Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Cold Ch. 23
Author's Note: I'm not totally pleased with this chapter, but I didn't want to keep you waiting for it.
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Previously: Walking into the living room, Jefferson had to smile at the sight of Dean sitting on the couch with Sammy's head pillowed in his lap as the oldest unconsciously carded his fingers through Sam's long hair. He was glad to know the brothers were still as dedicated to each other as he remembered. Sam was definitely going to need his brother's support in the coming weeks.
Once Jefferson had left, Bobby went in search of the items that Jefferson had mentioned Sam would need to start his therapy. He remembered placing the building blocks he had bought for Sammy when he was a two year old in one of the hallway closets, now all he had to do was find them. Walking upstairs, he started pulling items from the closet as he searched for the wooden blocks with letters and animals imprinted on them. "I know they're in here ." Bobby grumbled as he threw things out of the way. Finally clearing most of the junk from the closet, his eyes landed on an old wooden chest. This was the place had hoped to someday store his own children's toys, but it was never meant to be. Opening the lid, he smiled as at the sight of the blocks sitting in there nestled amongst toy cars and action figures along with a few children's books the Winchester boys had collected over the years while staying at his place. Carefully removing the blocks, he closed the lid and packed the closet back up.
Returning downstairs, he placed the blocks in the utility room where they would be within easy reach for when they were needed later that evening. Knowing that he would need to make a grocery run before dinner to pick up the health foods mentioned, he went into the living room where the Winchesters were sitting as they kept watch over their youngest who had fallen asleep from the comforting motion of Dean's fingers carding through his hair. Smiling at the sight, he said, "I need to pick up a few things for tonight's dinner. Is there anything you guys need before I go?"
"Yeah Bobby, how about picking up some hamburger so we can grill out tonight. I'm in the mood for a juicy burger loaded with onions and ketchup." Dean answered with his mouth already watering at the thought of such a delectable meal.
"Sorry Ace, but you're going to have to settle for baked chicken tonight. Jefferson said that Sammy needs to be eating healthier so we'll be eating organically raised types of foods for the foreseeable future."
"Aw Bobby, you've got be kidding me. I can't survive on health foods, I mean come on. At least bring me back something fattening to snack on like M&M's." Dean stated cringing at the thought of having to eat organic meats and vegetables.
"Bobby's right Dean. It won't be fair to Sammy to eat foods that he can't have. You can deal with it for a couple of weeks. Who knows, it might even grow on ya." John smirked knowing damn well it was going to drive Dean nuts.
"Yeah right." Dean stated in a whispered voice as he felt Sammy's head shifting in his lap not wanting to wake him brother up. Placing his hand on Sam's chest to let him know everything was okay, he felt Sam settle into sleep once again.
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Later that day, Bobby had just finished cooking their evening meal when he stepped out onto the porch to call the Winchester's to dinner. John and Dean had been working on repairing a 1968 SS Camaro that needed to be ready for a classic car show in two weeks while Sammy sat on the front porch swing petting his guard dog Rumsfeld. Returning to the kitchen, he grabbed some plates from the cupboard and had just placed them on the table when he heard the Winchesters entering. "Go get yourselves washed up." Bobby told them as he snatched some glasses from the cabinet and placed them by the plates.
The Winchesters quickly did as instructed then returned to the kitchen to find that Bobby had placed a meal of oven baked chicken and brown rice, steamed broccoli and mashed potatoes onto the table. Bobby knew that he had to make something other than the rice and broccoli or poor Dean would have probably starved to death. Instructing everybody to "dig in" Bobby walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out the carton of apple juice that he had bought to go with the meal.
Knowing that it would be hard for Sam to fix his own plate, John reached over to get his youngest son's plate and then placed a piece of chicken, a scoop of rice and a scoop of broccoli onto it before sitting it in front of his baby boy. "Sammy, I want you to try and eat most of that." John informed his youngest as he began fixing his own plate.
"Yes Sir" Sam replied as he picked up the piece of chicken and took a small bite. He knew his family would be watching him closely to monitor how much he ate. He just hoped he would be able to eat it and then keep it down with the way his stomach was feeling. Watching as Dean filled his own plate, his eyes grew huge as he watched him place some of the steamed broccoli onto his own plate. Dean never ate anything green unless it came on a Subway sandwich.
As Dean stood fixing his plate, he could see the hesitant look on Sam's face as he bit into the chicken. Figuring he needed to find some way to occupy Sam's mind and get it off the food he was eating, he reached out to place a scoop of broccoli onto his plate hoping he would be able to choke it down.
"Dean, you're not seriously planning on eating that are you?" Sam questioned as he saw the look Dean gave the steamed vegetable as he placed it on his plate before taking a bite of the broccoli himself.
"Sure I am kiddo." Dean stated as he forked a big piece and placed it into his mouth and started chewing with a smile. It didn't take long however for that smile to leave his face once the taste of the steamed broccoli assaulted his taste buds causing his eyes to water and his nose to wrinkle in disgust.
Laughing, Sam watched as his brother quickly pushed back his chair and bolted for the trash can to spit out the foul tasting food.
Returning to the table, Dean wiped his mouth before looking at the others. "M'sorry, I tried but I just can't stomach that mess."
"Dean, it's okay. I know you only tried because of me. I don't expect you to eat things you don't like." Sam said trying to make his brother feel better as he continued munching on his own food.
"Thanks tiger." Dean said with a grin as he raked the broccoli off of his plate and filled the area with mashed potatoes. Now that was food he could chow down on. Starting a monologue on the benefits of eating potatoes, he was happy to see that Sam had already eaten at least half of his food.
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Once the evening meal had been finished and the dishes had been washed, John decided that it was time to start working on Sam's physical therapy. He hadn't mentioned it to Sammy yet knowing that his son would get upset once he found out what they wanted him to do. Having Bobby retrieve the blocks, John walked into the living room where Dean was currently cleaning their guns as Sammy handed him the stuff he needed. Sitting in the chair across from his boys, John cleared his throat to get their attention.
"Yeah dad?" Dean questioned as he placed the weapon he was cleaning down on the table and he and Sam focused their full attention on John.
"Boys…Sammy, when Jefferson was here earlier this morning, he said we needed to start working on your physical therapy. He, uh, gave us some ideas that would be helpful in getting your hand back in shape. John stated as he picked at a hole in the knee of his jeans.
"What kind of ideas?" Sam, questioned wondering what had his dad so nervous. John didn't have the chance to answer however as Bobby walked into the room and placed the toddler blocks on the table in front of Sam.
"Oh hell no." Sam objected as he eyed the blocks with disdain. "If you think I'm going to play with baby blocks, then you have another think coming."
"Sammy, Jefferson said that manipulating the blocks would help train your hand to start making grasping motions again kiddo. It's for your own good that we want you to start working with the blocks." John said as he tried to persuade Sam to understand.
"I said no damn it. I am not playing with some damn baby toys." Sam yelled as he used his good hand to sweep them off the table before standing up and stomping off to his and Dean's room upstairs, grumbling about being treated like a baby enough already.
"Well that went well." Bobby voiced as he pulled off his ball cap and ran his fingers through his hair.
"You guys seriously didn't think Sam would be all for working with the blocks did ya?" Dean questioned with a roll of his eyes. "You know Sam hates being treated like an invalid enough already as it is. Those blocks just cemented the fact that that is how you guys are thinking of him right now."
"That's not how we meant it Dean and you know it. We we're just trying to help." John explained as he glanced toward the stairs wondering how they were going to fix things now.
"Yeah, well you went about it the wrong way." Dean enunciated as he gathered the blocks together and placed them into the bag again and then left the room to try and make things right.
"I hope he can fix things and get Sammy to working with those blocks." John stated as he watched Dean walking up the steps. He knew if anybody could do it, it would be Dean. Hell, he should have known to let Dean approach the matter with Sammy in the first place.
Knocking on the door, Dean called out, "Sammy, it's me dude." Before opening the door and walking into the room to find his brother brooding on the bed. Walking over and taking a seat on the edge of the bed, Dean said, "Sam, Dad and Bobby were just trying to help. They're concerned about you tiger."
"Leave me alone Dean." Sam mumbled as he turned his head away and stared at the wall. He didn't feel like talking right now and just wanted to be left alone.
"Sorry kiddo, I can't do that." Dean replied as he placed a hand on Sam's knee and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I know how important this therapy is for you to regain full use of your hand and I'm not going to let you give up." Dean told his brother as he began to stack the blocks into a fort like shape on Sam's bed.
"Hey Sammy, you remember when we were little and used to play army games. I would always built up these cool looking forts using these blocks only to have you tear them down with your cannon fire just moments later. We used to have so much fun back then. Bobby even joined in a few battles with us. Of course we always won the battle when he went up against us." Dean touted as he continued working on his fort.
Watching from the side of his eye, he noticed that Sam was finally showing an interest in what he was doing. "You know, I could use some help here dude." Dean informed him as he placed another block. He held his breath as Sam chewed on his bottom lip, contemplating what to do. Finally he watched as Sam reached out to grasp a block with his splinted hand.
Placing his hand near a block, Sam focused on getting his fingers to bend and grasp it. He hissed as the movement caused pain to shoot through his hand, but didn't give up. Finally wrapping his fingers around the block, he smiled as he lifted it and placed it where he thought it needed to go.
"Way to go Sammy." Dean encouraged as he instructed Sam to pick up another block and place it on top of the one he had just put into position. He watched and encouraged Sam to continue helping for the next thirty minutes when he felt like the pain was becoming too much for his brother.
"I think that's enough work for today tiger. Why don't you let me massage that hand of yours and then we'll watch a little television. Tomorrow, I'll have dad or Bobby run into town and pick up some more blocks so we can challenge them to see who can build the best fort." Dean said as he began to gently massage the pain out of his baby brother's hand. He knew the best way to keep Sam involved with the therapy was to make a game or challenge out of it, thereby making it more interesting to do.
TBC