A/N Sorry for the wait, I've had GCSEs and they are SO not fun. Anyway, the reviews were amazing, seriously thanks so much guys! Some people have been getting pretty close in guessing what is wrong with Sam but this is the one where you find out! Enjoy…

Dean floored the accelerator, well aware that he was doing over 80 right now but he didn't care. He needed to get Sam to the hospital and fast. He hadn't woken up since he had put him in the car and was moaning softly in his sleep.

Each sound was like a jab at Dean's heart, guilt bubbling away inside of him as he sped faster down the road. He shouldn't have left him. He shouldn't have gone out and left Sam, especially with him being sick. Christ, what had he been thinking?

Taking a sharp left he saw the sign for the hospital and sighed in relief.

"Nearly there Sammy." He said softly even though he wasn't sure if Sam was coherent enough to hear him let alone understand him.

Sharply turning again, tires squealing in complaint he sped into the emergency entrance and braked sharply, the car skidding to a halt.

He fumbled with his seat belt with shaking hands and managed to untangle himself and he scrambled out of the car, legs like jelly as he ran to Sam's side. He pulled the door upon and carefully unfastened Sam's seatbelt.

"C'mon Sam we're here…wake up for me buddy. I'm gonna get you help. Wake up Sammy." He said shaking his brother gently.

Sam merely moaned in response, turning fitfully. Dean swallowed hard, he knew he wasn't going to get Sam up let alone walking. He quickly slid his arms under his brother and scooped him up into his arms, buckling slightly under his weight. God he was getting heavy, catching up in height too. That just wasn't right.

Shit, why was he thinking about stuff like this? He needed to get Sam help. Hurrying as fast as he could under Sam's weight he crossed the ambulance bay. He entered the automatic doors to the ER and was immediately hit by the bustling noises, crying kids, raised voices and the smell of disinfectant.

Staggering slightly he crossed the room looking for a doctor. Looking around desperately finally he spotted a doctor talking to the receptionist.

"Hey, please…can you help my brother. He's got a fever and I can't wake him up." Dean said desperately as the doctor immediately looked down at Sam.

"I need a gurney here!" He yelled and immediately nurses hurried over with a gurney in tow. Dean lowered his brother shakily on to it and brushed his sweaty bangs away from his face.

"I need you to tell me what happened, any other symptoms." The doctor said hurriedly as Dean followed them down the corridor where they were wheeling Sam into trauma. Dean ran a shaking hand through his hair, his eyes not leaving Sam as he lay there limply.

"He uh…He's been sick, puking…he uh…said he had a headache and I found him passed out." Dean said unable to keep the waver from his voice as IVs and wires were immediately hooked up to his brother.

"His temp is 104.3" a nurse said urgently and Dean swallowed hard. That was high…too high.

"Okay Mr…" another nurse said approaching Dean.

"It's Dean." He said softly, still staring numbly at Sam.

"What's your brother's name?" She asked.

"Sammy…Sam. His name's Sam." He replied.

"Okay, is your brother allergic to anything? Any medical conditions we should know about?" She asked as Dean scrubbed a hand over his face.

"Um no, nothing that we know of." He said trying to think if Sam had ever been allerfic to any medicine.

"Okay thanks, you're gonna need to check your brother's details in at the front desk and we need space to work on him. We're gonna do some tests okay and then we'll come and find you when you can see Sam." She said with a reassuring smile that did nothing to comfort Dean as he heard the doctor muttering lowly to the other nurses. He nodded stiffly and took one last look at his brother before reluctantly leaving the room.

He'd fill in the forms for Sam, hand the fake insurance details and everything would be fine. Sam would be fine.

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Several lies and half truths later, Dean had finished the forms and given their fake insurance details which had been handed back with a smile. Dean forced one in return and took his place back on the row of chairs that sat outside the trauma room.

He was going crazy, waiting, not knowing and not being able to look after his brother, not being able to protect him was tearing him apart. He'd always been there for his brother, always able to fix things but this was out of his hands. Sam was hurting and sick and there was nothing he could do but wait and be here.

He sighed shakily and leant back against the wall, closing his eyes. It was nearing 2:30am and Dean hadn't slept. His eyes were itching with tiredness but the worry over Sam was keeping him awake. Sam needed him.

The door to his right swung open and Sam's doctor stepped out, his white coat billowing around him. Dean scrambled to his feet trying to read the middle-aged doctor's face for any sign, whether it was bad news or good news.

"How is he? Is he okay? Can you fix him?" Dean asked rapidly, stumbling over his words in his hurry. The doctor held up a hand to calm the obviously frantic teen in front of him, he could tell this boy cared a great deal about his younger brother.

"We're still running tests. We've taken blood and urine samples, we've run scans and we're going to find out what is wrong. Sam's fever is extremely high so we're working on getting that down and he's dehydrated so we've started several IV lines. Sam's symptoms could point to a number of things so we're going to run down tests to narrow it down. We're going to do a spinal tap." The doctor rattled of gravely and Dean swallowed hard, his throat dry.

"What's that?" Dean asked.

"Basically we insert a needle into the fluid between the vertebrae in the spinal chord. We can rule out or diagnose illnesses from this test. Although it can be very uncomfortable for the patient it is necessary."

Dean grimaced; they were going to stick a needle into his little brother's spine. If a doctor was admitting it was going to be 'very uncomfortable' this didn't inspire a lot of confidence in Dean. It was going to hurt his brother and Dean couldn't stand to see his brother hurting, as annoying as he was there was nothing worse.

"Can I see him?" Dean asked hopefully and the doctor nodded.

"It's probably better Sam has someone with him during the procedure. Do you have anyone to contact. Your parents?" The doctor asked and Dean paused.

"I tried to call my Dad but he's on a business trip and I can't get through." Dean lied easily. The doctor nodded, accepting his response and led him through the doors to see Sam.

Upon seeing his brother lying there awake Dean rushed to his side, staring down at his pale face and slightly glazed eyes worriedly.

"Sam, Jesus kiddo you sure know how to scare the shit out of me." He said breathlessly and was rewarded by a tired smile from Sam.

"Sorry…I…I'm sorry about your party." Sam said, wincing from the throbbing in his head. Sure the meds they had given him had helped a little but he could still feel the steady throbbing.

"Don't be stupid Sam you're sick…it sucked anyway." Dean said truthfully, studying his brother as he lay there, fighting to stay awake. He looked terrible.

Sam grimaced as his stomach churned violently and suddenly he knew what was about to happen as his stomach lurched into his throat.

"Dean…sick." He managed to gasp out. Catching on, Dean quickly grabbed one of the cardboard bowls placed by the side of the bed and thrust it under Sam's chin just in time to catch the liquid that poured from his throat with each violent heave.

Dean rubbed his brother's back gently and found himself whispering soft words of reassurance in his brother's ears as he strained and dry-heaved, gasping and coughing.

"Come on, breathe through it Sammy…breathe." He said softly, still rubbing his back. Eventually, the heaving stopped and Sam collapsed back against the pillows in exhaustion. Dean moved the bowl away trying not to look at the contents. He hated seeing Sam like this.

"I hate this." Sam whispered brokenly and Dean felt like he was going to break. Blinking quickly he took Sam's hand, an uncommon gesture between the brothers and squeezed it.

"I know it sucks but you'll be okay. We'll get through this okay? Hopefully this will all turn out to be nothing." Dean said trying to reassure his miserable brother.

"Dean, I don't want them to stick a needle in my back. Please…can't we just go home. I feel fine." Sam lied, thinking he would be more convincing if he were able to stop shivering.

Dean frowned skeptically in return but felt a pang of sympathy for his brother. He was scared, hell he was scared for him.

"I'd be more convinced if you hadn't just blown chunks right in front of me. Look they need to do this to find out what's wrong and once they find out what's wrong you can get better and we can get out of this dump." He said with a smile. Sam sighed shakily and nodded mutely in response, regretting it as his head exploded with pain.

The door opened and Dean turned to see a nurse walk into the room with a trolley. Sam caught site of it and looked up at Dean who offered him a weak smile and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Okay Sam, I need you to roll onto your side and look at your brother okay?" The nurse said and Sam weakly obeyed, shakily rolling onto his side and looking at Dean who gripped his hand tightly.

"Take deep breaths." The nurse said softly as she swabbed his back with something cold.

Sam tried to keep his breaths even as he sat there waiting for the needle to pierce his skin, Dean's grip was tight and reassuring.

Dean winced as he heard Sam's sharp intake of breath and his face screwed up against the pain as he gripped Dean's hand hard. His hand was going slightly numb but he didn't care. Sam clenched his teeth against the sharp pain and the pressure in his back and closed his eyes.

"All done." The nurse said and Sam let out a long, shaking breath and Dean could detect the slight hitch and the small tear that dribbled from the corner of his eye.

"It's okay Sammy it's finished." Dean said softly as the nurse taped a small bandage over Sam's back and pulled the gown back down over it. Sam sniffed but didn't say anything. Dean watched his brother as he appeared to drift into an exhausted sleep and blinked hard. He hated this.

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Dean's eyes shot open and he found himself lying with his head resting on the side of Sam's bed. Sitting up and rubbing his eyes he looked at his brother and found him still sleeping, still looking terrible, still sick. Frowning he turned and found the source of noise that had pulled him from his uneasy sleep.

"We have your brother's test results back." The doctor said and Dean was immediately wide awake.

"I'm afraid to say that Sam is extremely sick. He had bacterial meningitis." He said gravely and Dean felt like he had been punched in the stomach. All the air seemed to disappear from the room and he sat there gaping like a fish out of water for a few seconds before managing to stammer out a 'what?'

"Sam's fever has gone up and it's becoming dangerously high. We need to get it down. We're starting him on antibiotics which will hopefully treat the infection."

Dean struggled to process what he was hearing. Meningitis? Fever…shit. This was bad. Sam was sick, really sick. Fuck.

"We're going to move him to the ICU so we can monitor him more closely." The doctor said as Dean nodded absently, staring at his sleeping brother. Sam had to be okay.

"Is…is he going to be alright?" Dean managed to stammer, his stomach churning. He felt like he was going to be sick. The doctor paused, frowning.

"We're going to do everything we can."

Dean stared at him stunned. That wasn't a yes, Dean needed a 'yes you're brother is going to be fine' not some diplomatic half-truth.

This was bad. How could he have gone and left his brother? His father was gone…what was he supposed to do?

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Things were hazy, everything was fuzzy and he wasn't sure exactly what was going on. All he knew was that strangers kept talking, poking him, prodding him and he couldn't see Dean anywhere. He wanted Dean.

There was a continuous beeping sound coming from his right that was really starting to piss him off and if it were possible he felt even worse than before. He could barely open his eyes.

He saw a pastel figure hovering above him and he tried to speak but his throat was scratchy and it killed just to talk.

"Dean…" was all he managed to croak out and the stranger said something in return that he didn't quite catch before he drifted off back into the blackness.

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Dean inserted the quarter into the payphone and dialed the familiar number. He waited, hearing the phone ringing a few times.

He hadn't been allowed to see Sam, saying he could be contagious and they had given him a shot to make sure he didn't develop the illness. He needed to see his brother, he hated this- being kept from him. Sam was sick and alone. He shouldn't be alone.

The ringing stopped.

"This is John Winchester, leave a message and I'll get back to you."

Dean felt anger build inside of him and he slammed the phone down and kicked the wall. Hard.

He sank down to the nearest chair, barely registering the throbbing in his foot and cradled his head in his hand.

This wasn't fair. Sam didn't deserve this.

How could he not have noticed Sam was this sick? This was his fault…He needed to see his brother.

A/N Sorry if it was a bit slow but I have to set stuff up for what is to come! Tell me what you think!