September 18, 2008

Sam walked slowly down the white hallway, looking into each hospital room as he passed them. It was an open ward of a mental hospital so the patients frequently wandered, and Lady was no exception. At the end of the hall he found her in her room sitting next to the window, looking straight at the doorway as if she had been waiting for a long time. Though her eyes wandered across the wall and to the window.

Sam smiled forcefully, "Hey, Lady."

She didn't say anything or even seem to recognize him. Her pale-blue eyes looked back at him blankly and followed him as he sat across from her. After a few moments she must have decided he was not of import and let her eyes wander away from him again.

"They cut your hair," Sam muttered.

Lady's eyes moved down to the floor and she brought her hand up to her mouth to suck on her fingertips. The past few weeks she had chewed her fingernails down to the quick. When she could no longer chew them she had taken to chewing and even eating her hair. To prevent her from making herself sick her hair had been cut short. Now she was back to her fingertips. Though Sam wished she wasn't in this predicament at all he thought those types of nervous ticks were a good sign. More and more things were triggering reactions in her, and he believed she was going to make it.

"Hi, Sam, I thought I saw you from down the hall," Nurse Louise said with a wide smile. "I brought her lunch."

Sam fought the urge to grimace. He didn't like that a few of the nurses recognized him, especially when he had only visited Lady twice before. Being recognized meant he was remembered, when all he really wanted was to fade into the background and blend in. But he'd sacrifice being anonymous in order to check on Lady.

"Here, I'll help her," Sam offered.

"Are you sure? She's really stubborn when it comes to food," Nurse Louise warned. "She's a very picky eater."

"I'm sure," Sam assured her.

"Okay. You call me if you need anything," Louise said, batting her eyelashes at him before turning to leave.

Sam almost had to laugh at that. The nurse thought Lady was a picky eater? Lady was closer to being a garbage disposal. The hospital food didn't look too bad, but Sam knew how to get Lady to eat anything.

With a quick look Sam determined they had enough privacy so he could remove the contraband from his jacket pocket. A bottle of ranch. Lady's eyes moved sluggishly, and there was the slightest twitch of her eyebrow at the sight of the ranch. Unable to help himself Sam smiled a bit. The past month and she had been progressing so well. Showing recognition, even being a bit ornery toward the nurses. She was still more like a two-legged puppy than a person, but at least she was learning.

"I lost Lilith," Sam said bitterly as he aided Lady in eating. Lady could feed herself, however half of it ended up being finger-painted on the wall if she didn't have a chaperone. "I've been tracking this new group of demons. I had to come check on you, make sure they weren't coming for you." Sam frowned as Lady stuck her finger in some ranch and proceeded to lick it off. What little focus she had was on the food, but Sam felt better when he talked. Always hoping to break through to her, see some new sign of recognition in her eyes. "Had to do a tune-up with the car. Dean's car," Sam continued, watching her intently but her focus was on the ranch. She covered her whole pinky in the dressing and noisily sucked it off before smacking and licking her lips happily.

Sam averted his eyes, taking a moment. Lady had been rather prideful and seeing her like this wasn't easy for him. But all of the sudden all he could think about was what would happen if Dean was around to see her. And it was painful to admit that it was for the best. Dean never dealt with failure or loss well, losing Lady very well could have ended him…if he wasn't already rotting in the ground.

Sam finished helping Lady with her lunch and decided it was time to leave. "Lady, I have to go but I'll try to come back before I leave town," Sam said. He watched her carefully and slowly reached out to her. Her hand touched his arm and slowly shuffled closer to him. He kept his touch light as he gave her a hug that she didn't return. He felt her hand on his belt and her back tightened, before Lady could change from docile to something aggravated he released her. Once more he stared into her face, begging for her eyes to light up and her mouth to open and emit a stream of curses right at him…but he only got to watch her eyes blankly wander and look away from him in disinterest. "Bye, Lady," he uttered, turning and leaving.

Lady sat next to her window and looked outside. She rocked back and forth, the beginning signs of restlessness, as she fingered the paperclip she had just taken off of Sam without him noticing. With small, almost unnoticeable movements, she began to sharpen the end of the paperclip against the iron bar on the window until it had a fine point. With the sharp point of the paperclip she began to scratch at the glass of the window. The whole time her blank eyes stared out at nothing.

A/N - Hello! Just a teaser/shorty. Look for 'Psychic Unnatural: Reawakening' before the end of the weekend.