Vivi

Chapter 25

Malia

Longest ten minutes of my life. Though I suppose Dean must've been pushing a hundred miles per hour to get here in such a short amount of time. Regardless, I almost either fall to my knees at his feet for his speed or smother him in a hug when I see him walk through Ivy's bedroom door. I manage to contain my hug and my knees only wobble a little.

Dean and I have never had a fluffy relationship. I wouldn't exactly call us friends, but we're certainly not only acquaintances. I don't know what that in between areas would be classified as, but that's us.

"Dean?" Ivy furrows her eyebrows in confusion when he rushes over to her. "What's wrong?" She asks looking him up and down for wounds that would cause his frantic behavior.

I'm tempted to slip out of the room, in fact I should. To give them some privacy. But for some reason, I don't. Maybe if I see how Dean gets through to Ivy, I can next time.

"You stole my line." He mutters standing a few feet away from where she sits.

"What do you mean? I'm fine." Ivy shrugs before shooting a nasty glare my way.

I guessed she would have this reaction. She doesn't like running to Dean every time she has a problem, but I'm selfish, okay? I was worried about her. I didn't want her to start hurting herself again and the only way I know to stop that is to remind her of her promise to Dean. Though I suppose I'm also a coward because I don't want her to bite my head off for talking about it. So, I invited Dean to do it himself. A selfish coward. Yup, that's me. I own that.

"You're a shit liar, Ivy." Dean rolls his eyes.

"No." She replies while standing up. "I'm actually a terrific liar." Ivy raises her chin like that fact makes her better than her brother.

"Maybe to the un-trained eye." He shrugs. I attempt to shrink back into the corner of the room, so they forget I'm even here.

"You promised me." Dean rubs his temples in frustration, grating out those three words with exhaustion.

"I know." She replies, her voice flat and her face neutral.

"We made a promise about that too." Dean points to her face and she sighs.

"I'm fine, Dean. I'm working through it. I'm not going to magically forget the sight or strong smell of blood; it's always going to bother me and bring up bad memories. I've got to learn how to deal with it. And that's what I'm doing, dealing with it!" Ivy raises her voice.

"You're right. You do have to learn how to deal with it." Dean agrees, pausing like that's all he's going to say. "We've both got our hang ups, Ivy." Dean's jaw clenches tight and Ivy lowers her eyes to the ground.

I never knew Dean had a lasting side effect from the trauma of seeing his father a bloody corpse with a singular hole in his head, though saying it like that how could he not. I wonder what it is. Does he also hate the look of blood smeared across a person's body? Though by the sounds of it, his side effect differs from Ivy's. And for some reason Ivy looks almost guilty.

I think it's time for me to give them some real privacy.

Ivy

I see Malia slip out of the room from the corner of my glassy eye. I feel Dean staring at me with determination. Neither of these things matter. What matters is the fact that my brother can't fucking cry. Because of me.