Soul Catcher

Wow. Thanx everyone for the feedback. As they say it feeds the fire – which is a warmth I haven't felt in a while. I'm not good at this TBC thing so, please bare with me.  Jackie

Dean Winchester stretched, flexed and took in a deep lungful of air. Coffee scented air. Opening his eyes, the first thing that swam into his vision was a Starbucks coffee cup. Closing his eyes again, he wondered sleepily how it had got there.

Sam.

His eyes whipped open again and he scanned the brother for his younger brother, finding him sitting on the windowsill.

"Hey." He said, a little cautiously.

"Hey." Sam replied, taking in a mouthful of his own coffee and nodding at the cup by Dean's head. "It's getting cold."

"Thanks. "Dean replied, scooting up so his back rested against the headboard.

He picked up the cup and took an appreciative sniff that made Sam smile a little. Peanut M&M's and coffee; two staple food sources in Dean's eyes.

"What happened?" Sam asked as Dean took his first sip.

Dean looked at him, unsure what to say for a moment.

"I don't really know." He answered, deciding truth might be the best policy. "What do you remember?"

Sam thought about it long and hard. "I remember pulling into a diner. I remember a waitress you were trying to hit on." He took another mouthful of coffee. "And I remember my head trying to explode. Not much else. Where are we anyway?"

"Still in Philsborough."

"The same town? I thought we were headed the Guthrie?"

"We were, until you freaked on me." Dean replied. "You don't remember telling me you saw Jess?"

Blanching, Sam quickly came over and sat down on the opposite bed. "Jess? What are you talking about?"

"Yeah, Sam. You told me you saw her as clearly as if she was standing in front of you. Then you kinda lost it. Your head was hurting so bad, I figured it'd be better to stay here for the night. You were out of it, man."

"I don't remember. Why is it I can't remember that?"

Dean shrugged. "I don't know, Sammy, but you seemed pretty damned sure you saw her last night. How's your head this morning?"

"Fine." Sam replied.

"No pain at all?"

Sam shook his head and took another mouthful of coffee, pulling a face as the last of the now cold liquid went down .

Dean didn't know what to make of it. What the hell had happened in the diner? His thoughts went back to the previous night, and how he had to practically carry his brother into the room. He was amazed to find Sam seemed so well now.

"Okay. Here's what I think." Dean finally said, swinging his legs out from under the bed covers. "I think we've had a long few days. We've done a lot of extra travelling. Done some extra ghoul butt kicking. I think what happened last night was fatigue being stretched to the limit, and it finally snapped back and hit you in the ass."

It sounded simple and, since Sam's memory loss made it impossible to know for sure, he went along with it.

"Okay?" Dean pushed.

Sam hesitated before slowly nodding his head. "Okay. Now what?"

Dean got to his feet and stretched away his tiredness. "Now we get breakfast and head onto Guthrie.

The morning passed slowly for both men. One road seemed pretty much like the other when you were in a car so much. Every now and then Dean couldn't stop himself sneaking a glance at Sam. Sam was aware of his attentions, he knew that, but he couldn't help it. Partly because of the way his father had drummed into him to look out for his kid brother, but partly he was still curious.

Sam had had a lot of nightmares since Jess died. Some had been stronger than others, bringing Sam's emotions to boiling point, some had been hardly worth mentioning it. The catch was, Sam was physically AWAKE when he had seen Jess the previous night. He was eating a cheeseburger for God sake! He couldn't help but see the devastation on Sam's face when he told him what he had seen. Was it just fatigue, or was there something more happening?

As they passed through Cass County around midday, the boys decided to stop for something to eat in the town of Berkshaw. Not quite a city, the town was certainly a change from any of the farming towns they'd passed through since leaving Philsborough.

"You ready to eat?" Dean asked as he pulled the car onto a main street filled with busy shops and diners.

"Yeah. I'm starving." Sam answered, glancing out of the window at the children's play area across the street.

It was jammed between a hardware store and a chemist. Not very big, it held a couple of swings, a slide and a see-saw, but it served it's purpose in entertaining the few the kids that were playing there. No doubt they had been dumped by mom while she finished her shopping, he thought.

Sam's eye settled on a woman standing beside a tree in the far right corner of the playground. With her slim figure and long red hair, he noted how pretty she was. He also noted that her gaze followed the Impala as Dean cruised slowly along the street looking for a parking slot. Somewhat mesmerized by her, Sam couldn't help but stare back.

As Dean swung the car off the road, his ears caught a sharp gasp and he glanced across at Sam. Seeing his brother pressed against the seat, his eyes wide and staring and gasping for breath frightened the hell out of Dean. He quickly killed the engine and was across the car and shaking Sam before the sound of the engine died.

"Sam! Sammy, come on!" he called, panic setting in as he watched his brother's colour changing before his eyes.

Sam brought his hands up to his throat, and began scrabbling against something Dean couldn't see. Then suddenly his eyes rolled up in his head and he went limp against the seat.

"Shit!" Dean cursed softly, as he realised Sam wasn't breathing anymore. With both hands grabbed Sam's shirt and shook him hard. "Sammy, don't you dare! Sam!"

When he got no response, frustration and fright took over and with a balled fist, he hit Sam squarely in the chest and yelled. "SAM!"

For a second nothing happened. Then suddenly Sam's eyes popped open wide, and he shot forward in the seat, dragging in a huge lungful of air before collapsing back in a fit of coughing.

Dean slumped back into his own seat, and running a hand through his hair.

"Jesus, Francis, you scared me half to death. Look!" he said, holding his shaking hands out for Sam to see. "What the hell was that?"

"She was mugged." Sam croaked. "They strangled her. Killed her for seven lousy bucks."

Dean studied Sam's face. "Who? What are you talking about?"

Sam looked over the road to the playground, but the woman had gone. "I saw a woman in the playground over there. She was murdered, Dean."

Dean followed Sam's gaze. All he could see were two kids playing on a swing.

"Are you telling me you see dead people, Sammy?" He asked, trying to put a little humour into an otherwise disconcerting situation.

"Not only seeing them, dude. She wanted me to know what she was feeling when she died." Sam replied, rubbing his throat gently.

Dean glanced at Sam, and as he did so, he swore softly.

"What?" Sam asked.

Dean adjusted the rear view mirror. "Take a look."

Sam sat forward and looked at his neck in the mirror. There, as plain as day, were the bruised imprints of a pair of hands.

TBC