Sick Days - Chapter 2
Title: Sick Days
Summary: Dean's obsession with apparently random medical deaths mirrored from his past lands him and Sam in the middle of a deadly epidemic.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None
Spoilers: Up to and including 'Born Under a Bad Sign'
Word Count: 2,207 for this part
Author's Note: Takes place in 2007 post 'Born Under a Bad Sign' with flashbacks to 1987. Many thanks to Amberdreams for the wonderful editing assistance. Master post can be found here.
~~~
Continued from Chapter 1
Outside of Jordan Valley, Oregon
Nearly a continent worth of driving later, they hit the eastern edge of the Oregon border.
Sam would have thought that at the very least the drive would have given him a chance to figure out where Dean’s head was at. Yet, they couldn’t have that much further to go and if anything Sam, was only more confused about why they were out here.
Any time he’d asked about the case, Dean had remained vague at best. The really annoying part was not just that Dean wasn’t telling him anything but that he was doing it in a way that made Sam feel like he was the one that had this messed up in his head. No matter how much Dean wanted to twist this, Sam knew he wasn’t the crazy one here.
By the time a lone gas station finally came into view, Sam was ready to throttle his brother. If he did that, though, it would mean he’d have to keep driving and after twelve straight hours behind the wheel he was more than happy at the prospect of letting Dean take over.
“How much longer?” Sam asked.
It didn’t really matter. They’d get there when they got there. The question was more just an excuse to wake Dean up.
They hadn’t talked much for a while and given that Dean required constant entertaining when he was awake, his brother must have been sleeping. Despite that assumption, Dean answered instantly and didn’t sound the least bit groggy.
“If you keep driving? Four years.”
Sam ignored his brother’s griping as he stepped out of the car into the morning sun to flex his stiff legs. Dean likewise climbed from the car, and stretched before leaning back against the vehicle and looking out over the area. There was literally nothing aside from passing cars that were trying to get through here to somewhere else.
“If I take over, maybe eight hours,” Dean continued. “We can cut over to Route 20 in fifty miles or so.” His brother’s eyes narrowed as he turned to look at Sam. “Don’t give me that look.”
“What look?”
“The ‘this is a huge, freakin’ waste of time’ look.”
Sam raised his hands in surrender. He didn’t wake Dean up to argue with him, he just wanted to not be driving for a while. “I didn’t say anything.”
“Actually, you’ve said plenty.”
“Yeah, but I give up.” Sam turned fully to face his brother and rested his arms on the top of the car while he stared at Dean. “We’ve been driving for over thirty hours straight, Dean. I think it’s pretty obvious that if we don’t find anything in Green Bay I’m going to have to kill you. What else is there to say?”
“Alrighty then,” Dean replied dismissively. His brother rubbed his hands together as he looked excitedly towards the gas station. “Let’s get some breakfast.”
“Here? Seriously?”
Sam turned to give a wary look towards the dilapidated pit stop they were parked out in front of. This was probably one of the grimiest looking excuses for a gas station he’d ever seen and considering their lifestyle that was saying a lot. He could feel a wicked case of botulism coming on just from looking at the place.
A bag of potato chips, a candy bar - either would likely be ten years old at least but probably wouldn’t kill a person. The problem was, Dean didn’t get that hungry glint in his eyes by thinking of just fried potatoes and sugar. Sam didn’t even want to know what form of meat Dean hoped to scrounge out of the place.
“I’m not sure about their gas, let alone eating their food.”
“Oh there’s no way in hell we’re getting gas here,” Dean assured him.
Sam made a face but didn’t bother to seek any reason in his brother’s statement. “Right...you go ahead.”
"Probably a good call. The thought of you after a Mega Carne Burrito....” Dean just cringed before turning and waving Sam off. “Stuff of nightmares, Sammy. At least use the little girl’s room while we’re here,” he called back towards him. “I’m not pulling over later.”
Sam just scoffed at him. He’d say he was going to find a tree before he walked into this place’s bathroom, but he couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen a tree. They were in the dead middle of nowhere surrounded by what seemed to be a hundred miles of sagebrush.
Still stunned that they were even related, he watched his insane brother disappear through the squeaky gas station door. Finally, he saw the off color sign that had enticed his brother into the dump. That burrito sign was probably older than him.
He still couldn’t get a read on Dean. At the drop of a dime, his brother kept switching between acting completely, annoyingly normal and weirdly quiet. Sam wasn’t sure whether he should be irritated as hell or worried sick.
Through the dirty windows, Sam could just make out Dean leaning over the counter, no doubt trying some lines on the poor girl behind it. She was probably the daughter of some guy out back with a shotgun. They were leaving here in five minutes and Dean still couldn’t put it away long enough to buy some junk food.
Shaking his head in disbelief, Sam finally gave up and headed for the bathroom. By the time he got back Dean was still inside. He thought he was going to have to go in after his idiot brother when the gas station door finally opened again. Dean came strutting out with a wide grin and a heaping bag of things that no doubt only his brother would consider edible, let alone nourishing.
“Let’s hit the road,” Dean said as he hopped into the driver’s seat.
By the time Sam had settled in beside his brother, Dean was munching on the nastiest looking burrito Sam had ever seen. Or smelled. “You know, it’s amazing you ever survived to become an adult,” Sam told him.
It was subtle, but as Dean changed his focus to the road ahead his expression became more serious. Sam thought he’d imagined it until he also heard the same shift in Dean’s tone.
“Yeah, guess so.”
~~~
The Bay Motor Lodge - Green Bay, Oregon - 1987
Dean poured the last of the milk into one of the motel’s complementary plastic cups. The milk smelled kind of funny, but Sammy never seemed to notice. He put the empty carton back into the room’s mini-fridge before retuning to Sammy’s bed where his little brother enthusiastically accepted the cup.
While Dean was a little wary about what Sammy was going to tell him, he was even more curious. He wasn’t sure what kind of story Sammy would have come up with. Crawling back up on the bed, he nestled down cross-legged in front of his little brother.
“Okay, so what’s your story?”
Sammy gulped the milk for a moment longer before looking up at Dean. “I saw a ghost!” he proudly declared.
“No you didn’t,” Dean replied instantly.
He didn’t need to wait for an explanation from his little brother. There was no way he even wanted to think that Sammy might have actually seen something. Besides, he’d been here the whole time and he would have known if there was something here.
“Did so,” Sammy insisted.
“On TV?”
“TV not real, Dean. You said so.”
“I know and I’m always right, huh?” Sammy nodded in agreement. “That’s right, but where’d you see a ghost then?” It’s not like Sammy had picture books like Dean used to and they hadn’t left the room for days so that only left the TV.
“The ghost, he at the dark building because he could not go,” Sammy began as if he’d been rehearsing his little speech for hours. “Daddy go walk and...and uh, the ghost, he see me because I see him and I wave...” Sammy waved his hand to demonstrate before continuing. “Because he lonely.”
Dean straightened on the bed as he stared at his little brother. He remembered Sammy waving next to him in the back seat of the car like he saw someone when Dad had stopped at that creepy place on the way into town. Sometimes Sammy just did weird stuff that didn’t make any sense. When they’d been in the car he’d thought maybe his brother had been waving for Dad to come back.
“What’d he look like?” Dean asked.
“Like you.”
Dean couldn’t stop the surprise from showing on his face. “Like...like me? Like he was me?”
“No, he not you. He tall like you...”
Sammy raised his hand to indicate how tall he thought the ghost was. Dean nodded in understanding.
“He was a boy like me?” Sammy’s excited expression told him that he’d guessed right. “Did he say anything to you?”
Sammy shook his head, a frown forming on his lips. “I think he play in mud because his clothes dirty. He sad. Will you help him, Dean?”
“You were just dreaming, Sammy. I saw you sleeping in the car while we were there,” Dean lied. “I’m sure when he got cleaned up the boy in your dream was happy again.”
“When he got all the red stuff off,” Sammy agreed.
“Sure,” Dean replied distantly as he took the empty cup back from Sammy. “Go to sleep now. Okay?”
~~~
The Bay Motor Lodge - Green Bay, Oregon - 2007
“Sammy, wake up!”
Sam jolted up so fast in his seat that he almost hit his head on the roof of the car. He quickly looked for the fire, but all he saw was his brother smirking beside him. Dean had no idea how much he wasn’t in the mood for this.
“Jerk.”
“You were the one that wouldn’t wake up, Bitch.”
The gloating expression suddenly left Dean’s face as his wicked chuckle turned into a cough. Sam’s annoyance dissipated as he saw Dean cringe.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m great. Just got something stuck in my throat.”
“It’s probably your brains,” Sam replied after he was sure that Dean was all right. “Where are we?”
“Here. I already checked us in,” Dean replied as he tossed Sam’s room key at him. “Deb seems real nice...I think we’re going to be wanting some room service tonight if you know what I mean.”
Rolling his eyes, Sam pushed open his car door. The first thing he noticed was that the trees were back, but he stopped at the sight of the motel. He was a little surprised to find himself looking at a more than decent looking building, nice even. There was no way his brother had actually picked this place out to stay.
“Is this the only place in town?”
“Not even close, but it’s the only one with two digit room rates. Most of the town is a coastal resort - we’re living like the rich people, Sammy. Now come on, we’ve got work to do,” Dean said as he slung his bag over his shoulder and headed for the room.
With an annoyed glare at his brother, Sam grabbed his own bag and followed Dean. It was only late afternoon so they still had plenty of time before nightfall. “So we’re hitting the sanitarium tonight?”
“Not tonight.”
“Isn’t that why we’re here?” Sam asked.
“To play haunted house? No. We’re here to stop this thing. Another kid and his dad are in the hospital.”
“Did Deb tell you that?”
“Deb doesn’t know anything...except our room number. I heard it on the radio.”
“Since when do you listen to news radio?”
“I’ll have you know I’m a very concerned citizen.”
Sam stopped in the doorway before following Dean into the motel room. “Is there something else you want to tell me?”
His brother just looked confused as he glanced over his shoulder at him. “No. Why?”
“Nothing...” Sam replied after a moment of silence. "So you want to go to the hospital?”
“I sure do and I need you to hack into the coroner records or whatever it is that you pretend to do with that computer of yours.”
“Dean, I’m going with you.”
“No, you’re not. I don’t need your help to do a couple of interviews and I’m willing to bet that there is something about those bodies that tie these people together.”
“We don’t know that anything’s happening here so these poor families don’t need you harassing them.”
Dean gave a huff. “I don’t harass.”
“Yes, you do.”
“Fine. Come. And it’s one family,” Dean corrected.
“Both the new victims are from the same family?” Dean nodded and Sam was once again ready to strangle him. “That’s just another thing that doesn’t fit. Why do you think they’re even related?”
“They’re missing buckets of blood - same as the others.”
“All the victims were missing large quantities of blood? When were you going to mention that?”
“I did...didn’t I?”
“No, Dean, no you didn’t. When we left Illinois you said it was just a feeling.”
Dean shrugged. "In Illinois it was. I just found out about the blood. Come on Agent...Panozzo," his brother said as seemingly pulled an ID at random from his pocket and handed it to Sam. "Let's go meet the locals."
Continue to Chapter 3
Summary: Dean's obsession with apparently random medical deaths mirrored from his past lands him and Sam in the middle of a deadly epidemic.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None
Spoilers: Up to and including 'Born Under a Bad Sign'
Word Count: 2,207 for this part
Author's Note: Takes place in 2007 post 'Born Under a Bad Sign' with flashbacks to 1987. Many thanks to Amberdreams for the wonderful editing assistance. Master post can be found here.
~~~
Continued from Chapter 1
Outside of Jordan Valley, Oregon
Nearly a continent worth of driving later, they hit the eastern edge of the Oregon border.
Sam would have thought that at the very least the drive would have given him a chance to figure out where Dean’s head was at. Yet, they couldn’t have that much further to go and if anything Sam, was only more confused about why they were out here.
Any time he’d asked about the case, Dean had remained vague at best. The really annoying part was not just that Dean wasn’t telling him anything but that he was doing it in a way that made Sam feel like he was the one that had this messed up in his head. No matter how much Dean wanted to twist this, Sam knew he wasn’t the crazy one here.
By the time a lone gas station finally came into view, Sam was ready to throttle his brother. If he did that, though, it would mean he’d have to keep driving and after twelve straight hours behind the wheel he was more than happy at the prospect of letting Dean take over.
“How much longer?” Sam asked.
It didn’t really matter. They’d get there when they got there. The question was more just an excuse to wake Dean up.
They hadn’t talked much for a while and given that Dean required constant entertaining when he was awake, his brother must have been sleeping. Despite that assumption, Dean answered instantly and didn’t sound the least bit groggy.
“If you keep driving? Four years.”
Sam ignored his brother’s griping as he stepped out of the car into the morning sun to flex his stiff legs. Dean likewise climbed from the car, and stretched before leaning back against the vehicle and looking out over the area. There was literally nothing aside from passing cars that were trying to get through here to somewhere else.
“If I take over, maybe eight hours,” Dean continued. “We can cut over to Route 20 in fifty miles or so.” His brother’s eyes narrowed as he turned to look at Sam. “Don’t give me that look.”
“What look?”
“The ‘this is a huge, freakin’ waste of time’ look.”
Sam raised his hands in surrender. He didn’t wake Dean up to argue with him, he just wanted to not be driving for a while. “I didn’t say anything.”
“Actually, you’ve said plenty.”
“Yeah, but I give up.” Sam turned fully to face his brother and rested his arms on the top of the car while he stared at Dean. “We’ve been driving for over thirty hours straight, Dean. I think it’s pretty obvious that if we don’t find anything in Green Bay I’m going to have to kill you. What else is there to say?”
“Alrighty then,” Dean replied dismissively. His brother rubbed his hands together as he looked excitedly towards the gas station. “Let’s get some breakfast.”
“Here? Seriously?”
Sam turned to give a wary look towards the dilapidated pit stop they were parked out in front of. This was probably one of the grimiest looking excuses for a gas station he’d ever seen and considering their lifestyle that was saying a lot. He could feel a wicked case of botulism coming on just from looking at the place.
A bag of potato chips, a candy bar - either would likely be ten years old at least but probably wouldn’t kill a person. The problem was, Dean didn’t get that hungry glint in his eyes by thinking of just fried potatoes and sugar. Sam didn’t even want to know what form of meat Dean hoped to scrounge out of the place.
“I’m not sure about their gas, let alone eating their food.”
“Oh there’s no way in hell we’re getting gas here,” Dean assured him.
Sam made a face but didn’t bother to seek any reason in his brother’s statement. “Right...you go ahead.”
"Probably a good call. The thought of you after a Mega Carne Burrito....” Dean just cringed before turning and waving Sam off. “Stuff of nightmares, Sammy. At least use the little girl’s room while we’re here,” he called back towards him. “I’m not pulling over later.”
Sam just scoffed at him. He’d say he was going to find a tree before he walked into this place’s bathroom, but he couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen a tree. They were in the dead middle of nowhere surrounded by what seemed to be a hundred miles of sagebrush.
Still stunned that they were even related, he watched his insane brother disappear through the squeaky gas station door. Finally, he saw the off color sign that had enticed his brother into the dump. That burrito sign was probably older than him.
He still couldn’t get a read on Dean. At the drop of a dime, his brother kept switching between acting completely, annoyingly normal and weirdly quiet. Sam wasn’t sure whether he should be irritated as hell or worried sick.
Through the dirty windows, Sam could just make out Dean leaning over the counter, no doubt trying some lines on the poor girl behind it. She was probably the daughter of some guy out back with a shotgun. They were leaving here in five minutes and Dean still couldn’t put it away long enough to buy some junk food.
Shaking his head in disbelief, Sam finally gave up and headed for the bathroom. By the time he got back Dean was still inside. He thought he was going to have to go in after his idiot brother when the gas station door finally opened again. Dean came strutting out with a wide grin and a heaping bag of things that no doubt only his brother would consider edible, let alone nourishing.
“Let’s hit the road,” Dean said as he hopped into the driver’s seat.
By the time Sam had settled in beside his brother, Dean was munching on the nastiest looking burrito Sam had ever seen. Or smelled. “You know, it’s amazing you ever survived to become an adult,” Sam told him.
It was subtle, but as Dean changed his focus to the road ahead his expression became more serious. Sam thought he’d imagined it until he also heard the same shift in Dean’s tone.
“Yeah, guess so.”
~~~
The Bay Motor Lodge - Green Bay, Oregon - 1987
Dean poured the last of the milk into one of the motel’s complementary plastic cups. The milk smelled kind of funny, but Sammy never seemed to notice. He put the empty carton back into the room’s mini-fridge before retuning to Sammy’s bed where his little brother enthusiastically accepted the cup.
While Dean was a little wary about what Sammy was going to tell him, he was even more curious. He wasn’t sure what kind of story Sammy would have come up with. Crawling back up on the bed, he nestled down cross-legged in front of his little brother.
“Okay, so what’s your story?”
Sammy gulped the milk for a moment longer before looking up at Dean. “I saw a ghost!” he proudly declared.
“No you didn’t,” Dean replied instantly.
He didn’t need to wait for an explanation from his little brother. There was no way he even wanted to think that Sammy might have actually seen something. Besides, he’d been here the whole time and he would have known if there was something here.
“Did so,” Sammy insisted.
“On TV?”
“TV not real, Dean. You said so.”
“I know and I’m always right, huh?” Sammy nodded in agreement. “That’s right, but where’d you see a ghost then?” It’s not like Sammy had picture books like Dean used to and they hadn’t left the room for days so that only left the TV.
“The ghost, he at the dark building because he could not go,” Sammy began as if he’d been rehearsing his little speech for hours. “Daddy go walk and...and uh, the ghost, he see me because I see him and I wave...” Sammy waved his hand to demonstrate before continuing. “Because he lonely.”
Dean straightened on the bed as he stared at his little brother. He remembered Sammy waving next to him in the back seat of the car like he saw someone when Dad had stopped at that creepy place on the way into town. Sometimes Sammy just did weird stuff that didn’t make any sense. When they’d been in the car he’d thought maybe his brother had been waving for Dad to come back.
“What’d he look like?” Dean asked.
“Like you.”
Dean couldn’t stop the surprise from showing on his face. “Like...like me? Like he was me?”
“No, he not you. He tall like you...”
Sammy raised his hand to indicate how tall he thought the ghost was. Dean nodded in understanding.
“He was a boy like me?” Sammy’s excited expression told him that he’d guessed right. “Did he say anything to you?”
Sammy shook his head, a frown forming on his lips. “I think he play in mud because his clothes dirty. He sad. Will you help him, Dean?”
“You were just dreaming, Sammy. I saw you sleeping in the car while we were there,” Dean lied. “I’m sure when he got cleaned up the boy in your dream was happy again.”
“When he got all the red stuff off,” Sammy agreed.
“Sure,” Dean replied distantly as he took the empty cup back from Sammy. “Go to sleep now. Okay?”
~~~
The Bay Motor Lodge - Green Bay, Oregon - 2007
“Sammy, wake up!”
Sam jolted up so fast in his seat that he almost hit his head on the roof of the car. He quickly looked for the fire, but all he saw was his brother smirking beside him. Dean had no idea how much he wasn’t in the mood for this.
“Jerk.”
“You were the one that wouldn’t wake up, Bitch.”
The gloating expression suddenly left Dean’s face as his wicked chuckle turned into a cough. Sam’s annoyance dissipated as he saw Dean cringe.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m great. Just got something stuck in my throat.”
“It’s probably your brains,” Sam replied after he was sure that Dean was all right. “Where are we?”
“Here. I already checked us in,” Dean replied as he tossed Sam’s room key at him. “Deb seems real nice...I think we’re going to be wanting some room service tonight if you know what I mean.”
Rolling his eyes, Sam pushed open his car door. The first thing he noticed was that the trees were back, but he stopped at the sight of the motel. He was a little surprised to find himself looking at a more than decent looking building, nice even. There was no way his brother had actually picked this place out to stay.
“Is this the only place in town?”
“Not even close, but it’s the only one with two digit room rates. Most of the town is a coastal resort - we’re living like the rich people, Sammy. Now come on, we’ve got work to do,” Dean said as he slung his bag over his shoulder and headed for the room.
With an annoyed glare at his brother, Sam grabbed his own bag and followed Dean. It was only late afternoon so they still had plenty of time before nightfall. “So we’re hitting the sanitarium tonight?”
“Not tonight.”
“Isn’t that why we’re here?” Sam asked.
“To play haunted house? No. We’re here to stop this thing. Another kid and his dad are in the hospital.”
“Did Deb tell you that?”
“Deb doesn’t know anything...except our room number. I heard it on the radio.”
“Since when do you listen to news radio?”
“I’ll have you know I’m a very concerned citizen.”
Sam stopped in the doorway before following Dean into the motel room. “Is there something else you want to tell me?”
His brother just looked confused as he glanced over his shoulder at him. “No. Why?”
“Nothing...” Sam replied after a moment of silence. "So you want to go to the hospital?”
“I sure do and I need you to hack into the coroner records or whatever it is that you pretend to do with that computer of yours.”
“Dean, I’m going with you.”
“No, you’re not. I don’t need your help to do a couple of interviews and I’m willing to bet that there is something about those bodies that tie these people together.”
“We don’t know that anything’s happening here so these poor families don’t need you harassing them.”
Dean gave a huff. “I don’t harass.”
“Yes, you do.”
“Fine. Come. And it’s one family,” Dean corrected.
“Both the new victims are from the same family?” Dean nodded and Sam was once again ready to strangle him. “That’s just another thing that doesn’t fit. Why do you think they’re even related?”
“They’re missing buckets of blood - same as the others.”
“All the victims were missing large quantities of blood? When were you going to mention that?”
“I did...didn’t I?”
“No, Dean, no you didn’t. When we left Illinois you said it was just a feeling.”
Dean shrugged. "In Illinois it was. I just found out about the blood. Come on Agent...Panozzo," his brother said as seemingly pulled an ID at random from his pocket and handed it to Sam. "Let's go meet the locals."
Continue to Chapter 3