Excellent. D

Loved this as it was hopeful, after everything that they had been through. And this part was perfect - There's a saying, if you need forgiveness, forgive someone. And in that moment, I do: Dean's deal, his leaving me, his anger and impatience and inability to hear me this last year. Not just because I need the same, but because I love him. I still love him. And I know he loves me. That's why it hurts so friggin' much.

I still love him. And I know he loves me. That's why it hurts so friggin' much.

_

Yes it is why!

Buckets of emotion in this.

I like it a lot!

Karen

I'm so behind on reviews. My apologies. I read this trilogy and have to tell you that they were all so wonderfully paced, very true to the time period, and I liked that you didn't make either brother be a bad guy, you let each of them explain or ponder their own reasonings for WHY they were doing what they were doing.

And then this last tie, just lovely. Gives so much hope. I am looking forward to the start of the season again, hope that we will all be wow'd and that we will all come out of it with a few aw's.

Thanks for the aw. These were all just great!

Nice thing with those bold letters. :) I have noticed them in previous story and my first thought was like: oh, maybe it will be a whole alphabet? ;) That would be a long story! LOL

The first paragraph is Sam’s great self-analysis – I love it! The following sentences almost made me cry:

“Nothing I say will bring my brother, the guy I betrayed and tried to kill, any comfort now (...)”

“Crap, I should be grateful Dean's even willing to be in the same car with me”.

I also loved this one:

“I was numb before, I'm realizing. Unable to feel much empathy even as my brother struggled with nightmares of Hell. Probably clinically depressed—does it really matter? Nothing excuses what I did.”

It was hard for me to understand and accept Sam’s attitude towards Dean’s nightmares. I truly hated his remarks about it, i.e. in I Know What You Did Last Summer (Sure, Dean, let's trade stories. You first. How was hell? Don't spare the details) or in Sex and Violence (You're too weak to go after her, Dean. You're holding me back. You're too busy feeling sorry for yourself, whining about all the souls you tortured in hell. Boo hoo).

It is a nice idea that Cindy-human has survived...

And last but not least, my favorite part...

Every cloud has a silver lining... this few sentences are amazing, great, sweet, touching...

Your stores are a great trilogy! :) Thank you very much for them! :)

My heart just soars reading this story, in ways I can't quite describe. I love it, just like I love all your stories. This one gives me so much hope!

Love, Robin

Thanks for putting them back together! (Well, as much as is possible; those two need a lot of Krazy Glue.)

I liked the ABCDE; it's nice how nearly 300 stories in you're still looking for fresh ways to tell a story.

Great as usual. It's amazing how much you can say in one story.

Fav. lines:

It's kind of ironic we're working on a rebirth while the world struggles to end around us.

But then, Dean always did say I was rebellious.

Good ending to this triple story that you treated as one story. I liked it.

Much more upbeat and hopeful. I like this one a lot. :D Thanks so much for keeping Cindy alive here. That makes a huge difference.

Nicely done! :)

Wonderful reconstruction of Sam! I liked how you mirrored the format from the previous fic, allowing us to compare both sections and see the depths Sam sunk to and how gradually he reclaiming some of it back.

What a gift the Cindy section was because I always assumed she died but as far as I remember it was never mentioned. And although we've seen the boys kill demons before, somehow she was different probably because we saw her switch back to being human. I very much appreciated this and I enjoyed your take on it.

I liked how Sam picked apart Dean's words and found hope there and how easily he forgives Dean in the hope that he can gain some himself.

"Still, he's trying, and I'm trying, and maybe at some point we don't have to try anymore, can just be again." Lovely description of where the boys stand with each other. There's a lot that needs to be worked on but I'm hopeful for the future. Somehow knowing that they’re facing the apocalypse together makes me feel better.

Great trilogy! I really enjoyed it and yes, sometimes you have to go through the bad times to appreciate the good and these fics really demonstrate this in a positive and hopeful light. The only way is up! Take care, Abbi

Smiling :) - Ah, I liked that you posted these three stories as a series, they do work well together. I liked that you followed the same format on this one as on your previous one - mirroring again.

I liked Sam's thoughts about Bobby, "Bobby forgives almost as easily as Dean, and it's as painful as it is comforting." Well put!

I truly liked your last paragraph, and the way it wraps it all up so well, "Everything starts falling back into place, but slowly." I'm glad you pointed out, "I think he knows now that as messed up as it was, I was trying to do the right thing before." I think that gets missed, because if had turned out that killing Lilith had stopped the apocolypse, then Sam would likely have been viewed as a hero who was willing to sacrifice his soul for the greater good - at least until it got out of hand. But I think it's a much better story this way. Good intentions and all.

But my favorite part of this story was your kind concession to the possibility that Sam didn’t actually kill Cindy. (Smiling again.) I like to believe that he didn’t have to drink all her blood, that he just needed more than Ruby could give alone. So, you’ve made me quite happy. Thank you!

Great ‘mini-series’. Thank you so much for posting them, and as usual, I look forward to your next post!

"All I can think about is what I've done, because my head's suddenly clear for the first time in months and I can finally see how far I've fallen." Great description of Sam after the 'supernatural methodone.'

To me, there was a big difference in Sam when he attacked Bobby (en route to clean but obviously still addicted) and when he attacked Dean (high on demon blood). This plays beautifully in the wake of those confrontations, with Sam clear-headed after being under the influence for months.

Really like your take on what happened to Cindy, too.

"And Dean slowly starts treating me like a brother again instead of a tag-along he's stuck with." Perfect description for Sam's headspace at the beginning of Season 5.

"...he's trying, and I'm trying, and maybe at some point we don't have to try anymore, can just be again." And isn't that what we're all hoping for, too?

Fantastic trilogy. Great work.

Cheers, Sculls

Great conclusion to the trilogy. I liked the continuation of the alphabet to grab attention to the important idea/name in the paragraph.

I really liked Sam's thoughts here: "...because my head's suddenly clear for the first time in months and I can finally see how far I've fallen." Admitting the problem exists truly is the first necessary step to solving it. And I believe that Dean realized how sorry Sam was, but just being sorry isn't enough. I really liked how you outlined Sam's thought process about what he needs to do to regain Dean's trust and get their relationship back on track.

I still don't think their relationship is back to where it was in Season 2 especially - maybe Dean was right - it can never get back to what it used to be. :( Hope he's wrong.

Thanks for sharing this trilogy with us, giving us additional insight into a heart-breaking chains of events in these brothers' lives. Until next time...

They say that when you reach the absolute bottom, the only way to go from there is up. It may be slow, it'll most likely be painful, there may be back-sliding, but it's really the only thing to do other than giving up and staying down there. So no, these weren't exactly the easiest stories to read, just as the related episodes were some of the hardest ones to watch in the whole series. But yes, I am a firm believer in a saying perhaps older than the first one: where there's life, there's hope. Well done.