The Winchester Three (S4): Lazarus Rising

Ch 4 Section 5

In the Impala...

Dean once again sped the Impala down a deserted road as silence stretched, "You did the right thing, you know. That guy was a monster. There was no going back. He was going to eat Angel." Sam stayed silent, only lowering his head where it rested, Dean met Angel's eye from beside him, "Sam, I wanna tell you I'm sorry. I've been kind of hard on you lately."

"We both have." Angel turned around to study him, "We're worried about you, but... we should have handled everything differently."

Sam lifted his head again, looking utterly broken, "Don't worry about it."

"Sammy... This stuff is just scaring the crap out of us."

"Look, if it's all the same... I'd really rather not talk about it."

"Wait a minute..." Dean looked back at him with a little smile, "What? You don't want to talk? You?"

"There's nothing more to say." Sam didn't reply to the smile or joke, "I can't keep explaining myself to you guys. I can't make you understand."

"You could try." Angel countered, "We're all ears."

"I can't. Because this thing, this blood, it's not in you guys the way it's in me. It's just something I gotta deal with."

Dean shook his head, "Not alone."

Sam sighed heavily as he looked out through the window. He took a moment to stay silent, thinking about everything, before speaking.

"It doesn't matter. These powers... it's playing with fire. I'm done with them." They looked him over, "I'm done with everything."

"Really?" Angel and Dean both visibly relaxed, "That's- that's good, Sam." She squelched the urge of disbelief down, "Really, it's great. I'm glad."

"Yeah, it's a relief." Dean added with a deep sigh as Samjust continued to stare out the window "Thank you."

"Don't thank me. I'm not doing it for you two. Or for the angels or for anybody. This is my choice."