Title: When it rains, it pours.
Author: Disasteriffic Kaz
Info: A derelict mountain-top hotel, a blood-thirsty beast and a supernatural monsoon; what could possibly go wrong? Hurt!Sam hurt!Dean some comfort/awesome!Winchesters all around. Post 6x15 "The French Mistake"
Author's note: Here we are! Last chapter! Finished while watching the Presidential debate because my honey is home and he hasn't caught up with season 7 yet so I can't watch the season 8 premier tonight until he goes to bed…how long until bedtime? Soon? Please? ARGH!
Do please Review once you've read. :D Every comment and vote of support helps keep me writing. Not to mention if I've pooched anything, someone can always tell me. :P
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"Sam!" Dean strode in with his gun ready. Ninurta was across the chamber near the indoor creek and turned from a cluster of dead trees with a snarl. "Come on, ugly." He stood shoulder to shoulder with Bobby as the creature charged them with a scream. The sound of gunfire was echoed in the chamber, making their ears ring. Dean saw bursts of blood appear on Ninurta's chest as their bullets found their mark but it didn't slow.
"Uh oh." Bobby groaned and then grunted as the creature slammed into both of them. He was tossed back through the swinging doors into the hall and slid to a stop in a daze against the wall.
Dean felt himself picked up and thrown. He had a dizzying view of the floor, ceiling and piercing red eyes before he landed with a solid thwack and the air was driven from his lungs in a whoosh. He fought to take a breath and raised a shaking hand to fire again as Ninurta stalked across the room to stand over him and grin.
CHAPTER 9
Dean looked up and emptied his clip into Ninurta's chest. It screamed. It threw its head back and howled but maddeningly it did not die. It turned its feral gaze back to the eldest Winchester with blood in its eyes and leaned down with jaws wide. Dean watched and used the moment of life he had left to hope Bobby would save his brother.
Ninurta jerked and stumbled to a knee over Dean with another scream as gunshots rang out in the room. "What the hell?" Dean didn't wait. He scrambled out from under the thing and got to his knees then looked up in shock; his brother had come from somewhere and thrown himself on the creature's back. "Sammy! What the hell are you doing?"
"Saving your ass…again!" Sam shouted and grimaced with the effort of holding on to Ninurta. "Knife!"
"What?" Dean frowned and Sam nodded his head briefly down.
"My knife!"
"Oh! Right!" Dean remembered and looked under Ninurta's right shoulder. Sure enough, the hilt of Sam's knife protruded from the furred hide. He lunged under the swinging arm and wrapped a hand around it. The sound of a shotgun blast in his ear made him flinch. Dean spared a glance and saw Bobby had picked himself up and fired a rock salt round into the things face.
"Hurry the hell up!" Bobby yelled at them wiped irritably at the blood on the side of his face. He was beyond relieved to see Sam alive but plastered to Ninurta's back wasn't going to keep him that way for long.
"Working…on it!" Dean finally managed to tug the knife free. Sam seemed to know. Dean saw his arms come around Ninurta's throat and force its head back, baring its throat and blinding it to Dean.
"Do it, Dean!" Sam caught one wrist in the other to maintain his hold as he felt the thick cords of muscles under him bunch with the effort of removing him.
Dean leaned forward and thrust the blade with all his strength into Ninurta's chest, aiming for its heart. He danced backward as the two, massive clawed arms swept together trying to capture him. "Let it go, Sam!" He shouted and tried to move around to the side so he could see his brother. "Sam!"
Sam heard Dean's shout but couldn't figure out how to let go and not get mauled in the process. He didn't have much of a choice. His congested lungs and bruised ribs were already complaining about the activity and he was destined for unconsciousness soon if he didn't let go. Sam closed his eyes and said a quiet prayer that he wouldn't get eaten and released his grip. He dropped his arms away and let himself fall backwards away from the frantic, howling creature.
"Hey ugly!" Dean yelled to pull Ninurta's attention to him and away from his brother. It worked. The creature turned malevolent red eyes on him and shot forward. Dean jumped backward, out of the way as Bobby fired another round into its face. Ninurta went to his knees with his clawed hands hovering over the blade hilt in his chest. He screamed defiantly and toppled forward across the marble floor.
"Sammy." Dean ran around the creature to his brother and skidded a stop beside him where he lay dripping water. "Hey."
"Hey." Sam lay on his back debating if he wanted to actually get up. At that moment the answer was no so he looked wearily up at his brother. He was sore, exhausted, cold and wet. "Go finish it before it gets back up and eats us. I'm good."
Dean patted his shoulder and stood. "Don't go anywhere." He smirked at the soft huff of laughter from Sam and went to stand beside Bobby. "So, cut out the heart?"
"Yep." Bobby smiled. "Ladies first." He gestured to the creature and steadied his gun. "I'll watch your back."
"Dude." Dean shook his head. "Such a pain in my ass." He knelt by Ninurta and hesitantly took hold of one of its arms, using it to pull the large body over onto its back. Sam's knife stood out like an exclamation and dark blood still welled up around the hilt slowly.
"Watch yourself, Dean." Bobby moved so he had a clear shot at the creature's head.
"Yeah." Dean planted a knee on Ninurta's chest and took a firm grip of the handle. It took him a minute to work the blade free and it slid out grudgingly, squelching all the way. Ninurta's body twitched and Dean froze with the blade poised above its heart. "Bobby?"
Bobby shook his head. "Think you're ok."
Sam made himself roll to his knees with the sound of tension in Dean's voice. He glanced around and decided to get the next part of the process ready. They were going to need a fire for the heart. He staggered to his feet with a hand wrapped around his chest and went to collect dead wood from the spindly trees near the creek.
"Sammy?"
Sam looked around to find Dean watching him and he rolled his eyes, waving a hand at his brother. "Dude. I'm fine. Gank that thing already."
Dean snorted and went back to his work. Cutting through the tough hide of Ninurta's chest was proving to be a chore and the squelching of Sam's sneakers across the floor made a counterpoint to the sickening sounds of the knife in muscle. "Why…are you…wet?"
Sam came back with an arm of branches and deposited them on the floor a few feet away. "Had to…fish my gun…out of the damn creek." He wheezed and smirked.
Bobby shook his head, amused. "Boy, you beat all." He narrowed his eyes in the dim light and went around the body to the younger Winchester. "Sam." He reached out and tugged Sam's hand away from his chest. "Well hell."
"It's nothing, Bobby." Sam assured him. He knew there were five spots of blood on his shirt from Ninurta's claws. "Scratches. I swear."
"Uh huh." Bobby scowled at him, making it clear he didn't believe him.
"What?" Dean stood; knife in one hand and the creature's heart in the other. "You hurt?"
Sam snorted and pointed to the pile of firewood. "How about…you burn that thing before you go all…mama bear on me…again."
"I got him." Bobby clamped a hand on Sam's shoulder. "Sit already, son." Sam was pale with two spots of fever riding on his cheeks and wheezing like an old man.
"Bobby…" Sam started but the older Hunter just shoved and Sam didn't have the strength to fight the downward motion. He groaned and let Bobby guide him to the floor.
"Damned idjit takin' another swim with a chest cold." Bobby scolded. "Stay there." He waited a moment to make sure Sam was listening and then jogged back out into the hall after the duffel they'd brought with them. He came back and chuckled to find Dean kneeling in front of him with his grizzly trophy in one hand while he tried to get a look at Sam's chest with the other.
"Eww…dude." Sam batted his brother's hand away. "Don't get that on me. Go…play with fire."
Instead of leaving him be, he held the heart up to his brother's face with a grin. "Hungry?"
"Are you five?" Sam asked but couldn't help the smirk.
"Boys." Bobby rolled his eyes and dropped the duffel. He dug out the salt and lighter fluid. "You girls wanna finish this sometime tonight?"
Sam chuckled and dug the incantation out of his jacket pocket. He sighed a grateful breath that the baggie had protected it from the water and carefully drew it out as Bobby got the fire lit and then went to dump salt all over Ninurta's bloody carcass.
"You ready?" Dean looked over at Sam and got a nod. He dropped the heart into the fire and stood back as Sam began reading the ancient Sumerian haltingly, sounding out some of the words as he went.
Bobby set the empty salt can aside and poured lighter fluid on the body, trying to get it from head to toe. His worry level went up a few notches as Sam had to periodically stop and just take a labored breath. The smell of the burning heart was beginning to waft through the spa and he felt his throat twitch with the need to cough.
Dean stood over Sam with a gun trained on Ninurta's body. He wouldn't feel secure in the thing being dead…or exorcised, until the heart was dealt with and the body crispy coals.
"Now Bobby." Sam said in a hoarse voice and spoke the last few words of the incantation. There was a flare of light from the heart that reached up to the ceiling as Bobby tossed a lit match onto the body and it went up in a blaze. The heat crackled through the chamber. A sudden burst of air blew through the room, sending sparks and smoke out in a whirlwind. At the same moment Ninurta's now flame covered body rose up suddenly with a scream.
All three men aimed and unloaded round after round into the beast, watching as it twisted and jerked with each hit. The light died, the wind fell silent and Ninurta stumbled back a step and fell to the floor; finally still as it smoldered and smoked.
"That it?" Dean looked into the fire and saw nothing remained of the heart but ashes.
Sam nodded wearily. "Banished now." Smoke roiled off the carcass and Sam instinctively pushed back on the floor trying to avoid it. He felt hands under his arms and he was lifted up and dragged back.
"Time to go." Dean's voice said in his ear.
Sam nodded. Even so, he was coughing by the time they reached the door and doubled over before they reached the stairs. He wanted to argue that he could walk on his own but he was robbed of speech by the tightness in his chest.
"Sam?" Dean stopped at the bottom of the stairs and quickly handed his shotgun off to Bobby as his brother's legs started to buckle. "He aint breathing so well, Bobby."
"We gotta get him back. Get him dry." Bobby put a hand to Sam's forehead and hissed. "He's burnin' up."
"Ok tiger." Dean ducked to get a look at Sam's eyes and saw contained panic looking back at him. "It's gonna be fine. You're fine. Trust me." Dean smiled as the words had the instant effect of calming the panic he saw there. Sam trusted him implicitly and the return of that trust tightened something in his chest. He'd missed it. "Whoa!" He caught Sam as his legs completely went out and groaned. "This was easier…when you were smaller." Dean ducked and let Sam tip over his shoulder. "Lead the way, Bobby."
Dean followed him slowly up the stairs and kept one hand firmly on the rail; careful to not let the vines covering the steps catch his feet. The last thing his little brother needed was a tumble down the stairs. He could feel Sam struggling to breathe against his shoulder and his lack of argument about being carried was testament to just how bad he was feeling.
They cautiously stepped into the hotel's entry hall and looked around, waiting for the ghost to make itself known. Nothing happened. "Huh." Dean fished in his pocket for his EMF and pulled it out. It was silent. "Maybe it was the uber-demon stirring them up?"
"Wouldn't surprise me. Come on." Bobby took his shoulder to guide him and his burden around the debris and outside. "Well I'll be damned!" Bobby looked up and grinned. The rain had finally stopped. The heavy clouds that had hugged the mountains since before they had arrived were dissipating as they watched.
Dean turned his face up as the first rays of sun he'd seen in days broke through. "Nice."
"Dea…" Sam's congested voice came weakly from behind him. "Can…can't breathe….down."
"I'll go get the car. Set him down." Bobby set Dean's shotgun down next to him and jogged off toward the tree line.
"Ok, Sammy." Dean bent and set his brother's feet on the ground and then carefully eased him off his shoulder until he was sitting propped up against the outside of the hotel. "How you feeling?"
Sam wrapped his arms across his chest and nodded. "Fine."
Dean snorted and snapped a hand out to his shoulder, keeping him from sliding slowly to the ground. "I can see that. How about you just concentrate on taking a deep breath."
"Trying." Sam wheezed. "Burning." He added softly with his eyes closed. "I'm burning."
Dean watched him and frowned as Sam's breathing picked up. "Sammy?"
"Burning, Dean." Sam felt something clawing at him, some barely remembered memory and it filled him with terror.
"No. Sam, look at me." Dean took his face in his hands and spoke sharply. "Sammy!" Sam's eyes flew wide and latched on to his; he clamped a hand around Dean's wrist as if to anchor himself. "There you go. No scratching."
"Wasn't." Sam would have shaken his head if not for Dean's firm grip.
Dean sighed. Each time a chink developed in Sam's wall it scared him as much as it scared his brother. It was like waiting for a bomb to go off; knowing it was on a timer but not being able to see the countdown. "You're not burning." He stared the fear in Sam's eyes down until it calmed. "Alright?"
"Yeah." Sam closed his eyes again and worked at breathing properly. He studiously pushed away the burning feeling in his chest. It was just the bruised ribs…not hellfire.
"Sammy." Dean called again.
"I'm…good." Sam looked up as the Impala's engine announced its arrival and he smiled. "Home's here."
Dean chuckled and slapped the side of his face lightly before standing and pulling him up slowly. "Maybe now you can stay dry for more than five minutes."
Bobby was out of the driver's seat and opened the back door, letting Dean maneuver Sam inside and closed it. "How is he?"
"He'll live." Dean scrubbed a hand over his face and looked in as Sam leaned the back of his head into the window with a soft thump.
"Son?" Bobby gave his shoulder a squeeze.
"Nothing. It's nothing. He's good." Dean smiled. "Can we please go get dry now?"
Bobby watched him climb behind the wheel and shook his head. "Years off my damn life." He said fondly under his breath as he went around to the passenger side and got in.
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Rufus stumbled slowly from the bathroom back to the bed, growling his frustration at the empty room. His ego was not handling being left behind well. "Damn stupid old man." He cursed at himself. He rolled his eyes as he reached the bed and dropped gratefully to the side with a swimming head. "Bobby's never gonna let me live this down." He flopped back into the pillows and groaned again when he heard the distinctive rumble of the Impala's engine. He pushed himself back up, unwilling to look like the invalid he felt like. His body felt rubbery from spending so long in a coma. He was convinced he'd feel more like himself if he could get into his own damn clothes. He picked irritably at the hospital gown and twitched the blanket over his legs before the door opened. He'd just make Bobby stop laughing long enough to go by his motel and get his clothes.
The room door opened and banged into the wall. Rufus looked over and his eyes widened in surprise as the three men came in; or rather as Dean and Bobby came in holding up Sam between them. "What the hall happened to him?"
"Oh you know." Dean smiled tightly as they lugged Sam around to the other bed. "A little rain, a little swim and the Sumo demon."
"Sumerian." Sam wheezed with a smirk, working to make his voice heard.
"Shut up, you." Bobby helped Dean lay him on the bed and stood back, running a hand under his hat. "I'll go get some ice. You get him outta those wet clothes."
"Hey." Sam protested weakly and swatted his brother's hands away. "I can…do it…myself."
"Shut up, Sammy." Dean grabbed the front of his wet jacket and tugged him up so he was sitting and started stripping it and the flannel beneath off his shoulders.
Rufus chuckled, pleased to not be the biggest wreck in the room anymore. "You need any help?" He asked as Sam delivered a weak elbow to his big brother's stomach in protest.
"I got it. Knock it off." Dean cuffed the back of Sam's head and tossed the jacket and shirts aside to land with a wet splat by the bathroom.
"Just…gimme my clothes." Sam worked not to give in to the cough threatening him with the exertion. "Change…in the bathroom."
Dean rolled his eyes but helped Sam to his feet and guided him to the bathroom. "Wouldn't wanna dent that girly dignity of yours."
"Bite me." Sam gasped and hunched over the arm across his bare chest. He leaned against the sink while Dean laughed and came back a moment later with a handful of clothes.
"Hurry up." Dean told him and smiled. "You hit the floor I'm leavin' you there."
Sam smirked as Dean pulled the door closed. "Would not." He said softly and set to work peeling the wet denim from his legs.
"Seriously, Dean." Rufus' expression turned serious. "He ok?"
Dean nodded and wiped a tired hand down his face. "Bruised ribs and pneumonia." He shrugged. "He'll be fine, just miserable for a while." He looked over and smirked. "That gown's starting to grow on me. You should keep it."
"See, you think I can't get off this bed and kick your ass." Rufus glared up at him and his smile. "Keep it up you're gonna find out how wrong you are."
"Oh you couldn't beat up a Girl Scout right now and you know it." Bobby said as he came back with a bucket of ice and shut the room door. He grinned at the dark look his friend gave him. "Be nice and I might even go get you some clothes."
"Get my own damn clothes." Rufus growled and crossed his arms over his chest. "I aint a damn invalid you old jackass."
The bathroom door opened and Sam appeared in sweats and a shirt, leaning heavily on the frame. "Dean." He rasped. What little energy he had deserted him and he knew he wasn't going to make it the few feet to the bed without help. The fever, the congestion and the pain from his ribs were all working against him.
"I gotcha sasquatch." Dean went over and propped his brother up, leading him to the bed and helped him down again. He laid a hand on the side of Sam's neck and sighed at the heat. It made him nervous coming so close on the almost episode he'd had up at the hotel. He was concerned the burn of the fever would break through the wall again. "Gotta cool you off, dude. You're like a space heater."
Sam nodded wearily with his eyes closed. He wanted to sleep and wake up not feeling as crappy as he did.
Bobby went through his own bag and came out with several zip lock bags and started filling them with ice. "Here, Dean." He handed the first to Dean and filled another. "Side of his neck."
"We know the drill." Dean tugged part of the sheet up around Sam's neck and used it to cushion the ice as he set the bag there. He squeezed Sam's shoulder when his whole body shivered. "You know if you wanted a week off there's easier ways to get one."
Sam smirked and cracked his eyes to look up his brother's concerned face. "But it's…best way to…to get waited on." He chuckled breathlessly. "Water please…Jeeves."
"Oh Sammy, you bitch." Dean considered the many things he normally would have done to his brother for that comment but the fact that he was currently wheezing in the bed, trying to laugh and breathe at the same time with a fever burning through him made all of those things unwise. "You know you're gonna pay for that when you're vertical again?"
Sam groaned and clamped a hand over his bruised ribs. "Don't make me laugh…hurts."
"You think you can keep from maimin' chuckles over there while I take this one back to his motel?" Bobby asked Dean with a laugh.
"No promises." Dean said darkly. He slapped Sam's hand away from the ice bags at his neck. "Leave it."
"Come on, Bobby." Rufus sat up slowly and tried to shrug off the helping hand Dean gave him. "I got it." He stood and went around the bed. He turned back when Sam started wheezing more loudly and Dean laughed. "What?" Behind him Bobby broke into laughter as well.
"Dean…bleach." Sam suffered with the laughter. "Need to…un-see that!"
Dean pressed a helping hand down onto Sam's ribs so he could breathe and tried to smother his own laughter. "Little drafty there, Rufus."
Rufus scowled and then whipped his hands behind him; only then realizing the ties at the back of his hospital gown had come undone. He growled between his teeth and tugged the thin fabric together. "Jackasses." He turned and threw a punch at Bobby's arm as he stalked past.
"I'll be back." Bobby told the boys and followed Rufus to the door. "Soon as I get Lady Chatterley here back in her damn clothes."
Dean broke into laughter again as Bobby went out and heard the older Hunter grunt, no doubt in response to Rufus hitting him. He dropped onto the side of his messy bed and sighed deeply. "Man I wanna sleep."
"Should." Sam said, finally getting his restricted breathing back under control.
Dean shook his head and scooted so he was only on the edge of the bed. "Dude. Rufus was in here." He waved a hand over the rumpled sheets. "Don't think I wanna sleep where he had his bare ass."
Sam groaned, coughed and waved a hand. "S..stop." He wiped at the tears the coughing was causing. "Makin me…laugh…crap!"
Dean snorted and moved to sit on the side of Sam's bed instead. He straightened the bags of ice at his neck and pressed on his chest again while his breathing eased. "Get some sleep, Sammy." He pulled the blanket up higher on his chest. He got up and pulled one of the chairs over between the beds. He sat back, leaned until it was up against the night stand and put his feet up on Sam's bed.
Sam let himself sink into the bed and nodded. "Thanks…Dean."
Dean swatted his arm. "Awesome big brother. Thank you, awesome big brother." He smirked when he had to lean forward and help Sam breathe through the laughter again. "Sorry." He chuckled. "I can't help myself."
Sam flipped him off with a smile. "Tellin' Bobby." He closed his eyes and felt Dean squeeze his shoulder before leaning back in his chair.
"I aint afraid of him." Dean said surely and saw the look of disbelief on his brother's face. "Shuddup." Sam only snorted in response. Dean let his head fall back and closed his eyes, letting the exhaustion of the last few days wash over him. The sounds of Sam breathing helped lull him to sleep.
Bobby found them that way when he came back; Sam asleep with one arm thrown over his brother's knees on the bed and Dean leaned back with his head on the night stand snoring softly. He smirked and went softly into the room. He pulled the blanket from the empty bed and draped it carefully over Dean in his chair and smiled.
"Idjits." He said softly. He had planned on leaving them for a while but found he was uncomfortable leaving them alone with Dean asleep as well. Instead, Bobby went and sat at the table. He pulled Sam's laptop over and got comfortable, keeping a watchful eye on his boys while they slept with a fond smile.
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The End.