Smile, The Worst is Yet to Come

Part 1

Sam coughed and the noise echoed throughout the deafening silence of the motel room. Rolling onto his stomach, the hunter coughed against his pillow in a feeble attempt to muffle the loud sound. The dull pain in his chest increased each time a cough wracked through his body. Groaning, the man lifted his head and flicked on his phone to get the time. The bright touchscreen lit the dark room making Sam screw his eyes shut against the onslaught of brightness. He peeped open one of his hazel eyes hesitantly and looked down at the screen. 3:38, Sam was seriously going to punch something if this kept happening. It had been almost two weeks since he'd gotten anything even close to a full night sleep.

Another chesty cough ripped from his throat making the hunter screw his face up in pain. This cough had better give in soon, Sam thought grumpily. There was a noise from the other bed so Sam froze.

"I know you're awake." Dean muttered tiredly as he turned onto his back, "Stop being so loud, man."

Feeling guilty, Sam apologised and turned his cell phone back onto standby before lying back down on his side ensuring he faced away from his weary brother. He knew that the hard hunts had been getting to his brother as well; it wasn't just Sam that was tired.

He muffled another painful cough in his fist and swallowed against an iron taste that rose in his throat. He silently vowed to himself that he would make no more noise for the rest of the night and settled down into the scratchy, over-washed bed sheets. They sat dead and heavy on his chest. He closed his eyes and desperately tried to ignore the mild pain. It had been consistent for the last three weeks so he saw no reason to start complaining now.

It took a while and the sun was shining through the cracks in the thin curtains before Sam eventually managed to drift off into a fitful sleep.

---

The sound of a thick mucus laden cough brought Dean out of his relatively peaceful slumber. The loud noise echoed from inside the small tiled bathroom across the room. The hunter peeped open a bright green eye in an attempt to assess the situation.

There was a light pale light which breached the thin material of the curtains. His alarm hadn't gone off so he assumed that it was somewhen before 8am but the dull light made him assume that it was still early. He threw an arm over his eyes and groaned in exasperation.

The painful coughing started up again, reminding the hunter of what had roused him in the first place. It sounded painful and sore making sympathy twinge in Dean's chest.

"Sammy?" He called out. His voice thick and lost from sleep.

There was a moment of more noise from the bathroom making Dean wince. He waited for a response.

"I'm good." The voice rasped through the thin wooden door. It was unconvincing as it shook feebly and was weak.

Dean went to speak again but let it go. If Sam said he was okay then he'd just believe him. Maybe this was just a bad cough or something similar. He pulled the blanket higher over his head to block out both the noise and the light. He just accepted that he'd have to fall back asleep whilst hearing his brother hack into the toilet. It settled on him with grim realism that it was going to be this way for a while longer.

---

The Winchester brothers sat opposite each other in the booth of a diner. A large breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausages and toast was spread in front of Dean. The taller man, on the other hand, had a short stack on a small plate in front of him. Dean devoured the food on his plate like a starving man while his brother merely poked at the pancakes.

"You not hungry?" Dean asked around a half chewed sausage. His manners were never his strong suit but he blamed his father for his upbringing.

Sam shook his head but continued to use his fork to dig into the edge of his breakfast.

For the first time, Dean inspected his brother carefully. His hair was limp and greasy, eyes dull and dark shadows haunted the thin skin beneath his hazel eyes. He'd lost a significant amount of weight over the last few weeks but Dean wasn't particularly surprised as the other man had barely eaten a child's portion each meal time. Sam was peering around the room in exhausted disinterest. His eyes wondered but they didn't take anything in.

"Sam?" Dean spoke firmly to catch the man's attention, "Why don't you try a little bit?" He asked carefully.

"Yeah, okay." He slowly fed himself baby pieces of pancake timidly. He hit a large curled up fist against his chest as a cough tickled deep within his chest.

"Are you okay?" Dean pestered more.

"Jus' a cough." His throat was sore and Dean could hear it rasp, "don't worry about it. It'll be gone soon. Sorry." He gave a gentle smile in apology.

Dean was surprised by the younger man's apology. He was the one of them that was sick so the apology seemed slightly unnecessary, "Don't be sorry, bro. We just gotta get you better."

Sam nodded, his mouth too full of pancake to respond and throat to raw to answer. He rested his arm against the table, the long limb seemed heavy and awkward. His jaw moved slowly and lethargically.

The older watched as Sam swallowed down painkillers and winced as the small pills slid down his throat. A crease formed in between Dean's brows at he studied the pained expression on his sibling's features. He decided against mentioning anything though as Sam seemed set that his own health would soon bounce back.