Family is Where the Heart is

Chapter 20

Sarah could not believe who she was staring at. She hadn't seen him in over a year, not since he left for Iraq. Now, he was standing, or rather sitting there, right in front of her. Sarah ran over and jumped into his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck as she called out, excitedly, "Mark!"

The young man, Mark held onto the little girl, tightly.

"I missed you so much, Mark," she told him from his shoulder.

"So did I, Sar Bear," he replied. Mark unhooked her arms and looked at her. "But what are you doing here?"

"My uncle Sam and I brought my dad here to be healed."

Mark looked at her as Dean and Sam walked up.

Dean asked, watching Mark like a hawk, "Sarah, mind introducing us?"

Sarah climbed down from her second cousin's lap and went over to stand in between her father and uncle, turning around to face Mark. "Dad, Uncle Sam, this is my cuz, Mark." She moved her head towards Mark, "Mark, this is my dad and uncle Sam."

Dean held his hand out to him. "Nice to meet you, I'm Dean," he told him. Mark never took the handshake, he just looked at it. Dean took his hand back, feeling the air get really awkward as Mark continued to stare at him. "So, um…"

"So, you know my niece," Sam finished for his brother, trying to make small talk, also feeling the awkward tension.

Mark looked at him. "Yes," he replied. "Guess you can say I taught her everything she knows."

"Not everything, now Dad teaches me stuff," Sarah spoke up, happily.

Mark looked at his second cousin. "Like what?" he asked, curious.

"I can't say, it's the family business," she told him.

He looked up at Dean, staring daggers at him, coldly.

Dean rubbed the back of his head, clearing his throat. He could tell this guy had beef with him, most likely about Sarah's mother. "Uh, Sam," he turned his head to his brother. "You mind taking Sarah to the car and waiting for me? I'll be there in a minute."

Sam nodded once, "Sure."

Sarah tried to object. "But I want to keep talking to Mark. I haven't seen him in a long time."

"I know, baby girl," Dean told her. "I will make sure you can see him again before we leave town."

She moaned as she followed her uncle to where they parked the Impala. When they were out of earshot, Dean turned back to Mark. "Want to tell me why you're giving me the stink eye?" he asked of him.

"You slept with my cousin and then left her without a good-bye, you arrogant sack of shit," Mark replied, coldly.

"Look, we all do things we regret as youngsters," Dean said in his defense.

"Yeah, the stupid ones," he scoffed. "Emily cried for days after she stopped hearing from you. And then when she finds out she's pregnant, she tries to call you one last time and you still don't pick up your phone. I told her to have an abortion and she had her heart set on it, too then she decides to keep it all of a sudden,"

Why couldn't Dean remember ever hearing about Emily being pregnant? Even if he had missed her call, he would have checked his voicemail. "Well, obviously you cared about our daughter because you were teaching her to wrestle and play football, and Sarah seems like she looked up to you," Dean shrugged at him.

"Yeah, because I'm not the kind of guy who takes it out on a kid for some jerk-off's dumbass decision."

"Okay, I get it," he said. "Yes, I screwed up and got a girl pregnant. It was a mistake that I wish I could take back, but let me tell you something, pal. That little girl back there," Dean pointed over his right shoulder with his thumb, "she is the beautiful outcome of it. The only good thing that came out of a couple one night stands."

Mark continued to stare up at him, "Yeah? Well that outcome cost my cousin her own life. Emily had to quit school just so Sarah could be clothed, fed, and have a roof above her head. Emily had to do things that she was not proud of."

Dean crossed his arms across his chest. "Yeah, like what?"

"Did Sarah ever tell you they were homeless for a month before my uncle finally managed to find them?"

Dean's arms loosen as his mouth slowly dropped open. "H-h-homeless?" He thought that over in his head. Sure, Dean, Sam, and Sarah didn't have a permanent house to live in they still had a nice warm bed to sleep in, now and then. Dean didn't even want to think about how terrified Sarah must have been during that time, if she even remembered. "I'm sorry, all right."

Mark shook his head. "Don't even apologize. Emily could have gone places, done things but she couldn't. She was tied down to motherly duties, all because of you. And what is it you're teaching her, by the way? Deuce bag 101?"

Dean leaned on the guy's wheelchair, his face inches from Mark's. "I said I was sorry. You don't know our life. You don't know what we're going through. What your own cousin is going through."

He looked away, trying not to look Dean in the eye.

Dean stood up. "Sarah has told me some things about her mother, but never had she said anything bad about you. I'm beginning to think she was lying or something. You don't seem like the role model she goes on about." With that said, Dean turned and walked away, leaving Mark sitting there to sulk. He saw Sam in the driver's seat again so Dean got in on the passenger's side, slamming his door shut.

Sam and Sarah watched him. "You okay?" Sam asked him.

He placed his elbow on the door and happened to glance up as Mark's woman friend was pushing Mark to their car. Dean looked back at Sarah. "Sarah, do you remember ever living on the streets with your mother?"

An eyebrow slowly rose as she stared back at her father. "I don't think so. Why?"

Dean turned forward and leaned his face against the back of his fingers. His nose was resting on his knuckles. Maybe she was too young to remember. Sarah could have been a toddler at the time. It hurt to hear about his daughter having to sleep out in the cold with barely any food. A tear escaped his eye. They must have seen it, too because Sam asked, "dude, are you crying?"

He quickly wiped it away. "No I'm not crying. Ugh," Dean wiped at his eyes. "My eyes have been itchy and watery since that guy healed me."

"Well, I just called the nearby hospital to see if you're completely better," he told him.

Dean moved his hand to the side of his forehead and leaned on it. "I'm fine, Sam."

Sam shrugged, "I just want to make sure." He drove to the hospital where the doctors ran some tests on Dean's heart. They didn't find anything wrong with him. Nothing, it was as if Dean had never even had an electrocution to his heart.

The Winchesters learned of another man that died just yesterday to a heart attack. Dean's age, too. In fact, it strengthened Dean's bad feeling. So, he sent Sam to find any information on the guy while he and Sarah went to talk to the reverend.

"I feel great," he was telling the reverend and his wife. "Just trying to make sense of what happened." Sarah was leaning over his right knee, her arms hanging over. She loved the hunts where she could be herself and sit with her father.

The reverend's wife sat down. "A miracle is what happened.

Dean nodded at her.

"Well, miracles come so often around Roy."

He looked over at Roy. "When did they start, the miracles?"

"Woke up one morning stone blind," Roy explained. "Doctors figured out I had cancer, told me I had maybe a month. So, uh, we prayed for a miracle. I-I was weak, but I told Sue Ann, 'you just keep right on praying.' I went into a coma. Doctors said I wouldn't wake up but I did. And the cancer was gone."

Sarah looked up at him, listening.

Roy removed his sunglasses, "If it wasn't for these eyes, no one would ever believe I had it."

"So, you can't see a thing?" she asked, with a normal childhood curiosity.

He shook his head. "Not a thing."

Sarah held up four fingers on her right hand. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Roy laughed while Dean popped her on her bottom. It wasn't too hard, just enough to get his point across. Sarah didn't even flinch or yelp.

"Sarah, knock it off," he warned her.

"No, no, it's all right," Roy told him. "Kids are usually the most curious when it comes to my blindness."

"So, then you were able to heal people?" Dean asked. "Once you woke up I mean."

"I discovered it, afterwards, yes," he replied. "God's blessed me in many ways." Roy placed his sunglasses back on.

"And his flock just swelled overnight," Sue Ann added. "And this is just the beginning."

Dean looked down at Sarah, who was now trying to balance on his leg as she held her legs up. "Can I ask you one last question?" he asked.

Roy nodded at him, "Of course you can."

He licked his upper lip, "Why? Why me? Out of all the sick people, why save me?"

Sarah looked back up when she heard her father ask that. Why couldn't he just accept it? She didn't understand how he could keep questioning and arguing about being saved.

"Well, like I said before," Roy told him. "The Lord guides me. I looked into your heart and you just…" He shook his head, "stood out than all the rest."

Dean was silent for a moment before he asked, "What did you see in my heart?"

"A young man with an important purpose, a job to do. And it isn't finished."

"You mean like, being my dad?" Sarah asked, hopeful.

Roy shrugged, "Maybe. Only the Lord knows your dad's future."

Sarah looked up at her father who was watching her. She smiled at him. Dean forced a smile for her before thanking Roy and Sue Ann for their time. He stood up and headed for the door. Sue Ann walked them out.

As Dean and Sarah were coming down the stairs, Layla was walking up to the house. "Dean. Sarah, hey," she greeted them with a smile.

The two of them stopped. "Hey," Dean returned the greeting.

"Hello, Layla," Sarah also returned.

Layla looked at Dean. "How are you feeling?" she asked him.

"I feel good, cured, I guess," he replied. "What are you doing here?"

"You know, my mom, she wanted to talk to the reverend." Layla's mother was coming up the steps towards them.

"Layla," said Sue Ann, stepping closer to them.

"Yes," Layla looked over at the older woman before walking over to her. "We're here again."

"Oh, I'm sorry, but Roy is resting. He won't be seeing anyone right now."

Her mother wasn't thrilled to here Sue Ann say that. "Sue Ann, please," she pleaded with her. "This is our sixth time. He's got to see us."

"Roy's well aware of Layla's situation, and he very much wants to help just as soon as the Lord allows. Have faith, Mrs. Rourke." Sue Ann touched her shoulder and then went back inside.

Mrs. Rourke sadly looked at the ground and turned away. When she looked up, Dean and Sarah was standing right there in front of her. She stared at Dean like she was trying to figure him out. "Why are you even still here?" she asked of him. "You got what you wanted."

"Mom, stop," Layla told her mother, stepping towards them.

Her mother looked at her. "No, Layla," she said. "This is too much. We've been to every single service. If Roy would stop choosing these strangers over you," Mrs. Rourke looked back at Dean, "strangers that don't even believe."

Sarah glared at her from her father's side.

"I just can't pray any harder."

Sarah eased off when Mrs. Rourke said that, remembering when she was praying for her own mother every single day, right up until Emily died. She knew when constant praying and receiving no answer was no fun. It still bugged her how her prayers for her father were answered but not for her mother. Did God hate her mother or something, she wondered.

Dean looked over at Layla. "Layla, what's wrong?"

Layla took in a deep breath and shook her head like it was nothing. "I have this thing."

He shrugged as if to ask, "and?"

Mrs. Rourke answered, "It's a brain tumor."

That shot Sarah's head up again, her attention caught.

She walked in between the three of them. "It's inoperable. In six months, the doctors say…" Layla touched her mother's shoulder.

"What's inoperable mean?" Sarah asked her father.

Dean looked down at her, sadly. "It means Layla can't have an operation to get rid of it," he explained.

"But my mom had a lot of operations, they just didn't help."

"Did your mother have a brain tumor, honey?" Layla asked Sarah.

She nodded up at her, slowly.

"It must have been another kind of tumor, then."

"It caused her to lose her memory. Then she died during her last surgery," Sarah told her.

Layla looked at the little girl, sadly. "I'm sorry to hear that. So, if the reverend hadn't of healed your dad, you would lost both of your parents, huh?"

Sarah nodded and rested her head against her father's leg. "All in one year, too."

Layla looked at Dean. "Her mother just died not that long ago?"

He nodded, brushing Sarah's hair with his fingers.

She shook her head, slowly, "That would have been very hard for a young child to handle, I bet. I'm relieved the reverend choose you then."

"I still would have offered you or someone else my place," Dean shrugged. "She has her uncle, and her grandfather is out there, somewhere. They would have taken care of Sarah. Not that I don't love her, I do. Her and my brother, they're the only thing I live for, you know?"

Mrs. Rourke turned sharply to look at him. "Children have to learn the harsh reality someday. That's still isn't an excuse why you deserve to live more than my daughter." With that, she headed back down the steps.

Layla followed after her.

Dean watched them go then looked at the ground. Sarah interrupted his thoughts, "Dad, am I selfish?" He squatted down to her level, "Why would you think that?"

"Because I wanted you to be healed when other people needed to be healed, too," she said.

"Sometimes, when a loved one is in that spot, all you can think of is them getting better," he explained. "You block out all the rest like they don't matter. It's a normal human thing, Sarah."

A tear escaped her right eye and ran down her cheek. "What if Layla doesn't make it? What if she dies like my mom did?"

Dean looked down again for a moment. He looked up at her, "Sometimes, people die, baby girl. It's a part of life and sometimes we can't do anything about it. Maybe Layla will get better," he shrugged, "maybe not. I don't want her to die, either but who knows what will happen."

Sarah stared at the ground, listening until her father was done talking, then she looked up at him. "Life sucks."

Dean had to smile at that. "Don't I know it, baby girl."