Author's Note: Lots and lots of thanks to Frenzied Warrior, BranchSuper, agrove, SuperPenguinLovesHerEdog, Eliza Ghost, elf, NewbieOnTheBlock, emebalia, snseriesfan, PsychoPicasso, Meggin Lane, Guest, Julefor, Wunjo, Swellison, O'erTheHillsandFarAway, Heartless BytchhakaHelenBach1, Daniella Jones, healingwater, and dianaj2w for their awesome reviews. I think I must have the best readers ever for this story!
Chapter Seven: An Older Brother's Duty
Sam groaned in pain and tried desperately not to black out. His forehead had hit the steering wheel and he felt a thin stream of blood leaking down the left side of his face, but he couldn't allow the head wound to get the better of him. The Impala had been rammed from behind, after being followed, and Sam knew that whoever had done it was probably after Dean. If he lost consciousness now, his brother would be gone or dead by the time he woke back up. That was not something that he could let happen.
With the thought of Dean, Sam turned his head to check on his brother only to find that the back seat was empty. No! How could they have gotten to Dean already? Sam was about to get out of the car to look around when something on the floor of the Impala caught his eye. It was the booster seat. And it was lying on the body of a small child.
"Dean!" Sam released his seatbelt and turned around completely, kneeling on the seat to get a better view of the back. His brother was lying crumpled on his side facing away from Sam, his right arm pinned under his body at an odd angle. Sam reached down and took the booster seat off of Dean to get a better look. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the boy was still breathing. He wanted to roll him over to see his face, but didn't want to cause any further injury. Sam would have to get into the back to get a better look.
Sam wanted to kick himself. There was only one way his brother could've ended up in this position. Dean hadn't been wearing his seatbelt. Sam had let him into the car, then closed the door and drove off without double checking. Dean and him had both been so busy teasing each other and mock arguing that neither of them had paid any attention to the child's safety. But the thing that really pissed off Sam was that Dean would've checked if the roles were reversed. Dean always took care of Sam and made sure that he was protected. Dean had raised him and kept him as safe as possible for twenty-six years and Sam had failed his brother after just over twenty-four hours. But Sam just wasn't use to being the big brother. Sure he'd watched Dean's back over the years while hunting together, but he never had to worry about shopping for his brother, making sure he slept and ate correctly, and he certainly never had to check to see if Dean was wearing a seatbelt. The 'big brother duties' that came so easily to Dean were foreign to Sam. But he'd have to learn fast. He had to care for his brother until they could reverse his condition, and if it couldn't be reversed then Sam was in it for the long haul.
Sam heard a car door slam and knew he had more immediate problems. Pulling out the demon killing knife, Sam opened the front door and got out. A man and a woman were approaching him, their eyes as black as night. Sam held the knife out in front of himself, ready to attack them when they were close enough. The woman eyed him warily. Sam was willing to bet that they figured the hunter would be unconscious and Dean would be theirs for the taking.
"Hand your brother over." The male demon ordered.
"Not going to happen."
"Then we'll have to take him by force. We have our orders. Dean Winchester will die."
"Go back to Lucifer and tell him to forget it. Dean's not going to die and I won't ever say yes." Both demons stepped closer. "I guess your corpses will have to send the message then."
The man laughed. "Kill us and more will come after you. Now that we found you Winchesters, you'll find that our kind is not easy to shake."
"You found us both times by luck." Sam shrugged. "What, you guys are sitting around rest areas and fast food joints in the hopes of stumbling into us?"
The somewhat guilty look on the female's face confirmed his theory.
"It doesn't matter how we found you." The male demon insisted. "What matters is that we did and you are now at our mercy."
"Wow. Just be glad that Dean's not standing right here, because he'd mock your dumb clichés for sure." Sam informed him.
Without another word, Sam ran at his attackers, hoping to catch them off guard. The man raised his hand, ready to throw Sam to the side, but it was too late. The knife was buried in his throat before he could act. Sam pulled it out and turned to do the same to the woman. But she was obviously the smart one, because she'd gotten back in her car and was backing away. That was fine with Sam. Every moment he wasted on them was another moment he wasn't with his brother. He'd kept an eye on the Impala to make sure that no one had tried to sneak in, but not knowing the extent of Dean's condition was driving him insane.
Sam opened the back door and peered inside. Dean hadn't moved at all, but he was still breathing and his breaths didn't seem labored. Sam leaned closer to his brother. Dean's right arm was obviously dislocated at the shoulder, but the rest of his body didn't appear to be in bad condition. Sam knew there was a chance of internal bleeding or spinal injury and that moving him could cause more damage, but he didn't have a choice. Dean had no ID for himself at this age, so a trip to the hospital was out of the question. Sam couldn't risk child services getting involved. Very carefully, the older Winchester put his arms around the boy, gently cradling his body, and lifted him up. Then he placed Dean on the back seat. Dean's nose was bleeding and the right side of the little hunter's face was covered in bruises. A peak under the shirt revealed more contusions. But there was no sign of any broken bones. Sam breathed a sigh of relief. It could've been so much worse. He knew that he'd need to reset his brother's arm immediately, which would probably be best to do while he was unconscious anyway. Sam held the tiny arm in his hand, placed his other hand on Dean's shoulder and jerked the limb back into place.
"Ahhhhh!" Dean's eyes flew open as he screeched in agony.
"Dean, it's okay. You're okay. I just had to fix your arm, but you'll be fine. Try not to move."
"Sammy?"
"I'm here, Dean. I'm here."
"That kinda hurt." Dean tried to joke, tears of pain running down his face.
"I'm sure it did."
"You're bleeding. You need me to take a look at it?"
Sam had completely forgotten about his head wound. "Don't worry about it. It's not that bad."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. How are you feeling?"
Dean shrugged his good shoulder. "Arm hurts like a bitch, but I'll live."
"That sounds so wrong coming out of a four year old's mouth." Sam commented.
"You know what'd sound even worse?" Dean asked with a grin.
"I don't want to hear it."
"Kill-joy." He muttered. Sobering, Dean looked around. "So what happened?"
"The car behind us was being driven by demons. They rear ended us. I ganked one of them but the other escaped."
"Is the Impala okay?"
"I didn't check." Sam admitted, knowing that Dean was going to go nuclear. He was right.
Dean sat up and tried to get out of the car. "Let me out, Sam. I gotta check on her."
Not wanting to hurt Dean any further by trying to stop him, Sam backed up and let the boy hop out. Sam followed his brother to the back of the vehicle.
The damage was minimal, a crunched up bumper and a busted taillight, but Dean looked stricken.
"Oh baby, what did they do to you?"
"Dean, it'll be fine. Bobby can fix it up when we get to his place but we gotta get moving before anyone else shows up."
"This is why she likes me more than you." Dean pointed out but walked to the back door. Sam opened the trunk and pulled out a first aid kit. Then he went over to Dean.
"I'm going to get this flannel shirt off of you. It's a little tight in the upper arm and I don't want there to be any problems with swelling." His brother nodded and allowed Sam to slip the shirt off. Then Sam used some bandages to construct a makeshift sling. Once the arm was immobilized, Sam put the booster seat in place on the left side of the seat so the belt wouldn't touch Dean's injured shoulder. Next he picked his brother up and put him in the car seat. Dean grumbled a little, but they both knew he'd have had trouble climbing in on his own. Sam wet a piece of gauze with some bottled water and used it to gently wash the blood off the boy's face. Once the seatbelt was secured (Sam wasn't making that mistake twice), Sam closed the back door and got into the driver's seat. Then they were back on the road.
…
…Supernatural…Supernatural…Supernatural…Supernatural…Supernatural…
…
Dean sat in the back seat trying not to cry out in pain every time the Impala went over a bump, hit a pothole, or took a particularly sharp turn. His shoulder was killing him, but he sure as hell wasn't going to complain to Sam. It was his own damn fault for forgetting to put on his seatbelt in the first place. For such a bonehead move, he deserved a little pain. But the pain he was in was more than just a little. It seemed like this child-sized body came with a low threshold for pain. Awesome.
Dean reached into the bag of chocolate covered pretzels and tossed one into his mouth. He'd wanted the peanut M&Ms but Sam had called them a choking hazard or some such crap. Oh, well. The pretzels would do for now. It was almost evening and they hadn't stopped to eat since McDonald's. The last thing they needed was to encounter more fuglies. Besides, they'd be at Bobby's soon. But he was really hungry and so Sam had offered him the candy.
Chewing the chocolate treat, Dean looked out the window at the now familiar landscape. They were almost there. He felt a rush of excitement. Bobby would be able to fix this and then life could get back to normal. He wouldn't be constantly drowning in emotions, he'd be able to get back to hunting, he'd be able to drive, and Sam wouldn't have to take care of him anymore. He watched as his brother looked in the rear view mirror for the millionth time with that pathetic expression on his face. Dean knew that look. It meant that Sam was feeling bad for Dean and was worried about him. But that just wasn't right. Dean was the older brother and worrying was his job. Dean took care of Sammy. That was just how the universe was supposed to work.
Before he could get anymore depressed than he currently was, the car started to slow down. They had arrived at Singer Salvage. Sam had barely parked when Dean undid his belt and pushed open the door. As soon as his Spiderman sneakers hit the gravel (red lights flashing with the impact) Dean was walking quickly towards the house. He wanted to break into a run, but kids ran into their friends' houses and Dean was not a kid. Sam caught up with him and the two brothers went up to the door and let themselves in.
"Bobby, we're here!" Sam called.
"In here!" The older hunter responded.
Dean led the way into Bobby's study. Bobby sat in his wheelchair at the desk with books and papers spread out in front of him, obviously hard at work. Dean just hoped that all that work was going to pay off.
Author's Note Part Two: And there's chapter seven. Hope you all enjoyed. Coming up... Bobby! Please, please, please leave a review and let me know what you think. The more reviews I get, the more peanut M&Ms I give to Dean... or something like that. I really do appreciate all of your support. Thanks.
