Part Ten

Sam finished his shower and dressed in record time before stepping out to find his older brother and girlfriend sitting cozy up on the small motel couch (if it could even be called that, old and worn, that looked like it could barely hold three normal sized people). They didn't look up as Sam slowly walked over, unsure of which furniture to take since clearly there wasn't enough room for him to even sit next to Jess. He opted for the small armchair on Dean's side. Dean was lounging on the couch, his legs propped up on the coffee table, biting into a piece of bacon that looked and smelled good. Sam was acutely aware that he was rather hungry now that he was surrounded by food. His stomach growled which caused Dean to look up at him with a grin.

Dean sat up a bit more and pointed to an untouched plate sitting on the table, "Made you a plate, Sammy."

Sam hesitated only for a second before reaching over to grab the plate full of toast, bacon and eggs. He sighed at the heavenly smell before grabbing a fork to shovel the first bite of eggs into his mouth. Sam's eyebrow shot up at the taste. It was really good. Sam took a couple more bites as his brother watched, seemingly satisfied that he was eating.

"Good, right?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, it is," he said, surprised to realize that he actually meant it.

Growing up, they had mom for most of their childhood and he remembered she would cook them dinner but on most nights she came back tired and dad would come back late so it was a lot of ordering out. There were boxes of pizza and TV dinners when Sam was a kid. He remembered sitting on the couch with his brother and they'd watch movies, eating mac and cheese, or something equally quick and easy to make, maybe heat up frozen dinners.

He didn't even think that Dean would take an interest in cooking. Sure he sometimes helped mom with baking, especially pies, but that was the extent of any cooking Dean had taken up back when they were kids.

"Where'd you learn to cook?" he asked as a way of easy conversation, finally relaxing into the chair he'd taken. "I didn't know you even knew how to work a stove."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Ha ha, very funny. You know damn well I know how to use a stove."

Sam wondered if he should make another quip or stop while he was ahead. He wanted to lighten the mood because he was already feeling a little anxious over the inevitable conversation they were going to have. Before he could make up his mind though Jess cut in with a loud, "He's right, Dean. This is super good. I think your brother is just jealous that you even know your way around a kitchen. You should've seen Sam the first year we got our apartment."

That seemed to relax Dean. He gave Jess a wide smile, "Why thank you, sweetheart. At least someone here knows how to compliment a guy." He cast a pointed look over to Sam to which he rolled his eyes. "I see why you got with her." He turned back to Jess and leaned in to whisper conspiratorially, "Although I don't see why you would get with my brother."

Sam knew Dean was just messing around but he still felt a little sting in his chest at the little dig. There had always been a part of Sam that feared he wouldn't ever be good enough for Jess, especially if she were to ever find out the truth.

He shouldn't have worried though because Jess cleared her throat and glanced at Sam before saying in a quiet voice, "Actually your brother's great, Dean. More than great, really. He's perfect. He's charming and smart, cute and kind. Sometimes I actually wonder what Sam sees in me to have stayed with me for so long."

Sam should've seen it coming. Jess has always been sweet and kind, thinking of others before herself, but still, the words melted his heart all the same. He found himself glancing down at the floor, smiling like a dumbass, because it was just like Jess to say the exact kind of thing Sam needed to hear. He didn't deserve Jess but somehow the universe was kind enough to let them meet.

When he looked back up at them, he could feel the small prick of tears in his eyes. He wiped them away with the back of his hand. He felt like an idiot to start crying over a few sweet words but they hit harder than he thought they would. Jess had a small smile on her face as she looked back at him. It warmed his heart and made him smile right back.

Dean glanced between the two with a raised eyebrow. He lifted his hands up in a gesture of mock surrender, "Are you two love birds done or am I going to have to shove you two into the spare room?"

Sam made a face, "Really?"

"Yeah, really," Dean said.

Sam glanced over to Jess who didn't offer any help as she just shook her head with a smile. He wasn't sure what was going on in her head but for the next hour, they joked and shared stories. The mood of the conversation was light-hearted and for a little while Sam felt almost normal, like he was just introducing his brother to his girlfriend. Dean avoided stories that had anything to do with the supernatural which should've made Sam feel relieved but he couldn't help the little pang of anxiety.

Once they were cleaned up and couldn't even hide behind plates of food, Sam found himself sitting back in the open living area, sitting this time on the couch next to Jess with Dean taking an old reclining chair across from the armchair Sam had sat in earlier. He had an open beer bottle he was currently nursing.

"So," he said slowly as he shifted to a more comfortable position, glancing between the two, "who wants to go first?"

Sam swallowed the ball of anxiety, feeling Jess shift slightly from beside him. He couldn't make himself look her in the eyes, fearing what he'd see on her face. He had no idea what she could be thinking, probably didn't want to know. Earlier she seemed happy, content to joke with the brothers like everything was fine and normal but Sam knew Jess. She was good at compartmentalizing things if she had to.

"Right," Dean continued when neither of them said anything, "so I guess that leaves me then. So uh, how much do you remember about last night, Jess?"

Sam jerked his head up to see Jess finally straightening up. She looked tired and small as she glanced at Sam. Without even realizing what he was doing at first, he reached out and squeezed Jess's hand reassuringly. She looked surprised at first but shot him a little smile before looking over to Dean to say, "I don't really know. It was all kind of a blur to me. I'm sorry."

Dean sat back, looking a little surprised as he processed her words. "You don't remember?" Jess shook her head. "Any of it?"

Jess looked like she was going to deny it again but she hesitated and Dean leaned forward, looking intrigued by her behavior. Sam knew from experience that it was just Jess trying to process it all, trying to choose her words carefully. He squeezed her hand again, hoping it was enough to comfort her, to let her know that he was here for her every step of the way. The Winchesters weren't the bad guys here. They were going to help her, because he knew first hand how it felt when you first discover that there were things out there that you only believed were real in movies.

He used to have nightmares all the time when he was a kid, about monsters living under his bed, monsters living in his closet, then to find out they were actually real? Yeah. Sam knew fear.

"Well, I remember bits and pieces," Jess finally admitted quietly. There was something in the way Jess spoke, her voice soft, almost fragile. The way she hunched over, as if trying to make herself smaller. She wasn't looking at either of them as she continued, "It felt…surreal, you know? I thought I might have been dreaming, but I can still hear that voice in my head," she shuddered, Sam felt it and scooted a little closer, hoping it was enough to have her realize she was safe here, safe with him and his brother. "It was full of such…what's the word? Hatred? Rage? I could feel it. She said these…things to me, you know? Hurtful things." Jess took a small, shuddering breath.

"You're ok, Jess," Sam said softly, "Dean and I…we're right here." Sam didn't know much about possession but he remembered Dean mentioning something about it earlier and he knew theoretically that it was possible for ghosts to possess a person so why not a demon? He remembered reading some books before, when he wasn't studying for an exam and had spare time. There had been a few mentions in some of the books about demons. He couldn't quite remember all the details but he was sure there had been mention of demon possession.

"I know this is hard for you, Jess," Dean said, interrupting Sam's train of thought, "but whatever you thought you were dreaming, it wasn't a dream. What you just described was a demon possession. A real one. There are things out there, things that go bump in the night, things that kill and eat people…they are all real."