Title: Complications
Fandom: Supernatural
Author: DJ Sparkles
Rating: FRAO (language, mostly, so far)
Disclaimer: I no own, you no sue. I'll put them back when I'm done.
Spoiler Warning: Um, possible spoilers for all seasons so far… don't want spoiled, don't read. BIG spoilers for In My Time of Dying, Heart, All Hell Breaks Loose, Parts 1&2, and season 3.
Timeline: Diverges from Canon after episode 3x03, Bad Day at Black Rock.
Beta: Ithil-valon, and River. You ladies just ROCK, you know that?
Pairings: None so far.
Author's Note: Kudos to MajorPaul for helping me brainstorm through this! I just couldn't seem to come up with a believable reason that a silver ring wouldn't hurt Dean… she came through admirably! Thanks so much, hon!!! huggles

Part Four

Six hours later, they were no closer to a solution than they had been that morning. "We know from observation that it's a quick change, that it's brutal, and that whatever wounds you have when you change heal. That's for starters." Sam was ticking points off on his fingers. "We know that Dean is still in there when he changes. If he wasn't, I'd have been dead. Bobby?"

"Mythology says that once you change, you want to kill. That it's an 'unstoppable urge.' Think we can safely say that ain't true. Dean didn't kill either of us. I'd say he stopped the urge pretty well."

"Hey, I'm still here, guys. And for the moment, still human." Dean was keeping it light but he knew it was serious. "When I was shifted, though, things were different. I didn't exactly recognize you guys, not at first. Sammy… came out as a pack-mate. The scent did it, told me he was family, that I shouldn't hurt him. Until I got that scent, I was ready to rip his throat out. I couldn't understand what you two were saying, either. It was just gibberish. I totally understood Sammy when he told me to back off, though, not the words, but the tone. Made me feel about two inches tall." He wasn't about to mention his deliberate christening of Bobby's Camaro. He'd been in control enough by then he'd known exactly what he was doing.

"So it seems like the longer you're shifted, the more of yourself you get back, right?" Sam rubbed his face tiredly. "None of this is mentioned in the legends. They all say that once you change, you're totally without human intelligence. You're an animal, that's all, and one with a taste for blood."

"Not the first time we've had the wrong info." Bobby was considering carefully. "Anything in your dad's journal?"

"Nothing we haven't already heard. I've been through the thing front to back and there's nothing there." Dean laid the journal on the bed and fought the urge to throw something. "This is nuts. I do not want to spend my life looking for belly rubs and licking my own ass."

"What, you don't do that now?" Sam was only half paying attention to the banter. "Hey, if lycanthropy is a curse, why don't we try some of the curse breakers on it? We've got loads of those."

"Hell no! You know what can happen if you use the wrong spell. Try again." Dean leaned back against the headboard for a moment and then lunged upward to pace the confines of the room.

"Well, if we don't find anything else, we can watch our backs tonight." Bobby gestured to the book in front of him. "Says here that a werewolf can eventually control his change, if he wants to, and won't be tied to the moon."

"Great. So all I have to do is learn to control it. Maybe I'll manage a few tricks along the way, too. Maybe if I sit up and beg it'll go away. I don't want to control it! Dammit, Bobby, I want to CURE it!" Dean cut off the growl as soon as he heard it, but it was too late. It was a bestial sound, not at all like his normal voice, and he hated it. He hated worse the open concern, pity, and yes, fear, in the others' faces. He never wanted Sam to be afraid of him.

"Okay, Dean, okay. Settle down." Bobby was still searching through his books but he wasn't finding anything helpful. "There's all the traditional stuff, wolfsbane, monkshood, stuff like that, but I'd hesitate to use it. Says it's poison to a werewolf and we don't want to kill you. Silver… holy water is a bust. Won't clear the infection, just hurts like hell. Guess you knew that."

"Yeah, I kinda figured that out when I got all furry." Dean continued prowling around the room, not really looking for anything, just pacing to be moving. He was restless and not sure why. It wasn't all that close to sundown yet. Part of it might be the apprehension and uncertainty he could feel pouring off the others. He knew he was the cause. He just didn't know how to reassure them when it was pretty much a given he'd be sporting fur and fangs in about four hours. "Silver, huh? No dice, it isn't gonna work, either." Dean held up his right hand with the ring. "Sterling. It should be burning the hell out of me, but it isn't."

Sam looked up from his computer. "No burn at all? That's not normal." He started running more searches. "Dean, we used silver on the other one. It killed the thing. So how can you not be burnt from that ring?"

"You got me. But it doesn't burn. Hey, where's the bullets? Let's try those." Dean rifled his bag for the case of silver rounds they always carried. He opened it gingerly and then placed it on the table and regarded it steadily. He wasn't at all sure, now that he was up to it, that he wanted to grab one of those shiny little shells. "No pain, no gain." He picked one up and promptly dropped it again with a hiss. Blisters were already forming on his hand. "I don't get it. Maybe it has to be pure silver, really pure. Hell, I don't know. There's too many questions floating around here and not enough answers, dammit!" Again his eyes went to the clock, but it hadn't moved very far. Still nearly four hours before he wolfed out. "Guess I'll need to wear gloves on a hunt. Got to be able to use the silver."

"Okay, I think I can answer the silver question." Sam's voice was a little rough; he knew what would have to happen if they couldn't cure Dean. He wasn't sure he could actually kill his brother, not like he'd had to kill Madison. "One source I'm looking at says it won't hurt the werewolf if it has some sentimental value, or if it was intended as a protection." He didn't know where Dean had acquired the thing, and he hadn't asked. "And this one says that if you were wearing the silver item at the time of infection that item won't affect the wearer."

Dean nodded and Bobby looked thoughtful. "Makes sense, I guess." Dean shrugged. "So that's answered. What about a freaking cure?"

Bobby shook his head while continuing to sift through his books. "Nothing yet, Dean. We're looking as fast as we can. It's gonna take time."

"Yeah, and time we don't have." Dean was pacing again. "Dammit!"

"We need somewhere we can keep you secure tonight, anyway. Someplace strong, in case you flip out." Sam was consulting the phone book. "If we could make it to Bobby's he could put you in one of the sheds. But there's not enough time, now. I didn't think about it soon enough."

"I'm not gonna flip out, Sammy." The one word guaranteed to get a glare from his brother and Dean wasn't disappointed. "I didn't hurt you guys last night, what makes you think I will tonight? Besides, you guys still have the silver. If you have to, you use it. Don't be a wuss, Sam."

"I'm not a wuss, Dean! I'm sorry if I don't want to shoot you!" Sam stood up and deliberately put himself in Dean's path. "Do you want to die? Every time I turn around you're courting death! When's it going to stop, Dean? When's it going to be enough? When am I going to be enough to make you want to live instead of die?"

Dean fisted both hands into Sam's shirt and pushed him forcefully against the wall. "It isn't about you, Sammy, and you know that," he snarled. "I have screwed up everything I ever tried to do, everyone I cared about has ended up dead. Mom… Dad sold his soul so I'd live. I even let you die, Sam, did you forget? I'm a curse. And now I'm really cursed. This is just one more step on my road to Hell, little brother. It's got nothing to do with you."

Bobby just rolled his eyes and kept looking through his books. He needed to do something before he just knocked their heads together.

Sam shoved and sent Dean staggering backward. "It has everything to do with me, you moron! How do you think I feel, knowing you're going to die because of me? How do you think I feel knowing that you're going to turn into a monster in a few hours and that I might have to kill you myself? How do you think it feels to know you got bitten because I was too slow? That I'm responsible, one way or another, for you going to Hell?"

"Hey! Would you two idjits get your heads outta your asses and help me here? I don'tcare which one of you started what or who hurt who first! We've got about two hours before Dean here gets all furry. If we're gonna help him, we need to concentrate. Sam, try that Encyclopedia Mythica site, see what it has. I'll keep looking through these. Dean, look through these. Sit. Now."

"Hey! I'm not furry yet, Bobby, the commands don't work." Nevertheless, Dean subsided and went to the other side of the room to look through the papers and notes Bobby handed him.

TBC…