Catch Me

Chapter 1: It's Not Your Fault

"Come on, Sammy. Get in the car." Dean Winchester revved the engine of the Impala in the school parking lot. He had been waiting for Sam, his littler brother, to get out from a scholar competition. It was a little late, but most of the events at school that Sam went to were late in the evening. Sam raced to the Impala as it started to rain down from the thick clouds above. "It's a good thing I just waxed baby." Dean said, swiping his hand over the dashboard of his favorite car. Sam climbed inside and closed the door quickly before shaking some of the rain from his wet hair.

"Thanks for waiting." Sam said, smiling at his older brother. His cheeks were blushed red. He was acting like the happiest thirteen-year-old in all of existence. Dean rolled his eyes, took the Impala out of park and rolled out of the school parking lot in classic, car fashion.

"So what took you so long, Sammy? Finally hooking up with that Ruby chick?" Dean mocked Sam about Ruby time and time again. Ruby was the first girl Sam ever had a crush on. It was Dean's job to tease his younger brother.

"She's not just some 'chick,' Dean." Sam's blush grew. "I really like her." Sam pouted and stared out the window as the rain washed down onto the road. "We actually-" Sam stopped, pursing his lips. "We kissed."

"That-a-boy, Sammy!" Dean strummed his fingers on the steering wheel. He was making sure to keep and eye on the road in the harsh weather. They lived on the edge of town, farthest from Sam's school, which made the trip a little longer in the rain. The rain was coming down in sheets, covering the road and making it slick. It was the right condition for accidents.

"It's not that big of a deal." Sam mumbled. "Only my first, so I don't know how good it was."

Dean chuckled. "Did she use tongue?"

"Ew! No! Dean- Don't say stuff like that!" The blush on Sam's cheeks was crawling up to the rest of face. "We just kissed, nothing else." Sam crossed his arms over his chest.

"Chill out, Samantha." Dean took a hand off the wheel and grabbed Sam's small shoulder. He squeezed it lovingly and then ruffled his brother's shaggy hair. Dean looked back at the dark road. The rain was getting heavier and the storm whipped up winds that made his steering difficult. Dean could feel the Impala's tires start to slide over the watery surface of the asphalt. He took his foot off the pedal slightly, slowing down.

Sam suddenly sat straighter and squinted through the rain-splattered windshield. "Are those car lights up there in the ditch?" He looked at Dean, then back at the road as they drove closer. They saw a woman with an umbrella waving them on. "She looks okay. That's good." Sam sat back in his seat and sighed.

Dean glanced over at his brother and glared. "Get your seatbelt on, Sam." He ordered, slowing down again when he felt the Impala's tires slip up again. A few cars passed them on the other side of the road slowly. Sam sighed and Dean huffed. "Put the damn seatbelt on, Sam. The roads are bad. I'm not saying I am going to crash, but that doesn't mean these other cars won't hydroplane into us. So, seatbelt."

Sam sighed again before twisting and pulling the seatbelt down across his chest and lap. He clicked it into place and huffed right back at Dean. He then looked up and his eyes widened. "Dean!"

Dean had been lost in thought, making sure Sam put his seatbelt on that he never saw it coming. The storm in the night sky pushed down hard on an old tree. It gave in the soggy ground before uprooting and falling into the road in front of them. Dean slammed on the brakes, but the tires slipped on the wet road.

"Sam!" Dean stretched his arm out to shield his baby brother somewhat, but it wasn't going to stop the Impala from smashing head on into the large tree. The crunching metal rang out into the night. Shards of glass and chunks of wood littered the road. The front of the Impala was mangled within the tree limbs.

"Ugh, S-Sammy…" Dean lifted his pounding head from the steering wheel. The airbags never went off in the older car. Dean's vision was blurred and he could feel sticky, hot blood running down his face from a gash in his forehead. "Sam." Dean gulped, his vision as going in an out. "Sam, are you okay?" Dean finally managed to get his head to turn and his heart beat rapidly at the sight of his brother.

Sam was slumped over, his head hanging out of the broken side window. He head was badly banged up and he was eerily silent. Dean shakily reached out to him, but his body was too weak to grab hold of his brother. "Please, don't be-" Dean choked on a sob caught in his throat. "Sam!"

Dean let his tears fall. He tried reaching out to his brother once more, but instantly stopped when he felt a searing pain in his side from stretching too far. He looked down and saw blood dripping from his drenched shirt. "Sh-shit." Dean groaned from the pain. "Sammy, stay alive. Come on, Sammy. Talk to me. Tell me more about Ruby. Sam-"

Dean waited and waited for a response, but he heard nothing from his bother. He tried so hard to hear anything. Just a little bit of struggled breathing was enough. A hiss, a groan, anything was fine, but nothing ever came. Dean groaned again, holding his side. He felt a sharp prink on his hand when he clutched the wound. He searched for the source and found glass sticking out from the deep gash. He grabbed and pulled the shard from his side and screamed out at the pain it caused. "Son of a bitch!"

"Sam."

"Sam!"

"SAM!"

No response. Dean feared for the worst. His brother was dead. He crashed the Impala and Sam was dead. He crashed the Impala and his thirteen-year-old brother who had just had his first kiss was dead. He was only thirteen. Dean blew out a long breath and hissed at the pain. Off in the distance he could hear the sirens. The lights soon flickered in Dean's spotted vision.

"Damn, they're kids."

"They never saw it coming."

Dean blinked when a light was flashed into his eyes. "M-my brother." He said shakily. The light flashed over to Sam. Dean groaned again. He could feel the blood seeping into his jeans. "Get my brother out." Dean cringed when waves of pain washed over him. "Sam first. My brother first." He groaned. Dean felt his body slipping, but he wasn't going to let go until they got Sam out of the mangled car. "Ple- Sam-"

He blacked out.

"He's out."

"We don't have a pulse."

"The older one has lost a lot of blood."

"Crash kit!"

"Clear!"

"He's back. We need to get them to the hospital now."

"Shit, we're losing the older one."

"Clear!"

"Charge to three hundred."

"Clear!"

"We have a pulse."

Dean's eyelids fluttered. He stared at the ceiling of a lit up cabin. A machine was beeping next to him and he heard the sirens blare as the ambulance turned the corner on it's way to the hospital. He tried to speak, but found a tube lodged in his throat, forcing him to breath if his heart decided to stop again. He choked on the tube and struggled to pull it out.

"Hey, easy there. You've been in an accident." The paramedic rested a hand on Dean's chest while applying pressure to the wounds on Dean's side.

"S'mm-" Dean choked out, trying to call out for his brother.

"Your brother is in another ambulance and on his way to the hospital. Let's keep you safe while they work on him. He's safe with them."

Dean shook his head. He tried again to pull out the tube form his mouth. The heart monitor he was hooked up to went off like crazy. The paramedic kept applying pressure to Dean's wound while injecting a sedative into Dean's IV.

"S'mm-" Dean slurred before blacking out once more from the drugs in his system. When he came around he was in a large, open room that was flooded with light. People rushed around him while he lied in bed, hooked up to another heart monitor. He groggily looked around for Sam. He sat up and looked down at himself. He was cut and bruised everywhere, but overall intact. An IV was stuck into his arm, keeping him comfortable with pain medication.

When things slowed down in the emergency room. Dean was wheeled out on his bed to another room. He lied back and tried to put his mind on anything else but Sam, but it was useless. When a nurse walked by his room door, he called out to her with struggle.

"My brother, Sam- Sam Winchester. He's thirteen. –was in the car with me- How is he? Is he alive?" Dean's breathing was staggered from overexertion. "Please."

The nurse frowned and told Dean she didn't know anything about Sam's condition other than that he was in surgery. She promised to check in with updates every so often. Dean agreed to it, seeing as he couldn't get out of bed. The nurse checked Dean over before heading back out into the hall. She came back minutes later, followed by two, very worried, parents.

"Dean!" Dean's mother ran into the room and stood by her son's bedside as she cried. "Baby, are you okay?" She hesitantly placed a hand on Dean, cupping his bruised face.

"The storm." Dean cringed as the pain in his side grew. "We crashed. Sam- I'm sorry." Dean stared at his crying mother. Tears filled his eyes. He looked past her for a moment at his father and was scared of the look he received. "D-dad, I'm sorry." Dean struggled in his bed. He pulled at his IV. The nurse rushed over to him and settled him down again. "Where is Sam? Where is my brother!?" Dean pushed the nurse away roughly. Then he felt a ripping sensation in his side.

"Sir, you're ripping your stitches. Please." Dean lied back down on the bed and let the air in his lungs out through his nostrils. He clenched his teeth as the nurse raised his hospital gown and addressed the situation with Dean's wound. "You need stitched up again right away." The nurse hit the call button and soon two people in scrubs came into the room to take Dean away again.

"Dean." Dean's mother grabbed his hand tenderly. "Dean, honey. Sam's alive." She let her hand slip as they wheeled him out of the room to be stitched up again. "Sam's alive." She said once more before he was gone down the hall.

"Sam's alive." Dean said with ounces of relief in his voice. "I didn't kill him." The nurse pushed more pain medication into his system and the fuzziness warmed his over. "S'm… a'ive…"

"Mary and John Winchester?" A doctor called out into the waiting room. The petite blonde woman stood up along side her tall, dark haired husband. The doctor motioned them over. Mary gathered her things, hooked arms with John and walked over to the doctor. "Ah, yes. Sam is out of surgery."

"Oh, thank god." Mary trembled. "H-how is he? How is my baby?" She asked, hopeful that Sam was as okay as Dean, but he was much smaller than his brother, more fragile.

"Sam suffered major spinal injuries and a head contusion that caused brain swelling." The doctor cleared his throat. "We were able to stabilize him by inserting rods and screws into his spine. Though, the brain swelling still hasn't come down. "

"What does that mean?" John asked gruffly.

"It means that Sam had significant brain damage and we had to put him into a medically induced coma to keep him comfortable until the swelling goes down and we can assess the situation further."

Mary broke down crying. John had to hold her up. "My poor- My poor, Sammy." She cried. John held her close and kissed the top of her head. He nodded at the doctor. Before the doctor left the distressed parents, he reassured them that everything was going to be okay. "What we all need to think about is that Sam is alive and he has a chance of waking up and leading on with a normal life."

"Thank you." John pulled back from Mary and smiled sadly at her. "Sam will be okay."

"We- we need to tell Dean." Mary stuttered, wiping away her tears. "He deserves to know." Mary tugged on John's sleeve and they walked off towards Dean's room. Mary knocked on the door to alert the nurse that they were coming in. "How is he?" She asked.

"He's doing good. A little blood loss, but overall he should recover quickly." She set his chart down and smiled at Mary and John before leaving them alone with their son.

Mary walked up to Dean's bed and ran her fingers down the side of Dean's sleeping face. "Dean, honey." She smiled, though her eyes were tired and sad. Dean stirred and opened his blood shot eyes. "Dean, it's okay. We're just here to talk about Sam."

"Mom." Dean croaked. "How is he?" He looked past her at his father again, though John wasn't even looking at Dean. "How is he?"

"Dean…"

"How is he, mom?"

"Dean, Sam is- Sam is in a coma." Mary covered her mouth. "The doctor said that he had a chance of waking up soon." She lowered he hand and grabbed Dean's hand. "Honey, this is not our fault. I want you to know that." Dean stared at her in disbelief. "This is not your fault." She repeated.

Dean faced away from his mother. "I-I made him put his seat belt on, right before." He gulped. Images of the tree falling, the rain and the crash flashed through his mind. "He- Sam didn't want to since those seatbelts are uncomfortable." Dean sighed. "Stubborn."

"Dean, if he hadn't been wearing that seat belt, Sam would be- Sam would have died." Mary smiled through her tears. "You saved him, Dean. You saved his life."

The next morning, Dean was checked out of the hospital. He was placed in a wheelchair, although he could walk. A nurse started to wheel him towards the exit. "I want to see Sam." He stopped the nurse before she wheeled him out to his mother who was waiting at the car. "Please stop, I want to see Sam." Dean looked up at the nurse until she quit pushing. Dean's mother came running inside. She was frantic.

"What's wrong, honey? Are you okay?" She lighted patted Dean down, checking him over.

"I'm fine. I just want to see Sam." Dean was begging. "Mom, please. I need to see Sam. Mary saw the pleading in Dean's eyes. She nodded and took the arms of the wheelchair from the nurse, saying she had it from there. She then wheeled Dean back down the hall of the hospital. She stopped at a room that Dean could only imagine was Sam's. As soon as they entered the room, Dean knew. Dean knew that he could never forgive himself for what he had done. "S-Sammy."