Synopsis: When Dean makes one seemingly innocent mistake and is permanently injured on a hunt, how will his hunter father and studious little brother handle the changes? Can Dean learn to hunt with a disability? Will his father ever fully really accept this new side of his eldest son? What happens when the boys are thrown into an extremely dangerous situation…can they cope in John's absence and with the new limitations placed on Dean. This story will contain flashbacks that will enlighten the readers of Dean and Sam's past as it pertains to everything about the recovery from this one mistake.

Legalities: I don't own any characters associated with Supernatural…they belong exclusively to Kripke and the CW network…I only play in their sandbox for my own amusement and yours. I am not making any money from this, it is a guilty pleasure.

This story is both canon and AU based on Dean's disability. I'm on an injured Dean kick right now…so bear with me. This is NOT a SLASH story; it contains brotherly love, angst, and hurt/comfort only.

*And italics represent when the boys are signing and not speaking out loud.*

Chapter 9

Family Matters

Sam stared out into the pitch-black distance. His eyes struggling to adjust to the lack of light in the center of the forest. The snow was offering some reflection of the limited light, but not enough to be sure they were safe. He inhaled deeply and the intense scent of pine invaded his nostrils, he kept his hand on Dean's chest feeling the soft rise and fall as he waited for his brother to wake up. The ground was cold and wet and he knew the longer he stayed seated in the snow the worse it was going to get. Sam already noticed that he was shivering a lot less than he should be. Slight movement beneath his fingers had him looking down at the slowly fluttering eyelids of his older brother. Dean groaned and his arms twitched as he reached up and grasped at the base of his head.

Sam's thoughts turned back to that night in the Wendigo's cave. The one where he'd thought that Dean was going to die. As he looked at their current situation, he couldn't help but see the similarities. Stuck in the middle of nowhere…both injured…depending on someone else to save them. He glanced down when his brother started moving.

"Ugh…" Dean moaned quietly. The pounding between his ears was making him want to slam his eyelids shut again. It took him a moment to remember where he was or why he was so damn cold.

Sam looked down and he bit at his lip as he tried to keep from shivering hard enough to jostle his brother. "Dean…" He said. Sam's fingers ghosted along Dean's arm to let him know he was there.

"Sammy?" Dean shifted and shoved himself upright, his head spinning in pain and his stomach rolling with nausea as he settled against the tree. He couldn't feel his legs…or his ass…as a matter of fact; he couldn't feel most of his body. "Holy…shit…ouch." He whispered harshly. There was a fiery burn of pain lancing through his ankle…not to mention the agony that seemed to be imbedded inside his shoulder. And then there was the dizziness that continued to assault his equilibrium. He looked in the direction the touch had come from and tried to force his fuzzy vision to focus. "How…where…" He was frustrated when his thoughts were popping like bubbles and he was losing his train of thought before he even got the words out.

* I managed to get a text message out. Hopefully Bobby gets it. * Sam signed as his eyes flashed around their exposed position and then back to his brother. * I think we need to get back to the car. *

Sam watched as Dean's forehead furrowed and he tried to interpret the sign language. * Neither of us is going to make it back to the highway, Dean. Bobby's gonna come. * Sam didn't know if he was lying to his brother or if they'd actually freeze to death waiting for the old hunter to rescue them. But he knew that if they stayed out here…they would die.

Just as he saw his brother getting ready to argue with him, his phone buzzed. He shifted and pulled the dying phone from his interior pocket. The air turned into a cloud of white mist as he breathed out a sigh of relief.

On my way…sent authorities…snow is causing problems…will be there soon. –B-

Sam's gaze flashed back to Dean. "He's coming." The relief on his older brother's face let him know that Dean had read his lips. He knew that there was someone coming to get them.

Dean nodded and they each struggled to their feet. A wet racking cough worked its way up and exploded out of Dena's chest as he breathed too deeply. It felt as the though the snowflakes were cutting swaths out of his lungs as he struggled to control the spasms. He coughed until he could barely pull in a breath of air, his ribs protesting violently. Although he wasn't sure if it was from coughing or from the fall. He bit at the inside of his cheek and turned his face from Sam's worried eyes. "I'm…fine." He rasped. Sam shook his head as soon as Dean turned away. His brother soooo wasn't okay.

He knew that Dean wouldn't appreciate him hovering like a mother hen. But he'd heard that type of cough before…inside the cave…and they'd nearly lost Dean. Their father had been there night and he'd made sure that both boys had made it to the hospital…but it had been touch and go for several days.

Sam carefully pushed himself to his feet and clenched his teeth against the stabbing pain in his leg. He looked down and winced when he saw the distinct patch of red staining his pants. He hoped that it was dark enough that Dean couldn't see it. He leaned heavily on the large stick and reached down to help pull Dean to his feet. The gasp of pain from his brother made him cringe, but he knew that they had to get back…or they were both dead.

Dean swallowed and tried to take the majority of his weight. The trees went in and out of focus as he tried to keep his legs under him. The silence inside his head was obnoxious since his eyes weren't cooperating either.

It took them most of the remaining night to make it back to the Impala. By the time the car came into view, it was covered in snow several inches thick. It was more of a huge lump in the snow that anything else…and it looked cold. Sam had turned the car off and now he was praying that it would start back up as he pulled the door open and watched as his brother leaned heavily against the hood. Sam's leg was throbbing and he knew that Dean had gotten far too quiet for his comfort…or even quieter than a deaf person usually was. He coughed again and doubled over as the spasms racked his body. Sam watched with rising concern as his brother struggled. He couldn't help with any of this. All he could do was be there for his big brother. Again he was assaulted with the memories of that one hunt. That was the moment when Sam knew that this life was gonna kill them and he needed to get the hell out.

Dean limped slowly to the driver's side, pulling the door open and slipping inside his beloved car. He supposed that if he was going to die, the Impala wasn't a bad place to do it. He leaned his head back and allowed the desolation of their situation to wash over him. The pressure on his shoulder had him turning tired eyes in his brother's direction. Sam didn't say anything as he watched Dean's eyelids slip open and closed slowly. He reached over and slid the key into the ignition and then sent up a silent prayer as he twisted it.

The Impala roared to life and he blew out a slow breath. Dean managed to smile slightly. "Knew…she wouldn't let us down…" His head lolled to the side and Sam knew that he'd just passed out…with a freaking concussion.

"Shit…Dean…no man, ya gotta stay awake…come on…" He pushed at his brother's shoulder and then cringed when he remembered that Dean had injured that shoulder. A moan at least gave him hope that his brother wasn't entirely out of it. A moment later the glazed green eyes turned toward him. He didn't speak but at last he was looking at Sam. So that was something. He reached out and patted Dean's knee softly. "I know you can't really see my lips, brother. But I'm gonna talk…maybe it's just to keep myself awake…I don't know…but I'm gonna sit here and talk to you."

A slight nod to Dean's head had his lips twitching. Sam started talking…and once he opened those floodgates he couldn't close them. He talked about school; about Jessica…he talked about how much he'd missed Dean. Every once in a while he'd look over, expecting his brother to have drifted off again. But Dean was watching his lips as the light filtered through the melting snow on the windshield. He found that he rambled through all the things that he wished his brother could hear. And that brought on the guilt…not guilt about what had happened to Dean all those years ago in the cemetery…but guilt because he could hear and Dean couldn't. He could have a normal life…whatever that means anymore. Dean would never have that.

"Stop thinking…so much, Sammy." Dean mumbled as he swallowed around the tight burning in his throat.

Sam's shoulders shook with laughter. * Can't help it. * He leaned back against the seat just as the car's engine sputtered. "Ah shit…" he grumbled. Sam looked over at the gas gauge. It was on 'E'. Dean must have felt it because he forced himself upright and glared at the panel. It was like he was being betrayed as the engine sputtered again and the car died. Which meant that the heater died with it.

"Damn-it." Dean's raspy voice filled up the silence. He started to cough again and Sam reached into the back seat grabbing the last bottle of water. His brother shook his head as his fingers came up to cover his mouth. Sam didn't miss the slight speckles of blood that covered Dean's pale skin when he finally got control again. This was the worst Christmas they'd ever had…and that included the one that he'd learned monsters were real.

Sam looked down at his leg and groaned when he noticed the patch of crimson was a lot bigger than it had been the night before. He shifted so that Dean couldn't see it. He could feel the lethargy starting as exhaustion settled in.

A knock on the window caused Sam to jump. He couldn't hold back the cry of pain as his leg twisted and bone shifted. "Son of a bitch!"

Dean didn't move as Sam focused on breathing through the pain. The fact that his brother didn't even react when Sam had hit him accidently when he shifted made Sam's worry climb. He managed to focus on the window and he blinked when he saw the brown round of a sheriff. Sam forced the door open; it wasn't any colder outside than it was inside the Impala. He shivered and turned to see the cop looking into his brother's window.

"Officer." Sam said.

"You boys been out here all night?" The sheriff was staring at the amount of snow piled up on the car. It had obviously been out in the snowstorm the previous night. "Sam and Dean…" He looked at a notebook and then back at Sam. "Winchester?"

"Yeah." Sam answered. The man nodded and glanced back at Dean's silent form.

"He okay?"

Sam inhaled and shook his head. "No."

The guy nodded and pulled out his radio. "Your uncle called in. Guess you two were supposed to be at some family dinner earlier yesterday. He got worried when you didn't show up." He walked away a few steps as he called in their location.

Sam reached over and shook Dean. His brother's head rolled from side to side. "Come on, Dean…you're starting to scare me."

Almost like, somehow, his brother could hear those words, Dean's eyelids fluttered. He turned his head and glanced at Sam, his eyes blinking slowly in the bright morning light. "You…okay?" His speech was slow and slurred and it did nothing to alleviate his little brother's concerns.

Sam's eyes widened when he saw the blown pupils trying to focus on his face. "Dean…" He said softly.

The wait for the airlift was a lot faster than Sam would have thought. The trip to the local hospital wasn't as quick as he'd hoped it would be. They both needed medical attention; his thoughts were starting to stray. He'd managed to ask what would happen to the Impala. He knew that that would be the first thing that Dean asked as soon as he could focus long enough to wonder where his precious car was.

XXXX

Dean felt himself coming back to his body in a painful rush of silence. The tube shoved down his throat was an unpleasant surprise. Along with the burn centered in his chest as his lungs struggled to pull in oxygen. His first thought was where the hell was Sam? Speaking of that where…where the hell was he? It only took a moment for his brain to kick in. Hospital. He turned glassy green eyes in the direction of the door. A curtain was pulled around him he started to struggle when he couldn't see anything. The tube pulling in his throat must have set off several alarms, because the next thing he knew two nurses were pushing him back into the bed. He struggled against them, but in his weakened condition? He wasn't able to do much.

A sudden movement near the door had him tossing his eyes in that direction. Sam limped in, his eyes growing as he saw the men holding his brother against the white cotton sheets. "NO! Stop it. He doesn't understand…" They looked over at him, but didn't release Dean's struggling form. "He's deaf you idiots!" Suddenly understanding seemed to dawn on them both and they instantly released Dean. He sagged against the bed and gagged on the intubation tube. "Get that the hell outta him."

"Sir, he has advanced Pneumonia. He needs that tube to breathe." The man in the ugly green scrubs said.

Sam knew that the man was trying to placate him…and he was probably right. But the look of terror in his brother's eyes in that moment when he'd stepped into the room had been awful. He never wanted to see something like that in Dean's eyes again.

Dean's gaze shifted as the nurses switched from trying to incapacitate him to helping him. They sat him up, careful of his shoulder. He felt his world tip dangerously as he got dizzy and struggled to remain upright. "Blow out all the air as I pull the tube…on three. One, two…three"

The air that was in his lungs was forced out and he found himself coughing violently as he struggled to control his body's reaction. He saw Sam limp forward, his face a mask of concern. Dean finally sank back against the pillows and took a shallow breath. His gaze flickered over to Sam and he forced a slight smile when he saw Bobby step around his brother. He nodded at both the members of his family. He reached up with his good hand and his fingers closed around his amulet and he pulled in a relieved breath. He looked back over at Sam and Bobby and smiled slightly.

"Merry Christmas, brother." Sam said as he limped forward.

* Merry Christmas, little brother. * Dean signed. His gaze flickering between Sam and over to Bobby's smiling face.

"Glad you made it, kid." He said gruffly.

They still hadn't found their father, but at least they were together…and for now that was enough.

THE END

Author's Note: Hope you guys like this little fiction. It was rattling around and there are probably more of them where this came from. Thanks to every one that reviewed, read, favorited, or followed. I never intended this to go longer than 10 chapters. I am working on something in a Deaf!Dean verse. But it will be completely separate from this whole storyline. Hope you guys enjoyed reading.

Please Review: I'd like to know what you think of the end.