Disclaimer, Summary and Author's Notes all attached to Chapter 1

Thanks to Rae Artemis for not only betaing the story but also helping me in my search for the elusive book for Rose to read...

Chapter 2

She'd gone into the second-hand bookstore and asked for their advice, they'd not given her any specifics but had suggested that horror, crime, science fiction were quite popular with young men. Another idea had been biographies.

She'd browsed the shelves for an hour before making her final choice. It hadn't taken her long to rule out horror and crime, the mere thought of that too-still body lying against the stark white sheets had her discarding anything else horrific. It hadn't made choosing much easier though.

She took the book home and thought she would try reading a bit to see what it was like. Her thoughts kept drifting back to Dean, the too-still young man. She tried to work out why it was that it was the stillness that frightened her the most, why it was she was so sure that he should not be so still.

She couldn't concentrate, couldn't get the picture of the young man lying unmoving out of her mind. In the end, shaking herself from her dismal thoughts, she dropped the book into her bag and set off back to the hospital.

Getting back to ICU she stopped at the nurses' station. The young nurse from earlier was there. She looked up in surprise. "Miss Rose! Oh!" she sounded disappointed. "You're not going to tell me you've changed your mind, are you?"

"Oh no, not at all. I thought I'd pop in as I was passing to see if the young man was free and if he is, maybe I could visit again now."

"Really, oh that's wonderful. Yes, he's free, his father spent a few minutes with him earlier and Sam, the other young man in the crash, he'll be in later I would imagine. He comes every day. But Dean is free just now."

"So, it's okay for me to spend some time with him now?"

"Definitely."

She'd gone back to his room then, opened the door. It didn't get any easier seeing him like that, she couldn't even begin to imagine how horrendous this must be for his family and friends. A body so still, it wasn't natural and it certainly wasn't right for Dean. She looked at him again, wondering why she was so certain it wasn't right. Eventually she decided it must have been his physique.

"Hey Dean. It's Rose again. I know I said I wasn't coming back until tomorrow or the day after when we spoke earlier but well, I was bored at home this afternoon so I thought I'd drop back in to see if you were free. I've been down the store and chosen a book. I don't know if either of us will like it but... I figured we could give it a try and see how it goes."

"The book I've chosen is by someone called Spider Robinson. Odd name if you ask me. I mean who would name a child Spider. Mind you in all my years of teaching I've come across some really odd names. I've taught a 'Moonbeam', a 'Storm' and a 'Cloud'. Over the course of a few years I taught a whole family named after the cities they were conceived in. There was Brooklyn, Memphis and Paris. There was another one but I can't remember where exactly that one... you know what I mean. Their Mom used to tell everyone how she came up with the names. If you ask me some information doesn't need to be shared. I had a boy called Blue and a girl called Saffron too. Anyway I guess it just goes to show all sorts of people, all sorts of ideas. So this book then... It's called "Callahan's Crosstime Saloon". According to the back of the book "Callahan's Place is the neighborhood tavern to all of time and space, where the regulars are anything but. Pull up a chair, grab a glass of your favorite, and listen to the stories spun by time travelers, cybernetic aliens, telepaths..., and a bunch of regular folks on a mission to save the world, one customer at a time." So what do you think? Shall we give it a go? Try it? Well, I'll take that as a yes as you've raised no objection to it."

She adjusted her position in the chair getting herself settled comfortably. Then she opened the book and began to read, "The Guy with the Eyes. Callahan's Place was pretty lively that night. Talk fought Budweiser for mouth space all over the joint..."

She read on smoothly, smiling in agreement with Callahan's suggestion that no-one sane counterfeits one-dollar bills. She groaned as she read the puns and said, "I don't know about you, but I think some of those are really bad." She paused and looked at him again. It was strange this one-sided conversation. She kept somehow expecting him to join in and just suddenly answer her questions. Realistically with a ventilator, even if he was awake, he wasn't going to be answering her, but she remembered what the nurse had said about brain activity. Maybe if she asked him things, he'd be thinking about the answers, maybe it might encourage more brain activity, bring him nearer to waking. She started reading again, "'Why, you young whelp, aorta poke you one,' roared the Doc, and the bar exploded with laughter and cheers."

Hearing a noise behind her, Rosalyn looked round expecting to see one of the nurses and was surprised to see a very tall young man looking at her. Whilst not quite threatening, the man's stance was wary, prepared might be a good way to describe it. "Who are you? And what are you doing here?" he asked bluntly.

She stood laying the book down on her chair and turned to face the young man fully. As she looked at him, she could see the fading bruises and healing cuts and guessed that he must be the other young man the nurse had spoken of. She stretched her hand out to him and said "Rosalyn Butler. The hospital staff asked me if I would read to your friend to see if having extra company might help his recovery."

"He's not my friend. He's my brother... I mean he is...my friend. I... He's Dean." She watched the exhausted young man in front of her, saw him move to his friend's side. Brother's side she mentally corrected herself. "He's more than just a brother," the man said.

"I understand."

She saw him lean down taking the unencumbered hand of the man on the bed, the only part of him free from equipment and bandages. "He's Dean," the man said again, as if the word itself said more than brother and friend.

He looked back up at her, as if he'd almost forgotten she was there, "Sorry, erm Mrs... I'm sorry, what...?"

"Rosalyn, or Rose which ever you prefer. The hospital runs a program..." she went onto explain the work she had been doing and how the hospital had wondered if trying the same process might help Dean. She finished with, "So this is the book I got... What do you think? Would he enjoy it?"

Sam looked at the book and said, "It's worth a try... it's a long time since he's had an opportunity to read just for pleasure."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah... just tired, worried about him, you know. He's so still, he's never still."

"I understand, look I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name, but... I'll leave you and Dean and I'll come back another time."

"I'm Sam, Dean is my older brother and... you know... thanks, thanks for doing this for him... I appreciate it."

"The other man in the car with you both, how's he doing?"

"Fine, they released him, our Dad, a few days ago. He's staying with me at the motel for now. He comes to see Dean when he comes down to have his dressings checked and changed. We... we don't tend to come down together. It's better that way, better for Dean..."

"It means he has company for longer, so like you say it is good for him that way. I was thinking of popping in tomorrow, when would be a good time do you think? I don't want to get in your way."