Disclaimer: Nope, nuhuh, no ownership to be found here.
Sixteen bars and clubs where no one was all that eager to cooperate with them looking the way they did. Every part of the worst neighborhoods in the city that they could think of. First they went by places Dean would go on his own. After a awhile they had to give up that game plan, because it was still the middle of the week and those places closed earlier. Then by the most miserable places where a demon with an appetite for sadness would go for a pick me up. It all took twice as long as Sam and Jack decided that splitting up was not an option. They kept their eyes peeled for a black 67 Chevy. Nothing. Around four am exhaustion forced the two to break for the night.
Without thinking twice Jack collapsed onto one of the beds in Sam's room while he checked the runes.
"Setting the alarm for eight." Sam said focusing his blurry eyes on his phone to set the alarm. Jack mumbled an affirmative and Sam fell into Dean's bed. His last though before sleep was that he hoped he had a nightmare so he'd know where his brother was.
The alarm startled Jack out of her sleep and she jumped out of bed ready to attack.
"If you shoot my phone you're buying me a new one." Sam yawned sitting up.
"Ow." Was Jack's tired reply as she stretched out her bruised body. Her skin was flaked with dry blood and dirt.
"Showers and coffee, that's what we need." Sam said rotating his shoulder till it popped audibly.
"I'm goin next door to hose off." Jack said. Sam rose to his feet to make sure she got into the room alright without crossing the salt lines himself. They'd agree that even the smallest amount of time spent outside their layers of protection were not to be spent alone. It could ambush them easily that way.
Once he closed the door Sam stripped out of clothes carefully and tossed them aside. The cold water of the shower shocked him into wakefulness. He scrubbed away the grime from the day before and thought of his brother.
Eight year old Sam sat in his classroom after school while his teacher escorted the other kids in a single line out to the school entrance. In a few minutes Dean would realize Sam wasn't at his usual place on the front steps and come looking for him, Sam knew. Then Mrs. Stone would tell Dean what he did and he'd be in trouble.
Sam finished his homework then doodled runes in his English book while he waited. His right hand had a bruise blossoming across his knuckles, not as bad as in training but still obvious. The door to the classroom opened and Dean popped his head in.
"You get stuck in a book again Sammy?" Dean asked grinning. It wouldn't be the first time Sam lost track of the time reading.
"No Mrs. Stone asked me to stay after." Sam said biting his lip. Dean frowned and stepped all the way inside, closing the door behind him.
"What happened Sam?" Dean asked. He perched on the edge of Mrs. Stone's desk and put his feet up on Sam's front row desk. His keen eyes took in the bruise forming on Sam's knuckles and how disheveled his clothes were and his eyes narrowed.
"Got in a fight." Sam said dropping his head.
"With who?" Dean asked sharply jumping off the desk. "I'll kick the shit out of-"
"You don't have to do that." Sam said trying not to giggle.
"Why?" Dean asked with a smile tugging at his lips. "Tell me what happened."
"Well," Sam squinched his face up remembering the exact details. "There were these two fifth graders and they were making fun of me. So I told them to leave them alone and one of them pushed me."
"What were they're names?" Dean demanded through clenched teeth.
"Dean you can't hurt them, they're younger than you." Sam said.
"I hope you fought back Sam." Dean grumbled.
"I used that one hitter quitter you showed me. Then I twisted the other ones wrist. He cried." Sam said. He hoped he wouldn't get in too much trouble, he wasn't supposed to call attention to himself.
"That's m'boy." Dean laughed clapping Sam on the back.
"You're not mad?" Sam asked.
"Hell no Sammy. And don't tell dad I cussed okay?" Dean said.
"I won't Dean." Sam promised.
"Let's get out of here before Stone Henge comes back." Dean said earning a laugh from Sammy.
"But she said I have to stay so she can talk to you." Sam said.
"What for I already know." Dean waved it off and picked up Sam's back pack, slinging it over his shoulder. And as Sam thought at that age that Dean's word was golden, he just nodded and followed Dean out the classroom window.
"When you're done with your homework I'll show you this new move dad taught me the other day." Dean said when they got to the sidewalk out of sight of the school.
"Already finished it." Sam said.
"You're such a geek." Dean said ruffling his brother's hair.
Sam shut off the water and closed his eyes. Sometimes he forgot the good times growing up, few and far between that they were. His brother raised him. Bandaged him up, taught him to read and beat the shit out of bullies till Sam was big enough to do it himself and then Dean still put the hurting on them once they recovered from the Sammy beating.
Sam grabbed the towel, wrapped it around his waist and left the bathroom. Any minute he expected to hear Jack's tap through the paper thin walls telling him she was leaving the safe area.
Jack was in and out of the shower as fast as she could make herself bath. She didn't want to be stuck inside any longer than she had to. Getting to Dean was all she thought about. She'd make it right, she had to. Jack was drying her hair with the damp towel in front of the mirror and caught sight of her tattooed abdomen. She turned around looking back at herself in the mirror. Her eyes raked over the design that dominated her mid and lower back. This better work, Jack thought. A lot of her 'plan' hinged on her being able to lure enough of the demon's wrath at her.
"Luckily you're good at getting people to try and kill you, Sparks." Jack told herself grinning wolfishly at the mirror. She finished toweling off and went back into the bedroom to pull on some clean jeans and a shirt. Her thoughts drifted while she dressed.
Jack moved swiftly to the left trying to avoid her opponents blade wielding hand. She grabbed for it bringing her knee up to collide with his forearm and make him drop the knife. Dean fought back by hooking a leg behind her foot, throwing her off balance. With his face inches from hers Jack slipped the razor blade from under her tongue to clench it between her teeth. Dean saw the glint of the blade and let go just as she brought it across his cheek.
"You fight dirty." He grinned wildly dancing on the balls of his feet waiting for her to attack again.
"Always." Jack said with the razor blade still in her teeth. They circled each other.
Jack hopped backwards under the motel overhang. Good thing the place was almost completely empty. Made sparring easier. Dean kicked high aiming for Jack's head and she fell back feeling his boot graze her jaw. It was enough to make her bang into the post and she pushed off and back into the parking lot.
Dean shot forward grabbing Jack's hand and she twisted shifting her weight to turn the throw against him ending Dean's move with him landing on the ground. She didn't have long to gloat because he swept low to the ground pulling her legs out from under her so she landed hard on the ground next to him.
"Sonuva.." Jack winced and punched Dean hard in the chest.
"Oh-fuck- I still win." Dean said rubbing his chest where there would be a bruise the next day.
"Like hell! We're both ass down in the dirt. Its a tie." Jack said.
"I got first blood, I was just too nice to point that out." Dean said.
"Where? I'm not bleeding." Jack said looking down at herself. Dean reached out and touched her elbow. A tiny smudge of blood from scraping it against the motel post.
"That doesn't count." Jack said scowling at him.
"I think we need a ruling. Sammy!" Dean called.
"What?" Sam asked appearing in the doorway.
"Tell Jack I won." Dean ordered.
"Its a tie!" Jack insisted.
"I'm going back inside." Sam said rolling his eyes.
"I won." Dean said.
"My ass." Jack said. She grinned and got to her feet, giving Dean her hand to help him up.
"I'm hungry." She said dusting off.
"What's new?" Dean taunted laughing when she swiped at him.
Jack banged her palm against the wall she shared with Sam's room after she pulled on her boots. He gave the answering tap and she opened the motel room door. Sam was waiting in his doorway for her.
"Coffee?" Jack asked.
"Yeah." Sam agreed handing Jack the gun she left under the pillow. They were going down the stairs when they saw the squad car lights.
"Who would report that thing stolen?" Jack hissed as they doubled back to the rooms.
"I don't know but this is not what we fucking needed." Sam said.
"Think they'll come up here?" Jack asked.
"Don't know. We better pack up just in case." Sam said.
"Yeah, it won't be hard for anyone to point us out after we scoured half the neighborhood asking after Dean." Jack agreed.
Jack still never unpacked anywhere she stayed so all she had to do was grab her things, take down the protection and brush away the salt around the door and windows.
After packing up Sam and Dean's things they laid low for a few tense minutes checking the window frequently to see if any police were coming up the stairs. Finally they heard the heavy foot falls of the cops and heard them lazily knocking on doors.
"Time to go." Sam said. He slung his and Dean's things over each shoulder, Jack picked up the laptop case and her things and they walked out of the room heads down, trying to be unassuming. Half way to the stairs at the other end of the row of rooms an officer spotted them.
"Excuse me. Hey Excuse me sir, ma'am." The police officer said walking quickly towards as they tried to speed up. Sam looked at Jack and they stopped.
"What can I do for you officer?" Sam asked with a curious expression.
"Have you been staying in this motel long?" The cop asked.
"No sir, just a couple days. We're just passing through on our way somewhere." Sam answered.
"And where'd that be?" The officer asked looking over their scruffy appearance.
"Texas." Jack answered.
"Road trip home to meet my folks for the holidays sir." Sam said putting an arm around Jack's shoulders.
"Where from?" He asked them.
"University of Nevada." Sam said.
"You look like you ran into some kind of trouble." He said dubiously.
"I suppose so sir, got robbed a few days ago in Phoenix. Nasty experience." Sam said with a shudder.
"Is that so? I hope you reported it." The cop said.
"Is there any reason we're being questioned?" Jack demanded losing her patience. Sam pinched her between the shoulder blades.
"We're canvassing the neighborhood. A young woman was murdered a few blocks from here last night." The officer said gouging their reactions.
"Oh wow. Well we were here all night sir." Sam said with a look of genuine surprise. He had a sinking feeling in his gut.
"Can I get you're names. In case we have any more questions while you're in town?" He asked eyeing their bags.
"Okay." Sam said nodding cooperatively. "Alice James and Luke North."
"Numbers?" The cop asked. Jack rattled off the number she'd seen on the side of a bus a few hours ago.
"Alright then. I'll be in touch." The officer eyed them again and turned to go bang on some more doors.
They walked calmly down the stairs and onto the sidewalk not stopping till they turned a few corners, leaving the motel and their stolen car behind.
"On the bright side at least we know they're not here about a stolen car." Jack said.
"No but don't you think its a little coincidental that only hours after Dean gets possessed by a homicidal demon a woman turns up dead just a few blocks from us?" Sam asked with dread.
Jack closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She didn't want to even think that Dean could have something to do with the dead woman.
"Okay we can't think about that right now. We have to get somewhere we can lay low then start looking for Dean again." Jack said.
"If the demon did do it. Dean's going to need us. Really need us." Sam said. Although in true Dean fashion he probably wouldn't come out and tell them as much. He would try to shoulder the blame himself.
"Yeah. I know." Jack said.
TBC………………..
AN: Okay not so much action in this chapter, just some things I felt needed to happen before they tracked the demon down. Some remembering of their own to do. It would be such a Jack thing to associate fondness with getting her ass kicked, or semi kicked anyway (Jack: It was a tie!) But then Sam did that too in a way, didn't he? Hope you enjoyed it!