Warnings and disclaimers see chapter 1

Many thanks to rascalflattsgurl43 for the speedy beta on this story

Chapter ten Free at last

Dean fell to sleep a short time later and Dean's neurologist came in to see Sam.
"So why can't my brother remember things that have happened for the last few years? This isn't short term memory loss," Sam asked after the greetings were done.
"No in David's case, the fractured skull caused pressure against his temporal lobe as we discussed. It seems it has swollen the area around the hippocampus which is located in the inner fold of the temporal lobe. The hippocampus, the cortical structures surrounding it, and the neural pathways that connect them to the cortex as a whole are all heavily involved in declarative memory–the memory of facts and events."

Sam frowned as he struggled to take it in.
"His Episodic memory has been affected but his short term not at all which is highly unusual."
'Trust Dean to be highly unusual.' .
"What does it mean?"
"Episodic memory refers to our ability to recall personal experiences from our past. When we recount events that happened during our childhood, a movie we saw last week, or what we ate for breakfast, we are employing our long-term episodic memory. As its name suggests, this aspect of memory organizes information around episodes in our lives."
"So you are saying he has lost a few years in his life because he can't recall them?"
"Yes. But the good news is I am very confident David will get these memories back. He needs to see people and places from the missing years to get them back."
"He seems to be missing from sixteen or seventeen on."
"Yes. We got that feeling. He was a little confused as to what your dad did for a living around that time so it was difficult to pin down an actual age. He doesn't seem to even know what high school he was going to either."
"Yeah our dad moved around a lot on different jobs back then."

Sam was selling the standard line they gave to explain their nomadic existence even as he contemplated how much harder it would make Dean's recovery.
"I will try to help him remember if I can."
"It would be good for him to have a family member around to help him."
Sam nodded and went back to his brother. Sam told Dean what the doctor had said. He accepted it with a slight frown.
"Want to pull out now?"
"What?" Sam frowned.
"Rehab."
"No way Dean I promised."
"Well you can pull put at any time, Sammy. I'm sure I can do it from a motel just as well. I know what a pain in the ass I can be."

Dean again looked unsure and shy. Sam had to remember Dean was seeing every thing with his last memory being sixteen. He was used to looking after Sam not the other way around. Still, he couldn't remember Dean being shy at sixteen. Sam would have been twelve and Dean's shadow learning all he could. Dean was also Sam's only slice of normality at that time. Dean would do things with Sam while their dad was away to give him something like a normal life. Sam knew even from an early age Dean had built up emotional shields to protect him from the traumas of his life. When something bad happened, Sam would always be surprised that Dean could just give Sam his cocky grin and carry on. He vowed to keep an eye on Dean.
"Don't even think about it, Dean."
"I'm just giving you the option. Don't forget I will be learning how to walk again, with one arm. It's going to be tough on top of missing a few years."
Sam realized that was probably why Dean was doing rehab in the first place. If he went too fast, he would be falling on his ass a lot. Not a great look.

The rest of the week passed quickly, Sam dividing his time between school and being around for Dean's rehabilitation. Dean was frustrated with his steps being very small and hard to control. He had to bite his tongue a few times when Sam hovered and he wanted to strike out in frustration. Sam had seen it and told Dean to yell at him if he need to but Dean knew that wasn't what older brothers did to their siblings no matter how they felt.

Dean was concerned that as the days went on and his head felt clearer, his usual emotional shields were missing from his arsenal. It made his moods difficult to hide from Sam as they seemed to constantly waiting to jump out for the stupidest of reasons. He wasn't prepared for how hard it was to control these emotions without his shield to shove them away and lock them off as he had done since he was a kid. He remembered why he had the shields - to save the heartache emotions caused and show the world he was unaffected - but not how to make them work again. He was left swatting away tears before anyone, especially Sam, could see.

Unfortunately for Dean, Sam did see and had to hold himself back from jumping up and giving Dean a hug. Eventually he did give Dean a quick hug, backing away quickly and out of Dean's immediate area. Dean was confused that Sam had jumped back from him like Dean was going to pound him one. Dean was surprised at Sam's reaction, especially since he had held Dean's hand whenever he had been asleep. He always put it down quickly when Dean woke but Dean knew he was doing it and allowed it because he knew Sam was drawing strength from him and seeking some comfort. Dean wasn't beyond recognizing that Sam would need some sort of support to help him through helping him and he was willing to be there for Sam like Sam was for him. He felt he must have been a real asshole at some point for Sam to react the way he did. He was even more confused when Sam held his hand again the following morning when he was pretending to be asleep. Dean couldn't wait to get his memory back and work out what was going on.

Sam went to work and let his boss know he would take the following two weeks off. He would usually worked more on holidays for a little extra cash but an envelope had been delivered by Fed-Ex on Tuesday that contained over a thousand dollars in cash. Even though there was no note Sam smelled his dad all over it. At first he was tempted to send it back even though there was no return address Sam was sure he could work it out, just because that was what John had done instead of being there for his son. Throw money at him like that would work. Then Sam decided he would pay the rent and get a good supply of food in the apartment for the two of them. At least it would be helping Dean then. And he could be there full time with his brother at least for the first two weeks.

Friday finally arrived and Sam bolted from his last class to find Dean waiting, dressed and ready to go. His newly clean shaven face and showered rosy skin made him look even younger than he had in the past two weeks. His hair was shorter on the right but it was growing back quickly to cover up the new scars he had running under his ear to neck. Even though Dean had just four rehab sessions he was able to walk very slow shuffling steps with a crutch on his left arm for a short while. He seemed to almost glow as Sam wheeled him out of the hospital to the Impala. Sam thought he would buck at being wheeled out but he seemed to know it was the chair or back in bed. Even though he had been around to help Dean in and out of bed for rehab and going to the bathroom Sam was still surprised at how little Dean weighed when he transferred him to the car. He was sure Dean was heavier than this before he went off to school. He felt the bile rise to his throat when he felt Dean's sharp hip bones through the cloth of his T shirt. Sam had to help Dean up the flight of stairs to his apartment which Dean struggled with badly.

'At least that means Dean can't run off before he masters stairs.'

TBC