"Told you there was a case here. Now we just gotta find it. And kill it."

Sam nodded. He ran two fingers over the side of his forehead, narrowing his eyes at Dean and giving him a scrutinizing look.

"What?"

"You, man. It's just. Since you've been back, you've been going full throttle at every case like your life depends on it."

Dean snorted. "Lives do depend on it, Sammy. What we do matters. I can't just put that out of my mind for an entire year. Oh right, but I guess that's not really a problem for you, is it."

"It was one year, Dean."

"Oh, I know how long it was. Trust me. When you've got some evil sonofabitch breathing down your neck every day, a year is a pretty damn long time."

"Look, I get that you're pissed. But you need to let it go."

"And why is that, exactly, Sam? Because that's what you need? To make you feel better?"

"I'm not asking you to—"

"No, don't get me wrong, I'd actually love to be able to take some time off and do my own thing for a while."

Sam set his fork down. "That is such crap, Dean."

"What?"

"You couldn't walk away from this job if you tried. I'm not like you, okay? You know I've always wanted something else, and you just can't accept that. You can't see that we're different people, that maybe it's okay to want different things."

"So you can just walk away but I can't. And that makes you better than me."

"I never said that."

"That's what I'm hearing, with your 'normal life' and your college application and your 'looking at options.'"

Hurt flickered over Sam's face, and Dean pressed his lips together, looking down so Sam wouldn't see the same in his.

"You don't need me. You can do this job just fine without me, maybe better," Sam said quietly.

Dean sighed. "We had this conversation. I don't want to keep having it. I told you, if you want out, fine."

"You think me leaving the life means leaving you. And that's not what it means. Why can't you understand that?"

"It's just… Sam, why can't you see it? You and me, it's what feels right, you know? Us back together, working together as a team? I thought maybe once you got back into it, it would bring back some of the old feelings."

Sam smirked. "Old feelings?"

"Well, I'm not trying to be weird about it."

"Okay, too late. Because I feel weird now."

"I'm talking about you, me, a stretch of open road, good tunes, and an easy hunt on the horizon. You telling me that doesn't make you feel all tingly?"

Sam pushed his chair back and picked up his tray, shaking his head. "When's the last time we took on anything easy?"

"Maybe this'll be the thing." Dean stood up, taking Sam's tray for him. "You done? Let's go find it and put an end to it. Like old times."

Sam grinned. "Yeah, I hear you."

Dean turned to lead the way toward the exit, and Sam caught his arm, "Hey, Dean? Listen. Seriously though. I know… that you're not sleeping great and, well. You still… you just seem really on edge. I know I'm not exactly your favorite person right now, but I am here, man. If you need to talk. Okay?"

Dean looked at him with mock-seriousness, a bemused smile playing over his lips. "You done?"

Sam rolled his eyes. "Let's go."

Dean clasped and shook his shoulder in an overly manly show of bravado and they headed for the exit.