Awesome. Just wish the show had given us that when the episode aired as they sure needed talk about things. Totally believable and in character, and you were so inside their heads when you wrote this.

Yeah, yeah...this one made me cry, too - just a little! Don't know why I was resisting the tag/missing scene stuff ... It's great getting a little closure on some of these really scenes that ended to abruptly.

I applaud your dialogue in this story - it was spot on! I could actually hear the boys saying these things to each other - it could literally have come from an episode, so WELL DONE. It was heartbreaking in the sense that they still weren't completely reconciled (and we know where this ultimately ends up), but you still brought enough openness and forgiveness in there to soothe over the ache. Very good writing;-)

OMG, how I wish we could have seen just this scene at the end of the episode! I was really disappointed that the fallout from the brothers' fight wasn't dealt with properly on the show. And I agree with you 100%, I too would have liked for the Winchesters to work through their differences and become a real team again. But Kripke had other plans, even upping the ante at the end of S4, as we all know now.

So thanks for providing this sorely missed scene, and the as usual missing first (or in this case second) aid. The boys patching each other up is one of my favorite themes, which is one of the reasons I'm such a fan of your stories. THe other is the top notch writing, of course.

I just simply love it. This fic works perfectly and you've made such an atmosphere between the brothers that it's almost too real. I can see them in this, and hear them say the words you put in their mouths. This is what the fourth season would have needed. The part where Dean reminds Sam about the being brothers again -thing... there are no words to describe how much I longed for that kind of line when I was watching the season. In this fic, you captured the old characthers underneath, the caring brothers that melt my heart.

It's been long since I saw the episode, but I can still say that it would have needed something like this. Thank you for a great fic.

Well, that's sad they didn't have that kind of conversation in the series XDD

Pretty good job

Kisses and see ya D

Rosetta

This episode totally threw me and I thought it was so tough to watch, tough to absorb.

Now, so much has happened that I haven't given it a lot of thought recently, but after I read this tag, it just made me hurt all over again. Wow! Just fantastic stuff in this! Love the 'talk', they're better, but still not quite 'good'.

Yep.

Pretty damn good. Thanks.

OMG!

You wrote this beautifully!

You got Sam and Dean perfect! XD I loved how still Dean helped and worried- that's the way it's sposed to be :)

and you made that spot on

loved it hun, killer episode, killer fic! XD

This? Right here? Is a work of art. YOU should absolutely be a writer for the show. THIS is exactly what I WISH they would say to each other. It's exactly what they would say to each other. So perfectly written and fitting their personalities so well, it's scary. I especially love the two trains metaphor, with both coming down the track heading straight for Sam, and Sam needing Dean to trust him enough to jump off in time. That was beautifully written. You definitely have an awesome imagination, I sure wish the writers for the show would just take this little chapter write here and make it happen, word for word would be good. ;D

awesomeness.

Wonderful. I really felt with Sam at the beginning, that ache in the gut at what's been going on between the boys. I love the analogies you used, how you took the lines that were hurled in anger and softened them with the real truths. Excellent writing! And I just love this line:

“Remember when you told me, ‘I wish you’d drop the show and be my brother again?’ Well I’m asking the same of you. Let’s fight this the way we always have … before Ruby, before your powers, before Hell … just you and me – Butch and Sundance with a much better ride.”

They're not so different as they think sometimes. :)

Thanks for this!

AJ

Really like your fair handling of the c**pfest Kripke left the brothers in. I hope Kripke lets the brother mend fences before too long. After all that's what draws me to the show...but alas if Kripke won't there are a few wirters like yourself that will give us what we need. Thanks for writing!

Shar

I realise this is incredibly late in coming and for that I apologise but 'Sex and Violence' has only just aired over here (it’s incredibly frustrating to be this far behind but on the bright side we don’t have any hiatus’!) I've had this book marked for ages and it's been quite torturous not reading it - until today of course and let me tell you it was well worth the wait!

You hit a perfect balance of making me feel better about the episode without stepping away from canon and fixing everything with a neat bow. So for that, I'm truly grateful.

I can praise a great deal about this fic but I guess the main thing that I really admire about your writing is how you manage to always stay so true to the boys characters - writing dialogue and introspection that I can clearly see both Sam and Dean saying and thinking.

What I love about the show is that throughout all four series it hasn't been afraid to delve deeper and deeper into the grey - because in life there isn't always a right and wrong or a god and bad and now that the brothers are directly involved in this it makes for a great series even if does make me nervous! But I guess if we're heading for a fifth season all of these problems between the brothers can't be solved quickly and easily so I'm here til the end - regardless of the outcome.

But enough of my rambling, this was a great story which certainly reassured me while also sticking to the direction of the show. Thank you so much for sharing and I really hope that you are still writing because I always enjoy reading your stories. Take care, Abbi.x

Finally catching up on some of my reading, woo hoo! I actually just watched S&V a few weeks ago-I didn't want to have an angst-filled ep before the long hiatus. ;)

"Sam felt sick. He’d never seen Dean more emotionally destroyed than when he’d made that roadside confession about his time in Hell but, under the influence of the siren, Sam had mocked him for it." Yeah, I really, really hated that. And that they never really addressed ANY of this on the show, or resolved anything at all.

"His brother, who had spent his entire life protecting him from threats both real and imagined, who had gone to Hell to save him, would have taken off his head with fire axe. And that would have killed Dean. With sickening certainty, Sam knew that by the time police arrived on the scene, there would have been two bodies in that hotel hallway. It wouldn’t matter one iota to Dean that he’d been under the siren’s influence; he couldn’t, wouldn’t, live with taking his brother’s life." Ouch. Painful, yet undoubtedly accurate.

"Sam leaned his head against the window, rolling his forehead on the cool glass as another wave of nausea washed over him. How screwed was it that each was so willing to die to keep the other safe and yet, lately, had done nothing but hurt each other?" Yeah, that makes me so sad.

"“ … whining about all the souls you tortured …” Sam cringed at the callous barb. Dean had never been cruel. As a hunter, he could be brutal when called for, but to be forced to hurt others, just to stop his own pain … Alistair was a master torturer and he’d honed in on the best means possible to rip Dean apart. Guilt. And that guilt still tormented his brother – guilt over not being able to hold out longer, over making others suffer so he didn’t have to … over meting out the agony and enjoying it. Enjoying it. Sam’s jaw clenched. He’d never believe his brother enjoyed torturing others, even damned souls. To him, it was just Dean’s battered psyche confusing absence of pain with pleasure, and fuelling even more guilt in the process." AMEN to that! I will NEVER believe Dean enjoyed it, and that confession bothered me more than a little. Thanks for another angle on it that makes it infinitely more palatable.

"“So, what? You really think you’re a better hunter than me? That I’m weak? I’m holding you back?” “No … and yes.” Sam swallowed. He’d opened the door, now he had to go through it. “I think I’m a better hunter than you give me credit for. I think that Hell ripped you apart, inside and out, did more damage than you’ll ever admit to me, or even yourself.” His jaw clenched. “And I know you’re holding me back – your words, Dean, “If I don’t stop you, they will.”" Again, those words of Sam's broke my heart, but you made them slightly better here, so thanks for that.

"“Remember when you told me, ‘I wish you’d drop the show and be my brother again?’ Well I’m asking the same of you. Let’s fight this the way we always have … before Ruby, before your powers, before Hell … just you and me – Butch and Sundance with a much better ride.”" YES! THAT is what I want to see on the show!

“Dean.” Sam held his brother’s gaze. “So much is spiralling out of control right now. This is something I can actually fix. Please.” Oh...*sniffle8

And I found this strangely reflective of the entire season: "Dean grunted in pain as Sam probed the torn skin. “Damn it, Sam. You’re supposed to be putting me back together, not pulling me apart.”

I LOVED this: "Because, ultimately, what was holding them together was stronger than anything trying to pull them apart. They were brothers." I really, really hope the show proves that to be true.

You said "if I had my druthers, I’d have had the boys lay all their cards on the table – clear the slate so they could fight the good fight, side by side." Amen! Again...that's what I want to see on the show! I just don't know if I'll be able to take it if EK ends this season with the brothers on opposite sides. This season's breaking my heart as it is. Thanks for making it a little better.

Great job on this!

totally agree with you with your comments on the end...I hope that they do eventually do that...great story..