A Whiter Shade of Pale Ch. 15
Disclaimer: See first chapter
Author's Note: To avoid confusion between stories, this story is the one where Sam is 13 years old and was stabbed outside their motel room by a man who was drunk.
Previously: "Try not to worry. I assure you, Sam will start showing signs of waking soon." Jules stated confidently in hopes of allying the young man's fears before striding quietly from the room.
"That's easy for you to say," Dean harrumphed quietly as the nurse strode from the room. It wasn't her baby brother who was laying there nearly comatose.
Sitting at his brother's bedside, Dean was becoming more and more agitated as time progressed. He couldn't help but fear something was wrong and everyone was acting as if the recovery time was normal. Pushing himself to his feet, he was about to hit the call button to voice his concerns again when a slight movement from the bed stopped him in his tracks.
"Sammy, you finally waking up for us, Little Bro?" Dean questioned anxiously, carding his fingers through the long chocolaty brown locks of his thirteen year old brother.
"Mhmmm," Sam mumbled, unconsciously leaning into his brother's touch as his tongue snaked out to wet his dry lips. He really wanted to ask for something to moisten his dry throat, but his confused mind just couldn't seem to form he words for some reason.
"Here Tiger, try a little of this," John voiced softly as he scooped up a spoon full of ice chips and nudged Sam's mouth with them. He remembered well how surgery had left a person feeling like their throat was as dry as the Sahara Desert.
Opening his mouth and accepting the cool treat like a baby bird in search of food from its' parent, Sam sighed in contentment as the ice chips began to melt and soothe his parched, sore throat.
"S'good huh, Kiddo?" Dean crooned as he continued to tug his fingers through Sammy's hair in a comforting motion.
"Mhmmm," Sam agreed, his teeth beginning to chatter as he became chilled. Somebody really needed to turn up the heat in the room.
"Sammy?" Dean queried worriedly as he gazed up at his Dad with concern evident in his eyes as his baby brother began to tremble.
"C-c-cold," Sam stammered, emitting a full body shiver as the cold became unbearable to the young hunter
"What the hell?" John voiced worriedly before striding quickly over to the door and calling for help.
~~Supernatural~~
Sitting at her desk as she completed the paper work, Jules was about to take a break to get a ham and cheese sandwich and possibly something cool to drink when she heard her young patient's father call out in concern.
Hurrying over to the room, she was about to inquire as to what was wrong; why the family was so upset, when she noticed her young patient shivering uncontrollably. Knowing immediately what was wrong, she walked over to the small closet in the room and pulled a woolen blanket from one of the shelves.
"This should help to stop the shivering," she stated as she placed the blanket over Sammy and tucked it in around him.
"Shouldn't you be checking for fever or something else?' Dean questioned incredibly as he watched the nurse. Surely something was terribly wrong with the way his sibling was trembling uncontrollably.
"I know this looks bad, but the shivering is an unfortunate side effect of the anesthesia," Jules explained as she adjusted Sam's IV drip and checked the readings on his heart monitor. "I assure you it will abate given time."
"Tell me Jules, is there anything else we should be worried about where the anesthesia is concerned?" John questioned, placing a calming hand on Dean's shoulder when Sam seemed to become more agitated upon hearing the stress in his big brother's voice.
"Well, usually the most common side effect of anesthesia involves post operative nausea and vomiting. Sam will most likely experience problems with it when he awakens more fully from the anesthesia," Jules answered as she wrote down Sam's latest vitals in his chart.
"If it happens, let me know immediately and I will give him another dose of anti-nausea medication."
"You can count on it," Dean replied immediately, snagging a chair with his foot and pulling it to Sam's bedside as Sam settled into a drug induced sleep once again. In no way, shape, or form did he want to be further than within reaching distance of his baby brother.
"Oh, there's one other thing I should warn you about," Jules stated just before walking out of the room. "Younger patients like Sam tend to have emotional outbursts upon fully awaking from anesthesia. You need to understand that in no way are these outbursts controllable by the patient. So, if Sam wakes up combative or in 'fight' mode as we refer to it here at the hospital, alert me immediately. We'll try to let the episode pass on it's own since they tend to pass relatively quickly, usually within five minutes. But if not, I will administer a small dose of sedative to help him calm down."
"Will do. Thanks for warning us," John returned with a taut smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. He didn't like the idea of Sam being so bewildered upon waking up that he would actually become combative.
Nodding her acknowledgement of John's statement, Jules quietly left the room to give the family what small amount of privacy they could have while in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.
~~Supernatural~~
Sitting at the local bar as he guzzled down his second bottle of beer, Officer Matt Speight cursed at the idea of having been put on two weeks suspension. In his mind, it should have been John Slade who was in trouble right now. Not him and his partner, they were supposed to be the good guys. "If I ever get my hands on that sonuvabitch…" he grumbled under his breath as he motioned for a third bottle of cold Pabst Blue Ribbon beer upon finishing the second one.
"Matt, you need to slow down on that stuff," Officer Jason Marks stated as he watched the anger simmering in his partner's eyes. The last thing Matty needed was to go off half cocked and end up losing his job over his brewing temper. He could usually keep the younger officer under control, but when he lost his temper, it usually went off like a firecracker on the Fourth of July.
"Don't tell me what to do Jason," Matt returned angrily as he glared at his partner. "Doesn't it piss you off in the slightest knowing that we just lost two weeks pay, not to mention the black spot this suspension is going to put on our permanent records?"
"Of course I'm upset, that goes without saying," Jason answered as he tugged a hand through his dark hair. "But it was our mistake that led to the suspension, not something that John Slade did. We blew it on this one man and now we have to live with the consequences."
"To hell with the consequences. That bastard Slade may not be guilty of murder this time, but I'm telling you right now he is guilty of something. I could see it in his eyes. He's got quite a few skeletons hidden in his closet and I'm going to prove it if it's the last thing I do," Matt swore as he slammed his beer bottle down on the polished wooden bar.
"Damn it Matt, all that man is guilty of doing is protecting his son from harm," Jason rebutted testily as his own anger started to build. "And I'll tell you another thing. I am not going to let you ruin your career because of some drunken need for revenge. So you pull your shit together and own up to the fact that this suspension is our fault man. Ours and nobody else's!"
"Okay. Okay, I hear you," Matt voiced with a drunken sigh as he swiped a hand across his mouth before pushing away the bottle of beer that he was presently chugging on. Maybe he did need to think things through before he lost the only two things in life that mattered to him…his friend and his job.
~Supernatural~~
"Dad, I think he's starting to wake up," an anxious Dean informed his farther as Sam began to squirm about restlessly on his hospital bed.
"Yeah, I think you're right son," John agreed as he walked over to the bed and watched as Sammy slowly began to open his eyes.
"Sammy, how are you doing son?" John asked softly as he reached out to brush the sweat laced bangs back from his young son's eyes once they fully opened and attempted to focus on the surroundings.
"Wh-where am I?" Sam inquired apprehensively as his eyes began to scan the unfamiliar room. Everything was so indistinct and he feared the shadowy figures that were getting much too close for his own comfort.
"Sammy, it's okay son. Just relax," John encouraged as he reached out to push the call button to alert Jules that Sam was now awake. It was obvious Jules fears about an emotional outburst were coming to fruition.
"De-Dean? I want Dean," Sam cried out as tears began to fall down his face. "Where's Dean?"
"I'm right here Kiddo. You've got to calm down," Dean stated soothingly as possible, while reaching out to console his brother as he watched Jules enter the room with a hypodermic syringe in her hand.
"N-No, leave me alone," Sam sobbed as he tried to push away from the hazy figure. "Dean, please? Where are you?"
"Shh , I'm right here, Tiger," Dean informed his younger sibling as he climbed up onto the bed and pulled Sammy close to his side. "You're safe now. I've got you" Dean voiced, as he then began to hum and sing the tune that his mom used to sing to him long ago in times of stress, or when he was sick in hopes that it would calm his distressed sibling.
"Hey Jude, don't make it bad. Take a sad song and make it better."
Sighing in relief as he watched Sammy finally respond to the ministrations of his big brother, John couldn't help but be grateful for the strong bond that Dean and Sam shared. For in his mind, it was that bond that was going to pull Sammy through and make both his boys stronger in the end.
Smiling as she watched the tender scene before her, Jules was ecstatic that she wouldn't have to use the sedative she had brought into the room on her young patient. The less drugs he had running through his system right now, the better.
TBC
