Chapter 10: Unexpected

The trickster moved cautiously through the hospital halls, waiting for any life threatening signs. When he reached Dean's room he paused, changing his appearance to look like a nurse. After taking a deep breath, he entered the room.

When he stepped inside, he almost froze in his steps, but he caught himself and said, "Ah, Dean! I see you've got a visitor."

Dean looked at the trickster in his nurse form and frowned. "I never told any doctor or nurse my name."

The trickster's eyes widened as he realized his mistake. Dean's visitor, Sam, pulled out a stake from his pocket and pushed the trickster to the wall.

"OK! OK! Please don't kill me! I just want to talk." The trickster closed eyes as he braced himself for Sam to strike.

"Wait! Sammy, wait," Dean yelled from his bed. The trickster opened his eyes and saw the stake less than an inch away from his flesh. Sam might have stopped his hand, but he sure wasn't lowering it.

"Dean he…" Sam couldn't finish his sentence when he remembered who had actually put his brother in that bed.

"OK, listen," the trickster started, breaking the awkward silence, "if you need proof that I'm on your side, then I'll give you proof." The trickster took his eyes off of the one holding the stake and looked at Dean. "Why don't you get up?"

Dean looked at the trickster, puzzled, until it suddenly dawned on him that his chest no longer ached. He threw the covers off of himself and got out of the bed. Smiling, Dean said, "I'm getting out of these hospital clothes." And with that, he grabbed the pack off of Sam's shoulders and ran to the bathroom. They always kept an extra pair of clothes in the pack.

After the bathroom door shut behind Dean, the trickster asked, "Sooo, are you going to let go of me?"

"No," Sam replied harshly. After a couple of minutes of awkward silence, Dean came out in a rather cherry mood. "I'd say thank you, but since you were helping the demons, you won't be hearing any gracious words from me. Now why are you here?"

"I need your help."

Sam snickered and said, "You need our help? Man, you're screwed."

The trickster continued pretending that he hadn't been interrupted. "Alastair was talking to Lilith about killing me and finding a different trickster to replace me."

"How do we know that you're not lying?" Dean asked.

"Do you think that I would risk my life on the slim chance that you wouldn't stake me?"

"You just did though."

"Yeah, but I'm in need of help and if I went anywhere else for help they'd kill me for sure."

"Sammy, let go of him, but… Dean turned to look at the trickster, "I still don't trust you."

Sam hesitated for two seconds then slowly released his grip on the trickster. Relaxing a little, but not putting the stake down, he backed away.

The trickster let out a relieved sigh and said, "Now I'm going to tell you the bad part, they're going to find a more powerful trickster than me."

"More powerful, that's a joke you're not that great," Dean said.

The trickster let out a nervous laugh and said, "When I say more powerful, I mean like way more powerful. And just to let you know I'm more powerful than you think."

Sam looked at Dean with a face that asked Do you believe him? When all remained quite, he voiced his question. "Well? Do you believe him?"

"I don't know," Dean answered.

"Come on. I'm not asking for the colt. I'm just asking for your help," the trickster added.

Before anyone could say or do anything else, Castiel walked in with a determined face and a stake. He raised the stake high and brought it down on Sam. Dean tried to stop him, but he was too late.