Title: Captured in Crystal

Author: Disasteriffic Kaz

Info: Crystal City, Colorado sure sounded idyllic…until the bodies started dropping and trouble, that old Winchester friend, arrived to make the boy's lives more interesting than they generally like. Post 1x12 "Faith" hurt/comfort/awesome!Sam/Dean

Author's Note: By popular demand LOL A little epilogue with some squishy comfort and a heartfelt goodbye to Joe the hillbilly savior spirit. :D

Beta'd by the always awesome JaniceC678 :D– Friend and Muse's co-conspirator.

**Follow me on Facebook as "Disasteriffic Kaz" for frequent fic updates or just to chat!
~Reviews are Love~

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Hey, Dean?" Sam squeezed his brother's hand again. "When I'm…you know, when I can see again, can we go back up and just…make sure he's moved on?"

"Yeah, Sammy. We will." Dean nodded. "And we still have that stupid heart to burn, too. Damn thing better not come back to life in the meantime. I really do not want to do that again…ever." He let go of Sam's hand and got back to his feet with a groan for his stomach and his leg. "Go back to sleep or something unless you wanna listen to me try and get skinnimax on this ancient tv."

Sam raised a hand and flipped him off. "I'm good. Thanks."

Dean brushed his hand over Sam's forehead and went back to his own bed, overcome with sadness for the mountain man that had come back from the dead to save them. He laid back down and rolled to his side to keep an eye on Sam and sent a silent thank-you to Joe, wherever he was, for his brother's life. "Stop twitching or I'm gonna sit on your head."

Sam blew out an irritated breath. "Shut up, jerk."

"Bitch." Dean grinned while his world slowly slipped back into place.

Epilogue

"Stop fidgeting." Dean slapped his little brother's hand away from his face for the third time. The curtains were drawn in the motel room and only the bathroom light was on shedding a narrow beam over them as he worked.

Sam blew out a breath in frustration. "Can't. Get them off already." They had been released from the hospital four days ago, and Sam had been almost counting the hours until they could take the bandages off his eyes and let him, hopefully, see again. Fear had been warring with that hope on a constant loop in his brain the entire time, and he had reached the point where he just wanted it over, whatever the ultimate outcome. He just needed to KNOW one way or the other. Of course, that could not keep his hands from trembling slightly, part of him still fearing the worst.

"Shuddup," Dean peeled the surgical tape off his brother's forehead and was every bit as anxious to find out if the procedure had worked as advertised. He didn't know exactly what they would do if Sam's vision was gone forever or was left bad enough to keep him from hunting, but Dean had already made a promise to himself that, whatever happened, he wasn't leaving Sam behind…even if it meant leaving the life he loved and Dad's quest for revenge, and Sam would just have to be ok with that. It had always been his job to look out for his little brother, and that wasn't about to change no matter what happened in the next few minutes. "Ok, keep your eyes closed."

Sam sighed and nodded slightly, trying to steel himself to face whatever came next. The soft tone of his brother's voice made it clear that Dean was scared, too, and that made him feel better about the cold sweat breaking out all over his body as Dean's fingers slipped carefully between the heavy pads and his eyes. "They're closed. Do it."

"On three. One. Two…" Dean pulled the gauze away slowly and set them aside, keeping his eyes glued to his brother's face as he did and put his hands back to the side of Sam's face. Dean brushed his thumbs in front of the closed lids and saw Sam suck in a shuddery breath and felt him tremble. "Sam?"

"I saw that." Sam whispered and felt tears well up under his eyelids. "The…the shadow when you moved your fingers. I think…I saw it."

Dean smiled and moved his left hand so it blocked the bathroom light from landing directly on his eyes. "Ok, open them. Slow."

Sam peeled his eyes open a little at a time. They felt gritty, like he'd slept for too long, and at first, as he blinked, there was nothing but blackness and maybe some hints of grey, and despair flowed through him. Then he blinked again, and again, and the fuzzy image of his brother's worry-lined face started to come into focus. His breath hitched in his chest as he met and caught the deep green of Dean's eyes in the bathroom light and the tears won out to spill down his cheeks while Dean grinned.

"Ok. Ok, take a breath," Dean soothed, knowing he was grinning like an idiot and didn't care. He'd seen the moment Sam's eyes had found his and that was pretty much the best damn feeling he'd had in a long, long time. It didn't surprise him when he had an armful of little brother a moment later, nor did the hiccupping sobs he could feel Sam letting out as Dean wrapped his arms around his shoulders and held on. He got it. And if his own eyes suddenly felt a bit moist, well, his brother was in no shape to notice. This was one chick-flick he was all for. Sam had been bitchy and closed off for a week while he tried to not drown in fear of being blind for good, and now it was all coming out. "I gotcha, little brother."

Sam tried not to be a complete girl about it, he really did it, but he felt like he'd been holding his breath for days and could finally breathe again. He turned his face down into his brother's shirt and was grateful Dean wasn't being a dick about being cried on…yet. Sam took a few deep, shaking breaths to get back some control and finally leaned back to give his brother a watery grin. "Best thing I ever saw…your ugly-ass face."

Dean snorted and slapped the back of Sam's head with light, barely-there tap that did little more than ruffle hair. Dean put his hands on Sam's shoulders to hold him at arm's length and look at him. "How is it? I mean, blurry? What?"

Sam blinked several times as he looked slowly around and the dimly-lit motel room began to come into focus. He could see the maroon covered beds, the giant polka-dot wallpaper and the ridiculous room divider with big clear, plastic ducks suspended on beaded poles between them and the bathroom. He smiled and looked back at Dean. "I think…think I'm ok. Turn another light on."

"Cover your eyes first." Dean told him firmly and went to the light by the beds. He looked back and scowled. "I mean it, dude. We're not takin' chances here. Cover 'em."

Sam smirked and put a hand in front of his eyes. He closed them quickly as the light flashed on and covered them for real as it sent a dull thud of pain through his head. He jumped when he felt Dean's hands on his shoulders again. "I'm good."

"Uh huh." Dean didn't believe him and put himself between Sam and the light. "The doc said you'd be light sensitive for a while." Dean had a bottle of prescription painkillers in his bag that Dr. Kyle had given him with the sure warning that Sam would need them as he'd likely be plagued with headaches for a few weeks while his eyes readjusted. "Take it slow."

Sam took his hand away, leaving his eyes closed and slowly cracked them open. He squinted, unaccustomed to one small lamp seeming to be that bright. An instant headache started behind his eyes but he smiled. The brighter light showed him that he was seeing everything almost clearly. "Things are kinda…fuzzy around the edges, but yeah…yeah; it's good."

Dean grinned again and gave Sam's neck a squeeze before he stepped back. "Don't look directly at the lamp for a while and leave the curtains closed." It was noon and blue skies outside meant it was bright and sunny. He went to the table and picked up the little bag next to Sam's laptop. "You're gonna need these for a while." Dean smirked and tossed the bag to his brother, chuckling when Sam caught it clumsily and another tear escaped to roll down his little brother's face.

Sam scrubbed a hand over his cheek while he flushed with embarrassment and looked at the bag. He unrolled it and pulled out a pair of dark, wrap-a-round sunglasses. "Nice. Thanks, Dean." Sam slipped them on and immediately felt a little relief from the pounding headache the light had given him.

Dean nodded and went to his bag to get the pain pills. He knew what that particular frown on Sam's face meant and the stubborn jackass wasn't going to tell him his head hurt. "Here. Take two of these and then go take a shower. You stink."

Sam chuckled and eyed the pill bottle. He considered arguing but the look on Dean's face said he wasn't going to get anywhere and he opened it to shake a couple out. He sniffed his own shoulder and grimaced. "You ever try taking a shower with your eyes closed the whole time? It sucks, dude."

Dean laughed and caught the bottle when Sam tossed it back. He dropped onto the end of his bed as Sam went into the bathroom and closed the door and rested his head in his hands for a moment. He'd been terrified that Sam's vision wouldn't come back. The relief was exhausting and he gave himself a few minutes to fall apart while Sam showered before he pulled himself back together. He scrubbed his hands over his face and through his hair and blew out a breath. "That's enough of that."

Dean stood and went to the bathroom door, cracking it open and letting steam roll out. "Sam! I'm gonna go grab food. Stay in the room, dude. It's too bright out there yet."

"I'll be fine," Sam called over the shower and sighed in relief when the door closed again. He leaned his forehead against the tiles again and let the water run over the top of his head. Dean had almost caught him in another crying jag and he rolled his eyes. "Suck it up already," he told himself softly and leaned back to let the water wash away the last of his tears.

Sam felt better than he had in a while when he came back out into the room with a towel wrapped around his hips. The numerous wounds the buggane had given him were still healing and most of his body was covered in a variety of colorful bruises. Dean had clipped most of his stitches out yesterday as they'd started to pull uncomfortably and Sam ran his fingers softly over the closed punctures in his thigh. "Crap," he said softly. Dean hadn't told him just how close he came to bleeding out.

He pulled his duffel out from under the bed and thought it would be a while before he took being able to choose his own clothes for granted again. Sam dressed with a smile and was at the table turning on his laptop when Dean cracked the door open.

"Shades on and look away, Sam!" Dean called in a no-nonsense tone.

Sam snorted but didn't argue. The shaft of sunlight falling across the beds made him slam his eyes closed. "Hang on!" He dodged back to the bathroom, bouncing off the doorframe with a curse and grabbed the sunglasses.

Dean swung the door open just far enough to ease inside and closed it quick. He'd heard Sam move and knew where he was. "You ok?" he asked as Sam came out of the bathroom with his sunglasses in place and a hand wrapped around his still healing right shoulder.

"Yeah. Just not as graceful as I'm used to." Sam said ruefully and sat back at the table.

Dean grinned and set the bag of food down. "Dude, you're still your usual graceful self. Trust me." He chuckled when Sam flipped him a finger.

"Whatever." Sam took the bag and opened, enjoying being able to SEE what he was going to eat for a change. Not that Dean had pulled too many pranks on him with food; only once in fact, yesterday, and Sam realized it had been when he was curled over his knees in his bed and hadn't spoken for an hour. Sam smirked and handed the way too thick, foil wrapped burger he took out to Dean, the brother who had snapped him out of his funk the best way he knew how.

"Dude, these burgers are like a food group," Dean said happily as he sat and unwrapped his.

Sam chuckled and smiled when he came out with a salad container and two boxes of fries. "Nice."

"You know, the salad doesn't cancel out the fries." Dean smirked at him and bit into his burger.

"You know, lifting a beer doesn't cancel out that heart attack in a wrapper?" Sam asked and dropped his sunglasses down his nose to wink at his brother and laugh.

"Smartass," Dean growled but couldn't keep the smile off his face.

Sam had eaten most of the salad, all his fries, and was stealing some of his brother's before finally leaning back after dodging a slap to his hand with a grin. "We need to go back up to Crystal."

Dean sobered a little and nodded. "Yeah. Lizard-man's heart needs burning."

"And I really want to make sure Joe moves on, you know?" Sam owed the spirit his life and his brother's. "I don't like the idea of him just…just stuck up there trying to atone forever."

"Well." Dean grabbed a beer and took a long drink. "If Joe is still up there and won't leave, they buried him three days ago." He smiled. "I called Marble and checked. Finding his grave'll be easy if we have to send him on ourselves."

Sam nodded and smiled. "I think he'll go if we just talk to him, convince him to let go and cross over."

"Hope so." Dean really did.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Sam walked out of the forest path behind Crystal Mill and shaded his already protected eyes against the sun as he looked at the structure. He glanced back and smirked as Dean limped into view. His left leg still wasn't a hundred percent and would need another week before Dean had easy use of it again. A torn ligament was nothing to mess with, especially in their line of work.

"Stop starin' at me," Dean snarled when he looked up and then laughed. "On second thought, go ahead. Stare away, dude."

Sam smiled broadly and waited for his brother. "Come on." He didn't bother asking. Sam pulled one of Dean's arms over his shoulders and ignored the snarled curse. "All we need is for you to go down and tear the other one so stop whining."

Dean glared but it was half-hearted. "Fine; but I'm only humoring you." The truth was, the walk from the cabins where they had parked once more had left his leg close to crumpling. He wouldn't admit it, though, and he'd grit his teeth for as long as he needed. Dean was just relieved he didn't need his left leg to drive back. "It's up around the side there."

Sam nodded and helped him up the bedrock. Sam's eyes went wide behind his sunglasses as they rounded the back of the mill and he got a good look at the ahuizotl's carcass. "Holy crap! How'd you kill that thing on your own without a gun?"

Dean grinned as they came up next to its back end and he stopped Sam from getting near the tail even though it was probably long safe. He didn't want to take any chances. "It was easy. I put out both eyes and stabbed it in the heart while it was bottlenecked in the door."

"Damn, Dean." Sam shook his head in admiration. There were moments when he couldn't help but be a little bit in awe of the way his big brother just seemed to be born to this life.

"Dude, I was Conan and you missed it."

Sam laughed and walked wide around the ahuizotl, trying to decide the best way to get at its chest and dig out the heart. "Well, consider me suitably impressed. Hang on."

Dean watched him start to climb up the creature's back and groaned. "Dude, don't reopen a damn wound."

Sam waved a hand at him. "I'm not planning on wrestling it. I'm good." He swung his legs over the head and into the door, swallowing the groan as the wounds in his thighs pulled, and he slid down the head into the mill. "HOLY crap!"

"Sam?" Dean forgot about the pain in his leg with his brother's startled exclamation and gave an awkward jump onto the dead monster's back.

"It's ok!" Sam called and stuck his head out the door. He smiled a little sheepishly. "Uh…Joe sort of…popped up in front of me."

"Geez, man." Dean groaned and slid back down to the ground. "Don't do that me."

"Hey, Dean."

Dean turned quickly and found Joe standing behind him with a smile. "Joe. Man, no offense but I was hoping you wouldn't be here."

"Dean!" Sam leaned back out and held out a bag. "He found our gear."

"Say what?" Dean reached up and took the bag. He pulled it down, looked inside and smiled as he pulled out his Desert Eagle. He raised a brow to the very alive-looking spirit. "You do this?"

"Kinda figured you boys'd come back 'n you wouldn't wanna be searchin' the whole damn forest for 'em." Joe shrugged.

"Thanks, man." Dean set the bag down and then jumped hard enough that his bad leg gave out when the ahuizotl's body against his back gave a violent twitch. "Sam!"

"That was me!" Sam yelled and shoved at the head again with a loud yell until it finally cleared the door and rolled to the side of the mill. He staggered out and held his hands up. "Dude, I'm sorry. I didn't think you were leaning on the thing."

Dean glared up at him and took a steadying breath. "That thing already knocked me cold once after it was already dead. Shit."

"Up ya' go, son." Joe bent and grabbed Dean's arm, pulling the younger man to his feet. "You two spend way too much time on yer keisters, ya know that?"

Sam laughed. "Yeah, we kinda do some days. Joe?" He held out a hand to the man and took in the blonde hair, grizzled beard, and weather-lined face that smiled at him. "We wanted to thank you. You saved our lives." Sam smiled. "I know I'd be dead right now if you hadn't come back when you did, but…" Sam trailed off and looked over at Dean who shrugged in a way that meant 'go for it'. "…you should move on now. You saved us. You don't need to wait here anymore."

Joe shook his head. "Cain't leave, Sam. Figure I still owe the ranger."

"I know he doesn't blame you," Sam said fervently. "This thing…" and Sam thumped a fist into the ahuizotl's side, "…killed you just like it killed him. Whatever you think you've got to atone for, you already did with us."

Dean stepped over and put a hand on the spirit's solid shoulder. "Man, you saved two lives. You've done enough. I know it."

"We can't just leave you stuck here forever," Sam added softly and pulled the sunglasses off his face to meet Joe's blue eyes. "I'm alive and I can see…because of you. You deserve to rest now, Joe. Please."

"He's gonna be a big girl about it if you don't, man," Dean said and gave the dead man a lopsided smile. "Don't do that to me."

Joe chuckled and looked between the two men and then he sighed. "Reckon yer' right. Ol' Ranger Grady wouldn' want me hauntin' his woods." He rolled his eyes. "Probably thinks I'm thievin' or somethin' up there." He looked around a little wistfully. "Gonna miss this place, though. Wasn't really ready to git dead yet, but...ah, well. Guess it's 'bout time to see what's what on th' other side. See if my granny was right after all."

Joe looked back at the boys, and Dean stared in surprise when he was pulled into a hug and snorted when the mountain man caught his brother in one as well before standing back. "Thank you, Joe. Really, man."

"Thanks," Sam smiled and watched as a ray of sunlight seemed to come down and touch all that disorderly blonde hair. The light flared briefly and then Joe was gone as Sam slammed his eyes closed and swayed with a sudden piercing headache. "Ok…ow. Ow, dammit."

Dean chuckled softly with relief and took Sam's shoulder. "Come on, sit." He took the forgotten sunglasses from his brother's hand and popped them back on his face before he pushed Sam down to sit against the side of the mill. Dean swung his backpack off his shoulder. He'd come prepared as he pulled out a bottle of water and the pain pills. "Here. Take these and I'll get started here."

Sam didn't open his eyes, just held out his hands and felt Dean put the items into them. "Thanks." He smiled in spite of the flush of pain from his eyes. "I'm glad we don't have to go dig him up. Really glad he went on his own."

"Me too, Sammy." Dean smiled and took a sharp knife from the bag before turning to the ahuizotl's body. He shook out his leg and put his shoulder to the thing's side, giving a shove to heel it over so he could reach its chest. "That dude was pretty cool for a dead guy."

Sam chuckled and set the water bottle aside as he swallowed the pills. He opened his eyes behind the dark lenses to watch his brother carving into the giant lizard and smiled because nothing had ever looked so damn good.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The End…really this time. :P