John Doe – chpt 2.

By: sifi.

OOooOO

"Anything yet?" Dean asked using his phone like a walkie as he entered the darkened classroom and scanned the emptiness quickly.

"Nothing."

"This place is huge Sam, how the hell are we supposed to find one little woman in here? She could be anywhere!" he sighed.

Sam closed his eyes and breathed deep, "Look in small places, closets, cubbies, the bathroom stalls, under sinks, or teachers desks." He suggested then explained, "If he did what I think, she'll want to crawl into a dark dank hole and never come out."

"What? Why? How would you know?" he stopped and frowned, "You don't think he...?"

"Yeah. I do."

"Is that what happened in Chicago? Someone..." he swallowed hard, "you know."

On the other end Sam opened a door and the line went down.

"Sam?" Dean asked.

"I found her. Janitor's closet on the first floor by the North wall." And then he was gone.

Sam opened the door again, propped it and sat down on the threshold. After a thoughtful moment he began to speak.

"I'm pretty sure you're not gonna believe me, but I really do know exactly how you feel. Let's start with filthy. Humiliated doesn't even hint at it. You feel like everyone knows or is gonna know, like it's all anyone's ever gonna see whenever they look at you. In fact you'd rather no one ever saw you again." He watched carefully as her head tilted upward, a sliver of bruised alabaster told him he had her attention. "And to make matters even worse I bet you don't even know your own name." The sliver shrank and grew as she shook her head. "It's Laura. Laura Finnegan. I'm Sam, the other guy's my brother Dean. We're family, we came here to find you and bring you home." He stopped when the sliver disappeared, covered once again by the hood.

"You need a safe place to rest, with people who can protect you. That's us." He pressed his head backward, the pain in his chest and heart shooting up and down as tears gathered in the corners of his eyes, "If you look at your left hand you'll see a ring, it's a kind of weird ruby smoky silver color. Dean wears its... mate." He cleared his throat quickly hoping to cover the cracking of his voice.

In the back of the closet something moved. Hope filled Sam until he realized she'd simply pushed something out of the way so she could lay on her side. He looked up at the curious and pained expression on his big brother's face. He heard me, he still doesn't remember but now he knows... again. I wish I could forget. Maybe he'd be... maybe they'd both be better off if we just didn't even try to get their memories back. He looked into the closet, without her memories, her knowledge... he shook his head, the Laura I know would be able to walk right out of what that bastard did like shedding a skin. This one, he sighed, she doesn't have the coping skills to leave this behind. But Dean, he deserves a chance to live a normal life and he could start that. No more djinn's or demons or devils. Would there be someone else to step up to the plate and take out Lucifer if he doesn't get his memory back or will Castiel interfere? What'll hurt the least? He wondered. "Dean's here, I'm gonna let you guys talk a little." He rolled to his feet and motioned to the closet.

Dean's eyes widened with uncertainty as he shook his head, "I don't know what to say."

Sam shook his head, frustration flaring to life in his heart, "Just sit down... you don't need to say anything, it's fucking natural with you two." He pulled his cell phone, "I'm gonna call Bobby again," and walked a ways down the hall leaving his big brother looking like a deer in the headlights.

"Sam says you don't remember anything," he began after lowering himself cross-legged into the doorway, "I don't either. He says my name's Dean and yours is Laura. He says we're brothers, uhm him and me that is not you cause well you're not a guy," he stammered then cleared his throat, "sorry, I just, I don't know what to say y'know? And I don't wanna scare you or hurt you or anything. He was right though, we did come here to help you. I got a picture at my motel room and it had the address on it." He pulled it from his pocket and held it toward her, "and I had to come. It felt like the right thing to do y'know?" He watched her head tilt up and felt her gaze touch him. "Y'know there's a spare bed in my room, it's gotta be more comfortable than the floor, and at least a little cleaner, and a lot warmer. You could rest and we'll watch over you. We won't let anyone hurt you." He felt the edges of his lips turn up as she looked at him. "That's a promise."

He sat quietly listening to her breathing, the rasping wheezy sounds different from the occasional whimper or gasp as some pain or other flared up. He leaned a little to the side and caught her eyes, "Ribs hurt?"

She nodded.

"Yeah, your breathing doesn't sound too good." He leaned forward, "It looked like your arm was hurt too?"

She nodded.

He nodded then motioned toward her, "Can I come a little closer?"

She froze and turned her face away.

"Okay, I'll stay here. Look, I really don't know what's going on here but Sam sounds like he does," He looked behind him and waved the younger man to him, "and though I honestly, really DON"T know... I betcha he could help with your ribs and probably wrap your arm too."

"...yeah, thanks Bobby." He nodded then slid the phone back into his pocket and crouched next to Dean with a peek in at Laura. "Got some not so good, maybe not so bad news."

"Not so good, maybe not so bad? Dean asked.

"From what Bobby could find out so far, Ifrits have stronger abilities to manipulate their victim's minds. The way a djinn, like the one that captured you a couple years ago 'grants wishes' is by keeping its victim in an altered state of consciousness that makes them believe their wish has come true. In effect keeping the victim docile while it feeds over a period of days." He explained peering around the corner to see if Laura was responsive at all. Her head was tilted and she was looking at them both.

"I've been captured by one of them before?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, you killed it, that's..." he stopped short and shook his head, "a standard djinn of lore though." He covered. They were trying to get Laura to trust them, and to come out of her own accord, if she came to the conclusion that what'd been done to her was in retaliation for something Dean had done two years ago, she might never trust either of them, especially not in her current frame of mind. And Dean like this might not be able to handle knowing it either.

"But this guys' an Ifrits right?"

"Ifrit. Singular, they're higher up on the djinn ladder. They can incinerate the bodies of their victims with just a touch, which is how you got the burns you have," he explained, "they can also use their touch to steal the will of their victims, effectively cutting off their ability to fight or resist, which is how it got its hands on both of you." He looked from Dean to Laura and back, "You're both fighters. Laura, you were taken from your motel room in the middle of the night. You were both put down at the same time, the only thing is it actually took her." He looked at Dean, "It left you. By the time you could move enough to call our room and tell me what happened you were..." he shook his head, "blaming yourself for not being able to stop it. Nothing you could have done would have stopped it Dean. Nothing." He assured.

By this time Laura had pushed herself back up into a seated position and had turned, looking between the two as the younger man continued.

"Here's where it gets interesting. It seems that Ifrits have the ability to not just manipulate the consciousness of their victims, it could've made you believe you were a judge at the Miss America pageant," he smiled at Dean, "but if it had wanted to, it could've made you believe you were a contestant too."

"So it was that guy that stole our memories?" Dean asked.

"Apparently. And it's likely that the other guy, the one in the biker jacket," he looked in at Laura and watched her face turn down, "was just a tool."

"Why?" she whispered from the dark.

Sam shook his head, "It's what things like that do. Other than that who can say?" he shrugged then looked at Dean and back to her, "Dean's right. I can help you wrap those ribs and that wrist. There's a tub in the motel and a spare bed. We'll watch over you while you rest."

"So is that all the not so good or maybe not so bad information?" Dean asked.

Sam shrugged then looked in on the woman. Dean looked from Sam to her then reached out his left hand, "Please come out."

She shook her head but wrapped her good hand around a narrow pipe anchored to the wall to brace herself as she rose to her knees and in the attempt to stand up, lost her grip tripping forward smacking her head on the cinderblock wall. Dean was up in a flash, his arms closing around her, holding her to him before she could fall.

His touch set of a furious bout of struggling and panic. She twisted and writhed but his grip never faltered and he never tried to pin her. His aim was to keep her from hurting herself or him and see if she could exhaust the fear. He was acting purely on instinct, just as he'd been doing since he woke up, things are working out pretty well so far... I mean, considering how fucked up this whole thing is. "I gotcha," he soothed, "it's okay, it's okay. I'm not gonna hurt'cha, neither's anyone else." He could've sworn his teeth would start chattering for how hard she was shaking, he looked at Sam, the pain on his face somehow easily visible under the tight attempt at a smile. Slowly she settled down, wheezing between the occasional gasp. In the light gray of mid morning they could both see that her lips were pale, dry and peeling and in his arms Dean could feel her skin rasping dryly.

"Sam, you got any water?" he asked nervously, her entire body thumping fast and hard in time with her heartbeat.

She gasped, her eyes wide and panicked, looking from Dean's to Sam's, "Can't... breathe... help..."

Sam turned running down the hall to the nearest fountain, "Water's off... I'll be right back." He called then jogged toward the car.

"S'okay, just calm down, focus on breathing nice and easy," but it was too late, the woman in his arms was out cold.

OOooOO

Terse harsh whispers fluttered into her ears. There was something soft beneath her and the smell was different. No motion. Where did they take me?

"She needs a hospital! You said she got taken 3,"

"Four now."

"Four days ago, people don't live without water! Not to mention her wrist, and the ribs and...the other... if that son of a bitch did what... she needs meds and tests."

"The guy who did it is dead. Yes she needs preventative meds, and a whole slew of tests, but she needs to get her head in a place where she can deal with all that first. If we can get her memory back..."

"You said with the Ifrit dead neither one of us..."

"I know what I said, but Bobby's looking into other ways, the information might still be in there."

"You mean like hypnosis or something?"

"Maybe," Sam shook his head, "point is, if she knew who she was she'd be much better equipped emotionally to handle this." He sighed heavily, "She's strong Dean. The woman she is understands that ass holes like that do what they do out of a need for power. She wouldn't take it personally."

"You're talking about Chicago again aren't you?"

"Yeah." Sam nodded. "She didn't tell either of us, she just handled it... you were pissed, supremely pissed but she was trying to protect you. It's how she is. She doesn't take a breath without thinking about how it's going to affect you first. Or me." There's nothing that she wouldn't or hasn't done for you, or for us. Shit Dean she's DIED for us! She risked never being able to come back just because it was what WE needed! God don't you GET IT!

Dean ran his hand through his hair and grasped the younger man by the arm, drawing him across the room, "You said I killed one of those things once, that that thing came after me out of revenge," he pointed to the woman on the bed, "did it do this to her because of me?"

Sam's refusal to speak was almost enough. He grabbed the younger man by the jacket, his fists wanting to tear and mangle and rage, "Tell me the truth!" he pleaded desperately.

"Most likely." Sam's head bowed forward.

Dean shook his head, "It's not right," and backed away scrubbing his face with his hand, "that's NOT RIGHT!" he roared.

"S'a lot of things in our lives that aren't right," Sam stood beside him and motioned to the woman, "but her? For you she makes it closer to right than it'd ever get otherwise."

"And look what I did... LOOK WHAT I CAUSED!" he railed turning to the back of the room and throwing his fist through the first layer of wall.

On the bed Laura pushed herself up. Beneath the hoodie her ribs were bound snugly with two layers of a wide sturdy wrap, as was her right wrist and forearm. As she swung her legs over the edge she looked at the jeans covering her and smiled. Across the room her eyes fell on the two men, the shorter of them looking agonized.

"It's not your fault." she said softly.

They turned their eyes to her, Sam moving quickly to her side while Dean held back, shame and anger vying for space on his face.

"Feeling a little better?" he asked handing a bottle of water to her, "Go easy on it, we don't know how long its been since you had any." He pointed to the overnight bag he'd brought from where they'd lost her, "All your stuff's in there."

Dean brought a chair over and sat before her, "You're going to need to consider going to a hospital or a doc in the box or something."

Kneeling on the floor Sam rubbed her knee gently, "We can take you after you get some rest, or we can wait till morning."

She nodded, "Thank you."

Dean pulled a sandwich off the table and handed it to her, "You must be hungry."

She looked between the men watching Sam move back to a chair at the table then open and hand over a beer to Dean and her before cracking one open himself. "You told me you're brothers? And we're family?" she asked looking at Sam who nodded.

"You were talking about imaginary creatures like they're real... how do I know you're not both crazy?"

Sam chuckled then met eyes with Dean, "I told you you both run on the same wavelength." Then turned to her and explained, "He asked the same thing in the car on the way here."

She looked down at the ring on her finger then up at Dean, and over at Sam then back to Dean, "Are we married?"

Dean shrugged, "According to him, it's kinda complicated."

"The important thing to remember is that you guys love each other." He shook his head and slid his jacket back on, his expression full of frustration, "Promise me you'll both stay here?"

Dean shrugged, "Sure. Where're you going?"

"Library," he mumbled then pointed to the cell on the nightstand, "If you go anywhere, or if Bobby calls, or if anything happens, use it. If anything happens and you can't get hold of me, call Bobby, he's in the phone book."

"Sure... is there something we can do? I mean we've got the computer, the internet..."

Sam shook his head. "No, I got it." He turned to Laura, "You get some rest," then to Dean, "You keep her safe!" he half snarled then slammed the door behind himself.

OOooOO

Tbc.

Please R&R.

Thanks.

Sifi.