Smoke and Ash

8 | Another Deal With Death!

"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked Dean as the two of us entered a grocery store. "I can always be the one to go under."

"There's no way that gonna happen. You've had close calls with death way too often these last few weeks in my opinion." Dean answered, and we walked up to a guy behind a butcher counter. "Hi, I'm, uh, looking for..."

"Follow all the way back. All the way back." he said.

We walked to the back of the store and walked up a flight of steps, meeting with Dr. Roberts in an old-looking apartment.

"Dean Winchester?"

He nodded. "You must be Dr. Robert?"

Dr. Roberts nodded. "Son, I stitched up your daddy more times than I can count, let me tell you. Oh, it's good to see you. 'Course, that was ages ago, back when, uh, I still had my medical license. Right this way."

Dean looked at the apartment we were walking in. "Well, you know, I'm, uh, I'm no germ freak, but..."

Dr. Roberts shrugged. "Rent's cheap." we walked into to the 'office' and Dr. Roberts pointed to a woman. "Eva, my assistant."

"Hi." Dean said.

"Hop right up."

Dean hopped up onto a table, looking nervous. "Okay. Let's get the show on the road."

"Woah, wait. Dr. Roberts, you—you have, uh, done this a lot?" I asked him.

He nodded. "Oh, many, many times."

"And your...success rate?" I pressed.

"Oh, excellent—almost 75%. So, should we get the, uh, preliminaries out of the way?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah. Uh, yeah, right." he handed him an envelope of money.

Dr. Roberts smiled at me, then Dean. "You've got one very concerned and protective girlfriend of yours, Dean."

"Oh. She's not my girlfriend." Dean said, "just....a friend. Uh...So...listen, if, uh, something..."

"Goes wrong?" Dr. Roberts finished.

   He nodded. "Yeah. Uh..would you mail this for me, please?" he handed him a letter addressed to Ben—Lisa's kid.

"Sure. Would've thought you had something for your brother, Sam."

Dean nodded and laid back on the table. "If I don't make it back, nothing I say is gonna mean a damn thing to him."

Eva walked over and inserted an IV into Dean's arm.

"Ahh!" Dean winced from shock.

"Don't be a baby." Eva said.

"You know, a little bedside manner would be nice." Dean muttered.

"Are we ready? Hmm?" Dr. Roberts asked. "You've got three minutes."

Dean nodded and closed his eyes.

Eva put her fingers to his wrist. "No pulse, no sinus rhythm."

"He's dead." Dr. Roberts said.

I looked at the doctor. "Um..you said an almost 75% success rate, correct?"

"Yes," he nodded.

"So there's a chance he could never wake up from this?"

"I...suppose so. Yes.."

I looked away from Dr. Roberts and looked down at Dean's body, reaching a hand out and placing my hand on his arm, instantly feeling a little less worried.