The patients around them must be grateful for the quiet. Sam's not expecting another emotional outburst from Dean, but he's happy when Dean walks up to the bedside and touches Sam's arm. He'd have been shocked if Dean was any more demonstrative than this -- it's more than enough.

"You know," Dean says, "I had a speech prepared about you quitting and getting out of harm's way."

"What happened?"

"I found out you got stabbed with a pen." Dean smiles. "A pen, Sam. Seriously?"

"It's going to be an extremely lame story, I know. So you're not asking me to quit my job and become a regular doctor? Or worse, your personal homemaker?"

"Nope." Dean looks around and, seeing that no one's watching, curls his fingers with Sam's for just a moment. The drugs have nothing on just that one simple feeling. "But you are gonna get some time off. Both of us are."

"Yeah?"

"It's about time we took that road-trip we've been talking about. See the Grand Canyon and Sedona, all those places you've got saved in your bookmarks."

Sam wants to say it sounds like the perfect plan, but he's suddenly achingly sleepy. Abby had mentioned he'd be knocked out for a little while, and he was more than welcome to take a nap in the ER until it wore off in an hour. He grips Dean's hand and hopes he'll stay.

Scratch that, he knows Dean will stay. That's what his hero does.