Dean stood there in shock as he looked down at his little brother who had a bullet wound in his chest. "Sammy!" he repeated, hoping that he'd wake up from this nightmare.
"It's Sam" came the whispered reply breaking Dean out of his numbness and allowed him to drop down to his brother's side.
"What?" he asked dumbly, not sure he heard correctly.
"You said Sammy… it's Sam… unless… you… change…"
"NO! God no! I just… geez Sammy, if you wanted permission to change your name, all you had to do was say so, getting shot is going a little overboard don't you think?" he teased while trying to add pressure to the wound. He watched as his little brother struggled to breathe, and from the sounds, he probably had a collapsed lung. Looking over at Lucas he saw his friend was already starting an IV line and radioing the paramedics the situation.
"Excuse me young man, but I take it you know Sam here?" Dr. Malloy asked.
Nodding, Dean said, "He's my brother. Hey, you haven't told me… what are doing here anyway?"
Trying to smile, Sam looked at Dean. "Mini sem…next week…surprise… Christmas." He gasped out, watching his brother closely. He knew it was bad, he could feel himself drifting, but he had to hang on a little longer. "Dean…the papers…Dad's safe."
"Dude, whatever you're trying to tell me, save it. We don't do the whole chick flick crap, remember?" Dean tried to make his voice steady, but with it cracking, he knew he wasn't succeeding. Seeing everyone moving back, he knew that paramedics had finally made it, but it didn't make him feel any better. As he watched them hook his brother up to more IV's, monitors as well as bandaging him to try and keep the bleeding down, he couldn't help but stare as they inserted a small chest tube to decrease the pressure.
"Alright, we're ready to go, the hospital has already been alerted and they have a trauma team waiting." One of the medics stated before turning to Dean. "Hey, you riding with your brother? It'll be a tight fit, but…"
Dean nodded numbly, knowing that there wasn't any other place he wanted to be. Looking quickly at Lucas and the others, he was about to let them know when they started shoving him towards the ambulance.
"Move it Winchester, we got you covered."
The sound of the siren didn't give him any sort of comfort however as he sat back and watched his baby brother struggle to stay alive.
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Caleb had just ushered Mary and Ellie into the ER when they spotted Dean coming out of the double doors covered in blood and looking like he was sleepwalking.
"Dean!" Mary called out, ignoring Ellie's outburst of the same.
Looking over, Dean saw his mom and stood staring at her, for a moment forgetting that he'd called her.
"Dean, what's going on?" Mary demanded.
"We got a call that there had been a shooting at KU, we responded and there was Sammy lying on the ground." Dean said shaking his head, still not believing what he had seen. "Someone shot him Mom. There were no other shots fired, and the doctor said that it was a damn fluke that it hadn't gone through his heart."
Caleb was listening intently, and didn't like what he heard. One shot, and it was meant to kill, sounded like someone hadn't gotten the message to leave the kid alone. Making a mental note to call Bobby, he continued to listen to what was in front of him.
"Mom, he's in surgery right now. They have to repair his lung and stop the bleeding, and they've already said he'll be on a ventilator until they know that his lungs are strong enough." Dean couldn't understand how this happened. His brother was supposed to be at home playing with Ellie, not in the middle of surgery to save his life.
Mary watched as her oldest son started to crumble, and she had to admit that this was something that would make anyone crack under the strain. "Dean, sweetie, you need to calm down. I don't understand… what was Johnny doing at the University?"
It took a minute for Dean to understand the question and then he reached out and took Ellie from his mom. "I can't tell you… I mean, I can… but it's not my thing, so…"
"Excuse me, Mr. Winchester?" a voice off to the side spoke, bringing their attention to the man Dean had seen trying to keep his brother with them. "I'm sorry to intrude, but I was hoping to find out how you're brother is doing?"
Seeing the tense look on both his mom and Caleb's faces, Dean nodded. "He's in surgery at the moment. They think he'll be fine, but you know…"
"Of course, I understand. I know this isn't the appropriate place, but I wanted to introduce myself to you. I am Dr. Edmund Malloy and I am the Head of the School of Psychology at Kansas University. You're brother and I have gotten to know each other over the past couple of weeks, and I am certain he will make a fine addition to our school." The man said with a smile. "I take it this little one is Ellie. Yes, Sam has mentioned her many times; in fact I get the distinct impression that she's the sole reason why he even explored the field of Psychology."
Mary was stunned for a moment, and then looked at the man before her. "Uh excuse me… Sam?"
Nodding, Dr. Malloy turned his attention to Mary. "Yes, I have to admit, when he first came to me to ask questions about autism I initially thought it was a joke. After all, how many young people really care about others less fortunate than themselves, but after explaining how he had been told that he should think about becoming a therapist, and the things that he had attempted with Ellie, I understood that I wasn't talking to someone with idle curiosity." He paused and watched the little girl in Dean's arms. "You know if it wasn't for the fact that he did so well on our placement exams, he would have had to wait until next fall for enrollment, but I'm happy to say that he did extremely well and his enrollment into the mini semester before this happened was all but guaranteed."
"Uh, excuse me sir, but what happens now?" Dean asked, ignoring his mother's shock for the moment.
"Oh, not to worry, I'll make sure that his enrollment carries over. After all, it's not his fault that he was shot, right?" Dr. Malloy said before turning back to Dean. "I do have a question for you. The GED he provided for us is under the name of Johnny Doe, but he was insistent that he enroll as Sam Winchester which he has identification for, can you shed some light on the subject?"
"My son was kidnapped as a baby; we've only been reunited for a short while." Mary said quietly. "Dean, is that where he's been after his PT, getting identification to be our Sammy again?"
Dean shrugged his shoulder, not wanting to mess up the surprise anymore than it already had been. Finally he nodded, "I didn't know anything about it either Mom, but I guess that the confrontation with that quack set him off and he started digging into what it would take to become a therapist. After all, if Brewster could become one, then why couldn't he, right?"
Smiling, Mary nodded; her baby was going to college. She couldn't wait to tell… "Oh my God, Dean! Did you call your father?"
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John had just finished replacing the heads on the Mustang when the phone rang. Seeing that Mike was busy, he rushed to answer it, hoping that it was their wholesaler letting him know his order was being sent out early. Before he even had a chance to fully answer, he was interrupted and what he heard on the other end made his blood run cold.
"What? Ok… Mary, I'm on my way. Just stay there and we'll go up together…I will honey… ten minutes."
He barely yelled out to Mike that he had to go before he and the Impala were racing down the road. 'Who would do that?' he asked himself, wondering if there had been anyone around the area that hadn't really belonged and he knew right away that the only ones that had been close to his family were hunters. Pressing on the accelerator more, he was determined to find out what happened and make sure it didn't happen again.
Running into the ER he was confronted by the sight of his son, who had obviously been at work when he found out, holding Ellie in his arms trying to keep her calm, and his wife who was pacing back and forth. It took him another moment to see that Caleb was there as well, and at the moment he was one of the people he didn't want to be there. Side stepping over to Caleb, he grabbed the man and shoved him into the wall. "What the hell did you do to my son?" he demanded, prepared to beat the truth out of the man if he had to.
"John, he didn't do anything… he was at the house with me and Ellie when Dean called." Mary said while trying to pull her husband off the hunter.
Finally letting Caleb go, John looked around puzzled. "What's going on Mary? How did this happen?" he asked, certain that there had to have been a mistake.
As Mary took the time to fill John in on what she knew, Caleb and Dean met and tried to figure out what happened.
"Look, from what I've already heard, there was one shot and one shot only. That means that whoever it was meant to kill him. Dad might have let you go, but if anything happens to my little brother, I'll kill you myself find a way to bring you back then do it again."
Caleb understood, and couldn't agree more. If Johnny… no, Sam was his little brother he'd feel the same way. Showing Dean his phone, he pointed that he'd be right outside, then proceeded to phone Bobby to fill him in. It didn't take long for the older hunter to start cussing then growled out that he was on his way to help figure out what went wrong. Cutting the call, Caleb had to wonder how things could ever be right again.
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A nurse showed them to the ICU waiting room and filled them in on Sam's status. Once she was sure everyone knew the rules and precautions, she called the surgeon in to help fill in any gaps.
"My name is Dr. Sullivan, and I'm the one who has been treating uh, ok… we have a Sam and a Johnny on the paperwork. I'm going to assume he's the same person." He said looking at everyone and when he got the approval he proceeded. "He's a very lucky young man. He has a collapsed lung, and a few cracked and chipped ribs, but otherwise he's doing remarkably well. I'm not sure if anyone has told you, but if his heart was in what we consider "normal" position, he'd be dead. Thankfully, it is offset by half an inch to the right. The bullet passed through, and didn't hit any other vital organs on the way out. His lung we were able to inflate without having to cut into his chest which will make his recovery time a lot quicker. So, any questions?"
"Yeah, is he still going to be on a respirator?" Dean asked, wanting to know just how weak Sammy's lungs were right now.
"Only as a precaution. If everything goes according to plan, we can probably have him off of it late tomorrow.
Mary started to get concerned, "What about lasting effects? Will he have problems later?"
Dr. Sullivan smiled, "I assure you that with as young as he is, there shouldn't be lasting damage. In fact, if he was as fit as I think he was, then he'll probably be climbing the walls to get out of here in the next couple of days."
Smiling, the Winchester's knew that that would definitely be the case.
Knowing that only two of them could go in at a time, and Ellie wouldn't be allowed, Dean and John went in first to make sure that everything was as they'd been told. Seeing their Sammy lying there unconscious bad both men cringe, but they were thankful he was still alive.
"So, your brother's changing his name." John stated, wanting to hear it from Dean.
"Yeah, I guess so. He wanted it to be a surprise for Christmas. I didn't want to tell Mom, you know how she'd get, but he was enrolling in the short semester at the University. We talked to one of the head guys there and I guess Sammy made an impression." Dean said quietly as he watched how a machine helped his brother breathe. "Hey Dad… you know the safe, has he put anything in there that you know of?" he asked, disturbed by something that Sammy told him while bleeding out in the grass.
Thinking for a moment John nodded, "Yeah, as a matter of fact he did, two large envelopes. I promised I wouldn't look at them and he just said that I could if I needed to. Why?"
"Come on, I think there's something in there that we're supposed to have." Dean said as he rushed out of the ICU room and back into the waiting room. "Mom, I don't want you to see him like this by yourself, but we have to go home for a minute. Will you be ok here until we get back?" he asked hoping that she wouldn't start asking a million questions so they could leave.
Mary was concerned, but something on her son's face told her to trust him. Nodding, she handed Ellie over and settled back on the couch to wait for more news about her son. She just hoped her guys would hurry up, because there was no way she was waiting forever to go in there and sit with her boy.
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Dean had Ellie on his back as they waited impatiently for his father to open the safe. He had no idea what his little brother wanted to tell him, but he knew that it had something to do with those papers.
Finally the sound of the tumblers falling into place and the door being opened could be heard in the room. "Yes!" Dean exclaimed as he reached for the envelopes.
"Yes!" Ellie copied, and smiled at both Dean and John who were completely entranced by her.
Taking the envelopes into the dining room, Dean sat Ellie on the table and then started to pull the items out into the open. By the time Dean finished giving them quick glances, he felt sick to his stomach. Inside was a living will notifying everyone of what to do incase he was hospitalized, as well as a Last Will and Testament naming Dean sole beneficiary of anything he might leave behind, as well as giving him sole custodianship over Ellie. The other envelope had both birth certificates, one for Johnny Doe and the other Samuel Winchester, along with social security cards and a checking account that was a trust for Ellie, and his name had been added. Giving his dad the papers, Dean sat heavily in the chair.
"He's not planning on making it through this, Dad." He said shocked, the image of his Sammy as baby lying on the grass bleeding intermingled with the sight of Johnny lying in a hospital bed and he knew what his little brother wanted. He wanted to make sure his family was together, and that was what hit Dean the most. The day that Johnny had started to fully accept them as his family was the day that his life hung in the balance.