(no subject)
The events of the next few hours went by in one big blur. If someone would have asked Thor about it later, that is if he could talk in the first place, he would have to confess that there wasn’t any clear memory in his mind. There was an ambulance and Dean opening the door to the Impala. He thought he climbed in and so did his master, but the only reason that he knew he actually did was because he was now sitting in the car in a parking lot in front of this big building that said St. Luke’s Medical Center on it. Dean was gone and the dog was certain he was in said building, probably checking on Sam. He wondered why the older Winchester didn’t just leave him at the scene of the accident. He wouldn’t blame him; after all it was his fault Dean’s brother got hurt.
Sitting in the car, thankful that Dean had rolled all the windows down, another fact that surprised him, as the human couldn’t have been any more level headed than him; he had enough time to contemplate what had happened.
Leaning against the passenger side door, his head propped on top of it, he looked longingly at the building, wishing that somehow he could see through the walls and find out what was going on with Sam. He felt an uproar inside him that he didn’t remember ever feeling before, not even when his first owners were killed. It was a strange sensation and for a while he tried to determine what it meant. Maybe it was guilt over having caused the accident or fear that Dean would no longer want him because of it? The longer he thought about it, the more he became sure that although both of those might factor in, it was in reality the fear of losing Sam that made him feel this way. It almost felt like something inside was going to explode, because it hurt so badly and yet it was clearly not a physical pain and it didn’t get any better the longer he waited, either.
Finally unable to wait anymore, he jumped out of the car. He was aware that leaving the Impala with the windows down was not a good choice and he might come to regret it, should someone take advantage of it, yet his need to find out how his master’s brother was fairing outweighed the fear of what might happen to the car. He knew he’d been waiting for a long time; day had given way to night and now he could spot streaks of light appearing on the horizon, and Dean still not having returned couldn’t mean anything good. No, his mind was made up; he had to find out what was going on.
Although he had never been in one of those buildings before, he was fairly certain that they were only for humans and dogs would not be welcomed, which meant he needed to find a way to get in and find Dean without anyone noticing him. Looking around he spotted something that looked like a big garage door going up and an ambulance driving in. Using the opportunity he slipped in behind it just before the door closed again. Watching the ambulance come to a stop and the backdoors open, just as several people rushed towards it through some automatic sliding doors, he slipped behind another emergency vehicle that was standing there, seemingly abandoned. From his vantage point he watched until everyone disappeared inside then waited for another few moments, before making his way through the same sliding doors.
The hallway, lined by rooms that had glass walls and doors and most of which had curtains pulled so he couldn’t see inside, was empty. Most of the activity came out of two of the rooms, while the other ones were dark and quiet. If he could get close enough to those rooms, he might be able to find out if Sam was in one of them and Dean with him. Making his way toward the first, he stopped and listened, disappointed that he couldn’t hear a familiar voice and that the strong scent of disinfectant impeded his usually so sharp sense of smell.
Suddenly the curtain was drawn open and it was at the last moment that he was able to disappear into the next room, which was dark and unoccupied. Thankfully no one looked into his direction or they might have been able to distinguish his light colored fur even in the darkness, instead he could see the two men, who belonged to the ambulance pushing a gurney out and towards the bay area.
For a second Thor almost shivered. This was too close; if he wanted to find Dean and Sam he needed to be more careful. Waiting until the curtain was drawn closed again, he made his way towards the other room, grateful that although the curtain there was shut too, it left a wide enough gap for him to see inside. The person lying on what looked like a very narrow bed was female and although he couldn’t see the faces of the other people he could tell by their clothing that they belonged to the hospital. Disappointed, he made his way to the end of the hall, not sure what to do when he got there, when he picked up a familiar scent. It was faint, but even with all the disturbing smells around him, it very clearly belonged to Dean.
Moving his nose around, he realized it came from the wall. His master must have leaned against it several hours ago. Encouraged, he sniffed at the double doors, again picking up the older Winchester on them. Pushing, it took all he had to open them, as the doors didn’t want to budge easily. When he did, they actually swung open all the way and he was glad that no one was on the other side, who might have thrown him out. The hallway he was in now went in two directions - to the left and straight ahead. For a moment he stood and sniffed, before letting his nose guide him to the left. He wasn’t certain, but hoped he would pick up a stronger scent as he went. Halfway down and almost ready to turn around, he found it, this time much stronger and coming from behind a half open door.
Moving inside, he found Dean standing with his back to him, staring out of the window at the approaching dawn. Beside him was an older man, whose hand right now was resting on Dean’s shoulder and who was quietly talking to him. He seemed familiar and as he turned his head a little, Thor realized that it was Bobby Singer. How did he get here so fast?
SN~SN~SN~SN~SN
After hiding behind the long vinyl couch, which seemed to stand there just to help him to become invisible, he listened to what the two men were talking about. He knew it was silly, yet somehow he wasn’t quite ready to face Dean. Not for the first time he was grateful for his outstanding sense of hearing, as Bobby’s voice was hardly above a whisper.
“…you anything before they took him to surgery?” It was clear he’d missed the first part of the sentence, but it didn’t take much imagination to know what it had been.
“Not much, just that it didn’t look good.” Dean sighed, “It’s not like I didn’t figure that out by that time already. It took them several hours to stabilize him enough to get him into surgery.” He wiped his sleeve over his eyes and took a deep breath to steady his voice before continuing, “It’s been six hours now…” His voice trailed off as he once again stared out of the window, almost breaking Thor’s heart.
“Sam is as tough as they come; don’t give up on him just yet!” Bobby tried to sound confident, yet even if Dean might have not been able to tell, the dog was sure he heard the doubt in it.
Fear pulsed through the animal; he had known it was serious, but this sounded much worse.
Before the older Winchester could answer a dark-skinned man with short, curly hair that was almost completely white entered the room. He wore green scrubs and by the way Dean’s face lost all its color, Thor had no doubt that this had to be Sam’s doctor.
“Mr. Sandell, your brother made it through surgery!” The man announced without delay, obviously reading the other’s reaction.
A bit of tension left the older brother’s posture, yet he wasn’t fooled into thinking there wasn’t a ‘but’ to follow. Exchanging a glance with his fatherly friend, he braced himself for what was yet to come.
“Most of the injuries were to his right side, which was where the truck hit him. He fractured several ribs and was lucky that none of them punctured his lung. He still has a pneumo thorax on that side, but we were able to correct it with a chest tube, which will stay in place for a few days. What caused the worst trouble was a laceration to his liver. There was extensive bleeding into his abdomen and we weren’t able to fix it, so we had to remove a part of the organ and…”
“Wait…” Dean interrupted, once again all blood draining from his face, “…how can he live without his liver?”
“No, you misunderstood; we didn’t remove his liver, just the part that was injured.” The surgeon explained in a fatherly tone, “The liver is an amazing organ and after he heals, Sam won’t even miss the piece we took out.”
He waited for a moment, making sure his explanation sunk in, before he continued, “His hip was shattered and Dr. Saul, our orthopedic surgeon, found it easier to replace the whole joint than trying to fix it. He wanted to talk to you personally to explain things, but had to go in for another emergency surgery, so he asked me to do it for him.”
“You mean my brother has one of those artificial hips like they put into old people.”
There actually was a smile on the doctor’s face when he said, “If you want to put it like this, then yes, but they really have made a lot of advances in the last few years with those things. Trying to fix Sam’s hip would have taken a very long time and months of healing afterwards. This way he will be up and around in no time, although he will have to use crutches for some time to come. And they hold up for much longer than they used to, about an average of twenty years, at which time they simply get replaced again.”
Twenty years sounded like a long time, but when one thought about that Sam was only 22 now, then that would mean… No, Thor wasn’t going to go there and it was clear neither was Dean.
“Guess it was the right thing to do then!” He said, his voice expressing some of the doubt he wasn’t willing to admit to.
“I assure you, under the circumstances it was the only thing to do. It really will speed up his recovery time and he wouldn’t have done staying in surgery any longer. The other option would have been to wait until he was more stable, but the way the hip was shattered that could have caused multiple complications.”
Dean nodded, understanding that they had done what was best for his brother, yet there was one more question that he needed answered.
“What about his head?” He questioned, remembering the way Sam had been lying on the ground, blood flowing from a laceration on the side of his head and giving no response, even when he was moved onto the stretcher.
“He has a severe concussion and there is some swelling to his brain, but the scans showed no bleeding. He is deeply unconscious but we are hoping that as soon as the anesthetic wears off, we will be seeing signs of him coming out of it.”
For the first time the doctor didn't sound as sure of himself as with all the other explanations and the fact didn't go past Thor's fine senses. Taking a quick look at Dean and Bobby though, he was satisfied that neither of them seemed to have picked up on it. The last thing his master needed right now was doubt in his brother's recovery.
SN~SN~SN~SN~SN
Thor tried to stretch in the confined space of the small closet he was hiding in. He’d been here for hours, as the room it belonged to was currently occupied by Sam. Looking through the slightly open closet door, he could see that Dean hadn’t change positions since he’d looked last. The young man was still sitting on a chair, his elbows propped up on the bed and his arms up, while his chin rested on top of his crossed hands. His eyes seemed permanently fixed upon the battered body lying motionless in the bed.
The dog never saw a human hooked up to so many machines before and he felt frightened and confused by the wires running from Sam’s body to a monitor that had numbers and ever moving up and down lines scrolling across it, and even more by the thin tubes attached to fluid-filled bags, which on their way to his body ran through cases that were lit with numbers. Another tube was looping underneath and around his nose, coming together under his chin and from there going to some strange contraption fastened to the wall.
Thor let out a sigh, overwhelmed by the sight and even more so by the intensity of the smells that attacked his senses. Even now, after being exposed to them for several hours, he still wasn’t used to them and it wasn’t so much the stinging scent of the disinfectants that irritated him, as it was the one of blood and some other odor he knew came from Sam and told him that the kid’s body chemistry was seriously messed up. This really worried him and did not help his feelings of guilt in the least. If there only was something he could do to make it better.
“I’m gonna get us some breakfast, what do ya want?” He’d almost forgotten about Bobby, who was sitting in a recliner on the other side of the bed.
“Just coffee is fine!” Dean sat up and stretched.
“Boy, you’re not doing your brother any good by not eating.” The older man scolded.
“I know, but I just can’t stomach anything right now, not until I know that Sammy’s gonna be alright!” The young man’s gaze never left his brother.
Shrugging his shoulders in defeat, the salvage man walked towards the door, when a “Oh no…” made him turn in his tracks. Fully expecting to see a change in the youngest Winchester’s condition, he was surprised when all he saw was Dean having risen to his feet and wearing a distressed expression.
“Thor…, I forgot about him. He’s been sitting in the car ever since we got here yesterday!”
Bobby smiled, at least this was something he could help with, “I’ll take care of him, don’t worry!”
Knowing that Dean would be worried should Bobby go to the Impala and not find him there, Thor decided it was time to leave his hiding place, even though he knew it would mean he would be banned from the room. Pushing the door open with his left paw, he took a few steps out of the closet, letting out a quiet ‘woof’ to alert the two men to his presence.
“Thor?!” For the first time since the accident there was a small smirk on Dean’s face, “Should have known you wouldn’t stay in the car. How in the world did you manage to sneak by the nurses?”
‘You have no idea how hard it was!’ The boxer mix cocked his head, wishing he somehow could relay his thoughts to his master.
“Never mind, it doesn’t matter how you got in here. What matters is that you won’t get caught.”
Now that he was discovered, he walked up to the bed and jumping up, he put his front paws on it, mindful as to not disturb any of the tubing. He’d hurt Sam enough without doing any further damage. Licking the young man’s hand, he whimpered in disappointment that there was no response. In all honesty, it was more than he’d dared to expect anyway; after all why would the kid respond to him, after all he’d done to him.
Suddenly he felt a hand on his back, “I know how you feel. I wish he’d wake up too.”
Thor turned his head, his eyes filled with sadness as he looked at Dean, and as the human went on speaking it was almost like he could read his mind, “I’m not mad at you for what happened. It’s not your fault. I just wish I could get my hands on the driver of that damn pickup, the guy didn’t even try to slow down.” Anger was coming from every pore of the older Winchester and the dog was glad it wasn’t directed at him. Although he knew it wouldn’t diminish his guilt, he swore he would do everything he could to find said driver, it was the least he could do to make up for what he caused. Right now though he needed to know Sam would come through this first.
Sliding his tongue over the younger man’s hand once more, he stopped in mid lick, his nose twitching as he picked up a change.
“Sammy… come on little brother, open your eyes!”
Knowing that Dean couldn’t have picked up the change in Sam’s heartbeat nor on the minor difference in the scent radiating off the unconscious young man, Thor was surprised by the words of encouragement. There had to be a connection between the brothers that he never noticed before, because only now was there a slight flutter of dark lashes against pale skin. A turn of the head toward the voice of the elder brother followed by a groan was next, previous to lids moving up and down a few times, before closing again.
“No, no, no, you’ve been sleeping long enough; it’s time to wake up!” Although gentle, Dean’s voice held a certain amount of authority.
To Thor’s amazement it worked, as the hazels opened and this time stayed open. Too embarrassed to be in Sam’s field of vision, he slid down and crouched on the floor.
“D’n…”
“Yep, it’s me!” There was a bright smile on the older Winchester’s face, leaving no doubt how much his baby brother meant to him.
“You ‘kay?”
Bobby snorted upon hearing the question; it was almost unbelievable, yet still so typical for either one of those boys to almost get killed and worry more about the other’s wellbeing.
“I’m not the one who lost a fight with a pickup!” Dean laughed, although it sounded a little pressed as he remembered how close he had come to losing Sam.
“Pickup…” Something like a memory flashed across Sam’s face, his eyes darting back and forth as though searching for something, before they closed and he grimaced, a grunt of pain escaping him.
“Breath through it…” His brother coached.
“No… where…Thor…, need to…”
The urgency written on the youngest Winchester’s face and the distress with which he pushed out his name, while his head continued to move in every direction like he was looking for the pet, pierced through Thor with the force of an arrow. Driven by the need to comfort the kid, he stood and moved closer to the bed again just as he heard his master reassuring the injured young man, “You saved him, he’s right here!”
Feeling Dean’s hands on him, he was picked up and held into Sam’s line of vision. Any other time he would have struggled against the treatment, but instinctively knowing what his master was trying to do, he held still, watching in amazement, how Sam’s movements ceased almost instantly.
“See, he’s fine, thanks to you.” Dean soothed, “The next time just try to be more careful, when you do stuff like this!”
“Was worth it, he’s okay…” The younger man’s voice trailed off, as his eyes slid shut again.
Putting Thor down again, Dean looked at his dog, “You better get back in the closet for now. I need to let them know Sammy woke up and I don’t think it’s a good idea for anyone to see you!”
Cocking his head in agreement, Thor turned and walked back into his hiding place, allowing the older Winchester to close the door all but a slit. Right now he needed some time to think about the mystery that was named Sam Winchester.
TBC
Part 4