Took me awhile but I finally got the epilogue done. \0/ It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be to explain why Bobby 'didn't notice or comment on', as some SN fans have put it, the difference in Sam after he came back from Lucifer's Cage.

Raphael's Assassin

-Epilogue-

Waiting while the boys received medical treatment was becoming a hobby Bobby Singer didn't relish. Yawning and shifting, he wondered again if the sadistic bastard in the Avera McKennan Hospital's purchasing department won an award for finding the most uncomfortable, butt numbing chairs in the five state area. He watched as Dean's blanket covered chest gently rose and fell, grateful that the nurses had been smart enough to knock the kid out after reducing his dislocated shoulder and putting a cast on his broken forearm, which luckily for Dean, were on the same side of his body. With Dean unconscious it made it slightly easier to wait quietly for word on Sam. The trauma surgeon hadn't been sure of the kid's chances of survival but then he didn't know the Winchesters.

Memories of the last few hours invaded his thoughts; if he hadn't arrived home in time to witness the boys' arrival he would've had his well water tested or at least forced Dean to quit drinking cold turkey, probably both if he was being truthful with himself, after hearing the boy's fantastical tale. Alternate universes? Even for him that was just so sci-fi. He shook his head, yet there it was; one moment he's staring at the mess caused by rain blowing through his broken picture window while frantically yelling for the boys and the next, three figures appear on the outside of the destroyed window as if they had flown through it.

Shaking off his momentary shock the grizzled hunter grabbed a sawed-off shotgun, shoved the ruined davenport out of the way and climbed gingerly through the open window casing. A blonde haired man picked himself up off the debris strewn grass; wiped wet leaves, twigs and pieces of glass off his jacket with disgust then disappeared with the sound of flapping wings. "Another freakin' angel. Lovely."

Bobby hustled over to the closest sprawled body. "Sam," he said quietly, the gruff man gently touched the younger one's back and head, "Sam?" he said louder as he wiped wet brown bangs off the youngest Winchester's face, "Sam can you hear me?" he shook him slightly, "Sam?" Checking the kid's pulse he heard a groan off to his left. "Hold on kid, I hear your brother." Bobby placed his hand on the brown haired head once more, trying to offer a small amount of comfort to the unconscious man, before going to Dean.

"Dean?" he asked kneeling down next to the oldest Winchester, putting a hand on his shoulder. Dean hissed and rolled from his side to his back. Checking him over Bobby noticed the shoulder under his hand felt and looked odd. "Son you need to lie still, I think you dislocated your shoulder."

Dean rolled his head back and forth, "S'm?"

"He's here son, just let me finish…" Bobby let the sentence trail off when he caught sight of a shard of glass sticking out of Dean's left upper thigh. "Dean I…" he caught the younger man's rolling head in his hands, "Dean," green eyes cracked open slightly, blinking slowly as rain drops hit them, "Dean I'm going to check on Sam before I go inside for supplies. Promise me you won't move from this spot."

"S'my?"

"Sam's fine Dean, he's just…he's just taking a nap right now. Promise me you won't move." Dean grunted and nodded. "I'm holding you to that boy." Bobby checked Sam's pulse and breathing once more then hurried into his house through the conveniently destroyed picture window. Snatching a cell phone off the desk he dialed 911 as he hurried to bathroom to get the first aide kit, not completely trusting Dean not to check on his brother.

"I don't know what happened to my nephews…yes 'those' nephews," Bobby rolled his eyes, "I found them lying unconscious outside and the window was broken. Yes they're both breathing, or a least they were when I ran in to call you guys. I don't know if anything was stolen, I didn't look. Lynae…LYNAE! Just send the EMTs okay!" he snapped the cell phone shut, "damn that woman, she gets more exasperating every time." Kneeling once again, Bobby wrapped a thick blanket around a struggling to sit up Winchester before pushing him back down. "What did I tell you boy?"

"Sam, he's hurt," countered Dean, sounding more alert than he had earlier.

"He's unconscious son." Bobby got to work packing gauze around the glass shard, immobilizing it the best he could.

"He's been stabbed Bobby!" Dean shouted as Bobby reached for his shoulder, intent on immobilizing it too. He batted his friend's hands away from his throbbing shoulder, "that god-damned angel stabbed him!" The older hunter stared at Dean for a second before going over to Sam and running his hands along his back and sides. "Balthazar partially healed him but he..he was going into shock when we left." Bobby rolled the kid over as gently as possible and searched again, at last finding a bloody tear in his shirts.

"What was he stabbed with Dean?"

"An angel sword."

"Son of a bitch!" Bobby swore loud and vehemently, knowing what a blade that length could do to a man's insides. Buttons flew as he yanked Sam's overshirt open, he then pulled out his Leatherman and slit Sam's t-shirt apart. He started swearing again after he got his first good look at the bloody, torn skin surrounded by a large bruise. "Evidently angel healing doesn't last through rough landings." The hunter unfolded another blanket, laying it over the younger man's shivering body then set to gathering squares of gauze. As he worked to control the kid's blood loss he hoped shock and internal bleeding wouldn't kill him before the ambulance could arrive. "Dean what happened here? It looked like you guys were flung out of a Stargate," he asked, aiming a glare at the young man who was struggling to sit up again, "lay down Dean," he ordered.

After raising his eyebrows in surprise over the Stargate reference, Dean laid back down with a groan and told Bobby everything. Balthazar's spell - Jared, Jensen and the TV show - the helicopter and aquarium in 'his' trailer - Sammy's 'wife' and the alpaca (the greenest of animals) - their failed attempt to get back home - Virgil's appearance, the stabbing and lastly, jumping back through the window. By the time he'd finished Dean's face was pinched with pain and exhaustion. And at long last, there were multi-coloured flashing lights coming through the entrance to the salvage yard.

"Mister Singer?" Bobby blinked at the bright light when a hand gently shook his shoulder. "Mister Singer wake up."

"Uh..wa?" Articulation was for squirrels and flying rats.

"Mister Singer?"

"Yeah, I'm awake," he replied, rubbing his hands over his face.

The nurse nodded knowingly and smiled, "I'm sorry to disturb you sir but your nephew is out of surgery and…"

The gruff man sat up as quickly as his old bones allowed. "Is Sam alright?"

"His doctor will have that information. Your nephew is in recovery, would you like to see him now?"

"Yes." Standing up stiffly, he glanced over at a drugged to the gills, snoring Dean then gestured at the door, "lead the way MacDuff."

Blood loss, shock, coding on the table, the odd wound track and the surgeon's amazement at how Sam's spinal cord wasn't damaged along with questions about the thick scar on Sam's back and so forth and so on flowed around Bobby. He could only stare down at Sam's pale face and the mass of tubes and wires leading from him to various medical apparatus. The surgeon was cautiously optimistic, but she assured Mr. Singer that with rest and rehab his nephew should make a complete recovery.

Bobby nodded distractedly when the surgeon took her leave, he gave Sam's shoulder a gently squeeze as he sat down in a chair next to the bed. 'Damn allergies,' he thought, scrubbing the dampness from his tired eyes. "Sam.." he started, changed his mind as to what he was going to say and shook his head instead. He'd known Sam was different the minute the kid showed up on his front porch without a smiling Dean in tow and instead of immediately reaching for the phone to call his brother or demanding a vehicle, he declared he didn't want Dean to know he was back. There'd been something in his attitude, the way he held himself as he sat at Bobby's kitchen table drinking beer, insisting his brother was better off living a normal, non-hunting life. Even after Bobby'd made it clear that Dean wasn't handling his 'death' very well and demanded Sam at the least put the man out of his misery by calling him; the youngest Winchester remained adamant, Lisa and Ben would be there for his brother and Dean was better off not knowing he was topside. Then with a steeliness in his voice that Bobby hadn't heard before, he stated categorically that if Bobby didn't lay off he would disappear and they both knew the older hunter wouldn't be able to find him. Just as he was about to say that Dean could, Sam gave him a look that chilled him to the bone and he let the words die without being spoken.

In the end, God help him, he'd agreed. He was so damn glad to see the kid alive that, for the time being at least, he let Sam have his way. And truthfully, he expected anyone who'd survived being possessed by Lucifer and spent time in the Cage with two pissed off Archangels with nothing to do but use you for batting practice, to be a bit off in the first place. So he'd stuffed the niggling, creeping cold finger of 'something is massively wrong with Sam' into a box, that would later, after everything had gone to hell and hit the fan, would crack open as easily as an egg and kick him in the jewels.

Adjusting his numb posterior and casting his eye around for a pillow or extra blanket to cushion the hard seat he thought back to when he'd told Sam he didn't blame him for trying to kill him. The boy saw right through that half lie and stared straight at Bobby's fear of him. In his expressive hazel eyes the older man could see how Sam desperately needed to apologize for his actions and redeem himself. How he needed to repair his and Dean's relationship and fix everything he'd shattered when he was soulless. Bobby knew not remembering what he'd done this past year was slowly killing Sam yet he agreed with Dean, if the younger boy knew half of what he'd done - what they could piece together while Sam was hunting alone and with Samuel - it could punch a hole right through the Great Hell Wall of Sam.

The older man rubbed his face and sighed, it wasn't something he was looking forward to but he acknowledged the need for them to put this last year behind them. And if Sam needed him to open up and talk then he was going to do just that…after a couple shots of the good stuff. Heaven, Hell and the Mother of All would just have to wait until their heads and hearts where back in the game.

FIN