Disclaimer: This show and any other pop culture I may mention do not, have not, and will not ever belong to me.
Chapter 8: A Broken Leg and a Broken Heart
Instead of the trademark silent and taciturn way that Dean usually dealt with his problems, Skye's brother was oddly talkative on the drive to find Sam. He started by telling her about meeting their much younger father in a 70's diner (for some reason, it seemed to escape Dean's notice that all diners then were 70's). John was fresh out of the Marine's and working as a mechanic. Turns out, Dean was the one who convinced him to buy the Impala. Skye didn't try to cover her surprise.
"Yeah, I know," Said Dean. "He was gonna buy this '64 VW van. Can you imagine? We'd be driving around like damn Scooby Doo characters." Skye laughed.
"You would look good in an ascot," she teased. "And Sam definitely has that tall shaggy thing going on. Especially when he was a teenager. You could blow him over with a hair dryer!" She chuckled to herself, eyes still on the road. Dean joined in her laughter, but it was half-hearted at best. "So, what happened next?" She asked after a second.
"Well," Dean's eyes darted quickly to her face then away to stare out the window. "Then, I met mom. She saw that I was following her and dad, and attacked me. Nearly got the better of me, too."
Skye's forehead wrinkled in confusion. "How is that possible Dean? You've been taught hand-to-hand since before you were ten. I can't even get the better of you sometimes."
"That's the thing. Apparently, mom was raised into it too." Skye looked away from the road to try and see if she was understanding Dean correctly. He met her gaze. "Mom was a hunter Skye, and apparently so were her parents."
Skye's jaw slackened with surprise, and she looked back to the road quickly. "Mom? You're telling me mom was a hunter?" She would never say that she mistrusted Dean, but their mother being a hunter just seemed so off-the-wall that she was wondering if maybe he had just misinterpreted the situation.
"Yeah. Heard it from her own lips. She wanted out, though. She hated it-wanted to marry dad and run away," he said softly.
"Well- that's- guess she got her wish," Skye finally formed a sentence.
Dean nodded in her peripherals and she chanced a glance at him. He had a far-off look in his eyes as if there was something poignant that he wasn't telling her. Skye had a policy of not prying when her brothers obviously wanted to be left alone, but she always gave them the option that they could talk to her. It was very frustrating sometimes, trying to find the line between big sister and parent. She could tell Dean struggled with it too. The two of them were only a year apart in age, and both had to grow up much faster than they should have. They were able to baby Sam to an extent, but Dean was only able to get any real care from Skye. She didn't want to push too hard and have Dean pull away from her.
"She didn't really get her wish," Dean said. "They were hunting the yellow-eyed demon when I got there. It killed out grandma and grandpa- Samuel and Deana," Dean smiled a bit to himself at the names but instantly sobered up. "Then it tracked down mom and killed dad, too." Dean took a shuddering breath. "Mom made a deal with Azazel, Skye. That's why he came back, ten years later and-" Dean cut off. Skye was sure he had been about to say something important but had stopped himself.
"And?" she prompted.
"Killed mom," he said gravely.
Skye's hand tightened on the wheel. Her knuckles were white from tension. "Why didn't it just kill her then?" she asked quietly. "Why wait ten years? And Cas said this had something to do with what Azazel did to Sam, what did he mean?"
Dean didn't answer right away. "Turn here," he told her, then cleared his throat to begin answering her questions. "Yellow-eyes didn't kill mom because he wanted to do something to Sam."
"Do what?" she inquired anxiously.
"You remember all of those psychic kids?" Skye nodded. It wasn't something that she was going to forget anytime soon. That group of people was the reason that Sam had died, and then later Dean. "Well, Azazel did the same thing to all of them when they were six months old. He bled- demon blood into their mouths." Skye nearly got whiplash from turning her head so fast to look at Dean.
"Demon blood?" She asked disbelievingly.
"That's what he said. I don't know why." Dean shrugged. They pulled up to the address Cas had given them, and Skye quickly cut the engine and lights so they wouldn't be noticed.
"Okay..." she said slowly. "I guess we just have to go in there and figure out what Sam has been doing. I mean, it's Sam. he's the boy that wouldn't step on a spider growing up. I can't believe that there's anything-" Skye stopped. She didn't know how she was going to finish that sentence, but it seemed wise not to. Dean seemed to understand and nodded abruptly.
"Whatever it is, we got this," he said. "Come on, let's get going."
They both exited the car, and after quickly grabbing a few weapons from the trunk they snuck up to the building, keeping to the shadows. The windows were cross-hatched wire, not meant to be opened but easy to see through. Skye didn't like what she was seeing.
A man sat in the middle of the room tied to a chair and facing them. His face was sweaty, but he seemed unfazed by his current position. He was talking to Sam, who had his back to the window. Skye could hear everything, and she wished she hadn't. "Tell me about all those months without your brother. About all those things that you and this demon bitch do in the dark. Tell me, hero." Sneered the man. His attention was on Sam, whose shoulders were rising and falling fast due to his heavy breathing. Instead of answering the man, Sam just outstretched his right arm toward him. Skye didn't want to see what was about to happen, but she couldn't bring herself to look away. The man started coughing- choking- on the black smoke spilling from his open mouth. This was not good. Unless Skye missed her guess, Sam was exorcizing the Demon with his mind.
She sucked in a shaky breath and could feel the tension radiating from Dean beside her. How could she have let this happen? Even at his worst, their father could never have missed something so monumentally and entirely unhuman to go unnoticed, and John was absent a lot- both through physical absence and mental inebriation.
Skye was frozen to the spot- crushed with guilt and horror in the face of what Sam had done- what he had become. She watched with wide eyes as Sam walked forward and placed two fingers on the man's neck, no doubt checking for a pulse. She did nothing as the woman, who had up until now been silent, chuckled deeply.
"How'd that feel?" she asked.
"Good. No more headaches." Her brother actually had the audacity to sound happy of all things.
"None? That's good." Skye's heart started pounding loudly in her ears at the satisfaction in the woman's voice. That bitch had done this to her brother. She had made him use this horrible demon power. She had twisted his mind to make him think that this was somehow okay. Nothing about this was okay. Nothing. The lies and deceit were crushing Skye. She was having trouble seeing through the tears of anger, betrayal, and disappointment. Why had Sam turned to this woman? Skye had been there the whole time. Even when Dean was dead, she would have looked out for Sam, helped him with anything he needed, but he had left Skye, alone and feeling like a failure, to start shacking up with some demon and using his unnatural powers. Nothing about this was okay.
At some point, the man had roused and Sam spoke to him in a reassuring way. "Hey, hey. I got you. It's alright." He helped the man stand and was supporting his journey towards the door when it swung open. Dean stood in the frame. On his face, he wore a mask of fury and resignment. Skye glanced to her right, confused as to why she hadn't noticed him leave.
"So... Anything you wanna tell me, Sam?" At those words, Skye finally willed herself to move. She quickly scrubbed the unshed tears from her eyes and rushed around the building toward the now open door.
Dean was advancing slowly when she skidded to a stop. Sad had wide innocent eyes. It was the same face that he had worn at seven when he had gotten caught trying to sneak a kitten into their motel room. Skye didn't trust her voice just yet, but Dean seemed to have the talking covered.
"Hold on, okay? Just let me-" Sam started, but Dean cut him short.
"You gonna say, "let me explain"?" He walked a few steps closer, and Skye flanked him. "You're gonna explain this? How about this? Why don't you start with who she is, and what the hell is she doing here?" Sam didn't seem to know what to say and his breathing was picking up in pace due to anxiety. He looked lost.
The woman broke the tense silence. "It's good to see you again, Dean, Skye." She had a small smile on her lips that Skye was itching to smack off.
"Ruby?" Dean asked in disbelief. Skye's eyes hadn't left the woman. She knew her face. That was the woman from the hotel. She had been in the room that day, when Dean had returned from Hell- underwear girl. Ruby? That was Ruby? The demon who had said she could save Dean and failed? The same demon who had tried to sacrifice a virgin to save their own skins? Nuh-uh. This was not happening.
"Is this Ruby?" Dean asked again, but Skye didn't wait for an answer. She already knew the truth from the look of satisfaction in the demon's eyes. She rushed forward, fueled by the inferno of her blood. She did not care that she had no knife, no way of killing the woman. She just wanted to see the bitch bleed. With a force borne of momentum and pure hatred, she punched the demon spawn squarely in the face. A satisfying crunch was heard and Ruby's face was already bruising around the eye. Dean was only half a second behind, and together they forced Ruby against the wall. Dean pulled the knife out, ready to strike when Sam intervened. He grabbed Dean's hand to stop the strike.
"Don't!" Skye could hear the two of them struggling, but all of her concentration was focused on keeping Ruby from escaping her hold. With her superior demon strength, Ruby broke out of Skye's grasp and backhanded her across the face. The tang of coppery blood filled her mouth.
"You fuckin' bitch!" Skye raged. Flecks of red peppered the white of Ruby's face from the blood in Skye's mouth. The demon had a cocky look on her face as she dodged Skye's next punch. Ruby used her leg to kick Skye's own with horrific force. Skye cried out when she heard a crunch and she fell to the floor in agony. Ruby stepped over her, aiming a kick at her exposed ribs as she did. Skye growled in rage and tied to grab the demon's ankle, but when she moved her leg protested by sending a debilitating shot of pain to her brain.
"Dean!" she yelled, trying to alert her brother of the approaching threat. Dean had Sam pinned to the wall. Sam had somehow gotten the demon blade and the two were wrestling over it.
Dean looked back just in time for Ruby to pull him off Sam and trap him against the opposite wall.
"Ruby! Stop it!" Sam yelled.
Skye had managed to drag herself to a sitting position but wasn't able to stand. Her left leg was throbbing, bent oddly just below the knee. She let out a breath of relief when Ruby released Dean, but it quickly turned into a hiss of pain.
Dean looked at Ruby and then Sam before he finally spotted Skye sitting painfully on the ground. His face hardened father. "Well, aren't you just an obedient little bitch." He said to Ruby. There was no satisfaction in his expression, only contempt. The two faced each other for a moment before Sam spoke.
"Ruby," he chided. She finally turned to look at Sam. "Ruby he's hurt." Sam said, talking about the man they had exercised earlier. "Go."
Skye nearly lost it then. Ruby had just broken her leg, but here Sam was telling the whore to go take a civilian- alone- to the hospital. She closed her eyes, praying for patience. There was no way she could win a fight now, and she was honestly terrified that if she tried to start one Sam would choose the demon over her.
Dean, apparently, held no such reservations. Very obviously, he wanted Ruby dead now. "Where the hell are you going?"
"The ER… unless you want to go another round first." Ruby looked at Dean, and a muscle jumped in his jaw. His eyes looked at Skye, asking if he should let her go. She nodded slowly. She didn't want to see Dean get hurt, too. Her brother seemed to contemplate if he should listen or not but restrained himself as Ruby and the man walked out.
The second the door shut, he rushed over to Skye. Anger was still leaking from his every pore, but he pushed it down to check her over, Sam finally noticed her broken leg and fell beside her in an instant. "Oh my God! I'm so sorry, Skye!" He reached out to brace her as Dean used his knife to cut her left pant leg to just above the knee.
"Don't you dare fucking touch me right now, Samuel!" she snapped in pain and annoyance. He withdrew quickly, as if struck.
"I didn't- I don't-" he stammered.
"We gotta get you somewhere where I can stabilize this." Dean talked over Sam. Normally they would just fix any injuries this serious on sight, but Dean and Skye both knew that they had to get away from this place, away from Sam.
"Dean-" Again, Dean just ignored Sam.
"Do you want me to help you stand, or carry you?"
"Skye-" Sam tried to talk to his sister in desperation. She chose to use Dean's method of just pretending that Sam did not exist. The pain was agonizing, and getting worse every second.
"I don't think I can stand," she admitted. Dean nodded and scooped her up as carefully as he could. It still jarred, but Skye was ready for it and just gritted her teeth through the pain.
"Guys!" Sam yelled one last desperate time. Skye glanced back at him just before the door swung shut. Sam was still on his knees, shoulders slumped forward in defeat. His eyes were filled with pain and remorse. They pleaded with her to answer him. Skye cursed herself for the pang of empathy she felt at the sight of his misery, but she did not answer his pleas. After the door clicked shut, Sam did not follow. He knew he would not be welcome.
Dean hurried them to the parked car and laid her across the back seat gently. He grabbed a couple old towels from the floor and used them to keep her leg as stable as possible. "Is that alright?" he asked.
"Yeah." Skye took a steadying breath and let her eyes close against the pain. "I'm going to hunt down that bitch and rip her lungs out through her nose," Skye promised Dean.
"Get in line," he muttered darkly. Then added in a softer tone, "I need the keys, Skye."
"Right," she said with a deep breath, not looking forward to having to move, no matter how small a motion it was. She dug into her jeans pocket and fished out the keychain. Dean leaned forward to grab them so she wouldn't have to move more than necessary.
After he got into the driver's seat and started to drive, she spoke. "I don't know what to do, Dean," she whispered.
"Me neither," he admitted. "Damn it, Sammy! Why'd you have to go and do this?" Skye didn't know how to answer, so remained silent. She groaned when a bump in the road rattled her position.
"Sorry," Dean apologized. She heard him rustling through the glove box, and cracked an eye open.
Dean extended a bright orange pill bottle toward her with his free hand. "Here. You should probably take a couple of these before I set your leg. It's not gonna be fun."
She accepted them with a "thanks" and popped two before eagerly sinking back into the seat. "I'm sorry I let this happen, Dean," she spoke.
"Hey, that was not your fault. Sam made his choice. That was not on you," he spoke in a hard voice.
"But, it is on me," Skye said thickly. She hadn't realized she had been crying at that point, but once she did, the tears came hot and thick. "I was supposed to protect him, protect both of you, but all I do is mess things up." She let out a half-choked sob and angrily wiped the tears from her face as if they had offended her. "It was just so hard after you died. I could hardly keep myself together and when Sam left, I- I just couldn't find it in myself to go after him… I wasn't strong like you would have been-" Hiccup. "Or like dad would have wanted me to be." She bit down hard on her bottom lip hard, willing herself out of hysterics. "Sammy needed me, and I let him down, Dean." Her breath was coming fast, and she had given up on trying to stem the flow of tears burning down her face.
She felt the Impala roll to a stop on the side of the road, and she opened her eyes through the tears sticking to her lashes. Dean leaned over the seat towards her. He stretched a hand out to capture one of hers. "Hey, it's okay. No one expects you to be there for everyone all the time. You did the best that you could." He tried to comfort her. Skye just clamped her eyes shut tightly, not willing to meet his eyes. She knew that she could have done better, before and after Dean died, and like the selfish person she was, she hadn't looked after her little brother. Everything that was happening was her fault, no matter what Dean said. Her throat tightened painfully from the onslaught of emotion.
"Listen to me, Skye." he urged, squeezing her hand in solidarity. She forced her eyes open so he would know that she was not ignoring him. His expression was open and encouraging. Only the slight twinkle in his green eyes showed the heartache he was feeling. Her face twisted in pain, trying to let out any more tears at the look. "You are the strongest person I know. You're there for us… all the time. You've taken care of us our whole lives. When we were sick, or hurt you would be there and patient the whole time. You made us eat our vegetables, and encouraged us when dad was being a drill sergeant. You are the first and last person I would trust to have my back on a hunt. Our mistakes- they aren't on you. This isn't on you. Sam always had to make his own mistakes. You and me- we'll be there to help him fix it." Her lip trembled at his words, trying so hard to regain composure. She didn't need to put this on Dean, but he was being so patient and supportive that it just made her want to cry harder.
Dean squeezed her hand again. "Okay?"
She swallowed the lump in her throat. "Okay," she whispered. He traced his thumb over the back of her hand in comfort and practically climbed over the seat to kiss her forehead.
"Okay," he repeated and gave her a small encouraging smile. "Now, let's get you back to the room so I can fix you up." he slid back into the driver's seat and pulled back on the highway. Neither spoke for the duration of the drive, and Skye was finally able to suppress her tears. Only her red-rimmed eyes told the story of her pain.
When they reached the motel, Skye was anxious about being moved again. Her lower leg had swollen to twice its normal size and was throbbing painfully. The amphetamines were starting to kick in, and she thanked Dean's foresight for giving them to her when he did.
"Hey, Dean?" she asked him when he was about to open the car door. He paused and looked at her, giving his full attention. "Do you think you can fix it here? I don't think I can handle being moved again just yet."
"Of course," he said. "Most of the supplies are in the trunk. I just gotta grab a few things from the motel room. I'll be right back." Skye nodded and took a few deep, calming breaths to calm her nerves. She had been hurt plenty of times, even broke her arm once. Every time they had just dealt with it as best they could. This time, though, she wasn't able to move, and it made the injury that much worse. With a broken arm, or concussed head she could always get herself to safety, and even keep fighting if the situation demanded it. With where Ruby had injured her, Skye was utterly helpless. She thanked the heavens that they had a pair of crutches in the trunk for emergencies.
Dean came back less than five minutes later. He had two slabs of wood, a grocery bag and a sheet that she assumed he had taken from the motel bed. "Where'd you get the wood?" she asked blearily.
"Dresser," he said shortly. "We won't be getting our deposit back this time around."
"Ah," was all Skye could think to say. She watched as Dean started tearing up the sheets and wrapped them around the wooden slabs to offer some cushion. Their father had taught them how to splint a bone, and she was thankful he had. She was not in the mood to go to the emergency room tonight, and even if she was, there was a chance that they would run into Ruby. So that was completely out of the question.
After Dean secured the sheets on the wood, he set them aside and started unloading the bag. First was the ice. He had filled four of them into small plastic bags, that Skye could only guess came from the ice machine around the corner from their room. Next was a few triangle bandages, and lastly, he pulled out a couple rolls of ace bandages. He set them in order of when he would need them from closest to furthest.
"Alright, I have everything set up. Are you ready?"
Skye took a deep breath. "Yeah, let's do this," she breathed out. She knew it had to be done, but that didn't stop her heart beating like a drum. Dean nodded gravely and felt at the injury as gently as possible. His left hand took her distal pulse. Then moved and grabbed her big toe gently.
"Can you feel that?" he asked.
"Yeah."
"Alright, good. You were lucky. She didn't actually break your knee. It's just below and much easier to set. Still gonna hurt like a bitch, though," he told her seriously.
"Yeah, I know. Just do it." That was all Dean needed to hear. She felt a horrible pull, and her leg shifted.
"Aaugh!" Skye tried to hold the scream, but couldn't stop herself. Dean had already placed the wood on either side of the leg and was using the triangle bandages to secure it.
"Almost done," he promised. She bit her lip to stop the whimper. She felt Dean pull the last bandage tight then started to cover the whole thing with the wrap. It only took about two minutes, but they were agonizing, and she wished she had taken another of those pain pills. Dean finished by putting the ice on each side of the injury and propping up her leg using the towels. Guess it was a good thing that the Impala had such large seats..."That's it," he said softly. "It should set straight now."
"Thanks, Dean," she tried to say but thought it came out more sounding like a whimper.
"Of course. Do you need water or anything?" he asked. Skye thought that she should probably have some water, but it sounded horrible to think of drinking or eating at all. Her stomach was in knots, and all she wanted was for someone to knock her out so she could sleep through the pain.
"I usually keep a bottle in the front seat," she told him. She heard the front door open, and the sound of something being moved, before it closed again and he was leaning over her, holding a water bottle.
"Here you go. I gotta run inside for a couple minutes. Is there anything else you need first?"
"No, I'm good. Do what you need to do," she said groggily and flung her arm over her eyes in an attempt to block out the world. Dean left, and she was left alone with her thoughts. Her leg was reduced to a persistent throbbing ache, but the pain pills and the ice seemed to be numbing the bulk of the pain. The adrenaline was fading from her body and draining any energy that she previously had. Her eyes drifted closed and she fell into a stressful sleep before Dean had returned.
When she woke next, a bright light was shining in her eyes, making her quickly shut them when they contracted painfully. Every part of her ached. Her neck was stiff from sleeping on the seat, and her back protested at every move. Her leg felt hot and heavy and reminded her of its injury at every slight movement. There was a pillow under her head and a blanket covered her body. Dean must have covered her after she drifted off. She slowly pried her eyes open against the sunlight and propped herself up with a groan. Dean was sleeping across the front seat. She would have told him to go sleep in a proper bed for the night, but he would have ignored her. If there was any possibility that Skye would need him during the night, he would want to be close.
So, not wanting to wake him up, Skye willed herself into a sitting position. Her bladder was being particularly insistent and she looked around to see if he had thought to pull out the crutches last night. He hadn't.
Skye took the towels out from under her leg and gently swung it off the seat using both hands. She slid to the door and opened it as quietly as possible. A quick glance told her that Dean was still asleep and she gently lowered the hurt leg out of the vehicle. She didn't put any weight on it as she used the door and side of the Impala to stand. It sent a shooting pain up to her hip, but she powered through it and half-hopped her way to the trunk.
A glance in the window showed her a purple and yellow bruise across her cheek bone. Her hair was a matted and unkempt dirty-blonde mess, and her eyes were red and puffy from the crying she had done the night before. In short, she looked like hell. She reached the trunk and dug through it, nearly losing her balance when she had to reach for the crutches buried far in the back.
After closing the door as quietly as she could to not wake up her brother, Skye wobbled her way to to the motel door with the help of the crutches. She wasn't expecting to see Sam on his laptop, sitting at the motel desk when she opened the door.
"Skye!" He stood and rushed forward to hold the door open for her. Skye wasn't able to stop him but pointedly avoided his gaze. She clicked her way around him towards the bathroom. "Skye," Sam tried again. "I'm sorry! Please just let me explain."
She turned her head to look at him. "Explain what, Sam?" she wanted to be angry, but just didn't have the energy, so it came out sounding exasperated. "Explain why you're stopping me from using the bathroom?"
"Wha- no. I'm sorry. Use the bathroom, but can we just talk about this when you're done?" His puppy dog eyes were trying their best to convince her to say yes, but Skye wasn't sure that she could think rationally just yet.
"I don't know what I have to say, Sam. You know what you did was wrong, and my absolution of your guilt isn't going to fix anything."
"Please, just five minutes," he begged.
Skye could see the war raging inside of him. "Fine. Five minutes after I use the bathroom. Don't make me regret it," she warned. He nodded quickly and hurried forward to open the bathroom door. It was something that she could have done herself, but she knew that he was beating himself up for what Ruby did to her, and rightfully so. She hobbled in, and he pulled the door closed. He was obviously eager to try and redeem himself.
It was a challenge, to say the least, to try and balance on one leg, and shimmy her pants down without falling over, but she managed it after a minute and her bladder thanked her. A shower and a change of clothes would have been a good idea at that point, but a shower was out of the immediate question, for obvious reasons, and the surprise of Sam being there had made her forget to grab a change of clothes. It would have been nice, though. Showering would have delayed the inevitable conversation with Sam and helped relax some of the tension from her muscles.
She finished her business and struggled with her jeans in reverse. This was already getting old and she had only been injured for a few hours. After washing her hands, and trying to scrub some of the blood and grime from her face, Skye exited the bathroom.
Sam was waiting on the edge of the closest bed. He stood immediately when he saw her and hovered awkwardly, like he wanted to help but was unsure how. Her head was getting light from the exertion of being up too soon, and she was glad the room was tiny. She sat fully on the bed with her legs out straight and back against the headboard.
"Alright, Sam. You have your five minutes." she motioned to him and he started talking immediately. He was still standing looking hopelessly down at her.
"Ruby didn't mean to hurt you," he started defending the demon. "She just thought-"
"No. She did mean to hurt me Sam, and you know it. Whatever bull shit she's been shoveling into your head, she's a demon. She hurts people. It's what they do, and if that's how your gonna start this conversation then we're already done," Skye said simply and started sitting up. It was unbelievable that he begged for this talk to just try getting her to like the demon who had broken her leg the night before. For someone who had gotten into Stanford, Sam sure was thick headed at times.
"No, no. Don't get up, please. I didn't mean it like that," Sam backtracked. He walked between the beds, seeming to consider his next words carefully. He sat heavily on the mattress next to her, feet on the floor, and posture open.
Finally, he spoke, "After Dean died, I was just so angry! He sold his soul for me, Skye, and I just wanted the people who did that to us to pay! Is that so hard to understand?"
It wasn't. Skye had fantasized about revenge daily. She had looked for Lilith on more than one occasion, dreamed of the day that she could finally rip her apart. "It's not about wanting revenge. It's about how you did it! I was there Sam. I was just as angry and hurt and confused and-" Skye stopped to take a deep breath. She directly at him. "I know how you felt Sam. You weren't the only one mourning- blaming yourself for his death, but the difference is I didn't leave you!"
"You wouldn't have understood," he defended. "Using this gift." He looked down at his hands, as if visualizing his power. "I knew you wouldn't approve."
"Damn right I wouldn't have approved! It's not a gift, Sam. It's something dark, and dangerous. I don't know if I can watch you do that to yourself," she said sadly.
"But that's what I'm saying, Skye!" he stood up, and flung his hands in the air, as if it would make his statement more impressive. "You would have tried to stop me. I needed to do this. I'm helping people!"
"You're turning into Anakin Skywalker! Every time you use the power Azazel gave you, I see less of the Sam that I grew up with. You've changed. You're doing things that I never thought possible from you!" Skye grabbed one of the pillows next to her and hugged it close in frustration. She really just wanted to hit something.
"Like what?!" Sam flung his hands up in the air again, his anger had risen to dangerous proportions already and they had only been talking for a minute. "I save people, kill demons! What's so wrong with that?"
"It's wrong when you leave your family to go meet demons in the dark! It's wrong when you lie to us and fight alongside the bitch that did this to me! And then you try and defend her!" Skye gestured wildly to her crudely bandaged leg. "You don't know what this power does to you! How could you not ask for my help? You choose Ruby over me, Sam! All because you didn't want to have a difficult conversation!?" Skye's voice broke a bit from the stress of yelling.
"Oh, come on! You know that's not how it was! You were just going to sit at Bobby's and look at me with Dean's eyes! I couldn't handle it! I was going to go crazy!" Sam screamed at her.
"You've already gone crazy," Skye said curtly. "We're done here." She heaved herself off the bed and steadied herself with the crutches. She couldn't look at Sam right now. He had basically just told her that she had driven him to do what he did. A part of her believed his words. Maybe she wasn't good enough to lead this family. It would probably be best if she just left. She was angry enough to not break down in front of her brother. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing that he had got to her.
Sam let her pass with a heaving chest and anger in his eyes. He spoke just before she reached the door. "You know I'm right. I've made more headway on fighting demons and killing Lilith in the last five months, than we have our whole lives. This is how we win!"
She shook her head sadly, heart clenching on how unlike himself he was behaving. With her hand on the knob, she spoke to the door. "No, Sam. This is how you get yourself killed, or worse. Call me when you come to your senses." With those words, Skye exited the motel room. This time she didn't look back.
Skye got in the back seat of the Impala and closed the door with unnecessary force. It woke Dean from a deep sleep. "Huh? Skye?" he looked widely around and saw her sitting in the back seat, unharmed. His face calmed a bit.
"Sorry," she said softly. "I didn't mean to wake you. The door closed harder than I meant."
"It's fine." Dean's voice was raspy from sleep. He ran a hand down his face. "What time is it?" he asked.
She shrugged, distracted. "I don't know. Sometime after dawn."
"Yeah, thanks for that," he said sarcastically. "Where'd you go?"
"Bathroom." Her reply was curt. She knew she shouldn't be taking her anger out on Dean, but it was difficult to suppress her emotions right then.
"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," he muttered. "Do you need more pain pills? I put them away after you fell asleep."
"Nah," her arms were crossed tightly across her chest.
"Okay..." he said slowly. "What's wrong?"
Her head snapped up to look at him. "Oh you mean besides the obvious?" she gestured to the makeshift cast. Dean raised an eyebrow. Skye let out a heavy breath. "Sam's in there." She jerked a thumb toward the door to their room.
"Ah," Dean said in understanding. He exited the car suddenly. "I'll be back." Skye knew that she should have stopped him, but who was she to keep him from getting his emotions out? Based on the set of his shoulders as he marched to their room, he probably had as much to say to Sam as she had.
Her head fell heavily against the seat and she let out a small scream of frustration. She knew that she was acting like a petulant child, but she was hurt and sore, and damn it she was allowed to be angry when something like this happened! Hunting was out of the question, so Skye couldn't even use her normal route of tension relief to let off some steam. Hell, she couldn't even walk around the block without those stupid the crutches. It was all too much in such a short amount of time.
After a minute, she decided that she needed to get away. Dean could come with her, but she couldn't be around Sam right now. She needed time to cool off.
Flipping her cell phone open, Skye took a deep breath before dialing. It rang twice before a deep male voice answered.
"Well, well, didn't think I would hear from you anytime soon. What do I owe the pleasure?" she could hear the smile in his voice, and it cheered her slightly.
"Hey. You anywhere near Carthage?" she asked without preamble.
"As a matter of fact, I am. Just finished up a case a couple hours away. Why?"
"Do you think you could come pick me up? I'm down a leg at the moment and could really use to get away."
"Anything serious?" the man asked. Skye frowned.
"Does that mean you're coming?" she asked, ignoring his question.
"Already on my way, sugar. Text me the address?" he asked.
"Yeah, of course," she said. "See you soon." She flipped her phone closed, already feeling much better than she had a second ago. She didn't see the smile on her face, but Skye would have cursed herself for a fool if she had known what that thirty-second conversation would lead to.
A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed that chapter. It was very difficult to write, but I used medical experiance and personal experiance to try and be as acurate as possible. Thank you to everyone who favorited and followed!
