AUTHOR'S NOTE: This particular story is set somewhere between the first and second season, so baby Dean and Sam. I really wanted to go back to their old characters, but I also wanted there to be mention and threats of demons, so that's why it's laid out the way it is! Regardless, I hope you enjoy! -

The girl lay naked on the four-poster bed. She was barely awake, her green eyes hardly visible under swollen lids. Her arms and legs were bound to each of the four corners and blood trailed a path from her temple, one from her nose, her lips, further down her stomach and even the space between her thighs.

"She's a beauty, isn't she?" Sam knew the owner of the voice before he even saw his brother sitting casually in the recliner across the room. His hand immediately went to his back where his gun was tucked away, hidden in the waistband of his jeans.

"Don't bother." Dean's voice said. "I'll be gone in a minute. I just wanted to make sure you boys got your gift."

Sam fought the temptation to glance where his brother's finger pointed, not stupid enough to remove his stare from the demon in the room.

"What is this?" His voice was steady, an acronym to his beating heart. It drummed loud in his ears, dulling almost everything else.

"This is what happens when someone is stupid enough to associate themselves with a Winchester. Tell your daddy hi for me, okay?"

Sam's hand faltered, dropping mid-action to sway almost lazily at his side, the mention of his father shocking him. "What does my dad have to do with any of this?"

The demon threw him a wink.

Sam pulled his weapon and without hesitation, aimed it at his brother's heart. "Tell me!" he shouted, all other thoughts gone from his mind. Dean and Sam had been chasing after their father for over a year. He would be damned if he let his only lead get away. Not after all this time. Not after they had just found he was still alive.

"Or you'll shoot Dean here?" the demon laughed. "I got you by the balls, boy." He sucked in air between his teeth like he suddenly remembered something he needed to mention. "Speaking of balls." His lips curled upwards. "You might want to take care of your lady friend over there. Don't know how long she'll last after the encounter with Dean's."
Sam's finger squeezed tighter onto the trigger, an anger shaking his entire frame.

The demon simply replied with a smile, threw its head back and in a scream, exited Dean's body in a monstrous cloud of black smoke before Sam could even blink.

Dean's body fell limp, but only for a moment before his eyes fluttered open in a wave of long lashes and green eyes. "Sammy?" It was a whisper, both exhausted and horrified.

But Sam wasn't going to think about his brother now.

In a flash of movement, his fingers worked the knots loose on the bindings that held the woman fast. The skin beneath the rough rope was torn and somewhat shredded. He covered her quickly, hiding her naked body beneath a cheap hotel blanket that bore the blood and tears of what had happened.

Sam found he couldn't look in her eyes, not yet, not with Dean still there, not with the look he had first seen on the woman's face when he had found his way back to their hotel room after grabbing an under cooked burger at the gas station down the street.

"I'm going to get you free, and then I'm going to take you to a hospital." He promised her, but even speaking directly to her was difficult. What was done to her…no. He stopped himself. He wasn't going to say it even in his head until it was all over. Getting her safe came first. Figuring out what happened came last.

"No." Her hand shot out and grabbed his arm with surprising strength.

"Shhh." He hushed her. "It's all going to be alright."

"No." she repeated, more forceful. "I can't go to a hospital. He," she choked.

"I know." He bit, his tone harsher than he had intended, but he didn't want her to say it either. It was selfish, but he didn't.

"You don't understand." She cried out, refusing to be quieted. Speaking seemed to be an effort she had little strength to do. "He," she took in a breath, Sam guessed to steady herself. "His," another breath. "It's still inside of me. If I go, they'll find him by his DNA." It was a whisper now. "Please don't take me to the hospital. Take me anywhere else."

All movement halted. Sam couldn't find his hands anymore. He couldn't force his mouth to form words. She didn't want to go to the hospital? For Dean? To protect him?

"He raped you." The words were out, unfiltered and blunt, and his gaze immediately snapped to her face. The shock of it all ripped the truth from his lips and he was angry again. But it only lasted a second. The moment he saw the pain in her eyes, the raw and disturbing truth that rested just beneath the hazel gaze that seemed to weep without spilling any tears, every emotion in him stopped. At that moment, he didn't want to protect his brother first.

"The demon did." She sputtered. "The demon did this to me."

She knew, it was his first thought. She knew about demons and probably everything else.

"Who are you? Are you a hunter?"

Her breath sucked in and she lifted a hand from her stomach. He thought he saw red, but he wasn't focusing any longer.

"Did you know our father?" It wasn't a shout, but it was close.

She slowly blinked her eyes, once, twice, a third time before she nodded. He was losing her. She was going to pass out without giving him any answers.

He leaned in closer. "What was his name?!"

"Sam!" It was Dean who snapped his name. "Stop it. She's bleeding."

It should have been enough to snap him out of it, but it wasn't.

"Please." He begged. "What was his name?"

"John." The name road out on a quiet breath. "His name. John." Her eyes blinked again and her words came slower. "Winchester. I know him."

"How?"

This time when her eyes closed, they didn't open again.

"Tell me, please!" This wasn't happening, Sam was thinking. The answers were right in front of him. They were so close.

"Sam." Dean called again. His voice was hard, controlled. "We have to get her to a hospital."

They had chased John Winchester over every state, after every lead, after every glimpse of hope they had to find him. For a year, they received no answers, no proof that their father was even alive until a month ago he had called them to tell them to stop looking for him, to give up just like that! Well, Sam wasn't going to just give up. He was going to find his father, and he was going to get the answers he and Dean deserved.

"No." Sam turned to his brother, and tried not to see that the button of his jeans was left unsnapped. "We're taking her to Bobby's."