Set before season one. Dean- 25, Max- 21.
"Hey, this is Max, leave a message." Dean sighed in frustration and slammed his phone down on the table, taking a drink of whiskey and running a hand down his face. It had been six days since he'd seen her, six days of him worried out of his mind, six days that he'd had no clue where she'd gone, no idea what had happened to her- six days of sheer panic. He felt like he was going insane with worry, every possible scenario of every awful thing that could've happened on a constant replay in his head. He'd only been out of the room for about fifteen minutes while he went to pay for another night at the motel, and when he'd come back she'd been gone. He hadn't known what to do, he'd looked everywhere, called everyone- everyone except dad. That was the one person he needed to call, and at the same time, the one person he couldn't. Other than the gut wrenching thoughts of what could've happened to her, there had been one constant and crushing thought the past week that wouldn't leave him. 'Take care of your brother and sister, that's your job, Dean, keep them safe.' His Dad's words wouldn't leave him. His one job, the one thing their dad had asked him to do, and he hadn't done it. And the longer he was leaving it to call and tell him what had happened, the harder it was getting. He tried not to worry about her, tried to tell himself that she could handle herself fine, she could take on anyone in a fight, including him. Nothing could get the better of his little sister. But then, why hadn't she called? Just to tell him that she was alive, to stop him worrying sick about her, the way she must have known he would be.
Dean glanced over towards the motel's door at the sound of a soft, continuous knocking outside. He frowned and slowly got to his feet, gun in hand as he silently crossed the small room towards the door. He slowly pulled it open, only enough to see outside, ready to shoot anything that tried to get through. All thoughts went from his mind as his eyes fell to Max, leaning against the door frame, a small smile on her bloody face. That only made him frown harder. He could see that it wasn't a genuine 'happy to see you' smile, she looked weak. Her eyelids were half closed, her face pale and her breathing heavier than it should have been. She had a black eye, her lip cut and a deep gash on her cheek. It was only when he looked her up and down that he noticed her hand, mostly covered by the side of her jacket, was pressed to her stomach firmly and stained red with blood. "Maxie," He said quietly, the shock clear in his voice. "What-" He stopped himself as her eyes rolled back and she slipped forwards through the doorway, falling straight into Dean's arms. He caught he easily and picked her up, kicking the door closed with his foot before carrying her across the room and placing her down gently onto one of the beds.
Dean looked over her slowly, both her jeans and t-shirt were covered in blood, some of it looking fresh. He pushed off her jacket gently and shook his head when he saw the dark bruises and cuts covering her arms, tears stinging in his eyes, he didn't think he wanted to know what had happened to her. He didn't know how bad it was, or if she'd even make it through. "Dean.." She murmured, not opening her eyes, she sounded lost, barely conscious, like she wasn't sure what was going on.
"Yeah, yeah I'm here." He said softly, taking one of her hands in his and giving it a light squeeze. "You're okay, you're safe, I've got you." He took a breath before peeling her bloody t-shirt up, seeing that there wasn't just the one gash there, there were several deep cuts covering her black and blue stomach. "Maxie," He whispered, pressing a towel to the deeper gash, still bleeding. "Max, you need a hospital." He looked up at her, seeing a pair of green eyes staring back at him.
"Dean, no. You can do it, please-" Her voice was quiet, almost a whisper, the pain clear to him.
"Max, I don't wanna hurt you." He said lamely, feeling the blood beginning to seep through the thin towel to his hand.
"Please, I want you to do it." Dean stared at her for a couple of minutes, thinking it over. He eventually nodded and moved from where he sat on the edge of the bed towards his bag, pulling out the first aid kit before moving back to her.
"Alright," He said calmly, taking out a bottle of pills before anything else. "-trust me, take these and you'll be fine." She looked at him skeptically before nodding, swallowing two of them with a drink of whiskey and dropping her head back to the pillow. Dean refrained from beginning to stitch her up for a few minutes, simply clearing the blood from the other cuts, occasionally glancing up at her until her saw her eyes begin to droop closed, her breaths becoming steadier as she fell asleep. He looked over the bruises slowly, she hadn't fallen, someone had done it to her. He reached out and felt her ribs, almost immediately able to tell that they were cracked. Dean pulled out a needle and sighed, he hated having to patch her up. He hated that she even got hurt in the first place, and it was his fault.
'Take care of your brother and sister, that's your job, Dean, keep them safe.' He'd let his dad down.
'Sammy, don't worry about her, I'll take care of her.' He'd let his brother down.
'I promise you, Maxie, I won't let anything happen to you, alright? You'll always be safe with me.' He'd let his sister down.
He had let them all down. He sighed deeply and began stitching up the deep gash, looking up at her every few seconds just to make sure that she was okay.
Max blinked open her eyes, slowly pushing herself to sit up and looking around the empty motel room. She felt dizzy, her eyesite still a little fuzzy. She looked down and pulled up her clean t-shirt, raising an eyebrow at the clean bandages, she didn't remember having that done. She shook her head, getting to her feet and letting out a steady breath. As she did, Dean walked out of the bathroom, a clear sigh of relief escaping him as he saw her. Without saying anything, he took a couple of steps towards her, throwing his arms around her tightly and pulling her into a strong hug. She let out a pained groan as he did, something Dean either missed or just completely ignored. Max slowly brought her arms up, forgetting about her pain for a second as she gripped to the back of his t-shirt, all of the hurt and fear, the distress and the torment of the past week, none of it mattered anymore, she felt safe. Dean breathed out deeply, one hand fisted at the shoulder of her shirt, the other rested against the back of her head, holding her against him as he told himself she was fine, that she was safe again. "Maxie, where the hell were you?" He asked softly, tightening his arms around her as she began to cry. "What's happened to you?"
Max shook her head against his chest, the tears falling freely from her green eyes, soaking through his shirt. "I'm sorry, Dean." She whispered, her voice cracked. "I'm so sorry." Dean frowned, it was a rare occasion, if ever, that Max would cry like that, especially in front of him, not even bothering to hide it. That scared him more, it terrified him to think about what had happened to her.
"Maxie, come on," He said softly, rubbing a hand up and down her back as he tried to calm her down. "-you're fine, you're safe. I've got you. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you." He pulled back a little as he felt her fists loosen the grip on his shirt, looking down at her in concern. "Maxie, what happened to you?"
She pulled back from him and wiped her eyes, shaking her head. "It's nothing, really, I'm alright."
"Max, I'm sorry but, collapsing through the door in the middle of the night, covered in blood and beat to hell, after being missing for a week- that's not nothing." He pressed, looking her straight in the eyes. "Please, tell me where you've been. I mean, I leave you alone for ten minutes and you just vanish of the face of the friggin' earth, I was worried sick about you." He said, now sounding angry, the frustration coming out now that he knew she was okay. He shook his head at her, seeing the pain still clearly written across her face. She went to take a step back, stumbling slightly, Dean catching her easily. "Whoa," He gripped her around the tops of her arms until she regained her balance. "C'mon, those pills were pretty strong, you should sit down before you hurt yourself."
"You drugged me?" She asked, raising her eyebrows. Her voice was light, a small smile on her face.
Dean shrugged, an innocent smile on his face. Max paused for a second before she moved to sit down on the edge of the bed, grimacing at the pain in her ribs. He watched her, the concern returning at the sight of her in pain. "Maxie, I thought you were dead." He said, his voice barely loud enough to hear himself. "What happened to you?"
"I uh," She cleared her throat, her eyes fixed on the floor. "-there were these demons, showed up here while you were out."
"They did this to you?" He asked darkly. "What did they want?"
She looked up at him, hesitating in giving an answer. "Dad."
Dean frowned. "Dad?" He repeated.
Max nodded. "They wanted to know where dad was."
Dean didn't say anything for a couple of minutes, still frowning as he thought it through. He eventually moved to sit beside her on the bed, looking at the floor in front of them. "What did you tell them?"
"Nothing." She said simply. "Besides, I can't exactly tell them what I don't know, can I?" She said lightly. "So, they eventually got bored, there was only one of them watching me when I got out. I managed to fight him off, hence the stab wound, and then I ran. And I came back here."
"I'm sorry I wasn't here, Maxie." He said quietly, not able to bring himself to look at her. "I'm so sorry."
"Hey, I'm alright, Dean, I'm fine." She looked up at him, reaching out and taking his hand until he looked at her, giving him a small smile. "We're fine." She assured him. "We always are."
"Yeah." He said quietly, pushing a smile back to his face. "So, how about you have a shower and I'll go get some breakfast, huh? I say we've got a few demons to torture today."
Max smiled as he patted her on the back, getting to his feet and grabbing his jacket. "You're not gonna disappear again while I'm out, are you?"
"That depends," She smirked. "-are you gonna get yourself into trouble if I disappear?"
"Seriously? This is me you're talking to, Max."
"Yeah, guess that means that I'm gonna have to stick around, doesn't it?"
Dean laughed to himself and nodded. "You better, or I'll kick your ass, you hear me?" He said lightly.
"Thanks, Dean." Her voice turned serious, looking straight at him. He knew what she meant, without her having to say it. But she'd have done the same for him, he knew that.
Dean nodded, managing a small smile before he opened the door. "Yeah, anytime." He said softly, nodding at her before he left the motel room. She'd be okay, they always were.
Thank you for reading! Hope you liked it and maybe leave a review if you did? Also, if anyone else has any oneshots or fics that they'd like to see, just PM me and let me know! :-)