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Dean woke up to Sam shaking him awake, worriedly. He felt groggy, almost more tired and cold. It was an unusual feeling for him, but considering he was laying in the middle of an alleyway during a winter in wherever the fuck they were, it made sense.
“Dean, Dean there you are. Are you okay?” Sam said, worriedly off the bat. He had gotten his head slammed against something.. He couldn’t remember by what though, and that was the big issue.
“M’okay Sam.” Dean said blearily, sitting up slightly. He could swear his head was pounding almost, and it was annoying the hell out of him. He couldn’t get a concussion just before they were about to start a hunt, he had just been on an innocent damn walk.
“Let’s get you back to the bunker, alright? We can put the hunt off for a couple days, you probably have a concussion based off of that wound.” Sam said, helping his older brother up to standing. Dean was a little bit dizzy while standing, and that half proved Sam’s point either.
He had sworn he had gotten attacked by something that could turn him, but his mind was blank on what right now. Yeah, maybe he did have a concussion too, plus whatever the hell he thought was wrong with him. Probably a side effect of the concussion, likely.
He was probably fine, he brushed it aside like he usually would. Sam helped him to the Impala, and drove them back to the bunker, where Dean could get that likely-concussion taken care of.
“You seem out of it still. How bad’s the pain, Dean?” Sam said, looking over at him whilst driving, seeing him holding his head in his hands, it worried him more. It was either just a simple concussion, or something more.
“I would put it at a five in my books.” Dean said. He rarely went anything above 3, this one must've been bad.
“A five? You rarely go anything above three, Dean.” Sam said, more worried now at the fact that’s what Dean would put his pain level at, which meant it was two to three more higher than that, so it was a good, seven or eight. No wonder he could barely stand earlier when Sam had helped him to the car.
“Okay- Look, I’ll just.. Get you to the bunker and to the infirmary and I’ll patch you up. Sound good? And definitely get you some pain medication for that head if it’s hurting that bad.” Sam said, taking the left back to the bunker.
Dean had been on a walk, so he never strayed too far from the bunker. That alleyway was just one of the shortcuts back, and it looked like he had been attacked, ambushed up on without his own notice. Which is probably why he had a concussion right now.
“Sound’s good.” Dean muttered to Sam, rubbing his forehead slightly. The slight pounding in his head hadn’t gone away yet, and he was just wishing he could will it away right now.
They pulled up to the driveway of the bunker eventually, Sam helping Dean get back inside and to the infirmary, grabbing gauze on the way.
“Sit down.” Sam muttered, grabbing a couple other things along the way. It was always worrying when Dean actually listened to Sam, and sat down, instead of complaining about how he wasn’t a baby. Sam also found those pain meds too, and set them aside for right now. He was gonna wait until after he had patched him up.
Sam carefully cleaned the wound he had on his forehead, made sure it wasn’t bleeding terribly before applying some gauze to it, ripping off some medical tape from a roll of it and applying it to the edges of where the gauze sat. He made sure it was secure before stepping back, looking over Dean.
“Alright. Pain meds, and you're going to sleep, alright?” Sam said, grabbing the medication bottle they got from some pharmacy that they stole it from, and shook out a pill or two. He got some water for Dean, who was trying to make sense of the pounding in his head, and the fact it somewhat felt like it got louder anytime Sam got closer, and quieter when he walked away.
“Take them.” Sam said, giving him both the pills, and the water. Dean did so, pills first and then he chugged some water, making sure that the pills one, stayed down, two, actually went down.
“Good. Go get some rest, alright Dean?” Sam said, patting him on the shoulder slightly, giving him a worried look. Dean got up, and headed towards his room, closing the door as he entered and practically collapsing onto his bed.
He was still cold, he noticed. He got under the blankets, and just fell asleep there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When he woke up, weirdly the pounding in his head was still there. It hadn’t gone away overnight, and that concerned him. Plus, he seemed pale when he went to look in the mirror, to brush his teeth, and change that gauze on his wound like Sam had told him too when he practically shoved the stuff to do it into his hands.
He changed that gauze, some weird feeling of hunger inside of him, even if he felt like he didn’t have the best appetite right now. He had his normal breakfast, which consisted usually of bacon and eggs in the morning. He ate the eggs and about half the bacon before he was full though.
He had never had this small of an appetite before, and the pounding in head was noticeable. He didn’t let Sam know he was still, feeling it though. He didn’t want to concern his little brother anymore than he already had.
As the day continued, that pounding got more, pronounced. Almost like it was some weird part of him. It almost seemed like a heartbeat, but he pushed that thought away for now. He didn’t want to worry over too much about something that could just be a simple headache.
But that innate feeling of hunger just wouldn’t go away, no matter what he did. Ate some of a pie, and some stupid junk food and it was still there. He didn’t know what he was craving, yet he knew he was craving it.
And it was driving him slightly crazy to figure out what.
He was just lounging in the kitchen, trying to piece together what the fuck was going on with him, and why he was feeling like this when he saw Sam walk in. Of course, that pounding got louder, and he kept trying to ignore it, but it was more pronounced, more, I need that, but he didn’t know what the hell he needed.
Well, that was until the fangs came out when they were both staring directly at one another. And he finally got the answer for what he needed, why he was hungry and, why he had been feeling like shit with the pounding in his head.
It was a heartbeat, and it was Sam’s. And it was blood that he had been craving. They knew the cure for this, of course, and Dean hadn’t fed yet, but they didn’t exactly keep spares around because it was rare that they had to turn someone back to human. And they didn’t have garlic right now. Because Dean used the last of it cooking.
“..That’s new?” Sam said, looking at Dean wearily, observing his form. It made sense just why Dean was pale now. And Sam made a quick run for it out of the bunker to head to the damn grocery store.
Garlic. They just needed garlic.
And Dean had to resist every urge to go after Sam right now, just to make sure he didn’t feed, because if he did, he wouldn’t be able to turn back from being a vampire.
That’s what got his ass last night, a fucking vampire of all things. Of course. It’s not his fault though, he had gotten practically ambushed by the damn thing, he hadn’t known it was coming. He had been on a walk in his hometown, he had thought he was at least safe.
He heard the engine of the Impala, he gripped the counter hard enough his knuckles ended up turning white. He heard as Sam drove away, that pounding in his head lessening. That’s also why it had seemed to lessen last night when he had heard Sam leaving to go to Bobby’s house, to go check in on information for the next hunt.
It all made sense now. How he was so groggy when he had woken up that night when Sam found him in the alleyway in the usual spots he walked, it all made its own damn sense.
And Dean felt stupid for not realizing it before, because he hunted these things like it was his own sport. Jesus, he felt stupid. He was trained for this.
And it was such a simple cure too, but Sam had to go off to buy garlic for it, and Dean wasn’t sure he had that time.
Too little time before he snapped, too much time to go to the grocery store, buy something, and be back.