Falling as far as you can go...

[mini_dean]

ooc: takes place after this. Foul language and drug use behind cut.

Ben sat on the couch, looking at the little piles of white powder and weed. So Mom was running to shack up with Dean again. He was in town a day, and yet there she was all over him again.

He was disgusted. Not that Mom was leaving Jeff - Ben would happily kiss that man goodbye with a bullet to his skull if he could - but for Dean of all people?! Was she just a glutton for punishment? He was just going to hurt her and leave her again. Maybe with another kid too. Yeah, that would be wonderful. How many other half siblings did he have out there anyway? Dean was probably a one man baby depot.

The anger led him to open the white powder packet. Shelia wouldn't notice one missing. He found the pipe and the razor, making the little lines expertly and leaning down, sniffing one up, then the second. He rubbed at his nose, then leaned back as the blessed numbness fell over him.

Now he felt better. Here he didn't give a damn about the world. It was nice like this. Peaceful. Painless.

But the world was shattered about 20 minutes later when his door was kicked down. Ben barely opened his eyes when he felt the hand on his throat, lifting him off the couch and throwing him against the wall.

"Where are they?" Jeff growled, slamming Ben's head back into the wall.

It took Ben a moment to remember, then he laughed. "Like I'd fucken tell you. Check the local motel. They're probably humping like bunnies."

"You're still a little shit, aren't you?" Jeff threw Ben across the room. Moments later he pinned Ben to the floor, his fists flying into the boy's ribs and face. Ben tried to fight back, but he was seeing double and the drugs were making it hard to block Jeff's fists.

"Pathetic. If you were my flesh and blood, I would have killed you a long time ago like the worthless runt you are," Jeff growled, pulling Ben to his feet and looking at him. Ben just laughed, then spat blood into his stepfather's face. Jeff growled, smacking Ben across the face hard, throwing him to the side as Ben then crashed into the counter of the kitchen area. Jeff looked down at the drugs on the table and laughed. "Still doing the small time drugs, aren't you, Benny boy?"

"Not... mine." Ben reached up to touch his head, finding blood where his head had connected to the wooden corner of the counter.

"No, just like there's not white powder on your lip." Jeff grabbed one of the needles that had been used to help test the drugs and knelt down, holding it against Ben's neck. "Now, I'm only going to ask you one last time, Ben; where did Dean Winchester take your mother? AND... if you say you don't know - you won't live to see either one of them again."

Ben's blue eyes looked at his step father, trying to look intimidating but he wasn't able to focus on him. "Go to Hell. I'd rather my Mom be with Dean than you any day."

Jeff laughed. "Oh, I'll find her, Ben. And what I did to you will be nothing compared to what I do to her and him. But for now, I'll just remind Lisa just how much she hurt me."

Ben winced as he felt the needle press against his neck, praying for someone to save him.

Comments

[jstliketherifle.livejournal.com]

Dean would have said something about how having the crap beat out of you does that sometimes, but he wasn't going to push it. Instead, he just stayed quiet, letting Ben and Lisa talk.

[mini_dean]

She leaned closer and kissed his cheek. "I've got some Tylenol in my purse. Think that will help?" she asked him softly. She wasn't sure giving pain pills to her son who was coming off a drug high was a good idea, but she didn't want him to be in pain either.

"Maybe." One eye had bruised and become puffy so he wasn't able to see out of it. But he could hear the purr of an engine, one he knew the type, but it was confusing him. His memories of the last few hours were not the best. "Where are we?"

"Dean's taking us somewhere safe. Jeff won't hurt either of us again?" She was looking through her purse for the small pillbox she had.

"What? Dean?" Another confused question. Dean? Why should he care about them? He then winced as his mother shifted and his ribs moved a bit.

[jstliketherifle.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," Dean said from the front seat, glancing back over his shoulder. "How're you feelin', Ben?" He wasn't going to bring up the issues unless Ben did. Now wasn't really the time to have a father-son argument.

[mini_dean]

"Like I just got the shit kicked out of me, and I think I'm gonna be sick," Ben stated, his arm coming up to protect his vulnerable spot instinctively. He was in too much pain to be angry at the moment. "Where you taking us?"

[jstliketherifle.livejournal.com]

"New York," Dean said with a sigh. "We're gonna stop in Pittsburgh for the night, but we'll be safer where family is." In more ways than one. "Do you need me to pull over?"

[mini_dean]

New York. He wasn't that happy with that, but he wasn't really in a place he could complain that moment. Best to focus on other things.

Ben thought for a moment. "Yeah. Soon."

Lisa looked out the window. "There's a rest stop a mile ahead. We can get something to drink and eat there." Her hand rubbed Ben's back.

[jstliketherifle.livejournal.com]

Dean nodded, before following the signs to the rest stop, pulling the car to a stop in front of the convenience store. He killed the engine on the car before climbing out and opening the back door, offering the hand to Ben to help him get up.

[mini_dean]

Ben didn't complain, just let Dean help him out and then pushed him away as he stumbled to the side of the building. There, he bent over and retched a few times. His arm wrapped around his ribs in pain as the other held him upright.

Lisa watched him and looked at Dean a moment. "I'm going to get him something to drink and some bread to eat. You want anything?"

[jstliketherifle.livejournal.com]

Dean shook his head, leaning against the side of the Impala as he watched Ben, looking for any sign that he needed help. "No, I'm good. Just worry about him for right now."

[mini_dean]

Lisa put her hand on Dean's arm. "He's grateful, Dean. Don't think otherwise." With that, she made her way to the store to get them something to eat. It was dark but the lights on the place lit it up pretty good.

Ben wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, not having anything else to use. His mouth tasted horrible and he was starting to get an idea that he probably didn't look all that hot either.

And he was freezing as he was only in a t-shirt. Everything of his was left behind at the apartment, and he doubted they would be going back there anytime soon. And his job - what would happen when he didn't show up tomorrow?

He turned the corner to slide to the ground, sitting down in the dirt and putting his hands on his bare arms, rubbing them to keep them warm as he just sat there and thought.

[jstliketherifle.livejournal.com]

Dean watched him for a moment, before tilting his head towards the trunk slightly. "I might have a sweat shirt in the back, if you want it."

[mini_dean]

Ben didn't move a moment, then just nodded. "Better than freezing my ass off," he stated, not looking at Dean. His eyes just stared off in the distance, lost.

"Wouldn't happen to have a cigarette in there as well?"

[jstliketherifle.livejournal.com]

Dean just shook his head, before moving to the trunk and starting to go through the stuff there, before pulling out an old one of Sam's that had been back there so long that it would never had fit him now, but was still big enough that it'd be too big for Ben. Which was better than nothing at all.

"Sorry," he said as he handed the shirt over. "Don't smoke."

[mini_dean]

Ben took it, not meeting Dean's eyes as he slipped the sweatshirt on over his head. It hung off him like a pillowcase, and Ben was able to pull it down over his knees as well to almost cocoon himself in.

"Figures. Mom won't buy them for me, so I'm pretty much screwed. I need one so badly right now."

[jstliketherifle.livejournal.com]

"You'll live." Dean wasn't exactly feeling sympathetic to his son's addictions. Unless he was going to start bleeding internally if he didn't get a cigarette, he would just have to relax and deal with it. "They're bad for you anyway."

He wasn't saying it in a fatherly way -- it was more a statement of fact.

[mini_dean]

Ben just huffed and rolled his eyes, leaning his head back against the wall. Then he finally looked up at Dean, his face looking worse in the stark light than it had in the darker atmosphere of his apartment and the streets.

"Why are you doing this?" he questioned.

[jstliketherifle.livejournal.com]

Dean shrugged as he settled back against the car again. "It's what I do -- the whole saving people thing. I try to make a habit of it."

[mini_dean]

"Only you're working with the demons now aren't you?" Ben watched him. "Thought your job was saving people from them if I remember correctly. Now you got one on your payroll?"

Ben turned his eyes back to looking out at nothing in the distance. "He's not going to stop. You only made this worse. He's going to hunt us down and what he did to me? That's him being gentle."

Ben's jaw grit. He knew that for a fact. Ben knew just how far Jeff could go on a bad day.

[jstliketherifle.livejournal.com]

"Ruby -- " he paused for a moment. "It's complicated. But she's not like all the other demons. The rest of them would sooner kill you than shake your hand, but she's saved my neck a few times, and I've helped her. It's a mutual partnership."

Or something. Because God only knew that Ruby tended to only pop in when she needed something, but it was a start.

"And I know he's not going to stop. But you're better protected back in New York than you are here. I've got more friends there in some pretty high places, so -- you'll be safer. More back up."

[mini_dean]

"Safer, but taking us away from our friends. What are you gonna do, hide us in your basement and hope the others don't notice?"

It was a hoodie and Ben pulled the hood up over his head so he could hide further in the tent of a sweatshirt.

[jstliketherifle.livejournal.com]

"No. They know you're coming. Figured we'd put you up with Sam for a while till you get on your feet."

[mini_dean]

"So you'll inconvenience your brother then." Ben just sighed. He was quiet a moment, and didn't look up at the next bit.

"Thank you," he muttered, scowling.

[jstliketherifle.livejournal.com]

Dean smirked. "You're welcome. And you're not inconveniencing Sam. He's happy to have you. You're family."

[mini_dean]

"Thank you for helping Mom." Ben looked up under the edge of the hood. "Once we're in New York, I'm outta here. I'm not looking for some big family get together."

[jstliketherifle.livejournal.com]

Dean rolled his eyes slightly. "Fine -- you want to sleep out on the streets of New York? Have fun with that."