It's been a while for an update on this one and for that I'm sorry. Hopefully the next one will be up sooner considering it's about three quarters done but we'll see. As always reviews are greatly appreciated because I love hearing what people think of my stories whether it's good or bad, as long as it's constructive. Enjoy.

"Here."

Dean looked up as Bobby thrust a cup of coffee out toward him. He took it gratefully.

"Any change?" The older man asked as he took a seat on the opposite side of Sam's bed. Dean looked over at his still sleeping sister and sighed.

"No. Still out."

Bobby gave him a sympathetic look. "You need to work on your patience boy. The kid lost a lot'a blood and been through two surgeries. She needs the rest."

Dean sighed again. "I know that but it's been a week already. She needs to wake up."

The past week had been one of the longest of his life and those first two days he hadn't even known if she would live or not. Thankfully on day three the doctors told him that Sam was strong enough for her second surgery which would repair the rest of the damage done by his bullet. Now it was just a waiting game.

"Yeah, well, from what I've seen of her so far, your sister is one stubborn piece of work. She won't wake up till she's damn good and ready."

Dean nodded absently and gently brushed Sam's hair from her forehead.

"How's dad holdin up?" He asked, not really interested in the answer, but needing something to talk about.

Bobby gave him a long withering look. The old man wasn't pleased with his attitude toward dear old dad. Dean didn't care though. John hadn't even dropped in to see his daughter since he was released from the hospital that second day. Dean knew that it was due to some guilt complex the man was suffering from but it didn't give him the right to just bail again. Sure he asked for updates every night when Dean was forced to leave the hospital but it wasn't the same as checking for himself.

"He's holdin up bout as good as can be expected. You know that already."

Dean just rolled his eyes.

"Don't you roll your eyes at me Dean. You know your dad ain't the best with this kinda thing."

"Well, I don't really give a shit. I'm here and this is the last place in the world I wanna be. Hell, you're here and you aren't even her dad. He needs to get his ass in gear and be a goddamn father for once."

Bobby looked like he was gonna say something back but Dean wasn't in the mood to hear it. He'd worked himself up and now he needed some air.

Without even looking at the older man, Dean pushed himself up out of his chair and proceeded to leave the room, nearly slamming the door closed behind him.

Once outside Dean wasn't exactly sure what the hell he was doing. Air was all well and good but what he really needed was a drink to help calm his nerves. Unfortunately, drinking at nine o'clock in the morning was often frowned upon.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he leaned up against the wall of the hospital. He was so tired of just standing around doing nothing.

"You look troubled Deano."

Nearly jumping right out of his skin, Dean whirled around and came face to face with Jacob the demon. His hand automatically went to his side where his gun usually was but froze when he remembered he didn't have it.

"You know, if you keep trying to kill me every time we meet, we're never going to get past this."

Dean glowered over at the smiling bastard. "Past this? You mean past the fact that it's your fault that my sister is the way she is?"

Jacob just shrugged and leaned up against the wall beside him. "I thought we went over this back at the jail. I'm not the one you have to worry about anymore."

Using every part of the self-control that he possessed, Dean stomped down his urge to kill in order to try and get more information.

"You care to tell me anymore about that?"

Jacob glanced over at him, eyes flashing black. "I was glad to hear that Jessica had been taken care of. That's one less monster you have to worry about."

"Jessica? You mean the blond?"

"Yes. She was one of his little projects. She and Sam were quite close. It must have been very difficult for her."

Dean stared blankly off into the distance as the memories of the moment when he'd finally caught up to his sister flooded to the surface. That dead look in her eyes as she tortured their father. "She…was a completely different person. She…"

"Would have killed each and every one of you. It was what she was programmed to do."

Dean turned to Jacob again and glared at him. "And whose fault is that?!"

Jacob sighed and stepped away from the wall. "You need to keep better control of her Dean. What you saw in that house? That was only the beginning. More of them are going to come for her, he wants her back."

Dean opened his mouth to speak again but Jacob cut him off.

"You can't stay here for much longer. You need to get on the move, and soon."

Dean deepened his glare. "You think I don't know that asshole. I want to get out of here as soon as possible, but in case you didn't know, she's kind of unconscious at the moment."

Jacob stared him down for a moment before a malicious looking smile appeared on his face. Dean's hand immediately shifted to his side again despite the fact that there was nothing there.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot. You shot her."

Dean's face grew pale and his hands clenched at his sides.

"How did that feel Dean? Knowing that you just potentially murdered your baby sister?"

"Shut the hell up." Dean said, keeping his tone deadly calm.

"Did you feel sad; angry; or maybe glad? Did you enjoy watching the blood pour from her body?

"I said, Shut the hell up!" He screamed. Jacob only smiled wider and a dark look passed across his face. If Dean didn't know any better…he could've sworn that it was anger. Anger at what he'd done to Sam.

"What the hell is your relationship with my sister? She was really upset when I implied that you might be dead. She also completely freaked out when I told her that I talked to you."

Jacob's eyes shifted back to their normal blue and the angry smile turned wistful. "We don't have a relationship. I'm nothing more than the demon that kidnapped her as a child. Goodbye Dean. It's been fun."

Before he could even think about saying anything else, Jacob was gone.

"God dammit!" Dean yelled as he punched the wall where the demon had been standing.

The pain was soothing in a way. He looked idly down at the blood trickling from the cuts on his knuckles.

"God dammit…"

Back inside Sam's room nothing had changed. She was still unconscious and Bobby was dozing in his chair. Dean slumped down in his own chair and stared at her sleeping face. He once again couldn't get over how peaceful she looked.

He didn't know how they were going to be able to leave if she wouldn't wake up. He hated to admit it but Jacob had been right. He was beginning to feel the urgency that Sam had apparently been feeling the entire time. They couldn't remain in the hospital for much longer if these special projects were after Sam. If what he'd already seen Sam do was any indication, he could only imagine what these other people were capable of.

He'd already screwed up pretty royally in protecting her up until that point, but that was going to change. He didn't care what his dad said, he didn't care what that asshole demon said. He was going to keep her safe, no matter what he had to do.

Dean couldn't help but wonder though, what she was going to be like when she did wake up. The last time he'd spoken to her she had been pretty messed up. It was once again like she was a different person. The dead look in her eyes had terrified him more than anything else he'd ever experienced. His Sam was gone and in her place was…

No.

He wouldn't even think the word. Sam was his baby sister, no matter what she said or did. He wasn't going to treat her any differently. He could really only hope that she would be able to forgive him for what he'd done to her.

Despite the fact that he didn't deserve it.

When Bobby woke up from his nap a few hours later, Dean didn't tell him about the little visit from Jacob. For some reason he felt that he needed to keep it to himself. Maybe it was out of some weird loyalty to his sister. However much he hated it, Sam seemed to care about the bastard and the last thing he wanted to do was force her into another rage fest over the safety of a demon.

"Dean, you want anything from the cafeteria?" Bobby asked with a tiredness the nap couldn't quite seem to fix.

"No. I'm good."

Bobby scowled at him from his spot by the door. "I'll bring you a sandwich."

Dean let out a breathy laugh at the man's words. Bobby was such a worrywart. His scowl deepened but he didn't respond to Dean's laugh as he turned and walked out of the room. Dean watched him go with a fond expression. Maybe what he really wanted was for his dad to be there, but Bobby was definitely the next best thing. The man hadn't even mentioned anything about his messed up knuckles, for which he was grateful.

Leaning back in his chair, Dean leafed idly through the car magazine Bobby had brought him earlier. It was filled with classics and it was a good distraction from the still unconscious figure in the bed.

"You know Sammy, when you wake up I think I'm gonna take you to a car show…" He mumbled more to himself than Sam. He'd just been spouting off nonsense for the past few hours trying to get any kind of response from her. So far it had been a no go.

"That would be fun, wouldn't it? You, me, dad? Regular old family outing. You know, like normal people…"

He sighed again when there was no response. Talking to himself was getting very boring. At this point he would even take one of her episodes.

His eyes strayed over to her left arm. The cast was gone now, they'd removed it in favor of a brace that she would have to wear for a few more weeks. His name was almost visible again and he briefly wondered if there was a way to get it covered up. Maybe he could convince her to get a tattoo or something. Seeing it there…rubbed him the wrong way. It reminded him of his failures.

Placing the magazine onto his lap he rubbed his eyes tiredly before leaning his head back and closing them. He was so exhausted.

"So, Dad's awake…I don't know if you really want to hear about him after what happened but…ah, hell…come on Sammy…"

Why wouldn't she just wake up!? His frustration level was reaching its boiling point. In that moment he just wanted to reach out and shake her until she did.

"Mmm…"

Dean jumped up so fast, ignoring it when the magazine fell to the floor, that he nearly gave himself whiplash and looked down at Sam.

She was still just lying there but her eyelids seemed to be fluttering slightly…almost as if she was trying to open her eyes.

"S-Sammy?" He asked, shock evident in his voice. Dean leaned in closer so that his words would reach her better.

"Come on baby sister. Open those beautiful eyes for me." He said softly as he reached forward to take her hand in his.

Sam moaned slightly again and her eyelids fluttered even more.

"You can do it Sam."

A second later Dean got his wish. Sam blinked her eyes open and stared hazily back at him.

Dean's smile lit up his whole face.

"Hey there Sammy."

She blinked sluggishly up at him as if she wasn't quite understanding what she was seeing. It was no surprise really, she had been unconscious for about a week.

"Take you time Sam. Everything's okay."

She blinked heavily again but soon enough her gaze locked on his face and she just stared at him. Dean was starting to get a little worried and he was just about to go and call for a nurse when her hand tightened around his own.

"Sammy?" He questioned in concern.

Sam opened and closed her mouth a few times, almost as if she was trying to say something.

"What is it Sam?"

She tried again but soon frowned slightly as if frustrated.

It took Dean an embarrassingly long time to figure out what the problem was but as soon as he did he set about rectifying it.

"Are you thirsty?"

Sam nodded slowly.

Dean smiled down at her. "Okay. I'm just gonna go and grab you some water okay? I'll be right back."

He extracted his hand and practically tripped over his own feet as he ran for the sink in the bathroom. He was back in less than a minute and gently lifted her so that he could help her drink.

"Slowly. I don't want you to choke."

After she'd downed about half the cup, Dean pulled it away and lowered her back down. Sam licked her lips slightly and then focused her attention back on him.

Her gaze was clearer now and Dean was happy to see some recognition in her eyes.

"Hey there kiddo." He said with a small smile.

Sam stared up at him for a moment longer before opening her mouth and saying something that Dean had been aching to hear ever since she'd been admitted.

"D-Dea..n."

Dean let his breath out in a huge sigh of relief. It was like a huge weight had just been lifted off of his shoulders.

"Thank God Sammy…you had me scared there little sister."

A tired smile slowly flitted across her lips and for the first time in a week, Dean felt like everything was going to be okay.