bittykimmy:

( This is my entry for the @brothersapart 2016 Contest:http://brothersapart.tumblr.com/post/136391836334/brothers-apart-contest-2016 . Enjoy! )

“It’s good to see you again.”

Sam’s voice might have made Ziana flinch if Dean’s footsteps hadn’t alerted her of his return. She gave a quiet hum of acknowledgement, too focused on figuring out of Shay had stirred or not when Dean’s walk sent tremors through the bed. It must have been wishful thinking because Shay’s face was passive, and she didn’t move at all where she lay–her upper half in Ziana’s arms and her lower half on the bedspread.

“For how long has she been like this?” Sam asked, coming to kneel by Ziana.

“She was awake last night when I got home after you and I… met.” Nestled among her fear for Shay was the realization that Sam had every reason to turn down helping her.

The bed shook again, the tremors tapering off instead of becoming more prominent this time. Ziana peeked over her shoulder at Dean’s broad form lurking by the table as he looked for something in a duffel bag. It was hard to decide what made her more nervous: looking at Dean, or not. Seeing as he hadn’t done anything particularly terrible to her or Shay, it was less nerve-wracking to not focus on the intimidating human.

“How can you deal with this?” Ziana muttered to Sam, throwing a look around the room. “Being out in the open–with him right there?”

To her surprise, Sam chuckled. “It wasn’t easy at first, I’ll admit. But he’s my brother. I trust him, and so can you.” At Ziana’s scoff, he leaned forward to give her a pointed look. “You must believe me at least a little, since you came here asking for help.”

“The question is,” Ziana said coolly, “are you going to give us help?”

His eyebrows raised incredulously. “Of course we are!”

“Even after I…” She couldn’t look at his black eye for more than a second before she trailed off and fixed her gaze back on Shay. “I mean, I got you pretty good. I sure as hell wouldn’t be helping anyone who did that to me.” She peeked at him in her peripherals, willing herself to shut up so she wouldn’t change his mind.

“Well, you’re the one who hit me,” Sam pointed out, grimacing as he touched the corner of the bruise. “Not Shay.”

Ziana gave a small start upon hearing him say Shay’s name. She supposed Dean had gone right ahead and told his brother their names while explaining the situation.

Her nerves wired once more when Dean approached again. She looked down at Shay’s face and stroked her hair, wondering how Shay would react to being out in the open the way she was. The night before, she hadn’t seemed completely against the idea of asking Sam and his giant supposed-brother for help, so that quelled some of Ziana’s guilt.

“We’re going to need to get that bandage off,” Sam said, drawing her attention back to him. “Maybe cut it off, by the looks of that knot.”

Dean knelt by the edge of the bed. Ziana leaned in the other direction automatically, turning her body to put Shay further out of his line of sight. He was more preoccupied with setting down some kind of bottle, a white roll of bandages, and a flat square package half Ziana’s height. He unrolled the fresh bandages, and Ziana’s eyes widened at the sight of the scissors he used to cut through the white cloth.

She gave Sam an alarmed frown. “No way. Not cutting Shay’s bandage off with those.”

“No,” Sam agreed, reaching into his jacket. “With this.”

He pulled out a knife far more intricate than any tool Ziana had ever seen. It was hard to focus on the finished handle when there was a glint of sharp silver protruding from it. She wondered if he had it on him when she pulled her needle out the night before. It was likely. If she had a nice weapon like that, she would never let it go.

A grimace split across Shay’s face when Sam started to cut away the bandage. Ziana would have wrenched her friend away if it weren’t for the risk of cutting Shay with the knife right by her arm.

“You’re hurting her!” Ziana slid one arm out from under Shay and snatched Sam’s wrist before he could go any further. She was relieved when he didn’t struggle and slice into Shay by accident.

Sam gave her a surprisingly patient look. “If it’s infected like you say, then getting this off of her is going to hurt her no matter what.”

“I suggest you let him finish that up if you want any of this ointment on her cut, sweetheart,” Dean put in. A chill ran down Ziana’s spine at the way his voice rumbled through her, and she let go of Sam’s wrist to stroke Shay’s hair agian.

Ziana squeezed her eyes shut when Sam peeled off the bandage completely. He made a soft noise of sympathy that sent her hopes sinking further. Still, she peeked at the wound and immediately felt last night’s meager dinner churn in her stomach. She looked at Sam’s face instead, noticing the way he glanced at her with concern.

“If you can’t handle it, I can try to clean it up and wrap it up.” His uncertain offer hung in the air for a long moment before Ziana nodded. She couldn’t even bear to look at the infected cut long enough to know how red it was, let alone focus long enough to clean it. Giving her a nod, Sam helped Ziana rest Shay all the way down on the bed. “I’ve never cleaned anything like this before, but I’m pretty sure I know what to do. It’s simple enough. I’ll clean it with the alcohol, spread some ointment on, and wrap the bandage.” Sam glanced up at Dean for confirmation before looking back at Ziana. “Alright?”

“Are you sure she’ll be okay?” Ziana squared her jaw, determined to salvage some confidence in her voice. Truth be told, she appreciated that Sam explained what he was going to do instead of getting right to it.

“The cut doesn’t look deep,” he said, sounding more sure of himself. “If it were worse, well… I don’t know how we would stitch it up. But this–it shouldn’t need more than what we have here.” He gestured at the supplies Dean provided, making Ziana inadvertently look at the human again. The look on his face was probably concerned, but she couldn’t help but see it as menacing.

But Sam had a reassuring vibe about him. Out of the shadows within the walls, he didn’t look quite so sinister. At this point, Ziana couldn’t see what he would gain from putting up a front, so she didn’t argue. “Let’s not waste any time, then,” she said.