Author's notes: I'm sorry it's taking me so long to update. Hope you enjoy.
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As Sam walked in the door he knew something was going on. John was in the process of helping Missouri up off the floor. Sam ran over to the both of them and together they sat her on one of the beds. Flustered and obviously distressed Missouri dismissed their attention immediately.
"I'm all right. Don't you two start fussing over me." she sat on the bed and rubbed her temple.
"Missouri if you were all right you wouldn't have ended up on the floor, now spill it woman." John looked down at his friend as he spoke sternly. Looking up at him she knew John could tell something was up. The truth be told she had just had one hell of a vision but she didn't want to freak Sam out so she gave John a quick look which John understood immediately.
"Sammy go out to my truck and grab my journal will ya?" John asked hoping just this once Sam would do what he was told.
"But Dad your journal's on the table." Sam pointed over at the kitchenette table. Sam wasn't stupid, he knew his father was trying to get rid of him. One glance at his father told him he'd better do what John asked him to do.
"I get it Dad, just let me know when I can come back inside okay?" Sam said sending Missouri another concerned look. He slipped back out the door and stood just outside hoping to hear what really was going on.
"Boy, you'd better get away from that door." He heard Missouri call out to him. Suddenly John was in the door way poking his head out.
"Sammy, why don't you head down the street and get us something to eat." He said handing Sam $20.00.
"Is she okay Dad?" Sam tried to peek inside at the psychic but his father blocked his way. Suddenly Sam knew what really happened. "Her vision, it was about me wasn't it?"
"Sam you know as much as I do. Go get us something to eat and I promise we'll explain everything when you get back." John patted him on the shoulder and gave him a reassuring nod.
"Yeah, okay Dad." Sam turned around and walked down the street. John turned back into the motel room and made a beeline straight to the bed Missouri was sitting on.
"He's gone. Now what the hell just happened Missouri? You usually don't end up on the floor after one of your visions." John sat on the bed next to his friend. Missouri was still a little shaken. She took a deep breath and looked over at John.
"The boy's right John. My vision was about him, but it also included you and Dean. " Her voice regained it's composure. John cocked his head and gave her a questioning look.
"Dean? After what happened earlier, I don't even know if he's still alive, Missouri. I saw what that son of a bitch was doing to him, I felt it I want to believe we'll get him back but now I just don't know how. Now my greatest fear is we may already be too late." John dropped his head as his voice began to sound desolate. Missouri reached over and took his hand in hers.
"Your boys alive John, you have to believe that, I feel it in my very soul. There is evil surrounding him, but you already know that. What we have to do is find a way to get rid of that evil. We have to unravel what they have done to him and bring him back to who he was before he was taken." She got down directly to the matter at hand. John got up and moved away from Missouri.
"What exactly did you see?" he asked her point blank
"Your worse case scenario, John. All of you, you, Dean, Sammy. All of you dead. Meg and her kind succeeding in destroying you." She paused for a moment as she felt something in her mind.
"Sammy's on his way back,"
John's head whipped around as he heard her continue.
"and he's not alone John.
As Dean drove by he immediately noted the black truck parked outside the motel room. It was all he could do not to drive his car right into the room hopefully killing who ever was inside, namely John and Sam Winchester. He took three turns around the block, each time seething as the truck came into view. Finally he parked the car down the street where he still had a view of the motel and sat contemplating his next move. These men were killers and he knew he didn't stand a chance against them together. Even with the element of surprise they could easily over power him and then he would lose his chance at revenge. No he had to come up with some sort of plan.
Just then out of the corner of his eye he spotted Sam walking from the fast food joint across the street. Sam walked head down, bags at his side, lost in thought not paying attention to his surroundings. Dean watched as he slowly made his way down the street towards the motel room. Sliding from the car he followed the young hunter unobserved. As Dean got closer he felt for the gun he had put in his pocket.
'Stupid kid doesn't even know I'm following him.' Dean thought to himself as he moved up behind Sam. Sam hesitated at the door as he fumbled to find the room's key. Dean took the offered opportunity and grabbed Sam around the neck placing the handgun to his temple. Dropping the bags, Sam's immediate reaction was to try to spin around, but Dean had him tightly in his grip.
"Who the hell are you and what do you want?" Sam asked loud enough hoping he could be heard inside the motel room. He felt the blood drain from his face as he heard his brother's voice from behind his ear.
"I'm the man who's gonna kill you, you bastard." Dean tightened his grip on Sam's neck and cocked the gun.
"Dean, oh my god…." He started to choke as he felt Dean's arm tighten. He gasped for breath and clutched at the arm wrapped around his neck. Hearing the gun cock he stopped his struggles still not believing his brother was holding at gun to his head. Just then the motel door flew open and John stood in the doorway, mere feet away, with his shotgun pointed at Dean. Sam's eyes went wide with fear as he saw the look on his fathers face.
"Dad no it's Dean…." He gasped as he realized what his father meant to do. John's eyes never left his oldest son's. His hands steady and sure, he cocked the shotgun and fired as Sam wrenched himself to the left out of harms way. Dean spun and cried out as the pellets struck his right shoulder. Unconscious he fell to the ground in a heap. Sam scrambled to Dean's side, rolling him over expecting to find him dead, instead finding salt pellets imbedded in his brothers shoulder.
"Son of a bitch!" Sam screamed as he turned to face his father. The gun still smoking, John lowered it to his side and moved over to his sons. Sam jumped up, grabbed his father by his shirt, and started shaking him.
"What the hell were you thinking? You could have killed him you son of a bitch! Oh my god, Dean." Letting go of his father he fell next to Dean again and checked to make sure his brother was still breathing. John knelt next to Sam and grabbed his arm.
"Sammy we've got to get him inside. Hurry before anyone sticks their nose over here. I'm sure someone heard the shot and has called the cops already, now come on." John grabbed Dean with his free hand as Sammy got on the other side and together they dragged Dean into the motel room. Lifting him up they gently put him down on the nearest bed. Missouri, already in action with towels and bandages, came over as they laid him down.
"John Winchester I don't know if I'm ever gonna forgive you for this." she said as she shot him an angry look. John stood back and watched as Missouri and Sam peeled Dean's shirt off and examined his wounds. The salt pellets penetrated deep enough to cause bleeding, but not as deep as if he'd been shot with real shot gun pellets. Missouri and Sam worked quickly hoping Dean wouldn't wake up and start to struggle. John watched quietly ignoring the glares from his youngest son. When they were through, Sam got up in John's face again about to finish what he started, when Missouri spoke up breaking the tension.
"This poor boys' been through enough without the two of you going at it as well." She covered Dean with a sheet and pulled up a chair next to his bed. Sam looked back at his brother one more time before moving across the room to the other bed. Sitting down hard, he dropped his head to his hands.
"Dad why?" he asked from behind his hands.
"We don't know this Dean, son. I know you want to believe your brother would never hurt you but I couldn't take that chance. I saw the look in his eye Sammy; you were just moments away from ending up dead at his feet." John stood against the wall head hanging down, hands in his pockets. "I've already lost one son Sammy, I'm not willing to lose the other."
"But Dad you haven't lost him, he's right there." Sam said looking up at his father not accepting his explanation.
"This isn't the Dean you remember Sam." Missouri spoke up quietly. "This Dean is someone you do not know and who doesn't know you. What ever they did to him created a whole different reality for him. One where you and your father are his enemy. One where you murdered his father and now all he can think about is revenge."
"But how can that be?" Sam gave a frightened look at his brother.
"Son, think about it. You know your brother as well as I do and one thing's for sure he never would have submitted to a memory demon willingly. He's strong; he would have fought it off if he were able. No I think they had to do something to your brother to weaken his mind to make him more susceptible to the demon." John looked over at Missouri who nodded back to him. "I think they may have given him shock treatments before they set the demon on him."
"Jesus Dad, no…." Sam closed his eyes imagining his brother strapped to a table screaming in agony. Remembering the searing pain in his nightmares, Sam knew he spoke the truth.
"Even Dean wouldn't have had a way to protect himself after that. All the demon had to do was remove the memories of his real life, and then Dean would have been open for Meg to implant anything she wanted to into his subconscious." Missouri continued.
"How do we fix him?" Sam asked cautiously. John and Missouri looked at each other and didn't answer right away. "We can fix him right? I mean he's right here…. We can make him remember us right?"
"Sam…" John started before Missouri interrupted him.
"Sam know this, and know this well, we are going to do what ever is possible to bring your brother back to us."
"But if the demon removed all his memories….." Sam said realizing the implications of the demons actions.
"Our Dean might be gone forever." John spoke motioning to the bed.
"But Dad we can't give up. Isn't there something we can try?" Sam wasn't ready to give up on his brother just yet.
"I'm not saying we should give up son. I'm saying we might have to accept that our Dean might be lost to us." John sat down next to Sam and looked over at the next bed. "But don't worry; I think Missouri has an idea about how we can help your brother."
Missouri looked at John surprised.
"John Winchester don't tell me you are becoming psychic as well?" she said smiling at him.
"You and I have been friends for too many years for me to not know when you have something up your sleeve. I saw those wheels of yours turning. You've been thinking about how to help Dean, haven't you?" John said smiling back at her.
"John I don't want to get your hopes up but there may be a chance and to give him that chance we have to get him back to my place and soon." She looked at both John and Sam praying it wasn't already too late.
"But he's hurt, and what if he wakes up and tries to leave. If what you say is true, I don't think we'll be able to convince him to come with us willingly." Sam said not convinced of the plan.
"Leave that to Missouri and her little box." John said motioning to the box sitting on the nightstand. Curious Sam gave the box a look and then decided it might be better not to ask what was inside.
"Sammy find Dean's car keys. Damn I'm not sure what kind of car he was driving. I guess we'll have to walk around until we find the right one." John got up just as Sam did and started to go through Dean's pockets looking for a set of keys. Pulling a set out of Dean's front pocket Sam started to laugh as he saw the Mustang key ring.
"Looks like this Dean's a Ford man." He said jingling the keys in his hands. Then he remembered the Mustang that passed by him as he was coming back from the park. "I think I know where his car is Dad."
"Good, now go get it and bring it back over here. I'll get Dean loaded into the truck and you and Missouri can follow behind me in the Mustang." John saw Sam hesitate for a moment.
"Go Sammy" he said softly to his youngest son. "The sooner we get back to Missouri's the sooner you can have your brother back."
Sammy nodded and headed out the door. Missouri moved over between the beds and picked up the box that was sitting there. Opening it up she took out another small pill and placed it under Dean's tongue.
"That will keep him sleeping for another few hours John, at least long enough for us to get back home." She said standing up and pocketing the box.
"Remind me to never get on your bad side Missouri. I have a feeling I'd be dead before I even knew what hit me." John said with a wink. Then taking a deep breath John leaned over and lifted the still form of his oldest son into his arms. Missouri quickly opened the door and looked around to make sure no one was watching.
Gently John loaded Dean into the truck and placed the seatbelt around him so he wouldn't fall over. Sam pulled up and parked long enough to run inside and grab all their gear before throwing it in the backseat of the Mustang. Within minutes they were on the road, with John leading the way.
Across the street a lone figure stood purposely off to the side observing the happenings in front of the motel room. Smiling to itself it reported its findings to the one who was its new master….Meg.
Tbc.