Sam had heard the voices as if someone was talking over him which was odd in itself, but he felt his hand being held by another strong hand and he knew that was definitely strange, it wasn't until he understood that he had a damn tube down his throat that everything suddenly made sense and he realized he was in the hospital – again!
Opening his eyes he got the confirmation he needed just by the white walls, and not for the first time he wondered why they didn't bother with a different color. Did additional color cost that much extra? He didn't think so but maybe he should check the receipts when he got home, God knows they used enough paint in Ellie's room with the pink and purple… although now that he thought about it he remembered that the yellow they used cost more but he was sure that had more to do with the Disney collection that… ok, what the hell?
Sensing that he needed to spend some time with his brother – fast – he took a chance and squeezed Dean's hand, hoping that he would turn towards him. It took a moment, but he was rewarded for his efforts and he couldn't think of anything at the moment that he was more thankful for than his brother's voice.
When he realized that Sammy was fully aware of his surrounding, it made Dean feel a lot better about having to leave him in a little while. "Hey there little brother, are you a sight for sore eyes! Mom and Dad are in the waiting room with Ellie, she's stuck on Aurora at the moment, don't ask me why, and Bobby and Caleb are looking for the bastard that put you here, I think they know more than what they…"
Sam held up his hand. He knew that Dean was nervous just by the way he was rambling, the question was why. Now he had no idea how he was going to ask the questions that he wanted, and he was already getting antsy just lying on his back. Before he had a chance to try and let Dean know about how he felt, he heard someone walking into the room.
"Oh good, I'm glad that you're awake Mr. Winchester, now I assume that you and your brother have had a chance to discuss changing your directives in your Living Will, so if one of you would just sign here I can administer a more appropriate dosage and we'll get you feeling better in no time." Dr. Morrison said as he held out a pen and clipboard towards Dean.
Dean groaned knowing that he had forgotten to mention this to Sam. Looking at his little brother he could see immediately everything that he was feeling; and Dean was shocked by it. It wasn't just anger and disbelief, but the mixture of betrayal that was tossed in the mix that almost brought him to his knees. Shaking his head, Dean tightened his grip on his brother's hand and turned back to the doctor. "Look, you have a job to do, and that's great, but part of that is doing what's in your patient's best interest. Barging in here and getting Sam upset isn't helping. There's a reason that he had the paper drawn up that way and it stands the way that it is. He doesn't want to change it, and I for one am going to respect his wishes."
Dr. Morrison looked between his patient and his brother and wondered why he was always the one to get the stubborn cases. "Fine, we'll continue with minimum dosages. However, can I recommend that you take a full dose of a mild sedative to help you sleep tonight, you won't be able to heal if you're body is worn out."
Looking at Sam, Dean saw that his brother was asking him what he thought, trusting him to make the decision that he wasn't certain about. "I got ya bro." he whispered, letting Sam know that he understood. Turning back to the doctor he nodded, "Ok, normal dose of a mild sedative for night time use only, with the condition that he has someone with him at all times." Seeing the doctor was about to protest he held up his hand. "There's someone out there that wants my brother dead, and I'm not going to give them the opportunity to do it while he should be safe sleeping in ICU."
Thinking about the current situation and the discussion he'd already had with the investigating officers, Dr. Morrison readily agreed; he wasn't that much of a hardass.
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Bobby rushed into the waiting room needing to speak to both Caleb and the Winchester's. Seeing them sitting together with Ellie close made him have a little bit of hope that they could get Johnny out of this mess without further complications. Walking up to them he smiled tentatively when Ellie saw him.
"Hey Ellie, how are you sweetheart?" he asked, glad to see that today was a fairly calm day. Seeing her quiet acceptance, he took it as a good sign and looked at the others. "I've got news." He said, trying to be quiet in case someone was close enough to overhear. "It's a fairly new hunter, a Jason Gladstone. Normally a hunter gets into the business because they're dragged into it, but from what I understand Jason's dad was one and was in with Daniel Elkins." He heard Caleb groaned and agreed, seeing the Winchester's confused looks he shook his head. "Daniel is a great hunter, never doubt that, he's just a little… overzealous at times. He's one of those who believe that if it's not natural then we need to get rid of it. Jason's dad was killed about a year ago so now it looks like the kid feels he has to take his place."
Caleb knew where this was going, and he didn't like it. "So somehow someone talked and now this Jason character has decided to take the bold approach, great."
"Wait, what does this have to do with our son? He hasn't done anything wrong… has he?" John asked, suddenly aware of the many years that they knew nothing about Sammy.
"Nah, nothing that would constitute being gunned down in the middle of God and everyone." Bobby said while adjusting his cap. "Look, this kid is trying to make a name for himself and somehow found out about Johnny's special gifts. The only thing that I can think of is that he was hoping to get more information from you when he went to the house today. When you didn't give it to him, he started searching other places. I have to tell you, he's not being subtle about what he's after and I think that we can probably find him pretty quick if we leave right now."
Mary couldn't believe what she was hearing, but then again she could. After all, hadn't her own brother admitted that her baby was special? Knowing this didn't make her feel any better though and she pulled Ellie closer in hopes of keeping her a little safer.
John knew that someone who was obsessed with a goal normally didn't give up easily. "I'll fill in Dean and we'll see about keeping someone with Sammy through the night." He said, getting up from the couch. Before he walked towards the door though, he turned to the hunters. "Find this maniac and make sure he can't hurt my family."
Both Caleb and Bobby knew that they had permission to do whatever was necessary to deal with the threat, but then again, they hadn't asked. Looking at Mary, they waited a moment before she looked at them and they knew that she had no misguided notions about what could happen, but she nodded anyway and let them leave in peace.
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Bobby filled Caleb in on how he had asked Missouri who she thought was behind Johnny being shot and she had come up with a name but nothing else. It had been enough though to steer him in the right direction, to namely Ellen Harvelle who had been hearing rumors about a new hunter who seemed to take it personally when questioned about his methods; mainly he didn't care who or how many innocent people got hurt as long as he killed his target.
Caleb knew that Johnny had been in trouble, but now he understood just how bad it was; they needed to find this guy and fast. "So, where do you think he is?" he asked, knowing that Bobby had an idea of where they needed to start first.
"This kid seems to have been stalking Johnny for the last couple of weeks. The only places that he's been are the doctor's, the school, home…"
"Bobby, c'mon… we all know the kid doesn't go party anymore, but how could we have missed this? If this guy is as obvious as we think, then we should have seen something."
The older hunter nodded, "Exactly, which makes me wonder if the guy is getting information from somewhere else. It's the only thing that makes sense, and we know that it wouldn't take much for one of their friends to mention something here or there."
"Ok, so where are we going to check first?"
"Winchester's garage."
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John walked into his son's room and watched as Dean tried to fill in his brother about what had been going on. Smiling, he couldn't help but wonder if this was what his eldest had been doing the whole time he'd been there. "Is this a private party or is there room for one more?"
Dean started to laugh and turned to his brother, "I don't know Sammy, think he can hang with us or are we enacting the 'No Old Zone'?"
Sam tried to smile around the tube but he was still able to get his point across when he gave Dean the middle finger.
"Hey lookie there, the physical therapy is paying off! Good for you Sammy, but really, should we let Dad in, or make him stay outside with the uncool?" Dean joked, enjoying that his little brother was awake and able to interact with them.
Smiling, John thought that he was witnessing the greatest sight in the world. Even though his youngest boy was laid up, it could have been so much worse; and even his oldest son had changed since their family was pieced back together. "So I hear that there's a Sam Winchester here, anyone knows who that could be?" he asked and smiled wider when he saw Sam roll his eyes. "Hey there kiddo, good to see you awake…how are you feeling?"
Sam held out a hand and see sawed it to show that he wasn't sure. After listening to Dean he was actually surprised that he was still around to begin with, so he wasn't going to complain about a little discomfort. He looked up at the man that he was starting to accept as his Dad and wondered about what was causing the man unease.
Seeing his son look at him so astutely he knew he needed to get this over and done with, waiting wasn't going to help anyone. "Bobby and Caleb think they know who did this and it's not someone that the local law enforcement is going to be able to deal with." He said, knowing that he wouldn't have to explain what he meant. "They've gone after him, but I'm not sure exactly how they're going to track him down."
"Don't worry Dad, we'll take turns with Sammy here and make sure the creep doesn't even get close." Dean was confident that they'd be able to protect his little brother, how hard would it be?
"I take it you're another one of Sam's family members?" a deep voice asked from the doorway. "I'm Josh, Sam's nurse. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there are a couple of officers that got wind that he's awake and want a few words with him."
John couldn't believe what he was hearing, it was bad enough that this mountain posing as a man was claiming to be a nurse, but to hear that the cops were wanting to question his son when he obviously wasn't up for it was just too much. Looking at the nurse he was about to express his feelings on the subject when the man smiled.
"The way I figure, a person can't be harassed by the cops if he's asleep, right Sam?" Josh asked the young man lying in the bed. When he got the thumbs up, he knew he made the right call. "Alright, how good are you at playing possum, 'cause I figure they'll be here in about five minutes. Afterwards you can still visit with your family before we send you into la la land for real, how's that?"
Sam had a good feeling about this guy and he normally didn't do the whole quick trust thing, but at the moment he was willing to risk it. Shaking Dean's hand to get his brother's attention, he tried to convey his question. It took a moment, but he was confident that the other man finally understood.
Dean didn't do pantomime very well, and he really had it rough when the one trying to get a point across what laid up in a hospital bed, but something told him what his brother wanted to know and we was happy to make sure it happened. "Hey Josh, we're going to make sure that someone is with my brother around the clock. So, if something happens, they can just page you, right?"
Josh couldn't help but laugh, "Man, I'm surprised you don't have a full armada guarding him right now. Don't worry, I can work around anybody if I need to they won't bother me; as long as they don't get him worked up in the process."
Seeing that they had reached an understanding, the Winchester men felt better already about the night that was starting to make its presence known, before they could say anything else however, two detectives walked in wanting to talk to their witness.
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It hadn't taken them long to get to the garage and explain what was going on. Mike had already heard from John what had happened to Johnny and had a feeling that people would start asking questions. When asked about any strangers coming around for the past couple of weeks, he couldn't think of anyone at first until he remembered a customer that his nephew had dealt with.
When Derrick heard what had happened, he felt awful; Johnny was a good guy and he couldn't think of anyone who would want to hurt him. As he spoke to the two friends of the Winchester's he understood what they needed to know and told them what he knew.
"A couple of weeks ago this guy walks in with this older Monte Carlo claiming that it was making a knocking sound, but only when it was on the highway. Mike and I both thought that was strange so I decided to take it for a spin with the guy to see if I could hear it, no big deal. So we're driving around and he mentions that we looked busy and if maybe we in need of another mechanic. That was weird in itself because if he was asking about a job, he should be able to fix his own car. I mentioned that we were just a little bit short handed because one of our guys got hurt on the job but would be back soon, and that seemed to make the guy almost… happy. I tell you it was weird, but what really got me was when we got back to the garage he asked for a written estimate for how much diagnostics would be as well as how long it would take. Mike was busy, and John was on a parts run so I went into the office and wrote up what he wanted but when I held it out to him it was like the guy had no idea what it was. Almost like something else had grabbed his attention, you know? I thought maybe he had ADD or something but then he asked if it was my office and I laughed at the guy, I mean really." Derrick shook his head, he had a bad feeling about where this was heading, but he had no idea why.
Caleb knew that the kid hadn't known what was going to happen, and instead of knocking some sense into him asked, "Do you think we could see the office?"
Mike and John shared the office and it showed with as much clutter was piled up, but something caught both hunters' eyes and they knew they were on the right track. In the corner on the wall at perfect eye level for someone sitting at the desk was a picture of Johnny, Dean and Ellie together at a park smiling into the camera. A wonderful family moment captured forever to anyone in the normal world, but another lead to their prey if you're a hunter on a hunt.
Leaving the garage, they knew who they had to speak to next, and it wasn't going to be pleasant; Dean.