To The End
To The End
“You could have got yourself killed!” He threw at the other man, ignoring the looks from the two people closest to them. They’d had to make a run for it and they were cut off from the others, just the four of them because if Sam and Dean went one way, John followed. If John had gone another way, they’d have followed. It didn’t matter. They were there to make sure John was safe, to make sure the other was safe. John sometimes wondered how they figured out the value of a life, which person they chose to save over another. He wondered if Dean and Sam had painted big 1’s on each other’s back as well as his own. Cameron he thought, probably had a 2 because he knew they’d try to save her if she ever got captured, even if they were willing to let her get damaged for the team.
Sam pushed Dean against the wall of the ramshackle remains of what were once tunnels. Everything was hazy and dark but there was enough light from the holes in the ceiling to see by.
Cameron crouched down at John’s side, watching the brothers. She liked to watch them, found their psychology fascinating and she and John had talked for hours about what they’re lives must have been like to make this seem second nature to them.
“Yeah well it was us or them and if I didn’t get it out of our way all of us would have died Sam.” Dean didn’t back down, never did when it was his own life on the line. If Sam had made the same move he’d have been all over him and they all knew it. The truth was so evident no one brought it up. It wasn’t an arguable point with Dean. It would be like telling Cameron she shouldn’t risk her life for John’s. It was just her programming.
Just like it was Dean’s.
He watched Sam fist his hands in Dean’s jacket and saw the moment when anger turned to fear, when adrenaline turned to pain and then Dean’s arms were around his brother, pulling him against his chest. “We’re okay Sammy.” He breathed into his brother’s ear. “We made it out again.”
Sam took a deep breath, looked at Dean for a moment, searching, then pulled him closer, kissing him hard and desperate.
“They’re always fighting.” Cameron said quietly beside him.
John smiled. “Yeah they are.” Because they were and they always would be. If the world wanted to go down, fine by them, but if wanted to take them down? The Winchester boys were going to go down swinging. It was comforting and John stepped away from the wall, pressed his chest to Sam’s back and twined his hands in Dean’s on his thigh.
They’d fight to the end because that’s all they could do. Until then, they’d find a way to hang on.
On To Strangest Places