Winifred "Fred" Burkle (i_figure) wrote in we_coexist, @ 2014-03-30 16:09:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | sam winchester, winifred burkle, zz:status complete |
Purple's not so bad (Fred/Sam Log)
The frog had settled into the pond, believing that she would be forever a frog. She didn’t know of any way of changing back. There had been a few ideas, and she thought maybe if the little girl could talk to frogs, maybe she’d be frog no more. Only that wasn’t happening. She’d yet to find the little girl again, and that made more talking difficult.
It wasn’t an awful existence being a very large frog, but she kept waiting for the zookeepers to come and get her. She deserved to be in the Zoo, that was where all the big animals went after all. Her fingers, or toes actually, played at the water. She’d even gotten used to her new diet; as a frog, she liked dragon flies and certain fish. She didn’t know of any frog that ate fish, but she wasn’t just any frog, was she?
Fred felt lonely which wasn’t all that new, yet she didn’t like not being able to communicate with people, with anyone she wanted. She made soft sounds, some were sad, some were just for the noise.
Sam still didn’t know what to do about the frog/Fred situation. He still wasn’t sure that the frog even was Fred, but as he still found no trace of her in the City, he was starting to suspect that. Currently, he had one eye on the security feed in the bunker as the frog lingered by a pond. He knew that he needed to call Jo but he was still trying to find other options besides asking a five year old who didn’t even have full control over her abilities to fix things. Somehow it didn’t seem right to put Fred’s fate in the hands of a kindergartner.
Not to mention that he’d been waylaid by the City’s practical joke. Getting bound to a witch as powerful as Red wasn’t his idea of a fun time. Particularly not when there was someone along who was both stubborn and didn’t seem to have any idea of the danger they were in. He still felt guilty about not protecting Oswin from the binding spell, but it had likely saved both of them from Red’s wrath if they were stuck together for much longer. That same magic had gotten them past the guards and Sam had just had to look the other way and mentally apologize to the poor saps as they slipped their way to the cafeteria for pudding, of all the things.
Now that that adventure was over, he was back to focusing on what to do about Fred. He paged through some of the books he’d pulled from the library in the bunker, desperately looking for anything that referenced humans turning into frogs. The only thing that was even remotely related was an old book of fairytales that included The Frog Prince.
While it wasn’t that unusual for fairytales or old children’s rhymes to hold some sort of hints, the solution there was a little ridiculous. Wasn’t it?
Sam’s eyes traveled back to the security feed and the frog that was too big to be normal. He supposed that it couldn’t hurt to try, could it? He packed up his books and made sure that he had his gun and then headed out. it didn’t seem like the frog was going anywhere, so he just had to hope that the City didn’t make it too difficult for him to find the pond.
Fortunately, the City seemed to want to cooperate. Or it was leading him straight to the pond. He didn’t have to go very far before he found the pond. And more importantly, the frog in question.
“Fred?” he asked, slowly approaching the reptile. “Maybe this is crazy and maybe it’s not even you. Or maybe it is you and this won’t help, but I had an idea.”
He looked at the frog as though expecting an answer of some sort.
----
The frog knew she wasn’t alone before she fully realized the person who was approaching. Or maybe she knew already. Being a frog was just strange, yet there were times it was quite fun, just a little lonely. The smaller frogs were always waiting for her to eat them; she hated that she considered it at times. They did look a little tasty.
Fred shifted a little at the edge of the pond to look up, up, and up. Her head tilted a little then croaked. It was a slightly embarrassed croak. She shifted again before giving a short leap toward him. She gave a soft ribbit.
She wasn’t sure he’d understand - how could he?
----
There was something in those eyes that had sparked familiarity with Sam when he’d first seen the frog and he thought it was there now too. He knelt in front of the frog. The ribbit could have been coincidence. That it had come to him could also be coincidence. Or maybe his gut was right. he tended to trust his hunches, even in situations that seemed nuts. After all, the family business pretty much banked on ‘nuts’.
“Okay, so…” he said, floundering a bit as the frog grew nearer and the sheer ridiculousness of his ‘plan’ came about. It wasn’t like it was ‘true love’s kiss’ or anything like that. And for all he knew, she might prefer to stay a frog if it was a choice between kissing him or staying that way. They certainly had a complicated history.
“I was reading this fairy tale. The Frog Prince. Though if you’re you-I mean, if you’re the you that I think you are,” he winced because none of that sounded coherent, “then you’ve probably read it. And I don’t know. At this point, I’m grasping at straws, but it’s worth a try, right?”
He looked to the frog for some sign of understanding or consent.
----
The frog moved a little closer then stopped. The Frog Prince? She wasn’t a prince; she wasn’t even a princess.
“How does that work?” Fred ribbited and croaked. She liked that Sam was trying to help her, and she was pretty certain she wouldn’t give him any warts. She wasn’t that kind of frog? Or maybe it was something else. Maybe she’d never expected either of the Winchesters to kiss her, and who wanted her first kiss with a pretty fellow to be his attempt to save her all while risking warts?
She was concerned, yet...curious. There had to be some truth in it, right? A kiss saving a life. Though it did usually have ‘true love’ in the mix somewhere. With a shrug, or whatever the froggy equivalent was, Fred was willing to try it.
“Hopefully you won’t get warts,” she croaked a little more, settling down at his feet. She looked up at him and waited.
----
The croaking didn’t make any sense to him, but when the frog settled at his feet, Sam thought that was as much an agreement as he could ask for. He took a deep breath and looked down at the creature, gearing up for… well, he wasn’t sure for what. For disappointment? It was a long shot, after all.
“I promise this isn’t the only idea I have. I’m still working on finding other ways to get you back to normal. Assuming that it really is you,” he said. He realized that he might just be talking to a giant frog that wasn’t Fred at all. But he had to hope that this was Fred and that he could help her. It was better, somehow, than thinking that she’d been sent home or taken by the City for some reason or other.
He knelt beside the frog and place a chaste kiss on its mouth. Hopefully that would be all that was needed. Then he sat back and waited.
----
Fred sat still while he moved closer. She blinked, and was momentarily tempted to lick her eyeball. It was something she had seen once and was curious to what it felt like. She didn’t need to do it, but if she had the long tongue, she might as well try it out,right?
Instead, she took the kiss, as chaste as it was. She had another impulse to see if his head could fit in her mouth; again, she didn’t give in to the impulse. Her curiosity was truly deadly.
When nothing happened right after the kiss, the frog seemed to slump a little. It didn’t seem to have worked. Not even a little bit, but then there was pain, awful pain, as she felt something inside twist. The croak that came with the pain might have been sickening. Fred was fairly certain this was not how she was originally changed into a frog; she’d slept through it after all.
The pain lasted for some time, and she might have blacked out during it because she soon found herself opening her eyes to...blur. She didn’t feel right. Where was Sam?
Her fingers and toes felt funny. And her skin..it felt wrong, but she couldn’t bring herself to look at the purple. It hadn’t worked, and she would be purple...she just knew it.
----
Sam realized after the fact that he hadn’t expected the kiss to work. Not really. It had been one of those long shots. A hail mary of sorts. But he also hadn’t expected this. Fred had passed out and started changing shortly after the kiss. He’d kept his eyes averted to give her privacy, but what he could see… it wasn’t good. He was still hoping that maybe she wasn’t done changing back to herself. Maybe the purple skin and webbed feet would go away after a few hours.
He’d wrapped her in his jacket and taken her back to the bunker. While waiting for her to come to, he’d sent a somewhat panicked text message to Dean. Oh, he really didn’t want to explain this to his big brother, but he was going to have to.
Fred was currently lying on one of the beds in what looked like it was intended to be a sort of sick bay. Sam wasn’t too far when she started to stir. He was pacing just a little ways away. He made it to her side as soon as her eyes opened, his expression grave.
“I’m sorry. It didn’t work as well as I’d hoped. But, uh, we’re going to find a way to get you back to normal.”
He didn’t really know why he’d thought that the kiss would somehow fix things. He wasn’t good enough to be the prince in anyone’s story. Not with the things he’d done.
-----
Fred blinked, trying to focus on the pretty man in front of her. Of course it hadn’t worked. Or worked as well?
“Worked as well?” Her voice was a little hoarse; she wondered if she wasn’t croaking still. Did he understand her? She twisted a little and winced. Her body hurt, yet…
She sat up, not caring if she might have dislodged whatever Sam had used to cover her up. Nakedness wasn’t a huge issue with her; it was something she did watch out for because it wasn’t acceptable, but she didn’t worry about it.
“What?” She looked down at her hand, her eyes went wide. She couldn’t quite help the yelp as she looked at the purple and black skin. “What?”
----
Sam looked away when Fred stood up. Even if she was currently purple, he still didn’t want to accidentally see something he shouldn’t. He’d found a few robes and held one out to her, just in case she wanted to cover up.
“We’re going to find a way to fix it,” he repeated. “Just… try to stay calm. At least you’re not a frog anymore?”
He thought that this had to be an improvement because they knew for sure where she was and she was less vulnerable in human form than as a frog. At least, he hoped so.
----
“I’m purple?” Fred didn’t sound angry or sad, a little intrigued and confused though. She looked down at her hands, ignoring the offered robe for a little bit. The brainy woman moved quickly to look at herself in the mirror. She let out a laugh. “I’m purple! Well, I always thought I’d look better in green.”
She paused when something hit her...She’d been purple, or was going to be purple and blue, in the other timeline. The proper one. She wasn’t supposed to live, and now she’d become something like the other. Sure, she was more purple and black than purple and blue, yet there it was.
“I’m not dead.” Her voice was soft, and maybe it was the stress of it all; maybe she’d never realized how frightened she’d been to know that she would die because she was too curious. Or maybe it was the knowing that she would die and had always been waiting for it to happen. No matter the why, she still crumpled to her knees and cried.
----
Sam didn’t quite glance over his shoulder, but he was tempted to. Instead, he kept the robe at arm’s length and kept his eyes away from anything he shouldn’t be seeing.
“No, you’re not. That’s not going to happen on our watch.”
He smiled a little sadly, even if she couldn’t see that. The Winchesters had lost just about everyone that got close to them. Things weren’t safer in the City, though Dean had managed to keep a girlfriend alive for how long now? Longer than he’d been here, Sam knew that. So maybe there was still hope that some of the people they considered friends here had a chance. That they could protect them better than they could have at home. When he heard her crying, it was only then that he turned around. He knelt beside her and put the robe over her shoulders.
“Fred?” he asked quietly. He wasn’t entirely confused at the crying, yet he wasn’t sure what to do just now.
----
Fred turned into the body beside her, and she let herself cry. It wasn’t something she normally did, not usually. She just curled up to the man who tried to help her out. He didn’t seem to mind that she was still very purple, not at all the normal color of a girl. She leaned against him.
“I’m sorry.” Her voice was now a little hoarse from the crying. She leaned heavily against him for a little longer before she sat up to look at him. There was a slight smile, and she did give him a little kiss near the lips, nothing overly forward. Just a buss in thanks.
“Thank you. You’re a very good person.” Even if Sam at one time did want to kill her. He was a good person; how could he be anything else? He did kiss a frog that could have been a complete stranger.
----
Sam just let Fred cry. He figured that she probably needed it, especially after being stuck as a frog for as long as she had and now… well, he was just going to have to hope that Jo’s kid could help. Unfortunately, they were almost all out of Hail Marys. There were no angels here and the one God that they’d known was trapped for who knew how long. Sam’s eyes widened a little bit at the kiss, but he said nothing. He simply hugged her as well as he could, while being sure to keep the robe draped around her shoulders.
“I’m not. If you knew…” he shook his head. “I’m just doing what anyone would do. And you don’t need to be sorry.”
He reached up to lightly pat her hair, attempting to give comfort where he was sure very little could be found.
----
“There are worse colors I could be.” Fred mumbled as she returned to leaning against him. Her hand lifted to cover a yawn. It was strange how tired she felt. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered if this wasn’t why the change had gone so much better in her sleep - she was already resting. It would certainly explain how odd she felt when she woke up, didn’t it?
The brainy female didn’t mean to, but she shifted a little against Sam. He was nice and warm, and seeing as he had come to help her, surely he wouldn’t kill her now. He kissed her, made her human(-ish), only to turn around and kill her. Killing her as a frog would have been easier.
“You’re a good man.” She somehow managed through a yawn before snuggling in; he’d have a hard time getting more out of her. For she’d slipped off to sleep and dream of happier things, with a few odd bugs and ponds thrown in.