Chapter Thirty:

Nathan just took out the third batch of the cookies he made from the oven; with Gabe perched on the sink counter munching on his sixth cookie watching the tray gleefully. The Winchester boy cannot help but smirk to this as he was placing the goodies on the counter top. Jeremy about that time, came in the swinger and after he saw the cookies; he himself immediately mimicked the look on Gabe's face.

"Oh guys, come on?" Nathan laughs. "Enough with the flattery already!"

"Well what can you do, man?" Jeremy says while munching on a cookie beside Gabe. "You make them really amazing!"

"It's like eating the best-tasting thing in the world! Nono, wait--it's like I'm eating heaven!" Gabe says in between chewing, "I mean, I think I'm even starting to love these things more than I love...more than I love..." he turns to Jeremy next to him who looks at him with a frown. "...Jay!" he says of the cookies.

"What?" Jeremy spat.

"They are THAT good, Muriel!" Gabe reasons, "You've tasted them, haven't you?"

Jeremy turns to Nathan with a glare.

"What?" Nathan looks at him warily with a shrug.

"This is your fault, you know?" Jeremy growls.

"Hey, I'm just baking them the only way I know how, man. It's not my fault you guys like them that much." Nathan defended.

"Stop making them soooo tasty then, Nathaniel or I am kicking your ass!" Jeremy whines. Gabe chuckles to this as he wraps an arm around his big brother's neck while finishing up with the last bite of his sixth cookie.

"That's telling him, Jay!" Gabe cheers.

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Dean, excusing himself from Mikey and telling the Dorian boy to meet up later after he fixes things with Brandon---he now finds himself heading into the hospital again. He immediately headed for the direction of the stairwell since he very well knows that was where Brandon was gonna head for; knowing his best friend enough. And he was right. He spots the tail end of the door leading up to the stairwell closing just then. Brandon was already out at the hallway of the floor where his nephew was when Dean caught up to him.

"Dude, let's talk." Dean says, standing in his best friend's path to keep him from walking away but Brandon, after tossing him a blank, cold look only walks around him. But Dean was quick on the rebound. He jogs after the Mac boy and grabs him on the arm and spun him around to face him."B---come on, man? Don't do this?"

"Get out of my way, Winchester." Brandon says calmly but firmly.

"Surely there's still a spot in there for me, man?" Dean says, dotting a finger onto Brandon's chest next to his heart. "I mean, yeah what I did was really awful, B--but you--"

"You're right, Dean! It is awful." Brandon interrupts, "So why don't you just get out of my face already? I don't need you, man!" he says, even shoving the Winchester boy roughly on the chest hard enough it actually made Dean step back a starts to walk away.

"You don't need me? Well, I need you, man." Dean calls out behind Brandon's back with a shaky voice. "I need you guys. I need my friends, Brandon."

At this Brandon Macallister stops short in his spot and took a second before he does turn around to face Dean. He next makes a beeline to where the Winchester boy is standing in that he was literally face to face with him. He snorts. "You need me? You need us?" he starts."That's funny, Dean. Friends?" the mac boy scoffs, "Don't you mean lackeys?" he says to which Dean immediately gasps and frowns to and would have retorted to it as well only he doesn't get to since the Mac boy shoves him to cut him off altogether. "No, shut up and listen here, Winchester---we're done, you hear? We're done being needed by you. I used to not see this before, not when we were still friends, man."

"Dude, you're talking like this is gon'na be permanent." Dean says. "We just hit a bump along the road, Brandon but we're still friends here---"

"Not anymore we're not."

"You're joking right?" Dean says with a nervous smirk."You're still my best friend, man."

"Tough, Dean." Brandon spat. "Like I said, we're done. Cause being friends with you---" the boy goes on to say, "---it brings nothing but trouble. Ever since we were kids it has always been that way. You're bad news, Dean." he added; Dean actually cringed to this. It actually hurt Brandon himself after the words left his mouth, only he still says it anyways. What he witnessed earlier--the exchange of camaraderie between Dean and Mikey--it was something he kept going back to in his head; making him unreasonable, unfeeling, stupid and mean. "I guess now is the right time that I open my eyes to the truth---WE open our eyes to this---about you. You know, before we get ourselves killed whenever you NEED us!"

"Yeah, you do that, Brandon. Stay away from me. I'm nothing but trouble." Dean says quietly with a tinge of hurt in his voice; but he manages to pull it 'the Dean Winchester way', all stoic."What was I thinkin' calling on you guys, right?" he scoffs, "I guess it was crazy thinking it's what friends did---back each other up."

"Anything the matter here, little brother?" came a voice from behind Brandon, it was his big brother. Coming towards them from the opposite end of the hallway with Gustaff and Avery, his friends; they get alongside Brandon. The older Mac boy eyes and sizes Dean up and would have started to mess with him; only Brandon was quick to the draw. He holds his arm across his big brother's chest to keep him from touching Dean.

"Let's just go." Brandon says. And that is what they all did. Both parties separated ways from each other. As they were walking away from each other though, Brandon manages to turn his head around and caught Dean doing the same thing before the Winchester boy averts his eyes away first before disappearing around a corner. Gus caught his eyes next, his big brother's friend looked like he was wanting to tell him something with the look he was giving him; but since Kyle was around, it was improbable at the moment.

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When Dean came in the door, the twins immediately felt the shift in Dean's mood. He heads for the bed next to check Sam for awhile, talk to him and Jake. Unbeknownst to them, Kel, Pierce and Henry noticed the shift too but just didn't say anything about it. At first, that is. Only after he asked for Henry to leave, that was when they started to speak up.

"Why are you asking him to leave, man?" Pierce asks his brother. "He clearly doesn't want to. Besides, we need Henry here and he wants to be here, Dean."

"If you're worried about the neck injury, dude--I'm fine now." Henry says of his throat slash earlier courtesy of Doctor Katherine's twin, "Sonja took care of it, I don't need to rest, man."

"Wait--what neck injury?" Jake calls out from across the room. He asks in behalf of himself and Sam. The older boys ignore them but Pierce only took over for him with the same line of question.

"What neck injury?" Pierce asks.

"It was more like throat really..." Henry muffles. "...but it's all gone now." he shows off his slash-free throat area, "See?"

"Dean, you heard him." Kel says, "Henry is fine now. You don't have to send him home."

Dean doesn't answer them but he does get up to head to the door. Henry follows him. When Pierce tried to follows too, the Matthewson boy tells him to give them a minute, so Pierce enables. Henry and Dean left the room; but not without Dean tossing a glance at Sam's direction first right before he eventually left the room with Henry.

"What neck injury, Kelly?" Jake asks Kel; he crossed the room and found a seat next to Kel on the couch. Sam could just sit on his bed quietly and listen. His eyes went from wandering between his brothers in there with him inside the room to the door where behind it is where he knows his Deanie and Henry are at outside.

"The twin jumped us and she sort of nicked Henry. Came from out of nowhere." Kel says quietly, "But Sonja helped us out. She healed him and got rid of the body altogether. Her and Margha."

"Are you guys sure Henry is fine, Kelly?" Sam asks in concern from all the way from his bed. Kel got up and made his way to him and sat on the bed facing their baby brother; Jake and Pierce of course followed him there.

"He's fine, baby." Kel replies. "Sonja made sure he is."

"How about you, though?" Sam continues, "Are you okay?"

After Sam asked him that, all his brothers' eyes focused on the one the question was being directed to; making Kel uncomfortable as hell and wishing within himself so bad to be anywhere else at the moment but there with his brothers.

"Kelly..." Jake speaks up, a hand on his big brother's arm.

"Dude," Pierce got alongside him, Kel's eyes went from Sam to Jake to Pierce last. "...what's going on? Did that bitch get to you too?"

---------------

Outside, Henry and Dean.

"Dean---is there something I did?" Henry says, "I mean, if it's that lady jumping me, catching me off guard like that? I apologize, man, okay? It won't happen again."

"Dude, it's not that, okay?" Dean says, "Okay maybe it's a little of that too, but mostly it's a whole lot of something else."

"What is it?"

"Could you just do this for me, Henry?" Dean says, "Go home. This doesn't have to be your fight anymore."

"We're back to that again?" Henry sighs, "Dude, Dean, we're brothers--like you said,blood or not. And brothers stick together, right? No matter what and THAT is what I'm doing here. You're not making me go anywhere, you hear me? What's going on with you anyways? You just get back from walking Mikey out and you're suddenly all weird and stuff. What happened to you?"

"I've just been thinking how much you guys have sacrificed for me, man." Dean says, finding a spot next to the wall next to Sam's door and leaning his back there. Henry makes his way next to him.

"Us guys?" Henry says.

"Yeah, you guys. My friends." Dean says, "You, the Macs, Williams, Robin." he sighs heavily, "You've made my family's problems yours, man. And now that I've finally gotten a chance to REALLY think about it---I think it's unfair of me to be asking this from you. Unfair for you guys to be doing all this for me and letting you when I should really be doing something about it, you know? Like letting you guys have your lives for example. That's what a good friend would do."

As he was talking with Henry out there, Dean wanted so much to just break down because of the pain he is feeling inside him in relation to the bomb dropped on his lap by his best friend of so many years no less. The pain was excruciating. But so far, he has managed to keep himself together. Deep inside though he was already crying big fat tears.

"Dean, what we do---It's what families do for each other, genius." Henry says.

"Yeah, well...I think it's freakin' unfair."Dean gruntles, "Dude, just go home and get back to your life already. We already lost Rob...I don't want to end up losing you too."

"You're not." Henry says, "I'm good, Dean."

"I'm sorry, Henry." Dean says quietly as he was getting his back off the wall and finding a spot in front of his friend, "I'm sorry." he says apologetically.

"Dean, what are you apologizing for man?" Henry asks in concern at the unusual way Dean was reacting around him.

"Everything." the Winchester boy says.

"Well don't." Henry spat, "Okay? Don't. There's no need for anything from you. Let alone an apology. Money maybe for some soda. But otherwise? Forget it. I'm not gonna have it, you hear? Now let's just get back in there already, man." he says, getting his back off the wall himself and walking around Dean towards the door. He waited for Dean to get inside first before he told the Winchester boy he was gonna get them soda from the vendo machine down the hall; Dean says yes.

But Henry has another agenda in mind.

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Hugh and Joe are both lazily coming up the steps to JW's manor; after half an hour of watching the place--they suddenly felt hungry, not having been able to really eat anything at the diner earlier since Eloise called them up to watch their old man; they decided to crash the house instead. Since they saw Nathan with the Stahls, they automatically thought of bullying the kid to bake them cookies.

DING-DONG!

Gabe opens to the door to the Backer boys grinning at him big time.

"We just happen to be in the neighborhood." Hugh says. "We thought since we're here we might as well drop in and say 'hello'."

"Uh-huh." Gabe eyes them suspiciously.

"We're hungry, Gabe. Do you have food in there or something?" Joe says bluntly to which Hugh elbows him for. "What? he whines, "I am hungry, Hugh!"

Jeremy just got alongside his little brother by the doorway. "Dudes, hey..." he says cheerfully, he turns to his little brother beside him, "...baby girl, why are you being rude?" he references to Gabe not inviting the boys in.

"It's like Joe just smelled the cookies all the way from here, Jay." Gabe says, Hugh and Joe laugh to this on mute."And I haven't had that much yet. You have any idea how much of Nathan's cookies he can eat?" he says of Joe further.

"What have I taught you about sharing?" Jeremy says.

"But Jaaay???" Gabe whines. Jeremy grabs him to his side to silence him.

"Don't mind, Frodo here, guys." Jeremy says to the older boy as he and Gabe step aside further to have Joe and Hugh come in the door.

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Kyle just cradles his little brother's nape in his hand as they turned their own corner. "I want you to keep Brenda company, kiddo. She hasn't had enough sleep worrying about Junior and you and Mac at the same time. You owe her this." he may be scolding the younger boy but he was calm about it. "While you're in there, " in reference to Junior's Private room, "---you take some shut-eye too, alright? You look like you need it too."

"I will, man. Thanks." Brandon replies. "But what are you asking me to do all this for anyways, Kyle? You going somewhere?" he asks when they got to the door of Jacob Junior's private hospital room.

"Me and the guys are gonna go do something important. But we're coming right back." Kyle says. "Now, you go in there." he lightly shoves Brandon towards the door. "Go on."

As he was watching his big brother and the two other boys walk away, "Kyle--" he calls out making his big brother turn around to face him.

"Yeah?"

"Lay off him, okay?" Brandon says.

"What are you talking about?"

"Dean." Brandon says, "Lay off him..."

Kyle doesn't answer. He just looks his younger brother in the eyes and then he turns around and resumes walking.

"...for me, Kyle. Lay off him for me, big brother. This is something between him and me. Nobody else's." he added. But Kyle just kept walking away--his friends alongside him. Brandon could just shake his head to this and at the same time feel dreadful about it. As he was sitting on the small couch inside his nephew's room, with his twin snuggling next to him, sleeping---the second he started to have himself a shut-eye, that was when the look on his best friend's face came back to him like a punch. His eyes shot open to this and his breathing doubled. "Dean..."

KNOCK-KNOCK

Brandon answers to Henry at the door. After telling Brenda to give him a minute to talk to him in the hall, they find himself out there with the brain boy. Just as Brandon was about to start talking, he finds himself not being able to anymore. Henry from out of nowhere just swung a fist and struck him really hard it was brutal; it almost knocked him over on his butt to the hospital floor.

"Dean didn't deserve that, you know, especially not coming from somebody he calls a best friend; whatever you did or said to him." Henry snarls at him. "Hurt him again, Macallister, physically or otherwise--and I swear to god, you're gonna get it from me. You won't know of regret until after I'm done with you, I'll make sure of it. " the Mathewson boy threatens fiercely before he walks away altogether with Brandon watching another friend walk away from him.

THE END