Supernatural

1-2-3 The Devil's After Me.

Pilot Part 7

Palo Alto, California

Stanford Apartments

October 30th

Sam sighed as he walked into his apartment. That exam was a bitch. He threw his backpack on the couch and slumped down into the large bean bag Jess had dragged in from a yard sale at the end of last semester. Just a quick nap. He had very nearly fallen asleep when he heard a voice call out from the kitchen door.

"Baby? You home?"

"Yeah!" He grunted, and tried to push himself to stand but fel back in the chair with a huff.

Jessica appeared around the corner and laughed, "You stuck?"

"A little," He grinned, and held out his hand, "Help me up?"

Jessica's lips pulled into a smile, "help you up? Or…"

"Please?" Sam asked, giving her his trademark pup-dog eyes.

Jessica huffed a sigh, like she had been asked to work a double shift back to back, but a smile was firmly in place. "I'm warning you Winchester, if you try anything…' She threatened and took his hand.

"You'll what?" He asked. She squeaked a little as she was pulled into his lap. "Kiss me?" He asked, with a fully dimpled smile.

"Only because you're cute." She said, giving him a small peck on his lips.

"Wanna take a nap?" Sam asked, pulling her closer to his chest.

"We gotta get ready for the party. We promised."

Sam smirked, "You mean, you promised for us. Come on~ for me."

Jessica lightly slapped his chest, "Don't get snarky with me." she smiled.

"Just a little one?"

Jessica opened her mouth to say 'no,' again but dropped her stance when she saw his pouting face again. "You're lucky I love you." After another kiss she patted his chest once and stood up.

Sam clumsily rolled out of the bean bag and followed his girlfriend to their shared kicked off his shoes at the door and chucked his denim jacket onto a dresser and collapsed happily on the bed. "Bagwell's exams are the worst." He mumbled then yawned.

Jessica changed into some soft shorts and laid her jeans in a chair. "You'll ase it like always. Nothing to worry about." She flopped onto the bed next to him.

Sam didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around her and pull her to his chest. He smiled into her hair. "Could stay like this forever."

"Thirty minutes. And we're getting ready." Jess said, half turning in his arms and kissed his nose. "Not even your puppy eyes can get you out of this party."

Sam sighed, half asleep. "Worth a shot."

True to her word he felt a slap across his shoulder thirty minutes later. "Get up Sam."

"Five more minutes."

"Uh, no." Jessica laughed. "You asked twice already."

Sam mumbled something Jessica couldn't quite make out.

"We could have some fun while I get ready." Jessica taunted.

Sam's eyes snapped open to see his girlfriend in just a towel and wet hair around her shoulders.

Dean had the Impala parked inconspicuously around a corner. He sat up straighter when he saw his little brother walking down the road with a girl's hand in his. "Aww, Sammy's got himself a girlfriend." He laughed, then brow wrinkled in confusion. "Whos the zombie dude?"

"One of his classmates. Luis. He acts like a moron, but is wicked smart." Natalie informed. "Freshman year, Sam and him got in a bar fight, five against two. "

"Wait, which side was this kid on?"

"He got pushed into the fray. These guys had ganged up on Sam and he backed him up."

"Son of a bitch." Dean growled.

"They got their faces beaten bloody. One of Sam's friends, Brady, took him back to his block where one of his nursing major friends was to help patch up their faces." Natalie had a soft smile on her face, "He and Jessica started dating a month later."

"They look good." Dean smiled.

"They are. She's super sweet."

Dean looked sad for a moment. "Is it just me, or do they look like mom and dad?"

Natalie leaned around to see them steal a quick kiss on a street corner before ducking inside a bar.

They took turns watching and sleeping.

Dean jumped when his sister grabbed his shoulder to wake him. The sky was dark, but the street was lit with lights lining the sidewalk. "What time is it?"

"Past 10. I nodded off."

Dean sighed, and turned the car back on. "Lets go get our Sammy." He smiled, sleep still in his eyes. He drove to the back of his building.

"You just gonna knock on his door? Like you did me?" Natalie laughed.

"No." Dean said, and smirked, "I'm gonna use the window."

"I'm gonna wait here, just don't cry to me when he knocks your block off."

Dean just grinned wider as he tiptoed up the metal stairs.

It wasn't long till the sound of fighting reached her ears, and moments later a light flicked on. "Better go check out the damage." Natalie mumbled, then climbed into the window like her brother did.

"Dad's on a hunting trip. And he hasn't been home in a few days."

"Jess' excuse us. We have to go outside," Came Sam's stoic response, his eyes widened a little when his eyes caught sight of Natalie. "Nat?"

"Hey kiddo. Dean likes in enter in style doesn't he?"

Sam's jaw was still hung open. "I don't believe this." He mumbled, shaking his head.

"I wanted to call…" Natalie smiled shyly, "But Dean wanted it to be a surprise." Sam glared at his two siblings. "Surprise." Natalie gave half hearted jazzhands.

Sam huffed, shaking his head and grabbed a hoodie, and ducked into the bedroom, yanking on jeans over his shorts. "Sorry Jess, I'll only be a few." He kissed her head and joined his brother and sister to the door. "Lets try and have a little more class for the exit shall we?" all the siblings headed outside together.

Sam lead them to the main stone stair well that lead to the parking garage. "What the hell guys?" Sam demanded as they descended the stairs, remembering to keep his voice down as they passed other apartments.

"Thought you would like to help." Dean shrugged.

Sam huffed, and stomped down a few stairs to keep up with Dean's swift stride. "I mean, come on. You can't just break in, middle of the night, and expect me to hit the road with you."

Natalie smiled a little. "Blame me for the middle of the night thing. We were supposed to come by after your party, but I fell asleep."

"You're just as bad as he is." Sam grumbled.

Dean sighed, "You're not hearing me Sammy. Dad's missing. I need you to help me find him. He needs all of us."

"Sam, I haven't seen him since the beginning of October when he took this job. I think somethings up."

Sam's jaw clenched, not convinced. It didn't help either both his siblings nagging in his ear at once again. "You both remember the poltergeist in Amherst right? Or the Devil's Gates in Clifton?" He prompted. "He was missing then, too." Sam's voice rose in volume a little. "He's always missing and he's always fine."

Dean stopped, and turned to face Sam on the stairs and stood a little taller. "Not for this long. Now are gonna come with us or not?"

Natalie stood a landing below looking up at both her brothers, noticing Sam's stuborn set to his shoulders.

Sam looked between his siblings for a moment. "I'm not." He said simply.

"Why not?" Dean asked, trying to hold his ground.

Sam's mouth pinched into a tight line. "Because," he sighed, "I swore I was done hunting. For good."

Dean gave a dry laugh and started to fiddle with the keys. "Come on, It wasn't easy, but it wasn't that bad." Dean turned to meet Natalie at the bottom.

Sam glared, and skipped the remaining steps in one long stride. "Yeah? When I told dad I was afraid of the thing in my closet he gave me a .45." They gathered in a tight corridor with an iron gate, they stood almost nose to nose.

"Well, what was he supposed to do?" Dean asked, not expecting an answer. He forgot how stubborn Sammy really is.

Sam frowned, his town desperate for his older brother to understand. "I was nine years old! He was supposed to say, 'don't be afraid of the dark."

Dean gave a skeptical huff and Natalie shook her head. "Don't be afraid of the dark?' Are you freaking kidding me?" Dean asked. "Of course you should be afraid of the dark. You know what's out there."

"I know what night you're talking about Sam, I think you're forgetting some important details." Natalie said, trying to calm her brothers' argument. "Dad wanted you prepared."

"Yeah, I know, but still." Sam continued. "Why are you, of all people defending the guy?" Like a dog with a bone…he wasn't done yet. "The way we all grew up after mom was killed, and Dad's obsession to find the thing that killed her. But we still haven't found the damn thing. So we kill everything we can find."

Dean squared his shoulders. "We save a lot of people doing it too."

There was a long stretch of silence.

Sam's tone had shifted to desperate. "You think mom would have wanted this for us?"

Dean rolled his eyes and pushed passed his brother and slammed open the iron gate.

"He's never going to understand is he?" Sam asked his sister before storming after his brother, not giving Natalie a chance to answer.

Dean was already at the Impala.

" The weapon training," Sam prompts, "and melting the silver into bullets? Man, Dean, we were raised like warriors."

Dean leaned against the car and titled his chin up to his brother. "So...what are you gonna do? You're just gonna live some normal, apple pie life? Is that it?"

"Dean…" Natalie warned, "I wasn't hunting really till you showed up. Cut the kid some slack."

"You were doing more than me." Sam scoffed. "I don't want normal," Sam scowled. Nothing will ever be normal. I'm not normal. "I want safe."

Dean's lip twitched. "So that's why you ran away," he looked away.

"Dude!" Natalie growled, "Seriously?"

Sam butted in her defence of him. "I was just going to college. It was Dad who said if I was gonna go I should stay gone. And that's what I'm doing."

"I ran too. He said the same exact thing to me, Dean. You were there. I thought you understood."

Sam turned to her briefly. "Dad told you to stay gone too?" his shoulders slumped at her nod.

"Go!" John yelled in his rage, aided in part by the few-too many shots of whiskey, and a hunt gone south. "Just run out on this family like you're good for nothing brother! Don't you come back either!"

Despite having a few shots herself to be able to sit through getting the stitches on her forehead, she pushed past Dean. "Don't worry, I'll be gone before dawn you-"

Dean hauled her outside kicking and yelling a variety of obscene words.

True to her word she was gone before John passed out from his bottle of Jack.

"Yeah, well, Dad's in real trouble right now. " Dean cut them all a sharp stare, "If he's not dead already. I can feel it."

Natalie rubbed her arms as chills ran up her exposed skin, all of them we're silent. "He wasn't in my vision. If that's what you're wondering Dean."

Dean turned to Sam. "We can't do this alone."

"Yes you can," Sam said, looking at his shoes.

Dean looked down too, trying to hide his expression when Sam did look up. "I don't want to."

"I think it would be good if we were all there to find dad. Get some things straightened out." Natalie smiled. "I know it would make me feel better."

Sam finally looks up. He'd never been able to deny his siblings anything. "What was he hunting?" he asked.

Like Dean knew Sam would agree all-along he popped open the trunk then the hidden compartment, propping it open with a sawn' off shotgun.

"Where did you put the file Nat?"

Natalie rolled her eyes. "Where we've always put it."

"And where the hell is that?" he asked, digging through the clutter.

"So…" Sam began. "When Dad left, why didn't you go with him?"

"I had a series of my own gigs. The, uh, this last one was a voodoo thing down in New Orleans."

Sam raised a questioning brow. "Dad let you go on a hunting trip by yourself?"

Natalie couldn't help but snort.

Dean looked offended. "I'm twenty-six dude."

Nat gave Sam a sly smile, promising some funny details later. They both knew Dean's age, and skill set had nothing to do with him being alone. John Winchester was just a controlling ass. Like always.

"Found it." Dean said, finding the file that had slid to the back. Dean pulled out the first few papers they had looked over. "All right, here we go. SO dad was checking out this two lane blacktop just outside of Jericho, California. About a month ago, this guy," Dean handed the top page to Sam for him to look at. "They found his car, but he vanished. Completely MIA."

Sam read the article quickly then looked up, the guy had been missing since September. "Maybe he was kidnapped."

Dean laid down another page. Yeah? Well, here's another one in April." Dean continued to leaf through them and laid them all out for sam to see. "One in December of 'oh-four,' year ''oh-three,' 'ninety-eight, 'ninety-two, ten of them over the past twenty years." He takes the latest article back from Sam and stuffed them all back in the folder. "All men, and of the coordinates dad gave us are right, the same five mile stretch of road." Dean set the file back down in the clutter of weapons, "It started happening more and more, so Dad went to go dig around. That was three weeks ago. Neither of us have heard from him since, which is bad enough." Dean grabbed the tape recorder. "Then I get this voicemail yesterday while we were driving over here." Dean pressed play and let Sam hold it close to his ear to try and make out the staticy, broken message their dad left them.

"Dean...something big is starting to happen...I need to try and figure out what's going on. It may... Be very careful, Dean. We're all in danger. Get your sib-" Sam frowned as the message gave out into open static.

Dean pressed stop and stared at his brother to gage his reaction.

"You know there's EVP on that?" Sam asked.

Dean's classic smirk pulled at the corners of his mouth, "Not bad, Sammy. Kinda like riding a bike, isn't it?" The saying fell flat as only one of them ever got to learn to ride a bike. And it wasnt Sam. Dean sighed, and continued, "All right, we did some work on it in Utah at some library, 'cuz our sister, can hear past the EVP to the other bit of the message. I slowed it down, ran it through a gold wave, took out the hiss and this is what we got."

Dean hit a few buttons to fast forward and pressed play.

A woman's voice whispered, "I can never go home…."

Dean pressed stop again, trying to ignore the chills crawling up his back despite his many layers of clothing.

Sam's eyebrows scrunched up in thought, "...never go home…"

Dean dropped the recorder, folded the shotgun back in place, and shut the secret arsonal and the trunk in one slam. He leaned back against the car, half sitting on the fender. "YOu know, in almost two year i've never bothered you, never asked you for a thing."

Sam looks away for a moment, then back to his brother, trying to compose the emotion he kept at bay. Apples never fall far… If only Dean knew the reft wasn't because he didn't call. "All right. I'll go. I'll help you find him."

Dean nodded, "Awesome."

"But," Sam continued, "I have to get back first thing Monday. Just wait here." Sam had already gotten a few paces away when Dean spoke up.

"Whats first thing Monday?"

Sam turned back, is shoulders going back and up a little, trying to show confidence in stance, he lacked it in voice. "I have this...I have an interview."

Dean made a face, "What, a job interview? Skip it," he said simply.

Sam scowled, "Its a Law School interview," he said, like it explained everything, and to Sam, it did, "and it's my whole future on a plate."

"Law school?" Dean asked then smikred. Always knew you were too wicked smart.

Sam didn't break his stare, "We got a deal or not?"

Dean didn't say anything, and Natalie wasn't sure what to do or say so she shrugged. Dean was the one who drove so…

Sam just shook his head and turned to go inside, "I'll be right back...just, if you need anything, use the door. Please."

Sam snuck his way past Jessica who was watching TV waiting for him to come back in. He knew she would be in the room in a second when she heard him russling about. He quickly tucked away a few weapons, he had just managed to tuck on of his more sinister looking knives in his bag when she stepped in.

"You little sneak, I didn't hear you come in...Wait, you're taking off?" She asked, noticing the small duffel bag.

Sam looked up and gave a small nod, swallowing the nervous feeling rising in his throat.

"Is this about your dad? Is he alright?"

Sam gave a light smile to reassure her, but damn, he hated lying to her. "Yeah, you know, just a little family drama." At least he could make it a half truth. He walked to the dresser where he stored most of his te-shirts. He pulled the cord on the lamp and ruffled through his more tattered shirts. He didn't want to ruin his good ones with who know what- dad had gotten into.

"Your brother said he was on some kind of hunting trip?" Jess asked, gentled running her finger along the straps of his bag as she sat on the bed.

Sam joined her and stuffed the shirts in, making sure they hid the knife. "Oh yeah," Sam said, a sarcastic edge in his voice. "He's just deer hunting up at the cabin. ALthough, I doubt he's getting much done, he probably has Jim, Jack and Jose along with him. I'm just going to bring him back.

Jess looked concerned, "What about the interview?"

Sam zipped up the duffle and stood up, an easy smile on his face, "I'll make the interview. This is only for a couple of days." Sam walked around the bed to go get his toothbrush from the bathroom.

Jessica was following, hot on his heels, "Sam. I mean, please." she reached for his hand to make him stop, he turned facing her. "Just stop for a second. You sure you're okay?"

Sam laughed a little, and smiled, "I'm fine."

Jess made a small face, unsure still, "It's just...you won't even talk about your family, besides Natalie, and now you're taking off in the middle of the night to spend a weekend with them? And with Monday coming up, which is kind of a huge deal."

Sam just smiled at her concern, "Hey, everything's going to be okay. I will be back in time. I promise. He gave a left a kiss on her cheek and left the room.

Jess stood on her tiptoes to lean around the corner. "At least tell me where you're going...Sam?"