True to Doctor Forest's word, by the time Sam was discharged, they'd weaned Dean off the ventilator and he was even out of the ICU and placed in a room in the Dialysis Unit.

After some talks with Dean's doctor, Sam was given the permission to stay with Dean as long as he wanted to and so they'd moved a cot into Dean's room for Sam to make sure he had a chance to rest properly, as well.

When Sam entered Dean's room, the older hunter was sleeping, even though it didn't look like a restful sleep; and there were dark circles under his eyes. A nasal cannula was under his nose and so many IVs and wires were attached to his body that Sam didn't bother to follow them to different machines or IV bags.

Dean was in a semi-sitting position to take some pressure off of his healing shoulder which was in a sling and his right arm was heavily bandaged.

Other than that, there was no sign to show why Dean's condition was still listed as serious.

It was still the kidneys that were causing problems and although Dean wasn't hooked to the machine at that moment, the dialysis machine was sitting in the corner of the room for the later sessions.

The first signs of Dean coming around were the lines of pain that appeared around his eyes and mouth and Sam pushed himself forward on the chair to be closer to him.

Dean blinked his eyes open and it took him a couple of minutes before he was finally able to focus on his surroundings.

"Hey." he said hoarsely when his eyes landed on Sam and moments later they went to his elevated left leg which was in a white cast. "How's the leg?"

Rolling his eyes, Sam shook his head. "Better than your collarbone, I'm sure."

Dean frowned before he got what Sam was saying. "It's fine."

"Yeah? Well, I'm sure it'd have been better if you've waited for me to wake up on my own, instead of pulling my weight around in the woods."

"Didn't know how bad you were off. You wouldn't wake up." Dean said before shifting on the bed and wincing when his muscles pulled.

"Thanks." Sam said, sincerely and quietly, and with a pang he realized he couldn't remember the last time that he'd thanked Dean for anything at all; from a cup of coffee, to saving his life.

Dean seemed to be thinking about the same thing, because his eyebrows rose and he was, very disturbingly, surprised at hearing that one simple word.

Sam felt his heart clenched in his chest at the thought of how distant they had become recently and desperately wished there was something he could do to go back to the days when their biggest concern was to find the Yellow-Eyed Demon. Man, that felt like another lifetime, which, well, with the life they'd had, wasn't far from the truth.

"So? When will you be released?" Dean asked once he was able to hide his surprise.

"I was discharged this morning." Sam said proudly.

Dean's eyebrows went up again. "Then what are you doing here?"

It was an innocent, honest question, but it pulled at Sam's heart so hard that Sam was sure he'd paled a little. "Where am I supposed to go?"

Dean looked down at Sam's broken leg and nodded. "Hmm. Yeah, you have a point."

Sam realized that Dean was probably thinking that he was there because he couldn't get around with a broken leg. "I'd still be here even if my leg was not broken." he decided to clarify, because seriously, enough was enough. Dean had to see he cared.

Dean look up and tilted his head. A second later, he looked up at the ceiling, down at his arm, and then around the room, all along the look of doubt remained in his eyes.

"What are you looking for?" Sam asked worriedly since that was, in no way, the reaction he'd expected from Dean.

Dean's gaze turned back to Sam and he just stared at him, like he wasn't sure Sam was real. With a sinking feeling, Sam realized that it was probably the case for real. Dean was concussed and he clearly wasn't firing on all cylinders; he must've thought that he was still dreaming if Sam was there for him and wasn't willing to leave.

"Dean?"

"Hmm?"

"You... You do know that I... That... Well..."

"Sam?"

"Yeah?"

Dean shook his head. "Nothing." He then blinked like he'd just woken up.

The sadness in Dean's voice broke the dam for Sam. "I'd be here for you, Dean. I'd... You know what? Thank you for saving me back in the woods and thanks for hauling my ass back to the car. Thanks for-" No, he couldn't bring himself to thank Dean for saving his life before this incident, not just yet... But he thought that someday he might be able to do that, too.

"You alright?" Dean asked with concern. "I remember they told me about you being concussed."

"Dammit, Dean. This is not the concussion talking." Sam's shoulder slumped. "I know I said I didn't want for us to be... Well, you know what I said... But I realized that I didn't mean it. Not that way. It's just that you lied to me and I was hurt... I still am hurt; but the point is I wanted you to feel my pain."

"Yeah, because I've led a pain-free life." Dean snorted. "And it's just like you to forget your own lies to me. You've lied many times, Sam; you did things that I can't even think about and then you acted like they were nothing important and that I had no right to be mad or even upset. You acted like I had to forget and forgive, just because you said so. I know I made a mistake, but at least I didn't betray you. I didn't sell you for..." Dean stopped there and clenched his jaw. He knew he'd got the message across and now he was even more exhausted.

Sam was shocked, and angry, but mostly shocked and he couldn't decide who he was madder at; Dean or himself.

He was about to growl 'I haven't forgotten my mistakes'; except if he was honest with himself, he kinda had. Not that he'd forgotten how bad he'd screwed up in the past; he just had forgotten how bad he'd hurt Dean with those mistakes and lies. And Dean was right, he'd turned his back on his brother for a demon and now he couldn't even forgive Dean for trying to save his life; for caring too much, for being blinded by concern and worry.

Annoyingly, before he could say anything, Dean's feature turned to that of indifference again and his voice was suddenly cold and distant. "You should go. Go see if you can find anything on Gadreel or Abaddon or hell even Crowley."

Sam wanted to bang his head against the wall. Why couldn't he tell Dean what he meant and why couldn't Dean just get the meaning behind his words like he used to?

"Not going anywhere." Sam said firmly and leaned back in his chair. "Not before you get out of here, too."

Dean narrowed his eyes but didn't comment on Sam's words.

"Did you get rid of it?" Sam decided to change the subject for a little while until they were both ready to talk about their issues again.

"Huh?"

"The thing in the woods... Umm... The-"

"Grendel? Yeah. It's dead."

Sam cringed at that name. "I still don't think that could be Grendel. I mean... Come on, how's that possible?"

Dean shrugged with his good shoulder. "That's what I was trying to tell you before the hunt. You were the one who insisted it was actually Grendel."

"Yeah, well, you are the one who's met Cain."

"So?"

"So? So, Grendel is supposedly Cain's descendent."

"What's your point? Just because Cain is real and here, doesn't mean a legend about his descendent should be real, too. A descendent that shouldn't have been here in the States even if it were real; and let's not forget that according to the legends it's supposed to be already slayed." Dean reasoned, sounding a bit stronger and less breathless.

"That could mean two things." Sam said thoughtfully. "Either Beowulf never existed;"

"Or he never did what people say he did." Dean grinned.

Sam grinned back.

"Wait." Dean's eyes widened with a childish joy that Sam hadn't seen in a long time. "I killed that thing; that makes me Beowulf and I've already killed a dragon, too."

Sam chuckled. "Well, that could also mean that you gotta kill its mother, as well when she comes out for revenge."

Dean wrinkled his nose. "Damn. We didn't look for its lair."

"Not that we could if we wanted to." Sam pointed out.

"Still. Whatever that thing was-"

"Grendel." Sam interjected.

"Make up your mind." Dean rolled his eyes. "Whatever it was, Grendel or not, there could be more of it. We need to look."

"And how exactly do you suggest we do that?" Sam looked pointedly at his broken leg and then at Dean who was bedridden.

Dean sighed and sank into the pillows, shaking his head in defeat.

"I'll look more into it while I wait here for you to get your ass out of that bed, alright?" Sam tried to sound helpful.

"You don't have to stay, Sam." Dean went back to the subject that was bothering him. He didn't want for Sam to feel obligated to stay with him.

Sadness filled Sam's eyes; he wasn't quite ready yet or he'd have told Dean that he wanted to take his words back about not wanting to be brothers anymore; he would've said that he didn't want to lose Dean; that during the hours that he's spent waiting to be released, he'd been thinking about Kevin and his parting words and that he didn't want to live in the bunker, or anywhere else, for that matter, without Dean.

But, well, he was still his stubborn self and a bit hurt over the last few months, so he ignored what Dean had just said and picked another topic to talk about. "We gotta find a better specialist for you."

Dean was hooked, despite wanting to address their issue. "Huh? Specialist?"

"For your kidneys. Here, they don't know what's wrong with them."

Dean suddenly averted his gaze. "Leave it. It'll be fine."

"No. I'm not gonna leave it. They can't even say what's wrong with you, Dean; except the fact that your kidneys are failing. Maybe it's a reaction to a drug they're giving you, maybe-"

"Sam." Dean interrupted him. "It's not that. Leave it."

It took Sam a few long seconds to realize that Dean knew more than he was letting on. Frowning with anger, he demanded some answers. "How long have you known? What the hell is wrong with your kidneys anyway?"

Rolling his eyes at Sam's tone, Dean answered calmly. "It's probably just another side effect of that Mark on my arm. There's nothing these poor doctors can do."

"What?" Sam almost exploded. "What then? You're going to leave it alone?"

"Hmm. Yeah. Pretty much."

"And die?"

"Melodramatic so much?" Dean snorted bitterly. "There's nothing I, or anyone else, can do about it. They'll eventually come to the same conclusion and let me go with some new meds."

"Some new..." Sam was speechless. "Just how long have you know about it?"

"A couple of months." Dean replied nonchalantly.

"And when were you going to tell me about it?"

"Let me see... Never." Dean's voice was hard.

"What the hell?" This time Sam did explode. "Why would you-"

"Sam, shut up." Dean growled angrily. "You have no right to get mad over something like this. First of all, you hid your problems from me when you were going through those trials, and second of all, why would I tell you? You are the one who severed all family ties between us. I'm not gonna walk around and tell random strangers or my business partners that I might die of acute kidney failure."

That stung. It stung way more than Sam was willing to admit and realizing that he couldn't be in the same room with Dean, he pushed himself up on his crutches and left the room as fast as his broken leg would let him.

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Some hours later, when he was finally calm enough to act like a normal human-being around his brother, he came back to Dean's room to find him fast asleep.

Sitting down quietly, he contemplated on ways of approaching their biggest issue; them actually being brothers.

"Aren't the visiting hours over?" Dean's tired voice made him jump in his seat.

Shaking his head mentally, Sam sighed. "That doesn't apply to me."

"And why not?" Dean opened his eyes and looked at him wearily.

"Well, because I told them I'm your brother and I wouldn't stay away while you're here." Sam replied honestly. "Had to tell them we had different fathers, though. Thanks to you for showing them different IDs."

Dean didn't even bother to give reasons for his action, thinking Sam was trying to goad him into another fight and truth to be told, he was too spent to fight and didn't even care anymore. So he just turned his head towards the ceiling and closed his eyes again.

"I meant what I said earlier, Dean." Sam sighed when he realized that Dean wasn't going to talk back. "I do want us to be brothers and... Well, OK, I'm still having a difficult time trying to understand why you did what you did, but I'm sorry I called you selfish. I know you didn't do it for yourself. I know you weren't thinking about yourself. You never think about yourself. I doubt you even know how to do that and... And you scared me so much this time that I finally realized how much I don't want to lose you."

Dean was quiet, studying Sam like he was expecting him to disappear any moment; like all the things he was saying were just wishful thinking on his part.

"I know you don't believe me right now and I know our issues are too big to be addressed at once, I just..." He inhaled deeply. "Don't push me away, OK? I know lately it's been me pushing you away and I know I've lied to you before and you've always let me back... I- I'm sorry I reacted the way I did."

Dean wanted it to be real, he wanted it so bad that he almost smiled and told Sam that nothing mattered as long as they had each other's back. But something at the back of his mind stopped him and told him that it could all be a trick. A voice at the back of his mind reminded him of the things Sam had said in the past few months and Dean wasn't really ready to let his guard down.

It wasn't that he couldn't forgive Sam; no. He hadn't even blamed Sam in the first place, not this time, not for the mess they were in at that moment. The only one he blamed was himself.

It was just that he didn't want to openly show how much he cared, anymore; because over the years, Sam had been the only one Dean had let inside, and surprisingly, he was the one who'd hurt Dean the most with his words. And Dean had so much on his plate that he didn't think he could take another blow from his brother. So he just shrugged mentally and sighed.

"I'm just sorry." Sam repeated.

"Me too." Dean said, sotto voce.

"Thanks."

"Welcome." Dean smiled wanly; somehow he knew what Sam was thanking him for.

And Sam knew things weren't fixed between them, because the look in Dean's eyes hadn't really changed, but he also knew how forgiving and self-sacrificing his brother was and he hoped they could once again get over their issues. One could hope, right?

If only Dean would see him as a grown up and if only he could stop taking Dean for granted and appreciate the most precious thing in his life which was his brother... If only the world would let them be brothers again. If only they could take a break.

First, he had to make Dean see he was really there for more than their job and then he'd think about the next step. Because he was man enough to admit to himself that a simple 'sorry' wouldn't make up for the things he'd done during the past few years and the things he'd said during the past few months.

They had a long way ahead of them, especially with Dean's health deteriorating. He just hoped he would be given enough time to tread that path with his brother by his side.

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... The END ...

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A/N: Let me know what you think. I stopped here because I didn't want to magically fix things! If you know what I mean.

The part about Grendel was just for fun! The thing is ever since we saw Cain on the show, I kept wondering about Grendel and Dean killing it! (I'd really love to see that! haha)

Thanks for all the reviews, faves and alerts. Hope you've enjoyed this last chapter, too. :)

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All mistakes are mine.

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