Chapter 9

Felicity stared down at Dean, tears beginning to sting her eyes. She felt so guilty about all that had happened – it was all her fault. With the back of her hand, she quickly brushed away the tears before they made their way down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry this happened." She whispered. She shifted her eyes towards the front and met Sam's eyes staring at her in the rear vision mirror. She shifted her eyes quickly away from his, the guilt trying to consume her.

Sam made the drive back to the hospital, driving carefully so as not to jostle Dean and Felicity around too much in the back seat. He didn't want to cause his brother any more harm.

Upon arriving at the hospital, Sam jumped from the car without even turning off the ignition and ran straight into the emergency room, grabbing the first person he could find which happened to be a young male nurse.

"My brother! He needs help!" Sam said, dragging the nurse by him arm towards the exit.

"Okay sir, just calm down! Let me get a doctor." He extricated herself from Sam's grip and went to the nurse's station and picked up a phone, said a few hasty words and then came back to join Sam at the entrance. He then followed Sam out to where the Impala was haphazardly parked in the ambulance bay.

Karla had turned off the motor and now stood nervously peering into the back window of the car. When she saw Sam approaching with a nurse, she stepped hastily aside.

The nurse took one look inside and quickly turned to scan the entrance to see if the doctor was coming. He just happened to come through the doors at that exact moment followed by an orderly pushing a gurney.

"What's going on?" The doctor asked, efficiently taking over.

"My brother's been hurt. He's unconscious." Sam said, running a hand through his hair.

The doctor opened the door where Felicity was sitting. "You can come on out now young lady." He said softly, gently lifting Dean's head so that she could get out of the car.

Felicity slowly got out of the car and stood back as the doctor, nurse and orderly helped to get Dean out of the car as carefully as they could and once on the gurney rushed him straight inside with Sam, Felicity and Karla in tow.

They got as far as the treatment room where they were stopped from going any further by the nurse. "You can't come in here. You'll have to wait in the waiting area."

Sam sighed deeply, stuffed his hands in his jean pockets and turned away from the nurse. He slowly wandered back to the waiting area where Karla and Felicity were standing, huddled together.

Sam threw his lanky body into one of the uncomfortable chairs and slumped down, his face showing despair at the current situation.

After a long twenty minutes, Felicity couldn't stand the waiting any longer. She got up and strode to the nurse's station.

"Excuse me, can you tell me how he's doing?" She asked.

The nurse gave her a half-smile. "Don't worry, the doctor will come and explain everything to you very soon." Felicity let out a long, slow breath and went back to her seat next to Sam. "I hate this." She said.

"Seems like I spend a lot of my time waiting in these places." Sam said, shifting in the uncomfortable, plastic chair. "Felicity, y'know this isn't your fault, don't you?"

Felicity let out a small snort. "Easy for you to say Sam. I'm sitting here feeling as guilty as if it were me that smacked Dean on the back of the head! I can't help but feel that if I hadn't of run into Dean back at the Mansion, none of this would have happened."

"Dean's gonna be okay and it's NOT your fault. Why do you think we were at the Conrad Mansion in the first place? It's not as if we were taking a moonlight tour." Sam replied.

At that precise moment, the doctor came through the doorway from the treatment room. "Mr Winchester?"

Sam sprang to his feet and covered the short distance to the doctor quickly. "Yeah."

"Come with me please." The doctor led the way back into the treatment room with Sam in tow.

Just inside the door to the treatment room, the doctor stopped and turned to Sam. "Your brother is a fighter, I'll give you that. We've re-stitched him and he's just regained consciousness. He'll seem a little groggy but he should be okay."

"Thanks doc." Sam said and turned to go to this brother. "Hey Dean."

Dean's eyes fluttered open and focused on Sam's face. "Sammy." He muttered.

"Shit Dean, you sure know how to get into trouble." Sam smiled.

"Trouble's my middle name." Dean said with a small smile of his own.

"I guess this time you're gonna be staying in here for a while." Sam said.

Dean scowled at the thought of having to stay in hospital. "Not if I can help it."

"Dean…" Sam said in frustration. "You need to rest up for a while! Try listening to the doctor!"

"Yeah, but not here." Dean replied. "Nurses here are okay but really not my type. Help me up Sam."

Sam lent his brother an arm. "You're a real pain the ass, you know?"

Dean shrugged. "So you keep tellin' me. Now go and check to see if we can get the hell out of here without anyone noticing."

Sam went to the doorway and scanned up and down the hall to check for any sign of staff. They only staff was at the nurse's station near the waiting room. "Just one nurse." Sam said, watching as Dean struggled into his jacket.

"You go keep her busy then." Dean said, clapping Sam on the shoulder.

"Dean!" Sam began to protest.

"Just go Sammy!" Dean said pushing him out the door.

Sam rolled his eyes and trudged over to the nurse. "Ah excuse me. Hi there. Could you help me?"

"Happy to, how can I help?" The nurse smiled engagingly at him.

Sam kept the nurse engaged in small talk whilst Dean managed to slip out the treatment room and outside to his freedom.

Felicity and Karla, seeing Dean walking past, got up and followed him outside. "Dean? What are you doing out of bed?" Felicity asked.

Dean turned to her with a sly smile. "Can't keep a good man down."

"You're crazy!" You know that?" Felicity said, a small smile playing on her own lips.

Dean leaned close to her and whispered, "Let's test out that theory later, shall we?"

"C'mon let's get out of here." Sam said emerging from the hospital. They climbed into the Impala. "Where to?"

"Let's go back to our place. I think we could all use a drink." Felicity said.

"Or two." Karla mumbled from the back seat.

The drive back to the house was quiet, each lost in their own thoughts about what had happened that night.

Once inside the house, Karla went straight to the bar and got 4 shot glasses and a bottle of scotch. She poured the alcohol and then handed around the glasses. Each of them downed the contents of the glasses quickly. Karla then held out the bottle for refills but only Dean took up the offer. Karla also refilled her own glass and the liquid in one hit and then flopped down on the sofa.

Everyone was silent for well over a couple of minutes until Felicity got to her feet. "Don't know about you all, but I'm starving. Think I'm gonna go rustle up some food."

"Don't worry about me Flick. I'm just gonna run a bath and go to bed." Karla said.

"Sam? Dean?" Felicity asked. "Hungry?"

"Yep, always hungry." Dean responded.

"Yeah sure." Sam said. "Need a hand?"

"Nah, you just stay there, I can manage." Felicity said making her way into the kitchen.

Felicity went to the fridge, opened it and stood staring at the contents. She decided on a stack of sandwiches and set to work. As she stood at the counter, piling the sandwiches on plates, it suddenly all struck her.

She quickly sat down on a kitchen chair as her legs turned to jelly, her hands trembling uncontrollably. She clasped her hands together tightly to try and stop the trembling. "Stopstopstopstopstop!" She said over and over as the tears coursed down her cheeks. Felicity put her head down on the table, feeling like her whole world was caving in around her.

A few seconds later, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She slowly looked up and turned and looked into Dean's eyes as he knelt beside her. "Hey." He said quietly.

"I just got a little rattled is all." Felicity said, wiping her eyes. "I'm okay now." She got to her feet – her legs still feeling like jelly - and Dean stood up in front of her. "I need to finish the sandwiches….."

Dean took her hand and slowly pulled her towards him. His other hand snaked around her neck as his lips zeroed in on hers.

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