Sam woke up on one of the beds, the one farthest from Rose's chair. His skin felt clammy -- cold and hot at the same time. He thought for a minute he was going to wretch, but swallowed hard against it. A cold cloth had been placed on his forehead. He grunted slightly as he tried to sit up, still reeling from the vision.
"Sammy?" Dean, who had been pacing the room since Sam had passed out raced to his brother and sat on the bed beside him, helping him to sit up. "Sam, what the hell? These visions have never knocked you on your ass like that before!" Standing, he reached for his pistol, aiming it at Rose. "What the hell is she Sammy? You say the word and I'll pop her right now."
"No!" Sam grabbed at his brother's arm. Still drunk from the vision and seeing double, he missed, but Dean lowered the gun. He turned to look at his brother, still sitting on the edge of the bed, holding the washcloth, looking down at it in his hands. "What!" Dean snapped.
Sam looked up at him, exhausted, his head spinning in confusion. "We gotta talk, Dean. Alone." He looked over at Rose, still tied to the chair, the gag back in her mouth. Her chair was surrounded with salt and there was a devil's trap crudely drawn out on the carpet beneath her. Dean clearly wasn't taking any chances. She was slumped over, unconscious again. "What did you..." Sam stopped as Dean held up a small pharmaceutical bottle. Chloroform. Smart, Sam thought. He stood, unsteadily. Dean grabbed at his arm, but Sam brushed him off. He knew Dean was worried. Glancing at the limp Rose, tied up in the chair, she looked helpless now to him, no longer looking like a tough biker chick. His brow furrowed in pity and confusion. He pulled on a shirt and shoes and led Dean out of the room, locking it behind them.
Sitting in the farthest corner in the small cafe, Sam slowly sipped his coffee. His hands were shaking. Dean watched him, wanting to say something but he could tell Sam was clearly shaken by this vision. And it had something to do with Rose. Dean waited.
"She's..." Sam started, then hesitated, looking out the window. "I don't know, Dean, but she's got something to do with us -- with our family -- with you." He looked at his brother waiting for a reaction.
Dean just nodded, "Go on," he said icily. The thought that this woman could have anything to do with their family repelled him. Something about her made his blood boil.
"The vision wasn't that clear. Just... flashes. I saw her -- and you -- at the crossroad."
"I knew it! She's a crossroads demon! Sammy..." Dean hissed under his breath, starting to get up.
"No, Dean. No, she's not." Sam motioned for his brother to sit back down. "She's human, Dean. I know that much. And... there's more."
Dean sat back down, but he was twitching now for Sammy to tell him the rest. "What?" he snapped at his younger brother. "There's something you're not telling me, Sammy. What is it?"
Sam looked up at the waitress, who had appeared with a fresh pot of coffee. He smiled a sheepish smile at her as she re-filled his cup. Dean covered his own cup with his hand, waving her off. She shrugged and walked away.
"Dean, I don't know how she's going to do it, but this girl is going to save your life."
Dean sat back, dumbfounded. He couldn't believe what he'd just heard his brother say.
Sam held his head in his hands, almost as if the vision were starting again. "You were -- will be -- oh, whatever -- you were at the crossroad..." He could see the entire scene again as he recounted the vision to his incredulous brother.
At the crossroads, Rose kneeled over Dean's body, shaking him, screaming his name. Lightning flashed, lighting up the darkness as rain pelted down on them. Barefoot, in a blue cotton halter-style dress that clung to her wet body, Sam recognized her blazing red hair and the crest tattooed on her upper arm. Lightning flashed again and she pounded on Dean's chest, trying to start his heart beating again.
Sam saw himself in the vision too, soaking wet, leaning on the Impala, Dean's voice ringing in his ears, "Should've been dead a long time ago, Sammy."
Rose continued beating on Dean's chest, stopping only to lean down to his face to listen for breathing. "Help me," she cried to Sam, who ignored her plea and just shook his head violently at her. "It's too late," he said to her, "It's over."
"No!" Rose practically growled at Dean, "You are not dead! You can't be! Not after what I've gone through to keep you alive!"
"Oh, but he is, sweetheart." A voice came from behind her. The crossroads demon slinked up to where Rose and Dean were on the ground. Rose jumped to her feet. "Oh, what are you gonna do? You wanna make a deal too, honey? It don't work that way." The demon's voice turned sinister.
"I don't have to make a deal," Rose was saying. Sitting in the cafe, Sam held his head, his face scrunched up, still in pain. He looked at Dean, sitting across from him.
"I can still see it," Sam said to Dean, sitting wide-eyed across from him. Dean couldn't believe any of this. Here his brother was, telling him that the crossroads demon had won, that he was dead and that Sammy had given up but Rose was still fighting for him. It was all too much for him to take in.
"Well, then what?" Dean asked his brother, realizing this was Sam's most powerful vision yet.
"Then nothing. What happens next is just a blank. Until..." Sam paused.
"Until?" Dean prompted.
"You come walking to the car, Dean. Alive." Sam answered, his lips pursed.
"And?" Dean said, "You think she's got something to do with it? But how, Sammy? How do you know you're not the one..."
Sam stopped him. "Because you're carrying her. In my vision..." Sam's voice trembled, still seeing Dean walking toward the car in the pouring rain, Rose's lifeless body in his arms. "In my vision, you're alive and she's dead."