35. Tulsa, Oklahoma

I follow the Impala in my truck as Dean leads the way to Tulsa Memorial Hospital. We'd gotten a call from Cas; Claire found herself in a hospital. He didn't divulge much to us, just that he needed us to meet him at the hospital as soon as possible. Of course, like the people we were, we dropped everything and ran.

Personally, I'm not happy about leaving the bunker; I had been kicking Dean's ass in some baton-lightsaber match. Cas's call had interrupted that. But hey, he needed us, so I guess it wasn't something worth holding a grudge over.

We find Cas pacing outside in front of the hospital when we pull up. The car and truck cut off, thankfully gracing my ears with normal noises. We all climb out and approach Cas.

"Thanks for coming," he says.

"Yeah, of course," says Sam.

"Cas, look, we're always glad to help, but Claire and I aren't exactly on the best of terms," Dean admits. "I mean, should I even be here?"

"I need help from the three of you. You were all troubled teens. You speak her language."

I smirk. "Yeah, we were troubled teens, you know, way back when. We're kind of climbing the hill, Cas."

"How is she?" asks Sam.

"Well, I-I haven't gone in yet," says Cas. "I was waiting for backup."

"B-backup?" asks Dean. "Why didn't you just tell Jo to come solo, then? She'd be of bigger help."

"What, because I can relate to her? Because I was a troubled teenage girl?" I snap at my older brother.

"Well...yeah. You might be one of the few people she wants to be in the same room with right now."

I snort. "You ain't turning back on this. You're coming in too."

"Three men and two ladies. Let's do this."

After asking the receptionist, we're given Claire's room number. Cas and I head the team, and Claire is in a hospital bed when we walk in. She's definitely not happy to see us.

"What are you doing here?" she says disdainfully. "And why the hell did you bring him?"

"Awesome," Dean says sarcastically.

"Um, the...police found my number in your emergency contact list," Cas mutters.

"Yeah, well...That was a mistake," says Claire. "You can go now."

"Claire...Why were you at a bar?"

"I wasn't."

"Claire," I say slowly, trying to not use intimidation to get an answer out of her, "what were you doing in an alley outside of a bar?"

"Wrong place, wrong time. Story of my life."

"Look, we're not leaving until you tell us what the hell really happened." I cross my arms authoritatively. "So if you want us gone...Talk."

Claire looks at Cas. "I was looking for my mom. I wanna find my mom and tell her she ruined my life."

"Your mom didn't..." Cas tries to say.

"She left me, and so did my dad. But Jimmy's gone, right? Has it easy up in Heaven. So...Mom's the only one left I can tell off."

"When's the last anybody heard from your mom?" Sam asks.

"Um...When I was living with my grandmother, she used to send me postcards." Claire reaches to a table, grabbing a package from her bag. "This is the last one." She hands a postcard over to Sam. "I got it just before my grandma died. Two years ago. Nobody's heard from her since. It was sent from a motel here in town. That's where I've been crashing. I was at Susie's bar looking for a loser named Ronnie Cartwright. Mom's diary said she was gonna meet him around the time she disappeared. Before he knocked me down, he remembered her name. He knows something."

"Why was Amelia looking for him?" Cas asks.

"She went looking for miracles. She went looking for you."

Cas, distraught, leaves the hospital room. My brothers and I tail him.

"This is all my fault," he says as we stand out in the hallway.

"You know, Cas, say it is," Sam says objectively. "What can you do about it?"

"Find Amelia."

"She did disappear trying to hunt down an angel," I consider, shrugging. "Might be a case."

"Yeah, but we don't know that," Sam tells me.

"Close enough," says Dean. "Come on, give me something to punch already." The three of us look at my older brother. Dean rolls his eyes. "I'm kidding. I'm fine. I'm just...I'm fine. Why don't we go back to the bar, see if we can track down this Ronnie guy, huh?"

"Yeah. We should let Claire know where we're going first."

"Perfect." Dean heads off to Claire's room, while Sam, Cas, and I remain behind for a little bit. When we decide to head in, we find Dean holding a hospital gown beside an empty bed.

"Damn it," I mutter as Dean throws the gown down onto a chair.

"Well...She either went looking for Ronnie again, or, uh..."

"Yeah," says Sam, holding up the postcard Claire had given him earlier, "or...she went to go grab her stuff before taking off again."

"Well, she's got a concussion. Maybe that'll slow her down."

"All right. Jo and I'll head to the motel. Y'all check out the bar."

I take up the driver's mantel like always and drive my little brother and me to head Claire off before she can escape us. I don't get why I'm doing this. What is Claire to me? A girl Cas wants to babysit? I have no affiliation with her.

Sam and I find Claire's motel room pretty easily once we tell the receptionist at the desk who we're looking for. We pick our way into Claire's room and wait in the dark for her to come in.

"Sam, look at this," I murmur, finding a wall covered in maps, photos, and papers. My fingers brush over the information. "Kid's not bad." I turn at hearing the door click.

Sure enough, Claire comes through the door. She doesn't notice Sam or me.

"Took you long enough," I say casually.

Claire turns around, startled. "How did you...?"

Sam holds up the postcard, which I take from him. "Also, you checked in under the name 'Claire Novak'."

"A little pro-tip?" Sam offers. "Use an alias."

"Okay," Claire deadpans. She pulls open a closet and starts pulling out the clothes inside.

"Claire, we just wanna help."

"I didn't ask for your help."

"You know," I start, "this board you got here, this is good. I'm impressed, kiddo. How did you get the information...?" With quick reflexes, I easily catch a book that Claire tosses my way.

"It's mostly empty promises and regret, but...There were enough breadcrumbs to get me here."

"Let me see that," Sam says to me. I hand over the book as he thumbs through the pages. Claire continues to pack her bag. "How did you get your mom's diary?"

"The motel manager sent Mom's stuff to her last known address after she disappeared. It bounced around, eventually found its way to me at one of the foster homes."

"You came all this way just to tell her off?" I ask.

"You always get along with your mom?"

I frown slightly. "She wasn't around long enough for me to really give you much of an answer."

"Never got the chance to find out," says Sam. "Our mom died when I was a baby."

I pinch the bridge of my nose. Bringing up Mary Winchester feels like a hole is being pulled open in my chest. It shouldn't hurt, Mom's been gone for decades. But I guess even as a demon things still hurt.

"I'm...I'm sorry," Claire finally says. "I didn't..."

"Oh, no, it's okay. I-I got to know her later in life. And, yeah, I suppose we got along okay."

"What?" I whisper.

"In this line of work, death isn't always goodbye."

Another time, Jo. Babysitting doesn't require questions about our mother. It can wait.

"This is different," Claire insists. "My mom left me."

"'Claire, I'll be home soon. We'll be home soon,'" Sam reads. "Doesn't sound like somebody who wanted to abandon you. Did you check her credit cards?"

"They wouldn't send me her records."

"Okay, I know you need to be somewhere far away from all of us, but let me get my laptop. I'll teach you how to hack into her credit card records. It'll help you get a lead on your mom."

"Show me, but then I'm gone."

Sam runs out to grab his laptop from my truck while I briefly babysit Claire. She kind of reminds me of me when I was younger. Only I didn't look like such a rebel. Claire just looks troubled. Maybe it's just me that can see that.

Claire and I don't speak a word, which suffices for both of us. Sam comes back into the motel room, and I watch my little brother teach a teenage girl how to hack into credit card records.

"There we go," Sam says, gesturing to the laptop.

Claire walks over to the table Sam sits at. "Seriously? It's that easy?"

"Yes. I can also show you how to set up fake credit cards. It will make life on the road a lot easier."

"You guys are credit card scammers, too?"

"Hunting monsters doesn't exactly pay the bills," I say.

"Then why do you do it?"

"To help people," says Sam, "make a difference."

"That's it?"

"That's not enough?"

I go to the door when I hear the knock. Cas practically barrels over me to get inside. Dean's coming up to the door.

"Gee, come in, Cas," I call sarcastically over at him as I shut the door once Dean gets his ass inside.

"Are you all right?" he asks Claire.

"Yeah, I will be when nobody ever asks me that again," Claire says bluntly.

"Get used to it, kiddo," I say. "People will be asking you that all your life." I nod to Dean. "You guys find Ronnie?"

"Yeah. Yeah, he gave up a name...Peter Holloway. Said he was a faith healer." Dean goes to sit at the table with Sam, Claire sits on the bed.

"So...What?" asks Sam. "You thinking angel?"

"Maybe, but it sounded like he has healed some people, but he may have fed off others."

"Yeah, that's weird. All right, let's look into this Peter Holloway guy."

I watch as Cas walks to Claire, handing her a brightly colored gift bag.

"Claire, um...Happy birthday."

"Um..." Claire pulls out a rather pissed-off-looking stuffed cat.

"I got it at the Hot Topical."

I lick my lips. I'm seriously tempted to correct Cas that it's "Hot Topic", but instead I leave it alone. It's almost adorable to watch how awkward the exchange is.

"Right," Claire says. "Um...Thanks, I guess."

"Whoa," Sam exclaims. "Just got an alert from local P.D. Ronnie's body was just found outside of Susie's bar."

"You were just supposed to talk to Ronnie. What did you do to him?"

"I didn't lay a hand on him," Dean says defensively.

"Dean, that isn't exactly true," Cas mutters.

"I didn't kill the guy." He rises from the table. "All right, I'm gonna get suited up and head back over there."

"I'm coming with you."

"I'm coming with you, too," Claire insists.

"You two wanna get in on this?" Dean asks Sam and me.

"No, I-I should probably stay here and research Holloway," says Sam.

"You know what? I'll join the party. Make sure Dean doesn't rough up any more people," I remark smartly. "Let's go."

**Yay, Claire's back!**