Author's Note: Sorry for the bit of a wait. I know I'm usually faster with the updates, but here it is! I'd appreciate it if you all keep giving me feedback. Even the smallest of responses I take to heart. So please, let me know what you think!

Warning: Child Abuse (for earlier chapters)

Ignorance Is Bliss, Chapter 10

John glanced at Bobby, who looked at the doctor, who had never taken his gaze off John. John tried to swallow the lump in his throat that had been stuck in the middle of his esophagus since he had gotten the call from Dean. Not to his surprise, when he swallowed it only seemed to double in size. He could only nod softly; but inside his mind was on overdrive like usual. Inventively, he studied the doctor's body language as he tried to predict the news before it was given. John took notice of how the doctor kept more eye contact with the floor than John or Bobby. He caught sight of how the doctor's fingers were tapping in the front pockets of his crisp, white jacket. None of these things made John feel any better.

The doctor spun on his heel and began to walk in the direction he expected John to follow. Before departing, John took a look at Bobby once more. Both of the men wore pitiful masks in attempt to shield their worry. Their concern was written boldly on their faces. 'It'll be fine, you'll see,' said Bobby's eye as he gestured with his head for John to take after the doctor. John nodded a thank you and was on his way.

Winding the corner, Dr. Harrison snuck a peek over his shoulder to make sure the father of two was keeping up. About a foot or so behind, he spotted him. Within no time, however, they were both at the same pace again. In his ears, everything seemed amplified: his breathing, his heart rate, his blood flow, the worry voices in his head - everything.

"What can you tell me?" John tried to ask. At first, he almost didn't recognize his voice; it was paper thin and got swallowed up in the chaos and murmurings of the people around them. He could swear this whole situation was turning him into a completely different person. John cleared his throat. His sweaty palm and shaky fingers wrapped around his neck to massage the muscles in his neck. "Are they okay?" he says for his second attempt at speaking.

The doctor only glances at him, he doesn't answer. Instead, he reached out for the shiny silver handle on the door marked A23. Easily, the door swung open as Dr. Harrison flattened himself against the oak door to let John inside first. Once both inside, the door is closed, a light switch is flicked upward and it's suddenly just John and the doctor. There's already a clipboard that held a small about of lined papers on them. Stretching behind John, Dr. Harrison grabs it and gives it a quick once-over.

"Thank you for being so patient," were Dr. Harrison's first words. His voice was soft, smooth, trance-like. For some reason or another it seemed to calm John even if it was just for this moment. "So we have Samuel…Sam , and Dean. Who would you like to hear first."

In the back of his mind, John felt like the doctor was taking this whole thing as a joke. He was too… nonchalant. He hasn't answered John's questions yet, either. There was something about his whole demeanor that John was unhappy about. But he was also the one with the answers, the papers, the medical history, and the results of Sam and Dean's condition, so he gave in.

"I just want to know if they're okay," John's voice is soft, cracking a little toward the end of his sentence. He's so used to not showing much emotion, that when he does it's hard to control it.

Dr. Harrison's lip curled slightly. "Stable? … yes. But pretty far from okay."

This was the first time he answered John's question directly. But what he said didn't change anything yet. John's heart was still beating twice it's normal rate, his legs still felt barely strong enough to hold him up, his hands were still sweaty and shaking. He waited for the doctor to continue.

"Dean… he was conscious for a pretty good period of time. Maybe five to seven minutes. He looked around for a while. But other than that, you said his consciousness was pretty touch and go, right?" he looked up at John, noticing his distressed nature, then added, "we saw that." Again, he flipped through his papers. John felt like he was being tortured. "Head injuries are never pretty. Especially for children. See, their body is still growing, their bones are no where near as strong as, say, you and I… when we ran him in for a CT scan of his head we found he had two fractures right about here."

With his free hand he ran his fingers just above his ear and then about three inches higher. John breathed in deeply, held it in his lungs for a moment or two before releasing the air again slowly.

"Fractures?" was all he could bring himself to say at the moment, but Dr. Harrison continued without much recognition of John's statement.

"We also found blood collecting just behind his ear drum. It doesn't look like too much at the moment but we'll have to keep a very close eye on that. If not too bad, it should eventually fix itself."

John shrugged. "But if it builds up?"

"Blood will begin draining from his ear, rupturing his ear drum, putting his hearing as a whole in jeopardy and at risk," he answers bluntly.

Shaking his head almost absently, John says, "Well what can we do?"

"He was given twenty-three stitches for the gash on his head and we've stopped the bleeding. His head is wrapped and his wound is covered, too. He was given anesthesia and is still out; he doesn't feel anything… but he'll need plenty of fluids and even more rest and even closer caution."

"When will he wake up?"

"The anesthesia should wear off in about three of four hours, but it's all completely up to him."

John nodded. "What about Sammy? Is Sam okay?"

Dr. Harrison sighed. A deep sigh. John could feel his heart speeding up again.

Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, shit , the thought to himself as he doctor flipped up a few papers to get to where Sam's results and observations were.

"When Sam came here he was in respiratory arrest, he wasn't breathing, so of course that was our first priority above anything. We got him back quickly, he's okay from that aspect but that truly gave us a scare and we'll definitely be having him looked after with the closest and keenest of eyes. We have a nurse on call to check in on him hourly.

From what you filled out and what we saw, he was bleeding from his mouth, you've written that he was having coughing attacks, he's got bruising externally and internally … he's in pretty bad shape right now."

John saw black dots in his vision, his head felt like it was going to spin and fly right off. He blinked hard, trying to wipe them away like windshield wipers. He cleared his throat and continued to listen. He opened his mouth again, "Yeah, the bleeding...what's wrong with him?"

"Vomiting blood and bleeding from the mouth can be of many causes. The most common is infection of the esophagus, and upper digestive tract. Some of the more serious reasons are bleeding ulcers , inflammation , cancers , or ruptured blood vessels-"

"Cancer?" John stammered.

Dr. Harrison, responded, "It could be a number of things..."

"Cancer?" the father repeated. His hand came up and covered his mouth, he looked away. Dr. Harrison held his hand out.

"Hey, nothing's for sure yet. Please, don't worry yourself more than you have to. What you need to be sure of is that right now Sam's in a pretty bad position, and this is what I needed to talk to you about."

"What?"

The doctor cleared his throat. "After we got Sam breathing steadily enough for us to move on we gave him a stomach pump. Something inside of him is causing him to react that way - in this case, the bleeding."

John's eyes shifted suspiciously. "... okay," he says, not sure what the doctor is getting at.

"To be outright, we found a large amount of Tramadol in Sam's stomach and in his digestive system."

John's felt his eyes bulge slightly. "Tramadol? What is that? I don't know what that is." he felt himself tripping over his own words.

"It's a extremely strong pain medication given my prescription. It needs to be taken in certain doses and, with it's strength, probably under supervision. Certainly, a five year old should never even be in walking range of it. Would you mind telling me how we found the amount inside of Sam?"

John was silent for a minute, then it hit him what the doctor was getting at.

"You think I did this? You think I would hurt him?" John's voice was wrapped in venom, he stepped toward the doctor.

Dr. Harrison raised his arms. "You do guardian your children, don't you? They live with you?"

John nodded. "Yes, but..." he didn't want to say it. He wanted to handle Kris on his own, but he sure as hell didn't need more trouble. "I was out of town when all of this happened. I told you guys I didn't know exactly how this whole mess happened, and that's why. I can home as soon as I got my son's phone call. I wasn't in town," he repeated.

There was silence, so John spoke again. "So what does this mean? Tramadol. What does it mean?"

Harrison cleared his throat, sweat beginning to form on his forehead. "He was given a dangerous amount of it. Even one tablet could have put his life at danger. But from what we found, he was given at least... ten. Maybe more."

John's heart dropped.

"It's probably the cause of him vomiting the blood and his internal injuries. We think that it's was acting almost like acid in his stomach, eating away at the protective layer of this intestines, stomach, and throat. With that gone, it could very much so result in bleeding."

Again, John found himself shaking his head, trying to find what to say, "So what do we do? Can he be helped?"

"He's going to need surgery, that's for sure. Either tomorrow or the day after, no later than that. What's after that is unknown right now. With Sam, we need to take things slow. One step at a time."

John nodded. "I understand."

"Just a few more things," Harrison says, "Just like Dean, Sam is sedated for the time being. We didn't want him to go through any more pain that needed at the moment. Sure, the anesthesia will wear off, but that won't be until sometime tomorrow. But again, the actual time they wake up is up to them. "

"Okay," John says, just trying to process this whole thing.

"Would you like one room or two?"

That was the easiest thing John was asked in a while. They all needed to be together right now.

"One."

Harrison smirked a little. "I thought you'd say that."