Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or any of the wonderful characters that I am taking on this journey.

Hello my wonderfully patient readers! I'm so very sorry this one took so long and it is a little shorter than usual but I stopped it at the most logical place. I'll try to get the next one a bit sooner

All mistakes are mine. I have no medical training so if there are any inaccuracies just go with it!.

Chapter 10

Blowing a Top

Deans POV

Dean watched through the hospital room window as his brother struggled to find a comfortable position that didn't aggravate his broken ribs, or his bruised sternum. The fact that all he could hear was a constant ringing and dull roar in his head gave him a headache, all day, everyday, so at day three of his recovery, he was as miserable as a Winchester could get. Dean was just waiting for the blow out that was sure to come.

The pityfulness he was wallowing in was nothing compared to the irritability and frustration he felt at being so helpless. His brother, Bobby and Anna had all rallied around him, encouraging him during his check ups and physical therapy sessions.

However, as they all predicted, the fact that Sam could no longer do any of the things he had already worked so hard to accomplish, he was pushing himself too hard and getting frustrated at his lack of progress.

Anna had retreated back to her daily routine of coffee runs and bringing in home made gourmet sandwiches and muffins and reading a book to Sam to pass the time. She didn't ask him questions or try to tell him how to feel but instead just listened when he was ready to talk. Both Dean and Bobby had made the mistake of asking the dreaded 'how do you feel?' And their heads were presently bitten of as a consequence. They then backed off and thought it would be better to let the injured young man come to them.

Initially Dean allowed his brother to brood in his bad mood but when it continued for more than a week, Dean decided to forcefully bring his brother out of his funk by getting him mad enough to finally talk to him. It wasn't the kindest or smoothest way to handle this situation, but they had tried nice and slow, now his little brother needed a push.

Dean stood at his brothers door and took a breath, readying himself for the overdue blowout that was about to happen. Dean had already spoken to the nurses and Sam's doctor about what he was going to do and as they had all noticed Sam's mood swings, they encouraged Deans plan to drag his little brother out of said funk.

Dean pushed the door open and closed it behind him and locked the door. Sam didn't seem to notice as he laid on his bed facing away from him, looking outside at the rain falling down out the window. Dean walked around his brothers bed to be in his line of sight and spoke clearly and loudly "Sammy?... buddy I need to talk to you" Dean tried to sound both confident and soothing at the same time.

"Why?" Sam said as he looked up with a scowl on his face. Dean could see that all he wanted was to be left alone, but he had been alone for far too long.

"Sammy?..." Dean watched, waiting for his brother to answer him.

"I just want to be left alone" Sam said moving his gaze away from his big brother.

"Yeah, I know, but I've done it your way... for a week now, but... now we're doing this MY way" Dean said commandingly, much like his father but with an underlying sympathy and understanding.

"No... Why don't you understand... I just want to be left alone! You... You don't understand" Sam was getting angry, his hands moved into fists, his nails digging into his palms.

"I want to understand.. but you gotta talk to me man... Tell my why you're SO angry, all the time... I can't help you, unless you talk to me" Dean had said his peace and hopefully his brother would give him the reaction he was waiting for.

"Are you serious! Of course I'm angry, I'm... I'm angry because, I'm stuck in this bed, my legs are useless, I can't hear anything but this hurricane in my head, so I can't hear danger coming around every corner and I worked SO hard for so long, to walk again, to walk beside you, like I used too and NOW I have to start all over again!" Sam took a few deep breaths then "I'm right back were I started... I wanted to... I wanted to walk again for you... I didn't want to be a burden anymore... But I failed.. I failed again... Goddammit!" Sam was yelling by the end and his face was read, then tears filled his eyes and the anger evaporated into sobs, his head fell into his hands and he just let all the pent up emotions came out of him. "I'm such a failure... I'm so sorry"

With Sam's head resting on his chest, Dean ran his hands comfortingly down his back. "Sammy... It's okay, you're not a failure, I promise you... You're not alone, I'm right here... It's going to be okay" Dean said soothingly, hoping to calm him. "I know your feeling like the whole world is against you, but I'm not, I'm right here. Anna and Bobby are here to help you too, you're not alone I promise" Dean said in the calm soothing big brother voice that had always calmed a young Sam when he was upset about bullies or a fight with their dad.

Sam let his emotional outburst die down, his heart beat returned to normal and the buzzing in his head was reduced to soft humming, so he allowed himself to relish in the warmth and feeling of home Deans arms always have him. Not that he would admit it, but Deans touch seemed to smother the constant drone in his head. "Sorry..." Sam murmured, embarrassed and ashamed that he had let himself get so worked up that he had let it all out all over his concerned big brother.

"Hey man.. Don't worry about it, its fine. But... I just couldn't let you keep bottling your frustrations up any more... I'm here man... Please don't shut me out" Dean had to swallow his emotions down. His little brother was stronger and braver than he gave himself credit for. He kept his slow up and down motion his Sam's back, his brother not moving away even though he was now breathing calmly. "I don't think I could do even half of what you did, or what your about to do... I don't want you to loose faith, in me, or yourself, okay?"

Sam had moved away slightly but was still caught up in his brother's arms, as if he wasn't willing to let go just yet and Sam was quite happy to stay were he was. It had been so long since he had allowed himself to be vulnerable in front of anyone besides Bobby. He never wanted to be a burden, especially to Dean. Ever since his choices had gotten the world into literal hot water, any pain he went through or bad fortune he had, Sam felt it was his payment in kind for all the betrayal and deceit.

"Hey, hey, hey, Sammy, look at me?" Dean asked suddenly concerned at his brother's quietness. When Sam lifted his face to look his brother in the eyes, he saw nothing but concern and worry.

"You're allowed to be mad... But you can't keep it bottled up. I need you to talk to me... I won't judge or argue with you, I'll just listen. Last time you had to do this all on your own and I'm sorry for that. But you have me, Bobby, Anna and little Finny, to help you through this" Dean smiled at his little brother at the mention of the little puppy, Anna was bringing the animal to see his owner soon and he knew it would help his little brothers recovery.

Dean helped to lay Sam back down on the bed and straightened the sheets and the blanket over him and up to his chest, his little brother couldn't seem to get warm, no matter how many blankets he gave him. Scooting his chair closer to the bed, Dean sat down and grabbed his bag that he had snuck in when he arrived. "Now I have something for you that I thought might help you to get all that anger and what ever else you got goin' on in that freaky head of yours, off your chest" Dean finished by pulling out a leather bound book with S.W inlaid in the front and a leather strap around the middle. There was a nice silver desk pen pushed into the spine. Dean handed it to Sam and when Sam out his hand on the front to feel the softness of the leather and to run his long fingers over his initials, Dean out his hand on his forehead and pushed his hair out of his face.

"I don't know what to say?" Sam whispered, the gift was so thoughtful and entirely uncharacteristic of the old Dean but also extremely expected of the new Dean ho was learning to be more open with his feelings and he had been given a second chance to actually pay attention to the little things about his brother he hadn't had the time or the care to notice before they separated. He kicked himself now about it because he had missed so much and if he had paid attention, all this pain could have been avoided.

Dean watched the mixture of emotions that crossed his little brothers face and hoped that he had made a small difference to the way Sam felt, knowing that he had a long and hard road ahead of him. "Don't say anything Sammy, just... don't bottle it all up, write it down, or talk to me about it, what ever it is, I'll listen"

Sam held onto the book in his hands, not wanting to let it go, when exhaustion came over him, he sunk into the pillow, bringing the book up and hugging it to his chest "St'y Dean?" He said so softly Dean almost didn't hear it but it sent an ache to his heart.

"Yeah Sammy, I'll stay right here with you... You go to sleep and I'll be right here" Dean felt like he was talking to a much younger Sammy but was humbled that he wasn't.

Sam awoke to soft voices and a warm tongue licking his fingers. He jolted awake at that, what? A tongue? He opened his eyes and groaned at the brightness of the lights overhead, it caused a wave of pain to shoot through his skull, down his neck and down his spine, he squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the pain to dissipate. He felt a warm hand go over his eyes and another on his chest over his heart, then the licking increased and he heard Dean's voice say his name "Sammy?" He moved his head towards his big brothers voice, his hearing was getting much better especially at a certain tone, luckily Dean and Bobby were of the same tone, Anna made sure she was close to Sam so he could hear her over the humming in his head. The hand was removed from his face but he was afraid to open his eyes and be subjected to another wave of pain. "It's okay Sammy, the light's gone, you can open your eyes" Dean said gently rubbing at the crease of pain on his little brothers forehead.

Sam moved his head again, slowly fluttering his eyes and opened his heavy eyelids to half mast finally catching a glimpse of the other people in the room, Bobby, Anna and Dean who was right up close to his side so Sam didn't have to strain to see him. "Wha? Wha's lickin' me?" Sam murmured, still a little sleep foggy.

"It's Finn, Sam, I brought him to visit you" Anna said in her caring, motherly voice, even though it was a little louder than usual. She rubbed his forearm and picked the little puppy up and brought him closer to Sam's line of sight, the little puppy wiggled and squirmed in her arms and Dean watched carefully to make sure the dog didn't fall on his injured brother, as soon as Finn was closer to Sam, he relaxed and Anna placed him on Sam's chest, where he wasn't bruised and the puppy carefully moved on him as he sniffed and licked Sam's face and wagged his tail, then he sat down slowly, making sure not to hurt his injured owner.

"The nurses have taken quite a shine to him... He's winning them over, perhaps I'll score a chocolate pudding or two... Or a phone number with this little charmer..." Dean said, trying to get a smile out of his brother.

Everyone was amazed at how the dog was around Sam, it was as if it knew he was injured and tried to protect him. Dean smiled at himself, he had made the perfect choice of pet for his little brother. The dog was smart, intuitive, clever and inquisitive. Much like his owner, Sam had always been crazy smart, their father always mistook Sam's questions as disobedience but Dean knew it was just that his brother wanted to learn, to know what he was up against, to be better prepared.

"Hey Finn, are you being a good boy?" Sam asked the puppy as he rubbed behind his ears, his tail wagged faster as Sam spoke to him but it didn't move from its spot, just licking his fingers in answer. "I hope your not giving uncle Dean grey hairs?" Sam asked smirking at his brother, knowing that he didn't really like dogs, especially in the impala. The dog barked softly at him in reply making everyone laugh.

"Ha, ha... He's not too bad... He doesn't drool like you do, so that's a plus " Dean said, dodging the arm that came out to poke him in the ribs.

"He's very well behaved, for a puppy. Did he have any training before you bought him?" Anna said, when she had brought the dog to the hospital in her car, she had expected it to run around and be destructive but when she put it in the foot well of the passenger seat and told it they were going to see Sam at the hospital, the dog sat down and stayed still the while time, only whining when the car stopped and Anna got out.

"No training that I know of, he's just smart I guess" Dean said, knowing there couldn't be anything supernatural about the puppy, just a great temperament.

"I swear sometimes he could understand what I was saying, it's like he's a human trapped in a dogs body" Anna laughed to herself then watched as the puppy put its paw out and rest it on Sam's hand, as if to ask permission to move.

"Yeah, Finn you can move buddy, just go slow" Dean said to the dog and watched it move down to sit by his side so his hand could rest on its body. Sam sighed, his head was killing him and his back was pulsing down his legs, he bit back a moan as the pain shot up a notch which made his head throb in unison. Dean automatically moved forward and touched Sam on the shoulder and he cried out in agony, something was very wrong. Finn started barking and wagging his tail, Bobby pressed the call button and Anna picked Finn up and moved to the far wall away from Sam to try to keep Finn under control who was barking loudly now and to stay out of the way of the medical staff who came running into the room.

"What's happening... Sam!, tell me what's wrong!? Sam?" Sam was groaning out long agonized sounds that sounded like an animal.

"My... My ba'k... H'rts! D'en... Help meee!" Sam said between animalistic sounds of pain. It was excruciating, like nothing he had felt before, almost like someone had a Voo Doo doll or something... Wait?! "D'en... Hex?... Hex bag!" Sam was writhing on the bed like a worm.

Dean and Bobby sprung into action, searching the room for a hex bag, and wondering when the heck someone had slipped a hex bag in the room. The three of them had made a pact to always have at least one of them in the room with Sam at any given time. "How the hell could a hex bag get in here... To Sam?" Dean asked in frustration.

Bobby had been wondering that himself, the suddenness of Sam's pain, would be explained by a hex bag, but when, where and why would someone have snuck a hex bag in Sam's room, the most important question to ask was why? Surely Sam had paid enough for his supposed crimes, and as of two weeks ago, the two most probable suspects where dead or at least wishing they were.

"It's alright Sammy!... We'll figure this out... Sammy?" Dean asked as he continued to look around the room.

The nurses who were working on Sam, trying to get his pain under control worked around the two hunters and made surprised noises when Dean found the small hex bag buried in a vase with dying flowers on the table beside the small window. He hadn't noticed them before but would now pay attention too. He waved it at Bobby who took it off him and marched it outside leaving Dean to stay with Sam and to make sure he was alright.

Bobby dodged and scooted around other patients and families as he charged outside, he undid the ribbon that was tied around the bag and had good look at the contents. There were small bones and a few small charms that were demonic in nature, a small piece of blood stained gauze, it could only be Sam's blood, so Bobby was a little uncomfortable with the ramifications of that revelation and a coin dated 1983. Bobby took a quick photo with his phone and took out his lighter and ignited it.

In the hospital room inside, where Sam was hyperventilating and writhing on the bed like he was having a seizure, suddenly stopped and took a few gasping deep breaths, but staying unnervingly still. Dean was relieved that Bobby had destroyed the hex bag but it appeared as if Sam was still feeling the effects of what ever it had done to him. The doctor was writing up a list of tests to be performed including an CAT Scan which had Dean instantly on high alert. "Wait? CAT Scan? What's wrong with my brother?" Dean asked worry written all over his face. Why couldn't Sam ever catch a break, he thought in his head, cursing out all the supernatural beings that seemed to have Sam on their hit lists.

"Well, Mr Campbell, your brother had a seizure like episode for more than five minutes, that equates to a Grand Mal seizure, I'm sorry but if it was that type of seizure, Sam will most probably have some level of mental disorder or delay" the Dr said, without any super coating as the big brother in front of him, seems to appreciate the whole truth, especially when it came to his little brother.

"Would that exacerbate his previous condition?" Anna asked from across the room, still holding onto Finn who was sniffing the air and making a whiny noise. She had been witness to most, if not all of Sam's previous seizures, as had Dean on one occasion and knowing how scary they were, she wasn't sure what she had just seen was the same thing.

"Well, that's what we need to do the MRI to determine, what damage if any has occurred" The doctor sympathised with the family of his patient, this whole situation had just been made worse by this episode but they just had to remain hopeful and they would all get through this.

Bobby came strolling through the doors just as most of the nurses left and had heard the last five minutes of their conversation. The pain Sam was in had obviously stopped once he destroyed the hex bag but something else had happened to make everyone so on edge.

"So... What'd I miss?" He asked the doctor as he moved to was the door.

"Well, I've just ordered some tests for your nephew and depending on the outcome of these test he may or may not have sustained some brain damage. He was without oxygen for a period of time which unfortunately result with a patient showing signs of some sort of damage, but each case if different, Sam could be one of the lucky ones" the doctor put his hand on Bobby's shoulder and as he left he said "Just pray that I'm wrong". With that he left to take care of the tests he requested and to leave the small shattered family to themselves.

Tbc