A/N: Woot! Thanks for all your reviews on the last chapter!:-D They totally made my week:-) This chapter is a little bit of light fun before some more heavy stuff comes *smiles evilly*. I would love to hear your thoughts on it;-)
Disclaimer: I don't own them.
Butterfly Effect
Chapter Ten
The Step Down Unit was similar in many ways to the ICU; the beds were filled with the seriously ill or injured, nurses and doctors were in and out all the time, checking on the patients, and each patient was surrounded with various monitors and IVs. The main difference was that these patients weren't in danger of dying anytime soon and were in general aware of their surroundings. As Sylvie settled Sam into his new bed, she informed him and Dean that he would probably only have to stay here for a day or so, and then he would be moved into one of the general wards. They just wanted him here for now so that they could continue to monitor him for any further possible complications.
"They should be bringing you some lunch any minute now," she continued. "From what Dr Davis told me, you're to be on a soft food diet for the next couple of days as you're still bedridden, so you don't want to eat anything too heavy."
Sam grimaced and Dean smirked at that. "Well, it's always been Sammy's dream to be a regular boy, so I'm sure he'll be just fine."
Sylvie looked puzzled at his comment, but Sam got it alright and glared in his direction.
"Well, um, I think that's all for now…" Sylvie started to head for the door, feeling like she was being left out of some secret conversation. As she was rounding the corner, however, she heard Dean's voice call after her.
"Thanks Sylvie."
And she smiled.
~ O ~ O ~ O ~
"This is disgusting." Sam clumsily lifted some of the brown slop with his left hand and sniffed it. "Ugh, it smells like dishwater."
Dean laughed at his little brother's expression. "Dude, it's hospital food; it's not meant to be cordon bleu!"
The younger Winchester glared in his direction. "Well, why don't you try some then, if you're so eager to promote it?"
Never one to turn down a challenge, Dean reached for the bowl. "Don't mind if I do."
Sam watched in disgusted disbelief as Dean took a heaping mouthful and rubbed his stomach exaggeratedly. "Mmmhmm. It's delicious, Sammy –really, you should try some."
"No thanks, you can finish it. I'll eat the jello."
Dean looked down at the nearly full bowl of soup and felt his stomach rebel. Sam hadn't been lying – it was disgusting. However, not wanting to admit defeat, he picked up the spoon again and manfully worked his way through the mercifully unidentifiable liquid, stopping to grimace only when he thought Sam wasn't looking.
Sam pretended to occupy himself with the orange jello, as he surreptitiously watched his brother battle with the soup. Seeing Dean grimace for the third time, he silently smirked and spooned some more jello into his mouth. Never say there weren't advantages to being injured…
~ O ~ O ~ O ~
"Sam? Sam, are you awake?" Sam opened his eyes to see Sylvie leaning over him.
"Mmm?"
"You have some visitors. I just wanted to check whether you were awake before I let them in to see you."
Sam felt his forehead crinkle in confusion. Who could possibly be coming to see him? Turning his head, he looked over at Dean, who shrugged, equally baffled.
Looking back at Sylvie, he gave a small smile. "Show them in then."
"I'll be right back." And she disappeared out into the corridor.
A couple of minutes later, Sam heard returning footsteps accompanied by several voices, speaking in hushed tones. The voices and footsteps gradually increased in volume and proximity until their owners came into view through the doorway. At that moment, he was inundated with cries of concern.
"Sam! Sam, are you alright? -"
"Oh, you look awful! Mr. Jones told us what had happened - "
"We came as soon as we could – "
"I brought some brownies that I made yesterday – I know how you love my brownies – "
"Have they caught the guy who did it?"
Sam saw Dean shift uncomfortably in his chair, and held up his left hand to try and still the overwhelming influx. The chatter immediately died down and his four classmates looked at him expectantly.
"Um. Wow. Thanks, guys. I – um. Thanks." Sam felt overwhelmed with their love and concern. Dean looked at him questioningly and Sam felt himself flush slightly.
"Um, guys, this is my brother Dean. Dean, these are my classmates from AP English: Joan, Sarah, Matt and Geoff."
Dean nodded in their direction and shook the proffered hands. He sent his patented charming smile in the direction of the two girls, in particular Sarah who had baked the delectable looking brownies. Hot and a good cook? Sammy had been holding out on him! He watched as his little brother interacted with his classmates, smiling with a light in his eyes that Dean hadn't seen there often lately. As he talked and laughed with them, he looked carefree somehow, despite the painful injuries all over his body. He looked happy. As this realization sunk in, Dean felt a sickening sensation settle into the pit of his stomach. Maybe Sam was right; maybe he didn't belong in this life. Maybe it would be more loving of Dean to let him go…
As these morose thoughts were filling Dean's mind, he managed to catch the last few snatches of the conversation. Sam was answering a question.
"No, I don't know whether they've caught the guy – I don't even know who did it. I honestly can't remember much from that night."
"That's shocking!" Joan, Dean seemed to recall her name was. "I bet you it was a drunk driver. Y'know bars should not be allowed to carry on operating if they let people like that drive home – it's criminal."
Sam smiled ruefully. "Yeah, well. Some of these bars are so full of people, it's hard to keep track of everyone. Anyway, it happened on kind of a lonely road, so I doubt there's any camera footage or anything. He probably won't get caught, but I guess that's just life sometimes, huh?" He sounded resigned.
Dean frowned, feeling anger that had briefly been forgotten in his overwhelming concern for Sam, be renewed. Sam's resigned acceptance of the injustice made every big brother fibre in him cry out for blood. No one messed with his Sammy and got away with it. No one.
~ O ~ O ~ O ~
Sam's friends left after a while, and after the initial rush at seeing them had worn off, Sam felt, if anything, worse than before. Feeling Dean's eyes on him, he looked up to see his brother watching him with a slightly hurt expression.
"So Sammy, how come you've never mentioned your friends before? They seemed nice enough."
Sam frowned and looked away from Dean's questioning green eyes. Instead he looked down at his hands, one of which was resting in a sling.
"I don't know. It never seemed to come up, I guess." Which was partly true.
"Dude. They're your friends. Why didn't you ever invite them round or something? They seem to like you, although goodness knows why." Dean smiled slightly on the last statement, trying to force the joke, but it didn't quite meet his eyes.
"Ha. Yeah. Invite them round? And how do you think Dad would have liked that, huh? 'We do what we do and we shut up about it'," he mimicked John, voice bitter. "I'm sure he would have loved it if I invited my school friends around."
Dean raised his eyebrows at the bitterness in Sam's voice and felt the sickening sensation in his gut grow stronger.
"But you could have told me, Sam. I'm not Dad. I would have liked to meet your friends."
Sam looked up at the hurt in Dean's voice and felt his face flush with shame. "You're right, Dean. I should have told you and I'm sorry. I guess I just thought that if I kept them separate from my home life, that I could pretend to be normal too. But I was wrong. I'll never be normal. Especially now that I've been banged up right before finals. I mean, I can hardly even sit up straight enough to feed myself; how am I supposed to study, let alone write exams?"
Dean watched his little brother with concern and felt another sensation start to form in his gut – a burning resolve. The sick feeling did not disappear, but the burning was stronger. He might not like the idea of his brother leaving, but he also didn't like seeing his brother defeated and miserable. So whatever it took, he was going to help him.
"Hey Sammy. Don't worry about that, OK? I'll help you study."
Sam looked at him with unflattering disbelief. "You? Dean, you hated school."
Dean swallowed his pride. "Yeah, I did. But hey, who said an old dog can't learn new tricks, huh? I mean, you seem to like it so much, so there must be something to it."
Sam snorted. "Yeah right. Since when has me liking something ever been a recommendation to you, especially when it comes to work?"
Dean shrugged; he couldn't deny that. However, "So? You need help, and that's my job isn't it? To help my little brother in his hour of need?" He smirked.
Said little brother laughed out loud. "Well, when you put it that way…" Hazel eyes met green, and an unspoken thank-you passed between them.
Dean felt the sick feeling ease a little; no matter what, they would always be brothers. "No problem, Sammy."
~ O ~ O ~ O ~
Nighttime was approaching and Dean was doing his best to stifle his yawns. Nothing got past the perceptive youngest Winchester though.
"You should get some rest. Go back to the motel, Dean. I'll be fine here."
Dean examined his brother carefully. "You sure? I don't like to leave you here alone."
Sam gave a little laugh. "Dude, I'm hardly alone. I'm surrounded by other patients, not to mention the nurses and doctors who check on me constantly. I'll be fine, and you need to get some sleep – you look like crap."
"I don't think that's physically possible, Sammy, but I take the hint. I've got something I need to do anyway."
Sam raised one eyebrow. "Oh yeah? What?"
"Nothing you need to worry your pretty head over, little brother." Dean stood up and stretched, joints popping noisily. "You've got your mobile, right?"
Sam nodded. Sylvie had given it back to him after she had used it to phone Dean.
"Good. Call me if you need anything, OK? Anything."
Sam nodded again, a small smile on his face.
"Well, nighty night then, little brother. I'll take this," he picked up the box of brownies and winked at his brother, "seeing as you can't eat them right now and we wouldn't want them to go to waste, would we?"
Sam's smile transformed into a bitchface as he watched his brownies disappear into the recesses of Dean's jacket.
The older Winchester smirked at his expression. "Don't let the bed bugs bite, Sammy."
"Dude, this is a hospital. I doubt there are bed bugs."
"Well, don't let the nurses bite then – see you in the morning!" And smiling cheerily, he left before his brother could utter more than a stifled exclamation of disgust.
However, once he was out of the room, the cheery smile gradually slid off his face to be replaced with a set look of determination. Dean had a score to settle. He cracked his knuckles in anticipation…
To be continued…
A/N: So, what did you think?:-D Oh, and how AWESOME was Friday's episode? I was on a giddy high for DAYS! Yay for Sam and Dean being Sam n' Dean again! And Sammy's BACK, baby!