Chapter 12: Thank You

By the time Savannah had woken up, the sun was blazing in through the drawn curtains of the motel. She rolled over, inhaling sharply as the first wave of pain rolled through her like lightening. The room was too quiet and she opened one eye sluggishly to grab the paper with Dean's handwriting scribbled on it.

"Vannie, The girl's out of her coma. Went to go check it out. We'll be back soon. Bobby says to call when you get up . STAY PUT."

She threw it back on the small table and noticed that they'd set everything up for her already. A pitcher of water, a bag of food, the remote and her cell all sat next to each other and she cracked as much of a smile as she could with her swollen face. She rolled onto her back and reached for the phone, dialing Bobby's number with one hand.

"Mornin' there, sunshine. How ya feelin'?" Bobby said, his tone suspiciously cheerful. She groaned and shifted herself more into the bed.

"Like I got my ass handed to me." She mumbled, tenderly touching a hand to her face. Bobby let out a chuckle and she was beginning to wonder if he was drunk.

"Well, that happens when you try and date a demon. Speaking of which, the boys tell me that you two had quite the conversation." Bobby said, his voice now serious. Of course Dean would tell Bobby about their conversation last night. Bobby knew everything, whether he wanted to or not.

"Yeah. He told me my dad sold his soul to keep me alive after my mom got hit by that drunk driver." She recapped as she popped more Advil. She eyed down the food, knowing she should probably make herself eat at some point. The phone rustled as Bobby shifted it.

"Hate to say it, but he wasn't lying." Bobby said regretfully. Savannah closed her eyes, fighting the emotions as they seeped through her. She'd been searching for answers her whole life, and now she didn't like what she'd found. Maybe some questions were better left unanswered after all.

"He shouldn't have done that." She said finally, struggling to keep her composure.

"He loved you, kid. That's all you need to remember." Bobby said affectionately and Savannah swallowed hard.

"Yeah. I know he did." She whispered, wiping away the tears that were forming in her eyes. She was starting to wish one of the boys had stayed behind now. She could use the company. It was quiet for a minute and she cleared her throat, doing her best to calm herself.

"So, what's up with the case then?" She asked and she could hear Bobby shuffle some papers around.

"According to the police, the girl woke up out of her coma at 9 this morning." He said, sounding like he was reading off of something. Savannah glanced at the clock that told her it was 11:35 am.

"Her story is the same as the others. Said she was attacked by an old lady." Bobby continued and this case was really beginning to piss her off. Usually, their cases were simple. A vengeful spirit, maybe a vampire or even a demon, but this? This wasn't anything they'd ever seen before. She knew this was bad when even Bobby didn't have a clue. Bobby knew everything! Savannah sighed in frustration.

"Goddamnit! What the hell is this thing?" She said a little too enthusiastically. She gasped at the pain in her side as the warm trickle of blood pooled underneath her shirt.

"Van? Ya alright?" Bobby's voice shrank to blatant concern and she gritted her teeth against the pain of the wound she'd just reopened before answering.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just moved too quickly, that's all." She said, doing her best to keep the throbbing ache from tainting her words.

"Take it easy now, Van. The boys will be back soon." Bobby fussed, and she wished that she was at his house right now. Like the boys, Bobby was also a permanent fixture in her ever changing world. She knew he fretted about them when they weren't there. She promised to take care of herself as the conversation ended. Immediately, she called Dean. She hated being left behind like this. She felt helpless and she hoped that there was some way she could be useful in all of this.

"Hey. How're you feeling?" Dean answered halfway through the first ring. If Savannah knew Dean, he'd been glancing at his phone since they left waiting for her to call. He couldn't help it, worrying was just in his nature.

"I'm fine, Dean. I haven't even gotten out of bed yet." She reassured him, starting to count the tiles on the ceiling. She was up to 11 before he disrupted her.

"Good. Stay that way. Sammy and I are on our way back now." He said before he hung up. She threw the phone beside her and started flipping through the channels on the TV. The boredom was already starting to creep up on her and she wondered how long she would be stuck here. She sighed after a few minutes, pulling the blankets back and gingerly making her way to the mirror that hung next to the TV. She ignored the fact that her face looked like she'd gone up against Muhammad Ali and lost. She grunted as she lifted up her shirt to reveal the real damage. Her stomach was more carved up than a Sunday ham and she gasped at the sight of it. It was red, and angry and the ache was enough to make her vision fuzzy again. She found the gash that had popped open, the blood dripping down her stomach at a snail's pace. She shuffled awkwardly into the bathroom and started cleaning herself up just as the boys spilled into the room.

"Savannah?!" She heard Dean call out panicked before she had a chance to talk. She cut off the water and emerged behind them, her steps labored.

"Calm yourself. I'm right here." She said, managing a slight smile. Dean's face relaxed and Savannah let Sam clean and bandage her wounds, doing her best not to let the pain show. They already looked exhausted and she didn't want them worrying about her on top of everything else. She noticed the bags underneath of both their eyes. She wondered how long they'd been up last night. Dean ushered her back to bed and she grabbed the sleeve of his jacket before he turned away.

"I just wanted to thank you…both of you. For saving my ass. You were right and I should have listened." She admitted, watching as the boys traded absolving looks before they gave her a tender smile.

"You don't have to thank us, you would have done the same thing. That's what family's for." Dean said nonchalantly. Savannah smiled slightly at Dean's words. It was clear to anyone who saw the three of them that they were family in the truest form. Savannah had never felt like an outsider growing up with the Winchesters. John had done his best to keep her included in everything the boys had done and she could never repay him for that. Savannah had to admit, she hadn't been a fan of how Dean was forced to be a solider, or how Sammy was constantly kept in the dark about what John really did. But she always kept her mouth closed on the subject. She loved John almost as much as Sam and Dean. She couldn't imagine where she would have ended up if he hadn't taken her in all those years ago. He had always looked at her like she was one of his own and she knew that "Thank you" would never even come close. The image of his face as he walked into Dean's hospital room would forever be burned into her memory. Whether she would admit it or not, she knew she'd lost a father that day too. Those wounds were still fresh in her memory and she knew they weren't healing anytime soon. All they had was each other now. She cast a look at the boys, both of them happily munching away at food as they argued over something that probably didn't matter. They were both happy, for the first time in a while and Savannah wondered what life would be like without them. It was something she knew she didn't ever want to find out. Her thoughts slipped back to Derrick, and his mention of Yellow Eyes. The way he'd talked about "collecting his creations" made it sound like Sammy wasn't the only one with visions. She didn't know what he was planning, or what exactly Derrick had been talking about, but she knew one thing for sure; if anything happened to Sam, those demons better hope that Savannah found them before Dean. It was Dean's sole purpose in life to keep Sam safe and he would make sure that happened come hell or high water. Dean would do anything to make sure Sam was okay. He loved his brother more than anything on the planet, pie included. And that was saying something, because Dean Winchester loved his pie.