Fic: Sentencing of Skye

[miss_annthropic]

Title: Sentencing of Skye

Author: miss_annthropic

Spoilers: set in the Skyeverse (surrounding my fic "Wild by Skye")

Summary: Dean had been an outsider his entire life, but it had never felt this loathsome before.

Timeline: See the timeline for a chronological listing of Skyeverse fics to know where exactly this falls in the timeline. Or, you know, just read the fic and figure it out! Or eat pie. I know which one Dean would vote for :)

Disclaimer: None of it's mine. I'm just a sad little fangirl that spends her days writing fanfic and watching DVDs of her favorite shows :(

*****

Dean didn't belong there. It was in every look leveled at him, every whisper that stopped cold when he came near. The entire town was against him, the turned human. The unnatural. The one who had no place among them.

Dean had been an outsider his entire life, but it had never felt this loathsome before.

He would not have stayed but for Skye. Nothing but Skye could keep him in a place so hostile, in an entire community where he was utterly unwanted. He was one of them now, but he would never be one of them. He was the stranger to the pack, the interloper, the intruder.

But how strange to move among them, feel their disapproval, and yet have some newborn part of him long to be part of them.

It was the wolf within him, the lycanthrope, the animal that was born to run with a pack.

These other wolves were not his pack. Dean longed for his father's company. Even the bitter way they had parted, Dean furious beyond words for the way John had thrown out Sam, was not strong enough to keep Dean from wanting that familial companionship now. And then he wanted Sam. His brother, tucked away at college, trying so damn hard to free himself from the world of the supernatural.

At that moment, both men were so far from Dean, physically and emotionally. He was cut off, alone, packless. And so he waited with Skye's pack for word on her fate.

She was in the Eclipse River, Oregon, town hall with the pack elders and Trey's family. Trey… the poor kid Skye had killed. The pack mate she had killed for Dean. Given the choice between Trey's life and Dean's, Skye chose Dean. Now she had to answer for that.

Dean paced restlessly in the yard before the old building. He was angry at them. Skye had had no choice. Trey was mad; he had to be stopped.

But it wasn't just that. Skye had killed a pack mate, yes, but she had also broken other laws. She told a human about the lycanthropes… and then she turned one. Dean.

Dean resented them for making Skye go through this tribunal. Resented them but knew that Skye cared for them all, her pack.

"Dean…"

Dean tensed at the sound of his name, then he forced himself to relax when Jaina's voice registered. Skye's mother. She was standing with her husband, waiting just like Dean for word on Skye's punishment.

Dean knew he wasn't being fair. Not all of the pack was spiteful. Some of them were decent and kind, just like some people. Skye's parents were among them. They didn't approve of what Skye had done, didn't see in Dean what Skye did, but they trusted their daughter. Skye's judgment served for them in place of understanding.

Jaina offered a thin smile at Dean when he paused in his pacing. She and Skye had the same mouth, same build, same expressions. Her coloring she got from her father, dark and rich.

"This isn't right," Dean growled.

Ramon didn't say anything, but Jaina just sighed. "They're our laws. If we didn't have them, our pack wouldn't exist."

"She didn't have a choice," Dean countered.

"She did," Ramon intoned.

Dean met Skye's father's eyes and the seasoned hunter shrank back. Cut to the heart of the matter, and it was Dean's fault Skye was in tribune now.

"You mean her choice was to watch me die," Dean said.

Ramon dropped his gaze to the grass while his arm around his wife tightened. "It wouldn't be the first time a lycan has had to stand by and watch a human death it could have prevented. The safety of the pack is paramount."

Dean shook his head. "I won't bring any hunters here," he protested.

"You mean, any other hunters," Ramon pointed out.

Dean frowned at the implication. "I will never turn against the pack," he vowed coldly. The thought of bringing harm to them, to Skye's kind, to those she loved…

"Time will have to tell on that," Jaina said softly. She was scared. They all were. It was the flavor of their hate for him. They knew Dean was a hunter, a killer, the very reason the lycans were so rare. Skye had brought a fox into the chicken coop and given it feathers. He might blend in, but could he ever be trusted?

Suddenly, Jaina's hand was on his arm. Dean froze and looked at her. She looked worried, and maybe not just for Skye.

Dean frowned. "You know, the smart thing to do would be to kill me." It wasn't like he was suggesting it, but they had to have thought of it already. It was the easiest solution for them, after all. He couldn't endanger the pack if he was dead.

Ramon looked sharply at the others milling nearby. Dean didn't know if anyone had heard or not, but didn't really care. What difference would it make? Their looks at him told Dean the thought had crossed many of their minds.

"No one will kill you," Ramon said with authority. He sounded so certain.

Dean looked at him questioningly.

Ramon scowled. "We've taken you under our protection."

Dean blinked. He had not expected that. So that was why the others had glared at him, bristled at the very sight of him, but had not harmed him.

Jaina squeezed his arm. "It means any lycan life you take will be on us. We're accountable for your crimes against us… your own kind now."

"Why?" Dean murmured, dumbfounded at the burden they had shouldered for a man they barely knew. "Why would you do that?"

Ramon looked crestfallen and glanced away. Jaina swallowed thickly. "Because she loves you, Dean."

Dean was finding it hard to breathe. He didn't belong with them, but at the same time he did. It was hard to deny the pack, both on his part and on theirs. "I won't bring you any more pain than I already have," he promised lowly.

Jaina finally let her hand fall from him. "Time will tell on that, too."

"We don't know you, Dean," Ramon added. The two men looked squarely at one another before Ramon continued, "But we know Skye. We trust her. And she trusts you."

Dean ducked his head and continued the unbearable waiting.

It seemed to take a lifetime before the town hall doors opened. Dean's heart stopped at the sight. Skye, his beautiful, strong, vibrant, indomitable Skye, was in tears. She looked half her size, beaten down by her sentence, as she hurried down the stone steps.

The pack members that were present stood attentively, their senses locked on Skye. They would know the fate of their own that had killed a pack mate.

Skye tried to face them, but she couldn't. She looked up to address them, saw Dean, and began to sob.

Dean was moving forward, the only one moving amid the watchful crowd, before he realized he'd even stepped from his place by Skye's parents. He saw only her, her tears, her grief, and he wanted to take it all from her.

He was the reason they were all angry, not her. Let him be the sacrificial lamb. He didn't care what they might do to him, but this was killing Skye. Their opinion mattered to her. Let him carry out whatever punishment she had been given.

But the pack law didn't work that way, and Skye was subject to that law.

Skye ignored everyone else staring at her. She ran to Dean and all but barreled into him. Her arms came up around him and she held on for all she was worth, as if she might slip off the edge of the world if she lost her grip.

Dean wrapped his arms tight around her, holding her protectively. He wanted to shield her from all their eyes, from their thoughts, from their judgment of her and what she'd done.

Skye wept into his shoulder, and Dean just held her. He touched his lips to her hair, whispered empty words just to let her hear his voice. He couldn't say everything would be okay, but what he wouldn't give to make it all right for her.

Skye's parents came up beside Dean, their solemn eyes on their daughter. Dean shared a look, broken and agonized, with Jaina.

He was just thankful no one tried to pull them apart. Skye and her turned human, looked upon with disdain, but the pack left them to each other.

Suddenly, the energy carried on the very air itself changed. All of the gathered pack members turned their eyes to the town hall doors. Even Jaina and Ramon took their eyes off their distraught daughter to look.

Dean glanced up because it was hard not to.

The elders of the pack were emerging from the building, their faces somber and dignified. At the front of the tribunal was Lucas. The alpha.

Lucas, unrushed, descended the stone steps and moved slowly toward Skye and her family.

The pack members standing around watching each, in turn, canted their heads to one side and bore their throats to their leader as he passed. Lucas didn't look to see that every one of them did it. It went without question that they would. It was his right, his due. He was the alpha of the pack and deserved no less.

When Lucas stopped before Skye, Dean, and Skye's parents, Ramon and Jaina both turned their faces to offer Lucas their throats. Skye pried herself shakily from Dean, turned slightly to face Lucas, and offered him her throat as well.

Lucas paid no attention to them. He was watching Dean intently, expectantly, testingly. Everyone was watching them, breaths held.

Dean stared back at Lucas, his inner wolf's hackles raised. Lucas was the one who had done this, leveled a punishment on Skye that reduced her to tears. Skye, a woman fit and strong enough to be a hunter in her own right, tougher than half the men Dean had known.

But he was the alpha, their leader, the one who made the survival of the pack more important than anything. He had responsibilities as great as his power.

He was still watching Dean like the young hunter was on thin ice. It was the same look John Winchester used to pin on his boys when they weren't living up to his expectations, only worse. There was a predator behind Lucas's eyes that John could not have.

Dean knew what Lucas was waiting for, and a rebellious part of him wanted to deny him. But if Dean challenged the pack alpha, if he proved to be the lawless unnatural the entire pack thought him to be, it would only make things worse for Skye as the one who'd turned him. He couldn't make things any more difficult for Skye than they already were.

And there was something else… something new to his character, something wolf-borne, that heeded to the pecking order of the pack. Part of him, even if just a little part, was cowed.

Dean reached out discreetly, rested his hand on the small of Skye's back, then deliberately turned his head aside and proffered to Lucas the length of his exposed throat.

Dean half expected Lucas to take the offer. He waited tensely for teeth to sink into his neck.

Then the tension in the air thinned and Dean risked looking over at Lucas again. There was something in his eyes now, something more thoughtful than vicious.

Lucas took his eyes off Dean and gazed down at Skye. Then, an undeniable sadness and warmth stole into the steely look. "I take no pleasure in this, Skye. You must know that."

Skye leaned slightly into Dean, borrowing his strength. "I know… I broke the law. You had no choice."

Why were these lycans so balled up in there being no choice for anything they did? Did being an endangered species put that much strain on every single thing they did?

Probably. Dean wouldn't know. He'd only been a lycan for a week.

"What is it, Lucas?" Jaina asked tremulously.

Lucas frowned unhappily. "Confinement on the night of the running."

Jaina gasped and Ramon tensed.

"For how long?" Jaina whispered. "How many moons?"

"For the rest of her life."

Skye turned into Dean again. She didn't throw her arms around him. She had lost the strength for that. She just buried herself in his chest like he could make it all disappear.

"Rest of her… Lucas, please," Ramon began.

"I'm sorry. Her transgression was a lifelong one," Lucas glanced at Dean, the human forever turned a lycan by Skye, "and her punishment must be, too."

Dean ducked his face to rest his cheek against the top of Skye's head. He brought up his hands… one he threaded into her dark hair, the other wrapped around the small of her back and held her gently.

Lucas turned to the lingering pack members and dismissed them. Without a moment of hesitation, they obeyed. Before long, Dean was alone in the yard of the Eclipse River town hall with Skye in his arms and her parents on either side.

"Skye…" Jaina ventured, reaching out and touching Skye's shoulder. Dean almost protested… almost told her to back away. He didn't want to share her. Didn't want Skye to be asked to deal with any of it just yet. But they were her parents and they had every right. He had to bite his tongue and let them drag Skye back into the real world and the sentence it now held for her.

Skye laid her hands flat against Dean's chest, her fingers spread over the material of his shirt. She wasn't pushing him away, just touching. Grounding herself. Her cheek rested so close to his heart. "I'm okay," she rasped.

Dean didn't buy it. Apparently, Jaina didn't either.

Skye pulled her face from Dean to give her mother an unconvincing smile. "Really… it could have been worse."

"It was harsh," Ramon groused, but he wasn't quite complaining. He didn't go so far as to outright question the pack alpha's decision.

Dean felt free to question it all he liked.

"Let us take you home, honey," Jaina said softly.

Dean's arms involuntarily tightened around her. At the same time, Skye's hands pressed harder against Dean's chest. "That's okay, Mom. Dean will take me."

Jaina looked up at Dean and the two regarded one another a moment. Then Jaina nodded and her and Ramon left.

Dean and Skye were finally, truly alone.

"That mangy bastard," Dean grumbled.

"Don't," Skye breathed. She dropped his forehead to his shoulder. "Please, don't."

"But to do that to you, a life sentence…" Dean fumed.

"It's no less than what I've done to you," she drew back to look up at him. Her face was tear-streaked, her eyes glassy, but she managed a very tiny smile.

Dean touched her face affectionately. "It's not the same. I love what you've done to me."

Skye smiled again, and this time it came to her more easily. "I wish they could see you like I do. If they only knew how natural you are as the wolf…" she sighed and wrapped her arms around him. It wasn't love so much as desperately seeking a port in the storm.

"Could we talk to someone? There must be something we can do."

Skye tucked her head beneath his chin. "No… Maybe… I don't know… I don't want to think about it right now. I'm just tired."

"Then let's get out of here." He took her hand and led her back to his car parked nearby.

They rode to her house in silence, Skye watching out the window of the Impala mutely while Dean fumed about the stupid laws of the pack. When they stopped in front of her small house, Dean followed Skye inside. He didn't know what he could do, what she needed, but he would do anything he could. Anything she asked.

Skye pulled him wordlessly into her bedroom, the sheets still in disarray from their last time together. She turned to Dean and looked him up and down. It wasn't heated. She wasn't looking for sex. It was just looking at him. Dean, stripped down to his core for her. Pretenses meant nothing to the animal nature now so dominant in both of them.

Skye reached out and touched him. Then she slowly took off his shirt. Then she undid his belt and unfastened his pants. Getting the idea, Dean toed out of his shoes and Skye divested him of his jeans and left him standing in her bedroom in his boxer briefs.

Then Dean did the same to her. Calmly, almost ritualistically, Dean shed her of her outer layers until she was left standing before him in only underwear.

Skye gazed up at him, pensive, then climbed into bed.

Dean followed, sidling up to her back and molding his shape to fit hers. He curled his arm around her stomach and pulled her back against him. Skye drew his hand up from her stomach to pillow beneath her cheek.

Then she sighed. Long and deep. He felt her starting to unwind in his hold. Bound as one with the wolf within her, an animal that knew no need for modesty or clothing, she craved the comfort of skin on skin contact.

That much, at least, Dean could give her.

He pressed his lips chastely to her neck. "We'll figure something out." He wasn't sure what, but he wasn't ready to give up yet.

Skye made a noncommittal sound. "I killed Trey, Dean. I have to take responsibility for that, even if I don't regret turning you."

"The kid was dangerous. I know it wasn't his fault," with a father who was a former Marine, Dean had a special fondness for military service men and women, allotting them a consideration that civilians did not automatically rate, "but he had to be stopped."

Skye stared forward vacantly a moment, her fingers entwined with his. "I'll never run with them again."

Dean squeezed her. "You'll just be confined on the first night of the full moon, right?"

Skye nodded. "But that's enough… oh god, to never run with them again…"

"I know it's not the pack, but you have me. I'll run with you." To hell with whether or not the pack approved of that.

Skye looked slowly over her shoulder at him. She smiled. "That's the only way I can imagine bearing this sentence."

Dean offered a small smile in return.

Skye frowned. "But I know you're not staying."

Dean didn't respond. Live in Eclipse River permanently? That wasn't who he was. He didn't put down roots. But then, with someone like Skye to tempt him… for her, he thought he could do it.

But it wasn't just up to him. There was, as always, the pack to consider.

"I wouldn't be welcome," Dean said morosely. "Your parents tolerate me, but all the others… they hate me."

Skye didn't refute that. She just scowled. "Maybe if they got to know you…"

Dean smirked at her tone. "You don't believe that any more than I do. Maybe they could learn to like me if I was just a turned human, but I'm a turned hunter."

Skye rolled on to her back to look up at him. The somber understanding in her eyes was her agreement with his words. "So what, then?"

Dean gazed down at her, her dark hair fanned on the pillow and her arms and legs tangled with his.

"Come with me."

Skye's eyebrows rose.

Dean shifted closer to her, their bodies flush together and pressing even tighter. "When I do leave, come with me."

"On the hunt?" she questioned.

Dean shrugged. "So it's not much to offer, I know, but… it's me." He was a hunter. He doubted he could ever change that; it was fundamental to him, just as entrenched as the wolf Skye had awakened in him.

Skye studied his face, her eyes traveling over his features as though he were a mystery she was bent on solving. Dean let her look, his heart racing as he waited for her answer. He had never asked a woman to go on the road with him. Never. He had never loved a woman enough, and even if he had he knew the hunt would be appalling to any woman he might have asked.

But not to Skye. She was a lycan. It was different than it would be for a plain, domesticated woman. Skye already lived a dangerous life just being what she was. She wouldn't lose safety and security and innocence if she joined him. Dean's life's work wouldn't mean the difference between normal and supernatural to her.

And he wouldn't have to protect her all the time. Skye was no frail, dainty lady. She could hold her own, and she was fearless. He'd seen that. He could do his job without panicking every second of every day that she was going to get hurt while he wasn't looking, while he wasn't there to guard her like she was a damsel in distress.

"When?" she asked finally.

Dean began to grin, despite himself. He was almost afraid to hope. "You mean you'll come with me?"

Skye nodded carefully. "Yes. Not right away… I… I want to run in my home lands a few more times," she reached up to touch his cheek, a smile tugging at her lips, "with you, before I leave it all behind."

Dean traced the line of her jaw with his fingers. "We can do that. We don't have to go anywhere until you're ready."

Skye eyed him speculatively. "How long can you stand staying here, in one place?"

That was a good question. And he didn't have a better answer than, "I won't leave without you."

Skye pushed on his shoulder and Dean went with it, rolling on to his back on the mattress. Skye was on him immediately, throwing one arm over his chest and sliding one leg between his as she half-sprawled across him. She dropped her head on to his chest and snuggled in to his side.

Dean closed his eyes, content. If only there was not that dark cloud of Skye's sentence from the elders' tribunal hanging over them…

"I'm sorry," he said lowly.

"I'm not."

Dean snorted. "Yes, you are."

Skye nestled closer against him. "I'll miss running with the pack, but I'm not sorry for having you."

Dean's chest felt tight. "You can't really think I'm worth that." The pack was everything to a lycan. Her pack meant everything.

Skye's arm, draped casually across Dean's chest, hugged him. "You are."

Dean held Skye to him, not trusting himself to speak and hoping his hold on her would speak volumes. Being part wolf meant they were good at understanding each other without the need for words.

END