-1The next morning Dean awoke with a grunt, the rays of light coming into the room bright and blinding as they filtered in and stung his eyes. Rolling on to his stomach feeling more then a little nauseated he grimaced and put the pillow that was beneath his head over it instead.

"Oh no you don't, get up." Sam's voice was louder then Dean could remember it ever being before as he felt a tug on his ankle and tried to shake off his brother's grip. "You think your going to get to sleep in and recover from a night of stupidity you got another thing coming." Sam reached over and flipped on his clock radio Highway to Hell blasting through the speakers instantly and into Dean's ear.

The older man grunted once more and shot up giving the now grinning an amused Sam a death glare as he put his hand to his head and closed his eyes.

"You got something to say to me?!" Sam retorted his brother's icy stare with a tone that was more then a little confident as he crossed his arms over his chest in obvious judgment.

Opening his eyes again Dean blinked trying to clear the small black spots now dancing in front of him from his vision and snarled before picking up the pillow he had been using and chucking it in the younger man's direction with exceeding force. "B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B…" Dean's attempt to speak faded into a boisterous growled as he got up from the bed and stormed into the small adjoining bathroom of his brother's dorm room.

A minute later he re-emerged still zipping the fly of his jeans his eyes still having an unpleasant 'I wanna murder you' look inside of them.

"Well, aren't we mister sunshine this morning…" Sam held out a paper cup toward Dean, the aroma of fresh coffee feeling the hung over man's senses as he took it and drank welcomingly from it, not caring as it burned the inside of his mouth,

"So…" Sam chide taking a seat on the edge of the bed and looking up at Dean.

Dean returned the gesture looking down his brow cocking as though to say 'so what?'

"I talked to the Dr. here on campus yesterday while you were out on your boozing escapade… And he's really like to see you….He finds your case fascinatingly unique."

Fascinating??? Dean scoffed and rolled his eyes shaking his head, "mmmmmm…mmmm"

"I didn't figure you'd have the same enthusiasm about it as he did." Sam cleared his throat, "So I uh asked him what I should do to help you because you were a stubborn prick who refused help from anyone besides me, and even that was like pulling teeth."

Dean rolled his eyes ignoring the small sting his brother had thrown in needlessly to his 'report'. "a-a-a-a-a-a….a-a-a…"

Sam frowned watching Dean now even the smallest word was proving to be more then a little difficult, he watched his brothers lips stiffen his neck tighten and his eyes squint at the corners as his adam'a apple moved at an exceedingly alarming pace up and down up and down over and over again, but he refrained from interrupting… ad fought to keep the concern from his features, this whole situation confusing the hell out of him.

Dean's thought pattern seemed to be as broken as his speech as he tilted his head back a little and resisted the urge to just punch the wall right then and there… AND…. AND YOU MORON…AAAAAANNNNNDDDDD…"A-A-A-A-AAAAAANNNND?!?!"

Sam flinched inwardly but kept the emotion inside as he continued to speak, "And, he says that there are many options to consider, but that you should really see some sort of specialist because they will be able to better diagnose and assess your situation."

Dean grunted and slammed his fist into the hard wood of the computer desk he was standing next to sending a resounding thud through the small dorm room as he grunted loudly.

"Hey." Sam shook his head, "I know your frustrated alright, but it's not helping anything to be angry just try to take a deep breath…" Sam stood and went to the top drawer of his dresser fishing for a notebook and a pen before returning to sit in front of his still un-amused and frustrated brother. "Let's try to go through a few exercises, maybe you know if I help you… We can figure this out…" Sam hated seeing the fear and unbalanced emotion in his brother's eyes and he had to do something…. Anything to at least try to help him.

Sam wrote down a few small sentences on one of the sheets of paper, sentences that resembled the same ones they had used years before in their speech exercises before handing it to Dean. "Look these over and sound them out in your head alright, just like before…."

The cat is fat.

The Fat cat is in my lap.

The fat cat in my lap is brown.

Dean couldn't help but smirk at the lameness of his brother's choice in subject matter, most guys Sam's age would come up with something a lot more… adult then a fat lazy cat. The amused man thought momentarily about changing a few words more to his liking before shaking the idea from his head and studying them as though they were the only thing that mattered on the planet.

Each word, each letter sounded out and carefully dissected in his brain as he opened his mouth to form the first letter his brother's voice came once more to his ears.

"Slow Dean, nice and slow, listen to yourself say it before you do and then concentrate, just like before okay?"

Dean thought back to the first time they had battled this Demon, Sam was only sixteen then, but he was still quite the teacher and quite the patient one, he really was the best brother Dean could ever ask for… Even if he would never tell him that.

"T-T-T-T-T-T-T…T-T-T-T" Dean closed his eyes and swore he could see the letters dancing before his closed lids taunting him and sticking there none existent tongues out at him. The sound of his broken speech filling his ears his cheeks began to redden and Sam watched as his shaking hands balled into fists….

"Stop." He whispered his voice remaining calm as he rose from his seat at the small table where the two of them were now sitting and made his way around to his brothers side crouching down. "Deep breath alright you can do this…"

Agitation was seeping from Dean's body now as he took in as deep a breath as he could manage and let it out slowly trying to calm himself, Sam was right there was no way he was going to get anywhere if he couldn't even control his own anger.

Sam took his brother's hand now ignoring the displeased look he received as he did so and placed it against his throat, "Feel the vibrations…" He spoke smooth and quiet, "Feel each letter…"

Dean's fingers twitched against his brothers throat and for a spilt second he had to resist the urge to claw at it out of jealousy, once again finding himself angry over everything his brother had, everything his brother was able to do, that he was not. He closed his eyes and pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind doing as Sam asked and concentrating on the vibrations against his fingers.

"Tttttthhhhheeeee." Sam rose his voice a little to strength the vibration, "Nice and smooth one single movement, "ttttthhhhhheee."

Dean nodded as he opened his eyes and looked at his brother, he knew, he knew all of this already, but it wasn't working, why didn't Sam understand? Dean had tried all of this already, he had been there and done that, and nothing seemed to be helping.

"Now you come on." Sam reached over and placed his hand on Dean's throat carefully, he could feel the muscles tense immediately to his touch and frowned, "Dean relax." He ordered, "No one is here, no one can hear you."

You can… And that's embarrassing enough. Dean grunted and opened his eyes glaring at his brother, a headache quickly building behind his eyes and filling his head as he found the same spots from earlier clouding his vision.

Sam frowned his forehead creasing with concern as he watched the color drain from his brothers face without warning… "Dean?!?!"

Sam's voice sounded a million miles away as the now paled man's vision went from spotted to almost completely black and he could feel his body slumping forward into something hard, yet warm and welcoming…

Fear engulfed Sam was he watched his brother's body wavier, his eyes rolling back into his head as their lids drifted shut.

"DEAN!" Sam screamed again as he caught the now still form of his brother before Dean's head could smack against the wooden table in front of him.

But it was no use Dean was out cold. As carefully as he could Sam pulled his brother from the chair he had been sitting in and laid him across the floor taping the sides of his face as he retrieved his cell from his pocket and dialed 911. "Come on man, wake up…." He pleaded his tapping turning almost into smacks.

- The smell of sickness and sterilization filled Sam's senses as he paced the floor of the overly sized hospital, his hands shoved deeply into his pockets. He couldn't comprehend what the hell was going on, none of this seemed to be making any sense, one minute his brother was perfectly healthy…. And now well… Now this?

Something was definitely up.

Sam's thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice as he snapped his head up to see his father coming toward him a look of fear and uncertainty written across John's face mirroring his own.

"Where is he???" The older man asked his voice sounding as panicked as his expression as he finally came to a halt in front of his youngest son.

"He's still back there." Sam nodded to the two solid grey double doors that he had watched his brother disappear behind still unconscious over two hours prior.

"Have they told you anything?"

Sam shook his head, "Not… Not a word, Dad…" He let his voice die off on his lips, if he told his father about the happenings the night before, about why Dean had come to him, his brother would be more then pissed, he would be so angry he would probably slap the shit out of him… but did that really matter? John had a right to know, Dean was his son, and something was definitely wrong with this whole situation.

"What is it?" John prodded lightly taking note of the confused look written across his son's face, a look he had seen many times before when Sam was battling inwardly on whether to rat out his brother or not…

"Dean…He uh…" Sam drew his lip into his mouth and chewed on it running a hand through his hair and drawing in a breath, this, this was the right thing to do….

"What Sammy.."

"He came to me for help." Sam only now looked into his father's eyes having avoided them before, "He came to because he didn't know what was going on…"

"Going on with what Sam? Why would your brother come to you and not to me?"

"His stutter." Sam's frown deepened. "IT was abck, and he didn't want you to be worried or disappointed…"

"What the hell?" John whispered more under his breath then out loud.

"That's the thing, we can't figure it out, it's just like… like it never went away…. It seems to have gotten worse, he-he couldn't even get a word out…"

"How does something like this happen?" John asked looking to his son in vein knowing that Sam didn't have the answers he was seeking in his statement, but having no where else to look….

"And so…I talked to one of the uh, the doctors on campus, and he wanted to see Dean, but Dean wasn't having it… So this morning, we sat down and we were doing some of the exercises that we used to, trying to re-enforce his speech pattern when he just…passed out… no warning no nothing he just collapsed."

John's expression was dumbfounded, he didn't understand he though this whole thing was behind them, and a slight amount of anger and guilt about the whole thing was finding it's way into his senses again…. "You should of called me…"

"I did…"

"No, before when he came to you, you should of told me what was going on…"

"He asked me not to…."

"I don't care." John's voice was as angry as Sam remembered with every fight they had had in the past.

"We didn't know it was this serious… We just…."

"You, YOU were careless…"

"Don't you pin this on me damn-it." Sam growled finding his face now only an inch from his father's. "We are not children anymore, he came to me for help!"

"A lot of good that did him!" John couldn't stop the words from spilling out as he saw the pain immediately fill Sam's face and features.

"Go to hell." He spat in defense just before he saw the doctor approaching from the double doors a few feet away.

"Jacobson?" The man asked approaching John and Sam and clearing his throat, "Family for Dean Jacobson?"

"Yeah…Yeah That's us, how is my brother doctor?" Sam asked remembering the name printed on the insurance card he had provided to pay for Dean's care.

"He's resting now…" The doctor's voice was calm a definitely positive sign.

"What happened to my son doctor," John looked to his name tag, "Cameron"

"Dean suffered a Mild cerebral aneurysm, most commonly caused by a severe trauma to the head." The older man looked down at the chart in his hand, "The aneurysm has ruptured causing a hemorrhage which was the cause for his loss of consciousness."

John held his hand up toward the doctor, "How long has this aneurysm been inside my son's brain doctor?"

"Really, there is no way of knowing.." The man spoke honestly, "These things are often undetectable through normal everyday tests until they burst… Has there been any other changes in your son's behavior lately?"

"He's… He's been tired a lot." John nodded, "And you see when he was younger he suffered from a severe stutter, and within' the past few days it seems to have returned ten fold."

"These are directly related to the rupture," The doctor nodded, making a few notes in the chart, "Anything else, blackouts, trouble walking, dizziness?"

"Not that we know of…" Sam spoke up, "But that's not to say they weren't happening, my brother he's just not the most sharing and caring type of person?"

"I know a few people like that myself…" Dr. Cameron smiled a little.

"So… what do we do now? How do we help him?"

"I have stabled Dean's condition until we can get consent from you on where to go from here…. Your son is a very lucky young man, and this one here…" He pointed to Sam, "Saved his life, had he bled on his brain much longer there may have been irreversible brain damage or even death."

John felt his heart jump into his throat and clog his windpipe as he glanced out of the corner of his eye at Sam whose expression was identical to his own, fear and anguish reading all over his face.

"But as I started to tell you before, he is a mild case and we have classified the him as a stage 2 hemorrhage which means there is a small Subarachnoid hemorrhage, we have relieved the pressure on his brain and managed to stop the bleeding for the time being… but the best course of action now is a new procedure where a thin, hollow tube, called a catheter is inserted in the groin area and threaded through the blood vessels to the site of the aneurysm in the brain. Once the catheter reaches the aneurysm, tiny platinum coils are placed inside blocking blood flow and preventing rebleeding."

"I-I want to see him…" Sam shook his head, "Before you do anything to him, I want to see him, is he conscious?"

The doctor looked from Sam to John, "We've given him some medications son, and he's regained coherency, but he is not exactly…"

"He's doped up." Sam nodded, "I understand that, but I want to see him."

"Alright, while your father and I finish up the paper work you can-" Before the doctor could even finish his statement Sam had disappeared behind the double doors and toward his brother's bedside, he needed to see him, he needed to know that he was alright, he didn't like fearing for his brothers life like this, and he needed confirmation from his own two eyes that his brother, his hero was alright.

"So, doctor…" John cleared his throat a little, "What's the recovery time and prognosis…." John tried to keep his wondering and worried mind on the task at hand.

"He should only be here for two nights, baring any complications of course, and there will be minimal recovery time required even after that as opposed to most patients who suffer what your son is suffering through…"

"Which means?"

"As far as we can tell there has been no serious damage to any of your son's physical limbs or portions of the brain aside from the area surrounding the aneurism which is located in his Cerebral Cortex. Which means that although your son may have to once again learn the aspects of speech and fluency, he will come out of this situation relatively unaffected which is more then I can say for most."

John nodded although the man was speaking in doctors terms he got the jest of that was being thrown at him, "Alright… Where do I sign?" He held out his hand for the pen, "I want this over with and I want him safe."

- "Hey." Sam whispered taking a seat next to his brother's bedside and placing a hand on his causing Dean's eyes to open ever so slightly. "How you feelin'?"

Dean nodded just a little able to make out the form of his brother through his drug hazed vision above him, Sam's words sounding like echoes in the back of his head,

"Don't worry man, dad's here, and uh we're gonna take care of this alright? There gonna put you out and there gonna put a catheter inside of you that's gonna correct this shit going on inside your brain okay?"

Dean was tired, so tired as he tried to make sense of Sam's words, tried to understand them, but it was to hard, as he closed his eyes finding comfort in the hand placed on his and allowing himself in his weakened state to fall into a soft slumber.

- John looked over at his youngest son and frowned as he rose up from his seat and moved closer to him sliding down next to him. "Sam look I uh…."

"I-I know dad…I know…" Sam whispered and placed a hand on his father's knee glancing up at the older version of himself, "It's okay."

"No it's not… and I'm sorry, I'm sorry for a lot of things. I'm sorry for the father that I was to you and your brother…"

"There's no need…" Sam cleared his throat finding the sincerity in his father's eyes slightly unsettling as he attempted to change the subject, "So um, he's gonna be okay right?"

"Like the doctor said he's pretty damn lucky, but he is going to need to learn to control his speech patterns again,. It'll um, be like before for a little while, so as much as he doesn't want it, I'm going to have to find someone to work with him."

Sam shook his head , "No, I'll do it…" He sounded more then confident. "I'll just take some time off until he's recovered…"

"Sam, you know I would never ask you… Dean would never ask you to do that."

"I don't care…" Sam grunted, "Your not asking me, I'm telling you, my brother is not going to go through this alone." He left no room for argument as silence crept up on both men.

"Dad?" He spoke again after a few minutes.

"Hmmm?"

"Do you ummm, do you know what could of caused this…?"

John nodded without thinking about it, the truth was he had been thinking about it since the doctor had said the most likely cause was head trauma, he knew exactly what had happened, exactly when it had happened… "Yeah… About two weeks ago, we were in Austin hunting a thought form…" John cleared his throat a little, "Dean ended up flying into the book shelf… He was unconscious for nearly twenty minutes while I finished the incantation….When, when he uh came to I tried to get him to get checked out, but you know your brother, he swore he was fine, that he was tough as steel and there was no need to fret…."

"Stubborn bastard." Sam mumbled under his breath, the doctor was once again coming toward them.

"The catheter is installed, and now we just have to wait…. You can go sit with him if you like, he's already out of post op and woke up just a few minutes ago asking for Sammy…" The man grinned as Sam grimaced at his brother's nickname for him, "I assume that's you."

"That's me…" Sam nodded halfly reminding himself to remind Dean later that Sammy was a chubby 12 year old and these days he went by just Sam

There will be one more installment this this short for all of you who wanted me to finish it, I hope it's alright… I didn't know for the longest time where to take it, but this seemed like the most logical option, anyway please let me know what you are thinking, those of you who have read my previous work know how much I feed off of reviews. The good the bad and the indifferent, I want it all.