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Quinn gazed tiredly at the flickering neon lights outside the motel window. Her gaze travels from the hues of pink and green, to Dean and Rose conversing about Lord knows what at the hour of 5 AM, as she sighed, holding back a loud yawn. Sam hadn't been able to sleep for days now, the nightmares hauntingly following him wherever he went. Though as soon as Quinn had sat beside him to whisper words of encouragement, he had fallen asleep at the tranquility of knowing he might've not gotten to Jessica in time, but Sam and Dean saved Quinn just at the nick of time. Sam hoped he'd get at least a little rest, enough to push through another hunt. Though it was difficult with Sam; he wasn't sure if it was the hunt he wanted to pursue, or the avenging of his dead loved ones.
Quinn sunk in her seat, feeling unconsciousness take over her. Her eyelids tentatively closed, and before she could fall asleep, she is awaken by the sound of Sam wincing and thrashing at the sheets.
"Sam? Sam!" Quinn yelled, recollecting herself speedily before she rushed to his side freezing at the sight of him struggling in his sleep. It had to be another nightmare.
She instinctively took the trembling boy into her arms, feeling her heart drop. "Sam, please wake up." She cried, shaking him vigorously.
Suddenly he sharply gasped, Sam regaining consciousness as he was snapped out of the nightmare's recurring reality. It had been the same one he had since Jessica was found dead, though the ending to it was different; twisted. Screwing his eyes closed, he had hoped a higher power was listening; he silently begged that the horrid nightmare would be taken away from his memory.
Panting, Sam yearned for comfort and solace immediately, retaliating as he gripped Quinn too, his head burying into her shoulder.
"Just breathe, look it was just another dream." Quinn sadly looked down at him, pursing her lips.
"I could have saved her, Quinn." Sam murmured, his eyelashes fluttering as his green eyes faded to a close.
"You did everything you could, Sam. But this demon... It's ruthless, and it only wants one thing, to make the people you care for suffer, for one reason being that he wants you afraid."
"What do I do about this?" Sam sighed.
"You don't give in. You said it yourself, we've got work to do and it won't be easy, but Dean's here. As for Rose and I, we aren't going anywhere either."
"Look, Quinn I appreciate you watching over me, but you really don't have to. Just get some rest for me, okay?"
"And if I said no?" Quinn quirked an eyebrow.
Sam gazed at her, as the two stared at each other underneath dim light. "Not possible. And besides, maybe I'd sleep more peacefully, knowing you are."
She always knew Sam had this urge to protect her from the darkness that lurked, what she hadn't known was the fact that it'd be until this present moment he'd need her soul in one piece. Sam figured whatever they had between them was an innocent crush, a notion of endearment for one another that was chaotically yet entirely platonic.
"I could take--"
"You could--"
Sam and Quinn had spoke over each other accidentally, both of them laughing as Quinn smiled down at the velvet carpet.
"I was going to say you could lie down with me." Sam motioned, though Quinn immediately shook her head at his suggestion.
"And I was going to say, I could take the floor, I'd just need a blanket." She waved Sam off, a small smile playing on her lips.
"I don't think it'd hurt to take the bed Quinn."
"Your girlfriend just passed away, Sam. Barely a brink of a week ago." Quinn shook her head, Sam silencing.
"Jess and I, we were complicated, and we ignited relation through sexual tension that had been bottled for a little while. That doesn't mean I never had any feelings for her, but I... I thought about you a lot, Quinn. I wondered why you never called, and one day my heart just grew tired and lost hope I'd ever hear your voice again. Then she came along. With that, came the hunt that managed to find me every time dad was in trouble though."
"What are you trying to say?" Quinn frowned.
"Maybe I hoped you came around, and maybe that broke my heart everyday you didn't." Sam argued, as Quinn felt a lump in her throat grow as she held her sobs back.
"What if I avoided it, breaking my heart the exact same way if you hadn't answered the damn phone? If you were states away, and I couldn't get to you? What then?"
"Coming from the boy who saved you ten years ago, that just sounds a little too selfish, you know that, right Quinn? Jumping to conclusions doesn't help it."
"I'm trying to help you, find your father for God sake, Sammy. And I'm the selfish one?" Quinn furrowed her eyebrows.
"I'm sorry." Sam apologized, quite wearily. "But when I waited for you, you never came around when I thought you would. Ten years was a long time, Quinn. Look at us." The tears in his eyes slowly streamed down his structured face, his jaw clenching.
"If you want me gone, all you have to do is say so." Quinn whispered, pressing her cool palm to her forehead before she brushed her fingers through her dark hair.
"Who'd be there to silence my nightmares when my brother isn't around?"
"Sam. I'm so sorry." Quinn wistfully spoke, the remorse in her saddened tone making Sam's heart ache. "Please know that I'm here now, and it didn't go exactly as planned, hell it went downright south, but we're standing here right now, and I wish it'd be enough."
"It counts for something." Sam's voice slightly trembled, smiling sadly as they both collided in a tight embrace. They never let go, for what felt like the longest moment in time.
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The morning came sooner than any of them intended, Rose staring at the wall with the struggle to feel anything close to emotion. Death did follow this girl everywhere she walked, yet the thought of life ending sooner than it should haunted her very being.
"Rose?" Quinn looked over at the girl whose auburn hair was entangled, the way her mind was at the fact a demon could hold such power over the matter of life or death.
"I'm okay, it's my head." She laughed, frowning slightly. "It's been killing me all morning."
Sam and Dean pushed through the motel door with a tray of caffeine and baked breakfast, the smell floating its way through the room.
"Coffee?" Dean offered, Rose nodding once as she took the heated cup and took a small sip before she shied away at the burning sensation at the tip of her tongue.
The coffee was passed around to the group of four hunters who sat around the room, weakened but never burned out, of course.
"Are you scared?" Sam asked, looking over at Quinn and then at his brother.
"Of course not." Quinn brushed off, huffing slightly. "Look fear's the only thing that's going to get in the way of this fight, I'm sure we all know that."
"What Quinn said," Dean agreed, smiling lopsidedly.
Rose glanced at him, the smile on Dean's face remaining. Her shoulders eased, tension diminishing at the act of kindness. Abruptly, the sound of a monotone ring from Dean's pocket brings the boy to answer it immediately, Quinn curiously looking over at the older brother.
The expression on Dean's face gradually changes from relaxed to distraught, a soft inaudible voice being slightly heard from the other end of the phone line. He wondered how an old friend like Jerry had reached his phone when he had barely gotten this cellphone six months ago, though he was afraid he'd find out sooner than later. Jerry had been someone they helped during a case in Pennsylvania—though it was far from a poltergeist case this time around.
Dean looked over at Sam, and as if they both knew, it had been another case at hand.
"Tell me, how does a passenger on a flight mysteriously jump off?" Dean questioned.
"A nervous flier?" Rose's voice trailed, Quinn shaking her head.
"Under something indefinitely, perhaps possession of a ghost?" She said, Sam finding it absolutely peculiar.
"I don't think a ghost would want a mass suicide to happen, unless--"
"Look, we'll find out. Jerry needs us there, stat. This couldn't have been anything ordinary." Dean grumbled.
"Definitely, nothing out of our ordinary." Rose remarked, Quinn managing a small smile.
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After a long drive that hadn't felt as long as it should've, they arrived at a mausoleum where evidence was stowed from the crashed plane from flight 2485.
"Quinn?" Sam asked.
While Sam and Quinn split up from Dean and Rose, reluctantly, Dean left without a word, neither did Rose. Though Dean gave a suggestive smirk towards Quinn and Sam who had simply frowned upon it.
"What is it Sam?"
"You know what's good for you—"
"Okay, Sam. I know that protective tone and I really don't want to talk about it, okay?" She was quick to defend herself.
"I didn't even get a chance to say what I was going to say, Quinn." Sam frowned.
"You were going to wonder why I'm doing this again, hunting. Right?"
"No, but why hunt with me and Dean after what you know? All I wonder, honestly because hunters on the grid would steer clear from our path if they'd know what we were taking on, no doubt about it."
"Because your father saved my life. I've gone through this already." She shrugged, reluctantly as she had held back her devastated emotions in the moment. She had to ground herself, knowing that Sam clearly wasn't having it easy after what had happened to his girlfriend, Jessica— her tragic death; so twisted that it had been a repetition of a dark past.
"So our friendship meant nothing to you? Is that what you're trying to tell me—"
"Sam, Jessica's dead. You were going to leave this hunt on fucking airplane mode, drop the only bond you've had with your brother since you were born, for a girl, Sam. For once, I'm with Dean on this, that wasn't what you should've decided when you knew the place your father was in."
"It's my dad, Quinn. You know, he could've handled it, whatever it was that was out to get him—"
"Sounds like a bullshit excuse to me. And I never said our friendship meant nothing. Dammit, Sam it's got me standing on my own two feet right here, actually." Quinn's voice faded to a soft mutter, as she locked eyes with Sam.
"A chance away from this life was all I hoped for before I realized the stakes, the heap of danger dad could be in right this second. I'm sorry, Quinn. I wanted to stay, I really did, but before you unexpectedly happened to roll in, I was set on leaving the darkness that just so happened to lurk everywhere I walked."
"When we were younger, you told me to keep hope alive. So you've got to know, no matter how neck deep you are with this job, you push through. So it's only right I tell you the same, you can't just give up when we've got a lead on something deeper here. You can't." Quinn shook her head.
She gasped softly, as Sam unexpectedly took her into the warmest embrace. She had stayed wrapped in his arms for the longest time.
"You remembered, after all these years."
"How could I forget?" Quinn smiled half-heartedly at him as tears glistened within her saddened eyes.
Sam felt the memories of their younger selves, during what felt like simpler times, reflecting what they were facing in present day. In that very moment, Sam wondered why he would choose to leave Quinn and her brother's side ever again.
Quinn had always been an anchor that held him down when he felt lost amidst the chaos of being a hunter. Little did she know he'd be doing the same for her when she did become a hunter too.
"We're going to figure this out." Sam said. "Okay?"
Sam and Quinn turn to a middle aged man in black dress shoes and a casual airline uniform who approached them with a clipboard in hand.
"Hey, Jerry." Sam smiled at the familiar face.
"It's good to see you, Sam. Now this is no poltergeist, and believe me I've seen weird, but this only gets weirder."
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