Will have language and possibly graphic violence.
Summary: Sequel to Meddlesome Fools. Major ANGST! John's decisions are weighing heavily on him and nightmares plague his dreams. The demon is still keeping tabs on the boys and making itself know with Dean's migraines. Then there's the new kid…
Disclaimer: I do not own anything Supernatural related, but I wish I did! Enjoy!! Yes I will probably use direct quotes in this story, but I admit it so please don't sue me!!
Warning: Will contain child abuse! If you don't like it, please don't read it!
SPOILER ALERT!!! Lots of spoilers for 4.03.
John was waiting in the doorway, keeping a close eye on the demon as it carried his son away. Just as he was about to say "that's far enough," he watched in bewilderment as it stopped of its own accord, placed Dean carefully on the ground, whispered something to him, then winked at John and vanished into thin air. John was by his son's side seconds later.
As he dropped to his knees and began checking Dean over, he heard Sam and Bobby coming up behind him. Bobby was clutching the first aid kit, and Sam had tears streaming down his face as he landed on the other side of his brother.
"Oh god… Dean! Is he breathing? Is he okay?"
John moved to check Dean's caryatid artery for a pulse. Noticing the severe bruising on his son's throat, he switched tactics and held one hand a few inches over Dean's mouth, placing the other on his chest. After a few anxious seconds that seemed like an eternity, he felt the warm breath and soft rise and fall of Dean's chest.
"He's breathing."
Bobby wiped a shaking hand over his face. "Thank god… Can you rouse him?"
Sam curled a hand around his brother's wrist and watched anxiously as his dad tapped Dean's cheek, trying to wake him up.
"Dean? Can you hear me, son? Bobby, go grab me a blanket from one of the beds, will ya? It's freezin' out here."
"You got it, John."
He knew Bobby was halfway to the door already without even looking up. John gently cupped Dean's chin and tilted his head to the side, trying to see if the back of his head was bleeding or not from colliding with the wall. The further he turned Dean's head, the deeper the frown lines on his son's forehead grew. Only then did he realize he was making it hard for Dean to breath due to the bruising on his throat. Stupid…Sorry, kiddo. He carefully turned his son's head again till he was facing straight up and tilted his neck back, allowing Dean to breath easier.
"Why won't he wake up, dad?" Sam's voice was trembling, and John highly doubted it was because of the cold.
"Gotta give him a little time, Sammy. He hit his head pretty good."
Bobby returned with the quilt from John's bed and handed it over to the increasingly worried father. John draped it over Dean's limp form, hoping to keep him warm and trying to figure out the easiest way to move him back inside without causing further damage or pain to his boy.
Bobby seemed to be thinking along the same lines. "Need some help, John? I can grab his legs…"
"No. I'll get him. Just get the door. Get back inside, Sam. Don't need you catching a cold on top of everything else."
"But, Dean…!"
"I've got it, Sam. Go."
"Yes, sir," Sam grumbled. He gently squeezed his brother's wrist before relinquishing his hold. As he passed Bobby, the older man put a comforting arm around his shoulders and led him back towards the door, glancing over his shoulder to make sure John really didn't need his help.
"Hang in there, son," John muttered quietly as he hoisted Dean's body into his arms. He wrapped the blanket around him tighter, then stood to his full height looking like the stoic hero carrying the damsel in distress away from the terrible monster.
Though Dean's muscular form was by no means light, John barely felt the boy's weight as he carried him all the way into the bedroom and placed him gently on the far bed. He thumbed Dean's spiky bangs back into place and was only half aware of Bobby and Sam inching closer.
Sam made to move to his brother's side again, but Bobby caught him gently by the shoulders and held him still. John needed a minute, and Bobby knew it was only complete concentration that was keeping the man from exploding. He didn't want Sam caught in the line of fire.
"John?" he prodded carefully.
The eldest Winchester didn't look up from his son, but his voice came out in carefully controlled measures, clearly on the brink of snapping.
"What the hell happened, Bobby? Why didn't it work?"
Bobby sighed and swallowed before answering. "I've never seen a demon that powerful before. He was immune to the spell. I'm sorry, John. I had no idea."
"Damn it, Bobby! I could have lost my son!"
Sam went from scared to pissed in less than three seconds. "Don't blame it all on Bobby! You should have stopped the stupid plan when I told you to instead of letting Dean get hurt!"
Bobby tightened his grip on Sam's shoulders and moved them both back a step, afraid John might lash out without intending to. That didn't stop Sam from speaking his mind.
"I told you Dean wasn't armed, I told you we should've woken Dean up! But no! You wanted some macho showdown with the damn thing and you almost got him killed!"
John stood abruptly and turned to face his youngest with fury written all over his face. "That could have been our only chance, Sam! That thing should've died tonight. Then it would have all been over…"
"What the hell are you talking about? What was that thing?"
John froze, having forgotten that Sam still had no idea that this demon was what had murdered Mary. The thought of having failed his wife yet again practically brought the man to his knees. He wanted to avenge her murder. He wanted his boys safe and never have to spend another night awake, fearing it would come after them when he least expected it. He had allowed his hopes to control the situation, and in doing so, almost got his eldest killed. He risked Dean's life on the mercy of a demon. What had he been thinking? He was just so damn tired of it all.
Bobby watched as the fight left the other man and John sank back onto the bed, burying his face in his hands. It was painful to watch the legendary hunter crumble right in front of him. But he couldn't blame the man. He had come so close to throwing off the weight he had been carrying for eleven years, only to fail in the last few moments. He was within arms reach of peace and safety, and in the end almost lost everything. He couldn't let Sam witness his father's destruction.
"Hey, Sammy? You mind goin' ta throw a pot of coffee on for us? Think we're gonna need it."
Sam's fight had left him when it left his father. At first, all he wanted was to make his dad pay for putting his brother in harms way yet again. But now, he'd do just about anything to take it back. The defeated look on his father's face was like a knife in his heart. He nodded at Bobby's request and left the room silently.
Once Sam was out of sight, Bobby sighed deeply and took a seat next to his broken friend. "Now's not the time for the blame game, John. As always, we've just gotta learn from our mistakes and make damn sure they don't happen again. We'll kill this thing. I swear if it's the last thing we do. But yer boys need to come first, you hear me? They matter more than revenge."
"You don't understand, Bobby," John mumbled out from between his hands. "This was all for them. I can't sleep anymore, thinkin' that damn thing will sneak in again like it did with Mary… If I had just gone to bed that night instead of staying up till the end of the game, he might never have hurt her."
"Don't start playin' the what-if game. You just gotta let the past be, John."
"I can't. She died cause of me, Bobby."
"Now that's the stupidest thing you've said all night…"
"I'm serious. I should have realized it before! Damn it!"
"John? What the hell are you on about?"
"Mary wasn't the first person that thing killed."
"I assumed as much. Thing's probably been around for centuries…"
"No. I mean, it killed her parents."
"Come again?"
"Mr. and Mrs. Cambell. Twenty-one years ago, in Lawrence, Kansas. The night I was going to propose to her. We were going to elope, actually. I promised I'd take her away."
"Hold on now. Start at the beginnin' so I can keep up with ya."
"Fine. On April 30th, 1973, I met this kid in Jay's Diner. He was beyond strange. Had no idea where he was or how he got there. Asked about reception for some sort of communication device that belonged to the USS Enterprise. Now that I think about it, it looked a helluva lot like a cell phone. But of course we didn't have those back then…"
"Where're you goin' with this, John?"
"The kid's name was Dean. Dean VanHalen."
"Yer joshin' me."
"Should've realized it when Dean wanted the Impala so bad…"
"Wait, your Dean? Yer losing me, John."
"It's complicated, but I'll try to explain. You see, back then, I'd never met this kid and had no idea who he was, but I had this strange feeling that I did know him somehow. He kept followin' me around, though he came up with excuses for why we kept 'randomly' bumping into each other. I was gonna buy Mary's VW that day, but the kid talked me into buying the six-year-old Impala next to it."
"Strange coincidence?"
John chuckled humorlessly. "You know better than that, Bobby. There aren't any coincidences in our line of work. Anyways, I bought the damn thing and took it home. Mary wasn't over the moon about it, but it grew on her. The kid said it was still gonna be bad-ass when it was forty, and he was damn right."
"What's this got to do with Mary and the boys?"
"Though Mary always said she named Dean after her mother, Deanna, I think this kid had something to do with it too. And Sammy was named for her dad, Samuel."
"John, I really don't have a clue what yer…"
"The demon called Dean 'Future Boy'. Bobby, I think I met Dean before he was even born." Bobby just gaped at John, at a loss for words, so John continued. "I think he was there as a warning."
"A warning for what?"
"I never told you this before, but I died that night. Somethin' Mary did brought me back to life, and then she died exactly ten years later. I should have figured it out!"
"John, you weren't a hunter then. You had no idea the supernatural even existed."
Tears were streaming unchecked down John's face, but he ignored them and continued. "I should have. She was going to tell me something important about herself that night, but I wasn't ready to listen. Then her dad showed up, and though I didn't know it then, I know now that he was possessed by the yellow-eyed son-of-a-bitch. He snapped my neck like a twig."
"Jesus…"
"Next thing I knew, I was waking up in Mary's arms. I think I saw Dean one more time, but he disappeared seconds later, so it might have just been in my head. But her dad was lying there, dead. We found out shortly afterwards that her mom was killed too."
"I'm sorry, John."
"Exactly ten years… She made a deal with the damn thing to save my ass. I was dead, Bobby. And I should've stayed dead. Look what came of it. Now Mary is gone, and it did something to Sammy as a baby. As far as I can tell, he's still a normal boy. Maybe whatever it was trying to do didn't work… And I almost lost Dean tonight."
"He's a tough kid. He'll be alright. Long as that thing didn't do any extra damage. God, with the way the boy was screamin'…"
"Shit! You're right. I forgot, his wound…"
John wiped the few stray tears from his face and turned his attention back to his son, fully in soldier mode once more. The chick flick moment was over. He needed to be there for his boys now.
He carefully unwrapped the quilt from Dean's slightly shivering form, then lifted his t-shirt up towards his ribs. Both men were shocked to find a scar where the deep gouge used to be. John reached out tentatively, running his fingers over the slightly raised flesh.
Without warning, Dean gasped, latched on to John's wrist, and tried to sit up all at the same time.
"It's alright! It's just me, Dean. You're safe. Easy does it…"
As soon as he heard his father's soothing voice, Dean released his grip on John's wrist and brought both hands to his temples as pain ricocheted through his battered skull.
"Ah! Damn it…"
John gripped him by the shoulders and held his boy at arm's length to get a good look at him.
"Dean? You alright?"
"Ugh… My head…" Dean doubled over, placing his forehead against John's shoulder. His father automatically wrapped his arms around him in comfort, trying to sooth away his pain and steady him.
"Easy, kiddo. You took quite a knock to the head. Bobby, can you make sure he's alright?"
With John still holding his boy tightly, Bobby was able to slide his fingers through Dean's hair, looking for any bumps or cuts from the impact. When he came upon a raised lump at the very back of Dean's skull, the boy hissed and gripped on to his father's shirt for support.
Bobby parted Dean's hair to get a better look at the damage and was relieved to find it was only a bump and there was no blood. "I'll get you some ice to help numb it. Be right back."
John began slowly rocking his boy, hoping the steady rhythm would help ease his ragged breathing and sure enough, Dean began to breathe at the same pace. "Atta boy. Nice and easy…. You're alright."
"Dad?" he groaned. "What happened? Did we get it?"
"It's gone for now, Dean. Just let me worry about it. How's your abdomen? Did it hurt you?"
"I'm so sorry, dad."
"What? Why?" John was completely taken aback.
"I screwed up. I let it use me against you, and it got away."
"Dean, none of this is your fault, okay? Hell, I shouldn't have used you as bait in the first place. Please answer my question, kiddo. Did he hurt you?"
"Just my head. Feels like he cracked my skull open. The knife wound doesn't really hurt anymore."
Dean shivered in his father's arms, so John pulled the blanket back up over his son's shoulders. Bobby came in with the ice, and the eldest Winchester eased it against Dean's head. The boy jerked away with a yelp at first contact, but then forced his muscles to relax as the ice began to numb the pain. He laid his head back down against his father's shoulder who wrapped his free hand around Dean and put his cheek against his son's head, resuming their gently rocking.
Sam paused in the doorway, carrying two steaming cups of coffee. He smiled, mainly because he was relieved to see his brother awake, but also because of the father-son bonding moment. They happened few and far between these days. To any outsider, the small Winchester family would appear to be deceivingly functional for a change.
TBC
Sorry for the long wait everyone! I've been completely bogged down with final projects and papers, but the semester is finally over and I can get back to writing! This story is finally coming to a close, so if you have any last minute ideas you'd like to see before the end, just let me know! There will be some more bonding and brotherly banter to come, as well as the return of Ethan, Emma, and the Prescotts towards the end. Thanks for sticking with me after all this time! Hope this extra long chapter makes up for it!! And happy holidays everyone!!!!! I hope this small bonding moment brings you all cheer.