Hours later….

Audioslave blasted through the micro earphones of Dean's MP3 player. Normally, the tape deck in the Impala would be blasting, but parking outside a police station was risky without drawing attention. He glanced at the double doors of the station, hoping Sam would be hasty in getting the info. Even though Sam was not as wanted as he was, it bothered him to let his brother go alone. If someone recognized Sam, it could be big trouble. Moreover, Dean hated waiting for anything.

To pass the time and his feeling of uselessness, he forced himself to soak in the music. Sucking in breaths with the slow rhythm of I Am the Highway, Dean tried to focus his fingers to tap out the same beat pattern with little success. The music was not helping to calm his mind in the least way. For all of his strength, he always had a soft spot for kids in trouble. The idea someone could harm a pregnant woman disturbed him. The most likely a connection came from his feeling of helplessness after his Mother died. He vowed no one else should feel like that again, especially his brother or father. It always disheartened him that people threw away their family like it was a commodity they could replace. It killed him to know the word family was meaningless to some, when it was something he wanted so desperately for himself. He blinked back a few wet tears in his eyes, willing himself to detach from the case.

Rubbing his weary worn brow, he tried to fathom how to keep his family safe, which meant finding a way to break the spirits hold on this world. Making the task more difficult, he wondered if it was wrong to relate to her. "Sympathy for a spook. I have been around Sam too much." As he spoke aloud to an empty car, Dean felt more foolish than ever. "Damn it." He hoped Sam's visit to the police station was fruitful and quick.

Wanting to keep the hunter part of him in the foreground, he tried to focus on things he could control. Concrete proofs helped him safeguard that softer part of him. He had already lost that futile battle. The malleable sentimental part of him easily felt compassion for Aida. Perhaps, he even identified with her.

She spared Sam, making it difficult to see her as a ruthless killer. According to that creepy fortune teller, he had touched her heart. He didn't think reaching into someone's heart was much like him at all. Nevertheless, he understood her pain and her loyalty to family. The more he thought of family, the more he wanted to hold onto his own. As the sands slowly ran out on his hourglass of life, the more he wanted to keep the grains from falling. He was spending his last days on Earth the best way he knew how. He knew it was selfish to want more days with Sam. He didn't regret his choice for his brother's life, but facing your own mortality was tough. Lately, the idea of leaving Sam crept in the hidden corners of his mind. On the last day of this year, he speculated how it would go down- Would he cry? Get angry? Fight with Sam? Those questions had been spiraling in his mind, among many other uncertainties. The multitude of possible outcomes made him dizzy some times.

Adding a new wrinkle to those thoughts, a plan began to mix in the whirlpool. If he was going to die anyway, it would be almost poetic for his last act to be in protection of Sam. Manipulation of a spirit was something he never attempted before, if it even worked. In an odd way, if you looked at it, he was leaving the last of his family. If he could focus on that aspect of the deal, then perhaps manipulation would be possible. He would be her target and no one else. Decision made, Dean liberated his mind to the music, closed his eyes, and waited for Sam to return to the Impala.

"Hey!" Sam bellowed before he had opened the door.

"I'm not deaf, Sammy. Whatcha got."

"Couldn't get near the records. Internal Affairs is investigating one of the cops in there and it's a mad house."

"Feels like we are hitting our heads against another brick in the wall."

"Yeah, but uh.. I got some info anyway."

"Yeah…Sam Winchester….you must be getting better at this."

"Stephanie, the coroner's assistant, was on duty that night..."

"Steffi... hmm…"

"Don't start…She is a lovely girl…"

Dean smiled and raised an eyebrow.

Sam chose to ignore the suggestion, even though he had to admit he did enjoy flirting with Steffi. However, that piece of information he could keep to himself. "That night, Chris Kramer- our favorite jerk of the week….called in that his girlfriend hung herself. He found her. Called 911…Said she was breathing when he cut her down, but weakly, then she just faded our on him. Attempted to provide CPR. Practically beat her chest so much, it left severe bruising.

"Nice way to cover up a beating or foul play."

"But Steffi thinks something is funny… course the coroner told her to mind her own business… She gave me a peek at the coroner's report. Saying it was sparse would be too kind. The only thing it noted was it was a suicide, the time of death, and the fact Aida was in the early stages of pregnancy."

"I don't like this Sam. She hardly seems the type to kill herself and this doesn't sit right with me. I just can't imagine it being the peaches and cream relationship that Aida's mom thinks. Her spirit is too focused on abandoning family for her to do that to her family and her unborn child. She was not the type to leave her family like that." Dean realized too late his words hit too close to home. Admonishing himself for not thinking, he tried to push on and not let those words linger. "This Chris guy…"

"Dean...I'm sorry…" The thoughtful sweetness dripped over his apology. "I want you to know. When I left, it wasn't because of you..."

"Doesn't matter...water under the bridge...?"

"Not for me...I know you watched out for me, even then….and you tried to keep contact, even when I was a jeer"

"Sam...You're here now. Let's focus on that. We need to put this spirit to rest. I just want to find this guy and fix this."

"She just wants her family...like I…"

"Yep! Just for speculation...what if that is what she wants? She's lost because her kid is gone. Some part of her is still in there…still capable of reason or she would have killed yo..." Dean stopped his mouth mid-sentence before he could stick his entire foot in his mouth. Today was not his day to think clearly and he didn't want to hurt Sam, not like that.

"She would have killed me." Sam uttered matter of factly. "Dean, I'm not stupid. I knew it back in that motel room when she attacked me... No matter what you say, sometimes the things we do come back to haunt us. You don't have to protect me."

"Wrong! Do you think I care about that now!? Sam….damn it." Dean's emotional check system hit full on failure, letting his voice cracked ".….none of that matters now…AND I DO have to protect you……if you so much as give me any lip for that, I swear..."

"Thanks." Sam's wide eyes glistened as he displayed a sheepish grin. It was an attempted at gratitude for Dean always being there to save him and for not making him feel bad about things he had come to regret. He didn't regret Jess or the experiences he had in college, just that he put Dean in the middle a lot back then. He wanted to explain the choices he made, but realized he didn't have to explain. His brother already understood, and for that, he loved him all the more. "Really….I know what you have done for me…always done for me…"

Dean responded with an amused sigh and a bit of uneasiness "We'll...yeah...just…uh..." Pushing himself away from things that hurt too much, Dean did the typical wall projection. 'Uh….So, uh.. What now? We just wait until Chris shows his face...or at least his car."

Sam let the moment pass. Enough had been said. Now was the time to look forward. Sam opened his laptop and started clicking. "We have little choice in the matter. I am starting to think we should let Aida have a crack at him.

"Won't hear me arguing that one."

"Or we could not wait. His car was seen just outside of Newark, New Jersey. And only four hotels are near this location." We should be able to make it there and find him before night fall. Sam smiled as the info splashed his computer screen from his carefully hacked BOLO.

"I think I have an idea…"

"You know when you say that, it scares me."

"Now, only one thing needs to be settled." A wide grin snaked on Dean's lips.

"Huh?"

"Which one of us gets to kick his ass first!

-x-xx-x-x-xx-xx-xx

The non-gentle blaring of Rock me like a Hurricane erupted from Dean's pocket. He didn't need the Chinese fortune teller to know it was Sam reporting in. "Yeah?"

"I checked my two…and found nothing…no Chris registered and no one recognizes his picture. Anything on your end?"

"Nah…Sorry, Ponch…it's a bust……meet you at the car in a few." Dean didn't give Sam time to say goodbye before he clicked his phone lid to close and stuffed the cell back in his pocket.

A Grinch-ish smile upturned on his lip as he leaned forward. "Now..." His face drawer closer into the face of a man, whom had been bound and gagged. "I don't want my brother to see what I have planned for you. See... you messed up bad…. You had to attack Sam. He is what you might say the very good cop….Me…Not so much…" Dean clicked his mouth. "I'm already working on a one way ticket to hell, so I have nothing to lose.

Chris shook uneasily in the chair, frantic to free himself as this skilled hunter stared him down. His eyes flinched and a girlish squeak came through his gagged mouth.

"USUALLY, when anything hurts my family, I put a bullet in its skull. Think that would work for you." Dean pulled his magnum from his waistband at this back, gracefully putting the barrel against Chris' head.