4 Days Later

Sam opened his eyes. Peering out into the dimly lit room, he didn't recognize where he was at first. Then the dull sound of the beeping of the heart monitor next to Dean's bed brought him back to reality. He tried to sit up,but cringed as he realized he slept in a chair, and, his neck would be cramped for quite awhile. He looked up at the clock on the wall as he massaged his neck. It was 7:21 in the morning, and there was no way he was going back to sleep. He groaned as he got up out of the chair and made his way over to the door.

He walked out into the hallway and looked around. He noticed there was only one nurse at the desk that was usually buzzing with activity. When he looked to his right, he saw that Jo was asleep in a chair. Her hair was a disheveled mess, and she was snoring slightly. He smiled to himself. Jo and Bobby had become the only help that Sam had, and they took turns staying at the hospital. Sam, on the other hand, hadn't left, even to get some clothes and a toothbrush. Jo brought him stuff, and Bobby kept him up-to-date on hunts. It was a good system; you know, excluding the fact they were in a hospital.

Sam turned around and made his way to the elevator. He hit the button to take him to the first floor. It was the first part of his daily routine. Head downstairs, get coffee and breakfast, sit next to Dean, probably go to the bathroom, Jo/Bobby would bring lunch, they would eat, Jo/Bobby would sit with Sam until it was time to get dinner. Then Sam would sleep. Repeat. He groaned inwardly. He was not looking forward to another day of this.


"Hey, Sleepyhead. Wake up."

Jo groaned. Her whole body hurt, and all she wanted to do was sleep. Someone pushed her shoulder.

"Come on. Wakey wakey!"

She sniffed the air. "Somethin' 'mells good," she mumbled as she attempted to sit up right.

"Yeah? I brought you some coffee." She looked up and saw a blurry Sam Winchester. She smiled.

"Thanks, Sam," she said, instantly feeling better. She took it out of his hands as he sat next to her. She sipped it.

"Not bad."

"Yeah, well, it's Avera McKennan's finest hospital-grade coffee."

"You flatter yourself. I said 'not bad', not 'this is the best damn coffee I've ever tasted'."

Sam smiled slightly, but turned his attention to the doorway to Dean's room, not 10 feet away from them. His face instantly grew dark. Jo noticed.

"So they're gonna tried and wake Sleeping Beauty up today," she said.

Today? Is it really today? "I guess I lost track of time. Yeah, today's the day. Today's the day," Sam said, more to himself than to Jo.

He let go of a breath he felt he'd been holding the entire time they'd been there. Dean would wake up, and after another week or so, they could get back on the road. Relief washed over him. Jo got up out if the chair she'd been laying in and stretched. Her phone rang. She looked at it and her mood instantly changed.

"Sam, I'll be right back."

She walked away to a more secluded area of the wing, and started whispering angrily into the phone. Sam decided he did not want to be around to find out what the conversation was about, so he went back into Dean's room. Nothing changed, the monitor still beeped steadily, the dimly lit room still smelled of antiseptic. He pulled one of the chairs toward Dean's bed and watched his brother for some sign of life; but besides the steady rise and fall of his chest, there was nothing. He scoffed and put his head in his hands. Maybe I'm taking this too fast. Slow your roll, Winchester.

He looked up when he heard the door open. Jo entered the room, her face red and her eyebrows were drawn together.

"Who was that?" He asked tentatively.

"Oh, it was just mom. She caught wind of Dean, and said she's on her way here."

She looked annoyed. "But... isn't that a good thing?"

She pulled a chair next to Sam and sat in it cross-legged. "If I tell you somethin' you'll keep it a secret?"

"I-uh... yeah. Uh, cross my heart, whatever."

"I don't want to see her."

"Why? Because she doesn't like the fact you're hunting?"

"That she learned to tolerate. It's just... the day that the Roadhouse burned down, and Ash..." she stopped.

"What?" Sam asked.

"Well, I had dropped by. And I asked Ash if he could help me with a hunt. Mom stepped in and said no, that he was doing work for you guys." She took a deep breath and Sam noticed tears in her eyes. She continued. "So, I left, went and found another hunter, chick named Annie Hawkins. Finished the job, went back home, but there was nothing but flames."

"So you blamed your mom," Sam said in realization.

She nodded as she choked as a tear rolled down her cheek. Sam felt guilty for the pain she was feeling. Ash was doing work for us. He pulled her in to a hug. She cried silently.

"Don't blame your mom, she was just trying to help us out."

"D-doesn-n't mak-e 't an-ny better."

After a while of her crying and Sam attempting to make her feel better, someone knocked on the door and in walked Dean's doctor. "We're ready to... am I interrupting something?"

Jo quickly escaped Sam's embrace and excused herself into the bathroom. Dr. Johnson just looked at Sam, but he turned his attention to Dean.

"So, you're gonna wake him up?"

"I can't guarantee that he will wake up. But we'll try. It might take a few hours, but its ultimately up to him."


"It's been SIX HOURS, BOBBY!"

"Calm down, boy. Give 'im time. I'm with Ellen, we're comin' on up your way."

Sam slammed the phone shut. He didn't care what the hell Bobby was doing. All he cared about was the fact that Dean still wasn't showing signs of waking.

In the first two hours, he started warming up again. But since 11:13, he had maintained a steady 98.6 degree body temp with no change to his conscious state. Sam was getting frustrated. Nothing was making sense. He wanted to punch something.

Jo was on the other side of the room, reading out of a Chinese take-out menu.

"Sam, you like General Tsao or Sweet and Sour?"

The door to the room was flung open before he could respond. Dr. Johnson came in looking very worried.

"Sam, we just got some tests back concerning your brother. It seems that knife one of the thugs stuck him with was covered in chlorotoxin."

Sam stood up. "Chlorotoxin? What is that? Was he poisioned?"

"No. He was... for lack of a better phrase," she paused. "Injected with venom."

"...Venom?"

"Chlorotoxin is a main chemical compound in scorpion venom. Though how someone got a hold of a scorpion here, in South Dakota, and then slathered it's venom on the tip of some knife, I'll never know." She left the room.

Sam fell into his chair. Venom? Scorpion VENOM? Why would werewolves use venom?

"Jo, can I borrow your phone?"

She tossed it to him, and he dialed Bobby.

"Bobby, have you left yet?"

"No, we were just about to. Why?"

"Can you do me a favor and see if you can find anything related to cases and scorpion venom?"

"Scorpion venom?! Why the hell do ya wanna look at scorpion venom and cases? You trackin' a giant sand bug in Arizona?"

"Will you just trust me on this?"

"Fine. We'll look, but-"

"Thanks."

He hung up and tossed the phone back to Jo. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"What are you thinkin' happened that Bobby needs to look up scorpions?"

"I don't know, I just have this feeling."

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"Well, werewolves, even Alphas, don't use poision- or in this case venom- ever. They don't even stab. They claw and tear. Which we did get clawed, but it was a lot more precise than a normal Alpha wolf attack."

"So?"

"So maybe we weren't even hunting what we thought we were. Maybe it was something else."