Title: Tonight You Can Dream You're a Star
Rating: PG
Pairing: Sam/Jess
Spoilers: none
Disclaimer: The last time I checked, my name wasn't Kripke. Therefore, I own none of this, more's the pity.
Warnings: none
Author's Notes: Written for the
spn_vday challenge. Also, the song lyrics at the end are from Adam Pascal's 'I'm with You'
Summary: ghost!Jess visits Sam
Sam was absolutely positive that he was dreaming, even though he had no memory of falling asleep. In fact, he hadn't even been tired, but there was no other explanation for why a softly smiling Jess was sitting on the other motel room bed, dressed in the Smurf pajamas that she had been wearing the last time he saw her alive. Well, there was one other possible explanation, but Sam was pretty sure that he wasn't dead and even if he was, he didn't think he'd be sitting in a motel room with Jess if he were.
"Sam, you're not dead. Stop thinking so hard."
Sam blinked, throat tightening and his vision going slightly blurry. "Jess? How are...but you're...."
"Dead?" She pulled her legs up onto the bed, tucking her feet under her and leaning forward. "That wasn't your fault, Sam. I never blamed you."
He just shook his head, fighting back the sting of tears. "But I saw it, before it happened. I dreamed about it for weeks before Dean ever showed up. And I'm so sorry that I never told you."
Jess snorted at that, blowing her hair away from her face. "Sam, I love you, but sometimes you can be such an idiot. You had no way of knowing that your dreams were going to come true, that the demon was going to come for me." Her face softened and she slid off the bed, walking over to stand in front of Sam. "If you had known what was going to happen, you would have done everything in your power to stop it. And nothing and no one will ever make me doubt that."
"Really?" Under other circumstances Sam would have hated the way his voice broke on that single word, but at the moment he really couldn't bring himself to care.
Jess reached forward, one hand sliding along the side of Sam's face and wiping away the tear that fell with her thumb. "Really. So please try to stop feeling so guilty about things you had no control over. For me?"
Sam flashed her a sad smile. "I'll try, Jess, but I can't make any promises."
"Well, try really hard then." She smiled, climbing up onto the bed and straddling Sam's lap. "I was so happy when they decided that I could come back and see you, even if it is just for one night. I've missed you, Sam."
Sam wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer until she was practically plastered against his chest. "I've missed you, too. So much."
They simply sat on the bed in silence for a long moment, clinging to each other, before Jess pulled back slightly and grinned impishly at Sam. "Wanna dance?"
Sam barely blinked at the question, long used to odd shifts in conversation. "There's no music, Jess. What are we supposed to dance to?"
Jess just hopped to her feet, pulling him up and into the center of the room. "We'll make our own music. So come on, Sam. Dance with me."
When Jess started humming and swaying Sam just shrugged, pulled her into his arms and began to waltz her around the room, trying not to run into the beds. He wasn't sure how or why Jess was allowed to return for the night, but at the moment he really didn't care. It was enough to know that she still loved him, that she had never blamed him and to hold her in his arms again.
As they danced around the room Jess closed her eyes, a content smile curving her lips. "You haven't lost your touch, Sam. Though I will never understand how someone could do so well in a ballroom dance class and then look so silly trying to dance in a club."
Sam chuckled, leaning down to press a kiss to her hair. "I've told you before, Jess, it's a completely different kind of dancing."
Jess laughed, stretching up on her toes to return the kiss. "Sam, promise me something?"
"Anything."
"Promise me that in the morning when I'm gone again you'll try your best to go on with your life." She looked up at him, meeting his eyes steadily. "I know it'll be hard, but I just want you to be happy."
Sam closed his eyes for a moment, pulling Jess tighter against his chest. "I'll do my best, Jess. I promise."
She kept her eyes locked with his for a long moment, weighing his words, before she nodded decisively. "Good. I'd hate to get to come back again just so I could kick your ass back into line. And I'll be watching you, so I'll know."
And when she wrinkled her nose at him, Sam threw back his head and laughed, feeling some of the weight slipping from his shoulders for the first time since Dean had appeared in Palo Alto.
* * *
Sam returned to consciousness slowly, feeling more content than he had in longer then he cared to remember. Even though there was no actual evidence of Jess' visit, nothing to prove that it had been anything more than a particularly vivid dream, but he knew. And that was all that mattered.
So when Dean started bitching about something or other, Sam just stretched out in the almost too small motel bed, closed his eyes and began to softly sing the song Jess had been humming the night before.
'Tonight you can dream you're a star. You can walk on the clouds, and float to the ground. And I'm with you."