Thank you again for all your help NCSUPNATFAN! I hope all of you will enjoy this chapter!
Chapter Five
The drive through Nebraska was long and tiresome for Lark who kept debating with herself whether to drive through to Bobby's house, knowing Dean was alright and would be there, or to find a hotel and stay by herself. She felt her stomach rolling making her check the time and determined it was getting close to lunch and she needed something to eat. Castiel opened his eyes and sat up looking more alert then he did after he had used his grace to heal her.
"Feeling better there, Cas?" Lark asked pulling into a drive-thru of an In and Out Burger. Normally she wouldn't eat out as much but when she needed the food quickly she knew it was the best option.
"Yes." Castiel answered looking at the cars then out past them trying to understand where they were at. "I sense something looming." he said sniffing the air. "I believe I'll be taking us the rest of the journey."
"Whats going on?" Lark asked pulling out of the line as it was taking too long. She pulled back into traffic and headed back for the interstate before Castiel pointed to the shoulder under an overpass.
"We need to get to Bobby's not. It's not safe for us here."
Lark opened her mouth to ask what he meant when a large flash of lightning lit up the sky in a brilliant shade of white quickly followed by what sounded like an explosion as thunder shook the ground beneath the car. The heavy scent of rain was replaced by the torrent of water splashing to the earth, drenching those unlucky to be walking outside.
Castiel exited the car and raced to Lark's side fighting against the wind that whipped his trench coat around behind him as he pulled Lark from the driver's seat. Cars honked and traffic nearly stopped as Castiel wrapped his arms around Lark. Lark buried her face into his chest as rain was whipped under and overpass by the strong wind drenching them within seconds.
Lark's stomach flipped as she felt herself rising up into the air and minutes later felt her feet touched down on the wooden porch at Bobby's house. Her body was trembling from the icy coldness of the rain they had been in. Castiel took off his trench coat as he couldn't feel the effects of weather on his skin and wrapped it around Lark before he knocked on Bobby's front door. There was some scuffling inside before the door opened. Dean answered and looked surprised at seeing Castiel standing there with a rain soaked Lark shivering uncontrollably inside his trench coat. Her hair was plastered to her head and water dripped from the ends and down the front of the coat. Dean frowned and looked past them at the blue sky wondering where they came from.
"Dean." Castiel said pushing past the stunned Dean and leading Lark inside the house and into the living room. Dean rushed to grab a towel and threw it over Lark's head to towel dry her hair before pushing the trench coat out of the way and seeing her clothes were soaked through. He laid a towel around her shoulders and jerked a blanket off the couch and draped it around her too.
"What happened?" Dean asked seeing the bruises and scrapes on the side of Lark's face. "Did someone do this to you?" he asked slowly as anger started to build thinking a person was responsible for the injuries.
"It was a car accident." Lark said seeing anger flash in his eyes. "Just outside of Jackson. I wasn't paying attention and I was hit. They took me to the hospital unconscious, but I snuck out as soon as I could." she didn't bother telling him about the little girl and what she had seen. That was something she needed to keep to herself for now.
"Damn...I wish I had been there. I could've had Cas hear you sooner."
"I wouldn't have been able to heal the damage she sustained." Castiel said his voice soft and noticed that the house seemed empty and quiet. "Where is everyone else?"
"Bobby left with Christy a few hours ago and Sam's upstairs asleep." Dean looked at Lark then quickly ran up the stairs coming back with some of his sister's clothes and handed them to her. "Here, you could use these."
"Thanks." Lark said and took the clothes and looked up at Dean seeing the scratches on his face that looked better then when she had seen them in her out of body experience.
"Cas, come let's go outside to give her some privacy."
Castiel nodded and followed Dean out the front door leaving Lark to walk into Bobby's room to change.
~DSCWIN~
Dean sunk onto a chair while Castiel stood besides him. The scratches on his friend's face made him look as though he was still in pain so Castiel gently pressed his hand on the side of Dean's face making him jump in surprise.
"Whoa. Cas...what the hell?
"I just finished healing your wounds." Castiel answered lowering his hand and swaying slightly.
"You going to be okay?" Dean asked reaching to grab his friend so he wouldn't fall.
"Yes. I will be fine." the angel replied sitting down besides Dean since his legs felt like wet noodles and didn't want to support him.
"I will have to be careful with my grace since it's not fully restored yet."
Dean looked up at Castiel and then out towards the driveway as Bobby pulled up and parked besides Dean's Impala. He stood up and moved down the porch to help Bobby carry in the bags of food. Bobby was on his cell phone when he got out of the car.
"Yeah...I'll come by and pick it up." Dean looked at Christina who had the look of grimness in her eyes as she helped gather up bags from the back of Bobby's car. "Thanks a bunch. Ya take care."
"What was that about and what needs picking up?" Dean asked as Bobby stuffed his cell phone into his pocket. He felt his stomach flip when he saw unshed tears in his eyes.
"Dean let's talk inside okay." he said his voice gruff and sad making Dean grab several bags of groceries at once before heading inside. Wanting to be useful, Castiel picked up the remaining bags and followed the others inside.
Dean set the bags on the table and looked up to see Sam walking in rubbing his eyes before running fingers through his hair. Dean pointed to a pair of scissors and made a snipping motion with his fingers. Sam replied by holding up his middle finger before dropping it as Bobby walked in.
"Dean that was a friend of mine in Wyoming. He found Lark's car in the impound lot at the sheriff's station. It was in a serious car accident and was totaled. Dean I'm sorry but Lark's in the hospital with severe injuries. He's been told she probably won't make it."
Dean looked confused and looked back towards the bedroom and back to Bobby as he tried to piece the puzzle together. Bobby and Christina tried to figure out why he looked that way.
"Uh...when did your friend hear about this accident?" Dean asked.
"Yesterday. He tried to get a hold of me but I was in a bad area and didn't get the call." Bobby answered.
"Dean, don't you understand..." Christina said her voice cracking with emotion. "Your ex-girlfriend or whatever she was is on her death bed and you're acting like you don't care."
"I do care." he said strongly. "But she's here. Cas brought her here a few minutes ago."
As if on cue, Lark emerged from Bobby's room wearing one of Christina's tank tops and jean's which were just a little loose around her hips and waist and kept sliding down. She was fussing with them and looked up to see all eyes on her face and looking over for other injuries.
"Lass...is..are you.." Bobby stammered looking shocked to see her standing there.
"I'll be fine Bobby." Lark smiled and looked at Sam who was happy to see her as well. "Hello Sam." she said before giving him a quick hug. She turned and looked at Christina whose eyes had darkened as she took a step back from her.
"Glad to see you're in one piece." she said restating Bobby's earlier remark. "But it's good seeing you." she turned and headed for the steps and disappeared into her room. Everyone was confused especially Lark.
"Did I do something wrong?" she asked and watched as both Sam and Dean shook their heads.
"She's just going through some things. She'll be better once she calms down." Dean said.
~DSCWIN~
Bobby had left to pick up Lark's car and told them to look into a case that was in the next state over in Omaha, Iowa. Dean and Sam said they'll take care of it leaving the girls and Castiel behind. Lark didn't complain as she didn't have any of her weapons or gear and still felt she needed a few days to recover from her injuries. She busied herself with cleaning up the kitchen while Castiel rested on the couch as he used more of his grace to heal the last of Lark's injuries. Now as Lark saw her reflection she only saw the murky green and yellow of a healing bruise and the wound on the side of her head was now a white scar.
Christina walked in with a small pile of clothes and set them on the recently cleaned table. Lark looked up not upset with the gesture just wanted to look at her. Christina was looking away and wouldn't look at her.
"Wait." Lark called dropping the rag she used to clean the kitchen. "Why are you being so hostile towards me?"
"I don't want to talk about it." Christina said walking to the stairs.
Lark raced and grabbed her arm wanting to resolve the tension between them.
"Christy I know that..."
"You don't get to call me Christy. Only family gets to call me that. You're just the woman that broke my brother's heart, left me alone and refused to call me and you expect me to understand why."
Lark lowered her head listening to her friend's ranting knowing she needed to get it off her chest. "I understand why you left. Dean's an idiot. No I'm sorry he's a dumb ass. He thinks things through as a koala thinks of its life goals. After you left I expected you to call me and at least let me know that you were alright. But I only got what you sent Sam. Then I hear you met up with Dean while we were in Jackson and you don't bother to see me." she complained her voice getting angrier the more she talked.
Castiel woke up and was standing in the doorway listening to the two woman talk things out. Lark was watching as Christina was fighting back tears but wasn't winning as large drops slid down her cheeks.
"Then when I heard you had been in a serious accident I prayed that you'd survive. If Dean hadn't said anything, I would have driven out there to be with you...I would have taken care of you like you did me. I was so happy to see you standing there Lark. I felt relief and wanted to hug you, tell you that I was happy to see you...But I felt betrayed that you didn't tell me goodbye or get in touch with me in all this time."
"I wanted to." lark said sincerely. "I wanted to wait and say goodbye to everyone at breakfast after you came back. But I was selfish and I know that, but I was hurting and couldn't deal with facing everyone after...I had to come to terms with some things and decide that was best for me. I never meant to hurt you, truly I didn't and I will do my best to not let it happen again. So can we still be friends?" Christina shrugged.
"Good, because Lark..." Christina's eyes darkened as she stared into Lark's eyes. "If you break Dean's heart again...I won't hesitate to kill you."
A red flag began to wave inside Lark's brain as she watched her friend turn and walk up the stairs to her room. She had never heard Christina talk like that before and knew she had been hurt by what she did, but to actually threaten to kill her was so out of character for her. She turned and looked at Castiel who had a concerned look on his face. He couldn't believe he had heard Christina say those things to Lark.
"Do you want me to watch her?" Castiel asked and lark felt her head nod.
She was concerned for Christina and was sure that if her brother were there or Bobby they would want to see if Christina was indeed alright. There was something going on in her mind that had Lark worried.
"I'm sure she's just dealing with a lot. I don't think she hates you I don't think she would harm you in any way."
"I'm sure too, Cas." Lark said hearing her cell phone ringing in the kitchen. "But I'm a little worried. She doesn't say things she doesn't mean. That just didn't sound like the Christina that I know." Lark grabbed to her phone and saw it was Sam calling her. Fear struck her as she thought something had happened to Dean. "Sam? Has something happened with the case? Do you need help?" she rushed out, her voice was on the edge of panic making Castiel freeze at the bottom of the steps curious of Lark's outburst.
"It's actually Dean." Dean replied sounding a bit sheepish. "My phone's dead so I'm using Sam's until it charges."
"Oh thank god." Lark sighed and watched as Castiel walked up the steps before vanishing from view. "Are you guys alright? Do you need me to join you?"
"At the moment no. Sam's asleep and I'm alright. Just needed to talk to someone. And I knew you'd be awake. How are things there?"
Lark glanced up the steps. Should I tell him, she thought wondering what Christina was doing now. "Everything's fine. Just been tidying up the place a bit. Christy gave me a more clothes to wear and Cas has been helpful in keeping me company while your sister slept.
"Well, let's hope those pills help her out." Dean mumbled but Lark caught what he said anyway.
"Is Christina alright Dean? She seems a bit off..." she asked carefully not wanting to upset him.
"I'm not sure; she's had a few episodes since she's been back. That bastard is still affecting her somehow. I don't know, it's maybe PTSD or something."
"Well, I'll keep an eye on her for you."
"Thanks, I'm about to hit a dead area, Babe. I'll call you when we get to the hotel."
"Alright. Talk to you later, you two be careful." Lark ended and hung up not ready to say 'I love you' quite yet. She hoped Dean understood that she was still hurting from what he had said to her the last time she was there. But shaking her head, Lark continued to clean hoping things would be better once Bobby got back with her car. She'd have to decide what to do about a vehicle since she as pretty sure it was beyond repair.