CJ sat curled up on the chair at the table in front of Dean, the elder Winchester eyeing the sullen girl with near palpable malice and annoyance. "Why won't you say anything. You haven't said a word since Pamela's freak out."

She didn't even blink to acknowledge him, and for some reason, that pissed him off more. Sam was out talking to Bobby, who had stayed behind to comfort Pam, so while he was gone, he took the chance. Leaning forward, he lowered his voice, elbows on the table as her eyes flicked up to meet his. "Listen here, I know you know more than what you're saying, you've practically said so yourself, but this thing, this thing isn't a joking matter. If you know what this thing is, you need to tell us. Now . Before somebody dies."

"Sam's back."

The quiet words were the first she'd said in an hour, and Dean clicked his tongue when, true to her word, his shaggy haired brother entered the diner, closing his phone as he did so and hurrying the last few steps to take the open seat to face Dean. "How's Pam?" the blonde asked immediately. He flashed his eyes wearilly at CJ, but otherwise didn't speak to her, instead turning his attention to Dean with a relieved sort of smile, "Pam is calm, now. She's sleeping, actually, after demanding he go out to get her half a liquor store. Her eyes hurt, and sting, so she might be needing glasses. She says some things close up are blurry."

"At least she has eyes."

The mumble caught both of their attentions immediately, and the glare they received when they opened their mouths to speak were beat by a sharp, and stern continuation, "And if for one second you think I did anything to hurt Pamela, you're damn wrong. Castiel would have, literally burned out her eyes. That's what these things do. They purify and they destroy. Not always in that order."

"What is it?" Dean demanded.

"Ask him yourself," she hissed back, all pretense of former politeness, gone. "I don't think you truly understand the fact that not even four months ago, I wasn't involved with this crazy ass life." The brothers shared a quick, sharp look, but she ignored them, plowing on.

"I'd never seen a ghost, never seen a witch, never met a werewolf. Then, I lie awake one night, feeling like my heart is some old, wind-down clock trying to grunge out it's last ticks, and then bang- I'm getting mauled from the inside by something that had razors for claws and big teeth. When I come to, I have no wounds, no injuries, but I felt every second of the pain. Then I feel a pull. It hurts, and it's strong, strong enough that I could feel my brain shutting off. I snuck out of a medium security mental ward reserved for the more special cases attuned to violence. I managed to hitchhike, pickpocket, and march my way to a damn grave. And for what? For.. For a man, who I just met , to lead me around on a leash like some fucking magic eight ball for the next lottery? I don't think so-!"

Sam shot Dean a look, but the elder Winchester's lips were pressed tightly together, watching her intently as she continued to rant, fists curled in on one other and nails nearly breaking skin. "I know things, bad things, things that you do not need to know. And will not believe from my mouth. For what reason do you even think you'd be able to trust me, anyway? For all you know, you could think I'm leading you around to die. Well guess what?" she slammed her fist on the table then, leaning forward sharply when they had coiled up in preparation of a fight, "For some god-awful reason, I don't want you hurt. The thought of you hurt, hurts me . I feel when you're hurt, hungry, or cold, and I hate it . I felt numb when Dean died, like I had half of my brain working. I'm not going to let myself be some emotionless, control-lacking zombie again. I refuse. So no, I won't answer your questions. Not because I don't want to. It's because you can figure it out on your own . You have . You will . I saw it. There was a reason I said that he becomes your best friend, Cowboy. I wasn't lying."

The table fell silent, and Sam took a deep breath, before shaking his head, "Alright, if we're going to do this, we need to cover our basis. Those demons I was tracking? They might still be here."

"And what do you suggest we do?" Dean latched to the new line of conversation almost too quickly, and CJ relaxed into her seat after dipping the rosary of her bracelet into the three glasses of water, murmuring under her breath and pinching her eyes shut.

"Talk to them, figure out what the Hell is really going on?" Sam offered.

The waitress came back, as if on cue, and put three slices of pie down on the table. "Thanks," Dean nodded, snapping back to the present, Sam following suit as they adjusted in their seats. CJ slid her pie to Dean just as the woman pulled up a chair to sit down, giving them all a pleasant smile. Dean looked up from his two pies, the second one with a bit of surprise, to see the pretty woman giving him a smile. He returned it, giving her a slight look of confusion. "You angling for a tip?"

"I'm sorry, I thought you were looking for us?"

Her eyes flickered black, and the boys tensed, but stayed silent, while CJ merely, huffed, subtly lifting up her glass from the table, the rosary wound around it almost silent as it clicked with the side.

The delivery man who'd been eating pie at the counter got up out of his seat, eyeing the table in silence as he moved to lock the doors and flick the sign to closed.

The woman's eyes flickered back to 'normal' as the lock clicked shut, and CJ knew they were scared. Otherwise she wouldn't have bothered with the lock.

They were absolutely petrified.

"Dean," she hummed, reverently as she met the elder Winchester's eyes, "To Hell and back. Aren't you a lucky duck?"

"That's me," the eldest male played along calmly. CJ could see Sam's fingers slowly, minutely flickering toward his pocket, wary of the 'patrons' watching them with obsidian eyes. Ruby's knife. If he could just reach it..

"So you get to just stroll out of the pit, huh?" she scoffed, quiet, looking more irritated than anything. But CJ could see. Because she knew. That clenching of her fingers in her lap. She was grounding herself. Bullshitting. "Tell me, what makes you so special?"

"Well," Dean nodded his head a bit, as if thinking, relaxed and almost absentmindedly, "I like to think it's because of my perky nipples."

"That's only funny the first few times," CJ muttered to herself, sitting up obnoxiously and swinging her arms in a loud, leisurely stretch, "Who are you kidding, Cowboy, everyone knows it's 'cuz of your charm."

It was silent, and he didn't even glance at CJ, keeping his eyes locked with the demon woman. "I don't know. It wasn't my doing. I don't know what pulled me out."

"I do~!" CJ sang loudly, trying her hardest to get him to glare at her as she swung herself to her feet, standing from the table in an impromptu flourish, "Good sir-! A piece of pie for the road, please-? And a carryout container, if you have 'em-!" She slammed a few bills on the counter sharply when the demon only glared. He eyed her up for a second, measuring the firmness in her shoulder and seeing the fact that she put actual money down, before his eyes flickered back to human and he moved to get a slice of apple and place it in a carry out. She grinned toward him, sliding him the bills before spinning on her heel, "Alright boys, lets blow this joint. I've got shit to do and so do you."

They were still talking. Seriously , CJ rolled her eyes, skipping back over to the table just as Dean muttered, "-If you wouldn't mind enlightening me, Flo?"

"Mind your tone with me boy, I'll drag you back to Hell myself-" Sam had gone to lunge, but Dean's gesture had him pausing, however, the splash of water from the opposite end of the table did not.

It hit the woman with a hiss, and she jerked back with a similar sound, giving the standing young woman a growl as CJ casually twirled the rosary, fingering the glasses of water with a warning look. "Why don't you watch your mouth? You mess with these boys, you mess with me. Ever to think to wonder why I didn't stab you when we got here? Don't think I didn't know. I can smell your fear. Not to mention you just generally stink ."

It was quiet as the words sunk in, and Dean felt the faintest smile tug at his lips, "You won't drag me back to Hell."

"No?" the woman repeated, her skin burned a good deal on her neck and chest, her eyes dark with anger, but her tone clipped. "No," Dean repeated, as if they were talking about the color of the drapes, "cuz if you were, you would have done it already. Fact is, you don't know who cut me loose." he turned his glance toward the other patrons, who were staring at them intently, "You're just as spooked as we are, and you're looking for answers." The woman glanced at Sam, trying to gauge if Dean was bullshitting her, but Sam gave nothing away, and she turned back to Dean after a weary glance at CJ.

"Maybe it was some turbo-charged spirit, hmm? ..Or-uh.. Godzilla." Dean was just playing now. He could see it, too. CJ almost wanted to smile. If she wasn't so pissed. "Or some big-bad boss demon. I'm guessing, that at your pay grade, they don't tell you squat. Cuz whoever it was- they want me out.. And they're a lot stronger than you."

It was quiet for a beat, and CJ could see the frustration building in both of their eyes.

"So go ahead," Dean mocked, pleasantly, as if inviting her tea, "send me back. But don't come crawling to me when they show up on your front doorstep with some vaseline and a firehose."

The woman's voice was hushed, but unwavering, as she met the elder brother's eyes with a firmness that almost completely hid her terror. "I'm going to reach down your throat and rip out your lungs."

One, two- SMACK.

CJ gave a snort, grinning smugly when Sam shot her a look. Another smack sounded, and she stretched again, moving to put both of the boy's untouched pies, as well as the one she'd given Dean into the carry out. "That's what I thought." he muttered tossing a bill on the table with a slight exaggeration, relishing in the way the woman had flinched, and he moved to stand, Sam following suit as CJ already began walking toward the door. She unlocked it with a twist, and shot a glare at the man beside it, watching him back off after just a few seconds of staring. "For the pie."

"Holy crap that was close," Dean breathed out once they were several yards from the diner, the door having closed with a chime. "We aren't just going to leave them in there, are we, Dean?" Sam demanded, CJ ignored them as she moved toward her bike and started the process of putting on her helmet, tucking the pie in her sidecar next to her duffle bag."Yeah, well there's three of them, probably more, and we've only got one knife between us." "I've actually been killing a lot of demons, lately."

Once she was situated, she revved her engine, breaking them from their argument as she jerked her head back towards the road.

"One job at a time," Dean finished the argument firmly, hurrying to get to his car. He had missed his baby a lot more than he thought he had..

Dean was passed out on the couch bed, and CJ was curled up on the chair a few feet away. Sam eyed them both for a moment, taking in Dean's dead-to-the world sprawl, the books littered around him a testament to how much he was putting into research for once. CJ , his eyes trailed to her almost instinctively, and he pressed his lips together in a sort of half-frown. She was upside down in the chair, one leg shooting almost straight up where her back should be, and her hair dragging on the floor.

He'd caught himself staring at her hair when they'd been walking up the steps, snapping himself out of it with a mental smack once he'd realized what he'd been doing. This chick was annoying, and crazy, and she was withholding information. A lot of information.

He shouldn't stare at her hair or her hips when she walked. Shouldn't feel his eyebrows furrow in innocent concern when he sees how narrow and thin her wrists are.. How light she seemed to be that she barely makes the cushions on the pull-out bed bend when the steps on it.

No, he just needed to get his head back in the game.

And pray she didn't know about what he was doing..

CJ felt her eyes flicker open just as Sam pulled away, her muscles tensing as various electronics flicked on, scaring Dean awake just as it had done to her. Dean snatched his gun from beside him, taking note of the thump that had sounded from CJ falling on her head. He'd knelt beside her without a thought to grasp her arm, hauling her up with a grunt as he darted his eyes around the room for the threat.

"Son of a bitch-!" CJ screamed, her hands flying up to her ears almost immediately as she crouched down to the carpet with a wail. "Fuuuuck- Dean -! Cover your ears-!"

It took less than five seconds for the volume to catch up to his own hearing and Dean was almost immediately on the floor beside her, the pained look on her face only amplified by his own as they flinched, hearing the tell-tale shatter of after cabinet burst throughout the room, but when Dean managed to crane his head back at the sound of cracking, his eyes flew wide at the mirror directly above them both. His left arm swung around her sharply and he dove to the side, hearing her pained scream as they landed on the ground. Stray glass pierced into his skin, and he could feel a warm wetness he automatically knew was blood.

It dripped between his fingers and stained his shirt, and by the way the door slammed open and Bobby strode through, looking startled more than anything, he knew he looked one Hell of a sight.

Small fingers were wound tightly into the fabric of his shirt, and Dean had to think a moment before he registered how CJ was curled up to him, clutching at his frame. She was shivering, a blank look on her face as she muttered something in a language he didn't know to his chest. His body was wracked with second-hand pain when he saw the blood literally pouring from the wounds in her skin, and he resisted the urge to hold her closer.

It just.. Hurt..