Disclaimer: The Winchesters belong to Eric Kripke and I will be forever grateful to him for sharing them with us. I hope he doesn't mind me borrowing them from time to time; I promise to return them as I found them.

A/N: Thanks to Kelli for beta reading and for giving me encouragement in all areas of my life. I don't know where I'd be without her! Also thanks to those who reviewed; I really appreciate it.

Role Reversal

Chapter 4

Sam was pretty sure they'd stay in town for one more day. Dean wouldn't admit how bad he felt and there was still the problem of him not wanting to hunt anymore. They walked back to the motel room slowly with Dean still putting on an almost believable front.

"So what do you want to do?" Sam asked as they walked back into the room.

Dean sat down carefully. "I shouldn't have said what I did last night. Whatever is going on with Dad, we got unfinished business with a demon. I owe it to Mom and to Jessica –"

"You don't owe Jessica anything." Sam said quickly. "You barely even knew her."

"But you loved her and I – well, that's good enough for me."

Sam smiled briefly. "We've had this conversation before. Do you really think this is what Mom would have wanted for us?"

"I don't know, Sam." Dean whispered. "Look man, I'm trying to do the right thing here but I don't know what that is. If you want to go after this demon, I'm with you. And if you want to deal with other things along the way, I'm with you there too."

Sam sat down next to his brother. "I know you are, Dean, but you can't do this for me."

Dean looked miserable.

"How about this?" Sam suggested. "How about we go someplace where we can just rest; get back up to speed physically?

"Home." Dean whispered.

"What?"

"I want to go home, Sam. To Lawrence."

She looked up from the magazine she was reading. Something was wrong. She didn't know what, but something was bringing the boys home.

Sam watched in a shocked silence as Dean slowly walked to the bathroom. Their last trip to Lawrence exorcised some of Dean's personal demons as well as a real poltergeist, but Sam was surprised his brother would want to go back there. They met Missouri Mosley, the psychic who originally told John about the demon that killed Mary. Missouri would occasionally call to find out how they were doing, but Dean would turn down every invitation to come for a visit. It scared Sam that he wanted to go back now.

While Dean packed the rest of their things, Sam started to load the car. He was outside when his cell phone rang.

"Hello?" he answered without looking at the caller id display.

"Sam –"

"Missouri." he wasn't particularly surprised to hear her voice.

"You're coming home."

"That wasn't a question, was it?"

"No. Am I right?"

"You're right."

"What's going on, Sam?"

She knew about the fight with the demon and John's disappearance because Sam had called her from the hospital. He intentionally didn't tell her how badly Dean was injured, but Sam was sure she already knew.

"It's Dean, isn't it?"

"Dean? What do you know, Missouri?"

"It was his idea to come home."

"Yeah, it was. Why? Why does he want to come to Lawrence?

"I don't know, Sam." she said thoughtfully. "I don't know."

"Do you know where Dad is?" he asked suddenly.

"No."

"No like last time?"

"No, Sam. I really don't know where he is."

Sam saw Dean walk out of the room carrying his duffle bag and the computer case. It hurt him to see Dean struggle with a relatively small load.

"Missouri," he said quickly. "How bad is Dean hurt?"

"You don't know?"

"No." Sam said quietly. "Not for sure."

"Get him here, Honey."

Sam felt sick. "Missouri –"

"You've got time."

"Missouri –"

"Don't be reckless. I'll see you in a couple of days."

Sam slipped his phone back into his pocket. "I got it," he said taking the duffle bag from Dean. He felt a cold chill when Dean gave it to him without any resistance and then gave him the keys to the car.

"Dean," Sam began once they were in the car. "I think you need to see a doctor."

"No, I don't."

"You're worse off than you were yesterday and if you haven't noticed, you're not driving."

"I'll admit it; I'm tired and I'm sore. You're probably right that we've spent too much time in the car, but I don't need to see a doctor."

Sam looked unconvinced.

"Don't worry, okay?"

Sam had never heard quite that tone in Dean's voice before and he didn't know how to read it.

"What aren't you telling me?"

"I'm telling you everything I know, Sam."

"What about what you're thinking? Why do you want to go to Lawrence?"

"I'm not sure."

Sam looked at him disbelieving.

"It just – I just want to be there, okay?"

Sam sighed and started the car. "Okay. But we're taking it slow and you're going to get some rest and some exercise. If you're not any better tomorrow I'm going to take you to a doctor to have you checked out. If you avoid going to a doctor by faking improvement, I'll shoot you."

"Again?" Dean asked with the hint of a smile on his face.

"Shut up."