Jessica Moore was having a very, very strange day.
It had started around two in the morning, when Dean, the older brother Sam often mentioned but never really discussed, broke into their apartment and got into a physical fight with Sam.
Well, the physical fight part might be a stretch, but it hadn't been a happy reunion. And Jessica knew she wasn't as smart as Sam, but from the way the blood had drained out of her boyfriend's face, whatever 'hunting trip' their dad was on, it probably had nothing to do with deer.
Jess had always wondered what Sam's family was really like. He didn't talk about them much. He told her his mom had died in a house fire when he was a baby and that he had moved constantly growing up - that was no secret- and he mentioned his brother in passing sometimes. But he only ever talked about Dean at any length (or his dad at all) when he was drunk. And Sam rarely got more than tipsy. So, in the nearly two years they had been dating Jess had learned very little about her boyfriend's family life.
Every detail she had learned, however, she had committed to memory, trying to piece together the puzzle that was Sam Winchester's past.
She had long wondered if his dad, John, was involved in some sort of organized crime. It would explain Sam's uncanny knack for picking out dangerous people, the night terrors that left him screaming more often than not, and the vague 'family business' John had shoved down his sons' throats. The one that Sam never seemed to elaborate on. It would make sense too, with his mom's death and the constant moving.
So she hadn't pushed, hadn't really wanted to know. Sam had left that behind- he had repeatedly told her that he had left the family business. She didn't quite get why he seemed to insist she know that but understood it was important. He never talked to his family, was on track to be a lawyer, and was honestly one of the most genuine people she had ever met. He wasn't planning on a life of crime, so unless he wanted to tell her, she wouldn't push.
But when she was left alone, with nothing but an inexplicable dread and the memory of Sam's ashen and drawn face, Jess wondered if she should have pushed a little harder.
She pushed down the anxiety and did her best to ignore the knot in her stomach as she went about her day. It was Saturday so she had no classes, thank God, but she did have errands to run.
The first stop was the gym. After the whirlwind arrival of Dean and his sudden departure with her boyfriend, there was no way she was going back to sleep and running always made her feel better. After a couple of hours of sweat, Jess felt better, but she couldn't shake the vaguely strange and foreboding feeling. It followed her all day, only growing worse as the sun set on the horizon. She hadn't heard from Sam yet, which worried her, but she didn't want to bother him, not when she had no idea what he was really doing, so she resisted the urge to blow up his phone as she walked home from the grocery.
That's when her already unusual day got even stranger.
Jess and Sam lived in a relatively safe part of town. Well. Mostly safe. Safe if you knew to stay near lights, always carry pepper spray, and knew which streets to avoid. ( It also helped if you went out with your 6'4, ultra-fit, boyfriend most of the time who had a reputation for being able to kick ass). But Jess generally knew not to walk into dark alleys or confront strange men.
But, Jess had never once passed up a chance to help someone even when it got her in trouble. She and Sam had met when he backed her up at a bar when she called out a creep hitting on a stranger. They hadn't exchanged numbers until almost a week later when Brady formally introduced them, but her first memory of Sam would always be him giving the creep a black eye. She couldn't count the number of times they both had gotten black eyes (though Jess had a feeling Sam had taken quite a few for her because he was just like that, damn him) helping someone.
And despite knowing better, when Jess heard a scared cry coming from the unusually dark alley to her right, she couldn't help it. She sat her bag of groceries on the ground, pulled out her taser and entered the alley.
Jess was tall for a woman, taller than most men she knew. It was a problem when it came to dating- lots of men had very fragile egos, but when it came to confrontation, the height helped her out.
"Hey" Jess called, her voice loud and brash, from years of yelling across the fields at her siblings and farmhands. "Back off, Jackass."
The alley was so dark it was hard to make out who was standing between her and the frightened person (a woman, Jess thought) backed up against the wall. It was tall and thin, and something about it set off several alarms in Jessica's head and the strange feeling reared up with vengeance but Jess tamped it down.
The person didn't turn, didn't even acknowledge her, still creeping closer to the whimpering woman. Jess took another step into the alley, drawing herself up to her full height, planting her feet firmly. "Hey!" She called again, this time louder "I said back off!"
The person stopped this time, then tilted their strangely thin head. That's when it turned around. A primal part of her brain, filled with the survival instincts of ancestors long gone screamed for her to runhidego because that... that wasn't human. She wasn't facing some entitled asshole, it was something completely different. In a split second, its pale face was inches from hers, a vertical mouth filled with needle-like teeth hissing and more eyes than Jessica cared to count stared at her and she reacted in the only way she knew to.
Jess tased it. Electricity crackled as her taser made contact with the thing and it suddenly let out a scream that chilled Jess to her core. She wanted to let go, but she held on, watching in horror as the creature writhed at her feet, her hand still frozen on the trigger of her taser. She half noticed the woman running past her, crying, and Jess wanted to move, to follow, but instead of fight or flight, she was frozen.
Then there was a hand on her arm, roughly pulling her out of the alley. She dropped the taser at the sudden movement, and before she could speak, there was a man now holding her hand saying "Let's go! Come on! It'll be up soon!"
Jessica Moore wasn't stupid. On a normal day she would never, ever consider letting a stranger, especially a strange man, pull her anywhere, she would never follow him blindly. But, it wasn't a normal day, and this man, with crazy hair and a pinstripe suit seemed to know something, so Jess ran.
The man was fast- faster than he looked- and Jess had to put her all into keeping up with him. He had a death grip on her hand and she had to focus on not falling as they weaved through the sparse crowds, darting through alleys, across streets, and down roads Jess didn't even know existed.
Finally, he came to a sudden stop in an alley, dropping her hand quickly. Jess was thoroughly winded and took a moment to lean against the brick wall and closed her eyes a moment as she gulped down air for her burning lungs.
"We should be safe here." The man said and Jess cracked an eye open. He had turned to look at her. She watched his face scrunch in confusion " Are you alright?" He was British, she noted. The accent was obvious, now that she could actually hear it over the screams of… whatever that creature was and she somehow didn't have the energy to be surprised by that. She wasn't sure anything could actually surprise her anymore. She opened her eyes, pushing off the wall now despite still panting.
"I'm just peachy," Jess snapped "I've been up since two in the damn morning, almost got my face eaten off by an eldritch horror, and I just let a strange man drag me halfway across the city. Why wouldn't I be fine?"
The man's eyes widened and he tilted his head ever so slightly in a way that reminded her of Sam somehow. "It wouldn't have eaten your face. Sucked out your internal organs maybe, but you would still have had a face,"
"What the fuck" she blurted out before her brain could even really process what was happening, because who fucking said that. Of all the-
"Doctor I got- wait whose this?" There was a new voice behind her, loud and also British. Jess couldn't help but flinch as she turned to look at the newcomer. Her already racing heart kicked it up a few notches because she honestly didn't know if this much adrenaline in less than 24 hours was healthy. The person was a blonde woman, who looked to be around Jess's age. She was holding a bag of... something and was looking critically between Jess and the man. Had she called him Doctor?
"Oh! Rose! This is…. Well, I don't know her name" The man looked bashful suddenly, the tips of his ears turning pink as the other woman, Rose, rolled her eyes. "But she saved someone from the Jeit by tasing it before I could get there."
Rose turned to look at Jess and appeared impressed "Nice one," she said, flashing her a grin "I'm Rose. That on is the Doctor"
"Just the Doctor," the man, this 'Doctor' supplied cheerfully as he took the bag from Rose and rummaged through it.
"Jess." she said automatically then shook her head a bit "Uh, Jessica Moore- wait can we just stop. Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on? I think I almost died at the hands of... did you call it a Jeet? Or am I loosing my damn mind?"
"It's a Jeit," the Doctor corrected, still digging through the bag "And its an alien, not a hallucination."
Aliens. Aliens? They expected her to believe in aliens?
What else could it be? A part of her brain whispered. You aren't crazy, you are totally awake, and that woman saw it too, this man, this Doctor acknowledged it.
But aliens? Rose shot him a look he didn't notice "I know it sounds like a hoax, and you've got no real reason to trust us, but I promise that thing is an alien and not a particularly friendly one at that."
Jess shook her head, falling back against the wall heavily "I-I don't even know who you are! For all I know you could've, I don't know, drugged me and are planning to harvest my internal organs or something." Jess was suddenly light on breath again, but this time it wasn't from running. It was borderline hysteria rising in her chest. What had she been thinking, following a strange man to a strange part of the city, when Sam was off doing God knows what God knows where. But… she didn't know of any drug that would do this to a person and she was a nursing major after all. And the hysteria would do nothing, despite how much she wanted to cry, she was at least going to give this alien idea a chance because any other option was somehow worse. Jess took a deep breath and clenched her shaking hands, straightening up once again. "But I know a lot about drugs, and I don't know any drug that can do this, so, fine. If it's an alien. What do we do about it?"
Rose looked concerned, Jess could see it in her eyes but the Doctor cut off whatever the other woman was about to say.
"Aha!" he cried, finally pulling a bottle of hairspray (hairspray, really?) from the bag. He rounded on Jess " We? We aren't doing anything. Rose and I will take it from here, but good work, tasing it. No, you can run on home and by the time you get there, the Jeit should be taken care of. No worries for you"
And for as terrified, confused, and exhausted as Jess was, only one thing served to piss her off no matter what. And that was someone, especially a man, telling her that he would 'take care of it' because she couldn't.
Jess's fear didn't vanish, but she'd nearly died and apparently had fought on an alien creature with no help. She wouldn't sleep until she saw them take care of this thing herself. And, this was her city, in a way, she couldn't just go home knowing that if they failed people were going to get their internal organs sucked out.
"No fucking way. I nearly died because of that thing, but there is no way in hell that I am just going to scurry back to my apartment and twiddle my thumbs while you take care of this. I'm going to help you two in whatever way I can, whether you like it or not."
"Americans are always so vulgar." The Doctor griped, but he also looked duly impressed "But I can't say I'm surprised- you did tase a Jeit after all. So, come on, I suppose its only fair you help."
Rose grinned "Yeah, it'll be fun. I hope you're up for more running Jess."
Jess, already on edge narrowed her eyes at the other blonde. Maybe it was her nerves or the anger already at boiling, but she felt a challenge in her tone. It wasn't often that Jess backed down from a challenge either.
"Oh, I'm ready to go." Jess shot back through clenched teeth. "Ready as I'll ever be."
"Good!" The Doctor said. "So here's the plan."