A/N: I'm sorry I'm taking so long with this guys, I'll try to be better with updates I promise!
The roar of the trucks echoed in Cora's ears as they barreled down the last stretch of road, screaming out of sight. She was shaking, her back turned to the road, afraid to turn around and face what must be left of Dean. She turned slowly, unsure of whether or not she could take another trip to the hospital, another dead body, another pair of lifeless eyes. However, what she did see when she turned was not what she expected at all.
"Nurse! Nurse!" Doctor Mitchell cried running to the door, still unsure if all of the graveyard shifts she had pulled over the years had finally gotten to her. She must be seeing things, hearing things. The heart monitor could not be beeping, the kid could not have his eyes open...the kid was dead.
"Dean?" The voice was dusty sounding, like he had just crawled out of the grave. S He tried to ignore the irony in that as she rushed to the boy's side.
"Mr. Winchester, I'm going to have to ask you to sit still." Sam's eyes were wild and every cell in his body ached. The dull throbbing pain made him feel as if he was vibrating, and his head was spinning. The last thing he remembered was Drake's voice sounding afraid and far away,
"Sam? SAM!" Drake could see him still, but just barley. His form had started fading fast and Drake was afraid that the young man was doomed, and that he'd have to face this waiting room dimension alone.
"What's going on?" Sam asked, even his voice sounded like a hollow echo as he faded even more, soon he was nothing more them a form of air, and then…he was gone.
"Damn" Drake hissed trying to see which side he had crossed on to. He hoped beyond hope that Sam would wake up in his hospital bed, alive and happy, with his brother by his side. But something told him that it wouldn't be that easy. It seemed like nothing was pain-free for the Winchesters.
Sam still looked like he had been thrown through a windshield, but his vision was slowly piecing itself back together like a jig saw puzzle. He saw the doctor taking his vitals, and heard her voice like a dull buzzing noise in his ears, like a stupid idle bee had crawled into his brain. He saw the nurses around him one had a needle in his hand.
"Wait…what's that for?" Sam asked widening his eyes at the syringe,
"Please try to calm down" Doctor Mitchell said nodding to the male nurse. The syringe went in his arm and Sam's world went black.
Cora let out a tiny gasp and her big blue eyes got bigger and bluer if that was possible,
"Oh, my God…Drake!" She rushed over to her brother stopping a few feet away from him her hands over her mouth. She was almost afraid to touch him, she was afraid that he was nothing more then a delusion, that she'd wake up from this waking dream and he'd be gone, replaced with dead air. He smiled at her, disbelief in his face.
"Cora? … Cora!" He hugged her and spun her around in one fowl swoop with a laugh of relief. "I can't…how do you... where the hell are we?" He asked running a hand through his hair and looking around at the darkened road with raised eyebrows.
"I don't know…we wrecked those trucks and then he got out and…and…oh, God, Dean!" Cora flashed back to the terrifying scene of the trucks barreling down on the young hero with the meaning gone from his life.
"Dean? Wait…that's his car, right? Where is he?" Drake asked scanning the road for the rough tough young man he had encountered, and had grown to respect despite himself.
"I…" Cora spun around looking for him. She saw a glinting piece of metal squarely where Dean had once been standing. She bent down and held the necklace out in front of her face, "I don't know."
Sam was in that damn dream world again. That place where he had to face the sandman who hated him, and the nightmares that tortured him. Medicated though it was that didn't make it any less terrifying although the sharp lines that normally characterized his nightmares were softer, and his vision was slightly blurry. A figure was standing about a hundred yards away; it had its hands in his pockets. Even from this distance Sam knew who it was, the posture and leather jacket were dead give a ways. But there was something different, something defeated about the way he stood, something devastating about each breath he took.
"Dean!" Sam yelled, he was almost surprised at the amount of joy he felt at seeing his older brother again. The figure turned around and suddenly Sam was about a foot away from him.
"Sammy?" He asked his voice steady, but his eyes were red and Sam could see the complete desolation in his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, it's me, Dean" Dean smiled and gave his little brother a quick awkward hug,
"Oh, Sammy, you have no idea how good it is to see you." Sam grinned and took in the very welcomed sight of his brother,
"I'm okay, Dean…I don't know how, but I'm okay." Dean let a little smirk race across his face but he quickly looked away from his brother as a little tear escaped, but Sam pretended not to notice.
"Then why are you here?" Dean asked looking back at his brother, all signs of the offending tear erased. Sam didn't understand at first but the realization suddenly hit him that he was asleep, so either Dean was asleep as well…or…
"Dean, what did you do?" Sam asked fear gripping his throat. Dean looked at the floor again for an instant to gather his thoughts, and then he smiled a bit sadly and looked at Sammy with a slight shake of the head,
"What I had to, little brother." Sam tensed where he stood, knowing now that nothing his brother had to say following that would be good.
"Dean…what does that mean?" He heaved a heavy sigh and continued reluctantly, but with surprising openness.
"I am the one that is supposed to die, not you, Sam. You have a future, and you would be missed. It's my job to protect you, and I knew one day that would mean dying for you…oh, damn it!" He seemed overwhelmed for a second before he quickly snapped back and continued, " my life…that was the one thing I knew I could give to you, to let you know how important you are. And I'm not just saying that because you're my kid brother either, you were going to go to law school…law school, I don't know if that shows you how smart you are but you are. I could give you my life, the one thing I had to offer that meant anything, so you could have that future you wanted, the future I kept you from …all I want is for you to be happy, to be able to sleep through the night peacefully with some beautiful girl by your side. So when I saw that ritual in Dad's journal, hell, Sammy, I thought, 'that's a cause worth dying for.'" When Dean finished his little loving monologue Sam could feel the familiar biting sting of tears o his eyes and ducked his head.
"Don't talk like that Dean" he said quietly and Dean shook his head shifting his weight uncomfortably.
"Like what?" He asked and Sam let out a breath and ran a shaking hand through his mop of hair.
"Like you're already dead."
The sobering statement sparked a grave moment of silence. Dean wouldn't look at Sam as the fuzziness faded from around him, his nostrils filled with stale hospital room air, and that damn buzzing bee crawled back in his brain. Dean didn't say anything else as he faded from view but Sam was still franticly trying to stay with his brother, even if it was just for another moment. "No…Dean, you didn't…DEAN!" But as sharply as it had cut in the nightmare cut out and Sam found himself back in the hospital surrounded by nurses and doctors.
"It really is remarkable…I've never seen anything like it in all my years in the ER" An elderly graying man held a metal clipboard and was talking to other official looking people. Sam fought down the urge to scream and throw something across the room, if it weren't for the fact that it was almost impossible for him to move any of his limbs he would have seriously objected to be treated like a caged zoo animal.
"Excuse me Doctor Harrison, but the patient seems to be waking" a much younger doctor said with the tune of an admiring grandchild.
"That patients name is Sam Winchester, and I think it would be in his best interest if he was allowed to rest and recuperate in peace. Perhaps you can analyze him and his progress when he regains his strength, thank you." Doctor Mitchell chorused walking into the hospital room with an aura of authority surrounding her. The rest of the doctors seemed to evaporate as Sam closed his eyes and begged sleep to come once more, but with the absence of the drugs sleep was a tricky little minx that Sam couldn't quite pin down. Dr. Mitchell looked stressed and she spoke in harsh tones to a young nurse, Sam caught the end of the conversation,
"Gone? Are you sure?" The young nurse asked and Dr. Mitchell nodded,
"Yes, the body is just gone! I don't know what is going on but somebody better find Drake Collins, and find him now!" The nurse scurried out of the room and Sam let a little bit of hope enter his heart, Drake must be alive too, and despite himself Sam let out a little laugh, which really sounded like a sob, that hurt his ribs for the stubbornness of his brother, and how much he loved that pain in the ass.
"Cora, where are you going?" Collins asked, his sister's eyes had narrowed and her knuckles were white because she was gripping the steering wheel so tightly,
"Back to the hospital, we have to see Sam." She said her voice monotone and single minded.
"Corry, Sam is dead" Collins said sounding genuinely sorry. Cora took a deep breath and sped up,
"I don't think so" Cora said biting her bottom lip and Collins shook his head,
"Cora…we saw him, the accident, Cora…I saw him, wherever the hell I was…" his voice faded out as he remembered Sam's disappearing form,
"And here you are" she said defiantly Collins nodded and rubbed his eyes with his hands,
"So that means that Dean is…" Cora frowned and wasn't surprised as tears blurred her vision, but she quickly blinked them away,
"Dean will be fine." She said with a nod; and anyone looking in that car at that moment at the fiery red head would have believed her.