Sam knew he wasn't stupid. Then he had to be the Fates least favorite person. He was seriously thinking if there was a way to stop time, not forever, just long enough for him to figure out what to do now. He stood up and walked towards the half open door. He looked across the hall. He took one step into the hallway and paused. Aside from stopping time, x-ray vision would be nice too. It was much too quiet. Dean was much too quiet. When he was upset, he was a breaker of things. He hadn't even slammed the door. Pivoting, Sam returned to his room.

Dean had the pictures and he wasn't happy. Not knowing didn't hurt. Not finding them hurt a little. But, discovering that Sam had seen them and hid them, that really hurt. A laugh came from somewhere deep inside as Dean recognized that he would have done the same for Sam. Except, in addition, he would have kicked that photographer's ass, if he wasn't already dead. Maybe even then. He looked again at the flash drive in his hand, and was still waiting for it to tell him what to do next.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

They had both been hurt and felt betrayed by each other. More often than not, it was unintentional.

He hadn't saved Dean from hell.

He ran away, on Dean's watch, leaving him to deal with their dad's crap. He always dealt with the crap.

He still remembers the look on Dean's face the night he announced he was leaving for Stanford. He should have told him when they were alone. So Dean could have shown his true feelings and not that anger that leached from their father. He didn't see Dean for a long time after that.

And Ruby. And the freaking salt gun. And Amy. And blaming him for their living this life.

And now, when he tries to help him, not only does he make Dean feel betrayed, again, he still feels that he has disappointed Sam. How many times and in how many ways, was Sam going to do this to his brother?

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dean realized he was in the middle of a moment. If he was a character in a book, and wasn't he after all, this would be a climactic turning point. Here was a decision to determine his character for all time. Much calmer now, he thought again of Sam. Sam had done a really great thing for him. It was a chick-flick moment loving thing. He had given him a gift. He was embarrassed that Sam had seen them? Seriously?

The pictures were no longer available to anyone but him. He now had the power and the ability to snuff them forever. But first…..

Holding the flash drive between thumb and forefinger, Dean raised it to eye level. "Okay, dude, let's dance."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sam tapped as lightly as he could. He wouldn't enter Dean's room without knocking but, he couldn't take the chance of being turned away. He got no response, as he had hoped, so he cautiously turned the door knob and slowly opened the door.

The only light was directly in front of him from the green banker's lamp on the desk. He could see his brother seated there. In front of Dean, on the desk, was his open laptop. Sam was unable to see the screen but, he didn't need his desired x-ray vision to know what was displayed.

He called Dean's name in a voice barely above a whisper. His brother appeared to be unaware of either his sounds or his movements. He raised the volume a notch and tried again. This time he observed the smallest of acknowledgements. Dean nodded his head, once. Sam read this as an invitation and he accepted. He approached and resting his hand on Dean's shoulder, he squeezed gently.

He could now see what was on the screen and it was amazing. It showed the model's back, with the light accentuating the rippling in the muscles. The model's face was turned toward the camera but, looking elsewhere.

Neither spoke for several minutes. Sam removed his hand from his brother's shoulder and sat on the bed. He asked Dean if he was okay.

Dean changed position to face Sam. Using his favorite form of defense, he said, "I look pretty good,huh Sammy?"

Sam had a pained look on his face causing Dean to give up the pretense. Big brother started to tell the story when little brother interrupted saying that he already knew the why and needed no further explanation. "Dean, I want you to know, I think that was very brave, what you did."

"Brave?" This was the last thing he expected to hear and his face showed it. "You were never supposed to know."

Sam continued. "You don't have anything to feel bad about. And I know you did it for me. Dean, we're not kids anymore and I can help."

Dean hung his head. He wasn't unhappy. There was the beginning of a smile on his face. The pressure was off. The secret was out. And the pictures were awesome.