Untitled 12.20 Coda

[caranfindel]

Max won't tell her anything. Bad witch is all he'll say. Bought her power from a demon, used it against Mom, used it to make Mom turn on you. He won't explain why he burned Mom without her. Won't explain how she was healed, why there isn't a bloody gash in her abdomen. Natural magic. Don't worry. You're fine. Everything's gonna be fine.

Nothing is fine.

She knows some of it (she remembers Mom, eyes glowing white, thrusting the blade into her abdomen) but Max won't tell her what she doesn't know, won't answer questions, won't fill in the blanks.

Nothing is fine.

Stop thinking about it, Max says. It only upsets you. And she does what Max says, she does stop thinking about it, for a while. Then she tells him she wants to talk to Sam Winchester. He was in the room; Max wasn't even there but Sam was in the room with her and Mom. He might know more. He might be able to fill in gaps. (She remembers Sam Winchester hovering over her, telling her to take a deep breath, and thinking I would if I could.)

No, Max says. Don't call Sam Winchester. Don't call any of the Winchesters. They're bad news. Please, Lish, don't call them.

She does what Max says.

The next time she brings it up, he says No, don't call them. In fact, you should delete them all from your contacts right now. So you aren't tempted.

She does what Max says.

(She remembers waking up and realizing Max had changed her clothes, remembers the urgency in his voice, in his trembling hands, the way he kept telling her we have to go, now, the way he kept a hand pressed against her back, propelling her forward. Don't look back, just go.)

One evening he falls asleep on the couch next to her, watching a movie. She untwines her fingers from his, slips out from under his arm (she remembers her mother watching them curl up together on that same couch, tangled together, if I didn't know Max was into guys, I'd wonder about you two and she'd squealed ew, no, who knows where that dick's been, and they'd all laughed, because that was back when they still laughed), picks up his phone, pads quietly into the kitchen.

Sam Winchester answers on the second ring, slightly breathless. Max? Are you okay? We've been worried about you, man.

No, she whispers, it's me. It's Alicia.

There's a long pause at the other end, and then Sam's voice, broken. Alicia. Oh, god.

Comments

[fufaraw]

Yeah. This. Nicely done.