A/N: Please excuse the terrible gang name, it was the best I could think of at the time and then it just sorta stuck.

Chapter three

An unfamiliar rumbling woke Sam up not too far outside of Palo Alto city limits and he swiftly became aware that he was sprawled out uncomfortably in the backseat of a strange car, his hands were bound to the door and Jess was sniffling quietly to herself in the front seat.

"Jess, are you ok?" He asked quietly so as not to startle her as he maneuvred himself a little awkwardly into an upright position.

It was quite a big car, an old one with old, cracked leather bench seats and a cassette player emitting slightly crackling rock music. Though the back seat was spacious, it had been a long time since Sam had been able to fold his frame comfortably into the backseat of any car.

Jess startled anyway and whipped her head round to face him. "Sam! You're awake!"

Sam felt a small smile play around his lips at Jess' enthusiasm. "Yeah. Are you hurt?" He rephrased his earlier question.

Jess shook her head and asked, "What's going on?" She looked frightened and had shining, wet evidence of tears across her cheeks, it made Sam's heart clench to see her looking so miserable.

"I don't know," he mused quietly before he turned to their captor, "Who are you? And why are you kidnapping us?" He didn't look anything out of the ordinary and Sam wasn't picking up any weird vibes from him and any malevolence he felt was surprisingly little for someone who had kidnapped them at gunpoint. But still, these were only vague feelings and he wasn't about to trust them completely.

The driver chewed his lip, "I work for a guy who has taken issue with you Sam. I don't know why but you must have done something to really piss him off."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Sam protested with a frown.

"Well I'm not exactly privy to all the gory details. You been involved in any shady drug deals or maybe had a tryst with a hooker that went south?"

Sam shook his head, sure that the revulsion he was feeling at his captor's suggestions was showing on his face.

"Any bar fights? Or pool scams?"

Sam narrowed his eyes, "What kind of person do you work for?"

The guy sighed, "The kind that holds a grudge... And always gets his way."

Jess, who had been turning paler with each utterance let out a small sob.

"Shh, it's ok," Sam comforted, "this guy's clearly made a mistake. We'll be fine."

"Doubt it," snorted their captor, "my boss doesn't take kindly to mistakes, so he surrounds himself with people who don't make them. I was given your name and address and told in no uncertain terms to bring you in so he could make an example of you. So that's what's gotta happen. Nothing you can do to stop it."

Sam glared at him, "Well in that case you only need me. You can just let Jess go."

The reply came filled with derision, "You think you're a hero, kid? You might be glad she came along once Kaiser's finished with you, might appreciate a gentle touch after what Kaiser does to his examples. Besides, she wants to be here."

Sam felt his eyes narrow and his expression become even more fierce in the face of this asshole's cavalier attitude, "Sure she does." He snarked before turning serious, "Let her go."

The asshole in question looked at Sam in surprise, "Well I gotta admit it kid, you've got bigger balls than I gave you credit for. Look I already told you I don't know all the ins and outs but I'm kinda in hot water with my boss as it is, I need this job to go as smooth as possible and there's already been one hiccough," he nodded at Jess, "I'm not about to risk another one. Anyway, you're taking being kidnapped awfully calmly for an innocent college kid, you sure you haven't been up to no good?"

Sam frowned again, this asshole was really getting under his skin. Sam could see him sizeing him up, see the conclusions forming behind his eyes. "I'm pretty sure I would remember pissing this guy off. What is he, some sort of small time gang leader?" Sam said recognising the irony in casting his own aspersions, but in his defence, the other guys wasn't exactly being very informative.

"And what are you? Some spoilt rich kid who thinks he can get away with anything because he'll always have daddy's money to bail him out? Did he have to bribe the college to let you in too?" Sam recoiled slightly from the sneer. The asshole had positively turned gleeful, probably at the prospect of a rich kid getting taken down a peg or two. Well this guy could carry on thinking whatever he wanted to, Sam wasn't about to spill all his dirty secrets in the back of this old car.

Whatever, the main thing he would worry about now was making sure Jess was alright. She looked like she was barely holding herself together, although under the circumstances that was an entirely reasonable, understandable, normal reaction. Well, he had always been a freak and what good would him breaking down do?

They pulled into the car park of the first motel they saw in the next town along the highway, a dingy grey building whose windows were murky and mostly darkened; the only windows betraying a light behind them being the office and one other. Black grime faded unevenly down from the windowsills and the gutters like dirty shadows, remnants of past sins bleeding out from rooms steeped in vulgarity.

It was getting dark now and everyone was looking tired. Their kidnapper disappeared into the office and came back a few minutes later swinging a set of keys in his fingers. With his gun as a deterrent he moved Sam first into the bedroom and cuffed his wrists to the headboard of one of the beds, Sam shifted a little and assessed the bed as standard fare for sleazy motels hanging by their fingernails from the bottom rung of respectability. Then Jess was brought in and cuffed to the opposite side of the bed from him.

"Can we use the bathroom?" Sam asked struggling to keep his voice from sounding too defiant but, from the look on the guy's face, he didn't completely succeed and seemed more to irritate him.

"Fine," he huffed then turned towards Jess, "you first." He uncuffed her and gestured with his gun towards the bathroom, which Sam didn't have high hopes for being any cleaner than the rest of the room, before turning his gun on Sam. "Don't try anything funny or else loverboy gets it."

Sam had no idea where loverboy had come from yet while he was just confused, Jess instantly looked terrified at the thought of being directly responsible for his personal safety, but she nodded and made her way to the bathroom. At the door she paused to look at Sam still cuffed to the bed.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine," Sam tried to be as calm and reassuring as he could but the effect proved minimal. Jess had regained some composure over the course of the drive since he had woken up - he didn't know if it was from his efforts to soothe her or just emotional exhaustion - but she was still scared, a sensible, normal reaction to being held at gunpoint by a stranger. Sam sighed inwardly, this guy's pointed remark about how calm he was being had brought up unpleasant memories and now he didn't have Jess to focus on they were bubbling up more vigorously to the surface.

"What's your name?" He asked to distract himself.

The man shrugged, "Well, I guess you've already seen my face now, I guess there's not much more harm... Dean." he answered.

"Dean...?"

"Winchester."

"Like the rifle? You're actually named after a gun? Isn't that a bit overkill?" Maybe the situation was getting to Sam a little bit if he was blurting out criticisms of his kidnapper's name.

"Hey, that's a bit rich coming from the guy named after soup. At least my name is cool."

Sam grimaced, the man had a point, and decided to change the subject. "Who do you work for, Dean?"

He sighed, "The name Kaiser ring any bells?" Sam racked his brain trying to think of anyone who might want his head but when the name remained unfamiliar, he shook his head. Besides, from his experience, the type of people who wanted to hurt him were the kind of people who liked to get their hands dirty. "How about the Flaming Arrows?" Again Sam shook his head.

Dean sighed and eyed him suspiciously.

"How did you get my name and address?" Sam asked, feeling his own suspicions rise.

"I told you already it was handed to me." Dean complained, "I don't do all that nerd stuff, I just get given a job and I go out and do it."

"Really? No questions asked?" Sam raised his eyebrows disbelievingly.

"None," Dean confirmed with a valiant effort at confidence.

The bathroom door eased open and Dean nodded to the bed when Jess hovered uncertainly in the doorway. Once she was secured to the bed Sam was given his turn in the bathroom. He moved as fast as he could so as not to leave Jess too long alone in Dean's company. He couldn't get her terrified, watery stare out of his head and he was loathe to leave her in that state for longer than necessary.

That stare was still there as he exited the bathroom, not that he'd expected Jess to be fully calm but seeing her so distressed pained him. Sam was surprised to note Dean looking uncomfortable in Jess' presence, but before he could dwell on it too much, he was secured once again to the bed while Dean indulged himself in a shower.

Jess sat quietly on the bed next to him and Sam wasn't sure what else he could say, he had been whispering soft reassurances in her ear for most of the drive to the motel, for all the good that had done. She was still scared stiff.

He shifted so his shoulder was just brushing hers, offering the only tactile reassurance he could give, bound as he was. He felt her shoulder lean more firmly into his and felt a little relief. She could easily be blaming him right now but it seemed like she wasn't so far.

He started thinking about trying to escape but even trying to get them both out of there unharmed - or at least un-maimed - was too risky. What if Jess got shot? It seemed like Dean was never too far from his gun. Sam glanced over at Jess, she was crying again, but silently, and Sam felt the weight of every tear like each one was an accusation. Even if he could get her out - even if he couldn't get himself out - he didn't know if Dean had any of his colleagues around, and Jess was certainly in no state to elude anyone on her own right now.

Before too long Dean emerged from the bathroom, along with some wisps of steam and promptly ignored them as he turned out the light. He clambered into the other bed, rolling to face away from them and was asleep almost instantly.

Jess wimpered quietly at Sam's side. He leaned into her a little and said softly, "Hey, it's ok." He shifted a little more so he was lying down facing Jess with arms stretched towards the headboard and she followed suit, "I won't let anything happen to you, I promise. Why don't you go to sleep? There's nothing we can do right now and it won't help anything if you're exhausted tomorrow."

He rested his forehead on hers as he spoke and hoped she heard the conviction in his promise; he stamped down on his own feelings with all the strength he could muster - and there were a lot of feelings swarming beneath the surface: anger that he was once again in a risky situation and that somehow he had let Jess be dragged into the sad circus that was his existence, fear that he was ruining her life and, most shamefully of all, bliss that he was closer to Jess than he had ever been before. But none of that mattered right now, so he carried on pushing and squashing and extinguishing.

After a moment's hesitation, Jess seemed to melt into him and he reciprocally curled himself around her. He couldn't help himself as he enjoyed her softness pressed against him for a brief juncture before he squashed that down too; then as snores began across the room he kicked his shoes off in an effort to increase his chances of actually being able to sleep by at least a small amount, and waited while Jess did the same before offering himself up again for her to take comfort as she pleased, and deigned only to take his own comfort silently and secretly. He had to be calm for Jess but he was worried, he was sure to be a little rusty at dealing with dangerous situations like this.

Sam and Jess both lay awake for a while, not only was it hard to relax with their hands cuffed above their heads, but the mattress itself would have to be significantly softer to be considered merely uncomfortable. Sam could feel Jess' breathing occasionally hitch but she made no more noise and Sam had run out of bland reassurances to give her, so he just let her be and eventually they both drifted off.

The next morning they were woken up with a pillow launched at them. Sam was tempted to let his mood be foul for the day but the very next thing he was aware of was being wrapped around Jess - which he found he could never be sorry for, despite the circumstances. She had been startled awake by the pillow just as he was but it was taking her a little more time to adjust to the change of state and probably recover from the surprise.

Once Sam had determined for himself that Jess was probably as okay as she was going to be under the circumstances, he looked around to see Dean shut the door behind him on his way out.

What the hell? He hoped Dean wasn't planning to leave them there all day.

He turned back to Jess who had finished blinking the sleep from her eyes and whose face was rapidly falling as she took in the details of her surroundings.

"Hey, hey, none of that," he cooed gently as her eyes began to fill with tears.

"Sam we've been taken prisoner by some random thug because you've somehow got on the wrong side of some kind of mafia boss. What, exactly, am I supposed to do? How is this going to be ok?"

"It's just for a few days, once this guy has taken us to meet his boss we can get this all straightened out and we'll be back in Palo Alto before you know it." Jess looked at him doubtfully but at least the tears had stopped for now.

"I don't know, Sam. This seems serious, what if...?" Jess trailed off at at the dark swarm of monstrous possibilities her mind seemed to be supplying her with.

"Doesn't matter," Sam stated with conviction, "what ever happens, we'll get through this. You're going to be fine."

Dean was back not long after he left, bringing with him a meagre breakfast for the two of them. Sam supposed the asshole considered it a favour when he supplied them with food and a water bottle and released a wrist each so they could actually eat the food he brought them.

After they had eaten, Dean made as if to bundle them back in the car but Sam demanded they be allowed to use the bathroom first. If Dean seemed irritated by the existence of necessary bodily functions in the morning, it was nothing compared to later on in the day after Sam had asked Dean to stop for the fifth time.

He looked like he was going to shoot Jess there and then and Sam instinctively shifted forward in his seat as far as the cuffs would let him, but instead Dean satisfied himself by growling in Jess' face, "You and your tiny bladder..."

"Don't worry, he won't do anything," Sam whispered quietly in her ear, "It will be a lot easier for him if I'm not kicking off the whole way there." He smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. Jess seemed a little comforted by the gesture so Sam figured he must have done something right.

A couple of hours later Dean pulled into another motel. This one just as sleazy, if not worse than the one before. They were herded inside one by one and secured to another uncomfortable bed in another dingy room and left there as Dean retrieved pizza.

They were uncuffed again by a single wrist and Sam suspected that the only reason he did that for them was because the idea of feeding them himself was utterly repulsive, and Sam echoed the sentiment.

Still though, he was glad of having a hand free when he tried to go to sleep. Jess kicked off her shoes and curled into Sam almost as soon as Dean turned the light off, so Sam wrapped an arm around her and held her close, he couldn't allow anything to happen to her.

She was like a sun in the darkness that had been his life, and the rest of Stanford was her corona. Stanford had been like a glittering emerald city at the end of a long road paved with darkness and violence, he had trudged and fought his way towards it feeling like he could almost drown in the rivers of blood he had wade through, but Jess had been the jewel which shone brightly enough to illuminate a whole city. He had thought he could let her warm him with her light but he knew now he would just stain her with his own hellish darkness.