Selfless // Dean Winchester

11. The Reason

   "He's not picking up," said Sam after calling Dean's phone nearly a dozen times. "It's been almost an hour."

   "He's got to be in trouble," replied Y/N, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and gasping at the stabbing pain in her side.

   Sam stopped pacing back and forth. "What do you think you're doing?"

   "We have to go get him," she said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

   "Correction; I have to go get him." Sam pulled on his jacket and made for the door.

   "I'm the only one with a car." Y/N slowly stood up and steadied herself, half-expecting to see a splotch of red on her shirt, indicating the break of her stitches. But nothing happened. "I'm driving."

   "You're in no condition to drive," said Sam impatiently. Y/N half-walked, half-stumbled toward the door. He rolled his eyes and took hold of her arm, supporting her. "Give me the keys."

   She dropped them into his waiting hand and they made their way out. It was dark. Y/N's Mustang was still parked by the diner, but everything was close together in this town. When they finally reached the car, Sam helped her into the passenger's seat before rushing to the driver's side, and they were soon on their way.

   "Any sign of the Impala?" he asked her after a few minutes of coasting down the street, looking through alleys. "Or Dean?"

   "No," murmured Y/N. She was beginning to wonder what would happen if Dean died. It would be her fault. Sam would literally kill her. "Wait- there's something!"

   They both saw a streetlight was reflecting off the shiny black surface of Dean's car as the Mustang rounded the corner of one of the abandoned buildings. The place seemed deserted.

   "Dean's probably inside the building," said Sam, getting out of the car. "Stay here."

   "You can't just-" protested Y/N, but he was already halfway to the Impala. He opened the trunk, rummaged around, and produced a long machete with a serrated edge, the same one they killed vampires with. Then he shut the trunk, approached the door of the building, and Y/N was alone.

   The next fifteen minutes were torture. She was tempted to leave; their Impala was there in case they made it out alive, and no one was forcing her to stay. But she owed Dean. I'm not going anywhere until the debt is settled, she said to herself. Maybe I can just buy him a pie or something.

   And then the Winchesters were on their way out, seemingly alive. Y/N breathed a sigh of relief. She fumbled with the car door a few seconds before it opened. "What happened?" she called.

   "Let's just say Bobby's weapon didn't exactly work," Dean said tiredly. "The thing knocked me out. Tied me up. Gave a sob story about how killing people was part of its nature and it just wanted to be left in peace. Then Sammy showed up and, well, cutting off the head seemed to do the trick."

   "Fun night."

   "Definitely."

   "Why didn't it use its venom?"

   "Don't know, don't care." Dean opened the trunk and tossed in Bobby's weapon. "I just wanna sleep for a week."

   "I need to talk to Y/N," Sam spoke up.

   Dean eyed him suspiciously, then shrugged. "Whatever," he replied, getting into the Impala.

   Sam crossed the gravel road to Y/N's open door. He waited until Dean was out of earshot before beginning. He told her what had happened during the past year; a ton of crazy things, half of which she didn't believe, but there were two "facts" in particular that made her heart skip a beat.

   One was that they'd killed the yellow-eyed demon.
   The other was that Dean was going to hell in a year's time.

   "That can't be true," she said with a shake of her head, searching for any indication that Sam could be joking.

   "It is. That's why he came back to help you. Aside from crossing things off his bucket list, he's determined not to have any regrets when his time is up."

   Y/N swallowed. This whole soul-selling business was new to her, she'd never even come face to face with a demon other than Azazel, and in all the lore she'd heard or read, there was no way to get out of a deal like that. "There has to be a way to stop it from happening," she said out loud.

   "I tried negotiating with the demon," Sam told her. "Even killed it. Nothing worked."

   Y/N noticed she was nervously twisting her fingers together. She stopped at once. "Why are you telling me this?"

   He looked down. "Because today I realized that, in some twisted way, you and Dean care about each other. Don't get me wrong- I don't like you, and I'll never trust you or forgive you for what you did to our dad- but I need you to help save my brother."

   She had to admit, she never saw this coming. She knew from hunters' gossip and what she'd seen that the two Winchesters were shockingly codependent, but Y/N herself could never imagine loving someone that much.

   But I just don't care what happens to them.

   That lie may have worked until now, but, like Sam said, there was some part of her that was at least a little concerned for Dean's well-being. Her life would be rather boring if he were dead. Besides, how could she go about living her life, knowing that each day he was closer to death?

   She glanced toward the Impala, seeing Dean already asleep inside. "I'll help you," she murmured. I don't have anything left now. Not revenge on Azazel. Not running for my life. But I can find a way to break this deal- I know people, Bela knows people. We'll find a way.