Jet watched the Impala drive away, his arms folded comfortably over his chest and no words to speak. He bit lightly at the inside of his cheek, unsure of what he should do next. Desirae was upset with him, she wanted pretty badly to go to town with Cas but he wouldn't let her. And while he was sure someone might try to argue he wanted to keep her inside and not let her venture into the real world, a prisoner of a different kind, he would deny it. To him it was clear what he was trying to do, not that everyone always understood but most of the time it sorted itself out.

In this particular case he didn't know how to explain to her that he had no idea how to keep others from figuring out she wasn't entirely human. Her not being human wasn't wrong or anything; he didn't care what she was but he didn't trust others to be like him. He knew first hand that the world wasn't exactly fair to begin with, he could be the nicest, sweetest kid but he'd be judged just by how he looked without a second thought. How would it go for her? She had a tail for starters, plus all the fur that was present. Hell, even if she didn't have any obvious animalistic traits she would still have a hard time.

Jet ran his hands through his hair and wandered away from the window, he could taste a familiar coppery flavour and remembered he was still biting his cheek. As he brushed his tongue past a new sore spot Bobby spooked him with a sudden appearance.

"Thinking too much again,"

"A little," Jet shoved his hands in his pockets and looked up at Bobby with a smirk, "Had no idea taking care of a kid was so much fun."

"Yeah just wait," Bobby chuckled, "Teen years come and then you realize how old you are and it's all weird after that."

Jet nodded, still prodding his cheek with his tongue as he sorted his thoughts. "Not downhill though? Just weird?"

"Well," Bobby exhaled heavily and looked around the entrance, "I mean it depends on what kind of person you are. Some people regret having kids after finding out that kids can be trouble. Yeah it's hard work, but every relationship is. You can't have a good one with your kids if you don't treat them like they're worth it."

He furrowed his brow at that, "What do you mean?"

"Some parents expect that they deserve a relationship with their kid just because they brought that child into the world. It ain't like that, kids are people and you gotta put work into that relationship. It's usually around the teen years that the kids start to realize how they're being treated and that they don't want to be taken for granted and so on."

"Sounds complicated."

"Always is."

Jet never imagined he'd be getting any sort of 'parenting' advice during that summer break, but there he was talking to Bobby about it.

"You nervous?" Bobby asked in a tone that Jet knew was leading to other areas involving the whole parenting thing.

"What's there to be nervous about?" Jet laughed it off and headed for the stairs, he knew Desirae would be sulking in his room.

"Hmm," Bobby hummed, it was clear he was expecting more of a conversation out of the topic but Jet wasn't so sure he wanted to have it just yet. "You can talk to me, kid." He called after Jet's retreating back.

"I know," Jet replied without looking over his shoulder and walked out of Bobby's vision.

Jet didn't want to address any sort of issue he might hold with the whole him and Desirae situation, it felt like it might just be stupid. He'd seen it before in movies, in games, in shows and so on. He didn't have a great childhood and that would manifest in him being afraid of being a shitty father or something. The thing was he didn't really think he was afraid of that, he was certain he was at least half decent with kids and if nothing else he'd be a fun big brother.

It was starting to get to him that there was this thought floating around that he was a father figure at all. She hadn't said it, he hadn't said it, and yet it was kinda there. And while he would've thought it was just in his head Sam had told him to watch himself because Desirae would be copying him. He wasn't ready to be that kind of role model for the rest of his life, she'd be swearing like a sailor in a month.

Being a protective guardian wasn't an issue, he repeated it to himself to try and drill it into his head. Desirae was adorable and he wanted to help her, which of course meant that he'd have to be around for quite some time since she was so young. That was fine, it wasn't like she was an infant and even then, Jet wasn't really doing it alone. Sam was there, Dean had his hands full with Cas but that didn't mean Jet couldn't ask. Hell, even Bobby was willing to give his two cents.

No, he wasn't worried about all of that. Out of the many things that could terrify him about raising kids, the one that got to him was letting her down. He didn't want to disappoint her, he didn't want her to get hurt because he was careless, he just wanted things to go well. But that was rarely the case with growing up.

Amidst his confused thoughts, Jet wandered right up to his door and found that it was locked from the other side. "Rae?" He asked and knocked lightly, "You mind opening the door, kiddo?"

"No." A short and angry response came immediately, she probably smelled him coming. "I'm mad at you."

Jet smiled a little and sat down against the wall next to the door, "I know you are,"

"Why can't I go too?" She wasn't any less upset than she was when he first gave her the news.

"I don't really have a good answer," he admitted, "To be honest I'm a little stuck." He waited as she was quiet, while he was hoping she'd sit down and talk to him she responded much differently.

"That's dumb."

Jet laughed and nodded, "Yeah, it is kinda dumb."

But despite her little protest the door did click and open, she was frowning at him but he just smiled. "Hey sweetheart,"

"Why can't I go?" She asked him for the hundredth time since he'd given her the news initially.

"There are a few reasons," he didn't get up from the floor, just looked at her on an almost even level. "You'll get to go soon, okay?"

"Why not now?"

"Because right now it's Cas' turn,"

"You already said that." Her nostrils flared as her mouth pulled up in a small snarl.

"And you already asked me why I said no, yet here we are again." He leaned his head back and sighed while she huffed angrily at him.

They were quiet for a little bit, she didn't move and neither did he. Her tail twitched agitatedly and he noticed again that he was nipping at the aggravated part of his cheek. "I have a question for you," he asked and accidentally startled her by suddenly speaking. Desirae's eyes were on him but she didn't reply for another few seconds.

"What?"

"Can you forgive me?" He looked at her without his smirking or any sign of deceit or joking, the last thing he wanted was to be accused of trying to manipulate a small child. Desirae on the other hand just looked at him. She curled her bottom lip in and pressed her mouth into a tight line, he wasn't really sure what she was thinking. If he had to guess he'd say she wanted to forgive him as much as she wanted to hate him for it.

"Maybe," she decided and went to sit in his lap. It was pretty clear to him that she wasn't happy with any of it. She was thinking, her mind was ahead of her age and he knew that was because of the cloning and all the weird experiments involved. He knew that there was unrest in her mind and it wouldn't be so easy.

If he could travel time he wouldn't have told her. He would've told Dean to take Cas alone, make it a date or a secret or something like that. Jet wished he could take it back but he couldn't, this was the bed he'd made and lying in it was all he had left to do.

"I wanted to go too," Desirae was angry at the forefront, there was far more to it but she pushed anger ahead of the rest of it. It hurt to think of it, he'd just created a situation where she had to choose if she would be sad or angry about the pain inflicted. "I want to see it too."

Jet didn't really know what to say but he knew he couldn't stay silent after that. "It's not ready," he wasn't sure if he meant the town wasn't ready for someone like her, or his disguise for her, but she didn't really give him time to think it over.

"Nothing's ready!" She shouted right into his face, a sharp edge to her words. "I don't wanna hide! I don't wanna stay inside anymore! You promised me you'd get me out, you liar!"

"Rae, it's not like that," he tried to explain but she growled loudly to cut him off.

"Stop lying!" She tried to leap away from him, decided to take back the 'maybe I'll forgive you thought, but he saw it coming and caught her arm to pull her back.

"Listen, I didn't lie to you," he insisted as calmly as he could while he held her still to try and keep her attention. It wasn't working; she wasn't having any of his shit.

"Let go of me! Leggo!" Desirae struggled hard and it was then that Jet realized just how much strength they'd put into such a tiny frame. It took most of his energy to just hold her still and even then he could barely accomplish it. She wasn't using it to hurt him, just to get away.

"Calm down," he strained to speak casually as she pushed against him; her attempts weren't working though. She wasn't facing him but ended up closer and took advantage of her proximity by pulling her into a tight hug, hoping that'd work. "Desirae please listen to me-"

"I don't wanna!" She threw her head back but only hit his collarbone, he was silently grateful that he'd kept his head away from that kind of contact. Not that it didn't hurt like a bitch, because it absolutely did.

"Lemme go!"

"I'm trying to help!" He snapped back and immediately regretted it when she snarled at him in return.

"Well you're not! I'm sick of being in a cage!" She emphasized that last part by kicking him in the leg, and though it hurt as much as his collarbone he didn't let go. He didn't want her to run, he didn't want to lose her so soon.

There was a flash of blue in the hall, her eyes were glowing just like Cas' did and she shrieked in a way that was so far from human. She'd hit panic and completely lost it, Jet wasn't sure what to do but he didn't have enough time to think about it for the third damn time.

Desirae's immediate thought process was that she was trapped, backed into a corner with no way out. She took half a second to go from crying out to biting the first part of Jet that was available. Pain shot up his arm and he instinctually dropped her with a sharp scream of his own.

She stumbled back against the wall after leaping away from his grasp and her eyes flashed back to normal though far wider. She stared in awe at the blood that spilled from his arm as he curled it against his chest to try and stop it.

"Oh my god," she gasped and covered her mouth and nose. Her breathing was erratic and she started visibly shaking. "No… did I do that?"

"Rae," Jet went back to trying to keep his tone calm as his heart rate increased, worried more for her well being than his. "Are you okay?" He was steady but she wasn't.

She was shaking more, terrified as an uncontrolled whimper came out of her, "What did I do?"

"I'm fine, are you okay?" He repeated more sternly and she didn't look like she was going to answer at all. He'd never seen her freak like that, Cas had done it before he regained any control over his mind but she was so level that he never thought she would. She didn't look like she was aware she could do that either.

"I'm so sorry," she cowered against the wall and Jet immediately felt sick.

"No, no, no, don't be sorry," he said quickly and smiled at her, "It's alright, it was my fault. I should've-" she started to run mid sentence, "-wait! Rae!" He rushed to his feet and felt an instant regret as his head spun. He hit the floor again before he regained his bearings and climbed back up. Curses left his lips but he didn't keep track of them, Desirae was quick enough without a goddamn head start.

He ran down the hall toward the stairs and felt his legs waver just in time to know what was about to happen seconds before falling down the staircase. He hit the floor at the bottom and curled up instinctively as the pain settled in; he heard Bobby and Michael but didn't pay any attention to them for the moment. His mind quickly circled back around to the wound on his forearm; how much fucking blood had he lost? Did he just stand up too fast?

Jet took a glance at it and wished he hadn't looked at all, it was always worse when you looked at the damn injury. Desirae hadn't hit a vein or anything from what he could tell, there wasn't enough blood for that but she had torn an ugly scar in the skin. The pain had definitely disoriented him; he wasn't expecting it to hurt so much and he wasn't used to that kind of feeling anymore.

"Get your shit together," he snarled at himself, he had to find out where she'd go. She would want to hide from him, she would want to be in a place that would be tough for him to find her in but not tough for her.

Basement? Maybe.

He forced himself to stand again and as he took a few steps Bobby yelled after him.

"You're hurt, what the hell happened?"

"I don't have time to explain!" He shouted right back and bolted toward the basement entrance, he knew he should explain something so it came out in a less than helpful sentence but it was good enough. They knew Desirae had done it, they knew he was chasing after her, and that was all they needed.

He stumbled around the corner and nearly ran Garth over, "Move it shorty," he slipped past without knocking the other guy to the ground but made no attempt at an apology.

"Sorry!" Garth called after him as he reached the basement door and threw it open. There was a more distant 'Wait, is that blood? Are you okay!?' but he didn't stop to answer.

The stairs seemed steeper than he remembered but he didn't hesitate or stop to think about how to get down safely this time. He held onto the rail with his right arm, the good one, and hauled ass down the steps and careened into the main lab. The door on the other side was left open, the one leading down into the cages where charred remains of other experiments were left unattended.

"Fuck me," Jet cursed under his breath and continued down the last set of stairs and ran across the room. He glanced up at the monitors that were left on, Charlie liked to do that, but he didn't see Desirae at all.

He ran through the door and looked around in the dim lighting, the first part was a straight shot, but it branched off. Where the hell would she go? "RAE!" He screamed as loud as he could, he knew she had amazing hearing in comparison to him so she was bound to know he was looking for her.

There wasn't exactly a plan in his head but he couldn't let that stop him from looking for her, he had to talk to her right away before she did something stupid. "Come back!"

Jet winced and looked down at his arm again, seeing it still made him queasy but he couldn't ignore it. He pulled his sweater over his head and wrapped it tightly around his arm, he had to use the railing next to him to help and it made him hiss in pain again. He knew he'd have to keep the sounds of anguish to himself if he wanted Desirae to come out of hiding.

It was a crude tourniquet type thing but it did the trick, most of the sweater was bunched on the wound and the sleeves were tightly wrapped around to help with the bleeding. He shuddered, it was a little colder down there with just a t-shirt but he added that up to blood loss and kept moving forward. He couldn't leave her alone, not after what she just experienced. Losing control was one thing but the look on her face was more tortured than a kid her age should ever be.

"Rae!" he called again as he hurried along, choosing directions to move just based on his gut instinct. She'd go deeper in, further down. Maybe the basement was like a maze, but he was willing to bet that several areas coincided into the same place even if some ways took longer to get there. "I promise I'm okay, sweetheart." He kept his volume loud as he occasionally tried to speak to her, hoping that maybe she'd listen. "Just come back upstairs with me, we can talk about this," His stomach felt unwell and his chest was tight as he moved forward, he was running full tilt and before he knew it he came to the cage he'd gotten Desirae from.

"Please be in here," he muttered and walked inside, the floor was scorched and it didn't look like anything was there. His eyes were focused on the hole she had been in before but it was dark, he couldn't see inside until he was right next to it. All that was there was the remains of whatever food she had left behind.

Jet groaned and dropped his head against the wall, "Damn it… knew that'd be too easy." He sighed and went back to the walkway, the only option left was to go deeper inside than he had ever done. Fear crept up his spine and lingered in his skin, his eyes scanned the dim passageway and he took a deep breath. Goddamn did he wish Sam was there; but he knew that Sam wasn't coming. He'd have to go in and get Desirae on his own, after all it was his fault she went down there in the first place.

"I'm coming, kiddo." He said as he put his own self-preservation instincts aside and ran further in.