Hi everyone- you would not believe how sorry I am for taking so long on this but some 'stuff' popped up and killed my ability to think about anything... slight technical hitch!! Anyway, thank you all for being patient and to everyone who has been reminding me they're still reading and wanting to read more- it's greatly appreciated.

Great big huge mega thanks to KateCyrus : )

Here's...

Chapter 10

Dean ran his hand almost shakily through his hair as he tried to get his brothers attention, he could not help himself as his eyes wandered back and forth from his brothers long blood soaked hair to his swollen yet lightly bruised face. "Sam… Sammy, come on talk to me kid…" He shifted position sitting opposite Sam trying to make him notice him, and the sudden eye contact he received from his confused looking brother almost floored him. Three months… "What happened to you?" Dean asked in a rare moment of letting his concern show in front of his father. He did not get a reply, Sam just simply buried his head under his arms, making Dean feel even more worried.

"Dean, just give him a few minutes, he'll be okay." Dean looked up at his dad and watched as his father moved to sit beside him placing the glowing talisman on the floor in front of Sam. Dean stared at the talisman, it had a sort of alluring glow to it, an essence. He glared at his dad, angry and confused, yet at the same time curious as he saw the look of guilt in his fathers' eyes. Dean's suspicions grew.

"What did you do to him Dad?" Dean asked drilling his eyes into the older man.

"I transferred some of Sam's energy into the amulet… that's all." John replied as he looked from one son to the other. "He'll be okay, don't worry."

"How do you know?" Dean challenged.

"Someone used it on me before, I was hunting a witch who was killing people as sacrifices, she sensed I was near and sucked some of my energy into the amulet, you feel disoriented for a few minutes, but you can get the energy back." John explained.

"It can be used on living things?"

"Yeah you can use it on anything which has energy, but it's dangerous, you have to know how much energy you can take."

"And you know how much to take?" Dean asked in an accusatory tone as he glanced at his brother who at this moment looked very much like the baby brother he had consoled on that boat all those years ago.

"Yes." John replied.

"Hold on a minute… where in the car did you get it from?" Dean asked.

"The trunk."

"I only have one talisman in the trunk and it's not that one… Which part of the trunk?" Dean looked at him in disbelief.

"The secret part."

"I've never seen that in my…"

"The other secret part…"

"There's another secret part in my car? And you didn't tell me?"

"I can't have you boys playing with something as dangerous as this."

"Oh, but its fine for us to play with demons and other nasty son of a bitches that can tear our heads clear from our bodies?"

"These amulets are serious shit, Dean. They're nothing to mess with."

"There's more?" John glared at him in response. "Okay fine, don't want us to play with them. Got it. But if that's the case, then why the hell did you keep them in the Impala when you gave it to me?"

"Cause I knew you'd never find them… and all the secret parts in my truck were already occupied." John smirked.

"Occupied with what?" Dean quipped. "Is that where you've been storing your sense of compassion all these years?"

"Watch it Dean," John warned, "and 'yes'."

Sam listened to his father and brother from beneath his arms, glad that they had given up trying to communicate with him. He did not know why he felt the need to try to hide himself away. For three months he had wished for eye contact and a chance to be near his family and now suddenly he could not bring himself to look at either of them. It was his fault they were in this mess in the first place. And what was with all the concerned glances and the insistence of knowing what had happened to him. Nothing had happened. All those years they tried to cut out the emotional chit chat and now, suddenly, they wanted to talk, all he wanted to do was curl up and what? He was already dead, well as near as. He really wanted to just get up and walk through the nearest wall but he was almost certain that if he tried he would fall back down. Why were they staring at him like that? He wanted to look at Dean but he felt a little afraid of what he might see in his brothers eyes so instead he looked up at his father.

John saw Sam was looking at him, the sad look on his son's face overwhelmed him with emotion, three months was a long time not to see him and guilt stabbed at him even more as he realized what he had missed all the years he had spent hunting and tracking the Demon without his sons. "Sorry Sammy, I bet you're feeling pretty shit right now." John said attempting a smile.

"Understatement…" Sam struggled to speak. "…of the fucking year… Dad." Obviously his father had left out the other after effect of the talisman.

Bitterness.

Sam laughed not caring about the strange concerned looks he got from his family, he needed to laugh, to release the inner turmoil which had been building up for the last three months. This whole situation had shot everything to shit and he could not cry about it. Would not cry about it. Laughing was the better option even if his brother was looking at him as though he had gone hysterically insane.

"Sam, what's so funny?" Dean asked. "Is it your head, does it hurt?"

"What about my head? No pain here." Sam had not got a clue what Dean was on about, he watched his brother get up and walk behind him.

"Your hair's blood soaked! Take a look in the mirror. You hiding stuff from us again?"

"No, I don't feel anything." Sam said almost truthfully, he had not felt anything since he had tugged back on his link and nearly broke it. Dean sat beside him again and Sam knew from the way he was looking at him that he didn't believe him. "I don't… really… stop worrying, it's probably nothing."

"It doesn't look like nothing." Dean added wondering why he could not feel it.

"Sam, when the amulet made you appear it showed how your body looks, like a reflection." John said.

"So I banged my head in that blast, it'll heal…"

"That was three months ago this looks quite recent." Dean said. "Like a few hours kind of recent."

Sam thought back, it had to be the demons, they must have done it after he had tugged back weakening the connection.

"What is it?" Dean asked noticing the seriously worried expression on his brother's face.

"Nothing." Sam lied through his teeth and to his relief and amazement Dean did not press the subject, and that worried him more.

"You know what, I'm so glad I can't smell you right now!" Dean smiled, making Sam glance at his clothes, they were filthy, but at the least if it was a true reflection of his body Anna's mutilated body pieces had rotted away from him over the last three weeks. He did not know whether that made him feel better or not.

"Me too." Sam replied and he looked at his Dad who seemed happy listening and Sam wondered what he was thinking, he wondered whether he had missed his and Dean's brotherly sparring.

"Good to see you though even if you do look smelly." Dean teased.

"Well you look like you could do with six weeks in bed after the last three weeks."

"I do believe that's not my fault." Dean complained. "It's hard to sleep when you've got an evil poltergeist hanging around especially when he wakes you up early the past two days!"

"Dean…"

"Wait, I'm getting the idea there's more going on here." John interrupted, his eyes gleaming with thought and Dean could almost see the cartoon light bulb flashing above his Dad's head.

"The number three?" Dean asked not believing a word of what his father had said about three being significant.

"Numerology…" John began.

"Dad that's a load of bullshit for one thing it applies to people… some sort of personality shit!" Dean said.

"Not just personality, it can also symbolize people uniting together to do something…"

"Yeah, three's also a cell phone network! Does that link in too?"

"It makes sense, Dean." Sam replied.

"What? It makes sense? You think this three thing is applying to us and our situation? It's a load of shit, horseshit, cow shit, BULL SHIT!"

"That's three kinds of shit, maybe we should note that too," Sam gave his brother a weak smirk.

"Har-har. You're hilarious, and since when did you start agreeing with Dad anyway?"

"Since when did you start disagreeing with Dad?"

"Boys…"

"Think about it Dean, Dad's right, three months, three weeks, three of us, three amulets…"

"Three amulets? Where's the third?"

"In the other secret compartment, it's a green one." Sam replied.

"Great! So everybody knew about the second secret compartment but me!" Dean bitched. "Perfect!"

"Only because I've suddenly developed this wonderful ability to move through things!" Sam replied.

"Hold on a minute…" John spoke up looking from Sam to Dean something had sparked his interest. "It's been three months since the blast, three weeks since Sam came to you and this is the end of day two. That means…"

"…we gotta go very soon…" Sam continued his father's sentence.

"…and you knew all about this didn't you?" Dean interrupted, almost angrily, as he suddenly clicked on just how secretive his brother had been. "That's why you agreed with Dad 'cause you figured it all out days ago about the amulets and the three shit."

"I might have had a tiny idea…" The youngest Winchester cut off as he felt a sharp familiar pain in the middle of his back. This was it. He had no choice. He could not resist it this time and as he felt himself being dragged away he saw the helplessness in Dean's and father's eyes.

All sounds became slurred and his sight blurred.

The next thing he knew he was back in the cave.

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