Great start. I am a big fan of your portrayal of the brothers growing up. Wither it is pre-teen or post-teen your characterisation is right on the money, totally believable.

I hope Dean gets the chance to play ball too!!!! Glad that Sam sees (with a little help) how poorly he repays his brothers care sometimes, this way Sam is more human and you don't feel he is unworthy of such devotion... lets face it Dean is a SAINT when it comes to Sam sometimes. 

Your characterisation of Caleb is fantastic - I love the way he and Dean play off each other. There were too many shinning lines in this - the banter in your work is stellar !! (Can't resist....."If there's trouble push Josh in the way. I bet he tastes like shit" LOL) Five year old Sammy is a comic genius who paraphrases like a philosopher ;"I think Josh's new toy is a piece of crap." (LOL - Wipes away tear). Your series has a great setting to it, love the idea of the Brotherhood. Having said all that, however you DO present me with a problem... I have a lot of reading ahead of me, because your writing really is just that GOOD!!!!!

Enjoying this soooo much that I couldn't tare myself away to review any earlier.... HAD TO get to the end and then wail as it's incomplete!!!! Masterfully written, the very idea of Dean loosing control to the extent where he becomes a threat to Sam, seems to scare Dean as much as loosing himself? Your portrayal of Dean becoming more and more lost is so touching and just when I think I know where you are going with the Roosevelt connection it twists again. What can I say... hooked!!!!!!!

 Was going to read on anyway, but your cahapter title made me read faster :-) LOL! There were a number of nice touches here. Bobby's gruff but touching concern for Dean (and Sam), the patented Winchester humour masking "all that nasty pain" and Dean IGNORING the Impala, while someone else is driving her!!!

I think your fic just helped me to one of those light-bulb moments... I definitely noticed the different responses from the boys to their father, but what a fantastic, insightful, heartbreaking explanation. You get right inside Dean's head here, the way he sees his father as an infallible hero and is so oblivious to his own sacrifices. Absolutely bought the line "fighter father, solider son" and can see it coming from Dean's mouth.  Loved how raw the monologue was - you just know it is never going to leave the confines of Deans head- the admission and plea at the end reminds me a little of when Jensens voice breaks when he leaves a message, asking for help, on Johns voicemail during the episode Home.

Author's Response: Thank you for your very detailed review CW.....I actually chose Dean's "HOME" phone call as the theme for my "Thank God For Voicemail" drabble......To me these reflect the only chinks I've really seen Dean exhibit in that protective armor he has worn day after day.......

Haven't reviewed untill this point, but have honestly been hanging out for your postings!!!!  What a great idea for a story - using arguably two of Deans most formidable weapons; his well honed hunting skills and his fierce protectivness for Sam. Sam being hung out like bait - and taking it, for Dean!!! Like how this shows both the boys strengths.  Marlin is a truely hateable badguy - congratulations!!!!

Brilliant fight scene - fast action of that kind must be a challenge to write, yet it came across well. Dean's inner struggle to loose really worked to, it was an alien concept to him except when he looked at Sam and saw why it was necessary. Choked at the fact that it was only when his eyes locked on Sam's that he was able to surrender enough of his fighting instincts, to loose.... great image.

Carter finally deciding to help them is a relief. As a Dr he is used to being vigilant but love the way you have given him the ability to read people so accurately. Lol at Carters comment to Dean about being an over achiever at throwing fights!!!!

Continuing to love this story - and don't mind the slightly longer wait - anticipation helps me read faster!!!!

Boy were you ever not kidding about the new levels of sleaze from Marlin?!!!! Writing such a vivid, gut wrenching, threat as Marlin presents here and really has been steadily building up to is beyond genius. The boys have been trained - and in Dean's case, manufactured to be on the lethally efficient side, you have brought together the perfect setting, and perfect villain to test this. Dean's departure from the realm of the sane when he losses Sam was magnificent. Sam's mental and physical torture was unparallelled - even in your gifted previous works. Am awestruck!!!!

Author's Response: I'm awestruck by your review.  You're far too kind...Thanks so much.

So I owe you a BIG apology for not keeping up with this - I can honestly say your story has me riveted, it was all the other stuff that pulled me away.

As with the other chapters - you knocked this one out of the park! Dean's fears for what Marlin may have put Sam through. All his nightmares coming true. Loved the shower scene - it was topped only by Sam's declaration that he wasn't going anywhere without Dean. Sometimes (especially with the direction the show seems to be moving in right now) you get to feeling Dean sacrifices more or cares more deeply, the extraordinary position you have put them in strips everything else away and the reader is left to view the bond they share, in it's purest form. You write with such a painfully honest light that it's sometimes uncomfortable to read the depths of their devotion. Worst of times often brings out the best in people - to the power of Ten with the Winchesters!!!!!

Late reviewing but as always constantly impressed by your talent!!!

Whoa..... yeah just that. Yes I admit to the same blood lust for Marlin as expressed previously, but the cold commanding execution style comments from Dean was truly chilling. Do what you want with him... you have twenty minutes and the worst; “And burn his body when he’s done.”  A cynical laugh and a shrug.  “Or get a head start and do it now, I don’t care.  Just make sure he burns.” This seems to suggest that Dean is taking care of Marlin, like he would a Supernatural threat - ensuring his evil would never return again. Amazing work Bayre.

Also liked the juxtaposition (I think that is the appropriate BIG word) of Sam's mental battle and Dean's physical one. Also noticed the similarities between Sam's tortured imagination wondering what was happening to his brother, and Dean's hell earlier on when he wondered to what extent Marlin had abused his brother - very well plotted. But words... BIG or otherwise won't cover how much I admired this line from Sam;

"Everything good in him came from Dean, learned from Dean, everything he needed nurtured by his brother from before Sam could remember.  He’d spent his life with his personal hero, watching him, emulating him, living up to the man that was Dean Winchester."

That is possibly one of my favorites in the whole story, that is saying a lot as you are that skilled a writer, I spend most of my reviews quoting your work and finding ways to explain to you how impressive your work is!!!!! 

That was just...swell!!!!! Loved snarky Dean trying his hand at optimism and coming off as even MORE sarcastic than normal. You manage to combine humor and action so well - amazed that this is your first story. So many really good Deanisms, but especially;

"I think it’s such a lovely little piece of jewelry that I just can’t part with it and so I’m subconsciously willing it to stay where it is."

Great job, thanks for the laughs.

You have such a great way with words and this one shot - your first - proves that you have always had that talent, only it keeps getting better.

Loved this lonely lurch into the amber haze with Dean. Exactly how I'd imagined him after Sam left.

Great job!  Abi.