Sorry for the long wait, things have been a little crazy around here. Thanks for your patience! Hugs, Vonni

Dean wiped his hands dry before stepping out of the bathroom. Stretching his aching back after he just spent several hours underneath the hood of Bobby's latest rebuilding project, he walked into the library.

"Sammy still sleeping?" He asked the older man who was scanning one of the shelves for a book.

"What…?" Bobby didn't look up as he pulled the desired tome out from between the other dusty books. Opening it, he walked over to one of the chairs without giving the question another thought, already engrossed in his reading material before he even sat down.

"Okay, what's going on?" After watching the grizzled hunter for a while, Dean couldn't hold back anymore.

"Whad'ya mean? Nothing's going on!"

"Yeah right and you didn't just ignore a question about your grandson either!"

The other man closed the hardback but didn't say anything. For a long while, he silently stared out of the window before he scrubbed his hand over his face. Standing up, he finally faced the younger man.

"Got a call from George Matthews, a hunter I worked with a few years back. He told me about a weird pattern of demon possessions. He thought it looked like they are coming from all directions and closing in on one location."

Dean felt anxiety latch onto him with an iron grip, almost robbing him of his breath, as memories of multiple severe electrical storms their area experienced lately surfaced in his mind. It wasn't like they seemed out of place. After all, this was late spring in South Dakota. Yet, in light of the new information, it appeared in a completely new light to him.

Swallowing hard, he attempted to shake his fear off as overreaction, yet one look into the pale blue eyes of his fatherly friend brought it back by a thousand fold.

"Please, don't tell me…" He almost begged.

"We are right in the middle of whatever is going on." Seeing how the grown up Winchester paled, Bobby felt like he just pushed a knife straight into Dean's chest.

"You kn…" Dean started, but had to stop to pull himself together before he could go on, "You know today is June 9th, which means…"

"… tomorrow Sammy turns six month old!" The salvage man finished his sentence.

"You think…?" Looking at him, Dean threw the thought out, refusing to let it take hold of him.

"No" Bobby answered a little too fast, "No, it couldn't be. Azazel is gone.

The thoughts in the younger man's head turned over in fast succession as he tried to make sense of what was going on.

"What if…what if there is another?" He finally questioned.

Before Bobby could answer, loud screams came through the baby monitor that was hanging from his belt. Almost grateful for the interruption, he said, "You want me to get him?"

"Naw, I haven't seen him all morning."

Dean was already running up the stairs, as he finished the words. Entering their shared bedroom, he found his little brother sitting in his crib. His crying ceased the moment he laid eyes on his father/brother and his hands stretched out in his direction.

Picking the infant up, the young man wrapped his arms around him, his need to hold his baby brother suddenly overpowering everything else. For a long moment he stood unmoving, unwilling to let go, while Sammy snuggled up against him, clearly enjoying the embrace.

"I promise Sammy, I promise you, I won't let anything happen to you!" He whispered, "I'll figure this out and whatever it is, whatever it takes, I'll stop it!"

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After changing his baby brother into a fresh diaper and a play suit, Dean took the little guy downstairs, gratefully taking the bottle with formula the older man readied from Bobby's hands. It was clear that Sammy was equally thankful, as the tiny hands instantly grabbed on to the plastic container, helping guide it up to his mouth where his lips latched on to the silicone nipple, greedily sucking in the liquid nourishment.

For a moment Dean watched the infant with a smile, his expression turning more serious as he looked up and locked eyes with the other man.

"What are we gonna do, Bobby?"

His own mind still reeling from the news and what it might mean to all of them, the grizzled hunter took a deep breath as soon as he identified the raw fear that laced his surrogate son's voice. His boys had been going through hell ever since that yellow eyed bastard had infected Sam with his demon blood and killed their mom, robbing them of a normal life and in the end causing this whole mess. Now that both of them had a chance to a new start, even if it wasn't the way any of them would have imagined it, he wasn't going to let anything take that away from them. Heck, he wasn't going to let anyone or anything take those boys away from him.

"I don't know yet, but I will shortly, I swear!" He held the older Winchester's gaze, making sure the younger man would see that he meant what he said, "Let me make some calls and while I do that, see if you can get Castiel down here. He might have some answers too and if nothing else, he should be able to lend us a hand."

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Getting their angelic friend to join them proved harder than Dean thought. It was already turning dark before the heavenly being finally appeared right in the young man's personal space. While the older Winchester let out an astonished gasp, the infant in his arms seemed to enjoy the surprise, responding with laughing to the trench coated figure showing up.

"Damn it Cas, how many times did I tell you not to do this?"

"Let me see, I think it has been six…no that's not right, it has been seventeen times, if I remember right!" The angel took a step back.

"Really?" Dean shook his head in disbelief, "You really remember it has been this many times and you still do it anyway?"

Instead of an answer, Castiel pointed at the baby in his arms, "He has grown a lot!"

"Yeah well, babies tend to do that!"

"So why did you call me down here?"

"It's Sammy…"

"What's wrong with him?" The angel stepped closer and without warning took the child away from his brother. Holding him with outstretched arms, he moved him from side to side, visually inspecting every part of him, before settling him on his arm and putting one hand on the laughing infant's forehead. "He seems to be fine." He finally stated with confusion in his voice.

"He is okay, at least for now, and I need your help to keep it that way." Dean explained.

Handing Sam back to his brother/father, Castiel eagerly asked, "What can I do?"

Dean made short hand of giving him the details of what was going on then said, "Before you say anything, let's move this conversation to the library; I'm sure Bobby also would like to hear what you have to say."

Moving his little brother/son up to his shoulder, Dean walked into the other room, confident the angel would follow him.

"Bobby…" He alerted the older man, who was engulfed in one of his old tomes, but looked up as soon as Dean spoke to him. There was a somewhat relieved expression on his face when he spotted their heavenly friend.

"Bout' time you showed up!" He grumbled.

"I am sorry. It is difficult for me to get away right now. The war in heaven is in a crucial stage right now." Castiel apologized, "I hope what I have to tell you will help. There have been rumors going around for a while now about another demon trying to follow in Azazel's footsteps."

"You knew?" Dean interrupted, "You knew and you didn't warn us?"

"As I said, there have been rumors" Castiel continued undeterred, "There was no indication they were anything more than that. Even if they would have been, I had no reason to believe that this would put Sam in danger."

"Well there is now, so who is this demon?"

"This is where it gets difficult. With the war going on, I don't have any intel of what's going on in hell. All my resources are needed up there. I do know, though, that Azazel was only one of several demons who planned to use humans to lead their demon army. They were going to work together, but unity isn't something that demons do well. Azazel betrayed the others and went ahead with the plan on his own.

"You don't happen to know who the others were, do you." Dean questioned.

"It is commonly known that there were at least three others - Shemhazai, Arakiel and Tamiel, but it is not known what happened to them. They have stayed hidden ever since and rumors have it that Azazel didn't just betray them but got rid of them for good."

The adult Winchester gave the angel a frustrated look, "So if they haven't been seen since then, why would you think they are involved now?"

Castiel shrugged his shoulders, "It is what you would call…intuition!"

Dean turned to his elder friend, doubt coloring his voice, "I don't believe it! Sammy's life is on the line and he has a hunch. "

The grizzled hunter, who until now stayed silent, gave him a warning look, "Would you react that way if it was your brother telling you he had a gut feeling about this? And how many times have you acted on a hunch?"

"Yeah, but that's…"

"How is that different?" Bobby interrupted, before he could finish, "You mean because you're human and Cas here isn't?"

"Guess you're right." Dean's face suddenly lit up, "You must be channeling Sammy, because that sure sounds like something he would have told me."

"Yeah well, your brother was always the voice of reason in your relationship!"

As if he understood, Sammy let out a squeal and when Dean turned to him, gave his father/brother an almost scolding look which made the elder Winchester break out in a smile.

"Guess he still is!" He laughed before turning to his angelic friend, "Sorry, Cas…"

"I do understand Dean and I hope you will find out what is causing this." As soon as he finished the words, the angel disappeared in a whoosh of air.

"Dammit, I wish he wouldn't do that!" Bobby complained.

"Yeah, me too, but it looks like Sammy here thinks it's awesome." The younger man looked at his baby brother, who was reaching a little hand out in the direction where Castiel had stood only a few seconds before, his eyes bright with amazement. "Now he just has to pop back in and yell peek-a-boo and it would be perfect."

"Yeah well, I need get to work. I got several hunters on this already. Better get that info out to them, it might help."

The older man left to make the necessary calls, leaving Dean behind. For a moment he stood there without moving, watching his infant brother put his head against his shoulder, his eyes filled with trust and contentment.

Gently pushing a few stray curls out of the baby's forehead, he cradled the small head, his own green eyes never leaving the hazel ones.

"Whoever this son of a bitch is, we are going to find him. He is not going to get to you, not now, not ever!"

TBC

And now a word from the editor: I had a break this week. Sorry if you felt deprived! Anyways, summer is almost here which means only good for all you beautiful people. More free time means faster editing and faster releases, right?