Thank you so much SamGirlDeanCurious for beta'ing and VegasGranny and Ncsupnatfan for pre-reading xxx

Chapter Nine

Sam wasn't sure what to expect when they arrived in Colorado, but as soon as they arrived, he realized there was no way he could have prepared himself for this. He'd handled demons before, but never in numbers like this before. There were hundreds, and they were all black-eyed and raging.

They'd arrive in front of a school with chain-link fences and a parking lot, at the edges of a salt circle that surrounded the building were the demons. The rest of the area seemed deserted. Sam wondered where everyone else was. Were they cowering in their homes and other buildings, or were they now the meatsuits he was looking at?

He looked at the salt line and then glanced up at the sky. It was dark with clouds, but none of them looked like rainclouds. That could change in a moment though. The rain could come and wash away the salt, giving the demons free rein to come inside and start whatever nightmare they were here for. Even a strong wind would be enough. They were going to have to be fast.

"In here," Hannah said, hammering on a door and shouting, "It's me!"

The door creaked open and Sam slipped in after Jess, Jack bringing up the rear. As the door was closed behind him and a fresh layer of salt was placed in front of it, Sam looked at the sloping back of the Dean that belonged in this world as he shook the sack of salt.

He held his breath as he waited for him to look up and see him, and when he did, his face must have shown the same shock he could see on Dean's face.

Jessica had said his Dean wasn't the same as hers, he was hardened, but Sam hadn't pictured this. There was a patch over the place his right eye should be and a long scar running from underneath it to his jaw. The visible eye held a darkness Sam had only seen in the very last days of Dean bearing the Mark of Cain. It was wide with shock and Dean's lips were parted.

"Dean," Jessica said quickly. "You need to listen to me. It's not—"

Before she could finish her sentence, Dean was on Sam. With the way he looked, Sam was expecting an attack, but it was his arms that flew around Sam in a hug and his hot and quick breaths that rushed against Sam's neck.

"Oh god, Sammy," he whispered. "How?"

"I'm not him," Sam said quietly.

Dean didn't seem to hear him. He was clutching Sam against him and Sam could feel the tremors working through him.

"It's not him, Dean," Jessica said again. "He's not from this world."

Her words seemed to penetrate Dean this time and he pulled back, his hands on Sam's shoulders to steady himself. "What?"

"I'm not your Sam. I came from a different world to help you."

Dean blinked and a tear slipped from his visible eye. It was the only show of emotion he allowed before his expression hardened and his hands dropped to his sides. "A different world, huh?"

Sam nodded. "We're going to get your brother back though. There's a way. John is preparing to do it now."

"He's going to save the whole world," Jessica said eagerly.

Dean frowned and then nodded curtly. "Sure. Okay." He ran a hand over his face and when it dropped, his face was neutral. "I'm glad you came. There's too many for us to take alone."

"I can help with that," Jack said.

"Who are you?" Dean asked.

"This is Jack. He's a Nephilim," Jessica said. "He can kill demons."

Dean stared at him a moment and then said, "That's good. We've got plenty for you to work with."

Sam glanced back at the door and said, "Maybe we can work with something else. There's a lot of people out there."

Dean huffed a laugh. "Your world a bit different to this one, is it? They are demons, not people."

"Yes, but…" Sam shook his head. It could be incredibly stupid what he was thinking, but Jack couldn't exorcise that number of demons. The only way for him to stop them was by killing them, and that meant hundreds of deaths. If he could find another way, it would save the lives of the meatsuits that hadn't yet been mortally injured. It had to be worth trying something, anything else.

"Come see what we're protecting, new guy," Dean said. "Maybe when you get the stakes, you'll see why your pocket rocket needs to do his thing."

He strode away and they followed into a hall lined with grey lockers and doors leading into what looked like classrooms. They turned a corner and then Dean slapped a hand on double doors and said, "Let me in."

There was the sound of chains sliding against metal and then the door creaked open.

"Rufus!" Sam blurted.

Rufus raised an eyebrow. "Sam Winchester… I'm going to need to know how this happened."

"It's not him," Dean said roughly. "Let me pass."

Rufus stood back and they filed into a vast room that Sam guessed would have been used as an auditorium usually. Each seat was filled with a person. The ones that hadn't been lucky enough to get a seat were gathered in groups on the floor and the raised stage at the front of the room. Some of them were armed with guns and knives, others had flasks of holy water. There were men and women, children and elderly, and they all wore the same expression of shock and fear. Even the children weren't oblivious to the danger they were in.

Sam sucked in a breath and stood back as Rufus laid a new line of salt in front of the doors they'd come through.

Castiel was standing with a group, and his mouth dropped open as he saw Sam. He strode towards them, his eyes flickering between Jack and Sam.

"It's not Sam, Cas," Dean said. "He's from a different world."

Castiel nodded stiffly and then his eyes fixed on Jack. "And what is that?"

Jack looked stunned at the look on Castiel's face, the face of the father he loved, and he said, "I'm Jack," quietly.

"He's a Nephilim," Hannah said. "They brought their own Castiel. Jack is his son."

Castiel gaped at him. "My son! I would never…"

"But you did," Sam said, a bite of anger in his voice. "And Jack is here to save these people, so how about you show a little respect."

Castiel stared at him a moment, "You are very different."

"I would be," Sam said. "I'm not him."

"You were more reverent."

Sam snorted. "Then we are very different. I got over that thing pretty much as soon as I met you and Uriel."

Dean sighed heavily. "Figures. Still, Cas and Hannah are the most powerful allies we have on our side, so you show them respect."

Sam knew it was a watershed moment. He could accept Dean's edict and be his inferior, or he could stand for what he believed, his family, and show them all he wasn't going to be under their control.

"Castiel and Hannah are no longer the most powerful in the room. Jack is. When they show him respect, I'll give it to them. We came here to help."

Dean stared at him for a moment, giving nothing away in his expression, and then said, "Yeah, you're really not him."

"Never mind this," Jessica said, her hands curled into fists. "We've got bigger problems. What are we going to do about the demons? Sam, I get that there's a lot of lives going to be lost, but that's the way it is in this world. If we don't stop them, there will be a lot more lost when they kill everyone here and move onto the next city."

Sam nodded and looked around at the people. He didn't want to lose any of them, but he didn't want to lose the people being used as meatsuits either. He'd killed countless demons in his world, ending lives, but never these kinds of numbers. Because of him, during the apocalypse, thousands had died, and he didn't want to add more to his account by letting Jack do his thing. There had to be another way.

He wished Dean was there. He would have been able to come up with something if he was. They thought in sync so often that Sam relied on him to make the connections where he couldn't. He had a town full of people that needed him to be smart. If he failed, the day would dawn tomorrow over Colorado in the aftermath of a tragedy.

Suddenly he gasped. "Colorado!"

Dean frowned. "Yeah. Is our location going to make some difference to you getting your head out of your ass?"

Sam glared at him, just as he would if it was his Dean, and said, "Yes, it is. It's given me an idea. Me and Dean were in Colorado this one time, years ago, and we were attacked by a group of demons. We were trapped in a cop station. It wasn't as many at this, but it was way too many for us to deal with."

Jessica clapped a hand to her face. "Monument?"

"You too?" Sam asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, but, Sam, we swore we'd not do that again. I don't even know where we'd find the… ingredients."

Sam gasped and his hands raised, as if they could defend him from the realization. "Wait! You did Ruby's spell?"

"Yes," Dean growled. "We had a group of civilians with us and—we thought—Lilith was at the door. We thought we could end it there, so we did what we had to do."

Sam was stunned. He'd almost been persuaded to do the spell, too, as he'd believed it was the only way. He hadn't seen the meatsuits that day. He'd just seen Dean who would be worse than dead if the demons got in; he would be in Hell.

He was forever grateful to Dean for reaching him that day, when the horror and fear of the moment had passed and he realized what he'd almost done. He could imagine this Dean doing it to save his father's from the same fate that had scared Sam for his brother, but the fact that Jessica had done it…

He was wrong. This wasn't his Jessica. She was as much a hunter as Dean was, He just hadn't wanted to see it.

"What did you do in your world, Sam?" Jack asked. "Can we do it here?"

Sam started out of his thoughts and said, "Yes, I think so." He looked at the corners of the room and saw the speakers that would connect to the PA system. "We let them into the building and—"

"You let them in?" Dean growled. "Were you crazy?"

Sam spoke over him. "We let them in and trap them inside by lining the doors with salt from the outside. When they were in, we played an exorcism over the PA system. They were all exorcised. We can do that here."

"That is a very dangerous plan," Castiel said.

"Maybe, but it might save a lot of lives," Sam said. "Isn't that worth the risk?"

Dean glowered. "How about we ask the hundreds of people in this room what they think? They might be willing to die so you can have a clean conscience. It's not like this kind of fear is anything new to them."

"No one will die," Sam said. "Jack can be posted at the door in here. If the demons get close, he can kill them. No one needs to die at all if it works. Even if it fails, it will be the meatsuits only that are killed." He looked at Jessica, his eyes imploring, "We have to try."

She stared at him for a moment and then said, "Yeah. Okay."

"He's not him, Jess," Dean growled. "You know what Sam would do as he did it before."

"He did because he was desperate and scared," she said. "And we helped each other through the nightmares that came after. If he was here, he would want to try another way. None of the people in this room have to die, and maybe we can save some of the meatsuits Some of these people are here with their kids. We can prevent making those kids orphans."

Dean and Castiel exchanged a long look and then Dean nodded. "Fine. We'll try. What do we need?"

"Salt," Sam said. "A lot of it. And as many people on the doors outside as we can get. We'll let them in and salt them when they're through. Someone will need to record the exorcism and be ready to start it playing."

"Jess can do the exorcism," Dean said. "She's faster with Latin than the rest of us."

Sam looked around the room and whistled. Among the people that were gathered, Sam saw more familiar faces looking up and coming towards them. Walt and Roy were there, and Steve, Reggie, and Tim. There were even a few faces he hadn't seen since The Roadhouse days that he didn't know the names of. They all came over and Dean began an explanation.

"Sam 2.0 here has an idea, probably a dumb one, and we're going to need you all…"

Sam tuned him out and said, "Jess, let's go find the office and get the exorcism ready."

She nodded and walked to him. Sam asked Castiel to lay the salt behind them and then followed her out.

"Offices are usually near the main entrance," he said. "I think that's where we came in."

Jessica fell into step at his side and her hand brushed against his. He wanted to take it, to hold her the way he had before, but it felt different now he was in this world. It wasn't just about him being with her, enjoying the moment. She had a responsibility to the Sam that belonged here.

"You're disappointed in me, aren't you?" she asked.

Sam stopped. "What? No."

She sighed and moved on, Sam hurrying after her.

"We did the spell," she said.

"I almost did the spell, too," Sam said. "I was just surprised that…"

"That I could do it?" she asked then, perhaps seeing the answer in his eyes, she said, "I'm not the woman I was in college, Sam. That day I was facing losing all the people I love and a bunch of civilians. John would have ended up in Hell, and he's my family. I have done things I would never have imagined myself capable of since college. That was just one of them."

"So have I," Sam said quickly. "I started the apocalypse. I killed a woman to drink her blood and then many more died during the year Lucifer walked the earth because I couldn't save them. I've killed demons without a second thought to save others. I have done so much that's so much worse than anything you've done. I'm not judging you or any of your family. I am in no position to do that."

"But you won't touch me now," she said.

"I want to. Being this close to you and not touching you is killing me, but you're not mine in this world. I don't regret anything we did before, and I am never going to forget it, but this is your world and there is a Sam that is yours here."

"Yeah. There is," she agreed. "But that doesn't take away from what you are."

Sam forced a smile but he knew she was wrong. When she had her Sam back, he was going to become nothing more than one of the people that had helped it happen. She was clinging to him still because she didn't have the one she needed. That was all going to change soon, and Sam didn't know how he was going to handle it.

They were ready. Dean, Sam, Jess, Castiel, and Hannah had joined the other hunters at the doors, ready to lay the salt. Jack was with Rufus in the auditorium to protect the terrified people within. Sam joined Dean at one door while Castiel partnered with Hannah, ready to remove the salt line. Jessica joined the other hunters at the doors ready to lay the fresh salt lines outside. Walt had been left to start the exorcism when it was time.

Sam was nervous. This was his plan, and if it went wrong, it would be his fault. He didn't regret arranging it though. They could save so many lives, and Jack was capable of protecting the people he needed to.

And it really could work.

As they stood by their allocated door, waiting for demons to come when the salt line was removed, Dean cleared his throat and said, "Jess said Dad is doing some trials and one of them is going to Hell to get Sammy back."

"Yes, and when he's done the last, it's going to banish all demons off the face of the earth and trap them in Hell. There will be no getting out again ever."

Dean's lips pressed into a thin line. "And these trials are going to kill him."

Sam chanced a glance at him, seeing the hard look in his eyes, and said, "Yes. The trials require the ultimate sacrifice."

Dean nodded. "Okay."

Sam was stunned. He thought this version of Dean would love his father as much as his Dean had, would perhaps worship him the same way, but he was taking the news that his father was going to die much better than his Dean ever could.

Dean raised an eyebrow. "You're shocked."

"A little," Sam admitted.

"That's because you're not really Sam. He would understand this, too. He's seen our dad die once already, and that was just for him. He'll be dying for the whole world this time."

"In my world, Dean made the deal for me," Sam said. "Dad was already dead. He made his own deal to save Dean after the car crash."

"Car crash?"

"You didn't have one? Yellow-Eyes possessed Dad and hurt Dean pretty bad. After he was out, I was driving him and Dad to the hospital and we were run off the road by a demon. Dean was really bad, dying, and Dad made a deal with Yellow-Eyes to save his life."

"So your Dad is still in Hell?"

"No. When the Devil's Gate opened, he busted his way out with the demons. He's in Heaven now."

Dean nodded slowly. "Heaven… huh."

"It's real," Sam said quickly. "I've been there. It's a good place."

He wasn't sure he was technically telling the truth as his heaven had been a disappointment that almost destroyed his relationship with his brother. As it was, it broke something between them. But Mary's heaven had been everything she'd wanted, and Bobby had seemed happy in his before Sam screwed that up. He had always told himself John's was better, and he had to hope for that for this version of his father, too.

"Good," Dean said curtly.

Sam shifted from foot to foot, wanting to act but having to wait. Dean was calm. He stared up at the door and took slow and even breaths. Sam supposed this kind of tension, this situation, was nothing new for him.

Suddenly, there was a roar from outside and Dean grunted. "Cas and Hannah have got the salt wiped. You might want to stand back."

Sam pressed himself into the alcove behind the door on his side of the hall and a moment later the doors were thrown open and demons started to spill inside. They crowded at the door, fighting to be first in, and Sam held his breath as they broke free and ran past him, whoops coming from them. They were enjoying this; it was a party to them. He wondered how many other towns had suffered this kind of 'party'.

When the last of the demons were past them, Sam and Dean grabbed their bags of salt and ran outside. Dean slammed the doors closed and Sam started the salt line that would keep them in. When it was done, they ran to the right where Castiel was waiting around the corner and Dean said, "Get us in!"

Sam felt the swoop in his stomach of flight, and he arrived in the office where Walt stood with his finger poised over a button on the PA control panel.

"Ready?" he asked

"Wait," Dean said. "Hannah isn't' here yet."

Sam looked around anxiously, waiting, and then Hannah was there saying, "Now!"

Walt slammed his finger on the button and the exorcism started playing in Jessica's rapid Latin.

The screams and shouted started at once and Sam ran for the door. Demons were standing in the hall, clutching their heads and writhing. He watched with pleasure as one opened her mouth to escape the exorcism but failed as the Latin already had its hold on her.

Jessica's voice rose above the sounds of the suffering demons, "...Audi nos!" and the air was suddenly filled with the black smoke of demons expelled from their meatsuits.

The pressure in the air made Sam's ears pop and the floor shook slightly as the demons poured into it, drawn back to Hell.

The meatsuits were dropping to the floor, some stilling at once and others shifting and crying out. Sam rushed over to one and checked for a pulse but it was clearly dead, his eyes wide and staring and chest perfectly still.

Dean looked around at them and said, "There's some living. Walt, call in the crew."

"Crew?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," Dean said. "We've got official teams to clean up after something like this. The survivors will go on a waiting list for therapy. The dead will be returned to their families where possible. And us…" He smiled grimly. "We move on and wait for the next storm."

"No," Sam said. "That was what you did before. This could be the last town it happens to. If John gets the trials done quickly…"

"He'll be dead and it'll be over," Dean said brutally. "Yeah. I know."

He looked at Sam for a moment and then said, "I'm going to find Jess," and walked away.

Sam watched him go and then knelt beside a woman that was stirring and crying, one of the surviving meatsuits. He was going to help their people until the 'crew' arrived because that was what he should do, and then he was going to get back to his brother and Castiel make sure they were both okay.

That was what he needed to do.

So… That was a demon horde in Jessica's world. It was a lot of fun to write as I was able to let loose in a way I never have before. Hope you enjoyed.

Until next time…

Clowns or Midgets xxx