A/N: This is my first Sam and Colby fan fiction, so please let me know what you think! I don't know anything about medical procedures, so any details are probably wrong. Please just suffer through my mistakes and enjoy the story!
Summary: A Sam and Colby fanfic. This is based on the TFIL video, "THIS ALMOST KILLED HIM! w/ Sam, Colby and Corey". What if Colby got seriously hurt from the snowmobile accident? The dialogue has not been taken from the video.
TW: injury, blood
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"But why do we always stay overnight at somewhere that's haunted?" Corey was saying, frustrated. They were on their way to a resort where they would be going snowmobiling, and Corey and Elton, who was driving, were having an intense (and noisy) argument about the benefits and disadvantages of spooky videos, with Corey declaring that he never wanted to see an Ouija board again in his life.
Sam was sitting in the backseat with Colby, the two of them having an energetic, if slightly quieter, conversation about their next exploration video. Sam, although he was excited about snowmobiling, had had a bad feeling about the outing ever since Elton suggested it. He'd gone along with it, as Colby and Corey had jumped at the chance with such enthusiasm. So far in the drive, Sam thought he'd been doing done a good job of masking his concern for the outing with his usual energy and quips. But Colby seemed to notice that he wasn't quite his normal self.
"You're being kind of quiet dude," Colby said, lowering his voice so Corey and Elton, who were still arguing, wouldn't hear. "Is everything okay?"
Sam wasn't sure exactly what to say. It was only a feeling, nothing concrete, and although he knew Colby would never laugh at him for something like this, he felt kind of foolish admitting it.
"Dude?" Colby prompted, starting to look concerned.
Oh, what the hell, Sam thought, and answered, "It's nothing, just got a bad feeling about this."
Colby smiled at him. "Don't worry, Sam, we'll be fine. We've done heaps of crazier things than this."
"Yeah, I know," Sam replied. He returned the smile, feeling reassured.
"Then let's go DO SOME SNOWMOBILING!" Colby yelled, surprising Elton so much that that he nearly drove off the road.
Elton and Corey paused their argument long enough to yell at Colby for nearly getting them killed, and Sam joined in, dismissing any lingering feelings of worry.
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When they arrived, Colby was fizzing with excitement. He'd never been on a quad bike or motorcycle before, so to say he was thrilled was an understatement.
"Everybody ready?" Elton called as he stepped out of the car.
"Hell yeah!" Colby replied, and Corey let out a whoop of excitement.
"This is going to be so awesome!" Sam exclaimed, and Colby was happy to see that his best friend was genuinely excited now.
Maybe he was right though, and something is going to go wrong.
Colby shook off the thought, refusing to let it dampen his mood.
"LET'S GO!" He yelled, running to the entrance, his friends hot on his heels.
Once inside, they were given safety equipment, debriefed on how to use the vehicles, and shown which snowmobiles they would be driving.
Colby studied the vehicles that were parked in front of the group as he pulled on his helmet. There were two of them, each with two seats, one in front for the driver, and one slightly higher off the ground in behind for a passenger. They were sleek and shiny, and awesome.
"There are only two vehicles, and four of us," Elton observed.
"Dibs on driving first!" Sam and Corey yelled immediately, their voices slightly muffled due to their helmets.
"Ok, fine," Elton huffed, looking slightly annoyed.
"Whatever, let's go!" Colby couldn't have cared less about not driving first, he was just excited to get going. He shrugged and grinned at his best friend who was already getting into one of the vehicles. He made a move to climb in the back, but Elton stopped him.
"I'm riding with Sam this time," Elton told him.
"Oh, switching it up now, are we?" Corey asked, a little put out.
"Sam and Colby are always together, it might be good to change it up a little," Elton answered, then smirked. "Besides, you're a terrible driver."
"WHAT?!" Corey yelled. "That's not true!"
"Then what happened on Monday with your car?"
"That wasn't my fault!" Corey sounded indignant. "They shouldn't have built that wall there!"
Colby looked at Sam and laughed. "They're so funny when they fight," he whispered, leaning in so his voice would be heard through his helmet.
"Totally," Sam whispered back, snorting in amusement.
"Alright, fine!" Corey admitted defeat. "Come on Colby, you're with me."
"Ok," Colby said, shooting Sam a smile and thumping him on the back as he made his way over to Corey. "Have fun, bro!"
"You too, and be careful," Sam replied. Colby felt a surge of warmth at those words; it was always nice to know that someone cared about him.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine," he called back, ignoring Elton and Corey's little 'aww's. "But if anything bad happens, blame Corey, he's the one driving."
"Hey, that's not fair!" Corey answered, even though it totally was.
"I agree with Colby," Elton chipped in jokingly, and Corey glared at him.
"You're only saying that because he's your favourite!"
"Whatever," Elton answered with a grin, "I think Colby just likes me more."
"Excuse me?! Is this true, Colby?"
"Uh, I'm just going to –"
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!"
Colby snorted with laughter. Corey was so funny when he was mad.
"Don't worry, Corey, you're my favourite," Sam said, shooting Colby a grin and clearly sharing the amusement.
"Thanks Sam," Corey huffed, getting into his snowmobile, and pulling Colby up behind him. "See you guys!"
Colby grinned so wide his face hurt. This was going to be amazing!
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As Elton climbed up behind him, Sam felt the feeling from earlier wash back over him.
"You ready to have some fun?" Elton asked, either not noticing Sam's change of mood, or choosing to distract him.
"Yes, let's go!" Sam replied. Despite the feeling of dread, he was actually really looking forward to doing this, and as he turned on the engine, the throaty growl drowned out his worry.
"Later losers!" he yelled, pushing in the throttle, and zooming ahead of Corey and Colby, laughing at their indignant shouts as he flew down the trail, Elton whooping with excitement.
Checking behind him, Sam could see that Corey had started up his vehicle and was hot on their heels.
"Come on, Sam!" Elton yelled in his ear. "They're catching up!"
Turning his attention back to the trail in front of him, Sam pushed the snowmobile to the max, speeding away in a flurry of snow.
"WHOOHOO!" He and Elton screamed, their voices blending, both thrilled and terrified at the speed as they tore down the trail. Sam spun the vehicle around the turns, barely missing the trees and almost flattening a couple of smaller bushes on the edges. The snow flew up behind them in a miniature storm, and the wind rushed towards them and pushed them roughly down into their seats.
They were almost five minutes into the pure adrenaline-boosting thrill ride before Sam looked back again to check on his best friend. But despite the fact he could see quite far down the trail from his current position, there was no one in sight.
"Elton, can you see Corey and Colby?" he shouted over the wind and the growl of the engine. He felt Elton turn around behind him.
"No," Elton yelled back.
"Shit," Sam muttered under his breath, worry rushing over him so fast it felt like he was drowning in it. He turned back a second time to peer behind him, and the distraction nearly ended in disaster.
With Sam's attention drawn away from the road, the snowmobile veered slightly to the right, clipping a tree. It spun around violently, nearly sending Sam and Elton flying, before stopping in the deep snow on the edge of the trail. Both of them sat for a minute in silence, catching their breath.
"You ok?" Sam finally managed to gasp out, keeping it short to conserve his breath.
"Yeah. You?" Elton replied.
"I'm good." Sam suddenly started laughing, and after a second, Elton joined in. "I can't believe I just did that!"
He put the engine in reverse and tried to back out, but the deep snow they had sunk into wouldn't let them move an inch.
"I think we're stuck," Sam groaned in annoyance.
"And I thought Corey was the bad driver!" Elton joked, clearly expecting Sam to laugh and throw an insult back, but instead Sam had gone pale, remembering why they had crashed. Leaping out of the bogged snowmobile, he ran to the middle of the trail and stared down back the way they had come, eyes straining for any movement that could mean Corey and Colby were still behind them. He was so focused that he didn't even notice Elton coming up and standing behind him.
"Do you think they crashed?" Elton asked, startling him.
"Why else wouldn't they be behind us?" Sam answered worriedly. "We have to go back to make sure they're ok."
He took off running down the trail, deserting the trapped snowmobile. It would be faster to run than to try and free it. He could go back and do that once he was certain that Colby was fine. And Corey too, of course.
As he ran, the only sounds he could hear were his and Elton's crunching steps as their feet broke through the snow and their heavy breathing. That was until he rounded a corner, and it was all drowned out by the sound of blood rushing in his ears as his heart dropped to his feet.
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"LETS GOOOOO!" Corey screeched, nearly unseating Colby as he threw the snowmobile around another turn. Colby let out an unintelligible shout of elation, the wind catching hits words and scattering them to the four corners of the earth.
After Sam's cocky parting shot and head start, it had become their mission to catch up to him and Elton and beat their asses in the undeclared yet obvious race. Colby could tell that Corey's commitment to their mission was second to none, and as they hurtled down the trail in pursuit of Sam and Elton, he finally came to a true understanding of Corey's terrible driving. They kept veering recklessly close to the trees at the edge of the trail, and with the way Corey was taking the turns, Colby was genuinely surprised that they were still upright.
But that, unfortunately, didn't last long. As a particularly sharp curve came rushing towards them, Colby stood up for a split second to see where their opponents were. It was in that spilt second that disaster struck. Corey overcompensated for the sharp turn, causing the snowmobile to stop moving forward and instead spin sharply, crashing over to lie on its side. Colby, who in that moment was just out of his seat, was thrown out of the vehicle.
For a moment he felt a light weightless sensation, before he felt a fiery slashing pain against his back. Immediately, his head was hit from behind so hard he could have sworn he felt his brain collide with the front of his skull, then there was darkness.
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Everything was hazy, as if he was submerged in water. There were silhouettes hovering over him, voices that floated around, words that didn't make any sense. Nothing made sense. All he was certain of was the pounding headache, and the intense nausea coiling in his gut. Swallowing hard, he tried to reach the surface.
He felt the freezing air brush his face, and the cold, wet feeling of snow sweeping into his clothes. There was something sticky and wet tricking down from his nose, and he was vaguely surprised to note, some also came from his ears.
Colbs?
Slowly, an achingly familiar voice pierced the miasma that hovered over his mind, a voice that he trusted above anything else.
"S'm?" he slurred.
"Yo, yo, Colby!" This time the voice was more distinct, and he could hear the panic in it. "Please, open your eyes, bro!"
Unable to leave his best friend sounding so lost, he struggled with his heavy eyelids, forcing them open and flinching violently as the light seared his retinas. The sudden movement intensified the already fierce nausea, and the next thing he knew, he was on his side, supported by gentle hands, as he threw up into the snow.
Once the brutal heaving had lessened, he sank back onto the ground, eyes tightly shut, shivering uncontrollably. Amazingly, his head seemed a little clearer than before, although his vicious headache hadn't eased in the slightest, if anything, it had grown more severe. With a groan, he brought a shaking, sluggish arm up to rub his temples.
"S'm? You th'r?" he tried to say, tongue and lips stumbling over the words. He somehow struggled up into a sitting position, swallowing back the nausea that rose with the movement, and almost directly started listing to the side. Immediately, someone's hands were holding him upright, and his head was gently leant against his friend's shoulder. An arm curled around him, offering both warmth and comfort.
"I'm right next to you, Colby," he heard Sam say softly. "Stay here, don't try to move."
"Wa's go'n on?" he asked, mind a little hazy on how he had ended up in this position.
He heard Sam draw in a sharp breath, before replying gently, "You crashed a snowmobile, but you're gonna be alright, Colbs. I promise."
Somehow, he knew that Sam was comforting himself more than his friend, but he still believed him. Sam would never lie to him. With that reassurance, he let himself drift into semi-consciousness, letting the outside world fade into the background.
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Sam looked down at Colby, who was leaning against his side, head resting against his shoulder. His friend was ghostly white, the bright red blood running from his nose and ears a sharp contrast to his too pale skin.
To say Sam was terrified was the understatement of the century.
"This – this is really bad," he stammered, just managing to hold back the tears that threatened to overflow. He had to be strong for Colby.
"I know, Sam," Elton said gently, crouched down on Colby's other side. He was almost as pale, face tight with concern. "Corey's calling for an ambulance. Colby will be fine, I promise."
Hearing the same reassurance that he had given Colby made Sam nearly lose the battle with his tears, but he took in a deep breath, looking back down at his injured friend and gently smoothing the sweaty hair away from Colby's eyes. He looked even younger than he usually did, making Sam's heart swell with a surge of fierce protectiveness.
In the background, he could hear Corey speaking to the emergency services, giving them Colby's symptoms.
"Bleeding from the nose and ears, throwing up, speech is slurred, seems confused and disoriented."
Sam swallowed hard. Those symptoms were indicative of a serious head injury. Not just a mild concussion, which would result in a painful headache but no serious damage – something that both boys had suffered through before, in Colby's case multiple times – but something much more serious.
Suddenly Corey was next to them, shaking Colby's shoulders, eliciting a small, tired groan.
"No!" Sam cried instinctually, shoving Corey's hands away. "Don't touch him!"
Corey held up his hands in a nonthreatening gesture. "Sam, it's ok, I just need to make sure he doesn't fall asleep."
"Sorry," Sam said quietly, not exactly sure why he had lashed out like that. Gently placing his hand on Colby's shoulder, he spoke gently.
"Colby? Bro? I need you to answer me."
"S'm?" The word was so quiet that he nearly missed it, but it sounded like the most beautiful thing in the world.
"You need to stay awake."
"Why? 'm t'rd."
"I know you're tired, but please, Colbs? Stay awake for me?"
"'kay."
For the next few minutes, Sam rambled on about random things to keep Colby conscious and relatively responsive. Corey and Elton had righted the snowmobile, which was mercifully still working, and had driven down the trail to show the ambulance and paramedics where to go. He just had to keep Colby awake until they returned.
"Hey Colby, remember that time in high school when we nearly blew up the science lab?"
"Mmm."
"We snuck in after school and tried to recreate an experiment that we had seen online, but you grabbed the wrong chemicals. Luckily, the janitor had spotted us and stopped us in time, or we could have killed ourselves!"
"Mmm."
"I genuinely don't know how we got away with only a one-week suspension for that."
Sam talked on and on, his throat getting hoarse. Colby was starting to worry him even more; he only answered with quiet hums or groans of pain, and even those seemed to be fading. Then he stopped responding altogether. Sam's heart dropped even further as he tried to shake his friend awake and his head fell back limply, eyes closed and fresh blood dripping sluggishly from his nose.
"No no no no no no no," Sam was panicking. "Come on Colbs, open your eyes, please bro! Don't do this to me! Yo, yo, Colby, please!"
He let Colby sink back into the snow and leant over him, shaking him desperately. "Colby! Come on, Cole, please!"
But there was nothing. Colby's eyes remained closed, his body limp and unmoving.
"COLBY!"
Suddenly he was yanked away from Colby, who was immediately surrounded by a group of paramedics. Sam watched in a daze as they checked his vital signs, before bracing his neck and strapping him to a stretcher. They wheeled him to the ambulance and pushed him inside, leaving Sam staring at Colby's crushed helmet and the bright red blood tainting the pristine white snow.
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Sam couldn't remember how he'd gotten to the hospital. All he knew was that either Elton or Corey had driven, as he definitely hadn't been in the right mindset to drive. His two roommates were in the waiting room with him, Elton slumped in the chair next to his and Corey pacing up and down. They'd been waiting for two hours, and there was still no news about Colby.
No news was good news, Elton had assured him from time to time; they would be told immediately if Colby had died. If he'd died... Sam closed down the thought instantly. Colby was not dying. Not anytime soon. Not on his watch.
The creak of the waiting room's door opening had all of them startle and turn to face the nurse who had entered, hoping desperately for news of their friend.
"Friends of Cole Brock?" The nurse asked, looking up from her clipboard, and Sam was on his feet and across to room before she had finished speaking.
"Is he alright?" he demanded.
"He's stable," she told him, Sam felt the relief rush over him. "If you'll come with me, the doctor would like to give you an overview of your friend's injuries."
She turned and left through the door, Sam, Corey and Elton right behind her. They followed her into an empty room with a few chairs scattered around, and she left them there with a promise that the doctor would be there shortly.
Sure enough, they were not left long before the doctor arrived. He looked at them calmly, an unreadable expression on his face.
"How is he?" Elton asked worriedly.
"Cole will live," the doctor told them, and they all let out sighs of relief, "But he has a long road of recovery ahead of him."
Sam felt his chest tighten in apprehension as the doctor began to list Colby's injuries. "Starting with the more minor wounds, he has several lacerations on his back, some deep bruising, and has cracked two ribs. His most severe injury was his head injury: he fractured his skull and there was a build up of blood and fluid inside the cavity. We took him in for emergency surgery and managed to drain the fluids. We had to put him in an induced coma to give his brain a chance to recover. We do not believe there is any brain damage, but we will only know for sure once he wakes up. Your friend is a very lucky man."
There was a moment of silence as they registered the doctor's words. Colby was in a coma?
He'll be fine, Sam told himself. The coma is medically induced, he's stable, he's going to be ok.
"Can we see him?" he asked.
"He's in the ICU right now," the doctor told him, "So usually we would only let family visit –"
"He's my brother," Sam quickly said. He needed to see Colby, to get proof that his friend was going to be fine.
"Ok, in that case you can go see him, but I'm afraid you two will have to wait outside." The doctor's lips quirked up slightly, as if he knew that Sam was just a close friend but actually approved of his lie. "He's in room 134."
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Outside Colby's hospital room, Sam took a moment to prepare himself, then opened the door and walked in.
He gasped. No amount of preparation would have readied him for the sight of his best friend lying in a hospital bed, tubes snaking from his mouth, nose, arm, from everywhere, connected up to a dozen machines that were monitoring his vital signs and pumping him full of medication. Colby was so pale, so small amidst the mass of tubes and machines, that he almost looked dead. Sam immediately dismissed the thought. Colby was not dead.
Sam reached down and lightly brushed Colby's dark hair out of his eyes, before sitting down in the chair beside the bed and gently taking the hand that was not connected to the IV in his. It was as cold as ice.
"Colby? The doctor said that you may be able to hear me. I just wanted to let you know that I'm here for you, ok dude? We're here for you. Corey and Elton are here too, but they weren't allowed in. I'm not supposed to be here either, but I told the doctor you were my brother. I don't think I fooled him, but he let me in anyway."
Sam leant back in the chair, grasping Colby's cold hand tightly in his own, and continued to talk. "Corey told me what happened. Apparently he took a turn too fast, and you flew out and hit a tree! You have to admit it's kind of impressive. When you get home you'll have a crazy story to tell everyone."
Sam sat next to Colby and just spoke. He talked about their favourite TV shows, past explorations, high school mishaps, and pranks he was planning for their roommates. It was just like when he had been waiting for the ambulance, trying to keep Colby responsive, but there was one major difference: this time, he knew Colby would be fine.
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Sam stayed in Colby's hospital room overnight. A few nurses had come in, but no one had tried to get him to leave. Even if they had, he knew that he would have put up a resistance. There was no way they would have been able to keep him away from Colby.
Sam woke up some time in the night with his head resting against the bed beside Colby's, his friend's hand still clasped between his own. He yawned and stretched, wondering what had woken him, when it happened for a second time. Colby's fingers twitched. His heart leapt as Colby let out a small groan, his eyelids fluttering.
"Colby, bro? You awake?"
"Sam?" Colby's voice was dry and raspy, but it was the most beautiful thing Sam had heard in a long time. His blue eyes flickered open, dimmer than usual due to the pain, but still so bright.
"Yep, it's me." Sam grabbed the paper cup of water that sat on the table beside the bed and handed it to Colby, helping him hold it as Colby tipped the water down his throat greedily. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I crashed into a tree," Colby answered, mouth twitching up at the corners. "So basically pretty terrible."
"I bet."
"But I'm still alive," Colby smiled. "The chainsaw headache is worth it."
Sam grinned back at his friend, his heart flooding with joy. He knew that Colby had a long road ahead of him, but now that Colby was awake, he finally believed what he'd been trying to tell himself all along: Colby was alive, he was ok, and they would get through this. Together.
