Disclaimer: I still don't own Supernatural or its characters and am not making any money on this…I'm still just having fun!

Dean's Song

Chapter 3 – Confusion

Dean stood up quickly…he was thankful that it was early yet…another 30 minutes, and he would have been the main attraction. Reaching down, he helped Sam to his feet, smiling as he thought about the picture the two of them must be making…two half naked men, staggering towards a hotel room in the early morning light. Dean started to laugh. Sam looked at Dean like he had lost his mind. "What the hell is so funny Dean?"

"Oh nothing much…I just figured that the phrase 2 queens, may have a whole new meaning in about 15 minutes or so!" Dean couldn't help himself, he laughed so hard, his ribs actually hurt. Sam hobbled the last couple of feet by himself, moving into the room with his usual reply to Dean's quirky sense of humor "Hmph!"

Still laughing, Dean entered the hotel room and closed the door behind him. He sat down on the bed, suddenly feeling very tired. He shook his head, trying to remember how he had gotten outside…the last thing he remembered was tucking Sam into bed. Dean looked up as he heard a groan coming from the bathroom. Getting to his feet, he walked slowly over to the door. "Hey, Sammy…you ok?"

"Dean…I can't…oh damn it!" Sam groaned again, he had slipped while getting out of the shower and unfortunately, his knee wouldn't support his weight and he fell.

Dean opened the door and saw Sam sitting on the floor, a look of pain and frustration on his face. Smothering a grin, Dean reached in and helped Sam up from the floor and out to the bed. His grin quickly turned to a frown as he took a closer look at Sam's swollen knee.

"Jeez Sam, I think we are going to have to immobilize this." Dean went over to Sam's bag and threw clean clothes at him. "Lets get you dressed and then I'll run out to get what we need."

Sam groaned as Dean helped him get his jeans on. He couldn't bend his knee at all and it was really starting to hurt. Dean went to get more ice, instructing Sam to stay in bed with the ice pack until he returned. "Hey Dean…can you bring the laptop over here before you go…I want to start checking some things out."

"Here you go kiddo…now I mean it, stay put. If you don't rest that knee, you'll only damage it more…I'd like to avoid a hospital run if we can this time." Dean grabbed his keys and left.

Sam decided to use the time while Dean was gone to start doing more research into what had been going on around here. He saw the quick glances that Dean had sent his way and knew that Dean was trying to avoid the conversation about what happened the night before. Sam had seen the tiredness that Dean was trying to hide from him. He knew that somehow, whatever had affected the other men in this town was now affecting Dean.

He pulled up the newspaper reports and started to see if he could find anything that he may have missed. After a couple of hours had passed, Sam was getting worried. He hadn't found anything to help…the next step was to talk to some of the relatives, but he couldn't do that until Dean returned. Wondering what was taking Dean so long; Sam decided to try to get his brother on the phone. Pressing the speed dial for Dean, Sam waited as the phone rang. He frowned as he got Dean's voicemail.

Great…just great! Sam thought to himself. Here he was stuck in this motel room with no way to find out what happed to his brother. Sam tried to dial Dean one more time but after getting the same result, he decided it was time for action. Sam tried to put weight on his bad leg, but as soon as he did, it threatened to buckle. Hopping over to the window, Sam looked out towards the parking lot…he gasped as he saw the Impala parked where they had left it…a figure slumped over the wheel.

Gritting his teeth, Sam hopped outside and grabbing onto the hood of the Impala, made his way to the driver's side door. He opened the door carefully, reaching in to feel for a pulse. Sam sighed with relief when he felt the strong pulse under his probing fingers. Reaching up to Dean's head, he gently leaned his brother back in the seat, checking for injuries or sign of fever. Finding nothing wrong, Sam decided to try to wake his brother.

"Dean…heh…wake up big brother!" Sam lightly patted Dean on the cheek, smiling when he saw his brother's eyes open.

Dean struggled to open his eyes, blinking when he saw Sam looking down at him. "What are you doing out here…I thought I told you to stay put…you're going to ruin your knee Sam!"

"I did stay put you jerk…I stayed put for almost two hours before I came looking for your sorry ass…what the hell is going on here Dean?" Sam asked as he backed up to let his brother exit the car. He was relieved to see that Dean didn't look as pale as before and looked a little less tired…but that still didn't explain his odd behavior.

Dean reached over to grab Sam's arm, placing it over his shoulder, he started to help his brother back into the motel room. "I really don't know Sam…I mean that last thing I remember is getting into the car…I guess I was a little more tired than I thought." Dean tried to brush off what had happened, he didn't want to worry his little brother.

"No way Dean…something is going on here…I think you are being affected by whatever is happening in this town. We have to find out what's going on before it's too late!" Sam removed his arm from around Dean's shoulder and leaned against the front hood of the Impala.

"Hey…what do you think you're doing? You need to get back into bed and ice that knee…I'll go and get what we need to fix it up…then we can talk about what we need to do." Dean reached for Sam again, only to have his hand knocked away.

"No…help me into the back seat Dean, I can prop my leg up there. I'll wait in the car while you run in to get what we need…I'm not letting you out of my sight until we figure out what's going on here!" Sam crossed his arms and stared at Dean, waiting for the argument he knew was coming. He almost fell over when Dean simply said "Ok…but I'm going to grab the ice pack and a pillow…you need to ice that knee and keep it propped while I'm in the drug store."

Dean had been unusually quiet on the ride back from the drug store. He had grabbed what he needed to fix Sam's knee and also had purchased a set of crutches and a cane…he figured that Sam could figure out which worked better. He stopped at a drive through to grab some food; since they missed breakfast…he wanted to make sure that Sam had lunch. He glanced in the rear view mirror grateful that Sam had decided to let things rest for the time being. As he pulled in front of their room, Dean got out and helped Sam back into the motel room.

"Dean…we have to talk man" Sam said quietly. He knew that his brother was concerned and was frustrated that he refused to talk about it. Sometimes his brother's overprotective nature got on Sam's nerves. He watched as his brother went out to the car and returned with the supplies and the food.

Dean held up his hand as he saw Sam open his mouth to continue the conversation. "Look Sam, I know you have questions…to be honest so do I…just let me get you fixed up and we can talk while we eat…I promise." Dean walked over to Sam, and carefully manipulated his leg into the immobilizer. Adjusting the Velcro straps, he once again went out to get more ice for the ice pack.

A short while later, Dean cleaned up after their meal and sat on the bed facing his younger brother. "Sammy…I know that you want to talk about this, but here's the truth…I don't know why I walked in front of the truck…I don't know why I was sleep walking in the parking lot just before dawn and I certainly can't explain why I apparently decided to take a nap a short while ago. Maybe it's doesn't have anything to do with something supernatural…I mean, maybe I'm just losing it" Dean stopped and looked down at his hands, he couldn't believe that he was admitting to Sam that he wasn't invincible…he was suppose to be the strong one and yet, he could feel his control slipping.

Sam watched the play of emotions on his brother's face. "Dean…Dean…look at me" Sam waited until Dean looked up. "I don't think you are losing it…and before you argue, listen to me for a minute. I can feel that something is wrong…something supernatural is at work here and somehow you are being targeted. We need to find out what is going on and stop it before you become the next victim of this thing."

Dean didn't realize how much he needed to hear that it wasn't his imagination or that he was falling apart. But Sam's feelings when it came to something supernatural were almost always on target. Shaking his head, he looked over at Sam. "Ok…so how do we stop this damn thing!"

TBC