JESS

Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Supernatural. They belong to Kripke. This is done strictly for fun, not profit. Also, if anything seems familiar, I don't own it.

A/N: Okay, first off…thanks for all the great reviews and don't worry, I will respond. It's just been a little crazy the last two weeks. Also, if I flub some of the medical stuff please forgive me. I tried to do some research and asked a fellow writer (thanks by the way to Salem's Child for the info I hope I do you justice) but some things may still not quite jive. So yeah, mistakes…all my own.

Spoilers: Season 1 up until "Shadow." I kind of flubbed the time line a little because technically in the U.S. the season finale had aired by the time Sam had his birthday, but in this story we're still before "Dead Man's Blood." But other than that, I hope I got things right.

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Sam felt like he was floating, suspended between those two points of awake and asleep, not really wanting to go either way. He knew he should probably wake up, but the pull towards sleep was so much more enticing. The bed shifted slightly and Sam frowned at the movement. No, it wasn't time to get up.

"Crap. Sam, wake up."

The bed jostled even more and the warm line down the side of his body pulled away leaving him wanting to pull the blanket closer.

"Sam, come on. We're gonna be late."

Sam cracked his eyes open just in time to see a blonde blur fly out of the bedroom towards the bathroom. Suddenly more awake, Sam slowly sat up and looked around with a confused look on his face. "Late?"

Jess came back in the room as she quickly brushed out her hair and gave him an incredulous look. "Yes…late. My class starts in like five minutes." She finished brushing her hair and reached to grab her shoes. "Professor Woods is gonna kill me," she grumbled as she quickly tried to pull her shoes on while standing up. "I've already been late three times. I can't afford to be-" her words cut off as she lost her balance and flailed helplessly as she fell with a graceless thump on the side of the bed doing a face plant into the soft blankets.

Sam snickered slightly and bit his lip trying to keep from laughing.

Jess just looked up at him from where she had fallen, slowly pulling her hair back so she could give him a proper glare. "Did you just laugh at me?" she asked with mock anger.

Sam tried to keep a straight face as he watched Jess pick herself up off the bed and stand there with hands on hips and a challenge in her eyes. "No," he said seriously before he burst out laughing. "That was just too funny," he said as he sat there still laughing at her.

Jess just stood there in shock for a second before jumping up on the bed and grabbing a pillow so that she could beat him over the head with it.

Sam just continued to laugh as he tried to fend off her blows watching as a few feathers escaped into the air. "Okay, stop! No, no come on. Okay! I'm sorry, I wasn't laughing at you. Okay," he said with a smile on his face and his hands still raised in defense.

"Oh, yeah?" Jess asked as she continued to hit him with the pillow. "Then what…would you…call it?" she asked punctuating her words with hits as a smile began to play over her lips. She reared back to bop him one more time for good measure, and Sam snuck his hand inside her swing and grabbed her around the waist. As he pulled her down to him, she gave out a little squeak as she realized she was falling and then giggled as she fell against him.

Sam kissed her gently, smiling against her lips as she kissed him back both of them laughing now before they began to calm, and the kissing started to become more serious.

"I'm sorry," Sam said seriously. "I shouldn't have laughed." He kissed her again in apology and to show her how much he really loved her.

They continued to kiss for a few more moments until Jess suddenly groaned and started to pull away. "Ugh, Sam, we can't. I'm going to be late."

When Sam didn't let go she made a sound of disgust. "No, Sam, come on," she said as she pushed him away and tried to climb off of the bed. "We're gonna be late." She was about to slip off the edge to finish getting ready when strong arms snaked around her waist and pulled her back towards him so she was leaning up against his chest and he could rest his chin on her shoulder. She just sighed and leaned back relishing the feel of his strong arms around her.

"Can't we just stay in today?" he asked softly against her ear. "Play hooky?" He kissed her neck slightly before settling his chin back on her shoulder. He rocked them slightly as he closed his eyes remembering exactly how this used to feel. He had forgotten how much he loved just holding her like this.

"I never thought I'd hear you say that," she said not looking at him before frowning slightly. She then pulled away and Sam was reluctant to let her go. She turned so she could look at him and Sam could tell that she was worried. "You sure you're okay?" She reached up to brush a hand through his hair and Sam reached a hand up to capture her hand against the side of his face. "You've been acting…strange all morning."

Sam closed his eyes feeling her warm hand lying gently against his face and wanted to tell her everything. All about his family, about what he knew, and what he was sad to say he knew would happen. But instead he just smiled. "I'm fine," he said before kissing the palm of her hand.

Jess just frowned in confusion knowing that he wasn't saying something.

He quickly lowered her hand to the mattress before quickly moving off the bed and hurrying towards the bathroom. "Well, hurry up," he said as he continued walking away. "We wouldn't want you to be late now would we," he said playfully before closing the door behind him.

Jess just stared after him for a moment before shaking herself. "Yeah right, I'm not the one that's still in my pajamas," she yelled through the door as she finished putting on her shoes. She just shook her head and smiled slightly. "Sometimes I just don't get you," she said to herself before looking back to where Sam had just disappeared.

In no time flat, they were both dressed and heading out the door, never realizing that someone was watching them from across the street as they walked quickly towards campus.

As they walked along hand in hand talking about things that they were going to do later, Sam suddenly started to feel like something was wrong. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck raise and his steps started to slow. Suddenly, he realized what was wrong.

Someone was watching them.

Even after all these years of being out of the hunt, Sam's instincts were still sharp and he knew what it felt like to have someone following him. But were they following him...or them?

He looked around the street distractedly trying to figure out what to do next, and Jess just looked at him quizzically. "Sam?"

He suddenly saw a news stand up ahead and an idea came to him. "Hey, why don't you go on up ahead? I want to get a paper really quick."

Jess just looked at him for a moment with a raised eyebrow not sure what to think of his weird behavior.

Sam disentangled his hand from hers and started to veer off towards the news stand. "Don't worry. I'll catch up. Go. You'll be late." He shooed her along and gave her a smile to let her know that he was okay. Please, Jess, just…go.

Jess hesitated for a moment more before continuing on, glancing back at him every once in a while.

As he watched Jess head on towards campus, Sam tried to act normally as he went to the news stand and picked out a paper. He knew he was probably being paranoid, but after years of having to be paranoid, he just couldn't shake the feeling. He quickly paid smiling at the man behind the stand before pretending to stand there for a moment looking at the headlines as he casually turned slightly back the way they had come. As he stood there, he kept telling himself he was just paranoid but what could it hurt to check. He quickly looked up making sure not to move his head and looked back the way they came studying the street for anybody out of place.

To the casual observer, it would have looked just like any busy sidewalk crowed with people, but to Sam one person stood out from all the others.

He let the paper drop slightly in his surprise and he saw the figure, who was studying a store window about a hundred feet away, glance slightly in his direction before he turned back to the window, a lopsided grin starting to slide across his face.

The man knew he had been caught, and he was proud to know that Sam still had the skills he had drilled into him since before he could walk.

What the hell was he doing here? Sam's jaw suddenly tightened as he continued to look at the man following him before he roughly folded the paper in his hands, and headed back down the street to catch up with Jess.

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Sam could feel something cool trickle down the side of his face. It tickled a trail down towards his ear, and he twitched slightly in response. Something heavy and cool settled on his forehead and he turned slightly towards it as he suddenly realized his skin felt a little too warm. He groaned slightly as feeling started to come back online and his body began to ache as if he had had one giant Charlie horse all over.

"Sam?" Dean asked hesitantly not knowing if his brother was really waking up, or if this might be another nightmare. "Sam can you hear me?"

Sam swallowed slowly trying to work a little moisture into his parched mouth. He could hear somebody talking to him, but couldn't quite figure out who it was over the hissing in his ears. He then slowly tried to open his eyes.

"That's it, Sam. Come on. Open your eyes. Come on little brother, wake up." Dean coached as he watched Sam's eyelids flutter several times before stilling again. "No, Sam, come on. Come on, wake up," he asked anxiously as he placed a hand on his brother's shoulder.

The more the voice talked, the more he realized who it was and Sam struggled to open his eyes again not wanting to disappoint him. He finally succeeded in cracking them open slightly, his blurry eyesight only making out vague shapes in the room. Blinking several times, he tried to clear his vision before his older brother's smiling face finally came into focus. "D--an," he croaked out hesitantly not sure of anything quite yet.

If it was even possible Dean's smile grew even wider. "Yeah, little brother, it's me." Dean ran a hand through Sam's sweat soaked hair and stared down at his brother's pale face. "Man it's good to see you awake. You had me worried there for a bit," Dean said as a wave of relief washed through him. It had been almost two days since he had seen Sam's eyes open, and the fever had finally just started to come back down into manageable numbers this morning.

Sam closed his eyes and tried to swallow again not able to figure out what his brother was talking about.

"Hey, you thirsty?" Dean asked as he quickly reached for the cup beside the bed. After pulling off the oxygen mask, he helped Sam lift his head slightly so that he could have a few sips of water.

The cool water felt good in his parched mouth and Sam tried to lift his hand so he could take the cup and drink it dry, but his arm felt like it was tied down with ten ton weights.

"Hey, not too much. Don't want you to get sick." Sam spluttered slightly as he choked on the water, and Dean pulled the cup away before helping Sam lie back down. He quickly replaced the oxygen mask and could feel Sam's muscles shake with the effort it took to just lift his head.

As Sam settled back on the pillows, he closed his eyes again trying to regain a little strength and just focused on breathing for the moment. Man that had taken a lot out of him.

A thought flickered across his mind and he opened his eyes again. He slowly turned his head to look around the room as a slight frown formed on his face.

"Sam?" Dean asked in concern as he looked to see what his brother might be looking for noting that there was nothing there.

"Where's Jess?" Sam asked in almost a whisper before letting his head plop back onto the pillow too tired to care about anything else. He thought that at least Jess should have been here if he was as sick as Dean said he was.

Dean just froze. Oh, god. Did he think that Jess was still alive? He knew that Sam had been having fevered dreams about Jess, but now… What do I tell him? I can't tell him she's dead. Not now. Dean studied his brother's pale face, fever spots dotted his cheeks and dark circles surrounded his eyes make him look absolutely exhausted. Dean knew that with a high fever, things could get a little fuzzy, but he hadn't been prepared for this possible question. "She just left to get something to eat," Dean lied as a lump formed in his throat. "She'll be back in a little while." He tried to smile but only managed a slight curl to his lips as his heart broke a little more for Sam.

Dean's answer seemed to appease Sam and he nodded almost imperceptibly before settling back into the pillows even more sighing slightly as exhaustion started to pull him back under again.

"Oh hey, Sam? No, no, no, Sam... Come on wake up."

Sam's eyes fluttered open again as he tried to do as Dean asked. "Hmmm. Tired," he mumbled as he blinked his eyes sleepily.

"Yeah, I know Sam, but I need to ask you something. Just a little bit longer, okay?"

Sam made a slight humming noise and turned his head towards Dean showing that he was listening.

"Sam, do you know who the old woman is that you saw? Sam?" Dean asked shaking his brother's shoulder slightly to make sure he was awake. He felt terrible for keeping his brother awake, but he needed to know.

Sam blinked again as the shaking woke him a little more. He tried to focus on what Dean had asked feeling like it was taking forever to try and piece together the few words. Finally, he shook his head slightly. "No," he slurred as his eyes lost focus and slipped closed again. "I don't… I saw…him. Don't know…why. Thought he was…mad…"

Dean frowned in confusion not able to piece together what Sam had said. "Him? Sam, I thought it was an old woman after you." A man? Someone that was mad? "Sam?" Sam placed his hand on Sam's shoulder and shook him slightly. "Sam, who? Who did you see? Who was mad at you?" Come on, Sam. Just a little bit longer then I promise you can sleep.

Sam's eyes fluttered open again not quite focusing on Dean before closing again. "Hmmm?" he said sleepily as he started to drift back to sleep.

"Sam, who was mad at you?" Dean asked again trying to jog Sam's memory.

Sam's eyelids fluttered a little more and he took a deep breath. "Dad...was…" Sam breathed out before his eyelids stilled and his breathing deepened as he finally let sleep claim him again.

Dean sat there in slight shock. Dad? Their Dad had something to do with this? Or was that part of Sam's delusions? Dean sat back in his chair and ran his hands over his face. "No, he couldn't know about this," Dean said to himself not wanting to believe that their father might actually know what was happening. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he sat forward again. He could feel a headache starting behind his eyes from lack of sleep and he sighed as a sudden wave of exhaustion washed through him. He finally dropped his hands and looked up at his sleeping brother. This was just part of Sam's fever dreams, he was just hallucinating. Yeah, that was it, Dean tried to tell himself. "Of course, when has anything ever been that simple for us, hey Sammy?" Dean asked Sam knowing that he wouldn't get a response. Dean just scoffed and shook his head looking away towards the window. "Yeah…right."

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"What did you just say?" Bobby asked not sure if he had heard Dean correctly the first time.

Dean sighed heavily as he leaned against the wall, the stress and lack of sleep making him feel like standing was even a chore. "I asked if you knew if my dad ever tangled with something that looked like an old woman and can make people sick."

Bobby sat back in his chair as he thought for a second trying to remember if John had ever said anything. "No, I don't think so. Of course…John was never the 'sharing' type either. Plus, I don't think I've spoken to your daddy in almost a year," Bobby said regretting that he didn't have more to give the boy. "I'm sorry, Dean."

Dean nodded slightly as he leaned his head back against the wall. "Yeah, Bobby, I know. I just thought…maybe." He knocked his head against the wall a couple of times in frustration before pushing off the wall and began pacing back and forth across the small area. After deciding to try and call Bobby, he had found a small alcove off of the main hallway where he could get a little privacy but still not be too far away from Sam.

"Dean, what's wrong?" Bobby asked knowing that it couldn't be good if he was calling him for info about his father.

The line was silent for a long time and Bobby was afraid that he had lost the connection. "Dean?" he asked again worry starting to creep into his voice. "Is it, Sam?" Bobby hadn't seen the boy since before he went to college, but he knew Dean well enough to know that the only thing that could really rattle his cage was either his father or his brother.

Dean had stopped pacing and he just stood in the middle of the room looking down at his feet. He swallowed hard trying to keep his emotions in check before finally feeling confident that he could speak. "Yeah," he got out past the lump in his throat and his voice cracked slightly at the end. "He's uh, he's pretty sick. He…Bobby I…I don't know what to do," he mumbled and Bobby could tell that he was almost at the end of his rope. "When I found him…he couldn't move. He couldn't talk… He told me, that there was an old woman after him."

"He told you?" Bobby asked not understanding exactly how if Sam couldn't talk.

"He could blink," Dean said matter-of-factly and Bobby just reeled slightly as he took this info in. "Bobby, I don't know what to do," Dean said as he began to pace again. "I don't know if this is just a by-product of his fever…or if this is real. I mean…if Sam had just woken up and told me he had a dream about an old woman wanting him, I would've thought he'd just had a nightmare about an some old cougar, but-"

"Why would a mountain lion be after Sam?" Bobby asked suddenly confused about how they had gotten off on this subject.

Dean stopped and blinked before pulling the phone away from his ear to look at it. He's kidding right? "No…Bobby…a cougar is- You know what just…forget it. Just tell me, do you have any idea what might be wrong with my brother?" Dean finished slightly annoyed as he glanced back towards Sam's room down the hall slightly. He had reluctantly left the room shortly after Sam fell asleep not wanting to wake him up by using the phone. As he passed the nurses' station he had told one of them that Sam had woken up for a while. After telling her that he had to make a phone call, she had said that she would keep an eye on him, but Dean still felt uneasy leaving his brother alone.

"Whoa, hey just calm down okay?" Bobby said in slight shock from Dean's sudden anger. "No, Dean, I'm sorry I don't. I'll see if I can find anything, but…I think your best bet would be to talk to your Daddy."

Dean just scoffed and rolled his eyes slightly. "Yeah right, I'll be lucky if he calls me back in a month," Dean grumbled before sighing heavily rubbing his hand across his forehead in frustration. "Okay, Bobby, I'll try him. Just…let me know if you find anything?" he said hopefully. He knew that there had to be something supernatural behind all of this, and if his father didn't know what it was then hopefully Bobby could figure it out.

Bobby nodded even though he knew Dean couldn't see it. "Will do, and Dean?" He paused slightly hoping that it would get the older boy's attention. "He'll be okay. Sam's tough, he'll beat this." Bobby prayed with all his might that Sam did because if he didn't…he didn't even want to think about what would happen to Dean.

Dean swallowed hard and didn't answer for a moment. "Thanks, Bobby," he said softly before hanging up the phone. He leaned up against the wall and then slid down until he was sitting on the floor with his knees pulled up to his chest. He rested his head on his arms and took a couple of deep breaths. How did things get so fucked up? He rested like that for a moment longer before finally raising his head and taking a deep breath. I can't fall apart now. Not when Sam needs me. He then sighed heavily before getting to his feet slowly. He knew what he needed to do even though he knew it probably wouldn't help. With that thought, he dialed his father and waited for him to pick up.

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John walked back to his truck slowly, exhausted as the adrenaline rush from earlier started to fade. He winced slightly as he readjusted the shovel he had slung over his shoulder and hissed slightly as pain speared down his back on the right side. Yup, definitely some bruised ribs. The angry spirit he had been trying to dispatch hadn't been very happy when John tried to burn his bones and had had fun throwing him around the graveyard a few times before he finally got the bones burned. The last throw had slammed him into a rather large headstone and his ribs were definitely protesting the abuse. "Man I'm getting to old for this," he grumbled as his truck finally came into sight.

Once reaching his truck he tiredly threw the shovel in the back and then unlocked his secret compartment to put away the rest of his tools. After he finished he headed towards the driver's door and could hear a faint buzz coming from inside. Frowning slightly, he quickly opened the door and picked up his phone. Most of the time he kept it off, but when he went out hunting he made sure to leave it on. Just in case something went really bad. The Caller ID read 'Dean' and he frowned even more as he sat down behind the wheel still staring at the phone. He really wanted to pick up and talk to his eldest son. The last time he had seen his boys, they had been bloody and bruised from their encounter with the shadow demons and he wanted to make sure that they were okay, but he knew that he couldn't talk to them. Not yet anyway.

Soon his phone stopped vibrating and he waited until it buzzed again indicating that he had a voice mail before opening it up and pressing the button. Holding his breath, he waited for the phone to connect.

"You have…2 new voice mails." The automated voice told him.

He listened to the prompts, his eyebrows rising slightly as he realized the first message was from almost two days ago.

"Uh, Dad, I know I've left you messages before, but…"

John listened as concern started to niggle at his thoughts. Dean sounded upset.

"It's, Sam. He's really sick, and uh…I-I don't know what's wrong with him, but uh…I think it's…not normal."

John's heart dropped to his stomach. Sam was sick? Something supernatural? He tried to concentrate on the rest of the message but thoughts that something might be really wrong with Sam almost drowned out everything else.

"Just…call me back okay?"Dean ended his message and John could tell that it was taking everything Dean had to hold it together trying not to show weakness. John hated that he had made his sons believe that showing emotions were a weakness, especially Dean. Sometimes he worried that Dean was a little too shut down. But he knew that for his sons to be safe they had to be strong, and he knew that if you let your emotions cloud your judgment then they could get you killed.

As the prompts for the second message began, John took his own advice and tried to push his emotions away and focus on the present.

"Dad," Dean began. "I really need to talk to you. I think…I think you might know what is making Sam sick."

John blinked slightly in surprise at his son's words.

"Sam keeps talking about an old woman that wants him, and…he said something about you. Now…it might be nothing, but…"Dean trailed off and John knew what he was thinking.

But when has it ever been nothing for us, right?

"Look, if you could just…call me. Please, I need to know if this is something we can fix. I just…"

John swallowed hard at hearing the desperation in Dean's voice knowing how much Dean hated seeing his little brother hurt or sick. And he knew that it must be bad if Dean was willing to show some weakness, especially to him. "Just, call me back. We're at St. Luke's in Lincoln, Ne-"

Dean suddenly cut off and the hairs on the back of John's neck stood up knowing that something must be wrong. John could hear background noise over the message and what sounded like a lot of commotion in the background before Dean's voice could be heard slightly muffled like he had dropped the phone away from his face.

"Oh no, oh please not again," Dean pleaded not realizing that the phone line was still connected. "No, no, no, no, no."

There was more background noise, and John held the phone tightly to his ear straining to hear what was going on. He his heart thudded against his ribs as fear gripped him at what might have caused Dean to act this way. He wanted to call out to his son, but knew that it was futile since it was just a message.

He listened with bated breath as more noise could be heard and then a feminine voice could be heard coming closer.

"Sir? Sir, are you okay?" There were a few more noises before someone spoke into the phone. "Hello? Hello, is anybody there?"

With no answer the phone was disconnected. "End of messages."

"Oh, God," John said softly not realizing how tightly he was holding the phone or that his hands shook slightly as he lowered the phone from his ear. What had happened?

He played through the message again and again trying to listen to everything except what his son was saying trying to figure out what had happened until something finally clicked, and the background noise finally made sense. When what he heard finally registered with his brain, he could feel the color drain from his face and his heart beat even faster. "Oh, God, no," he said softly as the message ended once again.

He quickly closed the phone and turned the key in the ignition bringing the truck to life with a roar before spinning his tires and urging it to go faster. If he sped, he could be there in less than six hours. As he drove, the words that he had been able to make out in the background noise played over and over in his head and he just hoped that they had been wrong.

"Code blue, room 302, STAT. Code blue, room 302, STAT."

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A/N: Bwhahahahahaha. I know. I'm evil. Please don't hurt me. (cowers behind her chair hoping not to get hit by daggers) Don't worry though. I've already got most of the next chapter written and should have it up either tomorrow night or the next. (peeks out hopefully to see if the threat has passed) Until then.