A.N.: OK, I'm not a doctor, and I don't play one on TV. So, if from here on out some of my medical stuff sounds a little suss, I hope you can let it go!

Ow. Dean tried to adjust himself so that whatever was causing the pain in his leg would stop and he could go back to sleep.

When he found he couldn't move and that the pain was gradually intensifying, he opened his eyes a crack and squinted in the darkness. There was actually something draped over his legs. He reached for the bedside light… and grazed his knuckles over some sort of rock wall.

His head felt fuzzy and he tried to sit up, but a sudden sharp pain in his shin and the weight of whatever was on his legs forced him back down on his back. Confused, he reached slowly down towards the mysterious mass across his lower half, fully expecting something to take a bite out of his hand. When his fingers touched a slender arm and followed their way up to a shoulder, he felt a surge of confusion. A subtle hint of perfume wafted up to his nostrils. A woman? At least he hoped it was just a woman and not something more sinister, but with his luck...

Not thinking he had a whole lot of options, he decided he'd better try to rouse the woman. He took a deep breath and tried to clear the fuzziness from his brain. He wanted to be ready for whatever happened after this person woke up. He wanted to assume she was in the same boat as him and had been forcibly brought here, but he couldn't afford to take any chances.

"Hello? Hey there… Are you awake? Hello?" He prodded her shoulder gently.

He heard a small groan and the woman shifted slightly. Dean winced as the pain in his shin intensified and he found his fingers suddenly tangled in what felt like long, soft hair. Trying to focus on carefully extricating them while his shin throbbed intensely was a lesson in concentration, but he was damned if he was going to have this woman spring awake to find him tangled in her hair and stomp all over him in a panic. Especially when it seemed like there might be something nasty going on with his leg.

"Miss? Can you hear me?"

The woman moaned a little louder now and seemed to be coming out of it. He could feel her hand move on his thigh as she tried to get her bearings. And then as Dean had anticipated, the panic set in.

She scrambled quickly off him, causing a fresh burst of firey agony to shoot through his leg. He groaned loudly in pain, muttering, "Oh yeah, there it is. Ahhh... Jesus. Thanks for that."

Dani's heart was beating so loudly that she didn't hear what he was mumbling. Her neck and her shoulders were aching, but the fear pushed the pain to the background. She couldn't see a thing in the complete darkness and she felt sand on the ground underneath her.

Just where the hell am I?

Ragged breathing issued from across the darkness.

And who the hell is that?!!!

So scared she could scarcely breathe, she tried to wet her bone dry lips and speak. "Whhh…. Who… Who are you?"

It was scarcely a whisper, but Dean could recognize the terror behind it. He understood that most people didn't see the side of life that he was accustomed to seeing on a regular basis and he tried to even out his voice so he wouldn't frighten her even more.

"My name is Dean. I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. Whatever's happened here, it's happened to both of us, OK?"

"Wh… Where…Where are we?"

"I wish I knew. I only woke up about a minute before you did, unfortunately."

Dani worked at swallowing down her fear and tried to remain rational. Could she even trust that this man was being honest with her? She couldn't even see him; he could be doing anything over there. What if he had a weapon of some kind?

Short of asking him if he was a serial killer, she knew she had only one choice right now as much as she hated it. She took a calming breath and did something she tried never to do: she reached out with her senses to see if she should tell if he was being truthful with her.

When the strange feelings, dreams, and visions had started up almost 2 years before, she'd tried to ignore them. When Drew had questioned her about it, having experienced the same things herself, Dani had denied it completely and had even acted like her sister must be losing her mind. But Drew finally realized the truth and had hounded her about their new "abilities" ever since, making her even more uncomfortable about the whole thing. She never found it pleasant to suddenly know exactly what another person was feeling, whether they wanted her to or not. It made her feel uncomfortable, invading someone's privacy like that.

Now, however, was not the time to worry about the morality of it all; her life might depend upon it. Despite the pitch black, she closed her eyes and concentrated on the presence across from her, trying to feel any malevolence that might be emanating from him. As the sensations flowed around her though, her shoulders relaxed from their hunched position. She sensed nothing but confusion and discomfort... and something else she couldn't quite put her finger on. He seemed... what? Familiar? Try as she might, she couldn't figure out what it was. And then she was distracted by something else she felt from the strange man: pain.

Dean was just about to break the uncomfortable silence that had suddenly cropped up, but she beat him to the punch with an unexpected question. "Are you... are you alright?"

Obviously she'd heard him grunting with pain earlier, but still her question surprised him. In light of their position right now, he was amazed that it had ocurred to her to wonder if he was OK. Most people focused on themselves in situations like this, understandably.

"Uh, I'm not really sure, actually. I have a bad feeling I might have a broken leg, but since I can't see it... All I know is it hurts like a bastard."

"I... I could take a look at it if you like... so to speak." She frowned into the darkness. "I mean, I could try to feel the bone and ascertain whether there's a break, but I don't know if-"

"You a doctor?"

"Not quite, but I have a couple years of Med school behind me. If that makes you uncomfortable, though-"

"No, not at all. Honestly, I'll take what I can get." He grimaced. "I mean... I didn't mean that to sound like... Uh-"

"It's OK. I know what you meant. Just keep talking so I can get back over to you."

"You got it. And I appreciate you doing this. I mean-" He cut off briefly as he felt her moving to his side, "... you don't know me from Adam."

She smiled in the dark. "Yeah, well... You don't know me either." She put her hands in front of her in the dark. "I have my hands out- can you reach up and guide me down to the injury?"

Dean's hands went up and immediately found hers. They were softer than he imagined a doctor's hands would be, but then again he hadn't had a lot of fun in hospitals over the years so he acknowledged that he might be a little biased. He guided her downward and she gently probed the leg, feeling her mind returning to sanity as she started her internal processing.

Even though she'd frequently questioned her decision to become a doctor over the years, when her "doctor mode" kicked in it was easy for her to tune out her surroundings, including the horrendous situation she found herself in, at least temporarily. And then a sharp intake of breath beside her reminded her that there was another person at the end of her probings in the dark.

"Sorry, uh..." She frowned as her brain grasped for his name but came up empty. "I'm sorry- you told me your name but I was a little freaked out. I don't remember it."

"Dean. Dean... Winchester." His instinct to use an alias was as strong as always, but for some reason he decided to go with his real name this time, although he wasn't sure why. Maybe it was the fact that he was basically at this woman's mercy right now; if there was ever a time to trust someone, now was the time.

When she didn't reciprocate and simply continued feeling around on his shin, he cleared his throat. "So, should I just call you 'Doc' then?"

She grinned. "Sorry. My name's Danielle. Danielle Archer."

Archer... Why does that sound familiar to me? Dean tried in vain to recall where he'd heard that name before, but was soon distracted by another sudden, sharp pain in his shin. As he let out a hissing noise, Dani stopped her movements.

"I'm sorry, Dean. Man, this would be so much easier if I could see what the hell I was doing."

He let out a slow breath as the pain receded somewhat again. "It's OK. I've been through worse."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah. This is nothin'." He had been resting back on his elbows for most of the examination but now he attempted to sit up straight. The skin stretching across his shin to accommodate the movement stung a little bit, but he pulled himself up anyway. He slowly slid back towards the rock wall behind him until he was leaning against it. Dani had anticipated his movements and had tried to keep his leg as stable as possible for him while he moved. He was again surprised and impressed by her unsolicitated assistance, but he figured it was probably just her doctor's nature coming through.

Dani sat back on her knees for a moment. "Are you OK? Any dizziness?" She prodded carefully to see if the movement had caused any more bleeding

"No, I think I'm alright, thanks. So... What do you think? Is it broken?"

She moved her hand back, resting it beside the affected area. "Well, the good news is I don't think so."

"Cool. What's the bad news?"

She grimaced. "You've got something lodged in there, like a large splinter of something. I'm not sure what it is, but I think it might be a piece of metal or plastic or something. It's not that thick, but it does feel like it's gone all the way to the bone."

He exhaled loudly, nonplussed. "Great. Do you think you can take it out?"

"If we were in a brightly-lit exam room with nice, sterile instruments to use, no problem. In the dark with nothing but my hands, I'm a little nervous to be honest."

Yeah, me too. Dean had performed many self-fix-it jobs on himself over the years, but even then he'd at least had running water and bandaids at his disposal. "I don't suppose you keep a small bottle of Vicodin in your back pocket for emergencies, do you?"

She laughed softly, but he noted the underlying tension peeking through. This was not a good situation.

"Dean, I... If you think you'll be OK by yourself for a while, I think I should try to feel around and see if I can't find a way out of here. In the meantime..." He heard her moving around for a moment and then he felt her hands gently feeling their way up his leg. She slid a piece of material under his leg and then tied it off tightly. "You're not bleeding much right now, but I'm worried that if you move your leg again the wound might open up more. Let's not take any chances."

Dean realized he hadn't even checked to see if she was injured at all and felt a little sheepish. "Danielle, are you hurt at all? Are you sure that you're up to crawling around in the dark?" Not to mention who knew what else might be stuck in here with them; he decided not to voice that concern, however. They had enough to worry about right now.

She frowned. "I'm fine, I think. Although the side of my neck's a little sore..."

As she reached a hand up and felt the sensitive area, Dean's hand flew automatically to his own neck and he immediately started to worry about vampires. Fortunately his mind was set at ease after she revealed, "It feels like a burn or something."

Dean felt his own neck and found something similar. He was fairly certain he knew what it was, too.

"Hmm. I think someone probably used a taser on us." At least that probably meant they weren't dealing with something supernatural here. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure if that made him feel any better in the long run; human beings were far less predictable than the things he usually dealt with.

Dani rubbed at the sore spot on her neck thoughtfully. "A taser? But...?" She just couldn't get her mind around it all. And then the pieces slowly began to fit together in her mind. "Oh my god."

"What? What's wrong?"

She sat back on her knees again. "Dean, can you imagine any reason why someone would want to do this to you?"

"Stick me in a dark hole, you mean?" He snorted softly with bemusement. "I'm sure I've pissed a few people off over the years, but I think the most I should be expecting is maybe a beer poured over my head or a few choice words. Why?"

"Are you from Albuquerque?"

"No, my brother and I were just here... on business." Shit. Sam. I forgot all about you there for a minute. "In fact, my brother's probably looking for me right now."

Dani wondered if her sister would have noticed she was missing. Since she was supposed to be on a plane home after the meeting, it was highly doubtful anyone would notice her absence until she failed to check in with the Boston police.

And if she knew I was missing, I wonder which emotion Drew would be more likely to feel: concern or relief?

Knowing there was never any point to wallowing in personal dramas, she drew in a deep breath. "Dean, I... I think it's my fault you're here. What's the last thing you remember before waking up here? Where were you?"

"My brother and I were at this building downtown. He went inside to see someone and I was hangin' around outside."

"What building?"

He flashed back to the name on the wall in the lobby and then he realized where he recognized her name from. "The Archer Building. As in Danielle Archer?"

"'Fraid so. That's the last place I remember being as well." She rolled off her knees and sat heavily on her behind on the ground. "Oh, Dean... I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. I'm betting you were just-"

"In the wrong place at the wrong time?" He laughed lightly. "Story of my life." He bent his good knee up towards the ceiling slowly. "I guess that weird noise I heard down the alley was something after all. I must have interupted your kidnapping, although I didn't actually see anyone. Guess they came up behind me."

"And I'd just come from a meeting where my sister and I were informed of a new kidnapping threat. I should have taken it more seriously, but... I mean, I was still in the building for chrissakes!" She moved back closer to where she knew Dean was sitting. "I'm just so sorry. You shouldn't be here. This is all my fault."

"Hey." He reached out and felt for her hand. "Neither of us should be here. This is not your fault." He gave her hand a small reassuring squeeze but she still felt like she was to blame for his misfortunes. And then she saw another quick image of the dark haired man from before. She gave her head a slight shake and then slid her fingers from his grasp and stood up.

"I'm going to go look around. There's got to be a way out of here."

Dean though she sounded suddenly distracted. "Are you sure you want to-"

"Yes. I'm not afraid of the dark, don't worry."

"OK, fine but... I don't think you should stray too far. I mean, we have no idea how big this place is and you might end up lost."

"I'll be fine. I'll... we can keep calling out so we don't lose track of each other." She started to feel her way down the wall beside him, thinking out loud. "It definitely feels like rock. We must be in a cave somewhere."

Her heart started to pound a little faster. There were hundreds of caves in the desert around Albuquerque. If someone was looking for them, how would they ever know where to start looking? She fought back the surge of panic and focused on moving along the wall beneath her hands. There had to be a gap somewhere, there just had to be...

As she drew further and further away from Dean, calling out occasionally so she didn't get lost, goosebumps started to form on her flesh. Night must be falling, or maybe it had already fallen. The desert temperatures often dropped steeply in the evenings, and if she was right about where they were...

It probably wasn't helping that she'd tied her long-sleeved shirt around Dean's leg to slow the circulation to his wound. Her light cotton tank top wasn't exactly made to protect her from the cold. She stopped and rubbed her arms to try to warm them up although she knew it was pretty much pointless.

She was starting to think that maybe she should head back to Dean, and try again later; maybe some light would appear once it was daylight outside and she'd have an easier time finding an exit, but she was troubled by the thought that she could be standing right next to their way out of there and not even kow it. She had to keep trying to find that gap in the rock that would set them free.

As she felt the rock again, her mind drifted back to the image of the young man that kept coming back to her. She was even more certain than ever that she'd never met him before. She was sure she was going to though- whatever she saw in her visions inevitably came true, as much as it scared her to admit it.

Lost in thought, she didn't notice Dean calling to her from the distance.

And then she was tumbling head over heels into the darkness.