Sick Days
Timeline- This story takes place in January 2003 when Adam is 15 years old. He's on the road with Dad and Dean, traveling and hunting.
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Adam awoke to the feeling of his damp hair being gently swept away from his forehead.
"Damn, you're burning up,"
"Hmm?" Adam mumbled, fighting to open his eyes against the drowsiness that was enveloping him.
"Here take this ok? Sit up man,"
Adam grimaced, opening and then closing his eyes again against the pain shooting through his head, swallowing and feeling the sensation of razor blades cutting his throat. Everything hurt and he was so cold and dizzy.
"What?" Adam grumbled irritably, just wanting to go back to sleep.
"Come on, sit up,"
Adam groaned and finally opened his eyes all the way meeting the tired, worried expression of his oldest brother.
"Here," Dean said, holding out a handful of pills and a bottle of water, the cap already unscrewed and open.
Adam cleared his throat, regretting the move when it sent more needling pain throughout his body and pushed himself up until he was leaning on one elbow.
"Ugh, shit I feel terrible," he said taking the pills and water from Dean.
"I know man, I know," Dean replied, palming Adam's forehead just like mom used to do when she'd check for fever, "I found a clinic in town to take you to,"
"I just wanna sleep dude," Adam protested, the thought of standing seeming too exhausting to consider.
"I know man. Come on," Dean said, pulling the blanket off his brother to encourage Adam to get up, "The sooner we go the sooner we can get back,"
"Ugh ok," Adam said, sighing and pushing himself up to sitting, fighting the wave of dizziness that greeted him.
As the blackness faded from the edges of his vision Adam looked up to see his brother, sitting down heavily on the opposite motel bed.
"Dean?" he asked, noticing his brother's shuffled heavy movements as he slowly pulled on his boots, "You ok?"
"Yeah 'm fine," Dean replied with a shaky breath, pausing for a moment too long before standing again.
"Hmmm," Adam said apprehensively, trying to watch his brother but losing the battle when he stood and another spell of dizziness made his vision go dark again.
"Hey, hey," Dean said, suddenly beside him, arms under Adam's own, holding him up, "See? This is why you gotta go to the clinic."
"'M fine," Adam mumbled as Dean gently guided him back down to sit on the edge of the bed.
Dean looked down at his youngest brother's sweaty and pale young face. He'd debated about taking the kid in to get checked for days. Finally, after two days of barely being able to wake Adam up to eat or drink anything, he decided to bite the bullet and find a clinic in the little town they were calling home this month. Dad was gone, as usual, but Dean was glad that at least he was here to look after Adam. He hated to think of the kid being this miserably sick alone.
If he was being honest, Dean wasn't doing so hot himself. Whatever Adam had, Dean did too, although he was at least able to get his fever under control. He'd managed to find and choke down some meds and was mercifully able to get his own head on straight before he woke Adam up.
"I need to shave," Adam muttered rubbing his face, scratching at the three-day-old whiskers growing on his face.
"It's fine," Dean replied, not even having the energy to come up with a witty, sarcastic reply about Adam's barely there teenage beard.
"Here, throw this on," he said, picking up a sweatshirt off the end of the bed and gently tossing it at his brother
The shirt hit Adam in the chest and he nodded heavily, "Kay,"
Dean sat back down on the bed next to Adam while his brother pulled on the oversized sweatshirt, trying to hide just how badly he wanted to lay back down himself.
It took both of them to find and put on Adam's boots and jacket and Dean had to fight the urge to lay down on the floor and give up the idea of the doctor when they were done.
"Dean you ok man?" Adam asked weakly as they both shuffled out the door of the motel into the icy North Dakota winter.
"Yeah, yeah," Dean said, walking to the car and watching Adam get in slowly before briefly resting his head against the delightful cold metal of his baby.
"Yeah, yeah, " Dean said again to himself, taking in a deep breath and pushing himself off the car, "Let's do this," he said resolutely.
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The clinic they found was overflowing with sick people and Dean shuddered to think about all the nasty germs and crap they were about to encounter just by sitting in the waiting room. He tried to make sure neither of them touched anything more than absolutely necessary.
"Adam Osbourne?"
Dean breathed a sigh of relief when he finally heard fake named he'd given to the front desk called, grateful to be getting out of the petri dish waiting room.
"That's us bud," Dean said, gently pushing Adam off his shoulder where the kid was slumped against him, too sick to be embarrassed about practically sleeping on his older brother in public.
Adam grumbled but pushed himself up wobbling slightly when he stood and took a breath before nodding at Dean and walking toward the nurse and the open door she stood beside.
"This way…" she said leading both the brothers down the hallway and into a small exam room.
She ushered Adam over to the exam table and went through the process of getting his medical background and symptoms.
"And you're his guardian?" she asked glancing over at Dean, who was slumped in the chair next to the exam table, struggling to stay upright.
"Yup," he said, giving her a weak smile.
She was young enough and pretty enough that if he hadn't felt like walking death he'd have made a pass at her, but at it was, he was working on not falling out of the damn chair he was parked in.
"Ok then," she said with eyebrows raised, "The doctor will be in shortly,"
Adam nodded and slumped back against the wall that the exam table was pushed up against, looking pale and sweaty again.
"They better give me the good drugs for coming all the way in here," he grumbled.
"They will kid," Dean assured, wondering if he could ask the doc for a double dose of whatever meds he was gonna prescribe for Adam.
Twenty minutes later Adam had dozed off, still slumped against the wall and Dean had allowed himself to lay his head down on the table next to his brother dozing in and out as well, but trying to stay alert for when the doctor finally decided to show up.
The click of the door handle alerted Dean and he instantly sat up, his head swimming and his vision blacking with the sudden movement.
"Sorry about the delay," the doctor apologized, not looking at either brother as he strode quickly into the room. "Adam, right?"
Dean cleared this throat aggressively, already irritated with the rushing doctor, "Yeah…" he answered for his brother.
The doctor hurried to sit down on his rolling stool, pushing himself up to the small counter near the exam table and opening the manila folder he had in his hand, still not looking up at Adam.
"Symptoms for more than a week, is that correct? Fever? Chills? Sore throat?" he said reading over the notes from the folder.
"Yeah," Adam mumbled in agreement, not making a move to sit up from the wall.
"Ok, let's check you out," the doctor said, standing up and grabbing his stethoscope from around his neck.
Dean watched as the doctor hastily examined his brother, feeling more and more aggravated. The man barely even looked at Adam. The entire exam the doctor didn't once meet Adam's eye, only rapidly moving from one doctor's tool to the next, looking in his brother's ears, nose, and throat, rushing through the examination much faster that Dean would have liked.
"Ok," the doctor said, turning away from Adam and striding over quickly to grab the manila chart off the table, "Adam's got a case of the flu and strep throat. There isn't much we can do for the flu at this point, but I can give you some antibiotics for the strep."
The doctor glanced at Dean for only a brief second while speaking, pulling out a prescription pad from his pocket and beginning to scribble, "He'll need lots of fluids and rest. Alternate Tylenol and ibuprofen for the pain and fever as needed."
Dean nodded at the man, frustrated with his impersonal bedside manner, watching as the doctor tore off a small square of paper from the pad and handed it to him.
"No school right doc?" Adam asked dryly from his spot on the table, "For like two weeks?"
The doctor put down his prescription pad and finally looked at Adam, "As soon as that fever breaks you can go back. You can ask the front desk to write you a note for today,"
Standing up quickly the doctor grabbed his folder, "Feel better son," he said giving Adam a quick passing glance before hurrying out of the room.
"Dick," Dean huffed in annoyance.
"Yeah," Adam agreed, slowly pushing off the exam table and standing up, wobbling a little.
Scowling Dean stood up himself, suddenly noticing the doctor's forgotten prescription pad on the table next to him. A flash of an idea formed in his head and Dean quickly grabbed the pad, shoving it in his coat pocket.
"Come on," he said to Adam, "Let's get out of this germ pit,"
Adam nodded weakly, clearly exhausted. Dean followed his brother out of the exam room and through the waiting room, stopping at the front desk to get the school note they had been offered and making Adam drench himself in as much hand sanitizer as his brother could tolerate.
Dean was almost grateful to get back into the freezing air outside the clinic as they left, taking in a deep breath of the shockingly cold, but clean, air trying to shake off the icky feeling of the too warm, disease-filled air inside the building.
After getting an annoyed brush off from Adam when he tried to open the passenger side door for him, 'I'm not a girl Dean,' he'd walked back around to the driver's side, again letting his head rest on the icy metal of his baby. His fever was coming back up, he could feel it. He needed to get some meds and get back to the motel so they could both battle this damn flu in peace.
Taking a deep breath to bolster himself, Dean opened the door and slid into the car glancing at Adam slumped in the front seat. Leaning across his brother he opened the glove box, pulling out a pen. He grabbed the stolen prescription pad from his pocket and Adam's own legit prescription, laying the latter on his thigh.
"What're you doing?" Adam asked, curiosity waking him up from the stupor of his sickness.
"Writing myself a prescription for whatever he gave you," Dean answered, focusing on making semi-legible scribbles to match the doctors.
"I knew you felt like shit too," Adam said accusingly, "You could have said something,"
"Don't worry about it," Dean replied brushing him off.
Dean tore off the new prescription and folded in half, like he'd done with Adam's, throwing the pad down on the seat between them. Adam picked it up, examining it thoughtfully before putting it in the front pocket of his sweatshirt.
Dean noticed the movement, "What're you gonna do with that?"
"Kids at school would pay a lot of money some of these," Adam explained slyly, giving his brother a cunning look.
Dean didn't really have the energy to argue with his brother on what a stupid idea the kid was considering. Selling fake prescriptions was a little more serious than the bush league scams Adam usually ran at the schools he attended.
Dean studied for his brother for a moment, taking in Adam's pallid complexion and glassy eyes. There was no way Adam was going to school for a few days, plenty of time for Dean to steal the prescription pad away from him and chuck it, no need to get into a fight about it now.
"Whatever," Dean said, reaching in his pocket and pulling out the car keys, starting the engine with a familiar and comforting roar.
Adam grinned weakly in triumph and closed his eyes, slumping down further in the seat, burrowing himself deeper into his sweatshirt and jacket.
Dean rolled his eyes but smiled a little as well.
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A/N- Hope you enjoyed this little slice of life between Dean and Adam!