Contradictions
Chapter Seven
A Week Later: Sioux Falls, South Dakota: Singer Salvage:
"Can't sleep again?" Bobby Singer asked from inside his front door where he'd spent the last 15 minutes standing to watch Dean Winchester lean against a porch post while it poured rain with the occasional rumble of distant thunder and a crash of lightning off in the distance. "Dean?"
Dean reached for the mug of coffee that he'd laced with a healthy dose of whiskey and tried not to notice how his hand shook. "Storm woke me," he admitted after a second, looking out into the darkened junkyard while listening to rain hit the roof of the house, the porch, and the nearby vehicles. "The thunder seemed like an echo. The rain hitting the roof above our room sounded like echoes to me. Right now echos reminds me of that damn cave," he went on quietly, glancing back to barely see the older man's silhouette in the door. "I didn't want to wake Sam so I decided to come out here to listen to it, to smell the air, and drink more whiskey than coffee."
Even in the darkness, Bobby could tell by how Dean was standing that he was on edge and knew why even if the stubborn boy denied it.
"Y'know, it's only been a week. You ain't gonna get over what you were put through overnight," he remarked carefully since he didn't want to risk triggering Dean's temper like had happened a few times since he'd woken up fully and the topic of his captivity or the abuse he endured during it was brought up for any reason.
"Well aware of that, Bobby," Dean replied evenly, holding up a hand. "Just stop. Please."
Bobby took a deep breath but had been dealing with the Winchesters long enough to know when to back off. He knew if he didn't now, that Dean would just get defensive, take Sam and leave, and it was too soon for those boys to be back on the road yet.
"Alright, have it your own way," he said, starting to leave the door but paused to look back. "Just don't stay out there too long," he told him, going on with a head jerk towards the second floor. "If your brother wakes up to find you not in that room, he will freak out."
Bobby knew when to back off, but he also knew when to speak up and he knew this was something that Dean needed to know and understand. "Before you woke up, after we got you out of those woods and to that motel, Sam never left your side, Dean," he told him seriously, seeing Dean turn just enough to look back at him with a frown. "That boy stayed awake the entire 16 hours you were unconscious, even after me, that guy Sam called tried to coax him away from you to sleep. He blames himself. So don't let him wake up in that room alone cause I don't want him falling down my damn steps half asleep in his panic to find you! He'd crack his skull open or break his neck!"
Dean heard the door close and only once he was sure he was alone again did he release a shaky breath, holding his hands out to frown at how they still shook when suddenly a clap of thunder, a bolt of lightning hit closer and he looked at the silver ring that was once again on his right hand while reaching up to lightly touch the bronze amulet that hung around his neck and thought back to that time a week ago when he'd first finally woken up fighting to be free of the nightmare he could still see in his mind, feel on his body as it was wracked with pain.
1 Week Earlier, 4 Hours Outside of Water Lake, Iowa:
Pain. Sharp. Burning. Over most of his body began to bring Dean out of what still felt like a numb, hazy horrific nightmare.
"'Your brother is dead. He won't come looking for you. No one will. You're drugged so you'll be alert but unable to fight my precious, unable to move unless she orders it.'"
"'I marked you so long ago. I never thought you'd return so we could be together. I will keep you longer than other humans father brings me to play with. We will mate and perhaps give father the chance to continue his experiments to bring a new species to life. You will enjoy my touch and you will touch me like you do human females.'"
Unable to move. Unable to speak. Unable to fight. All of those had been terrifying to the hunter but not as much as facing being raped by something not fully human.
The feel of her scaled hands, her fingers tipped with claws could still be felt even though the drugs had paralyzed his body. The agonizing pain when she'd bit the side of his neck and gashed those claws down his chest, over his stomach, could still be felt in the ever-ending nightmare in his mind while his brain struggled to find consciousness.
Pieces of the hunter thought he recalled hearing his brother's voice, hearing Bobby's voice, but as he reached for that he was yanked back to hearing the creature's crooning sing-song voice as she explained what she'd do to him, with him.
Echos. The echo in the cave that Dean had accepted would be where he died was horrible in his ears. When he managed to scream as she bit him, the sound of it seemed to go on forever as he heard other dim echoes of his voice being called, being shouted for actually.
"Dean! Dean!"
Dean dimly had heard Sam's voice in the cave, or he thought he had, but then the terror had hit him of the half-reptilian woman hurting his brother if he really was hearing Sam shouting for him.
Burning pain down his chest, over his stomach, continued to force awareness to come back while at the same time it slowly began to dawn on Dean that he could move his hands, move his arms; that while his body felt sluggish and heavy he at least could finally move.
That realization also meant to Dean that he wasn't helpless any longer, so it was an instinctive and inner gut reaction when he felt a hand grab his arm that he lashed out.
"N-No! Don't touch me!" Dean shouted, feeling his throat burn and nearly close up, but his main focus was to not be restrained or held down again by anyone.
Knowing he was able to defend himself this time but not able to force his eyes open yet, he sensed where the man that had grabbed him was and used both hands to shove him aside. He caught a wrist that the hunter's senses felt was moving while Dean's other hand went to the man's throat. "Not again, bastard! You… you won't drug me or tie me again."
The sudden sound of a door slamming open had Dean's head aching but not as much as the shout he heard next. "Dean! What in the goddamn hell? Let your brother go!" Bobby's voice snapped as he came into the motel room from the room next door after hearing noises he knew weren't good. "Dean! Let Sam go before I have to knock you back out!"
"You will not touch my patient or I will knock you out!"
"Then you get this damn boy to let his brother go before he chokes Sam out!" Bobby shouted to whoever had yelled at him.
"I will do this while you go get ice water for him to drink."
Dean had gone totally still at the sudden voices making his already pounding head hurt worse. Then something that was said sank in, forcing his eyes to open and blink several times to clear his blurry eyes, to feel his heart slam into his throat when he looked down into wide hazel eyes.
S-Sammy," he whispered.
Sam had been sitting beside his brother to keep watch on his breathing and to just be sure he didn't vanish from the motel room he'd booked them.
After he and Bobby had gotten Dean back to the Impala, Sam had stayed with his brother to begin to clean the deep cuts and gashes on his chest and stomach as well as to see how bad the bite wound on his neck was while Bobby returned to the cave to decapitate the half reptilian creature before burning the body.
Sam had quickly slipped socks onto Dean's feet while digging in the trunk for the spare pair of boots he knew were there since he hadn't taken time to grab the ones he'd seen thrown in the cave; plus Sam wanted nothing from that cave, not even Dean's own boots, touching his brother now.
The younger Winchester could easily tell his brother needed stitches on a few of these wounds. He also feared from some of the things he'd seen in that alcove and while he'd been untying Dean and getting his jeans on him that he'd been assaulted in at least some way so Sam knew medical help should be considered but given what had just happened to Dean and where, he had no intention of going close to a clinic or a hospital.
He'd covered Dean with his leather jacket, turned the Impala on so he could run the heater in the hopes of combating the shock he knew his brother was in while reaching for his phone to call the phone number that Gabe SilverHeart had given him before he'd left his place.
The former deputy had picked up on the first ring and had immediately given him the address of a nice motel about 4 hours outside of Water Lake. He also assured Sam that he'd bring by someone he knew and trusted to treat Dean's wounds.
Dean had slept like the dead for the next 16 hours, which had truthfully scared Sam a little even though he understood his brother needed the sleep after probably having been deprived of it since his capture by Clay Ames from the clinic.
He had refused Bobby and Gabe's encouragement to go shower and get some sleep since, as far as Sam was concerned, he wasn't leaving his brother alone again for a long time. Sam sat beside the bed or paced the room when the tiny older woman, whom Gabe introduced as an elder on the local reservation and some distant relation, proceeded to promptly clean, stitch, treat each of Dean's wounds.
The only time when Sam had nearly revolted was when the old woman who barely came up mid-chest on him poked him with the tip of her walking staff and told him to step outside while she cleaned and treated the wounds on and in his ass.
"No. I am not leaving him!" Sam had argued, sighing when Gladys SilverHeart narrowed her eyes at him and once again poked him with a staff that was actually taller than she was while thrusting a long bony finger toward the door to a connecting room.
"You will go shower while I treat these wounds," she told him sternly, but just as quickly took his clenched fist to pat it gently while watching the way Sam chewed his lips while watching his brother sleep. "You are his brother. You should not have to watch me treat these wounds. You go. He will sleep without harm or danger as I will bash heads with my staff if anyone comes in this room that I do not allow."
"Sam, she really will," Gabe told him from the other room. "Including you if you don't get out of there now. Then after your shower she'll be done and you can go back and sit with him."
That had been what Sam had done. He'd sat either in the chair by the bed or sometimes on the floor in between the two queen beds in the room, but he refused to sit or lie on the other bed in fear of falling to sleep and perhaps Dean needing something or waking up too fast.
It had been the waking too fast that seemed to have been what happened because Sam had been struggling by this time to keep his eyes open so he'd been working on his laptop and keeping an ear on the radio for if there'd been news about the fire out in a cave in the woods since he really wanted to confront Clay Ames before the man might learn his scheme was at an end.
Sam had noticed Dean tensing more in his sleep in the last 4 or 5 hours but knew he'd been told that as movement came back to his body that his muscles might start to cramp as a result of a reaction to the paralyzing drugs and the venom he'd been subjected to in such a short period of time.
He'd just been relieved his brother seemed to be getting movement back since he had overheard Gladys telling Bobby that Dean might suffer from serious aftereffects and long-term consequences due to all those drugs and the venom, but she thought giving him two doses of anti-venom had helped him.
"Dean?" Sam had pushed out of the chair to go closer to the bed when he heard Dean make a noise, seeing him biting his lip while his fingers were white knuckled in the sheets. Then a second later, his brother began thrashing as if fighting someone or something only he could see, and Sam's reaction was instinctive when he reached out to grab for his brother's arm. "Dean! Dean?"
In the next second, Sam felt his back hit the bed with shaking but tight fingers gripping his throat as Dean shouted not to be touched.
Reaching up to grip his brother's other wrist in an attempt to keep Dean from using it to punch him, Sam remained still even though he knew in this state that he could have flipped their positions to get himself free but he didn't want to risk hurting his brother or possibly scaring him if he was too deep into his own nightmare as he feared he might be.
Then the door to the connecting room slammed open and Bobby was there shouting to let him go. Sam heard Bobby and Gladys arguing but his focus was on Dean who had gone completely still at the sudden voices shouting in the room.
Slowly, as if waking from a dream or nightmare, Sam saw his brother's body give a hard tremble before finally, he saw the first hint of green when Dean's eyes opened to look down at him.
"S-Sammy," Dean whispered, his voice still sounding raw but as consciousness returned and he realized who was with him, if not where he was exactly, he willed his fingers to relax and let go of his grip on Sam's throat as his brother sat up. "I…" he started to say but stopped to look around, not recognizing the tiny bronze skinned elderly woman with ageless features that stepped close to hold out a cup of ice water.
"You will drink this to help your throat," Gladys told him in the tone that meant it wasn't a suggestion, nodding to where Sam had moved to get off the bed but came around so he could sit on the edge and still be close to his brother if it was needed. "Your brother will get you more if you want it, but you must drink and sip broth to get some strength back. I will leave medicine and notes with that junk man in the other room when you leave here," she went on, eyeing him closely as she looked into still tired and glassy green eyes. "You will heal but it will not be quick or easy."
"Geez, Auntie, let's not give him the doom and gloom speech when he first wakes up," Gabe said as he stepped to the door but made no move to enter since he could see Dean go rigid at his voice and Sam had motioned him not to.
"Dean, it's okay," Sam told him quietly, fingers longing to reach out to touch Dean's arm to reassure him that he was safe, that this was real but he'd seen Bobby shake his head at him to hold off until they were sure his brother was fully awake. "We're in a motel about 4 hours outside of Water Lake. You've been asleep ever since you passed out back at the cave…"
"How… how long?" Dean asked, voice more gravelly than usual as his throat still felt tight and sore but he took another sip of the ice water from the glass Sam held for him since even Dean accepted right then that he couldn't hold a glass with how badly his hand was shaking after just waking up.
"What?" Sam asked with a worried frown, concerned that while Dean had seemed fairly okay back at the cave, that maybe there had been some damage due to those drugs and that venom.
"How long… was I asleep?" Dean asked him, glancing over at Sam to slowly eye his throat where he'd grabbed him. "Did I hurt you?"
"What? No. No, of course you didn't," Sam assured him, moving a hand up to touch his neck as if to show his brother he was fine. "And you've been sleeping for about 16 hours," he added, dropping his head to glance to the side with a soft cough. "Truthfully, it was starting to freak me out 'cause you weren't waking up but Bobby and Gladys both said you need to sleep."
Dean fully agreed with that, moving to slowly stretch back out on the bed and felt his muscles pull while something in his back or neck popped. "Totally agree with that since I still feel like the walking dead," he muttered, closing his eyes but opening them again to watch Sam from under long lashes. "Speaking of sleep… Sam?"
"Huh? Oh. No. No, I'm fine," Sam replied with a quick wave of his hand, looking up to almost sense Dean was watching him. "Now that you're awake, I'm going to go back to Water Lake and finish up with Ames," he said, starting to push to his feet but stopped when fingers grabbed for his wrist to give it enough of a tug that he sat back down. "Dean?"
"Sit. Talk to me," Dean murmured, yawning but stretching his arms slowly above his head before putting them behind his head, eyes staying on Sam's face. "Tell me everything that happened including what the hell they did to you,"
Sam frowned but supposed he should have known his brother would want details so with a sigh he began to tell Dean everything that had happened after he left him at the clinic.
Dean watched Sam's face as he explained everything, seeing a few things he didn't like reflected there since he knew the best way to gauge his brother's emotions was to watch his face but for the moment he let that go. He was just glad drugging Sam was all the bastard had done and any other plans hadn't happened before his brother woke up.
Nodding after Sam got to the part of the story that caught Dean up to the events in the cave that he mostly recalled, he looked up at the ceiling for another second but again reached to latch onto his brother's wrist when he started to move.
"Sleep," he said but without looking because Dean knew if he did right now that he'd see one of Sam's lesser bitch faces because he kept stopping him from going back. "You're not going near that town, near that clinic, or near that bastard until I wake back up and can go with you," he explained, meeting and holding Sam's eyes. "Do I feel like shit? Yes, I do. Do I want to curl up somewhere dark when I think of that thing and what she did to me? Yes. But I made that bastard a promise after I realized he'd drugged me and I intend to keep it.
"But first, I'm going to try to take a scalding hot shower to get the feel of her off of me and then I'm probably going to crash for a few more hours," Dean continued, slowly pushing himself into a sitting position and sat there until he was certain the brief burst of dizziness would fade. "You, look as bad as I feel by the way, can crash on this bed since it's already broken in from me tossing and turning and when I'm out of the shower I'll faceplant on the other bed," he added, using the nightstand to push to his feet even as Sam was shooting to his feet in case it looked like he might fall.
Sam looked towards the bathroom and back at Dean, worry clear on his face, but he got that his brother probably needed to feel clean as much as he still needed sleep before they went back to finish up loose ends. "I'll lay some clean stuff on the sink in there," he said, nodding to Dean's duffel that Bobby had brought in before. "If you get dizzy or need help just call me. I'll… Dean…"
Dean's hand landed on Sam's shoulder as if to keep his balance, but while Dean's legs felt weak and his head still felt a little woozy, the hunter figured a few more hours of sleep would help that. He suddenly felt a need to do something else after so many hours of not knowing whether or not Sam was alive or not.
"C'mere, Sammy," Dean muttered, using his grip on Sam's shoulder to give a gentle tug forward so he could pull his brother into a hug. "We'll blame me still being exhausted and everything that's happened to both of us for this break in the no chick flick rule, okay?"
Sam had to be fast to cover his emotions at the sudden, unexpected hug Dean offered. He knew showing emotions, being open with emotions, was more his thing than his brother, so this surprised the younger man, but he also knew when to take advantage of his by returning the gesture.
There'd been so many times during this that Sam had been scared that he'd not only never see his brother again but that he'd lose him that it was difficult for him to not let Dean see any of that or see every other emotion he felt but after another couple of seconds and by the time Dean broke the gesture, Sam was confident he'd locked his fear and his guilt away for a time when he could deal with it when he was alone.
"Get some sleep, Sammy," Dean told him, giving a nudge towards the bed that he'd just left, which just so happened to be the bed farthest from the door before he turned towards the bathroom. "Sam? My stuff?" he asked as he recalled seeing those items in a bag at the clinic.
"I'm hoping they're still at the clinic and someone will be smart enough to give them to me," Sam replied, determined not to leave the place without those items.
Dean nodded tightly, stepping into the bathroom to shut the door and merely leaned against it for several minutes to get his bearings while also taking stock of his wounds. He knew while the outer ones were bad, the hunter also knew his inner wounds this time might be a little more severe.
By the time he'd showered, Dean was certain he might have lost several layers of skin and actually might have scalded himself a little, he felt a little better; not fully, but he knew a little was a good start and he'd work up to more later on.
Stepping into the bedroom, he looked and smiled tiredly as he saw that Sam had taken his nudge as not a suggestion and had laid down on the bed he'd been on earlier. He looked to be sleeping, but Dean could tell it wasn't good and that as soon as he sat or lay on the other bed, hazel eyes would open to look to be sure he was okay.
"I'm okay, Sammy," Dean reassured his brother as he stretched back out, this time on the side facing Sam so he could watch him while deciding how he wanted to handle keeping that promise he'd made.
"'If you've touched my brother, you damn well better pray you kill me,'" Dean recalled the promise he made Clay Ames after the man had told him that Sam wasn't going to come looking for him because he'd made sure he'd been dealt with.
Now as he watched Sam sleep uneasily, turned on his side towards him, Dean's lips curved into a slow, dangerous smirk while he settled on how to handle it.
Nine Hours Later at Water Lake Clinic:
"I'll be out of touch for the next 24-48 hours, Sally," Clay Ames told his receptionist while handing her the day's files. "Nurse Ramsey will be in charge if any new patients come in."
"Of course, Sir," the perky young blonde receptionist replied without looking up from her typing. "Oh, by the way, Dr. Ames, a couple of FBI agents arrived while you were seeing that last patient earlier," she remarked, looking up to smile. "I told them they could wait in your office for you."
Ames froze but quickly schooled his features to not show his surprise at this news. The local sheriff was told to keep anyone higher than his office away from the clinic. He also wasn't sure what could have brought the Feds to his door since he was always so careful, except this time he remembered the younger brother of his precious girl's new toy hadn't been dealt with as permanently as he would have liked.
Taking a deep breath before opening the door to his office, he stepped in with a forced fake smile and prepared to give his usual country doctor performance that typically worked on his fools. "Agents, I'm sorry to keep you waiting but we've been very busy and…" he choked off the rest of his fake greeting when he stepped inside and stopped in his tracks at what he saw.
"Busy doing what, Doc? Drugging the next poor guy you intend to use as lizard food?" Dean asked coldly from where he sat leaning on the edge of the desk, legs outstretched and his silver plated Colt held steady in one hand to aim it at the shocked man.
The door closed behind Ames before he could turn to run as Sam threw the lock, his own weapon held loosely in his fingers but ready to aim if need be.
"You're not FBI agents!" Ames exclaimed, struggling to cover his outright shock at seeing this man here since he knew there was no way he could be there unless… little nibbles of concern began to trickle in considering one of the nurses mentioned reports of hearing about a fire somewhere in the woods the other evening. He'd dismissed those as nothing to worry about until now.
"And you're not a doctor so you're not one to cast stones," Sam smirked, shoving him forward into his desk chair. "Also, your so-called security goons? Don't bother calling for them because they aren't here and won't be here," he told him, shrugging. "They were picked up this morning by the state police for a bunch of crimes like helping to drug people and other crimes on your orders after the state police were sent a bunch of files and other data anonymously."
Ames looked between the brothers before settling on Dean finally. "I should congratulate you," he said tightly. "You're the first one that managed to escape from my precious girl." He shot a hateful glare towards Sam. "Your doing, I suppose?"
"I told you that I wasn't leaving this town without my brother," Sam replied with a shrug, watching Dean as he straightened to turn slowly to eye the older man but didn't miss that his brother was also staying between him and Ames.
Ames glared at them. This was the closest he'd come to having his plans ruined after working so long to get this far. "Neither one of you, men like you, can grasp the importance of the work I do!"
"You don't do work! You're a sick, creepy bastard that thinks he's God by trying to mix DNA to create a new species," Sam shot back, still sick and furious when he thought back to what he'd read in Gabe SilverHeart's files and what the man had told him.
"You're a real contradiction, Doc. You save some people, but then others you drug and feed to the monster you created," Dean remarked coolly while fighting too many emotions right then as he looked at this man smirking at them and actually acting like he was doing the world a favor.
"You've seen her, Winchester. My lovely, precious girl," Ames said while starting to stand only to grunt when Dean's hand shoved him back into the chair. "My process wasn't complete with her batch but I've been working on it, perfecting it so next time it might produce more viable, living eggs that will hatch, that can start to become their own species and soon… ugh…"
Dean's fist landed hard on the man's jaw, grabbing him by the front of his doctor's coat and hauling him to his feet before slamming him against the file cabinet. "I read the files, bastard! I know what you did to get that goddamn monster you created!" he snapped in a harsh tone, hearing Sam's voice urging caution. "How many other innocent girls have you used to try to recreate that process?" he demanded sharply. "Or have you just been trying to use the men you drug and hand over to that thing to get to the next step of your own mix bag of evolution?"
"The breeders aren't important, boy!" Ames argued, struggling against Dean's hold when Sam finally urged his brother to step back. "So some missing runaways end up dead for a brilliant cause to create a new race so much more superior to our own! My precious girl will one day be able to reproduce and…"
Sam and Dean exchanged looks at that and Dean gave a subtle nod for Sam to place the medium-sized styrofoam cooler on the desk.
"Yeah, see here's the thing about your world changing, new species creating plans, jackass," Dean said while reaching to flip the lid off with the barrel of his Colt. "I don't see that happening now."
"What?" Ames frowned at him before stepping closer to look into the cooler, stumbling back with a choked, broken scream when he looked inside the cooler to see sitting on ice the head of his creation; her eyes open but staring lifelessly and black hair stained red with blood. "No! No!" he cried out, horrified. "What did you bastards do to my beautiful, precious girl?" he demanded with a scream, lunging forward only to go down to the floor from a solid right hook from Sam's fist.
"Ignoring what she did to me or so many others, she went for my brother's throat so I put 7 rounds from my .45 into her freakish brain before Bobby cut her damn head off, burned the body and burned the cave where you'd take innocent men to be her toys or food!" Dean shot back furiously, green eyes narrowing dangerously at the man while aiming that very Colt at the man.
"You should have died!" Ames shouted at Dean angrily, glaring at Sam but kept moving his hateful gaze back to Dean as his fists clenched. "You were drugged! You shouldn't have been able to have…"
"Oh, without a doubt, she would have killed me or I would have forced her to kill me before I let her assault me more than she did," Dean replied tightly, feeling Sam close by and sliding a look over to his brother. "Hey, go see if you can find where they keep the stuff they steal off the victims. I want mine," he told him.
Sam frowned at this. He suspected he knew why his brother wanted him out of the room but was wary of leaving Dean alone with the man this soon. "Dean?"
"Go, Sam. I'm almost done. Get my stuff and wait for me out by the car," Dean told him again, shifting the Colt when he saw Ames start to move. "I just have to finish up a couple of things with him."
This was something they'd discussed that morning while Dean picked over some bacon but made sure Sam ate more than a few bites of his omelet that Bobby had brought them. Both Winchesters had encountered the dark and evil side of humanity, so they knew it wasn't just monsters out there lurking in the dark that was a threat to innocents. It was just easier when it came to ending monsters.
"Be careful," Sam urged, but did step out to go see if he could find someone left in the building after Gabe SilverHeart had come in after them to clear out the staff.
Dean waited until the door closed behind Sam to reach out and grab Ames again by his jacket, pulling him closer to his face with a furious glare. "I would have died in that cave like you planned, like so many others before me had," he admitted, using as much strength as he had gotten back to punch the older man in the gut; letting him fall back into his desk chair. "The reason I didn't is that man out here. My brother. He never stopped looking for me. He never gave up, no matter what he fought for me," he paused to step back several feet to glare.
"My men should have killed him like I told them to," Ames growled, spitting blood as he spit at the lone man ever to escape and now who had ruined his plans.
Dean nodded tightly when he said that, jaw muscles twitching. "I told you when you told me that Sam was dead or not coming that if you touched or hurt my brother you had better make damn sure you killed me," he began before letting his voice drop to the rougher, cold steel one he got when pissed or when Sam was threatened, Colt raising slowly. "Well, you might not have touched him, bastard, but you still hurt him because you scared him by making him think he'd lost me. Your lizard girl got him at least once with her claws. You hurt my brother, Ames, but you didn't kill me. Your bitch crossbreed monster didn't kill me thanks to Sam and Bobby but I will kill you."
Ames sneered up at the hunter. "You won't kill me, Winchester," he smirked, confident. "Your type is all bravado. You might have been big and tough about killing an innocent girl like my Loralei but I'm human and…" he stopped when Dean's lips curled into a slow, dangerous smirk while raising his Colt just a little higher.
"Let's get a couple things straight, old man. First, that thing was nothing innocent. She was something out of a horror movie that you used someone who was innocent to create," Dean began, glaring at the man. "Second, you may be a man but you sure as hell aren't human because no human being with a heart or a conscious would have done the things that you have or that you'd continue to do in the name of 'science'," he went on, raising the Colt while not missing the signs of realization that were now coming on Ames' face when he started to realize his assumptions might have been wrong.
"You assumed you're the first human I've killed or that I wouldn't kill you because you're human. You're wrong," Dean said with a colder, but almost sad smile. "For Sam, I've killed morally grey or just plain evil bastards. You? You actually top the damn rednecks that tried to use my little brother for their sick games and I didn't think anyone could top those assholes. You have by what you created and what you'd try to create again if you were allowed to walk out of here," he continued, green eyes going to cold slits as his finger moved towards the trigger guard. "Rot in Hell, Doc. That's where your kind all belong so no other innocent man or woman will ever suffer because of you," Dean finished, finger touching the trigger of the Colt to fire a single .45 round into the man's heart.
Dean looked at the now lifeless body and for a mere second he wondered if he should feel something but then the wound on his neck from her bite reminded him it was there and he merely turned to leave the office.
He had stepped from the office when he found Sam just running up the hall from the main nurse's station. "Nope," he told him, catching his brother's arm to turn him around and back towards the front door where Bobby and Gabe waited. "We're done, little brother."
Sam looked at him closely for several minutes before slowly nodding but held out his hand to show Dean what he'd been given by the young brunette nurse that had tried to warn him that first day.
Dean took the bronze horned amulet in his hand to look at it for a second before slipping it back over his head, feeling a little more relieved once he felt it laying against his chest. He put his watch and silver ring back on as they stepped outside and he took his first deep breath since waking up fully.
"Sam! Don't let your brother drive or I'll kick your ass as soon as you pull into my lot!" Bobby shouted from his car since he'd decided the boys could get themselves to Sioux Falls and he wanted to go ahead to prepare things, including a room upstairs they sometimes shared as boys so he didn't have them sleeping in his damn downstairs like they tended to at times.
Dean debated arguing that, but since he did still have dizzy spells and was still tired and sore, he decided to give the grizzled old hunter a win on this and would let Sam drive… so long as he thought his brother could stay awake, that is.
He watched as Sam said goodbye to Gabe before extending a hand to him with a little more caution than he might have normally. "Thanks for helping him and showing him that map," he said, feeling Sam close by, and wondered how long he'd wait until he mentioned to his brother that he was hovering.
Gabe looked between the brothers before settling on Dean. "I should be thanking you boys for finally taking care of something I couldn't," he said, shaking Dean's hand. "You've got a good brother there, Winchester," he told the older Winchester quietly while holding his eyes. "He was really worried about you so I'm glad I could help him. You just take it easy now."
Dean nodded, going around to the passenger side of the Impala and settling in for the nearly four hour ride back to Sioux Falls when his lips curled up as he watched Sam's fingers reach for a cassette tape and soon the sounds of AC/DC were heard from the stereo and he laid his head back to close his eyes since he figured sleep wouldn't be found easily at times. He also knew there were still things he needed to settle with Sam, but those would wait until Bobby's.
Present: Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Singer Salvage:
Now as Dean stood on Bobby's front porch to watch the storm roll in and thinking back to the last couple days from the mess to the Djinn, to the whole nightmare in Water Lake when he'd been sure his time had come, to the last week here at Bobby's as he worked past the wounds, the nightmares while closing himself off too much at times.
He glanced up towards the ceiling of the porch as if looking at the house's second floor and the bedroom where he'd left his brother sleeping.
Dean had suspected from when he first woke up and noticed the dark shadows under Sam's eyes and how pale his brother seemed that Sam probably hadn't been sleeping much or at all during the time he'd gone missing from the clinic.
He'd already known that Sam had lost sleep during the Djinn case, so this had just added to it, but he had figured that his brother had taken a chance after finding him, after Dean had passed out and was sleeping at the motel, to catch up on some of that missed sleep. If not freely, then Bobby would have made sure he had one way or another. Now he knew different.
Dean had also just been assuming that since they'd been here that Sam slept more but as he took another sip of coffee laced whiskey the hunter realized that there'd be times he'd wake up that Sam's eyes were already open and on him or it wouldn't be long after Dean jerked awake that Sam would be awake asking if he was okay.
It had been one of those times just the other night when Sam had asked him if he was okay that Dean had let the edge of his nightmare, the dull pain he still felt in his ass if he shifted wrong or from bandages on his chest get the better of him and he'd snapped at Sam that he was fine and to stop asking him that every five damn minutes.
The day Sam had been quiet, keeping his distance, but had still stayed in the house even if he might have kept a room between them as he sat at the kitchen table cleaning their weapons while Bobby made sure Dean stayed put on the sofa in the library.
"Sonuvabitch," Dean muttered, rubbing his face tiredly. He stepped inside the house, locking the door while making sure the salt line that Bobby kept up was still unbroken before dumping the rest of his mug, rinsing it out.
Walking up the steps, Dean opened the door to their room slowly so it wouldn't make any noise as he stepped in to look around like he tended to do before his eyes landed on the bed farthest from the door.
He leaned in the doorway for several minutes to gaze at Sam lying on the farthest side of the bed with his back facing the other bed, Dean's bed.
Dean sighed as he took this in since he knew Sam had been lying closer to the other edge and facing his bed when he'd woken up and slipped from the room a couple hours earlier.
Closing the door behind him, he walked over slowly, carefully to sit on the edge of Sam's bed. Dean winced as he stretched his legs out on the bed while resting his head back against the headboard.
Other than the sound of the rain falling on the roof with thunder in the distance and the sound of Sam breathing, there was silence in the bedroom.
Dean slid his eyes over after another moment to gently rest his hand on the back of Sam's neck, immediately feeling how tense his brother was, which confirmed what he'd already suspected: Sam wasn't asleep but trying to pretend that he was probably until Dean returned to the room.
"He told me… he told me that you were dead, Sam. He told me that you wouldn't be coming to look for me so I should accept my fate," Dean began in a quiet tone, staring across the room at the far wall while letting himself remember the terror he'd felt at thinking something had happened to his brother and he couldn't prevent it. "At that point, other than him drugging me, I didn't know how much trouble I was in but I didn't care about that. I cared that I'd been the one to send you to get food even though I knew you hadn't wanted to leave me," he paused to squeeze Sam's neck like he had as boys when offering silent support. "I know you're not asleep, Sammy. And this wasn't your fault."
Sam stayed still another moment before sighing and slowly rolling to his back, looking up at his brother. "I nearly lost you to the damn Djinn and then I left you someplace that you should have been safe only to almost lose you again to some crazy wannabe scientist and some half reptile that hurt you and…" he said with all the buried guilt and emotion that he'd been struggling to bury shining in his eyes as he looked up to see Dean looking back calmly. "I know you don't want me hovering. I know I might be driving you nuts but… twice I almost lost you and I don't want the third time to be the one time I actually do."
"You're not going to lose me, Sam," Dean said, smirking when his brother shot him a bland look with a raised eyebrow. "Okay. I know I said that before but, dude, you have got to sleep because what you didn't bother to tell me was that for those 16 hours I was passed out, you stayed awake," he remarked and heard heard a low groan as Sam closed his eyes and muttered under his breath about Bobby ratting him out.
"Yeah, he did but he also knew I might have been acting like an ass so maybe he had good reasons," Dean replied, drawing one leg up so he could rest an arm over it while Sam sat up on the bed with his back against the headboard much like his brother was sitting. "Sam, I chose to go into that warehouse without waiting for you. I knew better. Even if it wasn't the right place, I still knew better than to go in without backup. So the Djinn mess? That was on me. You found me. You got to me in time, little brother," he glanced over to see Sam eyeing him with the look that meant his brother wasn't sure he was buying that.
"And this time, Dean?" Sam countered, glancing down to still see the marks on his brother's arms as well as the healing bite wound on his neck. "I left you and…"
"You left me because I told you to, Sam," Dean argued, seeing where his brother's eyes had gone and leaned his head back with a sigh. "Sammy, even if you had stayed there, this probably still would have happened because he'd decided I'd be next on her victim list. If you had been there, they might have killed you. At least the way it happened you were able to use that big brain of yours, figure out what was happening, and find me before…"
"She bit you, Dean!" Sam exclaimed, motioning to the healing wound before carefully touching a bandage that could be seen under Dean's black t-shirt where it covered one of the deeper gashes on his chest. "I heard you scream! I still hear you scream when I try to sleep! I see that thing I pulled you out of! You were naked, bleeding, and I didn't even know if you were breathing and…"
"Hey! Hey! Sam!" Dean hadn't seen this coming so it took him a second or two to catch up and then react to Sam's sudden break to raw emotion. Sitting up fully, he shifted to reach over and grab his brother so he could pull him forward into his arms to hold him tightly while feeling Sam's arms wrap around him and just clinging as if afraid that if he didn't his brother might vanish from the bedroom.
"Sam. Sammy… stop," he urged, chest tightening when he heard the soft broken sob that came next but the second he felt Sam start to push away, Dean tightened his arms to hold him still. He knew if he let go now, his brother would bolt to hide in the bathroom until he could get a handle on the sudden rush of emotions that let loose from too little sleep and too much worry.
"It's okay, little brother. It's okay. I've got you and I'm not going anywhere," Dean told him quietly, closing his eyes against his own suddenly burning tears as he listened to Sam's admit to his worries that he wouldn't find him in time or that it would be too late or that his brother would be angry that it took so long and he'd been hurt so badly by that half reptilian creature.
"I tried, Dean. I tried so damn hard to get to you sooner but I lost all that time because of that drugged food," Sam muttered, fingers digging into his brother's shoulders even while knowing he'd long crossed that no-chick-flick rule Dean always put out in times like this. "Then I lost time finding people who would talk to me or send me to Gabe who lived way too far away but I was stuck anyway waiting for Bobby and then… then…" He paused, struggling to draw in a breath while wondering who the hell was pounding when he realized it was his own heartbeat in his ears from not breathing in a bit.
"Hey! Damn it, Sammy! Look at me!" Dean snapped in a firm voice while nudging Sam back just far enough so he could catch his face between his palms, waiting until wide hazel eyes finally moved to his. "Okay. Take a breath for me now," he instructed his brother, watching as Sam did slowly take a couple of deep breaths. "I'm giving you a break of the whole no chick flick moments for a day or so more," he told him, tipping Sam's head back enough so he could be sure their eyes met even though he wasn't liking how glassy Sam's looked right then.
"You did everything the only way that you could have done it, Sam. You handled this situation just like I taught you to," Dean stated, easing back but making sure to keep one hand on the back of Sam's neck so his brother could feel the touch and know he wasn't alone. "Rushing into things is what got me in trouble with the Djinn that landed us in that damn clinic. You had to wait for Bobby. You had to get details so you'd know maybe what you'd be up against," he paused to give Sam another second to calm down before going on. "You got to me as soon as you could, little brother. You never gave up, even there at that cave when I told you to get out, you didn't. I'm not angry with you, Sammy. I'm proud of you."
"Then why… why weren't you in here when I woke up?" Sam suddenly asked, slashing a hand over his face to wipe the tears away that had fallen. "Why won't you talk to me instead of burying the nightmares, Dean?"
"The storm tonight woke me up. The rain, how it was hitting the roof, the way the thunder echoed, everything seemed like a dim echo to me and it reminded me not only of the cave but of that alcove," Dean began after another beat, debating how much he wanted to tell Sam or if he even could yet but understood that he did need to try if only to show his brother he wasn't upset with him and to try to relieve some of his fears over what had been done to him. "Sammy, you know me. You know I don't do the whole touchy feely emotional confession thing well…"
"Or at all," Sam muttered quietly but with a tiny grin. He still felt uneasy but did relax a little as Dean smirked at him while nodding in agreement.
"Not being able to move due to the drugs or her venom, not being able to fight back against what she did to me, not knowing for sure what they'd done to you were some of the worst parts of that whole nightmare for me, Sam," Dean told him after a second of thought, waiting until Sam moved to sit back against the headboard again to follow suit.
"Sammy, you don't need to know the exact details of what she did to me. It might take me some time but I'll work through it. Yes, there may be more nightmares than I like because she… it… whatever we're calling the thing was different than anything we ever faced, including those crazy ass rednecks who hurt you," he felt Sam tense but saw him nod tightly.
"Why did you send me out of the office before you killed him?" Sam asked the other question that had been bugging him since it happened, glancing over while blinking his eyes when they started to get heavy. "It's not like he'd be the first jackass I've seen you kill."
This was a touchy area for Dean since while he wanted to be honest with Sam he also knew it would very likely introduce another round of chick flick moments for them. Finally, after another second to think it over, the hunter blew out a breath and figured he'd call do-over in a day or so.
"I wanted him to see just me, Sam. And I wanted to see him, to see his smug face when I kept that promise to kill him if he hurt you," Dean said quietly, glancing over to see Sam looking at him as if confused. "Hurt has a lot of definitions for your awesome big brother, Sammy. It's not just physically hurting you but also in this case drugging you to where you could have been hurt physically and then the whole scaring the shit out of you about not finding me or over the scene you walked in on because if anything I did not want you being the one to find me looking like that," he added in a quieter tone, glancing down at his hands to realize with some surprise they weren't shaking.
"I still just wish we'd gotten to you sooner," Sam muttered, yawning. "I wish she hadn't bit you or cut you or…"
Dean had those wishes too, but he knew it could have been so much worse than it actually turned out to be. "It's over. You saved me and a whole bunch of other people from being their victims in the future," he remarked, looking over when he felt Sam's head suddenly drop onto his shoulder while his fingers seemed to do what they always tended to do when sick or upset and they reached for the amulet around Dean's neck. "Are you using me for a pillow?" he asked with an amused grin.
"Umm, yeah, I think so," Sam mumbled, shifting more to be more comfortable like he would in the Impala when sleeping was always just easier on Dean's shoulder than balling his jacket up against the window. "Okay?"
Dean stole a glance over towards his bed, knowing it would be far more comfortable than sitting up like this, but a look down to see that Sam's eyes were already mostly closed while his hand had closed over the amulet made him offer a resigned sigh. "Yeah. If it means you'll sleep and maybe even I'll catch a few more hours, you can use me for a pillow, Sammy," he replied but also reached up to pull the cord of the amulet off over his neck to offer it to his brother. "You are not, however, choking me with the amulet so you can hold onto it instead."
"Okay," Sam said sleepily, clutching the amulet in his hand as he slowly began to relax fully for the first time in weeks. "Dean? I hope we never find anything like that ever again," he muttered."
"So do I, little brother, " Dean agreed quietly as he watched Sam fall to sleep fully. He remained awake for a little while longer as if to be sure his brother would stay asleep and only then did Dean close his own eyes and let himself begin to drift off into a deep sleep that he thought this time might remain undisturbed.
Dean knew he still had some healing to do and he knew there'd still be nightmares to cope with but for the moment he felt that he had passed the roughest patch and would hope so had his brother.
He'd see what the next few days brought and then Dean decided it might be time to get them back on the road so long as Sam could find them a case that didn't involve anything with scales or caves anytime soon.
The End