Review time!
LeighAnnWallace: Thank you so much for your positive support the entire series! I hope you'll like this edition ;)
PsychoPicasso: I'm glad you enjoyed the chappies so far!
Tacpebs: … heheheh, I'm glad I got a scare out of you! Hahaha!
Moira4eku: I want to keep them as in-character as possible and I'm glad it's working so far, I'm always worried about that! Thank you so much for your review!
Kaunet: Yeah, but I figured Dr. Sexy is more of a 'Supernatural-canon' than ER… then again, Dean watches Oprah, so… meh! Writer's creativity LOL
Sesshomaru-gal: Thanks so much! I want to finish this series in the next four chapters so… wish me luck ;D
Rosetta Brunestud: Added some Sammy-anxiety just for you ;) LOL, this chapter was so much fun to write! Thank you so much for all your lovely reviews so far!
ChevyImpalla1967: Ugh. I hate hospitals do, (LOL Don't we all xD). I wanted to centre THAT around this and the next chapter… which always makes for some fun Sam-improvisation :D
A special shout-out to mzz… your reviews totally made my day and I just HAD to update ASAP. I got hit with a stupid case of writers-block for a while, and your reviews just killed it! Thank you so much! I really appreciate your support!
AN: There's a very possible inaccuracy in the geography or distance between the cities and locations, so bear with me ^^;;; I don't know the layout of the US that well.
.
.
Sam's not freaking out.
.
.
The streetlamps flash by faster and faster. Riverfalls doesn't have a hospital and the closest one is in Boston... maybe.
So, Sam doesn't try to slow down and avoid the possibility of blue bloods following them.
Not when Dean's sporting a pretty good fever, judging by the sweat running down his face and the strained expression on his face.
"Dean! You okay, man?" Sam doesn't take his eyes off the road though.
"Hmm… "
If Dean's foregoing their dad's advice of always answering the question, "Are you okay?". Yeah… then he's probably feeling shittier than he's letting show.
'How did I not see Dean's this sick?! Why didn't I pay more attention?!' Sam's thoughts constantly drifts back to that. He looks over to Dean for a second and instantly starts padding the floor with his right hand for a bottle of water.
At his feet. Behind his seat. 'Got one!' the first thought in Sam's mind… which quickly followed with the realisation that there was a complete lack of water in the water bottle. So, he kept searching. On the back seat. Behind Dean's seat. Nothing.
'Where the hell did I leave it?!' Sam thinks angrily and feels around at Dean's feet for the bottle.
"Hey, baby-" Dean says in his I'm-sexy-and-I-know-it voice (the one that grosses Sam out), grins sleepily and burrows himself deeper in his seat.
Finally Sam's fingertips find the neck of the bottle, he checks to see if the road's clear ahead and quickly dives down to grab it.
Unfortunately, Dean's miraculously awake in that split second and all he's seeing is the Impala veering sideways, "WHAT THE – SAM!?" he bats Sam's head, "THE HELL?!"
Sam finally straightens up with the bottle of water in hand and straightens the car out, "What? I've got it under control!"
"You have WHAT under contr-" and before Dean could even finish that sentence, he slaps a hand over his mouth, "Sick!"
And that was all Sam needs to hear before he veers to the side, applying the brakes as fast as he dares and quickly opens Dean's door for him.
Maybe it's the years and years of training with John, or maybe it's the countless hangovers Dean's experienced over the years… well… whatever it is, it's got him to keep the lunch down and only toss the cookies once the door's open and the road lines have come to a complete standstill.
And maybe, it's the years and years of training with Dean, or maybe it's the countless hangovers he had to help Dean recover from… but Sam firmly plugs his ears for the first round, to stop getting sick himself. A good trick, especially when you're trying to help your brother through the rest.
When the initial retching sounds recede, Sam reaches down to the side of his seat and pops the trunk. He slowly opens door and walks over to the back of the Impala.
Right now, Dean's just coughing… Sam knows there's just one more cough to – there it is. And, both of them know, Dean's good. He's done and he's good.
Sam doesn't even bother digging in the trunk for a washcloth, face-towel or anything like that; instead he grabs the first shirt he sees, dunks water on it and walks over to Dean's side.
"All clear," Dean's raspy voice calls out and motions Sam closer.
One step closer though from Sam though and Dean puts his hand to stop him. Another retching cough came from somewhere in Dean's small intestine that had Sam's own gag reflex reacting.
When Dean finally sits up again a second later, he shoots Sam a glare, 'Are you kidding me?! I'm sick! You're not SUPPOSED to get sick too!' and all of THAT managed to fit into one solidly placed hairy-eyeball from the older brother.
"Sorry," Sam mumbles and walks over to his brother and jams the tee on Dean's forehead. Sam's really sorry though when the sudden impact made Dean double over and groan –loudly.
'Should I call Bobby? … no… he'll probably be busy… Pastor Jim- nooo … no… Who else?' Sam thinks frantically, wishing he'd get a premonition or something that'll help him.
"Wher-where are we?" Dean finally mumbles, his muscles start twitching from holding the tee in place. He's not even trying to sit upright anymore, he's hunches over and even that seems painful.
"Halfway to Bo-"
"-Jeez, Sam… This shirt smells like old nachos…"
Promising himself that he won't let Dean's moodiness get to him anymore, Sam continued, "Halfway to Boston," he pauses to let it sink in for a second, "Riverfalls doesn't have a hospital so I -"
"-Whoa, whow, ho – HOSPITAL? Why the hell are we going to a hospital?!" Dean growls and unfolds the tee to get one of the colder sides to his forehead, "When did you get sick? Why didn't you let me drive?"
…. Worst part is… Dean's not even being sarcastic.
"Are you kidding me?!" Sam snaps, noticing how Dean's flinching at the sound now, "Who did I just have to pull the car over for, huh? Whose backwash am I going to have to clean out of the Impala?!"
Dean's eyes widen and gasps, but before he whips around, Sam stops him by grabbing hold of Dean's head.
"Just kidding, kidding…" Sam all grins, but when he has to lurch forwards to grab Dean under the armpits to stop him from face-planting… yeah, not the kind of lightening-the-mood Sam hoped for.
Dean's out cold this time as Sam manages to wrangle him back in the passenger seat and close the door –making sure to side-step the gross-yosity on the pavement as Sam makes his way back to the driver's seat.
Wetting the tee some more with the remainder of the water, he chucks the empty container in the trunk before shutting it.
Two more hours to Boston. Just two more hours.
He climbs back in, slowly folding the tee to make sure the coldest side is on the outside and lowers it to Dean's forehead. He considers his options for second… driving down to Bobby's… calling Dad… calling an ambulance.
Finally, Sam just shrugs and slowly reclines Dean's chair, making sure the only thing that's keeping Dean's temp down from boiling isn't falling off.
Dean's still asleep though, curled into his right side and has his knees tucked up to his chin. He's not even snoring, it's just one of those deep sleeps Dean usually only gets when he's just returned from a particularly grim hunt.
Sam couldn't help but see that as a good sign.
Twenty minutes later… "Ugh…Sam?" Dean's awake again.
"Yeah?"
"What hap-pened to the w-werewolf?" Dean mumbles and cringes suddenly, grabbing his side.
"You shot it," Sam says and smiles a bit to himself, "Totally saved my ass too."
The younger Winchester was aiming for a one of those speeches that totally explains Dean's raging super-ego… but the effect was a bit dumbed down when all he got back was drawn out silence and Dean's deep breathing.
Every few minutes Sam keeps checking Dean's fever, and each time it's like a new plateau was reached. And, like all Winchesters, they all resort to the same thing when they're basically boiling from the inside out.
"Where are we going?" aka. the next round of questioning.
Sam knows it's the fever, so he adjusts the cloth and answers anyway, "To the hospital." And he has to consciously ease off the lead foot he's got on the Impala's accelerator.
"…. Did you… ugh… get sick or something?" Dean blinks his eyes for a second and yawns but the yawn is cut short with another cringe. Dean's white-knuckling his side, but he's still the damned older brother, so he asks, "Do you w-want me to drive?"
'That's the second time… psh, Yeah, like you can drive when you're half asleep, raging a fever and probably need emergency surgery…' Sam thinks morbidly, but he answers differently, "No, thanks, man. You should get some sleep…"
"Jus…" another yawn breaks Dean's concentration and he's left blankly gaping for a minute, "What was I talking about?"
"You said you wanted to check out Palmer Park later tonight…" Sam tests the feverish waters of Dean's memory.
"Yeah… we'll go around eleven… you'll wake me up, right?" Dean says and tugs his jacket closer to him –ignoring the twigs and crap that still stuck to it from lying in the dirt earlier on.
"Yeah… promise," and Sam knows they're royally screwed. If the fever's messing up Dean's memories and time then it has to be over at least a hundred-and-two.
But stopping the Impala now isn't an option. He can't go rummaging through the trunk hoping they packed a spare packet of aspirin or something in the trunk, since the first-aid kit is still in the motel's bathroom. Shit!
Two hours later they finally pull up to Boston's entrance. The city still looking awake as it did in the morning. Flashing lights and billboard signs light up the roadways and detours as Sam starts searching for the hospital. 'Cause, a place like Boston HAS to have one, right?!
Doubts starts seeping in on the fifth spaghetti-junction when nothing they've passed even relates to medical care. Liquor store; nursery; church; butchery; café; café; car-dealers; air-conditioning repairs; church; adult shops. And no bloody –shut up, don't say bloody! …. Hospitals.
Sam almost slams on the brakes when he takes a left and spots the words HOSP- on the right…only, Dean won't appreciate being taken there and Sam's sure a hospice won't be able to handle this kind of emergency.
And then it hits Sam again. The only think he could possibly consider at this point is appendicitis. It's the only probably cause that has Dean doubled-over like this. And, even Sam had it as a kid, which meant that Dean was probably bound to get it sooner or later anyway.
THERE! Sam takes a sharp turn into the Boston Community Hospital and parks the chevy as close to the main doors as he could.
"Dean, Dean!" Sam slowly shakes Dean's shoulder, trying to rouse him, "Get up, man."
"Five more minutes…" Dean grumbles and, even in his sleep, gives a cough that suddenly turns into a dry heave.
Somehow, that Dean doesn't wake up from that, freaks Sam out more than seeing Dean get sick.
Sam slides out of the Impala and starts praying as he rounds the corner, 'Please don't let Dean wake up yet' as he opens Dean's door and picks him up, out of the car.
The walk isn't far, but carrying Dean around? The only reason Sam's not yet completely red in the face is because Dean's sick and Sam's not about to make him worse by letting him walk to the damned hospital. Letting Dean WALK to the very place he'd much rather die than go in? Yeah. Sam's not a cold-hearted ass.
The security guard at the door spots the pair and calls in the emergency team. The youngest brother didn't even notice the weight he was carrying until they were wheeling his brother off to the ICU. A weight. A dead weight. Dead.
After splashing the ice-water he got from the cafeteria on his face, Sam's got a better hold of things. He runs the tap of the bathroom and splashes his face a few more times, trying to get himself to calm down.
'Dean's alright. He's in ICU right now. They'll take care of him.'
Only… Dean's not alright. Not even close. Wasn't it just over three months ago when Dean had that heart attack? Who says that reaper actually fully healed him? Who says this isn't BECAUSE of what that thing did to Dean?!
"You alright there, son?"
"I'm fine, dad…" Sam answers automatically, not even recognising the words before they'd left his lips. When he looks up in the mirror to see the reflection, he blinks away the forming tears, "…. Dad…?"
Thanks for reading! Please drop me a pm or a review if you liked it!