Sam noticed it before you did… the end.
It all started with his comment. "Hey Y/N, you doing okay?"
You looked up from your book. You were sitting with the two brothers in the library, reading up on lore of Egyptian gods to help them on a case they were about to leave for.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"
He smiled, as if not to worry you. "Oh, you sounded like you were breathing heavily. I just wanted to make sure you felt alright."
You nodded, and turned back to your book, but something about the comment bothered you… Because you were breathing heavily. You noticed it as soon as he said it. Now, that wasn't too rare, but something about right now bothered you.
Every breath you took in felt a little bit harder to manage and there seemed to be something wrong. Something more wrong that is, because it felt like there was something heavy in your chest.
You thought back to what the doctor had told you about things that elicited a trip to the hospital, worried it might be worse than you wanted to let on.
Pain in the chest and difficult breathing could mean… flooding in the lungs.
You shook your head, the book in front of you completely forgotten as you tried to convince yourself that you were making a big deal out of nothing.
You stood up, deciding you just needed some fresh air and that's when you were dead sure.
You doubled over, holding onto your chest like you used to do when you got Jesse's flashbacks.
Sam and Dean's heads both shot up, looking at you with concern as you gasped, trying to take in as much air as possible.
You leaned over Dean, whispering in his ear, "I need to go to the hospital."
"Now?" he asked softly.
It was just one word, but you knew exactly what he meant. He was asking how bad it was. If he dropped everything to take you to the hospital right now, the hoax was up. This was it. This was the moment you guys had been dreading for weeks now. The moment that you couldn't keep your secret anymore. He was asking if you were ready.
"Now," you confirmed.
He was up in an instant. "Sam, I'm taking Y/N to the hospital." He automatically reached down and lifted you up, rushing you from the room.
"Dean what-"
"No time to explain," he called as he ran into the war room, grabbed his keys and carried you up the stairs, taking them two at a time. "Grab Jack and Cas and get them in the car as soon as possible. Meet us there when you're ready."
Sam still ran behind the two of you, completely bewildered. "Dean I-"
"Now Sammy!" he yelled as he slammed the door.
He rushed you to the car, carefully dropping you in the passenger's seat. In the time it had taken to get there, you had practically run out of oxygen. You were gasping and clawing at your throat, desperate for something.
"Come on Y/N," he mumbled as he started the car and pulled out of the bunker with haste. "Hold on, we're on our way. Just hold on for me."
The edges of your vision began to go dark and his words blurred together as you reached desperately for air, but found nothing. You passed out before you were halfway to the hospital.
Dean ran in with you, unmoving, in his arms.
"Help! Somebody help! I need a doctor!"
A nurse ran forward, quickly checking your vitals and searching you for an outward wound.
"What happened?" she asked, as someone called for a stretcher.
"She has lung cancer. I'm not sure what's going on but she started breathing heavy and clutching her chest saying she had to go to the hospital." Dean tried to keep his voice as even as possible. It wouldn't do you any good to panic now.
He helped set you down on the stretcher as they wheeled you into the back.
"She's breathing, but slowly. Possible flooding in her lungs." One of the nurses murmured as they pushed you away. Dean tried to follow you, but the woman who had originally helped you stopped him.
"You need to wait here, sir. We'll get you some paperwork to fill out and send a doctor as soon as we're able."
Dean nodded, trying to be as civil as possible, but in reality he wanted to scream in her face to work faster and save you.
He paced back and forth for ten minutes, until Sam showed up, rushing in with Jack and Cas hot on his heels.
"Dean! What's going on? Where's Y/N?"
Dean turned to face him and suddenly understood why you had put this off for so long. He wanted to tell Sam, but the words caught in his throat, looking at his worried brother and your terrified boyfriend. He just couldn't break the news.
"Dean," Cas insisted. "Tell them."
They suddenly turned on Cas. "You know what's going on?" Sam flipped. Jack looked altogether stunned silent.
"Look," Dean started. "You know when Y/N and I met Billie, and Y/N tried to trade her life for mine? Well, there's a reason she thought that would work. There's a reason she was so ready to throw her life away."
Sam raised his eyebrows, already terrified, because Dean brought up Death. That was not a good start.
"Well, when Y/N met Death the first time, he told her that she couldn't die yet because she was important, and because there was a certain way she had to die. And when I got back I asked her how she was going to die…"
"Yeah mom… thanks," Dean finished up, hanging up his phone as he finished filling out your paperwork and handed it in. Mary was on her way, to sign some things and visit you, but she was pretty far and it didn't look like she'd be there for a day or two.
Dean sighed, thinking she might as well take her time, as it didn't look like you were getting out of there anytime soon. You had gone in two hours ago and he still had gotten no word from the doctor.
When he looked up, he saw Sam glaring at him. He sighed, not shocked his brother was upset, but mad himself. He wished you had told them earlier. He didn't like the look of betrayal he was getting because you had a web of secrets.
"I can't believe you kept this from me," Sam grumbled. "You, mom, Cas… Y/N."
Dean shrugged, deciding to play it cool. "It wasn't our secret to tell."
"We deserved to know Dean!" he snapped. Jack, who had been staring at the floor for the past two hours, suddenly looked up, with red rimmed eyes, at the commotion. "Jack and I, we knew her better. She was our family. We loved her, Dean. You shouldn't have kept this from us, like a high school girl keeping secrets until it was too late."
Dean stood up, pissed at his brother's outburst. "Stop talking about her like she's already dead."
At this point, most of the waiting room was silent, staring at the arguing brothers. Sam opened his mouth to say more, but was cut of by the doctor walking in.
"Winchester?" he announced.
The whole group ran forward.
"Hey doc, how is she?" Dean asked at the front of the group.
They all waited anxiously for his response. He sighed at the desperate group.
"Much better now," he confirmed. "She's stable and breathing fine. We cleared out her lung, but she's in dire state cancer-wise. I don't know how long she can fend this off, but I don't think she'll be permitted to leave the premises."
"Until…?" Sam supplied, but the doctor shook his head.
"Sir, she's not gonna make it. I'm sorry. It'll be a miracle if she wakes up at this point. Her clocks down to the last few seconds."
Sam clenched his jaw and tightened his fists. Dean decided to cut in before his brother got kicked out for punching one of the doctors.
"When can we see her?" Dean asked.
The doctor shrugged. "We have to run a few more tests to see how close she is to consciousness. She was out for a long time. It's possible her brain may have shut down, but we can't be confident in anything unless she wakes up. We'll try a few methods to elicit a response from her and we'll let you know the results. Then, we'll see about letting you in."
Dean nodded and the doctor left. He turned around and met the faces of the group. Sam was still as mad as ever. Cas stared at him sympathetically. And Jack had tears streaming silently down his face.
Dean reached forward and patted him on the shoulder. "Hey, hang in there, bud. Y/N's a tough kid. She'll wake up. I promise."
Jack nodded unconvincingly and sat back down.
Well, he thought. I'm in for a long night.
When you woke up your head was on fire, and you quickly covered your eyes because of how bright the room around you was.
As you let your eyes adjust, you slowly dropped your arm, trying to assess the situation, and remember what had happened. You were startled to find something in your nose. You were hooked up to a breathing machine.
"Hi sweetie. Glad you're awake." You turned to see a woman standing in the room. She had a clipboard and was smiling at you politely. Nurse, you told yourself. You're in a hospital. She seemed to see your confused expression and continued, "Hey, can you tell me your name?"
You nodded, hesitantly. "My name's Y/N Winchester."
"And do you remember why you're here, Y/N?"
"Um," you racked your brain for the last thing you could remember. "I was at home. And then I felt like I couldn't breathe. I told my brother, Dean…" your eyes widened as you suddenly remembered how much shit you were in, but tried to stay on track, "I told Dean that I had to go to the hospital and he carried me to the car… I don't remember anything after that."
She looked over her notes carefully. "Yep, that would be approximately when you passed out, so no wonder it's fuzzy. Well, the good news is, your memory seems to be intact. That's the biggest concern when someone is losing oxygen, is brain damage. The doctor will want to run some tests, but I'm sure your family out there will want to see you. I'll call them in."
She turned to go, but you stopped her. "Um, excuse me? Who exactly is out there?"
"Four boys. Two of them are your brothers, but I'm not sure who the other two are."
You nodded, letting her leave.
You should have expected this. You're the one who agreed to it, but you still wanted to put it off for a little longer. Then again, you didn't know how long you'd been out. You'd probably put this confrontation off long enough.
"Hey Y/N. How you doing?" Dean waltzed in, dropping in the seat next to you and grabbing your hand.
"I'm doing better," you said, although you felt like crap. The pounding in your head wasn't getting better and your whole body felt stiff.
He smiled at you and you returned the gesture. "How long was I out?"
"Five hours," Dean complied.
You wanted to say more to that, but you were suddenly distracted by the others. Cas stood in the back of the room, expressionless. Jack looked like he'd been crying. And Sam… Sam was angry. You knew it.
"Sorry, it looks like the cat's out of the bag," Dean said, noticing your shift in concentration.
Jack walked around to your other side and grabbed your hand as well. "Y/N are you okay?"
You looked at him, your heartbroken boyfriend. "Yeah Jack," you responded, with tears pricking your eyes, "I'm okay."
He shook his head slightly, like he didn't believe you. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I-I couldn't," you stuttered.
He leaned forward, wrapping his arms around you carefully, so he didn't disturb the machine you were connected to.
You looked at Sam, but he didn't return your gaze. He couldn't.
"Dean," he grumbled. "May I talk to you?"
You looked at Dean for an explanation, but he rolled his eyes playfully, then stood up and followed Sam out.