Chapter 7

Sam was dead to the world and Dean was furious. "Stella! What the hell did you just do to him?" He was out of his mind and felt most like punching his fist through her face.

"It's the curse. I have to draw it out," She stood from her chair and waited for Dean to stop trying to revive his brother. "But we need Bobby and Rufus for that. I can't do it just the two of us."

"Why not!" Dean could feel his head spinning.

"Because I'm not so sure you're one hundred percent right now," She stared him right in the eye.

Dean snapped and lunged for her throat. His large hand wrapped around it and forced her into the wall with a thud. His lips were parted in a sneer. His entire body was shaking with pent up anger. And then she did the strangest thing. Her wide, pleading eyes softened, and she reached up a hand and placed it gently on his forehead. Like the gentle spray from a shower, he felt his rage drain from him until he was left utterly spent. His deep breaths became hitching and he let her go.

With two shaky steps back, he suddenly realized what had happened. The shock of it came first. His breath hitched. Then came the guilt and he lowered his gaze. The second he dared look up, he was met by a pair of wet eyes. The guilt became shame, so gut wrenching and painful that he found it hard to breathe. He forced past her without looking up as he left the room. He needed some fresh air to process what the hell had just happened.

He left her standing alone. He left Sam. He couldn't breathe. The air was too thick in that room. The cold air outside was like a slap. He stopped in the doorway and heaved a deep breath. He just needed a moment alone. He wanted a break from worrying and pleading for his brother to wake up.

He stayed outside for almost an hour, until two trucks pulled up to the house. Rufus and Freddy helped Bobby out, and the two senior hunters eyed him nervously whilst the third headed back inside.

"Dean? What's wrong?" Bobby immediately saw the numb air around the younger man.

"Nothin'. Just getting some air," Dean schooled his features and stretched his shoulders. "How'd it go?"

"Fine. We checked 'em out and everythin' seemed in order. Dropped some off at the bus station and one off in town."

Dean nodded and glanced up as Rufus skirted past him, through the door. Probably preferring to let Singer deal with the goddamn Winchesters whenever he could. "Bobby, somethin' happened with Stella."

"What?" Bobby's attention zoned in on Dean's reluctance.

Dean huffed when he realized how little he remembered about the situation. "I honestly have no idea. She gave Sam something and I just went off," He brushed a hand through his hair and sighed.

"You… went off?"

"I…" Dean glanced back into the house and turned completely. "I overreacted."

"How so?" Bobby had a slightly stupefied air about him.

"Not really important, but at the time I didn't think. Now I'm not even sure what exactly happened."

Seeing his distress Bobby slouched his posture and rolled a little closer. "You think it was Hephzibah."

"I guess," Dean turned back to face his surrogate father. "I mean, could she have done something to me to make me react like that?"

"You sure it ain't just the stress?"

"Dunno."

Bobby nodded slowly and vowed he'd keep an eye on the younger man. "I'll dig around. See what I find. It's possible she cursed ya along with Sam, but to be honest I'm leanin' more towards the stress theory."

Dean nodded as Bobby padded his arm on the way in. He stretched his neck and closed his eyes. He could feel the anger crawling back out and recognized he hadn't felt this angry in a while. The second he entered his brother's room, along with Rufus, Bobby, and Freddy that anger returned. The heat was stifling and he almost immediately felt sweat dripping down his back. But he vowed to keep his mouth shut and suck it up.

Stella started the ritual and Sam reacted in a second. His back arched and a terrible wheeze leeched out his mouth. It was wide open as were his eyes. He was staring straight through Dean a lot like Stacy had the day before. "This is where you come in," Stella announced. Freddy, Rufus and Dean circled the bed and pinned down several of Sam's extremities with Bobby watching from the sidelines.

He arched up from the bed only to settle a few seconds after. This happened again and again, like convulsions.

Each time, every muscle in Sam's body would coil to the point where Dean could almost hear them creak. Each time his mouth would open and a horrible wheeze would escape. Then he'd collapse onto the bed with a deep exhale. For each convulsion Sam's exhales became a little more labored. "What's happening?" Dean was keeping tabs on Sam's face, which had gone from pale to ash.

"His body's trying to combat the infection. It's forced to treat it like a virus instead of the curse it really is."

"Will it still work?" Bobby asked with a waver in his voice.

Dean chomped down on his tongue hard enough to draw blood when another convulsion ripped through Sam. "I hope so," Stella looked from Bobby to Dean with a wild expression. "Right now he's in the final stages of the transformation. If this doesn't work within the hour he's gonna relapse and be too weak to fight the virus."

"It'll take over completely," Dean guessed with his eyes glued to Sam. Another convulsion. They were coming like clockwork. Every twenty seconds or so.

"Yeah," Stella confirmed.

The next convulsion brought with it a new twist. Not only did it sound like his was brother being ripped apart on the inside, but now blood started to dribble out his nose and ears. "This is supposed to happen?" The heat was killing Dean as fast as that toxin was killing his brother.

"Yes," Stella's voice hardly wavered. She stared at the young man and looked for any signs he was about to lose the fight against Hephzibah. "But he might need a trip to the hospital when we're done."

"That's not really an option," Bobby answered with a quick glance at Dean's furious expression. "Boys aren't exactly what you'd call law-abiding."

"That's not really up to you, Bobby," Dean bit out when a wave of vertigo crashed over him. He cracked his neck. Sam arched from the bed and Dean's fingers coiled like snakes around his brother's biceps. It was getting easier and easier holding Sam down, and he didn't know if it was because Sam was getting weaker, or because he himself was getting angrier.

"Look," Stella's voice was too calm.

It drove Dean insane. He grit his teeth and glared daggers at his brother, despite not really resenting him at the moment. "He's not convulsing," Dean counted the seconds since the last attack and more than twenty seconds had passed. "Sam," Suddenly the anger drained from him. He leaned closer and listened to the steady breaths. "Sam?" Sam opened his eyes with a tiny, shocked inhale and instantly started shaking. Freddy released his legs and Rufus, his wrists.

Dean loosened his grip on Sam's shoulders without letting go completely. Everyone seemed to hold their breath. "Wh-What?" Sam blinked owlishly up at his older brother and reached shakily up for his arms. Dean leaned down and rested his forehead briefly on the pillow next to Sam's head.

"Glad you're back," He whispered and allowed a quick smile to accompany to hand on Sam's head. "You've no idea how glad," Dean saw Bobby patting Sam's knee before filing out behind the other two. Stella hovered in the door with a brooding look at both, young men before she left as well. He sat down on the bed and let a deep sigh escape him. Sam was still lying down and not making a move to get up, but Dean was too busy trying to quell the ever present anger to care. "No idea…" His hand was still on Sam's forehead to calm the younger man from shaking.

He didn't notice his confusion or the silent tear that slithered down his brother's cheek.

TBC