Title: Reader's Special: Second Edition - One Shot Reward Fic Collection
Author: Disasteriffic Kaz
Info: A collection of 1 Shot Reward Fics for Prompters of my Reader's Special: Third Edition. Features many seasons, hurt/limp/awesome/caring!Sam/Dean/John/Bobby See each chapter for specific info for each 1 shot reward fic.
Author's Note: The Reader's Special: Third Edition was a smashing success! Prompters of the story were offered a One Shot Reward story of their choice. These are they. None of the chapters contained in this collection are connected. Each one is a stand-alone one shot per the Prompters request. Thank you to all of you who prompted the Reader's Special! You were fantastic as always!
Chapter Info: For Leahelisabeth - maybe DEAN could be de-aged and Sam could be severely injured trying to protect him and then he needs the help of a beautiful stranger (who is actually me) to babysit Dean and nurse him back to health. And maybe he hasn't killed the monster yet because Dean is now 4 and stuff so it attacks again and Sam has to protect me and Dean (because we can't have him lying around like a pussy)
A/N: This is set anywhere you like in the latter half of season 6 after Sam is re-souled. :D No reason really, I used the fickle finger of fate to choose. Lol
Beta'd by the always awesome JaniceC678 :D– Friend and Muse's co-conspirator.
**Follow me on Facebook as "Disasteriffic Kaz" for frequent fic updates or just to chat!
~Reviews are Love~
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Dean eased through the trees with his brother beside him and kept his rifle tucked to his shoulder. "Can't believe we're hunting something called a bugbear."
Sam chuckled. "It's also called a bugaboo."
"That doesn't help me take it seriously, dude," Dean said and laughed softly.
"It's killed three people," Sam added seriously and met Dean's now grim smile.
"You sure we don't need anything special to kill this thing?" Dean raised his rifle and Sam shook his head.
"No. Basically, it's just a bear, a really mean bear with a taste for people and witches like to use them, but…yeah, normal ammo should work." Sam shrugged. "If it doesn't, this is going to get real interesting, real fast."
"That's comforting." Dean rolled his eyes. The moonlight was bright enough they weren't using flashlights, letting their eyes adjust to the natural illumination instead. Flashlights only would make them easy targets in the dark. He froze in mid-step as a whuffling sound came from nearby. He glanced over at Sam and saw him nod. No further communication was necessary, and Dean peeled off to the right, letting Sam take the left. They circled in toward the sound silently.
Sam cut between two trees, seeing the shadow of his brother yards away. He narrowed his eyes. Between them, something large humped up from behind a bush, and Sam could tell its head was turned away, toward Dean.
"Shit," Sam breathed and picked up his pace, trying to get a bead on it with his rifle as it moved and put a tree between them. He could just make out the long barrel of Dean's rifle, and it was pointed the wrong way. He sucked in a breath to shout a warning. "Dean!"
Dean crept around the trunk of a wide tree, focused on a rustling ahead of him. He adjusted the butt of the rifle against his shoulder and jumped in surprise as his brother shouted his name. He whipped his head to his left and saw the hulk of the bugbear rise up to tower over him.
"Oh, crap," Dean groaned. He swung the rifle around, took a step toward it, and his world exploded in a flash of light. He felt himself falling and then consciousness slipped away from him.
"Dean!" Sam looked away as something bright flashed. He blinked furiously to clear the spots from his vision. His brother was nowhere to be seen. He raised the rifle again and started forward, rearing back in surprise as the bugbear lunged up in front of him. Sam fired reflexively, hitting it high in one shoulder as it moved and turned toward something on the ground. Sam moved quickly to the side and gasped, seeing his brother lying face down. "No!" He fired again into its back as the creature bent over Dean. It howled in a fury and swept a long, clawed arm out. It caught Sam in the stomach and sent him sprawling across the ground with a grunt of pain.
Sam pushed up, raised his gun, and fired again. The bullet glanced along the back of the bear's massive skull. It fell sideways and then lumbered off into the dark forest roaring. Sam hunched over the burning in his stomach for a moment and then made himself move. "Dean." He got to his feet and staggered toward his brother. He scowled as he neared. Some sort of light lingered around Dean's body, and, as Sam watched, he seemed to shrink. "Shit! Dean?" Sam dropped beside him and pulled him over onto his back. He leaned away in incredulous shock and just stared. Sam fumbled the flashlight from his pocket and flicked it on shining it down, and his jaw dropped open. It was definitely his big brother on the ground in front of him, but, somehow, Dean had been transformed into what Sam estimated to be his four-year-old-self.
"Dean?" Sam reached a hand out and brushed his fingers over the freckles on the boy's cheeks with almost a sense of wonder. He knew that face; had seen it many times as he grew up in the pictures his Dad had kept in his wallet. "Oh, my God. How…" His brain refused to accept the reality lying in front of him, and he sat back with a thump.
The sudden burn in his gut made Sam moan. He shined the flashlight on his own stomach as he pulled his shirts gingerly out of the way. His stomach was a bloody mess, shirts ripped from the bugbear's claws, and four long furrows crawled across his stomach below his ribs. He let his shirts drop and pressed his left arm over the wounds, trying to alleviate the pain. It didn't help. A roar deeper in the forest jerked his head up. Sam sighed and looked back down at his now…little brother.
"Ok. Can't stay here." Sam slung his rifle on his shoulder and leaned over…Dean. He showed no signs of waking up anytime soon. Sam slid an arm under his shoulders and winced at how easy it was to lift his toddler brother up into his arms. He weighed next to nothing, and Sam clutched him to his chest with Dean's head in the crook of his neck as he struggled to his feet. Dean's jeans, now a dozen or more sizes too large, slid off his small legs to the ground along with his shoes, and Sam was left wrapping him in his leather jacket.
Sam smirked. "You're never gonna live this down." He walked, staggering every few steps as the wounds in his stomach protested. "Get you back to the motel…safe…call Bobby." Sam panted for breath, using the flashlight to see where he was walking. "Not sure if I…want you to wake up right now…or not."
The feeling of blood running down his stomach and soaking into his jeans was making him twitch; worse, was the light-headed feeling he was beginning to have trouble fighting off. They had walked for almost forty minutes before they'd found the bugbear. The thought that he had that far to go back made him want to whimper.
Sam stumbled and went to his knees, trying to smother a hoarse cry as Dean's knees jabbed into his stomach. He kept his hold on Dean's small body and breathed heavily, blinking as spots danced across his vision.
"Hello? Is someone there?"
Sam's head jerked up as a woman's voice carried on the night air. He cleared his throat and shifted Dean to his other shoulder so he could pull his rifle around. "Hello?" He climbed shakily to his feet, swaying and brought the muzzle of the rifle up as a woman appeared between the trees and a light shined on him suddenly.
"Oh, my…are you alright? Oh! Oh gosh, I'm sorry. Blinding you." She lowered the light and came closer, eyes going wide as she saw the rifle.
Sam held his own light on her warily. She was attractive and slightly built with short, straight, dark hair and squared glasses. "I'm…we're fine." He lowered his light and stepped back but she followed him.
"You're clearly not. I heard a bear a little bit ago." She waved at his mid-section below his brother. "You're bleeding…or is that his blood? Oh, god, not the boy's I hope."
Sam shook his head. "No…no, it's mine. It's nothing really."
"Nothing, my ass." She came forward, now ignoring the wavering muzzle of the rifle. "I'm Leah. Come on. My cabin's just a few minutes from here and you need help. Please? Let me help?"
Sam stared at her face, and the sincerity in her eyes, along with his legs beginning to shake with exhaustion, made him give in. "Alright." He nodded and put the rifle back on his shoulder.
"Let me take him?" Leah reached out, but Sam quickly turned away.
"No, I've got him," Sam said fiercely, clutching his brother tightly to him. "I…look, it's complicated but…this is my brother."
"Quite an age difference." Leah smiled and took Sam's arm, giving him a push in the right direction.
"Not really," Sam muttered. He staggered again, and this time Leah's hand was on his shoulder, keeping him upright. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it." Leah smiled up at him. "Just over there."
Sam looked up and saw a light appear through the trees ahead. Dean was getting heavier in his arms, and he picked up his pace, knowing he didn't have much time left on his feet. "Sam, I'm Sam, by the way." He turned a weak smile to her. "This is Dean. He's, uh…he's gonna be…confused when he wakes up." He frowned. "Shit, he might not recognize me," Sam said as the realization hit him.
"Um…no offense but, why wouldn't your brother know who you are?" Leah watched him as they neared her little cabin.
"Like I said, it's complicated." Sam took the three steps with difficulty and was grateful for Leah's steadying hand on his back. She went ahead of him and opened the door.
"There's a couch on your left." Leah held the door open for them and closed it once Sam was in.
"First aid kit?" Sam asked. He went to his knees beside the sofa and gently laid his child brother down, cradling his head as he stared at him in the light. He still couldn't believe this had somehow happened. He groaned and let his head drop forward to rest on the cushion, closing his eyes for a moment.
"Sam?" Leah raised her hand from his shoulder when he jumped. "Sorry." She smiled as he blinked up at her. "Can you move? Chair maybe?"
Sam followed her arm and nodded. "Yeah." He used the couch to get up and stumbled the few steps to the chair beside it, dropping into it wearily. "Here." He held out a shaking hand, but Leah pulled the kit away from him and set it on a nearby table.
"Nonsense. Let me." Leah smiled and tugged a footstool over, sitting in front of him. "I've had some nursing experience. I can do this. Now, shirts off."
Sam frowned but was, frankly, too close to passing out to put up much of an argument. Instead, he shrugged out of his jacket and pulled his shirts over his head, grimacing in pain. "You live out here…all alone?" He asked after he got his breath back.
Leah nodded. "Just me. My aunt used to live with me but…she died recently."
"I'm sorry," Sam said sincerely while she bent over him and started cleaning the gashes in his stomach. He did his best not to squirm while the peroxide bubbled in the wounds.
"It's alright. It was her time." Leah shrugged and patted his knee. "Sorry, Sam. Almost done."
He nodded and let his head fall back. Sam kept his eyes on the couch and his transformed brother, alert for any change in him because, sooner or later, Dean was going to wake up, and then things were really going to get interesting. He looked down and seeing the gashes cleaned only made it easier to see how much they sucked. "Do you have a suture kit in there?"
Leah shook her head. "No, sorry. I know this needs stitches." She hovered a hand over the two wounds lowest on his stomach. "I can butterfly them closed for now, though."
Sam nodded and let his head fall back. Blood loss and pain were taking their toll. "Good," He said wearily and closed his eyes.
Leah finished closing his wounds as best she could, taped clean bandages over them, and leaned up, giving his face a light pat to rouse him. She frowned, feeling an unnatural warmth in his skin. "Sam? I think you should wake up now."
Sam jerked his head up. "Huh? Right. Leah."
"I think your brother's waking up." She smiled.
"Oh, man," Sam groaned. He pulled himself up with difficulty and moved over to sit on the edge of the couch. Dean was stirring. "Leah, look. Something…weird happened tonight, and Dean, he's gonna be confused." He sighed and leaned over his brother. "Dean?" Sam watched as big, green eyes blinked open and looked up at him, then went wide with fear as the boy scrambled away from Sam on the couch up against the arm.
"Who…who are you? Where's my mom? Mom? Dad!" Dean started yelling.
Sam reached out and caught one of Dean's hands as his heart clenched. "Dean, calm down. It's alright. I'm your…I'm Sam."
Dean pressed the knuckles of his other hand to his mouth and stared at him. "Want my mom and dad."
"I know, uh…they can't…be here right now." Sam smiled and squeezed the little hand he held. He'd hoped when Dean woke he'd remember everything and just be pissed about being a kid but no such luck. His big brother's mind seemed to have regressed along with the rest of him. "They asked me to take care of you."
Dean's eyes traveled from Sam's face down to his stomach and widened even more. "How come you're hurt?"
Sam shook his head. "It's nothing. It's fine."
"Actually, Dean, Sam here needs to lie down, but he wouldn't listen to me until you woke up," Leah smiled at Dean and winked at the irritated look on Sam's face. "I'm Leah. You think we can make him lay back?"
Dean looked between them nervously and nodded after a moment. "'Kay."
Sam rolled his eyes. "Ganging up on the wounded guy? Really?"
Leah chuckled and pushed on his shoulder as Dean crawled back and pushed on his other, keeping hold of Sam's hand. "I think you should give up now. We're going to win."
"Ok, but just for a minute." Sam smirked and leaned back into the couch. A groan of pain escaped him as the wounds on his stomach pulled. He looked up in surprise when Dean settled in next to him and pulled Sam's arm over his shoulders.
"How come's my pants are gone?" Dean looked up at Sam curiously, wrinkling his nose as he pulled his bare legs up under his far too large t-shirt.
Sam chuckled wearily. "Uh…they got wet." He stuck a hand into the pocket of Dean's jacket and took out his cell phone then looked up to Leah. "You think maybe you could find something for him to eat?"
"I like sghettios," Dean grinned up at her. "With meatballs."
"I'll see what I can do." Leah laughed and left the room.
Sam quickly dialed Bobby and waited until he answered. "Bobby, we got a problem. It's Dean."
"Balls! He alright? How bad's he hurt?" Bobby's voice was heavy with concern.
"He's…he's not hurt exactly so much as…uh…" Sam looked down at his brother and groaned. "Bobby, something turned him into a four year old. Physically, mentally…he's four again." He took Bobby's silence for the shock it was.
"You wanna say that again?" Bobby listened in complete disbelief. "Thought you said the witch that was out there was dead already!"
"She is!" Sam propped the phone on his shoulder and pressed his free arm over his stomach. The pain was growing and he could feel his temperature rising. "There was something like a flash of light…leftover spell maybe. I dunno. Guh."
"Sam? Son, you alright?" Bobby realized then what he had been hearing in the boy's voice - pain.
Sam nodded and then sighed, knowing Bobby couldn't see him. "Bugbear tagged me. It's fine."
"You don't sound fine, Sam." Bobby rolled his eyes, figuring the Winchester stubborn streak was in full force.
"Bobby, I'm…look. Dean's what's important right now." Sam looked down at his brother. "We have to fix this."
"You don't look so good, mister," Dean peered up at him.
Sam smirked. His brother's ridiculously long lashes were even more ridiculous as a four year old. "An' everyone gets on me for puppy dog eyes."
"Sam? I'm gonna find a counter spell. You get some rest." Bobby said firmly into the phone, hearing Sam's voice weaken and start to slur. "Whatever's wrong with you, fix it. I'll figure the rest of this out."
"Yessir." Sam smiled and flipped the phone closed.
"Where my parents?" Dean asked again and Sam breathed a sigh.
"We'll see them…later, alright?" Sam smiled. There was absolutely no way he was going to try and explain what was going on to him. Right now, Dean thought he was four, his parents were safe, and all was right with the world. Sam planned on keeping it that way as long as he could.
"Here, Dean." Leah came back in the room and handed a bowl to him, letting him take hold of it with a smile. "I didn't have Spaghettios, I'm afraid, but how about spaghetti?"
"Awesome!" Dean said cheerily and swirled his fork into the noodles and sauce.
Sam laughed softly, watching his 'big' brother dig into the noodles at his side. Dean released his hand and Sam wiped it over his forehead, frowning at the sweat there. "Damn." He whispered.
"Nickle." Dean said and looked up at him with a grin.
"Huh? What nickel?" Sam asked as Leah came and leaned on the arm of the couch next to him.
"Dad says when you swear, you owe a nickel to the swear jar." Dean laughed and spoke around a mouth full of noodles. "Mom makes Dad put a lot of nickels in the jar."
Sam was both amused and infinitely saddened to hear some of the childhood he'd been robbed of. By the time he was old enough to speak, neither his brother nor father had ever really made an issue out of it; they cursed. He smiled fondly, and with a hint of sadness for the innocence lost from both of their lives, at the boy next to him. "I'll find a nickel."
"Sam." Leah spoke softly next to him as she placed a cool hand on the back of his warm neck. "That bear's claws…they were carrying something. You're ill."
Sam nodded wearily. "Apparently. It's fine, I'll…how do you know?" He whipped his head up to look at her suspiciously. "In fact, you've taken all of this pretty easily for a woman alone in the woods."
"Eat your noodles, Dean." Leah smiled over at him and tightened her hand on the back of Sam's neck in warning. "You're safe here, Sam. My name is Leah." She smiled at him. "The bugbear…was my aunt's."
"You're…crap. You're a witch too?" Sam shoved her hand away from him and twisted, putting himself between her and his brother.
Leah rolled her eyes. "Not much of one. Look. That bear was my aunt's pet or familiar or whatever you want to call it." She shrugged and went to sit in the chair. "When she died, it went a little crazy. I was out there tonight trying to get him back under control." She smiled warily at him now. "I was, uh…trying a spell I found in her book. It should have…regressed the bear to an earlier point in its life so I could retrain him."
"Regressed?" Sam sat up straighter and instantly regretted it. The unstitched gashes in his stomach protested the movement. "That's what happened to him?"
Leah nodded. "It's not that bad, really. The spell's not permanent by itself. It will wear off in about an hour, maybe less. I swear."
Sam warred with the need to dive for his rifle on the other side of the room. He stared at her where she sat. She'd done nothing but try to help them and had even dressed his wounds.
"She in trouble, Sam?" Dean asked suddenly and peered up at him around his arm. "Dad gets that face when I do somethin' wrong."
"I guess not." Sam said finally and leaned back. "Not yet, anyway."
"I'm really sorry, Sam." Leah said sincerely. "I didn't expect anyone else to be out there tonight or I never would have laid that spell. I just…I didn't want to kill him if I don't have to." She sighed. "Suppose I'll have to now the next time he comes for me."
"Comes for you?" Sam raised his brows and then grunted in surprise as Dean thumped back into his side with his noodles again. He chuckled as his brother tugged his arm back around his shoulders.
"It's after me. The other people it's killed…" Leah wiped moisture from her eyes. "They only got in the way…like you. I'm so sorry." She stood and gave herself a shake. "I'll get you some ice to try and keep your fever down. It's not lethal or anything." She smiled at him again. "It's just to make the bugbear's prey weak enough for him to catch you."
"Great." Sam let his head drop to the back of the couch as she left the room. "I'm prey."
"Mom prays." Dean piped in, misunderstanding and set his now empty bowl aside and gave a very Dean-like burp and grinned, and Sam couldn't help but respond in kind. "She prays a lot right now 'cause she says I'm gonna have a liddle brother soon." He smiled even wider up at Sam. "She says he's gonna be all mine and I'm gonna take awesome care of him. You watch. I'm gonna be the best big brother ever."
Sam sucked in a breath and fought tears. "Yeah, you will," He said gruffly, voice thick with emotion at the simple truth and faith in Dean's young voice.
"You cryin', Sam?" Dean looked up at him.
Sam shook his head and then grunted in surprise as Dean suddenly rushed up and wrapped his arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. "Dean?"
"Mom says when someone's cryin' they just need hugs." Dean said into his neck and squeezed tighter. "Hugs make everything better."
Sam choked on a sob and wrapped his arms around his brother's small body, holding him tight and ignoring the burning in his stomach as Dean's knees dug in to the wounds under the bandages. "Thank you," Sam whispered. Seeing his big brother like this, warm and affectionate, happy and hopeful, made him suffer for the man Dean had become. He wished he could find a way for Dean to keep this feeling once he was himself again, a way for him to remember that it was ok to be loved once upon a time.
Leah came back in the room and sighed at the sight. "Dean, you want to help me make Sam feel better?" She set a tray with a bowl of cold water and towels down on the small table.
"Uh huh!" Dean unwound his arms from Sam's neck and plopped back beside him.
Leah soaked a towel in the bowl and held it out to him while Sam rolled his eyes. She snickered softly. "Here you go, Dean." She handed him the towel. "Put that on his neck. He's got a fever and we need to cool him down."
"I don't feel that bad, really," Sam protested as they both converged on him with towels. He groaned as Dean laid his towel in the side of his neck. The cold warring with the heat his body was generating sapped the last of his strength and his head fell back again and this time he couldn't get it back up. He shivered as Leah spread another cold towel across his upper chest above the bandages.
"Just rest, Sam. You'll feel better in a day or two," Leah assured him softly.
"M'I doin' it right?" Dean asked and grinned happily when Leah smiled at him.
"Just right." Leah impulsively ruffled his spiky blonde hair, making him giggle.
Sam listened to them speaking over him and couldn't stop the slow slide into unconsciousness as his wounds and the fever worked against him. He woke up sometime later, blinking gritty eyes open. His head felt like it weighed too much and he shivered as something cold and wet slid onto his neck.
"You're really warm, Sam," Dean said softly and patted the towel into place as Sam rolled his head over to look at him. He smiled. He liked Sam's eyes; they kind of reminded him of his dad's. He put a small hand on Sam's neck and squeezed like his dad always did for him when he didn't feel well. "Maybe we can get some ice cream later when Mom and Dad come back."
Sam nodded and tried to pick his heavy head up. It was a struggle; the fever had well and truly set in. "Thanks, Dean." He smiled sadly; even as a child with no memory of him, Dean was still trying to take care of him and worrying. "I'm ok. Honest. How long have I been asleep?"
Dean shrugged. "I dunno. A while."
"Where's Leah?" Sam tried to push himself up and flopped back weakly.
"She's makin' lemonade or somethin'." Dean smiled and patted the cool towel on Sam's neck. "She said I should keep a eye on you."
Sam nodded and clenched his teeth to swallow a pained groan. His stomach was burning, but he hid the pain for Dean's sake. "You should…go help her. I'll be fine." He smiled for his brother.
Dean frowned and quirked a brow at him. "Are you fibbin' me?"
Sam was startled into a weak laugh. "No, Dean. I'm fine. Leah might need help carrying the drinks in here. Go on." He smiled as Dean slid off the couch, and then laughed when Dean had to stop and grab his over-sized boxers and pull them up with an irritated growl. Sam listened to him run out of the room and gave voice to his pain once he was alone. He moaned loudly and managed to sit up enough to curl over himself with his arms crossed over his stomach.
"Crap," Sam breathed softly, miserably, and pulled the towel off his neck. It had gone warm against his skin and was only serving to make him feel hotter now. He glanced up as laughter announced Leah and Dean coming back into the room. "Hey," He greeted and worked to make his voice not sound as weak as he felt.
"We thought you might be thirs…" Leah's voice broke off on a scream as the door of the cabin burst inward in a shower of splinters.
"Sam! Help!" Dean's young voice pierced above the noise of the splintering door and the roar as the bugbear burst into the cabin. Leah threw the tray at the bear's face and grabbed Dean, shielding him with her body as the bear loomed over them.
"NO!" Sam lunged off the couch and across the room for his rifle, his injuries and weakness forgotten. He staggered in front of Leah and Dean where they cowered and raised the muzzle of the rifle up into the bear's face. The moment he pulled the trigger, there was a flash of light from behind him. At the same moment, his bullet took the bugbear between the eyes. It screamed and fell over backwards with a crash, shaking the cabin with the impact.
Sam gasped in a breath and went to his knees, unable to stay standing, but kept the rifle trained on the bear. "Leah? Is Dean alright? Are you?"
"Yes, yes we're fine. Oh, my God." Leah picked herself up off the floor and smiled. "Um, Sam?"
"What?" Sam turned his head minutely and then jerked in surprise; Dean lay on the floor beside Leah, his adult self once more, and even as Sam watched, he moaned and blinked his eyes open. "Oh, thank God," Sam breathed and closed his eyes, sagging back to sit on the floor.
Dean opened his eyes to find a very attractive, dark-haired woman peering down at him. "Uh…hi? What's goin' on?" He started to push himself up and smiled when she took his arm and pulled. He looked down and his smile turned to shocked embarrassment as he saw his bare legs sticking out. "What the hell? Where are my pants? Sam?"
"Dean, calm down!" Leah chuckled. "You're fine. Sam's right there." She moved so he could see his brother.
"Holy shit!" Dean exclaimed on seeing his shirtless, bandage-covered brother and the dead bugbear beyond him. "Sammy?" He pushed to his feet, uselessly trying to tug his shirt down to cover his boxers. "Alright. What the hell's goin' on?"
"It's…" Leah started and Sam cut her off smoothly.
"Dead witch's fault." Sam shrugged and let the rifle drop to lie next to him. "Left a spell trap in the woods and you tripped it." He smirked at his brother's bare legs. "Long story."
"Well, I got time," Dean growled.
"Leah helped us out." Sam let his head fall forward, his energy spent. "Killed the bear."
"I see that…shit!" Dean lunged down and caught his brother as he started to fall sideways. "What the…he's got a fever?" He looked up as Leah came around Sam's other side and nodded.
Leah gestured at Sam's stomach. "The bear clawed him. I did my best but he's got a minor infection." She smiled. "He'll be fine, really."
"I'll be the judge of that. Come on, sasquatch." Dean slid an arm under his brother's shoulders and pulled him up with Leah's help and got him to the couch. "Don't suppose my pants are around here somewhere?"
Leah laughed and blushed prettily. "Uh…still out in the woods…somewhere. Sorry."
"Awesome," Dean groaned. He sat next to Sam and carefully peeled back the edge of the bandage over his stomach and hissed out a breath when he saw the four, long claw marks. "Damn."
"They're really not very deep but I didn't have any way to stitch them." Leah explained and stepped back as Dean hovered and checked Sam over. It was interesting watching Dean's treatment of him now as opposed to when he'd been a child. Really, not much was different except for the affection she saw added to the concern in his eyes now.
Dean glanced up at her and raised a brow. "You don't seem too phased about a dead bear and a witch. Any reason?"
Leah smiled and raised her hands. "I've lived in these woods all my life. Lots of strange things go through here." Sam hadn't outed her to his brother, so she took his lead and kept her vocation to herself. "I was coming back from the store and saw him carrying you out of the woods, well…trying to, but…" She gestured to Sam's stomach and Dean nodded.
"Stubborn ass," Dean said fondly. He brushed Sam's hair off his forehead, gauging his fever and frowned. "Get him back to our motel, I can sew him up and get this fever down."
"How far away is your car?" Leah turned and dunked one of the towels in the bowl of now tepid water and then handed it to him. "Here."
Dean took the towel and shrugged. "No idea where we are right now." He wiped it over his brother's forehead and down his neck, smiling when Sam moaned softly and shifted his head. "Time to wake up, sleeping beauty."
Sam blinked his eyes open and frowned up at his brother. "Dean?" He looked down and around and his frown deepened. "How'd I get on the couch?"
Dean chuckled. "Nothing gets past you." He looked around and pointed. "Hand me his jacket?"
Leah nodded and picked it up. "You could stay the night, you know. He'll be better in the morning, I'm sure."
"No offense, but we don't know you." Dean smiled to take the sting from the words. "Not to mention, I kinda want pants…now."
"Car's 'bout a mile…east, I think." Sam took a breath and pushed up on his elbows. He smiled gratefully when Dean took his shoulders to help him sit. A wave of vertigo washed over him and he let his head drop onto his brother's shoulder.
"You're such a girl, you know that?" Dean chuckled and took Sam's jacket from Leah, helping his brother slip it on, all with his head firmly planted on his shoulder. "If you're done cuddlin' me, we gotta go."
Sam nodded and raised his head. "Kay. I'm good." He gave Dean a lop-sided smile. "'sides, had enough of your…naked legs for a while."
"Smart-ass." Dean growled at him and stood, bringing Sam up with him. He steadied him and pulled his arm over his shoulders.
"Leah. Thank you." Sam smiled sincerely at her and rested a hand on her shoulder for a moment. "You saved our lives."
Leah blushed and shook her head. "No, I didn't. I just saved you a long walk carrying him back to the car." She looked over at her door and the dead bugbear with a grimace. "I'd, uh…get the door for you but…"
Dean chuckled. "You gimme a couple hours and I'll be back to clean this up for you." He smiled. "Least I can do. Just let me dump gigantor here at the motel."
"Shuddup." Sam slapped Dean in the stomach, smirking at his grunt. "We'll be back." He said to Leah.
"I'll be back. You'll be in a damn bed after I stitch your gut back together." Dean glared at him and rolled his eyes. "Toss a blanket…or something…over big ugly there." He grinned at Leah who was smothering laughter behind her hand.
"I'll look forward to it. Take care, Sam." Leah took his free hand and then let him go. "I'm glad you're both alright and…thank you."
Sam smiled down at her warmly and let Dean guide him around the bear's body and outside. "Glad you're…back to your old self, Dean." Sam said and smiled at his brother's frown as they went down the stairs and Sam pointed in the right direction.
"Yeah, you wanna tell me how I ended up pantsless on hot chick's living room floor?" Dean gave him a curious look as Sam snorted a laugh.
"Remember that spell I said you tripped?" Sam looked over at him and, for just a moment, missed the open, happy look Dean had had on his face for a couple hours. "Well, it…"
"Hang on." Dean dug in his pocket as his phone rang and fished it out, flipped it open. "Hey Bobby."
"Dean! You sound like you!" Bobby said in surprise.
"Of course I'm me! Who the hell else would I be?" Dean turned an angry stare on his brother who was snickering as they wove through the forest. "Someone better damn well tell me why I've got no pants!"
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The End.
Next up: Lucydolly22!
