Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural
Warning: NOT A HAPPY STORY.
A/N: Oh my goodness. I can't believe you all hanging. :( I'm so sorry! I feel awful. In my defense though, I was on vacation. But, I'm back now with another update! I hope you all enjoy it just as much as my other ones. Ann: I'm glad you're enjoying my fanfiction so much! I will take your advice into consideration, though I think I have a different ending in mind. Dabo pacem: IKR?! I'm glad you enjoyed that part. I wanted to add a little bit of my own personal touch to it. ;) Stedan: Just you wait. That may all change. PriWinchester: I'm glad you think so! I've been working so hard on this fanfic and I'm so very proud of it! Guest: Well, here it is!
Without further ado: the update.
The lines mean either time change or POV change.
The next day, Dean woke up in the hospital. He knew where he was immediately, the events of the previous day returning to him very clearly. That plus the smell of antiseptic and sadness gave it away. He wondered how Sam was holding up - his brother's wounds looked pretty serious, but it was impossible to tell how much so in the dank blackness of the tunnel.
Soon enough, a nurse came in to change his bandages. He flirted half-heartedly with her, distracted by thoughts of how the people he had rescued were - especially Sam. He didn't know why, but he felt a little bit of pity for the youngest Winchester. Sam had found his place in life; he had found a wife. He felt as though he owed it to Jess to return her husband home safely - for her happiness, not Sam's. He didn't feel he owed Sam anything. Even though he saved your life? He hadn't forgotten that the reason Sam was taken was to distract the Wendigo from taking Dean.
Dean was soon taken from his thoughts when a police officer came in.
The officer came around to the side of the bed and said, "I see you've had quite a vacation, Mr. East. If you don't mind, I would like to hear from you what happened in the woods the past two days."
Dean grimaced. "Yeah, vacation. You see, I came out here with my cousin, Sam Ross, for a little bit of hiking. We were sleeping in our tents when a grizzly bear came over to our camp. My cousin tried to get rid of it, but it ended up taking him to a cave. I followed it there and shot it. I don't think it's dead because the thing ran off after that and that's when I called 9-1-1." He knew he was a smooth liar, but that sounded better than most of his stories.
"Okay, and were you aware of that three people had already gone missing before you went into the woods?"
"No, sir."
The officer asked a few more questions about how to contact him and where he lived. Dean gave his fake information willingly.
"Alright, thanks for your help. Your doctor should be in soon to speak with you." The officer stood up shook hands with him and then left.
Dean was alone for another thirty minutes, flipping through the channels on the TV when his doctor came in - the one person he'd been wanting to see. He pulled himself up his bed a bit.
"Afternoon, Mr. East. My name is Dr. Wilde and I'll be your doctor for the time being." Dr. Wilde held out his hand. He was balding on his head and had kind brown eyes. He appeared to be in his mid-forties.
Dean shook his outstretched hand. "Nice to meet you, doc. Call me Dean." He averted his eyes for a moment, not liking to have to lie to what seemed like a good guy.
"Alright, Dean. How are you feeling right now? Is there any pain anywhere?" Dr. Wilde started flipping through some of his charts, pen poised to write.
Dean took a moment before answering. "Doing pretty good. I don't feel any pain at all."
The older man gave him a hard look, clearly trying to decide if he was lying through his teeth (which he was). Then he wrote a couple notes and said, "Well, I think you should probably stay another twenty-four hours for us to monitor you pain and make sure infection doesn't -"
"That's not necessary, doc," Dean interjected, "I just wanna see my cousin and make sure he's doing alright." He noted that the doctor seemed to stiffen at the mention of Sam.
Dr. Wilde gave him another long look. "I would advise against that, Dean. Your injury was pretty severe and I don't want you walking on that leg for at least a week."
Dean gave a short laugh. "Seriously, I'm fine. Where's my cousin?"
"How about I make you deal? If you let my nurses monitor you for another forty-eight hours and stay in a wheelchair or in your bed, I'll let you go. Sound good?" Dean was starting to feel slightly nervous at the lack of news of his brother. What wasn't the doctor saying?
Dean shifted in his bed and had to suppress a hiss of pain. His leg was more tender than he had originally thought. Dean sighed in frustration, though it came out as more of a growl. "Fine, just tell me how Sam is doing."
The doctor seemed to jerk a bit again. "We do have some questions that you need to answer, but, Mr. East, I'll be honest with you. Sam is not doing well at all."
It was Dean's turn to tense up. "Why not? What happened?" He thought back to the mine and what Sam had looked like then. He could recall a slash on his abdomen, he didn't know how deep, a shallow gash on his forehead, and various other minor scratches.
The doctor was talking again. "Mr. Ross experienced severe head trauma and had a punctured lung. He came out of surgery a couple hours ago and won't be waking up for at least another five or six. He has a sprained wrist and his left leg had some nerve damage. We're unsure if the nerve damage in his leg was as a result of this trip or if he had an accident prior to coming to us. Do you know if his leg was lame before you went hiking this week?"
For a moment, Dean was frozen. He forced out, "No, I had no idea about his leg." He knew that wasn't entirely true though. Sam had struggled to keep up the entire time they were walking. Could that be what the doctor meant?
Dr. Wilde took a couple notes then asked, "What about his mental health? Does he have a history of depression?"
Every question felt like an electric shock to his system, sending more and more guilt flooding through him. "Not that I know of. Look, we recently started talking again. I haven't seen him in - long time." Dean was reluctant to admit how long.
The doctor looked at him with pity. "I'm sorry, Dean. The reason I ask is because we had to pump his stomach because he overdosed on a heavy duty painkiller. It was likely prescribed, so we assumed that he was lame prior to coming into our care. We just wanted to double check our facts with you before we talked to him."
Heat boiled in his veins, threaten to explode. He wanted to beat the kid to a pulp for not telling him about - anything. A small part also wanted to make sure he was okay, though it was mostly overwhelmed by rage he felt. "Let me see him," Dean said.
He nodded. "Of course, but before I have the nurses take you over, I want to warn you that he is hooked up to many machines. We had to insert a feeding and breathing tube as well. Don't worry, the monitors are to help him and for the nurses to make sure he is doing well. Also, I must warn you that due to his concussion there is a chance that he will go into a coma. If he does, the machines will alert the nurses to the change and they will make the necessary adjustments. We don't expect that to happen, but I wanted to prepare you in case it does."
He couldn't help feel entirely responsible for his brother's fate. If he had shot the monster with the proper gun when he had the chance this entire ordeal would have been avoided. It didn't mean he wasn't still pissed as hell at his brother, but he didn't want to be the one to tell his wife that she was a widow. He didn't want his brother dead. Dean swallowed hard against the bile rising in his throat. "Yeah, okay, just let me see him," he repeated.
Dr. Wilde nodded and walked out. Ten minutes later a young female nurse came in with a wheelchair. She helped him into it and then she took him down to ICU. It didn't even occur to him that he wasn't flirting with the pretty nurse. He was focused entirely on Sam.
They rounded the last corner and Dean got his first look at Sam. His first impression was that he was dead. As the nurse moved him closer, he could see that his chest was rising and falling. He was so pale. He looked almost translucent. Just as Dr. Wilde had said, Sam was connected to many monitors that monitored one thing or another. The chorus of noise from the machines and the hiss of the ventilator did nothing to soothe Dean's nerves. For the first time in nearly eleven years Dean wanted to see his brother's eyes. He wanted to see his brother up and moving around. He wanted him to be okay.
As the nurse left him there with his comatose brother, Dean sat in the chair just staring at him. He had no idea what he was supposed to do. Should he hold his hand? Should he talk to him? Talking wouldn't work; he had no clue what to say. He couldn't just say "I'm sorry" when he didn't even know if he was. Half of him thought that Sam deserved what he got for running off to begin with. It was that same part that held onto the rage he felt towards him. Somehow, it didn't feel quite as justified as before though. Sam got his happily ever after, who was Dean to be angry at him for that and try to deny it to him?
There was another question that lingered at the back of his mind, too. Why did Sam leave Jess? He couldn't think of any reasonable answer to that. The only thing he knew was that all was not well in his brother's apple pie life.
Dean waited silently for nearly seven hours when the nurses came in and said it was time to go. Dean tried to tell them no and caused a huge scene as they tried to take him away. Eventually, they dosed him with a sedative and took him back to his room.
A/N: What do you think of this chapter? I've been getting mixed reviews as to whether or not you guys want Dean to forgive Sam or not. Some of you do, some don't. So, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, tell me what you want. I have a few ways I could end this one with Dean forgiving him, one not, and one sort of in the middle. So please give me some feedback on what you do and don't like about what I've written so far. It will greatly increase the chances of you getting the ending you want. Thank you so much again for reading! I love you all!