PART 3

Dean walked in the motel room, Sam at his heel. It was just nearing lunchtime.

"Well, that was a big waste of time." Dean said, slumping on the bed. Sam smiled, nodding at Claudia. "Turns out that chick really wasn't adopted. We found the birth records." Dean added.

"Oh, I know." Claudia said casually, folding a shirt and putting it in her bag.

"You do?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, I asked her." Claudia said, heading for the bathroom.

"Say what?" Dean asked, surprised. Claudia came out of the bathroom a moment later.

"Well, Sam asked me to talk to her, so I did." Claudia said, smiling at Sam, who smiled back at her.

"Oh, yeah, and how did that go exactly?" Dean asked, glancing over his shoulder at his brother. Claudia shrugged.

"Not so good at first. But then I started trashing you, and she was totally on board. We talked for hours. Man, get a little wine in her and the woman just wouldn't shut up." She said. Sam grinned at Dean's annoyed look. He knew Claudia could get Monica to talk. She was really good at making people talk, tell her their innermost thoughts and secrets.

"So, what did she have to say?" he asked.

"A lot of boring stuff. No one understands her, she doesn't really have any friends, she wants to leave this town, yada yada yada." Claudia said, "But get this, when she was nine, she had a vision."

"Oh, really? She told you that?" Dean made a face, "That's shocking."

"Anyway," Claudia went on, ignoring him, "she saw this guy. She saw him die. She tried to warn him, but he didn't take her seriously, and when she tried to get other people involved… well it got ugly."

"Did the guy…?" Sam started, but didn't finish the sentence. Claudia nodded lightly.

"A few days later. She's been having visionsall the time. Now, that was a difficult confession to get." Claudia sighed, sitting on the bed and looking up at Sam. "She says she doesn't want anything to do with it. She doesn't want to have them. She said drinking helped, that it… stopped the bad dreams or something." She finished. Sam sat down next to her, lost in thought.

"So, now what, college boy?" Dean asked. Sam glanced at him. "I mean, seriously, does this sound right to you?"

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"I mean this has nothing to do with Max. Or the other thing. Come on, Sam, what's the connection?" Dean asked, getting to his feet.

"I don't know." Sam said in a small voice. "But I keep seeing this woman die, Dean. There has to be a reason for that." He added. Dean nodded.

"I get that, Sam, but what are we supposed to do? We don't know what's after her, or why." He said.

"I have a suggestion." Claudia said.

Sam shook his head, rolling his eyes.

"That's it? That's your great suggestion?" he asked Claudia. She laughed.

"Come on, Sam. Just one night, can't you just have fun for one night?" she asked, taking a large sip from her beer.

"I'm trying to save someone's life!" he cried exasperatedly.

"I know!" Claudia said, kissing his cheek, "That's why I invited her here. Jeez, Sam, relax a little, would you? You're only young once." She winked at him, walking away from the bar. Sam shook his head, his fingers drumming on the bar. Dean was already hustling pool, and was doing rather well actually. He had been playing for a little more than an hour, and was already up a hundred and fifty bucks. An hour later, just as Sam was about to leave, Monica showed up. Sam bought her a drink, trying to get her talking. Time was running out. He had to figure out why he was having visions about her. What, if anything, was haunting her. He didn't get much more than Claudia did, but at least he got her to talk to him. And more importantly, he got her to believe he really was trying to help her.

Sam woke up with a start. Another nightmare. He looked around, blinking his eyes into focus, and noticed Dean was up, too. Maybe it wasn't a nightmare after all. The urgent knock on the door reaffirmed that notion. He looked questioningly at Dean, who groaned and rolled out of bed. Scratching the side of his head sleepily, Dean answered the door. Claudia looked at him and hesitated.

"What?" Dean asked sleepily.

"Where's Sam?" Claudia asked. Dean moved over, letting her in.

"Claudia? What's wrong?" Sam asked worriedly, getting out of bed. Claudia stood in the middle of the room, hesitating, her look going from one sleepy brother to the next. "What is it?" Sam asked.

"I shouldn't have come." Claudia said, heading back the way she had come.

"No, Claudia, wait," Sam stopped her, "What's going on?" he asked, holding her by the shoulders. She looked into his eyes, fighting with herself, hesitating. Sam looked worriedly at her. Her heart pounded as she reached in her pocket.

"Here," she said, stuffing something into Sam's hand. Sam looked at her, making sure she was all right, before looking at whatever it was she just shoved in his hands. He sucked in his breath. Two little plastic bags with white powder.

"Claudia…?" he looked questioningly at her.

"You have to get rid of it!" she said in a shaky voice, her eyes welling up, "I can't..."

Sam stayed with Claudia that night, making sure she was alright. It was utterly shocking to him that she was a drug addict. He couldn't wrap his mind around it, but did his best not to let it show. He laid on the bed with her in his arms, holding her to him, soothing her. It felt strangely good, being this close to her, having her in his arms. That is, until he remembered Jessica, and started feeling all guilty. Sam went back to the room he shared with Dean the next morning. They still had to figure out a way to help Monica, only now they had to do it without Claudia's help.

Dean got out of the motel room, heading over to the small coffee shop down the street, when he saw Claudia coming out of her room. She rolled her eyes, starting back, but Dean was already on his way to her.

"So, what, you're doing drugs now?" he demanded angrily. "You have any idea how dangerous that could be? Especially doing what we do!" he snapped at her. She was hunting with them, they had to count on her to save their asses, and she was doing drugs? That was unacceptable in Dean's book. She was putting Sam at risk. He couldn't allow that.

"I'm not doing drugs!" Claudia protested.

"Oh, yeah? Could've fooled me!" Dean snapped.

"I've been clean for ten years, four months and eight days!" Claudia snapped back at him. "I still count the days!" Dean shook his head.

"I don't get it. You know what's out there, you know how dangerous it is, how could you…?" Claudia gave him a long look, and Dean's frown subsided. He recognized that look, recognized the pain hiding behind it. He wanted to say something to take the edge off, but she had already walked away from him. The look she gave him stayed with Dean all day, until finally, in the evening, when Sam went to see Monica again, Dean gave in and came over to Claudia's room. He knocked on the door. She nearly slammed it in his face when she saw it was him, but he stopped her.

"What do you want?" she demanded.

"Can I come in?" Dean asked. Claudia glowered at him.

"Why? You want to check the place up for anymore drugs? Want me to take a urine test or something?" she snapped at him. He pushed the door back, inviting himself in, and sat down on her bed, looking up at Claudia.

"Look," he started, and then got a little tongue-tied. He knew what he wanted to say, it's just he wasn't so sure he could say it. "Look, I know." He said.

"Know what?" Claudia demanded, crossing her arms across her chest and leaning against the wall across from the bed, keeping her distance.

"I know what it's like to want the pain to go away." Dean said in a small voice. Claudia raised her brows. Dean licked his lips, his eyes locked on some spot on the wall. "When I was thirteen, I sort of…" he said, shifting uncomfortably. "Sam doesn't know." He added quickly. Claudia dropped her hands to her sides, slumping down and sitting with her back against the wall, looking at him. Dean swallowed. "Things got…" he stopped again, hesitating. "I couldn't take the pain anymore. My dad was always gone, and we moved around a lot… and all that supernatural crap dad always talked about, and the training, and having to watch over Sam… I don't know, it was too much." He said, glimpsing at Claudia, shifting uncomfortably under her gaze. He let out a little cough, clearing his throat. "Anyway, I got a little messed up." He said. "Man, did my dad get furious…" he smiled a small smile at the memory, which was far less than funny. "Knocked the habit right out of me." Dean finished.

"Oh, poor you." Claudia said sarcastically, catching him off guard. He raised his brows in shock. See, that's why I never tell people anything. He thought to himself, Go tell people your innermost thoughts and feelings, and just watch them walk all over you.

"Excuse me?" Claudia got to her feet.

"So things got bad, and you went for the pharmaceuticals. Wait, let me get a tissue or something." Claudia said. Dean frowned. "At least you had a choice!" she accused, and then bit her lip. This went a little too far.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Dean demanded. Claudia wouldn't look at him.

"Look, you don't like me. Fine. I don't like you either. Let's just keep it at that." She said. Dean looked intently at her. There was something she wasn't telling him. A secret. He got off the bed.

"What happened?" he asked. Claudia hesitated. What the hell, she thought. She'll tell him. And he'll freak out. Everyone used to freak out. And then he'll leave. And maybe Sam would leave too. She didn't really care anymore. She was used to always being on her own. So she looked up at him, and told him about Carl.

She told him how Carl had snatched her on her way from school when she was eleven. She told him he had held her in a tiny, windowless room for almost two weeks. She told him she had tried to fight Carl, so he injected her with heroine so she couldn't fight. She told him she couldn't stay off the drugs after that, that she needed them to forget, to keep the pain away and make her all numb. But she didn't tell him what Carl had done to her. She told no one that. Not even Jin. Not even her lawyer, even when he had promised her testimony could earn Carl the chair. She never told anyone what went on in that room for two whole weeks. She couldn't.

Dean watched her for a long moment, saying nothing. And then he completely took her by surprise as he walked over to her and hugged her.

TBC

A/N: Okay, this one was a little slow, but the next one would be a little more fun. The part with Dean doing drugs as a kid keeps bothering me. I think I might go add it to the youngDean story I wrote... Let me know what you think, nothing makes me happier than those reviews...