"Hey Sabby, see whad I found in the bathroob."
Sam's face lit up when the recognition overcame him. "Hey, aren't you that lovely German girl from that gas station?"
"Yeah, exactly. My name's Marlene." She smiled at him and threw Dean a look which was saying 'See? He recognized me at once.'
While Sam was talking to her, Dean blew his nose, producing a lot squelched sounds and a huge amount of snot.
"Dude, you are disgusting."
"Thaggs, I love you, too." Dean rolled his eyes, "You know whad? You do sobe research, and I'll get us something to eat. Sounds good to you?"
"Yeah, okay. I'm okay with that."
Dean went along the street and looked out for some kind of diner or take-away. He found a lot of fish restaurants but he wasn't very fond of fish. Suddenly, he saw a pharmacy on his left hand sight and considered going in there. Of course it was embarrassing but there was no Sam far and wide, he wouldn't even know. Looking around but finding no Sam in eyeshot, we went into the shop.
It wasn't very crowded in it but the smell of eucalyptus was overwhelming. He was waiting for about 5 minutes in the queue until it was his turn. A dark-haired man in white scrubs faced him and gave him a smile.
"Ahm…Hi, cad I have ady kidd of dosepray, please?"
"Entschuldigen Sie, ich spreche kein Englisch."
Dean winced. Crap, he had totally forgotten about it.
"I…uhm…Ich…brauche…ahm…"
Nervously he stammered in utter need of fitting words but didn't find any. With a sigh he gave in and pointed at his nose which was cherry red and runny. Then he gave a light sniff to demonstrate how clogged up his nose as.
The pharmacist seemed to understand and disappeared into another room. Dean took a small look over his shoulder and was startled how many people were standing behind him. He didn't feel comfortable.
In the meantime the pharmacist had returned and proudly offered him a box of tissues. Dean blushed deeply and shook his head no.
The man's smile dropped and he seemed to be lost in thoughts.
Suddenly his face lit up and he disappeared again. A little later he returned and handed Dean some nosespray.
Dean sent a silent prayer to heaven and said, "Yeah, thanks." before paying and getting out as fast as he could, avoiding the amused looks from the people behind him.
Carefully, Dean inserted a dose of the spray in each nostril and sniffed wetly. He didn't notice if it was working or not since it only made his nose tickle again. "Suhhh…Sudd of a bitch," he grumbled and gave his nose a rough swipe with the back of his hand.
Suddenly, he saw a familiar face approaching and he quickly stored the spray in the pocket of his trouser.
"Karl Joseph Schmidt!" Sam shouted out to him, grinning brightly.
"My name is Dean, you remember? I'm your brother."
"No, I meant the ghost, he used to be Karl Joseph Schmidt when he was still alive."
"Oh. That's cool, good job, Sammy."
"Thanks." Sam's smile grew bigger,
"Hey, you sound less stuffed up. Did you take anything?"
A hint of blush crept over Dean's face.
"What? No. I got better as soon as I had left the library with your fucking dusty books."
Sam had noticed how Dean had nervously pushed something deeper into his trouser pocket and nodded. "Oh, that's good, then."
"Yup," he shrugged it off.
Sam pinched the bridge of his nose absently and stared at nothing in particular.
"Headache?" Dean asked.
"Uh…What?" Sam seemed a little startled, like he had just woken up and sleepily rubbed his nose.
"Never mind, wanna go and ask a few locals about this guy?"
"Yeah, sounds like a plan."
"Oh, by the way, what about that food you wanted to get?"
"Uhm…"
As Dean drove the Impala back to Bobby's, he took a quick look at his brother who seemed to be a little tired since he kept dozing off every few minutes.
"You okay, Sammy?" he asked with a little concern in his voice as he opened his heavy eyelids.
"I don't know," he mumbled, "I just feel kinda dizzy."
Actually he looked more than dizzy, his cheeks were flushed and his whole face had a sweaty shimmer to it.
Dean was pretty sure that his little brother was running a fever. He wondered why he hadn't noticed it before, maybe the good news were just too overwhelming.
A sigh escaped Dean's lips, "We'll better get you to Bobby, then."
As Sam didn't complain, Dean knew that he must be really feeling unwell and a feeling of guilt crept on him, making him drive even faster.
Dean gave the door a few knocks and waited until Bobby opened up.
With a steadying arm around Sam's waist, he helped his brother inside.
"Heh'ktchh-uhh."
Dean felt some spray on his arm and rolled his eyes in annoyance as Bobby gave him a "keep your snot to yourself"-look.
Innocently, Dean scratched his head and grumbled,
"Hey, it wasn't me for a change."
Bobby's eyes travelled up to Sammy in surprise, who was sniffling slightly and totally looking out of it.
"Boy, you alright?"
Bobby's eyes mustered Sam's pale face and the suspicious red tinge of his cheeks.
"I feel a little cold," he admitted and wrapped his arms around himself for warmth, shivering a little even though he had his jacket on.
With the back of his hand Bobby felt Sam's temperature and shook his head as he found it warmer than it ought to be.
"You are burning up!" Bobby sounded concerned as Sam leaned a little into his touch.
"We need to get your fever down, come here," Dean guided him to the sofa and helped him pull off his coat and boots.
"I can't believe that you are John Winchester's boys, one is a sneezing mess, the other one has a fever, …"
Bobby smiled to himself and gently pushed Sam down onto the couch.
"Just relax a little, Dean and I work on our case. We'll wake you later."
Sam nodded tiredly and snuggled into the blanket Bobby had draped over him.
While Dean grabbed Sam's laptop from the table, Bobby filled up a glass of water in the kitchen sink and brought it back to Sam, placing it on the table nearby so that he could reach it.
When he tiptoed back, he heard a quiet voice calling him.
"Bobby?"
The older man turned on his heel. "Yeah, Sam?"
"Thank you." His voice was sleepy but sincere.
"It's alright," Bobby soothed and stroked his overheated cheek,
"I'm here."
With his last words ringing in his ears, he fell asleep, feeling loved and protected.
Quickly, Dean closed the kitchen door behind him and delivered a sneeze into his elbow.
"Hhh'RGSH-uhh." Sniffling, he looked up and his teary eyes unfocused once again. "Hhhh…" His nose gave a twitch and his breath hitched uncontrollably. "Hhh'DGZSH-shh. Ugh, dabbit."
The force of the sneeze had doubled him over and he straightened, rubbing his nose.
Bobby gave him a sceptical look as Dean wiped his nose on his sleeve.
"Whad? No 'bless you'?"
"You don't look so hot, either," Bobby remarked and reached his hand out to feel his forehead but Dean shirked away.
"I'b good, it's jusd a cold."
Bobby rolled his eyes and grumbled,
"Whatever. It's getting late, we should get some rest too, we'll do some further investigation tomorrow."
As if to prove the point Dean gave a jaw-popping yawn and rubbed his eyes. "Sounds good."
Dean heard the sound of an alarm clock and buried his head deeper into his pillow, trying to keep on sleeping. He felt awful, his throat was still sore and to top it all his nose was so stuffed up that his attempt at breathing resolved in a gurgling sniff.
"Ughh…" He crawled out of bed and switched the alarm clock off. Yawning he went into the bathroom, unwinded half a roll of toilet paper
and blew his nose noisily.
The blowing made his nose look even redder but it didn't ease the congestion. "Fuck," he thought and fumbled for the nose spray in his pocket. It wasn't there. Dean felt like hitting something.
Where could it be? After he scanned the whole room several times, another thought came to his mind. His leather jacket. Mentally giving a scream of victory, he found the spray in the pocket of his jacket and generously dosed himself up.
"I hope id's fuckigg worki…hihhh…Hhhrr'DGZSHshh.
Hhh'GTSHhh-uhh, hhih'YESH-uhh. Ugh, working."
Dean rolled his eyes, for some reason the spray always made him sneeze a lot before it actually worked.
Blowing his nose again, he finally felt some relief.
It felt really good to breath through one's nose.
When he tiptoed into the living room, he found his brother as a shivering mess on the couch. "Oh, you're awake?"
Sam lifted his head and nodded slowly, his eyelids too heavy to stay open. "How are you feeling?" Dean sat down next to him and pressed his hand to his brother's forehead, finding it still quite warm.
"I'm so cold." Goosebumps had risen all over his bare arms.
Although Sam kept on shivering, his clothes were soaked with sweat. As Dean noticed it, he found that he'd have to do something.
"I'll be right back." He disappeared and left Sam on his own.
A few minutes later he returned with a set of new clothes and a warm washing rag. "What are you doing?" Sam slurred and looked at him in confusion, the fever making him light-headed.
"I'll make you feel better. Just get out of your shirt."
Too out of it to understand, Sam tried to free himself from his shirt - with no success. It was too much effort for his weakened body. Dean sighed and helped him. Now his brother was trembling with cold but Dean already had a plan. He soaked a washing rag with warm water and gently ran it over Sam's bare skin, warming him and washing all of the sweat off.
When he was finished he carefully dried him with a towel and helped him into fresh clothes. Contentedly, Sam huddled deeper into his hoodie and sighed. "Thank you."
Dean smiled and covered him with a blanket as Bobby entered the room, gesturing him to come.
Dean followed Bobby into the kitchen so that Sam could get a little rest and closed the door silently.