Disclaimer: Not mine.

Thanks to doyleshuny, shookenuppepsi, alena, Olive-Pizza, hotshow, emebalia, Midua22, lexi'ssorryforthis, L.A.H.H, BranchSuper, twomoms, Visionairy, firstcatfish, SPN Mum, Ange De La Misericorde, DreamInInk, Lyzzybelle, SayLo and Tina for the reviews, and to Cheryl for the beta.

Interlude: Lady of Mercy Hospital, Baltimore

Fuller snapped back to complete attention. He'd thought Dean Smith was just a random jerk, but this was different. This was serious. If he'd been left in charge of his little brother and had betrayed his position and his brother's trust…

If there was one thing Fuller hated, it was an abuser.

"Don't you dare," Dean hissed at Dora, every word coming out like a threat. "I don't know what kind of stupid game you're playing, trying to keep me from Sam, but I've had enough of it."

"You admitted to having had an argument –"

"We're brothers! We fight! Doesn't mean I don't care about the kid!" Dean took a step forward. "Look, I get that you're doing your job, and I respect that, but this is my baby brother. He wakes up alone in ICU and I'm not there, he's going to freak. You have to let me sit with him."

"Mr. Smith, I cannot approve of that."

"The hell you can't. Listen, doctor, I'm going to see my brother whether you like it or not."

Fuller sensed that Dean Smith was about to explode and he didn't want to clean up the mess if he did. Far better to head trouble off at the pass. He wouldn't hesitate to lock the other man away for the rest of his life if he really was hurting his baby brother, but his outrage sounded genuine.

"Let's all go up to the ICU," he suggested. Dean glared, and he added, "I'm sorry, Mr. Smith, but nobody's going to let you visit an unconscious patient if there's even a whisker of suspicion that you've been hurting him. I don't care if he is your brother. If you want to see him, I'm coming with you. Otherwise you're staying here and I'll make sure every single person working on that floor knows not to let you anywhere near your brother. Do we understand each other?"

"Perfectly," Dean said tightly.

I know it's short… I'll try to get the next chapter up sooner to make up.

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