And the Ground Shook (7/22)
Mar. 28th, 2007 02:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sams1raCharacters: Hurt!Dean, John, Sam.
Comments: Are loved and coveted.
And the Ground Shook
Chapter Seven – Beneath the Surface
Sam sat by his brother's bed, still a little shaken up. The surgery lasted about four hours, they had nearly lost Dean, again. Sam kept seeing those moments over and over again in his head; walking into his brother's room, seeing him lying all curled up and pale, talking to him, shaking him without being able to wake him up. Just the thought made Sam's heart beat faster.
Dean was in the ICU again. The doctors had said it was probably a complication from the earlier operation; that either a blood clot was created after the surgery or one was there before and prevented the surgeons from seeing a small tear in one of his organs. Sam stopped listening at some point. Probably after the doctors said that had they found him even five minutes later it would have been too late. Which meant that, had Sam actually remembered to stop and buy Dean the magazine he'd asked for, Dean would have died. It was too scary a thought for the fifteen year old to handle.
Sam straightened in his seat as Dean's eyes began to flutter, his head slowly rolling from side to side. Sam leaned forward, closer to his brother.
"Hey," he said, reaching for Dean's hand, "hey, you're alright." Sam said, his voice strangled. Dean blinked, trying to get his eyes to focus. "And I'm totally pissed at you, big brother. I had a date with Linda Sinclair and I blew it off. Now she probably won't go out with me, and there goes two month of trying to get to third base with her, thanks to you." Sam added with a small grin. Dean fought to keep his eyes open, his hand reaching slowly for his oxygen mask, pulling it aside.
"Wuss." He said, before letting his hand drop. "Takes you two months and you still didn’t get to third base?" the older brother croaked. Sam laughed, though, for some reason, his eyes watered. He leaned forward, placing the oxygen mask back onto Dean's mouth and nose.
Dean was still extremely pale. He was hooked back up to all the monitors, and still looked like roadkill. Well, actually, roadkill looked better.
"How are you feeling?" Sam asked. Dean closed his eyes, taking a few deep breaths.
"I really don’t want to find out," Dean admitted, "so don’t you let them take away the drugs, 'kay, little brother?" Sam smiled despite of himself. Dean was hooked up to some very powerful painkillers.
"I don’t know," Sam tapped his lips with his long finger, "you did just make fun of me about missing my date…" he said thoughtfully. He frowned when there was no snarky comeback. "Hey, Dean, you still with me?" Sam asked, worry creeping into his voice.
"What happened?" Dean asked weakly.
"They said something about a rupture and internal bleeding." Sam said somberly. Dean blinked a few times, trying to get his head to work through the haze of pain medication. He tried to lift his left hand, but the cast made it too heavy, so he let it drop, scratching the side of his face with his right instead.
"Sounds bad." He said. "Was it?" he asked, unsure. Sam snorted.
"Not as bad as me standing Rosemary up. You know Rosemary, don't you? She's the one with the really big boobs." He said, grinning. Dean tried to laugh, but it came out more like a sob, his arm wrapping around his midsection.
"Don’t make me laugh, Sammy." he said tiredly. "You'd never score a date with Rosemary." He added with a wince a moment later.
"I could." Sam said quickly. Dean snorted.
"Yeah right. A date with Rosemary, and you'd stand her up? Not a... flying chance." Dean said, wincing again. Sam frowned.
"Dean? You okay?" he asked. Dean swallowed hard, taking shallow breaths.
"Sort of depends," he breathed, "What's your definition of okay?" Sam took that as a no, and pressed the call button. Dean forced his eyes open again and looked around. "Where's Dad?" he wheezed.
"Went to call Caleb to take a job Dad was supposed to go on, and to call Rick, see if he can get your car back."
"Oh, well that's good news. Should have started with that." Dean breathed, and Sam watched as the heart monitor picked up pace and the blood pressure monitor shifted. A few minutes and a couple of meds injected into his IV later, Dean was sleeping again and Sam was left watching him.
The next time Dean opened his eyes, it was his father, and not his brother, sitting with him. He was still hooked up to all the monitors.
"Dad?" Dean croaked, flinching at the sound of his own voice as his father turned from his work.
"About time you woke up," John said. Dean blinked owlishly. His mind was working alarmingly slow. "You really had me there for a moment, kiddo." John went on, "Keep it up, and you'll give me gray hair." He said, a ghost of a smile on his lips. "I know you don’t think much of it now, but just wait ten, fifteen years, you'll see what I'm talking about." Dean rolled his eyes, and decided he won't be doing that again until he was sure which side was up and which was down. "So, no giving your old man any more gray hairs, okay? Otherwise I'll stop being Super-Cool Dad and start showing your baby pictures to all your dates." John continued. Dean raised a brow.
"You don’t have any baby pictures of me. All burnt up." He said thickly. John smiled mischievously.
"You wanna bet?" he asked, "I kept a few, for blackmailing purposes." He said in his most serious tone, though the twinkle in his eyes sort of gave him away. "So you're gonna have to stop giving me heart attacks and get well quickly, or I'm posting them online."
"Would work better as a threat if you actually knew how to use a computer, Dad." Dean noted.
"Are you giving me lip, boy?" John raised a brow, but Dean ignored him.
"Where's Sammy?" he asked.
"Motel." John said, getting up and bringing over a glass of water. "He was driving me nuts." He added, sitting back down and helping Dean drink with a straw. Dean took a few sips before closing his eyes again, feeling tired and weak.
"Don’t like him being alone." He said, "Not safe."
"He'll be alright." John assured the older brother.
"Keep him away from her." Dean muttered, already half asleep. John frowned.
"Away from who?" he asked, "Away from who, Dean?" the hunter repeated when his son failed to answer.
"That woman. Real bitch." Dean murmured, "Can't let her get Sammy. She's after Sammy." John's heart skipped a beat, and then nearly stopped when the next words left Dean's mouth; "She'll go after him once she's done with me. She's… her eyes…" Dean's voice was growing weaker and a little slurred. "Don’t let her find Sammy…"
"So, what's the verdict, doc? Is it a boy or a girl?" Dean asked, staring at the black and white screen. The doctor spared him a raised-eyebrow look.
"Cute." She said as she continued to run the scanner slowly over Dean's belly, looking for any sign of internal bleeding using the ultrasound. Sam, on the other hand, giggled at his brother's comment. "Any abdominal pain?" the doctor asked as she continued her scan.
"Yeah," Dean admitted, "some." He said, and directed her towards where the pain was strongest. She didn’t detect any bleeding, though she did write a lot in Dean's chart.
The doctor spoke to John, ignoring the two boys and their jokes. She quickly finished her exam, wiping the gel gently off of Dean's belly, and left the room, John at her heel.
"She's cute." Sam noted. Dean raised a brow. "What? She is." Sam said defensively. Dean smirked, giving his little brother a funny look, but didn’t say anything. "So… is it really bad?" Sam asked after a moment. Dean raised a brow questioningly, rubbing at the remaining of the gel on his stomach.
"What is?" he asked.
"You said it still hurts…" Sam said in a small voice, knowing that it had to be pretty bad for his older brother to admit to being in pain. Dean rubbed at his forehead.
"It's not too bad, Sammy. But I'm pretty sure I screwed up any chance I had of leaving this place." He said tiredly. Sam snorted. That was an understatement.
"What the hell happened out there, Dean? I mean, you usually just get tossed around a bit, not…" Sam couldn’t even finish his sentence. Dean tried to push himself up, grimaced, and flopped back onto his pillow.
"Wasn’t a poltergeist." He said tiredly.
"Then what was it?" Sam asked. Dean shrugged.
"Something else." He said, eyes already closing. "Sam?"
"Yeah?"
"You really had a date with Rosemary?" Dean asked, trying to scratch his hand through the cast. Sam grinned.
"Nah, she has a crush on you." he admitted.
"Damn straight." Dean smirked, opening one eye to gauge his brother's reaction. Sam laughed, shaking his head.
"Hey, Dean, I guess you have an answer to your question." Sam said a moment later. Dean opened one, heavy lidded eye, looking questioningly at his little brother. "Looks like a boy." Sam smirked, jutting his head at the male nurse who just came in, pushing a large washbasin with lukewarm water and a sponge. Dean's eyes shot open in horror, and then he groaned as Sam laughed. Must this hospital destroy every fantasy he had about sponge baths?
"Oh, come on," Sam laughed, "I think you two make a lovely couple." He teased, and Dean shot him a death glare. "I'm sure if you ask nicely, Hans here will give you his phone number." Sam smirked as Dean glared at him. He grunted as the nurse raised the bed so it was easier for him to sit. Dean winced, biting his lip, feeling a sudden attack of vertigo. The nurse noticed the color draining from Dean's face and asked him if he needed to hurl. Dean shook his head, eyes closed, taking deep breaths.
"Dean, you okay?" Sam asked worriedly. Dean swallowed hard.
"Give me a second." He asked, running a shaky hand through his hair. "Hey, Sammy, hand me that glass, would you?" Dean asked hoarsely, and Sam was quick to hand over the glass of water. The cool liquid helped a little, and Dean let his head drop back to the pillow, no longer caring if the nurse was male, female, or human, for that matter. He just wanted them gone so he could sleep.
"You okay there, kid?" the nurse asked.
"Yeah," Dean licked his lips. "A little dizzy, but I'm better now." He said, eyes still closed. The nurse glanced at the heart monitor Dean was still hooked up on, as well as at Dean's blood pressure.
"Pressure's a little low. Have you eaten today?" the nurse asked. Dean shook his head. He tried to eat his lunch, but felt so bad after just a couple of bites he had given up on the rest. The nurse nodded at him, taking Dean's chart, going over a few pages and scribbling Dean's vitals before going back to the washbasin. "Okay, let's get this done, get you into some clean clothes, and then get you some food. How does that sound?" he asked.
"Could we, maybe do it later? I just want to sleep." Dean said weakly.
"I'll be quick, I promise." The nurse said. "You okay with your brother in the room or would you rather he got out?" the nurse, whose name was Travis, judging by his name tag, asked.
"He can stay if he wants." Dean said tiredly, forcing his eyes open as he felt the comforter being pulled down. Travis carefully helped Dean take his shirt off. Sam gasped at the sight of his brother's bruised torso, knowing the worst of it was still covered in bandages.
"You sure you wanna see this?" Travis asked as he prepared fresh bandages and antiseptic cream. Sam nodded lightly, holding onto Dean's hand. He didn’t care what Dean might think, how he might tease him, didn’t care about the way Dean looked at him. Right now, Sam needed his big brother. "Okay then, let's start." Travis said, removing the temporary bandage the doctor had placed over Dean's sutures after the ultrasound. "Tell me if it's too tender, okay?" he asked as he dipped the sponge in the water and ran it gently over Dean's belly. Dean hissed, biting his lip, wincing. Travis smiled sympathetically, running the sponge gently over Dean's tender abdomen, wiping and cleaning all traces of the gel. He then proceeded to re-bandaging the wounds. Sam squeezed Dean's hand reassuringly as the older brother still bit into his lower lip, fighting the whimpers that threatened to leave his lips.
Next came the chest. Travis prodded the large bandage covering the upper left side of Dean's chest gently. He stopped, looking at Dean. "You want a minute?" the nurse asked.
"Yes, please." Dean breathed, closing his eyes.
"Want me to get a doctor in here?" Travis suggested. Dean opened his eyes, though he looked up at the ceiling and not at anyone in the room.
"I'll be alright." Dean said in a shaky voice.
"Dean…" Sam cautioned. He knew his brother enough to know 'I'll be alright' could be a synonym to 'I could be dying'.
"I'm fine, Sammy." Dean swallowed, "Just tender, is all. Don’t worry, I don’t plan on having another surgery. I want out of here, remember?" Sam frowned. That was exactly what worried him. Dean took a deep breath. "It's okay, you can continue." He told Travis. The nurse hesitated a moment, but continued as he noticed the color coming back to the older brother's face. He gently peeled away the surgical tape around the bandage, removing it, and brought over the sponge to clean Dean's chest.
Sam sucked in his breath, his eyes going wide. It was the first time he'd actually seen the wound on his brother's chest. And seeing it now, he knew for certain his Dad hadn’t seen it. "Sam? What is it?" Dean asked worriedly. "It's okay, it doesn’t hurt nearly as much as…" but Sam wasn’t listening anymore. He broke into a run, rushing out of the room in search for his father.
John scratched his head. "But he's not doing as well as he should." He surmised, looking at the doctor tiredly. The past couple of weeks were taking their toll on him; emotionally as well as physically.
"We'll take some more blood after he rests some more, see if there's any change." The doctor said, "He's doing very well, considering."
"But not as well as you expected." John finished. The doctor pushed her glasses higher up her nose. She was about to say something when a running Sam skidded to a halt, wide-eyed and pale, looking as though he had seen a ghost. Well, as if he'd seen something scary and unexpected.
"Sam?" John's heart started racing, his mouth going dry.
"Dad, you have to come, right now!" Sam said urgently.
"Is it Dean?" John asked. The look on his youngest's face was enough to propel him into action. He exchanged a quick glance with the doctor before rushing back to his son's room. Sam stopped at the door, looking expectantly at his father. "Is he alright? What is it?" John asked worriedly, pushing into the room. And then he froze. His eyes locked on his older son's chest.
"Dad?" Dean asked.
"Sammy, go get my journal out of the car." John said curtly. "And get all the salt you can find."
TBC
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![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-29 12:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-29 01:52 pm (UTC)More is coming soon ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-29 02:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-29 04:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-29 01:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-29 01:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-29 02:06 pm (UTC)This is my first comment to the story - I am really enjoying it. I love how the injuries aren't just "all ok" after a chapter. I like the realism of how bad the injuries are and how hard Dean is fighting that fact.
Love the twist at the end that Dean's wound is some type of mark or indicator of what attacked him.
Can't wait for the next chapter.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-29 04:50 pm (UTC)I'm really glad you're enjoying this story. I do try to go for the realism here - someone can't nearly die, and walk out of the hospital the next day, it makes no sense to me ;)
As for the twist... I have many, many, MANY more =D
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-29 02:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-29 04:52 pm (UTC)Next chapter coming up soon, I promise!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-29 06:11 pm (UTC)When are Sam and John going to tell Dean what has got them worked up?
Looking forward to more.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-29 06:47 pm (UTC)Yes, the... um... whatever that's on Dean's chest (lucky whatever ;) ) definitely has something to do with what happened to him. But the hospital staff wouldn't be such a problem, as Dean will be leaving the hospital in the next chapter.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-29 06:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-29 07:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-29 08:03 pm (UTC)Whoever 'she' is John had better do something soon ...
Excellent instalment - and cliffhangers work you know - can't wait for the next part ...
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-29 08:56 pm (UTC)and you're right, something has to be done soon... ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-29 09:27 pm (UTC)let's see what attacked Dean...enough so that John doesn't mind saying, "get all the salt you can find" in semi-public
:D
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-30 05:16 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-30 02:23 am (UTC)you've got me hooked!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-30 05:17 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-30 10:09 am (UTC)Okay, I know that's not it. But it's a funny (disturbing) image. I'm also really tired at the moment and halfway to REM sleep already. Forgive me. GREAT work!!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-30 01:54 pm (UTC)And a chapter every other day is much better than once a week, which is how often I updated on ffn. As for the cliffies... why, yes, I am trying to kill y'all =D lol
Glad you're enjoying and thanks for the comment.
\o/
Date: 2007-03-30 08:14 pm (UTC)Re: \o/
Date: 2007-03-31 05:24 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-11 05:32 am (UTC)