Back to Stanford

Sam was glad when they finally got back to Stanford college. It had been a long three days on the road with Dean. Although nothing good had come out of any of it and now he was practically abandoning his brother to go back to Forks where he would probably get eaten by vampires. He winced inwardly, thinking about how bad it would go. And he would just be back with Jess...

Dean pulled them up outside Sam's apartment. This was it, Sam was now going home. No more vampire hunting, or looking for dad together. He could imagine how glad Sam would be not to be in another motel though, and the thought gave him a fleeting smile that disappeared almost as soon as it appeared.

"You look after yourself man," Dean said, as he put the breaks on, looking over to Sam, "Keep in touch." Sam probably wouldn't, but if there was a small chance that they would then Dean would take it. He didn't want them to end up the same as before, never talking.

"Yeah." Sam nodded. "Good luck finding Dad." he said, knowing that he would probably need it with those vampires flying around all over the place in Forks. Dean would be okay though, he always was.

He grabbed his bag and got out the car. "Tell me if you find him." He was the one who wanted to be normal. Going back to college was what he wanted.

"Yeah, I will," Dean agreed. It was pleasantly surprising that Sam wanted him to tell him if he found dad. After all, the two usually couldn't manage being in the same room together without biting each others heads off.

Hopefully he would be able to find dad. Dean was planning on going straight back to Forks, and looking for more leads, investigating into those vampires, and checking out that body again, seeing if there was anything else in the woods of interest.

Sam gave one last goodbye to his brother before heading inside. It was almost dark so Jess would be in, probably waiting for him since she'd called the day before asking him to come back. When he got inside there was a plate of cookies on the side with a note. He smiled and took one, heading into the bedroom and collapsing on the bed.

Drip, drip, drip.

"NO!!"

Dean watched Sam go back into the house, rolling down the window, the car remaining parked. He probably wasn't going to see Sam for a long time after this. Sam would probably go back to his normal life for good now.

About a minute past, and Dean sniffed. Was that smoke he could smell coming out of the building? He pushed the car door open, and forced down the door to the apartment. Definitely smoke. Where was Sam?

Sam tried to unfreeze himself from on the bed, just staring up at her. "No! Jess!" he yelled, wanting to reach up to her, but there was fire surrounding her. It was too late, and he knew it but he really wished the opposite.

"Jess!" He cried again, seeing her eyes wide open. He wasn't even sure if she was alive or not.

Dean heard Sam cry out Jess's name and he ran towards the noise. It sounded like it was in the direction of the bedroom, if he could remember correctly where that was. The smoke was billowing from the room, thick and suffocating, and Dean felt a thrill of fear run through him. Was Sam in there?

Most of the fire seemed to be coming from the ceiling, and it was starting to spread to the walls, and below. Dean noticed Sam lying on the bed, staring up. When he looked up to see what Sam was looking at he saw her. Jess. Looking just like their mother when she had died.

Running forward, Dean grabbed Sam by the waist, and tried to pull him off the bed, out of the door, before it got blocked off.

"No, Jess!" Sam struggled, trying to get to her. He wasn't, couldn't, let her just die. He couldn't just leave her in there...

"Jess!" He cried out again, trying to get out of Dean's hold on him.

Dean tightened his grip on Sam, and dragged him more forcefully out of the room. He'd be damned if Sam died tonight as well as Jess. Sam was obviously determined to stay in there, it was like he had some sort of death wish. The fire was already making his eyes hurt.

"Sammy, we need to go," Dean shouted over the roar of the flames, trying to ignore Jess's burning body that was striking a bit too close to home. Was it possible that the same thing that killed their mother killed Jess?

"No!" Sam yelled at Dean. Couldn't he understand? Jess was going to die... he couldn't believe that he had dreamt that this was going to happen. Did he know it was going to happen?

And that was how their mom had died... it was so weird and it was taking Jess... he had to get to her.

Dean shook his head at Sam, slowly pulling him towards the door, "We gotta get out of here," Dean yells in Sam's ear, "She's already dead." They were nearly at the door, and when Dean accidentally glanced up He could see the skin off Jess's body burning. It looked unpleasant and he needed to get Sam out of here before it got worse.

He wondered what the hell they were meant to do when they got out of here. Would Sam want to go back to college life, or what? He had no idea.

Sam didn't want to admit it, but deep down he knew Dean was right. Jess was gone and he couldn't do anything. It was just like that night that he was too young to remember. The night he should have remembered.

It was all his fault... he could have warned her if he had just believed it wasn't a dream. Then she would be safe. But for how long? How long would it have really taken for anything to track down Jessica? He might have been able to stop that night, but it wouldn't last long...

He let Dean push him through the door, giving up. Something that dad had always taught them not to do.

Dean carried on pulling Sam until they were out of the apartment. He did not stop until they were safely by the impala, sitting down on its hood, mirroring the scene of that time when they were children, when their mother had just died leaving the three of them huddled up on the Impala. This whole incident seemed surreal, Jess on the ceiling, the fire.

Dean glanced over at Sam, wondering how he was going to deal with this.

Sam just starred motionless at the now burning building, unable to take in what had just played out. He had dreamt this was going to happen. Dreamt it. Why couldn't he have just done the right thing? Why did he have to be such an idiot and not even come back for her... he had just got up and left... he didn't even say goodbye to her in person.

Already he could hear the sirens in the distance. They were too late for Jess.

Dean looked away from the burning apartment, glancing at Sam. He doubtless would be taking this badly, and Dean had no idea what to say to him, how to make any of this better. The sound of sirens was getting closer, and Dean shifted where he was sitting.

"We should go," he trailed off, looking at Sam uneasily. He didn't know where they should go, but it would probably be best to get out of here before the emergency services started asking questions.

"Sure." Sam whispered, looking down. He couldn't believe that he'd lost the last few day's of Jess' life so he could go to Forks... they had barely even done anything there apart from find out about some vampire things that they were going to need to take care of.

Maybe it would make him feel better if he lashed out of them. Dean always said what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right? They were going to find dad, and kill the thing that did this to Jessica and their mom.

Dean pushed himself up off the car, casting one last glance at the still burning house before getting in the car. He waited for Sam to join him, if he was going to. For all he knew Sam would want to carry on doing the college thing, though he hoped not. Something had done this for a reason, and whatever that reason was it was probably safer if they stuck together.

He took his phone out of his pocket. Still no calls from dad, no texts either. He should probably phone him later, tell him about what had happened, though he doubted that he would pick up. He never did. For what reason, he was still unsure.

Sam slid into the car seat, still utterly stunned about what had just happened.

Was this it now? Was it just going to be hunting with Dean till they found their dad, find the thing that killed Jess and mom and kill it themselves. What the hell had he done anyway? How was he supposed to have stopped this? Why had he seen it in his nightmares before it happened? Any why... oh god... why did Jess have to die? What had he ever done to deserve that?

Dean glanced over at Sam briefly, before starting the car, not wanting to look at the grief ridden expression he was wearing. They could deal with Sam's emotional baggage later, if at all. Dean doubted that it was a conversation that he wanted to have and he was half hoping he would not have to have it. He doubted Sam would just forget about her though, though it would all be so much easier if he did.

"Where to now?" he asked when they had left the street, leaving that burning house and Sam's dead girlfriend behind. His eyes flickered over to Sam, jaw clenching as he looked back to the road again.

Sam said nothing for a long moment, just starring out at the long road ahead. Ten minutes. That's all it had taken for everything to be almost fine... aside from their dad being missing... to Jess being on the ceiling.

And now she was dead... Gone. Just like their mom.

"Sam?" Dean asked after a few moments of not receiving an answer. He looked distracted, probably still thinking about earlier. He really needed to get Sam's mind off that, not that there was anyway he could do that. He just needed to find out what Sam wanted to do now. Whether he wanted to hunt or go back to college.

Leaning back in his seat, Dean contemplated pulling over. Getting to the bottom of what should happen now. Then again, maybe just getting them to a motel would be better. They could stay close to town, try and get through to dad again, figure out what to do next.

Sam glanced sideways at his brother after a few seconds, realising that he was trying to speak to him but he hadn't been listening at all. He was making that face - the puppy eyed look of absolute despair. There was always something they could do... something to get around it. But no. Jess was gone. For good.

"She's gone." he said, making it more of a statement than a question.

Sam was giving him that look. Usually he was able to resist it, but right now it just looked so hopeless that he could not draw his eyes away from it. Swearing under his breath, he pulled over to the side of the road. What was he meant to say to that?

She's gone.

That was the cold, bitter truth. Jess was gone and she was never coming back. Sam would never see her again. What the hell was he supposed to say to that?

"Yeah, she is," he agreed, breaking the silence. No point sugar coating it.

He looked away uneasily, his hand resting against the driver's window. "Do you want to head out to a motel or something?"

Sam wasn't surprised Dean didn't bother to sugar coat it. That was just it - all it would ever be. Hell, they'd gone through enough already and Sam was just shoving it all on Dean. What was he supposed to say to him anyway - nothing would be able to turn his mind around.

"Yeah." he muttered, leaning his head on the window. That's what it was going to be now, wasn't it? Motels. Motels. And more motels.