A/N: Thanks so much for keeping me in your thoughts concerning my Grandma. I'm so grateful to have you all in my corner. Anyway, it is done, except for cleaning out her things and getting the house ready to rent.

Anyway, here is another chapter. They start to deal with the repercussions of Sam's time in the tomb. Hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 5: Tears On A River

Joshua pulled the truck around to the motel room they'd secured before Sam's rescue. The Impala sat, gleaming dully under the light from the doorway. Joshua slid from the driver's seat and opened the back, taking Sam from Dean. The oldest Winchester slid from the seat and pulled his pistol, walking up to the motel room and clearing it before motioning for Joshua to bring Sam inside.

"He's really burnin' up. Might as well kill two birds with one stone and clean 'im up while we're gettin' his temp down." Josh said, walking into the room, Sam across his shoulders.

"Yeah." Dean put his pistol on the table in the corner of the room and went to the bathroom, running cool water into the bathtub. As the water was running, he came back into the bedroom and unpacked some clothing from Sam's bag, clean boxers, a tee and sleep pants. He walked them into the bathroom, laying them neatly folded on the toilet seat. He walked back to the bedroom. Dean followed Josh into the bathroom and together the two of them removed Sam's shoes and lowered him fully clothed into the half full tub. Sam's back arched, his eyes flying wide open as he tried to fight his way out of the tub.

"Whoa, easy Sam." Sam's blue greens were wide, glassy with fear and fever. Tears streamed from them, washing dirt from his face, the droplets falling into the tub to be dissipated in the torrent of Sam's splashing. Dean wrapped his arms around his brother and held him down, tears building in his own greens as Sam fought, whimpering and crying, all the while Dean was soothingly muttering in his brother's ear. He finally stilled, too exhausted to fight, and he just sobbed with his head buried in Dean's neck while Dean took off the filthy, sodden over shirt. "Okay Josh, I can get him. Call Bobby, let him know we got Sammy."

Dean used a washcloth to gently clean Sam's arms, face and hair. He ran the cloth over Sam's tee shirt, dislodging the crust of filth, watching with worry as the water turned a grayish pink. "Easy Sammy. You're okay now. I'm right here. I just need to look ya over." Dean felt the heat coming from Sam's temple where it met his neck, still worryingly high. Dean felt a tap on his shoulder and glanced up to see Joshua holding out a pair of scissors. Dean nodded, still hanging on to Sam, running water over his face and neck again, cringing at the smell it was taking on. Joshua wordlessly eased the scissors up Sam's pants cuff and began cutting. Sam jumped when the cold blade touched his thigh, but remained silent, breathing ragged, face still turned into Dean. Soon his filthy jeans were discarded, water sloshing over bruises and dirt, loosening the latter, and allowing Dean to wash it away. Josh soundlessly walked out of the room. Finally Dean began to feel the heat from Sam lessen somewhat, his brother beginning to shiver, although he himself was sweating profusely.

"Josh?" Dean called softly, absorbing Sam's flinch with one of his own.

"What do ya need, Ace?" The hunter asked from the doorway, deep voice pitched low salt canister in his hand.

"Let the water out. Maybe run some more, a little warmer?" Joshua walked around Dean to the spigot and turned on warm water, reaching in and pulling the plug as he let it run, stirring up the layer of sediment that had settled on the bottom in a scummy film. Satisfied that the water would be a little cleaner, Josh put the plug back in and warm water began to filter in around Sam's body, easing his shivering. Sam's head rolled away from Dean's neck, eyes closing as he gave in to exhaustion, giving Dean the opportunity to shift positions and ease the strain on his legs. Dean sat on the rim of the tub, watching as the water rose to a level he could reach. He saw Sam's tee clinging to his abs, thinner than he remembered from just ten days ago.

The material was becoming suspended in the water, floating slightly and it edged up, showing Dean the perimeter of a nasty looking redness. Josh saw it too and lifted the shirt, his eyes widening briefly.

"What?"

"Wound on his stomach. Not deep but bad. Damn things been cauterized. It's infected."

Dean began moving again, a little quicker as he ran some soap over Sam's exposed skin, the washcloth lathering as it wiped away the remainder of the grime. Dean ran the cloth over Sam's hair and rinsed the suds from the cloth, running it back over to take the soap from Sam's chocolate locks. "This'll have to do until he can do it himself." Joshua let the water out again, grabbed two towels from the rack, handing one to Dean, he began to rub water from Sam's legs, seeing all of the bruises. Anger at the treatment of someone he considered family burned through his veins. Josh's hands stayed deceptively gentle, but as Dean glanced up, he saw the set of the man's face, how tense his wide shoulders were.

"Hey, man. I'm gonna get him into some dry clothes. You have that big med kit in your truck, right?"

"Yeah."

"Grab it, will ya? I think we might need it." Dean gave the hunter the out he needed to get some air.

"Sammy?" Dean jostled his brother softly. "Hey buddy?" Sam's face tightened in pain. "Sorry Sammy, but we gotta getcha patched up." His eyes finally opened to washed out slits, just before clenching tightly shut, his chapped lips parting in a gasp of pain.

"It's okay, jus' keep 'em closed." Dean eased his brother out of the tub, wrapping a towel around his shoulders. He draped another towel around Sam's waist and helped him out of one pair of boxers and into another. He cut Sam's tee away, putting the towel around his bare shoulders more securely, then helped him into the loose fitting flannel pants. By that time Sam was stifling pained moans, high spots of crimson on his cheeks the only color in his waxen face. Dean felt Sam sag into him and caught him, both of them nearly going to the hard tile floor.

"Whoa easy!"

"Ace?"

"Help Josh!" Dean held his brother up and fisted his damp hair gently. "You're gonna be okay. Don't care what anyone says, you're still heavy even if you are half starved, Sasquatch."

Joshua came into the bathroom and took half of Sam's weight, while letting Dean control the situation. Together they got Sam to the bed and eased him down. Turning on the bedside lamp, Dean's worry spiked when the light hit Sam and he didn't flinch. Shaking fingers went to a pulse.

"He's alright Dean. Passed out is all." Josh gently touched the wound on Sam's abdomen, seeing fluid build up beneath the ugly scab. He pushed around the edges of it watching the crust, softened by water, crack and pus ooze from the wound. "We'll have to drain it."

Josh turned and dug in his large medical kit, pulling out gauze, forceps and disinfectant. He pulled a small knife from his pocket, a toothpick, opening the thin, razor sharp blade. He doused it with disinfectant and leaned over Sam, pulling the gooseneck of the bedside lamp over him to cut the shadows. Dean stopped him as he lowered the knife.

"I got it Josh." Dean took the blade and carefully split the soft scab, cringing at the yellowish goo and blood that bubbled up. A sickly smell filled Dean's nostrils and his face paled, but he carried on, taking the edges of the scab with the tip of the knife and slowly peeling them back. Joshua handed him gauze soaked in disinfectant, clenched in the forceps. Dean mopped the wound, forcing himself to become detached as the gauze soaked up green and yellow, tipped in fresh red and froth like a grotesque rose from a nightmare.

Dean dropped the gauze into the wastebasket that Joshua offered, hands shaking. "Step back, Ace."

"'M alright."

"Dean."

"Okay!" Dean bellowed, turning away from the hunter, scrubbing a hand over his stubble. Josh stared after Dean for a second before turning his attention to Sam's seeping wound. He worked the tools, getting still more infection from Sam's body.

"Dean." He said several minutes later. Dean stood straight from where he leaned against the wall, foot propped against the wallpaper. "Get me the whiskey outta the kit."

Dean pulled the flask and small glass from the kit and handed it to Josh, who capped it with his teeth, pouring some into the glass. "Gettin' to ya too?"

Joshua's lips thinned. "Never blamed ya, kid. It's gonna get to us a whole lot more in a few minutes."

"What? Why?"

"There's somethin' in there." The hunter had no more than finished the words when Sam stirred on the bed, his mouth tightening. Dean leaned over and put a comfortingly cool hand on Sam's heated forehead.

"Shh, just stay out Sammy." The youngest Winchester stilled beneath his brother's touch.

Joshua poured more disinfectant on the forceps, knife and Sam's wound, mopping up pus, foam and blood with gauze. He put the point of the knife into the wound, feeling it hit something hard about an inch beneath the surface. "Good, doesn't look like it went beneath his abdominal wall. Means it's stuck in muscle and not his intestines."

Sam moaned and stirred on the bed. "Dean, he's comin' round. You're gonna have to hold him down. This ain't gonna be a cake walk."

Dean huffed a tense laugh. "He always did have lousy timin'."

Will shoot for another post at the weekend. Leave a review!