Fighting Chance
---------------------------------
Summary: They were gone. He had killed his family. And now Sam was alone. Very alone. Sam-centric. Post-finale.
Set After: Season 1
Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to… the WB… CW… whatever it goes by now…
---------------------------------
Sam just stayed in that hospital bed. He could barely move. He didn't want to. He'd even go as far as to say that he couldn't. He had no urge to, therefore it didn't happen.
The doctors had been nice enough to turn the television on, but it only made things worse. Daytime TV did suck. And that made him think of Dean.
And Sam couldn't get the thought out of his head. Dean was gone. Dean was dead. He'd never see the sarcastic jackass again. And thinking like that made him feel worthless. The last time Dean had almost died, he had fixed it. He had saved him.
But now there was nothing he could do. He could once again feel the tears welling up in his eyes once again. This had happened a lot lately.
It scared him. Just the thought of being alone. Alone. A word he didn't even want to think of. He never had actually been alone before. He had always had Dean and his dad. Even when he had left for college, there was a part of them that was always there. And when he was at college, he had his friends. But now they were gone. His friends… he hadn't spoken to them in ages. But more importantly, his family was gone.
And Sam didn't want to think about that. Using his left arm, he reached around for the channel changer and when he succeeded in finding it, he turned the TV off. It was in that that he realized that not moving wasn't a smart idea. Just moving his arm around a little bit, he could feel the muscles straining, probably from lack of use. Or maybe from the fact that he had just been in a car accident, with a semi. That was the only thing that the doctors had told him in what felt like the days that had passed.
They had been his by a semi. And just hearing that solidified it in his mind that he was alone. The sole survivor of a horrific car crash on a back road in the middle of nowhere.
What felt like hours later another nurse came in. The same one as it had been checking on him lately. He let his eyes follow her.
"How are you doing?" she asked with a small almost sympathetic smile that Sam was beginning to loathe.
"I was hit by a truck…" Sam said weakly. "How do you think I'm doing?" At least it wasn't burning to talk anymore.
The nurse laughed sweetly. What was so funny? Sam didn't get it.
Then everything fell into an uncomfortable silence as the nurse did her usual checking of his heart beat, his breathing. Everything to make sure he was fine. But she never told him what he wanted to know. She never told him about his father and brother. The two things keeping him from feeling any better.
She smiled sadly at Sam again before beginning to leave, but Sam's small voice stopped her.
"Please," he said, his voice nearly a whisper. His eyes were pleading with her. Almost begging. "Can you just tell me the truth. How are my dad and brother?"
She sighed and walked over to Sam, he didn't move his eyes from her as her smile fell from her face. "Sweetie, I don't think you'll wanna know, not until you're feeling better."
Without missing a beat Sam responded, "I'm not gonna get any better without knowing if they survived."
The woman sat down in the empty chair next to the bed. Sam could tell that she obviously did not want to tell him anything. He continued pleading with her in his eyes.
"There were two other people in the car with you, right?"
Sam didn't want to say anything, the feeling of dread beginning to grow in him. Maybe the nurse was right, maybe he didn't want to know. "Yes," he said, his voice almost failing him.
"People who were your family, your dad and brother?"
"Yes…" Sam said again. He knew they must have been brought in at the same time as he had.
She sighed and looked down. Looking down was never a good sign. Not ever.
A few moments later she looked back up at Sam. He hadn't moved his eyes from her. It was obvious it was bad.
"I don't think I can tell you…" she said finally.
"Yes… you… can…" Sam said slowly, trying to accentuate each word.
She sighed again and nodded. "The older man, your dad…" she paused again and Sam just wished she would get it over with. He already had the dread in him that neither his brother or his dad had survived. He just needed someone to tell him so he would know.
"He put up one hell of a fight…" she said with a sad chuckle.
Put. Past tense. That… that solidified it. His dad hadn't made it, had he?
"But he had too many internal injuries. He tried to fight it off, doctors tried to help him, but they lost him not too long after they brought him in, in the ER…"
Sam took a deep breath. Hearing it… he wished he would have taken it back. He pushed back the tears, he wasn't going to cry. No. Even though his mind had repeated it so many times, even though he had himself convinced, actually hearing it, it brought back that horrible pain.
Guilt.
Sam tried to nod, but the neck brace kept him from doing that. He just took a loud breath in. "What about Dean?" he asked, not able to control the quiver in his voice. Dean couldn't be dead. He was his brother. He was Dean Winchester. Even though Sam knew better, he always though of his older brother as being indestructible. Even when he had almost died, Sam knew it wouldn't kill him.
The nurse sighed. "Your brother?" Who else would he be worried about?
Sam locked eyes with her. He was expecting the worst. His dad was gone. And just by the way the nurse was acting, so was Dean. And he would be alone, officially.
"He had a lot of internal bleeding, more so than you…" her voice was obviously a forced calm.
Sam tried to break his eyes away from the nurse's, but he found his eyes refusing to listen to his mind. "They did their best to patch him up but…"
But. Why was there always a but? Sam felt the tears wanting to come back up. He knew what she'd say next: 'He died too…'
"He fell into a coma…
Sam let out the breath he didn't even know he was holding. Dean wasn't dead. Sure he was unresponsive, but he wasn't dead.
An uncomfortable silence fell between the two of them as Sam tore his eyes away from the nurse.
What felt like hours later, Sam finally forced his vocal cords to work. "Thank you…" he said quietly.
"It was no problem…" she said, as she got up. "If you… if you need anything… don't… don't hesitate to ask."
Sam looked at her, eyes locking with her as his way of nodding.
At least now he knew. He had killed his father, almost killed his brother. And he seemed to get out of the accident with nothing more than a broken arm, broken collar bone and he thought he had heard the doctors saying something about a shattered leg.
He had gotten off easy. He was still alive. He was still alive and breathing without any help. He was banged up a bit, but in general he was fine.
Yet he could still feel the guilt eating away at him. Eating away at his heart.
---------------------------------
A/n: Ooooohhh I love you guys! Haha.
Thanks to my reviewers: ghostwriter, leanneB, estei, Brenny, HendrickGrl25, Animeforyou, ashlyns, pizzapixie, Nate and Jake, TuffaChica
I got so many people wanting both John and Dean to be alive, but I'm a firm believe in the laws pf physics against the laws of Hollywood, and it makes for more plot twists with John not being there.
But anyways… I'll let you guys pick what happens next. Either Sarah (from Provenance) or one of Sam's friends from college coming. Tell me in your review! If you want a college friend, please specify male or female. I'm the most indecisive person ever, so the readers can choose.
So push that little button and review please!
