Ch 50
Something hard and annoying was sticking up her nose. She tried grabbing for it but her hands felt heavy and uncoordinated. The Vienna sausages attached to her palms finally hooked under the plastic tubing and she pulled it free of her nose with a sigh of relief. "Hey Princess, no, no, no. Lets put that back. I promised your nurse I'd get you to behave this morning," Dean's soothing voice murmured in her ear. The hard plastic prongs were gently placed back in her nose as River pried her heavy eyes open.
"Dean?" she croaked, running her dry tongue across her cracked lips.
His blurry red and black plaid shirt shifted across her field of vision again, "Take a drink, sweetheart." He placed a straw against her lips and she pulled on it taking a tentative mouthful of cold water. The fogginess around her vision slowly cleared and she saw Dean's emerald green eyes over the rim of her plastic cup. His brow was drawn together, dark circles hung under his eyes and his jaw was covered in several-day old scruff.
"How?" River asked quietly, her fingers pulling at the oxygen tubing again.
Dean sighed as she tossed the cannula over the side rail of her bed and out of his reach, "Levi somehow he…he got to us. He told us where you were." He tucked a piece of wavy red hair behind her ear and sat on the bed next to her. "I thought I lost you. Again."
River closed her eyes against the fresh memory of pain searing her nerves as Harob jabbed her with the cattle prod causing her muscles to constrict and tighten so hard she thought they were being ripped off her bones. Harob and his pitch black eyes, face contorted in fury as she refused him for the final time. A vision of Harob stabbing her friend flashed in front of her. The ways Levi's eyes opened in shock as the knife pierced his heart. "He killed Levi," she finally said.
"I know," Dean took one of her hands in his and rubbed circles on the back of it with his thumb. "We took care of him. We let his people know what happened. He's at peace."
She looked down at her still tingling fingers. For the most part they were back to her normal pale flecked here and there with freckles. A few of her fingernails were dark purple but other wise intact. Her wrists were wrapped in thick white bandages and she started pulling at the tape.
Dean pulled her hands apart so she couldn't undo the dressings, "You're gonna get me in trouble with Nurse Ratchet."
She gave up messing with her bandages and looked at the plastic name band on her wrist, "Which one of you assholes checked me in under my middle name?"
"You can thank Cas for that." Dean answered smiling slightly. He had already given the Angel a load of crap about what aliases are and how to use them.
"Meridian Samaritan Trauma Center? We're in Idaho?" she asked.
Dean nodded, "You've been here three days. Pretty out of it since your surgery. You were hallucinating and they tried to tie you down. That didn't go over too well…" His eyes were heavy and drawn with exhaustion and worry.
"Hey Riv, welcome back," Sam said as he and Castiel walked into the hospital room. Sam handed his brother a large cup of steaming black coffee which Dean immediately took a long drink from.
"Sam, Cas I'm so glad you guys are ok. Harob told me…he said you were all dead," she said giving each of the men a hug as they leaned over her hospital bed. "Wait…Jo where is she? How bad is she hurt? That fucking Hellhound looked like it got her…" Rivers eyes darted between the three men. Dean stared intently into his coffee while Sam's jaw tightened and he shook his head quickly not trusting his voice not to crack. "And Ellen?"
"She uh…" Dean cleared his throat and looked up at her, "She gave us a chance. Helped me and Sammy get away. We got to Lucifer. I tried the Colt and it didn't fucking work. And now they're both dead and me and Sam are back to being ladies-in-waiting for a couple of Archangel douchebags." River blinked several times waiting for the angry tears she knew should be there but found there were none. She felt strangely hollow, dried up and exhausted from losing so many friends. The weight of all their loss, Pamela, Gabriel, Levi, Ellen and Jo hung like an anchor around her heart pulling down on her soul. She wanted to go back into a drug induced sleep and ignore the end of the world.
"Good morning, Presley." The group looked to the doorway where a middle aged nurse bustled in. "Nice to see you haven't ripped off all your bandages or start screaming about demons."
"Fuck," River muttered under her breath.
Dean smiled at the nurse turning the Winchester charm up to full volume, "My girls just a lite weight when it comes to drugs, nurse. She's right as rain this morning."
The nurse clicked her tongue and said "Mmm-hmm, well Dr. Patel will be by shortly to check on you." She pushed River's table away from the bed and flung the white hospital blanket off. "How about I set you up for a bed bath?"
"How about you get my discharge papers?" River told her looking down at the ugly white cast adorning her left leg. "At least it isn't pink," she thought. Someone, most likely the green eyed hunter sitting next to her had written "LED ZEPPELIN ROCKS" in red marker along the length of the cast. There were also "D.W.", "S.W." and an enochian sigil that River guessed must be Castiel's version of his initials scribbled on the cast.
The nurse let out a startled laugh. "You can't be serious. You toppled off your motorcycle going 60 miles per hour. You have a major concusion, fracutres, burns... This is the most awake you've been since you were admitted." The nurse gazed down at River and crossed her arms over her chest.
River cast a sideways look at Dean, "Motorcycle?" Dean pointed at Castiel and the Seraphim shrugged his shoulders as if to tell her it was the best he could come up with on short notice. "I'm leaving in twenty minutes with or without my discharge papers." She told the nurse as she pulled the IV out of her arm and dropped it on the bed next to her. "Where are my clothes?" The nurse opened and closed her mouth several times like a fish choking on air.
Dean stood up from the bed and grabbed her duffle bag and a pair of metal crutches that were leaning against the wall and told the nurse, "You know a wise man once said there's only two ways to keep a red head happy: one is to let her thinks she's having her own way and the other is to let her have it." The nurse shook her head and muttered something before walking out of the room.
"I guess I'll go get the car," Sam said as River slowly swung her legs to the edge of the bed. Her hospital gown came loose at the back and Sam stole a glance at the bruises and welts marring her pale skin. One real look at her and no one in their right mind would believe she'd been in an accident. But Sam Winchester had learned a long time ago people believed what was easiest to stomach and tended to ignore everything else. River nodded weakly and as if sensing his eyes on her skin pulled the pale blue hospital gown up around her shoulders.
Dean turned back from the small bathroom where he had set Rivers duffle bag and saw her pale sweaty face. "Why don't you lay back down?"
She shook her head, "I'm fine. Just a little dizzy."
"That's because you have a severe concussion , a hairline fracture near your right occipital bone as well as your heart rate is very irregular from the electric shocks…" Castiel told her sternly.
"Can it Cas. Go find me a wheelchair or something," River grumbled at him holding her hand out for the crutches. With no fair amount of effort and colorful curse words she heaved herself off the bed and slowly made it the six paces to the tiny bathroom. Dean hovered behind her, arms outstretched and ready to catch her if she tipped one way or the other. "I'm fine, D. I've got to pee and I'd like to do it in private please," she said sliding the small door closed in his face.
"You are the farthest fucking thing from fine right now River." He replied to the closed door. He was met with silence for several minutes until River started whispering and cursing under her breath as she struggled into her clothes.
"My fucking jeans don't fit over this fucking cast," she yelled. "Couldn't the fucking surgeon just put some god damn pins or something in my ankle and call it a day."
"She did put pins in; four of 'em and two rods to hold everything together and you're still probably gonna have a limp when the cast can come off in six weeks," Dean told her as she slid the door open. She'd settled on a pair of yoga pants that she was able to stretch over the cast, a long sleeved henley and a hoody.
"At least most of my pretty face is intact," she said giving him a half smile the right side of her face an ugly swollen mishmash of purple and yellow. He glowered down at her. "Come on Winchester. We can't waste any more time here. Lucifer is out there planning who knows what sort of fuckery. Pestilence and Death are still out there and we are running out of time." She shifted on her crutches, tense pangs vibrating through her wrists with every movement. Castiel returned with a wheelchair as requested and River settled uncomfortably into it. Her face blanching again as she ran a shaking hand across her mouth to try and ward off the nausea that rocked through her. Dean and Castiel's eyes met briefly before staring down at her like a couple of concerned uncles. "Stop fucking doing that. You're as bad as him and Sam and their silent Jedi shit. I'm fine. It's just my….everything hurts. I'll be good in a couple days."
"I'll go see if Sam needs any help procuring a car," Castiel muttered before disappearing.
"Where's your car?" River asked as Dean took Castiel's place at the handlebars and steered them towards the elevators. Several of the nurses gave them disgruntled looks, muttering to one another as they rolled past.
"Baby's at Bobby's where I left her. Cas flew me and Sam here sans car," Dean answered as the doors slid open. Sam and Cas were waiting for them at the pick up curb in front of the hospital in a late 90's Cadillac El Dorado. "What the hell?" Dean muttered disgustedly at the Grey Poupon colored monstrosity parked in front of them.
"What?" Sam asked defensively. "It's roomy. Riv can sleep in the backseat on the way to Bobby's."
"Thanks Sammy," River told him as the big man helped her out of the wheelchair and into the backseat. Cas disappeared before they hit the city limits leaving the hunters to themselves. The car smelled faintly of stale Pall Mall's and Aqua Net hairspray but the back seat was indeed roomy although not as comfortable as the Impala. River shifted every few minutes trying to find a good position for the heavy cast on her leg and her tense muscles. Sam turned around in his seat to look at her as she stared out the window watching the flat land zipping past.
"Do you want to talk about…do you need to talk about what happened?" he finally asked her. Dean ran his hands along the steering wheel and rolled his shoulders nervously.
River turned her gaze away from the window to look at Sam and met Dean's eyes briefly in the mirror, "Harob's dead right? Or did he smoke out like a fucking coward when you guys crashed the party?"
"He's dead," Dean answered.
"Did you burn his Grimoire?"
"Yeah Cas took care of it," Sam answered.
"What's there to talk about? He beat the shit out of me, killed Levi, beat the shit out of me again and now he's dead," River said reaching down to try and scratch an itch under the cast.
"He almost fucking killed you," Dean barked. "He had you hanging there like a fucking side of beef, you weren't breathing. Cas couldn't fucking heal you…Sam broke a couple of your ribs doing CPR; I heard them fucking snap…"
Sam mouthed, "Sorry."
River stared at the bandages wrapped around her wrists, "Well, I guess I owe you one." She went back to staring out the window. The last thing she remembered was Harob shoving the cattle prod into the soft skin under her rib cage and screaming out in pain.
"So…Presley?" Sam asked after a few seconds of heavy silence.
"Daddy was an Elvis fan," River said leaning her head back on the musty seat.
"Your brother got the normal name and you got the peace, love and Hawaiian shirt name?"
River laughed, "No, Jim was my brothers middle name in honor of Jim Morrison. Daddy, the Star Trek loving Vietnam Vet with a killer record collection, got to give us our middle names and Mom, the bell-bottom wearing, granola crunching love child gave us our first names. Jimmy's first name was Sequoia but I had a lisp and couldn't pronounce that."
"Guess it's better than being named after your grandma," Dean muttered.
"What are we going to do now?" River asked.
Dean shrugged his shoulders, "Cas is still trying to find a lead on the Horsemen or God. He got close to Pestilence last week near Nairobi but the bastard disappeared before he could sniff him out."
River nodded, "What are we supposed to do with the rings if…when we get the last two?"
"Don't know yet. Gabriel could've been a tad more specific on that part."
"Yeah well the specifics were never that important to him," she answered smiling sadly. The car drove forward and soon Dean found a classic rock station that didn't suck too bad. The music and flat road helped lull River into a semi calm sleep. She finally woke when the gentle sway of the moving car had stopped for several long moments. She sat up stiffly and a fresh wave of dizziness washed over her. Her stomach growled loudly and she rubbed it trying to remember the last time she'd had anything to eat. She had been in such a hurry to leave the hospital her empty stomach had not caught up with her. The brothers were gone from the front seat and the car was parked in front of a motel office. The rundown 'L' shaped main building was coated in paint that had probably been red at one point but in the setting sun had a nauseous pink tone. This motel offered both daily and hourly rates, just their kind of digs. Dean could sniff out a motel that fit their needs from ten miles out; places that didn't need any papers signed as long as you gave the clerk an extra $50 and didn't question comings and goings at all hours or harried tire-screeching exits when things went bad. She opened her passenger door and scooted to the edge of the seat to call back at whichever brother was rummaging in the trunk. "I need my crutches."
"Got'em," Sam answered closing the trunk. He set their duffle bags down and helped her stand. River rolled her stiff shoulders and stretched her back grimacing as the fabric of her shirt rubbed one of her bruises wrong. "You alright?" Sam asked as she positioned the crutches under arms.
River nodded, "Where are we?"
"Somewhere in Wyoming," he answered.
"Ohh we should go by the Devils Tower. You know the mashed potato mountain from 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'."
"Maybe in the morning. You need some time out of the car and to get some sleep in a bed that doesn't have side rails," Dean told her as he walked towards them with two room keys grasped in his hand. He handed one to Sam and grabbed his and River's duffle bags. The trio made it slowly across the parking lot towards their rooms. Dean still walking closely behind her in case she lost her balance on the uneven, pot hole marred asphalt. She leaned heavily on the crutches as Dean unlocked their room feeling like she'd just run a very painful marathon instead of hobbling ten feet. "You alright?" he asked her as she took a deep breath.
"You guys keep asking me that." The corners of her mouth turning up as she looked over his shoulder at Sam as he disappeared into his own room. "I'm just tired of getting my ass kicked," she told him as he swung the door open.
"I'm tired of you getting your ass kicked too," Dean said locking the door behind them. River staggered over to the bed and sat quietly watching as he secured the room. He laid salt lines and goofer dust in front of the door and window, checked under the bed, the table, the nightstands and the closet for any hex bags and just for good measure burned a small bowl of sage and juniper to cleanse the room before finally shrugging out of his jacket. "Come on, let me take a look at your wrists." He held out his hand and helped her stand. The bathroom was slightly larger than the one in her hospital room. Dean set his first aid kit and gun on the sink and helped her sit on the closed toilet. She peeled the old bandages off and tossed them into the waste basket. Dean kneeled in front of her ghosting his fingers over the dozens of partially scabbed wounds. "Take your clothes off," he told her turning towards the tub.
"What? No," River replied pulling her hoodie tighter around her chest. Dean turned on the faucet and waited for the water to heat up then retrieved Rivers duffle bag. "Stay outta my shit, Winchester." He ignored her and dug around in the bag, creating a line of a half dozen prescription bottles along the counter.
"You know we're gonna talk about this right?" he asked nodding his head towards the bottles.
"Yeah, alright Daddy," River muttered embarrassed she hadn't trashed the bottles or done a better job of hiding them. Dean kept digging around in the bottom of her bag until he pulled out a purple and blue plastic wrapped sphere. "Hey I'm saving that," she yelled as he tossed the bath bomb into the filling tub where it immediately started fizzing and bubbling. Soon the scent of lavender filled the small bathroom.
"I can dunk you in the bath with your clothes on if you're gonna be stubborn," Dean told her.
"Can't you just give me a couple of days…"
"No, you smell like a hospital."
"Fuck you Winchester," River grumbled letting him pull her long sleeved shirt over her head.
"After your bath," Dean said as he sucked in a quick breath taking in the full extent of the ugly purple-green bruises painting her back. He pulled her to her feet and gently pulled down on her pants peeling them over the cast and tossing them aside. This was perhaps the least sexy she had ever felt while being completely naked in front of Dean Winchester. His callused fingers trailed up her legs stopping to inspect each raised welt and angry red burn left behind by the electric prod. "I shouldn't've shot him," he murmured stepping behind her to continue his inspection, mentally cataloguing each new scar.
"What? Hell yeah you should've. Fuck that guy," she told him over her shoulder, her arm going subconsciously to cover her naked chest.
"I should've taken him apart piece by piece. I should've made him suffer," Dean said his green eyes boring into her.
"I'll be ok. Maybe we just…leave the lights off for a while." Her chest and cheeks blushed pink mixing with the bruises on her face.
Dean cupped her face in one warm hand, "I am never going to let this happen to you again. I'm going to keep you safe." He ran his other hand along the soft curve of her back, pulled her close and took her lips with his. "Your bath is gonna get cold," he said finally pulling slowly away from her. Her lips slightly swollen and pink from their long kiss. She looked longingly up at him then down to the steaming, hot fragrant bath. River limped to the edge of the tub and with Dean's help slowly lowered herself into the water. Her casted leg set up on the tiled edge away from the water. She moaned happily as she sunk under the water, her breasts bobbing above the bubbles as she dunked her head back to wash her hair. She twisted her long hair up into a bun on top of her head and let the hot water and aromatherapy relax her sore muscles.
"How much of that shit have you been taking lately?" He asked sitting on the edge of the tub and indicating the various pills she had acquired through not entirely upright means.
She shrugged, rubbing scented bubbles up and down her arms. "I don't know. Probably too much."
"What are they for?"
"Depression, anxiety, nightmares… our daily lives. I thought if we could just kill Lilith I'd feel better. I came back from Zombieland and that evil bitch was already dead and we were still fucked and I unsurprisingly still felt like shit. But I kept taking them hoping I would just stop feeling everything. Except that hasn't worked yet either."
"I'm sorry. I know things have been… shitty."
River gave a short humorless laugh, "It's the fucking Apocalypse. And it's not your fault. Our lives are fucked. Always have been, always will be… I love you. I'm in love with you, Dean. And that scares the shit out of me. There's no pill that's gonna change that."
"Riv," Dean started.
"It's alright. You don't have to say anything. I just want you to know that whatever happens the next couple of months I'm with you. Until the end." She told him running her warm, wet fingers along his jawline. Dean blinked and shook his head, knowing exactly what he wanted to say but afraid to say it. Once he verbalized what he wanted, what he dreamed of: the two of them happy or as close to happy as they could be, away from all the end of the world bullshit, he couldn't take it back. And when things inevitably did not go their way that would be all he would think about: failing her. Again. Someone knocked at the door and River withdrew her hand and let it fall back under the bubbles.
"Be right back," Dean said grabbing his gun off the sink counter and heading for the door. She nodded and was self-conscious she'd said too much.
"You guys want some dinner," she heard Sam ask.
"Yes, gods I'm starving. I want pizza with pineapple, jalapeños and extra cheese," she yelled.
"Add sausage on my half," Dean told his brother handing over the key to the Cadi.
"You two deserve each other. Only degenerates like pineapple on their pizza," Sam yelled back. Dean quietly said something to his brother and Sam laughed. "It's not my first rodeo, Dean. Just text me or whatever." Before Dean closed and locked the door. She heard him shuffle around in the bedroom and then the low echo of music as he tuned the old school clock radio that was a staple in every motel room they'd ever stayed in. He reappeared a few minutes later bare chested, boots off and stared down at her.
River sank back under the bubbles as Dean kneeled down beside the tub. He trailed one hand under the water, fingers brushing along the length of her thigh, "Water's getting cold."
"God damn Winchester, you are so fucking far out of my league." She mumbled shyly as he pulled up on the stopper. Dean helped pull her to her feet then lifted her easily out of the tub. She let out a surprised laugh as he set her down, her hands grabbing at his shoulders for balance without her crutches as he dried her off with one of the motels rough off-white towels before kissing her again. He didn't think he could tell her again how he felt about her, that he still loved her. He was sorry for everything thing that had wedged itself between them. That he was terrified of losing her. But He could show her how he felt, that he wanted to be the one that made her happy. River felt her heart hammer against her rib cage as Dean pressed their bodies together. His hot skin gliding against her, one hand tangling in her wet hair, the other running up her inner thigh until his long fingers rubbed along her wet folds. Her hips jerked at his sudden touch and she squeezed his shoulders tighter, breathy little moans escaping her lips as Dean teased her entrance. Her knees shook, she was afraid her cast would slip out from underneath her at any second as Dean kept up his ministrations. Trusting Dean would catch her if it did. His lips were at her neck sucking and nipping, two thick fingers now inside of her, thrusting frustratingly slow and deliberate. She was seconds from the edge, eyes squeezed shut, fingers digging into his biceps for leverage. Dean felt her inner muscles tighten and pull on his fingers as her whole body trembled needing release. He withdrew his fingers and her eyes sprang open pupils huge and blown with need. "Fuck, Dean I need…," she murmured trying to catch her breath.
Dean pulled his bottom lip between his teeth. "What do you need?" he asked, his hot breath on her ear, hands moving to massage and rub the stiff nubs of her nipples. She cursed under her breath, letting her head fall back as he bent his head down and swirled his tongue over one pale pink bud. Her hands squeezing his arms as her uninjured leg shook.
"I need… my crutches," she mumbled, "Before I fall on my ass." Dean leaned down to kiss her again and instead gently scooped her off the floor. She let out another surprised laugh as he carried her out of the bathroom and laid her on the bed. He pulled his jeans off before climbing on top of her, settling his weight gently between her open legs his cock twitching against her thigh. He rolled his hips against her. The sensitive head of his cock bumping against her clit causing them both to gasp. The stupid, heavy cast on her leg kept her mostly pinned in one position underneath him as he slowly rubbed himself along her hot wet folds. "Fuck-fuck-fuck," She moaned as Dean finally pushed inside of her. The amount of restraint it took not to fuck her into the floor made the tight muscles in his back shake. Inch by inch he slid in, her inner muscles stretching around him then pulling him in tighter.
"God damn, god damn baby girl," Dean groaned into her neck. "You feel so fucking good. Gonna make you cum." He shifted his hips, sliding almost completely out of her before repeating the same excruciatingly slow thrust in. Rivers hands running through his hair, bringing Deans lips to hers in a crushing kiss. Their tongues meeting and tangling in a heated struggle, moans escaping her lips in little pants as she tried to raise her hips to meet each thrust of his. Between her fingernails dragging up and down his back, her right leg hooked around his hips for leverage and the incoherent filth falling from her lips Dean almost lost his mind. He grit his teeth and gave her two hard thrusts, slamming into her hard enough to bang the headboard off the chipped plaster motel wall and earning a half pained scream of 'Fuck Dean!' from River. Her back arching up against him, eyes squeezed shut, the cast on her left leg sliding along the cheap sheets as she tried shift under him. "Oh fuck, sweetheart did I hurt you. Shit! Shit I'm such an asshole!" Dean pushed himself up almost completely off of River, his cock sliding out of her.
"No! I'm ok. It's just everything still kind of hurts," she told him. "Fuck me slow. Please."
"You sure I didn't hurt you," Dean asked worriedly, looking between them and down at her bruised body.
"If you don't fucking make me cum like you promised I'm gonna hurt you." River threatened.
"Is this what you want?" He murmured as he entered again. River sighed with relief as he filled her. Every ridge dragging along her inner walls causing her to shiver and clench around him. A fine sheen of sweat broke out on both their bodies as Dean did as she asked and fucked her slow, the sent of the lavender bath bomb and her warm arousal filling his senses and making his cock impossibly harder inside of her. Part of him didn't know if he could even make her cum moving this slow but he be damned if he didn't try. Out of necessity when they had sex in the past they usually fucked hard and fast. Dean flipping her this and way that trying to coax as many orgasms out of her before Sam got back to their shared room or they felt like they'd pushed their luck in some parking lot and were going to get caught by the Police or someone else. Dean's sex clouded mind tried to remember the last time they'd been together. It had been months, before the last seal had fallen. Now he was inside of her, surrounded by her. Making love not screwing, acting like they had the rest of eternity to spend joined at the hips. River rolled her hips against him and suddenly Dean was hitting the most amazing spot inside of her. "Oh fuck, oh fuck, please…" Her moans increasing in volume as she teetered on the edge of orgasm.
"Son of a bitch," Dean growled feeling her muscles tightening and sucking at him. He pushed into her again and her orgasm hit hard.
River threw her head back into her pillow and screamed, "Fuck Dean!" Her body writhing and trembling as each wave of pleasure tore through her finally became too much and Dean's self-control was gone, his hips shaking from his own orgasm. River's heart beat wildly, ricocheting around her ribs sending the vibrations into Dean's chest. He gently collapsed on top of her, his breath ragged against her neck as his brain fogged with post orgasm bliss. "God damn, I don't know if that was such a good idea for someone who's just been electrocuted," River murmured taking a deep breath to try and slow her heart. Dean sat up on one elbow his face a mask of wary concern. River laughed, "I'm kidding. That was fucking fantastic."
"Just wait till that cast comes off, Sweetheart." He promised rolling off her and letting out a deep breath. She dragged her injured left leg to a more comfortable position on the bed and lay her head on Dean's warm chest. Her fingers tracing the anti-possession tattoo by memory.
"As long as I don't have to wait that long for my pizza I'll be good," River said smiling.
"Oh shit yeah, I'm starving. I told Sammy I'd text him when we were done."
"Pretty sure everyone in the county knew when I was done," she said blushing. River grabbed for her crutches and hobbled over to her open duffle bag looking for clean, wearable clothes while Dean sent a text to his brother.
They left the dingy motel early the next morning. Sam quietly taking the back seat letting River and Dean share the front seat. A frosty silence had fallen over the group since the night before. River had once again asked what the next step in averting the Apocalypse was going to be now that they were down to two equally daunting tasks: Finding God, which so far over the last weeks and months Castiel had not found one real clue to his Father's location and/ or killing the last two Horsemen, whom they had no idea how to even track. The amount of strange and demonic omens popping up all over the world had grown exponentially in the few short days since they had failed in Carthage and anyone of them could be signs of Death or Pestilence or both. Dean had made it abundantly clear River was on lite duty until the cast came off in six weeks, or the end of the world which ever happened to happen first.
"You're stayin' with Bobby. He needs the company and I need to know you are somewhere safe," Dean said looking across the stained vinyl seat of the El Dorado at River. She sat with her head sullenly leaning against the window, watching as they passed the "WELCOME TO SIOUX FALLS" sign.
"I'm safe with you." She said turning in the seat to face him, " We are safer together."
Dean shook his head, "How are you gonna hunt? Defend yourself if…when things go sideways because lately everything is going fucking sideways."
She sighed and looked back at Sam who had wisely decided to stay silent and not take sides, "I can man the laptop and the fucking police scanners. I can find cases or leads or research some other fucking way to stop the world from ending." Dean said nothing as he drove through the entrance to the Singer Salvage yard. He parked the car in front of Bobby's dilapidated home. "Please don't fucking leave me here alone. Do I have to be the girlfriend who begs not be left alone."
"You're not alone. You're with Bobby. And who said you're my girlfriend again?" Dean snarked at her.
She reached across the seat and punched his arm, "Bobby has his own life. He doesn't want to babysit Limpy McCrutches."
"Then you babysit him. He needs to be around people, get him out of the fucking house, take him bowling, binge Netflix or something…" Dean suggested. River rolled her eyes and looked towards the house. Bobby had rolled onto the front porch and sat silently watching the occupants of the Impala.
"What if you find Pestilence or Death?"
"Then we'll find a way to gank 'em just like we did War and Famine." Dean answered.
River sat heavily back in the seat and let out a long breath, looking down at the cast, "Levi fixed my hand in less than three days. There are twenty seven bones in the hand. I got two bones in my ankle broken and I'm benched for six fucking weeks."
"Well, maybe you can spend your spare time learning some Pow-Wow. It might come in handy," Sam said quietly.
Dean added, "Six weeks, Sweetheart. Just stay here and stay the fuck out of trouble. Can you do that for me?"
"Fucking bullshit house arrest," River cursed.
"Alright then, quit bitching and get out. Bobby's starting to stare at us." Dean told her smiling.
Authors note: Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing. Who else is excited there's less than 2 months to wait for season 14?