Wow, I think I stepped in it with the last chapter. I got everyone's attention. Well I hope this chapter will bring some answers as to why Sam went out without clothes. Hope you will enjoy it and thanks to all of you.
Sam Winchester was dreaming. He was dreaming he was lying in bed sleeping, when a voice whispering his name startled him awake. Looking around, he found only darkness and silence surrounding him and he was just about to go back to sleep, when he heard the whisper again.
"Help me Sammy, please…help me!"
He instantly recognized his brother's voice in the insistent murmur. Without further thought the young man leapt out of bed and followed Dean's voice, as it continued to desperately beckon for his help. There was a door in his way, but whoever had locked it, forgot that they were inside the house and the multiple locks provided no major hindrance to the young hunter. Hearing his brother call out again, he hurried to get outside, carefully closing the door behind him, so no one would keep him from leaving.
Once outside, a slight chill overcame him, as he felt the wind against the thin sweats and T-shirt he wore at night, making him want to turn around and change into something warmer. Yet the same wind also brought Dean's distressed cry for aid with it and so once more his priority became clear beyond the shadow of a doubt. Breaking into a jog, he followed the sound, hoping to find the source, his older brother before anything happened to him.
He must have been running for several miles, the dirt road underneath his feet hard and cold and the occasional rocks bruising and splitting the skin on his soles mercilessly. He ignored the pain, fear driving him forwards, as Dean's pleas became louder and more frantic. What was a little pain, if his brother needed him? Dean's life depended on him.
A sudden bright light blinded Sam and he stumbled backwards, almost losing his balance. Holding his right arm up to shield his eyes from the brilliance, he attempted to make out its origin, when a familiar figure stepped in front of it.
"Dean, you alright?"
There was a long pause, before the older man answered, "No, I'm not, how could I be? Whatever I do, wherever I go, you are always there, following me like a puppy. Why don't you just go away?"
Feeling like he got hit by a rock, the younger Winchester stumbled back, still dreadfully trying to figure out what he had done, when his brother continued.
"This is entirely your fault. I lost everything because of you. Mom died trying to save you, dad spent his whole live hunting that yellow-eyed bastard and I had to take care of you. I never got to be a child, never got to have fun, because I always had to babysit you brat. And what did it get me? You took off as soon as you could and went to Stanford, while I was the good son and stayed behind with dad."
He took several steps forward, stopping right in front of Sam. Although a few inches taller, the younger brother suddenly felt incredibly small.
"Why didn't you ever tell me you felt this way?" He questioned, his large blue-green eyes wet with unshed tears.
You should have known without me having to tell you! But you were way too selfish. You dragged a girl into your mess, got her killed and again it was me, who had to come and wipe your snotty nose. And for what? You got Caleb and Pastor Jim killed and now dad is dead too. Everyone around you dies. Who is gonna be next? Bobby? Me?"
Sam put his hands in front of his face, "No, no, no, please, I'm sorry…" He cried out, too terrified by Dean's word to form a clear thought.
"Guess what? Sorry doesn't cut it. Remember, too little, too late…"
The older Winchester stepped even closer now, making the taller man take a step backwards and loose his balance, as his foot found no purchase on the crumbling ground. Falling freely, Dean's words followed him down into the abyss.
"Too little, too late…; too little, too late…; too little…"
His back hit the ground hard and he continued to roll down a steep hill.
"Too little, too late…; too little, too…"
He hit even ground and finally came to a stop on his abdomen, his head facing to the right.
"Too little, too late…; too little, too late…; too…"
Dean's voice taunted him for a while longer until it faded out to nothing, his vision and hearing getting lost in the downwards pull of darkness. In the end it was only merciful nothingness which surrounded him like a soft blanket.
SN SN SN SN SN
For just a split second Dean stared at Bobby, his green eyes wide with panic, before he stormed towards the door. Ready to run out, the older man's voice held him back at the last moment.
"Halt!"
Irritated the younger man turned around, "What? My brother is out there somewhere, probably freezing to death and we are wasting precious time here!" He barked.
"Right, Sam is out there and you going off halfcocked won't help him any."
Reluctantly Dean walked back into the room, "Guess you've got a point. So how you wanna handle this?"
Alright, first of all, we have to figure out what's going o with the kid." Bobby suggested, "I mean, think about it, we are talking about Sammy here, the kid, who won't even take his shirt off in front of me.
Dean suddenly paled and swayed, making the older man reach out to steady him, before he would fall. Assisting him over to the couch, he settled him on it, before laying his hand on his shoulder.
"You alright?" He asked, honest concern lacing his voice.
"No", Dean shook his head, "no, I'm not alright." He looked up, his voice shaking as he continued, "Bobby, I know Sam has been sleeping down here, but did you notice anything odd in his behavior, especially at night?"
The older hunter thought for a moment, then nodded, "Well, now that you mention it, he did take a shower in the middle of the night and didn't feel the need to get dressed afterwards, wore only a towel in front of me. He was also acting a little weird, when we talked, but I didn't think too much about it, thought he was just too tired to really care and still wasn't ready to talk about what bothered him."
"Oh God…, I should have known! How could I have been so blind?" Dean carded his hands through his short spiked hair, before looking up at his friend, who was staring at him without understanding, waiting for an explanation. At last he continued, "After Sammy found out about the family\y business and dad let him go on a few hunts, some strange things happened in the house we lived in at the time. Dad finally figured out that Sammy was sleepwalking. I think that's what's happening now."
Bobby stared at him in an attempt to comprehend what he just heard. It didn't seem possible to him that all this time Sam had been asleep and he didn't notice it. But how would he ever even thought of anything like this, when no one ever bothered to tell him.
"Idjits, didn't anyone ever think it might be necessary to tell me about this? How many times did you boys stay with me? Sometimes it was only Sam, who stayed here, when your daddy took you with him. Did you ever think about what might have happened?"
He stalked into the kitchen, then turned around and came back, "Never mind that now. So he had to be asleep when he walked away…" He mused.
"Oh God, Bobby, where would he have gone?" Dean's voice was trembling with despair.
"Think boy, think, this is your brother." The grizzled hunter scolded. "He wanted to be with you, needed you even and you were in town…"
The older Winchester looked eyes with his friend, then jumped to his feet, "Let's go, he has to be somewhere between here and town."
This time he didn't stop until he sat in the Malibu, gunning the engine, leaving Bobby almost in the dirt, as the older man tore the passenger side open and jumped in at the last second before the old car tore down the drive of the salvage yard.
SN SN SN SN SN
Dean very slowly guided the vehicle down the dirt road, while both of them watched the ditches like hawks watched for their prey. Suddenly he brought the car to an abrupt stop, making an unprepared Bobby gasp as his head almost connected with the windshield.
Turning towards the younger man, he asked, "Did you see anything?"
The other hunter looked at him, his eyes filled with tears, visible having trouble speaking, "This is all my fault! Sammy is out there somewhere, hurting, because I acted like a jerk!"
"You don't know that Dean, he might be halfway to town by now, or maybe he woke up and is hiding in the bushes, too embarrassed to come out." The more experienced man tried to encourage his friend.
"No, I would have passed him on my way back, if he would be alright." Without saying anything further, he started the engine back up and drove on.
For a couple miles it was quiet in the car, neither man wanting to give voice to his fears. As they rolled closer to the area, where the right side of the road dropped off sharply, the younger hunter slowed the vehicle until it at last came to a complete stop at the side of the road. Getting out, he starte4d to walk the side of the gorge, his eyes firmly hefted on the bottom, never even noticing Bobby, who was following him closely.
Without warning he came to a stop, "Sammy…!"
The young man would have jumped down the fifteen feet to where his brother was lying, if it wouldn't have been for the other hunter holding him back.
"Don't Dean, you won't help Sam this way and I can't take care of both of you."
His voice was determined enough that the younger man instinctively stopped and gazed at him, "I got to get down there." He pleaded, his green eyes filled with fear for his baby brother.
"It's less steep over there." Bobby advised him, pointing at a spot only twenty yards ahead, "You go; I'll get back to the car and get a blanket and the first aid kit."
Dean took running without wasting another second, making it down to his brother in record time. Falling to his knees beside him, he didn't miss the large discoloration on Sam's back. He shrugged out of his jacket and gently laid it over the injured man.
"Oh God Sammy, what have I done?"
His hands ghosted over the kid's body, unable to touch out of fear to doing more harm. Finally they came to rest on the messy mob of chocolate colored hair. Gently his calloused hand stroked the strands out of Sam's face, taking in the dark eyelashes lying against skin, which seemed entirely without color, before his fingertips moved down to the side of his neck, feeling for a sign of life.
Dean held his breath for several seconds, while he concentrated on the nerve endings in his fingers, willing them to give him an answer to his desperate question. It seemed like they were giving him an answer alright, but it was certainly not the one he'd been looking for. There was nothing, not even a flutter beneath them.
Dread started to penetrate the older Winchester, making his blood rush through his vessels like a hot and cold river. He suddenly felt faint and his fingers slipped of his brother's skin, self-preservation leaving his mind void of any thought, as it refused to acknowledge the reality of what the nerves in his finger tips were trying to transmit to it.
He was still sitting with his head down and unmoving, when Bobby approached with the needed supplies. Taking in Dean's posture, he came to a halt, as it left him with no doubt of the tragedy, which was unfolding in front of him. At last he found the strength to spread out the blanket and gently cover the younger Winchester with it, gasping in surprise, as the older brother's hand shot out and grabbed his wrist, effectively preventing him from covering Sam's head.
"Don't!" Was the only thing that came from the distressed younger man's lips, before he fell quiet again, his eyes never leaving his brother.
For several minutes they held a silent vigil, the old hardened hunter standing at one side with silent tears flowing down his weathered cheeks. Kneeling on the other, the big brother, who suddenly realized that he had allowed his father's words to take away the one person, who was more important than said father ever had been.
Broken as both of them were, it was a small whimper, a sound of distress, almost to quiet for anyone to hear, which repaired their fractured world, which just seconds earlier seemed broken beyond mending. Almost instantly they broke into action, Dean moving his hand back onto Sam's neck, now understanding that it had been his fear, who led him to put his fingers in the wrong area. Now that he positioned them right, he could feel a slow, slightly hesitant, but definitely palpable heartbeat.
In the meantime Bobby lifted the blanket and jacket and looked at the damage done to the youngest man's back. Carefully sliding his hand over the area, he elicited another, this time louder whimper. Always determined to spare their youngest and having difficulty seeing him suffer, neither man would have ever believed a sound of pain from Sam could delight their hearts as much as it did in these last few moments. Yet here they were, just happy he was alive and unwavering in their resolve to keep him this way, no words needed.
TBC
So what you do you think? Was it alright? Guess Sammy isn't out of the woods yet, but at least he is alive. Please let me know what you think again. Hugs, Vonnie
