Chapter Three

Outside Dean's hospital room, Lola sat, her head ducked with her face in her hands, elbows resting on her knees. With a heavy sigh, she looked up to see Sam standing over her, a spot of Dean's blood splotched on his pale grey t-shirt,

"Sam…I…"

"What happened in there?!" Sam fumed uncharacteristically, "I've never seen you like that before."

"I'm not myself Sam." Lola murmured, looking up at him with weepy eyes, "I've never encountered a poltergeist before. It sounds ridiculous…I can face vampires and demons single handed but…for some reason I just froze up in there."

Sam's eyes softened. He'd been angry at first because Dean had gotten hurt; though he knew Lola well enough to know that something wasn't right with her and she'd never, in a million years, intentionally let Dean get hurt. He dropped down in the seat beside her and sighed, placing an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close against his chest,

"Are you alright?"

She nodded slowly,

"Yeah. Fine." She mumbled with a small smile, "Let's go see Dean, yeah?"

Sam nodded,

"Yeah."

They both stood, though as they did, a stern, shaky voice called out along the corridor,

"Sam! Lola!"

"Maggie…" Lola breathed, turning back to acknowledge the youngest sibling with a weak smile. The pregnant woman waddled her way quickly down towards them, grabbing Lola's hands tightly,

"What happened? Is he okay?"

"Relax…calm…" Lola soothed,

"He's fine. It's just a break." Sam said, putting a hand on her shoulder, "We were just on our way to see him."

"Great. Let's go!" Maggie exclaimed, walking on ahead. Lola and Sam exchanged weary looks before following her into Dean's room.

The exasperated twenty-eight-year-old sat up in his bed, fidgeting with the chunky white bandage around his forearm. He looked up and grinned,

"Hey…" He beamed, "They pumped me full of morphine and now I'm up there…" He giggled, pointing up to the ceiling. Lola burst out laughing, as did Sam whilst Maggie shook her head, her hands firmly on her hips,

"You had me worried Dean." Maggie said, leaning forwards and peering into his face. He smiled back dopily, "You're stoned, aren't you?" She chuckled. He simply grinned even wider back at her. She rolled her eyes, slumping in the seat beside him, "How'd this happen?"

"Poltergeist." Sam replied,

"Did you kill it?"

"No. We'll go back tomorrow night." Lola said,

"You can't take Dean with you!" Maggie cried,

"We don't plan on it."

"Oh…" Dean whined, causing Lola to giggle a little bit, "What're you laughing at?" He slurred,

"You sound drunk." She told him honestly, taking the hand of his good arm and gently giving it a squeeze, "I love you dearly but you're funny."

"Awh…I love you too…" He cooed, "I love you all."

"Wow…I feel special…" Lola drawled quietly before smiling back at him, "How're you feeling anyway Dean?"

"Light." He answered, "I'm up there."

"Yes. You mentioned that before."

"But…but I am…"
"Okay…don't get upset…" She soothed,

"I'm gonna go and ask a Doctor when we can take him out of here." Sam said as he moved for the door,

"Yeah…I'll join you." Maggie said as she eased herself up to her feet, following after Sam to the hospital hallway. Lola settled on the edge of Dean's bed and smiled sweetly, gently touching his cheek,

"I'm sorry." She said honestly,

"Don't be sorry," He said softly, "you're gorgeous."

Lola nodded slowly,

"Dean…you're high on drugs…" She soothed, letting her hand slide down his good arm, "I'm not going to take anything you say seriously."

"You are." He insisted, "Even when I'm down here with the rest of you, I think you're gorgeous."

"Yes dear…" She sighed, patting his hand, looking around the sterile white room, "But I'm sorry anyway." She continued, "I'm sorry if it was my fault that you got hurt."

"It's okay!"

Sam and Maggie re-entered,

"He's staying the night." Sam said, "I'm gonna drive Maggie home then come back. Are you okay waiting here with him?"

Lola smiled,

"Sam…go back to the hotel. Get some rest." She said, "I'll stay here with him tonight."

"Are you sure? I'll come back and get you if you want."

"No way. You know I can't sleep without him so I might as well stay here." She said, pulling up the large cushioned seat beside Dean's bed so that it faced him as he began to drift off,

"Well if you're sure…" Sam began hesitantly,

"I'm positive. Take Maggie home…have a drink…kick back and relax. You'll be an uncle soon! Enjoy it!"

Sam smiled, leaning down and placing a kiss a top of her head,

"Thanks Lola. I'll see you in the morning."

"Adios."

"Bye Dean." Sam said, gently touching his brother's arm,

"Byyyyyye…" He called, giving Sam and Maggie a little wave,

"Feel better." Maggie called softly as she and Sam left again, leaving Lola to settle into the chair, drawing her knees up to her chest.

It was daylight when Lola's eyes opened drowsily, her neck stiff from an awkward nights sleep. With a yawn, she stretched out her legs and arms before her, twisting them to the left and then to the right to try and bring some blood flow back into them. She looked over at Dean who had been watching her through heavily lidded eyes the entire time,

"Hey…" She smiled, leaning forwards in her seat, "How're you feeling."

"I'm okay…" He croaked,

"You look like hell…" She mused,

"I feel like it…the painkillers wore off about an hour ago…"

"Are you okay?" She asked, standing up to lean over him, "Should I get a nurse?"

"Heck no." He grumbled, "I want out of here. They'll pump me full of drugs before I leave and then you can take me back to Maggie's."

Lola frowned, not quite understanding Dean's logic but shrugging it off, she broke the news to Dean,

"Sam has the car." She said quickly,

"Sam has my car?" Dean asked, "Sam's driving my car?"

"Yes…to be fair…he's a better driver than me…" She offered half-heartedly,

"No he's not. He drives like an old lady." Dean muttered, reaching over and pulling the hospital blankets off of his legs, "Let's get out of here."

"Dean…stay in bed…why is it I always have trouble keeping you in beds?"

"Hospital beds." Dean corrected, "You've never had a problem keeping me in any other beds."

Lola rolled her eyes,

"I swear…that's all you think about…" She breathed,

"What? It's true! Get in and I'll think about staying."

"I'm not getting into that bed with you." She told him firmly, "I'm going to get some coffee. You'd better be here when I get back."

"And if I'm not?"

"I won't be jumping into any bed with you. For a LONG time." She scolded, turning to the doorway, only to bump into a young man with shaggy chocolate brown hair with piercing blue eyes, "Excuse me…" She mumbled, holding her head in embarrassment, "I didn't see you there."

"Lola?" He asked, gently touching her elbow, "Lola Griffyn, right?"

"Yeah…" Lola replied carefully, "How did you…?"

"It's Tristan. Tristan Walters…remember? Fair Oaks High?"

"Tristan!" Lola beamed, "Oh my God…I…how could I forget about you? Hi! How're you?"

"I'm good…"

"What're you doing here?"

"I'm a med student here…and you're visiting I see."

"Uh…yeah…" Lola answered awkwardly, "It's really great to see you…" She said softly, smiling up at him, "Really great. It's so nice to see that you're doing so well for yourself."

"And you?" He asked, "What're you doing?"

"Uh…traveling, at the moment."

"No med school then?"

"Uh…no." Lola said seriously, "Some things came up and I dropped out of school and, Y'know how it goes…"

"That's a shame…you had your heart set on medicine…you were so good too…"

"Ahem."

Both paused and turned to see Dean sitting up in the bed looking rather unimpressed. He huffed loudly, making Lola turn back to Tristan with a nervous smile,

"That's Dean." She said, taking a step backwards towards the older hunter, "A good friend of mine."

Dean raised both his eyebrows as he looked away from the pair, muttering under his breath;

"Just friends now…"

"It's nice to meet you, Dean. I'm Doctor Walters and my resident just asked me to come see how you were feeling this morning. You can call me Tristan if you like." He offered with a friendly smile,

"How's about jackass…?" Dean muttered again, causing Lola to scowl. She looked back at Tristan and smiled half-heartedly,

"His pain medication has run out and he's a bit cranky this morning."

"Oh…well…I'll see what I can do for you about that." Tristan said with a smile, "Lola…if you're not doing anything at lunch, would you like to maybe grab a bite with me?"

Lola glanced over her shoulder to Dean and then back,

"That's a…really nice offer, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to pass. I'm in town because Dean's sister's having a baby within the next week, hopefully and now he's gone and broke his arm…I'm kind of…y'know…a little tied up."

"Rain cheque." Tristan said confidently, "Here's my number…give me a call when you're not all tied up and we'll get a drink. I'll see what I can do for your friends pain…I'll be back in a few."

As Lola returned to Dean's bedside, toying with Tristan's number in her fingers, Dean looked at her skeptically,

"What?" She asked, a little laugh echoing in her voice,

"I don't know what makes me angrier. That guy hitting on you right in front of me or the fact that in the last three months that is the most I've seen you smile…" He said, his voice beginning to rise. Lola asked, planting herself on the edge of his bed, stuffing the slip of paper with Tristan's number on it into her pocket,

"You shouldn't be angry about either." She said, "A change of pace is good…that guy was like my best friend in high school. It was nice to see him doing so well…y'know….without me…sometimes I forget that the people I left behind carried on without me. As my life fell apart and just got more complicated, everyone that ever cared about me once just slowly forgot I ever existed."

"He obviously didn't forget you…or how fine you are as he was checking you out as he left."

Lola shrugged,

"I honestly don't care." She said matter-of-factly, "All I'm concerned with at the moment is doing my job."

"I wanted to talk to you about that."

"Oh?"

"What's going on in your head?" He asked gently, "You've not been yourself the last couple of months. Since Maggie went."

Lola shrugged,

"I don't really know what's going on…I've just…lost my way…last night, I felt useless! And it's my fault that you got hurt…if I'd of pulled my weight, I could've protected you."

"What? And you'd be lying here instead of me."
"Is that such a bad thing?"

"Yes!" Dean snapped, sitting up strait to look her in the face, "I'd rather it were me here than you. You're a good hunter Lola…better than a lot I've met…but now you're different."

"I don't know what it is…ever since you left me at my brothers I've just felt increasingly useless!" She mumbled, throwing her arms up in the air dramatically,

"Hey!" Dean snapped, grabbing her face with his good hand, turning her chin to look at him, "You're not useless." He said seriously, "I was wrong to do that. I'm sorry."

Lola stared at him in shock,

"That was…wow…" She murmured, "You never apologize…for anything."

"Well I'm apologizing now. I'm sorry I left you at your brothers. You're a great hunter. I was being selfish because leaving you behind hurt less than if I lost you again."

Lola smiled slightly,

"It means a lot that you said that."
"Sam needs your help tonight in killing that thing."

"I can do it." She said confidently as Tristan re-entered the room, carrying a syringe,

"Here we go Mister Winchester…your Doctor will be along shortly to dismiss you…but until then, here's some more morphine!"

"Yeah…thanks…" Dean muttered as he approached with the needle, beginning to search for a vein,

"You're not afraid of needles, are you?" Tristan laughed softly,

"So what if I am?" Dean asked. Lola sat on the edge at the very top, beside Dean's head, placing a hand in his hair, gently rubbing her thumb back and forth on his forehead soothingly,

"Hey guys!" Sam beamed as he appeared in the doorway, "You're awake. How're you feeling?"

"Like crap…"

"Yeah…you look it."

"So I heard." Dean muttered, gritting his teeth as Tristan inserted the needle under his skin, "How's Maggie doing?"

"Fine…I've gotta get back in a little bit…I just came to see if you knew what time you're getting out of here."

"I dunno…Doctor Dougie Howser here is supposed to be finding out for me…"

"My name's Doctor Walters." Tristan said firmly, "Though points to you for your knowledge of bizarre television shows of the eighties."

"Right…okay…coffee time for Lola." Lola sighed, "Sam…coffee?"

"Yes please." Sam nodded as Lola left quickly, soon followed by Tristan, much to Dean's dislike. Sam wandered over to Dean's bed, hands in his pockets,

"I spoke to her." Dean said, "She seems fine now…"

"Dean…" Sam began, "You know I love Lola…she's great…but if she's going to compromise our safety then we need to be prepared to…"

"I'm not leaving her behind again. It's because I tried to do what's best for her that she's acting the way she is. She promises me she'll be fine and I believe her."

"Well if you believe her Dean then…" Sam sighed, "I guess I do too."