"Bobby? Bobby?" Sam asked with Bobby's face in his hands.

Nate and I moved over to help Sam.

Dean reached his arm back in front of me as he sped down the road, "Don't touch him!"

"Dean!" I shouted.

He pointed at Nate, "Keep her away from him! Sam's got it."

Nate nodded, visibly upset by everything that was happening, but he put himself in between me and Bobby, "Maddi, go sit up front."

I shook my head, "What—"

"Go!" Nate yelled, "Just go!"

I stared at him for a moment and then moved to the passenger seat. I knew I couldn't use my powers, and I didn't intend to, but that didn't mean I couldn't be helpful. I didn't have enough blood in me to do it and not kill myself. So, I turned and just watched the mayhem play out, feeling completely useless.

"Sam, is he dead?!" Dean yelled.

Sam put his hand on Bobby's neck to check for a pulse, "I'm checking."

"Is he dead?!" Dean yelled again.

"Just drive, Dean!" Sam yelled as he and Nate pulled Bobby up to a sitting position, "Bobby!"

"You gotta talk to me, Sam!" Dean shouted.

"All right, he's breathing. There's a pulse," Sam said frantically.

"Keep him upright. Stop the bleeding," Dean instructed.

"I'm not an idiot, Dean!" Sam yelled, "I know first aid for a friggin' bullet to the head!"

Dean pulled out his phone, dialed a number and put it to his ear, "I need the nearest trauma center."

"Hold on," Nate pleaded with Bobby, "Hold on."

"What's the address?!" Dean shouted into the phone and then hung up a moment later, "All right, Bobby, hang in there."

When we got to the hospital, Dean and I rushed in and let the nearest person in scrubs know what was going on. Immediately, they gathered a group of people, and they ran out with a gurney. They loaded Bobby onto it and then hurried him into the hospital with the four of us right behind them.

"Page the neurosurgeon on call," The doctor said as we burst through the doors, "Tell OR to put electives on hold."

One of the men nodded and ran off. The rest of them wheeled Bobby into a trauma room, and we rushed in with them. People ran in and out around us.

"Move trauma two to bed seven as soon as it's clean," The doctor called out.

"Gunshot wound to the right frontal area, no exit wound found," The nurse said, "Breathing spontaneously. Respiratory rate 18 and shallow. RST at 120. BP 90 over 60. GCS 5."

The doctor nodded, "Push 80 grams of Mannitol over 30. Prep for intubation."

"Air entry clear to bases," The nurse said.

"Let's get a central line in here now," The doctor commanded.

Sam stepped forward, "What's happening? Please just tell us—"

"Get them out of here!" The doctor yelled.

The nurse walked up to us, "Sorry. You need to stay out of their way."

"That's our uncle," Dean said.

The nurse nodded, "You got to stay back."

We all backed up out of the room as she urged us to.

"What are they doing?" Nate asked.

"We need to get him stable," The nurse explained.

"Okay, when are you gonna take the bullet out?!" Dean yelled.

The nurse nodded, "If we can get the swelling down. If it's in a place we can get to. If—"

"If he even lives that long," Sam said.

The nurse nodded sympathetically at us and then closed the curtains to the trauma room. Then another nurse ran past us into the room.

"Push 30 more of Mannitol over ten. CBC and 'lytes. Bolus him with 500 saline," The doctor ordered.

"The vitals were stable two minutes ago," The nurse said frantically.

"Well, he's crashing now," The doctor said.

Nate put his hands on his head and walked away, so I followed after him.

"Hey, where are you going?" I asked when we turned a corner.

Nate stopped and turned, he was crying, he shook his head, "I can't watch him die, Maddi."

"You don't know that you will," I said.

"And you don't know that I won't," He shook his head, "Bobby is the closest thing I have ever had to an actual dad... I don't want to lose him like I lost my mom and Jo."

I stared at him for a moment, and the emotion of everything that was happening hit me. I pulled him into a hug as I started crying, "I know."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A few hours later, the four of us were standing outside of Bobby's trauma room, pacing around.

"Blood pressure 130 over 90," A nurse said from within the room.

The doctor opened the curtains and walked out to us. Behind him, I could see that Bobby was now in a hospital gown, he had a bandage on his head and had a tube in his mouth.

"He's, uh, stable for the moment," The doctor nodded, "Just have to see."

Dean put his hand on his face, rubbing his jaw, and looked upset.

"So, there's nothing else we can do?" Sam asked.

"I'm sorry. We just have to wait," The doctor said, "We'll see if the swelling goes down."

"How long?" Nate asked.

The doctor shook his head, "It's hard to say in cases like this."

"Well, he's lasted this long," Dean said, "That's something, right?"

"Well, yes. Listen..." The doctor sighed, "The bullet didn't shatter. Only one hemisphere of his brain was injured. These are all positive things. But... I don't want to give you false hope here. He's far from out of the woods. Most of the time, cases like this—"

Sam nodded, "They die."

The doctor hesitated and then nodded reluctantly, "Right now, it comes down to him. I'll keep you updated." He gave us one last nod and then walked away.

A man walked up behind us, "Excuse me." We turned to him, and he nodded, "Sorry to interrupt... Is one of you Robert Singer's next of kin?"

The four of us looked at each other, and then Dean nodded, "Yeah, that would be me."

The man nodded, "Could I talk to you privately?" Dean nodded and followed the man away.

At that moment, all I could think of was one thing, so I hurried into the bathroom. I took a deep breath and pulled out the bottle of blood, Crowley had given me, it was now half empty. I popped off the top and slammed it down, warmth and euphoria radiated throughout my body as I swallowed it. I suddenly felt supercharged, so maybe it would be enough to save Bobby. I turned around to leave, but Crowley was standing behind me.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"I want to save Bobby," I said and then shook my head, "Why're you here?"

"To stop you from doing something foolish," Crowley said.

I furrowed my brow, "How is it foolish? He's gonna die."

He rolled his eyes and groaned, "What is it with you Winchester's? You all have a death wish when it comes to saving someone you love," He shook his head, "You don't have enough juice in you to heal him without killing yourself."

I shrugged, "Then get me more."

Crowley shook his head, "Oh, no. I only brought this..." He shook another full bottle, "But you would need a lot more than this to save him."

I nodded, "Okay? Then again... Get me more."

"I'm not your gopher, poodle," Crowley sighed, "We're a team. I've been giving you what I have, to benefit both of us. You need to build up your powers... If you blow it all on the old man, we will have to start over."

I shook my head, "I don't care."

"I do," Crowley said, "You'll blow our cover. We need to work together to take down the leviathans, we need your brothers alive to do it. You need to make sure you have enough demon blood in you to keep them fighting."

"I don't care about your plan, Crowley," I stared at him for a moment, "It's Bobby..." Tears came to my eyes, "I don't want him to die. Please, just... Please, will you help me?"

"Hmm, let me think about it..." He paused for a moment, "No," He stepped toward me, grabbed my wrist, and put the bottle in my hand, "Begging doesn't look good on you," He let my wrist go and stared at me for a moment, "You can't save him. Don't be stupid." Then he disappeared.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A little while later, Dean joined us outside of Bobby's room with a coffee.

"What did that guy want?" Sam asked.

Dean shook his head, "Uh, nothing. Just some insurance mook. Dick Roman was out there." We were all shocked by this news.

"What?" Sam snapped, "What happened?"

Dean shook his head, "Nothing... For now. It was just a friggin' staring contest. That was about it," He looked into Bobby's room, "What's the update?"

Nate shrugged, "The swelling's down a little."

Sam nodded, "They took him off sedation. Apparently, he— he started fighting his tube. So, they pulled them out, and he's breathing on his own."

Dean perked up a little, "That's good, right? Is that good?"

Sam took a deep breath, "Yeah. Well, doctor said best-case scenario."

"All right, so when they gonna take the bullet out?" Dean asked.

Sam sighed, "Dean, the— they're not even—" He shook his head, "They're not even gonna try that, not yet."

Dean furrowed his brow, "What does that mean?"

"The word's 'abrading,' I think," Sam said.

Dean shook his head, "English."

"It means they have to cut out the dead brain tissue," I said.

Sam nodded, "Yeah, but that's if the doctor even thinks it's worth the risk," He sighed, "Look, guys, I think we need to talk about something."

Nate furrowed his brow, "What?"

Sam sighed and looked into Bobby's room sadly.

"Talk about what?" Dean snapped.

Sam sighed, "You know what."

Dean shook his head, "No, we're not gonna have that conversation."

"Well, we need to," Sam said.

"He's not gonna die," Dean said.

I sighed, "Okay, listen to me... I haven't brought this up because I know how you're gonna react but—"

Dean shook his head, "No, don't even finish that sentence, Maddison. I know exactly where this is going, and it's not happening."

"But Dean... I can heal him," I shook my head, "And if I can't heal him completely, I can at least heal the dead tissue that's preventing them from operating."

"Why, so you can end up with a hole in your head too?" Dean snapped, emotionally, "Absolutely not. Out of the question."

I looked at him with tears in my eyes, "Dean—"

"Do you remember what happened when you did the same thing for Lisa?" Dean stared at me, "Well, I do... You want to know why? Because you almost died in my arms. I will never let that happen again."

I hesitated, "Yeah, but at the time... I was weak, I had already used up everything in me before I got to her."

"So, what are you saying?" He asked, with fury written all over his face.

"You know what I'm saying," I said.

Sam shook his head, "No, Maddi, we can't—"

"It's Bobby!" I shouted, my chin quivering.

"You don't think we understand that?" Dean stared at me.

"What's the point of having this ability, if I can't use it to save the people I love?" I asked.

"Are you kidding?" Nate snapped, "He wouldn't want you to risk your life to save his," He shook his head, "And he sure as hell wouldn't want you to get involved with demon blood to do it." He looked up at the ceiling and let out a deep breath.

Dean put his hands on my shoulders, "Now you listen to me, we're gonna let the doctors handle it. You understand? He's not going to die."

"He might," Sam said.

Dean shook his head angrily, "Sam—"

"Dean, listen..." Sam sighed, "We need to brace ourselves."

"Why?!" Dean yelled.

"Because it's real," Sam said, looking at all of us very seriously.

"What do you want to do?" Dean asked angrily, "You want to hug and— and say we made it through it when Dad died?" He shook his head, "We've been through enough. We all have." He glared at Sam and walked away.

Sam sighed and sat down in a chair, his eyes filled with tears. Nate nodded and walked away sadly, the emotion written all over his face. A tear rolled down my cheek as I sat next to Sam and rested my head on his arm. He put his arm around me and pulled me into him.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Later, the four of us waited outside Bobby's room. None of us had spoken since earlier, but two nurses caught our attention as they walked toward us.

"Keep the head of the bed up for transport," One of the nurses said to the other, "IV can run off the pump. Just run a TKVO. We'll have to wait for respiratory."

Sam stood up, "Wait, wait, wait, wait. What's happening?"

The nurse directing the other one turned to him, "He's showing signs of responsiveness. We're taking him up for surgery. If you want to see him, I'd squeeze in there quick." She turned, and all of us followed her into Bobby's room.

We stood by him, looking at him sadly. He was still hooked up to machines, passed out, with a bandage on his head.

The nurse sighed, "I'm really sorry, but we need to get moving."

Sam nodded sadly, "Right. Yeah."

Nate grabbed Bobby's hand, "Hey, um..." He choked up, "Bobby, um... Just... Thanks... For everything. You saved my life," He let go of his hand and pat it.

We all sadly stared at Bobby for a little bit longer.

"All right. Please step back," The nurse said.

Dean nodded, "Yeah." We turned to leave but stopped when Bobby raised his hand and grabbed Sam's.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, stop," Sam turned frantically, and we all stopped excitedly when we saw Bobby blinking, "His eyes are open."

"Bobby?" Dean asked.

Sam smiled, "Hey," He put his hand on Bobby's shoulder. Bobby pulled his respirator mask off, and Sam grabbed his hand. Bobby breathed heavily and opened his mouth like he was going to speak.

"What... Don't talk. Don't talk," Dean said frantically, "A pen— I—"

I grabbed the chart that was hanging off the end of the bed, pulled the pen off, and handed it to Sam, "Here. Here." He took it and passed it to Bobby.

"What is it?" Dean asked anxiously.

Bobby grabbed Sam's hand and wrote, "45489" on Sam's hand, while breathing heavily. He smiled slightly at us, and we leaned in closer because it looked like he was struggling to say something. Bobby chuckled softly, "Idjits," He smiled. Then his head fell back onto his pillow, and his monitor started to beep faster.

My heart skipped a beat, and my throat started to close with panic.

"Bobby?" Dean asked nervously, "Hey!"

Then the machine flatlined.

"Call a code... Trauma room!" The nurse shouted and then ushered us out of the room.

People ran in by us as we watched in horror. They tried as many options as they could to bring him back, but the machine just kept showing a flatline, until the doctor finally stepped back.

The doctor sighed, "Okay, everybody..." Everyone working on Bobby backed away, "That's it... I'll call it..."

Nate backed away, shaking his head, "I—" His voice broke, "I've gotta go." Then he turned and hurried down a hall.

"Nate!" I yelled with tears streaming down my cheeks and chased after him. I grabbed his arm just before he turned another corner.

"No!" He shouted and pulled away from me.

I shook my head, "Nate—"

"Just—" He turned around and hesitated when we made eye contact. Then he pulled me into a hug, "I'm sorry, I just— I can't do this anymore..." He burst into tears. I nodded tearfully into his chest, fully understanding his pain. He pulled away, looking me in the eyes, with his hands on my shoulders, "Come with me."

I furrowed my brow, "What?" I shook my head, "Where?"

Nate shook his head, "Anywhere, just come with me."

"We can't just leave," I said.

Nate nodded, "Yes, we can. Let's just go," He shook his head, "I can't do this anymore. I can't keep losing people."

I stared at him for a moment, I could see how serious he was, but shook my head, "I can't go with you."

Nate took a deep breath, "Maddi, please, I love you so much... Just please..."

I looked at him, confused, taken aback, "You what?"

He nodded, "I love you and... I have for a long time," He sighed, "Listen, I want you to come with me... But if you can't, I understand... I just can't have any connection to you anymore if you don't. I can't be apart of this life anymore."

I looked at Nate intensely, confused by what he was trying to say, "What?"

Nate nodded sadly, "Come with me... Please."

My throat started to close up as I tried to fight back all the emotions going through my head, "I'm not going, Nate, I'm sorry." He nodded sadly, and more tears rolled down my cheeks, "Please, just stay..."

Nate took a deep breath, with tears in his eyes. He grabbed the back of my head and kissed my forehead for a long moment. He rested his chin on my head and wrapped his arms around me, "I need to go, and if you don't come with me, I can't stay and watch you die too." He put his hand on my cheek and kissed me. He pulled away and wiped away my tears with his thumb, "I love you." He paused for a moment, staring into my eyes, and then turned and walked away.

I took a few steps forward, "Wait, Nate..." He put his head down and continued walking, "Nate! Please!" I yelled, but he didn't look back. "Nate..." I said half-heartedly and burst into tears, everything just hit me all at once. Sam came up from behind me and put his hand on my back, but I shoved him away, "Get off of me," I snapped and started walking away.

"Stop," He grabbed me and pulled me into a hug.

I tried to push him off, but the more I fought, the harder I cried. My resistance became lazy, until I stopped and just embraced his hug, "I'm sorry..." I cried, "I'm sorry..."

"It's okay," Sam said, choked up himself as he rubbed my back.

I shook my head, "No, it's not. I could've saved him."

"Don't do that to yourself," Sam said.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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