A/N: I've been trying to make Rika a bit more vulnerable, so she wouldn't quite be such a superwoman. Besides, Sam has that knight-in-shining-armour-syndrome, and he needs a damsel in distress to save. ;) Also, this is a way for me to get more Sam and Dean action into the story.
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Chapter 13 - Monster Hospital
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Bam shika bam shika boom boom bom
sha wang sha wang boom
sha wang sha wang boom
Bam shika bam shika boom boom boom
(Grrrrrr!
Aaaahhhh! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!)
sha wang sha wang boom
Monster Hospital, can you please release me?
You hold my hands down, I've been bad
You hold my arms down, I've been bad
I've been bad, I've been bad
I fought the war
I fought the war
I fought the war
But the war won
I fought the war
I fought the war
I fought the war
But the war won't stop for the love of God
Metric - Monster Hospital
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Sam POV
Sam was pacing around the hospital room Rika was lying in. He and Dean had arrived at the hospital shortly after midnight, and now it was already morning. Sam had spent the entire night in that room, with a million thoughts running through his mind, worried sick. This whole thing reminded him of when Dean had been dying in a hospital not so long ago, and it stirred up even more painful memories. At the moment, he was thinking back at their arrival at the hospital.
Dean had pulled the Impala over outside the hospital with screeching tires, and both of them had ran inside as fast as they could. Sam's heart had been pounding when he finally reached the information desk at the ICU after what seemed like a marathon.
"Hi, I'm Sam Brody. Someone called me earlier about Rika Johansson."
"Yeah, that's right", the nurse had replied while checking the hospital database. "She was brought in a couple of hours ago with the ambulance, and she just got out of surgery."
"Surgery?", Sam had asked in confusion.
"Yeah, there was an accident involving an explosion, and she had to go to surgery. She's still unconcious. I'll get her doctor for you, he'll be able to give you more information.."
After what had seemed like forever, an older man with grey hair and a friendly look, wearing the white doctor's jacket, appeared.
"Sam Brody?"
"Yeah, how is she?"
"She's going to be just fine, at least I think so. She's young which makes it more likely for her to recover completely. There was an explosion at the house of a...", the doctor had checked his papers. "Hugh Tennant. It seems like she was at the wrong place at the wrong time. The police suspect an arson; mr Tennant died, they found his remains. Miss Johansson was inside the house when the fire started and the shockwave from the explosion of the pipes apparently sent her flying through a window."
"Oh God", Sam said, feeling his eyes getting wet.
"Miss Johansson broke a couple of ribs, and she lost a significant amount of blood since a lot of shattered glass pierced her skin. She also has a nasty cut in her forehead as she hit her head on a rock. She got a minor concussion, but that's it. I'm sorry, but I have to ask you a question, the police would like to know."
"Go ahead."
"How did she know Mr Tennant? Were they... together?"
Sam hadn't liked the way the doctor looked when he asked that, obviously frowning upon the fact that a young girl like Rika might have been in a relationship which a man old enough to be her father.
"No, nothing like that. He was her... mentor, and a good friend. I'm her.... her...."
"I see", the doctor had replied, his judging expression turning into relief. "Does she have any other family we could call?"
"No, her family lives in Finland", Sam replied. "If her life isn't at risk, maybe you shouldn't worry them. She'll probably take care of it once she gets better."
"As you wish."
"Can I see her?"
"Of course, follow me."
Sam had been shocked when he first saw Rika lying in that hospital bed. She had been incredibly pale, the only colour on her face being the nasty wound on her forehead. She was lying completely still, the only sound being her faint breathing and the beeping from the machines which showed her steady pulse. She was dressed in a pair of hospital pyjamas, blue scrub pants and a white t-shirt, and he could see cuts and bruises all over her arms. Seeing the woman he loved like that almost made his heart stop, he couldn't even describe the pain he was feeling. She was unconcious, and he wanted nothing more than for her to wake up. Sam had just sat down by her bed, holding her hand in his own, stroking her hair. Dean had been standing next to him.
"Don't worry Sammy, I'll call Bobby and we'll hunt down those evil sons of bitches who did this to her", he had said with his hand on Sam's shoulder. Sam couldn't say anything, he had just nodded. Dean had stayed with him for a while longer, but then he left to go call Bobby and check out the remnants of Rika's watchers house.
Sam stopped pacing around, and sat down by her bedside once more. He pressed a light kiss to her forehead, just before he was interrupted by his cellphone ringing. It was Dean.
"Any news?", Sam asked nervously.
"There's not much left of Hugh's house, burned to the ground. The police has sealed it off, but Bobby and I managed to get through", Dean said with a chuckle.
"Any ideas on what happened?"
"I tried the EMF, but there was nothing. We found traces of sulphur though. Massive traces."
"Demons?"
"Most likely."
"We should wait for her to wake up, maybe she can shed some light on what happened."
"Yeah. Bobby and I'll continue looking, see if we can find something."
"Okay. Dean?"
"What?"
"Thanks."
"It's nothing, this is what we do. Sending assholes to hell is my favourite pastime. Besides, I like Rika too, she's frickin' awesome. We should help her out any way we can."
"I thought your favourite pastimes were eating, drinking and women."
"Oh yeah, right. Those too."
Dean then hung up on Sam, who couldn't help but to chuckle a bit, even given the situation. Sam looked at Rika for a moment, until he was interrupted by a nurse who appeared in the doorway.
"I'm sorry Mr Brody, but we need you fill out some papers for us."
Sam just nodded and left the room reluctantly. He didn't want to let her out of his sight, in case she would wake up. He hadn't been there to help her the first time, and now he had to do some damage control.
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Rika POV
Rika was feeling a bit confused, she had no idea where she was. Her head was thumping, like a big migraine. Her hearing wasn't as good as it normally was, she could only hear faint voices in the distance and closer to her a beeping sound. She tried to open her eyes, but her vision was really blurry. She could make out a white ceiling above her head, before having to close here eyes again. It seemed like the room was spinning. She blinked a couple of times, before giving another attempt at flickering her eyes open. This time she managed to keep them up, and her vision slowly started clearing up. There was a very bright lamp in the ceiling above her head. She turned her head to the left, groaning slightly at the pain. She saw the EKG next to her bed. "Great, I'm in the hospital. What happened?"
Rika still had a terrible headache and she tried lifting her hand to massage her temple to try to ease the throbbing in her head. It was difficult, but she succeeded. She looked at her arm in confusion, seeing tiny cuts on her skin that was now apple white, not exactly its normal colour. She had light skin like most Scandinavians, but not this light. She realized she was wearing an intravenous drip and she pulled the needle out of her hand with another cringe. Something was also stuck in her nose, and she quickly ripped out the oxygen tubes. "I don't need those, I can breathe just fine".
She noticed her hearing was once again enhancing, and now the voices in the corridor were clearer and louder. She let her eyes sweep across the room, it was empty except for a chair next to her bed. "Wonder who has been sitting in it", she thought. "Hugh?" She hadn't been quite able to remember what had happened, what the cause for her being in the hospital was. But now it was slowly starting to come back to her. Hugh's black eyes in the living room, the smell of gasoline and the lighter dropping to the floor. "Oh God, did Hugh make it? It was my fault, I got so caught up with Sam and Dean that I wasn't there for him, forgetting to check in on him as much as I should've. I've really messed up this time."
In that moment it became clear to her that she had to get out of that bed. She hated hospitals, and usually she tried to treat her battle wounds by herself or with the help of Hugh, avoiding hospitals unless it was absolutely necessary. Besides, if she had visited the hospital for all of her blemishes, they would've been very suspicious by now. She slowly sat up, ignoring the pain in her head. She touched her forehead and noticed she had quite a nasty cut. She cringed at the sting of pain when her fingers pressed the wound, so she quickly let go. She managed to get up from the bed, taking a few shaky steps towards the door. She had to put her hand to her side, as it started aching. It was a very familiar pain, once again. "Fantastic. Absolutely fan-freakin'-tastic. I've managed to break some ribs too."
Her legs felt steadier, and she let her eyes scan the room once more before taking another few steps. For once she was actually feeling happy about being a slayer, her senses recovered quickly and she healed fast. That was actually a nice advantage.
Suddenly Rika heard some footsteps and a familiar figure appeared in the doorway to her hospital room. Sam. He looked worried and tired, still wearing the same clothes he wore when he left. He scratched his head right before walking into the room, and then he looked up. His eyes widened in shock as he saw her standing in the middle of the room.
"Rika! What're you...", he begun but right at that moment Rika's legs finally caved in and she lost her balance but she managed to grab a hold of the bedside table and not falling. She then felt Sam's arms around her, holding her up.
"You okay?", he asked and she looked into his eyes. They looked more than concerned.
"Yeah."
"What're you doing up anyways, you should be lying down", he said while helping her back onto the hospital bed. "You were pretty badly injured."
"I'm fine Sam, really. I just got up too quickly", she replied and sat up in the bed while Sam put the sheets over her. He then sat down on the chair next to the her bed and took her hand.
"I hate hospitals", she muttered with a low voice, mostly to herself. But Sam heard her and cocked an eyebrow.
"Thank God you're okay", he said. "I don't know what I would've done if..." He didn't finish, but he didn't have to.
"How long was I out?", she asked.
"About 12 hours. The hospital called me last night, so Dean turned the car around. We got here a couple of minutes after midnight, and I've been here since then. Dean's checking out the... scene with a friend of ours. How'd they get my number?"
"I put you up as my emergency contact when I was here the other night, just in case something would happen to me and Hugh was out of town. Speaking of Hugh, how is he?"
She looked into Sam's eyes and noticed that they darkened and got filled with some sort of sadness that scared here. This couldn't be good. Sam looked down for a couple of seconds, and then he looked into her eyes.
"There's something I need to tell you."
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A/N: Reviews are better than Sam and Dean bugging each other and playing pranks. So don't be afraid to leave me a review to help me get better. I don't bite - vampires do. :P
I also have a poll on my profile page about what fandom I should use for my next fic, so feel free to go and vote. :)
