"Morning, kid."

"Hey."

"Sleep good?" Bobby asked, as Dean took a seat at the table where Bobby had laid out some toast and eggs. "Or was your mind jumping around too much to achieve much?"

Dean shrugged as he helped himself to some of the delicious food. "It wasn't too bad," he murmured softly.

After they had successfully stopped the spirit (or demon, he wasn't sure which) he had finally been able to go to bed with the knowledge that it was done and over with. The demon was gone, and would no longer be able to terrorize the innocent youth of the small town it had decided to haunt. It had been a relatively easy hunt. The one thing that Dean, in his devastated and grief-filled mind had needed at the time. Even if he wasn't consciously aware of that fact (as he had fought Bobby tooth and nail about the idea of going), but in the end he had been glad that he had caved and had allowed himself to go.

"Good. No nightmares about blood-sucking spirits?"

"I don't get nightmares," Dean said, throwing him a fake withering look, as though the idea was ludicrous that he would be plagued with nightmares. One would think that he would be used to their powerful hold by now, but he never was, and he never liked to admit them, either.

"Yeah, right," Bobby said, clearly not convinced.

"It wasn't too bad," Dean conceded.

"Good."

"So what are we doing today?" Dean asked, as he chowed down on his food. "Where's Sam?" he added, suddenly realizing that his little brother was nowhere to be seen, when he was usually the first one up.

"Still sleeping," Bobby replied. "And I checked, don't worry," he added, seeing the look on Dean's face. "And as for today," he hesitated, as though he knew what he was about to divulge, would hurt Dean. "I'm going to Minnesota."

"To see Caleb" Dean surmised, bowing his head low to shield his face from the pain that must have been clearly written across it, as he focused determinedly on the food in front of him, willing himself not to cry and turn himself over to those ugly emotions that the job had momentarily relieved him from. But the case was over now, and he had to deal with the fallout from that, mainly coming down from the toxic adrenaline rush that always soared through his veins, and now the added reminder that Caleb was still gone, still in jail for something he had no choice in.

"Yeah," Bobby said carefully, sensing how sensitive the subject was for Dean. "And then I'm going over to your house to get the stuff you and Sam need."

"Are you sure I can't go?"

"Not this time," Bobby said softly. "When I see Caleb later, I'll ask him if he thinks you can come with me next time."

"What if he says no?" Dean challenged, knowing how protective Caleb was over them, and that also included shielding them from things that he knew would upset them, and seeing him in jail and in full-on jail garb, would undoubtedly be one of those things.

"Then we'll take it one day at a time."

Dean shook his head with a quiet scoff. "I went three months the last time this happened. I don't think I can make it for round two."

It was the truth: the last time Caleb had been incarcerated for murder, he and Jim had collectively decided that, for Dean's own mental well being, he shouldn't be allowed to see him. The decision had gutted Dean, and it had made for a long and often unbearable three months.

It was horrifying to imagine being in a similar situation yet again. Dean didn't know if he could stomach something like that happening again. There was more at stake this time. For Dean, he had already lost Jim, something that still clawed at his heart, and now he was supposed to reconcile himself to the fact that he might lose Caleb again?

"It might not be three months," Bobby reminded him. "You don't know, Dean."

"Yeah, you're right," Dean said, as he slammed his plate down on the table, fully aware of how childish his actions might be perceived as he threw himself around the room. "It might be longer. He might get convicted."

Then Dean knew what the penalty would be. Life plus whatever sentence he got for the abuse charges. It was horrific to know that, in his eyes, every DA and prosecutor in the town, had it out for Caleb, someone they didn't know from a hole in the wall, and someone they perceived to be a threat, even when they didn't know the half of it.

"It might," Bobby offered bluntly, "but he has good representation, Dean, and if anyone can figure this out for him, it would be her. If you have to wait a little while to see him, Dean, it will be okay. You will be okay."

"I don't even want to go back to Minnesota," Dean said, shaking his head as he gritted his teeth against more of the waterworks that he hated. "There's too much pain there." Jim had died in the woods there, and now Caleb was back in jail for another horrifically serious charge.

There was nothing good or happy for them there anymore.

"You also had a lot of years there, Dean, when it was good."

"That was in the past."

He did have good memories of Minnesota where things hadn't been so impossibly hard, but that was in the past. The recent hits they had taken in their town, was hard to move past for Dean. It was where Jim had died, it was where he had gotten those bruises from the spirit, and it was where CPS had initially launched their investigation into his family.

"True," Bobby conceded, not able to argue Dean's point when the evidence was laid out in front of him. "You want to move someplace else?"

"If he gets out and wants to move, then yeah."

He wasn't sure how Caleb would feel about the idea of moving, although he couldn't really see why he wouldn't when he had been the one to pay the harshest price for what the DA thought of him. The emotional turmoil that Dean was going through, paled in comparison to the fear and uncertainty that Caleb was going through.

"You guys might be better served to just hang out here for the time being. At least until Yellow-Eyes is finished." It was the only residence that offered them complete protection from the YED.

"Yeah," Dean said with a shrug. "So when do you leave?" he asked, glancing over at the Chicken-themed clock that was hanging above the sink.

"Pretty soon. I want to get there fairly early so I can see him, and then go by your place and get your things, and then get back before it gets dark."

"Right," Dean said, as he cupped his hand under his chin. "What are the rules?"

It wasn't often that they were left alone, especially recently with the threat of YED still so strong. When they were left alone, the guys almost always left them with rules to follow. Some were the classic ones that parents often left their children with, but some were more tailor-made for their situation, and ones that were even more important than the ordinary ones.

"Don't answer the door or the phone," Bobby said, beginning to list off the orders that Dean was to follow while he was gone. "If it's me, I'll call once and then hang up."

"Okay."

"If someone gets in, shoot first and then ask questions later."

Not that Bobby or Dean seriously entertained the idea that a demon would be able to break through the sigils and wards that surrounded the house, but it was always best to be prepared just in case the unthinkable happened.

"And then what?"

"Get me and Sammy out. I know."

"Okay. Tell Sam I'll be back by mid-afternoon."

"Got it."

"Okay," Bobby said, as he grabbed his coat and trucker cap. "Be careful."

"I know," Dean said, rolling his eyes. "Have fun," he said dryly.

"Idjit."

To a certain degree, Bobby was used to walking into jails to talk to the poor idiots who had fallen victim to whatever spirit or demon Bobby happened to be hunting that week, but this was completely different. He had never been in a position before this, to have to walk into the detention center to see his friend.

It was surreal.

And for the first time, he understood what Jim meant when he had confided in him how difficult it had been to leave his good friend in that place, especially when he hadn't done anything to deserve it. It was incredibly difficult to walk into the jail to see Caleb, and be reminded of the fact that he wouldn't be allowed to bring him home to the boys, who were both missing him and wanting to see him desperately, especially Dean.

Thanks to Dawn, instead of the usual glass-to-glass meetings that inmates and their family's were usually forced to have, she had arranged for them to meet in the same room that she and Caleb now held their meetings. No physical contact of course, but it was preferable to being forced to converse through glass. When the guards finally appeared and led a cuffed Caleb in, Bobby tried to ignore the degrading and horrific restraints they had him in, and instead focused on his face until the guards left the room to stand outside.

"So," Caleb said, after a few minutes of silence between the two, both clearly wondering what to say. "Thanks for-" he tapered off with a small smile. It was hilarious and also depressing that he was trying to come up with the words to thank his friend for visiting him in jail.

"You're welcome," Bobby said, catching the underlying meaning. "I just have to get this off my chest," he began seriously.

"Okay," Caleb said, with a slight smile. "What?"

"Orange is not your color."

He was relieved when his remark brought an actual laugh out of his friend. If anyone needed to feel some sort of humor, it was Caleb. "No," he admitted. "It's not."

"Do they have you in that jumpsuit all the time?"

Caleb nodded. "Yeah, except for when we shower. I think when I get out," he said, as he scratched something. "I'm going to raid my closet and throw out all my orange stuff."

"Sounds like a plan to me. This might be a foolish question to ask, but how are you?"

From all outward appearances, Caleb looked okay. His color was good, slightly pale, and his weight was still the same as Bobby remembered it from the last time he had seen him. But that was all external, the emotional part was what Bobby was worried about the most. He knew how hard it was for Caleb to be incarcerated, especially for something he hadn't had any control over, and he knew how difficult it was for him to be separated from the boys, especially when so much danger and uncertainty surrounded them now by the YED.

"I'm..." Caleb hesitated, as he tried to consider how to word the answer to him. "I have good days and I have bad days." It was the most honest reply that he could have come up with. Some days were much easier to bear, especially if he had visitors like Dawn or Bobby, and some days were harder, the days where he was mostly confined to his cell for the day.

"I'm sure. Have you heard anything from Dawn lately?"

Caleb nodded, heaving a deep sigh. "Yeah. She's...she started the appeals process, but there's no guarantee that it will work," he said, as his eyes momentarily teared over, before he shook it off. "And even if it does, there's no telling how long it will take."

Being able to be released early on appeal, was the only hope Caleb had of being granted freedom before his trial started. There was really no doubt in his mind that, with the sheer amount of evidence against him, especially with his new kidnapping case, that there would be any other outcome.

It scared him. He had been extremely lucky to escape conviction on his murder case, but he wasn't sure when his luck would run out when it concerned the prosecution.

"If you go to trial," Bobby said carefully, seeing the way Caleb winced when he talked like that. "Will you be able to get out before that?"

"Depends if the judge hears it before then, but there's no promise that it will work. The other judge denied me bail for a reason, and I don't think it will be any different with a new one."

"Because you were considered a flight risk?" Bobby asked gently.

"Yeah."

"What happens if the judge agrees to set bail?"

"There'd be conditions attached to it. I'd either have to wear one of those ankle monitoring things, or I'd have to have actual guards follow me around."

Bobby shook his head incredulously. "They actually think you're dangerous."

"What was your first clue?" Caleb said, shaking his head. "I thought I was doing the right thing in running, but all it's ended up doing is causing one hell storm after another."

Having something like this happen was one of the reasons he had been so opposed to running in the first place. It had been done to protect the boys from being turned over to the custody of the state, but it had ended up causing them to lose yet another person in their ever growing list of people.

"You had to do it," Bobby said, shaking his head. "That Yellow-Eyed son of a bitch is still out there, and if you had just willingly turned those boys over to CPS, you would have no idea what kind of danger you'd be putting them in."

Caleb nodded, raising his hand to wipe away a stray tear. "Yeah, I know."

"I worked a case the other day."

"Where?" Caleb asked, figuring it wouldn't hurt to live vicariously through Bobby for a minute.

"It was in Sioux Falls, actually."

"Oh?" Caleb said, as he raised an eyebrow. "That was a lucky strike. What was the job?"

"Wrap your brain around this: a Mormo."

"A what?" Caleb said with a small laugh. "What the hell is a mormo?"

"A nasty vampire/spirit type deal."

"What's the story behind it?"

"It supposedly originated in Greece. The mother or the governesses told the children that if they were bad, the mormo would come and bite them."

"So it skipped a couple thousand centuries and landed in South Dakota?" Caleb said, shaking his head in amusement.

"Basically; my friend Rufus, remember him?"

"Yeah. Cocky, arrogant. I think so," Caleb said with a hint of amusement in his tone.

"He brought the case over, said he couldn't take it on."

"So you did?"

"Did I have a choice?" Bobby asked pointedly.

"Guess not," Caleb said with a smirk.

"It was good, though, because I roped the boys into going."

"Seriously?"

Bobby nodded. "They both did really well, and it was good for Dean to get out of the house and center his noggin on something that didn't involve thinking about the current situation."

Caleb nodded. "How did Sam do?"

It was rare that Sam got to go out on jobs since he had just started the kind of training that would enable him to do the kind of jobs that his older brother did. Hearing that he had gotten his hands dirty in an actual job, was bittersweet for Caleb to hear.

"He did good. Dean and I interrogated him before we left, told him about a thousand times to listen to us at all times, and not pull any crazy moves. He didn't, either, he listened."

"Awesome. So how's Sammy dealing with it?"

Bobby considered that answer. "He's confused, and he's missing you tons."

"What about Dean? How's he handling all this?"

By "all this" he meant his forced separation from he and Sam, and the knowledge of where he was. It was a situation that he had been in before, and one that neither of them thought they would have to be in again.

"He's like you. He has his good days and bad days," Bobby said carefully. "He, of course, wants to be allowed to come with me to see you. I told him no this time, but that I would talk to you and see what you thought."

Caleb nodded thoughtfully. It had been the same issue with Dean when he had been in jail the year before for awhile. While Caleb would have given his right arm to be allowed to see the boys, and be that everyday presence in their lives like they were used to, he knew it wasn't entirely possible right now, and he knew that while Dean wanted to see him, he also wasn't aware of how emotionally upsetting it would prove to be for him.

"I guess I just can't get past the fact that this would be hard for him," Caleb said. "I know he wants to see me, but is it the best thing for him?"

"I don't know," Bobby said. "He was pretty...vocal about the fact that he didn't think he'd be able to go another three months without seeing you."

"Well," Caleb said. "I want to see him, too. I want to see both of them, but is it the healthiest option for them?"

"I don't know about Sam," Bobby said, "but I don't know what to think about Dean."

"Put it to him like this," Caleb said, getting an idea. "If he really wants to see me, then he can. But remind him of the fact that he waited until I got home last time, and when he finally did see me, it was better because there weren't any rules, there weren't any restrictions, and he could hug me all he wanted to. It wouldn't be like that here."

"That's true."