Fighting Chance
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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…
A/n: I know that last ending was evil. But hey… its what I do. Some of you did catch onto my little plot… I also made this chapter a bit longer to make up for the shortness of the last chapter.
So here's Chapter 5!
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Sam felt his blood turn to ice with Zack's blunt words.
"What?" Sam asked. When had… what had… when… his brain was once again running in circles. Dean… dead?
"Yeah man… a while ago. Don't you remember?" His tone was now serious.
Sam felt himself relax. Zack was just confused. Dean wasn't dead. Not his Dean. He was still alive. His Dean wasn't dead.
"Oh…" Sam said, eyes closing. He was talking about back it St. Louis. When the shape shifter was Dean. His Dean was alive.
"Yeah…" his voice was still faded, almost shaky. Like in his mind he was convinced Zack was talking about St. Louis, but the rest of his body didn't want to agree.
"Sam…" Becky started, but Sam stopped her.
"I just forgot… okay…" he said, sending her a look.
At first, Sam could tell Becky was confused. But it only took a few moments to sink in. "Uh… Zack…"
"What?" Zack asked, taking his eyes off of Sam and over at Becky.
"I'm kinda thirsty, could you go get me a Coke?" she asked.
"Get it your--" but he was silenced by his sister's death glare. "Fine…" He took a glance at Sam, almost as if he would die by the time he got back, but left wordlessly.
Becky immediately turned to Sam.
"I didn't tell him about the shape shifter…" she said bluntly. "He still thinks your brother killed his girlfriend and all those other people…"
Sam was silent until he realized time was of the essence. "You have to tell him…" he said slowly.
"I know… but…" Becky trailed off.
"But what?" Sam said quickly. "That accident Becky… my entire life was in that car! My dad… he was killed in that car. My brother. Dean. He's in a coma. Okay? I just… I don't know… I don't wanna be alone…"
Sam had finally said it. The words that had been eating away at him for the longest time. His fear of being alone.
This caused Becky to pull him into another hug. "Sam… Sam, you wont be alone." She said slowly. "It'll all turn out fine. Just keep thinking about that…"
Sam just let Becky hug him, but didn't return the hug. Maybe Becky had a point. Maybe he was blowing this all out of proportion.
"Thanks Bec…" he said slowly, before Zack walked back into the room with two 20 ounce bottles of Coca-Cola, obviously from a vending machine.
Becky let go of Sam, and looked at her brother.
"Thanks," she smiled as Zack handed her one of the sodas.
"No prob…" Zack responded.
Once again, silence flooded the room.
Sam just watched as Becky and Zack stared at each other.
"Zack… there's something I should tell you," Becky started.
"Yeah?" Zack asked, still in what looked like a staring contest with his sister.
"Well--" Becky was cut off by Nurse Laura walking into the room, but Sam took notice that she didn't look like her normal chipper self.
Then, an older looking man followed her.
This wasn't good.
Sam tried to look her in the eye, but Laura looked away. No, not good at all.
The doctor looked at Becky and Zack, "Do you think you could excuse us for a few minutes?" he asked slowly.
Becky and Zack nodded and quietly left. Becky gave Sam a thumbs up before she closed the door, causing Sam to chuckle slightly, before Laura and the doctor took Becky and Zack's seats.
"What's going on?" Sam asked, his voice shaking and he didn't know why.
The doctor sighed. "I'm here to talk about you and your brother."
And Dean. Dean. And just by the look on the doctor and Laura's face, it wasn't good.
"Okay…" Sam managed to get out, surprised that even that came out.
"Let's talk about your first. There's not too much we can do for you, not that you can't do on your own.." The doctor smiled slightly. "You're going to need to get check ups on those nasty broken bones of yours, and after they heal, you' will need physical therapy, but there is really no reason for you to be staying here anymore. There hasn't been a reason for a while except that there was no one to help you. And you can't take care of yourself right now."
Yes, yes there was a reason. Dean. That was the reason he wasn't going to leave. He wasn't going to leave this hospital without Dean walking right next to him. And that was final.
"Now your step-brother, a Dean Wilkinson… came in the same time you did, but his internal injuries were much more extensive than yours. We patched him up, but he ended up slipping into a coma."
GET ON WITH IT! Sam knew all of this already. "On a recent scan this morning, we discovered that because of the way he slammed his head on the glass, there's been swelling in his brain, which is why he hasn't woken up yet. I'm surprised we hadn't noticed this earlier."
Sam bit the inside of his lip, he wanted to know what that meant, but it sounded quite bad.
He looked over at Laura who smiled sweetly, trying to cheer him up. It didn't work.
"Now this is why we came to you. The pressure on Dean's brain is slowly killing him…" That wasn't quite what he wanted to hear. No. That wasn't what he wanted to hear at all. Sam could feel the tears welling up slowly.
"At the moment, there is close to no chance of him ever waking up. There is close to no chance of him even living past the end of the week…"
Sam bit back the tears. No way. This wasn't happening.
"But…" the doctor continued. But. How could there be a but to that?
"There is a procedure… to reduce the swelling. To relieve the pressure…"
Without even letting the doctor continue, Sam spoke. "Do it."
"Sam…" Laura started.
"No." Sam said. "No. Just do it."
He didn't want to lose his brother.
The doctor sighed. "Let me continue Sam. This surgery, it could have a permanent effect on his brain if even one little mistake is made. The surgery itself may even kill Dean. But it dramatically increases his chances of both surviving this, and waking up…"
"Do it." Sam said again. Why didn't they get it? It's what Dean would have done if he would have been in that position. He didn't need to even hear that it may kill Dean. He didn't need to hear that it would increase his chance of waking up.
He just wanted them to do it. To save Dean.
"All right then…" the doctor said, smiling slightly, pulling out his clipboard and handing it to Sam. "I'll need you to sign this…"
Sign. Why?
"Okay…" Sam managed to get out, the doctor put a pen in his left hand. Oh great. He was not lefty. This was… this was… this was going to save his brother's life. It didn't matter what the hell it looked like.
He sloppily signed his name where the doctor had marked.
"Sam, you did the right thing…" Laura said, as she got up and went to leave with the doctor.
"Can I… can I see him before you do it?" Sam asked, his voice surprisingly strong.
"Of course," the doctor said, before turning to Laura. "You can do that for him, right?"
"Definitely," Laura said, smiling sadly at Sam. "I'll be back in a few minutes okay?"
A few minutes? That quick?
With that the two of them left the room. But Beck and Zack didn't return to the room. Not for a while. But it was only Becky who walked into the room.
"You told him?" Sam asked.
Becky nodded. "I think he thinks I'm crazy," she said with a half-laugh.
"Yeah, that usually happens…" Sam sighed.
More silence, until Becky finally broke it. "So what did the doctors want?"
"I'm leaving soon…" Sam said. "Discharged."
"That's wonderful Sam!" Becky said, sounding thoroughly excited about the idea.
"I guess…" Sam responded.
"There was more, wasn't there?" Becky asked.
Sam's eyes closed. "Yeah," he sighed.
"About Dean?" Becky knew at this point she was going to have to force it out of him.
"Yeah…" Sam responded again, still not looking at Becky.
"Not good?" she asked slowly, knowing that this was a touchy area.
"Not really," Sam said, opening his eyes, unknown to him the confusion and pain so easily evident in his eyes. "His brain is swelling… they're going to do surgery… but he might not make it…"
Sam could tell Becky didn't know what to say, and he understood. What were you supposed to say.
"Oh Sam," Becky finally said. Sam knew Becky wanted to pull him into a hug, but Sam was glad she didn't.
The two sat in silence again for a while. "Could you help me, just bring the wheelchair over?" Sam asked. He wanted to see his brother. Now.
"Of course…"
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Once again Sam found himself in his brother's room. He didn't look much different than he had before. He looked like he was sleeping.
"Thanks Laura…" Sam said slowly, but this time Laura didn't leave the room, she just hung back in the corner, thinking Sam wouldn't see that she hadn't left. But he noticed.
"Hey Dean…" Sam said, suppressing a small chuckle. "Yeah, I'm back again, ready for another chick flick moment… I promise, it's the last one…"
Sam looked into his brother's closed eyes.
"They're going to help you now… they know what's wrong… something managed to get through that thick skull of yours, but they're gonna fix it all… Hopefully."
Sam sighed heavily. "I bet you're just loving this whole monologue thing too… I actually think its kinda stupid, but hey…" His voice trailed. His brother wasn't laughing. He couldn't.
"If you do die, you better stick to that damn promise and haunt my ass because the Impala is pretty much totaled…"
He sat there in silence for a while. This damn well better work, he didn't even want to think about life without Dean. He just didn't.
He sighed and turned to Laura, just in time to see the nurse wipe her eyes. Okay, it wasn't that heart wrenching, was it? "I'm ready to go now…"
"Yeah," she nodded, walking over to Sam, and wheeling him away from Dean.
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The next few hours were like hell for Sam. Sure Zack had finally had enough time to think it over and was back in the room with him and Becky, but it was silent. Verbally.
Sam had turned on the TV and they were watching Cartoon Network because as Dean had stated last time they had been in a hospital, daytime TV sucked.
"Sam…" Zack started, obviously wanting to say something, but Sam just pretended to be absorbed in the episode of Captain Planet that was playing. The truth was, he hadn't paid attention to anything on the TV since he had been told that they had taken Dean in.
He was just trying to keep himself from breaking down. The horrible feeling was growing. It had been growing for a while.
"Sam…" Becky started during a commercial break. "Sam, you gotta say something sometime…"
Sam chose to ignore her, but that brought him out of his thoughtfulness. That was enough to make Sam's eyes graze the TV. He shouldn't have done that.
"I make your clothes snuggly soft!"
That bear. Sam forced his eyes shut. No. Not that.
"That fabric softener teddy bear. Oh, I'm gonna hunt that little bitch down."
Sam could feel everything crashing down on him. All the walls he had built up to keep him from losing it, they all just crashed.
"Sam… SAM!" Becky's voice reached into his mind as the tears started flowing. The one thing he had tried to keep bottled up inside for so long came flowing out all thanks to that damn teddy bear.
He sobbed loudly, trying to stop, but he couldn't. He just couldn't.
He felt Becky's arms wrap around him as his eyes slowly opened. "It's gonna be fine Sam…" she said. "Dean is gonna wake up and be fine…"
Sam shook slightly. "No…" he said. "No… he's… he's gonna…"
"Sam! Dean is not going to die. You said yourself once, he's your invincible big brother, you don't think a little thing like a car accident is going to stop him from being your bossy big brother, do you?"
Zack remained silent.
Sam's voice shook. "It killed dad…"
"Your dad is not Dean sweetheart. You forget, I've met your brother before… and you know what, he is invincible Sam. Just keep reminding yourself of that."
Sam defiantly wiped the tears away from his eyes, but that couldn't stop the fresh ones from flowing. He remained silent.
"I know how big brothers are Sam… and your brother wont leave, he's too stubborn…"
"I… I guess…" he said slowly, finally getting the tear flow to stop, but that feeling of dread only seemed to have gotten worse.
"This whole Dean dying, it's all in your head. You stop thinking about it, it won't be bugging you anymore."
"Yeah…" Zack put in, starting to feel like he didn't belong.
"I guess…" Sam responded again, eyes still closed. He didn't want to think about Dean dying. He didn't want to thin of anything Dean related at the moment.
But that was pretty hard.
"You guess Sam?" Becky asked, a small smile forming on her face.
"You're right…" Sam sighed.
"You know I am…"
Sam suppressed a chuckle at the second that the doctor returned. There was no Laura.
"Sam…" he said.
Becky and Zack went to leave, but Sam stopped them. "Stay…" he whispered.
Becky nodded and sat back down, but Zack shook his head. "I'll be outside, okay?"
"Yeah," Sam responded, before turning to the doctor, he hoped the news was good.
"Well I have some good news, and some bad news…" he said. Of course there was good news and bad news. There was always good news and bad news.
"Okay…" Sam said, almost bracing himself for the worse. He had just been to the lowest he had been in a long long time. He could handle this.
"The good news is, the surgery went perfectly." Sam couldn't stop the smile from forming across his face. Dean was going to be okay. Dean… Dean was going to be fine.
"That's good…" Becky said, feeling a bit awkward.
"But…"
There was that damn word again. That horrible, evil world. But. Sam wanted to delete it from the human vocabulary. In every possible language.
"But what?" Sam asked.
"We're not sure how long it will be until he's awake. It could be in the next few hours, it could be in the next few weeks…"
Sam closed his eyes and sighed. Okay, he could live with that.
"But he is going to wake up, right?" he asked, sounding much like a little kid.
"Eventually…"
Eventually. That wasn't exactly the answer he was looking for. But at least it was a positive answer.
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A/n: There is the happy ending I've been waiting for. :D
Thanks to my reviewers: pizzapixie, BROXA, Blonde604, Lonnie, Lurkinshdws, RavynJensen, leanneB, Kaewi, Ghostwriter, Halcyon Impulsion, Ziipie, PabloDivaRidesAgain, Joou Himeke Dah, daisymaygirl1, Anamalia-fear, Nate and Jake
I'm so excited about all the reviews. You guys made my day! Haha. And made me wanna write.