( THAT'S NOT SAM )
Sam is sitting at the computer desk, staring at a page in his hand; Dean and Elena bustle around behind him, cleaning up. "How do you erase this? Huh? Sam, come on, I need your help." Dean says.
"I killed him, Dean. I just broke in and killed him." Sam says.
"Listen to me. Whoever this guy is, he's a hunter. Which means that other hunters are going to come looking for his killer, which means we've got to cover our tracks, okay?" Dean saysSam.
Sam holds an envelope. "His name was Steve Wandell. This is a letter from his daughter." Dean looks from Sam to the letter, then makes a decision.
He grabs the CPU, lifts it above his head, and smashes it to the floor, stomping it with his boots for good measure. "Wipe your prints, then we go."
MOTEL ROOM
[ ☼ ]
Sam precedes Dean and Elena into the motel room. "All right, we get a couple hours sleep and then we put this place in our rearview mirror. Look, I know this is bad, okay? You've gotta snap out of it. Sam, say something!" Dean yells.
"Just get some sleep and leave in the morning? Murder, Dean. That's what I did." Sam says.
"Maybe." Dean says and Sam scoffs. "Okay? Hey, we don't know... shapeshifter!"
"Oh, come on. You know it wasn't, you saw the tape. There was no eye flare, no distortion." Sam says.
"Yeah, but it wasn't you! All right? I mean, yeah, it might have been you, but it wasn't you." Dean says.
"Well, I think it was." Sam sits down on the bed. "I think maybe more than you know."
"What the hell does that mean?" Elena asks angrily.
"For the last few weeks I've been having... I've been having these feelings." Sam says.
"What feelings?"
"Rage. Hate. And I can't stop it. It just gets worse. Day by day it gets worse." Sam says.
"You never told me this." Dean says.
"I didn't want to scare you."
"Well, bang-up job on that." Dean says.
"Dean, the yellow-eyed demon, you know he has plans for me. And we both know that he's turned other children into killers before, too." Sam says.
"No one can control you but you." Elena says.
"It sure doesn't seem like that, Dean, it feels like no matter what I do, slowly but surely I'm, I'm just becoming..." Sam starts.
"What?"
"Who I'm meant to be. I mean, you said it once yourself, Dean. I gotta face up to who I am." Sam says.
"I didn't mean this!" Dean yells.
"But it's still true. You know that. Dad knew that too, that's why he told you, if it ever came to this..."
"Shut up, Sam." Dean says.
Sam looks helpless. "Dean, you promised him. You promised me."
"No. Listen to me. We're going to figure this out. Okay? I mean, there's got to be a way, right?" Elena says.
"Yeah, there is." Sam takes a handgun from his duffel, shoves it at Dean. "I don't want to hurt anyone else. I don't want to hurt you."
"You won't. Whatever this is, you can fight it." Elena says.
Sam tears up. "No. I can't. Not forever. Here, you gotta do it." He says to Dean. They stare at each other for a long moment; then Sam grabs Dean's right hand and places the gun in it.
Dean doesn't move, just stares as Sam in shock. "You know, I've tried to hard to keep you safe." Dean says.
Sam nods. "I know."
"I can't. I'd rather die." Dean drops the gun on the bed and shoulders past Sam.
"No. You'll live." Sam up the gun as Dean turns to face him. "You'll live to regret this." He pistol-whips Dean, who falls to the floor unconscious
"Sam-!" Elena yells and he quickly grabs her roughly by the arm.
"You're coming with me." He says.
An insistent knocking begins during the blackout. Dean awakens to realize that he is on the floor of the motel room; the motel manager, who has been knocking, opens the door. "Hey. It's past your checkout." He says.
Dean gets up, very groggy. "What?" He asks.
"It's past checkout, and I've got a couple here needs your room." The Manager says.
Dean sees an embarrassed businessman with a hooker. "Yeah, I'll bet they do. What time is it?" He asks.
"Twelve-thirty."
"That guy who was with me, have you seen him?"
"Yeah, he left before dawn in your car with some girl and you should have gone with him, because now I'm going to have to charge you extra." The Manager says.
Dean mutters. "Oh, son of a..." He starts.
"It's just policy, sir."
"I need to use your computer." Dean says.
"Now, why would I let you use my computer?"
Later in the Lobby, The Manager is counting a stack of cash, as Dean talks on the phone behind him, in front of a desktop computer.
"Hi, uh, so sorry to bother you, but uh, my son snuck out of the house last night and, uh, went to a Justin Timberlake concert." Dean says. "What? Yeah. No, Justin is quite the triple threat. Uh, anyway, he's not back yet, and, and I'm just, I'm starting to worry. Right. Yeah, boys will be boys. But see, Sammy is a diabetic, and uh, if he doesn't get his insulin, I just, I have to find him. Please, I'm begging you. Yeah, no, no, no, I"m on the web site right now, I just need to activate the GDS in his cell phone."
Dean enters a password. "Yeah, right there. Duluth, Minnesota. Yeah, that is a long way to go for a concert. I appreciate your help."
JO'S BAR
[ ☾]
Sam stops at a bar and turns off the engine. He had handcuffed Elena to the seatbelt. "Stay here, I'll be back." Sam says.
"Where are you going?" She asks.
"I gotta go take care of something." Sam says and gets out of the car.
Jo, her back to us, is scrubbing the bar and saying goodnight to some customers. "Good night, thank you." She says.
Sam enters with and clears his throat. "Sorry, we're closing up." She says.
"How about just one for the road?" Sam says.
Jo turns to face him. "Well, you're about the last person I'd expect to see." She says.
"Well, I guess I'm full of surprises. So can I get a beer?" Sam says.
"Sure. One beer." Jo brings a bottle of beer over and sets it down on the bar firmly, then turns away, bustling over cleaning up the bar. "So how'd you find me?"
"Well, uh, it's kind of what we do, you know?" Sam says.
"Speaking of 'we', where's Dean?"
"Couldn't make it."
"So what are you doing here, Sam? I mean, we didn't exactly part on the best of terms." Jo says.
"Right. Um, well, that's why I'm here. I kind of, I wanted to see if we could square things, you know?" Sam says.
As Sam takes off his jacket, Jo notices a circular burn mark with a short line through it on Sam's forearm. "That looks like it hurts." She says.
"No. No, just, just had a run-in with a hot stove." He says.
"So you were saying something about squaring things?" She asks.
"Yeah. Um. Look, I know how you feel about my dad. And I can't say I blame you. He was obsessed. consumed with hunting; and he didn't care who got caught in the cross-fire. And I guess that included your dad. But that was my father, that's not me." Sam says.
"What about Dean?"
"Well, Dean's more like my father than I am, but...Boy. You're really carrying a torch for him, aren't you?" Sam asks and Jo scoffs, uncomfortably. "I'll take that as a yes. It's too bad. 'Cause see, Dean, he likes you, sure, but not in the way you'd want. I mean, maybe as kind of a...a little sister, you know? But romance — that's just out of the question."
Sam laughs. "He kind of thinks you're a schoolgirl, you know? I'm not trying to hurt you, Jo, I, I'm telling you because I care."
"Well, that's real kind of you, Sam." No says.
"I mean it." Sam places a hand over hers on the bar, possessively. "I care about you a lot."
"Sam, what's going on?"
"I can be more to you, Jo." Sam says.
"Maybe you should leave." Jo says.
"Okay." He shoves her hand away and stands to leave; she turns to face the bar, leaning on it heavily.
Suddenly Sam reappears, grabbing her from behind and manhandling her. "Sam, get off me! Sam, get off me! Sam!"
She closes her right hand on a beer bottle, but before she can hit him with it he grabs her wrist and slams it onto the bar, shattering the bottle.
"Jo, Jo, Jo." Sam shoves her around until she faces the bar and pins her there, left hand over her wrist, right hand stroking her hair.
"Sam, no, no! Please! Please!" Jo yells.
He slams her forehead into the bar; she is knocked out, and he lifts her carefully to lie on the bar, stroking her hair in a disturbingly gentle manner. "It didn't have to be this way. Or maybe it did."
A clunky record player switches on and starts playing The Doors' "Crystal Ship". Nearby, Sam is tying Jo in a sitting position to a wide wooden post. She slowly wakes up.
"What the hell is going on? What are you doing?" Jo asks.
"So what exactly did your mom tell you about how your dad died?" Sam asks.
Jo looks at him warily. "You're not Sam."
"Don't be so sure about that. Answer the question." Sam says. Jo says nothing; Sam sighs heavily and goes around to the other side; he sits in front of her, leaning in, his expression shifting to one of open concern.
He pulls out a large knife and strokes her face with it. "Come on. It's me. You can tell me anything, you know that. Answer. The question."
"Fine." Jo says.
"Fine." Sam repeats.
"Our dads were in California: Devil's Gate Reservoir. They were setting a trap for some kind of Hell spawn. John was hiding, waiting, and my dad was bait."
Sam laughs. "That's just like John. Oh, I'll bet he dangled Bill like meat on a hook. Then what?" He asks.
He gets up and goes around to stand behind her. "The thing showed up. John got too eager, jumped out too soon, got my dad exposed out in the open. The thing turned around and killed him." Jo says.
Sam leans in. "Hmm. Not quite."
"What?" Jo asks.
"What? Oh. See, it hurt him. It didn't kill him. You really don't know the truth, do you? I'll bet your mom doesn't either." Sam sits facing her again, leans in close.
"Know what?"
"You see, Bill was all clawed up. Holding his insides in his hands. He was gurgling and praying to see you and Ellen one more time. So my dad...killed him. Put him out of his misery like a sick dog." Sam says.
"You're lying." Jo sneers.
"I'm not, it's true." Sam says.
"My daddy shot your daddy in the head..." He sings.
"How could you know that?"
"I hear things." Sam stands and stabs the knife into the pillar, just above head level.
"Why are you doing this to me?"
"Like Daddy like daughter. You're bait. Open up." Sam says and shoves a knotted rag in her mouth and ties it around her neck. "That's a girl."
The door bursts open and Dean enters, gun out. Elena is behind him. "Sam!" Dean yells.
Sam grabs the knife from the pillar, his calm expression shifting to one of desperate panic, and places the knife at Jo's throat. "I begged you to stop me, Dean." Sam says.
"Put the knife down, damnit."
Dean says.
"I told you I can't fight it! My head feels like it's on fire, all right?! Dean. Kill me, or I'm going to kill her. Please. You've be doing me a favor! Shoot me." Sam turns to face Dean, arms spread. "Shoot me!"
"No, Sammy, come on." Dean turns away, lowering the gun.
"What the hell's wrong with you, Dean? Are you that scared of being alone that you'd rather let Jo die?" Sam asks.
Dean turns suddenly, flinging water from a flask at Sam; the water hisses and steams as it strikes him. "That's holy water, you demonic son of a bitch!"
Sam raises his head; his eyes are the solid black of a demon's. "Oh my god." Elena says.
Dean flings more holy water at him; Sam growls, turns and runs, bursting through a window and fleeing. "Elena stay with her." Dean takes the knife and cuts Jo free; she pulls the gag out of her mouth as Dean runs towards the shattered window.
"He was possessed?!" Jo yells. Dean turns and stares at her for a moment, then leaps through the window. "Dean!"