My apologies for the long wait, my loves. Independence takes a lot of work, apparently, and I've been bone tired just trying to pay the bills! At long last, however, I have finally finished this story. Epilogue will be up immediately after, and there will be imaginary champagne to celebrate my first completed multi-chapter fic. Please feel free to join me in our collective imaginations.
Anyway, quick disclaimer. I don't own Supernatural, I am not making any money off of this, I am neither a medical professional nor a mechanic, so don't quote me and don't sue me! Enjoy!
After the doctors had a chance to talk, which Dean was fairly certain was really just code for giving the family time to get reacquainted, they came back into the room, armed with clipboards and fake smiles.
Sam was the first to notice them, which wasn't terribly surprising considering that Bobby was preoccupied making sure that he did everything the nurses hadn't done yet and Dean and Cas were literally and figuratively wrapped up in each other.
He greeted them halfheartedly, and one of them smiled fondly at him. "How ya holding up, trooper?" he asked in a voice that made it clear that he saw Sam as much younger than his fourteen years.
Dean looked up just in time to catch the look of disapproval that Cas received from another doctor, and both boys' expressions darkened, but Dean tightened his protective hold on his boyfriend's arm.
"I had a near death experience for the past however long we've been gone, and you're here to remind me that I'm not out of the woods yet," he stated defiantly, meeting the doctor's gaze. "Don't tell me I can't be as close to my boyfriend as I want right now."
The doctor appeared to think things over and came to the conclusion that a happy patient was worth more than a rumpled bed sheet. He nodded silently and looked to the other doctor for direction.
"Mr. Singer, I presume?" the older doctor asked, stepping forward and extending a hand to Bobby.
Bobby nodded and shook the offered hand. "And you are?"
"My name is John Smith and this is my associate, Donald Noble. We'll be providing the general care for your," he consulted his chart briefly, "nephews during their stay here, although I assure you that we do so with the complete guidance of specialists should they be required."
Bobby nodded. "Nice to meet you both. What are we looking at?"
"Well, Samuel here is getting off pretty easy. Once we've stabilized his vitals and brought his nutrition level back to an acceptable rate, we'll be able to discharge him with special instructions regarding his ribs and stitches. Dean, on the other hand, we need to get this pneumonia knocked out before we can really give you a solid plan, but we're looking at a hospital stay of at least six days for him right now. We would like to suggest that each of them take advantage of the availability of our behavioral health specialists during their stay to ease the process of readjusting to normal life, and all of that information is available from any nurse working this shift. Do you have any questions for us?"
"I'm assuming the nurses can explain everything as it happens?" Bobby asked.
Both doctors nodded. "Yes, we have an excellent nursing staff here who can inform you of any extra information that you're interested in. Of course, if you have any needs or concerns, you can always contact them, and I'm sure that they have shown you the ways to do that?"
Bobby, Sam, and Dean all nodded.
"Well, if that's all for now, we'll see you the next time we make our rounds! We have a lot of space to cover, and not nearly enough time." Doctors Smith and Noble made their exit and left the boys together again, but not for long.
A faint knock on the open door heralded the arrival of Sheriff Mills. She smiled at each boy fondly, greeting them warmly.
"Sam, Dean, we're so glad to see you both back home, safe and sound! Between our own deputies, your uncle, Cas here, and the FBI, there was not a stone that they would leave unturned until they had you back where you belonged!"
Dean quirked an eyebrow at Cas as he realized that while she was talking to the boys, clearly, her attention was focused on Bobby.
Cas smirked back and Dean decided to just ask Bobby about it later.
"Thank you for everything you did," he replied just as warmly. "The only thing that kept us going sometimes was knowing that you guys wouldn't just let us go."
"You got that right," Bobby half growled, and Cas echoed the sentiment.
"Well, I've got to get back to work, but I just wanted to check in on you and see you for myself! Oh, Bobby? Do you think it would be alright if the little ray of sunshine came up for a minute? She was pretty set on meeting the boys."
Bobby and Cas and Sheriff Mills shared a smile, and this time both Dean and Sam cottoned on before Bobby nodded. "She's got energy, but she isn't rash or anything. I think it'll be fine."
The sheriff smiled again and started to back out of the room. "I'll send her up, then. Good seeing you, boys. Night, Bobby."
"Night, Jody," Bobby returned easily. "Thanks for stopping by."
"Anytime," she promised with a grin, then she was gone.
Dean waited the perfunctory five seconds before turning his full attention on his uncle.
"So when exactly did all that happen?" he demanded, while Sam giggled in the background.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Bobby insisted while his cheeks and ears were tinged pink.
"What, you trying to tell me that you and the lovely sheriff didn't take the opportunity raised by close quarters and stressful deadlines to get a lot closer?" Dean teased mercilessly.
"You better be glad you're an invalid," Bobby growled back, choosing not to answer.
Dean looked to Cas, who smiled knowingly.
"They've been an item for the past two weeks," he informed Dean and Sam in a fake whisper, much to Bobby's chagrin.
"Way to go, Bobby!" Dean cheered good-naturedly, then he sobered up. "How long were we gone for, then?"
"It was two weeks and five days," Cas answered promptly. "Your uncle and I got Sheriff Mills to agree to start looking for you as soon as he got that phone call, and she called the FBI in on it when a computer search with your last name turned up the information about your father's jailbreak."
"Which is when I came into the picture!" an exuberant new voice chimed in from the doorway. "Pleasure to actually meet you! My name is Charlie Bradbury, and I'm the wizarding computer genius who realized that cars are not restricted to travelling in one direction."
"So you're the whole reason we're here right now," Dean realized, comprehension lighting up his face, although that could also be attributed to the jealous kisses Cas was pressing along his jawbone.
"Pretty much! I've never been happier to see two guys in my life!"
The spunky redhead's visit, while utterly enjoyable, was cut short when Sam let out a yawn and Bobby ordered both boys to get some rest. Charlie made her way out, and Bobby leveled a stare at Cas.
"Son, I don't care if you stay in Dean's bed or find your own, but you better get some rest too! Don't try and fool me, I stayed up just as many nights as you did!"
Dean shifted uncomfortably. "You guys shouldn't have lost sleep over us," he muttered.
Bobby snorted, and Cas immediately tried to smother Dean's face with his own.
"Believe it or not, boy, we were worried sick and didn't care about anything except getting you home safely," Bobby informed him genuinely.
"Oh," Dean answered, mollified and somewhat overwhelmed by the pouring out of love that was happening. "Sammy?" he asked.
"Night, jerk," Sammy replied.
"Night, bitch," Dean shot back before returning his attention to his boyfriend. "Go to sleep, angel. I'm sorry I worried you, but I'm not going anywhere."
Cas shifted his weight so that it was somewhat on top of Dean's leg and smirked sleepily. "Oh, I know. I'm making sure of it."
"Oh, for Christ's sake, please just get some rest," Bobby begged, dimming the room's lights.
The three exhausted boys were only too happy to comply.
Cas slipped into the garage and sat down heavily. His boss, Benny, looked up in concern.
"Everything alright, Cas?"
Cas shrugged. "I thought things would be better now that Dean is home and safe, but it's been a couple weeks and the nightmares are only getting worse, and his physical therapy doesn't seem to be making any progress. I guess I didn't realize just how hard it would be for all of us to adjust to everything," he explained.
Benny nodded sagely.
"Uh oh. Is that your 'I have an analogy for this' face?" Cas asked in mock concern. All the mechanics at the garage referenced this particular face since Benny, while a fount of wisdom from varied life experience, often spoke in hard to follow analogies.
"I think you'll understand this one," Benny compromised.
Cas shrugged. "It's worth a shot."
"Have you seen the junk yard recently?" Benny asked. "We just got a car towed in after its owner died, and I know you've been working hard, so I'm going to give it to you as your bonus. Thing is, this is a '67 Impala that hasn't run in years, and you're going to have to restore it yourself. I'm not going to give you a lot of advice when it comes to your relationship, Cas, but I will tell you that Dean is a lot like that car right now. Put equal effort into restoring each of them, and you'll end up with a wonderful relationship and wide open road, both chock full of possibilities."
Cas nodded slowly. "Thanks, Benny," he said sincerely.
"Of course," Benny shrugged. "Now get to work, pretty boy! Those state inspections aren't going to do themselves!"
Cas laughed and went off toward the garage.
"As long as Sam's okay, then I'm okay," Dean insisted, stubbornly refusing to let the shrink's skillset get to him.
Crowley pursed his lips for the millionth time that day and nodded slowly. "So you don't think we should address the fact that your regression back to the mindset you were in when you first moved here could negatively impact your brother's development?"
Dean jerked back and hissed in pain at the sudden movement. "That's low, even for you, Crowley," he spat.
Crowley, the unaffected bastard, simply shrugged. "As unfortunate as the timing of the incident was, we need to keep moving forward with your independence and Sam learning to depend on your legal guardian."
"The incident? You act like it was nothing, a vacation or some shit!" Dean yelled.
Crowley smirked. "Are you actually admitting that it was more than that? Because I've been calling it an ordeal for four weeks, Dean, and you've fought me on it saying that you aren't some kind of sissy who needs help just because you were away from home for a couple weeks."
Dean shook his head. "Unbelievable. You're a despicable person. Don't you ever use my brother for anything, you hear me?"
Crowley shifted into a more comfortable position. "Well, since I'm sure you don't want to waste Bobby's money by cutting this short, what do you propose we do for the rest of the session?"
Dean glared and hoped he picked up on the hint.
"I have an idea," Crowley offered helpfully. "Why don't we bring Sam in here and let him talk. That way we're still getting work done, but you and I don't have to interact. How's that sound?"
The only answer he got was a shrug, so he went up to Sam's room and knocked. "Hey, bud, I know I promised you'd get a chance to really tell your brother what we talked about. If you want to do that now, we've got some time to listen."
Sam cracked the door open with a grin. "You couldn't break him, so you're eliciting the help of a fourteen year old? Bad form, Crowley," he joked, pushing past him to head to the living room.
Crowley followed after a moment of shock. If he was mouthing the word "eliciting" all the way down the stairs with a questioning look on his face, well, it couldn't be proven in court.
"Hello again, boys," he greeted the brothers as he reentered the room and took a seat without commenting on the fact that Sam was curled against his brother and Dean had a protective arm practically shielding him from Crowley's line of sight. "Sam, you can start whenever you're ready."
Sam took a deep breath and buried his face in his brother's side for a second before easing back and looking up sincerely.
"I just miss you, Dean. I miss the happy you. I never got to see you happy before, even though I thought I did, and now that I know what you look like when you're happy, it hurts to see you sad and upset all over again. I know you know I'm safe, and you're safe, and Dad can't hurt us ever again, and Cas is here every day so I know you two are fine, and Bobby is okay with you guys and he takes good care of both of us. I just don't know why you can't be happy. We did a good job, and I was proud of us, but now I don't know if I should have been or not because I feel like part of you got left behind in that hell hole, and Dee, I don't know how to get it back, but I'd do anything to find it if I could. I wish you'd ask Cas to spend the night so you'd have someone to help you with your nightmares, and yeah, he knows about those and he's more upset that you're trying to hide them.
"Dee, we love you. This isn't like you. I know you always have to take care of everything, but I've got Bobby, Bobby and Jody have each other, Cas is a grown man, and you have Cas, so why don't you just let it go? Let everyone live their lives, because you can't protect us forever, Dean. I'm always gonna be your baby brother, I swear, but I'm a big boy now, and you have to accept that. You can't keep saving me, and I'm not asking you to. We're home, Dee, we're safe. You can let you guard down. Please. I just want my brother back."
Dean stubbornly left his impassive mask on his face despite the tears rolling down his cheeks, and when Sam finally broke off and dropped his head, Dean buried his face his brother's shaggy hair, whispering something that Crowley couldn't quite pick up on as his shoulders shook and trembled.
Crowley just sat back as the dam finally broke, and waited for the boys to remember he was there, glad beyond words that he'd made the right decision. He'd toyed with diagnosing Dean with depression or PTSD, but some of the pieces just hadn't fit, and he wasn't willing to force it just to leave his young patient with an even lower opinion of himself. Once he realized that he hadn't seen Dean display any emotions, really, he decided to chip away at that wall until it crashed down and make sure, in the process, that Dean knew he'd never have to rebuild it.
Benny looked up from his paperwork with a frown. "What the hell are you whistling for this early in the morning, boy?" he snapped at Cas.
Cas grinned back cheekily. "Just excited about that car, Benny. Finally got it running, now it's just a matter of, uh, making sure that it knows I'm going to, uh, keep up on its maintenance?"
Benny sighed to hide the smile threatening to break out across his face. "Leave the analogies to me, son. But just so you know, I never doubted you for a second. On either front."
On an impulse, Cas ducked into the office and wrapped his surly mentor in a bear hug. "Thanks for everything, Benny."
"Yeah, yeah, get to work, you overgrown child," he muttered. And if Cas happened to take a long lunch after a familiar face showed up for the first time in weeks, well, Benny can't watch the clock all day can he? He has a damn job to do, that's why.
Across town, Cas jumped as his phone pinged, cursing as he noticed the time. "Benny's gonna be so mad, babe, I gotta go!" he was saying, pulling his hand away from Dean's even as he unlocked his phone before his jaw dropped.
"What is it?" Dean asked, instantly concerned and also a little guilty since he'd been keeping Cas a little preoccupied despite the time.
"Benny told me to take the rest of the day and touch up the detail work on my 'car', and yes, those air quotes were included in the actual text," he replied, barely looking up.
Dean frowned. "Your car?"
An instant smile broke across Cas's face. "I was going to surprise you once you were up to it. Ever done any detail work on a car before?"
"Still not sure where this is going, babe," Dean answered cautiously, "but no, I haven't."
"Wanna learn?"
The answering grin was a clear response, and the end of the day found them covered in paint, laughing hysterically, as they looked at the car (which had yet to be touched) and made outrageous plans for future road trips until it was time to go home for dinner.
"You okay, babe?" Cas asked, noticing a strange look on Dean's face as they strolled casually.
"That's the thing, angel. I think I really am," Dean answered cautiously.
While the sudden fire in Cas's eyes claimed that he would prefer to be doing something much more inappropriate, the older boy contained himself enough to simply press a heartfelt kiss to the knuckles of the hand clasped in his own.
There was plenty of time to do much more later on. It was only the rest of their lives, after all.