"I'm James," the hunter introduced with the same unnerving grin. "Now, why shouldn't I kill this little monstrosity?"

"Well… He's my friend," Sam answered, weakly.

Jack winced behind him. That reply never would have worker with either John or Dean. It definitely wouldn't work with this stranger.

"He hasn't hurt anyone," Jess said, thankfully coming to Sam's defence.

"Never heard of frostbite then? Hypothermia?" James taunted.

"Cold and ice are… forces of nature," Sam argued. "Winter would happen without Jack. Anyone who has died because of the cold would have died anyway."

James stared, aiming his gun. "If winter is gonna happen anyway, then why should it matter if the Icicle survives?"

"Because he's my friend," Sam snapped. "And, I've never heard of any hunter named James before. But I know you've heard of me. Do you want to know the reason?" He threatened.

James laughed. "I didn't know you were still hunting, Sammy. Your Daddy's and your brother are all broken up 'bout you leaving for," he gestured to the room, "all this." He leered at Jess, who scowled and crossed her arms.

"I'm not hunting anymore. I'm out of that life. I have a normal life now," Sam hissed. "Normal-ish," he amended, hastily at the dubious looks from everyone in the room.

"Normal?" James sounded out. "What's that like?" He asked genuinely.

Sam blinked. What?

~ An Unlikely Friendship ~

Jessica could safely say this was one of the weirdest situations she had ever been involved in. This stranger had broken into their apartment and tried to shoot her and Sam and had actually shot Jack. And now Sam was talking to him about teaming up!

Although, in her boyfriend's defence, Sam was mostly disagreeing with James about that.

"I mean... we clearly have different techniques and I'm not even really hunting anymore," Sam tried to argue.

"And that's why it's perfect! We could improve each other's skills and I could hunt while you're doing classes and you could hunt while I'm doing mine," James answered with real enthusiasm.

Jessica was currently living the definition of surreal. She heard Jack snicker quietly as Sam's face twitched at the mention of 'improving'. She, herself, might have giggled if the situation had been any less unbelievable and tense.

"We're just too different, James," Sam argued, choosing to ignore the remark about 'improving' considering that the other hunter still held the gun.

"How are we different at all?" James scoffed.

"Well," Sam began. "I would have put down that gun before I started trying to partner up with a guy whose best friend I just shot!" He hissed.

"Yeah," Jack muttered from behind Jessica, sounding incredibly offended.

This time Jessica did actually have to suppress a smile, the oddity of the situation was making her twitch.

James rolled his eyes and dropped the shotgun. "Happy? And anyway," he continued. "Opposites attract I mean," he flicked his eyes between Jess and Sam, "obviously." He finished with a wink at Jess.

Jessica bit her lip and held back a laugh as Jack bent over with silent laughter behind her. Sam was not amused.

"If I didn't think you were still trigger happy…" he trailed off with a huff.

"I haven't heard a single 'no' in this conversation," James mentioned.

"No," Sam snapped.

"Do you promise not to kill Jack?" Jessica asked.

"Jess!" Sam cried in disbelief.

"If he says no, then Jess, you need to make him leave!" Jack called, backing away from the group.

Jessica rolled her eyes. "Yes or no, James"?

James' flicked between the three of them before he laughed. "Sure."

~An Unlikely Friendship~

The library was almost empty at this time of night. Almost.

Sam shot a discreet glance over towards James, his unwanted hunting partner.

So far, other than several half-in-jest, half-insulting names towards Jack, a little flirting with Jessica and still calling him Sammy, James had been on his best behaviour. He had stuck to his promise not to hunt Jack.

Sam thought that James was just lonely. He snuck another glance and was surprised to find the cold blue eyes staring back at him.

"You're staring," James accused, bored. "I'd stare at me too. Anything other than ancient Greek demigods or…." He glanced at the cover of Sam's textbook, "law." He shuddered.

Sam glared. "I was not staring. I was…" he trailed off. James had caught him staring. How could he deny that?

James laughed. "You don't trust me. Fine. I get it. Coming into an apartment with a loaded weapon is not the best way to make friends."

Sam glared. "No," he deadpanned.

"I didn't know you were… you, by the way. I mean if I'd known I would've left you alone, probably."

"Probably?"

James shrugged. "There's not many hunters our age, you know. And, I'm not like you, I didn't have any brothers or sisters. I just had my dad – I guess I was like you in crappy dad terms – but then he died. It's just me now." He laughed, weakly. "I had a kind of… stalker crush on you, you know. That's why I applied to go to college. Well, that and the whole… no one holding me back anymore."

Sam looked away. "I, um… I didn't know I was so… well known in hunting circles."

James snorted. "Yeah, right. The famous Johnny Winchester's boys. As if there are any hunters out there who don't know you, your brother and your daddy."

Sam ignored the pang of homesickness and guilt that struck him whenever he thought about Dean. "You…um." He coughed. "You had a crush on me?" He teased.

James smirked. "Don't tell me you're gonna throw away that beautiful blond for little old me? I mean, I'm a catch… but Jess… wow!"

Sam laughed. "She is amazing. She deserves much better than me," he admitted. "But I think we all deserve better than the life we got."

James stared. "I feel like you're getting at something, Sam."

Sam sighed. "Listen, no real offense here, but… I don't trust you. Not yet, anyway. Jess does though – for whatever reason. And Jack, too. A little," Sam struggled to get out.

"Sam…" James dragged out.

"Going out on a hunt with someone you don't trust is an awful idea, but for you I'm willing to make an exception."

James' face brightened comically. "Does that mean I'm in the gang?"

"Well, no it's just a trial run so far – who says it's a gang?" Sam asked, cutting himself off.

"I won't let you down, Sammy, I promise," James swore, seriously.

"Seriously, it's Sam… you know what? Forget it. Welcome to the 'gang', James."

~An Unlikely Friendship~

With a final screech, the spirit vanished in a swirl of flame. For a moment, there was absolute silence, as the foursome readjusted to silence and, relative, safety.

Then, James snorted, Jack laughed, Sam sighed, and Jess released a nervous giggle. Jess lowered her rock salt loaded shotgun, retrieved from under the car seat where she had been left as the get-away driver, until her boys had been overwhelmed by the angry ghost.

James rolled to his feet and started brushing the recently overturned dirt from his clothes, and prodding at soon to form bruises. He nodded a silent thanks to the spirit for distracting the ghost and preventing it from killing him.

Sam also pulled himself to his feet, brushing a hand across his throat where the spirit had grabbed and thrown him away from its grave. He had directed James to kept going while Jack tried to distract it, but it had gotten lucky shot at them both, and it would have likely killed James if Jess hadn't shot it, distracted it again while Jack covered her, and Sam finished salting the bones and burning them.

Jack was stretching and twirling his staff while complimenting her shooting, which Jess uncomfortably laughed off. Sam didn't like having her get so involved in this part of his life, but she had saved their lives.

They had all saved each other's lives.

This hunt couldn't have been completed, and not without any serious injuries, without everyone working together and putting in the effort. Maybe this team thing was worth it after all.

"Good work, Icicle," James called, snatching up his shovel.

"You weren't so bad yourself, Hunter-Gatherer," Jack snapped back, spreading a growing patch of frost across a few of the older gravestones.

Sam rolled his eyes. "Are you alright, Jess?" He wondered.

Jess nodded. "I'm fine, but I'm not staying in the car anymore," she protested. "You guys couldn't have done this without me, I'm not letting you try again. You're not leaving me behind anymore."