Thanks for sticking with me. I'll try to post a little more frequently. I hope you are still enjoying the story. If you have any suggestions or comments I will take them happily. Does this flow right? Let me know.

:D

Caroline

Chapter 11

"What the hell was that," cried Jana. She picked herself up from the floor and went to Dean. The doctor recovered her composure and ran to Sam's side. The EEG indicated nothing had happened at all. She flipped a switch and printed off the last 5 minutes to see with her own eyes. The paper slowly filtered out the machine.

"I… don't understand." Dean took a breath to calm himself down. "Doc? How is Sam?" Dean was beginning to refocus on what just happened. Who is after us? The things back at the house? He looked at Sam, praying for Sam or his mother to continue the conversation. The doctor waited for the results of the paper.

Jana was the first to look to Tom Martin. He was gone. "Dean!" She pointed where Tom's crumpled body lay not two minutes ago.

"Well that's just great," Dean muttered under his breath to Jana. "Now we have a psycho cop running around trying to kill us. As if a 10 year old boy wasn't enough! Perfect!" Dean grabbed his chest as his ribcage was beginning to hurt from being tense.

"What time is it," asked the doctor.

Jana looked at her watch and it read 7:13. She reported her findings. The doctor looked to the EEG machine and it indicated the same. "Why do you ask," inquired Jana.

"If I am reading this right, the first brain activity from Sam happened before the officer entered the room, which would indicate that he knew he was coming, and was dangerous."

"How can that be? Sam is in a coma. Are you saying he could sense that Tom was evil?" Dean shot Jana a look to try and stop her from talking. The less people that knew what they did, the better, and safer, they would be.

Dr. Stonewell grabbed the chair and pulled up next to Dean's bed. Dean inched back and gulped. "I think it's time you tell me everything you know. I mean everything. What I just witnessed simply doesn't happen – ever." She crossed her arms and looked at him straight on.

Dean felt he didn't have a choice. She had just witnessed a bizarre event that she would have no other way to explain. Don't…trust… filtered in his head, but what could he do? If he didn't trust her, she might go running to the wrong people, and things could be much worse. He took a deep breath, which was a huge mistake as pain shot through his ribcage, and began from Sam's dream. He left out the psychic attack on Sam and Johnny being 'one of them' and rounded out the story with the satchels in the walls. Through the story, Dr. Stonewell listened intently. Dean couldn't tell if she was grasping what he was telling her, but he did the best he could.

"So, what just happened here, with your brother," she asked. "You're telling me that was your mother who just channeled him? What, is he John Edward?"

The comment took Dean aback. She knew a medium! That was a good sign. "I really don't know what happened. I thought our mom was gone when we went back to Lawrence..." it started in Lawrence… Dean paused briefly, but made a quick recovery. "She saved Sam by destroying herself in our old house. Maybe she can talk through Sam because he's…." He didn't want to complete that thought. No one made a sound.

"Look Dean, I don't know what just happened with your brother. I don't know if this is any indication that he is getting better. All we can do is wait and hope the swelling goes down sooner rather than later. When it does, we can try the surgery and see what happens." Dr. Stonewell got up from her chair. "In the meantime, you need to rest. I know you want to protect your brother, especially in light of what just happened, but you won't do him any good if you don't get better." She turned to the door. "I can have a guard stationed at the door for extra security if you like."

Jana was first to reply "Tom was a police officer. It doesn't seem to matter. We can only trust ourselves." She leaned back in the chair, brushing her auburn hair out of her eyes. "I'll stay with them, for as long as it takes." Dean looked to her.

"Jana, I appreciate your concern but…" just then, her phone rang. She placed the receiver to her ear.

"Johnny? Where are you?" Dean could hear sobbing on the phone. Jana put the phone on speaker so they could both hear.

"Aunt Jana. What is going on? I just woke up in the house and everything is black. I'm all alone." The boy began to cry hysterically. Dean looked to her with caution.

"Johnny, are you ok? Tell me what happened," said Jana with concern in her voice.

"I don't know," he cried. "I remember Sam and Dean were here and then you were getting pizza, and…..please come home! I'm scared." The boy sounded different than he had in the past. Dean looked at Jana to relay that information.

"Johnny, it's Dean. Everything's going to be ok, alright? Your Aunt is going to come and get you." She shot Dean a look. He smiled at her and continued. "Hey dude, what's the last thing you remember."

His sniffles started to cease and the conversation became a little more focused. "I was upstairs and Officer Martin came to see me. He was in the house, he just walked right in. That's the last thing I remember."

"And then you woke up alone, this morning?" Dean was starting to put it together. It knew where Sam and Dean were, so it needed a vessel to get to them. "Do you feel ok?"

"I feel fine Dean. Where's Sam? Is he ok?" Jana and Dean looked at each other. Dean decided to make the move.

"Johnny, he's hurt. We're at the hospital. He is with the doctors and they are going to make him better," said Dean defiantly.

"He's hurt again, or still from the ghosts? Maybe I can help him?" Dean's eyes lit up. He hadn't thought about 'good Johnny' being able to help Sam. Suddenly he was filled with relief and hope. Dr. Stonewell looked on.

Dean decided to play his cards. He was an expert at poker, after all. "Don't you remember him getting hurt the second time Johnny? You were there." He held his breath for the answer.

"How did he get hurt Dean? I don't remember anything." The boy sounded like he honestly didn't know, and was very concerned. He might be the solution to this problem.

"Nevermind Johnny. Your Aunt is going to come and get you, ok. Can you be ready in..." he put his hand over the receiver, "how long does it take to get here?"

"Half an hour"

"30 minutes. We'll get you up to speed when you get here, ok?"

The boy sounded excited to be seeing the boys again. Dean hoped that he made the right choice. "Ok, I'll be ready. Bye Dean." He hung up the phone.

Jana looked to Dean. "Are you sure about this? The last time he was near you, he tried to kill you." Dr. Stonewell's ears perked up.

"I'm sorry, did I miss something? The boy tried to kill you? And what was this about getting hurt from ghosts"

Dean sighed and gave in. He told her the background of Johnny as well as the incident with Sam touching the carpet. There was little left to tell of their adventure in Peculiar. Dean then focused his attention back to Jana. "I don't think it's possessing Johnny anymore, I think it moved on to the cop. We should be ok."

Dr. Stonewell shook her head at what she was hearing. "I'm off duty. I'm going home to get some rest – just like you should. I will let the attending know that you should be looked in on every half hour."

"What is with half an hour? Why is everything half an hour? 30 minutes. It has to mean something right?" Dean went rambling on about nothing. "We were knocked out for that long, that's how long it takes to get here from Peculiar, now you want rounds every thirty minutes. Why don't you just order a pizza from Dominoes and we'll call it a day!"

"I'm sure everything will be ok," she said realizing that Dean was lashing out at anything he could think of, especially if he kept his mind off the situation at hand. "I'll be back tonight around 5 to see how things are going. If Sam is better, we'll look at scheduling the procedure." She turned to go.

"Wait, Doc," called Dean. He started to squirm a bit at his vulnerability. "Could you, you know, keep this whole thing to yourself? We don't want this to get around." She smiled back at him and pulled the EEG sheet from her jacket. She ripped it into several pieces and threw it into the garbage can.

"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." She turned and left the room.

"I don't like this one bit Dean. I could be gone for 2 hours! Do you know what could happen in that timeframe?"

"I honestly think we are safe. They wouldn't come back this soon. It's not their M.O." He repositioned himself in the bed. "Besides, if Johnny is really ok, he may be Sam's only hope. I'd rather take my chances with him, and then you'll know he's safe as well. It's win win really." He gave her his childish grin. She could tell he was feeling better, and hopeful. She smiled despite herself. "Have you had enough sleep to drive? I don't want you falling asleep on the road," he said uneasily.

Jana got up and went for her coat. "I'll be fine as long as you are sure you about this."

"I've done this long enough to trust my instincts, and I feel pretty good about this one."

"Ok then, I'll be back as soon as I can." She leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. "You're still pretty hot."

"I know, it's part of my charm," he said with a big smirk. She shook her head and walked out the door. "Excuse me," she said to someone in the hallway.

"Alone at last Sammy boy," he turned to look at his ailing brother. He boosted himself up to get a better look at Sam. Dean grabbed the water next to his bed, fondling it, trying to focus on what was going on. He began a monologue to his captive audience. "What the hell is going on? This whole thing doesn't make any sense," he began. "Why would 'Johnny' heal you only to hurt you again? They had several chances to take care of us, yet they waited until we were separated to try and finish us off. We should both be dead already. How did we survive?" Sam laid there with no reaction. He was honestly expecting him to spring to life again and spout out the words of wisdom that only his geeky brother could. Instead, he looked taut and helpless. "Sam, you have to pull through this. There is so much more here dude," his voice cracked with worry. "Did you hear mom? Well, I mean, did you, well. You know what I mean. She said this started in Lawrence, that we were in danger – well duh! And they were after us. This was a test. Hell, what else did she say?" He punched the bed in frustration. Dean looked up at the ceiling trying to find the right things to say. "I need you on this one Sammy. We have to do this together, so you better figure out what's going on in your head and wake up." His voice raised and anger started to come through his words. "You promised Sam - just you and me. We're all we've got." Dean noticed his face was wet. He used the bed sheet to wipe it dry. He lay back on the pillow and tried to figure what his next move would be.

The figure in the hallway listened intently as well. He quickly turned the corner and headed off the floor.