Two Brothers 10/?
Chapter 10
The next morning my pager went off. Again. I raced to Sam's room. Again. When I stormed in I found Dean and Nancy at the sides of the bed and the heart monitor beeping like crazy with Sam's heart beat skyrocketing.
"Sam. Sammy." Dean leaned over his brother, trying to catch his eye, no doubt. "Don't fight it. It's okay, don't fight it. Relax, let it breathe for you. I'm here. I'm here, Sammy."
Sam thrashed in his bed, not hearing any of Dean's words and Nancy struggled to give him the sedative I'd prescribed for a situation just like this.
Then Dean grabbed his brother's head with both hands and forced him to look him in the eye.
"Sammy." Was all he said but all of a sudden Sam stilled. Nancy finally managed to grab the infusion properly but she hesitated with the injection, a questioning look at me. I shook my head, Sam seemed to be calming down. His heart-rate dropped to almost normal but he still struggled around the tube in his throat.
"It's okay, Sammy." Dean whispered, his face just inches from Sam's. "Can we get it out?" He asked louder but didn't break eye contact with Sam.
I checked Sam's vitals again and Nancy gave me the details and I had to agree, yes, we could get the tube out.
The procedure isn't fun, coughing out a piece of plastic that leaves your throat sore and irritated, but with some coaching from Dean Sam stayed calm during that and breathed in relief when the offending thing was out of his throat. I gave him a nasal cannula and for the moment he seemed to be breathing fine. I would have an eye on that and I instructed Nancy to watch out for the O2-level as well.
Sam blinked sluggishly, his gaze still fixed on his brother but he stayed awake and that was a good sign.
"Can you tell me your first name?" I asked fully aware that Nancy was still with us and that there would be some explanation necessary if Sam accidentally blurted out his last name.
"Sam." Came his answer, hoarse and dry. He didn't even look at me. However, he smiled thankfully when Dean wetted his lips with some water Nancy had produced from somewhere.
"Do you know where you are?"
Now he had a quick look around, just with his eyes and the way he didn't even try to move his head told me that this wasn't his first time with a concussion or a head injury in general.
"Hospital." His eyelids started to drop.
"It's okay." Dean reassured him with a fond smile. "You can sleep, I'm here." Keeping watch, was the unspoken rest of the sentence. I don't know if Nancy caught the deeper meaning behind that but I certainly did.
Seconds later Sam was fast asleep. Real sleep and not medically indicated unconsciousness.
"How is he?" Dean finally looked at me.
"He woke up, he's breathing on his own and he knows his name and where he is." I summed up the last minutes. "And for sure he knows who you are." I added with a smile. "So far it's looking good. Really good."
The wide grin spreading on Dean's face warmed my heart.
"He's probably going to sleep a lot over the next few days but don't worry, his body needs the rest to heal." I told him and had a last look at Sam's vitals. The oxygen level was not great but okay and his pulse was back to normal. He was sleeping deep and peacefully.
"When he wakes up, talk to him." I ordered. "Don't be worried if he's confused at the moment. And next time he wakes up I want to do some tests. Find out if is sensibility or ability to move is affected or not."
Dean swallowed visibly and nodded. "What are the chances ...?" He couldn't bring the sentence to an end and on his face I could read that he knew exactly what possible consequences I was talking about.
"That's what the tests are for." I deflected the question because with neural damage you can never tell. Sam could just walk out of here in a few days or he could need a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Or anything in between. "I'll know more after the tests but so far everything looks really good."
Standing close to him I gave him an assuring pat on the shoulder and to my surprise he grabbed my hand and hold it there for a second.
"Thanks, Luis." He sounded rough and his eyes were fixed on Sam. "You know, for everything."
"I'm your friend." I gave him another pat and pretended to not notice him blinking a bit too often.
I had to say, without the tube in his mouth and just the cannula under his nose Sam looked way better. Even the white bandage around his head didn't look too bad. In fact, the way his hair was sticking out it looked kinda funny.
"If you need anything, just call for Nancy." I told Dean but I was pretty sure that Nancy would take care of him if he wanted it or not. So far Dean hadn't complained about the coffee flat-rate, though.
I left the room and headed for the nurse station. Somehow I wasn't surprised finding Nancy hovering nearby.
"How is he?" She repeated Dean's question and I wasn't sure which brother she meant.
"Looking good. Both of them."
"Yeah, they do." A dreamy smile crossed her face.
"Nancy, Nancy." I raised and eyebrow but couldn't help but smile.
"Hey, I may not be twenty anymore but I'm not dead." She nudged me in the side. "Besides, I got the feeling that Dean needs a friendly face around right now."
She paused for a moment, deep in thoughts. "Haven't seen anybody else visiting him." She chose her words carefully.
"I don't think they have much family left." I remembered the next in kin part on the form Dean had filled out or rather had left blank except for his own name. And if I remembered correctly both their parents were dead and they had no siblings. But what did I know about their family?
"So it's just the two of them?" Nancy shook her head in sympathy. "No wonder Dean is so devastated."
I had nothing to add to that.
continue to chapter 11
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