When the morning came I packed up all my belongs as if I were going on a trip back to Dr. Walcott's office. I packed the phones, Dean's journal, my medical journal, a gun that Dean had bought me, and the pills I now had to take. I looked over the bottles and thought to myself, what if I threw them away? How would anyone know? I would know, I would feel it. Although it had only been a week since I had begun taking the medication I felt a large difference in my body. I had more energy, more of an appetite, and I had begun to feel a bit more optimistic...but it all didn't come with a price. I felt sick, sicker than usual. I felt like I was hot and cold all over again and most importantly I felt at any second I was going to throw up...like my body wasn't real. Like my body was attacking itself.

But that was my life, never any good without a whole lot of bad. I had to pick which part was worth it. I had to keep living on.

And so to keep living on I ignored the side-effects and drove to the hiking store infront of the Doc's office. Unfortuately it was only 5:45 am so every store in the downtown was closed. I parked right before the store and decided the best thing I could do was wait for everything to open in my safe car where I could maybe...get a few z's in.

As if he had been waiting all day for a peak into the room, Steven stood before us and wripped me from Dean's arms so fast I landed across the street. A scream escaped my throat that sounded loud and shrill as if it didn't come from me but from a wounded animal. In reality that's what I was, another wounded animal getting wounded again.

I tried to stand up but my legs didn't seem to be working, like when I hit my head all the messages got mixed up. I opened my mouth to call for Dean but when I opened my eyes I saw he was tied up...by Steven lifting him in the air and tossing him on top of the hood of someone's car. I let out a grunt of frustration, it seemed like me and Dean could never have even a second to ourselves.

"They didn't help me! No one helped me! Not Dr. Walcott, not mom, not dad! No one! It's not fair!" He screamed as he lifted me up into the air by my shirt, the collar choking me and taking all the air out of my lungs, his other hand reaching up to hold my throat. "No one's helping you, hmm? Well not anymore!"

Before Steven could twist my neck a shot rang out and I was slipping through the air and falling back on hard surface. The pain made everything black and dark for a second but the light followed shortly after. I opened my eyes and watched Dean running after me, looking so cool and hot with that big gun in his hand. He helped me up quickly and held me agaisnt him as we ran away from the sight. "Lori, are you okay?"

"Yea-Yeah!" I shouted, trying to move as fast as I could but my leg was obviously injured and Dean's strong arm around me wasn't making me feel any better but I couldn't say that, "I think I'm okay..."

We got to the Impala and Dean opened the door and I was just about to jump in when he stopped me. What was he doing? His eyes were screaming with emotion and I could feel my face mirroring his expression as his hand touched my cheek. He held my face in his hand, his calloused hand so solid and unmoving and so...strong and handsome. He was protecting me, and caring for me, the only one that ever tried. He was everything I ever wanted.

We moved closer and at the moment, that second, I loved Steven Meyer. Dean was going to kiss me. Finally, he was going to kiss me. And just when our lips were going to meet air touched mine and I saw then that Dean was suddenly wripped from me and there Steven was again, throwing me backwards through a car windshield that sent alarms blarring.

I felt hot tears fall down my face as the adrenaline fell out of me as fast as the blood spilling beneath my skin. Everything hurt so bad, screaming agony shot my nerves, but everything hurt too bad to call out. Screaming would only make it worse. So I decided to breathe. I tried to count out loud but pain in my lungs made that impossible so I whispered to myself, "One.. Two.. Three.. Four.. Five.. Six."

I heard people shouting a sirens blaring and Dean's voice above it all yelling, "Mind your own business! Get back in your rooms!"

I hoped that with the people watching Steven would stop but there was no such luck. He appeared before me again and grabbed my neck so hard I could feel his fingertips digging into my neck. I felt like a hose that had just been stepped on, my body building up for release but there was none to be had. I tried to scratch at his hand but all I did was scratch at my own neck. I cried out loud and tried to kick him but it all went through air and then...Everything when dark...and all I heard was:

"Let her go!"

And the-

The knock on my window pounded through my head and forced me up so fast the only thing I could think to do was slam the door open and hit the person. A loud "oomf!" filled the air and I opened my eyes in time to see Nick doubled over in pain. I gasped and jumped out of the car, reaching my hand toward him to help him up, "I'm so sorry! I didn't know it was you! Are you alright?!"

The sun was so bright I could hardly see but it was evident that he was in pain. He groaned, clutching either his stomach or his crotch as he leaned against the car, "It's fine, it's f-...fine. I just...wasn't expecting that kind of reaction."

"Well, the pills you gave me are making me feel funny. I'm really jumpy now and what gave you the bright idea to sneak up on someone?" I snapped back, trying hard not to feel guilty and not be at fault here.

"Sneaking up on you?" he asked between a deep breath and a chuckle, "I was just letting you know the meter ran out. I didn't even know it was you, I thought it was some girl waiting for her boyfriend!"

"Well...," alright, I had run out of answers and guilt was starting to fill into me. I looked over up at him as he was starting to stand up, "Fine. I'm sorry. But what in the world are you even doing here?"

He didn't answer me, instead he pointed to the office building and then to the deli right next to the hiking store. I rolled my eyes at myself as he smirked, "Now if you're done with the fifty questions."

"I'm sorry, I've just been so...you know, jumpy! I feel like such a jerk...thanks for...telling me. I'll take care of it," I sighed as I looked through my bag for some change.

"I already took care of i- whoa there! Is that a gun?" Nick shouted in surprise, making sure to keep the last part quiet.

I slammed the bag against my chest to hide the bag but it was too late, he already saw it. I rolled my eyes, not bothering to look at him, "Yeah, Dean gave it to me. To keep me safe. Don't make such a big deal of it, I have a permit."

"Honestly, what kind of trouble does he think you'll get into?" Nick asked in disbelief, his eyes turning up and over the crowd to make sure no one has heard.

I rolled my eyes, this time at him, as I answered, "All kinds. Now if you don't mind I have something to do."

"Does that include eating your breakfast?" his tone implied that it wasn't a question as much as a demand.

"Doctors orders?" I mocked, not bothering to hide how my bad attitude because of how awful I felt, all because of him. But...it wasn't really because of him. He was just doing his job. Why did I have to be so mean?

His brown eyes, amused and dark, smiled at me in this odd crooked way I was only used to Dean giving me as he nodded, "You bet your ass. Come on. I'll get you something."

"You better not be flirting with me or think this is a date. My gun is loaded," I warned, just so he understood that Dean and I were still together and there was no way I was going to mess that up.

He laughed softly, putting his hands up in defense, "No worries. I'm using you as a tax write-off."

He managed a weak smile out of me but it wasn't much. It felt weird and misplaced, I was only used to Dean making me smile. I zipped up my bag and swung it over my shoulder, "Fine. But I'm probably not going to eat that much. I still feel like I'm going to vomit."

"That's attractive," Nick joked, adding a gagging sound that was too familiar to be amusing.

I patted my backpack and made a fingergun at him, "That's the point."

He shook his head as he guided me to the deli, "Are you always this defensive?"

I thought about that for a second. Am I? I thought back to everything in my new life, since I was liberated from the hold of my aunt and my uncle, and it was like a montage of all of my old replies. I looked up at the side of Nick's head, "Yeah...I am."

"Well, it's good to hear you're not being specifically mean to me, I think I'd cry," he said in a mocking tone. I lifted up my hand and punched him the shoulder as retrobution for his snarky comment, "Hey! Are you going to keep hurting me all day?!"

"Maybe if you keep be- Oh no. The stores going to close!" I didn't bother explaining to Nick, instead I ran to the hiking store and bursted through the door, "Are you still open?!"

"For the next five minutes, sure, what do you need?" it was a girl and despite my frustrated exterior she was very calm.

"I need one of those giant maps of the United States and then those little ones of every state. Alaska and Hawaii included," I explained, allowing myself to calm down as each word came out of my mouth.

She nodded her head and began looking through whatever was behind the counter she had previously leaned against, "No problem. You going on a trip?"

"No," I shook my head slowly, making sure not to get dizzy before the hard stuff began. "But I know someone who is."

"Oh, I know what you're doing. My girlfriend did it when her husband went on a trip crosscountry. It actually made the distance a lot easier to manage," she was talking, not really to me but in that general way that all retail people do. And the whole time I had thought it was a random idea that had popped into my mind.

"It really made a difference?" I asked, wanting to double check that she wasn't making this up and that this was an actual thing that actually worked.

She slammed all the folded up papers on the counter with a nod, "It might have saved her life."

"What's the damage?" I asked as I reached for the stack she placed in a plastic bag.

"It'll b-"

"There you are!" It was Nick storming into the store with his constantly bewildered expression. "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking I wanted to get in before the store closed," I answered, not bothering to hide the annoyance I found in his fifty questions...but wait. Maybe it was karma for when I had interogated him the first time around. I saw the total on the cashregister and handed her the money from my pack before turning around to face him, "Is that a problem?"

"Yeah," he said, slowly cooling as we walked to the door, "I thought you were getting ammunition."

"Who said I wasn't?" I asked, trying not to sound so joking but his laughter made that totally impossible.

"You're joking, right?" the tone of his voice made me crack up inwardly, it was the first time anyone was ever really afraid of me.

"Who said I was?"