Grand Canyon

This moment here. This very moment in time made it all worth while. They sat side-by-side on the edge of a precipice gazing out at miles of rocky terrain, painstakingly carved by mother nature and painted in a colorful palette of yellow, orange, crimson, green, chocolate and purple, marking the passage of centuries. The sky was a masterpiece of darkening blue skies layered with gray stratus clouds turned half pink and gold by the setting sun. Far below, a seemingly endless golden river snaked its way through the canyon floor.

Selling his soul to the devil to bring his brother back from the dead may have been a knee-jerk act of desperation but it had been the right call. If for no other reason than to share this one afternoon with his little brother. He knew that Sam would rather be off hunting Lilith than sitting on the edge of the world doing nothing but gawking at a sunset. Sam still thought that Lilith was the answer to saving his big brother from going to hell. The only thing on his mind of late was hunting the bitch down and making her renounce the deal Dean had made. As if that was actually a real possibility.

As much as Dean wanted to believe that he could be saved, he knew there was no hope. The simple fact was that if he tried to welsh on the deal, Sam would die. Of course, Sam could die getting hit by a car crossing the street, or falling off a canyon ledge for that matter. But that was something Dean refused to think about. Sam's death, though brief had been the worse time of his life. Perhaps it would have made more sense to simply join his little brother in death rather than haggle with a demon to bring him back to life. Well, no one had ever accused him of being the smart Winchester. Besides, what's done is done. All he could do now was to make the most of the time he had left.

Dean had a bucket list of things to achieve before his final days and he had been making great strides to fulfill as many as possible in the time allotted. Sam was, for the most part, more than obliging to be the wingman in his brother's endeavors, putting up with the Doublemint Twins, a visit to Gumby Girl and a Christmas celebration among other memorable moments. Now they sat perched near the edge of a cliff in 50-degree weather occasionally bumping elbows in quiet contemplation.

It would have been nicer if Dad was with them. The old man never wanted to make time to visit what he called, "…just a big hole in the ground." There were far more important things in the world than sight-seeing. There were monsters to hunt and lives to save. That giant gorge had been there for millions of years and wasn't going anywhere. They could always visit it later after all the monsters had been vanquished and the yellow-eyed demon was dead.

Dean had always thought his dad knew best, but the man had been wrong on occasions. This was one of those occasions. The Grand Canyon was more than just a giant gorge or tourist trap. It was awe-inspiring. On one hand, it made Dean feel very small and insignificant, while on the other hand, he felt honored to be able to witness such splendor in person. He knew he'd never get to see the great pyramids of Egypt, the Coliseum in Rome or any of the other historic wonders of the world, but at least he got the chance to see this.

He thought Sam would fight him on it, seeing that the drive had taken them hundreds of miles and several days out of their way in the search for Lilith and a possible cure for stupidity. But his little brother merely huffed, made a bitch face, then eventually sighed and gave in. They'd done the touristy thing and gone to the main viewing center and platform. After speaking with a cute, park ranger, they opted for a five mile hike to this location where they could sit with their legs hanging over a ledge but with no danger of falling to their deaths. There were several outcrops directly below them, so unless they took a running, flying leap, there was no danger of accidentally plummeting miles down to the bottom.

As the sun inched its way further towards the horizon, the colors of the sky intensified causing a certain song to begin playing in Dean's mind. The scratchy-throated voice of Louis Armstrong sang the simple, yet touching song "What a Wonderful World." At some point, Dean had apparently began singing out loud, which he was unaware of until his brother joined in on the very last line.

"Yes, I think to myself… what a won…der…ful-l-l worl-l-l-d…. Oh-h-h-, yea-h-h-h."

There was a moment of silence following the song, then Sam said, "I'm glad we did this."

"Yeah. Me too."

"This place is a thousand times better than the world's largest ball of string. Kind of wish we'd done it sooner."

"Yeah," Dean agreed. "But, better late than never."

They were quiet again after that. Neither wanted to spoil the moment with conversation that might end up getting unpleasant or argumentative. It was nice to just sit and soak up the atmosphere and enjoy each other's company. Dean pulled his right hand out of his jacket pocket and placed it on his brother's shoulder, giving him a couple of pats and a quick squeeze. Neither of them was much at displaying physical affection, so this one gesture conveyed more than words ever could. In return, Sam gave a gentle nudge of his elbow to Dean's side.

Yeah, this moment here…. Freaking awesome.

The End

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