Sorry for the delay, FF wouldn't let me upload the chapter....dang computers and website! Bah! :)
Putting A Fire Under Them
Dean was a man with a mission.
It was the tension.
Dean was sick of all the tension.
Agnes dancing round Sam and John, Sam dancing round John, John dancing round everyone. There were too many hats in the air and Dean was sick of juggling them. It was giving him a headache, all the polite chitchat and the meaningless conversations were eating into his will to live. Something had to give and he swore it wouldn't be him.
He chased his brother every morning about the applications, going over them with him, letting himself be used as a sounding board, typing when Sam's shoulders hurt too much too. He took to running interference with John too, so that Sam had time to sit on his own and work.
He bullied Agnes into daily afternoon sessions with Sam, not letting her make excuses anymore, hunting her down if she was late for one. He didn't know why she was still hesitant about touching Sam, didn't want to know. He had been to the session, held Sam's arm and felt nothing that he could use as a reason that she still seemed reluctant to heal his brother. Sam was happy that she'd started though, and that, for now, was all that mattered.
He had got his father out of Jim's house, called Bobby, got a few easy, couple of hours at the most gigs that John either dealt with alone or Dean tagged along on. He let his father do the research, just falling into step with him, doing what he wanted. Appeasing him for now.
John knew what Sam was doing but for now it wasn't mentioned and Dean was grateful of that. He had a list of priorities and he was working his way through them one by one.
Refereeing the college death match was last on the list.
Julie-Anne cornered him as he was leaving the clinic. "Where have you been for the last few days? Every time I speak to anyone I've just missed you, it's like being on a treasure hunt and never finding the prize!"
"Sorry." He pulled her in for a quick kiss. "I've been kinda busy. I've kinda of got a lot of things that I need to get done at the moment."
"Well I want added to the to do list. Now." She smirked at him and he couldn't help but smile back.
Looking at his watch he sighed. "Julie-Anne, I'm supposed to meet my Dad in twenty minutes, we've got wind of a vamp couple out in the next state that are organising their own version of a blood drive."
She kissed him. "I spoke to Jim, he's already on his way out there with your Dad. Sam is tucked up in bed reading and mom is staying at the clinic tonight, new patient or something. So, you…..are coming home with me. I'm gonna cook you a meal, we'll open a bottle of wine, take a bath and then I'm taking you to my bed and I'm going to keep you there for the whole night. Handcuffs and straps if I have too!"
Dean snorted. "You sent Jim and my Dad on a hunt together? I'm suppose to be appeasing the beast, not rattling it's cage."
She gave him a mischievous look. "It's alright, I gave Jim tranquiliser darts, just in case."
"You what!?"
"Relax, I'm kidding. They're both grown men, they'll cope and Jim promised just to let John lead."
Dean snorted again and held out his hands. "Ok, take me away from all this." She grabbed his hand and dragged him off towards the car before he could change his mind. "My wish is your pleasure."
"I think you got that backwards."
She smiled. "No, just wait 'til I get you home."
---
Agnes got back at two in the morning, having decided that the journey home was more preferable to spending the night in the cot in her room at the clinic. Throwing her bag down inside the door she headed to the kitchen, intending on making a cup of coffee to take up to bed with her.
She flicked the kettle on and reached up, opening the cupboard for the coffee jar. The missing bottles from the shelf below caused her eyebrows to waggle with a little life of their own. Waiting for the kettle to finally boil she made her coffee and went upstairs.
Pausing outside Julie-Anne's room she listened for any sounds and then quietly put her hand to the doorknob and pushed it open. She smiled at the sight before her. Dean was on his back and Julie-Anne was curled up next to him, arm across him, her head resting on his shoulder, red hair spilling everywhere. She laughed at the little collection of bottles that were sitting on the bedside tables. "I thought he would be sweet enough without adding maple syrup to him."
She walked in and touched her daughter's head, brushing her hair back and leaning over, gently kissing her head.
"I thought you weren't coming back tonight?"
She jumped at the sound of his voice. "Jesus Dean, I thought you were sleeping!"
"I'm a hunter and you making enough noise to waken the dead….well except her." He too brushed his hands through Julie-Anne's hair. "But then I think she kind of tired herself out."
"I'll bet. I want my sauce bottles back in my kitchen in the morning!" She walked to the door and turned. "Then again, on second thoughts….just bin 'em I buy new ones! Night Dean."
He chortled at that. "Night Agnes."
---
Julie-Anne was alone when she woke the next morning, the space in the bed beside her cold. Sighing she rolled over and looked at the clock. "Shit!" She jumped up and ran for the bathroom, barely stopping to shower before she was dressed and out the door.
Her mother was in the reception as she tore in through the clinic door. "What time do you call this?"
"Sorry. I slept in. Dean must have turned off the alarm clock." Julie slipped her jacket off and headed for the treatment rooms, her mother falling into step beside her.
"So you two looked cosy last night when I got home."
Julie-Anne threw her a look. "You were in my room?"
"I stuck my head round to see if you were home."
"Dean's car in the drive wouldn't have told you that?" She stopped. "I'll replace the sauces."
Agnes laughed. "You'd better. So where is your sweet boy this morning then?"
Julie-Anne groaned "Mother! Probably with Sam. Is there something that I can help you with or are you just hanging round me like a bad smell 'cos you've got nothing better to do?"
"I'm going to have a crack at Sam's collar bone, if you'll excuse that awful pun, thought you'd like to help."
"Yeah. When?" Julie-Anne pushed through the door into the treatment room.
Agnes stopped outside the room. "Twenty minutes ago!" She turned and headed off. "Hurry up!"
"I'm on it!" Julie-Anne threw her bag and jacket into the locker, grabbed her blue work jacket and a few bottles and headed out after her mother.
---
Dean was sitting with Sam when Agnes and the Julie-Anne came in. "Thought you said ten o'clock?"
Agnes walked over behind him and smiled at Sam. "I did but I was waiting for my daughter to grace us with her presence, seems someone turned her alarm off."
Sam laughed as his brother flushed. "Oh crap. Sorry. I thought I'd reset it."
Julie-Anne just shrugged. "Well we're here now, shall we?"
Agnes moved up next to Sam and started to help him get ready while Dean and Julie-Anne mixed up a little something for Agnes to use on Sam's skin. Nobody really talked, all of them lost in their own thoughts for a moment or two until Agnes broke it. "Ok, Sam's ready here. Is that done?"
"Yeah." Dean brought over the bowl and handed it to Agnes.
Thanking him she turned to Sam and pasted her hands with the mixture. "This is going to be a little cold at first." She gently smeared Sam's skin, both her and Dean watching as he shivered slightly at the first few applications. "Right. Dean? You ready?" Dean moved his hand onto Sam's arm and nodded. Agnes lent into Sam. "This is going to hurt a little to start off with but it should ease off pretty quickly, if it doesn't I need you…", she looked up at Dean., "……or you, to tell me. No bravery in this, if the pain doesn't ease, something's not working right. So are we good to go?" Sam nodded and looked at his brother who smiled reassuringly at him. "Ok now Sam, just close your eyes."
Agnes' touch seemed to burn as she closed her hands down on his collar bone and squeezed. "Crap. That hurts."
"I know. It'll pass. Dean and I have got you." Dean lent forward at that and started talking to his brother, just stupid things to draw his mind away from the pain in his shoulder, the pain that Dean could feel running through him too. He exchanged a little look with Agnes when he didn't feel it letting up.
"Just a minute more." She closed her eyes this time and both brother's felt the little jump in the power running into them, Sam letting out a little 'ah' as his pain level spiked and then dropped off almost completely. He felt her hands on him for just a few minutes more and then Agnes pulled free. "You can open your eyes now, Dean and Julie-Anne will clean you up."
He opened his eyes and Agnes held out her hand to him. "Pull yourself up."
"…..but my shoulder."
"Trust me. Do it." Sam lifted his hand, grabbed hers and pulled himself into a sitting position.
"Did that hurt?" Agnes was prodding around his shoulder.
"No."
"Good. Tomorrow you can go home."
Dean looked at her. "That's it? All this time and it only took ten minutes?"
"Sam's other injuries had to heal first and he had to get over what I did to him to get the wolf out. The shoulder, his collar bone had to be last. It takes the most juice as well, and I wasn't really ready earlier." She wiped her hands on the jacket she was wearing.
"I can go home?" Sam's smile lit the room.
"Yeah, but before you get too happy….." Agnes' smile was evil. "Now that your shoulder is fixed we can get on with the college prep. The application is almost good to go but we need to do something else before I get Frank to hand it over. I booked you an LSAT test in three weeks time."
"THREE WEEKS!" Sam's mouth fell open.
"He'll be ready." Dean looked at his brother. "What? You'll be ready."
"I know he will, because you are going to supervise him and coach him." Agnes smiled and Julie-Anne covered a laugh.
"ME?" It was Dean's turn to look shocked.
"Yes. You. Anyone that can turn in such beautifully average scores in every test that he ever sat, must know something about what to learn and what not to."
Dean glowered at her. "How do you know what my scores in any of the tests that I sat where?"
"I was nosey, sorry." Agnes didn't look in the least sorry. "I just wondered if you were as bad as you made out you were, so as I was getting Sam's anyway….I couldn't stop myself, I pulled your school record as well. It's interesting reading."
"Really?" She could tell he was more than just a little annoyed with her. "Why?"
"You always strikes me as a 'too much is never enough' type of person. That's probably your father's doing."
Dean flicked his eyebrows at her. "And?"
"Well your school work is the exact opposite. You've done just enough not to get noticed for the wrong reasons but not enough to get noticed for the right ones. Why is that you think?"
"I don't like attention, good or bad. It means people are looking too closely at who and what you are. Most people in school didn't even know that I existed, and that's the way I liked it."
"Uh-huh. Well now you can put that skill to good use. The mock test that I'm setting you both is in one week."
"Both of us?" Dean snorted at that. "If you read that record you know that I didn't graduate and you actually think that you're gonna get me to sit an LSAT test, fake or otherwise?"
"I need something to judge Sam's against, Paul is going to help by sitting one too. Jim said that he can stay at his for a bit."
"So you want Paul, Sam and I to test each other and sit LSAT's together? That should be fun. One question. What do I do with my Dad when all this is going on?"
"I've got something to keep him occupied, don't worry."
"Why do I not like the sound of that?" Dean rolled his eyes heavenward and exchanged a look with his brother.