Worlds Collide

Sam sighed, his head falling into his hands.

In front of him an impressive collection of documents was spread, ranging from coroner reports to medical charts, to maps and local history print-out articles, to newspaper clippings and crime scene photos. His eyes scanned the papers again and again, but he only came to the same conclusion.

He groaned miserably.

Dean didn’t need to lift his head off the table to know Sam was about to say the words he was dreading. He raised his hand in warning, “Don’t. Don’t say it.”

“You know we have to.”

“No.” The older brother squeezed his eyes shut, physically trying to resist the idea from registering in his mind. His brother had to be wrong. “There must be something else. Anything else. We’re just missing something.”

Sam sighed. “Look, I don’t like this any more than you do. Actually, I hate it. But I don’t think we have much of a choice here.”

Dean raised his head off the cold wooden surface. “We can’t. Not after we promised to stay away.”

Sam ran a hand over his face. “I don’t think we can anymore. People could die if we keep that distance any longer.”

Dean closed his eyes. “You weren’t the one that got yelled at that day, Sam. It was brutal. The things we said to each other...god.”

The younger brother exhaled. “It was a long time ago, Dean. We’d just witnessed the literal impossible. Feelings were running high. But things are different now. A lot of things have changed since then.” So have we.

Dean abruptly pushed himself out of his chair. He felt like kicking something- maybe punching something. “Aw, hell.”

“Yeah.” Sam let out an tired breath, “This isn’t going to be pleasant.”

He begrudgingly started collecting the papers in a neat pile as Dean started packing their things up.

Twenty minutes later saw them returning their room keys to the motel front desk.

Twenty one minutes later saw them on the road en route to the place they’d been dreading the most.