Sam pulled into a parking space and turned off the ignition to his car. His head hurt and he was tired from driving. The sun had been blaring through the window for most of the drive, and, once it was gone, the copious amount of coffee he'd drunk to keep him awake hadn't helped. He was exhausted after driving nearly nine hours almost straight, and he still wasn't done.

He should sleep, he knew, but he didn't want to. There was this itchy, uncomfortable feeling about him that had been there ever since he'd spoken to Ash.

It was probably just Rachel. The demon was having fun with them the same way it always did. Kill their lovers, send dreams, kidnap. It was the same deal.

And yet… the idea of another Adams at the same place where one had been kidnapped from? Made Sam feel queasy and rotten.

Besides. He wasn't doing any good, sitting around with Rachel and her family. Hoping that Rachel's memory might jog while staring at pictures and artifacts of a life Sam had never had a part of. That was for Dean to do. He was her husband, he was the one who should be by her side.

Sam was enough in their way as it was. He couldn't give them the time alone under normal circumstances. This, he could do.

Dean was the only one who knew why he'd gone. He didn't want Rachel's parents to worry about Nathan, so he'd just mentioned getting a tip about a ghost somewhere. And that he'd be in touch.

Unfortunately, that left him looking for a man whose face he didn't know without so much as a picture. A fucking needle in a haystack.

He should have invited Ash along. Rumor was, he knew Nathan quite intimately.

Sam shook his head and climbed out of his car. He and Dean had been here over a week ago, at the motel Rachel had stayed in. When she'd gone missing, they looked here for clues only to fine none. Sam still didn't know what Nathan expected to find when they'd already canvassed the area.

The man behind the counter was different than the one who'd been here when Dean and Sam had been here before. He was looking at the computer, clicking, obviously playing solitaire or something. Not working.

"Hey," Sam said, walking up to the counter. "I'm looking for someone. A guy about my age, a little younger. He's, uh…" He faltered, then continued, "shorter than me, has…"

The guy interrupted, laughing. "Everyone's shorter than you, kid. You'll have to be more specific."



He sighed, irritated. "Okay, yeah. He's got brown hair, brown eyes. Probably around this height." He indicated around his shoulder, a couple inches above Rachel. She'd mentioned once they were both around the same size, so he was guessing. "Freckles. Kind of looks like this, only a boy." He pulled out his wallet and pulled out the picture of Rachel he'd started carrying when she was missing.

The man took the picture. Frowned at it. "Well, she looks familiar."

"Yeah, uh. That's my sister-in-law. She was staying here a few weeks ago. Went missing."

"Right. Right, that girl. Uh… Rachel something, right?"

"Yeah."

"I vaguely remember her. Real sweet kid. Quite. Read a lot. Would come down for breakfast every morning and sit there with a book. What happened? Anyone find her?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah, she turned up the other day. Bruised and stuff, but she'll be okay. But her stuff's missing and her brother, the guy I'm looking for? He's looking for it."

"Well, don't she remember where it is?"

He refrained from snapping the answer. After all, this guy didn't know and it wasn't like it was something to be expected. So, Sam just said, "No. She doesn't." Then, with a shrug, "She's kind of traumatized. Doesn't remember much."

A look of understanding came over the man's face. He nodded. "Well, you guys looked through the lost possessions stuff, right?"

"When we came through, yeah. I don't know what Nathan thinks he's going to find, but…"

"It's his sister?" The guy pushed himself away from the counter. Stretched. "He's probably looking for something to kill."

Sam nodded. "Probably." If it was Dean…

The man grabbed the phone and dialed. A moment later he said, "Hey, Trish. Did a guy named Nathan come by earlier? Looking for his missing…." He stopped. Looked up at Sam. Nodded. "Okay. Thanks. See you later." He hung up. "He's with Trish. She lives above the café across the street, and it's full of people, so if you try anything, they're going to know."

"I'm not going to try anything," Sam promised. "Thanks."

"Good luck. And I hope that girl is going to be okay."

"Thanks, man. Me too." Sam tapped his hand on the counter then left.

It was a smallish town, very touristy. Would be. The town bordered a sort of woodland that had been dubbed Troll Woods by the locals. Before the attacks started, they'd promoted it as a tourist destination. The local rangers took people on tours of caves and the like. Statues of trolls were in the town, stories, the whole nine yards. All fun and games before children started disappearing. Seemed that any real troll experts that may have once lived here had all left or died, and no one realized that the stories had once been true. And, there'd been no one left to track the hibernation cycles of the trolls or to warn anyone when they'd wake.

Hence the deaths.

Of course, Sam, Dean, and Rachel had learned all this in retrospect. All they had known was there were troll-like killings. Rachel had come out to do the research, figure out what was going on. She'd just uncovered the information about the hibernation cycles the day before she disappeared. The last thing they'd heard from her was that she'd found a spell to ward off the area that would discourage people, especially kids, from going near the trolls' lair until Sam and Dean came out for the kill.

And then… nothing.

Peer Gynt Café was a kitsch little place with tacky decorations and great smelling coffee. Sam bypassed it for the stairs that ran up alongside the building. Up to the apartment, knocking on the door.

"Hang on!" a female voice called. There was the pounding of feet, then the door flew open to reveal a tiny, pixie-faced girl with spiky bleach-blond hair, a lot of eyeliner, and startling blue eyes. "Can I help you?" she asked, clicking her tongue ring against her teeth.

"Uh, yeah," Sam said, blinking down at her. She was wearing a pair of baggy cargo pants and a sheer bra and seemed completely unconcerned with the fact Sam could see her nipples poking through the fabric. "I'm looking for Nathan?"

The girl he assumed was Trish stepped back, turning away. "Nathan!"

A moment later, a male version of Rachel emerged from the back room. He, too, was shirtless. More surprisingly were both the eye make-up and the tattoo on his shoulder and chest. "Hey, you're Sam," he said, sleepy-eyed and surprised. He picked up his shit from the floor and tugged it over his head.

"And you're Nathan."

It wasn't exactly fair to say Nathan was a female version of Rachel. The resemblance was definitely there: the big brown eyes they shared with their father, similar colored hair (although Rachel's was darker), and the same kind of pointed features. Still. There were differences. Nathan had thinner lips and longer eyelashes. There was more mischief in his face, more 

confidence. And… well. Differences.

But definitely her brother.

Nathan nodded. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you." He glanced at Trish, who was now perched on her couch. "Um. Can we go downstairs? Maybe get a coffee or something?"

"Sure." He glanced at Trish. "Um, look. I don't know how long this is going to take, but…"

"I'm here all night," Trish said brightly. "I go to work at five, so, anytime you want to come back…"

Sam grabbed Nathan by the shoulder. "Sorry, Trish, I think that Nathan's going to be leaving town."

"Yeah, no, I'm not. But I'll give you a call, Trish."

"Okay. Later."

Nathan allowed himself to be propelled out the door. Once they were halfway down, he said, "Dude, that was not cool."

"What, telling her the truth?"

"Cock-blocking me."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Nathan, your sister has been missing for two weeks. She's turned up with no memory and instead of going home to help her, you're trying to get laid? That's not cool."

"Hey, I'm trying to figure out what happened to her. Where her stuff is. Getting laid was incidental." He pushed the door to Peer Gynt's Café open and stalked to the nearest open booth. His chin had a familiar stubborn clench to it.

Great.

He followed Nathan's example and had a seat. Ordered a cup of coffee and a burger when the waitress came over, and let Nathan calm down enough for him to stop clenching his jaw. "Okay, sorry. I shouldn't have implied you were just out here trying to get laid."

Nathan shrugged, looking down at the table top.

"You know, I kind of thought you were gay." Sam winced as soon as the words left his mouth. Generally, it was harder to get on someone's good side if you started suggesting they were gay.



He didn't seem to take offence, though. Just blinked up at Sam and said, "Why?"

"I, uh." He cleared his throat. "I kind of heard something about you and Ash."

"Ash? Then we were probably high," Nathan said. Then he grinned. "Anyway, my sexuality is very… fluid. I swing any way the wind blows."

"Ah. Ah!" Sam yelped, jumping as Nathan's foot ran up his calf. He squirmed away, face heating. "No. No. Just… no."

Nathan laughed. Rolled his eyes. "I think you have issues."

"I think you're my sister's brother. Sister-in-law. Sister-in-law's brother." He moved away from Nathan's foot, parking himself at the end of the booth. "Look, can you not? Right now. Please?"

"Yeah." Nathan gave him a look, then a slow smile. "Right now. I won't."

Shit.

"So." Nathan picked up the sugar and began pouring it into his coffee. Like his sister, he took it way too sweet, and Sam winced at the amount of sugar that went into the beverage. "What brings you here?"

"Like I said, I'm looking for you. I figured I could make sure you weren't getting into any trouble. And get you home."

"I don't need a baby-sitter."

"Rachel disappeared from around here. I want to make sure another Adams kid doesn't do the same."

Nathan grimaced. Stirred his coffee. "I don't think this thing is targeting us. I mean, as a family." He lifted the mug and took a drink.

"No, it's targeting my family."

"I think this time, it was targeting her, specifically. Don't know why…"

"Because of Dean."

"Well, yeah. But, still. Okay, not to bring up any unpleasant memories or anything, but your mom was killed because she was with you. And your girlfriend was killed because she was with you. And you're the psychic or… or whatever you are. And Dean is just… well, there's no record of anything supernatural going after him. Or of the demon going after him."

Sam swallowed, feeling a little queasy. He took a sip of his coffee, then set it down. Turned it around in an idle circle. "No. It hasn't ever gone after Dean. Not unless I was around or we were attacking him." And this was something that had been bugging him since they'd found Rachel: why kidnap her, why let her go, and why her? "So you think it went after her. Specifically."

Nathan nodded. "I do. I just don't know why. So, I'm here."

"And that's what I don't get. Why come here? Dean and I already came through and we didn't find anything. Rachel… Rachel's got to know, somehow. Somewhere in her mind, it's got to be there."

"And somewhere out here has got to be her computer and her journal," Nathan countered. "There's nothing I can do to bring her memory back. I can find her belongings, which might contain clues."

Sam shook his head. "The doctors said that familiar people and surroundings might bring her memory back. You're familiar."

"She doesn't need me."

"You're her brother."

Nathan clenched his hand around the coffee mug. Shook his head. His eyes were suddenly, suspiciously bright. "I can't."

"She needs you, Nathan."

"I can't."

Sam's breath caught. He knew that desperation, that despair. He'd felt so many times, especially recently. Anytime Dean was hurt, when he was near death, he'd felt it. "Nathan…"

"Look, I know that you are the best brother ever," Nathan said hoarsely. "That you would do anything for him, including the incredibly stupid thing of going to a frigging faith healer. And I would do the same for her, only I can't face her right now. I can't… I can't look at her and know and … I have this imagination, right? It's awful. She used to come in when I had nightmares and I'd wake up screaming from them, and she'd sit with me until everything was better. Until I felt better, but, God. But she made it better. Would sing to me. Have you heard her sing?"

He had. And he couldn't help the grimace.

Nathan laughed, and a tear slipped from his eye, quickly brushed away. "She's not bad, she's just not good, but… but back then, it was like an angel singing, making everything better. And now, you know, I'm supposed to be a feminist and I know she can take care of herself, but I'm pissed that I wasn't there to help her. That you guys didn't protect her. That I didn't…" He swiped at 

his eyes again. "If I see her all bruised and burned and whatever, all I'm going to picture is her terrified and being… being hurt and… and…" His voice broke. He lifted one fist and pressed it to his mouth, looking away from Sam and blinking rapidly.

Sam exhaled slowly. Tapped his fingers on the table and watched the man across from him. Waited until he pulled himself together and turned back, still avoiding eye contact with Sam.

"So," Sam said when Nathan was once again composed. "Where should we start?"