Sam looked up from his laptop as Dean entered their hotel room. "Anything?"
Dean held up a finger to silence his brother, and concluded his phone conversation with short, curt sentences.
"All right. Yeah. 'Kay, we'll see you in a bit. Thanks, Bobby."
"You called him?" Sam asked, completely shocked that Dean had done so.
"I had to," Dean said, defending himself. "Hell, it's been two freakin' days, and we still haven't seen, or heard from Kenna. So, Bobby's on his way right now…and I think he's probably gonna kill us as soon as he gets here."
Dean tossed his phone on Sam's bed, and turned to collapse on his own with a heavy sigh. "He blames us for losing her."
"Well, why wouldn't he, Dean?" Sam accused. "He figured that Kenna would be safe with us, but now she's God-knows-where, wearing nothing but a towel."
Dean lifted his head from the mattress. "Nothing but a towel?"
Sam rolled his eyes. "I found a guy who was driving by the hotel on his way home from work the other night. He said he saw a blonde, soaking wet woman, wearing only a towel, walking into oncoming traffic."
"And you think it was Kenna?" Dean scoffed. "Sorry, Sammy, but the idea of her going outside, sporting nothing but a towel doesn't really sound like her."
"The guy said that she was moving slowly, deliberately, almost like she was in a trance," Sam explained. "Sounds a little like our kinda deal."
Dean closed his weary eyes, trying to fight off an oncoming wave of sleep, when his cell phone began to ring.
"Sam?" he grunted, silently directing his brother to answer his phone for him. Sam did as he was told and immediately took the call.
"Hello?"
On the other end, Bobby spoke only three words.
"I found her."
~~~~~*****~~~~~
"Turn left up here," Sam commanded, reading off the directions he'd gotten from Bobby earlier. Dean hit the breaks and made a hard left, wasting no time in meeting up with Bobby and finding McKenna.
"So what'd Bobby say exactly?" he asked, again.
"He said he got a call from another hunter about thirty minutes away, saying he'd seen a girl matching McKenna's description," Sam explained. "She'd wandered onto his property, and kept on going. He looked, but couldn't find her after that."
"Well," Dean breathed. "We will."
He gunned the engine, and hurried on, hoping every mile would bring them that much closer to finding Kenna alive.
Dean slammed on his breaks when he saw Bobby's car, and the Impala skidded on the gravel road for a moment before finally coming to a stop. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket as he and Sam climbed out of the car. He dialed a number, but when he heard Bobby screaming their names, he immediately closed his phone again.
"Bobby?" Sam shouted, hoping his voice would carry over, what sounded like a nearby, rushing river.
"Boys, get down here, quick!" Bobby screamed, and they instantly took off down a steep embankment on the other side of the gravel road. They nearly slipped the whole way down, but it at least managed to get them there quicker.
Bobby was at the bottom of the riverbed, trying to push past a wall of thorns and briars, using only his bare hands.
Sam reached him first, and pulled him back from the impossible deed. He pulled off his jacket and wrapped it around Bobby's bleeding hands. Even despite the apparent pain he was obviously in, Bobby didn't even try to stop himself from barking out a few orders. "Get your knives out and start cutting through this crap, boys."
Sam and Dean looked at him for a moment, and Bobby exploded. "Look through the thorns, dammit! I can just make out her hair. Half her body's submerged in that river, and if we don't get her out now, she going to drown!"
The boys could see McKenna, now that Bobby had pointed her out, and they immediately set to work in cutting in there, and getting her out. Dean got through the heavy briar patch first, and reached McKenna in only a matter of seconds.
He slipped off his coat and placed it around her freezing, half naked body, carefully supporting her head in his hands. He pulled her into his chest, hoping the tiny effort would begin to warm her.
"Kenna, if you can hear me, baby, I promise, I'm not trying to cop a feel," he murmured, softly. She moaned and her head rolled to one side at the sound of his voice, partly acknowledging that she could hear him.
"Hey, that's my girl," he chuckled. "Just stay with me, okay? I got you."
He slipped one arm under her knees, one under the back of her neck, and lifted her up, out of the river. Sam and Bobby held back the thorns, and Dean slid through with her as carefully as he could.
"Sammy, start the car, and turn on the heater," He commanded. "Bobby, call the nearest hospital and let 'em know we're on our way."
He tucked the top of McKenna's head beneath his chin, and pulled her close.
"All right, sweetheart, Let's get you the hell outta here."
~~~~~*****~~~~~
Eight hours later, McKenna was still unconscious, but she was also safe, warm, and alive. Dean had sent Sam and Bobby home with the promise that he stayed vigil, by her bedside until she finally woke up. By now, his eyelids were growing heavy, and he was struggling to stay awake.
But, a sudden, strangled cry, instantly woke him up,.
"Kenna?" he whispered, placing a gentle, comforting hand on her right arm.
Her head turned toward him, but she didn't open her eyes. She moaned in obvious discomfort as a deep frown settled across her brow. A harsh sob tore from her lips as her body began to buck and writhe on the mattress.
"Kenna, hey, it's okay," Dean whispered. "It's okay, wake up."
She continued to move, her body eventually beginning to whip back and forth, her arms and legs flailing. Dean stood to his feet, and tried to hold her down. If he didn't get her calmed down, and fast, she'd rip her IV out, and really end up hurting herself.
She was probably smack-dab in the middle of one of her nightmares, and he didn't want to call for a nurse yet. He didn't want her sedated.
Not now. Not like this.
McKenna sat up in bed, and her eyes snapped open. They settled on Dean, but she didn't seem to recognize him, right away.
"It's okay, Kenna. It's me! It's me!" he finally shouted. "Stop, it's me. It's me! It's Dean!"
Her clouded vision seemed to clear at the sound of his name, and she finally looked him in the eye. Her body's movements stilled, but she remained stiff and rigid beneath his grasp. Dean slightly softened his grip on her, but didn't let her go.
McKenna's chest heaved with every breath she took, but she closed her eyes, and tried to relax, fully intent on just trying to breathe.
"Dean?" she whimpered.
"Yeah," he smiled, softly. "Yeah, I'm here. You're okay, now. You're safe."
She almost returned his smile for a moment before her chin began to tremble, and tears started to flow. She leaned forward and allowed her shaken body to collapse into his arms.
"It's okay, Kenna. It's all right. Everything's gonna be all right, now," he whispered, softly into her tangled hair. "Where the hell have you been, woman?"
"I don't know," McKenna chuckled, weakly. "But I think I kinda missed you."