Chapter 6

Dean woke up a little disoriented. It had been 14 hours since he had passed out from exhaustion. He remembered. He had told Sam everything. But Sam had not said anything. And now…he had had all this time to think about things. What conclusions had he come to?

Dean looked at Sam. He had fallen asleep on the bed beside him. The younger Winchester was sitting with his back against the headboard and his legs stretched out and crossed in front of him. The elder Winchester couldn't help but smile. He used to sit with Sam like that, a lot, when he had nightmares as a kid. Just knowing Dean was close seemed to bring Sam comfort. Dean closed his eyes again as Sam moved on the bed.

Sam immediately looked down at Dean, seeing that he was still asleep the younger Winchester eased up off the bed. He went to the bathroom and washed up. He then stuck the left over pizza, he had ordered while Dean slept, into the microwave to warm. He grabbed a beer from the fridge and popped the cap.

"Thanks, Sammy." Dean said as he sat up on the edge of the bed.

"No nightmares?" Sam asked, as he took another drink.

"You should know. You were right there." Dean stated, letting the young hunter know that he knew.

Sam smiled, getting Dean's message. He put a couple of slices of pizza on a paper plate and gave them to Dean. He then handed him a beer. Sam brought his own pizza and beer over and sat down on his bed.

"What you did, Dean, it…it doesn't make you any less of a person, any less of a human being. You were faced with two equally heinous choices; torture, or be tortured. I'm not sure I wouldn't have done the same thing."

Dean shook his head. "You're a lot stronger than I am, Sam." He paused. "You broke away from Dad. You did your own thing. That…I could never do that."

Sam grinned. "Don't let it fool you, Dean. People just think I'm strong because I'm so tall."

Dean grinned also as he ate. "Shut up!"

Sam laughed. "We'll go out for pie later, my treat."

THE END

END NOTES: I like leaving my stories like this sometimes. It's better to not always tie everything up in a nice pretty bow. Dean still has a little ways to go to get back to 'normal.' But, at least, he knows Sam's right there beside him. (Ahhh, Bromance!) I stole the 'tall' line from an episode of "Reba." Barbara Jean was referring to herself, also. I hope you enjoyed. And I hope you all have a very Happy Easter! JL