Cherry Pie

Missouri

[Rayne]

When I woke up, I felt like I'd been beaten up by Hulk and then run over by a tank just for good measure. My muscles were sore and protested at the slightest movement, my head was pulsating with a constant sharp pain, and I could barely open my eyes. When I did, I found myself in bed in one of Bobby's guest bedrooms, curled up against Dean.

He was still asleep, and I was momentarily struck by how even in unconsciousness he didn't look quite peaceful. The slight crease between his eyebrows that was always there when he was awake was still present; silently communicating his worry and discontent. I had the oddest impulse to reach up and smooth it out.

Dean's eyes snapped open with unexpected alertness — like he was used to waking up so abruptly — and immediately landed on me. I quickly distanced myself from him, although I wished for nothing more than to have him wrap his arms around me and pull me back in.

"You okay?" he croaked, appearing to be in just as much pain as I was.

"Fine...I think," I replied, rotating Dean's wrist to look at his watch. It was 11:30 in the morning of the next day. "What happened?"

"I don't know." Dean sat up and rubbed his face. "All I remember is suddenly feeling like crap."

"Same. I passed out by Bobby's truck behind the bar," I recalled, sitting up as well.

"Well, let's head downstairs," Dean suggested. "Maybe Sam and Bobby can fill in the missing gaps for us."

After quickly brushing my teeth and changing into some fresh clothes, we trudged down to the kitchen and both collapsed into the chairs where two mugs of steaming coffee were waiting before us on the table. 

"I thought I heard you two kids lumbering around up there." Bobby handed me a milk carton as he studied Dean and I. "What the hell happened?"

"We were hoping that maybe you could tell us that," Dean said.

Sam walked in then, an old thick book in his hands. He looked from Dean to me. "You're awake."

"Are we alive?" I placed my head on the table. "It doesn't feel like it."

"This is the same thing that got us that time at the motel, isn't it?" Dean asked.

Sam nodded as he and Bobby sat down in front of us. I glanced up at the book that Sam was showing to Bobby. "I've noticed that the two of you start to get sick if you're away from each other for more than an hour," Sam explained, "and that it gets progressively worse over time unless you're brought back together."

Dean gave his brother his all too familiar glare that was a cross between 'are you crazy?' and 'go on'. "Seriously?"

I thought back to all the times I'd gotten a headache or felt ill over the past month, and indeed it was whenever Dean and I were away from each other for too long. Perhaps Sam was onto something.

"By the time I found Rayne last night, you guys were barely breathing," Sam said.

"Looked like death," Bobby muttered.

"Felt like death," I added.

"So what is this, then?" Dean asked, his hand gripping the handle of the mug tightly.

"Well, that's the thing," Sam replied. "We're not exactly sure. Bobby and I looked everywhere we could think of while you two were sleeping, and there's nothing concrete out there." He turned the book towards us and Dean took it, angling it towards me so that I could also see. "And then just now, I found this," Sam continued, pointing to the page that we were looking at. "It doesn't have a name, but it describes multiple occurrences throughout history of something that sounds like what you two have."