Title: Broken Anchor

Part 7

Author: MacGateFan

Disclaimers in Part 1

Sam took his eyes off the road for a second to glance over at Sarah. She was staring quietly out the window, silent tears falling from her eyes. Their Dad said they would be back in the morning to deal with whatever the hell was down there. If Sam knew his father, John Winchester was going to have more than a whole arsenal in the cab of his truck, he would have C-4 if he could get his hands on some.

Not that he would complain. He didn't care if he they ended up with half the county on their asses for it. Dean's death was senseless and even though he knew his brother could have used better judgment, he understood him for wanting to help that little girl.

Josie had been so distraught when she found out Mr. Dean was gone. She didn't seem to believe it, though, and Sam wouldn't have either if he hadn't seen what was left of Dean with his own eyes. He pulled the Impala into the spot in front of their motel room and turned the car off with a sigh.

Sarah took a deep breath and faced Sam. "I can't... I don't feel like Dean should be gone, ya know?" she said, voice barely above a whisper. "I expect him to come out of that motel room and yell at you for driving his car."

"Me too, Sarah," Sam admitted, reaching over to pull her into a hug. The siblings pulled apart when Sam's cell rang. He saw Caleb's name on the caller ID. "Hey. He did? Yeah. We're at the hotel now. Sure. Thanks, Caleb. We'll see you guys then."

Sarah wiped the tears from her eyes. "Who else is coming?" she asked as they finally got out of the car.

"Bobby and Pastor Jim. They all want a hand in what's coming for that creature, whatever the hell it was."

Dean had made it halfway to parking lot when he had to stop for a minute. He knew he shouldn't because if he laid down and closed his eyes he was fairly certain he wasn't going to wake up again. Dean was leaning against a tree when he heard the familiar and comforting sound of the Impala.

Even though Dean knew help was on the way, he couldn't walk another step. His adrenaline had waned and he needed to rest. They would find him, he thought as he slid down the tree, eyes slipping shut. He woke up what seemed like hours later but from the sun rising he could tell it was only 20 minutes later.

"Over here is best!" a familiar voice shouted.

Dean was confused. How the hell did Caleb get out there? Coughing and wincing in pain, he used the tree for leverage as he attempted to stand. Dean finally was after a good ten minutes of maneuvering. Now he just had to keep himself from keeling over. He hated feeling weak. Even worse then feeling pain.

"Oh my God, Dean!" Before he could even respond, Sarah had barreled straight into him.

Dean had amended his thoughts about feeling pain just then because all he felt was pain as he sagged against his sister. "Sar..." he gasped out as she guided him back to the ground.

Sarah winced in sympathy. "Sorry," she replied as she checked his injuries. Tears sprang to her eyes when she realized they had left Dean out in the cold night air all alone. "You have a fever."

"No shit!"

"Really, you don't need to be sarcastic about it!"

"You guys left me and you're picking on me for being sarcas--ouch!"

Sarah feigned innocence. "Sorry," she said again as she reached into her pocket for her cell phone. "Dad was going to blow this place to hell because of what he thought that thing got you. What happened?"

"What?" Dean asked, looking up at Sarah with a glazed look in his eyes.

"You'd better not check out now, Dean!" Sarah ordered as she dialed Sam's cell. "Stay awake!"

"Dude, don't shout in my ear. Besides, I'm wide awake over here."

"I was talking to Dean," she explained.

There was a brief pause before he replied, "That is not funny, Sarah."

"Give it to me," Dean said. Sarah handed him the phone. "Sam get your ass over here now!"

"Dean! What the hell?"

Sarah caught the phone as Dean dropped it, losing consciousness. "Just tell Dad to stop what he's doing for right now. Dean's alive."

John was still shaking his head in disbelief. He should have known better than to believe Dean was dead, though. That boy came out of more scrapes than anyone he had ever met. He glanced over at Sarah who was praying with Pastor Jim then at Sam who was talking to Caleb and realized he almost drove his family apart after his daughter's attack, when they needed each other the most. He decided from that moment on he would never do anything that stupid again.

John looked up when he heard someone say his alias. "That's me," he replied, walking over to the doctor. "How's my son?"

"Dean's lost a lot of blood so he's going to be weak for the next few days while we replenish what he lost. We have him on antibiotics to counter the infection that set in. Dean also has a slight concussion, a few broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder," the doctor explained as he lead them to Dean's room.

John nodded, swallowing around the lump in his throat before he said anything. "How long will he have to stay here?"

"A week at the most. If his fever is gone and I'm satisfied with the way he's been healing."

"Thank you, Doctor."

He smiled. "Of course. Please let any of the nurses know if you need me for anything."

Once the doctor had left, the group quietly entered Dean's room. He looked decidedly pale in that hospital bed. Sarah was the first to go to his side, taking his hand in hers. "Hey big brother."

"Sar?" Dean asked, blinking his eyes open. "Hey. You okay?"

Sarah chuckled, tears falling down her cheeks as she gave Dean a kiss. "You are so freaking amazing! You're the one who's lying in a hospital bed and you're asking if I'm okay?"

"She's right, son," Pastor Jim said, patting Dean's leg. "You are quite amazing."

Caleb nodded. "You gonna tell us what attacked you and how you escaped it?"

"Honestly I have no clue what they were," Dean replied. "They reminded me of Wendigos but they were very selective about what they wanted to attack. Josie... Is she all right?"

"She's fine, Dean," Sam reassured him. "We found her Dad too."

Dean sighed in relief. "Good. Anyway, they tried to eat me, I found some weird looking machete thing, and I lobbed their heads off. You didn't happen to find the machete, did you Sammy?"

"No. Sorry, I wasn't looking for a machete."

"I guess not," Dean said, suddenly feeling very tired.

John finally spoke up. "Lets leave Dean to rest. He has some healing to do so he can get back out there." "Dad?" Dean asked when John hadn't moved.

"I'm sorry, Dean. I shouldn't have blamed you for what happened to Sarah. It wasn't anyone's fault but that kid who hurt her."

"I should have stayed with her like you told me to."

John shook his head, placing a hand on Dean's shoulder. "Son, it's not your job to always be there for them. I should be protecting all of you."
"It may not be my job, but I want to be there for them, Dad. I can't lose them. I can't lose any of you!"

"We can't lose you either, Dean," John told him. "Remember that!"

One week later the doctors were convinced that Dean was stable enough to leave. He sank gratefully into the passenger seat of the Impala. "Hey, baby, they been treating you all right?"

"Get a room, Dean!"

"Shut up, Sar! I'll have you know that my girl misses me when I'm gone."

Sarah chuckled. "Well, you're right about that. You should have seen Sam trying to fix her when she broke down."

"What?"

Sam glared at her. "You said you weren't going to mention that!" he exclaimed.

"Oops!" she replied sheepishly.

"Dude, you better not of ruined the engine."

"I took her to a mechanic, Dean, she's fine!"

Dean looked almost pale. "A mechanic! What kind of mechanic around here is really gonna know my baby?"

"That'd be Dad," Sarah answered.

"Oh... right. So where is he?"

Sam started the car and waited for Sarah to get in before answering. "He left with Caleb and Pastor Jim. They're heading to a hunt in Athens. We, however, are taking some time off."

"Dude, they could use our help up there, I'm sure."

"Maybe," Sarah replied, "but no matter what you say we're taking time off, Dean. You're going to need to get that shooting arm up to par."
Sam nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we don't want to get shot in the ass again."

"Hey, that was one time and I didn't shoot you in the ass, I shot myself!"

"Oh the memories," Sarah said, grinning ear to ear. "You don't take the time off, Dean, and I'm sure the video Sam took of you hopping up and down will surface on Facebook."

Dean looked over at Sam in horror. "You wouldn't!"

"Wouldn't I?" Sam and Sarah began to laugh and soon Dean was joining them. The three drove down the road as Dean turned the radio on and the music of Kansas trailed behind them.