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“Dean?”
Dean grumbled, turning over and away from the rude sound trying to disturb his sleep.
“Deean?” this time the sound came clearer and with a hand on his shoulder, gently shaking him awake.
“C’mon Dad, 5 more minutes”
“Dean! Please!”
Dean shot straight up in bed, his brain blaring Sam is hurt. Sam’s in trouble. He snapped on the light and turned to find his little sister standing by his bed, her bedsheet clutched in her hands. She was squeezing her eyes shut, a sign Dean knew meant that she was hurting somewhere.
“Sam? What is it?” he dragged his hand across his eyes, clearing the sleep out of them. “You sick?”
“I…” Sam’s voice seemed to fail her and she dropped her gaze to the sheet she was clutching. A sheet Dean now noticed was smeared red. Blood.
Dean leapt from the bed. “Jesus Sammy you’re bleeding! Where are you bleeding?” He’d thought she hadn’t been hurt in their latest hunt. He‘d checked her himself. Had he missed something?
“Its. I’m…. from inside”
“You’re bleeding from inside?!” ***. “Did you throw it up, how did it get on your sheets?”
Sam’s face crumpled and her cheeks flamed red. “It just leaked out of me…”
“Out of you where Sam?”
Sam looked up at him. Terror and shame flashed across her face. She clutched tighter to her bedsheet, bringing it up to her face as if to hide. It was then Dean finally noticed her pants. Well, his old sweat pants, now stained red. At the crotch.
It all clicked together in his head and he felt sick and relieved all at once. “Ohhhh Sammy” he said slowly, momentarily burying his own face.
Sam was really properly crying now. He pulled her towards him, ignoring the feeling of disgust.
“Do you know what this means? Why this is happening?”
She shook her head. “Am I dying?” her whisper was warm against his shoulder
“No Sammy. Believe it or not there’s nothing actually wrong with you. This is completely normal for girls.”
“What?”
Christ he wished his mother was here “Have you had health class in school yet?”
Again she shook her head. “I was supposed the other week but Dad pulled me out to work some Latin translations”
Dean silently seethed for a moment. John was always saying Sam wasn’t learning anything she didn’t already know. Now his daughter didn’t know how her own body worked. You can bet he’d never told her about. Hell he’d probably forgotten all about it. Once again it was left to Dean.
He swallowed and coughed awkwardly, at a loss of how to begin. He wished this crappy motel had Wi-Fi so he could just pull up a WebMD page on it or something. But no. he was left here with no internet, no books, no supplies and a terrified and bleeding sister.
“Listen. You need to trust me now. You’re going to be fine. You go take a shower, bring the sheet and your pants in with you and try to wash it off as best you can. Take a good long shower, run it cold if you have to. I’m going to go out and get you some things. I’ll explain everything when I get back.”
“What about Dad? He’ll be pissed if I wake him and he sees me wasting water.”
“Don’t worry about Dad. He’s f--king dead to the world Sam. Go clean yourself up.”
She was still terrified so it was a testament to how much she trusted him that all she did was nod and go into the bathroom.
Sighing, Dean pulled on a jacket and jammed some shoes on. He went into his father’s room and rifled around until he found John’s stash of bills. It was a hodgepodge of money collected from hustling, day jobs, under the table work and thankful survivors that John kept for “essentials”. John’s definition of essentials meant food, beer and ammo. Dean snorted. Now he was adding tampons to that list. His father couldn’t very well argue Sam didn’t need them. Next thing Dean took he knew his father would be less understanding about. The car keys. Well, Sam needed him back as soon as possible and Dean didn’t really feel like walking.
Starting the impala up as quiet as he could, Dean made his way out to the 24 hour convenience store he’d seen as they pulled in. The obnoxiously bright lights that greeted him on his entrance seemed to be doing *** all to keep the dozy shop attendant awake. Dean was half tempted to just shoplift the stuff, seeing as how this guy probably wouldn’t even notice. The idea seemed even more tempting when he saw the price of the damn things. Even the off brand ones were expensive. It was just cotton and string right? Dean huffed in annoyance, grabbing a packet of pads that were specifically aimed at younger girls and a box of tampons that promised easy application. God he was so glad this place was empty save him and the sleepy clerk. He rung up Dean’s purchases with half dead eyes, not noticing that Dean swiped a few candy bars on his way out.
When he returned he could still hear the shower running. Good. He put the keys and the remainder of the cash back where he found it, hoping his father wouldn’t even notice that some had gone missing. Going back into his and Sam’s room he set the stuff on Sam’s bed before rapping quietly on the door.
“Sammy? You all good?”
The shower turned off and there was shuffling for a moment until Sam opened the door, hair wet and wrapped in a towel.
“Yeah. I feel a little better. You going to tell me what’s going on now?”
“First things first. There’s some things on your bed for you. Read the instructions and use whichever one sounds easiest. I trust you’ll figure it out, geek girl.”
She smiled faintly “Okay?”
“I’ll be in here, trying to see if we can salvage those sheets. Wouldn’t want to lose our deposit”
The smile fell. “I’m sorry Dean I…”
“No, no Sam I wasn’t blaming you. Believe me you couldn’t help it. Just go and sort yourself. I’ll fix this."
Sam had done a good job rinsing the sheets. Because the blood was still fresh when she’d washed them it had nearly all come away just with rinsing. Dean finished it off by grinding soap shavings in with the complementary toothbrush and then wringing them dry. There. They looked like any other cruddy bedsheet you’d find a third rate fleabag motel. He hung them over the door to air them out a little and then, steeling himself, went in to face his sister.
She was sitting on the bed, clutching the now empty pad wrappers. He held the waste paper basket out and she let them go into it.
“Well now it’s contained but I haven’t really fixed anything.”
“This is not something we can fix Sam”
“Is it a demon thing? Did you look for hex bags?”
Dean couldn’t help but smile a little “Some people do call it a curse, but no it’s nothing supernatural.”
Dean then spent the next half hour painfully explaining periods to his baby sister, answering as honestly as he could and recommending she ask the school nurse for advice. Once she was certain she would be okay and Dean had pressed some of the first aid kit ibuprofen on her, she was out like a light.
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When Sam looked back on this memory two things automatically happened. She would feel her cheeks burn with embarrassment and her mouth turn up in a smile. Dean would ask what she was thinking of and all she had to say was “You made me swear never to mention it again”
And then Dean would blush and smile and things would be a little sweeter if more awkward.