So I know that last chapter was a big one in the overall plot of the story, so I hope that you'll still be interested. Please keep reading!

-Sparky

*Disclaimer*

I do not own anything in the Supernatural universe, only Sarah.

Sarah had fallen asleep in the Impala shortly after her and the boys left the motel. They hadn't even checked out; Sam had grabbed all of the bags while Dean picked up Sarah, her neck a vibrant red and deep circles beginning to form under her eyes. He had taken her out to the car, placing her gently in the back seat and then helping Sam put their bags into the trunk. The ghost was no longer haunting the hotel and Lennie was dead; they didn't have any other reason to stay. And besides, they wanted to get Sarah back to Bobby's as soon as possible so that she could rest there.

Dean drove while Sam sat in the passenger seat, both of them glancing back at their sister every so often. For a long time neither of them said a word.

"We shouldn't have left her," Dean finally said.

"I know," Sam agreed.

"She's in danger when she's around us," Dean said bluntly, "just like everyone else."

"Dean, she knew what she was getting into when she came with us," Sam countered.

"She almost died!" Dean hissed, not wanting to wake Sarah up. "She was dead for a few minutes. That's on us," He said quietly. "Her death would've been on us."

"Well what do you want us to do about it?" Sam asked, running his hand through his hair in exasperation.

Dean glanced at Sarah through the rearview mirror. "She can stay at Bobby's from now on," He decided, "She'll be safer there."

"So, what," Sam pointed out, looking over at his brother, who wore a hardened expression on his face, "we just leave her there?"

"What else can we do?" Dean asked, turning to look at Sam. His eyes were still red from the hotel.

"She's going to be furious," Sam stated.

"I know," Dean replied, "but I don't see any other way to make this better."

Neither said anything else as they drove down the empty road towards South Dakota.

"Sarah?" I heard, and my eyelids slowly drifted apart. I looked up to see Dean standing over me outside the open car door, so I started to reach up to pull myself out using the passenger side seat as support. Dean reached in and took my hand instead, and I let him help me out of the car. I still felt very weak from the night before, and when I hit the solid ground my knees wobbled a little. Dean wrapped his arm around me to support some of my weight, and together we turned to walk away from the Impala.

"Where are we?" I asked with a hoarse throat. I reached up and rubbed my sore neck.

"At Bobby's," Dean answered, looking down at me with worried eyes. I returned the gaze, confused because I had never seen Dean look at me like that before.

"Are you alright?" I asked as we walked towards the looming house. Dean didn't ever seem worried.

"Are you?" He countered, ignoring my question.

"Yeah," I responded, and then looked around, "where's Sam?"

"He went on ahead to take our bags in," Dean said as we walked up onto the porch and he opened the door for me. He helped me inside and around the main room into the kitchen, where Bobby and Sam were standing. They had been talking, but stopped when Dean and I came in. Bobby walked up to me and engulfed me in a hug.

"Hey kid," He said, his arms tight around me, "heard you had a rough time last night."

"Yeah," I responded, and Bobby pulled back to look at me. "I'm alright though," I said, smiling, "just got knocked out for a couple of minutes. Nothing too bad." Bobby shifted his gaze up to Dean, who was looking down at me with a pained expression. When we made eye contact, he looked away.

I looked over at Sam, who was gazing blankly down at the kitchen table in front of him.

"Are you two okay?" I asked loudly, and Sam looked up and gave me a small smile.

"Yeah," He said, nodding, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

"Still just a little shook up from last night," Dean responded, and I turned to him. His lips had formed into a hard line.

"Did the maintenance man really treat you that bad?" I asked with a smirk. Dean's expression changed into a rough smile, but no one answered me.

"Are you hungry?" Bobby asked, and I looked over at him, "I've got some leftover pizza from yesterday if y'all want some."

"Sounds good," I replied, shrugging out of my coat, "but I need to use the bathroom first; road trips don't do anything for the bladder," I joked, and Bobby chuckled. I draped my jacket across the back of one of the chairs, and without another word from the boys I made my way across the kitchen and up the stairs towards the bathroom.

"What the hell happened?" Bobby asked as soon as he heard the bathroom door shut.

Sam pulled out one of the chairs at the table and sat down, and Dean moved to take the one opposite of him.

"We left her alone in the hotel room while we went after this nutcase with a voodoo hobby. She got attacked by a ghost," Dean paused in his explanation as he lowered himself into the chair, "She was dead when we got to her," He continued quietly, reaching up and pinching the bridge of his nose, "and if we had been any later getting back, she might have stayed that way."

"I was about to give up," Sam said, biting his lip in frustration, "but thank God she woke up when she did."

"Let me guess," Bobby started after a moment's silence, "you two are already blaming yourselves for this." He accused.

"It is our fault," Dean said, staring up at the older man, "we shouldn't have left her alone when we knew she was at risk."

"Sarah's fine now," Bobby said, locking eyes with the eldest Winchester. "focus on that, son."

"We want her to stay here with you," Sam said, interjecting into the conversation. Bobby turned to face him but the younger brother just looked at his hands, which were folded on the table in front of him.

"What?" He asked, dumbstruck.

"She'll be safer if she's not with us," Dean explained bluntly.

"Well that's nonsense," Bobby countered, letting out a single nonchalant laugh, "she's happier with you."

"Maybe she is," Dean continued, "but this is what's best for her. And that's all I care about."

Bobby sighed in defeat, and then pulled out another of the chairs and sat down.

"Are you going to at least tell her?" He asked quietly. Sam looked up at Bobby sadly.

"We'll be gone by tomorrow," Dean said instead of replying to Bobby's question, "we can leave tonight after she falls asleep."

I stood facing the mirror in the bathroom, and an unmoving phantom stood looking back at me. My skin had a slight pallor to it that made me paler than I normally was, giving a similar appearance to that of a corpse. Add to that the blossoming purple bruises around my neck and the darkened circles under my eyes, and I might as well have been the ghost myself.

I thought back to the night before, to when I woke up after the ghost attacked me. The way that Dean and Sam had embraced me with tears streaming down their faces; it was odd. They never got that emotional on hunts, and if I was only unconscious then they must have realized that I would have woken up eventually.

I shrugged it off, making my neck cramp in the process. I opened the door to return downstairs, relieved to be back at Bobby's house. At least it was over now, and we would be able to get back on the road before too long.

A/N: What do you think? Please review, follow and favorite, as always! I'll see you on Friday!