This is the final chapter! Thank you to anyone who has been reading, but especially to those who reviewed and/or put it on story alert!
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Bobby sighed.
"I had a feeling you were gonna say that."
Sam passed him, sopping wet, with his hair plastered to the sides of his head, and water dripping into his eyes and all over the floor. He dragged out dry clothes from his duffel bag and shuffled back to the bathroom, a look of complete confusion crinkling his forehead the whole time.
"Bobby, you say the claw still has a finger and thumb left?"
"Yeah, the finger's in his chest and the thumb is going in through his side."
"And you realise that if they both retract, he's going to die?"
"Yep, that's the way it seems to be panning out."
"And if you try to do anything to the creature he has manifested, he will die then too?"
"Yeah, I get that too Missouri, not to press you at all but could we move this along..?"
"Honey, it's been a while since I came across something like this. It'll be fine, I'm sure."
Bobby didn't think she sounded all that convinced, but what was worse, she'd called him honey. That really could not be good. Still, she was probably Dean's only chance at this point and she couldn't make things any worse, could she?
Sam emerged, in dry clothes with just damp hair to show for his unexpected bath. He could see Bobby talking on the phone and soon worked out who he was talking to.
Soon after that, Bobby hung up and tossed the cell onto Sam's bed.
"Hey Sam. You okay now?"
"Yeah, well I'm dry at any rate. What happened Bobby?"
"You don't remember anything?"
"I remember throwing up, then I got nothin' til I woke up in the bath."
"Well you recall that fertiliser you said you got all over you?"
"Sure."
"It wasn't fertiliser."
"The bag on the floor said fertiliser."
"Well that could have been a coincidence or deliberately thrown about at the same time as the stuff you were infected with."
"Infected?"
"Not in the medical sense Sam, our kind of infection. Something that made you terrified of Dean and the creature. Whoever or whatever used it on you, didn't want you to be able to help Dean. At one point you couldn't even look at him. The bath had holy water in it."
"Good job you knew what to do, if you hadn't been here, Dean would've…"
Sam glanced at his brother who was lying completely motionless on the bed. If it wasn't for the very slight rise and fall of his chest, you could swear he was already dead.
"Yeah, well you can thank Missouri - she told me about the holy water."
"Did she tell you how to help Dean too?"
"Yeah, and it's just as well the holy water worked because you are going to have to hold that creature."
Sam's eyes widened and he cast a nervous glance at the thing on the bed, still clutched to his brother's side.
"Yeah, okay. I'll do whatever needs to be done Bobby."
"Right, first off we need your first aid kit – you've got some really fine tweezers in there I hope?"
"I think so. It's in the car. I'll go get it." Grabbing the keys to the Impala from the pocket of Dean's leather jacket, Sam left. Bobby nervously scratched at the stubble on his chin.
"Okay Dean, hope you're going to co-operate with us here."
Sam was back in no time and opened out the first aid kit. Fishing out the tweezers he passed them to Bobby.
"These do?"
Bobby examined them briefly.
"Yeah, these should be okay. Better just sterilise them I guess." He took out a Zippo lighter and held the tips of the tweezers in the flame for a few seconds.
"What are you going to do with them?"
"Dean has a lump on the base of his skull. There's what looks like an insect bite in the centre of it, only it's not a bite. It's a splinter."
"A splinter did this to Dean?"
"Yep, but not just any splinter Sam. This would have to have been from a tree or a beam that someone hung themselves from, or was hung unlawfully."
"Unlawfully? You mean like in the old days of the wild west - lynch mobs?"
"Yeah, that sort of thing. If someone had a mind to and knew the incantation, they could put a curse on the tree or the beam and then any splinters from it are lethal. The wood from the tree could be inadvertently used in building houses and porches, window frames, you name it. But whether you get it by accident or deliberately, if you get a splinter the curse preys on your mind, bringing back traumatic memories or making your worst nightmares seem real and making you paranoid. Most often people end up killing themselves as they are slowly driven mad, In Dean's case, he has manifested this creature as an outward sign of what's in his mind."
"That's pretty ugly."
"Dean's seen some ugly things in his time Sam."
"Yeah, I guess he has. Wonder what he's been dreaming about?"
"Nothin' good, that's for sure. Come on, you ready for this?"
"Definitely! What's the plan?"
"Right, I need to get that splinter out. But Missouri is pretty sure, if he is still in contact with the creature, whatever will to live Dean still has left, will transfer to the creature as soon as I do."
"Okay, so that's why you need me to hold it, but why can't we just lock it in the bathroom or something?"
"That's exactly what we are going to do Sam. You only need to hold it long enough to take it away from Dean and get it into the bathroom and lock the door. Then I'll need you back here to help keep Dean from struggling."
"Well what's the big deal? I can do that!"
"Not half an hour ago, you couldn't! Anyway, that's not the only problem."
"No, God forbid, it should only be one problem."
"Let's save the sarcasm til Dean is okay Sam?"
"Bobby, I'm sorry. Go on."
"Okay, when you take the creature away, Dean is immediately going to start dreaming again and you know what happens then."
"Another claw retracts…"
"And he's a step closer to death."
"Bobby, there are only two claws left."
"Exactly, and those dreams don't need to be very long either, so we don't know how long I will have to find the splinter. The whole time I am poking around the back of his head with these tweezers, he's likely to be acting up like crazy."
"So you need me to keep him still so you can find the splinter. I get it."
"Listen Sam, even if another claw retracts, I need you to stay calm. If you start freaking out on me your brother is gonna die."
"Bobby, I got it! I'm not going to freak out!" Sam flared up, angry that Bobby had so little faith in him.
"Alright, take it easy, I didn't mean nothin' by it. Shall we just get this done?"
Sam breathed out slowly and realised that Bobby was nervous and just trying to cover all the angles. Come on Sam, get a grip – Bobby's not the enemy here.
"Sorry for snapping at you Bobby. Guess I'm a little tense."
"Don't worry about it - you're not the only one."
Bobby moved to the head of Dean's bed and Sam went to the other side. As soon as Bobby gave him the nod, he pulled the creature away from Dean's grasp and ran with it held out at arms length, to the bathroom. The second it was removed from Dean's side the creature started screeching and writhing about. It was incredibly strong for its size, but Sam managed to keep a hold of it until he was in the bathroom. He dumped it unceremoniously into the bath and quickly left, shutting and locking the door behind him. The screeching echoed loudly behind him as he went back to Dean's side.
Dean had instantly gone back to vivid dreaming the moment the creature was taken away and tears were coursing down either side of his face. As before, he was completely silent, but it was clear there was plenty going on behind those tightly closed eyes.
Sam was gone! His little brother, whom he had virtually brought up single-handedly, had applied to College and got in! How could he not have told him what he was doing?
Dean felt a physical pain in his gut the day Sam told him he was going. He'd started to shout but Sam just stared at him in that fucking tragic way he had and he'd stopped mid-sentence. Afraid he was actually going to cry in front of his brother; Dean had stormed out of the room and driven off in the Impala. As the pain gripped his stomach, he had given the tears free rein and great, gulping sobs were wrenched from his throat. He'd had to stop driving as he couldn't see the road through the flood of tears. He couldn't ever remember crying like this and it was an alien feeling, but he just couldn't seem to stop. How could Sam do this? Why would he want to split the family up? And apart from anything else it was dangerous for Sam to be on his own – who would look out for him? How could he, Dean, live with the loneliness stretching ahead without his brother, and best friend?
After a while the sobs subsided and, having no tissues, he wiped his eyes with the backs of his hands. By the time he got back to their rented apartment, he had his glib, unconcerned face firmly back in place, and he never let it slip again until after Sam had gone. When that day came, he was pretty damn sure the crushing pain in his chest meant his heart had actually broken.
Sam and Bobby both saw the remaining finger shrivel away from Dean's chest. All that was left now was the thumb at his waist. True to his word, Sam, though terrified inside, kept outwardly calm. Bobby moved Dean's head to the side and pushed away the short fine hairs at the nape of his neck. The lump was clearly visible. Motioning for Sam to take hold of Dean's arms, he pushed the fine points of the tweezers into the centre of the lump. Dean's whole body arched up off the bed and he tried to thrash his arms but Sam had a firm grip and held him as securely as he could. Still, it was difficult for Bobby to keep Dean's head still enough to grasp the tiny sliver of wood. The shrieking from the bathroom grew louder and it seemed the creature had managed to get out of the bath, as they could now plainly hear it scratching frantically at the door.
It was tricky, but Bobby finally had a decent grip on the splinter and swiftly pulled it out, carefully placing the tweezers on the bedside table.
Almost instantly Dean stopped thrashing and the thumb fell away from his side. Only this time, it left a deep wound in its wake, which immediately started to ooze blood. At the same time the noise from the bathroom stopped completely. For a moment there was total silence in the room.
"Sam, go check the bathroom."
While Sam headed towards the bathroom door, Bobby set to work with the first aid kit, cleaning and patching up the wound. It looked like it might be infected as there seemed to be something else oozing out from it, along with the blood. Still, Dean was alive so an infection wasn't going to cause him too much concern at this point.
Sam, meanwhile, cautiously opened the bathroom door and peering in, found nothing! The creature was gone, the only evidence it had been there at all, being the claw marks on the back of the door.
Returning to Dean's bedside he confirmed to Bobby what he had already suspected - that the manifestation had disappeared.
"How's he doing Bobby?"
Watching the steady rhythm of Dean's breathing, and even a slight return of colour to his cheeks, Bobby felt hopeful that Dean was going to be fine.
"I think we did it Sam."
"I wish he'd wake up."
As if on cue, Dean opened his eyes, blinking under the glare of the bright overhead light. His gaze swivelled quickly from Bobby to Sam and then switched to look down at his chest, looking for the claw. Then the pain in his side hit and his hand reached across to feel the bandage there.
Sam was instantly at his side. "Dean! Are you okay?"
"Uh, yeah, I think so. You gonna fill me in on what the hell happened?"
"Plenty of time for that Dean. You just get some rest and we'll tell you all about it later."
"Hey Bobby." Dean attempted a grin at his old friend, but the smile didn't quite make it to his eyes. Fortunately neither Sam nor Bobby seemed to notice. In dreaming them, Dean had relived some of the most crushing, hurtful times of his life and some kind of hollowness or melancholy had settled in his heart that he couldn't quite shake. Keeping his game face going was getting harder with every knock and let down he suffered, but he still managed it – nearly every time.
