"We can't stay here if Lilith's in the area," Dean said an hour or so later. "We need to get farther away, so pack your stuff."

I looked up from my math assignment. "Yeah, cause she won't be able to send her demons looking everywhere that's a day's drive from here," I said sarcastically. I may have deserved it, but I didn't like the fact that I was still on restriction. I was sitting at the table with my back to the room so I couldn't watch "My Cousin Vinny", which is what Sam had on while he was doing research about the goddess online, using my dream write up.

"Did anyone ask you, young lady?" Sam asked. "Get your stuff packed."

"We can't leave," I tried. "Dean can't drive with his shoulder hurt like that."

"Hey, I can always drive my baby," Dean said. "Why do you want to stay here so bad?"

"Maybe it's the décor," I said, getting up. "I just love sleeping in a 1950's boy's bedroom."

Sam clicked off the television and started shoving his stuff into his bags. I followed suit and in ten minutes, we were tossing our stuff into the car and getting on the road.

Great. I just loved being on the road with a sore butt. Dean may love his Impala, but it didn't have the smoothest ride in the world for someone in my condition. Plus, I was seriously dreading tomorrow morning. I dug into my butterfly bag and yanked out "The Witch of Blackbird Pond".

"Jessie," Sam said, with a warning note in his voice.

"Fine," I said. I dropped the book next to me on the seat and dug out my math book. Sam went back to reading the information he'd downloaded on his laptop. I flipped the pages in my math book for a couple minutes and then picked up my novel again. I pulled my feet up onto the seat and rested my math book on it. I opened my novel and held it inside my math book so that it would look like I was doing my assignment. I gave one last glance at Sam and started reading.

I'm not sure how much time passed, but I got really involved in the book and wasn't paying any attention to Sam or Dean. I vaguely heard them talking, but since I didn't hear my name, I didn't really listen.

Eventually, Sam reached back and pulled the novel out of the math book. "Hey!" I objected. I'd been right in the middle of a really good part. "I was reading…" I trailed off when I saw his face.

"Give me the rest of your books," Sam said.

"Oh, come on, Sam," I said.

"Now," Sam said, snapping his fingers at me. "You've lost your pleasure-reading privileges."

Angry, I unbuckled my seat belt and picked up my butterfly bag. I dropped it over the seat between the two of them. "There's the rest of my fucking books," I snapped. "Hope you like sixth-grade science as much as I do."

I dropped back into my seat and refastened my seat belt. No one said anything for a minute, and then Dean pulled off the highway.

"No, Dean, no. I'm sorry. I take it back," I said, panicked. I leaned forward and reached for my bag, but Sam grabbed my arm.

"Too little, too late," he said. He gave me a look, his jaw clenched tight. I was just glad it wasn't twitching yet. When he let me go, I withdrew my hand. Sam opened my butterfly bag and dug out my novels and my English Lit book while Dean stopped the car and turned around, his eyebrows raised.

"What is your problem?" Dean asked.

I flushed. "I just want to be left alone," I said. "You guys are all over me."

"You think you're doing a good job letting us know that, with that attitude? You're practically begging us for attention."

"No, Dean," I said, looking away.

"You trying to get me to spank you now so you don't have to wait? Because if I have to spank you now, you're still getting the belt tomorrow morning," Dean growled at me. "I can't do it now so you're just going to have to wait."

"That's not fair!" I whined.

"Yeah?" Dean asked. "Was it fair that you made us wait two weeks before you told us what was wrong?"

"No," I whispered.

"Lose the attitude," Dean said. "Sam?"

"One more smart ass comment, snarky remark, or outright disobedience, and you're not getting your novels back for two weeks after your restriction ends," Sam said. "You hear me, young lady?"

"Yes, Sam," I said.

"Now get your math assignment done," Sam said. Dean turned back around and got us back on the highway.

I behaved myself for the rest of the day. After about an hour of good Jessie, Sam and Dean relaxed and actually did start to leave me alone. I finished my math assignment, my science assignment, and my social studies assignment. I was so far ahead of kids who actually had to be in school that it wasn't funny, and unfortunately, it was mostly due to how much trouble I continuously seemed to find myself in.

The only problem was that I was bored as hell, so I pulled out one of my notebooks and started writing a story to entertain myself. I was deep into it by the time we pulled into a new motel. This one had an empty pool in front of it, and next to it was a huge lot that was in the process of being cleared. That seemed like a good place to go to burn if we ran out of charcoal. We'd driven through a small town to get here. I had no idea where we were, though.

God, I was tired. Dean dropped us off with our bags and headed out to get supplies. I followed Sam into the office to get a room, and then to the room. "Get ready for bed," Sam said.

"I need to burn something," I said.

"Yeah, and right now you need to get ready for bed," Sam said.

"You don't have to be mean about it," I grumbled under my breath. I picked up my clothes bag and headed into the bathroom to shower and put on my PJs. The office had delivered the roll-away bed while I was in the shower. I sat down on the bed and looked at Sam, who had set up his computer on the room's tiny desk and was working on getting it connected to the motel's free Wi-Fi.

"Sam, I'm sorry I was so horrible to you today," I said. He looked up from the computer. "You didn't deserve it and I shouldn't have done it. I'm sorry."

Sam sighed and got up from his computer, coming over to sit next to me and put his arm around me. "Honey, you really need to work on your temper and mood. Just because you're in a bad mood doesn't mean you should take it out on everyone around you."

"I know," I said. "I'm sorry. I'll try harder." I looked up at him. "Do you love me again?"

"I never stopped," Sam said, hugging me to him. "A grumpy mood couldn't make me stop loving you any more than you fire abilities could or you running off and putting yourself in danger. Sometimes I don't like what you do, but I always love you."

I hugged him. "Thanks, Sam," I said. I heard the Impala drive up outside. Dean came in ecstatic, having found a pool hall and a liquor store in town. He'd brought back food, liquor, and charcoal.

"Let's get this burned up so Sammy and I can go make some money," he said.

"Dean, I'm tired. I don't want to go out tonight," Sam objected.

"Come on, Sammy. It'll be fun. You're gonna have to do all the work with my ripped up shoulder, though," Dean said with his most beguiling smile. Sam sighed and went to change his clothes.

"You ready to burn this up?" Dean asked me, gesturing at the charcoal bags. He'd brought six of them. I nodded. He took me outside and I went through five of them before I'd drained enough excess that I thought I could keep it contained.

Dean brought me back into the motel and tucked me into bed. "Love you, sweetheart," he said and smiled at me. He kissed my forehead and pulled my blankets up to my chin. "You gonna be ok if we go out for a while?"

I nodded. "I'll stay here and sleep," I said.

"Good girl," he said. Then he and Sam left.

I got up and found the rock salt that he'd bought at the store. I salted the window and the door to keep Ruby from getting in, and then I went back to bed.

The next morning, they were still sound asleep when I woke up. I knew the drill. When we weren't hunting, sometimes they went out until late at night. I didn't worry about it overly much. I made myself breakfast from the food they'd brought back and dug out a set of cards to play solitaire. I was restricted from a lot of things, but I knew that goofing around with cards wasn't one of them. When I got bored with that, I started writing more of the story I'd started the day before.

I was only aware someone was up because I heard the bathroom door close. I turned around to see Sam sitting on the end of his bed. "You want some water?" I asked. He nodded, so I brought him a glass of tap water. "Need anything else?"

"Yeah," he said. "Next time Dean wants to go out and hustle pool in the middle of the night, remind me I don't want to go." I sat down next to him on the bed and wrapped my arm around his back as far as it would go.

"Come on, Sammy, that was great," Dean said, coming out of the bathroom fully dressed with a huge smile on his face. "You got the money, I got the girl. You got drunk… I got the girl." He winked.

I rolled my eyes. "Well, at least one of you had a good time."

"Yeah," Sam said. He dragged himself up, unfolding his large frame as if it hurt him, and went into the bathroom.

Dean looked at me and his face sobered. "You wanna do this sooner or later?"

I shrugged, really not able to answer that. He crooked his finger at me. "Come here, drop your pajama pants, and lie over the edge of the bed."

"Dean," I said, my face going white. "You don't have to."

"I do have to, Jessie. Do I need to remind you what we talked about yesterday morning? I get it, I do. You want to help. You love us. You worry about us. The problem is, little girl, that your first priority when it comes to hunting should be obeying us. We can't trust you if you don't obey us. We need to know that when we tell you something, you're going to do it. We've talked about this before, and I'm tired of it. We're going to repeat this little song and dance until you do get it. Until obedience is ingrained in you or at least until you think before you do the complete opposite."

He walked over to me and looked in my eyes. "I want my belt to be the first thing you think of when you even consider following us into a hunt without our permission. I want my belt to be the first thing on your mind when we tell you to stay and you think about going. Do you get me now?"

I swallowed hard. "Yes, Dean."

"Lie down over the end of the bed," Dean said, punctuating each word, his voice dark with displeasure.

I fought back tears as I walked over to the bed. I yanked my pajama pants to my knees and I lay down with my butt on the edge of the bed. I heard Dean shuffling behind me, his belt buckle clanking as he unbuckled it, and then the sweep of leather against jeans as he slid it off.

I put my arms over my head and braced myself, already crying. Dean brought the leather down onto my panty-covered bottom, no warm up, no nothing. I shrieked as pain seared my butt. He didn't even pause. He swung again and again. I tried to hold still, but I couldn't. I slid myself forward on the bed, bringing my legs up, trying to block with my feet.

Dean stopped and waited. "Feet on the floor," he said. "We're not even half done." I didn't move. "Little girl, I can wait all day and the longer you make me wait the worse it's going to be. Put your feet on the floor."

I slid back down a little and put my feet on the floor. I braced myself against the mattress. Dean brought the belt down again. I tried to ignore the slaps of leather. I tried to breathe to control the pain, but it didn't work. I couldn't count, I couldn't keep track. I sobbed and sobbed into the blankets on the bed.

And then I realized he'd stopped and was rubbing my back. I climbed onto the bed on my knees and flung myself into his arms, sobbing against his neck. "I'm sorry, Dean," I said.

"Are you going to remember next time?" he asked me, his arms wrapping around my waist.

"Yes, Dean," I said. I was swaying a bit, not able to keep good balance on my knees.

"Good girl," he said. He held me to him. "Sweetheart, I love you. I just want you to be safe. Please help me keep you safe."

"I will. I'm sorry," I said, shaking against him. He moved me so I was sitting on his lap. He stroked my hair while I cried. After a while, I heard Sam come out of the bathroom and open his laptop. I asked Dean, "Am I forgiven now?"

"Yes, sweetheart. You're always forgiven."

"Am I still on restriction?" I asked, my voice small.

"Sam?" Dean called. "How long for her restriction?"

"At least a week and no hunting lessons," Sam said. I couldn't see him behind Dean. I looked up at Dean. He raised his eyebrows at me. I nodded.

Dean helped me out of his lap and shooed me into the bathroom. "Go wash your face," he said. Then he clapped his hands together and rubbed them together briskly. "Now, what do we have for breakfast?"