Disclaimer: Eric Kripke owns I'm just playing with the sandbox.
A.N: 2nd to the last chapter! D-D-Dum-Dummmmm
Summary: After S2, ELAC, before BL. Dean had pushed his brother away after their father's death, but Sam had been suffering silently. Will Dean realize before its too late that Sam didn't just walk away from the accident?
Chapter 7: Got Him Back
"The surgery went well", the surgeon, a different guy from the doctor, spoke.
It was several hours after Sam was taking to surgery; several hours since Dean's break down. Afterwards, Dean had managed a few more bites but then he zoned out as he awaited news on his brother.
The sigh of relief was felt in the room.
"However, we don't know what kind of complications if any, Sam will have when he awakes."
"What do you mean?" Dean sucked in a breath.
"It's very possible; Sam might struggle with walking, speaking or memory loss. It depends."
"But it can be cured right?" Dean asked near desperately.
"Sure, rehabilitation and therapy can help regain the motor skills and even help with memory loss depending on what type it is."
Dean nodded, clinging to that small glimmer of hope. Bobby shook hands with the surgeon. "Thank you, really."
The surgeon gave a small smile. "I wish you all the best."
Dean shifted in his hard chair as he kept staring at Sam, his eyes drooping. He would arouse himself and stare once more steadfastly at his younger brother, who hadn't done so much as a twitch yet. Dean wished he would give him something to work with.
"Go to sleep, Dean", came the gruff voice on the other side of the bed. Bobby was leaning his head in his hand his eyes closed, in a similar chair as Dean's.
"Bobby…."
"I can hear you shifting trying to stay awake. Go to sleep. Your brother would want you to take care of yourself and that involves sleep. Or at the very least quite the incessant shifting so I can sleep", Bobby said.
Dean nodded absently, his eyes never leaving Sam's form. Soon, however, Dean slipped into unconsciousness and his breath evened out.
The next morning Dean's eyes fluttered as he came back to life. He shifted in his chair as he peeled open his eyes. Automatically, his eyes drifted to Sam. Hazel eyes were looking at him.
That meant said eyes were open.
Which mean that said person whose eyes were open is awake.
That was usually the sign of alertness after all.
Dean had to blink to get all that into his head and process what he was seeing. It took less than a second to process all that.
He darted forward in his seat, leaning on the hospital bed. "Sam…you're awake!" Relief was evident in his voice as he gave a shaky grin.
Sam stared at him.
"Sam?" Dean asked worry slipping into his voice. He stood and pressed the call button. He took the brief time to notice that Bobby was out. It was almost noon, he must have gone to get some lunch.
Or rather brunch as the case may be.
The nurse came in and surveyed the situation. She called for a doctor and soon a swarm buzzed around Sam. Dean was gently ushered out the door so that Sam could be checked out. He stood along the wall waiting for the doctors to finish examining his brother. While he was waiting Bobby reappeared.
"Hey, what's going on?" he asked rushing up to the older brother with an arm full of food.
"Sam's awake." Dean reported.
"But...?" Bobby prompted as he knew there was one.
"I don't know…he was just...looking at me."
Bobby blinked, "Looking at you?" He was confused. "Okay, that's a good sign...right?"
Dean nodded slowly, "Yeah, but it was the way he was looking at me, Bobby. He just...stared at me."
Bobby was getting more confused by the second but thankfully, just before he could say anything, the doctor came out of the room. He promptly he had two grown males on him in less than a second. "What happened?" Dean asked followed by Bobby's, "How is he?"
"Calm down, Sam seems to be progressing nicely, though he might not be able to speak for while. I believe he was a little confused and have short term memory loss. He may not remember the last couple of days."
"But he'll be okay?", Dean asked trying to bottom line all this.
"No reason he shouldn't be from what I'm seeing so far."
Both Dean and Bobby breathed a sigh of relief.
"Need anything?" Dean asked for the umpteenth time as he looked over his brother who continued to stare at him. It was really starting to worry and creep Dean out at the Sam time.
Sam shook his head slowly.
Dean cleared his throat a little uncomfortable.
"So, Sam, you gave us quite a scare", Bobby stated with a soft smile.
Sam turned his head and gave an apologetic smile.
"Yeah, quite a scare. It's not Halloween yet, you know", Dean tried joking. Sam looked back over at Dean with a blank look.
Bobby was beginning to notice that if he said something Sam had more of a reaction but if Dean said anything it was just a empty blankness that was scaring him. And he was sure it was scaring Dean.
"So uh…you hear about the…the…" Dean tried to think of something, anything, but found he had been so absorbed in himself that he hadn't paid much attention to anything to talk about. He lowered his head as another reminder of his recent past behavior caught up with him. He could feel Sam's glaze burning a hole in him. He cleared his throat.
Bobby was looking at Dean feeling his discomfort. He was silently trying to help him but found he didn't know what to say or do either.
Sam stopped staring at his brother and looked up at the ceiling. His eyes fluttered, then he closed them. Dean stared at Sam, remembering the last several days which lead to him thinking about the last couple of weeks. He fidgeted in his chair.
"I'm sorry", he finally blurted out. Sam's eyes snapped open and he looked back at Dean. Bobby took it as his cue to leave and quietly got up and left.
Dean continued to fidget, finding he could not sit still, but didn't break eye contact with Sam. "I'm sorry." He repeated.
Sam stared at him still almost unblinkingly.
"I don't know how much you remember, but…I shouldn't have….I mean…..I didn't mean it. I should have…..realized. I should have…..seen that you were ill; I should have dragged you here before now and got you checked out. I should have….you know…been taking care of you….not pushing you away." Dean's voice cracked and still Sam stared at him.
Dean found he couldn't look at Sam anymore as he lowered his glaze. "I was…you know…scared that…you know…that I would lose you…like our father." The last part was said a smidge above a whisper.
Sam's eyes flickered momentarily unbeknown to Dean, who still had his head down and continued, "I don't want that to happen, despite what my attitude suggested lately. I can't talk about….that…..but I want you know that I'm done pushing you away. I just need….time to deal with that particular issue….but…..I won't push you away. I shouldn't have. I can't believe that I was…..yelling at you….even when you were obviously ill. And then you fell out, just….and I was so scared." Dean's voice had tears in them.
Sam stared at Dean alittle longer before slowly he parted open his mouth. "I-I-I'm…" At this Dean's head snapped up as he looked at Sam who was struggling to speak. "…s-s-…ry."
Dean shook his head fiercely. "No, no, you've got nothing to be sorry for. You don't Sam."
Sam looked away from his older brother.
"Sam, please, look at me", Dean begged.
Sam obeyed and looked back at Dean. "You don't have anything to be sorry for. It was all me. Bobby was right. We should have been closer than ever, not drifting apart. I shouldn't have made that rift between us."
"S-s-shou-u-ldn't…'ve….'u-u-shed", Sam stuttered out, "….s' -r-ry."
Dean shook his head. "Sam, please okay. Let me take the fall for this. I need to take the fall for this. I just want the chance to make it better. You know…..like I should have been doing. Though I don't deserve it, I wish you'd give me that." He looked earnestly at his brother, his glaze pleading.
Sam stared at him so long that Dean felt like he got a negative response. He lowered his glaze just as Sam smiled lightly. "…I-I…..'o-o-o-t…'ig….b-b-b-'oth –er….b'ck."
Dean had looked up when Sam began to speak. It took a moment to figure out what Sam just said but when he did his eyes soften. "Yeah, you got me back, Sam, but really….did you have to do it this way?" he couldn't help but joke with an uncertain smile.
Sam laughed once. "…..w-w-w'rk….dinna?"
Dean frowned. "Not funny."
Sam just continued to smile and finally Dean couldn't help but smile as he felt something loosened within himself.
Maybe they could get through this.
TBC…
A.N: Okay, I admit that this chapter was a little...weird. The whole Sam creepy stare, I have no idea where it came from. Later, I kinda saw it as Sam trying to figure out if Dean is...well Dean, you know the brother that he know and love not the brother that he had been for the past couple of weeks.
If that even made any sense.
Last chapter coming up!
