AN: Subtly, thy name is not Winchester.

Over The Line
Ten

The phone's going when they get back to the Milligan place. Adam sprints from the front door to get it in time and Sam barely manages to catch Sorry before the big dog can charge down the steps and tackle Dean; it's getting to be a habit with him. Sam wonders why people's pets are all of sudden in love with his big brother. First Muss, now Sorry, and there was a standard poodle in east Texas this one time that followed him around for days.

"How do you even have her number?" Dean demands as Sam shuts the front door.

Sam shrugs, all innocence. "I dunno…look, man, we've kept in contact with Peggy, and I thought, you know, we don't exactly have that many friends. Might be an idea to look after the ones we do have. I thought, what if it were Peg, and I called her, apologized."

Dean looks awkward. "Okay, uh, so…what'd she say, back then?"

Sam smirks, "what, about you?"

"No!"

He shakes his head at Dean, who just scowls back. "Not a lot, at the time," Sam says anyway. "She was still kind of shaken up. Said she'd keep in touch though, since it made sense to. And it's worked out for us now, hasn't it?"

"…right."

Adam's frowning at the kitchen bench when they make their way to the back of the house. When he hangs up, the frown has developed into concern.

"That was Mom. She said one of Dad's friends came into the ER today."

Dean straightens up from rubbing Sorry's ears. "What?"

"Dad's journal entries, about the ghoul? They said that he got help from a deputy called Joe Barton," Adam says. "He's the guy in their trauma ward now being treated for…for bites and lacerations. Mom was freaked out because the bites look human."

"Shit," Dean mutters fervently.

Sam looks over at him. "You think it's –"

"Bite marks, and going after someone who hunted with dad? I'd say yeah, ghouls."

"I thought he got it, though?" Adam asks, frowning. "The desecrations stopped, and dad left afterward."

"Yeah," Sam says, mind going a mile a minute. "But, what if he only thought there was one? What if there were others, hiding until now?"

"And now, what? They're back for revenge?"

Sam swears his heart skips a beat. "If that's true," he says carefully, "then there next target…"

"Mom," Adam breathes, face white.

"Everyone back in the car!" Dean says.

"Uh, hi guys," Kate says as her son and his brothers barrel into the ER. "Where's the fire?"

"Mom, can we talk privately please," Adam says in a rush, then sort of herds her into one of the triage alcoves, Sam and Dean crowding in behind and drawing the curtain.

"Guys, Adam, what's going on?" she demands.

"Ah, slight problem," Dean says, casting a look around one edge of the curtain and shooting a suspicious look at a bewildered candy striper. "You know that guy? The one who got torn up and knew dad?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, uh…" Dean has apparently run out of steam.

"We think we know what– who did it," Sam says.

"Have you spoken to the police?" Kate says severely. "No? Then why are you telling me?"

"Well, um – Kate, look, we think you might be their next target."

She raises an eyebrow at them. "What?"

"Well, I mean," Sam tries. "We…we were looking at dad's notes on the case, y'know, and ah, apparently, this whole attack on Joe Barton thing looks really similar to stuff that was done to those desecrated bodies."

Oh.

Well, crap.

"This is about the whole ghoul thing isn't it?" asks Kate with a sigh.

AN: Didn't see that shit comin' didja?