Doctor Abraham declared that Jessa wasn't well enough to take to any more surgery, but she tried to reassure them by telling them that she hadn't gotten worse. Hotch sat outside her room for hours while Sam and Dean sat with their sister. It was hours later that Sam walked out of the room and sat near him.
"I, uh, I don't think we officially met." He said, "I'm Sam."
"Aaron." Hotch replied.
"She's not doing any better."
"The doctor told me."
"Oh." The pair lapsed into an awkward silence before Sam cleared his throat nervously, "Are you, um, dating my sister."
"No." He answered simply, if not a little quickly.
"You've been here longer than we have, you obviously care about her."
"I do. I care about every member of my team."
"Then why haven't you called them?" Hotch looked at him with a confused expression, so Sam explained himself. "Jessa talks about how close you all are. So I figure if they aren't here, they don't know."
He sighed, "I wanted to know something before I called them."
"Doc Abraham said she's probably not going to make it through the night." Sam's voice was strained, like he was fighting to keep it even. "She's dying. She deserves to have people she cares about around her." He stood up, "They won't allow visitors in for much longer. You should call them."
He walked away and left Hotch in silence, thinking about his words. Eventually he picked up his phone and dialled Gideon.
"Hotch, any word?" The other agent answered.
"It's not good." Hotch said, straining to keep his composure. "She's dying, Jason. I need you to brief the team."
"Dying? Are you sure?"
"There's nothing more they can do for her. They don't know how long she's got."
"I'll brief them."
"Thanks." He hung up, feeling some of the weight he was carrying lift—some, but not all.
The team sat around the round table, watching Gideon—who wore a grim expression.
"Do we have a case?" JJ asked confusedly, "Nothing's come across my desk."
"We don't have a case." Gideon replied, removing his glasses and cleaning them with the hem of his shirt, before replacing them.
"What's going on?" Morgan asked, with the same amount of confusion as JJ had.
"Yeah, and why am I here?" Garcia added.
"Last night, Jessa was involved in an accident." He started, "Hotch has been with her all day at the hospital and they don't think she's going to make it."
Four blank faces stared back at him, each in their own state of shock.
Reid was the first one to speak, "Why—um, why, why weren't we told sooner?"
"Hotch didn't want to worry anyone until we knew something definitive." Gideon told him.
"Jessa is dying?" Garcia's expression mimicked that of a kicked kitten, her large eyes glistening with tears behind her glasses.
"Yes."
"Are we," JJ paused and cleared her throat, "Are we allowed to see her?"
"Visiting hours are ending soon, but yes. Hotch has asked that we all go down and see her."
"Has someone called her brothers?" Morgan asked, "They'd want to see her."
"Both her brothers have been there since late this morning."
"How did it happen?"
"I pulled the police report, it appears that Jessa's motorbike crossed the centreline into the path of an oncoming vehicle."
Morgan slammed his fist down on the table, causing everyone to jump. He then began pacing around the room and running his hands through his hair.
"Morgan." JJ placed a soft hand on his forearm, causing him to stop. "Calm down, it's not going to do anyone any good."
"Calm down?" He yelled, "Jessa has been laying in a hospital dying, and he didn't think we deserved to know!" He accused.
"Yelling is not going to do her any good." She told him calmly, "The best thing we can do for Jessa right now, is to be with her."
The drive to the hospital was completely silent with no one willing to speak—just to think about Jessa. When they reached her room, Hotch was sitting silently outside, while another man sat on the windowsill and chatted to her as if her was talking back.
Hotch stood when they all approached, "There's been no change since she was brought in. Her doctor says the chances of her condition improving is slim."
"Who's in with her now?" JJ asked.
"Her brother, Dean."
They all sat down on the chairs beside Hotch, no one wanting to disturb the family moment nor were they willing to say goodbye—they just wanted to be there.
Dean took up a position on the windowsill, just staring at his twin. At first he couldn't stand to be in the room, but now he knew he couldn't leave. She wouldn't die alone.
"How long do you think she's got?" Sam asked, looking up at his big brother with red-rimmed eyes.
"As long as she wants." He replied, "And she's as stubborn as Dad, so it could be a long time."
Sam stood up and fled from the room, feeling the weight of the situation, and Dean made no move to follow him.
"Where do you think he's going?" He asked his sister. "You're right, probably to go share his feelings with someone." He carried on her part of the conversation in his head. "So Sam and I just took out a nest of Vamps in North Carolina. It took us a few days, but it was easy enough after we tracked them down. You would have been so bored, I know you hate it when there's not much action." He sighed, "I think your boss called the rest of your team." He chuckled, "I know how much you hate being fussed over." He lapsed into silence for a while. It wasn't until he noticed a group of people sitting outside the room that he kept talking, "Everyone's here, J. Who would have thought, the girl that couldn't make friends now has so many." He laughed to himself, "You probably would have hit me for that." His smile faded, "I want to call Ellen. But I know how much she worries, and you would definitely hit me for that. I'll just call her when you wake up." Dean hesitated after the words fell from his mouth. Wake up. They said that was next to impossible. She wasn't going to wake up. "She deserves to know."
"She's got quite the crowd out there." Dean turned to see a small blonde woman standing in the doorway. Her lab coat gave her away as Jessa's doctor.
"Yeah, well she's got a lot of people that love her."
"I'm just here to check on her." The doctor—Dr Abraham, her coat read—told him, stepping closer to her bedside. "She's certainly fighting."
"If you knew Jessa you wouldn't be surprised."
She smiled, then made some notes. After a minute or two she turned to him, "I'm going to order a consult." She said, "After this long of a time, she should have either improved or deteriorated and considering she's done neither I want our neurologist to look at her."
"What does that mean, Doc?"
"It means that there is a very high chance that your sister is braindead, in which case keeping her connected to the machines is not advised."
"You're saying she's dead?"
"I'm saying that there is a chance she's braindead, yes."
"You're saying that she's lying there, breathing, and her heart's beating but she's dead?" Dean's voice had risen as he slowly unravelled.
"Mr Winchester, at this point in time the machines are doing all that for her, because her body can't." She left the room, and almost half an hour later returned with another doctor who introduced himself as Dr Jameson.
Dr Jameson took some time examining her before he finally turned to Dean and confirmed the worst. Jessa was braindead and wouldn't recover.
"I have to find Sammy." Dean mumbled, fleeing.
As soon as Dean fled, Hotch was on his feet entering the room. "What's going on?" He asked the two doctors that stood over Jessa.
Doctor Abraham looked at him sadly, "She's been declared braindead."
It felt as though time came grinding to a stop but Hotch was aware of nothing around him. Like his entire being relied on the woman that lay on the hospital bed.
"What?" He croaked out.
"I'm very sorry, Mr Hotchner," She laid a sympathetic hand on his arm, "But as soon as her brothers sign off on it, we have to switch of her life support systems."
Switch off her life support systems. Dr Abraham's words echoed in his mind like some cruel cosmic joke. Jessa wasn't dying. She was strong, and she had already survived so much that she couldn't possibly be broken by something like this. Could she?
He put his head in his hands and fought back the tears he knew were coming, before he turned and slammed his hand into the wall. Luckily he opened his fist to hit the wall with the heel of his hand, minimising damage to both himself and the hospital.
The noise brought the other team members rushing in, only to be told exactly what was going on.
It took a while, but Dean finally found Sam in the hospital's chapel, kneeling in the back pew. He stood in the doorway for a while and watched his brother cry as he silently prayed for a miracle before he made his presence known.
"Any news?" Sam shot to his feet, a look of desperate hope in his big chocolate eyes.
Dean shook his head sadly, "They say she's dead, Sammy." His voice cracked when he spoke and let the tears he had been fighting fall.
Sam rushed to his side and wrapped one large arm around him, needing the comfort as much as his brother did.
"What did the doctor say?" He asked, as soon as Dean's sobs slowed.
"She's braindead. There's nothing more they can do."
Sam suddenly let go and walked determinedly out of the chapel and down the hospital corridor. Dean watched him for a moment, before he realised that Sam wasn't heading in the same direction as their sister's room.
"Sam!" He rushed to catch up with the bigger man, "Jessa is that way." He pointed in the direction of another hall.
"I know." Sam answered, not breaking his stride. If anything, he walked faster.
"Then what the hell man?"
"I'm not going to let her die."
"She's already dead!" As soon as the words fell from Dean's mouth, Sam whirled on him sporting an almost murderous expression.
"Do not say that!" He roared.
"Say what? It's the truth."
Sam shook his head and continued walking away.
"Where the hell are you going?" Dean called after him.
"To fix this."
The words caused Dean to jump into motion. He was in front of Sam in three strides, "Woah! I know what that means!" He shoved his little brother backwards, "I'm not going to let you do that."
"Ten years, Dean!" He yelled, shoving Dean back, "That's probably longer than we've anyway."
"I'm not letting this happen, Sammy! She's already gone, okay. You know Jessa, she wouldn't want this. She wouldn't want you to put a limit on your life for her!"
"Who are you to tell me what she would want." Sam was no longer yelling, his voice was cold and dangerous.
"Just think this through!" Sam turned away, so Dean called out, "If you walk away now you won't ever see her again." It wasn't a threat, just an observation. His voice wavered, but he stood his ground and watched as Sam didn't even hesitate as he walked away.
When Dean got back to Jessa's room, his feet barely able to carry him, it was only Hotch sitting in the room with her doctor.
"Did, uh, everyone leave?"
Hotch nodded, "I'll leave you to it, too."
Dean hesitated, but then said, "No, don't. She would want you here."
Hotch gave him a small, grateful smile.
"This may sound like a stupid question," Doctor Abraham said, "but are you ready?"
Dean nodded and wiped a stray tear from his face. "Yeah, do it."
"You're not going to wait for your brother?" Hotch asked.
"Sammy doesn't want to be here." Dean's voice was heavy, but it was obvious that it was more than the emotion of losing his sister—his twin.
"Okay." Doctor Abraham took a breath and stepped closer to the monitors.
There wasn't some big shift in Dean's universe like he would have thought – one moment the machines were keeping his sister alive, and the next they were switched off.
