Time drug on. Jess was taking a long time to heal, as was expected. She had nearly lost her left arm, and had lost more blood than I particularly cared to think about. The doctors kept calling her their miracle case. We had settled into something of a routine, at least. Dean kept hitting on and gettingturned down by the nurses. Nancy was the only one that flirted back, though judging by the ring on her left hand she was mostly just having some fun.

Jess hated being left alone. We found that out the first night after the surgery. Dean and I had both crashed in the waiting room- him having ignored my pleas to go the motel and sleep in a real bed. We were shaken awake by a nurse less than two hours later. Jess had woken up and panicked because she thought we had left her. It had taken two hours and a sedative to get her to calm down enough to go back to sleep.

I was starting to get worried. We had been here for a couple weeks. Normally, I wouldn't think too much of it, especially with the shape Jess was in, but considering the situation with the demons, we had been here for too long. We were practically sitting ducks. The fact of it though was Jess was still too injured to go anywhere. We were pretty well stuck.

I knew when I was with Jess (we had settled into shifts, so a reoccurrence of the first night didn't happen) Dean had been researching. He had been angry when the wolves ran. The opportunity to save themselves had presented, and they took it. I didn't hold that against them. He was trying to find something we could use, some way we could stop them before they turned anyone else. The more he dug the deeper the realization became that they were really something new.

"There has to be something somewhere on these bastards." It was one of the handful of moments throughout the day that we congregated in Jess' room.

"They could just be a new subspecies of werewolves, like Sam originally thought." It was Jess' preferred theory. I wanted to believe it, but everything I had been taught about hunting told me there had to be a mention of them somewhere.

"New monsters don't just pop into existence."

"Then how did they come about in the first place?"

"Same way anything else did."

"What about the ones that change humans?"

"Stop." I tried my best to sound properly authoritative, but this was the sixth time in four days they'd had this argument.

"Well, it's not like you have any ideas."

"I don't think that new strengths means they have any new weaknesses. Silver still works." That was my line and I was sticking to it.

"There has to be something."

"You've said this. We just have to assume they aren't brainless anymore. Now can I leave you two alone and go eat or are you going to kill each other if I leave?"

"Go eat, Sam," Jess said.

"Love you, babe." I leaned down to kiss her.

"Oh god, really?"

"Shut up, Dean," she said when I pulled back. "I love you. I'll see you in a while." I left with a smile on my face. I gave a cheerful wave to Nancy, who was on the day shift this week.

I made my way to the Mexican restaurant six blocks away. It was further away from the hospital than the diner we often favored, but I needed a change. I couldn't live on steak and eggs forever. I wondered as I had for the past couple of weeks what Jess and Dean talked about while I was out. I generally spent more time with her, allowing Dean to relieve me long enough to eat and shower, then every two nights or so, so I could sleep in a real bed. They had both point blank refused to tell me, whatever it was.I decided to not let it keep me up at night.

While Dean was obsessing over the wolves I had been doing the same with the demons. As I waited for my chimichanga I tried to place the elusive something that had been gnawing at the back of my mind for weeks. I figured the demons were pissed we'd caught onto the trail of the one that killed Mom. I hadn't said anything to Dean yet because I had no way of being sure, but I got the feeling that whatever demon had done it he was pretty high up on Hell's food chain. It didn't make sense why'd they send hordes of demons after Jess specifically though. I could see them wanting to take out the Winchesters, but they'd been going after her since before she knew what they were.

We were missing something. I agonized over trying to figure out if Mary Winchester and Jess Moore had anything in common besides their blonde hair and intimate connections to Winchester men. Normal demons wanted to cause as much mayhem and suffering as possible. They weren't typically too picky about who ended up on the receiving end. There was something that mattered to them- that had mattered for a long time and we needed to figure out what that was.

I let that train of thought die off as I ate then went back to the motel for a shower. I made my way back to the hospital after picking up a new book. Dean and Jess had their heads close together, and were whispering.

"You tell him."

"You tell him."

"He's your brother."

"He's your boyfriend."

I'll never keep anything important from you, Sammy

I stood in the doorway wondering what on Earth they were talking about. I cleared my throat and they looked at me, look of pure panic on their faces.

"Heya, Sammy." It was Dean's go to stress greeting.

"You had something you wanted to tell me?" Jess poked Dean in the side and he shook his head vehemently. Jess rolled her eyes and sighed.

"We decided it's time to sneak me out of here."

"No. Jess, you can't even walk to the bathroom."

"We've been here too long. They're going to catch up to us soon, and there's too many civilians here." Dean said what I had been thinking earlier, and I couldn't argue the point.

"I don' care about them. I just care about you." I addressed Jess, knowing I was more likely to get through to her.

"All it's going to take at this point is time, Sam. I lost three and a half pints of blood, and almost died. I just can't jump back into it like I did last time. I can't."

"Jess, please."

"I know my limits now. I shouldn't have even been on that hunt. I was still recovering. I still felt like crap. I didn't say anything because I didn't want you to think I was weak. I won't make that mistake again."

"I would never think you're weak."

"So are we doing this thing?" Dean asked.

"We aren't sneaking her out." I was at least going to remain firm on that point.

"Then how do we get her out?"

"She checks out against medical advice like a normal person. They can't force her to stay."

"I don't think normal people check out against medical advice," Jess pointed out.

"You know what I meant."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna go check out of the motel. I'll be back in an hour."

"Send a nurse our way?"

"Sure."

"And Dean, bring some clothes. There's a dress in my duffel that shouldn't rub too bad."

"You got it, sweetheart." I held Jess' hand, rubbing my thumb over knuckles as we waited.

"Its fine, Sam."

"We don't know what's out there."

"We know what's waiting if we stay."

"How have you managed to stay so calm? Most people freak out when they find out about the supernatural. You've not only rolled with it, you've kind of embraced it. I know guys who would walk away from the life after getting attacked by demons."

"I don't know. Part of is there's this whole chunk of society I didn't know existed. I feel like I've walked into just as something big is happening."

"So basically it is what it is."

"Yeah. Where's the nurse? I'm beyond ready to get this IV out."

"I'll go check."

I ignored her blatant attempt to change the subject and, I went in search of Nancy. She clicked her tongue at me when I told her what Jess wanted, but said she'd get the paperwork ready.

This was a bad idea. I knew it and I had to go along with it. I knew they were right. As long as we were in plain view like this the easier we were to find. That and I could talk them down separately, but when they combined forces I was powerless to resist. Which was why an hour and a half later Dean was standing in the hall as I helped Jess into the dress she had requested.

"Ow! Sam!"

"I'm sorry. I'm trying."

"I know. I know." Jess' bad arm was stuck in the dress. "Don't suppose they'll let me out of here in a hospital gown."

"I'm going to say no." I pulled her arm through as I spoke. She let out a low hiss.

"Damn it."

"We're just going to head to the next town over."

"Ply me with pain pills."

"You got it, babe."

Half an hour later we were on our way to Haines with a giddy Jess in the backseat. They had definitely given her the good stuff.

"Sammy, I'm never getting the car with a stoned Jess again. Never. You hear me?"

I rolled my eyes and continued to stare out the window. Jess was giggling to herself in the backseat. It was a challenge to resist asking what she found funny. Dean, however, was unable to resist looking for blackmail gold.

"Hey Jess, wanna tell us what's so funny?" I glanced out the windshield. The motel was in sight.

"You're pretty, Dean. So is Sammy. I'm hunting monsters with two pretty boys." She lapsed back into giggles. We pulled into the motel, carefully avoiding eye contact. Dean hopped out to check us in.

"Sam, soon as I'm better we should start getting our own room all the time!"

"Yeah we should."

"You know what I think?"

"What?"

"I think the demons are after you 'cause you're so pretty it's unholy." She laughed at her joke. Dean came out of office and signaled the room was close.

"Come on. Let's get you inside." I opened the back door and coaxed Jess out. It was like trying to take a particularly stubborn cat to the vet. She kept grabbing things. Eventually I got her settled on the bed. She obviously didn't want to fall asleep if the way she kept patting the bed was any indication.

"Come lay with me, Sam."

"Yeah, Sam, go lay with her. Promise I won't watch."

"We are totally getting our own room when this is over."

"Sam," she whined.

"Ok, ok." I flopped myself down on the bed, ignoring Dean's snickers as she cuddled up against my chest.

"My Sam. My pretty Sam."

"Yeah, babe, yours." She continued to mutter nonsense against my chest until she fell asleep.

The next few days passed in a blur of changing dressings, making sure Jess stayed awake long enough to eat and stay hydrated. It was incredibly boring.

Dad had been sticking pretty close to Bobby's. I knew the two were still ready to leave for Oregon at a moment's notice. A few days ago Bobby had finally gotten tired of him and sent him into North Dakota to deal with something that had been ripping out local's throats for a couple of weeks. We were going to head back to Bobby's once Jess could travel.

Jess didn't like the fog the pain pills put her in and refused to take them unless she was going to be moving further than the distance to the bathroom. I just let her have it her way. At the very least it meant she was awake for a few more hours each day.

"Hey Sam. Can I talk to you?"

"Yeah. What's up?" Dean had gone on a food run, though as it was two in afternoon, I suspected he just wanted out of the room for a while.

"How's the whole psychic thing going?"

"Dean put you up to this."

"No, but we're both worried about you."

"I'm not talking about this."

"Sooner or later you're going to have to acknowledge it."

"It doesn't have anything to do with anything."

"Having visions about being attacked by demons may be tied to the fact that's there's demons after us."

"It's a coincidence."

"You aren't having visions about what we're having for dinner, Sam. You're having visions about what's trying to kill us, to kill me."

"Damn it, Jess. I said I'm not talking about this!" My fist hit the table, rattling the glass.

I stood and walked out. When I threw the door open Dean was standing there. I ignored him and as I walked away I hear Dean say: "What happened Jess? Did he hurt you?"

A/N: Um, angst is coming?