Bless the Broken Road

10. Faith

"Sure. Thanks for your help."

"Hey, doc," Dean greeted. "Is he..."

"He's resting."

"He? And?"

"The electrocution triggered a heart attack. Pretty massive, I'm afraid. His heart... it's damaged."

"How damaged?" Sam asked.

"We've done all we can. We can try and keep him comfortable at this point. But, I'd give him a couple weeks, at most, maybe a month."

"No, no. There's, there's... gotta be something you can do, some kind of treatment."

"We can't work miracles. I really am sorry."

Sam walked away, an upset look on his face. Dean followed with an angry look.

Zach was watching TV as Sam and Dean entered. "Have you two ever actually watched daytime TV? It's horrible."

Sam shook his head and sighed. "Dean and I talked to your doctor."

"That fabric softener teddy bear. Oh, I'm gonna hunt that little bitch down."

"Zach."

Zach looked up and clicked the TV off. "Yeah. All right, well, looks like you two are gonna leave town without me."

"What are you talking about? Dean and I aren't gonna leave you here."

Zach's tone turned serious. "Hey, you better take care of that car. Or, I swear, I'll haunt your ass. She may not be mine, but I sure as hell care for her."

Dean frowned. "Sam and I don't think that's funny."

"Oh, come on, it's a little funny." Zach paused a moment. "Look, Sammy, Dean, what can I say, man, it's a dangerous gig. I drew the short straw. That's it, end of story."

"Don't talk like that, all right? We still have options."

"What options? Yeah, burial or cremation. And I know it's not easy. But I'm gonna die. And you two can't stop it."

"Watch me," Sam and Dean challenged.

---

Sam made his way back to the motel room while Dean remained with Zach and started researching.

He dialed a number. "This is John Winchester. I can't be reached. If this is an emergency, call my son, Dean. 866-907-3235. He can help."

Sam fought tears. "Hey, Dad. It's Sam. Uh... You probably won't even get this, but, uh... it's Zach. He's sick, and uh... the doctors say there's nothing they can do. Um... but, uh, they don't know the things we know, right? So, don't worry, 'cause Dean and I are uh... gonna do whatever it takes to get him better. All right... just wanted you to know."

Sam hung up, tossed his phone on the bed and sat there silently. The was a knock on the door and he looked up quickly, tears in his eyes. He opened it to find Zach leaning against the jam, looking terrible while Dean stood behind him with a frown.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Sam asked.

"He checked himself out," Dean replied.

"What, are you crazy?"

Dean and Zach entered the room, the latter leaning on everything within reach.

Zach shrugged. "Well, I'm not gonna die in a hospital where the nurses aren't even hot. Don't tell Lily I said that."

Sam huffed a laugh and shut the door. "You know, this whole I-laugh-in-the-face-of-death thing? It's crap. I can see right through it."

"Yeah, whatever, dude. Have you even slept? You look worse than me and Dean."