(sighs) I know, I know, this update has been well overdue. I've had no internet access for over two weeks ! Ok, explanations aside, hopefully updates will run a little more smoothly, and a word of advice to anyone; when your virus protector runs out, make sure you actually renew it, cause guess what, it can a be a total and utter b!tch if you don't :o)
On a happier note, thank you kindly to the wonderful folk that left a review for me for chapter 3 (man that feels like such a long time), it's to those fantastic readers that I send this chapter to. Thanks so much for sticking by this story. Glad to hear that most people are enjoying the dynamics of my dysfunctional duo :o)
Well enough babble, from me, once again a big thank you to those who left me a review.
On with 'Tic Tacs'
Chapter Four- Tic Tacs
Dean opened the sliding door and grinned when he saw his stubborn little brother curled up on the sofa in what seemed to be a very deep sleep.
As stubborn as Sammy was, there were just some things you couldn't fight; sleep obviously being one of them.
Quietly placing the lap top on the other sofa, Dean picked up the blanket, opened it and covered his brother as silently as he could.
Standing back the elder Winchester couldn't help but take in his little brother's appearance. Sam was anything but his normal self. Dean hadn't believed how much weight Sam had lost, but this morning when he'd grabbed his brother's hand and was able to get his whole wrist within his first finger and thumb; that had scared Dean.
Scared him enough to start to question what was really going on.
First Sam had a new black eye and bruising around the head this morning, then there was the salt from the night before; and now, this, this whole episode with a spirit Dean couldn't see any evidence of.
Of course Dean couldn't tell Sam that. The boy's confidence was near enough zero as it was, all that was needed to cause Sam to take that fatal step in front of a fast moving bus, would be for Dean to dismiss the idea of the spirit Sam had seen.
Sam would never admit it, but Dean knew that Sam blamed himself for their father taking off on this new hunt.
...New hunt my ass... Dean thought as he walked into the kitchenette and spotted Sam's sickle lying amongst the dishes it had crashed into earlier today. Lying in pieces on the floor was a smashed plate.
Ok, so Dean knew he'd lied.
He'd lied big time.
But he didn't regret it.
He'd done it for the right reasons. At least that's what Dean kept telling himself. He had to, the day he admitted to himself that what he had done was wrong, was the day his house of cards came tumbling down around him.
Sam would find out the truth, Dean was pretty sure about that. Sam was too smart not to. Dean would cope with that the day when it came. Until then, Sam would just have to swallow that daddy dearest had gone off on a major hunt and left them with only each other for company.
Of course Dean didn't know the whole truth, just the bare ugly facts. He'd come around after a car crash and found his father had vanished without even a word.
Dean shook his head as he knelt down onto the lino cladded kitchen floor and begun to scoop up the broken blue plate.
" Hey..?" Came a sleepy voice from across the room, " Man, I got to stop doing that..."
" You're allowed to sleep Sam, at least for now..." Dean said with a wide grin, " I could always get bored and start making you stay awake for means of torture.."
Sam forced himself into a sitting position on the sofa. His head swam violently as he tried to get the feeling to subside. Sam held his nerve; he knew Dean was watching him, those green hawk-like hazel eyes never missing a beat when it came to him. Sometime it worried Sam that Dean was so worried about him. It often made Sam wonder what on earth it was that Dean was keeping from him. It worried Sam greatly.
" You feeling a bit better now..?" Dean asked gingerly, not really in a mood for another argument.
" That depends, you pick up anything on the demonic spirit..?" Sam asked his voice heavy with sleep.
It was bothering Sam that his head was still feeling so light, to the point where he had to lay back with his head against the sofa and close his eyes. The younger brother could only imagine the look Dean was shooting him, and for once Sam was grateful that he couldn't see Dean's face.
" Sammy..?" Dean asked tossing the broken plate straight into the trash and hurrying over to Sam's side. " What's the matter...?"
" Nothing..." Sam lied, never opening his eyes. He was feeling awful, a strange, unnerving feeling settling in the pit of his stomach, the nausea he could taste now coming in fits and bursts; a bitter taste lining his mouth.
" Sam..?" Dean asked again this time his voice stronger and more determined to hear an answer that actually made sense of the situation that he could see. It was a situation Dean didn't like the look of. Dean's hand reached out and touched his brother's forehead under a meek protest from Sam.
Dean yanked his hand back in surprise as he scrambled to his feet and headed for his room.
" You're burning up..." Dean said over his shoulder.
He returned seconds later with a small grey box in his hand. Sam's aching eyes opened slowly, simply because Dean was too quiet in his movements in front of him.
" What's that..?" Sam asked curiously as his tired ridden eyes forced themselves open.
" It's a thermometer..." Dean said giving Sam a funny look, " Dude you've seen one of these before..?"
" You're not putting that anywhere near me..." Sam muttered pulling the blanket over his head, in a feeble attempt at hiding.
" Ok, first of all, don't ever paint visuals like that in my head..." Dean muttered in a tight voice, " And secondly it goes in your ear, that way it saves me having nightmares of your ass..."
Sam's head peeked up over the blanket, and Dean couldn't help but see a very young looking Sam staring at him. He looked no more than possibly seventeen or eighteen.
" I feel fine..." Sam said quietly his voice more pleading than believing.
" Sorry dude, but I disagree..." Dean said tilt Sam's face to one side and placing the rounded point inside Sam's ear. " You look like shit.."
" Thanks..." Sam mumbled quietly as Dean removed the ear piece once a beep had been heard.
Sam watched Dean's eyes widen, followed by a whistle. Sam knew that wasn't a good sign.
" Told you I was fine.." Sam kidded with a grin.
" Sam, it's 101..." Dean said showing him the reading, " That's not good..."
" It's a little high, nothing to write home about.." Sam muttered as he looked at Dean's tense face. " Dean, I'm fine, I've just got a fever..."
" Which tablets didn't you take this morning..?" Dean suddenly asked as he put the thermometer on the coffee table and headed for Sam's room.
" Dean, look, I appreciate what you're doing but seriously, you're over reacting..." Sam said now physically having to push himself into a sitting position.
" Yeah, well, call me Florence friggin Nightingale..." Dean muttered coming back with two small bottle in his hands. He held them out stubbornly to Sam. " Now which ones..?"
Sam's hazel eyes stared stubbornly up at Dean.
" Dude don't give me that look..." Dean muttered as he looked at Sam with an annoyed expression. " Now stop acting like a child.."
" Stop treating me like one..." Sam hastily spat, " Look, I told you these make me feel...-"
" Yeah, I heard you the first time, they make you feel funny.." Dean finished for Sam, " But sorry, bud, that's not a good enough excuse.."
" You don't understand..." Sam said feebly. The younger Winchester was seriously running out of things to say now. At least of things to say that didn't make him sound like a whiny four year old.
Dean sighed and sat down on the coffee table in front of Sam.
" Sammy, please..." Dean finally said his voice slightly softer, " I get that they make you feel funny, but look, if you don't take them, you're gonna end up really ill..."
" I'm ill now.." Sam countered. " How do you know it's not because of the tablets...?"
" How do you know it's because of the tablets..?" Dean equally countered, a more dogged look on his face. " Ok, look I'll do you a deal.."
Sam gave his brother a dubious look. It was pretty obvious that Sam was not going to like the terms and conditions of this idea.
" You take these tablets for the rest of day, the normal dosage..." Dean said holding up his hand to cut off Sam's furious protest. " I'll keep a very strong eye on your temperature and everything else. If anything goes funky, you come off the tablets..."
Sam looked suspiciously at Dean. How his brother could be ignoring the glaring obvious solution that was staring them both in the face..?
" Or, I could just pop down to the doctors, tell them what's happened and see if these things are interfering with me.." Sam suggested.
Dean's face paled dramatically and Sam noticed the change instantly. Dean bolted to a stand position and walked away from Sam.
Dean had to walk, he couldn't let Sam seeing him shaking or panicking.
" No doctors Sammy..." Dean said simply, his voice barely audible, his breathing barely normal.
" But...-" Sam asked shaking his head in confusion. " This is what makes me so mad Dean..." Sam muttered unable to keep the frustration out of his voice.
" Look, I asked you to trust me..-" Dean started, when Sam shot him an angry look.
" You asked me to trust you almost two weeks ago Dean...!" Sam snapped, " You can't expect me to never want to know what's going on..."
Dean sucked in a breath, and walked back to Sam. The bottle of pills still in his hands; he wore his most earnest look.
" Please, Sammy..." Dean whispered, " I just don't want anything to happen to you, is that too much to hope for..?"
Sam reluctantly looked at Dean.
" You really think these things are helping, because I don't.." Sam said bluntly, " Every time I take them, I feel like I need to sleep for a week or I'm on another planet to everyone else.."
" You're tired and you need rest.." Dean admitted as he sighed himself, " We both do..."
Sam half-heartedly reached for the bottle with the white tablets and tipped two out onto his palm. Dean quickly returned from the kitchen with a glass of water, and Sam unwillingly downed the tablets. Dean's eyes were still on him. Sam noticed.
" You want to check under my tongue..?" Sam asked moodily.
" No..." Dean said unable to hide the smile that was breaking onto his face, " If you tell me you swallowed them, I believe you..."
" Good, because if you did I ask, I'd probably slap you.." Sam muttered as he flopped back against the sofa and closed his eyes.
" Just think of them as little tic-tacs..." Dean said with a grin, which received no humour back from Sam. Dean pouted at his brother's lack of humour. Finally he sighed and sat back down on the coffee table.
" Why don't you try and get some sleep.." Dean suggested, stifling a yawn himself, " Some proper sleep..."
" Why don't you try and tell me what you found out about this spirit..." Sam asked crisply, " Or did you think I'd forgot about that..?"
" Of course not.." Dean said with a heavy sigh, " Ok truth is, Clearwater, Florida, must be the most uneventful place in the world..."
" Nothing..?" Sam whispered unable to hide the shock on his face, " There was nothing suspicious at all..?"
" Nope, so I got a bit curious myself and started checking around the whole of Florida..." Dean admitted, " And, well, to be perfectly honest Sam, it's pretty quiet..."
Sam couldn't hide the confused look on his face, and Dean couldn't help but feel sorry for the kid.
" Did you find it in the book..?" Dean asked with a fake smile, although he already knew the answer.
" No..." Sam mumbled as he pulled the blanket closer to his body, suddenly feeling a chill. " But you'd already figured that out..."
" Look, just because it's not in the book or online, doesn't mean it's not around..." Dean said, trying to keep his voice as believable as possible.
" Hey, why don't you try using the night vision on the camera, you know have a look.." Sam suggested but paused when a large yawn escaped his mouth, " Oh whoa..."
Sam's hands went straight to the top of his head. He felt bizarre, strange and seriously sick. The bitter taste in his mouth had returned with a passion.
Dean could only stare at Sam.
" Sammy..?" Dean whispered, " Man, are you ok..?"
" I think I will lie down..." Sam said between clenched teeth. Dean held out his hand and Sam took it as he struggled into a standing position. " Could you..-"
Sam's voice trailed off as he grabbed his chest, as his breathing came in ragged breaths. Dean held him upright.
" Oh man..." Sam whispered as he his breathing rattled out, each one of them feeling like razors.
Dean stared wide eyed at his little brother. Why couldn't life just give them a break for crying out loud...?
" Nearly at your room..." Dean gasped as he carried most of Sam's weight. He glanced around the tidy room and eased his brother onto the bed.
Sam simply curled himself into a ball, his body shaking every so often. Dean was worried as he picked up his brother's comforter and covered him gently.
" The night vision.." Sam whispered his voice trembling with pain as he his breathing became laboured again. His chest was incredibly tight, " Please, just do a sweep of the..-"
" Yeah, of course I will..." Dean muttered, " I don't know why I didn't think of that in the first place..."
Dean watched as Sam's face was contorted in pain, his eyes squeezed shut.
" Maybe some painkillers...?" Dean suggested as he headed out the room and quickly returned with the bottle of blue pills.
Sam glumly nodded, at this precise moment he'd try anything to get rid of this pain. Sam knew Dean was worried, it was clear on his older brother's face.
Sam was already masking how bad the pain actually was, he could only imagine the state Dean would end up in if he ever found out how much pain Sam really was in. The difference was it was getting harder and harder each time to mask the pain, and this bout had caught the little brother completely off guard.
Dean returned from the living room, opened the bottle and tipped three onto his hand and then promptly handed it to Sam.
The younger Winchester didn't question the dosage his big brother had given him; he trusted him too much.
Instead he tossed the three blue bitter tasting tablets into his mouth and with Dean's help swallowed the water down. Sam heavily flopped back against his pillows.
Dean placed the glass on Sam's night stand and begun to study the dosage on the prescription labels of the bottle. Sam watched as Dean silently opened the night stand draw and placed them in and closed it back.
" Just rest ok, if you need anything, just call..." Dean said standing up and heading for the bedroom door.
" Dean..?" Sam called, his voice shaking furiously, " You're gonna check the room right..?"
" You bet I am..." Dean said with a determined look on his face. " I'm going to the car to get the stuff and anything else I think will work in tracking this son-of-a-bitch down..."
" Good..." Sam gasped out, as a bolt of pain rocketed through him, " Be careful..."
" I'm going to the car Sam, not to the Bronx..." Dean said with a grin, " You just close those eyeballs of yours and try and get your ass some sleep..."
Sam nodded quietly and listened as Dean pulled the door in, but didn't lock it.
Sam lay in his bed, his body shaking every so often from the tremors of the pain. His stomach felt as it if had been set on fire, his chest felt too tight to breathe, and his head ached in an unbelievable manner. Sam closed his eyes, the headache was normal.
He'd had that horrendous pain with him on and off since he'd left the hospital; but the other symptoms were new.
Sam didn't need a medical degree to know that something weird was happening with his body. He was ill, extraordinarily ill.
Too much was happening too quick and that could only mean one thing. That something supernatural was behind it.
He knew that spirit that had been hovering around menacingly near Dean must have something to do with it.
It was pretty clear that the spirit, demon, ghost, whatever the thing was must have been involved.
Sam finally allowed sleep to pull him into the stagnant form, knowing that once Dean returned and found some sort of trace evidence of this spirit, his big brother would come up with a way to kill the thing.
Then maybe, Sam could stand a chance at actually getting better...
xxxxXXXXxxxx
Dean sat on the wooden steps that lead onto their upstairs deck, with the small video camera in his hands.
He needed a few minutes to get his head together.
Seeing Sam like that, in so much pain, that had scared him.
Sam was tougher than he looked; even the doctors had admitted that. His little brother was resilient, but by God, he wasn't made of stone. It took a lot for Sam to ever express pain to anyone, let alone Dean, so Dean had quickly realised that Sam must have been near enough ready to scream for him to have reacted like that.
...He's not getting better, he's getting worse...Dean thought to himself...I should have never taken him out of hospital without making sure he was ready, what if he's dying, what if I've caused this whole situation...?
Dean ran a hand roughly through his short brown hair, his hazel green eyes stung with unfallen tears.
If Sam got ill again. Really ill again.
...No, it just can't happen...Dean drummed into his brain...I'll do whatever the hell it takes, but I will not lose him again, I won't...Dean said as he forced himself to climb the steps...I can't lose him...
His hands reached for the sliding door, when he paused as a gentle breeze blew softly over his face. His skin tingled from the warmth of the breeze and smell of the salty sea air. He could easily see why Sammy would always come out here at night, it was peaceful, gave your mind a chance to think...
" Make sure he keeps taking the tablets Dean, it's the only way to keep Sammy alive. It's the only way for you to save him.."
Dean inhaled the sea air and took a steadying breath.
His mind was clear, his mind now focused. All he had to do was make sure Sam kept taking his medication and his little brother would be just fine.
Slipping in quietly through the sliding door, Dean crept over to Sam's room and silently pushed the door. Sam lay on his side, his back to Dean.
Dean tip toed quietly over to Sam and saw that his little brother was fast asleep. His breathing was a little raspy for Dean's liking, but at least he was still breathing. Dean gently adjusted Sam's blanket and silently crept out the room again, leaving the door open, while ignoring the violent urge of wanting to wake Sam up.
Instead the elder Winchester concentrated on the camera, turned it on and adjusted it to night vision.
It was time for Dean to go hunting...
xxxxXXXXxxxx
(swoons) Dean off hunting evil, can't think of anything more yummy ! Plus a sweaty and ill Sammy, double yum. Poor old Dean, his lies and conscience is eating the poor boy alive and as for Sam, man he trusts his big brother blindly...lets hope he doesn't live to regret it huh..? If you get a chance please leave a review ! Next update should be Sunday (internet allowing of course :o))