Notes: A new chapter written from parts of old drafts for this chapter and new stuff mixed together as I worked on it. Instead of writing many drafts, this is where it headed and where I'll leave it this way to get on to the next part. Not entirely sure I'm pleased with how it turned out, but this is it and it'll have to do. So if you've been waiting for it, hope you enjoy it... and the little bits of twists that appear.

Over the course of the next week, Dean really didn't have the time to look for Manda the way he wanted to. There was already so much on his plate that her disappearance was just one more thing he didn't need and couldn't stop himself from worrying about. The woman he couldn't lose for good was nowhere to be found, and he was trying to hold it together, tried to stuff it down, but it was already eating away at him.

Moments he wasn't working the case he and Sam were on, he was doing what he could to locate her. He touched base with Bobby again, learning that the older hunter had started doing a little digging himself by calling other hunters that Manda knew. The ones that he had talked to hadn't heard from or seen her in months now. There were still a few more he had yet to get a hold of, but he told Dean not to hold his breath, that it was likely they had been the last ones to actually see and hear from her two months earlier. He knew by the tone that this troubled Bobby.

It troubled Dean more. So he started doing what investigating he could when he could. He used some of his usual tactics and tricks when looking for someone or something. Calling the cell phone carrier of her usual number to see if they had records he could use, or get her last known GPS location to at least find out where she'd been last, he discovered something very odd.

Manda's cell service had been cancelled, but there was no actual record of when it had happened, why it had been cancelled or exactly who done it. Stranger still, there was absolutely no activity for her number for the past year, like it hadn't been used at all in that time. Which Dean knew wasn't the case when he'd called her on it numerous times. The woman at the company he'd fed a lot of charm and a sob story to had said that while it was definitely unusual it was probably all due to a glitch and been deleted during their last system upgrade a week earlier.

Dean knew better. Someone had covered their tracks in wiping out Manda's usual number. But he didn't understand why. Why would someone have erased all her activity going back to the month before they'd first met and exchanged numbers? It was completely suspicious, and when he tried looking in to the other two numbers of hers, he found the exact same thing had happened at different companies. It was like someone had been erasing traces of where she'd been, who she had talked to, and all traces of any kind of exchange between him and her with it. It left an awful taste in his mouth, and a worse one in his gut. He couldn't help but feel like somehow this was his fault. It also left him hitting a complete dead end on figuring out where she had been last and finding out what kind of job she'd been working.

Next, he tried looking into her credit card next, but again, the one for the alias of hers he knew for certain hadn't been used in at least four months. It was just another dead end and left nothing to follow.

Using his finer tuned computer skills, Sam was at least able to find Dean the name of the firm that managed her trust, but he held off on calling it. Whoever was in charge of the Chambers trust knew all about her family and what they did, so he wasn't sure if honesty was the only card to play when he called or the best one at getting whatever information they might have. He knew it was possible Manda had given his name and number as a contact for a worst case scenario, one just like this seemed to be becoming, but he just wasn't sure it would pan out anything useful or that he'd get anything out of them.

It wasn't until almost the end of the week that Bobby called him with some news.

Someone had finally got back to him who said he'd talked to Manda about a few days after they both last had. Another hunter who was the son of a hunter that had been good friends with her parents had heard from her about needing some serious supplies for the job she was on. He'd gone out to meet her with a few choice weapons she needed but couldn't get anywhere else. Once he dropped them off, he'd left her to it because despite what she had needed and had planned, Manda had stubbornly insisted she didn't need any help.

But when Bobby told him the details about what the job was and what her plan had supposedly been, Dean nearly flipped. Manda might have armed herself well, but she had also willingly let herself be sucked in to a cursed object, and it occurred to him that maybe that's exactly where she was still. That she could be stuck inside some book cursed by a witch with no way out and absolutely no backup aside from one hunter that had known her plan was crazy and still let her go alone anyway, and then hadn't even bothered to check if she'd come back from it.

Pushing aside how pissed off he was that she hadn't mentioned it to him when they last talked, had turned to someone else who didn't exactly have her back the way they should have, he knew at least now there was a lead to follow. Maybe she was still there trying to save whoever she could, or maybe there was some trace of where she'd gone if she'd made it out.

A few hours after Bobby's call and during a break, Sam and Dean both did a little digging online for anything odd in the city where Manda had been and they realized she must have made it out. Or at least they hoped so, because there wasn't any mention of her in what they did find out. Judging by the dates on the articles they came across, it appeared to have taken her a month to do it, but five people that had been missing for different amounts of time had all somehow mysteriously reappeared in the same place at once. Their stories on where they had been were all similar, and both brothers knew that if and when they contacted any of those people two things would become clear quickly – that those stories wouldn't be the exact truth and that Manda had likely had something to do with their reappearances. And Dean was going to try getting in contact with some of them. He had to know, had to make sure Manda had also made it out alive with them and not just gotten them out instead.

If she had made it out with those people, then what had happened since then and why was she missing? Dean didn't know how to answer those questions, but he figured he would sleep a little easier knowing that somehow he was now one step closer to finding out.

But later that day he sent Castiel out to Manda's place before he could actually get there himself, he learned something else that was completely odd, increased his worry, and made him wonder just what in the hell was actually going on.

[ - ]

It was near midnight two days later when Sam and Dean were getting close to Manda's house to check things out.

Anxiously tapping his fingers on the steering wheel as he drove like it helped to calm him down, Dean's curiosity was in overdrive even if his nerves were shot. Would Manda be at home, and would she have a good excuse for worrying the hell out of him by dropping off the radar this way? If she wasn't, though, had she at least been there recently?

"So Castiel couldn't get in because her house has angel warding? It's not only hidden from them but they also can't get inside?" Sam brought it up as he watched his brother tense up the closer they got.

Dean nodded as he glanced over at Sam. "Done like our ribs, and with extras. Cass isn't sure how one of them got their hands on it or why it's there, but it's on the walls apparently. Said the whole place lit up like a Christmas Tree at him."

Sam's look was intrigued. Enochian wasn't easy to copy, or to even get a hold of. "Did Bobby say much about her grandfather? It was his house, right?"

"It was. And not much, just that Eliot Chambers was one tough son of a bitch. Super smart, resourceful, a little eccentric. Bobby did say a few years before he died that he claimed he'd made the house basically a fortress against all things supernatural. So he's gotta be the one who put those there. But how the hell did he know about angels back then?"

"And the Enochian. But why did your soul mate's family think they needed protection against angels at their house?"

Dean shot Sam an unbelievable look. "Manda's dropped off the face of the earth, her house is angel proof, and that's what you're stuck on? The soul mate thing?"

"Maybe this has something to do with that, Dean." Sam shot a hard look back at Dean. "Or has to do with why she's missing. Or maybe it's all just a coincidence."

"Coincidence in our lives, Sammy? No such thing." Dean turned in to the long driveway for Manda's house.

"Probably not. Think Manda knows the house is warded against angels?" Sam asked, wondering what Dean thought.

"Doubt it… dude, do you remember what Manda did when she first met Cass? She literally poked him in the back like his wings would pop out, swore when they didn't, and then asked how the hell he hid them under his trench coat." Dean chuckled, remembering how comical that moment had been. "Sometimes, that girl just…" he trailed off as pulled the Impala to a stop by her house and parked it. Makes it so damn hard not to love her… so be here, Chambers, please just be here with some silly explanation for all of this. A sense of dread washed over him then. What if the woman he still loved was actually dead and not just missing? What was he going to do then?

"No sight of the Chevelle, but there's lights on inside," Sam uttered, sneaking a look at his brother. He saw nothing that gave away what the older Winchester might be feeling right now.

"Huh?" Dean barely heard a word Sam had said. He'd heard his voice, but not the actual words.

"Lights are on inside. Either on timers or someone's around, but Manda's car isn't here."

Looking at his brother, Dean nodded. "Could be parked in the garage to hide it. Door's down and locked by the looks of it."

Sam saw it then – worry flitted through his big brother's eyes. "Do you still have the key she gave you?"

Knowing Sam could sense his unease, Dean smirked a little mischievously. "Of course, Manda did say I could use it whenever..."

Getting out of the car first, Sam saw how his brother now decided to act like he wasn't overly concerned, that this was routine. It wasn't. Maybe if they weren't soul mates, and maybe if Dean didn't still love her, they wouldn't be here. But they were and he did, and Manda was missing or worse. So that was exactly why they were stopping by before heading to another job or to find her depending on what happened here.

Heading up to the house, Dean climbed the porch stairs first. Making his way to the door, he gave Sam a silent nod to tell him to be alert. Quietly opening the iron storm door first, and then testing the door knob, he held his breath for a split second. It was locked just as he hoped it would be, so either someone was inside or Sam was probably right about the lights being on timers to make it look like someone lived here more than a handful of days out of the year. Reaching in to his pocket for the key, he also pulled out his gun just in case, and motioned for Sam to do the same. "Here goes nothing," he muttered, slipping the key into the lock.

Following Dean in, Sam closed the door behind him and watched as his brother's senses tuned in to their surroundings, and then let his own get a feel for it. Nothing seemed amiss to him at a first glance around, but then Dean gave him the signal to go left while he would go right so they that could split up to cover the first floor of the three story farmhouse separately in the event that someone they didn't know was in Manda's house. Better safe than sorry as they had learned one too many times over the years.

Each covering their ground quickly, Sam headed to the living room and made a quick check to see that in fact the lights on were on timers. He made his way back towards the stairs where he met Dean. "Lights are on timers, so…" he quietly said.

"Doesn't look like anyone's here," Dean whispered back. "Manda's not. She'd have heard us by now and at least have taken your ass down before trying to flip me on my back for fun. Not like I wouldn't have heard her and flipped her first.

Sam kind of smirked at how Dean was trying to downplay his concern again. He was probably right about that though. The two of them had some ridiculous foreplay like that, and usually engaged in it when one caught the other off guard. "Upstairs?"

"You take the second floor, I got the third."

Nodding, Sam took the stairs first this time. He gave Dean a nod when he saw how his brother waited as he checked one of the three bedrooms first. Everything was dark and the other two bedrooms, the bathroom, and the closet weren't likely to have anyone hiding in them, so he motioned to Dean to keep going.

Dean took the next set of stairs, making his way to Manda's third floor bedroom, hoping that she had left some trace of having been here recently. Just an ounce of tension would slip from his shoulders if that was the case.

He stopped on the small landing outside the doorway, and then reached inside, flicking the light switch on. Taking a good look around, and noticing there was really nowhere for anyone to hide except for the closet or the bathroom, he stepped in. Quickly making his way over to the dark bathroom, he took a brief glance around to just to make sure, but the bathroom was empty. Peering through the open closet door produced the same result.

Standing there, looking around, the room was clean, the bed was made, and everything seemed to be where it had been from what he could remember. It didn't look like anyone had been in her room for weeks if not months now. But as his eyes scanned around a little more, he noticed she must have been in here at some point because something was different. Someone else might not have noticed it, but he knew it hadn't been here before.

The few nights he'd spent here with Manda, Dean had seen the pictures of everyone she had loved and lost on the dresser. He remembered seeing her linger over them the last night before he'd left when she'd been recovering after nearly dying. There was now a new one that had been added, because it hadn't been there back then because it had been taken a few weeks after he had left.

Oh, Manda… you did leave something for me to see if I stopped in and you weren't here. Knew I would see it when I came to sleep in your bed. Dean walked over and picked up a picture of him and Manda that had been taken while they'd been dating. He stared at it for a moment, remembering that night.

They'd been out having a drink, and messing around she'd gotten Sam to snap it with her phone. Dean had groaned, wondering why she needed a picture of them, but when she whispered playfully in his ear, he'd quickly thrown the arm around her and smirked. It had been a good night, one he now vividly remembered included a lot of fooling around once back at the hotel.

Putting the picture back where it had been, he grinned a little to know she'd at least come home sometime after that to add this. And then his grin disappeared because she wasn't here now.

Hearing footsteps then, he spun around to find Sam staring at him from the doorway.

"Anything up here?" Sam asked, glancing around the room with some odd interest that stemmed from never set foot in this part of Manda's house.

"Nothing," Dean sighed softly. "Nothing that helps," he said, throwing a glance back at the picture.

"Staying the night?" Sam walked in a step to see what had drawn his brother's attention. He quickly caught sight of a picture of his brother and the female hunter, and held back a lopsided grin. He remembered taking that picture, and how he'd found them cute together despite how annoying they'd been. Then his interest drifted to the rest of the photos Manda kept hidden up here out of sight. He found it normal but odd, maybe because there were so few pictures of his own family that existed still or that he'd never had more than just his dad and Dean growing up.

"Might as well," the older Winchester answered. "We're already here, it's late… and Manda's got a more than one hiding spot in the house for stuff she won't take out on the road."

Sam nodded. He knew this was one place his brother might find a clue if left alone to dig into whatever else was here. And if not, it was at least one place where he could feel some relief, because it seemed things that mattered to her were still here. "So, is that all of Manda's family?" he asked curiously, tipping his head to the pictures now.

"Everyone she loves most, or something like that…"

Sam let his eyes shift between the pictures. He focused on one where a clearly good-looking at the time teenage guy with dark hair and dark eyes had his arms wrapped around a teenage Manda. They looked happy, relaxed with each other, he'd say they looked in love even. The smile on her face had obviously been genuine back then, her eyes less haunted and hard. It was such a reminder of a better time, and a reminder of what the hunting lifestyle had cost her. Because he knew that sometime after that picture had been taken, she'd lost the boyfriend in it, and her parents shortly after that forever.

Looking closer at the one of her and Dean then, for a brief moment he couldn't be sure if the pictures had been taken years apart. This life was still costing her, because her eyes and her smile held that same glint of being content in both pictures, but he could tell she knew it wouldn't last. So did Dean, but looking up to his brother then he saw the way Dean felt was written all over him for a brief second. Dean really did love her more than he'd admit to out loud to him. "You made that list, and the boyfriend that died, Tyler, wasn't it?"

"Score one for Watson on paying attention to the details," Dean sarcastically joked.

Sam ignored the comment. "Why are there no pictures of them around the rest of the house? It's not like this place is about to busted into by just any monster… humans, maybe. But the symbols and sigils everywhere, the iron storm-door, the salt lines. I bet there's a couple charms or hex bags in the walls, too, and like the Enochian, more we can't see."

Dean shrugged. "This is where she probably spends most of her time when she's home. Hell of a bedroom to come home to after all those cheap motels. Manda said there's a secret panel or a floorboard that lifts up in here somewhere."

"So, guess I know where you're sleeping tonight," Sam said, looking around again. The bed was huge and looked inviting compared to the usually crappy motel mattresses, squatting in abandoned places, or the seats of the Impala he was used to. But the beds in the other bedrooms weren't too bad either from what he remembered when they'd been here for a few days.

Dean only smirked, knowing that even if he wouldn't sleep much, what few hours he managed would be sound in Manda's large and comfortable bed. "That bed's like sleeping on a cloud, Sammy. If only its owner was here to roll around naked on it with like she was supposed to be."

"Dude…" Sam groaned. But he heard something in his brother's tone that said enough – Dean just missed her. "Manda will turn up sooner or later, Dean."

He purposely avoided looking directly at Sam then, his eyes going back to the photo of them and her face. "I know she will." But as Dean said the words, he wasn't sure they were true. The feeling creeping through him said she hadn't been here in months, because he just couldn't sense anything that said she'd been here over the last one. Church had probably been here, or maybe someone else Manda trusted to come and go because he noticed a lack of dust.

"Come on, let's get our bags, and then you can dig around the house for some sort of clue on where she might be. Bet you can crack her password on that computer in the library in a few minutes."

With a slight chortle, Dean just shook his head. "Unless Manda's changed it, that'll be easy."

"Do I even want to know?" The younger Winchester shot the older one an amused look, wondering what else the female hunter had given him. She'd already given key to her house, her father's ring, her computer password, and probably her whole heart.

The look on Dean's face said he wasn't amused. "It's a password. I doubt she's keeping any secrets stashed on there when she barely comes back here as it is."

Sam turned and headed down the stairs. "She gave you everything but access to her bank account, didn't she?"

Dean laughed as he followed. "I wouldn't mind knowing just how much there is… or having a little access to that trust fund."

Shooting a comical look over his shoulder, Sam shook his head.

"Dude, kidding… well, sort of. Manda was raised to live on what she needed out of it, and that trust has kept her going for the last eleven years. Tell me you're not the least bit curious, too?"

Sam's look was sheepish, because he had wondered. But it really wasn't any of his business. "Did you call that number yet?"

"Left a message this morning, and nobody's called me back yet," Dean muttered nonchalantly.

Reaching the main floor, Sam kind of looked at him funny then. He hadn't heard that call be made, so it had been done when he'd been out of earshot, which meant Dean hadn't wanted him to hear whatever he'd said.

Giving Sam an odd look, he just headed for the door. "Go throw on some coffee or scrounge up the good stuff in the kitchen before we search the place better. I'll get our stuff."

Watching as Dean went outside to grab their bags out of the car, Sam took a good look around the living room and said a silent prayer that they would be able to track Manda down soon, and that when they did she'd be alive. Because he knew what it was like to lose the woman you loved, and he just didn't wish that on his older brother at all.

Then Sam walked in to the kitchen and found something that took him completely by surprise even though it had clearly been left there for Dean.

Notes: So that's it... you don't get to find out what happened to Manda yet. She may or may not have been at her house more recently than Dean thinks. He may not be suffering too much yet to find her, and I definitely could have played his emotions up a little more in this one, but that'll come... There had to be a little Sam and Dean going on here, even if they are talking about Manda mostly. So things took a little turn with the angel proofing at her house. Are things still making sense? Is she just hiding or has someone or one side got her, and have been wiping out her existence slowly or what? I don't know... Any thoughts on what Sam has found? Anyone out there reading? Let me know.
Hope you enjoyed it, and I'll try to get the next chapter up soon... time to get working on it!