26
ANGEL KILLIN' ARM
"Do I need to bring her to the hospital?" Dean asked, his heart starting to race like a thoroughbred in his chest.
"Hold on now boy, let's just take this slow. Bring her upstairs to her room and let her rest. We don't know what Zach all did, and my guess is she didn't get a five star meal each day. If she did, girl was probably too stubborn to cooperate. She's probably just exhausted," Bobby offered and brushed back Anna's hair from her face. He put two fingers near her wrist to feel her pulse. "She's been through a lot. Her pulse and breathing are fine; I don't think fainting warrants a trip to the E.R. son."
Dean hesitantly nodded and brought her up the stairs to their bedroom. Seeing the large bed, he pulled back the covers enough with his knee awkwardly and set her down. He walked to the dresser to grab some fresh clothes for her. Stifling through her drawer, he decided on her favorite sweatpants and one of his t-shirts she liked to wear. Quickly, he stripped her down and dressed her. Normally, she wouldn't mind, but once he was putting her dirty clothes in the laundry basket he started to wonder if she'd be uncomfortable with it after what Zach showed her.
He didn't blame her one bit for being frightened or at least wary of him. She was pretty good at masking her emotions, but Dean could see that she was hesitant and scared. Shrugging since he'd already dressed her, he tucked her in and sat next to her on the bed. "I am so sorry Anna. I'm sorry that Zach dragged you into this. I'm sorry I followed the damn prophecy and you got pregnant. I'm sorry Zach took you. I'm sorry you saw what I did. I'm so sorry," he whispered as he played with her hair. It was killing him that someone he loved might be scared of him, and he hadn't had the proper opportunity to really talk to her about it. Sure, she'd told him that it was okay and they'd be okay. However, Dean had heard that line come out of his own mouth on countless occasions. He'd said it many times just to be brave when in fact he had no idea if things would be okay, and in that moment, he wasn't so sure they would.
The next morning, Anna woke up around five. She remembered passing out shortly when they got home, and finally felt rested. She also remembered that Dean had made their appointment for nine, so she had four hours to kill. Sitting up, she saw she was dressed in pajamas. 'Did he change me?' she asked, and thought it was adorable until an image of him cutting someone's eyebrows off flashed through her mind. Gasping and holding the blankets close to her she counted to ten in her head. 'That was in Hell. That was then. This is now. Dean will never hurt you.' She repeated it over and over until her breathing evened out. Looking next to her, she saw Dean's sleeping form. He looked so peaceful, and she soon forgot about the gruesome eyebrow image. Smiling that they were both still alive, and that she was next to the man she loved, she lied back down. Snuggling up close, she felt safe near his warm body. In his sleep, he pulled her closer and grunted a bit before settling into normal breathing. His rhythmic breathing soon lulled her back to sleep.
Awaking with a startle, Anna yelped and shot her eyes open. Dean had frozen and was looking at her with wide eyes. Her breathing was rapid as she tried to calm herself down from the nightmare.
"Anna, sweetheart what's wrong?" Dean asked, leaning in and touching her forehead.
"Night…Nightmare. I'm fine. I'm good," she said as she caught her breath. The images of Dean were haunting her, and she had no idea how he lived with them. Some nights she would feel him shaking, or he would get up and come back to bed after an hour. Now, she knew that it was most likely from his memories in Hell. It pained her that he had to go through that, and she sucked up her courage and leaned into him. Holding him tight in a death grip hug, she cried. She cried until she felt like her body couldn't make any more tears. Dean just held her and let her get it out. He rubbed circles on her back and whispered comforting things in her ear until she settled down. One thing he continued to say was that he was sorry. "Dean…" she finally said, struggling through hiccups. "I'm not mad, I don't need an apology. You didn't hurt me, and I know you never would-"
"God no," he interrupted her and looked scared like she was going to run away.
"I know that honey," she said, leaning in and giving him a wet kiss. "It's just that I'm scared for you. I now realize what you deal with twenty-four-seven. The 'demons of your past'. Literally. And I'm sorry that you went through that, and I know that I've been cursed with nightmares of them for the rest of my days. But that doesn't matter to me, because we're in this together." He just stared at her in disbelief. Zachariah burned images of him in Hell into Anna's mind, and she was the one apologizing?!
"I'm just glad you're not scared of me and won't ever kiss me again or something," he admitted with a hint of a smirk. Over the years he'd found that if you didn't find humor in certain situations, life just got too damn depressing. And it also happened to be his main coping mechanism.
"Dean, I will always love you. I will always stand by you. And I certainly will never stop kissing you," she said as she leaned in for another sweet kiss.
"I think pregnancy is making you too Hallmark-ey," he teased and was greeted with a slap on the shoulder.
"Hey! That's my angel killin' arm babe!" he protested and she let out a small chuckle.
"You need to get dressed for your appointment. I'll go see if Bobby started breakfast yet and get some coffee going. We gotta leave in about an hour," Dean said, standing up and going to the closet to find himself some clothes.
As he walked into the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face, he smiled. His wife didn't hate him after all. It was going to be a rough road ahead, he knew that much, but at least they'd be driving down it together.