Stunned and devastated, Caleb allowed the guards to take him back to the jail without much of a fight. It was shocking to him that, for a crime that didn't even involve someone getting injured, he had been denied bail. It had been his only hope of surviving through this in one piece, to be able to go home and wait out the inevitable trial from the comfort of his house, with his family by his side.

Clearly the judge didn't agree with his wishful thinking, and had made that clear when he had bought the prosecution's ridiculous argument that he was a "flight risk", someone who had the means and the power to run from prosecution. As if he would do that, (even if the idea was extremely tempting) and risk being in a position to lose the boys for good. Because of the DA's powerful words, the judge had closed the book on his freedom. For now, at least. Sitting in his cell, he scrubbed an exhausted hand over his face and tried to see a silver lining in any of this. At least the boys were safe with Bobby, at least his attempts at running with them instead of going to CPS, had paid off in that Bobby had been allowed to keep them for the time being.

But that was pretty much it.

Everywhere he looked, he was trapped.

Again.

The cell had become his bedroom. Or tomb. When he had those bad days where he envisioned being imprisoned in that awful place forever. For twenty-three hours out of the day, except for when Dawn came to see him, he was stuck in there. Meals, for the most part, were served in the cell, except for those rare instances when the new inmates were allowed out in their cellblock to socialize with their more integrated inmate neighbors. Even then, he tried to keep any conversations with them to the absolute minimum. The last thing he wanted was to give the CO's a reason to throw him in solitary for a fight.

But he was tired.

Just like before when he had been in jail for those horrific three months, sleep had become elusive to him, abandoning him at a time when he needed that sanctuary the most, even if only for a few hours. It was the only escape he had, to be allowed to lay his head down on the uncomfortably hard pillow, and sleep. Eventually his body always won the battle against his mind, but it was a long time getting there, and by the time he finally did drift off to meet the rain man, it was almost time to start the morning routine all over again.

"Hi," Dawn said, as she sat across from him in the small, dark, interrogation room.

That was one improvement from his original stint behind bars. Unlike the glass-to-glass meetings that inmates usually had with their lawyers, Dawn had arranged for them to meet inside a small room. Of course there were guards stationed on the outside of it, but at least he could actually converse with her privately face-to-face.

"Hey," he said, scratching something on his arm. "What the hell happened?" he asked, trying not to sound bitter when it wasn't her fault that he had been denied bail, but it was still extremely frustrating that he was back in the same boat all over again.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I didn't see any problem with you getting it, but when the prosecution brought up the issue of you possibly being a flight risk, it changed things in the judge's mind a little bit."

"What the hell does being a flight risk even mean?" Caleb demanded.

He wasn't a lawyer, and he didn't know half of the words that Dawn threw around sometimes, but this one he needed to know about, because it was the same issue that had gotten him subjected to more time spent in that hellhole.

"It means that you either have the means," she explained. "Or the power to run. Either you have the money to do it, or you have outside help aiding you. Or any combination of the two, and especially when you have a history of running, like you were caught doing with the boys, it creates an issue for the judge because he has to decide if you'll be responsible enough to show up for court, and not try to flee the country."

Caleb shook his head; the decision to run kept coming back and biting him in the ass. It had been done to protect the boys from potential harm from the YED, and now he was paying for it in more ways than one, as he faced spending more time in his cell, his absolute worst nightmare, and having a kidnapping charge under his belt.

"So what are we supposed to do now?"

The idea of spending more time behind bars, was horrifying to him. It had been something he had had to go through with his murder case, when people believed that he was honestly capable of doing such an atrocious act, but things were different now.

"I filed an appeal. It should be on Judge Grantski's desk by tomorrow."

"Tomorrow is...?"

"Tuesday."

It had been four days since he had been arrested, since he had last seen the boys. It was amazing how slow time went by when he had nothing to do but think about the impossible situation he suddenly found himself in.

"What's the situation with the boys? Are they still with Bobby?"

"Yes. The judge in family court did give him temporary physical custody of Sam and Dean."

"And that will last...?"

"Until we can get you back in that spot," she said softly.

"If," he corrected quietly, not feeling so hopeful about his chances right at that moment. "If I can get back in that position. If you can somehow make the judge see past this arrest, and the allegations, and if I don't spend the rest of my life in prison."

"We still have another chance to get the kidnapping charge downgraded to simple contempt."

"When?"

"At the preliminary hearing we'll be able to put all our ducks out for the judge to see, and I can make an actual argument against the charge, and see if the judge buys it or not."

"Well, he seemed pretty unsympathetic toward me," Caleb said, letting just a little bit of bitterness seep into his tone.

"I know, but he hasn't completely screwed things up for us yet. I need to know," she added, "do you want me to fast track these hearings so we can get you out faster?"

"I don't know," Caleb said, lifting one shoulder in a shrug. "Is it a good idea for you to do that? Will it impact the case at all if you do it?"

"The only time that's not a good idea, is when there's still evidence to be collected, when there's still potential witnesses to sort through, that sort of thing. At this juncture, I can get all that together and still fast foreword these hearings."

"If you can do all that and have the hearings moved up, that would be good."

"Okay."

"Would it help if I testify?"

Normally attorney's didn't like their clients testifying in their own defense for a number of reasons, but Caleb was willing to try anything if it meant that he could possibly get them to understand, and get the case resolved fairly and quickly.

"No," she said, without hesitation. "Because right now, they see you as a liar, as someone who is not at all reliable, and if you were to get up on the stand, they would grill you with all kinds of questions that you might not be able to answer, and then that would introduce a whole other problem we'd have to deal with."

"But if they hear it from me that I wasn't trying to hurt the boys, I wasn't trying to escape-"

"Well, then they'd ask what your intentions were. It's unusual that a kidnapping case happens where the defendant wasn't trying to cause harm in some way."

"Yeah," Caleb said, looking down at his cuffed hands, it made him sick to know that those guards thought of him as dangerous, and so thought that it was necessary to restrain him like that. "But that isn't what happened here, Dawn."

"I know that. I know that you would rather fly to the moon than hurt those kids, but the people that matter in this case, don't know that."

Caleb shook his head in astonishment. "So right now, I'm stuck in here until the judge hears the appeal, and then what happens if he denies it again?"

"Then there's nothing else I can do. We'd have to wait until the prelim hearing, and see if the case gets dismissed there."

"Fat chance," he muttered darkly. "So what happens if I get out?"

"You'll have to be monitored since it's a kidnapping situation. That's actually one of the deals I'll try to throw to the judge. If you agree to near constant monitoring, will he reconsider his stance."

"And by near constant monitoring, you mean-"

"Having guards watch you, maybe, even have a tracking bracelet on your ankle. Anything really, but if you're out, that's what really matters."

"Yeah," he agreed. "That's true." Even though it would be mortifying to have to wear a tracking bracelet on his ankle, or have babysitters tail him everywhere he went. It would be a small price to pay if he was actually granted the freedom that he craved.

"So hang tight, and if the appeal is heard pretty soon, hopefully we can get you out of here."

"That'd be great

Instead of giving himself completely over to the devastation that was seeping through his whole being, Dean tried to distract himself with anything he could think of. That included working with his brother on training, and even making time for homework. Swallowing the boredom that was assailing his senses, he absently started scribbling a cartoon character on the corner of his worksheet. Bobby was in the other room, and Sam was busy reading up on possible leads for the demon. They had been searching, but he had disappeared again. Finding the demon was the second thing that Dean would give anything to have.

"Hey, kid."

"Hey," Dean said, as he bent his head low to write something down on a piece of paper. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Bobby said with a shrug. "Tryin' to make sense of this damn research that I managed to scrounge up." Bobby paused, scratching something on his face. "How are you?"

Dean froze, not answering, as he hastily started writing again. Talking about his feelings, going anywhere in that forbidden area, was something he tended to avoid at all costs. Talking about his feelings, verbalizing the impossible, wouldn't help anything. It wouldn't bring Caleb back from the hell he was going through, and it wouldn't stop any of the charges that had been brought against him.

Talking about his feeling was something he only felt comfortable doing with Caleb because he knew him so well, even better than Bobby did, since he lived with them full time, and even though Dean adored Bobby, it was just something he couldn't talk about with him.

"Not too good?" Bobby ventured, not knowing that he was stepping into dangerous territory.

"Not really," Dean admitted. "I just don't want to go there right now, you know?"

"Yeah, I do," Bobby said quietly. "I spoke with Dawn."

"About what?" Dean asked, scooting to his knees from his position on his stomach.

"Well," Bobby said, dreading this conversation more than anything with the already devastated thirteen-year-old. "The judge did agree to grant me temporary custody."

"That's good, right? At least until Caleb can get it back?"

"Yes," Bobby said slowly, "but right now that's not going to happen for awhile."

"What do you mean?" Dean asked, feeling his heart skip a beat and he couldn't understand why, couldn't understand why he was suddenly feeling so nervous, and he hated that uncertainty, the calm before the storm.

"Dean," Bobby said carefully. "The judge denied Caleb's bail. He can't get out right now."

Dean thought he had been prepared for that news, but he wasn't. Not at all. Steeling himself against the torrent of emotion that was cascading down his being, he closed his eyes and tried his best to push aside the sobs that wanted to come out. He refused to allow his baby brother to hear him express the emotion he wanted. More than himself, he thought of his guardian. The kind of person Caleb was, and how hard it would be for him to sit in a cell.

"Why-why did they deny it?" Dean asked, once he thought he was finally strong enough to talk again.

"Because he tried to run, and the judge doesn't know if he can be counted on to make his court appearances. Dawn's filing an appeal right now, but there's no promise that it will work."

"So he has to sit and rot because of what the judge thinks will happen?" Dean demanded incredulously, furiously swiping an arm across his eyes, determined not to break down completely, at least not in front of Bobby.

"It's a little more complicated than that, Dean, but for right now, the most important thing is that she managed to secure the fact that I get to keep you and Sammy until this is resolved."

Dean nodded. "Okay. Did-did Dawn manage to get the kidnapping charge dropped?"

"No. She tried, but the judge wouldn't even let her present her argument."

"Of course not," Dean said with a scoff.

"Dean, he'll be back before you know it."

"What if he's not? What if the prosecution finally has a case this time and they lock him up for good?"

"But see," Bobby said gently. "That hasn't actually happened yet, Dean, and worryin' about it ain't gonna help you."

"Easier said than done."

"Listen, I have a call-in to some contacts. Maybe see if we can get some leads on our Yellow-Eyed friend. I have something maybe you can do."

"What?"

"My friend is coming over later. There's a spirit case that's local, and he can't take it on right now. He's dropping off all his research on the case, and if you want, we can take a crack at it together."

Dean shrugged. "That's fine."

Even though he didn't feel like doing much of anything at the moment, he figured it wouldn't hurt to go on a job, especially if it was local and something relatively small if it was a typical spirit case.

"What are you writing down?"

"Oh," Dean said with a shaky smile. "Sam wanted me to write down some math problems because he isn't in school right now, and he wants to keep that dorky brain of his sharp. And...I'm doing some of my own."

"Gotcha," Bobby said with a chuckle.

"So when is your friend going to be here?"

"Pretty soon."