The sky was dark as Bobby drove across the asphalt, Dean clutching a vaguely conscious CJ to his chest as she muttered continuously in the odd language. She hadn't let go of him at all since the motel room, and Bobby had taken one look at her, helped him clean her up and ushered him out too the car. They were fixing this, and they were doing it tonight.

"How you holding up there, kid?"

"Aside from the church bells ringing in my head?" Dean scoffed, "Peachy.." He shifted his arms around the clinging girl, flinching when her grip tightened, then relaxed, and she resumed her quiet muttering.

Rolling his eyes back a little, he tried to unhinge one of his hands, hearing the girl whimper, he hesitated, then quickly swiped his phone from his pocket, letting her adjust for a second before falling unconscious again. He brought the phone to his ear after pressing his brothers speed dial, settling back into the seat when it started to ring.

He only waited two rings before his brother picked up with a, "Hey."

"What are you doing?" his demand was more tired than anything. They'd spent a good five minutes figuring out Sam was gone, not kidnapped, and Bobby had to label him MIA. "Couldn't sleep, went to get a burger," Sam admit with an almost sheepish tone.

"In my car?" Dean's tone rose, more stern than anything, he was more than happy to be back bantering with his brother, but the situation was reaching a peak he wasn't sure he was prepared for, yet.

"Sorry. Force of habit. Hey, what are you doing up?"

"Well, uh," Dean took a glance at the woman in his arms, then Bobby, who sat silently behind the wheel, "Bobby's back, we're going to grab a beer." Bobby sent him a disapproving look, but the soft whimpers at his chest made another thought occur to him, "CJ was whining about being left alone, so we're bringing her along, too."

"Alright, well-uh.. Spill some for me, huh?"

"Done," Dean agreed promptly. "Yeah, I'll catch ya' later." He hung up quickly, and Bobby immediately launched in father mode. "Why the Hell didn't you tell him-?"

"Because he'd just try to stop us," was the only thing Dean offered. The body in his lap shifted, a sharp gasp reaching his ears before she shot up in her seat, swinging her arms and bracing herself against the door with a short scream. "Easy-! CJ-! It's us-! Dean and Bobby-!"

"D-Dean?" she repeated, her hands flew forward and he felt her caressing his jaw and skin, muttering under her breath words he couldn't quite hear before sagging against him like a wet sack of flour. "Oh, Lollipops.. Don't die, please.. I.. I don't think I could handle that, again.."

"I won't." He hesitated, his hands hovering above her, but he could feel the trembling of her body against his chest, and he tucked her head beneath his chin as he gripped her tighter. "I.. I'm sorry.. About.. About the hellhound thing.."

"You saved your brother.. Don't apologize.."

He looked down at her, stunned, "How.. How do you know about that..?"

"Told you.." she murmured, she looked to be on the verge of passing out a final time, "M' jus' a prophet without the security detail.."

Dean stayed silent, but less tense, watching her with sullen eyes as he tried to piece together what she had meant. She didn't want his apologies, because she understood, in a way, or at least understood the circumstance.

Is that why she was all crazy about her attitude swings? Sometimes she was there, and others.. Not so much.. It was like she was really looking at everything.. Like she was removed from the situation..

He wasn't sure what exactly he thought about that...

CJ sat curled up on her side in the white barn that Dean had set her in. Sigils were painted over every available surface, and a table of weapons was lied out to the side, as well as all the necessary ingredients for the summon. CJ was set out of the way, but he planned to at least wake her before they finished painting. She needed to be awake and alert if they needed to make a run for it at any time.

"Hey, sleeping beauty, wake up," a boot scuffed the woman's side, launching back immediately when an arm had shot out to swing at their knee. "Easy-! You're a peach to wake up, I see."

" Fuuuuuuck .."

The groan was low, and long, filled with pain as the young woman lied, face down, now, on the barn floor. "Mercy… Mercy, please.. My head.. Make the bells stop .."

"It'll settle soon," Dean sighed, crouching down on his heels to put a hand on her shoulder, turning her over so she didn't suffocate, "Come on, I need you mobile if crap goes sideways."

"It won't.." she muttered, getting herself up with a heave and a grunt of pain, slinging her arm around her midsection to feel the bandages curling around her arm and side. "What the Hell..?"

"Patched ya' up," he shrugged, looking away as he scratched the side of his cheek and inspected the hundreds of sigils around them intently, "I need you awake, CJ, unlike you, we don't know what this thing is."

"Why would it pull you out of Hell just to kill you?" her whisper was met with silence, and she glanced up to see him eyeing her, unblinking and expression neutral, "I've told you.. You've seen a breed of this kind before, though you've never truly met."

"That's vague and it annoys me," the blunt statement left his lips without pause, and the smile that curled across her lips almost made a similar motion twitch at his own.

"Sorry, Cowboy, I'd rather not be smought.. Smited..? Tonight.. Or anytime soon.."

"I don't even.. You know what?" he shook his head, blowing out a sigh as he did so. "I'm not asking. Tell me if you want, but if you've got some freaky-deaky know-how, I might as well take your word for it. At least," he amended, seeing the wide eyes she shot him, most likely out of shock, "-until you prove that I can't .."

"You know," she sat up abruptly, nearly knocking him off balance until she crossed her legs, sitting up with her hands pressed to the floor, Indian style. "You are the person that damned me to this life. You want to know why?" His jaw ticked at the thought, and the woman merely chuckled, dry and unamused, as she shot him a vague, defeated grin, "It was because of that stupid smile.. You gave that grin, and.. I couldn't not care.. Then Sam started shooting puppydog eyes every other night and I just.." She fell silent then, eyes closing slowly as she took a deep breath in, then out, centering herself before she continued, "I want to help you. The pain you have gone through, is unimaginable. But, it gets worse, but then it gets better. Please.. I'm not asking you to pull me into your little family, but, if I give you some advice, at least consider it.."

Dean let their breathing be the only sound left in the barn, and he finally rocked up to his feet, holding out a hand automatically when she'd craned her neck up to him. "Come on. We've got Godzilla to catch."

"Godzilla isn't real," she snorted, smiling a little in amusement as she took his hand, and he hauled her to her feet with one smooth pull, and immediately let go, afterwards. "Unicorns. Unicorns are real. Extinct, save for a few places. But real."

"Seriously?" he shot a look at her in surprise, and she merely grinned, shaking her head.

"I'll believe it when I see it," he huffed, turning to inspect the rest of their arsenal. Bobby was getting the last of it from his trunk as they spoke. Her snort of amusement got his attention, and when he raised an eyebrow in question, her grin turned almost cat-like. "You're going to be saying that a lot here, pretty soon, Cowboy."

"I'm shaking in my boots," he muttered under his breath.