Dean and Maria Winchester are fast asleep. Dean is splayed out on his stomach and Maria is curled up, gripping the sheets tightly in her hand. They both hear the door to their motel room open. Dean reaches under his pillow for his weapon and they both turn to look at the intruder.
"Morning, sunshines," Sam calls cheerfully, carrying coffee and pastries, closing the door with his foot.
"What time is it?" Maria asks, rubbing her eyes.
"Uh, it's about 5:45," Sam answers.
"In the morning?" Dean moans.
"Yep," Sam replies.
"Where does the day go?" Dean says. He and Maria sit up slowly and take their coffee from their younger brother.
"Did you get any sleep last night?" Maria asks Sam, taking a small sip of the steaming liquid.
"Yeah, I grabbed a couple hours," Sam replied easily.
"Liar," Maria calls him out. "Cause me and Dean were up at three, and you were watching a George Foreman infomercial."
"Hey, what can I say? It's riveting TV," Sam says with a smile.
"When was the last time you got a good night's sleep?" Dean asks, not at all amused.
"I don't know, a little while, I guess. It's not a big deal."
"Yeah, it is," Maria and Dean reply in unison.
"Look, I appreciate your concern-" Sam begins, but Dean cuts him off.
"Oh, I'm not concerned about you. That's Maria's thing," Dean says, nudging his sister in the ribs lightly with his elbow. Maria rolls her eyes. "It's your job to keep our asses alive, so I need you sharp."
Sam just shrugs, but Maria plays the concerned older sister.
"Seriously, are you still having nightmares about Jess?"
"Yeah, but it's not just her," Sam says, crossing the room to sit on his bed, "It's everything. I just forgot, you know? This job, it gets to you."
"You can't let it," Dean says simply, taking a sip of his coffee. "You can't bring it home like that."
"So…what?" Sam asks, genuinely interested, "All of this… it never keeps you up at night?"
Dean and Maria both shake their heads. Maria takes another sip of her coffee, desperate to fully wake up.
"Never," Sam replies skeptically, "You two are never afraid?"
"No, not really," Maria replies honestly, shrugging her shoulders. Sam reaches a hand underneath Dean's pillow and pulls out his large hunting knife, holding it up to his siblings. Dean smirks and takes the knife back.
"That's not fear," Dean says, still smirking. "That's precaution."
"All right, whatever," Sam replies, exhausted. "I'm too tired to argue."
Dean's cellphone starts ringing. He reaches for it on the bedside table and answers it."
"Hello?" Dean answers. Maria and Sam listen to the conversation, but can only hear Dean's side. "Oh, right, yeah. Up in Kittanning, Pennsylvania, the poltergeist thing. It's not back is it?"
Maria shudders, remembering that particular hunt. She, Dean, and their father had helped out a man named Jerry Panowski, and his family with their poltergeist problem. Maria still had the scar of the large X that thing had carved into the flesh of her back.
"What is it? Yeah, yeah, sure, Jerry," Dean says. He hangs up the phone and looks at his brother and sister.
"What's up?" Maria asks, slightly nervous about the answer. She isn't afraid of poltergeists, but she would really rather not have to deal with one again for a while. Her back can only take so much damage. "Please tell me that damn poltergeist isn't back."
"No, no, it isn't. Don't worry," Dean replies, remembering that hunt all too well. "But it's the same guy. He wants to talk in person."
"Okay, then. Let's hit the road," Sam says, eager for a hunt to take his mind off of things.
Sam, Dean, and Maria arrive at the hangar to meet Jerry. Dean parks the Impala and they all pile out, Jerry was waiting for them.
"Thanks for making the trip so quick," Jerry says, shaking Dean, Maria, and Sam's hands individually. He turns and starts walking toward his office. The siblings follow. "I ought to be doing you guys a favor, not the other way around. Dean, Maria, and your dad really helped me out."
"Yeah, they told me," Sam says with a small smile. "It was a poltergeist?"
"Poltergeist?" a worker exclaims. "Man, I loved that movie."
"Hey, nobody's talking to you. Keep walking," Jerry says to his employee. He then turns back to the Winchester siblings. "Damn right it was a poltergeist, practically tore our house apart. Tell you something, if it wasn't for you two and your dad, I probably wouldn't be alive. Your dad said you were off at college. Is that right?"
"Yeah, I was," Sam replies, then hesitates, "I'm—taking some time off."
"Well, he was real proud of you, I could tell," Jerry says briskly. "He talked about you all the time."
"He did?" Sam was surprised. He thought his father was anything but proud of him.
"Yeah, you bet he did," Jerry didn't register the honest surprise in Sam's voice. "Oh, hey, you know I tried to get a hold of him, but I couldn't. How's he doing, anyway?"
"He's, um, wrapped up in a job right now," Dean says a bit uneasily.
"Well, we're missing the old man, but we get Sam. Even trade, huh," Jerry smiles. Dean and Maria laugh.
"No, not by a long shot," Sam laughs.
"I got something I want you three to hear," Jerry says, opening the door to his office.
Sam, Maria, and Dean enter the office and sit down in the three chairs in front of his desk. Jerry sits in his own chair behind the desk. "I listened to this. And, well, it sounded like it was up your alley. Normally I wouldn't have access to this. It's the cockpit voice recorder for United Britannia flight 2485. It was one of ours"
Jerry puts a CD in his computer and presses play. The recording starts with the captain's panicked voice: "Mayday! Mayday! Repeat! 2485—immediate instruction….may be experiencing some mechanical failure…" Then a loud WOOSH can be heard and then there is silence.
"Took off from here, crashed about 200 miles south," Jerry starts after the recording has finished. "Now, they're saying mechanical failure. Cabin depressurized somehow. Nobody knows why. Over a hundred people on board. Only seven got out alive. Pilot was one. His name is Chuck Lambert. He's a good friend of mine. Chuck is, uh…well, he's pretty broken up about it. Like he thinks it was his fault."
"You don't think it was?" Maria asks, though it's less of a question and more of a statement.
"No, I don't."
"Jerry, we're gonna need passenger manifests, um, a list of survivors…" Sam starts, but Dean finishes for him.
"And, uh, any way we can take a look at the wreckage?"
"The other stuff is no problem," Jerry says. "But the wreckage…fellas, the NTSB has it locked down in an evidence warehouse. No way, I've got that kind of clearance."
"No problem," Dean and Maria say in unison, but they both frown.