Sister
"What the hell happened?" Dean appeared, walking down the hospital corridor with his hands out, "Huh?" He asked.
"Mom was in a car accident." Thea explained as Dean shook his head in disbelief, "She's… in a coma." She sighed, "She was… coming home from work and… I don't know exactly where it happened but… it was a crossroads and someone crashed into the side of her. The guy in the other car… died at the scene." She said as Dean screwed his face up in disbelief.
"Well what… what are her injuries? What-What is the doctor saying?" Dean panicked, looking over at Jude and Cassie who were sitting, distressed, tears overcoming them in waves as they sat outside their mother's hospital room.
"Well they've done scans and they're waiting for the results. There was a loss of blood flow to her brain so she… had a lot of swelling there. They might need to perform surgery again if any blood clots show up on the scans-"
"Fuck sake." Dean muttered, "Where is your dad?"
"He's in the room." Thea said, "He's not gonna move from there." She warned him as Dean nodded.
"Are you guys ok?" Dean asked, hugging Thea tightly as Thea hugged him back.
"I don't think so." Thea whispered. It was very surreal to have their mother in this critical condition. She was someone they all couldn't lose. Someone they all needed, even in their older years. It was unimaginable to think of the worst right now.
"She's… she's in the right place." Dean nodded, hugging her tightly, looking over to Jude and Cassie, "Come here, you two." He said, watching as they came over, getting a big hug from their uncle, "It's gonna be ok." He promised them, hugging Jude and Cassie tightly as Thea stepped back.
"Dad isn't talking to any of the doctors." Cassie told Dean, "He's not listening to any of the information." She said as Dean nodded, placing his hands on their shoulders.
"I'll go see him." Dean nodded to them, walking by them and into the hospital room where Punk was still sitting by AJ's bedside.
Dean paused at the door for a second, looking on at AJ and feeling a pain in his chest, it physically hurting to see someone he cared about in such a vulnerable condition.
"Phil." Dean said as Punk turned around, "Hey, man." Dean sighed, walking over to his brother as Punk stood up, wrapping his arms around his brother tightly as Dean hugged him back tightly, "What the fuck is going on?" Dean shook his head in disbelief, looking on at AJ over Punk's shoulder, noticing the oxygen tube attached to her mouth helping her breathe.
"She uh… she's in a coma." Punk pulled back from the hug, rubbing his eyes as Dean stepped back a little.
"Thea said." Dean nodded, "Have they… Have they told you anything about the actual injuries?" Dean asked, walking around the bed to the other side, leaning over and kissing AJ's head softly.
"No, I… I haven't really spoken to many doctors." Punk shook his head as Dean looked over at him. He could see his brother was still in shock and disbelief, "She'll wake up." He nodded to himself, sitting down on the chair as Dean looked over at him.
"Phil, you gotta talk to the doctors, man." Dean said, "You gotta know what's going on-"
"She'll wake up soon." Punk nodded to himself.
"She's in a coma." Dean made clear as Punk looked at him, "She was in a car wreck. The other driver is dead. You need to know what's going on with her head, Phil." Dean emphasised.
"You look me in the eye and tell me she doesn't know how to fight." Punk said as Dean looked over at him, putting his hands on his hips.
"She's taken impact to the head, Phil." Dean said, "And the girls are out there dealing with the doctors. You gotta talk to them." He said.
"I… I don't-"
"Because you don't wanna hear what they have to say?" Dean assumed.
"No, because I know my wife better than any doctor." Punk said, "And I know she'll be fine. She's always fighting. She's the best fighter I know." He said, taking AJ's hand as Dean looked over.
"This isn't about fighting." Dean said, "Phil, she's not in a good way. Look at her. You see the oxygen tube, right?" He asked him.
"Yes I see it." Punk looked up at Dean.
"You need to talk to the doctors." Dean said, "And you need to go talk to your daughters. This is their mom." He reminded him. He knew his brother, probably better than anyone, and he knew that when things got hard sometimes he liked to shut off from everyone, even his children. But right now the girls needed him.
"The doctor said she's… she's stable. She's stable for now." Punk said, holding AJ's hand.
"You need to know what's going on. You can't just sit here and blank it out." Dean said, sitting down by the bed and looking at AJ. She was absolutely his sister. No question about it. And this was as painful as ever.
"What are you doing?" Dean shook his head, walking into AJ's kitchen where he saw her baking some sort of cake, "Poisoning your children?" He teased, watching as she slammed the oven door shut, throwing the oven towel over angrily, "Stress baking?" He wondered.
"Jude has a bake sale at school so I am baking." AJ said dramatically, "Because apparently all the mom's from the PTA group said no store bought cakes this year so I have to actually bake something with my own two hands." She said as Dean nodded slowly.
"And this is a problem because?" Dean waited.
"It's a problem because I haven't slept in probably thirty hours. Cassie doesn't sleep. She just… doesn't sleep." AJ shrugged.
"Where is she right now?" Dean asked.
"Well… she's sleeping." AJ said as Dean looked across at her with confusion, "She doesn't sleep when she's supposed to." AJ rephrased, "It's Thea's birthday on Sunday and I haven't even gotten her a gift yet." She said, throwing dishes into the sink aggressively as Dean watched with concern.
"Well I can pick something up for you if you want." Dean said, "You really haven't slept in over thirty hours?"
"Something like that." AJ shook her head. That was just normal for her. Juggling between a baby who wouldn't sleep, an infant who had a lot of school demands and a teenager who was slowly but surely slipping away from her… things weren't particularly looking up for her at the minute. And her husband being in prison wasn't helping.
"April, you gotta sleep." Dean shook his head.
"No, what I have to do is bake Jude a cake for her to take to school tomorrow." AJ nodded almost robotically, "And I have to make Cassie a bottle up because she's gonna wake up soon." She predicted.
"You know this isn't healthy, right?" Dean said.
"What isn't healthy?" AJ turned to him.
"This. Not sleeping, running around after the girls like a headless chicken-"
"In case you haven't noticed, Dean… I don't really have a choice." AJ said. She had underestimated just how much her husband helped out with raising their children. How much they worked together as a team at things. With him gone, she felt like half of herself was missing.
"You still have me around." Dean reminded her as she looked across at him, "I'm still here." He emphasised as she looked at him.
"You… don't have time to help me." AJ shook her head.
"I do have time." Dean said, "You're not on your own with this stuff." He wanted her to know.
"I have never felt more alone in my entire life." AJ admitted to him, "Seriously, I… I can't take it anymore. I am… constantly exhausted. And I miss Phil… I hate being here on my own." She cried as Dean sighed to himself, "I hate it." She cried.
"I know." Dean sighed, walking over to her, wrapping his arms around her.
"No, I don't want a hug." AJ cried, trying to push him away.
"Just shut up." Dean sighed, hugging her tighter as AJ hugged into him.
"I don't think I can do this on my own." AJ cried.
"You're not alone." Dean reminded her, kissing her head, "You're gonna go upstairs and get into bed. I will finish baking this cake and then I'll crash on the couch. If Cassie cries, I'll get her. And then I'll take the girls to school in the morning." He said.
"Dean, you have your own kids to look after-"
"Yeah and these are my nieces." Dean said, "I can spread myself between everyone if I have to." He assured her as AJ sighed to herself.
"Thank you." AJ whispered as he hugged her tightly, "I can't stop thinking about him in there." She shook her head.
"I know." Dean sighed, "I know." Dean nodded, "You need to sleep." He said, pulling back from the hug, "Just go put your head down, I'll be here." He promised her as she nodded.
"Ok." She said, "Ok." She nodded, slowly walking by him tiredly and heading upstairs as Dean sighed to himself.
He walked over to the oven and opened up the door, pausing when he noticed AJ hadn't even put the cake mix into a tray, instead she'd just put the bowl into the oven, no doubt due to how exhausted and out of her mind she was.
He took the bowl out and poured the mix into a tray, sliding it back into the oven and tidying the kitchen up, on stand-by for Cassie crying if need be.
"Are the girls still out there?" Punk asked Dean.
"Yeah." Dean nodded, "They aren't really saying much." He said as Punk nodded to himself.
"What do I say to them?" Punk's voice broke, looking over at Dean who sighed to himself.
"You just tell them it's gonna be ok." Dean said, "And that you're there for each other." He said, "And that their mom is the strongest badass there is." He nodded as Punk sighed to himself, holding AJ's hand tightly.
"She's the one who is good with the words." Punk gulped.
"Then think about what she would want you to say to them." Dean nodded as Punk looked across at him, nodding slowly.
"I should… I should go talk to the doctors too." He thought to himself. The more he sat watching his wife in such a still state, the more he wanted to believe in the fantasy of her waking up any minute, but he knew that was unhealthy and no doubt unrealistic.
"I'll stay here." Dean nodded to him.
"Ok." Punk said, standing up from the chair and heading out of the room whilst Dean sat with AJ, kissing her hand.
Punk walked out of the hospital room, looking over at the girls sitting over at the waiting area. It was another one of those moments where nothing he could say could make anything better, so he imagined what his wife would want him to say.
"Hey, you three." Punk gulped, walking over to them as Thea stood up, "You guys ok?" He asked them as none of them answered, "Yeah, me neither." He nodded, "Look, it's… it's gonna be ok." He nodded, "We'll get through this. Your mom will… get through this." He nodded, "She's the toughest woman I know." He said as they all looked at him.
"What if she doesn't wake up?" Cassie cried as Thea wrapped an arm around her.
"She will." Punk said, "It's mom. She loves… having people wait around on her." He nodded, "She's just tormenting us." He attempted to joke, trying to do anything to calm them all down, "We're gonna get through this. She will get through this." Punk nodded, wrapping his arm around Jude who he could see was crying, "Come here." He sighed, wrapping his arms around the three of them.
For the first time, he got a slight taster of what his wife went through whilst he was absent, and it made him realise just how strong a person she really was.
