Dawson's Daughter | {BOOK 1}

8|Heart Attack

While Sam talked to a receptionist at the hospital, I spoke to the cops.

"Look, we can finish this later," one of the cops said, knowing what happened to Dean.

"No, no, it's okay," I shook my head. "We were just taking a shortcut through the neighborhood. And, um, the windows were rolled down, we heard some screaming when we drove past the house, and we stopped. We ran in."

"And you found the kids in the basement?"

"Yeah."

"Well, thank God you did."

A doctor came over, stopping by Sam.

"Excuse me," I told the cops.

"Sure. Thanks for your help," they smiled sympathetically before walking away.

I headed over to Sam and the doctor, listening to their conversation.

"The electrocution triggered a heart attack," the doctor was saying. "Pretty massive, I'm afraid. His heart... it's damaged."

"How damaged?" I asked brokenly.

"We've done all we can. We can try and keep him comfortable at this point. But, I'd give him a couple of weeks, at most, maybe a month."

I felt more than heard the choked sob that escaped my throat as I turned, burying my face in Sam's chest and fisting my hands in his shirt. He brought his arms around me as he continued to talk to the doctor a moment longer.

"No, no," he shook his head. "There's, there's... gotta be something you can do, some kind of treatment."

"We can't work miracles. I'm sorry."

The doctor left us then, and Sam just held me as I cried into his chest. I swore I felt some tears drop onto the top of my head.

⁘

"Have you ever actually watched daytime TV? It's terrible."

Dean's voice was weak, and his eyes never left the television as he spoke. He was extremely pale and there were dark circles under his eyes. Sam shook his head at his brother, sighing while I hung back a little behind him.

"We talked to your doctor," Sam informed Dean.

"That fabric softener teddy bear," Dean scoffed. "Oh, I'm gonna hunt that little bitch down."

"Dean."

Dean tore his gaze away from the TV then, giving a resigned sigh as he stared at Sam.

"Yeah. Alright, well, looks like you and Ellie are gonna leave town without me."

"What are you talking about? We're not going to leave you here."

"Hey, you better take care of that car," Dean said seriously. "Or, I swear, I'll haunt your ass."

"I don't think that's funny," Sam said.

"It's a little funny," I muttered quietly behind him.

Sam glared back at me and Dean smirked, giving me a wink as he looked over at me for the first time since Sam and I came in the room. After a long silence, Sam looked down at the ground, obviously fighting back tears. I was close to joining him as Dean gave a sigh.

"Look, Sammy, what can I say, man, it's a dangerous gig. I drew the short straw. That's it, end of story."

"Don't talk like that, alright? We still have options."

"What options? Yeah, burial or cremation. And I know it's not easy. But I'm gonna die. And you can't stop it."

"Watch me," Sam replied stubbornly.

He turned around, pushing past me into the hall. I stared down at my feet, biting back my tears, and I felt Dean's eyes boring a hole into me.

"Ellie?"

I closed my eyes, taking a shaky breath through my nose as I refused to acknowledge him.

"Come on, Ellie Bear, look at me."

I let out a little whining sound at the use of my father's nickname for me, and I forced myself to look up at him. There were tears pricking at the corners of Dean's eyes as he stared at me with a forlorn expression.

"Come here," he said, patting the space on the bed next to him.

It felt like I was trudging through quicksand as I slowly made my way over to the bed and climbed up next to Dean. I curled up into his side, using his chest as a pillow as the tears flowed freely down my face. He put one arm around me, gently moving his hand up and down my arm and resting his chin on top of my head.

"I'm sorry, Ellie," he whispered.

"Y-you can't leave me. Not you, too."

"Ellie, I need you to promise me you'll look after Sam once I'm gone."

"W-what?"

"Sam... he's not going to take this well. I need you to look after him for me."

"N-no. Y-you can't... That's not... Why are you so okay with this, Dean?"

"I always knew I'd die young on the job, Ellie. This life, that's all you can expect out of it. It's just my time, that's all."

"But you're not dying on the job, Dean. Y-you're..."

I cut myself off, taking a few shaky breaths as I continued to cry. While I did so, I felt Dean press his lips to the top of my head.

"I know, Ellie Bear, I know."

Hearing him use that nickname again broke down whatever remained of my walls. Instead of the quiet, shaky sobs I had been crying, I let out loud, ugly sobs, while burying myself in Dean's chest. Part of me thought it was stupid to be having such a major mental breakdown over some guy I'd only really known for a couple of months. Yes, we had history from when we were younger, but until I joined Dean and Sam on the road, I had never spent extended periods of time with either of them.

He was 27. You don't expect a 27-year-old to have a massive heart attack and only have a month at most to live. You expect an 80-year-old to have a massive heart attack and only have a month at most to live. It makes sense for old people to suffer that kind of pain, not a single guy in his late 20s who has so much left to live for. It was completely and utterly unfair. And to have to deal with it six years almost exactly from when my father died... It was like the world was playing some sort of cruel joke on me.

Oh, the anniversary of your father's death is coming up? Here you go, why don't you also deal with the pending death of your childhood best friend who you had a crush on?

After about ten minutes, my sobs had subsided to gasping breaths.

"I-I should go check on Sammy," I whispered between gasps.

"Yeah, okay," Dean whispered back.

I started to extract myself from Dean's bed, but he grabbed my wrist, pulling me back.

"Dean, what-"

I was cut off as he kissed me hard. It had nearly the same passion and intensity as the kiss from the cellar almost a week and a half ago. We hadn't talked about or done anything about it before, and I had almost started believing he thought it was a mistake, or it didn't really mean anything. However, having him doing this again, proved to me that I had been wrong in my assumptions.

"Go find Sam. Make sure he's not doing anything stupid or reckless," he said once he pulled back.

"O-okay," I swallowed hard.

Dean gave me a smirk, but it didn't hold its usual cockiness. I exited the room then, glancing back with a melancholy smile of my own before heading to track down Sam.