Taking Root 23
Authors: Marina and Casey
Story: Taking Root
Challenge: Coconut 22 (pleasant dreams), Tangerine 9 (tiptoe) [Marina]; Blueberry Yogurt 2 (homecoming), Apple Pie 21 (roommate), Watermelon 18 (don’t come crying to me) [Casey]
Toppings/Extras: Caramel, Chopped Nuts, Smoothie
Word Count: 2,282
Rating: PG
Summary: Chase and Dean reunite with their loved ones at the hospital.
Notes: What it says on the tin, pretty much.
A quick tap sounded at the recovery room door before it swung open to reveal Peter, Anna, and Sorin. Chase straightened up. "Mom?"
It was painfully clear that his mother hadn't been to bed at all, despite the fact that it was almost four in the morning. Her eyes were red, and she still wore the skirt suit she had put on for work that day. "Chase, thank God," she murmured, and was across the room in a second, enveloping him in a tight hug. He clung to her and had to fight not to break down in tears.
Sorin moved past them silently to perch on the edge of Dean's bed, carefully brushing his son's hair back. Chase watched this over his mother's shoulder, feeling even more overwhelmed at the understated gesture. Dean had fallen asleep after the doctors had reset his fingers and checked for a concussion, so there was no point in Sorin being demonstrative, but his expression spoke for him.
"Your dad told me you got shot," Anna was saying.
"Doesn't hurt unless I move," Chase mumbled. "I'm okay, Mom."
She pushed back a little so she could look at him. "Are you sure?"
No, no he was not, but it wasn't because of the bullet wound. He nodded anyway, covering it up as he always did. It wasn’t only for his mother’s benefit, either. Sorin was watching him, too, while Dean remained asleep, and Chase didn’t want to make him feel worse than he surely already did.
A few moments later, Dean stirred, groaning and reaching for his head. Chase pulled a little away from Anna so he could see better, but continued to hang on to her arm. Dean had been really out of it since tackling Edward.
"Steady, Dean," Sorin said gently.
"Dad?" Dean murmured, voice a little steadier than before.
"Right here, kid."
His eyes flickered and then focused on his dad. In an instant, he was sitting up and had his arms tightly around his father. That was too much. Chase turned his face away and leaned his head on Anna's shoulder.
"Chase?" Dean asked after a moment, still sounding somewhat groggy. "Is Chase okay?"
"I'm okay, Dean," Chase said quickly.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Dean squinting at him. "Good."
"Just take it easy, Dean. You took a hard knock," Sorin said, keeping a hand on Dean’s shoulder.
"My head hurts," Dean said plaintively.
"That doesn't surprise me," Peter said kindly. He was still standing by the door. "It'll go away."
He glanced up at Peter. "Whole body hurts."
"That'll go away, too. Well, the fingers will take a little more time, but all you got from your tumble down the stairs was a bit of a concussion. You'll be fine, Dean."
Dean frowned. "Tumble down the stairs?" he repeated.
"You don't remember?" asked Peter.
"No?"
He glanced at Chase, then back at Dean. "You apparently tackled Edward to keep him from taking the two of you out of the house, or to give us enough time to get in. You fell with him all the way down to the basement floor. Head first, it looked like. You were lucky not to be hurt worse."
Dean rubbed his head. "Edward?" he asked, looking between his father and Peter.
"He broke his neck," Peter said gently.
"He...oh." Dean sagged back against the pillows and dug his palms into his eyes.
"You all right, Dean?"
"Fine," he mumbled without moving his hands. Chase watched him, a little baffled and a lot concerned.
Sorin patted his knee gently. "It's a lot to take in, Dean, it's okay."
"I'm okay," Dean said, a bit stronger. He sat up again and moved his hands, although he met no one's eyes.
"You don't have to be," said Peter. "You've dealt with quite a lot in just the past twelve hours, let alone your whole life before that."
The teen shrugged, rubbing his palms against his legs, before glancing at his dad. "Are we staying here in Madison?"
"I don't see why not," Sorin said with a faint smile. "There's no reason to leave."
The question made Chase blink in surprise and some apprehension. "You still want to stay, right?" he asked tentatively.
Dean looked over and smiled crookedly. "Wouldn't leave even if you paid me. You kidding?"
"Good," said Chase, smiling a little in return. He really didn't want Dean to go. If anything good had come out of the kidnapping, it was that he realized how much Dean's friendship really meant to him. It had only been six weeks, but he couldn't imagine school-or, well, his life in general-without Dean there.
Sorin smiled. "Good, then that's settled."
Chase nodded and let his head drop back onto Anna's shoulder. She smoothed back his hair. "Should I let Laura come see you?" she asked. "The doctors said we should take it easy and not bombard you, so she's out waiting for her turn."
"Yes, please," said Chase, although he hated to let Anna out of his sight. Given the choice, though, it had to be Laura. It had been that way with him for years.
His mother kissed his forehead and went out to get her.
Dean was still rubbing his head on and off, but his expression was definitely clearer. He abruptly hugged his father again. "We're free," he murmured.
"We are, kid. But next time, going down the stairs is not necessary, okay?"
"Had to keep Chase safe."
"We weren't going to let you leave the premises, Dean," said Peter, although Chase noted that he looked a little less calm about it than usual.
"It was Edward," Dean said, matter-of-factly.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I...just...I don't trust him." He frowned. "Didn't. Didn't trust him not to manage it."
Peter let out a breath. Chase realized that that meant he agreed. "Well, it's moot now."
The door creaked open again, and Laura poked her head around it. Chase met her eyes and immediately held out his arms. She crossed the room in a near-run and hugged him without a word.
"I'm okay," he forced himself to say after a moment, since his throat was choking up fast.
"Okay," said Laura, but he could tell she was in tears.
Dean kept his arms around Sorin but watched Chase and Laura. Peter cleared his throat. From what Chase could see, he looked uncomfortable in a way that meant he could tell when their interactions held more weight than he could understand. Laura seemed to hear that in the throat-clearing, because she abruptly pulled away and wiped her eyes. "I'm glad you're all right," she said. Chase only nodded and took her hand.
The moment over, Sorin glanced at Dean. "Carrie's here too."
Chase straightened. "Really?"
"Yes, she came with us."
"I called her as soon as we found out," Laura explained. "She was as worried as the rest of us."
Dean smiled a little. "Thanks, Laura."
"Should I tell her she can come in?" asked Peter.
Dean glanced at Sorin and then nodded. "If they'll let her."
"I think it'll be all right," said Peter, "since you're both awake." He glanced at Chase, who also nodded, not really trusting himself to say anything now. "Okay. I'll go see."
Laura looked at Chase again as soon as the door shut behind him. "You're really all right?" she asked, lowly.
"I don't really want to talk about it, Laura," he managed, looking down at their hands instead of her face. She sighed, but didn't push it. She just stayed with him, while Dean and Sorin both did their best to pretend they had heard none of it.
The room was silent until another creak of the door produced Carrie, who had not been crying, but who looked pretty wild. Her hair was not brushed and she wore slippers instead of shoes. She didn't seem to care, either. "Hey," she said, looking between the two boys.
Sorin patted Dean's knee and slipped off the bed. "I'm going to go check on your release and such," he said and slipped out of the room.
"Hey, Carrie," Dean said quietly. He swung his legs off the bed as if to stand, although he stayed seated, seeming hesitant.
She stayed by the door, pressing her back against it as if to keep other people out. "Are you okay?"
"Guess. Or close enough."
She looked at the floor. "It was my fault Edward knew where you were," she said quietly. "Cause of Facebook."
"Carrie, you didn't know," said Laura gently. Carrie only shrugged.
"No, it's not," Dean said. "Not really. Yeah, maybe he knew right where I was at that moment, but he was onto us anyway. It would have happened with or without Facebook."
"Maybe not," said Carrie.
"Carrie," Chase said, frowning. The last thing he wanted to see was his best friend blaming herself.
She didn't let him finish. "Anyway, I'm sorry."
"Apology accepted," Dean said with a faint smile. "Now are you going to come in already?"
She looked up hesitantly, then edged forward a bit, seeming uncertain.
"Care, neither of us blames you, okay? So please don't blame yourself."
Carrie nodded, but still couldn't quite look him in the eye. Chase had had about enough of this. He let go of Laura's hand and carefully slid off his bed, trying to ignore the pain that immediately shot up his right side. "Care-bear," he said, and she looked at him. He hobbled over and hugged her tightly. To his relief, she didn't hesitate to hug him back. Dean watched them silently, expression a little hard to read.
"Sorry," Carrie muttered, into Chase's shoulder.
"It's fine, Care," Chase said, as firmly as he could. It felt weird, trying to be the person who was holding it together, when all he really wanted to do was go home and curl up with Boo-boo and a cup of hot chocolate to watch Clamp School Detectives. "We're fine, okay? Now stop it and...I don't know, go hug Dean too."
She chuckled a little bit, but nodded and went to follow directions. Dean looked surprised at Chase's order. "Uh, hi," he said, with a crooked smile, slipping off the bed to stand.
"Hi," said Carrie, a bit shyly.
Chase sat back down on his bed. His leg was seriously in pain by that point, severely testing his ability to stay calm. Between all the people who had been in and out of the room in the previous ten minutes, he was pretty much done with that, anyway. He held out a hand to Laura again, and she took it, squeezing it reassuringly.
"You don't have to hug me," Dean said in an attempt at lightness, shifting his weight. "Even if Chase ordered you to."
Carrie raised her eyebrows. "Just say so if you don't want me to."
"I will never complain about hugs from you. Just...didn't want you to feel forced."
"I don't, really."
"Okay, um, good."
She opened her mouth to say something, but ended up shutting it again and tentatively hugging him. He hugged her back, squeezing his eyes shut.
Chase decided it was time to ignore them. "Can we go home soon?" he asked Laura.
"I think Mom's working on the paperwork right now," she replied. "Soon, don't worry."
It turned out she was right. The adults soon reappeared, Peter pushing a wheelchair that Chase had to be helped into. Dean turned to his dad. "So we can head back to Madison now?"
"Yes, we can head home now," Sorin said. Dean turned to stare at him and then slowly smiled.
Chase smiled as well, unable to help it, and so did Carrie. She embraced Dean again, a little more enthusiastically this time. Dean returned it with a little more vigor on his end, too. "Home," he repeated. "Sounds good to me!"
"Sounds good to me, too," said Chase. "Can we go now?"
Peter patted his shoulder reassuringly. "We're going. Come on, Carrie."
Dean let go of Carrie and stepped back to his dad's side. "Guess I'll see you two Monday?" he said.
"I'll be there," said Carrie.
"Not promising anything," Chase said, "but I'll try." The thought of school made him feel even more tired, and a little bit panicky. Trying to explain the whole ordeal to his friends was next to last on the list of things he wanted to do, then or ever.
"If you're not in school, you'll be hearing from me anyway to make sure you're okay," Dean said quietly, looking a bit self-conscious at saying it out loud.
"You know my number, I guess," said Chase, then looked up at his dad as another thought occurred to him. "Hey, Dad?"
"What's up, kiddo?"
"Can I have a cell phone?"
Peter smiled feebly. "Sure. We'll take care of it during normal person hours, okay?"
Chase nodded. "Okay, let's go home."
"Night, Dean, Mr. D," said Carrie, moving to follow the Mitchells out.
"Goodnight," Sorin said.
"Night, Care," Dean added as his father put an arm around his shoulders and steered him after them.
They parted ways at the entrance to the emergency room, but Chase watched over his shoulder until Dean and Sorin had reached their car. He only felt slightly better, but he forced down his uneasiness. He was sixteen, not twelve. Acting anxious would only make everyone worry, and his loved ones already worried about him much too much. They couldn’t help him, so it was best just to pretend that some things didn’t affect him.
That didn’t stop him from holding onto Laura’s and Carrie’s hands the entire drive home, however.
Story: Taking Root
Challenge: Coconut 22 (pleasant dreams), Tangerine 9 (tiptoe) [Marina]; Blueberry Yogurt 2 (homecoming), Apple Pie 21 (roommate), Watermelon 18 (don’t come crying to me) [Casey]
Toppings/Extras: Caramel, Chopped Nuts, Smoothie
Word Count: 2,282
Rating: PG
Summary: Chase and Dean reunite with their loved ones at the hospital.
Notes: What it says on the tin, pretty much.
A quick tap sounded at the recovery room door before it swung open to reveal Peter, Anna, and Sorin. Chase straightened up. "Mom?"
It was painfully clear that his mother hadn't been to bed at all, despite the fact that it was almost four in the morning. Her eyes were red, and she still wore the skirt suit she had put on for work that day. "Chase, thank God," she murmured, and was across the room in a second, enveloping him in a tight hug. He clung to her and had to fight not to break down in tears.
Sorin moved past them silently to perch on the edge of Dean's bed, carefully brushing his son's hair back. Chase watched this over his mother's shoulder, feeling even more overwhelmed at the understated gesture. Dean had fallen asleep after the doctors had reset his fingers and checked for a concussion, so there was no point in Sorin being demonstrative, but his expression spoke for him.
"Your dad told me you got shot," Anna was saying.
"Doesn't hurt unless I move," Chase mumbled. "I'm okay, Mom."
She pushed back a little so she could look at him. "Are you sure?"
No, no he was not, but it wasn't because of the bullet wound. He nodded anyway, covering it up as he always did. It wasn’t only for his mother’s benefit, either. Sorin was watching him, too, while Dean remained asleep, and Chase didn’t want to make him feel worse than he surely already did.
A few moments later, Dean stirred, groaning and reaching for his head. Chase pulled a little away from Anna so he could see better, but continued to hang on to her arm. Dean had been really out of it since tackling Edward.
"Steady, Dean," Sorin said gently.
"Dad?" Dean murmured, voice a little steadier than before.
"Right here, kid."
His eyes flickered and then focused on his dad. In an instant, he was sitting up and had his arms tightly around his father. That was too much. Chase turned his face away and leaned his head on Anna's shoulder.
"Chase?" Dean asked after a moment, still sounding somewhat groggy. "Is Chase okay?"
"I'm okay, Dean," Chase said quickly.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Dean squinting at him. "Good."
"Just take it easy, Dean. You took a hard knock," Sorin said, keeping a hand on Dean’s shoulder.
"My head hurts," Dean said plaintively.
"That doesn't surprise me," Peter said kindly. He was still standing by the door. "It'll go away."
He glanced up at Peter. "Whole body hurts."
"That'll go away, too. Well, the fingers will take a little more time, but all you got from your tumble down the stairs was a bit of a concussion. You'll be fine, Dean."
Dean frowned. "Tumble down the stairs?" he repeated.
"You don't remember?" asked Peter.
"No?"
He glanced at Chase, then back at Dean. "You apparently tackled Edward to keep him from taking the two of you out of the house, or to give us enough time to get in. You fell with him all the way down to the basement floor. Head first, it looked like. You were lucky not to be hurt worse."
Dean rubbed his head. "Edward?" he asked, looking between his father and Peter.
"He broke his neck," Peter said gently.
"He...oh." Dean sagged back against the pillows and dug his palms into his eyes.
"You all right, Dean?"
"Fine," he mumbled without moving his hands. Chase watched him, a little baffled and a lot concerned.
Sorin patted his knee gently. "It's a lot to take in, Dean, it's okay."
"I'm okay," Dean said, a bit stronger. He sat up again and moved his hands, although he met no one's eyes.
"You don't have to be," said Peter. "You've dealt with quite a lot in just the past twelve hours, let alone your whole life before that."
The teen shrugged, rubbing his palms against his legs, before glancing at his dad. "Are we staying here in Madison?"
"I don't see why not," Sorin said with a faint smile. "There's no reason to leave."
The question made Chase blink in surprise and some apprehension. "You still want to stay, right?" he asked tentatively.
Dean looked over and smiled crookedly. "Wouldn't leave even if you paid me. You kidding?"
"Good," said Chase, smiling a little in return. He really didn't want Dean to go. If anything good had come out of the kidnapping, it was that he realized how much Dean's friendship really meant to him. It had only been six weeks, but he couldn't imagine school-or, well, his life in general-without Dean there.
Sorin smiled. "Good, then that's settled."
Chase nodded and let his head drop back onto Anna's shoulder. She smoothed back his hair. "Should I let Laura come see you?" she asked. "The doctors said we should take it easy and not bombard you, so she's out waiting for her turn."
"Yes, please," said Chase, although he hated to let Anna out of his sight. Given the choice, though, it had to be Laura. It had been that way with him for years.
His mother kissed his forehead and went out to get her.
Dean was still rubbing his head on and off, but his expression was definitely clearer. He abruptly hugged his father again. "We're free," he murmured.
"We are, kid. But next time, going down the stairs is not necessary, okay?"
"Had to keep Chase safe."
"We weren't going to let you leave the premises, Dean," said Peter, although Chase noted that he looked a little less calm about it than usual.
"It was Edward," Dean said, matter-of-factly.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I...just...I don't trust him." He frowned. "Didn't. Didn't trust him not to manage it."
Peter let out a breath. Chase realized that that meant he agreed. "Well, it's moot now."
The door creaked open again, and Laura poked her head around it. Chase met her eyes and immediately held out his arms. She crossed the room in a near-run and hugged him without a word.
"I'm okay," he forced himself to say after a moment, since his throat was choking up fast.
"Okay," said Laura, but he could tell she was in tears.
Dean kept his arms around Sorin but watched Chase and Laura. Peter cleared his throat. From what Chase could see, he looked uncomfortable in a way that meant he could tell when their interactions held more weight than he could understand. Laura seemed to hear that in the throat-clearing, because she abruptly pulled away and wiped her eyes. "I'm glad you're all right," she said. Chase only nodded and took her hand.
The moment over, Sorin glanced at Dean. "Carrie's here too."
Chase straightened. "Really?"
"Yes, she came with us."
"I called her as soon as we found out," Laura explained. "She was as worried as the rest of us."
Dean smiled a little. "Thanks, Laura."
"Should I tell her she can come in?" asked Peter.
Dean glanced at Sorin and then nodded. "If they'll let her."
"I think it'll be all right," said Peter, "since you're both awake." He glanced at Chase, who also nodded, not really trusting himself to say anything now. "Okay. I'll go see."
Laura looked at Chase again as soon as the door shut behind him. "You're really all right?" she asked, lowly.
"I don't really want to talk about it, Laura," he managed, looking down at their hands instead of her face. She sighed, but didn't push it. She just stayed with him, while Dean and Sorin both did their best to pretend they had heard none of it.
The room was silent until another creak of the door produced Carrie, who had not been crying, but who looked pretty wild. Her hair was not brushed and she wore slippers instead of shoes. She didn't seem to care, either. "Hey," she said, looking between the two boys.
Sorin patted Dean's knee and slipped off the bed. "I'm going to go check on your release and such," he said and slipped out of the room.
"Hey, Carrie," Dean said quietly. He swung his legs off the bed as if to stand, although he stayed seated, seeming hesitant.
She stayed by the door, pressing her back against it as if to keep other people out. "Are you okay?"
"Guess. Or close enough."
She looked at the floor. "It was my fault Edward knew where you were," she said quietly. "Cause of Facebook."
"Carrie, you didn't know," said Laura gently. Carrie only shrugged.
"No, it's not," Dean said. "Not really. Yeah, maybe he knew right where I was at that moment, but he was onto us anyway. It would have happened with or without Facebook."
"Maybe not," said Carrie.
"Carrie," Chase said, frowning. The last thing he wanted to see was his best friend blaming herself.
She didn't let him finish. "Anyway, I'm sorry."
"Apology accepted," Dean said with a faint smile. "Now are you going to come in already?"
She looked up hesitantly, then edged forward a bit, seeming uncertain.
"Care, neither of us blames you, okay? So please don't blame yourself."
Carrie nodded, but still couldn't quite look him in the eye. Chase had had about enough of this. He let go of Laura's hand and carefully slid off his bed, trying to ignore the pain that immediately shot up his right side. "Care-bear," he said, and she looked at him. He hobbled over and hugged her tightly. To his relief, she didn't hesitate to hug him back. Dean watched them silently, expression a little hard to read.
"Sorry," Carrie muttered, into Chase's shoulder.
"It's fine, Care," Chase said, as firmly as he could. It felt weird, trying to be the person who was holding it together, when all he really wanted to do was go home and curl up with Boo-boo and a cup of hot chocolate to watch Clamp School Detectives. "We're fine, okay? Now stop it and...I don't know, go hug Dean too."
She chuckled a little bit, but nodded and went to follow directions. Dean looked surprised at Chase's order. "Uh, hi," he said, with a crooked smile, slipping off the bed to stand.
"Hi," said Carrie, a bit shyly.
Chase sat back down on his bed. His leg was seriously in pain by that point, severely testing his ability to stay calm. Between all the people who had been in and out of the room in the previous ten minutes, he was pretty much done with that, anyway. He held out a hand to Laura again, and she took it, squeezing it reassuringly.
"You don't have to hug me," Dean said in an attempt at lightness, shifting his weight. "Even if Chase ordered you to."
Carrie raised her eyebrows. "Just say so if you don't want me to."
"I will never complain about hugs from you. Just...didn't want you to feel forced."
"I don't, really."
"Okay, um, good."
She opened her mouth to say something, but ended up shutting it again and tentatively hugging him. He hugged her back, squeezing his eyes shut.
Chase decided it was time to ignore them. "Can we go home soon?" he asked Laura.
"I think Mom's working on the paperwork right now," she replied. "Soon, don't worry."
It turned out she was right. The adults soon reappeared, Peter pushing a wheelchair that Chase had to be helped into. Dean turned to his dad. "So we can head back to Madison now?"
"Yes, we can head home now," Sorin said. Dean turned to stare at him and then slowly smiled.
Chase smiled as well, unable to help it, and so did Carrie. She embraced Dean again, a little more enthusiastically this time. Dean returned it with a little more vigor on his end, too. "Home," he repeated. "Sounds good to me!"
"Sounds good to me, too," said Chase. "Can we go now?"
Peter patted his shoulder reassuringly. "We're going. Come on, Carrie."
Dean let go of Carrie and stepped back to his dad's side. "Guess I'll see you two Monday?" he said.
"I'll be there," said Carrie.
"Not promising anything," Chase said, "but I'll try." The thought of school made him feel even more tired, and a little bit panicky. Trying to explain the whole ordeal to his friends was next to last on the list of things he wanted to do, then or ever.
"If you're not in school, you'll be hearing from me anyway to make sure you're okay," Dean said quietly, looking a bit self-conscious at saying it out loud.
"You know my number, I guess," said Chase, then looked up at his dad as another thought occurred to him. "Hey, Dad?"
"What's up, kiddo?"
"Can I have a cell phone?"
Peter smiled feebly. "Sure. We'll take care of it during normal person hours, okay?"
Chase nodded. "Okay, let's go home."
"Night, Dean, Mr. D," said Carrie, moving to follow the Mitchells out.
"Goodnight," Sorin said.
"Night, Care," Dean added as his father put an arm around his shoulders and steered him after them.
They parted ways at the entrance to the emergency room, but Chase watched over his shoulder until Dean and Sorin had reached their car. He only felt slightly better, but he forced down his uneasiness. He was sixteen, not twelve. Acting anxious would only make everyone worry, and his loved ones already worried about him much too much. They couldn’t help him, so it was best just to pretend that some things didn’t affect him.
That didn’t stop him from holding onto Laura’s and Carrie’s hands the entire drive home, however.