Work Text:
Day 1
You wake up with a flame burning in your throat, unable to swallow. You amble down to the kitchen, where you take a Zicam and drink two cups of coffee. About halfway through your second cup, Dean has still not emerged from his room, but Sam walks into the kitchen, tired from his morning run and ready to get a jump on the day.
You make it through the day, and neither of the boys seem to notice you don't feel so hot. After a hot, steamy shower and another Zicam, you pass out on the motel bed hoping to get some sleep before going to see the vics tomorrow.
Day 2
The next day brings another sore throat and cold-induced headache, this time accompanied by a chill. After your morning medicine and coffee, you get ready. In the bathroom mirror, you see your eyes look yellow and your skin feels clammy. You quickly throw some makeup on and move on with your day. You and Sam visit some of the victims and Dean checks the scenes of the accidents out.
After putting on a brave face all day, your shoulders are hunched over and your eyes are red rimmed with exhaustion.
At dinner, you eat a smaller portion than normal, and Dean raises an eyebrow when you don’t snap at him for stealing food off of your plate, as you usually would. You felt really nauseous before you sat down to eat so you hope it's a quick bug.
Day 3
The next day the only thing you can keep down without your stomach rolling is coffee and egg and cheese biscuits. You take a Zicam and a Tums to ease the nausea. Thank goodness the hunt is over, and you get the backseat in Baby for the ride home. You are deeply asleep when the boys start talking.
“Do you think she's ok?"
Dean asks Sam,
"She barely ate yesterday, and she didn't yell at me when I took her food."
"No, I think she's not ok, but let's not bring it up and let her handle it her way."
Sam reaches over and turns up the radio, ending the conversation.
You still haven’t woken up by the time the boys pull into the bunker, unpack the car, and change. Dean picks you up and takes you to your room, where Sam changes your clothes and tucks you in, just like big brothers would.
Day 4
You startle awake in a cold sweat. Your clothes are different, and you were in your bed. You got up and went to go shower. You still feel slightly nauseous but your throat doesn’t hurt so much.
After you shower you go to the kitchen to get a cup of tea. The clock on the microwave reads one in the afternoon. How in the world you had slept so late, you had no idea.
You finish your tea and eat a part of a biscuit before packaging up the rest and putting it in the fridge.
You meander down to the library where the boys are researching and reading. You slink into the room and sit down at one of the tables next to Dean.
"Hey, finally awake sleeping beauty?" Dean teases you.
"Yeah, butt face. What are y'all researching? Anything I can help with?" You say hoarsely.
"A series of murders in Blackburg, Virginia. We’re looking at missing hearts, so we were thinking werewolves, but other organs are missing, so we aren't sure that it is weres," Sam tells you and spins his computer around to show you the newspaper headlines and the obits from the murders.
"So maybe a vengeful spirit, or a witch?" You say thinking out loud, and asking Sam. “We’ll pack for all eventualities and leave in an hour or two. 'Kay Dean?" You say.
"Yeah, and by ‘we’ you mean me and Sam, because, sweetheart, you’re staying here and getting better, even if we have to lock you in here. " Dean says quite forcefully.
"He’s right, (Y/N). You’re sick, and you need to rest." Sam finishes his train of thought.
"But..." You wail complaining.
"No ifs, ands, or buts. You’re staying here. If it goes sideways and you have to come help us you call Charlie or Garth to come with you. Got it?" Sam packs the books and his laptop into his bag, before walking out, Dean following him closely.
You sigh, then get up and head to your wing of the bunker. You peruse your selection of books in your private library, looking for something you haven't read yet, selecting a book Charlie had given you at Christmas that you still hadn't gotten around to cataloging for your system. Settling into your beanbag fort, you open the book to the first page. A short while later you doze off.
Day 5
You wake up to your phone ringing with Dean's ringtone and scramble to pick up the phone. As you get up you notice a blanket thrown over you that you didn’t put there.
‘Thanks Sam,’
you think as your back cracks and all of your joints pop when you get up from the beanbags.
"Hey." You grumble.
"Hey, did we just wake you or are you tea deprived?" Dean says brightly into the speaker.
"Both, and quiet your voice. I have a major headache, and why didn't you move me to a more comfortable spot?" You reply, heading to the kitchen.
"We knew moving you would wake you up, and you clearly needed the sleep. " Sam says softly into the phone. "Anyways we just got to Blacksburg, and we’re stopping for the night or rather day. We will let you go and get some rest, call or text if there's a problem."
"Bye, be safe." You hang up and sip your tea, slouching over and leaning on the kitchen counter. You don't make anything to eat because you are too nauseous, to keep down even a cracker or so it feels like.
After you finish your tea, you clean the bunker. You then go to take out the trash and head to the laundry room. You sort and go through the boys’ laundry, you start the sorta clean stuff, and get to work on getting the blood, ocher and chuck knows what else out of the rest of the clothes.
After a while of scrubbing, you switch out the wet stuff into the dryers and the rest go into the washers. You put your clothes into the machine that you have claimed and are the only one to use for many reasons.
You swing by the kitchen to get a cup of tea to stay awake. When you reach the pantry to get fresh tea bags you realize that you need to make a supply run, because y'all are almost out of everything. As you sip your tea, you make a three page list of everything you need for the bunker.You leave the list on a table in the library, finish the laundry, and head off to get some rest.
Day 6
You wake up at eleven to several missed calls from the boys.
“Hey, how goes it?” You answer the phone the next time they call.
“Good, we just finished up with the weres, tryna’ find clean clothes when you are covered in gore is hard. We are probably gonna stay here for tonight and make it home in one shot in the morning. What about you?” The phone was placed on what sounded like the dash of the Impala.
“Okay, I feel better now that I've gotten some rest,” you shrug even though they can't see you “Also did you know we were almost out of tea and that we are out of creamer?”
“Hey, don't look at me like that, Sammy… okay fine, I did know, but thought there would be enough for you to never know about it,” Dean admits.
“We'll fix it when we get home, don't worry sweetheart; we know how monstrous you get without tea.” Sam chuckles warmly.
“Well, I will let you go, so you can be home sooner.” you slip the phone from between your ear and your shoulder.
“Have fun in the bunker, all alone without us.” says Dean.
“We miss you and we will be home soon.” says Sam just before you hang up.
You feel more rested, and your nausea is gone, thanks to all the sleep and not having any stress to compound your healing. You eat a full breakfast, then strip the beds and start more laundry. As the sheets run, you sort and fold the boys' laundry, maybe pilfering a few of their t-shirts and flannels but no one will ever need to know that.
You put yourself together for the day, by that time the laundry is done. You make the beds, workout for a little while, then get cleaned up. The smell of several kinds of pie waft through the air, and there are a few hidden away in the pantry. Your phone dings just as you start dinner.
SW
: what are you doing?
Y/N : Cooking dinner and looking for the emergency creamer. How's Dean?
SW: taking all of the hot water. If you were here he would leave enough for you and me, but nope.
SW: he's being silly otherwise. I think he may try and start the prank wars up again.
Y/N: nooooo. The last time it happened I got caught in the middle, and you used up all of the flour to cake it on Baby. And then YOU did not replace it.
Y/N:
also y'all should be thankful I do laundry else you would walk around in blood covered clothes all the time
SW
: we are. Dean is finally done in the shower, you wanna talk to him?
Y/N : yeah
DW: how are you really?
Y/N: not nauseous, and well rested.
Y/N: ready to kick it in the ass.
DW: don't over do it, we are staying here for the night, so you can get an extra day of rest, maybe two if Sammy wants to stop tomorrow.
Y/N: ok I am heading to bed.
DW:
night sweetheart.
You head to bed and fall asleep quickly.
Day 7
You get up at your normal time. A text from Sam says they are on the road. You eat breakfast and get ready for a day of lazy lounging around. You watch a few movies, download a few more to watch with the boys when they get home, and make some progress on your book and watch the end of a season of the show you are right in the middle of.
You eat lunch and edit your supply run list and condense it down until it is a page in length. There's just enough of the ingredients to make cookies left in the pantry for a batch, so you cook cookies, and pack them up when they are done.
You go and work out for a while before you get bored and call the boys. Sam tells you they are spending the night somewhere, because Dean nearly crashed Baby. You clean up the kitchen and your room, before heading to bed or rather to read in bed.
Day 8
Again, you wake up like normal and go about your business. You chuckle about how Sam would yell at you if he knew you had pie and coffee for breakfast. After breakfast you reorganize the common pool of music, records, and cds. You also sort the movies before you go and do a quick load of laundry.
You are in the middle of folding the laundry and listening to your music, when you hear an uncharacteristic bang, and the faint sound of someone whistling. They shouldn’t be home yet… there shouldn't be anyone here but me. You pull the gun out from under the laundry room counter, and slip a flask of holy water into your pocket, before slipping silently along the hallways towards the kitchen to get more holy water.
The kitchen door clicks with a metallic noise, then then jug of holy water swishes, and your socks slide along with a hiss. You turn towards the library, and the murmur of voices slowly gets louder. The distinctive thump of a bag hits you as you round the corner and see Sam putting his laptop down. You stand in the doorway without making a sound, wondering how long it would take to get them to realize that you were there.
When you walk into the library, you find Dean and Sam discussing the hunt and writing their debriefing and notes down. Sam notices you first and wraps you up in a huge bear hug, before passing you over to Dean.
"Glad yer feeling better, sweetheart. We missed your help on this hunt." Dean whispered in your ear.
"Well, I can tell you need stitches and you stink. So what's first? Sewing you up or showers?"