Sorry, some more words here.
I'm going to try and make this as in-character as I can, but I'm seriously afraid of messing up the best characters in existence, so please get right on me if I screw up Sam or Dean or Bobby. Please keep in mind, however, that this is placed in the first season, and they still had a lot of character development to go through at that time.
Once again, feedback is appreciated. Thank you for the reviews!
Also: The last chapter was changed. I made a booboo in the plot line. It's been fixed.

I gasped.

Was Brady already here?

My eyes narrowed.

No. I had a feeling I knew exactly who did this.

I stuffed my toothbrush, floss, tongue brush, and tooth paste back into the plastic bag I had for it and stormed back out into the living room. Jamie was conveniently asleep, even though I had only been in the bathroom about 15 minutes more than she, and it was early in the night.

"Jamie." I said.

She didn't move.

A rush of anger welled inside me. I don't know where it came from - looking back, probably the pain from the past couple days -, and I tried to stop the leak, but once some of it was released, it had to boil out of me. "Jamie," I hissed, shaking her violently.

She reluctantly opened her eyes. "What?" She asked, clearly annoyed.

My lip raised in an uncontrollable sign of fury. "You removed them, didn't you?"

She glared right back at me. "And I'll keep doing it, even if you find different places to put them."

I took a deep breath, praying to Jesus to calm my nerves. The anger faded, but left tears of frustration and sadness in their wake. "Why won't you let me save her?" I asked, feeling a rush of helplessness.

She rolled on her back. "Because Sam will never grow up if he stays here." She said heatedly. "He will never go back to hunting, he'll never save other countless people-"

"He'd never meet Ruby if he stays here. He'll never say yes to Lucifer. Never have to lose people over and over again. Don't you see? He could have the life he always wanted. Or he could at least take Jessica and run away somewhere safe."

She gave me a patient but yet resting bitch face. "You really think Sam will want to do that? I doubt Jessica would even believe any of this stuff."

"She's a good person, Jamie." The priest at the Catholic church flashed in my mind. "She volunteers at the Stanford Memorial Catholic church."

She rolled her eyes. "Great, she's a Saint. Does it matter?" She sat up. "Think of Dean. Dean will never get his brother back if Sam runs away with Jessica."

I glanced at Jessica and Sam's bedroom. "Be a little quieter." I said very softly. I turned to her and sat on the part of her side of the bed that her legs weren't consuming. "Dean will lose Sam anyway. Several times, in fact."

That broke the solemnity of the conversation. She started laughing. "You know how many times they're going to die? We can't stop anything even if we wanted to."

I knew continuing to talk about it was pointless. I took my pen and my button and went back to the bathroom to redraw the devil's trap. I walked back out and put my pen away, sending her a clear look of, 'If you touch it I'll kill you.'

That night, as I got into bed beside Jamie, I decided on my own that I would do everything I could to save Jessica. Even if I did the whole thing alone - with Jamie's opposition.

I stared at the ceiling. Every night I prayed to Jesus, but now who was that? We were in an entirely different world. Was Jesus still the same thing here? Had he even existed? At least I knew there was God. Or Chuck, rather.

I thought of how strange it was to put a face to such a powerful entity.

Jesus, God, Chuck. I had a feeling they were all the same. And surely, even here, he was listening to my prayers.

Suddenly a strange thought struck me.

God wasn't the only one who could hear my prayers, now.

I glanced very quickly at Jamie. Her even breathing and closed eyes told me she was probably asleep, and even if not, she was close to it.

I bit my lip. I feel silly, I thought to myself. But I should still try.

I took a deep breath and let it out slow.

Dear Castiel. I began, I don't know if you can hear me. I hope you can. It would be really great if you could. I shook my head, even though there was no one to see it. I'm rambling. What I want to tell you is, we're from some alternate dimension. A world way different from here. If you're listening, I hope you can see mental images too, because that might help you know that I'm telling the truth.

With all the mental power I could muster, I focused on images I could recall of him and Sam and Dean on my T.V. screen, then thought of the times I had met and taken photos with the actors who played them. I thought of sending those images to Castiel, envisioning Misha Collins' face in my mind, as that was the only face I had known Castiel to own.

Alright, I don't know if you got any of that, but that's what all this is in our world. A story. And now we're here, and it's real, and my son is gone, I envisioned William's face. And I really have no clue what's going on. If you can hear me, I don't expect you to bring your feathery butt down here to help, but if it's possible, could you at least look into all of this? Maybe some other angels know what's going on.

I opened my tightly shut eyes and looked at Jamie again before returning to pray. If it's possible, could you leave Jamie out of this for now? If this is a chance to save people, then I want to take it. So far, she doesn't seem to be on the same wagon as me. I know you value human life, Castiel, so I hope you understand.

Vaguely I wondered if he did care as much right now as he did in the show. He didn't start understanding the more complex parts of humans until Dean, after all.

I wasn't quite sure how to end the one-sided conversation. Uhh.. I'm going to bed now. So... Goodnight.

And with that, I fell into a restless sleep, dreaming of nothing but the preparations I was going to take to protect Jessica.

/ / / /

The next morning Jessica was up bright and early in a plain-looking outfit, getting ready to leave. I had slept in my day clothes - comfortable indie-printed leggings and my "I'm Hooked" shirt from Once Upon A Time - so I immediately sat up in bed, wiping the sleep from my eyes.

"Where're you goin'?" I asked, my voice slurring from sleepiness.

She looked over her shoulder. "Oh, I'm going to my church. I volunteer every Sunday."

Sunday.

I jumped out of bed, startling her a bit.

Sam and Dean were coming back tonight.

"Can I go with you?" I asked, less slurred this time.

I was already grabbing socks out of my bag and slipping on my converse before she answered, "Well, I... I guess they could use all the hands they could get. Why not?"

The whole day I kept a sharp eye on her. I watched for any signs of anything dark, anything demon-y, any sign of Brady. But there was nothing, and I even felt very welcomed at the church, carrying boxes for a food run in and out of cars and rooms. The priest seemed pleased to see me back. The only part of the day I didn't like was when I dropped a box on my toe and juices spilled everywhere. That was fun.

By the time we were done doing what they asked us to, it was well near 6 o clock, and the both of us were exhausted. Along with carrying boxes of food, we carried and organized books that had been donated to the church, helped some elderly people arrange their furniture, and had a small devotional, which I was completely lost in. I hadn't picked up a regular bible in years, much less a Catholic one.

Again when I walked into the church I heard whispers. This time it only sounded like two people, though. Like they were having a conversation. They spoke all throughout the devotional, which didn't make sense to me, because the room was shut off from the rest of the church and no one in the group was whispering. I chalked it down to extreme stress and depression.

When we got home the sun was just disappearing behind the building's to the West. Jamie was sitting on the fold-out bed, drawing again. Me and Jessica both sat down tiredly.

She looked over at me and Jamie. "What do you say we order take out again?"

Neither of us argued, even though I secretly thought she would save more money by cooking at home. Then again, maybe she didn't know how. It wasn't uncommon, especially in college students.

Time went quickly. After we ate, we talked some more. All I could think about while Jessica laughed over one of Jamie's jokes was that she was just going to let her die. The more we talked, the more anxious I got. I kept getting up periodically to check the windows, besides the one in Jessica and Sam's room, since it would have been socially unacceptable to go creeping around in their room for no logical reason.

I found Jamie had removed the devil's traps again while we were gone. When I went back out to try and discreetly grab my button and pen, I found the button was gone.

I turned to Jamie and glared. I knew she knew exactly why I was giving her that look.

"Woah, if looks could kill!" Jessica said teasingly.

I looked up at her, my expression softening. "Jamie just took my button." I said honestly. I turned back to Jamie and glared again, demandingly. "She was just giving it back. Weren't you?"

Jamie gave me the best liar face in the world and acted as if she had no clue what I was talking about. "I didn't take your button. It must have fallen off."

I growled under my breath and grabbed my notebook.

While Jamie and Jessica talked about music interests and the latest films, I started drawing out what I could remember of the devil's trap. I took the one that looked the most familiar and was about to go put it back in the bathroom, when Jessica announced that she had to go use it.

I felt hopelessness devour me again.

Even if I did put it back under the window, who was to say it was the right one? And I couldn't very well go back into her bedroom or put another mark on the threshold. I had already been acting strange enough, what with my pacing and anxious fidgeting.

As soon as the bathroom door closed behind Jessica, Jamie looked at me. "Maybe you're right." She said.

I stopped my pacing, which I had picked up again exactly after Jessica left the room. "About what?"

She stared at the drawing book in her lap and began picking the top of it, which was peeling off. "Saving her."

I looked at her, astonished. "What?"

She shrugged defensively, as if I were accusing her of a crime rather than joyous at her change of mind. "I'm starting to like her." She said.

I felt exasperated. It took talking about music interests and movies for her to want to save the life of an innocent? "Then good. Give me my button back and distract her while I go put another devil's trap on her bedroom window. I can't believe how long it took for you to say this. You should have been on the saving people hunting things wagon since day one."

She frowned guiltily. "I was. Just... Not where Jessica was concerned."

I held out my hand impatiently. "Give me my button so I can draw more traps."

Jamie paused, but reluctantly fished it out of her pocket.

"Thank you." I said indignantly.

"Just so you know, I don't think we have time to put more traps up."

I felt a trickle of horror run down my spine. "What do you mean?"

She looked at the clock on the wall behind my head. "Because we're probably all going to go to bed soon. And then who do you think is going to show up?"

I started pacing again, panic starting to work its way into a ball in the back of my mind.

"Then what do we do?" I asked.

She paused again.

Finally, just before I was sure Jessica was going to come out of the bathroom, Jamie said, "I think we should tell her."

My instinct was right. Directly after she said that, Jessica stepped out of the bathroom.

I looked at Jessica's face. I had seen her face all day today, telling me who the various people in her church were, telling me where to put boxes, laughing at one of Jamie's jokes. She had become familiar to me, even if only a little.

Though I had begun to know her, I wondered if she would believe us if we did try to tell her.

I slowly sat down next to Jamie, as if the couch were going to attack me.

"We have something we need to tell you." Jamie said.

Jessica sat down. "Sure. What's up?"

I took a long look at Jamie. It was apparent that even if I didn't feel like telling her was a good idea, she wasn't going to give me a choice in the matter. I felt like my anxiety levels had reached a new high, but I figured if we were going to have any chance at saving her, Jamie was probably right, in the long run.

"This is going to sound crazy." I told her, taking the jump off the cliff called risk. "But please try to believe us."

She looked between the two of us. "O...Kayy... Shoot."

I took a deep breath. If I was going to come out with it, it was all going to come out at once.

"So we're actually from the future, where you and Sam and his brother Dean are all just a T.V. show, and tonight you're about to die, and you need to know this because if you don't we'll have just about no chance of saving you."

Jamie looked at me. "Way to break it in slowly, there."

I shrugged indignantly. What did we have to lose? Literally.

Jessica looked between the two of us, a little freaked out. "Okay, you guys are either officially crazy, or you're under a lot more stress than I first thought. Is this some kind of joke?"

I looked at her, terrified she would reject us, and terrified for her life. "We're telling the truth," I told her helplessly.

"Sam Winchester. He was named after his grandfather, which he's never met. His mother died when he was six months old. His dad is always on hunting trips - but not for deer, for monsters." Jamie said, as if it were the most practical matter in the universe.

Jessica's eyes were wide as she looked at Jamie, then at me, then back again, looking as if we had just grown five heads on our bodies. "I think you two should leave."

I looked out the curtain. "What?" I asked, incredulous. "But it's the middle of the night!"

She looked between us again and shook her head, "I was trying to help you guys, you know, because I thought it was the right thing to do, but-" She put her hands up, "But this? You guys are crazy. Totally."

I stood up. "Please! Please don't make us leave. I'm really afraid for you, Jessica, I-"

"Oh, believe me, I'm beginning to get pretty afraid, too." She interrupted. She stood as well. "I think you two should leave. Get your bags and get out. Now."

"But-"

"Now." She wasn't yelling, but she was stern, and the intensity of her glare made my feet move on their own to pick up my bags and get out. Jamie followed suit.

Outside, the air was a bit frigid. Nothing like Colorado would have been at this time, but cold for California, I supposed.

We didn't leave her street.

I set my bags down next to Jamie, who was sitting on the stairs of Jessica's condo.

"What are we going to do?" I asked, running my hands through my hair, pacing back and forth.

She had her arms crossed, leaning against the wall. "We just have to wait until Sam and Dean get back."

My heart started pounding in my chest as if I were running a marathon.

I hadn't considered "Sam" and "Dean" as Sam and Dean in a few years. I had met their actors at Supernatural Con - including Misha, who was a total wondrous nut like me, in reality. I felt as if I knew them as people, not characters. And now here they were, no acting involved. I didn't know what to think. My mind was a twisted mess, trying to sort out the difference between acting and reality.

"This can't be real. How could anything that's happened within the past 24 hours have happened?" I felt like I was going insane.

My son was gone. Fictional characters were in the bodies of real people - or so that was what everything pointed to.

Maybe we had just made believe everything. Maybe we actually were just kidnapped and transported to Stanford, and maybe we had met a girl named Jessica with a boyfriend named Sam Winchester, and maybe that was just all some big coincidence.

I felt my brain going into maximum overdrive in hysteria and panic. What if it really was all just some big coincidence? What if the people who had kidnapped us had taken William, my car, and anything with a date on it?

The date. My brain couldn't fathom how it was possible.

I squatted down and covered my ears, trying to block out some of my senses. None of them pointed to reality, in any case, so what was the point of using them? They were just making me more confused.

Jamie was by my side instantly. "Tessa. Tessa, it's okay. I don't know how it's possible, but it is."

I wanted to scream. But the only thing that came out was a long hoarse breath. "How?"

She grabbed my shoulders. "Hey. Look at me." I did. I focused on her deep blue eyes as if they were a life line. I felt as if without her as an anchor, I would literally become so light that I floated up into space and died.

"You believe in God, right?" She asked.

My mind twisted into indecipherable places of darkness and happiness all at once. Horrifying things I had seen as an EMT - a newborn splattered on the road, thrown out of a car; a child sitting at his mother's feet in another car, the most horrified look on his face, forever frozen there in his death; a friend shooting herself in the head - beautiful things I had experienced - the first time I saw William: his first smile, his first giggle, his laughs; a little girl who had nothing, running up to give me a piece of candy just because I smiled at her.

Did I believe in God? Did I know Jesus?

I had been to the darkest places of the Earth and survived. I had been to the most beautiful places and been humbled by it. I had gone through pain I would never have made it out of if I hadn't had someone to pray to who helped me through the things I had experienced.

Yes, I believed in Jesus; God. I believed in energy and spirits and creation. I believed life had power. I believed there was a plan for everything, and I knew there were always going to be things I would never understand.

So, retreating from my reverie, I answered her, "Yes. Of course I do."

"And do you believe in miracles?"

I had seen a baby's arm regrow from being severed in Jesus' name. I had seen cancer patients survive under his authority. I had even witnessed my grandmother's leg being healed from a point where it should have been amputated.

"I believe in miracles."

She kept looking me in the eyes, trying to keep me focused on her, even though I never left her gaze. "Then can't you believe that he did this? What if he did this so you could save Jessica? And countless other people? ... What if he did this so you could save the world?"

Looking back, that was a ludicrous idea. But at that time, they were the words I needed to hear.

As my mind began to process her words, and I began to pray, Jamie looked up behind me.

"Maybe I'll meet up with you later, huh?"

"Yeah, okay."

A car door shut and me and Jamie looked up at the intrusion on our conversation.

Any prayers I had formulated and anything else she might have said flew out of my mind.

It didn't take me more than five seconds to recognize him. It was strange, because he didn't look like the person I had come to know as Jared Padalecki, but he looked like the character I had come to know as Young Sam.

Jamie stood up immediately, letting go of me and taking one step closer to the mammoth of a man.

I, on the other hand, fell on my butt. Once Jamie let go of me I lost my balance, and since I was squatting, I fell backwards onto my backside.

"Sam," She said urgently. "Jessica's inside. There's a demon after her, and we don't know if he's gotten to her yet. We were trying to keep an eye on her but she kicked us out."

He paused in his walk, eyes wide, looking between the two of us while the words processed. Something like a panicked disbelief mixed with confusion flashed in his eyes. "Demon? What are you...?"

Jamie glanced at me, eyes also widened a tad. "He doesn't know they exist yet." She said softly, sounding a bit surprised, but in a way like she should have known.

He took a giant step around us and speed-walked into the apartment. Apparently, even though he'd never heard of demons yet, he thought something might be amiss.

Jamie pulled me to my feet and we followed Sam into the apartment, Dean not far behind.

"Jess?" Sam called. No answer. "Jess?" A bit more alarmed this time.

I paused, pulling Jamie back from walking. "Jamie," I said softly.

She turned to me.

"Do you hear that?"

She seemed to stop breathing. I could tell she was listening very hard, but I knew she had hearing problems, due to many ear complications growing up.

"No." She finally said, looking to me for the answer she couldn't sense.

I glanced behind her head toward Sam and Jessica's bedroom. "The shower." I murmured, heart beating a million miles an hour as I pushed past her and flew into the next room.

Sam entered the room right after me, having just gotten done checking the kitchen and main bathroom.

I burst open the private bathroom's door and my heart stopped.

"You." My voice shook.

Sam came up behind me and stopped. His face was incredulous. Confused. Panicked. "Brady?"

"Brady" looked up at the ceiling and let out a long sigh. He puckered his lower lip and shook his head just the slightest bit. "Sam, Sam, Sam." He said, as if he were talking to a young child. "I really wish you hadn't done this. We could have had so much fun together, you and I."

I looked at Sam, then at Jamie, then back at Brady, confused. My eyes trailed to the floor, where he was standing on the bathroom mat right in front of the shower.

"The mat...!" I gasped.

Jamie probed me with her eyes from behind the doorway. "What?"

I turned behind me to look at her. "The mat!" I exclaimed, this time. "I put a trap under the mat when we first got here! I guess it was the only one you didn't find!"

Her eyes went to the mat, as well.

Sam looked between me and Jamie and Brady, confused as all hell. "Wait, trap? What's going on? Where's Jessica?"

I stared up at him, my mind reeling. Every dead body I had ever seen, friend and stranger, on the job and outside of it, flashed through my mind.

Right before I looked behind him, up at the ceiling.

"No." I whispered.

He followed my eyes to where I was looking.

"NO!" He screamed, nearly falling over forward to lean onto the bed, still looking up at her. "Jess! NO!"

Brady looked up at his work from his place on the mat. "Well, that wasn't exactly how I imagined it happening, but your reaction is still satisfying." He sighed sadly and shook his head again. "I'd love to light up the fireworks for you, but I'm a bit intertwined. Mind letting me out?"

Sam looked at Brady, shock and murder and rage and horror and even more shock evident in everything about him. "You did this!?" He gasped.

Brady smiled, kindly, almost. "It was wonderful. How she trusted me. And then how she screamed when I slowly cut her," He shivered in delight, "Inch by inch. So beautiful, her blood..."

Instantaneously I knew, for some reason, that he was baiting him. I had seen the tactic several times with other people, and I knew that was what was happening right then. I turned swiftly to Sam and put both hands on his chest, stopping him from going over to Brady.

"No! Stop! He's baiting you!" Sam tore his eyes off of Brady to look down at me. I saw the world burn in his eyes.

"If you go over to him right now, everything that has happened tonight may be for nothing! Please, please, please, listen to me! I can help you stop him!"

The resistance I felt eased away. I slowly removed my hands, cautious he might try to tackle Brady at any moment.

"We can't kill him. Not in any ways that I know of, in any case."

Sam's eyes flitted between me and Brady, anger and pain and panic swimming in his amber eyes.

"Then how the hell are we supposed to make this son of a bitch pay? Who are you two?" Dean made his appearance, having stood silent for too long.

I put my hands up in a position of peace. "We're hunters, just like your dad. Jessica helped me when I needed it most, and so we were watching out for her." I looked down at the floor, "Until she kicked us out."

Jamie ran out of the room just then. She returned a few seconds later with my button. She held it up so the boys could see. "If we paint this on the wall above him, he will be sent back to hell."

Just that sentence alone made me feel crazy. I stared intently at Sam and Dean to try and make the reality come back. I forced knowledge to come out of my mouth, "Spray paint works too. Do we have anything like that?"

Sam ran his hands over his face and let out a strangled sound. "Jess. We have to help Jess."

I shook him by the shoulders, partly for myself and partly for him. "We won't be able to help her unless we get rid of this guy." I looked at Dean. "You can't read Latin very well, so you're going to have to be the one to catch Jessica when Brady gets his butt kicked."

Dean gave me a squinty-eyed expression. "What?" He held a hand up, "Wait, how do you know I can't read Latin very well?"

I shook my head and waved my hands. "That isn't important right now." I pushed passed them and went to my bag and grabbed my nail polish again, bringing my note pad with me. I took the button from Jamie and handed it and the polish to Sam.

"You're the tallest one here. You need to try and paint this on the ceiling above him. Please try to be as precise as you can. At this point, trying is all we can do." I said.

Sam looked at the button and polish, then back up at me. "And if I do this, Jessica can be saved?"

I looked at him. Should I lie? Say yes? But then if she couldn't be saved, I'd get my butt kicked anyway.

"I don't know." I said, going for honesty. "But the longer we wait, the less chance I think she'll have."

He went into overdrive. With better precision than I'd had with painting on a flat surface NOT on the ceiling, he slathered on the trap quicker than I'd thought possible.

"Okay," I said, pushing Dean (to his extreme displeasure) under Jessica. "If she falls, catch her." I said with my best mom voice.

I speedwalked back to Sam and lifted my shirt, backside to him. "Read this."

He looked ass if he were a tiny bit embarrassed, but pushed past it and squinted at the writing. It took him a second to read it. I almost regretted having it in fancy typing.

"Exor..." Sam licked his lips, looked up at Brady, then continued, "Exorcizamus te, Omnis Immundus Spiritus, Omnis Satanica Potestas,"

Brady screamed in pain. He looked at Sam with a hatred I thought would physically burn into him. "I'll come back!" He yelled. "I'll come back for you! You just wait!"

Sam put a finger on my back and read along with the script. I felt as if my heart should flutter. Like it should skip beats. Maybe start pounding. But there was nothing with his touch. It actually felt like a small child was grabbing onto his mother. I thought of William, how he would grab my hands all the time. I fought back tears.

"Omnis Incursio Infernalis Adversarii, Omnis Congregatio et Secta Diabolica, Ergo Draco Maledicte, Ut Ecclesiam Tuam Secura, Tibi Facias Libertate Servire, Te Rogamus," Sam continued.

Black smoke ran into the trap above Brady.

Finally, Sam concluded the exorcism: "Audi Nos."

I watched the last of the smoke disappear into the ceiling. "And that's how you say, "Adios, bitch"." I said.

A thump, skik, and thunk later, Dean was struggling to put Jessica on the bed.

Sam was by her side instantly.

"Jess!" He cried.

I quickly evaluated her from my spot at the foot of the bed. I thought I knew what could be done, but EMTS are much more of a touchy feely type than bystanders.

"Please," I told Sam. "If you let me closer, I'm an EMT, I can help her."

He looked at me with tears in his eyes. He seemed to contemplate leaving her, but he conceded after a few moments of hesitation.

I looked at Dean, "If you have a pocket knife, I need it."

Dean also hesitated, but fished it out from his pocket and handed it to me.

I wasted no time cutting off her clothes so I could see her wounds better.

Sam didn't like this - most people usually didn't - but didn't say anything, probably because I was doing my job.

Jamie looked away. Not that she was necessarily embarassed, but probably because she was trying to keep Jessica's dignity. For me, it was just another body.

I checked her pulse. There was none, but her body was still warm. She was very fresh - her wounds were still bleeding. I quickly looked around and improvised with what I could. I took the bloody scrap from her night dress and put it over her wound, folded the rest of the cloth over it, then took the pillow next to her and pressed it with just enough pressure. I asked Sam to hold it there for me. He did.

I would have to feel around the incisures in her abdomen later. I immediately began resuscitation. I didn't have an AED, so I did what I could with what I lacked.

She twitched a bit in her chest. The pulse came back, but very faintly.

I was about to assess her Lumbar wounds when she began gurgling. I quickly rolled her over on her side, still with Sam pressing the pillow to her abdomen, and opened her mouth to try and let whatever was in her mouth drip out the side to open her airway.

Technically, I should have been forcing the liquid out of her mouth with my fingers, but I wasn't wearing gloves, and I had touched many things since then.

Tears were running down Sam's cheeks. "Help her!" He cried.

I looked at him and then back to my patient and made the decision to begin cleaning out her mouth without any gloves.

It wasn't much use. She evidently choked on what I assume was her own blood and I had to begin resuscitation again, which didn't work a second time.

I wished I could close the doors between me and everyone else in the room. Normally if you know the person on a call, they prefer you to be anywhere but there, because that just makes it too emotionally involved. I knew at that point that there was nothing I was going to be able to do for Jessica. With a lack of my usual tools to help someone, with no help besides me, and with no ambulance to get her on her way to a real doctor, she was as good as gone.

I had been here before. I knew this meant I was going to have to face grieving people. That alone was always the hardest part, usually, but knowing the person grieving is worse.

I looked at Sam with impending sadness. He shook his head at me. "No," He said, in disbelief. "No, no, she can't be gone... No, you..."

I got up to leave my spot so he could take it. He clung onto her lifeless body and sobbed disbelief. He looked up at me. "You have to do something! You have to be able to help her!"

I felt strangely disattached to the situation, as if it weren't real. This wasn't actually Sam Winchester. Wasn't even Jared Padalecki. I must have been on a 48 hour run and was hallucinating it all. This was just another patient.

Jamie laid a hand on the tall man's shoulder.

"She's gone, Sam."

/ / / / / /

Some hours later, I was sitting in the back of the impala with Jamie right next to me.

Sam had cried for a few hours and was currently sleeping.

I felt tired enough to sleep through anything, myself, but sleep wouldn't come. I took the time I was awake to write down everything I remembered about the first season of Supernatural, such as things like," If you go to Colorado and find a few backpackers missing, it's a Wendigo - bring fire."

Jamie was staring out the window, watching the world fly by.

We were headed to Oregon. Being the nice guys they were, Dean and Sam weren't going to leave us in a crime scene, but they weren't going to take us on an all-expense-paid hunting vacation, either. We told them we had family in Oregon and that was enough for them. Whether or not we really did have family there was a matter for discussion, but we didn't have any other ideas, and it was probably better than staying in California.

I fell asleep somewhere between Redding and Klamath Falls and woke up again at some unnamed gas station. Dean was getting out to change spots with Sam, who looked like he had woken up only to be thrown into a real-life nightmare.

I stayed awake for twenty minutes or so and watched from my seat in the back as tears fell from Sam's face again while he drove.

I felt like I should do something. Pat his shoulder. Tell him he was going to be okay. Give my condolences.

But I was probably the last person he wanted to talk to right at that moment.

I woke up again when we got to La Pine. Three more hours and we would be in Christmas Valley: the area I thought my grandmother would be.

Sam and Dean had decided to drop us off there instead of where we thought Jamie's family might be, since they were further. They still had to go back for Jessica's funeral, after all.

The only reason they weren't going to be the ones to bury her was for the simple fact that they would be considered her murderers.

I fell asleep again on the way to Christmas Valley and woke up when we got there. We stopped at the only gas station in the tiny town and pumped gas. I went inside to use the last of my small savings to buy a pepperoni stick, as per tradition from my grandpa who was like my father, and asked the person behind the counter if they could give me directions to Rohnda's house. Everyone knew everyone, so the person of course knew who I was talking about. I got her directions in case mama (my grandmother) had moved.

That looked to be the case, too, when we finally got to our old house. It seemed abandoned for a few years. The boys conceded to take us to Rohnda's house and dropped us off.

"Could we get your number? Just in case you need us or something? We hunters got to stick together, you know?" I said as they were getting ready to leave.

Dean's eyebrows raised. "In case we need you?" He huffed a short humorless laugh. "No offense, but I think we can handle ourselves."

I shrugged. "I know, but just in case."

I suddenly remembered the paper of tips I had written up for them. I jumped up, "Oh!" I opened my bag and ripped the paper out of my notebook. "Here." I handed Sam the paper.

He squinted at it. "What's this?"

I shrugged again. "Just some tips you might find useful. There's more people out there like you than you know."

He gave me a meaningful look. "What's that supposed to mean?"

I took out my notebook again and handed him a pencil. "It means give us your number and we'll call."

He looked at Dean and they shared some secret language. I was sure they weren't going to give us a number, so I said, "Please. If only for Jessica."

He looked conflicted. I saw Dean minutely shake his head 'no', but that must have been the opposite push for Sam, because he wrote a number in my notebook.

"Thank you." I said. I looked up at him. "Believe it or not, she was our friend, too."

He smiled very shortly, without humor or happiness.

We watched the impala drive away, the only sign they were there being the dust still floating in the air. I felt a sense of loss.

We walked up to the door and knocked. Lo and behold, Rohnda opened the door. She looked confused. First bad sign: she didn't recognize me.

"Can I help you?" She asked.

Rohnda was a family friend of my grandmother. If anyone knew where mama was, Rohnda would know.

"Hi." I smiled. "We're friends of Karen Bowser. We haven't seen her in a few years, and her house looks abandoned. We were just wondering if you knew what happened to her. We know you guys are friends."

Rohnda looked at the two of us and then sighed sadly. "You two better come in. We'll sit you down and I'll tell you what happened."

We did. We came in and sat down on her couch.

Geez, memories. I used to spend hours being babysat here.

Rohnda sat down across from us in an arm chair. "Can I get you anything?" She asked.

Jamie waved her off with a 'no thank you', but I suddenly realized how long it had been since I had had anything to drink. "Could I have a water, please?"

She nodded and went to go get said water.

I felt more anxiety beginning to form in the back of my mind. I knew something bad was happening. Mama wasn't at her house. Rohnda seemed sad to tell us anything. Whatever had happened, it was bad.

Rohnda came back and handed me my water. I sipped on it. It quenched my thirst and helped to calm my stomach.

"Well," Rohnda said, "There's no easy way to put it. Were you around for Jonathon?" She asked.

I nodded. Jonathon was a brother I had never met. He died of SIDS at 3 months, about 2 years before I was born. "Yes. That was horrible."

She nodded as well. "It was. Well, a couple years later, Jennifer had another baby. She died when she was four. Got locked in a refrigerator."

My mouth dropped a little. I remembered getting locked in a refrigerator, but I didn't die. Mama found me before I ran out of air. "What? What was her name?"

"Tessa." She said.

I felt very strange. Technically, I was dead. How was a person supposed to take that?

"Well... Ron just couldn't handle another death. Especially his little Tessa. She was his entire world." Rohnda continued. "He committed suicide. Just went right outside and shot himself."

I felt like someone had punched me in the gut. Papa was not only dead, but he had committed suicide. I felt as if I would die. I tried not to hyperventilate.

I took deep slow breaths. "And Karen?" I took care to use her first name and not the name Mama.

Rohnda shook her head, tears in her eyes. "She just couldn't take so much death in so little time. It wasn't long and she just... Laid down and passed away."

That I wasn't prepared for. I couldn't imagine a world without mama.

I bent over and took more deep breaths. I couldn't stop the tears that rolled down.

"I'm sorry, honey. Were you close to her?" She asked.

I nodded and managed to squeal out, "Like a daughter."

"What happened to Jennifer?" Jamie asked, rubbing my back.

Rohnda shook her head. "I"m not quite sure. Last I heard she was with a man named Vernon, but I heard he murdered one of his wives. Don't know if she's still alive, even."

I gasped for air, trying to brace myself enough to ask, "Can you take us back to Bend?"

Rohnda stood up. "You guys didn't bring a car? But I was actually about to get ready to go to Bend. I can take you two with me."

Jamie grabbed my bags and helped me up. "That would be great. Thank you so much."

/ / / / /

When we got to Bend, Rohnda dropped us off at a grocery outlet. I watched the town as we drove, awe taking place as I saw how much Bend had changed in 10 years. I briefly wondered what Portland was like.

I was very thankful she had even taken us this far. We didn't ask for anything else, so we ended up walking and hitchhiking, which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. We rode with a family of eight, in the back of their van with some luggage; a couple of newlyweds; more than a couple of truckers, who weren't as creepy as I thought they might be, courtesy of my trucker uncle with his horror stories about his colleagues.

We did finally make it to where Jamie's family was last seen - all the way to the northeastern corner of Oregon.

We had to walk most of the way once we got to town, which I complained greatly about.

"My legs weren't made for this much walking!"

"Come on. We're almost there."

Complaining was a way for me to keep my mind on anything but my family.

As we were walking up to what I knew to be her grandparents house, I saw her grandmother walk out the door with her purse over her shoulder.

"She's alive," I murmured, a bit surprised. I was glad for Jamie and yet felt a huge empty jealous feeling, as well.

We both stopped dead in our tracks as we saw the next person come out. I stared at the girl and then came up to look at Jamie.

Besides the lack of red hair, the girl was the exact spitting image of Jamie at nine years old.

"Julianna!" Jamie's grandma yelled. "Hurry up! Get your butt in the car."

The little girl, clad in a pink dress and bows in her hair, scurried to the car her grandmother was already getting into. "Yes, grandma."

Jamie turned around and began walking back. I stared at her family and the little Jamie getting into her grandma's car before running to catch up with original Jamie.

"Was that...?!" I asked, awed.

Jamie stared straight ahead. "Must have been." She said.

We didn't say much after that. We walked all the way into town, and I mused over what had just happened.

Jamie had a twin named Julianna, but she died before she was born. Whatever this universe had decided, it seemed as if Jamie were the one to die this time around.

When we got to the outskirts of town I asked, "Why didn't you go talk to them?"

She didn't look at me. "And say what? They looked happy enough. We don't need to put them in any danger by crossing some sort of interdimensional line."

I frowned but didn't say anything until we got into town. Then I asked, "Where are we even going?"

She sighed and immediately dropped her bags and sat down on the sidewalk. She put her face into her hands and sighed again. "I don't know, Tessa."

I sat down next to her, moaning in relief as my legs cried out for mercy to the gods of travel.

I tried to think of what to do. Even if we went looking for the boys, they didn't know much in the way of hunting right now. I doubted they would be able to help us figure out how we got here. The only other person that I could think of that could help us was Bobby. But he was so far away...

"So." I said.

Jamie looked up at me.

"Have you ever hopped a train before?"