Return of the Sam 13/14
Chapter 13
I can truly say, that was the most surreal moment of my life. Cutting into my own chest lying in front of me. The body was eery silent and unmoving, there was no vent, no beeping of a heart monitor, it was like working on a dead body. Except for the fact this body wasn't dead and that it was my job to keep it that way. I had my own life in my hands, literally.
What I was about to do was difficult under best circumstances and this was far from a best case scenario. I had only Sam as my nurse and I had to focus to not loosen my grip on the body I was currently occupying. At least Kevin was silent and didn't interrupt me with snarky comments.
"You okay?" Sam asked when I hesitated for a second. I nodded, not trusting my voice. I took a deep breath and then forced my mind into doctor modus.
This was a patient, I was a surgeon. I could do this.
A similar situation came to mind. When I had to open Sam's head a long time ago. The first time I had him on my table I hadn't known it was my old Stanford buddy Sam Winchester but the second time I'd been fully aware that I had my hands in my friends head. I had done it then, I could do it now. This was not that much different. Except that it was.
"Let's open him up." I had to spread the rips to get access to the heart and never before had the sound of the ribcage getting opened like this made me shiver. But this was my ribcage that now looked like there had been a chestburster been through.
I didn't know how conscious Crowley was, his face was hidden behind some surgical drape, and for a second I wondered what this must be like for him. He didn't say a word, didn't twitch and so I could pretend that my patient was under like he should be. Maybe the anesthesia did have some effect on him after all.
With the first steps done I became more calm, more focused and in the end I couldn't even tell how long the procedure went. It was tricky and I wasn't sure if my patchwork would hold but Castiel had offered his assistance afterwards so it should be fine. However, I trusted my work more than some mystical angelic power so I did my best patching up the heart and when I finally stitched up the wound I was pretty sure that my chances of survival weren't too bad.
"Are we done?" Crowley asked from behind the drape but still didn't move. "Just for the record, let's not do this again."
"In a minute." I told him while Sam put the last tools aside. Our gloves were bloody, mine up to the elbow, and I refused to think about the fact that this was all my blood. At least part of it. I didn't ask where Sam had gotten the blood packs we'd used.
"Let's roll him over so we can hook him up to the support." I said, painfully aware of the fact that this wasn't a fully equipped hospital. We had only one life support at hand and that was currently in use. If George was still alive, it had been a few hours at least.
Together we wheeled the gurney out of the room and parked it next to the bed where George still lay like we'd left him.
"Did everything went well?" Castiel asked, a curious eye first on me and then on Crowley. Behind him I noticed Dean sleeping in his bed. Looked like he'd finally succumbed to the painkillers I'd given him. He didn't even stir when we came into the room.
"As well as we could expect." I answered vaguely. We would only know for sure when my heart was beating again without Crowley's assistance.
Before it was time for Crowley and me to get back in our own bodies, I had to attach myself to the machine. I trusted myself more than Sam to do this right so I borrowed Kevin's body for a little while longer. I was sure that Castiel would do his best healing me but my life depended on this so I rather made it double sure.
Crowley's body wasn't breathing on its own and I wasn't sure if the heart was still beating so it was now or never.
"Okay." I said with one last glance at the not so vital vitals of my own body, Crowley hadn't loosen his hold on my heart yet, but otherwise everything was at least hooked up correctly. "Get over there."
I wasn't sure what to expect, I had a vague memory of black smoke forcing its way down my throat, but seeing the dark cloud evaporating from my body's mouth and moving over to the other bed was way more disturbing than I remembered. Georg's body arched in the bed while the monitor next to me came to life, telling me that my heart was beating again. The next second Castiel had his hand over my chest and then there was a blinding light.
However, what happened after that I don't know. I recall a feeling like I was snapped out of Kevin's body but then everything went dark.
I may have drifted in and out a few times but I woke up for real three days later.
Without opening my eyes, I took stock of myself first. When I asked a hesitant Hello? into my mind there was no answer, which counted as a good sign. My body felt right again, so I guessed that I was back to where I belonged. Satisfied with that I drifted back to sleep.
When I woke up the next time I was more aware of my surroundings. Slowly I blinked my eyes open to take the room in. First thing I notice was that I was alone. The other three beds were empty and stripped bare. When I glanced over to where the monitor stood, the screen was dark.
I wasn't attached to more than a catheter, which was embarrassing enough by itself, and the only thing reminding me of my injuries was a bandage around my torso and a pulling sensation in the depth of my chest every time I took a breath.
I used the chance while I was alone to get the catheter out. I could go to the bathroom myself just fine now, thank you very much, and the last thing I wanted was for Sam to pull it out. Worse enough that he had to put it in.
That done I had time to think about the fact that I was alone.
Where was everybody? I would have liked to just turn over and go back to sleep but this worried me.
"Hello?" I tried to call out but my throat was dry and I doubted my voice carried far enough for anybody to hear. At least there was a glass of water on the nightstand. It tasted stale like it had been there for a while but I drank it greedily anyway.
"Anybody here?" I asked louder this time.
"You're awake." Castiel suddenly appeared at the side of my bed. "I think it's appropriate to ask how you feel." He paused as if he wasn't sure about the rules of bedside manners. "How do you feel?"
I thought about that for a moment. "Good." I answered. I wasn't in pain, my head was clear and if I was honest I was a little hungry. "Where is everybody?"
"It's two in the morning, the others are sleeping."
"Oh." I dropped back into my pillow. "They left you to night watch duty?"
He tilted his head, processing the question.
"Sam asked me to have an eye on you."
"How long have I been out?" I had the feeling that it had been longer than a few hours.
"A little over three days." He confirmed my suspicions.
"Crowley?"
"He escaped."
"What? How? I thought he can't just teleport out of here."
"It looks like he had prepared a banishing sigil next to his bed." Castiel looked uncomfortable like it had been his fault. I remembered the moment when Crowley had taught me how to possess somebody. I'd been completely out of it for a few minutes. More than enough time to prepare something.
"What did this banishing thing do?" I could take a guess from the name but I still had no idea how it actually worked.
"He used the moment when I tried to heal you to finish it, sending me away. Then he ran."
Crowley had said something about sending the angel away, I remembered that. With the angel out of the picture it would have been easy for him to escape.
"I'm sorry, this is all my fault." If I hadn't been so stupid in the first place …
"You didn't know."
I nodded to that, not really convinced but there was nothing I could do, the damage was done. Speaking of damage.
"How's my …" I gestured at my bandaged chest.
"I managed to heal you far enough to make a full recovery before Crowley used the sigil." He answered. "However, you barely needed my assistance, you would have survived without my help."
"Survived maybe." I knew too well how my chances had been. "But not to a full recovery. Thank you."
"You're welcome." He paused, looking me over. "Are you in need of more pain relievers?"
"I'm good."
He shifted a little to find a more comfortable stance and he didn't look like he intended to move any time soon. "You should sleep, your body needs rest."
"Are you the doctor now?" I asked but drew the blanket up to my chin, I could do with a little more shuteye.
"I'm not a doctor."
I smiled to that and wondered when I'd become comfortable with joking around with an angel. Not that Castiel looked like an angel. Most of the time I could forget that he was more than just a guy. A weird one but still just a guy.
"How's Kevin doing?" I only remembered him when I was already half-asleep and if I'm honest, I felt ashamed of that. I had violated that poor boy in ways I had no words for and then I totally forgot to ask how he was doing.
"He's fine."
"I didn't hurt him, did I?"
"Ghost possession doesn't hurt."
"I don't mean physically."
"Kevin is fine." Cas reassured me. "Believe me, he's been through worse."
Once again wondering what that boy had been through I drifted off to sleep.
When I woke up in the morning I smelled coffee and opened my eyes to Sam sitting on the bed next to mine with a loaded tray on the nightstand between us.
"You hungry?" He asked and filled a cup with coffee. "Cas told me you woke up last night. How do you feel?"
"Good." And I would feel even better with some caffeine in my system. "How are the others?"
Castiel had told me that Kevin was fine and he hadn't mentioned Dean so I guessed he was doing good as well but I wasn't sure if I trusted the angels assessment of their health status.
"You're the one in a hospital bed." Sam pointed out.
"Sorry I screwed up like this." I couldn't say it often enough. The whole mess had been my fault. And now Crowley was out there again. I didn't know what he was doing but it couldn't be something good, that much was for sure.
"Don't worry about it." Sam handed me a plate with muffins. "You don't even make it into the top ten of the biggest screw-ups in the history of the Winchesters."
Nibbling at my muffin I wondered what did make it into the top ten. I knew exactly what Crowley would have to say to that and I made a mental note to find out more about those ominous books.
After I'd slept some more.
Chapter 14
Masterpost