Cassie was leaving in the morning. This was his last chance to say goodbye. It didn't take long to find the hotel. Something didn't feel quite right. Ignoring the feeling, he knocked on Cassie's hotel room door gingerly. Goodbyes always sucked. And Afghanistan? He couldn't shake the feeling that this was the last time he'd see his friend.

Cassie answered the door with a smile, "Hey, Dean."

He returned the smile, "I know you're leaving in the morning, and I shouldn't be stopping by this late keeping you up, but I had to say goodbye before you go."

She laughed, "You could have called." Dean rushed forward and pulled Cassie into a tight hug. After a moment, she pulled away.

"Well, you probably couldn't have done that over the phone, but I do really need to sleep," she said. He nodded and backed out into the hall.

"Just, be safe over there, okay?" he said.

She smiled and said, "I didn't go through combat training for nothing. I'll be fine."

"You'd better," he said, "If the next time I see you is at your funeral, I'll kill you."

She laughed and pulled him in for another hug, "I'll be fine Dean." He nodded and released her.

Before he left, she said, "Hey, do you have a skype? We can keep in better contact on there."

He laughed, "No, I don't have a— I can make one, though."

"Come inside for a sec?" she asked. He followed her into the hotel room. She sat on the bed and pulled a piece of stationery from the nightstand.

"I'll write my skype name down, so when Cas helps you make a skype, you can add me, and we can talk more," she said. Dean rolled his eyes at the insinuation that Cas would need to teach him how to make a skype even though that was entirely the case.

Dean's phone rang. It was Gabriel.

Cassie scribbled on the notepad as Dean said, "Gabriel?"

"Dean," he said, voice frantic, "It's Sam. He's…"

Cassie looked up at Dean, clearly able to hear the other line.

"Sam's what?" Dean asked.

Cassie folded up her paper and stuck it in Dean's pocket.

"He's in the hospital," Gabe rushed. It was clear he was having trouble speaking, maybe even crying.

"I have to go," he said to Cassie quickly. He ran out of the room.

"What happened?"

"He took half the bottle of his pain meds. He wasn't breathing. I don't—Dean, I—I don't know if he's—Get here quick." Dean's heart stopped.

No.

This wasn't happening. How could this be happening?

"Have they done anything for him?" he asked, as he backed towards the hotel door.

Gabe said, voice thick, "They admitted him, they check his heart on some machine, they pumped his stomach, they…they gave him activated charcoal. But his vitals are…they're not sure if he… They're saying the medication might already be in his system and the stomach pump may not have worked. He's been in and out…I just…oh, God, just get here." Gabe hung up.

Dean pocketed the phone. He ran as fast as he could towards the hospital, which luckily wasn't all that far. It was twelve blocks, but he didn't care. He wasn't going to wait for someone to pick him up. He wanted his baby more than anything. Not having a car was seriously unacceptable right now. Once he got there, everyone was in the waiting room except for Sam and Gabriel.

Cas took him to the hospital room and said quietly, "He's in and out, pretty disoriented. They're allowing us in the room, but if anything goes wrong, we're supposed to call the nurse." Dean burst into Sam's room where he was lying unconscious. Oh god.

For a moment, Sam's eyes opened.

"Dean?" he croaked. Sam tried to pick his head up a little.

"Whoa, whoa, Sam. Sam! Hey," Dean said, keeping Sam from moving too much. He held his brother's face in his hands.

"Come here," he said, "Let me look at you." He looked into Sam's eyes and saw almost no iris since his pupils were so dilated. A tear fell from Sam's wide eye.

"Hey, hey, look at me. It's not even that bad. It's not even that bad, alright?" Dean said quickly. He felt like he was telling himself. Half a bottle of knock off vicodin was that bad. But it couldn't be. Sam had to pull through it. Sam's eyelids started to droop.

"Sammy?" Dean said, panicked, "Sam!" Gabe touched Dean's arm, but he barely noticed. He just held onto Sam. His brother jerked, and he spewed blood from his mouth. Holy shit. Sam's blood covered part of Dean's arm and a bit of his shirt. It was too much for Dean to deal with. Sam needed to be okay. This all needed to be okay. And Dean needed to be strong for Sam. He wiped the blood on Sam's lips and chin away with the edge of his sleeve.

Gabe pressed the button for the nurse. Sam looked slightly more alert, but not by much.

"Hey, listen to me," he said, trying to keep his voice from wavering, "We're gonna patch you up, okay? You'll be good as new." He'd get some fluids in his system, the stomach pump will have worked, and everything would be okay. Sam's eyes fluttered for a moment.

"I'm gonna take care of you. I'm gonna take care of you. I've got you," Dean said, shaking Sam's head a little to keep him awake.

"That's my job, right?" Dean asked, hoping for a better response than this in and out consciousness, "Watch out for my pain in the ass little brother?" Sam's eyes closed.

"Sam?"

There was no response.

"Sam!"

Nothing.

"SAMMY!" he shouted, trying to jolt him awake or something. He was completely slack. Where was the nurse? Dean moved a hand from Sam's face to his neck to check for a pulse. It was barely there. No. He hugged his brother to him.

"No. No, no, no, no. Oh, God," he muttered. He laid his brother back against the hospital bed and looked at Gabriel for a split second. The pain he saw on that boy's face was too much. He turned back to his brother, tears pricking his eyes.

"SAM!" he yelled. Please, for the love of god, wake up.

A doctor and nurse ran into the room and checked his vitals immediately. The doctor stuck a syringe of something into Sam's IV bag. The nurse forced Dean and Gabriel from the room while they worked on stabilizing Sam.

Gabriel turned to Dean and hugged him tightly, crying into his jacket. Dean hugged him back and held on as if he was the only thing holding him to the planet. Quickly, Gabriel pulled away and stared at Sam through the window at the flurry of activity in the room.

Cas came over and pulled Dean to him, letting himself be Dean's anchor. This couldn't be happening. He hugged Cas as tight as he could and sobbed into his shoulder. None of this could possibly be happening.

"I'm so sorry," Cas whispered. Dean held onto him tighter.

"I shouldn't have told you to go to Cassie's. I had no idea he would've…I'm so sorry. I didn't think—" Cas said quickly. Dean wasn't mad at Cas. How could Sam have done this? How did Dean not know his brother was in so much pain that this could possibly have happened?

Dean collected himself enough to say, "I'm not mad at you, Cas. It's not your fault."

Cas kissed Dean on the forehead and asked, "Do you want to sit in the waiting area?"

Dean shook his head. He wanted to be with his brother. He wanted his brother to be okay. Dean walked over to the window next to Gabriel, and Cas' fingers never left his. They watched the hospital staff stabilize Sam, but Sam was still unconscious.

A nurse told Gabriel that he could go back in the room if he wanted, and he sat by Sam's side instantly, waiting.

Dean didn't move. He couldn't. He just kept staring at Sam laying in a hospital bed with a broken arm and a broken rib and a potentially lethal dose of painkiller in his system, and he just couldn't deal with any of that. He held Cas' hand a little tighter as fear started to crush his heart and lungs. That was his brother. That was his little brother. His little brother might be dying. And there was nothing Dean could do.