Title - Whirlwind

Summary - A glimpse at a life of what could have been comes crashing into reality while Sam and Dean uncover that the dead should really stay dead.

"Whirlwind"

"Chapter One: Playing With Fire"

Not a lot of things bothered Dean. Not a lot of things surprised him either. With everything that he'd seen in his life, it was pretty easy not to be shocked by anything while on a job - but they were in Lawrence fucking Kansas of all places, and he was freaked out as hell. Dean could feel Sam next to him, frozen with his gun slowly lowering itself. Dean's gun, however, was straight in front of him but he wasn't moving. Out of all the freaky shit Dean had seen from Sammy's visions to the other psychics, this one topped the list hands down.

Ash spoke with them the day before, telling them that there were killings in the area. They were killings right up their alley due to the fact that the one survivor said that this goofy, scary looking kid started hurtling knives at him without ever touching them. Not only that, but signs of the Yellow-Eyed Demon were starting up in the place. That only meant one thing: a telekinetic psychic was out murdering people… again. Figures that of all the places a psychic kid could be, it just had to be Lawrence.

"Max," Sam whispered from behind Dean.

Max Miller, the freak psychic that was dead set on murdering his 'family' and then proceeded to shoot himself in the head via telekinesis. How the hell was he alive? Dean was pretty sure that when they left the residence that the kid was definitely a stiff. In those precious seconds that the brothers stood and stared, Max was faster. When Sam realized what was happening, it was too late. A gunshot rang in the air and a scream of "Dean!" vibrated through the room.

The smoking gun dropped to the floor as Dean fell backward. Sam immediately dropped to his brother's side, Max and the gun long forgotten. The bullet punctured close to the heart, and the blood was spilling out fast. Sam applied pressure, tears threatening to fall down his face. He looked for any indication that Dean was conscious. His eyes were glossed over and looking somewhere over Sam's shoulder.

"Dean, come on. Just hang in there." Sam fumbled in his pocket for his cell phone and shakily dialed 911.

"He's holding you back, Sammy," Max whispered. "He's in the way of your destiny. You have no idea how great this destiny is. For once in my miserable life, I am happy! The Yellowed-Eyed Man… he is truly a savior."

Sam felt sick to his stomach as he listened to the other end ring. Finally, an operator picked up and he rambled off where they were and what happened. The phone slipped from his hand as he watched in horror as Max burst into flames before disappearing from the warehouse.

"Sir? Are you still there? I'm sending an ambulance and the police right now. Try to stay calm and keep applying pressure to the wound if you can."

Three Days Earlier

"Thanks, Bobby, for the heads up," Sam said into his phone as he glared over at Dean in the driver's seat. "Oh, I'll be sure to tell him for you. I'm sure he'll be very proud."

Sam cut the line, his jaw jolting forward as he glared at his older brother who had been more moody than normal after everything that went down in Illinois. Sensing his brother's eyes boring into him, Dean turned his head briefly with a deadpan expression on his face.

"What?"

"That was Bobby."

"Thank-you, Captain Obvious! What'd he want?"

"Our mug shots were on CNN with a nice news report on how dangerous we are."

"So? Who the hell would waste their time watching CNN?"

"Oh, I don't know, Dean, intelligent people who actually care about the world they live in?"

"What crawled in your pants and died?"

"Dean! Our faces were plastered all over the national news!"

"Yeah, my picture was plastered all over the national news with that bank thing but you didn't see anyone turn me in!"

"You just don't get it, do you? We're fugitives. Every time I see a police cruiser, I can't help but think it's the end for us."

"Dude, no one watches CNN. Calm down."

"Millions of people watch CNN, Dean!"

"Yeah, freaks like you."

Sam sighed, rubbing his face in frustration. How Dean could be so nonchalant about the whole thing made Sam want to wring his brother's neck. They were fugitives whose pictures were being broadcasted everywhere as though there was a manhunt going on for the two. They couldn't go anywhere, they couldn't do their job, and Dean didn't seem to get that concept through his thick skull.

"Bobby wanted me to tell you that you looked real cute in your mug shot," he said dryly as he glanced to the left.

"I was damn adorable," Dean said with a smile. "Blue steel. Works every time. I swear it even topped Nick Nolte's mug shot."

"His mug shot wasn't the most flattering picture in the world, Dean."

"It was awesome though. I thought you'd appreciate that picture of him. His hair reminded me a lot of your hair." Dean opened his mouth wide for a laugh to escape.

"Hilarious."

"It's just so natural for me."

"We're lying low for awhile until this whole news report is long forgotten."

"If it'll untwist your panties, then fine. Where to, Doctor Kimble?"

"That's not funny."

"Hey, I'm really looking forward to jumping off a moving train. Don't start crushing my spirits. I'll be Kimble if you want. I always thought I had the rugged good looks of Harrison Ford."

"Ellen said we could stay with her any time," Sam said with a sigh.

With a face and a few protests, Dean turned the car around at his brother's request. By the next morning, driving nearly nonstop, the boys passed from Iowa into Nebraska. By lunch, they were parked outside the familiar saloon. Dean cut the engine and lightly tapped his hands on the steering wheel as he glanced over at his brother.

"So, we're here," he announced.

"Really?" Sam replied.

The younger of the two stepped out of the car, slamming the door behind him. Hands stuffed in his jacket pockets, he made his way to the Roadhouse. Dean groaned before following his kid brother inside. The place was empty except for a stray few hunters who were huddled together in a corner talking in low voices. Ash was shooting trick shots at the pool table but immediately stopped what he was doing when he saw the brothers enter. He started clapping before letting out a whoop.

"Saw you two on the national news!" he said as though it were an accomplishment.

"Uh…" Sam trailed as he looked over to see Dean smiling proudly behind him.

"Did you like my mug shot?"

"Man, that was one sweet ass mug shot," Ash replied.

"I'm surprised you boys didn't get messed up more than you did," Ellen announced as she walked into the bar, "because you two are pretty boys if I've ever seen any."

"Are you trying to flatter me into something?" inquired Dean with a smirk.

"Dean fit in eerily well there and managed to get himself into two fights and a night in solitary confinement," Sam confessed.

"Those fights were Sam's fault, by the way. First, Sam body checks a guy on accident and then goes into a pathetic, sensitive 'I'm so sorry' mode. Yeah, he was going to get his ass kicked into next Tuesday if I didn't intervene. Then the other one, I had to make a distraction so Sam could go salt and burn."

"You boys are welcomed to stay as long as you need. You can bunk together in Jo's room if you like," Ellen offered.

"Okay, sharing with Sammy, I don't mind. Sharing with Sammy in a girl's room with the pink and the ruffles, no thanks. You don't have anything else back there?"

"My two spares already have inhabitants in them. I'm not about ready to kick them out and put them in Jo's room either. So either you bunk in Jo's room or you try to convince Ash to stay with him."

"Uh… no, Ellen, Jo's room is fine," Sam said quickly as he looked uncomfortably at Ash.

"I swear I'll wear some pants if you wanna bunk with me," Ash said sincerely. "Though I do have some pretty, shall we say, intense dreams about a few select ladies who dig the hair."

"We're good. Thanks, Ash," Sam spoke quickly.

"I'll get you boys some beer," Ellen replied with a smirk.

Without Jo around to take care of, Ellen saw it as her duty to make sure the Winchesters were comfortable during their stay. She prepared Jo's room for them, brining in an old cot for one of them to sleep in. She grilled the boys cheeseburgers and fries. Sam couldn't remember the last time he sat down to a nice home cooked meal with his brother. Ellen and Ash joined them. The four of them entertained each other with small talk, Ash asking several questions about prison life only to receive a glare from Ellen.

Jo's old room wasn't as frilly as Dean thought it would be. The room had a green theme to it, lacking any pink. There were no dolls or dollhouses. There was no lacy bedspread or flowers. There was a small collection of stuffed animals situated in a hammock like shelf above the bed. The dressers and vanity were covered in stickers and decals. There was a gigantic bulletin board on the wall opposite of the bed where newspaper articles and journal entries were tacked.

Dean wandered towards the wall and scanned the articles and pictures. His gazed stopped on a journal entry that held his father's familiar handwriting. There was a phone number and several names written on it - Daniel Elkin's being one. Symbols also littered the page.

"Sam, come look at this."

He walked over to look at the piece of paper Dean was pointing to. Sam took it off the board and looked at it closely, recognizing it as a page from John's journal. The brother's glanced at each other before Dean snatched it and shoved the paper into his jean pocket before gazing for anymore on the board. Sam joined in, scanning any piece of paper with writing on it.

"Dean, look," Sam removed another piece of paper. "That's familiar."

"Caleb," he replied. "It's from his journal. The guy couldn't write worth crap."

"Why do you think Jo has them?"

"Some hunter must have shown Dad the Roadhouse, and they must have kept little Joey-Jo company. Dad sure as hell wouldn't come in here by himself. I always thought maybe Caleb was the one to first bring him here because Bobby sure as hell hasn't said anything about this place and Pastor Jim wasn't much for bars."

"Could have been Elkins who brought him here."

"Yeah, maybe, but Dad had a huge falling out with Elkins when I was like… six or seven. Dad didn't start leaving for longer stretches of time until I was like nine or ten."

"So you think that he'd go on a hunt and then just come here?"

"Yeah, something like that. I was about sixteen when the longer hunts stopped. I'm guessing that's when Ellen's husband died, we were roughly sixteen and twelve."

"So Jo would have been around ten when her dad died?"

"I know math wasn't my strong subject, but isn't she like… seventeen or something and not…" Dean paused to count on his fingers.

"Dean, she's twenty-two."

"Damn. Really?"

The brothers searched the bulletin board for more of their father's entries but found none nor did they find any of any hunters they knew. Dean took the cot as Sam took the bed. The next morning, the boys woke up to the smell of crackling bacon and French toast. By the time they made it into the kitchen, Ellen already had plates made out for them at the small table.

"Ash won't be up for a couple hours," she commented.

"You know, Ellen, we could get used to this," Dean replied as he sat down and started to quickly dig in.

"Thank you, but you really don't have to do all of this," Sam said as he took a seat.

"Trust me, boys, without Jo around here to take care of, I need someone to take care of. There's just so long I can cook and clean for Ash. I swear that boy only sticks around for the free food and the fact that I do his laundry. Plus, the work I have him do isn't all that hard. Ash has it all too easy here."

Sam pushed the eggs around his plate as he glanced between his brother and Ellen. Adjusting himself in his chair, Sam turned to his host and debated with himself on whether or not to ask some questions.

"Something on your mind, Sweetie?" she beat him to the punch.

"How'd our dad find this place?"

Dean stopped eating to throw his younger brother a nasty look, the shut the fuck up or I swear I will beat your ass look that he was so found of. Ellen, on the other hand, smiled softly as she collected her thoughts.

"Uh, you boys know Bobby Singer?"

"Bobby never mentioned you," Dean interrupted as he continued to glare at Sam.

"Well, Bobby had that blind loyalty to John. When John stopped coming 'round, Bobby stopped as well. But, uh, Bobby brought John 'round one day. Your daddy and my Bill got along real well, exchanged stories. They hit it off, I guess. So John started coming more often until…"

"Do you know why our dad never brought us here?" asked Sam.

"He talked about you two like you were saints. Even when he'd tell us about the trouble you boys got into, he couldn't have sounded prouder. I asked him once why he never brought you along. He said that he didn't trust people easily after what happened to Mary, and he especially didn't trust all the hunters that would come in here. Some of them were shady, he said, and I guess I can't blame him. I've seen my fair share of hunters I wouldn't trust as far as I could throw them. He told me that he didn't want the wrong people around you two because he couldn't take if anything happened to you boys."

"People like Gordon you mean?"

"Well, your daddy never knew Gordon but yeah, he didn't want you boys messing around with people like him."

"So he knew that long ago about… about kids like me."

"If he did, he never said anything about it. John and I never really talked about hunting anyways. He told me about Mary once and that's why he started, but that was pretty much the extent of hunting talk with us. We talked mostly about how big a pain in the ass our kids were. He always had stories about your good grades or Dean's fights. Anyways, the hunting talk was mainly reserved between him and Bill. They were the ones hell-bent on hunting."

"But you contacted him over a year ago about the demon…"

"I picked up a few conversations between some hunters. It sounded like the thing John was looking for, so I called him to tell him what I overheard. I kept my ears open for things about the demon, because I knew how much it meant to him to get that thing."

"What exactly did you overhear?" Dean spoke for the first time.

"I heard about the raising number of possessions taking place. I heard about the weird weather fluctuations. Just small stuff like that, but you boys already know all of it. It was right after you went to school, Sam, that John called me and asked me to keep my ears open for a few things. It was really the first time we talked since Bill died. A good… six or so years."

"What exactly did he ask you to look out for?"

"Umm… he wanted me to keep tabs on Palo Alto. I actually had Ash do that, check the local papers and such. He also asked to keep my ears open about the demon. He said that it was more dire to get it than before. I'm assuming that when he called me, he must have known about you."

"I can't believe he never told me…" Sam whispered.

Ash stumbled into the kitchen in nothing but his boxers with his homemade laptop in his hands. He took a seat next to Sam as he reached out and grabbed a piece of toast. He nudged the brooding Winchester and pointed to the screen as he ate.

It was a news article about four murders and one attempted murder in Lawrence. The victims all died in different ways: one with a gun, one with a knife, and two were even strangled. The one survivor commented that the guy was in his early twenties and mentally made the knives fly at him.

"You think it's a psychic?" Sam questioned as he scrolled down the article.

"Yep. Last night, the bells and whistles went off on my computer. There was an electrical storm and several cattle mutilations. Not all the signs yet, but they're starting," Ash replied.

"Where?" Dean demanded.

"Lawrence."

Sam was pale and shaking as he looked at his older brother for comfort. Dean cursed softly before getting up and storming towards the bedroom to gather their stuff. Sam stood up and quickly thanked Ellen for everything before starting to go after his brother. Ellen stopped him.

"Sam, listen to me, if you boys need anything, don't hesitate to call. You aren't alone in this, okay? Bobby and I will both be there if you need us."

"Yeah, I can help you too," Ash added as he picked at his food. "If anymore signs crop up, I'll ring ya."

"Thanks." Sam gave a weak smile before leaving to find his brother.

Within five minutes, the boys were in the Impala heading South towards Lawrence. Dean switched on the music, Led Zeppelin blaring so loud that Sam couldn't even think, which he was grateful for. The boys didn't talk to one another, didn't even open their mouths.

By the time they reached Lawrence, it was early the next morning. Dean found the nearest motel so they could rest for a bit and research some more. Sam grabbed the bags from the trunk and allowed his brother to check in. Slightly anxious that the manager would recognize Dean, Sam was ready to throw the bags back in at any moment. He watched his brother step back out into the dawn with a key in one hand.

"What are you doing just standing there, Sparky, let's go."

Sam closed the trunk before following his brother to room six. Dean made a beeline to the nearest bed, collapsing down upon it. He didn't even bother taking off his boots or jacket before situating himself comfortably on his stomach, his face buried in the pillow. Sam closed the door softly and then locked it. Setting their bags down on the table, he took out the salt and proceeded to make the lines at every door and window.

"Dean, the manager didn't recognize us, right?" Sam asked as he took off his jacket and then his shoes.

"Nah," the response was muffled.

"You're sure?"

"Dude," Dean picked up his head to stare at his brother, "I said no."

"He could be calling the cops right now, Man. I just don't want to go back to jail. I mean, we're here and we're close."

"Sammy, could you please stop worrying for once? I said we weren't recognized. That guy definitely doesn't bother to watch the news, okay?"

"We should have gone to Missouri or someone who knows us. It would have been a whole lot safer since we're getting so close."

"Dude, I'm sick of being someone's charity case, okay? First Bobby lets us crash at his place after what happened with Dad, then Ellen's all willing to take us in as her cute little puppies, and now you want Missouri to pull that pity act with us? Jesus Christ, Sam, we're old enough to take care of ourselves."

"We have the FBI on our tails, okay? Maybe if you were the least bit concerned, I wouldn't have to worry for the both of us."

"Look, Sam, I'm worried. I am. We have the FBI on us and we were on the national news, I get that. We can't let that stop us. The son-of-a-bitch is coming to Lawrence and he has one of his psychic freaks out there killing people. We have to be at the top of our game and forgot about the FBI for right now."

"His psychic freaks?" Sam questioned as his eyes bore into his brother. "Is that what I am to you? One of his psychic freaks?"

Dean sat up and ran a hand over his face. Letting out a sigh, he got off his bed and made his way over to Sam. He reached out, gripped his brother's shoulders, and stared into his eyes.

"No, Dude, okay. You're my annoying baby brother. I didn't mean it like that."

"Dean, if he gets to me, if he changes me… you gotta do it."

"Shut-up, Sam."

"No, Dean, seriously, I don't want to turn out like this kid here killing people with knives and guns. I nearly killed Jo… I can't do it. I can't live with that. I don't want to kill you."

"You're not going to kill anyone if I have anything to say about it, all right? I'm not dyin', you're not dyin', nobody is dyin' except that son-of-a-bitch. Do you understand me?"

"Yeah, Dean."

"Good. Get some sleep. When we wake up, we'll do some research on the murders. Then, tonight, we're going to the scene where the last victim was murdered. I wanna see if there's sulfur. Maybe it's not a psychic kid but just a possession."

"Maybe. I haven't had any dreams about this so… maybe."

"Yeah, see, let's just worry about it when we wake up."

Dean forced a smile and patted his brother on the cheek before retreating to his bed. Sam watched his brother for a few minutes before burying himself in his bed and was asleep within seconds.

Author's Notes - This is going to be my first chaptered Supernatural story. It takes place after 'What Is and What Should Never Be' with major spoilers from that episode starting the next chapter. So, I started writing this before the episode actually aired, so I have to go back and fix some things. Sighs If you want updates and to read what changed from the original version (which will be up this weekend) you can join my Yahoo!Group - link's in my profile.