Second Nature 9/?
Chapter 9
"Where's Baby?" Dean asked and that got Sam's attention. He had a quick look around as if he was sure that Dean had just overlooked her.
"She went for the restroom." Sam said and was already nudging the brunette at his side to let him out.
"That was fifteen minutes ago." Dean turned on his heel and made his way through the crowd without bothering to apologize when he bumped into somebody. Sam was right behind him and for some reason the brunette girl followed them as well.
Dean was about to just stomp into the women's restroom but stopped dead when the door opened and a woman came out, sizing him up and down with a look clearly saying You're not going to do what it looks like you're going to do, right?
Dean backed off but was close to barge in anyway when his gaze fell on the woman behind Sam. He'd no idea who she was or why she was sticking around but she was here so she could make herself useful.
"You." He pointed at her, not bothering to ask for her name first. "Go in, see what's keeping her so long."
A small part of his mind clung to the idea that Baby was in there, maybe chatting with another woman or trying to figure out how to work the hand dryer. The bigger part of his mind whispered in a dry voice: Who are you kidding, she's a Winchester after all.
The brunette threw him a glare but went inside without an argument.
"Who the fuck is she?" Dean hissed, still sweeping the area with his eyes in hope to find Baby's familiar face.
"Her name's Shelly." Sam had his back to him, scanning the other side.
"Oh, that's great." What took her so long? "You were supposed to keep an eye on Baby and not on this Shelly." He spat the name at him.
"It's not what it looks like." Sam had the nerve to say.
"Seems pretty clear to me." With barely concealed anger Dean made the few steps over to the doorway to the kitchen and had a peek inside. He'd no idea why Baby would be in there but he had to check anyway. Of course she wasn't there. It was never that easy.
"There was this guy hitting on her." Sam rushed the story out. "Wouldn't take no for an answer. She was afraid to go outside alone so she spilled her drink on purpose to get away from him and then asked me if she could stay at our table until he lost interest."
Dean stopped in his tracks, Baby forgotten for the moment, and had a good look at his brother. His giant of a brother, build like a brick wall, who was capable of killing with his bare hands. And who still managed to look like an overgrown puppy.
"You know, the sad thing is." Dean shook his head and returned to the restroom's door. "That's more believable than you flirting with a random chick."
"Thanks, Dean." Sam said but his sarcasm was half-hearted at best.
"Dammit, is there a wormhole in there?"
Finally the brunette, Shelly, came out. Alone.
"Where's Baby?" Dean repeated his question while he tried to have a glimpse inside over her shoulder.
"Not here." She answered. "And she's a name, you know?" She glared at him as if he was the bad guy here. Ignoring her, she had outlived her helpfulness anyway, Dean stormed past her to the back door. Baby hadn't come back to the front and this was the only other way.
Dean barged outside and at first he saw nothing. Just the back part of the parking lot, poorly lit and full of cars, a few dumpsters along the wall and a lot of nothingness. But then his eye caught some movement at the corner of the building. Three men hovering over a smaller person and their dirty laughs carried over to Dean, telling him the rest of the story. Now he recognized Baby, back to the wall and cornered by the men, their hands all over her.
"Hey!" With a shout Dean took off running. They didn't seem to notice him or just didn't care and the guy in front of Baby grabbed her chin in a rough hold, forcing her to look up at him.
"C'mon, you owe me a kiss." The words pierced through Dean's mind. "And then I want to see what else this pretty mouth can do, right guys?" He had a triumphant look around with the other two cheering at him.
Dean was only half-way there when he heard Baby speak.
"Fuck off." She said loud and clear, without a hint of fear in her voice.
She doesn't even realize what's happening, Dean thought with a curse.
Before Dean could close in on them, though, the dry sound of snapping bones bellowed through the night. There was a moment of eery silence and then the guy in front of Baby screamed.
"That bitch broke my fingers." He wailed, cradling his injured hand. He stumbled backwards, away from Baby, and Dean couldn't help but smile.
That's my girl.
He was there when the guy to Baby's left raised his fist to punch her. Dean caught his arm, twisted it and bashed the guy's head against the wall. With a satisfying thud the guy went limp.
Out of the corner of his eye Dean noticed the man to Baby's right taking a swing on her as well but Dean was too slow to prevent him from hitting Baby. She must have seen the fist coming, however, she did nothing to protect herself. She just stood there in the middle of the fight and took the blow.
Broken Fingers had recovered as well and rammed his other fist upward into her stomach only a split-second after Baby got hit in the face.
Dean knew the sound of a fist hitting flesh, of bones crushing under the force. But that wasn't the sound he was hearing now. This sounded like somebody had rammed his fist against a steel door. Or a car. The bone crushing noise was the same, though.
Dean re-dubbed Broken Fingers to Broken Hands. The guy was on his knees now, holding both his hands close to this chest, and bawled like a kindergartener who fell of the swing.
The other guy was still standing but he also had a broken hand and after a wild look at Baby and then Dean, the guy made a wise decision and ran.
"Baby?" Gently he took her face in his hands and had a close look at her. "Are you okay?"
She had a small cut high on her cheek bone maybe from a ring but she stood upright and showed no sign of pain from that or the punch to the stomach.
"I think he ruined my paint shop." With her fingertips she probed the abrasion.
"I can fix that." Dean let out a laugh and shook his head. Behind him the guy still screamed his lungs out and Dean was close to punching him just to stop the screaming.
"Mercedes?" Suddenly Shelly was at his side, carefully brushing the hair out of Baby's face. "Oh my god, your face. I'm so sorry, this is my fault. I should have known he'd come after you if he couldn't get me. Don't worry, we get you to the hospital." She babbled and half of it didn't make sense to Dean. "You gonna call 911 or what?"
The last part was directed at Dean who was too perplex to do more than to stare at her.
"Excuse me?" He finally managed.
"She needs a hospital." Shelly explained as if he was stupid. "And we need the police here."
She talked to him over her shoulder and a second later he was forgotten and her attention was on Baby once again.
"Let's go over there, away from them. It's over, it's okay. Can you walk? How bad did they hurt you?" She coaxed Baby a few steps away from the two remaining attackers.
"Just a fender bender." Baby tried to play it down but Shelly looked more alarmed now than ever.
Dean's plan had been to take off. Get Baby back to the motel, take care of that little cut and then turn in for the night. But now this Shelly was all over Baby and that guy didn't want to stop screaming and in the distance he heard the unmistakable sound of trouble coming their way. Awesome.
"C'mon, let's leave." Dean tried to get Baby away from Shelly.
"She could have internal bleeding." Shelly pointed out. "Probably a concussion. Skull fracture. She needs to see a doctor."
Melodramatic much? Dean thought but bit his tongue and didn't say it out loud.
Baby was fine. Maybe a little sore, may would get a shiner but that was it. Dean had been beaten up worse countless times, he knew how to handle this. And for sure he wasn't keen on finding out what the doctors might find if they had a closer look at Baby.
"Baby?" Dean tilted his head to get her moving.
"You're not better than them, are you?" All of a sudden he had his face full of Shelly. "She has a name for crying out loud."
"Excuse me?" Dean raised an eyebrow at her. Of course she had a name, he had used it all the time. It took him a second to realize what him calling her "Baby" must look like to Shelly.
While Shelly was focused on Dean, Sam used the moment to whisper something into Baby's ear. Dean couldn't hear what he was saying but Baby gave his brother a short nod.
They needed to move before the police arrived. They had no ID for Baby and Shelly knew them as Sam and Dean, her statement would raise some questions about their ID as well. And there was the whole medical thing.
"I don't feel so good." Baby mumbled and practically fell into Sam's arms.
"Mercedes?" Sam asked with the right amount of worry in his voice. "Okay, let's get you over to the car, you need to sit down. Dean, help me."
Dean joint their little charade and was at Baby's other side in a heartbeat.
"Shelly, can you wait for the police here?" Dean asked. "We better bring B... Mercedes to the hospital ourselves, it's quicker that way."
Shelly had an unsure look at the unconscious man on the ground and the other one on his knees, who finally had stopped screaming and was now quietly sobbing to himself. The sirens were close now and for a second Dean feared she would insist on waiting for the police and the ambulance but then she nodded.
"Go, I'll meet you there." She said and Dean felt a little bit sorry for her. She'd meant well and now they were leaving her alone with this mess.
Baby played the swooning woman like she was a born con-woman and they made their way to the front part of the lot where they had parked their substitute car.
"Mercedes?" Dean asked as soon as they were out of earshot. "Seriously, Sam? You named her after a car?"
"No, Dean. I named her after the girl the car was named after."
"That's what you come up with off the top of your head?" They'd rounded the corner and hurried to get to the car. "My god, you are a freak."
Finally in the car and the lights of the arriving police car in the rear-view mirror, Dean breathed easier. He glanced over to Baby in the passenger seat, trying to figure out what emotional state she was in. Physically the damage was minimal but he was worried about the psychical damage. She didn't look bothered, though.
"How did you end up with those guys?" He finally dared to ask.
"He said they wanted to show me something." Baby answered. "And he knew my name."
Chapter 10
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