From the dark night into the morning light

I don't know how long I was out…I came to on the couch with a grunt of surprise. Something was wrong with my arm. The burning had turned into searing pain. Something was holding it out with the bite mark up. I tried to pull back but whatever it was held firm. "Settle down son, we're almost done." Was that…? I knew that voice, but it couldn't be? I tried to sit up and was surprised to realize that someone was holding me down. "Dad?" I asked. My voice sounded scared and far away, as if it was someone else's. "What are you doing here Dad?" "Dean, you've got to stop moving. You'll make it worse." It was Sam. Sam was the someone holding me down. Sitting on me actually. "Sam? Get off me dude. We're not kids anymore…" I felt a tug on my arm and the pain was back again. "Listen to your brother Dean. Stop moving it's almost done." It WAS Dad. How long had I been out? What was going on? Again the pain, right where Jack had bitten me. It was torture!

I thought it was Dad, doing whatever it was that hurt so bad to my arm. Then as I regained feeling in it I realized one hand was griping my wrist and the other was holding my shoulder keeping my whole arm still. Someone else was torturing me. The third time the pain came I screamed. "What in the hell are you guys doing to me?" It came out an anguished, angry moan.

Somewhere in the haze of pain I heard a frustrated female grunt, and then she was inches from my face. "Dean Winchester if you don't stop moving around this instant you'll have a lot more to worry about than a werewolf bite on the arm. Do you hear me?" "Annie? What are you talking about?" "The bite on your arm is what I am talking about. It, and the claw marks that you have pretty much all over your body puffed up. That's why you passed out. I'm trying to fix it so stop squirming like a four year old." "Fix it? How? By burning my arm off?" I asked angrily. As if I hadn't been through enough this past week, now I was going to lose an arm because she wanted to 'fix' it?

Sam was laughing again. That was a good sign. He wouldn't be laughing at me if I was going to die right? Dad was looking back and forth between Annie and me with a funny look on his face as we snapped at each other. "For your information dear, I am applying a really strong poultice and trying to dress the area so it'll stay clean. I've been at it awhile now, I'm tired of it and I'd like to finish up. So if it's all the same to you keep your stubborn behind and the rest of you still or I'll make it hurt more than I have to." "That's some bedside manner you've got there doc." I criticized caustically. "Oh suck it up and take it like a man already." She snapped back with a nasty scowl. My eyes went wide, I hadn't been expecting it but I recovered pretty quickly. I started muttering under my breath about how the woman had to be some distant relation to Dr. Kevorkian or something, just loud enough for everyone to hear.

Sam was shaking so hard from laughter that I thought for sure he'd break one of my ribs, maybe all of them… and then Dad was laughing too for the first time I could remember. A deep, rumbling belly type laugh. It was a sound I don't think I've heard since before mom died. I was so surprised by the sound that I froze. I was afraid to move or even speak in case he stopped. Annie, of course, stubborn as she is, took that as my submission to her demands. It didn't take more than a minute for her to spread the rest of the god-awful stuff on my arm and then wrap it up. She taped the bandage on so well that I doubted I would have any hair left on my arm after it came off.

Now that it was finished Sam got off me and Dad let my arm go. They were both still laughing hysterically although by now the surprised had worn off and I was not impressed with either of them. I sat up slowly, finding out as I did that I had patches of bandage that covered burning wounds pretty much all over my body just as Annie had said. Another thing that came to my attention was the fact that I was wearing nothing but my boxers. If Sam laughed any harder, which I doubt is possible, he might have passed out from lack of oxygen.

I must have fought them pretty hard because there were red marks on my arms and legs where dad had held me down for Annie to finish the job. I was determined not to show embarrassment at my current situation, so the first thing I said was the first question that came to mind. "So, are either of you going to stop laughing long enough to tell me what the hell happened?" Dad just wheezed happily, and Sam…well he just couldn't let it go.

Annie came back from the kitchen with a steaming mug in her hands. "Have a coffee Dean. Supper is almost ready. You'll feel a lot better after you eat." She would have gone back to the kitchen had Dad not stopped her. "You did a fine job Annie. Go sit down, you earned a rest. Sam and I will finish up in the kitchen." That's when I saw how tired she really was. Again I wondered just how long I had been unconscious.

Turns out I was out for the better part of two days. The first day had been the worst. Sam had called Dad because he just didn't know what to do. Nothing he and Annie had tried did any good. I started hallucinating and having nightmares…I didn't remember any of it. Any sudden movement and I was across the room and prepared to tear a strip out of whatever startled me.

When Dad told them about the poultice he'd used years before they knew it was what they needed. Unfortunately once it was made they couldn't get anywhere near me to put it on my wounds. Had Dad not showed up when he did… well let's just say I'd be in much worse shape then I am now.

Annie didn't sleep, or at least not much. They couldn't move me from the living room because I wouldn't let them. They also couldn't get Annie upstairs to get some rest. She refused to let me out of her sight. Once that woman has made up her mind, there's no changing it.

The aftermath of actions

Annie had curled up on the couch and lay sleeping with her head in my lap as Dad told me about the last couple of days. "I've got to say it Dean: asking Jack to bite you like that was a damn fool thing to do. I don't want to hear about you doing anything like that ever again. If you boys hadn't made it…If you had become…I would have had to come back and finish the job. Do you realize what that would have meant doing? Hunting the things that we do is hard enough already. To hunt my own son? It would kill me." He had the same look that had been on his face the day he told me mom was never coming home again. "Yes, sir." It was there and then it was gone, and he was talking to me again. "Good. That being said… I'm proud of you son."

Twenty six years, he'd never said those words, not even once. Suddenly I was ten years old again, confused but happy. Proud to be me for a change. "As for that girl…" he said nodding to Annie, whose hair I was combing gently with my fingers as she slept. "I wouldn't walk away from this one as quickly as you usually do." He chuckled a little "In all my years I have never seen anyone as stubborn as you, until her. This one…she's good for you." I didn't know what to say.

He was right of course…and for once I didn't want to walk away. My god, and I thought those werewolves were scary? This thing I was considering…sticking around, being with her…could I possibly ask that of her? To put up with the life? The worry? The danger? Could I keep her safe through all that? Would she even let me give her the choice? Somehow I had a feeling she'd already made up her mind about it. Asking was no longer an option.

Later that night Sam helped me up the stairs to bed. Three days of fighting off my past…rough around the edges was putting it mildly. He waited until he was sure I was comfortable and then sat down next to me. "You scared the hell out of me the other day Dean. Like you went completely suicidal on me, or something." I was in no shape to fight off the chick flick moment…besides I owed him for all that had happened. "Yeah, sorry about that. I didn't mean to scare you." "When I saw you run at that thing… then pinned down to the ground…and even after all that, when you passed out in the driveway with a werewolf bite on your arm… what were you thinking Dean? What could possibly have been going through your head when you made that decision?"

The entire range of emotion he must have felt over the last three days showed clearly on that damned expressive face of his…and then he took out that puppy look I could never say 'no' to. "I guess…I guess I wasn't thinking past keeping you guys alive and safe." Well, that's about as close to apologizing as I ever get. "Yeah, well… just promise me that next time you'll tell me your insane idea before you follow through on it… and include yourself in the 'keeping alive and safe' decisions for a change." "Yeah. I promise. I will."

I then yawned obnoxiously and closed my eyes. I might not be able to fight off the mushy stuff, but I could pretend I'm too tired for it. Heh heh, clever me. Sam saw right through it though. "Alright, quit faking it. I get it. I just have one last thing to say before I leave you alone. Dad and I … well things wouldn't be the same without you. Just remember that next time you decide to do something stupid. Alright?" I snored fakely and loudly from under my arm to lighten the mood. It worked too. He tossed a pillow at me, laughing again. It hurt like hell, but I got a laugh out of it too so it was worth it.

It took a long time for me to get comfortable enough to fall asleep. I ended up flat on my back trying hard not to put pressure on the darned patchwork of bandages when I finally drifted off.