The Call

By: Cheryl W.

Summary: "Sammy, I think I totaled the Impala," came Dean's voice across the cell lines

Author's Note: Just something I wrote for fun because I needed a quick fix of the guys. I wrote this before "Dead Man's Blood" and John's heartless comment to Dean about the Impala. (My take on Dean's reaction to that dig I've saved for another fic.)

Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural, Dean or Sam, or the Impala nor am I making any profit from this story.

Sam answered his cell phone on the third ring. "Yeah."

"Sammy, I think I totaled the Impala," came Dean's voice across the cell lines, the catch in his voice crystal clear.

Sam's heart pounded in his chest, "Are you hurt, Dean?"

"The deer…I didn't even have a chance to hit the brakes."

"They're fast, I know. So how badly are you hurt?"

"Dad gave me the car when I was sixteen, remember. He put the keys in the cereal box."

"I remember. Where are you Dean? What road are you on?"

"He and Mom used to joke that Mom married him for his car, for the Impala. She loved going for drives in it." There was an edge to Dean's voice like he was going to cry. "Dad loves this car, Sammy. When he finds out I totaled it…'cause of a deer. A deer Sam. Outta all the stuff we go up against, a deer takes out both me and the Impala."

Terror overrode everything else in Sam as he heard Dean include himself in the "taken out" description. "Dad loves you more than that car, Dean! So did Mom. Now where were you heading when you hit the deer?"

"To talk to that ranger, the one that saw the black dog."

"The ranger station? That's where you were headed?"

"Yeah." Weaker, disoriented.

"On Logger Road…the road we drove yesterday to see the sight of the attack?" Silence. "Dean! Answer me Dean!"

"What? Yeah..the road we took yesterday."

"Alright, stay on the line, I'm calling for an ambulance."

"I need a tow truck…not someone cheap either."

"Yeah, just hold on. And stay awake Dean." No response. "Dean!"

"Yeah, yeah. What?"

"Stay awake…make sure no one starts salvaging the Impala for parts."

"Right, stay awake, guard the Impala. Good thinking Sammy."

A few minutes later….

"Dean, the Impala still doing OK?"

"Nobody's come to scavenger her yet."

"Good. Good," Sam started his stolen car and set a new speed record as he pulled onto the road. "She's not on fire is she?"

"No."

"You still inside or did you get out?"

"I'm still inside. Her windshield's cracked…I just got it replaced after those bullet holes last month."

"You hit your head on the windshield?"

"Hey I didn't put all the cracks in her?" Defiance. "The deer, it hit the windshield too."

Sam closed his eyes at the knowledge that Dean's head hit the windshield hard enough to crack it at all. He cursed the old car that didn't have seat belts. "So how much blood are we going to have to clean out of her interior?" trying to sound joking, not like he wanted to burst into tears.

"Not as much as the time Dad got stabbed by the ghost in El Paso."

Sam was not reassured, his father's blood had coated the front seat, the steering wheel and the driver's door paneling. Having turned onto Logger Road, Sam scanned the ditches on both sides of the highway for the sight of the Impala.

"You gotta convince Dad it wasn't my fault. That I didn't mean to."

To Sam his brother's words sounded like a goodbye speech. "Me? I'm not telling Dad. You are."

"Sammy…I think you're gonna have to tell him." Voice fading away.

"Dean, you stay awake! That's an order, Dean. Stay awake. I swear to you Dean, if that car's the reason you die, I'll salt it and burn it. I will!"

"Sammy…it's just a car, dude."

Stunned at his brother's turn about, Sam caught the sight of a black car in the ditch ahead. Slamming on the breaks, he ran from the car and down the embankment. The sight of the Impala on its roof, its driver's side panel smashed made Sam breath come from him harshly. Crashing to his knees beside the driver's side, he saw Dean, lying on the overturned roof, still, then his eyes opened slowly to look at him. "Sammy," Dean breathed, blood matting his hair and still running down his face, his shirt and jeans ripped and bloody.

"Dean!" Sam sobbed, reaching in and pulling his brother from the Impala, wincing at the cry of pain the movement elicits from his brother. With his brother draped across his lap, Sam looked down at Dean's bloody face and glazed eyes and pulled him tighter against his chest. "Ambulance is on it's way, Dean. Just stay awake for a while longer."

"So how bad's the car?"

"Better than you."

"Gotta love the American classics."

"Yeah, you do," Sam said, stroking Dean's bloodied hair with love in his eyes for his brother.

Finally a siren is heard and Sam was thanking God.

A day later…..

"You'll be happy to know the Impala's frame wasn't too damaged, a few well placed hammer hits and the body mechanic says she'll be almost good as new."

"The car…that's all you care about. I'm here lying in a hospital, a concussion, internal bleeding …I almost died and all you can think about is the Impala. It's not even your car."

"I give up. I really do," Sam said, slumping into the chair beside his brother's hospital bed. A beat later, he saw a grin emerge on his brother's bandaged face. "You jerk!" discerning that he was getting played. "All I heard from you was about that car! You wouldn't tell me how badly you were hurt, where you were, nothing! All you talked about was that car!"

"It's a member of the family, Sammy."

"If you ever again value that car's ….framework…more than your own health, your own life, I will salt and burn it, Dean. I will."

"No you won't."

"Dad always taught us to protect each other against any threat."

"The Impala isn't a threat!"

"You were lying there, seriously hurt, and you told me to call for a tow truck."

"So?"

"I think your obsession with that car has warped your self preservation. That's a threat in my book."

Suddenly, an orderly popped his head into the room, "Ah…you the guy wanting to sell the '67 Chevy Impala."

"No!" Dean yelled nearly coming off the bed.

Sam put his hand on his brother's shoulder, forcing him back into the mattress. "Promise me you'll never worry more about that car's fate than your own health. That means no worrying about blood stains on the way to hospitals, scrapes on her when monster trucks are chasing you or hesitating to drive her into a house if the need arises."

"Come on, Sam. Be reasonable."

Sam turned to the orderly, "You said you'd give me how much?"

"Alright, I promise." At Sam's full attention and raised eyebrow, "I promise I won't put the car's wellbeing ahead of my own. Satisfied?"

"Yeah." Sam turned to orderly, "Thanks for playing your part."

Orderly smiled, "Thanks for the twenty bucks," and disappeared from the presence of the two brothers.

"What? You paid him to pretend ….you were never gonna….oh paybacks…."

"Do your worst but you can't take back your promise."

"You play dirty, Sammy."

"Learned from the best, Dean. Now why don't you be a good boy, eat your jello and take a nice long nap and dream about the Impala."

"I don't dream about the Impala!"

"You sure about that!" Sam smirked, a gleam of mirth in his eyes.

The End.

I know corny but that was the mood I was in.

(For anyone who cares, I am working diligently on the last chapter of Room to Breathe this morning. With any luck, I'll have it ready to post tomorrow.)