Playing Doctor (Dean/Dinah log, complete)
Dinah was extremely glad for that fact that they had painkillers in the apartment, especially because her head felt like it was about three sizes too big by the time they’d arrived at the Sherwood Florist.
She made it to the door first and let the two of them in. As soon as they were inside, Dinah went into action mode. She was in her element with this sort of thing. Having problems to solve-having someone to take care of, even if Dean was just as focused on taking care of her-that was easy. Being on a sort of double date with her closest friend and not knowing how things were going to work out? Not nearly as easy.
The painkillers were in the oversized toolbox that she’d converted into a first aid kit. She brought it back to the living room, along with bottles of water for each of them to drink with the Tylenol 3 that she had in the first aid kit.
She took two for herself and then held out the bottle to Dean.
“You should take these and then you need to shower. The sooner you wash that wound out, the better.”
Dinah would want to shower herself. She might not have spent as much time on the ground, but she had gotten covered in vampire dust and had been knocked to the ground a few times as well. But cleaning out his wound came first. She was going to have to keep an eye on that and make sure it didn’t get infected.
“Think we might have some leftover pie and ice cream in the freezer if we still wanted dessert after all of this,” she said with a small smile.
It might have been a bribe to get him in the shower, or possibly making up for the date that had been cut short.
----
Dean watched her work, half expecting her to have his shirt off while pushing him to the couch. In one way that was damn hot, in another not so much - she would be more focused on the cut than anything. He knew danger and life threatening situations was an aphrodisiac better than any raw oyster or Spanish fly, but he wasn’t going to push her. Not that the thought hadn’t crossed his mind.
“Are you going to come make sure I do it right?” His question came with a bit of a smirk. He was having a problem lifting his arm too high. He could do it, but his whole side burned. He knew it’d burn under the hot water and soap, yet he’d go about cleaning it anyway.
The hunter took the offered bottle of water as well as the bottle of pills. He downed three, considered a fourth, but he didn’t want her to know that it took a good bit to dull anything inside him. He’d become immune to the lesser pain relievers.
With the pills down, he started to disrobe, right there in the living room. Boots were inched off while his fingers worked on the buttons of his shirt. It was silly to bother with the buttons, but he really didn’t feel like ripping the shirt the rest of the way. Plus, button popping was only sexy when a woman was ripping his shirt off him.
----
Dinah swallowed her pills as well, half considering taking a third but deciding she could always take it later if the two she had weren’t enough. A few seconds later, her mind wasn’t on the headache. He was undressing. In the living room. Dinah did her best not to stare or blush, though it was easier to focus on the fact that he was moving slowly, gingerly.
She stepped forward and covered his hands with hers before pushing them lightly out of the way and unbuttoning the shirt for him.
“Don’t get any ideas,” she said with a smirk of her own.
Once the shirt was completely unbuttoned, she started to ease it off his shoulders if he’d allow her to.
“Are you going to be able to manage a shower?”
That wasn’t a line. She was considering just sponging him off if he couldn’t manage the shower. Or if he could, she’d be willing to help him out.
As a... friend. Just a friend, she tried to remind herself. Once the gore and possible life-threatening injuries came into the picture, she had to put everything else aside and do what was needed to make sure he got taken care of. Even if the idea of showering together was appealing for other reasons.
----
“Possibly.” The hunter’s voice wasn’t exactly in the first date/just friends zone, but it wasn’t completely in the bedroom zone either. It hinted at things. “But, you may be too distracting.” He had to admit, even with the pain, having her undress him was definitely nice. Or it was until he got a better look at what she uncovered.
“Son of a bitch.” He winced, almost as if he’d not registered how much damage had been done. It wasn’t all surface; the claws had cut into his muscle some, but it wasn’t so deep that he had to worry about internal bleeding in vital organs. No bone was showing either as the clawing had started higher than he thought on his rib cage, wrapping down to the back of his hip.
“You know how to stitch a guy up?” The ends weren’t so bad, but the part of the clawing that had gotten his side, almost at his waist was deep enough to need a few stitches. “Chicks dig scars, right?”
----
Dinah let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding as she looked over the wound. She wasn’t going to unwrap it right here. Instead she took his hand and started to led him to the bathroom. With the other hand she grabbed the first aid kit to bring along with.
“Yeah, I can stitch you up. It won’t be pretty, and if it turns out to be any worse than it looks right now, I might have to call Hank. Or take you to the emergency room.”
She knew that he wouldn’t be a fan of either option. Hank might be a little awkward around him as well, but she knew that he would be willing to help if she called him.
She didn’t like what she could see peeking out from the makeshift bandage and once they got to the bathroom, she bent over to give it a closer look.
“You’re going to need to be pretty quick about washing that up. Which means that I can either help you shower or I can just sponge it clean with a washcloth.”
She was offering choices, but neither of them were ideal choices.
----
“I need to be clean, Dinah.” Dean didn’t think about how that sounded, but he couldn’t worry about the bleeding if he was covered in head to foot dust. He needed to be completely clean if he was about to have to worry about getting stitches wet. “If you think Hank can work needle and catgut with his....” He paused then shrugged, wincing a little. “Claws, then fine. I’d prefer you give it a try. I’d call Sam, but I don’t need a lecture.”
If it had been elsewhere, he’d probably have done the job himself. He had in the past. They were pretty self-sufficient after all. He was already starting to undo his pants. Now really wasn’t the time for modesty, even if she’d find out that he might be just a little bit excited. It was what it was for the moment.
“You might as well join me. That or you get to slather up to your elbows then worry about dust falling from your hair or your clothes.” There was a small hint of a smile, just a little flirting. Dean could be an opportunist, but he wasn’t so thick or sex-starved as to think about actually going through with anything when he could make the wound worse and bleed out in the tub. Dinah was hot, but he wasn’t going to die having sex with her.
----
Dinah hesitated, but he did have a point. So she took off the now-ruined shirt and then unhooked her bra before moving to take her pants off.
“If I find out that this was all an elaborate plan to get my clothes off at the end of the date, I’m going to kick your ass,” she teased. There was just a little bit of flirting in her soft smile as well. “And maybe give you a tutorial on safer ways to charm me out of my clothes.”
She waited for him to get in before stepping in afterward. She slathered soap on a washcloth and then started to gently dab at his wound.
----
Dean didn’t look away. Why would he? He hadn’t exactly hidden himself as he got undressed. There was a soft happy sound as got an eyeful of a very nice looking body.
He stood under the water and hissed softly as it hit the wound, then again as she started to clean it. It wasn’t the most comfortable way of dealing with it, but he did have a very nice distraction. He propped his hand up on the wall to keep it up out of the way, but his free one was busy soaping up her shoulder. So, he might be cheating a little, touching even when he probably shouldn’t.
“Remind me again why we haven’t tried this before. Without the pain and blood.” He could see the tinge of red in the water at their feet.
---
“Sorry,” Dinah said with a wince at the hiss as she started to clean the wound. She really hated causing more pain, but there was no way around it.
She was a little careful not to sneak too many peeks, though it was hard not to look at the very nice male body in the shower with her.
She did smile a little bit at the question, though she took a minute to consider how best to answer it.
“Just never the right time for it, perhaps?” she offered.
It was safer than bringing up the fact that she’d been dating Harry when they’d met. Or bringing up Jen or everything else that had happened over the last few months. Maybe the timing still wasn’t right for this, but it was hard to think too much about that when he was lightly rubbing soap on her like that.
“Maybe we’ll get it right eventually. The whole timing without the pain and the blood,” she said.
She was still cleaning the gash as gently and thoroughly as she could. She wanted to rush through it so they could get to closing it up faster, but rushing might cause more damage and would certainly cause more pain.
----
Dean laughed softly at the answer, trying not to wince as she continued working. His hand might have moved to more dangerous territory, from shoulder to collar bone. He wasn’t being any more forward than that, but then he was standing in a steaming shower with her. He didn’t bother to hide just how much he liked her being there; he would have to turn away from her to hide anything.
The shower went along in this very heated way until Dean had had enough of the tease; he wasn’t mad, but he was smart enough to avoid adding blue balls to his list of pain. He did a quick clean up of the rest of his body, with a little help from her on his hair. He thought of kissing her, but kissing would have led to other things. As much as he wanted to get to other things...
“Should have cleaned the pipes...” He mumbled as he shifted his weight under the water for on last rinse off. “I’ll let you finish and wait out there.” He sounded almost winded as he said it.
---
Dinah had been just as teased as Dean was, though she didn’t have such an obvious reaction of course. It was hard to not think about showering together like this under much better circumstances, but she tried to stay focused on what needed to be done here. And not having him bleed to death in their shower would be a good thing.
Their shower. That was a weird thing to consider. Their shower in their apartment. This really was a slippery slope, but she was pretty sure she was too far gone to overthink it and back out now. Too far gone to care too.
She didn’t linger as she finished cleaning herself up. She wanted to get started on the unpleasant task of making sure that his wound was closed up as soon as she could. Which was why she exited the shower only a couple of minutes later and toweled off quickly before wrapping her robe around herself.
“Okay, where do you want to be while I’m sewing this up?” she asked.
She’d had the chance to inspect things more closely while in the shower and she thought she could handle the stitches herself. Knowing that that was his preference tipped the scales toward her wanting to try to patch him up without calling for help, but if she did find that she couldn’t she would call Hank. She was glad that at least the pain in her head had faded to a dull ache and was slowly getting better. Showering had helped ease away the hurts in her muscles and had cleared her mind in some ways and of course distracted her in others.
----
The hunter had managed to get a towel around his bottom half, and was holding another smaller towel to his side. It wasn’t bleeding as heavily, but the shower hadn’t exactly helped in stopping the flow completely. It would stop soon enough; experience told him that.
“Bathrooms are usually better, easier to clean up. Not sure a bed would be good for this, but wherever you think you’ll get enough light and the right angle.” She was stitching him up after all.
---
The bathroom probably was the best place for it, though not the most comfortable. Which was why Dinah had left the choice up to him. She did disappear into the kitchen long enough to grab one of the padded chairs and she grabbed one of the spare pillows from the linen closet before returning. She set the chair down at an angle that would allow her to get the best light, and then put the pillow against the back.
“We can always get a new pillow,” she said. “We weren’t using that one anyway.”
She probably should have said ‘I’ since the extra bedding in the linen closet had come along with the rest of her stuff. But now wasn’t the time to think on proper terms and whether or not they were loaded with potential meanings.
Right now she wasn’t thinking about any of that. She was focused on the task at hand. She had never been good at compartmentalizing as a whole, but if she had one minute thing to focus on and it was life or death then yeah, she could focus and block everything else out like the best of them.
“You need anything else before I get started?”
----
“I could go for some hard liquor, but I don’t care either way about it.” Dean did like being drunk more than sober during these occasions. It was amazing how highly functioning the Winchesters could be when they were shitfaced. He gave her a slight smile before turning a little more to help her see better. He had already found another towel.
“Wooden spoon or belt would be better.” He didn’t want to bite through his lip, and he knew it wasn’t going to be lollipops and kittens when she started sewing him up. He hated asking for these things after the fact, but he hadn’t thought that far ahead. He’d been a little distracted. She was definitely distracting, in a very good way.
“Look, you don’t have to do this. We can call someone else if you’d rather.” He didn’t care who did it for the most part, but he knew it had to be done soon. “Thanks for doing this.” He meant it; there wasn’t a smirk, just a hint of a thankful smile.
----
Dinah returned the smile, though hers didn’t quite reach her eyes. She was worried. She leaned over and gave him a gentle, hopefully reassuring, kiss.
“This isn’t my first time,” she said with the faintest hint of a smirk. “I can handle it. If you want a professional doing it, I understand and we can call an ambulance for you, but if you don’t want to deal with the questions at the hospital then I can sew you up.”
She didn’t wait for an answer and instead left the bathroom again and returned with a belt and a bottle of whatever hard liquor he’d had around the house. She raised an eyebrow at him to see what his answer would be and if she’d be calling an ambulance or not.
----
The kiss was returned as much as he could. Dean didn’t mind it at all; they really did need to get their timing together. He laughed softly, shifting his weight a little and wincing for it.
“Fuck a professional.” Dean nearly laughed, as he had at least once in his life. He coughed softly and nodded for her to get on with it as soon as he gotten a swig of JB, or three, and then rolled the belt up to bite into it.
His eyes closed, and he forced himself to breathe. Not breathing usually ended up causing problems. He just focused on breathing and not passing out. He didn’t pass out often from pain, so he didn’t expect to do so now. It wasn’t like he had just been shot in the back by some twisted figment of the Trickster’s imagination.
----
Dinah fell silent as she worked. In fact, she didn’t say anything until she was done with the stitches. They weren’t as good as someone like Hank could have managed, but the wound was closed and should stay that way provided he didn’t do anything strenuous. Her jaw was tense the entire time she was sewing him up. She only relaxed ever so slightly once she started to put the bandages on.
“Think I’m going to have to train harder,” she said, almost thinking out loud as she wrapped the wound. “Someone I care about isn’t supposed to get hurt when I’m right there.”
She was hard on herself but then she’d always been that way. Every time she lost a fight, it just pushed her to train more. To get better. She wasn’t ever going to be good enough to win them all, but that didn’t stop her from trying.
“How are you feeling?” She didn’t expect the answer to be ‘good.’ She also didn’t expect him to tell her just how bad it might be, but she wanted some idea of how he was feeling all the same.
----
“Dandy.” Dean had been quiet for the most part. Grunting now and then when she tugged funny, or when the needle went in at an angle his body didn’t like. He looked worn, but he was smiling weakly at her.
As soon as she finished with the bandage, he pulled her awkwardly to him to kiss. It wasn’t overly demanding because the pills, booze, and exhaustion were kicking in. It was simply a kiss.
“You may just need to relax.” This was coming from a man who thought he was the only one who should fight the bad guys. He didn’t like it even when his brother and an angel decided to get in the mix. “I will heal, and you saved me. That is all you have to worry about. Now help me to bed.”
----
Dinah didn’t curl into the embrace quite as much as she might have liked, because she didn’t want to hurt the hunter. However, she did lightly kiss him back. It wasn’t quite as heated as some of their previous kisses, but there was something tender and possibly more intimate in some ways about the soft kiss given after she’d spent so much time worrying about and tending to him.
“I think I’ve relaxed long enough,” she said as she climbed off his lap, ready to help him up. “If I’m going to get back out there, I’ll need to ramp up my training again.”
It wasn’t up for discussion. She didn’t need permission or arguments. In fact, there was a small grin on her face as she said it. She was slowly finding her way back to one of the things that was so crucial to who she was.
She leaned forward and put her arm around his back on the side that hadn’t been split open.
“So I think that next time we ‘go out’ should be a night in, or maybe a lunch date. Safer that way.” she bit her lip, realizing that she was perhaps assuming too much.
Her mind raced around for some way to backpedal, but she supposed that trying to do that might actually call more attention to it and turn things awkward.
----
“We could go to a museum. Nothing ever happens in a museum.” Dean smirked, knowing things did and would happen in a museum, but it seemed a good way to tease her.
He let her help him up, his arm wrapping loosely about her shoulders. “I’m glad you’re going back out there. Don’t like the idea of you getting into trouble, but I’m glad you’re going back.” He pressed a kiss to her temple and did his best not to lean on her too much. He didn’t need that much help, did he?
----
“Oh I’m sure a museum would be perfectly safe,” Dinah said with a laugh.
The fact that he was glad about her going back out there got a soft smile and she leaned up to place a kiss on his cheek as best as she could. Well, she at least got near his cheek and managed to kiss the side of his chin.
“I’m glad you get it,” she said. It meaning the fact that she couldn’t hide away from things forever. That even if it meant she was safer, she couldn’t just lop off the part of herself that wanted to help people. Or the part that enjoyed a good fight. That darker side of what she did was only okay as long as she kept trying to help-as long as she kept trying to direct it towards the bad guys and doing as much good as she could with her ‘green thumb for violence’ as Oliver had once called it. She wasn’t comfortable with the description, but it was what it was.
They made it into the bedroom without too much trouble and Dinah gently lowered him to the bed before turning to look through his drawers for something to wear. She didn’t mind the view, but she wasn’t going to make him stay naked when he was clearly worn out and in need of a good night’s sleep.
“I’m going to check on you a few times during the night. Make sure you’re not running a fever and that it doesn’t look like anything’s getting infected. At the first sign of infection, I’m calling Hank or an ambulance. You can choose which.”
She wanted to get that part out of the way-make sure he understood why she’d be barging into his room throughout the night, and make sure he realized that she was going to call for help if she felt the situation warranted it.
Of course, there was a part of her that simply wanted to curl up and sleep next to him for the night. It would be easier to sleep if she could reach out and touch him and make sure he was okay any time she might wake up during the night. Not to mention the fact that she’d simply slept better all around when he’d stayed in her bed while she fell asleep the other night.
It occurred to her that they really were doing things backwards here. Showering together, sleeping all cuddled up together, living together. All of those things were supposed to come after quite awhile of dating, and after having sex. Not before, and not when they still hadn’t even worked out what they really wanted from each other.
Once she’d found clothes, she leaned over and held them up before starting to help him into the boxers, assuming he was okay with her doing so.
----
Dean grunted a little as she looked through his...drawers. He motioned a little when she pulled out a pair of comfy knit boxer-briefs. He may have been in pain, but he was capable of dressing himself. He hadn’t stretched out on the bed quite yet, so he claimed the pants without yanking them from her. He groaned softly, and tried to ignore how she helped him get the underwear up. It was only a little embarrassing.
He settled down on the bed finally to stretch out, sighing softly as he let his head rest on a pillow. Everything in his system was forcing him to relax, and he wanted nothing more at the moment than to slip off into the oblivion of sleep. It took him a moment to process what she was saying, as he actually hadn’t felt this at ease in sleeping in a while being injured.
“Mm. You could just stay in here. Would feel better if you did.” He didn’t know how she would take it, but he was speaking truthfully. If she were here, he didn’t have to worry about where she was when he woke up. If she were in bed, he could hold her and know she was okay. It would also mean she wouldn’t be coming and going which he’d be able to tell even in his sleep; that was a recipe making for anxious sleep.
“Just stay here.”
----
Dinah was glad for the request. It would be a lot easier to make sure everything was okay by staying here.
“Okay,” she said.
She was exhausted herself so she didn’t bother to go in search of more suitable pajamas. Besides, he’d already seen her naked so the robe was certainly more modest than that. She climbed into the bed and curled up against the side of him that wasn’t injured.
She leaned over to lightly kiss his lips before resting her head on his chest.
“Thanks again for coming with me to dinner. Except for almost being vampire food afterwards, I had a good time tonight.”
And even the fight with the vampires had been nice in its own way. Maybe that was a little bit odd, but it had brought up a part of herself that she’d cut off for too long.