A/N: Again - Sorry for the length of time it took to update! I went for some minor surgery and ended up with phlebitis in my hand from the I.V. It made it too painful to type so I couldn't work on any of my stories.
Anyway...all better now. Here's the next chapter! Hope it's okay.
And thanks for all the wonderful reviews!
John listened dumbfounded as the poor, distraught man rambled on and on about the thing that had attacked his wife. This had to mean that there was more than one Aswang in the vicinity because John knew for certain that he had killed the first one. He had watched it disintegrate before his eyes. So this new attack meant that he was going to have to stay in town and track this one down in order to kill it too. And he was going to have to find it soon, before more people died.
As John contemplated how he was going to find this beast and destroy it, he suddenly realized why he had recognized this young woman. She was the young, pregnant woman that the last Aswang had stalked so ruthlessly. This new Aswang had obviously been stalking her as well and John realized that he hadn't saved her after all. He had simply left her vulnerable for another Aswang to prey upon and this one had almost succeeded in killing her, if it hadn't actually been successful in critically wounding her.
While John sat there and berated himself for not completely researching the Aswang legend and ensuring that they were truly solitary hunters, a nurse appeared to let him know that them they were ready to take Sam to the Plaster Room to replace his cast. He was welcome to accompany his son if he wished. John followed her back into the Emergency Department where he found Sammy sitting groggily in a wheelchair.
"Hey, Sammy," greeted John as he approached the wheelchair. "Ya ready to get a new cast?"
But Sam's only response was a slight nod in his father's direction. The painkillers had been extremely potent and he was still feeling less than coherent and only slightly awake.
John knelt in front of his son and put his hand gently on his knee. "Come-on, Bud. We'll get you a new cast and then we can go check on your brother. Okay?"
Again Sam nodded but he refrained from saying anything. The drugs were still affecting him and he kept drifting between wakefulness and sleep. John stood up, grabbed the wheelchair and steered it down the hall to the Plaster Room.
As he walked beside the nurse who was accompanying them, John asked quietly, "That woman who was just brought in? Is she going to be okay?"
"I'm really not sure," replied the nurse, sounding concerned. "She's in pretty bad shape."
"I could see that," responded John in agreement. "And what about her baby? Will it survive?"
The nurse shrugged. "I wish I could say for sure." She paused as she stopped before a set of doors before opening them and ushering John and Sam inside. "They're both very badly hurt. It's a good thing the police came upon the scene when they did. They stopped her husband from killing them both. Let's just hope that they arrived in time to save them."
John furrowed his brow as he asked, "I thought I heard him say that something had attacked her?"
"Yes," stated the nurse politely but a little sarcastically. "A big cat with huge wings. Have you ever heard anything so ridiculous? If he wanted to lay the blame on something else, you'd think he'd have at least come up with a story that was actually believable."
John smiled slightly. "Yeah, I suppose you're right," was all he said before he pushed Sam's wheelchair into the room where a technician was waiting to replace Sam's cast.
"Hey, young man," greeted the man as he took the wheelchair from John and rolled it over to a table in the middle of the room. "Didn't I just put that cast on you a few days ago?"
"Yeah," agreed Sam as he struggled to wake up, "But it broke."
"I thought I told you to stay away from all those girls who'd be trying to nurse a good-lookin' guy like you back to health," said the technician as he took the wheelchair from John and steered it over to the table at the opposite end of the room. "Well, let's have a look at it," the technician said as he grabbed Sam's arm and carefully inspected the shattered cast. "Looks like you were fending off a whole herd of girls with this thing."
The only place where the cast remained intact was where it wrapped around Sam's palm. The technician reached over and grabbed what looked like a gigantic pair of scissors from amongst the instruments on the table. Then he carefully placed Sam's arm on the table and slowly cut off the cast, taking care not to disturb Sam's wrist and cause more damage to it. When the old cast had been successfully removed, the technician cleansed Sam's arm with an antiseptic before he proceeded to set another one around Sam's wrist.
Once he had finished, he patted Sam on the knee and said, "Make sure you stay clear of all those girls this time. I don't want to see you back in here again. Okay?"
A slight grin appeared on Sam's lips but he was still too tired to play along so he didn't comment.
The technician turned to John, "You can take him back to Emerg now. Just let them know that we've replaced the cast and they'll tell you where they'd like you to wait. I doubt they want you to leave with him just yet."
John nodded, steered the wheelchair out of the room and down the hall. He walked up to the Nurse's Station and let them know that they were back from the Plaster Room. When they told him that they would like him to wait for at least 45 minutes to make sure Sam was going to be okay before they left, John asked if it would be possible to take Sam down to see his brother while they waited.
The nurse checked with the Trauma Unit to see if Dean had been admitted to a room yet and, was informed that Dean had been moved to Room 324. Then nurse hung up the phone and told John where he would be able to find his other son before she requested that, should Sam's condition worsen, he let any of the nurses on the unit know. John acknowledged her request with a slight nod of his head before he headed off to find Room 324.
John steered Sam's wheelchair into Dean's room and was surprised to see that his oldest son was awake and semi-sitting up in the bed.
"Dad? Sam?" queried Dean as he turned to look at them. "What the hell happened?"
"You passed out while you were driving. Don't you remember?" stated Sam, pain now evident in his voice. The drugs were beginning to wear off.
"No…Well, yeah…Kinda" replied Dean, obviously a bit perplexed. "But how did I end up here?"
"I brought you," stated John tersely.
"You did?" questioned Dean in confusion. "But how did you know…?"
"Sam called me," interrupted John iritably. "It's a good thing you lost consciousness when you did and not five minutes later while you were driving down the highway. Otherwise both of you could have been hurt a lot worse."
Dean lay back in his bed, closed his eyes and sighed before he suddenly bolted upright and exclaimed with alarm. "Sammy! Are you okay? You're not hurt are you?"
"I just dislocated my shoulder again when we crashed," stated Sam matter-of-factly. He was tired of discussing the entire ordeal and just wanted to go back to the motel. He knew his father was going to give Dean the third degree about everything that had happened that evening but he was hoping they could postpone that discussion - and impending reprimand - at least until the morning.
"Oh…Thank God," stated Dean as he once again fell back against the mattress and let his eyes fall shut.
"You realize that you have some explaining to do, don't you?" questioned John, perhaps more forcefully than he had originally intended.
"About what…" began Dean as he opened his eyes to look at his father. The look on his face made Dean rethink what he might otherwise have responded and he simply answered, "Yes Sir."
"Good. And this time, you're going to explain everything to me, starting with what's actually going on between you and Robin Leavey."
"Dad, I don't know what you're talking…"
But John's harsh look effectively silenced his son. "You know exactly what I'm talking about, Dean. And I want to know what it is so I can put a stop to it - now. "
"Dad, there's nothing…"
"Dean," warned John sternly. "Don't play games with me. I'm not in the mood. This entire fiasco has gone quite far enough."
Dean swallowed hard but he held his father's gaze before he responded with a quiet "Yes Sir."
"Well?" asked John impatiently, raising his eyebrows at his eldest child.
Dean closed his eyes and sighed. How was he going to get out of this? There was no way he was going to tell his father the real reason behind his squabble with Robin. Not only would it sound childish and immature but his father had lectured him about taking other guys' girlfriends out before. This wasn't the first time it had turned into a bit of a problem. It was just the first time that it had escaladed out of control. And it was also the first time that it had morphed into a situation where Sammy had been placed in danger and actually been hurt because of it.
It was that thought that made Dean realize that he had better come clean with his father and brother. Although he was willing to deal with whatever consequences his actions brought him, he wasn't willing to continue putting Sammy in jeopardy. It would be better to fess up now and deal with his father's wrath and disappointment than it would be to deal with his own guilt if something else happened to Sammy.
"I, umm…" started Dean. He cleared his throat and continued, "I took Robin's girlfriend out. And I guess he didn't like it."
"Really?" stated John in mock disbelief. "I can't understand that."
Dean stopped short of rolling his eyes at his father. He could handle his father's anger and would rather he yell at him than ridicule him with sarcasm. Especially when he knew that he was going to be in big trouble once everything was out in the open.
"Dad…he's a wimp who thinks he's a hotshot," explained Dean in frustration. "I could kick his ass into next week just by looking at him. I really didn't think he'd turn into this much of a problem."
"And you're a hotshot who thinks he's invincible," shot back his father. This time the anger was evident in his voice. "How did you think he was going to react? Invite you over for dinner?"
This time Dean did roll his eyes - although they were closed at the time. "It wasn't like that. Nancy was all over me the minute we moved to this stupid town. And Robin is such a jerk-off who thinks he owns the whole school that I figured it wouldn't hurt him to be knocked down a notch or two. I just wanted to show him that he isn't that shit-hot!"
"But you are?" inserted John crossly.
"No," replied Dean, exasperated. "But there's nobody in this town that's going to stand up to him so I just wanted to let him know that he wasn't going to intimidate me."
"So you decided to do that by taking his girlfriend out?" asked John cynically.
Dean sighed. This wasn't coming out the way he wanted it to. Of course, the fact that he had never really tried to rationalize his decision to take Nancy out didn't help. Now that he was actually thinking about it, it had probably been a really stupid thing to do. But what else did he have to do for fun? He didn't have any friends. And there was absolutely nothing to do in this asinine town. Sammy wanted his own space and he had his own friends. And Dad was always so wrapped up in finding whatever it was they were hunting that he barely had time to even think about their family.
What exactly was it that Dad thought he should do between going to school and hunting? Sit around and watch the grass grow? What was so wrong with filling the time enjoying a little female companionship?
It wasn't his fault that he seemed to attract girls the same way that flames attracted moths. They just seemed to gravitate towards him. Was he just supposed to ignore them too? Just like he ignored everything else that should be a normal part of growing up. Everything else that, under normal circumstances, should be important to him.
Everything, that is, except Sammy and Dad.
So he had a little bit of fun. He took other guys' girlfriends out. What difference did it make anyway? And who was he really hurting in the end? He never went out with any of them for more than a couple of dates. And then they usually ended up right back with their boyfriends. So he'd really just provided everyone with a little bit of a change for a little while. There was really no harm done.
Dean looked up at his father but his gaze quickly fell to Sammy sitting quietly in the wheelchair. It was evident from his brother's demeanor that he was in a tremendous amount of pain. And as Dean stared at his baby brother, the realization of Sam's situation hit him like a ton of bricks:
That was the harm that had been done. And all of it caused by his actions.
Dean winced as he looked back at his father. His voice was barely louder than a whisper as he said, "I'm sorry." It was all he could offer. He knew his words sounded hollow and, although his apology had come from the bottom of his heart, was really a case of too little, too late.
Now it was John's turn to sigh. Although part of him still wanted to wring Dean's neck, he knew that he had never intended for Sammy to get hurt. Dean would never purposely put Sam in danger. But the fact remained that he had. Sam had been hurt because of Dean's thoughtlessness.
John clamped down on his rising anger and simply asked, "So…all this other garbage that's happened…Robin's brother picking on Sam, the assault charge, the fights at school? They're all a result of this?"
Dean shrugged, "Yeah, I guess." He glanced between his father and Sam before he added, "How was I supposed to know he'd take it this far?"
"What have I told you about always knowing your adversary?" quipped John. "You think a situation like this should be any different?"
"I guess not," replied Dean dismally. "It just never occurred to me that he'd go after Sammy just to get back at me. I figured he'd come after me."
"You know," responded John, trying to at least sound sympathetic, "People aren't that predictable. They don't follow guidelines. They're sneaky and conniving and they'll do anything to get back at someone who's wronged them. And, if they can't do it in a physical confrontation, they'll find another means of attack."
Dean shook his head slowly. "Robin's kinda this little mafia kingpin at school and I thought that the worst that he'd do would be to sic his little posse of followers on me. But I wasn't really worried about them either."
"He obviously knew you better than you knew him," stated John emphatically. "He knew enough about you to go after your brother instead of challenging you directly. And absolutely none of your bravado or fighting skills were a match for that, were they?"
"No Sir."
"So, I gather the situation just escalated until you ended up getting suspended from school because I assume the fight you had with that other boy is related to this. Right?"
"Yes Sir," replied Dean sheepishly. "Andy is Robin's sidekick. Or bodyguard. However you want to look at it. But he thinks he's a tough guy and he intimidates everyone at school. He fights most of Robin's battles for him and I just kinda figured that it'd be him who'd try to exact revenge for Robin."
"And that didn't concern you at all?" questioned John.
"No Sir. Not after some of the other things I've fought"
Dean swallowed hard. He knew that he was sounding way too confident in himself but he figured he owed it to Sam to at least try to explain what he had been thinking. And, if that made his father and brother think he was an inconsiderate, conceited bastard, then he probably deserved that too.
"Dean, you can't go around thinking that nobody is a threat to you. People will find a way to get back at you. It's true that what goes around comes around and I think this is a prime example of that. Don't you?"
"No, Dad. I don't," stated Dean forcefully. "All I did was take out his girlfriend - who could have said 'No' by the way. But she jumped at the chance." He glared at his father as he continued, "Robin had his little brother go after Sam. That's not the same thing."
"It was one stupid act followed by another one," declared John angrily.
Dean looked away. He couldn't argue with that.
"And then I guess that Robin decided he'd fix you really good after you threatened his brother," injected John. "That's why he encouraged Rick to tell their parents; so they could charge you with assault. I doubt the apple fell very far from the tree in that family."
John was quiet for a few minutes as he tried to figure this entire affair out in his mind. It was obvious that Dean had confronted Robin and told him to have his brother back off Sam and, after the assault charged was thrown out, the situation between the boys started to spiral out of control.
He looked back at his eldest son and announced, "So, when the sheriff threatened to charge his brother for assaulting Sam, that's when Robin and his buddies decided to deal with you themselves. And that's how you ended up getting suspended from school." He cleared his throat in order to get Dean to look at him. "Am I correct so far?"
"Yes Sir," responded Dean, resisting the urge to elaborate any further.
"And Sam already told me that they had planned to ambush you after school, but after you got suspended, they had to alter their plans. That's when they decided to grab Sammy instead, knowing you'd go after him."
"How'd you know that?" questioned Dean, glancing at both his father and brother.
"That's what they told me," responded Sam, entering the conversation for the first time.
"So you just decided to go with them?" Dean asked in disbelief.
"It wasn't like that!" shot back Sam irritably. "The told me they already had you, that they'd grabbed you as you left school. I didn't know you'd been suspended. I just knew you weren't there to pick me up and Rick and his brother said they wouldn't hurt you as long as I went with them."
"I can't believe you actually fell for that," stated Dean incredulously.
"Well...what else was I supposed to think?" countered Sam in annoyance. "Why weren't you there to pick me up anyway?"
"That's exactly what I'd like to know," injected John.
"There was an accident on the main road," explained Dean. "I had to take the back streets. And by the time I got there, Sam was already gone."
"And how were you able to figure out where he was?" asked John.
"I thought he might have gone home with Jake, so I drove there. But he told me that Sammy had gone with Rick - in Robin's car."
"How did you know where they'd taken him," asked John, hoping to clear up the most perplexing aspect of this entire affair.
"Nancy," stated Dean flatly. When both his father and Sam stared at him quizzically, Dean continued, "I knew that she wouldn't get mixed up in whatever Robin was plotting, so I went to her house hoping to find her. Her mother told me that she was probably at Maxfields and that's where I found her with a couple of her friends."
"And she was willing to talk to you?" asked John in amazement.
"What can I say?" shrugged Dean unapologetically. "She still likes me."
"So she told you where Robin had taken Sam?" asked John with a small shake of his head.
"Not in so many words," replied Dean. "I asked her why she wasn't with Robin and she told me that he had gone out to his family's vacation house on Grand Lake to do something for his parents. So I just mentioned that it was kind of odd that he hadn't taken her with him. You know – like what could he possibly be doing on a Friday night that couldn't include his girlfriend That kinda peaked her curiosity and she tried calling him but he didn't answer. I made some comment about him being to busy to talk to her. Then I left and drove out a few miles toward Grand Lake, hoping that she'd be curious enough to drive out to see what Robin was doing for herself. And, sure enough, about half and hour later I saw her car drive by. So I just followed her all the way to Robin's."
John rolled his eyes but he had to give his son credit; if nothing else he could be extremely resourceful. "And then you tried to break into the house to rescue Sammy but they ambushed you?"
"No. I actually made it into the house without being seen, but just as I got in, Robin and his buddies paraded Sammy onto the back deck to try to get me into reveal myself."
"You were there for that?" asked Sam in frustration. "And you just let them hit me."
"I didn't have any other choice, Sammy," explained Dean sympathetically. "I couldn't let them know I was there. There was no way I woulda been able to fight off five guys at the same time."
"I was there! I coulda helped!" interjected Sam.
"Sammy, think about it. They already had you. They'd have grabbed you as soon as they saw me and used you as a pawn to stop me from doing anything. It just wasn't worth the risk to both of us. And, besides, I really didn't think Robin would let his brother cut you with that knife if they didn't think I was there. He was only using you to get to me. So I decided it would be best to lie low and wait until they took you far enough away and wouldn't be able to use you as leverage against me. When they took you back into the house, I snuck back outside and surprised both Robin and Andy. We got into a bit of a fight at the side of the house and I was doing okay until that damn Aswang poison kicked in again and I just passed out."
John was a still a little bit confused but he thought he had the gist of what had happened so he stated for clarification, "So that's how they managed to grab you. After the poison knocked you out again."
"Yeah," agreed Dean. "And I didn't wake up until someone kicked me in the ribs and I heard Sammy scream at them to stop."
"You were awake then?" asked Sam in amazement.
Dean nodded. "Yeah, but I couldn't let on so I just acted like I was still unconscious. I figured they'd eventually get tired of waiting around for me to wake up and go about their business. Then I'd only have to deal with whoever they left guarding me. And once I did that, I'd be able to grab Sammy and get the hell outta there."
"Only they took me downstairs to the kitchen when they heard you fighting with Robin's friend," interrupted Sam.
"Yep," confirmed Dean. "And we both ended up in one hell of a fight before we kicked their asses and left." Dean looked apologetically at his father before he added, "I guess I just overdid it a bit and that's why I passed out while I was driving home."
"Ya think?" stated John irritably. "And it never occurred to you that maybe you should have let me know what was going on?"
"I thought I could handle it," replied Dean. He was sure he was in for a lecture from his father now.
But before John could utter another word, a familiar voice interrupted their conversation.
"Mr. Winchester."
John turned around and was only a little surprised to see Sheriff Durham standing the doorway. By the look on his face, John was sure the reason for his visit wasn't going to be a friendly one.
Still, he opted out of tipping his hand and simply responded, "Sheriff Durham" with a slight nod of his head.
"I thought I warned you to keep your sons away from the Leavey boys."