Disclaimer: I do not own the Winchesters from the television series borne from the heart of the series genius, the great Master Kripke. However, the rest of the characters used in this fic that are not of Kripke—were borne from the heart of Innocuous.

AN: Happy Birthday, Dean Winchester, Jessica Moore & Mrs. Eric Kripke!!!!! (January 24th)

Chapter One:

Fast forward to 10 months after the deal was made.

Sam is coming out of their new home where they moved into 5 months prior; he is on his way to the ridgeline that is parked at the driveway. While coming down the steps he is at the same time digging for the truck’s keys from his jacket while in between conversing with his big brother on the phone.

“Okay, Dean…” Sam says.

“Pick me up around the front of the building, alright?” Dean says, “I’ve already made reservations at that restaurant you love so much, baby.” The older boy added making Sam smile. “So you better be there on time, alright? I’m not starting dinner without you.”

“Okay, Deanie.” Sam says, “We’ll be there on time I promise.”

Dean, after hearing Sam say ‘We’ as opposed to just him; his brows rose on his forehead.

“Baby, I thought this is supposed to be our day to hang out?” Dean grumbles.

“Dean, we always hang out….” Sam says.

“Yeah, but I never get tired of it, baby. Do you?” Dean says.

“Of course not, Dean.” Sam replies. “Of course not! Not on your life!”

Dean smirks. “But who’s we, baby?” he continues, “Is Jake tagging along again like the last hundreds of times he has been tagging along lately? Is it Daniel? No, wait---is it Nathan this time? Man, that guy can be as annoying as Daniel, Sammy! I’m telling yah! Or even worse---”

“Dean,” Sam chuckles, “---it’s Lindsey.” He goes on, “Remember your girlfriend Lindsey? You forgot all about her again, didn’t you? You silly! We’re having dinner with Lindsey tonight.”

When Sam’s eyes lifted, he offers a big warm smile to the person standing alongside his big brother’s sleek black ride; waiting for him—his big brother’s girlfriend. The kid even waves at her.

Dean grimaces to that right there; having allowed the thought of his girl slip his head again-for close to almost fifty times since him and the Macbeth girl started dating. He loves the girl, and he can tell that so does Sam; but every time he forgets her existence in his life, he’d sooner feel guilty and sore over forgetting Sam than forgetting her.

He and the girl met again by accident when she came to town to visit her friend Maurice at one of his branches downtown; since then Dean hasn’t allowed the girl to leave his sight. They have been dating close to 8 months running. And the whole time they have gone out to a date, Dean has made sure Sam was close by. Every single time. Not necessarily with them the whole time—since Sam himself makes it a point not to be a crowd to the couple—or a third wheel. And since Lindsey herself doesn’t seem to mind having Sam tag along either since she knows how much her man loves the kid—and she loves him too; it has always been the arrangement when they go out.

“Right.” He says, ‘My girlfriend, Lindsey.’ He says in his head. ‘Man I keep forgetting I have a girlfriend now.’

“We’ll be there on time, Dean.” Sam interrupts his thoughts just then. “I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Dude, I just haven’t you the whole day and I already miss you, princess!” Dean says, “So you better, okay? Get here on time, I mean.”

“I will, Dean. With Lindsey.” Sam added amusingly.

“Right of course, with…with Lindsey.” Dean says with a flinch. ”See you later, baby.” He says, “You don’t let her drive my truck, alright? I love that girl big time, but she’s a lousy driver, Sammy!”

“No, she’s not, Deanie…” Sam defended. “…she drives my car fine all the time.”

“Yeah, well she’s trying to get on your good side to get to me.” Dean says, “She’s pretending, alright? She’s overcompensating if you ask me…”

“No she’s not….you’re being silly, Deanie…” Sam chuckles.

“You drive the truck, okay, Sam?”

“Okay, Dean.” Sam replies, “Got it!”

He was able to wrap the call up even before he got anywhere near the truck. After slipping his cell phone back into his jacket pocket the kid heads about to walking his companion around the front of the truck to the passenger seat up front; but halfway to getting there though, Sam was halted in his halfway by the company he was with, namely, Lindsey Macbeth.

“Is anything wrong?” Sam asks her in concern. “Did you forget anything inside?” he goes on, “Is it your kit? I’ll go get it for you, Lindlind---“ he was about to head back to the house too only she takes him gently by the arm. “Are you alright, Lindlind?” he asks in concern.

She softly chuckles while touching Sam on the face affectionately.

“I love it when you and Dean call me that, Sam.” She says, ‘Lindlind.” She goes on, “Dylly hates it though.”

“He does?” Sam asks with a flinch. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be.“ she says, “I love it.”

They stood there for a couple of seconds before her hands find the boys; and then she holds on to both of Sam’s while meeting the kid’s eyes with her gentle kind ones.

“Sam, honey----“ she starts. “---you know I love you, don’t you?”

“I do.” Sam replies. “I love you too, Lindsey.”

She sighs before touching Sam’s face. “Sweetie…do you think you can do me a favor?” she says. “I mean, only if it’s alright of course, sweetie. If it isn’t—then you can absolutely say ‘no’…and I’ll understand. I promise.”

“What is it, Lindsey?” Sam asks. “You can ask me for anything. Consider it done.”

Cut in to half an hour later.

Sam is riding a cab home. Everything was vague to him. As he sat at the backseat of the public transport on his way home, he was trying his hardest to remember the events surrounding the earlier events as they happened that led to him riding a cab home; without Theresa, without Lindsey and most especially without his Deanie.

He is alone.

And he is scared, confused and hurt.

A few minutes more and he does remember everything.

The kid seemingly is seeing himself walking the hallways of St. Andrews where he could see his big brother at the opposite end of it. It was right after he got a call from the older boy to head there. Down the hall, he could see Dean talking to Dr. Chase Matthews, one of the backers’ doctor buddies.

The littlest Winchester as he is watching the patches of scenery out the window, even remembers feeling his knees wanting to buckle from under him then---all on their own back at the hospital. How he somehow manages to make it as far as where his big brother was—he chalks it up to him seeing Dean on the other end of the hallway, looking at his direction.

And that’s the last thing Sam remembers or rather wanted to recall.

When he got home, nobody was there at the time but Kel. His big brother may have already warmed up to the idea of being a member of the family already; but still he has not given up the part of him that just wants to stay at home most of the time unlike his triplet brothers Pierce and Nathaniel.

As for the rest of the Winchester brood, they are all out for the night, being the weekend. Even JW seems to have joined in the bandwagon at the moment. He is out on a date, which was the double d’s idea. They set their old man up with the lady across the street. The senior Winchester of course was reluctant at first, but after the rest of his boys—even MaryLiz and her mom joined in the prodding, he had to oblige. That leaves Kel alone and by himself in their new home---which used to be the Guraffalo’s mansion.

The boy hears the door to the bedroom across his’ open----the room that of Sam. He was reading a book at the time when he heard it. A few more minutes and he hears the same door close. With Sam home, Kel was even expectant to have Dean barge in his room any minute and be just a big bully like he has been doing for the last 5 months they have been in that mansion—but even after mental counting til 20, Kel still got nothing.

That got him getting himself up from his bed and out of his bedroom. He knocks on Sam’s room, then Dean’s. Nothing. The boy heads for the stairs and caught the retreating figure of their baby brother going out the front door. Kel heads for the side of the house to the garage, after Sam, when his eyes find Sam stuffing a duffel bag onto the front seat of his mustang.

“Sam----“ Kel calls out which startles Sam, which was evident when the kid went about to grabbing his chest and nursing it. “—oh hey---I didn’t mean to startle you. What’s---“ he eyes the bag riding shotgun as he finds his way to Sam standing on the driver’s side. “---you and Dean going on a Trip or something?”

“I have to go, Kel.” Sam says nervously, ‘I can’t be here.”

“Wait—what are you talking about?” Kel asks with brows arching on his forehead, “Sam—what’s wrong?” he reaches in and grabbed the kid on the arm which turned out to not have been wise since the kid whimpers on contact; Kel let go and eyes the appendage than Sam’s eyes. “Sam, is your arm broken?” he goes on “Why is your arm broken?”

“Lindsey’s at the hospital, Kel.” Sam says, “She got into an accident.”

“What???” Kel blurts out, “What happened?”

“I---I don’t think she’s gon’na make it…” Sam says in hard sobs he was shaking.

“Were you with her?” Kel says, “IS that why you broke your arm? Was Dean? How is Dean?” he rambles, “Where is Dean?”

“I don’t know what happened, Kel…” Sam says, “…but Dean….” He goes on with tears oblivious to him, streaming down his face.”…he says it was my fault. I didn’t listen…”

“What do you mean you didn’t listen, Sam?” Kel asks in concern. He tried touching the kid but since Sam kept shrinking away, he backs off. “What didn’t you listen to Dean for?”

“I didn’t want her to stop liking me Kel…or get mad at me if I said no….” Sam says randomly, “She asked me if I could give her and Dean a chance to be by themselves even just for tonight….so I said yes. I gave her the keys to the truck…and I shouldn’t have…I shouldn’t have…Dean told me not to let her take the truck and I did.” he goes on, “I didn’t think anything was gon’na happen, Kel….I just wanted to do something good for them…I didn’t want her to get into an accident…I didn’t…”

That’s when they both hear the phone ring from inside.

“Sam, you stay put. I’m just gon’na get that, okay?” Kel says, “Then you and I are gon’na go for a drive---a breather, together, okay?” he gets a nod from the kid. But when he came back a few minutes later, the mustang was there---and the kid’s duffel bag. But Sam wasn’t anymore.

The phone call Kel had to go back to the house to answer-- turning out to have been from apologetic Dean and he crying his heart out, looking for Sam.

Cut in to five hours later.

After Sam manages to go around Kel’s back and leaving the house, he finds himself inside a dark motel room, in front of a mirror looking at himself. Sitting in front of him, on the mirror counter, is Kel’s black book.

As he stood there looking at himself, the earlier events he wanted to repress earlier came barging in his head anyways. He remembers everything vividly, as if it was happening to him all over again. From the second Dean dragged him down the empty hallway for privacy, to getting his arm broken by the older boy---to the words thrown at him by his big brother; he recalled everything.

Hospital, St. Andrews - Dean and Sam – Hours earlier ( As Sam remembers )

“Why the hell didn’t you listen to me???” Dean angrily says, fisting Sam’s scruffs by a mile while he had him pinned against the wall. “You didn’t listen to me, god damn it!” he goes on with tears streaming down the sides of his face. “If anything happens to her, Sam----if anything happens to her….” The middle brother started to say to Sam’s face but cuts himself in before he could even finish what he was about to say to the kid. He even let Sam go as he started to walk away.

Sam could just stand there watching him go. Dean had barely stepped a few feet away when he turns to Sam.

“I never wanted to believe it before, Sam…“ he says in between bitter tears and tone, “…but Ted was right about you.“ he goes on, “You do take away people I love…”

Motel - Sam

Sam has a knife in one hand. His eyes found the circle with scribbles in the middle that he made on top of the mirror counter earlier; he then holds his cut free hand over it. Blood started to drip inside the circle. That’s when he started to feel intense pain coming out of the hand he cut—it was the very same hand Kel cut before to bind him and Dean with that spell the last time.

The boy made another cut across the old cut on there. After he did, it didn’t take long before he started to feel the intense pain hit him; coming from the hand. It was as if something was coming out of his body through that hand.

Sam wanted to keep from screaming and calling other motel occupants’ attention towards himself in the room he rented-----but the pain was overwhelmingly blinding. He instead finds himself biting on the sleeves of his other arm---the broken one and screaming the pain on there. The next thing he did was take out the flask sitting inside another circle he had also made earlier along with the other one. He then drinks from it.

‘You’re free now…’ he says in his head. ‘You’re free now, Dean….’

He had barely said those words mentally when the window of his motel room barges open; appearing before him are Trip and Sonja. And both of them have looks on their faces that suggest of fright.

“Sam, what have you done?” Sonja asks with a shaking tone. “What have you done, sweetie….”

Sam could just look at her, tears falling. He looks at his bleeding hand.

“He’s free now, Sonja. Dean doesn’t have to die anymore when I do.” Sam says, while they talked Trip ports from beside Sonja to the mirror counter behind Sam. After his eyes saw the black book sitting there----he picks it up and holds it up for her to see.

“Oh my god, Sam!” Sonja gasps after she saw the book. The kid allows his eyes to fall away from her. “What are you even doing with that book?”

When he got nothing from the kid—Trip channels thoughts to the white witch as to how Sam has even acquired of Kel’s black book. It was when the evil! Kel took him to Amsterdam the second time. The kid snagged it from there. He had every intention of destroying it, only----it gets misplaced. When he was packing his things into his duffel, that’s when the black book mysteriously reappears.

“I had to do it, Sonja…” Sam says in between sobs, “It wasn’t fair to Dean…isn’t fair to him that he has to die when I do.” He says, “I had to do it.” After having said that, Sam seemingly turns himself off as he stood there; with downcast eyes, a bleeding hand and broken heart.

“He broke Dean out of the binding spell, au-pair. “Trip says, “And---“ he groans inwardly before he resumes reporting to Sonja, “---he cast the ‘disporus spell’ on himself.”

Sonja cups both hands to her mouth as a gasp escapes her; tears fell from her eyes not long after as she makes her way towards Sam. Trip gestures for her in a head shake but she kept walking towards Sam anyways.

‘Au-pair, if he touches you, he could destroy you too,’ Trip says in their heads of the spell Sam has put himself under; ‘…you need to be careful.’

‘We have to counter it somehow, Trip.’ She replies. ‘I am not letting him destroy himself.’

‘I can’t even believe he would learn how to read a spell book this early, au-pair.’ Trip says, ‘The ‘disporus’ is one serious senior warlock spell work. How he could even have managed to put himself under it just shows how much power the kid possesses. One wrong move and he could disintegrate us both. Or worse, he could turn on himself. He’s gon’na be gone from us for good. And no amount of magic will be able to bring him back from that.’

‘I think that is what he is planning to do, Trip.’ Sonja says, ‘He wants to erase everybody’s traces of memory about him, Trip.’ Sonja says. ‘Once he destroys himself---we’re all gon’na forget he even existed.’

Trip’s eyes found the black book in his hand; the next thing was---it turns to ashes in there.

‘We’re not going to fail him.’ Trip says.

Sonja nods at Trip in agreement to this; and he nods in response. As they were about to put their plan into play though, Sam snaps out of the trance he was in. His eyes lifted and found Sonja’s.

“Everybody’s free now…” he says, and then even before Sonja or Trip could stop him, his hand landed on his heart.

Sam, Dean and his big brothers’ beloved little brother, like the book that turned into ashes in Trip’s hand----is nothing but ashes himself, on the floor.

Present Day – A day after the deal was made.

His eyes are on the ceiling. His breathing is laborious. Trip, after being able to gather himself up from the ordeal he had just been under, slowly swings his legs to the side of the bed as he sat up. His face--- his bare back, they trickled with cold big beads of sweat as he sat there rubbing his face nervously with both hands to wake himself up fully. When he turned to check on his brothers on the other beds across the room from him-- he found them to still be sleeping.

His hand gropes for his cell phone on the desk. Normally he would be using his ability to take him to places, but since he is reduced to being a white warlock at the moment and half human--he had to make-do with employing technology. He knows it was late, but after what he had just witnessed, he knew it was a matter of life and Death.

It takes a couple of rings before the call was answered by a sleepy white witch on the other end of the call.

"I need to see you." Trip says.

Minutes later,

Trip, the former guardian is coming out of the shadows from behind the gigantic tree beside Sonja’s house. The white witch, after getting a call from the guardian late in the evening, immediately went to meet him.

Wrapped in her robe, and shivering---Sonja meets him halfway in the shadows.

“What’s wrong, Trip?” she asks. “What was the dream about?”

“We do not get dreams, au-pair.” Trip says, “It was a premonition. Which means----“

“It’s gon’na happen.” Sonja finishes grimly; her heart caught in her throat after saying it. Trip nods. “What was it about—the premonition? Who was it about?”

Trip reaches his hand in and places it over Sonja’s temple to channel his thoughts to her. It didn’t take long before Sonja for herself saw what Trip saw. Horrified beyond reason, she broke the connection from Trip rather too suddenly. The abrupt interruption caused a power surge coming from the guardian, she and Trip get thrown to the ground a few feet away.

As they were pulling themselves up from the grassy ground with Trip helping her up----Sonja was crying. What she saw, Sam’s death—how horrible it was----it unnerved her. It actually weakened her. Oblivious to her, it pulled out the same reaction from the guardian too. Only he intends to not show just how much it was affecting him the way Sonja is.

“We can’t let that happen, Trip.” Sonja says with tears trickling down the sides of her face, Trip wanted to offer and wipe them away; but at the thought of getting Pierce on his case again. He keeps to himself.

“I have nothing against the girl, au-pair…I don’t.” Trip says, “But Samuel is my charge. I am going to do everything in my power to protect him. Even from Dean. If this girl is going to be what’s going to push Dean to hurt the kid----I am going to do what’s necessary to do my job.”

“It doesn’t have to come to that…” Sonja says. “Dean would never hurt Sam. I mean, if he knew what we know----if he knows about the premonition himself. I’m betting he’s gon’na choose Sam’s life over his happiness any day, Trip.”

“Does this mean though he’s never allowed to fall in love, au-pair?” Trip says. “It’s contradictory to what I just said earlier I know—but I just got to thinking it.” He goes on.

“What is it, Trip?” she asks.

“Does he share the same curse I'm under as a guardian?” the guardian asks.

Silence overtook them after Trip asked the question. They could just stand there, under the light of the moon. Sonja with Dean in mind, could just shed more tears for the boy.