AN: Another chapter, and so quickly too! This one is pretty long because I won't be updating for a few days. Once again, thanks a bunch for the reviews guys. Toodles, AT

>>>>>>>>

Ahh, the wonderful world of dreams. Isabel turned in bed and further buried herself in the soft sheets and blankets. She loved these moments of semi-consciousness, that transition time within the sleep cycle that threatened complete wakefulness if you let it, if you didn't surrender to the wave of drowsiness, waiting eagerly to draw your mind into yet another round with Morpheus.

The dream had been pleasant, that much she remembered, but she was hesitant to dwell on it, to reach into her mind and recall the details that were still so fresh they were skimming the surface of her consciousness. Any increase in brain activity now might falsely give her brain the indication that she'd had enough sleep and was ready to wake up. She was not. She hadn't had much sleep the night before, worrying about her cousins in the county jail, and now her body demanded further restorative rest. She pushed all thoughts aside, keen to once again invite the alluring peacefulness of slumber.

"Isabel!" Dean shouted as he rushed into the motel room "Come on Bel, wake up!"

Isabel frowned in irritation at being so offensively awakened. She poked her head out of the covers and groaned as she looked at the alarm clock.

"What the…Dean, it's not even 6 am" She croaked out groggily She looked at Dean and sat up on bed, her face now twisted in concern as all thoughts of sleep and dreams vanished in an instant. He was covered head to toe in dirt "Oh my God, are you OK?"

"I'm fine. Where's Sam? Has he called?" Dean asked impatiently as he grabbed some clothes and a clean towel.

"No, he's probably still at Lori's" She said with a yawn "Did you find the grave?"

"Yeah, it's done" He said heading to the bathroom "Call Sam and tell him, will you? I need a shower"

He disappeared into the bathroom and Isabel yawned loudly again. She slowly stood up and walked to the desk where her cell phone was charging. There were no missed calls from Sam, so she scrolled down the contact list and rang him.

"Isabel?" Sam's voice was hushed.

"Sam! Are you still at Lori's?" She asked.

"I'm at the hospital" He said softly "Last night…"

"Hospital?" She cried out in a panic "What happened? Are you OK?"

"I'm fine" He said quickly "Isabel…Isabel, shut up for a second!" He said trying to calm her down "I'm OK. Is Dean back yet?"

"Yeah, he's in the shower" She said, now infinitely more relieved, although still anxious at not knowing what was going on "What the hell happened Sam?"

"Lori's dad was attacked. Get Dean and come pick me up at the hospital" He said "There are cops around. I can't really talk right now. See you soon"

With that he hung up and Isabel froze mid sentence when she heard the line disconnect. She looked at the phone in anger as if it had been the phone itself that had hung up so abruptly on her. The door to the bathroom opened and Dean came out amidst a cloud of steam.

"And?" He asked pulling on his jeans and sitting on one of the beds to put his shoes on.

"He hung up on me" Isabel said in outrage.

"He still at Lori's?"

She grimaced "Hmmm, actually, he's at the hospital"

Dean's head snapped up "What?"

"It's OK" She said quickly "He said he was fine. He wants you to go pick him up"

"What happened?" Dean asked. He was fully dressed now and he grabbed his jacket and car keys.

"He wouldn't tell me" She said "But he said he was fine. The reverend was attacked"

"Well, what are you waiting for?" He said looking at her expectantly "Get moving!"

She looked at him blankly until it dawned on her that he meant he wanted her to go with him

"Oh right!" She said quickly grabbing her clothes from where she'd left them hanging on the chair "I need my medication" She said as she started stripping.

Dean looked at her, quickly turning away before she finished taking her t-shirt off. He started searching through Sam's bag until he found the small blue bag that held her pills. He carefully read the instructions, searching through the bottles until he found the one she needed for her morning prescription. He held them in his palm and went over to the kitchenette, pouring a glass of water. By the time he turned back to her, she was already dressed and in the process of brushing her teeth. She didn't see him as he followed her into the bathroom. She bent over the sink to rinse her mouth and wash her face, and screamed in surprise as she found Dean's reflection behind her in the mirror.

"What are you doing?" She asked "You can't follow me into the bathroom!"

"Sorry" He said, sounding anything but. He held out his hand to her, the pills on his open palm "Your pills"

She snatched them off of him, giving him a quick glare, and put the pills in her mouth. He held out his other hand to her with the glass of water. She took that too and gulped it down.

"Thanks" She said. They stood there for a minute looking at each other "You gonna watch me pee?" She asked.

"Just hurry up" He said turning and walking away "I'll be in the car"

By the time they reached the hospital the sun had taken over the sky, having driven the moon completely away from sight. Isabel had perked up considerably since her rude awakening, but looking sideways at his cousin she could tell he was utterly exhausted.

"You look tired" Isabel said gently.

"I'm bushed, but I'll be fine" He said keeping his eyes on the road "Did you sleep OK?"

"I was worried about you two" She said honestly "I slept better than last night, though"

"Sorry, we just didn't think it would be good for you to come along with either of us" He said with an apologetic glance her way "Some of this stuff is pretty scary"

"I know that Dean, but it's not doing my mind any favors to leave me alone, locked in a motel room, worrying about you two all night either, you know?"

"Sorry kitten" He said "This will be over soon, I promise. Then we can get back to our trip and forget all this hunting evil stuff. I shouldn't have dragged you here in the first place"

"It's not that" She explained "I'm not pissed off about this whole hook man thing, I'm pissed off that you guys are shutting me out. I have no clue what you're doing or what's going on"

'You want in on this?" He asked curiously.

"No Dean, I don't really" She said "But if all you and Sam wanted to do was get back on the road to hunt evil spirits and whatnot, then you should have just said so and left me back at the loony bin, instead of dragging me along under the pretense of a family road trip"

He pulled up hastily to a parking spot in the hospital lot, slamming the brakes and making her grab for the dashboard and door handle to steady herself in a reactive reflex to his abrupt and violent stop. He turned to her slowly, his expression unhappy.

"We should have left you?" He repeated in a wounded yet indignant tone.

She regretted upsetting him, yet wondered if she'd hit a nerve, if she'd accurately stumbled into something that was true.

"Well, clearly I'm a burden" She stated plainly.

Dean sighed impatiently "Will you stop being so melodramatic Isabel? You are not a burden" He said stepping out of the car to head towards the hospital entrance.

She followed him and stepped out, loudly banging the door shut behind her. He turned to her in surprise.

"Then what am I Dean?" She asked, starting to get agitated "I'm not helping, I'm not out there fighting with you, all I do is sit in a room all night waiting for you to come back. I know I complain a lot Dean, but this…this I really mean. I don't want to spend every night alone worrying about you and Sam. If that's what this trip is going to be like, then I'd rather you take me back home"

"Can we argue about this later?" Dean asked uncomfortably, glancing nervously around him as he turned to make another attempt at reaching the front entrance.

"No Dean" She persisted, glad there weren't that many people around to overhear their argument "If it's going to be like this, then take me back"

He turned around towards her sharply "Why? So you can go back to hating me?" He yelled angrily causing a couple of the people around the entrance area to look their way curiously.

She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath "Is that what this is about?" She asked him opening her eyes "Are you doing all this out of guilt? Is that what this trip is? Dean, we've gone over this already, my parents died, your dad didn't want to take me in, there was nothing you could do. We've moved on from all that. It's taken us eight years, but here we are"

"Yes Isabel, here we are and I don't want to go back! I don't want to leave you. I don't want us to not talk to each other for another eight years. I don't want you to hate me again" He finished quietly, avoiding her gaze.

"Dean, I never hated you" She said taking a step towards him "You don't seriously believe that, do you?"

He looked down her, shifting unsurely in his spot "Kinda" He shrugged.

"Dean…you and Sam…you are all I have" She said grabbing his hand and looking up at him pleadingly "I love you both, and I always will, no matter what. You have to know that"

He looked away from her, swallowing the lump in his throat "I don't do chick flick moments" He said quietly, though he squeezed her hand gently, letting her know that although he could not form words to respond to her own, he felt the same.

She smiled widely "You love me too. You love me too" She said in a singsong voice.

"Some days more than others" He said rolling his eyes, though he smiled at her.

"I don't really want to go back home" She said serious again "I was just testing you"

"You what?" He asked in disbelief.

"I was semi-serious. I wanted to know if it was something you wanted. I don't want you to feel obligated to drag my crazy ass across the country with you" She said "I'm prepared to go back if it's what you want. If this is getting too hard"

"It's not" He said "I'm not taking you back"

"Good" She said, then pulled him along towards the sliding doors "Let's go find Sam"

Sam was telling the Sheriff what had happened at Lori's house, as Dean and Isabel walked up. They were being escorted by two officers and Isabel looked nervous. Dean waved and smiled at him.

"Let them through" The sheriff said.

Dean and Isabel quickly rushed to Sam. Isabel breathed out in relief and threw her arms around Sam, squeezing tightly. He squeezed back, trying to reassure her.

"You OK?" Dean asked, looking at Sam closely.

"Yeah" Sam said as Isabel let him go and took a step back.

"What the hell happened?" Dean asked.

"Hook Man" Sam replied quietly.

Dean raised his eyebrows "You saw him?"

"Wait" Isabel said looking at Dean "I thought you torched the bones"

"I did" Dean said defensively "Maybe it's not Jacob Carnes"

"It sure looked like him" Sam said "And that's not all. I don't thing the spirit is latching on to the reverend"

"Well, yeah" Dean said "The guy wouldn't send the Hook Man after himself"

"I think it's latching on to Lori" Sam said looking from Dean to Isabel. He stopped mid-thought and looked at his cousin closely "Isabel, are you OK?" He asked tilting his head towards her.

She was staring into one of the rooms through the glass partition. A girl lying on a hospital bed hooked up to a ventilator was on the other side. She suddenly saw herself in the girl's place and realized she had been the girl; she had been in hospital, hooked up to those same machines. The memory struggled against her subconscious efforts to push it away. Her face was pale and she had started to shiver.

"Can we get out of here?" She asked, looking around at all the cops in the hallway, before turning her face to Dean and Sam "Like…now?"

Sam and Dean exchanged a glance "Come on, let's go" Dean said, grabbing her arm and gently leading her out.

She felt immediately better as they left the stale, cold environment of the hospital. Once outside she let out a deep breath. Sam turned to her, watching her sympathetically.

"You OK?" He asked.

She nodded and gave him a small shy smile "Sorry. I just…I remembered something" She swallowed as she struggled not only to get her words out, but to make sense of what she'd just felt "Something I didn't want to. I had to get out of there"

"It's OK" Sam said pulling her into a hug. He rested his chin on top of her head and looked at Dean. He mouthed the words 'medication'. Dean nodded in assent. He pulled away from her and held her face in his hand as he bent down to look into her eyes "OK?"

She smiled brightly this time "Yeah, I'm fine" She said.

"You wanna talk about it?" Sam asked encouragingly.

She looked at him hesitantly and shook her head. This was not the time or the place "No"

"Sure?" He insisted.

She looked from Sam to Dean "So, where to now?"

They went to a diner nearby, to kill time before the library opened and to also grab a bite to eat. Isabel had settled and now she felt fine, although she could feel the questions from her cousins just under the surface. For now though, it seemed they were all content with just letting it slide, knowing she would at some point have to talk about it.

Their food came and the boys started digging in, gulping the coffee down and asking the waitress for another refill. She watched them closely. They looked really tired, which was understandable as she figured they hadn't slept all night.

"Sam, you said the spirit was latching on to Lori?" Isabel asked, wanting to get back on track so they could solve this damn mystery and continue their holiday.

Sam nodded as he finished his second cup of coffee "Last night she found out her father is having an affair with a married woman"

Isabel's mouth fell open in surprise "So what?" Dean asked.

"So she's upset about it" Sam said looking at his brother strangely "She's upset about the immorality of it. She told me that she was raised to believe that if you do something wrong, you get punished"

"OK, so she's conflicted, and the spirit of Preacher Carnes is latching on to repress the emotions and maybe he's doing the punishing for her, huh?"

"Right" Isabel said, now following the conversation "Boyfriend comes on too strong, girlfriend tries to make her into a party girl, dad has an affair"

"Remind me not to piss this girl off" Dean said.

"But you burnt the bones" Isabel said.

"Yeah, and buried them in salt. Why didn't that stop him?" Dean asked.

"You missed something" Sam said.

Dean looked at Sam tiredly "No, I burnt everything in that coffin"

"Did you get the hook?" Isabel and Sam asked simultaneously.

Dean looked at both his brother and cousin "Hook?"

They spent the rest of the morning in the library, looking through more papers, with the purpose of finding the location of the hook. They had concluded that it had to be the source of Carnes' power. It was around lunchtime that Dean found the records of Jacob Carnes' execution. All his possession had been remanded to St Barnabas Church.

"That's where Lori's father preaches" Sam said.

"Not just that, but where she lives" Isabel said.

Dean nodded "Maybe that's why the Hook Man has been haunting reverends and their daughters for the past 200 years"

"We need to check the records and find that hook" Sam said.

Isabel and Dean both groaned, knowing that this entailed further research. Half and hour later Dean had fallen asleep on the papers he'd been reading, Isabel was now doodling on a blank piece of paper.

"Here" Sam said, startling both Isabel and Dean "St Barnabas donations, 1862. Received silver-handed hook from state penitentiary" He sighed as he continued to read "Reforged"

"They melted it down?" Isabel groaned.

"Turned it into something else" Sam said.

"We need to get into that church and Lori's house and search for anything that looks like silver" Dean said "It needs to be melted"

"We'll have to break in" Sam said.

"Break into a church?" Isabel asked alarmed "That's all kinds of wrong"

"Has to be done" Dean said matter-of-factly "Take your pick" He said to Sam.

"I'll take the house" Sam said.

"OK" He said and they stood to leave "Hey" Dean said to Sam as they were walking to the car "Stay out of her underwear drawer"

"Don't listen to him" Isabel said to Sam as she got into the car "Take a peek. That's where all the good stuff is"

"I'm not going to go through her things" Sam said as Dean pulled out onto the road.

"Sure, not her things! " Isabel said "My things you had no problem with, but Lori, Oh no, couldn't possibly go through her things"

"That was Dean, by the way" Sam said referring to the instance where his older brother had searched and rummaged through every inch of her bedroom while she'd been out on a date.

Dean's head snapped up and he caught her eye on the rear view mirror. She narrowed her eyes at him as she glared at him. He gave her an apologetic shrug.

"Know what, you guys? So far you've taken me to the church, the library, the hospital. Why, this is the best road trip ever!" She said in mock cheerfulness.

"I take it you were being sarcastic" Sam pointed out, his voice dripping with sarcasm all of his own.

"I am so picking the next place we're going" Isabel muttered under her breath.