The Lesson
Ξ December 30th, 2007 | → | ∇ Imitating Angels, PG, Supernatural, fanfic, gen |
Title: The Lesson
Author: astrothsknot
Fandom: SPN
Rating: PG, Gen
Characters: Sam and his daughter
Disclaimer: Some of this is mine. Some of this isn’t.
When she is eight, Jess Scott stands over the injured body of a wolverine while her Daddy takes out a hunting rifle out from the trunk.
She listens to its laboured, wet breathing and kneels down, reaching for it. Comfort it, because it’s hurt and cute and she’s a child.
It happens too fast for her - the beast snapping for her reaching hand, the pain of slamming against the hood. Her head’s snapped back and she’s hit it off the truck. She bursts into tears - she’s only eight.
Daddy’s gentle voice rumbles through his chest and she feels it more than hears it as strong fingers check the goose-egg at the back of her head. The same strong fingers slip under her chin and force her to meet Daddy’s blue-green eyes.
She’s too young to know what’s in them, as he tells her, in his deep, gentle voice that reads her stories from books that smell weird and in writing they don’t do at school, what she’s going to do. Daddy crouches down, hand huge on the side of her face and explains it to her - not like Mommy, who’d have towered over her, snapped at her and would have grounded her not doing as she was told fast enough.
Being Weak, Mommy calls it in a voice that makes plants wither, at least Jess thinks it does. She hates it when Mommy speaks like that to her.She remembers it, twenty years and a world away, gun in hand, silver bullet chambered, when she’s standing on a vampire who’s pleading for his life, he didn’t ask for this, he can’t help it, he can’t feed on animal blood, his Daddy never took him hunting or bought him a train set.
It’s always something.
Daddy snapping back the bolt on the rifle, handing it to her and waiting. She’s knows what she’s supposed to do, it’s not the first time she’s shot a gun. But it was an accident, they didn’t mean to run over the wolverine, shouldn’t they get him to a vet, like Bobby had when Cheney had been run over?
Honey, if there’s a heaven for the merciful, we won’t be in it.She knows what he means now
