I wrote another one. I suppose I'm on a bit of a writing binge for this series, lol. Standard Disclaimers apply. Please enjoy

July 2006

Clint walked up to the front desk of the hospital, feeling absolutely sick to his stomach. He still didn't know what was wrong with his father and brothers.

"I'm Clint Barton," Clint said when he reached the desk.

The receptionist raised her head to look at him and nodded after a moment.

"Mr. McGillicutty and one of his sons are awake, currently," she informed him.

"And the other son?" Clint asked her, trying to keep the panic out of his voice. Dad and Sammy were awake, that meant they were okay. But Dean…

She looked past him at Laura and Adam, who had matching anxious expressions written all over their faces. Looking back at Clint, she offered him a sad smile.

"He's currently in a coma." She scribbled something on a small piece of notepaper and handed it to him. "You all can go visit them, if you promise not to make too much of a ruckus."

"Thanks," Laura called to her as the three of them headed towards John's room.

Clint had a bone to pick with his father. As he walked into John's hospital room, his wife and his half-brother trailing after him, John's head turned towards him. A tired smile crossed his face when he saw his adopted son.

"Clint," he began, but stopped short when he saw the blond teenage boy enter the room. "Adam?" His eyes were wide, and he looked towards Clint again. "How?"

The archer crossed his arms over his chest, glaring slightly at his father.

"I had a case in Wisdom. Kid's mom got taken by a 'non-human entity'." He said. "I asked about the dad, and guess what he said?"

John closed his eyes briefly, taking a deep breath before looking at his sons and daughter-in-law.

"I didn't want him to have this life," he all but whispered. "I didn't want you or your brothers to have it either, Clint, but it was your mother that demon killed."

"And you couldn't tell me that I had brothers?" Adam cried. "That I had family other than you and Mom?" The poor boy's face looked absolutely heart broken and betrayed, and Clint felt somewhat the same.

John opened his mouth, weather to apologize or to argue, Clint didn't know, because he never actually spoke. Instead, he stared behind the group of people, right at the doorway where Sam had appeared with a duffle bag.

"Sam," Clint breathed, pulling his much taller little brother into a bone-crushing hug. Adam stood awkwardly off to the side, watching the exchange with an unreadable expression on his face.

"What's going on?" Sam grunted as his oldest brother released him. "Hey, Laura,"

Laura smiled tiredly at him.

"Hey, sweetie."

John's eyes darted between the three of his four sons, and he sighed after a moment.

"Adam is your half-brother," he said, gesturing towards the boy with the hand that didn't have IV's attached to it.

Sam did an impressive double take, which would have been completely hilarious if the situation wasn't so dire. His expression went from shock to anger to shock again, and finally to something that wasn't so easy to identify.

"Oh." He managed. "Hi."

Adam watched him for signs of anger towards him, the intruding bastard brother, but upon seeing none, he hesitantly stepped closer.

"Hey," he said.

Sam smiled down at him before looking at his father, his face deadly serious. He tossed the bag that he'd been holding onto the bed with a thump.

"Did you think I wouldn't find out?" he growled at John, and Adam took a step back in surprise.

John looked at him.

"About Adam? I-"

"No," Sam cut him off. "Not about Adam. That stuff from Bobby, you don't use it to ward of a demon, you use it to summon one. You're planning on bringing the demon here, aren't you?" His eyes flashed with anger. "Having some stupid macho showdown?"

John's face was set, and when he spoke to his son, it was as if they were the only two people in the room.

"I have a plan, Sam."

"Oh geeze," Clint muttered. This was going to turn into a full-out fight between his brother and his father, which was decidedly not a good way to welcome Adam to the family.

"That's exactly my point! Dean is dying, and you have a plan! You know what, you care more about killing this demon than you do saving your own son!"

Clint leaned towards his wife.

"Uh, take Adam into Dean's room, please?" he asked her, and she nodded, taking Adam and leading him out of the room.

"Do not tell me how I feel!" his father yelled back at Sam. "I am doing this for Dean."

Clint knew from experience – several years of it, they even argued when Sammy was little – that once Sam and his dad got to arguing, hardly anything could make them stop, so he supposed he'd just have to wait it out. He wanted to go into the other room to check on Dean, but someone had to be here to make sure that his father and his brother didn't shoot each other.

"How?" Sam shouted. "How is revenge going to help him? You're not thinking about anybody but yourself, it's the same selfish obsession!"

"You know, it's funny, I thought hit was your obsession, too! This demon killed your mother, killed your girlfriend. You begged me to be part of this hunt." John retorted. "Now if you'd killed that damn thing when you had the chance, none of this would have happened."

"It was possessing you, Dad, I would have killed you, too."

Well. That was some new information. Clint opened his mouth to say something about that little tidbit that Sam had let slip, but John beat him to it.

"Yeah, and your brother would be awake right now."

Wow. That was a low blow, even for him.

"Go to Hell," Sam spat.

John simply glared at his son.

"I should have never taken you along in the first place. I knew it was a mistake, I knew I was wrong-"

A glass that was sent crashing to the floor cut off his spiel. No one had touched the object.

"What?" Clint managed to say, and John just managed to shake his head, conveying his confusion. Sam stared at the spot on the bedside table where the glass had been, brows furrowed.

Suddenly, a gaggle of nurses and doctors started running by John's door in the hallway.

"Something's going on out there," John said, his voice slightly hoarse from his yelling match with Sam.

He jerked his head towards the door, indicating 'go find out' to Sam and Clint. Sam left in a huff, but Clint hesitated, turning back to his adoptive father.

"You don't need to be so hard on him," he said quietly, and John lowered his head with a sigh.

"I try not to be," he said, "but we're too alike. It was the same way with your father."

Your father. Clint's birth parents had rarely been discussed since he was four years old, and no one had even though to talk about them after Clint left all those years ago. He swallowed a lump in his throat. They would have to continue this discussion later, though. He still needed to see what was going on down the hall.

He walked out of his dad's room and down the hall, where Laura, Adam, and Sam stood outside of Dean's room. Clint managed to slip in next to Sam and poke his head through the door.

"Still no pulse," a nurse announced, and the doctor nodded.

"Okay," he said, "Let's go again, 360."

"Charging," the nurse replied, and Clint could only watch helplessly as he stood with his wife and brothers.

As they tried to restart Dean's heart, Clint blinked. He could have sworn that he'd heard his comatose brother's voice call out. Turning his head slightly to the side, he saw that Sam looked just as confused as he did.

If they'd both heard Dean… could it be that his spirit was here, outside of his body? The monitors attached to Dean slowed and quieted, and they stopped using the defibrillator.

"We have a pulse," the nurse said. "We're back into sinus rhythm."

Clint gave a sigh of relief, and felt Laura place her hands on his shoulders from behind.

"He's gonna be fine," she whispered in his ear. "He'll wake up."

Clint leaned against her for support.

Sam looked at Dean's prone form, a small frown on his face.

Word Count: 1,1489