AN: The final chapter is here. Thanks so much for reading and I"ll have the first chap up of the new fic in a few days. I hope you enjoy.
Dean watched Dorian as she slept. He watched the slow rise and fall of her chest just to make sure she was still breathing. His heart had almost stopped when he had broken through the motel door and saw her lying amongst the pieces of the broken table. Even now the bruises that covered her made him cringe internally.
Part of him wanted to blame Sam because his brother had had the feeling all night and didn't bother to tell Dean. Then he realized how lucky he was that Sam had the abilities he had or they never would have known Dorian was in trouble. It wasn't Sam's fault and he was grateful that Dorian had drilled that into Sam's head. Sam had enough misplaced guilt as it was.
Dean reached over and brushed a strand of hair out of Dorian's face. She murmured something in her sleep and turned her head to the side, snuggling into her pillow. He smiled and got out of bed. He made sure Dorian was covered and walked over to Sam's bed.
"Sam," He whispered, gently shaking his brother. Sam mumbled and rolled over. Dean slapped his shoulder. "Sam!"
Sam groggily opened his eyes and looked up at his brother standing over him. "What?" He asked a bit more snippy than he meant to. He was tired and grouchy and all he wanted to do was sleep.
"Get up man," Dean said, tossing Sam his shirt. "We need to talk." He walked out of the room, not waiting for Sam. He knew his brother would be there.
"What is it?" Sam asked, coming out behind him. He pulled his shirt down and leaned against the door, wondering what in the hell was so important that Dean couldn't wait till Sam woke up.
"Last night, when you were talking about Missouri helping Dorian," Dean said quickly. "Did you mean what you said? That you think Missouri can help Dorian with her powers and keep her safe?"
Sam nodded. "Why?"
Dean ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Dorian wouldn't have been hurt like that if she knew how to control her witchy powers right?"
"She probably still would have been hurt," Sam said, gently. "I mean once she broke free of the incubus's paralysis it was a physical fight."
"Yeah, but whatever powers she has could have helped her," Dean exclaimed. "Like with Tom?"
Sam shrugged. "I honestly don't know. Maybe yes, maybe no." It was the truth. He didn't know anymore about witches than Dean did and specific powers were not something they dove into unless it was absolutely necessary. He pushed himself up from the door. "Dean, why are you asking all this?"
"Because maybe you're right," Dean sighed. He hated to think that Sammy was right and that they'd be without Dorian, but he could live with it for a few months as opposed to losing Dorian permanently because something was after her, something she could have fought if she just knew how to use her powers. "Maybe we should take Dorian to Missouri."
Sam nodded. "I'll call up Missouri and ask her if it's cool." He was happy his brother decided to do this. Dorian would be in less danger and more a vital asset to the team once she knew how to control her powers. Sam wouldn't have suggested the idea if he hadn't thought it would help them all in the long run.
Dean nodded. "You do that." His chest tightened at the thought of being without Dorian and he didn't understand why. He didn't want to leave her, but if it meant Dorian being safe, well then he'd do it.
"So we're going to see this friend of yours because why?" Dorian asked from the backseat of the car. After they had all slept for about twelve hours Dean and Sam told Dorian they were going to take a trip to Kansas to visit an old friend. They were just a couple hundred miles away from Lawrence now. With the scars and the pain from their childhood, Dorian couldn't understand why they'd want to go back there. She damn sure knew she'd never return to Ruddington.
"Well for one she wants to meet you," Sam said throwing a quick, uneasy glance in Dean's direction. They had opted not to tell Dorian the truth until they got there. They weren't sure how she was going to take it all and they figured it'd be better to wait. This way she couldn't jump out of the car while Dean was doing ninety miles per hour.
"And two we promised to visit," Dean said. He had never actually planned on visiting. He had planned on staying as far away from Lawrence as possible, but just like last time, he didn't have a choice. He had to go back there and it made his stomach turn.
"So you guys just decided to visit her out of the blue now?" Dorian asked with a raised eyebrow. She knew something was up. They didn't just make plans out of no where. They always went somewhere for a reason.
Dean shrugged and smiled a nervous smile. "Yeah, I mean why not?" He glanced at her in the rear view mirror. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she was staring directly into his eyes through the mirror. "What?"
"I know what you two are doing." She paused to cough, cringing as spasms rippled through the muscles around her ribs and her still bruised throat. Her cold was subsiding, but even the smallest cough put her in a hell of a lot of pain. "And I think it's a little extreme."
"You do?" Sam asked nervously. He looked over his shoulder at her. She was holding her ribs protectively, breathing slightly heavy from the coughing fit she just had. He had thought she would be angry, but she was just staring at him with a smirk on her face.
"I get you guys want me to rest, but I can rest just as easily in a motel room as I can at Missouri's place," She stated in a matter of fact tone. "You guys worry way to much."
Dean let out the breath he hadn't even known he was holding. "Well you deserved to be pampered for a while and since Sam and I can't cook..."
"I don't need to be pampered," Dorian cut him off. "I'll be up to par in a couple of days and then all will be well in the world of Dorian." They both laughed. She couldn't help but think this was all just a little ridiculous. "Look you've both been pretty beaten up a couple of times since I've been with you. You shrug it off and move on, right?" She waited for their response and didn't get one. "I just don't get what the difference is when it's me. I'll be fine!"
Sam sighed. She was making this hard, not that he expected to be easy, but what she was saying rang true. After all Dean and Sam had both had their share of battle wounds. The only difference was they weren't as much of a target as Dorian. Well maybe Sam was though he wasn't willing to admit it, but Dorian was definitely a supernatural evil guy magnet. "We know you'll be fine." They pulled up to Missouri's house. "We just want you to get some real rest."
Dorian rolled her eyes and eased out of the backseat. Dean came over and put an arm around her. A normal thing since she had been hurt. "I can walk Dean." She could, honestly. It just hurt like hell.
Dean rolled his head. "You can't walk when your physically healthy. You trip after three steps and I'd just prefer that you don't eat dirt while your ribs are bruised." Sarcasm dripped from his words, but it was true. Dorian was a walking disaster and if Dean or Sam didn't help her all she would wind up doing was setting back her healing process if she was lucky. Worse case scenario she would hurt something new.
Missouri came out to greet them. "Dean, Sam!" She said happily. She hadn't seen them in almost a year. "How are you?"
"We're good," Sam said walking up and giving her a hug. He was lying through his teeth and he had no doubt Missouri would know. They didn't want to leave Dorian behind, but she had to learn what it meant to be a witch and they couldn't wait around for her. They still needed to find their father.
Missouri's feature's grew angry for a moment, but she quickly replaced the frown with a smile and looked at Dorian. "And you must be Dorian." She took in the girls disheveled appearance. She was pale, bruised, and had a bandage across the left side of her forehead.
"Nice to meet you," Dorian said smiling. "I've heard a lot about you."
"Not from Dean, I'm sure," Missouri said giving Dean a sidelong glance. Dean looked at Sam and then back to Missouri with a semi irritated look. "Come on, baby," She said to Dorian. "Let's get you inside so you can rest."
Dorian went to step forward with Dean, but wound up tripping over her own foot. Dean's grip around her waist was the only thing that kept her from eating Missouri's front step, but a pain still shot through her side causing her to hiss in pain.
"Yeah, you can walk all right," Dean said sardonically. "You okay?"
She nodded and they went inside. Dean eased her onto the couch and Dorian pitched into a coughing fit. She looked up at Dean. "Can you grab my Robitussin out of the car?" Dean nodded.
"Robitussin," Missouri exclaimed. "You'll never get better with that. You just sit right there. I'll get you something that'll ease that cough." She looked at Sam. "Could you help me. It's on one of my higher shelves."
Sam nodded. "Sure." He followed Missouri into the kitchen. She opened up a drawer and pulled out a bottle full of a putrid colored liquid. "I thought you said you needed help reaching it."
Missouri grabbed a spoon and slammed the drawer shut and then turned on Sam. "I wanted to talk to you alone. That girl has no idea why she's really here and I want to know why." She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Sam.
"Because, we weren't sure how she'd take it," Sam said stuffing his hands in his pockets. He averted her penetrating gaze, though he knew it wouldn't do any good. She could read his mind just as easy as she could see the guilt in his eyes.
"Boy, she will take it just has hard here as she would have ten thousand miles away." She huffed. "Maybe even worse when she finds out you brought her here under false pretenses. What were you boys thinking?" She pushed past him, angry that he and Dean had deceived Dorian.
Sam sighed and then followed Missouri back into the living room. He knew she was right. They should have told her, but neither he nor Dean had had the heart to tell her they were leaving her, even if it was only for a while.
"Here we go," Missouri said sitting across from Dorian. She opened the bottle and poured a teaspoon full. She handed it to Dorian.
Dorian smelled it and pulled her nose away. "What is it?"
"Just trust me," Missouri said. "It'll take away your cough."
Dorian looked over at Dean and he nodded. "Oh, I'm so not going to like this." She quickly downed the medicine, almost gagging from the rancid taste it left in her mouth. "That's awful."
Missouri smiled. "Not everything that's good for you tastes as good."
Dorian nodded, still trying to swallow the taste out of her mouth. She leaned back and relaxed against the cushions. "Thanks for letting us stay here for a couple of days. It shouldn't be too long till I'm back on my feet."
"Don't you worry about that," Missouri said, eying Dean. She knew Dean didn't want her to say anything. They planned on staying a few days and then telling Dorian. She didn't like it, but she figured if she could keep John's secret, well then she could keep the boys secret as well. "You just relax."
Over the next several days Missouri kept giving Dorian her herbal concoction. Once a day was all it took to keep Dorian from coughing and she was more than grateful. It was helping the muscles around her ribs to stop spasming so much.
Dorian had come to like Missouri a lot. Whenever they played cards Dorian and Missouri would gang up on Dean and Sam by letting Missouri read Dorian's mind. It took them about three days to figure that one out, and when they finally did Dorian fell out of her chair from laughing so hard. She almost cried as well seeing as how it hurt like hell.
Missouri had also been helping Dorian hone her skills, which Dorian was grateful for. They hadn't done that much because Dorian was still sore and her concentration wasn't all that great, but they worked as much as her body would allow each day.
It had been a week since they'd been there and they had just finished dinner. Dean and Sam had decided it was time for them to get back on the road and they needed to tell Dorian what was going on. Missouri had made some excuse about going to the store, leaving the three alone.
"So what do you guys want to do tonight?" Dorian asked, sitting on the couch. She was sick of playing cards and there wasn't much on TV. Dean sat next to her and Sam in the chair across the coffee table.
"Actually we need to talk to you," Sam said. He clasped his hands together, not really wanting to have this conversation, but knowing that they had to. The closer it came time to tell Dorian goodbye, the more Sam's heart sank.
Dorian rested her head against the back of the couch. She observed the grim looks on both of their faces and her pulse sped up a bit. "Uh oh, this can't be good. What's up?"
Dean sighed and leaned forward onto his knees. He couldn't look her in the eye, not right now. "You've had fun here with Missouri right? I mean besides the smart ass comments, she's pretty cool."
Dorian smiled. "Hey, I like her smart ass comments." Of course that was because they were mostly directed towards Dean and she loved watching him squirm. Not a nice thing to say, but funny none the less.
Dean normally would have responded with some sarcastic remark, but tonight his heart just wasn't in it. "Dorian, we're leaving tomorrow."
She shrugged. "Okay, no problem." She didn't understand what the big problem was here. They were acting awfully funny about telling her it was time to move on.
"You don't understand," Sam said. "We're leaving tomorrow, but we think that you should stay."
Dean felt Dorian tense up beside him. He looked over and saw the tight line in her jaw and rigidness of her posture. "It won't be permanent. Just until Missouri can help you hone your powers." He didn't want her to think they were abandoning her. "We're coming back for you." She didn't look at him or Sam. She was staring straight ahead, face neutral. "Dorian?"
"You're leaving me," She said, keeping her gaze straight ahead. She couldn't afford to look at either of them right now. If she did she would break down and she refused to do that. She felt like someone had just torn a hole in her soul.
"No," Sam said quickly. "Well not permanently. It's just that the whole incubus thing was a close call that could have been avoided."
Dorian nodded her head stiffly. "I get it. This is because I got hurt." She finally gathered enough courage and glared over at Sam. "How many times have you been hurt Sam? How many times have I bandaged you up after you were beaten and bloody?" Sam looked down and she turned her fiery gaze to Dean. "And what about you? You haven't exactly come through this unscathed, so why is it the first time I get seriously hurt you decide to pawn me off to someone?"
"It's not like that," Dean said. "She can help you with things that we can't. She knows how to help you with your witchcraft." His voice was calm, but inside his heart felt like it was being torn out of his chest.
Dorian shook her head. "That's such bullshit. This is about me getting hurt and you know it." She looked back and forth between the two as a thought occurred to her. "How long have you been planning this? A day? A week?" She watched the look of guilt pass between them and nodded in understanding. "You've been planning this all along. Ever since the night the incubus attacked."
"Dorian, we just want what's best for you," Sam told her in a pleading voice. He desperately wanted to make her understand. "We thought..."
"I know what you thought," Dorian snapped. "You thought I couldn't take care of myself." She shook her head and stood up, wincing slightly. "Both of you can go to hell." She stormed past Dean, tripping over his foot. Dean grabbed her around the waist to stop her from hitting the floor. "Let go of me," She seethed, pulling out of his grip and heading towards the front door.
"Dorian!" Dean called after her.
She held up a hand. "Just, don't say anything else Dean. You've made it perfectly clear what you guys think of me." She slammed the door behind her.
Dean exchanged a look with Sam. They figured it would go this bad, minus the storming out part. Well okay they had figured that into it or else they would have told her in the car. He knew he couldn't just let her go. Dean growled, rolled his head, and then went after her.
Dorian stormed furiously down the street. She hugged herself tightly from the cold. She hadn't thought to grab her jacket. Her head was too hot and her heart was too hurt to think straight. All she knew is they were leaving her. They didn't want her with them anymore. She wasn't worth it to them.
"Dorian," Dean said running up to her. She wouldn't look at him. She just kept walking. "Dorian, stop." He gently grabbed her arm and she stopped in her tracks, but didn't turn to him. Sighing, he walked around in front of her. He saw the unshed tears in her eyes and guilt washed over him in waves. "Don't do this."
Dorian pulled her arm out of his grip. She couldn't stand the touch of him right now. Not because it repulsed her, but because it comforted her. She needed his touch and he was about to take it away. She cleared her throat and crossed her arms over her chest. She felt the first tear trickle down her face. Dean reached up a hand to wipe it away, but she quickly turned her head away and did it herself.
Dean sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. "We're not abandoning you." He knew she felt hurt and betrayed, but he wanted...he needed for her to be safe. "I know you think we are, but we're not."
"Look, it's okay," Dorian finally said, rocking on the balls of her feet. She wiped another tear away. "I get it."
Dean raised an eyebrow. "Really, cause I don't think you do."
Dorian rolled her eyes. "It's the story of my life Dean. I'm not worth it. I thought maybe with you and Sam..." She sighed. "I thought things were different, but my dad was right."
Dean stood there shell shocked for a moment. He could swear that any bystander looking at them would see his jaw on the ground. "You're dad told you that you were worthless?" He shook his head and waved his hand. "Don't answer that, I have no doubt that the bastard did, but what I don't believe is that you believe it." She wouldn't meet his eyes. "Dorian you're not worthless. We're not doing this just to pawn you off! We're doing it so you can be prepared if something like what happened with the incubus ever happens again. We care about you, that's why we're doing this."
The tears were falling steadily now and Dorian finally looked up into Dean's eyes. "You promised you'd never leave me. You said you'd always be there for me!" Her voice broke. "Dammit Dean, I need you!"
His jaw set in a tight line. "And you don't think I need you?" She looked down and that was answer enough for him. He pulled Dorian into his arms and she started sobbing into his chest. "I need you too, Dorian. That's why I'm doing this." He rested his head on top of hers and let her cry. "I can't watch you get hurt like that again, but Missouri can help. She can help you protect yourself better."
"You and Sam are all I have," She sobbed.
"And we're coming back for you," He said, his heart breaking from the pain in her voice. "I swear to you, we'll come back for you, but you need to do this." He pulled back and looked her in the eye. "You need to gain control of your powers so you can fight off whatever evil comes after you." He sighed. "I don't want to leave you here anymore than you want to stay, but you...we need to do this."
Dorian shook her head and sighed. She wiped the tears from her eyes and pulled out of his reach. "I wish you had more faith in me, Dean." She said through chattering teeth. "I wish you'd trust me enough to know that I can handle myself. If I couldn't that thing would have..." She broke off, not being able to come to terms with the fact that she had almost been raped. "You and Sam wouldn't have made it in time. I broke out of the paralysis, and I bought enough time for you guys to get there."
"And what if we hadn't shown up, huh?" Dean asked angrily. He hadn't meant to get angry, but she was being stubborn, and being angry was better than being hurt. "What if Sam didn't have his...whatever? We never would have known anything was wrong until it was too late! You could have been raped, Dorian!"
She flinched at the word 'raped' and hugged herself. Dean realized for the first time that she was shivering. He took of his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. He hadn't meant to sound so fierce, but he needed her to see the reality of the situation. He needed Dorian to realize what could have happened.
"But I wasn't," She said quietly. "I fended it off and you guys got there in time." She was trying desperately to block out the memories of the incubus's fingers on her body. Of it's lips on hers. She closed her eyes and shook her head, throwing the pictures out of her mind.
Dean saw the change in Dorian, saw the fear flash through her eyes. He pushed the issue until he had scared her. That had been his intention, but it still hurt him. "Please Dorian. You need to do this."
Sam hugged Dorian as tight as her bruises would allow. "I'm going to miss you."
"I'm going to miss you too," She said hugging him back. She pulled back and smiled at him. "Try not to get into too much trouble okay?"
Sam smiled back at her. "I'll try." He kissed her on the cheek and walked over to Missouri.
Dorian turned towards Dean. He was sitting on the hood of his car, hands in his pockets. She walked over to him, trying to keep a smile on her face, but she felt the tears welling up in her eyes. "You promise to call?" She realized how childish she sounded, but she didn't care.
She had agreed to do this stay with Missouri. Dean had pleaded with her until she'd given in. That didn't make it any easier or hurt any less. There was a hole inside Dorian and they hadn't even left yet.
Dean nodded. "Of course." She sat next to him and he put an arm around her. She leaned into his embrace and sighed. "You're going to call me if you need anything right?" She nodded. "Look, I'm not big on mushy moments..."
"Deal with it," She said elbowing him playfully.
He chuckled. "Only for you. As soon as you call me and tell me you're ready, I'll come and get you."
She looked up into his eyes and saw the sincerity. "I know you will." Dean smiled and leaned into hug her. She embraced him tightly, not wanting to let go, but she knew she was going to have to. They were leaving and she was staying. She told Dean she would do what Missouri told her. She felt like a child being told what to do. She hated it, but for Dean she would do it.
After they left she held onto that hug. She kept it in her heart, knowing that what Dean said was true. Dean needed Dorian as much as she needed him and she knew that when she was ready, Dean would come back for her. At least that's what she kept telling herself.
AN: Don't worry, Dorian will be back, but I wanted to write a fic about just the boys, and let them have some brotherly bonding time. They need it after Asylum lol.