Three days later and Sam was staring out the window when he caught movement. He watched as a dark headed girl approached his porch. Sawed off at the ready, he slunk to the door and laid his hand on the wood waiting for the vibrations that would mean someone knocking. He reacted almost instantly.

He yanked the door open, keeping the gun aimed through the splintering wood. The girl before him was short with curling brown hair. She didn't even blink. Instead, she thrust a paper at him and shoved past into the hall. He glanced at the paper – a coma patient? – then chased after the girl. He spun her and she smiled.

"See? I made sure it was kosher just for you." She smirked and said something else but he missed it. Obviously Ruby was a fast talker.

"Why are you here?"

She frowned. "Because Lilith…and you'll need my help if you want to win."

Sam growled. "You can't help me. No one can. Unless you can bring Dean back. Just leave." He turned his back on her and motioned towards the door still standing open as he made his way to the kitchen table. He sank down, head dropping into his hands.

He would not fall apart. There was nothing left to break again.

He grabbed the half-filled shot glass he had abandoned a week ago and downed it.

He didn't look around. He just wanted it all to disappear. He ought to just eat a bullet. Except as he thought that his eye fell on his books and remembered he still had a promise to keep...

He reached for the closest bottle to refill his glass, but found it snatched from his hand. He glance up to find Ruby staring at him in a confused anger. He narrowed his eyes at her and reached down beside his chair for the next bottle.

"I said fuck off."

Ruby's current face turned as bright as her namesake. She started yelling then, but Sam was so tired. He leaned back in his seat and shut his eyes, letting his head rest against the chair back. He was jolted back to awareness by a jerk to his chair and a forceful hand on his chin pulling his head down.

His eyes flew open and he was flailing against the sudden move, his training taking over. He had to force himself to stop when he realized it was just Ruby.

She was staring at him, breathing heavily and looking pissed. He met her eye. "What part of fuck off do you not understand? Go bother someone else."

"What happened to you?"

"None of your business. So leave."

"Did you hear a word I said?"

The words were said quickly and it took him a second to process, but when he did he felt the anger flair.

"No, I didn't." he said, cutting her off mid-sentence. "But I guess you missed that memo."

She stared at him. "What?"

"I haven't heard a word. Nope. Nothing. Nada." He said bitterly. "Figured that would make headlines down in Hell."

Sam barely registered that he was shouting. Ruby just stared at him dumbly. She blinked once…twice. Then her brow furrowed. She frowned.

"What are you saying?"

His anger exploded. "I'm deaf, dammit." He flung the bottle at the wall where it smashed and left the liquid dripping down the hideous paneling. He sat there panting for a minute before the fire drained from his veins. He sighed and collapsed back into the chair allowing his eyes to slip closed.

Sam felt gentle hands tugging at his arm. He cracked his eye to hair to find Ruby grimly trying to get him up. She said something. He had no interest in figuring it out, especially as it was obvious she wanted him to stand. He tried to wave her off, but she persisted.

Hoping she might go away sooner, he allowed himself to be manhandled up and guided over to his makeshift bed. He collapsed onto it with a grunt and was vaguely aware of a blanket falling over his back and legs.

When he woke it was to a nauseating smell like burnt flesh and he wanted to gag. In fact, now that he thought about it, throwing up seemed like a fine idea except he couldn't quite find his arms to lever himself up. He frowned. Stupid arms. He lay there for a long minute trying to work out how to move anything at all.

He thought he might have figured out where his eyelids were and…yep. Fuck. Why was it so bright? His head throbbed and he screwed his eyes shut again. It was only making him more nauseous. Finally, he found the muscles to lever himself upright and had to pause to let the world stop spinning.

When he found out who was barbecuing small children, he was going to get nasty, he thought as his stomach roiled.

A hand landed on his shoulder and he jerked back, grabbing the attached arm by instinct more than any conscious thought. The adrenaline focused him a little so that when he opened his eyes again he ignored the glare and the grit in his eyes in favor of sizing up the person in front of him. His gaze locked with Ruby and he frowned.

She thrust a glass of water at him and flung a bottle of pills at his head, which he failed to catch, too busy trying to hang onto the glass. He would probably have a welt there for the next hour. He fumbled with the bottle finally managing to get it open and swallow down a handful of the aspirin.

Downing the rest of the water, he stood and stumbled his way to the bathroom to relieve himself. He decided he was too ripe to go another day and subjected himself to a cold shower as well. He had discovered the water still worked in the house. He had a sneaking suspicion it was not connected to the system in town, but he had not felt particularly inclined to investigate. Regardless, the water heater, an old-fashioned gas contraption, did not work and he had been unable to fix it in the little time he had spent on it.

He returned to the dining room feeling marginally more human, only to have that awful smell assault him again.

He sank down into the chair at the table and watched through baleful eyes as Ruby put a plate in front of him. How she managed to cook considering he didn't have any electricity was a mystery, but one he wasn't interested in solving. The plate was full of eggs, bacon, and toast. He groaned and pushed it away from himself only to have it reappear under his nose. He glared up and Ruby gave him a stern look. Resigned he picked up the least offensive thing he could find and began nibbling it. Toast crumbs littered his lap, but he didn't care. Just as long as it was edible and bland.

He peered up at her wondering what she was still doing there, but honestly decided it would take too much effort to ask. She seemed to read his thoughts. Next minute she was seated next to him with a notebook, stealing his bacon. Privately Sam was relieved to see the source of the offending smell disappear. He watched her scribble for a minute before she slid the notebook back at him.

This is a fine mess. How long?

He scrunched his face up in thought, trying to think through the sludge in his brain. "Two weeks?" Had it really only been two weeks? Two weeks since his world utterly collapsed?

What happened?

Sam reached for his glass and took a long gulp of water. Finally he said, "Lilith."

Ruby frowned. Lilith made you deaf?

Sam blinked back the stinging in his eyes. He was deaf. He ought to get used to applying it to himself. He sighed, then shrugged. It seemed his universal answer to anything anymore.

"Not intentionally, I don't think. It was the night Dean-" he broke off and had to swallow back his emotions before he could continue. "Don't really know what happened. After she made me watch, she tried to blast me with this white light, but it didn't work. There was this horrible ringing in my ears for the rest of the night. When I woke up later I couldn't hear. The doctors didn't have a clue."

Ruby's frown deepened. It was not Lilith's intention, I can tell you that.

Sam nodded. He'd guessed as much. Didn't make the results any easier, but he had suspected it was all just some accident, a cosmic joke at his expense.

"Yeah well, that still doesn't explain what you're doing here."

She scowled at him and stated scribbling. Sam took the opportunity to down the rest of his water. His throat was getting sore and he was over the Q&A session. It still freaked him out a little to speak and feel the rumble in his throat, but not hear anything. He briefly wondered how much he'd been shouting. The muscles in his cheeks and throat felt tight as though he had ben.

Sam had almost finished off a piece of toast when the notebook reappeared.

Like I said, Dean may be gone, but Lilith is still out there and she is bad news. Apocalyptic level bad news. Not to mention pissed that you're still alive. You've seen what she can do. She has to be stopped and if you want to kill the bitch then you're going to need my help. I want to see her burn just as bad as you do. I can help you get your revenge.

"And why should I believe you? Why would you think I want your help?"

She laughed.

We tried it your way. Look how that turned out. I can help you make her pay – get revenge for your brother. Save some innocent lives in the process.

Sam narrowed his eyes. "And the catch to all this?"

Ruby smirked at him. We do it my way. That means you follow my directions. Let me take the lead on this.

Sam snorted.

Or you could drink yourself into oblivion. Waste Dean's sacrifice and leave millions to die.

Sam scowled at Ruby and she shrugged. He turned to stare at the trees through the window. He had to find Lilith. She held Dean's contract. She was his best chance at getting his brother back. And Ruby was his best shot at finding Lilith.

There wasn't a choice here.

He met her eye and nodded.

"Okay, we'll do it your way. What's first?"

She looked him up and down, scrutinizing his face. Finally she nodded, seemingly satisfies with that she found.

First, you finish your breakfast.

He took one look at the scrambled eggs and couldn't help the thought that they looked like globs of rubber cement. They would probably sit just as heavy in his stomach. He wrinkled his nose as his stomach churned. "I'm done."

She smirked at him and shrugged as if to say, suite yourself. Grabbing his fork, she snagged a mouthful of eggs. The she picked up her pen again.

Fine. Then we'll see if you're really as bright as Dean said you were, college boy.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She flashed him a lopsided grin that showed more teeth than strictly necessary.

We'll start with the alphabet. Copy me.

Sam stared at the paper bewildered before looking to Ruby. She held her hand up about chin level and made a loose fist. She watched him expectantly. He blinked at her.

She frowned. Holding her left hand up palm out, she drew her right hand out from the left, pinching the fingers together in an exaggeratedly slow motion. She tapped the paper, indicating the last sentence she had written.

Copy me.

She repeated the motion again, then held the loose fist up again. It clicked. Sign language.

"You're teaching me sign language?"

She rolled her eyes.

"Why do you know sign language?"

She snatched the pen up and scrawled loosely onto the pad.

Hello? Demon. We don't just terrorize white middle-class Americans, you know.

"So what? There's a demon languages class or something? You just download it from demon Wi-Fi? How does that even work?"

She frowned, thinking, then shrugged. No idea. You just know after a while.

And yeah, that totally seemed like a reasonable explanation. Sam let it drop for now.

"Copy me," she signed again, followed immediately by the loose fist once again. Sam copied her. She reached over and corrected the positioning of his thumb, then moved on to the next letter. By the end of the alphabet, Sam was sure he'd never be able to remember everything. The fog in his brain certainly made the task a bit more difficult, but he stuck to it, finally relieved to be doing something.