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!

11. Chapter 11

Author's Note: Hey everybody! Thank you as always for the reviews. I absolutely love seeing them! I hope I managed to respond to everyone, but if I missed anyone I apologize. NotAPerfectGeek, since I couldn't respond to your review directly, thank you so much! The wedding is probably at least a couple of chapters off, mostly because I have to find somewhere to fit it in, but I'm sort of fangirling over writing it, too. It'll wind up being it's own little chapter, so that the focus is completely on that. :-) Thanks for pointing out that John really should've noticed Jess wearing Mary's engagement ring, too. That was a flub on my part, mostly due to me forgetting what I wrote in my own story. Definitely have to smack myself upside the head for that one! Fixed it in this chapter.

The characters went and took this chapter away from me as usual, so it didn't turn out quite the way I had intended (also as usual). Certain areas got more time in this chapter than I had intended, but I think it all worked out in the end. Speaking of the end, I'd love to hear what you guys think of my idea at the end of this chapter. It's something I was actually going to use as the plot for it's own story, but I thought I'd rather put it in here rather than take on another project.

And finally, thanks again to Mbavrocks12 for the suggestion for the added scene in Cold Oak. Hope you like it!

---

Awesome job, Sam, he berated himself as he stormed into the little diner. Be a little more of an ass to your brother and your fiancee next time why don't you?

He slumped down in one of the diner booths and mumbled a thank you to the waitress who handed him a menu. There was no reason for his damn attitude back there in the car. Even with his headache and sore back considered, Jess had been right. He shouldn't have taken out his frustration on her, Dean, or the car. He sighed and made up his mind to apologize to Dean and Jess as soon as they got in here. Now if only his damn head would stop pounding. Why the hell did it hurt so bad anyway? Felt almost like one of his vision headaches, but he hadn't had one of those in a couple of days now and it didn't feel exactly right to be a warning that one was coming on. Suddenly there was a smell of sulfur so strong it made him gag, someone screamed, and everything went black.

---

Sam jolted awake, startled. He was lying in the dirt in what looked like the middle of nowhere. He looked at the buildings around him, which confirmed his suspicion that he had to be in the middle of nowhere. Everything looked so old, he felt like he might as well be back in the old west for god's sake. He climbed slowly to his feet and picked a direction at random to start walking.

He'd only gone a few hundred feet when he heard footsteps and plastered himself against the side of the nearest building. He reached for the gun he always kept in his waistband and cursed when his hands came up empty. Whatever had put him here had taken it. And his backup knife, he realized. And, goddamn it even his lockpick set was gone. Granted they wouldn't have done much as far as weapons go, but it would've been better than nothing. He cursed again as he realized that wherever his weapons and lockpicks had gone to, his phone had apparently followed.

Sam was just debating whether he should stand and fight or wait until he'd managed to find something to use as a weapon when Max and another guy came around the corner.

"Max!"

"Sam?" Max looked relieved. "Oh man, thank god. If anyone's going to know what the hell's going on it's you, right?"

"I wish," Sam answered. "I was at a diner in Colorado, started smelling sulfur, and then I woke up here. You guys?"

"Pretty much the same," Max said. "I was having a session with my counselor and something started to smell really bad and then lights out."

"What about you?" Sam looked to the other guy.

"Thought mine was normal until I woke up here," the guy gave him a lopsided grin. "I might've been a little...okay, a lot high. Andy Gallagher, by the way."

"Sam Winchester," he introduced himself. He recognized Andy's name from the research he'd done on other families like his and Max's.

"So, if none of us know how we got here, how do we get out?" Max wondered.

"I'm actually starting to have a suspicion about why we're here and how we got here," Sam figured they were all in this together, so he probably shouldn't keep secrets from them. "Max, you remember that talk we had about how our Mom's died? Well, there's something I didn't tell you. The thing that killed them was a demon. I'm pretty sure the demon is the reason we have these abilities, too. The reason all three of us have abilities. Or am I wrong about that, Andy?"

"I've never even met you before. How do you know that?" Andy looked up at him in awe.

"Max can move things telekinetically and I have death visions," Sam explained. "Our Mom's both died the same way, too. When I realized I wasn't the only one out there like this, I started looking for other kids like us. I found two others, and Andy you were one of them."

"Whoa, slow down. A demon?" Max asked. "There's no such thing."

"Unfortunately there is," Sam told him. "Sorry to just put that on you like that, but if I'm right I don't have time to ease you into it. I think the demon might have brought the three of us here."

A sudden bout of hysterical screaming coming from further down the street made him stop. Sam, Max, and Andy all shared a look.

"You did say you found two other names," Andy pointed out.

"Yeah, but the second name I found was someone who died early last year," Sam frowned.

"If that demon you told us about is strong enough to give us some sort of superpowers, do you think he's strong enough to bring someone back from the dead, too?" Max asked.

"Christ I hope not," Sam groaned. "Trust me, in my experience anything that comes back from the dead usually isn't friendly."

"What kind of experiences are you used to having?" Andy wondered.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you half of them," Sam muttered.

The three of them followed the sound of the screaming and came to an old barn. There was definitely a woman in there screaming and banging on the doors. A man in an Army uniform came racing around the side of another building, also drawn by the sound of the screams.

"Hang on," Sam called through the door. He acknowledged the newcomer with a nod, although he was starting to think he'd seriously missed something in his research. "Just hold on, I'm gonna get you out of there."

There was a padlock on the door and Sam wished again for his lockpick set. He sighed. Wishing wasn't going to get it back to him or get the girl out of there, so he looked around for something to break the lock with. His eyes fell on a big rock a few feet away, but he quickly discarded that idea. It would break the padlock no problem, but it was an awkward shape. He'd most likely wind up smashing his fingers right along with the lock.

"Let me," the soldier moved forward. He grasped the padlock in both hands and twisted, snapping it in half.

"Nice," Sam raised an eyebrow. He pulled the door open and a woman shot out of the barn right into his arms. "Okay. You're okay. Hey, calm down."

"Oh my god, where the hell am I?" the woman asked. She looked around at the men standing all around her and then up at Sam.

"None of us are really sure," Sam admitted. "We're working on figuring that out. I'm Sam, that's Max, and that's Andy."

"I'm Jake," the soldier introduced himself.

"Ava," the woman wiped her eyes and took a step away from Sam.

"Look, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm getting out of here," Jake said. "I was trying to find my way out when I heard you screaming."

"Something tells me it's not going to be all that easy," Sam told him. "Just for the record, we do all have some sort of special ability right? We all lost our mothers in house fires right around our six month birthday?"

Max and Andy both nodded, but Ava and Jake just looked confused.

"My Mom lives in Palm Beach," Ava shook her head.

"Mine's in Brooklyn with my little sister," Jake said. "I talked to her two days ago."

"That breaks pattern," Sam said mostly to himself. "Okay, what about abilities? Jake you obviously have some sort of super strength type of thing."

"I can make people do things just by telling them to," Andy offered. "I can send thoughts sometimes, too."

"I get visions of people who are about to die," Ava said.

"So do I," Sam nodded. "Listen guys, I hate to tell you this, but it's not going to be just as simple as walking out of here. Like I told Max and Andy a few minutes ago, I don't have time to ease anyone into this. We were brought here by a demon. I don't know why, but I do know that he's not going to let us leave just like that."

"Man, you're crazy," Jake took a step back.

"I wish I was," Sam said. "It's gonna get dark soon. We should find someplace to spend the night and figure this out tomorrow."

"You do what you want, I"m getting out of here," Jake turned and started walking away.

"Jake! Dammit, wait a second," Sam jogged to catch up.

"Stay away from me," Jake spun and pushed Sam away from him. "As far as I'm concerned, you're just some whackjob and I'm better off on my own."

The force of the push, with Jake's strength behind it, sent Sam stumbling back against something. He turned to look at it and cursed.

"What?" Max asked.

"I know where we are," Sam looked frantically around for Jake, who had disappeared. "Shit. We really need to stick together. Ava? Are you okay?"

"Fine," Ava was rubbing at her temples like she was getting a headache. "Just a headache."

"Alright. Everybody stay close," Sam ordered. He walked quickly down the dirt road running through the town, peeking in through doors and windows, looking for Jake.

"You said you know where we are?" Max reminded him.

"Yeah," Sam glanced at the next building. Still no Jake. "Cold Oak, South Dakota. That bell back there, the one with the tree engraved in it, that's how I knew. Cold Oak is a town that was said to be so haunted that every single person living here abandoned it."

"Great, we're back to crazy talk," Ava sighed and went back to rubbing at her temples.

"Think what you want, but I'm telling the truth," Sam said.

"What the hell?!"

The shout came from a few buildings down and Sam broke into a run. That had been Jake. He burst into what looked like it had once been a school and saw a little girl with sharp teeth and claws getting ready to charge at Jake. His eyes fell on an iron bar on the floor and he grabbed it up and swung it at the little girl just before she could plunge her claws into Jake's stomach. He raised an eyebrow at the other four people looking at him in disbelief.

"For the record, that was a demon," Sam told them. "You guys still think I'm crazy?"

"No. Now I think I'm crazy," Jake blinked like that was going to change what he'd just seen.

"Ready to find someplace to ride the night out in now?"

Everyone nodded compliantly and followed Sam out of the school. As they passed the bell again, Sam had an idea.

"Hey Andy," he called the shorter man over to him. "You said you can send thoughts to people sometimes, right?"

"Yeah. I can't always do it, but I've been practicing and getting better at it," he answered. "Why?"

"Do you think you can try to get a message to someone for me? My brother and my fiancee are probably losing their minds right now," Sam didn't add his Dad to that list. Dad would probably be pissed off that he'd let himself get kidnapped in the first place. "If maybe you could somehow show him this bell, it might be enough to get them here."

"Why would you want them to come here?" Andy wondered. "I thought we were going to hide out for tonight and try to get away in the morning."

"Honestly, I don't think we're leaving without help," Sam admitted. "You saw what happened. Jake was trying to leave and a demon attacked him."

"But he was still in town," Andy pointed out. "You said this place was super haunted, so maybe..."

"Just trust me on this one," Sam put a hand on Andy's shoulder. "The demon didn't go through all the trouble of getting us here just to let us waltz right back out."

"Crap," Andy hung his head. "Okay. Um, usually it works better if I can touch something that belongs to the person I'm trying to send a thought to. You have anything of your brother's?"

"I can usually find about seven million of my fiancee's hairs all over me," Sam offered with a weak smile. "She's got this long blonde hair and it winds up pretty much everywhere."

"That'd work, but I doubt you want me using her," Andy shuffled his feet. "Sending thoughts doesn't just give me one hell of a headache. It affects the person I'm sending to, too."

That changed things in a hurry. Sam dug through his pockets, looking for something of Dean's. He didn't want to cause either of them pain, but if it had to be one or the other, Dean would understand. He found a receipt that Dean had signed on one of their stops while they'd been pushing towards the Roadhouse.

"Will this work?"

"This is your brother's signature?" Andy looked at the name on the bottom of the receipt skeptically.

"Uh, yeah," Sam fidgeted. "It's a long story. That's his writing, though."

"Can't promise anything, but I'll try," Andy offered.

He put his fingers against the signature and closed his eyes. Sam reached out quickly as Andy let one hand go to his forehead in pain. Andy's eyes opened back up and focused on him for a moment, then the bell, and then closed again. A few seconds later he huffed in pain and handed the receipt back.

"I got him," Andy said weakly. "I'm pretty sure I did, anyway. Sent him a vision of you and the bell, so hopefully he can put the rest of the pieces together."

"That's perfect Andy, thank you," Sam patted him on the back. He couldn't be completely sure that Dean would recognize the bell on sight the way he had, but Dad might and if not Bobby definitely would. One way or another, he knew his big brother would move Heaven and Hell to figure out what the vision had been and how to get to him.

---

"Okay, we're about as protected as we're going to get," Sam told everyone as he finished the last line of salt across the windowsill.

Jake had managed to find them an old house that looked more or less intact and Max had found big bags of salt after Sam had told them how to keep demons and spirits away with salt and iron. Max, Andy, and Ava were all huddled in the very middle of the room together, but Jake was pacing back and forth in a way that reminded him a lot of Dean when he was nervous and there was nothing he could do about it.

"What now?" Ava asked.

"Now we get some sleep," Sam let out a small laugh when they all looked at him incredulously. "I know. Being exhausted isn't going to help any of us, though. We'll sleep in shifts, just in case."

"I'll take the first one," Jake offered. "What do you think? Two hours? Sun'll definitely be up by then and we can work on getting out of here."

"Sure," Sam agreed, not bothering to remind Jake again that it wasn't going to be that easy. "I'll take the second one, then Max, then Andy, and Ava you last. Everyone okay with that?"

They all nodded and Sam let himself slide to the floor with his back against the wall. He held the iron bar he'd found at the school loosely. They'd found a few more, and Jake was holding one too. He let his eyes drift closed, but just as he felt like he was going to really doze off, something made him snap back awake.

"Jake! Jake, look out!" Sam shot to his feet. The yellow-eyed demon was standing right next to Jake, his eyes flashing. How did he not see him?!

"Take it easy there, Sammy boy," the demon smirked. "He can't see me. This is all in your head."

Not that he was overly inclined to believe a demon, but Jake hadn't even acknowledged the fact that he'd stood up, let alone his yell. Either he really was dreaming or the demon was altering things so that Jake couldn't see them.

"Fine," Sam growled. "You're in my head. Get out."

"That's not very nice," the demon pouted.

"You killed my mother and tried to kill my fiancee. That wasn't very nice," Sam snapped back.

"True," the demon grinned. "Take a walk with me, tiger. If you want some answers, that is."

Sam hesitated and the demon rolled his yellow eyes.

"Nothing is going to 'get you', not while you're with me," he assured him, letting his eyes go to a normal blue. "Scout's honor."

"Go screw yourself," Sam spat at him, but followed him out of the room anyway.

The demon started walking slowly down the road, and Sam followed him quietly. He was thinking of all the ways he wanted to tear the demon limb from limb.

"I'm sure you want to know why you're here," the demon finally broke the silence. "Call it a contest of sorts."

"I'll pass, thanks."

"Not an option," the demon's eyes flashed yellow again before returning to blue. "This is an all-in, winner-takes-all, fight to the death type of contest. No early forfeits allowed."

"Convenient, considering I never asked to be a contestant," Sam said. "If that's the case, why are you talking to me?"

"Because you're my favorite, Sam," the demon stopped so he could look straight at Sam. "You're well trained, a natural leader despite the fact that you always let that irritating big brother of yours take charge. And I need a leader. So I want to give you the inside track."

"A leader?" Sam asked.

"For my demon army," the demon explained further.

"Why should I cooperate?" Sam demanded. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't hold out until help comes and get all of these people out of here? I mean, you do know that Dean's on his way here as we speak, right?"

"I do," the demon nodded. "But I have a contingency plan in place for that. Trust me, there is only one way out of here."

"Then explain to me why I would lead this demon army of yours even if I do fight?" Sam crossed his arms. "You killed my mother and you almost killed my fiancee. Why would I do a damn thing to help you?"

"Ah, sweet little Jessica," the demon sighed. "She was in the way. You would've been perfectly happy to spend the rest of your life as a lawyer living in the suburbs with your wife and kids and a little house with a white picket fence. I couldn't have that. You weren't meant to have gotten back so early that night. Bad luck. I've been trying to get to her since then, but you and your brother have taught her well. I haven't been able to get near her again."

"You never will," Sam wanted to freak out at the knowledge that the demon had been trying to get at Jess again. He also wanted to take advantage of his chatty attitude right now, though. "What about my Mom? Was she 'in the way' too?"

"Partly, but that was mostly wrong place, wrong time," the demon said. "I warned her not to interrupt us and she did anyway. Her mistake."

"What?" Sam felt even more confused now than before he'd asked his question.

"It'll be easier to show you than to tell you," with no more warning than that the demon reached out and touched two fingers to Sam's forehead.

Sam suddenly found himself in a baby's nursery. The baby was kicking his feet and cooing happily up at a man standing next to the crib. The moonlight coming through the window glinted off of the man's yellow eyes.

"Is that me?" Sam asked in a whisper.

"Shh. Watch," the demon hushed him.

Sam considered telling the demon just what he thought of being shushed when a woman walked into the room.

"Oh my god," he whispered. "Mom."

"John?" Mary rubbed at her eyes, clearly still half asleep. "John, is he hungry?"

"Shh," the demon from the past shushed her the same way he had Sam. He was mostly hidden in the shadows of the room so Mary didn't realize she wasn't talking to her husband. He didn't turn either, leaving his yellow eyes hidden.

"Mom!" Sam finally found his voice.

"Easy there, Sammy," the demon said. "She can't hear you. This is just a replay. Just getting to the good part."

Sam watched in horror as the demon cut into his own wrist and let the blood drip down into baby Sam's mouth.

"I have demon blood in me?" Sam shook with rage. "What the hell did you do to me?"

Before the demon could answer, not that Sam expected him to anyway, Mary came running back into the nursery looking frantic. The demon turned to look at her and she stopped in shock as she saw his yellow eyes.

"You?" Mary gasped.

"No, no, no," Sam lurched forward as the past demon started to push Mary up the wall towards the ceiling. Dream or not he couldn't stand there and just watch this happen. He wanted to ask why his Mom had seemed to recognize the demon but first he had to do something. He grabbed for his Mom, but his hand passed right through her.

"I doubt you want to see this part," the demon from his time snapped its fingers and Sam suddenly found himself on the dirt road in Cold Oak again.

"You call that an explanation?" Sam burst out. "I have even more questions now than before! How did my Mom know you? Why the hell did you bleed into my mouth? Why would you do that? What was the point of it?"

"Hmm, I suppose maybe I could show you a little more," the demon seemed to consider for a moment. "Alright. I'm feeling unusually charitable tonight. The blood was to make you stronger than you can even imagine. Let me give you an idea of just one of the many things you'll be able to do if you do things my way."

The demon touched his fingers to Sam's forehead again and this time Sam found himself in an empty motel room. Suddenly the door burst open and he saw what had to be the future version of himself stumble into the room, kissing some dark-haired woman passionately, both of them pulling at the others' clothes. Future Sam kicked the door closed behind him and let the short woman push him down on the bed.

Sam couldn't help but take a step towards the future version of himself and the woman. He needed a better look at the both of them, because unless he was seriously mistaken, that woman obviously wasn't Jess. Who was she, then?

The woman bit her lip and smiled down at the Sam on the bed as she slowly pulled a knife out of her boot. She blinked and her eyes went jet black. Sam felt a jolt of fear, but for some reason future him didn't seem surprised in the least. They both watched as the demon woman drew the knife slowly across one of her wrists and blood welled up.

"What is she doing?" Sam was looking frantically from the yellow-eyed demon to the regular one near his future self.

He didn't have to wait for an answer from yellow eyes because it was clear what she was doing. Future Sam pulled her close and sealed his mouth around her bleeding wrist as she ran a hand through his hair. It looked...familiar between the two of them. This was obviously something they'd done before.

The door to the motel room slammed open for the second time, making Sam jump, although the future version of himself barely even twitched. Two men crowded into the room, their eyes flicking to black. Instead of going for any sort of weapon, the dark haired woman grinned at them. The future Sam didn't even look up from what he was doing. Instead he almost casually stretched a hand out and both male demons stopped dead in their tracks like they'd been frozen in place. Finally lifting his head, future Sam raised an eyebrow at them.

"Should've knocked first," he said casually.

The demon woman took a few steps away as he stood, arm still outstretched towards the two demon men. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes and suddenly black demon smoke started to pour out of the two men's mouths.

"What is he...what am I doing?" Sam asked the yellow-eyed demon again.

A moment later the last of the demon smoke flowed from the men's mouths and seemed to burn into the floor as Sam clenched his fist. He and the woman quickly moved towards the two men.

"They're still alive," future Sam looked over at the woman with a smile.

"They are," the woman agreed. "You're getting better every time."

This time the yellow-eyed demon put a hand on Sam's shoulder and again he found himself on the road in Cold Oak. Sam's head was spinning. What had he just seen?

"Let me guess, you have more questions," yellow eyes sighed dramatically.

"He...I...did he just exorcise a demon with his mind?" Sam stammered.

"Quicker, more efficient, higher survival rate for the meatsuit," the yellow-eyed demon grinned. "So what if you have to drink a little demon blood to make it happen? My blood is what gave you the ability to do it in the first place."

"You don't care about humans, so why would you want me to be able to..." Sam stopped himself. It was actually pretty obvious once he really thought about it. "You want me to be able to take out any demons not on your side."

"Now you're catching on."

"Who was the girl?"

"A means to an end," yellow eyes shrugged. "You're the important part of this equation, Sam."

Sam pushed his hands through his hair. Try as he might, he couldn't see the downside of being able to exorcise demons that way. If he'd had the ability to do that when they'd gone up against Meg, he and Dean probably wouldn't have come within seconds of being torn apart by the daevas. Hell, he'd probably even be able to turn it against the yellow-eyed demon. Drinking demon blood seemed like it could be a bit of a downside, but if that's what it took was it really actually a bad thing? It sounded like the future version of himself had still been practicing, so what if exorcising demons wasn't all he could eventually do? What if, with practice, he could kill them too? There were so many thoughts swirling around his head that he was going to need time to process them.

"Uh oh. Looks like time's up," the yellow-eyed demon said suddenly. "Remember what I told you Sam. Only one of you will be allowed to leave this place alive."

"Sam!" Jake's hand on his shoulder jolted Sam awake. "Wake up. Ava's missing."

"What?" Sam jumped to his feet. "When?"

"I don't know," Jake made his way over to Max and Andy and shook them awake too. "I turned my back for a minute and when I looked back she was gone."

"Dammit," Sam swore. "Alright. One of us should stay here in case she comes back. Andy, do you mind?"

"No," Andy rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"Good. Jake, Max, you two search the north side of town. I'll take the south," Sam ordered. He had to push away an uncomfortable feeling as he took charge. The demon had called him a natural leader, and that's what he seemed to be doing here. Now wasn't the time though. Now they had to find Ava.

---

"Anything?" Sam met up with Jake and Max after they'd gone over the town for the third time. It was a small town, but it had still taken them several hours to thoroughly check it three times.

"Nothing," Max looked as tired as Sam felt.

"Found this, though," Jake held up an old, rusty looking knife.

"Might come in handy," Sam said tiredly.

"Let's check on Andy again," Jake suggested.

Sam nodded in agreement and they trudged back to the house where they'd left Andy. Max was the first one to see it.

"Oh my god," he put a hand over his mouth.

Sam and Jake pushed in past him and saw Andy lying dead in a pool of blood in the middle of the floor.

"How could this have happened?" Jake demanded, getting in Sam's face. "You said this room was protected!"

"It was as protected as we could make it," Sam insisted. He looked around the room as he talked. "I don't know how anything could've..."

He broke off as he realized that the line of salt in front of one of the windows was broken in a straight line. There was no way something like that had been an accident.

"Someone had to have done this," he said softly.

"Yeah. Someone," Ava strolled casually around the corner, kicking the salt line that Sam had poured across the doorway and scattering it everywhere.

"Ava? Why?"

"Because I've been here for a long damn time," the timid, scared act that Ava had been putting on last night was gone. "This is a competition and so far I'm the undefeated champion. And when I'm finally done with all of you, I'll finally be allowed to leave this godforsaken place."

She put her hands to her temples, exactly the way she'd been doing when Jake had tried to walk out of town yesterday. Black smoke started to filter into the room and Sam tightened his grip on the iron bar he was holding. Ava was able to actually summon demons? He figured it wasn't all that farfetched of an idea, considering what the yellow-eyed demon had shown him about himself.

Jake barely even hesitated. He strode forward and snapped Ava's neck in one swift movement. The demon smoke immediately reversed direction and filtered back out of the room.

"Jake!" Sam reached out and pulled Max over behind him. Jake might've just saved them, but regardless of that, he'd just killed Ava without even blinking.

"She's right you know," Jake said sadly. "I'm sorry guys. The demon...he talked to me last night while the rest of you were asleep. He said that only one of us is going to be allowed to leave here. I don't want to do this, but I don't have a choice. You guys know I'm the strongest. I'll get out of here and take this thing on. I'm strong enough to kill it, I know I am. I have to be able to leave here, though."

"I don't think so," Max snarled. The iron bar he'd been holding suddenly shot through the air, aimed directly for Jake.

Jake dropped to the floor, just barely managing to duck the bar flying towards him. He had to quickly jump back to his feet to avoid the other objects that started flying towards him on their own. Sam had to duck a few of them himself, although he knew Max wasn't consciously aiming them at him.

"Max stop! Wait!" Sam yelled. "Stop! I had Andy get a message to Dean for me yesterday, so he should be here soon. The demon told me that he had a contingency plan to make sure Dean couldn't rescue us, but I think that plan of his might've been Ava and her ability to summon demons the way she was doing. All we have to do is wait a little bit more and we can all walk out of here. No one else has to die!"

"I'm not willing to take that chance," Jake lashed out before Sam could react and literally threw him right through the wall and out into the field alongside the house.

Sam groaned and tried to push himself back to his feet. He heard a cry and looked up just in time to see Jake bat away an object that Max had thrown at him, reach out, and snap Max's neck exactly like he'd done to Ava. Then he pulled the knife from his belt, turned, and strode towards where Sam was still struggling to catch his breath enough to stand.

---

"You didn't have to come, Bobby," John looked at his old friend as he climbed out of his truck.

"Like hell I didn't," Bobby scowled at him. "He might be your boy John, but I care about that kid just as much as you do so shut up."

"We walking the rest of the way in?" Dean interrupted, motioning towards the washed out road in front of them.

"Looks like we'll have to," John glared at it. "Even my truck won't make it through that. Dean, you and Jess grab salt guns from the trunk and then we're on the move. I've got the Colt."

The two younger hunters nodded in agreement and Dean quickly unlocked the trunk to get the shotguns. He noticed Jess's hands shaking slightly and reached over to touch her shoulder.

"We're gonna find him and he's gonna be perfectly fine," he assured her.

"I hope so," she took a deep breath.

---

For the first time all night something seemed to have worked out, Sam thought as he realized that he'd managed to hold onto the iron bar he'd been using even with the vicious hit he'd just taken from Jake. He tightened his right hand on it and laid still on the grass as Jake stalked closer to him. His left shoulder was either broken or dislocated and he couldn't move it. He was only going to have one chance to get the upper hand on Jake and if he messed it up he was as good as dead. The other man was just too strong.

Jake hesitated when he got to Sam's side. He considered for a second. Maybe he'd hit Sam hard enough to kill him? That would certainly make things a lot easier. Despite what it looked like, he hadn't enjoyed killing Ava or Max. It was just a matter of survival. He reached down, meaning to feel for a pulse and Sam suddenly came alive.

Sam felt it the moment that Jake leaned just far enough over to be off balance. He swung around as fast as he could with the bar and hit him with it. Jake dropped to the ground next to him, unconscious.

For a second, something cold came over Sam. The knife had dropped out of Jake's hand when he'd hit him. All he needed to do was pick it up and...

"Sam!"

"Sammy!"

The voices calling his name snapped him out of whatever the hell that had been. He sighed in relief as he limped out of the field and into the road. A cluster of shadows was coming towards him. A few steps later, he could actually see his father, Bobby, Dean, Jess, and even Orion.

"Thank god," he stumbled towards them. It was as if seeing them had brought all of the exhaustion of last night crashing down on him. Suddenly he saw the looks on their faces change from relieved to terror.

"Sam! Left!" Dean ordered, breaking into a sprint.

He and Dean had always had their own sort of code while hunting. Sometimes there just wasn't enough time for one of them to call an entire sentence to the other one, so they'd decided on one word orders. If Dean had called drop or down, it would've meant just that and Sam would've hit the ground. Calling out a direction meant he needed to jump that direction fast. That had taken a little bit of work since they were usually facing different directions when that order was called. Eventually they decided on the right or left of the person who needed to move. So Sam jerked to his left, turning instinctively as he did so to see what was coming up behind him.

Dean felt like everything was moving in slow motion. He saw Sam pull to his left just as the man who'd crept up behind him stabbed upwards with the knife he was holding. Sam cried out as the stab that had been meant to send the knife straight into his back sliced up his side instead. Four shots all rang out at the same time and suddenly Jake was on the ground.

"You stupid idiot!" Dean reached him first, skidded to a halt, and tore his jacket off to press it against the gash in Sam's side. "Did I say to turn? No! I said move! At no point did I say anything about turning and putting yourself right back in the path of that knife! What is it with you and getting yourself stabbed lately? I swear to god as soon as you're healed I'm gonna kick your ass nine ways from Sunday. Hold still dumbass."

"I'm glad to see you too, Dean," Sam managed a pained smile. Dean was no good at emotions, especially when he was scared.

"Let me see how deep that wound is," Jess pulled at Dean's hands. What she really wanted to do was cry in relief that Sam was still alive and kiss him until neither of them could breathe, but first they needed to make sure that the knife wound wasn't going to change that fact. Sam's eyes were already glazing over a little, which wasn't a good sign.

"Dammit," Dean cursed as Sam's legs unhinged and he stumbled under the weight of his "little" brother.

"Lay 'im down," Bobby ordered, quickly moving to help. He didn't like laying Sam right in the dirt, but given how covered in mud and dirt he already was, a little more wouldn't make a difference. He pulled his jacket off and motioned for John to do the same. "He's gonna go into shock either way, but better if we're ready for it before it happens."

"This isn't good, guys," Jess was done looking. She pressed Dean's jacket back to Sam's side. It was already almost soaked through. She moved back a little so Bobby could cover him with the other two. "He's losing a lot of blood really fast. Not to mention, I'm pretty sure that knife has rust all over it. He needs a hospital."

"Sioux Falls General is the closest. About an hour out," John knelt next to Sam and pushed a clump of hair out of his eyes.

"Of course it is," Dean muttered. "How much further to the next furthest one?"

"Why?" John demanded. "If Sioux Falls General is the closest one, that's the one we're taking him to."

"Well in case you happen to have forgotten when I called you a couple months back, that's where we took him last time he got stabbed," Dean growled. "We take him back there with another stab wound and I can just about guarantee one of us is getting arrested."

"Arrested is going to be the least of our worries," Jess wasn't thrilled about agreeing with John, but the man was right. "This isn't like last time. We're not going to be able to just walk him back to the vehicles."

Jess looked up at Dean, letting her eyes say what she wouldn't actually speak out loud. They'd all gotten a good look at the gash in Sam's side. It ran almost the entire length of his side and they could see the bones of his ribs prominently through it. Unless they were looking to kill him, Sam was going to need more than just the haphazard medical care they could provide for him.

Dean cursed again as John pulled his phone out to call 911, but didn't stop him. John frowned at his cell and started walking around, looking for a signal. He had to go almost all the way out to the edge of the old town, but he finally did. They heard him speaking into the phone, and after a minute he called for Jess.

"The five of us were on a hunting trip and we got turned around out in the woods," John covered the mouthpiece of his phone and quickly explained their cover story. "We stumbled into this town and some crazy AWOL soldier attacked us. We shot him, but not before he stabbed Sam. They want to know just how bad he is. I thought maybe it'd be best if they talked to you since you have the most medical experience."

Jess let a corner of her mouth twitch up in a small smile. She recognized a Winchester non-apology apology by now. John was more than capable of talking to the 911 operator and explaining Sam's injury, but he was handing it off to her instead. Finally trusting her. He walked quickly back over to where Dean and Bobby were still kneeling next to Sam while Jess took over. It only took another few minutes before Jess re-joined them.

"They're sending a medevac. It'll be here in fifteen minutes, tops," she handed John's phone back to him and started running her fingers through Sam's hair. He seemed to acknowledge that she was there, but his eyes kept drifting closed.

"Hey! You stay awake down there," Bobby ordered, tapping Sam's face.

"Tired," Sam complained.

"Doesn't matter. You keep those eyes open, boy," Bobby growled at him.

They all took turns yelling at Sam to keep him awake. They were just starting to hear the sound of a helicopter in the distance when his eyes rolled up into his head and he passed out.

---

Sam slowly blinked awake. He was lying partially propped up in some sort of uncomfortable bed and his side itched like crazy. Actually, it felt like it should hurt, but he was too hopped up on painkillers to feel it.

The first thing he noticed was a regular beeping sound, which he only associated with one place. Great. He was in a hospital. He tried to bring his hand up to rub at his eyes, and frowned when it jerked to a stop. Blinking hard to try and clear his eyes, he scowled down to where his wrist was handcuffed to the bed rail.

"Sam?" a voice came from his other side and he turned to see who it was. A severe-looking man was sitting in a chair next to his bed. "Good to see you awake."

"Who are you?" Sam mumbled.

"Special Agent Victor Henrickson," the man introduced himself. "You know where you are?"

"Hospital," Sam snapped. "How long?"

"Two days," the FBI agent told him. His voice was polite enough, but Sam could hear the barely-concealed coldness underneath.

"Tell me, Special Agent Victor Henrickson," he forced his foggy brain to clear enough to speak in full sentences and rattled the handcuff. "Is it normal for the FBI to chain injured people to their hospital beds when they have no idea what they've done?"

"It's like that, is it?" Henrickson smirked.

"I don't know," Sam sassed. "You're the one who arrested an unconscious guy. Where's the rest of my family?"

"County lockup," Henrickson explained. "None of them seem to want to explain what they were doing in an abandoned town that's suddenly chock full of dead people. Dead people who just so happen to be missing persons reported all at the same time. You want to fill in the blanks?"

Sam shrugged and looked away from the agent. He had a vague idea of the excuse that they might've used, but he didn't want to risk saying anything and contradicting something they'd said. This Henrickson seemed like the type to analyze every single detail and use anything that didn't match up exactly to his benefit.

"Let me see if I can jog any memories loose then," Henrickson turned to his notes. "We have one dead soldier, who went AWOL from his post in Afghanistan a couple of days ago, with four bullet holes in him. One man and one woman with necks snapped clean in half. One man literally torn to shreds. And you. Now the only guns we found were on your father, brother, uncle, and fiancee and your fingerprints were all over the knife we suspect was used to stab you. Covering your tracks?"

"Shouldn't I have a lawyer present?" instead of answering the question, Sam glared at the man. "Or at least have my rights read to me?"

"I don't know, should you?" Henrickson asked. "I thought we were just talking."

"You always handcuff people to 'just talk' to them?" Sam raised an eyebrow. "I mean hey, if that's your thing then I'm not one to judge, but I don't swing that way."

"A precaution," Henrickson shrugged, ignoring the dig. He'd heard a similar one from the other brother.

"Then I want a lawyer. As a precaution," Sam shot back.

As if on cue, a man with a briefcase wearing an expensive looking suit strolled in through the door.

"Special Agent Henrickson?" he asked. "Bill Gordan. I sincerely hope I didn't just hear that correctly. You weren't actually trying to interrogate my client without reading him his rights, were you?"

"Not at all," the FBI agent said. "Now that you're here though..."

"Now that I'm here I'd like a moment alone with Sam," the lawyer interrupted. "Without him being handcuffed to the bed, thank you very much. As far as we know, he was a victim just like any of the others found out there at Cold Oak."

Sam could literally see Henrickson's blood pressure climb with every smug word the lawyer said to him. He unlocked the handcuffs with jerky movements and left the room, muttering something under his breath about lawyers and vultures and the similarity between the two.

"Well, now that that's take care of," the lawyer held his hand out to Sam. "Call me Bill."

"Thanks for bailing me out there," Sam reached out to take the man's hand and yelped as it pulled at his wound, which had been relatively quiet up to that point. "Jesus. Ow. Anyway, like I said, thanks for bailing me out and please don't take offense but..."

"But why am I here?" Bill laughed. "Apparently you have some friends in high places, son. I got a call from a judge friend of mine two nights ago. Said he had a friend who'd called asking for some legal help and that it was the least he could do for her after what she'd done for him awhile back. I gotta tell you, this is one hell of a case, but the rest of your family should be released from county by the end of the day today unless the feds can actually come up with something solid to charge them with."

"Jess knows a judge?" Sam tried to think of when Jess might have met a judge, let alone an influential one, and become friends with him.

"Judge Stalter," Bill told him. "He said he met your fiancee, brother, and uncle right here in the hospital the last time you were here. For another stab wound? You seem to have some bad luck, huh?"

"I guess so," Sam rubbed absently at his side. He'd been pretty high on pain meds that time, so he figured pretty much anything was possible. "What are the odds of the FBI actually letting all of us go free, though?"

"Slim," Bill answered honestly. "Now, your family's stories all match up to the letter which is obviously a good thing, but the five of you were found in a fairly compromising situation. Three missing persons and and AWOL soldier all found dead pretty much at all of your feet. It's not something the FBI is going to just let slide."

"Do they have anything they can actually make stick, or is it all circumstantial?" Sam asked.

"Most of it is circumstantial," Bill said. "They do have one piece of very real evidence, though. Now, the stories your family told all match to the letter, which is obviously a good thing. They claim that the five of you were out hunting and got turned around in the woods. You all stumbled upon the abandoned town, you were attacked by Private Talley, and they shot him in self-defense."

"Yeah," Sam agreed. That was what he'd assumed they'd told the police. "So where's the problem?"

"The problem are your fingerprints found on items in a room with three dead people," Bill admitted. "I'm on your side here Sam, but I need to know the truth. What were you doing in that room?"

Sam cursed to himself and scrambled to come up with an excuse. He thought of a thin one and grasped onto it for all he was worth.

"We did just happen to stumble into the town, but it wasn't like everything happened all at once," he thought fast. "We'd been wandering around all night, and we were tired. We figured the town was as good a place as any to get a couple hours of sleep and then we could start trying to find our way back to our vehicles once it was light out. I walked into the room and saw the three of them and I thought maybe I could do something to help. Jake found me and we fought, and we wound up back out on the road."

It sounded like a good excuse to him. He'd buy it. Hell, it had looked like Bill was buying it up until just a second ago. What had changed?

"Sam..." he hesitated. "You realize I'm trying to help you here, right?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Then why are you lying to me?"

Shit, Sam thought. He'd gone wrong somewhere, but where.

"I'm not lying," he lied again. "Why do you think I'm lying?"

"How did you know Private Talley's first name?" Bill asked gently. "I never told it to you, Sam."

"Y-yes you did," he stammered. "You must've. Otherwise how would I have known it?"

"That's the question I just asked you," Bill reminded him. "Whatever's going on here, I need to know to be able to help you."

For a split second Sam was so frustrated with himself that he actually considered telling the man the truth. He'd had the perfect excuse and one little slip up had brought it all crashing down. Dean wouldn't have made a mistake like that.

"Were you and Jake mixed up together?" Bill guessed. "Maybe you two thought to kidnap the other three and hold them for ransom and then Jake started getting out of control? Started killing them? Attacked you when you tried to stop him?"

"No!" Sam shook his head quickly. "Nothing like that."

"Were you one of the victims, then?" Bill pressed. He hadn't really believed that Sam had been associated with Jake to begin with. The kid in front of him didn't look like the type for that, but he'd had to ask. Still, Sam was obviously hiding something.

"One of the victims?" Sam repeated. There was an idea. "Yes! Max and I were together when Jake got ahold of us. You can even ask Max's stepmother, she'll tell you we were there just a couple of days ago. I guess I was embarrassed to say so. I managed to get a message to my brother, and he got the rest of them together to come after us."

"Okay," Bill still didn't believe Sam. The boy had jumped far too easily at the excuse he'd provided, but he wasn't going to delve any deeper into it. There was just something that nibbled at the back of his mind, telling him to leave it at that and let the rest alone. "You have nothing to be embarrassed about, though. Don't worry, I'll get this all straightened out."

"I tried to help them," Sam didn't have to pretend to be upset about that. "I really did."

"I'm sure you did everything you could," Bill assured him. The pain on Sam's face was real. "I have a few more questions and then I'm going to take this to the judge and see what I can do about getting the FBI off your backs. Are you up for talking a bit more?"

Sam nodded and sighed as Bill started to pepper him with questions. The one thing he knew absolutely for sure was that even if Bill and Jess's judge friend managed to get them off the hook, they would have to be more careful than ever. Sure, they'd had their share of run-in's with the law over the years, but the FBI? This was serious even for them.

---

"Don't think I've forgotten about my threat to kick your ass once you're better, bitch."

"I'd like to see you try, jerk," Sam was smiling before he'd even fully opened his eyes.

"I wouldn't be so cocky," Jess warned. "Samuel Winchester if you ever scare me like that again I promise you I won't wait for your brother to do it. I'll kick your ass."

"Yes ma'am," Sam sassed her.

"Boy, you are either a lot braver or a lot dumber than I gave you credit for," Bobby shook his head at his adopted nephew.

"I know which one I'd pick," Dean offered cheerfully.

"So, considering the fact that you're all here harassing me, I'd say Bill managed to get Henrickson off our backs?" Sam reached out for Jess's hand.

"For now," John amended. "I doubt we've seen the last of him. So, since when are we friends with judge's anyway?"

"Since the last time Sam was in the hospital," Jess sat on the edge of the hospital bed on Sam's good side. "He and his wife had been in a car accident and she wasn't doing well. Doctors kept telling him that she might not make it, but I wouldn't let him believe it. She wound up being okay, and the judge tracked us down to Sam's room and said to call if we ever needed anything. I figured this qualified."

"I don't remember that," Sam frowned.

"Sammy, you were lucky you remembered your own name that night," Dean laughed. His eyes lit up. "Which reminds me! Dad, you have to see this. They had him all hopped up on painkillers and I totally got him singing karaoke!"

"Hold on a second!" Sam yelped. "I distinctly remember deleting that video."

"Right, like I'd have blackmail of that magnitude on you and not make backup copies," Dean shook his head as he gleefully pulled his phone out of his jacket pocket.

Before he could do anything more, he frowned at his phone. There were nine missed calls and voicemails, all from a number he didn't recognize. He retrieved the first voicemail and heard Ash's voice.

Dean-o. Been trying to get ahold of your Dad for a couple of days now, and I can't seem to get in touch with him. Call me back.

Dean, Ash here. Got something you guys need to know. Call me.

Dean! Seriously, where are you guys?

The rest of the messages were on a similar tangent. He looked up at his Dad and motioned for him to check his own phone. Sure enough, John's eyes widened when he saw the number of missed calls and voicemails on his too. Rather than listen to all of them, he immediately called Ash and put it on speaker

"Finally!" Ash answered on the first ring. "I've been trying get you on the phone for two days!"

"We were a little tied up," John replied. "What do you have Ash?"

"Is that John?" Ellen's voice in the background. There was a scuffle and suddenly Ellen was on the phone. "Are you all allergic to giving me peace of mind? First you call saying Sam's kidnapped by a demon, then say you know where he is, and then nothing from you for two days?!"

"Sorry Ellen," John looked sheepish. "We do have a good excuse though."

"It better be," Ellen warned.

"We were in jail."

""Jail?!" Sam winced as Ellen's voice cracked over the line. Personally, he wouldn't have put it so bluntly, but that was his Dad for you.

"Everything's worked out for now," John assured her. "Put Ash back on. It sounded like he might have something big."

"Not just big," Ash corrected. "I'm pretty sure I know where the demon's planning on being next. Wyoming. There are demonic omens popping up like jack-in-the-boxes, and they're all circling this one specific area. Now, I can't tell exactly why or what they're circling, but this kind of demon activity? It's something big. Worth a look at least."

"Good work Ash," John growled, hanging up. He looked over to Sam. "Sammy, can you walk?"

"Um, I don't know. Maybe?" Sam shrugged. "I haven't exactly tried yet."

"Jess, take a look at him and make sure he'll be okay to leave," John ordered. "I'll get my hands on some antibiotics."

"Dad, slow down," Dean reached out to stop him. "Ash said it himself, we don't know what to expect."

"That's why we're moving on this now," John explained impatiently. "The sooner we get there, the sooner we can scout it and find out what the demon's plan is. Jess? What're you waiting on?"

That was the final straw. Jess had held onto her temper with John for more than long enough as far as she was concerned. Her eyes flashed dangerously as she gently let go of Sam's hand and got to her feet. Sam cringed back against the pillows propping him up, Bobby reached up to fiddle with his hat, and Dean just leaned back against the wall with an amused glance to watch the show. John had just enough time to take in all three of their reactions before the explosion happened.

"I'm waiting on you to realize that your son almost died out there two nights ago!" Jess yelled. "I'm waiting on you to start treating both of your sons like they're actually your children and not soldiers for you to order here and there and everywhere! I'm waiting on you to open your damned eyes and see what amazing people they've become and maybe even pretend like you care about them even half as much as you do about the demon!" She stalked forward and put her finger right in John's face. "Sam and Dean are two of the most incredible people in the entire world, and you're so wrapped up in your own stupid thoughts of revenge that you can't even see it. All you do is order them around, move them like pawns on your own personal little chessboard, and maybe throw them a bone every now and again when it suits your purposes. Well I'm done standing idly by and watching it."

"Enough," John tried to sound stern, but was pretty sure he failed. Miserably.

"You're right, it is enough," Jess seethed. "But not from me. If no one else is going to stand up and say all of this to your face then I'll be the bad guy. You don't deserve the loyalty that they have for you. You may be the only person in this room who actually knew Mary, but I can just about guarantee that she would be ashamed of the way you've treated her boys. Take it from someone who almost died the exact same way as she did. Revenge isn't worth throwing their lives away. Or yours."

John had to stuff his hands in his pockets to hide the fact that they'd picked up a tremble. The girl standing in front of him reminded him so much of Mary in that moment. The times she'd stood the same way with her finger in his face, telling him off for one stupid thing or another. The blonde hair in a messy ponytail, the blue eyes full of fire, it was like deaj vu. He focused on Jess's hand to keep from having to see any more painful similarities and realized that didn't help either. Because right there on her finger was the engagement ring he'd proposed to Mary with all those years ago. This time he had to blink hard at the tears that wanted to spring up. Sam hadn't even known that he'd kept Mary's rings which meant that Dean...

"I'm sorry to put it so harshly, but harsh seems to be the only thing that works with all three of you mule-headed Winchesters," Jess softened her tone a little now that she saw she'd gotten through to John. "Now honestly, I think we do need to start making our way to Wyoming to find out what the demon is planning. I don't like the timing of it. I don't like that Sam's hurt. But we can't just sit back and let him do whatever it is that he's going to do. If we're really finally going after it, we're going after it as a team though."

"We're stronger that way Dad," Dean finally spoke up. "You know we are."

John nodded, but didn't trust himself to speak just yet. Every single last thing Jess had just said to him was true. He left Sam's hospital room to see what he could do about finding some antibiotics to swipe to bring with them so that Sam's wound wouldn't get infected. Once he was sure his boy was taken care of, then he would focus on Wyoming. From now on family came first, though. He was sorry this was what it took to make him see that, but at least it was now firmly in his head and it was there to stay.

---

"I think I found something," Sam announced when they stopped at a truck stop about fifty miles outside of Wyoming. For once he'd been the one in the backseat while Jess rode up front because the back gave him more room to stretch out. Even with Orion trying to crawl into his lap every thirty seconds.

It turned out that he'd been dropped in a kennel when Dean and Jess and the rest of them had been arrested. The big dog had been absolutely beside himself when they'd gone to retrieve him after sneaking Sam out of the hospital.

"What is it?" Bobby had opted to ride with John rather than having a three-vehicle convoy all the way over to Wyoming.

"Well Ash said the demons are all circling around this one particular area, right?" Sam laid the map down on the table and they all crowded around it. He'd drawn a circle, indicating what he'd just said. "I've been going over and over this, trying to figure out what we might be looking for in that circle and why demons are surrounding it. For awhile I couldn't figure it out. Just a bunch of old graveyards. Then I realized there was something more."

He pulled a pen out and connected a series of x's that he'd marked on the map. The connected marks, in conjunction with the circle around it made a perfect...

"Is that a devil's trap?" Jess asked quietly.

"Damn right it is," Sam looked proud of himself. "Each of these marks is a railroad station. The lines are the rails, which all just happen to connect like this. I did some research once I started to see this and, wouldn't you know, these railroad stations were all built by Samuel Colt."

"Sounds like he was protecting something in the middle of this devil's trap he created then," John mused.

"Makes sense why the demons are circling it then," Dean pointed out. "They can't get in."

"I'll bet that's why he brought you all to Cold Oak, too," Jess added. "He can't get in either. If there's something in there that he wants, he'd need a human to go in for him and get it."

"I bet it was," Sam shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

He had decided not to tell anyone about what the demon had shown him. Jess would probably stick with him on the whole "demon blood as a baby" thing, but she definitely wouldn't understand the second part of what he'd seen. His Dad, Dean, and Bobby on the other hand...he didn't think they'd understand either one. No, better to keep it to himself until he could get a handle on what this was. If he could figure out how to get even a fraction of the control over it as he'd had in the future vision, then he'd tell them. Until then he'd keep it to himself and work towards that, wait until he could show them that maybe it wasn't necessarily all a bad thing.

"Is that hurting again?" Jess mistook Sam's squirming for pain.

"Uncomfortable," Sam lied. It was a good bit higher up the pain scale than uncomfortable, but that was just another thing he'd keep to himself until later.

"Liar," Dean called him out on it. "Oh, come on. I've helped raise you since you were six months old. You think I don't know when you're lying about something?"

"Shut up," Sam mumbled.

"Enough for now, boys," John stopped them before it could go any further. He pointed back to the map. "Sam, what's right dead center of this trap?"

"Just an old cowboy cemetery as far as I can tell," Sam answered. "Doesn't look like anything special."

"Since when is anything what it looks like where we're concerned?" Bobby pointed out. "That's where we should head first. See what we see."

"Good a plan as any," John agreed. "Let's eat an move out. It'll take us less than an hour to get there once we're back on the road."

---

They rolled as quietly as they could up to a spot near the old cemetery and climbed out of the vehicles. Sam moved towards the back of the Impala and waited for Dean to unlock the trunk so he could get a weapon. It only took a second before he realized it was taking too long. He turned and saw all four of the others looking at him guiltily.

"What?" he asked.

"Sam..." John sighed. "You're on the bench for this one."

"The hell I am!" he looked to Dean and Jess for help, but they both studiously avoided his gaze. "Oh come on! What happened to doing this as a team?"

"The plan was always for you to stay back in the car, Sammy," Dean admitted. "Even before we knew what we might be looking for. You're hurt and we're literally walking right into whatever the demon's got planned. He's already proved that he wants you for something, so there's no point in making it any easier for that to happen."

"You have seriously got to be kidding me," Sam snapped.

"We're not," even Jess was on their side on this one. "Honey, even if you weren't hurt, it would be stupid to just walk right in there. We'd practically be handing you to the demon."

"This is...this is..." Sam didn't quite know what it was. Logically they were right. He was hurt, meaning he'd slow them down. If they had to retreat in a hurry, he would definitely be a hindrance. Logic wasn't playing a huge part in what he felt at the moment, though. He didn't want to be left behind to sit in the car like he'd had to as a kid. And if something happened to any of them when he could've been there to do something about it...

"It sucks," Jess agreed without him having to actually say it. She moved closer and put her arms around him. "And I know you're mad at us now, but please don't stay mad for too long?"

"I'm not angry," Sam sighed after a minute. He put his arms around Jess too. "Upset, yeah. Irritated, sure. But not mad. Just promise me that if anything, and I mean anything at all goes sideways, you four get your asses back here."

"Anything goes sideways, Jess and I will drag Dean and your Daddy right out of there," Bobby promised. He shrugged when John and Dean shot him dirty looks. "What? She and I ain't Winchester's, which means we're nowhere near as hard headed as the two of you. Come on. Best get movin'."

Sam watched them load up and go with an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach. Not one that was caused by the knife wound, either. Orion looked up and him and whined his displeasure as well.

"I know buddy," he patted the big dog's head. "I don't like it either, but they'll be okay. They'd better be."

---

"There's nothing here," Dean complained after their second circuit of the cemetery. "Are we sure we're in the right place?"

"No," Bobby answered honestly. They'd all met back up at a big crypt right in the middle of the graveyard. "This was just our best guess."

"What's our next best guess then?" Dean asked crankily.

"We'd have to ask Sam," John reminded him. "We should head back and check on him anyway."

The other three nodded in agreement and started to turn. They all hesitated as a man stepped out from where he'd been standing in the shadows of the crypt.

"Stop," he ordered.

None of them knew why, but they all responded immediately to the order. Their feet stopped moving and they all just stood looking at the newcomer.

"He said you'd come here," the man smiled, but it wasn't comforting at all. In fact, to Dean it looked like a crazy person's smile.

"Well aren't you smart," he mocked. "If it's all the same to you, we're leaving now."

"No you aren't," the smile was suddenly gone, replaced by a dark scowl. "Give me the gun."

Again, they were all helpless to do anything else as they each reached for their guns and held them out to the man. His eyes drifted over them quickly and his scowl got even darker.

"Not those!" he yelled. "The old gun! The antique. He said you'd have an old, antique revolver. Give me that one."

John's hand shook as he reached for the Colt and pulled it out of his jacket. He was trying to fight against the voice that seemed to wrap completely around his brain and leave him no choice but to do as it said.

"Dad!" Dean shouted.

As if he'd suddenly realized he was still holding his gun, he brought it up and pointed it at the man's head.

"No," he ordered. "All of you, guns to your heads. Except you, old man. Hand the revolver over, then you can do as I said. And everyone stay quiet."

The four hunters all locked eyes as they did exactly what the man said. Jess wanted to call for Sam, but she couldn't get the words out. It was like her throat was locked. She looked helplessly up to Dean, but he was just as mute as she was.

"Thank you," the man looked at the Colt in his hand. "Man, he's gonna be happy about this. You know, I almost wish I could let you all live, but orders are orders right? I don't make the rules, just have to follow them. Sorry."

He raised an eyebrow and four shots went off simultaneously...

---

"NO!" Sam yelled at the top of his lungs.

He gasped for air, and as his head cleared he realized he was lying in the dirt with an aching head and Orion practically climbing all over him. There hadn't been any warning before the vision hit this time around. One minute he'd been leaning against the Impala, staring in the direction that Dad, Bobby, Dean, and Jess had gone in and the next he was watching his family die.

"Screw this," he snarled. Knife wound be damned, he wouldn't let that happen.

He ignored the pain in both his head and his side as he checked his pistol and trotted off silently. While he moved as quietly as he could, he wondered who the man was. He hadn't been at Cold Oak, that was for sure. He seemed to have the same power as Andy had claimed to have, though. Andy had said something about being able to control people's actions by telling them what to do, which is exactly what it looked like this guy had done.

The sound of voices floated through the darkness and Sam changed his course slightly. He crouched, still ignoring the pain, and crept towards the sound.

"Man he's gonna be happy about this," Sam heard, and knew he needed to hurry. He circled so that the crazy man wouldn't see him. "You know, I almost wish I could let you all live, but..."

"But nothing," Sam snapped, stepping forward and putting his gun right to the man's temple. "Let. Them. Go."

"I don't need to use my words to make them do what I want, you know," the man said, way too easily for someone who had a gun to his head. "I could kill them right now without saying a peep."

"You do that and you won't be far behind," Sam warned. "Let them drop the guns."

"Only if you put yours down too," the man offered.

"Let them go first," Sam pushed his gun harder into the man's head.

"Fine," he sighed. He motioned to the other four and they all dropped their guns on the ground at their feet. He raised an eyebrow in Sam's direction. "Your turn, big guy."

Sam slowly lowered his gun, but didn't drop it to the ground.

"That's cheating," the man scolded. Without any warning, he rammed his elbow into Sam's side and bolted for the crypt they were standing next to.

"Sam!" Jess leaped for him while Dean, John, and Bobby scrambled to pick their guns up off the ground. Before any of them could stop him, the man had pushed the barrel of the Colt into a slot in the crypt's door, and a piece of the door surrounding it started to spin.

Three shots rang out, just a few seconds too late, and the man dropped to the ground in front of it. Bobby reached the door just as the symbol stopped spinning and revealed itself. His eyes went wide and he turned quickly to the others, who were crowded around Sam.

"Down! Everybody take cover!" he ordered.

He ducked behind a gravestone, while Dean and John helped pull Sam behind another. Jess crouched behind a third just as the doors to the crypt exploded open in a cloud of demon smoke.

"We gotta get that closed!" John yelled once the ripple effect from the explosion was over. He and Bobby were already running for the doors.

"What is it?" Dean and Jess followed close behind.

"A devil's gate!" Bobby explained, taking hold of one of the doors and pushing on it. "A door into Hell!"

"And that crazy guy just opened it?!" Dean's eyes went wide. He grabbed the other door, along with John, while Jess helped Bobby. Sam limped up to help, but there was no place for him. Instead he pulled the Colt from the slot and held it.

A sudden chill made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He looked around, but didn't see anything so he took a few steps away from the crypt. Suddenly, standing right in front of him, was the yellow-eyed demon. Before he had a chance to get the gun up, the demon flicked a hand and the Colt was yanked away.

"Nice try, champ," it mocked. Another flick and Sam found himself slammed into the ground again. "Set. Let's chat a moment."

"I 'chatted' with you long enough," Sam struggled, but the demon had him pinned against a headstone.

"You always were my favorite, Sammy," the demon smirked down at him. "Ansem there, he was my second favorite, but you were the one I was always rooting for."

"Lucky me," Sam realized his wriggling wasn't getting him anywhere so he stopped. "So what now? You open a gate to Hell, let out a whole bunch of nasty shit, and then..."

"Then you," the demon crouched down in front of him to look him in the eye. "I showed you how strong you can become, and that's only the beginning. You stick with me and..."

He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence. Sam had noticed Dean creeping quietly over, but hadn't given the demon any sign. Now that Dean was close enough, he kicked out and caught the demon in the side of the head. Since he was crouching, Dean had expected him to be off balance. At the very least, he'd hoped to knock him over. Instead, the demon stayed steady and only turned glowing yellow eyes on him.

"That hurt," he raised an eyebrow and Dean went flying.

Once the demon's back was turned, Sam started struggling again. The further away the demon got, the more he could move, but it still wasn't enough for him to get up. He wanted to scream as the demon stalked towards Dean, who had been dazed when he'd slammed right into a headstone.

Suddenly, Orion pelted out of the bushes, headed straight for the demon. Sam had ordered the dog to stay back at the car. Apparently Ri didn't follow orders much better than he did himself.

The demon was knocked off balance by the force of being hit by the big dog. The colt flew out of his hands and he dropped his hold over both Sam and Dean for just a moment.

A moment was all Dean needed. He lurched forward and snatched the Colt up off the ground.

"Hey!"

The demon looked up to see Dean pointing the gun at him. He took a breath, as if he was going to say something, but he never got the chance.

Jess, Bobby, and John had just shoved the doors to the crypt all the way closed when the shot rang out across the cemetery. It felt almost like it was happening in slow motion, as everyone watched bullet drill straight into the demon's heart. There was a staticky, burning light that came from inside the demon as he dropped to his knees. A few seconds later, it was all over.

"Dean..." Sam looked at his brother with wide eyes.

"He's really dead," Dean whispered. He looked from the gun in his hand to the demon lying on the ground in front of him. He felt almost like he was in shock. "It's really over?"

"Son," John put a hand cautiously on Dean's shoulder. It had given him more satisfaction than he ever could've imagined to see his Mary's killer finally dead. By their own son's hand, too. He wanted a moment just to savor the feeling, but Dean needed him. "You did it."

"He's really dead," Dean repeated, less shaky this time. He looked up at John. "Dad. We got him!"

"You got him. And I couldn't be more proud of you," John smiled and looked over to where Sam was still sitting on the ground with Jess fussing over him. "I'm damn proud of both of you."

"What now?" Dean wondered. His entire life had been about finding this demon, and now that quest was over. He was still a hunter, there was no doubt in his mind about that, but he felt strangely directionless without something solid to hunt.

"Well, we don't know what all got out through that gate when it was open," Bobby pointed out. "There's gonna be a lot wandering around that we've never even seen before."

"Let's all get back to the vehicles and..." John stopped himself as he realized he was giving orders again. "I mean, what does everybody say to heading back to Bobby's? We can research what we can while we're there, it'll give Sam some time to heal up, and when we're ready we can get out after whatever pops up."

Sam, Dean, and Jess all nodded. Sam felt even more directionless than Dean did, though. He'd expected to have a sense of completion once the demon was dead. To be able to go back to his life at Stanford and pick up right where he'd left off. That wasn't how he felt at all, though.

"Think you can stand?" Jess asked gently. She'd known Sam too long not to recognize the look on his face as one that meant he was overthinking something.

"Yeah," he answered. Using the headstone to brace himself on, he slowly climbed to his feet with a wince of pain. The pain, plus the blood seeping through his shirt meant there was no doubt he'd torn some stitches. Dean or Jess could put them right back in once they got to their medical kit in the car, but it wasn't going to be pleasant.

"Need me to take a look?" John offered, motioning to Sam's side.

"Popped some of my stitches," Sam admitted. "It'll keep until we get to the car. Let's get out of here. I don't like being near that thing, even dead."

"I second that," Bobby agreed.

---

"Okay, let's see," Jess ordered as she dug their medical kit out of the trunk. They'd sent John and Bobby off almost as soon as they'd gotten back to the vehicles. She and Dean were more than capable of handling a few stitches on their own, and they needed as much of a head start as they could get on whatever had gotten through that door.

"If you wanted to get my shirt off, you could've just asked," Sam grinned as he peeled it off with a wince and sat on the trunk of the Impala.

"God, kill me now," Dean rolled his eyes.

"Children, the both of you," Jess sighed. "Are you both done?"

"Doubt it."

"Probably not."

The brothers looked at each other and burst out laughing at their similar answers. Now that the demon's death had time to settle into their brains, they felt like they'd both been shot up with adrenaline. They were excitable and hyper and pretty much everything else. Poor Jess was going to need the patience of a saint to deal with the two of them on the ride back to Bobby's, they knew.

"You tore out some stitches alright," Jess commented, poking lightly at Sam's side. "Dean, I need you to hold the light so I can stitch him back up. Unless you want me to hold the light and you put the stitches in."

"Nah, go ahead," Dean took the flashlight from her. "I'll save hurting him for when he feels a little better and I keep my promise to kick his ass. Which I now have even more reason to do."

"Hey, I saved your asses back there," Sam reminded him. "If it hadn't been for me, you all would've been dead."

"I would've found a way out of it," Dean claimed. "How'd you know anyway? Vision."

"Yeah," Sam touched his head gently. In all the craziness, he'd almost managed to forget about his headache.

"Hold still," Jess ordered as she started in with the first stitch. Sam winced slightly, but didn't flinch.

"So, what was the demon talking about anyway?" Dean asked curiously. "I heard him when I crept up behind him. He said something about showing you how strong you would become. What'd he mean?"

"What?" Sam had heard him perfectly, but he wanted a second to think of what to say.

"You heard me," Dean called him out on it. "What was the demon talking about?"

"I have no idea," Sam claimed.

"Right," Dean raised an eyebrow. "Want to try that again?"

"Not particularly," Sam admitted.

"Let me rephrase. Try that again," Dean said, sterner this time.

"Fine. I had a vision of him when I was at Cold Oak," Sam huffed in frustration. "He claimed he was going to show me something, but before he got a chance Jake woke me up and said that Ava was missing. That's all I know."

"Why did he say that he'd shown you then?" Dean asked.

"Maybe he was going senile. I don't know," Sam snapped. "Seriously, Dean."

"You're lying," Dean frowned. He didn't know why his brother would be lying, but he was.

"No I'm not!" Sam lied. "Really, Dean, I mean it. Just...just drop it okay?"

All of them jumped as Dean seemed to take it literally and dropped the flashlight he'd been holding. Jess rubbed at her forehead and tried not to get too annoyed with his antics. Her boys were excited, and when they got excited they got goofy.

"Kind of need that to see what I'm doing," she reminded him.

"Yeah. Sorry," Dean frowned as he picked the flashlight back up. What the hell had that been about? He hadn't meant to drop the flashlight, but when Sam had said "drop it" he just...had. He shook his head and focused back on his brother. "We're not done with this conversation, dude."

"Yes we are," Sam clenched his teeth.

"Sam, a demon all but said he showed you a vision of the future," Dean reminded him.

"Demons lie!" Sam pointed out. "Seriously, I don't want to talk about this right now."

"Tough," Dean tightened his hold on the flashlight while he tried not to lose his temper.

"This is taking twice as long as it needs to with you two bickering like this," Jess snapped at the both of them as Sam shifted positions yet again.

"It's his fault," Dean muttered.

"Oh shut up, Dean," Sam growled.

Dean fell silent at that, which Jess thought was odd. Usually telling Dean to shut up was as good as an engraved invitation for him to harass the hell out of whoever had said it. She wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, but it was odd enough for her to notice.

"What do you think made it out through that gate while it was open?" Sam wondered after a minute of silence.

"Who knows," Jess finished up the last stitch. "Done. Are we ready to go?"

Sam was putting his shirt back on and Jess was cleaning up, so neither of them noticed the trouble Dean seemed to be having. He was pretty sure at this point that something was majorly wrong, though. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to say anything. He hadn't been able to make a peep since Sam had told him to shut up, come to think of it. Which made no sense.

"Dean?" Sam finished up first and looked back to his brother. "Dude, what's wrong with you?"

Dean tried again to say something and still couldn't. An idea was creeping into his brain, and he didn't like it.

"Dean?" Jess had noticed at this point, too. She saw the look on his face and was at his side in a flash. "Are you hurt? What's going on?"

Still nothing. As a last ditch resort, Dean finally started motioning to Sam, which only confused his brother and Jess even more.

"What?" Sam asked. "Dean, come on. It's too late for charades. Just talk to us, man."

"Thank god!" Dean exploded. "We have a problem."

"Where?" Jess looked him over critically for any signs of blood. There was some on his shirt, but it was Sam's from where Dean had needed to help him back to the car.

"Not me," Dean corrected her. "Sam, how much do we know about the other special kids?"

"Uh, not much," Sam wasn't sure where this conversation was going. "I'm pretty sure they're all dead except for me. Ava claimed she'd been there at Cold Oak for awhile and she'd killed a bunch of people with special abilities."

"How much do we know about the abilities, then?" Dean asked.

"Also not much," Sam answered. "Ava and I have visions, Max was telekinetic, Jake was super strong, and Andy and that kid Ansem could mind control people. What are you getting at?"

"I think that killing the demon might've had some...I don't know. Side effects maybe," Dean shifted uncomfortably.

"Side effects?" Sam and Jess shared a confused look.

"Dean honey, you're not making sense," Jess told him gently.

"When Sam told me to drop it a few minute ago, I felt almost like when that guy was mind controlling us back there in the cemetery," Dean admitted. "And again when he told me to shut up. It was like I couldn't not do what he said. And I swear to god Sam if you use that against me, the next time I'm able to I will make sure even Dad won't be able to find your body."

"Slow down," Sam put his hands up. "Maybe it's just something residual from when Ansem mind controlled you guys. You know I can't actually do that."

"Maybe, maybe not," Dean had a feeling the jury was still out on that. "Either way, no more orders until we get it figured out, okay?"

"Fine," Sam figured that was easy enough to agree to.

He started to move around the car towards the passenger seat, when the branch of a nearby tree caught his sleeve. He tugged gently at it to get loose and ripped the entire thing out of the ground. He stood there for a second, holding a decent sized sapling in his hand and then turned to look at Dean and Jess, who somehow hadn't noticed.

"Hey guys," he said in a small voice. "I think we could have a problem."

"What kind of..." Dean broke off when he saw his little brother literally holding a small tree.

"Let's say, just hypothetically, that maybe Dean was right about you mind controlling him," Jess said after a moment. "And now you seem to have this super strength. What next?"

"Maybe it was ready to fall down anyway?" Sam scrambled for any logical reason he could.

"Or maybe now that the demon's dead all of those special abilities had to go somewhere," Dean suggested. "And you're the only one left for them to go to."

"We should get to Bobby's," Sam said quietly, climbing carefully into the car.

Dean and Jess shared a concerned look before following him. They'd been worried when Sam only had one ability. Now he seemed to have three, with the potential of at least one more showing up. Worried wasn't enough to cover it anymore. They both silently prayed for him to be okay as Dean maneuvered the Impala onto the highway and pointed it for South Dakota.

---

Additional Note: So I guess I didn't really think out having Max survive back in Chapter 9. Oops. Also, I clearly have an issue killing off any main characters. Originally I was still going to have Jake kill Sam back in Cold Oak and John was going to make the deal to save him. Which then turned into Sam being injured, Henrickson coming in, and the mention of the judge from back in Chapter 4. We see how that worked. *Sigh* I'd love to hear what you guys think of that little twist at the end with Sam getting the other abilities, though. :-)