Disclaimer: I only own Jack and she's enough of a handful. Eats me out of house and home that one does.
Jack marked all the exits she could see in the comfortable, cluttered den they walked into. Toys were littered across the floor, which she sidestepped to get to an overstuffed armchair close to the windows that looked out over the front yard. She silently smirked when she saw that someone had left the one to the far left open to take advantage of the nice, warm day. Ideal for a quick escape if she found she needed one. She usually did.
Sam took the seat next to her, turning it to face her. Missouri sat on the couch across the room putting a coffee table and the irate man sitting on it between her and Jack. Dean was staring at her with cold eyes. John was standing in the doorway, arms crossed waiting for the fun to start. She was surrounded.
"I'm Sam, by the way and that's my brother Dean, our dad and Missouri Mosely." Sam started them off leaning forward elbows on his knees.
Jack nodded along fighting the urge to expand her extra sense, irritated she wasn't feeling anything from this house.
"Does the family that lives here know you entertain guests in their living room?" Jack asked.
"She's pretty understanding about this sort of thing." Sam explained without explaining.
"She knows then?" Jack asked frowning. She eyed the toys the covered most of the free space in the room. A little nagging voice in her head was reminding her that she was breaking one of her cardinal rules just by coming here. The number one rule being: No kids involved ever, not even by association. But she stopped listening to that voice when she crossed the state line from Oklahoma to Kansas.
"We helped with some trouble with the house awhile back." Dean answered watching her carefully.
"Stop looking like I put your puppy in a blender." Jack snapped pulling on the ends of her ponytail. Then she absorbed his words.
"You cleansed the house!" She demanded.
"Had to." He said, furrowing his forehead in confusion or irritation she couldn't be sure.
"You bluffed me." She accused the woman sitting smiling slightly on the couch. Jack had a moment to notch up her respect for the lady.
"I guessed it was you I felt yesterday when you pulled up on that death trap of yours." Missouri said unrepentant.
"That's why I couldn't get anything from this place. Its completely cold." Jack mumbled bitterly, toying with the bracelet around her wrist.
"Why did you want to know about this place?" Dean demanded.
"Shared history." Jack answered vaguely. This was not how she'd planned her day going.
Four pairs of eyes bored into her. She crossed her left leg over her right for easier access to the knife hidden there and adjusted slightly so her gun was grinding into her back so much.
"What do you do?" Sam asked changing the subject. Part of him wanted to know what she meant by that but a bigger part remembered the cold and pain surrounding her.
"Denny's waitress." She answered not missing a beat. Sam saw Dean's lip twitch.
"No, as a psychic." Sam said softly. She was fidgeting a little like a caged animal and he didn't want to scare the girl away. She tugged at the black ends of her hair again, a nervous habit, he thought.
"You don't want to know." She answered looking each curious person in the eye, assessing them in some way.
"Yes we do." Missouri said standing up and walking over to where she sat. She stood in front of her and Jack felt a small flare of power. She smiled knowing the woman wouldn't get anything, sure enough Missouri opened her eyes and looked down at her confused.
"I feel something but its muddled. Like the signals being intercepted." She said more to herself than anyone else.
"I'm a magic eight ball you gotta shake me to get the answers out." Jack couldn't help joking.
"I had a dream about you." Sam blurted out getting impatient. Jack looked up at him frowning a little then smiled.
"What was I wearing?" She asked suggestively. She nearly laughed when Sam blushed a little. Dean did laugh.
He reached forward faster than her eyes could track and pulled out a piece of paper from his brother's pocket.
"Give it Dean!" Sam said lunging for his brother. He was too fast and threw it to Jack with a cocky grin she couldn't help returning.
Jack unfolded the paper and barely caught the audible hiss as she was flooded with memories. It came back to her so fast she was sure she would've fallen if she wasn't already sitting down. The beautiful blonde girl that she mistook for the mother she never knew at first, the man watching her reaching out to help her. And the dark, oh God, the dark, everywhere, cold and hopeless reminding her of everything she had gotten so good at blocking out in the harsh light of day. There she was in the picture, shaking, desperate and alone for all the world to see.
"Are you alright?" Missouri's voice pushed its way through the feelings that invaded Jack.
"You forgot the freckle on my shoulder." Jack said composing herself fast. She smirked and pointed to her left shoulder.
"I want to help." Sam said taking the picture as she handed it to him. He looked so damn sincere she had a moment of doubt, a moment where she longed to ask.
'Ask what?' She asked herself viscously. 'Ask for them to save you? Look what happened last time someone tried to save you. Look at what happens when you need someone more than they need you.'
Her own mental voice was more cruel than any demon or monster, spouting truths the rest of her didn't want to hear.
Dean stopped Sam as he was about to do something like offer his help and reassurances that things were going to be alright again. He watched the subtle, near invisible emotions fly across the girl's eyes. You'd have to know what to look for to see them and Sam didn't. A wink and a smile, a joke to cover the pain, the loneliness. Gentle promises of safety weren't going to be the thing that made her open herself to them, if she even could.
"I was four and I still remember the way the smoke smelled, the way it sounded." He said fighting through every instinct telling him to shut up, shut down and avoid what he didn't want to face.
"What?" She asked looking up at him frowning.
"You wanted to know about the house right?" He asked quickly. She nodded warily. "Alright then shut up and listen cause I'm not gonna tell it to you twice.
"It started in Sam's nursery, the fire. I don't remember things to clear, just what it felt like. Hot and dirty, but cold like it was tearing everything apart and didn't give a damn about what was being destroyed."
Dean was well aware of his family staring at him in shock. He ignored them and tried to tell what he knew as fast as he could. The words, partly memory, partly cobbled together from what John had told him of that night, were like a rush of air after being under water for too long, painful and hard, leaving you wondering if it'll ever feel okay to breathe again.
A heavy silence fell over the group as he finished telling the story of That Night. No one interrupted him, he never looked away from her eyes, that became more and more shadowed as his rushed story came out.
"Fire doesn't care. It never cares." She said finally to herself. Jack was more resolved than ever not to tell about her power. She was ashamed to feel a twinge of fear. How do you tell people who hate the fire that you're the human equivalent.
"What happened? Who did it take from you?" Dean asked keeping his voice low but not gentle. No, gentleness wouldn't work with this girl, he saw too much of himself in her.
"Parents. In New Orleans. Uncle raised me." She answered clinically finding a space on the wall behind him and staring at it.
"I'm sorry." Dean said, pity creeping into his voice.
"I didn't know them well." She said her eyes flashing defiantly, daring him to feel sorry for her.
"You should have your uncle come talk to us about this thing. If its the same situation." John said coming forward seeing opportunity. They'd been looking for the Demon's other victims and here one just fell into their laps.
"He's dead." Jack answered rising to her feet. She wanted to get very gone as soon as humanly possible.
"I've got to go." She mumbled.
"What? Where are you going?" Sam asked jumping to his feet too.
"Early dinner rush at Denny's." Jack gave him her best smart ass smile and sidestepped him before he could block her from leaving.
"Wait, it isn't safe for you." Sam said grabbing her arm. She reacted on instinct, grabbing the gun from behind her back.
Sam let go instantly and Dean grabbed him back putting himself between the weapon and his brother. His father pulled out his .45 pointing at the girl.
"John don't!" Missouri exclaimed. For a long moment nobody moved.
"I don't like being touched." Jack said swallowing before putting the gun back behind her back.
"Sorry." Sam said flinching at the way she walled herself off from them.
"Me too." She turned to go, this time no one stopped her.
"Are you a hunter?" Dean called when she got to the front door.
"No, I just want to go my own way." Jack said hesitating with her hand on the doorknob.
"Sorry about the fire groupie thing, thought you were nosy neighbors," She said turning briefly to meet his eyes awkwardly. "Wouldn't have said it if… yeah."
She walked out the door, forcing herself not to look back. She was so far inside herself she didn't feel the decidedly non-human gaze on her. Cold, hate filled eyes watched Jack as she climbed on her bike.
'Got you.' He thought taking a deep breath to make sure the scent was right. Yes, it was definitely her.
AN: I'm not going to be able to update for a few days. My charger for my laptop melted, yes it melted, so I'm on borrowed time here. Until I can buy a new one I'm going to have to conserve my comp usage. sighs Okay enough self-pity. Hope you like this chappy. Thanks for all the reviews.:)