The Bells
By PhoenixDragon aka PhoenixDragonDreamer
Warnings: I know everyone has been coda'd to death, but this is my take on Dean's state of mind after Sam's death. A rare foray into the missing scene genre for me. AHBL Pt I - Missing scene. Canon character death.
A/N: Besides the first fic I posted here - Sometimes (which is a major favorite of mine out of all my work) The Bells comes in at a very close second! Enjoy...
Wordcount: 600+
Disclaimer(s): Nope, don't own 'em. They still belong to Kripke and Co. - though I am working on that. (Hides Crossroads box behind back...)
FB is loved and appreciated - flames are ignored, or used to cook S'Mores with...
It is the depths of midnight.
Dean swears somewhere, deep inside, that he hears a bell - one of those big brass things that intone darkly to all from the steepled heights of crumbling church towers.
He thinks he hears it - he has to hear it -
It is the depths of midnight, and Sam is so heavy, heavy, heavy. Why won't he wake up?
He thinks of patting him awake, of tapping lightly on his cheek until he snaps out of it - just stops being so damned heavy - but he knows better than to try to wake him.
Sam can sleep like the dead.
He shifts the weight in his arms, back protesting weakly at the strain it is enduring, has endured, for the past few minutes. His pants are soaked for some strange reason, and his breath is coming in hitching gasps. Maybe he's getting a cold - maybe Sam is getting a cold. Might be the reason he is so heavy and tiring and...
Maybe Bobby can wake Sam.
Maybe Bobby can wake them both.
He'll just close his eyes, because he is so tired - like he ran a marathon - and now the ground is cold and wet, and Sam won't wake up!
Dean knows Sam is playing possum - he used to do that when he was real small - when Dean was the tall one, and boy, doesn't THAT take him back - Sam all curled in bed pretending to be asleep - but there were no bells then, and it wasn't midnight and there wasn't this funny tightness in his chest - like his heart decided to squeeze and squeeze and squeeze until there was nothing left but cold and tired and heavy.
It is dark out - too dark to do anything but rest, try to sort it all out later - but Bobby is there, and Bobby is talking softly.
If only he wasn't so tired - maybe he would understand...
Sam's always needed looking after. And Dean always did his best - other than this small wound in Sam's back, he feels he has it covered.
After all, it's only a small patch job, isn't it?
Sam shouldn't go out without that extra hoodie on.
His lips are blue from the fall chill - and Dean berates himself for not thinking to bring an extra shirt or even a blanket, from the Impala. He debates on whether or not he should tell Bobby to fetch one. Bobby looks as concerned as he is - face pale, eyes pinched like he is going to cry, mouth working with no sound - which is startling in and of itself.
Sam will be fine, he just needs an extra layer of clothing - he always sweats too much when he sleeps.
Maybe he should wake him soon...
He thinks he hears the bells -
It is the depths of midnight...
Finis
Story written and completed September 17, 2007