Trigger warnings: Rape (mentioned only)
Takes place one day after chapter one.
"Will she be alright, Doc?" Dean easily asked the fresh-faced man who clearly had just gotten out of medical school.
"You said you are her brother, right?" He nodded a confirmation and gestured for the doctor to go on. "Four broken ribs, a concussion that caused the seizure. She needed twelve stitches for the laceration on her cheek and three more where her nose ring was ripped out. Her ankle was sprained quite severely as well."
"Was she...ah, was she..?"
"Raped?" The doctor prompted. "Yes, and quite violently. I'll spare you the details, but whoever did it was brutal."
"Son of a fucking bitch," he swore violently, his fists clenched at his sides and the cords in his neck standing at attention.
The doctor's face softened; he let his air of clinical aloofness fade, and he put one hand on Dean's shoulder. "You can go in to see her know. We had to heavily medicate her, so she might not recognize you," he warned.
"Thanks, Doc." He strode quickly to the younger woman's room and peered through the door. She lay flat on her back, staring at the ceiling, her grey eyes wide and darting back and forth restlessly. Her lips were moving, too, murmuring what may have been a prayer.
He pushed through the door quietly as he could, the hinges squeaking. "Whosit?" she rasped, slurring her words.
"Dean."
"Wheresh…where's Sh…Sam?" Malachi's painkiller-filmed gaze lowered, past Dean, to her arm where the I.V. needle was inserted into a vein, a shock of her short, auburn hair falling into her face. "I hate bein' drugged."
"He's taking care of your car before the police get to it." After they had laid her in in the back seat of the Impala, she had resurfaced from her stupor long enough to tell them to get her weapons out of the trunk of her Bug; that and everything else that showed she was a Hunter.
"Thanks." She gave him a tremulous smile and shifted slightly in the bed, wincing when she jostled her ribs. "So y'told them I'm your sis'r?"
"You're Malory Anderson, and we're your older brothers Samuel and Daniel."
"Prepared for ev'ry sish…situashun. Thanks f' stoppin' f'me back there."
"No prob, kid." He shoved his hands in the pockets of his leather jacked and admitted awkwardly, "It was Sam's idea, actually. I didn't want to stop."
Mal laughed drowsily. "Hey, ya ne'er know. I coulda been a demon-posseshed persh…person. Better safe'n'sorry, eshpecially in our line of work."
"How did you become a hunter?" He instantly knew that was the wrong question to ask when her eyes darkened a shade and then began to glisten with unshed tears. "Never mind. Sorry I asked."
"My shish…sishter. She was possessed by a demon an' got herself killed. Older'n me by almosht ten years; I worshipped her. And she left me…"
"Damn. I'm sorry."
"My grandpa taught me how t'hunt," she continued in the same distant tone as before.
Sam chose that moment to walk through the door, snow melting into his hair, sticking it to his forehead and the nape of his neck. "I got everything out of your car," he announced, before noticing a single crystalline tear tracking down Malachi's cheek. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fuckin' great," she snapped. "Why wouldn't I be?" Mal tried to sit up, but only succeeded in ripping the tape and the I.V. needle from her arm. An alarm immediately began to sound from the monitor at the head of her bed. "Shit! Can y'get me out of here?"
"We just checked you in last night. You have broken ribs…"
"I fuckin' know! I have pain meds in my backpack- y'did grab that, Sh…Sam?" She smiled grimly when he nodded. "There'sh antibiotics in there too, an' that should be ev'rything I need." Blood dripped down her arm, staining the side of her hospital gown with a patch of bright crimson. "Get th'doctor," she ordered the brothers. "I'm checkin' out now."
"Hey, hey, wait a sec!" Sam exclaimed when Mal began to remove the blood pressure cuff from her upper arm.
"Why?" she asked simply.
"Can't you at least wait until most of the drugs clear out of your system? I don't want to be dragging a drugged girl around in my car…imagine how that would look if we got pulled over," Dean countered
"Wai'a'sec. You want me t'come with you?"
"The transmission's wrecked in your car, and me and Sam aren't just going to leave you here. Just check out tomorrow morning, and then we can get going."
"Dean, we just met her yesterday," Sam objected softly. "We don't even know her."
"I can hear ya, y'know," she muttered, the bed uttering a shrill whining as she raised the elevation so that she was sitting almost straight up. Her pastel blue hospital gown slid off one shoulder, showing the top edge of one of her tattoos.
"No disrespect, but we don't know you. You're not family."
"I'm no one'sh family, an' I don't intend on bein' part of yours. Familiesh are shitty." Mal chuckled icily.
"I never said anything about making you part of the family. Plus you can't check yourself out unless you have someone to give you a ride home." She started to interrupt Dean, but he help up his hand, a placating half smile twisting at his lips. "Look, all I wanna do is get you away from here and help you get back on your feet. You don't have a car anymore and you'll need some time to build up the money to buy a new one. Not to mention a place to stay."
"Fine. Whatever. But if y'fuckin' try anythin' I'll slit y'throat," she warned, and in spite of how drugged up and out of it she was, both Sam and Dean believed her. "No tricksh, y'hear?"
"No tricks," Dean agreed. "We'll just look after you until you can look after yourself."
Grudgingly she replied, "Thanksh. Both of you. I won't sh…stay with y'f'too long."
A nurse chose that moment to charge through the door, almost knocking into Dean. "Sorry it took so long for me to respond. We're kind of short staffed, what with the snow storm and all," she apologized, silencing the monitor with the push of one button. "What happened to your i.v.?"
"The drugs started wearing off and Mally didn't know where she was," Sam quickly explained, stepping to Mal's side and taking her hand, gentleness written in his very gestures. "It'll be okay, sis," he soothed.
"I hope so." As the nurse put the needle back into her arm, Malachi felt a disorienting rush as the analgesics hit her system and prickled almost with almost-pain before the sweet numbness, and she reflexively closed her eyes when the ceiling started to spin. Her breath escaped in a soft gasp and she slid into the oblivion of drugged sleep.
Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed chapter 2! I want to give a special shout-out to Lorna Roxen for reviewing Chapter 1. Please send a review my way whether you enjoyed it or not. Thanks a million!
