Dean was pacing back and forth looking at his watch and not feeling better by what he saw. Lt. Jennings was ready with all the information to grant Dean guardianship, now all they needed was the person in question who seemed to have disappeared. "Sergeant, is there any way to get hold of them? Maybe they had car trouble, or lost track of time."
Shaking his head, Dean knew that something bad had happened. Joseph is never late, it's one thing that he's anal about; that and keeping a promise. If he said they'd be there at a quarter till, then they should have been there a half hour ago. Looking back at his watch, and seeing that it was five past ten his apprehension skyrocketed. It wasn't until they saw Colonel Erickson storming through the doors that they knew how bad the situation really was.
"Winchester! Come with me, some jackass just ran one of my men off the road and apparently one of his brothers is pinned in the truck." Not wasting any time, Dean followed the Colonel out the door with Taylor and Stephen bringing up the rear. "When I get my hands on the bastard…"
Dean was puzzled, he was pretty sure that the Colonel had been talking about Joseph and Sammy, but now, with the way the Colonel was fuming he had to wonder if he was wrong. If he was, then he was chasing after someone else while he should be tracking his little brother down. Climbing into the Colonel's Tahoe they took off quickly, barely slowing down at the stop signs until they made it to the highway where they all were thankful for the seatbelts as the Colonel sped up and weaved through traffic. Ten minutes later, they saw the scene from the opposite side and it took a direct order and two arms on his shoulders to keep Dean in the SUV. Finally arriving at the actual scene, they all got out and rushed passed the ambulance and fire trucks and was able to get a better look at the scene.
Joseph's truck had been smashed into the concrete retaining wall after being banged all to hell by something else. That wouldn't have been so bad, except that there was now a light post lying on its side parting the truck's squashed roof in half. Seeing it up close and personal didn't alleviate anyone's fears, in fact it made them feel even worse. Once they located Joseph lying on the hood of the truck looking inside, they all realized that Sammy had to still be in there. Hearing more people approach, Joseph looked up.
"Thank God! Dean, talk some sense into your brother, he's not listening to me." Joseph said, frantic that he couldn't get through to the kid. Seeing Dean rush towards him, he moved to the driver's side to let him have enough room to see little bro himself.
Jumping on the hood of the old truck, Dean wasn't sure what he would see, but he was determined not to let his little brother down now. As he looked inside, he saw Sammy cramped in a small space looking dazed and even confused. "Hey Sammy, what's this about you not listening to Joseph, huh? Didn't I tell you he was a good guy?" he watched as Sammy looked at him for a moment before he answered.
"Yeah, JJ's pretty cool." Sam said, looking at his brother; glad that he was there.
"So, what aren't you listening to him about? Let me guess, you two were arguing about the benefits of good old American Steel versus the newer crappier fiberglass models, right?"
Sam lightly laughed, before his bruised ribs protested. "When he said he wanted to update the truck, I didn't think he'd go this far." He said, giving his brother a tired smile.
Dean knew that his little brother was hurting, but he still hadn't gotten an answer. Looking at Joseph he asked, "JJ? Dude, you are so going to explain that one to me."
Taking that for what it actually was, Joseph looked at Dean and explained, "The medics have been here already trying to check him out and give him some relief, but he refused to have them touch him. He won't listen to me man, you try."
Looking back at his brother, he joked, "This true Sammy? You not playing nice with others today?"
"They weren't going to give me a lollipop when they were done, so I figured I wait." Sammy said, gasping through the pain in his head and his ribs. He knew nothing was broken, but they hurt like a bastard, not to mention the blood running down the side of his face was irritating as hell. Knowing his brother like he did, he knew that he'd make him go to the hospital once he was out of this mess, but right now he didn't want to be bothered with mundane details like concussions, contusions or even respirations.
Sammy's spunkiness made Dean proud of his little brother, irritated, but proud. "Hey Sammy… your talking right again. I knew you could do it. Was it those exercises we used to do, or just the thought of your handsome older brother getting more wise cracks in?"
Shaking his head, Sam looked between Dean and Joseph before answering, "Figured if you hadn't eaten me by now, you wouldn't want to now that I'm practically road kill."
Joseph looked shocked by the response, but Dean smiled and nodded his understanding. Wanting to fill Joseph in and keep Sammy's mind off things Dean explained, "Sammy here was about eight years old when he disappeared from a Laundromat. There had been quite a few disappearances in the area and we had been looking for clues to what it could be. Well, about a day and a half later John and I stumble across a small house in the woods with a crazy family who thought that the Grimm's Brothers had the right idea, and started their own version of Hansel and Gretel. Sammy had to watch two other kids about his age get… uh… well you know, and he was told that he was going to be dinner the next night."
"You're kidding, right?" Joseph asked in horror, half expecting Dean to shout 'Gotcha!' at any moment.
They heard Sammy in the truck agree with Dean, "It took me weeks not to hide from strangers, and months to quit stuttering all the time, then almost a year to keep it from happening around people I didn't know."
Joseph shook his head then looked up to see what the hold up was, the crane was supposed to be there by now. "So, it looks like the gang's all here. The Colonel's arguing with the Fire Chief about something and I think that Taylor and Stephen are going to have to keep him from knocking the Chief out."
Dean looked over the roof in shock. Everyone knew the Colonel had a temper, but he was usually able to rein it in, but whatever the Chief had said, had set that temper into full swing. Luckily, some sort of agreement was made and the Colonel along with Taylor and Stephen were making their way towards them.
Situating himself so he could look Sammy in the eyes, the Colonel got down to business. "Sam, I need to know what's going on, you look like crap, but they're telling me you're refusing medical treatment."
"Yyes ssir…" Sam said; not sure if the Colonel wasn't going to eat him when all was said and done.
"Ok, can you tell me why? No, nevermind, if you're like your brother here that would be like pulling teeth. Let me ask you this… do you think you can wait another hour to get out of there?" Terrance was waiting for any indication that the kid couldn't wait because he had already decided how to handle it…they said as long as he was conscious he had the right to refuse; they didn't say how he had to become unconscious.
Sam looked at the Colonel, "Yyes ssir, I ccan wwait an hhhour."
As he looked Sam over, Terrance could see the boy was tired and beat to hell, but there was definitely a strength there that was kindred to his brother. "Ok son, but I need you to promise that if you feel like you're hurt worse than you thought, or just can't stand it anymore you let us know. Do you promise that?" he asked, and didn't get up until he heard Sam promise. After that he looked back at his men, "Alright, they have a crane on the way and it'll be here in about half an hour, by the time it's hooked up and ready to lift the pole, that will be another fifteen minutes. Right now, Sam's calm but I don't want him agitated at all, understand me? I don't know why he's refusing treatment, and I don't care, we'll deal with that later. Right now I want to know how this happened. Joseph, what the hell did that to your truck?"
Joseph quickly explained how a big black truck had rammed into them and after one of the tires blew his truck rolled several times before stopping against the wall, then the pole fell onto the truck effectively separating him from Sammy. Looking at Dean he quickly apologized for not taking better care of their little brother.
"Dude, it's not your fault. With everything going on, it could have happened to any of us." Dean said, fully understanding what had happened, and who was really to blame; John.
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It took two and a half hours to get Sammy out of the truck and by that time Dean had enough with being patient. Getting in the face of a couple of firefighters normally isn't the brightest thing to do, but when he heard his little brother cry out in pain after they worked him loose, he completely lost it. After threatening the firemen with having charges brought on them for unnecessary force, they countered with contacting authorities because the kid wasn't in school. Meanwhile, the news crew was having a field day with the turn of events, and it was only the sound of Sammy's voice that kept Dean from letting a fist fly at the camera man.
After promising to go to call Doctor Grey later, the Colonel allowed Sam to go home and rest up instead of being taken directly to the hospital where they all wondered if that was where the kid truly belonged. They did notice that as soon as he was out of the truck, Sam had allowed a paramedic to clean out the small cut on his forehead and put a bandage on it. What took them by surprise though was when he asked to use the back of the ambulance to change his shirt, and later came out smelling of rubbing alcohol, with damp hair, his new button up shirt on and his hoodie in a large plastic bag separate from the shopping bag he had.
The Colonel dropped them off at the apartment with the promise of checking on them at the end of the day, as well as to make sure that Sam had fulfilled his promise as well. Dean helped Sammy lay down on the couch before he sat next to him and sighed. "I'm sorry Sammy." He began, and when he saw the question in his brother's eyes he continued. "I've been so wrapped up in having you here with me, that I forgot everything else. Hell, it didn't even dawn on me that you might need clothes instead of just liking the couple of things that you've been wearing. I don't know… I guess I'm still trying to accept that you're really real… here with me. You know?" he asked, hoping that he was making more sense than what he thought. "Look, Sammy, I know that everything is happening at once, I just want you to know that you can talk to me about anything at anytime, ok little brother?"
Sam looked at Dean and wasn't sure what to say. His head still hurt, and he still had to ask Dean to call Celia and see if she could come by, but all he really wanted to do was sleep. "Ok Dean, but can we talk later? I'm really tired and I still need to call…"
"One step ahead of you, little bro," Stephen said as he came walking out of the kitchen with a bottled water and an individual pack of Advil in his hand. "I already talked to her, and she said that she'd be over in a little while but to take these first." Sam was looking at Stephen in shock causing the man to laugh, "Well I figured that we can't keep buying new bottles every time you get a headache, so I asked around and bought a box of these. Don't worry; they're individually packaged and ready to go."
Taking the packet from Stephen, Sammy smiled at his brother "You must think I'm a nut." He said trying not to sound depressed.
"Nah… you sound like my pain in the ass little brother, and I wouldn't have it any other way." Dean said giving Sammy a heartwarming smile. "You know I don't care about this little stuff as long as you're here, right?"
Sam was looking at Dean and couldn't help but hope that his big brother meant it, because if not, then he was going to be alone until the day he died; and if their dad had anything to say about it, that would only be another year and nine months.
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Explaining things to Lt. Jennings had been easy; convincing the judge to take the day's events under consideration and grant the guardianship without meeting Sam and Dean in person was a little more difficult. Finally having explained the whole situation and personally vouching for the brothers, Col. Terrance Erickson had the guardianship papers in his hand and he couldn't wait to deliver them personally. Walking into his office, he had a surprise visitor waiting for him.
"Jenna! Is everything ok? What's wrong?" he asked, looking her over to make sure that she was alright.
"Daddy, the news said that there was a horrible accident and that you were on the scene. I've been calling most of the afternoon." Her voice cracked, but she tried to stay stoic to find out what happened.
He couldn't help but feel relieved that she was alright. With everything that had been going on his first thought upon seeing her was that she had been attacked at school. Damn! "Jenna, sit down. I need to run something by you, and it's something that I need your full agreement to before I continue." When she looked at him questioningly he took a deep breath and jumped in "I think you need a personal guard while you're at school."
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Dr. Celia Grey knew she was being watched as soon as she got out of her car. Looking around the only thing that she found out of place was a large black truck at the end of the block; normally there were only small vehicles that lined the curbs. Not thinking too much about it, she entered the building and walked up the stairs that were in the center of the foyer. Learning the hard way the last time, she ignored the two doors on either side of the stairs, and went to the right where the "main" entrance was. She had heard the story of how the four soldiers were so close that they had refused to get separate apartments, and looked everywhere for one with four bedrooms that they could afford. Apparently, one of them had gone out with a girl who was the co-owner of a quadplex and was looking to rent out the upper apartments. After looking at the double two bedroom apartments, they quickly got permission to make it into one large four bedroom two bath apartment and signed on the spot. She didn't believe it when she heard it, after all, they were grown men, surely they could have handled a wall in between them; then she saw for herself how close they were and understood. Now she was being asked to come into their tight circle and she felt more than honored.
Knocking on the door, she waited until Stephen escorted her into the living room to her young patient. "Sam, what have you done to yourself now?" she asked getting a quick look at him.
"Apparently, Joseph needed an excuse to get a new truck, right Sammy?" Dean said while winking as his brother. When Sammy rolled his eyes but didn't try to answer, he knew that either his brother was more tired than he knew, or he was nervous around the doc.
"Ah, so you were the ones who shut down the highway to only two lanes today." She said as she started getting her equipment out. "Ok Sam, how do you want to do this? I need to check your ribs and see if there's any other damage. Now, the last time I did that, you had your clothes on and it was very difficult. If you take your shirt off, I can get a better look and hopefully not take as much time. So, which is it?"
Dean cut off any response from Sammy and said in his place, "He'll take his shirt off, won't you Sammy?" Looking at his brother in disbelief, Sam just laid there staring at him. Not to be dissuaded, Dean stared at Sammy just as intently. "Either here or the hospital Sammy, your choice."
Taylor, Stephen and Joseph looked at each other then at Dean. What the hell? Finally though, they saw Sammy tenderly trying to get up from the couch. As Celia helped Sammy sit up, the guys looked at Dean in admonishment, but were puzzled by the saddened look on his face. Then it hit them, this was the only way he could find out what else their father might have done to Sammy.
Unbuttoning the shirt, Sam didn't want to take it off, but didn't want to go to the hospital either. So after taking a deep breath to steel his resolve, he took off the shirt and waited for the response he was sure to hear; it didn't take long, and he wasn't disappointed.
AN: Ok, maybe you love to hate me right now? Well, let me know!
