What if this episode took place pre-series?

Jessica smiled in the hot water in the shower. Sam usually beat her up in the morning, but this morning he had seemed dead to the world, so she got the shower first for once. She quickly finished up, though, wanting to leave at least a little hot water for Sam. She toweled off and dressed

"Sam, aren't you getting up?" Jessica asked as she came out of the bathroom. She and Sam both had early classes this morning and he really should be up by now.

She got no response. "SAM!"

Still nothing. She walked over to him and shook him. He didn't move. "SAM!" she yelled again, getting desperate. She willed herself to calm down. She was pre-med after all. She checked his pulse. It was a little fast, especially for a sleeping person, but he was definitely alive. She grabbed the phone and dialed 911.

"My boyfriend won't wake up," she said.

The operator confirmed her address from the caller ID, and then asked, "How old is he?"

"22."

"Has this ever happened before?"

"No, not in the last year, anyway."

"Has it happened before then?"

"I don't know. I've only lived with him for a year," Jessica said, straining to listen for the sirens.

"Has he been drinking?"

Jess gave a little laugh. "During the school week? Not Sam. No way." That's when she heard the sirens. "The ambulance is here," she said as she hung up the phone and ran to let the EMTs in.

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Jessica paced back and forth nervously in the waiting room. "Jessica, why don't you sit down?" Rebecca asked gently.

"I can't."

"Can I get you anything?" Zack asked. He felt like he should be doing something, not just sitting here, but Jessica just shook her head no.

The doctor walked in. "Is anyone here a family member of Sam Winchester?"

"I'm his girlfriend. We live together," Jessica said.

"I'm really only supposed to talk to family," the doctor said. "Does he have any?"

"He has a father and a brother, but I don't know where they are."

"OK, well here's what I can tell you. I don't know much anyway. I've run every test I can think of and as far as I can tell, he just went to sleep and didn't wake up," the doctor said.

"Is he going to be OK?" Jessica asked unable to stop herself from crying.

"I really don't know. Without knowing what's wrong, I can't even hazard a guess at a prognosis or a treatment," the doctor said. "I do think if you can find his family, though, you should. Sooner rather than later. I'm sorry," the doctor said and left. He hadn't meant to seem so cold, but those kids were all so young and he had no answers for them. Sometimes he hated his job.

"Zack, you just asked if you could do something, right?" Jess asked. She wasn't sure what he had said, but she thought it was something like that.

"Yeah, anything," Zack said, jumping up.

"I want to go sit with Sam. Can you go to our place and find Sam's cell phone? See if there's anything on there for his dad or his brother. His brother's name is Dean," Jessica requested as she fished her key out of her pocket to give to Zack.

"Yeah. I didn't even know Sam had a brother," Zack said. He was Sam's best friend. It seemed a little weird to know that he had a brother he didn't know about.

"He doesn't talk about his family much," Jess murmured as she rushed to be with Sam.

"I'll stay here in case she needs anything else," Becca said to Zack and hugged him.

"What was that for?" he asked. Ever since his little sister had started at Stanford, she had been distant. Zack figured it was because she was sick of being in his shadow all the time. He had actually been surprised that she had chosen to attend the same school as him.

"This just makes you realize you never know when it's going to be the last time you see somebody," Becca answered.

"Don't talk like that. Especially around Jessica. Sam's going to be fine," Zack said.

"I hope so," Becca said. "You'd better get going."

Zack headed out.

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Jessica walked into Sam's room. She stopped in the doorway a minute and just watched him. He looked like he could wake up any minute. She hoped he would.

She walked over to him and sat down in a chair next to his bed. She picked up his hand to hold it. She didn't know what to say, so she decided to just sit there with him.

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"I can't believe we actually had a hunt in Las Vegas," Dean said as he and his father entered their hotel room. "Now that it's done, how about we spend the night in the casinos winning a million dollars?" he asked with a grin.

John was about to answer when his cell phone rang. He pulled it out and looked at the display. "I don't believe it," he said.

"Who is it?" Dean asked.

"Sam." It had been almost four years since Sam had left. Sam hadn't called once. Of course he hadn't called him either. Sam had stuck around for a few months after graduation and hadn't started college until the spring semester. That meant that he would be in his last semester now. John wondered if he wanted back in. If he did, John would forget what he said about not coming back and welcome him with open arms.

"Hello?" he answered the phone.

"Is this Sam's father?"

"Who is this?" John growled. He didn't like what it could mean that someone else was in possession of his son's phone.

At that Dean's head snapped up. He wondered how screwed up it was that his first assumption was that Sam had been kidnapped. He watched his Dad intently to find out if that was what was going on.

"My name is Zack. I'm a friend of Sam's. He's in the hospital," Zack said in a rush. All of a sudden, he was nervous. There was something menacing about the voice on the other end of the phone.

"What happened? Is he alright?" John asked. Dean was getting more and more nervous by the minute, but he knew better than to interrupt with questions.

"I don't know. I guess he's in a coma," Zack answered.

"You guess?" John asked sharply.

On the other end, Zack cringed. He could see why Sam didn't talk about his family. "Look, the doctor said if he had family, we might want to find them soon. He's at Palo Alto General Hospital," Zack said and hung up. He had done what he promised Jessica, but he was not going to prolong his conversation with that man.

John hung up in frustration. "What's going on?" Dean asked anxiously.

"Sammy's in the hospital. Let's go," John said. He ran out the door without grabbing any of their stuff. Dean followed quickly. When they got to the parking lot, Dean headed for the Impala.

"No, Dean. Let's just take the truck," John said. He didn't want Dean driving while he was worried about Sam. Plus they would have to come back for their stuff anyway so there was no sense in taking two vehicles.

John drove in silence for a few minutes. Dean was waiting impatiently for his father to tell him what was going on, but when no information was forthcoming he decided to ask. "What happened?"

"I don't know. Some idiot friend of Sam's called and said he was in the hospital," John answered.

"And?"

"He doesn't seem to know much. He said Sam was in a coma."

"Was he in an accident?" Dean asked, frustrated by the lack of information that was trickling from his father.

"I don't know," John said. Maybe if he hadn't have been so sharp with that kid, he would know more.

"Is he going to be OK?" Dean asked.

"I don't know!" John yelled. He was not going to tell Dean what the doctor had said about finding family soon.

Dean knew that tone of voice and kept quiet the rest of the way.