Chapter One:

Buffy walked back into her house and sighed loudly before announcing that she was home.

"How was the patrol?" a red headed woman asked as she rounded the corner, her green eyes showing a hidden factor that no one had seen in quiet a while.

"What's wrong Willow?"

"It's nothing…" Willow stated her face changing into her normal happy-go-lucky self. "So what happened on patrol?"

Buffy gave one last worried look at Willow before answering the question. "Nothing happened, I mean I took on five weak vampires…but that's it."

"I don't understand, I thought calm days were good." A voice called from the living room.

"They are it's just that Buffy had a feeling that something important was suppose to happen today" Willow answered as she and Buffy walked towards the voice. They walked into the living room and saw a young teenager with long brown hair and brown eyes sitting on the couch, the T.V controller hanging limply in her hand.

"So nothing happened?" She asked as she focused all of her attention on the two in front of her.

"Nope" Buffy answered, plopping down on the couch next to her.

"Well I did find this old box in the basement." The girl stated as she pointed to a box on the table.

"Dawn waited to go threw it thinking...you know, it could be one of those sister-y things to do." Willow added as the girl in question slowly started to open the box, Buffy kneeling down next to her as the last flap was pulled away.

"Oh look at this, its Buffy's old easy bake oven…ha look it still burnt from when you tried to use it…mom had to confiscate it!" Dawn exclaimed as she pulled out a half melted piece of plastic.

"Ha, ha very funny Dawn…oh look it's you're my little pony backpack that you refused to take off for like a week!" Buffy smiled at the small bag and then threw it at her sister. "Bet it's still full of toys!"

Dawn just rolled her eyes and pulled out a thin book that she had never seen before. "Hey Buffy…was this yours?" She asked as she handed over the small red book, not understanding why it was so worn and in a pile of their old things.

"No…" Buffy answered as she opened the book and pulled out a picture of her mother that had to be over twenty years old. "I think it was mom's book." She whispered as she turned the old photo around and showed Dawn.

"Can I see it?" Willow asked as she sat behind them and reached a hand out for the small item. Buffy nodded and passed it over. Willow flipped through the pages but pause on one. "…Oh…uh…Buffy…" She started as she started to look rather uncomfortable with the book.

"What?" Buffy asked as she snatched the book back. She read quickly over the text and then felt her face fall. "Oh my god," she stated one hand reaching over her mouth, causing another small picture to fall out of the book, one of a man with dark brown hair and hazel eyes wearing an old marine uniform.

An old apartment in downtown Sunnydale

"So what's the hunt in this town?" Dean called out to his dad in the other room as he placed his bag on the bed closest to the door, his little brother placing his on the bed next to his. The apartment they were going to be staying in was completely furnished and had two bed rooms, and three beds, but only one bathroom…which would be a problem to anyone else, but not a small family of three who usually stays in motel rooms.

"…Well…this is more of personal matters Dean…" Their father stated with a puckered brow as he walked into the two boys' shared room. Dean looked up and frowned at his fathers pained face.

"What's up Dad?" Dean asked as he turned and saw his little brother already crawling in bed, obviously not interested in the conversation with his sleepy mind. Dean grabbed his dad's arm and led him out of the room and slowly closed the door behind him. "Has someone died…is it Pastor Jim…or Bobby?" Dean asked as he started to panic about their small extended family.

"No Dean, you don't know this person, but she was an old friend of mine and I just…I just want to make sure her death wasn't anything more then…well yeah…and if there isn't a hunt here we can have…a sort of vacation." His father stated his eyes showing that he really wanted a brake.

Buffy's house

Dawn picked up the photo and turned it over, "whose John Winchester?" Buffy looked over at Dawn and snatched the picture from her.

"I don't know…but I plan on finding out…Willow?" Buffy started only to turn and see the red head on her laptop.

"Already ahead of you Buffy…"

Next morning, 3 hours later

Sam awoke with a start and looked around desperately trying to get a grasp as to where he was, but as he noticed that he had awoken in another one of the dozens of apartments they had stayed at he calmed down. He hadn't noticed how quick his breathing was, or how badly he was shaking until he heard his brothers voice from the other side of the room.

"Sammy…have a bad dream?" Dean asked, his voice sounding half awake, though Sam knew that Dean probably had woken up the second his bad dream had started.

"Yeah…" Sam answered refusing to turn and face his brother.

"Wanna talk about it?" Dean asked; Sam could hear his brother sitting up in bed.

"Nah…I think I'm ok…night Dean…" Sam answered as he pretended to fall back asleep, forcing his breath into an even tone and for his body to seem relaxed. He laid there for a good five minutes before he thought he was in the clear.

"You done pretending you're asleep now? So can we can go make some hot chocolate and you can tell me all about how the evil clown tried to eat you?" Dean asked as Sam heard his brother's bed squeak and the soft thud of his brother getting out of bed.

"Yeah…" Sam whispered as he got out of bed and followed his brother out.

Buffy's house

"Buffy we've been searching for this guy for hours and all we've been able to find out is that he had a wife that died in a fire twelve years ago!" Dawn complained as she walked closer to her sister.

"That's not true; I found a few birth records that say that he has two sons. Dean and Samuel Winchester…" Buffy stated as she looked at the page that had old school pictures of to young boys at ages 11 and 6.

"And I've found a list of all the schools they've been to so…we know where they've been…just not where they are now." Willow added as she looked at her laptop with slightly tired eyes. "But Buffy Dawn's right, maybe we should all get some sleep and continue searching tomorrow."

Buffy looked at the clock and sighed, "it is kinda late…fine we'll go to bed and continue later." Buffy stated as she stood up and stretched.

Winchester apartment:

"So are you going to tell me about it Sam?" Dean asked as he sipped his hot chocolate, looking over to the clock hanging on the wall and noticing it was two in the morning.

"…No…it's nothing" Sam started as he stared at his own cup of hot chocolate.

"Sam it's two in the morning, you woke up almost in tears, and you were breathing like you had run ten miles up hill…and you call that nothing?" Dean asked looking at Sam with a worried gaze, these nights have been happening more and more frequently, Sam waking up with tears in his eyes, or with gasping breaths, and Dean was going to get to the bottom of it.

"…Please…Dean it's just a bad dream…drop it." Sam pleaded as he continued to stare at his hot chocolate. Dean was about to speak up when he heard a voice from behind him.

"Boys…what are you doing up?" John Winchester asked as he looked upon his two young sons and the steaming mugs sitting in their hands.

"It's nothing Dad…" Sam stated as he got up and hurried back into the room he shared with his brother, leaving his hot chocolate untouched on the counter.

"What happened?" John asked as he took Sam's place in front of the cup and picked it up to drink.

"I don't really know,"

"What do you know?"

"Sam's been having nightmares…really bad ones that leave him crying or gasping for air…at first I thought it had just been because of the hunt we were on or something, but I'm starting to worry Dad." Dean stated as he made a small glance at the closed door, thinking about how the more dreams Sam goes through the more he pulls away from not only Dean but from anybody who tries to talk to him.

"Yeah I've noticed that he's been sleeping during the day a lot lately…at least now I know why…" John started before pausing to also look at the closed door with worried eyes, "I'll talk to him tomorrow and we'll try and figure this out." They sat in silence for a few minutes before heading back to their rooms, only to have Dean call out for his father a few seconds later.

"Dad…Sam's gone!" Dean yelled as he ran out of his room carrying a small note.

Dean,

Be right back, went for a walk.