…but part of him was scared that if he let Sam out his sight then this would all turn out to be a dream and he wouldn't have his brother back. He swallowed the lump forming in his throat and over ruled his fears jogging after his dad, leaving Sam in Bobby's capable hands. He relished the freedom of movement for a moment before he finally started calling for his father.

"Dad?" he called as he walked out of the building, his eyes scanning in either direction…and then finally landing on the prone form of his father. "DAD!" he cried as he ran the few steps separating them and fell to his knees, his fingers going instantly to the pulse point on his dad's neck. He nearly sobbed a curse when he felt nothing…he had lost his brother and now his father in the last two days and it wasn't okay…not on any level.

Sam slowly walked from the building and his heart clenched painfully when he saw his brother kneeling over the body of their father…and suddenly he knew. He just knew. Sam understood what their father had done…he'd known that Sam wouldn't make it out of that ritual alive. And he'd come up with a contingency plan…their father had made a deal…he didn't know what type of deal or with what. But somehow John Winchester had worked it so that both his boys were alive and whole.

TBC…

Author's Note: This is where the boys can get back to what is pretty much cannon…although there will be a chapter that deals with Sam's guilt over their father…and Dean's. Should be interesting to see how things develop when the death of their father is on Sam's shoulders and not Dean's.

Please Review: I'm really looking forward to what you guys think about this little twist on canon.