Hello everybody! Sorry I didn't update yesterday but I was crazy busy. Apologies also about the lack of action but next chapter is going to be exciting...
Sam was frozen in place, his hand going to Dean's neck, searching for a pulse and finding a distant one. His breath was ragged, but suddenly, Jo pulled him back, away from his brother and basically across the room.
"Don't move." She ordered. Sam nodded like a lost child, his eyes watery as he watched Dean lay there. Jo knew her stuff though, checking for a blockage and beginning CPR when she found none.
"It's not working!" She shrieked, and without a moment's notice dipped down and kissed him hard on the lips. Wait, Sam thought. She was giving him mouth to mouth.
He watched Dean's chest rise with each of her exhales, her hand pinching his nose, the other in his hair, tilting his head back. Sam sank to the floor nervously, barely breathing himself, but already Dean's breathing on his own, and Ellen comes over to give him a reassuring look and whispers soothingly as the color begins to return to his brother's lips.
Suddenly, Dean coughs and splutters, jerking up with a gasp as if someone had been choking him and only just now let up. "Dean!" Sam rushed over, making a move to help his brother, but Jo held him back.
"Stop!" She put her hands on his chest and pushed him back gently. Ellen was at Dean's side, helping him up and handing him a glass of water to sip. "I'm fine." He protested. "What the hell happened anyway?"
"You were suffocating." Sam spoke in a distraught whisper, the first thing he'd said since he'd woken up to a blue-lipped brother. "I don't know why."
"I do," Jo said, walking back over with beers for everyone. Sam declined his, focusing on whatever her explanation was.
"It's about the spell." She began. "You used Mom's blood, right? 'Cause she's like your real mother. That's "half" true, so the spell "half" worked."
Sam cussed. "So now what? We've got nothing to go on and I still can't go near my own brother!"
"You can go near him, you just can't touch him." Ellen corrected. "But you're right. We've got no idea where to go from here. What do we even do?"
"We do what we always do when we don't know what to do." Everyone looked over as Dean swigged his beer and stood up like nothing had even happened. "We call Bobby."
...
Sam was depressed, quite literally. He sat in the corner and didn't really speak at all. Every time he did get up though, he steered clear of Dean like he was a mine. "Dude, you don't have to flatten yourself against the wall to walk past me." Dean shook his head sadly from the bed.
"I don't want to hurt you." Sam spoke in a shaky monotone.
"You won't! We hugged for like, five seconds, and all I did was cough!"
Sam shrugged. He wasn't taking any chances. "Just- what did Bobby have to say?"
"He said he'll start looking and we shouldn't have any brotherly moments anytime soon because we always end up hugging."
Sam chuckled, regaining his position with his laptop balanced on his lap. "He's upset, too." He decided.
Dean looked impressed. "How'd you know that?" He'd always known that Sam was good at reading people, but he didn't even know what Bobby had sounded like, and hell, Dean had even paraphrased what the older man had said.
Sam smiled, but sadly. Dean could always tell when his brother was faking it, ever since they were little. This was a courtesy smile, meant to say "I'm fine" when really this whole messed up situation was totally killing him inside. "He didn't even call us idgits."
It was true. He must be worried. Dean was too, but he wouldn't admit it. What was he supposed to do if Sammy got hurt again- when Sammy got hurt again? Sit back and watch? Direct from the sidelines? No. This had to be solved and he prayed to God (who hopefully was real and gave a damn) that Bobby had a solution.
Jo and Ellen returned with bags of groceries a couple hours later, armed with necessities. "Oh, and we took the liberty of taking your car to the best mechanics in town. Looked a little beat up." Jo added.
"You what?" Dean said, getting up and walking over.
"It's okay. They're really good." Ellen added.
Dean was too tired to argue. "Alright, I just need to be there to get it when they're done. I coulda done it myself, you know." He grumbled. Dean resumed cleaning his guns at the table.
"Do you really think Bobby'll know what to do?" Jo asked, sitting across from him and picking up a knife. Dean shrugged.
"He usually comes through,"
Jo agreed, as did Ellen, but with a glint of truthfulness in her eyes, unlike Jo who, through experience, Dean knew was just trying to cheer him up.
The older hunter didn't arrive for a couple more hours. Sam opened the door when he knocked, stowing his gun back in his pants when he realized it was just an old friend.
"Well? Anything?" Sam looked hopeful and tired as he looked up at Bobby, who frowned slightly. Those boys believed in him, and- his fault or not- it saddened him to be the bearer of bad news.
"Sorry, guys." He said when he walked past Sam, meeting the eyes of a disappointed Dean and quickly looking away.
"Nothing?"
He sighed. "No. All of my contacts that had to do with that witch vanished. I've got absolutely no leads. Everything I ever had about witches is gone, torn out of books and stuff no doubt by our witchy bitch herself."
Dean groaned. "We'll have to find another source, then?"
"And a resourceful one at that," Ellen added. "But it's late, and she's not goin' anywhere, so why don't you men just sit back and try to relax, okay?"
"Yes, Mom." Dean mocked, rolling his eyes. "Come on, Ellen, you can't expect us to just kick back and pretend this isn't happening!"
"Well," Jo sauntered up and sat right up against him, staring him in the eye as she spoke. "Why don't you do something exciting then?"
Dean waited.
"Go get your car, Dean." She sounded annoyed, now. "Bobby'll take you."
"I will?"
"Yep." She pulled Dean up by the arm, forcing him on his feet and prodding him towards the door. "Come, Dean. Take Bobby's car-of-the-day and you can drive back in the Impala."
He waved his hand in submission and followed Bobby out. "That's more like it..." Jo's voice dropped as she noticed Sam in the corner again, laptop close to his face and typing furiously.
"You too, Grumpy." Ellen joined in. Sam grumbled as the women guided him to the truck, protesting the entire way. "You can get some sleep on the drive." Jo suggested kindly. He responded by saying he wasn't tired, but it was hard to believe. As if some of his only friends wouldn't notice the way he stares off sometimes, shudders in thought or wakes up with nightmares.
As if they wouldn't notice the dark circled under his eyes that meant he couldn't sleep a wink until his brother was safe.
...
"So why do you have her name in your contacts in the first place?" Dean made conversation in the silent car. "And what's her name, even?"
"Her name in my contacts was Marjory, wasn't it Sam?"
Sam nodded sheepishly, cheeks reddening.
"But her real name was Marie Ventuar, and she was a thing of beauty... We had a few drinks, you know, strictly business." He said unconvincingly. "I was looking for a killer, and she happened to be a witness."
Dean winked at Sam in the backseat. Sam rolled his eyes. "Just like old times, huh, Sammy?" Dean teased.
"Do you idjits want to know how I know her or not?"
"We want to know..." Dean said like a four-year-old being put in time out.
"What I thought. Anyway, she helped out, dropped some hints 'till I found the guy. That's when she told me she was a witch. A nice one at that."
"Polite," Sam added.
"She said, 'You're a hunter. You probably think we're all Wicked Witches of the West.' Naturally, I told her that seemed to be the case. She scrawled down her number, smiled, and said 'Doesn't mean there aren't a few Glendas."
Dean gave an impressed frown. "Not bad, not bad."
"Yeah, well, apparently I was wrong about her. Made a deal with Sam, here, and didn't follow up on her niceness by letting it go."
Dean put his hand on Bobby's shoulder as they pulled into the mechanics'. "There are plenty more fish in the sea, young Bobby."
Bobby called him a number of affectionate profanities as the hunter snickered and stood up out of the truck, Sam not-so close behind. "For God's sake, I'm not contagious!" Dean yelled, eyes wide. Sam
nodded and followed his older brother. "People're gonna think I've got a rash or somethin'..." Dean mumbled.
I'll see you at Ellen's hotel." Bobby told the two as he started up his Chevy. "Call me if you need a ride for some reason." Sam watched the truck drive away reluctantly, turning his attention back to the door when a greasy man with stubble burst through, smiling and wiping his hands on a dirty rag.
"Hey! Customers!" He laughed a giant belly laugh and dug some keys out of his pocket. "So, these are yours. Nice car, by the way. You know, you were my only customers today? Yep. I'll go get your car."
Dean gave Sam a look as the man turned around. "He's cheerful." Sam nodded, inching further away.
"Sam! You won't hurt me! Seriously!"
Sam shrugged as the Impala was pulled up next to them, the mechanic climbing out and shutting the door loudly behind him. "I don't want to take a chance."
"Sammy," Dean said seriously. "One day, hopefully in the near future, the Winchester brothers can be a team again. But just because you can't touch me without hurting-"
"Winchester?" The mechanic butted in. "Winchester?"
Dean nodded slowly.
"Do you know a John Winchester?"
"He's our father." Dean responded seriously. "Why?" The mechanic just nodded towards his office. "Why don't you come in my office real fast?"
The brothers followed him through the parking lot and into a cramped, air conditioned room. "This way." He opened a closet, revealing hanging coats, nicer shirts, and jackets. "Do you still, you know... hunt?"
Sam nodded gravely.
"Okay," He waved the brothers forward, with darting eyes as he pulled open a latch, a whole new room appearing before their eyes.
"Dude..." Dean smiled as he glanced around the room, walls covered in racks of guns and knives and everything imaginable.
"You like it? I-" He paused, ears perked. With a sudden forcefulness, he violently pushed Sam in, the hunter almost stumbling into his brother, breathing a relieved sigh amidst the confusion.
The mechanic put a finger to his lips and slammed the door shut, plunging the two into darkness.
Thanks for reading this week! As always, reviews are love and I really appreciated everything last week. I'll either update this weekend or, if not possible, next weekend :(