Dean jumped out of the car and hurried with Cas up to the front desk of the hospital. Cas tugged Dean's arm and pulled him towards the emergency waiting room. Why stop at the front desk when they were all too familiar with where they were going?

Charlie sat in a chair, staring intently at paperwork she hadn't even begun to fill out.

"Charlie?" Dean asked, "Are you okay?"

"No," she said with a pained smile.

Dean took the clipboard of paperwork from her hands and put it down.

Dean crouched in front of her. "How is she?" he asked.

Charlie said quietly, "She'll be fine. She stopped shaking in the ambulance. She'll be fine."

A tear slid from Charlie's eye, and her attempted composure shattered.

Dean stood and pulled her up into a hug as she cried.

"She's not going to be fine," she choked out, "I can't do this without her."

Dean looked over Charlie's head at Cas, who gave Dean a worried look.

"It's gonna be okay," Dean said.

Charlie shook her head and pulled away from Dean. "No," she said, "No, it's not gonna be okay. Dorothy's dying."

"What?" Dean asked.

Charlie sat down and said, looking up at Dean and Cas, "Dorothy has AIDS."

Dean asked, "Wait, what? She had HIV, but she was on medication. What-"

"She developed a tolerance to it. We needed a different medication that our insurance wouldn't cover."

Cas said, "We could've helped pay for it."

Charlie laughed sadly and said, "It was nearly two thousand dollars for a month's supply."

Dean took a deep breath. That was a lot of money. Holy shit.

"We started saving up money, so we could at least buy some time while we dealt with the insurance companies," Charlie said, "But at her next HIV check, her doctor said she'd progressed to AIDS." She put her head in her hands and closed her eyes.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Dean asked.

Charlie looked to Cas and back to Dean. She said, "You'd just gotten shot when we found out. There wasn't exactly time."

Dean sat next to Dorothy and said, "I'm sorry. I should've been there for you guys."

Charlie shook her head and said, "There's really nothing you can do when it gets to AIDS but treat the symptoms. You wouldn't have been able to do anything. It's okay."

"Are seizures related to AIDS?" Cas asked.

Charlie held her fractured composure together. She said, "I don't know. She wasn't feeling well today, but it's your wedding, so stopping her from going was basically impossible. I don't know if that has anything to do with it." Taking a deep breath, she tried desperately not to start crying again.

Dean rubbed her back as Cas picked up the clipboard of blank paperwork.

"Do you want me to fill this out?" Cas asked. Charlie nodded while shaking from holding back sobs.

Minutes later, a doctor walked into the waiting room and asked, "Are you here for Dorothy Baum?"

Dean said, "Yes," since he wasn't sure if Charlie could speak just then.

"Dorothy has a very high fever. We're giving her fluids, but her fever is at 106 degrees. It may just burn off the fluids as she gets them," the doctor said, "I'm surprised she's as lucid as she is. You're going to want to be with her. I'm not sure how long she's got."

Charlie quickly got up and rushed to Dorothy's room, followed by Cas.

Dean asked the doctor, "How long do you think she has?"

The doctor sighed, "If she had any sort of immune system, we could fight the fever. With her temperature right now, we're looking at organ failure and brain damage. As it is, I'd be surprised if she survived the night. I'm sorry."

Without hesitation, Dean ran after Charlie and Cas. Cas stopped him as he was about to pass the door and pulled him inside.

Dorothy raised her hand in an attempted greeting when she saw Dean.

"Hey," Dean said. He couldn't believe Dorothy was dying. It couldn't be happening.

"Did...you...?" Dorothy asked Charlie.

Charlie nodded, "Yeah, I told them."

Dorothy looked over at Dean. "I'm...sorry," she said.

Dean walked to the side of her bed and said, "Don't be. It's okay."

Dorothy's eyes looked far away, but she smiled.

Cas brushed Dorothy's hair away from her face.

Dorothy grabbed Charlie's hand and said, "I under...stand if you...want...an ab...ortion."

Charlie said softly, "We don't even know if it worked, honey."

"If...it did. I...understand."

"Dorothy, no," Charlie said, "Just no. As much as I wish...this is gonna be the only piece of you that I'll have left."

Charlie started crying again, and Dorothy pulled Charlie's arm gently, inviting her on the bed. Charlie sobbed against Dorothy's shoulder as Dorothy rested her head on Charlie's. Dean held Dorothy's hand that was attached to an IV.

"What are we supposed to do without you?" Dean asked, trying his hardest not to cry.

Dorothy looked at him tiredly and said softly, "Please, don't...I'm...scared...enough."

"I'm sorry," Dean said, "I love you, Dorothy."

A tear escaped his eye, and he quickly wiped it away. They didn't need to see him lose his cool.

Cas leaned over the bed and hugged Dorothy and Charlie. He told Dorothy, "You're the best sister I could have asked for...present company excepted."

Dorothy grinned.

Charlie smiled and wiped her eyes.

Sam and Gabriel walked into the hospital room.

"Do they know?" Dean asked.

Charlie shook her head.

Dean pulled Sam and Gabriel out in the hall.

"Is she alright?" Sam asked.

"No," Dean said, "Sam, it's pretty bad."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"Sam, I don't think she's-" Dean's voice caught and he put his fist to his mouth to keep himself from crying.

"She's not-" Sam said, staring at Dean.

Dean felt the tears in his eyes when he said, "Doc said she probably won't last the night."

Sam walked back into the hospital room quickly.

Gabriel asked, "What caused the seizure?"

"She's got a critically high fever," Dean said, "It's probably AIDS related, but fever might have caused the seizure."

Gabriel looked towards the room sadly.

"You should get in there," Dean said.

Gabriel nodded and followed Sam in.

Dean started to go in but instead stopped and walked around the corner. He couldn't handle this.

Cas walked out to the hall and said, "Hey."

"Hey," Dean said, "Sorry. I-I can't be in there anymore."

"I understand. It's Dorothy," Cas said.

Dean said quietly, "Pretty much, yeah."

"You want to come with me to get Charlie a pregnancy test?" Cas asked.

Dean nodded, and followed his husband down the hallway.

On the way to the hospital pharmacy, Cas asked, "How are you doing?"

"Not good," Dean said.

Cas glanced at Dean worried, and Dean couldn't hold back the tears any longer.

"I can't do this anymore," Dean said, "I watched my father pull the trigger when he offed himself, Sam barely survived the overdose, and now Dorothy's-"

Cas hugged Dean. He held onto Cas tightly. Dean, crying in Cas' arms, finally let himself break down.