This fic is set in the same universe as my last crossover, Strangers. I wanted to explain some of the more complicated, or just plain unexplained, story lines and archs without bloating the main fic too much so I decided to do a couple of offshoot fics to help out with that. This predates Strangers by well over two years and is slightly AU. There are several short chapters planned out, and I hope it doesn't become an overblown, epic-ly long fic like the last one - wish me luck with that!

You can keep up with the 'Strangers' fics via tumblr at 'strangers-verse'!

Leaving Clarksburg, Missouri - 1:23 A.M.

"Man, that is the last time I work with a demon." Blood and dirt stained, Dean grunted passed a mouthful of pretzels as he stared into oncoming traffic with his wrist resting at 12 on the wheel in front of him. He was exhausted, and looked it. He tried to find Zen in the Journey song that was barely audible over the crackling Missouri radio station, "Two days down the drain." He handed the bag of pretzels into the back seat to a visibly mussed and oddly quiet Castiel, who just eyed it's contents for several seconds. A plastic crinkling sound that lasted far too long ended as Cas finally pushed a pretzel into his mouth and kept out of the conversation.

Equally dirty and tired, Sam looked over a map, lighting up part of Kansas with a Casey's flashlight on a novelty key chain, "Two days," He turned the map over and sighed, closing his eyes for a moment, "Feels more like two months. Let's just..." yawn, "Meet up with Bobby and turn in."

"I don't get it." Dean grumped, wincing a little at his own words, "We're never off our game this bad. Should've seen his crap coming a mile away."

"Well," Same rubbed his eyelids with his thumb and index finger then looked over at Dean, trying to spin the situation with his motivated voice, "Maybe this was a sign that we need to recoup? You know, cut our losses, patch ourselves up. Get some rest? Dean, we've been on the road for three weeks straight. Maybe the universe is trying to tell us something?"

"Yeah, well. I'm gonna take the hint this time. Grab a day off, get me some sleep. Recharge the old grapefruit and think of all kindsa ways to pay Sacha back for dragging our asses through that mess." Dean glanced up at the signs on the side of the highway, looking for any sign of a specific motel, "I ever get my hands around that skinny throat..." he grimaced with the grimace of a thousand grimaces as he turned off the highway down an offramp lit by an ancient Denny's sign, "Demons, man. Next demon I see, I'm axing the bitch's head off just on principal."

Turning the flashlight off with 'pop', Sam rested back into his seat as they turned onto a narrow road that took them passed the welcome sign and into California, Missouri. What passed for streets were poorly paved and an obstacle course of cars parked on either side of the road, which made getting where you were going a slow and tedious process.

They finally came upon Buchanan and made a left. Dean glanced over at Sam and then back at at the road, "Almost there, Sammy." He looked back over his shoulder for a moment, barely taking his eyes away from the street, "You okay back there?"

They pulled up, slowly, in front of the California Motel just as Cas was opening his mouth to respond. He heard Dean's panicked voice instead of his own, "No way..." He sighed and looked passed Cas to see out the rear window, talking to himself as he weighed his options for escape, "You gotta be kidding me..."

The car jolted a bit and Sam opened his eyes as they started moving, slowly, in reverse. He was sleepy-eyed and a little groggy when he sat up in his seat and looked around, sucking in a loud breath through his nose, "Are we here?"

Determined pout, Dean tried to inch his way away from the motel, his eyes fixed on the scene in front of him. He didn't respond.

"Dean?" Sam rubbed his eye with the back of his wrist, still a little out of it.

"Go back to sleep, Sam." Dean responded as calmly as he could. It sounded a heck of a lot like an order.

By now Sam was more or less awake, and he tried to take stock of what was happening and started to look around, "Are we going backwards?"

The response was louder this time, "Go back to sleep, Sam."

Confused, and now alarmed, Sam started to inch his hand towards a sawed off, double-barrel shotgun he had stashed beneath the glove box when his eyes fixed on something in front of the car that made him pause, "Is that..." he squinted, trying to focus his eyes, "Is that Giles?"

The Impala continued to coast back towards the intersection they'd turned at, and Dean made a grab for the map. He shook it open again and held it out to Sam, insistently, "Here. Find another hotel."

Sam took the map so that, if nothing else, Dean would stop shaking it in his face. He started folding it again, "There is no other hotel. Dean, this is the only one in town."

Dean's expression hit rock bottom and he curled his lip a bit, "So..." frustrated, "Find another town."

"I don't think..." Sam started but finished with an exasperated sigh.

"I just think that it's a small hotel, and it looks kinda crowded. What do you think?" Dean shot a glance back towards the back seat and when he didn't get a response, he prompted with, "Cas?"

"Uh, Dean..." Sam caught his brother's attention and Dean followed his gaze out in front of the car where Cas was now standing in the high beams, his attention focused on whatever Bobby and Giles were arguing about.

Another pissy expression spread across Dean's face and he put his foot on the break, "Son of a bitch."