Dis. Disclaim. Disclaimer.

Yeah. Slightly boring chapter. I accept it. You should too.

Thanks so much to everyone who is reading this! It's good to know that Chase and I aren't complete failures! And I've decided that in chapters to come Sam's going to have a little say. It's going to be like a big party...kinda...not really. Anyway.

Dean was true to his word. Seven hours later, they were driving across the state line. "Okay," Dean turned down the radio, "we know she's here, but we don't know where. Any ideas?"

"Give me your phone," Sam commanded. Dean handed it over, and Sam easily located the number. "If I enter the area code….I can find the city…..we know she's in a hospital…..and there's only one in the town. De lune hospital."

Dean stared at him. "How the hell…you now what. I don't want to know. How far is it?"

"Three hours."

"You mean thirty minutes." The speedometer climbed higher.

x

"Receptionist," Sam pointed at a busy desk where a young woman was twirling a pencil in her fingers.

"I'll deal with it," Dean said striding over to her. "Excuse me, miss, but I'm looking for someone."

"Name?" the girl asked without looking up.

"Well…um…" Would she give them her real name? "I don't…I mean, she's my cousin's friend's sister, and we're not that close, but I promised I'd check on her." Dean smiled sweetly.

"Listen, if I don't have a name, I can't help you. Sorry." The pencil had successfully made it all the way down her hand.

"Are you sure? I can tell you what she looks like." Right down to the black fur that appears time to time.

"Sir, I cannot help you without a name." Now the pencil was in the other hand.

"What about an EMT named Alex? Ever heard of him?"

At this the receptionist finally looked up. "Oh, yeah!"

"He here?" Dean tried to keep the disbelief out of his voice.

"I think so. I saw him in the ER a few minutes ago. You might want to try the lounge. It's the third door to your right down that hall."

"Thanks," Dean replied dryly. "Come on," he motioned to Sam, "Wild goose chase." Without effort, the brothers came to a generic, brown door with 'Doctor's Lounge' painted across it in black letters. Dean knocked, and a red headed man stepped out.

"Can I help you?"

"Yeah, I'm looking for Alex." Dean said.

"That's me," Alex let the door close behind him. "How can I help you?"

"You picked up a girl about a night ago. Brunette, pale, probably a serious handful?"

"I picked up a few of those. You're going to have to be more specific."

"This one would have a cell phone with her," Sam piped up.

Alex put his hand under his chin. "I had two like that, but I don't know names."

"Do you know where they are now?"

"No, after they hit the ER, my job's pretty much done."

Dean frowned, "Thanks anyway."

"Sorry I couldn't help," Alex said before slipping back into the room.

"Well," Dean leaned against the wall. "What now?"

"Excuse me," a high voice carried to them.

"Yeah?" Sam and Dean answered.

A short woman approached them, "Your last name wouldn't happen to be Winchester, would it?"

"Yeah," Dean pushed himself off the wall, "Why?"

"I might know who you're looking for." She led the way down the hall. "If it's her, maybe you can shed some light on the problem." She motioned to the ICU ward. "Turn right at the first hall. It's the second door down."

"Thanks," Sam said. Dean was already half way there.

He hesitated at the closed door. What if it wasn't her? Or, worse, what if he couldn't help her?

"I'll wait out here," Sam stepped beside him, "You know. In case more than one person would be overwhelming or whatever."

Dean smiled his thanks and slowly opened the door. It was dark inside, almost too dark to see, but he could make out several different monitors-all of them beeping intermittently. And there, whiter than the sheets pulled tight against her, practically tied down with all the tubes in wires, was her. The girl he hadn't so much as consciously thought about (the thoughts usually came on their own) in about a year.

"Do you know her?" the woman asked from the doorway. "They've been calling her Aurora."

"Like Sleeping Beauty?" There was a slight chuckle in Sam's tone.

"Yeah," the conversation took on a heavier feel, "The doctors have to keep her sedated. If she's awake long enough to realize what's happening, she starts ripping everything off and trying to leave."

"She doesn't look like she could do that much," Dean stated. He stepped back with his brother and the woman.

"No. She doesn't." The woman frowned, "Her body's shutting itself down. She can't breathe on her own, she can't eat, they dialysis is the only thing keeping her somewhat alive."

"Dialysis?" Dean asked, "Why?"

"Not only are her kidneys starting to fail, but there's something in her blood that's not getting cleaned out. But, when it was tested, her blood didn't have anything out of the ordinary in it. Sure her blood cell count was off, but that shouldn't be doing this." The woman shook her head, "It's really a shame. We all thought she would have a chance after we got her here, but I guess some things just can't be changed."

"You were with the team that found her?" Sam asked.

"Oh, yeah," she held out her hand, "Erica Morgan, EMT."

"I'm Sam and this is Dean," he nodded a head at his older brother.

"And her name's Chastity Stone. She prefers Chase." Dean stood beside the unconscious girl. She looked so…dead. How had this happened? He knew he would find her when she wanted to be found, but he hoped it would be somewhere, anywhere, else. He should have answered his phone the first time it rang…

"Chase," Erica tried, "It's a fitting name."

Sam nodded. "What happened to her?"

"A woman found her in the middle of the road. When we got there she was in pretty bad shape. There were burn marks across her shoulders, sides, and back, as well as a few shallow cuts. The biggest injury was a stab would in her abdomen, but it was relatively fresh and there wasn't a lot of bleeding."

"A stab wound?" Sam crossed his arms, "From a knife?"

"Yeah. An old fashioned one."

"How can a knife be old fashioned?" he asked, "Isn't a knife a knife?"

"The design was older and the blade was silver. You don't see that too often around here."

"Silver, huh?" Dean and Sam exchanged looks behind Erica's back.

"Yeah. As far as I know, the police are looking into it." She shrugged. "They probably won't find much. Amish country and all that."

"Amish country?" Dean snickered. "You mean like horse and buggy?"

"Yeah," she shrugged again, "It's a pretty big deal."

"Do you have any idea where she lives?" Sam asked elbowing Dean in the side.

Erica smiled at the act. "Not really. Last night was the first time I've ever seen her." She thought a moment, "But I know of two houses that have been sold in the past three months. They're both really old, and it was a big debate whether the sale should have happened."

"Where?"

"One's only a few miles from here. Turn right out of the hospital, it's big and blue, you can't miss it."

"And the other." Sam held out his hand for Dean's keys.

"It's really out of the way. Near Little River. You have to turn left out of the hospital and go until the road dead ends. There's a gravel drive that goes on for a few miles and it runs right into house." As her explanation ended a shrill beeping filled the room. Erica pulled a pager out of her pocket, and, after checking it, smiled apologetically at the boys. "Duty calls. I'd like to come by later and see how it's going. If that's okay?"

"Sure," Dean agreed. But I can't promise that we'll be here.

"Great." She smiled and headed out the door.

Dean pulled his keys out of his pocket and handed them to Sam. "Careful with her."

Rolling his eyes, Sam took the keys. "Where do you think she would keep it?" he asked backing towards the door.

"I don't know. You're the genius. Where would you keep the anti-venom. Or anti-silver in this case."

"I'll find it." He hesitated slightly, "Are you okay?"

Shrugging the question off, Dean replied, "Yeah, fine." Without another word Sam left the room. When the door had shut, Dean cautiously walked to the edge of the generic, hospital bed and sank into an uncomfortable chair that was right beside it. "What have you gotten yourself into?" he whispered.