Disclaimer: The word no is in this story five times...

A/N: Howdy! I'm back now... well... at least for tonight. Haha-- I took some time off for a vacation, and to catch up on some writing. I'm glad you all liked my Christmas story! This story is another one of those stories that almost went into the chucker twice... but I saved it. I wrote the whole of it today, which is usually a good thing... when I write a story all at once. That way I keep with the same feelings through the whole thing.
Anyways-- I have a favor to ask you all! Anyone that reads these stories, please... I want to know which one, so far, is your favorite. I did this at chapter 14 or something like that, and, the same thing, even if it's the only thing you write in your review, I'm curious to know which story you all like best. Thanks a bunch, and I hope you enjoy this one shot!

Title: Ignorance Is Bliss
Genre: Drama with a back-burner of angst and fluff.
Summary: While far sicker than he thinks, Sam decides to prove to Dean that he can take on a dangerous demon by himself. Thinking he can do it quick and make it back to the hotel before Dean awakens, Sam takes on the job without telling big brother. What Sam didn't expect was to wake up two days later in the hospital...

Ignorance Is Bliss

Sam was slammed against the brick wall, feeling his left shoulder pop painfully out of place. Before he even had a chance to get a shot off, the thing had disappeared. Again.

"Damn it!" Sam shouted out for good measure, cradling his hurt arm.

Briefly Sam looked around, a feeble hope of seeing Dean. It was pointless-- Dean didn't even know Sam had left the hotel room, so why would his big brother come to his rescue? An untimely cough caused Sam's arm to jar painfully, and remind him of the reason why Dean wasn't there with him at that moment. The past two days had gone by in a furry of research and investigating on a shadow demon which was terrorizing people in the back allies in the small city of Jamieson. The problem began at the same time the research started when Sam began to get a cough and fever. Nothing big, the younger brother had insisted, just a cold. But Dean refused, even after finding all the information out about the demon, to let Sam go on the hunt while he was sick.

That, of course, turned into an argument. One that Sam sorely wished he hadn't instigated as his idea of winning the argument was to sneak out and try and find more information on the shadow demon. More information being finding, and currently getting his ass kicked, by the piece of evil. Sam would be sure to blame his fever on the stupid idea.

"Son of a bitch," Sam mumbled reaching for his bag with his right arm.

Inside he grabbed out Dean's favorite lighter that he had rigged to stay lit after throwing. The research the brother's had done had proven that the particular demon they were fighting with could be vanquished one way… by setting it on fire. Not exactly an easy job as in order to do that, the hunter would have to get directly in the demon's wrath.

"Hey!" Sam's chest heaved painfully as he choked down a strangled cough, "Get you ass over here!"

Like a bad tempered dog, Sam realized all too soon that the thing was going to listen in a violent way. He was smashed against an old dumpster before he could even see the thing materialize. The demon was like a black mass that could materialize in and out of whatever it liked; not helping matters at all in the hunting process. Half laying on the ground, Sam opened the lighter, and threw it blindly towards the advancing evil.

Loudly, a twister of wind swept through the ally, followed by a loud screech sound coming from the demon which disappeared into oblivion. Sam would have rejoiced in his quick thinking if it weren't for the unbelievable pain radiating through his body. The hunter couldn't even pinpoint the exact location that the hurt was coming from, but rather summed it up in a full body ach.

"One thing's for sure," Sam squeezed his eyes shut in pain as he got to his feet, "If Dean sees me like this, he'll freak."

Sam's main concern was his dislocated shoulder, and as another deep, wracking cough erupted though his body, he remembered why. Using his good arm, Sam reached into his pants pocket for his wallet to check its contents. With a small smile he found the new credit card Dean had got; what better way to test it than a quick trip to the ER.

The blood that dripped down from Sam's head also gave clue that this was a wise choice.

"I'll be back before Dean even wakes up," Sam smiled, noting the time as only a half past three in the morning, "What Dean doesn't know, won't hurt Dean."

Yeah-- he was definitely going to blame this one on his fever.

If someone asked Sam later what had happened after that, he wouldn't have been able to say. What he could remember of the events were fuzzy at best, and the only parts clear were the drive to the hospital, then collapsing in the front entrance. Random bouts of consciousness brought questions from doctors that Sam attempted to answer, but guessed he did incorrectly as the same questions were asked several times. Each time he awoke, Sam's world was wracked with pain and heat, and he gladly slipped back into unconsciousness.

Finally the hunter awoke to a world that was cool and somewhat more comfortable than before. Opening his eyes, Sam squinted around at the white hospital room he was in. Something was missing as all his surroundings slowly came into focus and his mind cleared. Something that was usually there.

"Dean!" Sam suddenly gasped as he sat up in the bed, his world spinning around.

Sure enough, Dean was nowhere in sight, and Sam felt his heartbeat slowly increase, and a cold feeling form in his stomach. Right as he was about to press the nurse button beside him, just that walked into his room.

"Oh, hi there Mr. Willard," the nurse was young and smiled widely, "It's nice to see you awake. Did you need anything before I grab the doctor?"

"How long has it been?" Sam asked frantically.

"Since what?" the nurse frowned, "You were checked in?"

Sam nodded and watched as the nurse walked over to the chart attached to the end of his bed. Quickly she scanned down the information before looking back up at the patient.

"It's been just over two days."

"Oh no," Sam whispered, his eyes widening.

"What's wrong?" the nurse took a step forward.

Sam's hand was covering his mouth as he mumbled out, "What happened to me?"

"You came in the middle of night on Saturday," the nurse explained what she knew, "You just collapsed in the lobby. Doctors were fixing to work on your initial injuries," she looked at the chart again, "Your dislocated shoulder, and bad lacerations to your forehead and right leg. But while doing this, you just got worse, and they realized that you also had severe pneumonia. By the looks of it, they were pumping a lot of drugs into you, so that's why it took you so long to become…" she paused for thought of words, "lucid."

Sam brushed past the information of his heath to a more important question, "Has there been anyone in here to visit me? At all?"

The nurse shook her head, "No. At least not while I've been here. The doctor wanted to talk to you, actually, to see if there was someone we could call for you."

"Damn it," Sam cussed, closing his eyes briefly, "No… I'm good. I'll get a hold of him myself."

Dean was going to kill him!

The nurse gave a quizzical look at Sam before leaving the room to find a doctor. Sam's mind raced with thoughts; if it had been over two days, and Dean hadn't shown up once, then there was no way this was going to end good. Sam knew he had to get a hold of Dean any way possible, and looking beside him, he saw a phone. Eagerly the younger brother picked up the receiver, pressed nine, and then dialed his brother's number; hoping against all hope that Dean would pick up.

It was almost three rings before there was an answer, "Hello?"

Sam smiled as he spoke, "Hey Dean."

"Sam!" Sam actually had to pull the phone away from his ear at Dean's bellow, "Where the hell are you?!"

Sam swallowed before divulging exactly what his brother didn't want to hear, "I'm at Concord Memorial…"

"Are you hurt?" Dean's question overlapped Sam's answer.

"Umm," Sam paused; what was one more lie? "Not really."

"I'm coming," Dean's voice sounded strange, "Just stay put."

Sam didn't have time to respond as Dean hung up immediately afterwards. After successfully letting his anxious big brother know his whereabouts, Sam's next objective was to get out of bed and make himself presentable to the person he knew was going to be incredibly mad and worried about him. Carefully Sam swung his feet over the edge of the bed and stood up; careful of the dizzy and nauseous feeling threatening to take over. An IV was stuck into his right hand, and his left was stuck in a sling holding his shoulder in place. The younger Winchester also noticed that he was wearing hospital pants and shirt, and felt a small amount of embarrassment at the fact that someone had to of undressed him.

Sam briefly wondered why Dean was unable to find him at the hospital as he mentally calculated whether he'd be able to get dressed and out of the hospital before anybody noticed him.

"He'd have definitely checked all the hospitals," Sam mused to himself, then paused, "but… he has no clue what name is on my new card."

Sam smirked at his brother's series of unfortunate events. Then, closing his eyes briefly in preparation for the pain, Sam ripped out the IV tube, and watched the small trickle of blood roll down his hand. The two steps towards the small drawer that held his clothes reminded Sam of the cut he'd got on his leg, though he ignored it as he pulled out his dirty pants and, deciding to opt for the clean white shirt he had on, went straight to the small bathroom to change.

Less than two minutes later Sam walked out of the bathroom; the large wraparound bandage gone from his head, along with the sling that held his arm in place. Thankful that the doctor was taking his time, Sam grabbed his bag, slipped out the door and manage to get past the nurses station without anyone noticing.

"Alright Dean," Sam breathed in the cool air as he stepped outside, "You better hurry your ass up."

Though Sam wanted Dean to hurry in fear that security was going to find him first, he did enjoy breathing in the night air. It felt nice on his still soar chest, and Sam was just about to fish into his bag for his cell phone when he heard the Impala pull into the parking lot. Almost instantaneously, he heard a shout from someone coming after him from the hospital.

"Oh crap," Sam leaped towards the Impala just as Dean screeched it to a halt.

His leg screamed in pain from the jump, and then his arm throbbed from pulling open the passenger side door, but the second he got in, Sam ordered Dean to go.

"Sam--!" Dean started.

"Just go!" Sam repeated, glancing in the mirror to see the security guard shouting and throwing gestures at the car.

They didn't even make it two blocks before Dean pulled into a secluded parking lot, wordlessly swiveled around to turn on the light and then looked at Sam with a look of determined anger. Sam stared blankly back, waiting for Dean to speak first.

"You're a fricken asshole!" Dean burst out, his eyes wide, "What the hell were you thinking!?"

"I--"

"I don't care!" Dean interrupted, his torso completely turned towards his little brother, "You go out, in the middle of the night to get your ass kicked! You don't tell me of course, instead let me find my fricken car in the lockup with some bitch who won't tell me where it was towed from," Dean took an angry breath, and Sam felt it best to let his brother finish, "Two days Sammy! I worried about your ass for two days!"

Sam sighed, "Dean…"

"You know this is why Dad always fricken yelled at you when we were little," Dean rambled on, "You go off halfcocked! And while you were fricken sick man!" Dean's voice was breaking with emotion and adrenaline, "One of these days some demon is going to come and finish you off Sammy, and all because you want to jump in and be the hero. This is not the way to do it! We are a team Sam; how the hell am I supposed to watch your back if I don't know where it is? I'm--" Dean swallowed hard, "I'm not going to be around a lot longer Sammy, and-- and if you do this, and get your ass wasted by some demon stuck up on being some destiny's bitch…!"

Dean was breathing hard by this point, and Sam finally took the opportunity to speak, "You done?"

Dean remained silent.

"Dean…" Sam sighed deeply, still feeling the tightness in his chest, "… I'm sorry man…"

"Why?" the one word came from Dean's mouth, and held almost as much emotion as his whole rant did.

Sam struggled to think of an answer, "I just… I was pissed at you. I thought if I could do this on my own then," Sam stared down at his hands, "…then maybe I'll be ok."

"You'll be fine Sammy," Dean's voice dramatically changed into his soft big brother tone, "You just--" a smile tugged at his features, "You gotta time your little Superman acts a little better dude."

Sam swallowed the sudden lump in his throat as he looked up at Dean, "Yeah. I guess you're right."

"Over twenty years with me, and you're just figuring this out now?" Dean mocked surprise and spoke after a moment of silence, "Ok… so spill."

"Spill what?" Sam smiled.

Dean laughed lightly, "You lied to me on the phone. I highly doubt you spent the last two days doing your hair."

Sam nodded, "Yeah… my plan of getting back to the hotel before you noticed didn't quite work. Main thing was pneumonia-- I was out of it for the whole time or I swear I would have called you."

"I'm sure," Dean tried to make light while still inspecting his little brother's injuries, "How are you feeling now?"

"I'm alright," Sam nodded.

"You sure?" Dean was trying not to push, but didn't feel the need to hide his worry, "'cause there's other hospitals nearby that don't currently have your picture plastered on their most wanted list."

Sam laughed, "I'm fine Dean," he shot a teasing look at his brother, "I promise I'll warn you if I feel I'm going to swoon."

Dean shot a look out as he turned off the light in the car, "Bitch."

Sam relaxed at his brother's tease, "Jerk."

The Impala once again headed out onto the endless roads that it seemed to beckon, and Sam leaned into the seat. A smile crept to the younger Winchester's face that he made sure to hide from Dean. The memories from the past few days were, in truth, sketchy at best, but Sam did recall one fact of the mater. Dean favorite lighter was probably still sitting in the abandoned back ally.

Oh well.

What Dean doesn't know, won't hurt Dean.

The End.