Miranda wakes up to a hand softly shaking her. She only opens her eyes halfway to find Sam crouching next to the bed.
"What?" She mumbles.
"I'm leaving. You wanna go with me?" Sam whispers.
"Go where?" She asks, slowly falling back asleep.
"Figure some stuff out. Take some time away from Dean." Sam quietly says.
"Oh, well, I'm in." Miranda mumbles. She holds her arms out to Sam.
"Really?" He raises an eyebrow.
"You wake me up in the middle of the night, you carry me. Way the world works, honey." Miranda says, making a grabby hand motion.
Sam quietly scoffs and rolls his eyes, walking off. Miranda pouts, turning away from him. He slings his bag and her bag over his shoulders and grabs her shoes. Sam goes back over to the bed.
"Come on." He puts his hand on her hip, pulling her onto her back. She groans. "Let's go, princess." He pulls her into a sitting position before looping her arms over his shoulders. He pulls her up, Miranda wrapping her legs around his waist.
"Why are you carrying me like this?" She mumbles, digging her face into the crook of his neck.
"If you're gonna complain, I'll drop you." Sam whispers.
"Sorry." She whispers, kissing his neck.
Sam quietly leaves and walks to a small black car that's near the Impala. He opens the driver's seat with a coat hanger and opens it, unlocking the car. He quickly goes over to the passenger side and opens the door, carefully putting Miranda in the seat.
"Seatbelt." Sam tells her.
"Okay, dad." She mutters as he shuts the door and she puts her seatbelt on.
Sam gets in the driver's seat and drives off before they risk getting caught.
+++
Sam and Miranda walk into the roadhouse. Most people's, if not everybody's, attention turns to them when they step in.
"Um..." Miranda glances up at her boyfriend. He grabs her hand and leads her over to the bar where Ellen is.
"Sam. Miranda." Ellen greets.
"Hey, Ellen." Sam grins sheepishly. Miranda gives her a polite smile. "You don't seem that surprised to see us."
"Well, your brother's been calling, worried sick, looking for you." Ellen says.
"Yeah. Figured he might." Sam says.
"What's going on between you two?" Ellen asks.
"So, um, how's Jo?" Sam avoids the question.
"Well, I don't really know." Ellen answers.
"What do you mean?" Sam asks.
"Well, I haven't seen her in weeks. She sends a postcard now and again."
"Well, what happened?"
"Well, after she worked that job with you kids, she decided she wanted to keep on hunting. I said "not under my roof," and she said "fine.""
"So we're probably the last two people you want to see right now."
"Oh, don't get me wrong. I wish I could blame the hell out of you kids. It'd be easier. Truth is, it's not your fault, Sam. None of it is. I want you to know that I forgave your daddy a long time ago for what happened to my Bill. I just don't think he ever forgave himself."
"What did happen?"
"Um, so, why did you come here, sweetie?" Ellen changes the subject.
"I need help." Sam states.
~ ~ ~
"What am I looking for, Sam?" Ash asks.
"Other people, other psychics, like me. As many as possible, and I need a nationwide search." Sam demands.
"But I thought there was no way to track them all down. Not all of them had nursery fires like you did." Ellen says.
"Well, no, but some had to. Start there." Sam says.
~ ~ ~
Sam and Miranda are at the bar and each have beer. Ash walks out with a piece of paper in hand.
"Done and done." Ash states.
"That was fast." Sam says.
"Well, apparently, that's my job. Make the monkey dance at the keyboard." Ash says.
"Just tell us what you got, Ash." Ellen says.
"Four folks fit the profile nationwide. Born in '83, mother died in a nursery fire, the whole shebang." Ash says.
"Four? That's it?" Sam asks.
"Sam Winchester from Lawrence, Kansas, Max Miller from Saginaw, Michigan, Andrew Gallagher from Guthrie, Oklahoma, and uh, another name. Scott Carey."
"You got an address?" Sam asks.
"Kind of. The Arbor Hill Cemetery in Lafayette, Indiana. Plot 486." Ash says.
"So he's dead?" Sam asks.
"Killed, about a month ago."
"Killed how?"
"Stabbed. Parking lot. Fuzz don't have much, no suspects."
"All right. Thank you."
Sam gets up and Ash takes a drink of Sam's beer once the Winchester can't see him.
"Where are you going?" Ellen asks.
"Indiana." Sam says.
"Sam? I've gotta call Dean. I've gotta let him know where you are." Ellen says.
"Ellen, I'm trying to find answers. About who I am. And my brother means well, but he can't protect me from that. Please." Sam says. Ellen reluctantly nods.
+++
"So, you say you two wen to high school with Scott?" Mr. Carey asks.
"Uh, yes, sir, we did. We just heard about what happened, we're so sorry." Sam says.
"Scotty was a good boy. He changed a lot since you knew him." Mr. Carey says.
"What do you mean?" Sam asks.
"It started about a year ago with these headaches." Mr. Carey says. "And then he got depressed, paranoid, nightmares."
"Nightmares? Um, did he ever talk to you about his nightmares? What he saw or..."
"No, no. He closed up with me. I tried to get him help, but nothing took. He'd just lock himself in his room for days."
"You think maybe I could see his room?"
~ ~ ~
They're in Scott's room and looking around. The bed only has a sleeping bag on it and some of the bookshelves are covered with books and cassette tapes. The bedside table has a few pill bottles on it, all prescribed by a George Waxler.
Sam opens the closet and pushes the clothes aside to reveal a collage of yellow eyes cut out of photos or magazines glued to the wall.
+++
Sam and Miranda walk up to their motel room. Sam suddenly freezes while unlocking the door. Miranda goes to question him, but he motions for her to stay quiet. He quickly turns and shoves a woman up against the door.
"Who are you?" Sam asks.
"Please! You're in danger." The woman states.
~ ~ ~
They're in the motel room and Sam is leaning against the dresser while Miranda sits on the bed.
"Okay, look, I know how all this sounds, but I am not insane and I am not on drugs. Okay? I am normal, and this is way, way off the map for me." Ava says.
"All right, all right, just-- just calm down, okay? What's your name?" Sam asks.
"Ava." She tells him.
"Ava?" Sam asks.
"Ava Wilson." She informs.
"Ava, I'm Sam Winchester, all right? This is my girlfriend, Miranda. Now, you were telling me about these dreams of yours." Sam says.
"Uh, yeah, uh, okay. About a year ago I started having these, like, headaches, and just nightmares, I guess. And I really didn't think much of it until I had this one dream where I saw this guy get stabbed in a parking lot." Miranda and Sam look at each other.
"When was this?" Sam asks.
"Uh, about a month ago." Ava says. "But, anyway, a couple of days later, I found this." Ava pulls out a newspaper clipping and gives it to Sam. "I saw this guy die days before it happened. I don't know, I don't know how, it's just for some reason, my dreams are coming true. And last night I had another one."
"Okay."
"About you. I saw you die."
"How did you find me?"
"Oh, uh, you had motel stationery, and I Googled the motel and it was real and so I just thought that I should warn you."
"I don't believe this."
"Oh, oh, of course you don't. You think I'm a total nutjob."
"Wait, no, no, no. I mean, you must be one of us."
"Sorry, one of-- one of who?" Ava asks.
"One of the psychics. Like me. Look, Ava, I have visions too, all right? So we're connected." Sam says.
"Okay, so, you're nuts. That's great." Ava laughs.
"Okay, okay, look. Did your mother happen to die in a house fire?" Sam asks.
"No! My mother lives in Palm Beach!" Ava exclaims.
"So you don't fit the pattern either." Sam says, Ava giving him a look like he's insane.
+++
"Why can't you just leave town? Please? Before you blow up?" Ava asks Sam.
"No, I can't." Sam says.
"Oh, God. Why not?" She asks.
"Because there's something going on here, Ava. With you, with me. I mean, there are others like us out there? And we're all a part of something, and I've got to figure out what." Sam says.
"Okay... you know what? Screw you, buddy. Okay? Because I'm a secretary from Peoria and I'm not part of anything! Okay? Do you see this?" She touches her left ring finger where she wears an engagement ring.
"I am getting married in eight weeks. I am supposed to be at home addressing invitations, which I am way behind on, by the way. But instead, I drove out here to save your weirdo ass. But if you just want to stay here and die, fine. Me? I'm due back on planet earth."
"Don't you want to know what's happening? I mean, don't these visions scare the hell out of you? Because if you walk out that door right now you might never know the truth. I need your help."
+++
Ava went into the building to meet with Dr. George Waxler, Miranda and Sam still outside.
"So, um, what's the plan?" Miranda asks.
"The plan is while she distracts him with... you know, whatever, we climb up the building and sneak in." Sam says.
"The-- climb the what now? You-- you mean inside, right?" Miranda asks.
"No." Sam shakes his head. "We gotta use the fire escape and get up to his office. But we can't go inside, so..."
"Okay. Um... new plan." Miranda says. "You do that and I stay here, on the ground... where I can't plummet to my death." She smiles. Sam laughs.
"What is it with you and heights?" He asks.
"What is it with you and clowns?" She fires back.
"All right, all right." Sam chuckles. "You can stay here and do nothing."
"Thank you." Miranda says. Sam kisses her on the forehead before walking off. "Psycho. Climbing up the wall. Dude, you're not Spider-man." She whispers to herself.
+++
They get back to the motel and Sam starts to look through the file.
"Are you okay?" Sam asks Ava.
"Am I okay?" She asks.
"Yeah." Sam nods.
"I just helped you steal some dead guy's confidential psych files. I'm awesome!" She exclaims making Sam and Miranda smile and laugh a little.
They get Scott's files open and play the tape recorder of one of his sessions.
"It started a little over a year ago. Migraines at first. Then I found I could do... stuff." Scott's voice says.
"What do you mean, do stuff?" The therapist's voice asks.
"I have this ability. When I touch something, I can electrocute it if I want." Scott says.
"What else does the yellow-eyed man say?" The therapist asks.
"He has plans for me. He says there's a war coming. That people like me, we're going to be the soldiers. Everything's about to change." Scott says and the recording stops.
"He's not talking about us, right?" Ava asks.
"Yeah, I think he is." Sam says.
"But how can we turn into that?" Ava asks.
"I don't--" Sam is cut off by the window above his head shattering. "Get down!" The three ducking and Sam manages to hide both of them behind him.
"What's happening?" Ava asks.
"I don't know." Sam says.
~ ~ ~
After not getting shot at for a bit, the three go up to the roof of the building across from across the motel.
"Wait, I don't understand. Shouldn't we be talking to the cops?" Ava asks.
"Trust me, that wouldn't do us much good." Sam says, picking up a shell. "These are .223 caliber. Subsonic rounds. The guy must have put a suppressor on the rifle."
"Dude, who are you?" Ava asks.
"Oh. I just, uh, I just watch a lot of TJ Hooker." Sam says, pulling his cell phone out.
"Who are you calling?" Ava asks.
"My brother. I think we definitely need help." Sam says. He calls Dean.
"Hello?" Dean answers.
"Dean!" Sam exclaims.
"Sam... I've been looking for you." Dean says.
"Yeah. Look, I'm in Indiana, uh, Lafayette." Sam says.
"I know." Dean says.
"You do?" Sam asks.
"Yeah, I talked to Ellen. Just got here myself. It's a real funky town. You ditched me, Sammy." Dean says.
"Yeah, I'm sorry. Look, right now there's someone after me." Sam says.
"What? Who?" Dean asks.
"I don't know, that's what we need to find out. Where are you?"
"I'm staying at, uh, 5637 Monroe St. Why don't you meet me here?"
"Yeah. Sure." Sam hangs up.
"What?" Miranda asks, seeing his weird look.
"My brother's in trouble." Sam states.
"What?" Ava asks.
"My brother gave me a code word. Someone's got a gun on him." Sam says.
"Code word?" Ava asks.
"Yeah. Funky town. Well, he thought of it. It's kind of a... long story. I... come on." Sam says.
+++
Sam and Miranda get to the address Dean told them and go around back. They find the two trip wires and Sam tosses one of his shoes making the first explosion go off.
After a moment, he tosses his second shoe, causing a second explosion. Gordon walks into the room and has a rifle. When he turns away from where they're hiding, Sam holds his gun up to the back of Gordon's head and he cocks the gun.
"Drop the gun." Sam lowly orders.
"Shouldn't take your shoes off around here. You might get tetanus." Gordon says.
"Put it down now!" Sam shouts.
"Put it down, Gordon." Miranda orders, aiming her gun at him.
Gordon slowly puts the rifle on the ground.
"You wouldn't shoot me, would you, Sammy? Because your brother, he thinks you're some kind of saint." Gordon says.
"Yeah? Well, I wouldn't be so sure." Sam says.
"See, that's what I said." Gordon says. He quickly turns and knocks the gun out of Sam's hand. He kicks the gun out of Miranda's hand and attacks Sam. He soon knocks Sam into the next room.
Miranda jumps on Gordon's back, getting him in a chokehold. Gordon tries to throw her off, the woman tightly holding onto him. Gordon headbutts her and tosses her off of him. He kicks her in the abdomen harshly making her cry out.
Gordon goes to where Sam is lying on the floor. He kneels next to him and pulls out a knife.
"You're no better than the filthy things you hunt." Gordon says. He raises the knife and Sam hits him, flipping him onto the ground. He punches him twice and then grabs the rifle and stands up, aiming it at Gordon's head.
"Do it. Do it! Show your brother the killer you really are, Sammy."
Sam slams the butt of the gun into Gordon's face, knocking him out.
"It's Sam." He fumes.
Sam tiredly walks over to where Miranda is.
"Hey." He calls. Sam bends over and helps her to her feet. "You okay?"
"I think he might've cracked a rib." She winces.
"I'll check it out later." Sam says. "C'mon." He grabs her hand, pulling her to the room where Dean is tied to a chair.
Sam unties his Dean who stands up, cupping a hand on Sam's neck, inspecting any injuries. Dean quickly goes to go beat Gordon, but Sam stops him.
"Dean. No." Sam says.
"I let him live once. I'm not making the same mistake twice." Dean says.
"Trust me. Gordon's taken care of. Come on." Sam says.
The three walk out of the cabin and are outside when gunshots go off, Gordon shooting at them.
"Come on!" Dean yells, the three taking off. "You call this taken care of?" They jump into a ditch that's on the other side of the road and stay huddled down, watching Gordon stalk closer.
"What the hell are we doing?" Dean asks.
"Just trust me on this, all right?" Sam says.
As Gordon gets closer, three police cars with their sirens blaring, pull up. Cops get out, their guns aimed at Gordon.
"Drop your weapons! Get down on your knees!" One cop orders.
"Do it now!" Another demands.
The three grin as Gordon gets on his knees, putting the two guns on the ground, glaring at where they are.
The cops arrest Gordon, patting him down for more weapons. One cop leads him to one of the cars. Another cop opens Gordon's car, pulling out the weapons rack.
"Anonymous tip." Sam says.
"Ah! You're the absolute best." Miranda grins, grabbing his face and plants a kiss on his lips with a loud 'mwah.' Sam softly laughs.
"You're a fine upstanding citizen, Sam." Dean says.
+++
Dean is standing outside the Impala and on the phone with Ellen while Miranda and Sam are in the car and he is wrapping up her abdomen, figuring out she did have a cracked rib.
"Ow." She whines.
"Sorry." Sam mutters. "There." He tosses the roll of gauze into the first aid kit. "Here." He pulls a beer bottle out of the cooler. "Cold beer is equivalent to ice... kinda."
"Yeah, okay." She chuckles before groaning in pain.
"Need help with your shirt?" He asks, grabbing her shirt.
"Yes, please." She says.
Sam helps her put her shirt back on, knowing it hurts to lift her arms too much. Miranda leans back and cuddles into his side, holding the beer to her abdomen.
Sam rests his head on top of hers.
~ ~ ~
Dean is driving and Sam is on his phone, still cuddled up with Miranda in the backseat.
"Hey, Ava, it's Sam. Again. Um, call me when you get this, just want to make sure you got home okay. All right. Bye." Sam says.
"Everything all right?" Dean asks.
"Yeah, I hope so." Sam says.
"Well, Gordon should be reaching for the soap for the next few years, at least." Dean says.
"Yeah. If they pin Scott Carey's murder on him... and if he doesn't bust out." Sam says.
"Dude, you ever take off like that again..." Dean says.
"What? You'll kill me?" Sam asks.
"That is so not funny." Dean says.
"All right, all right." Sam lets out a small laugh. "So where to next, then?"
"One word: Amsterdam." Dean states.
"Dean." Sam sighs.
"Come on, man. I hear the coffee shops don't even serve coffee." Dean says.
"I'm not just gonna ditch the job, Dean." Sam says.
"Fuck the job. Fuck it, man, I'm sick of the job, anyway. I mean, we don't get paid, we don't get thanked. The only thing we get's bad luck." Dean says.
"Well, come on, dude, you're a hunter. I mean, it's what you were meant to do." Sam tells Dean.
"Ah, I wasn't meant to do anything. I don't believe in that destiny crap." Dean says.
"You mean you don't believe in my destiny." Sam says.
"Yeah, whatever." Dean says.
"Look, Dean, I've tried running before. I mean, I ran all the way to California and look what happened. You can't run from this... and you can't protect me."
"I can try."
"Thanks for that. Look, Dean, I'm gonna keep hunting. I mean, whatever is coming, I'm taking it head-on. So if you really want to watch my back, then I guess you're gonna have to stick around."
"Bitch."
"Jerk."
After a few moments, Sam grabs his phone.
"You calling that Ava girl again? You sweet on her or something?" Dean asks. Miranda ignores the pain as she leans forward and slaps him over the head. "Ow!"
"I'm taken and she's engaged, Dean." Sam states.
"So? What's the point in saving the world if you can't get a little nookie once in a while?" Dean asks. Miranda hits him over the head again. "Ow! Dude!"
"We are not in an open relationship and he's not a cheater. Shut the fuck up." Miranda tells him.
Sam hangs his phone up, frowning.
"What?" Dean asks.
"Just a feeling. How far is it to Peoria?" Sam asks.
+++
They get to Ava's house and go inside, shining their flashlights around.
"Hello? Is anybody home?" Sam calls out.
They go into the bedroom, finding Ava's fiancé lying on his back in the bed, his throat slit, and blood everywhere.
"Holy, shit." Miranda mumbles.
"Oh, my God." Sam mutters.
"Hey." Dean calls, getting the two to look at him. He holds his finger up which he ran across the windowsill. "Sulfur. Demon's been here."
Sam sees something on the floor and picks it up. He holds it up, realizing it's Ava's engagement ring.