When they got to the hospital doctors had taken Kate right away, and the nurse insisted that she look at the cut across Dean's forehead so that left Sam, Bobby, and Ellen out in the waiting room. With some spare change, Ellen had gone off to call as many hunters as possible to warn them about the danger coming. Sam was pacing, anxious to hear anythin,g and Bobby watched his youngest son fill with worry. And to pile on to the shit sandwich the kid had been served his brother's soul now belonged to a demon. Dean made Bobby swear not to tell him but Sam was smart he was going to figure it out.

Dean came back out to the waiting room with a couple of stitches and found his family sitting in worried silence.

"Anything?" Dean looked at the two hunters for news. They had been there for over an hour and there still had been no updates.

"Nothin," Bobby huffed

"Dean can I talk to you about something?" Sam looked at his brother with his grade A puppy dog worry face.

"Yeah Sammy," Dean sat down, avoiding eye contact with his brother.

"What did Jake mean back there? He looked at me like I should be dead. He said he cut my spinal cord." Sam continued to pace in front of his brother.

"He must have been mistaken," Dean said, looking anywhere but at Sam.

"Dean," Bobby looked at Dean. He wasn't sure if he wanted Dean to tell Sam the truth for his own benefit or for Sam's. Bobby could stand keeping the secret to himself.

"Bobby, I can't," Dean looked back at his surrogate father and saw the hurt in Bobby's eyes. Before he could open his mouth to say he didn't know what (another lie? The truth?) Sam had already put it together.

"Dean, did you sell your soul?" his eyes were no longer puppy dog. They were hard and furious.

"Sam, I couldn't," tears burned Dean's eyes

"How long?" Sam clenched his jaw

"Sammy," Dean begged

"How long do you have Dean?!" Sam asked again with more force.

"A year," he whispered.

"Dammit Dean!" Sam swiped his hand over his face.

"Hey Sam I am as pissed as you are but can we stow it for a minute," Bobby stood gesturing towards the doctor coming their way. The boys moved to stand next to Bobby as the doctor approached.

"How is she? Can we see her?" Sam jumped into asking questions.

"I think we need to talk first. I will give you some answers if you give me some," the doctor was unfazed by Sam's sudden flurry of questions.

"Right okay," Dean cleared his throat. None of them had thought of a story to tell the doc. They were even sure the extent of Kate's injuries.

"What exactly happened?" The doctor looked at the boys daring them to lie to her.

"Car accident," Dean squeaked unsure on what else to say.

"Uh huh," the doc frowned. Wrong answer. "Tell me did she get tied up and raped before or after this 'car accident'?" Stunned silence consumed the room. "There is rope burn around both wrists and ankles. When she came in, Kathryn had a collapsed lung due to broken ribs as well as blunt force trauma to the head. Look, whatever happened to her was something real bad if to care for her at all you will tell the cops what you know,"

"Can we see her?" Dean asked

"Yes, but she is heavily sedated. Kathryn was combative and wasn't sure where she was when you brought her in. She kept on asking for someone named John. Is that a family member?"

"Yeah it's her brother but he passed away a year ago," Bobby explained. The doctor nodded understanding,

"That's not uncommon for someone in her situation to ask for a loved one who has recently passed away," her tone changed from harsh to sympathetic "follow me I will take you to her room but I can only have two if you at a time,"

"You boys go ahead, Ellen and I are going to talk to some hunters in the area," Bobby nodded at the brothers and then turned to find Ellen.

Both brothers were at a loss for words when they entered the ICU room. The blood had been washed out of Kate's hair and her head was bandaged. The bruises on her face had set in, and one eye was completely black. A chest tube was in her left side and her wrists were lightly wrapped in gauze but it didn't cover the multiple bruises on her arms left from obvious hand prints. She was now breathing a smooth natural rhythm, unlike her ragged and short breaths she had in the car.

"Dean, do you have any idea why yellow eyes would take her?" Sam sat down in a chair next to Kate's bedside. Dean continued to stand not sure what to do with himself.

"He said that he had to take Kate off the playing field for a while," he spoke in a low tone not taking his eyes off Kate as if she was going to disappear if he did.

"What does that even mean?"

"I don't know Sammy, maybe she knew something like Ash did," Dean didn't want to think about the guy he killed. That mulleted weirdo would still be alive if he had never met him.

"Like what?" Sam turned his head towards his brother, trying to figure out what he was thinking.

"I don't know, maybe a tracking spell," Dean shrugged.

"Or maybe she was just too powerful. Bobby says that she used her power to shut the gate. He says that he and Ellen probably wouldn't have been able to close it on their own." Sam was in awe at the fact that even while Kate was in so much pain, she still helped.

"We won't know much until we can ask her," Dean sighed. There was silence in the room. Dean knew that he couldn't avoid the conversation he and sam were about to have so he sat down.

"Why'd you do it, Dean?" Sam looked at his brother who was once again averting eye contact.

"I couldn't live without you, Sam. You died and I felt like I died right along with you. It was my job to protect you, and I failed," Dean finally looked into his brother's eyes. There was no anger there. Sam wasn't angry with him, he was just hurt.

"And what do you think my job is?" Sam asked, "You're my big brother, Dean, there isn't anything I wouldn't do for you. So, I don't care what it takes, we are going to get you out of this deal,"

"Yeah, okay," Dean wiped his eyes. "Hey, Sammy, we killed that yellow-eyed bastard," Dean let a smile creep across his face.

"Yeah, we did," Sam smiled back. They had so much going on that they didn't even have a chance to stop and think about the fact that they just killed the demon that killed their mom. Killed their dad; killed Jessica.

"Hey, um if you want to stay with Kate, I am going to Missouri and see what I can find at the library," Dean stood.

"Yeah, let me know what you find," Sam nodded and Dean turned to leave the room, but Sam stood up and caught him before he did, "Hey Dean,"

"What?" Dean turned back around to face his brother and was pulled into a hug.

"I love you,"

"I love you too,"