Upstairs a door went and shortly after that the shower started. Like every morning Nick was up early and Bobby would bet money the boy hadn't slept much. He hadn't heard him having any nightmares this night, however, he'd heard it before. But it had only been a few days and Bobby had to admit, Nick recovered better than he'd expected. He didn't know if it was healthy that Nick buried himself in the books but so far he hadn't searched for answers at the bottom of a bottle, which would have been the patent Winchester recipe for any kind of problem, so it was fine, Bobby guessed.

What wasn't fine was that this method excluded Dean. Dean didn't seem to mind but Nick spent more time with Bobby and Sam than with his actual boyfriend.

Bobby got that over the last year there had only been sporadic visits and then all three of them went out together, which was great, Bobby was happy to see that Sam and Nick went along so well. It was none of his business, however, he couldn't help but notice how Nick was seeking Sam's touch whenever Dean wasn't near, how Nick was relying on Sam. Bobby was far from presuming that their connection was anything more than friendship but it wouldn't hurt if Dean and Nick got some time for themselves.

The article was exactly what Bobby had been looking for. It could be something, a haunting was his first guess, or nothing because the only witness had been completely drunk at the time he claimed he'd seen his dead mother.

So Bobby more or less forced Sam into this little trip.

"Okay, how far is this?" Sam asked when they left the salvage yard.

"Just a little over two hours, I'd say." Bobby answered and drove slowly past the Haydens' house. The boy was playing with a ball in the front yard and Bobby didn't want to risk driving him over. He didn't have much contact with his neighbors and as far as Bobby could tell the Hayden boy was mature for his age but he still was a kid and a rolling ball was a rolling ball.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw somebody in the kitchen window and for a second he wondered if there was a new woman in his neighbor's life but then they were past the house and Bobby focused on the problem at hand.

Apparently everybody was on the road today and it took them nearly three hours to get to the hospital where Mr. Boon was recovering from his drunken nosedive down the stairs in his basement.

"Mr. Boon." Sam the insurance inspector of the day interviewed the man in the hospital bed. "Can you tell us what happened?"

Mr. Boon was a young man around Sam's age so Bobby figured he would respond better to Sam. He had a broken leg, a broken nose, a dislocated shoulder and he looked like he'd gone and lost three rounds against Mike Tyson.

"Must have tripped." He mumbled around his broken nose. "Was pretty plastered."

"You said in your statement that there was someone with you." Sam prompted.

Now he looked embarrassed. "Like I said, I was drunk. Really drunk. Didn't even feel that my leg was broken at first just wondered why my arm wasn't doing what it should."

"Mr. Boon." Sam said with that expression, the one that Dean had dubbed the puppy dog eyes. "What did you see?"

"I thought … I thought I saw my mother standing in the basement." He shook his head. "You know, she died two months ago and I … I took it pretty hard."

"Did she …" Sam cleared his throat. "Did she say something? Down in the basement?"

Ten minutes later Bobby and Sam left the hospital.

"I don't know, Bobby." Sam loosened his tie. "Maybe it was just the alcohol."

Bobby nodded. "Let's have a look at that basement."

They drove over to the house where Mr. Boon was now living alone.

Armed with shotguns, flashlight and EMF meter they entered the house. Everything was neat and well-loved but with a layer of dust, now missing the caring hand of the late Mother Boon.

"Basement's over there." Sam took the lead and with their shotguns drawn they made their way down the steep stairs. The meter kept quiet and there was no sign of a ghost but Bobby stayed alert nevertheless. He hasn't survived this long in this job by being careless.

They made a sweep around the basement with no result. But then something caught Bobby's eye.

"What do you see?" He shone his light at an old cardigan hanging from a nail on one of the pillars.

"You think he was that drunk?" Sam didn't sound convinced.

"Don't know." Bobby slowly retreated backwards up the stairs. He stopped in the middle. "Look at this."

Sam nearly toppled down the stairs laughing when he realized what had happened here. From the right angle the cardigan came together with a dried bouquet of flowers hanging from the rafters and a pair of rubber boots on the floor.

"He mistakes old flowers for his mother's face." Sam had to hold on to the banister and he had serious trouble breathing. Bobby grabbed him at he shoulder, Dean would kill him if Sam took the nosedive here, but Bobby himself wasn't that steady anymore. Wiping tears from his eyes he dragged Sam up the stairs and out of the house. Back in the car they finally caught their breath.

"Okay, case closed." Bobby started the car and fought against a new wave of laughter. "What about we find ourselves a motel and then have a beer?"

"Flowers." Sam still couldn't get over it. But then he sobered and nodded to the motel and beer idea and took his phone out. "Just need to call Dean real quick. Tell him that he can stop worrying."

It was close to a miracle that Dean hadn't called a few times already so letting him know that there was no case was probably a good idea. Bobby focused on driving while Sam called his brother.

By the time Sam finished the call Bobby had found a motel and parked the car. He reached for the door but one look at Sam's face hold him back.

"Something wrong?"

Sam fiddled with the phone. "He said everything is fine."

"Balls." He started the engine again.

"Ehm … what are you doing?" Sam asked when they rolled out of the parking lot.

"It's just over two hours." He reminded him.

"No, you don't have to." Sam interfered but half-hearted at best. "We can drive back in the morning."

"Sam, you think something is up with Dean. Or Nick. So there is something up back home." Bobby had learned a long time ago to listen when one of the brothers had the feeling that something was up with the other one.

On the way back they had more luck with the traffic and reached the salvage yard in little over two hours. Everything looked quiet.

Sam was out of the car before it really came to a halt and Bobby followed him a little slower and that was the reason Bobby was closer to the stairs when they heard the screaming.

"No, please." Nick, pleading and clearly in pain. Followed by a loud smack and another wailing scream. Bobby took off running.

"Bobby, no!" Sam yelled behind him and came after him but Bobby reached the guest room before Sam reached him.

Bobby wasn't sure what he'd expected, Nick having a panic attack, some kind of monster in the house, anything but what he was seeing right now.

He had a good view of Nick's naked ass, red and welted, with Nick kneeling on the floor, bent over the bed with a fully clothed Dean standing over him, holding him down with one hand and a belt raised for another blow in the other one.

"Dean, stop, please no." Nick struggled to get free but Dean held him down in an iron grip. Dean had his back to the door so he hadn't noticed Bobby yet and he didn't hesitate for a second before the belt smacked down on Nick's ass once again. Nick screamed.

"What's wrong with you?" Bobby tackled Dean to get between him and the helpless Nick on the bed while his mind was racing to find an explanation for this surreal scene. Dean was possessed, a shapeshifter, a doppelganger, something.

"Bobby?" Dean blinked at him in shock.

"Shit." Sam came up behind Bobby but instead of helping him getting the upper hand on Dean, Sam dragged Bobby away from what looked like his brother.

"Bobby, it's okay." Sam tried to get Bobby out of the room, Dean tried to get back to Nick and Nick had retreated into a corner making himself as small as possible.

As soon as Dean saw an opening he slipped past Bobby, dragged the blanket from the bed and threw it over the still butt naked Nick.

"Shh, it's okay. I'm here." Dean hushed and bodily shielded Nick from the others. "Sam, get him outa here."

Sam was already manhandling Bobby out of the room and shut the door behind them.

"Let's get downstairs." Sam said with a tired sigh but blocked the door to prevent Bobby from going back into the room.

"Sam, we have to …" Bobby started and at the same time he wondered if this was even the real Sam.

"Bobby, look. I can explain." Now it was Sam who was pleading and he sounded like Sam, worried and concerned. "Downstairs, okay? I need a drink for this."

He followed Bobby, making sure that he had no chance to make a bolt back upstairs. Bobby strained his ears but there was no screaming or the sound of the belt and that was a good sign, right?

"Boy, I hope you have a really good explanation for this." Bobby warned and reluctantly accepted the glass Sam was offering him. What was he doing here? Having a drink while upstairs … he had no idea what was happening in the guest room right now.

"This is going to be awkward." Sam mumbled before he downed his drink. "Okay, first of all. Nick is fine. And Dean isn't crazy or anything. At least not more than usual. And to be honest after you found him like this, he should be the one explaining this to you." He dropped in a chair.

"Explain what to me?" Bobby gave Dean the benefit of a doubt but he needed a good explanation. Soon.

"Dean and Nick, they have this thing going on." Sam started. "Dabbling a bit with dominant and submissive. A little spanking, a little tying up, you know, things like that."

"No, I don't know, Sam." Bobby raised his voice. "All I know is that that boy was pleading for Dean to stop. You heard him screaming, you heard him pleading. And Dean didn't stop. Why Sam? Why didn't he stop when the man he claims to love is begging him to stop? That's not Dean." And whatever this was, they had left Nick alone with him. They had left him in the hands of his abuser. Bobby should get his ass back up there and get Nick out of there but he was too stunned to move.

"They have a safe-word." Sam continued and poured them a second round. "If Nick really wanted Dean to stop he would have said that word and Dean would have stopped."

"He said stop, he said no." Bobby reminded him. "And Dean didn't stop."

Sam shook his head. "With a safe-word in place that and only that means no. Nick says that word and everything stops. Immediately. Without questions, without hesitation. One word and stop."

Bobby tried to wrap his mind around that. "And they like that?"

"Some people enjoy that kind of thing in bed." Sam avoided his eye and downed his second drink. "But I doubt this was about sex."

Bobby didn't live under a rock so he knew that different people had different preferences. But seeing it in his own house?

"You seem pretty okay with all this." Bobby narrowed his eyes on Sam. "And you know quite a lot about it, too."

Sam shifted uncomfortable under his gaze. "Don't ask questions you don't want to hear the answers to."