Season Three

Episode Eleven: The Darkest Half

By irismay42 & Tree

Part Two

Hamilton house,
Plano, TX

“Sammy!”

Dean leaped the last four steps in one go, landing with a thud on the hard stone floor of the storm cellar even as the hideous screams he had heard all the way upstairs reached an ear-shattering crescendo.

Dean froze. It was a girl screaming; while his brother – his brother was screaming in Latin.

“…Ab insídiis diáboli, libera nos, Dómine. Ut Ecclésiam tuam secúra tibi fácias libertáte servire, te rogámus, audi nos. Ut inimícus sanctæ Ecclésiae humiliáre dignéris, te rogámus, audi nos.”

Dean recognized the tail end of the exorcism just in time to swing his flashlight in the direction of the hysterical screeching. A teenage girl with a noose that didn’t seem to be attached to anything hung loosely around her neck was illuminated a sickly yellow just as she tipped back her head and screamed black smoke out of her mouth. A mini tornado swirled around the basement in the demon’s wake as the girl collapsed unconscious at Sam’s feet, for all the world as if her strings had been cut right there.

Sam mostly caught her before she hit the ground too hard, lowering her gently to the floor before gingerly placing two fingers on her neck, checking for a pulse.

Dean blinked several times before managing to grind out breathlessly, “She okay?”

Sam barely glanced at him, gently removing the noose from the girl’s neck. “She will be,” he said quietly, his voice rough and croaky. “If we ever manage to figure out how to explain to her that she was possessed by a demon who was trying to force her to hang herself.”

The older Winchester faltered slightly. “So…” he began, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot. “Demon, huh? Not a Tulpa.”

Sam looked up at him slowly from his crouch over the unconscious girl, nodding even as he massaged his bruised throat. “No faulting your observational skills,” he said sarcastically, his voice as rough as sandpaper.

Dean shook his head and sighed heavily before taking a hesitant step toward his brother. “What about you?” he asked quietly.

Sam squinted up at him. “Huh?”

“Are you okay?”

The concern was obvious in Dean’s voice, and Sam nodded shakily, just enough to allay his brother’s fears. “Yeah,” he croaked. “Just peachy.”

“Good,” Dean said firmly, covering the distance between them in three short strides. “Because now I’m gonna kill you!”

“You’re gonna kill me?” Sam burst out incredulously. “I think I’m the one with the axe to grind here! Where the hell were you, Dean?” His eyes flashed a challenge, hands held out to his sides.

“Where was I?” Dean cut Sam’s next outburst short by suddenly grabbing his little brother’s collar and yanking him a little less than gently to his feet. “I was exactly where I was supposed to be!” he protested, shaking Sam a little. “Even I’m not dumb enough or – or reckless enough to come down here without backup!” He shoved at Sam’s chest, harder than he’d intended but not hard enough to do much more than cause Sam to rock on his heels.

Sam’s eyes continued to flare and he attempted to push his brother away with little success. “I came down here because you told me to come down here, Dean!” he protested. “I came down here because I thought I was saving your ass!”

“Sam –” The anger drained from Dean in one sudden rush, and he merely put a hand on the back of Sam’s neck and squeezed, unsure which of them he was actually trying to keep on their feet. “What the hell were you thinking, coming down here by yourself?” He shook his head in disbelief. “It – it could have killed you, man!”

Sam took a breath, meeting Dean’s gaze evenly. “I thought you were in trouble,” he said at length. “I thought I heard you screaming. I thought it was killing you.”

Dean cast his mind back to the screams he’d convinced himself he’d heard only moments earlier: Sam’s screams. He shifted slightly, releasing his hold on his brother and scrubbing a hand down over his face. “You think it was the demon?” he hazarded. “Made us hear that? You heard me screaming, I – I heard you screaming…?”

Sam raised an eyebrow. “You heard me screaming?”

Dean nodded sheepishly. “Why d’you think I came racing down here where there might be a whole mess of rats, Sammy?”

“Not to mention a Tulpa.”

“Yeah. Not to mention a Tulpa.”

Sam shrugged his shoulders and ran a hand through his hair. “I guess demons can cause auditory hallucinations,” he said thoughtfully, scouring his memory for an example of such a case but coming up empty.

“Demons can do a whole lot of weird wacky crap,” Dean agreed.

Sam glanced at the still-unconscious form of the girl at his feet. “At least we managed to save her,” he pointed out. “Score one for Mia’s latest screw up.”

Dean looked up sharply. “Mia?” he echoed. “Now what the hell’s she supposed to have done?”

Sam huffed, hackles rising in response to the instant prickliness in Dean’s tone. “Dean,” he sighed, “I’m not –” He shook his head and made to scoop the girl up off the floor. “You know what, forget it.”

“Wait.” Dean blocked his path suddenly, expression mellowing a fraction. “Just wait.”

Sam paused and took a breath, looking away for a second before inclining his head down toward the demon’s unconscious victim. “We need to get her to a hospital.”

“Sam –”

“All right, Dean! All right.” Sam ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “Look, Mia told me to meet you down here, okay? She said to get here right away because you were in trouble.”

Dean raised a brow. “She said that?” he clarified. “That’s not how it went down, man,” he continued. “I wanted to secure the rest of the area before we came charging down into the basement. Didn’t want something coming in behind us and trapping us down here.” He pulled his cell out of his jeans pocket and waved it uselessly. “Battery crapped out just when we got to the interesting part,” he explained. “Mia said she’d left hers in the car, so I told her to go find it and call you – tell you to meet me up top in ten.”

Sam frowned and shook his head. “That’s not what she said, Dean,” he insisted. “I swear, she told me to get my ass down here because you were in trouble, and when I got here I couldn’t find you and I heard you screaming – I swear, I heard you screaming, Dean – so that’s why I came down here alone. I wasn’t being stupid or – or reckless. I don’t have a death wish. I just – Mia said this was where you were and she said that you were in trouble. So I came down here. And if I hadn’t, this poor kid would be dead right now. Because that demon was gonna kill her, just like the others. Just like Mordecai’s victims.” He paused for breath. “Dean, I think this whole thing’s a setup. Something’s not right…”

Dean sighed heavily. “A setup? Come on, Sammy, don’t you think you’re being a little over-dramatic here?”

“Mordecai Murdoch was never here, Dean,” Sam pointed out. “And – and –” he stepped up to his brother and caught hold of his arm. “Mia almost got me killed.”

Dean slowly raised his eyes to his brother’s. “Maybe it was just a misunderstanding?” he offered. “Or – or maybe a bad cell signal…?”

Sam shook his head. “That’s the weird thing,” he admitted. “I was getting a full signal, but Mia’s voice kept crapping out.”

Hope flashed in Dean’s eyes. “Then maybe Mia wasn’t getting a good signal?”

“And maybe I watched you charge your cell this morning.”

Dean seemed to falter for a second before the prickliness returned to his voice. “Oh, you think she drained my battery now too?”

Sam shrugged one shoulder, as if he wouldn’t have put it past her.

Dean hung his head a little. He didn’t want to fight with Sam over this. But Sam was wrong. Sam had to be wrong…

“Look, let’s talk about this later, okay?” Sam was saying, refocusing Dean’s attention. “For right now we need to get this girl to a hospital.”

As Sam once again made to stoop and pick up the girl, Dean suddenly held out his hand to him. “Gimme your phone.”

Sam glanced up at him quizzically before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his cell.

Dean took the proffered phone, setting his jaw as he checked the coverage before hitting speed dial. He waited a couple of seconds, frown etched deep between his brows.

“Hey,” he said suddenly, trying not to think about how crystal clear Mia’s voice sounded over the phone connection.

“Dean?”

Concerned, he tried to convince himself. She’s concerned. Not surprised.

“Yeah.”

“Oh my God, I’ve been so worried!” Barely-controlled panic was suddenly evident in Mia’s crisp, static-free voice. “Are you okay? I’ve been going out of my mind here!”

“Yeah, everything’s fine,” Dean told her, eyeing Sam as the younger brother hefted the young girl up into his arms.

“And Sam?” Mia asked, almost as if she was seeing out of Dean’s eyes.

Dean bit down, jaw tightening so hard he was pretty sure Sam would hear his teeth grinding together. “Yeah, he’s okay.”

There was a pause. Barely perceptible, but it was there. “Oh thank God! Where are you?”

“We’re coming out. See you in a couple of minutes.” Dean disconnected the call with a grimace before slipping the phone back into Sam’s jacket pocket.

Sam raised an interrogative eyebrow, and when Dean just looked at him blankly, he sighed before redistributing the girl’s weight in his arms and asking, “Can we go now?”

Dean motioned to the stairs with his chin, scooping up both his and Sam’s discarded flashlights before following his brother back up toward the first floor. “Yeah,” he murmured. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

****

“I never said that, Sam!” Mia protested fiercely, hands on hips as she widened her stance and lifted her chin a little. “You heard me wrong!”

“Bull,” Sam replied shortly, abruptly whirling on her as he left Dean to finish installing the still barely-conscious girl in the back seat of the Impala.

“What’s your name, sweetheart?” he heard Dean ask softly, and she whimpered a little before muttering something that might have been “Jordan.” “Don’t worry, Jordan,” Dean reassured her. “We’ll get you fixed right up. You’re safe now.”

The girl continued to whimper, mumbling barely coherently, “No! I don’t want to! Please! No, don’t!” and Dean continued to make soothing noises while gently brushing back her hair.

Sam tried to hang on to his anger in the face of the poor girl’s suffering. “Mia, that demon nearly killed me!” he remonstrated. “And her!” He motioned wildly in Jordan’s direction, and Dean glanced up briefly through the windshield in response to the sound of raised voices. “Why would you tell me Dean was in trouble if not to get me alone in that basement? Huh? Alone with a demon?”

“I never said that!” Mia repeated defensively, eyes flicking briefly in Dean’s direction as, satisfied Jordan was safely ensconced, he extricated himself from the Impala’s backseat and began to head in their direction.

“You said, ‘Dean’s in trouble. Get to the storm cellar right now!’ –”

“I said Dean’s going to get himself in trouble if you don’t get to the storm cellar in ten minutes!”

“That’s not what you said –”

“Because the signal was so clear, right? Well I for one could barely hear what you were saying, Sam!”

“Yeah, well you can hear what I’m saying now, right?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Dammit, Mia, I already heard all your excuses from your boyfriend over there!” Sam jerked a thumb over his shoulder at Dean. “Almost word for word. Almost as if you could hear us!”

“What? What the hell are you accusing me of, Sam?”

Mia took a couple of steps closer to Sam, and Sam didn’t back up, choosing to utilize his excessive height to its full looming potential.

But Mia didn’t flinch, instead stepping right up to him and getting as close to being in his face as a foot difference in height would allow. “Sam?”

“I dunno,” Sam continued through gritted teeth. “Is there something I should be accusing you of?”

“Like what? Like finding gigs for you? Like doing your research for you? Like putting up with your sulking and your pouting? Like – like –” she raised herself up on tiptoe and scowled at him. “Like getting between you and your big brother? Because that’s what this is really about, right?”

Sam’s jaw tightened, and he barely controlled a flinch.

“Okay, that’s enough.”

Dean was suddenly between them, shoving Sam away with a hell of a lot more force than he’d used on him in the basement, Sam meeting his gaze for a second before abruptly looking away and heading back toward the car.

Dean spun in Mia’s direction as she made to push him out of her way and go after Sam. “That means you too.”

Sam glanced back over his shoulder, the words too familiar, like déjà vu in the worst way. And for the first time in a long time he found himself wishing his dad was here.

Mia took a step away from Dean, eyes locked on his, breathing heavily but saying nothing. She folded her arms across her chest sullenly and turned her scowl back onto Sam.

Dean shook his head, palms outstretched as he deliberately positioned himself between Mia and his brother. “Okay, I’m sensing some tension here,” he said, and Sam was vividly reminded of all the fights Dean had broken up between him and Dad when he was a stubborn, know-it-all teenager.

Dean had always gone with humor first, threats of violence second, and actual violence as a last resort.

“We just need to calm down, okay?” the older brother continued. “Look, none of us was expecting a demon here, right? We’re all just a little thrown is all. We need time to talk about this. Calmly.” He looked at Mia. “Quietly.” He looked back over his shoulder at Sam. “And preferably when we don’t have access to knives or firearms. Ripping each other’s heads off ain’t helpin’ nobody.” He drew a hand through his hair. “And right now, we got a kid in the backseat who needs our help. She’s been possessed and almost murdered tonight, so I think we need to get her to a hospital. Right, Sam?” He held Sam’s gaze as he echoed his little brother’s words from earlier on, and Sam nodded slightly.

“Yeah,” he agreed quietly. “I guess.”

“Well okay then.” Dean motioned to the Impala as he turned his attention to Mia. “You comin’ or you wanna walk?”

Mia’s scowl softened a little, but her arms remained firmly crossed in front of her chest. “Like I’m gonna let you bozos leave me out here with a demon.”

“Demon’s gone, sweetheart,” Dean grinned brightly and Mia’s brow crinkled. “Luckily my baby bro has a brain the size of a planet.” He glanced back at Sam. “Who needs dusty old books full o’ exorcisms when you got Sammy?” He winked. “Don’t tell Bobby I said that.”

Mia raised her eyes guardedly in Sam’s direction. “You exorcised it?” she asked grudgingly. “From memory?”

Sam nodded stiffly. “You tend to remember stuff like that when you do it enough times.”

“No, you remember stuff like that, Sammy,” Dean said, opening the driver’s side door as Sam made to get in the back with Jordan. “Normal people remember showtunes and jingles for fast food restaurants –”

“And Metallica lyrics?”

Dean looked genuinely offended. “Sammy, you callin’ me normal, dude?”

Sam smiled weakly. “Wouldn’t dream of it.” He folded himself into the backseat, checking on Jordan who moaned a little before finally settling into a disquieted silence.

“She all right?” Dean asked from the front, as Mia climbed in next to him.

“As all right as she’s gonna get right now,” Sam said.

“No! Please! I don’t want to!” Jordan suddenly muttered, as if on cue.

Dean glanced in the rearview at the girl before gunning the engine and stepping on the gas. “We’ll get you help, Jordan,” he told her. “Just hold on.”

Plano Medical Center,
Plano, TX

Dean pulled the Impala into the parking lot of Plano Medical Center, haphazardly navigating around parked vehicles while he looked for signs pointing him in the direction of the ER.

The tension in the Impala was unbearable, Jordan’s soft whimpers the only sound as she drifted in and out of consciousness, and Sam was actually quite relieved when his brother jerked to a stop at the ER entrance, narrowly avoiding mounting the red-painted curb.

“So how we gonna play this?” Dean asked, glancing out the windshield at the sliding glass doors in front of him and the beefy security guy in the waiting area beyond.

Mia followed the direction of his gaze. “I’ll take her in,” she offered. “It’ll look less suspicious.”

“Less suspicious than what?” Dean demanded with a raised brow.

“Than a guy who’s wanted for murder and his eight foot twenty inch brother.”

“Hey, you’re wanted for murder too, babe,” Dean reminded her.

Mia shrugged. “Yeah, well, you’re supposed to be dead, so which one of us do you think’s gonna draw less attention?”

Dean snorted. “All right, you win. But be careful, huh?”

Mia shrugged. “This ain’t my first rodeo, Stretch,” Mia informed him with a lopsided wink.

“We’ve been in Texas, what, half a day and already she’s talkin’ like a native!” Dean burst out approvingly.

Mia’s smile faltered for just a second before it returned again full force. “Hey, we fugitives need to blend, right?” she said lightly. “Don’t worry. I’ll tell them she’s my sister. Had an accident or something.”

“How are you gonna explain the rope marks around her neck?” Sam asked, the first thing he’d said to Mia since their argument back at the Hamilton house.

“Extreme macramé?” Dean offered.

Mia rolled her eyes. “I dunno. I’ll say we were working out on Grandpa’s ranch and she was trying to show me how to rope a steer or something.”

Dean nodded his approval. “Hmm, creative approach to falsehood and deception. We’ll make a hunter out of you yet.”

Sam deliberately made no comment, instead attempting to rouse Jordan enough to get her out of the car. “C’mon, honey, we gotta go,” he told her when she tried to push him away.

“Please no! Please, I’ll be good, I don’t want to die!”

“I think we better hope she tones the amateur dramatics hour down a little when we get inside,” Mia observed.

Sam frowned. “She’s been through a hell of an ordeal tonight, Mia,” he reminded her, looking at her pointedly over the back of the bench seat. “Or have you forgotten what it’s like to be possessed?”

Mia didn’t answer straight away, just narrowed her eyes and looked at Sam as if he was something she found on her shoe. “No, Sam, I’ve not forgotten what it’s like to be possessed,” she returned at length. “Have you forgotten what it’s like to not be paranoid and delusional?”

“Ladies!” Dean interrupted again before Sam could respond in kind. “Sammy, help Mia get Jordan out of the car.”

Sam grumbled under his breath, but reached over Jordan and shoved the door open, Mia hopping out of the front seat and swinging the younger girl’s arm over her shoulder as she hauled her out of the car with very little assistance from Sam.

“You got her?” Sam asked, following Jordan out of the Impala and grabbing her other arm to steady her a little.

Mia nodded. “Yeah, don’t worry, I been lugging sacks o’ potatoes around my grandpa’s farm since I was big enough to peel ’em.” She grinned brightly as she caught Jordan effortlessly around the waist and settled her against her hip.

Sam raised an eyebrow. “Grandpa?” he echoed. “I thought you said you grew up in foster homes?”

Mia blinked. “Sure,” she agreed. “One of my foster families. I kinda kept in touch with my foster mom’s dad.”

Sam nodded. “Uh-huh.”

“Okay,” Mia continued as if Sam hadn’t spoken, inclining her head in Dean’s direction as Sam shut the back door and climbed into the front of the Impala. “Well I’ll give you guys a call when I’ve got Jordan squared away. Come pick me up?”

“Well, I’ll give it a try,” Dean drawled, “but from the looks of how you’re swinging that there girl on your arm, I think you might be stronger than I am!”

Mia shook her head. “Smartass.”

“Back at ya, honeybunch.”

“Dean –”

“All right, all right!” Dean grinned at her flirtatiously and Sam wondered how his brother could have apparently so easily dismissed Sam’s misgivings so quickly. “Look, we’ll head on back to the motel – do some regrouping – and come get you when you’re ready.”

“Okay, I’ll call you later.”

“Keep your eyes peeled for five-oh while you’re in there,” Dean advised her, before adding, “And if you run into Dr. McDreamy and that Grey girl, how’s about you use that super-strength of yours to toss them down the nearest lift shaft? Do us all a favor.”

Mia glanced over her shoulder and stuck her tongue out at him.

“I can’t believe she watches that show,” Dean muttered, shaking his head as he followed her progress toward the ER entrance.

As soon as she was out of sight a tense silence descended on the remaining occupants of the Impala.

Sam bit his lip and glanced sideways at his brother, who was still staring at the ER’s glass doors even though Mia was no longer visible. “Earth to Dean!”

Dean blinked, turning to look at Sam as if he’d forgotten he was there. “Huh?”

“We stay here much longer we’re gonna get towed.”

Dean nodded, distractedly snapping on the radio to drown out the uncomfortable silence as he reversed the Impala out of the ambulance bay to the strains of The Kinks’ You Really Got Me.

Girl, you really got me now.
You got me so I don’t know what I’m doin’ now…

Dean huffed, snapping the radio back off.

Sam paused before taking a deep breath. “Dean, we need to talk about this,” he said, trying to broach the subject gently.

“Talk about what, Sam?” Dean said stonily, swinging the Impala out of the hospital parking lot and pointing her in the direction of their motel. “About how you think Mia’s some kind of Big Bad out to sabotage our every move and eventually get us killed?”

Sam detected the irony in Dean’s words and frowned grimly. “This isn’t a joke, Dean,” he pointed out seriously.

Dean sighed heavily. “Believe me, I know that, Sam,” he admitted.

Silence again filled the car, only the sound of the Impala’s V8 and her tires against asphalt filling the empty space between the brothers.

“Dean, look, I know you – you like Mia –”

Dean’s gaze skittered sideways before fixing determinedly on the road ahead.

“But you’ve got to see a pattern forming here?” Sam persisted. “I mean, she shows up out of the blue having murdered her boyfriend and anyone else unlucky enough to get within half a mile of her; she’s the victim of multiple possessions that – that by rights should have killed any ordinary person; she destroys a police station while manifesting all the powers of the demon Malphas, but when we summon him, he denies all involvement and – oh yeah – tries to kill us. And what did he call her? ‘Common trash,’ right?”

Dean didn’t reply, merely continued to fix his gaze straight ahead as if he wasn’t listening to a word Sam was saying.

“Then there’s Father Normand in Missouri,” Sam continued, his brother’s narrowed eyes, flared nostrils and clenched teeth more than adequately telegraphing the fact that Dean was listening only too well. “Bobby sends us to the foremost expert in demon possession – besides himself; the only guy that might be able to explain Mia’s possessions and know of a way to save her…and he winds up dead just before we get to talk to him.”

“Coincidence,” Dean ground out through gritted teeth.

“That’s not what you said at the time, Dean,” Sam argued. “And let’s not forget Bennington – we nearly get our asses fed to the NuJack because Mia can’t read a book.”

“Sam –”

“And then there’s Joe Bearwalker. And the Impala breaking down outside of Cibola for no apparent reason, just when Pazuzu is on our tail –”

“You’re forgetting Mia let Pazuzu possess her, Sam!” Dean pointed out angrily. “To save my ass!”

Sam shifted in his seat to better face his brother. “Did she?” he asked.

“Did she what?” Anger flared at the edges of Dean’s voice.

“Did she really let Pazuzu possess her? Were you even really in danger?”

“What the hell are you talking about, Sam? That demon would have ripped me and Hank to pieces if she hadn’t done what she did!”

“How do we know that, Dean? What if –” Sam stopped short and Dean glanced sideways at him.

“What if what, Sam?”

“Dean.” Sam took a deep breath. His brain wanted to lay everything out in front of his brother, everything he’d been thinking these last couple of weeks. About Mia. About Dean. But his heart just wouldn’t let him. “I’m not saying this to hurt you,” he mumbled instead, looking down, looking away, looking anywhere but at his brother.

“Well you got a funny way of showin’ it.”

Sam glanced back up at the sudden uncharacteristic hurt in Dean’s voice. He wanted to apologize, wanted to say he was wrong, he was mistaken, take it all back…. But deep down inside of him he knew that was a lie. He had to listen to those voices. He had to.

“I think something really bad’s going on here.” Even after Sam said it he wished he could make it not true. “With Mia.”

“Like what?” Dean took his eyes off the road for a second. “Sam, what exactly do you think’s going on? Huh?”

“I don’t know!” Sam admitted, already resigned to the fact that his next revelation was probably going to destroy what little patience his brother had left with him. “I just think… Look, don’t get mad okay –?”

“Oh God, I am so not gonna want to hear this am I?”

“So I’ve been doing some research,” Sam said slowly.

“What kind of research?” Dean asked, just as slowly.

Sam swallowed. “On Mia.”

Dean’s fingers tightened convulsively around the steering wheel and his jaw clenched even tighter. “Oh you have, huh?” he ground out, his voice artificially calm.

“Just – just a little,” Sam admitted. “You know, Dad always says to check out your friends as well as your enemies –”

“And when the hell did you ever listen to anything Dad had to say?” Dean demanded incredulously, the tips of his ears turning a distinct shade of scarlet.

“Dean –”

“So which do you think she is, huh, Sam? A friend? Or an enemy?”

“Dean –”

“’Cause I’d really like to know where you stand on that.”

“Look,” Sam took a breath and tried to ignore the unbridled sarcasm in his brother’s voice. “I did some nosing around a few databases, okay? Hall of Records, DMV. CPS and a few police departments in Oklahoma. Dean, I couldn’t find any record of a ‘Mia Cameron’ anywhere. It’s as if she never existed. Not until about six months ago when she applied for an Oklahoma driver’s license. That’s the first record I could find of her anywhere, Dean – no birth certificate, no school records, no social security number…”

“Maybe she wasn’t born in Oklahoma –”

“I checked the surrounding states too,” Sam informed him. “Nothing. She’s a ghost, Dean. Right up until she showed up at that garage in Warner looking for a job. If she was bounced around foster homes all over Oklahoma like she said she was, surely CPS would have some record of her?”

Dean didn’t respond, merely continued to stare straight ahead, features flinty and eyes narrowed.

“And what about that slip-up over her grandpa?” Sam continued.

“Huh?” That drew Dean’s attention back to his brother, a disbelieving frown hardening his expression still further.

“Outside the hospital,” Sam clarified, mistakenly believing Dean was confused rather than incensed. “She said she grew up helping out on her grandpa’s farm.”

“She explained that –”

“Just like she explained that weird little Texas twang showing up in her accent every now and then?”

“Sam, you heard her, she’s trying to be inconspicuous!”

“By trying out her inconspicuous Texas accent in New Mexico? Or in Vermont? Arizona? In Oklahoma, where she’s supposed to have been born and bred?”

“So suddenly you’re an accent expert now?”

“Took a course in sociolinguistics at Stanford,” Sam countered, causing Dean to huff dismissively.

“Yeah, ’cause College Boy knows everything there is to know about everything and the rest of us poor schmoes should stick to football and beer, right?”

“Dean, we’ve travelled from sea to shining sea more times than the Cannonball Run! You’re telling me you can’t tell the difference between an Oklahoma accent and a Texas accent?”

“So now you’re saying she’s lying to us about everything?” Dean said, pointedly not answering Sam’s question. “Where she’s from? Who she is?”

“I don’t know, Dean. There might be a perfectly logical reason why I can’t find any trace of her. Maybe she changed her name. Maybe she had a valid reason to change her name. All I’m saying is that we need to be careful. We’ve invited this girl into our lives without really knowing the first thing about her –”

“Sam –”

“Dean, I’m just trying to protect you –”

“Sam, as I recall you were the one who wanted me to shack up with Mia in the first place! You practically threw her at me!”

Sam straightened out his shoulders. “Yeah well that was before I –” He stopped abruptly, swallowing hard.

“What, Sam?” Dean’s voice was rising incrementally with each sentence. “Before you what?”

“I don’t know, Dean!” Sam burst out, meeting his brother’s glower before lowering his voice almost submissively. “I don’t know what it is about her, Dean, what she’s up to. I just can’t help thinking she’s up to something. Like luring us here with that Mordecai story –”

“‘Luring’ us?”

“– And almost getting me killed.”

Dean seemed to sober at that, shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

Sam took another deep breath, steeling himself for the explosion he knew would inevitably follow what he was about to suggest next. “For all we know she could have been the one controlling that demon tonight, Dean,” he managed finally. “Just like she could have been controlling Pazuzu. Just like she could have been controlling all of them – all of the demons that have supposedly possessed her.”

Dean slammed his fist against the steering wheel, causing Sam to start. “All right, that’s it.”

Dean swerved the Impala onto the shoulder with a spray of gravel and a squeal of tires. Slamming the car into park, he fairly leapt out, almost as if he couldn’t stand to be in it anymore.

Almost as if he couldn’t stand to be in it with Sam anymore.

Sam jumped out after him. “Dean! Wait!”

Dean had already stormed away a good couple of yards along the side of the road, but Sam dashed after him, long strides catching up quickly until he was able to grab his brother’s arm and swing him back around to face him.

“Dean, please, just let me –”

“Let you what, Sam?” Dean shook off Sam’s hold roughly. “Let you try to convince me Mia’s some kind of demon puppetmaster?” There was fire in Dean’s eyes. Fire and anger and hurt. Real, deep-seated hurt. “Is that what you’re saying to me?”

Sam sighed, running a tired hand across his forehead. “Dean, I didn’t say…”

“Are you friggin’ mental, Sammy?” Dean cut him off, suddenly right up in Sam’s face. “Can you even hear yourself?”

Sam straightened, taking a half-step back in surprise. “Look, I don’t know what she is, okay? And I don’t know what to think. I just know that I’m not the only one who thinks there’s something off about her!”

“And by ‘off’ you mean able to control demons with the express purpose of trying to kill us?”

“Dean –”

“Sam, she almost turned herself into a charcoal briquette back in Oklahoma! You really think she’d have done that if she was in control of the demon possessing her?”

“Maybe she’s just a damn good actress.”

“What?” Dean was yelling now, and Sam didn’t manage to stifle a flinch. “You think she wanted to be burned alive?”

“No, I think she might have wanted you to think she wanted to be burned alive!”

“Why? Why the hell would she want to do that, Sam?”

“Sympathy? All the better to convince you she’s the poor defenseless victim in all of this? You never could resist a damsel in distress, Dean.”

“You have got to be kidding me with this, Sam!” Dean turned away, fingers tugging at his hair as he spun on the spot almost as if he was going to storm off again, before turning around and getting back up in Sam’s face. “You have any proof? Any? Huh, Professor? Or should that be ‘Your Honor?’ You already seem to have her tried and convicted, after all. Now all you need to do is pass sentence, right? Judge, jury and executioner, all rolled into one giant, stupid, Sasquatch-sized package.”

Sam shook his head and gritted his teeth. “Look, Hank sensed it too, Dean!”

“Hank? Hank the crazy hick mechanic back in Cibola? That Hank? Oh, if he says it, then it must be true!”

“Dean, even you said there was way more to him than meets the eye! And even he told me to watch out for her! To watch out for you! ‘Listen to the voices’ he said. Listen to my instincts. And Dean, my instincts are telling me to get the hell away from Mia as fast as we can – just put her in our rearview and get the hell outta Dodge, man!”

“Leave her by the side of the road like some discarded beer can, huh?” Dean said. “That’s what you want? Let her eat our dust? After she saved my life – what, twice? That I know of. Like when that freakin’ walkin’ glue factory threw me and I got myself impaled on that fence post? I would have died if Mia hadn’t been there, Sam!” Dean raised himself to his full height, jaw jutting out only inches from Sam’s. “And where the hell were you then, huh?” Sam flinched visibly. “I didn’t see you riding in on your white horse with the cavalry in tow!”

“Dean.” Sam’s voice was subdued, small. “How can you say that to me? We were separated! How was I to know something had happened to you?” Although, if Sam was being honest, he had known – somehow – that something had happened. But he wasn’t about to admit that to Dean, who would no doubt freak even more if he knew Sam had some kind of psychic Big Brother in Danger early warning system hardwired into his brain.

Dean nodded. “Uh-huh. Somethin’ up with those demonic Spidey Senses of yours, huh Sammy?”

The color drained instantly from Sam’s face, his flinch even more noticeable. “Demonic?” he echoed, not quite able to believe Dean had just said that. “You’re calling me demonic?”

Dean set his jaw and lifted his chin, but he seemed to falter just a little, eyes skittering away from Sam’s shattered gaze. “Maybe it takes one to know one.”

Sam laughed mirthlessly, dragging a hand through his hair as he turned away. “Yeah, well if that’s what you really think of me then I’m glad we got it out in the open sooner rather than later. Wouldn’t want me to go all Darkside on you when you least expect it now would we? When you turn your back. When you’re asleep in the next bed. Not like that motel room in New Jersey when you were lugging around Haris’ demon spawn – when you threw me across the room and tried to gut me with your Bowie knife!”

Dean’s jaw dropped slightly, eyes widening. “That – that was different!” he protested. “I was possessed!”

“And still I trusted you, Dean. Even when you were possessed.” When Dean made no response to that, Sam added, “So maybe we should just part ways right now? Huh? If you don’t trust me. If you think I’m the demonic one. Give it all up as a bad job. Maybe we were on the right track when I left to go find Dad in California and you went off to pick apples with that scarecrow god in Indiana. Gotta protect yourself from your big bad demonic baby brother after all, don’tcha Dean?”

Dean took a breath, eyes lowered, an edge of something almost approaching an apology in his voice. “Sam, I didn’t mean –”

Sam turned back to face him. “Yes you did,” he said quietly. “And if you think that of me but aren’t even the slightest bit suspicious of Mia, then I guess I really don’t know you as well as I thought I did.” He straightened. “And you sure as hell don’t know me.”

“Sam.”

“Dean, I don’t know what’s going on with Mia, okay? This is all supposition and – and – gut feelings and weird coincidences and little things that make me think maybe there’s a bigger picture going on here we just can’t see! Okay? But forgive me for not wanting to get bitten in the ass by another chick who turns out to be some kind of demon!”

Dean frowned, expression caught somewhere between regret and hostility. “Meg? You think she’s another Meg?”

Sam shrugged, raising his hands to the heavens. “Who the hell knows, Dean? Maybe she is a demon. Maybe she has the power to control demons. Maybe she was never really possessed at all. But we’ve trusted her too much already and I think we need to check this out properly before we make the same mistake again –”

“‘We?’” Dean echoed, eyebrows raised in disbelief. “I think you’re confusing me with that other guy – y’know, the one who was dumb enough to hook up with a skanky demon chick out to use him as bait to trap and murder his dad. Remember him? Oh wait, that was you, right?” Dean shook his head. “You know, for a college boy fresh outta Stanford, you were pretty damn gullible there, Sammy.”

Sam nodded, feeling the anger rising in him like mercury in a thermometer. “Yeah, well right back at ya!” he snapped. “And how come it always comes back to that? Me going to college? The big family betrayal. You know what? You’re just jealous. That I got to leave. That I had a life –”

Dean’s eyes flashed. “And you’re just jealous I finally got someone in my life besides you!”

Sam took a heavy step backwards, almost as if Dean had physically sucker-punched him. Suddenly he found himself confronted by his own fears – wearing his brother’s face and speaking with his brother’s voice.

You’re just jealous. You can’t stand to play second fiddle to some random girl he cares more about than he does you.

Maybe he was jealous. Maybe that’s all this was. Maybe Mia was just some incredibly unlucky innocent dragged into a world she couldn’t control and Dean… Dean had let himself fall for her. And Sam was jealous.

“Is that it?” Dean continued, breaking in on Sam’s thoughts as if he’d been reading them. “You’re jealous because you think I care more about her than I do about you?”

Sam swallowed. “Dean, that’s not true,” he protested, and it sounded weak, even to his own ears.

“Yeah well I think it is,” Dean insisted. “You’ve had me all to yourself since you were six months old, Sam. I’ve been there for every birthday, every soccer match, every school play, every skinned knee, every broken heart. First word, first step, first unrequited crush. I’ve always been there for you, Sam. Had your back. Been in your corner. And you? First chance you get, you up and leave. So forgive me if I figured maybe I deserved a life too. Forgive me if I figured maybe I wanted something like what you had with Jessica.”

Sam felt hot tears prickle at the back of his eyes, but he willed them away, setting his jaw. “And look how that ended, Dean. You think I want to see you go through what I went through with Jessica?”

Dean gritted his teeth and looked away. “Sam, I think – I think I’m in love with her, okay? Don’t you think I deserve that? Or can’t you stand the fact I might finally have someone in my life as important to me as you are? Because this – what you’re sayin’?” He shook his head. “You know how long it’s been since I had someone in my life that wasn’t you or Dad?”

Sam met his brother’s gaze reluctantly. “Dean, look, I’m just trying to watch your back –”

“By telling me the first girl I’ve felt – anything – for since – since Cassie…you’re telling me she’s some kind of demon?”

“Dean, I never said… Look, I’m just trying to look out for you; I’m just trying to protect you –”

“Well thanks, little brother, but I think I can take care of myself,” Dean snorted derisively. “’Cause I’ve pretty much been doin’ that since I was friggin’ four years old, haven’t I?”

Sam blinked. Dean rarely talked about those first years after Mom’s death. And the few times he had, it had never been with this much resentment, this much honesty in his voice. Sam wasn’t familiar with it and had no idea how to deal with it. “Dean –” he began quietly.

But it was almost as if once the dam broke and the words started gushing out of Dean’s mouth, he had no way to make them stop. “Who was lookin’ out for you when you were four? Huh, Sam?” he continued. “Me. You think you’re so much better than me, so much smarter? But I’ve been taking care of your ass since I was four. And now you think you know better than I do who I should be in love with? Well I got news for you, Sammy: I’m not an idiot. Despite what you might think. I can tell the difference between a demon and a human. And I can tell the difference between a villain and a victim. And Mia? She’s a victim, Sam. Life dealt her a crappy hand and she made the most of it. And you know what? She never whines about the life she could have had – about what she’s lost. About being ordinary. About being normal. She never had a family to want to run away from –”

“Dean, I never wanted to run away from you –”

“Yeah, well you coulda fooled me, Sammy. So maybe you were right before. Maybe this is the end of the road for us. Or maybe it should be. Maybe you should have left me to that fugly scarecrow god and gone off to look for Dad in California. Or maybe I should have never come gotten you from Stanford. Maybe we’ve just been spending too much damn time together. Familiarity breeds contempt, or some damn thing, right? Sam, if my having someone else in my life who’s as important to me as you are is making you crazy enough to accuse her of conspiring with demons, then you gotta see how messed up that is! We’re co-dependent screw ups, Sammy! So if you want me to choose between you and Mia – ’cause you’re so convinced I care more about her than I do about you – then I gotta go, man. I can’t deal with that. I can’t live with a brother who looks at the woman I love everyday and wonders whether she’s a demon who wants to kill us. I can’t, Sam.”

Sam just gazed at him levelly. “You finished?”

Dean shrugged. “Knock yourself out.”

“So do I get a say in this at all?” Sam asked at length. “Or is that it? You ride off into the sunset with Mia while I’m left standing here by the side of the road?”

“’S up to you, Sam,” Dean said. “But I love Mia and nothing you can say is gonna make me change my mind about her.”

“You’re gonna wait till she kills us both?”

Dean rolled his eyes skyward. “You know what, Sam, I’ve had it. Right now, I’ve had it. I can’t talk about this anymore. We’re just goin’ round in circles. You do what you gotta do, man. I don’t care anymore. I don’t.” He spun on his heel abruptly and began to head purposefully back toward the Impala.

“Dean, where are you going?”

“I’m gonna give you some space to think about it, Sam,” Dean tossed over his shoulder, steadfastly refusing to turn back toward his brother. “I’m gonna give you some space to think about how you feel – about me, about Mia. About how you really feel. And when you’ve made a decision, come find me. But right now I can’t do this anymore. So I’m gonna go get Mia from the hospital, and if you wanna talk you know where to find us.”

Sam made a move to follow him but stopped in his tracks as Dean finally tossed a look that was equal parts fury, resignation and devastation over his shoulder.

“Dean –”

“I’ll seeya, Sammy.”

Later, Sam would wonder why he didn’t go after his brother, why he didn’t try to stop him. Why he just stood there and watched mutely as Dean jumped into the Impala, fired up the engine and accelerated off down the road in a cloud of dirt and gravel. Just like in Indiana. Only this time it was Dean doing the leaving.

He wasn’t entirely sure how long he stood there, gazing after the Impala’s taillights in a haze of shock and disbelief that his big brother – his dependable, reliable, ridiculously over-protective smartass of a big brother – would leave him standing by the side of the road like an old truck discarded because it ran out of gas once too often.

Had Dean really chosen Mia over him? Had Sam driven him to that?

A sudden, gut-wrenching sense of loneliness assaulted him, and he realized Dean was right about one thing – Sam had always had his big brother at his back, always had him in his corner. Even during those two years they didn’t talk while Sam was away at school, he’d always known that if he needed him, Dean would be right there for him. Any time, any place.

Right now though, as he became suddenly aware of the chill seeping through his thin jacket, of the fact that it was the middle of the night and he was in the middle of nowhere and he had no idea how to get back to their motel, all he could do was stare at the place where the Impala’s taillights had last been and wonder whether this was it. Was it over? Had he really forced Dean’s hand, forced him to choose between his brother and the girl he was in love with? What if he was wrong? What if Mia really was innocent? And what if she wasn’t? Dean could be in real danger.

And all Sam could do was stand by the side of a deserted road in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere with no idea how to get back to his brother.

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The Winchester Chronicles