Sam held onto me as I cried into his shirt. He hugged me tight, surprised at the emotions I was showing for his family. I had only known them for a short time. When I finally calmed down and got control he loosened his grip on me and I stepped back.

"Sorry, Sam."

" 's okay, Nicole."

"How are they?" I asked him,

"Dad's good. He's actually doing okay. The truck hit us on his side. I'm surprised he's not worse," Sam answered, looking over at what's left of the Impala. "Dean is going to be pissed."

Bobby steps up to Sam's side.

"Look Sam. This…this just ain't worth a tow. I say we empty the trunk, sell the rest for scrap."

Sam and I both answer, "No!"

"Listen," Sam continues. "Dean would kill me, hell he'd kill all 3 of us if we did that. When he gets better, he's gonna want to fix this." I nod my head in agreement. Damn Bobby for even suggesting something as ludacris at getting rid of the car. I know Dean wouldn't want to give up on the car and I vow to help Dean any way I can to repair it.

Taking a piece of paper out of his pocket, he hands it to Bobby.

"What's this?" Bobby asks as he looks at the list.

"Dad said you could get that for him, for protection," Sam answers.

Bobby frowns as he looks back at the paper.

"What's going on?" I ask noticing Bobby's furrowed brow.

"Son, this ain't for protection. It's for summoning."

"Summoning what?" Sam asked, confused.

"A demon."

I followed Sam through the halls of the hospital toward Dean's room, trying to give myself a pep talk for what I was about to see. But no amount of preparing would have worked when I walked through the door. The sight stopped me in my tracks and I leaned on the door jamb.

Dean, my Dean, was lying there unconscious. Tubes and wires everywhere. Machines beeping and whirring in the otherwise quiet room. I try to hold back the tears I feel welling up in my eyes but to no avail. I feel them roll down my face. I gradually make my way to the side of the bed and gaze at Dean's face. Other than the gash on his forehead and the blue and white tube between his lips, he looks like he's sleeping. I calmly touch his hand with my fingertips, wishing he'd just wake up and link his with mine.

"You ok here?" Sam asks quietly. "I've got to go talk to Dad."

I nod, not wanting to take my eyes off Dean.

I hear Sam pick the duffle bag of the floor and then I feel him squeeze my shoulder before he leaves.

"Dean," I whisper. "Please wake up."

Noticing a chair pulled up to the other side of the bed, I walk to it and sit down, never looking away from Dean. I lay my hand over his, curling my fingers around it.

Suddenly, the machines all start beeping erratically and alarms are ringing loudly.

Nurses and doctors rush in and one ushers me to the door. I stand there, watching through tears as they begin working on Dean, adding more wires and medicine to the IVs. Sam appears at my side and we watch as they try to resuscitate Dean. I grab his hand and we both cry. "Still no pulse," a nurse announces. "Charge to 360," the doctor orders. I faintly hear what sounds like Dean yelling, "I said get back!" I look at Sam to ask if he heard it, but I can tell by the look on his face that he indeed had.

"We have a pulse. We're back in sinus rhythm." Another nurse declares. Both Sam and I sigh and turn to hug each other. "I have to go talk to Dad," Sam says as he lets me go. "Go, I'm staying with Dean."

An hour later Sam returns to Dean's room, holding a brown paper bag.

"Hey."

"Hey Sam," I say, looking at him. "What's in the bag?"

"I know you heard it. Heard Dean yelling," I nod. "I think he's still around, like his spirit or whatever And I think I know how we can talk to him."

"Okay?" I say, with a questioning look.

Sam removes a box from the bag. It reads 'Mystical Talking Board'.

"Really Sam?" I half-laugh. "A Ouija board? You got to be kidding me!"

"Hey, don't make fun of me, okay?" he says defensively. I hold up my hands in surrender. I really don't think this will help but I get up and join him in the floor, the Ouija board laid out in front of us.

"Ready?" Sam asks me.

"As I'll ever be," I answer, feeling a flicker of hope that we will be able to contact Dean. "Dean, are you here?" Sam asks into the air.

I intently watch as the pointer moves toward YES on the board. Sam and I both gasp. "It's good to hear from you, man. It hasn't been the same without you, Dean." I stare at the empty spot across the board, almost wishing Dean would appear. I know that's not possible though. He's lying in the bed behind us. The pointer begins moving again so I focus on it.

"H."

"U." Sam says each letter that is pointed to. "Hunt? Hunting? What, are you hunting?" Sam asks as the pointers keeps sliding across the board. It slides up to YES and Sam and I look at each other. "It's in the hospital, what you're hunting? Do you know what it is?" Sam inquires.

YES. This time, I read each letter that is represented.

"R."

"E."

"A."

"P."

"A reaper", Sam finishes. "Dean, is it after you?"

YES.

"If it's here naturally, there's no way to stop it," Sam looks at me, explaining.

"No, no, no, there's gotta be something we can do," I say, tears back in my eyes. "Dad will know what to do," Sam says then jumps up and leaves.

I look at the board, tempted to ask Dean if he had feelings for me, but I decide against it and get up to return to my seat beside the bed. Sam returns with a brown leather book in his hand. "So Dad wasn't in his room. But I got his journal, so who knows? Maybe there's something here."

Flipping through the pages of the journal, Sam occasionally looks up to Dean and the over to me.

He looks back to the book in his hand, turns a page and then speaks, "Reapers."

"What's it say Sam?" I ask, leaning up hoping that we can find something to help Dean avoid the reaper.

"Reapers can alter human perception. Basically, they can make themselves appear however they want. "

"So you're saying this reaper could actually be anyone in this hospital?" I ask Sam and he nods. "Like it could be a doctor or a nurse or even a visiting family member?"

"Yea, I guess so," Sam says, sounding defeated. "Well, this just keeps getting better and better." I say sarcastically.

I grabbed Dean's hand and hold it again, feeling the fear of losing him bubbling up inside. Sam walks up to the bed beside the chair and begins talking to Dean.

"Dean, are you here? We couldn't find anything in the book. I don't know how to help you. But I'll keep trying, all right? As long as you keep fighting. I mean, come you can't…you can't leave me here alone with Dad. We'll kill each other, you know that."

"Shut up Sam." I whisper, but loud enough for him to hear me, but he keeps talking. "Dean, you gotta hold on. You can't go, man, not now. We were just starting to be brothers again."

"Shut. Up!" I scream. "You act like you've already given up on him." I look up at Sam with tears streaming down my face. "You can't just give up that easy!" I twist my head back to Dean as I barely feel his hand move beneath mine.

Dean gasps and suddenly wakes, choking on the tube in his throat. I stand up as I squeeze his hand to let him know I'm here. He rolls his eyes and looks at me.

"Dean?"

Sam jumps and runs into the hallway. "Help! I need help!"