Dean pulled over 100 feet north of the 45th parallel, onto the wooded shoulder of the country road. He got out of the car – looked at the plants – clueless.
"Cas please," Sam whispered, cradling Brinn's shaking body and watching his brother search in vain.
The angel appeared instantly and Sam watched him point at something growing low on the ground, watched his brother kneel and pick some, and felt the cold air as Dean opened the back door.
"We've got to get her to swallow this and keep it down for fifteen minutes," Dean said, "there's a house two blocks east of here – abandoned but safe – Cas checked it out for us. Wake her up get this in her and I'll start driving."
XXXXXXX
Fifteen minutes didn't sound like a long time. That is until Sam realized just how much pain having food in her ravaged stomach would cause Brinn. She clung to him, sobbing, swallowing back the blood that rose in her throat, finally passing out as they pulled into the abandoned driveway.
Dean opened the door and Sam carried Brinn to the porch. It was covered – sheltered at least a bit – and there was a wooden bench that hadn't rotted out. He lay Brinn on her side, cradling her head in one big palm. Twelve minutes. She was still unconscious, her body completely imp. Thirteen. No change.
And then at 15 minutes – to the second – her eyes opened and she was retching again. But this time it wasn't blood. This was different. Green tinged bile that smelled like burning. This was a chance for her to actually detox. And – painful though it was – it only lasted an hour.
"She'll be fine now," Cas said, "weak and sick for a few days…but the fever should break within the next few days. Find a hotel where you can stay unnoticed and take good care of her."
And that's just what they did.
XXXXXX
Forty-eight hours later Sam woke up, disoriented, confused at the silence and the calm around him. Brinn slept in his arms. Her body still and her breathing even, her skin cool and dewed with a thin sheen of sweat. The fever had broken; the retching was done. She was safe.
XXXXXXX
Dean watched his little brother startle awake, seemingly unable to comprehend the clean, peaceful hotel room where they'd made camp. He watched Sam stroke Brinn's hair then lay back down beside her. And he wondered how he was going to shake Sam's mind from that beautiful girl they'd rescued.
