Disclaimer: I still don't own Supernatural or its characters. I and am not making any money on this…I'm just having fun filling in the time until September!

Double Trouble

Chapter 22 – Monster in Hiding

"Missouri…Help!" Dean yelled as he tried to keep Sam's head above the water as his brother's body continued to shake uncontrollably. Dean's cast was getting wet and his ribs were on fire, but he still hung onto his brother, determined to keep him from injuring himself any further.

Missouri took one look at the situation and immediately knelt beside the tub. "Dean, his fever is too high, we have to get it down now…the seizure should end shortly, can you hold him?"

"Yes, but you'll have to do the sponging…turn on the cold water!" Dean was now sitting in the tub with Sam in his lap, he gasped as Sam managed to hit one of his sore ribs. "Heh man, watch the ribs!"

Missouri quickly started filling the tub with cold water and sponging the cold water down Sam's neck and chest. She watched with relief as Sam's shaking stopped and his breathing seemed to be less labored. She looked at Dean as she heard a giggle coming from the young man. "Dean, are you ok?"

"Ah….yeh….it's just….uhm…hehe..man…I wish I had video…Sam would be mortified if he could see us now!" Dean continued to giggle as Missouri gave him a disgusted look. However, he didn't miss the smile on Missouri's face as she turned her head to adjust the water.

"Sometimes Dean's quirky sense of humor hit the spot." Missouri thought as she turned off the faucet. "So, hot shot. You think you're up to handling this while I finish getting his bed ready?"

"Sure Missouri, can you just hold him up for a moment while I get out of the tub?"

Missouri placed a hand on Sam's neck to hold him while Dean got out of the tub, flinching as the emotions from Sam hit her mind. Missouri was prepared, but still she couldn't stop all the images that flowed from Sam's mind to her own.

Missouri gasped at the dark images that flowed from Sam. She realized that somehow Sam had himself confused with the actions of the shape shifter. He was reliving the events from the past few days as if he was the one who had done the evil acts. Deciding to try to stop the direction Sam's mind was going in, Missouri reached out to Sam.

"Sam honey, you need to calm down. I understand that you are confused and scared, but you did not do these things, it was the shape shifter, remember?"

Sam heard Missouri, but didn't know if he could reach past the fog that seemed to be always present. "Missouri?"

"That's right Sam, find my voice, listen to it. You are safe and Dean is safe. You need to give your body and mind a chance to rest."

"But I can't Missouri…the nightmares won't leave me. I can't take the darkness…Oh God Missouri, I can't stop him, he's in my head!"

Missouri gasped as she sensed another presence in Sam's mind, hiding from her so that she couldn't determine what it was. "Who are you and what do you want?" Missouri tried to go deeper, she had to find out what was driving these dark thoughts.

"Missouri…you need to warn Dean…he needs to be careful…argh" Sam felt a white hot pain shoot through his mind as he felt Missouri leaving him. "NO! Missouri…please don't leave me alone in the dark with him…I can't fight him…please!"

Missouri grabbed her head and would have fallen if Dean hadn't grabbed her arm to steady her. "Missouri, what's wrong…where did you go just now?" Dean had watched as Missouri had gone into a trance. He assumed she was trying to reach Sam, but then he saw his brother grimace in pain. Missouri had never caused his brother pain before when she had entered his mind.

"Dean, we may have bigger problems than Sam's fever…there is a presence in his mind…something evil is trying to drive your brother crazy!" Missouri stepped back as if she had been burned.

"What do you mean a presence…what is it?" Dean looked at Sam with concern. He had assumed that the seizure was from the fever but what if…Oh God no! Dean leaned close to Sam and whispered "Cristo"

Sam didn't flinch or lurch out of the tub. He remained still, almost too still for Dean's liking. Dean patted Sam on the shoulder. "Thank God…I don't think we could handle an exorcism right now. Ok, so whatever we are dealing with, it's not a demon possession. I thought the charms would keep out spirits and poltergeists?" Dean looked at Missouri.

"It should Dean, I wish I could tell you for sure what we are dealing with, but I can't. I get a feeling that Sam knows, but whatever it is, it's evil and it's exerting enough control that it is keeping Sam from revealing what it is." Missouri sighed, she should have known, nothing could ever be easy if a Winchester was involved.

"Dean, look boy, first things first. We need to get your brother's temperature down. Then I have a salve we can use to stop the infection from his wound spreading. I also have some liquid fever reducer here somewhere…we can use that to also combat the fever. We need to get his body on the mend before we can worry about the rest. He can't keep fighting on two fronts, it will destroy him!" Missouri didn't wait to hear what Dean had to say, she needed to get the charms in place in the bedroom and was going to go around and add some salt to the doors and windows in the house…just in case.

Dean watched Missouri go as he continued to run the cold water and work on getting Sam's fever down. "Man Sammy, why couldn't you just do things the easy way huh? Well, don't you worry. Bobby will be here soon and we'll get this place locked up tighter than Fort Knox. You just hang in there for me…just keep fighting." Dean refused to let the tears fall that had gathered behind his eye lashes. He also refused to believe that after everything they had been through, Sam wouldn't be able to pull through this time…his brother had to survive because Dean couldn't imagine the world without Sam in it.

A short time later, Missouri returned. "How's he doing Dean?"

"I think his fever is down, at least he doesn't feel as warm as before. Can you help me get him out of the tub?" Dean's arm and ribs were killing him, but he just refused to give in to the pain. He had to take care of Sam first.

Between the two of them, they managed to get the tall lanky youth across the hall and into bed. Missouri left while Dean worked on getting Sam's wet briefs off and got him into a clean pair. Dean then began to remove the wet bandages, wincing at the inflamed flesh from the knife wound.

Missouri returned with a tray containing all the first aid supplies they would need. "Dean, you will first need to re-open the wound and clean it out…I'll hold Sam while you do it so he doesn't hurt himself." Missouri took a deep breath, preparing herself for the contact, knowing that she would need to exert a great deal of effort to block Sam's thoughts from her own.

"Are you sure you are ok to do this Missouri…I mean, I could probably just tie him…" Dean hated the idea of tying Sam down, but he also didn't want Missouri to get hurt.

"Boy, if I didn't think I could do it…I wouldn't have said anything…now get to it!" Missouri gently grabbed Sam's shoulders, prepared to hold him in place once Dean started.

Dean made quick work of opening and cleaning the wound. He tried to ignore the pain filled moans coming from his brother as he continued his work. "Ok Missouri, it's all cleaned out and ready to be re-stitched…does the salve go on now or after I stitch him up?"

"You need to put the salve inside the wound Dean. I would just use butterfly stitches because we may need to apply this more than once."

Dean nodded as he finished taking care of Sam's wounds. Once all Sam's wounds had been cleaned and bandaged, Dean held Sam up, while Missouri placed the liquid fever reducer in Sam's mouth. She continued to slowly pour the liquid down Sam's throat, glad that he swallowed the medicine. Missouri then held up the water bottle she had brought and slowly began to pour the water into Sam's mouth. "We need to also keep him hydrated Dean. If he doesn't wake soon, we'll need to keep trying to get him to take a little at a time, like this." Sam swallowed reflexively as the small amounts of water entered his throat.

As Dean pulled a chair over to keep watch over Sam; Missouri stood in front of him with her hands on her hips. "Dean Winchester…if you think you are going to set there all night, you're sadly mistaken. Your brother will be fine while you take a nap in that bed right over there. That is after I help you get that cast off and re-tape those ribs of yours." Missouri held up her hand as Dean began to protest. "I don't want to hear it Dean, I saw you trying to hide your pain while you were working on Sam. You won't do nobody any good if you fall flat on your face. Now go get yourself changed into some dry clothes. Leave your shirt off and get your butt back in here so I can tend to you!"

"Yes Mam!" Dean saluted and ducked as Missouri swatted at his head.

A short time later, Missouri looked over the sleeping forms of both of her boys. She would be keeping watch for the rest of the night over John's boys. She dared anything evil to get past her, nothing would hurt these boys on her watch!

ooooooooo

Outside the dark figure paced in front of the house. He could sense Sam weakening. If only he could get into the house, he knew that Sam wouldn't be able to stop him from possessing him. Damn the old psychic and the brother…they were in the way of his prize.

Once again, the demon decided to continue the attack on Sam's mind. He would have patience and wait for an opportunity…but in the meantime, the amount of pain he could cause would have to be enough.

TBC

Raven524: Well we managed to have Missouri give Sam a sponge bath…horrors…I wonder when Dean will bring that out to tease his baby brother! Can I see a show of hands…how many would like to trade places with Missouri right now? (LOL) Thanks for the wonderful reviews. Hopefully the story is not getting too long or drawn out. Let me know your thoughts, just drop me a line!