Why the Winchesters? (COMPLETED)

18: Hospitals and Armed Guards

Andy's POV

I woke up in an unfamiliar bed with a paper hospital gown on. The last thing I could remember was going swimming in our hotel pool. What happened? Did I drown?

I looked up and saw two men sitting on the foot of my bed, talking.

"Sammy, this wasn't your fault. It was Maria's fault. She almost killed Andy, not you."

The taller one threw his hands out. "But Dean, if I'd woken up when she walked out of her room-"

"And if I'd woken up when she was, undoubtedly, screaming for us. Sam, what happened doesn't matter. It matters that Andy's gonna be fine, and it isn't your fault."

And then everything flooded back to me like a tsunami. My familys' murders, leaving with Sam and Dean, almost dying with Henri, Cas healing me. Maria almost slicing me in half.

I let out a choked sob, making Sam and Dean turn to me in relief, and then concern as they registered my tears.

"What's wrong? Does it hurt?" Sam hovered, looking for the painkiller button thing, while Dean started out the door for a nurse.

"No!" I yelled at Dean. He paused and looked at me as I started to cry hard. "Don't leave me!"

Dean came back and sat on one side of me, taking my hand. Sam imitated him. "What's wrong, Andy? Talk to us," Sam begged.

I coughed and kept crying, trying to explain the grief that had caught up with me. "Nick was... was gonna be t-taller than me. A-and Wyatt! A-and Geoff was suppos-sed to get a football s-scholarship. And m-mom and dad, t-they were supposed t-to have grandkids! Why don't they get to have those things? Why did they die!?"

I started to ugly cry, the whole heaving and red-faced, snot dripping everywhere crying you do when you realize your lost everything.

Sam rubbed my arm and Dean looked sad. "Andy, we don't know yet," he murmured softly. "We're working on it."

"You don't understand," I hiccuped. "I was almost dead, right?"

Sam whispered hoarsely, "We almost didn't get the door unstuck in time."

"Then why didn't you let me die?" I wailed.

#*#*#*#*#*#

A few days and several rounds of antibiotics and painkillers later, Sam and Dean were sitting next to me, waiting for a therapist or shrink or someone like that.

They wanted to make sure I wasn't going to kill myself like Maria did, after I let her out.

I sighed heavily. "Is this really necessary, guys? I'm fine now. I just... didn't have time to process the grief and deal with it in the days right after my... accident."

Dean snorted in disbelief and Sam nodded. "Yeah, it's necessary. Now sit still; you'll rip your stitches, and that hurts like hell."

"You would know," I grumped, making them both hold back a smile.

There was a flutter and a sound like rushing wind and Cas appeared at the foot of my bed, very mussed up and tired-looking. "Andrea, are you alright? I heard Dean's prayers, but I could not abandon what I was doing."

Dean looked to him angrily. "Cas, she was bleeding out when I called to you. She almost died and it would've been partly your fault."

Sam hit Dean's arm, but Cas nodded in agreement. "No, Sam, he is correct. It would have been partially my fault, and for that I am sorry." He directed the last bit at me.

"It's okay Cas. But if you could help me convince them I'm not going to kill myself and get me home, I'd love you that much more," I pleaded with him.

Cas looked into my eyes for a long period of time, his crystalline blue eyes boring into my brown ones. Then he turned to Dean. "She is not in any danger of suicide in the near future," he offered. "Can she go home so that I may heal her properly? The primitive care here will take much longer than-"

Dean groaned in defeat and waved his hand at Sam. "Go cancel the shrink. We'll meet you in the car."

Cas turned to me as Sam loped out the door. "Am I forgiven for my part in your almost-death?"

I smiled and nodded. "You all are, though I believe there wasn't much to be forgiven for."

Cas smiled back at me, but then he went stiff and his eyes got glassy. "Cas? Cas!" Dean shook him, panicked.

"Hold on," Cas whispered. A few seconds later, Cas went limp. "Maria told a group of her friends about you, Andy. She told them to capture you, to kill you if necessary."

"Dammit!" Dean shouted and spun around so his back was to Cas and I. "Can you tell when they're going to try and take her?" He asked, a bit calmer.

Cas replied, angrily, "No, I can't. But I can try and find them and stop them before they get to you." And with a flutter he was gone.

Dean turned around to stare at me. "Andy, you'll be alright. It's probably just a couple of hunters Maria knew and was able to contact. We'll take care of them and you'll relax and heal and not hurt yourself. You understand?"

I rolled my eyes. "Dean, I'm not going to kill myself. I promise you."

#*#*#*#*#*#

A few hours later, I was being wheeled out of the hospital with my two armed guards at my sides. "Where are we going?" I asked. "They'll expect us to go back to Bobby's, right?"

Sam nodded, his hair flopping into his face a little. "That's why we're going to Rufus's hunting cabin. It's in the middle of nowhere, and only a few hunters we trust know where it is."

I shrugged and started to agree that the cabin sounded like the best thing to do, but I saw a man watching us from the corner of the parking lot. "Dean," I wavered.

"I know, I see him," he whispered to me. "Keep talking to Sam."

I nodded and asked Sam about his favorite book, but before he could answer, Dean was ripped away from my wheelchair. Sam turned, quickly whipping out a knife and brandishing it at the people who'd surrounded us.

He looked closely at them, and started to laugh menacingly. "You're not hunters. What are you?"

Every single one of them blinked at the same time, and all their eyes had gone inky black. Sam stopped laughing and asked me, "Andy, can you get back to the door?"

I looked at it and let out a soft cry of terror when I saw it was blocked by a wall of the black-eyed demons. "No, Sam."

His face hardened as he nodded. "Then stay down."

Dean got up slowly and backed towards Sam and I, his gun out of the holster and aimed at the demons who strayed too close. "You ready, Sammy?"

On some unknown signal, all the demons flowed towards us at once. And the Winchesters started to fight.