Chapter 5.

A/N. Thank you to everyone who reviewed this! Sorry this part's taken so long to get up. RL getting in the way, you know how it goes….Shall be quicker next time.

Eyes on the sunlight making its way across the floor, Sam sat patiently on a plastic chair, waiting. He didn't have a watch anymore, but the angle and colour of the light from outside made him think it had to be somewhere near eight in the morning. He guessed the doors would be opened soon.

The time he'd spent in this room had been weirdly peaceful. He had half-expected whoops and noises from the rooms surrounding his; laughter, whatever. He'd heard nothing bar some energetic snoring, which actually helped him drop off to sleep. Dean snored like that. Sam smiled at the thought, and tried to shift his thoughts back to what he had to do today. He looked at the sun on the floor and kept his ears open.

This room was well-lit and cheerful. Clean. The floor he was staring at was a subtle yellow, enhanced by the sun's rays. Not at all what he'd been expecting. The bed was easy to sleep in, the chair he had was decent - if flimsy - and…yeah. He'd had a good night's sleep. In a secure ward. Admittedly, this last part was worrying, and was the reason why he was concentrating so hard.

Sam leaned back gingerly in the plastic chair, not quite trusting it to hold his weight. He couldn't see much of the hallway outside the room from here but that wasn't important, not just yet. He'd tried to catch sight of the security door at the end of the hall earlier, crowding his frame up to the small clear patch near the top of the door to his room. No use. No noise, either, from anywhere. So, he decided he would wait it out in this cheerful plastic room.

He was wearing some equally clean and cheerful clothes that a nurse had brought him. The walk up to this ward had been awkward. They hadn't actually let Sam walk, for one thing. He'd thought this very strange - after all, his legs were fine - but then, thinking about it, he realised the staff probably considered him a risk. For escape, or for violence, or plain non-compliance. They'd given him some mild kind of sedative - Dr Burton had explained what it was and what it would do, but honestly Sam hadn't been listening too closely. He'd had other things on his mind.

This morning the sun had cruised steadily over the pale floor until it reached Sam's bare feet. Quietness like this was rare in his life; sure, maybe the fact that he was under a psych hold was problematic, but the absence of noise was relaxing. Mostly. Sam being Sam, he couldn't just sit there and do nothing. No. Sam had been preparing himself.

When the metallic rattle came from outside the room, Sam tapped his heels gently against the legs of the chair, counting slowly under his breath. Eyes on the floor, demeanour non-threatening, spine relaxed, he waited. The sound of footsteps approaching the room. He kept counting.

The footsteps stopped. Fifteen seconds, Sam thought.

Then, soft and polite, a knock on the door. Sam jumped. He definitely hadn't anticipated that. The door clicked and swung open.

"Hello, Mark," said a familiar voice.

"Hi," Sam said economically.

"Ready for some breakfast?" Dr Burton stepped into the room and held the door ajar behind him.

"Oh." That's great, Sam thought, monosyllabic and nuts. Try harder.

"You don't need to leave the room if you don't want."

"No." Say something else, idiot, Sam told himself. Build a relationship for Christ's sake.

"Um," he managed. "Is - is Luke here?"

Burton smiled. "Visiting hours are after breakfast. So. Feel like eating?"

Sam nodded once, but made no move to stand up. Burton tipped his head fractionally to one side. Sam resisted the urge to look away from the doctor's face, hating the sensation of being examined. Worse in here than it had been in the ER.

"I thought Luke was coming yesterday," Sam tried.

Burton briefly bit his lower lip. "Yes. I'm sorry about that. I should have told you that we don't really like visitors on the first day. We wanted you to get settled here first. I should have made sure you knew that."

Hmm. Sam had known that. Dr Burton had explained as much yesterday, after the move. But here he was apologising for not doing it, because he thought Sam didn't remember. This guy was impressing Sam more and more.

"Okay. But he's coming today, right?"

This time Burton beamed. "Right."

Sam stood up hesitantly, trying to minimise his height and take advantage of it at this same time. Ah. Now he could see a male nurse just behind the doctor, broad and tall, and distinctly aware of Sam's every move.

"Sure," Sam said, not panicking, not yet. Fifteen seconds to the (very locked) hall door, vigilant staff, large nurse on hand, observant and diligent psychiatrist, cops champing at the bit to talk to him…no, not panicking at all.

"Breakfast," said Sam. Only panicking a little bit.