Take The Heart I Never Wanted to Give

23

Dean lets out a deep breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding when his father left the medical wing. He felt...relieved. He had imagined for years what this conversation would look like and how it would go down. Every scenario had been some form of bad to worse to borderline violent. This has been civil. It had been mutual. John had listened. Maybe he could make it work. Maybe he could forgive John. Slowly, and on his own terms, but maybe.

He was shaken out of his thoughts when his brother and adopted family entered the room again. He was surprised to see Adam holding Sam's hand.

"Dee!" Adam shouted. He bolted from Sam's side and hurriedly made his way to Dean, struggling to scramble up onto the large bed.

"Woah, woah, slow down buddy." Dean chastised with a chuckle. Dean scooted further up the bed so his back was flush against pillows so he could pull Adam up with him. Adam accidentally grazed Dean's sutures with his foot, making Dean hiss in pain.

"Adam, be careful," Sam warned, moving to take Adam off the bed.

"Leave 'em, Sam," Dean said with a sigh. He settled Adam in his lap, ruffling his hair gently.

"How you feeling, buddy?" Dean asked, grazing a gentle finger over the bandaged spot where Naomi slapped him.

"I'm fine!" He exclaimed. "It still kinda hurts though. Whatta 'bout you? Are you okay?" He asked worriedly.

Dean smiled sadly, wishing his littlest brother didn't have to worry about him so much. He nuzzled Adam's forehead with his nose eliciting a giggle from the 10-year-old. "Don't you worry about me, kiddo, I'll be fine." He searched around the room immediately catching Ellen's eye, silently asking her to get Adam out of the room so he could talk to the others.

"Hey, Adam," Ellen called to the younger Winchester. "How's about you and me go bother Mr. Benny for some good ol' fashioned cherry pie?"

Adam's eye widened further, his legs a flurry of movement as he scrambled off the bed, nearly tripping as he grabbed Ellen's wrist, dragging the poor woman out the door.

"Come on Mrs. Ellen! We gotta get pie!" Adam exclaimed. Ellen smiled genuinely at the boy, allowing herself to be dragged by the young prince. Dean gave her an apologetic look and mouthed a quick 'thank you.' When the two were finally out of the room, the others huddled together as much as they could on Dean's bed.

"How'd the talk go?" Sam asked immediately.

"I think...I think it went better than I thought it was going to be. He listened. He gets that I'm not ready to forgive him yet. He's willing to try and fix this before it gets worse. I told him to talk to us tomorrow."

"We may not have until tomorrow," Gabriel said, worriedly.

Dean's brows furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Naomi tried to rig the competition at the last minute," Charlie said.

"What? How?" Dean demanded.

"She—"

Before Charlie could explain, the door was flung open, revealing a disheveled and heavily breathing Michael. Two guards were cautiously following behind him, debating whether or not to touch him. When he stumbled, almost face planting on the floor, one guard reached out to steady him only to have Michael snarl and lash out at him; the guard leaped back, narrowly avoiding his sloppily thrown punch. Michael fell down this time, groaning loudly. The guards looked at one another and opted to leave the disorderly alpha on the ground. Lucifer entered the door way, chewing on a large dinner roll and carrying a bottle of what was probably wine. He stepped casually over Michael, tsk-ing mockingly at his older brother.