A/N: So I know this chapter is rather short, and incredibly late and I hope ScaredofPennies will forgive me for my stupid writer's block. The next update will be up fairly soon though, and it will also be the last chapter in this installment.
Hope y'all enjoy it!
-x-
THROUGH FIRE
Chapter 6
It was early.
Not that it bothered Dean even in the slightest sense, since he had difficulty getting any sleep these days. If he closed his eyes, that pang of guilt would resurface yet again. The dread of being asleep when something could happen to Sam drowned out all sleep from him.
But what was he supposed to do?
All that seemed to be left for him to do was sit and wait, trying to somehow get through to Sam through words and slight touches.
Sam's state almost made him shatter, but then he remembered that this was his little brother. This was the person he was responsible for. He couldn't break when Sam's life was on the line, or if there was just the slightest chance that he would wake up.
But that morning there had also been something, something that had finally indicated signs of improvement. It shocked him, because Dean could honestly say that he could no longer remember how long it had been since he'd seen something remotely positive since Sam had ended up in the hospital.
Well, it sure sounded positive to him.
And it was all because Sam had moved.
And yeah, it wasn't by much – he knew that. But those cover of his, that were always like cocoon around him were all out of place. Sam was no longer lying in that still and rigid position he usually never slept in. When Dean woke up he'd been sleeping in that position that Dean was used to seeing. After all, he'd seen Sam sleeping that way for as long as he could remember. That position where he lay curled at his side, making him look like twelwe instead of his actual twenty-two.
Now, if only he would open his eyes.
Sam's doctor hadn't been as positive as Dean felt, telling him that this was usual and to be expected and that it didn't "have to" mean anything. For someone so adamant that Dean should have hope he sure wasn't inspiring much positivity.
But when it came down to it, who gave a damn what anyone thought, when a movement was always a movement. Who really gave a damn when there was that slight chance that he had actually gotten though to his brother – or the fact that maybe somehow, someone would help his little brother to find his way back to him.
Well, he could hope.
oooOOOooo
It had to be dream, and dreams weren't real.
Everyone knew that.
Dean had been telling him that ever since he could remember.
"It's not real, Sammy. It's just a bad dream."
But standing there, a small part of him was hoping that it was real. Hoping that she was real, and that she wasn't just something he had conjured up out of nowhere.
Because there was a difference now, from when he thought that the Fear Demon had been the real Jess. She was different.
Where there had been ice and cold fury there was just that familiar warm glow, coming off in waves. Because this was the Jessica he remembered. The girl with the bluest eyes, so blue that he was sure he sometimes saw the dust of the stars there, right before her lips would curve upwards into a smile. And if he could he knew that when they were about to kiss, she would still taste of summer and strawberries - just as she was standing there before him, solid and beautiful.
But he still couldn't believe how lame he sounded when he finally uttered a sentence. "Who are you?"
She raised an eyebrow that almost sent a chill down his spine, because how many times hadn't he seen her do that when she was teasing him. "You'll have to figure out that by yourself."
Sam looked down as his mouth curved into a grin, before finding his way up into her eyes again. It was too weird, almost freaky how he almost didn't know how to produce a smile and now he had to actually work hard to remember how to do it.
"Well," he whispered. "I could never forget you." Sam winced at how lame that really sounded.
But it was still true.
"I know," she said quietly, her eyes not leaving his.
It was like that first moment they'd met, and everything had just been there. Sam hadn't even noticed what it was, but now when she was gone it was just coming back screaming in his face.
And it was just like that poem that she loved, about two ships passing each other as they were sailing the open sea. But no matter how many oceans they sailed they still ended up in the same place.
It was only now that he began to understand the meaning of it.
"Jess..."
"Yeah?"
"Is this a dream?"
"No," she breathed out. "It's not."
oooOOOooo
TBC