Author: MegTDJ
Category: Missing scenes, angst
Rating: T
Pairing: Sam/Ruby
Characters: Sam, Ruby, Lilith
Spoilers: Up to and including 4x22, Lucifer Rising
Summary: There was only one flaw Ruby could see in the Master Plan. (Missing scenes for I Know What You Did Last Summer and Lazarus Rising, Ruby's POV.)
Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural. I'm doing this for fun, not profit. The only thing I own is the story itself, so please don't archive this fic without my permission.
Author's notes: This started out as two separate ideas for missing scenes, but when I started writing them I decided to put them together as one fic instead. I apologize if it seems like there's a lot missing from the middle, but hopefully it can stand as one piece anyway.
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Flaw in the Master Plan
She used to wish that she could still fall asleep and dream. Now she was grateful that she couldn't. She discovered soon after returning to Sam and having him all to herself that she loved to watch him sleep.
Tonight was the first night since she'd been back that he hadn't tossed and turned all night with nightmares and grief and the guilt of letting his brother die. Tonight he'd slept peacefully, though every now and then he would tense with the residual pain from his very first successful demon-pull. Even then, all it would take was a gentle touch to make him relax again.
He looked so childlike and innocent despite the lingering traces of the tragedy and sorrow of the past few weeks. It made her feel powerful and yet very small to watch him this way, seeming as though he couldn't harm a fly while knowing that he could wipe her off the map without lifting a finger. Being so close to someone so dangerous was exhilarating in itself, but for that someone to fall asleep in her arms like a child was the ultimate high for Ruby. Morning almost seemed to come too soon.
Still, dawn had broken hours earlier, and Ruby was starting to fear that Sam's heavy sleep might be a sign that his exertion the day before had caused some serious damage. She reluctantly decided it was time to wake him, and she gave his shoulder a gentle nudge. "Sam?"
Nothing.
She ran her fingers through his hair and leaned her face closer to his. "Time to wake up, Sammy."
He stirred in his sleep and sighed, wrapping his arm around her waist and drawing her closer. For a moment she thought it was an unconscious movement and that he would let go once he fully awoke. Then she realized from the pattern of his breathing that he was no longer asleep. He really wanted to hold her.
She continued stroking his hair, as she knew he found that comforting. She found it oddly comforting herself. When Lilith had first assigned her the task of grooming Sam to become The One and had given her the rundown on the Master Plan, she had honestly thought she would find her responsibilities difficult to bear. It was lonely work, being the only one who knew what Sam was going to be, being despised by her kind and hunted down like a mad dog. She and Lilith had both known how deep her loyalty ran and that she would never back down from her duty towards their Father, but she had still expected to hate every moment of it. She could never have imagined how much of herself that she would see in Sam. How connected to him she would come to feel. It almost felt like destiny.
Sam interrupted her thoughts by stifling a groan and lifting his head from her shoulder to massage his temples.
Ruby gently pushed his hands away and took over the task herself. "How's your head?" she asked.
Sam sagged against her hands as she rubbed. "Still feels like I got a knife jammed into my skull," he said, his words slurred.
Ruby felt a pang of sympathy as she saw the lines of pain on his face and the glazed look in his eyes. He had pushed himself beyond his limits for her, after all. Not to kill Lilith or seek revenge for what had been done to his brother... simply to save her life. The pain he was feeling now was for her.
And yet he didn't seem to mind. He was lying comfortably beside her as though he belonged there. Belonged to her.
Ruby absently extended the massage up to his scalp as she mulled this over. He closed his eyes and seemed to relax under her touch, proving once again how much he was beginning to trust her. It almost made her feel guilty that she was keeping him in the dark about her true intentions. If only she could tell him about all the wonderful things that were in store for them both once Lucifer was risen...
She leaned forward and placed a light kiss on his forehead before she could be tempted to speak.
Sam opened his eyes and smiled, amused. "What was that for?" he asked.
Ruby shrugged and feigned indifference. "I was kissing it better."
Sam gave her a sleepy grin and chuckled. It was the first time she'd really seen him smile since this whole thing had started.
Phase one of the plan seemed to be complete: Make him trust you and believe that you have his best interests at heart.
Perfect time to initiate phase two.
"You know," she said, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible, "there's one thing we could try that might help to build your strength and cut back on the headaches."
"What's that?"
Ruby hesitated, looking deep into his eyes for a long moment to be sure that he was ready. Seeing no suspicion lingering behind his curiosity, she took the plunge. "Demon blood."
Sam snorted and turned his face away from her to stare blankly up at the ceiling. "Yeah," he said. "Because that did me so much good the first time."
"All it would do is enhance what's already there, Sam," Ruby said calmly, knowing that his knee-jerk refusal wouldn't last for long. "Azazel's blood laid the foundation for your abilities, but now that he's dead you just... need a little boost, that's all."
Sam's jaw tensed as he continued to glare at a stain above the bed. Ruby stayed silent and allowed him to digest what she'd said. Just the fact that he hadn't thrown her out of the room at the first mention of it was enough to prove that the idea held some appeal to him. He just didn't know that it had been instilled in him deep down to want it all along.
Within minutes, phase two had begun: Make him come to rely on you for his strength and power without realizing that it's coming from within himself. Everything was happening exactly as they had planned.
Except for one thing that neither she nor Lilith had foreseen.
She wasn't supposed to fall in love with him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Weeks passed. Word came through the pipeline that Dean was getting close to breaking. The time was almost upon them.
Every day, Ruby had to look at Sam's sorrowful yet determined face as he grew stronger and stronger and more and more set on revenge for his brother's death. She had to bite her tongue a million times against telling him about the bigger picture. Dean was playing a valuable role in the Master Plan, but Sam couldn't know that. Sam couldn't know what an important sacrifice he had made, what a great accomplishment he was going to one day achieve, or how grateful their Father was going to be... all he could see were his grief and his vengeance. And Ruby milked them for all they were worth.
He would thank her one day when he knew.
Finally, it happened Dean gave in. The first seal was broken. Hell rejoiced, and Lilith immediately started on the second. Ruby was in ecstasy, but she couldn't let it show. Not when Sam had finally begun to gain control of his power. If he learned the truth now, his anger would cause a surge in him powerful enough to vapourize her in an instant. No, she had to be patient and wait until the time was right.
And then she got word of Dean's escape.
"Take Sam to Pontiac so that Dean can find him," Lilith's juvenile host instructed her after summoning her away from Sam in the middle of the night.
"But Dean being alive won't that ruin everything?" Ruby asked anxiously. "Don't you want me to kill him?"
"Until we know how he escaped and who his accomplices were, he needs to stay alive," Lilith said. "Who knows, maybe this can help us. If we can turn the Winchester brothers against each other, Sam might turn even faster."
Ruby agreed like the good little soldier she was, but deep down she was stamping her feet and screaming at the injustice of it all. If Dean came back, Sam would push her away. He wouldn't need her anymore. She would be alone again.
Still, to Pontiac they went. Ruby knew that it was likely to be their last night together, and she had hoped to make the most of it... until she saw how heavy the burden of revisiting the place of Dean's death was sitting with Sam.
Her attempts to seduce him met with complete failure. He just sat there on the motel room couch, staring sullenly off into space. She opened her arm, but the smell of her blood didn't entice him. Even a strip tease fell flat, earning only a roll of his eyes and a sharp, "Cut it out, Ruby." Finally, she decided that sympathy was the way to go.
She sat down next to him and ran her fingers through his hair just the way he liked it. "I know this is hard for you, Sammy," she said soothingly. "But I need you to focus. We could be getting close here."
"I know."
"These demons might be able to tell us where Lilith is hiding."
"I know."
"So you need to snap out of this sulk of yours," she said, trying to make the words sound as gentle as she could.
Sam shook his head and glared at her. "I buried my brother here, okay?" he snapped. "So forgive me if I need a few minutes."
Ruby sighed and conceded defeat. She knew all too well how much Dean meant to him. That wasn't going to change... not now. Not ever.
"How about I order us a pizza?" she said, reaching for the phone.
"Fine." Sam rose slowly to his feet. "I'm gonna take a shower."
Ruby watched him walk away, wishing she could tell him that he didn't need to grieve anymore, that his brother was alive and well and heading their way, if only to make him smile again. She wondered if they would ever share another blissful night together or take another long road trip with only each other for company. She wondered if, in obeying Lilith's command to leave Dean alive, her own death at his hand would be the result.
She wondered if she could ever make Sam fall in love with her and want her by his side when his day finally came.
Despite all of her misgivings, she knew that she had to stick with the plan and do what she was instructed to do. She just wished that she could have stayed by Sam's side until the end. The plan might have been for Sam to come to rely on her, but somehow that had backfired she had come to rely on him as well. She hated to think that she might have come this far for nothing, and that she wouldn't be there to see Lucifer finally break free. She could only hope that the blood she had been feeding Sam over the past few weeks would be enough to keep him coming back for more.
Keep him coming back for her.
Five minutes later, there was a knock at the door. All of the pieces were falling into place perfectly... but she was about to be left alone. Always alone.
That was the only flaw that she could see in the Master Plan.
The End