Catching Up
Chapter 3 – Dead in the Water

The humans in the room took a moment to stretch their limbs after sitting so much. "What do we got next Cas?" Dean enquired.

The angel, who hadn't bothered to move, summoned the DVD case to him. "Episode three entitled 'Dead in the Water'. The description says, 'In a small town in Wisconsin, Sam and Dean investigate a series of mysterious drownings officially explained as suicides'."

"I remember that. One of the more confusing ones," Sam recalled. "'Dead in the Water' is actually a very apt title now that I think about it."

"You ain't kidding," Dean added.

"So let's get this episode going," Mary sat back down, her sons following a moment after, and started the show. It once again opened with a recap now to include the last episode as well.

"I wish we had a theme song," Dean griped. "Something kickass instead of that weird sound. It's like an old projector with a snake caught inside."

"Oh well," Sam shrugged. "Queue the cheesy horror flick opening…and Dean flirting with some chick."

"And Sam being a miserable son of a -"

"Seriously Dean?" Sam gestured to Mary.

"Right, sorry," Dean huffed. "Miserable jerk."

"Bitch in heat."

"MOM!" Dean wailed.

"Sam apologize your brother," Mary admonished.

"Sorry Dean," Sam chanted. How sweet, this is really quite touching. This time Sam tensed and jerked a little but otherwise showed no other sign that the voice had spoken. His jaw tightened with the effort not to look around or respond. Unfortunately he had still zoned out for a moment and missed what Dean had been saying. "What?"

"You see this is why I'm Ford and you're Hamill," Dean stated, referring to his counterpart's codenames for this case. "I said we could do one more episode then start thinking about dinner."

"I don't mind cooking. It's been forever since I've made a meal for my boys." Mary smiled.

"Sure, sure," Sam bobbed his head still little on edge from the voice.

In the show, the Winchesters were at the police station talking to sheriff. "Dean I am by no means an expert at lying but I think you may have given yourself away to this official," Cas noted.

"Probably but we worked around it," Dean shrugged it off. Onscreen, Andrea and Lucas appeared for the first time and Dean sighed. "Poor Lucas, at least things got better. I wonder whatever happened to him after we left."

"Hopefully nothing." Sam laughed as Andrea shot TV!Dean down after showing them to the hotel, "Andrea was awesome."

"But I did love kids," Dean protested. "Still do. I just didn't know that many."

"Still don't," Sam chuckled. "I mean I guess Ben-" Sam stopped and squeezed his eyes shut. "Ah man I'm sorry."

"It is what it is," Dean said stoically. He knew that Lisa and Ben would come up eventually. One of the first things he did was check to see which season they were in. He did not want to relive that but – "Can't be helped. The threat still stands though," He pinned his brother was a hard look.

Sam nodded his understanding, "I'd say we should check up on them, Andrea and Lucas I mean, but…you know…with the leviathan and all."

"Why not? What are leviathan?" Mary asked.

"Oh we'll get to them," Dean promised.

Mary mused on that as she watched TV!Dean reach out to Lucas. She wondered who this Ben was and what these leviathan were. She thought about what Dean would be like as a father and how hunting got in the way of that, his future, his happiness. Watching him connect with that poor child who lost his father in front of his eyes brought a sharp pain to her heart. Dean loved to draw when he was young and play with army men. She could look at him and see her precious little boy but that child was gone and a man, a hunter had taken his place. She forced herself not dwell on it, hunting had been the bane of her existence but it was about the only common ground she had with her sons. It wasn't much or ideal but it was a start. "I've never seen anything behave like this," Mary analyzed the water attack onscreen, where Will Carlton was being drowned in the sink. "It has to be a spirit but there are easier ways of killing, it's so oddly specific."

"And it formed a kind of psychic connection with the kid," Sam elaborated. "It was something neither of us had ever seen before, in fact I don't think we had another one anything like it."

"Nope," Dean confirmed.

They got to the part with TV!Dean talking about his mom and Mary held Dean's hand, "You are brave and I'm so very proud of you, the both of you."

"Thanks mom," they said softly

TV!Dean and TV!Sam uncovered the disappearance of Peter Sweeney and they watched Bill Carlton take his own life before the sheriff kicked the boys out of town. TV!Dean refused to go and luckily so because Andrea was being attacked in her bathtub. TV!Dean kicked down the door and TV!Sam pulled her out of the tub. Look at you two, playing the hero. Sam growled under his breath, "Don't you have anything better to do?" There was no answer and that only aggravated Sam more. He returned his attention to the show just in time to see television him and his brother digging up Peter's bike.

"So the sheriff was complicit in this the entire time," Cas understood.

"Dun, dun, DUNNNN," Dean sang.

"'You can't bury the truth Jake?'" Sam repeated. "Jesus do you have to sound like 80's cop?"

"I love how you accuse the sheriff of murder and just casually throw in that there is a vengeful spirit," Mary grinned.

"Sam broke it down for him." Dean waved it off. "Crazy how the dude holding us at gunpoint considers us to be the insane ones."

"Nothing says sanity like childhood homicide," Sam remarked. "And he's asking Andrea to be rational."

"This spirits appears to be exercising a considerable telepathic bond with this child," Cas stated. "As opposed to sending the water to claim Lucas, it's bringing Lucas to the water. It's more than precognition, it's communicating with him."

"It probably bonded to Lucas during the night it killed his father." Mary guessed. "This is a child's spirit after all, bullied and angry but still a kid. You could say in as twisted way, it wanted a friend."

"Andrea said that it told her to come play with him," Sam reminded her. "The message might have been for Lucas instead. Peter was about to kill his mother so he was calling to Lucas next."

"Okay now you're giving me the creeps," Dean shuddered. At that moment, the image of Peter's head on the water's surface came on and Dean winced, "That helps."

"You weren't thinking about it before literally diving head first into ghost-infested water," Mary asserted.

"Glad I never saw that," Sam pointed to the dead child's corpse in the water about to drag down Jake. "Dude they gave you a 'Free Willy' moment," Sam hooted.

"It was not. It was cool and heroic," Dean defended his moment.

"I'm just glad Andrea and Lucas were able to get some peace," Sam smiled at the happy mother and son.

"And of course, you'd teach him 'Zeppelin rules'." Cas tacked on.

Andrea kissed Dean and he became rather flustered, "AWWWW Dean I think you blushed." Sam teased his brother.

"Shut your ass, I did not," Dean hit him upside the head.

Mary watched the interaction in real life and onscreen with a bittersweet smile. Sam and Dean had grown to be good men. She still thought they could have had so much more out of life instead of being here, reliving old hunts with their recently-resurrected mother. At least they had each other – and Cas apparently – she could take solace in that. TV!Sam and TV! Dean were driving off for their next adventure and her boys were safe and happy. Just for the moment, she allowed herself to relax and enjoy this time with her family.

A/N: Hey guys, this is one of my absolute favourite episodes, I really hope I did this justice. So now that the first batch is up, tell what you think of the style. I try to write them in like a kind of companion scene to the show so you could watch an episode and follow along with the story. For now I like this way but if it isn't working let me know and I'll change it up. ENJOY! R&R PLZ!