Hey, guys! I'm putting up the chapters that are already completed on a daily basis, so by Friday I'll be up to date with this story.
Reviews aren't necessary, but are always appreciated!
Things were blurry in his head. There was a sound. A beep.
Another beep. That was odd. Kind of annoying, really.
There were more beeps. They seemed faster. His chest felt tight.
People were talking over him. He only caught a few snippets, random voices and random words. "-seems to have-" and "The other-" and "-speed of recovery-".
Everything was black. He should be used to that by now, he supposed, but this was different. This was all-consuming. This was as though he couldn't see, couldn't taste, or smell or hear or touch, either. Like all of his senses had been blacked out. There was something in his mouth, his throat. It was making him breathe. That was the first thing he noticed. He went to open his eyes, panicking, but they were being held closed. A panicked noise made its way up out of his mouth as he began to hear beeping again. This was hurried and short, little blips that matched the pounding in his chest. He couldn't breathe, couldn't make his chest move, it was this machine doing it for him. Tears began to fall from his eyes, making his face feel wet - only around his eyes, though. Like there was something keeping them from sliding down his cheeks.
"Dean?"
That was a familiar voice. That was... Sammy? Dean turned his attention to his brother's voice, though his heart was still racing. He wanted to speak, but the thing in his throat wouldn't even let him make a sound without it being choked off.
"Dean, it's okay. It's a ventilator... it was helping you breathe. The doctors were going to take it out in a few minutes, so it won't be long, okay? You're going to be okay. Just... you need to calm down before they can take it out."
Dean tried to force his heart to calm, but it didn't work. He could still feel the thing in his throat, he couldn't make the feeling of not being able to breathe go away. His fingers tightened around something - were those Sammy's fingers? - before he passed out. He could hear the beeps begin to slow and even out before he was fully unconscious again, but everything still faded away.
When Dean woke up again, his throat hurt, but he was breathing on his own. He coughed, taking a deep breath just to confirm that he could. Then, he spoke. "Sammy?" He didn't expect his voice to be that raspy.
He felt a hand in his own immediately. "Oh my god, Dean, you're awake," his brother's voice came, clearly relieved. "Here, they gave me ice chips for when you woke up... don't try to talk, okay?"
Dean gave a small grunt in response, and let an ice chip melt in his mouth when Sam gave it to him. After a moment, he ignored Sam's warning not to speak. "Cas?"
Sam sighed and fed his brother another chip. "Still in Washington. It's only been about two days," he murmured. "Of course, you were on the ventilator for half a day, and since then you've been... in and out. I think they gave you a wrong dosage of something. You stopped breathing, man. That's... They said it wasn't the surgery. Something about stress levels and reactions to the dosage. But you'll be okay, and they're pretty sure everything was a success. You can take the bandage off in a few days."
Dean grunted again before he sighed. Well, at least it hadn't been long. After a few hours and many, many more ice chips, they let Dean speak again, and sit up, though his head felt heavy and achy.
"I've got a headache," he complained to Charlie the next day, and she laughed softly.
"Of course you do, Dean. You're also missing your hair, but in a few days the headache will go away and in a few weeks the hair will grow back. Not to mention that you'll be able to see," she reminded him. "Who's the first person you want to see?"
"Well, ideally it'd be Cas, but that's not an option, unfortunately. But probably Sammy. Then you and Benny." He shrugged a little, reaching for the pudding cup on the table. "I'm really excited for this, Charlie. It's... this is really happening." He grinned, and squeezed her back when her fingers tightened around his own.
"Yeah, it is, Dean. It really, really is."
The day that the bandages came off came quickly. Dr. Shurley - Chuck from the phone, who had been in charge of the surgery - was the one in the room with him. "We're going to start to take off the bandages and then we're going to turn off the light," he said, sounding more confident than he did over the phone. Then Dean felt fingers on his head, and it got less heavy as the layers of cloth came away. He kept his eyes closed, but he could see the redness of the lights through his eyelids, and he felt his lips lift in an involuntary smile. Then the redness went away, almost at the same time as the last few layers, and he bit nervously at his lips.
"Okay, Dean, I want you to open your eyes."
Dean let out a big breath and blinked once, before he slowly opened his eyes. The room was blurry. Because the lights were out, it had a blue-ish tinge to it, but the walls were a pale green - Dean could see that. He looked to his side and saw one of the monitors recording his vital signs. There was a steady beep accompanied with a green line that matched his heartbeat. When he looked to his other side, he saw a blurry outline of a man.
"You look more athletic than you sound over the phone," he said before he could help himself, but he smiled.
There was a flash of white as the man - Chuck - smiled back. "I'm going to ask you some questions, okay? And you're going to tell me the answers as best as you can explain them." Dean nodded at the words. "Alright. What color is my coat?"
"White," he answered easily.
"Where on the wall is the sign with the dog?"
Dean glanced around the room and saw a sign with a dog that looked like a German Shepherd by the door. "To the left of the door."
"How well can you see right now? Is your vision clear, or is it a little blurry?"
"Blurry. I can see but I doubt I could read right now even if my head weren't still aching a little," he admitted with a sigh.
"Okay. We're going to let you adjust in light like this for a while, okay? And when you're used to brighter lights again, we're going to get you a prescription for glasses. That should take away the headache and blurriness."
"Okay," Dean agreed, smiling. He didn't care, he could see! He could deal with glasses, it was better than being completely blind. "When can my family come in?"
Chuck smiled at him again. "They can come in in a few moments. We just need to block the light coming in from the door so it doesn't affect your vision too much. Try to rest your eyes often and don't try anything too hard, alright? No "Where's Waldo" games anytime soon."
"Okay. So no magazines or novels anytime soon, either. Just let me know when I can. Is TV okay? Or is it too bright?"
Chuck paused and hummed thoughtfully. "TV should be okay. Nothing too hard to keep up with, though. If you feel yourself getting strained, or a headache, then turn it off and rest your eyes, okay?"
"Got it, doc. Now I want to see my baby brother," he said happily, unable to help his grin. Chuck nodded, and Dean took a moment to realize that holy shit, he actually saw that! before the doctor was leaving the room, and Sam's footsteps appeared before Dean looked over at him, expecting someone Chuck's height and probably a little taller, but he didn't expect to just look up at chest.
"What the hell have you been eating, man? The last time I saw you, you weren't even at my shoulders," he said incredulously, smiling at his brother. "I mean, really? Who are you and why did you eat my brother?"
Sam gave his brother a watery laugh. "Oh my god, it worked," he said, walking up to Dean and hugging him tightly. "I have... I've got pictures that I want to show you. Of you and Mom and Dad, and of Jess, 'cause she's still in California but she wants to meet you as soon as possible, and of Cas-"
"Not of Cas," Dean said, stopping his brother in his tracks. "I want to see him for real for the first time. I don't want to spoil anything. But... I do want to see how horrible I look while I'm doing the music thing."
Sam laughed again, and he nodded, ruffling Dean's hair. "Okay, big brother. Be a romantic nerd. And I think you and Cas should watch those together. He'll appreciate your reactions better. But, um, I can bring Charlie in here if you want. That doctor... Dr. Shurley? He said that we could come in slowly. One at a time, but you can see all of us."
A few moments and tearful hugs later, Sam was leaving the room with a broad grin on his face, and Charlie walked into the room. Dean laughed softly as he saw the woman that was like a little sister to him for the first time.
The first thing he noticed was how short her red hair was. He blinked once, then twice, before he opened his mouth and fell silent. A few moments of staring each other down passed before he managed, "Didn't you have long hair, like, two days ago?"
The first thing out of Charlie's mouth was a laugh. "Right on the money, freckles," she teased, sitting on the side of the bed and looking at him. "It's nice to see you and have you actually looking back at me and seeing me for once." She smiled, and her grin looked almost watery. "I... Jesus, Dean, you... they overdosed you on some medication and you didn't... you stopped breathing. When Sam found out he almost hyperventilated and all I could think was that Sam wouldn't be functional and Benny's out of town this weekend so he wouldn't know and that I would have to be the one to tell Cas..." She bit at her lip and stilled in surprise as Dean hugged her tightly.
"I wouldn't leave you guys. I promise, Charlie, I'm okay. I'm not leaving you. No silly little overdose is gonna take me away from you guys, okay?" He smiled at the girl that was like his little sister, feeling overwhelmed by the fact that he could actually see her face, could actually see the tears sparkling in her eyes and the light freckles dusting her cheeks.
"You're such an idiot," Charlie choked out, laughing lightly at the words. There was a long moment of silence where she pressed her damp cheek into Dean's neck, curling her fingers in the back of his hospital shirt and listening to him breathe. "I'm so glad you're okay, Dean."
Dean awkwardly patted Charlie's back as she hugged him. It seems that getting his sight back hadn't done anything for how awkward he was when comforting people. "I'm glad too, Charlie," he murmured, wanting to assure the girl that he was alright. It was a long moment before she pulled back, huffing a little and wiping at her eyes.
"So. What do you want to know?" She was looking much perkier now, smiling at him and sitting on the edge of his bed, hands propped up next to him.
"Any news on when Cas is coming back?" Dean was most eager to know that.
"No news yet. I don't think it'll be more than a few days, though," she assured, smiling at Dean. "He's been really eager to know when you wake up, I think Sam's calling him now."
"That's... That's good," Dean said softly, a small nod accompanying the words. "...I miss him, Charlie."
Charlie's response was to rub over his head, gently, like she wanted to ruffle his hair. Unfortunately, the surgery had required a shaved head, so Dean was lacking that important element of the gesture. "He'll be back before you know it, freckles. How's your throat doing?"
"Sore. I'll be fine, though. Maybe another ice chip?" Dean gave her a pleading look (made all the more effective because he could actually look at her now), and Charlie laughed before handing him the cup of ice. "You're the best, Char," he hummed, popping one into his mouth, closing his eyes and sighing at the immediate cooling of his sore throat.
"I'll see if I can persuade the doctor to let you call Cas while you're in here. Do you want me to put on the TV or something for some background noise?" Dean nodded, not opening his mouth because of the chip. "Sexy, M.D.?" Dean nodded again, a wry grin twisting his features.
"Thanks, Charlie," he mumbled, smiling at the woman, again feeling a wave of awe that he could actually see what she looked like when he did that now. "Your eyes are a pretty hazel, you know."
Charlie actually paused for a moment at that, tears filling her eyes as she smiled back at Dean. "Thanks, freckles. Yours aren't so bad lookin, either." As she left, Dean smiled, chuckling a little. After Charlie had told him that Benny was out of town, he wasn't expecting to see anyone else, but to his surprise, the door opened again.
