Chapter 7: 10:41 A.M.
Loud shouting can be heard coming from John's room and Jean stands up from the chair beside Dean's bed to find out what's going on. She arrives at John's room just in time to hear Sam tell John to go to hell.
"I should've never taken you along in the first place," John shouts at Sam. "I knew it was a mistake!"
Suddenly, a glass of water goes flying off of the table without being touched and smashes on the floor. All three look at it then John and Sam look at each other. Sam looks at Jean and she at him, but Jean and John avoid making eye contact.
A voice comes over the P.A. system and seconds later nurses are running past John's room heading for Dean's. Alarmed, Jean quickly follows them. When she arrives in the doorway of Dean's room, the nurses and doctors are trying to resuscitate Dean. "No...Dean..." Jean's eyes start to fill with tears and she nearly jumps when a hand comes to rest on her shoulder. She looks to her left and notices Sam standing next to her, a look of despair and pain on his face.
As they both watch in horror, the doctors continue to try to save Dean's life. Finally a steady beeping begins to emit from the heart monitor. Jean and Sam let out sighs of relief before Jean turns to Sam and says, "I have a plan but I need to get some things from the trunk of my car. Where are the keys?"
Sam looks at her in confusion before taking her car keys from his pocket. "What do you mean? What plan?"
Jean motions for Sam to follow her as she walks towards the staircase. "Hospitals are prime hunting grounds for reapers and I believe one may be after Dean." They reached the stairs and began to make their way down the two flights of stairs to the first floor. "So I'm going to bind the reaper to keep it away from Dean."
Sam stops in his tracks and gently grabs Jean by her upper arm causing Jean to come to a stop as well. "Jean, that is extremely dangerous...If the reaper got free, it would go after you!"
"Yeah, I know Sam. But I have to do something to help Dean and this is the best plan I have. If you have a better plan, I'm all ears."
Sam sighs and let's go of Jean's arm, "Okay. What can I do to help?"
Jean begins to walk towards the hospital's exit on the first floor and Sam follows her. "Actually, when I text you I need you to distract the security guards so I can sneak down into the boiler room and set up the altar."
They come to a stop again in front of the exit. Sam nods his head, "I can do that, but I'll need at least five minutes."
Jean pats Sam on the back, "Okay."
As Sam walks back the way they came, Jean leaves the hospital and finds her '68 Mustang in the parking lot. She opens the trunk and begins to pack everything she'll need for the ritual into an empty duffel bag. She puts the long strap of the bag over her shoulder then shuts the trunk. She looks at her cell and notices that only a couple of minutes have passed. So she unlocks and opens the passenger side door then grabs a candy bar. She commences to walk back to the hospital but stops outside the doors. She opens the candy bar and takes a large bite. After she finishes her candy bar, she pulls out her cell and looks at the time. She sees that more than five minutes have passed so she sends a quick text to Sam then waits.
She doesn't have to wait for long, only about a minute or two, when she sees the hospital's security guards leave their station and rush off in the opposite direction of the staircase that leads down to the basement where the boiler room is located. Jean walks casually through the entrance and towards the staircase. She makes it to the stairs without incident and starts to descend them. She soon reaches the boiler room and enters the room. She walks all the way to the back of the large room and begins to set up the altar.
A little over forty minutes later, Jean is close to finishing when she hears a man speaking in Latin. Her curiosity peaked, Jean sets about finding the owner of the voice. She soon comes upon a man kneeling on the floor in the middle of the room. As she approaches the man, he lights a match, speaks in Latin again, and drops the match into a bowl on the floor in front of him. Whatever is in the bowl catches fire then quickly dies down.
As the man stands up, Jean recognizes him. "Dad?" she asks, stepping closer to him.
John turns around in surprise, "Jean? What are you doing down here?" He notices the items that she's still holding and frowns. "What are you doing with a Coptic cross?"
"I'm going to bind the local reaper to save Dean. What are you..." she starts to ask what he's doing down here, but trails off when she spots the summoning ritual. "You did it...you actually fucking summoned that damn demon."
Before John can respond to his daughter's accusations, a man in his mid-to-late fifties grabs John's shoulder and John turns to face the stranger. The man asks John and Jean, "What the hell are you two doing down here?"
"I can explain," John replies.
"Yeah? You're gonna explain to security. Come on, you two follow me," the man says and begins to walk away.
Jean pulls a flask of holy water out of her pocket and takes a large mouthful of the water, but doesn't swallow it.
"Hey," John says and the man stops then turns around to face John and Jean. John pulls the Colt out and cocks it. "How stupid do you think I am?"
The man's eyes turn yellow. "Do you really want an honest answer to that question?" he asks, before looking in Jean's direction. "Hello, princess, long time no see." He looks her up and down, a disgusting smile spreading across his face. "You grew up to be quite a beauty." At yellow-eyes' statement, John steps in front of his daughter protectively.
Two demons possessing doctors appear from around a corner behind yellow-eyes and walk past him. One stands behind John and the other behind Jean. "You conjuring me, John. I'm surprised. I took you for a lot of things, but suicidally reckless wasn't one of them." Yellow-eyes stats.
"I could always shoot you."
"You could always miss." He chuckles, "And you only got one try, don't you."
Suddenly, Jean spins on her heels, turning around to face the demon that's standing behind her and spits her mouthful of holy water in his face. The demon screams in pain and Jean kicks the back of his knees causing him to fall forward onto his knees. Jean then punches him in the throat resulting in the demon collapsing to the ground gasping for breath. Jean pulls out the flask of holy water again, but before she can act farther, an unseen force pushes her against the nearby wall and prevents her from moving.
"You're a feisty one, aren't you, princess?" Yellow-eyes addresses her while keeping her pinned against the wall with his demon powers. "It will be fascinating to see how long you keep that attitude once he claims you."
Intrigued by what he said Jean asks, "What are you talking about?"
Yellow-eyes walks over to her and runs his hand down the side of her face, "You're so much like your mother...an ideal breeder."
John takes a step towards the demon threateningly, "Get away from her!"
Yellow-eyes turns to John and grins, "Relax, John. She's not meant for me." He turns back to Jean, "No...you're meant for someone much worse than me, princess."
"Let her go, Azazel."
Azazel turns to look at John again, "Oooh, you have been doing your homework, John." He chuckles, "You want to know something funny, princess? If daddy dearest had paid even a little more attention to you instead of focusing on little Sammy, he would've noticed the demons following you around like your own little guardian demons." Azazel grins, "Of course, it doesn't really matter now...everything is in motion and it's far too late to stop."
"How long have there been demons following me?" Jean snarls at Azazel.
Azazel taps his index finger against Jean's chin, "Since you were five, princess." Jean tries to bite his finger and he chuckles then grabs her chin. "You are going to be so much fun to break."
"That's enough!" John shouts in anger and fear for his daughter. "I summoned you here, not her. She has nothing to do with this, let her go."
"Of course, but first..." Azazel waves his hand in a sweeping motion and the altar Jean set up to bind the reaper disappears along with the Coptic cross in her hands.
"Hey!" Jean shouts.
"Sorry, princess, but I can't have you doing anything stupid. I need you alive." He waves his hand again and Jean finds herself in Dean's room, standing behind Sam.
"Son of a bitch," Jean says and Sam jumps in surprise.
Sam turns to face her, "Jeez! Jean, what the hell?! Did you manage to bind the reaper?"
She shakes her head, "No. I was interrupted." She motions for Sam to follow her as she walks towards the door. "Come on, Sam. We've gotta stop dad from doing something stupid."
They're nearly to the door when Dean gasps loudly and opens his eyes. "Dean," both Sam and Jean say and they return to the side of Dean's bed. Dean begins to choke on the breathing tube and Sam calls out for a nurse or doctor, "Help! We need help!"
Two female nurses rush in followed by a male doctor. Sam and Jean get out of their way as they quickly set to work removing the life support machine. After everything is removed, the doctor does a series of tests to check on Dean's condition.
"I can't explain it. The edemas vanished, the contusions healed. Your vitals are good. You have some kind of angel watching over you." The doctor tells Dean, closing the chart with Dean's test results inside.
"Thanks, doc." Dean says and the doctor exits the room, leaving the three siblings alone in the room.
Jean gives Dean a hug, making sure she's gentle so as not to hurt him. "I'm glad you're okay."
Dean hugs her back and gives her a big smile, "It's really good to see you Jeanie." He releases her then asks, "So what'd I miss?"
A huge grin spreads across Jean's face, "Well...Sammy told dad to go to hell."
"Hey!" Sam exclaims looking over at Jean and smiling a little. "At least I didn't tell him to go fuck himself and then threaten to shoot him."
Dean's face shows his amusement and he teases Jean by saying, "Wow, Jean. All you need is to grow a beard and start wearing a trucker's hat and you could be Bobby. You already have the grouchy attitude down."
"Shut up, ya idjit." Jean replies and the three siblings share a laugh.
Things then turn to more serious issues as Dean asks Sam, "You said a reaper was after me?"
Sam nods, "Yeah."
"How'd I ditch it?"
"You got me. Jean was going to bind the reaper but dad stopped her."
"What?!" Dean looks over at Jean, clearly upset and about to lecture her.
There's a knock on the doorframe and the three look over to see John standing at the threshold. "How are you feeling, dude?"
Jean is looking at John with an angry scowl on her face as Dean responds with "Fine, I guess. I'm alive."
"That's what matters." John says, smiling at Dean.
Sam is staring at John accusingly, "Where were you last night?"
John looks at Sam, "I had some things to take care of." His eyes dart over to look at Jean, who crosses her arms over her chest and glares at him.
"Well, that's specific."
Dean looks at Sam, "Come on, Sam."
"Did you go after the demon?" Sam asks angrily.
John looks down then shakes his head, "No."
"Liar," Jean says and three heads turn to look at her. "I was there for most of it, remember?"
"I remember you trying to bind a reaper. Honestly, Jean, I thought you were smarter than that." Dean looks down, shaking his head in disappointment as Jean stands to her full height and Sam squares his shoulders, both preparing for a huge argument. John walks fully into the room and looks first at Jean then at Sam. "Can we not fight?" Sam and Jean are caught off guard by John's request. "You know half the time we fight, I don't know what we're fighting about. We're just butting heads." All the anger is gone from both Sam and Jean as John continues, "Red...Sammy, I've...I've made some mistakes. But I've always done the best I could." John looks from Sam to Dean and finally at Jean smiling at all three. "I just don't wanna fight anymore, okay?"
Sam and Dean both look at John in alarm while Jean closes her eyes and a small sigh passes her lips. John's speech confirms her worst suspicions; that John has made a deal with Azazel and is going to die soon.
"Dad, are you all right?" Sam inquires.
"Yeah. I'm just a little tired," he replies while looking at his three children with a smile. "Hey, Sammy, would you mind...um...Do you mind getting me a cup of caffeine?"
Sam nods, "Yeah. Yeah, sure." Sam shares a look with Dean and Jean then begins walking towards the door.
"I could use a cup as well," Jean says as she follows Sam.
As she passes John, he reaches out to stop her and whispers in her ear. "Don't tell your brothers."
Jean whispers back, "They're not idiots, dad. They'll figure out the truth eventually." She pauses then sighs, "Fine. I won't say anything. How long do you have?"
"Not long," John tells her and let's her continue to the door. But when she reaches the door John says in a voice that they all can hear, "Jean...I want you back hunting with the family. I realize that you're more than capable of taking care of yourself but I would feel better knowing that you're safe with your brothers."
John and Jean's eyes meet before she nods, "As long as Sam and Dean don't mind."
Sam and Dean eagerly reply, "Of course, we don't mind!"
With that decided, Sam and Jean walk out the door and make their way through the hallways in silence until they reach the hospital's cafeteria. Sam buys a cup of coffee for John and Jean buys one for herself.
As they're walking back down the hallway that Dean's room is on, Sam looks to his right and sees John laying on the floor, lifeless. "Dad," Sam says. Dropping the cup of coffee, Sam rushes to John's side with Jean right behind him, shouting for help. Three nurses run into the room: one goes to check John's vitals, another picks up a phone and pages for a code red, and the last hurries Jean and Sam out of the room.
Jean rushes down the hall to Dean's room and stops in the doorway. When he sees her, Dean is immediately on edge by the look on her face. "What's wrong?"
"It's dad." She goes to help Dean out of bed, but he waves her away and gets up by himself.
Dean follows Jean back to the room where John is and they walk up next to Sam. Dean goes to enter the room but a nurse tells him, "You'll have to wait outside."
"No, it's our dad."
The Winchester siblings can do nothing but watch in helpless horror as the doctors and nurses try to restart their father's heart. "Okay, that's it, everybody. I'll call it. Time of death, 10:41 a.m."
