O-Ren stood there in her pajamas, a pale blue yukata worn to threadbare softness, her swords slung haphazardly on each side. She'd been awake and the sounds had come to her too. Her shoes were already neatly on the front step, her feet bare as she crept forward.
Her eyes flickered around the room, taking in the lack of evidence that there had been a struggle or violence.
It took three swallows, but Dean's voice was steady when he answered. "They're gone, O-Ren." Against his shoulder Cori shifted fitfully, though she couldn't have understood the finality in the statement. "They went home."
O-Ren dropped to her knees beside him. "Muzukashii, ne?" Her voice was a little shaky, a little forced with bravado. "An orphan." She reached out, her fingertips grazing Cori's head. "But she'll be alright."
She blinked hard, keeping the wetness back from her eyes.
For a terrifying moment Dean's eyes burned, aching with a sudden swell of tears he absolutely would not let gather and fall. "She's got family," he said, not quite so steadily as before. "We're all alright."
On the way to the Compound, I take a detour toward the waterfall. It's a habit I've picked up. This early and the huts are usually quiet, everybody still blissfully asleep -- fucking assholes -- but sometimes I run into Dean along the way, and the slim chance of that happening is enough to keep dragging me back
( ... )
Dean didn't lift his head, but somewhere deep down he was grateful for the familiar voice, cutting through pangs of grief rapidly darkening into anger. He breathed in and out, rubbed at Cori's back, and called in as gentle a voice as he could muster, "She's okay."
Leaning back against the wall, Dean tucked her head beneath his chin. "You're okay, Twerp."
I know that's as much an invitation as I'm gonna get, so I slip through the door, following his voice toward the back of the hut and finding him sitting on the floor with Cori in his lap.
"What's goin' on?" I ask, even though I'm almost afraid to. Apart from her sniffles, the hut's eerily quiet.
"Oh you know," said Dean, voice smooth for all that the wrinkle between Neil's eyes made him want to fucking cry, "the usual tricks." He couldn't bring himself to say it in front of Cori, that her sister and mother were gone and weren't coming back again. It'd been twenty five years and he felt as helpless as he had at five years old.
Angua was a light sleeper, as any natural predator, and copper, tended to be. She felt the dip and rise in the bed and assumed Dean was using the bathroom. The sound of a baby crying wasn't unnatural, and it was only when she registered Dean hadn't returned in typical pissing time that she sat up and really took notice.
It didn't take long to deduct the hut was empty, but it was Gavin who told her where to find Dean.
Not knowing what was going on, she rapped softly on Sharon's front door. "Dean?" she said quietly.
There was a small, pained sound that didn't spring from Cori's throat, and Dean swallowed hard, once, twice, and then again. Angua was so kind, so fucking good - it'd be so easy to crumble against the comfort she could offer, and Dean didn't dare.
"In here," he called, one hand clamped over Cori's ear against the sound. "We're in here."
Angua opened the door a crack, peeking inside with wide eyes. She wasn't sure what to expect, but it surely wasn't Dean alone on the floor with Cori. It only took a quick glance around the room, and at the look of anguish on Dean's face to know what had happened.
"Oh, Dean," she said quietly, slipping inside, her bare feet barely making a sound on the floor. She knelt down next to them, giving Cori a small smile before locking eyes with Dean to confirm her suspicion.
It was hard to miss the sound of a crying child, but it was also easy to get used to it, and there were plenty of crying children on the island. Also screaming children and laughing children and barking children and children doing all kinds of incomprehensible things. So the sound of a child wasn't something that alerted Jess particularly as she started off her day with a run (well, more of a light jog but nobody needed to know that) but the ceaseless crying of a child was a little more worrisome.
By the time she got close enough to pinpoint the source, the cries were already quieting, but she decided to poke her head in anyway in case someone needed a hand.
"Hey, Dean," she said softly when she spotted him, careful not to trigger a renewed bout of crying over a nightmare or a skinned knee or whatever it had been. "You on kid duty today?"
Dean's nod was slow, careful not to dislodge the moisture that gathered in his eyes at the simple question. He gave her an empty if practiced smile, glancing around the emptiness of the rest of the hut.
Jess couldn't breathe for a moment, following Dean's glance and registering the abject absence in the hut. Cori's mom wasn't just busy. She was gone.
She couldn't make this better with a word or a look or a touch, and she felt helpless in the face of the enormity of it. She always did. But at least Cori still had family.
"Tell me what I can do," she said finally. "Dean, whatever you need."
Something genuinely warm touched Dean's smile then, if only for a moment. What could any of them do? Hope that Cori forgot her mom, her sister? All so she wouldn't have to miss them?
"Could help me gather up her stuff," he said and took a breath, not yet ready to peel Cori away from his chest. "Sharon always...she had a bag."
Castiel was taking Mimi for her morning walk when he saw Dean run into Sharon's hut. He could hear crying, familiar enough with it to recognize it as Cori's, and as he walked closer it began to die down.
Dean's bare feet twitched, that low, graveled voice hauling him out of his dark thoughts and into an even darker present. Cas. Praying to whatever god was listening that Thrace wasn't with him, Dean called out, low as he could, "In here."
"Gone," said Dean, covering Cori's ear with one hand like he could protect her from the fact. "Hera, too. Little sis got left behind." He peered past Castiel, but if Thrace was with him she'd have busted in by now, and he felt a part of himself relax.
Comments 69
O-Ren stood there in her pajamas, a pale blue yukata worn to threadbare softness, her swords slung haphazardly on each side. She'd been awake and the sounds had come to her too. Her shoes were already neatly on the front step, her feet bare as she crept forward.
Her eyes flickered around the room, taking in the lack of evidence that there had been a struggle or violence.
"Where are they?"
She suddenly sounded very young.
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She blinked hard, keeping the wetness back from her eyes.
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Leaning back against the wall, Dean tucked her head beneath his chin. "You're okay, Twerp."
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"What's goin' on?" I ask, even though I'm almost afraid to. Apart from her sniffles, the hut's eerily quiet.
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It didn't take long to deduct the hut was empty, but it was Gavin who told her where to find Dean.
Not knowing what was going on, she rapped softly on Sharon's front door. "Dean?" she said quietly.
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"In here," he called, one hand clamped over Cori's ear against the sound. "We're in here."
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"Oh, Dean," she said quietly, slipping inside, her bare feet barely making a sound on the floor. She knelt down next to them, giving Cori a small smile before locking eyes with Dean to confirm her suspicion.
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"Yeah," he said, smoothing the dark hair the admission had disturbed. "Looks like."
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By the time she got close enough to pinpoint the source, the cries were already quieting, but she decided to poke her head in anyway in case someone needed a hand.
"Hey, Dean," she said softly when she spotted him, careful not to trigger a renewed bout of crying over a nightmare or a skinned knee or whatever it had been. "You on kid duty today?"
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"Looks like I will be for a while."
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She couldn't make this better with a word or a look or a touch, and she felt helpless in the face of the enormity of it. She always did. But at least Cori still had family.
"Tell me what I can do," she said finally. "Dean, whatever you need."
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"Could help me gather up her stuff," he said and took a breath, not yet ready to peel Cori away from his chest. "Sharon always...she had a bag."
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"Dean?" he called, concern in his voice.
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"Where is Sharon?" he asked, wondering why it had been Dean who'd rescued Cori from her bed and not her mother.
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