Too much (Dinah, Dean, Jake)
Takes place after all the threads on this post
Dean was definitely smirking when she asked 'what?'. She'd just proven his point. The next thing she said proved his point even more, even he'd prefer she hadn't.
The hunter moved quickly around the table, the pizza and beer forgotten. She wasn't lying about bleeding on his floor, not that he was all that worried about the floor. He stepped away from the slumped over Dinah long enough to grab up a clean towel. More than one thought went through his mind, but they all focused on making sure Dinah didn't die. She was too hot to die.
"Okay, Dinah? Dinah, you need to keep talking to me." He pressed the towel to her side. "You need to stay with me." Dean hated how much that sounded like some bullshit he'd see on tv, but it actually were the words he'd said a few times now. "Just talk to me, okay, Dinah?"
Dean didn't call her "baby," "sweetheart," not even "Legs." He also didn't stay by her. He stepped away long enough to grab up his belt, boots, and jacket (along with his Colt). The boots were yanked on without the socks; he'd pay for it later probably. The jacket waited until he used the belt to hold the towel in place over the wound.
"Dinah?"
----
Slowly, all other versions of Dinah stopped being in the other places. She’d tried to accomplish as much as as she could before falling to the ground, but she’d fallen very very short. Dinah supposed that she was no longer ‘needed’ in those places now that she couldn’t do anything anyway.
Dean’s voice was an anchor, pulling her back into the moment as she was suddenly just in one place again.
Dinah tried to smile as he swam into sight through her slightly blurred vision, though she was pretty sure it came out as more of a grimace.
“I suppose you can say ‘I told you so’ now.”
----
“Maybe after you’re all patched up. Deal?” Dean grumbled softly as he realized he didn’t have a ride to get them to the hospital, wherever the hell that was. There was some small part of him happy that more blood wouldn’t be getting into his baby’s upholstery. She’d seen too much blood.
“So, how much do you weigh anyway?” He was asking this as he repositioned her in the chair enough to let him slide his arms under her and pick her up. “And you’ll get taking care of my dry cleaning right? You’re making a mess.” He put her arm carefully over her middle, not putting it around his neck - he didn’t want to stretch her side and the wound too much. Said side was pressed against his body as he carried her. It was that or he held her side with his hand, which would have made for awkwardness.
He managed to get them out of the door, and out of the building where he stood for a moment, holding her to him. All the way down he looked as if this were a regular day; he might have looked a little more serious, but it wasn’t anything he’d sweat too much over, so it seemed.
“So, you want to go in style or do you care?” There was a Lamborghini, a Gremlin, and a Hummer waiting for their owners to return once they finished whatever they were doing in the motel.
----
“Did you really just ask how much I weigh?” Dinah muttered with a half-smile. “Don’t you know never to ask a woman that?”
She fell in and out of consciousness as Dean carried her, barely aware of their surroundings or what else might be going on.
Dinah didn’t quite register the question as she blinked up at Dean.
“I trust your judgment,” she murmured.
Her side was starting to go numb, or perhaps she’d just blocked out the pain. She was so tired. But there was something... Her eyes opened wider.
“Jake. I disappeared on him. I have to call him and tell him where I am.” her voice was steadier than it had been since she’d started bleeding, and there was an urgency to it that almost exhausted her remaining strength.
----
“The foster kid?” Dean was already moving to the Gremlin; the security would be easier to deal with, mainly that it was highly unlikely anyone would bother with security on the green little freak of a car. He shifted her weight a little, not having commented on it. It was only asked to make sure she talked.
While he didn’t think he’d be that lucky, he tried the door handle. His brows went up as the door opened. “Looks like you’re lucky today, Ms. Lance.” Yeah, he remembered her name. He didn’t set her down, not yet. He leaned enough to see if the passenger’s side was unlocked, all trying to keep from hurting her.
“You’ll owe this guy a new car, probably cheaper than cleaning it out.” The inside didn’t look that bad. Thankfully, she wouldn’t catch some disease from the inside of a car...he hoped. He took her round to the other side and opened the door. It took a little work to get her in, and a few sorries and watch outs too.
----
Dinah wanted to object to him stealing the car, but as she settled against the passenger’s seat, the towel pressed to her side to stem the bleeding, she realized she couldn’t quite complain. And she had the money to cover any damage to the car. She would have to send the owner a check.
“Thank you,” she murmured. “Sorry for ruining your night.” It wasn’t exactly being where she was needed to show up on someone’s doorstep and bleed all over his floor. And she definitely wasn’t helping anyone right now.
Dinah hated how badly she’d screwed up with this wish, but she didn’t have much energy to ruminate on it. Her eyes drifted closed again as Dean started up the car.
----
“Hey, hey, keep talking. So, seen any good movies lately?” Dean had to hotwire the car, but it didn’t take long. They were soon racing down the street. “Hate to ask this, but do you know where the Hospital is?” He hadn’t really needed it since he got here, and he wasn’t one to just go looking for them either. Hospitals meant paper trails, and he really wasn’t one for leaving trails, paper or otherwise.
He did his best to not draw attention by speeding. Not that the car would go that fast, but the last thing they needed was to be stopped by the police. He didn’t want to have to explain why there was a bleeding woman in the passenger’s seat. He also didn’t want to have explain why they were in a stolen car.
“Com’on. It can’t be this fucking hard.” He kept driving, not sure where the hell he was going, but he was going to get her there. “Hey, you gotta call your kid, wake up.”
----
Dinah’s eyes snapped open at the reminder of Jake.
“Right. Should probably wait until we get there and I get checked in to call him. Not sure telling him about this is going to keep him from worrying,” she gestured vaguely to the blood and the car.
“Um. Hospital. It probably moves around, but last I saw it, it was on Jackson St, just off of 114th. It’s weird that even the numbered streets can move, isn’t it? So sometimes you’ll see 114th next to 86th, or 1st next to 95th. Just makes no sense,” she frowned as a blue ‘H’ sign whizzed past them. Or was it the other way around?
“I think that sign means the hospital is ahead,” she muttered.
----
Dean glanced at her. He had seen the sign; in fact, he had gotten into another lane to make the turn that was coming up. There were a few more turns after that; the City wasn’t being overly difficult, but it was making things harder than they had to be.
He didn’t check his phone for how long it took them to get to the ER drop off, and he didn’t exactly listen as some people told him to get the car out of the way. Instead he shut the thing down, walked around the front, and got Dinah out.
“You want to let her bleed to death?” He glared at one of the guys smoking who’d been stupid enough to tell him he couldn’t park in whatever spot. He did his best not to jostle her as he headed into the ER.
“Point me to a bed.” That was an order that the nurse apparently understood and was willing to follow. She motioned to an empty bed, which Dean was more than willing to set Dinah on as carefully as possible. “Get the doctor. Now. She’s bleeding, possible gut wound, stabbed.” He looked at the nurse who was staring at the blood on Dean’s shirt. “What? You never saw some guy saving a life? Get the fucking doctor!”
----
Dinah looked up at Dean as he laid her into the bed. She heard him shouting at someone, but barely listened to the words. Instead, she smiled serenely up at him.
“You’re... a really great guy, you know that? Sweet,” she said, her words only slightly slurred.
She meant to say more about how he’d gone above and beyond, and how she really hadn’t meant to deliver a pizza and then just bleed all over him, but those words were lost somewhere between her brain, which was feeling fuzzy, and her tongue , which felt like it weighed about 10 pounds. Her eyelids felt even heavier and slowly just fell shut.
Dinah woke up in hospital room, clad in an embarrassingly thin gown. Her hand went to her side and she felt a row of stitches. A doctor stepped in and explained things to her. Dinah did her best to listen and caught some of the order for ‘bed rest’ and ‘lucky no vital organs were hit.’ When the doctor finished the explanation, he asked about the ‘young man’ who had brought her in and if she wanted him to be allowed back in the room. Dinah agreed, and then asked for the phone. She didn’t want to think about how long it had been since she’d disappeared on Jake or what he might be thinking. She dialed the number and waited for him to answer.
----
Jake snapped up the phone immediately. He had been contemplating calling the hospital to see if she'd gotten there, but the things he'd have to say would have made someone wonder what a kid his age was doing home alone. So he'd waited.
"Hello?" he asked, his voice betraying his frantic emotions.
----
Dinah closed her eyes for a second, guilt surging through her at the panic in Jake’s voice. She’d just wanted to be able to be there for him and do everything else she needed to do, and instead she’d made things so much worse.
“Jake, it’s Dinah. I’m so sorry. So sorry,” she repeated. “I wanted to let you know that I’m okay. I just woke up at the hospital, and they said I’m going to be fine. They just had to give me some stitches. I know it must have been scary, and I just wish...” she sighed. Wishing wasn’t very helpful. “Are you okay?”
----
He didn't burst into tears, but it was a close thing. Jake sniffled into the phone, nodding. "Yeah. I'm okay. I just... you disappeared, and I didn't know where you were, or who to call." He took a couple of breaths to steady his voice. "Are you still at the hospital? Are you coming home soon?"
----
Dinah closed her eyes, a silent tear sliding down her face as his voice shook.
“I know. I made a very stupid wish last night that I could be everywhere I was needed,” Dinah explained. “And I got my wish, and it just... didn’t go very well.” Understatement of the year, she thought to herself.
“I think it’s over now though. I’m just here and nowhere else. And yes, I’m still at the hospital, but I’ll be home as soon as they let me come home. Did you eat yet?”
She was really going to need to establish some emergency contact numbers for Jake, just in case anything else happened. It was just hard because there wasn’t really anyone she could think of for such an important job.
----
Jake sighed, the sound filled mostly with relief. "The City's a pain, and worse than Blaine." The rhyme slipped out without him paying it much attention. "It's okay, Dinah. I've made some stupid wishes before. I'm just glad you're okay."
At her question, Jake grunted. "I got the lasagna out, but I couldn't eat. I tried calling your friend, the wizard? But his phone wasn't working."
----
“Well, you should eat now,” Dinah said firmly. She blinked at the mention of the wizard. It was as though a memory stirred just out of reach of her conscious mind, but when she tried to reel it in, she lost it.
“My friend the... Who are you talking about, Jake?”
----
"I'll try."
He tried to remember what he'd been talking about. "The wizard.. Harry? I don't know, I thought I heard you mention him once." Jake frowned, not liking the way his memory felt like it had been folded in half. "Maybe we can get some numbers together?"
----
Harry. The name again tugged at her memories. There was something important there, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Dinah shook her head to clear away the uncomfortable feeling that something had been lost.
“I’m pretty sure I don’t know any wizards, or even any Harrys that I can think of. But we will definitely sit down and put together an emergency call list tomorrow,” she agreed.
----
"Okay. Let me know when you're coming home? I have a few plates, just in case." She would know what that meant. Jake would be ready to defend himself against anyone trying to enter the tower.
----
“I’ll call you as soon as I know anything. In the meantime, try to get some sleep.”
Dinah smiled at the mention of the plates. She had no doubt that Jake could defend himself pretty well, though that still didn’t put her mind at ease when she thought of leaving him on his own for the night. She was just going to have to talk to the doctor about being released early, or release herself, doctor’s consent or not.
----
Jake nodded. "Okay." He was agreeing to try, anyway. That was no promise of actually doing so. "Be careful."
----
“You too. Oh, and I have my cellphone on again so if you need me, just call it. Goodbye, Jake.”
Dinah closed her eyes for a moment, hating being stuck in this hospital bed and hating leaving him alone after giving him such a scare earlier in the night.
Once Jake had hung up, Dinah relaxed against the pillows and waited for Dean to enter the room again.
----
Dean didn’t saunter in, but he certainly looked like a guy who had an “I told you so.” hidden away somewhere. He’d managed to talk them into handing over some scrubs and a bag for the bloody clothes. Sure, he didn’t mind being bloody sometimes, but he wasn’t going to sit around in the clothes. He’d also checked to make sure the Gremlin got towed. And! He’d answered questions.
“Hey, so, they told me they could rebuild you, but I didn’t have the couple thou to give you a bionic pinky. They just put everything back where it was and stitched you up.” He smirked as he came closer. His clothes in the bag he carried. “The cops are going to ask what happened. They’ll be back later. I told them I found you, bleeding, brought you in. Just some schmoe who got a hard on for being a hero for the day.” He shrugged and actually looked like he was the kind of guy who usually didn’t save people, for a moment anyway.
“I guessed that since you looked a little beaten up, that someone was trying to mug you, and you got beaten up trying to defend yourself - you were lucky worse didn’t happen.” His voice had that tone that was suggesting she took what he said as her alibi. That she played along with the lie.
“Did you call your kid?”
----
Dinah nodded and pushed herself up into more of a sitting position and smiled at Dean. Her smile came easier now, though the painkillers didn’t hurt with that. She was still exhausted, but it was somewhat of a relief to just rest.
“My hero,” she said in her best simpering, damsel-in-distress voice, with a conspiratorial smile that told him that she was more than happy to go along with the alibi. A second later, the smile faded from her face. “Seriously though, I don’t know how to thank you. Besides covering your dry cleaning and the bill for whatever it takes to clean that motel room.”
She sighed and leaned back again.
“And of course I’ll take that ‘I told you so’ now too. That’s the last time I’ll underestimate a paper rose.” She made a face. “Sorry again about the pizza delivery with the added bonus hospital trip. Will it make trouble for you, since you had to talk to the police?” Her eyebrows knit together in a concerned expression.
She wasn’t used to being the one that needed to be saved, especially not by someone who wasn’t one of her close friends. But Dean had more than come through, and she wasn’t going to forget that.
----
“Hey, it’s what I do.” Dean shrugged; he might have been a little forward, but he settled in a slight lean against her bed. He didn’t get to close. “Course, it’s beginning to look like I should stay away from you. You’re always making me save you.” He smirked at her, a smirk which softened to a smile.
“You’re trying to fight the good fight. So, don’t worry about it. I’m all for helping out the good guy, and far as I’m concerned, you’re a good guy.” He reached over and lightly patted her thigh. “So, how long are they keeping you here?” Quickly changing the subject, no?
----
Dinah returned Dean’s smile.
“Hey, no one twisted your arm to save me tonight. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you actually enjoyed saving people.”
She rolled with the subject change, happy for the lack of dwelling over how stupid her wish had been. She just hoped that the fact that she was only in one place at the moment meant that the curse disguised as a blessing was gone.
“The doctor said I should be able to go home tomorrow, though I’m trying to convince them to let me out sooner. I really hate the idea of leaving Jake alone tonight. And no kid should have to sleep on a hospital chair.”
----
“You’re right. So, you got someone to call to stay with him? I could check on him or something.” Dean hadn’t been around kids in a while, and he missed Ben, more than he’d ever admit to a stranger.
----
Dinah brightened.
“Wow. Full-service heroics, huh?” she thought about it, and really the only other person she might have been able to call would be Snake. She wasn’t quite sure she was comfortable with that idea. Plus, she didn’t think she had his number.
“There really isn’t anyone else to call. I mean, he can take care of himself more than your typical twelve year old kid, but he’s still twelve, you know? Would you mind checking on him? You’re welcome to stay at the Clock Tower for the night if you wouldn’t mind keeping an eye out for him. And anything in the fridge is yours for the taking.”
She suddenly remembered the lasagna that she’d been making just before she’d been stabbed. It was silly, but she wondered briefly if it had been burned or if Jake had gotten to it in time.
“I hate this,” she muttered, almost inaudibly. “I guess I should have realized that I couldn’t really do it all, magic power or no magic power.” she sighed. “Probably burned my lasagna too.”
----
“Hey, if you’re offering an open fridge policy and burnt lasagna, I’m your man.” Dean patted her thigh again before pushing off the bed. “Why don’t you give Jake? Jake a call and tell him that someone’s coming over. I’ll sleep on the couch or something. Tomorrow I’ll bring him by to pick you up because you’re not going to be doing much with that.”
Dean knew all about getting hurt in the line of duty. He took a few steps away before turning back to her, closing the distance. He leaned in, his hand on her cheek.
“You can’t do it all. Sometimes you have to let things go.” He was serious again, and concerned. And the way he said it, the look in his eyes, he knew this was true, but just like her, he probably had a hell of a time listening to the good advice, or the truth. He leaned a little further and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Glad you’ll be okay.”
----
“Letting things go? There’s something that’s easier said than done,” she said. “And you can stay in my room. Much more comfortable than the couch.”
Dinah reached up and gingerly hugged Dean, careful not to move too quickly.
She released him after a moment and rested against the pillow.
“Next time, I get to save you,” Dinah said with a small smile.
----
“Uhm, yeah.” Dean looked at her as he started to pull away. “Nah, I’m not good with the whole being saved thing.” He took a few steps back. “Probably cause I’m a guy. You know us guys, we are so bad at getting help.”
The hunter took a few more steps and nearly ran into some nurse who was coming in to check on the patient. “Oh, hey, yeah, be good to her. Yeah. I’ll check you tomorrow. Just let Jake know I’m on my way.”
Dean knew about looking after yourself at a young age. He’d had to look after himself and his kid brother when he was that young, and it wasn’t from supervillains or muggers. No, it was much worse, so he knew where Jake might be coming from. Possibly.
----
“I will,” Dinah promised. She reached for the phone even as Dean began to leave the room. “Oh, and I’ll tell Jake to keep an eye out for you. He knows where the emergency fund is, so he can pay for your cab ride over.”
She wasn’t about to put Dean in the position where he had to either walk or steal a car, after all.
“And Dean-thank you again.” She was beginning to sound like a broken record, but the words seemed a little insignificant with all he’d done for her that night.
----
Dean gave her a wink and a nod. “No problem. It’ll be a little while. Going to head back for my own clothes, and probably ditch the room, but other than that I’ll get here as soon as I can.”
He was now at the door. “See you tomorrow, Legs.” And with that he was out the door.