No Ordinary Boys ~ Chapter 6
Chapter Six
John had continued to hold Dean as he cried, making shushing noises and rocking him gently, desperate to comfort anyway he could. Eventually Dean couldn't fight the exhaustion any longer and John felt his body rest more heavily against him, as he finally gave into sleep.
John let him sleep for a while before deciding it was probably best to wake him so he could get some proper rest in his own bed, also John didn't think Dean would be too happy if he woke up away from Sam.
"Dean?" John shook him gently. "Hey Dean, wake up, buddy."
Dean woke up pretty much the same way he had yesterday when he'd come round from passing out, fast and violent. His eyes flew wildly around the room and he scrambled out of John's hold.
John held his hands out in a placating gesture. "Whoa, Dean. Easy. You're safe. It's just me, okay? You're alright."
Dean panted heavily but John did see him relax a fraction. "Sammy?"
"He's fine," John assured. "He's still upstairs sleeping. You fell asleep here and I woke you up as I thought you'd be more comfortable in your own bed."
Dean blinked owlishly a few times then nodded. "Okay."
"Do you want me to give you hand back upstairs?" Dean still looked sleepy and disorientated.
Dean shook his head, slowly getting to his feet. "I'll be fine."
John smiled. "Okay, well you go get some rest and I'll see you in the morning."
Dean nodded, mumbling a quiet goodnight before heading back upstairs to his brother.
John stayed up for a while longer, trying to process everything that had happened. The implications of things Dean had said when he was breaking down made him feel sick. He was certain now that Dean had suffered much more than just physical abuse at the hands of his uncle, and he felt anger and revulsion coarse through him. He had to fight the urge to just hunt down that son of bitch and make him suffer, but he knew as satisfying as that might feel, it wouldn't help Dean in the long run, and that's what John had to focus on, finding a way to help Dean through all this.
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Dean climbed into bed, shushing Sam when his brother murmured and rolled over towards him. He carefully pulled him into his arms, tucking Sam's head under his chin. Dean shuddered as he remembered what had happened downstairs with John. He should never have broken down like that. He felt embarrassed and ashamed, and not that only that, while he had been downstairs crying himself to sleep, he'd left Sammy up here alone and unprotected. How could he have done that? His brother could have gotten hurt and it would have been all his fault.
"I'm sorry, Sammy," he whispered, holding him closer. "I promise I won't ever let that happen again. I won't leave you alone like that. I'll always be here to keep you safe."
Once again tears began welling up in his eyes and he swiped at them angrily. Everything was spinning out of control and he felt so lost.
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"Hey there, sleepy head." Dean smiled, gently sweeping Sam's bangs out of his face. "How you feeling?"
Sam yawned, stretching out in the bed before pushing himself up into a sitting position. "Better." Sam rubbed the sleep out his eyes and returned Dean's smile with a small one of his own. "My head doesn't feel like it gonna explode anymore."
Dean grinned. "Glad to hear it."
Sam started to look anxious and his breathing sped up. "Do they know now? About me? About the visions?"
"Shh, it's okay, kiddo." Dean took a hold of his hand, squeezing it tightly. "They don't know, alright? They just think you had a seizure, that's all. They don't know anything about the visions."
Sam let out a deep breath in relief.
"Sam, do you remember anything else about what you saw?" Dean asked, gently rubbing his thumb over the back of Sam's hand in a soothing motion.
Sam wrinkled his forehead as he tried to recall the details. "No," he sighed. "All I can see is the blood." He rested his head on Dean's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Dean."
"Hey, shhh. You don't have anything to be sorry for, none of this is your fault."
"Yes is it." Sam tried to blink away the tears he could feel forming in his eyes. "I should be able to remember more and because I can't someone is probably going to die."
Dean didn't want to tell Sam that they would probably die weather he remembered or not. Even when they had enough information to be able to trace the people in Sam's vision, it's not like they had been able to do much to save them. Not surprisingly, people weren't exactly falling over themselves to believe some teenager they had never met before, telling them that they were in danger because his ten year old brother had seen it in a vision.
"It's not your fault, Sam." Dean said, firmly. "You can't control what you see in the visions."
"Do you think they will ever stop?"
Dean nodded. "We'll find a way, Sammy." He hoped he sounded more convincing than he felt.
"What's gonna happen today?" Sam asked, his voice shaky. "Are we going to have to go to the doctors?"
"Do you wanna go?"
Sam gave a frantic shake of his head.
"Then you don't have to." Dean kissed the top of Sam's head. "Don't worry, Sam. I won't let them make you do anything you don't want to."
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Breakfast at the Winchesters did not go well.
Despite what had happened last night, Dean was not letting John or Mary anywhere near him or Sam. He sat glaring daggers at them during breakfast and refused to eat anything, and John and Mary felt their concern grow when they realised that Sam was now also refusing to eat.
John sighed. "Look, boys, I know you're worried about the doctors but..."
"We're not going," Dean snarled.
"Dean..." Mary began.
Dean stood up from the table, bringing a trembling Sam up with him. "I said we're not going."
"Dean. Calm down, buddy," John said, gently.
Dean shot a John a furious look. "I'm not your buddy," he snapped. "And you can't make us go see any doctors."
"Dean, please, just listen and..."
"No! Just leave us the hell alone." Dean took a hold of Sam's hand and they both disappeared back upstairs, the sound of their bedroom door slamming shut echoing around the house.
"Oh dear, that didn't go well at all," Mary said, sadly. "They're really scared John, and after what you told me about what Dean said last night, I'm worried that if we push him on this it might do his mental state some serious damage."
John nodded in agreement. "Becca and Jake will be here soon. We can talk to them about delaying the doctors."
Mary looked worriedly at the table. "Neither of them ate."
John wrapped his arms gently around his wife. "Don't worry, Mare." He kissed the top of her head softly. "The boys are gonna be okay. We'll make sure of it."
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By the time Becca and Jake arrived, the boys were still refusing to come out of their room and John knew that delaying the boy's physicals was looking more and more like the right option.
Mary showed Becca and Jake though into the living room, and John nodded a hello to them both.
"Hello, Mr Winchester." Becca smiled. "How are you feeling?" She gestured at his bruised nose.
John indicated for them both to take a seat. "I'm fine. It's already pretty much healed."
Becca nodded. "Well, we are currently looking into an alternative emergency placement for the boys and we're hoping to have found something by the end of the day. It may be that we can only find a place for one of them and if that happens we would appreciate it if you would consider keeping Sam here for a few more days."
John frowned. "What? What are you talking about? We don't want either of the boys going anywhere."
"Dean attacked you," Jake remarked. "We assumed you would want to be handing his case back to us."
"Well, you assumed wrong," John stated, firmly. "And Dean didn't attack me. He was panicking and trying to protect his brother. It wasn't his fault." His voice took on a slightly hard edge, "And you'd actually consider separating the boys after all they've been though? You've seen how close they are, how much they need each other."
"We would of course try to place them together but sibling placements are hard to find, especially at such short notice."
"Then it's a good job the boys are fine to stay here."
Jake nodded. "That's fine but the option is there if you want it. I know this case is turning out more complicated than expected, and it would be totally understandable that if after what happened last night you wanted to back out. As I said we should have alternative arrangements ready by the end of the day, if necessary."
John was beginning to get annoyed, his patience wearing thin. "It won't be necessary."
"Okay then." Becca smiled again and reached down to pull some folders out her bag. "I managed to locate most of Dean and Sam's files, so I thought we could go over them before we have to leave for the boys medical appointments."
"About that," Mary said. "John and I feel that it might be best if the boys physicals are put off for a few days."
"The boys need to be checked over and if we want to be a get good case against the uncle for physical abuse then we also need to take photographic evidence of their injuries," Becca stated.
John nodded. "We understand that, but right now I can't even get the boys out of their room because they're so scared."
Becca didn't seem phased. "Well, why I don't I go up and see if I can convince them?"
John shook his head. "With all due respect I don't think that's a good idea. Dean's very vulnerable right now and I don't think he'd react well to you going up there."
"The boys need to see a doctor, Mr Winchester." Jake insisted, firmly.
"I know that." John was beginning to get irritated again. "But you force them to see one today then you are going end up traumatizing them. All I'm saying is that we should wait a few days until the boys are more settled."
"Dean and Sam's bruises will have started to fade by then," Becca remarked, briskly. "We need to get photographic evidence now if we want to have a good chance of prosecuting the uncle."
"How about we have Dr. Saunders take the photos?" Mary suggested. "The boys seem to be comfortable around him. He can take the photos today and then we can leave the physicals for a few more days."
Becca and Jake exchanged looks then Becca nodded their agreement.
Mary smiled. "Okay, I'll contact Dr. Saunders after we've been through the files."
Becca handed them the file on the boys removal from their father. It showed that social services had taken the boys into care after Dean had been admitted to the hospital in a critical condition. The hospital had contacted them with concerns that they suspected his injuries were non-accidental. John felt sick as he read the list of injuries Dean had sustained. Dean never said it was his father who hurt him so no charges were filed, but there was enough evidence for social services to remove the boys.
Becca slid another folder over to them. "This is initial report we received from Dean's school about concerns for his welfare. The report is what led to investigation into the aunt and uncle."
"What about Sam's school?" Mary asked. "Did they reports any concerns?"
Becca suddenly looked uncomfortable. "Well, um, I'm afraid it seems Sam has never been to school."
"What?" John exclaimed, shocked. "He's ten years old. How could he not have been to school?"
"It would appear that neither his father nor uncle bothered to register or send him to school."
"And they were able to get away with that?" John's voice rose slightly. "I mean, Jesus Christ, the boys were suppose to of been under social care when they were living with their uncle. How could nobody know that Sam wasn't going to school?"
Becca just shook her head. "I don't know. It should have been checked but somehow it seems to have gotten overlooked."
John laughed, humourlessly. "There seems to be a lot about this case that social services have overlooked."
Becca bristled. "I agree that there have clearly been mistakes, but an investigation is already under way to find out exactly what went wrong."
John felt like snapping back that none of that was going do Dean or Sam much good. It wasn't going to take away the years of suffering they had to endure because someone failed to do their job properly, but he bit his tongue and said nothing, knowing that starting an argument at this point wouldn't achieve anything.
They finished going over the files and after John and Mary agreed to call them once Dr. Saunders had been round, Becca and Jake left.
"You okay, baby?" Mary asked, running a hand gently down John's back.
"Yeah, I'm alright." John sighed, turning to wrap Mary in his arms. "Just frustrated that the boys have been let down so much."
Mary nodded. "I know but like you said earlier, they're gonna be okay. They have us to make sure of it."
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The boys seemed to relax somewhat when they were told that wouldn't have to go to the hospital today and that instead Dr. Saunders was just going to come and talk to them, before taking some pictures of their injuries. Dean had not seemed happy at the mention of pictures being taken but had eventually agreed if it meant that they wouldn't have a full medical exam. So Dr. Saunders had been called and it had been arranged for him come round later that afternoon.
Lunch had gone a bit better than breakfast. Dean still didn't eat, but Sam was back to practically inhaling his food as usual and afterwards the boys went into the living room to watch TV instead of hiding back upstairs in their room.
Mary had just finished unloading the dishwasher when she heard a shuffling noise from behind her. She turned and saw Sam stood in the doorway, looking a little nervous. "Hi, Sam." She smiled. "You okay, sweetie?"
"Dean fell asleep watching TV and I...I..." Sam's voice trailed off and he bit at his fingernails.
"It's okay, Sam," Mary said, gently. "What is it? Did you need something?"
"Can I...Can I have something to drink, pl...please?"
The question was asked so quietly and quickly that Mary barely heard it, and it made her heart ache that he was so scared to ask for something as simple as a drink. "Of course you can, honey." She gestured for him to sit down at the table and he slowly did so. "What would you like? We've got apple and orange juice or you could have some milk?"
"Apple, please," Sam whispered.
Mary smiled and placed the glass down in front him before taking a seat at the table herself.
Sam took a sip of the juice before giving Mary a small smile. "Thank you."
"You're welcome, sweetie," Mary replied, keeping her voice soft and gentle. "Sam, do you mind if I talk to you about something?"
The nervous look returned to Sam's face. "What about?"
"School," Mary answered.
Sam lowered his head, his bangs falling in front of his eyes. "I'm too stupid for school."
Mary felt her heart twist at the broken look on Sam's face. "I'm certain that's not true."
"Yes, it is." Sam sniffled as he tried to fight back tears. "My uncle was always calling me stupid and my aunt said I was too dumb and useless to go to school."
"Do you think you would like to go to school, Sam?"
"I already told you, I'm too stupid for school," Sam mumbled.
"No, you told me that your aunt told you that you were too stupid for school." Mary reached out and touched his hand, pleased that even though he gave a small flinch, he didn't pull away. "And that just isn't true, Sam."
"Dean says I'm smart but I think he's just saying that to be nice," Sam said, quietly.
"I don't think Dean would say that unless he meant it." Mary gently squeezed his hand. "And I may not have known you very long but I can tell that you are a very smart little boy."
Sam was quiet for a few moments before he looked up and gave Mary a small smile. "You're nothing like my aunt," he whispered.
"No, I'm not." Mary smiled back, sadly. "And I promise you, I never will be."
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"Davis."
"I have a call for you on line three, sir."
"Do you know who it is?"
"No, they just said it was important but they wouldn't give me a name."
Davis sighed. "Okay, patch them through. Thanks Angela."
"How can I help you?" Davis asked when the call beeped through.
"Hello Davis."
"Mick," he hissed. "What the hell do you think you're doing calling me here?"
"Well, you weren't answering your cell." Davis could just picture the smirk on Mick's face. "You're not avoiding me are you, Davy boy?"
"I told you the last time we spoke that I'm out!" Davis snapped. "I'm done covering for you Mick. I'm not risking my job anymore."
"Relax. I just need some information, that's all."
"No."
Mick laughed. "Davis, you're in too deep to back out now. If you don't help me then I'll make sure everyone knows just how heavily you were involved in all this, and believe me when I say losing your job will be the least of worries then."
"What do you want?" he growled.
"I need to know where it is that you lovely people over there have stashed my nephews."
Chapter 7