Sam stood quietly on the sidewalk, hands shoved into the front pockets of his jeans. He knew he should be concerned about what has happening at the school, but all he could think about was Dean outside in the cold. His gaze settled on the subject of his irritation who wasn't bothered by the cold in the least; deep in conversation with the Sheriff. That only irritated Sam more, the fool didn't look well at all, it'd only been yesterday he'd wanted Dean to see a doctor because he'd been running a fever and ….god dammit! Sam kicked at the step, just stopping himself from punching the wall. He'd been with his brother for several hours now and had forgotten all about the prescription he'd picked up that morning. Dean turned to give him a look, eyebrow quirking in that manner that made Sam want to slap his eyes closed.

"Now what?" Dean asked with a sigh, it was obvious Sam was freaking out. He had no idea why and he really didn't feel up to dealing with another meltdown. "You done? Go head, punch the building it if it will make you feel better, really screw up your hand, that'll teach me."

"Dean, stop, ok? Just stop." Sam hunched his shoulders, trying to find a way to remain calm. "I'm trying, I'm really trying to hold on here, but you don't make it easy for me. I can't keep doing this…you fight me every time I turn around and I'm tired….." clenched fists, pulsing vein, furrowed forehead, yup, full-blown Sammy meltdown coming.

"What? What did I do this time? Or not do? I'm just standing here! Come on…work with me here."

"Work with you? Work with you? What the hell do you think I've been doing Dean?! I've done nothing but work with you! When you felt like shit and we didn't know why, with Bobby being on your case, with Cas never being around, with your break-up with Lisa, with Samuel betraying us, with Balty dicking us around…..so how about you work with me for a change?!"

"Look here Sam, I've tip-toed around you for months, I went above and beyond what any brother would do to get you back and I've bent over backwards since to keep you sane. What more do you want from me?"

"I want you to talk to me! I want you to stop hiding shit from me because you think I can't handle it! God Dean, I'm not so weak and fragile that you need to kill yourself to protect my mental health! What the hell good will you be to me if you're dead? You think I can handle that again? Cause I gotta tell you, I didn't handle it so well the last time you died!"

"I'm not dying Sammy and I'm not hiding anything from you. I know how you felt and don't tell me I don't. We lost dad because of me, lost him for the same reason you lost me and you know how well I handled that!"

"Yeah, but whether you wanted me around after dad died didn't matter, I was there! I had no one. You want to do that to me again?"

"No! My God Sam, what more can I do?"

"I want you to care, care that you're sick…."

"I'm here, aren't I? I let you drag me off to bum-fuck-nowhere. I willing left my car and walked out on Bobby. I'm doing what you want….."

"That's the problem! I don't want you to do this for me!"

"Then what the hell do you want? I'm not keeping anything from you, I haven't lied to you, I haven't avoided you….."

"TALK TO ME!" Sam yelled. "I want to know how you fee. I want to know when something is wrong!"

"I do tell you! I may not spell it out for you but dammit Sam, I tell you!"

"I can't watch you every minute of the day and try to catch whatever sign you might happen to throw my way! How the hell do you think I feel when I pull over to the side of the road and you get out of the car to crawl….!"

"Is that what this is about?" Dean cut him off. "You're still hung up on the fact I wanted some privacy to puke in the bushes?"

"YES!" he shouted, hands flung out over his head. "NO! I can't believe you are willingly standing out here in this snow, getting wet, again, when just yesterday you argued and fought with me because I wanted you to see a doctor!"

"For the last fucking time! I DID NOT PUKE BLOOD WHEN I CRAWLED OUT OF THE CAR TO PUKE IN THE DITCH ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD!"

"Yet I had to guess the ulcer was bleeding."

"I TOLD YOU IT WAS!" Dean howled, wanting to put his fist through the wall. "I never lied to you! I haven't puked blood Sammy."

"But it's bleeding and that was before that asshole hit you with the baton. You've been running a fever and not keeping much of anything down and you've been content to lie in bed and watch TV. Deny your head hurts, go head, tell me you feel fine. You never ask for Excedrin or Pepto, you never lie on a sofa with a blanket and an ice pack, and you sure as hell never let me close enough to hold a wet towel to your head." that bothered Sam more than anything. Once Dean had woken up, he should have slapped Sam away and taken care of his own injury, but he hadn't. He'd sat on the sofa and let Sam fuss.

"You're confused because I'm not the one who lies and sneaks around behind your back! I'm not the one who runs away! I'm not the one who keeps things from you! I tell you everything Sam."

"Seriously? You're going to throw that in my face? You don't 'tell' me anything Dean! You break only after I've hounded and begged you to level with me. What Dad said, what Cas told you, why Lisa broke up with you, what Alastair did to you…"

"DON'T YOU GO THERE!" Dean bellowed, advancing on Sam, forcing him backwards one step, then two. "You shut me down every time I even refer to my time there. You wanna talk about whose throwing what in whose face?"

"This isn't about me! Jesus Dean, you're so worried about me breaking, you don't even stop to consider that all I have to ground myself to reality is you! Can't you see that?"

"YES! Yes I can Sammy and I'm doing everything I can to be here for you! I'm sorry, but I can't sit down and have a face to face with you! That's just not me and you have to understand that! God, give me that much."

"Every time I try, you knock me down. It's getting harder to keep getting back up."

"I didn't ask for this!"

"YOU!" thwack, Sam was hit between his shoulder blades from behind. It wasn't a hard hit, wasn't hard enough to make him stumble and by the surprised look on his brothers face and his immediate lack of action, it was obvious he was in no danger, but still…. "How DARE you! Haven't you caused enough trouble?" three more hits, thwack, whack, whump and Dean was moving towards him.

Sam slowly turned around and an umbrella slashed his cheek. He raised a hand to his stinging face, too stunned to react. He didn't need too, Dean was between him and the umbrella-wielding banshee and before Sam could blink, the umbrella was wrenched from her grasp and flung out into the street. Standing by while some irate woman used her umbrella to beat his brother harmlessly across his back was funny, was reason to advance slowly with the intent to stop her if she didn't cease on her own, striking him across the face however, would not be tolerated.

"I should have known you were somehow involved in this!" she went at him with her fists which, had she been able to reach him, would have punched him in the shoulder. Struck dumb, Sam was unable to move or defend himself against her attack. It didn't matter, for she was soon pinned against a brick wall, an arm restraining her without excess force just under her chin.

"So Sam, someone you know?" Dean sent him a grin. "Gotta say, not your usual type, what'd you do to piss this one off?"

"Left you alone in the motel room." two fingers touched his split lip and he spit blood onto the sidewalk.

Dean's teasing demeanor fled. "This the bitch that called the police on you in the ice cream store? You've gotta be kidding me." Dean told Sam. "Do you find trouble everywhere you go? I mean, jeez Sammy, only you would be attacked on the street outside the Sheriff's office by an umbrella!"

"Let go of me this instant." she ordered renewing her struggles. "Who are you? Sheriff? Get him off me."

"Lady, you're the one who came out of nowhere and starting attacking my brother…..oomph!" her booted toe caught him in the shin, her knee clipped his inner thigh. "Look, you bit…lady, I don't go around slugging women but you are sorely trying my patience." Dean growled. "You kick me and your head will dent the wall behind it, you got me?"

Sam shook his head at the Sheriff. Dean was all bark and no bite. He would never hit or hurt a mere female unless she was coming at him or Sam with intent to kill but the Sheriff wouldn't know that and Sam didn't want him interfering. He scooped up a handful of snow and held it to his lip. He didn't call Dean off or move to intercede, just waited to see how far Dean could be pushed.

"Hank!" she bared her teeth, going for Dean's bare forearm, prevented from biting him when his opposite hand fisted her chin. "Unhand me, you worthless cur!"

"Cur?" Dean was simply not himself. His emotions were still strung high and out of control from his argument with Sam.

The headache he'd woken up with that morning was back, making him wonder if standing outside in a blizzard in just a flannel shirt was a smart thing to do. Belatedly, he recalled that very thought was what had set Sam off and escalated into the argument. Relaxing the strength in his arm that held the woman against the wall, he darted a glance over at Sam, yup, still pissed.

He raised his free hand to rub at his forehead, frowning when his fingers encountered his own warmth. Aww, shit! He'd thought his earlier headache mighta been the result of a fever and here was proof. His stomach heaved and rolled from panting through bouts of sucking in enough air to yell at the top of his lungs. He'd just dropped his arm, letting the irate woman go when her knee connected with his and with a grunt, his vision went red with anger and pain.

The Sheriff was still acceding to Sam's authority and reeling from the heated argument he had just witnessed. Dean was just as protective and defensive of Sam has Sam had been of him. By the look of the situation in front of him, Dean was willing and capable of hitting a female and Sam appeared content to let him. Though whether Dean hadn't followed through by throwing punches was because his opponent was female, had better control of his anger or because Sam hadn't really been hurt, the Sheriff couldn't decide.

He was still mentally going over what all he intended to add to the file when he noticed his deputy starting to move towards Dean. He collected his wits and assessed the situation which was getting out of hand in the middle of the street in front of a crowd of towns folk. Before he could move, Sam stepped forward.

"Dean." Sam was rigid, looked pissed and warning the deputy back with such hostility in his eyes the Sheriff rested a hand on the butt of his gun. Sam shook his head, aware of the Sheriff and the deputy looking at him oddly. "Dean, go inside, now." he pointed to the door, pleased when Dean ducked his head and nodded his agreement. He wasn't paying the Sheriff much attention, focused on retrieving the forgotten prescription from his jacket and forcing his brother into taking the new medication. "Get her out of here." he told the Sheriff, turning to pull his brother away from the woman.

"I'm not going anywhere until someone gives me some answers."

"Ma'am, do you like your teeth? I'm beginning to think you aren't very fond of them." Sam said. "Are you trying to get them knocked out of your mouth?"

"Julia, what are you doing here?" the Sheriff asked with a tired sigh. Here, he'd been worried about Dean taking a fist to her when he'd all but forgotten Sam was just as capable as his brother to inflict injury. The more he was around the two men, the more unsettled he became.

"Stubby said Ned Burrows is back in town, is that true? Does he have hostages at the school? What are you doing about it? My kids are there Hank, why are you here and not over there? Did he cause the avalanche? Are these two working with him? Did they help him? Why are they free? Shouldn't they be in handcuffs and locked in a cell?"

"Julia, calm down and for god's sake, don't go pissing them off again!" the Sheriff chided.

"Who the hell are they? Are they part of this? Are they responsible?"

"We're your best chance of getting your kid outta that school alive." Sam spat the brutal truth at her, tired of everything and everyone. Dean wouldn't have the chance to sleep off this latest round of pain and Sam didn't know how much more he could take before crashing. Not caring that he upset her and more than willing to leave the Sheriff to deal with the scene he had just created, he went after Dean, ignoring the sobbing woman he'd just made hysterical. "Dean?"

"Don't." he warned. "Just don't." he was trying to deal with Sam deliberately upsetting the woman by saying her kids would most likely be killed. That wasn't Sam, he didn't do that and since when did Sam allude to the fact Dean was willing and able to punch a woman in the mouth? He hadn't realized how close to the edge Sam was and wondered how much of his recent decline was his fault.

"I just want to make sure…." he paused. "I picked up the prescription this morning, will you take it?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Not really." he cracked a shy smile, unsure of Dean's mood. Dark shadows completely surrounded Dean's eyes, if he didn't know better, he'd say his brother was wearing eye-liner. He did grin at that, shrugging at Dean's questioning look. "The pharmacist was very knowledgeable, it'll help with the fever, you know since standing around outside in the cold and wet is sure to do you good."

"So," Dean rubbed at the back of his neck. "Can you go anywhere these days without pissing someone off? It's usually me…ain't like you to piss off women, not like that."

"You ok?'' Sam held his jacket and searched through the pockets. "Seriously Dean, this ain't the time…."

"Look….." he sat down. "Can we discuss this later? We have other things to worry about Sam….."

"Dean….." Sam set the bottle of pills on the table. "This situation isn't going to end well, he's holed up in a room with one window and a bunch of kids…..it's gonna hafta be a head shot….a kill shot…are you sure you can do that?"

"I can." Dean said firmly.

"That's not what I mean…you're in pain, you're running a fever, your knee's messed up, your eyes have yet to focus so I'm guessing you didn't completely sleep off the headache….you were bleeding before getting hit in the belly…."

"Sam…don't expect me to walk away, I can't do that…."

"And if you miss?" Sam uncapped the bottle and shook out one pill. "You've got maybe an hour, go lay down, I'll get you up when we're ready to head over to the school."

"We need to scout and find the best location….the weather could be a problem…"

Sam nodded, he knew. He knew he'd also go along with the plan that Dean would be the one to take the shot but he had every intention of being next to him every minute. If he had to, he'd do as he'd been trained…one shot, one kill, leave no enemy standing.

Dean toyed with the pill in the palm of his hand. He'd run from Bobby and the responsibilities Bobby had insisted were his. He'd wanted to spend a month watching movies, talking to the brother he'd gotten back after losing him for a year and half while he gave his body the rest it needed to heal.

Now here he was, a town in crisis, a room full of kids in danger, snowbound in a blizzard by a crazed psycho out for revenge with his brother's mental health on the line. He'd been so careful these last several months, keeping Sam safe by treading carefully around the hastily erected wall that was keeping him sane. Was all that about to come undone? Did he pit his brother's mental health against the well-being of a room full of kids? Sam had kicked the wall once with heart-stopping. results. What was this fucked-up situation doing to him? Dean would risk his own health to protect Sam but could he jeopardize innocent kids?

"Dean? Sofa's that way."

"Okay, ok, ok….." he popped the pill in his mouth and swallowed it with the water Sam handed him. "Leave the gun here while you go scout potential sites, okay?"

"I'll be back in an hour. Phones are still out, so gonna leave Steve here to keep an eye on you."

"He the kid with me when I woke up?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Just putting names to faces…."

"So, soon as the road is cleared, what say we get the hell outta here? Well, soon as the car's fixed."

"Deal, but first we go back and get my car before we go anywhere else."

"Agreed. Now go lay down."

An hour or so later, Dean was grateful Sam wasn't with him when he woke up. Yup, there'd been damage from the blow to the belly with the baton. It'd taken over three hours for any symptoms to show up but here they were. He couldn't stand up straight, pain ripped through his belly as if being stabbed and he would know, he'd been stabbed before. Mother-mmmn, he struggled to his feet, snagged the bottle of Pepto someone had thoughtfully left for him and staggered to the bathroom, slamming the door in Steve's face.

Twenty minutes later he was on top of his discomfort and able to hide most of his symptoms from all observant eyes. He was pretty sure he'd even manage to fool Sam for a little while, for long enough anyway.

"Your brother said you could have either two Excedrin or as much Tylenol as you want." Steve ventured when Dean finally emerged from the bathroom.

"Great…so I get to choose between relieving a headache or bringing down a fever."

"Aah, are you asking? Cause Tylenol will do both, well aspirin might, I mean doesn't Excedrin have acetaminophen in it?"

"Yeah, and caffeine, but Tylenol doesn't do shit for my headaches…..so, I'll take the aspirin…..there a soda machine anywhere?"

"You're only allowed to have water."

"Son-ufa-bitch!" Dean muttered. "He'll never know…"

"Nuh-huh, dude, I saw him take Jerry down, there's no way I'm gonna get him mad at me."

"You didn't tell him I was sick earlier." Den pointed out.

Steve shrugged. "He didn't tell me to let him know if you were."

"Did he this time?"

"Uh, no, but dude, I gotta tell ya, you're stupid for keeping this shit from him."

"Kid, doesn't matter what I do, he knows everything anyway, so…he coming back or am I meeting him there?"

"He's coming back. I'm not supposed to allow you to leave, though I dunno how anyone expects me to keep you here if you want to leave."

"Relax. You got a younger brother?"

"Three of them."

"Yeah? Well, don't ever go letting them think they're in charge…mmmppffhh." he winced, hand pressing against his belly. He had an idea the pain had nothing to do with the ulcer, was more likely a deep internal contusion from the baton and wouldn't that just be great? For most people, aspirin, ice and staying off their feet would make it better, but this was Dean and what did you just want to bet, there was further damage? If he admitted as such to Sam, he would insist on seeing for himself and what good would that do? They were still snowed in with a broken down car. Well, no, Sam was both persistent and resourceful. If he wanted out-of-town, he'd find a way. Doubled over, he groped his way back to the sofa and sat down, using the blanket to wipe the sweat from his face.

"You don't look so good." Steve said uncertainly.

Dean just groaned in response, fighting the urge to lie down and curl up. He'd just decided to do so when his stomach heaved, forcing him to hold a hand over his mouth and lunge for the bathroom.

"Hey." the toilet flushed, a hand took hold of his elbow and pulled him to his feet. He went with the pull, but not willingly, not ready to get up. He turned around and sat on the toilet, doubling forward to rest his elbows on his knees. A cold, wet towel was laid across the back of his neck, and his head was pushed down when he tried to raise it. He wanted to pull away, push the hand aside that held his head down, but before he could, the fog of confusion in his head cleared and he knew that the only person who would dare get that close to him would be Sam. So instead of moving away, he found himself submitting to the gentle massage from the fingers rubbing along his neck.

God, he would never admit it, but he loved that soothing, comforting gesture. It'd been so rare in his life that he'd ever received it. His dad when he'd been a kid, Bobby a couple of times when he'd gotten older, Sam after Dean had retrieved him from school, always when he'd been hurt or sick, and later, Lisa…..when he was dealing with losing Sam…..

Dean sighed, remembering his earlier submission to Sam had caused him to later freak out, he eased away. Wiping the back of his hand across his mouth, he took the cup of water being pressed into his hand and sat up. He held the cup for a moment and when he raised it to take a drink, his hand was shaking. Two Excedrin appeared in front of him and he took them without comment. He wondered if Steve had told Sam of his earlier decision or if Sam had just known which he would choose. He pulled the wet towel from his neck to wipe his face, and popped the aspirin in his mouth.

"Feel better?" Sam asked quietly, taking the opportunity to poke about the head wound, pleased to see it hadn't oozed any further blood, wasn't as swollen as before and Dean didn't flinch away from his probing finger. Unwritten Winchester rule, you sat and allowed examination an injury you couldn't see for yourself, period.

"Feel like shit." he muttered. "But….yeah." he did actually, his recent meal no longer a lump of unease in his belly causing it to burn and ache. "No more mayo." Steve handed Sam a bottle of caffeine-free coke, not venturing near enough to hand it to Dean.

"It's cold." Sam offered, opening the bottle and pouring some into the empty water cup when Dean nodded. "Just sit there for a bit, ok? Bottle's right here if you want more." Dean just nodded again, letting Sam leave without asking where he was going, content to sit where he was until Sam returned. Next thing he knew something round and cold was poking at his lips. "Dean." from the tone of Sam's voice, it was obvious he'd been calling Dean's name more than once.

"What?" he slapped Sam's hand away from his mouth. "What the hell is that?"

"Frozen ice flavored with powered soda, more commonly known to millions of kids everywhere as a Popsicle." Sam said wryly. "Open up."

"It's purple." Dean scowled as the offending ice cream treat poked again at his lips. "Knock it off!"

"It's grape." Sam explained as though he was talking to the two-year old Dean was of being. Poke, poke, poke. The purple ice rubbed across his lips and wiggled between them, nudging his teeth. "Come on." Sam coaxed. "Dean."

Dean saw no way out of avoiding the Popsicle and resignedly licked at it tentatively. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had one and he didn't exactly want one now. He made a face at the taste, raising mournful eyes to his brother.

"If you insist on making me eat that, can I have an orange one?"

Sam cast a glance over at Steve who dug through the box he held in his hands and tossed another wrapped Popsicle at him. Sam caught it and popped the grape one in his own mouth as he unwrapped the orange one for Dean.

"Happy now?" he held it out but Dean made no move to take it. "What? You want me to hold it for you?" he teased.

"Screw you!" Dean scowled, snatching the Popsicle, wondering what had prompted Sam to give him one, to even think to give him one. "Of all the lame ass…."

"Have you eaten anything today?" Sam interrupted. "And kept it down? Didn't keep anything down yesterday either. I seem to recall an episode in a ditch on the side of the road."

"Enough with the fucking ditch already!" Dean snapped sarcastically.

He was so tired of that being held against him, as though it were being held up for comparison of everything else. So tired of always trying to juggle just what to reveal to Sam and how much. Tired of everything he did, being wrong. When he thought he was being considerate by allowing Sam to fuss, he was in fact freaking him out. When he accepted the comfort Sam offered, he upset Sam by doing so. When he did as Sam asked, Sam was overcome with concern and blind to all else. When he argued and resisted, Sam's feeling were hurt.

What the hell was he supposed to do? He damn well knew Sam would take the shot if he thought Dean wasn't steady enough. He didn't want to put that on his brother, but Sam would find a way to deal with it. He might have doubts about killing a man in what amounted to cold blood, but when the time came and Dean admitted or showed, he wasn't able, there was no doubt in his mind, Sam would act.

Dean gave himself a cocky grin; all one had to do to be convinced Sam would do whatever he had to in defense of his brother was go find this Jerry fellow and ask him how his face felt.

"Doubt you've had much to drink today either, doubt you kept the tea down. I wasn't with you when you woke up but the way you were fighting it before you fell asleep pretty much tells the tale and oh, that's right, you're running a fever, that's gotta be doing you a world of good. So, hey, here's a thought, how about you don't dehydrate on me?"

"Oh for Christ sake! I'm in no danger of becoming dehydrated Sam! For the love of God you find the stupidest shit to obsess over!"

"Huh, okay, let's see. Fever - check, vomiting - check, sweating - check, inability to keep liquids down - check, loss of blood - check, and oh that's right, strenuous walk in severe weather dressed in inadequate clothing while on medication and in pain, cause dude, you limped all the way here, that's called exertion, now….."

A vision of Sam choking on his purple Popsicle made Dean feel better. He bet the little shit's face would turn as purple as his fucking Popsicle. Chuckling, he got up and walked back into the office, bottle of coke in one hand, Popsicle in the other. He wondered if Sam would have a cow if he asked for another, because damn, the Popsicle felt good. Yes, felt good. Maybe cherry this time, or raspberry, ooooh, yeah, raspberry. He'd never understood why raspberry Popsicle's were blue since raspberries are red. Who the hell had come up with that? What sense did it make? What about flavor-ice, god, he hadn't had any of those since he was, what ten, twelve? Anyway, was raspberry flavor-ice blue too or red?

"Deeeeee-nnnnneeeeeeeennnnnnn?"

He heard his name being called, drawn out and impatient and looked up to find Sam glaring down at him.

"So, what you got?" Dean asked. "We good to go?"

"He hasn't made any demands, hasn't made any contact, and hasn't released anyone. He hasn't answered the phone in the room, made any calls on it or responded to me talking to him over the megaphone. No further shots have been fired and best anyone can tell no one has been hurt." the Sheriff was standing next to Steve.

So, this was how Sam dealt with his brother nearly punching out an upset mother whose children were being held hostage by a suicidal manic capable of mass murder. He humored him with Popsicle's, enabled by his blasted deputy. He was so going to retire when this was all over.

"What does his silence tell you?" Dean asked. He wished he'd had some more time to sleep, but maybe Sam was right, because after three Popsicle's, over which Sam hadn't said boo, a bottle of coke and some more water, he was feeling better, no longer shaking and not feeling so weak. "What's he waiting for?"

"Five o'clock." Sam said grimly. "The Sheriff did send someone out on snowmobile to Great Falls but it's anyone's guess if help will get here in time. They will have to come by snowmobile. This freak really planned this well. The blizzard is in his favor, he plans on going out in a blaze glory."

"Why five o'clock?"

"It's the time he was fired."

Dean glanced at the clock on the wall, it was after four. Sam had left the motel around nine-thirty that morning, Dean had woken up and walked to town by eleven. He'd been unconscious for roughly fifteen minutes and slept on and off for over three hours. Another hour was spent while he and Sam had gone over the gun together then entertained the crowd with their argument outside on the sidewalk. And like that, the day was gone.

"We good to go?" Dean asked.

"Yup, just came back to get you, you have some time to scout the area, see if you like the site I picked out."

"Then grab the gun and let's go." he stood up and turned to the Sheriff. "We walk away, you never saw us, you don't know anything about us and if questioned, you have no idea what happened to the rifle. All you know is some unknown stranger was a good Samaritan."

The sheriff nodded and the brothers walked out.

4:55 p.m. Snowing hard, wind blowing, visibility impaired, two brothers, one physically ill, one mentally unstable, a sniper rifle on the floor between them.

"You got this?"

"Yeah."

Neither moved.

"Gotta be now."

A knowing sigh and the gun was shouldered. Silence between them, target in sight and a hand offered to take the gun from his brother.

"I'm ok." the scope sited in and at 4:59 p.m., a shot, the target eliminated. A walki-talki crackled and the Sheriff's voice came through, all kids accounted for and unharmed.

The gun was dismantled and placed in its case. It would be going with them, payment for a job well done.

"Hey Sam?" Dean blinked then frowned; two Sam's swirled and rushed at him. "I gotta tell you, this was the worse vacation ever."

Sam turned to face his brother who sounded out of breath, voice faint and shaky. Next thing he knew he was sitting on the floor, Dean's dead weight sprawled across his lap.

"Great." Sam sighed. "You'd pick now to pass out, wouldn't you?" he dumped Dean to the floor and gathered his heels under his butt to stand up. Had he expected him to pass out, he would have been better prepared to catch him and would have been able to keep his feet. "Ok, tough guy, let's get you outta here."

Dean's fingers curled around the loose denim near Sam's ankle; grip tight enough to tug when Sam tried to pull away. Sam balanced on his toes and peered down at this brother who was so pale, he could easily count the freckles that peppered his cheeks. Again, Dean's actions spoke for him, his need to remain close to Sam even while unconscious enough to keep Sam calm.

"Oh, I dunno Dean." Sam murmured softly, feeling for a pulse, palming his brother's sweaty forehead. Dean accepted the touch and while Sam wasn't happy that Dean was sick, he wasn't all that upset about it. If illness was what it took for Dean to let him get close, Sam wasn't above taking advantage of his vulnerability and weakness. "I gotta say, it's been our best one."

***END***