Not on my watch

6. Sorry is not enough

And you tell me to hold on

Oh you tell me to hold on

But innocence is gone

And what was right is wrong

(Bleeding out, Imagine Dragons)

Sam didn't know how much time had passed when a sharp pain in his spleen forced him to slow down. Even if the decrease of his speed was imperceptible to the human eyes, the boy immediately knew he was screwed. The whole time he had been hearing his brother's breath chasing his just a few meters away and in that instant he had to acknowledge what Dean had been telling him for years now: had he stopped relying on the power of his legs only and bothered to learn how to control his rhythm and respiration, he would have become unattainable.

The thing was, he hadn't. His brother was the one who listened to their father's advice on how to improve their hunting skills, certainly not Sam. Sam had quit striving more than what he needed for his old man to stop being a constant pain in the ass. He had quit many years earlier.

It took another twenty seconds, but then his older brother reached him on a spot where the trees thinned out and the path started to climb the hill towards a lonely playground. When Dean crushed him, the impact plucked every drop of residual oxygen out of Sam's lungs and they both rolled on the lawn for a few meters. Sam heard his brother groan and supposed he had bumped his head against some rock. But when his head stopped spinning and the sixteen-year-old was able to stand again, Dean was there and gripped his arm before Sam's muscles were ready to resume his flight.

- Son of a bitch! - the oldest shouted, with his eyes popping out of his head. The rhythm of his breathing made Sam think about an imminent death, but some way he was still able to bark at him. - How can you possibly not understand that all you're doing is pissing him off more?

Sam hadn't wasted time thinking about what Dean would have told him, but those words increased the fury in his chest and despite the heat, the sweat, the fatigue, he too found enough wind to protest.

- More? More than this? For Christ's sake, what else could he threaten me to do?

He shrugged his arm violently to break free from his brother's grasp and Dean let him go. Sam would have liked to think he was stronger, but the truth was that they were too devastated to start running again - and they both knew that. They didn't stop scrutinizing each other for a single moment while they competed for the oxygen in that corner of the park, Sam wary as a ferret and Dean in a miserable attempt to calm down. Finally the oldest took the floor first, while bending on his knees to reduce the pain in his chest.

- Trust me, Sam - he said in a hoarse voice, raising an eyebrow. - You better cut it out with this rebelling thing.

All he managed to obtain was a fairly shocked look on his brother's face and Sam raising his arms in the air in a fit of arrogance.

- Are you fucking kidding me? Are you out of your mind as much as he is? - he burst out. - I don't want to... I can't... I can't believe you're taking his side in this!

Dean stared at him for a long moment, eye to eye, before lowering his gaze to the ground, spitting and getting his attention back on Sam only after raising to an upright position.

- Listen, I don't agree with what he wants to do. I would never. I'm not taking his side nor yours, I'm on this family's side. I love you, you know that, but I respect dad. Besides, you were there too, you heard him. You heard what we said.