Disclaimer: Supernatural, the Winchesters, and any other characters and/or places which may appear do not belong to me.

Whumptober 2020

Day #4; Time: 4:57pm

Prompt(s): (alternate prompts today) Stitches

Author's Note: This shorter entry features Jack :) I was wanting to try something a bit different and I had no ideas for Day 4's prompts so I thought I'd choose a simpler prompt from the alt list and go with something a little different. Hope ya'll still like.

Today's Whumpee: Jack Kline

Jack winced as Dean threaded the needle through the back of his shoulder. It shouldn't have hurt, but ever since he'd killed Michael, Dean, Sam, and Cas had all implored him to use as little of his powers as he could. Even if it meant healing. Obviously bigger wounds, they would allow him to use his power, but for smaller things, Jack had started learning to control his healing ability, so that it wouldn't heal instantly and would allow Dean or Sam to stitch it up.

Jack was still getting used to it. He knew that they were just looking out for him, knew that his family were just trying to take care of him, but it still annoyed him. But he put up with it for them, and also because Sam's story of when he had been soulless hadn't been pleasant. Jack didn't feel very keen on something like that happening to him. He had had nightmares the next few nights of what he might do if he was soulless. Who he might hurt. Who might kill.

He didn't tell anybody of course.

Jack winced again as Dean cleaned the cut one last time before taping a piece of gauze over it.

"There you go," Dean said, hitting Jack lightly on the uninjured shoulder. "You're alright now. Was that the only place the wolf got you?"

Jack nodded mutely.

"Hey," Dean said. He put a hand under Jack's chin and lifted his face up so that their eyes met. "You okay?"

Jack nodded again.

"Bullshit," Dean said simply. "I know that face. Sam taught you that, didn't he? The 'I want to talk but don't know how' face?"

Jack's lip twitched as he pulled his shirt back over his shoulder, flinching slightly as it pulled the stitches. "No, I'm okay, I just…"

Dean waited.

"I feel so unsure of what to do."

"What do you mean?" Dean took a seat on the infirmary bed next to him.

Jack sighed. "If I'm here, eventually I'm going to use my powers. Whether it's because I'm hurt or you're hurt or I'm killing a monster, I will use them. Sometimes it's just instinct and I can't stop myself. But if I use them, then I burn off my soul, and I'm scared of what'll happen to me then. But if I don't use them, if I left and went somewhere where I didn't have to use them, I'd be leaving you and Sam and Cas. And I don't want to leave you guys. What if you needed me and I wasn't there, or what if something happens that I could've stopped or —"

"Woah, woah, okay." Dean held up a hand. "Just take it easy. We'll figure it out, okay? You're not going anywhere."

Jack looked over at him. "But maybe if —"

"No, no 'buts'," Dean said. "Look, we trust you, okay? We all trust you to do what you believe is right."

Jack opened his mouth but closed it again as Dean continued knowingly. "But if something happens, and something happens to your soul, then we'll figure that out too. You're family, kid. We'll take each hit as it comes. And listen, we've all had times where we've been scared, or where we've thought it might be better if we left, but we stay. Because it's more important for us to stay and take the hits together, then it is to try and fight them alone. It took me a long time to realize that, sometimes I still forget about it. Just a few weeks ago with Michael…" Dean trailed off.

Jack nodded. "Yeah," he muttered.

Dean cleared his throat and stood up. "You alright?" he asked.

Jack stood up to. "Yeah," he said, a small smile on his face.

Dean nodded with a returned smile and turned to leave.

"Hey, Dean?" Jack said.

Dean turned. "Hmm?"

"Thanks," he said shyly.

Dean gave him a small wink. "Don't mention it."

AN II: Okay but I, like, hate myself for writing this now because it makes everything that happened at the end of s14 so much more painful. And I didn't think that was possible! Ughhhhhh, idk why I wrote this it just hurts :P. But our sweet boy is back now in season 15 so YAY YAY YAY! I'm so fucking excited for Thursday I can't even explain it.