She was so tired she could barely keep her eyes open. Moving through to the adjoining motel room, she sank onto the generous double bed and let a heavy sigh waft through her dry lips.

Her head was swimming and her body ached. Not just from the throbbing graze on the top of her arm. This was a whole-body weariness, a fatigue that sat heavily on her shoulders and made her want to curl up and forget everything.

She had felt this way before. A few days after Morgan had come screaming into the world. Tired and bruised and suddenly faced with the enormity of motherhood, she had slowly curled in on herself. And were it not for the astute mind of her visiting aunt, she would have been lost to the world for good.

Her chest was tight with grief and fear as the first tears rolled down her cheeks and she lay back across the bed. At a loss as to what the hell she was supposed to do and bewildered by the unbelievable events of the past few hours, she could sense despair perched beside her patiently.

"Dean? Dean! Come on, man. Stay with me!"

Turning her head towards Sam's panicked voice, Lena watched him trying to rouse his rapidly worsening brother.

And the sight made her shudder; even if it was safe to call in the troops, they would never get here in time. She had seen the gunshot wound in Dean's thigh and knew it was fatal. The gentle pulse of bright arterial blood had quickly soaked the towel Sam had tried to stem it with and even a tourniquet would not be of much use. A few pints would pass through the ruptured femoral artery in minutes and Dean would soon be past the point of no return.

Closing her eyes, Lena suddenly recalled the odd sensation of something - or someone - filling her being and blackening her vision. Conscious but somehow no longer in control, she had watched herself threatening Sam, felt anger grow from an unknown source and had been ready to kill Dean. It frightened her that - even now - she could feel no remorse for her actions. She had been protecting her daughter and there was nothing she was not prepared to do.

Not that it had done any good; Morgan was gone. The reality of the situation slammed into her and she closed her eyes, a gentle sob trembling through her and rocking the soft bed.

"Lena?"

Movement beside her and the sudden grip of a firm hand on her shoulder.

"Lena!"

Taking a deep breath and groaning out a weary sigh, Lena kept her eyes closed and shook her head slowly. "It's pointless, Sam. It's over."

"What? What do you mean?"

Moaning in response to his urgent nudging at her arm, Lena tried to shrug from his grip. "Leave me alone."

"No. Come on. Get up."

"I'm tired."

"Sure. But you can't lie here. Please. Get up."

"No." Lena grumbled, frowning in annoyance as his cold hand rested for a moment on her forehead and then his fingers gently probed back through her hair.

"Did you hit your head?" Sam urged.

Lena's frown deepened. "What?" She rolled away from him slightly and suddenly shivered, her teeth tapping together. "I'm cold."

"Hardly surprising."

"What?" Lena blinked open her eyes and looked up at Sam's concerned face. Her vision danced groggily around her and she swallowed back sudden nausea.

Sam smiled broadly, apparently relieved that she was staring up at him, and the warm concern in his eyes suddenly became mirth as his smile grew. "Well, you are lying in the snow."

"Huh?" Lena gave another shiver and gasped slightly. Her gaze moving past Sam, she saw the ceiling of the motel room had gone and she found herself staring up at the bright stars of the night sky. "But …"

"You fell." Sam offered softly, renewed concern fading his smile. "Remember?"

"I did …?" Lena leaned up on one elbow and heard the crunch of her bed moving under her. Spreading her fingers, feeling the gloves that had not been there a moment ago, she found not blankets and mattress but the sandy softness of snow. Blinking in confusion, she looked around them and saw the motel room had faded away, the walls replaced on one side with a bank of trees and a narrow slush-lined road crossing where the door had once been.

"Easy." Sam helped her sit up and pressed his hand into her back to steady her. "You okay? You took quite a tumble."

Still taking in the scene around her, Lena's eyes rested on the snow-covered 4x4 that was parked oddly at the side of the road, part of a tree trunk embedded into the front fender.

"Lena?"

She flicked her gaze back to Sam and gave another frightened gasp. "But I was - I mean - we were - I don't understand." She closed her eyes and lifted a snowy glove to her head, sighing in confused dismay. "This can't be happening …"

"Hey. It's okay." Sam gently stroked his hand back and forth across her back. "You just got the wind knocked out of you. You'll be okay."

Lena lifted her head back up and gave a skeptical nod.

"Come on." Sam got to his feet and stooped to hold his hands out in front of her. "Let's get you up before you get soaked. It's damned cold out here."

Grabbing onto Sam's wrists and groaning with the effort, Lena let Sam pull her up to stand shakily amid the snow drift. She let him guide her across the empty road and she leaned against her jeep for a moment while she sought out the key from her coat pocket.

Sam opened the passenger door and steadied Lena as she climbed up into the jeep and slumped into the seat. She was still a little dazed and it concerned him but there were no obvious injuries. Sure she had simply been stunned, there was still nonetheless a nagging sense of caution that worried him; she had taken so long to respond and had been so confused for a while there.

Happy that Lena was safe for the moment, Sam returned to the task at hand and moved towards the rear of the car. He opened the back door and leaned inside, smiling as he grabbed a moth-eaten cloth bunny from the back seat. A small pink rucksack lay in the foot-well and he lifted it out, tucking the teddy into the open main section.

"I found Mr Pickles." Sam announced merrily, shutting the door and swerving away from the snow that fell from the roof of the car. He stepped back up beside Lena and watched her for a moment.

"Mr Pickles … ?" Lena echoed in a whisper, turning to look at Sam. "Shit!" She gasped and looked around them in sudden alarm. "That's right! We were off to get our stuff." She looked back inside the car and sighed loudly. "Of course. We came here and that's when I heard the radio. And then Dean called you and - "

"Hey?"

Lena looked back at Sam and met his fearful confusion. "I remember now." She began softly.

"Remember? Remember what?"

Suddenly distracted by something within the car, Lena gasped and grappled with the glove-box door. She wrenched it open and reached inside to grab the hissing radio handset.

"Lena, I know you're there. You always take this damned thing with you. Please. Pick up."

Lena laughed and held up the handset. "See!" She insisted merrily. "Jerry!"

"Who?" Sam frowned, backing away from her a little.

"Jerry." She repeated and held the radio up to her mouth. "Yeah, I'm here. I'm okay."

"Lena? Oh thank god!"

"Hey, Jerry."

'Lenny, where've you been? Where'd you go?"

"It's a long story." Lena replied quietly.

"It's the kids. Isn't it. You're running away because of the kids."

Lena swallowed back the sudden lump in her throat. "I'm sorry. I had to."

"Where are you, Lenny? Let me help you."

Turning to face Sam, Lena saw the worry in his face and reached out to place her hand on his arm. "I'm okay, Jerry. I'm with friends. But we could sure use your help." She saw Sam's instant panic and gripped his arm, shaking her head in gentle reassurance. "We're at the Super 8 outside of town. You think you can get out here?"

"Why? What's wrong?"

"I'll explain when you get here."

There was silence for a moment and Lena waited patiently, smiling up at Sam.

"Okay. I'm on my way."

"Thanks, bud." Lena signed off and dropped the handset into her lap. She let go of Sam's arm and rubbed her face with her gloved hands, sighing out a weary sigh. "Okay, okay. What was next …"

Sam watched Lena cautiously, his heard thudding against his chest. "Lena. What's going on?"

Lena laughed, "Oh, you wouldn't believe me if I - " She gasped and span back towards him, her smile faltering. "Wait … no … you would …"

Taking another step back away from the car, Sam shook his head and held up one hand. "Okay, you're not making any sense. Will you please - " He was stopped by the shrill melody that began to play inside his jacket and he paused for a second.

"That'll be your brother." Lena offered calmly. "He's going to tell you that my daughter is trying to attack him."

"What?" Sam kept his eyes on Lena and quickly pulled the ringing phone from his pocket. His heart flipped over as he glanced at the caller ID and he frowned down at her with renewed fear.

"Tell him to do whatever he needs to." Lena continued, stepping down from the car. "Tell him it'll be okay."

"What?" Sam husked.

"Just tell him." Lena urged, closing the car door and moving towards the rear of the jeep.

Sam flipped open the phone and pressed it to his ear. "Dean?"

"Sammy!"

"Dean!"

"Sammy! Hurry the hell back! It's here!"

Sam heard the sound of a struggle and heard his brother grunt in pain. His head was spinning and he moved towards Lena, watching as she grabbed her bags from the trunk space and smiled sadly up at him.

"Sammy!"

There was a thud and the line went dead. Sam's hands were trembling as he lowered the phone and stared at it in horror.

"We have to get back. And fast." Lena urged.

Sam nodded slowly, closing the phone and looking back towards her. "How did you know?"

"I saw it." Lena replied with a shrug, closing the rear door and pointing the remote key at the jeep, waiting for the gentle chirp of the alarm before stepping towards him.

"You … you what?" Sam whispered, the world dancing around him for a moment.

"Look. It hasn't happened for a while and I thought it had gone but …" Lena smiled thinly, "Sometimes I 'see' things."

"Future things." Sam surmised.

Lena nodded. She watched him frown slightly and she moved closer to him. "I can explain later. Right now, your brother is in trouble."

Sam took one of the bags she held out to him and watched her cross the road towards the snow drift. He began to move after her and suddenly gasped. "Wait! How old are you?"

"What?" Lena laughed in surprise, "What's that got to - ?"

"Please."

Lena watched Sam hurry after her and saw the urgency in his worried face. "27."

"Thank god." Sam sighed, reaching her side and then moving past her to climb the snow bank back up into the forest. "For a moment there," He continued, grunting with the effort of ascending the slippery drift, "I was worried."

- tbc -