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 5 –Protector

Dean felt so tired as he watched Alex walk off into the moonlight. Struggling to his feet, he could barely put one foot in front of the other. Entering the room, he didn't even bother to turn on the light…he just dropped on his bed and fell fast asleep.

Sam groaned, his head felt like it was going to explode. Wincing, he tried to sit up…another big mistake as he tried to bend his sore knee…a white hot pain sliced through his leg causing him to moan in agony. Trying to figure out what happened, Sam saw the open door to the motel room…it all came back to him…the figure…Dean!

Sam used the table to pull himself up, reaching for the lamp; he flooded the room with light. Sam saw Dean lying across the bed. He frowned, Dean was normally a light sleeper, if Sam's previous groans didn't wake his brother, the light certainly should have. Reaching down to grab his cane, Sam hobbled over to the door and closed it. Once again, he walked over to his brother's bed and gently covered him. Feeling Dean's forehead, he sighed with relief…no sign of fever.

Not knowing what else to do, Sam hobbled back over to the chair and took up watch for the rest of the night. He thought about what he had seen. Obviously, whatever was attacking them had some control over Dean. Sam had to figure out what it was before it was too late. Yawning, Sam pulled out his father's journal and started to see if his father had run across anything like this before.

As night turned into morning, Dean groaned and sat up in bed. A smile tugged at his lips as he saw his geek brother sleeping with his head on his arm. It looked like Sam had decided to keep watch. Dean shook his head…stupid kid, he should have gone to bed…after all nothing happened. As Dean stood up to go to the bathroom, he stopped as the room tilted for a moment. Dean steadied himself using the nightstand and continued into the bathroom to take a shower.

Sam groaned, his neck and back complaining as he straightened up. His leg was really hurting, he should have propped it before now. Sam looked over towards his brother's bed and panicked…it was empty. Sam jumped up, forgetting all about his bad leg…he just as quickly fell to the ground with a loud scream of pain.

Sam jumped as the bathroom door swung open and his brother entered clad in a towel. "Sammy! Jeez, I just leave you for a moment and you end up on the floor…here let me help you up" Dean helped Sam over to the bed, concerned over the amount of pain Sam seemed to be in.

"Dean…I'm sorry…when you weren't in your bed again…I thought…well…argh!" Sam yelled as Dean removed the immobilizer from his knee. Dean could see that the joint was badly swollen. "Sammy…did you spend the whole night in that chair? Never mind…don't answer that…of course you did. You need to keep this leg elevated to keep the swelling down…you're the one with the college degree…how could you let your knee get this swollen?" Dean was mad at himself, not Sam. He knew that his brother had stayed up all night to watch after him. What was wrong with him…he should have made sure Sam was ok before falling asleep.

Dean noticed the hurt look in Sam's eyes that he quickly tried to mask. "Aw shit…I'm sorry man…it's just…I'm suppose to be looking after you and I'm doing a really bad job of it!" Dean sighed in frustration.

"Dean…it's not your fault…you are being attacked by something…I saw it last night…a figure, maybe a woman…but it was feeding off of you…don't you remember anything?" Sam asked as he saw the blank look on Dean's face.

"Sam…I think I would remember someone feeding off of me…don't you?" Dean wasn't sure what to believe. He knew that he was feeling more run down than usual…but hell they hadn't had a break in a long time.

"Dean, remember the other victims…they didn't know that they were being fed off of either…until it was too late!" Sam tried moving from the bed, but stopped as the pain in his leg increased. Tears of frustration gathered in his eyes as he felt useless. This time Dean needed him…and he couldn't even go to the bathroom by himself!

Dean sat down on the bed and quietly looked at his brother. He believed what Sam told him, but he couldn't understand why he didn't remember anything. "Sam…look I believe you ok…look, we both need to eat something and I need to get you some pain pills for that leg. Then let's dig into the research and see what we can find out"

"Fine Dean, but I go with you…and no pain pills, I don't want to be groggy" Sam glared at Dean, ready to battle if necessary. Dean just shrugged and grabbing his clothes went in to finish getting dressed.

A short time later, Dean pulled up in front of the public library. "Sam, do you really think you're up to this? After all, you really need to keep that leg propped."

"Dean we've been over this, I need to look up some information on the bed and breakfast…when we finish here, then we need to stop at the hall of records…I'll let you run in there to get the information from the county records…I can prop my leg then…ok?"

Once again, Dean shrugged as he followed Sam into the library. He would have preferred to stay in the car, but Sam refused to let Dean out of his sight. Dean had to admit, that in a way he was afraid to not have Sam near by…he wasn't sure what was happening, but until they identified what was going on…he felt better having Sam guarding his back.

It took all day, but finally the boys were able to return to their motel room. They had gathered as much information as they could find. Now they just had to put all the pieces together and hopefully come up with the answer. Dean brought in the food while Sam did his best to hide the pain that his leg was causing him.

"Ok Sam…up on the bed and let me see that knee of yours" Dean said brooking no argument from his little brother. "I've been watching you bite your lower lip all afternoon…time for Dr. Dean to see what's going on."

Sam rolled his eyes, but followed Dean's instructions. Dean gently rolled the pant leg up and frowned as the saw that the knee was still swelling. "Can you bend it at all Sam?" Dean asked, as he gently tried to bend the knee. Sam groaned as the pain shot up his leg. "Stop…Dean, just leave it ok?"

"Sorry Sam, but you need to stay off this leg for the rest of the night. I'm going to get you something for the pain."

"NO!"

Dean stopped at Sam's response. "Sam, you need to get some rest…look, I'm sure nothing is going to happen tonight ok…I'll stay awake this time…you need to get some sleep."

"No way Dean…look, the first time you almost got hit by the truck…you were wide awake…I need to stay awake to guard your back…just until we can figure out a way to stop this thing." Sam gave Dean a steady glare letting him know that he was not going to change his mind.

"Ok fine…but if your leg falls off…don't come crying to me to put it back on!" Dean turned from Sam and went to get the food ready.

He watched as Sam hobbled into the bathroom, leaving the door partially open…he was sure it was more so that he could hear if Dean tried to leave the room. Sighing, Dean started to bring the food over to the table by Sam's bed. As he went back to pour Sam a cup of coffee, he remembered that there was something in his pocket that could help Sam. He couldn't remember where he had gotten the strange bottle of liquid, but he knew that it would help his brother's pain. He stopped for a moment, considering what he was doing. He didn't like giving Sam something without Sam's knowledge, but then, he wanted Sam to get better too. Shrugging, he poured the contents of the small vial into Sam's coffee and stirred.

Sam came back into the room and headed back towards his bed. Dean brought over a cup of coffee which Sam drank down in one gulp…he felt like he was going to need the caffeine to stay awake tonight…he was so tired!

"How about we start working on this stuff tomorrow morning Sam…I don't know about you, but I'm beat!" Dean never waited for an answer, as soon as his head hit the pillow, he was sound asleep. Sam struggled to stay awake, but he could feel sleep calling to him.

Sam sighed as he sat up on the bed once more and grabbing his cane, went to their weapons bag. He pulled out the salt and placed a circle of salt around Dean's bed. He then double checked to make sure that the salt rings around the door and window were also in tact. Finally, he reached into the bag and brought out some rope. He carefully sat beside Dean and gently tied his brother's hands and feet, looping an end around the end of the bed. Checking to make sure that the knots were secure, he tried to make his brother as comfortable as he could. If he wanted proof that Dean was not himself…he had it now…Dean never moved while Sam tied him.

Shaking his head, Sam stumbled back towards his bed. At least, Dean wouldn't be doing any sleep walking tonight!

A few hours later, Sam felt the pain in his head building again. He opened his eyes and looked over at Dean. Dean was struggling, trying to get free of his bonds. Sam listened as he heard Dean getting more upset when he couldn't get free. "No….please…have to go to her…please….Oh, God…it hurts….please…Alex! Don't go Alex!"

Sam tried to get up to comfort his brother, but the pain in his head increased in intensity until he thought he was going to be sick. Before he lost consciousness, he could have sworn he heard a cry from outside the room and the words "You can't stop me…he will be mine" echoed in his mind.

TBC