AUTHOR'S NOTES: First of all, I'd like say that the deli mentioned at the end of this chapter is a real place and one of my top five favorite food places in Michigan.

Also, in this chapter, we find that Bobby knew about Dean's wife.

x

Chapter 2 When Dean Met Mandi

7 Years Ago…

Knee fractures were no fun at all.

In fact, Dean now considered them in his top 5 list of things to never do again.

He'd been after the ghost for the past week and had finally found the young boy's bones in the attic of his old house in a locked trunk. But just as Dean tossed his lighter onto the salt and lighter fluid soaked remains, the kid's ghost sent the hunter out the attic window 3 stories up.

Not remembering the neighbors calling the police or the house's current inhabitants checking on him while the ambulance was summoned, Dean's only recollection of the event was the ungodly pain in his left leg, back, and ribs.

xx

Waking in the hospital later on, the doctors had been astounded that Dean hadn't been paralyzed by the fall. However, he had suffered hairline fractures to two of his thoracic vertebrae as well as 3 broken ribs and 2 cracked ribs.

And then there had been Dean's knee. The injury had been a dislocating fracture requiring a fair amount of surgery to repair and even with months of physical therapy, the docs warned Dean that he most likely would end up with a permanent limp.

Sitting up in the hospital bed he was in, Dean glanced at the phone for a moment before trying to turn to reach it. He stopped, though when the pain in his back flared up. "Got this sucks," he muttered, leaning back against the pillows behind him. He'd been told that he would have to wear a back brace for 6-8 weeks so he didn't do any further damage to his spine but the thing was a pain and didn't let him move too much.

The worst part for Dean was that he was alone. His dad was off on another case, Sam was at Stanford, and he hadn't heard back from Bobby since the hospital had called him a week ago.

"Want some company?"

Dean turned as best he could towards the door and stopped when a girl in her late teens/early 20's came into the room. She used forearm crutches since her left leg was missing completely and her hair was totally gone. But what really registered to Dean were the girl's eyes. They were bright blue and seemed to twinkle when she smiled at him.

"I'm Amanda. Amanda Allard," the girl said, limping over to a chair near the bed and sitting down so she was facing Dean. "Everyone calls me Mandi, though. That's with an 'I', not a 'y'." Her eyes sparkled as she eyed Dean, taking in the back brace and his casted left leg which was bent slightly at the knee and suspended in a traction rig. "Fell down the stairs?"

Dean gave her a smile in return. "Got thrown out of a 3rd story window."

"Ouch," Mandi winced, leaning back. "So… You got a name to go with that charming smile and those handsome eyes?"

"Dean Winchester," Dean said, holding out a hand. When Mandi shook it, he paused, wondering how to phrase his next question.

Thankfully, Mandi knew the questions before Dean said another word and she pretended to look worried for a moment as she said, "What? Is my hair a mess?"

Dean broke out laughing only to wince heavily as the action jarred his injured ribs and back. Adjusting the bed slightly so he was sitting up a bit more, he blushed slightly as he replied, "No, actually… You're beautiful."

Now it was Mandi's turn to blush which actually gave her pale skin a bit more color and seemed to make her look even prettier. "You know, outside of my family, hardly anyone has ever really said that to me?"

Even though it hurt to do so, Dean sat up just a hair more, his expression entirely serious as he said, "It's true. I mean, you have the most amazing eyes I've ever seen. So…," he started, feeling like they were just avoiding the elephant in the room. "Are you…? Uh…"

Mandi laughed again. It was a wonderful, cheerful sound and she gave Dean a sympathetic smile as she said, "Yes, I'm a cancer patient. I just finished my latest round of chemotherapy and I was finishing up a packed cell transfusion when I heard a some of the nurses talking about you." Her eyes sparkled devilishly as she added, "One or two of them apparently want to take you home with them. They couldn't believe that there was no one to call for you."

Dean was a bit uncomfortable hearing that news. Oh, there were people to call, alright. There was his dad who was off on a hunt somewhere and would come whenever… if at all. Then there was Sam who may or may not return his calls depending if he was still pissed at their dad for kicking him out a year and a half ago.

Bobby was still in the wind, but Dean knew that as soon as he got the messages, the older hunter would come running.

Feeling tears welling up, Dean looked away as he wiped his face with one hand. "It's a long story," he muttered when he felt Mandi watching him. When he heard her chair slide back a bit, he looked up and his eyes widened when he saw her pull up the right leg of her track pants, revealing the titanium prosthetic.

"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours," Mandi said, quietly, putting her pant leg down. When Dean said nothing, she went on. "When my twin sister and I were born, we were conjoined at the hip and femur. My right leg was fine and so was her left leg. But the lower part of the limb we shared had a severe deformity. When Melissa and I were separated, her hip was better suited for the upper part of our shared leg. She still had to have additional surgery and the doctors had to amputate the lower part of the leg but she's doing just fine now. She teaches special needs kids, coaches basketball…"

"What about you?" Dean wanted to know. Had Mandi lost her other leg because of the cancer or had it been an accident of some kind? And the interesting thing was that none of it detracted from how pretty she was. So what if she was missing both legs and her hair? Dean waited for his new friend to continue her story, more and more eager to know everything about her.

Mandi shifted in her seat and continued her story. "I have lived my entire life with one leg. When I was 10, I was first diagnosed with cancer. Did chemo, lost my hair, threw up more times than I can count… Went into remission but relapsed when I was 16 and did the whole thing all over again only I also lost my left leg above the knee on top of it. Then remission and relapsed 10 months ago and I just finished up the current round of chemo a couple days ago. Hopefully the cancer will stay gone this time."

"Job? Boyfriends?" Dean asked, curiously. This girl was incredible. And every second he spent with her, the more he felt like he was falling for her.

"Uh, I work here, at the hospital, actually," Mandi replied. "Receptionist. It's mostly for the health insurance, actually." She stopped for a moment, blushing as she looked away. "I don't know why I said that. I'm sure you don't care about my past or anything."

"I do," Dean assured her, quickly. "I do care. You're funny, sweet… beautiful."

Pointing a finger at Dean and giving him a look, she smirked as she said, "See, now, you keep saying that but you strike me as being a very adept charmer."

"I mean it," Dean insisted. "Look, you're right about me," he admitted. "But I really do like you. Seriously."

"Don't let my boyfriend hear you say that," Mandi said with a serious look. When Dean started looking surprised and worried, she put a hand on his arm. "You are way too easy to tease." Moving from the chair to Dean's bed—being careful not to sit on his good leg—she made sure she was comfortable before she said, "Now you. What's your story, Dean Winchester?"

'Where to begin?' Dean thought. He wanted to tell Mandi the truth. He'd never wanted to be honest before but hearing what Amanda had been through, Dean felt he owed it to her to be that honest about himself. "I'm 23, I have a younger brother named Sam, and my dad's name is John." He cleared his throat and went on. "Mom's name was Mary. She died when I was 4. Sammy was only 6 months old at the time."

"Oh, my God," Mandi exclaimed, quietly as she took Dean's hand in hers. "I'm so sorry, Dean."

Dean nodded, knowing that the rest of the story would be the hard part. "Something killed her," he went on, after a moment, waiting for Mandi to start asking question. "It… it wasn't human." Mandi said nothing, but she seemed to be gauging Dean's honestly as she studied him. "Eventually… Dad found out that all that 'Don't be afraid of the dark, there's nothing under the bed' stuff was total bullshit."

"Monsters under the bed are real," Mandi said, her tone indicating that she was trying to figure if Dean was lying or telling the truth. "Vampires… werewolves… Bigfoot? That… all exists?" For years, she'd told herself that the worst thing in the world was cancer. But now she was expected to believe that monsters were actually out there?

"Bigfoot's a hoax," Dean replied. "But yeah… vampires, werewolves… Fuck, I'm here because a ghost threw me out an attic window." He could feel his current morphine dose wearing off and hit the button the nurse gave him for another booster dose. Going into the case that had landed him here, Dean went on. "The kid's name was Milo Janoso. He was abused for years. When his mother killed him, she locked his body in a trunk in the attic of her parents' house. The house has been for sale for years, but people have been getting hurt and saying it was Milo, so I had to get rid of the kid's ghost."

Frowning in confusion, Mandi asked, "Uh… how does that work? You do a 'Ghost Whisperer' thing, or what?"

"Salt and burn the remains," Dean explained. "Vampires can only be killed by beheading, and werewolves are dropped by a silver bullet to the heart."

Mandi let out a soft chuckle and rubbed her brow before scratching an itch behind her left ear. "Wow… That's… um…" Laughing again, she admitted, "I have no idea what to say."

"Well, you're not running out of the room screaming for the nurses to lock me in the psych ward," Dean said with as much of a shrug as he could manage.

"I like a funny guy," Mandi said, smiling again. "So… how long have you been hunting the things that go 'bump' in the night?"

And so Dean launched into his sordid family history of hunting monsters and ghosts. He refrained from going into personal details and dodged those whenever Mandi asked. How would she understand getting in between his father and brother when the two fought—taking the punishment when Sammy made a mistake? Or how from the age of 5 Dean had acted like a mother and father to his little brother?

x

As the sun started to set, Dean sighed as he looked at Mandi. "Guess you need to go, huh?"

Mandi smiled at him as she stood, balancing deftly on her crutches. "I'll be back tomorrow, Dean. I promise."

Dean watched her go and once she was out of sight, he lowered the back of the bed some before closing his eyes and drifting off into a restless sleep.

xxxxxxxxx

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty."

Dean groaned as he heard the all-too-familiar gruff voice of Bobby Singer. Opening his eyes, he blinked hard against the sunlight pouring into the room. "Bobby," he said, adjusting the bed into a sitting up position. "When'd you get here?"

"Last night," Bobby replied, pulling a chair over and sitting down. "How're you feeling, sport?"

Dean groaned again as he shifted position slightly. "Like I got thrown out of a 3rd story window." Looking at the man he'd always considered a second father, he asked, "You talk to the docs?"

Bobby nodded, silently. After convincing the night shift doctor that he was Dean's uncle and only available family, the doc described Dean's condition which was pretty brutal. Worse, it would likely be at least a month before Dean would be able to leave the hospital and even then he'd still be on bed rest for another 3-4 weeks before starting physical therapy. "Yeah, I talked to 'em," Bobby replied, grimly.

"So…" Dean said, looking at his busted leg. "I guess this is the end of my pro-ball career, huh?" Leaning back a bit, he sighed deeply. "Even when I do heal up, I'm gonna be useless. Can't hunt monsters if I'm a gimp, right?"

Bobby didn't know what to say to that. If he agreed with Dean than he would likely be adding to the young man's depression. But what if he pushed Dean to go back to hunting and the kid got himself hurt even worse? Bobby mentally shook his head at that. He couldn't live with himself if he was the reason Dean got hurt or killed. "Look, all you can do right now is heal up. We'll take the rest as it comes, alright?"

Dean knew that Bobby was skirting around the issue but that the older man was also right. There was no way to tell what would happen and all Dean could do was rest and let his broken body heal. But as his mind drifted to the previous day, he had a mental image of a pair of amazing blue eyes and a warm, caring smile. "It's not all bad," Dean admitted, giving Bobby a grin. "I met a girl."

Bobby's jaw dropped in absolute amazement. "Boy, they could be putting you 6 feet under and you'd still be picking up chicks."

But Dean gave him a look. "No, this girl's awesome. She's got these amazing blue eyes. And her smile is incredible. She's the most gorgeous girl I've ever met."

"What's her name?" Bobby asked with a grin.

"That's Mandi with an 'I'," said a soft female voice.

Dean grinned as Bobby stood up and looked at the young woman standing in the doorway. "Hey, beautiful," Dean said as Mandi limped in on her crutches.

When she got to Dean's bed, she sat down on the bed on Dean's right side while Bobby sat back down on his left. "For you," Mandi said, giving Dean a paper bag. When he opened it, a heavenly scent of fried dough and cinnamon wafted out. "One of the nurses brings in homemade doughnuts almost every day. I smuggled you some from downstairs."

Dean took one of the small doughnuts and bit into it, practically moaning with pleasure. It was the best thing he'd eaten since landing in the hospital and it was nice to get some real food in his system.

As Bobby watched Dean and Mandi talk, he couldn't help but smile. He had to admit that Mandi was more than a bit of a surprise. Dean's past girlfriends had always been lookers-typically, they were leggy blondes with more hair than brains. But this girl was missing one leg and Bobby didn't have to be a doctor to figure out that she was a cancer patient. But even with that, the two seemed to get along so well and it was good to see the younger Winchester smiling again. Ever since Sam had left, Dean had seemed in a funk—more so since he and his father had split up.

Maybe this girl would be good for Dean.

1 1/2 Months Later

"Okay, you gotta keep your elbows straighter, Dean," Mandi advised as she watched Dean try to walk using his own pair of forearm crutches. They were in the Physical Therapy room of the hospital and while Dean was trying to get the hang of using the crutches, Mandi was sitting on a pile of mats nearby. She knew Dean was doing the best he could, but she could also tell that he was more used to the more standard crutch. And while those were fine for short term use, but the forearm crutch was better for long term cases like Dean's.

"You know, you make this look so easy," Dean snapped as he started to get the hang of it… he hoped. He gave Mandi a mock glare, but the corner of his mouth tweaked in a smile.

Mandi laughed, but she looked at her lower body as she did so. She was wearing a pair of running shorts today which meant that everyone saw the prosthetic. "When I was really little, I learned how to walk with crutches. I've been using them my whole life."

Dean stopped, balancing carefully, and sighed. "Sorry. I know I can be a dick sometimes."

"Yeah, but you're my dick," Mandi replied before suddenly blushing fiercely and covering her face with her hands in embarrassment. "Oh, I didn't mean that! I meant…" When she lowered her hands, she felt her heart race as she saw that Dean was standing right in front of her. He leaned forward and without warning, he kissed her on the mouth.

The kiss lasted for a good 2 minutes and when Dean pulled away, he saw a disappointed look in Mandi's eyes. "Is it too early to tell you I love you?" he said, quietly.

Mandi grabbed the front of Dean's shirt and pulled him into another long kiss. "Not if you really mean it."

1 Year Later

Dean and Mandi had only been together for the past 8 months but already the oddness of their appearance as a couple had totally vanished. Because Dean's leg was still pretty painful, he used the crutches if he was walking long distances.

Like now, as he and Mandi were strolling down one of the streets of Ann Arbor, Michigan towards Zingerman's Deli.

It was warm, but Dean still more jeans—the better to cover the brace on his knee—but Mandi wore shorts and even with the prosthetic leg Dean noticed that some of the guys passing them were eyeing Mandi's breasts and butt.

"I saw that," Mandi said as they got to the deli and headed inside. When Dean gave her an honestly innocent look, she grinned. "You were totally checking out my ass."

Dean grinned at his girlfriend and chuckled as they went up to the counter to order their sandwiches. Once out on the patio, he put his crutches aside and looked at Mandi as she did the same. Her hair had grown back and was now about 8 inches long and had a curly frizziness to it that that annoyed her, but Dean thought just made her even more beautiful.

"You know… I've never felt more in love with any other girl than I do with you," Dean said, giving Mandi a smile. "Sometimes I think you pretty much saved my life after I got busted up last year."

Mandi put a hand on Dean's arm and gave him a light squeeze. "Hey, you needed a friend and I was happy to be there. And I love you, too, Dean."

Dean felt his mouth go dry and he hoped what he was about to do wasn't too cheesy. Seeing one of the deli employees coming with the sandwiches, he gave the guy a slight nod and surreptitiously slipped a hand into his pocket to pull out the small jewelry box, keeping it under the table for a moment.

"The Muffa-leo for you," the guy said, placing one basket in front of Dean. Turning to Mandi, he smiled as he said, "And the 'Will you marry me, Mandi' for you."

Mandi started to give the guy a polite smile, but his words had just sunk in and she did a double take. "Wait, the… the what?" Looking from the deli guy to Dean, Mandi felt her jaw drop as she saw her boyfriend holding out tiny box containing a silver and diamond ring. "Dean…" she breathed, not knowing what else to say.

"Amanda Joanna Allard… will you be my wife?" Dean said, taking Mani's right hand in his left while holding the ring in his right hand.

Tears fell down Mandi's cheeks and she beamed with joy as she nodded. "Yes. Yes, I will!"

The rest of the customers cheered and applauded as Dean slid the ring of his girl's finger and leaned forward to kiss her. When they parted, Dean couldn't remember a single time when he'd been happier than at that very moment.

A/N: Next chapter, Bobby, Ellen, and Jo show up and Dean asks a favor of another old friend.