Jody arrived at the hospital like she declared, six hours later. Dean greets her in the parking lot, and without unnecessary words, she grabs him by arms and hugs him tightly, like the best friends do. Dean didn't even realised how much he needed it.

"It's so freakin' good to see you, Jody." – he admits again, when Jody releases him from her hug.

"Well, I could've been here earlier if you weren't a stupid moron and called me." – Jody teases him. "How are you doing? How is Sam? Tell me everything." – she demands, already walking into the hospital main entrance direction.

"Jody, I'll tell you everything, I promise." – Dean assures her. "Let's sit in the cafeteria, I bet you're exhausted after driving."

"Wait, aren't we going to see Sam?" Jody looks at him, staggered.

"We are, but I would like to… prepare you for it."

Oh God, that sounded really awful. Jody must have sensed his anxiety, because she simply agreed without further discussion.

Dean leads her to the hospital cafeteria, orders two black coffees with no sugar and starts the story.

OOO

"What about, you know, our ways? Have you tried to find some faith healers, voodoo priests, something?" – Jody asks after Dean tells her all there is to tell.

"Jody, you know that 99.9 percent of that is just crap. I would probably tried to find something, but the way Sam is now… I need to be here with him, he gets confused and hostile towards the staff when I'm not there."

"I'll let Claire know. She'll start looking."

"Thanks, Jody." – Dean says heartily. "But don't count on much. Like I said, 99.9 percent of them are just swindlers."

"So you think there is nothing else to do? Nothing else to try?"

"I think this is it, Jody." – Dean confesses gloomily, with a smile full of sadness on his face. "This is the Winchesters brothers retirement."

Jody ponders, running her finger over the rim of the cup. She decides not to dwell on a subject of fixing Sam.

"Where are you gonna live?" she finally asks, stop playing with the cup.

"Well, it's not like we have a lot of options." – Dean states. "Bunker, motels or Impala. Bunker seems most reasonable."

"Or..." - Jody suspends the rest of the sentence, building the tension. - "You could move in to my place." - she finishes.

Dean needs a moment to ingest what Jody said. He is not shure he gets it.

"I'm sorry Jody, I'm not following." - he manages to stammer.

"I'm saying you and Sam can come to my place, in Sioux Falls." - Jody repeats. "I've more rooms than I can use. Claire rarely visits. Alex is in the hospital mostly, and when she is home she tries to catch on with sleeping. Seriously, all that waits for me in my house is silence, memories and dust. I would appreciate some company."

Dean shooks his head.

"You're a good friend, Jody." - Dean tells her, and he means it. "The best. I know that we can always count on you no matter what. But this is too much. This is just me and Sam, and we promised that we will take care of each other. Hell, I promised my father that I'll watch out for Sam, whatever the circumstances. He is my brother, and I could never let him down, but you... you don't need to give over your home, your life, your peacefulness for us. I can't let that happen."

"Dean, listen to me." - Jody presses, forcing him to look her in the eyes. "I mean what I said. The bunker has not an actuall address, and technically it doesn't even exist. How will you call a doctor for home visit or an ambulance if something happens to Sam? How will you carry your brother up and down the staircase? Or maybe you will lock him inside, with no windows and no sunshine? Dean, you know that it's not good enough. It won't work. I have a house. It's close to the Sioux Falls General. It has a garden. Alex is a nurse, goddamnit. She has knowlegde, she has contacts. It makes perfect sense. I know you need to take care of Sam, and you will. But nobody said that you have to do it alone."

"Jody..."

"Just think it over, okay?" - she cuts in before Dean could refuse the proposition again. "Promise me."

Nobody can resist Jody Mills when she uses her imperious motherly voice.

"Okay, okay I promise." - Dean assures her, already angry with himself that she approached him so easily. "I'll think it through."

Jody smiles with satisfation, finishes her coffee in one sip and asks:

"Now when I know everything, are we going to see Sam?"

OOO

Jody put on protective clothing – an disposable long-sleeve gown, gloves and surgical mask, just like Dean instructed her. Sam's doctor gave consent for visiting him, but only if she dresses herself tightly in the protective equipment and won't come closer than a meter and half to Sam. All of this to protect Sam from catching any infection from her, which could be destructive to his health.

Dean is inside Sam's room, "preparing" his brother for her visit, whatever it means. It took a while, but finally the door opens and Dean invites her in by a hand gesture.

She steps in. Her breathing stops as she looks at the man in the bed – if she didn't knew that he is Sam, she would never have guessed. He is seriously underweight and bony, his face angular and skinny. He is wearing a beanie, but it slipped aside a little, revealing a bit of a nasty, reddish scar starting behind his ear. His right eyelid is dropped, same with the corner of his mouth. All of that makes her forget her tongue for a moment, even though Dean told her all about it before.

Dean fixes Sam's beanie and pulls him up higher on the pillows, grabbing him by the armpits.

"Sammy, this is Jody, she came to see you buddy. Like I told you, right? Say hi." - Dean tells his brother, trying to direct his attention to her. Sam remains unfocused, like he didn't hear what Dean have said to him.

"Hi Sam." - Jody greets, waking up from her stupor with a feeling that she needs to do something. "It's me. Jody. I'm so happy to see you."

Sam looks at her for a brief moment, but turns again to his older brother.

"Deeean." - he whines, and his hand clutches on the beanie.

"Sammy, c'mon, it's okay." - Dean calms him down. "Leave it."

He gently unfolds his brother's fingers, loosening his grip on the clothing. Sam whimpers, dissatisfied.

"Will you say hi to Jody?" - Dean prompts, trying to interest his brother in the guest.

"No."

"Why not?"

"I don't know her."

"Of course you know her." - Dean reminds him, looking and sounding stressed. "She is our friend. Jody Mills, a sheriff in Sioux Falls. She is a hunter like us, we fought together."

"I know Jody." - states Sam. "She is not Jody."

"Of course she is." - Dean assures him. "C'mon, look again Sammy."

Sam glances at her and she smiles, forgetting that he cannot see it behind the mask.

"Nooooo!" - Sam yelps. "She's not! She's not!"

Dean is trying to soothe his brother, but Sam fights him and the situation worsens. Sam is thrashing, Dean is trying to hold his upper body steady so he woudn't hurt his head, but Sam doesn't like to be hold and he wails even more, and Jody just can't, just can't stand here and watch, so she lowers the mask over her chin and approaches, trying to place herself in Sam's line of sight.

"Sam, it's really me! Sam!" - Jody shouts. "It's Jody! Hey, look at me!"

Sam looks at her face and, miraculously, stills and quiets.

"See?" - Jody grins. "It's me."

"Jody."

"I'm happy to see you too, Sam."

"You okay, Sammy?" - asks Dean, letting go of his brother, relieved that he didn't have to call the doctor to sedate Sam.

"Is everything all right in here?" - nurse Agnes asks, entering the room. Sam's whimpers must have alarmed her.

"Sammy became a little upset but we've got it now." - Dean explains. "Right, buddy? Everything is okay know?"

Sam is quiet, but he looks relatively calm and unharmed.

Agnes assesses the situation and nodds.

"Supper will be here in ten minutes." - she informs Dean. "You've got it?"

"Yeah, I've got it, Agnes. Thank you." - Dean assures her, and when she leaves, he talks to Sam again. "You heard it, Sammy? Supper is coming. I'm sure it will be something delicious, right?"

"Deeean..." - Sam whines again. "Why is somebody in our room?"

Dean feels anxiety making a nest in his heart again.

"It's Jody." - he laughs nervously. "Our friend. She came all the way from Sioux Falls to see you."

"Thats right, Sam." - she joins Dean's assurances. "Alex and Claire are sending their best whishes too."

"See? All friends." - Dean tries to cheer his brother up. "Will you tell Jody about the book we're currently reading? Hm?"

"Yes." - Sam becames animated, excited. "It's about a boy. And a talking dog. The dog is rude."

"Really? That sounds like an interesting story, Sam." - Jody feels out of place in this whole situation. She is not shure what to do, what to say. She doesn't want to do something wrong. "What's the dog's name?"

"His real name is Sawyer." - Sam continues. "But people call him Banksy. He is rude."

"Thats right, Sammy." - Dean praises him. "And what they are doing?"

Their talk continues until an auxiliary nurse comes in with the supper.

"Sammy, look." - promps Dean. "Two eggs, bread, raspberry tea and pudding. Isn't it great?"

"No." - all of Sam's excitation disappears. "Don't want supper."

"Sammy, I'm sure you'll like it. C'mon."

"No."

"You need to eat, buddy. You're just skin and bones. C'mon, I'll help you."

Dean already peeled the eggs and got a piece on the spoon.

"Open up, Sammy."

"No!"

"C'mon man, just try it. It's good. You'll feel better after you eat, I promise."

"No."

"Why?"

"Pee."

Dean lowers the spoon at looks at his brother suspiciously.

"Do you really need to or just playing for time?" - he asks his brother, inspecting his face.

Sam didn't say anything to that. Dean have a feeling that it's a bluff.

"Okay, c'mon, open up." - Dean resumes his efforts to feed his brother, but Sam starts to wail and cry again, and the whole situation is spinning out of control once more.

"Okay, okay Sam, just look at me." - Jody jumps into action. "If not eggs, then what would you like to eat?"

Her voice knocks him out of his rage, and he quietes.

"So? What would you like?" - she repeats, grinning.

"Macaroni and cheese." - Sam answers after a few seconds. "Macaroni and cheese."

"Okay." - Jody agrees. "I'll bring you the best macaroni and cheese for dinner tomorrow, but only if you eat the eggs today."

"Okay." - Sam, miraculously, agrees.

Dean is stunned. "How did you do it?" - he mouths to Jody, feeding Sam spoonful after spoonful.

Jody winks to him. "Motherly skills" - she mouths back.

OOO

Jody stayed until visiting hours were over. Dean walked her to her car.

"Thank you for your motherly skills, Jody." - Dean says. "You really saved the day."

"You know, I've got more aces in my pockets than you could ever imagine." - she jokes. "I'll find a motel nearby and be here tomorrow morning."

"Jody, you really don't need to..."

"Shut up. I'm here at breakfast. Beside the calories, Sam needs shaving. I'll bring the equipment."

"O... Okay."

"You finally make sense, Dean Winchester."