Thank you so so much to Pixel seriously the best beta in the world ever. I was at risk losing my flight getting this out (having thought I was an hour early...when I was in fact an hour late) so she dutifully posted 9 and 10 for me so its thanks to her y'all got this when you did this :)
Chapter 10
When the Max and Alec finally caught up with the Winchesters, they saw Sam placing his brother in the backseat as carefully as possible and apparently debating with himself whether he should drive or get in the back with him. He turned and half smiled at Alec, who held his palms open, enough of a signal for Sam to toss the keys in his direction and climb into the back seat.
Max jumped into the passenger seat and turned around instantly, asking about Dean's condition.
"Has he been out long?" she questioned, remembering her surprise at seeing him fighting earlier.
"No," Sam answered, touching his brother's forehead. "Shit, he's burning up," he muttered, checking his brother's neck with the back of his hand to find that it too was as hot. "He has a fever?" he questioned Alec as he drove, who nodded grimly.
"He wasn't exactly cared for in there."
"What about you?" Max asked, carefully, turning back in her seat and staring at Alec.
"Me?" His eyes flickered to hers for a moment, "You know me, Maxie. I'm always all right."
Max groaned and stared out of the window for the rest of the drive, only turning to look at the back seat and its passengers at the low moans their injured party let out as the car was jostled.
The gravel beneath the tires jumped up beneath the spinning rubber creating dust clouds as they roared down the back roads, hurrying as much as they could in a city on high alert. Alec took as many routes as he could to avoid the check points—and Max had ordered Sam to crouch down and cover his brother with the blanket beneath the seat she had seen before they reached the final barrier between them and Logan's place.
"Jam Pony messengers," Alec and Max chirped, showcasing their ID's with wide smiles to distract the officer, succeeding in doing so spectacularly.
Once they were close enough, Alec parked the car, ran to the back and carried Dean in the same fashion as he had earlier. Max and Sam followed closely behind as they rushed back up to Logan.
"Easy, buddy," Alec muttered as he rushed through the door of the penthouse, and lowered Dean onto the couch, frowning at the warmth of his twin's skin despite the obvious shivering as though freezing.
"Is he okay?" Logan asked, swallowing the bile in his throat. He hadn't been sure what to expect, what to steel himself for, but he had hoped the man might have been conscious or at least able to walk in on his own.
As Alec backed up, Dean's head rolled to the side, and Sam sat himself beside him, as though his being there might offer a subconscious comfort. His brother's eyelashes seemed so dark against such a pale white background, and his pasty skin allowed for his freckles to stand out massively. He looked so much younger, and so ill that Sam felt a lump form in his throat.
He could vaguely hear Logan's insistent voice speaking to someone on the phone and was aware of Alec sorting out the guest bedroom for Dean. Max handed Sam a glass of water in case Dean needed it, and Sam managed to get a few sips down his brother's throat before he started coughing it back up.
"This Sam Carr, he can be trusted?" Sam asked, after Logan had explained who he had called—and who was now currently checking Dean for life-threatening injuries—and Sam had finished helping Alec take Dean into the spare room.
"I wouldn't have let him in there if he couldn't be," Logan said reassuringly. "He'll take care of Dean, Sam, but in the mean time, maybe you should—"
"If you tell me to rest, I can't be held responsible for my actions."
Logan smirked, somewhat surprised at the outburst, but conceded to what Sam wanted.
"All right then, coffee?"
"Is there something you're not telling me?" Carr asked Logan as soon as he came out of Dean's room. He had been in there quite some time, and Sam had already gone through two cups of coffee and paced in front of the door long enough to leave impressions on the wooden floor.
Logan didn't answer the doctor. Neither did Max or Alec on either side of him, and this other man, whom Dr. Carr had not met before, had seemed numb since before he had arrived. Understandable though, if he was the patient's brother.
"Bruised ribs, burn marks all over his body. Rope burns on his wrists and ankles, massive contusions on the neck and torso," Sam Carr began, rattling off the list of injuries, "Logan, there was Sodium Pentathol in his system, where the hell has this kid been?"
"Wait, Sodium what?" Max asked, and Dr. Carr sighed before explaining, subtly avoiding Sam's gaze now that he knew he was the patient's brother.
"It's a chemical, a barbiturate—"
"In English?" Sam asked, breath catching in his throat. Dr. Carr sighed, finally looking up at him.
"They decrease higher cortical brain functioning. To lie, you have to use more of your higher brain functions; it's more complex."
"And that's what the Sodium Pentathol did?"
"Yes, it depressed the central nervous system; it lowers blood pressure and slows the heart rate. Because of the relaxed state the subject is in, produced by the drug, they're easier to interrogate."
Sam's forehead creased in his grief. He looked toward the door between he and his brother and turned back to Dr. Carr, fighting to keep a hold of his emotions.
"Did he—I mean, how—"
"I noticed the symptoms, checked it out. Your brother didn't know about it; he must have been unconscious when it was administered."
"What are the side effects?" Sam asked, now even more concerned and anger boiling.
"Your brother's lucky, anaesthetics can lead to hypotension and obstructed airways. Granted, because it's still in his system, there's still the risk. You'll have to keep an eye on him, if his breathing's too shallow, or if his skin shows discolouration."
"I know what to do," Sam whispered, and Dr. Carr frowned, almost surprised. "He—uh—when we were younger, our dad busted up his ribs pretty badly. Dean made sure I knew what to do as well as he did. In case..." He stopped, and once again found himself staring at the door.
"Are there any other side effects we should know about?" Alec asked, breaking his own silence, seeing as Sam wasn't about to speak up any time soon.
"Only the ones he's exhibiting, headache, nausea, severe drowsiness, and I wouldn't be surprised if he showed some kind of delirium, especially thanks to that fever of his. But that should clear away soon." He tried to smile reassuringly.
"What about his other injuries?"
"They'll heal; he's sleeping now."
"Thank you," Sam croaked, excusing himself and grabbing his phone tightly in his palm. He had a call to make.
"Logan?" Sam Carr called, "Can I have a word with you?" And it was clear he meant privately.
"Sure," Logan smiled, leading his friend to the door. "What is it?"
"He's dehydrated, malnourished, his skin shows major trauma, the bruising to his torso, I've never seen it so bad, and there's only so much morphine I can give him. What's going on?"
"Sam," Logan began, addressing his friend by his first name, "I really appreciate everything you—"
"That's not an answer. Look, I trust your judgement Logan, and if he's a friend of Eyes Only, then he's a friend of mine, but the kid's been through hell. Maybe you should involve the authorities? Or at least get him to a hospital?"
"Why do you think I called you?" Logan said, smiling. "Look, he can be trusted, but the authorities might not agree, it's too risky. I know you're just trying to help."
"Then let me know if you need more supplies, and I'll see what I can do," he finished with a resigned sigh, and left the penthouse.
"We have to stop him," Sam said simply, referring to Ames White.
"You don't think we've tried?" Max asked, taking the comment offensively.
"He's still around, isn't he?"
"Hey, lay off Sam," Alec muttered, though his voice lacked any conviction.
"Why can't you just--" But Sam stopped himself, aware of where he was going.
"He isn't a demon to be stopped," Max explained. "He's a man, and you have no idea how hard it is for me to say this but we can't just kill him, it brings too many problems to the surface."
"Forgetting the fact that we'd have a dead-government-agent to clean up, but it could risk exposure for every transgenic. His team could turn the city into a bloodbath, saying that some poor unsuspecting man of the law had been murdered."
"So me and Dean... we just have to run?"
"Don't you do that anyway?"
"No, we don't. Things run from us, not the other way around."
"What about the police? Dean's been accused of murder."
"And he's buried in St Louis, as far as they're concerned. There are no police after us, not knowingly."
"But this demon, he's after your family."
"He's running from us, and we know how to protect ourselves against ghosts and demons, they have patterns, but people, the government? What happens when White comes back for revenge? What happens when the next guy looks at Dean and sees a transgenic?"
"The same thing that'll happen if someone from St Louis sees him, Sam. It's the same problem. Same risk."
"So this is our fault?"
"That isn't what she means Sam," Alec said carefully, clearly trying to avoid more of a confrontation after everything they had been through to get Dean back safely.
"I'm sorry Sam, but you can't just expect us to kill him. He's a problem for us too, but he's not the only one out there."
"He's the one who has a grudge against you in particular, against Alec, against Dean—"
"No, Sam, okay? I'm sorry, but no," Max finished, leaving Sam and Alec alone in the living room. "I'll tell Normal you're ill or something," she muttered in her transgenic friend's direction and let the door slam on her way out.
Alec might have growled had Sam not been in front of him. Now he was stuck there, in the awkward position of dealing with his double. Max's words stopped his escape, and he knew she had been well aware of that as she said them. He also knew Normal would never take his absence out on his golden-boy either.
"No!" A scream from the other room, and Sam was gone in an instant to get to his brother.
Fingers pull and prod, nails dig deep, and there's a stench on the air. Walls loom high above, gnawing jaws so close. Drool dripping, breath on your skin and your father's voice in the distance calling out to you, screaming your name.
Before distant wind takes the echo away, and he's gone. He's hunting, ordering you to take down names, ordering you to listen, to obey. Do as I say, not as I do, do as I say, do it, do it.
"Dean?"
"What are you gonna do, Sam? The gun's filled with rock-salt, it's not gonna kill me."
The shot rings out, and you're thrown back, landing on metal, hands at your sides and cuffed before you can move away.
"I'll get what I want. One way or another."
And Sam isn't the one standing in front of you anymore.
White, with a loaded pistol and his hand raised against—not you—your brother. Gun aimed. Trigger pulled and—
"No!"
"Dean?"
The voice was loud, and when he turned his head, swimming as it was, he saw the light from outside of the door shining brightly, silhouetting the shaggy-haired figure standing there.
"Are you okay?"
Dean blinked, trying to get rid of the drowsy feeling but failing miserably as he sank back into his pillows. Nodding best he could.
It was gone midnight, far gone, and dawn, or rather the twilight-like-sky of pre-dawn, was rising across the Seattle skyline. The dilapidated Space Needle just visible in the background, though still nothing more than a silhouette until daybreak.
"Thank you," Sam said earnestly, as Alec joined him in staring out of the window. He scoffed at the words.
"I got myself caught, I could have gotten him killed."
"Has Max had a go at you yet?"
"No—"
"Then save the explanation for when she does," Sam said, smiling slightly. "Alec, you helped me find my brother, that's all I wanted. You kept him alive, and I'm grateful. So, thank you."
"Well when you put it like that," Alec grinned and Sam rolled his eyes, hoping it wouldn't be too long until Dean too was back in the same mood Alec was currently exhibiting.
When dawn finally did break sometime before five, Sam was still awake, watching in fascination of how people went about their daily business as though the world surrounding them wasn't crumbling into pieces.
How they had no idea of what was going on right underneath their nose. And according to Logan, they knew nothing more than what a few untrustworthy tabloids had posted to create fear and paranoia.
His reverie was soon broken when once again he heard his brother's mutterings grow louder and louder. With Alec, Max and Logan currently asleep in the living room, he made the distance to the guest bedroom quickly before any of them would be woken up.
"Dean," he whispered once he was by his brother's side. "Dean, it's okay, you're okay now."
But his brother was thrashing wildly against the covers, teeth bared as though trying to stop from crying out. Sam reached out carefully and touched his brother's skin, thankful to feel the temperature lower than it had been earlier yesterday. The fever had broken earlier than he had expected, but the nightmare was still keeping a hold of his brother tightly.
Just as Sam was leaving the room he heard a small voice mutter something, and he turned around.
"What?" he asked his brother, who then repeated himself.
"I said thanks."
"For what?" Sam asked, confused.
"Saving my ass," Dean said, a small smile playing on his lips as he lay back onto the pillows, and Sam hoped his brother could get the sleep he needed now at least.
"No problem, Dean."
"Nightmare?" Alec asked when Sam returned a few short moments later, and he nodded sadly. Though only Alec remained awake which was some small miracle he supposed.
"He'll be okay," he comforted, and Sam nodded.
"I know he will."
After all, it would take a lot to stop Dean from getting on with his life. With hunting. And White just wasn't it.
"All right, well you seem a lot better," Dr. Carr noted as he put away his stethoscope and tools back into his medical bag.
Six days had passed, and they had been lazed away with Dean being ordered to stay in bed and eat what he could, drink more than he should, and rest, rest, rest.
"I feel a lot better," Dean said simply.
"All the same, you should still take it easy," Dr. Carr explained over the roar of rain outside. "But the burns are healing up nicely, and with the fever gone, your health is showing definite signs of improvement."
Dean smiled.
"What about your appetite? Logan said your brother's been getting you to eat small portions."
"They've been getting bigger though."
Dr. Carr nodded, understanding.
"Keep your strength up. Drink plenty of fluids, and stay away from tazers."
"Understood."
"Nice seeing you again, Dean," Dr. Carr smiled as he left the room, meaning it, and as he made to leave the penthouse once he had filled Sam in on the details, Logan stopped him and offered him a lift.
"It's not far—"
"It's raining, come on, I'm going that way anyway."
"I'm not an expert, but shouldn't you be asleep or something? You know, resting?" Alec asked when he entered the guest room to see Dean dressed in the sweats Sam had gotten in from the car, standing by the window.
"What's with his car?" Dean said, ignoring Alec and watching through the window as Logan pulled out of his parking space and drove the good doctor back to the hospital.
"Don't let Logan hear you bitching. He's actually proud of that thing."
"I can't even tell what it is," Dean said, sounding surprised, but Alec understood.
"That's cause it has so many different cars on it. I swear, there are less parts in a junk-yard."
"So he can afford the penthouse but not the Aston Martin."
"I don't even know how Logan affords the penthouse. Besides, people with those kinds of cars are just over-compensating."
Dean grinned.
"But," Alec continued, "it's nothing like yours, huh, a true American classic—"
"You drove my car?"
"I never said that."
"You didn't need to. You drove my car?" Dean repeated.
"Is there a problem with that?" Alec asked, skirting around the accusation.
"Yeah," Dean stressed.
"Then no, no I did not."
"Oh please, we suck at lying."
"No we don't," Alec said, frowning.
"No, you're right. You suck at lying."
"Oh, I suck? You're the one who keeps telling everyone you're fine."
"Interesting shift in conversation."
"Everyone's worried about you."
"So tell me, if everyone was treating you like glass, would you admit it if you weren't okay?"
"I wasn't the one tortured."
"No, I was, so I'll deal with it," Dean said, his anger growing slightly.
"Alone? Oh yeah, that's a good idea."
"I don't need your advice."
"Well, you won't listen to anyone else's."
"So now because you look like me, you get to tell me what to do? Go to hell."
"Don't try your diversion tactics on me, I can spot them a mile off, and I bet Sam can too. You can't handle this on your own, and Sam has a right to know if this happens again."
"Again? So this isn't it. White's gonna keep coming after me thinking it's you?"
"Only next time he'll know."
"Dammit, why can't you all just pick on someone else?" he asked, though Alec wasn't sure the question was directed at him. Dean's neck was craned so that he was staring up at the ceiling, and it seemed as though Dean was asking someone up there.
"Who's picking on you?"
"You are! You and your evil twin, and my evil shape shifter twin, god, it's bad enough I'm dead, but now I'm gonna be hunted?"
"It isn't that bad."
"And why the hell do you look like me anyway? I've been here nearly a week, and no one's had the decency to explain."
"Sam tried."
"No, Sam tried to get me to sleep, again."
"Look, we don't know. We have different DNA, completely different, I'm not related to you, or Sam, so we can either let this annoy us until we die, or let it go."
"Let it go? You're my twin, how am I supposed to let this go."
"Sam said doppelganger," Alec explained simply.
"Doppelganger means the evil twin theory, neither of us is evil, or pure of heart, and meeting your doppelganger brings doom on earth. So far, I'm just getting annoyed."
"What do you want me to say, Dean?"
"Forget I mentioned it," Dean sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed stiffly. Alec followed suit.
"So, I told you a fair bit back there in that cell, care to return the favour?"
"What do you want to know?"
"These nightmares of yours..."
And Dean was forced to explain them best he could, well aware that Alec was blackmailing Dean into sharing his problems for once. But somehow it didn't seem so bad telling himself his own insecurities.
Sam saw Logan at his desk, sorting through documents and deleting some. Strolling over, he tried to seem as casual as possible, though the questions were burning inside of him.
"How do you know my father?" He asked simply, straight to the point, and Logan smiled as though caught in a memory.
"Long story, but apparently someone called him complaining about monsters—"
"They weren't?" Sam asked, noticing the tone in which Logan was explaining it all to him.
"No, they were transgenics, but I couldn't let your dad know that."
"You lied to him?" There was amusement in Sam's accusation.
"I withheld the truth to protect others."
"And you kept in touch?"
"Less suspicious." Logan grinned as he turned back to his computer for a moment.
"Hey, you mind if I have that picture?" Sam asked, pointing to the computer, referring to the one his father had emailed Logan in the first place.
"Sure," he nodded, smiling and printing it for Sam.
"I don't really have that many," he explained, though there was no need.
"Here," Logan gestured to the print out in his hand, and Sam thanked him once more before walking back into the living room.
"You know, what you did was incredibly stupid," he overheard Max tell Alec simply, smiling still, as she finished lacing the last loops of her boots, and tucked her jeans over them. "But you did get him back, you should be proud of that much."
"It's my fault he was there at all," Alec said, and Sam felt the need to rush in and knock some sense into him, but he was sure Max would be doing that soon enough.
"And that's exactly the kind of attitude I was trying to avoid. I'm heading over to Joshua's, wanna tag along?" Max asked, already out of the door, not even waiting to hear Alec's exclamation of "Uh, okay," as he followed in pursuit.
Their goodbyes were half-assed, they needed nothing more. The only reason they had met had been under not-so-pleasant circumstances, and Sam was sure they had no plans of coming back to Seattle any time soon.
They did however promise to keep in touch if only to receive warnings about White's movements and shady plans. Dr. Carr had left antibiotics in Logan's possession, who then handed them over to Sam with the same instructions as Dr. Carr had given him.
"Force them down his throat if you have to. Just make sure he takes them."
Sam smiled at that and said his farewells to Max and Alec with more thanks and a nod of the head. Dean also thanked them, but his words with Alec were quieter, and Sam knew better than to pry, knowing that Dean didn't take to well to thanking anyone.
They left with fake sector passes and ID's thanks to Logan's hospitality and tried their best to pick up their journey where it had left off.
They were less than ten minutes away from the penthouse when Max and Alec caught up on the back of her motorcycle, telling them to change directions.
While Dean took up all of Sam's time reminding his little brother that he was more than okay, to which Sam scoffed and pointed out all of the evidence that disproved this, the younger Winchester had abandoned his phone. Reaching for his phone, atop of the Seattle Space Needle, Sam saw the flashing light of many a missed call, all from various payphones across the country.
Being up there was like nothing he had ever done before. He was on top of the Space Needle, not inside staring at the graffiti walls and broken windows, but on top, resting on the top of the Seattle Space Needle.
Getting up there had been surprisingly easy. He and Dean had gone as far as humanly possible, and Alec and Max had given them the extra boost to the top. He was pretty sure they'd stop them from falling too.
They had so far.
Dean was resting his head on his bent knees, cradling them as he stared down at the darkening skyline. There wasn't a sunset, but it was close.
When Sam watched him he could see how tired his brother looked, practically falling asleep right there and then. Though, Sam wasn't one to talk. He'd barely slept himself. He'd been too immersed in making sure Dean was still breathing. His brother had long since gotten the all clear, but that didn't let Sam forget how worried he had been during the first few days. With the threat of hypoxia looming over them. Of the fever spiking, and Dean's constant nightmares waking him nearly every hour.
He wondered if his father's cell phone would even still be in service, or if he could even get service so high up, but he dialled it anyway and was pleasantly surprised at the barking booming voice on the other end. Shouting at him.
"Sam? What the hell's going on? Where's Dean? I've been calling for days!"
Alec and Max heard the voice clear as day and both shared amused looks from where they sat near Dean. Sam and his brother had barely left when Max had the idea to show the two the best part of the city. And since she was sure they wouldn't be coming back any time soon, she figured she might as well take them there.
It would have been cruel to leave Alec behind.
"Sorry, Dad. Got a little caught up," Sam muttered, shaking Dean's arm to make sure he was awake, and not staring at the sky.
"Caught up? Damn it, Sam, your brother—"
"Is right next to me," Sam said, cutting his father off and laughing at the deathly silence on the other end. "It's for you." He motioned to Dean who was wide eyed and frowning. He handed the cell over to his brother. Dean got up to his feet—causing Max and Alec's hands to shoot up in case he fell back down again—and he walked to the other side of the circled roof. The howling wind and Max and Alec's purposely loud talking stopped him from hearing what was said and he glared in their direction.
When he finally returned to their little spot on the Seattle Space Needle's roof—Sam doubted he was ever going to get used to that—nearly an hour later, Dean was smiling more than he had been at all since his rescue, and Sam wished more than anything that he hadn't decided not to eavesdrop on that phone conversation.
"So, where are we headed?" Dean asked, in a tone that begged for Sam to just forget the near-broken man who had been occupying Dean Winchester's life for the last month or so.
"How should I know?" Sam asked.
"You know that's twice I've saved your ass now," Sam observed quietly, and Dean seemed completely unperturbed.
"Oh please, Dean and I had a plan, we would have gotten out." Alec butted in. Sam scoffed, aware of how much Alec's plan had pretty much sucked.
"Sure you would've," Sam replied sarcastically.
"Don't start, Sammy," Alec warned, eyes trained on the youngest man among them.
"It's Sam." Both Dean and Sam said in unison.
Max and Alec span to face them at the same time, and cried, "Oh for the love of god, give it up already!"
-FIN
Disclaimer to end all disclaimers: Fox owned Dark Angel, but now it belongs to Fandom dammit! And The WB own Supernatural :)
Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, and hey, if you're reading this for the first time, review! Let me know what you thought :)