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Free Supernatural Fanfiction – Chapter Summary:

Tensions rise as Analina faces emotional fallout, uncertain loyalties, and a sudden supernatural threat that tests her strength and resolve.

Rating: PG-13
Contains:  Emotional intensity, mild language, and supernatural peril

CHAPTER NINETEEN:  
Recovery

I WAS STILL A LITTLE SORE, but I was definitely getting better. We tried to stay in one spot for a while until I was better at sitting for long periods of time in a car. I could stretch out in the backseat, but the bumps and turns didn’t always sit well. Dean was unusually quiet through most of this. Something was bothering him.

It was evening. The motel suite we were staying at had beds in the main room and a queen bed in a separate bedroom by the bathroom. I was stationed there but usually remained out in the living area. Sam was on his laptop, and Dean came back from a beer run. He set the bottles on the table next to Sam, took one, and walked over to sit by me.

“I’ve been thinking,” he started.

I should probably be scared, I thought, but held back the comment.

“Maybe in a day or two, we should take you back home. To your parents’ house, I mean.”

Sam stopped typing and looked up.

“Is something going on? I mean, I can probably ride around without many problems now if you need to leave.”

“No. No, I meant—” he sucked in a breath and then continued swiftly, “now that you have a better sense of how to protect yourself. We could take you back home while we figure things out.”

A beat of silence passed as I contemplated his statement. “So, you want to… get rid of me?”

I didn’t want to sound dejected, but what he said hurt. Not to mention, when I’m not fully well, I tend to be more emotional than normal.

“No. It’s just—” he glanced at Sam, who looked like he was not willing to help him at all, “it… might be better for you to be home instead of being with us.”

Stay calm, I told myself.

“So you want me to stay with my parents? When you originally said that I should have no contact with them before?”

“Yes—no,” he flustered a little. “I just would rather you be safe, and you can do that and protect your parents if you have to now.”

“I… okay.” I wasn’t sure what to say. He looked extremely uncomfortable. And in a way, I was glad.

“Okay?” he questioned.

I didn’t meet his eye. I just couldn’t. I also avoided Sam’s face. I stood. “I’m not going to force you to be with me. If you’d rather I—I go, then I’ll go.” I started to walk toward my room. “And what about the apocalypse?”

I saw Sam glance toward Dean. I put my hand on the doorknob to steady myself and looked at him as well. He rubbed his neck.

“Well, we…” he glanced back at Sam, “maybe with the Colt we’ll be okay and you won’t have to do anything.”

“The Colt isn’t going to kill the devil,” I said quietly. I wasn’t sure about this, but I was fairly certain it wouldn’t be that easy.

“We don’t know that,” he answered.

I swallowed once, nodded, and turned away. This didn’t make any sense. I wasn’t sure, but it felt like I’d lost my best friend—or friends, actually. My chest tightened. I felt my eyes fill with tears. This would work out, I argued with myself. I could go home. My parents would be happy. I could try to get my old job back and go back to normal.

Somehow, that just didn’t feel right anymore. I stopped before I opened the door. No, something else was going on, and I wasn’t as injured as I had been to just let this slide. I felt the spark to fight back.

I turned back to Dean, who looked slightly relieved that I hadn’t argued—but also… saddened?

“No,” I said firmly and walked back to stand in front of Dean.

“No?” Dean repeated, looking baffled. Sam just watched, his eyebrows raised.

“That’s right, no. I’m not going home. Or rather, I’m not going home without a good reason, and your reason is not a good one.”

He shifted and stood with me. Damn, I really wished I was taller.

“Excuse me?” he asked.

“Am I speaking Enochian?” I said rudely. “I said I’m not going home unless you have a better reason.”

“You were just mauled by a freaking hellhound. You almost died.”

I rolled my eyes at that.

“Do you have a death wish or something? I’m trying to keep you safe.”

Unlike him, I kept my voice calm—or mostly calm. Getting him riled up probably wouldn’t help the situation, and people tended to mimic the other person’s level of frustration. I learned how to remain calm in stressful situations through my time at the bank.

“What’s going on, Dean?” I asked.

“The apocalypse is what’s going on,” he retorted.

I continued to stare at him, waiting for him to tell me what was really happening.

“You’re going home, and that’s it,” he said. He went for the door, but I jumped in front of him, blocking the exit.

“You are not running away from this,” I said.

“Running away from what?” he asked. “I’m not running away. This is the end of the discussion.”

“It sure looks like you’re running away from this problem,” I commented. I remained where I was as he took a step closer. He could quite easily move me aside, especially right now. He didn’t say anything to that. I continued, “I didn’t think you were the type to run when you were scared of something.”

“Scared?” He blinked back in surprise.

“Yes, scared. Dean, face it. You said that you wanted to keep me safe, so you’re scared that something could happen to me. What if I go home and you leave and something does happen to me? And my family?” I added. “Would you feel better about that than if I stayed and something happened to me while you were here?”

He remained silent again, although I didn’t give him much time to reply. Perhaps having this conversation when I was not completely well yet wasn’t the best idea.

“If I can keep myself safe with my family—like you said—then I can obviously keep myself safe when I’m around you,” I said. I gave a frustrated sigh at his silence. I could see him trying to think of a way around my argument. I didn’t want to leave. “Do you know why I ended up staying with you guys at the beginning?”

Silence.

“Not only to help with the apocalypse, but because of you. I didn’t have to be the perfect daughter or friend or employee or whatever. I was able to be myself without any repercussions. It was a selfish decision. I admit that. For once, I didn’t have to worry about trying to make my family happy or helping out. Making sure the customers were happy no matter how rude or ignorant they were. I was able to do something I wanted to do—and something that was also important.” My eyes started to tear up, but I would not cry. Not yet. “It was freedom, and it felt right. And as crazy and annoying as you can be at times, I like being around you. I’m not judged. And you actually listen to what I have to say. I…” I took a breath and swallowed. I started to lose my resolve. The fight was going out of me, and I felt drained. “I don’t want to lose that… but I’ll also not force my presence on anyone if it’s unwanted.”

I took a step away from the door. He could leave right away if he wanted to. I gave him that choice. He remained standing there. His eyes betrayed his thinking—otherwise, I would have had no idea what effect my little outburst had on him. I felt tired. I had been resting too much, it seemed. Maybe this wasn’t worth fighting for. Not right now.

“It might have been a selfish choice for me to be a part of this, but I’m not so selfish that I will not leave if you ask.”

I waited a moment. The tears started to block my vision. Since he didn’t say anything, I turned away and walked back to my room, shutting the door softly behind me. I leaned back against it, unable to move. I could hear Sam’s voice say something to Dean. Dean replied back, and then they started to argue. The door opened and slammed shut.

Then I heard the door open again, and Sam called out Dean’s name before shutting the door again. I cracked open my door and noticed they were both gone.

I assumed Sam thought this was a bad idea since they argued. Maybe he could talk some sense into him. I just stood at the door, reliving the past few minutes in my head over and over. My heart clenched with each replay. I couldn’t deny it now—I had feelings for Dean. I didn’t want to leave. I started to think I was a fool for not pursuing the relationship when we talked.

“Analina, are you alright?” Cas asked, suddenly appearing before me. I was so deep in thought and anguish that I hadn’t heard him come in. He looked better. “Are you hurt again?”

Cas glanced around, seeing no immediate threat.

“No, I’m… okay.” I tried to give a reassuring smile, but it didn’t quite work. I saw the concerned look on his face, and then I felt a tear slip out.

I lost what little control I had left. My emotions were not in check right now. I took two steps forward, threw myself into his arms, and cried. I felt him tense in shock and hesitantly put his arms around me, patting me on the back very awkwardly. Poor Cas. I really needed to pull myself together.

“I’m sorry. I’m really okay,” I mumbled between sobs.

“What happened?” he asked.

I sniffled and pulled away. I told him what had happened.

“Why would he say that?” he asked.

I shrugged. “I don’t know… Cas, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall apart on you like that.” I wiped some tears away. “It just happened so…”

He dismissed my emotional outburst. “Where are they now?”

“Uh, they went out. I’m not sure where.”

He looked me over—maybe to see if I was stable enough to leave.

“I swear I’m better. It was—I just wasn’t expecting it.”

He held his hand near me, and I felt a slight angelic energy. He nodded. “I’ll be back.”

With a soft sound of fluttering wings, he was gone. I was again left alone in the motel room. I sat down on the bed. I felt awful. I didn’t move for a few minutes. I just waited to hear if the guys came back. I shivered a little. Was it getting colder? It shouldn’t be…

Then I figured out what it was. A demon was getting close.

Wait—it wasn’t one demon. This felt bigger than that.

I stood up on trembling knees and went to the window. I couldn’t see them, but a group of demons was out there. And it felt like they were getting closer.

I ran back out to the main room and grabbed the salt. As I salted the windows and doors, I pulled out my cell phone. I dialed Dean’s number. It rang with no answer and went to voicemail. Seriously?

I hung up without leaving a message and tried Sam’s number instead. I finished the salt lines and was about to hang up, but he answered.

“Sam, there are demons on their way here. A bunch. I’m not sure how many,” I said, starting to shake. I didn’t feel strong enough to stop all of them.

“What?” Sam asked in disbelief.

“I just salted, but I don’t… I’m not sure if I can handle this many right now,” I admitted. “Are you guys very far?”

“We’ll be there. Hang on, okay?”

I hung up the phone. I looked out the window. I didn’t see anything. It was dark now. They were out there—surrounding the motel. There had to be half a dozen at least.

I heard a knock on the door. “Motel manager,” the voice announced.

Yeah, right, I thought. I didn’t move.

The man pounded on the door again. “Manager. I know you’re in there. Open up, please.”

I moved closer to the door. Yep, definitely a demon. The man was still alive, though. I started to exorcise him through the door. I could barely do it. I felt shaky all over. It should not have been that hard. If I couldn’t stop one demon, how was I going to stop the rest?

I sensed more demons approaching the door, but that wasn’t all of them. A few were still scattered around the motel.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” the voice taunted.

I tried to exorcise another one. In the middle of it, I heard, “Give it up. You’re too weak.”

My body was visibly shaking now, but I managed to finish the second one. I would probably pass out if I had to do another. They banged on the door.

Suddenly, I heard a scuffle outside the door. Oh please let that be Sam and Dean. The banging sounded different. More scuffling. Then silence.

Another knock on the door, but this time it was Dean. “Analina, it’s us. Open up.”

I turned the lock and took off the latch, but almost collapsed before I could open it. Dean didn’t wait for me to open it anyway and barged in once he heard the door unlock. I almost fell into him. He dropped the knife he was holding and caught me.

“You’re shaking,” he noticed. “Are you alright? What happened?”

“I’m okay,” I said. “Or will be okay… I don’t know. I got really weak after exorcising one demon through the door.”

He helped me to sit. Sam was close by and grabbed a water bottle for me.

“See, this is what I’m saying, Dean,” Sam said as I took a sip of water. I splattered a little on myself. My hands still shook, but the rest of me started to relax again.

Dean just glared at Sam for a moment before turning his attention back to me. He took the water from me and held my hands.

“I don’t know why I’m shaking,” I muttered, looking down at my hands.

“You know what? It’s alright. Sam, why don’t you give her something stronger than water this time,” Dean suggested.

Sam came back with a glass of something that stung my nose just bringing it close to my face. I sipped and felt the warmth of the liquid burn down my throat and settle in my stomach.

“They didn’t get in, did they?” Sam asked, checking all the salt lines I had done.

I shook my head. “No, but they were trying to.”

“We’ve probably stayed here too long,” Dean sighed and stood. “We’re going to have to leave tonight.”

I didn’t say anything. The word leaving brought back memories of why I was originally upset. Whatever happened to me during the attack was gone. However, I began to tense up again at the prospect of going home—if this was indeed still the plan.

We packed up soon after and left, traveling far away from the motel as fast as we could. No one asked Dean where we were heading because we’d had enough drama for one evening. We ended up sleeping in the car that night. Or rather, they slept and I sort of just lay there.

Cas didn’t come back right away. I wondered where he went, because he obviously didn’t go to talk to Dean or Sam like I thought he would. Despite spending the night in the car, my injury didn’t hurt anymore. I was still a little stiff, but I could function normally.

Cas’s healing seemed to have worked.

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