Dean's eyes slowly fluttered open, but closed firmly tight again as a result of the harsh, blinding light of the hospital room. Keeping his eyes shut as tight as he could, he groaned quietly. Cas, Bobby, and Sam, who had all remained virtually silent for the past few days immediately sat up a little straighter and looked toward Dean.

"Dean?" Sam asked hopefully, not realizing that that was the first time that he had actually said something to his brother in days and that this time his brother might actually respond to him.

Sam's question was met with another soft groan. Sam's eyes widened in shock as he stood up. Dean was waking up!

"Dean!" Cas said urgently.

"Come on, Dean. Can you open your eyes?"

Dean tried to open his eyes again, but he had barely had them open for a second when the close sharply against the harsh light of the hospital room.

"Get the lights," Sam said to Bobby, not taking his eyes off of his brother. Bobby quickly did as he was told before returning to the bed and pressing the call button for the doctor. Sam was too preoccupied to think about that and Cas probably didn't realize that he was supposed to do it. Bobby was just as anxious as Sam and Cas, but was so much better at hiding it. "Ok, Dean. The lights are off, can you open your eyes now?"

Very slowly, Dean's eyes opened. "Oh my God!" Sam said, letting out a huge breath of relief. For the first time in over a week, Sam finally believed that his brother was going to be ok. "Holy shit, Dean."

"Cas?" Dean asked weakly.

"I'm right here, Dean," Cas said, leaving his hand on Dean's shoulder, but moving slightly so that Dean could actually see him.

"Cas," Dean breathed, exhaustion seeping through his voice.

Before anyone could say anything else, Dr. Carroll came into the room, surprised at what he saw. "Mr. Winchester," Dr. Carroll greeted. "You're awake."

Dean grunted in response, not having enough strength to say much more. His eyelids felt like the weighed three tons and were threatening to close at any second. Dr. Carroll must have noticed this because he said, "Can you keep your eyes open for just a little bit longer? Then you can sleep."

Dean groaned, but did as he was told. He wasn't entirely sure where he was or who was telling him this, but for whatever reason, Dean obeyed. Cas stayed in his line of sight and that helped. For some reason, he felt that he hadn't seen Cas is a very long time. He tried to remember what had happened, but couldn't remember anything. In fact, he was having problems thinking about anything at all. He just wanted to go back to sleep, but only if he knew that Cas would still be here when he woke up.

"Dean? Are you with me?" Dr. Carroll asked. Dean hadn't even realized that the guy was talking again.

"Mmmm."

"I was just saying that this is fantastic news. We're going to keep an eye on you for awhile yet, but you're doing remarkably well," Dr. Carroll said. He would have said more, but he noticed that Dean's eyes were drooping and he wouldn't be able to keep Dean's attention for much longer. He wasn't sure that he even had much of it to start out with. "Dean, you can go to sleep now."

Dean didn't think twice. At Dr. Carroll's words, Dean's eye fell shut and stayed shut. Within seconds, Dean's breathing had evened out and Dean was fast asleep.

"So you really think he's gonna be ok?" Sam asked, still slightly skeptical. He was exponentially more hopeful than he had been this morning, but he was still incredibly worried.

"The fact that he woke up is excellent news," Dr. Carroll said. "While we can't be entirely sure, because there's been no documented cases, I think that we can assume that Dean is moving into a much better position. The next few days will be critical. We'll be monitoring his progress more, now that he's woken up."

"Ok," Sam said as he nodded. "But you really think he's gonna be ok?"

"We can't be completely sure, but it's looking a lot better than it was earlier today."

Sam took a deep breath as he let Dr. Carroll's words sink in. Dean might just actually make it out of this alive.

"Ok, so if no one has any other questions, I'm going to leave you." Dr. Carroll's words were met by silence. "Ok then. I'll be back periodically to see how he's doing." Dr. Carroll took one last look at Dean before turning around and heading out the door.

Once Dr. Carroll was safely out of the room, Bobby let out deep breath. "Well, that's good."

"Yeah, but there's still a chance that he isn't going to make it," Sam retorted.

"But he woke up and that's something. You gotta take the small victories."

"I know," Sam sighed.

"But?" Bobby prompted, getting the feeling that Sam still had something to say.

"But nothing, Bobby," Sam said. "There's nothing else to say. I mean, Dean woke up and that's great, but we still don't know what's going on. Cas has been sitting there for how many days and we still don't really know."

"I know, kid, but Dean's a fighter."

"You keep saying that! And yeah, Dean is a fighter, but what good is that? We still don't know anything!" Sam said angrily. He knew that Bobby was doing what he could to comfort him, but nothing that Bobby was saying was really doing anything. All Sam wanted was to know for certain if Dean would be ok. He absolutely hated this waiting. He had spent way to much time waiting for Dean in hospitals.

Bobby stood up and looked directly at Sam. "I get that you're frustrated. We all are, but there ain't no reason for you to get mad at me."

Sam shrunk back immediately, knowing that he had crossed the line with Bobby. "I'm sorry," Sam said quietly and apologetically. "I didn't mean to take it out on you."

"Good. Now sit there and be there for your brother," Bobby ordered. Sam was quiet and Bobby took his seat.

Several minutes passed before anyone said anything. "You know," Bobby said. "I remember when you were about fifteen and you boys were staying with me."

Sam looked at Bobby, wondering where he was going with that story. That time wasn't the first time dad had dropped him and Dean off with Bobby. Ever since they first met Bobby, they were usually by him at least once a year, even if it was only for a night. Although, there were a couple of times that they were around long enough to enroll in school there.

Both Sam and Dean had enjoyed the time they got to spend there. Dean loved working on the cars in the salvage yard, while Sam was immersed in Bobby's large collection of books.

"Your dad was dead set on taking you boys to hunt a werewolf," Bobby said, pulling Sam from his thoughts. "And you were dead set about not going."

Sam distinctly remembered that particular fight with his dad. They had had countless fights when Sam was a teenager but that fight was one of the worst ones. Sam had argued that he should be able to go and be a normal teenager and hang out with his friends, but his dad said differently and told him that it didn't matter what he said, he was still going on that hunt. Needless to say, Sam, Dean, and John's focus was not completely on the hunt that night. Sam and John were furious with each other and Dean was trying to stay out of the argument. The lack of focus had disastrous consequences.

"I remember trying to convince your dad that you shouldn't go, but that bastard never listened. He kept saying that it would be good for you. That you needed the experience or some shit like that," Bobby explained. "But it didn't matter what I said. He still took both of you boys on that hunt. And then a few hours later, I got a call from Dean. Couldn't even understand what he was trying to say, he was panicking so much. Somehow I was able to get what hospital outta Dean and told him that I would be there soon. Still don't know how I was able to get anything out of your brother."

Sam's eyes moved from Dean to Bobby as Bobby continued his story.

"Anyway, I got to the hospital. Dean was in the waiting room, covered from head to toe in mud and dirt. I got no idea how your brother survived those few minutes by himself. It had only taken me about ten minutes to get to that hospital, granted I had to break a few speed limits in the process. But he was completely panicked and had no clue what was going on. Even when I tried to ask him about it, he couldn't really answer me that well. I eventually was able to get most of what happened out of him. The werewolf attacked and got you in the process. He ran over to you and get you out of there while John went after the damn thing," Bobby spat, clearly disgusted that John had put hunting a supernatural creature over taking care of his own son.

"And Dean brought me to the hospital," Sam said, finishing Bobby's thoughts.

"And your dad tried to tear him a new one for abandoning him without any back up."

"Tried to? I didn't know that."

"Yeah, well, I may have stepped in there before it got too bad, but he tried. But Dean brought you here and didn't know what to do."

"So Dean called you."

"Wasn't the first time," Bobby commented. "Kid called more than once cause he ran into trouble. But I sat with him and calmed him down. The kid had worked himself up so much, it was a wonder I was even able to calm him down. He would always get so worked up about anything that would happen to you. You had a fever, he was there to help bring it down. You had some kinda nightmare, he was there trying to comfort you. You had a sneeze, he was right there with a tissue. Never seen anyone care for someone like that, especially not a kid."

Sam looked down fondly at his brother. He really took him for granted a lot of the time, especially when they were growing up. They didn't have a mom and their dad had all but checked out after their mom died. Dean stepped up the plate and did everything for him. "Yeah," Sam agreed, finding himself unable to elaborate much more. How did was he supposed express in words what Dean had done for him?

Both men were silent for a few moments. Finally Sam asked, "That's great, Bobby, but what does that have to do with right now?"

"Look, your brother's been in this same position a bunch of times, and he's spent plenty of times freaking out in hospitals, just like you're doing now."

"So, basically, you want me to think about what Dean's done for me?"

"No. It was just something I was thinking about," Bobby said, with a smile. "And it took your mind of Dean in the hospital for a while, didn't it?"

Sam gave a small laugh. "I guess it did, Bobby. Thanks."

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I had a few issues while writing it, but overall I think it turned out pretty well. Thoughts?

We are getting so close to the end. Seriously, there's only like two more chapters after this. When did that happen?! Anyway, I hate saying this, but school starts next week, so it may be awhile between the next update. I know it's almost done, but this last week of work is insane and I have no clue when I'm going to be able to write when school starts.

One other note, for the past few chapters, I've been having some issues with uploading. As in, I post, but it takes over nine hours for emails to go out and it's just really frustrating. I've been making a post on my tumblr when I do update, so there's always another way if you are interested. You can find my tumblr at timelordsintheimpala. Hopefully though, emails will go out like they should and this will all be irrelevant.

I believe hat's it for now. Thanks for all of your support and leave a review letting me know what you think. Thanks again!