What If?

by las2217

What if Sam and Dean had finished their hunt for the Woman in White just an hour or two earlier and made it back to Stanford in time to save Jess from the yellow-eyed demon? Story is in-progress. Managed a quick update for once! Chapter 11 is posted!

9. Chapter 9

Author's Note: Hey all! I'm really sorry for the extra extended length of time that it took me to write this chapter. I swear if I didn't have bad luck I'd have no luck at all. Lol. I had a family emergency at the beginning of the week. My husband is a truck driver and travels up and down the East Coast. We live in Pennsylvania and he was down in Georgia when the motor in his tractor trailer decided to blow. So I got to take an impromptu trip down to Georgia and back (about 20+ hours one way) to retrieve him. If it's any consolation, this chapter is extra long to make up for the extra long wait! Thank you all so much for your patience with my inconsistent self. Hope y'all enjoy this newest chapter! It's based sort of on "Nightmares", the Max Miller episode, but there are a lot of changes. Hope I didn't go too overboard! :D

---

No, no, no. Not here, Sam begged silently. Uselessly, too. The flashes of light and pains that came with them were already happening and they were already too bad for him to consider moving somewhere more private than the diner booth they were currently sitting in.

They'd been holed up with Caleb at one of his cabins for the past week, but between the days they'd been ordered to take off by Missouri and the idle week at Caleb's with only the one hunt in between, they were climbing the walls. They didn't really have a destination in mind, but getting back on the road was step one.

"I figure if we don't find anything by the end of today, we can head south," Dean was saying. "It's usually easy enough to find a chupacabra or two lurking around near the border and...Sam?"

Sam had hunched over, laid his forehead on the table, and covered it with his arms. He was trying to stay quiet, but a small, pained whine made it's way up and out of his throat as the vision hit full force.

"Shit," Dean cursed. His eyes darted around the diner. It was fairly empty, which was both a blessing and a curse. There weren't a lot of people who could see and worry, but it also meant that they were going to draw more attention from the few people who were here. "Is there any chance you can move, Sammy?"

"I think we may be well past that point," Jess answered for him. She rubbed the back of Sam's neck. Nothing helped the pain of his visions, but it made her feel like she was doing something useful.

"E-excuse me?" a waitress came over to their table with wide eyes. "Is he okay? Should I call an ambulance?"

"No!" Dean and Jess both yelled at the same time.

"Sorry," Jess lowered her voice. "Thank you, but he's fine. He gets bad migraines and they hit really suddenly sometimes. The worst of it will let up in a minute or two."

That made no sense, but the waitress seemed to accept the excuse.

"Would you like some ice?" she asked, concern still written all over her face. "He's sweating pretty badly. Maybe some ice on the back of his neck will help with the pain?"

"That would be great," Jess forced a smile. It wouldn't help, but it would get rid of her.

Dean had already dismissed the woman as soon as he realized Jess had taken over that end of things. He reached across the table towards his brother and Sam's hand instantly clamped down on his wrist, tight enough to hurt. He wasn't about to complain, though. During a vision, touch seemed to soothe and ground Sam. Even so, Dean had ordered Jess not to get too close to him if the two of them were alone when a vision hit. There had been a time or two when Dean swore he heard bones grind together in his hand or arm or wherever. Jess was tough, but a grip like that on her more than had the potential to actually break the tiny bones in her hand or wrist.

The waitress returned with a bag of ice wrapped in a towel a minute later. She moved back to the counter, but she and the other waitress on duty hovered there, looking like they wanted to call an ambulance anyway. One of them actually reached for the phone as Sam snapped back to reality with a cry, but dropped her hand when she saw that he seemed to be in good hands.

Jess reached forward to gently pry Sam's fingers open. She picked up the ice pack and placed it on Dean's wrist with a wince. There were already some nasty-looking bruises forming. Dean flinched, but held it in place and trotted out to the Impala. A few seconds later he came back with aspirin and his "don't-mess-with-me-you-will-take-these-Sam" look.

"We have to go," Sam obediently took the aspirin. He stumbled to his feet and pulled Jess after him. "We have to go now."

"Hey, whoa, relax," Dean tossed some money down on the table and followed his shaky brother out the door. "What's going on? What did you see?"

Instead of answering, Sam dropped into the Impala and snatched his laptop out of its bag. Even in the state his poor head was in, it only took him a few minutes to hack into the California DMV and look up a license plate number.

"Here," he turned the computer for Dean to see. "This address. We have to go here. Someone's going to die."

"Okay, hold on," Dean held his hands up. "Tell me what you saw first. I'm not going into this blind."

"Honestly?" Sam let out a laugh that had absolutely no humor in it. "I have no idea. I saw this guy and...something attacked him. It locked him in his car in the garage."

"Are you sure?" Jess asked gently.

"Positive," Sam insisted. "Please guys. You know I'm not making this up. Something attacked this guy and whatever it was, was invisible. We've gone after less."

"Alright," Dean started the car up. "Okay. We're at least a day's drive from Atherton, though."

"Atherton?" Jess peered closer at Sam's computer. "That's only a few miles away from Stanford."

"I know," Sam leaned his head back against the seat as Dean peeled out of the diner parking lot. He felt horrible. They'd already been on the road for eight hours today. They'd stopped for dinner and had been planning to find a motel afterwards and instead he was forcing them back on the road for another twenty-two or twenty-three. At least. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Jess kissed his forehead. "We can drive in shifts so it won't be so bad."

"Excuse me? We?" Dean raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, we," Jess glared at him. "You've already driven for most of the day and you're going to need to sleep for a little while. I don't know why you're making a big deal of this. It's not like I haven't driven your car."

"When I was half torn apart by a daeva," Dean argued. "Nothing short of being injured gets me out of this driver's seat. I barely even let Sam drive!"

"Jess is right," Sam forced his eyes back open. "You need to rest, Dean. Give me an hour and I'll be okay to drive."

"No you won't," Dean scowled. "We all know you're not going to feel right until tomorrow at the earliest. No, lay your head back and go to sleep. It's not like I've never driven this long before."

"Doesn't mean I have to like it," Sam complained, but leaned against the window all the same. "Do me a favor and if you get in an accident because you pass out behind the wheel, make sure I don't live through it. It'd be a hell of a lot less painful than this headache."

"Shut up," Dean mumbled. "I'd never crash my Baby."

---

"Oh no," Dean sagged as he saw the flashing ambulance and police car lights in front of the address they'd spent the past twenty-two hours racing towards. He'd finally given in and let Jess drive for a while, but had taken over again less than four hours later.

He parked along the curb and the three of them sidled over to join the crowd standing behind the police tape. Everyone was huddled together, whispering.

"What happened here?" Dean asked an older woman who looked like she was fighting back tears.

"Police are saying it was a suicide," she sniffed sadly. "Jim Miller locked himself in his car and shut the garage up."

"That's horrible," Jess said. It was, but for more reasons than the elderly woman realized. That was exactly what Sam had seen in his vision. "When did they find him?"

"Only about forty minutes ago," the woman answered. "So sad. They always seemed like such a well put together family. I can't imagine what would've caused him to do something like this. I guess it's true that you can never really know what goes on behind closed doors."

Suddenly, Sam turned on his heel and stalked back to the Impala. Instead of getting in though, he paced back and forth next to it. Jess stayed near the old woman long enough to seem polite, but Dean immediately followed his brother.

"This isn't your fault," he tried to head off the blame he knew Sam was already feeling. "Sammy. This is not your fault. We got here as soon as we could."

"Why the hell did I even have this vision if there was nothing I couldn't do anything about it?" Sam hissed. "It makes no sense!"

"I don't know," Dean admitted. "There's nothing more we can do here for right now, though. We'll come back tomorrow and see what we can find then."

"Sam?" a voice came from behind them.

Both Sam and Dean turned to see a cop walking towards them. Dean frowned, quickly reaching for his fake FBI badge, but Sam put a hand on his arm to stop him.

"Hey Jack," he greeted the cop with a weak smile.

"Goddamn, I thought that was you," Jack slapped Sam on the shoulder. "You're kinda hard to miss, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," Sam agreed.

"So, what are you doing here?" Jack asked curiously. "And where's that little sister of mine?"

"Little sister?" Dean asked.

"Dean, this is one of Jess's brothers," Sam explained. "Jack, this is my older brother, Dean."

"Nice to meet you, man," Jack extended a hand. "Jess has told me a lot about you. Our parents don't necessarily agree, but I think this road trip has been good for her, so thank you for that."

"Uh. Thanks?" Dean wasn't really sure how to respond to that.

"Jack?!" Jess had finally made her way back to the car. She threw her arms around her brother.

"Hey baby girl," he kissed the top of her head. "I saw Sam hanging around and was just asking what you guys were doing here. You guys here for a visit or are you done with your road trip already?"

"Just a visit," Jess lied. "We wanted to visit a friend over here for the night and then head over to Mom and Dad's in the morning. I wanted it to be a surprise. This, though...this is awful."

"It is. What's even worse is that the guy's kid found him," Jack motioned to the house where a woman was crying into a man's chest, while another man who looked about their age stood awkwardly near them.

"Poor thing," Jess replied. "I guess, given all of this, maybe we'll head over to Mom and Dad's tonight. Our friend knew the Miller's so I don't think he's going to really feel up to company."

"Maybe you should spend the night with Grace and I instead?" Jack suggested. "No offense, but you three look like hell. Might not be the best of times to face Mom and Dad, y'know?"

"Is there ever a good time for that?" Sam muttered under his breath.

Jack didn't seem to hear that, but Dean did. He looked at his brother in confusion. Sam was practically every parent's idea of the perfect son. The few times they'd been in a town long enough for him to start dating someone, the girl's parents had always loved him. Something must've gone very wrong if Jess's parents didn't.

"That's a great idea. Thanks Jack!" Jess hugged him again.

"Normally I'd say to just drop in and surprise Grace, but I'm not so sure that's a great idea right now," Jack laughed. "She's completely done being pregnant, but I don't think she'd be very appreciative of you scaring the baby out in the middle of the living room."

"You're no fun!" Jess teased.

"Wait...can that actually happen?" Dean was horrified. He was pretty sure it wasn't, but there was no way he was going to risk it and wind up playing midwife to some lady he'd never even met before.

"Technically yes, but highly unlikely," Jess shook her head at him. "Don't worry, I'll call her on our way over. What time are you going to make back?"

"Probably not till late," Jack admitted. "I was the first one on-scene, so I'm gonna have a mountain of paperwork to do before I can leave. I have the day off tomorrow, so we'll come with you guys to Mom and Dad's in the morning."

"Have I ever mentioned that you're my favorite brother?" Jess asked.

"Once or twice," Jack glanced over his shoulder. "Listen, I've gotta get back over there, but I'll see y'all in the morning."

Jack trotted back towards the house and Sam leaned his head down on the roof of the Impala with a groan. He still had the remnants of a headache from the vision, there was guilt slamming into him over not being able to do anything about it, and now this.

"Really Jess?" he asked miserably.

"What was I supposed to say?" she demanded. "It would've looked weird to Jack if we were in town and weren't planning to visit my parents. Unless you think telling him the truth was the best option."

"Will someone explain to me what the issue with the parents is?" Dean wondered.

"We hate each other. There. It's explained," Sam snapped moodily.

"My parents are a little...okay a lot hard to get along with," Jess ignored him. "They had this big plan of the 'perfect guy' for their baby girl."

"Let me guess. A guy with a shady past, from nowhere, who had no contact with his family, and had no desire to explain any of that didn't fit the profile?" Dean assumed.

"That sums it up pretty well," Jess agreed. "Even after Sam and I moved in together and I told them I love him, they kept thinking they could make me see things their way."

"Telling them that you two are engaged should be fun then," Dean sighed. "Can't do anything about this now, I guess. Let's get to your brother's house before I drop."

Jess texted her sister-in-law while pointing out directions to the house. As expected, Grace was thrilled to hear that they were on their way and she actually met them at the door when Dean pulled into the driveway. His eyes went wide when he saw the house, though.

"How the hell does your brother afford this on a cop's salary?" he asked.

"Detective, but still," Jess corrected. "Both of my parents come from families with a lot of money. They were pissed when he chose to become a cop instead of going into business or medicine or something along those lines, but no matter how upset they were, they weren't going to let him live like that. Jack was perfectly happy to, but they wouldn't allow it. They bought the house and completely guilted him into taking it."

"Jess!" Grace squealed from the front porch as they piled out. "Oh my god, come here sweetie!"

"Gracie!" Jess ran up the stairs and hugged the other woman. "I missed you!"

"You need to start coming by for more visits," Grace scolded. Holding her arms out again she looked sternly at Sam. "You get over here, too mister."

"Hi Grace," Sam couldn't help a small smile. He may not get along with Jess's parents, but her brothers and Grace were a completely different story.

"You must be Dean," Grace turned to him next. "C'mon over here. Jess has had nothing but good things to say about you, which makes you honorary family."

"Uh, hi," Dean tried to stay out of arm's reach, and got a stern look.

"Oh no," Grace opened her arms for the third time. "Everybody gets a hug. I may live in California now, but I was born and raised in Texas and that's just how we do things."

"I'm okay. Really," Dean insisted. "I'm just gonna..."

"Dude?" Sam was actually holding back laughter now. "Unless you want your ass kicked by a pregnant woman, I'd suggest doing as she says. That is one woman you do not mess with."

"I thought Jess was the one woman I shouldn't mess with," Dean snipped, finally allowing himself close enough for a hug.

"Where do you think she learned it?" Grace asked. "Now. Are you three hungry? You look exhausted, but there's plenty of food in the house if you're hungry first."

"Food?" Dean perked up. "Absolutely."

"Good," Grace led them in. "There's chicken, some left over pot roast, or I can make some pasta. If you're not in the mood for that, I just baked three pies this afternoon."

"You've just become my new favorite person," Dean looked like he was in heaven.

"All the guest rooms are made up if y'all aren't hungry, Sam," Grace noticed that his smile had disappeared. "I guess I've gone a little crazy with cooking and cleaning and organizing now that my nesting instinct has kicked in."

"Does this mean my little niece or nephew should finally be making an appearance soon?" Jess asked excitedly.

"I sure hope so," Grace laughed. "I've had more than enough of swollen feet, a sore back, and a baby sitting on my bladder twenty-four seven. Not to mention I can't wait to have my little one in my arms and...Jessica Lee Moore what is that?!"

"What? You mean this?" Jess beamed as Grace snatched her left hand up. "It's an engagement ring."

The squeal from the pregnant woman was enough to make both Sam and Dean wince. She crushed Jess into another hug and when she finally let her go, both women were in tears.

"Well it is about time," Grace asserted, pulling Sam in for another hug too.

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Sam wondered.

"Because it took you long enough, you thick-headed idiot," the words were mean, but Grace's tone was kind. "Oh this is wonderful! You and I have to talk plans, missy!"

"If it's all the same, I think I am going to go lie down for the night," Sam backed away slowly. For some reason asking Jess to marry him had been one thing, but actually talking about doing it was another. Not that he was having second thoughts. Far from it. She was the love of his life, but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't a bit intimidated by how big of a step this was. With everything else going on, he just couldn't think or talk about this right now.

"I'll be up soon, honey," Jess said, giving him a kiss.

She looked up into his eyes to make sure he was okay. The answer to that was a clear and resounding no, but then again she hadn't been expecting much else.

"You know what? I think maybe sleep might be better than food right now, too," Dean suddenly spoke up. He glanced over at Jess and they had a short conversation with just their eyes. It was no secret that Dean Winchester did not turn down food for anything less than dire circumstances but Sam needed to feel needed right now. "Sammy, show me around this damn castle, wouldja?"

"I'm way too tired to even tell you that you're an idiot," Sam sighed. Great, now they were babying him. Didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. Whatever. He'd deal with it in the morning when he could actually think straight.

"For being too tired, you did a pretty good job of saying just that," Dean bumped Sam with his shoulder playfully as they stumbled up the stairs.

"Second door on the left," Sam directed, not bothering to respond to his brother. "That's one of the guest rooms. Jess and I have the room across the hall."

"Hey dude?" Dean frowned. "You know I'm not really one to..."

"Then don't!" Sam yelled. It came out more forcefully than he'd intended and he sighed. "I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to think about it. Right now all I want to do is sleep and hopefully when I wake up this is all just gonna prove to be a bad dream."

"What are the odds of that happening?" Dean raised an eyebrow.

"Absolutely none," Sam admitted. "Just drop it for tonight Dean, please?"

"Fine, but if you don't stop beating the hell out of yourself we are gonna have to talk about this," Dean warned.

"Okay. Right. Whatever," Sam knew he was just being a brat now, but he'd care another time. "Are we done with the chick flick moment you claim to hate so much? Can I get some damn sleep now?"

"Go," Dean waved him away. "Maybe don't take your estrogen pills tomorrow though. I swear, you might as well be PMSing."

Instead of answering Sam scowled and closed the door just this side of not hard enough to be considered a slam. It was only a minute or two later that Jess came up the stairs, looking concerned. Dean waved her into his room before she could head in to Sam.

"He's getting worse," they both said at the same time.

"You go first," Jess offered.

"Have I been imagining things, or does it seem like Sam's been beating himself up worse than usual lately?" Dean asked.

"You don't have an imagination," Jess teased. It was a coping mechanism she and Dean both used. "He has. It always feels like he's trying to make up for something. I don't know what, but that's what it feels like to me."

"Me too," Dean huffed. "He's always been more prone to blame himself for things out of his control, but recently it's been getting worse. I know he's been blaming himself since we had to go our separate ways from Dad again. Not being in time to save this guy seems like one of those 'the straw that broke the camel's back' sort of things."

"Being around my parents isn't going to do him any favors, either," Jess winced. "They tend to make him feel like he's not good enough for whatever he happens to be doing at the moment."

"Which is exactly the way he's always felt around our Dad," Dean rubbed at the back of his neck. "He always wanted a normal life, which of course made him the odd one out in our family."

"Maybe once we start working this case things will settle in a little?" Jess hoped. "We've had a lot of downtime lately. Even at school he never did all that well with that."

"I hate to say it, but I don't know how much help you two are going to be on this one," Dean fidgeted. "This is really close to home for you two. I can get away with claiming to be someone I'm not and not risk bumping into someone I know. You two though..."

"It's a risk we're going to have to take," Jess cut him off. "I might have to hang back a little because I know my family is going to want to spend time with me, but maybe you two taking on a case together like old times will snap him out of whatever this is."

"Worth a shot, I guess," Dean said. "God I feel like an ass talking behind his back this way."

"So do I," Jess agreed. "I think it might be warranted in this case though."

"Possibly," Dean wasn't entirely sure, but he didn't really have a valid argument against it. "We can hash this out some more in the morning. I don't know about you, but I'm beat."

"Yeah," Jess punctuated that statement with a huge yawn. "See you in the morning."

---

Dean and Jess dragged their way downstairs the next morning, both frowning. Sam hadn't been in bed when Jess had woken up, and his side of the bed looked like it had barely been used at all last night. Entering the kitchen they saw him sitting at the table with a newspaper in front of him and huge bags under his eyes.

"Baby..." Jess started to scold.

"So get this," Sam cut her off before she could go any further. "Morning paper says that the Millers, that family from last night, are going to be having a small memorial tomorrow at their house. The guy's kid, Max, is mine and Jess's age so I'm thinking we can lie our way in by saying we're friends with him. He's the one who found Jim Miller, so we can use that cover to talk to him and see what he knows, if anything."

"Awesome. Really," Dean scowled. He snatched the paper away from his brother. "Bed, now Sam."

"Dude, I'm not five," Sam snapped. "I got a few hours last night. I'm fine."

"You do realize that you're going to have to deal with my parents today, right?" Jess reminded him.

"I can handle putting up with your parents," Sam leaned up for a kiss, hoping to distract her.

"Have you at least eaten?" Jess sighed, knowing the sleep argument wasn't happening.

"A little," Sam lied. Coffee counted as food, right? Coffee was made from beans and beans were food.

"Liar," Jess cuffed the back of his head. "I'm making breakfast and you will eat."

"Yes, ma'am," Sam answered with a grin.

"That goes for both of you."

"Yes, ma'am," Dean repeated, with an identical grin.

"You two are impossible," Jess rolled her eyes and opened the fridge. Jeez. Grace really hadn't been joking when she said her nesting instinct had kicked in. There wasn't a spare inch of fridge space left.

Pulling food out, Jess couldn't help but feel a little jealous. She was surprised at how much she liked the hunting lifestyle, but there were certain things she wanted that didn't mesh well with that. Kids, for instance. Living life on the road, bouncing from motel to motel, never staying in one place long enough to make real friends...she didn't want to raise a child like that. Sure, Sam and Dean had been raised that way, but Sam had made it abundantly clear how he felt about his upbringing. Doing that to his own child would probably kill him. Maybe they could come up with some sort of middle ground? Thankfully it wasn't something she had to think about right now. Not that that stopped the jealous feeling nibbling at her.

While Jess set food out, Dean snagged Sam's cup and two others from a cabinet and filled them all with coffee, meanwhile Sam pulled the newspaper back over and continued looking through it. It always left all of them a little in awe of how fast they'd slipped into a comfortable routine together. Just like last night between Dean and Jess, none of them actually needed to talk to be completely comfortable in the other two's presence and know exactly what they wanted.

They were all just about ready to start eating when the back door slammed open and there was the scrabble of claws on the hardwood floor. Sam and Dean's hands immediately dipped for the guns in their waistbands, hunter instincts too ingrained not to. Jess found herself shoved backwards, her fiancee and his brother pointing their weapons at the door, before she had a chance to stop them.

"Whoa!" Jack dove back out of the kitchen. "Jesus, Sam! What are you doing?!"

There was no time to answer before both brothers were knocked nearly flat by the four huge black dogs Jack had just brought back inside with him. Dean almost shot the one currently trying to slobber all over his face. These things were practically hellhound-sized!

"Sorry!" Sam shouted, sheepishly tucking the pistol back into his waistband and motioning for Dean to do the same. He knelt and all four dogs pounced.

"Since when did you become an armory?" Jack demanded, breaking cover.

"Just a precaution," Jess took over. "Safer to have protection out on the road."

"Glad as I am that you're ready to protect my sister at all times, I don't know what you're thinking is going to happen in this neighborhood," Jack was still eyeing the brothers cautiously. Jess was telling the truth. Mostly. He wasn't a cop for no reason, though. She was definitely leaving something out.

"Habit," Sam said by way of explanation, pretty much all of his focus taken up by the excited dogs all trying to crawl into his lap at the same time. The biggest dog of the pack, a blue-eyed, more charcoal colored than black, was one he didn't recognize, though. "Where'd this guy come from?"

"He's one of the pups from Gemini's litter last year," Jack explained. "No one would take him when they saw how big he was getting, plus he's what's called a blue German Shepherd. All the other puppies went to show homes, and a blue is considered a fault in showing, so he got left behind."

He had been on the K9 unit with his police department, and when his first K9 partner had been retired he'd gladly taken the department up on their offer to let him adopt the big German Shepherd. He'd wound up becoming a bit of a fanatic on the breed, and had talked Grace into letting him get two more. There had either been some sort of huge oversight, or the previous owner of the two newer dogs had outright lied because both supposedly spayed females had wound up pregnant. Each had had five pups, and even Grace's considerable patience had its limits. She'd told him in no uncertain terms that they were not keeping thirteen dogs and had proceeded to find homes for all but the last puppy.

"No wonder," Dean muttered. "The damn thing's the size of a small horse."

"Why don't we take him?" Jess suggested excitedly. "He'd make an awfully good deterrent for anything out there."

"True," Jack agreed. He scowled at Sam and Dean. "And maybe you two wouldn't be so trigger-happy if you had a guard dog."

"Oh no!" Dean was putting an end to this right here, right now. "No, no, and absolutely no."

"C'mon Dean," Sam turned the big dog's face so it was looking straight at him. "Look at these eyes!"

The dog was obediently looking up at him with puppy dog eyes that would put even Sam's to shame. At least that's what Dean thought until Sam turned his own version on. Now he wasn't sure which ones were more persuasive.

"No," he repeated, steeling himself. "You know the rules, Sam. No dogs in my car."

"Pleeease?" Jess put her own puppy dog eyes on display. Dean hadn't even been aware that she had a version of the puppy dog eyes.

"I...no," okay, he was definitely weakening.

"Grace really doesn't want four dogs in the house. Especially with the baby coming so soon," Jack put his own two cents in. "He's trained and everything."

"We're on the road all the time," Dean pointed out.

"So was Sirius," Jack motioned to his old partner. "Orion is big, but he's still a Shepherd. He'll do just fine on the road as a guard dog."

"Orion?" that seemed like a weird name for a dog to him. Of course, Sirius and Gemini kind of seemed weird too. He was scared to ask what the fourth dog's name was.

"They're all named for either constellations or, in Sirius's case, a star in a constellation," Jack explained.

"Orion is based on Greek mythology," Sam added, trying to hide a smile. "In the lore, he was a giant huntsman."

"Huntsman?" Dean scowled. "So basically he's a giant dog and his name means hunter?"

"Basically," Sam snickered.

"What're the freakin' odds?" Dean mumbled.

"Good morning y'all!" Grace chirped, making her way into the kitchen, thankfully ending that conversation. She kissed Jack, hugged everyone else, and looked jealously at their cups of coffee before getting herself a bottle of water out of the fridge. She was allowed a certain amount of caffeine, but ever since the baby had decided that he (or she) wanted to play Cirque du Soleil in there, she'd cut it out almost completely. She nudged Jess none too subtly on her way past.

"What are you hiding?" Jack automatically asked. He knew both his wife and his little sister well enough to know that hadn't been an accident.

"Nothing," Jess looked up at him innocently, then she and Sam shared a smirk. "I mean, there is the little fact that Sam asked me to marry him, but..."

"About damn time!" Jack wrapped his arms around his sister.

"Okay seriously what is with that reaction?" Sam wondered.

"Now I'm even happier that I'm coming to Mom and Dad's with you," Jack finally set Jess back down. "You're going to need all the support you can get. You might even want to consider calling the twins in for some extra backup."

"Way ahead of you," Jess pulled her phone out to show him the texts she'd already sent to their brothers. "I texted Josh before and he said that he and Justin both have the day off from work and they'll be there."

"Wait," Dean tilted his head to the side. "Jack? Jess? Justin? Josh? What's up with all the J names? That's a little weird."

"It's a family thing," Jess shrugged crouching back on the floor to scratch behind Orion's ears. "No one's really sure anymore when it started, but most of my cousins, aunts, and uncles have names that start with J, too."

Her slight eye roll told Dean what Jess thought of his declaration that that was 'weird'. Their lives revolved around weird. This wasn't anywhere even close to being on the weird radar as far as they were concerned.

"So when do we gear up for this siege?" Dean asked sarcastically. "The way you guys make this sound, maybe the guns aren't such a bad idea after all."

"I figure right around lunchtime should be good," Jess suggested. "And there will be no need for the guns, thank you very much. We have a perfectly good guard dog instead."

"We do not have a guard dog," Dean reminded her. "We do not even have a dog."

"Don't listen to him, baby," Jess cooed to the big Shepherd that was practically sitting in her lap at this point. "He'll get used to you."

"There will be no 'getting used to' it!" Dean insisted.

"He's just cranky because he knows he's not going to get his way," Sam confided in the dog.

"What am I invisible here?" Dean asked. No one answered and Dean had a really bad feeling that they'd just adopted a dog.

---

Sam dragged his feet as Jess ran into the big house in front of them. Dean hung back with him, way out of his comfort zone. This house was even bigger than Jack and Grace's house, which was saying something.

"Christ, how has Jess put up with the crap motel rooms that we stay in?" he wondered. "Every room in this place could probably fit at least three or four of the motel rooms we stay in."

"I honestly have no idea," Sam admitted. "I've never heard her complain, though."

"Neither have I," Dean agreed. He noticed Sam rubbing at his temples and frowned. "What's going on?"

"Relax," Sam sighed. "It's just a normal headache."

"Not still remnants of the vision, is it?" Dean was looking at him like he could determine what was going on if he just stared hard enough.

"Didn't I just say it's a normal headache?" Sam snapped. He took a deep breath. "Sorry. I shouldn't take your head off about this. I'm just...stressed lately."

"No kidding, ya bitch," Dean elbowed Sam in the ribs playfully.

"Shut up jerk," Sam shoved his brother back.

They joked and jostled their way towards the house until a scowling blonde man appeared in the front door.

"Good afternoon Samuel," he said dryly.

"How are you, sir?" Sam quickly straightened up.

Dean recognized the look on his brother's face. The look that was as disrespectful as he could manage while still pretending to be respectful. It was the look that had gotten Sam in trouble with their own father on more than one occasion. Actually, saying more than one occasion would suggest that it had only happened a handful of times, which wasn't the case at all. There was a point in time where Dean was pretty sure Sam had been permanently grounded for crap like that.

"Who's your friend?" the eldest Moore waved them into the house, obviously none too impressed with their horseplay in his driveway.

"This is my brother, Dean," Sam introduced him quickly. "Dean, this is Jess's father, Jerry Moore."

"Huh," Dean raised an eyebrow and slung an arm around Sam's shoulders. He didn't care a single bit for the way the man was glaring at his little brother.

"I'm not sure I remember Samuel or Jessica ever mentioning you, Dean," Jerry commented. "In fact, I'm not sure I remember Samuel mentioning much of anything about his family, period. I was under the impression that he didn't get along with his family."

"You could've asked him," Dean was trying to keep his voice under control. Arrogant ass was talking like Sam wasn't standing right in front of him. He'd met the man less than a minute ago and he already didn't like him.

"Dean," Sam warned.

"Just saying," Dean shrugged.

Sam pushed Dean's arm off of him and pointed further into the house before Dean could "just say" anything else. This visit was already going straight to hell and they hadn't even gotten to the difficult part yet.

Jess was sitting at the dining room table talking animatedly with Jack, Grace, a middle-aged woman, and two other blonde men. She smiled when she saw Sam and Dean and waved them over to the two empty seats next to her. The woman's face tightened a bit as they sat, but Jess's other two older brothers made up for it by getting even louder.

"Sam!"

"It's been way too long!"

"I want to hear all about your road trip!"

"How many states have you hit so far?"

"What brings you guys back to California?"

"Where are you headed next?"

Both men peppered him with questions while Dean looked on, amused. How two people as stiff and stuck up as Jess's parents had managed to raise four kids as good natured as Jess and her brothers, he had no idea.

"Whoa, whoa," Sam put his hands up, laughing. "Guys, I can only answer your questions if you let me get a word in edgewise."

"Where's the fun in that?" Jack teased.

"Now that we're all here," Jess's mom cleared her throat meaningfully.

"Yeah," one of the twins piped up. "Jess, you're killing us with the suspense here. You said once everyone was here and settled you'd spill. So...spill."

"Josh," their mother scolded lightly.

"Aw, c'mon Mom," the third brother laughed. By default, this one must be Justin, although Dean had no idea how he was supposed to tell the identical twins apart.

"Enough!" Jerry thundered. His limited patience had apparently just worn out. "Joshua, Justin, if you two can't act like civilized human beings..."

"We're done," one of the twins cut him off.

"Sorry, Dad," the other apologized.

"I just figured out why it's so easy for you to deal with us Jess," Dean commented with a smirk. "You two ever consider switching to decaf?"

"Considered it, but this is way more fun," Josh laughed.

"Jess honey, what was it you'd wanted to tell us?" Jess's mother, Julia, ignored her hyperactive sons and turned to her daughter.

"Well," Jess reached over and squeezed Sam's hand between both of hers. He gave her an encouraging smile. "It's kind of a big announcement, which is why I wanted everyone to be here. Sam and I are getting married! He proposed a few weeks ago and I said yes."

Both of the twins immediately started to congratulate them. Probably loud enough for every neighbor in a ten block radius to hear. Jack and Grace just smiled at each other, since this obviously wasn't the first time they were hearing it. To Julia's credit, she at least tried to look happy for her daughter. Jerry, on the other hand, looked ready to tell everyone exactly what he thought of that idea and feelings be damned.

"Samuel..." he started.

"Hey, Jerry buddy," Dean jumped up and grabbed Jess's father by the arm. "C'mere. I need to talk to you for a second. We'll be right back, guys."

Dean pretty much dragged the eldest Moore out of the dining room.

"You listen to me you son of a bitch," he seethed as soon as he judged they were far enough out of earshot. "Whether or not you like my brother, you could at least pretend to be happy for your daughter's sake. Jess loves him, and trust me when I say you're not gonna find another guy out there who loves her more than Sam does. I don't know what stick you have up your ass against him, but my suggestion is that you get it removed before I forcefully convince you to."

Dean took a moment to appreciate the shocked look on the man's face. He felt a little twinge of guilt at the fear lurking behind that shock though. He knew the look he was probably giving the older man right now, and he'd been told more than once how terrifying it could be to be on the receiving end of it. Still, he wasn't going to allow Jess's father to walk all over his brother, even if Sam was perfectly willing to let him.

"Now, we're going to go back in there and you're going to congratulate your daughter on her engagement," he continued. "And if I hear a single condescending word towards my brother come out of your mouth...well, take my word for it and don't let that happen."

He slapped Jerry on the shoulder and strode casually back into the dining room. Everyone was still trying to talk all at once, but Sam still managed to glare at Dean with one of his patented bitchfaces.

"What?" Dean pasted an innocent smile on his face as he dropped back into his chair.

"Did you just threaten him?" Sam demanded.

"If I did?"

"Dean...dammit," he rubbed at his forehead. "You can't just run around threatening every person who doesn't like me. Cool it with the overprotective big brother routine a little."

"He was being an ass," Dean argued.

"He's always an ass!" Sam hissed. "So are you!"

"I'm your big brother. It's my job to be an ass to you," Dean pointed out.

"Being out on the road with them must be just like being home, huh?" one of the twins asked Jess.

"Except they're way cuter than you two," Jess quipped, reaching out for Sam's hand again.

"So, Jessica," Jerry finally made his way back into the dining room and cleared his throat. "Tell me what your mother and I can do to help you plan your wedding."

"Um...I, uh, haven't really had time to make all that many plans," Jess stuttered. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Of course she knew that Dean had a way of 'getting through' to people, but she'd sort of expected her father to put up more of a fight. Whatever had been said between them a few minutes ago must have been something. "Honestly, I think we might just go to the courthouse if Sam's okay with that."

"I'm great with that," Sam said quickly. Actually, he was more than great with that. He was beyond great with that. No big, fancy to do? No having to talk to Jess's relatives and people who would question where all of his family was all night? Sign him up for the courthouse wedding.

"Are you sure, Jess honey?" Julia looked disappointed. "I was sort of hoping...well, never mind."

"Mom," Jess sighed. Now she felt bad. When she'd been a teenager, she and Mom had sat around for hours planning her future wedding. Most of the ideas had been unrealistic, over-the-top ones just to make each other laugh, but it had been fun and Jess knew her Mom had looked forward to the day they could make the real plans. "I know. It's just, a big wedding isn't something that Sam and I would both enjoy."

"Honey, if that's what you want, that's what we'll do," Sam knew he was going to regret saying that, but Jess had already given up so much for him. He wasn't taking her dream wedding away from her, too.

"I told her last night that she'd never get away with the courthouse idea," Grace finally chimed in.

"Know it all," Jess laughed.

"Good! It's settled then," Julia looked much happier now. "Jess, we still have most of the day and there's an adorable little dress shop in town. They have the most beautiful dresses on display. We should go take a look."

"Now?" Jess asked. "Mom, we don't have to rush this."

"I know, I know," Julia admitted. "But my only baby girl is getting married! Wait until you have a baby girl of your own, then you'll understand."

"Mom!" Jess squeaked. "Can we get through the wedding before you start planning my kids? Fine, as long as Sam and Dean don't need me for anything, let's go dress shopping."

"Have fun," Sam kissed her forehead.

"I have some work to do on my car anyway," Dean agreed. "She needs an oil change and I want to tune up the carburator. I think we can keep ourselves amused for a few hours."

"What kind of car?" the twins were suddenly interested again.

"Sixty-seven Impala," Dean said proudly. "She's a beauty."

"Damn!" Josh was impressed. "You know a lot about cars? I'm working on a sixty-eight Mustang fastback, but I think it's got an electrical gremlin somewhere and I can't find it for the life of me."

"I know enough. I can take a look at it if you want," Dean offered.

"Why do I have a feeling my driveway is going to become a workshop?" Jack grumbled.

"Welcome to the Winchester family," Sam couldn't help a laugh.

---

"I still don't like that she's unarmed," Dean said for the millionth time.

"You think I do?" Sam snapped, also for the millionth time. "There's something killing people one town over and she's out there, unarmed, with her mother and her pregnant sister-in-law. I'm freaking out right now, but she said it would be hard to hide a gun while she tries on dresses, so there's nothing we can do. Would you please shut up about it already."

"Jesus, you're cranky today," Dean muttered.

Sam scowled, but didn't deny it. He was pissy today. Between his guilt over Jim Miller, the lack of sleep, the showdown at Jess's parents house, and the headache that just wouldn't quit, he was in a foul mood. Even the bouncy, excited greeting he got from Orion as soon as he walked into Jack and Grace's house didn't do much to lift his spirits.

He dropped heavily onto the couch (quickly winding up with a lapful of Orion) and rubbed at his temples while the big dog licked his face. Was he imagining things, or was his headache getting worse? He pried his eyes open, only to slam them back shut at the pain that speared right through his head. Vaguely he felt the dog jump off of his lap and go running as he pulled himself to his feet and tried to blindly find his way to the stairs. The last thing he needed was for one of Jess's brothers to come in and see him like this. They'd freak out and one vision out in public had already been more than enough for him this week thank you very much. Of course, there was the slight issue of not being able to see. He'd come to realize that the term 'blinding pain' was quite literal and he only made it two steps before tripping over the edge of the rug and crashing to the ground.

Outside, Dean and Josh had just popped the hood on the Mustang and were chatting casually about it while Justin sat off to the side, drinking a beer. Orion came bursting out of the house, barking for all he was worth. All three men jumped, and then Dean scowled.

"What's got him all riled up?" Justin wondered.

"I thought that was pretty much his permanent state," Dean shrugged.

"No, Ri is usually pretty quiet," Josh was starting to look concerned. "I've never seen him freak out like this."

Now Dean was paying attention. As averse as he was to keeping the dog, they could have a very keen sense of the supernatural. What if whatever had killed Jim Miller was here and Orion had sensed it? Sam! Sam was alone in the house! Cursing, he bolted inside.

"Sam!" he yelled. Damn the size of this house! Where the hell was his brother? "Sammy!"

He flew into the living room and found Sam curled up on the floor. Orion immediately went over to him and started licking his face and whining.

"Gonna start calling you Lassie," Dean muttered to the dog as he dropped down next to Sam. "Sammy?"

"Dean," Sam managed to choke out. He reached out and grabbed the front of Dean's shirt right as the vision hit.

"Holy...what the hell!" Josh and Justin both skidded to a stop behind Dean.

"He'll be okay," Dean assured them. "He just has to ride it out."

"Should we be calling someone?" one of them asked.

"Jess, maybe?" the other suggested.

"No!" Dean snapped. "There's nothing she's going to be able to do, so let her enjoy some time out. Sam will come out of this on his own and when he does I'll get him upstairs."

"She's going to kill you if she finds out you're hiding something like this from her."

"She knows about the seizures," Dean half-lied. No way was he going to tell Larry and Moe over there that Sam was actually having a psychic vision, though. "I'm telling you, he'll be fine in just a minute. Come on, Sam. Snap out of this. C'mon."

"Dean!" Sam suddenly jerked back to consciousness and somehow managed to clutch even tighter to Dean's shirt than he had been. "The man! The man at Jim Miller's house last night!"

"Shush, Sammy," Dean said quickly.

"No, the guy at the Miller's house last night! He's going to..."

"Shut up, Sam!" Dean felt bad for yelling, but he didn't know how else to shut his brother up.

"Jim Miller? Wasn't that the guy who killed himself last night?" Josh asked. "It was on the news this morning. You guys were there?"

"Visiting a friend out that way," Dean lied again as he struggled to get Sam to his feet. "Alright, Sammy. Help me out a little here, kiddo. I can't carry your overgrown ass up the stairs all by myself."

"Not going upstairs," Sam insisted. "Dean please!"

He looked at Dean with wide, slightly wet eyes and it was easy enough for Dean to read what was in them. They'd been too late to save Jim Miller because they'd been too far away. This time they were right here, though. There was every chance that they could save the man from Sam's vision this time.

"Okay," Dean sighed. "Josh, sorry man but will you take a raincheck on the Mustang?"

"Yeah, no problem," Josh frowned. "What's going on here, though?"

"Something you wouldn't believe even if I told you," Dean admitted. "Look, just...don't worry about it. This is something we've been dealing with for a while. Trust me, it's better for everyone that you guys know as little as possible about this."

He didn't wait for Jess's brothers to respond. Instead he helped Sam out to the Impala and dropped him into the passenger seat. He scowled as Orion followed them out and jumped into the backseat like he belonged there, but didn't kick the big dog out. It had alerted him to the fact that Sam was having a vision, after all.

"You tear up the upholstery back there and I swear I'll turn you into glue," Dean warned.

"That's horses, Dean," Sam groaned.

"Whatever! I don't guess you know where to find this guy from your vision?" he asked hopefully.

"I saw an apartment building sign," Sam dug the heels of his hands into his eyes. "Oak Ridge Apartments. Dean...I don't even know this guy's name, though! What if we get there in time and I still can't save him because I don't know who he is?"

"We worry about that after we get there, Sammy," Dean reached over to swat Sam's hand away from his face. "Stop that. Digging your eyes out of your skull isn't going to help. Find me directions to this apartment building. That'll help."

It didn't take Sam long to find the address for the apartment building and Dean raced towards it. He threw the Impala into a parking spot in front of the building and they raced for the front doors which, of course, were locked.

"The buzzers," Sam pointed to the line of buttons with names next to them.

"There's a Roger Miller," Dean said a moment later. He hit the buzzer.

"Who's there?" a man's voice came through the speaker.

"Hi," Dean put on his most professional voice. "My name is Dean Wilson. I'm here to speak to you about Jim Miller's life insurance policy?"

"My brother didn't have a life insurance policy," the voice snapped. "So whoever you are, get out of here before I call the cops on you for harassment."

"No, wait!" Dean shouted. He hit the buzzer rapid-fire, but there was no answer. "Dammit!"

"Good going, Dean!" Sam said frantically. "Life insurance? Even if Jim Miller did have a life insurance policy, everyone thinks his death was a suicide! His family wouldn't get anything!"

"Well excuse me," Dean looked around and spotted the fire escape. He double-checked the number on the buzzer next to Roger Miller's name and pulled Sam along with him towards the rusty iron stairs. "Come on."

The two brothers raced up the fire escape, Dean slightly in the lead. Suddenly they heard a slam and then a thump and Sam stumbled, almost falling. He recognized those sounds.

"Sam?" Dean asked.

"It's too late," he choked out.

"We don't know that," Dean insisted. He ran up the last dozen or so steps and saw the blood and the severed head lying in the window box. He blocked the view as best as he could with his body, even though he knew Sam had already seen it all in gruesome detail in his vision.

"Oh god," Sam doubled over. Sweat poured down his face and his stomach clenched. They'd been here this time. They were right here and Roger Miller had still died. What kind of sick joke was it that he was given just enough of a warning to feel like he had a chance to save these people in his visions, but not enough to actually do it? He didn't realize that he was hyperventilating until Dean's arms were around him, lowering him slowly to sit on the steps. It took him another few seconds to realize that Dean was saying something and had been for the past few moments.

"...fault, Sammy. We got here as soon as we could," Dean was babbling. "It's not like we just sat back and let it happen. We were trying. You know we can't always save everyone. We just..."

"Everyone?" Sam interrupted. "Lately I can't save anyone, let alone everyone."

"It's not your job to do it on your own," Dean reminded him. "Listen, whatever this thing is, it seems to be after the Millers. I say we head it off and go talk to Jim Miller's wife and kid now."

"And tell them what?" Sam asked miserably. "What do we say? 'We're so sorry for your loss, but guess what? We have another one to tell you about!' How are we even going to explain who we are? It's not like we can pretend to be cops."

"I'm working on it," Dean stood and pulled a rag out of his pocket. "Get back down to the car and make sure your damn dog isn't chewing the Impala to pieces. I'll get rid of our prints and be right down."

Sam hauled himself to his feet and started down the stairs obediently. His brain was whirling too fast not to. As promised, Dean was right behind him and they headed over to Jim Miller's house in silence. Dean parked in the same place as he had last night, but hesitated before getting out.

"You have no idea what to tell those people, do you?" Sam asked.

"I'm working on it," Dean repeated.

"Well don't hurt yourself," Sam quipped. "Just shut up and follow me. C'mon Ri."

The big dog happily jumped out of the Impala and trotted calmly next to Sam as he knocked on the door to the Miller's house. The woman from last night opened the door, red-eyed, but still managed to give them a small smile.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"Uh, yes ma'am," Sam managed a weak smile of his own. "I'm Sam. This is my brother, Dean. We were just passing through, and this dog jumped right out in front of our car. We didn't hit him or anything. We noticed he had a collar, but no tags, so we've been cruising around the neighborhood looking for his owners. I don't suppose he might be yours? Or that you might recognize him?"

"I'm Alice Miller. I'm sorry, but I don't recognize him," the woman answered. "It's very nice of you to...Max?"

Sam and Dean turned to see Jim Miller's son just walking up the driveway. A look flitted across his face that Dean couldn't quite pin down, and then it was gone as fast as it had been there.

"I didn't know you'd gone out," Alice frowned.

"Took a walk," Max shrugged.

"Sam, Dean, this is my son, Max," Alice introduced them. "Max, these boys were nice enough to pick up a loose dog and they're looking for his owners. Do you know where he belongs?"

"No," Max answered shortly, pushing his way into the house. That look flickered across his face again and this time Dean almost got a handle on it. Honestly, if he didn't know any better, he'd say that the kid was angry with them.

"I'm sorry," Alice apologized for her son. "I'm afraid we're going through a bit of a bad time. M-my husband just died last night."

"That's awful!" Sam put on his best puppy dog look. "I'm so sorry. If it's not too rude of me to ask, how did it happen?"

"Suicide," Alice wiped at her eyes. "Just completely out of the blue. I honestly don't know what possessed him to. We were such a happy family...oh look at me. Spilling my guts to complete strangers. What you must think of me right now."

"No, no," Sam assured her. "I'm actually a psychology major over at Stanford, so I'm told I tend to be pretty easy to talk to."

"We used to live out that way," Alice sniffed. "Back when Max was a boy. We moved here just about four or five years ago."

"How come?" Dean wondered.

"Well, no offense," Alice looked at Sam guiltily. "We wanted to be a bit further away from the college students. They could tend to be a bit wild sometimes and Jim and I aren't...weren't getting any younger."

At the slip up, she had to brush more tears away.

"We're very sorry for your loss," Sam apologized. "And we're sorry for having bothered you, ma'am."

"It was no bother," she waved his apology away. "It actually felt nice to have something else to focus on for a few minutes. I hope you find the dog's owners."

"Thank you," Sam started back for the car, pulling Dean and Orion with him. He glanced at his brother. "Still think having a dog doesn't come in handy?"

"Shut up," Dean smirked. "Hey, did you notice how that Max kid was looking at us?"

"Not really," Sam shook his head.

"It was weird," Dean told him. "Almost like he was pissed at us for something."

"He did just lose his father," Sam reminded him. "That's probably all it was. So, I can probably pull up public records and find out where the Miller's used to live. It's a long shot, but maybe we can ask questions around there and see if anyone noticed anything unusual from back then."

"Better than sitting on our asses doing nothing," Dean agreed, watching Sam pull his laptop out.

---

"I've never in my life seen a child treated that way," the Miller's old neighbor leaned against his rake and frowned. "In the beginning I wouldn't have figured Jim for the type. He was a great guy and he doted on Max. A lot changed after the fire, though."

"Fire?" Sam and Dean asked at the same time.

"Yeah," the man answered. "Couldn't have been much more than six months after Max was born. It was a real shame. Rumor had it that Jim's wife ran into the nursery to get Max and got trapped. She didn't make it. Fire department never did figure out what started it, either."

"No, we just talked to Alice Miller not more than an hour ago," Sam told him.

"Alice? No, Alice is Jim's second wife. Max's stepmother," the neighbor explained. "She's just as bad as Jim and Roger as far as I'm concerned. She never hit Max herself, but she'd just stand there and not do a damn thing to stop it."

Sam's head was spinning. A fire when Max was six months old. Max's mother dying in his nursery. There were too many coincidences. The Miller's old neighbor was still talking and Sam realized with dismay that his headache from the vision earlier was getting worse. Then, as if just to make his life complete, the flashes of light started back up. He vaguely wondered if there was a limit to how many visions he could handle in a day before his brains all leaked out through his ears.

"That's...uh, thank you for...we should..." Sam couldn't get himself to focus enough to get a complete sentence out. He dug his hands into his eyes again.

"Sorry," Dean's arm was instantly around his shoulders. "Thank you for talking with us."

"Is he okay?" the man asked, concerned.

"He's fine," Dean assured him, not offering any more of an explanation.

He guided Sam quickly into the Impala and threw himself into the driver's seat. Sam was already going unresponsive next to him and Orion was freaking out in the backseat. Suddenly his eyes glazed over.

"Max, you know I never did anything."

"That's right. You never did anything. You never tried to stop them. Not once!"

A knife on the counter shot into the air, pointed straight at Alice Miller. She quickly backed against the wall as Max stalked a few steps towards her, the knife point stopping just inches from her face.

"Max...what? How are you...?"

"You could've helped me, but instead you just stood there. Every. Single. Time."

"Wait!"

"Say hi to Dad and Uncle Roger in Hell."

Max blinked and the knife plunged into Alice's eye.

"Sammy? You back with me?" Dean was carefully trying to extract his now very bruised wrist from Sam's vise-like grip.

"It's Max," Sam said weakly. "Somehow...somehow he's the one doing all of this. I saw him. He's going to kill Alice Miller. We have to get back there."

"Jesus. Could this day get any more screwed up?" Dean wondered, peeling away from the curb.

---

Jess frowned as she watched the Impala tear past the dress shop for the second time in half an hour. It was impossible to miss that car, and it was going way too fast for her boys to be after anything good. She thought the plan had been for Sam to rest and Dean to work on cars with Josh. Obviously something had gone wrong at some point after she'd left with Mom and Grace.

"Jess, honey?" Mom walked into the dressing room holding two more dresses and it was all Jess could do not to groan. "What about these?"

"They're beautiful, Mom," Jess said obligingly. "Listen, do you mind if I take a quick break? I forgot that I needed to ask Sam something. It'll literally only take me about two minutes."

"Alright sweetheart," a slight tightening of her features was the only thing to prove that no matter how it looked, Mom was still not completely on board with the idea of her marrying Sam. "Grace, why don't you come along with me to look at a few more dresses for Jess to try?"

Grace looked at Jess apologetically, but followed Julia out of the dressing room. Jess quickly snatched up her phone and called Sam.

"H'lo?" he slurred.

"Baby? Are you okay?" her stress level ratcheted up another few notches.

"Fine," Sam muttered. "M'fine."

"Yeah, that was convincing," Dean commented. Jess heard a scuffle and a protest and then Dean was on the phone.

"How is he really?" Jess asked.

"Not so great," Dean answered. Jess heard a sharp slap. "Ow, dude. Don't hit me upside the head. I'm just telling the truth."

"Gimme the damn phone, Dean," there was more scuffling and Jess sighed.

"Are you two done now?" she asked once things had settled down.

"Compromise," Sam grumbled. "You're on speaker now."

"So, what happened?" Jess asked. "I thought you guys were supposed to have a nice, relaxing day."

"Who says we aren't?" Dean dodged around the question.

"That unmistakable car I just saw flying past twice in the last half hour with you two oversized children in it," Jess said.

"Oh," Jess could practically see the guilty look that Dean was undoubtedly giving Sam right now. "Uh, Sam had another vision. Two, actually. Jim Miller's brother, the older guy who was there last night, is dead."

Jess's mind flashed to the conversation she and Dean had had last night about Sam and she winced. Sam was going to see that as another failure on his part.

"I seem to be connected to the son, Max," Sam explained further. "In my second vision I saw him kill his stepmother, Alice. He did it telekinetically though."

"He's got special abilities, too?" Jess darted her eyes around to make sure no one had heard that. She'd been a little louder than she'd meant to.

"And his biological mother died in a fire when he was about six months old," Dean added.

"That's too many coincidences for them to be just coincidences," Jess decided.

"Exactly what we said," Dean agreed. "We're heading back to try to stop Max now."

"Be careful," Jess warned. "If I could get there..."

"I'd still want you to stay right where you are," Sam cut her off. "He's already killed two people and he's gunning for a third. At least with monsters we know what we're dealing with. Humans are a whole different story. I'm just as happy to have you stay out of this one."

"Did you manage to forget the talk we had about being a team?" Jess asked. "Because if you did I'm happy to find another warehouse to tie you up in and we can go over it again."

"No, I didn't forget," Sam couldn't help a small smile. He knew Jess probably would make good on her promise to find another warehouse if he didn't tread very carefully. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I just mean that you deserve a day out with your Mom and Grace where you don't have to worry about anything supernatural."

"Nice save," Dean teased.

"You watch it," Jess scolded. "That threat goes for you, too."

"So, uh, we're going to see what we can do about stopping Max before he can kill his stepmother," Dean said quickly.

"Call me as soon as you can?" Jess asked. "So that I know you two are okay."

"The second it's over," Sam promised. "Don't worry about us, babe."

"Right, because you two rushing towards someone who has telepathically killed two people and is getting ready to do the same to a third is something I'm not going to worry about," Jess said sarcastically.

"We're here," Dean announced. "Call you in a few minutes Jess."

"You'd better," Jess ordered, hanging up just as Mom and Grace came back in the room with - surprise, surprise - more dresses.

---

"What are you doing?" Sam demanded as Dean tucked a pistol into his waistband.

"I'm not going in there unarmed, Sam," Dean looked at his brother like he'd suddenly sprouted another head. "This kid is literally capable of picking up sharp objects with his mind and flinging them at our heads."

"Yeah, so what's to stop him from taking that gun from you with his abilities?" Sam pointed out.

"Right. When's the last time a human was able to take a weapon from me?" Dean snorted. "A wendigo or a spirit or something, that's one thing. But a human? Come on. We don't have time to argue about this anyway. Quit bitching at me and let's go."

Sam rolled his eyes, feeling like this was apt to be a bad idea, but Dean had been right about one thing. They didn't have time to argue. Twice already he'd been too late to do anything about his visions. This second time had been infuriating because they'd literally been right outside the building as it happened. He wasn't about to let that happen again.

They'd just reached the door to the Miller's house and Sam was about to knock again when he and Dean both heard a scream from inside. Without hesitation Dean kicked the door in and they both ran into the house to see a knife floating in the air between Max and Alice Miller. Max spun to look at them, but the knife stayed poised right where it was, only a foot or two from Alice's face.

"Why the hell do you two keep showing up?" Max demanded, breaking the silence. "I saw you here last night, and then again at my uncle's apartment this afternoon. Are you stalking me?"

"No," Sam promised. "No, I swear we're not stalking you. Not intentionally, anyway. Max, do you think you could maybe put the knife down so we can talk and I can explain things a little?"

"You can explain without me putting the knife down," Max growled, as if said knife wasn't floating five feet in the air without anyone touching it.

"Right...okay," Sam had really been hoping that would work. "Listen, you obviously have abilities. Well so do I. Mine are nowhere near as powerful as yours are, but we're alike that way."

"So?" Max demanded.

"Get to the point, Sam," Dean ordered, hand stealing towards his waistband.

"Just hear me out," Sam glared at Dean, a silent warning not to do anything stupid. "These abilities are a gift. You could do so much good with them. Just stop. Don't use them for this."

"Once she's dead, then I'll stop," Max said. "Once she's dead it'll be over."

"Why does she need to die, though?" Sam asked. "I mean, she never hurt you, did she?"

"No, but she never helped me, either," Max clenched his fists and the knife floated a little closer to Alice.

"Take it easy," Dean snapped.

This time Max noticed as Dean's hand dipped towards the gun tucked into his waistband. With barely more than a twitch, Dean's gun was suddenly in Max's hand. He looked sheepishly at Sam, who glared back.

"When's the last time a human was able to take a gun from me?" Sam mocked, knowing it wasn't the time. "A wendigo or a vengeful spirit is one thing, but a human? Isn't that what you said?"

"Oh very funny. You're just so hilarious," Dean snapped. "Shut up, Sam."

"Both of you shut up!" Max was looking from one to the other. They were acting like he didn't have a gun pointed at them and a knife just inches in front of his stepmother's face. "I don't have anything against the two of you, but you're not leaving me with a lot of options."

"We can't just step aside and let you do this," Dean took a step forward, in front of Sam, and flinched as the gun floated up out of Max's hand so that it was level with his forehead.

"Max wait!" Sam pleaded. "Let's just...we can talk about this okay? You and I."

"She's not leaving!" Max yelled, pointing at Alice.

"Okay, I'm not saying she has to," Sam added. "Why don't we send her and Dean upstairs, though? I think if you and I sit and talk together, you might realize we have more in common than you think."

"I'm not leaving you down here with him alone, Sam," Dean growled.

"Yes you are," Sam didn't break eye contact with Max. He could tell he almost had him. "It's okay, Max. I swear. Just give me five minutes. Please?"

There was a tense second when both the knife and the gun quivered in the air. Both brothers could swear they saw the trigger of the gun tighten before it finally dropped to the floor, followed by the knife.

"Five minutes," Max gritted his teeth. "But I'm not making any promises!"

"No one's asking you to," Sam assured him. "If you still feel like this is what you need to do after we talk, we both know I can't stop you."

"Take her upstairs," Max ordered Dean.

"Goddamn it, Sam," Dean cursed under his breath, but he skirted around Max and took Alice by the arm anyway. He hesitated for a second at the bottom of the stairs, and Sam waved him away.

"Okay. You said you wanted to talk. So talk," Max dropped down into an armchair.

"Um, alright," Sam sat gently on the sofa. He hadn't really thought much beyond this point. "So, your abilities. They started up about six or seven months ago?"

"Yeah," Max agreed.

"Yeah, mine too," Sam told him. "I have visions. Sometimes I can see people who are about to die. That's how come my brother and I kept turning up around you."

"Death visions?" Max looked skeptical.

"How do you think I knew you were going to stab your stepmother through the eye?" Sam tapped his own eye. "I saw it, Max. And I saw how you killed your Dad and your uncle."

"If you saw all that, then you know why," Max's eyes started to fill with tears. "And if you know why, then you know why I had to do it."

"I know why you think you had to do it," Sam amended.

"If you have to say it that way then you don't actually understand at all," Max shook his head. "You don't understand what it's like to have your father look at you with nothing but drunken hate in his eyes."

"Or maybe I do," Sam said quietly. Truth be told, Dean probably could've stuck around for his conversation with Max, but this was the reason he hadn't wanted him to. "Your mom died in a fire in your nursery when you were six months old, right? So did mine. My Dad, brother, and I are hunting the thing that killed them. For years we had no idea what did it, though. It took a long time to figure out, and it was frustrating as hell. My Dad was a drinker, too."

"He used to beat you up, too?"

"For awhile," Sam admitted, squirming in his seat uncomfortably. It had been years since anything like that had happened and yet it was still hard to talk about.

"Where was your brother for all of that, then?" Max demanded. "It sounds like he's just as bad as my stepmother for letting it happen."

"He didn't know," Sam knew he had to calm Max before he went any further down that road. "He was never there for it."

"Did you kill your old man, too?" Max asked.

"No, my Dad is still alive," Sam told him. "I got help, Max. You can too. I was embarrassed as hell to admit it, but I knew that I wasn't the only one who needed the help. I knew he needed it, too. To this day, Dean doesn't know why our Dad's best friend threatened him with a shotgun and then refused to let us out of his sight for a week, but I feel like there was more going on there than just what I told him. My Dad changed a lot after that. He still screwed up on occasion, but things did change. I saw him just a week ago and it didn't scare me at all to let him get near me and give me a hug."

"Who am I supposed to go to for help, though?" Max actually didn't sound angry, like Sam had expected. He sounded desperate, like he truly wanted to know the answer. "They're all dead. All but my stepmom, that is. It's not an actual threat anymore, but I still feel like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop!"

"I know that feeling," Sam leaned forward. "That's how I felt for a long time, but it gets better. It doesn't matter if it's a therapist or a good friend. As long as you find someone you can talk to when things get bad. Y'know, like homicidal tendencies bad."

Sam risked a joke and a half-smile, hoping he wasn't overstepping anything. Thankfully, Max choked out a laugh instead of trying to kill him, so he counted that as a definite win.

"So what do you say?" Sam pushed a little more. "Do you think we can let Dean and Alice come back down here?"

Max took a little longer to consider that. His eyes darkened, and Sam had just enough time to wonder if he'd made a really big mistake, when Max sighed and slumped in his seat. He nodded, just one slight dip of his head, but it was enough.

"Dean," Sam called up the stairs.

"What? What?!" Dean shot into the living room and immediately gave Sam a once-over with his eyes. When he was satisfied that his little brother wasn't hurt, he grabbed him by the elbow and put himself between Sam and Max.

"Jesus Christ, dude," Sam laughed. "Calm down."

"I'm not going to hurt him. Or Alice," Max added.

They'd just convinced Alice Miller to come back downstairs when the doorbell rang. She glanced nervously at Max again (they all knew it would take her a while to really start trusting him) and answered the door to find two police officers standing on her doorstep. Sam and Dean both flinched when they realized the one standing slightly in front was Jack.

"Mrs. Miller," Jack looked at her apologetically. "I'm very sorry to tell you this, but your brother-in-law Roger Miller was found dead in his apartment. It appears that it may have been some sort of an accident, but...Sam? Dean?"

"Hey Jack," Sam shifted his weight from foot to foot. "Uh, weren't you supposed to have the day off?"

"Supposed to," Jack was frowning at them. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Miller. Maybe this is something we should discuss in private."

"Yes. Thank you," Alice motioned towards the kitchen

"We were just leaving anyway," Sam mumbled, pulling Dean towards the door.

"I'll walk you out," Max offered. He stopped Sam on the porch and pulled him slightly away from Dean. "Listen, Sam I know I don't really know you all that well, but I was wondering...I don't really have anyone that I'm all that close with. If things get bad, do you think maybe I could...I mean, you sort of know what I went through, so..."

He broke off before he could finish the question. Sam pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and scribbled his number on it, then handed it to Max.

"That's my cell number," he told him. "Call me if you need to. Seriously. Any time."

"Thanks," Max shuffled his feet. "I should probably get back inside. I have a lot to make up for."

"Try not to beat yourself up too bad," Sam advised. "If you do you're probably more likely to end up right back in this situation again."

"Thanks," Max repeated.

"What was that about?" Dean asked as they walked back to the Impala and an impatient Orion.

"Max wanted to stay in contact," Sam shrugged.

"That's not what I meant and you know it," Dean scowled at him. "What did he mean about you sort of knowing what he went through?"

"I have no idea," Sam lied.

"You're a terrible liar, you know that?" Dean raised an eyebrow.

"Bite me," Sam shot back with a grin.

"Are we really just letting him go?" Dean asked, motioning towards the house. "I mean, he killed two people."

"He did," Sam agreed. "I'm not saying that what he did was right, but he's taken more punishment for things that were never his fault than anyone deserves to. Knowing what he did, having to live with it for the rest of his life is going to be punishment enough for this."

Dean grunted, unconvinced, but followed Sam the rest of the way back to the Impala anyway.

They had made it about halfway back to Jack and Grace's house when Dean suddenly slammed on the brakes hard enough that Sam had to brace himself with a hand on the dashboard to keep from being launched through the windshield.

"What the hell, Dean?" Sam yelled.

"That son of a bitch!" Dean's eyes were angrier than Sam had ever seen them. "When Max said you understood, he was talking about Dad!"

"Come on, man," Sam groaned. "Max didn't mean..."

"Which got me thinking about all the times I'd come back from an errand or, later on, a hunt and you'd have new bruises or a black eye or even a broken bone that wasn't there when I left."

"You're reading too much into this, Dean," Sam desperately tried to think of a way to change the subject. "Crap. Listen, I forgot to call Jess."

"The phone call can wait, Sam," Dean turned to glare at his brother, not even caring that they were pretty much parked right in the middle of the road. "How long?"

"I don't know what you're..."

"How long?!"

"It started when I was five or six," Sam realized it was useless to keep lying. Dean had put two and two together. "Right about when I got old enough to really start being a pain in the ass. Mostly just a slap here or there until I got to be a teenager and couldn't stop running my mouth."

"Sammy, I swear to god if I hear you say one more word that makes it sound like you're blaming yourself I'm gonna kick your ass," Dean warned.

"Fine," Sam sighed. "Anyway, you remember when I was sixteen and the three of us were staying with Bobby for a week? You'd gone out with him on a hunt while Dad and I stayed back to train, and when you got back I was all messed up."

"Yeah," Dean answered. "You were a mess. Broken ribs, broken arm, two black eyes. Dad said you had an accident during training and fell through the floor of that old barn. Oh. Wait, wasn't that the night that Bobby threatened Dad with the shotgun and then pretty much refused to let us leave for a while?"

"That was it," Sam nodded. "That was the worst time, and I finally told Bobby what was going on. Things got better after that. It wasn't as horrible as it sounds, anyway. It's not like it was an everyday type of thing. Just when things would get really stressful, or he'd drink too much, or I would mouth off at the wrong time."

"Sam," Dean warned.

"Let it go," Sam ordered. His phone started to ring and he groaned again when he saw the caller ID. Jess was going to kill him. "Hey, babe."

"Don't you 'hey, babe' me Samuel Jonathan Winchester! I swear to god if you don't have one hell of a good excuse as to why I had to find out from my brother that you two are still alive, you won't be!" Jess shouted loud enough for Dean to hear her. And the phone wasn't even on speaker.

"I can explain," he looked desperately at Dean. Okay, no he couldn't. "Things went better than expected with Max, but some things came up and Dean and I were talking about them. I should've called you first. I'm sorry."

"Well just as a heads up, Jack is not happy," Jess warned them. "He's got a lot of questions about why you were there, and why Roger Miller's neighbors remember seeing the Impala right around the time that he died."

"Awesome," Sam groaned. "What do you think the chances are that we can get out of here tonight without anyone noticing?"

"None whatsoever," Jess answered, and hung up.

"That could've gone worse," Dean reasoned unhelpfully.

"Could've gone better, too," Sam pointed out.

He sighed, but even though he was in trouble with the love of his life, a part of him still felt good. Better than he had in weeks, to tell the truth. He felt like he'd managed to save two lives today. Obviously he'd saved Alice by having the vision, but he was pretty sure he'd also saved Max's life. If there was one thing he'd seen proof of over and over in hunting, it was that revenge didn't make things better and the person seeking revenge usually just kept going, even after it was over. At least this way Max might have a way to start over without destroying himself in the process.

---

The three hunters sat huddled together on the couch while a very irate Jack paced back and forth in front of them. Hell, even Orion had curled himself into a little ball and was looking up at Jack apprehensively.

"So let me get this straight," Jack said for the third time. "Monsters and all that other stuff are actually real? You three aren't actually on a road trip, you're running around the damn country looking for these monsters so you can kill them? And you dragged my sister into it?!"

It turned out that when Roger Miller was found dead, Jack had been called in since the Miller's were technically his case. He'd gotten home just a few minutes after Sam and Dean had gotten to the house and demanded answers. They had tried every lie imaginable to avoid telling Jack the truth, but he'd shot every one of them down until there was really only one option left.

"They didn't drag me into anything," Jess argued. "A demon tried to kill me, Jack. It was kind of hard not to get involved after that."

"So that's why you two are a walking arsenal?" Jack scowled at Sam and Dean.

"Pretty much," Dean admitted. "Although this is pretty tame compared to what's in the trunk of the Impala."

"Do I even want to know?" Jack almost looked nervous.

"Not unless you want no choice but to arrest us," Jess said, thinking of the rocket launcher packed away back there.

"Jesus Christ," Jack swore, rubbing at his face. "This is really real. How the hell did I never know about this stuff before?"

"Most people don't," Sam shrugged. "Us hunters are the exceptions and we try to keep it quiet so that the majority of the population doesn't have to worry about it. I tried to get out for awhile, which is why I was at Stanford, but once you're in..."

"It tends to be a lifetime career," Dean finished for him.

"This is...this is...I don't even know what this is," Jack stammered. "Guys, I don't like this. I don't like that my baby sister is out there hunting these supernatural things. Any of which could tear her apart in a second."

"Believe me, if I wasn't capable Sam and Dean would've sent me straight back to Stanford," Jess insisted. "I like what I'm doing Jack. The reason I was going into medicine is because I wanted to make a difference and save people's lives. I still want to go back to school and finish my degree, but even while I'm taking time off from that, I'm still helping to save people. I'm helping to make the world a little safer every time we go after some supernatural thing, and if I can make Mom and Dad and the twins and you and Grace and that beautiful little baby you guys are about to have just the tiniest bit safer I'm going to do whatever it takes."

"Fine," Jack finally said after a minute or two of silence. "I can't argue with any of that. Although it's not really fair of you to use the arguments I came up with when I fought with Dad over becoming a cop. With a bit of a twist."

"That's what little sisters are for," Jess laughed and bounded over to her brother to hug him. "To take your arguments and use them against you."

"It's a younger sibling trait," Dean looked at Jack knowingly. "Listen, not to just tell you all this and run, but we really should think about getting out of here."

"Funny, I was just about to say the same thing," Grace laughed painfully from the doorway. She was leaning against the wall, pale and holding her stomach, but looking happy at the same time. No one knew how much she had heard, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what she was saying.

"The baby? Now?!" Jack raced over to his wife.

"Now," Grace smiled. "So what do you say about that idea of getting out of here?"

Everyone immediately sprang into action despite the fact that Sam, Dean, and Jess had no idea what they were doing and wound up being more in the way than helpful. Dean was pretty sure this was more stressful than a few hunts he'd been on in the past, but there was something exciting about it, too. Looking over to Sam and Jess, they had similar looks on their faces, although their eyes kept meeting in a way that made Dean wonder. No time for that now, though. They had a pregnant woman to get to the hospital and a new baby to meet!

---

Additional Note: Again, I'm soooo sorry for the extra long amount of time it took for this chapter and the horrible ending. I'm so bad at endings. Lol. The "Nightmares" episode has always been one that I enjoyed, but I always wished that Max had been able to be saved. I hope all of my changes didn't make it too unrealistic. I also apologize to the John fans out there. I tried not to make him seem too bad, and make it seem like he sort of managed to redeem himself, but I can't seem to help not really liking him. I also thought that having Sam and Max have that sort of connection might help to bring Max back from the edge. As far as Orion, I just really love animals and thought it would be interesting for Sam, Dean, and Jess to adopt a dog...so they did. :D Orion is based on the best dog I've ever owned, also a blue German Shepherd (if you get a chance to look up a picture of a blue, give it a look. They're gorgeous dogs, but it's true that in showing the blue recessive gene is considered a fault so they often get overlooked). Unfortunately my Ri is no longer with us, but he was a great dog and he's very missed and I thought he deserved a spot in here. Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter and I'm really sorry for how long it took to get out!

So I completely forgot I was going to add two more little fun facts into my additional note. The first is that I know I made Jess's parents seem pretty harsh towards Sam, but her parents' disapproval is actually based upon my relationship with my mother-in-law from the first few years that my husband and I were together. I remember exactly what she said the first time I met her: "Really, Jason? You kept saying you weren't ready for another relationship and now all of a sudden you're jumping into one with her?" (Mind you, this was a year after he'd separated from his ex-wife and their divorce had been finalized for six months at that point). Yeah, things were pretty tense for a while. Lol. The other sorta fun fact is that my obsession with Jess's family all having J names comes from real life too. Again, it's from my husband's side, and no one knows exactly how it got started but there are so many J names you would believe it. We have Jason, Jared, Jenny, Jessie, Jeff, Justin, Jace, Julian, Janey, Jake, Josh, and pretty much any other J name you can think of. I was pretty tired by the time I posted this chapter last night, so I forgot to add those, even though they're just my little useless fun facts. :D

~ Liane