Disclaimer: Don't own 'em, not gettin' paid for this.
A/N: This is pretty much the end, but there's one more chapter to come. I've done something that I don't think most people were expecting here, but I hope you don't mind. I honestly do think it works. Feedback is so very welcome. Thanks to Kelli for reading this on the road.
Scars from the Past
Chapter 11
While Caleb slept, Alex watched over Wally. He wasn't sure of the entire situation, but all he needed to know when Caleb called was that the Winchesters were involved. Like Sam and Dean, Alex grew up knowing about the supernatural and, although he was ten years older than Dean, he felt a special connection to the brothers.
Wally glanced at Alex, who was sitting on a chair across the room. Alex was staring at him with a rifle resting between his legs. Wally tried to hold his gaze, but looked away quickly.
"I know about you." Alex said. "You're quite a piece of work."
Wally said nothing.
"You were pretty stupid to get involved with Ellen, but even more stupid to go against John Winchester. What did you get out of this?" Alex smiled. "It doesn't really matter because John's going to tear you limb from limb. It's stupid to try to do something to him, but it takes a special kind of dumb to go after one of his kids."
Wally licked his dry lips and Alex smiled. "Scared? You should be."
Caleb stood just outside the living room listening to Alex bait Wally. He thought about intervening, but could think of no good reason to rescue Wally. Instead, he went back to the bedroom to call Jim's house.
Jim heard the phone ring. He glanced at John, who was still holding his son, and left the room to answer the call.
"You guys awake over there?" Caleb asked.
"Yeah. Dean had a nightmare and John is taking care of him. Are things okay there?"
"Fine. Wally's scared enough to shake out of his skin. When do you think John's gonna be able to get over here?
"I don't know. I don't think Dean is doing particularly well."
"Damn." Caleb sighed. "You know who he really needs, don't you?"
"Yeah. Sam. You think that's going to happen?"
"Not if no one tells him what's going on. Look, I'm going to head out for some food. I've got Alex on Wally. You need anything over there?
"No, thanks. We're good. Are you going to call Sam?"
"Maybe."
OOOOOOOOOOO
John helped Dean to bed, then watched him fall into a fitful sleep. He wanted to stay with Dean; he felt it was important to be with him when he woke up again. But he also wanted to deal with Wally. He knew Dean would be safe with Jim, might even prefer to be with him, but John couldn't force himself leave.
Stepping out of the bedroom, John called one of the people who was watching over Sam and was relieved to hear that things were fine in California. Sam was going about his day, attending classes and talking to his friends. He had lunch with a pretty blonde girl that he'd been seen with often lately. John thought about calling him, but didn't think Sam would answer the phone if he knew the call was coming from his father. He considered using Dean's phone so his number would come up on the caller ID display, but he didn't want to find out that Sam wouldn't answer his brother's call either.
Finally able to pull himself away from Dean, John joined Jim in the kitchen. They silently shared a small meal, neither one able to remember when they last ate.
"Jim," John said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "I know you don't approve of me dealing with Wally –"
Jim looked at his friend. "You're right, I don't approve. But I understand."
John was surprised.
"I've had some time to think and I realize there's too much risk in letting the system handle Wally. I still think you're going to eventually regret killing him, though."
Jim watched as John thought about what he'd just heard.
"Maybe there's another option."
"Like what?" John asked.
"Let him go."
The men turned toward the entry to the kitchen, surprised to see Dean leaning against the frame.
"Dean!" John rushed toward him, helping to steady him and get him into a chair. Dean didn't take his eyes off of his father. Jim put a glass of water in front of him.
"Let him go, Dad." Dean said quietly.
"Dean –"
"I don't care if you beat the living hell out of him, but it would be an easy out for him to die. If you let him go, he'll have to look over his shoulder forever." Dean looked at his father, his eyes pleading. "Please, Dad. I don't want this on your conscience. Jim's right; you'll end up regretting it if you kill him."
John laid a hand on Dean's wrist. "That's what you want?"
Dean nodded.
"I won't let him go Scot-free."
"Good."
John moved his chair closer to Dean and leaned forward so their foreheads were touching. He put a hand on the back of Dean's neck. Jim eased out of the room.
"I'm sorry, Dean." John whispered. "I'm so sorry I screwed up and you had to pay the price."
Dean closed his eyes, but laid his hand on John's wrist.
OOOOOOOOOOO
Caleb waited at the fast food drive through window as his order was filled. He tapped the steering wheel, trying to decide if he should call the youngest Winchester. It's not like Sam would be able to leave school in the middle of a semester, but if he knew what was going on he could at least call Dean. Caleb knew that John was unsure if Sam would be there for his family, but what John didn't know is that Caleb was in fairly regular touch with Sam. He didn't want to hear a lot about what his family was doing and never had a message for either of them, but he always asked about them. Caleb saw the sadness and loss in Sam's eyes every time they were face-to-face and he decided it was long past time for someone to intervene.
He drove back to the house and after he and Alex ate, Caleb gave Wally a now cold hamburger. He was about to dial Sam's cell phone number when he heard a knock at the door.
"Hey, John." he heard Alex say from the living room.
"Hi, Alex." John stared at Wally. "Thanks for helping out with this."
"No problem. Anytime."
"John –" Caleb said walking into the living room.
"I need to talk to you in the other room."
In the bedroom, John paced for a moment before he leaned against the wall.
"Dean doesn't want Wally to die."
"Excuse me?"
"He thinks it would be an easy out for him."
Caleb looked thoughtful. "The boy has a point."
"He's okay with me beating the hell out of him, though."
"You okay with that?"
"Beating the hell out of him?"
"Not killing him."
John nodded. "It would go against what we agreed to when we formed our little band of warriors. It would also go against what Dean wants."
"Do you want me and Alex to leave you alone with him?"
"Let Alex go. I think I'll need you to stay here in case I have a hard time stopping before I beat him to death."
OOOOOOOOOOO
"Are you doing okay?" Jim asked Dean as he joined him in the living room.
Dean nodded.
"That was a good thing you did, Dean; telling your dad not to kill him. I'm sorry for what he did to you, but that wouldn't be right."
Dean nodded again as the telephone started to ring. Jim left the room to answer it, returning a few minutes later.
"Dean," he held out the receiver. "It's for you. It's Sam."
Dean looked at the phone, afraid to touch it.
"It's your brother, Dean." Jim said gently.
Slowly, he reached for the receiver and watched as Jim left the room. He waited a moment, more nervous to talk to his brother than he'd been about anything else for a long time. Finally, he put the receiver to his ear. "Sammy?"
"Hey, Dean." Sam said, sounding nervous himself. He hesitated. "I know what happened. Well, not everything, but I – are you okay, man?"
"Sammy –" Dean didn't know what to say.
"You need a lot of sleep and you better be taking the pain medication and antibiotics. I know how you are about that. And you need to eat, too – you're not Superman, okay?"
"I know." Dean said, quietly.
"I'm sorry I'm not there, but you have to talk about what happened. Dad will listen, in his own way. But you know Pastor Jim is great to talk to. I know you don't like talking when you're hurt, but it really will help. The nightmares will stop."
"How'd you know about the nightmares?" Dean whispered.
Sam hesitated. "I just know. Look, man, I know it's not good between us right now. I know it's worse with me and Dad, but you're going to need to recuperate before you can hunt again. Maybe you – maybe you and Dad can come out to California."
Dean's eyes filled with tears. "I'd like that, Sammy."
"I need to go, Dean, I have to meet a study group in a few minutes. I'll call again, tomorrow okay?"
"Yeah, okay."
"Hey, Dean?"
"Yeah?"
"If you – uh – if you need - if you need me, just call, okay?"
Dean didn't trust his voice to speak.
"If you can't sleep tonight – "
"Thanks, Sammy." Dean said, his voice cracking. "Look, uh, Sam – I – uh --"
"Yeah. Me, too, Dean.
OOOOOOOOOOO
John paced in front of Wally, holding an ice pick in one hand.
"I'll ask you again, who was Ellen working for?"
Wally was sweating; he was breathing hard and tears rolled down his cheeks.
"I swear! I don't know! She was paying me a lot of money; I didn't ask questions."
John stared at him, still pacing. Caleb sat on a stool across the room.
"What do you know?" John asked.
"Just what I've told you. I didn't even know Ellen; she contacted me out of the blue. It was a lot of money, man."
"And a chance to get back at me."
Wally nodded.
"So what do you think I'm going to do to you for hurting my boy?"
Wally was shaking too hard to speak. He couldn't take his eyes from the ice pick.
"I could always do to you everything you did to him. How does that sound?" John rested his hands on the arms of the chair, staring into Wally's eyes. "Would you like me to do that?"
Wally shook his head. "No, John, please."
"Please?" he laughed angrily. "You're begging for your lousy life?
John stood up and went back to pacing. "Where's the money?"
"What?" Wally asked.
"The money Ellen promised you. Where is it?"
"She died before she could give it to me."
"Whatever it was that killed her will probably be after your sorry ass." John said, touching Wally's cheek with the ice pick. "Because you know what? I'm going to let you go. My son, the boy you tortured, is such a good person that he doesn't want you to die."
"John, please –"
John ran the ice pick down Wally's cheek, leaving a trail of blood.
"I'm going to let you go because that's what my son wants. But don't think you're off the hook. I'm going to be watching you and you'll never know when I'm going to pop up. You know I have the resources to do that. And if the thing that killed Ellen gets to you – less work for me."
Wally began to whimper.
John nodded to Caleb, who came forward to cut away the ropes that held Wally to the chair. Wally didn't move.
"Remember, Wally, I'll be watching." John plunged the ice pick through his hand, pinning him to the chair. Wally screamed and after watching him for a moment, John turned away.
OOOOOOOOOOO
John drove around for a while before returning to Jim's house. He realized that no matter how he handled the situation with Wally, he wasn't going to feel any better. Killing Wally wouldn't have healed Dean's injuries any faster or made the nightmares stop any sooner. His death wouldn't have helped Dean in any way. Letting Wally go felt somewhat unfulfilling; though he did like the idea of Wally always having to look over his shoulder.
Back at Jim's, he found Dean dozing in a chair on the deck and didn't have the heart to wake him. John watched him for a few minutes, then went to look for Jim. He was in the office where he was working on his Sunday sermon. John walked into the room and sat on the couch; Jim turned from his desk and waited for his friend to say something.
"He's alive."
"Are you all right?"
John leaned forward, clasping his hands together. "I'm fine. It's what Dean wanted."
"Dean got a phone call earlier." Jim said, nonchalantly.
"From?"
"Sam."
John sucked in a breath. "Sammy called?"
Jim nodded.
"Huh. Well, I'm glad." John said, intentionally not asking any questions.
"Sam opened the door, John, you –"
"He opened the door to Dean. If Dean wants to walk through it, he can."
Jim sighed. "So how badly did you hurt Wally?"
"Not as bad as he deserves."
"Where's Caleb?"
"I don't know, but he said he'd come by tonight."
OOOOOOOOOOO
"That was a good thing you did." Jim said to Caleb later, after they all had dinner together. John was outside with Dean, giving Jim the opportunity to talk to Caleb in private.
"What's that?"
"Calling Sam."
Caleb looked at him as he shifted on the couch. "I didn't call Sam. I was going to, but didn't get the chance."
"Of course you did. That's why he called Dean today."
"Sam called?" Caleb leaned forward and put his beer on the coffee table; he looked thoughtful.
Jim looked at him, disbelieving. "You're pulling my leg, right?"
Caleb shook his head. "No. I didn't call Sam. Did you talk to him?"
"Yeah. He said he knew Dean had gotten hurt – I didn't ask any questions because I assumed you talked to him."
"No. It must be –"
"It must be what?"
Caleb shook his head. "Nothing."
"Tell me."
"It's just – I think – " Caleb stood up and paced. "I think Sam might be developing some psychic abilities. He hasn't said anything, but there's something about him. I don't know."
"You think that's how he knew about Dean?"
"Did you tell him?"
Jim shook his head.
"Neither did I. And I doubt that anyone else told him. If someone had, he would have mentioned it."
"Maybe." Jim said thoughtfully. "This puts a different light on things."
Caleb nodded. "He'll tell us when he's ready. Maybe he doesn't even realize it yet."
Jim sat back in his chair and sighed. "You could be right."
OOOOOOOOOOO
Dean stared at the yard beyond the deck where he sat with his father. It was getting dark and the breeze had picked up; soon it would be too cold to sit outside. He wanted to ask John what happened with Wally, but at the same time he didn't want to know. He had no doubt that his father did as he asked and that Wally was walking around free somewhere, but he wasn't sure he wanted the details just yet. He thought maybe some day he would take his own revenge on Wally, but that idea hadn't fully taken shape.
He was liked the attention he was getting from John and he enjoyed the times they just sat quietly together. They were together a lot, but it had been quite a while since Dean felt any closeness to him. He knew John loved him, but he didn't often show the concern that was so obvious now. He felt a little sad it took going through what he did for John to act like a father, but he pushed that feeling aside.
"Dad?" Dean began. He wasn't sure if he was going to ask about Wally or tell John about Sam's phone call.
John nearly jumped. It had been hours since he'd heard his son's voice.
"Yeah?"
"Sammy called today." Dean decided he didn't want to talk about Wally just yet.
"Jim mentioned that." he glanced at Dean.
"He thought maybe you and I could come to California."
"Both of us? Do you want to go?"
Dean blinked back tears. "Yeah."
"Me, too."
TBC
Additional note: A lot of people were hoping for Wally's death and that was the original plan. But after I thought about it a little bit, I realized just what Dean did. Wally's death would be easy. Wally's life is pretty much over now; either the demon will find him, or John will. Frankly, I think I'd be more afraid of John.