Bobby had been sitting in his study once again when he heard her. Heard the distressed grunts and groans of someone having a nightmare. Getting up he walked into the living room where Anya slept her face twisted with pain and fear.

"Hey, wake up. Anya." Giving her a good shake Anya woke up with a jolt but fell back against the pillows with her aching shoulder. "Calm down it was only a dream." Bobby wasn't sure if she was really hearing him she eyes were unfocused and dull.

"Drink this and don't fight me about it." Bobby said pressing a glass of water to her lips.

The house was quiet for the better part the rain had started again you could hear the turning of pages and the raspy breathing of the ill woman on the sofa.

The whole world was coming to en end before her very eyes. The sky was falling giving way to blackness and the ground shook and crackled under her feet. She was all alone as she ran down the road watching everything crumple and fall. The smell was catching up with her as black smoke began to fill the air. It smelled thick and unnatural like burning flesh and sulfur.

"Wake up kid." Bobby brought Anya out of yet another feverish dream.

"I got a friend here he's a doctor he's only here to give you a quick once over." Bobby explained.

Anya's eyes drifted over the old hunter's shoulder toward the man behind him. She gave him a wary look before nodding once. The man poked at prodded while Bobby sat by listening to what he said. "The fever is to high and needs to come down quickly. No more blankets till it does. Cool clothes and cold water should help but if it doesn't do anything by midnight cold bath."

"What about her shoulder?" Bobby questioned.

"It missed the bone entirely it just needs time to mend. Give it till the end of April before she can really use it and she'll be good as new."

When the doctor moved away Anya let herself relax thinking it over and was ready to sleep again the voices in the background guarding her way into what she would be dreamless hours.

"Sorry kid." She heard as arms slipped under her pulled her up. Anya cried out as her arm moved involuntarily. "Alright lets make this quick." Bobby said standing on the scale as the doctor quickly weighted them out. "Alright put her down."

Anya breathed through grinded teeth as she was eased back on to the couch. "There if you're going to swing at me do it now." Bobby offered. When the woman made no movements Bobby left her to go talk to the doctor.

"I don't see how she wasn't sick before the storm. She's underweight once she's back to eating try and put some on her or something like this will happen again." the man instructed. Bobby saw the doctor to the door remembering everything the man told him to do.

Bobby sighed as he walked back into the living room. Anya was going to be very unhappy about this but maybe she would give the older man a break. Bobby removed the covers he'd placed over her and received a groan of displeasure.

Or not.

"Hey you called Bobby yet?" Dean asked shoving a bag into his brother's hands.

"No." Sam told him.

"Well call him now so we can get more in tell in the guy were meeting to do this job." Dean told him. They'd left Bobby's and after taking turns at the wheel and sleeping in the back seat they had made it to a gas station just outside of Arkansas late in the fallowing day of leaving Bobby's.

It rang twice before it was answered.

"Hello?"

"Bobby we're just outside of Little Rock where are we meeting this guy at?"

"Hold on I'll give you his number." Bobby rattled off a few numbers that Sam managed to write down on an old recite.

"How's Anya doing?" he asked.

There was a long exhausted sigh from the other end that even Dean heard. "She's not giving up so neither am I. The shoulder will be good again by the end of April but she's still got a fever it's up and down since yesterday. Not high enough but not low enough to break. Not for another few days I think." Bobby shared.

"We'll get back soon as possible."

"I got the fort held down don't worry."

"Right Bobby. Thanks."

Bobby set himself up in the armchair for the night ahead of him to watch Anya. So far there was been few nightmares and her fever spiked 104.7 but Bobby managed to bring it down to a 102.6. Now just to get it to break. There were very few disturbances in the night letting both sleep even if uncomfortably and in pain.

Bobby's ringing phone brought him to a state of wakefulness. "Okay angry family of ghost not to be toyed with." Dean panted into the phone.

"Where's your brother?"

Bobby pulled the phone away from his ear as Dean cried out for Sam. There was a faint groan and a "I'm fine."

"He's okay." Dean answered.

"Patch yourselves up and head back. Get some sleep while you're at it." Bobby ordered. There was a sound of distress from the other room. "Gotta go." Bobby hung up the phone going back to the girl's side. Those eyes had Bobby by the shoulders and were making him feel the need to protect the girl to make whatever pain she was feeling go away much like a parent would want to do.

"Didn't anyone give a damn about you when you were growing up?" Bobby asked. He hadn't expected an answer. He wasn't even aware he'd said that out loud.

"No. I was left to fend for myself after my mother left. I don't even know if I've ever been to a doctor before yesterday." Anya said.

"If you're well enough to talk then you're well enough to drink some chicken broth and don't argue about it." Bobby told her.

Anya drank what was offered to her without complaint. Bobby slipped two a painkiller before letting her lay back on the pillows once more. "Thanks."

When Dean woke up Sam was up and ready to go coffee in one hand and breakfast in the other to get them on the road quicker. But when they pulled out of the motel parking lot Dean went the opposite direction. "Dean what are you doing?"

"We're going to Georgia." Dean smiled that 'I'm going to put foot to ass' smile that usually made Sam roll his eyes but for once he'd go along with it. Dean turned on the radio and let one of the heaviest songs he had play out.

Bobby was surprised to find Anya awake before him she was still pale and looked a bit worn but she was up nonetheless and that was a good sign. "Morning."

"Morning." She greeted with a small smile.

"Feeling better?"

"Better but in pain shoulder won't stop throbbing." She sighed.

"Yeah getting shot will do that to you. I tried to warn Dean not to but the demon that had you had other ideas. Dean's always one to shoot first ask questions later." Bobby explained handing her a cup of water and the pills.

"Thanks." As Bobby walked away casting a quick look over his shoulder he saw a little girl curled up in the bed with the bare minimum fighting away illness on her own no one to help her and the blue eyes red and puffy from crying.

"Think you can handle something more then broth this time?" Bobby called pouring a can on chicken noodle into the pot. "Yeah I'll go for it." She called back. Guess it was a good thing Anya was left handed so she had no trouble eating the soup from her lap Bobby keeping a close watch of her.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to but I see signs that there was a woman here once. What happened?"

"Rather not talk about it. You done?"

"Yeah." Bobby took the bowl from the dark haired girl. "If it means anything I thing you would have made a good dad." Bobby didn't stop to question what she'd said or why she'd said it. The rain started again soon after and they poured over books once more looking for anything that could help.

It was nighttime before long and there hadn't been a call from the boys meaning they were just fine or had caught a hunt on their way back. Besides the rain outside Bobby realized he didn't hear any pages turning from the other room. For the last few hours that was all he heard that told him Anya was awake and fairing as well as she could.

She sighed every so often or hissed in pain when she moved her injured shoulder but he hadn't heard from her in a good while. Getting up from the desk Bobby ventured back into the living room to find the woman laid back against the pillows her face flush with fever.

Bobby frowned knowing he should have seen the signs of something worse to come when he found Anya awake that morning. He should have known that it wasn't over and this, whatever it was, wasn't going to give up so easily.

Leaning over he gently roused her from sleep to check her temperature. Anya felt wave of dizziness wash over her making the room spin and colors blend. The hand what moved before her wasn't that of a living man but of one ready to torture and torment her. Despite only having one arm Anya still tried to fight Bobby off. She was in complete panic as hell closed in around her. It was hot and nothing made sense anymore. Everything hurt and it was hard to breath.

Dean?"

"Yeah Sam?"

"Are we really going to go in there and whatever to this guy because of what he did to Anya? What are we really going to do? He's dying." Sam asked.

"He deserves to have the crap beat out of him Sam."

"He's dying and maybe if we're lucky he'll be stupid enough to sell his soul or even better he'll just dye from whatever the hell he's got." Sam wanted to cause that man pain but he couldn't. They both did.

"Lets just see what's wrong with him at the least." Dean said. They slipped out of the black vehicle slipping into the hospital and up past the desk through the doors and up to the last place they'd seen Arnold Carter. He wasn't there and they were sure if they'd stayed any longer they would get caught and slipped out the back door finding a motel for the night to retry in the morning.

Bobby sighed as his bones ached with exhaustion. He'd been forced to call the clinic doctor back to his house to have a look at Anya once more. There was nothing he could do to make it go away or even lessen so the dreams stopped long enough. It was cold clothes dripped in ice water that made her shiver from head to toe each time body replaced them.

Anya cried out from the hell that attacked her every hour. It was a never ending up and down. For hours that left Bobby worried. The girl may not have known it but she had staked out a place in Bobby's mind that made him want to take care of her because no one had ever given a damn.

Bobby was startled from his train of thought when the phone rang. Throwing a glance at Anya he moved to go answer his phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey Bobby you alright?"

"I'm fine what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong we're fine we stopped back in Georgia to see Anya's father."

"Don't tell me you did something stupid."

"No but we found out he's dying of a brain tumor or something like that that he's only got a few months and that's if he doesn't make a deal to get ten years. How's Anya?"

"She was up yesterday morning she was even well enough to eat but her fever went right back up. It's high again we're back to square one." Bobby explained.

"We'll after we finish at this gas station we're n the road again." Sam said.

"Right." There was something that went unsaid between them as they hung up.

The fever bounced up and down for the next four days while the boys looked into a hunt in upstate New York. Anya fought it and Bobby stayed close enough to help they nightmares stay away. The wound somehow managed to get infected and now Anya was on antibiotics. A full week's time had gone by when the fever broke, really broke and started dropping. Bobby slept like the dead in his own bed.

The boys called to check on them as they found another hunt in Boston. They were glad to hear Anya was doing better. But now was the hard part getting her up and moving again and eating. She wasn't happy about it but she ate small amounts and frequently.

A few days after Anya's fever broke and she could manage walking across the room to the bathroom she gritted her teeth against the pain of her shoulder and bathed. That night they sat at the dinner table to eat and both slept in beds.

The sun even decided to grace the sleeping town and dry out all the puddles. It was one of these days that Sheriff Jody Mills showed up on Bobby's porch with a sunny smile that Bobby returned.

"I heard you had a favor to ask me."

"Yeah come on in." Bobby opened the door a bit further allowing the woman to pass. She followed Bobby back to his study where Anya sat pouring over more books. "Anya this is Jody Mills the sheriff she's agreed to take you into town so I could get rid of you."

Jody smiled at this. Bobby meant well and he would never throw an injured woman out on her ass. "Why do I need to go into town?"

"Because," Bobby started to blush, "you're using all my bandages for your…issues. So go into town and get what you need."

"Come on, Anya was it?" the darker haired woman nodded standing and following Jody out of the house. "God is that what the sun feels like?" Anya asked as it warmed her cheeks.

They ride was quiet for the most part Jody asked simple questions like where Anya was from, how old she was, why she was there. It was easy to answer. "So what happened to your shoulder?"

"Work related accident." Anya lied.

"You can tell me the truth I know what Bobby does. I know he hunts the supernatural. You can tell me the truth." She smiled.

"I got possessed by a demon and Dean shot me in the shoulder cause of something it made me say or do. I don't remember it." Anya told her as they cribbed out of Jody's pick up.

"What Bobby told me about you wasn't true not all of it. He'd said you were pretty tight lipped and jumpy always looking over your shoulder and spacing out."

"No today's just one of my better days." Anya claimed as she dipped into the isle she was looking for and picked up what she needed. A few items that every girl she have handy. "Well if you ever need a female friend or just want to get a drink." Jody offered.

"Well I won't be doing much drinking as long as I'm on this antibiotic for the infection." Anya dug out what little money she had and handed it over to the clerk paying for her items. "Well then if you ever feel you need to get away from Bobby he's a little hard to deal with at times."

"I'd like that."

Doubt we'll really get that chance though, Anya thought.

Jody drove Anya back to Bobby's where they found the man sitting on the porch his faithful dog next to him as he enjoyed a beer. "Got what you need?" he called.

"Yup enjoying that beer?"

"Hm." Bobby hummed with a smile.

Time seemed to be flying as April came running through and before long the sling was off and the stitches were away and Anya had use of her arm again. Even better she didn't look so thin and pale now. She was given the okay to go about whatever activates she could get up to they realized it was crunch time.

Sam and Dean came back to Sioux Falls smiling and happy to see a well looking young woman before them. Four pairs of eyes to read every book Bobby had.

"Hey dean?"

"What?"

"Do you think Cas might know anything about breaking a demon's deal?" Sam asked.

"Who's Cas?" Anya asked.

"Um he's a friend of ours." Dean said closing his eyes and taking a deep breath for a moment.

"Cas we need you down here for a moment."

There was a shriek from Anya as she fell over when the man appeared before them. Bobby and Sam were unaffected. "What the hell are you?" Anya asked. She could see the outline of his wings and a few feathers. She could see a lot of things now.

"I am Castiel an angel of the lord."

"In other words he's Jimmy the holy tax accountant." Dean joked. Cas stepped up to Anya and looked her in the eye his head cocked to the side in his usual confused manner.

"You want to break your deal so badly but some small part of you still believes you are destined for hell. You wish to punch Dean in the face, you have a crush on Sam but you don't wish to address it because there's a chance you may never see him again, you tell Bobby you hate it when he tries to act fatherly but you secretly enjoy it because your own father never cared."

The whole room was silent.

"I hate you just know that." Anya finally said her face red with embarrassment.

"Cas we need to know if there is a way to break a deal made with a demon that someone didn't make themselves." Sam got to the point.

"I am sorry I don't know that information." Cas disappeared after his answer leaving the room quite and everyone avoiding meeting eyes.

"So who wants a beer?" Anya asked with a smile as she all but ran into Bobby's kitchen hoping the conversation would be forgotten.

The books closed and were set aside as they gave in for the night. It was near hopeless. It was May. May and the days were running out and fast. Anya sat at the kitchen table her mind wandering about as she sat there thinking of everything she'd never done and everything she'd wanted to do.

"What are you still doing up?" Bobby asked walking into the kitchen.

"Do you sleep in that hat old man?" Anya asked as it was well past midnight and she had been sure Bobby had gone to sleep.

"On occasion I have. What are you still doing up?"

"Thinking."

"Well stop thinking and go get some sleep I'm sending you and the boys on a hunt tomorrow morning out in Utah." Bobby told her. "What do we get top kill this time?"

"Bed." Bobby growled.

"Alright." Anya laughed as she carried herself up stairs.

"Kids are gonna be the death of me." Bobby grumbled.