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Chapter 11:
A/N: So here we are, nearing the end. I'm thinking probably one more chapter and then maybe an epilogue depending on how well I can wrap things up in the next chapter. Thanks to my friend and beta TMATEOTB for her patience and encouragement as I inundate her with half a dozen chapters from half a dozen different stories at a time. You should be sainted my friend. All remaining errors are my own.
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I jerked awake to a gentle hand on my shoulder.
"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. How ya feeling?"
Confused, I blinked up at where Dean was knelt beside me. How had he managed to get out of the sleeping bag without waking me? Dawn had come and gone while I apparently slept deeper than I ever had. That thought alone scared the shit out of me.
Seeing my confusion, Dean smirked down at me. "No, you're not slipping - you had a hell of a day and you're exhausted. Besides, I can be stealthy when I have to be,"
Smartass.
I slid out from under the outcrop toward him and sat up carefully though I couldn't hide a flinch as my body protested. Everything still hurt, but I did feel better for having slept. When Dean reached out to help me up I shrugged him off before he could touch me. As I got my feet under me to stand, though, his jaw clenched - without a word, he grabbed my arms and helped pull me up. I winced as my hip protested painfully and I could see his sharp eyes assessing the state I was in. It was obvious he wanted to say something, but I wasn't sure he even knew what to say at that point.
I wished I could hide the limp as I made my way to where everything but the sleeping bag was piled. I eased myself down and started to reach for my pack. Out of nowhere, Dean produced a steaming cup of coffee. While I was still trying to piece together my shattered wits to ask where the hell he'd gotten it, he dropped a bag of the jerky into my lap.
"Bon appetit!" he beamed sarcastically, then turned to roll up the sleeping bag.
I tried to muster up a glare, but ended up laughing and calling him an asshole instead. I had to grudgingly admit that he had won that round in our little battle of the wills. He had wanted me to eat the jerky instead of the dog food in the first place and, now that I had shifted back to human, I had to.
"You're just mad you lost," Dean gloated.
I snorted, "Don't get used to it there chuckles."
We both sobered as I savored my coffee and he finished hooking the sleeping bag to the pack.
"Has it been long enough for you to shift again?" He watched me carefully, undoubtedly watching for signs of a lie.
I nodded and changed the subject as I munched on some jerky. "We don't really know what we are getting into here. Maybe we should come up with a plan."
Dean shook his head, "We don't know what we are getting into, that's just the problem. We could waste time coming up with plans that may or may not work, or we can just get moving, figure out what we are up against and come up with something then."
I didn't like the idea of running in blind, but I knew Dean didn't either. The choice had been taken from us at the start. Now all we could do is make the best of the situation we had found ourselves in.
"Let's have another quick look at the maps and see if they show any place nearby where a large number of people can hide while holding someone Sam's size captive," Dean said, pulling them out of the zipper baggies they were packed in.
As he was laying them out I had an idea. I wasn't sure it was a good one, or what he would say, so I didn't voice it.
I wasn't quite sure what I even thought of it. It wasn't something I had ever tried before.
I had always used my empathic ability on targets who were nearby to know what they were feeling. I could use my gift to help calm or soothe, or I could use it to influence their emotions in other ways.
I had never tried to reach out for anyone who was farther away, but that did not mean I couldn't. Theoretically at least. I knew I still had to shift, which would take a huge amount of energy. I had avoided using my empathic gift through this ordeal, worried it would deplete my reserves too far to allow me to shift. I figured it would be worth the effort to at least try since we were hopefully getting close. If I could reach out and feel where Sam was, it would take a lot of the guesswork out.
Hopefully that was all it would take out.
Dean was intent on the maps. I took a breath and closed my eyes. I was exhausted still, it was so hard to focus the way I needed to. Even pushing past the pain to find that piece of myself was grueling. I felt my body start to shake, a fine tremor, and tuned it out.
I could feel Dean's worry - could finally see that it wasn't just Sam he was worried about. I put that in the box with everything else I had filed away for future contemplation and reached farther out. I thought of Sam, of his distinctive energy pattern. I cast the empathic net as far as I could, trying to home in on that spark. If I could just reach far enough to feel him, we would at least have a direction to head in.
Suddenly I felt like someone had stuck a knife between my eyes. The pain was so bad it took my breath away, robbed me of my concentration.
As I opened my eyes, I became simultaneously aware that Dean's hands were gripping my biceps tightly and there was blood running from my nose.
"What the hell?" he barked out as he grabbed the collar of the flannel I was still wearing and pressed it to my nose. I closed my eyes and he gave me a gentle shake with the hand still holding my arm, "No passing out on me here. What the hell just happened?"
I opened my eyes again, but couldn't bring myself to look at him. "It was nothing." I sounded like I had a head cold with my nose blocked off the way it was. I pulled away and swiped at my face, hoping the bleeding had stopped.
"Yeah, that looks like nothing to me," he growled sarcastically.
I flinched, realizing I was still open to his emotions. I took a breath and closed that off again.
"I thought maybe if he was close enough I could reach out for him, but I'd never tried it on someone who wasn't nearby before. Did you find anything on the maps?"
I couldn't bring myself to look him in the eye, but watched him from the corner of mine. Dean stared at me hard for a moment and I could see him adding a box to the list for our "talk" later.
"I had to try."
Dean sighed. "I know you did. If you're done bleeding all over the place again, I think I may have found something."
He pulled the maps over in front of us and showed me a couple locations that had caught his attention while I tried to pull myself together again. It felt like time was running out and we were both itching to get moving.
