Missing

1. Chapter 1

Blue Earth, Minnesota. 1984

Patience was a virtue, but it was an emotion best suited for the mentally sound. Right then, pacing in his study, fingers working hard while he worked through his address book, that was not Jim Murphy, pastor of Blue Earth Community Church, who spent his free time hunting the things that went bump in the night.

It was through this shared connection with hunting the supernatural evil in the world, that he first made connection with John Winchester. The subject of his current state of deep stress and frustration. The elder hunter knew enough to know that his friend was not experienced in the life to do what he had set out to do, and now his fears were being confirmed.

"Come on, John," he murmured irritably, surrounded at his own tone of voice. It was not like him to communicate in anything but a soft, kinder tone of voice, unless he was in the throes of exercising a demon from some poor soul.

Over the last few months since they first made contact, Jim had tried to impart as much knowledge as he could to John, but he wondered how much of his wisdom and philosophy regarding hunting, had really stuck with the man who was bound and determined to find the thing that killed his wife. Jim understood the zeal to avenge the thing that killed his family, but he had much more serious concerns for the novice hunter.

Sighing, he glanced at the clock that was mounted on the study wall, and hesitantly picked up the phone. Bobby Singer would was his first call to assist him in figuring out the mystery of where John was. The rough and gruff hunter would not be thrilled with being woken up so suddenly, but Jim had no choice.

It only took a few seconds at most for the hunter to pick up the phone, heaving an exasperated groan at the beginning of his sentence: "Who the hell is calling this late? Do you know what time it is here-" Bobby demanded, not entirely surprising Jim with his attitude. Bobby was, in many ways, a character to be friends with.

"Bobby?" Jim's voice practically sagged in relief. "Look, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but we have a major situation on our hands that I need you in." That was the understatement of the century as far as the pastor was concerned, but Bobby didn't know that yet.

"What situation?" Bobby demanded, clearly thinking the pastor was overreacting. Even though they had hunted together before, and both possessed excellent skill, they often relied on the other before anyone else.

Jim knew he only had to announce one word: "John."

There was an audible silence on the other end of the line. It was punctuated by the low sigh from Bobby, and the curse word that soon followed that sigh. Like Jim Murphy, Bobby was well aware of the novice hunter's tendency to jump into jobs he had no business messing with. Jim waited while he got up, and he could hear Bobby grab his shoes, before a thick journal was slammed on the table. It was funny to Jim that he knew what Bobby was doing without being told.

"What did that idiot get himself into this time?"

Jim shook his head, pinching the bridge between his nose and head. "It was a hunt." Thinking back to the conversation they had before he went, Jim could not help but feel just a tiny smidgen of guilt course through him. "I was helping him follow up on some leads. He decided the pattern fit on one in Dallas, and he took off."

Bobby swore again, slamming his journal down. "What was he hunting?" The unspoken anger was thick in the air. They both knew the inexperience John possessed, and over eagerness he had. Combined, the two of those things could be deadly.

"It was something simple. Something in and out."

"A poltergeist?"

Jim shook his head. "A simple haunting." In his line of work, he had classified the simpler haunting job, from the more difficult ones that required more work on their end.

While the details of the hunt had been scarce at best, the haunting was supposed to center around a highway near Dallas, Texas. A spirit had been haunting Route 99 for the past several decades, killing any young males that were unfortunate enough to have crossed its path. Jim had been unable to take the job, and so had passed it on to John. A decision he was regretting.

Jim could hear pages rustle on Bobby's end. "Does he realize that he can't just jump into any old hunt without backup?"

Jim sighed. "It was partly my fault, Bobby, if we're going down that road. I told him about it. I couldn't take it because I was watching the boys, and I had other commitments." He should have known better than to advocate John going anywhere close to this without proper backup.

"Well," Bobby scoffed, "he should have had the guts to tell you you were being an idiot!"

Jim smiled in spite of his growing fear and unease. Leave it to Bobby to make some offhand comment to lighten the load a little. "Thanks for that."

"Who else have you called? Anyone?"

Jim shook his head, even though Bobby had no way of seeing him. "No one else yet. I was just about to call Caleb, see if he heard anything from him."

The younger hunter had only been in the game a few years over John, but he had still proven himself to be a capable and skilled hunter who was good in a tight spot, and who possessed a rare heart that Jim seldom saw in hunting circles anymore. It was those qualities that first appealed him to Caleb when he helped him through his first foray into hunting.

Caleb had also been the voice of reason to John when the hunter proposed leaving his children in a seedy motel room instead of taking the time to drive them to Minnesota. It was the fact that John had two young sons who depended on him for everything, that was proving to be the hardest thing for Jim to overcome. John would never not check up on his sons when they were out of his sight. Not hearing from him in so many days, was deeply troubling.

"Call him," Bobby affirmed. "He might know something, or at least he'll come up with a plan of some sort." Caleb was good with figuring out action plans, and had even helped Bobby on some sticky spots.

Jim sighed, as he ran a hand down his tired face. He almost felt like an overworked secretary as he once again grabbed his address book, and flipped through the pages to Caleb Rivers' number in Texas. As much as the prideful part of him might want to handle this himself, he knew he needed serious backup with something of this magnitude.

Circling Caleb's number with his red pen he normally used for hunting, he was about to pick up the phone on his desk, when he heard the soft pitter-patter of little feet that should not have been out of bed. Discreetly slipping the address book into his locked study drawer, the pastor stood up and walked the short distance to the staircase, where a small figure stood, illuminated by a much larger shadow.

"Uncle Jim?" Five-year-old Dean Winchester was standing at the very bottom step, his small hand wrapped around the railing. His soft, but intense eyes, landed on Jim's with a surprising intensity for a small child. It was times like this that made Jim realize that Dean was wise beyond his years. "Where's Daddy?"

Jim sighed as he forced himself to look into Dean's expectant gaze. There was no way that he wanted to burden Dean with the knowledge that he might be faced with losing both of his parents. The prospect of that was simply too horrible for the pastor to contemplate without hard proof. Realizing that he still had to respond to the quiet child before him, Jim knelt down and gently took Dean's hand, before standing up.

"You know that Daddy had to go on a very important job, right?"

Dean nodded; it amazed Jim how intelligent Dean could present himself to be. It was as though the horrors of the world had aged him well beyond his years. It was frightening sometimes. Dean, on the other hand, was not thinking anything close to what Jim was. Instead, he was slowly turning Jim's words over in his mind.

"What job?"

"Something that will help a lot of people," Jim replied, choosing his words carefully. John was keen to introduce Dean to "the life", but not before he was ready.

Dean touched his chin as he contemplated those strangely exciting words. He knew about people who helped other people from his superhero comic books, but he had never known someone like that in his real life. "Like…a…superhero?"

Jim could not help but smile at Dean's choice of words. Leave it to him to say something that the adults would have no choice but to respond to in a positive way. "What are you doing up so late, kiddo?" Dean normally had a difficult time sleeping when he was in a strange place, but he usually slept pretty good at Jim's house.

"I heard Sammy," Dean explained bluntly, swaying a little on his feet, the tiredness taking over. "He was making his hungry cries."

Jim arched an eyebrow. It never ceased to amaze him how well Dean knew his little brother. He was able to interpret each and every little cry that he made, and then communicate his needs to the adults in their lives. More than once, Jim had relied on Dean to decode one of Sam's more troubling temper tantrums.

"Oh, well, I appreciate you being on the ball, son." Jim thought for a second. "Let's go back upstairs, and you can get tucked into bed, and I'll give Sam his bottle."

Dean thought for a second, the safety of his brother always at the forefront of his mind. It had taken him several months for him to feel comfortable enough for Jim to even hold his brother, let alone be trusted with the sacred task of feeding him his formula. "Okay. I like that."

Jim smiled, deciding to hold off on calling Caleb until after the one-year-old baby was fed, and Dean was back in his own bed. "Do you think Sam will like some rice milk?" He waited for Dean's response while he gently took him in his arms, and carried him off up the winding staircase. In the older house, the stairs sometimes had the unfortunate habit of creaking on certain steps.

"I think so."

Jim nodded, glad to have Dean's approval. Turning down the darkened hallway, he carried the small child to the small guestroom he had set up for them. It was nothing special: a Pack 'n Play housed a very awake Sam, and a small bed was Dean's domain while they stayed there. Gently depositing the small child onto the bed, Jim made sure that Dean had his stuffed animal with him, before turning his attention to his little brother. Sam seemed to sense that the elder pastor had too much on his mind, and did not fuss like usual.

"What do you say, Sam? Do you think you could have some rice milk and maybe a little yogurt?" Jim smiled at the infant while he carried him down the stairs. Sam seemed to have no specific preference for food, but instead settled with playing with Jim's shirt.

Carrying him into the kitchen that was just off the study Jim had been occupying for the last few hours, he set the baby in the highchair he had had the foresight to provide for the times when the boys were there, and set about making Sam the food items. Sam, to his relief, did not seem to have the energy to do much but eat the food in front of him. Slapping his hands on the tray when he was done, Jim obliged him and cleaned him off, and then carried him back up the stairs.

Dean, to his relief, was asleep when he quietly tucked Sam back in. It was a relief because he knew how much Dean worried when he was awake. Much more than a normal toddler-aged child should have to worry. Taking one last look at the boys once he crossed to the door, he flipped on the night light that Dean had chosen for his house, and left the door ajar. It always made him feel safer to know the boys were right within his range of hearing.

Crossing the open floor-plan to his study, Jim shut the door only a crack, and sat down in his leather seat. Reaching for the address book again, he picked through the names and numbers until he found Caleb's. The young hunter was in Dallas, and it gave Jim a jolt of hope that Caleb would be able to easily assist him in the hunt for their friend. Caleb was a night owl, and Jim knew he would be more likely to be in livelier spirits than Bobby had been.

"Jim?" Caleb's quiet voice came over the line, once he had picked up. "Something wrong?"

"I'm sorry to call you so late," Jim apologized. "But I have a…situation here."

Another understatement.

"What kind of situation?" Caleb demanded, shifting to hunter mode once those words had slipped from Jim's mouth.

"It's John," Jim sighed. "He went looking for a spirit, that was a few days ago, and I haven't heard anything since."

"Where are the boys?" Caleb demanded. They were always the first thought on each of their minds.

"They're with me," Jim assured him.

Caleb sighed in relief. "Good. Where was this hunt?"

"Right by you, around Dallas."

Caleb paused. "Listen, I'll go check it out, okay? It's close to another hunt I have, anyway. Just let me know what I'm dealing with, and I'll take over."

Jim sighed in relief, knowing he could always count on Caleb to help when things went wrong. Even though the young hunter only had a few years head start on John, he was still a capable and skilled hunter, who knew all the tricks of the trade.

"Thank you so much."

"You know me, I love the game."

Jim shook his head with a smirk as he hung the phone up. It was late, well past midnight by the time he had hung up with Caleb, and he was exhausted from the up and down worry he had spent all afternoon on.

Climbing up the stairs with a sigh, he was relieved to see the sanctuary of his bedroom and all the peace and comfort it offered him, as he slipped into his bed clothes, and beneath the warm covers.

The last thoughts he had, before sleep stole him, was where John could possibly be, and what had taken him away from his precious boys for so long without so much as a phone call.

It was troubling, but he was determined to put it behind him, at least until the morning when his conscience would be clearer.

A/N:

So this story was first published under a different account years ago. For reasons I am still unsure of, I deleted this entire verse I spent years on. I wanted to perfect it, and I guess I thought that deleting it was the only option? Instead of just manually going through the chapters. But due to a miracle, I recovered the stories on a Fanfiction archive site. Seriously, those guys are amazing! So now that I have the series back, I will be republishing it and editing it. My hope is that old and new readers will come back to this story, and fall in love with these characters the same way that I have.