timehasa_way | Emergency Room

So much fic to write, so little time. I have a few ideas going that need more work, but I figured this little bit was done enough to post. Also, so much fic to read, so little time. Sometimes I wonder how people keep up with it all!

Title: Emergency Room
Fandom: RPS
Characters: Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki
Prompt: 024. Family
fanfic100 table: here
Word Count: 838
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: hurt!Jensen and angsty!Jared, but not for long.
Summary: Jeffrey Padalecki gets a shock when Jensen is brought into the hospital, a panicked Jared following behind him.
Disclaimer: Don’t know them, don’t even know if this is the type of work Jeff does, but thought it was a neat idea. :P
Author's Notes: I haven’t decided what’s supposed to have happened to Jensen here, but just wanted to write up a little fic for this idea, because I thought it was an interesting situation. Maybe I’ll add more to it at some point.

If anybody were to ask Jeff what his greatest fear was, he would tell them that it was seeing a family member come through the doors of the hospital on a stretcher. He’d never been able to think of anything worse, and always prayed that it would never happen. But, practicing in Dallas, he was bound to see a familiar face wheeled into the ER at some point. Still, it came as a shock when Jensen Ackles was rushed through those doors, the commotion around him suddenly muted as he fell into step with the stretcher, everything seeming to flow into slow motion. He felt the color drain from his own face at the sight of Jensen’s, so pale even against white, the paramedics forcing air into his lungs and trying to stem the flow of blood from his wounds.

“Jeff!”

Jeff’s head snapped up at the sound of a familiar voice, the world suddenly snapping back to normal, sound rushing back to his ears as everything returned to a regular speed that seemed almost too fast now. Something twisted inside of him when he saw Jared there, running along behind the stretcher, trying to keep up even as he was being shoved away. He swallowed hard when he saw the tears in Jared’s eyes, saw the panic there subside a little as they made eye contact. There was a sudden relief in Jared’s expression, a hopefulness that Jeff had seen so many times when they were younger. It was faith that only a little brother could have, somehow believing that Jensen would be okay now that he was in Jeff’s hands; Jeff would never let Jensen die.

“Sir, you have to stay back.”

Jeff moved mechanically with the stretcher as Jared was finally stopped, held back as they were passing through the double doors, heading for the OR.

“Jeff, please save him!”

He sucked in a breath at Jared’s desperate plea, suddenly feeling a pressure he never had before. No experience could have prepared him for this.

“Jeff!” He turned his focus to the female doctor running on the opposite side of the stretcher, her name suddenly escaping him even though they’d worked together for some time now. “Can you do this?”

Her expression held only the slightest bit of concern, her tone clearly urgent and professional. There was no room for a mistake here, and he had to swallow down his emotions or hand the job over to someone else, now. He glanced back at the doors they’d just passed through and saw Jared still standing on the other side of them, hopeful eyes staring through the glass. He looked back down at Jensen lying unconscious on the stretcher and nodded, letting the doctor in him take over.

“Yeah. Yeah, I can do this.”

****

He made his way out to the waiting room, each step like one through quicksand. He was exhausted after hours of surgery, hours of trying to keep Jensen alive, bringing his pulse back when there wasn’t one, and he wondered not for the first time in his career how he wasn’t dead himself by now. It took forever to reach that doorway, and he could see Jared waiting there, sitting and nervously tapping his foot on the floor over and over again, hands clasped together in what must have been prayer, tears dried on his cheeks. He tried to greet him with a smile, but didn’t think he’d managed to force one out when Jared spotted him and jolted into a standing position, darting forward. He stood, so tired he swore he was ready to pass out, and put a hand on his little brother’s shoulder.

“Jeff?” Jared asked breathlessly, eyes shining again with that childlike faith. “How is he?”

It took him a while to find the words, struggling with the English language for a moment, his brain fuzzy with stress and lack of sleep, and he felt Jared tense beneath his palm. He finally managed the smile, before he could find the words, and squeezed Jared’s shoulder lightly.

“He’s gonna be fine.”

Jared’s sigh of relief was so deep, Jeff felt it. He saw a wave pass through Jared’s body, every muscle letting go of the tension it had held, tears of a different kind filling his eyes, and then Jared was wrapping him up in a hug so tight he could barely breathe.

“Thank you,” Jared whispered, crying quietly on Jeff’s shoulder. “Thank you, Jeff.” He pulled away and smiled through his tears, patting Jeff’s arm. “I knew it. I knew you could do it; knew he was safe when I saw you. I don’t know what I would’ve done…” Jeff nodded as Jared wiped his tears away, a weight lifting off of his shoulders when he realized he’d managed to protect his little brother from that kind of loss. “Can I see him?”

“Yeah,” Jeff said, wrapping an arm around Jared’s shoulders. “Yeah, come on. I’ll take you to him.”