Brotherly Love.

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"What the hell, Sammy! I leave you sitting here sober as a judge doing your geeky research, go a for a couple of games of pool, and this is what I find when I get back, a little brother pissed out of his mind!"

Dean manhandled as best he could, his bulky brother across the bar room to the door.

X

"I'm shorry, Dean," Sam slurred, as he tottered like a Goliath about to fall. "But it all got too musch."

Dean rolled his eyes. His brother was girly enough at the best of times but when he was stoned it was hitched up to maximum.

Well it was all part of his big brotherly duties and he would deal with whatever Sam was suffering, for he knew that when Sam resorted to heavy drinking, there was always an underlying reason.

His little brother was logical even in his drunkenness!

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Thankful that the Impala was parked nearby, he dragged Sam along as best he could, patiently enduring his repeated litany of "I'm sshorry Dean. You alwayssh look out for me. How can I ever make it up to you? I don't desherve a big brother like you."

"Shoot me now," Dean murmured as he tried to get Sam to relearn the basics of getting into a car, ass first and not head first as Sam was helpfully attempting to do.

Finally managing to bundle him into the allotted space, Dean wasted no time in pulling up at the motel. He had learned through the years that bed and sleep were the only remedies for a stoned Sammy.

After having to repeat the entire fiasco to get Sam, who by this time had dozed off lulled by the familiar contours of the passenger seat, out and into the motel room, Dean managed to yank him sideways onto the bed.

He sent up a sigh of relief that Sam seemed set to sleep it off; at least he wouldn't have to put up with any more of his emoting. He was bent down yanking off Sam's oversized boots when he felt a hand patting his head.

"Uh... no," he muttered, realising that Sammy sleeping it off wasn't on!

"Dean…..Dean….Dean…. " Sam chanted childishly.

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Dean finished with the boots and swung his brother's legs up onto the bed, before acknowledging his words.

Sam's eyes were in full puppy mode highlighted by the sheen of drunkenness, as they stared at him earnestly.

"Dean," he repeated again. "Why do you bother with me? Why don't you just leave me somewhere to rot and go off and live your life?"

X

Dean huffed. It was going to be a long night. He stood there quietly as Sam rambled on.

"My brains are scrambled, I've alwayssh been a freak and I still am, I'm never gonna be normal and now I got Lucifer running around in my head, so that I don't even know what's real and what's falsh any more.

I'm finished, Dean. Just …. Just let it end. A quick bullet to the head and everything is solved. You're free of me and I'm free of Lucifer. Dean wins and Sam wins; a win all round What do you shay Dean? It's for the besht."

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At his brother's words, Dean went through a roller coaster of emotions, from anger to frustration to remorse to determination, but the overwhelming one was love. Love and caring for Sam, his little brother.

They had grown-up together, knew each other's strengths and weaknesses. They had an unspoken bond that nothing could shatter and nothing ever would. Dean knew he would never abandon his brother, neither in life and when their time came not in death, and he certainly was not about to walk out on him now when he was in most need of his help.

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"Sam," he declared firmly in his no-nonsense big brother voice. "You're drunk. Tomorrow you won't remember any of the shit you just spewed out."

"But Dean..."

"But Dean, my ass!" He repeated. "You're my little brother. Do you remember what you said to me after Cold Oak? Let me jog your memory...'You're my big brother. There's nothing I wouldn't do for you.' ...Well Sam right back at you!

Even if you become a drooling mess, I will never abandon you. You got that? If you needed me to I would even give up hunting and I'd do that only for you. You hearing me Sammy or do I have to bare my soul even more and lose any shred of dignity I have left?"

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"Dean…..," Sam slurred as he grasped Dean's hand in his own, hanging on to it as if it was his only anchor in some tempestuous sea, his eyes closing; his brother's affectionate words seemingly gifted with magical sleeping potion powers.

X

Dean breathed in relief. He had thought to have a night of chick-flick moments to deal with, but it appeared that he had gotten off lightly.

All Sam needed was to be reminded of Dean's love at regular intervals. Shake the bottle and take once a month. Love was a medicine like any other remedy, he realised.

He knew that Sam loved him; the bitch-faces, the pursed lips, the feeling of security at having Sam watch his back; the times Sam had saved his life at danger to his own, the heart-felt smiles that his little brother kept only for him, the bitching about healthy eating and drinking less. They were all ways that Sam showed his love and Dean basked in it.

He took one last look at his contentedly sleeping kid brother before he throwing himself down on his own bed.

What a tangled mess they were but he wouldn't have it any other way!

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XXX The enD XXXX