City of Angels (and Demons)

Chapter Three

Sam and Dean again walked in to the office of Dr. Cook. Uninvited, this time since Cook was currently busy with a patient. Surely a nurse had let Cook know that the two "FBI" agents were waiting for him. And wait they did. It was a good two hours before Cook walked into his office to greet them.

"Sorry for the wait, agents," Cook said, sitting down at his desk. Sam detected a certain air of nervousness about him. Good. Let him be nervous. Maybe he would offer something now that he hadn't before. "Is there something more?"

Sam and Dean said nothing. Dean stepped forward and placed the letter from Bates down, along with Mark Fischbach's release papers. They could have gone directly to talk to Fischbach, but Sam proposed that they ready themselves with information first. After all, they still didn't know what exactly they were dealing with. And if Fischbach was as important as Bates seemed to to think he was, Sam and Dean needed all the help they could get. And until Dr. Bates and Clyde returned, Cook was their only option.

Cook glanced down at the letter and release papers, spending most of the time reading the letter. He only glanced at the release papers once before looking up at the two brothers. "Before you start asking questions, I don't know why Laurie wanted to keep an eye on this patient," he said. "If anything, she was being compassionate. Being the good doctor that she is."

"From the sound of that letter and the fact that he's been released already," Dean said, his voice rising in volume. He was pissed off and Cook got under his skin the most. "She wanted Mark Fischbach kept against his will."

"He was one of our more serious cases," Cook said, still clearly nervous, but he was keeping his cool. For now, at least. "The most serious case, concerning the experimental surgery." He rose from his desk and walked over to the filing cabinet. He returned with a folder and held it out.

Sam and Dean looked at each other then Sam took the proffered folder and opened it. Inside was Fischbach's medical file. Which included a very descriptive detail of what he had suffered in the accident. And everything the doctors had done in surgery to save him.

Sam handed the file over to Dean then looked at Cook. "He's lucky he didn't die on impact," he said.

Cook nodded in agreement. "Laurie said he was meant to survive," he said. "She was convinced it was the reason he didn't die on impact. That he had a greater plan."

Sam didn't like the sound of that, but it proved that something supernatural was going on here.

"Who signed the consent form?" Dean asked, looking up from the file. "Says here he doesn't have any close relatives that live in this area. He was in no condition to agree to the experimental surgery."

"His girlfriend signed the form," Cook said. "Amy Nelson. She never left his side while he was here. Is that information important?"

Sam wasn't sure if Dean had a reason for this line of questioning or if it was just out of curiosity. "Were any of the other patients able to sign their own consent forms?" he asked.

"As a matter of fact, yes," Cook said with a nod, looking as if he hadn't thought about that before now. "But, as I said, Mr. Fischbach was our most serious case."

"We're gonna need the files on the rest of the patients who went through the experimental surgery," Dean said. "Even the ones who died."

"Give me a few minutes and I'll have them," Cook said then left the office to retrieve the records.

Sam looked at Dean once they were alone. "Did you piece something together that I haven't?" he asked.

"Probably not," Dean said, dropping the file on Cook's desk. "Seven fatal car accidents and all but one were able to sign their own consent forms? What were they dying of if they were awake?"

"You don't have to be unconscious to be dying, Dean."

"You saw the file about the accidents," Dean said. "Did the other six look fatal?"

Sam thought back to the information he had gathered before their arrival. He had read the reports, but the extent of their injuries had never been listed. He would have to dive deeper into the reports for clarification. Which explained why Dean had asked for the other files.

"You think they were lied to," Sam said. It wasn't a question because the answer was obvious.

"Explains why no one knows how those four died," Dean said. "Their bodies healed. If they really had been fatal, a demon possessing them wouldn't have healed them. An autopsy would prove they died from the accident."

"Unless the demon healed them."

"Why do that unless they were sure it was a permanent vessel?"

"We need to find out what we're dealing with before jumping to any conclusions."

"And if I'm right?"

Sam went over everything he knew about the patients. Same age, height, and build. Whatever they were dealing with was obviously looking for something.

And that something was obviously Mark Fischbach.

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Mark sat down in his office, in front of the camera for the first time in a week. He had told himself, and his friends, that he was going to wait a few days before recording any new videos. Give himself time to adjust back to normal life. But, the longer he put it off, the more he started thinking that his life was back to normal. Chica and his friends just hadn't caught up yet.

They probably wouldn't for a while. He had been home for a few hours now and everyone still acted strange around him. They could deny it, but he knew that him coming back to life essentially had rattled them all. They didn't know how to deal with it.

They would in time.

Mark set everything up and started recording. "Hello, everybody!" he started with a wave, like he did with every intro. "For those of you who don't know, I was in the hospital for a week. Matt and Ryan have kept things chugging along on here while I was gone and we all need to thank them for that. Especially since it would have been on them to give this channel a good send off if this week had gone a bit differently."

He had debated announcing the news, but it would have come up sooner or later. "Earlier this week, I was in an accident," he said, his tone turning serious. "And I wasn't expected to make it. The only reason I'm here now is because my girlfriend knew I wasn't done yet. She signed a form and I was one of the lucky ones to take part in some experimental surgery that saved my life."

It was at this point that he knew he would normally get teary-eyed and start talking about how he had nearly left the world without making the difference he wanted to make. But right now... he felt nothing. He didn't feel anything about what he was talking about. He felt indifferent like it wasn't himself he was talking about but some story he didn't find interest in.

And that didn't bother him.

"I wanted to let you guys know that I'm perfectly fine," Mark went on. "I feel better than I've ever had in years. And I want you guys to know that I'll be working harder than ever to give you my best. You only get one life. One chance. It can be over before you know it. Don't let your life slip away. I'm gonna live my life to the fullest. And I'm glad I can share it with you guys."