Chapter 5

Sam sat his bags in the trunk of the Impala before going to Jody to tell her goodbye and thank her for feeding them and letting them spend the night.

"Sam, take care of yourself and stay safe out there," Jody insisted giving him a motherly hug. She knew how either brother got when one was in trouble, and knew Sam was hurting even if he didn't show it outwardly.

"I will Jody, and thanks for letting us stay with you."

"Where are you off to now?"

"A place in Montana. I'm going to go over everything that we've found and try to figure it out. I'll call you when we get there and when I get Dean back."

"You do that, and if you need my help, you better call me buster," she stressed, clutching his hands in her.

"Okay Jody, take care," Sam replied. He got in the Impala and cranked her to head out.

"She seemed interesting," Meg commented give a small wave to Jody when she waved at her. "I'm thinking you didn't mention what I am to her."

"No, there wasn't any reason to, but I think she had her suspicions but was too polite to say anything. Besides, you were with me. She knows I wouldn't do anything to put her in harm's way."

"My offer still stands to drive if you care to take me up on it." With that said Meg slumped down in the seat and stared aimlessly out the side window.

"I should be fine until we stop for the night."

"Suit yourself. Are you always this hardheaded?"

Sam didn't respond to that and turned on the radio to fill the silence of the car. He didn't want to talk and didn't know what he would talk about with her anyway. He concentrated on the road ahead of him and headed for the interstate to continue driving west. He was only going to stop when he needed gas to get as close to White Fish, Montana, as he could today.

After making a quick stop for gas, Sam got back onto the interstate and merged into the fast-moving traffic, settling into the middle lane. He matched his speed with the cars around him and kept the Impala evenly spaced among the other cars.

Without any warning a truck ahead of them blew a tire with caused a chain reaction all around them. Sam heard the loud bang, like a gun shot and saw brake lights and vehicles swerving to try to avoid what was happening in front of them. The truck over compensated and ended up plowing sideways into a semi causing the semi to weave and start skidding sideways blocking two of the lanes of traffic and bumping other cars and making them loose control.

Meg quickly threw herself at Sam, bracing an arm on the dash and using the other to jerk the steering wheel to the right to get off the highway. If Sam had stiffened seconds before, she would probably have broken his arm. He stood on the brakes as the Impala fishtailed and came to an abrupt halt on the grassy side of the road, throwing rocks and tuffs of soil and grass behind them. He went from about seventy-five miles per hours to a sudden stop within seconds. She reached for the keys and turned the car off when she saw Sam wasn't going to.

Sickening, crunching of metal as cars ran into each other, squealing of brakes, smells of burning rubber assaulted Sam making him cringe and close his eyes waiting for the impact that never came. He slowly opened his eyes and looked toward the highway to see cars crashed into each other like a kid got mad and tossed them around.

"Breath damn it!" a faraway voice yelled at him as he felt a hard poke in the side getting his attention.

Sam finally drew in a shaky breath, not realizing he was holding it and looked toward Meg. He was shaking and couldn't let go of the steering wheel that he was clutching so tight his knuckles were white. His ears were ringing, and he had gone deathly pale.

"At least your brother's precious car didn't get hit," Meg commented before opening her door to step out of the car. She walked around it and surveyed the destruction stretched up and down the highway. She walked to a car and looked in to see a shaken up older couple staring wide eyed at her in disbelief. "Are you okay?" she asked to get a nod from them since they couldn't speak.

It took all Sam had to loosen his grip on the steering wheel and fumble with the door handle. His hands were shaking, and he could feel a tightness in his shoulders and neck. After a moment to pull himself together, Sam started going to the wrecked vehicles to be sure there were no major injuries. He grabbed a guy's jacket and pressed it to his head that was bleeding and told him to sit still, help was on the way. Others had scrapes and bruising but nothing that was life threatening.

Most of the damages were fender benders and crushed sides from cars trying to stop and not having any place to go. The truck that had started the domino effect was crushed into the side of a semi that was sitting partly sideway on the highway. People were getting out of cars and looked around with a dazed, shocked expression on their faces.

Sam hurried to the truck and got the door opened, trying to see if the guy was injured. He carefully got him out of the truck and moved him to the side of road to sit down. Once he saw people were already calling for help, he walked over to a couple of cars asking if they could go ahead and get around the semi to get what vehicles that were not damaged out of the way for the emergency vehicles to get closer.

He didn't think the highway patrol would need statements from drivers not involved in any of the crashes or fender benders. There was enough room to drive around the semi, using the side of the road and getting past it. When the cars started to finally move, Sam went back to the Impala to get it out of the way and found Meg standing by it.

"Let's go, there's nothing else we can do here," he told her before getting into the car.

She didn't say anything as she got in and Sam slowly drove the Impala around the wrecks. He was slowly followed by other vehicles that were able to get into the right lane and drive partly on the side of the road. They passed emergency vehicles and highway patrol coming from the opposite direction heading for what looked like a war zone of crashed vehicles.

Adrenaline was still running high in Sam's body as he rolled his shoulders and turned his neck feeling the tightness and slight pain. He figured there might be a little whiplash from his sudden stopping and deemed himself lucky that they got off that easy.

"That was smart thinking, getting us out of the way like that," Sam told her. "You probably saved the Impala some body work and I know Dean would be thankful."

"Wasn't anything," Meg answered with a shrug. "If we don't have a working car, we can't get to where we're going."

He glanced sideways at Meg as she slumped in the seat. He cleared his throat and accepted an open bottle of water she was holding out. He took it with a shaking hand and managed to swallow several gulps without spilling it.

"Thanks," he finally mumbled handing her back the bottle. "I think I'll stop sooner today and get a room."

"Fine, but you know…I do know how to drive…." Meg trailed off with a shrug letting Sam have the option.

"We'll see when we need gas," Sam replied rolling it around in his head whether to give in and let her get behind the wheel or not. She had driven the Impala before but then he thought about being stuffed into the passenger side because she would need to pull the seat forward and didn't like the thought of that. He couldn't get in the back with all the boxes and mulled it over.

"Do you need some drugs?" Meg asked pulling him out of his thoughts.

"Probably wouldn't hurt. Look in the glove box; I think there's a bottle of Tylenol in there."

Meg leaned forward and opened the glove box to rummage around finally coming up with the bottle. She opened it and shook three pills out, handing them to Sam along with the water. She watched him as he took the pills and sighed softly, noticing he seemed to be deflating now. Meg didn't know how much longer he was going to be able to drive before having to stop. She settled back into the seat but kept a close eye on Sam to be sure he didn't wreck.

spn

A few hours had passed, and Sam knew he needed to stop. He could feel his body rebelling and started looking at the information signs for a decent motel that had food and gas nearby.

"Why don't we order pizza tonight?" Meg suggested. "I could do without mingling with the locals for a change."

"Yeah, sounds okay. I'll find a motel up ahead and we'll stop for the night."

"I can go down to a convenience store and grab a six pack of beers. Can't have pizza without beer."

"Whatever you want."

Sam saw what looked like a good exit fifteen miles further and moved out of the fast lane, making his way across the traffic so he could exit. It didn't take long for him to see the exit and pulled up the ramp, stopping at the top for the red light. He looked both ways deciding on which motel to choose and turned left when the light changed. Sam stopped the Impala in front of the office and groaned as he got out, thinking sitting for so long had tightened up his shoulders and neck. He went inside and got a room with two queen beds and asked about pizza delivery. The desk clerk gave him a paper with restaurants that did takeout for the area. He thanked her and walked stiffly back to the car to move it around back in front of their room.

"I'm taking a hot shower," Sam told Meg once he opened the door to their room. "Here's a list of places that deliver." He handed Meg the paper and rummaged around for some sleep clothes before heading into the bathroom.

"I'll take care of things." Meg pulled her cell out and put in the number for a local pizza shop. She picked up the key card and headed out the door to walk down to the store a few buildings below the motel. She placed her order and hung up licking her lips in anticipation of a hot, cheesy, pizza. After getting a six pack of beer, a couple bottles of water and something sweet to eat, she headed back to the motel to wait for the pizza guy, smiling when a memory popped into her mind of a certain angel and his remark.

spn

Sam dropped his clothes on the counter and leaned against it as he drew in some slow breaths. He closed his eyes and images of the wrecked vehicles filled his mind. He was relieved that there were no major injuries among all the crashed vehicles. He looked down at his hands, saw a tremor, and fisted it to stop it from getting worse.

He moved to the shower and turned on the water to heat before stripping out of his clothes so he could step into the tub. Hot water struck his body and made him shiver for a moment as he adjusted to the temperature. He turned to let the hot spray pound on his shoulders and neck trying to relieve the tightness in them. He moved them around and tilted his head back and forth before reaching up to massage his neck. The water felt good and washed away the sweat that coated his body. He sighed softly and turned to hold his head under the strong spray, letting water run down his face. He wiped his eyes and proceeded to shampoo and wash his body. Before getting out, Sam cooled the water and stood under if to cool his body off.

Sam grabbed a towel and began to dry his body and them his hair. He felt exhausted and weak after the hot shower and decided he'd turn in early tonight and hopefully get a good night's sleep, so he'd be ready to finish the last leg of their journey tomorrow.

A large billowing, cloud of steam followed Sam from the bathroom and into the main room. He glanced round and saw Meg was sitting at the small table drinking a beer and munching on a slice of pizza. She tilted her bottle toward him and nodded to the other beer and pizza box sitting across from her. He looked at the clock and realized he had been in the bathroom for over an hour.

"Beers, cold; pizza's kind of warm, better eat up," Meg told him as he made his way across the room.

"Two?" Sam questioned seeing two pizza boxes on the table.

"I was hungry," she shrugged and took another bite of her pizza.

Sam opened one of the boxes and removed two slices, laying them on a napkin. He twisted open the beer bottle and took a small swallow before taking a bite of pizza. He sighed thinking it was good and took another bite not realizing how hungry he was. After consuming four slices, Sam paused, his appetite sated for now. After finishing his second beer, Sam burped softly and sat back knowing he was done for the night.

"I'm heading to bed," Sam yawned as he threw his trash away. "I'm bushed."

"I'm going to get a shower and watch some television," she replied wiping her mouth after finishing the last slice of pizza in one box. "Now that hit the spot. Nothing better than pizza and beer."

"Okay." Sam turned his bed down and got between the covers, stretching out and flexing his muscles as he got comfortable. It wasn't but a few minutes and he was drifting to sleep. He cracked his eyes when Meg came back into the room and slipped into her bed and grabbing the remote. She turned on the television and lowered the volume before flipping through the channels hunting something to watch. She settled on a sappy love story and got comfortable.

Sam could hear the soft mumbling from the television as he shut his mind down and fell into the abyss.

A/N: The two unlikely partners are heading to their final destination so they can hopefully figure out a plan to get Dean and Castiel back. Thank you for coming along for the ride. I do like reviews/comments. NC