It only took a couple of weeks for Juniper to almost become a different person.

Ever since she and Danielle left Milwaukee, Juniper began to act differently. While Danielle expected it to be little changes, it was quite the opposite, as Juniper was quick to get a new cell phone and a few sets of clothes. When the first unusual death popped up, she was ready to take the case and was more focused than ever, taking the lead on the job while laying low from the public eye. Even though it was only a few ghosts they got rid of in the last fourteen days, the thrill of being a hunter started to hit Juniper, and she seemed to enjoy it. While she knew that she wasn't anywhere near being a supernatural hunter, she at least liked it a little bit more now than she did a few months ago.

But Juniper knew acting this way only caused concerns for Danielle, who made a few attempts to talk to her about the incident from that night, but was shut down instantly. So Danielle stopped bringing it up, but still kept a close eye on her, something she never stopped doing ever since the two met. The feeling deep down in Juniper's gut told her that this wasn't some new confidence that she managed to gain overnight. Aware of what Danielle had seen from John and Dean after knowing them as hunters and as human beings, this was Juniper's way of distracting herself.

Of course, given the fact that Danielle was watching her at all times, Juniper tried her best to ignore it, wanting to make it seem like she was okay on the outside. Even when she had talked to Dean and Sam on the phone the one time they had called to check up on them, Juniper hoped she was able to convince them that she was fine, though she figured Danielle had told them otherwise.

The girls were at a gas station in Grand Rapids, Michigan, getting ready to head towards Sioux Falls, hoping they could get some rest days in before they see the Winchesters again. While Juniper was buying some drinks and snacks for the road, Danielle was getting gas in her car. By the time Juniper exited the station with two plastic bags in hand, Danielle had the pump put back and the windshield wiped off.

"Ready to go?" Danielle asked.

"Yeah," Juniper answered, getting into the car, waiting as Danielle did the same. She pulled out the bag of chips and handed them to her, along with the Dr. Pepper.

"Hold on," Danielle said, looking at the bag of chips. "These aren't the ones I asked for."

"What?"

"I wanted Flamin' Hot Cheetos, not the regular ones."

Juniper let out a groan as she leaned back in her seat. "Damn. I'm sorry, Dani. I can go back inside and--"

"No, it's fine," she quickly assured her.

"I got regular potato chips, if you wanna switch with me," Juniper offered.

Danielle eyed them before exchanging the orange bag of chips with Juniper, quickly opening them up and popping a few in her mouth. Juniper did the same with her Cheetos, then taking a sip of her Diet Pepsi. She felt bad for getting the wrong chips, but her mind had been all over the place. Between working on a couple of cases and all of the countless hours of being on the road, the exhaustion was about to take over her. On top of that, there was a part of her that was ready to see the Winchesters again, hoping that they were okay until that happened.

"I gotta tell you, these chips really hit the spot," Danielle spoke up, balling up the yellow bag and throwing them in the plastic bag.

"I'm glad," Juniper said.

"You okay?" Danielle asked, furrowing her brows.

Looking over at her, Juniper nodded. "I'm fine," she replied, though deep down she was far from it. "Have you talked to Sam or Dean recently?"

Danielle hesitated before glancing over at Juniper, then shaking her head. "No, I haven't," she replied. "But I'm sure they're fine. They can handle themselves for the most part."

"How can you be so sure?" she asked, starting to get suspicious with Danielle's response.

"Because I've known those two long enough that they can handle themselves," she stated. "Even though they still act like idiots sometimes."

A small smile came across Juniper's face. "Yeah, I'm starting to notice that."

"And you get used to it, trust me," Danielle added with a chuckle. "Alright, we better get going. It's gonna be one long drive to Bobby's." Just when she was turning the key to start the car, her phone rang from inside her pocket. Pulling it out, her expression turned more worrying. "It's Dean."

"Perfect timing," Juniper stated.

Danielle pressed the green button to answer it, pressing the phone to her ear. "Hey," she said. "Whoa, whoa, slow down, Dean. I can't understand a word you're saying...wait, he's where? Is he okay?"

"What's going on?" Juniper whispered, becoming more alert.

"Okay...okay, yeah, we'll head that way now...see you in a few hours." Danielle ended the call, placing her phone back in her pocket. "Change of plans. We're going to Twin Lakes, Wisconsin."

"Why?" Juniper asked. "Are the boys okay?"

"Dean's fine," Danielle answered. "Sam's the one that's in trouble."

Juniper's eyes went wide. "In trouble?"

"I'll explain on the way."

"Explain what?"

Danielle let out a sigh and gave her a guilty look. "What's actually been going on."

*******

Juniper felt a whirlwind of emotions for almost five hours after Danielle filled her in with what happened with the Winchesters in the last week. Between being worried about Sam's disappearance to angry at Danielle for not telling her sooner, she had a hard time staying calm during the long car ride. By the time they arrived at the motel that Dean told Danielle to meet him at in Twin Lakes, her anxiety was at its peak. After being on the road for so many hours, she could hardly stay still long enough for Danielle to park the car. The two rushed inside, finding the room number to where Sam was.

Juniper frantically knocked on the door. "Sam? Dean? It's June and Dani."

A moment later, the door opened up as Dean stood there with worry and relief over his face. "Hey," he said.

"Where is he?" Juniper asked, moving past him to get inside the room.

"Nice to see you, too!" Dean called out.

Ignoring him, Juniper's face fell once she saw Sam sitting on the edge of the bed in his pitiful state. "Sam. Are you okay?"

"Hey, June," he muttered. "I'm fine."

She wanted to believe him, but seeing the dried-up blood on his shirt next to him on the bed made her even more concerned. "Oh my God..."

"It's not mine," he said. "At least I don't think it is."

Sighing, Juniper sat down next to him, turning her head towards Dean and Danielle standing across from them. "What the hell happened?"

"We don't know," Dean answered. "He checked into this motel two days ago and that's it. Nothing unusual was happening with him, according to the manager in the lobby."

"So what about last week, then?" Juniper retorted, sounding more irritated. "Dani told me that Sam was missing since you two left West Texas."

"We don't know about that, either," Dean stated. "That's what we're trying to figure out."

Juniper shook her head, shooting him and Danielle an annoyed look. "And neither of you bothered to tell me all of this when it was happening?"

"We didn't want to worry you," Danielle spoke up. "There was a lot going on with us these last couple of weeks."

"You really think that's a good excuse to lie to me?"

Danielle scoffed. "Oh, right, because you've been so honest with me."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Okay, how about you two hash it out later?" Dean intervened, then turned to face Sam. "So the manager said you left yesterday afternoon and never saw you come back." He walked towards the window, looking outside when he noticed something about it. "Hey, check this out."

Sam, looking concerned, stood up and went to the window, followed by Juniper and Danielle. The four took a better look at the blood on the handle, along with the noticeable fingerprints pressed down hard against the metal. There was a shared expression of confusion and worry as they tried to figure out why it was there. While it only gave them vague ideas of what exactly Sam was doing, it was a start to retracing his steps.

As the four left the motel, Sam was looking at his surroundings, though it seemed like no memories were coming back to him.

"Recognize anything?" Dean asked, despite knowing the answer already.

Sam shook his head. "Not really," he replied.

"Well, that's not very helpful," Danielle commented.

"Just let him keep looking around," Juniper cut in. "Maybe he'll find something."

After walking around a few more minutes, Sam suddenly stopped as he eyed a line of storage units. "I think I was here," he stated.

"You remember?" Dean questioned.

"Not really. It just...feels familiar, you know?"

"Yeah, I know that feeling," Dean mumbled, nodding his head as he went to the first unit, only to find it locked.

"Try that one," Sam said, pointing at the next unit over.

"What's so special about that one?" Danielle asked.

Sam shrugged his shoulders, shaking his head. "I don't...wait..." After feeling his pocket, he reached inside and pulled out a small key, furrowing his brows at the sight of it. Still, he looked worried as he handed it to Dean.

Juniper watched Dean fiddling with the key in the lock, sharing her concerns with the others as to what could be inside. She thought her heart would stop at the sound of the key clicking in place, taking the lock off the door and opening up the unit.

None of them were sure what to expect to find, but an old and rusty Volkswagen Beetle was one hell of a surprise.

"Please tell me you didn't steal this," Dean said in annoyance.

"It's not so bad," Danielle spoke up. "I think it has some character to it."

Rolling his eyes, Dean was the first to check out the car, followed by Sam, then Danielle and Juniper. While the boys looked at the two front seats, the girls looked around in the back, the stale smell of cigarettes and alcohol taking over inside their nostrils. It was when they thought the car was another dead end when Sam had touched the steering wheel and noticed the red on his fingers, then Juniper looked down at the floor and spotted the bloody knife laying there.

"Oh my God," she mumbled, a shocked look on her face.

Sam went to pick it up, looking just as horrified to see it. "You think I used this on someone?" he asked, his voice cracking a little

Dean shook his head. "I'm not thinkin' anything," he said, his expression blank.

"None of us are, Sam," Danielle added.

As Sam quickly wiped his fingerprints off the knife with his jacket, Juniper was trying to remain calm. Seeing the scared look on Sam's face made her believe that he wouldn't hurt an innocent person, knowing how sensitive and caring he was, especially towards her when they first met. She had a hard time imagining him using that knife on someone.

"Okay, now, this is disturbing," Dean stated, holding up an empty pack of cigarettes. "Come on, man. This couldn't be you. Could've been someone else. Somebody who, uh, smokes menthols." He turned towards Danielle. "Somebody like witch bitch over here."

"Hey, I have preferences when it comes to cigarettes," she retorted.

"Hey, check this out." Sam picked up a wrinkled piece of paper and glanced at it for a brief moment, his face turning more excited. "A gas receipt from a few towns over."

"Good, we're getting somewhere now," Juniper spoke up, nodding her head. "Let's go check it out and see what we can find there."

So the four piled in the Impala (with much objection from Danielle) and headed to the gas station on the receipt. The drive there only made Juniper more anxious, and just by catching a glimpse at Sam in the passenger's seat, bouncing his leg and fidgeting with his hands, she could tell that he was feeling the same way. Of course, no one could blame him for that, and for his sake, she hoped that they found out what the hell happened to him.

Dean pulled into the station, looking down at the receipt once the car was fully stopped. "All right, receipt's for ten gallons at pump number two." He paused and looked over at Sam. "You gettin' any, uh, goosebumps yet? 'God, this looks familiar,' déjà vu vibes?"

Sighing, Sam shook his head in response. "No," he replied.

"How about you go inside and talk to someone?" Juniper suggested.

"Yeah, maybe someone inside will remember you," Dean added, opening the car door. "Come on."

"We'll stay here," Danielle stated.

As the boys headed inside, Juniper and Danielle watched as the cashier at the counter's eyes went wide at the sight of Sam. They sat there in silence for a moment, the tension already starting to rise up inside the car.

"What did you mean earlier?" Juniper spoke up.

Danielle furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"You implied that I haven't been honest with you these last two weeks."

Danielle let out a sigh. "Well, you haven't. I've seen the way you've been acting ever since Milwaukee. It's worrying me."

Juniper resisted the urge to roll her eyes in annoyance. "Look, you have nothing to worry about, so you can stop accusing me of lying to you. Especially since you're the one who hasn't been honest with me."

"Oh, well, excuse me for trying to look out for you," Danielle snapped.

"Maybe I don't need you looking out for me."

Before Danielle could come up with a rebuttal, Sam was walking out of the store and towards the car, hands in his jacket pockets and a distressed expression still on his face, which indicated that things inside didn't go too well for him. As soon as Dean came back out a moment later, he let the others know where they had to go next, then quickly drove out of the gas station and onto the main road.

It was quiet during the awkward drive out of town, the day slowly turning into night. Things remained tense in the Impala, much to everyone's dismay, as Sam didn't need any other problems from everyone else at the moment while dealing with whatever was going on with him. Juniper, still annoyed at Danielle, did her best not to let it bother her for now and focused on helping Sam.

"What's going on with you, Sam, hm?" Dean spoke up. "The smoking, throwing bottles at people...I mean, that sounds more like me than you."

"Ain't that the truth," Danielle mumbled.

Sam all of a sudden looked more alert as he sat up in his seat. "Dean, wait. Here." He pointed at the road ahead of him. "Turn down that road."

"What?"

"I don't know how I know!" Sam protested. "I just do."

While he seemed uncertain about it, Dean turned right down the road, anyway. Juniper was starting to feel the same way once he pulled up in front of a large white house with no sign of anyone inside. Getting out of the car, Juniper looked around for anything to indicate that someone was home, but had no luck. She was starting to get worried but still curious as to why Sam led them here.

Suddenly, a light flashed above them, showing a camera set up right at the entrance that trailed up to the front porch, though it was a mystery as to whether or not it actually worked.

"Whoever lives here, I'd say they don't like surprises," Sam commented.

The four slowly made their way up the stairs and in front of the door, where taking a closer look through the windows still didn't help.

"Should we knock?" Dean asked.

"You really think anyone's home?" Juniper spoke up.

"It's still worth a shot," Sam added.

Still not convinced, Dean went ahead and knocked on the door a few times, but there was no answer. Juniper took out a flashlight from her coat pocket and turned it on, seeing if she missed anything. She was getting more confused and worried with what they were finding.

"Hey, guys," Sam called out, flashing his light towards a broken window, glass still on the edge of the sill.

"Shit," Danielle muttered.

"I'm surprised the cops didn't show. Place like this you'd think would have an alarm." Dean continued to look at the broken window.

"Yeah, you would," Sam added, pointing at the breaker box that had been messed with. "Wires were cut, which means that--"

"No, we don't know if this was you," Dean interjected. "Let's check inside and see what we can find."

So the four climbed in through the window, stepping on the glass scattered all over the floor, crushing it into even more tiny pieces as they walked through the room and down the hall. Pictures were hanging off the wall, along with some on the floor and furniture flipped over. Juniper assumed that whatever happened here, someone put up one hell of a fight.

But when she entered the lit room at the end of the hall with the others and saw a lifeless body and blood on the rug, she knew the outcome wasn't what she hoped.

Dean and Danielle covered their mouths, trying to hide their horrified expressions, while Sam and Juniper could only give sad looks, though Sam seemed to be even more distressed than ever.

Sam let out a shaky breath. "Guys, I did this."

"We don't know that," Dean protested.

"What else do you need? How else do you explain the car, the knife, the blood?"

"I don't know, man! Why don't you tell me?" Dean took a moment to compose himself, then he continued. "Even if you did do this, I'm sure you had a reason. You know, self-defense, he was a bad son of a bitch or something else." There was another pause as he checked his pockets. "He doesn't have any ID."

"I need your lock pick," Sam stated, heading for the two doors behind his brother.

"What?"

"I need your lock pick."

Once Dean handed him the pick, it took Sam no time to get the doors unlocked and opened, revealing an armory filled with weapons of all sorts lined up on the wall and at the bottom on a small table pushed against the wall. There were pictures of symbols, printed and drawn, along with books piled up in each corner.

"Damn," Danielle mumbled.

"Either this guy's a unabomber..." Dean started to say.

"Or a hunter," Sam finished. "I think I killed a hunter."

"Sam, we still don't know if that's the case," Juniper spoke up.

"Well, let's find out," Dean added, staring up at the camera with a red light blinking in the corner of the wall by the door.

At this point, none of them were sure what to expect when Dean pulled up the camera footage on the hunter's computer. Of course, they had hoped Sam wasn't right about being responsible for his tragic death. But as the four watched Sam drag and beat the hunter for a few minutes, ending it with Sam slitting his throat, all of them weren't sure what to say. All they could do was stare at the screen in shock, and Sam's guilt was showing in his eyes, tears slowly forming in the corners.

Dean, Danielle, and Juniper started to get to work on cleaning up everything, wiping down the entire room so that no trace of the fight between Sam and the hunter ever happened. Sam was still sitting in the chair, reading a letter he found on the desk, barely moving.

"How do you erase this, huh?" Dean asked him, pointing at the computer screen. "Sam, come on. We need your help."

"I killed him, Dean," Sam stated. "I just broke in and killed him."

Juniper felt her heart tug a little bit the more she saw the guilt in Sam's eyes. She knew he was a good person, and whatever was going on that caused him to act this way was not the same guy that had been looking out for her ever since they met. It only made her more determined to get down to the bottom of this mess.

"Listen to me," Dean said. "Whoever this guy is, he's a hunter, which means that other hunters are gonna come looking for his killer, which means we gotta cover our tracks, okay?"

Sam didn't even look up at Dean. "His name was Steve Wandell." He held up the piece of paper for a moment before throwing it on the desk, letting out a shaky breath. "This is a letter from his daughter."

There was a brief moment where Juniper noticed the way Dean's face fell, almost turning into a soft and sympathetic expression towards Sam. But it then moved to a somewhat angry and frustrated look as he took the computer tower and threw it onto the floor, just about scaring the other three. After stomping on the tower a few more times, he looked up at the others, tossing the rag on the desk.

"Wipe your prints. Then we go." With that, Dean turned around and headed out of the room.

Danielle was the first to take the rag and wipe any of her prints she left behind, then handed it to Juniper before walking out of the room. She did the same, shifting her attention to Sam still sitting in the chair with his head down. Once she was done, Juniper made her way towards him, stopping once she was in front of the desk.

"Sam?" she spoke up, holding out the rag. "Here's the rag whenever you're ready for it."

He slowly lifted his head up, nodding his head as he took the rag from her. "Thanks. I'll be out in a few minutes."

Nodding, Juniper turned around and exited the room, meeting up with Dean and Danielle in the hallway, stepping on the glass again.

"Is he comin' out soon?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, he just needs a moment," Juniper replied, sighing as she folded her arms over her chest. "I'm getting really worried about him."

"I know," Dean said. "We'll figure out what the hell's goin' on with him."

"And how are we gonna do that when we have no more leads?" Danielle inquired. "We also don't have much time before he runs off and hurts himself or someone else."

"You think I don't know that?" Dean retorted. "Look, I get that this isn't our usual case, but this is Sam we're talking about here, and we're gonna help him no matter what it takes. Okay?"

With some reluctance, Danielle nodded her head.

After a few minutes, Sam came out of the room and joined the others. While he still looked a bit shaken up after what they found, he tried his best to hold it together.

"I'm good," he stated. "Let's get the hell out of here."

So the four headed out of the house and towards the Impala, hoping whoever discovered Steve Wandell couldn't find anything leading back to Sam. Even if that was the case, Dean was determined to keep him safe, and the girls were ready to back him up on that, despite any objections Sam would probably have to it. Juniper had seen enough of their brotherly relationship to realize that the two of them would do anything for each other if it meant one of them could survive in the end. She wondered when the day would come that she'd witness such a thing.

The drive back was silent and tense like before, no one having much to say after what was discovered at the hunter's house. Juniper stared out the window, resisting the urge to glance at the others, with Sam being the first she'd look at if she gave in. She tried to think about anything except Steve Wandell's house being broken into, his body lifeless on the floor, all done by Sam, even though she knew this wasn't really him at all. When nothing else came to her mind, Juniper decided to try and make some attempt to put the pieces together as to what was going on, but nothing was connecting, no matter how many times she went over everything they found out so far.

When they made it back to the motel, Dean and Sam were quick to head back into their room for the night, Juniper and Danielle got a room just down the hall from the boys. Juniper picked her bed and got settled in quickly, her back facing Danielle.

"Alright, I'm gonna go grab something to eat," Danielle said. "You want anything?"

"I'm not hungry," Juniper replied, not moving.

"You're not still mad at me for what I said earlier, are you?"

"I was never mad to begin with."

"That's bullshit and you know it."

Rolling her eyes, Juniper sat up, turning around to face Danielle. "What do you want me to say? That you're right about me acting like everything's okay?"

Danielle's expression turned sad as she let out a sigh. "Listen, I don't know exactly what went down when you were inside that bank with the shifter, but you can talk to me about it."

Juniper scoffed. "What's the point? Maybe that stupid shapeshifter was right."

"Right about what?"

About me never being a hunter, about me not actually wanting this deep down but trying to play the part, anyway, for everyone's sake. "It doesn't matter. Forget I even said anything."

"Junie--"

"I'm tired and I wanna go to sleep now," Juniper cut her off in a bitter tone, pulling the covers over her body and flipping around once again, hoping Danielle would just let it go.

Juniper got her answer when she heard the door open and close, though there really wasn't much relief to finally being alone as she slowly drifted off to sleep.

*******

Danielle was standing in the middle of an empty bar, facing the door as it was closing. She had almost a relieved expression on her face, looking at another blonde girl sitting at the table in front of her.

She cleared her throat and began to speak. "So, uh, I appreciate you not telling Dean about...you know, what the demon said."

It looked as if the other blonde was resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "I didn't do it for you. The last thing Dean needed to worry about was what John really did to my dad on that hunt." She stopped what she was doing, huffing a sigh. "But I think you're gonna have to tell him and Sam eventually, along with my mom."

"Even if the truth will hurt them more than the other version?"

"They deserve to know."

Danielle was close to disagreeing, but had a second thought that maybe Jo was right. "Yeah, I guess so." Her face turned sad. "Listen, Jo, I really am sorry for not telling you what actually happened. I just...I didn't want to hurt you or your mom."

"So John had you lie about it?"

"You knew how John was."

"Yeah, I knew how he was, but I thought I knew you, Dani. I looked up to you as a hunter and as a friend. You were one of the few people that made the Roadhouse bearable after my dad died. And when you left, I--" Stopping abruptly, Jo shook her head. "I'm assuming you came here because of Sam, but was there anything else you were hoping to get out of this?"

Danielle took a deep breath, with Jo's words hitting her hard. "Listen, I've made plenty of mistakes in my life, and abandoning you is one I'll always regret. I should've never left the way I did. So I want you to know that I'll always be here for you no matter what. I won't leave you again."

The sound of knocking at the door caused Juniper to jump a little as her eyes opened wide, confused for a moment by what she was hearing. She felt her heart beating fast and her head aching. When the knocks started to become louder, she quickly got out of the bed, looking down to see that she was still in the clothes from the night before, along with being the only one in the room. She hurried to the door, opening it as she saw the man from the front desk standing there.

"Can I help you?" she asked him.

"Uh, yeah, it's past your checkout," he told her.

She furrowed her eyebrows, even more puzzled. "What?"

"It's 12:30, which is way past your checkout," he repeated. "You and your friend that was down the hall should've been out of the rooms over an hour ago."

"Oh." A bit groggy from just waking up, she was still able to catch what he said just then. "You said friend, not plural. Was there only one guy in there?"

"Yeah, the short one," he stated. "His friend and that other girl with you took off right before dawn."

Groaning, Juniper didn't have time to think about where Sam and Danielle went as she kept her eyes on the man in front of her. "So where's the other guy?"

"He's in the lobby on the phone," he replied. "Probably trying to figure out how he's gonna pay the extra charges that you also have to fork out for staying past your checkout time."

Juniper resisted the urge to roll her eyes at his comment, letting out a sigh of frustration instead. "I'll be out in a couple of minutes. Just let me get my things." She turned around, gathering the little things she brought with her from Danielle's car and headed out of the room, going to the lobby, where Dean was pacing back and forth, the phone pressed up against his ear.

"And you're sure that's where he's going?" Dean asked. "Well, of course we're gonna head up that way. You really think we'll just sit back and let you handle this on your own?" A pause. "It's complicated? What the hell does that mean?"

As Juniper placed some cash on the counter for the man when he came back, she turned to see a worried and frustrated look on Dean's face, assuming that he was talking to Danielle. While Juniper was concerned as to why both Danielle and Sam left in the middle of the night, she was also annoyed by it.

"Look, we're comin' up there whether you want us to or not," Dean retorted. "Just...just be careful, okay? Watch out for Sammy. See you soon, Dani." With that, he took the phone away from his ear and flipped it shut, huffing a sigh as he closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead, then looked up at Juniper. "Come on. We gotta go."

"Where are we going?"

"Duluth, Minnesota."

"Are Sam and Dani okay?"

"I don't know."

With an uneasy mind, Juniper followed Dean out of the motel and into the parking lot, heading for a random car. The two looked around to make sure everything was clear before Dean managed to pick the lock on the car door, sitting down to mess with the wires underneath. Juniper wondered how many years of practice it took for the Winchesters and Danielle, along with other hunters, to master things such as breaking in a car and hot-wiring it.

"Alright, let's get the hell out of here," Dean said once he got the car started, reaching over to unlock the passenger door for Juniper.

Hurrying out of the parking lot and grabbing some food from a McDonald's just down the road, the two ate on the way to Duluth, Minnesota, not talking much for a while. Juniper felt her stomach turning a little, hoping she wouldn't throw up her food before she could get the chance to digest it, and the thought of Sam and Danielle in trouble made it worse, along with the vision she had before she woke up.

"So why did Sam and Dani just leave in the middle of the night?" Juniper asked Dean, finally breaking the silence after being on the road for a while.

"Dani saw Sam leaving when she got back to the motel, so she followed him," he explained. "She had a run-in with him just now and thinks he's goin' after Ellen's daughter, Jo."

"And you didn't follow them?"

"Well, Sam knocked me out, so I really couldn't do much about it." Dean let out a sigh. "But he was saying all this shit last night, talking about feeling this anger for the past few weeks." Pausing, he glanced over towards Juniper. "Have you been feeling that way, too? You know, with your abilities or whatever?"

Juniper shifted in her seat a little. "To be honest, I've kind of been all over the place with my feelings."

Dean furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Meaning?"

"Meaning I haven't been myself since Milwaukee," she confessed. "When we first left, all I did was want to take on cases and fight monsters now that I've been with you guys for a few months. I was starting to feel like a hunter, even though all it did for me was distract myself with what happened with the shapeshifter. And all that did was worry Dani these last couple of weeks."

"Well, can't say I blame her," he stated. "She told me that she was worried about you."

"Of course she did," she muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Listen, other than being a skilled hunter, Dani is also good at listening to other people's problems." Dean paused again, sighing. "I mean, she's listened to all of my family issues for God knows how long. Dani's been loyal to my family for a while, and when something bothers her, she lets me know."

"So what did she say about me?"

Dean shrugged. "You know, the usual stuff. Just that you haven't been yourself and she wasn't sure if it was Milwaukee or if it had..." He trailed off, taking a moment before he continued. "Or if it had to do with something else."

"And that something else would be my abilities, I assume?" Juniper inquired.

"Yeah, that," he replied. "Unless it's both?"

Juniper sighed, looking down at her hands. "The shapeshifter said some stuff to me that night. It told me that I was trying to become something I'd never be. You know, being a hunter and being a part of this life."

"And do you think that's true?"

"I don't know, Dean." She paused for a moment, letting out a sigh. "But what if I can't be a hunter like you guys? What if I never get used to this way of living and just stay miserable for the rest of my life? I can't go back to my old one, so what would be another option? Become one of Yellow Eyes' soldiers for whatever army he's trying to build with all of these Special Children he's created?"

"Now you're starting to sound like Sammy with all that yellow-eyed demon talk," Dean stated. "Which is why I'm gonna tell you what I told him last night, and that's no one can control you but you. No one else can say whether or not you're this or that. That all comes down to what you do, no matter what your destiny or whatever is supposed to be." Silent for a minute, he then went on again. "I don't know exactly what you and Sam are going through with these abilities, but I can say that neither of you are killers. That's just not you guys."

"How do you know that?"

"Because Sam's my brother and I've been around you long enough that I just know," he said. "Dani knows it, too, and we're not gonna let you two go down that path with Yellow Eyes, okay? I promised you from the very beginning that we'd figure all of this out, and we won't stop until we do."

Juniper was quiet for a moment as she looked up at Dean before she spoke. "You really think we'll figure this out?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah, I do, and I still think that you'll become a badass hunter like me one day. Don't doubt yourself because of one bad encounter with a monster. It happens to all of us at some point, and we can't let that bullshit get in the way of being a hunter." He glanced her way, giving her a light smile. "You're special in many ways, Juniper. I guarantee that it'll go a long way with whatever this life has planned for you."

With some reluctance, Juniper slowly nodded her head, letting Dean's words sink into her brain. Though deep down, she was still terrified of the path she was going down, knowing that it would be one hell of a grave to dig if the bad outweighed the good in the end, if Yellow Eyes got what he wanted. But with Dean, Sam, Danielle, and Bobby on her side, Juniper felt a sense of hope inside her, and she wanted to keep it for as long as she could, especially if it kept her going with this lifestyle. And right now, she was starting to feel more confident that they could save Sam, no matter what it would take or who to fight in order to get him away from the darkness that he had been dealing with for so long. Which was why she had to tell Dean what was going on with him.

"I have to tell you something," she confessed. "I had a vision before we left the motel."

Dean shot her a concerned look. "Just now? What did you see?"

"I saw Dani talking to Jo. It looked like they were in a bar."

"What were they saying?"

Juniper took a deep breath before responding. "Dani mentioned something about a demon. It was saying things about your dad."

Dean looked more confused, but still worried about what Juniper was telling him. "What kind of things?"

"Just..." She trailed off for a moment, unsure if she should tell him what exactly was said. "Just something about him and Jo's dad on a hunt. Dani must've lied about what happened from what both of them were saying." She glanced over at Dean. "Does any of that sound familiar to you?"

He kept his eyes on the road, becoming sterner. "Yeah, sort of. You mentioned a demon. Did it have a name?"

She shook her head. "Dani didn't say one." Her eyes went towards Dean, feeling uneasy. "Do you think Sam's being possessed by a demon?"

"It sure sounds like it," he stated. "Which is why we gotta get to Duluth fast before Sam gets himself or someone else hurt." He pressed his foot on the pedal, speeding down the empty road ahead.

With every hour that passed, getting closer to Duluth, Juniper was getting more anxious, worrying about both Sam and Danielle, hoping they were okay at the moment. She tried not to think about the demon inside Sam, knowing that it was only a matter of time before it'd wreak havoc and the blame would be put on Sam, where he would feel even more guilty for whatever he thought he had done while blacked out. He didn't need that on him, not with everything that was going on regarding Yellow Eyes and the Special Children.

"So, what exactly is the plan once we get to Duluth?" Juniper asked. "I mean, a simple exorcism should do the trick, right?"

"I sure as hell hope so." Dean paused, huffing a sigh. "But I have a feeling that this demon didn't just randomly pick Sam."

"You think a demon was targeting Sam for some reason?"

"It wouldn't surprise me if that was the case," he answered. "I think anyone associated with me and my brother are targets."

This didn't make Juniper feel any better, but she knew that he was right.

A few hours later, after numerous pit stops, Dean and Juniper arrived in Duluth later than anticipated. The city was settling down for the night, with shops and restaurants closing down as the lights were turned off out front. The streets were also empty, along with the water barely moving, even with a slight breeze coming in. It gave Juniper an eerie feeling, but she pushed it down in order to focus on Sam and Danielle. Her heart was beating fast as Dean pulled into the vacant parking lot of a bar called the Sandpiper. She took a glance out at the water before staring at the bar that resembled an old fishing marina.

"Oh, Baby's okay, thank God," Dean exclaimed, heading towards the Impala, running his hand along the top.

"Can you not worry about your car right now?" Juniper inquired, letting her annoyance come through.

Dean almost rolled his eyes before checking to see if the door to the passenger's side was unlocked, relieved to see that it was. "All right, let me just get some holy water..." He rummaged through the glove compartment, grabbing a flask and shaking it up, hearing the water swish around. "Perfect." He placed the flask inside his jacket, then took out his gun and loaded it up. "Okay, come on."

Please let this go well, Juniper thought. We gotta get Sam back.

When the two rushed inside the bar, they found Jo tied up to a post as Sam was right in front of her with a knife, with Danielle standing behind them looking scared.

"Sam!" Dean shouted, his gun also aiming at him.

The expression on Sam's face turned desperate, though Juniper wasn't sure if it was an act put on by the demon to try and fool them. "I begged you to stop me, Dean!"

"Put the knife down, damn it."

"I told you I can't fight it!" he cried. "My head feels like it's on fire, all right?"

"And you don't think I feel like that all the time?" Juniper spoke up. "You can overcome this, Sam. We both can. Just..." She began to breathe heavily, a lump forming in her throat. "Just let us help." There was a part of her that hoped Sam was listening, that he was still inside there somewhere, trying to break free and take control again. She knew that he was stronger than the demon if he could just fight it.

But Sam shook his head in response, breathing heavily. "No. No, I can't." Pausing, the knife was now near Jo's throat. "Dean, kill me, or I'm gonna kill her. Please. You'd be doing me a favor. Shoot me."

Dean hesitated, his eyes full of sadness as he kept his finger on the trigger. Juniper was certain that he wouldn't actually shoot his own brother, not when he knew that the person standing in front of him wasn't actually Sam. Still, it didn't stop her from getting nervous, and judging by the looks on Danielle and Jo's faces, they were just as anxious.

Sam stepped away from Jo and stood his ground with open arms. "Shoot me!"

Dean's face fell, shaking his head. "No, Sammy. Come on." Finally, he put his gun down and turned around, his hand going inside his jacket, while Juniper caught a glimpse of the flask from the Impala, watching him unscrew the top.

"What the hell's wrong with you, Dean?!" he yelled. "Are you that scared of being alone that you'd rather let Jo die?! What if I killed Dani, too?! Will that make you come to your--"

Suddenly, Dean spun back around, slinging holy water at Sam, steam rising from his skin as the water hit him. "That's holy water, you demonic son of a bitch!"

Letting out a growl, Sam's eyes turned black, and it was enough for Juniper's face to turn afraid and let Dean fling more holy water on him, making the younger Winchester groan out in pain and stumble backwards, eventually turning around and breaking through the window to jump out.

Danielle rushed towards the window, frantically looking out, shaking her head in frustration. "Damn! She's gone."

"She?" Juniper repeated, rushing towards her.

"Wait, he was possessed?" Jo spoke up as Dean cut her ropes and she was no longer gagged."Yeah, like I told Dean, it's complicated," Danielle stated.

"I'm goin' after him," he said, heading towards the broken window.

"I'm coming with you," Danielle added.

"Like hell you are."

"Dean, you can't fight that demon alone."

Dean shot Danielle a hard look. "You had your fight with him. Now it's my turn." He then jumped out the window before Danielle or anyone else could protest.

But Danielle rolled her eyes and huffed out a sigh, glancing at the other two girls. "Come on." She led Jo and Juniper out of the bar and outside in the cold night air.

"Will someone tell me what the hell's goin' on?" Jo asked, her voice a mixture of frustrated and scared.

"It's kind of a long story," Juniper spoke up in an awkward manner. "I'm Juniper, by the way. Juniper Langley."

The blonde girl eyed Juniper before nodding her head. "Jo Harvelle."

Yes, I already know who you are, was all Juniper could think the more she stared at Jo. Though she didn't think telling the blonde that she had seen her in visions before, as Juniper would rather not scare the poor girl even more.

"Well, sorry you got roped up into whatever mess those boys have caused," Jo told her before focusing her attention back on Danielle. "You see them anywhere, Dani?"

Before Danielle could answer, the sound of a gunshot and water splashing rang into the air, which made the girls stop as their hearts began to pound.

"Shit," Danielle muttered. "Either one of you know which direction that came from?"

Jo stepped in front, pulling out a flashlight from her jacket. "Follow me." She picked up her pace, with the other two girls following suit. "They've gotta be around here somewhere."

"Try calling Dean," Juniper suggested. "He's more likely to answer than Sa-- than the demon will." Her face turned sad at the mention of the demon, hoping that Dean would manage to get it out of Sam without either one of them getting hurt in the process. Except hearing the gunshot didn't help Juniper's worries.

Jo grabbed her cell phone and dialed Dean's number, resulting in a few rings and his voicemail. She tried a few more attempts, only to get the same outcome. It was when she dialed his number again that the faint sound of rock music playing from a distance.

"Dean?" Danielle called out as the girls walked farther down the docks. "Dean, where are you?"

All of a sudden, the faint sound of groaning was heard not too far from them. They looked around the docks, where there was no sign of Dean, causing concern for the girls. But finally, much to her relief, Juniper spotted him just out of the water and on the ramp down below.

"There he is!" Juniper shouted, pointing down at him.

The three girls headed down the ramp and towards Dean, who was soaked from head to toe as he laid in the water. They helped him sit up, to which he let out another groan of pain while pressing his hand onto his shoulder.

"Take it easy," Jo told him.

"Where's Sam?" he asked.

"We don't know," Danielle replied. "What happened?"

"He shot me, that's what happened," he explained, sounding beyond irritated.

"Okay, well, let's get you back to the bar and we'll have a look at it," Jo said. "Come on, up you go."

So the girls helped Dean up and held onto him all the way back to the Sandpiper. Dean limped his way into a chair while Jo got a first aid kit, along with a drink for Dean. The four sat around the table, with Dean's wound exposed for Danielle to clean up around his shoulder.

"Looks like it hurts," she said.

Dean scoffed. "Yeah, no shit."

Jo huffed a sigh as she got ready with a pair of tweezers to pull out the bullet from his shoulder. "You ready?"

"Not really."

"Well, too bad. It's gonna hurt like a bitch one way or another."

Rolling his eyes, Dean tensed up as Jo began to work the tweezer into his shoulder, crying out in pain a few times that made Jo fuss at him for it. Once the bullet was out of his body, he relaxed a little, taking a swig of the scotch whiskey Jo provided for him, then sighing.

"God, you're a butcher," he muttered with a hoarse voice.

"You're welcome," she snapped annoyingly, letting Juniper put the bandages on him.

"All right, are we done?" he asked urgently.

"Would you let me patch you up first?" Juniper retorted. "We can't help Sam if you're bleeding to death."

With a grunt, Dean leaned back in his chair.

As Juniper continued to bandage Dean, she noticed the way he gripped the bottle in between sips, the frustration and pain in his eyes. She felt her heart ache at the sight of him, and with Sam still out there and in terrible danger, she could only imagine what terrible things were going through Dean's mind at the moment.

"So, how did you know he was possessed?" Jo questioned after a moment of silence.

Dean eyed Juniper, almost like he was debating on what he should tell Jo. But he ended up shaking his head in response, which was a relief to Juniper. "I didn't. I just knew that it couldn't have been him." He paused, looking over at Danielle across from him. "Did you know that he was possessed?"

As all eyes fell on Danielle, she reluctantly nodded. "Yeah, I knew."

It looked as if Dean was ready to lose his shit. "And you didn't bother to share that information with me when we talked over the phone earlier?"

"Why, so that you could freak out even more with what was going on?"

"I think I have every right to freak out when it comes to my little brother."

Danielle didn't respond, her eyes going soft, almost like she felt guilty for not saying anything to him about it before.

"Hey, Dean." Jo spoke up. "I know demons lie, but do they ever tell the truth, too?"

Dean briefly gave her a puzzled look. "Uh, maybe, especially if they know it'll mess with your head." He took another swallow of the alcohol before speaking again. "Why do you ask?"

Jo glanced at Danielle for a moment before shaking her head. "Nothing. It doesn't matter."

Juniper looked over at Danielle, who had relief all over her face at Jo's answer. She had a feeling that whatever that was had something to do with the conversation that Danielle and Jo were about to have once they were alone.

"Anyway, do you have any idea where Sam is headed next?" Jo asked.

"Well, so far, he's been going after the nearest hunter," Dean explained. "And the closest one we know is in South Dakota."

"So he's going after Bobby," Danielle stated.

"Which means we better get going," Juniper added, finishing up with Dean's wound. "All right, I'm done."

"Great, let's go," Jo said.

Dean let out a chuckle. "You're not comin'."

Jo furrowed her eyebrows. "The hell I'm not. I'm a part of this now."

Dean shot her a serious look. "I can't say it more plain than this-- you try and follow us and I'll tie you right back to that post and leave you here. This is my fight."

"Comin' from the guy who has two other girls backing him up."

"They're exceptions, and none of us are gettin' your blood on our hands. That's just how it's gonna be."

Jo, wanting to put up a fight, sighed in defeat, giving Dean a bottle of medications for the road before she started to clean up the supplies. She didn't give him a second glance before heading to the back of the bar, and Dean took that as a sign for him to leave. Juniper was about to follow him, giving both Danielle and Jo a weak smile before she exited the bar and caught up with Dean by Danielle's car, as the Impala was no longer there.

"You okay?" she asked, folding her arms as the breeze picked up.

"I'm fine," he simply replied, leaning against Danielle's car. "Well, other than the fact that my car is gone again..."

"We'll get it back," she assured him. "And we'll also get Sam back."

He let out a sigh, nodding. "Yeah, I know. I just hope that he'll be okay once we gank that demon out of him."

"He will, Dean." Juniper tried to sound confident in saying those words, but she could tell that Dean wasn't too convinced, either.

A moment later, Danielle walked out of the bar alone, looking more distressed than before, taking out her keys from her jacket.

"Enjoy your little reunion?" Dean asked.

"I wouldn't say neither of us enjoyed it," Danielle admitted. "But it was nice to see her again after what happened."

Dean and Juniper exchanged glances, already assuming that whatever the two talked about inside was the vision Juniper had just hours before the two arrived in Duluth.

Danielle huffed a sigh, heading for the driver's side of the car. "Okay, so Bobby's place is about six hours from here, so we better get going so that we can catch up with Sam."

The two would have protested for Danielle to slow just for just a minute, but given how urgent it was to save Sam, they hopped in the car, where Danielle gave them hardly any time to buckle up before starting the engine and pulling out of the bar parking lot, her tires screeching as they echoed into the night.

*******

"God, this car reeks of cigarette smoke."

"Kiss my ass, Dean."

"If only he had stolen this piece of junk you call a car instead of my precious Baby..."

"Quit your dramatics and just let me drive."

Juniper was in the back seat of Danielle's car, listening to Dean and Danielle bicker back and forth as the hours dragged on. After many attempts in trying to reach Bobby, Dean finally quit when he wasn't getting an answer, much to his annoyance.

"Still nothing?" Danielle asked.

"No, the line's dead. I bet it was cut so that none of us could reach Bobby."

"But he'll be able to figure out right away that it's not Sam, right?" Juniper asked.

Danielle chuckled. "Bobby puts a little holy water in his beer when people come over, so it won't take long for him to realize it."

Juniper felt some relief at that, but she still worried for Sam, hoping that he was okay with the demon inside of him. She had never seen him so menacing, and it scared her a bit. Of course, she knew the real Sam wasn't like that. He got angry at times, sure, but it never got to the point where Juniper was afraid to be around him. She hoped that'd never happen with him.

"Hey, guys?" Juniper spoke up. "What exactly is the deal with Jo? I mean, it kind of seemed tense back at the bar with all of you in one room."

Dean and Danielle glanced at each other, and Juniper could tell that the tension was about to fill up the car just by the subject.

"It's a long story," Dean finally replied.

Juniper chuckled a little. "Of course it is." From what she saw, both Dean and Danielle seemed to have an odd past with her, but she didn't press on about it.

"So, what's the plan when we get to Bobby's?" Danielle questioned.

"We send that demon back to Hell where it belongs," Dean said simply. "Get it in a Devil's Trap, exorcise it--"

"That's not gonna work."

"Of course it's gonna work. It's a demon."

"Yeah, who just so happened to put a binding link on Sam's arm so that it couldn't be exorcised."

Dean let out a frustrated sigh. "Damn it. This demon's really gonna be a tough one to get rid of."

Danielle glanced at him, her expression almost plastered with guilt. "And there's a reason why."

"Yeah, because it's possessing Sam, which is every demon's dream."

"No, that's not it," she said. "Dean, this demon's not just any demon."

Dean furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What do you mean?"

She paused, taking a deep breath. "The demon possessing Sam is Meg."

His eyes went wide. "Meg?"

"Who's Meg?" Juniper spoke up.

"Fuck." Dean groaned in frustration, ignoring Juniper's question as his expression turned angry towards Danielle. "Why the hell didn't you tell me this before?"

"Because it was compl--"

"No, don't you dare tell me it's fucking complicated again, Dani," he snapped.

"Dean--"

"My brother's in danger and you're hiding shit from me and Juniper that could help us save him."

"No, it's not--"

"Do you honestly ever stop to think about anyone else other than yourself?"

Danielle didn't try to explain herself after that. Instead, she kept her mouth shut and continued driving, and Juniper swore she could see her eyes water from the rearview mirror.

For a while, the three remained quiet as the tension stayed high inside the car. Danielle continued to drive, while Dean eventually fell asleep in the passenger's seat, his head leaning against the window, lightly snoring, and Juniper was still wide awake, keeping a close eye up front, where she cleared her throat and broke the silence.

"Hey, Dani?"

"Yeah, Junie?"

"You guys never answered my question earlier. The one about Meg."

Danielle's grip on the wheel got tighter as she reluctantly responded. "She's just some demon we had a scuffle with about a year ago. Like I tried to say before, it's complicated."

"But you think there's a reason she's--"

"Look, Junie, I'm really not in the mood to talk, especially about this."

Seeing the way Danielle was getting annoyed at the subject, Juniper decided to drop it for now. Though she knew that the conversation would happen one way or another after they saved Sam from this demon called Meg.

The next few hours went by a lot faster than anticipated, with no one saying another word until they reached Sioux Falls, which was when Danielle woke up Dean by hitting him on the arm. Jolting awake, he rubbed his eyes and let out a groan, trying to wake up some more.

"Morning, sunshine," Danielle stated. "We're almost at Bobby's."

While Dean and Danielle didn't look too anxious, Juniper felt her palms sweating and her leg burning from all the bouncing it did the closer they were getting to Bobby's place, wondering what would happen once they got there, which wasn't very long as Danielle was driving through the junkyard that led up to the house. Sure enough, the Impala was parked out front, much to Dean's relief. But he, along with the girls, wouldn't feel any of that until Meg was out of Sam and sent back to Hell where she belonged.

Nothing about the house looked unusual as the three got out of the car and up to the front porch. Without knocking, they headed inside, where they found Bobby in the living room with an unconscious Sam tied to a chair, a Devil's Trap marked on the ceiling above them.

"I see you had no problem getting him all situated," Danielle commented.

"Yeah, well, that's what happens when you try to con a con man," Bobby stated.

"Is he okay?" Juniper spoke up.

Bobby let out a sigh. "As okay as he can be with a demon possessing him. How the hell did this happen?"

"I don't know," Dean replied, approaching his brother. "But we have him now, so we go ahead and get this demonic bitch out of him." He took his hand and went across Sam's face with it. "Hey!"

Sam let out a groan as he woke up, his face filled with exhaustion. Though when he slowly looked up at the Devil's Trap, then back down at Dean a smirk formed on his lips, indicating that it was actually Meg looking at him. "Dean. Back from the dead. Getting to be a regular thing for you, isn't it? Like a cockroach." She paused as her eyes went straight towards Juniper. "Or a June bug."

Juniper clenched her fists, reminding herself that this wasn't Sam talking.

"How about I smack that smart-ass right out of your mouth?" Dean snapped, intervening before Juniper could retort.

"Careful now. Wouldn't wanna bruise this fine packaging."

"Oh, don't worry. This isn't gonna hurt Sam much." Dean briefly turned around to pick up a bucket of holy water. "You, on the other hand..." He threw the water right at Meg, to which she let out a cry as the steam was rising from Sam's body. "Feel like talkin' now?!"

Hissing from the pain, Meg turned away from the others. "Sam's still my meat puppet. I'll make him bite off his tongue."

"No, you won't be in him long enough," Dean said. "See, whatever bitch-bot master plan you demons are cookin' up, you're not getting Sam, you understand me? 'Cause I'm gonna kill every one of you first."

Meg was breathing heavily for a moment before throwing her head back and letting out a demonic laugh. "You really think that's what this is about? The master plan?"

"You seemed really interested in it before," Danielle retorted.

Meg chuckled. "I don't give a rat's ass about the master plan."

"So what is it, then?" Juniper intervened, her voice shaky.

The demon glanced at Juniper, chuckling. "Since when do you care? I thought you wanted out." She paused, raising her eyebrows. "Or at least that's what Sam thinks."

"I'm kind of in too deep with all of this to leave," she said.

"But you're only in it enough to get some answers," Meg pointed out. "There's always a motive with you hunters. Or, in your case, Juniper, a wannabe hunter."

"She's a hunter like us," Danielle spoke up.

Meg chuckled. "Oh, really? Well, it's time she learns that even demons can learn new tricks." She put Sam's head down and started to speak Latin, which caused everyone else to exchange confused and worried looks. All of a sudden, the flames in the fireplace got bigger for a split second, the lights began to flicker, papers and books were flying everywhere, with the room beginning to shake.

"This isn't going like I pictured!" Dean yelled.

"What's going on?" Juniper shouted.

"It's the binding link!" Danielle stepped in. "Meg's locked herself in Sam's body! We gotta break it somehow!"

And just when they thought things couldn't get worse, the ceiling above cracked, making the Devil's Trap useless against Meg. Once the rumbling of the house stopped, Meg had that same evil smirk across Sam's lips as she looked around the room at everyone.

"There. That's better." Meg then broke the rope restraints and used her demonic powers to throw everyone backwards, knocking over the shelves and piles of books in the process. Next, she stood up and made her way towards Dean. "You know when people want to describe the worst possible thing, they say it's like hell?" She paused as she threw a punch to his face. "Well, there's a reason for that. Hell is like, uh..." Another punch. "Well, it's like hell, even for demons." A third punch. "It's a prison made of bone and flesh and blood and fear!" Fourth punch. "And you sent me back there." Her grip on Dean became tighter, causing him to let out a painful groan. "By the way, I saw your dad there. He says, 'howdy.'"

"Leave him alone!" Danielle cried.

But Meg ignored her and continued to hurt Dean. "All that I had to hold on to was what I would climb out one day and that I was gonna torture you, nice and slow, like pulling the wings off an insect."

Juniper could hardly look at Dean's bloody face, almost as if she was feeling his pain, along with her own. "Let...him...go..." she said faintly, having a difficult time getting her voice any louder.

Meg still didn't divert her attention away from him. "But whatever I do to you, it's nothing compared to what you do to yourself, is it?" She paused to let out a laugh. "I can see it in your eyes, Dean. You're worthless."

Juniper began to breathe heavily as she slowly stood up. "Don't listen to her, Dean."

"You couldn't save your dad--"

"Stop it."

"--and deep down, you know that you can't save your brother--"

"Shut up."

"--everyone would be better off without you."

"I said, shut up!" Before Juniper knew it, she pushed her hand out towards Meg, her head pounding as the room flickered and shook into chaos again. She saw the way Meg was thrown back from Dean, grunting as she attempted to lunge for him again. But with a hard stare, Juniper kept her focus on Meg, using all the energy that she had on her long enough for Bobby to rush over to Sam and place a hot poker to his arm, resulting in a scream erupting from Meg as she exited out of Sam and into the fireplace, disappearing into the flames.

Putting her arm down, Juniper panted, her legs giving out as she fell onto the ground, with darkness to follow.

*******

Juniper fluttered her eyes open, groaning at the light shining above her, along with her head slightly hurting and her body aching. Sitting up on the couch, she saw that Dean and Sam were sitting at Bobby's desk, tending to their wounds with ice packs and bandages, while Danielle was next to her on the floor, becoming more alert when she saw that Juniper was awake.

"Hey," she said, handing her a glass of water from the coffee table in front of them. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," she croaked, taking a sip of the water.

"That's good," Danielle stated, nodding her head. "It's good that you and Sam are okay."

"Thanks for the love," Dean spoke up sarcastically.

Juniper raised her eyebrows. "So Meg's really gone?"

"Yeah, back in Hell where she belongs," Danielle confirmed. "You helped with that, you know."

"Well, I certainly felt it," she said, chuckling a little, then quickly wincing at the pain hitting her head.

Danielle's face fell as she stared at Juniper. "Listen, about what I said at Twin Lakes--"

"It's okay," Juniper told her. "You were right. I haven't been completely honest with you."

Danielle let out a sigh. "Well, I kind of understood why you weren't. I just didn't realize how much all of this was still affecting you."

"But you were just trying to look out for me," Juniper pointed out. "And I didn't appreciate that. I'm sorry, Dani."

Danielle shot her a small smile. "It's okay, Junie. We've both been hiding things from each other, so I guess that makes us even."

There was a scoff coming from Dean. "You better count us in on that."

The four were silent for a moment as Bobby came strolling in, fiddling with something in his hands, a somewhat distressed look on his face.

"What is it, Bobby?" Sam asked.

He glanced up at the four. "Y'all ever heard of a hunter named Steve Wandell?"

All heads went up, not even staring at each other when the name was mentioned.

"Why do you ask?" Dean spoke up.

"Just got word from a friend. Wandell's dead. Murdered in his own house." He scanned around the room at the four, his expression remaining blank. "Y'all wouldn't know anything about that."

No one said a word as Sam briefly put his head down, while Juniper Danielle could only look at him with sadness.

Dean, however, kept a straight face as he shook his head. "No, sir. Never heard of the guy."

"Dean..." Sam muttered.

Bobby nodded his head in response, ignoring Sam. "Good. Keep it that way. Wandell's buddies are lookin' for someone or something to string up. They're not gonna slow down to listen to reason." He paused as his eyes went a bit wide. "You understand what I'm sayin'?"

It didn't take long for the four to catch onto what Bobby was implying, to which everyone nodded in response and didn't say another word about it, and Bobby did the same.

Finally, Dean slowly stood up, with the others following suit. "We, uh, better hit the road."

"Here, take these." Bobby handed everyone a necklace, which had a metal charm shaped as a pentagram with what resembled a sun circled around it.

"What are they?" Sam questioned.

"Charms. They'll fend off possession." Bobby paused as he let out a sigh. "That demon's still out there. This'll stop it from gettin' back up in you."

"That sounds vaguely dirty, but thanks," Dean stated.

Danielle rolled her eyes. "God, you're disgusting." She then headed for the door. "See you later, Bobby."

So the other three bid Bobby goodbye and trailed behind Danielle, who was already pulling out a carton of cigarettes and a lighter as she was walking towards her car. Juniper could already tell things were about to be awkward and tense as she and the Winchesters stood with Danielle, the four making a circle.

"Well, glad that's over with," Dean spoke up.

"Now we can focus on the bigger problems at hand," Juniper pointed out.

Sam scoffed. "Yeah, like me and you going dark si--"

"Sammy, stop it," Dean cut him off. "You're not gonna talk like that again." His eyes went towards Juniper next. "In fact, neither of you are gonna talk any more about that going dark side shit. Dani and I won't let that happen."

"How do you know that, Dean?"

"Because I just do." He paused, taking a moment to compose himself before he continued on. "Look, we get that you two have a lot going on, but we're here to help you. You're gonna get through this. All of us will." He then glanced over at Danielle across from him. "And for starters, we just need to lay off keeping secrets from each other."

Danielle was still working on her cigarette, looking guilty as she was doing so and not responding to him.

Sam then cleared his throat, breaking the silence. "Can you guys give me and June a minute?"

Surprised, Dean and Danielle eyed Juniper before walking away towards the Impala. Juniper was a bit shocked to hear Sam ask that, already having a feeling as to what he wanted to talk to her about.

"So, uh..." he started, clearing his throat before continuing on. "I was awake for some things, while I was...you know..."

"Possessed?"

"Right," he said. "Anyway, and I remember you stopping the demon--Meg--from...from hurting Dean."

Juniper slowly nodded her head. "Yeah, I did." She remembered how angry she got when Meg was hurting not only Dean, but also Sam, then something inside her just snapped. For once, it was a feeling that didn't terrify her, and she wondered if it would ever happen again at some point. If that were the case, then maybe it would help her control these abilities later on.

"Well, I just wanted to say thank you for that," he told her. "And I'm sorry you had to see me like that. Hopefully, I didn't scare you too much."

Juniper couldn't help but grin. "I doubt you can scare me, Sam."

He smiled a little in response, not having time to say anything back when Dean and Danielle approached them again.

"Okay, well, let's get back on the road, yeah?" Dean spoke up, jingling his keys.

So the Winchesters nodded at the girls before heading to the Impala, to which Juniper hopped into Danielle's car with her. As the two drove away from Bobby's, the radio was all that was heard inside the car until Danielle finally spoke up and broke the silence between them.

"I also want to apologize for snapping at you earlier when we were on the way here," she said. "Meg's caused a lot of problems with me and the Winchesters, including John. She worked for Yellow Eyes, which is kind of becoming a sore subject for all of us." She let out a chuckle. "Anyway, it was uncalled for and I'm sorry."

Nodding her head, Juniper sighed in response. "I understand." She paused for a moment, turning to face Danielle before going on. "I only asked about her because I had a vision before Dean and I headed for Duluth."

Danielle furrowed her brows. "What did you see?"

She swallowed hard before answering. "I saw you and Jo talking. Something about the demon saying things regarding John and her dad."

"Oh." Danielle let out a shaky breath, her grip on the steering wheel tighter.

"I know you said that I can tell you anything, so I want you to know that the same applies to you if there's something you wanna get off your mind."

Sighing, Danielle kept her eyes on the road, almost as if she was too ashamed to even look at Juniper. "I appreciate it, but there are still some things that I'm just not ready to tell yet. Like, a lot of things that even Dean and Sam don't know about. I hope you understand."

"Yeah, of course," Juniper replied with assurance. "I'll be here when you're ready to talk."

She finally turned her head for a moment, her face filled with sadness as she smiled. "Thanks, Junie."

Juniper gave her a weak smile back, feeling a sense of calmness as she stared out at the open road ahead of them.

~~~~~~~

A/N: OOP, here's a new and improved update.

In case you didn't see my message board, I did combine chapters and rewrote/removed Dani-centered scenes and added some scenes in earlier chapters of Sam and Junie and also just Junie (just in what's now ch8). You don't have to re-read them if you don't want to, as nothing plot-wise has changed!

Comment, vote, Happy late Birthday, Sam!

-A