"Well, we're going to go up to bed," Jessica's mother said.

"Good night, Mom. Good night, Dad."

"I'm almost scared to go to sleep. This might turn out to be a dream."

"It's not a dream. I think you should take one of my sleeping pills or you'll never get to sleep because of the excitement."

"Good idea."

And with that Jessica's parents got ready for bed and fell into a deep slumber.

Downstairs, Jessica and Sam were once again watching the news when there was a knock at the door. "Who could that be?" Jessica asked, looking at her watch. She got up to answer the door, with Sam following close behind.

"Oh, it's one of your friends," Jessica said.

Sam couldn't see who it was, but was hoping and maybe dreading that it was Cas with some news. But when Jessica moved out of the way, he saw it was Rick.

"Where's everybody else?" Sam asked.

"Rick's dead. Demon's tore his heart out."

"I'm sorry," Sam said.

"Is there something you want to tell me, Sam?"

"Like what?" Sam asked, confused. He didn't have anything to do with this hunt. Rick couldn't possibly be blaming him for Steve's death.

"I heard a little something from a demon tonight."

Oh, crap. That couldn't be good. "Demons lie."

Rick pulled out a vial of red liquid. Sam knew immediately what it was. "Get that away from me," he said backing up.

"Sam, what's going on?" Jess asked. She couldn't understand why Sam would be afraid of a vial of what looked like blood.

Rick put the vial down on the end table next to the door. He then pulled out a knife and grabbed Jessica with his other hand. He pulled her to him and put the knife next to her throat. "You're going to drink that and then you're going to kill the demon that killed my best friend, or I kill her."

"You don't mean that," Sam said. Hunters didn't kill innocent people.

"Watching your best friend die makes you rethink all kinds of things."

Just then, Dean and Reggie came in. "What's going on?" Dean asked.

"Steve's dead," Rich answered.

"Well, I'm pretty sure Sam and Jessica didn't kill him," Dean said, unsure of what was going on.

"No. Sam did something much worse."

"What?" Reggie asked.

"He started the Apocalypse. The demons told me all about it. And now he's going to drink that demon blood and kill the demon that killed Steve."

Nobody moved. Jessica was crying. Rich was holding her in front of him, so Sam and Dean couldn't attempt a rescue. Sam wasn't sure what he should do. He couldn't let Jessica die and he could drink demon blood. Dean was worried about Sam not that the truth was out and Reggie just didn't know what to make of the whole situation. It sounded crazy.

"NOW!" Rich yelled. "You have 3 seconds to drink or I slit her pretty little throat."

"OK," Sam said and put his hands up and walked over to the table.

"Sammy, no," Dean said.

"What am I supposed to do, Dean?" Sam asked as he picked up the vial. "Do you really expect me to let him kill Jessica?"

Dean sighed. He knew that Sam couldn't allow that to happen. He watched as Sam emptied the contents of the vial into his mouth. Then Sam nodded to Rich.

"OK," Rich said and pushed Jessica over to Dean. "Let's go," he said to Sam.

Sam spit out the blood. He hadn't swallowed. Dean was amazed. He hadn't expected that. He was so proud of Sam. He took it all back. He could trust Sam.

Rich started throwing punches at Sam and he easily deflected them. He was ten years younger and had at least 20% more muscle. It was no contest. Dean stood comforting Jessica. Reggie just watched. He still had no idea what was going on. He found it hard to believe that John Winchester's son had started the Apocalypse. He thought maybe Rich had gone insane or something.

Sam had the upper hand and got Rich's knife away from him. He brought it down towards his neck and Jessica gasped. Sam looked up at her and saw the horrified expression on her face. He couldn't kill in front of her. He grabbed Rich up and shoved him out the door. "Get out of here," he yelled.

"I'll make sure he leaves you alone," Reggie promised and followed Rich out the door. He shut it behind him.

"Are you OK, Jess?" Sam asked.

"Yes. But I've never seen you so angry. You looked like some kind of animal," she said, trying to hide behind Dean. She was afraid of Sam. She didn't think that could ever have been possible, but Sam had obviously changed a lot in the four years since her death.

"Jess, I would never hurt you. You know that, right?" Sam asked. He could see the fear in Jessica's eyes and hated that he was the one that was causing it.

"Maybe you should go."

"Jess, please."

"Sam," Dean said. "Let's go." He could feel Jessica trembling behind him. He wished it could be different. He had been around when Jessica had first died. Sam had been so torn up, so guilty. Dean wished he could have a second chance. But he couldn't. Too much had happened. Sam had changed, and grown away from what he had been when he was with Jessica. Jessica had, in effect, been frozen in time.

"I love you, Jessica," Sam said and opened the door. He turned back for one last look, but she was running up the stairs.

"Come on, Sam," Dean said. "I think your little hunting break is over."

"But we don't trust me," Sam said.

"Sam, you just had demon blood in your mouth and didn't drink it. I think you'll be OK," Dean pointed out.

"Dean, I've missed her so much."

"I know you have, Sammy. But you probably wouldn't have been happy with her anyway."

"How can you say that?"

"If she hadn't died and you had married her four years ago, and assuming Yellow Eyes never came for you, you could have lived happily ever after. But since she died, you did the same thing Dad did. You romanticized her and made her perfect in her mind. The real her would never have lived up. Just be glad you had these couple days with her and that she gets to live."

"I guess I can try. I am happy that she's alive. I just wish…"

"I know, Sammy. Let's go."

The End