The Huntress -Chapter 6
Freeport, April 10
On that Saturday, Sumiko had the last of her baby swimming classes. They were giving diplomas, small frog-shaped papers that said: You did it! with some notes from the teacher written underneath. On the way back home, Dean was smiling proudly at the diploma, re-reading the teacher’s notes. “Sumiko is very at ease in the water. She has good coordination and already possesses all the skills necessary to become a good swimmer. It-“
“Dean, for god’sake, you’ve already read it twice,” Sam smiled, only slightly annoyed.
“I bet that chubby little boy who kept crying didn’t have this much praise on his diploma.”
“They’re babies! It wasn’t an Olympic competition, you know.”
Sumiko cut their discussion short, practically screaming, “mam-mam!” which, in her vocabulary, meant she was hungry. Dean’s stomach grumbled in sympathy. “Yeah, monkey. Let’s ask Sam to make pancakes for lunch.”
“Daa-daam!” Sumiko babbled.
Her word for Sam. As much as he tried to call himself “uncle” in her presence, it just wasn’t working and he had settled simply for “Sam” which Sumiko had transformed into a combination of daddy and Sam, apparently. She would learn, eventually.
That’s what he kept telling himself.
“Seriously, though, I’m starving,” Dean stated.
He was always starving these days and ate way more than what Sam remembered from his first pregnancy. It was showing, not only on his middle but everywhere else: his cheeks were definitely rounder, his tights and butt as well. Not that Sam would actually say it, but Dean was getting chubby, which was a word he’d never associated with his brother before.
It was kind of cute.
Sam had told Clover a couple of days ago that Dean was now taking prednisone to help with his post-viral fatigue syndrome. Cortisone’s side effects were well known: it could cause a swelling of the face and a rapid weight gain, amongst other things. Sam had played it smoothly, taking Clover off to the side and explaining it to her, telling her that making remarks about “Mr.Dean’s” weight gain would be indelicate. She had agreed solemnly. Dean hadn’t been overly thrilled to know that the baby-sitter and his brother were talking about his weight “behind his back”, but had agreed that this would permit them to keep Clover with them for longer, at least until the summer when Sam would be on vacation.
That day, not only did Sumiko pass her swimming class, but she also took her first steps. They'd known it was only a matter of time. For the past week, she would walk with Sam or Dean when they were holding one of her hands. The fact that she actually found it incredibly funny didn’t help her balance, since she kept cooing and laughing.
Sam’s back hurt, bending down to help his tiny daughter walk a few steps whenever she felt like it, but he wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
That evening, Sam was folding the laundry in the living room while Dean gave Sumiko her bath. When he got downstairs with her, she looked all tiny and delicate with her wet hair combed to the side and in the yellow night gown that brushed her chubby knees. Dean knelt with her a few steps away from the couch and steadied her on her feet, staying behind her and giving her his arms to hold on to.
“Come on, Sue, wanna go see Sam?”
Sumiko looked back at Dean. “Daa-daa.”
“Yeah, daddy’s here. Come on, kiddo, you can do it.”
Sam knelt next to the couch and stretched out his arms. This was the fourth evening they'd tried it, and each time Sue seemed a little more eager.
“Come on, sweetheart. Come to Sam.” He cooed.
Dean slowly pulled back one of his arms. Sue swayed on her feet but stayed up, eyes going wild at both her father’s encouragements.
“Let’s go. Dad’s gonna be right behind you,” Dean told her tenderly.
And he let go of her, keeping his arms close, ready to catch her.
Sue swayed again, but kept looking at Sam. She let out a small high-pitched scream and took a hesitant step on the tips of her toes. Then, it was like once she was set in motion she just couldn’t stop, and was able to take four more steps, balancing herself with her arms and smiling like crazy, her two teeth shining in front of her mouth.
As soon as she was in reach of Sam’s arms, she threw herself into them.
“That’s it, Sue, you did it!” Sam laughed, raising her over his head while she giggled and kicked her feet.
“Did you see that? Did you freaking see that?!” Dean said, clapping his hands together. “Ten months old and she’s walking!”
“You are amazing,” Sam told Sue, who was still hovering right above him.
“Daa-daam,” she said and a thin trickle of saliva fell from her mouth right into Sam’s left eye.
Dean laughed so hard he fell flat on his ass
It was a good day. Sam would remember it as the end of the more-or-less normal life they'd experienced since the grocery shop incident.
After this, everything would slowly but surely go to hell.
::: :::
Portsmouth, April 14
Their next appointment was scheduled at seven in the evening, since Rania had a pretty tight schedule at her clinic. Clover had to help her granny with the store’s inventory so they took Sumiko with them. She fell asleep on the way to Portsmouth and Dean muttered and ranted about the hell it would be to get her back to sleep once they got back home. He’d been in a bad mood all day and Sam had kind of felt relieved - and guilty for feeling relieved - that he was at work away from his brother’s deathly glare. When asked if his mood had anything to do with the baby’s… stuff, Dean had shaken his head. “No. I told you I wouldn’t keep anything from you. M’just tired, dude.” Which made sense. After all, since Sumiko had discovered she could walk, she just wouldn’t stop. Sam and Dean basically had to run behind her, half bent over, to prevent any falls. She was delighted to be at level with things she hadn't been able to reach before, and each day was a new discovery of what they had to keep away from her after she’d munched on Dean’s cell phone, where it was sitting on the coffee table.
There was now the need for two security barriers on the top and bottom of the stairs, and even though they could be opened with a handle, the catches were tricky. Dean spent a good amount of time cursing and shaking them before giving up and simply stepping over them. It wasn’t easy for him because he couldn’t stretch like he used to, which meant that Sam got a fair number of jealous comments about his freakishly long legs.
It didn’t get any better when they arrived at Rania’s and Sumiko woke up, confused and grumpy, refusing to be put in her stroller and holding onto Sam while crying her eyes out. Then, Dean stepped on the scales, as usual, and Rania’s eyes widened a little.
“Hum,” she said, frowning.
“What?” Dean looked at the numbers and his mouth dropped open.
“Wait. I can’t… This is wrong. It’s broken or something…”
“No it’s not. You’ve gained eight pounds in two weeks.”
“No.”
“Yes, Dean.”
Dean was blushing red. Sam wisely ignored the whole exchange, concentrating on calming Sumiko.
“You might want to slow things down a bit,” Rania added, and she herself was avoiding Dean’s gaze, knowing his weight gained was a touchy subject.
“Slow things down?” Dean exploded, raising his arms above his head, the hospital gown lifting up and showing his boxer briefs, which, and thank god for small miracles, Sam thought, he didn’t seem to notice. “But I eat freaking healthy stuff all the time. Vegetables and fruits and even Sam’s fucking biological brown ugly bread and… I’m not doing this on purpose!”
“We’ll exam you now,” Rania suggested, but Dean wouldn’t let it go.
“How the hell am I supposed to slow things down? I mean, I’m not… I don’t…”
“Dean, relax. If you’re eating as healthy as you say, it means that your body needs the fat. It’s okay,” Rania said more firmly.
But Dean kept brooding, clearly agitated. It was enough to show with his blood pressure. The baby was still following its accelerated growth rate at two-weeks ahead of schedule, so there was nothing to worry about, even though Dean wondered why he hadn't felt her moving yet. She was moving, Rania assured him, just not strongly enough for him to feel it.
By the time they were done, Sue was asleep again, drooling on Sam’s shoulder. Rania asked if they could schedule an appointment for the next week instead of the week after.
“Why? Because I’m getting fat, is that it?” Dean snarled.
“I only want to follow your weight gain more closely, but if you want to phrase it that way, feel free to do so,” Rania replied, clearly exasperated.
Dean was about to reply when the door of the room burst open and a woman, who must have been in her early thirties, entered with a man leaning heavily on her, covered in blood. He had a make shift bandage wrapped around his neck and his clothes were shredded.
“Rania quick! He was bitten by a black dog!” The young woman snapped. She had an accent, but Sam couldn’t place it.
He was already up to help, Dean taking Sumiko out of his arms. They settled the man on the hospital bed, the three of them.
“What happened?”
“A freaking black dog happened, and I told him to wait for me, I fucking told him, but he wouldn’t listened and I’ve been driving for two hours straight to get him here. He's lost a lot of blood.”
“M’fine”, the man slurred, then cough miserably.
“Sure you are, you idiot. Why won’t you listen to me!” The woman said, but it was fear speaking.
Rania shuffled through her medical stuff and Sam stood there, feeling useless and taken aback by a ton of memories of hunts gone wrong, the adrenaline coming with it, the fear of dying - or even worse, the fear of someone else dying. Dean taken apart by the Hellhound, the Devas scratching his brother’s face so deeply after his own, the…
“Sam, move,” Rania told him while the other woman glared at him.
He took a few steps back while thinking that if there was a girl version of Dean, badass hunter, she was right in front of him, thin but strong looking, dark blond ponytail flapping from left to right as she hovered over the man.
“Can we help?” Sam asked eagerly.
“No, sorry, it would be better if you guys go.”
“Yeah, we understand.”
It was Dean speaking. He was already at the door, Sumiko pressed closely against him, his face pale and his eyes too bright. Sam didn’t have to think for long before he simply followed him, more alarmed by his brother’s state than by the medical emergency happening before his eyes.
Dean gave him Sumiko as soon as they were outside. He swayed on his feet until he could grab the car’s roof.
“Dean?”
“M’okay. J’ss get Sue’n the car,” Dean slurred.
Sam did it as quickly as he could. Sumiko fought him fiercely, letting out small angry cries and trying to grab his face to scratch it. By the time he finally succeeded, Dean had opened the passenger’s door and was sitting with his head between his hands. Sam ran to him and knelt on the gravel ground.
“Dean? What? Are you okay, what?”
“Give me a minute,” Dean said, and it was a relief to hear that his voice was already more firm.
“What happened?”
“My head hurts like hell, Sam. Can you just get in the car and drive. I’ll tell you once we get moving.”
“But, maybe we should go back inside and-“
“I’m fine. The baby’s fine, now drive before Sue chokes on her cries.”
Sam did. Five minutes later, Sumiko was drowsing, her small chest still heaving from her crying fit. Dean’s head was resting on the bench seat, his face white and his eyelids slightly swollen. He finally cleared his throat and opened his eyes to slit, massaging his forehead.
“It wasn’t like at the grocery store,” he began to say.
“Okay. So what was it like?”
“Some flashes, in my mind, when those two hunters came in. And I heard…”
“What?”
“Sam. Stop interrupting me, okay? I’m trying to make sense of it and it’s not easy. I saw… A fucking image of The Shinning. You know the creepy twins? Saw them. And huh… also heard dad’s voice.”
“What?”
“What he said to me the night mom died, when he put you into my arms. Take your brother outside as fast as you can. Now Dean, go.”
“Geez.”
“Doesn’t make any sense. Told you, it’s like she’s picking through my own brain to send me stuff.”
“Was it related to those hunters?”
“Well, obviously, but I don’t… I can’t… Maybe she just picked some stuff about them. I mean they’re hunters, they must have had experiences similar to ours. I don’t think she wanted to warn me of something because huh… When they both barged in, I was kind of scared that they would know. I mean, if they'd gotten there ten minutes earlier they would have seen me lying on the table with my shirt dragged up and my belly exposed.”
“That didn’t happened.”
“I know, but I was nervous, so maybe it’s a combination of both those things. Maybe she picked up my fear and those hunter’s fears as well. I don’t know how to make sense of it, Sam, honest.”
Sam believed him, and to tell the truth, he didn’t know if any of this made sense either. The baby was barely a twenty week old foetus. How could she manage her powers in a way that made sense? She wasn’t even conscious of the world around her, all she had was Dean as a reference.
But then again, she had managed pretty well when she'd made her dad get them away from the cherry stall.
“It hurts you, Dean,” is what he said.
He was surprised by Dean’s violent reaction. “She’s not doing it on purpose!”
“I know that, but the results are the same.”
“She’s a baby. She’s the size of a grapefruit!”
“Calm down. I’m not saying it’s her fault. I’m saying it could be dangerous, for you - even for her, as far as we know.”
“Well, nothing we can do about it. I can manage. It’s just a headache.”
Sam huffed impatiently. “I’ve been there, Dean. I mean, It’s not exactly the same thing, but I know what kind of headaches mental powers or visions can give. It’s not “just” a headache. What if it happens when you’re alone with Sumi?”
Dean shook his head in disbelief. “Wow. Thank you, Sam, really. It’s great to point out problems without any solutions. What do you want me to do about it? Hell, what do you want to do about it?”
“I can…”
Sam tried to find an answer, a real good one. His head was empty, except for the fear. Fear for Dean, Sue, the baby. A baby who was growing too fast, while Dean was putting on weight way too quickly and was plagued by visions that exhausted him. They couldn’t know how far this would go.
“I can’t think of anything and it scares me Dean. I think we should talk to Bobby.”
“No.”
“Dean, Bobby knows we've been lying to him since you got hit by the curse.”
“Of course he knows we’re lying. Think I’m stupid? But he doesn’t know exactly what we’re lying about.”
“He would help us.”
“I…”
Dean blushed and crossed his arms over his stomach. “I can’t Sam. I can’t deal with this, with the idea of Bobby seeing me like this. The whole freaky pregnancy thing is hard enough as it is, but to let Bobby know, I’d feel like it was Dad who knew and I just can't.”
There was so much anxiety in Dean’s voice, in his big green eyes, that Sam couldn’t bring himself to insist. He tried to imagine how he would feel if he was in his brother’s place, but it wasn't possible. Dean was so fragile inside, even if he’d never admit it. He was a walking turmoil of emotions always on the edge of bursting. The pregnancy made it worse, but it had always been there, Sam knew. He loved his brother just the way he was, loved his hidden sensitivity, his clumsy way of dealing with emotions when he couldn’t even understand them most of the time.
“Okay,” he finally said, and he could see the relief washing over Dean’s face.
“Okay. We’ll deal, Sammy.”
If only they could.
::: :::
The next day, Sam called Rania to ask about the hunters they’d met in her office. She seemed tired, couldn’t help but yawn more than once during their conversation.
Jason, the man, would be fine. The woman he hunted with was Isabelle. They'd been partners for two years now and usually stayed in the great lakes area. Sam had never heard of them, but he didn’t ask many more questions. Rania was way too discreet to give him any more information and it was a good thing too, considering what she knew about Dean and him.
Rania seemed to think that was what Sam had worried about, because in the end she said. “You boys are safe. Jason was so out of it he doesn’t even remember you. As for Isabelle, she didn’t ask any questions.”
That was another good thing to know, but it didn’t satisfy Sam entirely. The baby had maybe been trying to tell Dean something about those hunters and it would be stupid not to at least check them out.
Sam called Bobby and asked. When Bobby grunted and wanted to know what was this all about, Sam lost his patience. There were too many things happening, too many things he didn’t understand.
“Can you just do it, Bobby?”
“I know their names, but I’ve never met them. I’ll find out what I can,” Bobby said simply. Then he added in a very gentle voice that was completely un-Bobby-like. “Are you boys okay?”
It touched Sam so much he almost burst into tears right then.
“We’re… We’re fine, Bobby.”
“And the little one?”
“Sue’s doing great. She's started walking.”
“Good. But Sam, if you boys need anything - I mean other than some info about hunters - just give me a call.”
“Yeah. Will do.”
Sam hung up, feeling vaguely guilty.
::: :::
Bobby called back with the info the same day. The man’s name was Jason Shatner. He’d been hunting for several years, a loner who specialized in poltergeists since that’s how he'd become acquainted with the supernatural in the first place. The woman was Isabelle Marchand. She'd been born in France, but her father had moved to the U.S. when she and her sister were teenagers. Family of hunters. The father had died several years ago, the sister a couple of years before that, and Isabelle had somehow ended up with Jason. As far as Bobby knew, they were good hunters, nothing suspicious about them.
Dean and Sam didn’t quite know what to do with this information. Dean was certain the baby had just felt the intensity of what was happening in the room and maybe had grabbed something coming from the hunters. Since he was the one who had felt it, he could be right.
Nothing happened for a whole week. Then, Dean and Sumiko got sick.
::: :::
Freeport, April 23
Sam took his Friday afternoon off. The kids who went to the school were all out visiting some museum and Sam felt his time was better spent with Dean and Sumiko. He stopped at the drugstore to get some more tissues and children’s Tylenol, couldn’t resist buying a small stuffed, goofy-looking octopus for his sick daughter and a car magazine for his sick brother, then headed straight home.
Dean had caught the cold from hell two days ago and despite all the precautions he'd taken, Sumiko had awoken yesterday with her nose stuffed up and her eyes swollen. Sam was sure his turn would come eventually - couldn’t really escape it when your adorable, but snotty, baby daughter sneezed right in your face - but in the meantime he would gladly play nurse.
Dean had had a fever last night, and even though it had broken in the morning, Sam had called Clover to see if she could come give him a hand with Sue. The baby sitter could only stay until noon, but since she’d spent way more hours with Sue in the last few weeks than she was supposed to, Sam had been glad she could be there during the morning.
When he arrived home, he found Dean and Sumiko together on the couch watching an episode of Star Wars Clone Wars. Dean was in a semi-sitting position with Sumiko lying on her side, head resting on his chest, with a small hand open on his belly. She was holding her bottle loosely with her other hand and was half covered by the Impala’s old blanket.
They both look equally miserable, Dean with his swollen eyes and his nose rubbed raw, Sumiko with dark red spots on her cheeks and mucus drying around her nostrils and on her upper lip. The baby’s eyes were dull, barely open, and Dean made a shushing gesture at Sam, pointing to her.
Sam nodded and walked around the couch to crouch next to it, kissing Dean’s damp hair. His brother tried to roll his eyes, but stopped mid-movement, wincing.
“How’re you doing?”
“I’ll live,” Dean murmured. “I think you should call Dr. Lenner, though. Sue’s spiking a fever and I think she might have laryngitis.”
“Really?”
“She’s coughing a lot and she doesn’t wanna eat anything. Only managed to get a little bit of juice into her since this morning."
Sue groaned and cuddled more closely against her father, relishing the heat. A shiver ran through her and it twisted Sam’s heart to see her like that. She was usually so full of energy. Apparently, it did something to Dean too because he sighed and let his hand rest on her back.
“You think I should take her today?”
Dean didn’t answer, doing his best to fight an impending sneeze. Although he succeeded in stifling it, the sudden jerk of his body startled Sumiko who burst out crying.
“Damn it,” he mumbled rubbing at his nose.
Sue’s voice was all broken and raw, and each time she took a breath, it sounded incredibly painful.
“Yeah, I’m calling Dr. Lenner,” Sam said.
::: :::
Luckily, the pediatrician could manage some time to see Sumiko that afternoon. Sam practically had to force Dean to stay home, and maybe regretted it a little once he was on his way. Despite the Tylenol he'd given her, Sumiko kept crying and coughing harshly. She was exhausted and Sam couldn’t do anything to sooth her. He had to wait for forty-five minutes before it was their turn and by then he was close to tears himself, desperate to succeed in calming Sumiko.
Dr. Lenner was reassuring, though. It was, in fact, a viral laryngitis, something quite common with kids. All they could do was to make her as comfortable as possible and she would quickly get over it.
Because of Sue’s constant coughing and agitated state, though, the pediatrician asked the nurse to give her a dose of codeine. It would diminish the coughing and knock her out for the rest of the day, giving her body some much needed rest.
By the time Sam got her dressed, Sue was already calmer, sucking her thumb between weak moans She let her head rest in the crook of Sam’s neck.
“The coughing and fever can be intimidating, but I’m not worried,” Dr. Lenner said, patting Sam’s shoulder. “If she has another coughing fit that sounds like she's having trouble breathing, take her to the bathroom and run the water in the tub. A few minutes of vapor and it will stop. As long as she keeps her color, no need to be scared.”
“Okay. Okay, thank you.”
::: :::
Sue slept for the rest of the day - Dean too, for that matter. In the evening, Sumiko drank a whole bottle of milk. Sam gave her a dose of Tylenol and put her to bed with a small humidifier in the room and she slept through the night.
Dean didn’t, but his fever didn’t return and his major problem was nasal congestion. Maybe, if they were lucky, he would shake off his cold without it turning into anything more serious.
Saturday morning, Sumiko was grumpy and sleepy, but her fever had lowered. She tried to cry, but could only produce a thin broken sound. Dean was agitated, although he tried not to show it. He did look better, but Sam was too busy taking care of Sumiko to wonder if there was something more to it than his cold and his worries for their little girl. The day passed slowly. None of them got out despite the clear sky and bright sun. In the afternoon, Sumiko finally fell asleep for her nap and Sam went to find Dean, who was standing in front of their bedroom window, a fist full of crumpled Kleenex in his hand, looking strangely melancholy.
“Hey, you okay?”
Dean gave him a curious look, then turned back to watch the waves shinning under the sun.
“I like it here,” he said.
“Yeah, I… I like it here too. What’s going on, Dean?”
Dean smiled then, but there was no real joy in it. “I felt the baby move this morning.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It was almost nothing, but I knew it was her. She made me feel it was her.”
Sam slid one arm around Dean’s waist. He didn’t react.
“Sumiko will be okay, right?” Dean asked, still not looking at him. One of his hands went to the swell of his stomach and rested there.
“Yeah, of course she will. I told you, it’s only laryngitis.”
“I know. You had it once. You were four, I think, and I kept teasing you because you couldn’t talk. God, you were so mad at me you cried. Then I felt bad and went to buy you a Popsicle.”
Dean’s voice had this dreamy tone. Sam didn’t like it, at all.
“Dean, did something happen? Are you okay?” He insisted, and when Dean didn’t answer, Sam took his chin in his hand and forced him to turn his head.
“No. I don’t know,” Dean replied, his green eyes lowered. “Just got this feeling, something bad is going to happen. Is something bad going to happen, Sam?”
“No!” Sam had to fight the urge to shake Dean’s shoulders and tell him to snap out of it. Then a terrible thought crossed his mind. “Did the baby tell you that something bad was going to happen?”
“No. Don’t think so. I don’t… I’m tired.”
Sam brushed his fingers over Dean’s forehead and found that the fever was back.
Maybe that was all there was to it. Dean had always been so sensitive to fevers.
“You need something for the fever, and then some sleep.” He stated firmly.
“Okay.” Dean smiled a little, then simply went to their bed and sat there until Sam brought the Tylenol to him. Five minutes later, he was sleeping.
He woke up better and when Sam questioned him about this feeling of something bad happening, he shrugged. “Don’t know, man. No baby powers or anything like that. I just feel shitty, is all.”
Sumiko slept through her dinner time and when Sam woke her up, she refused to eat or even sit. She cried quietly whenever Sam or Dean tried to put her down. She felt a little better after a bath but the Tylenol quickly sapped all the energy she had left and she went to sleep at seven thirty after drinking four ounces of juice. Sam was worried about her. He preferred her crying and rubbing her nose and being generally moody than that apathetic. Dean was also upset about it, but since he wasn’t that much better than her, Sam reassured him and sugar coated everything Dr. Lenner had said.
When Dean went to bed an hour after her, Sam took it upon himself to check every salt line, every sigil that was concealed in the house, then checked the locks on the windows and doors. He couldn’t shake off what Dean had said that afternoon, even if there wasn’t any reason for something bad to happen, supernatural or not.
Sam took the baby monitor with him to the living room and settled down to watch TV. He was way too nervous to sleep anyway.
It was around eleven thirty and Sam was starting to nod off during some historical documentary when he heard it, Sumiko’s almost inaudible cries through the static of the baby monitor. He was relieved, in a way. She hadn’t had a lot to drink and he would feel better if he could put more fluids into her.
He went upstairs quickly, not wanting her to hurt herself crying. He found her trying to sit, tangled in her covers. When he took her into his arms, she fought a little and made that strange coughing sound Dr. Lenner had warned him about. It sounded like a bark and it was scary to hear it coming out of Sumiko’s small chest.
Sam stayed calm and took her to the bathroom, just as he’d been told. He closed the door and turned on the hot water tap, sitting on the closed toilet lid with Sumiko. She was still coughing and wheezing, tears spilling from her eyes. In the crude light of the bathroom, Sam could see the panic and pain in her eyes. She was drooling profusely, her face was a deep shade of red and some fine veins were showing on her forehead.
“Come on, sweetheart, calm down. Daddy’s here.”
Sam slowly rubbed her back and kept her in a sitting position. A few minutes, Dr. Lenner had said. It’s impressive, but nothing to worry about.
After two minutes, Sumiko stop coughing all of a sudden. Sam could barely see the walls of the bathroom because of the vapor. He felt this eerie sense of dread hovering and took Sumiko under the armpits to look straight at her.
Sumiko’s eyes rolled back. She fought feebly in Sam’s arms. Her mouth was wide open, more saliva dripping from it and her small nostrils were dilated. The deep red color of her face was starting to shift.
“Sue? Baby?”
Sumiko looked at him, and her chest tried to rise. Sam could feel it under his fingers. The tendons of her neck were sticking out, she was trying to raise her head but couldn’t manage.
She was trying to breath and couldn’t do it.
Sam’s mind went blank.
“Sue, come on, Sumi, hey, come on baby.”
He shook her softly, and she gave him a look full of panic and confusion, a look he would never, ever forget. Then her head fell forward and her body went limp.
“DEAN!” Sam yelled, and kept shaking Sumiko. He yelled again.
She wasn’t breathing. His daughter, His ten month old baby had stop breathing. And all Sam could think of was that he needed Dean, that Dean had always been there, always made sure he was okay, always…
Sam sat on the floor and settled Sumiko’s limp body on his legs. Her face was turning blue, her lips were grey.
Please, he thought, please, please, please oh god please…
He tilted the baby’s head backward, pinched her nose and blew a small puff of air into her mouth. He could feel the resistance. Nothing was getting through. He tried again. Less than five seconds must have passed since Sue’s last breath, but it was like time had stopped on this horrible moment.
The bathroom door opened suddenly, clearing the steam, and Dean came in.
“She isn’t breathing, she isn’t breathing, Dean. Do something!”
Sam felt the years flying backwards. Dean was the big brother. Dean would make it all better.
“Oh god,” Dean moaned, practically throwing himself on the floor near Sam.
He grabbed Sumiko into his arms.
“Fuck, what are you waiting for, call an ambulance!” He yelled at Sam, then laid Sue on the cold floor, doing the same maneuver Sam had just tried.
Sam stood up on shaking legs. His mind captured Dean’s desperation as he bent over Sue and it hurt like he’d been stab straight through the heart.
He didn’t have time to get out of the bathroom, though. Dean was taking Sumiko into his arms, yelling at him to hurry, when it happened.
The air around them started to vibrate, a hissing noise began. It got louder and louder, burying the sound of the water still running. Then, an incredible energy charge, like something pushing toward him, made Sam fall flat on his ass.
It was coming from Dean. Nothing was visible, but it was like Dean was surrounded by a wave of impossibly powerful energy. He was staring into nothingness and his nose had started bleeding from both nostrils. His arms were getting limp. He was going to let Sumiko slide to the floor.
At that precise moment, Sam heard something in his head. A scream. The scream of a little girl. Everything went white and for a moment it was like Sam wasn’t there anymore.
What brought him back to reality were the cries of his daughter.
He shook his head, ignoring the pain pounding behind his eyes. Sumiko was still in Dean’s arms, but she was wiggling and crying, loud, healthy, angry sobs. Dean was looking at her. The blood from his nose was now dripping onto his mouth and shirt.
“Sue?”
Sam took his daughter in his arms and burst out crying, painful, ugly sobs. Sumiko’s face was pink, her cheeks were turning red, and her chest was rising and falling as she sobbed. She was so alive, her body tense and fighting, her mouth red, her eyes full of tears and anger.
“Oh god, you’re okay, baby, you’re okay. It’s okay. Daddy’s got you.”
He pressed her against his chest, rocking her and trying to get his own breathing under control.
“She okay?” Dean rasped, which immediately brought Sam’s attention back to his brother.
Dean was wiping his nose with the back of a shaking hand. His eyes were dull, seemingly unable to focus.
“Yeah, yeah, she is. Dean, you-“
Dean let out a profound sight and fell backward, his back hitting the wall. His upper body slid slowly to the side.
“Dean!”
“M’okay,” he mumbled. “Just… need to rest for a minute.”
He closed his eyes.