December 4th at 11:00pm

The Impala was eating up the road as it sped through the night. Even though the city's lights had been left behind there wasn't much of a difference. Millions of stars littered the otherwise black sky. Out here in the desert there were no artificial lights or smog to cover up the natural beauty. The headlights illuminated the road in front of the car but one could also make out the outlines and shapes of cacti, brush, and even the occasional coyote which would be accompanied by two piercing yellow eyes.

Dean wasn't paying attention to any of it of though, too distracted and filled with adrenaline to notice the beauty of the desert night. Instead he was shifting his eyes between Sam, and the rearview mirror where not only could he see Seeth but also another car that he was pretty sure had been following them since they left the city, in fact he was positive it had been following them. The car was staying about two hundred yards behind them, not speeding up or slowing down, just driving at the same exact speed. That wasn't normal, only someone who was tailing would be behaving in that manner. Maybe he was just being paranoid. Glancing over at Sam again he saw his younger brother bouncing his right knee up and down, obviously just as on edge as he was.

"You're sure it was him?" Dean asked one more time. Sam had come busting into the hotel room shouting at them to pack up because they needed to leave now. In a very quick explanation Sam had said that he had bumped into one of Nick's men.

That was all it took, for seven months the three Winchester (Seeth had decided to switch his last name from Colbert to Winchester) men had cautiously kept an eye out to make sure they weren't being followed. Bobby, Ellen, Ash, and Joe helped them out by keeping tabs on where Nick and Gordon or their gangs could be. Most of the hunters that passed through the roadhouse didn't know, or wouldn't tell but a few said they had seen them here and there. As a precaution they had developed the habit of always having a back up hunt, that way if they were found they could leave at a moment's notice with a destination in mind. This also helped them because they could study the route to their destination and the area that way they would have an advantage over anyone trying to get them. At the moment they where headed to L.A.

"Yes, it was the same guy that shot me in the leg when Nick first got us," Sam said, a little exasperated at Dean's show of doubt. This was the fifth time that Dean had questioned what he had seen. His older brother had even gone as far as calling him paranoid once. Sam had been quick to point out that he wasn't the one driving like there was a ghost on their tail.

"Just making sure," Dean replied, taking notice of the slight undertone of irritation in Sam's voice. He looked through the rearview mirror again and frowned when he saw that the car was still following them. Dean also couldn't help noticing the look on Seeth's face. Ever since Sam had charged into the hotel room with the news Seeth hadn't said a word. He had packed his stuff and gotten in the car before they had even noticed. Now that he had slowed down a little bit Dean could see the kid was shutting down. Seeth was staring downwards at the floor but his mind wasn't there, you could see it in his eyes. Not only was Seeth mentally gone right now but Dean could tell his body was wound up, as if he was ready to run at any moment.

"Seeth," Dean said softly, not wanting to startle him. Seeth didn't move a muscle though, didn't even blink.

"Seeth," Dean said it a little louder this time. Still no movement but Sam had taken notice.

By the time Dean had said Seeth's name a second time Sam had shifted in his seat so that he was facing their youngest brother. Sam had noticed the lack of talking but just now realized how panicked Seeth seemed to be. Slowly so he didn't scare him Sam touched Seeth's shoulder ever so lightly. Seeth jumped two feet off the seat and slammed his head against the roof of the car.

"Sorry," Sam said quickly as he withdrew his hand.

Seeth didn't seem mad or upset, instead he looked terrified.

Dean had been watching the little scene through the rearview mirror and had even jumped a little when Seeth had. "Seeth, are you okay?" Dean's tone was clearly laced with worry. The two of them may fight quite a bit but it was always over stupid stuff and neither one of them ever meant anything by it. When it came to other things though they were inseparable, they even played pranks on Sam sometimes.

"Yeah," Seeth murmured quietly before going back to staring off into space with his head hung downwards.

Sam exchanged a worried look with Dean, this wasn't good. It had taken a long time to get Seeth out of his shell and now he was retreating back into it, this wasn't good at all.

"Yeah, I know," Dean said in response to Sam's glance. Seeth and Dean may be close but it was Sam and Dean that had the whole ESP thing going on. Glancing in his rear view mirror Dean let out a short, quiet "damn it" when he saw that the car was still behind them.

"What?" Sam asked.

Dean was about to respond when the car suddenly veered onto an exit and drove out of the sight. "Nothing," Dean replied, visibly more relaxed now that they weren't being followed. He didn't take much notice of the car that pulled onto the highway a couple miles down the road though.

7 hours later

December 5th at 6:00am

The cool desert night had conceded to the bright Los Angeles sun which made the current fifty five degrees more than tolerable. There was a slight breeze and the sun was warming and loosening Dean's tired achy joints from driving straight for the past seven and a half hours. Right now he was pumping some gas into his beloved gas guzzler while Sam was inside the 7-11 buying breakfast, Seeth was still sitting in the backseat. Other than the two one-word answers to "Are you hungry" and "Do you have to use the restroom" Seeth had staid quiet. He hadn't moved in at all during the drive from what Dean could tell and he hadn't relaxed even the slightest bit. Dean had hoped that once they reached L.A. Seeth would calm down a little but no such luck.

Dean could see that Sam was now paying for the food at the counter. As he watched Sam walk out he couldn't notice how the cashier stared at Sam and took a quick glance at Dean before quickly averting his eyes. Shaking his head and chalking it up too sleep deprivation Dean thought to himself, 'You're getting paranoid in your old age.'

"You ready?" Sam asked Dean as he climbed into the car with six ham and cheese bagels in his arms, two for each of them; even though Seeth had said he wasn't hungry.

"Yeah," Dean replied as he screwed on the gas cap and climbed into the car. As he got in the car Dean could swear the cashier inside had just been staring at them again. Weird people, they were in L.A. after all.

December 5th at 1:00pm

"Don't bother, it's broke," Colby said to his boss when he saw Don trying to get coffee out of the vending machine.

"What do you mean it's broke?" Don asked with venom in his voice. It had been a long day and if Don was going to make it for five more hours until six o'clock he needed coffee.

"Sorry, happened this morning. Supposedly the guy who is coming in to fix the coffee machine in the break room can fix this one as well," Colby said before walking off.

'This is ridiculous,' Don thought to himself. Nothing was going right today. After two weeks of exhausting, fruitless work him and his team had finally got a good case only to be taken off of it an hour later. Instead they were given a new assignment, one that was coming over the fax machine now.

Don Eppes looked down at the sheets of paper that had just finished coming through. It was a Sam and Dean Winchester's rap sheets and prison photos. He had heard of the notorious Winchesters but that had been about it. He knew they were wanted in various states for just as many different crimes. Credit card fraud, breaking and entering, murder, robbing a bank and grave desecration were just a few. The two men traveled under aliases that were often rock stars. Don found that interesting and more than a little unique.

Earlier in the day a tip had been called into the local police by a gas station attendant claiming Sam Winchester had come into the store and bought some breakfast sandwiches and drinks along with gas, paid in cash. The local police had swarmed the place but by the time they had gotten there the boys had been long gone. Burt, the cashier at the 7-11 said he had waited ten minutes before calling the police because he wanted to make sure the Winchesters were away from him, he didn't want to get hurt. The county cops had then handed over the information to the FBI and the now here Don was, reading about two men who seemed a little different than your average criminals. He didn't know what it was but the more he read about these two men the more Don sensed something was off. If asked to explain it all he would have been able to say was that his intuition was kicking in.

Taking the case hadn't even been all that bad until Don found out who was currently on a plane en route to L.A. and would be arriving in two hours, Special Agent Hendrickson. It was an understatement to say that him and the agent did not get along. Four years ago Don and his team had been working on a case for a month before finally getting a major tip. Hendrickson had decided to tag along and when they had cornered the three gang members he had opened fire unnecessarily and had started a gun fight. Don had been shot in his arm and Terri, his old partner, had been grazed by a bullet on her leg. Never before in his life had he wanted to punch another man so badly.

"Who are they?"

Don looked up sharply at the sudden question coming from right beside them. He had been so deep into his thoughts about the how much he hated the other agent that he hadn't heard his brother walk up behind him. Charlie was staring down at the fax he had in his hand and the stats he had pulled up on the computer.

Don sighed and leaned forward on his chair, swiveling to face his brother. "Sam and Dean Winchester, they were spotted in the area and I'm going to be helping the lead agent in their case track them down."

"Agent Hendrickson?" Charlie asked before he could stop himself.

"How do you know him?" Don asked, sitting up straighter and more than a little curious.

Charlie could have kicked himself for being so candid. He had managed to keep it a secret for six months and now he had blown it. 'I guess I can't keep a secret,' Charlie said to himself. Don was still staring at him and Charlie knew he would give in sooner or later so he went ahead and answered. "I tried helping him track the two men down earlier this year."

"What?!" Don asked, a little louder than necessary. Then in a quieter tone, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Feeling about two inches tall Charlie responded meekly, "Because I knew you didn't like him so I didn't want to make you mad." Charlie hoped his brother would understand.

Almost yelling at Charlie again Don regained control just in time and realized that yelling would do no good. Besides his brother hadn't meant any harm by it and if he was able to help catch a criminal then Charlie should help, no matter who the agent was. So instead of responding in a not so nice way Don got down to business, "You weren't able to find them?" Don was just as shocked to hear that his brother's math hadn't resulted in a solved case as he had been to hear that his brother had helped Hendrickson.

"No. The math worked but something about the information I was getting was wrong. I had been given all the possible locations that Sam and Dean had been too but I wasn't able to come up with a predication as to where they would be next. Nothing is random but they come as close to it as I've ever seen before," Charlie said. The sudden shift of emotions from angry to calm and controlled told Charlie that Don was still mad but dealing with it and would soon be over it entirely.

"Well what do you think was wrong?" Don asked, pulling up the file that listed all the known and possible locations the two men had been too. "Do you think there were too many possible locations and not enough hard facts as to where they had been?"

"No, I even ran the data with only the known locations and I still couldn't come up with a pattern. I think the motive that Hendrickson was supplying me with was wrong."

"What do you mean the motive?" Don asked, turning around to look at Charlie again who was now seated in Colby's chair across from him.

"Hendrickson is telling me their motive is money, murder, places to hide, things along that line but none of them make sense with the math."

"Well what could their motives possibly be then?" Don asked more to himself than Charlie.

Charlie responded anyway, "That's your job isn't it." Now Charlie wanted to pat himself on the back, he had actually come up with a good comeback.

"Funny Chuck," Don responded.

"Hey now, no circus," Charlie said, doing his best impersonation of their father.

"Whatever you say dad." Don suddenly remembered that Charlie was supposed to be hiking and he was also holding a folder in his hand. "Why aren't you out hiking and what's that?" Don asked, nodding his head towards the manila folder.

"It's some financial data that Tates had asked me to look over. And I thought I would drop it off before I left."

"Well here, he's out of the office right now, I'll put it on his desk for you. You better get going if your going to get a good start before nightfall." Don said as he grabbed the folder from Charlie and laid it on his keyboard so he would remember to put it on Agent Tates's desk.

"Your right, well see you later," Charlie said, getting up and heading towards the elevator.

"Hey Charlie, stay warm!" Don shouted to his retreating brother's back.

Charlie raised a hand up in response and stepped into the open elevator. It was December and most people would find it strange to know he was going to spend tonight sleeping outside in a tent but Charlie liked it. There weren't too many people on the mountain trails during this time of the year, especially over night. He needed quiet right now, he needed time to relax and unwind and a deserted mountain would be the perfect place to do it.

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