Nick wasn't sure why he went with Bobby in the first place. After the shooting disaster it seemed like a good idea to get away for a while and get his head free. And he figured with Bobby around everything would be fine. It wasn't that he would have to interact with people that much on this little trip and he wouldn't have to touch more than maybe a hand of another person if at all.

So yeah, Nick was a nervous and he missed Dean the second Bobby steered the car out to the road but he was okay.

Their first stop was at Inquiring Minds and Nick relaxed. He loved the bookstore and he really liked Adela.

Browsing the shelves everything else was forgotten. There was so much interesting stuff. By the time Adela had time for them Nick was up to four books he would love to buy but sadly he didn't have any money and for sure he didn't want to ask Bobby to buy them for him. So he put them back with a sigh but kept the titles in mind. Maybe another time.

Adela greeted him with his full name, he was surprised that she even bothered to remember his name, and they shook hands but before it became too uncomfortable she stepped back and Nick breathed easier.

Then he was tricked into doing the heavy lifting for her. He didn't mind, though, and would have offered to do it anyway as soon as he saw the box full of books.

But that was not the only box in the room and he wondered what was inside the other ones. He saw a few books and wrapped up things but there was so much more.

So when Adela complained about her back and how hard it was to find a helping hand, how could he not offer his help?

The words were out of his mouth before he had time to think this through, which was probably good because if he'd thought about it, he would have never offered to stay with Adela while Bobby left to get his stuff done. Adela was nice and all but he hardly knew her.

Nick carried the box to Bobby's car with a constant stream of what am I doing, what am I doing, what the fuck am I doing? running through his head. At the car he had to stop and catch his breath and that had nothing to do with the heavy box.

When he came back in he was close to withdraw his offer. He was sure that at least Bobby would understand and Adela wouldn't be too disappointed but then he saw the boxes with their mysterious content and he would get paid for this and it was only for a few hours, right? He could do this. He could give Bobby a call if he wanted to leave early. No problem, right?

Nick rubbed his sweaty palms at his jeans and watched Bobby leave.

"So, ehm … where do I start?" Nick looked helplessly around the stuffed room and hoped Adela wouldn't notice the tremble in his voice. This was about to turn out to be the second bad idea of the today, he was sure of it.

"First of all." She let out a sigh but her gaze on him wasn't unkind. And not pitying either. "Nick, relax. Breathe."

"That obvious?" He tried to laugh it off but he didn't have enough air in his lungs.

"Look, I don't know what happened to you." She said. "But I do know that something happened to you. Something bad."

Nick nodded, not sure where she was heading with this. And if he liked the direction.

"I just wanted to say, don't torture yourself because you have the feeling you have to do this." She locked eyes with him. "If I'm too close, tell me to back off. If you need a breather, just step outside for a moment. If you want to call Bobby, call him. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Good, then let's get started." She rubbed her hands and dragged the first box out of the corner.

First they had to know what they were dealing with because the collection came without an inventory list. Nick's main job was to sort the books to different piles and to make a list so they could actually find the books. The other stuff had to be unwrapped and sighted but most of the time Nick had no clue what the object in his hand even was. That was Adela's part.

It was the middle of the day so the store was open and Adela had to attend customers which left Nick in the back room by himself most of the time.

Books were heavy, Nick found out pretty soon, especially the old leather-bound tomes which he had to handle with special care. The constant up and down to pick them up didn't make it easier.

It was slow and hard work but to his surprise Nick had fun. He didn't hurry too much, he wanted to do this right, and even took the time to have a glance at the inside of a book if a title caught his interest.

"How is it going?" Adela asked and placed a tray with a glass of orange juice and a plate of cookies in the corner where it was less likely to spill something and ruin a book.

"Slow." Nick admitted. "I doubt I can finish this today."

"This ain't one day's work." She reassured him with a smile and passed him the juice which he drank greedily. This was dusty work, too. "Imagine how long I would sit on this alone."

She left the door open so she would notice if somebody came into the store and had a look at the last thing Nick had unwrapped. A bowl of some kind with ugly ornaments.

"What is this?" Nick asked. When he had touched it, it had felt slimy even if it was completely dry.

"This was used to collect the blood of human sacrifices." She sat it aside and wiped her hands on her pants. "Black magic."

"Is it dangerous?" Nick asked, suddenly feeling uneasy. He'd read enough about the occult to know that some things were better left untouched.

"Don't worry, nothing in here is dangerous." She sounded sure.

"But you said you don't know what's in there." He gestured at the unopened boxes. "What makes you so sure there's nothing dangerous here?"

"Two reasons." She grinned at him which made her twenty years younger. "First, the idiot I bought it from packed all this by himself and he's still in one piece. And second, this place is safer than Bobby's. Believe me, nothing dangerous can get in here without at least triggering something."

Nick had seen the symbols on the sign above the door and thinking about it, Adela sat at the source of knowledge if she didn't know how to protect herself, who did?

"I couldn't help but notice your bracelet." She pointed at his wrist. He was wearing it for a while now, most of the time he forgot it was even there but now he raised his arm to have a look.

"What about it?"

"May I?" She asked and waited for his permission to take his wrist in her hands. "Those are some strong wards of protection. Dean gave this to you?"

And Sam, he wanted to add but couldn't. "For our first anniversary."

"One reason more to always wear it." She let go of his arm. "Wear it. Always."

"I do." So far he had worn it because it had been a gift from Sam and Dean for a very special occasion and yes, it had helped him against the succubus but now he saw it with new eyes. This wasn't just a nice gift, this was something that actually protected him. From things he should never have to know about. Okay, back then he would have called Sam and Dean crazy if they had told him that this bracelet would protect him from evil.

Adela went through a few other objects and took the time to explain them to Nick. One or two even she wasn't sure about and they went into a special box.

"This is going to be a lot of research before we're done with all this." She let out a sigh but grinned like a kid in a candy store and Nick's heart jumped at the we. He would like to come back the next day to finish this. And probably the whole next week if he looked at the piles of unopened boxes.

But before he could say anything the phone rang.

"Rufus Turner?" Adela asked when she heard who was on the other end. "Haven't heard from you in a while. What do you need?"

She listened for a moment.

"You wanna do small talk or tell me what I can get for you?"

In the following moment of silence Nick heard the bell announcing a customer.

"Nick." Adela covered the mouth piece with her palm. "Could you go up front? Just keep an eye on him for a minute, would you?"

Nick's mouth went dry at that but he nodded. It wasn't that he had to attend the customer or something. He just had to make sure he didn't get handsy on the cash register or took of with a book.

"Good day, sir." Nick greeted the customer because he figured he couldn't do something wrong with being polite. The clerk's uniform the young man was wearing looked familiar and Nick remembered seeing him the other day. Probably a regular who wouldn't ask where the historical section was or something.

The man looked up from the book he was studying and glared at him.

Unsure how to proceed Nick took a step back.

"Feel free to have a look around, sir." He said. "Ms. Blake will be here to assist you shortly."

"Good." The man huffed in barely concealed anger. "Wouldn't want a homo to touch my books anyway."

Shocked Nick stared at him. He had been called names before, no big deal, but this was the last place he'd expected it.

"Tell me." The man said in a low voice as if they were sharing a secret. "Heard you take it up the ass for both of them? Brothers, that gives you the special kick, doesn't it? Big guys too, bet they're hung like donkeys but you like that, don't you? Little fairy?"

He knows, Nick couldn't breathe. How can he know?

The man shoved past him and made a show of brushing off his shoulder where he'd bumped into Nick. Dumbfounded Nick stumbled backwards and could only stare at him.

How could he know?

"What you looking at, fag?" The man spat with an evil grin.

"He's looking at the homophobic asshole that's now leaving my store." The wrath of Adela was upon the man and now it was him taking a step back. "And don't bother to come back, you're banned from my store."

"Don't want the shit of a queer-lover anyway." He threw the book he had still in hand in her general direction and stomped out of the store. The door slammed shut behind him.

"Nick, you okay?" Adela reached out to grab his shoulder but stopped in mid-air and let the hand drop back to her side.

"I'm fine." Nick forced himself to take a deep breath and she threw him a doubtful look.

"I am fine." He repeated and this time it sounded a little more convincing. "It's not the first time somebody calls me names. He knew quite a few, I have to give him that, very creative." He babbled but there was one question running circles in his head.

"How did he know?" Adela ask.

"Uh?" Nick fought against the rising panic. Had he asked that aloud? What had she heard? Did she know about the three of them?

"How did he know?" Adela repeated her question. "I mean, people notice at first sight that I'm black and I've dealt with harassment more often than I care to count but unless you made dewy eyes on him, how did he know?"

"Oh, yeah." Relieved Nick breathed a little bit easier. "He was here the other day, too. Maybe he saw me and Dean …"

Adela nodded in understanding, satisfied with the explanation. Nick on the other hand wasn't satisfied with that, not at all. That guy could have seen him and Dean, sure, but that didn't explain how he knew about Sam.