Give Me a Medicine:
Toni turned to walk away and called over her shoulder, "Well good luck with that guys."
Okay…weird Toni thought to herself as she started down the street towards the Bed and Breakfast where she had been staying for the past four nights. They're the freaking FBI… They shouldn't believe in werewolves and all that shit.
She continued down the street while shaking her head and started going over everything else that Phyllis Sauvage had explained to her.
A cure? No way there's a…
"Hey Toni! Hold up a minute!" Sam's voice shouted from behind her.
She paused on the sidewalk and was just about to ignore him to continue walking when she felt a strong hand land on her right shoulder. Feeling the heat radiate from his palm caused her heart to race, but she managed to keep her breathing steady and faked a calm demeanor.
"Hey Toni… Umm does your offer for catching up over a drink still stand?" He asked almost sweetly while she still had her back facing him.
Before turning to face him, Toni took a deep breath and let it out slowly. As she started to turn, Sam finally released her shoulder which helped to ease some of her feelings of nervous anticipation slightly.
When she pivoted to face him, she was somewhat taken aback to find that only Sam had come chasing after her.
"Sure," she finally replied sheepishly. "But… Umm… Aren't you and your partner going to go out and hunt down a werewolf?"
Sam offered the barest hint of a smile and replied, "Well… I think that even if it can turn before the moon is full, it's probably safe to say that it most likely won't turn until night falls."
Toni allowed herself to chuckle softly and relaxed her stance considerably. "Okay, you probably have a point there. Uhh… So, I think happy hour is starting at the pub close to my B&B. That is unless you're on duty right now or whatever."
Sam shook his head and loosened his tie as he replied, "Nah, I think I'll take myself off the clock until at least midnight."
Toni motioned down the street with her head and turned back towards her previous path. "It's just down the street here and not too far away… So… FBI huh? Being a lawyer wasn't good enough for you?"
Sam snickered and ran his right hand through his shaggy brown hair and replied with a slight chuckle, "Yeah well, it's a living you know? But, hey! Looks like I'm not the only one that jumped ship."
He reached over and held her left hand which sent an almost electric shock through her body. "Hmm… No ring. Does that mean that you're divorced?"
She let him awkwardly hold her hand with her left arm stretched across her stomach as she replied, "I'm sorry? What did you say Sam?"
"Well your last name is 'Anderson' no, so I figured that you had gone and gotten yourself married, but now I see that you have no ring on your finger…"
"Oh… That…" She started as she slipped her hand out of his grasp and slid it into her jean's pocket. Toni took a moment while trying to decide how she would explain the name that he Sheriff had obviously used to introduce her to Sam and his partner.
Do I tell him the truth?
"When I went to Quantico, I used my mom's maiden name and started going by my middle name as well. It was kind of the easiest way for me to have a fresh start."
"Yeah, I get that. So… I guess that means that things between you and your parents never…" Sam trailed off and stopped at the corner while they waited for the traffic light to change and looked down at the woman beside him and tried to sound somewhat sympathetic to her situation.
Toni shook her head and forced her tone to remain steady so that she could answer clearly, "No, no it wasn't really anything like that per se. After my brothers and mom were killed, dad went downhill and I just really needed a change."
The light had changed, so Toni stepped off the curb and continued towards the lively crowd in front of the destination of her choice. She didn't allow herself to acknowledge the impact her statement should have had on the taller man, so she didn't notice when her words failed to evoke any emotions from Sam. Instead, he maintained a steady pace with her and took a moment to reply in order to force his tone to mimic something that could be interpreted as concern.
"I'm sorry to hear that Toni. I know how close you were with all of them .Can you tell me about it?"
After she pulled open the door for the pub, Toni motioned for Sam to enter and replied, "How 'bout I buy you a drink and I'll tell you all about it."
Sam chuckled loudly and responded, "Shouldn't I be buying you the drink then?"
Toni smile cheekily and shrugged as she sat down. "Whatever. If you insist, I won't object to you buying us a round or two."
Before either of them could think about flagging down their server after sitting at a table for two near the back that still had a good view of the door, a bubbly blond arrived asking, "What can I get for you two?"
"I'll have a beer and she'll have a double rum and coke," Sam replied as he slipped his suit jacket off his shoulders.
Toni smirked and stared at him from across the table and finally caught his eye after he finished rolling his sleeves back to his mid forearm.
"Sorry. That is you drink, isn't it?" He apologized as soon as their eyes locked.
She shook her head and her smirk morphed into a warm smile.
"Yeah, it is. I'm just surprised that you remembered," she responded affectionately.
Sam mirrored her and expression and then they both quietly thanked their server as she placed their drinks in front of each of them. After taking a large drink, they both stared at the table and fidgeted with whatever they could on the table, but after a minute or two, Sam reached across the table and still Toni's hands.
"It's okay Toni… If you don't want to talk about it, we don't have to."
She raised her head and Sam saw the trail of one lone tear that had slid down her cheek. He reached up to hold her face and brushed it away with his thumb while softly saying, "Really, it's no big deal."
Toni held his hand briefly then removed it from her face and said, "No, it's fine Sam. I just haven't thought about them for so long that I forgot about how much I missed them." She took another long sip of the dark brown liquid as she prepared herself and then she held his gaze as she recounted, "Mom was the first one we lost. She was stationed in Iraq and her caravan was hit by a suicide bomber. Then we lost Alexander in Afghanistan when his squad was killed by a roadside bomber." She paused once again to take a fairly large gulf from her drink because her mouth was feeling unusually parched. "And if that wasn't bad enough, William was killed on the base in Everett in an 'accident'. (She emphasized her sarcastic tone when she said the word 'accident' by raising her hands and gesturing with her fingers to create air quotes.) After that the Colonel completely lost it and has nearly drank himself to death on more than one occasion."
"Holy shit Toni, that's so unbelievable," Sam managed to reply with a tone of genuine shock. "But your dad… he's still around?"
"Barely. He's in a facility now where the Air Force sends retired officers that… Well frankly where they put officers out to pasture. He can't really function on his own anymore, so he has a nurse live with him 24/7. I don't visit him much anymore because he seems to get worse when I'm there… I just get weekly updates now instead. So far, he's been doing a bit better and has cut back a bit on his drinking over this past month."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Sam commented which elicited a defeated shrug from the woman sitting across the table from him. "And the incident with William… You don't believe it was an accident?"
"I KNOW it wasn't," Toni replied sharply after she finished off her drink. Once the words left her lips, she realized the mistake that she had made and immediately attempted to start some damage control. "What I mean is that I know the official report isn't what really happened. That was kind of what pushed the Colonel so far over the edge."
"But you know the truth? I mean, you know what happened?" Sam inquired as he signaled to the server to bring another round of drinks to their table.
"Yeah, but we couldn't get them to change the official report to keep it from sounding like William had cause the accident himself. The Colonel went ballistic after that and completely shut down."
Toni refocused her attention on her drink with the hopes that that explanation would suffice so that she wouldn't have to come up with another lie after having consumed so much alcohol. Sam noticed her discomfort and although he wanted to press the matter further, he fell into a comfortable silence with her instead.
When Toni noticed that Sam seemed satisfied with her explanation, she shifted their attention onto him by asking, "Well enough about me and my sad stories. What's new with you? Last I heard, you were road tripping with your brother and if I recall correctly Jess had mentioned you were looking for your dad or something?"
Sam chuckled softly but seemed to remain completely unfazed by the use of his dead girlfriend's name.
"Yeah, Dean and I spent months looking for our dad. Once we finally did find him, we spent some time together, just the three of us… But then we lost him after a car accident."
This time it was Toni's turn to show Sam some compassion, so she reached across the table and held his hand tightly. As she stroked his hand with her thumb, she remorsefully said, "Oh God Sam, I'm so sorry to hear that."
Sam just shrugged then watched as Toni interlaced the fingers of her right hand with his left. She hadn't seem to be aware of what she was doing because she had turned her head to signal to their server that they were ready for another round of drinks. When she turned her attention back to her companion, she forced her eyes away from his face and followed Sam's gaze to their hands.
The embarrassment she felt from initiating such intimate contact struck her hard and she muttered some words of apology as she tried to release her grip on Sam's hand.
Sam responded by crushing his fingers down onto hers in order to retain the contact they had. As she winced in pain, he flatly replied, "Don't apologize. This is nice."
He looked up away from their hands into her eyes and saw them clouded in pain, so he loosened his hold slightly and said, "Sorry. I guess I don't know my own strength."
As he stroked the back of her hand to alleviate some of the throbbing, Toni whispered, "I've missed you Sam."
He offered the barest hint of a nod as acknowledgement and held her hand softly in his own. They then continued drinking beverages while once again falling into a comfortable silence.
They ordered two more rounds during their conversation about everything and anything that had happened to each other during the nearly seven years that they had been separated. Even though no topic was off limits, Sam managed to effectively evade the topics of Lucifer, the Apocalypse and all of the 'odd jobs' that he and his brother had been doing over the past five years. Toni was more than happy to allow Sam to remain vague about some of the details surrounding many of his stories because that gave her permission to remain ambiguous about her knowledge of the supernatural.
When they were done, Sam refused to allow Toni to offer any money to cover their tab and escorted her out of the bar despite Toni's numerous protests.
"Really Sam, it's not that far," Toni objected without using a forceful tone. "I really don't need an escort, I swear."
Sam waited a moment for her to stumble slightly as she walked and when she did, he caught her arm and then wrapped his arm around her waist protectively.
"That may be so, but I would prefer that you actually make it to your room in one piece. I'll sleep better tonight if you let me."
Toni threw her arms around Sam's waist and as she hugged him, she exclaimed in an exaggerated, cheerful tone, "My hero!"
After she felt him chuckle, she released him and more earnestly said, "I tripped on a rock Prince Charming, but I do appreciate your misguided concern."
Sam let his hand linger in the space between Toni's shoulder blades as they continued down the path. When he noticed that Toni was in fact walking fine on her own, he removed his hand saying, "I forgot about your unnatural tolerance for alcohol."
Toni shrugged shyly and was just about to make a smart ass reply, but was interrupted by a female with long blond hair and talon like nails that tackled her on the path.
"SAMMY! DOWN!" Dean shouted from behind his brother.
As soon as Sam hit the ground, Dean squeezed the trigger of his Colt MK IV 1911. The second and third rounds struck their intended target and the victim let out a blood curdling scream right into Toni's left ear.
The attacker finally released her grasp on Toni's body when the fourth bullet struck her in the upper back. She then tore off down an adjacent alley and Dean's desire to give chase was immediately overshadowed by his feelings of remorse at the sight of Toni's crumpled body on the path. He felt absolutely sick to his stomach when he saw that there was a small river of blood flowing from her left side. Dean holstered his side arm into the small of his back and kneeled down beside his brother who was trying his best to inspect the wounds.
When Dean's hands joined Sam's on Toni's upper back, Sam focused his wrath filled eyes on his brother and asked heatedly, "Why the hell aren't you chasing it?"
Dean had removed his flannel over shirt and pressing it to the gaping wound on Toni's shoulder when he calmly replied, "Because I know who it is Sam. If those three shots didn't do the trick, then we'll just gank her tomorrow."
The younger Winchester nodded as he wrapped the limp female in his blazer and Dean breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Sam's facial expression soften significantly.
"Sammy? Did it bite her?" Dean asked hesitantly as Sam scooped Toni's petit frame into his arms.
"No… I don't think so… It just looked like a couple of pretty nasty claw marks."
Despite her injuries, Toni was able to raise her head slightly and placed it on Sam's shoulder as he started down the path, carrying her with ease.
"Once we get her back to her room, we should be able to inspect them more thoroughly," Sam explained as Dean followed closely behind.
"No," Toni objected painfully into Sam's shoulder.
Sam stopped and gently pushed the hair that had fallen into her face back and tucked it behind her ear.
"But we won't know how badly it hurt you unless we can get a better look at the damage," Sam explained very plainly.
"I know… But… Just not my room," Toni choked out with her features twisting in pain a little bit more with every word. "Madame Robideaux would never let us get past the front desk if she saw me like this."
Sam looked over at Dean, who shrugged and replied, "The Impala is about a block away. Do you think you can make it Toni?"
She nodded so faintly that if her head hadn't been touching Sam's shoulder, he wouldn't have registered her response at all.
"Which way is it Dean?" Sam asked as he let Dean lead him through an alleyway and away from Toni's temporary home.
By the time they reached the car, Toni had started to shiver despite being held tightly against Sam's chest. Dean held the back door open while Sam tried to gently place Toni on the back seat. As he started to ease her onto the leather seat, Toni's grip tightened fiercely on Sam's blood soaked dress shirt.
"Don't leave me alone," she whimpered desperately.
Sam couldn't hide his look of confusion, even if he tried, but Dean ignored the look on his brother's face and said, "It would probably be better if you sat back there with her to keep her from bleeding out."
"You sure you're not just worried about her blood ruining the interior of your precious car?" Sam retorted irritably as he shifted Toni's body on his lap so that he was more comfortable on the bench seat.
Dean turned to look over his shoulder to respond saying, "Sammy I'm hurt! I just figured that if you sat with her that you could keep pressure on the wounds until we can patch your friend up."
"Yeah sure, whatever," Sam replied. "Can we get going before she bleeds to death?"
Dean remained silent because he saw something that he thought were tears in his brother's eyes, so he just turned back towards the front of the car and eased it out onto the street. He quickly turned the car towards the motel where he and Sam were staying on the outskirts of town as quickly as he could.
A soft smile soon made its home on Dean's face as he drove because he was finally getting a glimpse of the brother that he missed so dearly.
"Shh… It'll be okay Toni. Dean and I are going to take care of you," Sam repeated softly over and over during the relatively silent ride.
"How's she doing? How's her breathing?" Dean asked as he tried to catch Sam's eye in the rearview mirror.
"Shallow… But steady. Dean she's losing blood fast…" Sam replied without letting any terror or worry creep into his voice.
Dean screeched the Impala to a halt in the abandoned parking lot in a spot directly in front of their room at the motel. Before Sam could request any assistance, Dean had the door to Sam's right-hand side wide open and was helping to hold Toni steady as Sam slid out. Once Sam was standing with a completely limp woman in his arms, he nodded to his brother who appeared to be frozen in his place in an attempt to get him to focus on the motel door.
Dean seemed to snap out of his trance quickly and hurried to the door saying, "Right… Sorry… I'll grab the door."
The Winchesters switched into autopilot as soon as they entered the sparse motel room. After throwing the door open, Dean rushed to the bathroom to grab some fresh(ish) towels and their first aid kit. Sam gently placed Toni face down on the bed closest to the door and after he shed his blood soaked shirt, he found a pair of scissors to carefully cut the sides of the woman's lightweight pink knit sweater. After carefully peeling it from her body, he tossed the remains of the sweater onto the pile of blood soaked clothing at the end of the bed. He reached out and touched the clasp of Toni's bra, but noticed that the claw marks were situated in such a way that it wasn't necessary for him to remove the dark red stained white lace bra to tend to her wounds, so he left it as was.
Dean materialized on the bed on Toni's right hand side and he poured some peroxide onto the streaks of read that dominated left upper portion of her back.
Toni then hissed in pain and the brothers exchanged relieved looks because they finally had some confirmation that she was still with them.
"Sam?" She pleaded into the pillow under her head.
Dean was using the towel to wipe away the mixture of blood and peroxide and he nodded towards Sam to encourage his brother to offer the injured woman some comfort.
Sam resisted the urge to roll his eyes before he slid off the bed and kneeled down beside Toni so that they were face to face.
"Sam?"
"I'm here Toni. I'm here," he replied softly as he stroked her cheek gently.
Toni forced her eyes to open so that she could confirm that he was really there and she smiled when she saw that Sam was kneeling beside her. While comforting her, Sam nearly missed ceasing the movement of her left arm when she tried to reach out to him.
"Hey… Shh… Toni don't worry, Dean's gonna fix you up, but you have to stay still, okay?" Sam quietly instructed as he placed her arm back on the bed.
Toni winced as Dean started to sew the first of the cavernous claw marks on her shoulder blade. Sam continued to stroke her cheek and offered words of comfort and encouragement while Dean continued his work. If Toni's eyes didn't flinch and periodically squeeze more tightly shut every once in a while, Sam would have been concerned that she was slipping away from them because she was maintaining an unnervingly steady rhythm with her breathing. Since they had spent so much time apart, Sam had forgotten that Toni had been raised in a military family, so her upbringing had taught her how to remain stoic when in pain or being tortured.
Once Dean was finished he hurried into the bathroom to soak the last clean towel in the room in some soapy water to wash Toni's. She then opened her eyes briefly and when she locked gazes momentarily with Sam's large hazel eyes, she smiled faintly then she let her lids slide closed once again.
"Sam," she stated quietly as if to confirm that everything was okay because he was there with her.
"Almost done Toni… Just hold on a little bit longer," Sam whispered without evoking much emotion into his tone.
Dean finished washing the left side of her back and then covered the stitches the best that he could with gauze and tape. As he started to clean the right side of her back, Dean gathered Toni's hair into a crude ponytail. After washing it, he patted her back dry softly with the untouched end of the same towel.
"Dude! What the hell?" The elder man exclaimed as he dropped the towel onto the floor (without attempting to get it even remotely close to the pile that Sam had created earlier).
"What?" Sam inquired with a tone of annoyance from his post beside the bed.
Dean gathered the dark strands of hair that flowed closed to the small of Toni's back once again. He remained mute and motioned with his head and chin to indicate that there was something on the bed that he needed to share with his brother.
Sam checked Toni's face one last time and when he saw that she looked like she was sleeping soundly, he stood up to talk with his brother.
"What is it Dean?" He questioned still sounding somewhat irritated.
Dean gently placed the hair in his hand over the gauze covered wound on Toni's left hand shoulder blade and jutted his chin to her right side. Sam shifted some loose strands to the side so that it was out his eye-line.
When he saw a familiar tattoo of a pentagram encircled by a sunburst, Sam released the hair in his left hand and stared at his brother dumbfounded.
"What the fuck?" Sam finally asked quietly.
Dean just shrugged then they both heard Toni happily moan a final "Sam" even though she was in a deep sleep.