Hi everyone! It's great to hear that people are enjoying this series. Thanks for the feedback and the PMs that I've been getting about it. I do want to clarify that not all the the Charmed or Supernatural episodes will be used. Some of them are getting skipped for various reasons-either they don't work with the two universes together or I just really didn't enjoy them enough to want to make them work. Some will appear but not in order and some will have substantial changes to them to fit the direction of this series I'm creating.

Anyway, right now it's still all about finding John after that last episode. It's a mixture of Secrets and Guys from Charmed and Scarecrow from Supernatural. I hope you enjoy it.

Episode 11: Secrets and Sacrifices

Dean placed a pin in the map on the board in his bedroom. It was just another location to cross of the map. If his dad was there, Caleb would have known. Caleb scouted that area all the time—and Dean knew that meant all the time. It was Caleb's ground to protect.

"Are you sure he won't be there?" Sam asked with a frown, seeing the red pin in the board. As much as Dean hated it, Sam had come up with the color-coordination. Blue for possibilities and red pins for areas that John Winchester definitely was not. Of course, there were far too many places to check themselves, so Dean called a few hunter friends to do the rounds. And Bobby was checking for him, too. Together they would find John Winchester.

That's all they'd been doing for the last month. Dean's birthday had been and gone without celebrating—Dean didn't want to celebrate it. Adam had been annoyed since it was the first birthday Dean had been home for, but the eldest Winchester brother appeased him by saying they could celebrate his 30th if he lived long enough to see it. It was enough for now. They could wait three years.

Dean didn't need to celebrate his birthday. It was just a reminder that he hadn't seen his dad for so long. He'd barely heard from the man, let alone seen him. And Dean was getting the idea that Bobby hadn't heard from his dad either. That wasn't a good thing.

It had been on the way back from Lawrence that the two had decided to start the search for their dad. Bringing back memories from their youth, Sam had grown nostalgic. It didn't help that seeing their mom again made them want to find her killer. Adam had been asleep at the time, and Dean was certainly grateful for that. He didn't want his baby brother involved in this. Adam needed to concentrate on school and get into a good college. He needed a good life, despite having to deal with all this witchy business and saving innocents.

"He's definitely not there," Dean nodded, "Caleb text."

"Caleb?"

"Oh, he's another hunter," Dean explained, "And I trust the guy. If he says Dad isn't there, he isn't there. He'll tell me if that changes, though."

Dean looked over Sam's shoulder at the computer screen. He was going through news reports, anything that could be something John would check out. Anything that sounded like it could be the demon.

"Well, at least there isn't anyone matching his description in the morgue or hospitals," Dean sighed, now sitting on his bed, "Bobby is doing the rounds on them."

A knock at the door caught their attention, then came the attempt to get into the room. Dean had just recently installed a lock on the door to make sure nobody could get in and see what he was doing.

"Dean?" Phoebe called out to her cousin, "Can I come in, please?"

Dean frowned, but rushed over to the door anyway. He unlocked the door but only opened it enough to see his baby cousin on the other side. She eyed him suspiciously.

"What are you up to?" She asked, trying to see into the room.

"This isn't exactly a good time, Phoebs," Dean blocked her view easily, "What's up?"

"Jess called to see if Sam was going to come home tonight," Phoebe rolled her eyes, "She's getting worried and so am I. You two are up to something. You know you can tell me. You can tell all of us."

Dean smiled and shook his head, "Not up to anything, Phoebs. Just brotherly bonding. I'll get Sam to call Jess." With that he closed the door and turned back to Sam, "You haven't spoken to her?"

"I didn't really know what to tell her," Sam shrugged his shoulders, "I wanted to tell her the truth—I still want to tell her the truth."

The look on Dean's face told Sam that that wasn't a good idea. The middle Winchester brother just rolled his eyes, muttering something to himself about proposing. Dean's ears picked up and he looked at his little brother.

"You're gonna propose?" he asked with a big grin on his face, "That's awesome, dude!"

"I swear, you have bat hearing," Sam chuckled, "You weren't meant to hear that. You don't think that's sissy, then?"

"What? Why would I think that?" Dean asked, slightly offended at the comment, "I think it's great for you. You and Jess...you're great together and I really like her, Sammy. So, how you gonna do it?"

"I'm not going to talk to you about that. You're my brother, Dean and I love you, but you're not helpful when it comes to the romance or being serious about stuff like this," Sam laughed, "Anyway, c'mon, we've got a dad to find."

Mr. Franklin was sitting on the couch with his son, watching some movie. He wasn't even sure what the name of it was, but Max was enjoying it. And that's all that mattered for the man.

He wasn't expecting the three men in balaclavas to smash their way into their home and grab the 11-year-old boy.

"Max!" Mr. Franklin shouted, leaning forward for his son. One of the men held a gun, aiming it directly at the father-of-one.

"Don't move, don't breathe!" He warned, "We're gonna borrow your kid just for a day. Now, if you're smart, you will not call the cops. We will have him safe and sound, first thing Monday morning, ready for school. Do you understand?"

Mr. Franklin could just nod his head, fearing for his life and the life of his son. Everything inside of him told him to fight, but it could end up bloody and his wife...no, Max's mother would never forgive him.

He just nodded his head, letting the men take his boy out of the house. And that was it. They were gone as quickly as they got there, and there was nothing the father could do. Nothing at all.

Opening credits

Adam pulled out the stuffed bear, looking at it with a chuckle.

"Can I have a hug, Phoebe." He moved the snowman as if it was talking, looking directly at Phoebe. The youngest Halliwell sister rolled her eyes from where she sat on the old, fairly uncomfortable couch. While her cousin and two sisters were spring-cleaning in the attic, she was working on painting her nails.

"Oh, Phoebs, you loved that bear." Piper grabbed the stuffed toy from Adam's hands, looking at it with a smile. Prue looked up at the bear and smiled, before looking back around the room. She and Adam had decided to put their powers into use by cleaning the attic with them.

That didn't end well for Mickey, Dean couldn't help but warn them, as he decided not to help them with the task. Not that Phoebe was helping by sitting on the couch.

"You know, I hope this doesn't fall under the personal gain category." Prue now decided to say. Maybe Dean was right—and maybe personal gain was the reason Mickey's spell exploded.

"How could it?" Piper asked with a shrug, "A good witch is a clean witch."

"Yeah, we should spring clean like this more often." Phoebe grinned. Adam laughed, waving his hand to make the drawers close. Some of the scattered items landed in boxes and the windows were cleaned with cloths with no-one touching them. It was a good job they were in the attic, or they'd have people wondering how the cloths were moving without anyone touching them.

"Oh, look!" Piper grinned, pulling out another stuffed animal, "More toys. I told you Grams wouldn't throw them away."

"Yeah, but we will," Prue instructed, "Why don't you just put that stuff in the discard pile?"

"Wait, what's in there?" Phoebe asked, putting the top of the nail varnish on the bottle, so she could give the pile her undivided attention. Adam went through the list of items they'd thrown into the pile. Most were dolls that had their heads taken off (Dean) or stuffed animals without eyeballs (Dean again!). There were a collection of books that made Adam smirk, though. Phoebe had clearly spotted them, and tried to grab them before Adam did.

"Ooo, Miss Phoebe's diaries," Adam laughed, pretending to open one of the books up. Phoebe glared and grabbed them out of his hands.

"The place I kept all my secrets. Give me those."

A giggle from her two sisters made Phoebe look up, paranoid at their actions, "You couldn't keep secrets, Phoebs. You've never kept secrets."

"I could!" Phoebe protested, but knew it was a losing battle. The best secret keepers in the house were Prue and Dean. Sam and Piper were close seconds and then there were Phoebe and Adam; neither were very good at not telling someone in the house something that the others had said or done.

"I say we keep all the toys," Phoebe stated, changing the subject, "For our children. For our future."

"Well, you can get rid of mine," Prue was the only one who didn't agree, and she didn't miss the look that her sisters and youngest cousin were throwing here, "It's just that, you know, we live in a world with so much violence and then you add the evil demons and it's a pretty scary place to raise kids in. Besides, I don't really think I'm cut out to be a mom."

"How can you say that?" Piper asked, knowing that Prue had done so much to raise her and Phoebe. Prue was practically their mom, and she'd make a great one.

"Why don't we have this conversation later?" Prue sighed, "Like say five years?"

The sisters rolled their eyes, but respected Prue's wishes. Adam just wanted to avoid the topic of conversation completely. He just wanted to focus on school and college. Then he could think about settling down.

The thugs from the night before walked into the auto shop, pushing a gagged Max. The boy's hands were tied in front of him, but it wasn't enough to protect himself as one of the thugs pushed him to the ground. Yelling out in pain, Max rolled onto his side so that he could sit up and look at the thugs in turn.

"All right. If you try anything, you're dead and so if your old man," the thug that had pushed him warned, "You got that kid?"

Max wasn't stupid. He just quickly nodded his head, agreeing that he'd be on his best behavior. He preferred the second thug—he couldn't believe he was actually thinking that. The second one was a little kinder, though. He encouraged the others to stick to the plan they'd already developed.

The 11-year-old just sat still and listened to the men's conversation. He soon realized why he was here—at least, part of why he was here.

"All I know is my kid brother said somehow, like magic, he turned off the arcade alarm system from across the street and got them inside."

"I don't believe in magic." The first thug, who Max had found out was called Mickey, said.

"So, we test him out," the second shrugged his shoulders, "We don't like what we see, cut our losses."

And with that, they left Max to his own devices. The young boy sat still and rocked on the spot. He needed to find some way of getting help. His dad wouldn't put his life at risk, so he needed to find someone else who would help him get out of there. He didn't want to know what cut our losses meant.

As he rocked, he started getting pictures in his mind. There was one—a spirit board. Maybe the people who owned it would be able to help him. Magically, he made the pointer move and then saw the owners. There was a woman in her late 20s looking at the board. Her short dark hair fell in front of her eyes as she initially looked at the board, forcing her to push it behind her ears.

Max quickly spelt out the message, and he could see her writing it down. Good, it was working. Maybe she would be able to help.

Prue had seen movement out of her eye. The spirit board was over in that direction and she soon realized the pointer was moving again. She didn't really want to think about the last time that it happened—although it didn't seem like the end of the world anymore. In fact, she'd come to accept her powers.

"Hey, guys!" Prue called out, as she grabbed a piece of paper to quickly write down the message.

"Not again!" Piper muttered, as Adam wanted to know what it was trying to tell them—and who was sending this message.

"Help Max." Prue stated, holding up the piece of paper. Now who was Max? Maybe Dean could help.

Dean and Sam were still cooped up in Dean's room, going through everything they had. They were no closer to finding their dad, but neither of them really wanted to stop. It was getting unhealthy, though.

Sam just watched right now as Dean paced the floor on the phone to another hunter—Jim, Sam thought he'd heard Dean call him.

"Alright, thanks, Jim," Dean sighed, obviously with another dead end, "Let me know if you do speak to him, will ya? Thanks, man."

Dean hung up the phone and threw it on the bed. Running his hand through his hair, he picked up another red pin and stuck it in the board, "Well, Pastor Jim is a dead end."

"Pastor?" Sam asked, raising his eyebrows, "A pastor is a hunter?"

"Hell yeah," Dean nodded with a chuckle, "One of the best ones I've come across, actually. Him and Caleb, along with Bobby, taught Dad everything he knows." With that, he quickly left the room, mentioning something about taking a leak.

Sam just pulled a look that said he was impressed, as the phone started ringing. Looking at the caller ID, Sam didn't recognize it. It wasn't one that was in Dean's phonebook, but Sam did wonder just how many contacts Dean actually had. From what Dean had said, hunters had multiple phones and it could be difficult to keep track. It was easier calling Bobby to pass messages or get numbers when necessary.

The phone stopped ringing, and Sam sighed. Should he really answer his brother's phone? When it started ringing again—with the same number—Sam decided that he should. It could be about his dad. Hell, it could be his dad.

"Hello?" Sam said, after pressing the answer button.

"Sam, is that you?" Sam's eyes widened at the sound of his dad's voice. It was a little bit of hope inside of him that had led to him wondering whether it would be John Winchester, but now he actually had confirmation.

"Dad? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, son." John sighed.

"Dean said you took off," Sam blurted out, just as Dean walked back into the room, "We've just spent the last month looking everywhere for you. We didn't know where you were or if you were okay or anything."

"I'm alright, Sammy," John replied, "What about you and your brothers? Bobby said you've come into your powers now."

"Who's that?" Dean asked, pointing at the phone.

"We're fine," Sam nodded, looking up at Dean, "Dad, where are you? Why didn't you tell us about our powers?"

Dean's eyes widened and he held his hand out for the phone. At the same time, the bedroom door opened again, this time with Adam and the Halliwell cousins on the other side.

"I couldn't, Sammy," John sighed, clearly annoyed at the direction the conversation was going, "Look, I know you won't understand this but you're gonna have to trust me."

"Are you after the demon? The thing that killed Mom?" Sam asked, while Dean impatiently waited for his brother to hand him the phone. The middle Winchester brother wasn't about to give it up. He wanted answers because God only knew when they would get hold of him again.

"Yeah, Sammy," John admitted, "But I need you to stay away from all this. You don't need to be a part of this."

"To hell with that, Dad!" Sam shouted, "Of course we do."

"Give me the phone!" Dean warned his brother. He would take it out of Sam's hand if he needed to.

"Listen, Sammy, I'm not calling for that," John cut his middle son off, "You and your brothers, you gotta stop looking for me. Alright, now I need you to write down these names."

Names? What did some names have anything to do with the demon? Why was his dad cutting him off? Refusing to write the names down, he demanded more answers. Once again, Dean demanded the phone back.

"I have given you an order. Now, you stop following me and protect some innocents. Take down these names."

Sam refused again and this time Dean snatched the phone out of his brother's hand.

"Dad, it's me," Dean finally said, instantly walking over to the desk to grab paper, "Where are you?"

Dean was cut off by an order from John, and he instantly went into soldier mode. Adam just watched his eldest brother change. His whole demeanor changed, as if he was a marine getting orders from an officer. Was that the effect John had had on Dean while they were out on the road?

"Yes, sir. I got a pen. What are their names?" Dean quickly wrote down the names and the conversation was terminated. That was it. He'd received his orders and he needed to go.

Dean had his bag packed, and was rushing down the stairs of the Manor. The two younger Winchesters and three Halliwell sisters were on his tail, throwing questions at him like crazy and arguing between each other.

"I can't believe you were looking for Dad without telling me!" Adam shouted at Sam, "Don't you think I wanted in on that?"

"Dean, you just get some names and you take off?" Sam ignored his younger brother and turned on his older one.

"I got all the information I need." Dean pointed out, reminding him that he'd just spent a few minutes researching the missing person reports. The names were all couples. Despite living in different areas, they all went through one destination and never reached their final one.

"They could have disappeared anywhere, Dean." Prue pointed out, running her hands through her short brown hair. She hadn't even gotten to the fact that they'd have some communication from a ghost on the spirit board.

"Yeah, could've," Dean shrugged, "But they all took one route through the same part of Nevada. I've seen enough to know it's not likely a coincidence, Prue. They all go missing on Valentine's weekend, a year after each other."

"It's Valentine's weekend this weekend." Phoebe pointed out.

Dean just nodded his head, trying to ignore the comments from his brothers about just going to Nevada rather than staying to find Dad. They'd been on the phone to him, and Dean just dropped everything because of one simple order.

"One thing I've learned about Dad is he's smart. He knows his crap," Dean pointed out, "And if he gives an order, you do it, Sammy. No questions. Just get on wi' it."

"You turned into a little soldier." Piper smirked.

"Whatever," Dean rolled his eyes at his cousin, stalking to the front door, "I'd like some help on this, but I'll go without anyone if I have to. A pattern like this isn't easy to come across. Think about all the different obits Dad had to go through? The man's a master."

Sam shook his head and started walking back up the stairs. He was going back to search for his dad. Adam turned on the spot, "I'm coming to help."

"So, you're not helping me." Dean scoffed, walking back towards the door.

"You know what, I'm going to Phoenix," Sam turned back, fire in his brown eyes, "That's where Dad called from."

"Sam..." Dean warned, but stopped, "Fine. But I'm not coming to save your butt when it all goes to hell."

Dean stormed out of the house, heading straight for the Impala. Throwing his bag into the trunk of his car, he sighed, "It looks like it's just us again, Baby."

"Not quite," Piper placed her hands on her hips, "Give me five minutes to pack some stuff and I'll come with you."

"You?" Dean raised his eyebrows, "You wanna come to Elko with me?"

"I'm not working and you're not going alone." With that, Piper turned on her heels and stalked back into the house. Dean just watched with awe. Piper agreeing to come wasn't something he ever expected to happen. But deep down he was grateful. He didn't want to do this on his own.

"But what about Max?" Phoebe argued as Piper packed a small duffle bag. She'd been into Dean's room to borrow it after realizing she didn't have anything of her own suitable for the Impala road trip.

"You two can handle Max, can't you?" Piper asked, "Do you really want Dean to do this alone?"

Phoebe was about to argue that Dean had done this alone for a while, but decided against it. There had been something in Dean's eyes that told her he was hurt that Sam and Adam had chosen to find their dad over saving some potential innocents. And that was what it was all about—what their powers were all about. They needed to save innocents and kill the bad things.

"If you find out that this Max guy needs the Power of Three then give me a call and we'll come back." Piper offered, "But maybe this is some ghost. It was the spirit board, after all. And it wouldn't be the first time a ghost has asked for our help."

"It could be an innocent asking for our help," Prue pointed out, "Maybe I should see Andy about this and see if he knows about a Max needing help. Piper, you should go with Dean. You're right. He shouldn't be alone."

Piper nodded her head, zipping up the bag. Rushing down the stairs, she saw Dean standing by the door talking to Leo. Oh, that couldn't be good.

"Hey, Piper," Leo's face lit up with a grin as Piper reached the bottom of the stairs, "Dean said you're going on a road trip."

"Yeah, very last minute," Piper smiled, "Got some people we need to see. What are you doing here? How are you?"

"I'm better now," Leo smiled, pulling Piper into a hug, clearly not wanting to let her go. Dean, feeling uncomfortable, made an excuse to get out to the car and grabbed Piper's bag. Prue and Phoebe just smirked at the interaction and made an excuse to leave Piper and Leo to talk. Finally, Leo released Piper from the hug and sighed, "I, erm...I'm sorry, Piper."

"What's wrong?"

"I was hoping I'd have more time, but you know how I'm finished with the house?" Piper just nodded, not trusting her voice right now, "Well, I just gotta call and I need to go away for a while. I'll be back, though. Nothing can keep me away. I just wanted to let you know and, well, do this."

Leo kissed Piper passionately, making her moan into his mouth. When they pulled away, Piper couldn't help but feel like it was a permanent goodbye. Maybe Leo worried that it would be, but she definitely didn't want to bring that up. Once they separated, Leo threw her a sad smile before walking down the stairs of the porch and getting in his own truck.

Piper reached the Impala, seeing the soft smile on Dean's lips, "I don't wanna talk about it." She told him before getting into the car. Dean watched Leo drive away, before getting into the car himself.

Prue walked into the police station, looking around nervously. The last time she'd been around the police was with the tiara last month. It was a dangerous situation, that almost ended with her going to prison for a crime she sort of did commit. Luckily, Andy finding out about the real Rex and Hannah meant that Darryl was force to come to the conclusion that Prue was being framed. It certainly looked like that, anyway.

Darryl had decided that Rex and Hannah had murdered the real ones, assumed their identities and then worked on framing Prue. They would never know why she became the victim, because they couldn't find the criminals, now. They'd taken off that night, with the tiara left behind in Rex's office.

Of course, that meant problems for Bucklands. It was looking for a new buyer, and Prue worried that she might be out of another job soon.

But she would worry about that later. Right now, she needed to find out who this Max was, and she really needed Andy's help for that. Seeing him working away at the computer made her smile. The crinkle in his brow was there, indicating that he was really concentrating on something. Hopefully, she wasn't interrupting anything too important.

"Hey, Andy."

Andy looked up from the computer, initially frustrated. When he realized it was Prue, his features softened and he smiled brightly, "Prue, it's so great to see you. What are you doing here?"

"I, erm, can't I just come and see my boyfriend at work?" Prue asked, but it was clear she was lying. She was here for another reason and needed to own up, "I kinda need a favor."

Sitting down, Andy leaned back in his chair, "Okay. Is this magical again?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Prue nodded, really wishing that she could stop pulling him into this, "I think a guy called Max might be in trouble, but I don't know why."

"Who is this Max guy?"

"I don't know that either," Prue sighed, "I...my sisters, Adam and I were cleaning out the attic. The pointer on the old spirit board started moving and it spelled out help Max."

Andy just nodded his head in deep thought at first, and then started laughing to himself. He couldn't help but find the entertainment value in her stories right now. That laughing was a good thing for Prue, though. It meant that he would help her find out about this Max character.

It didn't take long for Andy to do a search for someone in the database called Max, but there was nothing. Either the spirit board was wrong, or this was a crime that hadn't been reported.

Sam packed his bag in his own bedroom, with Adam waiting by the door. It wasn't too hard to work out that their dad was in California. Sam instantly recognized the zip code. The only problem was John would know Sam would work that out. It wouldn't be long before John moved on if he really didn't want to be found. That meant they had to move fast.

"Sam, what's going on?" Jess asked as she walked into the apartment bedroom. She looked between the two Winchester brothers, seeing their two bags, "Are you...I'm confused."

"We got a call from our dad," Sam explained, quickly throwing anything he could need in the bag. He had no idea how long they'd be away for, "I, erm, we need to get to Phoenix now before he disappears again."

"Your dad?" Jess asked, eyes widening as she looked between the two brothers, "Oh, wow! I...okay...Thank God for that."

"What?" Sam asked, with a frown.

"I thought you were leaving me," Jess put her hand to her chest, "I haven't seen you for a few days and...well...I...I didn't really know what to think."

Sam quickly stopped packing and rushed over to Jess, kissing her gently, "I'm not leaving. In fact, when I get back we need to go out for dinner. I know I've been a crap boyfriend lately. So, book a reservation anywhere you want and I'll be there to take you."

Adam smirked at the couple, before tapping Sam on the shoulder, "C'mon Romeo, we need to get to the car before Dad leaves Arizona."

Sam and Jess kissed again, before the elder Winchester brother picked up his bag and the two of them left the apartment. Jess was left alone, watching as her boyfriend and his brother left. She would never tell Sam this, but she couldn't help but feel dread in her stomach as she watched them leave. It was as if something bad was about to happen.

Max found himself sitting outside a Microchip plant, in the back of a black SUV. Mickey and the other thug sat in the front seats, looking at him. Mickey had a fire in his eyes that Max found intimidating, but the second thug—David—didn't seem that bad. It was like he was going to let max go at the end of all this. Not that Max was going to leave all this to chance.

"These are the blueprints to the microchip plant," David help up a map, showing the 11-year-old, "So, the main security panel is in the room here. All you do is switch the system off. You start with zone one, ending up with zone five. Okay? You got it?"

"I can't," Max shook his head, "My mom made me promise never to use my power for bad things."

Mickey glared at the boy, "You ever read the book when bad things happen to good people/"

David glared at his accomplice and then looked back at Max. The boy had already broken into an arcade, and this was similar to that. It was then that David pulled on the heartstrings, "I'm sorry what happened to your mom. That's a tough break, but you wanna make sure something doesn't happen to your dad, don't you?"

Max felt like he was trapped between a rock and hard place. Really, he only had one option and that was to help the thugs break into this plant. Closing his eyes, Max rocked back and forth, making David grin. Indicating to Mickey, they both got out of the car and rushed over to the microchip plant. Just as they got to the door, the card slot turned green on its own accord. The door opened without any sound of an alarm.

"Well, I'll be damned!" Mickey laughed, grinning at David. Just as Mickey was about to walk into the plant, a security guard appeared. Mickey reacted on instinct. He pulled a gun from the back of his jeans and fired. The gun fell to the floor as Max screamed out with tears in his eyes. He'd just caused a man get killed. Great!

It didn't take too long for Dean and Piper to get to Nevada. Piper had put up with Dean's classic rock music the whole way. Travelling with Dean wasn't that bad. He never tried to make small talk, and was happy travelling in silence. The sound of him singing along now and then was all that filled the car.

When they got to the small town in Nevada, Piper couldn't help but feel uneasy. It was so small that it was clear everyone knew anyone.

"Let's go to the cafe," Dean pointed towards a place called Scotty's Cafe. A man sat on the porch out front, shot gun in hand. Piper walked behind her cousin nervously. She really hated guns, "Let me guess. Scotty?"

Scotty looked up at the sign that Dean was pointing at and nodded his head, "Yep."

"My name's John Bonham..." Dean started, only to be cut off by the man. He knew his classic rock, and knew that was the name of the Led Zeppelin drummer, "Wow! Good, a classic rock fan. This is Joan..."

"Not gonna tell me Jett are you?" Scotty looked over at Piper, his face deadpan.

"Erm, no," Piper squeaked, "Bonham."

Scotty rolled his eyes, while Dean continued, "I was wondering if, uh, you'd seen these people by chance."

Dean handed the man a flyer that he'd printed out. It was the couple that had gone off the year before. There was more change of people recognizing them rather than the others.

"Nope," Scotty shook his head, barely looking at the flyers. That instantly made Dean feel uneasy about the situation, "Who are they?"

"Friends of ours," Dean pointed out, "Went missing last year and passed through around here. I've already asked some of the neighboring towns, ya know. Shame."

"Well, we don't get many strangers around here." Scotty looked between the cousins. Dean just nodded his head, and then pulled Piper away. They'd try someone else in the town.

"John Bonham?" Piper asked, in a hushed voice, "Why didn't you just use your real name?"

"Never use your real name on a hunt," Dean stated, "There's just too many problems that come with that. Let's go here." Dean pulled her into a local garage, where a young, blonde girl was filling up a car. The eldest Winchester brother put on his infamous charm, hoping it would help him get some answers.

"'Cuse me, miss," Dean started, catching the girl's attention, "Don't suppose you've seen these two have you? They went missing last year. Was wondering if they stopped for gas or something."

"Oh, I do," the girl nodded, looking at the picture. She pointed at the tattoo, "I'd never forget that. They were just married."

"Yeah, they were," Dean smiled, "Good friends of ours."

"They weren't here for long," the girl now said, "They stopped for gas, got some food and then went back to the Interstate."

"Which ways that?" Dean asked, grateful for an answer. Maybe they'd find something along the way or end up at the next town to start asking questions. Dean still couldn't shake the feeling he had from Scotty, though.

The girl, Dean found out was called Emily, gave him directions and they were ready to set off.

"So, we're just leaving?" Piper asked, "Because I don't like this town. Something's off about it."

"I know," Dean nodded, "But they came through this way. Need to see where they went afterwards. C'mon."

They were only back on the road for about five minutes when a loud, high-pitched beeping noise could be heard from the back seat. Piper frowned, looking towards Dean's bag. His eyes were wide when he heard it.

"Grab the EMF meter from my bag, will ya?" Dean pointed to it, but Piper just stared at it. Dean rolled his eyes, reaching behind the bench seat to grab the adapted Walkman.

"What the hell?" Piper asked, watching the red lights flash up and down. She took the meter off Dean, turning it over to look at it, while her cousin pulled the car over and looked over at the orchard.

"We gotta check that out."

"You wanna check out an orchard?" Piper asked, looking at him like he'd grown two heads. Dean didn't have long to explain. He really needed to find out why the meter was going off like crazy.

"Look, when that goes off it means there's something. Spirit, demon, something. I dunno what, but there's something in that orchard."

"So you wanna go towards the creepy stuff?" Piper asked, "That makes lots of sense, Dean."

"You didn't have to come, Piper," Dean sighed, getting out of the car, "Look, stay here and I'll check it out."

Piper did as she was told, but just a few seconds later shivered. No, she couldn't stay there on her own. If something happened to Dean, she'd never forgive herself. And then what if something happened to her? What if that thing that was setting off the counter came for her?

Getting out of the car, she rushed into the orchard, "Dean! Where are you?"

Looking through the trees, she panicked. Dean wasn't there. How could he not be there? Just as she took a step forward, something jumped out from behind the trees. Piper screamed at the top of her lungs, falling backwards. As she looked up, she saw Dean doubled over with laughter.

"Oh, Piper, you are too easy to scare." Dean laughed at his cousin, but did help her off the ground. Her glare didn't really help him stop laughing, though. In fact, it made him crack up even more.

"I hate you." Piper narrowed her eyes, hitting Dean in the arm.

"No you don't," Dean laughed, "You love me. Now c'mon, I think I've found something."

Dean pulled his cousin through the orchard to the strange, creepy looking scarecrow hung up, "Oh my God! What the hell is that?"

"Fugly, huh?" Dean asked, with a chuckle. He looked down at the arm, where a sickle sat, "Check this out."

He then pulled out a flyer of the missing guy and held it up against the scarecrow's arm. Piper's brown eyes grew wide with shock as she realized just what Dean had noticed.

"It's the same!"

"Yeah," Dean nodded and looked up at the scarecrow, "Nice tat, huh?"

Prue sat at her desk, going through the latest acquisitions list. The place may close soon, but she was going to put some hard work in right now. It could help her get a job later on. Part of her had really wished she'd gone with Dean, though. The protectiveness came out in her, especially knowing her cousin and sister were up against some unknown creature. It didn't help that Sam and Adam had left on some wild goose chase to find their dad.

Part of her felt like the family was starting to fall apart. The last month had been hard with Dean and Sam acting so secretly. What had made them really think they had to find John on their own? She would have helped. Surely they both knew that.

"Hey, Prue," Andy's voice pulled Prue out of her thoughts. She looked up, smiling to see him closing the door behind him, "I hope you have a minute. I have some interesting information about a boy named Max."

"A boy?" Prue asked, raising her eyebrows. It certainly was interesting, and she couldn't help but feel warm at the idea of Andy helping her with this. Telling him about her secret had been the best decision she had ever made.

"A microchip plant was broken into," Andy went on with his explanation, but movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention. She'd almost forgotten that she'd brought the spirit board with her. She decided to keep it on her in case they got another message, "Prue?"

"Wait!" Prue held her hand up and looked down at the spirit board. Andy moved around the desk, taken aback at the pointer moving on its own.

"P...P...Prue!"

Prue didn't say anything back. She just watched as the pointer continued to move. It was a longer message than the one before.

"Kidnapped auto shop?" Andy asked, looking down at the sheet of paper that she was writing on.

"I've gotta go, Andy."

"Wait, Prue, I came here to tell you about the boy," Andy pushed the feelings he had about seeing the moving pointer to one side. Despite knowing about demons and magic, he'd rarely seen anything except Prue use her powers. It was all going to take time to sink in, "Security cameras at the microchip plant picked up a car with a boy in the back. The boy was the same one as a kid picked up at an arcade last week. This boy's in serious trouble, Prue. How much more do you know about this? Is he at an auto shop?"

"I don't really know, Andy," Prue shook her head, grabbing her purse and the spirit board, "Have you spoken to his parents yet?"

"Yeah, his dad. He pretended not to know anything. Claimed the boy was out of state visiting grandparents and will be back tomorrow. Something's wrong, Prue, and I just know this is heading into your territory. Please tell me you can at least help me."

"I can try, Andy. That's all I can promise," Prue sighed, rubbing her eyes, "I need his dad's address. Maybe I can find out something."

Prue had picked Phoebe up on the way to Mr. Franklin's home. She needed Andy to stay away from this for now. They had no idea what they were up against, and Prue had a feeling Mr. Franklin wouldn't talk in front of Andy. And it wasn't like he didn't know Andy was a cop right now. It would be easier for the two Halliwell sisters to talk to him and get to the bottom of this.

"Mr. Franklin?" Prue asked, when a man in his late 30s or early 40s answered the door, "My name's Prue Halliwell. This is my sister Phoebe. We need to talk to you about your son."

"Sorry," Mr. Franklin started closing the door on the two women, "You have to leave, okay?"

"We know he's been kidnapped," Phoebe called out before the door closed on them, "We know he's in trouble."

"I...I don't know what you're talking about." Mr. Franklin stuttered before trying to close the door again. Prue held out her hand to keep it open.

"I don't understand why you won't talk to the police," she said and then saw a look in his dark eyes that told her enough, "You can't talk to the police, can you? The kidnappers won't let you, will they? That's why you wouldn't say anything to Inspector Trudeau."

"Look, I don't know who you are, but I'm begging you..."

"We can help." Phoebe promised, filling her eyes with sympathy and hope. All they needed was a few minutes of his time to make him see that they could save his boy from these kidnappers. The man refused to listen, though, trying to close the door again. This time Phoebe pushed the door open and Prue squinted her eyes. A picture flew through the air, into the hands of the owner.

"Dear God!" Mr. Franklin looked down at the photo, shock in his eyes. But he wasn't too surprised. Not the way a normal mortal would be. That was because he wasn't mortal—or he knew about the supernatural world. Either way, Prue's instinct had been right. Max wasn't a ghost they needed to save. He was a witch; an impressionable, scared, young witch.

Adam watched the scenery go by as they drove towards Arizona. All sorts of thoughts were running through his mind. He'd found out just a few hours ago that his brothers had been looking for their dad. They were doing it behind his back for a reason that Adam couldn't quite understand. When were they going to include him in on this? And why the hell didn't they think that this was something he needed to know about?

"You could have told me, you know," Adam finally broke the silence, "About Dad. About searching for him. I coulda helped."

"We didn't want you to feel like you needed to," Sam explained, "You need to focus on school, Adam. You know that."

"Are you kidding me?" Adam shifted in his seat so he could glare at his elder brother, but Sam just kept his eyes trained on the road, "He's my dad, too. I wanna know where he is, too. Sam, I expected this from Dean but you...I thought you'd tell me."

"I wanted to," Sam nodded, "I did, but Dean...well, we both want you to focus on school. There's not long of your senior year left and we want you to do well. You need to do well so you get into college."

"Screw college," Adam exclaimed, "You really think I can go to college with all this going on? Can witches even go to college?"

"Of course they can," Sam frowned, glancing over at his little brother momentarily, "What makes you think they can't? I'm still in law school. It's not like Dean, Prue and Piper don't have jobs. It's kinda like college."

Adam shook his head, sitting back in the seat properly to train his eyes on the road, "But with all the innocents and now these road trips..."

"This is why we didn't want you knowing about us looking for Dad," Sam pointed out, "You'd get obsessed. You always do."

"You two aren't any better." Adam mumbled, but didn't look at his brother. The rest of the journey was going to be in silence. Adam wasn't interested in anything else his brother had to say right now.

"We're famous for our apples," Scotty's voice was clear as day to Dean as he and Piper walked into the cafe. They'd already stopped by the gas station again to find out a little more about the town from Emily. It turned out the whole place was friendly—a little too friendly, Dean thought, "So, you gotta try this pie."

Dean motioned for Piper to sit at the table close to a couple, watching Scotty fill up their glasses with apple cider. He wondered if there was something in that to make them drowsy. Maybe it was the townspeople that carved up innocent victims—something seemed Texas Chainsaw Massacre around here.

"Hey, Scotty, can we get a couple of coffees here?" Dean asked, sitting down at the table, "Oh and some of that pie, too, while you're at it."

Scotty scoffed at the two newcomers and walked away. Piper couldn't help but turn to look at the couple, "So, you two just passing through?"

She'd felt something off, too. While she wasn't a horror movie fan, she'd gotten Dean's Texas Chainsaw Massacre comment on the way back to the town. But she didn't quite get why anyone would use real human skin on a scarecrow.

"Road trip." The young girl looked at Piper with a smile.

"Yeah? Us, too." Piper chuckled, as Scotty walked over to refill the couples' cider.

"I'm sure these people want to eat in peace." He commented before walking away again. Dean couldn't help but push his buttons by asking for that coffee again. It seemed that the town wasn't as friendly as Emily had previously pointed out. Maybe they knew that the two of them were suspicious about something.

"So, what brings you to town?" Dean asked the couple, keeping them talking to find out more.

"We just stopped for gas," the girl replied, "The guy at the gas station saved our lives."

"Really?" Piper grinned nervously, sensing something very strange right now.

"Yeah, one of our brake lines was leaking," the guy now replied, taking a mouthful of pie, "We had no idea. He's fixing it for us."

"Nice people." Piper had gritted teeth, glancing at Dean to see a concerned expression.

"So, how long till you're up and runnin'?" Dean decided to ask, and winced at the idea of sundown. That was way too long for a brake line, unless the guy didn't have the part in. And Dean knew that probably wasn't the case. Something was getting creepier and creepier, "I know cars, and it shouldn't take you that long. I could have it up and running in about an hour. Wouldn't charge you." He just wanted them to get out of dodge, now.

"You know, thanks a lot," the girl smiled, "But I think we'd rather have a mechanic do it."

"You're in luck. Dean is a mechanic!" Piper grinned, trying not to give the couple a reason to say no. They wouldn't budge though, now trying to get out of the conversation.

"You know, my brother could give you this puppy dog look and you'd just buy right into it." Dean laughed, as the bell above the door rang. Piper and Dean looked at the door to see the sheriff walk in.

"I'd like a word, please." The sheriff said to the cousins, glaring at them.

"C'mon, we're having a real bad day." Dean sighed, getting a warning from the sheriff about not making it worse. With Piper pulling at him, Dean got up and followed the sheriff out of the cafe and to the Impala. They were no longer welcome in the town and the sheriff was going to follow them past the boarder to make sure they didn't return.

Dean looked through his rear view mirror to see the sheriff turn around and head back to town. Pulling over, Dean waiting a couple of minutes

"Dean, what are you doing?" Piper asked him, glaring at him and then looking back at the road. The sheriff was out of sight.

Suddenly, Dean put his foot down and turned the car around. He was going back to the town, "I'm not letting that couple go missing like the rest."

Meanwhile in San Francisco, Prue and Phoebe sat on Mr. Franklin's couch, while Mr. Franklin just held the photo that Prue had telekinetically thrown at him. He went through the story of the thugs taking his son, how they had threatened with his boy's life if he told a soul. There was no way that he could have risked anything.

"I just didn't know what to do," he sounded desperate and broken, only thinking about his boy, "I don't even know if Max is alright."

"He is," Prue nodded, "He wouldn't have sent the last message if he wasn't."

"So, I take it you're a...a witch too, huh?" he had a frown playing on his face, "Both of you?"

"Is that what your son says he is?" Phoebe asked, taken aback by the question. This was the first time they'd heard someone else use the term. At least, someone good—someone who they could possibly bond with.

"It's what Paulette, my wife, says he is," he explained, "It's what she was. You know, it would have been a hell of a lot easier to handle her family secret had it been revealed a lot sooner."

Prue and Phoebe couldn't help but smile, understanding both sides of the situation. Yes, they knew that revealing the secret could help those around them, but there was the fear of someone not accepting or loving someone because of it.

"You're speaking from experience, are you?" Mr. Franklin couldn't help but hear the tone in Prue's voice. As he realized that she was, he felt like he could open up more; explain his side of the story. Explain how he'd only found out about her secret because she was running out of time. Max would show his powers, and there was no way an 11-year-old boy would be able to hide it as well as a grown woman.

"I don't have a clue what to tell him what it all means," he sighed, "And he uses it and he nearly gets busted at an arcade and now this."

"I'm sure Max..." Phoebe started, but was cut off by the father. She and Prue didn't have children, so there was no way they were going to understand his feelings. They couldn't understand how his whole world had been turned upside down.

"Do you know of anybody who owns an auto shop of any kind?" Prue decided to change the subject. She needed to find Max and save him. She wouldn't let another witch, let alone a kid, die right now. Or get into more trouble than he already was.

"Why?" Mr. Franklin asked, shaking his head.

"I think your son was trying to send me a clue."

Mr. Franklin thought for a few minutes. He wasn't sure, but then he thought about one boy max was friends with.

"Danny," Mr. Franklin now said, "Danny's brother, he works at one. Erm, one over in Oakland."

"Is this the friend from the arcade?" Phoebe now asked, tilting her head to one side. Mr. Franklin's eyes widened as it all seemed to fall into place. This was what it was all about, "Got an address?"

Phoebe and Prue weren't leaving anything to chance. Prue quickly rang Andy before the sisters made their way to the auto shop themselves. Of course, Prue made it very clear that the boy was a witch—well, as clear as she dared. The good news for Andy was that the kidnappers seemed to be humans and people he could arrest. At least it would be a solved case once this all came to an end.

They two ran into the auto shop, looking around to see if anyone was looking. Prue was the first to get into the room where she spotted an African American boy tied up against a pole. He was struggling to get out of the binds that held him down.

"Who's there?" He called out, hearing movement. Prue rushed over to the boy, eyeing up the ropes. Quickly trying to untie them, she told him some of the truth about how she'd found out about the auto shop and how his dad was waiting for him.

"Who the hell are you?" A man asked, making Prue jump as she looked around. Phoebe was just behind her sister, holding her hands up in defense. Prue didn't have the time for pleasantries. She squinted her eyes, making the thug fly backwards into a stack of tires. As he fell to the floor, she looked back over to Max, who was now staring at her in shock.

"Oh, Prue!" Phoebe shrieked as a second thug ran in. Prue used her powers again to send the man flying, while Phoebe finished untying the ropes.

"You have powers?" max looked at the woman who had just saved him.

"We'll explain them to you in the car, okay?"

"No, I can't leave," Max shook his head, stumbling away from the outstretched hand of the dark haired woman, "They'll kill my dad if I do."

The two sisters were so busy looking at Max that they hadn't realized Mickey was up and moving. He suddenly hit the two sisters in the back of the head, knocking them both unconscious.

The couple from the cafe were now in their car, back on the road. It hadn't taken too long for the mechanic to fix the brake line, but they were glad to be out of that town. They just wanted to reach the motel where they could have their planned night of fun. That all seemed like a distant dream when the car started making a knocking noise. Steve hadn't done anything, but it was slowing down. Eventually it came to a stop.

"I can't believe it!" Cindy groaned, getting out of the car, "We just got the car fixed."

Steve looked around the area. There was only really one way to go; through the orchard at the side of the road. Dean would later question their sanity of walking through a wood with no light when it was pitch black. They obviously hadn't watched enough horror movies to know that staying by the car was the best decision in these circumstances.

As they walked through the orchard, they came across a clearing with a large wooden pole sticking out of the ground. It looked like it should have had a scarecrow or something on it. Maybe the townspeople had removed it to repair it or something.

A rustling sound caught Cindy's attention. Gasping, she turned around but there was nobody there. Reaching out her hand, she grabbed Steve. He pulled her close to him, protectively wrapping his arms around her.

"Who's there?" He called out, just as a creepy looking scarecrow jumped out from behind the trees. It stalked towards them, making both scream and turn to run. Just as they were about to reach the edge of the orchard, Dean and Piper ran out in front of them.

Piper glanced at the scarecrow coming towards them and flicked her wrists, expecting the creature to freeze. When nothing happened, she and Dean widened their eyes and looked at each other.

"Get back to your car," Dean ordered the couple. The couple looked behind them to see the scarecrow still coming for them, "Go! Go! Piper, take them!"

"Come on." Piper motioned for them to follow her, as Dean cocked the shot gun that he now held in his hand. He always went prepared. He aimed the gun at the scarecrow, firing it. But it didn't faze the creature. It continued to walk towards Dean, so he tried again. Still, nothing stopped this creature.

"Crap!" Dean sighed, running back in the same direction as the couple and Piper. If his rock salt didn't do anything, it meant it wasn't a demon or a ghost. Demons would at least get slowed down and ghosts would disappear. This wasn't good. He'd need to regroup as soon as he got the innocents to safety. Dean finally caught up with the couple, "Go!"

Pulling out a pistol from the back of his jeans, Dean decided one last attempt to slow the scarecrow down. When he turned to fire, he noticed the creature had gone.

"What...what the hell was that?" Steve asked, panting as they reached their cars.

"Don't ask." Piper panted back, shaking her head as she locked eyes with Dean. Silently he told her that they needed help.

"The scarecrow climbed off its cross?" Sam scrunched his nose up, glancing over at his brother. Adam was on the phone to Dean, as he went through the events of just a few minutes ago, "Ask him if it killed the couple."

Adam repeated the message, getting a definite no from his cousin. Sam thought about it, before instructing Adam to put the phone on speaker.

"You know, it sounds like it could be some sort of god. Maybe a Pagan one. It would make sense if you say it was in an orchard."

"I guessed pagan god," Dean sighed, "The annual cycle of the killings was enough to guess that. And the fact that victims are always a man and woman. It's a fertility thing and you should see the locals."

"They were fattening 'em up, Sam." Piper's voice now spoke through the phone. Dean obviously had it on speaker, too.

"Like a last meal?" Adam now asked, "Didn't they give last meals to sacrifice victims? Maybe this god is possessing the scarecrow to do the sacrifice."

"And the crops will wilt if the god doesn't get the sacrifice." Dean agreed with his little brother, and Sam could tell that he was grinning, "Good work, you two."

"So, you know what god it is?"

"Gotta date with a mythology professor," Dean chuckled, "I could have really done with one of you two on research, ya know."

"Yeah, well, we're trying to find Dad," Adam sighed, "Just crossed into Arizona, now."

"Cool, if you do find him then tell him I say hi, okay?" Dean asked, "And can you tell him I'm sorry. I'm sure he'll know why."

"Bye, Dean." Sam said, nodding his head for Adam to hang up. They continued to drive but Sam suddenly slammed the breaks on, pulling over to the side of the road. Adam raised his eyebrows, looking at his older brother in shock.

"What the hell?"

Sam didn't say anything. Instead, he did a U-turn on the road, driving back the way they came. They weren't going to Phoenix. They were heading to Nevada to help Dean.

Dean and Piper sat on the chairs opposite the college professor. He sat back, studying them carefully, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"It's not every day I get a research question on Pagan ideology."

"You could call it a recent family hobby." Dean smirked, glancing over at Piper. She just chuckled, nodding his head.

"But we're specifically interested in the local lore," Piper shrugged, "We were wondering if there's any history of Pagan worship around here."

"Well, no," the professor shook his head, leaning forward on the desk to talk to the cousins, "Arizona isn't well known for its Pagan worship, at all."

"What about imported lore?" Dean now asked, "You know, like the Pilgrims brought their religion over. Wasn't there a lot of immigrants in this area?"

"Some," the professor nodded, "I mean the local towns around here have ancestors from Scandinavia, I believe."

Piper's ears piqued hearing that. She wanted to know a lot more about the Pagan gods of Scandinavia. The down side was that there were hundreds of gods and goddesses in Scandinavian culture. The Halliwell witch felt like she was back to searching for a needle in a pile of needles.

"I'm looking for one that might have lived in an orchard." Dean spoke, ignoring the look of surprise on his cousin's face. He may not have been book smart, but he knew enough about the supernatural, urban legends and lore. His dad had taught him plenty about spotting clues and working off the knowledge they'd gained throughout a case. It was like being a detective.

The professor nodded his head, and started flipping the pages of a book. Dean leaned forward to look at the gods and then placed his hand on the page.

"Wait. That one."

Piper looked over the page, seeing a scarecrow surrounded by farmers in the middle of what looked like a field. That scarecrow wasn't quite the same one, but there was definitely something creepy about it.

"This is Vanir," the professor spoke, "He's not exactly a wood god, per se. He's a god of protection and prosperity..."

"Keeping the local settlements safe from harm," Dean nodded his head, "Some of the villages build effigies of the vanir in their fields, others practiced human sacrifice." Piper watched as Dean read the passage upside down. Her heart stopped when he got to the point of the sacrifice being a male and female.

"Kinda looks like a scarecrow." Piper nervously pointed out, looking over at Dean. His jaw clenched, as he nodded his head. Dean continued reading, as he learned that the energy sprung from a sacred tree. Piper couldn't help but feel like Dean was trying to tell her about how to kill this creature—or god, whatever it was—but she wasn't a hunter. She didn't really follow his pattern.

"Well, Pagans believed all sorts of things were infused with magic."

"So, what would happen if the sacred tree was torched," Piper now caught on, eyeing the professor and Dean, "Would it kill the god?"

"These are just legends." The professor chuckled, closing the book. Of course they were, Dean thought to himself with a sigh. The professors never did realize that the stuff they taught was sometimes true. There had been many college professors who had helped him work out the riddles to his cases in the past, never realizing that they had done.

"Well, thanks for your help." Dean smiled, standing up. He and Piper were just about to leave, when everything went black around him. He thought he heard Piper scream, but that was it.

Piper had, in fact, screamed. Two hands grabbed her arms, while the butt of a rifle hit Dean in the face. Her cousin went down, as she struggled to get out of the grasp of the professor. The whole town was in on this, and now the professor had gotten involved. What made it worse for Piper was that she realized she and her cousin were about to become the sacrifice to the scarecrow.

Back in San Francisco, Prue was dealing with her own headache after being knocked out. Groaning, she looked around from where she was now tied to a pillar in the auto shop. Max and Phoebe were sitting opposite her, also tied up.

"Naptime's over," Mickey growled at the elder witch, crouching down in front of her with a gun in one hand and a trigger in the other. Prue tried to glance around the thug, but he stayed in the way, "They're fine. But I wanna show you something. I flick this little switch and Max and your friend here take a nap. A long one."

Mickey walked over to them and pulled the heads of Phoebe and Max back. Prue could see a collar around both of their necks. They were small plastic bombs.

"Plastic explosives," Mickey smirked, "Little trick I picked up in Corcoran. Prison system's very educational."

"He's just a child," Prue shook her head, glaring at the man.

"What are you freaks, anyway?" Mickey ignored her, "Aliens? Magicians."

"Try witches." Prue glared and then looked over at her sister and Max, "You two okay?"

"We'll be fine, Prue." Phoebe nodded, nerves clearly evident in her voice. Mickey just laughed, pulling the second thug out of the room, leaving the three of them along.

"I'm sorry I got you into this," Max moaned, "Sorry I have these stupid powers."

"No, Max," Phoebe shook her head, "Don't ever be sorry about that."

"Phoebe's right," Prue nodded, "Your powers are gifts. It's like being a, uh, musician or athlete."

"I'm a freak," Max pointed out, "My dad hates it, too. He hates me."

Prue shook her head, tears forming in her eyes. This had been how her father had reacted to her having powers. She thought back to when he visited, and how all he wanted was for his three girls to bind their powers again. She started thinking about John Winchester. He hadn't taken the witch history well, and now he was missing—Dean had confided in her that he'd taken off because of the powers; he didn't want to see his sons become the things they usually hunted. John just didn't understand the powers.

"Your dad doesn't understand it." Prue explained.

"Yeah, it's all new to him, too," Phoebe smiled, "We won't let anything happen to you. We promise."

The three of them looked between each other, smiling softly. Prue made a mental note to find a way out of this, without getting any of them killed. It was just a good job Andy had known where they were coming.

It had definitely been a good job that Prue had alerted Andy to the auto shop. He'd managed to do some digging into this auto shop and realized that it had closed down recently. 16 people had been laid off, and one of those was Mickey Johnson. To make matters worse, that same Mickey Johnson had been identified on the security footage from the microchip plant.

"I think we should check there." Andy told his partner, hoping that Darryl wouldn't ask too many questions. It was far too much wishful thinking that he would just go along with this. Of course, Darryl wanted to know what made Andy research the auto shop in the first place; just like how Andy had decided that researching Rex and Hannah last month was a good idea.

How could Andy keep lying to his partner? He was starting to realize just how hard it was for Prue to keep this a secret for so long.

Dean tried one more time to get out of the cellar. Many he hated this; knowing what was coming but not really having a way out of it right now. He really needed to get back to that orchard and burn the tree—well, figure out which tree was the right one and then burn it down.

Groaning on the other side of the room caught Dean's attention. Jumping down the wooden stairs, he walked over.

"Hey, Piper," he said softly, "It's Dean. You okay?"

"My head." Piper moaned, placing a hand on her head. Dean tentatively touched where the deep purple bruise was forming on the side of her head. He probably had a matching one. It certainly felt like it.

Looking back, he should have known that the professor would have been in on this whole thing. He seemed to accept looking through Pagan gods far too easily. Whenever he'd spoken to professors in the past, there was always some sort of suspicion from them; as if they worried that their thoughts or opinions would end up in a national newspaper or something. Maybe they worried that people would think them strange for teaching mythology. Dean couldn't help but see the irony in it, knowing that some mythology was true.

"Hey, we need to find a way out of this, okay?" Dean asked, pulled Piper to her feet. She now had the chance to look around.

"Oh crap," she groaned, "They're gonna sacrifice us, aren't they?"

"How could you even think about doing this?" the sound of a woman's voice shouting could be heard from the other side of the wooden cellar door, "This is murder, Uncle Harley."

"It's for the good of this town." The man, Dean guessed was the man from the gas station, replied.

The cellar door opened, suddenly letting a lot of light into the area. Harley—it was the guy from the gas station—held a rifle into the cellar. There were three others behind him, ready to grab Dean and Piper.

"It's time." Harley said, a warning look in his eyes. If he had to, he'd shoot one of them—Dean knew he wouldn't kill them, but he would hurt them and he guessed Piper would be the one to take the bullet. Dean did as he was told, and made his way out of the cellar.

"What do you mean we're going to Dean and Piper?" Adam asked, helpless in the passenger seat of the car.

"We're gonna help them," Sam shrugged his shoulders, "Something in my gut tells me they'll need us."

"But what about Dad?" Adam asked, throwing his hands up in the air, "He could need us."

"Well, Dad doesn't want us to find him. Dean's right, we should have followed his order. What if something happens to Dean and we coulda helped if we'd gone with him?"

Adam sighed, nodding his head. He didn't really have a choice, but he knew that Sam was right. Maybe Dean did need their help with whatever this creature was. He had to admit the idea of a God freaked him out. Warlocks, ghosts, demons...they all seemed like things they could take care of. Gods—not so much.

Meanwhile, in San Francisco, Prue and Phoebe continued to try find a way to save Max. Well, save Max and themselves. They didn't have many choices, though, right now.

"Has anything like this ever happened to you before?" Max asked, and Prue knew that this type of conversation wasn't exactly going to help him stay calm. Phoebe was the one to go along with it though.

"Well, not exactly like this," Phoebe winked, "It's usually demons we have to deal with."

"Demons?"

"Phoebe!" Prue glared at her baby sister.

"Yup, and warlocks and ghosts," Phoebe ignored her eldest sister's glares and continued to talk to the young boy, "I'm guessing your mom didn't tell you much about being a witch, then."

"No," Max shook his head, tears forming in his eyes at the thought of his mom, "I just found out about my power when she died."

"Our mom died when we were young, too," Phoebe empathized, "I know how much it hurts, and I'll be honest, it doesn't ever really go away. And to top it off, we didn't know about our powers. We had to figure out it by ourselves so you can, too."

"Especially with your dad's help." Prue now joined in with the conversation, seeing that it was helping Max to learn that they were in similar situations. He didn't feel all alone in the world.

"He'll never understand." Max shook his head, looking up at Prue.

"Help him understand."

"You sound a lot like my mom," Max smiled at her, "I wish you could be my mom."

Prue and Phoebe shared a smile as Phoebe moved the conversation on to find out more about Max's power. It was an interesting power to learn about; being able to move things that he couldn't see. He'd get a vision of something in his mind and see some of the things around it. The object could be on the other side of the town; like their spirit board.

"All right," Mickey broke up the moment, storming in with a gun in his hand, "Remember, just do everything I say and nobody gets hurt."

Just as Mickey was about to get Max out of the room, Mr. Franklin showed up. He tried to rush to his son, but the two thugs had their guns trained on him.

"Hold it!" Mr. Franklin held his hands up in defense, "I'm unarmed. Nobody else knows you're here. I swear. I found you the same way she did. Through your brother..."

Mr. Franklin just wanted to get to his boy, and panicked just as he heard about the bomb. He decided to turn to the thugs to see if he could get through to their consciences. Maybe there was hope.

"I'll give you anything else you want. Just...let me have my boy, please?"

Mickey looked between the three hostages and the father of one. There was a strange, hurt look in his eyes as he lowered his gun. Ordering David to put the hostages in the van, he turned back to Mr. Franklin. The man started panicking, trying to push past to get to his boy.

"I'm sorry." Mickey shook his head and then raised his gun to Mr. Franklin's chest. Everything happened too quickly for Prue to do anything. The gun fired, the sound echoing around the building. Prue locked eyes with Mr. Franklin as she was dragged out of the room with her sister and the young witch. There was nothing she could do, but she would keep the boy safe.

Dean gritted his teeth as he felt the rope being tied around his wrists. The knots were quite tight, and he'd had his hidden knife in his jacket sleeve taken away from him. It was time to think on his feet, and maybe stall the people guilty of this.

"How many people have you killed, Sheriff?" Dean looked up at the sheriff as he walked around the tree. Glancing over, he saw Harley and Scotty tying Piper's arms behind another tree, "How much blood is on your hands."

"We don't kill 'em." The sheriff shook his head, standing back to admire his handiwork.

"No, but you sure cover up after," Dean shrugged his shoulders, already thinking of a way to get the rope undone, "I mean, how many cars have you hidden, clothes have you buried?"

The group of people walked away, refusing to explain their actions to them. Piper now started pushing buttons to get them to talk, realizing that Dean was stalling them from leaving.

"You don't understand. Outsiders never will," the wife of the mechanic now said, "There's no other choice. We need to do this to keep the town alive. The good of the many outweighs the good of the few."

The four walked away, as Dean shouted after them, "I hope your apple pie is freakin' worth it!"

"Please tell me you have a plan, Dean." Piper threw her head back to rest on the tree trunk. Tears were starting to run down her cheeks. She was glad Dean struggled to actually see her from his current position. He couldn't see her just give up like this.

"I'm workin' on it," Dean sighed, looking around, "Just tell me if you see that damned scarecrow get off his cross."

Meanwhile at the bank, David and Mickey were going through with their plan. With Prue and Phoebe working as hostages, they were getting Max to go through with the original instructions. He was to turn off the alarm system and then they would get in, get the money and get out. They had three minutes once Max did his tricks.

The problem with hostages is that only one of them could go in and get the cash. The other needed to stay and watch the witches, and Mickey chose that one; not trusting his partner completely.

"Use your power." Prue whispered to the young boy, indicating that he needed to use it on the bombs on himself and Phoebe. Mickey turned his attention to them, glaring at each one.

Max started to rock back and forth, as Mickey started panicking, "What the hell are you doing."

The bombs suddenly shorted out, and the alarm in the bank sounded. The guards rushed out, guns raised. There was no way that the thugs were going down without a fight, though. They started firing their own guns, and Prue used her own power to get the guards to safety. No more would get hurt because of these two.

Mickey frantically pushed the button on the trigger, expecting at least one of the bombs to blow. Nothing happened, and Prue smirked just as the police surrounded the area.

"Oh no!" Phoebe panicked, as she, Prue and Max got out of the van. They ran around the car, straight into Andy's arms.

"Prue," Andy nodded his head with a small smirk, "I should have known."

"Hi, Andy." Phoebe grinned, looking down at Max, "It's okay. He knows about all this."

While there was that sense of relief, none of them really looked happy to see each other. It was going to be one difficult situation to explain.

Back at the auto shop, Mr. Franklin believed that everything was over. He was so certain of it, especially when he saw a bright white light fill the room.

"Paulette?" He asked, just as the white light took a form. It wasn't his wife, though. It wasn't her calling for him to join her. A man appeared within the light, kneeling down next to the mortal father.

"It's not your time, yet," the blonde haired man explained with a small smile, "It's time to be with your son. You need to help him. Guide him."

"But..." Mr. Franklin said, just as the man placed his hands over his chest wound. Suddenly, the pain disappeared. He didn't feel weak, anymore. When he looked down, the only indication that there was ever anything wrong was the red blood on his white shirt.

"Who are you?" Mr. Franklin now asked.

"Call me Leo," the man smiled, "Now heed Prue's advice. Raise the boy well. You can do it."

With that, the man disappeared in that same white light he appeared in. It was all over for him. Now he just had to hope that his son was safe.

"You don't have a plan, do you?" Piper asked, realizing that Dean was frantically trying to unfasten the ropes that bound his wrists. It was now dark and it wouldn't be long until that damned Pagan god came after them. She couldn't believe that she was going to end up being a Pagan sacrifice. She knew witch craft was bad!

"I'm workin' on it," Dean said, but his voice was laced with panic, "Can you see it?"

"What?"

"Is he moving yet?"

Piper tried to look around, but shook her head, "I can't see."

Rustling in the trees made her jump. It was coming for her, she was certain of it. She closed her eyes. Maybe if she didn't look, she wouldn't end up being too scared when it killed her.

"I'm sorry they did this." A girl's voice now called out, as she felt the binds around her wrists loosen. Piper opened her eyes and looked at the newcomer. It was the girl from the gas station—Emily.

"What are you...?" Dean started, "You know what, never mind. Thanks for coming."

"I couldn't let them do this," Emily quickly unfastened Dean's restraints, "If I'd have known...I can't believe my aunt and uncle do this crap."

Dean stood up and looked around, "Okay, you need to think fast. Is there a tree around here..." he ignored the look that she gave him as she pointed to all the trees, "It'll be old, big. Locals will treat it with respect."

"There's an apple tree." Emily shrugged her shoulders, jumping at the sound of more rustling in the wood. Piper couldn't help but cling onto her cousin, as Dean looked around the place.

"Dean!"

"Sammy?" Dean asked, seeing two figures running towards him. Both had guns in their hands, "Adam! Not that I'm not happy, but what the hell are you two doing here? I thought you were..."

"We weren't gonna leave you," Adam rolled his eyes, motioning to the fact that Sam had decided for them, "Looks like his idea was good, too."

"Yeah. Now you need to keep an eye on that scarecrow..." Piper started, hugging her middle cousin, as they looked around.

"What scarecrow?" Sam asked, looking between everyone.

"Damn it," Dean cursed under his breath and then looked back at Emily, "This apple tree. Is it in here?"

"Maybe." Emily shrugged her shoulders, a look on her face that told him she wished she had been more helpful. Dean had to make a decision and fast. He could come back for the tree later. Right now, he needed to get everyone out of dodge. The scarecrow was awake and any of them could end up being a sacrifice.

"What's so important about a tree?" Adam asked, as they all ran out of the orchard.

"It's the source of its power," Dean sighed, "We'll get it in the morning. Let's just get out before Leather Face catches up."

Just as the five of them got to the clearing, the group of adults stepped out. Other townspeople now crowded around them. They were blocked from leaving completely.

"How could you, Emily?" Harley asked, hurt in his eyes that she had helped them escape.

"How could you, Uncle Harley?" Emily asked, disgust in her voice.

"We need this," Harley argued, "You need to let him take them. You have to..."

He was cut off when a sickle went straight through his stomach. Emily screamed, backing into Dean, who instantly wrapped his arms around her. Piper jumped back, turning her back on the scene. Sam wrapped his arms around his cousin, as Adam looked on shocked trying to take it all in. The next thing they knew was Emily's aunt was captured by the scarecrow. He looked down at his two sacrifices, before dragging them away.

The townspeople panicked, running away from the orchard. It gave Dean the chance to get everyone out of the way. But there was no need to really leave. He quickly stopped and looked behind. The scarecrow now had his victims. It was over for another year.

Dean walked into the manor, throwing his and Piper's duffle bags on the floor. They'd sort them out later. He was closely followed by Piper, Adam and Sam.

"So, you think that girl will be okay?" Piper asked, feeling guilty that they'd just dropped her off at the bus stop after burning the tree to the ground. She didn't even care if the town died out.

"Hopefully," Dean shrugged his shoulders, walking into the living room to see Prue and Phoebe sitting with a young boy and what looked like his dad, "Hey!"

"Oh, Dean! You guys are back." Phoebe grinned, "Piper, you remember Max that we got that message from? This is Max and his dad, Gordon."

"Hi, it's great to meet you," Piper grinned, holding her hand out for Gordon to take, "I'm sorry it's under the circumstances, but I'm guessing my sisters helped with whatever it was."

"I'm lost." Dean shook his head.

"Remember the message I told you about?" Piper asked with a laugh. She had told him about it, right? Now she was starting to doubt herself. Maybe she'd only thought about it. Dean shook his head, but held out his hand anyway, introducing himself and his two brothers.

"Did you find your dad?" Prue now asked, looking up at Sam.

"No," Sam shook his head, "Had to save these two idiots."

"We had it under control, Sammy." Dean rolled his eyes, but Sam went on to give a brief breakdown of how Dean and Piper had almost ended up as Pagan sacrifices, ignoring the look of fear in Prue's eyes and uncertainty in his guests' eyes.

"So, what about your dad?"

"We'll still find him," Dean nodded his head, "And yes, Adam, you can be involved. We're gonna do this together."

Phoebe grinned, standing up to pull her cousins and sister into a hug. Just as she grabbed Sam, she was pulled into a premonition; one that she wished she had never seen.

Everyone looked at her in shock, while she broke it down to them, tears in her eyes.

"Go!" Dean grabbed Sam, rushing his brother out of the door. He put his foot down, ignoring speed limits as they got themselves to Sam and Jess' apartment. Hopefully it wasn't too late.

"Jess!" Sam called out, rushing through the apartment. Dean looked around the living room and kitchen, while Sam headed straight for the bedroom. The sound of the shower from their bathroom made him stop. She was okay. She was just in there. Sighing, he sat on the bed and ran his hand through his hair.

Suddenly, he felt something wet land on his hand. What was water doing dripping from the ceiling? Had the upstairs neighbors sprung a leak?

Frowning, he looked up and then gasped. No! He thought to himself, taking in the sight. Jessica was pinned to the ceiling, her limbs in a contorted way. There was a slash through her stomach, as she tried to get words out. And then all Sam felt was heat. An intense heat as fire appeared from underneath her on the ceiling. His worst nightmare—the premonition from months ago and now Phoebe's recent premonition—was coming true.

"No! Jess!" Sam shouted, just as he felt two hands on him.

"Sammy, c'mon," Dean shouted, but his voice seemed distant. Like he wasn't even in the room. He couldn't move on his own accord as the fire took over the whole bedroom, "Sam!"

Dean had gotten into the room just as the fire spread around the room. Sam was just sitting on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. And Dean knew exactly why. There was a figure on the ceiling. A figure that he recognized instantly. Jess was already a victim. Now all he could do was get his little brother out of there. They would not both be victims of this Yellow-Eyed son of a bitch. Not if Dean had his own way.

Once outside the apartment, the two brothers just watched and waited. It was all they could do. All that Sam wanted to do.

"She's gone, Dean." Sam said, anger lacing his voice. Dean just looked at his brother, jaw clenched. He daren't say a word to his brother. What was there to say?

"Dean! Sam!" Prue called out, rushing over to them. Dean glanced over to see his three cousins and his baby brother rushing over to them.

"Did you..." Phoebe started but then realized that just two of them were there. Her hands went up to her mouth, tears filling her eyes, "No. I'm...I'm so sorry."

Sam frowned and looked down at his cousin. Suddenly, he felt the need to protect her in all this, and pulled her into a hug, shaking his head, "It wasn't your fault, Phoebs. There's only one thing to blame for this."

With that, he looked at his two brothers and cousins in turn, "We've got work to do."

I know you were happy with the way I'd changed Jess' story, but I always had the plan to do this in the end. I just wanted to bring her character in more. We were forced to feel something for her in Supernatural based on Sam's feelings, but she was never in the show long enough for me to really care that she died. Hopefully, this is different for you.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to the next few episodes, as Sam deals with this and the Winchesters continue the search for their father.