Chapter 1 – Lost

"Dammit!" said Sam, slamming the door of the bunker behind him.
"We'll find him, Sam, I promise," Cas said, trying to sound reassuring.
Sam nodded distractedly, pulling his phone from his pocket and leading the way further inside. Kevin was sitting in the library, reading, and looked up as they came in.
"Hey guys, I wasn't expecting you back for a while. Where's Dean?" he asked.
"We don't know," said Cas. "We got separated..."
Sam, Dean, and Cas had been on a hunt, tracking down a pair of werewolves on the outskirts of a nearby town. They had split up to corner them, but once Sam and Cas had killed both werewolves, they discovered that Dean had vanished and was nowhere to be found.
"He's not picking up," said Sam, tossing his phone onto the table.
He sat down across from Kevin and ran his hands through his hair.
"Damn..." muttered Cas. "I feel so useless. If I was still an angel I could find him..."
"Don't be so hard on yourself, Cas. We've looked everywhere we could think of. Now we just have to wait and keep trying to call him," said Sam.
Cas pulled out a chair and sat down wearily.
"I'll get you guys something to drink," said Kevin.
He set his book down and hurried off to the kitchen, returning a minute later with three beer bottles. He handed one each to Sam and Cas, then sat back down and popped off the cap from his own drink.
"Thanks, Kevin," Sam said.
"I'm going to try calling Dean again," said Cas.
He took his phone out and hit speed dial. Sam and Kevin watched him silently as he waited anxiously, but the call went to voice mail and Cas pushed the end button resignedly.
"Nothing..."
He took a long drink and sighed. They all sat in silence for nearly an hour, just slowly sipping their beer and waiting, either for one of their phones to ring or perhaps for Dean to come wandering into the bunker, berating them for leaving him lost in the woods.

Cas glanced up at the clock on the wall. It was nearly two in the morning. Suddenly, Sam's phone started ringing. Sam leapt up and dove to pick it up from the table.
"It's Dean!" he exclaimed, looking at the caller ID.
He pushed the button and held the phone to his ear.
"Where have you been?" he demanded, bypassing the regular niceties.
"Sorry?" said a confused female voice on the other line.
"Um... who's this?" Sam asked.
"I'm a nurse from the Lebanon Hospital. A young man with no ID was found unconscious by the highway half an hour ago and brought here. This was the number listed as his emergency contact in his cell phone," the woman replied.
"You found... someone found my brother? Is he okay?" said Sam.
"We're not sure. He only just woke up a few minutes ago and he seems to be rather confused. You should probably come, a familiar face should help him get reoriented," the nurse said.
"Yeah, of course. That's Lebanon Hospital, right?" Sam asked.
"Correct."
"Right, thank you for calling. I'll be right there."
Sam hung up and turned to Cas and Kevin.
"Somebody found him by the highway and took him to the hospital in town. We need to go," he said.
"Of course," said Cas, standing immediately.

Ten minutes later, they were walking through the doors of Lebanon Hospital. The woman at the visitor's desk looked up as they approached.
"Hi, I'm Sam Winchester. We're here to visit my brother, Dean. He was brought in earlier tonight, someone found him by the highway..." Sam said.
"That's his name then, Dean Winchester?" the woman asked, checking the patient list on her computer.
"Uh, yeah, didn't he tell you that?" said Sam confusedly.
The woman looked up at him pityingly.
"No, he didn't. He doesn't remember."
"What?" Cas said in alarm.
"He doesn't remember who he is."