(A/N: I have no clue where this came from. Seriously. It just popped into my mind that I should write a story for the second of November as a tribute to Mary and Jess, and this is what I managed to come up with. Not my usual style or subject matter, but there you have it.
WARNINGS: Spoilers for the pilot (as well as subtle hints to other things up to season 4), AU-ness due to the changing of Jess's birthday (not by much, just a couple of months, but that makes all the difference) as well as some very AU concepts that are certainly not canon. DARK, probably the darkest thing I've ever written. Also may be slightly disjointed/confusing, but I hope my intentions are clear. Hope you enjoy it.)
November 2nd
Her long, blonde hair was plastered across the ceiling, fanning out along the white background and contrasting with the fiery flames that leapt up to devour her.
Heat surrounded her, flames licking at her clothes, her skin. The heat was gradual, building up enough to begin to hide the intense pain in her stomach.
She heard from a distance the sharp cry of an infant, quickly masked by a louder, deeper shout of pain. The sounds barely registered next to the loud crackling of the flame next to her, and the pain had reached impossible levels now, and she couldn't take it, she couldn't, she had to…
It should only have been a couple of seconds, but it felt like she had been burning for an eternity. She screamed, sound catching in her unopened mouth and reverberating in her skull. The scream echoed on and on and on, and in a sudden moment of clarity she knew what was going in, who had caused this, and where she was going. She would give anything not to be in her own body. She promised everything she had as the flames licked her skin, begging to leave, to escape from the world of silent pain she was encased in.
A sudden rush of wind echoed through her mind, and with a final scream, the fire and pain and blood vanished and everything turned into a bright white light.
Miles away, at a small hospital in the heart of California, a baby girl opened her eyes for the first time and shrieked her arrival for the world to hear.
Jess had always hated horror movies.
It wasn't that they scared her (not really, not much at least) but there was something about the predictable plot twists and the recurring elements used in them that she found unappealing. To be honest, she found them more than a little ridiculous.
Sam had always found that little tidbit to be incredibly amusing. "You really don't like this stuff?" He gestured at the small television in their room that was playing "The Ring" for an all-night horror movie marathon. "Are you scared?" He asked, teasing her with a gentle grin.
Jess snorted and shook her head. "No!" She demanded sharply. "I'm just…I find it pathetic." She sat down next to her boyfriend with a sigh. "It's so…stupid, you know? B-rate acting, stupid plot sequences and totally unrealistic events, and the characters are silly and don't know anything. I just hate them. Don't ask for more than that, because it's true."
There was a short silence, and Sam looked at her with a softness in his eyes that she wasn't expecting to see. "I know what you mean." He said vaguely, looking down at his knees. "Guess you don't like supernatural stuff either, then?"
Jess shook her head vigorously. "No. No way. Never." She grimaced at the sound of a scream coming from the set. She hated the way screams reverberated in her head whenever she heard them.
"Okay." Sam grabbed the remote and flipped to the Discovery Channel. "Let's watch hyenas devour a helpless land mammal instead. Quality programming it is."
Jess hemmed and hawed and made disgusted expressions at the feasting hyenas, but she didn't miss the worry lines that were creased into Sam's head for the rest of the night.
Jess had had major butterflies the first time she had seen Sam.
She'd had crushes before, so she knew how nauseatingly distressing butterflies in her stomach could be, especially since she'd always had a weak stomach. But when her eyes locked on the tall, good-looking guy from across campus, the butterflies quadrupled in number and size, and were apparently wearing flaming combat boots.
Jess scowled at the fiery sensation that made its way across her stomach, clapping a forearm to her middle and turning away from the cute guy. Crap. She must have it really bad.
Brady looked at her quizzically from the side. "What's up, Jess?" He asked, concerned. "You okay?"
Feeling slightly embarrassed, Jess nodded slightly, her eyes unwittingly drifting back to the tall guy with the beautiful eyes. "Yeah," She said, her mouth twitching as the butterflies returned for a counterattack when the guy caught her eye and smiled back. "I'm good, Brady. I'm good."
Brady followed her gaze back to the tall guy, and then grinned widely in understanding. "I see." He said lightly. "Then I'd like you to meet a friend of mine, nice guy. He's right over there." Before she could protest, Brady raised his arms and wheeled them around like crazy. "Hey, SAM!" He yelled, gesturing to the tall guy as he glanced back. "C'mere, man! I want you to meet somebody."
Brady gestured back to her and she shot him a fierce glare. "You are so dead." She hissed, frowning harder when her attempt at intimidation only caused Brady to grin wider, showing every single tooth in his mouth.
He turned back to the guy (Sam?) and gestured him over again, answering with a light. "You'll thank me for this later, Jess. Trust me."
Jess had always been something of a tomboy.
Despite her beach-babe California girl looks, Jess spent the majority of her childhood and teenage years in jeans and a hoodie, having watergun fights with the boys and kicking ass in video games. She was never into the whole party girl scene, and was considered something of an outsider among her town female community.
She was a natural at the shooting games, the guys told her. She was comfortable with the controls and she would make an awesome sniper in real life. Jess had always laughed it off when they joked that she was a soldier or hunter in a previous life, and hid that niggling feeling in the back of her mind that suggested that they weren't far off the mark.
Jess had only ever had one secret when it came to Sam.
Sometimes, in the deep, dark, recesses of her mind, she would look at Sam and have a moment of absolute disgust.
Her brain would run through a gambit of very powerful emotions and feelings, and she would scoot away from his hand on her arm or her head. She would have a moment of "What am I doing?" and Sam would pull back, doing that small, adorable frown he did when he was trying to figure out something he did wrong. Except, it wouldn't look adorable at that moment, it would just look wrong and something at the back of Jess's mind would be screaming out for her to stop before something very bad happened.
And then Sam would say "Jess?" in a small, worried voice and the moment would pass, leaving Jess feeling ashamed that she had ever had any of those thoughts. On those days, she would always make an effort to be extra nice to Sam and make him chocolate chip cookies. He loved those and she didn't make them often.
But she would take the time because those moments scared the heck out of her, and they were so unfair to Sam that she felt guilty for days afterwards. And she swore to herself that for as long as she lived, she would never tell Sam about any of this. He didn't need to know, and he deserved much better than that.
Jess had never had any particular love for her birthday.
It wasn't anything big; she just never thought there was really a point to celebrating the day where you popped out into the world. She let others celebrate for her and joined in when necessary, but was never really into the whole birthday thing, which is why she wasn't that disappointed that Sam wasn't going to be around for her twenty-second birthday.
He was with his brother for the first time in, what, two years? They deserved some time to get to know each other again, despite the misgivings Jess had had when she first laid eyes on Dean. There had been other feelings too that had surfaced when she took a good look at his face, but she ignored those and pushed them back.
So, she went about her day as usual, seeing people and smiling for them when all she wanted was to go back home, flop down onto her bed and think about Sam. He was due back today, anyway, and she wanted to wait up for him.
After she finally made it back home without overdosing on cake with Sam's hurried birthday call still echoing in her ears, she threw herself on the bed, closed her eyes and sighed. She would take a shower, check on the cookies, and then wait until he got home.
She stood up and stretched, cracking her back, and turned around to-
Pain
Fire
Wait.
No, no fire. Not yet.
Sam..?
Her stomach hurt, the phantom pains she would get sometimes fully realized into a full-blown sensation. Wetness trickled down her shirt to spatter on the bed.
What…?
That's when she heard the front door open and a quiet voice calling her name, voice unknown through the hazy shockpain her mind was in. A familiar face suddenly appeared in her line of vision, achingly innocent, with closed eyes and a satisfied face.
She felt the wetness drip again to land on the face. Eyes snapped open and locked firmly with hers, and the butterflies that had materialized the first time that happened made a violent, final reappearance. This time, though, they were accompanied by leaping, colorful flames.
Her long, blonde hair was plastered across the ceiling, fanning out along the white background and contrasting with the fiery flames that leapt up to devour her. She heard, from a distance, a pain-filled yell but could not place the source.
She wanted to scream, but the scream only stuck in her throat and reverberated around her head (again) and the pain was increasing and she was burning for eternity (again) and shouldn't this have stopped now? Why hadn't it stopped? It wasn't supposed to happen anymore!
She was stuck in a haze of confusion and fear and pain, when she heard from the deep, dark recesses of her mind a voice. A cruel voice, full of malice and evil satisfaction.
Found you.
The whisper was accompanied by a screeching sound, and her conscious mind was separated from that other part, finally showing her the truth before everything faded to black.
END