Chuck had cleaned himself up a bit, having showered and put on fresh clothes, though he hadn't bothered to tidy the living room. Dean sat on a stool, with Nadia standing between his legs, her back pressed against his chest. The angel took in the messy living space—the worn-out couch and the clutter of trash scattered on the coffee and side tables.

Why would she have ever been in a place like this?

Chuck was hiding something; she could sense it. He played the innocent, quirky, anxious writer well, but if he could write things about her that even she didn't remember... he had to know more than he was letting on.

Chuck walked into the living room holding his latest manuscript. He said nothing, standing there awkwardly, shifting his weight from foot to foot.

"So...," Sam began, leaning against the mantel, his arms crossed and his eyes wide with expectation. "You wrote another chapter?"

"This was all so much easier before you were real," Chuck admitted, gesturing with his hands, visibly uncomfortable.

"We can take it," Dean assured him, casually placing his hands on Nadia's hips and tracing gentle circles with his thumbs. "Just spit it out."

Chuck's hand trembled slightly as he glanced at Dean.

"I didn't like hell," Dean replied matter-of-factly.

Chuck glanced briefly at Nadia, quickly averting his gaze. "It's Lilith," he sighed. "She's coming for Sam."

Nadia clutched Dean's hand on her hip, feeling him tense behind her.

Dean blinked, almost speechless. "Wait a minute, coming to kill him?"

"When?" Sam asked, stepping forward, an almost bloodthirsty gleam in his eyes.

Nadia bit the inside of her cheek, fighting back an eye-roll at his eagerness.

"Tonight," Chuck replied, shuffling his feet, clearly unnerved by Sam's intensity.

"She's coming here?" Nadia asked, her voice calm and steady, the only one of the three seemingly unaffected by the news. She had never faced Lilith, but despite the demon's terrifying power, Nadia's recent moods had her feeling a bit more scrappy than Sam—but scrappy nonetheless.

Chuck grabbed his glasses off the coffee table, slipping them on as he sank onto the couch. "Uh... let's see..." He cleared his throat, flipping through the manuscript until he found the right page. "Lilith patted the bed seductively. Unable to deny his desire, Sam succumbed, and they sank into the throes of fiery demonic passion."

"Ew," Nadia mouthed, while Dean's eyebrows shot up so high they nearly disappeared off his forehead.

Sam laughed briefly but stopped when he realized no one else found it funny. "You're kidding me, right?"

"You think this is funny?" Dean asked, shooting him a hard look.

"You don't?" Sam tilted his head at him. "I mean, come on -"

Chuck shrugged, trying to brush off the criticism. 

"Wait, wait, wait. Lilith is a little girl," Dean recalled, thinking of the last vessel he'd seen her in.

Chuck shook his head, flipping another page. "No, this time she's a 'comely dental hygienist from Bloomington, Indiana.'"

"Great. Perfect." Dean's sarcasm practically dripped from his words. He looked at Nadia, noticing she was deep in thought.

"So, what happens after the... demon sex?" Nadia asked her tone much too frank for Sam's comfort.

"Guys, look, there's nothing to worry about," he assured them, trying to keep things light. "Lilith and me? In bed?"

Nadia resisted the urge to throw Sam's past actions with Ruby back at him.

Dean, however, cast a brief, knowing glare at his brother, clearly thinking the same thing. He turned to Chuck, trying to get to the bottom of this. "How does this whole psychic thing of yours work?"

"You mean my process?"

Dean rolled his eyes. "Yes, your process."

Chuck took off his glasses, rubbing his eyes wearily. "Well, it usually starts with a headache. A really bad headache. Aspirin doesn't help, so... I drink. Until I pass out. The first time it happened, I thought it was just a crazy dream."

"The first time you dreamed about us?" Nadia asked.

"It flowed," Chuck replied, rubbing his eyes more aggressively. "It just... it kept flowing. It still does. I—I can't stop it, really."

Sam, still amused, spoke up, standing with his arms crossed. "You can't seriously believe—"

"Humor me," Dean interrupted, effectively silencing him.

Sam tilted his head, visibly offended, feeling underestimated regarding Lilith—especially after he'd made his desire to kill her well known.

Dean gently patted Nadia's hip, signaling her to move aside so he could stand. "Look, why don't we just..." He trailed off, noticing Chuck holding the manuscript out toward him. He snatched it from him, glancing down at the pages. "Take a look at these and see what's what."

Sam shook his head in disbelief.

Dean frowned, looking back at Chuck. "You—"

"...Knew you were going to ask for that." The writer nodded, a small smile of resignation on his face. "Yeah."

Leaving town was the best option—the only option, in Dean's opinion. After leaving Chuck's, they headed to the motel to grab their stuff and were on the road in under an hour.

Sam, of course, wasn't on board with running away. He didn't understand that getting out of town wasn't about whether he could take on Lilith, but about how facing her could change him.

Nadia sat quietly in the back seat of the Impala, a little disappointed that she hadn't had the chance to speak to Chuck alone. She had more questions concerning her memories and the odd connection she felt. 

"Dean, come on," Sam said from the passenger seat, reading the manuscript aloud. "The minivan accident wasn't that bad, but Dean was still seeing stars. Nadia grimaces, watching him scratch absently at the pink flower Band-Aids on his face."

"So?" Dean glanced over at him, his tone casual.

"So, I've seen you gushing blood. You'd use duct tape and bar rags before you'd slap on a pink flower Band-Aid."

"What's your point?"

Sam shook his head, rattling the pages a little. "My point is, this—all of this—is totally implausible. It's nuts."

"He's been right about everything so far," Nadia said, pulling a lollipop out of her pocket and unwrapping it.

Sam's attention returned to the manuscript. "Huh," he muttered, reading more. "Dean slid behind the wheel of his beloved Impala with Nadia riding shotgun and drove off, the plastic tarp on the rear window flapping like the wings of a crow."

"A tarp?" Dean frowned.

"Yeah. On the rear window. And you drive it like that."

Dean shrugged. "Well, maybe he's wrong about the details, but that doesn't mean he's wrong about the end result."

"So we're just gonna run?"

"Dude, we are a long way from ready for a face-to-face death match with Lilith."

"I could always just kill her," Nadia offered thoughtfully, popping the lollipop out of her mouth. "I am an angel. An archangel. Pretty hard to kill, and I heal."

Dean looked at his brother, considering.

"No," Sam shook his head, his jaw tightening. "Lilith is mine."

"Of course," Nadia scoffed. "Right, because vengeance is way more important than the bigger picture here."

"Bigger picture?" Sam looked confused.

"The apocalypse, Sam—something we can't lose sight of. I don't understand this fixation you and Lilith have on killing each other, and frankly, I couldn't care less. But that's child's play compared to what we're dealing with here. Some angels want Lucifer to rise, and we've got a guy named Chuck dreaming up and writing books about every detail of our lives. I say we let her come. I'll handle it."

Sam looks at his brother this time, considering Nadia's point. She was right—he hadn't seen Ruby lately, and between the three of them, Nadia could probably take Lilith without much trouble. Taking the demon out could easily solve a chunk of their problems.

"It doesn't matter," Dean finally said. "We're already on our—"

"Hey," Nadia interrupted, pointing. There was a roadblock up ahead, with two deputies in brown and tan uniforms standing guard.

Dean slowed down the car, bringing it to a gentle stop. "What seems to be the problem?" He leaned his elbow out the window as one of the deputies approached.

"Bridge is out ahead."

"We're just trying to get out of town," he explained.

"Yeah, afraid not," the deputy replied curtly.

"Is there a detour?"

"Nope."

"There's not a side road that takes us to the highway?" Dean's patience wavered, though he managed to stay calm despite the deputy's unhelpful answers.

"To get to the highway, you have to cross that river. To cross the river, you have to take that bridge."

"How deep's the river?"

"Sorry." The deputy's tone was anything but apologetic. "Afraid you're gonna have to spend the night in town."

Nadia exchanged a quiet look with the boys.

Dean gave a silent nod of thanks to the deputy and shifted the car into reverse before making a U-turn.

"So, boys," Nadia sighed, putting her lollipop back in her mouth. "Lunch?"

The Kripke Hollow Diner was buzzing with customers on their lunch break. Nadia and the boys were lucky to snag a table. The place was small, with a Midwestern feel—neutral-tone walls, dark red accents, and American memorabilia scattered around.

Nadia was in the bathroom, leaving the brothers at the table. Dean was flipping through the manuscript while Sam skimmed the menu.

"Hey, this could be a good thing," Dean said, looking up as an idea struck him. "I mean, if this is what puts us on the path to Lilith, then all we gotta do is get off the path."

"How do you mean?" Sam asked.

"It's a blueprint of what not to do. I mean, if the pages say we go left—"

"Then we go right," Sam caught on, thinking it was a solid plan.

"Exactly. We get off-book. We never make it to the end."

Sam scratched his head thoughtfully, listening.

"It's opposite day. It says we get into a fight. So, no fighting."

Sam nodded, shrugging. Sounded easy enough.

"No research for you..." Dean added.

"No bacon cheeseburger for you," Sam retorted, making Dean's head snap up. 

"Yeah, no problem," Dean said nonchalantly, though the look in his eyes said otherwise. "I'll just order something else."

"What about me?" Nadia returned, sighing as she sat down.

"Well," Dean scanned the manuscript. "You and I have a heart-to-heart. So, no talking about your feelings. Or mine, for that matter."

"Consider it done," Nadia said, picking up the dessert menu.

"You also get a sundae for lunch. So, order something else," Dean added, taking the menu from her.

Nadia huffed, pulling another lollipop from her pocket.

"Maybe some real food," Dean suggested, confiscating the candy.

"Fine," the angel muttered, reluctantly picking up the menu and trying to ignore her craving for sweets.

After a moment, their waitress arrived to take their orders. She was an older woman, a redhead, easy on the eyes, with her pen and pad ready.

"Hi, uh, what's good?" Dean asked, finally putting down the manuscript to check the menu.

"Well, if you like burgers, Oprah's girlfriend said we have the best bacon cheeseburgers in the country."

Sam and Nadia exchanged a laugh at the irony, and Dean stifled a pained chuckle. "Really?"

"I'll just have the Cobb salad, please," Sam ordered.

Dean gave his brother a look, clearly disapproving, before placing his own order. "And I'll have the..." He struggled, forcing the words out. "

Nadia and Sam looked at him, surprised and impressed by his efforts.

The waitress turned to Nadia.

"I'll have the chicken-fried steak, with green beans, mashed potatoes—extra gravy—and cornbread."

"Perfect," the waitress said, finishing her notes and taking her menu before walking away.

"This whole thing's ridiculous," Sam muttered, still skeptical despite going along with the plan.

"Lilith is ridiculous?" Dean shot back.

"The idea of me hooking up with her is."

"Right," Dean chuckled dryly, glancing at the manuscript. "'Cause something like that could never happen."

Nadia quietly sipped her iced tea, watching Sam's eyebrows furrow and his jaw tense. She could feel him suppressing the anger that was simmering inside him.

"Dean, for the first time, we have a warning that Lilith is close."

Dean looked up. "So?"

"So..." Sam hesitated, glancing at Nadia. "It's like she was saying. We've got the jump on her. If we know when she's coming, we know where she's... this is an opportunity."

"Are you—?"

"Ah, ah, ah," Nadia cut off an angry Dean. "No fighting."

He took a deep breath, lowering his firm tone. 

Sam responded, his tone low but just as firm if not more. 

A tense silence fell over the table as the brothers locked eyes, neither one willing to back down.

"Food's here," Nadia announced, relieved at the timing. "Perfect."

The waitress set down their plates, starting with Sam. "Cobb salad for you. Chicken-fried steak for you, and the tofu veggie burger for you."

"Thank you," Nadia said, eyeing her food, her craving for ice cream forgotten—at least for the moment.

The waitress left them to eat.

Dean picked up his tofu burger. "It's not hiding. It's being smart. It's picking your battles," he said firmly. "This is a battle we are not ready to fight."

Sam's jaw clenched as he fought the urge to argue, stabbing at his salad instead.

"You've got an angel here," Nadia reminded them, scooping some mashed potatoes onto her fork. "Just saying."

Dean took a big bite of his burger, chewing violently at first. Then he slowed, a look of surprise crossing his face. "Oh my god."

The waitress returned, looking embarrassed. "I am so sorry," she said. "I gave you the bacon cheeseburger by mistake." She took Dean's plate, chuckling nervously as she walked away.

Dean stared, speechless, as Sam gave him a tight-lipped look.

"So much for opposite day," Nadia muttered, shaking her head as she sipped her tea.