They drove at break neck speeds down the I-90 headed for Beaver Creek. Dean had insisted on taking the Impala and Vala didn't argue with him.

She was tired and in a lot of pain. Between her head and her soul she just couldn't bear anything right about now, let alone the new task of saving Bobby from whatever had taken him.

Dean had sensed that much when she had switched vehicles, moving from the drivers' seat of her GTO to Sam's usual spot in the Impala. Vala sat with her head tilted toward the window, staring out the pane of glass at the passing nothingness. She didn't say a word, and she hadn't since storming out of the house. When Castiel let her big secret out.

Dean put his hand on her leg, patting it in a friendly manner, trying to get her attention. She just swatted his hand away.

"Don't touch me."

Dean put his hand back on the wheel and concentrated on driving. He didn't take offence to her comment. The way she spoke broke his heart. Her barely audible voice cracked with the sadness it tried to hold back. He couldn't see if she was crying or not, but he assumed she had been.

Vala crossed her legs away from him, leaning more into the door than before. She curled her body together as much as possible, straining herself against the seat belt, pulling as far away from him as she could get while still remaining inside the car.

"Sam had visions. Premonitions, actually. For years. It was kinda scary."

Dean found himself telling Vala all about Sam's condition. The nightmares Sam would have about people dying, about his own potential death. Dean told Vala how they saved people using Sam's mind tricks. He also told her about the time Andy projected images into his head.

Vala listened to him but didn't acknowledge that she was. She'd never asked her fiancée how it worked. She'd had a pretty good idea and, according to Dean's accounts, she wasn't far off. Her condition, as she referred to it, worked a little differently. And when Dean asked, she found she couldn't turn him down.

"You have the ability to sense things?"

"Yea." She offered.

Dean glanced over at her.

"How does that work?"

She sighed. It was easy to share with Dean, she didn't know why, but this secret she didn't share with anyone. She never spoke about it. So few people knew that by letting Sam and Dean in on it doubled the people who knew the secret. Aislin and Vala's ex-future mother-in-law were the only ones who did. Even Vala's fiancée hadn't a clue.

"It's like when you have a gut instinct? That feeling. But much more intense. Crippling in most cases. When it's spirits anyway."

"You said something about emotions."

"Yeah."

Vala readjusted herself in her seat so she could see him. Dean glanced at her and realized she had been crying after all. Her eyes were red and puffy, starting to run at the edges again.

She continued to speak while Dean reached out to dry her tears with his thumb, whether she wanted him to touch her or not.

"I can pull emotions from people, sometimes spirits if I was close enough to them. People are pretty easy, half the time you can tell by their expression how they feel."

"So you need to be in the same room?"

"No, actually. Kinda depends. In this case, if I'm supposed to use that crap to help find Bobby, I should be able to find him once we get in the building."

"How d'you figure that?"

Val squirmed a little. They were beginning to dig deeper.

"I'm pretty attached to Bobby. Closer to him than I am my own father. I don't know what I'd do if I lost him."

Dean sighed too, trying not to think about it.

"Yeah. Me too."

"It's not going to happen though. Cause we're going to save him." Vala smiled, turning back to the window.

Dean thought for a moment, going over what she had said. The sensing emotions part got to him and he began to shy away.

"Hey, um... do you ever like, use your thing to check people out. I mean, see what they're feeling instead of asking them or something?"

"You want to know if I've used it on you." Vala asked, remaining still and taking in the lack of scenery along the highway.

"Yeah." Dean was scared.

"No. You are difficult and stubborn. You keep your guard up. Even when you're freaking out in the hospital."

"You're saying you've tried to use it on me?"

"It's not a parlour trick Dean, I can't just turn it on when I want to. It just, sorta, kicks in when it's needed. When you were flinging nurses like they were nothing and I storm troopered by way in there I could feel how scared they were, how angry that one nurse was and how furious the doctor was, but there was nothing from you. Maybe it was because you were knocked out. I dunno, I don't question it. I'm kind of glad anyway. I don't want to know any of your sick, twisted fantasies."

Dean smiled, having been reassured that his feelings were being invaded without his permission. He didn't want her knowing how much he cared for her before he was ready for her to know it.

"Yeah. For the best."

"Alright, that's enough about me. You said you'd explain that trench coat clad insurance salesman later and it's later."

Dean let out a little laugh.

"Castiel. He's an angel, and I mean a real, comes-from-Heaven-and-smites-people Angel. He's a good friend; I know he doesn't seem like it. He's very..."

"Cold. Distant. Infuriating."

"Sometimes. His tendency to just Angel-In gets old fast. And he has issues with personal space, but he's learning." Dean defended him.

"He's really an angel then?"

"Yeah. A big high-up one now."

Vala thought about that. It really did put another spin on her demon deal. She should have thought that if Hell was an actual place then Heaven would be too. She'd have to tell Rio. And maybe this Castiel would have a few ideas on how to undo what she'd done.

"You okay?" Dean asked, desperate for an answer.

"Yeah, just want to get to Bobby before it's too late."

Dean didn't question her, or even speak for that matter.

He turned his sight back to the road in front of them and put the pedal to the metal. He didn't want to lose Bobby either