A/N: Happy Sunday, guys! So thank you so much for your support and thank you for even just reading. I love writing this so I'm glad that you guys enjoy it so far. Anyway, this is a lighter chapter for the most part, so enjoy!

The early morning faded away quickly as Dean snuck back into the house, went back to bed, and woke up again around noon to the sound of Sam clacking away on his laptop. Dean groaned as he got out of bed and approached Sam with an annoyed look on his face.

"It's too early Sam," Dean said, yawning and heading towards a bag of groceries on the table. Sam sighed loudly as turned his laptop to face Dean, pointing at the clock on the screen. He raised his eyebrows as Dean realized it was no longer morning but afternoon.

"Oh," he said, looking down at the cereal box he held in one hand, then shrugged as he poured it straight into his mouth.

"Dude," Sam said disgustedly, turning back towards his screen and continuing to type. Dean looked over his shoulder as Sam typed up something on a document.

"What are you doing anyway?" Dean asked. Sam paused, looking just past Dean for a second, then responding easily.

"Just some statistical stuff," Sam said, shrugging. Dean could tell he was lying on the basis that one, he had looked away from Dean for a second to formulate a lie, and then responded painlessly. And two, Sam also happened to use big words when he lied. Dean had taught Sam how to lie so he was quite skilled in pinning down when Sam was lying or not.

Dean knew, however, exactly what Sam was doing; he was researching again, just like Cas had been. But instead of causing an argument, he just looked away as he muttered "nerd" under his breath. He poured more cereal into his mouth and chewed loudly. Sam gave him a look, then went back to his computer.

For a moment, it was silent as Dean contemplated his next action. Should he call Sam out? Sam had, after all, completely ignored Dean's instructions and had done exactly what Dean had asked him not to do. And he continued to lie about it. However, Dean couldn't help but feel responsible, somehow, to help Sam and Cas. He didn't know this woman, and neither did Sam, but he did know that this was there last time there, and that this problem wouldn't fix itself.

He finally decided on giving into what Sam and Cas wanted. The only way out was through and Dean knew the sooner he accepted that the better off they'd be.

"Sam..." Dean began, then trailed off. He rubbed the back of his neck apologetically as Sam met his eyes. "I know you've been researching."

Sam went pale as a sheet as he stuttered a nervous reply. "Researching? No... I was just-" Sam stopped midsentence, hanging his head. "Are you mad?"

"A little," Dean began, looking off and then looking back towards Sam, "but not really. I get it. I guess."

Sam smiled wider than Dean had seen in a while... it almost frightened him how long it had been. And this wasn't even something of much import. Yet Sam grinned for a while, pretending not to be as happy as he was. Dean ruffled Sam's hair and laughed to himself.

"God Sammy you are such a nerd," Dean said, hiding his own smile.

"How did you find out anyway?" Sam asked, looking back towards his laptop and opening the tab Dean could tell he had been hiding.

"I... saw you with your laptop," Dean started, not sure if he should tell Sam about going over to Cas's house. He decided against it, since he didn't quite know how to initiate the conversation anyway.

"And?" Sam prompted. Dean shrugged nonchalantly, his eyes trailing towards the window.

"I could assume from there," Dean said slowly, not looking at Sam. Sam scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah. Right," Sam said sarcastically as he shook his head and shut his laptop. He placed his laptop in it's case and then looked towards the door.

"So, you ready to go?" Sam asked, looking towards Dean then back at the door. Dean smiled, placing the cereal box back on the counter and throwing on a leather jacket and boots.

"Let's head, dork."

The walk to Cas's house was a cold one but Dean and Sam certainly had a lot to talk about, Sam focusing especially on what he referred to as "the case". Sam rattled on about what he thought could have happened, what the video could mean, something about a video glitch, and he especially enjoyed covering the topic of how whoever was doing this was doing it in an annual pattern. Dean listened in a numb silence, commenting every once in a while, but what he really focused on was how excited Sam seemed to be about the subject. How long had it been since Sam had talked about anything this much, with such an excited tone? Never? Dean couldn't help but somehow feel like that was his fault.

"...Are you listening Dean?" Sam asked, sounding slightly hurt. Dean nodded, repeating the last thing Sam said. Sam smiled again and continued on about a theory he had, but Dean could see Cas's house up ahead. This time, there was a car in front of the house. That meant that Miss Novak- or Sara Novak- had gotten home.

Eventually they stood in front of the door, Dean knocking again and waiting as he heard footsteps approach the door, a pause as the door unlocked, and the door swinging open. Cas looked much different than he had earlier that morning. He was no longer dressed in his robe, white shirt, and boxers, but he was now dressed in nice jeans, a black shirt, and his hair was combed neatly. He gave a very awkward smile as he looked towards Sam and gave a small nod.

"Hello Sam," he said as he nodded, "And Dean. Nice to make your acquaintance again." Dean panicked slightly, hoping Sam wouldn't pick up on the note of familiarity on his tongue. Sam did not notice.

"Hey Cas... I hope we aren't here too early," Sam said sheepishly, as he followed Cas inside. Cas chuckled, looking back at Dean.

"I would hardly call this early considering all that's happened today," Cas said, a twinkle in eyes as he spoke. Dean blushed, looking away and rubbing his head. Sam caught the notion and turned towards Dean, who was blushing and looking away. Sam looked ready to laugh, but he held it in.

"Seriously?" he said as he turned towards Dean, who refused to meet his eyes. He laughed, looking back from Cas to Dean.

"It's not what you think..." Dean said, looking ready to burst with agitation.

"I don't understand... he simply came over to discuss something with me. It was a minor occasion," Cas said, looking confused. Sam tried his hardest not to burst- he didn't want to confuse Cas anymore than he already had- as he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He looked back towards Dean, who's eyes were glued to something out the window.

"How early did you come, Dean?" Sam asked, his face red from holding in a laugh. Dean sighed, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Four-ish," Dean said, sighing softly. Sam nodded thoughtfully, allowing a large smile to slowly escape on his lips.

"Did you also talk about your feelings together while drinking a cup of coffee?" Dean looked desperately over to Cas, hoping to stop the words that would come from his mouth any second, inevitably. Dean was too late.

"Well we did share a cup of coffee together-" Cas couldn't finish as Dean let his head fall back, groaning loudly as Sam began laughing uncontrollably over his own bad sense of humor. Cas looked as conflicted as ever, watching Sam with concern as he wiped tears from his eyes and Dean squeezed the bridge of his nose, letting out a very long breath of air.

"I do not understand your sense of humor," Cas said as Sam's laughing came to a slight stop, continuously wiping tears from his eyes as Dean tried his hardest not to look embarrassed. Dean nearly growled in agitation, kicking Sam's foot. Sam didn't seem to care as he fell to the couch, still red, and opened his laptop.

"So anyway Cas," he began, watching as Cas looked towards Dean with confusion, although Dean would not meet his eyes. "I uh... have some info," Sam, who still looked extremely amused by Cas's cluelessness and Dean's embarrassment.

"Perfect. I have... also acquired some information," Cas said, hesitating slightly at how quickly Sam seemed to change emotions.

Cas and Sam talked for a good half an hour about details, Dean interrupting with helpful (and generally unhelpful) comments. Dean felt that, after a half an hour, they had already figured out most of what they needed to know. The conversation droned for hours with statistics, facts, unhelpful information, and bad jokes courtesy of Dean.

"So get this; whoever is doing this might be a familiar with this town... since the patterns are indefinite," Sam said, Cas shooting a confused look his way.

"I don't quite understand; I thought we established that the abductions appeared to be annual-"

"Annual, yes. However, there is no specified date. It happens whenever. Once a year. At any given time," Sam said,

"How does that imply the point you're attempting to confirm?" Cas asked dubiously.

"It doesn't... necessarily," Sam paused a moment to look back down at his computer, "but the victims are undefined. And each abduction seems to have something in common," Sam said.

"What?" Dean and Cas asked at the same time.

"According the a police officers, there was no forced entry or lock picking," Sam said. Dean and Cas exchanged glances, then looked back at Sam.

"So?"

"All the doors were locked the night of the break in," he continued, raising his eyebrows for effect.

"So... that means..."

"The killer was familiar enough to know where the keys were. Or how to copy the key."

Dean began to comment when he heard a noise in the distance that sounded all too familiar. Sam registered it too, both Dean and Sam shrinking slightly as they walked towards the window.

They could never be sure if the cops were coming for them, or if somehow, it had to do with them. But this time was different. The police car was going too fast to be going after them.

The siren got louder and louder, until it whizzed right past the house. Sam and Dean craned their necks to see where the police car was going, but it did not go much farther.

It stopped about a block away.