ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ: "It's just been a bad day, is all."
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IT HAD BEEN TWELVE HOURS SINCE THE ACCIDENT.
Sam stepped out of Dean's room, on his way to see his father, when he spotted Venus sitting at the other end of the hallway. She was in the same seat he'd found her in earlier in the day, when he first woke up, and she was still staring at the same painted tile square on the floor, unmoving.
"V?" he gently called out to her.
But she didn't move. He wasn't even sure if she heard him.
Sam carefully approached the woman and sat in the empty seat beside her. "Have you slept at all today?"
Venus slowly shook her head, eyes still trained on the floor.
Sam frowned when he noticed the lines of dried tears on her face. He didn't know what to do at the moment, how to help her. This was the most hopeless he'd seen her since Jess' death. "The doctor said that my dad's awake and Uncle Artie should be out of surgery soon," he tried to deliver some good news.
He noticed her eyes flicker to Dean's room at the end of the hall. It was so fast that if he'd blinked he would've missed it.
"The doctor gave me some updates on Dean's condition too, if you wanna hear it."
Venus gave no response so Sam took that as his cue to continue.
"He said that his liver and kidney were bruised and he lost a lot of blood. Then he said something about early signs of cerebral edema. I mean, I don't even know what that is–"
"Brain swelling," Venus' first words of the day came, low and scratchy.
Sam's eyes widened. It was so low he barely heard it. "What?"
Venus cleared her throat and looked up at Sam. "Cerebral edema is brain swelling, too much fluid in the brain," she explained, her voice slightly louder but still empty.
Sam nodded in understanding, still holding her stare. Her eyes were no longer their deep brown, now a dull, hollow shell of the distress she was feeling, the skin around it puffy and red from her constant crying. He decided it was best to leave out the part where the doctor informed him that there was a chance that Dean wouldn't wake up.
But she already knew that.
"Bobby's coming in an hour to tow the Impala back to his place, but I gotta go empty the trunk first," Sam changed the subject, "You wanna come with? Get some fresh air?"
"No, Sam, I'm good," she softly replied, shifting her eyes back to the floor.
Sam stood up and looked down at Venus. "They're gonna be okay, y'know? All of them."
Her lips briefly curved upwards in a half smile. "I know," but the logical part of her wouldn't let her fully believe that. She promptly silenced that voice of reason.
"Miss Watson?" a new voice came between them.
Venus stood up, answering to her fake name. "Yes," she turned to the nurse expectantly.
"Your uncle's awake and asking for you."
Venus inhaled a shaky breath and sent Sam one last nod before following the nurse to her uncle's room nearby. She walked in to see the older man halfway through a cup of jello, his right leg fully covered by a thick white cast and slightly elevated above his bed. "Hey, chiquita," he perked up at the sight of her.
She waited for the nurse to leave then pulled up a chair by his bedside. "Hey, tío," she managed a genuine smile.
Arturo brought his jello cup over to her. "Here, it's cherry, I think you'll like it."
Venus sighed, waving off the offer. "I'm good, you eat up."
The older man faltered slightly, knowing that she hadn't eaten anything since they arrived there. He took in her full state and determined that she hadn't slept either. "You should go find a motel later, mija, you need some sleep."
"So you finally let somebody bandage that head wound, huh?" she deflected with ease.
Arturo rolled his eyes but decided not to press further. "Yeah. Let's hope 'Ronald Watson's insurance covers it," he whispered, gesturing to his fake insurance card on the table across the room.
Venus chuckled softly but found her eyes lingering on her uncle's leg.
"It's not too bad," Arturo shrugged, noticing her stare.
Venus sent him a knowing look.
"I'll walk again...eventually," he deflated.
"How long?"
"Six months."
Venus scoffed. "Yeah, okay so it'll heal in six months, but I'm guessing you'll have to use crutches and a splint for another month after?"
"Two months," Arturo reluctantly corrected.
"Which means I'm making sure you stay off the road for nine months," Venus determined, leaving no room for argument.
"You mean eight months."
Venus sent him a sickly sweet smile. "No, I meant nine. What's an extra month for good measure?"
Arturo groaned in annoyance, "Come on, the doctor said eight months is more than enough time."
"Well, the doctor doesn't know that you fight and kill monsters for a living so..." she paused and pulled out her cell phone to text Bobby, "Bobby's gonna be your roommate–slash–prison warden until April. Okay?"
Arturo sighed, accepting his fate. "Fine."
Venus hurriedly shot Bobby a text updating him on Arturo's condition then tucked the device away, peeking up to meet her uncle's piercing gaze. "What?" she asked.
"Have you seen Dean yet?"
Venus glanced away, wordlessly shaking her head.
"Mija..." Arturo trailed off in a sigh.
Venus swallowed harshly. "No puedo. I-I can't see him like that with those fucking tubes in his face and the-the heart monitor beeping a beat per minute. I'd..." she paused and chuckled dryly, "I'd lose my mind tío."
Arturo looked at his niece for a moment, wishing he could do anything to take away her pain. "Avoiding it doesn't make it any less real," he gently told her.
Venus froze in her seat. "Yes, it does. 'Cause seeing him like that is just a reminder that...there's actually a chance that he doesn't walk out of here and I won't accept that."
"Venus."
"I won't!" she snapped, her voice breaking.
"Okay," Arturo relented, raising his hands in defeat.
Venus harshly wiped away the tears that fell from her eyes and stood up. "I'm gonna get some coffee," she said softly then turned to walk out of the room.
Ignoring the handful of nurses and doctors who were running around her to a room down the hall, Venus walked to the coffee machine around the corner and bought a cup. While she took a sip, letting the light brown liquid warm her insides, she spotted a vending machine nearby and heard her stomach growl.
Maybe she should get something to eat.
She walked over and put in a dollar bill, her eyes on the small yellow bag of peanut M&Ms. But when she pressed the combination to get it, the package wouldn't budge. Venus gently slammed her hands on the side of the machine, but it only moved the candy halfway out of the slot.
She continued to smack the machine repeatedly yet it moved no further. "This has to be some kind of sick joke," Venus mumbled.
Her eyes lingered on the vending machine for five seconds before something in her sent her fist flying at the glass, a crack appearing instantly. But she kept punching until the glass completely shattered and disappeared, her knuckles now bloody and shredded and even more tears falling down her face. God, she was so fucking tired of crying.
"Ma'am!" A security guard ran over and grabbed Venus, pulling her away from the machine. She hadn't even realized that she started screaming and kicking until another guard grabbed her legs.
"Miss, you need to calm down!" A nurse ran over.
The last thing Venus remembered was hearing a doctor call for a sedative and then feeling a sharp pinch in her neck.
Venus woke up the next morning to see her hands bandaged and handcuffed to the bed she was lying in. "What the hell?" she mumbled, voice slurred from sleep.
"Oh, you're awake!" A nurse suddenly appeared in the doorway, holding a clipboard, "You've been asleep for nineteen hours, I was starting to get worried."
Venus tried to move her hands but found them restricted by the cuffs. "Can you please take these off?" she softly asked, her throat still raw from screaming.
The nurse smiled awkwardly. "I'm afraid that wouldn't be wise. At least not until we're sure that you're no longer a danger to yourself and others around you."
Venus' head flopped back onto her pillow. "I don't normally go around destroying vending machines and kicking security guards," she began speaking, "It's just...it's just been a bad day, is all."
The nurse walked further into the room. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Venus took a deep breath. "No, but there's someone here that I need to see."
After a twenty-minute evaluation with two larger security guards present in the room, Venus was moved into a wheelchair, her hands cuffed to the sides, and wheeled to Dean's room.
"I'll come back for you in twenty minutes," the nurse said once they got there, promptly leaving.
Venus sat by Dean's side in silence for the first five minutes, finding too many thoughts in her mind to vocalize. So she just looked at him, taking in everything. The white t-shirt and soft blue pants that the nurses put him in, the bandage wrapped around his chest, the two separate tubes tucked into his nose and mouth—one steadily pumping air from a ventilator into his chest. Even the two days' worth of stubble that had appeared on his jaw. She made a note to ask a nurse if she could shave it, knowing how Dean liked to keep it minimal for the most part.
Sam soon entered the room.
"Hey, I was wondering where you went," he said, the smile on his face disappearing once he took in her state, "What the hell happened?"
Venus jiggled the handcuffs, "I went postal on a vending machine and two security guards."
Sam couldn't help the chuckle that fell from his lips.
"How are you handling this?" Venus changed the subject.
Sam pulled a Ouija board out of a paper bag.
"Oh so you've lost your mind too," Venus shrugged.
Sam entered the room and sat cross-legged on the floor beside Venus. "Listen, Dad and I were arguing in his room earlier and a glass of water flew off the table and shattered on the ground right in front of us. I think he's trying to communicate with us."
"As a spirit?" Venus added.
Sam nodded. "He's dying. But not dead yet," he reassured her, already knowing the thought that popped into her head.
Venus wheeled her chair closer to Sam, ignoring the pain in her fists. The younger hunter pulled out a bobby pin from his shirt pocket and helped Venus out of her handcuffs. He watched as she sat on the ground by the corner of the board instead of beside him.
"How are you gonna reach the board from over there?" Sam's brows furrowed.
Venus lifted her heavily bandaged hands. "Hermano, I don't think you want these cement blocks on the planchette."
Sam released a small chuckle, silently agreeing.
"Dean?" he called out to the room after a few seconds.
Venus took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to see if she could sense another presence in the room.
"Dean, are you here?" Sam said more sternly.
Venus felt a chill run down her spine before something presented itself to her left side, just opposite where Sam sat. Her eyes flew open to get a glimpse at the spot, but she was disappointed to see it empty.
Yet, somehow, she knew there was someone there. "He's here," she said barely above a whisper, scoffing in shock.
"What? How do you know?" Sam questioned.
Venus pulled her eyes away and looked at him. "Uh, I don't know. Just talk to him," she hurriedly spoke.
Sam secured a grip on the wooden planchette and looked at the board expectantly. He gasped a few seconds later when it moved on its own, hovering over the word 'Yes'.
A relieved laugh echoed through the both of them. "Oh, it's good to hear from you, man," Sam said, "It hasn't been the same without you, Dean."
Venus was still too shocked to speak, keeping her eyes locked on the spot where Dean would most likely be. She didn't know if her unusual strength and ability to read children's minds came with a side of ghost perception, but she'd be damned if she didn't try.
Sam exhaled sharply before turning to look at Venus. He noticed her intense stare. "Can...can you see him?" he asked with wide eyes.
Venus shook her head slowly. "No, but it's weird. It's like the longer I look, the more I feel him," she explained, her voice airy. She was unaware of the familiar voice on the other side calling her Looney Tunes, yet something in her told her to laugh. So she did. Then immediately regretted it.
"What are you laughing at?"
She didn't have an answer to Sam's question. "I-I don't know," she admitted, ripping her eyes away from the spot. She suddenly felt drained, taking a few deep breaths to stabilize herself.
"Dean, what?" Sam suddenly asked. Venus looked down to see the board spelling out a message. Sam said the letters aloud, finishing the word for him. "Hunt? Hunting? Are you hunting?"
"Yes," came the board's answer.
Venus rolled her eyes. "You've gotta be kidding me. Dean, if you get yourself killed in the goddamn astral plane I swear to God–"
"Dean, it's in the hospital, what you're hunting? Do you know what it is?"
"One question at a time, Sam," Venus gently told him, hearing her words faintly echo, but not with her own voice. Her eyes darted to the spot again.
"What is it?" Sam asked.
"R-E-A-P-"
"Reaper," Venus finished the word, pausing in thought for a moment. "Dean I think it's hunting you too."
"Yes," the board replied.
Sam swallowed harshly. "If it's here naturally, there's no way to stop it."
"Can't kill death," Venus muttered, earing the echo again. It was Dean's voice, it had to be.
"Man, you're uh..."
"Don't you say it," Venus hurriedly stood to her feet, "There's gotta be a way."
Sam stood as well. "Dad will know what to do," he said before walking out of the room.
Venus watched him go with a frown, preparing to follow. But then her eyes drifted back to the board. She looked at her bandaged fists and began unwrapping them, using her teeth to rip the fabric off. "This is gonna hurt like a bitch," she sighed.
Within minutes, Venus had unwrapped her hands and sat in Sam's previous spot by the board. Her bruised fingers shook with every inch that she extended them, occasional grunts and winces leaving her lips from the pain that lingered there. But she ignored it and took a deep breath. "Dean, are you still here?"
It took a few seconds but the planchette eventually moved, hovering over 'Yes'.
Venus took a moment to think about her next question but felt the board move before she could ask it.
"T-H-A-N-K Y-O-U"
Her brows knitted together in slight confusion. "Thank you? Thank me for what, trying to help you at the cabin?"
"N-O"
Venus remained silent as Dean spelled out a second response.
"E-V-E-R-Y-T-"
"Everything?" Venus finished for him, watching the planchette move to 'Yes'. She sniffled away her tears angrily. "Is this supposed to be some kind of goodbye? 'Cause I'm not taking it," she bitterly replied, pulling her hands off the board, "You hear me? I'm not giving up on you yet," she stared across the room, almost feeling like she was staring into his green eyes.
Venus nearly choked on her breath when she felt an unseen presence move beside her, even sensing a faint touch on her cheek where a tear had just fallen. She hoped a nurse didn't walk into the room at that moment, watching her nestle into the touch of the spirit of her half-dead best friend.
Instead, Sam walked in.
"Hey, so Dad wasn't in his room–" Sam paused at the sight of her sitting in the middle of the room, silently crying. "You okay?" he softly asked, stepping closer.
Venus flinched at the sound of his voice, hurriedly wiping away her tears and standing up. "Yeah, no, I'm fine," she plastered a smile onto her face. Her eyes drifted down to John's journal in Sam's palm, "You find anything?"
Sam sighed and moved to sit on the edge of Dean's bed. "Haven't checked yet, thought we could do it together."
Venus walked over to stand by his side, peering down at the page he found about reapers. She skimmed John's messy handwriting, finding nothing new about reapers that she didn't already know.
Before she knew it, the nurse arrived to bring her back to her room. Thankfully the older woman didn't question her discarded bandages or broken handcuffs and even called her supervising doctor to Venus' room to approve her release.
By the time Venus returned to Dean's room, she was dressed in her street clothes from the previous day and four hundred dollars broker. But then Dean's eyes flew open, his body jerking upward with a cough.
"Oh my God," she ran further over to his bed.
Sam rushed to the door, poking his head out, "Help! We need help!"
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"I can't explain it," Dean's doctor told them the next morning, "The edema's vanished, the internal contusions are healed, your vitals are good. You got some kind of angel watching over you."
"Thanks, Doc," Dean said, his voice slightly raspy. The doctor nodded and exited the room, leaving Dean with a smiling Venus and visibly relieved Sam. "You said a reaper was after me?" he asked in a hushed tone.
Sam nodded once. "Yeah."
"How'd I ditch it?"
The very same thought appeared in Venus' mind but she decided not to question it. Dean had narrowly escaped death, again. And, for now, it seemed to be working in their favor. "Beats me," she shrugged in response to Dean's question.
"Dean, you really don't remember anything?" Sam wondered.
"No, except this pit in my stomach," Dean confessed with a grimace, "Guys, something's wrong."
Just then, a soft knock sounded from the doorway. They all turned to see John standing there with a small smile on his face, back in his street clothes. "How you feeling, dude?" he asked his eldest.
"Fine, I guess. I'm alive," Dean answered, still skeptical.
"That's what matters."
"Where were you last night?" Sam suddenly asked.
Venus' eyes snapped in his direction. Now was so not the time.
"I had some things to take care of," John gave a vague answer.
Sam's stare hardened. "Well, that's specific."
"Come on, Sam," Dean pleaded.
"Did you go after the demon?" Sam asked, his tone accusatory.
John looked down for a moment. "No," his answer came eventually.
"You know, why don't I believe you right now?"
Venus didn't believe him either, but she couldn't dwell on it too much. She was still inwardly jumping for joy about Dean's recovery.
John stepped further into the room and eyed his youngest son, not a hint of bitterness in his gaze. "Can we not fight?" he spoke sincerely, shocking them all to silence. "You know, half the time we're fighting, I don't know what we're fighting about. We're just buttin' heads," he shook his head, "Look, Sammy, I've...I've made some mistakes. But I've always done the best I could. I just don't wanna fight anymore, okay?" he was near tears now.
Sam's mouth opened and closed, the youngest hunter fumbling for something to say.
Venus' brows knitted together. "You alright there, John?" she asked warily.
John's eyes darted over to hers, a struggle evident in them, but a smile on his worn face. "Yeah, you can take your hand off your berretta, V. I'm just a little tired."
Venus reluctantly pulled her hand from where she was slowly inching for her gun at the back of her jeans, still a little suspicious.
"How about you and Sammy go grab me a cup of caffeine?" John calmly asked. He then pulled out a five-dollar bill from his pocket. "Get one for yourself too, V."
Venus and Sam exchanged baffled looks but obeyed, moving to exit the room. But when Venus reached a hand out to take the money from John, she intentionally held her grip on his hand, locking into his stare. She wasn't sure how her apparent mind-reading powers worked on adults but she needed to try something, anything, to get some hint about what the hell was up with John.
Meanwhile, he never faltered, almost encouraging the girl to try.
Sam's voice calling out for her in the hallway broke her concentration before she could hear anything, however.
"I'm coming," she gave up with a sigh.
The pair walked down the hall in the direction of the coffee machine in tense silence, both reflecting on the interaction with John. But then Venus' ears perked up once they walked past her uncle's room, hearing faint sniffles from inside.
"I'll catch up in a second," she told Sam, gesturing to Arturo's room behind them, "Just gonna check up on tío for a second."
Sam nodded in understanding and walked away.
"Tío? Everything okay?"
Arturo looked up at the sound of his niece's voice, hastily wiping away the tears on his face. "Yeah," he lied, "Just finished up a chat with John," he explained with a forced smile.
But Venus didn't smile back, walking into the room and sitting in the chair closest to him. "What did he say?" she pressed.
Arturo chewed on his bottom lip. "Nothing important."
"So you're lying to me? I thought we stopped doing that," Venus grew slightly irritated, "'Cause he was just in Dean's room spouting some Ghandi-level crap about not wanting to fight with Sam anymore. Very unlike him, if you ask me."
Arturo broke eye contact. "Maybe he had a change of heart. Almost dying will do that to you, chiquita."
"He's not possessed again, is he?"
The older man scoffed, "We wouldn't be alive right now if he was, mija."
Venus sighed, pushing away a theory that appeared in her head. John wouldn't be that stupid, would he? "I'll be right back," she stood up and left the room.
A few minutes later, she stood beside Sam, nursing her own cup of coffee while he waited for his cup to fill up. She found her mind drifting to the conversation again, and this time she couldn't avoid the thought. "I gotta go...use the bathroom," she suddenly told him, putting down her cup and taking off in the direction of Dean's room.
On her way there spotted John walking at the other end of the hallway. "John," she called out stopping him in his tracks.
Venus hurriedly closed the distance between them, looking up at the older man and spotting the tears in his eyes. "What's happening?"
John could see the confusion written on her face but he simply pulled her in for a hug. "Don't worry about it, Venus."
Venus couldn't even form a thought, too surprised by his actions and stunned by his last sentence. She'd heard that one before...
"Mamá what's happening," Venus' horrified response came soon after. Her eyes flew to the foyer where her father and a few of her uncles and cousins were in the middle of fighting off the group of angels. She tried to blink away the sight of the dead bodies of her family members already scattered around them.
Ximena used a hand to turn Venus' head back in her direction and sent her daughter one last smile. "Don't worry about it, mi amor," she said, pressing a kiss to her forehead.
Something was very wrong here. "John," she repeated, shakier this time.
"Thank you, Venus," he began, smiling down at the younger girl, "For always having my boys' backs over the years. Dean's the protector of this family, but you? You're the glue, always have been."
Venus knew what a goodbye sounded like. That's what this was. "You're gonna try and kill the demon, aren't you? You stupid son of a bitch–"
John smiled wider, inwardly grateful that she hadn't figured out the entire truth. "Listen," he pleaded with her, the pure sincerity in his voice causing Venus to go silent, "You can hate me all you want but you and I both know those boys would be dead in a ditch without you. So, be there for them...please."
"Always," Venus replied without hesitation.
"Take care of yourself, Venus," he finished, extending a hand for her to shake it.
Venus looked down at the hand warily but shook it.
John used his grip on her hand to twist her body into his hold and covered her mouth to keep her quiet. "I'm sorry, V. I can't have you trying to save me," he whispered before using a hand to open a nearby supply closet and throw her in.
Venus stumbled to her feet in the dark closet, kicking and throwing her shoulder at the door that John blocked with a chair.
"Don't do this to them!" she shouted out to him, still banging against the door, "Don't you leave those boys without a father, John!"
John sighed heavily, looking at the closed door once, then glanced around at the empty hallway.
Venus watched the shadow of his boots disappear from beneath the door and kicked even harder. "Goddamnit," she grunted, only managing to leave a dent in the metallic door.
She continued to attempt an escape for less than five minutes. And then the door was pulled open, and Venus fell out of the small room and onto her back, groaning in pain.
"Oh my God! Ma'am, how did you get in there?"
Venus ignored the concerned nurse and stumbled to her feet, her chest heaving. She quickly took off running in the direction of John's room, her heart nearly ready to beat out of her chest.
But she was too late.
She came skidding to a stop by the door of his room to find John's body sprawled out on the floor, unmoving, Sam standing frozen in shock.
Venus didn't even register the warmth of Sam's coffee spilling on her feet, or his deafening screams for help filling the room. Her eyes were still trained on the older hunter's body. This didn't make sense. She was a few minutes behind him. Even with the major difference in power between the demon and John, that fight should've lasted a lot longer and should've been a lot bloodier.
Yet there he was, John Winchester, lying dead on the floor with the most peaceful look on his face that Venus had seen in twenty years.
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A/N: Venus 🤝🏼 Destroying hospital property
I've been hesitant to post this chapter all day cause I haven't fully
fleshed out my plot ideas for like half of season 2 yet and I'm scared that
a plot hole is gonna come back to bite me in the ass but uh...
Fuck it we ball idk!
You guys don't even know how grateful I am for the growth
of this book. I still can't believe how many new people are
finding it every day.
Yall are amazing man <3
Translations:
No puedo - I can't
Lovely GIF banner up above made by the incredibly talented prodigybitxhhh
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