A Case of the Mondays

Sam woke up with a splitting headache. Migraines were nothing new to him, but he'd been having a reprieve from them for a while now, so it was a little odd. He chalked it up to more PTSD from Hell and went to get some coffee. This particular cheap hotel had small coffee pots in the room. Dean must have put some on because it was already made.

"Morning," Sam said, finding Dean already glued to the local newspaper.

"Mmmm hmmm," Dean mumbled. He took another sip of coffee. "Hey, check this out. Local man dies suddenly after power tool accident. Age 41."

"So?" Sam asked.

"Couple paragraphs later, elderly man dies accidentally after slipping in bathtub. Age 84. And another one. Local woman dies after being electrocuted by hair dryer. Age 39. Three accidental deaths in one week in the same small town? Two of whom are younger than 80?"

"Might be worth checking out," Sam said.

Dean glanced up at him. "Hey, your nose is bleeding."

Sam reached up. "That's not a good sign. I have a migraine, too."

"Having a vision?" Dean asked, looking worried.

"No. Just a migraine…" Sam stopped as he realized there were bright crimson flames licking his arms. He closed his eyes tightly. "Not real. Not real." He opened his eyes again, and the flames were still there. He sighed. "Great. This is turning into a regular case of the Mondays."

"Uh…" Dean said, standing up, "You're on fire."

"No, it's just another hallucination…" Sam trailed off and gave Dean a dubious look. "You can see my hallucinations now?"

"I got news for you, Sam. That's no hallucination. What, aren't you feeling anything?"

"Besides the headache? No." Sam glanced down again. The flames were now covering his entire body. They smelled like brimstone. Oddly, he didn't feel any pain from the strange fire. He could feel the heat, but no pain.

Suddenly, the smoke detector in the hotel room went off. Dean went to go shut it off. By the time he got the smoke alarm dismantled and turned around, Sam had become living, breathing fire.

Dean's jaw dropped. "Please tell me you can turn back to normal?"

Sam looked at his fiery hand. "Since when have I ever been normal?"

"Very funny. Come on, you gotta un-Johnny Storm yourself now," said Dean.

Sam did his best to concentrate through the piercing pain of the migraine. The flames vanished and he stood in the room, once again as a mostly human being. Mostly because a small percentage of him was demon…he'd been fed demon blood as a baby by the same demon that had killed his mother. Sam wasn't entirely sure how much of him was human, and every time his powers came into the picture, he doubted his humanity. This latest power, it seemed, was just more evidence of how human he was not.

Dean looked relieved. "Great. So, are you up to checking on these cases?"

"Yeah. I think so," Sam replied. He reached into his coat pocket and took out a bottle of Excedrin, then swallowed a few pills with his coffee. "Did I mention that I hate Mondays?"

No sooner had they stepped outside the hotel, Sam's headache came back with a crescendo.

"Sam?" Dean asked worriedly as the dark-haired Winchester brother stumbled.

"Give me a sec," Sam said. He sat down on the step in front of the hotel, clutching his forehead. He felt the tell-tale trickle of blood from his nose.

Outside, across the street, the stop sign flickered and went dark. The neon hotel sign also went dark.

"What the hell?" Dean asked.

"Ugh…my head…." Sam groaned. And then everything went dark.

Sam woke up in an ambulance. There was an oxygen mask strapped to his face. Dean was sitting next to him.

"What…Dean?" Sam asked.

"You collapsed and stopped breathing," Dean explained worriedly. "If you ever do that to me again, I'm going to kick your ass."

"Hey, chill out, we're almost to the hospital," said the technician.

Sam glanced out the window. "Wait a minute."

"What?" Dean asked.

"There's a cop car following us. Why is there a cop car following us?"

Dean glanced out the window. "Crap. Hey, you schmucks, pull over."

"No way," said the technician. "He's going to the hospital, and then both of you are going to jail. And we are getting the reward. Do you have any frigging clue how much you two Winchester boys are worth?"

"They're dead. Totally. Stone cold dead. We are not them."

The technician looked over at Sam. "Yeah, right. I'm guessing he's the smart one."

Dean closed his eyes and sighed. "Why does it have to be a Monday?"

Sam took off the oxygen mask. "Hey, we can still get out of this. Pull over."

"I'll pull over when Hell freezes over," said the driver.

Sam and Dean exchanged glances.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Dean said.

"Sorry, but Jessica Alba really isn't my type," Sam replied. "And I'm pretty sure they won't let us take over the world."

"I hope not," said the technician. He held up a needle that was filled with some kind of clear liquid. "Don't move. Any attempts to escape and I will tranquilize both of you clowns."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Ok, first, if we really were mass murderers, you guys would be dead by now. Seriously, if we really had done all that crap, don't you think we would have killed you and busted out already?"

"Then who was that on TV?" the technician asked.

"Evil shape shifters," said Dean.

"Yeah, right. Try again," the technician replied.

"No, really. Watch this," Sam said. He concentrated for a bit, and held out his hand. A tiny fireball appeared hovering slightly above it. "If I can do that, don't you think that maybe there are other people out there who can do other things?"

The technician gaped at him.

"Shape shifters are real," Dean said. "Most of them are bad guys."

"What else is real?" asked the technician.

"Pretty much everything that goes bump in the night, and then some. We fight it. That's our job. But we can't do our job if we're in jail because we got framed for mass murder," Sam explained.

The technician recovered a bit. "You might want to put out that fire. I don't want the oxygen tank to go boom…unless of course, that was your escape plan."

Sam extinguished the fireball. "Yeah, there's a reason I didn't go full-on Human Torch."

The technician gaped at him. "You can do that?"

Sam nodded. "I can do other stuff, but most of my abilities only work on demons, and I don't have full control over them."

"Did you say demons?" the technician asked.

"Yeah. They exist, and most of them are pretty bad ass. You don't want to mess around with them if you don't have to, trust me. We've killed a few, and I don't know if you remember all of the craziness last year, but that was the apocalypse we managed to stop," Sam explained.

"You mean, like with the four horsemen and all that?"

"Yeah. We defeated them, too. We took their rings, and I went to Hell to put Lucifer back in his cage. I was there for a year, Earth time. Wasn't exactly planning on coming back, but I got pulled out."

"Wait. You were in Hell? You remember anything?" the technician asked.

Sam nodded. "I wish I didn't. There are a few side effects."

"Like your powers?"

"No, like post traumatic stress disorder. My powers are a result of something else entirely," Sam replied.

"Look, you have to help us," Dean said. "Bottom line is, we get thrown in jail, and the bad guys we're after right now eat the planet."

"They're basically sharks with feet that can look like humans," Sam added. "And they have other nasty abilities, but we need to kill them before they kill the planet."

"Ok. Hey, Bob," said the technician. "Change of plans. Lose the cops."

The driver nodded. He'd been watching the events unfold in the rear-view mirror. "I'll try, but I can't guarantee anything." He turned on the siren.

Sam smiled. "Thanks. I know it's a huge leap of faith to trust us."

"No problem."

The ambulance weaved its way through traffic. Sam and Dean watched out the back window. Finally there was a semi truck coming. The ambulance pulled out in front of it, only to leave the cop car on the other side of the road.

"Yeah!" Dean cheered.

Sam nodded. "I'll be happy when it's Tuesday."

Dean chuckled. "Oh come on, Freaky Friday. It's not like we have an office job."

"I don't think you'd survive a day in an office job without going postal," Sam said. "You'd be so completely bored that you'd tear down the cubicle walls."

"I would survive it. Remember, that one time the angels put us in that corporation? I was in sales and you were in tech support?" Dean replied.

"Yeah, tech support hell," Sam said. "I am never, ever doing that again. Do you have any idea the number of people who have no idea what control-alt-delete even means?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but okay," Dean said.

Sam rolled his eyes. "I think control-alt-delete needs to be covered by the third grade."

The ambulance truck finally pulled over. "Guys, this is your stop. Get out now, and we don't want to see you on TV again, unless it's because you just saved the world," said the driver.

They got out. "Thanks for not turning us in," said Dean. "Uh…how much exactly are we worth?"

"As of yesterday, 5 million," the technician said.

"Holy…crap…" Sam gasped.

"Yeah. But you know? I'd rather have you guys out there, fighting the bad stuff. Go kick some ass, and do me a favor and don't show up in our ride again," said the technician.

"Will do," said Dean. "Hasta la vista."

As the ambulance pulled away, Dean turned to Sam. "You realize we're going to have to walk all the way back to that hotel? Unless of course, you can fly now, too."

Sam hesitated. "I don't know…even if I can fly, I don't think I can take you with me."

"Just try," said Dean.

Sam concentrated and turned back into his fire form. He tried jumping up and down a couple of times, and then shook his head. "I think flying is out for now."

"Oh well," said Dean. "Come on."

Sam turned back into himself, and started to walk. "You know, if I could fly, I think it would make up for the whole being a freak thing. Almost."

"What about invisibility? What if you could have that?" Dean asked.

"That would be cool, but flying would be better. Which would you pick?"

"Invisibility in a heartbeat," said Dean.

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yup. You could get anywhere just by being invisible. Not to mention, if we ever got arrested again, it would really come in handy," Dean said.

"True. I'd still rather fly," Sam replied.

"Maybe it'll happen," Dean said. "Your tele…whatsis might come back."

Sam looked a bit worried. "Yeah. It could."

"If that happens, you'll tell me. Right?"

"Yeah, sure," said Sam.

A bit too cheerfully, Dean thought. "You're not holding out on me, are you?"

"Nope. No more secrets," Sam said. "I promise."

"Okay." Dean figured he'd have to leave it for now. Besides, as far as Sam's powers were concerned, he'd have to talk about it sooner or later. If his younger brother was hiding something, it would eventually come out. It always did.

A couple of hours later, they had finally reached the Impala in the hotel parking lot. It was now about noon.

Both brothers got into the car. Dean started it. Suddenly, Sam was clutching his forehead.

Not again, Dean thought. "Sam?"

"It's just a headache. Drive," he answered, sounding irritated.

"Okay." Dean backed out. "Let's get some food. I'm starving, how about you?"

"Yeah," answered Sam.

As Dean took them to a fast food drive through, Sam's nose was bleeding again.

"Two cheese burgers and fries, please. Yeah, and two coffees. No cream," Dean said.

The teenager was about to respond when all of the power went out. The Impala also inexplicably shut down.

"Crap," Dean sighed. "Sam? Hey."

Sam was leaning against the window, trying to hide the bloody nose. "I'b fide," he said. Dean also noticed that Sam was clenching his fists rather tightly and trying to keep them hidden.

"Talk to me. What's going on?" Dean asked.

"Noding," Sam answered. "Just drive."

"I can't," Dean responded. "See, there's no power. No power means we're not going anywhere for a while. What did you do?"

Sam straightened up and looked a bit surprised. "No power?"

"Yeah. Electrical short. Funny, the timing on that. Wouldn't you say?" Dean was doing the best he could not to lose his temper.

Sam looked around. All of the traffic lights had gone dark. Some people had gotten out of their cars. He reached for his cell phone, glanced down and noticed there were sparks dancing across his hands. Immediately, he dropped the phone.

"You have to get control of this, Sam. Before it draws too much attention, and I'm not just talking about the cops."

"Okay. I'm trying." Sam closed his eyes. Another trickle of blood ran down his nose. The car started back up again. He opened his eyes and realized the sign was lit up again.

Dean breathed a sigh of relief. "Two new powers in one week? Isn't that a lot, even for you?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah."

"You're not drinking demon's blood again, are you?"

Sam gave him an angry look. "Do you really think that I would do that? Given how much a pain in the butt detoxing is?"

Dean looked into Sam's eyes. "Okay, you're telling the truth about that, at least. What is going on with you? Why are you Super Sam all of a sudden?"

"I don't know," Sam replied. "Let's just get the food and go."

After getting their burgers and driving off, Dean sighed. "You know what I think?"

"Sorry, I can't read minds yet," Sam answered sarcastically. "Give me a couple of days and then maybe I'll be able to."

"Ha ha," said Dean. "Seriously, I think you're our next case."

"Psycho Sam gets souped up, so now I'm a case?"

"We have to figure this out. There has to be a reason why this is happening now."

Sam sighed. "Fine."

"Okay, you're not holding out on me in the super power department, are you?" Dean asked. "Seriously?"

"I don't know. Let's go find some demons and see if that ability works," Sam said.

"No," said Dean. "Normal powers are bad enough. Demon-exorcising powers? Even the angels didn't want you doing that. Remember?"

"They didn't want me drinking the blood," Sam said. "They said nothing about exorcising the demons."

"We are not going down that road. Not again," Dean said.

"Okay, look. I'm obviously a grade-A super freak. Let's at least use this to our advantage. What if I can do something about the Leviathans?"

"Bobby already tried fire and electricity. The only thing that worked was the cleaning solution."

"Okay. But I'm pretty sure he didn't try this." Sam held out his hand and created the fireball. It glowed red inside the Impala. Then it began to turn blue, even though it still crackled like fire and smelled like brimstone.

"Hey, turn down the air…" Dean started. Then he saw Sam's hand out of the corner of his eye. "Wait. Why is everything getting colder? And why is it blue?"

"Hellfire has some pretty interesting physical properties," Sam said. "Or have you forgotten about that?"

"Well, you were there longer than me. How did you know?"

"It was one of Lucifer's favorite ways to torture people. Burn them with the hot version, then turn it so cold they froze, and rinse and repeat."

Dean shook his head. "Got to remember that one. Man, I wish Cas was still alive. Could really use his help right about now."

A familiar voice came from the back seat. "All you have to do is ask."

Sam jumped. "This better not be a hallucination."

"It's not," Dean said, pulling the car over and coming to a stop. "Cas? How? Are you, I mean…you?"

"My father must have brought me back," the angel said. "I can't for the life of me figure out why, after what I did."

"You weren't you," Dean said. "It wasn't entirely your fault."

"It was my entire fault. I was the one who opened the door to Purgatory. I was the one who absorbed those souls. I was the one who couldn't control the power because I tried to be someone I was not. I am…ashamed."

"If it makes you feel any better, we're happy to see you," Sam said.

"Thanks," the angel said. "What do you need help with?"

"Something's going on with Sam," Dean said. "Can you tell us why?"

The angel looked at the younger Winchester brother. "You are experiencing migraines?"

Sam nodded.

"Visions?"

"No visions, but I have other…abilities."

"Oh?"

"They just came on really suddenly, too. I don't have full control over both of them yet."

The angel looked surprised. He sniffed the air a bit. "I don't smell any demon's blood in you…not more so than normal, anyway."

"Thanks. I think." Sam held out his hand. "Look." He summoned the fireball.

Castiel's eyes widened. "That's…"

"Hellfire. There's more, but I don't want to set the car on fire. Dean would probably kick my ass."

"Damn straight," the elder brother remarked. "Can you help him?"

Cas looked at Sam. "This will be very painful. But I need to do it to find out what is happening here."

Sam nodded. "Do it."

The angel's hand turned into pure light, reached into Sam's body, and for several moments Sam felt excruciating pain. He didn't scream, though, he just gritted his teeth and held on very tightly to the seat so much that his knuckles were white.

Cas was surprised. Most humans could not withstand that amount of pain. The torturing Sam's soul had gone through in Hell probably made him more resistant to physical pain. The angel withdrew his hand.

"Sam is evolving."

"What?" Dean said. "I thought everything on this planet evolved."

"It does. But not this fast."

Sam sat up. "So…I'm turning into something else?"

The angel nodded. "Let me check something." He disappeared and then reappeared, with an astonished look on his face.

"What?" Sam asked.

"You are meant to be the next link in human evolution. It's in the Book."

"What book?" Dean asked.

"The Book. My father's Book," said the angel.

"Oh, that one," Dean replied.

"I cannot stop what is happening to you, Sam. I am sorry. It's in the Plan."

He nodded. "It's ok. Rules are rules."

"I can, however, slow it down a bit," the angel replied. "You will have fewer headaches, and your rate of new abilities will decrease for a while. I can give you five years."

"That's it?" Dean asked incredulously.

"He's currently scheduled to become the next evolutionary step next year," the angel said.

Sam gaped at him. "You mean that's all I get to be human? Five more years?"

Cas nodded. "I'm afraid so. I cannot interfere with the Plan any more than that."

"You'd better hurry up and get married again," Dean cracked. "I'm sure Becky won't mind spending five years with you."

Sam shot Dean an irritated look. "Five years…that's even less than a demon contract," he said.

"I don't work for Hell," the angel replied. "I will say this, though. You have to find someone to propagate your species with before your five years are up."

"Why?" Sam asked.

"Because we require your children to pass down your genetic code, and you will not be able to be with them after the five year deadline has passed."

"That's a hell of a deadline," Dean said.

Sam sighed. "Five more years of being a human freak, and then I get to be a non-human freak. Don't I get a say in any of this?"

"Unfortunately, I do not know where my father is," the angel said. "But only he can change the Plan, and you would have to be very convincing."

Sam nodded. "Do it, then. That will at least buy us some time."

"As you wish," the angel said. He touched Sam's forehead and a bright light filled the Impala. Both brothers had to close their eyes.

"I have to go now," Cas said. "If they find me here, I will be…as you say, in deep shit."

"Wait, your trench coat is…" Dean started.

"In the trunk. I know," Cas replied. "Thanks for keeping it safe."

They heard the fluttering of wings and then he was gone. Sam opened his eyes. It was night time outside, which was strange. He had not thought that much time had passed.

"Can you still do that trick with the hellfire?" Dean asked.

Sam held out his hand and the fireball appeared. "Yeah."

"Well, at least that's one good thing."

"Yeah," Sam replied.

"Look," Dean said. "We are going to find you a hot chick who is not Becky. Okay?"

"Whatever, Dean. Just drive." Sam leaned against the window and closed his eyes.

"Hey, guess what?"

"What?"

"It's midnight." Dean grinned.

"How is it midnight already?" Sam asked.

"I suppose that stuff Cas did to you took more time than we thought," Dean replied.

"Huh. Well, at least Monday is over," Sam said. "Finally."

"That it is, Sammy. That it is," Dean said.

The End