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Chapter 3: Don't pout. It's not cute

"Daddy, snack." Madilyn tapped his knee. Dean lifted her onto his lap, handing her a protein bar. Dean pulled open the plastic wrapper.

"Whoa, kid. Don't bite the hand that feeds you." Dean jokes.

"No bite you." Madilyn shook her head.

"Ahem, breakfast in bed." Sam mutters.

"Don't get used to it." Dean tells him. "Let me see that hand."

Sam held out his hand and Dean gently pulled off the gauze. Stitches in the shape of a 'V' went from the right side of Sam's hand to the middle of his palm.

"Ah, you'll live." Dean looked up at Sam.

Dean stood, holding Madilyn with one arm as he grabbed a rag and the bottle of liquor. Dean set Madilyn down on the couch next to Sam's leg before grabbing his brothers hand. Dean held Sam's hand with the rag under it as he poured the liquor onto Sam's wound.

Sam winced in pain.

"Alright, take it easy." Dean mutters.

"So ooze invasion. Any leads?" Sam asked as Dean put the liquor back on the desk.

"I got all my feelers out." Bobby walked in the room. He sat down. "Whatever they're up to. . ." He began to bandage up Sam's hand as Dean sat down on the arm of the couch. Madilyn climbed into his lap. "it ain't about going Mothra down Main Street. They'll turn up. They seemed eager to stretch their legs, you know?"

"Yeah, that also means they're gonna go big." Alexis swayed back and forth as Natalie began to wake.

"Hmm. Yeah, well, now on to our other big problem." Dean began. "How are you doing?" He asked Sam. "And do not say okay."

"I'm not okay." Sam admits, picking at the bandage on his hand.

"You think?" Dean replied.

"No." Madilyn smacked his leg. She learned that you don't mess with a band-aid from when she had fallen and busted her head on the coffee table.

"Be nice, Mads." Alexis tells her.

"No." Madilyn repeated, gently tapping her hand against Sam's knee.

"Hey, go a little easy." Bobby glanced at Dean.

"There's nothing easy about it, Bobby." Dean argued. "Okay. We acted like he had things under control."

"I get it." Sam speaks up. "I'm sorry. Look, I didn't exactly wanna crack up, you know?"

"What the hell happened back there?" Dean asked.

"Well, it's not just the flashback anymore." Sam admits.

"Well, then what?"

"It's more like. . .I'm seeing through the cracks."

"What's that mean?"

"It means I'm having a difficult time figuring out what's real."

"Hallucinations?" Dean asked.

"For starters."

"Well, for starters, if you're tripping hell's bells, why would you hide that?"

"I wasn't hiding it, Dean." Sam corrects. "I was just not talking about it."

"Sam, you do know that's the equivalent of saying I just didn't tell you everything, therefore it's not a lie. It's still lying." Alexis shrugged.

"You three had enough going on as it was." Sam continued. "Look, I-I just figured try to hold on to the safety bar and ride it out, you know? But it's getting more specific."