Supernatural - Dean Winchester - Prompt 6 - cleansed, Prompt 25-parade
Title: Unintentionall Self-Harm: My Life With the Winchesters, Part 15
Characters: Dean/ofc, John/ofc, Sam/ofc
Rating: R (NC-17 overall)
Prompt: 6 - cleansed
Disclaimer: I own nothing Supernatural.
Summary: Nora hurts herself again.
"What was that all about?" I was still mad and closed the door behind me in a loud manner.
"Look, I'm just getting my junk and I'll be out of your hair." Dean slid past me on his way to locate more clothes. "It's probably not fast enough for your liking but it's the best I can do."
Stunned, I stood there and watched him angrily stuff clean and dirty laundry alike into the bag slung over his shoulder. How dare he be short with me? I was the one in the right. He was wrong. "Why did you say that to me back there? Couldn't you have just helped me up and forgotten about the ill-timed reaming? It was uncalled for and embarrassing in front of Sam. If you had an issue with me, you could have brought it up any other time and not caused such a scene. I thought you weren't a drama queen."
"Drama? That's what you think this is about?" I had Dean's full attention for the first time since I'd returned to the Impala from the place where I fell. "You claim to know me and yet think that I'd blow something out of proportion just to get attention? Where the hell have you been? It sure hasn't been around me."
"I've been right by you, but I guess you didn't notice," I snorted. Not usually a mean person, being snarky was something I rarely did.
Dean shoved the items he was holding into his sack. Then, he turned to face me, a sad look on his face. "You were next to me and I couldn't stop what happened. It might have been just a fall this time, but you up and disappeared. It's my job to keep you safe and I couldn't even keep you upright. How capable does that make me?"
My face screwed into a strange arrangement as I attempted to process what Dean had told me that echoed what Sam had said earlier. "You're responsible for my lack of grace? That's a good one. What did you do? Steal it from me and hide it underneath your pillow? I was a clumsy oaf for as long as I can remember and I doubt that will change anytime soon. If you're going to have such a strong reaction when I bump or bruise, we're going to drive each other nuts."
He attempted to smile. "So does that mean you're planning to visit Sammy at Wit's End?"
"Like I said, you'd be driving. I guess we'll both have to go." "Let me see your ankle," Dean knelt beside the bed.
"Sam said it's just a sprain."
"Just let me wrap it."
I huffed, pulled up my pant leg and started to unlace my boot.
"Let me do that," his hands fumbled with mine. "You're going to have to ease it off so you don't cause any more damage."
"You do realize that none of this is your fault, right?"
Dean didn't look up at me and pretended he hadn't heard me.
"You can't protect me from myself and you can't wrap me in bubble wrap."
"Who says?"
"What? The bubble wrap?"
"Yeah. I feel bad enough with Sam ends up injured. It's worse when it's you because you didn't go through all the training that we did. You're not used to getting thrown into walls or sliced up by claws. I want to keep you protected so that you never know those kinds of hurts. Well, avoiding any kind of pain is my goal but just keeping the monsters and hunting from affecting you will have to be enough for now."
"I'm not going anywhere, Dean. Do you think that I'll just get sick of our lifestyle and leave?"
He shrugged. "Could happen. It has before."
"But that wasn't me. It doesn't matter how much of a danger I am to myself, I'm not running. I like where I am, where we are. Don't you?"
Nodding, he admitted, "Yes. But I grew up with hunting."
"I grew up with a whole other brand of evil. I'm not without my own scars. Life in general is hard. On the road as an honorary Winchester, I enjoy the company and the travels."
The ace bandage went round and round my ankle until Dean clipped it secure.
"You know you're crazy for wanting join the Winchester clan."
"Isn't that a requirement for admission?" I joked and it was relaxing to share a laugh with Dean.
****
"Well, you didn't kill each other," Sam wrapped his arm around me as we walked to breakfast the next morning. "Get it all patched up with Dean?"
I shrugged and tried not to smile at how gentle Dean had been the night before. It was a slow process to get close to him, but I thought we'd made a step in the right direction.
"I understand. Been fighting with Dean for as long as I can remember. It's a wonder Dad kept us both with him when our bickering drove Bobby out of his own house for an afternoon. You haven't met Bobby yet, but I think you'll like him."
"He has the scrap yard, right? And the killer dog?"
"Hey, that puff of fluff with seriously nip your ankles if she hears you doubt her guard dog abilities."
"How'd he end up with a small dog? I thought most guys wanted the large breeds that weren't so yippy."
"I don't think he planned on having a dog at all. Found her one day hiding by a tire and near-starved. He's got a gruff exterior but he's a softie. You didn't hear it from me, though."
"Of course not."
"Morning," John greeted us as he and Dean caught up to us.
We greeted him back in unison.
"How's the sprain?" the concern in his rough voice made my blood pump faster. It was his protective streak coming through. He wouldn't ever let anything near Sam or Dean but how he looked out for me had more tenderness to it. Even in front of the boys it seeped through sometimes. Luckily, neither of them called him on it. John would've informed them that they did the same thing.
"Much better shape than my pride," I admitted.
"I'm sure it wasn't that bad," John chuckled. "So who else is having pancakes?"
The bell above the diner door chimed and we began a day much like the one before.
It took almost a whole day of searching before they found what they were looking for and then they still needed to save the town. I was grounded to the motel for the sake of my injury. As a result, all of the laundry was washed, folded and sorted into piles by the time they rolled in.
"Not much on the television today?" Sam asked as he entered the room after cleaning up from the hunt. He still had a towel in his hand and was trying to get the water out of his ears. "You were supposed to take it easy."
"Would you rather come home to a woman who's cracked under the pressure of pure boredom?" In a few steps I rested my cheek on his damp, warm chest while I wrapped my arms around him.
"Home," Sam echoed as he dropped the towel and held me instead. "I like the sound of that."
I soaked in the feeling of just being near him as I listened to his heartbeat.
***
Days and nights rolled on as months passed by. I learned about hunting through osmosis. Even though I knew the guys took their safety seriously, I still worried until I heard the Impala make her entrance and all wounds were tended to. Dean didn't say anything more when I had my usual bouts of clumsiness, although he would shake his head while he helped me out and fixed me up.
I felt really beautiful after I actually walked into the bathroom door.
"Nora!" Dean was right there before I could even open my eyes through the pain shooting through my head. I was temporarily blinded as he led me back to the bed and gave me aspirin and ice. "Did you just not see the door?" He asked as he moved the ice wrapped in a towel from my face and peered at the damage.
"I judged the corner wrong. Ouch!"
"I bet it hurts. I know the swelling is in the way, but can you still see out of that eye?"
I attempted to force my eye open and looked right into his face. "Yeah."
"Good. I just need to palpitate your cheek and around your eye to see if you broke anything. Any suspicion, no matter how small, and I'm hauling you in. I don't care if I have to have Dad and Sammy forcibly move you there."
Hissing, I tried not to pull away as he felt around my eye.
"It seems stable." He put the ice pack back on it. "If the swelling goes down like it should, we won't worry about it. Anything seems fishy and I'm bringing you in."
"Okay." My bruised face was just the latest reminder that I was too clumsy to be trusted with myself at times.
"Need to go into the bathroom? I'm assuming you had a reason to be headed in that direction in the first place."
"Just going to soak in the tub. I don't feel like it now."
Dean moved so he was sitting beside me, holding the ice on my face while I curled into him. "Oh babe, wish I could make it better."
"I wish I didn't do it in the first place. It's bad enough to hurt myself and with an audience is almost worse."
Chucking, Dean replied, "Do you honestly think no one is going to notice your black eye tomorrow?"
I tried to scowl at him but it hurt too much.
"Is it feeling any better?"
"The ice feels good."
"You can go asleep but I'm gonna be waking you up in case you have a concussion. You really slammed into the only sturdy bathroom door in the state. I don't want to chance that you jolted your brain in your mishap."
"If I had a brain, I wouldn't have walked into the door in the first place," I mumbled into his shirt.
"Oh, you have a brain. It's just not connected to your limbs at times. You should have seen Sam when he went through his growth spurt. He was like a baby giraffe."
"Did you tease him about that?"
"Do you even need to ask? I'm his big brother. But, I also was the one who tried to rub away his growing pains at night."
"You're a good brother. I wonder what my brother would have been like. He was so young when he passed."
"I bet you were an amazing big sister."
The pain in my head eased up and I dreamed about Eddie's laugh.
***
"Roll over into the nightstand?" Sam grimaced when he saw me the next morning.
"Took on the bathroom door," Dean answered for me.
John spoke up. "Looks like you lost, sweetie." He moved my chin so he could clearly see what I'd done. He gave me a quick peck on my temple. "Don't ask for a rematch."
"Don't worry, I won't."
"Did you make sure she was okay?" Sam asked Dean when he thought I was out of earshot.
"I took care of you, didn't I? You did a hell of a lot more damage when we lived in that third floor apartment. Your feet grew two sizes and those damn stairs had it out for you. She's fine." Dean emphasized his last word.
"Hate that it happened at all."
"Only difference is how visible it is compared to a hurt arm or leg. If you bring attention to it, you're just asking for it."
Sam took Dean's words of caution and tried to ignore my disfigurement. John had slid his hands on my face when he was talking with me. He was trying to be stealthy but I knew he was making sure Dean hadn't missed anything.
"You taught Dean well," I told him. "He even kept waking me up during the night just to be careful. If he sees you second guessing him, he'll think you doubt his abilities. I don't want to be around if that scuffle starts."
"Sorry." He stuffed his hands into his coat pockets. "Sometimes our arrangement isn't the easiest way to live."
"Huh?"
"Just needed to make sure for myself that you're okay. It's difficult to remember sometimes that Dean and Sam feel the same way."
"Are you saying you want me to leave?" I choked on the words.
"What? No! It's just something I need to get used to."
"Are you sure?"
He wrapped me in his arms. "Of course I am . I'm just being a silly old man."
"I love you, you know."
"I know." He bent over and whispered in my ear, "I love you, too."
Sam and Dean were involved in their own discussion but John got their attention when he asked, "So we walking for diner food or grabbing something at the gas station?"
With that, our day was back on track.