Chapter 6.

"Are you OK?", Dean asked her, as she was wincing in pain and holding her arm.

"Better than 10 minutes ago, that's for sure", she replied trying to stay positive.

In fact, Jess found it very easy to stay positive at this very moment. Instead of sulking and obsessing about the happenings of the past hour, as she would have normally done, she found herself just being grateful to be alive. To see Sam again, to help save the brothers. It was early to say, but Jess was starting to believe this monster hunter business was rewarding in ways most jobs just could not be. Even though they were literally walking in the middle of the forest for what felt like an eternity.

"Jess!", she heard from behind them. "Dean! Jess! Over here!"

She turned to see Sam and Laurie running towards them.

"God! We were so worried! What happened?", Sam asked as he embraced Jess tightly.

"We got snatched, man. It was just sleeping in a tree above us, startled us". Jess noticed how Dean was careful enough not to give names, but Sam knew his brother well enough to figure it all out.

"You are not ready, Jess. I can't have you risk your life like that anymore, I can't function and fight knowing you are in danger", he concluded without asking any further details. Jess opened her mouth to respond, but to her surprise, it was Dean who spoke in her defense.

"She was great man, you should have seen her there. She grabbed the rope with her mouth and then pulled", he said, mimicking her gliding up and down a rope with her mouth, "and she kept trying and she just got us out of there, man. She needs training, but she has potential. And I don't think I'd be standing here without her."

Jess felt herself blush. She couldn't tell if he was being genuine or if he was feeling guilty for all the times he had picked on her and belittled her, probably a mix of both.

"Your brothers, they are alive, Laurie", she finally spoke, reminding Sam that even though his most loved ones were fine, other people were still in danger.

"You've seen them?", Laurie asked. "They're fine? Where are they?"

"I wouldn't say .. fine, more like fine-ish. But rescuable.", Dean clarified, and explained the whole situation to the rest of the party.

"So what do we do? How do we save them?", Laurie finally asked after having listened to the happenings of the past day.

"Well.. we can't just barge in. By this time, I think it is smart to assume that it figured out we are missing and it's laying a trap for us. Don't forget it's quite smart", Dean said, speaking mostly to the girls, as Sam undoubtedly had enough knowledge of the Wendigo and its potential. "We need to figure out where it is, ambush it with fire. Walking back in the hollow is certain death."

"I can be the bait", Jess offered. "I walk back in, you ambush him."

"Did you not JUST hear the man, Jess?", Sam retorted. "Certain death has no actual meaning to you? No way."

"Actually…", Dean trailed off. "It's a pretty sound proof idea. I mean it's certain death if ALL of us just walk in guns blazing, but one person.. one person we can save."

"I don't know, Dean..", he said. Jess could tell that he understood it was their best shot, but she could also tell, by the way he was ogling Laurie, that he'd prefer to send her in.

"I've seen it before. It won't startle me, I wont panic. It's fine, it's all going to be juuuust fine", she was saying trying to convince everyone, including herself.

"I'll come with you, then", Sam concluded.

"No. I really want you in the best spot to kill the thing, I think it's how you'd be most helpful."

"Fine, I can't win with you two. I don't know what happened in that hollow, but I feel like you've bonded in a way that's not going to work out for me", Sam said and they all laughed. But Jess wondered if it's true. At least, she liked to think she made a friend today.

Half an hour later, Laurie was in the trunk of the car, tasked with the challenging job to not move a muscle, Dean and Sam were up high in two trees overlooking the hollow and Jess was in pole position to make a run towards the beast's den. As she was hiding behind a large boulder all alone, she made a mental note to ask the brothers why they were not carrying walkie-talkies or at least why were they not using their phones while being split up. Supersonic hearing she could hear Dean say, and that seemed like a good enough answer.

OK, Jess you can do this, she told herself. The plan was simple, rush in, get ambushed and have the Wendigo killed. Jess proceeded with step A, and made a run for it. However, Step B never materialized. She ran towards the body bags, relieved to see they were still there, even though the Wendigo had clearly been home since. All the tools and knives that were on the table before had been cleared out. She opened the bags and cut the brothers loose, but they were too weak to get up, or even move. She just plopped them one next to the other and then waited.

Nothing happened. Jess got impatient and went to peek outside. She couldn't hear anything, but what was worse, she could not see the brothers anymore. Then she realized something must have gone terribly wrong. She climbed out of the hollow and made her way towards the trees where Dean and Sam were stationed. Surely enough, they were nowhere to be found. In the distance, she was hearing grunting and fighting. She followed the noise, which lead her into a small clearing where the Wendigo had already immobilized Dean and was now towering over Sam. Jess picked her flare gun and aimed. She was a decent shot under normal circumstances – shooting at fixed targets, with small pistols, when nobody was trying to eat her fiancé, that sort of thing.

"STOP MOVING SAM!", she yelled.

This caused the Wendigo to realize be aware of her, and destabilized the monster long enough for Sam to get the upper hand. He grabbed the beast by the back of its neck, much like a cat will grab onto a naughty kitten, and Jess finally had a fixed target in front of her. She took aim, exhaled and pressed the trigger. For a brief second it looked like she had missed, and hit the whole forest instead, but quickly realized that the flare gun's projectile exploded upon impact, which made the Wendigo explode, in turn. Big boom. Luckily, Sam had ducked out of the way just in time.

With the Wendigo out of the way, the three ran to the hollow and carried the two brothers to the car, where Laurie was just beyond herself to see both of them alive. They rushed to the hospital where Sam had insisted Jess was also looked at.

"It's just a bruise, honestly", she kept trying to convince him.

Fortunately for her, he did not give in this time. Unfortunately, she had a big hematoma that required follow up and proper treatment. Joan Jett from Tennessee had a nice insurance policy, thanks to Sam. So, they stayed a few extra days. Jess' mouth was also looking better, and they resumed all previous activities of their relationship just nicely. In fact, Jess liked how they were falling into this routine – training in the morning, arm permitting, a nice lunch and some administrative stuff in the afternoon, Laurie making it up to Dean in the evenings, so that her and Sam could also have some alone time. She knew all good things would eventually come to an end, which made it all the sweeter.

"Hello", Dean said, picking up the phone, one day during lunch. "Dad? Is that you? I understand."

"Come on guys, pack up, we gotta go", he then said to Sam and Jess. "I think I know where dad is."