Rose Miller: Looking for truth

29 Ashes to Ashes

Jo walks quickly through the docks, a flashlight in one hand and her cell phone in the other. She's calling Dean, and his voicemail picks up: 'This is Dean. Leave a message.' She hangs up: 'He isn't answering.' Jo yells.

Rose finds him. He is lying unconscious at the bottom of a ramp. She turns her head: 'He is here, Jo.' She shakes his shoulders: 'Dean! Dean!'

He wakes with a groan, coughing; he's completely wet: 'Where is Sam?'

'I don't know; we've been looking for you. Come on, get up.'

Jo appears and shines the flashlight on his face. He holds his hand up: 'Put it away, Jo.'

'Oh, ok.' She shifts to the floor.

Rose helps him stand, and he leans on her heavily, groaning, clutching his shoulder, as they walk back to the bar.

Dean sits at a table, gripping the edge with his right hand as Jo digs the bullet out of his left shoulder. He's groaning loudly.

'Don't be a baby!'

'God!'

'Almost. All right, got it. Got it.'

Rose walks in; she looks past them while Jo drops the bloodstained bullet into a glass of clear alcohol. Dean takes a few healthy swigs from a bottle of whiskey. 'God, you're a butcher.'

Rose turns her head towards them; her eyes look stern. Dean looks at her over Jo's shoulder.

'You're welcome.' Jo says sarcastically.

'Are you ok?' Dean asks Rose.

Jo turns around. She doesn't really think of this. Rose smiles: 'Let's patch you up? You can't help Sam if you're bleeding to death.'

Jo stands and leaves the room. Rose sits down and cleans the wound.

'Does it bother you? You know the blood thing.' He asks.

'A bit.' She wasn't sure how strong she would be. It's something she can do. She takes some gauze, layering it: 'It's ok. I can handle it.' She tapes the gauze to his shoulder.

'I know.' He says, and she looks at him. He leans closer and kisses her: 'I was worried you were dead when I saw you laying there.'

'Now, I'm not that easy to get rid of.' She smiles at him.

'Good.' He says and kisses her again.

Rose opens the door and sees Jo walking up and down: 'Are you ok?'

'I know demons lie, but do they ever tell the truth?'

'If they do, and I say if, then they will say it in a way that messes with your head.' Rose thinks back to what the demon "revealed". He said that John killed her father when he was injured: 'I don't know how it happened, Jo, not for sure.'

Jo stays silent.

Dean walks in and takes the car keys: 'It's time to find Sam.'

'Do you have any idea where he's headed next? Jo asks.

'Well, so far, he's been going after the nearest hunter, so . . . closest one I know lives in South Dakota.'

'Ok, good, I'm done. Let's go.'

'Yeah. You're not coming, Jo.' Dean says and looks at Rose, who stands beside him: 'What do you think we'll find?'

Rose lays a hand on his arm: 'We'll see.'

Jo follows them, and Dean doesn't turn: 'Stay here, Jo.'

'The hell I'm not. I'm a part of this now.'

'I can't say it plainer than this. You try to follow me, and I'll tie you right back to that post and leave you here. This is my fight. I'm not getting your blood on my hands. That's just how it's going to be.'

It's raining as Dean drives down a dark stretch of road; he dials a number on his cell. It keeps ringing; he looks at his phone and sighs, his hand clasped tightly around the wheel. Rose lays her hand on his upper leg. He holds onto her and glances aside, relaxing slightly.

Later, Sam-demon is tied to a chair, before a fire and under a protective circle. Dean smacks him in the face to wake him: 'Hey!'

Sam looks up and sees the painted Devil's Trap. Dean looks up too. 'Dean. Back from the dead. Getting to be a regular thing for you, isn't it? Like a cockroach.'

'How about I smack that smartass right out of your mouth?'

'Oh, careful, now. Wouldn't want to bruise this fine packaging.'

Rose carries a bucket: 'Oh, don't worry, this isn't going to hurt Sam. You, on the other hand ...' She tosses a bucketful of holy water on Sam-demon, who sizzles and roars. 'Feel like talking now?'

'Sam's still my meat puppet. I'll make him bite off his tongue.'

Rose starts talking in Latin: 'Exorcisamus te, omnes in mundus spiritus omnes satanica potestas, omnes incursio ...' She continues.

Dean talks over her: 'See, whatever bitch-boy master plan you demons are cooking up? You're not getting Sam. Do you understand me? Cause I'm going to kill every one of you first.'

Sam-demon struggles painfully, then it throws back his head and laughs maniacally: 'You really think that's what this is about? The master plan? I don't give a rat's ass about the master plan.'

'Humiliares sub potente magnu dei...'

'Oops. Doesn't seem to be working. See, I learned a few new tricks.' Sam-Demon lowers his head and begins growling in Latin: 'Spiritus in mundus, un glorum suarum umitite palatum iram, domine ...' The fire behind him flares, and the room shakes as he continues.

'This isn't going like I pictured! What's going on? Rose?' Dean asks.

She sees the burn mark on Sam's forearm as Sam-demon chants. 'It's a binding link. It's like a lock! The demon is locked inside Sam's body.'

Sam throws back his head and screams. The walls shake, and the ceiling cracks, breaking the protective circle. Sam-demon's eyes are black as he lowers his head.

'What do we do?' Dean asks. He jerks his head right, and Dean flies, landing heavily against the far wall. The holy water flask falls from Dean's hand. Sam yanks his head left, and Rose flies backwards, but she lands on her feet. Dean is flinching in pain from his shoulder. Sam rips free of the restraints and stalks over to Dean: 'You know when people want to describe the worst possible thing? They say it's like hell.'

Sam kneels before Dean, fisting his left hand in Dean's shirt and clocking him hard with a right jab. Dean grabs Sam's shirt with his right hand.

Sam rears back to hit Dean; suddenly, Rose grabs Sam's arm. She presses a hot poker into the mark on Sam's arm; he screams in pain, then again as black demon smoke billows out of him and up the chimney.

Dean pulls himself up painfully. Sam falls back, then comes to himself, scrabbling and looking around in confusion, then grabs his arm in sudden pain.

'Sammy?' Dean asks.

'Did I miss anything?'

'Did he?' Rose asks Dean and laughs; she lays the fire poke back by the fire.

'Nothing.' Dean jokes and shakes his head.