BIG BROTHER BOOSTER
Summary: John takes Sam to the doctor to get the kid a vaccination. Sam is not happy.. and neither is his big brother. Just a little Hurt!Upset!Sam and Comforting!Bigbrother!Dean. Dean is 6, Sam is 2.
Author's note: Okay, so this idea popped into my head while I was watching a medical program in TV. I'm not a doctor and therefore don't know the exact procedure of this, so bear with me. Enjoy!
-Elisa.
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"Sometimes, the best way to help someone is just to be near them."
– Veronica Roth, Divergent.
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Six-year-old Dean Winchester stuck his fingers into his ears and clenched his eyes shut. Even as he did so, he was still able to hear his little brother's hysterical wails that kept piercing through the closed door and cut into Dean's heart like a butcher knife.
Dean was alone in the waiting area outside the pediatrician's office where his dad had taken Sam for a vaccination. It was supposed to prevent Sammy from getting very sick, their father had told Dean when he had revealed their whereabouts earlier in the day. But Dean didn't like it. Not at all. Because even though he couldn't remember getting any vaccinations himself, he knew what it meant to get one; his dad had explained it to him.
"The doctor will use a syringe to inject the vaccine into your brother's arm." His dad had said and had glanced towards his youngest who had been sitting on his diaper-covered butt on the floor of the motel room enwrapped in a picture book. "It's just a small poke with a needle, Dean, and it will only hurt for a second. Sam will be fine afterwards."
Dean had been horrified to know that the doctor would be sticking Sam with a needle, but he had believed his father's words and had obediently stayed in the waiting area, as his dad had told him to, while John had carried Sam into the pediatrician's office. There had been a confused frown on the two-year-old's forehead when he had noticed that his big brother wasn't coming along, but Dean had sent Sam an encouraging smile and that was the last the brothers had seen of each other before the door had been shut closed.
Dean had been rather bored in the waiting area afterwards. At first he'd been waiting patiently in his chair, but that had only lasted a very short amount of time before he had started swinging his legs back and forth while humming a song he'd heard in the Impala. Dean had then left his chair to check out a small table in the room with toy bricks, and he had just started building a tower out of them when an ear-piercing cry had sounded from the doctor's office.
"Sam." Dean had said and jumped up – would have recognized the cry anywhere at any time.
The six-year-old had left the toy bricks behind without a second thought and had then toddled restlessly outside the door to the doctor's office while wringing his hands in distress over his baby brother's obvious suffering. It had been too much for Dean when Sam had proceeded to sob Dean's name in between the wailing, and the older brother had stuck his fingers into his ears and clenched his eyes shut in an attempt to block out the heart-wrenching sounds.
On the other side of the door, inside the pediatrician's office, John Winchester struggled hard to calm down his youngest boy and keep him in place on his lap. What John had first expected to be a simple in and out of the doctor's office, had now turned into a nightmare as Sam was wailing and sobbing, kicking and screaming while trying to twist himself out of his father's hold.
When Dean had had is vaccinations, it had been so easy. John could remember how Mary had comforted their oldest after the shots; had simply held the boy close, shushed him and spoken soft words to him which had quickly wiped away Dean's misery. It had been the same with Sam back then; easy peasy. But not this time - Sam was completely and utterly inconsolable.
With everything that had happened since Mary had been ripped away from them, the oldest Winchester had forgotten that kids needed booster shots against certain diseases and Sam hadn't received any shots since he had been four months old. It was only by chance that John had heard a couple of women talking about kids and vaccinations in the line to a coffee house, and he had then booked a time for Sam at the doctor as soon as possible after that.
After showing up at the pediatrician's office, the doctor had revealed to John that Sam not only needed one shot but three different kinds of vaccinations. John had been a little reluctant at first but he had agreed to it nonetheless. People could say a lot of things about John Winchester, but he did what he had to do to protect his boys. Always. So, if Sam needed three pokes by a needle to stay healthy, then that was exactly what he was gonna get.
However, things were never as simple as that. Sam had been happy and content – had looked at the many cartoon characters on the walls with big eyes of fascination – until the doctor had stuck the syringe into his arm; then all hell had broken loose. The two-year-old had gasped when he had felt the sudden pain in his arm, and then his face had crumpled and he had started wailing on the top of his lungs.
"I'm sorry but we still have two more to go." The doctor had apologized to John and had begun preparing the syringe for the next shot while John had tried to calm down his boy.
John had tried everything – everything he could remember his Mary had done to sooth the kids after their vaccinations – but no matter how hard he had tried, he just hadn't been able to get Sam to stop crying.
"Deeeeaaan!" Sam sobbed, hiccupped and continued to wail.
"Shhh, calm down Sammy. Come on. Stop crying." John soothed.
He bounced the kid on his lap, rubbed circles on his back and held him close, but Sam didn't as much as acknowledge his father's failed attempts to calm him down. He just continued to call for his big brother and then became even more hysterical as the pediatrician succeeded in giving him the second vaccination of the day.
"Sam, stop crying!" John ordered as he was beginning to lose his patience with his youngest. "Sam!"
"Maybe this will help." The doctor offered and started waving a hand puppet in front of the two-year-old's face. "Look Sam, it's a clown and he wants to be your friend."
"Not helping." John stated as Sam flinched away from the clown doll and just continued to wail.
The oldest Winchester was about to bark at the doctor to just get the damn shot over with, when his attention was diverted as the door to the doctor's office opened up and Dean stepped inside. John immediately clenched his jaw and pinned Dean with a look that clearly revealed his disapproval in his oldest son for going against his father's order of waiting outside.
Dean swallowed hard as he saw the look his father gave him and he almost backed out of the room again, but then Sam once again sobbed out his brother's name and Dean was reminded of the reason why he had disobeyed his father in the first place. Before he could change his mind about it, Dean closed the gap to his brother and called Sam's name in a soft voice.
Sam's wails stopped for a second as he heard his big brother's voice and then he started crying once more – his arms flailing wildly as he tried to reach his brother.
"Dean!" Sam sobbed, clenched and unclenched his fists repeatedly towards Dean in a non-verbal request to get closer to his older brother.
Dean looked at his father for permission and John let out a sigh before he loosened his hold of Sam and let the kid fall into his brother's waiting arms.
"Dean." Sam cried into Dean's neck and hiccupped. "Sammy h-huwts."
"I know you're hurting." Dean spoke in a soft voice and rubbed a hand up and down Sam's back. "But you're okay, Sammy. Shhhh. Don't cry, alright? I'm here."
The pediatrician looked at John with raised eyebrows as Sam slowly calmed down in his big brother's arms, but the oldest Winchester was too tired to comment on it. It was a long time ago he had first realized that Sam had found a replacement for his mother in Dean, so situations like this no longer seemed to surprise John anymore.
"Maybe we could proceed to the third and last shot now?" The doctor asked and looked between John and Dean as if he couldn't figure out who to talk to after the remarkable turn of events.
Dean snapped his head in the direction of his father when he learned that Sam hadn't needed just one vaccination but three, and John was dumb-folded when his six-year-old son looked at him with so much disapproval that it almost made John feel ashamed.
"Listen Sammy." Dean said after tearing his eyes away from his dad. "The doctor needs to use the needle one more time and then it's over."
Sam made a miserable sound and shook his head frantically.
"Don' wanna." Sam whimpered into Dean's neck and clung even tighter to his big brother.
"I know you don't but this time I'll be here with you, okay?" Dean said. "And when we get home, I'll even let you play with my army men. How about that?"
Sam sniffled but kept quiet and Dean knew that it meant that Sam was considering Dean's offer.
"There might even be ice-cream when we're done here." John added and Dean smiled when Sam's tear-stained and red-flushed face peeked at his brother for confirmation.
"You heard that, Sammy? Ice-cream, huh?" Dean said and Sam nodded. "You gonna sit still with me while the doctor gives you the last shot?"
Sam whimpered once again, hiccupped but then finally gave in with another nod of his head.
When the doctor injected the last vaccine into Sam's arm, the Winchester brothers were sitting together – Dean with his arms around his brother who incredible enough only cried a little bit after the final shot had been completed and Sam's arm had been covered by band-aids. The pediatrician told John that it always calmed upset kids when they got to wear band-aids, but John knew that the real reason why Sam wasn't still crying was because Dean was there, and had comforted his baby brother like Mary had done to Dean all those years ago. The thought almost choked up the hunter but he bottled up his emotions like he'd taught himself to do, shook the doctor's hand and then left the office with his boys.
John kept his promise and bought ice-creams for the kids before they drove back to the motel room, and while John sat down by the table and picked up his research for a poltergeist hunt, Dean and Sam were sprawled out on the carpet with green army men lined up between them. Sam had returned to being happy and content, and the band-aids on his arm were forgotten as he was delightfully involved in his big brother's war game.
"These are the men we need to shoot, Sam. They're bad and we're the good ones." Dean explained and pointed at the little green army men. "It's me and you against the world, okay?"
John nodded in agreement from his position by the table. There would come a day where both boys would understand the true meaning behind the words Dean had just spoken. Some day. But for now, John was glad that the biggest concerns in his boys' lives were facing a booster shot, picking out the coolest band-aids and deciding whether to pick vanilla or strawberry ice-cream.
"Otay, Dean." Sam said with a bright smile and Dean smiled just as brightly before their game began.
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THE END.
Feedback makes my day! ;)
-Elisa.