A/N: Sorry for the long wait! My brain died, and I've been loads of great fanfics lately, so I was trying to improve my writing…but I still feel this chapter goes a bit…blaaaah at the end… AND I PASSED ALL MY UNI EXAMS! WOOOO! *does victory dance*

Thanks for all the amazing reviews and suggestions everyone left! And thanks to TheLadyPendragon, for your review as well! I tried to reply, but for some reason it wouldn't let me! *shakes fist at internet* I'm glad you liked it! =) And I read some of your stories recently (sorry I can't remember which one, I've read so many lately while waiting for my brain to work!) and it was awesome! I will definitely try and include all the characters you mentioned, or at least some of them! I really want Cas to be in it, anyone have any ideas? He doesn't fit in the timeline, but I'd love to include him!

Also, thanks to Zith888! There WILL be a Winchester hug, don't you worry! Might be more than one actually… and I may just have Steve kidnap him! Thanks!

And most people seemed keen on the idea of Steve being human instead of a monster…so I'll just stick with that….

I've tried to incorporate all the good ideas you all left in your reviews, so hopefully you'll like this chapter! Thanks for all those who suggested extra character as well, and expansions as to what happened to Adam! You're all amazing people! =)

Enjoy!

P.S. Trying out a new line breaker…mine never seem to work…=S

Chapter 6 - Breakdown.

A loud and fierce pounding on the door resulted in Adam's eyes springing open suddenly. After a brief glance over to his brothers – who were both snoring into their pillows and showing no signs of waking in the near future – Adam sluggishly stood up, his bones cracking with exhaustion and lack of use, and shuffled his way over to the motel door. Cautiously peering through the keyhole, and seeing no-one, Adam slowly pulled open the door to reveal –

"Steve?" he gasped, his heart threatening to jump out from his chest, and scuttle under the bed to hide. Then Adam realised he had forgotten to take his weapons to the door. Sam and Dean had encouraged – or rather demanded – that Adam always be prepared; never talk to strangers (what was he, five?), and always carry some form of weapon on you in case you are attacked by strangers or monsters. Or in this case…an evil step-dad.

"Now, boy, what did I tell ya about speakin' to me?" The giant of a man – in both height and shape – growled at the cowering youth.

"Uh…" Adam struggled to form words, his mouth dry, "Uh, don't speak…unless spoken to…sir."

"Good boy." Steve praised as he ruffled Adam's dirty blonde hair, deliberately ignoring the flinches his actions created from the boy. "Where did you go off to?"

"What? I mean…sorry, sir?"

"After yer mother's…accident. Yeh disappeared. You and me, we make a good team, boy. A boy should never be without a father." The man smirked, stroking Adam's cheek with a dirty, calloused thumb. His beard covered his thick neck, and was filled with crumbs, most likely as a result of binge-eating. He cupped the boy's chin when the boy tried to pull away, disgust clear in his eyes and in the way his lips curled. "What's the matter, boy?"

"You're not my father. John is."

"And the kid has a backbone! Listen boy, I am as good a daddy as you'll ever get. John don't care about you, else he'd have taken you away years ago when yeh were a baby, so I didn't need to put up with yer whining." He strengthened his grip on the boy's face, using his remaining hand to grab one of Adams' arms, forcing him into a tight bear hug. "You're my son and I'm yer daddy, and daddy's always love their son's very, very much."

"No…no…no-no-no-let go…" Adam struggled in the strong, fierce hold.

"Adam-"

"No! Let go-"

"Adam-"

"Boy! Stop struggling-"

"Let go of me-don't touch – STOP!"

"Adam-

"Adam!"

"Kiddo? Stay with us!"

"Adam, wake up – it's just a dream, you're safe!"

"Adam?"

Adam's eyes sprang open, wide and not blinking under his sweat covered fringe, which was plastered to his forehead. Tears mixed with the sweat on his face, and it was impossible to distinguish which was which. Gasping breaths were the only noise audible in the motel room, and the two men slowly led their brother away from the open motel door, and sat him on one of the beds. Sam quickly walked over and shut the door and got Adam a glass of water, leaving Dean to attempt to comfort the terrified teenager.

Eventually Adam's breathing returned to a normal level and he raised his eyes to look at the concerned faces that belonged to his brothers. "I-" he gulped. "I'm sorry."

Sam squeezed his shoulder, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Adam shrugged. Then nodded. Then shook his head and shrugged again. After a moment of hesitation, he mumbled, "Steve. He was…here. It was…so real…I thought…" he trailed off and stared at his brothers.

"We'll never let him harm you, Adam." Sam replied instantly.

"Yeah." Dean interjected loudly, as if the very tone of his voice would vanish away any evil that so much as even thought about harming his baby brother…either of them. "Nothin' means more to a Winchester than family."

"But I'm a Milligan." Adam muttered dejectedly.

"Adam, you are a true Winchester. You've been through this…horrible experience, and you've survived. We're proud to have you as our little brother."

To their surprise, and horror, Adam burst into noisy, wailing like a cat-that-had-been-stood-on sobs and threw himself and the two men. They carefully placed their arms around him and pulled him in until all three foreheads were pressed together; dirty blonde hair mixing in with shaggy brown locks and short dark blonde spikes. Suddenly, Dean started sniggering from under Sam's elbow.

XxXxXxXxXxX

"What, Dean?" Sam sighed in exasperation.

"Winchester sandwich." He chuckled.

Neither Sam nor Adam found it particularly amusing, as Dean continued to chuckle, nevertheless, the three of them howled with laughter until their sides were sore, and the tears on Adam's face changed from those of pain, to those of joy.

"My mum used to take me to the park every Friday after school. I'd get an ice-cream too, it'd be our treat. I met my best friend Timmy there – he's moved away now – and I always used to climb to the top of the climbing frame, and wave at her. Just to see her smile." Adam rambled on once the hysterical laughter had died down. Adam has suddenly decided to entertain them with stories from his childhood, creating fond smiles on Sam's and Dean's faces as they learned more about their baby brother, inwardly patting themselves on the back when they realised that they'd broken down some of Adam's walls, and discovered a shy, sarcastic, and overall, pleasant young man. "And then, " he continued, not noticing the smiles on his brothers' faces, "I dumped the sand on Timmy's head, and somehow ended up breaking his arm! Lucky my mum was there to help out, really. He got me back a few years ago on my birthday, though. He tripped me up and I fell and broke my finger. Banged my head too. I hate concussion. Do you two get hurt a lot?"

Sam and Dean shared an exasperated look, still smiling. Who knew Adam was such a chatterbox?

XxXxXxXxXxXx

A few hours later, when Adam had finally tired himself out from talking and eventually fallen asleep, Sam and Dean were sitting at the tiny motel table, having a whispered discussion about recent events and revelations.

"We need to find Steve. And if he's human or not. I almost hope he is human, means we can get the police on him."

"Yeah, but it just shows humans can be monsters too, Sammy. Remember the Benders?"

"Eugh." Sam shuddered. "Weird to think us humans can be more dangerous that the monsters we hunt. The only monster Steve could possibly be, is a Shapeshifter, I think. And I really don't want to put Adam through that again. He's only just found out about out world, I wouldn't like to know what would happen to him if it turned out he'd been living with a monster all this time."

It was Dean's turn to shudder. He glanced at Adam and smiled in satisfaction when he turned over in his sleep and continued to snore softly, "'Spose we could get Bobby to run a background check on him? Maybe check in with Ellen, see if he's a hunter, or if any of her pals know him?"

"I doubt he is, but it's worth a shot." Sam sighed, "I'll go check on Adam, and you phone Bobby and tell him we'll be there in a few hours."

XxXxXxXxXxXx

"Alrigh', alrigh'! Jeez, can't an old man get to the door in his own time?" Bobby grumbled. He checked his pocket for his knife and his gun – just in case – and threw open the door to reveal three young men. "Boys!" he exclaimed, a grin lightening up his ageing features, "Yer early!"

"Well, someone broke every speed limit coming here. It was 60, Dean, not, 120-" Sam whined, but was interrupted by Dean.

"That's a recommended limit, Sa-"

"No! It's a limit set up by the-"

"Plus, the Impala can't read," Dean smirked smugly. "And I was too busy rockin' to Zeppelin to pay attention."

"Yeah. My poor ears." Adam grumbled, furiously rubbing his ears, whilst glaring playfully at Dean.

"I hate you." Dean laughed.

"Deal with it." Adam stuck out his tongue.

"Why, you little…be careful or I'll cut it off, you-"

"BOYS!" Bobby roared, successfully silencing the oldest and youngster Winchester. Turning to the middle Winchester and demanding in exasperation, "How do you cope with these two idgits?" At Sam's howl of laughter, he grinned and said, "I've only got two rooms free of junk right now, so one of yeh is gonna have to share. Yeh, can fight after yer dinner, ok?"

"Yes, sir!" Sam and Dean chorused, laughing at Adam's amused look.

XxXxXxXxXx

After their stomachs were full, and Adam had declared he was exhausted, and therefore he was going to bed, and that 'you two idiots can fight over who loves me the most and wants to share with me', he left them to retell Adam's tale whilst they sat in the lounge, working their way through a case of beer.

"I can't believe this guy hurt him so much." Bobby growled, "Sometimes I just wanna bring yer daddy back from the grave, just so I can whack 'im on the head!"

"What?" Dean demanded angrily, slamming his partially empty beer can down on the wooden table.

"He wasn't protectin' Adam by keeping him 'safe'!" Bobby snarled, just itching to smack someone….preferably John, "He just put him in more danger!"

Sam placed a hand on Bobby's shoulder and squeezed. They all knew that Bobby had taken Sam and Dean on as surrogate sons, and Adam was no exception. Despite the scowls that were not present on Bobby's face, the old guy was about as harmless as a butterfly, with the exception of monsters…he unleashed a vicious temper on them…that old man sure was pretty awesome with a crowbar…

"It's ok," Sam continued gently, "We're going to catch him-"

"How? From what yeh said, he just plain vanished off the face of the earth!"

"We're gonna see if we can go back to Windom and get Adam to find a photo of Steve so that-"

"Is it worth going to the police?" Bobby interrupted, a glare on his face.

"Dunno?" Sam shrugged, "We had a hard enough time getting Adam to open up to us, never mind complete strangers…I suggest we try on our own first, and then go to them if we don't find anything?"

It was due to a desperation and fierce desire to protect the youngest Winchester that resulted in the other two nodding in agreement. None of them noticed a burly, giant of a man, with a permanent scowl and eyebrows furrowed together lurking near the Impala.

XxXxXxXxXxXx

A/N: Working on the next chapter now, but if I don't get it up this week, it'll be a couple of weeks as I have two concerts! Take That and Glee! And I'm travelling down to London for the Glee one!

Please leave a review!

Chapter title song is Breakdown by Forever the Sickest Kids! Seeing them in October! WOOOOO!

=) x