Disclaimer: I do not own anything Supernatural, it is all property of the CW11 Network, and whatnot, so don't sue me, please.
Chapter 2
It took John and Dean Winchester all they had not to start bawling their eyes out in relief when the more than welcome sight of the city hospital came into view around the bend of the road.
In the back of the Impala, John was trying however futile it was to rouse Sam back to consciousness, he'd checked his son's neck for a pulse and was relieved to have found an albeit weak, but steady beat beneath his fingertips.
Their baby was still alive, but barely holding on.
Dean had had the presense of mind to call 911 shortly after Sam had lost consciousness, saying that his brother had been mauled by a cougar while they were looking for the family dog Sparky in the woods, the operater on the other end had given them exact directions to the hospital and called ahead to make sure the staff was ready for the very dire case coming their way.
Now, the 1967 Chevy Impala was careening into the ambulance bay where a crash team was waiting for them.
Dean didn't even bother to turn the car off as he shot out of the driver's seat and all but ripped the side door of the car open.
He paused for a milisecond when he saw the way his baby brother's head hung limp over the crook of their father's left arm... seemingly pale and lifeless were it not for the tiny gasps and bubbles of blood that spurted from Sam's now colorless lips.
The milisecond quickly passed and with a clenched jaw, Dean gently pried his father's arms from around Sam and took his baby brother's unresponsive form into his own arms, letting out a shaky breath through his nostrils as he felt the sticky wetness of Sam's blood begin to coat his arms.
With his face set in steel and his eyes blazing in angry determination, Dean carried his brother to the waiting medical team, he gently laid Sam onto the gurney before he was pushed away by the medical team, which swarmed around their patient like bees to necter.
" Oh man, this kid's in really bad shape. C'mon lets move it!!!! " Yelled one of the Doctors, a man in his thirties. The team moved as one, rolling Sam away into the building.
Dean was about to run in and follow when he remembered his father was still in the back seat of the Impala.
Dean turned and trotted back to the Impala, he felt a small tendril of fear as he saw the way his father's eyes were slightly glazed over as he sat in the leather seat, his hand and arms, the front of his shirt and pants drenched in crimson blood... Sammy's blood... Their Sammy's blood.
" Dad?" Began Dean softly, trying to qwell the fear that rose up from deep within and threatened to drown him.
To his horror, he watched as his father's lower lip began to tremble, violently but after a few seconds, John's face hardened and his lip stopped quivering. With a steadying breath and years of training kicking in, the eldest Winchester successfully fought back the urge to break apart in that instant.
John turned to gaze at his oldest son with a hard stare as he climbed out of the back of the Impala, his legs still feeling marginally wobbly. He wordlessly reached out and grabbed Dean by his shoulder and roughly shoved his son in the direction of the ER doors.
" Dean, get in there and find out where they took you're brother, I'll turn the damn car off." Barked John.
Dean nodded mutely and followed his father's order, dashing into the ER and disappearing through the doors.
John got into the Impala and drove it into the parkinglot, finding a spot near the entrance. He turned the car off and then he himself dashed back into the ambulance bay, all but barreling through the doors and looking everywhich way, frantically looking for Dean.
He didn't notice the odd and concerned stares of the people around him, gawking at the copious amout of blood that stained the front of his clothes.
John caught sight of his oldest son terrorizing a poor nurse near one of the trauma rooms.
" JUST TELL ME WHAT THE HELL'S GOIN ON ALREADY!!! " Yelled Dean.
" DEAN THAT'S ENOUGH ! " Boomed John Winchester's voice, it immediately rendered his son silent.
The nurse looked visibly relieved until she turned to John and took in his appearance.
" OH MY GOD, SIR ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!!! " She exclaimed as she rushed to his side.
A dark look passed over John's face as he got a better look at himself in the florescent hospital lighting.
" It's not mine." He said quietly before he turned to look the nurse dead in the eye before speaking again.
" It's... It's my son's blood, they just took him in. Please tell me how he is."
Dean swallowed visibly before he came to stand by his father and look expectantly at the nurse.
" Sir, we're doing everything we can for him but I won't lie to you, it doesn't look very good." Then a voice called from behind the trauma room doors.The nurse turned back to the two Winchesters and gave them an apologetic look.
" Excuse me." She said quietly before she dashed back through the doors.
John and Dean followed after her, stopping at the doors and staring in at the hellish scene the room held within through the clear glass windows.
Inside the trauma room could only be described as absolute chaos.
" CALL THE OR, TELL THEM TO PREP A ROOM IMMEDIATELY!" Yelled the Doc.
" WE'RE LOOSING HIM!!!" Cried a Nurse.
" I NEED A 1 AMP OF EPI!" Screamed another Doctor.
" WE NEED TO STOP THE BLEEDING!" Yelled a Nurse.
" OH CRAP, HE'S GOIN INTO V-FIB!!! " Cried another Nurse frantically as the machinery and monitoring devices all began to wail, filling the air with shrill noise.
" GET THE PADDLES NOW!!!" Yelled the Lead Doctor. His voice booming over the shrill wails of the machinery as everyone moved into place.
From where they stood glued to the floor, John and Dean watched silently a simple pair of doors seperating them from the youngest member of their family...
who's heart had just stopped beating.
They watched in numb horror as the doctor rubbed the two heart paddles together before pressing them to Sam's sutchered chest.
" CLEAR! " came the yell.
Dean had to look away as God knows how many volts of electricity course through his baby brother's body.
Sam arched off the bed before falling back limply onto the gurney.
" NOTHING." Called one of the Nurses, who was checking the heart monitor.
" AGAIN! " Shouted the Doctor as he rubbed the paddles together and them pressed them onto Sam's chest again.
" CLEAR!"
Once more, Sam's body, charged with electricity, arched off the bed before he fell back.
" C'mon Sammy. Please please please C'mon." Whispered Dean as he looked back. " I can't loose you little brother. C'mon."
John stood rooted to the spot, his eyes wide and glued to the sight od his youngest son just laying on the gurney.
" STILL NOTHING!" Cried the Nurse at the monitor.
" AGAIN!" Shouted the Doc, praying with every fiber of his being that this time, they would get something.
" CLEAR!!!" Screamed the Doc as he pressed the paddles onto Sam's chest for the third time.
With a loud, wheezing gasp, Sam's eyes flew open as he arched off the bed, the electricity coursing through him as he heart was shocked back to life.
Sam fell back onto the gurney, gasping and writhing in agony as the pain of his wounds once again registered themselves in his mind.
It was unbearable.
" HE'S BACK, GET HIM UP TO THE O.R. NOW!!!" Yelled the Doc.
The staff swarmed around the gurney and literally ran it out of the room.
They rushed past John and Dean before the two men could even utter a single syllable to their baby before he disappeared into an elevator with the hospital personnel franitically trying to save him.
He was far from in the clear.
John and Dean stared at the closing elevator doors before they caught sight of the doctor who'd brought Sam back.
The man looked hagard and his scrubs were stained with blood... Sam's blood.
John and Dean all but pounced on the man, Dean speaking first.
" Where are they taking him, where are they taking my brother?" He demanded.
" They took him up to the OR for emergency surgery." Answered the Doc, watching as John and Dean both blanched.
" Is he going to be alright?" Asked John, feeling slightly lightheaded after watching his youngest son 'Die' for a few terrifying minutes.
The doctor paused at this question before he sigh and spoke.
" Sir I'm not gonna sugar coat it, your son suffered a tremendous amount of trauma. To be honest, it's a miracle he survived the drive to here. Back there, he was gone for two whole minutes before the shock brought him back. Right now, all we can do is hope that he pulls through with the surgery. Other than that, I just don't know."
The Doc watched as what meager color left drained out of the faces of the two men standing before him.
The Doc noticed, to his chagrin that both men were literally drenched with their loved one's blood. The father would obviously need a change of clother and the brother a new shirt.
" Right now, I think it'd be a good idea for you two to clean up. I'll tell a nurse to show you where the showers are and to get you both a set of scrubs." Said the Doctor quietly before he called said Nurse over.
The two men were about to protest when the Doctor qwashed it all with a stern, warning look.
John and Dean were now basically functioning on autopilot as they followed the Nurse as she led them to the showers. She handed them each a neatly folded pair of scrubs and gave them a sympathetic look.
Deab felt his eyes begin to sting and his stomach begin to churn dangerously as he felt the now dried blood that clung to his skin, and itched.
The blood that had soaked through his clothes was still damp, and further nauseated him.
Both men stopped dead in their tracks when they found themselves in view of the numerouse bathroom mirrors.
Each man stood transfixed as they stared at their reflections.
They both looked like something out of a horror movie.
But, this wasn't some movie with corn syrup for blood.
This was real, the blood that stained them both was real, sticky, caked on, cold, the metallic scent wafting into ther nostrils.
It belonged to a young man they both loved with everything they had.
It was then, after he'd gotten a good look at his appearance that Dean lost his own battle against the naseau that had been threatening for quiet some time.
With a barely stifled moan, Dean dashed into the first bathroom stall and came to kneel infront of the toilet as the contents of his stomach began to expell themselves.
The sound of Dean's heaves echoed through the bathroom/ showers, ringing through John's ears, effectively snapping him out of his stupor.
He still had one child he could still physically help at the moment.
Let out a shaky breath and tearing his gaze from the haggard image of himself in the mirror, John made his way over to his oldest son and gently laid a comforting hand on one of the trembling shoulders as Dean continued to be violently ill.
John rubbed soothing circles over the tense muscles of Dean's back as they both weather the heaves and bile.
Then, Dean was done emptying his stomach. But he didn't move from where he sat, kneeling over the basin of the toilet, with his head hung low, so very low.
John found his already splintered heart shatter just a little more, Dean wouldn't look him in the eyes.
He knew his son was crying.
" Dean?" Said John Softly.
Dean sniffled before he climbed to his feet and walked past his father, out of the stall.
" Sorry." He said, his throat scratchy and clogged before he all but bolted into the showers.
John blinked back the tears that had welled in his own eyes before with a soul weary sigh, he followed his son into the showers.
Dean made quick work of his clothes pausing a moment to stare at the stain on his bare arms before he stepped into a shower stall, the last one in the row.
This shower had to be quick, they had to be up in the OR waiting room as soon as they could.
John's ears caught the sounds of the shower being turned on at the far end of the room. With shaky hands, he began to peel off his blood soak clothes. When pulled his shirt over his head, he nearly gagged as the metallic scent of Sam's blood assailed his nostrils.
John bit the inside of his cheek and continued to strip of his ruined clothes. He let out a welcom huff as he finally stepped into the shower.
He turned the water to a near scalding hot temperature and began to clean off the blood that had dried to his skin.
He watched the diluted remnants swirled down the drain.
John felt his chest ache as he held his head under the spray. With a small, shaky sigh, he let the dams break. Tears mixed with the water from the shower as tiny sobs wracked through his body.
In the last shower stall, Dean sat hugging his knees as hot water cascaded over his body. Sobs wracked through his whole being as he, like his father gave in to his dispair.
Both men were so far apart physically.
But as one, their hearts had shattered.