Cicero, Indiana

Lisa Braden washed the dishes. Looking out of the corner of her eye at her son, Ben, who was quietly doing his homework at the kitchen table.

"You almost done baby?"

Ben nodded.

"Good. When you're done I need you to get washed up and get ready for bed."

Ben nodded.

Frustrated, Lisa put the dishes aside and walked over to the table. Ben had been silent for almost a year. The doctors had assured her that there wasn't anything physically wrong with him to explain why he wouldn't talk. They had suggested he see a psychiatrist, and Lisa agreed. It had done very little to change Ben's mood. He would nod occasionally. Use hand gestures. But never speak. It was unnerving and cut her deeply.

"Sweetie," she whispered as she sat down beside her son. "I really wish you would start talking to me."

Lisa grabbed Ben's hand for support, but Ben only pulled away. Anger rose up inside of her, but not at her son, no. She could never be mad at him. She was angry at the man she held responsible for his condition: Dean Winchester. Ben hadn't been the same since Dean vanished. She wasn't stupid. She knew that whatever had happened to Dean that night, Ben had been involved somehow. She knew her son had seen something, something awful, that would create a scar so deep he would be traumatized to this very day. At first it had made her afraid. Fear of what awful thing had happened to Dean permiating her every thought. That is until Bobby called and said that Dean was fine. When she asked what had happened, she was told he couldn't really explain. The conversation ended there and Bobby hadnt bothered to drop her a line since.

The fear for Dean never subsided, not completely, but rage began to grow within. A rage that grew with each passing day. Anger at Dean for bringing supernatural things into her home. Things that traumatized her son into becomming mute. As aware of the lifestyle as she was, Dean, whether it was his fault or not, brought something into her home. She didn't think she could ever forgive him for that. Holding back tears, Lisa got up and continued on with the dishes. She made little acknowledgement when Ben put his pencil down and headed upstairs. When she knew he was out of earshot, she began to cry.

From atop the stairs, Ben stood looking down towards the room below. His blank expression growing slowly into a crooked smile. Turning around he made his way up to the bathroom, quietly shutting the door behind him.

"What took you so long?" asked a scruffy, accented voice from behind.

"The bitch wouldn't stop watching me," he said turning to face thsy voice.

Standing in a tall, tailored Armanit suit, the demon known as Crowley sighed.

"I don't get why you're still hiding out in the small fry?"

"He could still prove to be useful."

"How, Dean Winchester's no longer here. The angel made sure of it."

"He won't stay gone for long."

"And how can you be so sure?"

Ben blinked, revealing black eyes, "His brother's alive. And when it comes to Sammy, Dean won't be able to stay away."

"A Winchester family reunion isn't exactly the best thing for us right now."

"You've always been so short sighted!" he spat. "I blame Lilith for making you that way."

"Sam and Dean are an immovable force when together," Crowley replied. "Wouldn't keeping them apart be best until we're at least further along with the plan?"

"The Winchesters' won't even know we're invovled until its too late. I've arranged a distraction or two. For the plan to move forward, I need a few things to happen first. Important things that can only go down if they're together."

"But -"

"I didn't survive the apocalypse on stupidity Crowley," he interrupted. "And I will not stand for my servants questioning me. Is that clear?"

"Loud and clear."

"Now get out of my sight."

Within a blink, Crowley was gone. From within the hallway Lisa Braden backed slowly away from the door, desperately trying to keep her silence. She made it almost to the stairs when she found herself flung up against the hallway wall. She watched in silent horror as her son, his dark eyes gleaming, made his way down the hallway to stand before her. Lisa tried to move, but was immovable. She tried to scream, but had no voice.

"Hello Lisa," he spoke in almost a sing-song type of voice. "How fortunate of you to reveal yourself to me like this."

Lisa watched as he raised his hand, inching her body closer and closer to the ceiling. She closed her eyes and prayed. When she stopped moving she suddenly found herself able to speak, to scream, but did neither. A sudden, sharp pain grew across her abdomen as she felt the warm drip of blood begin to flow off from her wound. The demon laughed as the pain grew sharper. Lisa prayed even harder. Not for herself, but for her son. That he would make it out of this in one piece. That he would be spared the pain and agony that was being inflicted upon her. The demons laughter suddenly turned into an agonizing cry. A bellow both demonic and human. Before she could open her eyes to see what had happened, she felt the sensation of falling. As if she were a puppet whose strings had been cut. As she threw her arms out to try and lessen the impact, she realized she was being scooped up . Opening her eyes she saw a tall, scruffy man with a tan trench coat had caught her as she fell.

"You will be fine Lisa!" he said in a very deep commanding tone.

"Castiel?" was the last thing she said before darkness consumed her.

ooooo

Kayenta, Arizona

"What does finding this Skin-Walker have anything to do with saving me?"

"Corpse poison works one of two ways: it either works like an actual poison and kills its victims within days or it exacerbates an underlying medical conditon to create a slow and painful death. After examining you I came to realize that you must have had a heart problem prior to your accident because there is nothing in your injuries from that accident that would have caused your current condtion. It probably just brought to the foreground something that was already there. My guess is that your heart may have been damaged as a result of your demon blood addiction."

Sam looked at Stephenie surprised.

"I'm a doctor. If I am to treat you correctly I need to know everything about your medical history."

"So the blood damaged my heart."

"Bobby said it worked alot like a drug addiciton. And drugs can damage your heart. What you had probably wouldn't have killed you. It wouldn't probably even be an issue if not for the hex."

"And finding a Skin-Walker will help me how?"

"My father has confirmed that Cyrus was the one that hexed you. He knows as much as anyone that the thirst of a Skin-Walker is uncontrollable. If we can bring proof that it was the Skin-Walker who killed Molly, he may release you from the curse."

"He can do that?"

"He's the only one that can. Every hex is unqiue to the practioner who cast it. Only they know how to undo it."

"Then what do we do in the meantime?"

"We try our best to keep you alive. Hex or not, your still pretty sick. You're lucky Bobby got you here when he did, otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to stop the arrythmia. Any longer and you would have been looking at a heart attack at twenty eight."

"So what do we do now?"

"I want to start you on a comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation therapy. We used it alot to treat patients when I was working up at the Mayo clinic. It won't cure what ails you but it should make you strong enoug to go looking for your brother."

Dean. Sam's mind quickly raced back to his dream. To those horrible thoughts that plagued his mind not so long ago. Hoping beyond all hopes that his irrational fears, growing in the back of his mind, were untrue.