Thank you to Ladysunshine6 for giving me inspiration for this this chapter, and the rest of Season 2. She's really creative and I'm grateful for her fantastic input. Thank you to everyone who waited as well for this chapter, and all the followers of this story, I hope you're still enjoying it!;)
I will upload the next chapter later this evening if I get a chance. Happy reading!
Dean woke up in a clean, white hospital room. He was alone.
He sat up slowly, wondering how long he had been there, how extensive his injuries were. But most importantly; where was his family?
He walked out into the hallway barefoot, his skin padding on the cold, sanitized floor. He could smell hospital, hear the beeping of machines. He strained his ears for the sound of Sam's voice, tried to catch Amie's scent. He couldn't.
He walked into the hallway, looking for someone to ask for help. Unluckily the hallway was empty, so he took a right and walked down another. He almost ran into a nurse, running down with a critical patient in a bed. He just managed to avoid being hit by the bed, guessing she wasn't in the best position to be questioned right now. He looked around for someone to ask for help, but everyone was absorbed in their own conversations, own dramas, own tragedies. It was almost as if he was invisible.
He saw a young man by the side of the corridor, dressed in a doctors uniform, reading from a sheet of paper intently. His glasses were perched on the end of his nose, and he read over the top of them.
"Hey, Doc, can you help me out?"
He didn't look up, so Dean walked over and tried again. "Excuse me?"
"Oh, sorry," he said, looking up from his papers.
"Listen, Doc, I was in a car crash. I had two men and a woman with me too, I was wondering if you could tell me where they are?"
"Oh, of course. I'll show you," the young man said, his face unreadable. He lead Dean back towards where he had come, past his room, to an identical door further down the hallway. Dean thanked the man, smiling at him, then opened the door and walked in.
His Dad sat in bed, Sam stood next to him. His eyes swept the room for a second, but Amie wasn't there. Maybe she was getting something to eat…
"Dean," Sam sighed, relieved. He walked over to Dean, hugging him tightly. When Sam pulled away, Dean could see the red and purple injuries on his face.
"Dean," his Dad said, calling him over. Dean walked over slowly.
"How you doing?"
"Fine," John said. "Listen, what happened earlier. What I said, what I did. I'm sorry."
"It's fine," Dean said after a moment. "I guessed it was the demon anyway."
"You were right," he smiled. "You've got good instincts, Dean."
He felt pride surge in his chest, but as the feeling grew the overwhelming sense of worry did not diminish. He bucked his lip and looked down, then at the room's door.
"Dad, where's Amie?"
There was no reply. John looked at Sam seriously, making Dean's heart race.
"What? What is it?" He asked, looking between them. Neither said anything, but they both looked at the floor and avoided catching Dean's gaze. For some reason, John looked guilty. "Oh, God… She's gone."
"No," Sam said quickly, swallowing. He looked at Dean pitifully. "I'll take you to her."
Dean turned to look at Sam, smiling gratefully. It didn't quite reach his eyes.
(o(o(o(o(0)o)o)o)o)
Dean took a deep breath, standing outside of the closed door. His whole world was behind it.
"You ready?" Sam asked, standing next to Dean.
He let out a shuddering breath. "No."
"Neither was I," Sam said. "Come on big brother."
He opened the door.
Dean swallowed. His chest hurt. Did it? He supposed that wasn't the best way to describe it. It was more numb than ache, but the numbness felt hungry. It felt like a gaping hole in his chest had been opened, sucking in and eating everything. He couldn't breathe.
Amie lay in bed, still and silent. Apart from a scratch on her head and a cast on her arm, she looked completely fine. As if she was sleeping.
The tube in her mouth was what told Dean she wasn't just sleeping. A machine next to her was doing her breathing. It whirred in and out, like a great beast snoring loudly, sleeping next to Amie.
Dean walked in stiffly, his body feeling like stone. He stopped next to Amie's body, looking down at her with a heartbroken gaze.
Amie's mind, Amie's soul stood opposite Dean on the other side of her body. She stared at his broken face, hoping he could sense her. He had to. They were linked, he and she. They were closer than anyone else in the world, they may as well have been one person.
So why could he not see her?
"Sammy," she croaked, speaking for the first time since she had screamed in the corridor, desperate for someone to hear. "You're psychic. Please, please hear me."
No one moved, and Sam carried on watching Dean intently. Amie looked between them, tears clouding her vision.
"Dean," she whispered. "Dean, come on. I'm right here."
He brushed Amie's hair out of her face, allowing a single tear to fall down his cheek.
"Um, Dean? You wanna go get something to eat? You haven't eaten properly in a few days," Sam said softly.
Dean sniffed. "Nah, I think I'm gonna stay here with Amie. You go ahead. I just… I'm just gonna sit here," he said, pulling up one of the two chairs in the room. He held onto Amie's hand.
"Okay," Sam muttered, walking out of the room.
Amie wanted to feel Dean's hand. She wanted to be able to feel his warmth, to be comforted by his touch. But she couldn't. She saw him holding her hand, but it wasn't really her hand.
"It's okay that you can't hear me," Amie whispered, surprising herself. She hadn't even thought about talking, but now words were tumbling out of her mouth. "I know you can't hear me, Dean. But I… I need to tell you. I'm not giving up, okay? So don't you give up on me. I'll find a way. I just… I will."
Amie sat down in the chair behind her, exhausted. She stared at Dean for what felt like forever, wondering if time had frozen. The rushing people outside of her room let her know that things were still happening, lives were still being lived. Dean never looked away from her face. He blinked occasionally, but never moved his gaze.
They sat like that for ages. Dean looking at Amie's body, Amie looking at Dean, people still existing outside of the room.
How dare they continue to exist? It felt like a personal insult that people were walking up and down the corridors outside. Did they not know that inside of this room hearts were breaking, worlds were ending?
Amie could feel her metaphorical heart. It hurt when she looked at Dean.
God how she wished it didn't hurt.
"Baby," he gasped suddenly, tears streaming down his face. Amie jumped at the sound, the familiar nickname he had not used in a while filling her metaphorical heart with joy, ceasing the pain. "Amie. Please don't leave me. Because I promise, I won't leave you. I will never give up on you. I love you." He sniffed, then carried on.
"Remember when we first met, Amie? I thought you were really soft, because you were so small. Huh. I mean, you were gorgeous. So pretty. Don't tell Sam I said this, but it made me think of that line in Romeo and Juliet. Yeah, you shut up too. You know when he said, 'I never saw true beauty until this night,' or some pansy rubbish like that. But it's true. I mean, you were so beautiful. Even if you hadn't washed for three days. Then the whole time, everything you did: when you jumped literally on top of a demon to save some stranger, screamed in his face You didn't expect to be saved, yet you still made the sacrifice. I knew right then. I don't want anyone else, baby. From that moment forward, I couldn't imagine my life without you, the crazy little hunter girl.
"That's what I'm saying. I'm trying to imagine a life without you. But that ain't no life I'm gonna live."
(o(o(o(o(0)o)o)o)o)
Amie stood in the corridor, sucking in shuddering breaths. She had run out of the room after Dean had finished his monologue, unable to watch her brave man crack anymore.
She swallowed and stood up normally, to see a woman running around, panicked.
"Hey! Someone! Anyone! Look at me, please!" She shouted.
Amie wa surprised by how like her she looked. She had long brown hair, was quite short, and freckles coated her face.
"Hey, can you see me?" Amie asked.
"Yes. You see me? What's going on?" The woman asked.
"It's okay. I think… I think, either you're in a coma, or…"
The woman stared at Amie, then swallowed. "My body."
"It will be in the room you woke up in," Amie said, surprisingly calm. The woman nodded. "I can come with you if you want."
(o(o(o(o(0)o)o)o)o)
Amie walked into John's room, following Dean.
"Guys, come on! There's something here, there's something to hunt! How can you not see that?" She asked. No one moved at all, all of them unable to hear her. Dean walked over and stood next to his Dad's bed, as Sam walked past Amie, unknowing, and out of the door.
"Dad," Dean said hollowly. "Help me."
"I'm so sorry, Dean."
"No. Don't give me that crap. You have connections, you know people. Fight for Amie. Fight for me, for once in your life, Dad."
"Don't speak to me like that, Dean. I don't know anyone that can help her in this state. No one alive can help," John said, looking up at Dean. Amie had expected this.
Dean ducked his head and closed his eyes, then whispered, "You poor excuse for a man. You never liked her."
"Don't be ridiculous, Dean."
"No, it's true!"
"Stop it!"
"No! You wanted me to leave her, you hated her, you underestimated her, you hit her, called her a million bad names. Now you're just gonna let her die?" Dean said brokenly, looking up into John's eyes defiantly.
"Dean," John said in a soft voice. "That wasn't me that hit her. It was the demon, you know that."
"Well, you're the one that's gonna let her die, Dad." Dean said. He stood up before John could say anything, his mouth hanging open. Dean pushed John's cup of water and journal off of the small table in front of him as he walked, merely a centimetre away from Amie, out of the room.
John sat quietly, staring into blank space. Amie left before she started crying.
(o(o(o(o(0)o)o)o)o)
"I needed you to trust me," Tessa explained, sitting next to Amie. "You were shocked by my true form. So I turned into a form that would appeal to you; yourself."
"Oh, thanks," Amie chuckled. Did they really think she was that narcissistic?
"Oh, no, I mean; to see someone like you go through this. Someone almost identical to you, with a life like yours lose it all and accept her death. If I could do it you can."
"But I can't," Amie said, tears filling her eyes.
Tessa sat for a moment, watching her. "Let's go for a walk."
They walked out of the room they had been sat in, down the corridor, invisible to everyone else.
"Why can't you?" Tessa asked.
"I have too much here. Sammy, hunting. Dean - he needs me."
"He'd be okay in time. You've done some brilliant hunting, but there comes a time for everyone."
"I just… Dean and I, we're not like other couples. He really needs me. I can't - I won't leave him."
Tessa sighed. "He's got Sam and his Dad. Everyone experiences loss in their life, Amie. Aren't you glad you will never experience it?"
Amie stopped, her mouth hanging open, tears of outrage and heartbreak filling her eyes. "How dare you - I've never experienced loss? My mum died in front of me, killed by a vampire! My dad left me because I was too much trouble. Don't you dare assume that because I am young I do not know loss. Ever."
Tessa looked at Amie apologetically. "Sorry. I didn't mean - you think your Dad left you?"
"What?" Amie asked bluntly, carrying on walking.
"Your dad didn't leave you behind, Amie," Tessa said softly.