Gone Batty

Chapter 2 - the Fluffy Chapter

Instead, Dean heard the sound of metal sliding against metal and then a muffled curse. He opened his eyes to see Sam holding the doorknob to their room.

Sam tried to fit the doorknob back into place only to be rewarded with the sound of a dull clunk as the other side fell off and hit the ground. There were no windows to break and the room was made of cinder block so it was doubtful they'd find a way out except for the door. Sam started to yell for Millie, but that's when Dean noticed the sound of the big engine from her tractor.

Millie was taking her tractor into town and the thing was so loud that she'd never hear the boys yelling and the thing was so slow that it would be hours before she returned. It was already getting dark, though, so Dean figured she must be going to spend the night with her sister. She did that sometimes which meant that she'd be gone until the next afternoon.

Sam tried yelling for Randy, but gave up soon enough when he realized that Randy would never hear anything and if he did he probably was too drunk to figure out what he was hearing.

Sam put the gun down and just sat on the bed.

Dean looked to the skylight. Had his prayer been answered? Could he make things right in one night so that Sam wouldn't leave when Millie got the door open tomorrow?

"Sam...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have-"

"Shutup."

"But Sammy..."

"It's Sam. Shutup."

The two of them sat in silence as darkness overtook the room. Dean got up and switched on the light only to have the bulb burn out. "Shit..."

He fished around in his bag for a flashlight and finally found it. He turned it on, but didn't know where to aim it so he just put it on the nightstand and pointed it to the ceiling.

That's when they heard the squeak.

Dean frowned. "What was that?"

"I said shutup. It's just a fucking mouse..or a rat.." Sam smiled to himself. He knew that Dean couldn't handle rats. Not since his captivity in the sewers by his double. He heard Dean sit back down and pull his legs up and immediately felt a small sense of pride in making his big bad brother deal with his fear. Then he heard a sigh.

"Oh...not a rat."

Sam looked over at Dean and could see in the shadows that he was looking straight up. He followed his line of sight and saw something that made his heart leap in his chest.

A bat.

Dean wasn't prepared for the shriek that left Sam's mouth or the covers being ripped away from him so Sam could hide under them.

"Sammy?"

"Make it go away, Dean!"

"I can't..there's no way out. At least not that I can see. I'm guessing there's a small hole in the roof and he's made his home in the rafters."

Sam started talking rapidly. "Make it go away. Please, Dean. I can't handle bats. I can't...I won't survive in here with that thing. I'm going to lose my fucking mind! Dean!" Suddenly the covers were thrown off and Sam was diving for the gun. "I'll kill it!"

Dean grabbed Sam and held him. "Sam stop! You can't just shoot it!"

Sam struggled for a little bit and then let Dean pull him to his chest. "Dean...I. Hate. Bats."

"So I gathered. You want to tell me why?"

"You don't remember?"

"Obviously not or I wouldn't have asked you to-" He rolled his eyes at himself. "How could I forget? Sam...it's alright. It's not like that this time."

"You weren't there, Dean. You don't know what it was like."

Dean began to stroke his brother's hair back from his face. "No, I don't. You could tell me about it."

Sam shook his head. "Not yet."

"Alright. We'll just sit here. Try not to think about it, okay?"

Sam nodded, but it wasn't long before he was panting again with a panic attack.

Dean grabbed him and pushed him into the bathroom and then got the pillows and blankets and took them in as well. He closed the door and sat on the floor with his brother. He turned on the light and was pleased to see the dim bulb kick to life. It wasn't giving much more light than the flashlight had, but it was something. "Let's get you settled in here." He set up a bed and arranged the pillows. "Alright?"

Sam nodded and Dean left.

A few hours later, Sam woke up and wondered where Dean had disappeared to. He lit up the light on his watch and frowned. "It's almost midnight..."

He got up and opened the door just to have Dean fall back into the room. "Shit, Sammy!"

"What are you doing out there?"

"I'm...guarding the door."

"From the bat?"

"Yeah..."

"But I'm in a totally different room!" It was then that he thought to look up only to see that the wall stopped at least four feet from the top of the roof allowing a huge hole between the two rooms. "AAAAHHHHHH!" Sam dove under the covers once more.

"That's it..." Dean grabbed the blankets and pillows and dragged them out of the bathroom, Sam desperately trying to hang on to the pillows, but only being dragged with them. "We're going to sleep in this bed and you're going to have to deal with the bat. Anyway, it's a Mexican free-tail. You'll be fine."

Sam watched Dean in wonder. "You know what type of bat it is?"

"Yeah, they eat Hickory shuckworm moths...not people."

Sam still dove under the covers once the bed was made. The squeak that the bat let out just caused him to tremble more. He felt Dean sit on the bed and then suddenly there was light.

Dean had gotten under the covers as well, but he had stripped to his underwear first before he turned the flashlight on.

Sam just stared at Dean's lovely body laid out in front of him like a buffet. He noticed Dean's head wasn't under the covers and figured that he had just given the flashlight to Sam to help him deal with his fear. Then he heard Dean's words. "I don't know what you're afraid of, Sammy, but I'm not going to leave you to handle it alone, okay?"

Sam felt the imaginary knife twist in his gut. He thought about the things he'd said to Dean over the last few weeks and how Dean needed him to be there for him. He also realized that Dean didn't push once to hear about the ordeal he'd faced when he was a child that caused him to fear bats. On the other hand, Sam had done nothing, but bully Dean into telling him what was going on with his sleepwalking and talking. Dean wasn't ready and he didn't care and all Dean could do to distract him was suffer through the physical pain of sex because the mental pain of his past was too big and too scary to face right now.

I'm an asshole... He recalled Dean's words... "You're only fucking me so that you can pretend I'm Jess!" Was that true? Sam stopped and really thought about it and nearly groaned aloud when he remembered his answer to that. He told Dean he was nothing compared to her. Then he'd pulled a gun on him. Shit! He knew that he had to do something to make it up to Dean, but he wasn't sure how. That's when his eyes settled on the slight bulge in Dean's underwear. He was about to touch him when he recalled that Dean also had words about how Sam was always horny. Maybe Dean was right. He wasn't really doing anything important with their relationship. He had to think of a way to show him how much he loved him without fucking him.

He dreaded the bat, but told himself that Dean would protect him. He crawled up and out of the covers so he was lying next to Dean. He nearly laughed when he saw Dean with another flashlight just watching the area above them and making sure that the bat didn't try and come near the bed.

"Dean..."

"Don't. I have to say something to you first."

"Alright..."

"It's about...her..."

"Dean, you can say her name."

Dean nodded. "Jess was a sweet girl. I could tell she loved you and for that...she has my gratitude and my loyalty. I betrayed that."

"Dean..."

"I did, Sammy. I said some cruel things and I shouldn't have. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..."

Sam reached up and turned Dean's face to his and then planted a very chaste kiss on his lips. "I know...it's okay." He released Dean, but continued to look at him, glad that Dean didn't turn away. "I want to tell you something, too. You're not like Jess, but...Dean, I think that Jess was the best damn thing for me at college. Better for me than Mark. She kept me from missing you so much."

Dean arched an eyebrow. "Me?"

"You were everything to me and I just didn't know what to do without you. It was like I was missing half of myself. Jess helped me figure things out and she knew...she knew that I cared for you. She was kind enough not to bring it up, though. I'm sorry for the things I said and pulling the gun...."

"I can't talk about that yet, okay?"

Sam nodded. One step at a time. "I was ten."

"What?"

"Remember that case up in North Dakota? People were claiming vampires..."

"Oh yeah...and it was that demon that fed off of the blood of virgins or some shit."

"The blood of female virgins..."

"What about it?"

"When I was trapped in that cave, you and dad got me out, but not before..."

"Sam, you went into that cave to prove that you could handle a case by yourself and chose not to wait for us. We were the ones with the equipment. I still don't know what you thought you were going to do."

"I was going to make you and dad proud."

"You already did that, Sammy."

"Anyway, when you finally found me...it was already over."

"What was?"

"That demon was in that cave with me. He...he started to say things. He said that he loved the blood of young women, but he loved something else from young men. I didn't know what he was really talking about. I mean...I was ten!"

Dean felt his stomach roll. Something inside of him wanted to break free, but it quieted before he could get a grasp on it. "Did he touch you?!?"

"No, nothing like that. No, I should have been more clear....he wanted fear, but the way he stated it then just made me unsure. We had just watched that movie the night before. It was something with killer bats and it was fresh in my mind and...he became this huge bat and then sometimes he'd just dissolve into all sorts of bats and they swarmed around me and I can still feel their wings and their..." He gasps as the fear starts to take over again.

Dean nodded in understanding. He always thought the fear Sam had was from the movie only. Finding out some shit demon had used it against him made him angry.

"Sammy...it's okay. I'm here. I'm not going to let anything hurt you, okay? Do you trust me?"

Sam nodded, truly believing his big brother. "I do. I trust you enough to tell you about this and I was really embarrassed about it."

Dean nodded. "You have nothing to be embarrassed about, Sam. Not with me."

"I want you to know that I respect your privacy. I'm not going to ask you about what's going on. You'll tell me when you're ready."

"If I'm ready."

"Yeah...I'll be here. I promise."

"I believe you. And I'm not going to let that bat get you, okay? Nobody should have to face their greatest fear alone."

Sam shrugged. "I don't much care about the bat anymore."

"Oh? Why not?"

"Because my greatest fear isn't bats...it's ignoring the pain of the person I love the most in this world. It's hurting you, Dean. I don't want to do that. Please...please tell me when I'm hurting you so I can stop. I didn't mean to treat you like a convenient fuck. You're so much more to me than anything that can be defined by the physical. You're my life...my heart...my everything...."

Dean took a deep breath, trying to stop himself from letting the tears drop that were threatening. "Sammy..."

"Shhh. Just let me hold you, okay? The bat can watch to make sure I don't do anything naughty."

Dean laughed. "The bat stays your tormentor then, right?"

Sam joined in the laughter. "Right." He frowned as the bat squeaked again. "See? He knew I was having a dirty thought."

"I wonder if it was the same one I was having..." He turned so that their noses touched and just breathed in the air between them, feeling the heat of the man next to him. He tilted slightly and kissed Sam, not holding back. He pulled away for just a moment. "Don't leave me."

"Never..."

The two of them cuddled up under the watchful eyes of the bat and the only talking Dean did that night was the soft whispering with his brother over the love they shared.


The End

Sorry this isn't the best I've written, but it was kind of sweet I hope. :-)