"No sir." He answered through gritted teeth. At lunch the next day Dean told Missouri and John about Sam's vision. Now they were gathered around the kitchen table with John pacing back and forth firing off questions and it was after six in the afternoon. It was obvious no work was getting done that day.
"Whoever she is she must be in a lot of trouble to have your girlfriend come to you like that to tell you to help." Missouri said looking worried.
"Or maybe she's connected to the Deva demon." John suggested more to himself then anyone else.
"A victim." Dean suggested.
"Or someone who's possessed like Meg." John answered.
"No." Sam said shaking his head. John stopped pacing and looked at him, the others turned to him expectantly. He'd only been answering questions till then, as shortly as possible because he was still suffering the after effects of his nightmare.
"She wasn't possessed." Sam told them simply.
"How do you know honey?" Missouri asked gently putting her hand over his.
"I don't know I could feel it. And…" Sam trailed off looking away. He'd only told Dean about her seeming to protect him from the dark, it was something he wasn't to keen to admit to his father, who might take it as a sign of weakness in his youngest son. Plus he and Dean were closer than before the crash, he felt like he could confide in him that he was afraid of the place the woman was in mentally.
"And what Sam?" John asked frowning.
"This could be important Sam." Dean told him squeezing his shoulder to encourage him.
"She protected me." Sam said after a long pause.
"How?" Missouri asked.
"I'm not sure, it was like the dark was alive and trying to swallow me up," Sam tried to explain what he'd been feeling. "When she was trying to push me away I felt like she was keeping it at bay, giving some of her light to keep it from taking me."
"Hmph. Well that's…new." John said crossing his arms over his chest.
"And you say she told you if you helped her you'd die?" He asked, again.
"Yup." Sam said nodding along.
"What exactly did she look like?" Dean asked one of the few things Sam might be able to answer.
"Red hair, brown eyes, young, like she might be around 19 or 20." Sam said sitting up a little straighter.
"So all we have to do is ask every red head with brown eyes if they noticed a moving cloud of dark following them around. Great." Dean sighed.
"Do you have any idea how many women you just described?" John asked throwing his hands up in the air. True when he wished to start hunting again soon, he hadn't meant babysitting a damsel in distress but this could be something important.
"Actually only about 1 of the population has red hair and that's both men and women so if we narrowed it down even more…" Sam trailed off seeing the looks the other three were giving him.
"What? I looked it up before breakfast." Sam said a little defensively.
"Okay Geek boy but before you go knocking on the door of every redhead in Kansas lets try something a little less technological and a little more Psychic Friends Network." Dean said smirking. Only Sam would go on the web and to try and find girl in trouble. Somehow he didn't think there was a MySpace page on demonic stalkers though.
"Shut up." Sam said embarrassed. He punched Deans shoulder and ended with a dishrag from the sink behind Dean, in his face.
"Are you any good at drawing Sam?" Missouri asked rolling her eyes at them. She snatched the rag away from Sam before he could send it flying at his brother.
"I'm okay, why? You want me to draw what I saw?" Sam asked.
"I'd like you to try." She answered shooting a warning look at Dean, who was reaching for another weapon.
"Alright but I didn't get much else." Sam said in resignation.
John was right there with a pen and a clean sheet of paper in under two minutes. He looked antsy, itchy for something to fight and kill or protect.
"You look like kid with ADD on a sugar high dad." Dean said laughing at their father.
"Respect your elders." He retorted gruffly but his eyes wee shining when he said it. Missouri was watching him in amusement, John Winchester of the iron control was excited at the prospect of a job and he was doing a piss poor job of hiding it.
"Do you have a pencil? In case I make any mistakes." Sam asked concentrating on the blank paper in front of him. He was already losing the image of the girl, he didn't want it to fade without getting something down. Something accurate.
"Hold on." Dean said shuffling through one of the kitchen drawers searching.
"Aha! There you are." He said in triumph holding up a gnawed on pencil with hardly any eraser.
"That's it?" Sam asked.
"Beggars can't be choosers Sam, besides its not like its got my slobber all over it." Dean said tossing him the pencil.
"But it did once." Sam accused picking up the pencil gingerly.
"Just draw your dream girl and quit bitching." Dean said pursing his lips in frustration. They really should have requested the stick be removed from Sam's ass before leaving the hospital, he thought.
"Language." Missouri scolded Dean in disapproval.
"Sorry." Dean s aid rolling his eyes.
"No your not." She accused feeling a twitch in her lip. She liked the boy but sometimes she wanted to whack him upside the head with something, which she usually ended up doing anyway. He reminded her of a puppy that needed to be watched so he'd stay out of trouble.
"Shhh." Sam told them trying to sketch out the girl in his dream, their bickering wasn't helping his concentration.
"Yeah shut up." John told them walking to stand over Sam's shoulder to watch the picture form on the page.
It took half an hour and three pieces of paper to get it as close to his dream as Sam could get. He paused to look over his work, her eyes looked up at him from the paper, looking through him wondering why he was in her world, challenging him silently, but not with hostility. A strand of hair, the brown of the pencil instead of the flame color it really was, fell over her shoulder. She was sitting with her arms tightly around her knees, the rest of her beautiful face, he didn't know how he knew she was beautiful he just did, was obscured from him and it frustrated him.
"Dude why's she naked?" Dean asked coming to look over his shoulder when he noticed the sound of pencil on paper, not to mention the frustrated swearing coming from Sam every time he made a mistake("How come he didn't get yelled at?" "Cause he has an excuse Dean."), had ceased.
"That's how she was in the dream." Sam explained blushing at the insinuation in his brother's voice.
"Hmm, maybe your subconscious is telling you that you need to get laid." Dean said grinning. John cuffed him casually in the back of his head. Hunting and women, Dean's two life pursuits.
"No it's a sign of her desperation." Missouri said sounding sure as she took the picture from Sam to study it.
"She's kinda hot." Dean said taking the picture from her. She snatched it back and glared at him.
"This isn't about that Dean. For all we know she'd just a kid, scared and alone." Sam exclaimed.
"That means you keep your lecherous hands to yourself boy." Missouri told him firmly pointing her finger at him. She grabbed the drawing from his hands.
"Your pre-scolding me!" Dean said eyes wide in disbelief. He took the picture back possessively. "I didn't even do anything."
"And you won't." She told him once again claiming the portrait.
"Can we get back to business?" John asked snatching the picture from them both before they tore the only clue to Sam's nightmare visitor.
"I don't recognize her at all, I don't think we're supposed to look for her ourselves. Jess said she'd come to me.
"Who knows how long that could take." John said not encouragingly.
"Well what do you think we should do dad? I forgot that you have all the answers." Sam snapped his temper flaring.
"Don't you take that-"
"Shut up both of you." Missouri said suddenly. They looked at her in surprise but she wasn't looking at them. Her sight seemed to have turned inward.
"What is it?" Dean asked tensing preparing for the worst.
"I don't know exactly." Missouri said squinting at nothing that could be seen with the human eye. "But I sense something happening at your old house."
"Shit." Dean swore, pulling back from the psychic.
"Boys get you things we're going to the house." John barked standing up from the table.
"But-"
"No buts Sam. Now."
"Yes sir."
Five minutes later they had a their weapons discreetly hidden beneath their clothes and some sacred items just in case. They didn't have to worry about scaring the family, they'd remember the Winchester boys, it would be hard to forget the people that saved your family's life.
"What are you doing?" Dean asked Missouri, who'd into their dad's truck.
"She's coming with." John explained starting his truck. His tone left no room for argument or questioning of any kind.
"Yes sir." Dean nodded dutifully. He walked around to his car and started it, following close behind their father.
"You okay Sammy?" Dean asked Sam, who stared out the window as they drove quickly but still within the speed limit to where they lived once.
"I'm fine." Sam gave him the old standby answer that really meant "what do you think, dead people are talking to me and I see the fucking future. Of course I'm not okay." He stared intently at the setting sun.
Whatever they were expecting to be met with at the old Winchester house they were sorely disappointed. Nothing was there and after questioning the family they came to the conclusion nothing odd had happened since they drove the spirits out a year ago. Missouri looked frustrated and disappointed.
"I felt something I know I did, a strong something too." She said as they walked dejectedly back into her house.
No one spoke, they were all wrapped up in their own thoughts. John went about cleaning and re-cleaning his weapons, Missouri went to read her cards and see if she could get a read on whatever she thought she felt earlier. Dean followed Sam into the kitchen, he was worried about how quiet he was being, he hadn't been fazed by the incident with Missouri and now he just sat staring at the picture he'd drawn.
"She's in pain, but she won't show it. Won't even ask for help." He said quietly furrowing his brow.
"How do you know?" Dean asked sitting in the chair next to him.
"Because I can just feel it." Sam shrugged, he didn't have to say more Dean knew Sam well enough to trust what he felt.
"Reminds me of you a bit." Sam said smiling softly surprising his brother.
"Hmph. I don't know how I feel about that." Dean answered after a beat.
"About someone reminding me of you?" Sam asked quizzically.
"Yeah and here I thought I was one of kind. No room for two of this much sexiness in the world." Dean starting serious then smiling to light up the room.
"Not for two your ego anyway." Sam laughed throwing a crumpled bit of paper at him, it bounced off his head.
"Hey watch the hair." Dean said smoothing down his undisturbed hair. Sam could swear he just wanted an excuse to touch his own hair.
AN: The Winchesters and Co meet Jack in the next chapter. Hopefully I'll be able to post again soon.