Bobby woke me up the next morning by shaking my bed. "Up and at 'em, kid. We need to get on the road."

I rolled over with a groan and sat up, still oddly groggy. I felt the way I often felt when I was sick and Dean made me take NyQuil. I yawned hard enough that my jaw cracked and climbed out of bed. I glanced at Bobby, who was shoving clothes into a backpack, and remembered that I thought I'd seen him looking at me right before I fell asleep last night, but I wasn't sure. He wasn't acting like anything was up, and he'd've been all over me this morning if he'd noticed that I'd been drinking his whiskey, I thought. Maybe it had just been my imagination. I grabbed my backpack and headed into the bathroom to get dressed.

We were on the road fifteen minutes later. I bugged Bobby until he pulled into a fast food restaurant to get us breakfast. He was oddly quiet this morning, although I guess he didn't talk all that much normally. Nervous, I picked at my breakfast sandwich and ran last night through my head again. Now that I thought about it, he'd definitely seen me, because he'd been facing the wall when I got in bed and he'd been facing me when I'd looked at him. His eyes had been open and dark with shadow, unless those shadows had been over his lids…

I peeked at him. He was focused on the road and wasn't talking much. He'd skipped his morning joe. I couldn't take it any more. "Everything ok, Bobby?" I asked, trying to sound firm and calm.

He glanced down at me. "Yeah, kid. Why?"

"Um, well, you just… you didn't have your morning coffee and you're not talking all that much…" I trailed off, uncertain what to say.

He smiled at me. "Just anxious to deliver this car to Sam and Dean so I can get back home," he said.

"Ok," I said, still unsure, but it didn't seem like he was mad at me. He wasn't even grumbling at me as much as he normally did. I decided that I'd imagined the shadows and that my secret was safe. I pulled my PSP out of my backpack to while away the hours until we got to the hotel.

We'd been on the road for a couple of hours when Bobby's phone rang. It was Dean. Bobby talked to him for a little bit, had me write down the address of the hotel they were staying in, and then put Dean on speaker phone while Dean told us about this chick who'd shown up on their doorstep earlier this morning. Chuck had called her because he knew she was in the city that Sam and Dean were in. He'd had a vision and needed to get the message to the guys, but hadn't had any other way to contact them that couldn't be traced. So he'd called her. She'd shown up at the hotel they were in with great googly eyes for Sam and had told Dean that Dean was not what she'd pictured. Anyway, she'd delivered the message, that the Michael sword was on earth, the angels had lost it. It was in a castle on a hill made of 42 dogs. Dean wanted to know if Bobby knew anything about the Michael sword.

"Not much," Bobby said. "But I brought a bunch of books about angels. There's probably something in one of them."

"How far out are you?" Dean asked.

"Couple more hours and we should be there," Bobby said.

"Well step on it," Dean said. "If I was driving, I'd've been here by now."

"You ain't as old as me, boy," Bobby said. "You don't need your beauty sleep." He flipped the phone closed.

By the time we reached the city, I was practically dancing, and when Bobby pulled into an empty spot by the front door, before the car even came to a complete stop, I had the car door open and was bounding up into the building.

"Hey, kid," Bobby called after me. "Slow the hell down! You'll trip and knock yourself into next week." I rolled my eyes, but slowed down, a little. I raced through the hallways until I found the door with 35 on it. I pounded on it until Dean opened it.

"Dean!' I screeched. I threw myself into his arms and hugged him with all my might. He hugged me back hard and put me on my feet as Bobby came up behind me. I flung myself into Sam's arms next as Bobby and Dean exchanged a hug.

"Sam!" I exclaimed. "I'm so glad you're ok. I was so worried." I pulled back from him. "You are ok, right?" I asked, chewing my lower lip in worry. "Like, really ok?"

"Yeah," Sam said. "All cleaned up."

I let out a tight sigh and hugged him again. When I let go of him, Bobby hugged him next. I moved next to Dean, who put his arm around me and held me there. I felt like I was home. While the three of them talked about the Michael sword and went to get the bags and books out of the car so that they could see what the Michael sword looked like, I took my coat off and poked around the room. This one was a little weird. The room was split into two levels, the beds were on the lower level and a table and mini kitchen was on the upper one. The walls were covered in wallpaper with a confusing, almost psychedelic design in these horrible gold, green, and tan colors. The pattern looked like paired sets of squiggly brackets stacked on top of each other and echoing from the ceiling to the floor. The beds were covered with knobbly brown bedspreads. The room wasn't too clean either. I kinda didn't want to touch anything.

When they came back, they dumped a pile of old books on one of the beds. Bobby dug one of them out and carried it up to the table, flipping through it until he found the picture he wanted. I slipped into a chair to look while Dean paced around the table. Bobby said that Michael was the toughest of all the angels. He commands the heavenly host and was the one who kicked Lucifer out of heaven with the sword that he was wielding in the pictures. If we could find it, we could use it to defeat Lucifer again. Sam asked where we should start and Bobby said that we start reading and try to make sense of the message Chuck sent, only Bobby called it "Chuck's nonsense."

Sam got up and started towards the books on the bed while I pulled the book over to me to look at the pictures of Michael. I didn't notice anything weird was going on until Bobby said, "Kid? You all right?" I looked up. Sam was staring at the books on the bed, and he turned to face us. He looked like he was about to cry. He started telling Bobby that he wasn't ok, that this whole situation was his fault. Dean tried to interrupt him, his voice angry and impatient, but Sam wouldn't stop. Sam said that Lilith didn't break the final seal, that she was the final seal. My heart broke for him. I got out of my chair and went to him, hugging him around the waist. His arms closed around me as he said that he killed Lilith and set Lucifer free.

Bobby was furious. Sam said that they warned him about Ruby and the demon blood, but he didn't listen and that he brought this on. I buried my head in Sam's stomach, and his arms around me tightened. I heard Bobby's chair scrape back and his footsteps as he got closer. Bobby said that Sam was reckless, selfish, and arrogant. Sam's grip on me loosened and he said he was sorry, regret and sadness in his voice. Bobby came down the step, put his hands on my shoulders, and tugged. I reluctantly let go of Sam and stepped to the side. Bobby got right in Sam's face, looking up at him.

"Oh, yeah? You're sorry you started Armageddon?" Bobby asked, angrier than I'd ever heard him. "This kind of thing don't get forgiven, boy. If, by some miracle, we pull this off...I want you to lose my number. You understand me?"

"Bobby!" I objected with tears in my eyes, but Sam nodded resignedly and Dean didn't protest. "Bobby, no!" I said again, grabbing Bobby's arm, but he ignored me.

"Jessie," Dean said gruffly. I looked at him and he gestured for me to come to him up by the table. I hesitated, looking back at Sam, but Sam wouldn't meet my eyes.

Unhappily, I let go of Bobby's arm and went to Dean as Sam said, with tears in his eyes, "There's an old church nearby. Maybe I'll go read some of the lore books there."

"Yeah," Bobby said. "You do that."

"I can go with you," I offered, wanting to go with him and make him feel better. I understood a little of what he was going through.

"No," Dean said, his voice sharp. I looked up at him. He was so mad. Bobby was so mad. Sam looked like he was about to break into a million pieces. I fought against the tears in my own eyes and Sam left the room, his head down. Bobby looked back at us and Dean just glowered. The two of them went to the pile of books on the bed.

I stood in indecision for a couple of seconds. It made no sense. Bobby was always talking about forgiveness and family. I set my chin. I didn't care whether or not Sam had started the apocalypse. He was my family and I wasn't kicking him out. People make mistakes. Heaven knew I made them all the time! Decision made, I stepped down and headed towards the room's door, grabbing my coat on the way.

I had the door open before either of them noticed me. Dean snapped out, "Where do you think you're going?"

"With Sam," I shot back, my temper up. "I'm not letting him go off alone like that. You're all mean to make him!" Before he could answer, I shut the door and ran after Sam. I was down the hall before the door opened. I heard Dean call after me, but I ignored him. I knew I would pay for that later, but I couldn't abandon Sam. I pelted down the stairs and caught up to Sam on the sidewalk in front of the hotel.

Sam heard my feet on the pavement and turned before I got to him. He looked like he'd gotten himself under control a bit. I flung myself at him so hard that he stumbled, and I wrapped my arms around his waist. "Jessie, what are you doing here?"

"I'm coming with you," I said, twisting my head so I was looking up at him. "I'm going to help you research at the church. I don't care what Bobby said. I still love you and I forgive you."

Sam closed his eyes for a second, his face easing the smallest amount. When he opened his eyes again, he said, "Ok, but you better text Dean and tell him that you found me and I'm taking you with me to the church."

I let go of Sam and pulled the cell phone out of my pocket obediently. "Ok," I said, flipping it open and pressing buttons as we walked. "Wouldn't it be better if it came from you, though?" I asked.

Sam snorted. "I don't think either of them wants to hear from me right now," he said, dropping an arm around my shoulder and steering me as I typed.

We spent hours at the church and didn't leave until it closed. I helped Sam research where I could, but I had almost no grasp of Latin. Sam promised that he'd start teaching me and in the meantime let me go through the books that were in English. I'm not sure how much Sam was actually reading because half the time when I looked at him, he was lost in thought, his eyes glazed even as he stared at the tomes. I left him to his thoughts and hoped that his thoughts didn't torment him the way mine tormented me sometimes, but I guessed that probably everyone suffered from that.

When we finally left the church, it was dark out. I grabbed Sam's giant hand with my small one and smiled at him. He gave me a reassuring half-smile back, but it faltered into sadness after not too long. I didn't say anything. What could I say? We walked back to the hotel in silence, the heat from his hand keeping mine warm. I hoped that I made him feel at least a little better, a little less alone.

When we got to our hallway, we could hear the sounds of fighting from one of the rooms. Sam dropped my hand. "Stay here," he ordered and took off down the hallway at a full run. I obeyed, stepping back to put my back against the wall, watching as he sprinted down the hallway and shoved the door open.

"No," he hollered and then ran into the room. I heard the sound of an old telephone hitting something.

A woman's voice leaked into the hall, intertwined with the sounds of fighting. "Heya, Sammy. You miss me? 'Cause I sure missed you."

"Meg," Sam said derisively.

I couldn't see into the room from my vantage point and I wanted to go help more than anything, but these were demons and there wasn't a whole lot I could do but get myself hurt or killed. That had been drilled into me more times than I could count at this point, and Meg was a bad one. She was the one who used to work for Azazel and had kept tabs on Sam after he'd left Stanford to look for his dad with Dean. Despite how bad I wanted to help, I stayed put.

"It's not so easy without those super-special demon powers, huh, Sammy?" Meg asked, her voice almost buried beneath the sounds of fist and feet hitting flesh. The sounds of fighting started to die, and then Meg screamed.

"Jessie!" Sam hollered. I came running and got to the room in time to see Sam and Dean hoisting Bobby up between them to carry him out.

"What happened?" I asked in shock.

"Help us," Dean said. "We've got to get him to this hospital." I shut up and helped. I opened doors and pressed buttons and made the way easier. They put Bobby in the back seat of the car and I climbed into the back with him and pressed a towel over the wound, trying to keep him from losing too much blood.

"What happened, Dean?" I asked again when the car was moving.

"He was possessed by one of Meg's demons. I don't know when it happened. The demon tried to kill me and Bobby broke through at the last second and stabbed himself instead," Dean said.

"Oh, god," I whispered. I remembered how Bobby had been short with me the night before when he came back with the sodas, how he hadn't really acted like himself completely. It made sense. That was probably when he'd gotten possessed. So it had been the demon and not Bobby for all of those hours and I'd barely noticed. I swallowed hard and hoped we'd get him to the hospital on time.