Word Prompt: Warmth

Summary: Having almost drowned in a freezing lake, the cold clings to Dean even as Sam tries to warm him up.

Warnings: Wincest, schmoop, possibly OOC due to an out-of-it!Dean.

The moment that Dean's water-drenched shoes emerge from the murky depths of water to join his soaked and tired body on land, Sam is upon him. Picking him up, checking for injuries, concussion, everything.

Once Sam finishes his analysis and concludes that, yes, Dean is basically okay and unhurt save for meager scratches and the shiver that will not seem to let go, long arms envelope Dean and pull him tight into the warmth that is his sasquatch of a brother.

"H-hey, S-sa-sammy," Dean stutters, the ice water of the lake still clinging to him, unwilling to relinquish its hold, despite the blanket that is Sammy surrounding him.

"Hey, Sammy? After that scare you put me through and all you can say is 'hey, Sammy?" Dean may not be able to see it with his face tucked into his brother's shoulder, but he just knows that Sam is pulling out his bitch-face.

Sam could feel Dean's lips slide into a teasing smirk again his neck. Sam chuckles lightly knowing that the attitude means that Dean is alright.

"Jerk," Sam whispers lightly into Dean's hair, kissing the top of his head.

"B-b-bitch-ch," Dean unconsciously responds and snuggles closer into his brother's arms further.

"C'mon," Sam begins caringly, manhandling Dean so that the elder boy's arm is draped across Sam's broad shoulders and Sam is carrying most of his brother's weight, "let's get you back home."

Dean thinks to himself, "wherever you are is home, Sammy," but he knows what his baby brother means.

Sam carefully drags his brother the short distance to the Impala, silently thankful that Dean had parked his baby so close, opens the passenger side door, and settles his brother into the car. Sam then takes a mere moment to pull open the door to the backseat, reach around, and grab the blanket that the brothers have stowed away underneath the passenger seat. He drapes it delicately, yet fully over his older brother in a hope to warm his brother up.

After making sure that no appendages will get caught, large hands firmly close the door and Sam is rushing to the driver's side, slides in and slips the key into the ignitions. Even before closing his door, Sam is fumbling with knobs, turning the heater on to let it warm up and letting the Dean inside of his head guide his hands to the power button on the sound system, letting the rumble of Led Zeppelin circulate through the car in hopes of easing any of Dean's possibly hidden discomforts.

It is then that Sam shuts his door, buckles himself and his brother, whose hands he will not let leave the cocoon of the blanket, in.

A sigh of relief is released from the younger brother as the heat finally radiates within the car and Sam can safely switch the car into drive and leave the lake.

Luckily, the drive is not a long one; not even long enough for the warmth in the car to penetrate the layer of chill that still clings to Dean.

Sam gently rolls Dean's baby into the parking spot, turns the car off, and swiftly runs around the front of the Impala to get Dean out of the quickly cooling car and into the warm shower waiting for them in the surprisingly nice motel room.

With Dean unwittingly clinging to his brother, despite any future denials of this, and Sam's long legs, the boys are in the room quite quickly. Gently letting Dean rest on the bed for a moment, the blanket from the Impala still wrapped around his shoulders as he continues to shiver slightly, Sam rushes to the bathroom and fills the bath with the perfect water temperature, the way Dean likes it, before he sets and checks the salt lines.

With this routine ingrained into his, it is less than five minutes later that Sam is maneuvering Dean into the bathroom and carefully stripping him of his clothes and laying him in the water.

The elder hunter struggles as the liquid begging to pull him deeper touches his bare skin, but the warmth of his Sammy's hand resting against his heart and the other on his bicep are enough to let his mind and muscles relax into the warmth surrounding him.

Keeping the hand on Dean's bicep in place to assure that his brother does not slip under the water, Sam uses his other hand to wash away the muck and small amounts of blood that are crusting over sun-kissed skin of his brother until he is completely clean.

By then, the water had begun to cool, so Sam gently lifts his brother from the water, grasps hold of his other bicep and helps his brother out of the tub with a moan of resistance.

"You alright, Dean?" Sam questions as he sits Dean on the edge of the tub to gently caress his skin with the towel.

Dean slightly slurs with exhaustion and the warmth that finally dispels the lingering cold , "Yeah, Sammy. Much better," and he smiles as Sammy dresses him for bed, barely moving to help despite efforts to help.

"Warm?" Sam whispers to the man before him, breath grazing his ear before warm lips press against the finally warm, clean cheek.

The smile twitches to widen and words threaten to emerge from his throat, but the exhaustion of the hunt seems to have fully taken their toll, leaving a "mmmhmmm" and a slight lean into his brother as the only responses that the man can make.

Sam lightly chuckles at his normally stoic, non-cuddly brother and picks him up, letting the elder man's arm dangle across his shoulders once more and bringing the both of them to the bed, lifting the covers to settle Dean before moving to the other side and doing the same for himself. The younger man pulls his brother closer to his, letting Dean's head rest against his chest, hand laying over his brother's heart, before laying his own over Dean's, just to relieve the pressure that the lake and cold had instilled in him; to assure himself that his brother is still alive.