Title: Missed Connections
Author: Moonfairyhime
Rating: K, minor swearing
Disclaimer: I don't own the lovely Winchester boys.
Characters: Sam, Dean, John, Meg, Azazel, and a mention of Bobby

Summary: Set after 1.16 - "Shadow". Meg didn't lure the boys to Chicago to find John. She was on a mission from Azazel to "borrow" the youngest Winchester.
Author's Notes: Written for the lj user"spns1ficathon". I'd like to thank my Protestant Traditions professor because, without me being utterly bored in his class, this fic would have never been written. Thank you to my beta, lj user"wildcatlizzie".

The daeva attack was vicious. John and Dean were pushed against the walls and Sam was desperately trying to find a way to stop them. Before he could find a single weapon that would work on the shadow creatures, the attacks stopped. Sam looked around at his brother and father. "Dad, Dean?"

John grimaced at his youngest, adjusting his aching body. "I'm okay, Sammy."

Dean gave a thumbs up. "I'm fine, little brother. How'd you stop the attack?"

"I didn't." Sam said, shaking his head as he walked towards Dean and helped his brother stand. "They just stopped."

John looked over his youngest. "Sammy, are you okay?"

Sam left Dean standing against the wall and helped his father to stand. He nodded. "I'm fine, sir. They daevas didn't attack me."

If Dean heard the confusion in his brother's voice, he ignored it. "Well, let's not look a gift horse in the mouth. Let's get out of here."

At the bottom of the steps, the Winchesters were met with a surprise.

"Hey, boys," Meg said, smiling, absently fingering her necklace.

Dean stared at her. "You were pushed out of a window. How are you standing there?"

"What? A girl can't have her secrets?" Meg smiled. "Now, I have mission to complete. Time to get what I came here for."

Sam and Dean both moved in front of their father, remembering Meg's earlier words, but the daevas appeared and pushed them both to the ground, holding them tightly. Meg touched her necklace again and John was thrown against the building and held against it. Meg walked towards Sam, kneeling down in front of him. She lightly caressed his cheek. Dean growled a warning out that Meg paid no mind to. "Oh, Sammy. If only you had stayed with me earlier, this wouldn't be necessary. But you forced our hand."

Meg reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a vial. She waved it under Sam's nose and the youngest Winchester went limp. Seeing this, Dean and John doubled their struggle to get free from the daevas holding them. At Meg's command, the daeva that held Sam to the ground picked him up and cradled him.

"Sammy! Let him go, you bitch!" Dean said.

"I don't think so. I let you think I was here for your father, but all along, it was your dear little brother that was wanted. There's someone who wants to say hi to him."

John growled at Meg, fighting uselessly against the daeva that held him. "Let my son go."

Meg just waved in response as she walked away, Sam eerily floating two steps behind her. A short while later, Dean and John felt daevas leave; John figured Meg and Sam were far enough way that going after them now would be useless. Dean was ready to run off after his brother, but John stopped him. "No, son. She and Sammy are long gone. Let's just focus on where she might have taken him." Dean frowned, but nodded. John pulled out his cell phone. "Bobby? It's John Winchester. I need a favor."

Meg dumped Sam's unconscious body in the back of the van she had permanently borrowed from the man who had been so kind to pick her up. She then walked up to a homeless man sitting on the corner and smiled at him. He offered her a grin in return, and Meg noted with some distaste that he had no teeth left. She pulled out her knife and slit his throat. It was time to make a call. "I have him. Where do you want me to take him? … Very well. We'll be along shortly."

"Dad! We should be doing more than just waiting on Bobby to call! Sammy could be hurt!"

The worry in Dean's voice was the only thing that kept John from snapping at his son. "Bobby's going to track things on his end. We're going to do some research on our end. Go and get the local paper and see if there have been any mysterious deaths or anything supernatural." Dean stood up and grabbed his coat, but John stopped his son. "Son, I know you're worried about Sammy, but I know the Yellow Eyed Demon wouldn't hurt him. He wants Sam for something, and Sammy's useless if he's dead."

As far as pep talks went, it wasn't one of the best, but Dean knew his father was trying and he could agree to the logic in what John was saying. Dean would know if something happened to Sam. He was sure of it.

Meg looked up when she heard the door open. She bowed her head in greeting. "Hello, Azazel."

Azazel spared his daughter a fond look. "He's here?"

"Of course he is. He's in the back room. He woke up briefly, but I gave him another dose from the vial you gave me and he passed out again. That was an hour ago, so he should be waking up within the next fifteen minutes."

"Excellent. Let's go say hi."

"…Thanks, Bobby. I owe you." John shut his cell phone with a snap.

Dean looked up eagerly from the newspaper he was browsing. Sam had been missing for three hours, and as far as Dean was concerned, that was two hours and fifty-nine minutes too long. "Any luck with Bobby, Dad?"

"Yeah, turns out he was already tracking signs of demons outside of Flagg, Illinois. They match the signs that our demon has been known to proceed. Come on, Dean. Let's see if we can find your brother."

Dean grinned and followed his dad out the door. 'Finally,' Dean thought, 'some action!'

"Hello, Sammy."

Sam blinked one more time before focusing on the man in front of him. When Sam noticed the yellow eyes glaring back at him, he tried to back up, but found himself tied to a chair. When he opened his mouth to speak, he managed to get a mouth full of cotton. He glared back as forcefully as possible, trying to break the rope that held him to the chair.

"Now, now. None of that, son. How are we doing? I've wanted to have a chat with you for a while." Azazel stopped, but when no answer was forthcoming, he continued on. "I have plans for you, boy. Many, many plans." Azazel placed his hand on Sam's cheek. Sam screamed as loudly as the gag allowed him before going limp.

Azazel frowned, staring at Sam. "You're blocking me. I don't understand. You fight your powers; my gifts to you, but you block and protect them better than any other of my children. We'll have to fix that later." Azazel paused before smiling. "However, for now, rest. I'll fix that block later. It's time for me to bring you some friends."

Azazel looked at Meg. "Keep him safe and don't let him escape. If his father or brother come looking for him, kill them."

"We have Sam Winchester right here! If he's as important as you keep telling me he is, should you really be leaving?"

"Is it really your place to question me?"

"Of course not, I apologize."

"Do you believe that you can't take care of two measly humans on your own?"

Meg bristled. "Of course I can take care of them!"

Azazel nodded at her and walked away.

Dean and John stared at the old farmhouse in front of them. Dean double-checked his gun before taking a step forward. John halted his son with a look. "Dad, you sure this is where Bobby said we could find Sammy?"

"Yes, it is."

"Then why are we waiting to go in?"

John sighed. Dean was a great hunter, except when his brother was concerned. If Sam was in trouble, Dean always managed to forget all his lessons and go into "Save Sam" mode. In lieu of a reply, John walked back to his truck and pulled out two vials of holy water and two rosaries. He tossed a vial and a rosary to Dean before grabbing his own gun. "Now we can go in."

Meg tensed as she heard the door open. She smiled and turned her attention back to Sam, who was still unconscious in the chair. A small part of her was sorry for Sam; he was going to have a terrible crick in his neck when he woke up. The rest of her couldn't wait to destroy the Winchesters and see the look of pain on Sam's face when he realized his beloved family would be dead. Well, no sense in delaying the inevitable, right? "We're in here. You can relax; it's just me and Sam."

John and Dean glared at Meg as they entered the room, their guns drawn. Dean immediately began looking for his brother and, upon finding him, growled at Meg. "Let my brother go, bitch!"

"Nah, don't really feel like it, kiddo." Meg said as she slowly stood up.

"Why does he want my son, Meg?" John asked, his gun trained on the demon.

"John, John, John… I can't tell you all the answers, now can I? It takes all the fun out of playing the game. Let's just say Sam is very important to my father." Meg said, still smiling.

"What the hell have you done to him, you bitch?!" Dean yelled at Meg.

Meg frowned. "Stop calling me bitch. It's rather rude. Didn't your mother teach you… Ah. Never mind. She wasn't around to teach you much of anything. Little Sammy's fine. Father paid him a visit and Sam didn't handle it so well."

Dean didn't even blink as he shot Meg. Meg, however, did as she stared at the hole in her shirt. "Dammit. I loved this shirt."

John pulled out his flask of holy water and squirted Meg. Meg hissed as the water hit her skin. She looked at Sam and then at the Winchesters. When John began to recite an exorcism, Meg smiled at him. She knew Azazel would be pissed that she took the easy way out and lost Sam, but they could always get him back. He wasn't worth being sent back to hell. Meg walked behind Sam, and kicked the chair towards the Winchesters. Dean dropped his gun in his effort to stop his brother from hitting the floor and John glanced down at Dean, making sure Sam was safe. During that five-second break, Meg made a run for it out the back.

Dean frowned at her exit while he untied Sam from the chair. "Well, that was anticlimactic."

Sam softly groaned. "Dean?"

Dean smiled at his brother, carefully helping him to sit on the floor. "Hey, Sammy. How are you?"

"I didn't let him in, Dean. I swear, I didn't let him."

John was ready to interrogate his son as soon as he heard the word 'him'. "Let who, Sammy? Was the Yellow Eyed Demon really here?"

Sam was about to answer John when Dean gently hushed him. He looked up at John. "Dad. He was just kidnapped. He's obviously out of it; do you really think he has any idea what's going on?"

Sam coughed and leaned into Dean. "It was him, Dad. He tried to do something but I don't know what. He touched me and it knocked me out. Sorry I couldn't keep him here or anything, Sir."

John opened his mouth to say something, but Dean stopped him with a look. It was one of the few times that Dean ever contradicted his father and a second look at Sam showed just how tired his younger son looked. "It's okay, Sammy. We'll get the bastard eventually."

Dean nodded his approval. "Come on, little brother. Let's get you into the car and patched up."

As Dean helped his little brother back to their father's truck, a part of him wondered exactly what the demon wanted his brother for. However, he was just glad that Sam was okay and apparently ready to fight another day. They'd figure this mess out eventually and send the bastard to hell.