Chapter 6:

A/N: Haha, torturing the boys may become my new favorite pass time. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: If wishes came true I'd own them, but seeing as they don't….yeah

--

Sam plunged nearly 30 feet into the water of Crystal Lake. The rope that had been attached to his harness, the rope Dean hadn't manage to hold on to, floated on the surface for a moment before sinking as well. "Sam!" Dean cried. The monster was forgotten. Dean and Parker ran to the lake's edge, and Parker swept her light over the surface.

Dean tossed Parker his shotgun, which she caught, and threw aside his helmet. Even as Dean stripped off his torn jacket, he watched the water, hoping Sam would bob to the surface. He didn't. Dean yanked off his boots. "If it comes back…shoot it." He plunged into the water, gasping as the icy water struck him like a thousand small knives. It was so cold it was hard to breathe.

"What?" Parker looked around wildly, from the water, to the ceiling and back again. "You want me to…with the…what?" she called after him dumbly, brandishing the shotgun awkwardly. Dean wasn't listening. He drew in a deep breath and plunged into the water after Sam.

"Shit." Parker cried softly. "Shit. Shit. Shit." That thing was still in the cavern, she could feel it, but she couldn't hold the bulky flashlight and the shotgun at the same time. She opted for fire power over light, and set the flashlight at her feet. The bright beam shot up into the darkness overhead, and Parker hoped it would act as a deterrent, and not a beacon.

Parker grasped the shotgun tightly, her knuckles white. Dean's jacket was a few feet away on the ground, and she knew it had extra shells in it. She crouched, keeping her eyes up, her ears on the alert for the telltale sound of the creature's wings, and patted the ground blindly with her left hand for the coat. Her fingers closed on denim and she immediately drew it closer. She wanted to have ammunition handy in case she needed to reload. Her heart was slamming into her rib cage, and she glanced back at the lake, willing the brothers appear.

Meanwhile, Dean was in the midst of his own struggle against panic in the water. His clothes and the cold of the water hampered his every stroke. Not only that, but he couldn't see his hand in front of his face in the water, so how was he going to find Sam? It was black, inky black. His fingers were splayed, groping wildly in the dark, but no Sam. His lungs were burning for air, but he couldn't turn back, not yet. Finally, as spots started swimming in front of his eyes, Dean kicked for the surface.

Out of the corner of her eye, Parker saw Dean break the surface with a loud gasp. He floated there for a moment and then dove back under. A rock skittered behind her. The hairs on the back of Parker's neck stood on end. She froze. She could hear it breathing behind her. She'd been listening for the sound of its wings, and it had snuck up on her on the ground instead.

Parker dove forward, twisting around as she fell. The creature cried out and lunged for her. She landed hard on her left hip, her torso twisted around to face her attacker. Her headlamp caught the monster full in the face and just for an instant it sucked back. It was all the opening Parker needed. Her finger closed around the trigger. The kick from the shotgun felt like getting tagged by a mule, but it did the trick. The shot hit the creature at nearly point blank range. It flew backward with a gurgling, choking cry.

On her knees Parker scrambled to reload the weapon. She slid two new cartridges into the chamber and snapped the gun shut. Then she drew herself up onto quivering legs. The creature was convulsing on the ground. Parker inched closer, then shot it again, and again, till it lay still.

She was still staring at it when a splash from the lake alerted her. "I can't find him!" Dean called out to her between desperate, sucking breaths. The anguish was evident in his voice. "It's too dark. I can't see." He slapped the water with his hand in frustration. "Damn it!" Parker discarded the shotgun and hurried over to the water's edge. "What are you doing?" He squinted into the darkness.

"I think I killed it," she answered. "I have an idea." She tore at the pocket of her pants, spilling its contents onto the cavern floor. Then she started cracking the glo-sticks, shaking them till they began to give off an incandescent light. She handed one to Dean, kept one for herself and threw the rest into water where she thought she'd seen Sam go down. It didn't make for a lot of light, but they were better off than they had been before. Dean slid back under and Parker followed.

Dean watched through stinging eyes as the first glo-stick hit the lake bottom. At least Crystal Lake wasn't all that deep, maybe ten or twelve feet, a small blessing anyway. He turned his focus on the other tiny glowing tubes. One floated downward a few feet to his right. Dean's heart leapt. A hand. He saw a hand. Two powerful kicks sent him sliding through the water. Sam. He'd found him.

Sam was floating just off the bottom, the rope still attached to his climbing harness. It twisted around his legs and torso. Dean wrapped his arms around his brother, and pushed off the bottom. It was hard to drag Sam off the bottom, and as they rose Dean struggled to remove the shotgun from where it hung around his shoulders. He found the pistol and tossed it as well. Dean's lungs were screaming for air by the time they made it above the water. Sam's head barely made it above water when the rope halted their progress. Dean reached one had under the water and tugged, but the line was stuck.

"Parker," Dean sputtered, water filling his mouth. He was treading water furiously, but he could barely keep his head up. "Parker," he called again, "I got him." He heard the girl's swift strokes through the water before he saw her. "The rope," Dean sank below again. He surfaced, spitting out the lake water. "He's caught….my boot." It was getting harder to stay afloat. His teeth chattered.

Parker didn't answer, but dove again into the icy depths. She grasped Dean's ankle in both hands, stilling it for a precious moment till she could withdraw his knife from its sheath. Then she propelled herself downward, latching onto Sam's leg with one hand, and began to slice through the rope. Luckily the knife was razor sharp, and made short work of it. In a matter of seconds Sam was free, and Dean was pulling him to shore.

"He's not breathing," Dean choked out as he lay Sam on his back just out of the water. Parker scrambled up onto the bank after them. Dean pressed two fingers to Sam's neck. "Oh God." Dean clasped his hands together and placed them on the left side of his brother's chest. "C'mon Sam," he said as he started compressions. Parker kneeled beside Sam's head. Dean paused and Parker leaned in, sealing her lips over Sam's mouth and blowing air into his lungs.

Nothing happened. Dean did another set of compressions. A burning, bitter taste hit the back of his throat as it constricted. Parker blew air into his lungs. Dean held his breath. "Breathe damn it." Suddenly Sam's back arched and Parker lurched away. Water spilled out of Sam's mouth and he gasped, though his eyes remained firmly shut. Dean slowly drew himself up on shaking legs. He was relieved Sam was breathing again, but he was still bleeding on his arms and back as well as a nasty looking gash on the left side of his head.

"Let's go," he prompted, swaying a little. They had to keep moving. Sam was probably in shock, and Dean worried about hypothermia, for all of them. He could barely feel his own fingers. "We have to get him out of here." He stooped, gripping Sam beneath his arms. "Parker, help me."

She remained rooted in place, though now she was shivering. "Angie's still down here," she reminded him in a small voice. "I can't leave her."

Dean looked her square in the eye. He knew exactly how she felt. "You killed it, right?"

Parker swept her flashlight off the ground and aimed it at where the monster had fallen. The beam illuminated a foot and the edge of one wing. "I hit it point blank and it ain't moving, so yeah."

"Then as long as she's alive she's safe. She'll make it one more day. Sam might not if we don't get him out of here. We will come back for her. I promise."

Parker bit her lip to fight back tears. Angie was so close, but the brothers had risked their lives to help find her. She couldn't abandon Sam now. "All right." She bent over and picked up Sam's legs. Then they started their arduous journey back out of the Crystal Lake Cavern. Unbeknownst to either Dean or Parker, as they crossed the land bridge the still and bloodied form they'd left at the far end of the lake stirred, watching them leave through glowing red eyes.

--

Five times Parker fell while making the lead climb up the wall, threading rope through the cams she wedged into small cracks. In her first three attempts, she'd managed to scale only a few feet before her muscles betrayed her. The rock face was smooth and the chalk in her bag, which she hadn't bothered to remove before diving into the water, was virtually useless. Then, after she had reached summit, Dean used the rope like a pulley to bring Sam to the top.

It took nearly two hours to get Sam back up the wall, through the tunnel, the cavern and the narrow slice in the rocks face. He didn't so much as twitch the whole time. Outside, what had started as a sunny, warm autumn day had turned cloudy, windy and cool. According to Dean's watch it was just past four; they'd been in the cave for a little over four hours.

The first icy blast of wind that hit nearly sent Parker to her knees. It sliced through her, brutal and unapologetic. She fell back against the wall. She was having a hard time focusing her sight. She was so tired, and so cold. If she just closed her eyes for a moment…

"Hey, hey!" Dean barked. Dean had set Sam gently on the ground, giving his tired arms a small break before they started back for the cabin. He hopped over his brother's legs to Parker. He grabbed her shoulders and gave her a firm shake. Her eyes flew open again. Dean's lips are blue. That's a funny color. I wonder what color my lips are?

"None of that," he told her through chattering teeth. "We still have a long way to go." Parker nodded wordlessly, pushing herself off the rock. They couldn't stop, not yet.

Never had Dean seen a more glorious sight than the Quinn family cabin when it finally came into view, or the muddy red jeep parked just beside it. Darkness had fallen, and so had the temperature. Dean and Parker stumbled into the cabin, Sam slung between them, his feet dragging on the ground behind him. They laid Sam on the couch. Dean went for the keys to the Jeep and Parker slid to her knees. "How far to the nearest hospital?" he asked. He hated hospitals, hated the thought of bringing Sam near one, but he didn't see any other option.

"Too far," Parker answered from her place on the floor as she peeled off her long sleeve shirt to reveal the black tank top underneath. "But Walden has an emergent care center; it's about 20 minutes down the pass from Deerville. My mom lives there and she's used it before; said they're good."

Dean nodded, slithering out of his still soaked T-shirt. He pulled another over his head and shrugged into his leather coat. He wasn't warm exactly, but he was better. He threw one of Sam's oversized hooded sweatshirts at Parker. Then he went for Sam. His skin was pale, clammy and cold. His pulse was faint. Dean stripped off Sam's sweatshirt and T-shirt and wrapped his torso in the thick wool blanket that hung off the arm of the couch. Then he levered Sam off the couch and over his shoulder in a fireman's carry and headed out the door.

"Get in the back with him," he ordered, his tone leaving no room for argument. Parker couldn't have if she wanted to; it was a battle just to slide into the seat. Dean placed Sam inside, his shoulders in Parker's lap, leaving her to cradle his head with her arm. Dean leapt into the front seat, stuck the key in the ignition and the engine roared to life. Then he cranked the heat. He pressed his foot onto the accelerator and gravel kicked out from the tires as the jeep fishtailed away from the cabin and down the mountain.

Dean slid the Jeep to a stop in front of the Walden Emergent Care center some hours later. He rushed inside and when he came back out, three people with a gurney followed him. Together they lifted Sam out of the car and wheeled him inside, the doctor calling for heating pads and warm saline. Dean and Parker were relegated to sitting in orange plastic chairs outside the front desk. She pulled the hood up to hide her face. Dean leaned his elbows on his knees, though his foot never stopped its incessant tapping. After ten or fifteen minutes, the doctor emerged from the back. His name was Paulson.

"Your brother's core temperature is our main concern," Dr. Paulson informed Dean. "When you brought him in it was hovering at 92 degrees, which is considered severe hypothermia. But we've started raising it slowly with heat packs and fluids. We're doing a CT scan on him at the moment, but I'd say the blow to his head was minor. A few of his lacerations need sutures, but on the whole he is a very lucky young man. Where exactly did you say you were climbing again?"

Dean's gaze flitted over to Parker. She had her head down, the hood obscuring her face. "Crystal Lake," he said slowly, gauging the doctor's reaction. His expression slid into something between disbelief and contempt.

The doctor pursed his lips. "I'm assuming you didn't go through the novelty of actually hiring a guide did you?" When Dean didn't answer immediately the doctor nodded. "Thought so. You were all very lucky to get out of that cave, I hope you realize that. Next time you three decide to go exploring, hire a professional."

Dean chose to ignore the man. They'd had good reason for going in that cave, even if the doctor would never know it. "When can I see my brother?"

"As soon as he gets out of CT and X-ray and we settle him in his room. It'll be about forty minutes or an hour."

"And when do you think he'll wake up?"

"Right now my best guess is that Sam in unconscious due to the hypothermia. He'll probably wake up fairly quickly once he regulates thermally." Paulson's eyes narrowed a little and he leaned to the left to get a better look at the hooded girl. "You said you dove in after your brother, correct?"

"Yeah," Dean's eyes flicked nervously between Parker and the doctor. Her attempt to look inconspicuous, and as far as Dean could tell, her attempt to sink through the floor, was starting to draw attention. "That's what I said."

Paulson wasn't listening to Dean anymore. "Are you all right miss?"

"Fine," Parker responded quickly, never raising her eyes. "I'm fine." Still looking unconvinced, doctor Paulson turned and headed back through the swinging doors that led into the bowels of the clinic. Dean resumed his foot tapping, and began to gnaw at the fingernail of his thumb.

"I should have gone last," he said finally. "I should have kept a better eye out."

"Why?" Parker asked. "So you could be lying in there instead of Sam? And who's to say that that thing wouldn't have attacked any earlier? It could have just as easily gone after you, or me." She reached out for Dean's hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. Dean stared down at it, a weird expression crossing his face. "You got him out. The rest you had no control over."

"Your hand is freezing," Dean said out of the blue. He twisted in his seat and jerked back the hood of the sweatshirt. Her skin and lips were pale beneath her tan. Her eyes were distant and she looked anxious. Angie, he'd nearly forgotten. She needed a distraction.

"Still cold?" Parker nodded absent mindedly. "You know, they say one of the best ways to treat hypothermia is uh…body heat. Think I saw a little room back there, we could work up a sweat." He grinned rakishly. That snapped her out of her haze. Dark green eyes spit sparks. Dean chuckled. "Or coffee…you know…either way."

Parker couldn't help herself, she smiled. "Think we'll stick with coffee," she said dryly, nodding. Dean rose agreeably, pulling Parker to her feet after him. He'd seen a sign for a cafeteria on their way in. He led her down the hall. Parker looked up at him wryly. "You don't fool me for a minute," she told him. "You go all, over protective, big brother when you're worried…"

Dean sniffed, shrugging inside his leather coat. "Yeah…well…keep it to yourself huh?"

--

Two hours later found Dean and Parker seated inside Sam's room. Parker was curled up in a chair like some sort of overgrown house cat, floating restlessly between sleep and consciousness. Dean flipped idly through a magazine, slouched in another chair beside Sam's bed. He felt better being near Sam, where he could see him, and where the heart monitor attached to his chest kept beeping in a nice steady, reassuring rhythm. He gazed shrewdly at one column. Hmm, maybe a nice M. Night. Shyamalan, Lady in the Water type reference when Sam finally woke up, he mused, that could work.

The clock that hung just above the door read just after one AM. Dean heard chair legs scrape on linoleum. Parker moved to stand at the bed beside him. "Look Dean, I can't stay here. I know why you have to, but I can't."

Dean set the magazine in his lap. She wasn't going anywhere by herself if he had anything to say about it. She was exhausted, despite the two and a half cups of black coffee she'd downed in the cafeteria. "I said I'd go back with you and I will. Just as soon as Sam wakes up."

"That could take hours and you know it," Parker said tiredly. She didn't want to argue with him. She just wanted to go find her sister.

"Oh, so you two are arguing…how novel," a weary, raspy voice interrupted from behind them. Dean's face lit up as he turned. Sam managed a small grin. He pressed his hands into the bed to sit himself up and immediately regretted the action as it strained his newly sutured shoulders. He grimaced, "Tell me you killed that fuckin thing."

"Well, actually I was too busy jumpin in the water to save your ass, but Parker turned out to be pretty decent with the shotgun."

"That works." Sam sighed and shut his eyes, relaxing into the pillow. "That thing was definitely NOT in dad's journal." He paused for a second, then asked. "Did you get Angie?"

Dean nodded his head at the door, which Parker was inching her way towards. "We're heading back up for her now."

"You left her there?"

Dean threw up his hands, exasperated. "You were gonna die Sam. The situation didn't exactly lend itself to options. We're going back, while you get to lounge in comfort."

Sam snorted. "Fine, fine. Hey Dean, you wouldn't happen to have the lap top with you, would you?"

"Yeah, it's still in the back of the Jeep."

"Grab it for me before you go. I want to do some digging, maybe find out what that thing was."

"You have a real problem relaxing, know that Sammy?" The younger Winchester shot him a dark look. "Whatever, research mode it is. I'll be right back."

Parker stood at the door, her hand on the knob. "I'm glad you're okay Sam," she told him with a tight smile. Then she pulled the hood back up her head, and headed out.

--

The sun had just risen, bathing the thinning mountain trees in a dim orange light , when Dean and Parker arrived back at the base of the Crystal Lake Cavern entrance. They scrambled up the rocks again, a task made easier this time, with the absence of Dean and Sam's small armory.

Parker was just about to shrug off her pack, when Dean's cell phone rang. They exchanged a surprised look. "It never ceases to amaze, the random facts Sam can't help but share," Dean joked, drawing the phone out of the side pocket of his pack.

"Forget random facts, I'm amazed the call came through." Parker peered curiously around his arm. "Who's your carrier?"

Dean flipped open the cell phone. "Hello?" The phone connection had come through, but it was weak. He could barely hear Sam above the static. "What?" He covered one ear with his hand. "Sam I can barely hear you…"

Parker could hear the static, and every now and then Sam's voice. "Dean….Dean….demon…."

"Yeah Sam, I coulda guessed. Can't this wait? You're breaking up."

The connection was getting worse. "…o..o… dem… Iranian…."

Parker's feet cemented themselves to the rock. The blood drained from her face. She grabbed Dean's arm, but he shook her off distractedly, still trying to hear Sam. "Where did he say that thing was from? Dean?" Three clear words came through the phone just before it died, and beside him, Parker's voice echoed the news. "It's not dead."

--

Chapter 6

Okay, I realize there is a need for mild suspension of disbelief here, what with Dean's phone actually working and all, but bear with me.

Please review, please?