IT'S ALL IN THE CARDS

DISCLAIMER: The usual, not mine to own but I love to play ... no money passes hands for this story or any other I write. I wish but nope not yet. No Laundromat washers or dryers were harmed or destroyed in the writing of this story.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the combination of three story ideas, and thanks and LovinJackson for the wonderful input and ideas for this story.

AUTHOR'S NOTE 2: Sam is 18 and Dean is 22 – 23 (set between new years day and Dean's birthday to begin with.) Before Sam goes to Stanford.

S—D

Chapter Six

Then:

'Dad … how's Tess?' Sam whispered not wanting to explain how he felt Tess as soon as she walked in, that he felt her as keenly as himself did and that made him sick to his stomach. 'All my fault …'

'Sammy, hey no going there kiddo…' Dean chastised Sam with a forced-grin fixed on his face, 'we worked all of that out before.'

'She is in danger coz of … if I didn't …'

'How about getting some sleep for a while Sam?' John suggested while he settled into a comfortable looking leather chair, 'at least the chairs are comfortable.'

'Don't wanna sleep just yet,' Sam yawned but stared at his father with a determined look, 'too many nightmares.'

'Want to watch some television?' Dean asked grabbing the remote control, 'might be a porn channel?'

'Dean … upstairs brain dude,' John shook his head at his eldest, 'I spoke to Mark on the way up here, we got an apology from that woman doctor, one of her registrars will be in first thing in the morning to check Sam … he told me what he had to do with your back Sam and why he suggested you guys move rooms.'

'He's a good guy Dad.'

'He sure is, so Dean you'll be glued to your brother like a Siamese twin…'

'Conjoined twins dad.' Sam whispered, 'and ew.'

Now:

Dean watched Sam carefully, ready to act if needed, this was to be Sam's first therapy session and both brothers were more than a little nervous. 'You sure you want to do this, I mean if you don't feel up to it then I'm sure your therapist won't mind.' Dean offered Sam a way out, his little brother still looked exhausted and in pain.

'Nah I gotta try Dean,' Sam ground out giving his brother a shy smile, 'can't stay here forever.'

'That's mah boy.' Dean grinned and tried to sound as upbeat as possible though he still worried constantly. Their dad and Tess were working non-stop trying to find these psychic demons tormenting her and the so-called father who wants to take Sam away, 'she should be here soon.'

'She?' Sam gulped and stared around the room nervously, 'my, my therapist is a she?'

'Yeah dude, I met her while you were having your bed bath.' Dean winked and smirked at Sam, he so loved teasing his gullible brother. 'She is so hot dude.'

A light knock on the door interrupted their conversation and Sam sent a silent thanks to whoever maybe up there watching over them. Dean squeezed Sam's good arm reassuringly before going to let the new arrival in.

'He's ready and waiting for ya Julie.' Dean said as he opened the door wider and let the therapist in, 'Sam this is your therapist Julie, Julie this is my brother Sam.'

'Please to meet ya Sam.' Julie said greeting Sam with a wide smile, aged in her early fifties with dark brown hair streaked with silver pulled into a messy bun, deep brown eyes and a smile that lit up her face. 'I've heard a lot about you.'

'Thanks Julie,' Sam tried to be polite but it came out forced, he glanced over at Dean and tried to glare at him, 'Dean told me he met you earlier...'

'Yep he sure did sugar you were indisposed so we had a nice to get to know each other.' Julie put Sam's chart on the bedside table and took a quick look over the notes, 'so we're gonna get you up and mobile, better than lying in bed all the time I bet.'

'Yeah it will be.' Sam tried to moisten his dry lips with the tip of his tongue and kept flicking his gaze over to Dean making sure that his brother was not far away.

'So first up I'm just going to give you a quick exam to see where your mobility is and then I'll get ya started on some easy exercises, Dean I'll get ya to watch carefully with what I do and then you can work with Sam when I'm not here.'

'Sounds great huh Sammy?' Dean leered at his brother over Julie's shoulder making suggestive gestures and facial expressions trying to get his brother to relax before the exam took place.

'Yeah guess.' Sam swallowed deeply and gave Julie a tremulous smile, 'so what do you do first?'

'Easy, first I just need you to lie flat, now I know it's gonna be uncomfortable with ya back injury so let me know as soon as it hurts okay hon?' Julie slipped a firm V-shaped pillow beneath Sam's head and shoulders supporting them without putting too much pressure on his back.

'Yeah sure.' Sam laid himself down and squirmed a little against the pillow, trying to find the best position, 'kay.'

'Okay so we're gonna start with ya shoulder, with yer good hand I want you to tap my arm when it starts to hurt, I have to rotate the joint to see how much movement you have now.' Julie went to the other side of the bed and made sure that Dean was close enough to watch, before she carefully undid the sling and slid her hands around Sam's still healing shoulder. One hand supported the joint while she gripped his forearm with the other, 'ready?'

'Y-yeah.' Sam swallowed and concentrated on what Julie was doing and nothing else, the pain spiked after the first two partial rotations and he tapped her arm lightly with his fingers.

'Well done Sam, that's a lot better than I anticipated.' Julie smiled encouragingly.

'Way to go Sammy.' Dean enthused chancing a quick look at his brother's face before returning his attention to what Julie was doing.

'Okay this time I'm going to straighten your arm out, that's it and now I'm going to slowly lift it up and once again tap on my arm when it starts to hurt.'

By the end of the exam, Sam looked exhausted, with sweat running in little cascades down his face and throat. He pressed the button on his pump and rested against the V-shaped pillow.

'So Sam I'm gonna let you rest for a bit and let the morphine do its job and then we'll get started on some exercises to strengthen your muscles and get ya outta this bed.' Julie replaced the sling and then stood up and stretched, 'I'm just gonna go write up my notes and go get a few things and be right back.'

'Thanks Julie.' Sam whispered between yawns.

'Have a nap Sam I'll be back in a bit,' Julie glanced up at Dean and jutted her head towards the door.

'I'll be right back Sammy you have a bit of a sleep.' Dean pulled the blankets up and tucked his brother in before joining Julie just outside the door.

S—D

John pulled away from Tess and blushed deeply, 'I'm sorry Tess I didn't ...'

'Hey John, I was a willing participant,' Tess smiled gently at the big man and cupped his cheek with her hand, 'don't apologise.'

'I should be concentrating on who is after Sammy not ... this.' John ran his fingers through his hair and smirked bitterly, 'normally Dean is the one who pulls the hot girls.'

'You think that I'm hot?' Tess giggled and blushed prettily, 'how does coffee sound?'

'Perfect,' John visibly relaxed and turned back to the reams of papers spread out across the coffee table. 'There's two potentials but I dunno why they would want to think of Sam ...'

'Sam is special but you already know that don't you John?' Tess asked without any accusation in her voice, 'he is psychic.'

'I ah thought that ... there are some things I have found out.'

Tess sat the mugs of steaming coffee down on the table and sat next to John once again, their thighs brushing lightly together though neither seemed to notice or if they did, did nothing to rectify it. She picked up one page and concentrated on the information on it, 'John I – I'm getting something from ...' The paper dropped from Tess' fingers as she collapsed against John's shoulder, her eyes fluttering shut, breathing out 'Sam' as she lost consciousness.

S—D

Julie reappeared an hour later, and carefully removed Sam's foot from the traction sling, before starting any exercise; she gently massaged his thigh and shin muscles warming them up after so long without proper use. 'Sam, I hope you don't mind me asking but you're squinting a lot sweety want me to lower the lighting for ya?'

'That'd be wonderful thanks Julie,' Sam breathed in relief, he hated asking all of the time, not wanting to put anyone out. He sighed and blinked a few times as he became accustomed to the lower lighting, 'thanks again Julie that's so much better.'

'That's what I'm here for Sam, I think that someone's gonna come and check out your eyes, but to me they are just gorgeous.' Julie winked at him, 'so how about we have a look at this ankle of yours?'

Dean watched Sam's face carefully when Julie started to examine around the top of the cast and then his toes, making sure that each one showed no signs of any blueness from problems with the blood's circulation from swelling or any other unseen issue.

'Looks good down here, so you ticklish Sam?' Julie asked cheekily staring at the two brothers, 'my boys used to have massive tickle wars when they were little.'

'J-just a l-little.' Sam stammered.

'Okay, so I'll ... try not to tickle too much.' Julie moved with innate tenderness and care as she finished checking each toe and then ran her fingernail down the pad of Sam's foot. A smile graced her face when she saw the immediate response from both reflex and sensitiveness 'looks like we have a winner.'

'So what's the verdict Julie?' Dean asked moving a little closer to the end of the bed, 'does he need a Frankenstein boot? Coz he's a big enough sasquatch as it is.'

'Think he'll be fine walking on his own Dean,' the therapist laughed, 'okay now down to business. We're going to take things nice and slow for ya Sam we need to make sure that we can strengthen your muscles without disturbing the surgical site.' Julie supported Sam's ankle and his knee before slowly pushing his lower left leg towards his torso, she held it for two seconds and then slowly brought it back. After repeating the same action five times, she repeated the process on his right leg, 'gotta make sure that both legs are strong or you'll walk funny.'

'Ya mean funnier than usual don't ya Julie?' Dean teased Sam lightly, 'can't ya see the size of those flippers.'

'Oh funny Dean.' Sam retorted happy to be distracted for a few minutes from the discomfort. 'At least I got man sized feet and not little kiddie sized.'

Julie laughed as she listened to the affectionate teasing, she could feel Sam physically relax while his brother kept him distracted from what she was doing. 'Okay Sam that's it for today,' she announced placing his ankle back into the traction sling, 'Dean can you help Sam do the stretches twice a day every day, morning and late afternoon preferably.'

'Yep I can.' Dean nodded all signs of his teasing gone as he listened to the instructions for Sammy's care, 'no probs at all Julie.'

'I'll see you again at the end of the week Sam,' Julie patted his good leg, 'you get some rest okay.'

'Yes ma'am.' Sam managed to get out between yawns, 'thanks Julie.'

S—D

Max slipped on the white lab coat and picked up the clipboard, he checked himself once again in the mirror; he tried to hide the IV port with a crepe bandage under the long sleeve. He rummaged through the changing rooms for the male staff and found a pair of shoes that were close enough in sizes to fit him, he had no socks but that didn't matter.

He had one objective and that was to get into the ICU room of Sam Winchester to re-establish the connection he had with the kid and then to extract him and his brother from the hospital. How he was not sure of just yet but it will come to him.

'Shame you became expendable Max,' Max heard his own voice but knew it wasn't him speaking and then it dawned on him. Pitt was using him as a meat-suit. 'Very good Max, you see I just don't have the time to do your plan so I decided to modify it a little.' The demon possessed man smirked, his eyes flashing yellow before returning to the dull dark brown once again. 'Time to go to work, Doctor.'

TBC