A/N: Happy New Year! I hope this one goes better than the last and that's all I'm going to say about it. Thanks for reading and, as always, please review. Thanks!

Chapter Ten: Suitable Lodging

Apologizing does not always mean you're wrong and the other person is right.
It just means you value your relationship more than your ego.
- Mark Matthews

Kelly was in the room when I entered. She turned as the door opened and I stopped. The familiar anger rose up but nowhere near the level it had been. I remembered what Sam had said. I had to give some leeway.

"I'm sorry."

Her mouth dropped in shock. I rarely apologized. "What?"

"I'm sorry," I said. I stepped into the room and closed the door behind me. "I don't know what to say. I've been so angry and everything's been crazy and then this demon...I was hurt. I was trying so hard for someone to see me, to see that it wasn't me and the only one who did was Jane." She looked like she was about to interrupt so I continued quickly. "I know it's not your fault. I mean, when did we ever suspect demons? But...I can't explain what's wrong with me. It's more than the possession. I just...it feels like it's not going to be okay….and when I saw you alive again, I thought it would be."

"I'm sorry!" She ran forwards and hugged me tightly. "I'm so sorry. I should have known."

I hugged her back, relishing the reminder that she was still real before I let go. "It's okay. I mean, it's not, but we're okay. Let's face it, you've been gone so long. It's not going to be the same." Both of us paused at that. I didn't realize the truth in those words until I said them.

"It's definitely not the same, and I have to tell you what happened when I went with Dean."

"Girls!" One of the men bellowed from downstairs. "Get down here!"

We looked at each other before leaving the room. This didn't sound good.

oOo

Jane and Castiel were standing next to each other when we entered the library. Across from them were the brothers and Bobby, staring at the two of them. Dean looked like he didn't quite know how to react.

"What's wrong?" Kelly asked as we walked in.

Jane turned to us. "I have acquired us suitable lodging."

"What?" I looked at Kelly. "What do you mean suitable lodging? Why?"

Jane shifted her stance slightly. "If we acquire more bodies as vessels, we will need more space. I have spoken to Bobby about the requirements and retrieved the angel while you were gone. We have found and obtained shelter."

"How?" Kelly asked, seeming to cover what everyone was thinking.

"It does not matter. We have found it."

"You can't just find a house! Things need to be done...like paperwork! And you need money!" I tried to sort my thoughts.

Jane looked at Castiel and nodded. He stepped forward and pulled something out of an inside pocket. It looked like papers. He offered it to the brothers and Sam took it.

Sam flipped through the papers slowly. His eyebrows rose as he read them. "It seems to be real. Everything is here, deed and all." He looked up at them. "How did you do this?"

"The details are inconsequential," Castiel said. "The lot had remained vacant. They were pleased to be free of it."

All of us looked at each other. None of us knew how they had bought a house considering that Jane stole the clothes she wore and Castiel was an angel. Dean opened his mouth before closing it and shaking his head.

"What's it like?" Kelly finally asked. "Wait, it is a house, right? With a roof?"

Jane looked around the room. "Larger than this. It is surrounded by land and trees."

"It is close to Aberdeen," Castiel said.

"Aberdeen, South Dakota?" Bobby asked Castiel. He nodded.

"You wished for us to vacate this land, and we shall. We will not be far if Kelly and Michelle are the Gatekeepers you believe them to be."

"You wished for them to leave?" Dean asked, turning to look at Bobby. His eyebrows were raised.

"I might have mentioned it," Bobby said with a shrug. "House ain't that large boys."

I thought about it. "They have a point." Everyone turned to look at me. "We don't know how many others might come."

"What?" I ignored Dean.

"How far away is Aberdeen from here?" I asked the men.

"Bout three hours," Bobby answered. I nodded. We needed a way to get there and back.

"We're going to need a car."

oOo

We decided to go look at the place with the boys. Bobby was going to give us a car and I asked Dean if, when he had time, he would teach me a few things about fixing it. Being able to fix it myself would calm me a lot more than bringing it to someone I didn't know.

We were not going right away though. The boys were leaving on a case first. Kelly and I stood on Bobby's porch, watching them drive away.

"Are they going to be alright?" I asked quietly. I didn't know what they were going into but Kelly had been weirdly silent. I had gotten used to her talking to herself out loud, even though she tried to stop once she realized she was doing it.

She finally answered. "I don't know." She kept staring after the car. "It could be nothing."

"You don't think it is, do you?" She still didn't look at me. "Kels?"

"I don't know. It...it might be bad, but it might be not what I'm thinking. I tried to warn them," she said softly.

"About what?"

"What I think they're headed to. I know, like, they say not to change things in history, but that's fucked. Besides, this isn't history. It's...it's their lives."

"What are they going into?" I asked. She looked concerned, but she was still staring off into this distance. "Kels?"

"Something bad. It won't be good, Mish. If we're not changing things, then it'll be worse than the zombies. Maybe not physically, but emotionally." She suddenly forced a smile as she turned to me. "I could be wrong, I mean, I don't have an exact timeline. Who remembers that? I just...I really hope I'm wrong." She looked back at the driveway once more before she headed inside.

She had seen more than I had. This universe was not kind and it was not simple, especially to those brothers. I looked over at where the car was no longer visible. I hoped they were going to be okay. We needed them.

oOo

A distraction came in the form of Giles. Despite Kelly's worry over the boys leaching into me, training did not end. Kelly and I were both forced to run with Jane pushing us harder and farther. When we had finally stumbled back to the house, Giles was waiting.

While Kelly went off with Jane, I followed Giles to the back of the house where the makeshift range was. It was mainly clear space with targets.

"I understand that Jane is focusing on self-defence through physical means," he said. "And that you are being trained now in firearms. The research I have gathered suggests that that is not enough to fight the things of this world." He adjusted his glasses before looking at me. "You wish to protect yourself by any means necessary?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Then you will learn how to use other weapons." He walked over to one of the targets. He pulled two large sticks from behind it. "We will start with the staff." He threw it towards me and I tried to catch it. I ended up only blocking it and it fell to the ground. "Pick it up," he motioned before twirling the staff in his hands. It was easy to forget how proficient Giles was in anything but research. "Let's begin."

We started slowly. Giles showed me the best way to hold a staff which felt awkward, though in a different way from holding a gun. I almost preferred Jane's method out of all of them so far. There was something soothing knowing that all you would need was your body, that you didn't need to rely on weapons.

As I got more comfortable holding it, he picked up the pace. Giles seemed to have the same theory as Jane. If you got hit enough you would learn how to duck. So far I only managed to block him a few times. The vibrations of the hits went all the way through my arms and made it hard to hold on to it. My reflexes were much better at dodging than blocking but I was still ending up covered in bruises.

oOo

I sat in the kitchen eating toast. I was trying not to move too much. While I felt better after training with Giles, my muscles were still sore and the bruises I gained were still darkening. The plus side was that my appetite was returning. That was a win in my books. It didn't stop me from feeling weird while eating though. There was a small part of me that didn't want to get used to it, in case I had to run again. It wasn't likely to happen, but I couldn't help it.

Giles had cleaned up and gone back into the library. I could occasionally hear Bobby and him talking about the things in this world and prophecies. I tried to tune them out. Kelly had already passed by as dusk fell outside. She was grumbling about Jane as she hobbled up the stairs. I winced in sympathy. I knew that feeling well.

I stared down at the remains of my toast. I had eaten most of it. I threw it out and washed the dish before heading upstairs. Maybe if Kelly was around I would actually be able to sleep.

oOo

I jolted up. The dream faded as I woke. I pushed myself off of the bed. Kelly was curled up against the wall for once and asleep. She looked dead to the world. I shuddered, but that didn't stop me from checking to make sure she was breathing. She swatted my hand and sprawled away from the wall. I left her.

It was late. The house felt odd. Tense in the silence. It didn't seem like anyone was awake. Someone had always been awake since I had been here. As I got to the top of the stairs, the door slammed open. Dean stormed through. He didn't seem to see me as he left the house.

I went down the stairs slowly. I felt like I was intruding on something but as I got to the bottom of the stairs, no one was around. There was a sound though, slightly faint. It was coming from the basement. Did someone new arrive?

The voice got a little louder as I went into the basement. Castiel was standing at the door, watching me as I came closer. I stopped on the stairs.

"What's happening? Who's in there?" I could hear it now. Whoever it was was calling for help.

"It's Sam," Castiel said. "There was an incident. We found Famine. Sam will need time for the blood to get out of his system."

Blood? I stared at him for a second, thinking of what he could mean. It clicked. "You mean he drank more?"

"Yes."

I stepped closer. It was Sam screaming. "Is he going to be okay?" It was heartbreaking to hear him and the pain in his voice.

"He will." Castiel looked at the door and then back at me. "He will require time."

I nodded. "Okay. Is there anything I can do?"

"No." Well, that was straightforward. "You need to focus on your purpose here."

I kept myself from recoiling at the thought. Instead, I nodded before trying not to run back up the stairs.

oOo

The house was still silent. It was a little creepy. Jane didn't sleep in the house. I assumed she stayed outside but I didn't know where. I wasn't about to search a junkyard at night. I stepped out onto the porch and sat on the steps. The night was silent too but at least it didn't feel oppressive. It was too silent though.

"What are you doing here?"

I jumped at the voice and watched as Dean stepped out of the dark. "Dying of a heart attack now, thanks," I snapped. My hands clenched as I willed them to stop shaking and my heart to calm down. He didn't need me to snap at him. Not with his brother in the basement. "Sorry," I said softly. "I just wasn't expecting anyone."

"You didn't answer me."

I looked up at him. He was still half in the shadows but the whiskey bottle he was holding looked nearly empty.

"I don't sleep much. I thought I'd find Jane but…" I shrugged. "Kind of dark out here." He didn't respond. I considered whether or not I really wanted to say anything else. Dean was not the type to reach out. Kelly would want me to say something though. She should be here instead of me. "Are you..are you okay?"

"Peachy." The tone clearly suggested he was not.

"Okay." He moved to go past me into the house. "Hey, Dean?" He stopped but didn't turn around. I didn't want to get involved but something was prompting me. I had to say something. "I know it's not the same thing, but I've dealt with family having addictions. Your brother is strong. He'll get through it."

He continued walking inside.

oOo

We left the next day to check out the house. Sam didn't come. Instead, Giles joined us. Kelly looked confused.

"Where's Sam?" She asked as Dean and Giles got in the car. He turned up the music and ignored her.

I leaned closer to her. "Sam's in the panic room. Cas told me last night that they met Famine and-"

"Oh," Kelly said. Her face dropped and she looked over at Dean. "Oh no." She looked like she wanted to go console him.

"You know what happened?"

Kelly looked at me. "Yeah, I think so. If I remember it right."

"Is it going to be okay?" I asked.

"I think?" Kelly sighed. "We'll have to see. I don't know." She turned away and stared out the window. "I really don't know."

oOo

I fell asleep in the car. The motion of driving never failed to put me to sleep, even with Metallica playing. My fear of nightmares was not enough to keep me awake this time. I barely slept anymore because of them. I just kept waking up in the night.

"Woah! It's huge!"

I woke up as the door slammed. I shimmied out of the back seat and stretched before I finally looked at what everyone else was staring at.

The house was two storeys tall. It was more than a bit rundown. The banister on the front porch was broken in a few places and there was a shutter hanging by a thread from one of the second-floor windows. Some of the others didn't even have shutters. I was a little afraid to see the inside. It was clear though that no one had lived here in years.

"Are we sure it's not haunted?" I called out and asked. The others all turned and looked at me. "I'm serious. We should check." Dean sighed and turned back to the car.

"I'll grab an EMF reader."

I stopped next to Kelly and glanced around. The area around the house was a mix of grass and weeds but there were trees surrounding the property.

"How big is it? Like, how much land?" I asked, looking at Kelly who had the papers in her hands.

"Um.." she flipped the pages before going back to the first one. "Says we have about fourteen point two. I don't know how big that is." She went back through the pages. "Hold on, there's a map. I moved closer to look at it. The map said most of the land was forest and it was huge.

"Wow."

"Yeah." She looked up from the pages. "Come on, they're going inside."

The porch creaked under our feet as we followed Jane. She produced a key and unlocked the door. I wasn't sure where it had been or where she had put it after.

Kelly and I waved our hands as we walked in. Dust had been kicked up as the door opened. Kelly coughed as we moved forwards. There was a staircase in the main hall just in front of the door. In the first room, there was a fireplace and large windows. There was also some leftover furniture. It looked like a couch under one of the plastic sheets.

"This place is a dump." Dean's voice carried down the hall. The EMF reader he held was silent.

"Quiet man-child," Jane snapped.

"Man-child?"

I ignored them and continued to explore. The kitchen looked like it belonged in the seventies. It had an old fridge, a gas fireplace and a wood table. The floor in the kitchen was the only one that wasn't wooden.

The stairs creaked as much as the porch did and I was a little scared that I was going to fall through. I held on tightly to the railing and went slow. Upstairs held three rooms and a bathroom with an old clawfoot tub. The water was likely going to be brown considering how long this place hadn't been lived in. We'd have to run it for a while at least before using it. I went back downstairs to find Kelly as a thought occurred to me.

"Hey, how are we going to pay for electricity and water?"

Kelly's eyebrows rose. "I didn't think about that." Her nose scrunched up. "We could get jobs?"

"That might be necessary," Giles said. He walked up towards us. "This house needs some work but I do," he took off his glasses and cleaned them. "I do believe that it will suffice."

"It'll take a lot of work," Kelly said. "Obviously a lot of cleaning." She started to list things that needed to be fixed. I followed her slowly as she started to move around the house. We were going to be living alone, just us and the vessels. While Jane could fight, there were bigger and badder things than she knew how to deal with. She had only been exposed to demons and they were just a small part of it.

"We're going to need protection," I said. Dean and Jane came towards us.

"What do you mean?" Kelly asked. The others watched me closely.

"There are scary things out there," I motioned towards the door. "Demons are only a part of it, and I got possessed by one of those in Bobby's house of all places so what's to stop them from coming here? And, if the vessels are staying with us, we're going to need some angel protection as well to keep them out...and anything else that might come to get us." The more I thought about it the more panic crept up my spine. "How are we supposed to deal with this? Alone?"

Something hit me hard on my cheek. My head whipped to the side. I touched it gently and stared at Jane. "Ow!" She lowered her arm.

"Woman! You are letting your fears guide you!" I heard Kelly snort and start laughing.

My cheek stung. "So you hit me?" I sent a dark look over at Kelly who was trying to hide her amusement. Dean's eyes were wide.

"You were panicking. The pain forced your thoughts to change course." She looked around. "It is time to return. We have much to plan for." We all watched her walk out the front door.

"Are you alright?" Giles asked.

"Yeah," I touched my cheek again and winced. The woman packed a hell of a slap. "It worked, weirdly enough."

"Good," Kelly said. "You were starting to ramble. You made a good point though." She looked at Dean. "What are we going to do?"

"We'll figure it out." He looked towards the door where Jane left. "Come on, don't want the Amazon to come back swinging. Looks like she did a number on you," he motioned to my face.

"Yeah, took me by surprise."

"No kidding," he muttered.

"We will need to work on your reflexes," Giles said.

I looked at Kelly and she made a face at me. We both knew that was going to result in more pain.

oOo

The house was dark when we arrived. Dean went straight into the library. Giles muttered something about a book and went inside. Kelly, Jane and I stayed out. Far as I knew Sam was still locked up. I wasn't interested in being able to hear him.

Jane motioned for us to follow her. I looked at Kelly. She shrugged and we went after her. We walked through the junkyard. Jane finally stopped once we reached the end of it. There was a small grove of trees at the edge of the property.

"Is this where you sleep?" Kelly asked as Jane sat down on the ground.

"It is a small comfort in this mass of metal. Join me." We sat across from her. One of her hands reached back and her fingers dug into the earth as she leaned back on it. "You will speak of the matters of the men. Tell me."

"Tell you what?" I asked.

"What ails the tall one?"

"He.." Kelly stopped. "He's in withdrawal."

Jane frowned. "I do not understand. Was he in battle?"

Kelly looked at me. She mouthed the word help and widened her eyes.

I sighed. "No, not…" I tried to think of how to phrase it. "He has been in battle. The two of them have been fighting the things in the dark for all their lives. Right now, he's facing a relapse of addiction. A demon got him drinking demon blood and then he couldn't stop. He did though and got better once it was out of his system. The other day they came across someone who...brought it back?" I looked at Kelly. "I think he drank some and now they have to wait until it's out of him again."

Kelly nodded. "Yeah. It was Famine. Basically, he forced everyone to overindulge in what their poison, what they desire," she elaborated. "For Sam...that was blood."

Jane stared at both of us before she nodded. "Then it is a battle, one in his mind. There is nothing weak in continuing the fight. Now, what are these things in the dark?"

oOo

Sam was let out a day later. We caught him stumbling his way upstairs while we left for training. When Kelly and I regrouped in the kitchen to go over our list for the house, Sam walked in with Dean. The tension was palpable. Sam looked a little more alive than what I expected.

"What's up?" Kelly asked, looking at the brothers.

"We're leaving. We got a job."

"What are you doing?" Sam asked. He looked hesitant at approaching.

I gave him a smile. "Making a list of things we need for the house. I think we have everything." I handed him the list and watched his eyebrows raise as he looked over it. It was likely the fact that I had underlined various protective measures like devil's traps.

"Except jobs," Kelly joked.

"About that. We can get you IDs so if you have anything with a picture, hand it over." Dean said. Sam handed me back the list. "Only jobs you can work will be under the table Kelly. You'll want to avoid giving them too much info."

"What? Why me?" She looked alarmed.

"Because she can't leave the house," he said, pointing to me.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Michelle, you're wanted by the police for multiple counts of murder in Tennessee. There are still cops looking for you. You'll want to avoid going out too much," Sam said softly.

"What?" I asked. The demon had said she had cried when the police arrived, but I didn't know she aimed them at me. "How do you know?" Sam suddenly looked uncomfortable.

"Because," Dean said, "mass murder like that at a diner throws up red flags. Hunters looked into it. Rudy, actually. He's the one who said they were looking for you, well, we didn't know it was you, but Cas went to check it out, thinking it had to do with Lucifer...guess he was right." Dean shrugged.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I looked back and forth between the two.

"We didn't...we didn't think it was a good idea," Sam said slowly. "You weren't in the best of shape when you arrived."

"You still should have!" I snapped. I took a deep breath. I could understand their reasoning, but I didn't agree with it. This affected me.

"She's right," Kelly said. "You should have told us. You can't keep secrets like that. What if we got pulled over? We wouldn't have been prepared." Kelly paused for a moment. "Wait, who's going to drive? Like to the new place and back?" Her voice rose a little in pitch. "I can't drive! I don't want to even see Jane attempt it!"

She had a good point. The only one who had any experience driving was me, but what would happen though if we got pulled over? Gainsboro was going to remain haunting me. The demon's laughter echoed in my ears as if she was still with me and I could remember Edgar's face.

Something touched me. I whirled, swinging into empty space as Sam leaned back from me. I focused back into the kitchen. The others were staring at me. Kelly looked surprised.

"And that's the other reason she can't work," Dean said.

"Sorry," I muttered. I tried to shake off the remnants of the memory and the knowledge that I was wanted by the cops. I stood up and left the kitchen.

oOo

The boys were gone when I woke up. I hadn't seen them since I left the kitchen the night before and took off running, trying to erase the lingering thought that there was something wrong with me. People didn't usually slip into memories and forget where they were.

I stared at the phones on the wall. They were labelled carefully with the organization and the name, which I assumed was to identify who it was supposed to be. Like Willis for the FBI. I had heard them ring a few times but I had never stuck around to listen.

"Ah, good morning Michelle." Giles was in the library, sitting in one of the chairs.

"What are you reading?" I asked, stepping forwards.

"It's the Labreta Sagrada Demonicus." I stared at him confused. He sighed and explained. "It is a book filled with information on the demons of this world."

"Really?" My interest was piqued. I moved closer to see what the book said. He held it out so that I could see it. I stared at it for a second before looking at him. "I have no idea what this says."

"Really? You can't read Latin?" He looked genuinely surprised.

"Did you think I could?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. I was fluent in English and knew a handful of French, Dutch and German from my school work, but Latin had never come up.

"I imagined that it would have been something you looked into, tried to learn, considering how much that demon that possessed you affected your life."

"You make a good point," I said. "Would you teach me?"

Kelly was going to kill me.

Once Jane found that I was awake, she took it upon herself to wake Kelly up so we could train. Afterwards, Giles started Latin lessons...for all of us. He felt it was necessary considering that many of the spells and exorcisms used were based in Latin. Jane was picking up the language easily. Kelly and I were already struggling.

"Conjugate the verb sum," Giles looked at Kelly. He was as ruthless in teaching as he was in training.

She glared at me. "Um...sum, summes? Or is it just es?"

"Hell if I know," I muttered. This was a bad idea. I should have just tried to memorize the exorcism.

"It is sum, es and est." We both turned and glared at Jane.

"Why can't we just record the exorcism?" Kelly asked. "That way if we need it, we can play it."

"On what?" I asked. "We don't have a phone or anything."

"Well, we'll get one," she said simply. "Phones, recorders...something."

"Makes sense. You never know when you're going to need it, or if you're being choked or something and can't say it." I thought about it. "What if you set up a speaker system? Could you set up something like that? Have it blast out across a house."

"But who would press play?" Kelly asked.

"You'd have to have someone be there," I shrugged. "But you can't really have someone man a possession station all day every day."

"Possession station. That sounds like you go there to get possessed. Looking to cure your demon? Tired of your host and want a new one? Come on down to the possession station!" Kelly called out in a fake announcer voice. I tried not to laugh.

"Girls," Giles cut in before he sighed. "Let's go over it again."

[tbc]