Now this chapter was tough! But I finally go there! So please enjoy
Please forgive all mistakes they're mine alone.
A/N: Thanks to all the lovely people who left a review, favorited, followed or just read my little story, it really helps me to get the next chapter out as fast as I can.
Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or any of the wonderful characters that I am taking on this journey.
Chapter 5 - Just like riding a bike!
"It's all my fault!" Sam cry's out "Oh my god... I killed her" he whispers in self recrimination.
Dean is shocked by the guilt he can feel coming off his little brother in waves. "No Sammy, that's not true, it was that evil sonuvab#tch demon who killed her, not you!"
"How do you know? You weren't there!" Sam yells, with a burst of anger at his brother, at himself, at the way his life has turned out "I thought it was a dream... that he was a dream, but he wasn't and because of my stupidity, she's gone" Sam is crying now, tears streaming down his face.
Sam gulps in a breath, trying to rein in his emotions "I'd had nightmares since I was a kid, so when I dreamed about him while I was at Stanford, I thought it was just a figment of my imagination you know, stress related, or something, I mean how was I to know he was the same demon that took mum from us, you have to believe me, I swear I didn't know!" Sam puts his head in his hands and sobs.
Bobby shakes his head worriedly, Sam was creeping down that road again, the lonely road of despair. "Sam... son I know you think you've finally connected all the dots but maybe, just maybe you're layin the blame on the wrong person"
He kneels down in front of the man who, in his heart, he sees as his own son. "Now I'd really like to get to the bottom of this, but, we have company and we gotta get our heads on straight."
"Come on Sam, you have something we want!" unwelcome voices from the yard outside broke the moment, three sets of eyes dart to the front door, there is silence for a moment then a projectile comes smashing through the front window, showering glass all over the occupants, making them duck for cover. As suddenly as it came into the room, smoke starts spewing from the offending object, "SH#T!"
The three hunters start coughing and scrunching their eyes tight, there is a loud bang from the front door when one of the demons comes smashing into the house with a sledge hammer, unknowingly braking the devils trap under the rug and allowing the demons into the house. One of them moves into the lounge room towards them, seeing Bobby and Dean passed out on the couch and Sam, who had made a dive out of his wheelchair to the floor was splayed on the floor, with his legs still tangled in the chair.
"Ah, there you are! I was starting to think you were ignoring me on purpose" Sam groans and starts to roll onto his stomach so he can push up onto his arms and move away from the intruders but the demon grabs him by the front of his shirt and with superhuman strength lifts him up to tower above him, his tight hold on Sam's shirt cutting off the circulation causing him to gasp and bring his hands up to futilely try to remove the hands strangling him. "You're going to tell me where she is right now, or you get to watch your friends die!"
Meanwhile the other demon starts dragging Bobby and Dean to the floor and begins to tie them up.
"NO!, Please! Leave them the hell alone!" Sam grunts out in fear.
"Then why don't you tell me where the girl is and maybe I'll let you live"
"Go to Hell!" Sam spits out "What do you want with her anyway?"
"Thats for me to know and you to find out" the demon states mockingly "Lets just say that the boss isn't very happy with you, Winchester"
The man throws him across the room into a bookcase. Sam falls to a heap on the floor, books and knick knacks fall on top of him making him groan, then he falls silent.
His attacker walks towards his brother and says "Maybe I'll have better luck with Deano!" He bends down and grabs him similarly to Sam and starts to choke him.
In a quiet voice Sam starts reciting a prayer that he thought useless at the time, but like most other things from his childhood, had been seared into his brain "Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio..."
"Stop! Or you'll never see her again!" The demon threatens.
Sam continues "...infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, et secta diabolica. Ergo draco maledicte et sectio..."
Suddenly the ringleaders companion is on him, punching him in the ribs and face, again and again, then a kick to the stomach which momentarily forces the air out if his lungs.
He gasps "...E..ergo draco maledicte et legio secta diabolica" Sam swallows, trying to take a deep breath but is unable as his ribs angrily protest, rendering them as useless to giving him a much needed supply of oxygen. The demon attaching him, has to stop from the pain of what the chant is doing to him.
Sam recites the final sentence in almost a whisper as his vision starts to grey out around the edges and his voice sounds like he is under water "Ut Ecclésiam tuam secúra tibi fácias servire libertáte, te rogámus, audi nos. Amen"
Suddenly, black smoke comes shooting out of the duo simultaneously, making the room dark as night and then bright as day again when the smoke shoots out the front door and back to the depths of hell.
The human vessels collapsing, returning to their original state of death. The two unconscious hunters remaining blissfully unaware that the threat has been defeated for now. Sam closes his eyes as exhaustion and his multitude of injuries pull him into sleep.
Dean awakens slowly and becomes aware of the high pitched wailing at the same time as the pain in his head makes itself know.
Opening his eyes slowly, noticing that the sun was now setting. The wailing continued until he was awake completely and he realises that it is coming from the guest bedroom. He pushed himself up to a sitting position and looks around the room to see the carnage that has been left after the demons attack. Suddenly panic rushes through him when he sees Sam slouched over against the bookcase covered in a mountain of books with blood staining his shirt from a head wound.
As the cry's become more insistent, Dean makes a choice to comfort his helpless niece first, rushes into the guest room and takes three quick steps to the crib scooping up the upset little girl and starts making comforting noises, rubbing her back and kissing her head so she knows that she isn't alone.
As Dean walks back into the main room, Bobby starts to groan and opens his eyes, blinks twice up at the ceiling, trying to clear his vision then turns his head toward Dean "Aaahh, Dean, what the hell happened?" Dean is humming to Hope, calming her down further and walking towards where Sam is still unconscious "Well, Bobby the last thing I remember are those smoke bombs coming into the room and me passing out, we'll have to wake Sammy up in order to get the rest of the story"
"Sammy?" Dean gently slaps the side of Sam's face, while also checking his pulse to feel a sluggish beat under his fingertips. "Wake up little brother" Dean scans Sam's body, making a mental triage of any injures he may has sustained when he collided with the bookcase, he notices a ring of bruises starting to form around his neck and hopes that his breathing hasn't been compromised.
Bobby walks over to Dean and takes the mini winchester into his arms so Dean can help his brother with both hands. Moving Sam slowly away from the bookcase to lay flat on his back, Dean notices that apart from the tacky blood that has streamed down his face, Sam has a large goose egg bump on the back of his head, a number of possible cracked or broken ribs and he can only assume that he also has bruises upon bruises on his back. "They really did a number on you kiddo" he shakes his head "How the hell did he get rid of them Bobby?"
Just then Sam gasps and tries to push himself into a sitting position, white hot pain shoots through him, so he goes to roll over and gasps again as his ribs protest the movement "Ow" he says through a gravelly voice, sounding like he's been gargling with sandy whisky.
"Whoa there, just take it easy" Dean rests a hand on Sam's chest above his heart to slow his movement and to give comfort to the injured young man.
"De'n, Oh god my head hurts" His hands move to his head but are stopped by gentle calloused hands.
"Yeah, you banged your head real good, what do you remember?" Dean asks placing a hand over Sam's forehead to feel that he has a slight fever but nothing to worry about just yet.
"I don' remember alot, but..." Sam swallows, trying to sooth his sore throat "They wanted to take Hope from me, and said if I didn't give her to them, they would kill you, so I did the only thing I could think of, I exorcised them"
"What!?" Dean asks stunned "Even dad can't recite an exorcism without a reference of some kind, I gotta say, I'm impressed Sammy"
"Yeah, Paster Jim taught me that exorcism years ago, but somehow I remembered it, word for word, like it was yesterday" Clearing his throat a little when the last part was more of a whisper. "How's Hope doing?, is she alright?"
"Yeah Sammy, she's OK, more importantly, how are you doin?" Bobby asks
"Honestly?... I feel like crap, I think I might have cracked ribs, I have a monster headache and my back is cramping up something fierce!" Sam grounds out the last part while trying to find more comfortable position but failing.
"OK, Sammy, let me check you over" Dean says pressing a hand gently to Sam's abdomen, feeling for any breaks 'I don't think they're broken, maybe cracked, I'll have to wrap them for you" Dean goes around him and manipulates Sam up into a leaning rather they sitting position then slips his arms through his underarms and drags him over to the couch, then pulls him up to sit on the soft cushions. A wave a nausea flows though Sam at the change in altitude and he swallows convulsively and holds his head in his hands until it passes "I thn'k I have a concus'n too" slurring his words and shooting Deans worry up a notch.
"Bobby, can you get me the first aid kit and some ice packs" Dean asks, not wanting to move away from his brother at that moment.
When Bobby comes back with what was asked of him, including a glass of water, Dean has Sam's shirt off and is inventorying the multiple bruises on his back, some already a dark blue and purple, Dean takes out a long bandage and starts wrapping his ribs tightly.
Taking a shuddery breath and sighing Sam says "This sucks" his head leaning forward to rest on Deans shoulder
"I know kiddo, I know" Dean is truly grateful that nothing more serious happened to any off them, including his niece who is more precious to him now than he imagined her to be.
Dean clears his throat in a nervous way and says softly "I'm real proud of you, Sammy" His younger brothers eyes shoot up to his face in shock.
"What for? None of this would have happened if it wasn't for me" shame fills him, filling in the hole beside the guilt.
"Sammy, you... You were able to save all of us, thats not something to sniff at!" Dean tries to convey his pride in the little brother in front of him, who in all honesty, he didn't believe could protect himself, much less save two seasoned hunters and his daughter against any number of demons two days ago, but now would trust with his life.
"After everything that you've been though, being in that wheelchair, I gotta say,...your pretty awesome... after me of course!" Dean tries to use sarcasm to mask the emotion that came over him, his little brother had come into his own.
Sam laughs softly at that and recognizes Dean's sarcasm for what it is and appreciates the effort. Dean finishes of wrapping his ribs and pins it down, then moves to the gash on the side of Sam's head, resting his forehead on Dean so he can have a better look, taking comfort in the gently callused hands moving his hair out of the way until the still bleeding gash is revealed. "This is goin ta need stitches"
"MMmmm, Do what you gotta do" Sam says with his eyes closed, breathing through the pain.
Dean gathers the needle, sutures and antiseptic and starts to clean the wound, making Sam gasp and grunt, mumbling soothing words to his little brother to keep him calm Dean threads the needle and starts the first stitch "Take it easy Sammy, first stitch, then three more"
Bobby, who has been holding Hope, talking softly to her, watching the brothers with a small smile on his face, is hopeful that the brothers are now on the same page and can maybe move forward, together, instead of separated by misunderstandings and distance.
Once Dean has finished the stitches he hands Sam some pain killers, his long overdue meds and the glass of water, then pushes him down on the couch so he can lay down and place the ice bags over his ribs. "Take a nap, we'll look after Hope for you while you get some rest OK?"
He doesn't get an answer from the young father but he didn't expect too. He looks up to see Bobby looking at him, he walks toward him and motions to the kitchen so they can talk, without disturbing Sam.
"What do you suppose that was all about, the demons wanting to take Hope? I thought old yellow eyes, got what he wanted when he killed Jess?" Dean asks when he takes a seat at the table, Bobby hands Hope to him while he pours himself a cup of coffee and prepares a bottle for her.
"I have no idea, we'll need to do some research I'm thinkin" Bobby looks over the the door, thinking about the possibilities.
"We have to up our defenses, those damn demons just smashed their way through here like those traps where nothin... Bobby grumbles "and we need to do something about my front door!" Bobby practically yells making Dean chuckle.
Looking down at Hope's face, all he sees is Sam as a little kid and remembers looking after his little kid brother through the flu, finals and fights with their father and knows then that even though there is so much stuff between them, he can get past the last 4 years and maybe get his little brother back.
All of a sudden a moan of pain comes from the couch and Dean passes Hope to Bobby, who grabs her now warm bottle and they move toward the injured young man to see that he has his eyes scrunched closed "Ah, I got cramps in my legs" the pain clearly bringing tears to his eyes.
"OK, buddy I'll give your legs a massage" Dean grabs his left leg and starts massaging his calf "Do you normally get these so badly?" Dean moves to his thigh feeling the extremely tight muscles.
"I don't know, I don't think he ever had them this bad" Bobby states worriedly. "Maybe tomorrow we should go see your doctor?"
"Ah, oh man, I don't know what's wrong" Sam grinds out, worried that maybe this is something more.
"It's alright kiddo, we'll find out what's happening tomorrow, I'm sure it's nothing" Dean says to Sam while starting to massage his right leg.
Bobby looks on quietly, wondering what else could possibly go wrong and how he could prevent it.