Mr. Winchester stumbled down the steps of their two story white farm house, that was dark from the inside out. Sam and Dean were at the neighbors. Nicole was the same age as Sam, a few months younger, and Dean had done the only thing that he could think of. Ran to her parents for help after his father had given his brother to him and told him to run and not look back. But he did. His brother was sound asleep on the couch with Mrs. Heart and he was seated by the bedroom window on the second floor, watching and waiting. There didn't seem to be any signs of life from the house until now. His father fell, but kept going. They made eye contact for a brief moment before there was a knock on the Heart's door and muffled voices down the stairs.

"John I think it's best that the children just stay here tonight, Sams already asleep and Dean went upstairs to bed a minute ago." Said Mrs. Heart in a hushed voice, but he could still hear her.

"Thanks Holly, but I'm just going to take them down to the hotel for the night."

"Stop being stubborn John, I've known you all my life and you know very well that you and your sons are welcome here for as long as possible. Just tell me everything in the morning."

Everything about what? The young boy wondered to himself. He knew that something had been terribly wrong with their house that night, maybe even a little before, but where was his mother. He kept his train of thoughts on that very subject as he climbed into the bed at the sound of footsteps, and pretended to be asleep. But those thoughts haunted even his dreaming life, never leaving him alone.

"Sam, come on we're going to be late!" I said, leaning myself on the frame of his dorm room door frame and crossing my arms over my chest.

"One sec baby." He said, eyes glued to the computer. The boy was smart as hell but he was a perfectionist at everything that he did. Good thing in most ways, bad thing in some.

I sighed and walked over to his bed right behind his desk and laid down, placing my hands over my stomach. It had been over twenty years since the night that his mother was taken. Almost three since he had a decent conversation with his brother, and believe it or not we were together at Stanford, far away from everything that reminded him of his family and his heritage.

I heard the last few key strokes and after the click of the mouse he turned around in his chair with an accomplished look on his face.

"Done." He smiled, one of his good features I might add.

I sat up on his bed and placed my hands by my sides. "You know Abby is going to go off because you made us late again." I referred to my best friend, whom we were supposed to be meeting at the movies in three minutes for a double date.

"You know that I take my school work seriously Nicole."

"I do, she doesn't."

"Come on, we might be able to make it in time." He said taking my hand and leading me out of the room.

"Unless you plan on flying there then I think we're still going to be late."

He laughed as his free hand grabbed the door knob and opened it. But the smile soon died from his face at the man standing outside the door. Awkward silence filled the room between the two men and all I could do was sit there and pray for the best or that no one would be sent to the hospital.

After a few moments, which seemed like an eternity, Sam spoke up in a heated voice that I had only heard him use very few times since I've known him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well aren't you even going to invite me in?" Said the man with half a smirk.

"What are you doing here Dean?"

"I really think we should go inside to talk about this Sam."

"We're on our way out so if you'll excuses us." Sam gripped my hand even harder as he dragged me past his brother, slamming the door behind us in the process.

I didn't say anything as we got into his car, a black ford pick up, and just held the silence all the way to the theatre. In all my life I had never seen him this mad and was honestly scared of him at the moment.

His driving was reckless and I think he wasn't even paying attention to the other cars cause we almost got into a wreck three times before slamming on the breaks right in front of the theatre.

As I had predicted Abby and her boyfriend of the month Jackson were already standing outside waiting. We were only fifteen minutes late, but I had a feeling that Abby was still going to be a little angry that it was Sams fault again.

I climbed out of the car and had to jog a few paces to catch up with Sam, mostly because he was a foot taller than me, but also because he seemed to be in a hurry.

"The movie starts in three minutes." Commented Abby as we got close enough, but Sam just shot her a look and I mouthed 'not now' and gave a worried look to the back of Sams head as he was getting our tickets.

He returned with our tickets and seemed to be a little cooled off, but still had a mad look on his face as we filed into the half full theatre room. The previews for Skeleton Key were already starting to play as we took our seats near the back. Abby and Jackson sat in front of us and we were in front of a young high school couple, making out in the very back row. Sam's eyes were fixed on the screen, as if he was trying to block out anything else. I laid my head on his shoulder slowly, hopping that it wouldn't get him mad, but instead he moved his arm and placed it around my shoulders. It felt better to know that he wasn't mad at me, but I knew this peace wouldn't last forever because once we get back to the dorm room I knew that Dead would still be waiting. He was just like his brother, stubborn and won't take no for an answer. No matter how many times they deny it, it's obvious that they are brothers in many ways. As the movie went on I got more and more nervous, the suspense of who was behind all the Hoodoo was literally killing me. I wasn't scared, just anxious.

As the credits rolled everyone started fighting their way out of the theater, but we just stayed in our seats for a few minutes to let the crowds get out and not get trampled in the process.

"I'm sorry about earlier." He said leaning his head on top of mine that was still rested on his shoulder.

"It's ok."

"No it's not. I didn't mean to get that mad."

"I understand baby, you don't have to explain it to me." I replied taking his hand in mine. I honestly thought sometimes he chose to forget that I knew about the stuff that went on between him and his brother for all those years. His hands were much bigger than my own, but I started to caress his thumb with my own as the last of the people left the theatre.

"Just promise me something."

"Name it." He whispered on the top of my head.

"The next time you're angry like that, please let me drive so you don't get thrown into jail to." He laughed a little bit and raised the hand that was now clutched in his own to his lips and kissed it gently.

"I promise." He stood up and laced my fingers with his as we exited the theatre, meeting up with Abby and Jackson in the parking lot next to Sams truck.

"What took you guys?" She asked with a wink.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, we were talking." I said as I leaned back on Sam, twirling the class ring on his finger.

"We all know that you're not a virgin Nicole, it's time to admit it." I blushed because that wasn't true. I was indeed still a virgin though nobody seemed to want to believe it other than Sam.

"Well you guys want to come with us over to Tony's for dinner?" Asked Jackson.

"Sorry guys, I've gotta get back and pack up before graduation." I said, which was the partial truth.

"Ok, well then Sam you wanna come?" Asked Abby.

"Nah, I'm tired and got a paper to finish before tomorrow."

"Ok, well I'll see you guys later." She called as Jackson led her over to his own car.

I removed myself from Sam and headed to my side of the car. I knew that he lied about his paper, but I couldn't tell if it was just to prevent becoming a third wheel or just to hurry up and get back to his dorm room. He knew that all my packing was finished because he lived just one floor down from me Co-Ed dorms, but I was just thankful that he wasn't questioning my motive. The car ride back was just as quiet as the one going to the theater. Only this time the tension was greatly decreased and his driving was much more in control. As we neared the dorm room I took a sharp breath. Deans black mustang was still parked out front and he wasn't inside. Sam seemed to notice to and sighed heavily.

"You'll come with me won't you?" He asked as we got out of the car and wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

"Only if you need me too." I wrapped my hand to the other side of his waste and gave him a reassuring one armed hug as we walked to the stairs.

His room was only on the third floor and not that long of a walk when you're taking your time and dreading what you were getting ready to face. The door at the top of the stairs was left open and around the corner there was Dean, sitting on the floor right outside Sam's room.

"Why are you still here?" He asked as we stopped at his feet.

"I need to talk to you." He gave me a "look", "Alone."

"Whatever you have to say to me you can say to Nicole. Either that or you're not coming in." Said Sam, digging his keys out of his pocket and opening the door.

Dean looked like he didn't want to argue, but he defiantly didn't agree with Sam wanting me to stay. Sam opened the door and flicked on the main room lights before walking over to the refrigerator and grabbing out a coke.

I took a seat in the chair as Dean just stood there.

"Why are you here?" Sam repeated again.

"Sam for once can you just pretend that you don't hate me?"

"If this is what you came to talk about then you can just leave right now."

"This is not all that I came to say if you would just let me speak."

"Fine, talk."

"Dad's missing." He said, pulling out and old book out of his coat and sliding it across the table to Sam who had taken a seat on the couch across from him. "He left this." Sam slowly opened it, but as he flipped through the pages he seemed to get more and more confused and angry.

"You can't honestly believe that dad's stupid obsession with the supernatural caused him to disappear?" He asked, sounding half way amused.

"You can't tell me that after what happened 22 years ago wasn't real Sam. Dad hunted these things and finally one of them got him. He left me a phone message saying that you and me needed to continue his work, to find what took mom."

"Don't you dare talk about that now, I haven't thought about that since I left and I'm not about to start obsessing over it like you and dad did for years! I'm not wasting my life Dean."

I knew what he was saying was a lie, because he thought about his mother all the time, even if he wouldn't admit it to anyone, including me.

"Sam dads missing, he's still alive, I know it, I need your help to find him."

"Well that's a first, needing my help. Tell me the truth, how much money do you need. Did you and dad finally go bankrupt from hunting?"

"I am telling you the truth Sam and you know it. You're just letting your stupid pride of trying to believe that everything is normal get into the way. I need you to come with me."

"What about finishing college? Am I supposed to just throw that all away in one second, jump into the car with you, leave Nicole, and go monster hunting, when there's no actual proof that any of this is real? Give me one good reason for why I should even consider any of this."

"Because like it or not he was your father Sam, your blood father, our father, and he needs our help. There's a reason that he wants us to work together. There's a reason for everything and you know that. You shouldn't even have to think about doing whats right in this situation."

After Dean spoke Sam didn't say anything. Honestly I didn't know what to believe. I had known both these boys for my entire life, been friends with them just as long. I didn't hate Dean, I just didn't speak highly of his because Sam did hate him. I'm going to say it that I don't want Sam to leave, who knows how long he'll be gone or what will happen. But if it meant for him and his brother to get closer than maybe. . .

"I can't leave, I have friends, I'm graduating in two weeks, I can't just walk away from that."

"Dad can't wait that long, only God knows where he is or what's got him."

Sam looked over at me for the first time during the entire conversation. "Nicole?"

"I think you need to go with your brother Sam."

"What are you talking about?"

"We've had all this time together, you two need some."

"I'm not going to leave you. I don't even know if I want to go."

"This is your chance to do something that no one else has Sam. To make a difference." He didn't say anything, just looked at me. I knew that he didn't want to leave, not without a good reason.

He looked over at his brother. "I'll go. But Nicole, will you come too?"

What? Again I repeat WHAT? I was graduating too. I had an entire life here. I looked over at Dean who just nodded, I guess he realized if it was the only way that he could get his brother to come then he had to allow it.

"Sam, what about graduation. We had plans and everything."

"We can still have them, I'm not going without you. I'm not going to risk something happening and not having spent more time with you. And." He bowed his head, "Getting to talk with you." He said turning just his eyes to Dean.

"It's settled then. We'll leave in an hour."

"Why just an hour."

"Cause I need to take a shower. Driving cross country with no baths doesn't do a body good." Said Dean walking to the bathroom.