Fish out of Water (A Sequel to Flightless Bird, SPN FanFic)

Apple Pie (9)

He sat at the foot of his bed, surprised at first, but then began to stare at me with tormented eyes. Sam watched from the wall he leaned up against. Tears started flowing down my face. Dean stood and his mouth opened as he searched for words.

"Scar," his voice was strained and sad and full of agonizing regret, but I hardly minded any of that because I knew it only meant he was back. Dean was really back. I rushed to him and collapsed into his arms, wrapping my good arm around his neck and squeezing him tightly. I heard him choke and buried my head into his shoulder as we stood there for a while, crying silent tears of relief.

He let go of me finally and brushed his fingers gently over the wound on my face, a sign of quiet remorse on top of other things. His lips were pursed tightly together as he shook his head, looking from wound to wound, each one from him. 

"I'm so sorry," he said finally and his voice made me tremble with joy. Dean was here, he was really here, right in front of me. 

"None of that matters now," I tell him. "it's all over. You're back," I smile despite the aching come from all over and the tears still dribbling from watery eyes. "we're all together again." I looked behind him to Sam who was watching with tear filled eyes and a happy smile. "Nothing can tear us apart this time. Nothing." I really believed that.

I wanted to sit down and talk to him for the next 3 days straight after that, but he was so exhausted and so I decided to let him rest while Sam was on my back about needing my rest as well. I only spoke with him for a short 5 minutes before Sam and I left and he led me back to our room to help me get cleaned up, God knows I needed it.

Sam hauled his shirt over my head and off my good arm and then started to take off my sling while I sat patiently on our bed, hardly able to believe any of this was happening. 

"I can't believe it's actually him," I said. "one minute he was a raging murderer and the next he's just, him. He's Dean again, it's in every part of him. How he was sitting, how he was staring at me, it's him. It's really him."

"It hasn't fully clicked yet for me," Sam says and walks to the washroom to run the shower. "I feel like I'm going to lie down and when I wake up, he's not going to be here. I'm afraid to leave him," I follow him and stand naked in the doorway while he turns his back to turn the hot water on. He turns back and looks me up and down before looking up and keeping me out his line of sight. "I should probably go back,"

"It's Dean, Sam. He's back, for good this time. He's not leaving us again. So why don't you just take a minute for yourself and join me in the shower?"

A while later, I was dressed in shorts and a lose shirt (with Sam's help) and sitting in the library with Castiel. Sam was making dinner in the kitchen and I read books Castiel had spread out on the table, adjusting my sling every so often, trying to make it comfortable. 

"Here," a voice says from behind who I realize is Dean after a moments thought. His hands wrap around me from behind and begin to adjust my sling, quickly making it so that I can hardly notice I'm wearing it. 

"Thanks," I turn slightly and he walks around the table and sits down next to me. 

"Better?" he wonders, I nod and smile and Castiel clears his throat. 

"I feel like it's best not to beat around the bush with this one," he says. "we may have one obstacle out of the way, but another remains."

"The mark," Sam says and catches all our attention as he walks in, barely balancing four plates of grilled cheese sandwiches before placing them on the table around us. 

"Yeah," Dean nods and I stare and watch as he shifts uncomfortably. "there's no beating this thing. I know that for a fact." 

"Come on Dean," I say. "you don't really. I mean, we're always faced with stuff like this but we find a way through. Like you being a demon, Sam and I thought you were a goner but we didn't stop fighting because that's what we're here to do. We're here to fight for you, or with you." he wraps his arm around me.