Chapter 13

Sam was out in the building the next morning going over the list of curse boxes and trying to figure out his father's system. Dean was playing outside the door with his cars and Rufus was lying beside him watching over him. Bobby had been called away on a tow job early that morning.

Sam opened the boxes and began to remove the curse boxes, looking at them and then the list in the notebook. He finally realized there was a small number etched into the box on the top of the lid in one of the corners. You would never have seen it if you hadn't been looking for it. Once he figured that out, Sam started checking each box off the list as he studied each one before returning them to each box.

When San found the number on the empty box, he looked it up on the list and read what the contents was supposed to be. He ran his finger alone the line as he read, gold pocket watch, which had been cursed by a witch. If you reset the watch, it would decrease your age, but only if a blood sacrifice was made. This confused him since he knew Dean didn't make any kind of sacrifice that he knew of when they were in the storage unit.

Sam stopped for a moment as his mind started working overtime and an idea popped in his head. He laid aside the list and stepped from the building looking both ways until he saw Dean in the shade of the building. He walked over to him and squatted down to his level.

"Hey Buddy, I need to ask you something," Sam told him making Dean stop playing and look up at Sam.

"What?" Dean asked sitting up and taking in the seriousness of Sam's expression. "Am I in trouble?"

"No, no, nothing like that. But I do want you to be honest with me, okay?"

"Okay," Dean mumbled looking down at the ground and picking up small pebbles to look at.

"I know Jody did our laundry while she was here, and she took everything out of the pockets of the clothes. She left it on top of our dressers. Dean," Sam spoke to him, tilting his head up to look into his eyes. "Did you by chance take something off the dresser?"

Dean caught his lower lip between his teeth and looked away for a moment.

"I'm not mad at you Buddy. But if you did take something, I really need it."

"It was neat looking and shiny," Dean answered. "I didn't think you would mind."

Sam face lit up knowing he was close to finding the watch. He waited for Dean to continue.

"It's okay, where is the pocket watch now?" Sam offered hoping to encourage Dean to talk.

"I had it when Jody was here," Dean mumbled as his face wrinkled when he concentrated hard on the question.

"Think real hard Dean. Did you take it out of the house?"

"Yeah, it was in my pocket."

"Could you have lost it out here somewhere?"

"No, I had it inside, I'm sure."

"Why don't we go inside and maybe something will help you remember where you put it," Sam suggested reaching a hand out to help him up.

"Okay," Dean agreed letting Sam pull him to his feet. He kept hold of Sam's hand as they headed back to the house.

Sam led them in the backdoor and took Dean to the sink to wash his hands before talking to him again.

"Okay Dean, now think really hard, where would you have put it?" Sam asked slowly and calmly.

Dean fidgeted for a moment, shifting from foot to foot as he looked at the floor while he thought. He looked back up before heading into the living room and pausing to looking around.

"I know!" Dean cried out suddenly as he ran to the bucket of building blocks sitting by the couch. He opened it and began to dump the blocks out and as the last ones fell out, a gold pocket watch slipped to the floor. "Here it is!" Dean beamed proudly starting to pick it up.

"Stop!" Sam yelled at him before he touched the watch making Dean jump back and look fearfully at Sam. "I'm sorry I yelled at you Dean," Sam told him softer as he pulled his bandanna out and reached down to pick the watch up. "You did great remembering bro. I'm proud of you. Why don't you get a juice box to drink while I put this in a safe place?"

"Olay," Dean whispered, picking the blocks up first and then headed for the kitchen to get a juice. He looked back at Sam with uncertainty, not quiet over being yelled at like that.

Sam stepped into Bobby's office and turned on his desk lamp to look closer at the watch. He didn't touch it with his bare hand and used the bandanna to turn it over and opened the front. Sam leaned down closer and squinted his eyes when he saw what looked like blood on the face of the watch and on the stem. He thought about what his Dad had written about blood sacrifice and wondered if Dean getting blood on it would be considered a sacrifice. He saw some symbols etched into the inside of the front cover but couldn't make them out. Sam closed it back and wrapped the bandanna around it and looked around trying to decide where to put it until Bobby got back. He got up and placed it on the top shelf of a bookcase well out of Dean's reach.

"Can I have a snack too?" Dean asked quietly when Sam walked back into the kitchen.

Sam could tell he was upset and felt bad for being so abrupt with him. He knew Dean didn't understand what was going on and tried to ease his mind.

"Sure, and how about we take Rufus a chew too? What would you like? I have string cheese, cookies, granola bars, yogurts, fruit…"

"Can I have a…string cheese and cookies?" he asked hopefully.

"Okay, why not?" Sam decided. He grabbed a water from the fridge for himself and a pack of string cheese for Dean. He looked in the cabinet for the small packs of animal cookies, snagging one to add to the string cheese. "Let me get Rufus a chew and we'll head back outside to the building."

"Alright," Dean nodded opening the door for Sam and following him out.

Sam led them back to the storage building and gave Dean the chew for Rufus.

"Rufus! I got you a treat!" Dean called waving the chew in the air. "Come on boy!" Dean smiled when Rufus lumbered his way and woofed at Dean as he sat down whining to him. "Good boy, here you go." Dean held the chew out to him and allowed Rufus to take it. Rufus moved to the shade and plopped down to enjoy his treat.

"Okay Dean, you want to sit here in the doorway and have your snacks?" Sam asked motioning to the doorway.

"Alright," Dean answered, dropping to the wooden floor and accepting the snacks from Sam. He opened the cheese first and began to eat it while watching Sam move back inside to continue going through the list and comparing it to the boxes he removed and checked off.

By the time he was done going through the curse boxes, several hours had passed. Sam looked around to be sure he didn't miss any boxes since there were more boxes on the list than he actually had. He decided John must have gotten rid of some of them over the years. He noticed Dean wasn't in the doorway and stepped out of the building looking around to find him laying with Rufus in the shade asleep. Sam looked toward the house when he heard the tow truck coming up the driveway and knew Bobby was back.

"Hey Buddy, time to wake up," Sam spoke to Dean, bending down to shake his shoulder to wake him.

"Mmmm…" Dean grunted rolling over and rubbing his eyes.

"Uncle Bobby is back, let's go see him," Sam told him.

"O—kay…" Dean yawned getting up and shaking himself for a moment.

They headed back to the house to find Bobby. Sam was anxious to show him what he found and to get his thoughts on the watch. He had snagged the empty curse box before closing the door to the building, thinking this was more important than going through any of the other things right now. Besides, he was sure Dean would want to be involved in looking at the things too.

spn

"Bobby, you in here?" Sam called as they came in the backdoor.

"Yeah boy, you don't have to yell," Bobby replied with a growl.

"Oh, sorry. I found it," he rushed excitedly. "Well, Dean found it, but I got it. It was a pocket watch."

"That's good," Bobby told him.

"Uncle Bobby," Dean cried out running to him and hugging him.

"Hello son," Bobby smiled ruffling Dean's hair and patting his back.

"I played with Rufus and gave him a treat for being good."

"You did? Well, thank you. He's getting spoiled with all this attention."

"Dean, why don't you build Uncle Bobby something with your blocks?" Sam suggested. "I'm sure he would love to see how creative you are."

"Would you like that Uncle Bobby?"

"I sure would son."

"Okay, I'll build something really special." Dean took off into the living room and dumped the blocks on the floor before sitting down and looking at them for a moment deciding what he wanted to make. He began to sort them by color before starting the build.

Sam and Bobby went into the office and Sam reached on top of the shelves to get the pocket watch down and handed the bandanna to Bobby. He sat the curse box on the desk so they could put it back in there after looking at it.

"Dad's list said it was cursed by a witch and with a blood sacrifice would de-age a person. I found Dean's blood on the watch and think that's what triggered the curse."

"You did say Dean cut his hand when he fell, so it makes sense if he picked it up with a bloody hand."

"My thinking exactly. I also found some symbols on the inside face of the watch that you should look at."

"Let me get some gloves, first," Bobby told him looking in his desk drawer and searching for some. He finally found some and slipped them on before carefully picking up the watch. Bobby turned it over in his hands and turned on his desk lamp to get a better look. He pulled out a magnifying glass and squinted as he examined some markings on the outside that were slightly worn from being handled. "There's some words on the back, can't quite make them out."

"Is it English?" Sam asked trying to see too.

"Don't think so. I'm going to call Missouri and get her thoughts on this."

"Let's take some photos to send to her too. That might help," Sam offered pulling his cell out. He waited until Bobby laid the watch in the curse box to let him take pictures of the front and back. He opened it and let Sam get shots of the inside with the symbols. "Okay, I'll send them to you so you can send them to Missouri."

"I'll give her a call so she can be looking for them." Bobby picked up his phone and placed the call.

"Hello," a soft lyrical, female voice answered.

"Hello Missouri, Bobby Singer, how are you?" Bobby replied warmly.

"Land sakes, Bobby Singer, I haven't heard from you in a coon's age," Missouri stated, teasing in her voice. "I had a feeling this morning someone was going to be calling me."

"I know old gal, sorry for not staying in touch. I'll get to the point. My boys are here and one of them has a problem."

"I'm not the only one that's old, Bobby Singer. Let me guess, what has Dean gotten into now?"

Sam looked up at Bobby surprised she could zero in on Dean being the source of the call.

"I have Sam here, he can tell you about it. I have you on speaker."

"Hey Missouri," Sam spoke in a hesitate voice.

"Samuel, it's good to hear your voice. You boys always seem to find trouble without even trying. So, tell me what happened?"

"Bobby called us a little over a week ago about our Dad having a storage unit in Iowa that the lease was running out on. We went by to check it out and Dad had set some traps, you know, in case the wrong people broke in. Dean sprung one and fell into a shelve full of curse boxes. I'm only guessing because I didn't see it, but he picked one up without knowing it was cursed. He cut his hand and got blood on the object and the next morning I wake up to a five-year-old Dean cowering in the bathtub of our motel room…."

"Sam! Come see," a young voice yelled over Sam talking. "Sam!"

"Lordly, that boy," Missouri sighed. "Does he remember anything?"

"You want to finish Bobby, I'll go check on Dean."

"Sure son," Bobby nodded. "No, he knew his name was about all. Dean did accept Sam telling him he was his brother. We found the object, it's a pocket watch with symbols and writing on it. John had a book with a list of curse boxes and their contents. This one said it was cursed by a witch and with a blood sacrifice would reverse the age of the person."

"Interesting," Missouri hummed.

"Sam took photos that I can send you and I'm hoping you can tell us how to reverse the aging process to get Dean back."

"Send them and I'll start doing research and contacting some sources I have about it. I'm sure there's a way to change Dean back."

"Thanks Missouri. Let me know if you need anything else."

"Uncle Bobby, I finished your surprise," Dean spoke from the doorway.

"Dean, Uncle Bobby is on the phone, it's not polite to interrupt him," Sam told him.

"Sorry," Dean mumbled hanging his head. "Who you talking to?"

"An old friend of mine, do you want to say hello?" Bobby asked. "Her name is Missouri."

Dean stepped closer to the desk and looked at the phone for a moment before speaking in a cautious voice.

"Hello," Dean said cautiously.

"Why hello there, young man," said Missouri in a warm voice. "Are you having a fun time with your Uncle Bobby?"

"Yeah, he lets me play with Rufus."

"I bet that is fun."

"I got to ride in a big truck and got a milk shake."

"My, my, the adventures you are having."

"Yeah, and Sam promised we'd go on a picnic too. I need to go…" Dean rushed, hurrying from the room to the bathroom.

"That child, I remember seeing him at that age, so serious and shell shocked. He's happy and content this time around. It's kind of nice that he's getting to be a child."

"I'm trying to give him a little of the childhood that he never got," Sam told her with a sigh. "Do you think you can help us?"

"I am going to try Samuel, don't you worry so. There's always a way to break a curse, you just have to find it."

"I'll be sending the photos to you after we hang up," Bobby added.

"Alright and if I need anything else, I will be in touch. You take care of your brother Samuel."

"I will Missouri. Bye."

"Goodbye both of you."

"Bye Missouri, and thanks for the help," Bobby told her hanging up the phone.

"Can I still talk?" Dean asked running back into the room.

"No, Missouri's gone Dean. She had things to do," Sam told him.

"Phooey…" Dean pouted for a moment. "Uncle Bobby come see," he urged Bobby.

"Alright son, give me a couple of minutes to send an email and I'll right there."

"You think he will like it?" Dean asked Sam as they walked back into the living room.

"I think he will be impressed at what you built Dean. You've got a very creative mind."

"Is that good?"

"Yes," Sam laughed softly. "That's very good."

They waited by the couch for Bobby and Dean fidgeted, touching some of the top blocks and moving one to another spot. He beamed with pride when Bobby came in and examined the creation, telling Dean that he was a very smart to build something his elaborate. Sam snapped a few photos of them and Dean's creation to add to his growing photos collection.

A/N: They found the object and have called in help from an old friend. Will they be able to find a way to break the curse? Thanks for coming along for the ride. Reviews/Comments would make my day. NC