Supernatural: When the Levee Breaks Recap
June 2nd 2009 22:08
…..Okay, this is possibly the single most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever watched, which is probably why it's take me so long to recap. These guys have been through a lot, but this has definitely got to be the worst. At least before they were fighting on the SAME side. 
Sam! Why?! WHYYYYYY? *flops wearily into chair* I swear, this show is going to be the death of me. But then again, that’s what makes it so good, right? 
Read on for the full recap. That's right, these last two episodes were so epic, I've gone back to the good old, capture-every-second, way...
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In Bobby’s demon-proof panic room, Sam looks up at the fan in the ceiling. Outside the door, Dean opens the latch to peer into the room.
“Okay, let me out, this is not funny,” Sam says, walking to the door.
“Damn straight.”
“Dean, come on, this is crazy talk.”
“Not until you dry out.”
Sam shakes his head, trying another tactic. “Look,” he tells his brother. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have lied to you, just open the door.”
“You don’t have to apologize,” Dean answers easily. “It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault that you lied to me over and over again. I get it now, you couldn’t help it.”
“I’m not some junky.”
“Really? I guess I’ve just imagined how strung out you’ve been,” Dean answers dryly.
Sam lets out a mirthless laugh. “You’re actually trying to twist this into some kind of ridiculous drug intervention?”
“If it smells like a duck…”
“Dean, I’m not drinking the demon blood for KICKS. I’m getting strong enough to kill Lilith!”
“Strong?”
“Yeah!”
“This is about as far away from strong as you can get,” Dean answers angrily. “Try weak. Try desperate, pathetic.”
“Killing Lilith,” Sam answers, punctuating each word. “Is what matters.” He stares at his brother a second, then asks, “Or are you so busy being self-righteous you forgot about her?”
“Oh Lilith’s gonna die,” Dean answers. “Bobby and I will kill her. But not with you.”
“You’re not serious.”
“Congrats, Sammy. You just bought yourself a benchwarmer’s seat to the Apocalypse.”
Dean starts to shut the square peephole, and Sam tries, “Dean look—no, look—“ Dean shuts and locks the latch. “Come back here!” Sam shouts as his brother leaves. “Dean! Let me out of here! Dean! Let me out of here! Let me out!”
Dean heads up the stairs as his brother continues to shout after him to let him out. Dean stops on the stairs, clearly having a hard time locking his brother up.
~*~*~
Alone in detox, Sam sits on the bed, his vision going blurry. He gets up and again tries the door, but has no luck. Suddenly his break begins to freeze and the lights flicker. Oh no.
“Guys?” Sam shouts. “Get down here, something’s com—“ Alastair appears in front of him.
“Hello Sam. Pleasure to see you again.” He glances around, sneering. “Looks like I have you all to myself here. Goodness…” Alastair runs a blade lazily across his neck and finishes, “How will we pass the time?”
~*~*~
Sam is tied down to the demon torture table, gasping in pain and begging Alastair to stop as he begins to cut.
“No, stop--Alastiar! Please, please!”
Alastair stops only long enough to smirk down at him, blood on his hands as he answers, “You’re polite all of a sudden. Very nice.” He leans in just inches from Sam’s face to add, “I appreciate that.” He stands up and goes right back to cutting.
Sam shouts in pain, holding himself down to the bed, arms outstretched. He’s imagining it all.
Upstairs, Bobby pours Dean a drink, but Dean can’t ignore his brother’s cries of pain. “How long is this gonna go on?” he asks Bobby, not touching his drink.
“Here, let me look it up in my demon detox manual,” Bobby answers sarcastically. “Oh wait, no one every wrote one.”
Dean sighs and Bobby gloomily tells him, “No tellin’ how long it’ll take. Hell, or if Sam will even live through it.”
The phone suddenly rings and Bobby picks it up. “Hello?...Suck dirt and die Rufus,” he tells the caller. “You call me again I’ll kill you.” He hangs up.
“What’s up with Rufus?” Dean asks, and Bobby tells him, “He knows.”
The phone rings again, and Bobby angrily picks it up, telling Rufus he’s busy so it better be important. Bobby listens, then turns an alarmed look on Dean.
~*~*~
Down in the basement, Sam wakes up, realizing he was hallucinating. He sits up on the bed, breathing hard and looking around. Alastair is nowhere to be seen and his body is still intact.
“The answers yes,” a young voice says. “You’re hallucinating.”
Sam swings around to find his younger self standing in the room.
“That’s right, it’s me,” younger Sam answers. “Or I mean, it’s you.”
“I’m losing my mind.”
“Definitely.”
“What do you want?” Sam asks himself, who answers, “An explanation. How could you do this to me? We were gonna be normal.”
“I tried,” Sam answers. “I did…It didn’t pan out that way. Sorry, kid.”
“Sorry kid?” younger Sam spats back. “That’s what you have to say? It’s all we ever wanted, you were so close! You got away from dad, you quit everything, you were gonna become a lawyer and get married! Why’d you blow it?”
“Look, they killed Jessica.”
“Yeah, and if you hadn’t gone off with Dean? If you’d been there to protect her? She’d still be alive.”
Sam can only nod his head. “I know…”
“You think Jess would want you to turn into this?” his younger self asks. “She loved you. You think she’d be happy with you using her as an excuse?”
“I’m sorry,” Sam interrupts. “I am. But life doesn’t turn out the way you thought it would when you were fourteen years old. We were never gonna be normal, we were never gonna get away. Grow up.”
“Maybe you’re right,” younger Sam says, now appearing behind Sam. “Maybe there’s no escape. After all, how can you live with what’s inside you?” He blinks, his eyes glowing yellow.
~*~*~
“The news, the news ain’t good,” Bobby says, now off the phone.
“This is what Rufus called about?” Dean asks, looking down at the piece of paper Bobby hands over. “Key West sees ten species go extinct?”
“Yep. Plus Alaska, 15 man fishing crew all stricken blind, cause unknown. New York,” Bobby continues. “Teacher goes postal, locks the door, kills exactly 66 kids. All this in a single day? I looked ‘em up, there’s no doubt about it, they’re all seals. Breaking, fast.”
“How many are left?”
“Who knows, can’t be many,” Bobby answers, then asks, “Where the hell are your angel pals?”
Dean can only shake his head. “You tell me.”
“I’m just wondering…”
“What?”
“The Apocalypse, being nigh and all,” Bobby answers, knowing Dean isn’t going to like what he has to say next. “Is now really the right time to be having this little domestic drama of ours?”
“What do you mean?” Dean asks.
“I don’t like this any more than you do, but Sam can kill demons. He’s got a shot at stopping Armageddon.”
“So what? Sacrifice Sam’s life, his soul for the greater good, that’s what you’re saying?” Dean asks, not having any of it. “Times are bad so let’s use Sam as a nuclear warhead?”
“I know you hate me for suggesting it, *I* hate me for suggesting it,” Bobby answers. “I love that boy like a son. All I’m saying is, maybe he’s here right now instead of on the battlefield because we love him too much.”
Bobby’s words hang in the air as Dean swallows hard.
~*~*~
Downstairs, Sam is sitting cross-legged on the floor. He stares up at the light filtering in through the demon-proof fan. Looking terrible, Sam looks longingly at the glass and water pitcher sitting on the other side of the room. He struggles to the side of the bed to stand up, but even that is too much. Suddenly he hears an echo of a woman’s voice and looks up.
“Mom?”
His mom appears in the bloody nightgown she was wearing when she died. “Sam.”
Sam sees a glimmer of hope.
“You look just awful,” the hallucination of this mother tells him, and he immediately looks down, the little boy chastised.
“Let’s hear it,” he says softly. “Go ahead…”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re disappointed. You never thought I’d turn out this way. I’m a…piss-poor excuse for a son…You’re heart is broken.” Sam sits down, wearily asking, “Am I close?”
“Not at all.” This surprises him, and he looks up as his mom adds, “You’re doing the right thing, Sam. What you’re doing is brave. You’re not being crazy, you’re being practical.” His mom smiles. “Sam, I am so proud of you.”
This is what he desperately needs to hear, but Sam is still confused. “But…Dean?”
“You’re brother doesn’t understand.” At Sam’s confused look, she goes to sit down next to him. “I was a raised a hunter, from a long line. We understand that there are going to be hard choices. And we do what we have to do get the job done…Yes, our family is cursed. You,” she says, gently brushing his hair back. “You have the power to turn it into a gift. You can use it against them.”
Sam closes his eyes, leaning into his mother’s much needed touch. “For revenge?”
“No,” she answers, shaking her head. “For justice.”
Sam glances down at his hands, and his mom adds, “I know how scared you are.”
Fighting back angry tears, Sam struggles to ask, “What’s…in me?” He swallows hard. “Mom? It’s evil.”
“And you know it,” the hallucination answers.
“What if it’s stronger than me?” Sam asks. “Look at me. What if Dean’s right?”
“Dean can never know how strong you are,” she answers, shaking her head and cupping his cheek. “Because Dean is weak.” Sam shakes his head, confused, and the hallucination tells him, “Look at what he’s done to you. Locking you in here? He’s terrified. He’s in over his head. You have to go on without him.” Seeing Sam’s inner struggle with this on his face, she urges, “You have what it takes. You have to kill Lilith.”
“Even if it kills me?” Sam takes in a deep breath and looks at her.
“Make my death mean something,” she whispers back. “I’m counting on you Sam. Don’t let anyone or anything get in your way. Not even Dean.”
Sam nods, closing his eyes and leaning into his mother’s touch as she kisses his cheek and holds him.
When he opens his eyes, his mom is gone.
~*~*~
Outside, Dean looks around in frustration. Nothing but an empty yard full of cars and parts. Then finally, with a soft echoing flapping of wings, Castiel appears behind him.
“Well it’s about time,” Dean says angrily. “I’ve been screaming myself hoarse out here for about two and a half hours now.”
“What do you want?” Castiel asks, and Dean tells him he can start with what happened in Illinois. “What do you mean?” Castiel asks, walking towards him.
“Cut the crap,” Dean answers. “You were gonna tell me something.”
“Nothing of import.”
Dean just stares at him skeptically. “You got ass remmed in Heaven, but it was not of import?!”
“Dean,” Castiel interrupts, giving him a warning look. “I can’t. I’m sorry.” Dean stares after him, wondering just what it was that happened to Castiel as the angel adds, “Get to the reason you really called me. It’s about Sam, right?”
“Can he do it?” Dean asks, Cass’s back to him. “Kill Lilith, stop the Apocalypse?”
“Possibly, yes.” Castiel turns to look at him. “But as you know, he’d have to take certain steps. “
“Crank up the hellbood regimen,” Dean answers dryly.
“Consuming the amount of blood it would take to kill Lilith would change your brother forever. Most likely,” Cass continues. “He would become the next creature that you would feel compelled to kill.” When Dean doesn’t answer, he adds, “There’s no reason that this would have to come to pass, Dean…We believe it’s you, Dean, not your brother,” Castiel walks to his side. “The only question for us is whether you’re willing to accept it…Stand up and accept your role. YOU are the one who will stop it.”
Dean stares at him a long moment, then asks, “If I do this…Sammy doesn’t have to?”
“If it gives you comfort to see it that way.”
Dean shakes his head, walking off. “You’re a dick these days.”
Castiel just waits, and Dean finally answers, “Fine, I’m in.”
“You give yourself over, wholly, to the service of God and His angels?”
Dean closes his eyes, but just answers an off-handed, “Yeah, exactly.”
“Say it.”
Dean turns around to study Cass’s face, then starts walking towards him. “I give myself over, wholly, to serve God and you guys.”
“You swear to follow his will and his word as swiftly and obediently as you did your own father’s?”
This gets to Dean, and finally he’s serious. “Yes, I swear.”
Castiel nods.
“Now what?” Dean asks.
“Now you wait. And we call on you when it’s time.”
~*~*~
Back in the panic room, Sam sits against the walls, unable to even keep his hands still. He looks down at them, alarmed to find his veins turning black, snaking like evil tree branches across his skin. Sam jumps up to watch in the mirror as his evil blood snakes across his face. “Guys!” he shouts. “Help!”
Upstairs, it’s killing Dean to hear Sam’s shouting.
“Now correct me if I’m wrong,” Bobby asks, arms crossed. “But you willingly igned up to be the angel’s bitch?” At Dean’s look, he corrects, “I’m sorry, you prefer “sucker”? After everything you said about them, now you trust them?”
“Come on, give me a break, Bobby,” Dean answers, walking over to his friend. “I’ve never trusted them less. I mean, they come on like shady politicians from planet Vulcan.”
“Well then why in the hell did—“
“Because what other options do I have?” Dean shouts. “It’s either trust the angels or let Sammy trust a demon?!”
Bobby shakes his head. “I see your point.”
They both stand there grimly a moment, then Dean turns towards the door, listening. “You hear that?”
“That’s a little too much nothin’,” Bobby agrees, and they both rush downstairs.
They open the slot and see Sam on the floor. It looks like he’s having a seizure of some sort.
“What if he’s faking?” Dean asks, and Bobby asks, “You really think he would?”
“I think he’d do it, what do you think?”
They watch as Sam is flung across the room and against the walls.
“That ain’t fakin’ it,” Bobby answers, and they both quickly unlock the door and go in. Grabbing Sam before he can be flung around the walls anymore.
Dean pulls off his brother’s belt to put in his mouth as he and Bobby try to hold him down.
“We’re gonna have to tie him down for his own safety!” Bobby tells Dean, but Dean can only stare at his brother, clearly troubled by what he’s seeing. “Dean? You with me?”
No answer.
“Dean!” Bobby shouts. “Before he has another fit!”
Dean snaps out of it. “Yeah, let’s just get it over with.”
~*~*~
Sam wakes up handcuffed to the bed. Dean is standing at the end of the bed.
“We had to,” he tells his brother. “The demon blood was flinging you all over the room.” Sam doesn’t answer, and he asks, “Tell me something, Sam, why did you do this to yourself?”
Sam stares at him a long moment, then answers, “You know why.”
“Right. Kill Lilith, the big excuse. But why? What, revenge? Right?”
“Of course.”
“Revenge for what? For sending me to hell?” Dean asks, at a loss. “Did you happen to notice I’m back? Alive and kicking. So what’s the point?”
“The point?” Sam halfheartedly shakes at the handcuffs. To the empty room, he answers the hallucination. “How about stop the damn Apocalypse?”
“My game,” the hallucination of his brother answers. “Not yours! The angels said so, remember?” Sam just sits there wearily as the hallucination of Dean tells him, “God picked me, man.”
Sam continues to sit in the empty room, hearing staring at the hallucination and hearing Dean in his head. “You have any more of your fantastic excuses, hmm?”
~*~*~
Upstairs, the real Dean is sitting on the couch, a brooding look on his face.
“I’m gonna ask one more time,” Bobby says. “Are we absolutely sure we’re doing the right thing?”
“Bobby, you saw what was happening to him down there,” Dean answers, standing up. “The demon blood was killing him!”
“No, it isn’t,” Bobby answers. “We are.”
“What?”
“I’m sorry, I can’t bite my tongue any longer,” Bobby finally says. “We’re killing him, keeping him locked up down there. This cold turkey thing isn’t workin’. If he doesn’t get what he needs, soon, Sam’s not gonna last much longer.”
A very tortured look on his face, Dean shakes his head. “No. I’m not givin’ him demon blood, I won’t do it.”
“And if he dies?”
“Then at least he dies human!”
~*~*~
Down in the panic room, Sam is still hallucinating his brother.
“I know why you really drink hat blood, Sam.”
“Can you just leave me alone?” Sam asks wearily, looking up from the bed.
“Makes you feel strong, invincible,” the hallucination answers. “Big bad wolf all alone with the little pigs.”
“No, you’re wrong Dean—“
“It’s more than that isn’t it?” he asks, walking around the bed. “Because you’re whole life you’ve felt different, am I right?”
“Stop,” Sam whispers.
“Hittin’ a little close to home, huh?”
Starting to get angry, Sam tugs at the handcuffs in vain as the hallucination of Dean continues, “Not different because you were some lonely kid, or because you’re weirdo family—“
“Stop it.”
Sam’s hallucination of his brother leans over him to growl, “Because you’re a monster.”
“Stop it! Just—“ Furious, Sam struggles to answer, “Shut, the hell, up.” This is the very last thing he wants to hear from his brother.
“You were always a monster,” the hallucination of Dean answers. “And you always feel right when you’re suckin’ down more poison. And more EVIL!”
Sam continues to struggle, trying to block out what he thinks his brother is telling him.
~*~*~
“I would die for him in a second,” the real Dean is telling Bobby upstairs. “But I won’t let him do this to himself. I can’t…I guess I found my line,” Dean adds with a mirthless laugh. “I won’t let my brother turn into a monster.”
~*~*~
“Monster, Sam,” the hallucination is growling at Sam. “You’re a *monster*.”
“Dean, no—“
“And I tried so hard to pretend we were brothers. That you weren’t one of the filthy things that we hunt,” the hallucination continues to torture. “We’re not even the same species. You’re nothing to me.”
“Don’t say that to me,” Sam begs, close to tears. “Don’t you say that to me.”
He turns away a moment, then back. “Dean” is gone.
~*~*~
Sam wakes up later to find the handcuffs mysteriously snapping open. His eyes widen in alarm as he watches them and the door suddenly cracks open.
“Hello?” He gets up, cautiously approaching the door. He slowly pushes it open and looks out. “Is anyone here?” He gets no answer, so walks out and up the stairs.
Castiel appears beneath the stairs, motioning the door to close, and the lock to slide back into place.
Sam grabs his coat from upstairs. He pauses a moment to look at Dean and Bobby asleep in the living room, then walks out.
~*~*~
Castiel is waiting outside by the water as Anna appears.
“What did you do?”
“You shouldn’t have come, Anna.”
“Why did you let out Sam Winchester?” she asks, and he can only respond a sad, “Those were my orders.”
“Orders? Cass, you saw him. He’s drinking demon blood! It’s so much worse than we thought. Dean was trying to stop him.”
“You really shouldn’t have come…” Castiel looks away as two more angels appear and take hold of Anna.
Castiel watches as they silently whisk her away with a soft glowing of white light.
Clearly troubled, Cass goes back to looking out at the water.
~*~*~
Sam is in the middle of breaking into a car when Bobby suddenly appears behind him with a shotgun. Sam wearily turns around to face his friend, looking awful, strung out.
“Uh-uh, Sam,” Bobby tells him. “The only place you’re going is back inside with me.”
“No,” Sam finally answers.
“Dammit boy,” Bobby answers, not wanting to do this anymore than Sam does.
“You won’t shoot me, Bobby.” Sam takes a step forward, and Bobby warns, “Don’t test me.”
“You won’t do it.” Sam walks right up to place Bobby’s gun barrel against his chest. “You can’t do it.”
Bobby takes in a tortured breath, trying to get through to him. “We’re trying to help you, Sam.”
Sam moves Bobby’s gun to his heart. “Then shoot me.”
Bobby doesn’t move. Tears in his eyes, Sam stares at his friend a moment, then grabs the gun out of Bobby’s hands and knocks him out. Bobby falls to the ground, unconscious. Sam tosses the gun to the floor, and turns around to finish hotwiring the car. He drives off.
~*~*~
Dean and Bobby open the panic room door and walk in to find it empty.
“How in the hell did he get out?” Dean asks, and Bobby answers, “Maybe he had help.” He nods to the broken seals on the floor. “Room full of busted devil’s traps.”
“Demons?” Dean asks. “Ruby.”
“That’d be my guess.”
“How’d she even touch the door?”
“You think she’s got the mojo?”
“I didn’t think so.” Dean squats down to examine the broken traps. “I don’t know, man.”
“Well, what difference does it make? How he got goin’ ain’t as important as where he got goin’ to.”
“Yeah, well, I’ll tell you one thing,” Dean answers, standing up. “At this point, I hope he’s with Ruby.”
“Why?”
“Because killing her’s the next big item on my to do list.”
“I thought you were on-call for angel duty,” Bobby reminds, and Dean heads out, answering, “I am on-call, in my car on the way to murder the bitch.”
“One thing,” Bobby says, take a few steps after him.
Dean stops. “What?”
“Sam don’t want to be found. Which means he’s gonna be damn near impossible to find.”
“Yeah, we’ll see,” Dean mutters, and leaves.
~*~*~
Sam is waiting in a hotel room, anxiously trying to keep himself still. He can’t stand it and stands up. Finally, there’s a knock on the door. He opens it to Ruby.
“Honeymoon suite,” she answers with a smile. “Really, I’m flattered.”
Sam checks the hallway to make sure she wasn’t followed and shuts the door, asking, “Did you bust me out of that room?”
“How could I Sam? The whole thing’s engineered to bite me in the ass,” Ruby answers, taking off her jacket.
“Then how did I get out of there?”
“I don’t know. I don’t want to know,” she answers. “You’re out, that’s all that matters. I’m glad you’re here.”
“Yeah? Where the hell have you been?” Sam asks, agrily.
“I got here as quick as I could.”
“I mean the past three weeks!” Sam answers angrily. “I’ve been calling you—“
“I’ve been pretty deep in it,” Ruby interrupts. “Trying to dig out Lilith, sometimes I can’t sit around and check my voicemail.” She takes her purse off as Sam glares at her. “I’m sorry you’re hurting. Really. I had no idea that Dean would do that to you.”
This hits Sam hard, and he answers, “You and me both.”
“You didn’t book this joint just to impress me, did you?”
“He’s gonna come after me,” Sam answers, walking towards her. “And he knows my habits, my aliases, everything. He knows exactly which motel I’d pick.”
“Hence the room,” she answers, a little disappointed.
“Whatever it takes to shake him,” Sam says, now right in front of her.
“It won’t be easy,” she reminds. “I mean, he knows you better than anyone.”
Sam shakes his head. “Not as well as he thinks.”
“You know, it’s sad,” Ruby answers softly.
“What?”
“That things have gotten this bad between you two,” she says, brushing his hair back.
Sam grabs her and flings her to the bed. Ruby grins watching as he slides down to her boot and removes the knife tucked inside. Sam carefully slits her arm and digs in.
~*~*~
It’s morning, and Dean is outside working on the Impala. Bobby walks over to tell him the police found his car abandoned in an alley in Jamestown, North Dakota. Dean realizes that Sam is switching up, and asks if there were any more cars stolen there.
“Two,” Bobby answers. “A 1999 Honda Civic, nice and anonymous like Sam likes.”
“What was the other one?” Dean asks, wiping his hands on a rag.
“White ’05 Escalade with custom rims,” Bobby answers. “It’s a neon sign.”
“You’re right, he’d never take that,” Dean agrees. “Which is exactly what he did.”
“You think?”
“I know that kid,” Dean answers, tossing the rag down and starting to pack up. “Alright, I’ll head in that direction. You stay here, ride the police databases.” Bobby nods, and Dean closes the hood, adding, “We gotta find him, quick.”
~*~*~
Back at the hotel, Ruby looks over at Sam on the bed. “You’re apatite’s gotten much bigger.”
Sam frowns at her, sitting up. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Relax, it’s okay. It’s good, it just means you’re getting stronger, that’s all.” Ruby smiles. “It means you’re strong enough to kill Lilith. Just in time too,” she adds, propped up on an elbow. “Because the final seals are breaking.”
“How many are left?”
“Three, two.”
“What?” Sam asks in disbelief. “Where are the angels?”
She reminds him that it doesn’t matter, “The point is it’s looking more and more like we’re getting down to the final seal.”
Sam can only sit there trying to process this, and Ruby tells him, “And I found out something good.”
He finally looks at her. “What?”
“Seal 66?” Ruby answers. “It can’t be broken by just any demon. Apparently only Lucifer’s First can do it.”
“Lucifer’s First?”
“Demon Sunday school story,” Ruby answers with an amused look. “God prefers humans to angels. Lucifer gets jealous, and then gets creative and twists and turns the human soul into the very first demon. As a, ‘screw you’ to God. It’s what got him locked up in the first place.”
“That was Lilith?” Sam asks in disbelief.
“She’s way older than she looks,” Ruby answers.
“Wait,” Sam says, sitting up. “So if Lilith is the only one who can break the final seal, if I get to her in time...”
“Then Lucifer never busts out of his cage, exactly.”
“Great,” Sam answers, finally seeing a light at the end of this tunnel. “You figure out where she is?”
Ruby tells him that Lilith is great at hiding, but she did finally get a lead on someone who might be able to help them. “I closed in on a member of Lilith’s entourage. You might call her a…personal chef.”
“Chef? Seriously?” Sam asks. “What does she eat?”
Ruby smiles, then grimaces. “You don’t want to know.”
~*~*~
Two nurses are walking down a hospital hallway, and one of them asks the other if she heard about that horrible thing at St. Paul’s.
“No,” the dark haired nurse answers.
“One of the neonatal nurses walked right off the unit with two babies,” her fellow nurse answers.
“You are kidding me.”
Nope. “Worked there 17 years, and then one day out of the blue, she just does it.”
“That’s just horrifying,” the second nurse answers as they both walk up to the window displaying all the newborn babies.
“Now she’s just saying that she doesn’t even remember what happened. Like she was possessed,” the blond answers, rolling her eyes.
“Nuts.”
“I know.” The blond nurse grins at the babies. “Look at every little finger on them.”
“I know,” the brunette answers, looking at her and adding, “They’re just delicious.” She looks back at the babies, eyes going black.
~*~*~
“So our demon gourmet nurse,” Sam asks Ruby, buttoning up his shirt. “You sure?”
“She’ll be there. Graveyard shift tomorrow night,” Ruby answers. “In the meantime, if you’re gonna be strong enough to kill Lilith you’re gonna need more than I can give you now.”
Sam sighs, and Ruby stands up. “Sam, come on, it’s okay.”
“I know I need more, I get it, it’s okay,” he answers. “It’s just…” He looks at the ground. “I wish he trusted me, you know?”
“Sorry…”
“I just hope…you know, when all this is over…I hope we can fix things,” Sam asks, thinking of his brother.
~*~*~
That night, Bobby calls Dean to tell him the cops found the stolen car in a ditch outside Elk River. Dean asks how far away he is, and Bobby tells him a couple of hours. He pulled up a map and found a town not that far away from there, Coldspring, “lighting up with demon signs.”
“That’s a good place to look,” Dean answers.
After a second, Bobby says, “Hey listen.”
“What?”
“Us finding Sam? It’s gotta be about gettin’ him BACK, not pushing him away…”
“Right.”
“I know you’re mad Dean,” Bobby tells him. “I understand, you’ve got a right to be, but I’m just saying, be good to him anyway. You’ve gotta get through to him.”
Dean hangs up without a goodbye.
~*~*~
Dean enters the motel just in time to watch Sam walk across the hallway. He glances around then walks up to the door Sam just left.
Packing up, Ruby looks up just in time to block Dean’s knife with her arm. They struggle until Dean slams her against the wall, the knife trapped between them. Furious, Dean corkscrews out of her grip, and brings the knife back. Just before he can take the swing, Sam appears behind him, grabbing his arm and throwing Dean to the bed.
Dean stares up at his brother.
“Just take it easy,” Sam says, standing between his brother and Ruby.
“Must have been some party you two had goin’ on,” Dean says, standing up. “Considering how hard you tried to keep me from crashing it.” Sam doesn’t answer, and Dean continues, “Well, solid try, but here I am.”
“Dean, I’m glad you’re here,” Sam says, a sad look in his eye. “Look, let’s just talk about this.”
Behind his back, Ruby rolls her eyes, glaring at Dean.
“Soon as she’s dead, we can talk all you want,” Dean answers his brother.
They stare at each other a long time, and finally Sam says, “Ruby, get out of here.”
“No, she’s not goin’ anywhere,” Dean argues, taking a step forward, but Ruby just runs out.
Dean can only stare at his brother in disbelief. “She’s POISON, Sam!”
“It’s not what you think, Dean.”
“Look what she did you to!” Dean shouts, and when Sam doesn’t answer, he starts to lose it. “She up and vanishes weeks at a time, leaving you crackin’ out for another hit!”
“She was looking for Lilith!” Sam argues, starting to get angry.
“That is French for manipulating your ass ten ways from Sunday,” Dean answers, at a loss.
“You’re wrong, Dean.”
Dean can’t believe what he’s hearing. It’s tearing him up to hear his brother defending Ruby like this. “Sammy, you’re lyin’ to yourself.” He steps towards his brother, trying to get him to understand. “I just, want you to be okay.” He stares into his brother’s eyes, adding, “You would do the same to me, you know you would.”
“Just listen…” Sam says, tosses the knife to the bed. “Just listen for a second. We got a lead on a demon close to Lilith. Come with us, Dean. We’ll do this together.”
“That sounds great,” Dean answers, both boys trying to convince the other. Sam sees a moment of hope until Dean adds, “As long as it’s just you and me.” Sam’s face falls. “The demon bitch is a deal-breaker, you kiss her goodbye, we could go right now.”
“I can’t,” Sam answers, and Dean nods, turning away. “Dean, I need her,” Sam tries to get him to understand. “To help me kill Lilith.”
With his back to his brother, Dean lets his real emotions show. This is breaking his heart.
“I know you can’t wrap your head around it,” Sam is continuing behind him. “But maybe one day you’ll understand.” Sam sighs. “I’m the only one who can do this, Dean.”
Dean turns back to face his brother. “No, you’re not the one who’s gonna do this.”
“Right, that’s right,” Sam answers, sarcastically. “The angels think it’s you.”
“You don’t think I can?”
“No, you can’t. You’re not strong enough.”
Dean is starting to get mad again. “And who the hell are you—“
“I’m being practical here,” Sam interrupts. “I’m doing what needs to be done.”
“Yeah? You’re not gonna do a single damn thing—“
“Stop bossing me around, Dean!” Sam forces himself to remain calm, and adds, “Look, my whole life you take the wheel, you call the shots, and I trust you because you’re my *brother*. Now I’m asking you, for once, trust *me*.”
Sam waits hopefully, and finally Dean answers, “No.”
Sam sighs.
“You don’t know what you’re doin’, Sam.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Then that’s worse!”
“Why?” Sam asks. “Look, I’m telling you—“
“Because it’s not something that you’re doing, it’s what you are!” Dean finally shouts, and Sam just stares at him. “It means—“ Dean can’t make himself say it out loud.
“What?” Sam asks. When it hits him, he fights back tears. “No...” He stares at his brother, then finally angrily says, “Say it.”
He doesn’t want to, but Dean finally says, “It means you’re a monster.”
Sam nods angrily, looking away and missing the tear that slides silently down Dean’s cheek.
Suddenly, Sam punches his brother in the face, sending Dean to the floor. Breathing hard, he stares down at his brother, expecting him to get up and hit him right back. Dean stays on the floor a moment, then silently gets to his feet. He looks at Sam a moment, then hits him right back.
It’s the last straw. A fight worse than they’ve ever had before breaks out, and Sam slams Dean into a mirror. Dean swings around and tackles his brother, sending them both crashing through a decorative wall and onto the glass coffee table, which shatters into a million pieces.
Dean lays on the floor, trying to catch his breath, and Sam glares down at him. He walks over to his brother, then suddenly shoves his hands around his throat, trying to strangle him.
Just as Dean’s about to lose consciousness, Sam lets go, growling, “You don’t know me. You never did.” As Dean continues to cough, Sam adds, “You never will."
Sam gets up and through gasping breaths, Dean manages to answer, “You walk out that door, don’t you EVER come back.”
Sam turns around to glare at his brother, and Dean gives him a pleading look. Don’t do this, Sam. Without a word, Sam opens the door and leaves his brother beaten and lying on the floor in a pile of glass.
Dean closes his eyes, rolling onto his side. He tries to get up a moment, then gives up, falling back onto the floor, his heart broken even more than his body.
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Now, was that not one heartbreaking episode?
Sam! Why?! WHYYYYYY? *flops wearily into chair* I swear, this show is going to be the death of me. But then again, that’s what makes it so good, right? Read on for the full recap. That's right, these last two episodes were so epic, I've gone back to the good old, capture-every-second, way...XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
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In Bobby’s demon-proof panic room, Sam looks up at the fan in the ceiling. Outside the door, Dean opens the latch to peer into the room.
“Okay, let me out, this is not funny,” Sam says, walking to the door.
“Damn straight.”
“Dean, come on, this is crazy talk.”
“Not until you dry out.”
Sam shakes his head, trying another tactic. “Look,” he tells his brother. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have lied to you, just open the door.”
“You don’t have to apologize,” Dean answers easily. “It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault that you lied to me over and over again. I get it now, you couldn’t help it.”
“I’m not some junky.”
“Really? I guess I’ve just imagined how strung out you’ve been,” Dean answers dryly.
Sam lets out a mirthless laugh. “You’re actually trying to twist this into some kind of ridiculous drug intervention?”
“If it smells like a duck…”
“Dean, I’m not drinking the demon blood for KICKS. I’m getting strong enough to kill Lilith!”
“Strong?”
“Yeah!”
“This is about as far away from strong as you can get,” Dean answers angrily. “Try weak. Try desperate, pathetic.”
“Killing Lilith,” Sam answers, punctuating each word. “Is what matters.” He stares at his brother a second, then asks, “Or are you so busy being self-righteous you forgot about her?”
“Oh Lilith’s gonna die,” Dean answers. “Bobby and I will kill her. But not with you.”
“You’re not serious.”
“Congrats, Sammy. You just bought yourself a benchwarmer’s seat to the Apocalypse.”
Dean starts to shut the square peephole, and Sam tries, “Dean look—no, look—“ Dean shuts and locks the latch. “Come back here!” Sam shouts as his brother leaves. “Dean! Let me out of here! Dean! Let me out of here! Let me out!”
Dean heads up the stairs as his brother continues to shout after him to let him out. Dean stops on the stairs, clearly having a hard time locking his brother up.
~*~*~
Alone in detox, Sam sits on the bed, his vision going blurry. He gets up and again tries the door, but has no luck. Suddenly his break begins to freeze and the lights flicker. Oh no.
“Guys?” Sam shouts. “Get down here, something’s com—“ Alastair appears in front of him.
“Hello Sam. Pleasure to see you again.” He glances around, sneering. “Looks like I have you all to myself here. Goodness…” Alastair runs a blade lazily across his neck and finishes, “How will we pass the time?”
~*~*~
Sam is tied down to the demon torture table, gasping in pain and begging Alastair to stop as he begins to cut.
“No, stop--Alastiar! Please, please!”
Alastair stops only long enough to smirk down at him, blood on his hands as he answers, “You’re polite all of a sudden. Very nice.” He leans in just inches from Sam’s face to add, “I appreciate that.” He stands up and goes right back to cutting.
Sam shouts in pain, holding himself down to the bed, arms outstretched. He’s imagining it all.
Upstairs, Bobby pours Dean a drink, but Dean can’t ignore his brother’s cries of pain. “How long is this gonna go on?” he asks Bobby, not touching his drink.
“Here, let me look it up in my demon detox manual,” Bobby answers sarcastically. “Oh wait, no one every wrote one.”
Dean sighs and Bobby gloomily tells him, “No tellin’ how long it’ll take. Hell, or if Sam will even live through it.”
The phone suddenly rings and Bobby picks it up. “Hello?...Suck dirt and die Rufus,” he tells the caller. “You call me again I’ll kill you.” He hangs up.
“What’s up with Rufus?” Dean asks, and Bobby tells him, “He knows.”
The phone rings again, and Bobby angrily picks it up, telling Rufus he’s busy so it better be important. Bobby listens, then turns an alarmed look on Dean.
~*~*~
Down in the basement, Sam wakes up, realizing he was hallucinating. He sits up on the bed, breathing hard and looking around. Alastair is nowhere to be seen and his body is still intact.
“The answers yes,” a young voice says. “You’re hallucinating.”
Sam swings around to find his younger self standing in the room.
“That’s right, it’s me,” younger Sam answers. “Or I mean, it’s you.”
“I’m losing my mind.”
“Definitely.”
“What do you want?” Sam asks himself, who answers, “An explanation. How could you do this to me? We were gonna be normal.”
“I tried,” Sam answers. “I did…It didn’t pan out that way. Sorry, kid.”
“Sorry kid?” younger Sam spats back. “That’s what you have to say? It’s all we ever wanted, you were so close! You got away from dad, you quit everything, you were gonna become a lawyer and get married! Why’d you blow it?”
“Look, they killed Jessica.”
“Yeah, and if you hadn’t gone off with Dean? If you’d been there to protect her? She’d still be alive.”
Sam can only nod his head. “I know…”
“You think Jess would want you to turn into this?” his younger self asks. “She loved you. You think she’d be happy with you using her as an excuse?”
“I’m sorry,” Sam interrupts. “I am. But life doesn’t turn out the way you thought it would when you were fourteen years old. We were never gonna be normal, we were never gonna get away. Grow up.”
“Maybe you’re right,” younger Sam says, now appearing behind Sam. “Maybe there’s no escape. After all, how can you live with what’s inside you?” He blinks, his eyes glowing yellow.
~*~*~
“The news, the news ain’t good,” Bobby says, now off the phone.
“This is what Rufus called about?” Dean asks, looking down at the piece of paper Bobby hands over. “Key West sees ten species go extinct?”
“Yep. Plus Alaska, 15 man fishing crew all stricken blind, cause unknown. New York,” Bobby continues. “Teacher goes postal, locks the door, kills exactly 66 kids. All this in a single day? I looked ‘em up, there’s no doubt about it, they’re all seals. Breaking, fast.”
“How many are left?”
“Who knows, can’t be many,” Bobby answers, then asks, “Where the hell are your angel pals?”
Dean can only shake his head. “You tell me.”
“I’m just wondering…”
“What?”
“The Apocalypse, being nigh and all,” Bobby answers, knowing Dean isn’t going to like what he has to say next. “Is now really the right time to be having this little domestic drama of ours?”
“What do you mean?” Dean asks.
“I don’t like this any more than you do, but Sam can kill demons. He’s got a shot at stopping Armageddon.”
“So what? Sacrifice Sam’s life, his soul for the greater good, that’s what you’re saying?” Dean asks, not having any of it. “Times are bad so let’s use Sam as a nuclear warhead?”
“I know you hate me for suggesting it, *I* hate me for suggesting it,” Bobby answers. “I love that boy like a son. All I’m saying is, maybe he’s here right now instead of on the battlefield because we love him too much.”
Bobby’s words hang in the air as Dean swallows hard.
~*~*~
Downstairs, Sam is sitting cross-legged on the floor. He stares up at the light filtering in through the demon-proof fan. Looking terrible, Sam looks longingly at the glass and water pitcher sitting on the other side of the room. He struggles to the side of the bed to stand up, but even that is too much. Suddenly he hears an echo of a woman’s voice and looks up.
“Mom?”
His mom appears in the bloody nightgown she was wearing when she died. “Sam.”
Sam sees a glimmer of hope.
“You look just awful,” the hallucination of this mother tells him, and he immediately looks down, the little boy chastised.
“Let’s hear it,” he says softly. “Go ahead…”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re disappointed. You never thought I’d turn out this way. I’m a…piss-poor excuse for a son…You’re heart is broken.” Sam sits down, wearily asking, “Am I close?”
“Not at all.” This surprises him, and he looks up as his mom adds, “You’re doing the right thing, Sam. What you’re doing is brave. You’re not being crazy, you’re being practical.” His mom smiles. “Sam, I am so proud of you.”
This is what he desperately needs to hear, but Sam is still confused. “But…Dean?”
“You’re brother doesn’t understand.” At Sam’s confused look, she goes to sit down next to him. “I was a raised a hunter, from a long line. We understand that there are going to be hard choices. And we do what we have to do get the job done…Yes, our family is cursed. You,” she says, gently brushing his hair back. “You have the power to turn it into a gift. You can use it against them.”
Sam closes his eyes, leaning into his mother’s much needed touch. “For revenge?”
“No,” she answers, shaking her head. “For justice.”
Sam glances down at his hands, and his mom adds, “I know how scared you are.”
Fighting back angry tears, Sam struggles to ask, “What’s…in me?” He swallows hard. “Mom? It’s evil.”
“And you know it,” the hallucination answers.
“What if it’s stronger than me?” Sam asks. “Look at me. What if Dean’s right?”
“Dean can never know how strong you are,” she answers, shaking her head and cupping his cheek. “Because Dean is weak.” Sam shakes his head, confused, and the hallucination tells him, “Look at what he’s done to you. Locking you in here? He’s terrified. He’s in over his head. You have to go on without him.” Seeing Sam’s inner struggle with this on his face, she urges, “You have what it takes. You have to kill Lilith.”
“Even if it kills me?” Sam takes in a deep breath and looks at her.
“Make my death mean something,” she whispers back. “I’m counting on you Sam. Don’t let anyone or anything get in your way. Not even Dean.”
Sam nods, closing his eyes and leaning into his mother’s touch as she kisses his cheek and holds him.
When he opens his eyes, his mom is gone.
~*~*~
Outside, Dean looks around in frustration. Nothing but an empty yard full of cars and parts. Then finally, with a soft echoing flapping of wings, Castiel appears behind him.
“Well it’s about time,” Dean says angrily. “I’ve been screaming myself hoarse out here for about two and a half hours now.”
“What do you want?” Castiel asks, and Dean tells him he can start with what happened in Illinois. “What do you mean?” Castiel asks, walking towards him.
“Cut the crap,” Dean answers. “You were gonna tell me something.”
“Nothing of import.”
Dean just stares at him skeptically. “You got ass remmed in Heaven, but it was not of import?!”
“Dean,” Castiel interrupts, giving him a warning look. “I can’t. I’m sorry.” Dean stares after him, wondering just what it was that happened to Castiel as the angel adds, “Get to the reason you really called me. It’s about Sam, right?”
“Can he do it?” Dean asks, Cass’s back to him. “Kill Lilith, stop the Apocalypse?”
“Possibly, yes.” Castiel turns to look at him. “But as you know, he’d have to take certain steps. “
“Crank up the hellbood regimen,” Dean answers dryly.
“Consuming the amount of blood it would take to kill Lilith would change your brother forever. Most likely,” Cass continues. “He would become the next creature that you would feel compelled to kill.” When Dean doesn’t answer, he adds, “There’s no reason that this would have to come to pass, Dean…We believe it’s you, Dean, not your brother,” Castiel walks to his side. “The only question for us is whether you’re willing to accept it…Stand up and accept your role. YOU are the one who will stop it.”
Dean stares at him a long moment, then asks, “If I do this…Sammy doesn’t have to?”
“If it gives you comfort to see it that way.”
Dean shakes his head, walking off. “You’re a dick these days.”
Castiel just waits, and Dean finally answers, “Fine, I’m in.”
“You give yourself over, wholly, to the service of God and His angels?”
Dean closes his eyes, but just answers an off-handed, “Yeah, exactly.”
“Say it.”
Dean turns around to study Cass’s face, then starts walking towards him. “I give myself over, wholly, to serve God and you guys.”
“You swear to follow his will and his word as swiftly and obediently as you did your own father’s?”
This gets to Dean, and finally he’s serious. “Yes, I swear.”
Castiel nods.
“Now what?” Dean asks.
“Now you wait. And we call on you when it’s time.”
~*~*~
Back in the panic room, Sam sits against the walls, unable to even keep his hands still. He looks down at them, alarmed to find his veins turning black, snaking like evil tree branches across his skin. Sam jumps up to watch in the mirror as his evil blood snakes across his face. “Guys!” he shouts. “Help!”
Upstairs, it’s killing Dean to hear Sam’s shouting.
“Now correct me if I’m wrong,” Bobby asks, arms crossed. “But you willingly igned up to be the angel’s bitch?” At Dean’s look, he corrects, “I’m sorry, you prefer “sucker”? After everything you said about them, now you trust them?”
“Come on, give me a break, Bobby,” Dean answers, walking over to his friend. “I’ve never trusted them less. I mean, they come on like shady politicians from planet Vulcan.”
“Well then why in the hell did—“
“Because what other options do I have?” Dean shouts. “It’s either trust the angels or let Sammy trust a demon?!”
Bobby shakes his head. “I see your point.”
They both stand there grimly a moment, then Dean turns towards the door, listening. “You hear that?”
“That’s a little too much nothin’,” Bobby agrees, and they both rush downstairs.
They open the slot and see Sam on the floor. It looks like he’s having a seizure of some sort.
“What if he’s faking?” Dean asks, and Bobby asks, “You really think he would?”
“I think he’d do it, what do you think?”
They watch as Sam is flung across the room and against the walls.
“That ain’t fakin’ it,” Bobby answers, and they both quickly unlock the door and go in. Grabbing Sam before he can be flung around the walls anymore.
Dean pulls off his brother’s belt to put in his mouth as he and Bobby try to hold him down.
“We’re gonna have to tie him down for his own safety!” Bobby tells Dean, but Dean can only stare at his brother, clearly troubled by what he’s seeing. “Dean? You with me?”
No answer.
“Dean!” Bobby shouts. “Before he has another fit!”
Dean snaps out of it. “Yeah, let’s just get it over with.”
~*~*~
Sam wakes up handcuffed to the bed. Dean is standing at the end of the bed.
“We had to,” he tells his brother. “The demon blood was flinging you all over the room.” Sam doesn’t answer, and he asks, “Tell me something, Sam, why did you do this to yourself?”
Sam stares at him a long moment, then answers, “You know why.”
“Right. Kill Lilith, the big excuse. But why? What, revenge? Right?”
“Of course.”
“Revenge for what? For sending me to hell?” Dean asks, at a loss. “Did you happen to notice I’m back? Alive and kicking. So what’s the point?”
“The point?” Sam halfheartedly shakes at the handcuffs. To the empty room, he answers the hallucination. “How about stop the damn Apocalypse?”
“My game,” the hallucination of his brother answers. “Not yours! The angels said so, remember?” Sam just sits there wearily as the hallucination of Dean tells him, “God picked me, man.”
Sam continues to sit in the empty room, hearing staring at the hallucination and hearing Dean in his head. “You have any more of your fantastic excuses, hmm?”
~*~*~
Upstairs, the real Dean is sitting on the couch, a brooding look on his face.
“I’m gonna ask one more time,” Bobby says. “Are we absolutely sure we’re doing the right thing?”
“Bobby, you saw what was happening to him down there,” Dean answers, standing up. “The demon blood was killing him!”
“No, it isn’t,” Bobby answers. “We are.”
“What?”
“I’m sorry, I can’t bite my tongue any longer,” Bobby finally says. “We’re killing him, keeping him locked up down there. This cold turkey thing isn’t workin’. If he doesn’t get what he needs, soon, Sam’s not gonna last much longer.”
A very tortured look on his face, Dean shakes his head. “No. I’m not givin’ him demon blood, I won’t do it.”
“And if he dies?”
“Then at least he dies human!”
~*~*~
Down in the panic room, Sam is still hallucinating his brother.
“I know why you really drink hat blood, Sam.”
“Can you just leave me alone?” Sam asks wearily, looking up from the bed.
“Makes you feel strong, invincible,” the hallucination answers. “Big bad wolf all alone with the little pigs.”
“No, you’re wrong Dean—“
“It’s more than that isn’t it?” he asks, walking around the bed. “Because you’re whole life you’ve felt different, am I right?”
“Stop,” Sam whispers.
“Hittin’ a little close to home, huh?”
Starting to get angry, Sam tugs at the handcuffs in vain as the hallucination of Dean continues, “Not different because you were some lonely kid, or because you’re weirdo family—“
“Stop it.”
Sam’s hallucination of his brother leans over him to growl, “Because you’re a monster.”
“Stop it! Just—“ Furious, Sam struggles to answer, “Shut, the hell, up.” This is the very last thing he wants to hear from his brother.
“You were always a monster,” the hallucination of Dean answers. “And you always feel right when you’re suckin’ down more poison. And more EVIL!”
Sam continues to struggle, trying to block out what he thinks his brother is telling him.
~*~*~
“I would die for him in a second,” the real Dean is telling Bobby upstairs. “But I won’t let him do this to himself. I can’t…I guess I found my line,” Dean adds with a mirthless laugh. “I won’t let my brother turn into a monster.”
~*~*~
“Monster, Sam,” the hallucination is growling at Sam. “You’re a *monster*.”
“Dean, no—“
“And I tried so hard to pretend we were brothers. That you weren’t one of the filthy things that we hunt,” the hallucination continues to torture. “We’re not even the same species. You’re nothing to me.”
“Don’t say that to me,” Sam begs, close to tears. “Don’t you say that to me.”
He turns away a moment, then back. “Dean” is gone.
~*~*~
Sam wakes up later to find the handcuffs mysteriously snapping open. His eyes widen in alarm as he watches them and the door suddenly cracks open.
“Hello?” He gets up, cautiously approaching the door. He slowly pushes it open and looks out. “Is anyone here?” He gets no answer, so walks out and up the stairs.
Castiel appears beneath the stairs, motioning the door to close, and the lock to slide back into place.
Sam grabs his coat from upstairs. He pauses a moment to look at Dean and Bobby asleep in the living room, then walks out.
~*~*~
Castiel is waiting outside by the water as Anna appears.
“What did you do?”
“You shouldn’t have come, Anna.”
“Why did you let out Sam Winchester?” she asks, and he can only respond a sad, “Those were my orders.”
“Orders? Cass, you saw him. He’s drinking demon blood! It’s so much worse than we thought. Dean was trying to stop him.”
“You really shouldn’t have come…” Castiel looks away as two more angels appear and take hold of Anna.
Castiel watches as they silently whisk her away with a soft glowing of white light.
Clearly troubled, Cass goes back to looking out at the water.
~*~*~
Sam is in the middle of breaking into a car when Bobby suddenly appears behind him with a shotgun. Sam wearily turns around to face his friend, looking awful, strung out.
“Uh-uh, Sam,” Bobby tells him. “The only place you’re going is back inside with me.”
“No,” Sam finally answers.
“Dammit boy,” Bobby answers, not wanting to do this anymore than Sam does.
“You won’t shoot me, Bobby.” Sam takes a step forward, and Bobby warns, “Don’t test me.”
“You won’t do it.” Sam walks right up to place Bobby’s gun barrel against his chest. “You can’t do it.”
Bobby takes in a tortured breath, trying to get through to him. “We’re trying to help you, Sam.”
Sam moves Bobby’s gun to his heart. “Then shoot me.”
Bobby doesn’t move. Tears in his eyes, Sam stares at his friend a moment, then grabs the gun out of Bobby’s hands and knocks him out. Bobby falls to the ground, unconscious. Sam tosses the gun to the floor, and turns around to finish hotwiring the car. He drives off.
~*~*~
Dean and Bobby open the panic room door and walk in to find it empty.
“How in the hell did he get out?” Dean asks, and Bobby answers, “Maybe he had help.” He nods to the broken seals on the floor. “Room full of busted devil’s traps.”
“Demons?” Dean asks. “Ruby.”
“That’d be my guess.”
“How’d she even touch the door?”
“You think she’s got the mojo?”
“I didn’t think so.” Dean squats down to examine the broken traps. “I don’t know, man.”
“Well, what difference does it make? How he got goin’ ain’t as important as where he got goin’ to.”
“Yeah, well, I’ll tell you one thing,” Dean answers, standing up. “At this point, I hope he’s with Ruby.”
“Why?”
“Because killing her’s the next big item on my to do list.”
“I thought you were on-call for angel duty,” Bobby reminds, and Dean heads out, answering, “I am on-call, in my car on the way to murder the bitch.”
“One thing,” Bobby says, take a few steps after him.
Dean stops. “What?”
“Sam don’t want to be found. Which means he’s gonna be damn near impossible to find.”
“Yeah, we’ll see,” Dean mutters, and leaves.
~*~*~
Sam is waiting in a hotel room, anxiously trying to keep himself still. He can’t stand it and stands up. Finally, there’s a knock on the door. He opens it to Ruby.
“Honeymoon suite,” she answers with a smile. “Really, I’m flattered.”
Sam checks the hallway to make sure she wasn’t followed and shuts the door, asking, “Did you bust me out of that room?”
“How could I Sam? The whole thing’s engineered to bite me in the ass,” Ruby answers, taking off her jacket.
“Then how did I get out of there?”
“I don’t know. I don’t want to know,” she answers. “You’re out, that’s all that matters. I’m glad you’re here.”
“Yeah? Where the hell have you been?” Sam asks, agrily.
“I got here as quick as I could.”
“I mean the past three weeks!” Sam answers angrily. “I’ve been calling you—“
“I’ve been pretty deep in it,” Ruby interrupts. “Trying to dig out Lilith, sometimes I can’t sit around and check my voicemail.” She takes her purse off as Sam glares at her. “I’m sorry you’re hurting. Really. I had no idea that Dean would do that to you.”
This hits Sam hard, and he answers, “You and me both.”
“You didn’t book this joint just to impress me, did you?”
“He’s gonna come after me,” Sam answers, walking towards her. “And he knows my habits, my aliases, everything. He knows exactly which motel I’d pick.”
“Hence the room,” she answers, a little disappointed.
“Whatever it takes to shake him,” Sam says, now right in front of her.
“It won’t be easy,” she reminds. “I mean, he knows you better than anyone.”
Sam shakes his head. “Not as well as he thinks.”
“You know, it’s sad,” Ruby answers softly.
“What?”
“That things have gotten this bad between you two,” she says, brushing his hair back.
Sam grabs her and flings her to the bed. Ruby grins watching as he slides down to her boot and removes the knife tucked inside. Sam carefully slits her arm and digs in.
~*~*~
It’s morning, and Dean is outside working on the Impala. Bobby walks over to tell him the police found his car abandoned in an alley in Jamestown, North Dakota. Dean realizes that Sam is switching up, and asks if there were any more cars stolen there.
“Two,” Bobby answers. “A 1999 Honda Civic, nice and anonymous like Sam likes.”
“What was the other one?” Dean asks, wiping his hands on a rag.
“White ’05 Escalade with custom rims,” Bobby answers. “It’s a neon sign.”
“You’re right, he’d never take that,” Dean agrees. “Which is exactly what he did.”
“You think?”
“I know that kid,” Dean answers, tossing the rag down and starting to pack up. “Alright, I’ll head in that direction. You stay here, ride the police databases.” Bobby nods, and Dean closes the hood, adding, “We gotta find him, quick.”
~*~*~
Back at the hotel, Ruby looks over at Sam on the bed. “You’re apatite’s gotten much bigger.”
Sam frowns at her, sitting up. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Relax, it’s okay. It’s good, it just means you’re getting stronger, that’s all.” Ruby smiles. “It means you’re strong enough to kill Lilith. Just in time too,” she adds, propped up on an elbow. “Because the final seals are breaking.”
“How many are left?”
“Three, two.”
“What?” Sam asks in disbelief. “Where are the angels?”
She reminds him that it doesn’t matter, “The point is it’s looking more and more like we’re getting down to the final seal.”
Sam can only sit there trying to process this, and Ruby tells him, “And I found out something good.”
He finally looks at her. “What?”
“Seal 66?” Ruby answers. “It can’t be broken by just any demon. Apparently only Lucifer’s First can do it.”
“Lucifer’s First?”
“Demon Sunday school story,” Ruby answers with an amused look. “God prefers humans to angels. Lucifer gets jealous, and then gets creative and twists and turns the human soul into the very first demon. As a, ‘screw you’ to God. It’s what got him locked up in the first place.”
“That was Lilith?” Sam asks in disbelief.
“She’s way older than she looks,” Ruby answers.
“Wait,” Sam says, sitting up. “So if Lilith is the only one who can break the final seal, if I get to her in time...”
“Then Lucifer never busts out of his cage, exactly.”
“Great,” Sam answers, finally seeing a light at the end of this tunnel. “You figure out where she is?”
Ruby tells him that Lilith is great at hiding, but she did finally get a lead on someone who might be able to help them. “I closed in on a member of Lilith’s entourage. You might call her a…personal chef.”
“Chef? Seriously?” Sam asks. “What does she eat?”
Ruby smiles, then grimaces. “You don’t want to know.”
~*~*~
Two nurses are walking down a hospital hallway, and one of them asks the other if she heard about that horrible thing at St. Paul’s.
“No,” the dark haired nurse answers.
“One of the neonatal nurses walked right off the unit with two babies,” her fellow nurse answers.
“You are kidding me.”
Nope. “Worked there 17 years, and then one day out of the blue, she just does it.”
“That’s just horrifying,” the second nurse answers as they both walk up to the window displaying all the newborn babies.
“Now she’s just saying that she doesn’t even remember what happened. Like she was possessed,” the blond answers, rolling her eyes.
“Nuts.”
“I know.” The blond nurse grins at the babies. “Look at every little finger on them.”
“I know,” the brunette answers, looking at her and adding, “They’re just delicious.” She looks back at the babies, eyes going black.
~*~*~
“So our demon gourmet nurse,” Sam asks Ruby, buttoning up his shirt. “You sure?”
“She’ll be there. Graveyard shift tomorrow night,” Ruby answers. “In the meantime, if you’re gonna be strong enough to kill Lilith you’re gonna need more than I can give you now.”
Sam sighs, and Ruby stands up. “Sam, come on, it’s okay.”
“I know I need more, I get it, it’s okay,” he answers. “It’s just…” He looks at the ground. “I wish he trusted me, you know?”
“Sorry…”
“I just hope…you know, when all this is over…I hope we can fix things,” Sam asks, thinking of his brother.
~*~*~
That night, Bobby calls Dean to tell him the cops found the stolen car in a ditch outside Elk River. Dean asks how far away he is, and Bobby tells him a couple of hours. He pulled up a map and found a town not that far away from there, Coldspring, “lighting up with demon signs.”
“That’s a good place to look,” Dean answers.
After a second, Bobby says, “Hey listen.”
“What?”
“Us finding Sam? It’s gotta be about gettin’ him BACK, not pushing him away…”
“Right.”
“I know you’re mad Dean,” Bobby tells him. “I understand, you’ve got a right to be, but I’m just saying, be good to him anyway. You’ve gotta get through to him.”
Dean hangs up without a goodbye.
~*~*~
Dean enters the motel just in time to watch Sam walk across the hallway. He glances around then walks up to the door Sam just left.
Packing up, Ruby looks up just in time to block Dean’s knife with her arm. They struggle until Dean slams her against the wall, the knife trapped between them. Furious, Dean corkscrews out of her grip, and brings the knife back. Just before he can take the swing, Sam appears behind him, grabbing his arm and throwing Dean to the bed.
Dean stares up at his brother.
“Just take it easy,” Sam says, standing between his brother and Ruby.
“Must have been some party you two had goin’ on,” Dean says, standing up. “Considering how hard you tried to keep me from crashing it.” Sam doesn’t answer, and Dean continues, “Well, solid try, but here I am.”
“Dean, I’m glad you’re here,” Sam says, a sad look in his eye. “Look, let’s just talk about this.”
Behind his back, Ruby rolls her eyes, glaring at Dean.
“Soon as she’s dead, we can talk all you want,” Dean answers his brother.
They stare at each other a long time, and finally Sam says, “Ruby, get out of here.”
“No, she’s not goin’ anywhere,” Dean argues, taking a step forward, but Ruby just runs out.
Dean can only stare at his brother in disbelief. “She’s POISON, Sam!”
“It’s not what you think, Dean.”
“Look what she did you to!” Dean shouts, and when Sam doesn’t answer, he starts to lose it. “She up and vanishes weeks at a time, leaving you crackin’ out for another hit!”
“She was looking for Lilith!” Sam argues, starting to get angry.
“That is French for manipulating your ass ten ways from Sunday,” Dean answers, at a loss.
“You’re wrong, Dean.”
Dean can’t believe what he’s hearing. It’s tearing him up to hear his brother defending Ruby like this. “Sammy, you’re lyin’ to yourself.” He steps towards his brother, trying to get him to understand. “I just, want you to be okay.” He stares into his brother’s eyes, adding, “You would do the same to me, you know you would.”
“Just listen…” Sam says, tosses the knife to the bed. “Just listen for a second. We got a lead on a demon close to Lilith. Come with us, Dean. We’ll do this together.”
“That sounds great,” Dean answers, both boys trying to convince the other. Sam sees a moment of hope until Dean adds, “As long as it’s just you and me.” Sam’s face falls. “The demon bitch is a deal-breaker, you kiss her goodbye, we could go right now.”
“I can’t,” Sam answers, and Dean nods, turning away. “Dean, I need her,” Sam tries to get him to understand. “To help me kill Lilith.”
With his back to his brother, Dean lets his real emotions show. This is breaking his heart.
“I know you can’t wrap your head around it,” Sam is continuing behind him. “But maybe one day you’ll understand.” Sam sighs. “I’m the only one who can do this, Dean.”
Dean turns back to face his brother. “No, you’re not the one who’s gonna do this.”
“Right, that’s right,” Sam answers, sarcastically. “The angels think it’s you.”
“You don’t think I can?”
“No, you can’t. You’re not strong enough.”
Dean is starting to get mad again. “And who the hell are you—“
“I’m being practical here,” Sam interrupts. “I’m doing what needs to be done.”
“Yeah? You’re not gonna do a single damn thing—“
“Stop bossing me around, Dean!” Sam forces himself to remain calm, and adds, “Look, my whole life you take the wheel, you call the shots, and I trust you because you’re my *brother*. Now I’m asking you, for once, trust *me*.”
Sam waits hopefully, and finally Dean answers, “No.”
Sam sighs.
“You don’t know what you’re doin’, Sam.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Then that’s worse!”
“Why?” Sam asks. “Look, I’m telling you—“
“Because it’s not something that you’re doing, it’s what you are!” Dean finally shouts, and Sam just stares at him. “It means—“ Dean can’t make himself say it out loud.
“What?” Sam asks. When it hits him, he fights back tears. “No...” He stares at his brother, then finally angrily says, “Say it.”
He doesn’t want to, but Dean finally says, “It means you’re a monster.”
Sam nods angrily, looking away and missing the tear that slides silently down Dean’s cheek.
Suddenly, Sam punches his brother in the face, sending Dean to the floor. Breathing hard, he stares down at his brother, expecting him to get up and hit him right back. Dean stays on the floor a moment, then silently gets to his feet. He looks at Sam a moment, then hits him right back.
It’s the last straw. A fight worse than they’ve ever had before breaks out, and Sam slams Dean into a mirror. Dean swings around and tackles his brother, sending them both crashing through a decorative wall and onto the glass coffee table, which shatters into a million pieces.
Dean lays on the floor, trying to catch his breath, and Sam glares down at him. He walks over to his brother, then suddenly shoves his hands around his throat, trying to strangle him.
Just as Dean’s about to lose consciousness, Sam lets go, growling, “You don’t know me. You never did.” As Dean continues to cough, Sam adds, “You never will."
Sam gets up and through gasping breaths, Dean manages to answer, “You walk out that door, don’t you EVER come back.”
Sam turns around to glare at his brother, and Dean gives him a pleading look. Don’t do this, Sam. Without a word, Sam opens the door and leaves his brother beaten and lying on the floor in a pile of glass.
Dean closes his eyes, rolling onto his side. He tries to get up a moment, then gives up, falling back onto the floor, his heart broken even more than his body.
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Now, was that not one heartbreaking episode?
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