Chapter 12

(Epilogue)

Well you wanted it, and you got it :) here's the epilogue/chapter 12 :) Hope you like it and don't forget to comment, enjoy! And just so you know, bold italic is Dean's thoughts in his nightmare. Oh and btw, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess that Sam is about 27 now? If not, sorry for my mistake and any other mistakes I made. Once again, lol, enjoy! :)

Dean watched his brother breath in and out. He genuinely had tried to sleep, but was too shaken by the recent nightmare that he had. Dean wiped his nose on his sleeve and sniffed; he couldn't stop thinking about that nightmare and how real it was. Maybe it was so real, because some of it actually happened.

~+SPN+~

10 years ago

"Oh god, Sammy, I'm so sorry." Dean sniffed and washed a shaky hand down his haggard face.

He watched his brother's chest rise and fall, but only with the help of a fucking ventilator. Sam's throat had been severely swollen, causing his windpipe to close up; to stop breathing. His father had almost killed Sam for god sake! Dean didn't care if John was sober or drunk as an Irishman on a Friday night; he hated the bastard to the point where he was about ready to kill him. How could he do this to his own blood; his own son? If only he'd let Sam come along with him to Bobby's, if only he suggested that Sam go somewhere else for the night just in case. If only…

Underneath all the bruises and swelling, Sam's face was completely unrecognizable. Purple, black, yellow, just a rainbow of colors was what made up Sam's face. Dean felt sick to stomach to think that his own father had done this. The man who he trusted and looked up to had done this to his little brother who was barely hanging on to life.

"I can't believe- why would dad- that fuckin' Sonofabitch!" Dean stood up and kicked the leg of his chair. He paced the room, his hands on his head and his jaw clenched tightly. He was fuming with rage and he could barely contain it. He was pissed at his dad, he was pissed at himself, and he was pissed at Bobby, too. If the guy never asked Dean to come pick something up in the first place, he could've prevented this whole incident from happening. He ran both hands down his face and took a deep breath. He swore he was going to lash out on somebody soon, but he really didn't need to be kicked out of the hospital, or worse thrown in jail. Sam needed him. Dean went to go sit back down and gently ran his hand through Sam's long curly hair.

Dean smirked and chuckled faintly. "You're gonna need a haircut soon, buddy, or you'll be able to start mopping floors with your head." His smile disappeared though, the joke not being very effective since Sam couldn't give him his familiar bitch-face and a lame comeback.

"You gotta pull through this, Sammy…for me, alright? You won't have to ever be near dad again, you can even go to college and forget about the bastard. Just don't forget about me…and don't even think about giving up or I swear to god…" Dean lightly traced Sam's jaw before encasing the kid's hands tightly in his own. Just at that moment, he let the dam break; salty tears streamed down his cheeks. His brother was so battered and broken, because of his mistake; his stupid, fucking, careless mistake.

"I'm gonna be here for you all the way, kid. Just keep fightin' and you'll be able to go to college like you've always wanted."

That's when the nightmare started…

Suddenly, the machines went haywire. In mere seconds, the heart monitor went flat and Dean jumped up in panic. He looked at Sam's chest again; it had stopped moving.

What the hell? This never happened, did it?

Then, before Dean could process what was happening, Sam's dead body was wheeled out by nurses that Dean didn't even realize had come in.

Sam! No, he can't be dead, this isn't right. This isn't how it happened!

"Dean."

Dean turned and saw right in front of him…Sam.

"Sammy?"

"This is your fault, Dean. Why did you leave me?"

"I'm sorry, Sammy, I'm so sorry. If I could go back and change everything, I would."

"Well, it's too late. You left me to die, Dean. You killed me as much as dad did. You killed me Dean!"

"No, I swear I didn't know Sammy, just-" Why was this happening? Sam never died, and he never accused him. He never heard this much hate in his brother's voice before.

"Stop calling me 'Sammy' Dean, I'm not a fucking 12-year old. And because of you I'm dead."

"Sam, I'm sorry."

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Sammy. Sam!" Dean jerked up, his breathing rapid and harsh; he looked around the dimly lit room and saw that he was back at the hospital. He quickly brought his gaze straight to Sam's chest. He placed a trembling hand on the kid's chest and let out a sigh of relief when he felt it rise underneath his chest. It surprised him that Sam slept through his nightmare plagued shouts, but was thankful for that, so he wouldn't have to come up with an excuse as to why he was touching him like that. And that's what brought him to this exact moment: keeping a watchful eye on Sam's breathing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~SPN~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sam's eyes fluttered open groggily, only to be welcomed to a dark room. Where the hell was he? Then he could smell the antiseptic and hear the monitors beeping around him. The damn hospital. Fuck. He took a deep breath, only to result in a coughing fit.

"Hey, hey, Sam take it easy, alright?"

That voice; it sounded so familiar. But who did it belong to and who had a death-grip on his hand? There was only one way to find out. Sam rolled his head to the left and came face to face with Dean. His brother was so close to him that he nearly made Sam jump out of his skin.

"Dean! Son of a bitch, you nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry, Sammy, that wasn't what I was going for," Dean chuckled at the annoyed bitch face his brother gave him.

"What were you-" Sam stopped and looked at his older brother closely.

"What?"

Sam frowned. "Were you…crying?"

"What? No! Why would you say that?" Dean said defensively.

"Cause your face is damp and your eyes are red."

They were? When did he end up crying? Probably that friggin' nightmare, he didn't even notice it until now. He looked up at his brother who was anxiously awaiting an answer.

"Dean."

"No, must be allergies," Dean said, grinning for good measure.

"You don't have any, Dean. Now, could you just tell me the truth?"

Dean heaved a sigh as he looked at his brother's big puppy dog eyes. There was no way he could get past that. He couldn't believe the kid could still have that effect on him. Damn you Sam.

"It- it was nothing. It was just a bad dream, alright?"

"Well, it must have been really bad to make you look like that."

"Nah, just a normal nightmare."

"Ha! Our nightmares are never normal, Dean. Stop beating around the bush and just tell me what's up, okay?"

Dean sighed. Sam was never gonna let this go; might as well get this over with.

"What was it about, Dean?"

"It- the night you were in the hospital after dad tried to kill you, only…"

"Only what?" Sam urged.

"It didn't- it didn't end as it usually did."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I've had this nightmare before and it never ended the way it did. Only this time…you died." Dean paused and looked up at his brother, waiting for him to say something. When he didn't, he continued.

"You died right in front of me and I didn't even notice until it was too late. Then, you came…your ghost-ish form, that is, and you blamed me for killing you…more than dad. And I don't blame you," Dean finished off in a mutter.

"Dean, I told you this before: I don't blame you, okay? It was just a nightmare, messing with your head. You've been through enough this past week; you don't need to have a stupid meaningless nightmare on your conscience. Believe me when I say this, you're my brother and I'd do anything for you, but you sometimes can't seem to get things through your thick skull. I don't blame you; that should be enough."

Dean sighed. "Your right, Sammy, I believe you."

"Good…now can you please help me up before I piss all over the bed," Sam said, weakly throwing the sheets off of him.

Dean laughed genuinely for the first time in days. He firmly grabbed Sam's elbow and helped the Sasquatch out of bed. When Sam's feet touched the floor, though, his knees buckled. He would have been plunging face first into the ground if it weren't for Dean, who held him up securely.

"Take it one step at a time, Sammy. Just take it easy."

Sam nodded and breathed heavily. By the time the two made it to the bathroom, Sam regained most of the strength in his legs and shooed his older brother off.

"I think I'm good from here, Dean," smiled Sam.

"Are you sure you don't need your ass wiped?" Joked Dean.

"Shut up, jerk," Sam said getting ready to shut the door.

Dean grinned as he watched his younger brother disappear behind the door.

"Bitch."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~SPN~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1 Week Later

"Finally! I don't know how much longer I could've lasted in that hell hole. Watching you sleep is sooooo boring," Dean breathed as he pushed his brother, who was in a wheelchair, out of the hospital. It took much arguing and some idle threats to get him to leave in it, but eventually Sam got tired of yelling and gave in.

"Hey, no one was forcing you to stay, more or less, watch me like a vulture. That's real creepy, by the way, Dean."

"There was nothing else to do!"

"I'm sure there were plenty of hot nurses to hit on, Dean. Surprisingly, not once, when I was awake, did I see you come close to one. Why's that? Did you already get every single one of their numbers when I was out?"

"No," Dean snapped.

Sam turned around in the seat and raised his brows at his older brother.

"Maybe."

"That's what I thought," grinned Sam.

"Shut your cake-hole; you probably would've done the same thing…wait never mind, I forgot you're a total geek! You'd probably bore them to death with some science shit."

"Whatever," Sam said, rolling his eyes.

When the two finally reached the entrance, both guys squinted at the blinding sun. They haven't been outside in forever, and the bright light was burning out their retinas.

"Ah! It burns, it's so bright! My eyes, my eyes!"

"Stop being overly dramatic, Dean. It's just the sun."

Dean scowled. "I knew that."

"Sure."

The two finally reached the waiting taxi, since Dean still didn't have his beloved Impala. Dean helped Sam out of the chair and into the vehicle. Once Dean gave the wheelchair back to the nurse and climbed into the car, the taxi took off, bound for Bobby's.

Not even ten minutes in, Dean looked over to his brother to say something. He couldn't stand silence.

"So I was thinking, Sammy, that we-" but he stopped in midsentence when he saw his brother. Sam was out cold, his forehead plastered against the window and his breath fogging up the glass. His forehead was creased, more in pain than in thought, and his arms were wrapped protectively around his midriff; the stab wound. Dean figured that the stab wound was causing him some discomfort, but once they got to Bobby's he'd give the kid a cocktail of drugs, way more than the hospital gave him. Dean smiled sadly and sighed; the kid was still exhausted even though he'd practically been bedridden for the past week and a half.

"Never mind," Dean pat brother's knee then turned around to look out the window.

~+SPN+~

"Sam. Sammy. Sam!"

"Huh? Wha'?" Sam jolted awake, blinking sleepily at his surroundings. "Where are we?"

"Bobby's. Can you get out?"

"Yeah, I think I got it."

Dean nodded and paid the cab driver. He was surprised when he saw Sam already hobbling towards the entrance to Bobby's place without trouble. He caught up to him, standing close in case the kid decided to take a nose-dive.

"Boys! It's about time you get here. What took you so long?" Exclaimed Bobby as he saw the two younger men at his doorstep.

"Bit of a long story," chuckled Dean as he and Sam stepped into the house.

"I don't wanna know. So, you boys up for some beer?"

"Normally, Bobby, I would kill for some, but right now I'm beat. I bet I could speak for Sam, too, when I say that."

Bobby smiled and nodded. "You know where to go, then… idgit."

Dean smiled and turned to face his younger brother, but he wasn't there.

"Sam?" Dean frowned as he briskly walked through the hallways, looking for his little brother. "Sam!" Damn that kid was fast. He was like a five year old wandering off at a zoo. When Dean reached the spare room, he sighed in relief. Guess he didn't need the pills. Sam was face first into the pillows, snoring up a storm. His little brother was so spent, that he hadn't even bothered to remove his boots.

Dean snorted in amusement as he went over and helped Sam get comfortable. He took off Sam's jacket and boots, then immediately after, bringing the covers up over Sam's shoulders and to his chin. Sam sighed in content, relieved that he could finally relax. Dean watched Sam sleep for a moment. The kid had grown, almost to the point where Dean felt his brother could take care of himself…but he'd never be able to stop watching out for his little brother. He couldn't hold back the mother-hen in him; ever since he carried Sam out of the fire, he knew his job was to keep Sam safe and alive. Sometimes he would screw up, but he always fixed it and managed to get him and Sam back on his feet. He brushed the sweaty bangs off of Sam's forehead and smiled.

"Night, Sammy."

"Quit c-calling me 'Sammy'" Sam croaked without opening his eyes.

Dean smirked. "Sorry, force of habit."

"Ha, sure…thanks, Dean…for everything."

"Hey, no chick-flick moments, remember?"

"Yeah…force of habit."

"Yeah, okay…your welcome." Dean saw a quick twitch of the corner of Sam's mouth before the kid drifted off into a deep slumber.

Now it was his turn to sleep for a week, drink some beer, and maybe in a month or so, kick some supernatural ass. After, somehow, getting his baby fixed. Damn he sure missed his car.

The End

Ending was kinda sucky, but I wanted to get it update a.s.a.p. and I couldn't think of any other way to end it, so sorry if it's bad. Sooooo thanks for reading CRASH; reviewing, alerting, favoriting, etc. Annnd I already have another story in mind :) "Dare Gone Wrong." Hope you stick around to read it! Thanks again my awesome readers and don't forget to comment :) – Luv McGeeklover