Warnings and disclaimers: See chapter 1

Many thanks to CorieHall for the beta on this story.

Chapter 23 Healing slowly

Sam woke an hour later feeling better after sleeping off the effects of the sleeping dart. Sam broke from Dean's hold and went to the toilet. When he came out, John nodded to him sleepily from his post at the table over a newspaper. Sam crept up to him and spoke in a whisper.
"Dad I don't know if Dean's had anything to eat in a while."
"How long?"
"Don't know but we better find out and get some food into him. He looks so skinny dad."

John could see Sam getting upset and put a calming hand on his shoulder.
"Well he was thin to start with Sam so any loss of weight is going to look bad."
Sam sighed and woke Dean slowly. He looked confused for a few seconds and almost cried out with pain before he managed to gather himself.
"Dean, we need to know when they last fed you."

Dean blinked for several seconds before slowly licking his lips. Dean shook his head slowly.
"You can't remember?" Sam asked.
"Didn't." Dean said softly as if trying to soften the blow.
"They never fed you?" John asked incredulously.
Dean extended his right bruised inside elbow.
"IVs all the time, huh?"
John asked trying to remain calm when all he wanted to do was get hold of those two creeps and kill them slowly for even daring to touch his boys. Dean nodded keeping his eyes off Sam's horror struck face.
"I'll make some weak broth and we will get you back on burgers real quick." John kept his voice light and patted Sam on the back to come help him.

When they were as far away from Dean as they could get in one room, John whispered to Sam as they worked to water down and warm the liquid.
"Sam the best we can do here is get Dean eating as soon as we can. It's no good fretting about what Dean went through we need to be here for him as long as he needs us."
Sam's mouth flapped open a couple of times but he nodded and took the warm cup over to his brother. Dean groaned softly a few times but got the small cup down with Sam's encouragement. Sam soothed Dean back to sleep and John went out and got Sam and himself a proper meal.

Both Sam and John felt guilty eating their burgers a few feet away from a young man who had nothing to eat for a week but they knew they would have to keep their strength up for Dean. They turned in for the night with Sam curling up next to Dean after making sure he had plenty of blankets. Sam was all too aware Dean had nothing on except a blanket and wanted his brother to be as comfortable as possible by insuring there were layers of blankets between them. John stayed sitting at the table dozing every now and again.

During the night, Sam and John got up a few times each and woke Dean for broth. Sam woke in the morning to find John feeding Dean some thin chicken soup. John let Sam take over without a word before going into the bathroom and throwing some cold water over his face. When he came out Dean and Sam were murmuring softly but he could see Dean was almost asleep again.
"Sam, I'm going down to the diner. You want some pancakes?"
"Yeah thanks."
Sam had been asking Dean how he felt and knew his stomach was barely taking the soup so didn't ask John to get Dean anything just yet. Sam barely left Dean's side for the rest of the day.

John left to collect Bobby and get some breakfast. John planned to get everyone showered and dressed before cleaning Dean's dressings. He knew they were heading for a deep and meaning conversation pretty soon but he wanted to do it just once so Dean would have to be awake and aware. In the meantime, he had the silent walk by Bobby's side to the diner to think about what they had to talk about and their plans to get away from here as soon as Dean was strong enough. He for one was quite sick of the area. He also had to think about the fact those boys were still after them as far as he knew.

Sam lay with Dean just talking softly together trying to get where his head was at and how he felt. "What was it like Dean? What did they do to you?"
Dean sighed not wanting to put Sam through the pain of what it was like.
"Please Dean. I want to understand."
"You think you can do something about it now Sammy? What are you hoping to get out of it?"
"Closure."

Sam was so confident Dean blinked as he processed what Sam meant.
"Not just for me but for you dad, even Bobby. Plus knowing what we know now might make dad listen to us more."
"More? How about at all?"
"He did listen to me when I told him about Joe/Jeremy."
"He did huh?"
"Yeah."

Sam could see Dean was still reluctant so he opened a bottle of Gatorade and helped him drink some down.
"Where did they keep you Dean?" Sam asked softly hoping a question would get things rolling.
"In a small dark room a couple of floors down in that same building going by the smell."
"You were laying on your front?"
"On a metal bed."
"With handcuffs and chains?" Sam was talking about the red marks on Dean's chest and on his hips, neck wrists and ankles.
"Yeah."
"Did they drug you?"
"Yeah."
"And they hurt you too?"
"A little. It doesn't matter little brother. We're safe and sound and getting better."

Sam could tell Dean was done talking for the moment but was happy they had at least opened the door to get everything out and starting the healing.

TBC