The walk to the hospital was supposed to be a short one, but Sam was so thrown off by everything that it took him a little longer to get there. He hadn't been in public since he was cursed – other than when he went out with Dean, but he had always been safely tucked out of sight in a pocket. Now the open air and the sidewalks and the people and the houses and the dogs and the – well, everything, caught his attention. And made him feel very exposed.

And then when Sam finally did reach his destination, he was suddenly struck with the realization that though he had accompanied Dean on various adventures to question eye witnesses and victims, he never actually did any of that on his own.

Sam hesitated in one of the hallways of the hospital, reading the signs posted around for direction as people milled around him to go about their own jobs and visits. He frowned; he was pretty sure he was in the right section, but getting into the councilman's room might be difficult – he didn't have any of Dean's convenient fake FBI badges or his easy, flirtatious charm to worm his way in.

But a doctor's lab coat might work.

Passing a glance around the busy hallway to make sure no one was watching, Sam found the locker room and, minutes later, came back out wearing a lab coat. It was a little wrinkly and probably needed washed, but it would work. Sam smiled to himself as he smoothed the front, maybe he wasn't too bad at this.

Disguise figured out, Sam was able to find the correct room and pass right into it without a single question being raised his way. The noisy buzz from the hallway faded away as Sam carefully closed the thick door behind him and was instead replaced with the repeated beep of the hospital monitors. The window curtains were drawn and the only light came from the machines and a small lamp on the nightstand beside the bed, but with being accustomed to moving around in dark walls Sam had no trouble making out the figure on the bed.

Sam walked over beside the bed, and hesitated. The man had survived a fire but it had claimed most of his skin – at least what Sam could see. He grimaced as he took in the bubbly, sticky skin covered in bandages. The councilman must have just come back from his immediate surgery.

Then the man's eyes shot open and Sam jerked back in surprise.

"Doctor?" The man rasped out, what was left of his brows furrowed as he tried to focus on Sam's face.

"Uh," Sam cleared his throat and started again, "I'm not the doctor assigned for you, uh, exactly, but I have some questions about the fire. About what started it."

The man coughed a deep, dry cough; the tubes in his nose were probably working overtime to help him breath. "I'm not… Crazy…" was all he could get out as he coughed again.

Sam took a step closer. "I know you're not, I believe you. You said someone had black eyes? Could you tell me who, and what they wanted?" He wasn't sure how long the man could talk so he wanted to get all he could out of him right away.

"Solid black, no iris or whites," the councilman replied, confirming Sam's suspicious as he tried to sit up a little. "An' it was councilman Gansley. But it wasn't- " he coughed again – "but it wasn't."

Sam nodded, "I'm looking into this, believe me I've dealt with cases similar to this before, don't worry. But can you remember what you were meeting about? Before the attack?"

Councilman Johnson let out a breath, obviously relieved someone wasn't dismissing what he said as 'ramblings'. "Defense. Country defense, this city's defense."

The younger Winchester frowned, "What about it?"

"There's none."

Sam's eyebrows rose, his mind spinning as he tried to put it all together. "What do you-"

The door opened, letting in a harsh beam of light and cutting Sam short as a nurse walked in with a clipboard. She paused when she saw them. "Oh, I didn't mean to interrupt, Doctor…" She frowned, trying to read the name on Sam's lab coat. "Haden…" her eyes narrowed in confusion.

"Don't worry about it," Sam tried to say, wincing at his attempt at a British accent to match theirs. "I was just leaving." Giving the councilman an assured nod, he quickly skirted around the nurse before she could realize he didn't actually work there.

He slipped back into the hallway and let himself be swept into the busy throng of people, hoping the nurse wouldn't try to come looking for him to ask questions. He pushed back the constant amazed thoughts about his surroundings and focused on the case. Sam was worried about Dean and where the hell he was, but it was too much to think about – he just needed to work on this right now. He needed to do his duty as a hunter no matter where he was, and with it the easy motions of problem solving will hopefully make figuring out other things easier.

He frowned in thought as he walked – so a demon started the fire? Because it wanted to know about the city's defenses? That didn't make much sense, why would a demon care about that? Unless it –

Sam ran right into a woman going the opposite direction.

"I'm so sorry! I wasn't paying attention!" he said in dismay, reaching out a hand to help steady her. The woman's ball cap had fallen off and she was frantically trying to put it back on while she pushed up the cat-eyed black glasses that had slid down her nose. "Are you okay?"

The woman gave him a look and, with a quick glance around to make sure no one was watching, quickly pulled Sam into an empty janitor's closet. "Don't tell anyone!" she hissed at him once the door was shut behind them.

Sam had to press against one of the back shelves in the tight room. The light clicked on and he looked down at the petite woman in confusion. She had abandoned the ball cap and long, dark, curly hair sprung free to fall around her face and past her shoulders. She was looking at him expectantly with eyes a darker shade of brown than her skin, one perfectly shaped black brow raised.

"What? Tell anyone what?" Sam asked in confusion as he looked over her at the door, wondering if he could just shove past her in the small space.

"That you saw me…?" she said, a little unsure now as she looked him up and down. "Do you not know who I am?"

"Uh, no…" Sam said slowly, adjusting his stance so the vacuum beside him wasn't digging into his side. "Am I supposed to? I'm not really…from here."

Her frown disappeared and she nodded then, "Oh - that explains your accent."

They stared at each other for a couple of awkward seconds. Sam cleared his throat. "So, is there a reason you pulled me into a broom closet?"

She took off the glasses and tucked them into the front pocket of her quarter-sleeved shirt. "Well, I'm not really supposed to be here on my own like this, so I kind of panicked when I thought you recognized me. But now I know you have no clue, so never mind!" She smiled at him, and he saw a dimple appear on her right cheek among all the freckles scattered across her face. "I'm Lillian, by the way."

"Sam," he responded. Was she famous here or something? "I came here with my brother but I can't seem to find him. You haven't seen him have you?" Sam asked hopefully, maybe she heard an update of someone else found on shore recently. "He has spikey blonde hair, green eyes, kinda, uh, tall – you can't miss him."

Lillian shrugged, "No I haven't, sorry. But if I see anyone that matches your description I'll let them know you're looking for them."

"Thanks." Sam tried not to let his disappointment show on his face. It was a long shot anyway. He gave her discarded disguise a look over with a smile. "I don't think a ball cap and fake glasses would've worked very well, the most they would've done is draw more attention to you."

"You're right, I should have used a stolen doctor's coat then," she shot back with another smile, then paused, regarding him with a quizzical look. "Wait, what are you doing here? Is it about the fire?" Her eyes narrowed. "I saw you leave the councilman's room."

Sam's eyebrows raised. "Yeah. I just thought I would ask him what he saw."

"Me too!" Lillian exclaimed, reaching out to give Sam's arm a little squeeze. "The whole thing seems a bit fishy, doesn't it?" Her eyes lit up excitement over the prospect of having a mystery to solve. "Did you go in there? What did he say?" she asked eagerly.

Sam was a little taken aback by her easy comradely, but felt the tightness that was in his chest ever since waking up here alone loosen a little. Maybe she would help him figure things out, and while doing so, help him find his brother. So with that hope in mind, Sam told her what he had learned from his talk about the discussion of having no military defense. He left out his suspicious about it being a demon possession, that wasn't something you dropped on a person lightly; maybe he'd tell her if he got more evidence.

Lillian was frowning in thought as Sam finished up, already trying to piece things together. "I know the meeting itself was very last minute, and every top member was told to come. Very interesting…" Her thoughts tapered off as a buzzing sound came from her pocket. With a grimace she pulled out a phone and read the message while Sam tried not to stare at how weird a phone looked when it wasn't bigger than him. "I have to go," Lillian grumbled out, stuffing her phone back into her pocket and breaking Sam out of his musings. "But I like you," she determined, crossing her arms as she gave Sam a solid look over again. "I don't know why, but I trust you. You're weird, and new, and already on the case. We should help each other."

She suddenly reached into her purse and pulled out a pen, grabbing Sam's hand in her own and pulling it towards her to write something on it. "This is the address of my – um, it's a sort of safe house. Private, on the outskirts of the city by a river. Meet me there in a couple of hours – okay? We can talk more."

"Uh, sure," Sam said incredulously, staring down as she finished writing the address in swirling letters. He hadn't been sure what step he was going to take next, and finding a willing alley to help him, albeit one who dragged people into closets and had safe houses, was perfect. She knew the area way better than he did, and could help him hash out what to do next about a demon who could be inhabiting anyone now.

"Perfect." She capped the pen and put it away, giving Sam a wink before putting just the glasses on and turning towards the door. "Wait a minute to head out after me, we don't want people to see us leaving together."

Sam nodded, and she gave him a little wave before opening the door and slipping back out into the hallway. He took off the doctor's coat and hung it on the vacuum's handle as he thought over their conversation. Well, this was definitely not how he saw today going when he headed out on that boat.