Previously on Worlds Collide...
The Winchesters head off on a hunt, leaving Caitlin alone. Nothing happens while they are gone, but the same is not true when they get an SOS from Kevin and have to rush off. After two days, Caitlin has to go out and refill her prescription. Fighting off flashbacks, she's distracted when she gets a cab home. She soon finds out the driver is possessed. Due to her forgetfulness, she has no anti-possession symbols and ends up being possessed. The demon has a wild night, keeping her aware the entire time. The next day it returns to the Bunker and attempts to attack the brothers when they arrive back. As they are exorcising it, it stabs Caitlin with a sharp blade. With the demon gone, Caitlin collapse into unconsciousness from all her injuries.
HEADS UP: This chapter contains references and injuries from sexual assault. No acts are described in any detail, but if you think it will make you uncomfortable, don't read.
Glass House
As the demon smokes out, Caitlin drops to the floor. "She's out cold." Dean tells Sam worriedly as he checks on her. "I can't believe she went out, and without any protection!" he fumes, using anger to hide how scared he truly is.
He remembers what the demon said about Caitlin having dark thoughts and how they had an interesting night. It makes him worried about what her state of mind will be when she wakes up.
"Let's get her to her room." Sam says, sounding hollow. They had tried so hard to keep her safe, but once again she became a victim of the supernatural. He wonders if maybe they should just take her with them. She may be safer on a hunt with them than she is here by herself.
Dean draws her limp body into his arms and stands up. "Is that blood?!" Sam exclaims in horror, looking at the spot Caitlin was just removed from.
"What?!" Dean asks in shock. "Where?"
"Right where she fell." Sam responds worriedly.
"Shit!" Dean exclaims, seeing the smear.
He lays Caitlin on one of the tables as they try to find the source to stop the bleeding. They are shocked to find a large bloodstain on the crotch area of her pants.
"No" Sam says in a horrified whisper, putting his hand over his mouth as he gets extremely nauseous.
"You don't think…." Dean says brokenly, unable to finish the question. He looks at Caitlin's face and all he can see is the innocent girl who appeared in his car all those months ago.
Tears begin to run down his face as he thinks about everything that has happened since she entered their lives. She became the sister he never wanted and it breaks him to realize he failed to protect her once again.
They then notice a quickly growing blood stain on her abdomen. "That wasn't there before." Dean states as he quickly pulls her shirt up to gauge the severity of her wound. When he sees the blade embedded in her, he quickly whips off his outer shirt and uses it to apply pressure. He knows better than to remove the blade, so he just works around it.
The blade has no hilt so they failed to notice it in their original observation, too focused on the red stain lower down. Since it had been left in, it plugged the wound up a bit, leading to a delayed blood flow. When they moved her, they disturbed it enough to cause the blood to escape.
"Should we take her to a hospital?" Sam asks, concerned about the obvious damage done. He's not sure how they can treat this, but he will go with whatever his brother decides.
"Yeah, there's no way we can treat this." Dean chokes out. Had it just been the stab wound, he could've just stitched her up here. This, however, is way past his limited first aid skills. She needs a hospital, possibly a shrink as well.
Sam carefully lifts their little Cat into his arms, keeping pressure on the stab wound, and they rush to the hospital. She is quickly taken back and the brothers are left to wait, a situation reminiscent of the witch debacle.
Eventually a nurse comes out to ask them some questions. "Jones?" she calls. They decided to use the same IDs they used for that fateful trip to the clinic.
"That's us. How's Caitlin?" Dean inquiries as they rush over to the nurse. The nurse looks grave, which doesn't bode well for young Cat.
"She suffered significant damage. The doctors stitched up the worst tears, but she will be sore for a while." the nurse tells them. "The stab wound went deep and caused internal damage. We stopped the bleeding and did all we could, but I'm afraid her ovaries were damaged. She will never be able to conceive. I'm sorry."
The brothers are shocked and saddened by this latest development. The demon ripped a big part of her future from her. They haven't told Cat, but one of the main reasons they don't take her on hunts is because they want her to have a chance at a normal life. A house, husband, kids, the whole nine. Now she'll never get to have all of that.
"We have some questions, if you don't mind." The nurse continues.
"Sure, we'll tell you whatever we know." Sam answers.
"When did this happen?" she asks.
"We don't know, but we think it was last night. We just got back from a trip today and found her unconscious and bleeding." Sam replies. It's as close to the truth as he can get. He can't come right out and say they found her possessed and she began bleeding after being exorcized of the demon.
Dean isn't really paying attention, too busy thinking about what the nurse said. Significant damage, stitches, tears, internal damage. He is stunned that those words are being used to describe Caitlin. He worked so hard to protect her. He set out rules to keep her safe, but she broke them and he wasn't there to help. He wishes he had insisted she get the tattoo. If he had, they wouldn't be in their current situation.
"I'm so sorry. I guess you can't answer any of my other questions then." The nurse says sympathetically. "We ran a rape kit and found some semen. We are analyzing it for DNA and we are checking her for any STDs." The nurse reports. "There was evidence to suggest multiple assailants."
The brothers are completely speechless in the face of this new information. Multiple? "C-can we see her?" Dean finally manages to choke out.
"I'll take you to her room; she should be waking up soon." The nurse replies. They shuffle after the nurse and enter Caitlin's room. They see her lying in the bed, once again pale against the stark white hospital sheets. Her old scars stand out darkly against her pale skin, reminding them of the last time they were here.
They pull up chairs and take their positions on each side of the bed. They both grab her hands and after the nurse leaves, having checked everything, they finally breakdown.
POVPOVPOVPOVPOV
I open my eyes to a blindingly white room with a TV playing some news station in the background. I have no idea how I got here and I panic slightly as I vaguely remember being possessed.
Did it take me to some strange place then smoke out? I feel hands clasping mine and look down. Sitting on either side of the bed I'm in, are Sam and Dean. Their heads are bowed and I can hear what sounds like crying.
It is then that I notice the tube in my arm and the machines around me. I'm back in a hospital. "Guys? What's going on?" I mumble groggily. I can tell there are some sort of drugs running through my system, as my body feels heavy and I'm disoriented.
Their heads shoot up at my voice and they turn tearstained faces toward me. "Caitlin? You're awake!" Sam exclaims.
"Why am I here?" I ask, confused.
"What's the last thing you remember?" Dean asks carefully. He must be trying to gauge how aware I was.
"Last thing I remember is y'all exorcising the demon and the taste of sulfur as it was smoking out of me." I answer as it all comes back to me.
They seem disheartened by this. They must have been hoping I was kept out of everything when the demon possessed me. "Well you passed out and were b-ble-eeding so we brought you here." Dean stutters.
I sigh dejectedly. From the way he said that, I can tell they know what the demon did to me, or let happen to me, I suppose. I had hoped to keep that particular event from them, but too late now. If it were up to me, they would be clueless. It's gonna be hard enough recovering from that, but now they'll be watching me even closer.
"How much do you remember of when you were possessed?" Sam asks.
I know he wants me to say not much, but it's way too late to lie, so I decide to give him a chance to take it back. "You shouldn't ask questions you won't like the answer to." I hedge.
"Please, just answer." Sam requests somberly. He's using his puppy eyes and I'm helpless to resist them, as he knows very well.
"Everything" I mutter.
"What?" Dean asks, not being able to understand me.
"Every second. It wanted me wide awake and very aware of what was happening." I reveal, trying to keep it together. I'd rather just not think about it, but that isn't looking like an option at the moment.
Their faces crumple at that. I can tell they want to know more, but if I keep talking, I'm going to lose the composure I am fighting to keep. I don't want them to think I'm weak and fragile, but all I want to do is breakdown and cry.
They seem to sense that I don't want to talk anymore because they stand up and tell me they are going to get coffee. Sam tells me my phone is on my side table since it was in my pocket when they brought me in. I grab my phone and see that I have a lot of new emails. The first one I open has multiple videos. Curious, I open one and hit play.
As it starts I realize what it is and throw my phone across the room in horror. It smashes against the wall and shatters, screen frozen.
POVPOVPOVPOVPOV
Sam and Dean return from their coffee run to see Caitlin's phone shattered by the wall while she is curled into a ball on the bed and sobbing. "Son of a bitch!" Dean exclaims as he drops his coffee and runs to her, Sam right behind him.
"Cat? Cat, what's wrong?" Dean asks, trying to get her to calm down. He's worried that she might pull her stitches if she gets too distressed. She is mumbling a string of no's in her sobs. He's not sure what caused this reaction. They were barely even out of the room!
"Sam, check her phone. Something on it must have upset her." Dean directs as he carefully pulls Caitlin into his chest. He knows that comforting gestures like this usually pull her back from wherever she goes during her attacks, but it doesn't seem to be working this time.
Sam hurries over to the phone on the floor and finds the screen shattered, but still lit up. The screen is frozen on a video that was playing. He quickly realizes what set Caitlin off as he gets a good look at the image. He's stunned by what he is looking at.
"Ummm Dean, I think you'll want to see this." Sam says, still staring at the horrifying image on the screen. He can't seem to tear his eyes away as he analyzes it, trying to make sense of it.
Seeing Sam frozen, Dean gently sets Caitlin back on the bed and heads over to Sam. "What is it?" he asks Sam. Sam just hands the phone over to Dean, speechless.
Dean takes a good look at the image and drops the phone in outrage. He becomes extremely angry and growls, "They recorded it and sent it to her?! I'm going to rip their lungs out!"
Just then, the announcer on the TV says "Tragedy at the Green Cedar Motel. Four young men were found murdered in a room earlier today. Reports say that they were mutilated." They both look up at the TV. "Here are the pictures of the four men who have been identified as Terrance Smith, Chris Austin, Jerry Hunt, and David Swain. So far there are no suspects, but authorities are chasing a few leads."
One of the pictures on the news matches the man in the image. "Oh my God." Sam says hollowly, noticing this as well. They look over at Caitlin, suspecting that the demon killed those men. "We need to get her out of here. You know how much she hates hospitals. Right now, she needs an environment she feels safe in. Plus, if the DNA test comes back with those men's DNA, she will be questioned by police." Sam tells his brother.
"The nurse said she has to talk to a therapist first. I don't think she is ready for that right now." Dean replies despairingly. She stopped crying, but now her glazed eyes are just staring straight ahead, unseeing.
"Then we sign her out AMA. We need to get her home as soon as possible, for her own sake." Sam says, leaving to sign the forms.
Dean walks over to Caitlin and lightly brushes her hair out of her face. "I'm never letting anything happen to you again." he promises fiercely. He is worried about the glassy look in her eyes, but chalks it up to the drugs and stress.
He drops a kiss on her head before gathering her stuff. Sam returns with her various prescriptions after checking her out. The staff had tried to get them to change their mind, but couldn't stop them. They carry the catatonic girl out to the Impala and drive back to the Bunker.
Sometime during the drive back, she falls asleep. They carry her inside and tuck her into her bed. Dean volunteers to take first watch while Sam goes to fill her prescriptions.
POVPOVPOVPOVPOV
I am once again plagued by nightmares, but these are much more vivid and I can't wake myself up. I relive the possession and once again, I can do nothing to stop it. I wake up with a screamed "NO!" and begin sobbing.
"Caitlin? Caitlin, it's okay. I've got you, you're okay." I hear Dean whisper comfortingly.
It's then that I register that I'm in his arms. Images of the moment before I woke up assault my mind. Dean hugs me and rubs my back as I cry into his chest. "Why didn't it just kill me? It would've been easier." I sob.
I feel Dean stiffen at that and he pushes me back so he can look in my face. "You don't mean that." he insists.
"Yes, I do." I reply miserably. "The things it made me do, the things it let those guys do… I can't live with that."
His face melts with emotion and he pulls me back against his chest as he cries into my hair. I fall asleep eventually, the drugs still having a strong effect on me. When I wake up, Dean is still holding me. He's propped against my headboard, letting me sleep on his chest.
"You awake?" he whispers.
"Yeah." I answer tonelessly.
"How about I make some pancakes for breakfast, would you like that?" he asks cheerily, trying to make me feel better.
"I'm not hungry." I reply dully. Just the thought of food right now is making me nauseous.
"Fine, but you have to at least take your meds." he says, losing all enthusiasm.
"Okay." I sigh despondently.
Dean goes to get the pills and a glass of water as I just lay there, staring at the ceiling. I have no will to do anything. I just feel drained of all life, like a shadow of my former self. When he returns, I swallow the pills mechanically then continue to stare blankly at the ceiling.
Dean moves around the room for a bit and tries to get me to talk, but I ignore him. I don't want to talk or interact with anyone. I just want to be left alone.
When he leaves, I decide to take a hot shower. I pass Sam in the hall as I head to the bathroom. He looks terrible but still gives me a smile and a hug as I shuffle along. I can tell he is worried, but luckily, he lets me continue without saying anything.
After I'm done, I wander around the Bunker aimlessly. Dean finds me in one of the halls and says, "Our friend, Charlie, is going to be stopping by, you should meet her. I think you'll like her."
"Alright." I reply. Not even the news of meeting my favorite character is cheering me up. He looks at me sadly, but lets me continue my drifting. I eventually meander back to my room and collapse tiredly onto my bed.
A while later, I look up at a knock on my door, "Hi, I'm Charlie. Sam and Dean asked me to tell you that we are working a case. Sam is staying here, but I convinced Dean to let me go." Charlie says.
"I'm Caitlin and thanks for relaying the message." I greet, trying to break out of my indifference. No matter how I feel, I don't want to make a bad first impression.
"I've read all the books and I've known the Winchesters for at least a year. I never knew they had a sister." she exclaims.
"It's a long story, they kinda adopted me. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't even be alive." I explain.
"You're going to have to tell me about that when we get back." she responds excitedly.
"Sure." I reply with a small smile, her excitement actually cheering me up slightly. I guess it's just her sunny personality.
"See you later, Caitlin!" she says as she heads off to meet Dean and work the case.
Later, Sam walks by my open door. I get up and follow him to the shooting range. He fires two shots, hitting the paper, but not the target. "Close enough." I hear him say as he turns around.
I step out in front of him. "Hey Sam, how're you?" I ask.
"I'm fine." he replies, very unconvincingly since he is swaying a bit and he looks terrible, "I'm just going to join Dean on a case, will you be okay alone for a bit? We won't be far so if you need us, just call." he says as he steps around me and heads to the door. I'm shocked they're already leaving me alone, although Sam doesn't seem to be firing on all cylinders at the moment.
"My phone is broken." I remind him. I shudder internally as I remember why it was shattered, but I keep a neutral face.
"Here, take mine. I'll get a new one while I'm out." I know there is no point in trying to stop him so I just let him go.
Left alone in the Bunker, I begin to think. I quickly realize there is something I need to do. I grab my charm, hex bag, and tuck my gun into my bag before heading out the door. When I come back, I'm relieved to find that I'm the first one to return.
They all return later that night to try to figure out what they are hunting. Charlie leaves after they figure out it is a type of djinn. The boys try to get ahold of her later but she doesn't answer so they leave to track her down with her phone's GPS while I decide to stay up to wait for them and to avoid nightmares.
They eventually return with Charlie. Before she leaves, I give her my email address with a promise to answer any questions she might have. I quietly watch from the hall with a small smile on my face as Sam and Dean have a broment and then decide to start looking for Kevin again.
"You going to stand there all day, or are you going to help?" Dean asks, looking up at me. I step out and join them at the table. "While we were out, we decided to get you something." Dean continues, pulling out a laptop and setting it in front of me.
"Really?!" I say excitedly. I've secretly been wanting one for a while, but didn't want to bother them. I can't believe they went through the trouble for me. It must have been expensive since I can tell it's brand new.
Dean smiles brightly at my enthusiasm and says, "We thought it might come in handy if we bring you on a case, plus I know the Bunker can get boring, so now you have some entertainment."
"Thanks, guys!" I exclaim happily. I decide to help them look for Kevin and Sam teaches me a few tricks. Soon, I have hacked into a few security cameras. I begin to drift off so I get up and grab a soda from the kitchen. It helps for a while, but before long, I'm fighting to stay awake.
Dean looks up and notices, "You look beat." he says. "You should go get some sleep." He always seems to be tuned into my body language, calling me out on it.
"I'm fine." I reply, then a huge yawn overtakes me. Well that ruined my statement.
"Seriously, we've got this." he responds. He is frowning at my stubbornness. I decide to get out of the room for a bit to avoid his probing eyes.
"I'm just gonna grab another soda." I say as I stumble off to the kitchen.
As I grab another coke, I hear someone enter the kitchen behind me. "This is ridiculous, Cat! You need to go to sleep!" I hear Dean exclaim in exasperation.
"I'd rather not." I reply quietly. Just the thought of it has me shaking. The latest bout of nightmares have been incredibly vivid and detailed.
"Is this about the nightmares?" he asks gently, turning me to look me in the eyes. The fear must be reflected in my eyes, because he suddenly pulls me against his chest in a warm hug. "Tell you what." he says into my hair. "If you go crawl into bed now, in a few minutes I'll come watch over you to keep the nightmares away."
I admit to defeat and shuffle off to my bed. I continue on to my room and pass out as soon as my head hits the pillow. I am instantly gripped by a nightmare, but suddenly I feel a calming presence and can hear Dean whisper comforting words to me.
My nightmare fades and is replaced by memories of the fun times I've had with the Winchesters. When I wake up later, Dean is gone. I lay there for a bit, just remembering the good times and letting them push the bad to the back corner of my mind. I decide to try to act as normal as possible and try to focus on the good times. Sam sticks his head in. "Breakfast is ready if you're hungry." he says. He looks even worse than before.
I get up and find Dean in the kitchen serving up pancakes. "How many?" he asks as I take a seat.
"Three" I reply, holding up three fingers. He quickly fills up and hands me a plate of three pancakes. There is a bottle of syrup on the table and a can of whipped cream. I drown my cakes in syrup then smother them in whipped cream.
Sam walks in just as I finish adding the whipped cream and frowns. "That's extremely unhealthy, Cat." he reprimands. "You're going to give yourself a stomachache."
"I do this all the time." I reply flippantly as I start shoveling it all into my mouth.
"Let the girl be, Sammy." Dean defends. "She could stand to gain a few pounds." he finishes with a smirk. I glare at him as I chew and flip him off. They both laugh at that and start digging in to their own stacks.
By lunchtime, I'm regretting eating so much. I have a tiny stomach and can't eat much. Dean makes his delicious burgers, but I'm still full from breakfast so I just sip my soda and stare longingly at yet another burger I can't eat.
We continue to try to find Kevin over the next few days. I am notified that I have an email from Charlie and we begin emailing back and forth, as I answer as many of her questions as I can. She seems very interested in my life, even the time before I was pulled into this dimension. I decide to check my inbox and find all the emails from the guys with the videos. The smile falls from my face and I just stare at the screen.
"Cat? Is something wrong?" Sam asks as he sees me stiffen.
"Huh?" I reply distractedly.
"What are you looking at?" he asks with a mix of curiosity and concern.
He moves to look at the screen, but I close the lid. "It was nothing, just thinking." I assure him. "I'm gonna go try to get some sleep." With that, I leave the room and curl up on my bed.
POVPOVPOVPOVPOV
After Caitlin leaves the room, Sam and Dean look at each other. Neither believes that it was nothing. Dean grabs the laptop and opens it. He sees a bunch of unread emails. "Huh." he exhales. "It's just open on her email inbox. Looks like she has some unread emails."
Sam comes and looks over Dean's shoulder. Dean clicks on one and sees multiple video attachments. He clicks on one and sees something he can't believe.
"Oh God!" Sam chokes as they watch the video. It's like seeing a train wreck, it's horrible, but you can't take your eyes away from it. They know they shouldn't watch, that it is a big invasion of privacy, but they both feel the need to know what happened to Caitlin so they can help her. She'll never tell them. They're pretty sure she never would've let them know about the experience if she hadn't been bleeding enough to be noticeable.
They end up watching all the videos, and by the end, they are wishing they had been able to kill the demon. They mark the emails as unread so that Caitlin won't know they watched them, and close her computer. Dean rushes out and quickly returns with a case of beer. They both grab one and try not to think about what they watched.
Many of the things they saw happen made them physically sick, especially since it was happening to their little sister. They sit in stunned silence for a while until Dean finally says, "That was…I don't even know."
"I know what you mean." Sam sighs in reply. "Everything bad seems to happen to her, have you noticed?"
"Yeah, ending up here and getting stuck, being kidnapped, tortured, and almost dying, getting trapped in a nightmare, and now this." Dean replies, having been thinking that earlier. "She has worse luck than us."
"We still need to tell her what the nurse said about the internal damage." Sam states. They hadn't had the chance yet to break the news yet. First she was unresponsive, then depressed, then they had a case.
"She finally seems back to normal. I don't want to ruin that with even more bad news." Dean replies firmly. He was thrilled by how upbeat she had been that day. She seemed so happy, like she was before all this crap happened.
"Okay, but we should keep a close eye on her." Sam asserts. He, unlike Dean, understands what possession can do to a person, having gone through it himself. His experience isn't close to Caitlin's, but he at least understands the feeling of helplessness as something controls your body and makes you do horrible things.
"If she figures that out, she is going to be mad." Dean argues with Sam. "She already hates her moments of what she considers weakness. She has probably been hiding how much it affected her this whole time. She would be furious if she knew we were closely monitoring her. We'll have to do it subtly."
"I'm gonna go check on her." Sam says, disregarding his brother's worries in favor of focusing on his own. He peeks in and see that she is tossing and mumbling incoherently. He quickly walks to the side of her bed and lays his hand on her. Just that simple touch calms her and he sees her relax.
A/N: So I lied about delaying the update, and it's one of my longer chapters. I'm a dedicated procrastinator so I pushed my paper til tomorrow. I'm pretty certain there will be no update tomorrow. I only have a few hours of free time, which will be devoted to the paper. I'm not doing a timeline for this chapter as it only spans 4 days. Next chapter will answer a few questions that were raised in earlier chapters. I hope y'all are enjoying the stories and reviews or PMs are always appreciated. TTFN!
P.S. The title is a Kaleo song. If you haven't listened to them, I highly recommend you do. Jared, Jensen, and Mark all posted about them a few months back so I gave them a listen and I LOVE them!