goodfemalecharacters:

 A Destiel AU

Chapter Nine: The Situation Room

When they reached the Situation Room, Arthur Ketch was waiting for them.

In Dean’s defense, he tried to keep his dislike of the man off of his face.  He was a talented National Security Advisor, but in the few interactions Dean had had with him, he’d been incredibly condescending.

“Thank you, Ms. McLeod,” he said crisply.  Then, turning to Dean, “Agent Winchester.”

Things had to be bad for Rowena to pat his shoulder as she turned away.  Dean tried not to make his swallow so obvious as he followed Ketch into the room.  It looked pretty much like it did in the movies.  Were the darkened lights for the ambiance or for the projector?

Once he and Ketch got settled, they didn’t have much time before Roman walked through the door and everyone stood.  To Roman’s credit, he had least had the grace to look a little disconcerted at such a welcome.  It appeared that there were still things that took some time to get used to.

“Thank you.  Mr. Ketch, proceed.”

Dean’s heart settled somewhere around his naval.  He wasn’t sure he’d be able to listen to this.

“We received this video this morning.”

Ketch nodded to someone in the back, who clicked play.  Dean had to grip the side of the table until his knuckles turned white in order to avoid shouting out loud when Jack’s face came into view.

He didn’t look hurt, but it didn’t feel like much of an upside.  His eyes flickered nervously between the camera and what Dean assumed was the monster behind it.  He looked far younger on the screen than he had in years.

“Tell them.”

If Dean had been expecting some sort of Hollywood villain drawl, something that sounded chilling and evil, he was disappointed.  The man sounded like just that—a man.  Dean closed his eyes as Jack responded.

“I’m not hurt.”

Dean listened hard for some kind of catch in his voice, a noise that would alert him to some hidden hurt to prove the sentence a lie, but it seemed like he was telling the truth.

“Go on.”

“And I’m gonna stay that way.”

At that, Jack’s eyes filled with tears.  Despite himself, Dean’s did too out of sympathy and fear for the kid.

“For how long, Jack?”

(start from the beginning on ao3)

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