Chapter 6

If it hadn't been for the fact that Sam could see the slight rise and fall of her chest, he would have been convinced Lou was dead. Her skin was deathly pale, cold as ice to the touch, and it looked like something had been branded into her chest.

"DEAN, GET IN HERE NOW!" He screamed, and instantly regretted it the second it came out of his mouth. He could only hope Dean was the only one that heard his panicked call.

Dean was in the room almost before Sam got the last word out, the feeling of dread his brother's call had given him progressively rising as he took in the scene that had already terrified Sam.

Sam lifted her head and shoulders, gently cradling her in his lap. As Dean watched him, he gently pulled down the neck of her shirt, only enough to expose the offensive bruising that he'd already found on the soft, white flesh.

"Sam, is that a hand print?"

Shaking his head, he laid a hand atop the repulsive sight, "And it's hot, Dean. Her whole body is ice cold, but this, it's sickeningly hot."

"Sam, we gotta figure this out, and fast. Whatever it is, it's killing her. We gotta get Dan."

Before Dean could make any attempt to leave, Sam wrapped his hand around his wrist, and pulled him back down onto the bed with hard jerk. "NO!" Sam barked at him, horror blanketing his face.

"What the hell do you mean, no? She's dying Sam, and we need him to keep her alive long enough to stop this."

"Dean, how do we know Dan's not the one doing this to her? You saw the way the EMF meter lit up when he turned it on. It went ape-shit."

"Come on Sam, you really think Dr. Doolittle is some evil, life sucking, son-of-a-bitch? That guy probably wouldn't know evil if it bit his face off and spit it right back at him."

"You got any other suggestions. We need to start with the obvious, don't we?"

"The obvious? What about your girlfriend, Alex? Last time I checked, she was standing right there beside us when Dan tripped the switch. You can't rule her out, pretty face or not."

"I know. We need to find out everything we can about the both of them. And I need to start narrowing down what the hell could be doing this."



"Stay here," Dean commanded, leaving and quickly returning with the laptop, and a .45. "You see what you can dig up; I'm gonna go check the two of them out. I'll lock the door behind me, and DO NOT let anyone in here, ANYONE!"

"How the hell am I supposed to keep them out?"

"You'll think of something." Dean gently smacked Sam upside the head, and quickly left, locking the door as promised.

Dean pulled into the hospital parking lot, a chill shooting up his spine when he saw the ominous, white building. It brought back a lot of memories he'd much rather forget. Grabbing one of many fake IDs, he put on his most authoritative face, and sauntered inside, trying to portray nothing but confidence.

The ER was quiet, almost empty. Grabbing the attention of the nurse behind the desk, she peeked up at him over her glasses, and smiled. "Can I help you?"

Reading the name tag, and flashing the older woman his winningest smile, he stated to the nurse, "I sure hope you can, Carol. I'm Detective Rick Deckard, and I was hoping someone could answer a few questions for me regarding a couple of staff members."

"Oh my, are they in trouble?"

"No ma'am, not at all. Just some background questions, that's all. Do you think you could guide me in the right direction?"

"I've been here for twenty years son, if I don't know it, it ain't worth knowing. What do you want to ask?" She stared into his eyes, and winked.

Dean chuckled internally. It was amazing what his smile could get him, when it needed to, even with the older ladies. "What can you tell me about Dr. Dan Scott?"

"Dr. Scott? He's been here for almost fifteen years now. Young punk when he first showed up, but he's mellowed out quite a bit. And he's one hell of a doctor."

Dean pondered that for a minute. He didn't suspect Dan, but he continued anyway. "Notice any 'odd' changes in his behavior lately?"



"Depends on what you mean by 'odd'. Last couple months, he's taken a lot of personal time off, but that's nothing I'd call odd."

"Do you know why he's taken so much time off?"

"Well, I don't know for sure, but I hear the rumors, and have my suspicions."

Another flash of his pearly whites, and he knew he had her hooked, and he just needed to reel her in. "You mind sharing them, Carol? Your suspicions, I mean."

"Well, rumor has it that he has a thing for one of our lady doctors. And since she fell ill, he's been playing knight in shining armor. He spends all his free time looking after her. It's a shame too, after she just kind of kicked him to the curb a few months ago. Guess he thinks he's still got a chance. Love is blind I guess."

'And deaf too,' Dean thought to himself. "Can you tell me when was the last time you saw him?"

"Oh, yes. Yesterday. He was here all day. Couldn't tell you when he left though, sorry."

"It's ok, that's not important. What can you tell me about a nurse, name's Alex. Think I her last name is Mora."

"Hmm, haven't seen her in about three months. She was only here a month or so, and then just disappeared. Haven't seen her since. Pretty young thing, dark hair, beautiful dark eyes, right?"

"That's the one."

"Always wondered what happened to her. One day, she just never showed up. We just figured she couldn't handle the place, especially after what happened."
"What happened?"

"Nothing much, some people thought she was stealing drugs, but she was cleared. In fact, it was that same doctor, the one Dr. Scott pines for, that saved her ass."

"Dr. Carpenter, right?"

"That's right, you know her?"

"You could say that. Thank-you Carol, you've been very helpful."

"Don't mention it sweetheart. Anytime."



Sam had tried, in vain, to warm up Lou's icy body, but to no avail. After pressing a cold cloth against her chest to sooth the heat coming from the hideous blemish that had been left there by God knows what, he'd wrapped her tightly in the blankets that had been strewn all over the bed.

He'd also been searching everywhere for some answers, not coming up with anything substantial. He had a lot of possibilities, but nothing concrete. He was frustrated, and every minute that passed, he got more terrified that they weren't going to be able to find any answers in time. And he prayed Dean was having better luck.

He wasn't sure how long it had been since his brother had left, but he was thankful that neither Dan nor Alex had bothered to come up and check on them. Thankful until he heard the knocking on the door, that is.

"Hey, anyone in there?" Dan called, sounding even more irritated then he was earlier.

Making his way over to the door, Sam opened it, just enough to peek his head out. "Sorry, Dan. We were discussing something personal, and I think it tired her out. She's sleeping now. Maybe she'll be up to more company later."

Dan was obviously pissed off now. "Just let her know Alex and I are leaving. Maybe one of us will come by tomorrow."

"Thanks, I'll tell her. Don't worry, I'll take good care of her."

"I just bet you will Sam."

Dan stomped down the stairs, and stormed out the front door. A few seconds later, Sam heard a car peeling out of the driveway, tires screaming against the blacktop, seeming like it couldn't get away from the house fast enough. Thankfully, the house was empty now, just to two of them. Sam sat back down on the bed next to Lou, fearing that if he strayed too far, he wouldn't be able to tell if she died in her sleep or not. Her breathing had gotten stronger over the last couple hours, but she was still transparent white, and deathly frigid.

Sam just sat there, staring into space for only God knew how long, until he was startled by the ringing of his phone. It could only be one person. Flipping it open, he answered his beckoning brother. "Dean, you got anything?"

"Sam……Dan……cemetery……be careful……right there." That was the last thing he heard before the phone cut out. He immediately tried returning the call, only to be dumped straight into voicemail. He could only pray that right there meant Dean was on his way back.

"Sam, is that you?" The voice was barely even a whisper, so quiet, he wasn't sure he'd really even heard it.

"Hey, you're awake?"



"Sam, listen, I think it…" the utterance cut off by a fit of coughing that just wouldn't stop.

"Don't try to talk, just rest. We're gonna fix this, you're gonna be ok."

She tried to catch her breath, but just couldn't seem to make her lungs obey her brain. Sam gently turned her to her side, and rubbed her back, trying to calm her enough to help her breath. And it seemed to work.

Taking in a deep breath, she tried again," Sam, it wants..."

This time, she was interrupted by the noise of the front door slamming open and heavy footsteps pounding their way up the stairs. Sam jumped off the bed, and made his way through the door, fully expecting to see Dean storming up the stairs. But it wasn't Dean, it was Dan. And he had a baseball bat.

Seeing Sam in the hall only fueled his fire, and he took the last four stairs two at a time, swinging the bat as he climbed. Sam would have normally been fast enough to evade the blow; however, he was too stunned at what he was seeing to actually believe it. And when the bat connected, hard, with his left shoulder, it made a sickening crunch.

Grabbing his arm, sure his collarbone was broken; he stumbled back into the bedroom, edging closer to the bed with each step. Drawing the bat back again, he was ready to take another swing, when Sam put a hand up, hoping to stop him.

"What the hell are you doing, Dan?" He hoped to defuse the situation by finding out just what the hell was wrong with him.

"What the hell am I doing, what the hell are you doing? You think I don't see what's going on here? I waited two years for her, playing the good friend, until finally she agreed to start seeing me. Then you two show up. I save her life, but she drops me like a bag of rocks. And you two are always together. Do you think I'm stupid? I saw the two of you sleeping together the other night. I know what's going on. And don't you think she's a little too old for you?"

Sam saw the look of anger on Dan's face, and was starting to get worried that he may start swinging that bat at whoever was closer, and right now, it wasn't him. He slowly circled around Dan, and moved himself out the door, and into the hallway. Dan followed, right behind him. Doctor or no doctor, he actually looked like he could kill Sam.

"Dan, there's nothing like that going on, trust me. We do not have THAT kind of a relationship."

"You're full of shit. I see the way you look at each other, the way you talk to each other, the way you care for each other."

"Dan, if you'll just put the bat down, I can explain everything."



Sam was pretty sure Dan hadn't seen what he saw out of the corner of his eye. In his haste to climb the stairs and beat Sam's head in, he'd left the front door wide open. And he never heard Dean creep inside, watching every move Dan made. Dean knew he had to do something though. He had no way of getting upstairs without passing Dan and Sam, so he went for the direct approach instead.

"Hey Dan," he called from the bottom of the stairs. "Sam may be into a lot of sick and twisted things, but, trust me, incest isn't one of them."

"What? What the hell are you talking about?"

"If you'll calm down, we'll explain." Sam stated, and trying to use Dan's confusion to his advantage, he lunged for the bat. Dan wasn't as slow as he looked though, and as Sam grabbed it, he ripped it from his hands, causing Sam to lose his balance. Tumbling down all fifteen stairs, he landed in heap at the bottom, blood from his head staining the floor.

"SAM!" Dean shouted.

Dan didn't notice Lou standing directly in front of his face. "What the hell are you doing to my brother, Dan?"