Hello Yesterday 2/?
Chapter 2
He had to brace himself on the dash board when the car came to a sudden halt at the side of the road.
"Shit." The man said and then there was a hand on his neck, soothing away the pain that raced up his spine and exploded in his brain. He blinked against the tears of pain and tried to breath through it without throwing up.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." The man muttered. "You okay, Sammy?"
"I'm good." He mumbled and leaned into the touch and breathed a little easier. His vision still swam but the pain wasn't splitting his head open anymore. As long as he didn't move.
"Don't say things like that." The man next to him said with a huff. "Scared the crap out of me for a moment."
He needed a few more slow breaths to compose himself but when he looked up in the end, the face right next to him was as unfamiliar as before. Maybe not exactly unfamiliar, there was something about this man that made him feel safe, but that didn't change the fact that he had no idea who he was.
Thinking about it he had no idea who he was either. He guessed that his name was Sam but only because the other man had used it a few times.
"Who are you?" He repeated his question because at the moment it was more important to him to find out who the other one was than to find out about this Sam guy. His head hurt enough as it was, he couldn't handle too many thoughts at the moment.
The expression on the other man's face changed from slightly worried with a hint of amusement to outright panic.
"What do you mean who I am?" He asked back, his hand sliding from his neck to cupping his cheek and with that the man forced him to look him in the eye. Not that he minded the touch, quite the opposite. By now his head was spinning with questions but that simple touch grounded him. He took a deep breath and had to swallow against a new wave of nausea. He wished he would throw up already just to get it over with but nothing happened. He took another shaky breath before he felt good enough to answer.
"I've no clue who you are."
The man looked at him hard, as if he was hoping to find an answer in his expression, but then he just shook his head slightly.
"I'm Dean." He said as if that name should mean something to him. Which it didn't. "Your brother?"
"Dean, my brother." He repeated the information as if he had to make extra sure to not forget it again. Which was probably necessary. He didn't know. There was way too much stuff he didn't know at the moment.
"And you're Sam, you know that, right?" The man, Dean, ducked his head to lock eyes with him, now the panic concealed under a thin layer of careful blankness. Not that he couldn't see right through it. Dean was losing his shit right in front of him but didn't want to let him know. It felt familiar even when he couldn't put his finger on the why here.
"You called me Sam." He offered as an answer. "Or Sammy, you used that one too."
"But you don't know that that's your name." Dean summed up the situation. "Awesome." He sat back in his seat and washed a hand down his face. "What do you remember?"
Despite the pondering in his head he tried to think about that one. Until now he hadn't bothered with anything else than the present.
"You woke me up in the hospital." That was the first thing he remembered clearly. "You said we had to leave and then we left."
"You have no clue who I am but you come with me when I hustle you out of the hospital?" Dean stared at him in clear disbelieve. "What about stranger danger? Ever heard about that one? You're hurt and you leave with a complete stranger." Dean rambled on but he got the feeling that this was only a way to get past the panic. There was something really wrong here and they both knew it. He didn't know much at the moment but this was clear.
"That one blow to the head must have been a good one." Dean said more to himself than to him.
"What now?" He asked. He should be worried, hell, he should freak out right now but this had spiked up the pain again and he tried very hard to not move his head or neck. It was bearable this way but just slightly. Every move sent a lance of blinding hot pain through him.
"Hospital." Dean started the car and a second later they were on the road again.
"We're going back?" That jump of thoughts was a little much to comprehend right now but he did notice that Dean didn't turn the car around.
"That's three hours in the other direction." Dean said with a little smile but it looked forced. "I'd rather get you checked out sooner."
There was nothing else to say to that so Sam, it still felt strange to think of himself by that name, made himself more comfortable again. When he'd found a position where the pain wasn't too bad and he didn't feel like his stomach wanted to turn itself upside down, Sam tried to remember. He tried to find something, anything, from before he had woken up in that hospital bed. But he came up with nothing.
"Don't try too hard." Dean said with a knowing side glance at him. "You'll just make the headache worse."
"It's all gone." He felt close to tears now. "I can't remember a damn thing."
"It's not uncommon with concussions." Dean offered and he sounded as if he knew what he was talking about. Or he was just talking out of his ass, Sam wasn't sure.
"You think?" For some stupid reason Dean's words had a calming effect on him.
"Most likely it'll clear off by itself in a bit." He offered but he looked as convinced as Sam felt. "But I'd like to hear that from a doctor." He added and focused on the road again.
"Me too." Sam had a look around the car in the faint hope that something there would trigger a memory but no such luck. Just an old car. Disappointed he closed his eyes again.
"Headache?" Dean asked gently.
"Hmm." He made without opening his eyes. Maybe he could drift back to sleep.
"What other symptoms do you have?"
Now he did blink his eyes open. "Nausea but not too bad."
"How's your vision?"
"Better."
"Better than what?" His voice rose with alarm and Sam winced to that. "Sorry."
"It was blurry at first but it's better now." That was the least of his problems right now. "What happened to me anyway?"
For the first time Dean didn't answer right away. He threw him a glance and then hurried to turn back to the road.
"And why did we have to leave the hospital?" The realization that that wasn't the normal thing to do came late but now that he had realized it he couldn't stop thinking about it. He was in clear need of medical attention, why would Dean bust him out of the hospital?
What was he even doing here in this car? Where they even brothers like Dean had claimed? He had only Dean's word for it. He didn't know him, Dean was a stranger to him.
"Sammy, hey." The hand was on his neck again. "Easy there, we figure this out. It's okay, breathe through it."
He crunched his face in concentration and tried to breathe through the new spark of pain. At least in this point was Dean right, thinking too hard did make his headache worse.
"What happened?" He repeated his question with his head hanging and Dean's hand still in his neck. It felt comforting but if Dean didn't answer his question he would have to reconsider the trust he had in this man.
Dean sighed and Sam braced himself for no answer at all or a lie and he didn't know what would be worse.
"I won't lie to you." Dean said as if he knew exactly what was going on in Sam's head and that alone helped him. Brother or not, Dean knew him and he knew him well.
"But?" He prompted when he didn't continue.
"I don't think you're up for a long and complicated story." Their eyes met for a moment and all Sam could read in his expression was worry and clear affection.
"Just give me the highlights." Give me something, he silently pleaded.
"Bottom line, we had a fight with some thugs and you got hit on the head." Dean summed it up. Which didn't help at all.
"We get into fights often?" He asked but couldn't really picture himself in a fight. Did he even know how to throw a punch? Probably not and that was the reason he got hit.
"Way too often." Dean muttered but the words were almost lost on Sam because another realization just hit. He didn't know what he looked like.
"Hey, what …?" Dean protested when Sam yanked the rear view mirror around to have a look at himself.
The sudden movement let his eyes water with pain and suddenly there was too much saliva in his mouth but Sam couldn't care less. He needed to see his face.
There was a stranger looking back at him. He'd kinda noticed the long hair before but hadn't paid much attention to it. Everything else was new to him. Just a random guy.
"Sammy?" Dean asked softly, a steadying hand on his shoulder.
"Is this me?" It was a stupid question but the face was so unfamiliar he just had to ask.
"We're almost at the hospital." Dean reassured him and put his foot down.
With one last look in the mirror Sam slumped back into his seat and waited for the world to stop spinning and his stomach to make up its mind.
"Sammy?" Dean asked and something in his tone made him look up. They had come to a halt in front of what he assumed was a hospital. "I know you don't know me right now and you don't have a reason to trust me but …" He stopped and rubbed a hand over his mouth.
"Yeah?"
"I want you to get better, I want you to get your memory back."
"I know." For some reason he felt the need to comfort the other man. He didn't know much about the other man but it was obvious that he cared.
"Your name is Sam Winchester, that's the truth, I swear." Dean leaned over and opened the glove compartment. "And I'm going to explain all this to you as soon as a doctor has seen you and we have a minute but right now just play along, okay?" He was almost pleading in the end and Sam could only nod numbly to that.
Dean got a box out of the compartment and opened it.
"What?" His vision was still a bit blurry around the edges but it was clear enough to make out the badges and cards in the box. A lot of them and they all had his or Dean's face on them.
"We don't have insurance for you under your real name." He fished a card out and put the box back. "So this has to do."
He held the card up and Sam squinted to read the name but it was too blurry. His mind exploded with the implications here and if he added their hurried leave from the other hospital …
"I know this doesn't look good." Dean was reading his mind again. "But please, give me a chance here. Just until the doctors have checked you out."
Sam wanted to say something but when he opened his mouth, his stomach finally decided that it was time to get rid of some ballast.
Chapter 3
Masterpost