A/N: Hpwdy :)
It's been a few days since I posted one of these, so I was determined to finish this one today and get it up ASAP. I haven't really read through it, though I scanned it quickly, because if I do, I'll decide that I hate it and delete the whole thing, but if you see any glaringly obvious mistake, feel free to name and shame :)
I'm not going to babble too much today haha Remember, this is to go alongside my sisfic, 'Things that go Bump in the Night' and will probably only really make sense with that, but I don't suppose it completely matters. :) Please R+R and let me know what you think! I'm always looking for ideas for these one-shots, so if anyone has any, I'd love love LOVE to hear them!
OK, I'm gonna shut up now haha
Peace out,
xoloveJBox
Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet- Vietnamese proverb.
Dean: 16 years old.
Sam: 12 years old.
Lena: 6 years old.
Lena let out a heavy sigh. She couldn't remember the last time she had been so bored. It was a Sunday afternoon; Dean and John had gone on a hunt the day before- a simple salt and burn- leaving Sam and Lena to fend for themselves for the night.
The first few hours had passed quite quickly; Dean had taken Lena to pick a few movies before he'd left, but she had watched all those. She'd drawn pictures, but there were only so many variations of patterns on butterfly wings she could explore without getting fed up of that too. She'd even tried to practice her writing, imitating Sam's spidery scrawl while he did his homework, but Lena found that Sammy used too many big words for it to hold her interest for long.
Sleeping had been a strange experience the night before too. They had a routine, where Sam would read to her, then Dean would kiss her cheek and ruffle her hair before settling into her bed and climbing in beside her. Sometimes he would watch TV for a little longer, but he would always wait for Lena to fall asleep before slipping out again. Lena usually cradled next to him, needing his presence to fill the bed so that she had something safe and secure to balance her, so that she didn't feel like she could fall off the bed at any time.
Dean had never been away overnight before. John had, but never Dean. He was always there. Sam had read to her, like always, but afterwards, Lena had kind of sat there expectantly, waiting for Dean's kiss until she remembered that it wasn't going to come. She'd clambered dejectedly onto the mattress, but Lena found the bed too big and empty for her to get comfortable. Eventually, she slipped into Sam's bed, but Sam was a restless sleeper, and every other minute he was tossing and turning, making the mattress jerk every time Lena started to drift off to sleep. After a while, she dozed, and when she opened her eyes again the sun was shining through the gap in the curtains. She'd hoped to see Dean and Dad back by then, so she had to try and not look disappointed when she was only greeted by the sight of Sam pouring them both cereal.
As she wandered absently around the room, Lena remembered that Dean had once told her that only boring people got bored. But it was so hard not to be when they were under strict instructions not to leave the motel room for any reason. What were they supposed to do? Sam seemed content at reading a book, but Lena didn't think it looked like one that she would enjoy, so she didn't even bother asking if he would read it to her.
Lena let out another breath. She clambered restlessly on top of one of the hard-backed dining table chairs to lean her elbows on the windowsill. Her heart leapt every time a car stumbled near the motel, but she was forced to curb her excitement each time it wasn't who she wanted it to be. Lena was so practiced at this by the time the impala finally pulled up; she almost didn't fully register it. She squealed happily for a second, but the dark, concerned look on her father's face quelled it as he slammed his door and hurried to the passenger seat and crouched down to ease Dean from the car.
"Sammy," She started quizzically as she watched John sling Dean's arm over his shoulder "Why is Daddy carrying Dean?"
Sam's head snapped up at his sister's words, and he rushed to the window, as if to check that she wasn't playing around. 'Carrying' wasn't exactly true, but something wasn't right, and Sam headed quickly to the door and pulled it open. John staggered inside with Dean tripping over his own feet.
"What the hell happened?" Sam exclaimed as he closed the door as John set Dean heavily on the bed.
"Let's just say the guy didn't exactly appreciate our efforts to get rid of him." John grumbled as Dean pushed him away dismissively, despite the bleeding gash on his forehead that oozed scarlet down his face, along with cuts, bruises and scratches running down his arms and neck too.
Lena trepidly took in the blood on her brother's face and clothes, his pale cheeks, and the way he wasn't smiling. She couldn't remember the last time Dean wasn't smiling. She remained frozen on her seat by the window, almost convinced that something bad would happen if she moved. Sam went over and took her hand gently, knowing there was nothing he could do for his brother anyway at that moment.
"Come on Le, let's go do something over here." He muttered softly to her, pulling her over to the table and pushing paper and pens in front of her, over-zealously showing enthusiasm to her drawing. Lena, however, couldn't keep her eyes from flittering over to Dean on the bed. Fear and worry darkened her features, and Dean looked around his father, who was carrying over a bowl of warm water and a wash cloth, setting them on the bedside table.
"Hey Princess," he called across to her, jolting her attention immediately to him "You still have that first aid kit that Sammy made up for you?" Lena nodded quickly, and Dean grinned "Why don't you come over here and patch me up, huh?"
Lena stayed in her seat for a second, before the words clicked in her mind, and she slowly slipped from her chair. She scurried over to her duffel bag and dug around, until her fingers grasped the cold, shiny purple tin that Sam had given her a few weeks before, filled with bandages, gauze dressings, band aids, tweezers and a variety of other things, like safety pins, a thermometer and antiseptic cream. She had been elated when he'd given it to her, though she'd failed to notice that it didn't have all the things that John's had, like scissors and aspirins, but she hadn't had reason to use it since. With it clasped firmly in her hands, Lena teetered over to the bed and climbed up nervously; sitting on one of Dean's outstretched legs.
"I don't know what to do." She whispered timorously, her voice shaking slightly at the admittance.
"Dean..." John mumbled warningly, though Dean shot him a look.
"Dad, she can do it. You said she needed to learn." He replied coolly before turning back to Lena and giving her an encouraging smile "It's ok Le," he assured her "I'll tell you what to do."
Lena took a deep breath and nodded, following each instruction perfectly, careful to do it exactly the way Dean told her. Sam and John sat on the adjacent bed, watching intently as Lena dipped the cloth into the water and wrung it out tightly. Dean kept up an almost constant stream of casual chatter as Lena wiped the blood from his face first; patting it dry gently with the towel John passed her. The water in the bowl stained pink when Lena wrung it out again to move onto his arms and neck. None of the cuts there were deep, so once they were clean, there was nothing else to do with them, but the gouge just above his left eye was deeper, and needed more attention. Lena squeezed a blob of the antiseptic cream onto her finger and started to work it into the wound, causing Dean to hiss out a sharp breath at the stinging it elicited.
"Did I do something wrong?" Lena asked anxiously, fearing that she'd hurt him even more.
"No, no." Dean assured her through slightly gritted teeth "You're doing great."
Lena finished rubbing in the cream and taped on a small piece of gauze. "Stop moving." She told him when he squirmed a little. Lena finished with one of the bright pink 'Hello Kitty' band aid. As Lena packed away the contents of the box, John passed Dean an aspirin and a glass of water to squelch the mother of a head ache he could already feel coming on. When it was all tidied, Lena started to slide down from the bed.
"Whoa whoa whoa." Dean started, making Lena freeze "Aren't you going to kiss it better for me?"
In her whole life, there had never been a time that Lena had hurt herself, scraped her knees or grazed her elbows, and Dean hadn't kissed it better. Even though she really knew that it made no difference, Lena never felt better until Dean kissed it better, but she'd never had to do the same for Dean. Without even thinking about it, Lena leaned over and pressed a soft kiss on her brother's forehead, and Dean beamed at her.
"See," he chimed cheerfully "it doesn't even hurt anymore. Thank you Elena."
A few hours passed, and John found that he couldn't relax until he was sure that Dean didn't have a concussion. But Dean was fully conscious and alert, his words were lucid and coherent to the point where he was still managing to make smart-ass remarks every few minutes, his pupils were fine and he remembered the whole thing. By the time night fell, John was happy for Dean to go to bed with Sam and Lena, though Dean seemed to have other ideas, deciding instead to stay up and watch the John Wayne movie he had found on TV.
"Don't stay up too long Dean," John warned him before getting ready for bed himself "You'll be late for school tomorrow."
Dean groaned "I still have to go?"
"Yes, Dean, you still have to go." John replied firmly, rolling his eyes. "And I won't be here in the morning to wake you up, so don't be late."
Dean grumbled, but agreed all the same, and despite his father's warning, Dean didn't fall asleep on the couch until after two in the morning.
His alarm screamed at him. Dean protested against it, feeling around blindly to grab it and turn it off, but his eyes widened when he squinted at the screen and saw the time. He knew that his Dad would know if he didn't go to school. Even when he wasn't around, John Winchester seemed to know everything, and Dean didn't dare defy a direct order. He scrambled from his bed and grabbed some clothes from his duffel bag on his way to the bathroom, quickly changing, leaving his dirty clothes on the bathroom floor. When he emerged again, he noticed that the motel was eerily quiet, and he looked around to discover his brother and sister gone, and a note on the table in his sister's wobbly script, telling him that they had walked themselves to school, since Dean had ignored them every time they'd tried to wake him up. Dean cursed at himself and left the room, almost running to school, and appearing in his first class's doorway just as the bell rang. He breathed out a small sigh of relief, and slumped into his seat, spinning around almost immediately to Joanna, the hot, blonde cheerleader that sat behind him. He shot her a wide, charming grin, and tried to look suave, but Joanna only giggled at him.
"Dean?" She started between laughs.
"Yes?" Dean replied coolly, not noticing her eyes flickering a little above his eyes.
"Why do you have a pink band aid on your forehead?"