Disclaimer: Don't own SPN or BtVS!
Author's Notes: As a followup to the shortest chapter, I now bring you the second-longest. :) It's not done yet, however, so don't worry. But I do want to thank all of my reviewers, seriously you guys are the only reason I post this crap. xD Thank you SO much, you've really inspired me and forced me to write this, so it's awesome. This was written while I was procrastinating doing my AP European History homework and studying for chemistry. ...I should probably go do that now. Haha. Anyway, enjoy, and you know the drill about that cute little purple button. Clicketh!
Chapter 6: Catastrophe Nearly Averted
"Dean." Dean was vaguely aware of someone sitting on the edge of his bed, a pressure on his arm, shaking him gently. "Dean!" Dean groaned and squirmed and finally opened his eyes.
"Dude, what the hell?" He blinked a few times but finally adjusted his vision to adminster a Death Glare to Sam. "Why'd you wake me up?" Sam's face was deadly serious, his jaw set and a fire of determination in his eyes. Noticing this, Dean lessened the intensity of his glare. "What's wrong?"
"Dean, we need to talk."
"About what?" Dean shifted to begin to pull himself up into a sitting position.
"Bobby called. He told me everything." Dean shot up immediately, so fast it almost hurt. His heart leapt into his throat, and he could feel his heart begin to pound.
"Everything…about what?" he asked cautiously, trying to mask the panic in his voice.
"Everything about this." Sam slammed a newspaper clipping onto the table next to the bed. Dean glanced over at it. "FOUR MORE BODIES FOUND UNDER MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES" began the headline. "Bobby says it could be an angry spirit," Sam was saying. Dean sighed with relief.
"Sam…"
"No, Dean. We're taking this case. You've literally been through hell, you need something to take your mind off of it."
"That's not it, Sam!" Dean shouted. Sam frowned, and Dean immediately realized his mistake in exploding. "I mean. I don't want to take this case, all right? Please. I need a bit more time." Catastrophe averted.
"What's not it, Dean?" Or not. Shit. Dean shrugged.
"I don't know. I just meant that I don't want to take the case."
"Why not?"
"Because, I don't. Now if you wanna go salt and burn some old guy's bones, go ahead. But I'm not coming with."
"I'm not going anywhere without you," Sam said. Dean shrugged again.
"Then you're staying right here."
"Fine."
"Fine."
"You know, I can't believe you, Dean," began Sam. Dean rolled his eyes. Here we go again. "Do you have any idea how much torture I suffered? You being dead, me bringing you back. The spell wasn't exactly a piece of cake. Yet all you do is sit here and mope around all day. I brought you back from hell, I saved you from eternal torment. I expect at least a little gratitude. But all I get is this sullen silence and I'm freaking sick of it." Dean looked up.
"What do you want me to say, Sam?"
"Anything! Tell me what it was like, what happened, how you're feeling. I don't care!"
"You want to know what really went on?"
"Yeah, I do. I want to know. How painful was it?"
"There was no pain," said Dean. He barely even realized what he was saying, that he had just completely ruined the secret.
"What?" Sam whispered.
"No pain, no fear, no doubt. Until…"
"Until what?" Sam leaned forward.
"Until you pulled me out of heaven." Dean looked up into the eyes of his little brother, which widened in fear.
"Of…"
"I think I was in heaven, Sammy. And now I'm not, I'm here, you brought me back, and this is hell, every second of it. I said you could never know, never…" He realized he was beginning to babble and he trailed off. He watched Sam's eyes begin to fill with tears and immediately felt a pang of guilt for telling his little brother. But the guilt that Dean felt was incomparable to the overload that Sam felt as he sat back onto the bed and stared at his brother with wide, teary eyes.
"I pulled you out…of heaven?" Dean bit his lip and nodded, the tears beginning to sting his own eyes. He had no idea what to say, what to do. He grabbed Sam's hand in his and squeezed it. But Sam's hand stayed limp. "I pulled you out of heaven," Sam repeated. He pulled his hand out of Dean's grasp and rested his head in his hands. "I thought…the deal said…" Dean shook his head.
"Oh God, Sammy, I'm so sorry," Dean whispered. "I shouldn't have told you." Sam's head shot up.
"You're sorry? You're sorry? How do you think I feel, Dean? I thought you were in hell! I thought I was saving you…" He paused. "How could you even think to keep this from me?"
"Because I didn't want this to happen, Sam! I didn't want you to feel guilty!"
"And so we'd just go on our merry way and you'd never tell me about it and I'd never know? What kind of screwed up family relationship is that? We're brothers, Dean, we tell each other things! Didn't you learn your lesson when you didn't want to tell me that I died? You must've known I'd find out eventually!"
"I was trying to protect you."
"Yeah, well, bang-up job on that."
Then there was quiet, a horrible, awkward, deathly silence that settled over the room. A tear slipped from Dean's eye and made its way down his cheek, and Sam noticed this.
"I'm so sorry," Sam whispered. Dean said nothing, just leaned forward and rested his forehead on Sam's shoulder. Sam placed his hand on the back of Dean's neck and his other arm around him. More tears escaped from Sam's eyes as he held his brother tightly. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know…I didn't know," he whispered, chanting it over and over again. Dean didn't respond to his brother's pained mantra, just buried his face into the crook of Sam's neck and let himself cry, let himself draw comfort and warmth from the embrace.
"You know, Mom was there," he said into Sam's neck after a few minutes. It came out muffled but Sam still understood. Sam pulled back a bit, but kept his firm grip on the back of Dean's neck.
"She was?" Dean nodded.
"Yeah. And Dad."
"Did they say anything to you?" Dean nodded again.
"They told me that they love me, and you, and that they're so, so proud of us." Sam smiled through the tears.
"Thanks," he whispered.
"Yeah." Dean leaned forward again but this time he rested his forehead on his brother's.
"Man, this is just so screwed up, isn't it?" Dean nodded, and Sam's head moved with him.
"Yeah, it is."