Legalities, as always Sam and Dean and all things Supernatural do not belong to me. They are the property of the CW and Kripke Enterprises. I wish they would share, but I don't think that is going to happen so I guess I will simply play in their sandbox for a bit.
Contains tragedy in this chapter, so be warned.
Rating A VERY STRONG T: For language and injured/ tortured Dean and possibly Sam throughout the story.
This story does not contain slash just good old brotherly love. If you like the story please review it, I have not had this Beta'd and am new to this experience, please keep this in mind when reviewing. At this point the story should mostly follow cannon, but as always I reserve the right for that to change if the story goes there.
Chapter 9
Tragedies and Decisions
Dean watched his brother disappear out the door and turned his head away from the hallway. He wanted to go, but he couldn't walk, currently, and he would be more of a hindrance than a help. Dean trusted Sam to deal with this, and that thought actually surprised him, he hadn't realized that the damage from four years ago had been repaired. But it obviously had, because he was willing to leave the lives of his sons in his brother's care. He smiled as that thought drove home, causing warmth to spread in his chest.
A doctor entered just then and Dean looked up, his breathing unsteady as he looked at the medical professional.
"Dean Hagar. I'm Dr. Spencer and I have been taking care of you."
Dean nodded and watched the man's soft brown eyes look at a chart he was holding and then walk over to check the numbers on the monitors. "You have some very serious injuries, Dean." Dean continued to stare, without saying a word.
The man turned to look at him, "I have to say that I am curious how you came by these injuries, they are indicative of torture." The doctor watched for a reaction from his patient and sighed when he got nothing. The brother hadn't given him anything to go on either, just a name and the nature of their relationship.
"Okay, since you don't seem to feel like talking, this what your recovery will entail, the burns to your feet will be the worst. The healing will require that you stay off of them for the next few weeks, in addition to physical therapy once they can bear your weight. The concussion is severe, but will heal on it' own, with time…as for the other burns on your shoulder and ribcage, again they will heal, however there will be some scarring. We will of course try to minimize this, but there is only so much modern medicine can do. At least your face was spared, if you don't count the current swelling and bruising" He stopped and consulted his chart, as Dean listened to long list of wounds. He was well aware of how Matt had hurt him, but hearing it all laid out was awful, Sam must have flipped out when the doctor had told him all of this…wait, had the doctor told Sam about my injuries, or should he be here right now hearing them with me?
"Does my brother know all this?" Dean asked quietly, pulling the doctor from his thoughts.
"No, I have not had a chance to talk to him, since I finished the evaluation. I will be sure to inform him as soon as I can. Also, Dean there were several bruised ribs, and two broken ones, that required that we wrap your torso, so that is why you probably feel constricted." Dean again nodded.
"Lastly, and certain not least, your back." The doctor visibly cringed as he pictured the mutilated flesh of this poor man's back. "Again, it will heal with time, but there was a lot of damage, some of the skin had to be removed and while we have you on extremely strong antibiotics, there is still a chance of infection. We are hopeful that we caught it in time, but we won't know for a day or so if your body is able to fight off any bugs that might be lingering in your system. It would have been better if the wounds had been seen to immediately and not left for days." The man turned and smiled down at Dean, once more as he turned to leave the room.
"Doc?" A soft voice from the bed caused him to turn, "Don't tell my brother how bad it is…" The doctor looked like he wanted to protest, but decided that maybe Dean had his reasons and nodded his agreement.
"Okay, I'll let you decide how much he needs to know."
Dean smiled his thanks, "Good. Thanks doc."
After the doctor left the room, Dean inhaled a shaky breath and tried to figure out how the hell they were going to get out of this one. He knew that they couldn't very well stay in the hospital waiting for him to heal up properly, but he had no clue where they could go and still have access to the medical stuff needed. He supposed that they could always go back to the 'Batcave' that the men of letters had left for them. But that meant leaving the twins, and damned if he was going to do that just yet. He had just met them and he wasn't ready to lose them to this god forsaken life that he had been indoctrinated into through fire, death, and necessity.
He knew that Sam would agree with him, but if they stayed would they just bring further tragedy into the boys lives and CJ's? He mulled the thoughts around and noticed that his thoughts were becoming more disjointed as the medication that the doctor had administered just before leaving started to kick in. As much as Dean hated being 'high' on pain meds, at the moment he was pretty grateful for relief from the agony that was starting to shoot through his system again. Everything from the tips of his feet to his hairline hurt like hell. His eyelids dropped closed and Dean slipped into sleep, he never saw the man watching discreetly through the window on the door. Nor did he see as the man opened the door and ushered in CJ, Cameron, and a very frightened Cole.
Matt motioned for CJ to wake Dean up; he never pulled the knife from Cole's neck, the blood still flowing pretty freely from the long cut. Cole's eyes were huge as he stared at his mother and his brother, he bit down on his lip, trying to squash the fear and the confusion that was rolling inside of him.
He looked at Cameron and saw his own anguish reflected out his twin's golden eyes, and tried to smile. He didn't want Cam to be scared, he was going to be okay, they were all going to be okay. Cole wasn't sure how, but there was just no other option, they all had make it out this. He still wasn't sure what had happened to make Matt hate them or why he hated their father so much, but at the moment what mattered was his family and it no longer included Matt. His green eyes sparked with life and Cameron shook his head slightly, giving him a silent order to stand down. He scrunched his eyes as he reflected his understanding at Cameron, but he wasn't happy about it.
Cameron on the other hand was watching Matt with something akin to hatred blasting out of his golden-green eyes. He also didn't understand, but he knew that this man had tricked them and their mom for years, and he was now trying to kill them all. He ground his teeth in frustration at the situation; he watched the knife against his brother's throat with horror and rage. He couldn't make a move without putting Cole in danger, their mother, a cop, couldn't do anything. Matt knew when he took Cole that he would have them all by the short hairs, Cole was the least well trained and would be the easiest to control.
"Cam…I can see the wheels turnin…you should stop them." Matt said through clenched teeth, and dug the knife a little deeper. Cole grunted in response and Cameron paled as the line of blood became a slow stream.
"Matt, stop." CJ cried as she took a slow step toward her son and he her, she almost chocked on the thought, husband.
Matt smiled cruelly, "Wake him up, CJ."
"No need…asshole, I'm awake." Dean rasped from the bed. He tried to sit up, but the drugs were messing with his motor skills and he only managed to shift subtlety.
Matt smiled evilly, turning his attention to Dean, but he didn't move the knife as he took in the eldest Winchester's actions.
"Dean, so glad you made it sport. I was worried that wouldn't, should have known better though…you Winchesters are freakin hard to kill…well permanently anyways."
Dean snorted, and then cringed as the action caused his rips to shift painfully, "You have no idea…" he muttered.
Matt laughed, "Yeah, actually I do. Been talking to some friends…well friends is too strong a word, acquaintances really, guys with fully black eyes, and they said that you two have died…god…no one knows how many times. You always seem to come back…like a cockroach."
"Matt you don't have to do this." CJ said as she tried to shift closer to them, wondering if she would pull Cole away before he could strike her son down.
He cocked his head at her and narrowed his eyes, "Stop CJ, I know what you're doing…and you should stop." He pulled the knife away and dropped it to Coles collarbone, cutting the child along the bone. A gasp escaped Cole as surprise and pain caught him off guard. CJ gulped and stepped away quickly, looking at Dean in fear. His eyes were spitting green fire at Matt, "I'ma kill you…you sonovabitch!" he breathed in anger.
Matt smiled again, "Oh, I don't think so Dean-o…" He shifted and actually threw Cole at Dean, the boy landing hard on Dean's injured chest, compressing the broken ribs (there was an audible pop), pressing his still agonizingly painful back into the mattress simultaneously. Dean sucked in an anguished breath as he instinctively reached up to catch the boy, "Oh god." He cried out without thought.
CJ made a move to disarm Matt, just as Sam burst through the door, anger changing instantly to rage as he took in the situation instantly. His blue-green eyes moved frantically from Dean to Matt, taking in the location of the boys, and then finally to CJ moving in Matt's direction. He pulled his colt from his waistband and brought it up, leveling it at Matt, when suddenly the gun was flung from his hands and into Matts. Fucking witches! Sam thought as he reached for his back up weapon.
CJ saw Matt take aim at Dean and Cole lying on the bed, Cameron trying to move out of path of destruction and to his brother's side. Both boys now directly in the line of fire, Dean was trying desperately to push the boys to the floor, but they were at the moment stronger than their father.
"No!" CJ cried as she dove in front of her sons. Guns are a lot louder in real life than they are in the movies, and they hurt a hell of a lot more when you get shot with one too. CJ heard the dual report of the weapons and felt the bullet sink into her chest as pain bloomed in her left side. She fell bonelessly to the floor as Matt dropped beside her, a bullet hole between his eyes, where Sam's shot had bull-eyed.
CJ looked into the dead eyes of a man that she had never really known, and wondered how it had ever gotten to this point.
"CJ!" Sam cried as he dropped to his knees beside her, "Oh god…Cameron!" the boy stared with frightened eyes at the blood spreading on his mother's chest. "CAMERON!" Sam repeated, louder this time.
Cam's tear filled eyes, met Sam's, "Go get a doctor, now!" The boy nodded and sprang from the room.
"Sam…the boys…they have no one…but Dean…and you." CJ whispered as blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.
"Sam, is she okay?" Dean asked as he tried to move around the bundle of child huddled painfully into his chest. He was trying to see what had happened, he knew that CJ had been hit, in addition to Matt. What Dean didn't know was how bad it was. He was trying to stay focused, he really was, but the drugs were playing havoc with his concentration.
"Sam…make sure they're…safe." She said as her breathing rattled in her chest, Cole had clambered off the bed and was now sitting next to his mother, the tears streaming down his face. He reached for her hand with his small blood smeared one, "Mom…don't die." He cried as he leaned into her.
Cameron burst back into the room, followed by two medical techs. They looked confused, but they immediately went to the two downed bodies, one calling for more nurses as soon as he saw the bullet hole in Matt's head. The wound in CJ's chest was sucking now as she tried to breathe, "Sir, I need you to move so I can save her life." The tech pushed Sam out of the way, and another one pulled Cole from his mother. He screamed and fought like a wild animal, "NO…MOM!" he cried.
Cameron watched with a look of stunned confusion on his face, his eyes were red and tears were running freely down his cheeks. He moved to his brother to try and calm him down as he stared at his mother on the floor of his father's hospital room floor, bleeding to death; all because she had tried to save him and Cole.
Sam gathered the struggling boys into his arms and pulled them away from the scene, standing next to the head of Dean's bed. Dean had tears rolling silently down his stubbled face as he listened to what he couldn't see.
Tragedy, that seemed to be all that he and Sam had going for them. They killed everyone that they came into contact with, if they hadn't come back here, then none of this would have happened. Sure Matt was a crazy, sadistic, SOB, but he wouldn't have killed CJ without Dean there as a catalyst.
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Cole sat in a corner chair, a bandage taped into place on his neck, a small bright red patch where he had bled through the white covering. There were tracks of dried tears evident on his face as he stared at his sleeping father, his green eyes reflecting fathomless pain. The nurses had sedated his father, made him sleep as Uncle Sam explained, Dean had been too worked up over the situation and it wasn't good for his recovery.
Cameron, on the hand, was staring out the window into the rain; his own golden-green eyes deceptively dry as he listened to the room behind him.
"What's going to happen to us now, Sam?" Cameron asked without turning around.
Sam's heart clenched painfully as he heard the resignation and acceptance in the young man's voice, because they had just been forced to grow up in an instant... "We'll look out for you two." Sam answered quietly, he didn't know exactly how that would work with their lives and the earth shattering mission that they were now involved with. Shutting the gates of hell forever.
Cameron nodded and again went silent causing Sam's soul to shatter just a bit more for this silent, accepting, little boy.
"Cameron." Dean's quiet voice called from the shadows in the bed.
Cameron turned a blank stare in the direction of his father, "Yeah?"
"I won't leave you boys. I promise." He whispered from the darkness. Dean's voice was hoarse with emotion as he looked for any sign that these two little boys would accept him and Sam into their lives, because they no longer had a choice. Their choice had been stolen from them the moment CJ's heart had stopped beating; it was etched in the ink on their birth certificates in the form of one word…Winchester.
TBC…
Author's Note: Okay, let me first apologize to anyone that was thinking that Dean was going to end up with CJ…but just like in the series, women in the Winchester's lives generally have a short span. It was always my plan for Dean and Sam to wind up with custody of the twin's and investigate how that responsibility would affect their lives and their mission.
I was going to try and stay at 10 chapters, but I think this story has quite a few chapters left before I can in good conscience turn the boys back over to their own lives. I hope that you readers will continue to ride along with them as they learn how to deal with two broken hearted little boys and Dean's recovery. Sam is going to continue to play a huge role in this story.
Please review if you feel so inclined.
