Chapter Seven: Wild Horses
"Family of Joshua Trapp?" a nurse asked as she stepped into the waiting room, peering around for anyone looking expectant or making a move to stand.
The twelve-year old jumped out of his seat, followed by his older brother who was giggling uncontrollably.
"Your last name is Trapp?" Dean asked, trying unsuccessfully to stifle his laughter, "Your name is Mouse Trapp! Mouse Trapp!"
The boy ignored the teenager and approached the nurse.
"Josh's my uncle," he told her and the woman nodded, but then frowned, "You don't have any other family with you?"
"My older brother," Mouse pointed to Dean, "He's-"
"Eighteen," the sixteen-year old lied blatantly, "I'm looking after him until our uncle is all right."
The nurse nodded and smiled; clearly thinking that Dean was a good, responsible boy.
"Your uncle is out of surgery and doing well," she told the brothers.
"Can we see him?" Mouse asked anxiously.
The nurse nodded, "He's just being moved to another room to stay in but I can take you. He's still recovering from the surgery so he'll probably be sleepy."
Mouse smiled at the prospect of seeing Josh again, alive and on the mend.
The nurse turned around and led the brothers through the winding hospital corridors.
Mouse had to force himself not to run ahead of the nurse in his haste to reach Josh's room even though he had no idea where it was.
"Here we are," the nurse said and stopped in front of a door that looked like all the others that led to patients' rooms- small square chicken wire-covered window and mint-coloured paint- but for the small metal plate screwed into that read '117'.
The nurse opened the door quietly and Mouse stepped right into the room, peering around for the hunter.
The first thing he saw was an empty bed and for a moment his heart skipped a beat in fear but then the nurse stepped ahead of him and drew back the green dividing curtain to reveal a second bed and Josh.
Mouse hurried forwards and stood at the bedside. His uncle's eyes were closed, the lids purple and bruised-looking. Josh's face was pale and beaded with sweat.
Concerned, the twelve-year old turned to the nurse, "Is he okay? He looks really sick."
The nurse checked Josh's chart and a couple of machines the hunter was attached to before nodding, "He had some pretty major surgery but he'll be all right."
Mouse nodded and reached out, touching Josh's hand.
The nurse walked out of the room, giving them some privacy, telling Dean to use the call button if they needed anything.
"Hey Josh," the boy muttered, peering into the hunter's face and feeling tears well up in his eyes again, "I'm okay. I'm not hurt. Dean saved me from John. He said he's shoot John if he killed me."
The hunter's face twitched and slowly, Josh opened his eyes.
Mouse grinned.
"Hey," the boy said and Josh smiled a little, "Hey."
Then, the hunter frowned, "That's a nasty bruise you've got there."
The twelve-year old's eyebrows knitted together in confusion and he reached up to touch the skin at the base of his throat, wincing at the tender, swollen tissue.
"I'm okay," Mouse assured the man.
"In better condition than I am," Josh chuckled a little, his voice raspy and whispery.
Then his eyes grew hard and sharp, "You didn't listen to me. I told you to run."
Again, tears prickled at Mouse's eyes, "I know but I couldn't leave you. You were hurt bad… You could have been dying."
"That doesn't matter," Josh told him, "Your job isn't to protect me."
"But…" Mouse stammered, his tears overflowing, unable to believe he was being chastised.
"What you did was stupid," Josh continued, "You could have died. Would have died because you didn't listen to me."
"Give him a break!" Dean stepped forward and interrupted, "He's just a kid."
Josh's eyes rolled to take in the teenager.
"Who do you think you are? Don't tell me how to raise my kid!"
Dean opened his mouth but nothing came out, perhaps too shocked that the injured hunter still had enough venom in him to attack but him and a twelve-year old, and took a few steps backwards.
Josh pulled his hand away from Mouse's hold and looked away from him.
"Josh!" the boy exclaimed, "Don't be angry! Please! I'm sorry!"
But the hunter wasn't listening. Mouse started crying in earnest and Dean stepped forwards again, this time putting an arm around the boy's shoulders.
"Let's go get something to eat in the cafeteria, okay?"
Mouse, although he wasn't hungry, nodded and followed Dean out of the room.
SPN
Dean watched silently as Mouse pulled his sandwich apart, separating its contents but not eating any of it.
"Maybe it was just the anesthesia making him a jerk," the teen suggested, trying to cheer the boy up.
Mouse shook his head, "No, he was right. I should have run away."
Dean frowned, "Then Dad would have just shot you in the back and you would be dead."
Mouse didn't reply. He just stared down at his deconstructed sandwich with red-rimmed eyes.
"You know," Dean said, "the same thing happened to me."
The twelve-year old didn't look up but Dean continued.
"Dad and I were out hunting a Black Dog," the teen told him, "I was just a kid, it was only my third or fourth real hunt and I was scared shit- crapless."
"Anyway, since I was so nervous I wasn't paying enough attention and this Black Dog jumps out of the bushes and right onto Dad. I froze. I didn't know what to do. Dad was trying to kill the thing and telling me to kill it but I couldn't.
Finally, it seemed as though something just clicked and I shot the damn thing. I killed the Black Dog but it clawed Dad's chest up pretty bad. He really reamed me when we got back to the motel room for not listening to him. He was mad for a few hours but then he cooled down and we never really talked about it again, as though it had never happened."
Mouse didn't speak for a long moment, then he said quietly, "That's not the same thing."
Dean sighed, "Look, what I'm trying to get at is that, sure, Dad was mad I had messed up but he couldn't stay mad at me forever or it would have just been ridiculous to live with him. I'm sure Josh will be okay in a little while. He just needs time to calm down."
"You're a kid," Dean continued, "Josh knows that and I'm sure he knows you'll ignore him when he tells you to do something. He'll get over it."
Mouse lifted one shoulder in a shrug but didn't respond.
SPN
Mouse stepped quietly into Josh's room. He had stayed away from the man for the rest of the day, wandering the halls and grounds with Dean and eating his meals in the cafeteria but now he wanted to be with his uncle, even if the man was still angry with him.
Stepping up to the bed, the boy took a seat in the chair set out for visitors and tentatively reached out to touch the man's hand as he had done earlier.
Josh, his breathing slow and even with sleep, did not stir.
"I'm sorry," Mouse whispered, his voice barely audible, "I should have listened to you."
Josh remained asleep for a long moment before he breathed in deeply through his nose and opened his eyes.
Quickly, Mouse drew his hand away from the man's and glanced down, ashamed.
"Mouse," Josh said quietly and the boy looked up reluctantly.
"I'm glad you didn't listen to me," he said, "I was afraid I'd lose you, that'd I'd have to see you die right beside me."
Josh's eyes filled with tears and so did Mouse's. Again, the boy reached out and touched the hunter's hand, this time Josh's fingers closed around Mouse's smaller hand.
SPN
"So this is your brother?" Josh asked with a wry smile.
He had been in the hospital for two days and was recovering nicely, or so his doctor claimed.
Mouse had told him the fictitious story John Winchester's eldest boy had fabricated so as to explain the attack at the gas station, making that one less thing for him to worry about.
The police however, with a description of said Winchester, had been unable to find him. Which was something that added to Josh's worry.
"Dean Winchester," the sixteen-year old shook Josh's hand and looked somewhat sheepish.
"You never knew about any of this?" Josh asked, waving a hand in Mouse's direction.
Dean shook his head, "No Sir. Dad told me Sammy had died."
Josh frowned, "Mouse told me what you did to save him. Threatening your own father."
The teen nodded, "I couldn't let him shoot a kid."
"How did you know Mouse really was a regular kid and not some shapeshifter or skinwalker?" Josh asked, just to play Devil's advocate for a moment.
"Well," Dean hesitated a second, "He was with you. I knew you were a hunter so I didn't think you'd be so friendly towards a real monster."
Josh smiled slightly and so did Dean.
"Now, you don't know where your old man is, by chance?"
The teenager shook his head.
"Dean has nowhere to go!" Mouse broke in, leaning forward on his seat, "Can he stay with us? Please!"
"I don't know," Josh replied, scratching at his stubbly chin, "We've only just met him."
"Sir, if I wanted to hurt Sammy, don't you think I would have done it already, while you were lying helpless in a hospital bed?"
Josh's eyes widened, "Who said anything about that? I didn't!"
Dean took on a chagrinned expression.
"I'm only joking," the hunter smiled.
"So can he stay?" Mouse asked again.
Josh nodded, "Dean can stay as long as he likes."
Mouse grinned.
W
Lifting one foot onto the metal step attached to the trailer, Josh frowned as he dug in his pocket for the keys. After a moment he found what he was looking for an unlocked the door. Easing it open, he stepped inside the only home he'd had since his wife and son had died.
"You two coming inside?" he asked without turning.
"One second!" Mouse called and Josh heard the door of the pickup truck slam shut.
"You forgot your phone," the twelve-year old stepped inside the small space and handed Josh his mobile phone, "It was in the glove compartment."
"Thanks," Josh replied offhandedly and took the device. He hadn't turned it on since he'd gotten it back from the police when they let him out of jail.
"There's not much space to sleep," Mouse told Dean as the older boy peered around the trailer curiously.
"I sleep in the bottom of the bunk bed," the twelve-year old explained and pointed to the rear of the trailer, "And Josh uses the top when he can."
"The table folds down and the seats around it make a bed," Josh told the boys absentmindedly as he turned his phone back on and saw that he had twenty-four missed calls, all from Bobby Singer.
"But you can sleep in the bed, Dean," Josh set his phone on the narrow space of counter and took a step forward when the phone buzzed loudly.
Snatching the device up, Josh answered, "Bobby Singer, if this is you, you're damn lucky I'm too tired to drive up to Sioux Falls and kick your ass for not keeping your big mouth shut!"
There was silence on the other end of the line for a long time then Bobby Singer did reply.
"I'm sorry, Josh," he apologized, his voice thick.
"Are you drunk?" Josh snapped, ready to end the fall.
"Wish I was," Bobby replied, "Never been more sober in my life. Why didn't you answer your goddamn phone? I thought you and the tyke were dead!"
Josh sneered, well aware that both Dean and Mouse were watching him closely.
"Oh, like you'd give a shit!"
"I didn't mean to say anything," Bobby told him, "But John, he's one conniving son of a bitch if he's anything. He… He threatened to hurt my daughter."
"Your… daughter," Josh faltered, "I didn't know you had a daughter?"
"No one does," Bobby explained, "We had a falling out and she doesn't talk to me. Somehow John found out about her and threatened to hurt her if I didn't talk. I'm sorry. If it was anything else but Carrie Ann…"
Josh said nothing. He knew what Bobby was feeling, having your child threatened by John Winchester.
"Is she all right?"
"Oh, she's fine," Bobby replied, "But now I'm even deeper in the doghouse with her."
Josh smiled slightly.
"Well, thank you for your concern," the hunter said and ended the call.
For a long moment no one spoke and in the silence the phone took the opportunity to buzz once again.
This time it wasn't Bobby but another hunter, asking Josh to come and help him get rid of a couple of rawheads.
"Sorry Mack, but I'm out of commission for a while," Josh apologized, "But try Caleb. He's a good kid."
The other hunter said he would do that and hung up.
"You're not going on a hunt?" Mouse asked.
He knew that Josh could and had gone out to hunt with a partner in the past, even if he was sporting injuries, out of his own principle of not wanting innocent people hurt because he wasn't feeling up to it.
"Not this time," Josh told him, "I think I'll stay here with you for a while."
"Really?" Mouse asked, his eyes lighting up with excitement.
"Wild horses couldn't take me away," Josh chuckled and stumbled back a step as the twelve-year old ran towards him and wrapped his arms around his waist in a tight hug.
SPN
Dean, privy to the sight of his brother with a loving guardian, smiled and knew he'd be forever grateful to Josh for making the right choice.
Author's Note:
Chapter title comes from a Rolling Stones song.
Thanks to whimsicalbarwench, whatnosheep, QueenBea93, mckydstarlight, oooPennywiseooo, and Catherine for reviewing.
This is the end, Ladies and Gents. I'm feeling a sequel or series in the future, especially with John still at large, but for now I have other stories itching to be written. Please join take a moment to leave one last review.