Usual disclaimer: I don't own or have any affiliation with Supernatural, its characters, the actors or anything associated with the show :(

A/N - I'd appreciate a little imput if you have any - reviews are always read and treasured (and acted on as well), but on to the story:

3. Restraint

Geez his head hurt; actually basically everything hurt, Dean thought with a groan. Carefully he wiggled everything starting at his toes and working his way upward and outward to his fingers. Everything seemed to be in working, if painful, order. But something just wasn't quite right. Generally Dean considered himself to be fairly level headed, not too prone to panic, particularly if Sammy wasn't involved. But…

He was tied up and it felt like he was naked.

Wherever he was it was too dark to see what kind of restraints he was in so he tested the strength of whatever held his wrists but all he got for his trouble was blinding pain in his right arm and shoulder.

"Nnng!" sometimes things just hurt so much that even incredibly satisfying swear words couldn't come out. And to cap it all off there was this insistent little buzz in his ear that just wouldn't go away. And he really wished it would go away, because his head hurt. This was one of those times in your life when you wish you could get away with crying for your momma. Dean let out a short puff of air and carefully tried moving his legs "Ow! Aw crap." They seemed to be pinned down as well, damn it all.

That was it, enough already; he wasn't going to go down with out a fight, no matter how much it hurt. He let a small pained chuckle escape as he imagined that his efforts would be accompanied by the ever cheesy yet appropriate 'Eye of the Tiger' "Duh, dun, dun dun.."

"Dean!"

"Sammy?" well that was good, Dean's little niggling worry that was always there when he couldn't see, hear or feel Sam was eased by the sound of his little brother's voice. "Sammy I'm tied up here."

"Dean, stop trying to get up." Dean could now hear and feel Sam, but he still couldn't see him, annoyingly his newly acquired internal personal stereo started playing Meatloaf's 'Two out of three ain't bad'. He thrashed a little, not enough to disturb the comforting hand on his arm but enough to make Sam say "Dean, dude, stop moving around or you'll do yourself some more damage." Dean didn't stop moving just because Sam had told him to; he stopped moving because of the worry in his voice.

"Mr Hastings? Please excuse me; I just need to check your brother's equipment." There was a blinding light and Dean shut his eyes as pain lanced through his head. He kept his eyes closed to fight off the wave of nausea that went with the new level of headache.

"Sure." There was the sound of soft shoes on linoleum and then the annoying buzz stopped, thanks be for small mercies Dean thought. And decided it was worth cracking open an eyelid to see who belonged to the feminine voice. His vision was too blurry to see anything

"Your brother's okay, I think the alarms went off because of the change in his vitals when he woke up, I'll just check his pulse…"

"No pulse checking until someone tells me what the freaking hell is going on!" He was a little annoyed now. And it annoyed him even more that all he could do was wiggle his fingers threateningly.

"Stop pouting Dean, I'll tell you why in a minute, all done Sherry?" Sam asked the nurse as she left Dean's equipment.

"Done, you're fine Dean. I've given him his night meds as well," Sherry said to Sam as she gave Dean's arm a little pat. He resisted the impulse to snap at the comfortable looking woman with his teeth. Weird; he usually wasn't this wired when he woke up. What the hell was going on and now that he could see a little more, Dean wanted to know why he was strapped onto a hospital bed in physical restraints. He waited until Sherry had finished writing stuff in what had to be his chart before turning on his brother.

"What the hell Sam?"

"Hey Dean," Sam said quietly "How do you feel man?"

"Like I was hit by a bus." Dean answered grumpily, and opened his eyes a millimetre further, just because it felt like his head was going to explode and that his shoulder was on fire didn't mean he couldn't give Sam his patented 'I'm pissed' scowl. He tugged on the restraints with his left arm. "Why am I tied to this bed, and why am I naked?" at least he had a blanket on.

"They had to cut your shirt off to check your shoulder, which was dislocated by the way, and then took the rest off to check the rest of you for damage, and you aren't naked you have a hospital gown on" Sam ran a quick hand through his shaggy hair, "I had to do some fast talking to the doctor when she came out from behind the emergency curtain, I think she suspects that maybe you were abused as a kid."

"What with all the scars I suppose." Dean shrugged and then swore as the fire returned to his shoulder. "What did you tell her dude? That I'm some kind of stuntman, or fireman?" He liked the idea of stuntman.

"She could tell that some of your scars are from when you were a kid Dean, I just said you were really accident prone and left it at that." Sam explained with a quick grin at Dean's obvious disappointment. The grumpiness usually indicated his brother was going to be okay, he was surprised by the amount of tension that left his tall frame, but then again Dean didn't hold the patent on needing to protect his family and fear of losing any more of it.

"Enough trying to distract me, and more undoing of restraints action little brother, or was it you that tied me up in the first place?" Dean looked at Sam accusingly again, he hadn't missed the tension leaving Sam before, but if anything it made him all the more anxious to find out exactly why he was in a hospital bed. The last thing he remembered was driving through Rochester and picking up some Twinkies and soda. "So what happened?"

"You were hit by a bus." Sam said matter-of-factly, "The restraints were to stop you hurting yourself any more by rolling out of bed, it was like you were doing a samba in there."

"Don't be an ass Sam, what really happened?" Dean was starting to get grumpy again; it was his job to be flippant one not his earnest little brother.

"Seriously dude you were hit by a bus, walked right out in front of it. You scared the shit outta me man."

"No freakin' way." Dean started to think back, and couldn't for the life of him remember anything past the cute girl who'd sold him the Twinkies. "I don't remember anything."

"It's okay Dean, at least we found some answers; at least I did while you were sleeping on the job." As he undid the restraints Sam couldn't help thinking that hadn't seen Dean so forlorn since their dad had died. In the hospital bed he seemed to somehow take up less room than he usually did. Sam wasn't sure if this new awake and confused Dean was any better to the alternately statue still or writhing unconscious Dean.

"You found the… woman off the bus?" Dean asked, omitting the word ghost just in case.

"She wasn't on the bus but I found the woman." Sam said quietly. Dean frowned at him as he rubbed his now free wrists, wincing as his shoulder grumbled. He felt tired, it hurt to think and he felt like lying back and snuggling into the less than soft hospital bed. Sam clearly noticed, "I'll explain tomorrow, you need to rest some more."

"I don't need to sleep," Dean's protest was undermined by a huge yawn, "okay maybe I do, but tomorrow, you bring whoever it is out in the hall to see me." Dean mumbled sleepily as he settled himself more comfortably. The subtle scent of vanilla had been getting to Dean for the last few minutes. It was damn sexy.

"What?" Sam looked taken aback, and then he shrugged, Dean's finely honed senses wouldn't have missed something even as small as the scent of Tate's shampoo or her quiet shuffling as she waited in the hall. Dean's gentle snores told him his brother had fallen asleep, so Sam stood and pulled up his blankets.

Out in the hallway Tate saw the tender way Sam brushed the short hair back from his brother's forehead before turning slowly and leaving the room with one last glance back as if assuring himself that Dean was still there.

Please R & R!

Please?

Please….?

I know I haven't got into the romance bit as yet, but I'll get there, I promise, particularly if I get some reviews that say you actually want me to get there 