Brother

Chapter 1:

When I came driving down the street in the middle of nowhere, the last thing I expected to spy on the side of the road was a body.

I'm a smart girl. I've taken self-defense classes, I've read books, and I've watched TV shows and movies. I know what happens to a girl when she gets out of her car in the middle of nowhere. So when I saw the body lying on the side of the road, not sure if it was alive, and knowing that I wouldn't be able to help him much even if he was, I pulled over and didn't get out. I left him in my headlights, locked my doors, took out my pepper spray, putting it in my cup holder, and took out my cell phone, dialing 911.

It was about fifteen long minutes before the police and ambulance got there. They pulled up, lighting the whole road with their headlights and flashers, and I got out of the car, walking over to the nearest police car. The officers in it got out and walked over to me.

"He's over here," I said, motioning for them to follow me. We jogged over to him and they knelt at his side.

"I've got a pulse!" he called to the medics approaching. At that point, I stepped aside with one of the officers while they did their job.

"You just found him here?" he asked. "You didn't see anything else?"

"Nothing else," I replied. I glanced over to the medics, who were putting the young man on a stretcher. Behind the blood and bruises, I saw that the young man was quite handsome, with stringy brown hair that stuck to his face and well-toned muscles. "I was on my way home from my parents' house. Went to visit for my mom's birthday. Did not expect to find someone on the side of the road beaten up."

The medics carried him past me to the ambulance and I heard him mutter something that sounded like, "Dee…."

"I'm going to go with him, if you don't mind," I told the officer. "Are we done here?"

He looked up to me, surprised. "You're going with him? I thought you didn't know him?"

"I got a brother his age," I confessed. "If someone found him like this on the side of the road, I'd want them to stay with him."

The officer nodded. "Alright. Just do me a favor, give me your name and number?"

Five minutes later, I was following the ambulance in my car. We pulled up at the hospital a while later and I parked, following them inside. I sat in the room with him as they bandaged him up. After a few scans and tests, and words that I didn't recognize since I wasn't a med student, he was brought back into the room. It turned out he was fine, just bruises and scrapes, but he might have a concussion.

A nurse came up to me once he was settled. "Are you family?"

"Oh no, I'm just here to keep him company," I said with a half-smile. "I found him on the side of the road."

Her eyes widened. "Oh. Alright then. If he wakes up, tell him his effects are over there," she said, motioning to a paper bag on the counter.

"No problem," I replied. She left the room and I walked over to the young man, standing beside him.

I gazed at him long and hard. He reminded me of Johnny. He looked like he could hold his own in a fight, which John tended to get into once in a while. And he looked like he probably had no problem getting girls. I brushed some hair from his face, smiling, before I turned and sat down in the chair against the wall, taking out a book.

About ten minutes later, I looked up as he twitched. I glanced at the page number of my book before I closed it and put it down, walking over to him as he muttered something. "Hey. You're in a hospital. My name's Marissa. Can you tell me your name?"

"Dean…" he murmured.

"Nice to meet you, Dean," I replied quietly.

"Where's…Dean…?" he whispered, his eyes fluttering.

"Oh. Um…he's not here. You want me to try to reach him?" I asked. At that, the young man's eyes shut again and he fell back into unconsciousness. I sighed, and then narrowed my eyes. I walked over to the paper bag, hesitating, before I opened it, carefully spilling the contents out onto the counter.

There was a cell phone, a switchblade, and a twenty-dollar bill. I picked up the cell phone and turned it on, noting the low battery and voicemail alerts, pressing the Send button, scrolling through the last few incoming calls, which were all Dean's name. "He-llo," I murmured. I pressed the Send button again, dialing the number. There was one ring before it was picked up.

"Sam, where the hell are you?" snapped a voice.

"Hi, sorry, this isn't Sam. Is this Dean?"

There was silence for a moment. "Who is this?"

"My name's Marissa. I'm here with, uh, Sam I guess. We're at Gregorstown Memorial Hospital in Richardstown, Virginia."

"Is he all right?" asked the voice worriedly.

"He's fine. I mean he's not fine but he's okay. He's got some bruises and they're worried about a concussion, but he'll live."

"I'll be there in an hour."

I opened my mouth to reply, only to hear the click of him hanging up in my ear. I closed my mouth, pursing my lips, and pressed End. I put the cell phone on the counter and walked out into the hall, up to the nurse at the front desk. "Excuse me?" I asked.

She looked up. "Yes?"

"I just wanted to tell you, the patient in room 134 that you probably have down as a John Doe is named Sam. I don't know his last name. I just spoke to a guy named Dean on his cell phone, and he said he's on his way here. So if you put down Sam that'll probably lessen the confusion when he gets here."

The woman smiled at me. "Thanks," she said, taking out a clipboard. I smiled in reply and went back to Sam's room, back to my book.

Half an hour later, the curtain was brushed aside as a dark-haired girl walked in. I smiled as I looked up to her. "Hi. Can I help you?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Who are you?" she asked.

"Oh, my name's Marissa. I found Sam on the side of the road actually," I said, putting my book aside before walking up to her, holding out my hand.

She shook it. "My name's Amy. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," I replied. I retracted my hand. "Are you Sam's girlfriend or sister or…?"

"Just a friend," she told me. She walked over to him, taking his hand, and then looked up to me. "Thanks for staying with him."

"No problem. I've got a brother his age, so…." My voice trailed off. "Did you talk to Dean?"

Amy's eyes narrowed again. "I thought you didn't know Sam?"

"I don't. He asked for Dean, so I checked his cell. Turns out he was the last few incoming calls, so I called him. He's on his way. Said he should be here in…" I checked my watch, "half an hour."

Amy's smile seemed to flicker at that. I barely noticed it, but I did notice it. "That's good," she said.

I stared at her for a few seconds. "How did you know Sam was here?" I asked quietly.

Amy blinked at me slowly. "I'm sorry?"

"I called Dean. Nobody else. If you didn't know that he was on his way, then you didn't talk to him. So how did you know Sam was here?" I asked.

Amy stared at me some more. "I was calling hospitals in the area. Sam had been missing. I was worried about him."

"I thought you said you were just friends?"

"We're good friends." She blinked at me, and then looked back to Sam. "I appreciate your help, Marissa, but you can go now."

I swallowed. Something wasn't right here. There was real worry in Dean's voice on the phone. There was no worry in this girl's voice. "I think I'll stay here until Dean gets here," I murmured. "He was really worried. I'd like to make sure he knows what happened."

The smile slipped from Amy's face as she looked over to me. "You should go," she said softly.

The smile slipped from my face as well. That's it. Something was wrong. There wasn't any way in hell I was going anywhere. If this girl had anything to do with the people that had beat Sam up, I wasn't going to leave him here. For all I knew, she'd claim she was family and check him out.

I sat down in the chair again, slightly harshly, jarring it with a loud screech on the floor. "I'm not going anywhere."

At that point, Amy seemed to hesitate and think carefully about something before she nodded. "Fine. I'm going to go get some coffee."

"You do that," I replied.

Amy left, walking down the hallway. And she didn't come back.

Dean did, however. I heard a loud voice down the hall at the nurse's desk about half an hour later, and caught Sam's name. I stood up and walked to the curtain, drawing it aside, and peeked out. "Dean?"

A handsome young face turned to me and the man walked quickly down the hall to me, brushing past me as he walked into the room. "Sam?"

"He hasn't woken up yet," I said gently. I knew how I was with my brother. Manners didn't really matter until I knew Johnny was okay.

Dean gave Sam a good once-over before he sighed, folding his arms, and looked over to me, as if noticing me for the first time. "Marissa, right?"

I nodded, walking over and holding out my hand. "Nice to meet you. Who are you again?"

Dean briefly shook my hand, before turning back to Sam. "I'm his brother. What happened?"

"I was driving down the road and just came upon him. I called 911 and came with him to the hospital."

Dean turned to me, a bit of confusion in his eyes. "Why?"

"Because he'd been beaten to a pulp?" I said slowly.

Dean shook his head, blinking a few times. "No I mean why did you come with him?"

I smiled. "I got a brother about his age." That seemed to be answer enough for Dean. He nodded and turned back to Sam. "So do you know a girl named Amy?"

At that, Dean's gaze snapped back to me, suspicious, almost to the point of being angry. "What'd you just say?"

"A girl named Amy stopped by about half an hour ago. Seemed like she wanted me to leave. I told her I wasn't going anywhere, so she said she was going to get coffee, and I haven't seen her since. I'm thinking she was bad news."

Dean stared at me, wide-eyed, and then let out a long breath, glancing to his brother. "You have no idea," he whispered. He looked back to me. "Thank you. You probably saved his life," he said earnestly.

I gave him a half-smile. "No problem." I picked up my book, tucking it in my purse, and slung my purse over my shoulder. "Tell him get well for me."

"Hey, let me give you my number," Dean said suddenly. "You can call me if you ever need anything."

I raised my eyebrows. "Anything like what?"

"Ah…I don't know. But I kinda owe you one," he said with a smile.

I smiled back and took out my cell phone, handing it over to him wordlessly. He put in his number and handed it back to me. With a quick wave, I left, still smiling.