Vera returned late and River was consumed. These were the same words she'd read, but the pages she turned-a real book-charmed her.
"Yes, I'm in late. My guy had something come up. Then there was a fire at the bar I went to. So I was helping out try to salvage..."
"Something?" River put the book down.
"Yeah-family stuff. Hey, I got you the next volume while I was out!"
"Really?" River jumped up.
"Yes, I support you being a fangirl. Even if it means you're never going to date a real guy."

River laughed as she moved to take it. But she stopped suddenly. A pain filled her heart as if it was attached to a string, and that string had been tugged. Her vision began to blur as she held her hand to her heart. Red string... Who had said that?

Vera turned as River fell to the floor.
"Rachel?" She exclaimed, dropping next to her. "Oh god-you're burning up! Rach?" River barely heard her, tears forming in her eyes.
"...Sam..."

River stood before Sam. But it wasn't her or Rachel facing him. And it wasn't the present Sam. Whoever River was-they were crying.

"You can't die! We're too close! I just need a little more time and I can break your curse!"
"I'll gladly die if it gives you more time. Last time I failed you."
"No! Please!" She pleaded. "There's no second chances after this! Lilith will be released soon, and will bring back he who she serves! We can end this!"
"I get three tries." He sighed. "This is the third and I still haven't even found you."
"I've almost caught up! Please! I can't let you disappear!" She was crying now. "My mortal life doesn't matter! If there's a chance we can meet again-"
"I can't watch you die again!"

"I can't watch her die again!"

River blinked as she sat up slowly. Vera was yelling at someone in the next room-but where were they? She was on an unknown bed, but...

River paused as she gathered she was at Bobby's. But the bed she was on. It smelled like decay, but it was overridden. It smelled like Sam's aftershave.
"Sam!" River shot up and ran into the next room. But he wasn't there. Vera was-and so was Crowley, trapped by the door.
"So..." The demon spoke up. "You wanna keep telling her that her soulmate is a fictional character? Or that the Demon who will try to kill her is fictional?"
"Shut it!" Vera snapped, glaring at him. "Way I hear it you and Lilith are involved!"
"True, but on my request she has promised not to hunt Raziel! No one made a certain former witch promise that!"

"Vera-I know everything!" River couldn't waste time. And if she was right, Rachel had just been Raziel speaking to the soul of the briefly deceased Sam-Sammael. She'd have known anyway. "I trust Crowley! And why are we at Bobby's?"

Vera paused and faced her.
"Rachel...no...Raziel. You fell ill in the moment of Sam Winchester's-Sammael's death. When he came back to life, your connection is severed. He, his brother, and my lover are trying to shut a Hell's gate. Apparently some undesirables already got out." With that she glared at Crowley.
"Your lover." River repeated.
"The homeowner." Crowley commented. "I'd have expected more from a cherubim."
"Watch it!" Vera hissed. "If nothing else he is a good man!"
"You know he has a penchant for stabbing possessed lovers, right?"
"I got consent from my vessel's soul!"

River computed what was said while they argued, then gasped.
"Vera-you took Bobby as a lover? But Heaven-and Impala-"
"I know that!" Vera snapped. "And had I not wound up on a hunt with him, and met him, and gotten trapped with him in a cave, then the Angelic Code would have been easier to remember!"

"But it's going to cost you!" River cried out. That was why in her time Vera was a gun.
"Being here is going to cost me! Being here is going to cost you!" Vera shot back. "But it hasn't stopped you!"

River bit her lip, unable to reply. Crowley broke the silence.
"So the current plan is for her and Sammy boy to meet up?" He asked. River blinked for a moment as Vera spoke. But Rachel doesn't meet Sam.
"Not much in the way of options. Demons will be out for her life, and at the side of two hunters is the safest place she can be. Hell, maybe she can persuade ye ole king of the crossroads to free Dean's soul." Vera stated.
"Lilith promised she wouldn't bother Raziel. But my loyalty is still to Lilith, and she wants Dean's soul." Crowley retorted.
"Go figure."

They continued to converse, but River's mind was elsewhere.
Sam. I'm going to see Sam. This is before he meets Ruby. I can save him.

She hadn't realized yet that these were her souls memories-like a movie, the ending could not change.