A Whiter Shade of Pale Ch. 18

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: "Night boys", John called out as he stripped out of his jeans and climbed into bed himself. He would call Bobby in the morning to let the gruff hunter know they were on their way. For now, he really needed to get some sleep himself.

A few hours later, John awoke to the sound of a hushed voiced coming from behind the closed door of the bathroom. Glancing over toward the bed where his boys were supposed to be sleeping, John immediately became alarmed at finding the bed empty. Thrusting the blankets off of his sinewy body, he quickly strode over to the bathroom door and opened it to find Sammy heaving over the commode as Dean rubbed soothing circles on his back.

"That's it Kiddo, get it all out," Dean voiced sympathetically as he rubbed Sam's back with one hand while supporting his baby brother's head with the other.

He had been awakened from sleep as soon as he felt his brother shift away from him and knew from the way Sam was convulsively swallowing that his brother was about to upchuck what little he had managed to eat throughout the day. Guiding his sibling into the bathroom, he had gently helped Sammy to kneel down and then offered what little support he could to get Sammy through what was sure to be a painful process.

"Dean?" John voiced with concern, having been awoken himself by the sound of retching, as he walked into the small bathroom and grasped a washcloth from the small shelf and placed it under the faucet to get it wet.

"He'll be okay in a few minutes Dad," Dean voiced, reaching out to take the cool damp washcloth from his father and placing it on the nape of Sam's neck. "I think the codeine was a little hard on his tender stomach."

"Damn it. I should have thought about how little he's had to eat today," John swore, upset with himself for putting his baby boy through the heaving process, knowing it had to be hell on his aching stomach.

"S'okay Dad," Sammy voiced once the heaving had stopped and he leaned back in exhaustion against his big brother's chest. "You were just trying to help."

"Yeah, but I should have remembered your penchant for not handling pain medication very well on an empty stomach," John retorted, feeling unworthy of his son's forgiveness. He would make sure he did better the next time.

Knowing that his youngest was most likely in considerable pain from the way he was sitting, John knelt down beside his son and asked, "You feel up to going back to bed or do you feel like you're going to throw up some more?"

"I think I'm fi-finished," Sam stated hesitantly as his stomach gurgled once more before settling, much to his relief. He began to shakily push himself up to a kneeling position before standing when he found himself suddenly hoisted up into his father's strong arms.

"I gotcha, Tiger," John voiced as he picked up his youngest and held him over by the sink so Sam could rinse his mouth with a glass of water provided by Dean before then carrying him back to bed. Placing Sam gently down onto the bed, he palmed his forehead to check for fever and then pulled the top sheet and blanket back up over his youngest. "Try to get some more sleep, Kiddo,"

"'Yes Sir," Sam barely managed to mumble through a yawn as his lethargic eyes slowly began to close. Puking sure was an exhausting process. Within moments, his breathing had evened out and the youngest Winchester was held within the throes of sleep.

"S'okay Dad, I'll watch over him now," Dean voiced as he once again climbed into the bed beside his sibling. "You need to get some sleep also since we have a long drive ahead of us tomorrow."

"Okay, but if Sammy gets worse, I want you to wake me. I don't want to take any more chances with his health than we already have." John stated, brushing his hand through Sammy's hair affectionately before bending down to lightly kiss him on the forehead, something his son would probably never have allowed had he been awake.

"Yes Sir," Dean replied, smiling contentedly as he felt his baby brother snuggle into his side. Wrapping an arm around Sam, he made a promise to himself to never let anything ever hurt the kid again.

~~Supernatural~~

Pushing himself up in the bed as the first rays of light shone into the room, John took just a moment to watch his slumbering sons before climbing out of the bed and pulling on a pair of clean jeans. He had thought about waking them and hitting the road, but seeing as how they were both sleeping peacefully, he decided to let them sleep just a little while longer while he went out to get breakfast. He knew they both had to still be tired from the impromptu trip to the bathroom in the middle of the night when Sammy had his bout of sickness.

Slipping his feet into his boots after he finished dressing, John grabbed his cell phone and his keys from the bedside stand and then quietly made his way out the door, making sure to close it soundlessly so as not to wake his boys. Walking over to the Impala, he climbed into the midnight black muscle car and sat down without placing the key in the engine.

Pulling his phone from his jacket pocket, John scrolled through the names listed in his phone until finding the one he wanted. Hitting the send button, he waited for the call to be answered.

"Singer here."

"Hey Bobby, it's John," the eldest stated as he scrubbed a hand across the five o'clock shadow that now adorned his jaws.

"Yeah, I kinda guessed that from the sound of your voice, idjit. Something on your mind you wanna tell me or are you just calling to annoy me?"

"Yeah, just wanted to let you know that me and the boys are headed your way. We should be there around 6:00 this evening if we don't run into any problems," John informed the gruff hunter.

"What kind of problems?" Bobby prodded, knowing there was more that John wasn't telling him.

"We might have a cop tailing us for one," John answered as he picked at a loose thread on the knee of his jeans, causing a hole to appear. He knew how Bobby felt about hunters bringing trouble of the legal variety to his doorstep. Bobby didn't get along too well with the law in his town since they considered him nothing but a troubled drunkard.

"And?"

"And we might have to stop again for Sammy. He had a rough night last night. Spent half the night puking his guts up," John voiced with a pang of regret. He couldn't help but feel that it was partly his fault that Sammy was suffering now. If he hadn't had to abscond from the hospital with his youngest, then Sam would still be under a doctor's care and getting the attention he needed.

"Balls, that's not good" Bobby growled as he tugged the dirty old trucker's cap from his head. If Sam was puking a lot, that could lead to dehydration or worse. "Just get here as soon as you can. I'll have Jefferson waiting to take care of the squirt."

"Thanks Bobby, I owe ya one." John voiced, relief evident in his voice.

"One my ass. You owe me a hell of a lot more than that and I fully intend to collect one day, ya moron" Bobby harrumphed over the phone before cutting the connection by hanging up the phone. He had some calls to make.

~~Supernatural~~

Walking back into the motel room with their breakfast in hand approximately an hour later, John was astounded to find his boys awake since it was still relatively early. Dean was known for sleeping in until the last minute when they were on road trips. Hell, there had been a few times when he had threatened to leave his eldest behind if Dean didn't get his ass in gear.

"I'm surprised to see you two awake," John asserted as he tossed the bag with their breakfast in it to Dean.

"Yeah, well the Princess here needed some help making it to the bathroom this morning," Dean announced as he opened the bag and peered inside, sniffing at the delicious aroma wafting up from it.

"What?" John asked in alarm as his eyes shifted to Sammy to visually assess his youngest.

"M'okay Dad, I just felt a little weak when I stood up is all," Sammy quickly explained to alleviate his father's fears.

"I'm not surprised by that seeing as how you haven't been able to keep much in your stomach," John stated as walked over and palmed Sam's forehead once again just to be on the safe side.

"Let's see if we can't change that" Dean articulated as he reached into the bag and pulled out a box containing a ham and veggie omelet according to the writing on top of the box. "Try eating some of this Kiddo."

"I don't know," Sam hedged as he looked at the food with disdain. The last thing he wanted was to start throwing up again this morning.

"You need to try Sammy. The waitress said this should be easy on your stomach," John touted as he opened the box and placed it on his son's lap since Sam was now leaning back in the bed against the headboard.

"'Kay" Sam whispered as he picked up the plastic fork and cut off a small bite. Raising it to his mouth, he chewed it into smaller bits before swallowing it down. Waiting just a moment to make sure it stayed down, he then cut off another piece, and placed it in his mouth, savoring the taste as it enthralled his taste buds. It was so nice to finally eat something other than the bland food that the hospital had been feeding him. He just hoped he would be able to keep the food down this time.

Once they were satisfied that Sam was eating and managing to keep the food down, John and Dean tore into their own breakfast sandwiches to quell the hunger each had started to feel.

Upon finishing breakfast, John made sure to dose Sammy up with some pain medication in hopes that his youngest would fall asleep relatively quickly and remain so for most of the trip to Singer Salvage. The less pain Sam had to go through, the better.

Loading their duffle bags into the trunk of the Impala just a few moments later, John wasn't surprised when he saw Dean climb into the back with his brother instead of taking his usual shotgun position. Dean's protective feelings of his baby brother were in hyperdrive now and would stay that way until Sammy was completely well once again.

TBC