The Winchester men had always hated waking up in hospitals, none more than Dean; in his mind, though, there were different variations of how irritating it actually was. Waking up at night with one or both members of his family by his side was the most tolerable, and the worst would be waking up in the stark white hospital rooms in the middle of the day, drapes open, without a familiar face close by to greet him. Unfortunately for him, he just happened to wake up to the latter, and the aggravating sounds of beeping machines didn't help in the slightest.

Groaning angrily his eyes snapped open when he heard a chortle ring out from across the room… Sammy! Sure enough, when he tilted his head upwards, he was greeted by the same geeky grin, and twinkling eyes framed by that Beatle-wannabe mop that could only be his baby brother. "Sammy… you're ok."

"Yea," the lanky young man drew out, "don't get too pissed, we'll be released in a few days."

"And dad?"

"Doc's say he should be coming out of his coma any day now… you remember anything?" he asked, after the impact of the truck, whatever followed was blurry; but he could shake the feeling that Dean had come dangerously close to dying, and something or someone had come rushing in to help… before the paramedics got there, anyhow.

"I…" he remembered waking up for a moment before they had been rushed to the hospital, he remembered a feminine smile that melted into a worried frown, he remembered seeing a woman panic, then the feeling of his strength beginning to return to him; then he was out again. But it was silly; it didn't make sense… did it? "After the crash… nothing."

Before they could discuss anything any further, a nurse barged in through the doorway.

"Oh, you're both up I see. You guys in the mood for a visitor?" The nurse said as she walked squeakily from one bed to another, checking vitals and charts. Sam furrowed his brow as he took note of the young woman's squeaky shoes, the doctors and most of the nurses all had squeaky shoes… all except that one that came in the night before; she was quiet, funny and… different. What was her name? Cunningham?

"Who is it?" Dean asked warily; hoping she didn't say cops.

"A mechanic, uh, said his name was Joe Racine; according to him, he's got a very pleasant surprise for you gentlemen." She hadn't said much, but already the boys were getting annoyed by her voice.

"Racine?" Sam questioned, "Oh yea, of course, Ol' Racine. Yea, send him on up." He fibbed, hoping to get rid of the girl quickly while Dean eyed him suspiciously, "Oh, wait, one more thing…"

"Yes?" She asked, she'd gotten as far as grabbing the doorknob before pivoting to look back at the boys.

"Um, Nurse Cunningham… is she working today?" the young man requested, his brother's stare screamed 'Why does he always get the girl!'

"Cunningham? Cunningham, Cunningham, Cunningham… nope, we don't have any nurses on staff by that name; sorry hun." With a sad grin the irritating nurse stepped back out of the room, leaving two very confused hunters.

"Nurse Cunningham? How'd you come across this non-existent nurse?" Dean could feel himself quickly edging into belligerence.

"She came in last night and asked me some questions… you know, the standard questions these people ask. She wasn't like the other nurses…"

"Probably because she's not one?" the elder brother exclaimed sarcastically.

"Obviously that, but… I don't know, she didn't squeak, she was funny…"

"Hot?" Sam glared at his brother, never thinking with his big brain.

"I don't remember, I was a little loopy. But… she—I—there was something about her that… I don't know." Sam was truly perplexed at his loss of words as well as his sudden inability to string together a proper sentence.

"She's gotta be something if she can make you all tongue tied, loopy or n—" before he could finish, the old greasy mechanic they had been told about entered; both brothers finding themselves a bit suspicious of the man. He didn't seem to notice, in fact, he looked quite pleased with himself and fairly happy to see the boys.

"Hello… the Weatherly brothers, yes?" he asked carefully, going on when he saw them both nod slowly, "I have a big surprise for the two of you. You see, I work one of the local towing and car repair garages in town. The St. Mary's EMT's bring their ambulances to me and I more or less clean up after the accidents they tend to…"

Dean couldn't take anymore, he knew this man had taken his baby; the thing was probably a crushed cube by now. "How bad is the damage to my car?"

"The Impala? Oh, when she was brought in… it was enough to make the strongest man weep." Dean mournfully lowered his head. "But, I worked day and night on her for the past two months. Finished just last night, and now she's back in shape… hell, maybe better."

A hearty chuckle erupted from Dean as he rejoiced in the news of his car. "How much do I owe ya, Joe?"

"Oh," he said deviously, "that… you don't owe me a cent. It's already been paid for in full; though the lady responsible wishes to remain anonymous… oh shit."

"Lady… her name wouldn't happen to be Cunningham would it?" Sam demanded; his brother was still in too much shock over not owing anything to react too much at the moment.

"No… not that I'm saying what the young lady's name really is…"

"But you've already slipped enough to tell us it was a girl, why not just spill the rest?"

"Because I promised her, that's why! Anyway, it's waiting for you guys in the parking lot with boxes full of the stuff you had in the car before the accident." He said as he edged his way over to the door, "You kids take care of yourselves; the hospital is no place for young pups like the two of you."

A good 15 minutes or so after Joe the mechanic left their room; Sam continued to stare disbelievingly at the door as if he were still there. His glance only wavering when he heard the familiar sound of Dean humming some random Metallica song, "Does any of this seem a little odd to you, a little too coincidental?"

"Mmm… how do you mean? First you're new squeeze isn't part of the hospital staff, then we get the Impala back from Mr. Cryptic Mechanic… nah, nothing weird about any of it." Even with their current situation in mind, if Dean saw an opportunity for sarcasm… he would take it.

"Maybe it's her…" Dean couldn't help but silently agree with Sam, perhaps this Cunningham chick was the one that found them on the side of the road and she had just snuck in the night before to check on them. Perhaps it had been her who had funded and oversaw the repair of the Impala; in which case, she knew about who they really were, she knew about everything they had in their car… was she a hunter like themselves?

"When she talked to you last night… what did she look like?" He'd never know how Sam was shocked and amazed, time and time again, at his brother's ability to go from sarcastic-as-all-get-out to dead serious in a matter of seconds.

"Uh… the usual mint green scrubs, brown/auburn hair… it's a bit unclear because of the medicine… dark eyes, and tan I think." Sam recalled, focusing on the girl so much that he didn't catch his brother's bewildered look as he realized he had just described the girl he thought he saw after the crash.

So it wasn't all in my head. "Okay and you said she was quiet, funny…"

"I think she had abilities, too." blurted the younger hunter.

"Whoa, wait, what now… abilities, Sammy? How do you know?"

"It was her tone, and the way I knew she was looking at me… almost sympathetically yet not quite. She wasn't pseudo-sweet like nurses usually are, like she knew this was the last place we wanted to be in… you should have heard the way she talked about how you were doing," he couldn't help but roll his eyes at the expected ego-centric grin that blossomed when Dean heard that she had talked about him, "…It was like she knew how important your survival was to dad and me, like she actually cared what happened to us."

"Well that's something that doesn't happen every day… I could get used to that sort of thing." Sam would have made some kind of snarky remark, but the shrill ring of a cell phone somewhere to the left of him got in the way. It had been the first time he noticed it, but his phone had been placed on the small table next to him. Well shit, I thought I lost this in the accident. When he checked the caller Id he felt strangely comforted: Missouri.

'Sam, is that you boy?'

"Yes ma'am, it's me."

'Good, good. Are the three of you still stuck in the hospital?'

"Yes… wait, how'd you know about that?"

'Honey… don't ask questions you already know the answers to. How are you boys healing up?'

"Dean and I will be able to leave the hospital in a few days. Is something wrong, Missouri?" both young hunters looked worriedly at each other as the conversation unfolded.

'No, not really; I heard about the accident and was concerned about how the three of you were doing.'

"Oh, well, we're doing a lot better now."

'Good… Sammy, when you and your brother can leave… I want you to come to Lawrence.'

"Why?"

'Because it's not safe anymore for the three of you; you're still on the mend and I would feel better knowing you were someplace safe until you boys are fully recovered… especially you and that gun, Sammy.'

"Okay, we'll head to Lawrence as soon as we can."

'See that you do, I'll be expecting you boys here by Friday… 'that sound about right?'

"Yes ma'am, Friday… see you then."

'Tell Dean I said hello… and to wipe that look off his face, it'll get stuck that way, and I know he doesn't want to look curious for the rest of his life.' Sam couldn't help but laugh.

"She says to knock it off with that look on your face." To which Dean's only reaction was a brief scowl.

'I'll talk to you boys later.'

"Okay, bye."

"What the hell, dude? We're going to Kansas?" Dean asked incredulously.

"She wants us to squat someplace where we can be safe for a while… and what better place than with her." He shrugged; knowing that even after the events that went down last time they were in town, his brother was still a bit squeamish about their hometown.

And sure enough, around noon three days later the brother's were released from the hospital and left for the short trek to the psychic's house. At first they were unsure about leaving their father in Jefferson City, but finally decided it would be alright. He would be only two hours away and they would leave instructions with the doctor to call them as soon as John woke up.

Dean had nearly jumped with glee when he laid eyes on his precious car; he couldn't recall a time when the vehicle had looked better. Both young men were surprised and relieved to find the boxes filled with their armory and whatnot inside; after a thorough check they concluded that nothing was missing… thank god.

During the entire trip to Missouri's they talked briefly about the mysterious girl, but only briefly. Though, even when talking about other things, both young men thought about her the entire way there.

Little did they know that the mystery of 'nurse' Cunningham was about to be solved…

Hope you guys are finding yourselves enjoying this one. I'm finishing up chapter 6, tweaking 4 so I can post it soon. This one's going to be updated a bit more frequently than the other have; and those will be updated soon. But as always, updates are always great incentive to continue onward.