I was waiting on a bench with Dean, while he spoke to Bobby. I was eating a hot cinnamon roll, and drinking coffee, so I was fairly warm. Sam walks across the city square toward us, and I tear off a piece of my roll.

"Yep." Dean said. "I got it. Okay, bye."

Dean hangs up then in one motion picks up and throws an unopened can of soda to Sam, stands up and shoves the last of the food he is eating into his mouth. I shake my head at him and stand with Dean.

Dean spoke, still chewing. "So?"

Sam shrugged. "So, the professor doesn't know crap."

"Shocking." Dean swallowed, and I offered Sam a piece of my food. He took it, smiling. "Pack your panties, Sammy, we're hitting the road."

Sam popped the food into his mouth. "What? What's up?"

"That was Bobby. Some banker guy blew his head off in Ohio and he thinks there's a spirit involved."

"So you two were talking a case?"

"No, we were actually talking about our feelings." Dean said, sarcastically. "And then our favorite boy bands. Yeah, we were talking a case!"

"So a spirit, right?"

Dean nodded and took the bun from my hands, taking a bite. "Yeah, the banker was talking about some sort of electrical problems at his pad for like a week. Phone was going haywire, computer was flipping on and off."

"Huh..."

Dean handed me back the last bite. "This is not ringing your bell?"

"Well, sure, yeah." Sam paused But, Dean, we're already on a case.

"Whose?"

I looked at Sam, then nudged the older brother. "Yours."

"Right. Yeah. Well, you coulda fooled me."

Sam the hell else have we been doing lately other than trying to break your deal?

Dean: Chasing our tails, that's what. Sam, we've talked to every professor, witch, soothsayer and two bit carny act in the lower 48. Nobody knows squat! And we can't find Bela, we can't find the Colt. So until we actually find something, I'd like to do my job.

"Well there's one thing we haven't tried yet..." Sam trailed off.

I shook my head. "Sam, no."

"We should summon Ruby."

Dean grabs my hand and starts walking to the motel room. "I'm not gonna have this fight with you."

Sam stopped us."She said she knows how to save you."

"Well, she can't."

"Oh really, you know that for sure?"

"I do."

"How?"

"Because she told me, okay!?" Dean yelled.

There was a silence, and I looked down sipping my drink awkwardly. Finally, Sam spoke.

"What?"

Dean's voice lowered. "She told me. Flat out. She can't save me, nobody can."

"And you just somehow neglected to mention this to me?"

"Well, I really don't care what that bitch thinks and neither should you, so..." Dean starts pulling me.

"So what, now you're keeping secrets from me, Dean?" Sam stops us with that question. I just pull my hand from Dean's and put a little distance between us.

"You really wanna talk about who's keeping secrets from who?"

They stare at each other in silence for a long moment. Sam turns away, grabs my hand, and starts walking.

"Now where you going?"

"Guess I'm going to Ohio."

In Ohio, I stay in the motel room while the brother's go and ask the victim's wife questions. I sigh and dress in jeans, boots, white tank top, and a cardigan. Then, I put a galaxy scarf around my neck and put in matching earring. My hair was curled and parts were pulled back. My makeup matched the outfit. When the brother's came back, they delved into research. While they searched, I made lunch for them. Nothing too extravagant, just steak and a baked potato with green beans. For Dean, I also made apple pie.

Dean finally speaks, looking at the laptop. "Linda's a babe. Or, was."

Sam rose from the bed. "Did you find her?"

"Yeah, Linda Bateman. She and Ben Waters were high school sweethearts."

"So what happened?" I asked.

Dean looked at me in the kitchen. "Drunk driver hit them head on. Ben walked away."

I cock my head. "So, what then? Dead flame calls to chat?"

"You would think, but Linda was cremated. So why's she still floating around?"

I looked at Sam, who shrugged. "You got me."

"What about that, uh, caller I.D?" Dean said, as I flipped the steaks.

Sam laughs wryly. "Turns out, it's a phone number."

"No phone number I've ever seen."

"Yeah, 'cause it's about a century old, back from when phones had cranks."

"So why use that number to reach out and touch someone?"

Sam shook his head. "Got me there too, but we should put a trace on it."

"Well how the hell are we going to put a trace on something that's over 100 years old?" Then, Dean sniffed. "Lynn, what's that smell?"

"Steak, baked potatoes, and green beans. It's for lunch."

"You're an angel. Is there pie?"

"Home made apple." I grin at him, then put his plate in front of him.

Then, I gave Sam his, and ate mine. Soon, the pie was ready. Dean didn't want to let it cool at all, but I made him. Every time he went to cut into it, I threatened to shoot him. When I finally allowed him to eat, he said he was in heaven.

I wait outside in the Impala while the brothers go and talk to people in the phone company. I idly flip through a book, and sigh in boredom. They eventually come out, looking confused.

"Where's the number from?" I ask.

"Don't know." Sam said. "But it's been going to ten different people. You and I will go to one, and Dean will split up, okay?"

I nod, excited I finally get something to do. Dean drops us off at a rental car agency, and we rent one, the go to a house. We make our way up a footpath, knocking on the door. It is opened by a middle-aged man. His son comes to stand beside him, around 6-7 yrs old.

"Yeah?" The man asks, polite.

"Hello sir, we are with the phone company?" I smile at the man, then wink at the boy, who blushes.

"We didn't call the phone company."

Sam shook his head. "Oh no sir, we're calling you. We've had a lot of complaints from the neighborhood lately."

"Complaints?"

"Yes sir. Dropped calls, static, maybe even strange voices on the other end of the line?"

A teenage girls steps into the hallway while Sam is speaking, looking startled. I eye her carefully.

"No, we haven't had any of that here." The man said.

Sam sighed. "Nothing?"

"No."

"Okay." I smile. "Great, just thought we'd check. Thanks."

"No problem." The man turns to his son. "Come on, Simon."

As they turn to close the door we see the girl staring at us, looking scared. She turns away as the door closes. Sam and I look at each other, then stare after her. After a second, we return to the car. As we open our doors the girl appears.

"No way you work for the phone company." She accuses.

Sam glances at me. "Sure we do."

"Since when does a phone guy drive a rental or wear a cheap suit? And since when do they have partners?"

"Yeah, well," I laughed. "Maybe we're both keeping secrets."

"Why did you ask my Dad if he's hearing strange voices on the phone?" The girl asked.

"Why, did you hear something?" Sam asked.

"No." She said too fast.

"My mistake, I thought maybe you did." Sam shrugged.

"Well I didn't, okay?"

I smile. "Okay. Sorry to bother you." The girl looks uncomfortable but doesn't move. I look at Sam. "Because you know...if you did...then I would have told you that I've been right where you're standing right now. Hearing things, even seeing things that can't be explained. Maybe I would have been able to help out a little bit. Anyway..."

She stepped forward as we went to get into the car. "Hey wait. Maybe...maybe I've been talking on the phone...with my Mom."

I shrugged. "Well that's not so strange."

"She's dead. Like three years now."

Sam and I exchanged glances. "How often does she call you?"

"A few times. It started a week ago. I thought I was like, crazy or something."

I sighed. "Well I can tell you one thing for sure, and you're going to have to go with me on this, okay? You're not crazy."

...

In the car, Sam's cell rang. He sighed, flipping it open, then putting it on speaker. "Yeah."

"Dude, stiffs have been calling people all over town."

Sam looked at me. "Yeah, tell me about it."

"I just talked to an 84 year old grandmother who's having phone sex with her husband, who died in Korea!"

I scrunched my nose. "Eww."

"It redefined my understanding of the word 'Necrophilia'." Dean agreed.

Sam shakes his head. "So what the hell's going on here, Dean?"

Dean lets out a breathe. "Beats me, but we'd better find out soon. This place is turning into spook central."

"Yeah. All right, I'll call you later."

"Yeah."

As soon as the phone shuts, I turn to Sam. "Do you think we'll get any calls?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. Let's hope not. That'd kind of suck, huh?"

I grin, then my phone rang. I looked at the caller ID and paled. Sam noticed. "Answer it. See what they tell you.'

I nod, sniffing. "Hello?"

There was static, silence, then a voice. "Lynn?" I stifled a sob. "Lynn, is that you, honey?"

"Dad?"

Then the line goes dead. As soon as I said 'Dad', Sam pulled over. When I flipped my phone shut, he pulled me into a hug, shushing me all the while. I sniff and sob, for a few minutes. After a while, I pull away, wiping my eyes.

"Stop at the store?" I said, voice hoarse. "I need to do some shopping."

He nods, and starts the car. I tell him to wait there, as I don't know how long I'd take, and I don't want to drag him around with me. He just nods and gives me a quick kiss. I go into the store and buy chocolate cake mix, and other desserts, then stuff for food. Then, I shop for new clothes. That's something about me... I cook and shop when I'm stressed. The good thing about me, is I have a trust fund, so I don't need to run credit card scams. Also, it comes out as a debit transaction. At the registers, I add a few drinks, adding a frappuchino for me. I quickly swipe the card and gather all the bags, carrying them to the car. Sam shakes his head at me, but doesn't say anything, and just drives back to the motel. There, he helps me take in bags and I immediately start to bake. Dean comes in a little bit later, and just gives me a funny look, then turns to his brother. Turns out, he had gotten a phone call too. I just got done icing a cake, and set it on the counter, then stated mixing brownie batter.

Sam sits at the table while Dean paces.

Sam finally spoke. "Dad? You really think it was Dad?"

"I don't know, maybe."

"Well what did he sound like?"

"Like Oprah! Like Dad, he sounded like Dad, what do you think?"

"What did he say?"

"My name."

"That's it?"

"Call dropped out."

Sam dropped his arms on his legs. "Why would he even call in the first place, Dean?"

Dean shook his head. "I don't know, man. Why are ghosts calling anybody in this town? But I mean, other people are hearing from their loved ones, why can't we? It's at least a possibility, right?"

"Yeah, I guess?"

"Okay, so what if...what if it really is Dad? What happens if he calls back?"

"What do you mean?"

"What do I say?"

I cut in, pouring the chocolate into a pan. "Hello."

"Hello?"

I shrug. "That's what I said."

Dean shakes his head, grabbing his jacket, then leaving. Sam looks at the door, concerned, then looks at me. I am now making cupcakes.

"Are you okay, Lynn?"

I scoff. "I just got a call from my dead father." I sniff. "I'm okay, thanks. I just need to vent my frustration, and I do that by cooking."

"Okay. I'm going to research. Just tell me if you need me."

I put the batter bowl down and look at him. "Sam, can you just hold me for a minute?"

He immediately comes over to me, pulling me to him. I buried my face in his chest, smelling his wonderful scent. After a moment, I had to pull back, otherwise I would have started to cry.

"Thanks," I told him, picking up the bowl again.

By the time Dean walked into the hotel, I had made cake, brownies, cupcakes, cherry, apple, and pumpkin pie. I'd also made shrimp fettuccine Alfredo and garlic bread for dinner. Dean looked at the spread of food and gave a low whistle.

I smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry. Dig in. There's a lot of food."

Dean shrugged. "I got some pie. I'm good."

I twirled noodles onto my fork and speared a shrimp, placing it into my mouth. While we ate, the brother's exchanged information.

"Find anything?" Dean asked.

Sam shook his head. "After three hours I have found no reason why anything supernatural would be going on here."

"Well, you know, you think a Stanford education and a high school hook up rate of zero point zero would produce better results than that."

"Hilarious."

"Sammy, you're just looking in the wrong places, pal."

"And what are the right places, Dean?"

Dean reached into his jacket pocket. "Motel pamphlet rack." He drops some literature on the coffee table. "Milan, Ohio. Birthplace of Thomas Edison."

Sam flipped through them. "Yeah, right. So what?"

"Keep reading."

Sam scoffs slightly and keeps looking. He sighs, but after a few moments his eyebrows go up and he looks at Dean.

"You're kidding."

Dean raises his eyebrows back, smiling.

...

The next day, we went to the museum. I had slipped on a light pink dress and black heels. I clipped in circle drop earrings and put on bangles that matched my dress. My hair was pulled back into a bun, and my makeup was light. Sam and I were holding hands, and Dean was standing on my other side. A young female was guiding the tour.

"And we're walking. And, here we have one of the museum's most unique and treasured possessions. Thomas Edison's 'spirit phone'." She made quotations around the phrase. "Did you know that Mr. Edison, as well as being one of America's most beloved inventors, was also a devout 'occultist'? Ooh!"

Dean leaned to me, whispering. "What's with the quote-y fingers?"

I smothered a laugh, shruggins.

"He spent years working on this, his final invention, which he was convinced could be used to 'communicate' with the 'dead'. Pretty spooky, huh?"

The guide checks her watch, twirls her fingers in the air and begins leading the group into the next room.

"And we're walking. We are walking. We're walking. And we're not touching that. And we're walking. And stop."

Sam quickly gets out his EMF and holds it over the spirit phone.

Dean looks over. "Anything?"

Sam shook his head. "Nothing."

"What do you think?"

"Honestly? It kinda looks like an old pile of junk to me."

Dean looks around the floor, the holds up a cord. "It's not even plugged in."

"Maybe it didn't work like that."

"Okay. Maybe it's like a radio tower, broadcasting the dead all over town."

Sam shrugged. "Could be."

Dean sighed. "You know, this caller I.D. is 100 years old, right? Right around the time this thing was built."

"Yeah, but why would it all of a sudden start working now?"

"I don't know. But as long as the moldy are calling the freshers around here it's the best reason we've got."

"Yeah, maybe." Sam sighed.

Dean looked at his brother, then me. "So maybe it really is Dad. Yours too."

...

The next day, I wear the same dress again. I didn't want to waste another outfit, because as soon as we got to the motel, I changed into sweats and a tank top, then pigged out on cupcakes. I stay with Dean and the motel. When Sam comes back from seeing Lanie, I'm eating a brownie and Dean is typing away at the laptop.

"What's up?"

Sam kisses me on the cheek and I smile. "That girl Lanie, her Mom's ghost spooked her out pretty bad last night."

"That sucks."

"Yeah it does. What are you doing?"

"I think Dad's right. I think the demon is here. Check it out." Dean hands Sam some papers and goes to his bag.

Sam flips through the papers. "What is this, weather reports?"

"Omens. Demonic omens. Electrical storms everywhere we've been for the past two weeks."

I look over Sam's shoulder, frowning. "Ahh...I don't remember any lightning storms."

"Well, I don't remember you saying studying meteorology as a kid either. But I'm telling you, that bastard's been tailing me...wearing some poor dude's meat."

Sam looked at me. "And it's following you because..."

Dean shrugged. "I guess I'm big game, you know. My ass is too sweet to let outta sight."

"Okay. Sure."

Dean snatched the papers back. "Don't get too excited, Sammy. Might pull something."

"Dean, look, I wanna believe this man, I really do..." Sam started.

"Then believe it! if we get this sucker, it's Miller Time."

"Yeah, that's another thing. Dad rattles off an exorcism that can kill a demon? I mean not just send it back to hell, but kill it?"

Dean nodded. "I've checked it out. This is heavy duty Dark Ages. Fifteenth century."

"Yeah, I've checked on it too Dean. And so did Bobby." Sam said, quietly, taking the brownie I offered him.

"Okay, and?"

"Look. It definitely is an exorcism, okay, there's just no evidence it can kill a demon."

"No evidence it can't."

"Come on man..." Sam sighed.

Dean shrugged. "Hey, as far as I'm aware the only one of us who has actually been to hell is Dad. And maybe he picked up a couple of tricks down there, like which exorcisms work."

"Maybe it does." I cut in. "I hope it does too, but we gotta be sure."

"Why aren't we sure?"

"'Cause I don't know what's going on around here Dean! I mean, some guy blows his brains out, a little girl is scared out of her wits."

"Wow, a couple of civvies are freaked out by some ghosts. News flash guys, people are supposed to be freaked out by ghosts!"

They stare at each other for a long moment. Sam sighs and Dean drops his head in frustration.

Sam lowered his voice. "Dad tell you where to find the demon?"

Dean shouted this time. "I'm waiting on the call!"

"I told Lanie I'd stop by." Sam looked at me, then moved to the door.

Dean voice turned sarcastic. "Oh, good yeah. No you go hang out with jail bait. Just, uh, watch out for Chris Hansen. Meanwhile I'll be here getting ready to, you know, save my life."

Sam keeps moving toward the door, me following.

"You're unbelievable, you know that? I mean for months we've been trying to break this demon deal. Now Dad's about to give us the freaking address and you can't accept it? The man is dead and you're still butting heads with the guy!"

"That is not what this is about."

"So what is it!"

Sam finally shouted again ."The fact is we've got no hard proof here, Dean. After everything, you're still just going on blind faith!"

"Yeah, well maybe! You know, maybe that's all I got, okay?"

They stare at each other again. Dean looks down.

Sam's voice softens. "Please. Just please don't go anywhere until I get back. Okay, Dean? Please."

Dean remains silent. Sam shakes his head and turns for the door, grabbing my hand. I look at Dean as he watches us go. I give him a small smile.

...

At Lanie's house, she was telling us what happened. "Have you told your father about any of this?" I asked.

"And bother him at work?" She was incredulous. "No. He wouldn't believe me anyway, he'd just chuck me into therapy."

"So what did your mother say?"

"She wanted to see me. So at first I thought I was supposed to go to the cemetery."

I nodded. "Did you?"

She nodded. "Nothing happened. But then she started asking me to do other things."

"What sort of things?" I looked at Sam.

"Bad things." She paused for a long moment.

"Lanie please." I said, softly. "Tell us what happened, it's very important."

"Mom told me to go to Dad's medicine cabinet." She was on the verge of tears.

"And?"

Lanie finally burst into tears. "She wanted me to take his sleeping pills, take all of his sleeping pills."

"She wanted you to kill yourself?"

She nods. "Why would my Mom want me to do that?"

I put my arm around her and Sam smiled a little at me. "I don't know."

"I mean, just so I could come to her?"

Sam stared at her. "What'd you say?"

"She wanted me to come to her."

He shook his head. "No, how'd she say it?"

"'Come to me.' Like a million times." She sniffed.

I pulled away from her and looked her in the eyes. "Lanie. That's not your mother."

Sam stands up. "We need to go, Lynn." We start down the hallway. "Listen to me. Don't answer the phone. Don't use the computer. Don't do anything unless I say to, all right?"

Sam starts down the stairs and realizes Lanie's not following. I turn and see she's gaping into a bedroom.

"Lanie." I said.

"Where's Simon?" She was horrified.

We go outside, and look around, then realize that Simon was walking into a busy highway.

Simon is walking as if in a trance across the road. Car horns were blaring. He keeps walking across the next road. A large truck barrels toward him. The truck horn blares and tires squeal. Simon seems to awaken and throws his hands up to protect himself. Sam rushes the road, grabs Simon and dives for the verge. They lay panting as the truck roars past. I gasp and cover my mouth, relieved that they're okay.

...

After that whole ordeal, we went to the car and Sam called his brother. All I heard was his side of the conversation.

"Dean, it's not Dad. A crocotta. Some kind of scavenger. Mimics loved ones, whispers 'Come to me', then lures you into the dark and swallows your soul. Dean, look, I'm sorry man, I know... Yeah."

Then, Sam's eyes widen and he looks at me, hanging up. "The phone company."

I nod. It makes since. They explained that in the company, there were flies. Apparently, someone needed to work on personal hygiene. Sam parks the car and turns to me.

"Stay here. I don't care what you see or hear, don't move." I nod in understanding, and he pulls me in for a long, hard kiss.

I watch as he creeps forward, makes a call, then keeps on going. He and a dark-skinned man struggle against a car for a minute, then a man comes behind Sam with a baseball bat. I whimper, but don't move, as Sam falls to the ground, unconscious. Then, he turns to his co-worker, and knocks him out as well. I'm guessing that's the crocotta.

I stay in the car for about ten minutes, thinking it sufficient time for the man get them down to his lair and tie them up. I creep into the building, first making sure there was no alarm system, then followed the signs. I get to outside the room and hear Sam's voice.

"You know, mimicking Dean's one thing. But my Dad. That's a hell of a trick."

"Well once I made you two as hunters, it was easy. I found Dean's number, then your number, then your father's numbers. Then emails, voicemails, everything. You see, people think that stuff just gets erased, but it doesn't. You'd be surprised how much of yourself is just floating out there, waiting to be plucked." The crocotta paused. "Your girl was just as easy to fool."

"Dean's not going to fall for this. He's not going to kill that guy."

"Then the guy kills him."

The monster came to stand over Sam. "Technology. Makes life so much easier. Used to be I'd hide in the woods for days, weeks, whispering to people, trying to draw them out into the night. But they had community, they all looked out for each other, I'd be lucky to eat one or two souls a year. Now when I'm hungry, I simply make a phone call." He sneered. "You're all so connected. But you've never been so alone."

He opens his mouth and begins to unhinge his jaw while raising his knife. While he has been speaking I managed to creep up behind him. When he gets close to Sam, I grab him and pull him away. The knife falls away, and I rise. Just them, Sam erupts from his chair and tackles the man, who was just about to grab me. As they were exchanging blows, I grabbed the knife and whistled. Sam looked at me and nodded, blood trickling down his face. He pushes the crocotta to me, and I stab him in his chest multiple times. He drops to the floor dead, and unfortunately, I have blood all over my dress. Sam comes up to me and looks me over, making sure I'm not hurt.

"I'm fine." I assure him.

"I know I told you not to come, but I'm glad you did." He hugged me, then kissed me.

Then, we went to the motel room. When we got there, Dean was in the bathroom. Sam goes to stand the door of the bathroom. I sigh and push them both back into the hotel room.

"Sit. I'll clean you up."

They obey and Dean looks at Sam. "I see they improved your face."

Sam snickered. "Right back at ya."

I grab peroxide and rags, then some Neosporin. I start on Dean first, and he winces.

"So, crocotta, huh?" He winced as I dabbed the cut on his head.

Sam sighs. "Yep."

"That would explain the flies."

"Yeah it would. Hey, um...look I'm sorry it wasn't Dad." Sam glances at me. "Yours either."

Dean huffed and I dabbed disinfectant on his cuts, then move to Sam. "Nah, I gave you a hell of a time on this one."

"Ahh." Sam winces as I wipe the blood away, and pour peroxide on the rag, dabbing that onto his cut.

"You were right."

"Forget about it."

"I can't. I wanted to believe so badly that there was a way outta this. I mean I'm staring down the barrel at this thing. You know, Hell. For real, forever, and I just..."

"Yeah." Sam smiled as I dabbed disinfectant in his cuts, then I throw the rag away and put the other stuff in the bathroom.

Dean started to tear up. "I'm scared, Sam. I'm really scared."

Sam started crying, too. "I know."

"I guess I was willing to believe anything. You know, the last act of a desperate man."

At this, I start to cry too, then I go and sit by Dean. He grabbed my hand and I put my head on his shoulder. I didn't want him to die. He's like my brother. I love him too much, and I'm afraid of how much it's going to hurt.

Sam sniffed. "There's nothing wrong with having hope, Dean."

"Hope doesn't get you jack squat. I can't expect Dad to show up with some miracle at the last minute. I can't expect anybody to, you know. I mean the only person that can get me out of this thing is me."

"And me." Sam was earnest.

"And me?"

Sam furrows his brow. "What?"

"Deep revelation, having a real moment here, that's what you come back with? And me?"

"Uh...do you want a poem?"

"The moment's gone."

"Hold on," I pull Dean back down. "Before it's completely gone. Dean, I'm going to try to help in breaking your deal. These past few months, you've become my brother. I don't want you to die, so I'll do whatever I can to help you."

Fresh tears sprang to Dean's eyes and he pulled me into a hug. I smiled into his chest, through my tears, and tried not to sob. When Dean pulled away, he wiped my face, then looked at his brother.

"See? This is something like what you should have said."

Sam smiles slightly. Dean flicks the TV on, reaches between the beds, grabs two bottles of beer and holds one out to Sam without looking at him. Sam takes one, they crack them open and drink in unison, while staring at the TV. I shake my head as I go to the bathroom with my bag. I dress in shorts and a t-shirt, and pull my hair down. After I was done, I went to the kitchen and got a piece of pie for Dean and a piece of cake for me. Over the week, Dean had eaten all but the apple pie. Then, I got another piece of cake for Sam and took them to the beds. I handed out the appropriate food and Dean handed me a beer. I smiled at him, and then we watch TV in silence.