The Witch and The Hunters

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Page count: 6

Dean missed Hermione. It was as simple as that. He missed her sleeping in his arms. He missed her seeking out his warmth. He missed her wild hair. He missed her smell of apples and caramel. He missed her laughter and her wittiness. He missed listening to her explain about the magical creatures she dealt with and he missed teaching her about the supernatural. He missed her playful bickering with Sam and her creative taunts and insults, which were usually aimed at him.

For the first few days, he had been physically fine. His sleeping had suffered, meaning he barely got any and it seemed that his nightmares had gotten worse since Hermione had left and they usually left him awake or only allowed him a few hours of sleep at best. His mood had most definitely changed of which Sam had noticed. Dean was...Sullen, grumpy, exhausted. He hadn't smiled or laughed since Hermione left, and he put all of his effort into working cases to distract him. And Sam was forced to watch Dean's mood and health spiral out of control.

Aside from the lack of sleep, Dean had a longing deep inside of him and it grew stronger by the day. He longed to be in Hermione's presence. He longed for Hermione to be in his arms. He longed to be surrounded by her smell. He longed to feel her raised scars and soft curves under his fingers as she slept. And it was easy enough to push aside when he was busy working a case, but then he'd go back to his shared motel room with Sam and he'd be reminded of his feelings as he stared at the ceiling, listening to Sam's snores and thinking about nothing but Hermione. Without her, he felt lonely, he felt cold and empty.

On the fifth day of her absence came the headaches. They were barely noticeable at first, but they grow stronger as time went on and nothing eased the pain, not pain killers and certainly not alcohol which seemed to make it worse. It was making his already bad mood worse. He was irritable and Sam felt sorry for those they were hunting, Dean had been particularly viscous when they had taken out the succubus and even Dean could admit that.

Then came the dizzy spells and Dean had lost count of the amount of times he'd almost fainted when on the job and it was a hindrance; it had caused Sam to get injured when they took out a nest of three vampires. Then the aches and pains in his body made themselves known. He felt as though he not only had a monstrous hangover, but as though he'd gone several rounds with a pissed werewolf and been thrown off a building. And to make it worse, there was a dull ache in his chest where his heart was, and he often found himself rubbing the area as if that would ease the pain, but it never did.

After that the nausea showed up and Dean had finally lost his cool. He had almost thrown up when they'd been at the diner and the pie he'd ordered was placed in front of him. He almost lost his lunch when they entered the rather foul smelling motel room they were staying in and the smell of his cheeseburger had knocked him on his arse.

He hadn't been the same since Hermione left. He knew it and Sam definitely knew it, since he was always on the end of Dean's mood swings, and Dean thought that Sam was a saint, because if the roles were reversed he most certainly would've put a bullet in him by this point.

His appearance was the most alarming of changes. He hadn't lost weight since Sam forced him to eat regardless of the nausea, but you could tell he wasn't sleeping. He was exhausted and it showed in the bruises under his eyes. His hair was often stood out at odd angles since he couldn't stop himself from running his hands through it in frustration, and his skin was a sickly colour.

On the tenth day of Hermione's absence, Sam had put his foot down and knowing something wasn't right, he had informed Bobby that they were passing the case they were set to work over to Ellen and Jo, and they were heading to his salvage yard.