Dean had his arms around Nicole, and lifted her up to stand. She tried to take a step though and lurched with a yelp. "Where'd you get hit?"

"My leg. It didn't hit it, just-ah!" She clenched her teeth again when she tried to put weight on it. Shots fired behind them, and Dean ducked when he felt bullets fly by him, swearing quietly.

"Stay down." He lowered Nicole back to the ground, then stood straight and aimed with one eye at the front of the house. He fired several rounds rapidly, until the woman sagged, and dropped. He waited a second, but she didn't get up. Satisfied, Dean pulled one of Nicole's arms around his shoulders and lifted her up once more.

"Dean!" Sam came running over to them. "There's another person, he's in the truck."

Dean glanced over at the old vehicle and saw a figure inside, right when the thing roared to life. "Shit." The truck started backing up, and pulled around to face them. "God damnit, he's gonna try to hit us." The older brother didn't hesitate as he fired another couple rounds at the truck, for distraction, and then scooped Nicole up into his arms, cradling her. "Can you keep him busy while I get her in the car?"

Sam nodded, cocking the shot gun as the truck started to move. He fired twice at the windshield, spiderwebs spattering across it until he heard a cry, and the truck lurched. It slowed, and turned to drive within feet of him. Sam ran with the vehicle, and wrenched open the door, grabbing ahold of the man inside and tearing him out. The man fell to the ground and rolled, tripping Sam and bringing him down as well. His long legs and arms got tangled up with the attacker, and he struck out blindly, hitting flesh only a few times. A fist connected with his own face and he grunted, before pushing himself away and jumping to his feet. The young man faced his attacker, pulling out the small knife he had with him. They circled each other for a moment, until Sam lunged at the man. The metal in his hand bit into flesh and the man yelped, before punching Sam in the side of head hard enough to daze him for a second. The attacker pulled Sam forward, slamming him into the stalled truck, and the young Winchester tasted the bitterness of blood in his mouth. He grunted as a fist collided with his ribs, then a foot, as he sunk closer to the ground.

Dean emerged from the trees just in time to see his little brother get thrown at the truck. His strong legs carried him quickly down to the fight, and he grasped the shoulder of the savage man just as Sam sunk completely to the ground. The older man swung hard, knocking the other backwards, and then pulled him forward to jam his knee into the stranger's stomach. Dean pulled the man up again, and punched him once, twice, three times, and the man sunk to the ground. Two kicks to the man's gut, and Dean was finally satisfied. He sighed and reached down to pull his younger brother back to his feet, brushing dirt off him.

"You alright?"

Sam coughed and nodded, a trickle of blood running down his chin. He straightened up, then turned with his brother as a voice came from behind them.

"Oh, come on!" Dean complained, seeing yet another crazy person coming out of the house. It was a young woman, and she looked frightened for a moment, before turning around and then coming back out with a gun in each hand. "Shit!" The older brother swore as they both jumped behind the tattered vehicle, gun shots pattering around them. Dean reached into his jacket and pulled out the .45 Sam had given him earlier. "Where's the shot gun?"

Sam looked around, and then spotted it a couple yards away. "There." He nodded towards it.

"Alright. Go on three." Sam nodded, watching his brother carefully. "One....two......three." Dean jumped up and fired repeatedly at the woman, as Sam scrambled out from behind their shield to grab the weapon. His hands closed over it and he jumped towards the truck as gun shots rang out towards him. He hit the ground with a roll, and landed next to Dean, panting.

"Got it."

Dean nodded. "Again, on three, you go up and I go over." Sam gripped the gun as his brother counted off again. "One...two....three." Dean rolled so that he was crouched just a couple inches from the truck, and fired several rounds at the woman on the porch. Sam jumped up and aimed, firing three times before he lowered himself a couple inches, just in case. His brother continued to fire, until his body jerked back as he cried out.

"Dean!"

"I'm fine, Sam!" Dean snapped, turning back to the porch and firing again. Sam stood straighter and took careful aim before pulling the trigger two more times, and satisfyingly dropping the woman. The air rang with the silence then, and Dean glanced up at his little brother, breathing heavily. Sam glanced down at him as well, and after a hesitant moment, they smiled. Sam reached down a hand and pulled Dean to his feet, looking around.

"Is that all of them?"

"God, I hope so. Over-populated bastards." Dean grumbled, already starting back to Nicole and the Impala, picking up Sam's dismissed .45 and knife along the way.

"Are you okay?" Sam saw the way his brother favored his left arm.

"Fine. Just got knicked, that's all."

"Should we get you to a hospital? Y'know, just in case-"

"No, no hospital. Just some simple patching up." The deep voice paused, then hesitantly continued. "Nicole might need a hospital though."

"How is she?"

"I'm not sure; I haven't really looked yet." Sam nodded, and they approached the car. "Here, do you mind putting these away?" Dean held up the weapons in his arms. Sam took them easily, and rested them on the ground as he unlocked the trunk and arsenal. While his brother was busy, Dean went over to a few trees and crouched down to where Nicole was sitting. "Hey, how're you holding up?"

"Still breathin'." Nicole winced, holding her leg.

Dean smiled slightly and lifted her up into his arms again. He carried her back to the Impala, and gestured for Sam to open the car door. Once he had, Dean carefully rested her on the back seats, then reached in towards her. "Let me see."

"It's fine."

The green eyes stared at her for a long moment, until she sighed and relaxed. He nodded and gently cradled her leg, carefully pulling up the bloody jean. Nicole winced and hissed, but Dean was gentle as he revealed the torn skin. The bullet hadn't hit her exactly, just skimmed her leg, but deep enough to be serious. The Hunter wiped away some of the dark blood with his thumb, eyeing the tear through the flesh. "You're gonna need stitches."

Nicole sighed and dropped her head back against the seat. "Great."

He smiled slightly. "You'll live though."

"Even with you dumping me by some trees while you go back to save your brother's ass, eh? Ain't that a relief."

"Hey, if you wanted to be treated like royalty and safely packed in the car, fine. But Sammy wouldn't have made it, and neither would we."

"Yeah, I know. Kidding."

He smiled slightly. "I know."

She lifted her head up again, eyebrows furrowing. "What about you? What happened to your arm?"

Dean glanced down at his shoulder and saw his jacket was bloody. "Oh I'm fine, I just got knicked. I can fix this myself."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." He grinned, flashing his straight teeth. "You're not worried about me, are you?"

"Not really." Nicole laid down again, closing her eyes. "Now let's go so my leg will stop burning."

"Whatever." Dean still smiled, but shut the car door and jumped in the driver's seat as Sam slid into passenger.

"Hey, do you want me to drive? With your arm?" Sam suggested, but got a sharp glare from his brother. "Or not." He glanced behind himself. "Is your leg okay?"

"Yeah, just bleeding a bit."

"Careful with the upholstery, by the way." Dean commented, olive-colored gaze flicking to the reviewmirror.

"Whatever, man."

Wyoming Medical Center; Casper, Wyoming

10:13 PM

Nicole woke up with a gasp, and then coughed at the taste of the air. The hospital always had a weird smell.

"Hey, are you alright?" Sam stood up from a chair sitting against the wall, and walked over to her bed.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." She sat up straighter, clearing her eyes of sleep. She'd slept. And no nightmares. Maybe being drugged had it's good points. "How long have I been out?"

"A few hours. The doctors put you under for the stitches, and you just stayed for a bit I guess."

Nicole pushed away some of the blanket on top of her, and pulled up the edge of the hospital gown, revealing the sensitive stitching across her calf. "Ugh. Needles." She covered it back up and cracked her neck tiredly. "Where's your brother?"

"Getting something to eat, I think. He's been sitting here the whole time you've been out. I just made him leave." The young man smiled gently.

"Huh. So what is gonna happen to those freaks back at their place?"

After a quick confused glance, Sam understood what she meant. "Oh, right. I sent in a short, anonymous tip to the police about a couple of dead bodies and some other weird shit at that location. The police arrived, and then after they found out about Thomas, they tracked you here. Since you were out, they talked to Dean and I, and we gave them our story."

"Which is?"

"We're Mark and Nathan Hall, a couple friends of yours, and we've all been together for the past few days, on a short road trip. We came out of a bar earlier and you slipped, then cut your leg on some broken glass." Nicole raised her eyebrows and Sam just shrugged. "It'll do." He let loose a heavy sigh and ran his fingers through his shaggy brown hair, soft eyes tired. "You'll probably get a call from the police though, because of your brother."

Nicole nodded soberly. "To I.D. him?"

"Yeah."

"Great. So do you guys have plans after this? What about that "family business" you were up to?"

"Uh, yeah. That's an ongoing thing."

She nodded again, then shifted in the bed. "Is it about that Hunting stuff?" Sam visibly stiffened. "Dean mentioned it to me, but I figured he was crazy." She paused. "But truth is, other than that, he seems pretty damn sane. So I kinda have to wonder."

"Uhm," The tall man rubbed the back of his neck in unease. "Yeah, it's about that."

"And you do really..'hunt' these creatures and spirits and shit?"

"Yeah."

"You know you sound insane?"

"Trust me, you're not the first person to say that."

Nicole half smiled. "I didn't think so. So what does any of that have to do with family business? Or was that just bullshit?"

"No, we're actually, uh, looking for our dad. He was out hunting a while back and disappeared for a while. Recently we've gotten a phone call and a few coordinates to hunts, but otherwise nothing."

"Do you think he's dead?"

Sam winced slightly at the bluntness of her question. "We don't know."

"You don't know or you don't want to know?"

"We don't know." He repeated, meeting her gaze evenly.

Dean walked in then, with a cup of coffee in his hand. "Hey. You're up." He flashed Nicole a quick smile and she smiled slightly in return.

"Yeah."

"How're you feeling?"

"Good enough, I suppose."

He nodded. "That's good."

They both lapsed into an awkward silence then, until Sam cleared his throat. "Uhm, I'm gonna go get something to drink. I'll let you two alone." He forced a smile and quickly left.

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Sorry about the rather 'lame-ness' of this chapter's ending! I didn't originally intend for the chapter to end at this part, but if I kept going as I'd planned, the chapter would be almost annoyingly-lengthy. So I cut it just about in the middle, and the next chapter will pick right up from here :)