Title: Jessica, Chapter VII. Part of the What If Series

Betas: The awesome Brittany and Merisha

Rating: General

Summary: Jessica didn't become a victim of YED

Characters: Jessica Moore, Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester

Warnings/Spoilers: Goes through to Season 3, eventually

Disclaimer: The characters belong to Master Kripke; I'm just playing with them for a bit!

Notes: Comments are Welcome!

Things are stressful between Jessica, Dean and Sam for a while after the confrontation between them, Gordon and the vampires. Dean is very quiet, and things are tense between Jessica and Sam as well. Sam is going through his own grief process, but he is worried about his big brother.

"Come on Sam, I'm begging you, this is stupid."

"Why?"

"Going to visit mom's grave. She doesn't even have a grave, there was no body left after the fire."

"It's not about a body, or a casket, it's about her memory, ok? And after dad it just feels like the right thing to do."

"It's irrational is what it is. Why don't we swing by the roadhouse instead? We haven't heard anything on the demon lately. We should be hunting that son of a bitch down."

"Sure, you go on, and I'll hitch a ride and meet you at Ellen's later on."

"I want to pay my respects as well," says Jessica from the back seat.

Sam smiles at Jessica through the mirror. She grins back. He doesn't know how he got so lucky when he met her. She truly is the best thing that has ever happened to him.

Dean looks at the smitten couple. He will never admit it to anyone, not even to himself in any real sense, but he sometimes wonders if that will ever be a reality for him: to have a loving, lasting relationship with a woman like Jessica.

"Fine," says Dean, giving in to the inevitable.

On the way, they pass a florist. Sam pops inside and buys some flowers.

"Dean, are you all right?" asks Jessica. Just like Sam, she's very worried about Dean. He has never been one to talk about his feelings, but this is not the time to be withdrawn and quiet. They all need one another.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he says, meekly smiling. She has seen that smile enough to know it's the one he uses when he is trying to stamp down his emotion, wanting to give the impression that all is well in the world of Dean Winchester when everyone else knows that is far from the truth.

"Dean, be honest, please. I know how much you're hurting. I just wish you would admit it. If you don't want to admit it to me or Sam, then that's fine, but at least admit it to yourself."

"Jessica, I appreciate that you're trying to help, but your psycho-babble is really not helping. I am trying to sort through my own issues, but I want to do that alone, all right!" he says adamantly, closing the subject there and then.

The three of them sit in silence for the short journey to the cemetery, no one knowing how to break the unease.

As they pull up outside the cemetery Sam and Jessica climb out and join hands. Jessica looks back to find Dean still sitting inside the Impala, just looking out at the gravestones.

She leans down to look through the passenger side window.

"Are you all right?" she asks.

"Let's get this over and done with," he says, climbing out.

The three of them dander around the cemetery, looking for the gravestone of Mary Winchester. Neither of the brothers have been there before, so they don't know where they are looking. Sam and Jessica split up and search row by row, keeping an eye on one another as they go. Dean holds back, still feeling strange about being there.

"I've found her," shouts Sam. The tears have started falling down his cheeks. He sits in front of the stone, and sets the bunch of flowers down on the soil.

"I think dad would like you to have this," he says, taking out John's army tags. He digs a little hole and buries the chain and tags. He looks up and reads the inscription on the headstone. It doesn't seem real to him. Reading his mother's name on a gravestone is just wrong, especially since she was so young when she lost her life. He envies Dean for his personal memories of her. He wishes he had his own memories.

Jessica comes up behind her boyfriend. She sits down beside him and rests her hand on his shoulder. Sam reaches up and sets his hand over hers, squeezing her hand gently. He's so thankful for her support.

Jessica turns her head, hoping to see Dean standing behind them, but he has moved to the opposite end of the row. He seems to be looking at some tree with feigned fascination. Deciding to give Sam some space she follows Dean. As she gets closer she watches him talking to a groundskeeper.

"Do you not want to spend some time with your mom?" she says as she moves toward him.

"Not right now! Does this seem strange to you?" he asks, turning around in a circle.

Jessica turns herself around, much in the way Dean had done. The grass is care, and it is in the form of a perfect circle.

"It's a circle!"

"And everything in it is dead."

"Maybe the groundskeeper went a little agro with the pesticide?" suggests Sam, who comes up behind his girlfriend, wrapping his arms around her and kisses her on the neck. She leans her head back and kisses him gently on the cheek.

She knows that Dean hates these public displays of affection, and she has tried to avoid upsetting him since John passed away. The brothers have both been through enough recently, but maybe going back to the Winchester version of a normal life will do everyone some good. And that includes being all lovey dovey with her boyfriend in front of Dean. Plus, the closeness between her and Sam is good for their relationship. With all the drama that has been happening in their lives recently, they need each other more than ever.

"No, I asked. No pesticide. No chemicals. Nobody can explain it."

"So what are you thinking?" asks Sam.

"I don't know, unholy ground maybe."

Sam looks at his brother with consternation.

"What?" asks Dean.

"It's just, stumbling on a hunt. Here of all places?"

"So?"

"So, are you sure this is about a hunt?"

"What else would it be about?"

"Forget it!"

Sam heads off to the car, not wanting to get into an argument.

"Think what you want Sam, but I let you drag my ass out here, the least we can do is check it out."

Sam stops at the Impala and looks back at his brother. He knows Dean will investigate this with or without him, and with the mental state he's in, he's capable of doing just about anything.

"So what do you know about the person who died," Jessica asks Dean.

"Her name was Angela Mason. Her dad works in town, he's a professor at the school."

"I'm Sam, this is Jessica and Dean. We wanted to offer our condolences."

Angela's father seems like a kind man, unfortunately in the midst of the worst kind of hell. Jessica's heart goes out to him. Losing a parent, or a sister, is awful enough, but the ultimate nightmare must be the loss of a child.

His office is littered with books, particularly on Ancient Greek. Dean isn't impressed though.

"A car accident, that's horrible. Losing someone like that, sometimes it's like they're still around. It's like you can still sense their presence. You ever feel anything like that?"

"Yeah, I do as a matter of fact."

"That's perfectly normal Mr Mason, especially with what you're going through," adds Sam, glaring at Dean.

Sam and Jessica both think that Dean is making up a case where there isn't one, trying to keep his mind occupied. Jessica wants to talk it over with Dean, to try to get him to open up more to her, but she's fearful that it might push him over the edge, and then they might not get him back.

They eventually discover that on the night of Angela's car crash, she had walked in on her boyfriend with another girl. Dean's usual fix all solution of burning the bones came to a quick end when they dug up her grave, to find it empty. Dean finds something lying flat behind the material on the side of the coffin. They look like Ancient Greek symbols, like the kind her father studies.

After a detour to the library they head right over to his office. Dean takes the lead, as usual.

"The symbols are used for communicating with the dead. Even bringing corpses back to life. Full on zombie action."

"Yes. Well, according to the legends. What is this about?"

"Look, I get it. There are people I would give anything to see again. But what gives you the right?"

"Dean!" shouts Sam.

"What are you talking about?"

"What's dead should stay dead!"

Jessica and Sam look at one another. Dean has always been a 'speak first, ask questions later' kinda guy, but he's taking that to a new extreme here. After making Dean realise that Mr Mason is innocent they drag him away, not wanting him to put his foot in it anymore than he already has.

As they leave the office Jessica watches the two brothers intently, hanging a few steps back. She knows that something is going to happen between them, that Sam is going to say something to Dean, and she wants to give them the peace and quiet to do it.

"You're on edge. You're erratic. Except when you're hunting, cause then you're downright scary. You're tail spinning, and you refuse to talk about it, and you won't let me help you!"

"I can take care of myself, thanks."

"No, you can't, and you're the only one who thinks you have to."

"I hear you, I'm being an ass, and I'm sorry, but right now we've got a zombie running around, and we have to figure out how to kill it." Dean looks at his brother warningly.

"Our lives are weird man," Sam replies.

"You're telling me!"

They head back to the hotel and read up on the folklore, desperate to put an end to this case.

Dean heads out to get them some food, allowing Sam and Jess some alone time.

"Do you think Dean will be all right?" asks Jessica.

"I hope so. He doesn't know what to do with himself, and he's really scaring me."

"Maybe this case is just a little too close for comfort," replies Jessica, verbalising something that has been running through her mind for some time.

"What do you mean?"

"Hun, come on. Angela was brought back to life by someone. Or something. Just like Dean was."

"This isn't the same thing Jess. The doctors brought Dean back."

"Do you really believe that?"

Sam's silence answers her question.

"So what do we do?" asks Sam.

"Dean needs our love and support, like never before. I know John was your father as well, but it is slightly different for him."

The case comes to a quick end when they trick Angela into meeting them at her gravesite. Using Sam as bait, they get her into her grave, and Dean impales her, sending her back to wherever she came from.

Jessica watches the brothers in awe. She has seen them battle demons, ghosts and spooks for months now, but she is always astounded at how well they do their job. For all John's foibles, he did train the boys well.

That said, they are always learning new things. Like in the case of Sam: he now knows to make sure he supports his arm properly when he falls into an open grave. Otherwise, he will see a replay of the past incident where he hurt his wrist, needing a trip to the hospital to get an x-ray and cast.

The three of them drive along in silence, no one knowing what to say. Jessica looks at Dean and can tell something is running through his head, and she doubts it's Angela Mason.

Suddenly, Dean pulls over to the side of the road and climbs out of the car. Sam looks behind him at Jessica.

"I'll wait here. He needs you," she says, smiling sadly at him.

"I'm sorry," says Dean, tears swelling in his eyes.

"For what?"

"For the way I've been acting. And for dad. He was your dad too. And it's my fault he's gone."

"We don't know that. Not for sure."

"I never should have come back Sam. It wasn't natural, and now look what's come of it. I was dead. And I should have stayed dead. You wanted to know how I was feeling, well that's it. So tell me, what could you possibly say to make that all right?"

Dean, Sam and Jessica all have tears in their eyes. She climbs out of the car and joins the two of them on the front bumper. She throws her arms around the two men. They both fall into her arms, hugging her tightly to them.