Hey guys… I just wanted to thank you all for your support of this story. It really makes an author's heart feel good to know people like her (their) story enough to tell her.

Thanks again to TammiTam for her wonderful work as beta.

I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

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Dean looked haggard and worn, his usually handsome features drawn and tired. For three days Sam had been in the ICU, for three days Dean had watched and waited by his brother's bedside. For three days Sam's eyes had been shut, his breathing uneven, and his temperature higher than normal.

The fever had raged for the first sixty two hours, leaving Sam a sweating, shaking, flushed, unconscious mess on the bed. Then a little after the clock hit two am on Wednesday morning, Sam's fever had started to go down. Slowly but surely the temperature had dropped so that it was now settling between 102 and 102.4.

Dean had refused to leave Sam's side since he had been admitted to the hospital, and he had watched all that had happened to his baby brother with trepidation. When the younger man's fever had started to go down, Dean had been ecstatic. Although the doctor had explained that until the fever was down to or under 101, Sam wasn't out of the woods, Dean had known from the start that Sam was going to pull through.

Now as he watched his brother's chest rise and fall steadily, his hope soared. His little brother was getting better, and no matter what any doctor told him, he was just going to believe that Sammy was going to be okay.

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John watched his sons with a smile on his face. Sammy was getting better, and he knew that, no matter what any doctor told him. Since Sam was getting better, Dean was smiling more, and seemed to feel better.

Dean had a tendency to worry until he made himself sick. Most times the worry was about Sam, and something he had or would do. Watching Dean since Sam had first gotten sick, the eldest Winchester had seen the dark circles form and he had seen the lines deepening on his forehead and around his eyes.

The fact was that John had been worried about both his boys. If Sam was hurt or sick, chances were, Dean wasn't far behind, and having both his sons out of commission and injured or in the hospital was not something that John could deal with. He loved his boys deeply, even if that love wasn't always shown clearly or in the right ways.

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Four days later...

Sam's fever had broken completely the night before, and though the youngest member of the little hunting family had yet to awaken, both older hunters were relieved. Sam's pallor had gotten better, the flush to his cheeks all but gone. His respiratory efforts were better and his heart rate was normal. The only thing that lingered to tell Dean and John that Sam was unconscious rather than asleep was the clear tubing that ran into the back of his hand, and the feeding tube that ran up into his nose and down into his stomach.

The doctors had decided on day four of Sam's semi coma that it was time the growing young man needed nutrients. Since Sam was unconscious and unable to properly feed himself, the feeding tube had been inserted. It had been the only time Dean had left the room, not wanting to see the procedure done to his baby brother, afraid it might cause him discomfort or hurt him, both of which Dean had no desire to see.

Now the only thing John and Dean had to wait for was the youngest member of their family to wake up. Sam's eyes had been fluttering the whole morning, and little sounds had escaped his lips every once and a while. Every time either thing happened the older hunters were at Sam's side, watching, waiting, encouraging him to wake.

So when Sam turned his head to the side and moaned, Dean shot up from the chair and latched onto his brother's hand. "Sammy?" Dean asked quietly, his voice scratchy from disuse.

"Unh," Sam's grunted reply had Dean squeezing his hand. When Sam squeezed back, Dean grinned, wishing his father hadn't left to stretch his legs.

"Hey Sammy, c'mon little brother, open them eyes." At Dean's request, Sam grunted something that sounded like a petulant, "no," and Dean laughed. "Don't tell me no, Sammy."

"Jus' did," Sam slurred, not opening his eyes.

"I know you stubborn ass. You've been sleeping for over a week Sammy-boy, enough is enough." Dean grinned.

"Wha'?" Sam asked, slitting his sleep glazed eyes open a crack.

"It's true little brother. You collapsed in the parking lot of the motel, leaving dad and me to carry you here." The thought sobered Dean, and the grin slipped from his face, as he thought to himself how Sam had fallen, his whispered 'sorry,' lingering in the air between their small family.

"Don' 'member," Sam coughed and scrubbed his hand over his face, his fingers catching on the tube that was taped under his nose. Dean handed him a cup of water before he could ask what the annoying thing was doing in his nose, and he gratefully drank the cool, soothing liquid.

"The doctor finally decided that you needed eat," Dean told Sam when his fingers were again drawn to the tubing that ran into his nose. At the answer, Sam clearly made an 'ew' face, and Dean laughed again. "Yeah I thought so too."

"Pansy," Sam mumbled, looking up at his brother from under his lashes.

"Sam," Dean exclaimed, clapping his hand to his chest, "me a pansy? I think not!"

"Are too, you probably held my hand and chick-flicked yourself out, didn't you?" Sam's grin widened, his dimples deepening. Dean's heart melted unexpectedly, the sight of the smile too much for him to bear after a week of doing without.

"Sam," he started, untangling his fingers from his brother's and instead placing his hand on Sam's shoulder.

"About what I said," he took a deep breath and looked up to see Sam's grin disappear. "I mean I know you want to see what college is like, and I guess if that's what you want, I can deal with it, I just wish you hadn't hidden it from me."

"I know, I'm sorry Dean." Sam's voice was almost a whisper and his eyes held only the truth.

"I don't hate you, and you're not selfish," Dean breathed.

"Don' hate you either big brother," Sam told him softly.

"So we good?" Dean asked after a minute.

"Yeah," Sam took a breath and added, "Now all I have to do is tell dad. He's gonna kill me." Sam ducked his head as Dean nodded seriously.

"You got that right Sam."

END.

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A/N: So I hope you all enjoyed this ending, let me know.

Take care,

OSS