A.N. Hope you enjoy, first story. Under the copyright laws, I don't own anything that is Supernatural or anything like it, I just own Max.

Pilot

Sacramento, California

A blonde woman walks down an empty alley, not knowing that she is being watched. She looks to be in her early twenties, with wavy blonde hair tied in a braid and bright blue eyes. She carries a satchel with her, containing her scrubs from her nursing job at the hospital down the street. Her street clothes consist of a beat up brown leather jacket, a grey v-neck t-shirt, ripped up jeans, and a pair of scuffed boots.

The woman's pursuer watches her go into an apartment building, carefully watching her surroundings. She closes the door behind her and walks up two flights to her apartment. She looks down the empty hallway, then enters her apartment. The main room is dark, she sighs knowing that a couple chairs and a table and a bed are what she's gonna find. She puts her bag on the table and reaches for the light switch on the wall. The lights don't come on. It's then that she realizes that the window is open wide. She kneels down and pulls out the silver knife hidden in her boot, then slowly walks into the room. She takes a few steps, then is grabbed from behind. She and her attacker struggle, but she tackles him to the ground and holds the knife to his throat.

"Well, well, looks like you haven't lost your touch, Maxi." A very familiar voice says. The woman straightens to see her attacker better.

"Dean? What the hell?" Maxine Pierce, Max to everyone else, stands up pulling her old friend Dean Winchester with her. Max looks him over in the dark, waiting for him to answer.

"Thought I'd come surprise my old buddy. Didn't have to pull a knife on me though." Dean laughs while he rubs his neck where the knife was. Max walks over to the fuse box and turns the lights on. She can see him clearly now.

"Four years and you can't resist to call me that awful name, my how you've matured, Dean." Max says, walking back over toward him and throwing her jacket onto a nearby chair. She notices the differences that appeared in the four-year gap they had been apart. His hair was a little darker brown, he had five-o'clock shadow, his eyes were a little brighter green, and the old leather jacket her wore was an old one of John's.

"Yeah, well, that's why you love me." Dean flashes a smile at her as they walk to the kitchen.

"In your dreams, Winchester." Max opens the fridge and pulls out two beers. Dean notices the ring on her left middle finger.

"Where'd you get the ring, Max? Have a sugar daddy now?" Dean smiles as he takes a sip of beer. Max sighs at him, same old Dean.

"You really don't remember, Dean?" Dean shakes his head. Max takes the ring off and hands it to him. He reads the words on the band, "hope, love, joy."

"That's nice, still doesn't answer my question, but nice." Max grabs it back from him and puts it back on.

"You and Sam gave it to me for my birthday, when we were kids." Realization hits Dean's face.

"Right. Dad was working a case at that old antique place, the owner said we could have anything we wanted. Forgot about that." Max smiles as she takes a sip of her beer.

"Didn't fit me at first, now I wear it all the time." Dean smiles.

"Well, you are welcome." Max hits his arm and takes the ring back, slipping it on her finger.

"Sam was the one who found it." They both laugh, then Max gets to business.

"What are you doing here, Dean. Aren't you supposed to be on a case somewhere right now?" Dean looks at her seriously.

"I was, down in New Orleans about three weeks ago. I tried to get a hold of Dad, so we could re-group. Haven't been able to reach him, then he sends me this." Dean takes out a small tape player and plays the static message on it. "Dean, something is starting, I need to try and figure out what's going on. Be very careful, Dean, we're all in danger."

Max takes the player out of his hand and walks to her laptop, while Dean looks at her with a hurt expression on his face. She hooks up the player and cleans up the message, Dean looks her 5' 4" body up and down before looking at the screen. Max then stands up straight and plays it. "I can never go home." A woman's voice says, sending chills up Max's spine.

"Looks like you got your next case." She looks up at Dean, easy to do since he was about 6' 1", and they share a silent moment.

"Why don't you come with me, Max?" Max laughs.

"You can handle this, Dean. You've seen and done worse cases without me." Dean looks at her seriously.

"Please. I don't want to do this alone, and I can't ask Sam." Max puts her hand on his shoulder.

"I can't, Dean. I have a life here, I can't just drop everything and look for John. I'm sorry." Dean smiles at her, not showing the disappointment he felt.

"It's okay, I get it. If I could, I wouldn't go either." Dean grabs his beer and gulps the rest of it, then heads to the door.

"You know your gonna destroy your liver." Max laughs. Dean smiles at her.

"Maybe, but I know a doc who could help me out with that." Dean stops at the door and looks at her.

"It's good to see you, Max. I missed you, my dad misses, too." Max smiles at him.

"I missed you, too. Be careful, Dean." Dean nods and closes the door behind him. Max stares at the door a minute longer. She walks to the counter to grab her beer, when she sees the tape recorder and a piece of paper where Dean's beer was. Max smiles and glances at the door, before grabbing the paper and opening it. 'Sam's in Palo Alto. Hope to see you there.' Max crumples up the paper, still smiling, then grabs the phone.

"Helen…get me administration…I won't be coming in anymore…I have to take care of some family stuff." Max looked at the door again and shook her head. "Damn, Winchesters."

"I swore I was done hunting, for good." Sam Winchester says as he and his older brother, Dean, walk down the stairs of his apartment building. Sam was about 6' 5" with long dark brown hair and hazel eyes that, at the moment, had a look of annoyance aimed at Dean.

"Come on, wasn't easy, but it wasn't that bad." Sam smirks at him.

"Yeah? When I told Dad I was scared of the thing in my closet, he gave me a .45." Dean stops at the bottom of the stairs.

"Well, what was he supposed to do?" Sam stops on the stairs and looks at his brother.

"I was nine years old. He was supposed to say, 'Don't be afraid of the dark.'" Dean scoffs as Sam descends the stairs.

"Don't be afraid of the dark? Are you kidding me? Of course you should be afraid of the dark! You know what's out there!" Dean turns and walks toward the front door of the building, Sam following.

"Yeah, I know! But still the way we grew up after Mom died and Dad's obsession to find whatever killed her, but we still haven't found the damn thing. So we kill everything we find." Dean smirked at him.

"Yep, save a lot of people doin' it, too." Dean and Sam share a long look, tension growing between them. Sam spoke next.

"You think Mom would've wanted this for us?" Dean turns and walks outside, Sam following him up the stairs to the street.

"The weapons training, and melting silver into bullets. Dean, we were raised like warriors." Dean stopped short and turned to Sam.

"So, what are you gonna do? Live some normal apple pie life, that it?" Sam scoffs at him.

"Not normal, safe." Dean nods once and scoffs.

"So that's why you ran." Sam scoffs back.

"I was going to college. It was Dad who said if I was gonna go I should stay gone." The boys share another long look.

"And that's what I'm doing." Dean speaks with a serious tone.

"Yeah, well, Dad's in trouble right now if he's not dead already, I can feel it." Sam stares at his brother, then Dean continues.

"I can't do this alone." Sam counters.

"Yes you can." Dean looks off into the distance.

"Yeah, well, I don't want to." Sam sighs with a defeated look on his face.

"What was he hunting?" Dean looks up and smiles slightly before turning toward the direction of his 1967 black Chevy Impala. Only then he notices the person with their hood up, leaning against the car. Sam notices and stiffens, they both quickly walk over to the Impala. Dean speaks to them when he gets close.

"Who the hell are you?" The person slightly turns at the sound of his voice and takes the hood off, revealing long blonde hair. The woman turns to the boys, it's Max. She holds out the tape recorder to Dean.

"Left this at my place. Hi, Sam." Sam smiles and goes to hug his old friend.

"Max, how've you been? It's been what, four years?" Max nods.

"It's good to see you, Sam. It's been good, until Dean paid me a late night visit." Dean looks in the opposite direction as Sam looks at him. Max notices.

"You didn't tell him?" Max looks at Sam, "Dean came by my place in Sacramento before coming here. He wanted me to help him instead of you, sorry Sam." Sam nods at her and Max hands Dean the recorder and picks up her bag off the ground. Dean notices.

"What's all that?" Max smiles and places her bag on the hood. She opens it, revealing all her weapons. Dean whistled as he looked through them.

"Damn. Where have you been all my life?" Dean says to a mother-of-pearl inlaid pistol. Max shakes her head at him and takes the gun back.

"You were telling us about John's case." Max says gesturing to her and Sam. Dean coughs and goes to the trunk of the Impala. He opens it, then opens the hidden compartment containing all of his weapons and some of Sam's.

"Alright. Lets see, where did I put those?" Max puts her stuff in the trunk with theirs. She stands back with Sam as he talks to Dean.

"So when Dad left, why didn't you go with him." Dean opens his mouth to answer, but Max cuts him off.

"He was working a case in New Orleans." Max looks at Dean as he continues.

"A hoodoo thing." Sam laughs.

"Dad let you go on a hunting trip by yourself?" Max raises her eyebrows at that.

"I'm twenty-six, guys. Alright, here we go." Dean pulls out papers detailing John's case. "So, Dad was checking out this two lane blacktop just outside of Jericho, California. 'Bout a month ago, this guy," he hands the paper to Sam and Max looks at it with him, "they'd found his car, but he'd vanished. Completely MIA." Sam looks at Max, then at Dean.

"So maybe he was kidnapped." Dean looks at him, then pulls out more missing person flyers.

"Yeah, well, here's another one in April, another one in December '04, '03, '98, '92, ten of them over the past twenty years, all men, all same five mile stretch of road. Started happening more and more so Dad went to go dig around, that was three weeks ago. I hadn't heard from him which is bad enough, then I get this voicemail yesterday." Dean plays the same recording he played for Max. Sam listens, noticing the EVP on the tape.

"You know there's EVP on that." Dean smiles.

"Not bad, Sammy. Kinda like riding a bike, huh?" Dean is about to continue, when Max takes the recorder out of his hand and looks at Sam.

"Alright, I slowed the message down and ran it through a Gold Wave. Took out the hiss, and this is what I got." She pressed play, and the woman's voice speaks. Sam looks at Max who shivered slightly.

"Never go home." Max looks at them both.

"Still sends chills up my spine." She tosses the recorder in the trunk as Dean closes it. She grabs her satchel, which is filled with her clothes, and walks to the back door of the Impala while the boys talk. Dean leans against the trunk.

"You know, in almost two years, never bothered you, never asked you for a thing." Sam looks at the building, at his window, then back at Dean.

"Alright, I'll go. I'll help you find him, but I have to get back first thing Monday. Just wait here." Max closes the door and sits next to Dean as Sam heads back toward the building.

"What's first thing Monday?" Sam stops and looks back at them.

"I have this…I have an interview." Max smiles at him as Dean speaks.

"A job interview? Skip it." Max hits his arm, causing Sam to smile.

"It's a law school interview and it's my whole future on a plate." Dean rubs his arm as he looks at Sam again.

"Law school?" Max hits him again.

"We have a deal or what?" Dean opens his mouth to reply, but Max cuts him off.

"Absolutely. If not him, I will make sure you are here bright and early Monday morning." Max smiles at him, Sam smiles back and nods as he heads back to the building. Once he is out of earshot, Dean looks at her.

"What was that? That hurt." Max gets up and smiles an innocent smile at him.

"What made you change your mind, Max?" Max looks at him with a serious look on her face.

"John is like a second father to me, third if you count my real Dad. And I can't just sit by the phone and wait for you to call with news, to chick-flick right?" Dean laughs and puts an arm around her shoulder. Max smiles and continues.

"And, it looks like your stuck with me," Dean looks at her confused, "quit my job, sold the apartment, got all my weapons." Dean stands up.

"How does that make you stuck with me?" Max smiles a devious smile.

"Careful what you wish for, Dean." Max laughs and gets in the back seat. Dean sighs. "Crap."

Dean walks out of the gas station, food and drink in hand. Sam was looking through Dean's music collection and Max was lying down in the backseat. Dean approached the Impala with a candy bar in his mouth.

"Hey! You want breakfast?" Sam looks at him.

"No thanks." Dean tosses the water bottle at Max, startling her.

"Hey, watch it." Dean doesn't look at her as he opens the driver side door.

"Get your feet off the upholstery." Sam looks between them.

"Never changes. So how did you pay for that? You and Dad still running credit card scams?" Dean gets in as Max sits up in the back.

"Yeah, well, hunting ain't exactly a well paying career. And all we do is apply, it's not our fault they send us the cards." Sam laughs as Max asks.

"Yeah, and what names did you write on the application, genius?" Dean opens his wallet.

"Uh, Burt Aframian and his son Hector. Got two cards out of the deal." Max smirks.

"Sounds about right." Sam laughs and looks at the cassettes.

"I swear, man, you gotta update your cassette collection." Dean looks at him.

"Why?" Max looks between them, liking where this was going.

"Well, for one, their cassette tapes. And two, Black Sabbath, Motorhead, Metallica? It's the greatest hits of "Mullet Rock"." Dean takes one of the tapes and puts it in the tape player in the dash.

"Well, house rules, Sammy. Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole." Dean looks in the rearview mirror, "and that applies to the back seat, too." Max lets out a sigh and leans her head on the front seat. Dean looks at her and smiles. Sam looks at her also, but then at Dean who starts the car and cranks the music.

"You know, Sammy is a chubby twelve year old. It's Sam." Max leans back up smiling. Dean turns up the music.

"Sorry, I can't hear you, the music's too loud." Dean smiles and drives off. Max leans up and whispers in Sam's ear.

"Don't worry, Sam. I'll tell you all the nicknames I used to call him that he hated." Sam laughs with her as they drive down the road, Dean wondering what the hell they were talking about.

They had been driving for a couple hours, Dean keeping the music playing. Sam talks on the phone to someone while Max is lying down in the backseat, asleep. Sam hangs up the phone and looks at Dean.

"Thank you. Alright, so there's no one matching Dad's description at the hospital or morgue, that's something I guess." Dean looks ahead and sees police cars on a bridge.

"Check it out." Sam looks at the police cars as Dean parks the Impala. Dean pulls a box out of the glove box, and Sam looks at Max's sleeping form in the backseat.

"Should we wake her?" Dean looks at her after pulling out a fake I.D.

"Nah, she'll be fine right here." Dean gets out, Sam looks at Max one last time then follows suit.

The boys get back about five minutes later, and by then Max is awake with an angry look on her face.

"You could've woken me up, Dean." Dean looks at her.

"Yeah, but you're always in a crappy mood when you wake up and I didn't want to blow our cover." Dean smiles and turns back around, Sam sending her an apologetic look. Max nods at Sam, but hits Dean upside the head.

"So what'd you guys find out?" Sam tells her that the car belonged to a guy named Troy, and that Troy's girlfriend Amy was someone they had to go talk to. They made it downtown in a matter of minutes, and they easily found Amy. She and a friend were putting up missing person flyers. Dean parked the car down the street and they all got out of the car. Sam stood in front of Max, Dean soon stood next to him.

"What, guys?" Dean looked at Sam before answering.

"Remember what happened the last time we talked to a missing guy's girlfriend? Max you almost took the girl's head off, and we need to talk to her." Max looked at both of them, Sam just shrugged at her.

"Sam, Dean, that was one time! And she was asking for it, being all "I'm perfect and I'm better than you". I swear I'm good." Dean raised his eyebrows at her.

"Just this one, then I'll let you talk to the next grieving woman we see." Max shook her head at him, then turned back to the car. Sam opened the door for her and she sat down. He closed the door and they walked off to talk to Amy.

Sam and Dean walk back down the street toward the Impala and a very angry Max, at least they thought so. When the car came into view, Max was sitting in the back looking through Dean's cassettes. The boys got in, then turned to Max. She handed the box to Dean.

"What's you guys find out?" Dean spoke first.

"Local legend about a woman who kidnaps men and they're never seen again."

"Charming." Sam speaks next.

"Yeah, now we gotta do research to see if that's true." Max nodded and turned to Dean.

"Dean, I can't believe I'm saying this, but you were right." Sam and Dean look at her, shocked.

"I mean, I did freak out the last time I talked to a widow. But that was four years ago, you can trust me with this kind of stuff." The guys smiled and turned back around.

Dean and Sam were seated at a computer with Max standing behind them, looking up the legend the girls had told them about. Dean typed in 'Female Murder Hitchhiking', no results. He then tried 'Female Murder Centennial Highway', still nothing. Max sighed as Sam tried to type something.

"Let my try." Dean pushed his hand away.

"I got it!" Sam then pushes Dean's chair out of the way, Max laughs at them.

"Dude!" Dean punches Sam's arm, "You're such a control freak." Max hits his arm, then Sam speaks to them.

"So, angry spirits are born out of violent deaths, right?" Max answers him.

"Yeah?" Sam continues as he types something in the search engine.

"So maybe it's not murder." He types in 'Female Suicide Centennial Highway. One result. Max smiles at him.

"Good job, Sammy." Sam glances at her, then reads what's written in the article.

"This is 1981, Constance Welch, twenty-four years old, jumps off Sylvania Bridge drowns in the river." Dean looks at her picture.

"Say why she did it?" Max looks over Sam's shoulder and answers.

"Yeah, an hour before they found her, she calls 911. Her two little kids are in the bathtub, she leaves them alone for a minute and when she comes back, they aren't breathing. Both die." Sam and Dean sigh as Max continues reading the article.

"'Our babies were gone and Constance just couldn't bare it.' said husband Joseph Welch. Huh, that bridge look familiar?" The guys look at the bridge in the picture, the one where Troy vanished.

Later that night Sam, Dean, and Max go to Sylvania Bridge, hoping to find something if anything. They walk over to a railing and look at the river flowing beneath them. Dean speaks.

"So this is where Constance took the swan dive." Sam looks at him.

"So you think Dad would've been here?" Max looked at him.

"Well, he's chasing the same story and we're chasing him." They back away from the rail and Sam speaks, looking at Dean.

"Okay, so, now what?" Dean talks to him while walking down the bridge, Max keeping her distance from this conversation.

"We keep digging 'til we find him, might take a while." Sam sighed.

"Dean, I told you, I gotta get back by Mon…" Dean cuts him off, turning back to look at him. Max stays behind them, not liking where this was going.

"Monday. Right, the interview. You're really serious about this, aren't you? You think you're just gonna become some lawyer, marry your girl?" Sam looks him in the eye.

"Maybe, why not?" Dean stares at him.

"Does Jessica know the truth about you? I mean, does she know the truth about what you've done?" Sam stops him.

"No, and she's not ever going to know." Dean nods once. Max watches them.

"Well, that's healthy. You can pretend all you want, Sammy. But sooner or later, you're gonna have to face up to what you really are." Sam scoffs as Dean starts walking again. Max follows them, trying to figure out a way to make them stop without fighting.

"And who's that?" Dean answers quickly answers.

"One of us." Sam hurries in front of him. Max stops a few feet behind Dean.

"No! I'm not like you, this is not going to be my life." Dean argues with him.

"You have a responsibility." Sam argues a little louder.

"To Dad? And his crusade? If it weren't for pictures, I wouldn't even know what Mom looks like. What difference would it make? Even if we do find that thing that killed her, Mom's gone and she isn't coming back." At that, Dean grabs Sam by the collar and pushes him up against support pole. Max runs over and tries to get in between them, to no avail.

"Dean, let him go. Please, Dean, we have a job to do." Dean looks at her for a minute, then at Sam.

"Don't talk about her like that." He lets Sam go and turns away. Max looks up at Sam, silently asking if he's okay. Sam nods at her. They then hear Dean.

"Sam, Max." They turn and see Constance on the railing down the bridge. She looks at them, then falls. They run to the spot that she went over, only Constance is gone. Max speaks.

"Where'd she go?" Sam answers.

"I don't know." They hear the Impala start. They turn to see the headlights are on and shining on them. Dean steps toward his car.

"What the…?" Sam stands next to Dean, with Max on the other side of Sam.

"Who's driving your car?" Dean takes his keys out of his pocket. Max grabs Sam's arm as the Impala speed toward them. Sam looks at Max then pulls Dean's arm, telling them to run.

"Guys! Go, Go!" They run from the car rapidly catching up to them. Sam pulls Dean and Max over the side of the rail, which ultimately stops the Impala. Sam held onto one of the poles sticking out of the side, he looks up to see a hand extended toward him. Max helps him up.

"Come on, Sam. Come on." They sit on the edge of the bridge. Sam pants as he nods to Max, she nods back. They look at the water. Max yells for Dean.

"Dean?" Sam then tries.

"Dean!" They see Dean crawl out of the water to lay on the bank of the river.

"What?" Max lets out a sigh of relief as Sam yells down to him.

"Hey, you alright?" Dean gives he a-okay sign.

"I'm super." Max and Sam laugh as they climb back over the rail. Sam gets over first, then helps Max get over. He notices the ring he gave her on her finger.

"I'm surprised you still have that, Max. I'm surprised it fits." Max laughs.

"Well, ten years will do that." She smiles at him. They turn when they hear footsteps. Dean is walking toward them, absolutely covered in mud. Max has to cover her mouth to keep Dean from hearing her laugh. Sam smiles at her then goes over to Dean, who is checking the engine.

"Car okay?" Dean closed the hood.

"Yeah, whatever she did, it's gone now. That Constance chick, what a BITCH!" Dean sits on the hood, Sam right next to him and Max leans on the passenger door. Sam smells his brother.

"You smell like a toilet." Max bites her lip as Dean looks down at himself.

They drive to a nearby motel, Max stands outside while they go in to get a room. The breeze ruffles her hair as she turns to look at the boys, who are staring at her.

"What?" They shake their heads as Dean walks to a room. Max looks at Sam with a questioning look on her face.

"Dad bought out a room for the month, we're gonna go check it out." Max nods and follows Dean. They get to the room and Sam picks the lock while Max watches him, Dean keeps watch. Sam opens the door, he and Max look around the room which is covered in papers. They turn back to Dean, they grab him and pull him inside.

"Whoa." They look at the papers on the wall, which are the Centennial Highway victims. Max tunes out the guys as she looks at an article, the one they found. She turned on a light to see it better, and then she sees it.

"Huh. John figured it out." She looks at the guys and continues.

"Constance Welch, Woman in White." Sam comes over to her as Dean looks at the victims.

"Sly dog. If it's a Woman in White, Dad would've found the corpse and burned it." Sam looked at the article.

"She may have some other weakness." Max looked up at Sam.

"John would want to be sure, he'd destroy the corpse." Dean comes over.

"Say where she's planted?" Sam looks closer.

"Not that I can see. But, if I were Dad, I'd ask Joseph, the husband." Dean nods and head toward the bathroom.

"See if you can find an address, I'm gonna clean myself up." Sam stops him.

"Dean, I'm sorry, about what I said about Mom." Dean holds up his hand.

"No chick-flick moments." Sam laughs.

"Okay. Jerk." Dean drops his hand. "Bitch." Max laughs at them as Dean disappears and Sam sees something.

"You say he and I never change." Sam walks over to the mirror.

"Sam what is it." Max goes over to him, and sees the picture of John, Dean, and Sam from years ago. They looked happy. Max puts a hand on his shoulder.

"We'll find him, Sam. I promise." Sam just nods an sets the picture down.

An hour later, Max was still looking through all the papers on the walls, Sam was listening to voicemails, and Dean was being, well, Dean.

"I'm gonna go grab some food, you guys want anything?" Max looks at him and shakes her head. Sam does the same. Dean shrugs and walks out. A minute later, Sam is talking to Jessica and Max gets a call from Dean.

"Forget something?" Dean peaks quickly.

"Max, cops, take off." Max signals Sam.

"What are you gonna do?" Sam looks at her as she mouths 'cops'.

"They saw me already, go find Dad." Dean hangs up. Max and Sam grab their stuff and jump out the bathroom window. They go around the building and see the cop car take off, with Dean in the back. They look at each other and head to the Impala. Max gets in the passenger side, with Sam driving.

"What do we do now, Max?" Max looks at him, coming up with a plan.

"You go talk to Joseph Welch, I'll get Dean out." Sam looks at her.

"How?" Max smiles at him.

"Who could say no to me?" Sam sighs and drive toward the police station.

Max called the station, claiming that shots were fired at a Whiteford Road. She waited in a dark alley, knowing Dean would come out that way. Sure enough, Dean climbs down the fire escape to where Max was standing.

"You owe me." Dean smiles at her as he walks toward the street.

"Thank you, sweetheart." Max rolls her eyes and follows him. It's then she notices the book in his hand.

"Dean, what's that?" Dean turns back to her without stopping, walking faster.

"Dad's journal." Max runs up to catch up.

"He doesn't go anywhere without that thing." Dean nods.

"Yeah, I know." They run to a nearby phone booth so Dean could call Sam. After a minute of talking, Dean speaks loudly into the phone.

"Sam? Sam?" Dean hangs up an runs down the street, Max following.

"Dean? What happened?" He kept running, but yelled back to her.

"Constance." That was enough for her. They ran until they cam to an abandoned old house, with the Impala sitting in front. The engine was still going, and that was the only sound heard. Dean took out his pistol, Max did the same. They slowly approached the car, when they heard Sam scream in pain. They ran toward the driver side and saw Constance, or what was Constance. Dean and Max started firing at the ghost, trying to help Sam. The ghost disappeared, then Sam started the car.

"I'm taking you home." He slammed on the gas, driving straight into the old house. Max yelled for him.

"Sam!" Dean and Max ran inside, throwing pieces of wood out of the way. Dean ran to the passenger side, Max right behind him.

"Sam, you okay? Can you move?" Sam groaned.

"Yeah, help me?" Dean pulled the door open, then Max reached in and pulled Sam out.

"Easy, easy. Come on." Dean closed the door as Sam leaned against the car. They all turned to see Constance looking at an old framed photograph. She looks at them, then throws down the picture. Out of nowhere, a dresser comes flying at them pinning them to the car. They try to push it away, but it won't budge. Constance starts toward them, then the lights flicker. Max looks behind Constance.

"Guys." Sam and Dean look too, water pours down the stairs. Then two children appear at the top, holding hands.

"You've come home, Mommy." They look back at Constance as the children appear next to her, then hug her. Constance screams out. Max turns away, burying her face in Sam's arm. When the screaming stops, Sam and Dean push the dresser away. They walk over to where Constance vanished, only a small pool of water remained. Dean speaks.

"So this is where she drowned her kids." Sam glances at him.

"She was scared to go home. She couldn't face them." Max sighs in relief as Dean continues.

"Nice work, Sammy." Dean hits him on the chest, where Constance's hand had gone almost through. Max hits Dean on the arm and goes to check Sam out. Sam laughs through the pain.

"Yeah, can't say the same to you. What were you guys thinking, shooting a ghost in the face, you freaks." Max looks at him and smiles, hitting his chest again.

"Nothing to deep, you'll live." Dean laughs.

"Saved your ass. Let me tell you if you jacked up my car, I'll kill you." Max looks at Sam and they laugh as Dean looks back at his car. They all get in the car and drive out of there.

About a half hour away from Palo Alto, Sam figures out where the coordinates John left point to.

"Okay, Blackwater Ridge, Colorado. That's where Dad went." Dean looks down at the map.

"Charming. How far?" Sam looks at the map again.

"Six hundred miles." Dean looks at the dash.

"We have enough gas, make it there by morning." Sam looks at Dean, but Max answers for him.

"Dean, he can't." Dean looks at her then Sam.

"The interview is in the morning, I have to be there." Dean nods.

"Yeah, okay, we'll take you home." Dean speeds up a little. They get to Sam's apartment, that awkward feeling setting in. Sam gets out and heads for the building, then Max stops him.

"Sam," Sam turns back to her. She gives him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, "your gonna knock 'em dead at the interview." Sam smiles at her and nods. Max gets in the front seat, as Sam leans in the window looking at Dean.

"Call me if you find Dad." Dean nods as Max actually tells him.

"You got it." Sam smirks at his brother.

"Maybe I can meet you guys, after a while?" Dean finally speaks.

"Yeah, sure." Sam gives a slight wave to Max, who returns it. Dean starts the car, then yells to Sam.

"Sam, we all made a great team back there. Kinda like old times." Sam smiles.

"Yeah, we did." Dean nods and looks ahead. Max smiles at Sam.

"Bye, Sam." Sam nods as Max and Dean drive off. Max lets out a loud sigh. Dean looks at her.

"What's wrong with you?" Max looks at him.

"Four years of not seeing each other and it all comes down to 'Hi.' 'Bye.'?" Dean shakes his head as Max looks out the window. Just then the radio becomes all static. Max and Dean look at the radio, then each other. Dean does an immediate U-turn and guns it back to Sam's apartment. By the time they get there, smoke is pouring out of Sam's window. Dean and Max get out and run for the building. Dean kicks in the door and runs to the bedroom. They get there and he is lying on his bed with flames surrounding him. Dean yells out.

"Sam. Sam!" He looks at the ceiling, noticing something, or someone is there. Max follows his gaze.

"Sam, come on. Come on!" She tries to push past Dean to get to Sam, but Dean grabs him and pulls him out. Sam is screaming.

"Jess! Jess!" They get Sam out of there as the room is completely engulfed in flames. By the time they get outside, firemen are there getting the fire under control. Dean and Max stand behind a crowd, watching the smoke. Max looks behind her at Sam. Dean speaks to her while looking at Sam, too.

"You don't have to help us. This is way beyond your pay grade, Max. You can walk away, right now. We wouldn't hold it against you." Max looks at him.

"I'm not going anywhere." They walk over to Sam, who is loading a shotgun. He looks at Dean, then Max. Max tries to comfort him in some way, but decides it wouldn't help. Sam throws the shotgun into the trunk.

"We got work to do." Sam slams the trunk closed.

A.N. Hope you liked it. Took five hours, but totally worth it! Please review, I want to make it better if need be.