10

Where Are You Tonight?

Dean hadn't let Baby go. Even now as they got out of the Bronco and headed into Bobby's he refused to loosen his grip on her. She kept her hands firmly clasped around his neck, her face in his shirt, still trembling.

When Sam opened the front door for them he headed straight for the stairs.

"Dean what the-?" Bobby began to ask. Dean ignored him and continued upstairs.

"Ask Sam!" He called back.

"Sam, what the hell happened?" That was all Dean heard before distance made the voices fade into a dull buzz.

"D-Dean," Baby said weakly. "D-Dean, I'm gonna backfire." It wasn't until Dean saw the green tint to her skin and the beads of sweat on her forehead did he understand what she meant. He darted to the bathroom.

He held her hair back as her stomach heaved. After who knows how long she stopped, paled and clammy. She rinsed her mouth and spat in the sink without looking at him, resting her hands on either side of it, letting her head hang.

"Baby..?" He said quietly.

"I'm tired, Dean." She said, her voice hoarse. Je reached out and cautiously touched her shoulder/ She turned, tears in her iridescent eyes. She leaned against his chest again. She never felt safer anywhere else. The light sound of his heart, the warmth of his skin through the soft fabric of hid T-shirt, and his strong arms holding her so tightly and so gently at the same time, she felt as if nothing could touch her in those moments.

She felt herself being lifted from the ground. Moments later Dean sat her down on a bed and knelt in front her. He gingerly thumbed the bruise on her cheek, anger flaring instantly in his eyes. He tilted her head and carefully traced the small cut on her neck. She winced at the memory.

"I'm sorry," He said, not meeting her eyes. "This was my fault." She shook her head and cupped his face in her hands.

"Don't," She said. "I went out there on my own. I should've been more careful.

"Why were you out there?" He asked, sitting next to her. Embarrassed, she told him everything up until he came in.

"…It was probably stupid to think that guy was…" Dean shook his head.

"No," He said. "I thought the same thing. Either that or he had serious issues."

"Is that why you came out there?" She asked.

"No, I came out there 'cause I saw those guys go outside after you." He said. She flushed and looked at the floor, past humiliated.

"You saw me?"

"Yeah. And I got worried after a minute," He pushed her hair out of her face. "God, you scared me. When I came around that corner and saw them…and you…I wanted to rip 'em all apart. With my bare hands. I could almost…" His jaw clenched and his face flushed in anger.

"It wouldn't have been worth it." Baby whispered. He looked up at her, his eyes sad yet fierce.

"Nobody messes with my baby. You should know that by now." He said, voice low. She nodded. She knew that if someone so much as looked at her the wrong way they'd have a serious limp thereafter. But that was when she was made of metal. When she couldn't move on her own when she wanted. It was different now. Everything was different now.

"I'm sorry," Baby said. "All I've done is cause you trouble and pain," She touched his cheek. "And that is the last thing I ever wanted to do. It would have been so much better if I had just stayed a car." She looked at the floor.

"Please, don't say that," Dean said. He kissed her. "Don't ever say that." She leaned against him, closing her eyes.

"Why would he do this? Why would he make us feel like this?" She asked.

"Because he's a dick." Dean said bluntly. He lied down and pulled her with him.

"I only have two more days. Just two." She said tearfully.

"Then we'd better find him and beg for more time." Dean said, turning his anguished eyes away from her.

"You think he'll listen?"

"He might if there's a steak at his throat." He growled.

"How are we gonna find him?" She asked. Dean sighed.

"Follow his trail of assholes. Obviously that Johnson chick was a bitch. But she's alive. Maybe some of the other owners have died. Hell, maybe they were assholes too." He said.

"You're not an asshole." Baby defended. Dean snickered.

"Not to you. Other people would say otherwise." He said.

"That, and the Trickster doesn't like you." She said pointedly. He caressed her cheek, the silence lasting between them.

"I will find a way to keep you human. I will if it kills me." He said, breaking the stillness.

"I'll still be your car, Dean." She said. Even though it brought her to tears to think about she tried to be optimistic, for his sake. He hugged her closer to him.

"I can't hold a car, can I?" He asked, his voice so soft she could barely hear it.

"We'll figure this out, Dean." She promised.

"I hope so."

She was asleep less than an hour later. He however, couldn't sleep. He spent the majority of the night watching her sleep, unable to think that she'd be gone in forty eight hours. Or that he had almost lost her tonight.

It was luck that he had that other gun, nothing more. It was luck that he hit that guy in the back of the head and not her, nothing more. Thoughts invaded his mind. Terrible ones he tried to push away. What if he had been too late? What is he had missed?

"But you didn't. You got there in time. She's fine, look at her, she's fine."

You can't see that bruise on her face? Or that cut on her neck?!

"It could have been worse. She could've been raped, or hell, they could have killed her!"

I should've killed all of 'em. Slow…Real slow. Like-

"Like you used to all the time? Like you did to Alastair, hm?"

Shut the hell up.

"'Cause you like doing it, don't you? You like slicing people up, making them scream until they don't even have a voice anymore."

"Shut up!"

"Like the first woman you cut into. She was so scared. And she begged and begged for you to stop for days. But you didn't. You kept goin' with a smile on your face."

"Shut UP!"

"Slicing and dicing her just like Alastair told you to. Just like Alastair did to you."

"Please! I said I was sorry, please!"

"You think that makes up for it? How about those dozens of other people you did it to? You don't deserve to be alive, hell you don't deserve her! You deserve to be in your spot in Hell. Where you belong."

"Please!"

"Right back on that rack. Back with all that pain and suffering. All those unimaginable things right back…"

And just like that he was there. Back in the pain and the bloodthirsty demons. Back in the baking red light and freezing chains.

"PLEASE! NO, NO PLEASE!"

"Dean, Dean!" The voice snapped him back into reality. His eyes opened and gray lights stared back at him.

"Shh…" Baby said, stroking his face. "You alright?" She asked.

"Yeah," He said, his trembling voice unconvincing. "Sorry I woke you up."

"Don't be," She said. There was another long silence. "Where were you just now?" He shut his eyes and swallowed, making the tears go away.

"Somewhere you don't need to worry about." He said quietly. She understood then. She continued to caress his face.

"Why can't all of this just go away? Why can't it just be me and you…forever?" She asked. He didn't have an answer for that. He fell asleep what felt like hours later with her warm hand on his face, praying that the little sleep he would get would be dream free.

--More soon!--