Tag to Devil's Trap: A one-shot of how the boys made it from the cabin to the car after Yellow Eyes escapes in the season 1 finale. This is mostly just a shameless excuse for hurt Dean. I would say I'm sorry, but it's my favorite J
Please comment to let me know what you think! Thanks for reading I hope you enjoy! This is also posted on under my tag LetItRain25.
Disclaimer: Obviously, I do not own any of the characters or plot- just borrowing them and returning them as good as new (ish) J
Sam and John are locked in a staring match, both equally pissed at the other for what had just gone down. Dean's coughing seems to break the reverie though, causing Sam to realize that even wounded and bleeding out Dean is the one that keeps their family together.
Sam gives one last glance at his father as Sam moves steps away, kneeling next to Dean.
"Dean, hey man. Come, on you've got to open your eyes," Sam says, pulling off his own button-up and pressing it down on Dean's shoulder to try and stop the bleeding.
Well, he hopes that's what he was doing. There is so much blood it's hard to tell if he is staunching blood flow or just mopping it around.
"S'mmy?"
"Yeah, Dean, it's me. I'm here man but you've got to open your eyes for me, ok?"
Dean hurts. All over, head to toe, hurts. He can hear Sammy talking but for the life of him cannot seem to fit the pieces floating around his mind together to form some semblance of what was going on.
"Dean, open your eyes for your brother."
Oh, right, Dad, Yellow Eyes, Sam- all locked in a small room…There was just no way for that to end well on any front.
"Dad? You….you?" Dean asks. He admits it's not the most eloquent a Winchester has ever been, but he is aiming for gist at this point. Now if only he could get his eyes to open…
"Yeah Dean, I'm me," John responds, finally managing to sit up before trying to use the table to stand.
"Here," Sam walks over to John and gave him a hand up.
"Can you talk to him? I'm gonna pull the car up so we can get the two of you to a hospital" Sam asks quietly, pointedly avoiding eye contact with his father as John assesses the situation.
"Yeah I got it, go ahead," John answers. He manages to hobble over to his eldest, trying not to show just how unpleasant the walk is on his leg.
Sam follows, pulling the keys out of Dean's pocket.
"S'mmy? Wha' you doin'? Not ev'n gonna buy me dinner f'rst?" Dean slurs, shifting slightly as Sam rummages through his pockets.
Sam smiles as his brother finally blinks his eyes open, looking to his little brother for re-assurance. The idea that Dean is looking to Sam is both terrifying and inspiring. Dean is rarely willing to relinquish control, and even then usually only when John Winchester is around. Dean looking to Sam, trusting him to know what to do next does not happen very often, and it happening now just makes Sam even more sure that he's done the right thing in fighting for the family he still has.
"Yeah Dean, I'm just gonna go pull the car up so we can get you to the hospital alright?"
Dean tries to lift his head, John sliding a hand under his neck to help support the movement. He looks down, noting the amount of blood and conceding defeat, "Hate hospitals."
Sam smiles to himself, well aware of his big brother's distaste of all things doctor-related.
"Well man, I think just this once you're going to have to trust me on this. Plus you seem to think you have a reputation to uphold with the ladies, which means that we need to get you to the doc fast before the nurses are too busy trying to keep you conscious to fall prey to the infamous Dean Winchester charm."
Sam smiles, trying to keep the mood light, but really he is freaking out. John has grabbed the shirt Sam had pressed onto the wound, and Sam can see that the shirt is already almost soaked through. Dean has lost A LOT of blood, and the sooner he got the car the sooner they would be ok. Sam and John look to each other, sharing a look that would certainly annoy Dean if he were aware enough to notice.
"Infamous? Did you hit your head or somethin' cuz that would be the only way to 'splain why you think my charm is anything less than awesome, conscious or no."
"You just keep telling yourself that Dean." With that Sam was stands and is out the door in less than 3 long strides.
John had been trying to get himself comfortable next to Dean while his boys talked. He was also trying to assess the damage. Dean is slurring pretty badly, and at the moment he is a shade of pale that makes Casper look tan.
The good news is that there isn't too much damage other than the blood loss. The bad news is that Dean is starting to shiver which means he is going into shock. John keeps a firm grip pressed down on the injury and tries to prop Dean's head up in John's lap.
"Dean, hey Dean, look at me," John says, hand warm against Dean's icy skin.
Dean had kind of zoned out when Sammy stood to leave. It was quiet and the floor seemed comfy enough and holy crap were his eyelids heavy. Why were they so heavy? Really they only take up like an inch of space total, so why do they weigh so much?
Dean's eyes remain frustratingly closed. John gently shakes Dean but the boy's only response is to toss his head away from the intrusion.
John is starting to panic. He looks down and sees Dean, noticing how frail he looks, and how young his boy looks.
John tries again, this time using his best drill sergeant voice, "Dean, you need to wake up and look at me. Now."
Dean's eyes slowly slide open as he turns into John's hand, unconsciously snuggling into the warmth that it offers.
"Dad?"
"I'm here, son." He can hear Sam pull the car up. Based on the squeaking sound he guesses Sam is opening up all of the doors to make the next part of this adventure a little easier.
"Cold," is all Dean manages as he tries to squirm more into John's lap.
"I know son. Your brother's bringing the car now," John says, draping an arm over Dean's torso, trying to offer whatever comfort he can.
Sam needs to get in here now. John looks away, frustration warring with concern as he feels his eldest trembling beneath him.
Just as Dean's eyes start to close again Sam walks through the door and John can't help the grimace that jumps across his face when he looks at the son who could've ended this all tonight. The son who had the demon right-freaking-there but instead of killing the bastard who had taken everything, his son had let it get away.
Sam saw his dad's face; he saw the anger and the disappointment and try as he might he just didn't give a shit right then. Dean was on the ground trying to blink his eyes into submission and his dad was shot and to hell with the damned demon.
"Can you walk?" He asks looking at his dad.
"Yeah, I'm good" John says leaning against the wall, using it as leverage to bring himself up.
Sam grabs ahold of his dad's arm, helping him as he gets his legs under him.
"How do you want to get Dean?" John asks, testing how much weight he will be able to put on his knee.
Dean was trying to stay conscious by attempting to follow the conversation. Only every other word seemed to make it through his brain's complaints about this whole conscious thing, but he heard enough to know they were talking about him.
"Right here, guys, I'm right here." Ok, that's what he had been trying to say. What came out was more of a grunt since his tongue was apparently in cahoots with his eyelids on this whole "heavy" business.
"I'll come back in a minute after we get you to the car," Sam says, directing the statement more at John than Dean. With that, Sam goes to his dad's injured side, effectively inserting himself as a human crutch.
"I'm fine, Sam. I can make it to the damn car," John grouches, irritated with how useless he feels. His body betrays him almost instantly, forcing him to slump more into Sam's arms.
"Yeah, well I don't have time to wait. Dean needs a doctor now, so shut up and walk," Sam responds. The anger in his words are bellied by his quiet acceptance of the added weight.
John does not like the attitude, but frankly the faster they get his sorry ass to the car the faster Sam can help Dean and the faster they can get back to tracking this demon. Well, the faster he could get back to it-clearly Sam and Dean were not on the same page as him when it came to that.
"Easy," Sam speaks softly as he lowers John into the passenger seat.
Sam is more gentle than John expects, more gentle than John deserves, really, leading John to grunt out an annoyed, "I'm fine."
Again, John's body is not on the same page as the rest of him, and he groans as he has to bend his knee to get it inside the car. Sam gives John a once-over, and John offers a nod in response. Sam nods back, stepping away from the car and closing the passenger door behind him, before walking away.
John tries not to think of the last time he'd made Sam walk away.
This time, though, instead of walking away from his family he's walking towards it. Since returning to the hunting life Sam has learned that, though he may not share the same views as his father, Sam never wants to abandon his brother again. Dean has given everything to keep their family together. Sam can show Dean that, just because Sam doesn't want to be around John, doesn't mean Sam doesn't want to be around Dean. Dean is not his father. In Sam's opinion, Dean's better in every way that counts.
Sam walks back into the room where Dean is still on the floor. Dean seems to be trying to stay awake, which based on the amount of concentration he's putting into each blink is apparently no easy task.
Apparently humming is easier, though, since when he reaches Dean he hears his older brother humming Creedence Clearwater's "Run Through the Jungle."
"Hey Dean, you ready man?" Sam asks, kneeling to the floor and placing himself squarely in Dean's line of vision.
Dean looks at Sam and tries his best to help as his little brother gently lifts up under his shoulders and works his way in behind Dean.
As Sam begins to pull the two of them to their feet he grunts, "No more road food Dean. You are officially on the soup and salad diet."
Dean leans into Sam as the sudden change in altitude does not go over well with his body. Nausea hits him like a freight train and he fights the urge to collapse back onto the ground.
Sam sees Dean's face turn a disconcerting shade of green and feels his brother lean into him even more, "You good Dean? You need to stop or puke or what?"
Dean manages an "M'good" and puts his head down, clearly putting all of his effort into getting to the car.
By the time they're halfway across the room sweat is dripping down Dean's face and his hands are shaking but he's determined not to make this any harder on Sam than it has to be. Dean puts all of his effort into holding up as much of his own weight as he can because dammit he's the big brother and little brothers do not have to carry big brothers.
"So, nurses huh?" Dean starts talking to distract himself from, well, everything that's wrong with this moment. Which, since he's leaned against his little brother, heading towards his car which he won't be driving, with their dad who is pissed, going to a freakin hospital, is just about everything.
Sam smiles, "Yeah, knowing our luck it'll be all dudes though."
Dean frowns as the thought crossed his mind, then smiles as a different one quickly replaces it. "You remember that nurse in uh, what was it, Oregon! Damn. They should make all nurses dress like that."
"Yes Dean, I'm sure it was her clothes that you were focused on."
Dean puts on his best innocent face, as the brothers finally reached the door, "What? She had nice clothes that happened to accentuate some of her best features."
"How come you only use words like "accentuate" when you are talking about chicks?"
"Well, Sam, I would say your bangs nicely accentuate that nice face of yours, but there ain't nothing nice about what you've got going on there" Dean smiles as they reach the car.
Sam laughs, appreciating the conversation for the distraction that it is. "Jerk."
"Bitch."
Sam's face transforms from a smile to a frown as he helps Dean slide in the seat, noticing the hitching breaths , and sees Dean wince as his wounds are jostled, "You good? You need anything?"
Sitting in the car, surrounded by family (hostile though they may be), Dean feels every ounce of adrenaline abandon him, leaving him shaky and cold and exhausted,
"Wha'?"
Sam sees his brother shiver and his eyebrows crease in concern, annoyed that there's nothing he can do. The blanket they usually kept in the backseat is still bloody from a hunt and he doesn't want to risk adding infection to Dean's list of health concerns.
"Just hold on Dean, we'll get you to the hospital. You're gonna be ok."
"Thanks, Sammy. M'fine."
With that Sam shuts the back door and slides into the driver's seat. Dean's energy is clearly drained and he slumps into the seat, leaning his head against the cool window, too tired to even worried about all the blood he was getting on the seat. Their dad has been watching Sam help Dean in the car, but now that everyone is settled John is trying not to look at either of his sons.
Sam was really kind of happy that Dean was out of it. Otherwise Dean would have been freaking out at the speed that Sam was driving his baby down the road. That combined with the waves of anger fluctuating between John and Sam right now would probably have had Dean kicking both their asses on principle.
Sam saw John wince as he hit a bump in the road. Sam knew that slowing down might make things easier on their dad, but it would have made things harder for Dean. So instead he compromised, speeding up and telling John, "Look, just hold on alright? The hospital's only ten minutes away."
John couldn't take it anymore. His leg hurt and his son had just let the thing that destroyed their family get away. "I'm surprised at you Sammy. Why didn't you kill it? I thought we saw eye-to-eye on this. Killing this demon comes first. Before me, before everything."
Sam glanced back at his brother. Dean was having to work at it to stay conscious, but the fact that he was working on it in the first place meant that he was fighting, fighting for his family. The family that he still had and he would do anything to keep.
"No sir, not before everything."
Dean admittedly had been having a hard time focusing, but at that moment he was proud of his little brother. Dad would be pissed, but Dean…Dean was proud of the man that Sammy had become somewhere along the way.
"Look, we've still got the colt, we've still have the one bullet left…We just start over alright, I mean we already found the demon once-"
John was furious. Start over?! They had it! Right freaking in front of them and they blew it! Start over?! Sam was not oblivious to his father's feelings, and frankly was not thrilled about how the whole thing had gone down either, but they had each other and that needed to be enough for now. Dean was listening to his brother and his father argue for what must have been the millionth time and was preparing to let himself pass out since he was out of energy to make them stop. None of them got to finish those thoughts, though, as a semi smashed into them and even Dean's baby wasn't built to take a hit like that.