Chapter 30

Sam and Jessie arrived at the motel room within minutes of leaving the bed and breakfast. Neither of them had spoken while in the car and Sam exited the car quickly once it had stopped, grabbing both of their belongings and dragging them inside.

Jessie noticed the Impala was nowhere to be seen, so she assumed Dean was still on his way back from the cemetery.

She released a weary sigh as she walked into the room and began to rummage through her dufflebag, which Sam had placed on the floor beside the couch. She grabbed her small bottle of whiskey, opened it, drinking it straight from the bottle, before flopping onto the couch.

"You okay?" Sam asked hesitantly as he walked out of the bathroom.

"Define, okay?" she asked in response.

"How's the arm?"

"It's aching a bit, but my head hurts worse."

He walked up behind the couch, brushed some of her hair out of the way and began to rub her shoulders firmly, yet gently.

She almost jumped as he touched her shoulder, but sighed and relaxed once she realized what he was trying to do, closing her eyes, allowing him to rub her shoulders and neck.

He continued to rub her for a few minutes before he leaned down and began to kiss her shoulder lightly, making his way to her neck and ear. Her breathing began to quicken in response.

He climbed over the couch, pulled her close and began to kiss her lips passionately, his hands going up her shirt, her hands grasping him tightly, digging her nails into his back. He was about to pull the shirt from her back when the door to the motel slammed closed, both of them startled, almost falling off the couch.

"Yeah, you're welcome," Dean said irritably as he threw his jacket onto a chair.

Sam looked apologetically at his brother. "Sorry, was helping Jessie with her shoulder and—"

"Since when is her shoulder on her face?"

He rolled his eyes in response.

Jessie climbed off of the couch heading for the door. But before she could turn the knob, Dean grabbed her wrist.

"Don't leave on my account."

She pulled her hand free, shaking her head wearily. "I need to leave, Dean. I need sleep."

"You could always stay on the couch again," he suggested.

She glanced at Sam, smiling slightly. "No. I think it's better if I sleep in my own room for tonight."

"Aren't you forgetting your stuff?"

"I have to get a room first, Dean. Are you sure you weren't the one beaten up by a ghost tonight?" she asked sarcastically before slipping out of the door.

"What's wrong with her?" he asked as he flopped onto the couch beside his brother.

He told his brother the story of what happened while they were at the bed and breakfast.

Jessie walked back into the room almost immediately after Sam had finished his story. She glanced at each of them suspiciously before grabbing her dufflebag.

"I'll see you both in the morning," she said, hoisting the bag onto her good shoulder.

"Wait," Sam said, walking over and wrapping his arms around her. "I was gonna ask if you're okay, but, I was afraid you'd bite my head off."

She smiled, shaking her head. "It's okay, Sam. I understand your concern, but, that's not the problem we have."

"Would you like to tell me what is?"

She glanced quickly at Dean before turning her attention back to him.

"I can hunt, Sam. I've been doing it for many years without you. And, as it turns out, this time I got hurt. It happens. And it wasn't your fault, but you're blaming yourself, aren't you?"

He shrugged his shoulders.

"Let me ask you this. If I had been your brother, would you be feeling the same way?"

He looked like he was thinking before he finally answered.

"No."

She sighed in irritation, although she'd already known the answer.

"When we're hunting, you need to think of me as another hunter, like your brother. It's the only way I'm gonna keep hunting with you, Sam."

"But—"

"No buts, Sam. We can't hunt like that. It's too dangerous."

"She's right you know, Sammy," Dean said with a self-righteous grin.

She shot him a warning glance, which stopped his smirking.

"You're right, Jessie," he agreed.

"I could never tire of hearing that," she replied jokingly.

He smiled, leaning down to kiss her on the forehead. "Sleep well."

She returned his smile. "You too."

He watched her until the door was fully closed, before turning around to face his brother.

"I think you left some details out, Sammy."

"Shut up, Dean."

"No, I don't think so. If you aren't going to listen to her, than you better listen to me."

"Cause you know everything, right?"

"No, I don't. But I told you before that you have to treat her like another hunter when we're on a job. If you can't do that then she shouldn't be with us."

He snorted. "Right. You're just saying that because you don't want her with us."

"What?" he said in disbelief. "How could you even say that to me? I've been pushing for the two of you to be together."

"Then what was your problem when you walked in on us kissing?"

He laughed in disbelief, shaking his head. "You thought I was angry about that? Seriously?"

"What then?"

"I just dug up a grave, Sam. I was tired and bitchy. I think I'm entitled."

"Oh."

"Wow, dude! You're batting oh for two tonight."

Sam rolled his eyes as his brother laughed at him. And when it became apparent his brother was going to continue to tease him, he decided to take a shower. A cold shower.

Jessie went out to her car to retrieve her laptop before she headed into her motel room. She threw her dufflebag on the couch, while tossing her laptop on the bed.

After she had a few drinks, she took a couple of aspirin, put some comfortable clothes on and sat in bed with her laptop. Her head was still hurting a little as well as her shoulder and she couldn't get Sam out of her mind, despite being slightly irritated with him. So she did what she did best to get her mind off of things. She began to scour news sites looking for a new case.

She fell asleep a few hours later while sitting up in bed with her laptop open.

She was awakened several hours later when she heard a knock at the door. She was surprised to have fallen asleep with her laptop, pushing it aside as she rolled over to stretch. When she heard another knock at the door, this one sounding very impatient, she called out asking them to wait.

After she'd stretched and climbed out of bed, she strolled to the door slowly, rubbing her eyes as she opened the door. She held it open until Sam walked in, closing it behind him.

"Couldn't you let me sleep a bit longer?" she asked wearily.

He smiled, handing her a coffee. "I left you alone for eight hours. Isn't that long enough?"

She smiled in thanks, taking the coffee. "I didn't go to sleep right away."

He wrapped his free arm around her waist. "Did you need a cold shower, too?"

She laughed lightly. "No, I didn't go that far."

"Well," he said almost nervously. "Dean wants us to spend the day together."

"He does, does he?" she asked suspiciously.

"He suggested we need some alone time."

"Alone time?"

He smiled. "He just thinks we needed some after our disagreement last night." Then he added. "Plus, I think he needs to have some alone time of his own."

"Okay," she said with an impish grin. "Why don't you join me in the shower? Or you can wait until I'm done?"

Once he set his coffee down, he grabbed her roughly, kissing her. She was caught off guard by his sudden response, almost dropping the coffee out of her own hands.

After taking a shower together, they went out and had breakfast. And since they were unsure what to do after breakfast, Jessie decided to do a bit of shopping, since it had been awhile. She really needed some new clothes. Most of her casual clothes had holes, or blood stains on them. She thought Sam was going to protest, but he didn't.

After shopping, they grabbed lunch to go, then went back to the motel room. They spent much of the afternoon talking or making love, then went out for a nice dinner.

After dinner, they spent much of the evening in bed, although most of that time was spent talking.

It had been a very long time since Jessie had felt comfortable enough with someone to open up and tell them things she'd never told another living soul. But Sam made her feel that way. She still kept many things to herself, there were some secrets she could never tell anyone, but she did tell him many things she'd only shared with Bobby, and a few even he didn't know about. And in return, Sam told her things that he'd never shared with anyone, including Dean. Both of them even talked about their exes. And at some point, they both fell asleep in each others arms.

In the middle of the night, Jessie woke up and was unable to get back to sleep. She tried every position to get comfortable in, but nothing helped. So she climbed out of bed as carefully as she could, hoping not to wake Sam and began to surf the web looking for a case. She found one almost immediately and it wasn't far away from where they were at the moment. As much as she loved to spend time with Sam, she enjoyed her job too much to climb back into bed and forget about it so easily.

The sun was just beginning to rise when she left the motel to get herself, and Sam, coffee. He was sitting up in bed waiting for her when she arrived. He seemed less than thrilled that she'd been gone, but he never said anything so she let it pass.

"Good morning," he greeted her with a smile as he took the proffered coffee.

"Morning, Sam," she smiled coyly.

"You're so cute sometimes," he said with a teasing grin.

She rolled her eyes, turning away so he couldn't see her blush.

"Don't call me cute. I'm not cute," she protested.

He laughed, changing the subject quickly. "How long have you been up for?"

"I dunno, a couple of hours."

"You couldn't sleep?"

"No. I wasn't tired I guess."
He laughed. "Well I was exhausted. I don't know how you weren't after yesterday's marathon."

She glanced at him teasingly. "You're two years younger than me, Sam. I guess you're just out of shape."

"Yeah, that's it," he replied sarcastically.

She turned around to grin teasingly when there was a knock at the door, then almost immediately Dean walked in.

"I hope you two are decent," he said as he closed the door behind him.

"I'm dressed, Dean, but never decent," she joked.

He laughed. "Looks like someone's in a good mood."

"Yeah, you too, Dean. Guess you finally got lucky, huh?"

Sam laughed.

"Guilty," he replied.

"Good," she replied with a wink.

"So what are we up to next?" he asked no one in particular.

"I found a case for us," she replied quickly.

"You sure do like to work, don't you?"

"What else is there, Dean? Having a life?"

"You got me there."

She took a sip of her coffee before saying anything else.

"I didn't have to search too far to find a case," she began. "It's only about four hours away in New Paltz, New York." She thought she noticed a look pass between the brothers, but she brushed it off as her imagination and continued. "There was this man named Daniel Blake, he owned an auction house. Seems he was found in his house two days ago, his inner organs basically liquified, yet his body was untouched. There was no evidence of foul play or break and enter, and, his security alarm was armed and active at the time. His daughter, Sarah Blake, was the one who found him."

This time she was positive the brothers were exchanging some sort of meaningful message in their glances suddenly making her feel like a third wheel.

"What?" she asked with frustration.

Sam looked away, making her feel even more suspicious.

"Is that the only case you found?" Dean asked awkwardly.

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Yeah, why?"

"No reason."

She shook her head angrily. "It's always one step forward, two steps back with the two of you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "One minute I'm part of the Scooby gang and the next you're making goo goo eyes at each other, pretending I'm not even here."

"Goo goo eyes?" he said with a laugh.

"Oh, shut up, Dean!"

He shot his brother a furtive glance. "It's just that we've had a case in New Paltz before."

"Good. Then you should know the area."

He turned, looking at his brother apprehensively, shrugging his shoulders. Sam could only shrug his shoulders in response.

Jessie was very suspicious about their behaviour, but she didn't want to worry about it at the moment. She'd been in a good mood after such a wonderful time the day, and night, before. She figured whatever it was that was going on she would find out eventually. She could always deal with it then.

She began to pack her belongings, kicking the boys out of the room so they could go do the same. She also changed into something a little more professional looking. When she was ready, which was only a few minutes later, she packed up her car, then walked to the door of their motel room. As she was about to knock on the door, she heard raised voices, making her stop in her tracks wondering if she should listen. She knew she shouldn't—it wasn't right—but her curiosity got the best of her.

"If you're not going to tell her than I am, Sam," Dean said.

"Why should I have to say anything?"

"Because that's what's right."

"That's what's right? Since when are you the morality police?"

"Whatever, Sam. You can deal with the fall out on your own then."

Suddenly the voices became too quiet to hear anything more than a mumble.

She wasn't quite sure what to think, but what she did know was Sam was keeping something from her. She just had no clue what to do about it. She didn't want to admit to eavesdropping, but she wasn't sure she could keep it to herself. As she was trying to decide, the door to the motel opened and Dean nearly ran into her.

"Sorry," she said in surprise. "I was just about to knock."

"We're good to go," he said as he slung his dufflebag over his shoulder. "Sam should be ready in a minute."

He passed by without another word, packing up the Impala, leaving her standing alone.

She walked into the motel room to find Sam grabbing the last of his belongings. He smiled when he noticed her standing there, but it seemed a little awkward.

"I'm gonna head out now, Sam," she said nonchalantly.

"What about breakfast?"

"I'll grab something on the go. I'm not really hungry."

He approached her with his free arm extended to give her a one-armed hug, but she backed away slightly to avoid it.

"I'll see you when we get to New Paltz," she said quickly.

She turned and left as quickly as she could without making it seem obvious she was upset, passing by Dean without giving him a second glance.

She jumped into her car, quickly driving away before she even buckled up, which was unlike her. She squealed the tires as she peeled out of the parking lot, before slowing down and buckling her seat belt.

She did as she told Sam she was going to do, driving by a fast food restaurant and grabbing a breakfast sandwich and a coffee so she could eat while she was driving. She ignored her phone, not even bothering to see who it was that was calling. She wasn't in the mood to speak to anyone. She kept driving until she made it to New Paltz.

She stopped by the dead man's house, but no one was there, so she drove to the auction house he'd once owned, parking just out of eye shot of the building. She picked up her phone to see who the missed call was from and was surprised to find out it was from Mike. She didn't have time to call him, so she texted him letting him know she'd call him as soon as she wasn't busy, unless it was an emergency.

While she was waiting for the Winchesters to arrive, she began to hack into the local police database to see if there was any information they were keeping from the papers. After pouring through several police reports, she found nothing that was worth the trouble she'd gone through to read them.

She heard the Impala coming down the road before she could see it. Dean pulled off the road, parking in the space in front of her car. When she didn't immediately get out of her car, both of the brothers climbed out and walked to her car, standing by the driver's side.

She climbed out of the car, straightening her dress pants before turning to face the brothers.

"I just finished reading the police reports," she said in a very businesslike manner. "There wasn't anything useful in any of it. However, we might get more if we can get a look at the body."

"You had time to do all of that already?" Dean asked with surprise.

"I guess I just drive faster than you," she replied in a snarky voice.

He looked like he was about to say something, but he didn't. Instead he nodded at his brother, both turning around to head into the auction house. Jessie following behind them.

They walked into the auction house looking for someone to help them, but they saw no one in the immediate area. As they walked farther in the building, they came across a dark-haired woman who was standing by a wooden crate with her back turned to them.

She turned around as they approached, smiling brightly.

"Oh my god, Sam!" she exclaimed, hugging him.

He hugged her back awkwardly for only a moment before pulling away.

"It's so nice to see you again, Sam, Dean," she said while looking at each in return. She stopped as she glanced the other way spying Jessie.

"This is, Jessie Drake," Sam said awkwardly, turning to Jessie. "This is, Sarah Blake."

Jessie shot him a quick look of irritation before stretching her hand to greet her.

"Nice to meet you, Sarah," she said with insincerity.

"Same here," Sarah replied shaking her hand.

"I wish we were here under better circumstances," Dean said in an attempt to break the tension.

"Thanks, Dean," she replied ruefully before glancing at Sam again. "I had been hoping the two of you would show up."

"How's that?" Sam asked.

"Who else could help me with something like this?"

The boys laughed awkwardly, but Jessie found nothing amusing in the whole situation.

"Can you tell us what happened?" she asked, hoping to get out of the increasingly awkward situation as quickly as possible.

Sarah nodded her head, frowning. "A couple of days before my father died he told me he'd been seeing things. When I asked him more about it he would tell me he thought it was a ghost, but then he told me he was probably seeing things because he wasn't sleeping well."

"Was his insomnia recent?"

"Yes. It began around the same time."

"Did anything else change?"

"I don't think so. I've been trying to figure out what he'd been up to before he starting seeing things, but I'm not sure. I've been so busy with work since I took over."

"You took over the auction house?" Sam asked with surprise.

"Yeah, a few weeks ago. I'm still getting the hang of being the boss."

Jessie shot Sam an irritated glance.

"Would we be able to have a look through his house, Sarah?" she asked.

"Yes, absolutely," she replied. "If you'll give me a few minutes I'll go get the keys."

She excused herself, leaving the room quickly.

As soon as she'd left the room, Jessie turned to Sam with a furious look.

"Not a word, Sam," she warned. "I'd like to at least act professional while we're working."

The three of them spent several awkward minutes silent while they waited for Sarah to return.

When she returned, she handed the keys to Jessie, then turned to Sam.

"I'd love to go out to dinner with you if you get the time," she said with a suggestive smile.

"Uh, well, I, uh, I don't know, Sarah," he stammered.

"It's okay, Sam," she replied with disappointment.

"We'll let you know what we find," Jessie said, turning quickly and leaving. She didn't stop until she made it to her car.

She sat on the hood of her car while she was waiting for Sam and Dean, doing her best not to brood. She was both angry and disappointed with Sam for keeping his previous relationship with Sarah a secret, but at the same time, she was angry and disappointed in herself. She knew they'd been hiding something, but not in her wildest imagination had she even thought it could be something like this.

She climbed down from the hood of her car as the brothers approached, shooting Sam a warning glance, but he seemed like he was choosing to ignore it.

"I'm sorry, Jessie," he said regretfully. "I sh—"

"Enough, Sam!" she replied firmly. "We're on a case and that comes before personal issues. I'm gonna go search the dead man's house. You and your brother can go to the morgue. Unless you have a problem with that?"

She could tell by his look that he wasn't about to argue with her and either was Dean.

"Fine. Call me when you're done, unless I call you first," she said, before getting into her car without waiting for a reply.

She started the car and drove away before the brothers even had a chance to react.

"Dammit, Sammy," Dean said while shaking his head. "You've really screwed up this time."

He rolled his eyes but didn't respond to his admonishment, not when he knew his brother was right.

"Let's just go, Dean," he snapped.

Dean wanted to punch his brother for acting so stupid, but he figured Jessie would probably hurt him more than he ever could. He shook his head, watching his brother climb into the Impala, before hopping into the driver's side and driving off to the morgue.

A/N: A short teaser chapter *wink* How long do you think work will come before their personal issues? And what do you think of me choosing someone from Sam's past to bring into the story? I always liked Sarah Blake lol.

Thanks for reading!