Storm's Last Season

Chapter 9 ~ October Nights

previously on BruisedBloodyBroken:

The yard was full of scrap-cars. Who would've known how big that areal was, if it hadn't been for four people searching it for one person.

Dusk was already setting over the land and it had gotten sensitively cool. Despite the both alpha's sensitive noses, the omega's scent was fading. And that fast.

Dean kept yelling Sam's name, while the others kept still, well knowing that he wouldn't come out if he'd sense anyone else but the hunter.

Night broke over the scrap-yard fast ... too fast ...

And all Dean Winchester was able to think was to find HIS MATE before it'd be too dark to see anything. Before he'd get hypothermic ... or even worse ...

NOW:

It was exactly 4:49 am in the morning, when Dean found him.

The omega had made it to the garage on the very other end of the salvage and had hidden behind it, between old tires and damaged machine-parts, covered by a large, holey tarp.

Dean had immediately called the others and ordered Sonny to get a car there. The temperature had dropped beyond zero this night – pretty early for october and definitely an exception.

Sam woke as soon as the bright beam of Dean's flashlight fell on his pale face and he started to inch away as much as his freezing stiff limps allowed him. Though, as soon as he noticed the familiar scent of the alpha and heard the concerned voice, he let himself being touched. Nearly immediately he started to mumble along. He was trying to tell Dean that he was sorry for running away, and not coming back to him.

Instead, the alpha shushed him, obviously not interested in what he had to say, and though he needed him to know.

"'m so s-s-soorry. So s-s-sor-ry." Sam's lips quivered, his teeth chattered. He couldn't bring himself to stop it, no matter how hard he tried. "D-didn'-t fin-n-nd t-he wa-y b-b-back. 'm s-so sorry."

"It's okay, Sammy, it's okay." If Dean was anything, he was relieved. If he felt anything it was the giant stone in his stomach and the heavy weight on his shoulders, wich had built up during the past couple of hours. "We're going to talk about that later. - When you're warmed up again."

Dean pulled the shivering mess of flesh and bones into his arms, hissing when Sam's cold face made contact with the sensitive skin of his neck. "Shit, you're cold, kiddo."

He took Sam's icy hands and guided them under his own shirt, flinching away as they made first contact with his warm abdomen. He pulled Sam close, covering the omega's head with the hood of the jacket.

The beam of headlights appeared and moments after, the sheriff's car pulled up not far away from the tires. Jody Mills got out, but didn't wear her uniform anymore. Instead she wore her civil-clothes. Something that wouldn't look as threatening to the omega as she probably had before.

Though no-one could know, that it had been her car that had let Sam freak out.

Sam was too out of it anyway to realize that it was a police-car right there, it's colors hidden by the darkness of the night.

Dean gathered the shivering omega in his arms and heaved him up on his arms. And HOLY SHIT, that guy was heavy. Though he managed to get him the couple of feet towards Jody's car and through the open door, wich the sheriff held open for the both of them.

When Sam and Dean were finally settled on the backseat, Jody climbed behind the wheel again.

"We're gettin' you warmed up in no time, Sammy.", Dean whispered, his own voice trembling from the cold which radiated from the man. "Stuffin' you under a pile of comforters and a heating-blanket."

Sam leaned heavily against him, his eyes on half-mast, mumbling incoherent things about his father and that he didn't want back into the hole. About that he was sorry for running away and not coming back and that he'd do everything for Dean if he didn't take him back to the farm.

Dean just let him babble, concentrating on rubbing the younger man's hands and face for the merely five minutes to Bobby's house.

Sonny was already waiting on the porch, looking utterly nervous and concerned and somehow angry. A mix that did never go well with that man.

Though Dean decided to ignore him for the moment. His one and only attention had to be directed on Sam. Only Sam.

So, when the car got to a hold close beside the porch, Sonny was already on his way downstairs. He wrenched the rear-door behind the passenger's side open and half crawled inside.

"He's hypothermic. His pulse arrhythmic and fast.", Dean blurted out in the very moment and gave Sonny a nod.

A sign that he'd need his help to get Sam out o the car and upstairs.

Both alphas carried the younger man inside and upstairs into the omega's room, where Bobby was busy with adjusting a heating-blanket on the bed and plugging it into the socket in the wall beside the bed.

Dean and Sonny laid Sam out on it. "We're going to get you out of your clothes, Sammy.", the hunter panted hastily.

Though he doubted that Sam was aware of anything that was happening right now.

Bobby turned the regulator down on the lowest stage and stepped back, letting the both men work.

Jody stood in the doorway and watched them closely, with a sorrowful look.

Dean continued to babble along, while they got the clothes off of Sam, until he lay there in just his boxers. The omega's skin was cold to the touch, his toes, fingers, lips, ears and nose blue. Until they were done, Sam had stopped to shiver. A sign that his body was starting to give in, that he didn't fight against the cold anymore.

Dean hurried up and threw a comforter and a blanket over the prone body before them, giving Sonny and Bobby a fearful look.

"I'll get the warmed up saline.", the grizzled mechanic said and hurried outside, past Jody, before anyone could say something.

"You sure that's a good idea?" Dean glanced at Sonny Gibbons with risen eyebrows and a worried expression on his face.

The ex-con gave him a short nod. "Bobby knows how to deal with things like that.", he answered with a calmly and gave the younger alpha a reassuring look.

Dean started to strip off his jacket, flannel and shirt, while Sonny was still talking, then continued with his boots and jeans, leaving his socks on. "Okay. - Get out.", he shared short glances with the sheriff and Sonny.

Everyone in the room knew what he was going to do. Except Dean wasn't quite sure about it. Though he ignored his insecurity and listened to his gut-feeling and instincts. They needed to warm Sam up slowly. Sure, the heating-blanket would do its work, but they couldn't turn it up on a higher level just yet. It was a different thing with another body beside the one who was hypothermic after all.

Half-naked, as the Winchester was, he crawled under the blanket and comforter on the other side of the bed and scooped over beside Sam, pressing himself up against the side of the freezing cold body of the omega. HIS omega (that's what Dean actually thought). HIS. HIS responsibility. HIS alone and no one else's.

Dean eased one of his arms under Sam's shoulders and wrapped the other one around the man's middle. A full-body-shiver cursed through him, when their bodies made further contact. He turned the omega over in his arms, so that he was lying half on him, Sam's head on his chest, and one of his arms rested over Dean's stomach.

"What the hell were you thinking.", the alpha muttered, rubbing the man's uppermost bicep.

Sam mumbled something incoherent again. Words Dean couldn't make out.

Bobby emerged a couple of minutes later with medical utensils and a bag with saline.

Dean fumbled for Sam's uppermost arm to free him from the blanket and draped it over it, so that Bobby could start to work on him.

The grizzled mechanic adjusted the wheel on the drip, so that it wouldn't go too fast.

"I'm going to let the door ajar. - If you need something, just holler. We're downstairs." Bobby petted the younger man's shoulder and gave him a wink.

"Guess we're fine for now." The hunter gave him a small smile and a grateful nod.

It took quite some time until Sam's body felt less cold and his weak heartbeat started to feel stronger against Dean's fingertips.

Enough, to get out under the comforter before Sam'd wake up. But it actually felt pretty warm and comfortable, and Dean's limbs were heavy and his eyes tired. He could allow himself to close them for a couple of minutes, before he'd get up and dressed again.

Dean would just close them for a couple of minutes to rest his eyes and tired body. Just five minutes and then he'd crawl out of the bed and towards the mattresses that were once the omega's bed ...

Fatigue had other plans anyway. - It carried him from a light slumber into a deeper sleep ...

Slowly but surely Sam crawled his way up to the surface of consciousness. Despite the coldness that had settled deep down in his body, his skin felt warm now. It felt comforting and like pure bliss.

Everything around him was soft. The comforter and hard, though soft surface beneath him gave him the security he needed.

It was just amazing how good it felt ...

... at least until he realized what the surface beneath him was. That he didn't wear anything but underwear and that there was another half-naked body half beneath him.

He couldn't bother himself to care.

Not that much at least.

Not since his muscles hurt and the pressure in his chest wouldn't let him take a deep breath. At least not yet. Though he tried to and was rewarded with a fit of throaty, barking and hurtful coughs, which felt as if he was about to spit his lungs out.

Sam sucked in a wheezing breath and another fit of coughs let his body erupt.

Dean's eyes flew open, feeling the warm, soft skin of the omega against his – and got welcomed to awareness with a pretty fast filling heaviness between his thighs. This was so not good.

Ignoring it would be the best to get rid of it, Dean Winchester decided in his sleep-fogged mind.

"Mornin', Sammy.", Dean muttered and groaned.

Another fit of coughs and the spasming muscles of the omega catapulted him streight out of the tiredness he still felt.

Sam muttered something.

"You're sick ..." It was more of a statement than a question.

Sam sniffed and snuggled into the hunter's bare chest. His mind was too tired and he felt too drained to put the pieces of the puzzle together. He didn't care that he lay half-naked with the alpha in the bed, so close that their skins were touching. That there wasn't even an inch, nor a layer between the both of them.

The alpha's scent was unique and comforting and everything that promised him safety and love ...

Dean cursed himself. Once Sam'd realize where they were and all that stuff that wasn't quite right about this situation, he'd freak out. He'd probably won't let him come near for quite some time. He couldn't count on logic in this case. Sam wouldn't understand why he had done what he had done – high likely.

The hunter tried to ease out under the omega, but Sam wrapped the arm, that was resting over his stomach, around him. "No ...", he whispered hoarsely, "Don't go ... please."

Dean relaxed back into the pillow, blowing out a long-drawn breath. The hand that rested in between Sam's shoulder-blades holding onto the man some more. Feeling the warmth ... and the kind of unnatural warmth against his palm. A slight frown built on the hunter's forehead.

"Sammy?", Dean's voice sounded high alert. "Sammy."

Sam sniffed again and shifted his head so he was looking up at the alpha with a pair of dazed hazel-eyes.

Big quizzical eyes blinked at the Winchester from below.

Dean laid his hand on Sam's forehead. It felt too warm to be normal. That, in connection with the younger man's dazed eyes and flushed cheeks let him assume that he was running a slight fever. That alone wouldn't have been that bad, if it hadn't been for the coughing and sneezing.

"Crap. You ARE sick ..." Dean's hand traveled over Sam's cheek and he let it rest there for a couple of long seconds. "I'll go and get the thermometer. - You stay here. In bed. You're not going anywhere, 'kay?"

With that, Dean eased out under the other man and got up, but not before he took a deep inhale of his scent. He hurried to get dressed and downstairs, giving Sonny the short information that Sam had caught a cold, and was back up in no-time.

Back in Sam's room, he found the omega just as he had left him. Lying on his stomach, covered by the blanket and comforter. On his way to Sam, he pulled the plug from the heating-blanket from the socket and tugged the thermometer into the omega's armpit.
Sam didn't as much as stir a bit, letting everything just happen.

When the thermometer peeped, Dean pulled it free and stared at the display, reading 102.0 F. He sighed and rubbed over his face. Placing the thermometer on the nightstand he glanced at Sam for a long moment, before he headed back downstairs for a glass of cool water and back up.

Back at Sam's side, he laid his hand on the omega's back and rubbed gently. "Sam. - I need you to turn around."

Surprisingly, he followed the hunter's gentle order and turned on his back, though he didn't open his eyes.

"Good. - Now open your eyes, Sam", he said.

The younger man's eyes opened lazily and he blinked up at the alpha.

"Fine. - Might as well you'll need to sit up. I need you to drink a bit for me.", Dean tired to smile, but failed.

Sam did as he was ordered. Maybe he was a bit slow and it looked kind of awkward, since his ribcage hurt as if something had rolled over him. He reached for the glass and took some zips and was about to give it back to Dean, but the hunter refused to take it back.

"Nah. - I need you to drink the whole glass.", he said calmly.

Sam eyed the liquid and then the alpha. He wasn't thirsty. All he wanted was to sleep and be left in peace. But as by the looks of it, Dean wasn't in for that. So he did as h e was told, gulping down the water as fast as possible.

Dean took the glass back and went into the bathroom to refill it. When he came back, Sam was lying flat on his back.

Before Sam even knew it, he was drawn back into a fitful sleep.

After watching the omega – HIS omega – for quite some more time, Dean headed downstairs and drunk a coffee with Sonny in silence. He actually felt miserable for failing. He had never thought about, that they could probably cross someone else's way and that it'd scare Sam shitless. Hell, he hadn't even thought about the possibility. Something he should have.

He should have been braced for everything.

EVERYTHING.

But he hadn't been. Hell, he didn't even know if he was doing the right thing now.

Because of him, Sam was sick. Because of him, he lay upstairs with a fever and a cold.

Because he hadn't thought forward.

"Stop it, boy." Sonny took a long slurp from the whiskey. "You aren't used to deal with people like Sam. - You couldn't know."

Dean gazed up at his friend. "Is that so?"

Sonny chuckled. "Learning by doing, son. - Trust me, it's hard but the only thing that really works."

The Winchester gave his friend a brief smile.

"What did Jody want anyway?" The alpha hurried up to get another topic to talk about.

"Told her that I've news about Sam. - About the drawings and stuff.", Sonny sighed and shook his head with closed eyes. "You got the pictures?"

"I'll take them later on. - First I've to get something to eat into that kid and check on his fever. Giving him some Tylenol.", Dean explained silently. "Best thing to do is letting him sleep I guess. - At least that's what helped me so far."

Sonny nodded to himself.

"Bobby's at the garage?"

Sonny nodded again with a deep sigh. "Yep. - He and Ellen. That woman's a bad-ass mechanic." He grinned broadly. "And a damn good huntress by the way."

Dean smirked. "She is ..."

Later on, Dean went back upstairs with bacon, eggs and toast, Tylenol and a glass of orange-juice.

Sam lay in the same position as he had before, snoring his way through the sickness.

"Hey ... Sammy.", he whispered, giving him a gentle nudge.

He didn't stir.

"C'mon kiddo. It's time for some pills and food.", he whispered, brushing a sweat-damp bang of hair out of Sam's face.

The omega screwed up his nose, but didn't do anything else.

The alpha chuckled.

Sam's eyes fluttered open. "Dean?", he asked, his voice merely a whisper.

The hunter smiled at him gently. "The one and only, boy. - Got pills and something to eat."

There was just one thing Sam truly wanted. And that was sleep. But there was also the alpha. A real nice one. - He wouldn't piss Dean off – he couldn't.

Without being asked to do so, Sam sat up and inched backwards until his back touched the headboard where he could lean against. His head spun a bit at the movements. He knew that feeling. He had been sick before. Though his father used to separate the sick one from the healthy ones. The only times they got a real bed to sleep on, without having company. The only times they got taken care of Alistair personally and not by their sisters or brothers.

The only times they were truly safe were when they were sick. Alistair was taking delicate care of them then, treating them like something precious. Not that he didn't do that anyway. He always told them that they were special and precious TO HIM. That he was treating them like they were the greatest treasure. Because they were his children. He told them that he treated them like the others wouldn't. That he was taking care of them and protecting them. Something the world outside wouldn't understand, wouldn't do.

He eyed the plate that was placed into his lap. Bacon, eggs and toast. One of his favorites. This kind of breakfast was something special, he and his siblings just got on sundays or birthdays. Something that these people seemed to eat all the time.

"Thanks.", Sam said silently and gave the alpha a small smile.

Dean watched the younger man eating slowly.

Half through the breakfast, Sam stopped and laid the fork aside. "I'm sorry.", he whispered.

"I know you are.", the hunter gave back. He didn't ask why.

Sam sighed deeply. "Is he gone?" He asked after a long while.

Dean looked at him confused. "Who?"

"The police-man ..." Sam sucked in his lower lip, biting down on it and gazed up between long bangs that were hanging into his face. "... did you send him away?"

His confusion turned into realization and into a slight smile. Knowing what set Sam off was truly calming, so he knew what he would have to avoid ...

"That was Jody, Sam. - The Sheriff. She just wanted to talk to Sonny ... about you, you know?" Dean inched back until he found the end of the bed against his lower back and pulled his feet up, stretching them out beside Sam's. "They have meetings every now and then. They are looking for the people who did this to you."

Now it was Sam's turn to look confused. "No one did something to me ..."

The hunter stared at him shocked. "Sure someone did this to you. - No one should be afraid of someone else. No one should have to sleep on a mattress instead of a bed. YOU shouldn't be used to things like this."

Sam tilted his head to the side and looked up completely, fixing the hunter's gaze. "But it's ... it's normal ..." He looked aside. "My father treated us like something precious. He took care of us ..."

"But you're afraid of him, aren't you?" Dean crossed the arms before his chest. "Aren't you?"

Sam shrugged.

Realization dawned on Dean. "Did he make you and your siblings believe, that he was protecting you?" There was something angry in his voice. "He did, didn't he?"

Sam shrugged again, shrinking.

"He made you think, that it is okay that you are sleeping on a mattress with your siblings in a small room? That it's okay to lock you down in a muddy hole in the ground?"

"That was punishment.", Sam muttered. "I was disobedient. I tried to betray him. And I paid for it."

"And that's not okay, Sam. - No normal people would do that." He cleared his throat. "Never. Most of all not your parents."

The omega looked longingly at the alpha. He so wished that it was true. That his words were the truth and nothing but.

"But I'm an omega.", Sam put the plate aside and pulled his hands back into his lap. ... I'm just an omega ...

"Yes, you are." Dean nudged with his toes into Sam's thigh on the outer side. "And that's a good thing, Sam. Omegas are precious. I think you just don't know that. Whatever your father made you believe. It's wrong. It's seven days from sunday wrong." Dean paused. "I don't know what he told you, but ... but omegas? Omegas are like everyone else on this damn world. They are even more. More of everything, Sam. YOU are more." He frowned, trying to get through to him, to make it clear to him, that he wasn't supposed to be like he was. "Omegas don't have to hide, kiddo."

Sam listened. He listened closely. "Why should I believe you?" ... you are one of them ...

"Because it's the truth, Sam. - You know what? Omegas get to choose their mates, no alphas or betas choose them. You know what happens if you hurt an omega?" Big green eyes stared intently at Sam.

Sam shook his head.

"People who are abusing, hurting or murdering omegas are getting judged harder than anyone else." The hunter spoke calmly. "No one gets to get away with hurting an omega. No one. - That's why you should tell me who this was. Who killed your siblings, who hurt you. That's why Jody comes by every now and then. She wants to know what happened so that she can arrest the one who stole you from your parents and raised you in a world of ... of this!" He stared at him, a mix of feelings crossing his face. "You aren't supposed to be afraid of me, or Sonny or Bobby or anyone else who comes into this house. You are supposed to feel free to do whatever you want to." Dean sighed heavily. "I slap a bitchy omega across the face, I get arrested, kid." Okay, this might was overdone, but he had to make his point clear.

Sam stared into his lap, playing with his fingers. This couldn't be true, could it? Could their father have lied to them during all those years? Of course, Sam hadn't ever been quite convinced from his father's opinion ... He had rebelled against him ...

But this? Could THIS be true? Could THIS be reality? The reality he and his siblings had longed for so long? He often had thought about how it'd be if their roles were swapped. If omegas weren't at the end of the food-chain and that his father was wrong about the outside-world.

His father ... Alistair ... "What parents?" Sam asked with a frown. "I have a father ..."

"YES. You sure had one. But it sure as hell ain't the guy who pretended to be him. - Trust me on this. He ain't." Dean tilted his head to the side, in the need of Sam to understand.

"If he isn't my father ..." The omega frowned and shook his head, not able to quite believe what the alpha had said.

"We don't exactly know who your parents were. - They took an example of your genetics in the hospital, but didn't find a fitting match yet.", the alpha's voice turned soft. "I'm sorry Sam. But none of what your father made you think is true. None of it."

Sam inched down a bit, staring pensively at his big hands.

Maybe Sam understood. Maybe he would think about the possibility that the man who had him and the others had lied to him. To all of them.

... to be continued

sooo ... next chapter?

Chapter 10 ~ Finding Fate