Fic: A Fact or a Weapon (Sam/Dean, NC-17) Part 10

“Sam, I’m glad to see you’re doing so well. I have to apologize again for the equipment malfunction that occurred when we performed your FMRI.”

“That’s…uh, that’s okay, Dr. Birney, there wasn’t any way for you to know that would happen,” Sam says, looking over to see Dean’s encouraging wink.

“Well, let’s go over your new scans from today. Let me put them up on the screen,” Dr. Birney says, fiddling with his laptop. The screen on the wall flickers and then the images of Sam’s brain glow bright and clear. “Wait,  these can’t be yours, I must have the wrong ones.”

“Why, what’s wrong about them?” Sam asks, peering more closely at the brain scans on the screen.

“They’re completely clear, Sam. There’s no trace of any of the damage you were working to overcome, it’s all just gone, like it wasn’t ever there,” Dr. Birney says, a note of wonder in his voice. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“He’s pretty special, I keep telling him that,” Dean says to the doctor while tugging at Sam’s arm. “Do we need to leave?” Dean bends down to whisper in Sam’s ear.

“What could cause that to happen? Maybe it was all the treatments working the way they were supposed to?” Sam asks, stomach churning with worry about what this might mean.

“That’s not how it would normally look, in your case I would have expected to see evidence of new neural pathways here and over here, but the damaged areas would be essentially unchanged,” Dr. Birney says, pointing at the screen with the tip of his pen. “Here, how about we compare your original scans to these so I can show you?”

The original scan images pop up, showing the many dark spots in Sam’s brain that the doctors had thought were the cause of all of his issues. Compared to the new scans, it’s plainly obvious that something miraculous has occurred.

“Maybe he’s one of those super-healers you always hear about?” Dean asks.

“That’s not how brain damage works unfortunately,” Dr. Birney says. “Well, Sam as you’re doing miraculously well, I’m not sure we need to keep seeing each other. We’ll just have to chalk this one up to one of God’s little mysteries and miracles.”

“Oh God’s got nothing to do with this one, doctor,” Dean says trying to hold back a too-obvious scowl.

“Dean,” Sam says, leaving out the shut-up or hush, saying it instead with his vehemently raised eyebrows.

“Sorry, Dean, I’m not trying to inject religion into this, just a turn of phrase. Sam, would you allow me to use your case to present at next year’s TBI conference?”

“I don’t think I’m the average subject, it doesn’t seem like what happened with me would be very useful for other people. I wouldn’t want to screw up any of the research,” Sam says.

“Does your hesitance have anything to do with this?” Dr. Birney asks. He clicks a few keys on his laptop keyboard. The two X-rays that show the words incised in Enochian on Sam’s ribs and the deep scratches on the inside of his skull replace the brain scans.

“This I’ve seen,” Sam says pointing at the x-ray of his ribs. “But what’s this?”

“That’s the inside of your skull, Sam,” Dr. Birney says.

“Wow, check out how scratched to hell that is, really looks like something was trying to get out,” Dean says.

“Neither of you look at all surprised, about either of these things which are both completely impossible,” Dr. Birney says, all raised eyebrows. There’s that twinkle in his eye which has always amused Dean.

“Do you really want to know?” Sam asks.

“I’m pretty sure he’s not going to believe it, Sammy,” Dean says.

“If you’re willing to share the story, I am more than willing to listen. I’ve been puzzling over these images and your case pretty much ever since I met you, Sam,” Dr. Birney says, leaning back in his chair.

“See, you are special, Sam,” Dean says with a chuckle.

“Ok, I’ll start with the writing on my ribs, it’s a spell written in Enochian. Our friend who is an angel put it there. It’s actually on both of us actually, it works to hide us from other angels.”

“Uh huh an angel…and when was this done?” Dr. Birney asks, the air-quotes on the word angel implied by the tone of his voice.

“A little over ten years ago,” Dean answers.

“And did it hurt, when this friend of yours, this angel, did that to you?” Dr. Birney asks, pointing with his pen towards the rib x-ray.

“Yeah, it hurt like a bitch, but just for a couple of seconds,” Dean says.

“Sure, it was a little achy for a while afterwards, but it was worth it,” Sam says.

“The other angels, who were looking for you, this worked?” Dr. Birney asks.

“By the way, these are actual for-real angels that we’re talking about, and yeah, it did work,” Dean says.

“Okay, angels are real, I’ve got it. So…moving on, Sam, what can you tell me about the scratches that we see inside your skull?” Dr. Birney asks.

“I have been possessed several times, two times by a demon, several times by angels. It’s possible that one of these entities left scratches behind when I was battling them for control of my mind. I also had an issue with losing my soul and when it was replaced, there was a mental wall to keep certain memories contained that I scratched at, so it might have been me somehow scratching the inside of my own skull,” Sam says, all matter-of-fact, and how could you not believe him?

“My bet’s on Lucifer,” Dean says, “He’s the one you were fighting with the most for control.”

“Lucifer, as in The Lucifer?” Dr. Birney asks in a quiet voice, he looks pretty gob-smacked by all this conversation.

“Before you call for a double psych-consult, this guy here, he’s saved the whole damn world a few times. And we both thought the head-injuries were just part of the price he had to pay. But hey, doc, you helped him, he’s better, and for that we’re grateful,” Dean says, standing up. “C’mon, Sammy let’s get going.”

“Wait, Dean hold on a second. Thank you, Dr. Birney, for what you did for me. It would probably be better if you could just ignore the last few minutes, okay?” Sam stands up and smiles down at the stunned doctor.

Dr. Birney closes the lid of his laptop and stands up slowly. “I will never forget it, Sam. Thank you for whatever it is that you did to save our world. I for one am glad that the world is still here.”

Sam’s eyes fill with tears and he goes beet red. He’s never had a civilian thank him like this, and to have a doctor believe him, all of a sudden, it’s just too much.

Dean puts an arm around Sam’s waist to hold him up. “You okay, Sammy?” Dean asks in a quiet voice that only Sam can hear.

Sam nods and puts a hand out for Dr. Birney. The doctor takes it and shakes it slowly. “You’re welcome, doctor, thanks for really listening. That doesn’t happen too often.”

Dr. Birney smiles, “I bet it doesn’t. You guys take care of each other, huh?” He shakes Dean’s hand.

Dean holds onto the doctor’s hand for a long moment. “Doc, thank you for fixing my Sam, it means more than I can really say.”

“I have a feeling it wasn’t just me that did all of that fixing, be well, Sam.”

Dr. Birney waves them off and Dean is floating on a wave of contentment on his way down the hall next to Sam who is still quiet.

“Did we really just tell an MD all about demons and angels? Like, did that really happen?” Dean asks.

“He seemed to want to know, I’m glad we got to tell him, it was cool that he listened,” Sam says.

“That picture of the inside of your skull though, holy cats, that was some wild shit, huh?”

“Wonder if yours looks like that too from Michael being in there?” Sam asks.

“I can honestly say that I hope to never find out, I’m kinda done with hospitals, you know?”

“I do know, me too,” Sam says.

“You want to move somewhere else?” Dean asks. It’s something he’s been thinking about lately, the itchy accelerator foot getting to him. Maybe they just need more day trips out in the car now that he can walk again.

“Like where? I thought you liked it here, with all your neighborhood buddies and Dan the bartender down at the Blue Light.”

“I just thought you might want to go check out one of our other houses or something,” Dean says.

“I’m kind of attached to this one,” Sam says.

“Oh…got it,” Dean says, not needing Sam to expand on that thought. It’s the house where everything changed, and where they both got what they’d always denied themselves the chance to try to make happen. Plus there’s his brother’s garden. “Gotta stick around to see that Apache Plume for yourself in the spring, huh?”

“Dean, you know that’s not—” Sam says, raising his eyebrows and stopping on the sidewalk. They’re on the corner just before they turn onto their street. Dean stops and looks up at Sam trying to figure out if he’s upset or what.

“I would rather stay, I feel kind of settled here. But if you want to move, just tell me when I need to pack,” Sam says.

“You’re leaving it up to me, really?” Dean asks, surprised that Sam’s not jumping in with a preference.

“I was in charge of deciding everything last time, it’s your turn for the next step, dude.”

Dean puts an arm around Sam’s waist, pulling him in close. Sam’s arm comes around Dean’s shoulder and Dean starts them walking towards home again. “I choose staying, at least for a while. We can just ignore the hospital area which we know much too well, and explore out into other parts of the city.”

“So you don’t want to go back to the bunker?” Sam asks.

“No, turns out that I like living above ground, having windows and neighbors, you know all that good stuff. And a lot less foot traffic too, you know?”

“Me too to all of that, but I will admit that I miss those awesome showers sometimes,” Sam says.

“We can try some things to fix ours to have more water pressure,” Dean offers.

“Really? You’re going to play handyman again? It’s been awhile.”

“I might be out of practice, but I’m pretty sure I still have the touch,” Dean says.

“I think I can more than agree with you on that one,” Sam laughs, pulling him into their house, kissing him breathless up against the front door once it’s closed.

Sam lets up on the kissing and just holds Dean there in their hallway. Dean can see Sam’s face cycling through a mixture of emotions, ending up on unsure and almost worried. It seems like it’s time for Dean to say something that might help Sam be sure about all this.

“I want to stay here, because this is our house, Sammy. It’s the one that’s our home, really our first home as—“ Dean trails off, not able to go through with saying what he should be able to by now.

“As a couple?” Sam asks.

Dean blushes and hates himself for it, but he nods.

“That’s pretty chick-flicky, Dean, even for you,” Sam says with that loose slow grin that always makes Dean’s pulse race.

“This place will always be special for us. But wherever we end up, I need you to know something. Home for me, is wherever you are, Sammy, always has been.”

“Same here, to everything you just said, Dean. And remember, I saw all of this—you and me, being happy and growing old together right here in this place.”

“That reminds me, now that we’re both fully mobile again, I owe you something from your vision or whatever we’re calling it now,” Dean says.

“You do?” Sam asks.

“Besides turning old and gray with you, wasn’t there another character with us in your vision?”

“You really mean it?” Sam asks with all the stored-up six year old emotion of always wanting a dog of his own.

“Yeah, let’s go down to the SPCA tomorrow. I was looking at their website and they have—“

Sam interrupts him with a deep kiss, either for researching pet adoptions or even just remembering, but probably for okaying them finally getting a dog. After a long moment, Dean doesn’t care anymore which it is, just returns the kiss with matching fervor. As long as he lives, he’s never going to get tired of finally being able to do this whenever he feels like it.

“I love it too,” Sam says, answering Dean’s unstated comment.

“You’re doing it again,” Dean murmurs against Sam’s lips, only saying something because Sam had asked him to call him out for using his powers whenever he notices him doing it.

“Sorry, not sorry,” Sam mumbles against Dean’s lips, diving in for a deeper kiss.

Dean doesn’t break away to call him on how all the lights have clicked off and the door lock has been engaged. There are more important things to worry about in that moment.

The End