Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural and its characters, but Mary-Claire does belong to me.

After All This Time

Chapter 2

Dean waited until Jess and Mary-Claire's footsteps faded down the hallway before he pulled a chair right up next to his brother's bed and sat down. Quietly, he studied the pale face and overly long, dark hair. A smirk curved his lips. Sam had always hated having his hair cut, so it was no surprise to find that it was still long. Dean's grin faded at the sight of pain lines around his brother's mouth. This was no ordinary coma caused by a bump to the head. Dean would bet his very life that it was supernatural in nature.

"What happened to you, Sammy?" he murmured as he reached out and gave his brother's forearm a gentle squeeze.

There was no response from the prone form on the bed. Dean heaved a sigh. "I will find out why someone did this to you, and I will get you back to your family, Sam. You'll get your life back; I promise."

Dean thought back over the past years without his little brother in his life. Those years were lonely and filled with worry. Now it appeared that he had reason to worry. He had to figure out what was going on. There had to be a reason something was after Sam. Was there a chance it could be after Jess and Mary-Claire, too?

The thought made Dean's heart thud wildly in his chest. After losing their mother when Sam was six months old, Dean's family was the most important thing in his world. He may not know Jess and Mary-Claire very well, but he already considered them family. He would give his life to ensure their safety.

"Don't you worry, Sam," Dean murmured as his thumb stroked the pale skin of his brother's arm rhythmically. "I will figure this out and I will do my best to keep your family safe. Just wish you could talk to me and tell me what happened, dude."

Dean kept one hand on Sam's arm and plucked his cell phone out of his pocket with his free hand. He called the one person he knew could help. "Bobby, it's Dean. I need your help. It's Sam."

Bobby was silent for a moment; he knew it had been years since Sam walked out of Dean's life. "What's wrong, Dean?" he asked gruffly, bracing himself for the worst.

Bobby listened quietly as Dean explained what was going on and then replied. "Balls, that kid always could get himself into some serious scrapes without even trying! I'll contact some folks and do some research. I'll see what I can find out. You just take care of Sam and his family." The older hunter was worried; he considered the Winchester brothers family. If something happened to Sam…..well, he didn't want to think about what it would do to Dean.

"You know I will," Dean answered gravely. "Thanks, Bobby."

After talking with the older hunter, Dean settled back into his chair and watched his younger brother for any signs of movement. There were none, and the hours passed slowly.

Exactly eight hours later, he heard a childish voice in the hallway and Mary-Claire entered followed by Jess. The little girl walked up to Dean shyly and extended the brown paper bag she held in her chubby hands. "Unca De, me and mommy bringed you donuts. We got the kind my daddy likes for you." Mary-Claire stared bashfully at Dean before looking down at the bag in her hands.

Dean's heart melted at the sight of Sam's little girl standing before him. He had to be growing soft as he got older; that was the only explanation for the way his heart was turning to mush inside of his chest. "Thank you, Mary-Claire," he smiled as the little girl finally looked up at him with green eyes so much like his own. "I am really hungry." His stomach growled loudly as if to prove his point as Dean took the bag of donuts.

Dean's niece giggled and placed both hands over her mouth before running to Jess. "Can I have my donut, Mommy?"

Dean watched as Jess placed the bag she was holding down in a chair and lifted Mary-Claire in her arms. "Let's say good morning to Daddy first," Jess instructed her daughter.

Dean was still having a hard time picturing his baby brother as a dad, but he watched as Jess lifted Mary-Claire to kiss Sam's cheek. Then she placed the little girl down and helped her with her donut before returning to Sam's side.

Dean felt as if he was intruding on a private moment as Jess bent over Sam and murmured quietly into his ear before tenderly kissing his lips. Then she looked up Dean him sadly.

"Any changes overnight?' she asked hopefully.

"Nothing," Dean responded, "but I called a family friend and he's looking into some things for me."

Jess nodded. "I appreciate that, Dean. I will do anything it takes to get Sam better."

Dean took in a deep breath. "Jess, I want you and Mary-Claire to be extra careful. We don't really know what happened to Sam, and I don't want to chance something happening to you, too."

Jess' eyes widened in surprise as she looked at Dean. "Do you think someone did this to Sam on purpose?"

Mary-Claire heard the alarm in her mother's voice. She dropped her donut into the chair and hurried to Jess's side, demanding to be picked up.

Jess lifted her daughter and didn't seem to notice that the child was smearing powdered sugar all over her shoulder. She pressed her daughter protectively against her and glared anxiously at Dean. "Why would you think that?" she asked with suspicion.

"Look, Jess, I really don't think we should be talking about this right now." Dean glanced toward Mary-Claire and then back to Jess.

His brother's wife nodded slowly. "Okay, but when Mary-Claire naps later I want to hear everything. If my daughter is in danger, then I deserve to know."

Dean breathed out a slow sigh. "All right," he relented, "but for now you'll just have to trust me."

Jess nodded and turned her attention to her daughter. For some reason, she found herself able to trust Dean Winchester. Perhaps it was because she knew Sam trusted his brother with his life. "Okay, Mary-Claire. Come sit with Mommy and we will finish up breakfast."

Dean devoured his donuts and watched as Jess sipped from a cup of hot tea. She didn't eat anything except for one saltine cracker she had pulled out of her purse. "Are you all right?" he finally asked. "You didn't eat much."

His eyes widened in alarm as she shot up out of the chair and deposited Mary-Claire on the floor before rushing out the room and down the hall. Dean snatched up his niece and balanced her on her hip before following his sister-in-law.

Dean watched as Jess disappeared into the bathroom down the hall. The door shut behind her and the he could hear the sound of her retching.

Mary-Claire grimaced from her position in his arms. "Mommy is throwing up," she announced with a frown.

Dean sighed. "I think your mommy is worried about your daddy and it has upset her stomach," he told the little girl in her arms.

Mary-Claire studied him for a moment, her expression so much like Sam's that it made Dean's chest ache. "Are you gonna make my daddy better?" she asked Dean solemnly.

"I'm going to do my best," he promised as he held Sam's daughter tighter.

The bathroom door opened and Jess emerged, slightly pale and wobbly. Dean took her arm. "You need to take care of yourself, Jess," he told her softly. "Come on back and sit with Sam. I'll look after Mary-Claire. If you doze off, then that's okay. I'll wake you up if Sam needs you."

Jess allowed Dean to lead her back to her husband. She was so tired and the nausea remained although her stomach was now empty. It was a relief to turn over the care of her daughter to Dean and just focus on her husband. Jess curled in the chair Dean had left beside Sam's bed and smiled her thinks when her brother-in-law gently tucked a blanket around her. It was easy to trust Dean. She knew how much Sam loved his brother, and it was easy to tell that Dean returned the sentiment, not only for Sam but also for their little family. She knew Dean would take good care of Mary-Claire and Sam.

Dean settled in room's other chair with Mary-Claire in his lap. The little girl sat stiffly at first, but when Dean lightly tickled her tummy she relaxed back into him.

"Unca De, can you tell me a story?" she asked with a yawn as she rubbed at her eyes.

Dean panicked for a moment. "What kind of story?" he asked in alarm.

She chewed her bottom lip as she thought for a moment. "'Bout when you an' Daddy were little boys," she decided.

"Hmmm….." Dean thought for a moment as he rubbed a hand through the child's blonde hair. "Let me think," he told the little girl in his arms, watching as she curled sleepily against his chest. He continued to stroke her hair as he began to speak softly.

"One day when your daddy was about five years old and I was nine, we were spending the weekend at Uncle Bobby's house while our dad was at work." Dean looked down and smiled when Mary-Claire blinked sleepily up at him. She reminded him so much of a small Sam. "Your daddy wanted to play Hide and Seek in the old cars. See, Uncle Bobby owned a salvage yard. It's a place where people take their old cars that don't run anymore, so there were lots of places to hide."

Mary-Claire yawned and stuck two fingers in her mouth as she shifted to get more comfortable against Dean. "What happened, Unca De?" she murmured.

"Well, I was It. I counted while your daddy hid in the old cars. I counted really slow like this all the way to fifty. One….two….threeeeee….." Dean grinned when Mary-Claire gave him a lopsided smile. "Just as I said forty, your daddy started screaming. He scared me and I stopped counting and opened my eyes and started yelling his name."

"Sam," grinned Mary-Claire. "That's my daddy's name." The words were muffled by the fingers in her mouth.

"I'm his big brother," Dean tapped the tip of her nose, his old habits from taking care of little Sam coming back to him immediately after so many years. "I get to call him Sammy."

Mary-Claire huffed a laugh around her fingers. "Why was my daddy screaming?" she wondered.

"Your daddy had chosen to hide in a car full of bees," Dean told her seriously.

"Bees?" Mary-Claire scrunched up her nose and then tugged a soggy finger out of her mouth and held it up in front of Dean's face, nearly making him cross-eyed as he tried to focus on it. "A bee stingded me and Daddy kissed my booboo so it would feel better."

Dean had to swallow hard past the lump that suddenly formed in his throat as he got another glimpse of how much Sam loved his little girl. "Did it help?" he asked curiously.

Mary-Claire nodded and stuffed her finger back in her mouth as she curled up against Dean's chest once again. "Tell me the rest, Unca De," she prodded.

Dean began to stroke her hair once again. "Well, your daddy was trying to get out of the window of the old car and those bees were stinging away. I grabbed his arm and pulled him out and we both started running. Uncle Bobby heard us screaming and came outside. He sprayed us with the water hose to get the rest of the bees off and then he took us to the doctor."

"Did my daddy cry?" Mary-Claire yawned, her fingers shifting to the side of her mouth.

"He only cried a little," Dean told her. "He sat in my lap and tried to be very brave when we were at the doctor's office. We both had to get a shot. I remember I held him so tightly because I knew he was scared." Dean looked at the still young man stretched out pale and looking so lifeless on the hospital bed. He remembered Sam's stifled sniffles and the way the little boy's fingers had dug into his arms so hard they'd left bruises. Poor Sammy had tried so hard to be brave that day. He'd done a good job, too, for such a little fellow.

When Dean glanced back down, Mary-Claire's eyes were closed. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and stared down at her for a moment. He had a niece; it was still so hard to believe. This precious little girl snuggled in his arms belonged to his brother and had Winchester blood flowing through her veins. That thought caused a crippling fear to spiral through him. That Winchester blood could get her killed. Dean vowed that wouldn't happen – not on his watch.

When he was sure the child in his arms was deeply asleep, Dean stood and arranged her in the room's uncomfortable window seat before tucking a blanket securely around her. She shifted once and then was still. Then he moved to the hospital bed to check on his brother. Sam remained motionless and the monitors beeped steadily. There was no change.

Beside the bed, Jess stirred restlessly in her chair before she jolted upward with a start.

Dean knelt down beside her. "Are you all right?" he asked quietly.

Jess breathed heavily for a moment before she clapped her hand over her mouth and ran down the hallway to the bathroom once again.

Dean cursed under his breath, hating that the intensive care rooms had window seats, but no bathrooms. He stood in the doorway of Sam's small room and watched until his sister-in-law emerged shakily from the bathroom and returned to Sam's room. "Are you all right?" he asked worriedly.

She nodded and sank weakly into her chair. "I think it's all the worry and stress," she lied.

Dean placed a hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I'm going to see if I can find you a ginger ale. You don't need to get dehydrated."

"Where's Mary-Claire?" Jess asked suddenly, her eyes darting around as she looked for her daughter.

"Asleep," Dean assured her as he pointed toward the window seat. "She's fine. Will you be okay while I go round up something for you to drink?"

"Yes," Jess told him, "I'll be fine, but when you come back I want to hear all about what you think happened to Sam and why my daughter might be in danger." She pinned Dean with a stern glare and waited until he nodded before she allowed herself to relax back into the chair.

To Be Continued…