A/N: Hope you like it.

Chapter Six

When Sam got out of the shower, it was to find Jess asleep on the bed. He knew how she felt, it was hard to get a good night's sleep with cuffs on and especially when two people were crammed into a bed only designed to accommodate one.

Sam had been glad to see the room had contained two single beds instead of one double, he had been afraid Dean would think it was funny but Sam couldn't face the awkwardness. It was one thing to be cramped together through circumstances completely out of their control, but with being offered a double bed? He didn't know whether he would have been brave - and selfish - and suggested they were both adults and were perfectly capable of sharing a bed, or offered to sleep on the floor.

As it was, he had claimed the first bed he came to by dumping his bag on it then, once Jess had disappeared to have her shower, he had reclined atop the sheets to wait for his turn.

He smiled to himself at the way Jess was sprawled out on top of the covers, looking truly at peace for the first time in days. He resisted the urge to brush a stray lock of hair off her face then went over to the next room and knocked on Dean's door telling him that he and Jess were going to just order food in since they were both knackered.

Dean looked a little relieved, "Cool, I could do with a little time to myself anyway. You guys are exhausting to be around constantly."

Sam rolled his eyes, "Yeah, I wonder who's fault that is." He muttered before turning and heading back to his room for the night.

Sam argued with himself over whether to wake Jess up to order, or just order for her. Well it's not like she ever orders anything different from the pizza place, he thought to himself, she always orders ham and pineapple.

With another look at Jess, Sam decided she looked too peaceful to wake up, at least without the consolation of food. She had been through a lot the past few days and she deserved the rest - any peace he could give her, whether it was a few minutes extra sleep or her favourite take out. He wondered if she knew how little he could resist her in anything.

He stepped outside to place an order for delivery at the nearest pizza parlour and then closed the door gently behind him as he re-entered the room. He found his eyes drawn to her again but he shook himself and turned the tv on quiet to give himself something else to stare at. Something a lot less creepy than staring at someone as they slept.

The sound of the pizza arriving saved Sam from waking Jess up himself; her mood was still reticent as she accepted Sam's tribute and she ate it while watching the tv and barely spoke a word all evening.

The next morning there a knocking on the door, "You crazy kids ready to go?" Asked Dean as the piece of architecture swung inwards.

"We'll be just a minute," Sam replied.

"Yeah well I want a proper greasy breakfast before we get going, so shift your asses." Dean said jovially.

Sam's eyebrows shot up, usually Dean's attempts at humour had more bite to them, "Someone's in a good mood this morning," he commented.

"Yeah, the adult channels this motel gets have some quality programming." Dean wagged his eyebrows suggestively.

Sam grimaced in disgust, "Please, just please don't go into any more details, I don't think my stomach can take it."

"Shall we go?" Jess asked pointedly as she appeared at Sam's elbow and slipped past him out the door.

Dean quirked an eyebrow at Sam, "Trouble in paradise?"

Sam thought Dean sounded just a little too gleeful for his liking, "I don't think it's possible to have trouble in paradise if there's no paradise to begin with."

"So... Jess is fair game?"

Sam glared at Dean, God he hoped Jess wouldn't fall for someone like Dean, "I'll grab my bag." He muttered.

They entered a quaint diner ten minutes later, Jess' tense mood hadn't dissipated and Sam had been wary of doing something to upset her again, and Dean was being obnoxiously smug about the whole thing. He supposed it was fairly obvious that he cared about Jess, as more than a friend, and he had been beginning to think Jess might feel the same way but... Then they were kidnapped. Sam hadn't known what exactly to make of Jess' clinginess over the last couple of days but clearly he had been the only shoulder to lean on while she got over the whirlwind of recent events.

Now she was adjusting, she wouldn't need him anymore. It had been nice to be needed.

Sam ordered scrambled eggs on toast and was glad he hadn't ordered anything heavier - he almost gagged at the sight of Dean's fry up when it landed on the table opposite him.

While Dean had fallen upon his breakfast with a savagery that reminded Sam of a vampire rabid with starvation, Sam ate what he could manage off his own plate at a more sedate pace. He then continued to stare in morbid fascination at Dean's gore show as Sam sipped his coffee, until Dean suddenly looked up and his face dropped, as did a few pieces of food from his lips.

Sam was instantly alert, he spun in his seat to see five people walk through the door. They were carrying - barely - concealed weapons and surveying the dining area. They couldn't be more cliche if they tried.

Sam swiveled back in his seat, "Have they seen you?" He whispered urgently.

"Oh crap," was his answer along with a widening of Dean's eyes. Dean shifted and put his hand behind his back.

"We need to get out of here." Sam murmured urgently, his expression hardened and, no matter how good Dean thought he was going to be in a shoot out, there was no way that five against one gun was going to end well for them. He pointed towards the fire exit. "Over there. Let's go." Dean was up and away immediately while Sam grabbed Jess' hand and towed her along towards the exit about three steps behind Dean. Jess hadn't seemed to notice the thugs enter the diner but the change in the boys' mood had just started to pierce her consciousness as she allowed herself to be dragged to the door.

They were spotted halfway through their escape and Sam broke into a run tugging Jess along with him. He pushed through the door behind Dean and glanced back to see weapons being drawn by their persuers. After being spotted, their best hope was just to make a break for the car so he re-firmed his grip on Jess' hand and continued to pull her along behind him.

Sam was abruptly pulled up short by Jess; turning to look he saw one of the gangsters gripping Jess' other wrist. it was like a switch had been flipped in his mind and his eyes zeroed in with laser focus on the threat. Letting go of her briefly, Sam took two long strides and grasped the hand of the thug gripping Jess and squeezed, he brought a foot up and kicked out his knee - he saw Jess' face drain with the crunch of bone - and threw his elbow up and into the jaw of his opponent, knocking him to the floor.

He slipped a punch from a guy behind him and thrust his fist deep into his guys he turned. As the man fell wheezing Sam saw a flash of gunmetal out the corner of his eye, he turned and managed grab the gun and smashed the third man's hand into the wall until he dropped it but got a fist to the temple for his efforts. By the time he had dispatched the thugs that had followed them into the alley, Jess was stood to the side, pale-faced and staring at the four men in various states of distress - and, in one case, consciousness - writhing on the floor. Sam was sporting a couple of bruises of his own, but his own mother had given him worse during training, these were nothing; instead he was more worried about the fifth man and where the hell he could be. He had heard two distant shots in the middle of his scuffle but not much screaming, he was assuming no-one had been hit.

And where the hell was Dean for that matter?

Whatever, the safest place for Jess was still in the car, or any car. He took her arm a little more gently this time and pulled her away from his pile of victims and towards safety, speeding Jess along as fast as he could without resorting to literally dragging her behind him.

As they approached the car park he witnessed the stand off between Dean and the fifth man come to an end as Dean shot the thug and the anonymous gunman went down with a scarlet poppy growing on the front of his shirt. With his attacker on the floor Dean had dashed for the car but stopped looked about. His gaze met theirs and he frantically waved them over to him. But the gangster still had enough strength in him to shoot Dean in the back of his shoulder as he was fumbling to open the car.

Sam kicked the gun out of the gangster's hand as he ran past and dropped to his knees beside Dean. The dude was still breathing and Sam shed his own over-shirt and used it to stem the bleeding. Dean was groaning and muttering under his breath but Sam only cared for the fact that he was alive and conscious.

"Jess, can you get the car open for me?" He asked but she was still staring in horror at the slowly staining shirt and his bloodied hands. "Jess? Jess!"

Her attention snapped to his face at his raised voice and he asked her to get the car door open again, using the same voice he used on shell-shocked victims during a hunt. It seemed to do the trick and Jess stumbled into action.

Once the car door was open he muttered an apology to Dean before hauling him to lay across the backseat. Dean yelled and cursed but Sam mostly ignored him and turned back to Jess, "We need to get Dean to a clinic. I'll drive, you take over here." He indicated to the shirt he was once again pressing on Dean's back. He didn't think the bullet had hit anything important, hopefully Dean would be in and out in a day.

"A clinic? He needs a proper hospital! We should call an ambulance."

"Jess I don't think Dean has insurance. Plus the hospital will call the police."

"And why is that a bad thing?" She asked desperately. "They can't have every police officer in the country working for them."

Sam swallowed his uneasiness at the thought of having to explain his bad experiences with the police and said instead, "It only takes one corrupt officer to inform them that we're there, and even if that gang doesn't have any of the police around here in it's pocket, being in a hospital will make it easier for them to find us. And I don't think they'll be too friendly after this."

Jess swallowed and nodded, she reluctantly took a step forward and Sam helped guide her to take his position as he moved aside for her, he held her hands down on the shirt and said, "You got this. Just breathe, and keep the pressure on, we need to stop him losing as much blood as possible. Just hang on until we can get to a clinic."

Jess bit her lip and pressed down, eliciting a groan from Dean as Sam slipped into the driver's seat and tore out of the car park. He needed to find the next town big enough to have a free clinic where they could remain relatively anonymous.

He was already breaking several traffic laws as he pulled onto the highway and continued at a speed that could only be described as unremorseful. He tried to keep the ride as steady as he could but there was only a razor's edge where smooth enough and fast enough intersected.

He made it in record time and spun the car to a stop right outside the entrance to the clinic. As soon as the car had halted he was out the door and easing Dean out of the car, pulling an arm around his shoulders while Jess ran ahead shouting for help. Pretty soon there was a crowd of people outside helping him get Dean onto a stretcher then carrying him off to a room to be seen to.

A harried but stern looking nurse then marched up to him and Jess insisting that they be looked at too and Sam, with only a little reluctance, submitted to being lead to another room, figuring that the sooner it was over with, the better. Sam was guided to one room while the nurse led Jess into yet another.

The doctor occupying the room was young but already looking world weary, and she glanced up with tired eyes as they entered the room. The nurse had offered a clipped explanation at the door but the doctor still asked questions that Sam was reluctant to answer without corroborating a story with the other two.

The doctor tilted his chin up to examine the bruising on his face, she prodded the darkening skin with gentle fingers and shone her light into his eyes to check for concussion. She then demanded he take his t-shirt off - despite Sam's assertions that his face caught the worst of it, but the blood stains that decorated it were probably working against his claim.

"We can find you a clean t-shirt to wear, but I really need to examine the rest of you." The doctor remained firm but looked at him kindly.

Sam sighed, he hated this - baring his torso always got him stared at with either pity or just blatant shock and curiosity. Although he had always healed well, his life hadn't exactly been peaceful and had left it's marks, many of them. He closed his eyes as he stripped and when he slowly opened them again he resolutely refused to meet the doctor's eyes and instead stared straight ahead at the opposite wall.

The doctor made her examination and finished relatively quickly then, clearing her throat, she announced that it was just some nasty bruising that would heal up by itself in a couple of weeks and that she was going to the supply cupboard to find him a clean t-shirt to wear.

A minute later there was a knock on the door and Sam was surprised to see Jess on the other side after he had called out an invitation to enter. Although by the look on her face, Sam wasn't anywhere near as surprised to see her as she was to see him. In fact stunned might have been a more apt word... Or traumatised. He had never taken his shirt off in front of Jess before, his scars were mostly white lines of varying length and thickness - and sometimes jaggedness - nothing standing out too much but there were a lot of them... Compared to the average twenty year old male.

He had sat up straighter in his surprise but quickly hunched over again in a subconscious attempt to hide himself, not that it really worked. He looked down at his hands gripping the edge of the bed he was perched upon. "What did the nurse say?" He asked.

It took Jess a moment to respond, "Huh? Oh. Just a bit of a bruise... What about you?"

"Pretty much the same - just a few bruises, nothing serious."

Thankfully the doctor came back with the promised t-shirt and Sam put it on quickly to escape Jess' unreadable scrutiny. "They're finished with your other friend now if you want to go see him." The doctor dismissed the pair with a gesture in the direction of the room Dean was in.

Jess remained quiet as they made their way into Dean's room, but Dean obviously wasn't in a fit state to notice as he was floating real high on a cloud of morphine. After several attempts to get a coherent sentence out of Dean, Sam gave up and found a nurse who could tell him how Dean was faring under the fog of all the painkillers.

Luckily Sam had been right in his initial assessment and the bullet hadn't hit anything vital, he just needed bed rest to heal. Then the nurse hurried off to see to her other patients as the clinic had become a lot busier since they had arrived.

He stepped back into Dean's room and began with some trepidation to figure out how to smuggle Dean out of there. He hated himself for thinking it, but they would they would need supplies, he strolled past the workbench and pocketed some painkillers he had used before. He hesitated a moment then left a couple of bills in the place of the container, he had no idea if the amount he left came close to covering the cost but he hoped that he hadn't put the place at too much of a loss. He then turned to face his biggest challenge: getting Dean himself out of there.

Luckily Dean was more compliant than coherent as Sam began to manhandle him out the door.

"Sam! What are you doing?" Jess hissed, "he's just been shot. We need to wait for a doctor to discharge him properly!"

"I spoke to a nurse outside, he just needs a bit of bed rest and he'll be fine." Replied Sam.

"Sam, I really don't think this is a good idea... "

"I know. If we didn't have people coming after us I wouldn't do this either but I don't think Dean would be able to handle getting shot a second time." Sam reasoned and he was relieved to see Jess had no counter argument to that, even if the uneasiness didn't completely leave her face.

Sam was able to pass Dean off as merely drunk all the way through the bustling clinic and into the car, his limbs flopped and flailed, but Sam dug out new reserves of patience as he tried to fold Dean into the car many times only to be thwarted by the tiniest of distractions which almost always had Dean moving in entirely the opposite direction to which Sam was guiding him.

Eventually Dean was cloistered in the backseat while Sam and Jess shared the front. The ride was filled with random giggles and bizarre comments originating from the backseat but the front remained quiet. Sam caught Jess occasionally glancing over at him but he couldn't work out what to say to her, especially with her eyes sometimes settling on the slightly mottled skin at his elbow.

It was only a little after lunchtime that Sam pulled into a motel car park but the day had already seemed so long. He booked a similar sleeping arrangement to the previous night but manoeuvred Dean into the double room and settled him onto a bed there.

"I'll sleep in here tonight," Sam explained, "he probably shouldn't be left alone, just in case... Anyway, did you want me to go out and grab some lunch for us or... " Sam continued feeling the awkwardness of the last few hours pile upon him all at once.

"No, it's ok. I'll get it," replied Jess.

Once Jess had departed Sam dropped onto the vacant bed next to him like someone had cut his strings. The will he had been using to hold himself up had walked out the door with Jess and left him alone with a practically delirious Dean who seemed more like scenery than company for the moment.

Sam hated how familiar everything felt: the tending of an injury, the hostility of the patient and the pervasive tension humming through the air. He remained mostly silent throughout the evening, only speaking when necessity or politeness demanded it from him and prepared for a long night.