The small diner was more than just a little off the beaten path, but that's why John picked it. They had been on the run for too damn long with two injured men and a sick baby and damn it, even the most hardened Marine needed to eat occasionally. So now he watched as his youngest son coaxed his little girl to eat some eggs all the while looking like he was trying to keep his own breakfast down. Something wasn't right but he had no idea how to broach the subject with his boy. He'd given up trying to get Dean to help with the situation, ever since they left the small town and raced through the night only to stop for gas, his oldest had purposefully ignored him unless it was absolutely necessary – and the kid was making damn sure it wasn't necessary.

It had been bad enough that Sammy had driven more than two hundred miles with a chunk of wood in his leg, but with his own bullet wound in the shoulder making him irritable, John really didn't want to deal with anything but the basics; and right now the basics were – run! Sure, the sane thing would be to stop at a motel somewhere, patch each other up, get a decent night's sleep and continue onward to Jim's, but it was different now. Now there was a scared little girl who needed all of them, and if that meant stopping only long enough to put gas in the vehicles, grab some water and change a diaper, then that's what was going to happen. There was no way he was going to let some low life sniper take away any part of his family, and until they knew exactly what they were dealing with, they were on the move.

Dean hated the whole situation. It had been bad enough that he couldn't convince Sammy to pull over and let him drive even though it was more than a little obvious that the kid was hurt, but during the first gas stop while his little brother was dealing with his leg with a bottle of peroxide and a bandana, he found out their dad was hurt and refusing to deal with it until they reached Pastor Jim's. Un freaking believable! Finally though, they stopped for more than gas and were now doing their best to pass as a normal family on a stupidly normal outing even though one was limping and the other still bleeding.

"Come on sweetie, just a little more." Sam coaxed, praying that he could get Mary Jess to eat just a little more before they headed out again. He knew she didn't feel like eating, and who could really blame her, but he was determined to make sure she didn't get sick again and that meant she needed to eat.

"Uh uh." Mary Jess whined as she spit out the remaining egg in her mouth. "Ba!"

"No, you're not getting your bottle right now. You need to finish your egg." Sam stated calmly while putting a little butter on a piece of toast. After breaking a piece off he handed it to his little girl and silently prayed she would take it without throwing it at him. She didn't normally have fits, but when she did… well, they were definitely noticeable.

John watched his son as he showed more patience than most people he knew, even himself most of the time. However it made him proud to see his boy was more than capable of taking care of his little girl.

"Sammy… son, we need to get going pretty soon and…"

"Yeah Dad, I know. Just give me a minute to fix her another bottle." Sam said before sighing wearily, "One of these days I'll break her of the damn thing."

Dean smirked a little after listening to his brother. One thing he learned from taking care of a much younger Sammy – the kid will be ready when the kid's ready. "Don't sweat it Sammy, she's fine. Besides, with everything going on right now, you really want to take it away?"

Sam shook his head and grinned, "Nah, but it'll be a whole lot easier when I don't have to remember where I put the stupid bottle brush."

Laughing, the Winchester men got up and gathered their things. It didn't take long for Sam to make a bottle to help calm Mary Jess while on the road, and even less time to actually get everyone back into their cars. They still had quite a drive ahead of them, but they knew the importance of making it as short a trip as possible.

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Jim Murphy wondered just what type of a mess the Winchester's had gotten themselves into this time. John had called and in the shortest conversation he could ever remember having with the man got the jist that he should be expecting company, they were on the run, and at least one of them were hurt. Sometimes it didn't pay to be friends with John with as much drama as the man seemed to put everyone through.

The sound of John's truck pulling into the driveway broke him away from his thoughts but it was the sound of a smaller engine following that made him more curious. Opening the side door, he wasn't sure what he'd find, but seeing his friend practically fall out of his truck before righting himself wasn't one of them. After taking a good hard look at the man, Jim was about to lay into him for not patching himself up sooner when he saw Dean in the background looking anxious.

"Dean, what's wrong son?" Jim called out, wondering what could have the young man so tied up in knots. It wasn't until he saw the other person with them that the pieces to the puzzle seemed to fall into place. The young man was tall and thin with long shaggy dark hair, but what got him was the little girl in his arms. Shocked, he could only stare before finally he choked out, "Sammy? My God boy, is that you?"

"Hey Pastor Jim."

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"Stubborn fool. You know you could have ended up killing yourself, then where would those boys and that baby be?" Jim groused as he finished tending to his friend's wound. He was thankful that it wasn't as bad as it had initially looked, but that didn't help his ire any.

John had known the lecture was coming, and in a way he welcomed it. It meant that he was still alive and his boys were fine. Well, as fine as they could be. Even though Sammy had gotten out all the slivers, he seemed to have grabbed an infection and it wasn't a pretty sight, in fact if the normal antibiotics didn't start working they were determined to drag the boy to the ER to get him on some heavy duty ones.

"I know Jim, but you know as well as I do if we had stopped for any length of time, we would have lost our advantage. As it is, I'm still not sure we've completely lost him, but this was the best I could do without risking Mary Jess." John explained, hoping that Jim would take it and drop it; he was getting too tired of explaining himself about this.

Nodding, Jim understood and finished the bandage before sitting back. "Ok my friend, I'll lay off for awhile, but you need to understand that what you've just told me, I can't sit by and let you take care of this by yourself. We're going to need some help."

"Dad, we might have a problem." Dean said from the doorway. He'd heard what Jim said, but that was going to have to wait. "It's Sammy. His temp spiked up and now… well, you remember breakfast? Yeah, so does he."

Groaning, John struggled to put a clean shirt on and rushed towards the door. He'd been afraid of this. His boy had been so concerned about keeping his baby healthy he forgot to do the same for himself, leaving his body too weak to fight off a stupid germ.

The closer they got to the bathroom, the louder Mary Jess' cries could be heard, along with the retching that Sammy was doing in the toilet. Opening the door, they saw the baby sitting in the bathtub leaning out towards her daddy while Sammy was trying hard to stay upright at all.

"Sammy?" John asked as he placed his hand on his son's forehead. Looking back at Dean he saw the bleak look and wondered about it. It wasn't until he heard Sammy's groan that he understood.

"No hospital."

Dean crouched down next to his little brother and carded his fingers through his hair. "Sammy, the antibiotic isn't working, you need something stronger."

"No… hospital."

Nodding, Dean looked at Sammy before looking at their dad, silently demanding that he do something.

Jim maneuvered his way to Mary Jess and picked her up in an effort to calm the little girl down. That only seemed to upset Sammy more, causing a struggle that the others knew he didn't have the energy for.

"NO!" Sam yelled out, trying to reach Mary Jess, convinced that Joanna had finally found them. "Jess!"

Grabbing his brother, Dean's concern grew as he realized that Sammy wasn't seeing them anymore. "Sam… Sammy, calm down… you're scaring her. Sammy, calm down." Dean said as he tried to hold his brother close. He wasn't prepared for Sam to go limp in his arms and it took his quick reflexes to keep his brother's head from hitting the edge of the tub. "Sammy?"

"Dean, I know someone who can help, I'll call him now. Can you get him to your room?" Jim asked, as he took the terrified little girl out of the bathroom, already knowing the answer. He had a feeling he knew what was wrong, but was praying mightily that he was wrong.

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Dean was lying next to his sleeping niece, keeping watch over her like he would baby Sammy, while John stood in the doorway watching over both of them. The doctor Jim had called had arrived and ordered everyone out while he looked the young man over, not giving an inch when the others protested. That had been over an hour ago and they were more than a little anxious to find out what was going on. Jim had disappeared, leaving the Winchesters free rein of the house even though they weren't feeling like doing anything but wait for the answer to their question, 'Is Sammy ok?'

Jim walked through the door about the time the doctor made it down the stairs, turning everyone's focus on them. The doctor rubbed his eyes before he looked at the men in front of him.

"It's sepsis, and it's aggressive. I don't know what was in that wood, but it's throwing that boy for a loop. I've started him on an IV antibiotic, and I'll be back in six hours to check on him and start him on another round. But before you ask me what I know you're going to ask me… don't. I want to reserve my opinions for something that matters. I'll do what I can for him; don't think otherwise, but right now… I don't know."

Jim nodded as if he had been afraid of that answer. He turned and saw the devastated looks on the Winchester men's faces and knew that this wasn't what they were hoping for. "Ok, well, I got some nutrition shakes for him. I figure the more we get in him, the faster he can fight this off. I also got a few things for a certain little girl to keep her occupied. After all, if she's anything like her daddy, she'll want to try everything."

Smiling sadly, Dr. Horton let himself out, hoping that Jim wouldn't have to call him before he got back, knowing that another call would mean the young man's fight was lost.

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Dean sat by his brother's side and wondered how it got this bad. He'd seen his brother work the wood out of his leg, probe the wound in a manner that would have sent anyone else screaming in agony, irrigate the damn thing with peroxide, and still it got infected enough to end up here – with his brother unconscious from the fever, and everyone worried about if he'd make it.

"Hey Sammy. I just want to let you know that it's ok to rest, we're taking care of Mary Jess, but you better not even think about dying. You do that and I'll bring your sorry ass back here and kill you myself, got it? Good. Now that we have that out of the way, how about answering something for me… were you really planning on having your wedding here? Were you even going to call us?" Dean asked sadly, remembering all the times that he had wanted to call his brother but figured that the phone went both ways so Sammy probably didn't want to talk to him. I wasn't until he felt something on his wrist that he realized his brother was fighting to wake up.

"Best… man… jerk…" Sam rasped as he tried to tighten his hold on his brother but had to abandon that idea to the peaceful darkness that beaconed.

Smiling, Dean nodded before running another cool cloth over his brother's forehead. "Ok, as long as we got that settled… bitch."

John watched his boys and was amused by the quiet banter. He'd grown jealous of his boys' bond, but had been thankful of it at the same time. Now he knew he made the right choice in raising Dean the way he had, to be the one to protect Sammy. It was going to become even more necessary if he were going to do what he was planning. But not now, now he would wait until his boy was on the mend and things settled down, then he'd leave and end this – one way or another.

AN: I know... I know... not enough Mary Jess... jeez, give me a break people... I had to put Sammy down for a nap! ;)