Summary:  Home... It was a place that was supposed to be safe, but for Sam Winchester it was a place that held fear and pain. A father who hates him and a brother who doesn't know.
Spoilers:  MAJOR AU!!!
A/N:  Okay here guys! This one is also dedicated to Christian! Loved all the feedback for my stories, and the well wishes were so sensitive... I think you guys have helped me getting through his death!
I LOVE YOU CHRISTIAN AND IF I COULD I WOULD SWING WITH YOU IN HEAVEN LIKE WE PLANNED AND HOPEFULLY WE WILL BE TOGETHER AGAIN ONE DAY!
Disclaimer: 

There is no way to describe the pain you feel when you know your own father doesn’t give a damn about you. When he cares more about what he has then his own child. No matter what you do, he always cares more about something or someone else, be that thing as trivial as a piece of bread.

My name is Lily Daine. I found that even though I do everything I possibly can to make my father happy, it’s never enough. I can get high grades, and earn as many awards as the world has to offer, and he would never be proud of me. I can have the respect and pride of my friends, and teachers, yet my father will always ask why I haven’t done better.

My brother John can do wrong. If he fails a grade or class, it’s always that at least he’s trying. If he does one little thing, it’s like the Red Sox have won the world series. Yet though he can do no wrong, I can do no right, and my pain has torn my heart open.

I’ve seen another boy the same age as me, who seems to do the same things that I do. His name is Sam Winchester, and I have seen through visions what his father puts him through. I also know that he has the same abilities that I do, being able to see the future, and remember things that others would forget, and leave without a second glance.

Though I am a very smart student, and try my hardest to achieve, I am also very shy, the words that my father drilled into me about my worth having stuck with me through the years. Sam seems the same way, though with his brother around he can never have peace and quiet, though that may be a good thing.

Sam has friends, and lots of them, with his good looks and brooding demeanor. He doesn’t realize that he and his brother are the two most popular people in the young crowd of the town, and maybe that’s what makes him popular.

I have always had this enormous crush on Sam, though we remain best friends at the moment. He doesn’t know that I know about his home life, which is more than his brother knows. Dean is oblivious to the fact that Sam is unhappy, and that his father makes him feel that way. Though Dean would protect his brother through anything and from anyone, he doesn’t realize that it’s their father that makes Sam feel that way.

I have seen what Sam can do at his worst. He is still trying to protect those around him, while bearing a heart breaking pain. Sam has asked me why his father doesn’t love him, why he doesn’t care; and I don’t have the answers for him, I don’t even have them for myself.

Today was a day that changed everything, for the better I hope and pray.

It all started with Sam coming over to my house, having walked in the pouring rain, and I could tell that the moisture on his cheeks wasn’t all from the rain. He was soaking wet when I ushered him through the door, and up the stairs. I vaguely thought that my father might flip, but he didn’t even care that I was there.

“Sammy, what’s wrong?” I asked, as I got the spare clothes he always left at my house, and handed them to him. He was shaking, and not just from the cold, as he changed and sat down on my bed.

He looked up to me, and I thought I might cry from the look in his eyes, as if he had been shattered. “I know he didn’t mean it!” Sam sobbed as I put my arms around his shaking shoulders. “God, he said it was my fault she died,” his tears came harder, and I froze for a moment, knowing he was talking about his mother.

How dare that bastard do that? “Sammy, you can’t listen to him, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” I tried to sooth him while keeping my anger at his father in check. Sam shook in my arms for a while more, and I didn’t know if it was that he was crying, or if he was just trying to take deep breaths, and sooth himself.

When he looked up at me, I found herself lost in his blue green eyes. He looked at me as if I was the most beautiful woman in the world, and my breath caught. I looked back at him, and my emotions shown in my gray blue eyes for the first time.

“You’re beautiful,” Sam said, his voice low and hitched, “and I have had the biggest crush on you for a long time.” I felt the breath slam out of my lungs, my own dreams coming true.

“God, your handsome, and I feel the same about you.” I couldn’t believe the words had left my mouth, but as soon as they had, I found myself in a deep possessing kiss with Sam.

What happened after that had changed everything between us. I found that I loved him, and he felt the same about me, showing me what he felt. He showed me through his touches and his gentle words. I showed him what I felt right back, my touches and words showing him that I loved him, and his beautiful soul.

I found myself in love at eighteen, with a boy who loved me for who I am and not what I could be. The morning after that explosive night, I found myself confessing all I knew about myself, and all I knew about him to Sam. Sam hadn’t been mad at me, he had hugged me, and told me that it was alright, that he would love me through anything, and I knew he was telling the truth.

Someone finally loved me!

Sam had asked me to be his girlfriend that morning, and I had told him that there was nothing to make me ever say no. It had been then that I had heard my father, and I had told Sam that he had to hide. Sam had grabbed his clothes and had run to the closet, while my father had burst into the room.

I had on a tee-shirt and pajama shorts, but he had seen my mussed up hair, knowing that I had been up for a while, and would have brushed my hair first thing, and he had started in on me. “What are you, a whore?” He had asked me, and I could feel the tears pricking at my eyes. “Is that what you are? So attention craving that you have to find it from any random guy?”

He had advanced on me, seeing the tears that were now streaming down my face, and he had laughed. When he grabbed my wrists, I had known then that something had been wrong. “Poppa, what are you doing?” I asked, tearing running down my cheeks, and shaking my head; moving my long curly blond hair away from my face.

“Well if you are so attention starved, then why don’t I give you some?” His grip had tightened on my wrists, and though I had pulled as hard as could, I couldn’t get him off me, and I felt something in my wrist snap as I pulled.

I hadn’t heard Sam, I had only seen him running over and pulling my father off of me. They had both fell to the floor, and before I knew what had happened, Sam was on the bottom, and my father was punching him.

I jumped on my father, hooking my arms around him neck, and yanking backwards. He had reeled back, and tossed me from his back. The last thing I remembered was landing bad on my wrist, and slamming my bedside table with my ribs. He had punched me in the temple after that, and I had let the darkness sweep me away.

Lily woke to find herself still on the floor near her bedside table, and vaguely wondered how she had gotten there. She gasped when she remembered what had happened, and automatically looked for Sam. She saw her father on the floor unconscious or dead she didn't know or care; her only concern was Sam's welfare.

She got shakily to her feet, and looked around the room for any sign of Sam. She shakily walked over to her father, and cautiously stepped over her father’s still body. She didn’t see Sam anywhere, but there was a trail of blood leading through the doorway. Lily followed the trail of blood out the door, and saw that it lead to the stairs. She looked down and gasped when she saw Sam’s body at the bottom of the stairs.

Lily ran down the stairs, and dropped to her knees beside Sam’s crumpled form. His leg was bent at an odd angle, and there was a nasty gash on his head. When she bent down to see if he had a pulse, she heard his breath coming in rasps. Lily grabbed the phone, and dialed Dean, not knowing what else to do, but Sam had told her no matter what that she could trust Dean, so he was the first person to come to mind.

“Y’hello?” A cocky voice came over the line.

“Dean, it’s Lily.” Her voice was hoarse, and slightly broken, tears now running down her face unchecked.

“Lily? What’s wrong, where’s Sam?” He asked, his voice filled with concern, and he had known that something was wrong with his brother the way that Lily had been talking.

“He’s hurt Dean. My father, he... he must have pushed him down the stairs, and... God, Dean he doesn’t look good at all.” Lily was sobbing by now, and it was hard to understand her, but Dean had heard her say that Sam was hurt.

“Lily? Sweetie, can you do something for me?” Dean asked, knowing she was distraught, and trying his best to be empathetic, while still worrying about his brother.

Lily nodded, and then remembering that he couldn’t see her, she said softly, “Yeah.”

“Lily, you need to call the hospital. Get them to send an ambulance. Can you do that?” He asked, and she heard his car starting in the background.

“Yeah, I-,” She started, but stopped when she heard a sound coming from her room. “Dean, my father’s awake...” She never got the chance to finish her sentence as a big hand wrapped around her neck.

Lily fought for breath, trying to get her father to let go of her. He had a tight grip on her neck, and his other arm was hooked around her stomach, keeping her still. She tried to scream, but all that came out were hoarse gurgles. She could see black spots dancing in front of her eyes, and her struggles became weaker the longer she didn’t get air. She could feel the darkness closing in...

Dean heard the phone drop on the other end, and could hear the gurgling noises and the sounds of a struggle on the other end of the line, and pushed the Impala to go faster. She only lived a couple streets over, but it seemed like forever to Dean.

He heard the struggle stop just as he was pulling the Impala to a stop outside of Lily's house. Grabbing a revolver off the seat of the car, he ran to the house, and kicked the door down when he found that it was locked. Dean ran through the house, searching the rooms for any sign of Lily, Sam, or her father.

When he reached the stairs, he saw Lily hanging almost limp from her father's hand around her neck, her weak struggles no more than slight jerks. He ran full speed at her father, and knocked him down, freeing Lily, who fell to the floor, dragging in gasping breaths.

Dean hit her father until the man was limp, and checked over both Sam and Lily who were lying on the floor next to each other, one unconscious and the other nearly so. Dean heard the ambulance that he had called coming, and told Lily that they were both going to have to go to the Hospital. She had vaguely told him that she didn't mind, and had proceeded to pass out.

Dean waited until both Sam and Lily had been loaded into ambulances and then he went back in the house and packed Lily's things, coming down the stairs with a duffle bag over his shoulder, and a backpack in his hands minutes later. While he was coming down the stairs, he heard the front door open, and tensed.

"Dad?" He heard the male voice call, and recognized it as Lily's brother. He jumped down the rest of the stairs, and saw John as he walked in the room, and the awe struck look as he saw his father lying there on the floor.

John looked up and saw Dean, carrying Lily's things, and asked, "How bad was it this time?" Dean was amazed that John didn't even care he was carrying his sister's things, but quickly recovered.

"She's at the hospital. It looked like she had a broken wrist, and he was suffocating her when I walked in. He beat my brother pretty badly too." John was nodding sadly as he listened, and grabbed his jacket and keys to head to the hospital.

"If he was awake I would kill him, as it is, I got to go see Lily." John said as Dean looked at him quizzically, they both walked out the door, and got in their separate cars, headed to the hospital to check on their siblings.

John was a tall man, about six foot two inches tall, and he had auburn hair, that he wore cut to just above his ears. He was twenty-one, and had gone to Alfred State college in New York for his welding degree, not really into working with numbers or writing. His blue-gray eyes rivaled Lily’s, and he had a strong willpower, though he would do anything to protect his sister; even from their father. This time wasn’t the first time that Lily had been sent to the hospital because of their father, but the courts didn’t believe that the great Sergeant Daniel Daine was an abusive father; and they had been stuck with him.

His father had never done anything to hurt John, either mentally or physically; but he had never let up on Lily, when anyone else would have been proud to have a beautiful and smart daughter like Lily. Their father blamed Lily for the death of their mother, because she had died giving birth to Lily. It hadn’t been Lily’s fault, but their father hadn’t seen it that way, and he had made her life a living hell.

John couldn't figure out how he could treat her like that, and he was going to put a stop to it. Lily was old enough to move out now, and he would make sure that she did, help her get her own place. Whether it be with Sam, or whether she was alone, as long as she had her own place so thier father couldn't hurt her.

He pulled into the parking lot, and parked his Wrangler next to Dean's Impala. They both got out and strode purposely toward the entrance. Walking in the doors, both brothers walked toward the front desk to find out any information on their seperate siblings. They were told to have a seat and wait.

...Waiting is always the hardest part and it wasn't going to be easy this time either.

John Daine watched as his sister groaned and started to wake up. He stood up and tightened his grip on her hand, saying, “C’mon Lily, open your eyes.” He watched anxiously, and as he peered down at her, her eyes opened, and she looked up at him groggily.

“John?” She asked, her voice filled with confusion as she looked up at her older brother. “Wha’ happened?”

“He hit you Lil, and he threw Sam down the stairs.” John’s voice was quiet and as he watched, tears started to shimmer in her eyes as realization dawned. “You have a good size bruise on your head, bruised ribs and a broken wrist.”

Lily tried to sit up, concern for Sam marring her face. “What about Sam?” Her voice was on the edge of panic, and John had to push her back down in the hospital bed.

“Take it easy, remember your ribs. Sam-” John cut himself off as he tried to figure out what to say. “When dad pushed him down the stairs, he fractured Sam’s leg; and two of his ribs broke, one of them puncturing his lung. He also hit his head pretty hard and has a concussion and,” he cut off again and looked Lily straight in the eye, “and he hasn’t woken up yet.”

“Can I see him?” Lily asked, choking back the tears that threatened to fall.

“Yeah sweetie, they said as soon as you woke up and they could check you out; that you could leave, so I don’t see why you can’t see him.” John pulled her to him, and held her as she cried. “It’s gonna be okay, you’ll see, Sam will be alright.” His reassurances finally calmed her enough to let the doctors check her over, and then he got her a pair of sweatpants, a tank top, and his hooded sweatshirt from Alfred that she liked to wear. He left the room to let her get changed with an order for her to call him if she needed help.

“John,” a small voice called from the other side of the door, and John pushed the door open, checking inside he saw that she was dressed and sitting in the wheel chair the hospital was forcing her to use while she was still in the building. He walked over to her and squeezed her shoulder reassuringly, handing her a stuffed bear he had gotten her from the gift shop. She smiled at him and gave him a half hug, and he then grabbed the handles of the chair and pushed her out of the room, towards Sam’s room.

As they neared Sam’s room, they could hear Dean talking on the phone, to what sounded like his father. “But dad, Sam needs you-” Lily had heard enough, and viciously ripped the phone from Dean’s hands; while John and Dean looked at her like she was crazy.

She glared at Dean when he went to ask her why she had taken the phone from him and said, “He’s the reason Sam was at my house in the first place.” Dean and John looked confused and she continued. “Why do you think Sam and I are so close? Do you think that I am the only one in this relationship who is abused by their father?” Her voice was menacing and the elder brothers looked stunned at what she had said, but she paid them no mind and continued. “Sam gets beaten every time you go on one of your ‘hunts’ and usually ends up at my house, either in tears and asking why, or not talking at all. God, I wouldn’t be surprised if Sam is worse off than I am, and I will tell you one thing, he is not going back to that house!” Lily was furious and she didn’t know why but she had to add the last nail in the coffin, “Last night when he came over his exact words were, ‘I know he didn’t mean it!’ I had hugged him and then he said the words that made my blood run cold, ‘God, he said it was my fault she died.’” She pushed herself over to Sam letting her and Sam’s brothers think about what she had just told them.

"When did he tell you this was happening?" Dean asked, his face pale, the tone of his voice telling Lily that he didn't believe what she was telling him.

Lily spun as fast as she could while she was still in the wheelchair, and glared at Dean. "What the fuck do you mean?" Her voice was lower than a growl and it made a shiver run through Dean's spine. "Don't tell me that you don't believe what he told me... I have pictures of some of the things that your father did to him!" Dean glared right back at her, his anger taking over, making him push all his concern away.

"Then again... Sammy does tend to have a vivid imagination, and could be lying. Did he tell you what the hunts we go on are for?" Dean asked, his voice rising in pitch, daring Lily to do something.

Lily stood, her knees feeling like pudding, but she was determined not to back down to the asshole in front of her. "For your information, Sam has told me everything! How your family hunts for the Supernatural, and how your father beats him and blames him for your mother's death!" The emotion in her voice was strong and Dean didn't get the chance to respond to her, as she went on. "Did you ever notice that he never takes off his shirt in front of everyone, that he is terrified of fire, because your father felt the need to brand him with a hot fire poker?" Tears rolled down her face, she didn't know which emotion was strongest, anger, sorrow or fear.

Dean quietly walked over to where Sam and Lily were and she stepped out of the way so he could see Sam. Without being asked, as Dean shot her an embarassed look, she went over to where Sam was and keeping the blanket pulled up to his waist, she raised the hospital gown that he was wearing. Dean gasped and John looked as if he were going to thrown up at the sight of Sam's abdomen; while tears just streamed harder down Lily's face.

There were scars littered over Sam's lower stomach and on his higher hip. Scars from knife cuts were faint under his navel, mostly long shallow cuts, but there were some that showed they had been short and deep. Burn marks were crisscrossed over his hips and there was a jagged slash that overlapped the burns, that must have been from a serrated knife.

Dean stumbled back as if he had been struck, and Lily, after finally showing Dean what Sam had been through, let herself collapse into her brother's arms, weak from standing for so long after having just got checked out of the hospital. John held her to him, as he watched emotions flash across Dean's face, and he felt sorry for the man. He hadn't known Dean that long, but to have been kept in the dark for so long about what was happening to his brother, he must have felt horrible. Now the man that he thought of as 'God,' had turned into a monster in less than five minutes...

"I think..." Dean said, his face pale, "I think I'm gonna be sick." The brother who was usually strong and unnervingly calm; was now so angry, sorry, and afraid that he was sick. There was nothing more ironic that could have happened at that moment, and itmade Lily happy and sad at the same time.

There was only one problem with telling Dean what she had. She had promised Sam that she would keep his secret and she had betrayed that trust, telling the one person that Sam had been protect with his lies. He was either going to heart-broken, or livid...

2 weeks later:

Lily walked into Sam’s room, after having showered and changed into a brown tank top and a pair of sand blasted capris. She had decided to take a break from moving her and Sam’s things into a new apartment, her arm and ribs killing her.

John had told her in haughty tones, that he would kill their father if he ever came near her again, but she had worried more about Sam than herself, so John had offered to buy her an apartment, where she and Sam could both live, that is if he woke up.

Lily took her usual seat beside Sam, and grabbed his hand with her good arm, stroking his face gently with her other hand, which was still plastered in a cast. He was so still and pale against the stark white of the hospital sheets, and she felt tears threaten to drown her. She smoothed his hair back and sniffled back her sobs.

“God Sam I am so sorry. Please wake up, I can’t lose you, I love you.” Her voice was a whisper, as she laid her head down beside her and Sam’s interlocked hands. They had taken Sam off life support, but feared that he would have brain damage if and when he woke up.

She felt a movement in her hand and looked up to see Sam’s eyes staring into hers. He looked confused, but also relieved about something, and the latter was something Lily couldn’t figure out. “Sam!” Lily’s cry was soft, but emotions she didn’t know she had were placed behind the call.

Lily stood up, and keeping his hand gripped in hers, she stood on her toes and kissed him chastely on the lips. She pulled back and he looked at her with love filled eyes. “Wha’ happened?” He asked, his voice rough, and he winced as the words left his mouth.

“Water?” She asked, making sure that he was okay before she told him what had happened, especially the part about telling Dean about his secret. Sam nodded to her, and she filled a plastic cup with water from a pitcher on his bedside table.

Lily looked back up at Sam, and saw that his eyes held questions that she didn‘t want to give him the answers to. “Hold on a minute sweetie, I need to tell the doctor you’re awake.” He nodded and she gave his hand a squeeze before walking out of the room to get the doctor.

“Doctor Jarrett?” Lily called down the hall when she saw the man who had been working on Sam’s case for the two weeks he had been here. The man looked up at her, clearly startled by her presence, she had always snapped at him, or told him to leave when she was close to tears.

“What can I do for you, Ms. Dai-,” he stumbled over his words, when he remembered she had asked him not to call her that name. “Lily?”

When he looked closer at the woman who stood before him, he could tell something was different about her, but he couldn’t place it right away. He studied her for a little longer, and then noticed that the haunted look that had adorned her eyes for the entire time she had been at the hospital with Sam, was gone, and now there was a sparkle to them.

Her voice was just as full of excitement as the rest of her when she told him what had happened. “It’s Sam! He woke-up!” His head shot up from the paper work he had been doing while listening to her, and watched as a beaming smile appeared on her face, and after having made sure that the doctor had heard her correctly, she bounced happily back to Sam’s room.

Noah Jarrett followed Lily at a more subtle pace, and found that he was happy something in Lily and Sam’s life was going right for once. He watched as the young woman he had thought to be broody and snobbish disappeared into the room, and found that he had been wrong to judge her so quickly.

Noah walked into the room a moment after Lily had and he found Lily sitting beside Sam in his bed, both of them holding tightly to each other’s hands. Sam and Lily looked up when they heard the falling footsteps, and while Lily looked pleased to see him there, Sam looked confused, but not angry at the man who had interrupted his moment with Lily.

“Hi, my name is Dr. Noah Jarrett, and I have been your doctor since you were admitted to the hospital two weeks ago.” Sam looked startled at the amount of time that had gone by, but just the same he held out his hand for the doctor to take.

“It’s nice to meet you Dr. Jarrett, my name is Samuel Winchester, but please call me Sam.” Sam’s formal words were lightened with the light smile he gave the doctor when the man shook his hand.

“It’s nice to meet you too Sam. Now I suppose you want to know how long you will be here, and exactly what is wrong with you,” the doctor said and then under his breath added, “if you are anything like your brother.” He talked in an annoyed tone when he talked about Dean, and Sam heard the words, making him laugh. The laugh soon turned to a grimace when pain seared through his ribs.

“I see you’ve met Dean,” Sam said lightly as he made himself comfortable. “Just don’t make me laugh, please!” Sam’s tone begged the man to take him seriously, and Noah had seen the expression of pain when Sam had laughed, so he conceded to the request easily.

“Yes I have met your brother, though I must say, you are nothing like him; and you should take that as a compliment.” Sam laughed again at the wistful note in the doctor voice, and grimaced as the pain flared again. Noah pulled out a pain reliever and a muscle relaxer, telling Sam what they were before inserting the liquids into the IV in Sam’s arm.

"Now your injuries. You had a nasty concussion and will suffer from headaches for a while but that is to be expected with a fall down the stairs. You were very lucky with your ribs, only two were broken, but you hit the stairs with enough force to break a lot more of them. You had a punctured lung which was repaired with surgery, and your chest may be sore for a while.

"Now the one injury that bothered me the most was your leg." The doctor walked closer to Sam, making sure the young man looked him in the eye, so he could understand the severity of the injury." Your leg almost had to be amputated due to the damage in it. You will be on crutches for a long time, and you will have to go through physical therapy to even hope to regain the full use of it, which there is a chance that you won't. Your knee was broken and your growth plate was also broken, both were severe breaks, but there was also a fracture in your tibia." Sam's face had lost a little of it's color as the doctor was explaining what was wrong to him.

"So you're saying I may never regain full use of my leg again?" Sam asked, his voice hoarse and shaky.

"That is exactly what I am saying. But there is a good chance that if you work really hard you may very well regain full use, because other than this injury and some of the scars I had seen on your body, you are a very healthy man." The man looked up at Lily and then back to Sam. "I would like to speak to you about those scars alone."

"Whatever you need to ask, you can ask in front of Lily, she knows all about what happened." Sam's eyes had a haunted look to them and Lily squeezed his hand tighter to give him strength.

"Well then, the question is a very simple one. Where did you get those scars Sam?" The man's voice was strong, but inside he was dreading the answer that he may get.

"My father," Sam's voice was low and broken when he spoke the words. "He... He blamed me for my mother's death, and for years I didn't know that he was wrong, and I thought that I had deserved the pain, so I didn't say anything about it." Sam's eyes glittered with tears and it was all Lily could do not to hold him tightly in her arms. "Then I met Lily and she convinced me that dad was wrong, but I didn't tell because I had heard about foster systems and I didn't want to be separated from Dean and Lily." The doctor held up a hand, his expression troubled.

"Why would your father think that your mother's death was your fault?" He was sincerely interested, but Sam was hesitant to talk.

"When I was six months old, my mother was murdered, trying to protect me. I guess dad thought it should have been me..." There was an intake of breath and Sam looked up to see Dean standing in the doorway of the room, horror stricken.

Sam locked eyes with Dean for a mere moment, seeing the anguish and confusion and anger echoed in their depths, before he looked down, ashamed at himself. The doctor left the room with a soft, ‘excuse me,’ leaving Sam, Lily and Dean in the room. When Lily excused herself from the room, Sam felt fear well up in him, trying to consume him.

He heard the dull thuds of Dean’s footsteps as he moved closer, and felt the fear reach its peak, making his chest tighten. Breath didn’t come as easily as it had before, and he could vaguely hear Dean trying to calm him down. There was an oddly reassuring weight on the small of his back, which he soon recognized as Dean’s hand. Soothing circles were rubbed on his back, and he could feel some of the panic being released from his body, could feel the gentle easing of breath into his starved lungs.

Dean’s POV

Dean watched as Sam had a panic attack... about him! He tried to sooth his little brother as best he could and was relieved when Sam started to take deeper breaths. “Common Sammy, it’s okay, I’m here. Your safe.” He looked into Sam’s eyes only to see confusion, and stark fear burning in his hazel eyes. “What’s wrong Sammy?” Dean asked, worried that Sam was going to panic on him again.

“N-nothing Dean, just nerves,” Sam’s voice was low, and Dean could hear the quiver in it easily with his trained hearing.

“Okay, whatever you say, Sammy-boy.” Dean replied softly, knowing that although they needed to talk about what had happened, right now Dean didn’t want to hurt Sam any further, or take advantage of his vulnerability.

“It’s Sam!” Sam growled at his brother, pretending to be annoyed, but there was no real menace in his voice; the relief that his brother wasn’t going to push the subject at least for now, too big. “Jerk,” Sam muttered, humor masking the annoyance he did feel at the nickname, Dean so willingly used for him.

“Bitch!” Dean threw back at him, and Sam’s lips quirked up in a smile.

Dean walked back into Sam’s room, after having left for a few minutes to get coffee, only to find his brother asleep. ‘At least it’s a peaceful sleep, the kid really needs it.’ Dean thought to himself, and now that he knew what the source of Sam’s nightmares had been for years, he was glad Sam was going to be able to get away from their father. Dean had never been able to figure out why Sam had been so, angry, distant, and so damn fearful of their father, and now that he knew why, he wasn’t sure that he wanted to know his father was such a monster to beat his youngest son.

Dean really looked his brother over, noting that it was going to take a long time for Sam to be Sammy again, both mentally and physically. Then he realized that he had never really known the real Sam, only the mask that had been constructed as his protection from his father, and protection for Dean, so he wouldn’t have to find out about his father.

Dean knew that physical therapy was the best way for Sam to go with his leg, but he also didn’t want Sam to go through the pain it entailed. There wasn’t a full leg brace on Sam’s leg yet, only a brace that screwed into the bones in his thigh, just below his knee, and around his ankle. An ace wrap hid the mess that was his broken knee. There was white gauze and a lot of bruising where the bone from his ankle had broken through the skin; and other dark bruises were scattered all over the side of his leg.

Dean felt almost sick looking at the leg, and knowing that his brother was the one who had, was and would feel the pain from the damage. He knew Sam had been in pain while talking to him earlier, from the surgery to repair his lung. He also knew that Sam wasn’t too happy that he was going to be in a wheel chair until his wrist healed enough to take the weight of his body when he started using crutches. The fact the Sam might not walk right for the rest of his life was a big emotional hit, to Sam and the people who loved him, but Dean was going to help him all he could.

He couldn’t take the pain away from Sammy, or even go back and stop it from happening, but Dean could do everything possible to help his younger brother get through this. Just looking at Sam and seeing all the scars, and knowing the pain that Sam must have gone through when he was receiving those scars, made Dean want to kill the person who had done that Sam, and the fact that it was his father that had done it didn’t deter Dean from wanting to kill him.

The creak from the door drew Dean from his thoughts, and he looked up to see Lily standing there, looking uncertain as she saw him. He could tell why his brother liked this girl. Lily was smart, there was no denying that, but she was also beautiful, kind, open, truthful to the point that it hurt, and she had a nasty temper when it came to protecting what was hers, or someone she loved.

Hell if she and Sam weren’t already a thing, he could see him and her getting together...

Dean knew that when his father finally showed his face, that he was going to break it. Knowing that Lily would do the same thing to defend Sam, just reassured him that things were going to be better for Sam, even though it would take time for him to heal physically and there was nothing Dean could do to help speed that process up; Dean could help Sam heal mentally and emotionally, with Lily’s help.

Sam was going to be okay, and with a look to Lily, who nodded; Dean knew both Lily and him were going to make sure of it.

END.

A/N:  Sorry that it’s so short, and the ending was abrupt, but I ran out of ideas on this story, and hit a major writer’s block, but I figured you guys would like an ending. Thank you for those who read this story, and reviewed, and especially to those who stuck with it this far, encouraging me to finish it.
I was thinking about doing a follow up one-shot, to see what happens when Dean finally comes face to face with his father... But that depends on you guys... If you want it tell me, if you don't, tell me.
Take Care all of you...
OSS