„It started eight years ago." Elizabeth began her tale in a quiet voice. "It was a moonless night and Noah, my husband, was out with his friends, gambling and drinking. They met every Saturday for their weekly poker night. Noah had always been a very careful driver, even when he had been drinking." Her hands shivered slightly and she looked pleadingly at Sam and Dean, willing them to believe her. "My husband wasn't a bad man. But that night … I don't know how or why … maybe he had been drinking more than usual or it was just him getting too old … He lost control over his car. Just for a second but … that was all it took." She said, regret and pain audible in her voice. "He drove his car on the other lane and by that … he pushed this young woman's car off the street. She crashed down the slope and … He stopped. I swear he did. He went down to check on her and he thought she was already dead. He didn't know … he didn't know …" Her voice trailed off and Sam and Dean knew exactly what she was unable to say. Her husband hadn't known the young woman had still been alive.

"He panicked … and left the scene. When he came home, I immediately knew something was wrong. He wouldn't talk about it at first and he was clearly in shock. I saw the damage on the car, but I … I never thought that … or maybe I just didn't want to believe that he was capable of just leaving this poor woman, all alone and …" Again her voice broke and she looked helplessly at the brothers. "The next day, I heard what happened … I wanted to get Noah to report himself to the police. If he explained to them what had happened … but when I went out to talk to him, he was already dead. He was lying on the ground, in the garden behind our house. His face … oh god …" A pained sob escaped her lips and she rubbed her hands over her face when the memory of what she had seen that day threatened to overwhelm her.

"We can take a break, Mrs. Beauchamp. Maybe we should continue this conversation tomorrow." Sam said quietly, worried the older woman would break down in front of them.

Dean sat helplessly next to her. He wasn't quite sure what to do so he settled with gently patting her arm a few times to calm her, feeling utterly uncomfortable sitting so close to her at the moment. He was grateful Sam was doing the talking because really, he wasn't good at this whole giving comfort thing.

"No, I don't need a break. I have kept silent about this for too long already." Elizabeth said determinedly. She took a deep breath and straightened her back. She managed to regain her composure and suddenly all signs of despair were gone and she looked like the strong, unshakable and slightly intimidating woman again that Sam and Dean had met in the hospital. "His face was a grimace of horror and fear. Whatever killed him, it wasn't a stroke. He was scared to death."

"Scared of what?" Sam asked quietly and again Dean envied him for his calm, soothing voice.

"Lilly Pendegrast's ghost."

"She's the woman from the accident?" Dean asked, feeling better now that they were on familiar ground again.

"Yes." Elizabeth replied and she looked only slightly surprised that neither Sam nor Dean weren't questioning her sanity for talking about ghosts. "I saw her standing only a few feet away, watching us. 'I will get to you all', she said, and there wasn't a trace of human left in her voice. I don't know why she didn't kill me then and there … but I made sure she wouldn't get a chance to later."

"The circle around your house." Dean stated.

"Yes. And this." She pointed at a small amulet around her neck. "It's protection against evil spirits. But I knew that wouldn't be enough to protect every member of my family, so I made sure that they didn't come here again. And they never did … until Jade arrived a few days ago." Her shoulders sagged down when she remembered her injured granddaughter lying in hospital. "I told her to go away but it was already late and I didn't want her to leave at night. She would have been safe in the house – the circle is keeping all evil out."

"Except when you call it." Sam added.

"Yes. It's just my luck that my granddaughter comes here to call the very ghost that is trying to kill my family." Elizabeth sighed.

Sam cast a short glance at Jade's direction, half expecting her to call out that she couldn't very well have known this would happen. The Jade he knew wouldn't sit quietly when being accused like this, but right now she was simply too shocked by her grandmother's tale to say anything. She just stared at the other woman with wide eyes. Her face had lost all color – if that was even possible for a ghost.

"Well, she didn't mean to. She was just trying to reach her sister." Sam said, feeling somehow obliged to defend Jade when she wouldn't. He was getting surprised looks by all three in return.

"She told you about it?" Elizabeth asked astounded and Dean rolled his eyes at his brother because either they would have to tell another lie now – and so far Elizabeth Beauchamp had somehow always caught them lying – or they would have to tell her the truth … and even though she seemed to know a bit about the supernatural, he wasn't sure she was quite ready for finding out that her granddaughter was currently running around as a ghost.

And Jade couldn't believe that Sam had just stood up for her. That's not something they did ... usually they used every chance they could get to let the other one look bad … never in a mean way, but it had always been a lot of fun. And they would have never thought of defending the other. But maybe this was just another thing Jess' death had changed.

"Well, uhm …" Sam started to respond to Elizabeth's question, not really sure what to say.

Elizabeth looked at him with a raised eyebrow and sharp eyes that seemed to see right through to his soul. Even if Sam had wanted to, there was no way he could have lied to her when she was looking at him like that.

So he just blurred the words out without really thinking about them. "Jade's spirit kinda left her body and she is a ghost now. But I'm sure that's only temporarily and she will wake up soon."

Elizabeth stared at him for a long moment … as did Jade and Dean.

"Jesus, Sam, could you have told her in any less direct way?" Both Jade and Dean more or less hissed at the same time.

Sam squirmed uncomfortably on his chair, ignoring Jade and his brother and looking apologizing at Elizabeth.

"A ghost?" She finally pressed out and then her eyes widened and wandered around the room. "Is she here?"

"She is standing right there." Sam pointed at a seemingly empty spot next to him where Jade stood, looking hopefully at her grandmother.

But Elizabeth couldn't see her and she kept looking right through her. "Is she all right?" She asked quietly after a moment.

"A bit shaken, but other than that she's fine." Sam assured her with a reassuring smile.

Elizabeth nodded slowly and than fixed her eyes at the empty wall next to Sam. "I'm sorry, honey. I didn't want any of this to happen. I … I thought it would be enough to keep you all away from me."

"She understands." Sam said quietly. Even though Jade hadn't said anything, he could see it in her eyes. There was not a trace of anger or disappointment left.

"Well, okay, now that that's cleared, we can get back to business, right?" Dean cut in, having had enough emotional outbreak for the night. "We know the ghost's name and tomorrow I'll go find her grave. I go back at night, do a little salt and burn … case closed."

"Salt and burn?" Elizabeth and Jade asked simultaneously.

Dean sighed slightly exasperated and Sam started to explain the process of "killing" ghosts.

"You're hunters, aren't you? I thought you might be." Elizabeth said quietly when Sam had finished.

"What?" Jade asked confused.

Sam and Dean looked at each other in surprise and discomfort.

"And what would you know about hunters?" Dean asked suspicious.

"My uncle was one. He was the one who told me about protection against evil spirits. He never taught me anything about hunting though … at the time the idea of a woman hunting wasn't very popular. I imagine that has changed by now." Elizabeth replied smiling.

"Why are you talking about hunting now?" Jade asked, feeling utterly confused. They had lost her somewhere between burning human remains and hunting … there didn't seem to be a connection.

Sam cleared his throat and chose to ignore her. Explaining to her what they were hunting wasn't really something he looked forward to … he preferred that she continued to think they were talking about hunting normal deer.

"Why did you never call him after this ghost showed up?" He asked instead.

"Oh, he died a long time ago. Bear attack ... at least that's what the official report said. I always imagined it might have been a werewolf or some other evil beast."

"I'm sorry." Sam cleared his throat and did his best to not look at Jade ... who stared at her grandmother with wide, shocked eyes.

"Well, I think we should call it a night." Dean finally said, having noticed how Sam seemed to pale more and more with each passing minute. This conversation was wearing him out and it was time for him to get back to bed and rest. After all there was a reason he hadn't been officially released from the hospital yet. "You ready, Sammy?"

"Yeah." Sam sighed. The prospect of getting up the stairs again wasn't something he looked forward to. But his ribs and injured leg had started hurting real bad a while ago and lying down did sound like a good idea. He only wished his bedroom would be on the first floor. "Let's go."

They said good night to Elizabeth and Dean helped Sam back up the stairs. After a long and painful ascent they finally stood in the corridor leading to their two bedrooms.

"So ..."

"Yeah ..."

"You're gonna be alright?" Dean asked, looking uncomfortably at the two bedroom doors.

"Yeah, I'm good." Sam nodded.

They stayed standing awkwardly in the corridor, both trying to think of something to say.

"Okay, uhm, I'm gonna ..." Sam started and gestured at his bedroom door.

"Yeah, me too." Dean nodded.

When Jade passed by them a few moments later, they were still standing in the corridor, neither of them willing to be the first to part for the night.

"Oh, grow up." She snapped and vanished through the next wall.

Glaring after her, Sam cleared his throat and turned back to Dean. "Well, have a good night then."

"Yeah, you too."

Dean watched Sam disappearing to his room and a queasy feeling spread through his gut. He wasn't used to not sleeping with Sam in the same room. Of course he had done exactly that for the past four years, but Sam had been miles away then, in Stanford, and somehow that had been completely different. Now his little brother was sleeping in the next room, hurting all over, recovering from an accident that could have easily killed him, haunted by nightmares practically every night ... and Dean wasn't there to look after him. It was killing him, but he couldn't very well admit that he needed to sleep in the same room as his little brother. He was 26 years old after all.

Taking a deep breath, Dean turned to his own room and determinedly closed the door behind him. It would just be for a couple of nights. He would kill this freaking ghost tomorrow night and after that he would take Sammy and get back on the road.

Two nights weren't that bad. He could handle that.

He sat down on the bed and tested it's comfort. It was softer than the motel beds he was used to. He let himself fall on his back and closed his eyes. Definitely a lot more comfortable than motel beds, he thought smiling. But then his thoughts went back to Sam and the fact that if they were in a motel right now, Sam would be lying in the bed right next to his. Where he could watch out for him, make sure he was all right. Sighing Dean sat up again and began nervously tapping his fingers on the blanket. He hated this.

He suddenly remembered that he hadn't given Sam any more painkillers after dinner. Relieved to have found a reason to look after his little brother one more time before going to bed, he jumped up and moments later found himself in the other room.

"Dean." Startled Sam looked up from where he was sitting on the bed ... the bottle with painkillers in his hand. Of course he had managed to get the pills by himself. Dean suddenly felt pretty stupid and stood awkwardly in front of his brother.

"Hey, uhm ... oh, good, you found the pills, I wasn't sure if you ... uhm ..."

"Dean, I'm fine. Relax, okay? Just go back to bed." Sam said smiling. Inwardly, he was glad Dean was back ... he just wished he could stay. He had gotten used again to sleeping with his big brother in the same room pretty quickly. In fact, that had been one of the things he had missed most those first few weeks in Stanford. Of course he'd never admit that. He was too old to be needing his big brother to watch out for him when he was sleeping.

"Yeah, all right. Uhm, you call if you need anything, okay?"

"Sure."

"Okay, good night then."

With that Dean stepped out of the room again and Sam was left alone ... well, as alone as you can be with a ghost.

"You two are unbelievable." Jade shook her head as soon as the door had closed behind Dean.

"What?" Sam asked, feeling slightly embarrassed. "He was just making sure I knew where the pills were."

"Sure." She snorted. Inwardly she had to admit that she was touched by the close brotherly behavior Sam and Dean were showing. The way the two were looking out for each other - Sam as much as Dean, even though he didn't have much chance to show it yet, but she just knew he would take as much care of his big brother - she wished she had someone like that. She and Jess had always been close ... but it seemed so much more intense with Sam and Dean – as if they needed the other as much as the air to breath.

"Could you maybe turn around? I'm trying to get changed here." Sam said, gesturing at the pile of clothes lying next to him on the bed. "And this time don't turn back until I tell you to."

Jade bit her tongue on a sharp reply and turned around ... after all she had run into him the last time he had changed into fresh clothes. And the memory still left her quite breathless ... she really didn't want a repeat of that – it had been way too embarrassing on her part.

Sam changed more or less quickly, wincing in pain every now and then ... it took him several minutes to get into his new clothes, but he managed it a lot faster than earlier the day in hospital so he took that as a sign of improvement. When he was done, he let himself fall back on the bed, suppressing a groan when he put too much pressure on his broken ribs. He shifted into a more comfortable position and let out a relieved sigh.

"You can turn around now." He mumbled, his eyes already closed. The painkillers were starting to show effect and he was starting to feel drowsy.

Jade watched him for several minutes until she was sure he was asleep. Then she walked quietly to his bed and sat down next to him on the floor. "I'm sorry." She whispered.

"What for?"

Startled Jade looked up. "I thought you were already asleep."

"I don't sleep easily these days." Sam mumbled, his eyes still closed. "So what are you sorry for?"

"The accident. I nearly got you killed." Jade said regretfully.

Sam sighed. "I thought we had already agreed that that hadn't been your fault?"

"Yeah, but ..." She shrugged. "If I hadn't given you a ride, you wouldn't have been in the car. And if I hadn't called that ghost, then maybe ..."

"Stop." Sam opened his eyes and pulled himself into a sitting position, ignoring his protesting ribs. "I've played this 'if-game' too many times to count. It gets you nowhere. If you hadn't given me the ride, I might have frozen to death while walking back to the motel."

"It wasn't really that cold." Jade pointed out.

"Cold enough, if you ask me. And whether you had called the ghost or not ... it probably would have attacked you on that road anyway. It's after your family and it must have known you were here even before you used the Quija board. That's probably why it appeared in the first place. You showed it a way in and it couldn't resist. If your grandmother hadn't come in, it probably would have killed you in that very room. But you using the Quija board had nothing to do with the accident."

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you." She whispered, not willing to be let off the hook so easily.

"Jade ..."

"No, Sam, when I saw you in the burning car and I couldn't get to you, it felt as if my soul got ripped out. I thought I would have to watch you die. I tried so hard to help you, but I couldn't even move. And then everything went black and when I woke up and finally could move again ... I still couldn't help you. You asked me to help you and I could do nothing but stand there and watch you die. And you looked at me like I had just betrayed you." She sniffed and quickly wiped a tear away that had escaped her eye. "Damn, I thought ghosts couldn't cry." She muttered.

Sam let out a small laugh. "As if being a ghost would stop you from doing anything." Then he looked at her earnestly. "Jade, I didn't die. And you didn't betray me. You might not have been able to pull me out of that car, but ... I wasn't alone. You were right there at my side and that helped more than you can imagine."

"You don't even remember the accident, Sam, so how would you know it helped?"

"Because I hate being alone. That's one of the things I'm most afraid of." Sam admitted, surprised at himself that he had revealed one of his biggest fears. "And with you there ... I wasn't."

They stayed silent for a while and Sam lay back down, rolling onto his side to take some pressure off his hurting ribs and still facing Jade. He thought the conversation with her was over and prepared himself to fall asleep ... something he grew more and more anxious about with every passing day. There hadn't been one night since Jessica's death that he didn't wake up from having a nightmare ... mostly about her, but also about all the other evil things he and his brother had encountered since that day.

Sleeping wasn't really something he looked forward to and when Jade started talking again, he was slightly relieved ... even though the topic also was something he'd rather avoided.

"Were you ever planning on coming back to her?" Jade asked quietly while looking intently at Sam. She didn't need to verify who she was talking about.

"I did come back." Sam whispered and asked himself if this wasn't even worth than having nightmares.

"When?" She sounded astounded. During the last few weeks she had made up her mind about Sam Winchester. He had left her sister in the middle of the night, never to return again. She had hated him for that. Or so she had tried at least. But then she had met him again a few days ago and he had looked at her with those big, sad eyes of his and there had been nothing about him she could hate anymore. Whatever he had done, whatever had been his reason for leaving, she was willing to believe that he might have had a good reason. And now he was telling her he actually had come back?

"The night of the fire." Sam cleared his throat and swallowed down the lump in his throat. He rolled over on his back, facing the ceiling. He had never talked about this night, not even with Dean. It had just been ... too painful. And he wasn't sure he could talk about it now.

"What? When? Your name wasn't in the police report ..."

"I never talked to the police." Sam kept his eyes fixed on the ceiling, not able to look into Jade's eyes.

"When ... when exactly did you come back? Did you see anything?" She shook her head to get a clear mind. Sam had returned to Jess ...

"Just before … I came back just before the fire ... but I was already too late." Sam choked. He could feel the tears brimming in his eyes. God, it hurt so much talking about it, remembering it all.

"Then you saw what happened?" Jade had sat up by now and kneeled next to the bed, her eyes fixed on Sam. She didn't want to miss a single word he was saying ... and she needed to see his eyes because she knew Sam long enough to know that he was always saying so much more with his eyes.

Sam shivered and looked at her pleadingly. "You don't really want to know this, Jade."

"Sam." Jade shook her head vehemently and wished she could grasp his hand to make him understand how important this was for her. But she couldn't and all she had was her words. "If this was Dean we were talking about, wouldn't you want to know everything? Jess was my sister." She added and looked as pleading at Sam as he had a moment before.

Sam closed his eyes and swallowed. How could he tell her the truth? Despite the fact that it involved a demon, something he didn't think Jade had ever considered believing in, let alone think about … the circumstances involving Jess' death were so cruel and horrifying, it would crush her. It killed him just thinking about it and he didn't want her to remember her sister like this.

But how could he not tell her? She was right … if they'd be talking about Dean, he would want to know everything, no matter how cruel the details.

"Jess died the same way as my mother." He finally pressed out and hoped she would leave it with that.

But of course she didn't … she had no idea how his mother had died.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Jade looked at him impatiently, willing him to finally tell her what she had longed to know for so long.

Sam sighed and fixes his eyes at the ceiling again … replaying in his mind the horrible night when he had lost the woman he loved and the events that happened 22 years ago that he had been told so many times.

"How did your mother die, Sam?" Jade urged when he didn't say anything.

Sam took a deep breath, his eyes still fixed on the ceiling, and began talking in a whispered, shaking voice. "I was just six months old. My Dad was downstairs, watching TV. He had fallen asleep … then he heard my Mom screaming. He ran into my nursery, but couldn't see her. I think … I think he believed he had only imagined the screams then or that they had only been coming from the TV maybe. Then … he saw blood trickling on me, on the blanket, his hand and … He looked up, at the ceiling and … ." Sam was breathing heavily when the images in his mind changed from his father's tale to his own memories. "… She was … she was pinned at the ceiling and her stomach was slashed. There was so much blood and her eyes …. she looked right at me. She was so scared and terrified. I wanted to help her but before I could do anything the flames erupted around her and she screamed … she called for me and screamed and there was nothing I could do." He started trembling and held onto the blanket tightly, his hands pulled into fists. "Then Dean was there and pulled me out of the room. The next thing I remember is that I'm leaning against a car … his car I think and I can see the flames coming out of our apartment. And I couldn't hear her anymore."

He stopped talking and kept staring at the ceiling. He didn't want to look at Jade. He was afraid of what he might see in her eyes. Horror … because she believed him … or the realization that he had gone completely crazy? He wasn't sure what he would prefer. Maybe it would be easier if she didn't believe him. Then he could pretend that it had all just been a horrible nightmare for as long as he was with her. That it wasn't true and that he could drive back with her to Stanford and get on with his life. No more hunting … no demon … no more nightmares. If he could believe all that for just a few moments … maybe he could get the image of Jess dying out of his mind for a short while.

He finally forced himself to look at Jade and he saw a mix of emotions on her face … she obviously hadn't decided yet if she should believe him or not. And with a heavy heart Sam realized that no matter what she believed it wouldn't change anything for him.

He would never forget.

Jade stared at Sam, not knowing what to make out of his words. …pinned at the ceiling? What the hell was that supposed to mean? How could she have ended up being pinned at the ceiling? Sam's change from talking about his mother to what he had witnessed himself the night of Jess's death hadn't gone unnoticed by her. Yet she refused to believe that her sister had died that way. Dying in a fire was cruel enough … but that?

Her stomach was slashed.

A shiver ran down her spine as his words went through her mind.

"So it wasn't an accident?" She choked out, looking at Sam with wide, pleading eyes.

"No, it wasn't." He whispered and then a tear escaped his eye. "I'm sorry."

Startled Jade watched the single tear roll down Sam's cheek. "What … it … it wasn't your fault." She told him and realized that she really believed it. She believed his tale of what happened and she believed that there was nothing he could have done.

"Yes, it is." Sam swallowed. "Don't you see it? I'm the only connection … the only thing Mom and Jess had in common."

Jade shook her head, feeling the tears well up in her eyes as well as she listened to the despair in Sam's voice. "Sam …"

"If I had never met Jess, if I had stayed away from her, she would still be alive." Sam choked.

The utter devastation in his voice and his eyes broke her heart and even though she was hurting as much as he did, she wished she could give him any kind of comfort. Anything to make him feel better, to stop him from hurting. But she couldn't even take his hand, let alone pull him into the embrace she so desperately wanted to give him right now … for him as well as for herself. Never before she had felt the need to be close to someone as much as at this moment.

"You don't know that, Sam. Just because …"

"It would have never noticed her, Jade. If it hadn't been for me than … and I wasn't even there to protect her."

"You didn't know, Sam. How could you have possibly known something like this would happen?"

Sam opened his mouth to reply, but stopped himself before the words could leave his mouth. When he looked at Jade, there was so much guilt in his eyes, it took her breath.

"You couldn't have known … right?" She whispered.

"I dreamed of it." Sam replied, his voice almost inaudible. "I dreamed of it for days … but I just thought … I thought it were just that … dreams. I didn't know … I swear, if I had known I wouldn't have left her, never. I would have protected her …" His voice broke and he was unable to go on. Several more tears were rolling down his face and he quickly wiped them away. He didn't want to cry anymore … he was sick of feeling like this … he just wanted it all to be over. He wanted her back.

Jade took some deep breaths. She was now visibly shaking as well. All of this had to be some kind of nightmare. She had to be dreaming .. she was lying in a coma. So this had to be her subconscious playing tricks on her. It wasn't true … none of it.

But when she looked at Sam, she knew there was no way her subconscious could imagine something like this. And then something else Sam had said came back into her mind.

"What do you mean, it would have never noticed her?"

Sam closed his eyes for a moment. Somehow he had wished that his words had gone unnoticed by her. But Jade never missed anything. He opened his eyes again and looked at her. He wanted her to see in his eyes that he was telling the truth, that no matter how crazy it sounded he wasn't lying.

"A demon … 22 years ago it killed my mother and 3 months ago it killed Jess. And I'm the only connection." He added in a whispered voice.

"What?" Jade looked at him as if he had lost his mind … then she remembered the last few days and that she in fact was a ghost right now and she felt as if she would pass out any second. "A … a demon? Sam …"

"You can believe it or not, Jade. That's what happened. Though it would probably be better for you to stick with the fire story … believe me, it's easier." Sam told her quietly. He hated that he had told her all that. He had never wanted to pull her into all this … but if she believed him now, she would involuntarily lose some of her innocence. She wouldn't be able to look out at the dark and not think of all the evil that might hide in it.

Jade swallowed and looked intently at Sam. She was trying to figure out if he was really telling the truth. She was looking for any sign in his eyes, his face that he was lying to her.

He wasn't.

And the realization that he was believing in what he was saying, that it might actually be true, felt like a kick to her stomach.

"I … I need to think about this."

Sam nodded slowly. He turned his head and looked back up at the ceiling. A moment later he closed his eyes. This conversation along with everything else today had worn him out. He knew he wouldn't be able to stay awake much longer no matter how hard he might try to fight the sleep off. He blinked a few times and was relieved when he found Jade still sitting next to him on the floor. Somehow falling asleep didn't seem so terrify-ing with her close.

Not that he didn't think that the nightmares would not come back … after a conversation like this there was no way he would sleep through the night without dreaming of Jessica. But he was used to that … and with Jade next to him the dreams might even come a little bit later than usual.

Jade watched Sam's eyes falling shut and his breathing even out. A few moments later the pain that seemed to have been ingrained in his face was gone and he looked peaceful in his sleep. Jade felt some of the tension leave her body as she sat next to Sam, listening to his steady breathing. It had a calming effect on her ... even in his sleep Sam was able to give her comfort, she thought smiling.

Then her thoughts went back to their conversation. It hadn't really been very comforting, despite the fact that she had finally found out what had happened to her sister. Or better, what Sam thought had happened to her. She still had a hard time believing what she had heard. A demon had killed her sister? Because of Sam? Why? What could possibly be the reason?

And god, was she really considering the idea of a real existing demon to be true?

She had just gotten used to the idea that ghosts truly existed … and that had been hard to grasp, even though she had seen one with her own eyes and had turned into one herself … at least for the time being.

So ghosts and demons … what else? Did vampires exist too? Or werewolves? What about fairies or elves? Gnomes? She was resolved to ask Sam about those as soon as he woke up.

She leaned back against the wall – and didn't even try to think about how it was possible that she could lean against the wall and walk through one at the same time … that was something she had tried to solve watching ghost movies several times and she never had come up with a reasonable solution. One would think that being a ghost yourself might help with that … but no. She was still as clueless about that fact as before.

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes … only to have them flown open again the next second when in her mind she saw her sister hanging from the ceiling, bleeding, screaming and then going up in flames.

Maybe Sam had been right … this was not how she wanted to remember Jess. And it was a lot more painful than to imagine her dying in a simple fire.

She shook her head to get a clear mind, but she couldn't stop her thoughts from going in circles. A demon had killed her sister. Sam had witnessed it. He blamed himself for her death. A demon had killed her sister.

She rubbed her hands through her hair in despair and looked back at Sam … who didn't look as peaceful as before anymore. His face was grimaced in pain and his head tossed from one side to the other. Her eyes fell on the clock on the nightstand … it was already after midnight. She had completely lost track of time. She had been sitting here for hours thinking about her sister's death and she hadn't even noticed.

A whimper from Sam brought her attention back to him. He was clearly having a nightmare … and if his face was anything to go by, it was a bad one. She leaned over him, her one hand hovering over his, her other gently tracing over his cheek without ever touching it.

"It's okay, Sam. It's just a dream. It's just a dream." She kept repeating in a soothing voice.

But he kept tossing from side to side and she was starting to worry what these movements were doing to his ribs.

Suddenly the door to the room opened and she saw Dean stepping quietly in. She quickly moved away from the bed, sensing that he would probably want to check on his brother … and she didn't want him to walk right through her. She was surprised how hard it was for her to step away from Sam. Being so close to him still had a calming effect on her … she was still close to a panic just thinking about this whole demon thing, but it didn't seem to be as bad when she had Sam at her side.

"Sammy, you're safe. You're just dreaming, little brother."

Dean's quiet, soothing words pulled her out of her thoughts. He was sitting on the bedside, talking quietly to his brother, his one hand squeezing Sam's, the other holding him on his chest to calm him.

"It's just a bad dream, Sammy. Everything's fine. You're safe and I'm right here with you."

With awe she watched how Sam stopped tossing and visibly calmed down. A moment later his eyes fluttered open.

"Dean?" He asked in a sleep filled voice.

"Right here, kiddo. You had a nightmare." Dean said with a warm smile on his lips to prove that now everything was all right.

Sam swallowed and kept looking at his brother. "What are you doing here?"

"I had a feeling you might need someone to pull you out of this dream." Dean replied quietly.

"Did I wake you?" Sam asked worried, his speech still sounding slightly slurred from sleep.

"Nuh, I was in another room, remember? I just couldn't sleep with all that girly stuff around me." Dean quipped. The truth was, he had slept deeply until something had woken him up. He had no idea what though ... he hadn't heard anything but somehow he had sensed that his brother needed him.

"Yeah, that's really freaky." Sam agreed with a small smile.

"Why don't you get back to sleep? It's still a few hours until morning."

Dean felt Sam's hand tighten around his and he swallowed. His brother didn't want him to go. He loved the fact that Sam still needed him so much … though he wished it wouldn't be necessary. If everything had turned out for Sam as he had planned, he wouldn't need his big brother to stay with him after his nightmares … he wouldn't even have any.

But things hadn't gone as planned … it seemed that in their family, they never did.

"Hey, uhm …" Dean cleared his throat. "How about I stay here for the rest of the night? The heating in my room isn't working and it's freezing cold in there. I could sleep on the couch here. This room might be a lot more pink that the other, but at least it's warm."

"Sure. You can have the bed if you want. I don't think I can sleep much more anyway. I can take the couch." Sam said, still sounding sleepy.

"Sammy, you're twice as long as the couch." Dean laughed quietly. "I don't want you to break any more ribs when you fall down from it. Just get some rest, you're gonna need it. Doctor's orders." Dean added with a grin.

"What doctor?" Sam questioned with a raised eyebrow and a small smile.

"Dr. D. Winchester, M.D.." Dean quipped. He was glad to see his brother smiling again.

"I must have missed your time on college."

"Yeah, well, I wasn't just lying around lazily while you were in Stanford."

Sam laughed quietly and then snuggled further into his bed, his eyes drifting shut. A few moments later his breathing evened and his grip around Dean's hand loosened. Dean gently stroked a strand of hair behind his brother's ear. He watched him sleeping a few more minutes, making sure that he was sleeping peacefully, before he got up and went back to his perfectly well heated room to get his pillow and blanket. He quickly returned to Sam's room and made himself comfortable on the couch. He shifted several minutes until he had found a position that should prevent him from falling down should he roll over in sleep … though he inwardly prepared himself to find himself on the ground sometime before morning. It really was a little girl's couch.

Jade had watched all that quietly from the other side of the room. She had to wipe away several tears as she watched Dean taking care of Sam. The devotion between the two brother's touched her heart and once again she was glad that Sam had Dean to look out for him. She hated the idea that he would have to go through all this by himself.

A smile appeared on her face when she noticed that the brother's faces were directed at each other even in sleep … always looking out for each other, never alone.

It was something she had longed for her whole life but even with Jess she had never fully stopped feeling alone.

Watching Sam sleeping peacefully again, she suddenly realized that she hadn't felt truly alone for days ... actually since the moment she had met him at the gas station. Even those first few minutes when they had done nothing but argued ... their usual way of talking, although it had been a bit more heating conversation then normal .. she hadn't felt alone. And it wasn't just that ... she also felt safe. Despite the fact that she had just learned that her sister had been killed by a demon, that she herself had nearly been killed by a ghost and that she wasn't in her own body ... at least temporarily ... she wasn't afraid. She felt safer now than she had in years.

And she had Sam to thank for that.

TBC

A.N.: I have to apologize for the long delay between chapters. Real life is a bitch lately and keeps me from writing and on top of that I got kinda stuck with the first part of this chapter. It didn't really turned out the way I had planned ... I'm not really satisfied with it but couldn't find a way to make it better. I hope you don't dislike it completely. Thank you for being patient and still having interest in this story. And a huge thank you to everyone who reviewed for this story. Your feedback means so much to me :) And I promise I'll try to get the next chapter done faster.