Hi! I've never written for Supernatural before but thought I would give it a try. There are so many amazing stories in this fandom, and I've always been a little nervous to put my work out there because I don't see how I can measure up! Hopefully I can do Sam and Dean justice. I'll try, anyway. This story takes place back in the very early days, sometime between 2.17 Heart and 2.21 All Hell Breaks Loose. Very "monster of the week" and right out of the gate there's a spoiler for Heart (if anyone cares about spoilers for episodes from 15 years ago, ha). In all my stories I try to keep things true to canon but please forgive me any inaccuracies, particularly regarding timeline or backstory. This story is complete and should go up relatively quickly. As always, I don't own anything, I'm not an expert on much and this is all for fun. I really hope you enjoy! -abby

"I think I have something," Sam didn't bother to look up from the newspaper as he took a sip of coffee. "Three unexplained incidents in the tunnels of the San Francisco Muni Metro system, all within the last five weeks."

Dean lifted an eyebrow. "San Francisco, huh? We haven't been out there in a while." Since the case that ended with Sam having to kill Madison, actually, but he didn't feel the need to state what his brother already knew. Dean was well aware that Northern California held a lot of memories for Sam, between his time at Stanford and that disaster of a werewolf case.

"Yeah," Sam replied softly, his tone distant in the way that Dean had come to recognize as his brother thinking about Jess. He didn't hear it as often anymore but knew that Sam's pain, while not as vivid, was still very present.

"So, what kind of incidents are we talking about here?" The question was a verbal shake and Sam blinked, glancing up at the older man before returning his attention to the paper.

Sam scoured the article with his finger as he spoke. "Unexplained comas. Three different workmen, different days, different closed sections of the subway tunnels. No connection to each other at all. But out of nowhere, all of them just dropped and never regained consciousness. They assumed the first guy had a stroke or something. He was alone when it happened, so no witnesses. Muni kept the job sites open and work continued as usual. But after the second time the other workmen got spooked."

"Understandable," Dean replied thoughtfully.

"Evidently at that point the crew foremen started insisting that everyone work in pairs. The buddy system, basically. No wandering off alone, no turning your back on your partner. That seemed to work for a while - until one guy forgot the new policy and went a little too far down a closed tunnel. Thought he saw a dog. Anyway, says he was gone two minutes, tops. By the time he got back, his work partner was out cold."

"Maybe it's just a coincidence. A weird one for sure, but what makes you think this is our kind of gig?" Dean didn't believe it even as the words left his lips.

Sam leaned forward earnestly. "How could it not be, Dean? Three unexplained comas in such a short period of time, all in the same tunnel system? What are the chances?"

"Yeah, I know." Dean sighed, and signaled their waitress for the check. He personally was in no hurry to go back to Northern California, but figured if Sam could suck it up then he definitely had no excuse.

"Man, I really hate driving my baby in cities like this," Dean grumbled as he carefully navigated the narrow streets, numerous bicycles and masses of harried pedestrians in San Francisco's Financial District. "Dammit!"

Sam wisely held his tongue as his brother cursed and slammed on the brakes just in time to narrowly avoid hitting an errant bus. Instead he looked out the window, watching the locals go about their daily lives when suddenly he was drowning in an unforgiving wave of nostalgia.

He and Jess had often taken the train up to the city from Palo Alto on Friday evenings. She'd always loved people-watching, so they would grab a window table at a corner bar and just sit, observing the hustle and bustle of a densely populated metropolitan scene. Jess had wanted to move to San Francisco eventually and they'd talked for hours on end about which neighborhoods they liked...

Sam closed his eyes against the flood of memories.

"...Earth to Sam. Sam?" After a moment Sam snapped out of his reverie and realized the car had stopped. "We're here," Dean pointed out. He'd given up on street parking while Sam was reminiscing and instead found a multi-level parking garage. "Shake a leg, man. This garage costs four dollars for every fifteen minutes."

Sam chuckled. Jess had always complained about the high cost of city parking too. "Everything's expensive here, so that sounds about right. Let's go."

They walked three blocks to the S.F. Municipal Railway administrative offices with a cover story ready to go. Posing as state safety inspectors, after twenty minutes with the chatty office manager they had copies of all the paperwork they needed. Sam paged through the reports as they headed back to the car. "All three incidents took place at night, in sections of the underground tunnels that had been briefly closed for repairs. Which we already knew. What I can't see is a pattern."

"Well, according to- what was her name? Linda? According to Linda the next tunnel work isn't scheduled for another five days. Which gives us some time to figure it out. Want to grab a couple of six-packs and head back to the motel?" Dean had been watching his brother carefully, and had correctly surmised that the familiar surroundings of San Francisco were triggering memories of Jess.

"Yeah, sounds good. I'd like to change out of this suit." They had reached the Impala, and Sam dropped heavily into the passenger seat as soon as the doors were unlocked.

Traffic had not abated much, and Dean went back to cursing under his breath as he carefully merged onto the busy downtown streets and pointed them in the direction of the Marina District, the only part of town that seemed to have abundant and relatively cheap motels of their usual caliber. It took almost an hour to get to the place they had chosen.

Once the Impala was finally secured in the tiny parking lot Dean got out and opened the trunk, huffing in frustration. "Isn't this city only like seven miles across? How the hell can it take so long to get everywhere?"

Sam chuckled indulgently as he grabbed the weapons duffle and beer and headed for the room, leaving the clothing bags for his brother. Dean was always cranky in city traffic, where the threats to his baby were constant and varied. He'd long preferred the freedom of the open highway, where he could push the speed limits and didn't have to worry as much about a rogue pothole, bicyclist or city bus.

Finally free of the uncomfortable suit and settled at the room's tiny table, Sam cracked open a beer and sipped as he reopened the Muni files. Dean had changed his own clothes and walked down the block to grab them some burgers.

Ten minutes later Sam stumbled onto what he thought might be a lead, just as Dean's key rattled in the door. "Yo," the elder Winchester greeted as he dropped three paper bags on top of Sam's notes. "Find anything?"

"Yeah, maybe. That smells amazing." Sam dug through the nearest bag and pulled out a handful of fries. "What are these, sweet potato?"

"Yup. Weirdo fries and a grilled chicken sandwich for you, cheese tater tots and a deluxe bacon burger for me," Dean replied as he tossed a paper-wrapped item at his brother.

Sam caught the sandwich in the air, musing briefly at the subtle, unspoken expressions of love that were his brother's trademark. Without a word, he handed Dean a beer as the older man shrugged off his jacket and dropped into a chair.

Dean popped open the beer and took a long pull before unwrapping his burger. "So, you said you have a lead?"

"Yeah, I think so. These incidents first started about five weeks ago, right? Well, that coincides with the initial connection of the new tunnel extension into Chinatown. Prior to that, the tunnel project was totally separate from the existing subway lines. But five and a half weeks ago they finally excavated the connection point."

"So?" Dean took another swig of beer and munched on his burger.

"So, what if they...freed something whenever they were digging? San Francisco has a colorful history, Dean. I mean, hell. Parts of it are built on sunken ships. Three thousand people died in the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake. Chinatown is filled with all kinds of ghost stories. Who knows what's lurking underground around here, you know?"

Dean inclined his head, acknowledging the possibility as he shoved more tater tots in his mouth. "This is your case, man. What do you want to do?"

"Dude, gross. Don't talk with your mouth full." Sam wrinkled his nose as he continued. "We should check out the new tunnel. I doubt if it's well secured at night. Should be easy enough for us to get down there and have a look around."

"Works for me."