Ch 18

"Dean, wake up!" Sam shook his older brother by the shoulders and yelled in his face. Dean was in the middle of a particularly pornographic dream involving him, River and a hot tub. His green eye shot open and he sat up quickly yelling "Hi-ya!" throwing his hands out in his best kung-fu stance. Sam blocked the punch and stood up, "Relax dude it's me."

"Sammy? What the hell is going on?" Dean asked looking up at his younger brother. He was laying on the floor of what appeared to be a cabin. The room was decorated with wood cut outs of black bears and pine trees. An old TV sat in one corner, one queen sized bed in front of it, a threadbare couch in the opposite corner and a door to what they could surmise was the bathroom was behind them.

The brothers glanced down at themselves, they were naked from the chest up, symbols and markings painted on both their chests. Dean ran his finger along the red markings and held it up to his nose. He sniffed and grimaced when he recognized the copper tang of blood.

"What the hell is all this stuff?" Dean asked aloud as he walked to the table in the center of the room, it was littered with jars of dried flowers, candles and a dissected human liver.

"Dean, how did we get here? The last thing I remember we were looking for that alligator jerky stand and…then those women. You think they were witches?"

"I don't know maybe. Where the hell are we?"

"Ponderosa Cabins in Murfreesboro, Tennessee." Sam said holding up a pamphlet he found in the chipped nightstand. He joined his brother to stand in front of the table and stared at the magical paraphernalia and their discarded guns.

"Shit! How'd we get here?…Where's my Baby?" Dean suddenly yelled, searching through his jean pockets for his keys. "Son of a bitch. If one of those bitches stole my car…" he ran to the window and peered outside. It was pitch black, no signs of his beloved car. "Wait…shh. Kill the lights." Dean waived at his younger brother. He ran back to the table and grabbed his gun. The Impalas engine roared outside the cabin, along with blaring music. The car swung around and the driver backed into the parking spot, shut off the lights and stepped out into the darkness. Dean signaled to his brother; Sam stood behind the door and he waited on the other side giving them the perfect position to ambush the stranger. They could hear quiet cursing from outside the door as the intruder fought with the lock. The knob turned and Sam yanked on the door, pulling the person on the other side along with the door. The stranger let out a startled scream as Dean grabbed her around the throat and slammed her into the wall. Sam turned the lights back on and River smirked up at Dean.

"Hey, Winchester…you're not supposed to be awake yet." Dean's hands started to shake, he lowered his gun and seemed to be having trouble speaking.

"River, Jesus Christ…" Sam pushed past his brother and pulled her into a tight hug.

"Ow!" she yelped. Sam quickly let go and took a look at her. She was still clinging to a paper take out bag. Her forehead had an ugly purple gash and her cheek was bruised. "Sorry, I'm ok. Just have a few broken ribs….I brought food. How about you two get cleaned up and we can eat? Your covered in witch-liver finger paint." She pointed at the red symbols on their chests.

Sam looked down at his chest and sneered, "Thats gross."

"Yeah it is but it worked," River laughed. Sam hugged her again and kissed her forehead before running towards the shower yelling "Dibs."

Dean still stared at her wordlessly. He took a small step towards her and lightly ran his fingers along the bruises on River's face before tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear. He leaned towards her, staring at her lips. She put her hands on his chest and pushed him away. "The fuck you think you're doing?"

"I-I just…I'm sorry," he mumbled at her.

"It's not good enough. We are not ok, Dean. This a professional fucking courtesy and nothing else."

He nodded. "What happened to me and Sam? To you?"

"Bobby called me. Said he couldn't find you, Castiel couldn't find you either. I tracked you two to a shack in the middle of nowhere swampland. Killed a couple witches and blah blah blah here we all are."

"How did you track us if Castiel couldn't find us?" Dean asked as River walked to the table and began putting the spell supplies away.

She smiled, a slight blush creeping into her cheeks, "So, the way most tracking spells work is you're tracking for the person, the body. And the way most blocking spells work, its like creating a force field around your physical body right? It's what Sam did to keep me from finding him while you were dead." Dean nodded. "Well, I thought about that a lot. What if something happened and we got separated and I couldn't find you guys…so I figured: well what if instead of using a tracking spell, I could use a spell to find a lost item. Maybe a couple of small charms… that could be sewn into very large men's boots."

"That is strangely ingenious." Dean said smiling at her.

"I have my moments." River looked over her shoulder as Sam exited the bathroom, showered and free of witch blood. "Your turn. Beer's in the fridge and I'm gonna go outside and burn this." She held up the tray containing the left over liver and limped outside. She returned a few minutes later, Sam was pulling food out of the take-out bags and had beers open and waiting.

Dean was staring down at the hex box, "What the hell is that?" A mummified hand lay inside the box, it was adorned with jewels and intricate tattoos.

"I think it's Hekate's gauntlet."

Dean stared at her, raising his eyebrows, "Sorry, what?"

"It's like a Hand of Glory, except instead of being the hand of a murdered man it's the hand of a witch. One that was executed for betraying her coven. All her power is focused into that thing. It's an immense weapon so don't touch it. I couldn't figure out how to destroy it so I called Levi, he's got a couple ideas. I'm gonna take it to him." She put the lid back on the box. "What the hell would three swamp witches being doing with something like this? And speaking of, what the hell where you two idiots doing out there anyways? Bobby said you were supposed to be going to Vegas."

"Went looking for alligator jerky." Dean answered smiling cockily at her.

"Sam, seriously?" River asked exasperated turning away from Dean.

"Yeah, that's basically it. We were finishing up a quick case. Dean found a flier for some place that was selling alligator jerky and we must've taken a wrong turn and walked right into that coven."

"Hmmm…." River shook her head and laughed at them, "I don't think they even knew who you were, probably didn't even know you were hunters. I didn't ask them any questions I just kind of…murdered them and torched everything when I left. They had an altar with sigils I didn't recognize; figured it was some demon cock they were pining for. Didn't seem like anything major, not a seal or anything." She bit into her veggie burger and washed it down with a mouthful of beer. "What've you guys been up to? The world still gonna end?"

"Who knows? Angels won't give us any straight answers." Dean said. They spent the next few hours catching up, River and Sam carrying most of the conversation. Dean sat quietly, adding details when he thought they were important. River wasn't exactly ignoring him but also wasn't making an effort to talk directly to him. She glazed over her near death encounter with the Loup-garou pack. Dean watched as she readjusted every so often on the hard plastic seat and tried to hide the flicker of pain that crossed her face, watched as she held the cold beer bottles up to her swollen cheek and forehead and smiled at the brief relief it offered.

"So…you got anymore guest appearances we should know about?" Sam asked as he stood to clean up their left over food wrappers.

River spluttered on her beer and grew beet red, staring from Dean to Sam, "You watched the Ghostfacers episode?" The brothers nodded and grinned, "Shit, I figured you two would never see that…"

"You kicked ass, 'Hey Asshole! Enjoy Hell!' that was awesome." Dean said quietly.

River glanced quickly at him. "Yeah…Ghost possession that wasn't very awesome. She showed me everything. Hell's too good for that bastard." She peeled nervously at the label on her beer. "I'm gonna get a shower and go to bed." She got up stiffly from the table and grabbed some clean clothes out of her bag before limping into the bathroom, "There's a pull-out in the couch and I can take the trundle bed."

"Bullshit, Riv. You saved our asses you get the bed, I'll be fine on the trundle." Dean said as she closed the bathroom door. "Dude, she's hurt. Maybe bad." He said turning to his younger brother.

"She'll be ok, for tonight at least. We'll be here with her if she needs anything." Sam answered pulling the couch bed out and gingerly testing his weight on the squeaky frame. Once he was satisfied it wouldn't buckle under him, Sam put his earbuds in and fell asleep quickly.

"Fu-..shit. God damn it," River's cursing echoed from with in the bathroom and Dean sat up from his position on the floor. He had tried the trundle but he had ended up sinking uncomfortably to the ground. In the end he pulled the small mattress onto the floor and was using his duffle bag as a pillow, leaning against it and using River's laptop to look on-line for interesting cases.

"River, you ok sweetheart?" he called gently through the door, twisting the knob at the same time.

"Yes! Jesus, don't come in I'm still naked…" More cursing and hissing from the bathroom. "Fuck it! It's nothing you haven't seen. I need my first aid kit please." Dean ran back to the bed and rummaged through her bag before pulling out her requested kit.

"I'm comin' in," He warned before opening the door. Dean slowly pushed the door open and found River sitting on the closed toilet lid, she had managed to get her underwear on and that was it. The full extant of her injuries was finally visible. Her chest was covered with the angry welts from the seat belts, smalls scabbed cuts covered her arms and back and her thigh was bleeding.

"I popped a stitch in the shower and I can't get my stupid shirt back on," she mumbled.

Dean knelt in front of her, "River, what the hell? What did you do?"

"It's been a rough couple of days, ok? Just…just help me get my shirt on. I can do the rest."

"I'll fix your leg," he said gingerly helping her slip her sleep shirt over her head.

"No. I got it," she replied taking the kit out of his hand.

"Riv-"

"I don't want you touching me. Ok? Just get out. I got it from here," she looked into Dean's green eyes, "Please." Dean nodded and stood up closing the door quietly behind him. River limped out of the bathroom and into the dark room a while later. She glanced at Sam's giant sleeping form on the couch bed and peered over her bed to Dean, he was laying on his side facing away from her. She climbed quietly into the bed and let out a deep sigh as she sunk into the soft mattress.

"Hey, River you want to go get some breakfast?" Sam called quietly to her the next morning.

She slowly opened her eyes, everything that hurt yesterday was a thousand times worse now. "Mmm, sure. I'll get dressed." She sat up stiffly, rolling her shoulders and grimacing, rubbing the throbbing in her chest.

"You ok?" Sam asked when she walked back out of the bathroom a while later. Dean sat on the edge of the bed and watched her quietly. They had both heard her cursing at herself as she got dressed.

"Mmm hmm except everything hurts and I think I'm dying," she answered sarcastically. "Here's your keys, she has a full tank of gas." She pulled the Impalas keys out of her jacket pocket and handed them to Dean. "Maybe after breakfast you guys can drop me off at a bus station. I told Levi I'd bring him this thing." River said, tucking the hex box under her arm.

"Hell, no. You are beat to shit. There's no way you could defend yourself right now. We'll take you to Levi's if thats what you want." Dean told her.

"Dean I don't-"

Dean cut her off, "Look, you don't have to talk to me or look at me if you don't want. But I- We are not letting you go on your own until you're strong enough."

River rolled her eyes at the brothers, "Fine. I want pancakes for breakfast."

After breakfast they made the ten hour drive to Levi's. River sleeping curled up in the backseat for most of the drive. "River, what in the lords good name happened to you?" Levi said when the three hunters finally arrived at his small home.

"I'm fine. Really," she gave him a quick hug. "Here, this thing gives me the creeps lets get rid of it." She handed him the hex box as she and the Winchesters followed him inside. The pow-wow healer choose a scroll from his vast collection and walked to his the giant altar in his dining room. "I'm gonna make some coffee, ok?" River called from the kitchen. Sam stayed with Levi, fascinated at his brand of magic. Dean followed River into the small, nicely organized kitchen and pulled himself onto the counter. Watching as River bustled around making coffee, completely comfortable in Levi's home. "What?" she finally asked after having enough of Dean's eyes boring into her.

"Nothing… Bobby called when you were asleep. He's got a case for us in Wyoming," Dean said. "Small town where nobodies died in the last week."

"Interesting," she replied, "Get those coffee mugs for me. I can't reach over my head quite yet."

Dean hopped off the counter, "As you wish."

River turned to face him, "Don't do that. Don't fucking pretend like you didn't say all that shit to me. That you didn't fuck Anna on the backseat I just spent the last 10 hours sleeping on."

"River-" Dean placed his hand on her arm.

"No… I don't want to do this right now. Go check out your case in Wyoming. Call me if you need backup," she turned back to the coffee pot.

"Sammy, lets go! We're burning daylight!" Dean yelled walking quickly out of Levi's house. The Impalas engine roared to life a moment later and the car sped away.