ohsam | One whole year!

ratherastory.livejournal.com posting in

ohsam is one year old today! You know what that means, right? COMMENT-FIC!

Happy anniversary to us, and it's thanks to you, our fantastic members, who consistently come back and hurt Sammy in new and creative ways! \o/

Now, go and commit comment-fic!

SPREAD THE WORD

Ground Rules:

1. This is a Sam-focused hurt/comfort community, so Sam should be the one in the hurt/comforted role. Your prompts may involve sick!Sam, hurt!Sam, angsty!Sam, basically anything that results in Sam being on the receiving end of hurt/comfort. (No rules against whumping other characters as well, of course, but you have to whump Sam first. ;) )

2. Comment to this post with your desired characters or pairings, and a prompt. All genres/pairings are welcome, BUT no RPF/RPS, please. Please focus on the fictional characters only.

Example A: “Sam, Dean, gen, set in season 2. Sam has a vision and passes out. Cue caring!Dean and limp!Sam.”
Example B: “Sam/Dean, trauma. Sam is injured on a hunt, Dean freaks out when he thinks Sam might be dead.”

3. You can leave as many prompts as you like, but please write one prompt per comment. If you've got a few (and feel free to prompt at will!), comment with each separately. This is to keep the meme manageable.

4. Your prompts can be as short or as detailed as you’d like. i.e. "Sam, Dean. Fever." Or a three-paragraph epic with details (

rainylemons, we're all looking at you!). The more detailed your prompt, the less wriggle room you're giving the writer, though, so bear that in mind.

5. Scroll through the comments and when you find a prompt you like, write a fic in reply to the comment. There is no word count limit.

6. More than one comment-fic response to a prompt is totally acceptable, and in fact encouraged. The more fic, the better!

7. When replying to a prompt with your comment-fic, put ‘FILLED’ in your subject line and then anything else you want, ie: a title if you have one/part numbers. It’s not a big deal if you forget this step, but it will make it easier for people to find your fic, and for me when I’m compiling the master list.

8. Anonymous posting is enabled, but I haven't figured out how to turn off I.P. logging. If you're embarrassed by how schmoopy your prompts are, don't worry, we won't tell on you. ;)

9. No spoilers for future episodes. NONE. We will send Missouri after you with a spoon.

10. Standard rules of politeness apply. Do NOT bash any characters. Do NOT say rude things to prompters and writers. In short, don't be a douchebag. The mods will ruthlessly delete any ridiculousness we see.

11. Questions about the meme? Comments? PM your mods! We will be happy to answer your queries.

12. Do feed your authors! They’re awesome. Feedback is THE BEST DRUG EVER.

13. If you want to advertise this, that’s fantastic! It would be really appreciated. Just copy and paste the code provided above into your journal.

In conclusion, have FUN!

Master List

jennytork: Don't care how you do it, but land Sam and Dean in a situation where something that looks really bad, given their history, is the right thing for Sam to do. He has to go all out with his powers, and this time it really is going to change him, he won't be entirely human any more, but it's the only way. He's just gotten Dean's trust back after the soullessness thing and the whole mess of the last three years, and he knows this is going to undermine that. He doesn't trust himself, for that matter, but at a certain point not trusting himself to do the right thing becomes a coward's way out of responsibility. So he's open with Dean, but he has to go through with it. And Dean is angry and bitter and suspicious, and Sam knows he deserves that, but he does what has to be done. And he's hurt, he's hurt real bad. Will Dean be able to treat this injured, not entirely human thing as Sam, as his brother? Too High.

anonymous: A small town's "Haunted Village" turns out to be actually haunted. Sam and Dean show up in time to evacuate most of the school groups before things get too crazy, but they end up stuck in a corn maze with a kindergarten class and its very scared young teacher when all hell breaks loose.

Sam's arm or leg or something gets crushed/snapped/mangled and he's doing his best to keep it together for the kids and their teacher all the while trying to get everyone to safety. Dean is awesomely awesome, doing his best not to draw too much attention to Sam's injury so as not to freak anyone else out, but making sure Sam is all right every few minutes nonetheless. Untitled.

sistabro: Sam's visions and nightmares developed at a much earlier age. The more they progress, the harder it is for him to cope and keep his grip on reality. The headaches and lack of sleep eventually become too much and he turns to cutting to keep himself grounded. Cue awesome big brother Dean who does what he can by coaxing him through the hard times (I'd love a scene where Dean takes a knife from Sam's hand and mention of how he reacts to seeing fresh cuts on Sam's arm), but knows he ultimately can't make Sam stop and it could be something that they'll have to deal with for the rest of their lives. Counting Bodies Like Sheep

radiumgirl: Sam has an unfortunate altercation with a hellhound, and he's not fatally injured, but he's cut up, and in a lot of pain. As if THAT wasn't enough, the encounter also acts as a trigger: the wall cracks just a little more, and his mind is thrown back into Hell. He's seizing, flailing and suffering and making his injuries worse; Dean's trying to take control of the situation, even though he's horrified and panicked at Sam's memories coming back, and also at the very implications of hellhounds in his own life: his death, Jo's death. This Time and the Last Time.

phreakycat: Ever since his week of reliving Hell, Sam's started crying in his sleep. He can't/won't cry during the day, but every night when his defenses are down he sobs and sobs in his sleep.

This makes sleeping difficult for Dean, obviously. So Dean decides he's clearly got to do something to help. He's got to get Sam to cry during the daytime so that they can have a chick flick moment and Sam can let go of some of his angst. Turns out, despite all of Dean's "you're an emo girl" teasing over the years, getting Sam to cry is easier said than done. It's In My Honey, It's In My Milk.

glovered: When we see that flashback at the beginning of Unforgiven, Samuel and Sam are walking out talking about Sam's wound. Well I noticed that he's bleeding and shot or stabbed in the arm. Hurt!Sam isn't good, sure BUT what I really noticed was that Sam was wearing his BROWN HOODIE. Which now has a HOLE in the ARM.
Fast forward to present and maybe Dean finds the ripped hoodie and mends it for Sam. Maybe even soulless!Sam kept it because it was the first piece of clothing Dean bought Sam after he lost everything in the fire at Stanford. Cue Sam being touched by the gesture and apologizing again for, ya kno, letting his bro get turned into a vamp and stuff. Our Boots On With Both Hands.

minviendha: Sometime after getting his soul back, Sam falls ill. It's nothing life threatening, but he feels pretty miserable and can't really get out of bed - though he does try. Sam plays it down, but Dean won't have that. Ever since Sam's soul is back and Dean knows it's only a matter of time until the wall breaks and he loses his brother again, Dean is even more overprotective than in his best days, and now Sam's sick, he is in full "Take you medicine!"/"If you get up one more time I'll tie you to the bed!"/"Shut up and let me read you a bedtime story!" big brother mode. Pause.

minviendha: Sam decides to stay with his family instead of going to Stanford after his father gives him the ultimatum. The hunting life slowly begins to eat away at Sam, & his family can see it happening. Beneath the Trees, Where Nobody Sees.

wave_obscura: Dean has to feed Sam ice chips. Ice Chips.

youaredriving: If poison ivy is burned and the smoke then inhaled, this rash will appear on the lining of the lungs, causing extreme pain and possibly fatal respiratory difficulty. Like An Old Biddy.

blueeyedliz: Sam's wall cracks again, and this time he's out for much longer than 3 minutes. Dean knows that every second is an eternity, but he can't manage to bring Sam back. He figures the best way to snap Sam back into the here and now is to emphasize the differences/good things about reality. But the opposite of torture is... hugs and puppies? I'd love for this to have some degree of awkwardness to it, cuz it's not like Dean's used to just holding his brother, but Sam needs it (and not-so-secretly likes it) and Dean's going to do whatever it takes. Eventually, when Dean sees Sam uncovering potentially wall-damaging memories, he takes a preemptive approach. Maybe they're both a little sheepish, but, really, neither's going to give up the chance to be close AND stave off hell!seizures at the same time. Gen preferred. The Reluctant Romantic.

mercuryblue144Sam still keeps the voicemail from 4x22 even after all this time. He needs not to let himself forget about what he has done and what he is. So whenever Dean smiles at him or talks with him like he really cares, whenever he feels little blip of happiness or normalcy, whenever he thinks he has done something well, whenever he starts believing Dean has forgiven him... he has to reach out to his mobile and listen to the message.

This way he can remind himself he cannot be forgiven, that this is what Dean really thinks of him, and that he is living on borrowed time without any hope for atonement. Who Won't Let A Coward Run.

si_star_x: Schmoopy fluffy prompt! *confetti* Something happens where Sam is forced to cut his hair super short and he ends up being really depressed about it. Dean gives him a hard time about it at first because, hey it's just hair it'll grow back, but eventually he sees how much it's really bothering Sam and comforts him like whoa. "Did I ask for a haircut?

monicawoe: Sam realises he's being manipulated and turns the tables on Ruby. The BoyKing steps up to the plate and not only gets Dean out of Hell before he can pick up the knife, he forces Ruby to abandon Lilith and serve him.

Suddenly there's civil war in Hell and Heaven is completely baffled, so Castiel is sent to find out what's going on. Sam is somehow still fundamentally SAM, though, and manages to hold onto himself. No demon blood. No nothing. Nothing Left To Lose.

monicawoe: So Sam's all put back together again and Robo!Sam, like a good terrifying attack dog, is once again leashed and under the firm management of Sam's soul. Everything is good -- or is it?

[Cut for length] Sam's amoral side has gotten stronger in the year it was at large. It devises better plans, faster. Its inner voice is louder and more persuasive -- and when Sam listens, it gets results. [Further cut for length] As Sam struggles to recover Dean's trust and re-examine himself, Sam and Dean sink into a lonely spiral of second-guessing and paranoia -- while the line between Sam and his inner SkyNet ripples and blurs. Don't Worry.

ratherastory: The Jessica Moore Sam was living with at Stanford? Not his adult girlfriend, but his barely out of diapers kid. Mom died in childbirth, took off, whatever, but Sam's left with his baby and when Dean breaks in, he finds Sam alone in a small apartment with his little girl. If That Mockingbird Don't Sing

radiumgirl: Gen, preseries with a connect to season 6, Dean POV - it sucks when your Boy Scout little brother suffers heatstroke mowing lawns in 110 degree heat because he wants to earn some honest cash. It makes you freak out because, sure, the kid's a giant pain in the ass, but he's kind of your whole world. It sucks more when it happens again years later, not because he's mowing lawns, God don't you just wish, but because it's a 110 degrees and he wandered off into the desert heat during a wall crumbling sort of fugue and he doesn't know you (at first) or what's happening to him and he thinks he's that same snot-nosed teenager in the hospital after a heatstroke, asking when Dad's gonna get there. How do you keep from breaking the kid's heart and maybe ripping down that last shred of wall? You can't tell him Dad's dead and you aren't sure if you should do anything to make him come back to his adult reality because, let's face it, his reality is nothing but pain. But, he's still your world and you still stay by him, comforting and cooling him down and, no not the hospital this time, just a cool bath and rag on the forehead, and your heart breaking into a thousand pieces as you tell him "Dad'll be here soon, Sammy. Shh, he'll be here soon. I promise."

Saying you promise is almost like the first step to saying goodbye and it hurts. The Hollow of his Hand.

captainlon: "Appointment in Samarra" fic: Robosam shatters his leg when Bobby springs the trap door on him. It's a compound fracture, but Bobby is content to let him stew in his pain for a little while because, well, it's Robosam. But then he starts to notice Robo drifting into shock, and, dammit, Dean will be so pissed if he comes back with Sam's soul and finds the body dead, so, fine, FINE, Bobby will go tend to Robosam. Except...well...Robosam still really wants to stab Bobby in the neck, so things get a little awkward. Deadly Patient.

tversan: Sam's fourteen and at home waiting for John and Dean to come back forms hunt. After a week and a half - three more days that Dad had said - Sam has worked himself into in a panic. They could be hurt, they could be dead, how would Sam know? He calls Bobby and Pastor Jim but neither have heard from John. So he decides to hot-wire a car and go to wherever John and Dean are supposed to be. Except his timing sucks and a couple of cops spot him just as the car starts. He doesn't even have time to run away.

I don't know what CPS would do under these circumstances, so if it's easier have John and Dean drive up right then, great, otherwise they can return the next day, perfectly fine. The hunt just took longer than expected. What I want is a fourteen year old Sam in juvie for a couple of weeks. He's small and scared shitless and hand to hand combat is great - when they're not ganging up on you. Juvie.

si_star_x: Sam breaks his leg during a hunt, and badly so. It's shattered, in the puke-your-guts-out painful, going to take a long time to heal and probably will leave him with a limp for the rest of his life kind of way. And all he wants is to lie there and scream, or die or something, but Dean's upstairs, waiting for the thing that attacked Sam, and Sam just found out that their method for killing it doesn't work. So he has to warn Dean, but his cell's broken and Dean's in a soundproof room (or simply out of earshot), somewhere at the top of an awful lot of stairs.

But if Sam Winchester can't run to his brother's rescue, he's going to crawl to it. A little pain isn't going to stop him. The Climb.

minviendha: Some demon with insight into the cage (or Lucifer or Michael themselves, however they'd be able to) taunt Dean with stories about things that have been done to Sam in hell. Through the Glass.

monicawoe: Someone -- Gordon Walker, Walt and Roy, the gang from Free 2B U & Me, whoever -- has it in for Sam. The kicker? They know enough -- about Sam's past, his powers, his *cough*cravings*cough* weaknesses, his HELL SEIZURES -- to put him through some seriously rough times, and bring the inhuman parts of him right up to the surface.

That's before Dean rescues Sam and shoots the crap out of his captors, of course. But by the time he arrives, Sam's already pretty messed up . . . Less and More.

4422shini: Somehow, with bogus insurance and no money our boys always end up alone in their hospital room. But what if that wasn't the case? I want Sam, any injury, stuck sharing a hospital room with the roommie (or family of roomie) from hell. You can make this angsty or comical, just make sure Sam is annoyed beyond belief by having to share a room with someone else. My only stipulation is that the injury is bad enough to keep him there for a couple days, but not so bad that he's unable to gripe and bitch.' Of Hospitals, Roommates and Puke.

vail_kagami: While Dean is in the past (4.03 In the Beginning, that would be) angels (Uriel or anyone, really) find Sam. Suffering ensues, however the writer wants to go about it. Dean comes back and flips about three and a half shits. Getting Lower Ever Since.

greeneyes_fan: People who deal with crisis, or who live in a situation of long-term, ongoing crisis, develop coping mechanisms, behaviors and even personality traits that are excellent for coping with crisis--but which make for lousy methods of functioning in the real world (i.e. a state of affairs where there is not a crisis going on).

What behaviors and traits has Sam acquired in the last few years that maybe he didn't have before, or that are exaggerated versions of earlier ones, which might preclude being able to actually function effectively in ordinary society? Not necessarily the more dramatic possibilities, like the impacts of traumatic memories--what about things like needing to keep constantly busy, or a tendency toward hypervigilance, or a reduced capacity for compassion? Does suppressing his own feelings lead to an inability to empathize with others? Does he feel a sense of relief when something hugely problematic happens because at least this is a situation he knows how to deal with?

Gen, please. Motion Sickness.

quickreaver: Michael and Lucifer fight and they fight over Sam, ripping his soul between their fiery maws like he's a chew toy. [cut for length] Sometimes Michael and Lucifer get caught up in fighting and forget that they're fighting over Sam. [cut some more] hey, it's Hell! NEAT. You don't get to die and Sam lies there, drawing broken breaths through shattered lungs, cast off and forgotten until Lucifer, tired and weary from battle, comes slumping back to him. And he picks up his forgotten toy, drags Sam's limp body to his corner of the cage while he and Michael lick their wounds[further cut]. And there, bit by bit, stitch by stitch, he puts Sam back together again. Kiss With A Fist Is Better Than None.

youaredriving: A resouled Sam discovers that not only was he sleeping around, he was also not so interested in the concept of consent. Cue Sam getting flashbacks of Sam raping or killing a woman that leave Sam puking and absolutely horrified. Untitled.

killabeez: If someone can just find a way for Sam to give Dean the amulet back, and for Dean to be surprised/genuinely touched/really really grateful, that would be amazing. Especially as an understated (but obvious) thing, because he's supposed to be looking out for Sammy, not the other way around. Maybe Sam's dying, and wants to leave a little bit of himself behind with Dean so he doesn't do anything batshit crazy this time. However you do it is great, I just need the amulet back, and for it to be a good thing. That's Why I Hold With All I Have.

27_jaredjensen: sometime season 6, Dean, Sam: Gen bed sharing, forehead feels, neck massage because of headaches, Nyquil, theraflu, hot tea, bad, awful dreams because he can't sleep (you know GOOD sleep), and finally just some good ol' Tussionex which tastes like candy pineapples and has hydrocodone to kill the cough. It also makes Sam sooooooo relaxed until he's sort of floating, in and out, tucked in against Dean on some motel bed somewhere in nowhere land, wrapped in blankets, clutching a roll of toilet paper, and catching random moments of either all of the Lord of the Rings or all of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies which Dean watches to pass the time while Sam finally sleeps it off. Medicated.

Anonymous: Sam loses his hearing at Stanford. Untitled.

nanoks: Sam comes back from hell cold and touch-starved. He has to be in his hoodie at all times. Maybe he smokes? He's always twitchy and on-edge. He can never just be comfortable. But he has his brother, and his brother does what he can. Wincest is welcome. A Tender Touch.

dante_s_hell: Sam's tweaked his back pretty bad, so Dean gives him a massage. Thoroughly. Twist and Shout.

de_nugis: Dean settles down in due course with Lisa and Ben. Retires from hunting, because he won't bring his work home with him to endanger his family. Sam tries to do the same, to make a civilian life for himself and be content with his place in Dean's family, but it's hard. He still feels like he should be out there atoning for what he's done, and though Lisa and Ben include him for Dean's sake, he's always a bit on the margins. So he ends up hunting again. He still sees Dean when he can, but he stays away from Lisa's out of the same fear that made Dean retire -- he's not going to have something evil follow him back to Dean's home.

And in the end every hunter is going to draw the short straw. Sam gets hurt on a hunt alone, and he knows it's the end. At least he's luckier than most in having an angel on speed dial. He knows Cas isn't allowed to heal him, but what he can do is get Dean. They say their goodbyes. Last Call.

gwendolynd: Sam is flogged within an inch of his life (literally) for whatever reason. Untitled.

darth_firefly: Sam's tweaked his back pretty bad, so Dean gives him a massage. Thoroughly. Wincest or gen, but prefer the focus to be on the massage (the pain/pleasure of Dean digging his thumbs in, working out knots, making Sam groan in ways that sound good and bad) instead of sex. Massage.

authoressnebula: People begin to disappear, and only Sam seems to notice. Empty Chairs at Empty Tables. Now with a sequel! Everybody Standing Around Us.

bythedamned: Sam tries & fail to cope with the fact that Mary sold him before he was even born in exchange for John's life. Cue Dean being an awesome big brother. One to Sell.

emmram: After experiencing what a crack in the wall is like, Sam dutifully stops "scratching". After a while, though, he starts to experience migraines and fevers and his general health goes downhill . When he finally collapses, Dean has Castiel check him out. Castiel tells them that the wall is holding, but there's so much pressure building behind it that it's killing Sam, and eventually the pressure will just destroy the wall entirely. In order to prevent that from happening, Sam will need to let some of the pressure out every once and a while - meaning every few months he'll need to scratch just a tiny bit and open a pressure valve of sorts, letting just enough hell through to slack off the pressure for a while... The Fragile Substance of My Soul.

minviendha: Sam and Dean are ambushed by a posse of anti-Sam hunters and killed. Dean moves on, but Sam sticks around, pissed about the fact that when the hunters took him out, they took Dean too. A few years pass and Bobby gets wind of some violent deaths going down in the area where the Winchesters fell. He does the math and doesn't like the answer he gets, heads out to put Sam Winchester to rest once and for all. The Ghosts You Know.

captainlon: Sam (and Dean?) go spirit-walking (as in Death Takes A Holiday? Or a curse?) and after they get back in their bodies (break the curse?) Sam's consciousness keeps slipping loose like part of a cheap plastic toy with the insertion tabs broken off.

Cue uncontrolled, random fainting, disturbing astral plane encounters, frantic Dean, and neat ghost tricks. Fragile.

cherry916: Post 6x12. Ever since Sam got his soul back, he's suffered almost constant headaches due to the pressure from the wall. He tries to hide it, but Dean, being an awesome big brother, notices and does his best to help Sam cope with the pain. Under Pressure.

crazybeagle: Sam develops chronic muscle spasms around/near that scar on his back.When it Counted Most.

ancastar: For some reason Sam receives 20 lashes. Dean is made to witness the punishment and suffers each stroke with Sam. Bearable.

emmram: Uriel gets a hold of Sam and Dean and wants to use them against Castiel in the civil war. [prompt cut for length] Ruin.

harrigan: Stanford-era. Sam's got a trick knee from the hunting life -- usually it's okay, but once in a while it hurts enough that he favors it noticeably. He does something to re-injure this knee and iss so used to treating his own injuries that he brushes off Jess' pleas to visit a doctor and wraps it and ices it by himself, like he's always done. The injury is far more serious than he realized, and it just keeps on getting worse -- cue Jess getting kind of frantic and begging him to go to a doctor. Locus Standi.

4thejourney: Sam's visions and nightmares developed at a much earlier age. The more they progress, the harder it is for him to cope and keep his grip on reality. The headaches and lack of sleep eventually become too much and he turns to cutting to keep himself grounded. Cue awesome big brother Dean who does what he can by coaxing him through the hard times (I'd love a scene where Dean takes a knife from Sam's hand and mention of how he reacts to seeing fresh cuts on Sam's arm), but knows he ultimately can't make Sam stop and it could be something that they'll have to deal with for the rest of their lives. My Scars To Remind Me

crazybeagle: SPOILERS FOR 6x15, THE FRENCH MISTAKE. Dean says to Sam "you don't seem all that eager to get back to our universe" (paraphrased). The reason Sam isn't chomping at the bit to get back (even though he knows they have to return) is that in this universe there's no demons, no magic, etc. That means no demon blood, and no addiction. It's the first time in a long time that he hasn't felt that constant hunger niggling away at him. It's such an incredible relief, not to feel that addiction, and he didn't realize how much it was weighing on him until it was gone. Add to that the fact that no hell = no need for a wall, and Sam feels better than he has since, well, ages.

Once they return to their universe, though, the addiction and the hunger and the itching wall all crash back down on him. It's depressing and exhausting and overwhelming. Dean eventually figures out what's going on (Sam can tell him or he can figure it out on his own) and does his best to help Sam readjust. Tabula Rasa.

Sorry for the delay in getting the list up. Please let me know if I've left out your fill! :)

Current Mood: happy

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From: (Anonymous)

Sorry, no beta. Enjoy!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It all started with the flu. Or rather, it seemed like it was the flu, so Sam didn’t pay much attention at all. Yeah, there was the requisite fever, but feeling crappy after pulling an all-nighter for term papers was normal, wasn’t it? This was what he’d been striving for; term papers and midterms, clubs and community service, safety instead of seeking out an early death by vengeful spirit or some other supernatural creature. So as he lay in bed, curled up in his dorm room with lights off and blinds closed, Sam took comfort that he was at Stanford and not in the middle of a hunt, digging up some angry ghost’s grave, while he ignored the pangs of wishing that Dean was there to take care of him like always.

Not three hours later, Sam’s roommate Tyson Brady crashed through the door, turned on the lights, and noisily began to dig through the mini-fridge.

“Hey, man, Professor Bergman’s midterm was hella easy. I was actually kinda shocked at how easy it was. Easy calculus class, what what?”

Sam could only groan in response. The fever had quickly gotten worse, and a splitting headache erupted soon afterwards that traveled down his stiff neck. The trash can near his bed was conveniently placed next to his head when nausea bloomed forth and he threw up several times. The lights blinded his sensitive eyes and Brady's noisy rustling jackhammered into his skull, and he burrowed his head into his pillow to reduce the taiko drummers pounding on his head. Only then did Brady finally notice Sam’s condition.

“Shit, Sam, you look like crap. What happened? I swear you looked fine earlier this morning.” Brady peered at Sam as if trying to diagnose him through the blankets piled on top of his bed.

“Ugh, I think I caught something,” Sam replied hoarsely. “Just got a fever this afternoon. Figured it was the lack of sleep catching up to me.”

“Nuh uh. You look like something my mom cut up and cooked for dinner. I’m calling the advice nurse.” Sam sunk deeper into his bed as Brady stepped out of the room to call the health clinic.

He felt like the guy from one of Ray Bradbury’s stories who was weighted down with 200 pound weights and a constant ringing in his ears to disrupt his thinking patterns. His awareness dwindled down to only the pain in his head and neck as he tried his best to ignore Brady’s voice speaking to the advice nurse. After a few minutes, a litany of “Shitshitshitshitshit” worked its way through Sam’s ears. “Sam, you need to get to an ER, like stat. Seriously. I’m calling 911,” Brady’s voice trembled, fingers dialing frantically.

In a few minutes, the paramedics came and Sam’s last vestige of consciousness drifted away in a sea of bright lights and loud noises. An unknown amount of time passed by as he faded in and out of awareness. When he next became cognizant of his surroundings, he was alone, but his room was decorated with a get well soon banner, a few cards and a vase of flowers. Feeling tired, he fell back asleep.

From:

kate-mct.livejournal.com

More please!!

From: (Anonymous)

The following time he woke up, Brady was there. His lips moved and his body slumped in relief, but no words were coming out of his mouth. “What?” Sam asked, but instead of hearing the word, he felt it in his throat. He whipped his head around and noticed the monitors that should have been beeping and the nurses’ station in front of his room where the low mumble of conversation should have drifted in. By the time he looked back at Brady, Brady’s eyes had widened and he started moving his lips faster.

“Brady!” Sam voiced. At the sound of Sam’s voice, he shut up. “I can’t hear.” If it was possible, Brady’s eyes grew wider. He held up his index finger and left the room to come back with a nurse carrying a marker and a dry erase board. On the white board, she wrote down, “Hi Sam. I’m Jackie, your nurse for today. Do you remember what brought you in here?”

“Uh, yeah. I felt really sick and Brady called 911.” Sam felt the beginnings of panic well deep within him but concentrating on the nurse kept him superficially calm right now. She erased her message and wrote more.

“You had meningitis,” the nurse explained. “It’s been a few days since you were admitted to the hospital. Your friend mentioned that you couldn’t hear; that’s a complication of the disease. You came very close to death, young man.”

Sam stared at the words on the white board as he asked, “How close?” Sam’s eyes had latched onto the word "death," and wondered for a brief moment what would have happened if he really had died. Would word ever reach Dean and Dad or would they have merrily kept hunting, oblivious to his passing?

The nurse continued to scribble down her response. “Most likely your hearing loss will be temporary, but we’ll have to wait and see to be sure.”

Sam rubbed his face with his hands, exhausted from staying awake for more than a couple minutes at a time. Brady patted his shoulder in what Sam assumed to be support meanwhile the nurse checked his vitals. Inside of a minute, Sam slipped back into darkness.

The third time Sam woke up, more people were in his room. Apparently, Brady had spread the word and gathered other people from their floor to visit him in the hospital, armed with notebooks to communicate with him. Each expressed their eagerness in seeing him getting better, regaling him with tales of how close Brady was to filing for a pass on his classes because of how near death Sam had skated. Beth the RA said that she looked for Sam’s family, but the university didn’t have anyone on record to call. The gathering had the feel of a group of friends passing notes in class, a roaming notebook exchanging hands with added sketches of hilarious anecdotes. Eventually, Sam bowed to fatigue and drifted off, leading the crowd to disperse.

As Sam recuperated, his hearing did not, and the medical staff began to see his deafness as permanent. Every few days an audiologist would come by to test his hearing, but it never got any better than a classification of severe hearing loss. After two weeks of tests, trying desperately to hear the beeps from the machine, the otolarygologist diagnosed him as severely deaf and suggested testing for cochlear implants and taking classes in lipreading. At the end of the doctor's visit, Sam started to freak out about being deaf and being unable to complete his classes. No hearing meant not being able to listen to lectures or contribute to discussions, both of which were essential to getting the grades he wanted. And if he flunked out, he might have to go crawling back to Dad and Dean, where he would be equally useless at hunting and which he damned well swore he would never do. No, he’d survive somehow if only because he had to. He broke off from his family to study here, and he was going to fight tooth and nail to stay here regardless.

From:

kate-mct.livejournal.com

Love it! Poor Sammy! Can't wait for part 3!!

From: (Anonymous)

Thanks!

From:

jennytork.livejournal.com

This was a beautiful thing to wake up to this morning.

Can't wait to see more!!

From: (Anonymous)

Thanks!

From:

elliemurasaki.livejournal.com

Has anyone told Sam about how colleges are obligated to help out students with disabilities? There's a deaf student in one of my classes and she's accompanied by someone provided by the college who translates the lectures and discussions into ASL for her.

From: (Anonymous)

Yeah, I'm getting to that. These are just his thoughts right now. Though, if you find any inconsistencies, feel free to point them out. It's not as though I have any experience about this IRL.

From: (Anonymous)

As he was discharged from the hospital, his deafness became a disadvantage to be worked around. From information gathered surfing the Internet and discussing his new problems with his new disability to the Office of Accessible Education and on online forums for deaf and hard of hearing people. He learned about making lectures accessible with something called stenocaptioning, which uses a stenographer to capture whatever was being said and display a translated text on a display screen, and relied heavily upon text messaging on his cell phone. Brady helped out by writing down any messages for him from the answering machine and all of his friends knew to stop calling and texted or IM-ed him instead. He looked up beginner ASL classes to join and whether he should buy a TTY.

Between notifying all his professors of his illness and new disability, filing to be officially considered a disabled student, and catching up on all his classes, Sam was confronted with his new situation on all sides. Communication over the phone was no longer an option and while he could e-mail his professors, filing for disability forced him to go on a wild goose chase to fill out the right forms and find the right office to file his claim. He missed bus stops and phone calls and had had various people staring at him in disgust. He saw people talking to him, but he understood next to nothing of what they said. The lectures he attended were all orally given, and he had to get the OAE to start stenocaptioning all his classes so he wouldn’t miss essential information and concepts his professor conveyed. He felt disconnected and disjointed, just when he was starting to get used to living his “normal” life, just when he thought he was fitting in as just another student trying to get by. Half the time, he felt like giving up, but the memory of John’s anger filled words disowning him and his views of his potential life if he dropped out kept him in Palo Alto, finding new ways to deal.

He couldn’t help but think about Dean during this time, wishing his brother was there with him, distracting him from his thoughts with pervy comments about coeds and attempts to drag him to parties, Dean, who’d run interference between him and people who refused to accommodate for his disability. Brady was a great help, adjusting his life for his newly deaf roommate, letting Sam’s moods slide right off his back, but he was no Dean. Sometimes he thought about calling Dean just to notify him, but Dad had ejected him from the family and Dean would never contradict Dad’s word. It hurt that he was bereft of his family’s support, but this was what he had signed up for. This was a chance to get out and be safe, avoid an early and bloody death in the middle of nowhere.

Sam opted to wait to start his ASL classes until summer quarter, where he started with other beginners rather than dive into a class halfway through the quarter. There were no other classes to detract from his education and he always had a knack for languages from back in his childhood learning church Latin from Pastor Jim. The ASL instructor started with fingerspelling and graduated to simple grammar and hand signs, but Sam wanted a faster pace and so ventured into the deaf community on campus to find those he could practice with. He immersed himself in sign language for the summer and tested into intermediate sign language for the next school year. He made sure that all his classes were accessible for him and studied twice as hard to keep ahead of the curve. Upon deciding to become a lawyer, Sam interned at a firm with a deaf lawyer on staff to see how it was done.

From:

jennytork.livejournal.com

More and more and more amazing!!

From: (Anonymous)

And to think we haven't even met Jess yet. :)

From:

kate-mct.livejournal.com

Love it! Can't wait for part 4!

From: (Anonymous)

Here it comes below!

From: (Anonymous)

In the midst of the whirlwind Sam’s life had become, Brady on occasion dragged Sam out to frat parties. The Greek life had never appealed to Sam, and this was especially doubled when he found himself in dark rooms with the bass thumping. Communication between him and others dropped to nearly nothing during these times, and it was hard not to feel like a loser stuck watching people. Oftentimes, he found himself outside on the patio, drinking a beer and trying to lipread the conversations around him. At one such party, he scouted out a relatively lighted corner to claim, but before he managed to wander off in that direction, someone caught his wrist.

“Heeeey,” slurred a blonde girl. The dimmed light above her head gave her curly hair a faint glow, and he thought her almost angelic until she clapped her hand to her mouth. “Sssssooorryyyy,” she smiled up at him and she swayed into Sam’s chest. Through his shirt, he felt her mumbling something and so he brought her outside under a street light.

“Are you OK?” he asked. He worried about the volume of his voice, if it was too soft and she couldn’t hear or if it was too loud and he embarrassed himself. She looked so beautiful despite her drunkenness and he felt nervous around her.

She simply nodded her head and stared up at him. “Oh, yeah,” she replied. “Fine.” She gestured the OK sign at him. “Just like you. So fine…” Her head lolled down and her hands came up to pet his pecs then to poke them. He gently pushed her hands off of him and queried, “Do you have someone to walk you home?”

The blonde shook her head. She said something, but Sam could only feel the vibrations through his clothes. “I’ll walk you home; that OK?” He asked her. Looking back up at him, she nodded. His hands wrapped around her waist and he walked her back to her dorm room, her chatting away at him and him making agreeing noises although he had no idea what she was talking about. Sometimes he caught a glimpse of her lips but nothing that made sense to him, but for the most part he just enjoyed the sensation of the vibrations of her voice and of her soft warmth at his side.

Once they were standing outside her dorm building, she turned to face Sam. Her lips moved again and it seemed like she was introducing herself. She held out her hand and he tentatively shook it.

“I’m Sam.” He gave her a small smile. They stood awkwardly there for a moment until she exclaimed, “Oh, right! I’m gunna go inside now. Bye!” She waved at him then headed inside. Sam stood there, watching her until she was out of sight.

From:

kate-mct.livejournal.com

Loved it! Can't wait for part 5!

From:

sagaluthien.livejournal.com

I like it and will continue to read it, so please don't take to long to put up more parts.

From: (Anonymous)

Thanks!

From:

jennytork.livejournal.com

Can't wait to see 5!

From: (Anonymous)

[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<sorry,>') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]

Punctuation warning: "" is speaking, <> is signing, and ** is writing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A couple days later, he ran into the same blonde girl from the party as he was walking back home from class. She grabbed his forearm, startling him, and he had to fight down his hunting reflexes to avoid punching her in the face. “Hi!” she exclaimed and she waved. Her mouth started running off and her hair obscured her lips so he missed most of what she was saying.

“Uh, sorry, but I didn’t catch all of that. Um, I’m deaf, so if you could write it down or sign, that’d be great.” Sam inwardly cringed at outing his difference this way, half sure she would look at him in pity or disgust, and he wasn’t sure if he could take it.

Instead, she surprised him by blushing, and he thought her cute with her cheeks tinted pink. <Sorry,> she signed slowly. <My name is J-E-S-S.> Her hands were hesitant, pausing after each sign to make sure it was correct, and Sam was heartened by her knowledge, however basic, of ASL.

<Hi,> he signed back. <I’m Sam.>

<I remember.> She smiled and suddenly dug into her bag for a pen and paper. When she found them, she wrote, *I was beating myself up for not getting your number the other day. I wondered if I would have to chase down all the guys at the party to come up with you.*

This time it was Sam’s turn to blush. He ducked his head down and scuffed his shoes on the sidewalk, his bangs hiding his eyes from view.

*Thanks for walking me home that night. I really appreciate it,* she scribbled on the paper.

“It was no problem. It was nice.” Sam fidgeted even more. She scrawled something.

*Here’s my AIM screen name and phone number. Talk to me some time.* She thrust the paper into his hands in her enthusiasm.

Sam’s grin erupted onto his face and he held the paper tightly in his fist. “I will,” he asserted. Smile met smile and they stood there for a minute, beaming at each other, until she broke off and said, “OK. Bye.” They waved at each other for a moment then she took off. His eyes lingered on her body until she walked behind a building and was gone.

From: (Anonymous)

I'm going to apologize for the formatting error up there. Sorry!

From:

kate-mct.livejournal.com

Aww! Loved it, but can't wait for Dean and John to find out.

From: (Anonymous)

Ah! I totally forgot about John (bad author, bad!) I'll be sure to incorporate him now. Thanks!

From:

chaigrl2786.livejournal.com

This is awesome!!! I can't wait to see what is going to happen next! Thanks for posting. Take care and Happy Writing!

Re: Filled: Deaf!Sam at Stanford (5/?)

From: (Anonymous) - Date: 2011-03-08 05:45 am (UTC) - Expand

From: (Anonymous)

Within twenty-four hours, Sam and Jess were chatting online, talking up a storm as they discussed everything under the sun. She was a second year English and Anthropology double major and had a younger sister two years younger. Her Medieval Literature professor was absolutely evil and she enjoyed tutoring ESL students on campus. They both liked Jeopardy and Thai food and knew to avoid that one shady frat house on the corner. At the end of their hours-long session, a first date had been set and Sam’s mood was so good, Brady thought Sam was on something.

Their first date was to the Big Game, Stanford vs. Cal, and Sam met up with Jess outside of her dorm building. Together they rode the bus down to the stadium, watching drunken revelers singing the Stanford fight song and dissing the Bears as they made their way to the game. The rowdy noises were so loud that Sam heard them, like a mumble in the background, and he turned to Jess and said into her ear, “Isn’t this great?”

She yelled back to him, “What? I can’t hear you.” They stared at each other for a second before irony set in and they fell into a fit of laughter.

“I love going to games,” Sam shouted as they tried to find seats in Stanford Stadium. “The crowds are excited and the fountain spews red for a day. I can even hear the roaring of the cheers.”

*It’s so loud I can’t hear a thing.* Jess wrote in a memo pad she kept in her purse. *It’s kinda the reason I decided to learn ASL. I figured it’d be handy in libraries and at concerts. Plus, I’ve always found something fascinating about using your hands to talk. Just the way you make your hands form shapes in the air… Anyways, it just seemed cool.* She gave him an embarrassed smile.

Sam felt the beginnings of a beautiful relationship.