Chapter 5: "I Have Nowhere to Go"

What seemed like hours after Dean "rescued" her; a paramedic approached Dean, who was still holding sobbing Amber while rubbing her back gently trying to calm her, and Sam.

"Excuse me, I wanted to examine Miss…?"

"Imperiali," Dean answered for a still sobbing Amber.

"Miss Imperiali, if you would follow me to the ambulance, we will take you over to the hospital to be examined."

Dean pushed her fiery-red hair behind her ear,

"Come on, lets get you checked out," he whispered gently into her ear before lifting her in his strong arms, "Sam, follow us in the car," Dean told Sam, tossing him the keys with his right hand, Sam catching them in his left.

Dean rode with Amber and the paramedic to the hospital. She did not speak, nor did she look, at anyone while in the ambulance, she only stared blankly out the window as Sam followed them in the impala. Dean never took his eyes off of Amber during the entire ride to the hospital. She had not spoken since the incident, but half-way to the hospital she had stopped sobbing, but tears still rolled down her cheeks, her eyes blood-shot and puffy.

The ambulance parked directly in front of the Emergency Room entrance and exit as they pulled the stretcher out of the back of ambulance with Amber still lying on it. Dean walked beside the stretcher until they took her back to be examined. Dean had tried to talk them into letting him go back, but because he was not family, he was not allowed back.

The first fifteen minutes he paced in the waiting room, hands in the pockets of his leather jacket. Sam watched Dean, never having seen him act like that. The pink walls and cushions of the seats seemed to make Dean a little more anxious. The pink of the walls were a façade. It was like they were trying to make the hospital seem like a happy place, but in fact, Dean had never seen anyone happy in a hospital.

Finally Dean collapsed in a chair besides Sam, huffing, placing his face in his hands. Dean looked up at the ticking clock on the wall, which read 2:17 in the morning. He grunted and leaned back in his seat. Sam was giving Dean this weird look,

"Dude, you alright? I've never seen you act like this," Sam commented, yawning shortly afterwards.

"I know we were sent here to protect her, but I didn't think we would have to protect her from the same thing we are trying to find," he started to whisper after receiving a strange look from one of the woman in the waiting room.

Before Dean could even reply the doctor entered the waiting room. Dean instantly stood up,

"How is she?" he asked, approaching the doctor, Sam stood behind Dean.

"She has inhaled some of the smoke from the fire, so she will be coughing a lot, but she may leave, we are in the process of getting her release forms," the doctor informed Dean and Sam, "If you'll just follow me," the doctor motioned for Sam and Dean to follow them.

"How is she other than that?" Sam asked before Dean could ask.

"She has not said a word to anyone since we brought her here," the doctor said sadly.

Dean shot Sam a glance and Sam nodded, knowing how she must have felt. They walked down this long corridor with rooms on each side containing elderly patients and young patients. Finally they came to Amber's room at the end of the hall. The doctor went in first and told her that he was getting her release forms then he exited, allowing Dean and Sam to enter the room.

Amber was lying in the hospital bed, fully clothed. Her hair hung flat down around her shoulders, down to her hips. Her green eyes were dull as she stared down at her hands, which were folded on her lap. Dean was startled by how she looked. The first day they met, she was so full of life, dancing for hours on end with her sister. He did not like seeing her so lifeless, but what could someone expect from someone who lost their entire family in the course of a night.

She looked up Dean and Sam, her eyes red and puffy from crying. The moment she looked up them, she began to cry again. Sam looked over at Dean, who had begun to walk towards Amber's hospital bed, pulling her into a hug, rubbing her back like he did after he carried her out of the resort.

"Shh," he whispered gently, "shhh."

After a few moments Dean spoke up,

"Is there anyone I can call for you?"

Amber looked up and looked him in the eye,

"There's no one," she cried, "there's no one here, there's no one in Italy, I'm alone! I have nowhere to go!" she cried, Dean pulled her back into a hug.

"Shhh. I'm sorry, shh," he whispered soothingly.

Before he even had a chance to really think about it, Dean blurted out,

"You can come with us."