May the Circle... chp 7
I'm off to camp for the summer, but I will work on updates as I can, I promise. This story is almost done, but it's part of a series so there will be more. Keep the reviews coming.
Morning found Dean up before his younger brothers. He slid out of the bed slowly before making his way to the bathroom. When he had finished his shower and dried off, he exited the bathroom and found Sam awake.
"Sleep okay?"
Sam nodded as he yawned. "Yeah. Think part of it was from the vision yesterday."
"I'm still not sure about you two practicing without a few rules being laid out." Dean started dressing as he finished.
"Like what?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow at his oldest brother.
"Like you don't do it without me around. You don't do it while on a hunt."
"How about we just wait to see if I can even do it with Sam again." Tommy said, looking over at both of them. "Considering it is something new for both of us and I sort of snuck up on him last night with it." He forced himself to sit up and swing his legs over the side of the bed.
"Somehow I get the feeling that what happened last night will soon be a regular occurrence." Dean shook his head and went over to his middle brother. "Let me check those ribs again." He started unwrapping the bandage.
"Leave it off so I can shower, will ya?" Tommy looked over at Sam. "How's your head?"
"It actually doesn't hurt, which is surprising."
Tommy nodded, then socked Dean in the arm. "God dammit. Where the hell did you get your bedside manners?" He held his good arm to his chest where Dean had been probing.
"Keep it up." Dean shook his head and sighed. "Take a shower and then I want to get your ribs X-rayed."
Sam frowned. "Dean?"
"They're giving a lot near his sternum and that's where I was pressing when he decked me." He looked at Tommy. "It's not a suggestion this time."
"Never really is with you or dad." He got slowly to his feet and went into the bathroom. Moving slowly, he finished undressing and climbed into the shower, letting the hot water melt some of the tension from his shoulders. In the past eight years, he'd imagined re-joining his brother hundreds if not thousands of times. Most of them involved violence resulting from fist fights about who left who. This reunion, however, was better than any of his dreams. Granted, he could do without the feeling of someone sitting on his chest or having pulled his arm out of place, but the rest was worthy of any dream. Finishing his shower, he dried off slightly and stepped out only to quickly find himself on his knees, gasping for air.
Sam and Dean had been packing up the room, not planning on staying their the next night. Dean had already called Caleb and let him know where to find his truck and moved Tommy's gear over to the Impala. So it was Sam that heard the thud from the bathroom at the same time Dean came back in the room. He glanced over at Dean before barging into the bathroom. When he spotted his older brother on the floor, Sam knew what had happened.
"Dean, I think one of his ribs came free and got his lung." He knelt beside Tommy, who was slightly blue at the lips.
Meanwhile, when Dean saw Sam rush to the bathroom, he guessed what had happened and called for an ambulance. Only then did he make his way to the bathroom and ease behind Tommy. "Grab his underwear and sweatpants Sam. Let's get him at least half dressed before the medics get here."
Sam nodded and grabbed them from the top of the sink where Tommy had placed them and helped Dean get his brother dressed.
Tommy didn't fight them. He knew they were helping and at the moment he was more interested in trying to keep breathing than anything else. Everything was hazy around him and he never noticed when the paramedics arrived and quickly transferred him to the gurney before speeding away to the hospital. So he totally missed the looks of disbelief and fear on the faces of his brothers.
Three hours later and Dean couldn't take it anymore. He was just about to go to the nurse's desk again and demand to know what was going on with his brother when a doctor approached them.
Bryan Douglas had been in medicine for many years and had learned long ago to try and provide the patient's family with information as soon as possible. His current case, however, had made that time stretch far longer than he would have liked which is why he found himself facing two young men, easily in their early twenties.
"Your brother will be fine in a few days. While one of his ribs did shift, it didn't actually puncture the lung. For now, we're going to keep him under a light sedation, mainly to keep his muscles a bit more relaxed. Otherwise, he's got four cracked ribs, three we think are just bruised, a severely strained shoulder and a fractured wrist. Seems to me whoever he got in the fight with is probably a lot worse off than he his right now." Bryan grinned at them. "He's in room 417 and if he does okay tonight, we'll release him in the morning."
Dean finally let himself relax a bit and sighed. "Thanks doc, we appreciate it."
"Don't worry about it. I've seen you're brother around here before and he always manages to help out at least two or three people anytime he's in town. I tried recruiting him for our volunteer program, but he just blushed and said maybe another time." Bryan nodded. "This one's on us since he helped Mrs. Teton get some rest for a change. Just try and keep him out of trouble for a while."
Sam watched the doctor walk away and raised an eyebrow at Dean. "Why do I get the feeling that there's a whole lot we're missing when it comes to our other brother?"
"I don't know, but we've got the time to find out and that's just what I plan on doing." Dean shook his head and went off to find his brother, Sam on his heels.
