Chapter 53 Don't scratch the wall.
6am, they all seven stood in the den. Dean kissed Jade and pulled the ring from his pocket. "Well, here goes nothing." Dean sat as he disappeared. Jade let out a deep breath. Dean opened his eyes. "Damn, they'll just let any slack-jawed hair cut be Death these days." Tessa said with her arms crossed looking at Dean. Dean smiled. "Your all charm today, aren't you?"
Tessa: "Let's be clear so we get through this with a minimum of screw-ups. I don't like this. And right now, I am not crazy about you."
Dean gave her the cocky grin. "This is your bosses' idea, not mine."
Tessa: "True. But you have a long history of throwing a wrench into everything. So let's stick to the rules. Deal?"
Dean: "What are the rules?"
Tessa: "For the next 24 hours, you kill everyone whose number is up."
Dean raised one eyebrow. "And how do I know whose number is up?"
Tessa: "I have a list."
Dean: "Let me see the list."Tessa: "No, you kill them, I reap them. Are we clear?"
Dean shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."
Tessa: "You remove the ring, you lose. Slack off, you lose. Got it?"
Dean: "Yeah."
Tessa: "Don't fuck up. It isn't my job to be your babysitter. First one's up." she said as they saw a gunman in a convenience store. "Just so you know, they will have questions. Like why?"
Dean watched as the man held up the clerk. "What do I say?"
Tessa: "Think of something." They watch as the gunman points the gun at a kid behind the counter. Then the cashier drops a bag. "Who am I taking?" Dean asked. "Just let it play out." Tessa said. Dean watched as the clerk pulled a shot gun and shot the robber. Dean let out a deep breath. Tessa looked at Dean. "Hello, tick tock." Dean stared at the robber. "He's in agonizing pain, right?" Tessa looked at Dean. "Yes." Dean smirked. "Give me a minute." he slowly walked to the robber and touched him, the robbers soul appeared behind him. "Why?" the robber asked as he looked at his dead body. Dean smiled and shrugged. "Mostly because you are a dick. Enjoy the ride, pal. Trust me, the sauna gets hot." Tessa escorted the man away. Dean shrugged. "That wasn't so hard."
Dean and Tessa spent hours from place to place. Dean was actually getting the hand of it. It was getting to the end of the 24 hours. They appear in outside a hospital room. Dean peeks inside. "The dad or the kid?" Dean asked.
Tessa: "The kid."
Dean looked at her, forehead wrinkled. "Come on, she's like 13.
Tessa: "12"
Dean watched as the dad showed the girl pictures of her dead mother. "Does he have any other family?"Tessa: "No, not really."
Dean: "Well, this is awesome."
Tessa: "What, you thought it was gonna be all armed robbers, heart attacks, and dicks?"
Dean looked back at Tessa: "She's 12!"
Tessa: "With a serious heart condition."
Dean: "Whose next on the list?"
Tessa: "Dean, you have to take her."
Dean looked at her. "Says who?"
Tessa: "Death."
Dean pointed to his chest. "I'm Death."
Tessa: "Dean, it's destiny."
Dean smirked. "Oh give me a break. I've spent my whole life fighting that shit. There's no such thing, just like there was no apocalypse. Just a bunch of stuck up mooks that didn't want us human slaves asking questions. Well, I say the little girl lives."
Tessa: "You don't believe that. All the times you should have been dead. And now you have a child on the way. Do you think that just happened?"
Dean: "I know this much, I'm Death, she's 12, and she's not dying today."
Dean and Tessa watch as the doctor came in and told them they didn't have to operate on the girl. By some miracle, her heart was fine. Tessa turned to a nurse on the phone. "Looks like the surgery cancelled. I am coming home." Tessa looked back at Dean. "Let's go, we have more work to do." Tessa walked down the hall silent. "What, you gonna give me the silent treatment, now? Trust me, that doesn't bother me. Jade tries that all the time." "Damn it, I knew it!" Tessa yelled as the nurse that was on the phone was wheel in by the EMT. "Spine fracture, car accident. She had a heart attack in the ambulance." the EMT explained to the nurse. Dean looked down at the woman and recognized her. "Wait, that is.."
Tessa looked at Dean, "Little girl lives, nurse goes hone early, has a wreck she wouldn't have. And she need the heart surgeon, who has also gone home early."
Dean looked at Tessa. "You knew this would happen."
Tessa shrugged. "Just knew you knocked over a domino." The woman went into cardiac arrest.
Tessa looked at Dean. "Take her."
Dean looked at the woman. "She's not on the list!"Tessa: "Everything you do has consequences. Do you want to cause another chain reaction? Take her."
Dean ran his hand over his mouth. "She had nothing to do with this."
Tessa: "You put on the ring. Now do your damn job!"
Dean walked to the bed and touched the woman's arm.
Nurse: "Is this..am I?
Tessa put her hand on her shoulder. "Yes, you were suppose to live a long life. Have kids and grandkids. But he screwed up. We have to go." Tessa led the woman out of the room. Dean stood up against the wall as he grieving husband screamed and sobbed.
Dean stood in the little girls doorway, watching her talk and laugh with her dad. Before he found out Jade was pregnant, this would be a lot easier. But now when he looked at the dad, he saw his self. "You saw what happened to the nurse. Now, go kill the girl. She is disrupting the natural order. You know that. Chaos and sadness will follow her. We tried it your way." Dean looked out the window and saw the nurse's husband turn up a whiskey bottle and get in his car. "Give me a minute." Dean said before walking out of the room.
Dean sat in the passenger set of the husband car. Swerving, speeding, running red light, barely missing on coming cars. Dean held the dash. "Come on, man. Pull over. You are gonna get yourself killed. Pull the damn car over!" Dean yelled. But the man couldn't hear him. Dean could see a semi truck headed right for them. He pulled off the ring and yanked the steering wheel. Dean could see a building. "Hit the brakes!" Dean yelled as the car hit the building. Dean opened his eyes and looked over to see the husband slumped over the steer wheel. Moaning and alive. He opened the door and got out of the car. "Damn it, Tessa!" he yelled. He held out his arms. "Tessa! I lost! Sam's screwed! Least you can do is zap my ass back home! Hello!" Dean yelled. "Dean, Sorry about your brother." Tessa said from behind him. He glared at her. "Come on, let's go." "Go where? We are done." Tessa said as they appeared in the little girls room. Dean looked at the dad, then at the little girl. "Unfinished business." Tessa grabbed his arm. "You took the ring off. Anyway, thought you wanted the little girl to skate by?" Dean slipped the ring back on his finger. "Nobody really skates by do they?" Dean looked at the little girl. "I'm sorry." He turned his head as he touched her wrist. The alarms on the machines started going off. "I'm dead." the little girl said as she looked at her dead body. Dean kneeled beside her. "I'm sorry." The little girl looked at her dad. "What about him?" she asked. "He'll be fine." The little girl looked at Dean, "Why?" Dean looked up at her. "It's a natural order thing." "Natural order is stupid." the little girl said. "I agree with you." Dean said as he stood and Tessa took the little girl.
Dean took off the ring and he was back in the den at the house. Jade was sleeping on the couch. Bobby was sitting at the dining room table. Bobby looked up at Dean as he sat at the table. Dean shoo his head. Bobby patted him on the back. Dean stood. "I need a drink." Dean grabbed a beer and shut the fridge. "Here I brought you one." Death said as Dean turned right to him. Death handed him a hot dog. "Sit." Death said as he sat at the counter. Dean raised one eyebrow as he sat across from Death.
Death begin to eat. "Thought I would have a treat before I put my ring back on. Things heavier than it looks. But you know that. You not hungry?" he asked as he looked at the untouched hot dog.
Dean sat the ring on the counter. "I guess you know I flunked. I suck at being you. Really screwed up the natural order. But I am guessing you knew that too."
Death: "So, if you could go back, you would kill the little girl? No stomping your feet, throwing a fit?"
Dean opened his beer, Jade at up on the couch listening. "Knowing what I know now, Yeah."
Death: "I'm surprised to hear that. Surprised and glad." Bobby sat at the table listening.
Dean took a drink of his beer. "Well, don't get too excited. I would have saved the nurse. That's it."
Death: "I think it is a little more than that. Today, you got a hard look behind the curtain. Wrecking the natural order isn't much fun when you have to mop up the mess. This is hard for you. You throw away your life, because you know it will bounce right back in your lap. But the human soul isn't a rubber ball. It's vulnerable, impermanent. But it is stronger than you think. It is nearly unbreakable, but valuable. I think you learned something today. You have more to think about than just yourself."
Dean: "Want to know what I think. You knew I wouldn't last a day."
Death: "I have no idea what your thinking about?"
Dean: "I lost, fine. But at least I have the ball to admit it was rigged from the start." Sam and Lexie opened the bedroom door and froze when they saw Dean and Death at the counter.
Death: "You know a lot of people talk to me with more respect." Dean: "I didn't mean…"
Death: "We are done here. It is time to put Sam's soul back."
Dean looked at him shocked and confused. "You would do that for me?"
Death looked at Dean: "Not for you. You and your brother have screwed up the natural order for the whole globe. But you have use. You are digging for something. And with those detective girlfriends, you will find it. Keep digging."Dean: "So your just gonna be cryptic.."
Death stood and grabbed his cane. "It's about souls. You will understand when you need to."
Dean stood; "Wait, this wall, it is gonna work?"
Death: "75%. Now, Sam lay on the bed." Death said as he looked at Sam. Sam walked back into the bedroom and laid flat on the bed. Dean and Lexie stood on the other side of the bed. Bobby, Jade and Lisa stood at the door. Death looked down at Sam. "I am going to put up a barrier. It is going to be itchy. Do me a favor, don't scratch the wall. Trust me, you're not gonna like what happens." Death looked at Lexie. "I need you to stand here." he said pointed next to him. She stood next to him. He laid his hand on her stomach. Lexie moaned as her stomach lit up. They all looked stunned as Death held open his hand, a glowing light in his hand. Lexie took several deep breaths. Sam grabbed the headboard and closed his eyes. Death slowly pushed his hand through Sam's gut as he screamed. Dean held one shoulder down as Lexie held the other. Death pulled his hand out as Sam relaxed. Death looked up at Dean. "It is done. He will sleep for a while. Don't leave him." They all looked at Sam, then back to Death. But he was gone. "That was the weirdest shit I have ever seen." Lisa said mouth gaped open. Dean stood. Jade looked at him, "What now?" Dean walked past her. "We call Cas to check him out. And we wait." He walked past her and back to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle from the cabinet. Jade walked to the kitchen and leaned against the counter beside Dean as he turned up the bottle. "I am proud of you." she said. He smirked. "Don't be. I fucked up, I could take the little girl. Then someone else died, because of my stupid right and wrong complex. But in the end she had to die anyway. So, I killed someone that should be here, living her life. A good person." Jade wrapped her arms around his neck from behind and kissed his neck. "Dean, you are a good person. Don't ever doubt that." He smirked and turned up the bottle.
