Fire engines and ambulances wailed. People screamed. Fire roared.

"Sam? Sammy!" Dean shouted, trying to rouse his baby brother from where he had collapsed onto the ground.

Sam hadn't moved from where his friend had dropped him and fallen. Neither had his friend. Jess was moving even when Dean pressed harder into the bleeding wound in her stomach.

Smoke hung heavy in the air, making it hard to see and harder to breathe.

"I need help over here!" Dean shouted, coughing and spluttering as an ambulance skidded to a halt on the edge of the grass. It took the EMTs an eternity to jump from the back of the ambulance and begin to move towards them, only to jump back when the building gave a loud groan and an entire floor buckled.

They were too close.

"Jess! Sam!"

Dean glanced away from the burning building to see a pair sprinting across the grass towards them. He regretted that he had left his weapons in the truck of the car. They were incredibly vulnerable out here like this.

"Jess," the woman breathed, wide eyed and horrified. "What happened?" She demanded, dropping to her knees beside Jessica.

Dean shook his head. "I don't know." He wasn't sure what had happened. Sam ran into the building like he was being chased, and then Dean spotted fire through the windows. He had already pulled his baby brother out of one fire, he wasn't letting him get burned again. He raced up to the apartment and found the door wide open with an old guy with yellow eyes, and his brother, his girlfriend and a stranger badly injured.

The woman shot a look over her shoulder. "Zach, take care of James!" She ordered. She pushed at Dean's hands. "I'll take Jess, you grab Sam. We need to get them away from the fire and I can't carry him."

Dean hesitated to leave Jess, but he wanted to check on his brother more than anything. He quickly scrambled over the grass to Sam. His face was dark with smoke, but his skin was bloodless and pale. Dean touched him and he was cold. With shaking fingers, he felt for Sam's pulse, finding it weak and fluttery.

He hooked his hand under Sam's arms and carefully started dragging him back towards the ambulance, followed by the woman and Zach. He did his best to ignore the blood trail being left on the grass, but it made him want to be sick. There was no reason that that much blood should ever be coming from his baby brother.

"You're gonna be okay, Sammy," Dean muttered in Sam's ear, even as his head hung limp on his chest.

He lowered Sam to the ground once they were clear of the haze of smoke. As soon as he stepped back, Sam was swarmed by paramedics and Dean couldn't see him anymore.

"Who are you?" The woman asked.

Dean rubbed a hand over his face and considered ignoring her. How had this happened so quickly? What the hell had just happened? "I'm Dean, Sam's brother."

"Dean Winchester? I'm Becky Warren, I used to Jess' roommate. That's my brother Zach Warren. We're friends with your brother. Were you in the building, Dean?" Becky asked, clear and patient.

Dean shot her an uncertain look. "Uh, yeah. I had to carry out Jess. The… other guy brought Sam out."

"James," Zach filled in.

Becky put a hand on Dean's shoulder. "Dean, if you were in the building then you need to talk to the paramedics. They need to check for smoke inhalation. Trust me, I'm a med student."

Dean shook his head. "They need to focus on Sam," he argued.

"At least go to the hospital," Becky said. "They can wait to check you out there if you're alright now. But you need to be checked out. Sam needs you to be checked out," she pushed.

"We'll watch the apartment," Zach offered. "In case anything else happens." He lowered his voice. "In case anything comes back."

Dean glanced between the pair. "What are you talking about?"

Becky shook her head. "Nothing. Sam will tell you later, I'm sure. Just, stay with him, just in case. We'll keep watch."

Dean hesitated, but in the end, he wanted to stay with Sam and make sure that he was safe much more than he wanted to try chase down the Demon. He spared the siblings another look even as he let himself be pushed into an ambulance where EMTs were shouting complicated words at each other and one of them was trying to put a long breathing tube down Sam's throat.

"We've got no pulse!"

Dean's heart plummeted. "Oh God!" He muttered, trying to keep out of the way of the frantic movements that were going on in the back of the ambulance while people tried to save his brother's life.

"Okay, heartbeat's back and stable," one of the EMT's breathed.

The EMT closest to Dean let out a relieved laugh. He clapped Dean on the shoulder as he squeezed past him. "Looks like your brother has got something watching out for him," he chuckled.

~An Unlikely Friendship~

Over the years, Sam had become intimately familiar with the sounds and smells of a hospital. He recognised the heart monitor immediately. He recognised the pinch of an IV in his arm, and the weakness he could feel in every cell of his body. He could feel a heavy weight against his leg that was familiar too, from too many times waking up to see someone else performing a bedside vigil.

His eyes were reluctant to open but Sam pushed through. He needed to see that everything was okay. He needed to see that Jess was still alive. He couldn't imagine living in a world without her. The mere thought of it…

Sam could hear the beep of his heart monitor increasing.

"Sam?" Came Jess's voice. It was weak but steady.

Sam finally peeled opened his eyes. The hospital was the same shade of off-white that was still too bright on tired eyes. He could see the IV line and bag hanging over his head. He could spot the edges of the machines that were monitoring his heartbeat and blood pressure and all sorts of other things that he had never bothered to learn.

His brother, with a day and a half worth of stubble growing on his face, was resting his head against his legs, sleeping. His face was drawn and tired.

Sam looked at the bed across from him. Jess was propped up on several pillows, with her arms wrapped around her stomach. She smiled when she saw him looking.

"Jess," he breathed. "Are you…?" He asked, having to break off due to the dryness of his throat. He coughed.

Jess laughed. "Me? I'm fine. It wasn't that deep. I was incredibly lucky," she explained, but the way that her arms tensed and untensed told him that she didn't really believe that. "The doctors say that I'll have more problems with the smoke inhalation than the slash."

Sam exhaled in relief. He nodded. "And James and…?" Sam asked, his voice giving out again.

"James is," Jess sighed. "He's got second degree burns all along his shoulders. His hands are… bad, but he shouldn't lose much function in them. He had a concussion but it's not too bad. The smoke inhalation was even worse for him. But they say he'll be fine, and doctors don't like to give certainties," Jess assured him with a grin. Her smile faltered. "I haven't seen Jack since… since the fire."

"Taken… other spirits," Sam croaked. "Said… look after him."

Jess smiled. "That's a relief." She leaned forward and shot an anxious look out of the door before lowering her voice conspiratorially. "They won't let us leave."

Sam nodded. He guessed that the police would probably want to talk to them, if they hadn't already talked to Jess. Sam wanted to say more to her. He wanted to ask what she'd told them. He wanted to get up and see she was okay. He wanted to find Jack. He wanted to wake Dean up and reassure him that he was okay.

"Go to sleep, Sam," Jess ordered. "I'll tell Dean that you woke up." She smiled. "You need your rest for the tests you're going to get put under when you wake up."

Sam closed his eyes. He was asleep in seconds.

~An Unlikely Friendship~

Jess watched her boyfriend for a long moment, smiling. It had been close. She had nearly lost him. She had lost him for a few moments. She was relieved that Sam had sounded entirely coherent when he had been awake. Jess had been assured that it had only been seconds and no damage was likely to have occurred, but she had felt like her heart had stopped when she had been told Sam's had.

It had been horrible. She had woken up in an empty room – Sam still in surgery after eighteen hours, and James receiving skin grafts for his hands. No one would tell her anything about James or Sam because she wasn't 'family'.

The police had showed up as soon as she had woken up. They had pestered her with questions and she had gotten increasingly hysterical as their questions turned the blame to Sam and James and they led her to believe that something was horribly wrong with her boys.

She had nearly broken down when she had been handed a bag containing the remains from their apartment. Sam's duffel from his trip with Dean had been saved, along with a few of their pictures and clothes. But everything else was gone.

She couldn't stop the thought that if Sam died then she wouldn't have anything left of him.

Luckily, Dean showed up and chased the officers out of her room until she had properly recovered.

It was strange to meet this stranger, who she had heard so much about, for the first time, especially after knowing and loving Sam for over four years.

Although, it was fitting that they finally met now. Jess reached behind her, under her pillow, to brush her fingers against the small, velvet box that had been saved from the fire. She had found it in Sam's bag. She and Dean wouldn't be strangers for long. Soon, they would all be a family.

Jessica smiled. She knew she would have to wait until Sam asked but she knew that when he did ask, she would say yes.

~An Unlikely Friendship~

The first thing Jack noticed when he woke up was the searing pain all over his body. The next thing he noticed was the screaming. His screaming.

"Jack! Jack! Calm down!"

"It's okay. You're okay. It's going to be okay. You just need to relax, and it'll stop hurting."

"Jack, please."

Jack knew the voices. The spirits of autumn, spring and summer. He knew that they were his friends – when they could be. But he couldn't stop fighting them. He was in too much pain.

Why did it hurt so much? Where was Sam, Jess and James? Were they okay?

"Jack, wake up. It's us. You're safe. We're trying to help," Flower Blossom, the spirit of spring begged.

Flower was the oldest of the seasonal spirits. She was the most nurturing of the four. Jack knew that while the others checked in on him from time to time, Flower was the one only one who would show herself without worrying about any consequences. He still remembered the week when she found him sick, and they stayed out in the winter snow for days until he recovered.

"You need to calm down. We can't heal you unless you're calm," Nature – Nate – Fall, the spirit of autumn, explained.

Nature, better known as Nate, was the older brother figure of all the youngest spirits. He nurtured people in his own way. He prodded and poked at something or someone until they caved and produced the greatness he knew they could. Nate could be a coward sometimes, but he was loyal.

Nate was more laid-back than the other spirits since he wasn't the only spirit in charge of autumn. Fertility spirits, Halloween spirits and a few sun spirits also had their time to be in charge. All Flower's sprites were very young – children, really – and they needed an awful lot more guidance than Samhain did.

"Jack?" Summer Heat, the summer spirit, called. She waited until Jack stopped struggling. "Your friends are safe. They're in the hospital now, but you can't see them until you get better and you can't get better until you calm down," she explained, slowly. "Please, let us help you."

Summer was a decade younger than Jack, and she was the only other spirit who was the only spirit for their season. She understood Jack better than the others. When he thought about it, Jack guessed it made sense. They were the most violent spirits, the strongest spirits but they were also the spirits who did the most damage to innocent people. They were more secluded than the others. It was a shame they were opposites. It was dangerous for them both to be together for too long.

Jack swallowed back another scream, but a whimper escaped his lips.

"It'll be fine, Jack," Nate assured. "We're bringing you to the Spring of Healing."

"Mother Nature be damned," Flower agreed.

Jack began to panic. He hated the water. Even if it would end this horrible pain.

"We'll be with you the whole way, Jack," Summer promised.

Jack felt a tight, hot hand squeeze his. Despite the extreme heat, Jack felt comforted by it.

"Just like we always should have been."