The next morning Dean woke up and tried to get up quietly without waking Michael.

"Where are you going?" he heard coming from the bed.

He turned around. "Hey, I'm going to go grab a shower and then we'll call your mom and the hospital and see if it's OK if I bring you over."

"OK," Michael said.

Dean headed back to his room and took a quick shower. When he was dressed and coming back out to check on Michael, he saw Michael's mother pulling into the parking lot.

"Joanna, how's Asher?" Dean asked.

Ignoring his question, she asked, "Have you seen Michael?"

As if on cue, Michael ran out of the office and approaching them said, "How's Ash?"

"He's going to be fine. They're going to keep him another day for observation, but he's awake and doing much better. We can go see him if you want."

"Yeah," Michael yelled and ran to their car.

"I'd better hurry before he hotwires it and drives himself," Joanna said to Dean.

"Wait," Dean said and Joanna turned back to him. "What about the rest of them?"

"The kids that fell sick in the last couple of days are all awake. The ones that were affected earlier are still in unconscious but Dr. Young says they're showing improvement," Joanna answered.

The last couple of days. That's Sam, Dean thought relieved. Wait a minute. "Who's Dr. Young. Where's Dr. Hydecker?"

"I don't know. He wasn't there. Must be sick or something," Joanna answered and went over, got in her car with Michael and drove off.

Dean quickly jumped in the Impala and sped off after them. He couldn't wait to see Sam. He was so relieved that he was OK. He wondered what happened to Dr. Hydecker, though. Oh, well, I guess doctors get sick, too, once in a while, he thought.

SSSSSSSS

When Dean arrived at the hospital, he went immediately to Sam's bed. A nurse was checking his I.V.

"How is he?" Dean asked.

"Still unconscious," the nurse said.

"Wait, I thought all of the people who fell ill in the last couple of days had woken up?" Dean asked, confused.

"All of the children," the nurse clarified. "We think that maybe because Dr. Kaplan is older than the children, it may take him longer to recover."

"But he is showing signs of improvement like the kids who got sick earlier, right?" Dean asked.

The nurse hesitated.

"Right?" Dean asked more insistently.

"Actually, there's been no change," the nurse answered. "I'm sorry," she added as she walked out the door.

Dean sat down and picked up Sam's hand. "Sammy, you have to wake up. Do you hear me? You have to wake up."

Predictably there was no response, and Dean just continued to sit with him for the next several hours. Finally a nurse came in. "Doctor, visiting hours are over. You'll have to leave. You can come back tomorrow."

Dean nodded, stood up, took one last look at Sam and headed back to the motel.