Bedeviling the Chipper

By: Maygin

Summary: "Loneliness is never more cruel than when it is felt in close propinquity with someone who has ceased to communicate." – Germaine Greer

Disclaimer: I am not making any money off of nor do I own anything supernatural… other than my roommate.

Frick-n-frack: I'm outta town this weekend so I thought I'd update a little early. Thanks again guys for all the reviews! On a side note, I am officially changing the spelling of losing to loosing……..er - I don't think that's gonna fly. Sorry Kaewi, I tried to make it better ;)

CHAPTER 9

"Here, drink this." Cal pushed a mug of coffee into Dean's loose hands resting on the kitchen table. They'd high-tailed it out of the hospital, Cal dragging the brother behind him. Only when they'd reached the impala did Dean suddenly come back to life and snatch his keys back, shoving Cal towards the passenger side. He hadn't said a word the entire time. And now, sitting in Jamie's loft at his kitchen table, he'd gone lifeless once more. Just sitting there, staring at his hands. 'More like staring through them', Cal worried as he sat across from him, a steaming mug in his own hands. "Coffee."

And that was all. He hadn't said a full sentence since the incident; just one-word demands or notices. He didn't attempt conversation; he knew it would not be appreciated. And as Cal was superb in the art of gab, this stunted monologue he was having to revert to was really wearing on him. But he sat in silence with Dean; eyes also taken to the unique swirls in the wood along the table.

It wasn't as if he wasn't haunted himself by the incident. He could only imagine the state Dean would be in if he'd actually been able to hear his little brother's screams as he writhed in pain on the floor, curled up into a tight ball, hands pressed tightly to his temples. The pain and complete state of helplessness was what had brought him to tears earlier. It was definitely not something Cal wanted to ever witness again; because the first time wasn't bad enough, he thought wryly. If this whole engagement didn't kill him, the nightmares of it certainly would.

"What did he say?"

Even though the question had almost been whisper quality, it had still startled him out of his morose thoughts. "What?" he asked at the same level.

After another lengthy pause, the soft voice appeared again, "Earlier… Sam said something to you and you answered 'you're not'." Dean was still staring at his hands, still unmoving, still in shock. "What did he say?"

Cal sat silently for a moment, questioning if the brother was perhaps more fortunate not knowing. He pressed his cold fingers closer around the mug, trying to leach some kind of warmth from it. "What if I'm better off this way?" he finally answered.

Dean's green eyes suddenly refocused and looked up, searching the other man's face. Nothing could bring the elder brother back to life faster than anger. "What? …How can he be better off as a vegetable?"

"I don't think he meant that Dean." Cal gestured, placating. Dean's head tilted back. "I think he meant as a ghost."

"Why would he even think that? If he's not a ghost then he's alive."

"Or dead."

"That's not gonna happen."

"Okay," Cal acquiesced calmly, not in anyway condescending, "let's say we beat this; Sam's ghost somehow gets back into his body and he wakes up." He paused, looking hard across the table. "His body has been practically brain-dead for almost three days now. I'm not talking about a coma here Dean; two electrolytes away from being brain-dead. You don't come out of something like that without consequences; I don't care what the movies say."

"That's not gonna be an issue; he's my brother, we'll work through it. It'll be fine."

"What if his brain is damaged?"

"Sam was born damaged; can we not talk about this?"

Cal relented for the time being. His message had gotten through no matter how much the stubborn brother wanted to ignore it.

"Why the hell hasn't he called yet?" Dean vented.

"The room was destroyed Dean. They probably had to switch him to another one. And re-hooking life support systems isn't exactly a five minute procedure. Not to mention the tests they probably had to run to make sure his vital organs weren't damaged further." He placed a hand flat on the wood. "If something had happened, he would've called."

Dean leaned his elbows on the table, running his hands over his head. "This is bull-shit."

"I'm sorry?" Cal didn't quite catch the brother's mumble.

Dean looked up, arms falling to the table with a thud, and raising his voice. "I said this is bull-shit."

Cal also dropped his arms to the table, venting a little of his own frustration. "Well excuse me missy. Look, we're obviously going to be here a while and there doesn't seem to be anything else for us to do that doesn't include fuzzy handcuffs, Barry White and a g-string," Dean's chair squealed against the floor as he pushed back from the table grimacing and cursing, trying to dispel the images invading his imagination. "So why don't we go over specifics and see if we can't figure out why this is happening in the first place? What caused it?"

The proposal was on the table and Dean lunged for it; anything to distract his thoughts from their host's bedtime manners. He leaned down, this time resting his elbows on his knees. "I don't know exactly." He said on exhale. "We got a lead that several people had gone missing around that part of town. One witness specifically said he saw one of the victims go into that building." He shrugged. "So we went to check it out."

"Yeah that still creeps me out that you guys actually do this for a living."

"It was night and we-"

"You went at night?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yeah."

"Um, hellooo? Have you ever watched a horror movie before? All bad things come out at night."

"Yeah," Dean replied flatly, "and in order for us to kill the bad things, we kinda have to be there when they come out."

Cal sought out his mug. "So night-time…"

"We went in; we each had a shot-gun. I was using the EMF and Sam was-"

"What's an EMF?"

"Not important. Sam-"

"Does it detect portals?" Cal asked excitedly.

"Yeah Cal it detects portals."

Cal rested his cheek on his fist. "That is so lush! So Sam was what?"

"Covering my six. We started going room to room, lookin around. We were still on the first floor when the reader suddenly went live." Dean absently rubbed the back of his head. "He came out of nowhere. Shoved me against the wall. When I came to a minute or so later, he was gone." Dean paused, his eyes seeing more than the panels in the floor. "Sammy was just laying there. Not a scratch on him." Dean licked his lips. "He wasn't breathing so good, so I threw his heavy ass over my shoulder and drove like a maniac to the nearest hospital. The rest you know."

Cal's head shook on his fist in amazement, "How did you get out of there without being noticed? The news said the body was just, discovered, no witnesses as to where it came from."

Dean's eyes sought the floor. "There was um… there was already two ambulances in front of the emergency room. So I parked behind them; didn't even shut the car off, just got out and pulled Sam out, calling for help. There was a gurney by the door, so I laid him there, and then went back to the car to grab an ID card. When I turned back, I guess the guys from the ambulances had come back out and found him, because they started wheeling him inside calling for help. And I don't know… everything just started happening at once." Dean pushed to a standing position, pacing across the floor. "I tried to follow them into the room they'd taken him to, but some doctors, or nurses- I don't know which one shoved me out of the way. They were all yellin and shit." His hands became more animated as he felt a familiar weight of guilt and shame suddenly settle over him. He stopped, head turning back at the man listening patiently at the table, his eyes frozen on the floor. "A couple of cops showed up and started asking people questions," one shoulder lifted and dropped in defeat, "I freaked out." A moment of uncomfortable silence passed. "I left him," he swallowed, "I left my little brother in the hands of strangers." Dean continued staring at the floor; he'd hoped that maybe saying it out loud would help alleviate some of the guilt. It hadn't, if anything he felt even worse now.

"Well…" Cal gave a small nod; now also deep in thought as he stared at the table, "thank God you did."

Dean paused. "Come again?"

"No offense Dean, but you aren't exactly equipped to handle a situation like that. If you hadn't left him with them, he'd probably be dead."

"Yeah but I left him… period."

"And if you hadn't left, you'd probably be in a jail cell right now and Sam would be fighting this alone." Cal could see his opponent was defeated; but that didn't mean the brother had to like it. He figured moving on was best rather than flaunting his victory. "So what do you think happened?"

"I don't know." Dean shook his head, sliding his chair back towards the table and slouching into it, weary.

"You've never come across something like this before?"

"Zombies? Yes. But something else happened. Zombies kill; they eat. This thing attacked and ran away."

"Maybe he wasn't hungry."

"It's not a matter of being hungry; they eat because it's what they do… it's like breathing." Dean shook his head in frustration. "But what the hell did he do to Sam?" he asked, more to himself.

"Well, like he said in the car, he doesn't remember." Cal folded his hands around his cooling mug again. "What about the thing that killed your mom and Julie?" he asked hesitantly.

"Jessica," Dean corrected. He gave an exhausted sigh, resting his forehead in his hand. "It just doesn't make sense that this thing would suddenly show up."

"And the shining thing? Whatever it is that Sam's got? What if it came looking for that like he said?"

"Yeah but if it were there we would've seen it-" Dean froze mid rant… a large lump of lead settled in his gut. "Second floor," he barely whispered.

"What?"

"We were in the eastern side of the building."

"And that's significant because…"

"Because that would've put us directly below the room with the dead guy, and more importantly the room with the burned ceiling."

"We're calling it a burned ceiling now?"

"We have to go back."

"Whoa- wha?" Cal slurred, taken a back.

Dean rose suddenly, pulling his keys from the kitchen counter. "We have to go back."

Cal watched him head towards the door, he stumbled out of his chair, following. "You wanna go back to the scary dead man?"

"There's something I have to know."

"Care to share with the gay guy just what exactly that something is?" They were out of the apartment and running down the stairwell. Evidently Dean was too worked up to stand around in an elevator, he needed immediate action, and apparently the stairs were his temporary relief. Cal huffed along behind him. "Dean… I would like to formally protest this plan… I think it sucks."

"We're goin." Dean's voice brooded no argument as he slammed the stairwell door open.

"Understood…" they hurried through the lobby and into the streets, "but… do you think maybe I could have a better weapon this time?"

"What- why?" They reached the car. "You didn't lose the hankie did you?" Dean paused before opening the door, looking over the hood at his reluctant partner. "Tell me you didn't lose the hankie."

"No I didn't lose it Dean." Cal said, his voice flat, clearly not finding this funny. "I did however almost lose my head last time and I'd kinda like something with a little more assurance behind it."

"Have faith my friend," Dean shoved his key in the door, "the hankie is blessed."

Cal paused as Dean pulled his door open, "Did you just call me your friend?" he asked with an awe-filled grin on his face.

"Get in the car." Dean slid into his seat, slamming his door shut.

Cal remained where he was, still all smiles. "Admit it, you actually like me!"

"Get in the car!"

Cal slid in and grinned at the red-faced Winchester. "So… do you have any Barry White tapes in this love machine?"

TBC…