Title: Fight

Author: Evenstar656

Summary: Prompt from hoodie-time. 'Dean develops hospital-acquired pneumonia while still in the hospital in OTHOAP'

Spoilers: OTHOAP

Disclaimer: They belong to Kripke; I'm just here to play. This is in no way meant to generate anything other than enjoyment.

Author's Notes: I've been recently introduced to Supernatural, so my goal was to catch up before the start of the new season (which I barely accomplished). I saw this prompt over at hoodie-time and I thought I'd try my hand at this fandom. This is a more fleshed out story than what I had posted over there. Just a little h/c, no slash. Dean was already in the hospital…I couldn't resist

I apologize for any mistakes, this was un-beta'd

xx

"It's not me."

Sam stood hidden from his brother and listened to the weight of the world fall on his shoulders. He felt his heart plummet to his stomach; his brother was broken. Dean's inner demons had been pulling him apart for months and this was the straw that broke the camel's back, he was responsible for setting in motion the events to end the world. Sam saw a tear slide its way down his brother's face as he turned his head away from Castiel.

"Dean…" Castiel began.

"Leave me alone," Dean forcefully rasped at the angel, cutting him off.

"You have to understand…"

"I think he wants you to leave," Sam stepped into the room.

Castiel stood up, eye to eye with Sam. He saw the determination in Sam's eyes and nodded before disappearing. Dean refused to turn his head and acknowledge his brother's presence. Sam knew better than to 'poke the bear' so he sat down in the vacated chair.

"Dean, I…"

"Sam," Dean growled.

"I just want you to know I'm here when you're ready. I'm not going to push you, just get better," he leaned back in the chair.

xx

Sam sat there silently observing his brother; it was a rare opportunity when he could watch without being told off. Dean had been beaten unmercifully. There were broken ribs, a cheekbone had been fractured, a nose had been dislocated, and a trachea nearly crushed. The sight of Dean gasping for air on the floor had sent Sam's stomach forcing it's way up his throat. He had pushed that feeling down and had gotten Dean to the hospital as fast as he could. The doctors and nurses had pulled Dean from the Impala so quickly his head spun. By the time he got through the doors his brother was already out of sight and into the restricted area.

It was hours later before he was told that the damage had been extensive, and that Dean had earned himself a one-way ticket to ICU when he stopped breathing. Castiel had refused to heal him, so it had been up to the tube down his throat and the medications they were pumping into his veins to keep him alive while the damaged tissues repaired themselves. Slowly but surely Dean's body gained ground and he was breathing on his own again. None of this would've happened if those angels hadn't taken him with them.

Sam's introspection was interrupted by a soft knock, followed by a bright-eyed nurse in purple scrubs entering the room.

"Hey Dean, I'm Julie, the night nurse. I'm here to get your vitals and then I'll let you rest," she walked around to the other side of the bed where the bank of monitors were standing sentry.

There was a slight not of approval from Dean before the nurse started going about her business. Sam watched her every move as she wrote down the information from the monitors, took Dean's pulse, checked his IV lines, and held the thermometer in his ear. Dean was pliant throughout everything.

"You're running a fever," she announced as the little machine beeped.

Sam perked up, "What is it?"

"One-oh-one point six. That's a little higher than what we'd like. Dean, are you hurting anywhere?"

"What does that mean?" Sam noticed a flush to his brother's cheeks as he shook his head.

"It could mean a few things. Can you sit up for me, Dean?" Julie already had her hand under his arm leaning him forward.

Sam saw his brother struggling to support himself so he stood up and took his other arm. He could feel some heat radiating from his brother's skin. The nurse let go of Dean's other side and rolled the back of his shirt up.

"I'm just going to listen to your lungs, try and breathe deeply," she placed her stethoscope in her ears and placed the bell on Dean's back. She moved the bell around to listen to all of the lung compartments before gently laying him down. She listened to his lungs from the front before pulling the earpieces out, "I'm hearing some congestion in lower right lobe so I'm gonna page his doctor and let him know what's going on."

"Is it serious?" Sam remained standing beside his brother.

"We'll let the doctor decide, it's definitely not something to ignore. Let me know if he starts coughing or anything like that. We'll get him feeling better soon," she smiled before walking out.

"Why didn't you say something, Dean?" Sam sat back down.

Dean turned away, ending the conversation. It wasn't long before a peppered haired doctor walked into the room with the nurse in tow. Sam was kicked out as they examined Dean.

"Are you his brother?" the doctor asked stepping out of the room.

"Yeah, I'm Sam, what's wrong with him?"

"I'm T.J. Graham. There's definitely some fluid in his lungs so we're going to get some blood work started, and get a chest x-ray to see what's going on. I saw in his chart that he was in ICU for a couple of days on a ventilator so it's likely that he's developing pneumonia."

"He didn't have a cold or anything before he was hurt."

"He was in pretty rough shape when he got here so his immune system isn't working at full steam to protect him from all the germs here at the hospital. It's fairly common for patients who've suffered his injuries and who've been mechanically ventilated to develop pneumonia. The good thing is that we caught this super early so we're going to start a stronger antibiotic to head this thing off before it gets serious."

"Thank you Dr. Graham."

"No problem, you can go back in there and sit with him."

Sam nodded and hastily returned to his brother. Julie had just finished drawing blood from Dean's arm and was folding his elbow over a piece of cotton. She added a bag to the IV line before collecting her paraphernalia and leaving the room. Dean looked absolutely miserable, there were dark circles underneath his glassy eyes. He didn't look this bad before that bastard Castiel had visited and dumped everything on him. It wasn't fair; Dean had given up his soul for him and was expected to save the world. He could see the green eyes struggling to stay open.

"Just rest Dean, I'm here. You'll start feeling better soon," he grabbed his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

xx

Dean did not start feeling better, if anything he was getting worse. A deep wet cough had taken a hold of his lungs and his temperature was sent soaring to 104 degrees. The nasal cannula had been switched to a mask when he started wheezing and his oxygen sats fell sharply, scaring Sam.

"S'my…"

"I'm here, Dean."

"S'my…" Dean was clenching and unclenching his fists.

"What's wrong?" Sam sat on the edge of the bed, grabbing one of his brother's hands.

"Don' feel 'ood," Dean mumbled.

"I know Dean, It takes time for the medicines to work."

"Sick," Dean was turning an alarming shade of green.

Sam quickly pulled the mask away and grabbed the kidney dish from the table, placing it under Dean's chin as he started heaving. There wasn't anything in his stomach so only bile came up. He pushed the call button as he brought his hand up to rub the back of his brother's neck. The episode passed and Dean leaned back on the bed panting.

"Oh dear," Julie said as she walked through the door and quickly crossed the room to the IV stand, "was he sick to his stomach?"

"Yeah, bile mostly," Sam stood up and showed her the contents of the kidney dish.

"Are you still nauseous, Dean?" Julie put the mask back on his face.

Sam saw a subtle nod from his brother over the nurse's shoulder.

"Okay, I'll go get you something for that. Unfortunately it's a side effect from your antibiotic, and we've got orders for some Compazine."

It took less than five minutes for the nurse to leave and come back with a cup with a straw in it and a syringe.

"Alright Dean, you're still NPO right now but I've got a little bit of water so you can rinse your mouth out," she pulled the mask aside and fed the straw through Dean's lips.

Once he'd rinsed out his mouth she quickly injected the contents of the syringe into an IV line.

"You should start feeling better soon," she patted his arm. "Let me know if you need anything else," she said to Sam before leaving.

Sam sat down in the chair; "You don't do anything half-assed do you?"

"You wish," Dean murmured before closing his eyes.

xx

The young hunter watched helplessly as the fever dreams took hold over his brother. The nausea seemed to have been quelled but a raging fever had taken its place. The doctor had been by twice and had assured Sam that his brother was doing okay. Dean moaned and writhed under the cooling blanket that had been brought in hours ago. Sam took a washcloth that had been left and submerged it in the basin of tepid water on the bed table. He wrung out the cloth and laid it on Dean's sweaty forehead. Dean moaned in relief as water trickled into his hair.

"S'my…no," Dean wheezed.

"No what?"

"Don't do this," Dean rolled his head around, "Don't."

Sam watched Dean's eyes roam around underneath his lids.

"The fire. It hurts."

"What fire, Dean?"

"It burns. Stop."

"There isn't a fire, it's in your mind," Sam realized that he was dreaming of Hell again.

"S'my, stop."

"Fight it Dean," Sam rewetted the dried cloth.

"Can't."

"Yes you can, fight Dean."

"No."

"Dean, you will fight. You are strong enough." He could save the world.

"M'not."

"Fight. That's an order," Sam hated to pull that card, but he knew his brother would listen.

Dean nodded and settled down.

xx

It wasn't long after Dean accepted his order that his immune system and the antibiotics started to turn things around. Slowly his fever dropped to where he was more lucid and his wheezing was less pronounced. Once Dean had quieted down he pulled up the footrest on the chair and leaned back, he was asleep in seconds. Dean opened his eyes to see his brother fast asleep with his mouth hanging open. He pulled the mask off his face.

"Bitch."

Sam jerked upright at the sound his brother's rasp, "You jerk."

xx

I hope you guys enjoyed! Please take a moment to leave a review…you know that 'submit review' button thingy that's not too far from this note…Thanks!