John's Earth. St. Francis Memorial hospital.

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((Started here))

The room is dim and silent except for a soft beeping and the sound of quiet breathing. There are two people in the room, one laying on the hospital bed, hooked to IVs, oxygen, and the heart monitor; the other slumped in the rocking chair next to the bed with a slightly blood-stained bandage wrapped around his head.

There's an odd peace surrounding the two men, one that makes the nurses who check on them do so siently and either linger or hurry away. But even with that hovering peace the face of the man in the chair is troubled, as though he walks in uneasy dreams.

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[omgtehrandom.livejournal.com]

Dean would be the one in the hospital bed, hooked up to all the machines, and pale as the sheets covering him. He looks like he should be dead, but the only thing that tells otherwise would be the machines, and that steady, insistent beep.

His eyes move underneath closed eyelids a moment, before weakly fluttering open.

He frowns, not knowing how he got here exactly, and is almost ready to bolt, until his eyes land on...

"Dad?"

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John starts and sits up to stare at him as though seeing a ghost, but then rubs his face and shakes his head slightly. "Yes and no."

[omgtehrandom.livejournal.com]

He frowns a bit, not quite getting it then...

"Oh..." he whispers, with a small, weak smile. "Dad...just not mine...right?"

[omgtehrandom.livejournal.com]

"You're angry at something...or someone."

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John sighes. "The thing. It took on Sam's form and got past my guard."

[omgtehrandom.livejournal.com]

He has to think a moment before realizing what he's talking about.

"Oh." he says. "I'm sorry."

He gives a sigh. "I shoul...should really stop doing that."

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He looks back, noticing the fact that the older Winchester is awake.

"Can't stay here anymore." he rasps. "I'll lose it."

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He pushes himself to his feet and comes over help him with his shirt. "We'll get a hotel room."

[omgtehrandom.livejournal.com]

"Thanks." he says, when he finally get's his shirt over his head. He gives a smile.

"Betcha that was amusing for you." he adds. Then, "You don't have to babysit me, ya know."

[omgtehrandom.livejournal.com]

He thought of making an argument, decided against it, partially because he doesn't like the idea of alienating the guy taking care of him, and two?

He just doesn't have the energy for it.

Dean slips his arms into the coat, thanking him.

"Yeah..." he starts, clearing his throat in an attempt to get rid of that raspiness in his throat. "My Sammy got taken from us when he was a baby by that thing." he starts, then stops, looking at John.

"You sure you wanna hear this?"

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"Hit me," he says grimly.

[omgtehrandom.livejournal.com]

Dean swallows, scratching his head, and taking a deep breath.

"Our mother was killed by the thing, and it tried to take dad." he starts. "He ordered me to run upstairs and get Sammy..." A beat. "By the time I got there, the thing had booked with my baby bro."

His jaw clenches. "Dad blamed me. Said I should've protected him. Said I wasn't a good enough brother, and it was my fault mom and Sammy were gone." He looks a bit haunted by that.

"It went on for years, with just me and dad hunting, him keeping me at arm's length, putting me in harm's way, but I always stayed to save his ass." Another beat, and a shaky breath. "Everything went to hell when Sammy showed up again, after having been raised by that thing, and he was...evil. He wanted us to be brothers again, and I told him no."

He looks over at John a little uncertainly. "Now he's in the business of making my life hell, and trying to make me see 'his' way of things."

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"You're more than good enough." John's voice goes a little ragged. "You're the best son a man could want."

[omgtehrandom.livejournal.com]

He stays like that for a while, clinging to him, before he goes quiet. He was sick enough without that, and now he's pretty much worn himself out. Dean hiccups softly.

"..why can't he be like you?" rasps Dean, tiredly.

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"I'm not much better," he says sadly. "I let something take my son right from under my nose and never realized it untill it was too late. And my daughter's life can be measured in days because I haven't managed to kill that thing."

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"I'll be here when you wake up," he promises again, taking the younger man's hand and squeezing it. "I'm not leaving you."

A few Days Later...

[omgtehrandom.livejournal.com]

Dean woke up, slowly opening his eyes. Upon not seeing John in the chair, he looks around, and stops at the window, seeing him standing there, head bowed.

He sits up, without too much difficulty, and leans back against the pillows. "Dad?" he asks, before he can realize it.

Re: A few Days Later...

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He'd been praying, feeling the need to be hunting again, but he looks up at the movement and the voice, his face lighting into a smile. "I'm here. How do you feel?"

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John tries to keep down his pain, knowing that Dean can sense it. "If you go back to the Lunatic Cafe, will you find my daughter? She's going to need family around her in the days that are coming, and her brother and I can't be there."

And the admission makes it feel like his heart is being ripped out.

[omgtehrandom.livejournal.com]

Dean swallows, nodding. "I can do that." he says. "I'll take care of her."

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He looks out the window as his vision goes a little hazey. "I called her while you were sleeping and asked her to stay there. If the thing's taking her form to the point where I can't tell the difference I don't want there to be any mistakes."

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"You're welcome, son." He leans back to give him a smile. "Two last things I should tell you. If you see Sam hugging a tall guy with a Newfie accent don't try to put him through a wall." The smile fades. "And there's another Dean at that Cafe who's adopted Sam and I, but something's happening with him."

[omgtehrandom.livejournal.com]

Dean smiles back at him, then listens intently.

"Alright, no putting the tall guy with the Newfie accent through the wall, got it." He pales a little more at the last bit. "I..I met another guy Sam...was having trouble with a Dean there...said something bout him not giving a damn, and being possesed..."

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"It's an old saying," says John. "Originally it ment that you couldn't judge someone else because you might have wound up the same way they did. But in this case...." He frowns. "In this case I was thinking about what you were saying, and then about your father. And I realized that I could have ended up like that too."

[omgtehrandom.livejournal.com]

Dean looks up at him, just kind of staring for a moment, and then he smiles.

"Nah, you wouldn't have."