Belle hadn't slept long, but two or three hours without any nightmares where better than nothing. She had felt worse and even more tired when she had woken up, but trying to fall asleep again proved futile. It was half past ten already. Jensen was still asleep. His position didn't look very comfortable but she refrained from waking him. He could probably do with whatever sleep he could get. She took up her book again and went on scanning through it. After ten minutes she skipped the main texts and only scanned the scribbles in the margins. Most of them she couldn't read but somehow they held her attention, and then she came across the one she pointed out to Jared. Neither the two words nor the text next to it made much sense to her. It seemed to be some kind of manual for experienced … whatever you called those people who used this kind of book. To her it seemed to be lacking an awful lot of information. She sighed and put the note for Jared in.

Once unoccupied again, she couldn't stop her mind from wandering back to Alex. She tried to get rid of all the pictures, of Alex crashing into the wall, of him on the ground, only half conscious and in pain, of the sound the monitors had made in the ambulance and of Alex' ashen face. But they simply wouldn't go away. Belle sighed.

Oh well, if you are so insistent, I might as well pay you a visit, Mr. O'Loughlin.

She got up, trying carefully not to wake Jensen. Sneaking up, she got some fresh clothes and after a stint in the bathroom, she got herself a cab and made her way to the hospital.

Since she didn't expect the doctors to admit her to visit Alex, she actually didn't plan on asking. But once face with the automatic swing doors that let through to the patients, all made from glass, she realized that she wouldn't stand a chance and gave up her plan of sneaking in. She got herself a coffee and settled down in front of the ICU. Several nurses and doctors passed her, but none payed her any mind.

Belle was through her third cup of coffee, when someone stopped next to her. She looked up. It was the nurse who had come to let Scott see Alex the night before. That seemed ages ago. Time was a funny thing, she thought.

"You should drink that up if you want to go in there" the nurse told her.

Belle looked confused. Then she realized what the woman had just said and drowned the rest of the coffee. "Done."

"Be quiet, don't touch anything, and if the doctor comes along and asks, it wasn't me" the nurse said when she opened the door to Alex' room and motioned her in. Belle nodded.

"Thank you."

She took a deep breath and then went over to his bed. The sight added nicely to the gallery of grizzly pictures she had in her head. His face looked waxen, his skin a greyish, gruesomely transparent color expect in the places where it was bruised. His breathing was aided by a tub, and what looked like a million other cables and tubes were wired around his body, ending in various machines and infusions. Three monitors kept his vitals under surveillance.

He looked disturbingly small and frail.

It took Belle a while to recover from that first impression. Then she settled down on the chair that stood next to the head of the bed. She looked at him for a long time. She couldn't help but feel the urge to simply sit down on the bed and wrap her arms around Alex, holding on to him so that he'd know there was someone around who desperately wanted him to stay and get better. Instead, she reached out and lightly brushed his hand, settling hers on top of his.

"No more demon chasing, mister… it's obviously not your sport."

She swallowed.

"Look… I'm not good at this. I hate hospitals, they make me sick, and I never know what to say when it comes to expressing things that even only remotely boarder on anything labled 'emotions'."

She had to clear her throat, and then murmured "Yeah right, that's proper cinematic for you… let's go talk to the guy who can't hear you anyway and make a pathetic soppy scene…"

She fell silent for a moment, but the unnerving sound of the beeping monitors in the otherwise oppressive silence urged her on.

"I might suck at this, but there's one thing I know for sure. You can't do this. You'll bloody well have to hang in there and use that thick head of yours to push through this. Because, if you don't … I don't know. Scott's probably not going to take that so well and once he kind of recovers, he'll go ballistic … which would very likely be the end for Jared and Jensen. And then Luzy would have to be mad at him, which wouldn't be good for the two of them, they are so cute together… and I'd have to try and comfort Luzy about that and then everything would be a terrible mess… So you see. Dying on us is not an option…"

She impatiently blinked away some tears. "It really isn't, you hear me? I've no desire what so ever to clean up the mess you'd leave." Especially not since I'd much rather have the chance to get to know you better instead of losing you altogether, she added silently.

Then she told him all that they had found out so far. She repeated faithfully all the things Jared had told them the night before, described the books they had gone through and the little information they had on the spirit.

"It's a mean son of a bitch, but they'll get to it… and then it's going to pay…"

She hadn't known that she was able to feel such a thirst for revenge. She wondered how Jared and Jensen got along with doing this job without going emotionally havoc. Jensen's tactic looked familiar, but Jared? He had to have a really deep believe in the good they did, otherwise she was at a loss to explain how he kept up his spirit.

"If anyone had a right to want revenge it would be you, hm?" she said, looking at Alex again. But the only response she got was the unsteady sounds of his heartbeat.

"I see. The silent treatment."

After that, Belle found herself at a loss as to what to say. So she remained quiet, simply watching Alex, trying to freeze out the beeping around her and simply mentally willing him to get better. Fast.

Her silent vigil went on for quite some time, until the nurse that had earlier on let her in, came back.

"Ideally you'll be gone in latest ten minutes. That would mean you don't run into the doctor, which would spare both of us unnecessary trouble."

Belle nodded. She didn't feel like leaving but she knew that trouble with the doctor was the last thing she should get herself into. That he had told them what was going on with Alex had been rather kind of him after all, considering that none of them were relatives. She briefly wondered how long it would take Alex' family to come down here. Couldn't be long until they arrived.

She lightly kissed him on the forehead, whispering "I'll be back" and then followed the nurse out. The woman must have heard her.

"I can't do much more for you today, but if you care to come back tomorrow, I got the night shift. Starts around eight."

Belle nodded. She'd no idea why the nurse would do that for her, but somehow she felt like it was pressing her luck to ask. She simply thanked her again, and then left the hospital.

Once outside, she switched on her phone. Three missed calls and four messages. All from Luzy.

"Damn." She called back.

"Thank god, Belle! Where the hell are you?" Luzy managed to sound angry and relieved at the same time.

"Sorry… got a bit lost in time." She skipped the 'where' part. Luzy knew anyway.

"Alex, hm? How is he?"

"Alive" was all that she got from Belle in reply.

"I see. By the way, do I wanna know how you got in?" Luzy didn't wait long enough for Belle to make a reply. "No, I don't. However, since you are obviously out of the hospital again, you best come back home." Then she filled her in on the latest developments.

"Wait a moment, Scott suggested that we move into Alex' place? What happened? Sudden moment of enlightenment?"

She could hear Luzy suck in her breath.

"I'm sorry. I know it must be hard for you with the two of us fighting all the time. I'm on my way."