Warnings and disclaimers: See chapter 1
Many thanks to CorieHall for the beta on this story.
Chapter 3 Anything that can go wrong
Sam paced back and forth across the small living room like a caged tiger. He had been waiting for Dean and their dad for over five hours while they finished the hunt they were on. Lay the trap, wait for the Quanlier to take the bait and get trapped, kill it with the copper arrows Dean had made and burn the remains. Not a huge job by their standard but it could be complicated if there were other hunters around as Dean suspected. Sam had heard Dean and John in heated debate prior to them going out that night and knew Dean had bought the subject up again. Dean must have had a bad feeling about the hunt to be voicing his opinion so much. Generally he was a 'do what dad wants' kind of guy but this was something he was obviously passionate about to risk getting taken off the hunt for insubordination.
Sam paced back to the couch, threw himself down, and picked up his applied mathematics book. He had hoped Dean would help him with it as he was very good at math. He stared at the figures for a few moments but they swam before his eyes as his concentration was broken. Sam tossed the book to the small coffee table and lurched to his feet for another lap of the room. He had just started a new lap when he heard the Impala drive up and park in the drive. Sam raced to the door and swung it open, being careful of the salt line. John was in the door almost as soon as it was opened quickly followed by Dean a step behind.
John turned slightly as he crossed the threshold.
"Dean enough, there was no one else there. Just leave it alone. The hunt is done and we can move on to the next one in the morning."
"We should stay another day just to make sure." Dean pleaded.
"I'm in charge young man and I say it's time to move on."
Sam saw Dean clamp his fists shut with a snap as he tried to rein his emotions in.
"You saw the tracks and you heard the scream so you know there was someone there."
"There is no way it was a hunter Dean."
"Well you admit there was someone there then?"
"No I don't Dean. There was no one there except us and that beast we put down. Now I'm going for a shower then going to bed. You get Sam to patch you up then clean the weapons before bed. We move out in the morning." John stomped off to the bathroom without giving Dean a chance to answer back.
Dean turned on his heel and headed back out to the Impala leaving Sam standing looking between both their retreating backs. It took a few seconds before it registered with Sam what their dad had said.
'Get Sam to patch you up'. Dean must be hurt, again.
Sam grabbed the largest first aid kit from under the kitchen sink and laid it on the coffee table in the living room on his way outside to find his brother. When he got there Dean had a bag thrown on the ground under the glow from the front light and had weapons thrown haphazardly around it. Sam saw the set of Dean's shoulders and knew he had to let him blow off some steam before he could tend his injuries. Sam went out to where Dean was kneeling on the ground cleaning a sawn-off with a cloth. Sam knelt down next to Dean and silently started cleaning the other weapons. Dean nodded silently and Sam worked slowly, transfixed as usual at the speed and dexterously Dean had the weapons broken down cleaned and reassembled before Sam could get much done. Sam tried to observe exactly where Dean was injured but he was hiding it too well with the limited light and the speed of his movements. Dean packed up the gear and put them away quickly before heading inside to wash up.
Since John was in the shower, Dean had to use the kitchen sink to wash his hands. Sam held out a towel from the hallway cupboard and he dried his hands looking as calm as he normally did. Sam washed his hands quickly and caught up with Dean as he was shedding his jacket slowly at the door to their bedroom. Sam caught Dean by the arm and pulled him into the living room.
"What's up Sammy? You need help with your math?"
Dean saw the book on the table as Sam pushed him down on the beat up couch.
"Whoa! Take it easy Sammy. What's up with you?"
"You're bleeding Dean," Sam held up two fingers with blood on them that he had got from his arm when he had pulled Dean into the living room.
"I'm okay Sammy, don't worry about it." Dean moved to get up but Sam pushed him back.
Dean could have pushed back and easily overpowered him but he didn't want to hurt his brother.
"Just sit still and let me fix you up."
"I can do it myself."
"I know but let me help. Please?"
'Sammy and his damn doe eyes again.' Dean thought.
Sam pushed Dean's jacket the rest of the way off as his brother let out a defeated sigh. Sam immediately saw a double slash across Dean's left forearm. It was wet with blood but it looked to have slowed down.
Sam opened the kit with his free hand holding onto Dean so he didn't do a runner. As he turned back, Sam saw blood on the left side of Dean's T shirt.
"Hey whoa Dean, shirt off, come on." Sam started pushing at Dean's T shirt determined to get to the injury.
"Easy Sammy. I'm a big boy. I can look after myself."
"Let me decide. Come on, off with it."
Dean huffed and pulled his T shirt slowly over his head. He could refuse and just go to his room but he knew when Sam set his mind to something he would bitch and complain until he got his way. In the end it would be easier on both of them if he just let Sam patch him up. It was in a hard to get at area and his stitches needed work anyway.
"God Dean, what happened?"
"What does it look like?"
"Like the Quanlier took a swipe at you. I thought you were lying low and waiting for it to take the bait."
"We were but dad decided it was taking too long and we needed to flush it out."|
"So what happened?"
Sam dabbed holy water on the three deep slashes running under Dean's left pec to under his arm round to his back. Dean must have been running for him to have been marked the way he was. 'Talk about a close call.'
"Dad went out and tried to push the thing back towards the trap but it headed off towards where I thought the other hunters were. I had to double time it to head it off but I think it got to them before it headed back at me like a bat out of hell. I managed to get out of its way, just."
"You said you heard a scream?"
"Yeah but I was running pretty fast at the time."
Sam wiped the cuts with more water and then alcohol making Dean hiss. Sam grabbed up the first aid kit and threaded three needles.
"So what about these tracks? You think there was more than one hunter out there?" Sam had picked up on the 'hunters' when he talked about the hunt.
"Yeah, a group of three, I think."
Sam pushed Dean down so he was laying on the couch with his left side over the edge. "So you what do you want to do?"
"You believe me?"
"Of course. You're a great hunter Dean. You probably know the age and gender of the hunters as well, don't you?"
Dean blushed slightly as he nodded.
"So what do you want to do?" Sam repeated.
Dean sighed deeply then winced as Sam started the first stitch into the flesh in his side.
"Don't know. Dad wants to head out in the morning and it's not like I can go to the hospital and ask about injured people."
Sam sewed one gash up then started on the second thinking for a while before saying anything.
"You could call and ask if someone was bought in with dog bites. You could say a friend of yours came off second best with the neighbor's dog or something.'"
Dean looked at Sam thoughtfully.
"That's a great idea Sammy, thanks I will do that."
"Just wait until dad finishes the rest of the bottle of Jack he's on."
Dean nodded, "I'll use the phone down the block as well, that way he'll never know."
Sam grinned up from his work. "Good idea. That way you can grab me some ice cream while you are out."
Dean grinned back at Sam. "Now you're pushin' it Sammy."
"What? It's a warm night, it would be nice."
Sam leaned back and grabbed a piece of gauze and some tape.
"Almost done."
TBC