Chapter 20

Addy shifted uncomfortably in her chair as she glanced around Doctor Fuller's office as the man shifts through a file. She hated psyche wards because of what happened to her mother and now she was about to be admitted into one. She spared a quick glance at Dean who gave her a reassuring look. He gave her too many of those these days. She looked to Sam who did the same.

"You were referred to me by a Dr. Babar in Chicago," looking down at the file and then back at them, "Isn't there a children's book about an elephant named Babar?"

Addy raised a brow at Dean because they'd had the same argument over it earlier. He ignored her and answered the doctor. She shifted her arm and gritted her teeth when pain shot through the still healing skin. The stitches were gone, but the injuries were still very much painful.

"I don't know. I don't have any elephant books. Look, Doctor, I think the doc was in over his head with this one. 'Cause my brother is..."he made a whirling motion with his finger near his head.

"Okay, fine, thank you. That's-that's really not necessary," he said with a disapproving tone to Dean and then looked to Sam, pen and paper in hand, "Why don't you tell me how you're feeling, Alex?"

"I'm fine. I mean, okay, a little depressed, I guess," Sam said with a sigh as the doctor scribbled in his notepad.

"Okay. Any idea why?" he asked, still writing.

"Probably because I started the apocalypse," Sam said and the doctor looked up then and repeated, "The apocalypse?"

Addy had to bite her lip to keep from smiling at his response.

"Yeah, that's right," Sam said as they doctor looked to both Dean and Addy who both had casual looks on their face.

"And you think you started it?"

"Well, yeah, I mean I killed this demon, Lilith, who was possessing her…" he pointed to Addy and she waved," and I accidentally freed Lucifer from hell. So now, he's topside, and we're trying to stop him."

"Who is?"

"Me and them," he said, pointing to Addy and Dean, "And this one angel."

"Oh, you mean, like an angel on your shoulder," Fuller said, trying to gain sense,

"No. His name's Castiel. He wears a trench coat."

He furiously scribbles notes again and Addy watches him in amusement.

"See what I mean, Doc? The kid's been beating himself up about this for months. The apocalypse wasn't his fault," Dean said and slowly he looked up from his notes.

"It's not?"

"No. There was this other demon, Ruby. She got him addicted to demon blood, and near the end, he was practically chugging this stuff," Dean explained casually, "My brother's not evil. He was just...high...yeah? So, could you fix him up so we can get back to traveling around the country and hunting monsters?"

The doctor looked to Addy who stared back at him with an exasperated look.

"What do you think about this apocalypse?" he asked her.

"Well I'm a witch so I guess I have a better chance of surviving it, but the problem is Lucifer wants me as his demons queen," she explained with a long sigh, "It's ridiculous because like a gillion years ago Lilith and Lucifer were in love and he put a curse on my family and long story short I'm her doppelganger which is a huge bummer because she's a demon…or was. Alex killed me and when I came back she went away…and we broke up."

He stared at the three of them and went over to his phone. He gave them an encouraging look and picked up the phone, dialing numbers, "Irma cancel my lunch."

SUPERNATURAL

Addy leaned against the wall, surveying the patient lobby with a scrutinizing eye. She was on edge. She was always on edge lately. Her whole identity consisted of the job and she had to be good at it.

She hadn't seen Sam and Dean yet as she played with the end of the blue robe she'd been issued along with the white shirt, blue sweatpants, and slippers. With a sigh, she ran a hand through her loose hair. They'd confiscated her hair tie because she'd been deemed difficult by that bitch of a nurse who examined her a little too thoroughly and asked a little too many questions about her scarred arm.

"Addy."

She turns to see Dean and Sam walking up to her. She met them halfway.

"Tell me why we're here again?" she asked them, looking over her shoulder to see a man repeatedly banging his head against a wall, looked to a woman talking to a pink bunny and then turned back to the brothers with a worried look.

"I'm with Addy," Dean said to his brother, "I can't believe I let you talk me into this."

"Hey, it's the least we could do. Martin saved Dad's ass more times than we can count. He's a great hunter," Sam tried to convince them.

"Was," Dean corrected, "Until Albuquerque."

"Besides, I just figure it's best we keep busy," Sam said casually as he glanced to Addy and Dean, "That's all."

"You mean it's best we keep our minds off the fact the world is ending and we have no way to stop it," she said with no emotion, "Don't sugar coat it, Sam. Ellen and Jo died and we failed. It's as simple as that, but we've lost people before and it's entirely possible we've failed more than that. We don't wallow in it. We move on and hunt. Leave the psychology to the doctors."

"You two always do this," Sam complained, "You can't just keep this crap in."

"Watch me," Dean replied and walked off, "I see Martin."

Addy gave Sam a shrug and followed after him.

They followed after him to a table where an older man was staring at the woman.

Sam clears his throat and he looks to them. He seems alarmed for a second and then he recognizes them.

"Sam, Dean, wow," he said, standing up and shaking their hands, "Wow, you boys got big. You look good."

"I'm sorry I don't believe we've met before," he said to Addy as they sat around the table.

"Addy," she said with a small smile, "And we haven't me before."

"Well, thanks for coming," he said with a nod, twiddling his fingers nervously, "In the old days, I could've taken care of this thing with both hands tied behind my back...but, well...now..."

Sensing his struggle, Sam jumped in, "What do you think it is that we're hunting?"

"I don't know yet. A ghost, demon, monster...animal, vegetable, mineral," he said and then chuckled to himself, "Hospital's had five deaths in the last four months. Doctors keep calling it suicides, but they're wrong."

"Have you seen whatever's doing this?" Addy asked.

He guiltily shook his head.

"Has anyone seen this thing?" she added

"Well, a couple patients have, uh...had glimpses, but there's not a lot to go on," he said and Addy shared a skeptical look with Dean.

"Are they reliable?" Dean asked.

"Oh, sure, why wouldn't they be?" he answered.

Dean took a cursory look around at some of the odder patients, "Gee, I don't know."

"I know you boys think I'm a bag of loose screws. Now, you wouldn't be wrong. But I wouldn't have called you unless there was something here. I can feel it in my gut."

"We believe you," Sam said, shooting them looks, "Have you checked any of the bodies? Found signs of an attack?"

"I don't go around dead bodies anymore," he said with great difficulty.

"Alex, Eddie, Rita."

They turned to see Dr. Fuller calling them.

"Well, I'm glad to see you're making friends. Why don't you and, uh, Mr. Creaser join us for group? Right this way," he said, pointing down the hall.

All four of them stood up.

"Actually, I'm gonna be putting you two in the next group," he said to Dean and Addy.

"What?" Dean asked, alarmed.

"Why?" Addy asked at the same time.

"Well, to be frank, uh, the relationship that you three have seems dangerously codependent. I think a little time apart will do you all good," he said with a nod and turned to walk away. Reluctantly Sam and Martin followed after him. Dean waved goodbye to his brother as Addy looked around, feeling uneasy.

SUPERNATURAL

Addy stared at the checkers board, sitting across from Dean.

"Addy it's your move."

She looked up to see Dean looking at her with a worried look.

"Sorry," she said half heartedly and moved a piece without really thinking.

"You won," Dean said and then added with a sigh, "For the fourth time."

"We could stop playing?" she asked, looking around uneasily.

"You're not really playing anyway so…"

"Sorry," she said apologetically and then added with a smile, "Thought I was giving you an edge."

"How's your arm?" he asked as they set the game back up again.

"Fine," she said, keeping her attention on the board.

They settled into a deep silence.

"This place reminds you of your Mom, doesn't it?" he asked and she nodded.

"You wanna talk about it?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"Okay," he said, letting it go.

"I'll be right back," she said, getting up.

"Where are you going?" he asked in a concerned tone.

"Bathroom," she said with a smirk, "Careful your dangerous co-dependency is showing."

He chuckled as she walked off.

SUPERNATURAL

Just as she was about to sit down Dr. Fuller came for her and Dean and took them to the group he had mentioned before with a few other patients. They sat around in a circle with several other patients. Addy sat directly across from Dean in the circle and he kept his eyes on her. She was uncomfortable and it was showing.

"Alright so who would like to start?" Dr. Fuller asked.

No one spoke up or raised their hand. He looked to Addy who stared down at nothing.

"Rita how about you?"

She looked up slowly, "Hi I'm Rita and I don't want to be here."

"Rita I know you're new to the group but we like to keep things positive here," the doctor said over enthusiastically.

She rolled her eyes, "I'm in here so I don't exactly have much to be positive about now do I?"

"What about your friends…Alex?" he asked and she stiffened.

"You people sure are nosy here," she said with a scoff.

"Do you think maybe your irritable nature has something to do with your relationship ending with him as you mentioned?" he continued.

"I think my irritable nature has something to do with me suppressing the urge to choke you," she said, meeting the doctor's eyes and taking pleasure in the brief fear that flashed in them.

"Rita there's no need to be violent," he said, clearing his throat and the large man in the white scrubs who stood off in the corner took a menacing step forward.

"There won't be a need if you stop asking me questions," she said, staring down the guard.

"Ad-Rita."

She looked to Dean who gave her a pleading look. Dr. Fuller observed it and scribbled it in his notes.

"Matthew would you mind switching seats with our other new member, Eddie," he said, pointing to Dean.

The big guy next to her who whispered to himself nodded and got up. Dean crossed over and sat down. Ever so subtly he moved his chair closer to her.

Dr. Fuller watched them with great curiosity and then began talking again, "Who else would like to share?"

SUPERNATURAL

"You know you're gonna end up on this places watch list if you keep up with the threats," Dean said as they walked at the back of the group.

"I already am," she said with an eye roll.

"We've been here less than a day how the hell did you-"

"The nurse was a little too thorough in her examination," she said with narrowed eyes, "I didn't like it."

Dean sighed, "Look I know you don't like it here but-"

"But what?" she asked, raising a brow, "I told Sam and I'll tell it to you. Leave the psychology to the doctors. I don't want to talk and neither do you. Let's keep it that way."

"Alright," he said with a shrug as they kept walking.

"Guys."

They turned to see Sam catching up to them and they came to a stop, letting the rest of the group go ahead.

"Tell us you found something," Dean said, sounding exhausted.

"Yeah. A guy says he saw the creature. We should talk to him. You wanna meet here in an hour?" he asked.

"The sooner we get this thing the sooner we book ass out of here," she said and her eyes settled on something behind Dean. He turned to see a woman with a seductive smile on her face. She grabbed Dean by the neck and kissed him. His eyes stayed open in shock as Addy stared with her mouth open.

She let him go and said, "Hi."

"Hi," he replied.

"I'm Wendy," she said with a smile.

"Uh huh," he replied, obviously confused and she sauntered off.

Dean and Sam both turned back to Addy. She didn't look at either of them and instead glared at the back of Wendy's head as she disappeared out of sight.

"Addy," Dean said and she looked at him.

"What?" she asked casually.

He smirked at her, "Jealous princess?"

She rolled her eyes again, "I'll see you guys in an hour."

She walked off and Sam gave Dean a look, "Really?"

SUPERNATURAL

Addy stood watch outside the morgue with Dean, gently rubbing her injured arm as Sam worked on removing the brain from the head of their latest victim.

"You shouldn't touch it too much," Dean said with a quick glance around.

"Got it nurse Winchester," she said without looking at him and still rubbing it.

Gently, he took her hand away and held it in his. Finally, she looked at him.

"You gotta say something to me," he pleaded.

"No," she said simply and pulled her hand away.

He sighed heavily, "Really? No. That's it."

"Yup," she replied.

"Addy you can pretend all you want but I saw you outside of Bobby's house," he said and she froze. Noticing her reaction, he continued, "I was there. Remember? I held you until you stopped crying. I carried you back to Bobby's house when you wouldn't move. Hell, I stayed by your side the entire night because you wouldn't sleep and neither did I. I was the one who got you to talk after two days of complete silence. I made sure you slept, ate-"

"Dean I get it!" she whisper yelled, "I was mess and you put me back together...again. You don't have to remind me!"

"I'm not trying to remind you," he whispered back, "I'm trying to get you to understand that I'm right here. I'm here for you."

"I don't need you to be here for me, Dean," she said simply.

"Is this about that Wendy girl because she-"

"You think this is about that crazy girl who kissed you!" she yelled and he covered her mouth to keep her quiet.

She smacked his hand away and whispered, "You did not just say that."

Suddenly, they both heard footsteps and they froze.

"Someone's coming," she whispered and pulled him inside the morgue.

Sam turned to them, a brain, or what was left of it, in his hands, "Look, his brain's been sucked dry."

"Yeah that's…disgusting," she said, "but someone's coming."

They hurried to put everything back into place and they just finished when the nurse who was just a bit too happy walked in.

"What are you three doing in here?" she asked in her sugar sweet voice.

They looked between each other, unable to think of an answer and Dean just shrugged, pulled down his pants, threw his hands up in the air and yelled, "Pudding!"

Addy puts both hands over her mouth to keep from laughing hysterically as he looks at the nurse with a goofy grin on his face.

"Alright, come on, you three," she said, unfazed and Dean pulled his pants back up.

As they headed for the door, Dean turned back to them and whispered, "Crazy works."

She couldn't help but smile at him.