By infinite shadow
Standard disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognize in the following story. Not even the whitish plaster cast. Supernatural is owned by the WB, the CW and all
Author's note: A white cast is a terrible thing to waste. It needs to be decorated, doodled on and generally defaced with bright colours and silly drawings and all the names of your friends and loved ones. I realized late last night after watching a taped ep that Sam's cast was far too clean and something had to be done. Now. So here's my take. Thanks out to lynxlan who beta's this short piece over dinner tonight.
Be forewarned this is mostly a POV piece starting with Dean and then moving onto Sam with a touch of dialogue in the middle. There are 3 season 1 references to Asylum, Faith and the finale. There is a reference to Season Two's In My Time of Dying and of course Sammy's cast. Also there is slight language. Hey it's Dean's thoughts.
Oh and sorry for the post, delete and repost. I forgot to put up the warning about the episode references. Now on with the story. Enjoy!
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Dean sat in his bed and leaned up against his head board. He hadn't moved in over an hour as he openly watched his younger brother sleep. The white cast that currently splinted his little brother's arm called out to him, mocked him, telling him he should never use Sammy as bait. He was supposed to protect him, watch over him, do anything for him. But he'd done just the opposite and Sam had been injured. He couldn't ignore the mocking white plaster, but it shouldn't be this much of an issue. Neither one of them were strangers to the emergency room, or having broken limbs, or wearing casts. Both of them knew how bad it blew to sit in the waiting room killing time while the other was patched up. The only thing that was worse than killing time in the waiting room was being the one getting stitched up or encased in plaster.
In fact Dean had been counting his blessings. Neither of them had been hurt that badly since Sam had joined him on the road. Well if you didn't count being electrocuted and almost dying. Or if you didn't count being shot by your brother with rock salt. Or if you didn't count the incident with the Demon. Dean closed his eyes and shook his head almost violently for a second. Don't go there, do not think about the Demon. That lead to thinking about the cabin where his father was possessed, which lead to his beloved car being almost destroyed, which lead to waking in the hospital, which lead to thinking about his father, which lead him to a dark road of guilt, which lead him back to his dad. His heart clenched painfully. Dad.
Suddenly Dean scrunched up his eyes and rammed his head into the motel wall. So not going there. Not taking a walk into his dark subconscious. Going into that part of his mind was strictly prohibited. End of story.
Besides he had other things to worry about right now. His brother had a broken femur or something. Some bone or other was broken and he knew what it was. If he thought around the headache beginning to form he'd remember. But it didn't matter right this second.
He wondered why his little brother, king of the terror driven nightmares and insomnia, was sleeping like a baby and he was awake. Somehow the tables had been turned and he was sitting here watching his brother sleep after waking from a nightmare. A nightmare about him prowling around a hospital where no one, not even the psychic wonder over there peacefully sleeping, could see him. Although there was something about an Ouija board. The same board that was now riding around in his trunk that Sam didn't know he knew about. He didn't want to think about the nightmares, or about the Ouija board. So he went back to do something that was second nature to him - worrying about Sammy.
Then it hit him like a violent ice cold shower. The white plaster cast. It was still white, ok a little yellowed, but it was unmarked. It was too whitish yellow. It was too pristine. It had not been defaced by doodles, words or colours.
An idea quickly formed and he slowly got out of bed. He was exhausted but knew he wouldn't be able to sleep until he'd done this. Sam would probably try to kick his ass for doing this, but he wasn't worried. His little brother may be taller than he was but he could never take him in a fight. He'd trained him and knew where all his brother's weak spots were. Besides the too tall psychic geek boy was currently too tall psychic geek with a cast boy.
Dean rummaged through his bag and as his hand pulled out a magic marker his face broke out in an almost manic grin. This was going to be great. He must be slipping as it had taken him this long to do this. After all it was his duty as an older brother to protect and tease the crap out of his younger sibling. This was the perfect opportunity. How could he possibly pass it up?
Slowly and quietly he crept over to the occupied bed. He watched for a moment as his target rose up and down on the chest with each deep breath. He leaned over his little brother with magic marker in hand and snickered softly as he readied his attack.
"Dean?" Sam said sleepily.
Suddenly he found himself staring into half open glassy eyes. "Hey Sammy," Dean said softly as he looked down at his brother and quickly dropped the marker onto the floor so it was out of Sam's view.
"What cha doin'?" Sammy asked.
Dean realized what the glassy eyes meant and adjusted the covers over the mostly asleep boy slightly. "Just checkin on you."
"Oh," Sam said sounding surprised. "'M fine."
"You take your pain meds like I told you?" Dean asked.
"Yeah," Sam sighed slightly.
"How do you feel?" Dean asked.
"Floaty," Sam said and smiled a little. "I like feeling floaty. It's nice."
"Yeah I bet you do," Dean said and smiled slightly as he gazed down at him with brotherly affection. "Close your eyes and go back to sleep."
"Ok," Sam said and did as he was told. "You still gonna teach me to drive tomorrow?"
"I told you I would little man," Dean said softly using a nickname he hadn't spoken in years as he gently moved the long bangs out of his eyes. Suddenly he found himself doubting his decided course of action. "But if you don't go back to sleep I'll make you wait a few more days."
"Kay. Night Dean," Sam murmured.
"Night Sammy," Dean said and watched over him for a few moments waiting for his brother to slip deeper into his drug induced dream world. He pushed away his doubts at marking the cast. Doing something like this while his little brother was asleep defined normal Winchester style.
When he was satisfied that his brother was truly asleep he picked up the fallen marker and grinned. He was going to enjoy this far too much. Leaning back over his sibling he put black felt marker to plaster. This was far too easy.
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Sam woke much later. Slowly he went from aware of his surroundings to completely awake. He took a deep breath and tried to shake off the small headache he had. It was the downside to the pain meds. Each morning he had just the slightest hangover from them.
He kicked off the covers and sat up as he swung his legs over the side of the bed. Glancing around he saw the clock said it was just past six am and the light was just beginning to peek around the curtains. His brother was sleeping on his side facing him and he couldn't help but smile. Dean had always looked younger but still somehow guarded while he slept. He could never explain that to anyone but had woke to the sight most of his life. Dean was always on guard duty with him. When he first woke and looked at him Dean would be frowning, like he realized that Sam was awake even while he continued to sleep. It was eerie and comforting all at the same time.
Sighing quietly he stood and made his way into the bathroom. He turned on the water to wash his face and waited for it to warm up. Looking up he took in his reflection as he tried to decide whether or not he needed to shave that morning. He started to bring his plaster encased hand up to touch his jaw when he suddenly paused. His cast that had been almost perfectly clean when he'd gone to bed was now covered in his older brother's writing and doodling.
At first he just stared at the markings until his surprise turned to annoyed. He smacked the corner of the sink with his uninjured hand. So that's why Dean was so insistent that he take his pain mends last night. Then just as quickly the anger was gone and he felt as if a huge weight had lifted from his shoulders.
He closed his eyes and shook his head while he smiled slightly. Well he'd been expecting it and he had started to wonder why it hadn't happened yet. He looked down at the marks on the whitish plaster and small smile grew into a large dimpled grin. It was a huge relief. Dean had done something normal. As normal as calling him a girl or Samantha. Normal wasn't something he'd had from his closed off brother in months. Not since…
Nope. Definitely not going there.
He considered doling out some payback but realized that he wasn't all that interested right now. He'd take any kind of normal, even the Winchester version of normal. But he couldn't just leave it and do nothing. Although doing nothing could work quite well for a while. Dean would be waiting for him to do some knee-jerk reaction type of prank. Having his brother expect something, anything, in the form of payback would put him on carefully masked pins and needles for days. That could be interesting on it's own.
Smiling to himself he prepared some coffee then got dressed as the coffee brewed. He poured himself a cup then settled back on his bed resting up against pillows and the headboard. Quietly he surfed the net because somewhere out there was the perfect revenge. He'd take the time, find it, set it up and execute it perfectly.
After all revenge was a dish best served icy cold.
The end.
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Author's note: There also may be a companion piece if I can come up with one. Although I don't currently have one as I have anther story that needs to be tweaked and posted. The one after that is almost ready to be sent to my beta. So the creative juices are running dangerously low.. So if you have a suggestion for a companion piece possibly called Sammy's revenge PM me or put it in a review and I'll see what I can do. I will happily read and possibly use the suggestions. Maybe even more than one. Grins evilly. Thanks for reading!