The Seeker Chapter Two

Dean's dreams were troubled. They had been ever since Sam had disappeared. They mostly revolved around moments in their lives that had actually happened but his sleeping mind twisted into something horrible. Memories where he had saved his little brother's life changed so that instead of saving Sam, Dean watched him die.

Tonight, Dean was watching his brother being attacked by a spirit. Despite knowing that Sam had not been killed by this spirit; Dean could do nothing but watch his brother being torn limb from limb by a ghost long since destroyed. He woke with a start; gasping for air, with sweat dripping down his face. He looked over at the other bed and saw that Jess was not in it. Looking around the room he saw her sitting at the table poring over his father's journal.

"What time is it?" He asked, sleepily.

"Around four in the morning," she replied without looking up.

"Have you had any sleep?" His voice was laced with concern. No matter how bad his dreams had been of late, Jess's had been twice as bad. She never slept more that a couple of hours before being woken up by the nightmares. Dean didn't know how he could help her though, as she refused to tell him what they were about.

"Yeah, I slept for a couple of hours but I woke up and thought I might as well do some reading."

"You know, one of these days you're going to have to tell me about these dreams of yours."

"I will when you do," she retorted.

"Fair enough," he said, climbing out of bed and sitting at the table opposite her. "It isn't healthy though," he continued, "you need to get some rest."

"I just want to be prepared," she quietly admitted.

"Jess, there's being prepared and there's hurting yourself. The way you're going, you're going to crash," he gently told her. "You've been training everyday, you spend all night reading the journal and I'm worried about you."

"I can't just sit around and do nothing. We've been looking for Sam for weeks and so far we've heard nothing. I can't just sit around and do nothing while my boyfriend is god knows where."

"And you won't be able to help him if you get hurt. If you don't rest then one day something's going to get you."

"You don't have to look out for me you know, I can look after myself."

"Yes I do," Dean told her. "If anything happens to you I'm pretty sure Sam will kill me. Come on," he said gently, "go back to bed and get a few hours sleep."

"But I don't want to have any more nightmares," Jess whimpered.

"I know, but you can't stay awake forever," Dean gently lifted Jess to her feet and led her back to her bed. She stopped resisting him and let him pull the covers over her. He gripped her hand in his and squeezed it for a moment before going back to his own bed. Jess finally gave in to her tiredness and let the wave of sleep wash over her.

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When she woke up she could hear Dean talking on the phone; speaking quietly so he did not disturb her.

"You're sure about this?" He asked the person on the other end. "When was this? Uh huh, two days ago. Yeah; we'll be there as soon as we can, thanks for the information."

"Who was that?" Jess asked when Dean hung up. He jumped slightly; he had no idea that she was awake.

"It was a lead," he told her, regaining his composure. "Someone saw a man fitting Sam's description in a town a couple of hours away. We should go and check it out."

"Well, let's get going then," Jess sprang out of bed, feeling more hopeful than she had in weeks. The search for Sam had gone cold immediately after he had disappeared and this was the first solid lead they had had since.

After dressing and quickly packing up their belongings they were on the road. Jess curled up in the seat and tried her best to drown out the music Dean was listening to. The optimism of earlier had quickly faded and now she was left with an uneasy feeling in her stomach.

"Are you okay?" He asked as he glanced over to her.

"Yeah, just got a headache," she murmured. Dean took the hint and turned the music off.

"Is that better?"

"Yeah. Dean, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, ask away."

"What do we do if we get there and it wasn't Sam that those people saw?"

"Then we keep on looking. He has to be out there somewhere," he tried to reassure her. "What happened? You were feeling so optimistic before."

"It's just, we haven't heard anything in weeks and every time we go somewhere new I start getting my hopes up and he'll be there," she explained. "But he never is and I always end up disappointed. I just can't help feeling that we'll never find him."

"We will find him," he promised.

"But what if we don't? And don't give me any crap saying we will, tell me the truth."

"The truth is I don't know," he answered honestly. "At this point in time I'm just living in the vain hope that it will be him."

"I wish I could do that too," Jess admitted briefly before changing the subject. "So, how far are we away now?"

"We're almost there, shouldn't be too much longer," Dean pressed the accelerator harder and they sped off to their destination.

The town they arrived at was depressing to say the least. The weather didn't help any; being grey and miserable, with rain drizzling making everything seem darker than it should. The first thing Dean did was find a motel for them to stay at. He wanted to get moving and ask around about Sam as quickly as he possibly could.

Jess decided to stay in the room rather than go with Dean to ask around. Dean couldn't help but be worried about her, she seemed so depressed and dejected but he didn't have any idea about how to make her feel better. Walking into the only bar in the town, Dean immediately made his way over to the pretty blonde waitress.

"Hi," he greeted her.

"Hello there, what can I get you," she said flirting slightly.

"I just want some information," he got straight to the point. "I was wondering if you had seen this guy around in the last couple of days," he said hopefully as he handed her a recent photo of Sam.

"Why are you looking for him?" She enquired.

"He's my brother. He disappeared several weeks ago and I'm worried about him. Please, can you tell me if you've seen him?"

"Sure I've seen him," she told Dean who immediately brightened.

"When?"

"He was here last week, just left a day or so ago. I only saw him a couple of times but you should ask the pretty blonde thing he spent most of his time with; she's still here."

"Where can I find her?"

"She's staying at the motel. Her name's Meg or something like that. Talk to her, she might know where he went to."

"Thank you so much," Dean thanked and rushed off to tell Jess.

Jess looked up from John's journal when Dean burst through the door.

"Guess what," he said by way of a greeting.

"Hello to you to," she said back; voice filled with sarcasm. "What?" She played along with him.

"Sam was here."

"You're sure?"

"Yep, asked the waitress at a bar, showed her a picture. She said he was here a week ago and only left about a day ago."

"Did she say anything else?" Jess asked hopefully.

"That we should ask a girl who's staying here because they spent a lot of time together."

"Oh," she deflated.

"Oh?" Dean didn't quite get it.

"He spent a lot of time with her," she said sadly. Then Dean clicked as to what she was getting at.

"Jess," he said gently as he moved to sit next to her. "I'm sure that's not what she meant."

"Yeah it's exactly what she meant."

"Let's go ask this girl first, it might turn out to be something completely innocent."

"Thanks for trying to put my mind at rest, but we both know it's probably true."

"Well, let's go talk to her anyway," he said as he stood up and pulled Jess to her feet. "I got her room number from the woman at the desk."

"How did you manage that?"

"How do you think?" Dean said raising his eyebrows. Jess laughed.

"Dean Winchester, you are one hell of a flirt, you know that?"

"Of course I do," he replied laughing as they made their way to Meg's room.

Dean knocked several times on the door before she answered. She opened the door wearing only a small towel and an annoyed look on her face.

"What?" She demanded. "Can't you see I'm busy?"

"Uh, hi," Dean greeted. "We were just wondering if we could talk to you about my brother, Sam. The waitress at the bar said you spent some time with him," Meg immediately brightened at the sound of Sam's name.

"Just give me a minute to get dressed," she said before closing the door. She reopened it a few minutes later fully clothed. "Come on in, I'm Meg."

"I'm Dean," he introduced himself, "and this is Jess."

"What do you want to know?"

"Anything," Dean admitted. "How did you meet him?"

"We were both staying here. I was passing through on my way to California and he convinced me to stay a little while."

"How was he?" Dean asked, the anxiety growing in his voice."

"He was fine. A little distracted but I soon put that right."

"What do you mean?" Jess asked in a small voice; it was the first time she had spoken since they had entered the room.

"What do you think I mean?" Meg retorted treating Jess like she was simple. "If you want it in plain English, we had lots and lots of sex."

"I don't believe you," Jess angrily told her.

"Well, it's the truth. I can't help it if your boyfriend can't stay faithful," she sneered. Jess approached Meg and gave her a slap on the face before storming out of the room.

"That wasn't a nice thing to say," Dean warned.

"I can't help it if it's the truth," she told him with a hurt tone in her voice.

"Where's Sam now?"

"I don't know. He left a day or so ago. He said he would be back but I don't think he will be."

"Okay," Dean uttered as he made his way to the door, "Thanks."

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Dean found Jess sat on her bed sobbing he heart out. He quietly closed the door and sat down next to her, not really sure how he could comfort her. She leaned into him and he put his arms around her while she cried into his chest. It took a while before Jess calmed down enough to speak.

"I hate him," she gasped through sobs.

"No you don't, you don't even know if she was telling the truth," Dean tried to reassure her.

"She was I just know she was."

"She could have been lying to get to you."

"You think?"

"Yeah, it could happen."

"Thanks for trying to make me feel better but I don't believe you. We both know it's true so just stop pretending; I don't have the energy."

"Ok," Dean held her for several more minutes before asking, "What do you want to do now?"

"What do you mean?" She asked as she looked him directly in the eyes.

"Should I take you back to Stanford?"

"No," she replied after a moments thought. "I still want to find Sam. I want to hear his side of things and if she was telling me the truth then I have the overwhelming urge to punch him in the face." Dean gave her a smile.

"Okay, we'll keep looking."

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Meg walked into the bar and found the pretty blonde waitress clearing up for the night.

"You know," she said; startling the poor woman. "You should have kept your mouth shut. It might have saved you."

"What do you mean?" The woman asked, fear filling her voice.

"Pointing the Winchester in my direction. You shouldn't have done it." The waitress looked into Meg's eyes but saw nothing but black. She tried to run but Meg easily overpowered her and slit her throat. She let the blood pour into a cup before stirring it with her finger and speaking to something.

"Yes, they have no idea. They think he's long gone. No they won't find him I promise. I'll keep him away. He'll be ready when the time comes."