A/N: Hello dear reader and welcome to a story with the Winchester brothers that I enjoyed creating. Something is going to happen to one of them and it will take expert help from friends to change it. I want to thank VegasGranny for her support and ideas to help make the story even better. She kept me on the right path. Sit back and buckle in as we get started on this journey. Reviews/Comments would be great. Enjoy…NC

Disclaimer: I do not own SPN and this is my own creation. Any mistakes are my own. NC

Chapter 1

Two figures quietly made their way through the darkened cemetery, keeping in the shadows to avoid being accidently seen. They walked toward a black Impala parked deep in the shadows of a stand of trees and one opened the trunk to deposit their bags and shovels.

"I don't know about you, but I'm bushed," the older brother grumbled as he got into the driver's side of the car.

"Yeah, too bad we can't use heavy machinery to dig a grave than having to do it by hand," his younger brother replied as he settled into the passenger seat.

"Wouldn't that be nice. I feel twenty years older after that."

"Are we heading out or getting a motel room?"

"Might as well get a room and get some rest and a hot shower. I'm smelling ripe," Dean noted as he sniffed his shirt and wrinkled in nose in disgust. "What I wouldn't give for a hot tub to relax in."

"Dream on dude, we don't have that kind of money."

"At least we're finding a place that has free breakfast."

"Figured you'd want to sleep in."

"Yeah, but if they have bacon, then I can drag myself out of bed to eat, but who says I can't go back to sleep for a few hours. Maybe they'll have a late checkout."

"Whatever," Sam grunted rolling his eyes and shaking his head at his brother as he let his gaze wander to the windshield to check out the night around them. He was amazed at how Dean could usually find some small, simple, positive to focus on, and accept it as a pleasure or win for that moment in his life. Sam glanced sideways at Dean wondering if that's his secret to staying mostly sane in the crap-show that has been their lives for so long.

"We'll stop at the next town over and get a room. That should be far enough away from this town to be safe."

"Sound good to me." Sam rolled his stiff shoulders and winced hoping a hot shower would loosen them. He knew if he wanted to enjoy his shower, he had to let Dean have one first or he'd be yelling for him to hurry it up.

Things never really changed between the brothers in all the years they had been together, and even the four years they were separated when he went to college. Dean was always the big brother, looking out for his little brother. He had raised Sam since he was six months old, and their mother had been killed by a demon. Dean was more of a father to Sam than their real father since he became a hunter to get revenge for his wife's death. His revenge grew into an obsession over the years that had him training his sons to be warriors. He would never get Father of the Year, but he had done his best in raising them to protect themselves from the dangers of the world.

The brothers lapsed into silence as Dean drove down the interstate watching the information signs and seeing how far they were from the next town. He turned on the radio and tuned in a station to his liking to fill the quietness in the car. He nodded his head and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of the music.

Less than two hours later, Dean was pulling into a motel parking lot and up to the office. The place advertised the best continental breakfast around and that sold Dean. He let Sam get out and go inside to register and get a room key. Dean watched through the glass doors as he talked to the front desk person. It wasn't long before Sam came back out and motioned for Dean to follow him around to the back of the office to where the rooms were located. Sam walked to the back corner and opened an end room door, waiting for Dean to park in front of it.

"You can have the bathroom first," Sam offered as he stepped to the trunk to get his bag.

"Sweet," Dean replied stepping into the room first to give it a brief glance before dropping his bag on the bed. He rummaged around and found clean sleep pants, briefs, and T-shirt, along with his bathroom bag before heading that way.

Sam found the remote for the television and turned it on to search for something to watch while he waited for his turn in the bathroom. He found a documentary on Jack the Ripper and settled back on his bed to watch it. He fought to stay awake as he got sleepy waiting for his turn in the bathroom. He shook himself awake when Dean stepped from the bathroom, letting a cloud of steam out.

"Your turn Sammy," Dean announced dropping his dirty clothes on his bag. "What ya watching?"

"A story on Jack the Ripper," Sam grunted as he stretched when he got up. He dug out clothes and his bathroom bag to take his turn.

"You and your serial killer fetish," Dean huffed shaking his head at his brother. He snagged the remote from the nightstand and started flipping channels to find something more to his liking. He got settled in his bed where he could see the screen and found an action movie on a free pay channel. The hot shower eased his tired muscles and relaxed his body making him very sleepy. It wasn't long before he was pulled under into the realms of sleep.

Sam closed the bathroom door and sat his clean clothes on the counter. He turned on the water before stripping out of his dirty, sweat soaked clothes. He checked the water temp before stepping into under the strong, hot spray. Sam sighed in delight as the water beat on his tired and sore body. He pressed his hands onto the wall and leaned his head forward as the strong spray beat on his head, wetting his hair. After his hair was soaked, he used his shampoo and washed it twice to be sure it was clean before adding conditioner and letting it stay in while he washed his body. Sam rolled his shoulders and arched his back as the water pounded on it. He rinsed his hair and cooled the water to stand under it, cooling his body before shutting the water off.

The towels were big and soft, and he took his time drying his body before running the towel over his head to remove the excess water. He ran his fingers through it to comb his hair before dressing in sleep clothes. He brushed his teeth and flossed, finishing up before heading into the main room. Sam found Dean asleep and a random movie playing on the screen. He eased the remote from Dean's hand to turn the television off and then slipped into his own bed, turning off the lamp between their bed. Sam wiggled around to get comfortable and sighed softly as he listened to his brother's soft snoring, letting it lull him to sleep.

spn

An annoying buzzing pulled Sam from his slumber, and he rolled over, squinting his eyes to try and see. He saw Dean's cell dancing on the nightstand with a call and looked to the bed to see it empty. He reached out and snagged the cell to answer it.

"H'llo," said Sam in a sleepy voice.

"Did I wake you?" a familiar male voice grunted at him.

"No, I was awake," Sam replied, wiping his face. "What's going on Bobby? Why the early call?"

"I got some mail here at the salvage yard for your daddy."

"Really? Who's it from?"

"A storage facility in a small town in Iowa called, Carroll."

"Go ahead and open it and read it?"

"Alright, hold on."

"Okay," Sam told him.

Bobby grumbled as he tore the envelope open. "It seems your daddy had a storage unit in Carroll and the lease is running out in a week. They want to know if he wants to renew the lease."

"Storage unit. Did you know anything about it?"

"No, but I think John had several scattered around the country. I helped him clean one out when you boys were small, but I didn't know anything about this one."

"We were heading your way anyway, we can stop by the place and check it out," Sam offered, looking to the door when it opened, and Dean stepped into the room carrying coffees and plates. "Dean just got back. Give me the information about the unit." Sam got up and grabbed a note pad from the drawer along with a pen so he could take down the info. "Thanks Bobby…Yeah, we'll do that…Okay, see you in a few days…Bye."

"What was that about?" Dean asked handing Sam a coffee.

"Why didn't you wake me?"

"You were sleeping so soundly, I figured you needed the beauty sleep."

"Funny," Sam snorted.

"What did Bobby want?" Dean asked again.

"He got a letter from a storage facility in Carroll, Iowa addressed to Dad. The lease on a unit is up in a week and they wanted to know if he wanted to renew it."

"Dad and his secrets," Dean scoffed.

"I told Bobby we'd stop by and check it out, see what's there. Maybe there's some stuff we can use."

"Yeah, could be. I brought you some food. Let's eat and pack up to head out then. How far is Carroll from us?"

"Probably six hours or so. We can take the afternoon to go through the storage unit and decide what to do with what is there." Sam looked at the food Dean got him and was happy it wasn't all greasy and fatty.

"We can see what size vehicle we would need and clear it out. You know, we could pay for another month to give us time to do that. I'm sure Bobby has room in one of his storage buildings for the stuff."

"Yeah, that does sound like a good plan. There's no telling what we might find. Did you know about these storage units Dad had?"

"I knew of one, but there's no telling how many he actually had. It was a secret stash for him."

Once the brothers finished breakfast, they packed and got ready to head out for Carroll, Iowa. The traffic was moderate and moving well and they made good time. Dena stopped twice along the way for gas, food, and pit stops. It was midafternoon when Dean pulled into the town limits of Carroll. Dean found a deli for them to grab a late lunch before going in search of the storage facility.

spn

"There it is," Sam pointed out the windshield to a storage facility set back from the road on the left.

"I see it," Dean replied signaling to make a left turn. He waited for a clear spot and zipped across into the parking lot. He stopped at a sign marked office and killed the engine. They got out and strolled through the glass doors, cringing when a loud buzzing sounded over their heads.

A young guy stepped from the back and looked at them for a moment before speaking.

"May I help you?" he asked.

"I hope so. Our father was renting a storage unit here and you guys sent a letter that the contract would be up in a week. His name was John Winchester," Dean explained.

"Winchester," the guy mumbled as he pecked on the keyboard and looked at the screen. "And who are you? We don't normally give out private information on our customers."

"We're his sons," Sam replied.

"Can you prove that?"

"Look, our Dad is dead, so it'd be kind of hard for him to contact you," Dean growled getting ill-tempered with the guy.

"We have the unit number and can give you our Dad's date of birth," Sam offered giving Dean a bitch face to behave. "I can have our uncle fax the letter to you if you need."

"Okay, fine, he had a yearly contract, and he hasn't contacted us to renew it. It's a courtesy letter to remind people if they want to renew or if not, we sell the units to the highest bidder."

"Can we pay for one month to give us time to clean it out?" Sam questioned when he saw the guy was finally cooperating.

"Yeah, I guess. You came in before the original lease expired."

"Good," Dean nodded pulling money out to pay and waited as the guy rang it up and gave them a receipt.

"The unit is located on the far side of the facility. You'll have 30 days before we take possession."

"Thanks," Sam replied when Dean just sneered at him.

The brothers left and got back in the car to drive down the rows of storage units looking for the right number. Dean pulled over on the last row and parked at one of the larger units. They got out and looked at the door, seeing the padlock that was securing it shut.

"We still got the bolt cutters in the back?"

"Yeah, and I think there's another lock in there somewhere too," Sam answered going around to the trunk. He watched Dean dig around in the trunk to find the bolt cutters so they could cut the lock off.

Once Dean had the lock cut off, Sam pulled the pieces loose and pulled the rollup door upward, allowing light into the room for the first time in a long time.

"Wow," Sam exclaimed as he let his gaze roam over the room. "Did Dad throw away anything?"

"You know how paranoid Dad was," Dean stated stepping up beside him to see.

Sam walked deeper into the unit looking at the shelves and cabinets lining the walls and positioned in the middle of the space. He cried out when Dean suddenly grabbed his jacket collar and jerked him backwards.

"Dude!" Sam fussed trying to get his balance as he glared at his brother.

"Look down," Dean told him, pointing to a trip wire that was strung across as ankle level. "Paranoid bastard."

Sam squatted down and ran a finger along the wire, following it to a shelf and up it. He carefully removed a rag that was covering a sawed-off shotgun that would take a guy's head off. He cut the wire to disarm the trap and pulled the gun off the shelf.

"Hey, look, silver bullets," Dean called to Sam picking up a box off a workbench. "We can use these."

"Nice," Sam replied. He stepped to a desk that had filing cabinets on either side and started looking through the drawers while Dean wandered off to the other side of the room to investigate the contents.

"Sonovabitch!" Dean suddenly cried out as he stumbled sideways crashing into a shelf and knocking items from it onto himself. "Damn!" he grunted when he cut his hand on a piece of broken glass.

"Hey, are you okay?" Sam asked getting up to check on him.

"I'm fine," Dean growled waving him off. "Just found another of Dad's traps, but I'm lucky it jammed." Dean picked up curse boxes and replaced them on the shelves, glad to see they didn't come open. He jerked out his bandanna and wrapped it around his hand to protect the small cut that was dripping blood down his fingers until he could clean it later. Something shiny caught his eye and he reached under the shelve to pick it up. It was a pocket watch, an old one from the looks of it. Dean turned it over in his hand and fiddled with the knobs resetting the time and winding it to see if it worked. He didn't think anything about it as he shoved it into the pocket of his jacket before looking around to be sure everything was picked up. Dean didn't notice that he had gotten blood on the watch and now he was linked to it.

"It'll take us months to go through all this stuff," Sam told Dean as he looked around for keys for the filing cabinets. He found keys in the back of a desk drawer and opened the first file cabinet drawer. It was filled with files on cases John had worked over the years. He looked in another drawer and found things from John's past: photos, toys, personal papers, a music box, and other random things of when he was married to their mom, Mary.

"Dad has some weird shit in here," Dean commented picking up an unusual statue and looking at it. "Maybe Bobby knows what some of this stuff is."

"I bet he would want these books," Sam told him, looking at the bookcase full of books on the supernatural. "Hey, there's even some spell books in here."

"Dad was one to collect anything."

The brothers spend several more hours looking at the contents of the storage unit before deciding to call it quits as it got dark and locked the place back up until they could rent a truck to clear it out. Dean took several guns and ammo with him, and Sam took a stack of files and a box of photos. They were going to get a room for the night and head on to Bobby's for a few days of down time.

spn

"How's the hand?" Sam asked Dean as he came from the bathroom.

"It's not bad. It wasn't that deep," Dean replied rubbing the bandage he had placed over it. "What have you got there?"

"Pictures of us," Sam replied holding one up for Dean to see. "There's one of Mom and Dad when they were young and dating." Sam had a sad, faraway look on his face as he looked at another photo. "She was so pretty."

"Yeah, she was," Dean nodded taking a seat by Sam to pick up some of the photos and look at them. He stared at John and Mary looking back at him from the picture and smiled to himself thinking how happy they looked.

"Is this you?" Sam chuckled holding a photo for Dean to see of a child riding a rocking horse.

Dean squinted his eyes for a moment to get a better look at what Sam was holding.

"Yeah, I must have been two or three."

"You were a cute kid. You know you look like Mom."

"I guess," Dean shrugged. "Wanna see if there's a movie on the pay channels to watch?"

"Yeah, sure," Sam sighed gathering the pictures into a stack and putting them back into the box. He would take time when they got to Bobby's to really look at them. He got up and went to his bed to turn down the covers and adjust the pillows while Dean found the remote and dropped onto his own bed to begin surfing the channels.

They watched a movie but neither made it to the end. Sam woke long enough to turn off the television and lamp before rolling over and going back to sleep, letting dreams play out in his mind.

spn

It was early morning when something woke Sam and he rolled over, looking to the other bed to see it empty. He raised up to look around the room for his brother but didn't see him. He frowned wondering where Dean could have gone this early. Sam sat up on the side of the bed for a moment before getting up. He saw Dean's sleep pants lying on the floor between the beds but didn't think much of it. He saw the Impala keys still laying on the dresser and went to the window to look out, seeing the Impala still parked outside.

A soft noise caught his attention coming from the bathroom and Sam snagged a gun from his bag before cautiously making his way to the partly open door but paused for a moment to listen again. He frowned when the noise sounded again. He eased the door open to look inside but didn't see his brother, only an empty bathroom. Sam glanced back out into the main room puzzled at what could have happened to his brother. Sam looked to the tub and shower curtain pulled across it. He raised his gun and pointed it at the tub as he grasped the curtain to jerk it aside.

Sam stumbled back until his back hit the bathroom wall with a soft thud, as he stared in shock and total disbelief at what was in the tub. He still had the gun out in front of him and slowly let it fall to his side, not believing what he was seeing. He pinched his arm to be sure he wasn't dreaming any of this. Sam opened his mouth to say something but closed it when nothing came out but a soft gasp. He wiped a hand across his eyes and looked again to be sure he wasn't seeing things and caught his lower lip between his teeth as his mind raced out of control.