Chapter 56

His head was pounding and he just couldn't seem to force his eyes open. 'Great, what did Dean get me into this time?' Sam thought to himself. Then he remembered he had only been talking to Dean; that his brother was still in Purgatory. He shot up out the surprisingly comfortable position he was lying in, and started scanning what turned out to be the dimly lit bedroom of Missouri's house.

Last thing he remembered was talking to Dean, well, not talking so much as …telepathy? Then he remembered Amelia had communicated with him telepathically, several times in fact. He looked around the room; it appeared she must have been there at some point. There was a pile of both of their wet clothes in the corner. As dark as it was, it must be several hours since the column of water had exploded and sent them flying.

He sat up on the edge of the bed, and actually managed to stand up on the second attempt. He headed toward the voices coming from somewhere else in the house; and was still feeling the knot on the back of his head as he made his way into the kitchen.

"Oh, sleeping beauty finally decided to join us?" Missouri called, and everyone at the table turned to look at him. The sight of pretty much, everybody he knew, turning to look at him, took him by surprise. It was Missouri's house, so he had expected her, Charlie, and Amelia to be there. But, Jodie, Garth and two people who looked vaguely familiar and were obviously hunters; were also sitting at the table or leaning against the counters.

"SAM." Came a chorus of voices.

"Uh, Amelia, are you okay?" Sam asked, as she was getting up from the table and coming toward him.

"I'm fine. How's your head?" And as she asked, she reached up and put her hand on the back of his head. The headache he had woken up with disappeared.

"Yeah, I'm good." Sam replied; then looked at the other hunters. "Uh, anything I should know about Bootback?"

The other hunters looked to Garth, and he nodded in acknowledgement. "We're good. Sam, this is Manny and Danny, a brother team, like you and Dean. We took out four demons before you two even got there. We found a few civilians in the area and Sheriff Mills here sent them packing with a story of chlorine leak from the plant." Garth paused while Sam shook hands with the hunters and Jodie gave him a big hug.

"That was quite a show your girlfriend put on." Said Manny, or maybe Danny, Sam wasn't sure which was which.

Sam was already wary of the strangers, but immediately went into protective mode. "We going to have a problem?" He asked, knowing some hunters considered anything 'supernatural' fair game.

"Are you kidding? She's great. We were trying to convince her to dump your sorry ass and work with us!" The other brother said.

"Listen, Sam, we know you and your brother have had…, let's call then disagreements, with other hunters." The first brother spoke up again. "But, if Garth says you're good folks; that's good enough for us." And with that, they nodded at Garth, and Amelia, and headed for the door. "Call us if you need us on the twelfth." And they were out the door before Sam could thank them.

As soon as they were out of the house, Sam turned to Garth. "You told them? Wait a minute, how do you know about the twelfth?" Sam asked.

Charlie and Jodie spoke at the same time. "I told him." The two women looked at each other, surprised. Jodie pointed to the hacker, indicating she should go first.

"I may have mentioned you guys needed his help while we working on setting up our hunter's network." Charlie supplied, somewhat sheepishly.

"And I filled in the details while we were clearing the area around Bootback." Jodie added, not at all sheepishly.

Sam was stunned speechless, for a few seconds. And then he was furious. "Are you all crazy!?" He asked raising his voice to make sure they knew how serious he was. "This isn't some…, some book club you're organizing here. You all could get hurt; or killed!"

Amelia, still standing next to Sam, put her hand on his arm; as the women stared at him; their turn to be stunned. "Sam." Amelia's soft voice breaking the silence. "They know that." She paused until he looked at her. "They know this isn't a game; and that they're risking a lot. They also know; that you and Dean are worth it."

He just stared at the five of them. Having friends willing to risk everything to help them had not worked out well in the past for the Winchesters; or at least not for those friends. Sam studied their faces; there wasn't a shadow of doubt on any of them. "Okay. But if any of you get hurt, Dean will kick my ass when we he gets back!"

Everybody relaxed, and they started talking again. Except, he noticed, Amelia. 'And ,what was that on Amelia's face? She's not telling them, or me, something?' Sam thought to himself.

'Not here. Missouri will hear you.' Amelia's voice reached into his thoughts. Sam should have known, his thoughts were never going to be to himself, with a goddess and a psychic in the same room. He turned and looked down at her face and she nodded toward the door.

"Will you excuse us?" Amelia asked the group, as she took Sam's arm and started out of the kitchen. Just before she rounded the wide door out of the room, she glanced back at Missouri. She was watching them leave with an expression that showed she had heard Sam's thoughts, too.

X

"Are we going to use our mouths, or should I just let you use my head to hold this conversation?" Sam asked Amelia as soon as they reached the bench in the back yard.

"I'm sorry; I didn't know I had regained the telepathy until we were at the plant. We were kind of busy; it didn't seem like the time to talk about it." She replied evenly. Amelia knew Sam was going to be upset and she let him vent his anger.

Her quick apology threw him for a loop; and completely deflated his anger. He and Dean argued about almost everything; sometimes, just for the sake of arguing. He smiled, remembering the many arguments they had had just as a form of amusement. Amelia saw she was forgiven but knew enough to keep the penitent expression on her face.

"Really?" Sam asked in mock frustration, after hearing her thought. "Looks I'm not the only one who needs to learn to control their thoughts."

After a few seconds of being shocked that she had projected that thought to Sam without meaning to, Amelia responded to him. "I guess so. Sam, it's been centuries since I had the power of telepathy. It took me by surprise. And yes, it apparently isn't like riding a bicycle." She paused, as something else occurred to her. Concentrating, trying to not project any thoughts, 'Or, maybe you will be able to hear my thoughts, when they are about you, because you are the reason my powers are returning.'

Sam watched her as she was obviously thinking, hard, about something. "Stop whatever you're doing. You look like you're about to have a stroke." He teased her.

Amelia relaxed and leaned into him for an embrace. She hated keeping things from him, but it was not the time to let Sam know the true reason her powers were returning. She had to hide that from him, and apparently Missouri, for four more days.

X

After he had noted that the water vortex had seemed much stronger than the one in Omaha, Sam and Amelia stayed in the back yard, discussing some of her other returning powers. When his stomach rumbled, they noticed it was now completely dark; and remembered Sam hadn't eaten since noon.

When they got into the house, they found Garth had snuck out the front door several minutes ago. Missouri had sent Charlie and Jodie to sleep in her bed; stating she had slept on her sofa before. She was sitting at the kitchen table, with a sandwich and a beer waiting for Sam. "Amelia, help me get the extra bedding out of your room while Sam is eating." It was a thin excuse; and it was clear the psychic wanted to talk to the goddess, alone.

"Are you going to tell him why your powers are returning?" Missouri said as soon as she closed the door behind them.

"Of course I am." Amelia replied, as she turned back toward the door and the psychic. "Just, not until after we get his brother out of Purgatory."

"I thought you had to leave as soon as Dean was rescued?" Missouri asked skeptically.

"I've been given a day, before I'll be called back." She choked out, fighting back tears.

Missouri wrapped the ancient goddess in her arms and let her quietly cry. She was still amazed that is was so easy to read the thoughts and emotions of such a powerful being. Maybe, that was the key; apparently it had been a very long time since Mother Nature had had such a profound emotional connection to a human. Missouri smiled, as she patted the young woman's back; Sam Winchester seemed to have profound effects on some people, and apparently some goddesses.

X

Sam had waited in the kitchen until Missouri came out with a blanket; the 'extra bedding' that had been so important she needed Amelia's help to collect. She told him it was late, she was tired and to 'go to bed'.

"Amelia, is everything okay?" He asked quietly, as he sat on the edge of the bed and kicked off his shoes.

She was curled up on her side, facing the other way; she didn't turn to face him as she answered. "Yes. I'm just tired."

He stood up again to undress. "Listen, I know there's something you're not telling me. And, apparently Missouri knows it too." He paused, as he slid under the sheets and curled up behind her, wrapping her tightly in his arms. "I trust you, and know you'll tell me when you can. All I'm going to say, is, as someone who has kept his fair share of secrets; just don't wait too long."

Sam kissed her cheek and could taste the salty residue of her tears. She turned around; put her head against his chest. "I won't." Then she tipped her head and kissed her way up from his chest, to his neck, until she found his lips. He could feel her need, and was pretty sure it wasn't completely about him. She was hurting and needed something to make her forget the pain. Sam had every intention of making her forget whatever was making her so sad, if it took him all night.