Return of the Sam 14/14
Chapter 14
Six months later ...
I think I've finally settled down.
After my incident with Crowley I had been out of commission for a while but not for as long as I would have expected. Sam and Dean let me stay at the bunker as their guest until I was well enough to stand on my own feet again, in more than one way.
I never returned to Chicago, the short trip to get my stuff and tie up loose ends didn't count, but I had been about to skip that place anyway.
What I didn't expect was for me to stay in Lebanon. It turned out that Dean was friends with Margret from the grocery store and with Karl who owned the only gas station in town and with those two combined Dean had access to all the town's gossip. So when he heard that the only reason old Doc Mannoc hadn't retired yet was because he was the only doctor around and just couldn't find somebody to take over his office, Dean asked me if I was interested.
He may had his hidden agenda there, he and Sam were in need of a good doctor more often than not, but for some reason I really liked the idea. And I would have the chance to reconnect with Sam, maybe even get to know the man he'd become after he'd left Stanford all those years ago.
A nice little chat with Doc Mannoc, an elderly man who didn't take nonsense, and a look at the office rooms and I was in. The equipment wasn't new but not as old as the stuff the Winchesters had at the bunker. And once again Dean surprised me.
I didn't know where he got it, and I really didn't want to ask, but one evening Dean handed me a brown envelope stuffed with thick bundles of bills.
"Dean ..." I started but had no idea what to say. "I can't take this."
"Course you can." He refused to take the envelope back. "After what you did for us, this is the least I can do."
"Well, I was the one who messed up with Crowley." I reminded him but accepted the money.
"He would have gotten away one way or another." Dean shrugged. "Just take the money and set up your new doctor's office. We need a good doctor around here."
I was pretty sure that he wasn't talking about the townspeople. Not only.
After that everything became a blur. Before I knew it I lived above the office in a nice little apartment and the office itself was all new and shiny. Margret and Karl spread the word that there was a new doctor in town and on my first official day everybody came to have a look.
Everybody was nice and I got more cobblers than I could eat in my life and even that one old lady that eyed me as if I was Dr. Lecter or something couldn't dampen my mood. She had a suspicious eye on Sam and Dean as well and later Margret told me that I shouldn't mind her, everybody newer than three generations was either a terrorist or some kind of hippie to her. Not that there was a difference between those in her mind.
I just nodded to that but breathed easier when Margret guided the old hag out of the room.
"Nice people." Sam appeared next to me, a nervous smile on his lips. Crowds weren't his thing. While Dean was well known in town, Sam seemed to be a bit of a mystery and people used the chance to have a little chat with him to get to know him better. They did the same with me but contrary to Sam I could tell the truth about what and where I'd worked before.
When the question came up of how I'd met the Winchesters I could tell that I knew Sam from college, throwing them a bone about Sam as well.
"Chicago?" Karl asked, shoving his hat back to scratch his scalp. "Why would you leave Chicago and settle down in Lebanon?"
"It was a good time." I answered. "But it was loud and hectic and I think it's time to slow down a little."
Karl nodded to that but didn't look convinced. He probably couldn't imagine that somebody could find Lebanon appealing.
After our little opening event things settled down rather quickly. My office wasn't that busy and I enjoyed taking my time with my patients who often liked to stay for a little chat.
What I didn't expect was one evening to find a rather ragged man banging at my door.
"Sam told me to come here." He said when I opened the door, holding his bleeding side. "He said you knew."
I let him in and set him up on my examination table.
"What did this?" I asked when I peeled the layers of clothing from his battered torso.
He hesitated for a moment but then answered: "Werewolf."
He had a suspicious eye on me and his right hand stayed near his jacket next to him where he had a gun hidden, no doubt about that.
"You didn't get bitten, didn't you?" The wounds were clearly claw marks but he might have other injuries.
At that question the tension melted out of his body and now he used both hands to brace himself on the table, the gun forgotten.
"Just claws."
"Let's clean this up, then."
And with that I became the Doc Who Knows.
At day I took care of the little aches and pains of the townsfolk but sometimes at night I took care of injured hunters. And from time to time my visits to the bunker weren't just friendly visits either.
Life was good and I finally had the feeling that I was where I belonged. It was a good feeling.
One morning, I was just sipping my first coffee and not really awake just yet, I went to get the newspaper and found a package on my front porch.
The card only read "A Friend".
Curious I carried it inside. It was rather heavy and for a moment I thought about calling Sam. Who knew what was inside? For all I knew this could be a supernatural bomb or something.
Carefully I cut it open and peered inside. Books.
"Uh?" I took out the first one. "Supernatural by Carver Edlund."
A/N That's all folks. Thanks to all of you, you're great.
NaNoWriMo starts in a few hours and I'll be busy over November with that. So don't expect a new story before December.
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