Broken by EdenWrites
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Dean was in good spirits as he headed toward Cape Girardeau to see Cassie. He hadn’t seen her in a year, since her father died. After he left her he had tried to come back several times but it never worked out. He finally had time or in his case had made time. He figured he needed a break because he worked hard all the time with rarely a moment for relaxation.
He had dropped a pouty Sam off at Bobby’s for a while though Sam wasn’t happy about and threatened to take off on his own. Bobby hadn’t been that happy about it either but they understood Dean needed time with Cassie now and again, deep inside the other two thought it was good for Dean to get away. Better than getting some random tail, Bobby had muttered as Dean walked out the door. Dean had smirked at that.
--
Dean stopped for gas after he pulled into town. He whistled while he filled the tank, went inside to pay then drove toward Cassie’s mother’s house with a grin on his face. He had decided to surprise Cassie but while he waited for her to get off work he would go by to talk to her mother for a few minutes.
He drove into the yard still smiling. He smile dropped as he saw Cassie’s mother come out of the house with a shot gun in her hand. She was screaming something at him that he couldn't quite make out.
Diane Robinson couldn’t believe that Dean Winchester would have the nerve to come to her home after what he had done. She grabbed the gun and walked out her front door with it in her hands.
“You sorry son of a bitch, how dare you show up here after what you did to Cassie,” she screamed.
Dean put his hands up and swallowed hard. He had no idea what to think but he had to disarm her to get her to calm down so he could get answers. He walked toward her slowly and the words became clearer.
You left her for dead and she …….will never been the same. Her spirit is broken……she doesn’t trust anyone…….her fire is gone. Dean stopped as the words sunk in. He didn’t understand why Cassie’s mother would think that about him. She seemed to drop the gun a bit as the tears flowed from her. She was overcome with emotion and Dean took the gun from her hands. He was confused and concerned for Cassie.
Her mother was an emotional wreck as he helped her into the house. She seemed to be less afraid of him after a few moments.
“Mrs. Robinson, I swear I have never hurt Cassie. I don’t know what you are talking about,” he said as the tears began to form in his own eyes. She looked up at him. She had doubts about what had happened the same doubts she had from the time Cassie said she had seen Dean in town.
She didn’t know Dean very well but her memories of him were good ones. She could recall the way he had treated Cassie then and it had been with kindness and respect. Cassie had nothing but good things to say until the incident she had looked forward to spending time with him.
---Inside the house, Dean sat with Mrs. Robinson on the sofa. She told him about Cassie’s call to tell her that she has seen him in town. Cassie had been excited and looked forward to going out with him that night.
“It was all very fast,” she said between bouts of crying, “she had seen you at the diner and she was eager to go out with you.”
Dean nodded, “I have not been in town since the last time you saw me,” he said. He shook his head before she went on with the story.
Diane took a deep breath, “Cassie brought him by to say hello before they left that night………..The next thing I knew was I got a call from the hospital saying they found……they found her outside a hotel..” she stopped
Dean couldn’t stop his tears now, he sniffled, and he thought it had to be a shape shifter. He didn’t know why though or well he had to hear the rest.
“I’m sorry it’s been over six months and she has only just gone back to work, Dean she was in the hospital for almost eight weeks,” she said before taking another deep breath. Dean offered to get her some water so he could get out of the room for a minute.
He got the water but only after he blew his nose on a napkin and took in several deep breaths himself. He wandered how Cassie’s mother could even let him in after what happened, he was glad she had though. He needed to be able find a way to get as much information as possible so he could find the thing.
He gave her the water back in the living room.
“I’m sorry you have to go through this again, but it sounds like it was a shape shifter. They take on the form of other people. Unfortunately this has happened before it will take time for me to track it down but I will find it. Dean stopped as he realized he was crying.
Diane reached over to pull him in a hug. She was afraid Cassie would show up and she didn’t want to traumatize her. It took several minutes for them to finish going over the story so that Dean could leave.
“How did I know that something was wrong when she didn’t?” she asked.
Dean shook his head, “I don’t know maybe the fact the we had tried to get together a few times she figured I might surprise her. They do look just like the victims maybe it was your mother instinct or did something stand out?”
Diane bit her lip as she considered the question, “I don’t know there was a look about him that was kind of a wink when he looked at me. Something off you know, I mentioned to Cassie that something seemed wrong but she never thought I liked you. She took it as an insult,” Mrs. Robinson said before she looked over at him again, “she was wrong Dean I didn’t ever not like you I just was afraid something would happen to you and she would be devastated, you know in your life.”
Dean agreed. He wished that he could take back meeting Cassie only because he felt she would have been safer. He left a few minutes later with ideas of how he could find the shifter in his head.
He wanted so much to see Cassie but he didn’t want her to be angry or upset considering the situation. He passed the street the newspaper was on and thought if he could wear a disguise and hide the car he might be able to get a glimpse of her. He was desperate for just a peek.
--He actually bought a pair of khaki’s and a hat as a way of hiding
himself. It took effort but he walked straight with barely a sign of his normal bow legged strut. He sauntered pass the newspaper window to look in to see if she was at work. He leaned close and could see her at her desk. Her hair was shorter but it looked nice on her, he didn't want to think of the reasons why, he couldn't. He didn't want to break down in the street. It was bad enough he was leaned against the window with the desire for one glance at her. He feared he would never hold her to him again. She looked sad and out of it, he considered.
He was about to turn away but she got up and it caught his attention. She grabbed a cane before she limped toward the back. Dean turned away from the window with a groan. It was his fault that Cassie was hurt, if he had never met her the shifter would not have known she was the one he loved, the one woman in his life. The shifter was going down he thought before he walked a way with determination in his heart.
He left town as fast as he could and went to the next town to settle in for the night at motel. He called Sam to tell him what he had found out.
"Oh Gosh, Dean i am so sorry," Sam said with his voice full of emotion.
He knew how much Cassie meant to Dean. He could only imagine how Dean felt about the whole thing though he knew his brother would not say it.
"Yeah, hey I need someone to go back to Cape Girardeau to do some follow up on the attack. Someone like maybe a friend of Bobby's that has not been around the town at all."
Dean could hear Sam asking Bobby who he knew in that area. Dean waited impatiently with the hope of hearing an answer that would please him. He was on pins and needles.
"Yeah, okay. Hey Dean Bobby knows a hunter near there a woman named, Ella. He will call her and see if she can go to the place that it happened," Sam said.
Dean was relieved and ask that the lady contact him as soon as she knew something. He as going to have a hard time just waiting but he would stick it out a few days with the hope he might get some news. He would research to see if he could find any thing to lead him to the thing in the mean while.
---Cassie had begun to get use to her new life but she still had night mares. She didn't really have a limp so much as when she got tired she leaned on her cane for support. Her doctor said it was psychological. She hated going to a psychiatrist and the support group but it did keep her sane most days. She didn't stop in to see her mother the day that Dean showed up because she was tired.
She did phone once she had eaten and settled in for the evening. To her, it seemed her mother was on edge but she didn't mention it since she didn't want to butt heads with the older woman. Often they had harsh words because Cassie's temper could flare at a moments notice. Cassie's attitude on life had gone south since the attack. She was less likely to hang out with friends or do much other than work and read.
"So mom, how was your day?" Cassie asked into the phone.
"Um.......it was good, you know the usual mostly," Diane said with the thought that she should just spill the beans despite Dean telling her to hold off till he could do something about the shifter. Diane wanted so much to tell her that Dean had been in town to see her and spend time with her.
"That's good," Cassie said absentmindedly.
She picked at her food then realized she wasn't that hungry. The desire to see Dean hit her at weird times. Most often she was angry that he had come into her life and because of her contact with him awful things had happen to her. She had been beaten, mercilessly, and left for dead by one of the things he hunted. She remembered Jessica Moore, Sam's girlfriend that had died and almost wandered if that had been the better ending to a relationship with a Winchester man. At least Jessica's fate had been sealed and delivered right away. She bit her lip at the thought. But she loved Dean then and now no matter what. She just wished it hadn't come at such a price, that is having him in her life.
"Mom, my food is getting cold I have to go," she said after a few minutes.
She tried to stay up until she was dead tired with the hope she would by pass the dreaming process but as happened most nights it didn't help. She woke in a cold sweat and could swear she was not alone in her room. She cut on the lights and walked the small apartment to find she was by herself. She sat down in the chair and grabbed a pillow to wrap her arms around. Her eyes were wide with fear and she wanted like many times before to call Dean. She didn't think it would help but again like night after night she only wanted to call him for nothing better to let him know what had happened to her. She was unsure why she never did it. She considered that maybe things just happened no matter who was involved it was random chaos in the world. She bit her lip before she grabbed the small phone out of the charger. She searched through the numbers for his name but didn't hit send.
She put the phone down and took a deep breath. As before on many night she tried to think of why she would not do it. It had been a year since she saw him over eight months since they had spoken yet she wanted to keep the good times in her heart. The tears came unbidden to her. What if he was dead? What if the thing that hurt her had gone back and killed him? What was that thing? She had tried when she had gotten stronger to figure it out and had been afraid it was a doppelganger. A doppelganger meant death she had read. How could she have wanted to curse out the man that had brought this on her with one thought and another thought later want to hold him in her arms.
She knew it was because despite it all, she had hope. It wasn't much hope it was barely a trickle in a bucket of water or even a glass but it was there. She wasn't dead and if there was a God neither was Dean. Her hope keep her alive when she wanted to jump from her second floor window. Her hope grabbed her broken soul when she wanted to lay down and die the times she had so many pain pills keeping her moving she felt like a ninety year old woman.
They hadn't announced the attack in the paper thanks to her input. She didn't need that and despite all she wanted to protect Dean. She had been stupid and allowed herself to get happy with the thought that it was him at the diner that day. She had been over joyed. Her mother had seen something she hadn't but she had ignored her. Children who ignore their parents beware because the do have insight she considered.
Things had gone fairly well that night though she had done most of the talking. She had been proud of her job and her life. She had hoped to hear words of encouragement about how they could spend more time between hunts together but they never came. He had Dean's way down, not much was said just that crooked smile and the self effacing jokes were present. Cassie was at his motel room when things had gone south. It all happened so fast she was just glad they never made it pass the first kiss or well she didn't want to consider what could have happened. Being beaten against a wall till you pass out was more than enough for anyone to consider on more nights then can be counted.
---Dean couldn't sleep that night either. He half wished that Mrs. Robinson had told Cassie of his visit. He wanted to tell her how sorry he was. He wanted badly to make up somehow for the damage done to her. He sat down with a bottle of Whiskey at his side and between bouts of tears he drank. His life was a farce. How could he not protect the one person that he loved besides his family? It all seemed so senseless to him. Cassie had trusted him and he had given her more than any other woman of his soul. He drank himself into oblivion.
----The sound of the phone ringing the next afternoon woke Dean. He lay on the bed fully clothed boots and all. He leaned up with a grunt to grab the phone.
"Yeah?"
"This Dean?
"Yeah?"
"This is Ella, hey man, I checked out that motel and they did find some skin that night your friend was....um you know. It looks like it was a shifter. "
"Any other details?" he asked as he sat up and ran his fingers through the hair that stood on end on his head.
"Nothing special, they found that after they took her to the hospital. They had no idea what it was. He said it stood out cause it was weird."
"Thanks Ella."
"No worries man, I haven't been here in a while I might hang out. Let you know if I see anything strange."
Dean phoned Sam right after who told him he had spotted something like a shifter in Milwaukee.
"Good, have Bobby bring you half way if he will," he said befor he heard Sam ask.
"He said he will go with us, you stay put we will meet you tomorrow.
"Thank him."
"We got your back man."
---In Milwaukee, Sam and Dean's involvement in the case caused them to run into an FBI agent, Victor Hendrickson, who had been looking for them for a while. This was an unexpected wrinkle in the plan but with their hunters training and years on the road they were able to escape after Dean killed the shifter with a silver knife.
With skill and determination they leave the building to go to the Impala parked a few blocks away to make their get away. They meet Bobby at the car and tell him the bad news. Being on the most wanted list means that some things had to change.
Dean has to be on the back burner on cases and keep out of sight as much as possible. He waits until they are almost back to Missouri to call Mrs. Robinson with the good news.
"Bless you Dean, please tell me you will see Cassie now."
Dean hesitated as he went into the bathroom to finish the call.
"Um I can't say too much but not sure if that is a great idea."
"Okay, but in a while, please," she said with meaning.
"I can't promise," Dean said, "but thanks for the vote of confidence," he said before he hung up.
--------------four months later------------
Thanks to Mrs. Robinson, Dean met up with Cassie while she was at a conference in Chicago. The whole set up had been very cloak and dagger. Mrs. Robinson had pled his case to Cassie before she took off. Cassie had mixed emotions about the whole thing, partially because she didn't want Dean to get caught because of her.
Her thoughts changed as they kissed in her hotel suite. His hands were in her hair and his lips were gentle against hers. The kiss ended with regret on both parts.
"Come here," he said before he pulled her into his lap.
"I don't know what to say, its been hard, I learned about myself. I don't feel as though I am real, you know."
Dean stroked her hand before he looked in her eyes. "I am so sorry this happened to you," he started.
"Don't........" she said before she stood up to undress.
Dean saw the scars right away, but he held back the tears. He reached to touch her skin then looked in her eyes. "You are so beautiful," he said.
"Liar," she said before she pushed him on the bed.
"Hey I got scars too," he teased as she crawled up his still clothed body.
She smiled, "Guess we are a matching set."
He leaned up with one hand behind her back so she could help him with his shirt. It was gentle at first but soon their old fast and hard ways caught up with them. It had to be good because it had to end there. Dean wouldn't chance Cassie's life again. They both had to move on and live with their memories.
He would cherish those moments with her, for all time. There would never be another woman for him.
The End.