Title: Sammy, close your eyes

Author: dragonfly

Genre: drama, h/c, weechesters, Awesome!BigBrotherDean

Characters: Sam and Dean

Warning: SPOILERS FOR 10X23

AN: A HUGE hug and thank you to devra for her love and input. I love you, woman!

Summary: Dean Winchester could be considered many things: a hero, a flirt, a hunter, but above all these and more… was protector.

**BROTHERS**

Dean Winchester could be considered many things: a hero, a flirt, a hunter, but above all these and more… was protector. Sam would know, Dean has been protecting him all of his life.

/ "Is it going to hurt?"

"Only for a second, Sammy, then the splinter will be out and it won't hurt so much anymore."

The younger boy looked up at his big brother, eyes hopeful. "Promise?"

Dean smiled, soft and reassuring. "Promise."

Taking a deep breath, Sam held out his hand. There was a large wooden splinter sticking out of his palm, lazily bleeding. When the tweezers neared it, he grimaced and started to shake.

"Sammy, close your eyes." Soft. Encouraging. Don't look. I've got this.

He did.

And then it didn't hurt so much anymore. /

When Dean couldn't use his body to protect Sam, Sam noticed over the years that he'd use these four words instead; a form of protection in itself.

It was ingrained in him, written in his genetic code—that fiercely protective nature; and it was activated the moment their parents sat him down and told him he was going to be a big brother.

/ "I'm scared."

"I know. Me too."

A rare admission from the fourteen year old, but as the hotel began to shake and the wind howled like a train, it was a feeling he couldn't deny. Curled up in the bathtub, he held his trembling little brother tighter. And as the pictures fell off the walls and the roof groaned and whined, he whispered in his ear, "Sammy, close your eyes." /

As Sam got older, sometimes it would frustrate and even anger him how protective Dean was. He didn't feel he needed it; he could take care of himself. Did Dean not trust him?

Sometimes it was hard to remember what truly fortified the shield Dean tried so hard to keep around him.

/ "Do it."

Dean took the scythe. On his knees, Sam looked up at him with the same amount of unwavering love and trust that he had for him when he was a child. If his death was the only way his brother could find peace, then so be it.

"Close your eyes."

But suddenly uncertain, a tear slid down Sam's cheek. He knew that order was for Dean's sake, not his own, and it didn't come from his Dean.

Then… "Sammy," the voice unsteady, "close your eyes."

That one, though…that was his Dean. That was the one protecting him—protecting him from seeing what he was about to do. That was the one that loved him.

After a lifetime under Dean's persistent wing, it took only four little words for Sam to find hope or peace in the most unexpected of places. And these words were just another reminder—more proof that Sam was right, that somewhere his brother was still in there, still fighting, still good.

And suddenly Sam instinctively knew that it would be okay.

So, he left his own reminder.

And then he closed his eyes.

/

/

finis