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Dean only realized that he had been asleep when he felt the rough, dry hospital sheet against his cheek. He lifted his head, wincing as his neck ached, and his eyes glided instantly to Sam. Sam hadn't moved since last night... or that morning... or maybe a bit of both. Dean watched him for a few moments until Bobby cleared his throat on the other side of the bed. Dean looked up.
"You probably didn't sleep well, huh?"
Dean raised and lowered one shoulder, looking back at Sam. "Any news?"
"Someone came in to refresh his IV."
Dean knew that he was only offering this meaningless piece of information because if he didn't Dean wouldn't have anything to go on at all. He looked at the IV, and then over at the door. "You think the doctor's around somewhere? I wanna talk to him."
Bobby got up. "I'll go find him. Henrickson and Cathy went back to the motel."
Dean shrugged. Right now he couldn't care less what Henrickson and Cathy did. He just wanted Sam to be okay. Bobby sighed and moved out of the room, pulling the door shut behind him. Dean reached out to take Sam's hand, studying his face carefully. He had a little more colour in his face, though he was still pale.
"Sammy?" he asked softly. "Sam? C'mon, bro, wake up for me."
Sam's eyes flickered beneath his lids, but he didn't respond. Dean rubbed one hand over his face.
"Please, Sam," he murmured, his voice breaking slightly. "Sammy... please, Sammy..."
He broke off as the door opened and Dr. Barton stepped inside, Bobby and a nurse following. "Mr. Kreeps," Dr. Barton said, smiling. "I'm afraid there's been no indication that you're brother's going to wake up any time soon, although he's much healthier than he was when he first got here."
"Isn't there anything you can do?" Dean demanded, his eyes narrowing. "You must be able to wake him up somehow."
"Even if we could it would disrupt his body when he's trying to heal."
"Well, how long is he going to be like this?"
"We really don't know," Dr. Barton replied. "I'm sorry, Mr. Kreeps, I know you're very upset right now-"
"Very upset doesn't even cover it, pal!" Dean snapped, but Bobby stepped between them.
"Thank you, doctor, that's all we wanted to know," he said.
Dr. Barton shook his head and walked over to one of the machines beside Sam's bed, pressing some of the buttons. The nurse followed him, collecting Sam's charts from the end of his bed and pulling out a pen. The machine bleeped loudly, and Dean jerked halfway out of his chair.
"What're you doing? What's that?"
"I'm just checking his blood pressure and heart rate," Dr. Barton said soothingly, not moving his eyes from the machine. "Calm down, Mr. Kreeps."
Dean snorted coldly and sat down again, reaching for Sam's hand. He watched as Dr. Barton's fingers flickered over the machine and he muttered to the nurse. Then he turned to Sam, pulling out a small torch from his pocket. He leant over and stretched open Sam's eyelid, shining the light into his pupil.
"Still not responding to light," he muttered, mostly to himself. "Mr. Kreeps? Sam? Can you hear me?"
He paused, flashing the light around before straightening up and tucking the torch back into his pocket. "Not responding to light or sound," he muttered to the nurse beside him.
We already knew that, tell me something that matters! Dean screamed in his head. He clenched his jaw and looked down at Sam's lax face, rubbing his thumb over his little brother's hand.
C'mon, Sam. Wake up. Please.
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Ruby sat back on the sand, looking out on the glittering waves around her. She hadn't left the beach since the night before, since she didn't have anywhere else to go and Dean would probably kill her if she went anywhere near him or Sam any time soon. She would have to wait it out for a while.
She couldn't deny that what she had done was terrible. Stabbing Sam... she had really crossed the line there. Even if it had been to save the world. She pulled the knife out of her pocket and rubbed at the blade, wetting her dry lips. She could almost still see the blood on it... the scream Sam had let out had really shaken her. She wasn't sure if, if Dean ever did forgive her, that she would be able to face going back again. But she had to go back at some point. They would need her help.
She was pretty sure that Sam was in a coma because of her. After using so much power, to have it cut off so suddenly like that could have killed him, even if the stab wound didn't. Knowing that, she should never have gone ahead and attacked like that when he was so unstable. But she hadn't been thinking straight, her only thought had been the fact that the world was about to be sucked into Sam's void of darkness and that she had to stop it.
Ruby sighed and leant her folded arms on her knees, fixing her eyes on the shimmering ocean. She would wait. Wait for them to call her... or wait until she was sure they had realized that they had no other choice.
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Henrickson took the lift up to the third floor and walked down the corridor, switching the brown paper bag from his right hand to his left. It had been three days since the world almost ended, and Sam's condition hadn't changed at all. Dean hadn't left the hospital, and Bobby had only been back to the motel a few times to shower or pick up some book for research on what they could do to help Sam. Neither was looking great. Henrickson had managed to convince Cathy to go home the day before, promising to call her if anything happened, although he doubted he would.
Henrickson slowed as Bobby emerged from Sam's room and noticed him coming, pausing to greet him.
"Hey, Henrickson," he muttered, rubbing at his bloodshot eyes.
"Hey. I brought backup," Henrickson replied, holding up the bag.
Bobby took it, rooting through it for some coffee. He pulled out one of the two cups in it and took a sip, letting out a low groan of relief. "Jeez, coffee never tasted so good..."
"Things ain't changed much, then?" Henrickson said, smiling ruefully. "How's Dean dealing with things?"
Bobby shook his head, taking another gulp of coffee. "He's just real quiet. I just know he's beating himself up about this, like he could have done something to change it. Idjit."
"Anything we can do?"
"Doubt it. He won't be himself until Sam wakes up."
"And I'm guessing you haven't had much success with that."
Bobby leant back against the wall, rolling his eyes. "Tell me about it. Its not like I've ever dealt with anything like this before. There's nothing about anything in any of the books I've got left over since Sam blew up my library."
Henrickson waited, but Bobby didn't continue. He glanced at Sam's room, wetting his lips. "And... what about Ruby?"
He knew he was pushing it now. Bobby had vaugley told him that Ruby was partly to blame for what had happened to Sam, and that Dean was beyond furious with her. There was no way Dean would let them sumon her. Bobby's eyes narrowed, and he lowered the cup of coffee from his lips.
"Ruby? Henrickson, you know we're not having anything to do with Ruby anymore. Dean hates her."
"Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like she's the only one who might know what the hell is going on here and how to help Sam," Henrickson replied, frowning. "Don't tell me Dean's so proud that he would put Sam's life at risk instead of considering trusting her?"
"Dean did trust her. He trusted her at the very beginning when this all started and look where that got us!"
"You're not actually telling me that that was Ruby's fault? You were the one defending her back then."
"I know, I know, its just..." Bobby passed a hand over his eyes, shaking his head. "Its been a long few days, Henrickson. Dean just won't accept Ruby right now."
"Well when he finally does is it gonna be too late?"
Bobby stared at him, his eyes narrowing. "I'm not gonna let anything happen to those boys, Henrickson."
"Yeah, that's what you keep saying. I just thought it was about time you did something about it," Henrickson replied.
He moved past Bobby before the other man could reply, pushing the food he had got for him into his chest. He reached Sam's room and stepped inside. Dean looked up at him.
Dean's eyes had dark bags beneath them, and they bore into Henrickson like drills. His mouth was stiff in a firm, hard line and his whole stance screamed protectiveness, one hand curled over Sam's. By now, he looked worse than Sam did. Henrickson moved over to him, keeping a respectable distance from Sam because he didn't want his head bitten off just yet, and held out the bag.
"Got you some food. Coffee."
Dean took the bag but merely placed it on the small bedside table, barely glancing at it. Henrickson sighed and folded his arms, looking down at Sam. If you didn't take in the pasty skin and the sharp, halting, shallow breaths, you could almost convince yourself that he was just sleeping. If only.
"How's he doing?" Henrickson asked, already knowing the answer but needing something to break the awkward silence with.
Dean shook his head in answer.
"The doctor said anything?"
Dean shook his head again.
Henrickson hesitated, and then steeled himself. "You know, we could always-"
"What?" Dean snapped, looking up sharply. "What, Henrickson?"
The words, 'summon Ruby' died on Henrickson's lips and he swallowed hard. Then he looked away, dropping Dean's gaze. "Nothing," he muttered.
Dean looked back down at Sam, unsmiling and cold. Henrickson turned and headed for the door.
"I'll see you later, I'm going to find Bobby."
Dean didn't reply.
Henrickson got out of the room and leant against the wall outside, waiting for Bobby to return. He didn't have to wait long: he soon saw Bobby returning from wherever he had gone, chewing on one of the sandwiches Henrickon had brought him. He slowed and stopped outside the door.
"Henrickson, there's nothing we can do to convince him-"
"I know," Henrickson cut across him. "So I was thinking... maybe we should sumon her ourselves. It worked before, didn't it?"
"No," Bobby said sharply. "I'm not summoning that bitch, not now."
Henrickson raised his eyebrows. "Bobby, don't tell me you actually agree with him?"
"Henrickson, no. After what she did... I mean, I wanna help Sam, but in our way. Dean's right. We can't trust demons."
And with that he moved past Henrickson and into Sam's room. Henrickson thought for a few moments and then headed for the lift. He thought that Bobby had left some of his books at the motel. Maybe they would be able to tell him everything he needed...
...everything he needed to sumon a demon.
Okay, there goes another chapter. Please, please review and maybe I'll stick on the next chapter. Thank you sooooo much for all the reviews so far!
SUPRNTRAL LVR.