I know this is a short chapter, but in my defense, I was out snowboarding last night and am pretty sore today. I hope all you Dean and Sam girls will forgive me, but it's winter and I love the snow. Seth

Chapter Seven

"Dea – " Sam breathed, his voice a mere whisper that would have been lost to the rhythmic beat of the heart monitor if Bobby hadn't been waiting to hear him speak for three days.

In an instance Bobby was on his feet and at the youngest Winchester's side. "Don't try an' move, Sam." He lightly laid a hand on the hunter's left shoulder to keep him from trying to sit up.

His gaze ticked to the next bed over where Dean lay deathly still with his severely damaged leg raised off the bed in a sling. Doctors had pumped around after round of broad spectrum antibiotics into his system to try and save his leg, but as the days progressed Dean's health rapidly began to deteriorate. Still Bobby had held out hope that things would somehow turn around, and the younger man's leg could be saved. Yet all his hopes were shattered earlier in the day when Doctor Spellman examined Dean.

"The infection and damage to his leg is too severe. If we don't amputate soon, I'm afraid the outlook for recovery from his injuries is non-existent." The dark haired doctor took a seat beside Bobby, and held out a clipboard and pen for him to take. "I'm sorry, Mr. Singer, but as his relative I do need your consent to perform the surgery."

Bobby stared at the consent form through blurred vision, and with lower jaw trembling, he shook his head. "I can't do it."

Confusion briefly registered in the young doctor's golden-brown eyes, but he quickly recovered. "I know it's not fair, and wouldn't even suggest it if I thought there were any options, but it's his only chance for recovery."

For as much as Bobby loved Sam and Dean, and in his heart believed them to be family, he didn't have the right to make life altering decisions on their behalf. Yet he could understand the doctor's frustration as he tried time and time again to get Bobby to consent to the surgery to save Dean's life. The man believed him to be their uncle, and couldn't understand why he would hold out on consenting if it meant Dean would survive. "I jus' can't – it has to be his or Sam's decision."

Retracting the clipboard, the bespectacled man stood and heaved a deep sigh. "Alright, Mr. Singer. I'll wait a little while longer for his brother to wake up, but you have to understand that there's a very narrow doorway of time in which I'm working with here. Infection is spreading through his body and there's going to come a point in time when there won't be anything I can do to help him.

Bobby was silent for a moment as he weighed the options of what Sam would want for Dean, and what Dean would want for himself. Sam would want Dean to live no matter the cost. He would die to save his older brother as Dean would do for him. Yet if Sam was the one to decide that Dean would lose his leg, Bobby doubted he could live with that kind of guilt. And Dean, for all his strengths, would be crushed beyond belief if he was forced to live the rest of his life without his leg. So to say this was unfair to either of them was more than just a mild understatement.

"If Sam doesn't wake up today, I'll sign the damn form," Bobby uttered, deciding that he wanted Dean to live even if it meant that the eldest Winchester hated him for it.

"S'Dean okay?" Sam mumbled in a breathless whisper. His eyelids fluttered closed, the strong pain medication making it difficult for him to remain awake, but after a moment they sluggishly lifted again. "S'he alive?" he slurred, licking his cracked lips as he looked to Bobby for an answer.

"Sam," Bobby lightly squeezed the younger man's shoulderin a comforting manner as he tried to figure out how he was going to tell him about Dean. "He's right there." Swallowing hard against the tight lump in his throat, he bobbed his head toward the bed next to Sam's.

A faint smile graced Sam's face as he tilted his head to the side to look at his brother, and Bobby had to lower his head, finding it harder and harder to keep his emotions in check. "S'alright then." With a smile still hitching at his lips, he closed his eyes once more, falsely assured in the knowledge that Dean was going to be fine.

"Sam, you've gotta stay awake for me." Bobby blinked back his tears, and focused on telling Sam about Dean's leg. "There's something I have to tell you about Dean – th-there's something you have to do."

For a moment it appeared as if Sam had slipped into unconsciousness again, but then his eyelids cracked slightly open and he peered at Bobby. "What's wrong?"

Bobby who couldn't meet and hold his expectant gaze, lowered his head and looked away. How the hell am I suppose to tell him this? He scrubbed a hand across his bearded jaw, and swiped away the stray mutinous tears dripping down his cheeks. He tried so damn hard to save him – this is gonna destroy him . . . destroy them both.

"Bobby, what is it?" Sam's voice sounded a little stronger as he fought to stay conscious for his brother. "Tell me what's wrong with Dean?"

Bobby shot a glance in Dean's direction, cursed under his breath, and quickly lowered his sights again. Pulling his hand away from Sam's shoulder, he slumped back down onto his chair. "He busted up his leg pretty damn bad . . . ." his trembling voice trailed off, grimacing at the severe understatement of what he had just said.

"B-but he's gonna be alright, right?" Sam's eyes glistened as he met and held Bobby's gaze. Tears brimmed and slipped down the sides of his face as Bobby shook his head, and the older hunter was forced to look away again. "He – he has to be alright, Bobby."

"Sam, they have to – they need to amputate his leg," Bobby somehow managed to choke out the hardest words he had ever had to say to someone.

"No." Shaking his head back and forth against his pillow, Sam squeezed his eyelids closed. "No. No. No. He can't lose his leg . . . I shot the gun – I set off the damn avalanche. It should be me. Why the hell isn't it me?"

The heart monitor beeped faster as Sam's heart rate rose, his utter heartbreak registering in every single blip on the black screen. Bobby stared at it for a moment, almost entrance by the nerve jarring sound that until a moment ago had blended into the background of the hospital room.

"Sam, you have to calm down," Bobby ordered, broken from his trance by the sight and sound of Sam's wrenching sobs. "You have to be strong for Dean."

"H-how, Bobby – you tell me how?" Sam clutched at his injured chest, gasping for breath. "He can't live like this . . . it'll kill him." He wheezed, struggling to draw in air, and gripped a firmer hold of his chest. "An' – an' he'll hate me for it."

"It wasn't your fault, Sam," Bobby tried to reassure, pressing the nurses' call button to get someone in the room to help the youngest Winchester. "It was an accident. Dean knows that. He knows you would do whatever it took to save him."

"When are they – " Sam shifted his head to stare at his brother laying motionless in the bed beside him, and his face crumbled, more tears cascading down his cheeks. "H-how long until they ampu – when are they operating?"

Bobby's breath lodged in his throat, mind reeling at the thought of the unending guilt Sam would endure after he signed the paperwork to have Dean's leg removed. "You have to sign the consent form and then they'll operate as soon as possible afterward."

"I won't do it." Sam adamantly shook his head. "I won't be the one to take his leg from him. I won't."

Bobby laid a hand on Sam's arm, wanting to somehow convey that he understood what the younger man was going through. But in truth, he couldn't even begin to imagine the kind of hell Sam was facing at the moment. No matter what choice he made, his life would never be the same again. "He's dying, Sam," he uttered, effectively taking away any thoughts Sam might be having of not signing the paper that would save Dean's life. "If they don't remove his leg soon, the infection will spread through his body, an' it will kill him."

For what seemed the longest time, Sam remained deathly quiet as his eyes remained locked on Dean. "H-how am I suppose to tell him that I'm the one who took his leg from him?" he murmured, his voice no more than a ghost of a whisper. He turned to look at Bobby, and Bobby's heart shattered seeing the broken look of desolation on the young hunter's face. "How's he ever gonna forgive me for that?"

"He'll forgive you, Sam – he'll forgive you because your his brother and he loves you."

"How can he when I'll never be able to forgive myself for this." Sam shrugged free of Bobby's grasp and covered his face with his hand, his heartbroken sobs filling the room. "Get the paperwork, Bobby."

Afternote: lol, I know you Deangirls are getting out your pitchforks to hunt me down, but I hope you will understand that I am trying to be as accurate as I possibly can under the circumstances. Thanks in advance for not killing me. Seth