Thanks for the reviews, guys! :)
I dedicate this chapter to my sweet cousin, Marianne, who lost her dad way too soon. I hope he has moved on to a better place.
-Elisa.
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Dean had seen a lot of things happen to Sam throughout the years. When Sam had been 8 and had crashed on his bike, Dean had been the one to clean the wound on Sam's knee, remove the piece of glass that had been stuck in it, and had applied a big band-aid on top of the wound while comforting the crying kid. When Sam was 12 he'd been pushed down the monkey bars in the playground at school. Dean had held Sam's hand while a nurse had put a cast on Sam's broken arm, and had the following day beat the crap out of the kids who'd caused his baby brother misery. Dean had been 18 when he'd killed a man for the first time – a man who had held a gun to the youngest Winchester's head and had been seconds away from pulling the trigger. It had been Dean's first (non-supernatural) kill but it had been far from the last one because when Sam was concerned, there was nothing Dean wouldn't do for him.
That was why it was so damn hard for Dean to sit back and watch as the doctor prepared Sam for the long needle, he was going to stick into his little brother's back, without being able to do anything about it. He couldn't fix everything with a simple band-aid. He couldn't beat up or kill anyone for hurting his brother. All Dean could do in that moment was grasp the hand Sam was reaching out towards him, as a nurse injected some anesthetic under his brother's skin.
"It's okay." Dean said in a soft voice when Sam hissed a little.
"The anesthetic may sting a bit." Dr. Calvin said and Sam nodded into his pillow.
The younger brother, who was lying face down on the hospital bed, squeezed Dean's hand as the doctor made a tiny cut in Sam's skin, and Dean swallowed hard when the doctor lined up the long needle above Sam's back.
"Okay Sam. I'm going to count to three and then I want you to take a big breath and hold it. Can you do that for me?" The doctor asked.
"Yeah." Sam answered which came out a bit muffled through the pillow.
"Ready? One, two, three." The doctor counted.
Sam drew in a deep breath and the doctor stuck the needle into one of Sam's kidneys at the same time. Dean decided to look at Sam's face instead of the nasty procedure and watched as Sam clenched his eyes shut and squeezed Dean's hand tight.
"Sam, I need you to take some deep breaths." The doctor said. "I need to verify that the needle is in place."
Sam did as he was told and the doctor nodded before he removed the biopsy needle. Dean let out a relieved breath while a nurse put pressure to the biopsy site to stop the bleeding, but he then frowned in confusion as the doctor lined up the needle once more.
"What are you doing?" Dean demanded to know.
"We have to collect enough tissue for the examination." The doctor answered.
"So one big poke with the giant needle wasn't enough?" Dean asked with rising anger.
"Dean." Sam said. "It's okay."
"Okay, my ass.." Dean muttered and shot the doctor a threatening glare.
"Deep breath, Sam." The doctor said, ignoring the oldest brother. "One, two, three."
The needle was inserted in Sam's back once more and Dean wanted nothing more than to throttle the doctor.
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Dean draped the blanket closer around his sleeping brother – passed the place where Dean knew Sam now had a big bandage on the opposite side of his body, up to around Sam's shoulders. He brushed Sam's bangs away from his pale face before he sat down in the chair next to the hospital bed to resume his task of watching over his brother. The biopsy had taken a lot of strength out of Sam and had, combined with the pain medicine Sam had received right after the procedure, knocked the youngest Winchester brother out cold.
Dean carded a hand through his hair and let out a long sigh. He couldn't believe that this had all started out as something as simple as appendicitis, but when had anything ever been simple when you were a Winchester? It was weird though to know that they fought demons, monsters and ghosts on an everyday basis, which they most of the time were able to walk away from more or less unharmed, but it was a natural cause that had beat down Sam Winchester. Dean laughed humorless at that conclusion which ended in something that sounded unmistakably much like a sob.
Sam was still asleep four hours later when the doctor entered the room carrying Sam's case record. Dean glanced once more at his sleeping brother, before turning his attention towards the doctor with a look that said 'This better be good.' The doctor stopped up in a safe distance from the older brother and cleared his throat before speaking.
"I'm here to inform you that we will get Sam started on dialyses tomorrow." The doctor said. "Your brother's kidneys are worse off than I first expected. I'm not sure dialyses will be enough but it's the best treatment for now."
Dean didn't say anything. He closed his eyes and willed his emotions at bay before he turned his eyes back on Sam - his little brother that looked so vulnerable and, considering his size, so surprisingly small in the hospital bed.
"Don't even think about waking him up." Dean said to the doctor in a low but threatening voice. "I'll tell him myself."
The doctor shuffled his feet and looked a bit insecure between the Winchesters before he decided that it was pointless to start a discussion with the older brother. He nodded shortly and then left the room without further ado. Dean stared worriedly at Sam for a little while before he reached out his hand, adjusted the nasal cannula underneath Sam's nose a bit and caressed his brother's cheek in a tender way. Dean tried to swallow past the lump in his throat but wasn't able to stop the single tear that left his eye and slowly made its way down his cheek.
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Sam woke up a couple of hours later. He hadn't got a clue about how long he'd been asleep but judging from how exhausted he felt, Sam guessed it couldn't have been for long. He felt a bit short of breath and dizzy when he tried to move, and it didn't help that the pain medication, he'd received after the biopsy, were wearing off. Besides the soreness of his back, Sam also had what appeared to be a building headache and, to top it all, he also felt cold.
Sam lifted his heavy arms that were covered in IV-lines and blew some hot air on his cold hands before he rubbed them a bit together in an attempt to get some warmth into them. He lowered his arms back down on the bed when he became too tired to keep them up, and the youngest Winchester then turned his head to look for his brother. Sam smiled wryly when his eyes fell upon his older brother who was slumping in the chair next to the bed. Dean didn't look good though, Sam noticed with concern, as he let his eyes wander across Dean's exhausted features. But Sam was satisfied with the fact that Dean was at least catching some Zs.
When Sam tried to shift his position on the bed a bit, he couldn't help the groan that escaped his mouth and the sound immediately made Dean jerk awake.
"Sammy?" Dean asked even before he was truly alert.
"Right here, Dean." Sam said as Dean straightened up in his chair and rubbed at his eyes for a moment.
"How are you doing?" Dean asked.
"I'm okay." Sam said.
"Uh-huh.." Dean said in disbelief while taking in Sam's too pale face and the dark circles under his eyes.
Sam looked terrible.
"I'm cold." Sam then admitted and looked at Dean with big round puppy dog eyes and a slight pout on his lips.
"That's probably because you're anemic – doctor told me." Dean said as he got up from the chair and started rummaging through some cabinets until he found an extra blanket. "I'm still considering kicking that guy's ass!"
"Why? He is just doing his job, Dean." Sam said while Dean draped the second blanket over his brother. "Thanks."
"He's a dickhead, that's what he is." Dean huffed.
"Is he acting like a dickhead or did he just tell you something you didn't like to hear?" Sam asked.
Dean looked out of the hospital window while considering Sam's question for a few moments. It was dark outside but the lights of millions of stars lightened up the sky above them.
"Dean?" Sam asked.
"Probably both." Dean admitted before he tore his eyes away from the stars and looked at his younger brother. "Sam, the doctor stopped by while you were asleep."
"Oh." Sam said and studied Dean's expression. "What did he say?"
Dean sighed and sat down in the chair next to his brother again. He washed a hand down his face and then found Sam's questioning green eyes with his own similar ones.
"You're gonna be in dialysis from tomorrow." Dean said without losing eye contact with Sam. "The doctor couldn't say for how long but that is what's going to happen for now."
Sam bit his lower lip and looked away while nodding. The exhaustion he'd felt when he'd woken up was still very much present and his eyelids were becoming more and more heavy by every minute.
"Dean?" He asked after a little bit of silence.
"Yeah, Sammy?" Dean said.
"Did the doctor mention how badly damaged my kidneys are?" Sam wanted to know.
"No, he didn't say anything about that." Dean lied after a short hesitation. "Let's just focus on the dialysis tomorrow, alright? You'll be just fine."
"Promise?" Sam asked in a way that made him sound so young.
"Promise." Dean said and shot his brother a confident smile.
Sam returned the smile and, comforted by his big brother's reassurances, he let his eyes slid closed and drifted off shortly after. As soon as Sam's breathing had evened out, and he was positive that Sam was out for the count, Dean got up from his chair, went into the small bathroom attached to the hospital room, and emptied his stomach into the toilet bowl.
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TBC..
Reviews are love.
-Elisa.