Sam awakens to the sound of his phone ringing. He blearily opens his eyes and fumbles around for the device, which ends up being wedged underneath a couch cushion for some reason.
"What?" he answers groggily.
"It's Dean," comes Castiel's low voice. "You need to come. Right now."
"Huh? It's like two in the morning, Cas. Where are you?"
"In the middle of the road. I'll explain everything when you get here."
"Where is 'here', Cas? What's going on? What happened to Dean?" Sam asks, confused.
"Just hurry," Castiel replies, his tone urgent. "I'd zap you here myself but I can't right now."
"Hold on. Where are you? What road?"
"I'm not sure. I think the motel Dean's staying at is only a couple blocks south of here. I'm standing by a large office building with a parking garage. You're at home, right? So if you just take a left into town and head straight, you should find us."
Before Sam has the chance to ask for better directions, Castiel hangs up on him.
After drinking a few too many bottles of beer earlier in the night, Sam doesn't feel like moving from his couch. He's tired and nauseated. He knows he has to see what new problem his older brother has gotten himself into, though, so he puts on a pair of boots and a jacket and heads out the door anyways.
It only takes about a ten minute drive for him to find Cas. The angel is standing by an ambulance and a wrecked car, looking panicked.
"What the hell happened?!" Sam demands after practically sprinting out his car toward the apparent accident.
"A power-line got hit by some hail and swung right out into the road," a police officer says, approaching Sam and Castiel. "It broke that car's windshield and hit the driver."
"Where's Dean? I wanna see him," Sam says, pushing past the officer and toward the ambulance.
"Hold on, Sir. Who are you?" the policeman asks, placing a hand on Sam's shoulder to hold him there.
"I'm his brother," Sam answers sharply. "Now let me see him."
"Okay, well you can ride in the ambulance with him to the hospital or you can take your own vehicle and meet him there."
Sam gives Cas a look and the angel nods meaningfully.
"I'll take your car there," Cas says as Sam hands him the keys.
Sam approaches the ambulance and sees Dean laid out on a stretcher inside. He is breathing, thankfully, with the help of an oxygen mask.
"I'm his brother," Sam explains to the paramedic who gives him a strange look upon entering. "What happened? Is he gonna be okay?"
"From what I can tell so far, he appears to have only obtained minor outward injuries. A broken nose and some shards of glass in his face. But that power-line was live, so he could've been shot with an electrical current."
"And?" Sam prompts. "What does that mean?"
"It means that your brother may be suffering from some internal injuries. There's no way to tell until he's able to get a brain scan at the hospital, though," the paramedic explains.
"Okay, um, right. That makes sense, yeah."
The paramedic gives Sam a sympathetic look, sensing his nervousness. "I can tell that he's a fighter," she says with a comforting smile. "He'll be okay."
Sam isn't so sure, but he doesn't want to think about the alternative. He's almost lost his brother too many times to count and he has lost his brother several times as well. The thought of Dean really being gone for good is something Sam just can't face.