The Great Equalizer (SPN, Sam)

[LostGirl2.0]

Hey guys! First time trying a Sam and Dean fic, so I hope it's ok!!!  I'm intending for this to be a case fic set in Season 3 sometime after A Very Supernatural Christmas, but before Mystery Spot.   (So Sam is still very much trying to find a way to save Dean's soul.)

A/N: Also, real quick, I LOVE the hurt/comfort genre in supernatural fanfiction (particularly protective!Dean and hurt!Sam), so this story could probably be considered primarily that.  I just wanted to say that upfront because I do have plans to whump Sam a little bit (sorry!! (...butnotthatsorry...)) and I know that may not be some people's thing.  

 

The Great Equalizer (Part 1)

 

“...a triple cheeseburger?! Sammy, did you see this picture? Look at how massive…”

Sam let his thoughts drift from his brother's enthusiastic food-raving to the open window beside them. It was a beautiful day in southern Indiana. The diner actually had most of their windows open and a cool, gentle breeze was ruffling their red gingham curtains. God… Sam thought dejectedly. Every beautiful day turned bittersweet when you couldn't help but focus on the fact that you didn't know how many more of them your brother would get to enjoy.

“...am? Hey! I just ordered for you, Space-Boy. Some chicken Caesar wrap thing. Hope that's ok. Dude, the waitress is…”

Sam’s gaze absently roamed the car park outside. Looking but not really seeing. What haven't we thought of, he asked himself. There had to be some type of spell, some object that he could use to force the crossroad's demon to his will, to blackmail it maybe...

A stronger breeze gusted in, carrying on it a fine spray of golden pollen that lightly dusted the dark wood of their table top.  Sam absently traced sigils in it while continuing to wrestle with his thoughts.

“...ude. Have you even been listening to me? Sam!”

Sam sighed. It appeared his time for introspection had passed. He supposed his brother had been talking to himself for at least ten minutes by now. He probably owed him something at this point.

He unconsciously reached up with his pollen crusted fingers to rub semi-aggravatedly at his forehead and the headache that was now brewing there. He would sneak some Tylenol from the glove box once they got back into the car. It was too nice a day to be melancholy for longer than absolutely necessary. He sniffed and rubbed gently at a sudden itch in the right side of his nose. That wouldn't be fair to Dean either. He deserved as many great days as they could cash in on.

He lifted his gaze to his brother's face to find him sitting with one eyebrow raised and his arms folded across his chest. Sam sighed and rallied himself to rejoin the moment. “You know you’ve had a bigger burger in Memphis. Remember the “Fugly Fiver”?”

Deans initial look of surprise at the relevance of Sam's comment quickly melted into one of reflective satisfaction as he apparently did indeed recall said burger.

“Also, a Caesar wrap is great, the waitress's name is Cindy, not Sandy--” he paused and rubbed more aggressively at his nose as the itch at the back of his right nostril twinged into more of a tickle. “And yes, I do think she was flirting with you, but so does that bearded guy at the bar who's been shooting you dirty looks for the past tehhh...ten minutes.” He cleared his throat loudly. “I'm thinking brother or ex, so probably not the best idea to stick around once we're done with our food.” Sam scrubbed even harder at his nose as the tickle suddenly turned into an outright fiery burn that now had him fighting hard against the urge to sneeze.

Dean just blinked at him for a few seconds before finally shaking his head with a defeated smirk. “Sandy, eh?” he mused and picked up a folded newspaper that had been wedged behind the condiment stand. “...I was close.”

“Hihh-he'ESSSHah!” Sam lost the battle.

Dean shook out the paper to its full length. “Gesundheit,” he said absently.

Sam vaguely nodded his thanks, sniffed, and rubbed at his nose some more. The itch, though slightly abated for the moment, had yet to go away completely.  

Just then Cindy came back, arms loaded for bear with their food. Sam took a moment to appreciate the Triple Patty burger now in all its  three dimensional glory, and he had to admit, it was pretty impressive. Quarter pound patties each, at least. Dean looked like he had just won the lottery. Sam couldn't help the small smile that flitted across his face. In spite of the circumstances, Dean really was doing his best not to waste a moment.

He watched as his brother folded the paper in half and set it to the side so he could continue to peruse while he dug in, which he proceeded to do post-haste.

As Cindy leaned over to set down his own plate,  Sam quickly swept his hand across the table and brushed the fine dusting of pollen onto the floor.  He smiled and thanked her as she set his plate down. To be honest, the wrap didn't look half bad. I'll have to remember this place, he thought. Dean would probably appreciate coming back through. …Except that they probably wouldn't have another chance before-- Sam quickly curtailed that line of thought and voluntarily let himself be distracted by the mildly entertaining and yet thoroughly disgusting sight of Dean attempting to get his mouth around the burger all in one go.

Dean had encountered bigger challenges in his many years of fine-diner dining and with a few well placed smashes, he got the burger down to something he could handle with minimal casualties to the toppings and sauce.  ...Some may still have made a trail down his chin, but so what?  Battlefields were bloody. That's just what victory looked like.

He heard Sam snort a laugh across the table and looked up just as the kid began to dig into his own, actually, pretty good looking wrap, if Dean was going to bother to comment on rabbit food. He’d have to remember this place in case they came back through, he thought, then caught himself. In case Sam came back through. Dean barely managed to swallow his first delicious bite past the sudden lump in his throat and turned to the newspaper for distraction, staunchly refusing to go there with his thoughts today. Sam was already struggling not to be morose. Neither of them would get to enjoy the day it if they didn't have some form of distract--Well hello there…  “Dude, I think there’s a hunt here.”

“Mmmm?” Sam hummed around a mouthful of wrap. Rubbing once again at the persisting itch in the side of his nose. He was beginning to get annoyed. It seemed the more he rubbed it the more it began to tickle, which was just counter to all prior knowledge he's had on the subject.

“Yeah. Looks like six people have gone missing in the past week. The most recent one just yesterday.”

Sam's eyes widened slightly. Wow... he thought. That was definitely an abnormally fast rate of disappearance. Not to mention a ton of people to... “Hih!” Damnit! Not again... Sam quickly swallowed his mouth full of food (because that would be messy and unpleasant for both of them), grabbed a napkin and twisted his body to the side.

“So far--”

“gnxt’CHHuH!” He’d half succeeded at stifling the first one into the napkin, but had little success with the rapidly following second. “ESSSHUU!”

“Whoa! Bless you! You tryin’ to blow down the diner?” Dean teased.

Sam blew his nose quietly into the napkin and tried to squash down his embarrassment before his face did a very accurate impression of a tomato. Ugh… He hated sneezing in public. Not to mention he could see his brother looking at him with a somewhat scrutinizing gaze out of the corner of his eye. Sam looked away uncomfortably and finished tending to his nose. When he looked back over at Dean his brother was once again engrossed in the paper as if nothing had ever happened.

“Says here the police haven't been able to find any connections between the vics yet. The families are reporting that they just “walked off” and none of em have been seen since.” He looked up from the paper. “What do you say we give Lawrenceburg, Indiana more than just a passing glance? Six people in one week without obvious connection or motive…? Could be our kind of thing.”

Sam hated the thought of another distraction from his research on nullifying the demon deal, but when he looked at at Dean and saw the fire in his eyes he knew there was no way either of them could really move on or focus on something else when six people were MIA right under their noses.

Sam pulled the paper from his brother's grasp and gave it a quick once over. “Yeah, sure sounds like it could be our kind of thing. Just the rate alone is pretty concerning.”

In present agreement on the fact that they needed more info, they finished the rest of their meal quickly and headed out of the diner--only to come face to face with a gold-dusted, pollen-covered Impala.

“Oh you have GOT to be kidding me!” Dean exclaimed.

Sam snorted. “I told you to wait until later in the Spring to hit up a car wash if we were gonna stay in the Midwest.”

“But this is-- I mean, c’mon, Sam. There's the normal ‘slight-dusting-of-pollen-on-your-car-when-you-park-under-a-tree’ and then there’s this, which is like a freaking avalanche. The whole car is yellow!” He very nearly whined. “What the hell tree did this anyway?" He looked around wildly for any indication of a culprit. "There's no way this is natural…” he continued to grumble to himself and scowl at the nearby foliage as he opened a pollen coated rear door and reached inside for a rag. He also pulled out a water bottle which he half dumped out onto the rag. He then proceeded to angrily wipe down Baby's windows.

Sam chuckled to himself and pulled open the yellow powder covered rear door on his side intending to grab a rag and help.  He paused for a moment though as he was distracted by a bunch of the particles taking flight in a golden swirl. It was kinda pretty, or it would have been if it wasn’t literally coating everything around them. A thought occurred to him and he grimaced. It was probably in his hair… He'd have to get dibs on the shower when they found a motel. He started to move forward through the dazzling cloud and into the car when he was hit with the urge to sneeze so fast he barely had time to turn his head and begin to lift his arm.

“TCSHH! HI’TCHSHhhh!! hihh...Hih-HIH-hu’ESSHHUU!”

Dean froze where he had been wiping down the rear window and just stared at Sam, completely stunned by the display. When Sam paused long enough to take a breath Dean pinned him with his gaze.

“Ok. Now I was willing to let the three inside go as someone sort of freak incident, but six, Sam? What the hell?”

“Dude, were you counting my sneezes?” Sam tried to laugh it off but truth was he was a little concerned himself. This wasn't normal for him.

Dean, unknowingly, was in agreement. “You sneeze like once every few weeks, Sam. If that. So yeah, it's not that hard to keep track.”

He looked hard at Sam again. Sam figured he was probably looking for the outward signs of some inward disease, but Sam didn't think he was going to find any because there weren't any to be found.

“You ok?” Dean asked, after apparently coming up ‘sans signs’ from his search.

Sam sniffled softly, rubbed at his nose, and shrugged.

“Yeah.”

Dean looked doubtful.

“Honestly.” Sam affirmed. “My nose has been itching off and on since we were in the diner but that's it. I swear.” he held his hands up in submission.

Dean’s eyes stayed slightly narrowed. Sam had the feeling he'd be the recipient of some covert ‘fever feels’ in the near future, but there truly wasn't anything to hide. Outside of his nose itching he really was feeling fine.

When Sam's eyes meet Dean's again, Dean could tell Sam meant what he said. That he wasn't trying to dissemble. So, he conceded to shrug it off. For the moment anyway. Didn't mean he wouldn't be watching for a fever to pop up at some point later today though. He didn't want to start up a new hunt if Sam was under the weather and just too proud to acknowledge that he needed a break. It's not like we haven't been under tons of stress at all lately or anything, he thought wryly. He swung around and started to wipe down Sam's side of the car. After a few moments of doing so alone, he looked up to see what Sam was so busy with that he couldn't help, and found him standing nearby just staring off into space.

“Hey. Earth to Sammy. Little help here?”

Sam continued to stare, not acknowledging Dean in the slightest.

“Hey!” It was then Dean noticed that Sam wasn't so much 'staring out into space’ as he was staring at a particular part of the woods off to the right of the parking lot.

“You see some something, Sammy?” He asked, moving closer to Sam's side in order to take a better look for himself at whatever it was that so raptly held his brother's attention.

“Sam?” He squinted into the distance, but for the life of him couldn't see a thing.

“Hey!” He called a little more loudly, swatting at Sam’s arm with the rag he'd been using to wipe down the car and sending tiny puff of gold dust into the air.

Instantly Sam's nostrils twitched and before he could do anything about it another sneeze barrelled out of him, snapping him nearly in half.

“ISSHHHahh!”

“Whoa! Jesus.” Dean jumped back startled, barely managing to dodge the spray. “Warn a guy.”

Sam stayed half bent over and just blinked dazedly for a moment before he became aware that his nose was starting to twinge and tickle again.

This time though he had enough presence of mind to fully turn and step away from Dean before he could be overrun by the sensation.

“Warn-hihh! Warning you now.”  Sam buried half his face in the crook of his arm, and then stayed like that because all he felt was the most maddening tickle he'd ever experienced in his life.

“Hih!  Hihhh-HIH! huhhhhhhh…. Hih! huhhh….”

Dean, though still uncertain as to what had been up with Sam before, couldn't help but find his current predicament somewhat amusing.  “Dude” he snorted looking at his non-existent watch, “c’mon, sometime this century.”

“Truhh….trying. Hihh! J-hih! Jerk.” He turned his head up towards the sun and opened his eyes as much as he could. “Hih-hi-HIH!”  Yep. That did it.  He quickly buried his face back in his sleeve and-- “hu’ESSHHAH!”

“Finally! Bless you, bitch.”

But Sam wasn't quite done. “Hu’CHSHHhh! ISHaH! Hihh-HIH!...ESSHHUU!”

“Jesus. Bless you. You going for a record?”

Dean made light of the whole thing, but he was watching Sam like a hawk. Yeah, this was definitely not normal.

Sam sniffed hard and growled slightly as he scrubbed at his now itchy eyes. What the hell was going on with him today?

As soon as Dean saw Sam start to rub at his eyes warning bells went off in his head.

“Whoawhoawhoa!” He stepped forward and grabbed at Sam's hands. “Don't do that.”

“God, Dean, they itch like crazy. What the hell is going on?”

“Well, I'm not sure because you've never had em before, so it doesn't make sense they'd pop up all of a sudden… but the sneezing and the itchy eyes… Sounds a lot like allergies.”

“What? Dean, I'm 25 and I've never had anything even remotely like this before. That was always your thing with the cats.”

“Yeah don't I know it,” he grumbled, and swore he could feel his nose itch even at the thought. He looked back at Sam, hard. His eyes were red now and he was sniffling constantly from a runny nose. Sure seemed like allergies, he thought. But like Sam had said, what the hell? Could they really just pop up like this? He needed to do some research... For now though, time to take care of what he could. He reached in the still open passenger door into the glove compartment and pulled out two napkins. He passed one over to Sam with a, “Here, blow your nose, Sniffles.” The other he wet with a little bit of water from the bottle he'd used for the rags. “We can do some research on allergies when we get to the motel, maybe this isn't that unheard of? For now tho, get your ass in the seat so we can grab a motel room for the day.” He reached out and guided a squinting, watery-eyed Sam into the seat. “And put this on your eyes.” He dropped the wet napkin unceremoniously down onto his brother’s face.

Sam started, “Dean what the--!” and grabbed at the wet thing that was now stuck to his face. Dean just swatted his hands away, shushed him, and patted him on the head condescendingly before walking back around to his side of the car. Sam left the napkin in place and quickly changed his tune as the cool dampness began to ease the irritation of his eyes. He moaned softly.

“Good isn’t it?” Dean smirked as he shut his door, turned Baby on and headed out of the lot back onto the main highway.

They drove for a few minutes in silence.  Dean, running back through all of his memories and combing them for instances when Sam might have displayed symptoms that could be consistent with allergies, and Sam--

“Dean?”

“Yeah, Sammy?”

“If this is how you feel every time you’re around a cat… I’m really sorry for putting Mrs. Nibbles in your gym bag.”

Dean snorted. He actually remembered that. “I don’t even know how the hell you got her to get in there. It was actually pretty impressive for a three year old.” He had sneezed his head off for days after that and for some reason Sam had found it hysterical.

“Still though...”

“It’s all good, Sam.” Dean assured, smiling slightly.  Knowing Sam, the kid was actually going to feel guilty about this for ages now.

Right at that moment he spotted a motel.  “Hey, Samantha, how’s this place look?”

Sam peeled the napkin off his eyes, shot Dean a glare, and then looked out the window.  “The Fiesta Motel?” He blinked in confusion. “We are still in Indiana, right?”

“I know.” he grinned, nearly bouncing in his seat. “Isn’t it great? I’m hoping for a complimentary tequila bar.”  He pulled the car into the front lot.

“Stay here and chill for a second. I’ll get us a room.” He got out of the car and headed inside to the motel’s main office.

Sam wadded the wet napkin up in his hand and experimentally sniffed. He could still feel a tiny bit of irritation, but not nearly as bad as before.  

Experimentally, he opened the car door.  The breeze from before appeared to have died down and everything was quiet in the lot. He got the rest of the way out of the car and noted with approval that most of the pollen appeared to have blown off while they were driving.  Dean would be happy about that. He walked around to the back and popped the trunk to grab their bags.

“Arrrrrrrrrriba!!”

Sam looked up at his brother and immediately rolled his eyes. “Are you serious?”

“Serious as the heart attack I’m going to have after eating these two complimentary burritos!  They’ve got a freaking Chipotle worthy burrito bar in there, Sammy.  We are staying in Southern Indiana for as long as we can.  This place rocks!”

Sam just shook his head. Frequently over the years he had found himself wondering how they came from the same parents. Now was absolutely one of those times. “I take it the hat was complimentary as well?”

“What? This old thing?” Dean asked as he jiggled the sombrero, proceeding to make the tiny hot sauce bottles that were suspended from the rim clink back and forth.

“....You bought that didn’t you?”

“Damn right I did.”

Sam snorted.

“Sam.”

“Yeah, Dean?”

“Guess what it does.”

“What does it do, Dean?”

Dean reached under the brim of the hat and pressed something unseen.  The hat immediately lit up in twinkling green, white, and red lights and began playing--

“The Mexican Hat Dance Song?”

“I know.  It’s pure perfection.”  The hat continued to play and flash as Dean merrily reached out and snagged his duffel out of Sam’s hand. He turned and began to head toward the nearest wall of room doors. “Room 102!” He called, intermittently busting out a conga line step as he walked down the sidewalk shaking the wrapped burritos like maracas.

Sam dramatically looked up the the sky. “Why God? Just…. Why?”  When God provided no justification for his actions, Sam shut the lid of the trunk and proceeded to trail along in the wake of his brother and the upbeat music.

On his way into the room Sam caught sight of himself in the reflection of a window. Ugh. He totally was covered in pollen. That seemed unlikely to be helping things. He paused just outside the now open door to brush off his jacket. That didn't seem to cause him too much trouble, but when he began to run a hand through his hair in an attempt to shake it out the tickle came back with a vengeance. He groaned and lifted his arm expectantly.

“hih! Huhhhh… HIH!”

“Hey,” called Dean’s voice from inside the room and suddenly he was hit in the face by a small paper box.

“Ahhg!” He cried out in surprise and belatedly shifted his arm to protect him from further incoming projectiles.

“Allergy meds.” Came the delayed explanation. “Had em in my bag. They're expired but they might help till we come across a store.”

“Mmmm”, Sam just grunted, eyes fluttering shut. The need to sneeze that had briefly abated when he'd been startled had returned tenfold.

“Hih-HIH!”

“Here.”

Despite his distraction he felt a light puff of air on his face and squinted his eyes open to see a red bandanna now barely clinging to the fabric of his jacket on his chest. Yeah, good thought. He snatched it up rapidly and brought it to his face just in time.

“EESSHuu!”

“Gesundheit, bitch.” Dean’s voiced called from further inside the room.

Sam gratefully blew his nose into the soft bandanna and huffed a soft laugh. “Heh…Thagks, Jerk.” He replied stuffily, and set about blowing his nose some more.

“Seriously, take these meds.” Sam blinked up for the cloth as Dean was suddenly right in front of him, holding out the small box that had bounced off his head and onto the floor just a second ago. “Just in case.”

Sam nodded and finished tending to his nose with a deep sniff. “Yeah, sure. Couldn't hurt.” He was really looking forward to that shower later on. He swore he could feel the grit of the stuff still in his eyes.

Dean nodded in satisfaction and sat down at the table where he had somehow already set up Sam's laptop.

“You got the list of names from the paper?”

“I do, but I wanted to check into this late-in-life-allergy crap that might be kicking your ass first.”

Sam shook his head. “I'm fine, Dean.”

Dean just arched an eyebrow at him.

“Ok, I mean, this is annoying as hell, but people are disappearing. As recent as yesterday so we need to figure out if this is our jam or not, and fast. I'll take these meds and I'll be good.”  

Sam could see the big brother protective streak about to rear it's ugly head so he quickly headed it off.

“If it keeps bugging me we can look into it tomorrow. It might just be a fluke or something today.”

Dean huffed in disbelief.

“Look, there's not a ton of daylight left so let's focus on finding out if this is a case first and then, I promise, I'll look into whether or not allergies can come out of nowhere like this.”

Deans brow creased at that. “You know. This could be our kind of thing.”

“That's what I'm saying--”

“Nono, not the potential case. The allergies out of thin air thing ...You piss off any witches lately?”

“What? Dean we've been together practically every day for the past year, you know I haven't. And it's just a few sneezes on one day. Hardly any reason to think I'm cursed.”

Dean grumbled.

“Tomorrow, ok? If it's still even a thing.”

“Oh, it'll be a thing.” He groused. “Winchester luck, little brother.  Winchester luck.”

Sam waved off his concern but couldn't help thinking that his brother probably had a point. When were they ever actually lucky?

 

To be continued...   (I'd love to know what you think!)

[starpollen]

This is VERY well written!  I especially loved the line: “Battlefields were bloody.  That’s just what victory looked like” when describing the cheeseburger.  

[Seeker]

7 hours ago, LostGirl2.0 said:

Also, real quick, I LOVE the hurt/comfort genre in supernatural fanfiction (particularly protective!Dean and hurt!Sam), so this story could probably be considered primarily that. 

Basically what I live for. lol Ok, maybe not, but I need protective Dean comforting hurt Sam. At the end of season five currently and I NEED brother bonding cause I'm not getting it right now. 

Really like it so far. Looking forward to more!

[Coffee Mug]

Definitely my cup of tea here. Wonderfully written and addictive. I love love love allergic Sam. And also I love that you  don’t exaggerate with the sneezes but you keep it so real and you’re putting an effort in building a plot, describing details and catching the dialogue between the brothers in the best way ever. 

Great stuff! Keep it up! Thank you so much and I’ll be checking (constantly ) for the next up update  

[sneezy_frnk]

Ok this is pretty fucking awesome. I'm usually way more into sick sneezes than allergy ones, but I really love this!! Sammy is so cute and I love concerned Dean being over protective and taking care of him <3

[LostGirl2.0]

 

On 4/26/2018 at 0:19 AM, starpollen said:

This is VERY well written!  I especially loved the line: “Battlefields were bloody.  That’s just what victory looked like” when describing the cheeseburger.  

Thank you so, so much, @starpollen! I truly appreciate it! (This is my first time ever trying something as in depth as this.  I actually think if I follow all the way through with it, it'll be the longest thing I've ever written, period. lol So your encouragement means the world!)

On 4/26/2018 at 7:32 AM, ReidSeeker said:

Basically what I live for. lol Ok, maybe not, but I need protective Dean comforting hurt Sam. At the end of season five currently and I NEED brother bonding cause I'm not getting it right now. 

Really like it so far. Looking forward to more!

YAY!!!  I'm so glad you're enjoying it!  I am ALL ABOUT brother bonding.  So hopefully I'll be able to help tide you over.

On 4/26/2018 at 9:31 AM, Coffee Mug said:

Definitely my cup of tea here. Wonderfully written and addictive. I love love love allergic Sam. And also I love that you  don’t exaggerate with the sneezes but you keep it so real and you’re putting an effort in building a plot, describing details and catching the dialogue between the brothers in the best way ever. 

Great stuff! Keep it up! Thank you so much and I’ll be checking (constantly ) for the next up update  

 Gah! Thank you so, so, SO SO much!! I'm super glad it's your cup of tea.  Allergic Sam's my fav as well.   Thank you so much again for the kind words and encouragement!  You saying you were looking forward to more got me moving on this next bit. I hope you keep enjoying it as it goes forward!

On 4/27/2018 at 0:14 AM, sneezy_frnk said:

Ok this is pretty fucking awesome. I'm usually way more into sick sneezes than allergy ones, but I really love this!! Sammy is so cute and I love concerned Dean being over protective and taking care of him <3

Thank you!!!!  I'm so glad you're enjoying it!  

 

 

Alright!  Here goes the next bit!  Getting a bit further into the plot now...  Hope you enjoy!  

 

Part 2

 

“So, what's the name of the first vic?” Sam asked, sitting on the edge of the bed nearest the table where Dean was working.

“William Wallace.” He paused. “Wait, wasn't he Mel Gibson in Braveheart?”

Sam rolled his eyes . “He wasn't Mel Gibson but, yeah, that's the name of the Scottish knight who was one of the main leaders in the wars for Scottish Independence.”

“Cool. Just made this guy way more interesting.”

“You find an address?”

“Yep! Suit up, Agent Mercury.”

“Dude, this is like the forth job an a row we've used them. Why are you so hung up on Queen?

“Cause Queen kicks ass.”

“Really nice to see your justification skills have come so far since you were five.”

Dean flipped him off.

Sam laughed.

And Dean smiled. He was still turned toward the computer so he hoped Sam couldn't see, but damn it was good to hear the kid laugh. It'd been far too long and with everything that was hanging over them at the moment…. His heart just felt a whole lot lighter for it. But Sam didn't need to see him having an inner chick-flick, so….

“Dibs on the bathroom.” He said gruffly as he grabbed his duffel and beat a hasty retreat.

Sam didn't fight him on it, he wasn't going to take the time to shower off now anyway, especially if they were just going to get covered again as soon as they stepped outside. But he hoped a change of clothes would help, at least for a little bit.

-------

10 minutes later they were ready to go.

Sam had the bandanna from earlier folded up in one pocket and a wad of toilet paper in the other, just in case.  He was still holding out hope that earlier had just been a fluke and he'd be fine for the rest of the afternoon.

Dean emerged from the bathroom with an extra bandanna in one pocket and wads of tissues filling all the others. He wasn’t holding out hope that this morning had just been a fluke. As he'd told Sam before, their luck just didn't go that way.

Sam cautiously opened the motel room door and took a breath. So far so good. He smiled slightly and stepped the rest of the way out and headed to the car, a watchful Dean in his wake.

Dean grunted in surprise when he saw his Baby. Somehow the car looked just as it had when they’d parked it.  Maybe wherever they were now was farther away from whatever tree was presently oversexed. He'd take it.

Sam slid into the car without incident and felt bolstered by the reprieve. Maybe their luck was changing for once. But...he'd leave the windows up just in case. No sense pushing things.

Dean started the car and they rolled out to pay a visit to the wife of their missing Scottish knight.

--------

“This the place?” Sam asked as they pulled up to a pretty nondescript yellow ranch house with a small garden out front.

“Mmhmm” Dean hummed, eyes roaming the nearby parked cars and not liking the amount of pollen piled on top of each. Not only was Baby likely to need another bath, but they didn't know what was getting to Sam yet, and to Dean, the intense influx of pollen seemed as good a potential culprit as any.

“Ok, let's go.” Sam opened the door, shaking Dean out of his reverie, and immediately headed up the walk.  Leaving Dean to scramble out and jog around the car in an attempt to catch up.

Sam felt it hit him right away. The light, tickly feeling deep in his sinuses. He was kinda pissed that this actually seemed to be a thing, but he didn't want Dean getting distracted by him when they had a case to work, so he decided to try to ignore it and just get invited inside the house as quickly as possible.

He reached the door and had already rung the bell by the time Dean finally reached his side, mumbling something that sounded like “Goddamn Sasquatch legs”.

Dean glanced at Sam out of the corner of his eye and could have sworn he saw Sam's nostrils twitch, but there was no way Sam would allow him to use something so insubstantial as evidence. That was ok, though. For some reason Dean had the unfortunate feeling that he wouldn't be waiting for long.

The door opened and a woman in her 40’s with shoulder length blonde hair came out.

“Mrs. Wallace?” Sam asked.

“Yes,” the woman answered somewhat hesitantly.

“I'm Ahgent Mercury with the FBI and this is my partner Agent May.” He flashed his badge quickly and Dean did the same.

Was that a hitch is Sam's breath? Dean was sure he'd heard it. Keep talking, Wonder-Boy. You can't keep this charade up forever.

Sam ploughed on. “We're here to ask you a few questions about your husband, if that's alright.”

“I've already spoken to the police about--”

“We know you've already been through this, and were so sorry to put you through it again, but with more disappearances happening and your husband's case being unsolved...we wanted to take a look at the case ourselves.”

“Well certainly, of course, I'm-- I'm willing to do anything I can to help.” She opened the door further and ushered them inside.

Sam's relief at being indoors was short lived as she seated them on a love seat by a very wide open window whose drapes were already blowing from a gentle breeze. He could see the pollen dusting the window sill and swallowed hard, trying to convince himself the roof of his mouth wasn't feeling just about as itchy as his nose.

“Ok Mrs. Wallace--”

“Please,” She smiled at Sam sweetly and set a nicely manicured hand on his knee, “call me Kitty.”

Without even looking at him Sam knew Dean's eyebrows had just gone straight up.

“Sure...umm...Kitty.”

Dean snorted but passed it off as a cough.

Sam deliberately ignored him. “What can you tell us about the day it happened?”

“Well,” Kitty slid her hand off Sam’s leg and began to play with the hem of her blouse. “There isn't much to tell, really. I was in the other room resetting the table for dinner and when I called for Bill to come back in, I heard him go out the front door instead. I thought he'd just gone for the mail or something... But when I went out front a few minutes later to check, he was gone. His car was still here. I didn't see him on the street... I thought he must have just been upset with me again and gotten a friend to pick him up. But no one we know has seen or heard from him in days--”

“Sorry,” Sam interrupted, “you said you thought he might have been upset with you? Can I ask why?”

Sam leaned forward on his elbows and placed his folded hands against his lips in his best guise of ‘sympathetic and super attentive agent’, but Dean saw right through it as he began to press his folded knuckles hard against the underside of his nose.

“Well, I know it must be the stress as his job, but he hasn't quite been himself for the past few months… Quicker to a temper, you know? And I just figured the dinner getting ruined was the last straw.”

“So you ruined the dinner,” Dean reiterated, “and he--”

“Oh, no!” Kitty quickly jumped in. “I'm a very good cook,” she flashed Sam a smile, “it was the pollen blowing in through the window that ruined the dinner. Its been worse than ever this year and I just wasn't paying attention. But Bill, he had to wait longer while I remade everything, so I just figured…”

“And nothing like this had ever happened before?” Dean probed.

“No, never. Bill's the love of my life, we would never-- well, I would never, anyway.  But lately…” she sighed unhappily. “I just don't know anymore…”

“You'd said hhih!” Sam quickly pressed his folded fists even harder against the bottom of his nose and swallowed. Shit, it was getting worse fast. He cleared his throat before he started again in an effort to cover his pause. “Said he hadn't been himself lately. Could you tell us more about that?”

“Well, for the past few months he's just seemed...different somehow. Like, he used to love fishing, but whenever his friends asked him to go he would just tell then 'no’, real rude like, and then just stay home and work on his computer all day.  Like I said, it must have been work was asking too much of him, but it...changed him somehow.  He hasn't really felt like my Bill anymore for a while now.” She began to tear up.

“Mrs. Wallace,”

“Kitty” she interjected determinedly.

“Kitty, I'm so sorry to brihh...bring all this uh-hih!...up for you ag-hehhhhn--sorry! Excuse me--” Sam pinched his nose tight, quickly twisting his body away from Dean, and consequently toward the window, as he was finally forced to give in to the sensation he'd been fighting for what felt like hours but was likely only about ten minutes.

“hih! H’gnxt! TXTch! Heh-chxt! Hihhh...HIH! Hhhhh…”

Aaand there it was. As far as Dean was concerned, that more than sealed the deal.  Now Sam would have to let him look into this more in the morning. But for the moment, it was time for big brother to step in.

“Oh my! Bless you!” Kitty said, surprised by the intensity of Sam's outburst. “Are you alright, Agent Mercury?”

Sam gasped a breath and rubbed desperately at his nose. “Yeeehh--hih! Sohh-sorry--Ng’TcH! Hi’TCH’uh!”

“Sorry Kitty, Agent Mercury here seems to be pretty allergic to your town.” He smiled genially. “But I think we've heard everything we need to, so well let you get back to your day now.” He stood up, grabbed hold of Sam under his right bicep, pulled him up after him, and began dragging him towards the door.

Sam was mortified at being towed about like a child, but he couldn't actually get upset about it because his gratitude at having the situation managed won out. His eyes were watering so badly he couldn't see and he could barely catch his breath let alone provide the lady with an explanation.

“h’ngzt! TSHht! Hih-hihhh...HIh’CHShhhht!”

Dean opened the front door and spared a second to curse softly before looking back over his shoulder at Kitty.

“Thank you for your time, Ma’am. We'll be in touch as soon as we know anything more.”

“Thank you, Agent May.”

“Nn’TXSHT!” Sam's body rocked forward so hard on that one he managed to bang his head on the edge of Dean’s shoulder.

“Will he be alright?” She asked, clearly concerned.

“Oh yeah. Absolutely.” Dean reassured. “Just gotta get him into some air conditioning for a while, you know.  Was nice meeting you, Kitty." He waved. "Take care now!”

As he turned forward again and reached out to open the glass screen door he bent down toward Sam's ear. “Keep your head down and hold your breath if you can. It's like a friggin pollen dust storm out here right now.”

Sam nodded vaguely. Breath hitching out of control. “Truhhh-hih-hih! Huhhhhhhh… l’lltry. Ng’KSHHhh! Kinda hih! Hard at the mohhh-moment-nt’XTT!”

Dean got a good look at him then and wasn't sure how his brother could see anything at all his eyes were watering so badly. “Alright, yeah I can see that. Just do your best.” He opened the door. “I'll make sure you don't eat concrete, ok?”

Sam squinted at him and nodded as Dean wrapped an arm around his back and ushered him through the door and down the front walk to the car.

Dean felt Sam's body jerk once silently with another suppressed sneeze, but then he seemed to get control of himself as Dean guided him onward. At least that's what Dean thought until Sam suddenly stumbled, and Dean, who hadn't been anticipating actually having to keep Sam from falling over his own feet, almost lost his hold in surprise. “Shit”, he cursed and tightened his grip on his brother. It was a good thing he did too because Sam faltered again not a second later. “Whoa! Hey, Sammy, you ok?” No answer was forthcoming, but they were just about at the car now so Dean figured he'd save it for when they were out of this mess. The amount of pollen blowing through the air at the moment was just insane. He'd never seen anything like it.

He hurried Sam the last few steps up to the passenger side and extracted himself from his brother to run around the car and pull open his own door. He looked up to check that Sam was inside and was stunned to see his brother still standing there, hands at his side, just starting off into the distance. Like it could have been any other day and the pollen in the air that had been making him miserable just a second ago was no more bothersome than a light drizzle.

“Sam! Get into the car.”

Sam didn't respond, he just continued to stare vacantly over his right shoulder as if he hadn't heard a thing.

Ok, this was getting weird and Dean was starting to worry, not to mention he had a sudden sense of deja vu. “Sammy!” He smacked his hand on the top of the car with a bang. The pollen jumped, but Sam didn't.

“What the hell?” Dean mumbled to himself and jogged around the front of the car back to Sam's side. He drew up in front of his brother and waved a hand in front of his face. No reaction. Ok, now he wasn't worried he was freaked.

“Sammy!” He quickly reached out and began half tapping half slapping Sam several times on the side of his face. “C'mon, snap out of it man, you’re scaring me here.”

As he continued to try to get Sam's attention bursts of pollen wafted into the air from his recently coated hand and Sam's nose twitched. Dean hesitated in his tap-slapping for just a second and watched hopefully as Sam suddenly blinked, gasped--and sneezed right in his face.

Oh SO not fucking cool. “Seriously, Sam?! Right in the face?!” Dean grumbled in disgust as he did what he could to wipe the spray of spittle and snot from his cheek. He glanced back up at Sam ready to let him have it, but pulled his ‘intent to bitch’ up short when he saw his brother's face.

Sam's brow was furrowed as if in pain and he was blinking rapidly. Concern now quickly overrode Dean's irritation as Sam brought a hand to his head, his movements slow and sluggish.

Sam’s head was pounding. What--? He blinked some more and rubbed at his aching head while he tried to get his bearings. Dean was standing right in front of him, no longer holding onto him as he had been before, but his right arm was extended toward Sam looking as if he was thinking about it.  Sam suddenly felt a particularly intense stab of pain and knew he hadn't been able to hide a wince in response when Dean’s hand instantly made the rest of the journey to clasp onto his arm.

“Sammy? What's wrong? You ok? ...You with me now?”

Dean's barrage of questions seemed to slide around nonsensically in Sam’s brain for a moment before he finally recalled what had been going on.

“Therre wasss,” his speech slurred, and upon hearing himself, he hastily cleared his throat to cover the bolt of shock and fear that went through him at the loss of control he was experiencing.

“Ah....” he cleared his throat again, buying time to get his body and thoughts back online.

“Sammy?”

“A sssmmell. Y’ssmell thhat? There wass thhis ssmell...”

Now Dean's brow was furrowed. “I didn't smell anything. Wait, fuck, it didn't smell like toast did it? Isn't that what they say you smell when you're having a stroke?” Dean's panic shot through the roof and he immediately began trying to recall the route to the nearest hospital. Damnit! Wasn't there some F-A-C-E thing he was supposed to be having Sam do? Fuck! Why couldn't he remember?!

“S’notta sstroke.”

Dean couldn't understand him. “Shit. What if you just had a stroke, Sam?”

“Sseizure.”

“Say what now?”

“Toast. S’with a ssseizure.”

“You smell toast with a seizure? Oh, well that's just loads better.” He said sarcastically. “What the fuck, Sam? First visions and now your having seizures?!”

“Wasn'ta seizure. Didn' smell toast.”

“Well what did you smell then?”

“Mm’not sure. Smelled nice though. Really good. Can't describe it.”

Sam's speech seemed to be improving now, but that didn't allay Dean's fears. Something major had just happened and he wasn't letting up until he got to the bottom of it.

Unfortunately, the wind took that moment to whip back up and blow a bunch of pollen off the roof of the car and right into their faces. Dean coughed and sputtered, but Sam--

“Hi’tchhxt! Isht! Ng’Tchh! Huh...hih! N’gsht!”

“Shit, you back at it again?” He shook his head. “You're confusing the hell out of me, Sam.”

“Sohh-sorr-NGXT!”

Dean heaved a sigh. “S’not your fault. I just wish I knew what the hell was going on.” He scrubbed a hand over his face in frustration and then spared a moment to grimace as he realized he'd probably just painted himself with pollen. Ugh... great. That was really going to help things.

“Hih!....h”chxt!” Sam couldn't help the moan that escaped on that one. None of this was helping his head in the least.

Right. Sammy, Dean thought. Worry later, get him safe and comfortable first. They both needed to get out of here and showered, like, yesterday. “Okay, in the car, Sammy. Now.”

Sam happily complied, though he only narrowly missed smashing his head on the frame of the door when another particularly violent sneeze shot through him.

Only Sam, Dean thought, and just shook his head as he jogged back around to the other side of the car and hopped inside himself.

Once inside the car he turned on the AC hoping some cleaner air might make a difference, but it appeared Sam was already beyond help at this point. He quickly began heading back to the motel by the shortest route possible.

“Hih... hih-hih! H’chxt!! Ng-gsht!” Hih! Huhhhhhhh…  GXT!”

“Hey. Cut that out now.”

“What? The sneehhhh-hih-chxsht!  I promise I wohhhih! Hihh-HIH! KXT! IwouldifIcou-ng’KSHHT!”

“No, the that. Stop holding em in like that. I get it when we were at the house, but it's just you and me now. You need to let your body get that crap out, Sam.”

“Buhh-hih!....hhhhh….but you sneeze like thihhhh-h’NXT! Like this all the time.”

Dean rolled his eyes. “And if I jumped off a bridge, would you do it?”

There was a pause. Another pinched off sneeze.

“Uh, proba-”

“No! Nope! Don't finish that! I forgot how fucked up our family is.”

Sam chuckled. ...And then squelched another sneeze. At least they seemed to be slowing down now. God what he wouldn't give for a shower, some tissues, and some Tylenol. Actually speaking of… he began to rifle quickly though his pockets as his breath started to hitch again.  He found what he was looking for and whipped out the bandanna just in time. He'd let Dean have this one.

“Hu’ESSSHHAH!”

“Yes! Now that's what I'm talking about, Sammy!”

Sam smirked behind the cloth for a second before he wrenched forward with a rapid triple, this time more muffled into the cloth.

“Hu’Mphhhh! Hih-h’chmmmph! MPHH!”

Dean looked over at his little brother, hunched over, face hidden completely behind the bandanna, and sighed.

Sam lifted his eyes from the cloth and caught the barest glimpse of the expression on his brother's face before Dean turned back toward the road. He sat up, hastily wiped away the watery tears, and gave his nose a brief but strong swipe and a sniff. “Dude, I'll be fine. This is nohhhih!” Sam quickly curled his index finger beneath his nose and pressed upward. “Nothing.”

“Sam--”

Sam felt the moment it got away from him and twisted toward the window sneezing hard into the bandanna still balled up in his fist.

“Hi’TCHSSHHuh!”

Dean rubbed a hand over his face again. Once more noticing the pollen too late and growling at himself in disgust. “God, Sammy... I don't have a clue about any of this.” He gripped the wheel tighter in frustration. “Especially what happened earlier with your ‘non-stroke’ thing.” He pinned Sam with his gaze. “Which was scary as hell, by the way.”

“I'm sor--”

Dean held up a hand. “We can talk about it later.” He pulled them into the motel parking lot. There was a decent amount of pollen here still, but nothing like what they'd just come from. He'd take small mercies right now. “Right, I want you in the shower asap getting all this stuff off of you. I'm going to see what I can find out about what the hell happened to you earlier--”

“Dean, no! You know there's something fishhhhy...hih!...damnit!….hihh! Hi’TCHISSHu!” A slight groan escaped Sam’s lips and he pressed the heel of his hand into his forehead.

Dean heaved a sigh. “Sam, stop this. You need to get in there and get cleaned off before--”

“Imb ndot going adywhere--sniff!--until you promise me that you're going to follow up on this case, first.”

“Sammy--”

“No, Dean, I'm sneezing, not dying. We have no idea what's happening to these people and if it is our kind of thing….please…”

Dean made the mistake of looking at Sam then who had his puppy dog eyes on in full force. Not to mention looking extra pathetic with his red nose and watery eyes and--

“Hihhhh-HIH!....H’ESSHahh!” Sniff!!

And that.

...Dammit all. “If I go speak to the next witness now, you are staying here and taking a shower. Right now. No research until you can go ten minutes without--”

“Hg’ESSHU!”

“Exactly. Until you can go ten minutes without doing that.”

“...Fine.” Sniff!

“Fine.”

“Now get your ass inside, McSneezy. I'll be back in an hour or so.”

Sam opened the door and paused. “Are you gonna talk to the Simp--”

“Simpson's, yes. I got it, Sam. Go take care of yourself.” Sam was still giving him reluctant-bitch-face. Oh c’mon, man... Dean shamelessly played his winning card. “...For me, alright?”   

Sam’s resistance withered. He gave his brother a nod and got the rest of the way out of the car.

“Hey, You call me if you feel strange in any way, ok?”

“Yes, Dean.”

“Hey! Say it like you mean it!”

Sam stuck his middle finger back into the car before he closed the door.

Dean huffed a laugh and watched his brother's back disappearing into their room. But his smile quickly faded back into a frown.

Something was up with Sam, that was for certain. And whether it was a medical thing or their kind of thing he wasn't sure, but he was going to get to the bottom of it.

Right after he found out if this town's citizens were just 'walking off' because they'd had it, or if there was something more supernaturally sinister going on after all...

 

To be continued... 

(Thank you so much for reading!! Would love your thoughts again!)

[sneezy_frnk]

Oooo I'm really intrigued now

[jensdw]

Yay!! You wrote Sam and Dean! And it’s great!!! I’m loving what you have here. Poor Sam is so sneezy from the pollen and Dean is all protective and worried and I love it. Can’t wait for more!

Sorry for rambling...lol

[Coffee Mug]

Oh. What have I just read? My dream come true! 

I just can’t tell you how much you touched all of my weak spots with this new chapter. A worried protective big brother and Sam slurring and having difficulty to talk while suffering a major allergy attack. And sneezing at that lady’s house and being blessed by her. Aw my god!! Now I just want to replay all of this in my wickedy wickedy mind 😅 thank you so much! I feel so spoiled right now 😁 

Also thank you again for the great effort in developing the plot, perfectly catching the brotherly bond Sam and Dean have and for melting all of my fetishy feels! 

 

 

 

 

[AngelEyes]

So I missed the first launch of this new boat but man is it brilliant!!! You've got the boys down perfect!!! I love the case. And all the little details you add in. 

On 4/29/2018 at 8:53 PM, LostGirl2.0 said:

“William Wallace.” He paused. “Wait, wasn't he Mel Gibson in Braveheart?”

Sam rolled his eyes . “He wasn't Mel Gibson but, yeah, that's the name of the Scottish knight who was one of the main leaders in the wars for Scottish Independence.”

“Cool. Just made this guy way more interesting.”

So Dean!

 

On 4/29/2018 at 8:53 PM, LostGirl2.0 said:

“Yep! Suit up, Agent Mercury.”

“Dude, this is like the forth job an a row we've used them. Why are you so hung up on Queen?

“Cause Queen kicks ass.”

“Really nice to see your justification skills have come so far since you were five.”

Dean flipped him off.

Can totally picture this exchange!

 

On 4/29/2018 at 8:53 PM, LostGirl2.0 said:

Dean started the car and they rolled out to pay a visit to the wife of their missing Scottish knight.

I just love this line.

 

On 4/29/2018 at 8:53 PM, LostGirl2.0 said:

“Please,” She smiled at Sam sweetly and set a nicely manicured hand on his knee, “call me Kitty.”

Without even looking at him Sam knew Dean's eyebrows had just gone straight up.

“Sure...umm...Kitty.”

Dean snorted but passed it off as a cough.

LOL

 

On 4/29/2018 at 8:53 PM, LostGirl2.0 said:

Sam was mortified at being towed about like a child, but he couldn't actually get upset about it because his gratitude at having the situation managed won out.

Great description

 

On 4/29/2018 at 8:53 PM, LostGirl2.0 said:

“Sammy!” He quickly reached out and began half tapping half slapping Sam several times on the side of his face. “C'mon, snap out of it man, you’re scaring me here.”

Not good!

 

On 4/29/2018 at 8:53 PM, LostGirl2.0 said:

Now Dean's brow was furrowed. “I didn't smell anything. Wait, fuck, it didn't smell like toast did it? Isn't that what they say you smell when you're having a stroke?” Dean's panic shot through the roof and he immediately began trying to recall the route to the nearest hospital. Damnit! Wasn't there some F-A-C-E thing he was supposed to be having Sam do? Fuck! Why couldn't he remember?!

I love this confused/panic moment, totally Dean.

 

On 4/29/2018 at 8:53 PM, LostGirl2.0 said:

Dean rolled his eyes. “And if I jumped off a bridge, would you do it?”

There was a pause. Another pinched off sneeze.

“Uh, proba-”

“No! Nope! Don't finish that! I forgot how fucked up our family is.”

LOL! So true!

 

On 4/29/2018 at 8:53 PM, LostGirl2.0 said:

Dean made the mistake of looking at Sam then who had his puppy dog eyes on in full force. Not to mention looking extra pathetic with his red nose and watery eyes and--

“Hihhhh-HIH!....H’ESSHahh!” Sniff!!

And that.

Big mistake.

 

On 4/29/2018 at 8:53 PM, LostGirl2.0 said:

“Now get your ass inside, McSneezy. I'll be back in an hour or so.”

LOL. Total Dean nickname.

 

On 4/29/2018 at 8:53 PM, LostGirl2.0 said:

“Hey, You call me if you feel strange in any way, ok?”

“Yes, Dean.”

“Hey! Say it like you mean it!”

Sam stuck his middle finger back into the car before he closed the door.

Totally accurate.

[Seeker]

I loooooove trying to talk while being interrupted with sneezing. Like love it...so, thanks for this bit cause ...I really liked it  I'll just...I'll just wait here for the next installment 

[LostGirl2.0]

 

On 4/30/2018 at 3:14 AM, sneezy_frnk said:

Oooo I'm really intrigued now

Thanks!!   We're getting further into it now. (eek!) Hope you enjoy!!

On 4/30/2018 at 6:20 AM, jensdw said:

Yay!! You wrote Sam and Dean! And it’s great!!! I’m loving what you have here. Poor Sam is so sneezy from the pollen and Dean is all protective and worried and I love it. Can’t wait for more!

Sorry for rambling...lol

AHH!  Yay!  Thank you so much!!!  (No worries apologies necessary for rambling.   Just thank you tons for reading it and I'm glad that you like it so far!!)

On 4/30/2018 at 3:15 PM, Coffee Mug said:

Oh. What have I just read? My dream come true! 

I just can’t tell you how much you touched all of my weak spots with this new chapter. A worried protective big brother and Sam slurring and having difficulty to talk while suffering a major allergy attack. And sneezing at that lady’s house and being blessed by her. Aw my god!! Now I just want to replay all of this in my wickedy wickedy mind 😅 thank you so much! I feel so spoiled right now 😁 

Also thank you again for the great effort in developing the plot, perfectly catching the brotherly bond Sam and Dean have and for melting all of my fetishy feels! 

 

 

 

 

 Sweeeet!  Well I promise plenty more of most of that ( ) , so I hope you continue to enjoy!! Thank you so SO much!! 

On 4/30/2018 at 10:57 PM, AngelEyes said:

So I missed the first launch of this new boat but man is it brilliant!!! You've got the boys down perfect!!! I love the case. And all the little details you add in. 

Hey!!!  Do you know what, I've become strangely attached to your feedback and I was kinda nervous that maybe you hadn't said anything because you weren't feelin it.  Was afraid maybe I was losin my mojo!! (Whatever mojo I even have, that is. lol) So glad you're liking it so far!  I'll plow onward then!

On 5/1/2018 at 11:12 AM, ReidSeeker said:

I loooooove trying to talk while being interrupted with sneezing. Like love it...so, thanks for this bit cause ...I really liked it  I'll just...I'll just wait here for the next installment 

This made me sooo happy!!  Hang onto your seat then cause there's plenty more where that came from!    (Though not in this part, unfortunately...  Sorry!! BUT there should be some more in the next one!) Thanks so much for reading!! 

 

 

Alright, guys! We're starting to really get into it now.  Hope you enjoy!!

 

Part 3

 

As soon as Sam got into the room he stumbled to the closest bed, sat down hard, and put his head in his hands.  Short of having a vision this was one of the worst headaches he'd had in a long time. Maybe headaches were common things with allergies? He'd figure it all out later, right now just he wanted to get showered off and start looking further into the history of this town.

He toed off his shoes where he sat, pulled off his jacket and shirts, then wadded them up and stuffed them into a side pocket of his duffel which was still sitting nearby. He forced himself to his feet and made his way to the bathroom. He was tired too, and had no real sense as to why, unless again, fatigue was another part of having allergies? Ugh... This was getting complicated.

He kicked his pants and boxers off onto the bathroom floor, managing it with as little movement as possible. He'd pick them up later. Bending down didn't seem like the best idea with the way his head felt at the moment.  He turned on the shower by squatting at the knees and then gingerly stepped over the tub rim and into the spray. As the hot water ran over his body, he was completely unashamed that he allowed himself to indulge in a moan.   

He ducked his face into the water and let it wash away some of the pollen that was still irritating his eyes. He turned back around out of the spray and scrubbed a hand over his face. Man… Why the hell was he so tired all of a sudden? He tilted his head back and let the water rinse out his hair and sniffled. Which proved to be a mistake as it made the tickle that had been previously dormant surge to life once more.

“Hihh!”  Oh, you've got to be kidding...

But for the first time since this whole nonsense began, Sam actually leaned into the sensation. Urged it on. Willing the irritation to just have it's way with him and get itself sorted the hell out.

“Hih-hih-HIH...hhhhhh...sniff!...HIH!-Hu’ESSHHU!”

His abs contracted hard, bending him forward slightly at the waist as he sneezed openly towards the bathtub floor.

Jesus, his head... Though he had to admit, there was something kinda freeing about being able to just let what his body wanted to happen, happen. The tickle was still maddeningly present though. He scrunched up his nose for a second and then decided to save time by taking matters into his own hands.

He sniffed hard and looked at the lights above the mirror on the other side of the shower curtain. He felt the burn intensify and gasped desperately as the sensation quickly overtook him. He hurriedly braced his arm on the wall and then put his head on his arm in an attempt to lessen the impact of the oncoming sneeze on the drums beating double time in his head.

“Huh’TCHuHh!” He sneezed at the wall, then pressed his head against his arm even harder as he felt the sensation continue to build. “hhhh! Hihhh-HIH!....ISSSHU! Hih-Hu’ESSSHah! Hih-HIH!...hhhhuh...”

He sniffed experimentally. When he felt no further tickling he sighed in relief and leaned back into the spray to rinse off his face.

He finished the rest of his shower without incident and shut off the water. He grabbed a towel, wrapped it around his waist and stepped out of the bathroom to grab clean clothes and some Tylenol from his bag. He swallowed the Tylenol dry, got dressed quickly but gingerly, and planted himself in front of his computer. Time to see if this town was hiding a less than perfect past…

--------

Dean stepped up to the motel door and reached for the handle, then thought better of it and dusted himself off a bit first. The pollen had been as bad at the Simpson's as it had been at the Wallace's, possibly worse.  He was insanely glad he hadn't let Sam come along, although he wasn't looking forward to filling him in as it was beginning to look like there was indeed something funky going on in this place.

Once he thought he was at least slightly less coated, he headed into the room. He wasn't sure exactly what he'd expected to see, but Sam, folded over the keyboard, mouth open, and snoring gently...definitely wasn't one of them. He huffed a laugh. Guess sneezing his head off had really taken it out of the kid.  

He walked by Sam quickly and quietly, grabbed his bag, and headed straight for the bathroom. He turned on the light and stopped in his tracks when he saw Sam's pants laying off to the side on the floor. Not that that bothered Dean at all, to the contrary, he'd be happy if Sam loosened up a little and let himself be little messy from time to time. But no matter how often he encouraged it, Sam never left his stuff laying around. He was weirdly OCD about it. So this… this wasn’t good. He took the trash bag out of the empty can beneath the sink, scooped Sam's clothes up and tossed them in, then began to disrobe and do the same with his own. He'd take them all to the laundromat tomorrow. For right now though, it was time to get this unnatural ‘golden-sheen’ off of his skin. ...Fun times.

--------

Less than ten minutes later Dean was pulling on clean clothes and heading back into their room. Sam was still unconscious and it appeared he hadn't moved a muscle. Dean walked up behind him and gently laid a hand against his neck to check his temperature. He felt fine, a little clammy maybe, but that was it. He moved his hand to Sam's shoulder and shook him awake.

“Hey. Sammy.”

“Mmmphhh…”

“Rise and shine, Princess.” Dean flicked him in the ear.

Sam sat up with a start and slapped at Dean's retreating hand before he even realized what it was.

Dean just grinned and sat down across from him at the table.

“Rocking some impressive bedhead there, Sammy.”

Sam just sat there, squinting at him and blinking for a few seconds before he seemed to realize what was going on and what his brother had said.  He reached up to rub at his eyes with one hand and attempted to smooth down his hair with the other. However, as his hair had been wet when he'd fallen asleep, it had now dried that way, so half of it was stuck almost completely straight up, rendering his attempts to tame it completely unsuccessful.

Dean couldn't help himself. He leaned back in the chair and guffawed.

Sam just frowned, looking half annoyed little brother and half kicked-puppy, and although Dean managed to get control of his laughter pretty quickly, he still couldn't suppress a grin.

“Stop pouting, Samantha. That's what you get for falling asleep on a table. Not really the makings of proper beauty sleep, is it?”

Sam seemed to be fully awake now and chose to ignore him. “What'd you find out at the Simpson's?”

Dean shifted uncomfortably. “Amanda’s mom said she 'walked off' too. They were unloading groceries from the car and when she went back for the rest of them Amanda was just heading off into the woods across the street. She thought she was maybe going to meet a friend or something, but she never came back.”

Sam's brow creased, “Any unusual behavior beforehand like with Bill Wallace?”

“Yeah, actually, but for over a year at least. Her mom and dad thought it was just that she was entering her teens. But they said it was pretty radical. She didn't want to hang out with her friends, would sneak out all the time… Used to be a straight A student and started skipping school….”

“So a 40 something year old man and a 12 year old girl walk out of their lives without explanation after varying periods of atypical behavior. Wanna bet the other four would follow the same pattern? ...Could be cult stuff, maybe forming a coven? ...Possessions?”

Dean just shrugged, trying not to let on that he'd wondered the same things.

“Let's hit up the next one--Cassidy?”

“Sam--”

“Dean, I'm feeling fine now. And it only seems to come on when we're practically in a storm of the stuff--”

“Which has happened every place we've gone to so far--”

Sam brushed him off. “It's just sneezing, Dean.”

Oh, that got Dean going. “It is NOT just sneezing, Sam. Or did you forget you went completely unresponsive for a while and were slurring your words like you'd gone twelve rounds with Jose Cuervo?”

Sam just gave him bitch face. “I don't know what happened before, but what matters is I'm fine now.”

Dean felt that was up for debate. Sam looked paler than usual, had just used the keyboard as a pillow mid-day, and was leaving his clothes all over the place. Sammy Strangemeter-wise, things were well into the Orange Alert zone if not bordering on Red. But Dean held himself back from calling 'bullshit' like he wanted to and really thought about the situation. Truth be told, leaving Sam alone after what had happened earlier had frayed his nerves. He'd prefer to be with and watching the kid rather than leaving him alone if there was even the slightest chance he was going to do something truly terrifying like have a friggin stroke or a seizure. He shuddered. Yeah, no question.

“Fine.” He relented.

“Dean, I told you I--wait, what?” Sam looked back at Dean in shock.

Dean stood. “I've decided to let you have this one, so don't stare at a gift horse's mouth, ok?”

Sam snorted even as his brow furrowed. This was very un-Dean-like behavior, which meant there was something behind it. Probably something he wouldn't like… But, it meant he was going to get to go out on the interview, and he couldn't explain it but he just knew that something was up in this town, so….

“You know, I'm pretty sure you can stare at the horse's mouth as much as you want, just as long as you don't look in it. The saying comes from when they would look in a horse's mouth to tell its age--”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, Geek Boy.” Dean cut him off with a wave. “Let's get on the road. I wanna hit up that diner before we interview the last witness.” He patted his stomach. “That Triple Patty burger is calling my name.”

“Dude, you just had it for lunch like, four hours ago.”

“Yeah, so what? I liked it so much I'm ready for a second round. Let's go.”

Sam wasn't really hungry yet, but there was no sense in trying to deter his brother where food was concerned. Plus, as Dean had so ineptly put it, he really didn't want to ‘stare at a gift horse’s mouth’ if he could help it, though he still couldn't shake the feeling that Dean's apparent goodwill wasn't entirely just that.

Dean opened the door and headed out to the car.  Sam shut down his laptop and trailed along behind. He squinted into the sunlight and took a breath. So far so good.

See? He smiled brightly at Dean as he got into the car. He was going to be fine.

---------

Dean pulled them into the diner from before, frowning a little at the slight increase to the pollen. It seemed their hotel was in some kind of valley and everywhere else in the town it was just a question of bad or worse.

Sam, who was already getting out of the car, either didn't notice or had just decided to be bull-headed and not care. Likely the latter.

Dean heaved a sigh and got out of the car. …Wonder if Cindy is still on shift…

Sam pushed the diner door open and headed to a booth one away from where they had been seated before. He figured Dean would appreciate the chance of being sat in Cindy's section again if she was still working.

He took a second to look around for her as he heard his brother open the door and head over. He caught a glimpse of a blonde ponytail in the diner window and gave his brother a look followed by a head nod in her direction.

Dean looked in the indicated direction and grinned widely as he sat down. “Awesome.”

Dean picked up the menu and began perusing.  

“Dude, why are you even looking at that? You already know what you're getting.”

“Sides, Sammy.” He said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I have yet to explore all their sides.”

Suddenly there was a loud crash from the direction of the kitchen and both Sam and Dean's heads snapped up, instantly on high alert in response to the sharp, percussive noise.

They could hear muffled yelling from the back and watched as the rest of the diners seemed to deem the event 'unimportant’ and turned back to eating their food.

“Yikes. Sounds like somebody's having a great day.” Dean commented and then followed suit going back to working on his side selection.

Sam hummed in vague agreement but continued to look in the direction of the kitchen. He couldn't explain it, but he suddenly had a bad feeling about this.

As he watched, a waitress with curly black hair stormed angrily out from behind the counter, followed by a man who was dressed like a cook.

“...told you, she just dumped her plates on the ground and walked off!”

“You said something to her, I know you did. You two have never gotten along--”

“Yeah, cause she's a bitch, but I didn't--”

Sam quickly glanced over at Dean and found he was now watching the spectacle as well, a slight frown on his face.

“You're going to find her and apologize and get her back here. Now. I'm not putting up with this bullshit between you two for another second.”

Curly-hair laughed. “If you think I'm chasing after that--”

The chef grabbed her wrist, “I. Said. NOW!”

Sam started to stand just as Dean did the same mumbling “Oh, hell no”, under his breath. Dean held up a hand at Sam. “I got this.”

Dean walked straight up to the couple “Hey, hey. No need for that now.  Why don't you let the young lady go…”

Sam was listening intently from the booth, still on his guard, when movement outside the window to his his left caught his eye.

He gave it a halfhearted glance at first and then did a double take. Cindy was outside the diner, still in her work clothes, and was walking slowly across the parking lot. Sam's 'bad feeling' that had flared into being when he'd initially heard the crash suddenly dialed itself up a notch. Something was off about the way she was walking... So slowly, no upper body movement at all despite the fact that the wind was now whipping up a storm and the pollen gusts we're coming harder than ever. It reminded him of someone in a trance. Not to mention that as he watched he could see her course veering off toward the treeline. He looked back over at Dean to let him know what was going on, but could tell the cook hadn't quite cooled off yet and he didn't want to make Dean to lose control of the situation. He scribbled a note on a napkin and quickly headed off after Cindy.

When Sam opened the diner door he was hit by a blast of heavily pollinated wind and he staggered for a moment before his body found it's equilibrium, and then it’s immune response.

“HIH! h’ESSHHUah! Damnit!”

He brought a sleeve covered hand up to his nose and mouth and jogged on.

“Cindy!” His call was muffled through his sleeve, but even if it hadn't been he wasn't sure it would have carried over the noise of the rushing wind.

She was already into the treeline now. He picked up his pace and ran after.

--------

Dean shook hands with the chef and smiled as he received a peck on the cheek from curly-haired Alice. All in a day's work. He thought with a self-satisfied smirk.

He began strolling back towards their table.

“You see that, Sammy? Even complete assholes can't hate on this handsome face for--” he broke off as he rounded the corner and found himself facing an empty table with a napkin note in the middle. He reached down and picked it up.

‘Saw Cindy walking towards the woods to the northeast. Something's off. Gonna follow.’ It was signed with a hastily scribbled 'Sam’.

“Damnit, Sam!” Dean said as he tried to force down the immediate surge of panic he always felt when he brother ran off into possibly dangerous scenarios without him. He stuffed the note in his pocket and quickly headed out the front door.

As soon as he opened it he clamped his mouth shut and threw up an arm to shield his face. Holy hell. If he’d thought the other neighborhoods had been bad… God, and Sammy was out in this?

He broke into a full out run towards the northeast woods. When he reached the treeline he slowed down. Somehow, against everything that seemed natural, the trees offered shelter from the wind but the pollen here was even thicker. It seemed to just hover in the still air like some kind of pale yellow mist.

He looked around for clues as to where Sam had gone and came across the first blessing of the day. The pollen was acting like a light snow and Dean could just make out smudges on the ground that he was willing to bet were Sam or Cindy's footprints. His heart was pounding hard. He needed to calm down and focus. He wanted to call out to Sam, but with Cindy disappearing into the woods like the Simpson girl, and Sam's feeling that something was off, he wasn't quite sure what they were walking into. The last thing he wanted was to out Sam if he was following Cindy clandestinely. He quickly pulled a sleeve up over his hand and covered his nose and mouth so he could breathe and not get choked. He may not be allergic to it like Sam, but there was no way this stuff was going to do anything good to his lungs. He pulled out his phone, in case Sam called, and set out to follow the smudges.

--------

Sam followed Cindy deeper and deeper into the forest. Things had gotten much quieter once he'd reached the trees, but it wasn't a peaceful kind of quiet, it was oppressive. The kind that brought with it a sense of foreboding that he was loathe to disturb, so he kept his mouth shut and followed her silently. Or as silently as he could when he had to pause to sneeze every ten feet. The pollen was so pervasive here it felt like it's own version of ‘humidity’, making the air uncomfortably heavy and difficult to breathe. Though somehow the sneezes it provoked were as light and ticklish as ever.

“Hng’ksh! Ngxt! H’Tchsht!”

Sam continued to alternatingly pinch and scrub at his nose, though it seemed to do nothing but further aggravate the itch.

“g’ISSHHah!”

Shit, well that wasn't conspicuous at all. He blinked up through watery eyes at where Cindy was walking around thirty feet ahead and saw no sign that she had become aware of him.

He continued to follow slowly behind, moving deeper and deeper into the forest. After ten minutes or so had passed he was forced to admit that his headache was returning with a vengeance. Though he was sneezing less for the moment, which was nice. He closed his eyes as a particularly violent stab shot through his head, but forced himself to open them again, all too soon in his opinion, in order to keep tabs on Cindy. Something else he didn't want to admit, for a moment he'd thought the terrain was becoming more treacherous, as he'd stumbled once or twice, but from what he could tell when he really focused on it, the ground looked relatively the same as it had when he'd entered. Pretty flat outside of occasional roots, sticks, and weeds. Yet somehow he'd managed to trip a few times already and, worryingly, found that he seemed to be having more and more trouble controlling his feet. ...Maybe Dean had been right and there was something else up with him. He blinked hard and shook his head, forcing himself to focus. He had no idea what he was walking into, what Cindy was walking into. He had his Taurus, but that was it. He did take a moment though to be grateful that at least he wasn't completely unarmed.

He stumbled again and this time was thrown hard onto his hands and knees. The plant life offered some cushion, but dirt and rocks still dug into his palms. He looked back to see if it’d been his feet that had gotten in his way again or if it was something else, and for once, it was actually something else. ...A really odd something else.

It was a plant, at least he was pretty sure it was a plant, though it wasn't one he'd ever seen before. It looked kinda like a round watermelon on the bottom, if watermelon’s came in charcoal black anyway, but then opened up into a budding bright yellow flower at the top. Bizarrely, it was sorta beautiful.

He wrestled his somewhat uncooperative legs back underneath him and unsteadily got back to his feet. He squinted at the plant and-- Wait, did it just move? He wasn't sure as his vision was beginning to blur. Damn... He hated to admit it but he was pretty positive now that there was something wrong with him. He reached out with his foot to gently toe the bulbous plant, just to be sure that it was what it seemed, and realized his mistake a second too late. Nice one, Sam, he berated himself. Because shifting his weight onto one foot when two hadn't even been doing a very good job of keeping him upright, did nothing at all to help his presently precarious stability. He quickly lost his balance and stepped out to catch himself--right onto the plant. Which, by the way the thing looked should have at least resulted in him rolling his ankle, but instead the thing half-deflated half-exploded in a spectacular burst of golden particles. He reared back, hands clamping instinctively over his nose and mouth as the constant burn in his sinuses suddenly went into overdrive.

“H’ISSHU! TCHXT! Ng’KSHH! Hihhh! HIH-HIH! Hh’IX’TCH!”

Sam was trying to hold them back, but for all the good it was doing he might as well not have even bothered. He was sure he'd never sneezed so hard in his life.

He moved to get away from the plant and was surprised to find his legs felt like they were his own again. Through the constant sneezing he managed to catch a watery glimpse of Cindy's blue apron which was almost out of sight up ahead. He hurried to catch up to her while he could. As he jogged, and sneezed, he found he had to avoid stepping on several more of the funky plants as they began to appear more and more frequently.

When Sam drew nearer Cindy he saw that she'd actually stopped walking. He slowed his approach and swung around wide to the left of her in order to try and get a view of her face. As he went, his head began to pound again and he almost lost his feet once more to a particularly small and non-offensive root. This was getting ridiculous…

When he had the angle he desired he found a significantly large tree to hide behind, and subsequently lean against, because the wave of fatigue and lethargy that suddenly washed through his body was no joke.

He blinked hard and pushed himself off the tree, fighting the feeling as much as he could, and staggered to the side to get a better view of Cindy. When his eyes finally focused, his jaw dropped in shock. Cindy was standing in front of a large oak tree, or what he'd originally thought to be an oak tree, but was apparently something else entirely as it had opened up in the center of it's base and was growing a massively large version of the small plants he'd been passing. It was growing at an alarming rate too, and seemed to slow only when it had reached about four feet in height and roughly five in diameter.

Hah! Sam crowed triumphantly inside his head. Dean could suck it, he'd been right, this was so their kind of thing.  As he continued to watch, the plant began to open up, and as soon as it did Sam found himself rapidly wishing it hadn't. The large bright yellow petals that unfurled from the bloom on the top were fine, but the center of the plant resembled the color and texture of human intestines. Sam braced himself for the stench of rotting flesh he expected to waft over him, but it never came. Instead he found himself smelling a scent that was vaguely familiar and incredibly pleasant. He'd never smelled it before arriving in this town, but every time he had since, he found he didn't know how he could have ever lived his life without it. A heady sense of bliss warmed him all over and he found himself struggling to stay focused on his surroundings. On the plant that was suddenly glowing an unearthly hellfire red, and on Cindy who was now tilting her head back in what looked like a silent scream.

Sam managed to corral his thoughts for a moment and struggled to make his body move forward, to go to her aid, but found that he couldn't. And then, even more strangely, found that he didn't really care. He watched somewhat impassively as black smoke began to undulate from out of Cindy's mouth and curl tortuously toward the glowing, and now writhing, intestinal center of the flower. When all the smoke had been consumed, the light dimmed and Cindy fell to the ground unmoving. Sam was only vaguely aware of the thick vines that then protruded from the base of the plant and began to wrap themselves around her body. He managed one halfhearted step in her direction before he came to a stop again, wondering why he'd started to move in the first place. He watched dispassionately as the plant began to open even further, so that it was almost completely unfurled and flattened, and started to drag the unconscious Cindy towards it's center.

The thought that Sam should save her fluttered quickly through his brain and then was gone. He tried to keep his eyes on what was happening, but suddenly found that nothing going on outside of him was nearly half as important as how good he was feeling on the inside.  Hazily he realized he could heard shouting somewhere in the distance. Then several bangs. Each one seeming to come from farther and farther away. Once again a wave of euphoria washed over him as he got another whiff of what truly must have been the most wonderful scent in the world. ...And right then he knew he had to have it. Had to get to it now. He was so close… He was so close…  He was…….  He was briefly aware of the comforting warmth of a glowing red light on his face...

And then he knew no more.

 

.....To be continued. (I promise! Don't kill me!!)

[AngelEyes]

3 hours ago, LostGirl2.0 said:

Do you know what, I've become strangely attached to your feedback and I was kinda nervous that maybe you hadn't said anything because you weren't feelin it. 

Awwwww! Your mojo is still rocking, I was just MIA for a few days. This continues to be fascinating! Seriously trippy!

 

3 hours ago, LostGirl2.0 said:

“Rocking some impressive bedhead there, Sammy.”

Sam just sat there, squinting at him and blinking for a few seconds before he seemed to realize what was going on and what his brother had said.  He reached up to rub at his eyes with one hand and attempted to smooth down his hair with the other. However, as his hair had been wet when he'd fallen asleep, it had now dried that way, so half of it was stuck almost completely straight up, rendering his attempts to tame it completely unsuccessful.

LOL. Sammy with mussed up hair is adorable.

 

3 hours ago, LostGirl2.0 said:

“Dean, I told you I--wait, what?” Sam looked back at Dean in shock.

I love that he just keeps arguing before realizing that he already got his way. LOL

 

3 hours ago, LostGirl2.0 said:

“Sides, Sammy.” He said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I have yet to explore all their sides.”

So Dean!

 

3 hours ago, LostGirl2.0 said:

He was briefly aware of the comforting warmth of a glowing red light on his face...

And then he knew no more.

Not good!!!!!

[Seeker]

Oh my gosh I want to quote so much! Let's see how my phone feels today. 

17 hours ago, LostGirl2.0 said:

He was tired too, and had no real sense as to why, unless again, fatigue was another part of having allergies? Ugh... This was getting complicated.

I adore sleepy Winchesters! I don't know what it is but I just melt.

17 hours ago, LostGirl2.0 said:

But for the first time since this whole nonsense began, Sam actually leaned into the sensation. Urged it on.

Mmm yes just give in 

*sigh* and my phone has given up letting me quote 

-I love Sam waking up at the table, slightly confused, then trying to fix his hair. Adorable!   

-I love Sam explaining the "gift horse" expression (it was so Reid-like!)

-Dean, trying different sides

-Chef & Waitress workplace draaaammaaaaaa

-the not-inconspicuous sneeze 

-stepping on the plant, "never sneezed so hard in his life" 

-you did an excellent job describing the plant, I can really picture it and also it sounds gross lol 

-I don't know how to hide a somewhat spoiler-y comment but I will say I just watched the vampire episode from early season 6 and am reminded of it. Poor Cindy

 

-Dean can suck it?  I'm trying not to laugh in public 

-this was a nice long update and I thoroughly enjoyed it

[sneezy_frnk]

Aaaaahhhhh you can't leave me hanging like that omg !!!!

[LostGirl2.0]

 

On 5/3/2018 at 0:36 AM, AngelEyes said:

Awwwww! Your mojo is still rocking, I was just MIA for a few days. This continues to be fascinating! Seriously trippy!

Phew! lol  I'm glad you still like!!  Thanks so much for the feedback as always!!!

On 5/3/2018 at 3:51 PM, ReidSeeker said:

I adore sleepy Winchesters! I don't know what it is but I just melt.

On 5/2/2018 at 9:23 PM, LostGirl2.0 said:

But for the first time since this whole nonsense began, Sam actually leaned into the sensation. Urged it on.

Mmm yes just give in 

*sigh* and my phone has given up letting me quote 

-I love Sam waking up at the table, slightly confused, then trying to fix his hair. Adorable!   

-I love Sam explaining the "gift horse" expression (it was so Reid-like!)

-Dean, trying different sides

-Chef & Waitress workplace draaaammaaaaaa

-the not-inconspicuous sneeze 

-stepping on the plant, "never sneezed so hard in his life" 

-you did an excellent job describing the plant, I can really picture it and also it sounds gross lol 

-I don't know how to hide a somewhat spoiler-y comment but I will say I just watched the vampire episode from early season 6 and am reminded of it. Poor Cindy

 

-Dean can suck it?  I'm trying not to laugh in public 

-this was a nice long update and I thoroughly enjoyed it

Thank you!!! And hmmm...love sleepy Winchester's, eh?  Hang in there with me on this then cause there's definitely more ahead! 

And who is this Reid?  Maybe I'd like him!

Also, ahhhh, I don't think you have to worry about any spoilers because you're possibly making me waaay smarter than I actually am.   lol  I've seen all the seasons, but only once and my memory for what happened when is horrible.  So, I'm pretty positive you're safe and also way more creative than me. 

13 hours ago, sneezy_frnk said:

Aaaaahhhhh you can't leave me hanging like that omg !!!!

More coming up!! Thanks so much for reading!!

 

Happy Friday, guys!!

 

Part 4

 

10 minutes earlier.

--------

Dean had continued to doggedly follow Sam's/Cindy's tracks, and the farther into the woods he got, the more worried he became. The tracks were becoming more and more obvious, which if they were Cindy's, wasn't much of anything, but if they were Sam's, was severely concerning. Not to mention that he'd started to notice the presence of these bizarre looking, blackish, melon-flower plants that appeared to be the sources of the pollen as each one was surrounded by a more concentrated cloud of the stuff. Dean hated to admit it, but Sam might have been right. These didn't look at all like they belonged here and his supernatural Spidey sense was more than tingling.

Dean was ducking under a large, low lying branch when he caught another break and heard what he'd honestly been expecting to hear since he started into this forest, because there was no way Sam want suffering hard in this place.

“H’ISSHU! TCHXT! Ng’KSHH! Hih! HIH-HIH! H’IX’TCH!”

It was coming from up ahead to his right, but the pollen-fog had become so thick he couldn't actually see more than thirty feet in front of him. They had also sounded half stifled, so Dean figured he was still trying to lay low. He wanted to continue to respect that in case Sam was was in a precarious position, but he also wanted his brother to know he wasn't alone. He risked a loud whisper.

“Sammy!”

He waited and listened. No response. ...Dammit!

He moved forward even more quickly now that he knew he was close. After another minute or two he came across a burst melon-flower and some seriously disturbed ground that looked like someone had bit it.  Ahhh... That would explain the fit he’d heard then. But that answer left him with an even more unsettling question, which was why was Sam falling over very obvious and very large, bright yellow melon-flower things that he should have seen and easily avoided even if he had been half blind?

He started forward again even faster and was completely taken aback when a few minutes later he came upon one of the most bizarre scenes he'd ever witnessed, and that was saying something. Cindy was standing in the middle of a clearing in front of the mother of all melon-flowers, which was HUGE by the way and glowing a really eerie fucking red, and she was belching up black smoke that looked a hell of a lot like a demon on the run...except that it didn't appear to be going anywhere of its own volition.  It looked for everything like it was fighting the process and losing, somehow being reluctantly sucked into the center of the plant.

Dammit! Pretty little Cindy was a demon?!  ...Man, they couldn't catch a break these days...

He tore his eyes away from the grotesque sight to search for Sammy, and found him hovering by a tree about fifteen feet to the left of where Cindy and the crazy ass, potentially demon-eating plant were. He looked no worse for wear... Well, except for the fact that he had yet to notice Dean’s presence, which was--

Dean lost his train of thought when Cindy suddenly collapsed and thick, vine-like tentacles surged forward from the base of the plant to wrap themselves around her.

Shit!  Dean quickly pulled out his gun and fired off three rapid shots at the large, bulbous base of the plant.  ...He might as well have thrown acorns.  Well that's just awesome. The plant started to open up even further, flattening out onto the ground and began to slowly pull Cindy's body towards its decidedly gastric looking center. “Jesus,” he mumbled, eyes widening, “this is some freaky Audrey II kinda shit.” Dean reached down to pull his knife out of his ankle holster and took off in her direction.

“Oh no you don't!” He shouted as he dove onto Cindy's body and began to hack away at the vines until he got all the way through. The plant undulated violently and let out an unearthly shriek.

Dean ducked his head against Cindy's unresponsive body and rolled them both away. To his surprise, the vines didn't follow. Once he had them a good distance out, he reached up to her neck and checked for a pulse. He waited….and waited. He pressed his fingers in harder...but it wasn't there. “Son of a bitch!” he cursed and stabbed his knife into the dirt. Had something happened with her and the plant before he'd arrived? Or had the demon just been riding dead meat? He'd have to ask, Sam.  Speaking of… Sam had been standing right there. How come Dean had been able to get in and make the rescue? Sam should have been all over that. “Hey Sammy,” he called, pushing himself to his feet and wrenching his knife back out of the ground “what gives?!”

He looked back towards where he'd last seen Sam and his heart froze in his chest. Sam wasn't far from where he had been, but it wasn't where he was that was the problem, it was what he was doing. Or what he wasn't doing, really. Sam wasn't stabbing, shooting, or otherwise trying to kill the freaky plant he'd now dubbed Audrey III, oh no, on the contrary, he was just walking towards it. And he was walking toward it...really weirdly. Super slowly, with his feet shuffling in an awkward and unnatural gait.  But more terrifying than that even was the fact that Audrey III was glowing again. The way she'd glowed just before when she'd sucked the demon life (and possibly human life?) right out of Cindy's mouth.  

Oh, HELL no. No overgrown daisy was eating his brother today.  If that's even what this plant did, Dean wasn’t at all sure, but it was at least close enough for discomfort. Dean sprinted toward Sam for all he was worth.

“SAM! Sammy!”

Sam didn't react. Didn't even flinch. Just moved closer and closer to where Cindy had been standing when Dean had seen her go down. Dean supposed there was a chance that this plant only ate demons, it hadn't tried to do anything to Dean yet after all, but he wasn't willing to take that risk.

He grabbed Sam around the waist from behind, and began dragging him backwards. Sam didn't resist, which was good. Really good actually considering his brother could put up a hell of a fight when he wanted to. ...But he didn't do anything. Just stayed relatively stiff and let Dean drag him away. The plant’s other-worldly light suddenly flared again and Dean, momentarily blinded, stumbled over one of those damn baby Audrey's and they went down in a concentrated cloud of gold.

Dean “oofed” as Sam's significant weight hit his stomach and knocked the wind out of him.  He wheezed in a breath and quickly tucked his face into his brother's shoulder to avoid breathing in as much of the pollen as he could. “Jesus, Sammy,” he said into his brother's flannel “what are they putting in those wraps?” Dean joked, but he knew it was only to distract himself from the rising panic he was feeling at Sam's continued catatonic state.

Dean wrapped his right arm back around Sam's middle, took one more deep breath through Sam's shirt and held it, then started to lever them both back up. He’d managed to get up onto his elbow when when he suddenly felt Sam's abdominal muscles spasm under his hand and his brother's body shuddered in his grasp.

“CHHSSHh!”

“Sammy?” Dean leaned forward and looked over Sam's shoulder to try and get a glimpse of his face. When he did, he couldn't help breaking out into a relieved smile.

Sam's whole face was covered in the fine golden particles and his nose was scrunched up and twitching madly. He sucked in another gasp and his body crunched forward again over his brother's hand.

“Hg’ISSHH!” Sniff!... “D’nnnnn?”

His name was slow, labored, and missing half its sounds, but it was music to Dean's ears. His arms suddenly felt like jelly and he let his torso fall back to the ground as he chuckled lightly. “Bless you, Sammy.” He patted his brother exhaustedly on the arm, the adrenaline dump momentarily sapping the rest of his strength.

Sam sneezed twice more before he seemed to come back to himself. “Why’rrreyouu unnnderr mmmeee?”

“Me under you? You're on toppa me, dude.” He patted his brother's shoulder more firmly, trying to bolster himself as well as distract himself from focusing too much on Sam's clearly messed up speech. “And it's a long story” he grunted as he began to try to gently push himself the rest of the way out from under Sam's still mostly dead weight. “Missing demon waitress...”, (another grunt...slight shimmy), “possible demon eating plant...” (grunt again...gentle shove), “you doing a great impression of a damsel in distress...” (full body wiggle, slightly harder shove), “Tell you what,” he panted, “catch you up later when we're farther away from the thing if you can help get your fat butt offa me.”

“Cannt mmooovvve riighhh.” Sam complained as he struggled for a moment and then managed to at least shift his weight enough that Dean was able to roll him carefully off to the side.

“Mmnaffaaa.” Sam said, his face now half smashed into the dirt.

“Say what?” Dean asked as he quickly rolled Sam back onto his back and brushed bits of soil off his face.

“Mmna fffaaat.”

Dean snorted, “Yeah? Tell that to the lack of circulation in my legs, Shamu.”

“h’ISHuhh!”

“Good comeback. Gonna write that one down.”

“Cinnndyy?”

Dean winced. “Didn't make it, dude.”

Sam’s moan in response carried a note of despair.

Dean quickly got his legs back underneath him and settled in a crouch by Sam's side. Sam's slurred speech and his lack of ability to move had him freaked the hell out, but he still had Audrey III to deal with first. He’d have a panic fest later. He squinted through the still hovering pollen cloud back at the psycho plant. Or, at least, where the psycho plant had been... He waved his hand through the air attempting to scattered the particles away for a better view, but even having done that, he still couldn't see it. Dammit! The thing had vanished. Well that was certainly going to make it harder to kill.

“Hu’RRESSHuh!”

Right. If the danger was gone, time to get Sammy as far the fuck away from this weirdness as possible. He reached out and patted his brother's shoulder.

“Alright dude, how you doing? You think you can get up?

“Cahhh-hih! Hhh’ITCHuu!”

“Gesundheit.”

“Trrr-ESSHHUU!”

Dean bounced on the balls of his feet in impatience, feeling bad for his brother's plight but also really wanting to move things along to a safer location. “I don't speak sneeze, Sammy. Try that again.”

“Can truhhh-hi’IXshuh!”  Sam tried to pinch his nose but he missed and hit himself in the chin instead, his movements still slightly off kilter. “Fffuck!” He slurred in frustration and more slowly and deliberately moved his right hand to his face. He got there just in time. “Huh!...hhh...can....cantry-huh’GNXT!”

“Hey!” Dean swatted his hand away from his nose. “Stop that. We talked about this.”

Sam grunted in annoyed amusement at Dean's confused motherhenning. “Ffffickle. Cahhh...can't talk...iffmm sneeezin...but donn want me to...ssstop em.”

Dean frowned grumpily. To Sam, it was practically a pout.  Sam couldn't stop his smile.

“Yeah well,” Dean groused, “all I needed to know was if you felt up to getting out of here, so now that we've got that established, sneeze away.”

“hu’RESSHuh!”

“Good boy.”  Dean smirked and slid his arms under Sam's shoulders. “Gonna sit you up on three, ok?”

Sam nodded.

“One...two...three!”

He pulled Sam's upper body upright and rested him against his shins.

He looked down at Sam and wasn't sure if it was the yellowy, pollen-filtered light or if Sam's face had suddenly gone a shade paler. “You ok?”

“Ye...yeah” Sam panted. He hadn't said anything to Dean yet, but he was really struggling to catch his breath. Not only did his legs not feel like they were working right, his lungs didn't quite either.

“Can you bend your legs?”

Sam had to focus hard, but with more panting, grimacing, and a few minutes worth of effort he managed to get his knees up.

“Jesus, Sam. This is ridiculous. I've seen severed limbs move faster than this.”

Sam resisted the urge to snap at his brother. Dean was just worried. Hell, he was more than a little scared himself. Visions were one thing. Periods where he lost control of his body and his mind were a very big other.

“Help mme up.”

“You sure, Sam?” Dean asked, worry once again seamlessly overtaking his previously bitchy tone.

“Gehhh...get a mmove on, jeerk.”

Dean quirked a smile at that. If Sam could gripe at him, he couldn't be all that bad off.

“Commin right up, bitch. On three again. One...two...THREE!” He grunted hard as he hauled Sam the rest of the way to his feet.

Sam actually managed to hold his position ok once he got there, and Dean was encouraged. Or at least he was encouraged until Sam tried to take a step. Then Dean's arm around his waist was the only thing that kept Sam from eating forest floor again.

“Whoa!”  He pulled Sam back up to his side and let him stand still for a moment. So Sam had some control of his movement back, but not much...

“Hate to break it to you, buddy, but I don't think you're gonna be walking out of here.”

Sam grimaced at him and then at his foot, like he was focusing for all he was worth on lifting the thing and it just wouldn't comply.

“It's about fifteen minutes back to the car from here…” Dean paused for a moment, clearly wrestling with himself over something. A few seconds later he broke. “I can't believe I'm about to offer this…” he mumbled.  “You're going to pay my chiropractor bills, just so you know.” Dean hunched over and held his arms out to the side. “C’mon, Sasquatch.”

Sam gave him full-on bitch face. Well at least that was working just fine.

“Mm not ffour, Dean.”

Dean just rolled his eyes. “Yeah, believe me, I'm aware. A four year old wouldn't break my back. I can carry you over my shoulder, but if you have enough strength to hold on this way, I think we'll get outta here faster.”

Sam looked reluctant, but he didn't relish the idea of being slung over Dean's shoulder either, especially with how tight his chest still felt. So really, what was the choice? He sighed as he wrapped his arms around Dean's neck and Dean made a grab for his legs.

Once Dean had him in a good position he stood. Sam was insanely heavy, but he was at least able to hold on pretty tightly with his arms and thighs, so that helped some. This might just work... He wanted Sam out of here, like, yesterday.

He took a deep, fortifying breath and started plodding his way in the direction of the parking lot when suddenly--

“Ng’ISHuhh!”

Dean felt Sam's body lurch away from him and instantly lost his balance.

Sam had been thrown a little by his attempt to lean away as well and nearly his grip. “Shit!” He gasped, trying to make stiff fingers clasp back onto Dean's shirt. “Ssorry!”

“Jesus, Sam!” Dean wavered and staggered dangerously for a moment before he finally found his center of gravity again.

San sniffled, “Was trying nnot to snneeze on you.”

Dean heaved a sigh, he'd forgotten about Sam's new found allergies for a second. He thought about asking God if this day could get any more complicated, but with their Winchester luck....Murphy's law was the one law you didn't want to provoke.

“You know what, Sammy. I appreciate that. I really do. But if you move too much and brain yourself, or worse--me, on a tree, or knock us down a slope where one or both of us die, then I'm gonna have to come back and haunt your ass.”

Silence.

“Sammy?”

“Sorrhhh-hih! Trying not to sneeze agahhhh...again.” Sam scrubbed his nose hard into what he could reach of his own shoulder.

“Hey, it's no big deal. Just don't try to be a hero about it this time.”

“I mmiiiihhhhght…mmight snnot on you”

Dean snorted. “Like that's anything new.” He griped good-naturedly. “Long as you don't knock us over, snot away, little brother.”

He felt Sam's breath hitch hard against his back and held Sam's legs a little tighter to keep him steady as Sam tucked his head down and sneezed a double right into in his shoulder.

“Hih! Hih-HIH! H’nhxtchh! Hih! Hu’tchxt!”  Sam sniffled, and waited for a moment. When he was sure he was done, he smirked a little to himself, and then proceeded to wipe his nose on Dean's shirt.

Dean grimaced. “Seriously, Sam?! Ugh… Don't think I don't know you're enjoying this, bitch.”

“You're th’onne who said I could snnot on you, juhhh...jerk.”

“Yeah, well,” Dean grumbled, unable to stay pissed at Sam when he sounded so vulnerable and off his game. “Just don't be surprised when I send you the dry-cleaning bill.”

“Allready paying for the chirrro...practor. ...Too hhhigh mmaintenance.”

Dean just rolled his eyes.

Sam pressed on, shaking his head jerkily in mock disapproval. “Never get a hussband this wway.”

“Don't make me leave your ass here, Sammy. Cause I will. Then Audrey III can--”

“Audrrey thrree?”

“Yeah, you know, “Suddenly Seymour” and all that shit. Things like a freakin Audrey III.”

Sam smiled. “I knnow what “Llittle Sshop of Horrors” is, Deann. I just didnn knnow you did.”

“Remember Amy Callahan?”

Silence.

“My “Biggest-Regret-of-Junior-High”?”

“Oh, that Amy.”

Dean scowled. “Yes, that Amy. There haven't been that many Amy's, Sam. Jesus, you think I just give this awesomeness away?”

Sam snorted.

“Anyway, yes, that Amy was really into drama at school and wanted me to try out for a show.  She said she'd go out with me if I got a part. I nearly did.”

“Get a paart?”

“No you idiot, try out. You think I'd have actually gone any further with the whole thing?” Dean shook his head. “That plant rattled your marbles harder than I thought.” Dean winced as soon as he said that and rapidly wished he hadn't. He wasn't in any way ready to joke about what had happened yet, especially when he didn't know if there was any lasting damage.

Sam, unaware of Dean's inner berating, continued on. “You have a greahhhh...great singing voice. Bet youda had it in the bag.”

“Yeah well, we'll never know now, will we?”

Pause. Dean suddenly felt Sam shaking his head rapidly and was about to ask "What?” when he realized Sam was trying to itch his nose on his own shoulder again.

“Dehhhhnn?”

“Go ahead, I gotcha, Sammy.” Dean hitched Sam up a little higher and resettled his grip.

“Hih! Hhhhh...sorhhh...sorry!”

“Told you, it's all good. Not like you can help it. I know what allergies are like, remember?”

Sam tried to nod but instead quickly buried his face back into Dean's shoulder.

“H’gnxt’shu! He’ISSHuhh! Hih! H’TCHXT!….H’EXshu!”

“Whoa. Bless you, dude.”

Sam just sniffled miserably and left his face buried in Dean’s shoulder.

“...You alright back there, kiddo?”

Dean knew Sam hated when he called him that. But with him on his back again, like when he was a kid, it had just slipped out.

It seemed he lucked out though, cause when Sam answered it appeared the old term of endearment had flown right by him.

“...This sucks.” he mumbled into Dean's flannel.

Dean actually thought that was a major understatement, but he wasn't going to tell Sam that.

“Your speech is sounding a little better, at least.” Dean paused and looked farther ahead. “And hey! We made it. The lot's just over there. We'll get back to the motel, have ourselves a little siesta, and I'm sure in a few more hours you'll be good as new.”

Dean thought he heard a mumbled yet hopeful “...research?” and smiled a little.

‘Sammy the Geek’ was out in full force. Where Dean got angry and shot at things, Sam got curious and researched.

“Sure thing, Sammy.”

Dean finally breached the treeline and was able to see the Impala across the lot.

“Home sweet home.”

Sam squirmed. “Put me down, Dean.”

“You think you can manage?” Dean knew Sam wasn't keen to be seen being carried by his big brother across a parking lot in full view of the diner’s patrons, but if he still couldn't get his legs to work there wasn't going to be much choice.

“Yeah, can mmove em a little better now.”

Dean slowly lowered Sam to the ground and waited until he seemed to have his feet planted before he stood and then immediately moved to Sam's side.

“Ok, let's take em for a spin, see how they handle.”

“They're feet, Dean, not a Ferrari.”

Sam attempted a step and stumbled slightly.

“Right now they're not much more than dead weight. You sure you're up to this?”

“Just went too fast. I'm good.”  Sam took it a little slower, and with Dean's arm around his waist and his arm over Dean's shoulders, they made it to the car.  Dean helped Sam inside and then jogged around and situated himself behind the wheel.

“We'll be back at the hotel in ten and then you can rest up until the rest of you comes back online. Sound good, Sam? ...Sammy?”

A soft snore emanated from the right side of the car. Dean's eyes widened. Jesus, that was fast. It was good that he was getting rest though. Dean started up the car and headed back to the motel, maybe driving just a little more slowly than he'd originally been planning.

He pulled them into the lot not long after and reached over to Sam.

“Sammy, wake up, we're here.”

Sam started and blinked blearily, “Wha?”

“Dude, you were out.”

“Mmmgood. We here?”

Dean opened his door, “Yeah, just--Sam, wait!”

Sam had already opened his door and was trying to get out. Trying being the operative word.

“Dammit.” Dean mumbled to himself and hurried out of his side and around the front of the car.

He got there just in time to see Sam bite it.

“...Ow.”

Dean snorted. “I told you to wait, you idiot.” He knelt down and helped Sam sit back. He then picked up his hands and saw the scrapes. “Can't take you anywhere, can I?”

“Thought it was a dream.”

“Yeah, unfortunately not. Demon eating Audrey III is very ugly and very real and your feet are still not turned all the way back on.”  He maneuvered so he was behind Sam and hooked his hands under his arms again. “Alright you big oaf, let's get you into bed. Up you go!”

He got Sam standing and, once again, with his arm around his waist and Sam's over his shoulder they made the slow trek to their door.

Dean pulled out their key as Sam sniffed loudly and groaned.

“What's up?” Dean looked over at him concerned.

“Feel like I haffta to sneeze.” he wriggled his nose, trying to get at the itch without rubbing it and making it worse.

“Ok, one, no big news there, you've been setting records all day, and two… you look ridiculous right now.”

“...thought that was a dream too.”

“The sneezing? Or you looking ridiculous?”

Sam scowled, but only managed it for a second before his eyes began to flutter shut.

Dean just snorted. “Yeah, don't think you're going to escape either one unfortunately. ...Case iiiiiiin point.” Sam twisted to the side just as Dean finished the work 'point’.

“ESSHU!”

“...Rhymes with ‘bless you’.”

Sniff! “...not exactly.”

Dean rolled his eyes, “Whatever. Close enough.” He opened the door and slowly walked them inside. “Ok. Time to get your ass into bed, Samantha.”

“Dean, it's like 7 o'clock.”

“And with your ugly mug even twelve hours of beauty sleep will barely make a dent, but I still feel it's worth a try.”

Sam glared, but the effect was lost due to the half-amused smirk still on his face.

Dean dumped him on the bed farthest from the door and quickly began salting the room.

Sam scooted his only partially-cooperative body the rest of the way onto the mattress.

“Can you hand me my laptop?”

“No.”

“...that's it? Just no?”

“Yep. Nope.”

Sam might have been exhausted, but he was always up for this argument. He dug his heels in. “Despite that fact someone is dead and that means more people could be--”

Dean just happened to be digging his heels in harder this time. “Sam, no. I'm not budging on this. No research until you can walk in a straight line on your own and touch your nose without smacking yourself in the chin. Yeah, I saw that earlier.”

Sam gave him bitch-face on low and that's when Dean knew he'd won. Even Sam's face was too tired to offer more than lukewarm resistance.

“Dude, sleep. You can barely walk. We're not ganking anything till you're back up on your feet.” Dean didn't add that it wasn't very likely Sam would be ganking anything at all this time around. He needed to look into it further, but he didn't like that the demon-eating-plant seemed to also have a taste for his demon-blood-tainted little brother.

Sam just huffed and flopped over on the bed. Dean added a few devil's traps to the room just in case (as there was clearly some kind of demon activity in this town) and by the time he was finished Sam was snoring away.

Dean opened up the laptop and cracked his knuckles. Alright Audrey III, time to see if anyone's ever heard of you before...

 

...To be continued. 

[AngelEyes]

This is brilliant!

1 hour ago, LostGirl2.0 said:

“Mmnaffaaa.” Sam said, his face now half smashed into the dirt.

“Say what?” Dean asked as he quickly rolled Sam back onto his back and brushed bits of soil off his face.

“Mmna fffaaat.”

Dean snorted, “Yeah? Tell that to the lack of circulation in my legs, Shamu.”

LOL!

 

1 hour ago, LostGirl2.0 said:

“Don't make me leave your ass here, Sammy. Cause I will. Then Audrey III can--”

“Audrrey thrree?”

“Yeah, you know, “Suddenly Seymour” and all that shit. Things like a freakin Audrey III.”

Sam smiled. “I knnow what “Llittle Sshop of Horrors” is, Deann. I just didnn knnow you did.”

 

I wondered the same thing. I love that it's because of a school crush. Totally Dean.

 

1 hour ago, LostGirl2.0 said:

Dean knew Sam hated when he called him that. But with him on his back again, like when he was a kid, it had just slipped out.

Awwww.

 

1 hour ago, LostGirl2.0 said:

“ESSHU!”

“...Rhymes with ‘bless you’.”

Sniff! “...not exactly.”

LOL

 

1 hour ago, LostGirl2.0 said:

Dean opened up the laptop and cracked his knuckles. Alright Audrey III, time to see if anyone's ever heard of you before...

 

Totally psyched to find out what's going on!

[Shamaël]

On 26/04/2018 at 5:18 AM, LostGirl2.0 said:

First time trying a Sam and Dean fic, so I hope it's ok!!!

Trust me, this is COMPLETELY ok!!! I've become a Dean girl with the time, and I prefer illness over allergies, but your writing is so good! I can't quote everything I've enjoyed in your fic (I've been reading it on my phone, since my computer was pouting, and I couldn't comment earlier), but these lines were absolutely amazing:

On 30/04/2018 at 3:53 AM, LostGirl2.0 said:

Dean rolled his eyes. “And if I jumped off a bridge, would you do it?”

There was a pause. Another pinched off sneeze.

“Uh, proba-”

“No! Nope! Don't finish that! I forgot how fucked up our family is.”

... This is their relationship in a nutshell. I love it!

[Seeker]

On 5/4/2018 at 10:13 PM, LostGirl2.0 said:

Thank you!!! And hmmm...love sleepy Winchester's, eh?  Hang in there with me on this then cause there's definitely more ahead! 

And who is this Reid?  Maybe I'd like him!

Also, ahhhh, I don't think you have to worry about any spoilers because you're possibly making me waaay smarter than I actually am.   lol  I've seen all the seasons, but only once and my memory for what happened when is horrible.  So, I'm pretty positive you're safe and also way more creative than me. 

Yes, yes, sleepy boys, I don't know what it is...

Reid is from Criminal Minds. He's beautiful 

haha, I'm not good with remembering either, I just happened to have watched the episode that day. Since I'm going through Supernatural for the first time (I hadn't been past season 5 before), I'm just about to watch s6, ep8, so anything past that is a spoiler for me.

 Never doubt your creativity! This story is wonderful! And I am definitely not a writer...I have some nice scrapbooks though lol

[LostGirl2.0]

 

On 5/4/2018 at 11:20 PM, AngelEyes said:

Totally psyched to find out what's going on!

 Thanks, @AngelEyes!!  !!!

On 5/7/2018 at 1:35 PM, Aliena H. said:

Trust me, this is COMPLETELY ok!!! I've become a Dean girl with the time, and I prefer illness over allergies, but your writing is so good! I can't quote everything I've enjoyed in your fic

Hey @Aliena H.! It's so good to hear from you again!!  And thank you SO SO much for reading and writing me even though this isn't your jam.  I really, really appreciate it!  

On 5/7/2018 at 9:21 PM, ReidSeeker said:

Yes, yes, sleepy boys, I don't know what it is...

Reid is from Criminal Minds. He's beautiful 

haha, I'm not good with remembering either, I just happened to have watched the episode that day. Since I'm going through Supernatural for the first time (I hadn't been past season 5 before), I'm just about to watch s6, ep8, so anything past that is a spoiler for me.

 Never doubt your creativity! This story is wonderful! And I am definitely not a writer...I have some nice scrapbooks though lol

Thank you!!! And hey, I couldn't scrapbook if my life depended on it. lol  I've dreamed about it, though.  It's always super tempting when I'm walking through craft stores because it looks fun as hell.  Thank you so much for sticking with me though and letting me know your thoughts!!

 

A/N: OK, so real quick disclaimer - I definitely don't speak Latin.   So if this is wrong, please blame Google translate.    

 

Ok, here we go with the monster talk! (gulp!)  Hope you guys enjoy!!

 

Part 5

 

Dean looked for info for the better part of five hours before he woke up with his face stuck to the keyboard. Ughh… He was getting as bad as Sam. He blinked at the screen again and frowned in annoyance. The best he'd found so far was lore about a carnivorous tree called a yah-te-veo, but those were trees and typically found in Africa. Audrey was all big, bulging, gastric, melon-flower-thing and was very much here in non-exotic Indiana.

He stretched. Well, since he wasn't going to osmos the answers through the keyboard, he might as well grab a few hours of sleep. He looked over at Sam and saw he was still out like a light. He got up and walked over to where the kid was laying and placed his hand on his neck. He told himself with the way things had been going it was worth it to check for fever just one more time, but deep down he knew he was checking for a strong, even pulse. Today had rattled him.  And Sam would be staying out of harm's way until this ugly ass flower was dealt with if he had anything at all to say about it. Which he did. Cause yeah, older brother.

Dean threw himself onto the other bed, fully clothed and told himself he'd just close his eyes for twenty minutes or so. Then he'd get right...back...to….

----------

When Dean woke up his shoes and jacket we're off, and there was a cover on top of him. He blinked gritty eyes into the early morning light that now permeated the room. The next thing he noticed was the soft clicking noise he could hear in the background.

“Morning.” Came Sam's way too alert voice for what Dean deemed was probably pretty close to ‘just past the ass crack of dawn’.

“Mgh.” Dean grunted and pulled himself up to sit on the side of his bed. He rubbed a hand over his face and looked over to where Sam sat at the the nearby table. He frowned slightly and opened his mouth to--

“Yes, I'm feeling better.” Sam cut Dean off before he even had a chance to start. He paused in his typing to touch his nose in an overly exaggerated fashion. “And I've been up since about 2--which is plenty of sleep when you factor in that I went to bed around 7.”

Dean blinked in shock and closed his mouth with a shrug. Certainly seemed like the old Sammy was back online. He rose slowly and stretched before walking over to his duffel and grabbing some clothes.

“You sure your legs are good again?”

Sam nodded.

“100%?”

“Want me to do a gig?”

“Want you to get the coffee is what I want you to do.”

“Most places aren't even open yet. It's only 4:30.”

“They had complimentary coffee in the front office. Just get some some of that.” Dean wasn't terribly keen on letting Sam behind the wheel yet anyway. At least not until he'd seen him up and around for a while himself.

Sam rolled his eyes. “Fine.”

Dean paused. Well that was easy.

“Think I found something about the plant by the way. I'll fill you in when I get back.” He closed the laptop. “Don't use all the hot water!” He called as Dean disappeared into the bathroom.

Sam grabbed the room key and headed to the front office. Truth was, Dean had woken up before he had really decided what to do about the information he'd come across. He could use a few minutes to himself.

An Aequatore Magna. At least he was pretty sure that's what it was. Latin, meaning “Great Equalizer” or some such. Apparently it was God's own contingency plan for demon population control, at least that's what it sounded like according to the book of Judith in the Apocrypha. “And should the balance of good and evil be upset and evil overrunneth the earth, the Lord will consume the excess via aequatore magna so that the world remain in blessed harmony” or something to that effect. It then went on to describe a being that was pretty terrifying. If you were a demon anyway.

The only other mention he'd found of the thing outside the Apocrypha stated that just a handful were in existence and that they made a habit of appearing for short periods of time in areas where demonic presence was concentrated. And, supposedly, once the balance of good and evil had been reset, they disappeared. Beyond their purpose being fulfilled, there was no known way to destroy them. But that wasn't what made Sam want a moment to himself. No, what motivated that was how the plant functioned.

The scent he'd been smelling. That was the biggest part. The essential oils from the petals we're apparently like catnip for demons. They drew them to it, made them pliable to it's will through their desire for the high they would feel off smelling the scent. The pollen was another key piece, and frankly, the scarier one. When the concentrations of it in the body became high enough, it turned into a kind of mind controlling paralytic agent. The demon would lose control of the host's body for anything other than moving toward the source of the smell. Kinda like that zombie-ant fungus he'd read about once that infected ants minds and made them carry it's spores up into trees before it killed them and grew out of their brains. Sam shuddered. Nature was horrifying sometimes.

So the plant would basically make the demon senseless with desire, march the them right up to itself, and then trap them there helpless and paralyzed while it forcibly consumed their essence. Unfortunately for the host, they would rapidly die from the paralysis. Their organs just... ceasing to function. The plant would then consume the deceased human body for its ‘physical nourishment’. His stomach churned.  The lore harped on and on about how it “wasn't a danger to humans”...He snorted in disgust. Guess you’d just better hope you weren't a human who had the misfortune to get possessed then.

He entered the front office, waved at the woman behind the desk, and began filling two styrofoam cups with coffee from the carafe.

While the bigger picture was admittedly an issue that needed to be dealt with as soon as possible--innocent people were dying after all, divine demon-eating-plant or not--Sam found his thoughts continuously circling around the concepts of ‘demon catnip’ and ‘mind control’. If he could just get part of that plant and preserve it, maybe he could harness its essence to get the crossroads demon to revoke its deal with Dean. It was the best possible plan Sam had come up with in months and he was terrified of what Dean would not only say, but do if he found out what Sam was thinking. Especially since the Aequatore Magna seemed to have had a pretty good hold on him yesterday. Sam winced and tried hard to push down the wave of self loathing and resentment that came with that admission. This wasn't about what the yellow-eyed demon had done to him. This was about saving Dean and maybe using his…demonic disability to his advantage if he could.

He didn't think the Aequatore would kill him... But he didn't really know how much ‘demonic essence’ might be contained in something like ‘demon tainted blood’, and if the plant would  actually know the difference or even care. And unfortunately, it wouldn't matter that Sam was more than willing to take the risk and find out in order to save Dean, it would only matter that they didn't know for certain that it wouldn't kill him. For Dean, that would be enough. His plan would be DOA.

He stepped out of the front office and slowly headed back toward their room. He took a few deep breaths. He needed to focus. Rein in his emotions. Find some kind of zen place. Dean had an incredible skill for reading people. He was going to have to be on his A-game. Because if he could get past him now and actually have a shot at pulling this off… Then maybe, just maybe… He could save his brother's life.

--------

Sam was up to something. He'd agreed to that coffee run way too easily. As soon as Dean heard the motel door close he came back out of the bathroom and sat down at Sam's laptop. Sam was Sam so he wouldn't have left what he wanted to hide out in the open, but at least getting the info from the source and not via ‘Sam-Filter’ as he would when Sam returned, might lead him to ask the same questions his brother obviously had.

As Dean read the content of the last page Sam had visited and his eyes began to bulge. Holy shit.  Well this was new. This thing was like a Deus ex machina for humanity's demon problem. He scanned the rest of the info and didn't like what he was reading. “A scent no demon can resist”, he mumbled aloud. Sam had said he'd smelled something really good that one time…. “Pollen that serves as a mind-controlling paralytic agent to compel the demon to its demise,” Dean felt a cold ball of horror settle in his stomach,  “And final consumption of the deceased host once the paralysis is complete and all bodily functions have ceased.” He had to swallow hard against the sudden urge to puke.

He wiped a hand over his now colorless face and quickly closed the page and the laptop.  Jesus… How close had Sam come to being plant food? Dean got up and hurriedly retreated to the bathroom before Sam could return and find him in a compromising position.

His mind continued to whirl. Sam wasn't a demon obviously, but with the tainted blood in his veins it seemed the plant didn't know that.  What would it do to him if it couldn't feed on the demon essence? Would it still dose him up with enough pollen to kill him and just eat him anyway? There was no way Sam was getting close enough to that thing again for them to find out. This would be Dean's kill. No matter that he hadn't seen any reference to it being killable, Dean had a massive anti-supernatural arsenal at his disposal. He'd just try every single thing until he came up with something that worked.

Dean jumped and cursed when a rush of cold water hit him. When had he gotten in the shower? He didn't even remember doing it and now the hot water was gone. He hurriedly turned it off and grabbed a towel. Sam was going to be pissed, he thought, then promptly dismissed it. Meh. He'd live. Speaking of, he should have been back by now.

Right as he had the thought he heard their door open and close.

He finished drying off, dressed, and went to listen to Sam's version of events. Curious to see what he would omit and what that might tell him about what his brother was possibly up to.

--------

Sam walked into the room, took one look at his computer and sighed. “So, what do you think?” he asked, pinning Dean with a hard gaze as he exited the bathroom. He tried not to sound pissy, but didn't think he quite made it.

“Say what?

“What do you think about the Aequatore Magna?””

“Huh?”

Sam snorted. “Don't play dumb Dean, I know you looked at my browsing history.”

Dammit. Sam was a Jedi. So much for finding out clues in his omissions… He dropped the act. “I think it sounds like a badass mother fucker that no one knows how to kill.”

“...and?” Sam waited for it.

“...And I’m gonna gank it on my own.”

There it was. “No, Dean, no one has any clue what might even work on it--”

“But everything you found says it's harmless to humans, right?”

“It...indicates that may be the case, but--”

“So I'll be safe then.”

“De--”

Dean held up a hand. “Safer than you would be, and you know it. You were almost plant food yesterday, Sam. I'm not letting you get anywhere near that thing again.”

“Right, you're not gonna let--”

“Look, you want this thing out of here, right?”

“Of course! I mean, the eating demons part is kinda nice, but it's killing the hosts. If there's anyone else possessed in this town they're at risk. And just the presence of the Aequatore Magna--”

“Audrey”

“What?” Sam's annoyed and confused tone came along with a full out bitch face.

Oh yeah, he was definitely feeling back to his old self. Dean tried to hold back a smirk, he always found it kinda funny when Sam got pissy.

“Just call it Audrey, Sam, Aequa--whatever takes too long to say. Besides, it either sounds like a superhero or a special underwater condom and I have no desire to associate that disgusting plant with either Batman OR sex.” Dean folded his arms and just stared at him. “So. Audrey.”

Sam rubbed the bridge of his nose as if Dean's logic caused him physical pain.

“I cant--” he sighed, and then after a second gave in, waving his hand dismissively. “Ok, fine, Audrey, whatever you want to call it, it's presence alone indicates this town is probably overrun. Which is another concern in an of itself once we've dealt with this thing.” He looked back at Dean, suddenly uncertain. “Do you-- do you think we're the reason they're all here?”

Dean sighed and ran a hand across his face. “Hell, I don't know, Sammy. I guess it could be. But demons have to have somewhere to hang out, right? Maybe we just hit a hotspot. So far they haven't done anything about the fact that we're here.”

Sam suddenly had another thought and he didn't like it one bit. “...Do you think they're leaving us alone because they want us to kill it?”

Dean's eyebrows rose at that and after a moment or two of consideration, he shrugged. “It’s possible.”

“I mean, it would explain why they've left us alone...” He grimaced. “I really hate the idea that we're possibly doing them a favor.”

“Doesn't change our course of action though. Just means we need to be ready with a mass exorcism as soon as we're through.” Dean settled his gaze more intensely on Sam. “I gotta do this one alone, Sammy. You're only just back to yourself this morning… Yeah, maybe it won't get its toxic spores into you if we’re more careful, but even if it didn't get you get you,”  Dean decided to play dirty, “we have no idea if there are any long term side effects from this, yet. So far when it's in you it leaves you little better than a stroke victim. You're the brains here. You tellin me you're not worried about what it could be doing to you when you're exposed?”

Sam ran a hand through his hair and paced for a moment, looking for an outlet for his agitation.

Eventually he came to a stop and looked straight at Dean. “I don't like you doing this alone. And the pollen is freaking everywhere, so it's not like I could even be on standby as backup. I'll have to stay here.”

“And cook up the mass exorcism that we're gonna need once I turn Audrey into fertilizer.”

Sam looked pained.

“I know it sucks. But that's what's gonna save this town.”

Sam's gaze dropped to the floor and Dean knew he'd won.

“I promise I'll be as careful as possible, but I shouldn't be in any danger.”

“Yeah”, Sam snorted. “That data probably came from people who weren't trying to kill it.”

Ok, Sam did have a point there, but still… Way better him who offered Audrey nothing, than Sammy who was going to look a lot more like a tasty snack. God, he hated that this was something they even had to consider. He and Sam should both be able to gank this thing. Sam was just as human as he was. Sure he had visions, but that didn't make him the same as those evil sons o’ bitches they were trying to kill.

Dean shook his head at himself. Now wasn't the time for this. Audrey had taken a liking to Sam regardless of his humanity and that was the issue here. Ergo, the plant had to die.

“I'll be back in two hours max, ok? If I'm not back by then, call me before you come looking.” Because Sam would look. He wasn't dumb enough to think he'd be able to keep him safe in here forever. All the more reason to get this done and dusted quickly.

Sam nodded. “Be careful, jerk.” he groused.

Dean smiled dangerously. “You betcha, bitch.” And he headed out the door.

---------

Sam waited until he heard the Impala roar away  before letting out the breath he'd been holding. He felt bad manipulating Dean, but his brother wouldn't understand. Dean brought Sam back because he didn't want to live without him. How could he think Sam wouldn't feel the same? Whatever the plant might do to him was worth it if it gave him even the slightest chance at saving his brother's soul.

Sam waited another minute or two and then went into the bathroom to wet a bandanna in the sink. Once it was soaked through he rung it out and proceeded to tie it tightly around his head, over his nose and mouth. Then he confidently strode out the front door and over to some bushes outside of a window a few rooms down, where he proceeded to uncover a knife, a small backpack, and a jar.

See, Sam had a theory that ‘Audrey’ wouldn't even appear to a human and could only be...summoned, for lack of a better term, by the presence if it's prey. That was the only reason he could think of that would explain why there weren't more reports of it. And that was the part he hadn't shared with Dean. Meaning Dean was very likely going to be running around in the woods for two hours and never be in danger of anything more than a twisted ankle. That was the way Sam liked it. It was his turn to do what needed to be done in order to save his brother. Not the other way around.

He packed everything into the old backpack and set off to hot-wire a car. ...Preferably one with tinted windows since he was walking around looking like a villain out of one of those bad Westerns Dean loved so much, he thought with a smirk.

--------

He got onto the road and headed straight to the diner. Eight minutes later he parked at the edge of the lot, a decent distance away from the Impala, and quickly made his way back towards the forest. The pollen was much less present now. Huh… Wonder if it had only been so pervasive the other day in order to help draw Cindy out?

He reached the edge of the trees and paused. He had roughly an hour and and forty-five minutes before Dean would be heading back to the motel and he had every intention of being there before him, pollen and petals in hand. Ok, here goes… Time to play bait. He took a deep breath in. Sam's nose itched slightly, but it stopped at that. He took a moment to silently praise his body for its good behavior. Truthfully, it was probably the bandanna doing it's job as a filter, but Sam liked the idea that even his immune system knew how important this was.

He waited for close to fifteen minutes, taking deep breath after deep breath. His nose was running like crazy and he was beginning to feel lightheaded before he finally caught a whiff.

He closed his eyes and let the smell wash over him. He needed to be just vulnerable enough to get taken in so that the Aequatore would show itself to him. He felt a pull in his mind and let his legs comply. This time he was in better control of his faculties and he managed not to stumble as much. As such, when he felt his foot finally catch in a significant way, he knew at once he'd succeeded with phase one of his plan. He opened his eyes and looked down, and sure enough, a bulging ‘baby Audrey’ was at his feet.

Sam smiled triumphantly and reached around to get the jar and knife out of his backpack, vaguely noting that his arms felt a little like they were moving through water. That wasn’t too bad… He could handle that.  He squatted down next to the plant and swayed momentarily as Audrey's pull surged, but grit his teeth and managed to hold his ground. He put the jar against the pod and used the butt of the knife to prod it. As he expected, the thing instantly exploded in a burst of gold. Sam managed to see that a good amount of pollen had coated the inside of the jar just before his body communicated that he'd been standing a little too close.

“Hi’ISHahh!” he sneezed wetly against the bandanna and winced. Ughh… Well that was unpleasant. He suddenly had a whole new respect for doctors in surgical masks.

He looked around to see if he could repeat the process with another plant when once again he was overtaken by a strong wave of the scent and suddenly he was aware that he was moving. No! No, not yet!  He could feel a tingling warmth working its way through his body and his head was feeling floaty. He needed to stay focused...he….

Pffff!!

“ESSHU!” Sam stumbled as his whole body was rocked by the force of the sneeze and he was once again thrown onto to his hands and knees.  What the hell? “hih-IX’shah!”  He blinked watery eyes and noticed the dense cloud of gold he was kneeling in. “Hu’ESHah!” Dammit! He'd burst another one of those flowers and he hadn't been ready. The jar! He thought in a panic and was relieved to see it had only rolled a few feet to his right but still appeared to be coated a solid bright yellow inside. He quickly snatched it up, pulled the lid out of his pocket, and began screwing it on, pausing only briefly when he had to twist to the side to stifle another harsh sneeze into his shoulder.  He finally got the thing secured and stuffed it safely into his pack. He had no idea if he had enough pollen for what he needed to do, but he'd have to make due with what he'd gotten for now. He'd already lost control of himself once and he hadn't even gotten a visual on the plant yet. He needed to keep his head until he could get close enough to get at it's petals.

Sam pushed himself to his feet. God his nose itched like crazy. He honestly felt like he could sneeze for days and not feel relief. As if the thought alone was enough to trigger a response he suddenly doubled back over with a harsh triple directed vaguely towards the crook of his right arm.

“Hih! Hihh-ishhhu! Tshhu! Hih-h’ISSHahh!”

He sniffled wetly and felt a profound longing for something to wipe his nose with that wasn't the sleeve of his coat, which was now coated in pollen, when he suddenly realized something was missing. He'd been wearing a bandanna.  It had been what was protecting him from the toxic pollen and also keeping him from sneezing his head off. God he was an idiot. How could he have lost track of himself?! His hand snapped up to his face and predictably found that bandanna had fallen down. Shitshitshit. He really couldn't afford to breathe any more if this stuff in if he wanted to stay in control, he might have already been exposed to too much. He he fumbled to get it back up as quickly as he could, but only managed to pull it halfway up his face before another wave of the scent washed away his thoughts and his mind began to drift. No!  No, please… This might be my last chance.  I can't fail! I have do do this…. I need to save... He clawed desperately at his consciousness one last time as he felt it slipping away. NO!  He roared, but the thought was instantly muted, sucked into a void like a scream in a soundproof room, and he suddenly knew without a doubt that he wasn't going to be able to break free. ...He'd failed his brother. A wave of grief so strong he was sure his heart would break surged through him, but the feeling was gone as quickly as it came.

For a moment there was nothing.

...And then there was bliss.

---------

Ok, Dean was quickly losing his patience, though considering he didn't have a lot to begin with that wasn't really saying much. But after the twelfth squirrel he'd almost shot, how could anyone blame him?  He could have sworn he'd covered the entire area they'd been in yesterday three times over now and the damn thing wasn't there.

Dean was just about to throw in the towel and purchase a map to mark off the areas more systematically, when he saw a flash of red light far in the distance off to his left and up a slope.  A singular flash very similar to what he'd seen the plant do when it had disappeared the other day.  “Ah! Got you now, you viney bitch.” Dean started off at a jog, but after about ten minutes of winding his way in its general direction he suddenly got a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Why wouldn't Audrey be in the same location as yesterday? ...The only reason for it to move would be if it actually went to its victims, not just drew it's victims to it. Dean wanted to smack himself. It had been way off in the woods yesterday, far from any of the other places they'd visited that had reported missing people. If this one plant was responsible for all the pollen, then it would have to get itself in closer proximity to its prey. So, if it was appearing in a totally new location now… That could only mean it was actively hunting someone.

Dean ran faster.

His legs burned, but he was closing in. The glow was much softer now than when it had first flared, but he could still see the light. He pulled out of a particularly dense copse of trees and finally had the thing in his sights in the distance. His heart pounded hard as he squinted through the increasing pollen-fog and realized that what he'd first thought to be a tall stump near the plant, now appeared to be closer to the shape of a person on their knees. As he ran forward he was suddenly struck with a thought he couldn't believe he hadn't had before. What if Sam had put it together that the plant chased it's prey before Dean had? What if that was the reason he'd gone for the coffee so quickly? Because he was planning on acting as bait and, because he knew Dean would never let him, he was going to try to kill it himself.  Without any real reason he was suddenly 100% certain that that's what exactly had happened and that that figure kneeling in front of that man-eating plant...was his little brother.

 

...To be continued.  

 

[Pomegranate]

I don’t watch this show, but this fic is so well written and interesting that I had to read it all. I can’t wait for the next part! 

[AngelEyes]

OMG! This is freaking brilliant!!!!

20 hours ago, LostGirl2.0 said:

An Aequatore Magna. At least he was pretty sure that's what it was. Latin, meaning “Great Equalizer” or some such. Apparently it was God's own contingency plan for demon population control, at least that's what it sounded like according to the book of Judith in the Apocrypha. “And should the balance of good and evil be upset and evil overrunneth the earth, the Lord will consume the excess via aequatore magna so that the world remain in blessed harmony” or something to that effect. It then went on to describe a being that was pretty terrifying. If you were a demon anyway.

This totally sounds legit.

 

20 hours ago, LostGirl2.0 said:

The scent he'd been smelling. That was the biggest part. The essential oils from the petals we're apparently like catnip for demons. They drew them to it, made them pliable to it's will through their desire for the high they would feel off smelling the scent. The pollen was another key piece, and frankly, the scarier one. When the concentrations of it in the body became high enough, it turned into a kind of mind controlling paralytic agent. The demon would lose control of the host's body for anything other than moving toward the source of the smell. Kinda like that zombie-ant fungus he'd read about once that infected ants minds and made them carry it's spores up into trees before it killed them and grew out of their brains. Sam shuddered. Nature was horrifying sometimes.

This is totally brilliant. I love it!!!

 

20 hours ago, LostGirl2.0 said:

“Just call it Audrey, Sam, Aequa--whatever takes too long to say. Besides, it either sounds like a superhero or a special underwater condom and I have no desire to associate that disgusting plant with either Batman OR sex.” Dean folded his arms and just stared at him. “So. Audrey.”

LOL, this is so Dean.

 

20 hours ago, LostGirl2.0 said:

See, Sam had a theory that ‘Audrey’ wouldn't even appear to a human and could only be...summoned, for lack of a better term, by the presence if it's prey. That was the only reason he could think of that would explain why there weren't more reports of it. And that was the part he hadn't shared with Dean. Meaning Dean was very likely going to be running around in the woods for two hours and never be in danger of anything more than a twisted ankle. That was the way Sam liked it.

This is a bad idea.

 

20 hours ago, LostGirl2.0 said:

He packed everything into the old backpack and set off to hot-wire a car. ...Preferably one with tinted windows since he was walking around looking like a villain out of one of those bad Westerns Dean loved so much, he thought with a smirk.

LOL

 

20 hours ago, LostGirl2.0 said:

For a moment there was nothing.

...And then there was bliss.

Oh no!

 

20 hours ago, LostGirl2.0 said:

Without any real reason he was suddenly 100% certain that that's what exactly had happened and that that figure kneeling in front of that man-eating plant...was his little brother.

Oh dear!

[Coffee Mug]

This is so intriguing and wonderfully written!! Can’t wait for the next chapter!!! 

[LostGirl2.0]

On 5/11/2018 at 0:34 PM, Pomegranate said:

I don’t watch this show, but this fic is so well written and interesting that I had to read it all. I can’t wait for the next part!

Oh wow!! Thank you so much!!   (It's a great show, though. TONS of seasons if you have Netflix and need something to pass the time.  ) But I'm so glad you're enjoying it even as a stand alone thing! Thank you again!!

On 5/11/2018 at 6:32 PM, AngelEyes said:

OMG! This is freaking brilliant!!!!

  Thanks!!  You so rock my socks, btw.  And I'm glad as hell you're still enjoying it!! Your feedback totally keeps me going! (Though you might be the only one who stays with me after this. lol However, this is WAY more mild than Spock coughing up blood IMO, so I feel like I'm making progress in tempering my hurt/comfort desires. )

On 5/12/2018 at 10:25 AM, Coffee Mug said:

This is so intriguing and wonderfully written!! Can’t wait for the next chapter!!! 

Thanks, @Coffee Mug!!  I'm so glad you're still enjoying it!    Thank you for sticking with me!!

 

A/N: Ok guys, the hurt/comfort claim I made at the beginning ramps up a bit here. (Also, I'm definitely not a doctor, and I've never had any of this stuff happen to me, so I'm going off google and my own imagination (and secret semi-realistic-winchester-sneezy-circumstance-day-dreams), here.) Hope you guys still enjoy!  

 

Part 6

 

“SAM!”

Dean roared. He was close enough now to just make out a hazy mop of brown hair and the right colors for the person to be wearing Sam's flannel shirt and jeans. FUCK. Dean ran faster than he could ever remember running before.  

“SAMMY!”

As he closed in he forced himself to slow his pace in order to appraise the situation.  It wouldn't do any good to run in guns blazing if he ended up accidentally making things worse. He slowed almost to a stop about twenty feet from the plant and slowly began to inch his way toward his brother.  Sam's head was tilted back slightly and his eyes were open, but he appeared to be staring blankly up into the treetops. Dean continued to slowly move in and had almost made it all the way to Sam when he suddenly noticed something that stopped him in his tracks.

He hadn't been able to see it from farther away due to the pollen haze, but now that he was up close he could clearly see that there were thin wisps of black...smoke, swirling out from the pores of Sam's skin.  From all over his body.  ...Holy shit. This thing was actually trying to separate the demonic presence from out of Sam's blood. A wave of terror hit Dean like ice water, stealing his breath away and leaving him cold. Knowing what that monster had done to Sammy was one thing, but physically seeing the evidence… Dean swallowed hard.

The plant suddenly flared it's light and Dean was forced to turn away to shield his eyes or risk being temporarily blinded. As it dimmed again he looked back at his brother and watched in horror as the wisps swirling out from Sam's skin steadily grew more substantial and stretched out even further in the direction of the plant. Sam gasped softly and shuddered, snapping Dean out of his stupor. Oh hell no. This--whatever this was--was not happening right now. Heart in his throat he sprinted the last few feet and reached out to grab Sam when he was suddenly struck by a thought that pulled him up short. Wait, what if-- What if what this thing was doing could cure Sammy? Could take away the visions. Make him fully human again?  God, he wanted so badly for Sam not to suffer and to get these damn demons off his back... For him to just be safe.  What if he could protect his little brother's future by letting this thing consume that darkness once and for all? ...Hell, Sammy might even want Dean to take the chance, just so he could be free of all this...

Dean stood frozen in agonized uncertainty, hand still outstretched, when Sam began to tremble once more. Dean's eyes flew anxiously to Sam's face as his little brother gasped again, but this time instead of just passively staring into the trees as he had been, his mouth wrenched open wide and his eyes slammed tightly shut.

Now Dean was positive that he knew more about his little brother than anyone else in the world. And at that moment he was certain, without a doubt, that if Sam had been capable of making any sound at all...he would have been screaming.  

Dean's uncertainty vanished in an instant and was replaced by a raging fire that took up residence in his belly and rapidly burned away the remnants of the terror that had frozen him moments before.  Nothing was allowed to hurt his brother and get away with it. This thing could just as easily be killing him as curing him and Dean could not take that chance. Not when he'd just gotten Sammy back. Sam would be mad as hell if he ever found out that there had been a possible chance at a cure and Dean didn't take it...but Dean didn't care. At least Sam would be alive to be mad.

Just as fury blazed to life inside of Dean and spurred him into action, thick viney tentacles shot out from Audrey's base and wrapped themselves fiercely around Sam's torso, almost as if it had sensed it was about to lose its prey before it had a chance to finish the job. But now Dean was ready. And he was pissed.

Knife already in hand he roared and threw himself at the the vines. Audrey shrieked again as he cut into it, but this time he only managed to sever two vines before they surged right back up to wrap around Sam even more tightly. Dean grit his teeth and kept at it. The leaves on the vines were razor sharp and sliced shallowly into his skin and clothes as he deliberately got in their way.  It seemed a hell of a lot more determined to hold onto Sam than it had been to Cindy for some reason, maybe because it had yet to get anything out of him? Dean did his best to keep sawing at the vines despite the plant’s frenzy and a minute or so later he finally managed to get Sam entirely free. The plant screamed louder as his brother sagged limply to the ground, but without missing a beat its vines rushed at Sam once more. Sensing that he was fighting a losing battle against what essentially amounted to a ‘divine being’, albeit the weirdest one he'd ever seen, Dean took a gamble. He dropped down on top of Sam and wrapped himself as fully around his brother's gigantor body as he could. The lore said they wouldn't hurt humans, Dean thought. So let's see what it does when it can't get the human off its snack.

The vines pulled up short, whipping chaotically around them, stirring up dust and flinging leaves and small plants into the air for several minutes, before finally going still. Dean angled his head up in an attempt to keep tabs on the things and found them hovering just above him as if determined to wait him out. Yeah, good luck with that, he thought sarcastically. He's coming with me or you're going to have to eat us both. Since his plan had worked thus far, he figured he might as well roll with it, so that's exactly what he did. He rolled with Sam getting them as far away from the plant as he could. He actually managed to gain another twenty feet or so before he finally ran up against a log. Alright Sammy, no waiting around to piggyback this time. We're getting you the hell out of here asap. Dean put himself between the plant and his brother and scrambled to his feet lifting Sam's torso with him.  He could have sworn he saw the vines twitch out of the corner of his eye, likely in recognition of the position change, but they didn't appear to be coming after them at the moment and that was all Dean needed to know.

He squatted down low, hefted Sam's upper half over his right shoulder, and lifted with all his might, getting him into a fireman's carry. Then he started to run. After just a few steps however, he slowed to a halt as he had another thought. He wrestled his gun from the waist of his pants and fired at the thing six times with six different types of bullets: silver, iron, wood, holy, runed, and salted (basically everything he had been able to find on short notice) just for good measure. ...And the plant didn't make a sound. It's viney tentacles just started to whip around again in what he would interpret as agitation perhaps, if he spoke plant, but Dean didn't care. That was all the effort he was willing to put into its demise at the moment. Sam was more important.

Dean ran until he was far enough away that the eerie red glow of the plant was just a pinkish dot in the distance. But truthfully he wouldn't feel safe until they were literally out of the woods. If this thing could be summoned just by Sam's demon infected blood, then they weren't really safe until they were back among the rest of humanity.

Adrenaline pumping through him, Dean focused only on maintaining his speed and his footing as he lugged his massive little brother back towards the treeline. Before he knew it he was leaving the forest and had somehow unconsciously found his way back to just east of the diner’s lot. His legs were shaking and his breath was coming in hard desperate gasps, but he couldn't stop now.  Sam had yet to even twitch.

He made it to the car and dumped his brother inside as carefully as his exhausted body would allow.  He pulled down the bandanna that was now lying across Sam's neck with a furious shake of his head--Seriously, Sammy?! You really thought that would be enough to keep you safe?--and quickly took Sam's pulse. It was slower and a lot weaker than he would have liked.  He also found that he had to watch very closely just to be sure that Sam was even breathing. Shitshitshitshitshit. He ran panicked hands through his hair and fought down the urge to frantically pace.  He was not at all certain that he knew what to do about any of this if being away from the plant and it's paralyzing scent didn't help Sam recover like it had yesterday. Have to start somewhere though... And he figured the farther away the better.

Dean was at the motel in five minutes flat. His muscles were weak and trembling but he got Sammy out of the car, into the room, and onto a bed without dropping him. Although the backpack Sam had been wearing wasn't so lucky. Dean hadn't even noticed he'd been wearing the thing until it thumped loudly to the motel floor behind him.

Dean leaned over Sam and pressed his shaking fingers once more to his carotid. Fuck! Was it even slower? It felt slower. But there was no way the scent could still be getting to him in here, so what-- Just then Dean realized that he might have made a huge mistake. What if somehow he had confused the two most important details about the plant? What if the pollen was the paralytic, and not the scent. Dean felt sick at how right that suddenly sounded to him. If that was the case…then once Sam had inhaled enough of it, it wouldn't matter how far away he was from the damn plant. That stuff would just stay in his body until… Oh God...

Dean's heart lodged in his throat and he hurriedly stripped Sam of his outer jacket and that stupid bandanna as both items were clearly still dusted in a fine layer of gold. FUCK! What was he going to do if he'd already breathed in too much? Dean lashed out in frustrated terror, first kicking the base of the bed and then repeatedly kicking Sam's stupid backpack that he shouldn't have even been wearing because he shouldn't have been out there alone!

As his foot connected with the backpack one final time he heard the sound of glass shattering and watched in bewilderment as a puff of gold suddenly exploded out of its top. What the hell? He squatted down and lifted the flap, revealing broken pieces of yellow coated glass inside and the lid of a mason jar. Dean's blood pressure rose. What the hell had Sam been doing with a jar of this stuff?!  The stuff that was presently trying to kill him.  It didn't make any sense. Unless he'd been getting a sample to research?  But that was still stupid as hell because even if it wasn't a large enough amount to make him sick, the the kid was still crazy allergic to--Wait, that's it! Dean’s anger evaporated as quickly as it had come as he instantly began playing back his memories of every other time Sam had been affected like this.

There was that time outside the diner...then when Dean had thought he'd had a stroke...and then yesterday when he'd gotten too close accidentally and Dean had arrived just in time. Every single time that he could recall Sam had somehow, bizarrely, sneezed himself out of the paralysis. Now that Dean thought about it, no one else in this town seemed the least bit affected by the pollen, which was strange as hell considering how much there was of it and how common things like hay fever generally were.  Cindy hadn't even looked like she was having any trouble, so it wasn't meant for demons to react to it that way either. Sam was the only one who was miserable. Sam, who had part demon in him that responded to the paralytic in the pollen…and part humanity that didn't.

Dean's thoughts began to race. Allergies were the result of an overactive immune system, right? So what if the allergic reaction was Sam's human body's way of rejecting the toxin whenever he was exposed to large enough amounts of it? Dean ran a hand over his face in stunned frustration. Jesus, this was dicey. He didn't like it one bit. The pollen was also the thing that was presently killing him, so he could very easily make things worse... His eyes lingered agonizingly on Sam's too still body. ...But it had seemed to work pretty flawlessly every other time he'd gotten a big enough whiff of the stuff all at once… Goddammit...

He quickly knelt to the ground, reached carefully into the bag and pulled out a large piece of pollen coated glass. If--when you make it through this Sammy, you're going to have a hell of a lot of explaining to do, he thought as he ran his finger along the inside of the piece until it turned a solid bright yellow.  He sat on the edge of the bed and leaned over Sam, “Alright kiddo...  Your body better play ball because I really need to be right about this.” He held his breath as he smeared the pollen gently along the rims of Sam's nostrils and waited. ......And waited. Dean felt his heart beginning to pound harder. Why wasn't it working? Yesterday breathing this much of the stuff in all at once would have sent Sam into the fit of a lifetime.  

Dean looked at Sam again and realized he could barely see his brother’s chest moving at all now. He was running out of time. Dean fought the urge to scream. What the hell was he doing wrong?! What-- Dean's panicked internal monologue suddenly ground to a halt and he could have kicked himself.  Sam had to breathe the pollen in for it to work, and he was barely breathing at all right now. His body couldn't react to it because it wasn't even getting into his body. Dammit! Dean ran his hands through his hair again in hopeless frustration and looked up at the ceiling, offering up a fervent prayer for any help or inspiration that God, if there was one, could offer. Should he take Sam to a hospital? ...No. No, there was no guarantee they could help.  This was supernatural after all. And the supernatural didn't typically play by the rules of medicine. He wished like hell that he could call Bobby, but there wasn't even time for that. Sam probably had minutes at most. No, if he was going to save Sammy then he was going to have to figure this out himself. He took a deep breath. He could do this. He had to do this.

Ok, think, think--Think! He needed to get enough of the pollen into Sam's body that it would prompt an allergic reaction in his human self which would fight off the demon-toxic aspect of the pollen that was killing him.  But Sam wasn't able to breathe any of it in himself right now, which was the problem.... Wait. Maybe… Maybe Dean could help things along? The first part of a sneeze was an inhalation, right? You had to take air in in order to sneeze it back out.  So what if instead of waiting for the pollen to do it, Dean could do it himself. If he could just get Sam to sneeze first, then maybe he could get him to reflexively breathe in enough of the pollen to start up a full blown reaction. Like jump starting a car, he thought. It could work.

...Please God let it work.  

It just so happened that Dean knew a few tricks for sneezes having dealt with a long history of frustrating allergies himself, so he dashed to the bathroom, grabbed a tissue from off the counter and began twisting the tip to a fine point with his pollen coated fingers. He hurried back to Sam’s side, leaned over his brother, and quickly slid the twisted tissue up Sam's right nostril and twirled it around. “Please work, please work, please work…” He chanted under his breath, monitoring Sam's ever slowing pulse with his other hand. He twirled the tissue desperately for a few moments longer when suddenly Sam's nose twitched. “Yes! C'mon, Sammy…you got this.”

Sam's nose twitched again, harder this time. His nostrils flared and Dean barely dared to breathe himself until--

“Hffff!”

Dean felt the light puff of air against his fingers and knew it wasn't going to be a strong enough reaction to snap him out of it.

Dammit! “C'mon, Sammy, that was weak sauce, man.” Dean berated gently, trying to encourage Sam along. “Gonna need you to do better than that if we're gonna get you out of this, little brother. ...I'm not losing you again.” he said the last bit solely to himself and set his jaw, twirling the tissue even faster as he slid it further inside. Shit, this was taking too long. ...Maybe this wasn't the right idea and he was wasting valuable time... Was he even doing it right?  It was kinda hard to know if it was working when you couldn't feel the effects for yourself. Suddenly Sam's forehead scrunched as his nostrils flared once again. “That's it, that's it...” Dean cajoled, feeling hope light in his chest. “C’mon Sammy…” he pleaded desperately. He doggedly kept on with what he'd been doing and finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he actually saw Sam's chest move a little more as his breath hitched softly just before his body shuddered and--

“Hih-TSHHH!”

That time Dean actually felt a light spray on his fingers and although he was kinda grossed out, he was also freakin ecstatic. They stuck their hands inside dead bodies all the time. A little snot on his fingertips was nothing. Especially when it meant his brother's body was finally beginning to fight back. “That’s it, kiddo, you got this.” He said confidently, then held his breath as he gave the tissue one last twirl. Sam's face crumbled immediately and his breath hitched hard, pulling in enough air to inflate his chest to at least half its full capacity. Dean had a good feeling about this one so he finally pulled the tissue away.

“HIH-Hu’TSHHHH!” Immediately Sam gasped again. “TSSHH!”

Sam's abs clenched hard and his body jerked with each sneeze, but otherwise he made no movement. Dean would take what he could get. If he was sneezing then he was breathing and if he was breathing then he was getting better. Dean felt almost giddy with relief when not a second later Sam sneezed again, but this time entirely on his own.

“Hu’KUSSHHah!”

Dean knew was grinning like an idiot now, but he couldn't bring himself to care. That last sneeze had actually sounded more ‘Sam-like’ and it was the best thing he'd heard in ages.  It had actually worked. Sam’s body was fighting the toxin off now on its own.

Dean was suddenly overcome by a wave of relief and joy so immense that tears prickled at the corners of his eyes, and it stemmed from something far deeper than the triumph of the present moment. He knew it. He just knew their dad had been wrong. Dean wasn't going to have to “save Sam or kill him”, he thought bitterly. Here was the evidence. Right here, right now. Sam was going to be able to save himself. Even without Dean there, Sam was going to be ok. Sure...he'd given him a little push just then, but now it was all Sammy.  His body was fighting this off. He was fighting this off.  Dean looked down at his little brother with overwhelming pride. Humanity: 1 Demon blood: 0.  Sammy could do this. He was going to be ok.

“Hih! Hi-hih-ESSHuh! ….Mmmmg...”

Sam moaned and furrowed his brow. He sneezed again hard and gasped softly before his eyes finally began to flutter open. His gaze drifted fuzzily for a moment as if he wasn't quite all back online. That bleariness lasted all of five seconds before his eyes shot wide with panic.

Despite the heady revelations of a second ago Dean was still on high alert, as they were far from out of the woods, and he had seen the moment Sam had started to freak.  He quickly leaned over into his brother’s field of vision and grasped his shoulder. “Hey! Hey, it's ok Sammy, you're ok.”

Sam blinked hard and finally focused, locking gazes with Dean and using his brother's presence to ground himself.  “De...wwha…?” he croaked and panted, which was all the further he got before the itch in his nose took over again. He winced as his breath hitched and tried to turn his head to the side, but his body wouldn't respond. Not his head, his hands, his legs, nothing, and Jesus, he felt like he could barely breathe--

“KSSHT!”  He hadn't managed to hold back the sneeze, but he did hold back the whimper that immediately wanted to follow it.  Holy hell his chest hurt. ...Why did his chest hurt?

“Sam. Sammy! Look at me. Hey, hey. Calm down. The toxin’s already wearing off. You were barely breathing a minute ago and look at you now. You're doing good, kiddo. You're gonna be fine.”

Sam blinked harder to clear his watering eyes and really looked at his brother. Dean's face was covered in thin scratches. He looked like he'd been attacked by an angry cat. Sam's brow furrowed.

“Youhhh.. youuu...oookaaayy?”

Dean followed Sam's gaze and realized he was looking at the myriad of tiny cuts he knew were probably all over his face.  “Nah, that's nothing, Sammy,” he was quick to reassure. “No worse than paper cuts. I'm all good."

Sam frowned at him some more, but then his eyes got a far away look and fluttered shut as his breath hitched again.

“Hu’KESSHu!”  Oh Jesus, that had hurt. He screwed up his face and felt his eyes beginning to water. He couldn't tell at this point if it was from the sneezing or the pain.

Dean saw Sam's grimace and assumed it was in relation to the allergies. “Yeah, uh, that's my fault, sorry about that. I needed your body to fight off the paralysis and it seems your allergies are like a built in fail-safe. So you might be miserable for a bit, but you're breathing, and not plant food, so we're taking this one as a win, alright? ...Speaking of which--”

“H’ISSSHuh! Hih-CHXT!”  Sam couldn't hold back a groan that time and found himself blinking rapidly as black spots flickered across his vision.  He panted shallowly for a moment struggling hard to get his breath back.

Dean, oblivious to Sam's plight at the moment, plowed on.  Because regardless of what beneficial knowledge had come out of it in the end, Dean had still almost lost his brother tonight, by way of the kid's own stubbornness or stupidity, or both, and no universe was that in any way ok. He pinned Sam with a hard gaze and failed to completely temper the steely edge that crept into his voice as he spoke. “When this wears off, we're going to have a nice long chat about what the hell you were doing out there besides trying to get yourself killed.”

Sam's flinched at his brother's anger. Then his brow furrowed in confusion. Dean had said "out there"? He blinked his watery eyes hard again to clear them and finally forced his stiff muscles to make eyes move around so he could see more than just his brother. As soon as he managed it, his heart sank. Pale yellow ceiling with a large brown water stain. ...He was back in the motel. If he was back in the motel and Dean was pissed at him, then that could only mean one thing. Not only had his brother had to rescue him again, but he'd failed to get to the Aequatore.  Dean was running out of time and he'd completely botched what might have been his only chance… Sam shut his eyes hard as feelings of shame and despair fought for dominance inside him and felt completely betrayed by his body when a trickle of moisture ran down his cheek that he was helpless to do anything about. ...Great. Now to top it all off he was crying like a baby in front of his brother. He tried to look away so he could regain some control, but his head wouldn't move more than an inch. He groaned again, this time in humiliation and frustration, and sniffled hard as he felt his nose starting to run along with his eyes. He quickly realized that that was a mistake however, as all it proceeded to do was flare up the once again indefatigable tickle.

“hih...h’GNXT!”

He tried to hold it back, but that just made his chest hurt worse if that was even possible. Well this officially sucked, Sam thought miserably. He could barely talk, could barely breathe, couldn't move at all, and he was lying in front of his older brother turning into a physical and emotional mess. He sniffled again more gently this time, trying to deal with the physical mess part as well as he could without provoking more issues, all the while refusing to meet his brother's eyes as his cheeks grew hot with embarrassment.

“Shit, Jesus Sam, I'm sorry.” Dean said in a rush, instantly regretting his prior harshness as he finally took notice of his brother’s discomfort. The kid was paralyzed and having a friggin allergy attack for God's sake. He could save the lecture for later.

“Hang on a sec.” Dean reached into his pocket and grabbed the bandanna he’d put in there for Sam the other day.

“Ok, I know you're going to hate this, but it's not like it's anything I haven't done before right? Just, close your eyes and pretend I'm... Florence Nightingale or something.”

Sam snorted through his tears and winced as the laugh sent another stab through his chest. Dean was right, this was mortifying. But lying on the bed with snot and tears dripping down his face was worse. He glanced up at Dean and hoped he adequately communicated 'do it quick’ through his eyes alone. Dean nodded back, for once completely serious despite the absurdity of the situation, and Sam was immensely grateful. Dean leaned over and wiped the wetness on his cheeks first, hopefully Dean blamed the allergies for those, and then swiped the bandanna gently underneath his nose.

Suddenly Sam's eyes went wide and he pulled his head back the one inch he could, trying with all his might to turn away. His torso actually managed to twist to the side slightly, so that was progress. Although the new movement made him bite back another cry as he felt his ribs painfully crunch.

“Hey, c'mon.” Dean said backing off momentarily, trying very hard not to be the little-bit-hurt that he actually was by the apparent rejection. Unfortunately, that in turn made his next statement come out somewhat snappy. “It's seriously no big deal, Sam. Just buck up and let me help you for a sec.”

Sam just shook his head back and forth in a tiny no as vigorously as he could because for some reason when Dean had touched his nose the tickle there had soared to new heights. God but he didn't want to sneeze again. His body, however, clearly had other ideas. He slammed his eyes shut, clenched his jaw, and even held his breath, but nothing made the feeling abate. He had just enough time to duck his head down towards his chest as far as it could go, which wasn't really very far at all, before he lost control.

“GXT’chh! KSSHT! Aaghh!” He gasped and groaned loudly in pain. “Shihhh-hih-IX’shu! Hih... Hih-HIH! EXSHHU! nk’shh!...nk’SHH! Hih...hih-H’ISSHAH!...Hih-hih-HIH! h’TCHSHHHuh!”

Dean stood still for a second completely dumbfounded. Not only was Sam now sneezing worse than before, but more importantly, he appeared to be in an incredible amount of pain while he was doing it. Dean realized in that moment that he'd never checked Sam for injuries after Audrey had gotten ahold of him. He reached forward to grab Sam's shirt and got an answer to both of his questions at the same time as his fingertips left distinct yellow smudges on the red plaid when he lifted it, and the view he got of Sam's torso underneath was a sickening mix of reds, blacks, and blues.

“Son of a bitch.” He growled as he looked at his fingers and cursed himself for his carelessness, and then Sam for his stubbornness. “Dammit Sam, why didn't you say you were hurt?!”

Sam somehow managed to shoot Dean an ‘are you kidding me right now?’ glare before went right back to sneezing, although he was trying really hard not to. Which was pretty much impossible when you couldn't move your hands.  By now he was actually in so much pain he was afraid he was going to pass out, although he wasn't at all certain that thatwould be a bad thing at this point...

Well fuck. Dean rubbed his left hand over his mouth in anxious frustration. He really wanted to check to see if any of Sam's ribs were fully broken, he was willing to bet some were at least cracked by the look of things, but he couldn't do it while Sam was sneezing like this, not without risking hurting him further.  Not to mention Sam looked like he was barely clinging to consciousness as it was. Jesus... He couldn't believe he'd thrown the kid into a massive allergy attack when he possibly had broken ribs. Granted he liked the alternative a hell of a lot less, and he truly wasn't certain there was any other way things could have gone down, but still… He winced in sympathy as Sam sneezed again failed to completely smother another pain-filled moan. Right, time to do his big brother duty and make the best of a super shitty situation.

Dean immediately jogged into the bathroom and scrubbed the pollen from his fingertips. Then he ran over to his bed, grabbed a pillow, and hurried back to Sam's side.

He tossed the pillow across Sam's thighs temporarily and jumped into action. “I'm gonna lift you up a bit, ok? It's probably gonna hurt.” Dean warned as he hooked his arms under Sam's armpits. “...aaand THREE!”

Dean hauled Sam up as gently as he could, but left enough room between him and the headboard so that he could quickly worm his way in behind.  That way Sam's chest was leaning back against his own and Dean’s legs were on either side of him. The second he got them settled Sam’s body jerked against his with two more half suppressed sneezes and for the second time that night Dean could have kicked himself. He'd forgotten to grab any tissues. The handkerchief was all covered in pollen now and of no good to anyone. He could maybe slide back out and grab them… but as soon as he had the thought he caught a glimpse of Sam's pain filled expression and instantly changed his mind. Better to let him stay where he was than risk jostling him again. Man... this situation truly sucked ass. Between his ribs and the sneezing Sam was not only in a hell of a lot of pain but he was barely getting a chance to catch a breath.  Well...actually...maybe Dean could help him a little there too?  It was worth a shot, anyway. Dean quickly put his own knuckle up against the bottom of Sam's nose and pressed upward. Hard.

Sam's breath hitched madly for a few seconds, but he didn't sneeze. It was a small reprieve, he knew, but Sam honestly could have wept with joy. God, this was weird as hell, but he was thankful beyond measure for Dean right at that moment.

“This won't work for long, but at least you can catch your breath.” Dean tried to hide his concern with a small, cocky smirk. “You should just be grateful that I have mad allergy skills.” he bragged, doing what he could to distract Sam from the pain.

He reached down with his left hand, grabbed the pillow off Sam's legs, and pressed it gently against Sam's chest since Sam couldn't do it himself. “Ok, Busted ribs 101, Sammy. Just like you and Dad did for me when I had the flu after our run in with that werewolf chick in Montana, remember that?  But you need to tell me if I'm pressing too hard.” Dean swore could actually hear the incredulous-bitch-face Sam was rightfully giving him in reply.  “I know, I know, sorry,” he backpedaled, “just uhhhh… make a noise or something if it's not right, ok? Don't tough it out like a moron.”

Sam's breath took that moment to hitch hard and Dean could feel Sam leaning into his fist as much as he could with the small amount of movement he'd regained, and Dean knew they were out of time. Sure enough Sam suddenly wrenched forward with a stifled “Ng’XT!” right into Dean's fist. Dean’s brow furrowed slightly. Yeah, that's no good. He would really prefer Sam get the pollen that was paralyzing him out of his body, not hold it in out of some deep-seated sense of decorum. He was about to launch into another lecture when he decided it might just be easier to change tactics himself. His ”sneeze-cheat” wasn't working anymore anyway. He waited until there was a small pause in Sam's hitching breaths and quickly pulled his fist away and worked his sleeve up over his hand. He managed to get it up and over Sam's mouth and nose just as the next sneeze shuddered through him. “Ih’KXT!”

Dean rolled his eyes, if he'd had a third hand he would have smacked Sam upside the head. “Hey! Stop worrying about sneezing on me, doofus, and let your body get this shit out. It'll hurt less too.” He re-adjusted his hold on the pillow and pressed harder. “How's this?” He heard Sam's breath hitching madly again, but was sure he felt a slight nod right before Sam curled back over his arm and pressed his face into his flannel covered hand with another wrenching sneeze.

“H’ISHHahh!”

“There you go!”

“hih...hih-HIH! h’TCHUSHuh! hhh...hih! ISSHHu! Hhh….hih!-h’ESHu! Hih-hih-HIH! Hk’TSHH! ISSHH!  Hih!.........hhhh....... hih-HIH!...H'ISSSHHHHHU!”

“Jesus, Sam. Thank God this is the only thing you've ever been allergic to. You don't do anything halfway, do you?”

“Shhuhhh-hih! H’ESHHHhu! Shhhut uup, jerK’ISSHah!” Sam slurred through the fabric of Dean's sleeve.

Dean couldn't help but smile. “What was that? I told you already I don't speak sneeze, Sneezy.”

“Hih!....HIH!...H’EK-KISHHU!.....hihhh!....”

Sam just panted and moaned and Dean’s heart went out to the kid. That time he had had a cough with broken ribs had been some of the worst pain he could remember.  And he had at least been able to take something for it. No nasal spray or pill for ‘demon-toxic-pollen-that-your-human-body-hated’, unfortunately.

“hih!...HIH!...hhhhhuhhh…”

Mercifully the itch backed off for a second and, forgetting himself, Sam attempted to make the most of the break and tried wipe his nose. His hand moved about half a foot off the mattress, but would go no further. He let his head fall back onto his brother's shoulder in utter exhaustion and defeat.

Just then a memory tickled at the edges of Dean’s mind. “Hey, you still have tissues in your pockets?”

Sam sniffed and tried to recall. “Thhhink ssso.”

Dean dropped his hand from Sam's face and dug around in his right pocket. Sure enough…

“Here,” Dean held the tissue back up to Sam's nose. “Blow, bitch.”

Dean could feel Sam's frown through the kleenex. He rolled his eyes. “C'mon dude, this is nothing. You've puked on me before and you never had any qualms about that.  That's way worse. Especially that time you were five after you'd had that milkshake and then when you puked it was all curd--”

Dean's voice was instantly drowned out by the sound of Sam blowing his nose. He smirked and waited until Sam was done and flipped the tissue around to wipe off any of the excess moisture. He surprised himself a bit with his dexterity with the whole thing. Guess blowing your kid brother's nose was like riding a bike.  ...Whoda thunk.

“Thhhanks.”

“De nada.”

A few moments of silence passed. Well, almost silence. Sam's panting was still pretty loud. Dean really wanted to get a look at this ribs.

“Hey, you think it's windi--”

“Hih-H’ESSHAH!” Sam sneezed openly towards his chest.

“Nevermind. Gonna take that as a no. Sorry man, caught me off guard there.” He felt Sam's chest stutter against the pillow once again and, since his hand was out of his sleeve now and their one tissue was toast, he reached around to give Sam the crook of his arm instead. Sam buried his face in right at the last second.

“MMPH! H'TCHphh!” Sam sniffled hard and the leaned back once again to pant. Dean took a second to pull his sleeve back down again and wiped at the moisture at the edges of Sam's nose. Yep. Florence Nightingale had nothing on him.

“How you feeling there, Sammy?”

Sam didn't answer. He just closed his eyes and continued to breathe shallowly with his head resting back against Dean's shoulder.

“Seems like it's slowing down.”

Sam took another tentative sniff and when it didn't provoke another sneeze he nodded in agreement.

“Would it be ok if I checked out your ribs real quick?

Sam nodded again, eyes still closed.

Dean didn't want to jar him any further so he just set the pillow back onto Sam's legs and pulled up the front of his shirt. He knew vaguely what the bruising looked like from before and it was mostly concentrated around his lower left rib cage.  Dean probed gently with his fingers and winced when he felt two of them buckle slightly. Sam gave a loud hiss in response.

“Well, the good news is I don't think they're broken, bad news is they're definitely cracked. How about we get some ice on those suckers, huh?”

Silence.

“Sammy?”

Dean looked down at Sam's face and all he could see from this angle was Sam's still closed eyes and slightly open mouth. He snorted. Looked like the kid was out for the count. Not that he could blame him, Dean thought, as he fought back a yawn of his own. Near death experiences could do that to you. He pulled Sam's shirt back down, replaced the pillow, and gently wrapped his arm back around his brother. What a long fucking day.  He leaned his head back on the headboard and closed his eyes for a second.

“TCHshhh!”

Dean startled awake in alarm despite the fact that he hadn't even been aware he'd been sleeping. He was disoriented for a second before he heard the noise again and felt Sam shudder gently in his arms.

“h’TSHH!”

Ah, that's right. Audrey aftermath.

“hih! h’ISHH! ...Mmmgg…” Sam sneezed again softly and moaned in pain, somehow impressively seeming to manage the whole affair without actually waking himself all the way back up.

“Bless you, kiddo.” Dean said through a jaw cracking yawn, reaching around to dab lightly at Sam's nose again with the cuff of his sleeve, just in case. “Gotta get some--” he paused as he yawned again, “Oxy into you as soon as you let me up.”

Silence.

“...Wanna let me up?”

Sam's soft snore was all he got in response. “Yeah, didn't think so.” He squirmed slightly trying to get a little more comfortable. “You are so paying for a chiropractor.” He grumbled as he got himself situated and put his hands back around the pillow. “And a massage.” He mumbled as he closed his eyes once more. “From a babe. A super hot, Asian goddess, Sammy. With hands like steel. That's who I want. That's who I whhhh…”

Deans soft snores quickly joined Sam's, and the rest of the room was quiet.

 

To be continued...

(...if you guys are still into it? )

[AngelEyes]

37 minutes ago, LostGirl2.0 said:

However, this is WAY more mild than Spock coughing up blood IMO, so I feel like I'm making progress in tempering my hurt/comfort desires.

LOL. I'm all in for it! Continuing to be brilliant!

 

39 minutes ago, LostGirl2.0 said:

He hadn't been able to see it from farther away due to the pollen haze, but now that he was up close he could clearly see that there were thin wisps of black...smoke, swirling out from the pores of Sam's skin.  From all over his body.  ...Holy shit. This thing was actually trying to separate the demonic presence from out of Sam's blood. 

Not good!

 

40 minutes ago, LostGirl2.0 said:

So let's see what it does when it can't get the human off its snack.

This cracked me up!!!!

 

41 minutes ago, LostGirl2.0 said:

Dean's thoughts began to race. Allergies were the result of an overactive immune system, right? So what if the allergic reaction was Sam's human body's way of rejecting the toxin whenever he was exposed to large enough amounts of it?

Theory accepted!

 

42 minutes ago, LostGirl2.0 said:

They stuck their hands inside dead bodies all the time. A little snot on his fingertips was nothing.

True.

 

43 minutes ago, LostGirl2.0 said:

He just knew their dad had been wrong. Dean wasn't going to have to “save Sam or kill him”, he thought bitterly. Here was the evidence. Right here, right now. Sam was going to be able to save himself. Even without Dean there, Sam was going to be ok. Sure...he'd given him a little push just then, but now it was all Sammy.  His body was fighting this off. He was fighting this off.  Dean looked down at his little brother with overwhelming pride. Humanity: 1 Demon blood: 0.  Sammy could do this. He was going to be ok.

This is so sad and sweet and hopeful, and oh my heart.

 

47 minutes ago, LostGirl2.0 said:

“You should just be grateful that I have mad allergy skills.” he bragged, doing what he could to distract Sam from the pain.

LOL!

 

48 minutes ago, LostGirl2.0 said:

“Jesus, Sam. Thank God this is the only thing you've ever been allergic to. You don't do anything halfway, do you?”

Poor baby!

 

49 minutes ago, LostGirl2.0 said:

“And a massage.” He mumbled as he closed his eyes once more. “From a babe. A super hot, Asian goddess, Sammy. With hands like steel. That's who I want. That's who I whhhh…”

Oh Dean. I think you might actually be entitled!