Vrskaandrea: firstly thank you for your second opinion on certain parts of the previous chapters. That was a nerve wrecking one to put up. As always, thank you for your review and thank you for managing to understand what i'm trying to get across. Its not always easy to get what we see in our heads down into coherent written words! Caleb's lesson does sink in as will be shown in a later chapter but also Dean proves she can hold her own (also later in the story). xx

Blondie 20000: I know how much you dislike Dana, she will be taking a hiatus for the next chapter or two but she does become a useful resource for Dean ;) If it helps Dean does have a little chat with *spoiler* Missouri. Thanks, as always, for reviewing! xx

Makanie: Thank you for your review. They are always appreciated! xx

CHAPTER 29

Caleb brought the truck to a stop in Bobby's front yard.

"Home sweet home." He sighed. He turned and looked at Dean sleeping against the door. He reached across and slapped her on the shoulder. "Yo! Wake up!"

Dean sat up surprised then ran a hand down her face.

"Crap. All this riding in the passengers seat has given me Sammy Syndrome."

"Hey remember that time he fell asleep half way up the stairs?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah. Damn kid has always been able to sleep any where."

"Anyway, I need a shower and bed." Caleb said as he opened his door.

"Yep, I'm with you there." Dean paused by her door. "I mean my bed, not yours."

Caleb laughed as they walked up the steps to Bobby's house.

"Relax, I get what you mean. After tonight I'm not really up for anything anyway, but I'll take a rain check." He said winking. "Besides that's one thing I don't want to have to explain to Bobby."

The friends walked into the house as quietly as they could but when Dean spotted light coming from Bobby's study it seemed their stealth was not warranted.

"I'm going to check on their progress." Dean said pointing to the study.

"Okay, I'm gonna head up." Caleb said heading to the stairs.

•

Dean stood in the study doorway for a minute watching her brother. His laptop was on screensaver mode and he was currently drooling on one of Bobby's sacred texts. Dean smiled to herself and shook her head. She walked into the room and crouched beside her brother.

"Hey sleepy head. Time to wake up." She said softly.

Sam groaned and shifted in his chair but didn't wake up.

"Sammy. Come on Sam. Time to go up to bed."

This time he blinked his eyes slowly and drew a deep breath.

"Dean?"

"Yeah buddy. Don't you think you will be more comfortable upstairs?" She asked.

Sam sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"What time is it?" He asked, stretching.

"About four."

"Four! Damn it!" Sam turned to wake his laptop back up but Dean shot her hand out and slammed it closed.

"No Sam. You need to go upstairs and get some proper sleep."

She pulled at Sams arm and his sleep deprived brain didn't have the energy to resist. He followed as Dean lead him from the room.

"I'll just grab a couple of hours on the sofa and then I'll be good to go." Sam said moving towards the piece of furniture in question.

"No you won't." Dean pulled him in the direction of the stairs and started to push him up them. "You are going to go to bed and get at least seven hours proper sleep."

"But Dean, I need to keep searching so we can fix you."

"That's great Sammy. What's the point of fixing me if you drop dead of exhaustion or get yourself killed on a hunt because you're too tired to focus."

She pushed Sam into their room and towards his bed. She picked up the pair of sweats he had left on the bed and threw them at Sam.

"Get changed and hit the rack. I do not want to see your face down stairs before 11am. That's an order. Got it?"

"Yeah, I got it."

Dean left the room to clean up and change into her pyjamas and when she returned she found Sam passed out, laying back on his bed. He hadn't quite made into his sweats but managed to at least get his boots and jeans off. She figured he would be able to sleep comfortably enough so she covered him with a spare blanket and kissed him on the forehead.

"Night Sammy, ya big moose!"

•

The Winchester boys weren't known for their socialisation skills but they were known and if they suddenly dropped off the radar it may raise questions they didn't want to answer. A plan was formed that they stay on the road hunting but try to stay out of the other hunters sights, that way Deans curse might just stay a secret. Between them all they managed to find a half dozen or so hunts that were somewhat off the beaten track, but before they left Bobby wanted to try an experiment.

"I thought you said you had to match the origin of the spell?" Dean asked looking at Bobby doubtfully.

"We do but this might help us narrow the field a little." The older hunter replied.

"Are you sure it's going to work?" Sam asked as he watched his brothers blood drop from the tip of his finger to the copper dish on Bobby's desk.

"I don't know but we are going to find out soon enough."

Bobby recited the incantation he had found the day before, dropping a few ingredients into the bowl he lit a match and set it all alight. The whole thing popped and sizzled then exploded in a flash of black, foul smelling smoke, leaving nothing but a hard caramelised lump of Deans blood.

"Hell no! You are not trying that on me!" She said backing away from the desk.

"Of course not you idjit! That's why I tried it on your blood first." Bobby said, waving the black smoke away as Caleb opened a window.

"How would we have even known if it worked anyway?" Caleb asked.

"Well, I'm thinking it wouldn't react like this." Bobby said poking at the remains in the bowl with a pen. "Guess I can cross that one off the list."

They all stared into the bowl for a moment.

"Before you go I'd like to take a small vial of your blood. That way I can keep experimenting while you are gone, and while I think of it, I want you to call in to see Missouri, see what she can make of it all."

"Missouri? Why? She hates me." Dean whined.

"She doesn't hate you Dean." Sam said rolling his eyes.

"Last time we were there she hit me with her spoon."

"Well stop doin' things to piss her off!" Bobby scolded. "I just thought she might be able to look inside and see if the curse left some kind of mark."

•

"I don't know if I want her looking inside." Dean said playing with her coffee cup. "I'm mean, my life hasn't been perfect. I've done some bad stuff. What...what if she comes across my memories from Hell?"

"Dean, I doubt that will happen. She isn't going to go rummaging around in there. Bobby said she will just be looking for any branding left by the curse."

They stopped speaking when a waitress approached their table with a coffee pot and menus.

"Hi I'm Ally, I'll be your server today. Can I start you with coffee?" She asked placing the menus in front of the brothers.

"Sure." Sam answered.

She poured their beverages, yawning deeply, spilling the coffee slightly.

"I'm so sorry about that." She said cleaning the table with a napkin.

"No problem." Sam reassured her.

"I'll leave you to check out the menu and I will be back shortly to take your orders." Ally said departing the table with a tired smile.

"If you are so worried about it we should have gone to Missouri's first instead of coming here." Sam said when she was out of earshot.

"No Sam. People are dying here. Six women in the last four months. We can't just ignore that."

"I know we can't Dean but you're working yourself up over this and we need your mind on the case, not on anything Missouri might see or do."

"You don't need to worry about it Sam, I'll be focused and ready to go once we figure this out."

Ally returned to their table and took their order then left again after telling them their food won't be too long.

"Okay, so tell me about the case." Dean said.

"Six women, all young and seemingly healthy, just went to bed and didn't wake up. Apparently just went peacefully in their sleep. Papers are reporting it as possible sleep apnea or undiagnosed heart defects." Sam explained.

"Nothing strange about them? Like were they related or housemates or anything?" Dean asked skimming the newspaper clippings Sam had.

"No. Nothing. The only anomaly is one male, Dirk Harper, died four nights ago in a similar fashion."

Dean quickly hid the papers beneath the table when Ally approached their booth with two plates.

"Okay, one egg white omelette with roasted tomatoes and rocket." She said placing the plate in front of Sam. "And one Denver with hash...oops!"

The brothers watched as she completely missed the table as she tried to put the other meal in front of Dean.

"Shit! I'm so sorry!" Ally said looking at the mess on the floor.

"It's okay, really." Dean said as she moved from her seat to help Ally clean the mess.

"I don't know what is wrong with me lately. I've just been so tired and now I'm messing up everything."

"Seriously, it's fine. These things happen." Dean put the slightly smooshed hash browns back on the plate then returned to her seat.

"Thanks." Ally said. "I'll be right back with a new meal for you. Sorry again."

"That's fine, don't stress it." Dean reassured the visibly upset girl.

They watched her leave before discussing the case again. Ally returned a few minutes later with a fresh plate of food for Dean and managed to get it onto the table safely.

"On the house." Ally announced with a smile.

"That's not necessary." Sam said.

"That's the policy, if your first meal hits the floor, the second is on the house."

The brothers smiled as she turned and left them to their breakfast.

"So I'm going to go to the library after this and you should go speak to a few of the victims families." Sam suggested.

"Sounds like a plan."

They finished their breakfast, paid for their meal, leaving Ally a generous tip and left.

•

Dean dropped Sam at the library then, armed with the information she had on the victims, visited their homes. Posing as old college room mates, friends or distant family members she spoke to the family or friends of four of the victims, including Dirk Harpers girlfriend. Each of them said the same thing.

•

Sam returned to the motel room early in the afternoon to find Dean already there eating a sandwich.

"Hey little brother. Got you some lunch. It's in the fridge." She said around a half chewed mouthful of food.

"I was kind of hoping this sex change would improve your habits a bit." Sam said dropping his back pack in a chair and retrieving his food.

"Hey Sam? Blaaaah!" Dean opened her mouth and showed her brother the disgusting mess inside.

"Thats really gross." Sam said sitting down at the table.

"So what did you find?" Dean asked.

"I have no clue what we are looking at. It could be anything, a curse, a sleep demon, even a striga." Sam said shaking his head. "What about you? Any luck with the families?"

"They all told me the same thing. Victims were healthy, just went to sleep and didn't wake up. No real connection to each other. If any of them did happen know another one, it was a generic, small town acquaintance. I put a call in to the coroner but apparently he is off fishing until tomorrow."

"Okay. We keep digging and maybe see if we can hit him up tomorrow."

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A/N Looking for a nice short Sammy revenge fic to hold you over? Check out my latest oneshot, I've put a little preview below. Merry Christmas everyone! xxx

A DISH BEST SERVED COLD...

Sam had ten years to research, ten years to wait, watch and remember. The research was the easy part. No spell was needed, no special weapon, no sharpened branch from some Grecian olive tree, dipped in the blood of a virgin. No, a simple bullet would be all it takes. The watching and waiting was just plain tedious. Sam wanted this over and done with because it was the remembering that was killing him...