Disclaimer: I own nothing from Supernatural, if I did some things would have gone down differently. Don't worry no spoilers here.

Dean woke up midway while being carried through the door to a cabin. He kept his body lax till he was dumped hard on the ground. Didn't move an inch or crack an eye when his captor moved away from him for the space of ten seconds, ample time to get the better of whoever this was, or at least get a look at the guy, but he didn't. Dean listened hard, filtering through sounds and the buzzing in his own head to pick up on any tell tale sounds.

He heard nothing and then his hands were being fastened behind him. Dean's eyes shot open and he attempted to roll away from the killer. The barrel of a gun was put to the back of his head too fast to be natural. Dean cursed under his breath and stood still.

"Stand up."

Dean froze and blinked, "Oh you gotta be fucking kidding me." He turned his head slightly but the barrel stopped him from turning enough to confirm what his ears just told him.

"You know actually this is a good thing. I wanted to kill ya, now I have an excuse." Dean said letting himself be hustled to his feet. He came face to face with Jack's ex and smirked. "Not that I would've needed one."

"Funny. Is that what she saw in you, your sense of humor?" Brian asked in a cool voice.

"Yeah. Nice shiner by the way." Dean said. Brian's lip curled and he pointed the gun under Dean's chin. He jerked his chin towards the center of the room, forcing Dean backwards.

"If you try to get away I'll-" Brian started.

"You'll what? Kill me?" Dean scoffed. "I've faced worse than you before coffee in the morning kid. This isn't the minors you're playing in."

Brian didn't speak, he circled around Dean and untied his arms with one hadn't while the other kept him at gunpoint.

"Hands in front." He ordered in a short, clipped tone. Dean did as he said, staying still as his hands were bound in front of him with some strong rope. Brian tossed the long end over a beam in the ceiling.

To Dean's surprise and annoyance the bastard hoisted him up so he was barely standing on his tiptoes and tied the other end to a worktable in the corner. Someone had their Wheaties, Dean thought.

Where are you Sammy? Dean thought looking around him. The room was dingy and cold, over his shoulder he saw there was what Dean could only describe as a sociopaths fun wall and several of the knives spread over the table were coated in blood. Dean fixated on those knives. The blood was fresh. Not even frosted over from the cold.

"Your question earlier over whether I was going to kill if you didn't obey me." Brian finally spoke again walking around to Dean's front. He stayed far enough away that if Dean wanted to lash out with his legs he couldn't.

"The answer is no. Oh, I plan on killing you, don't doubt that, but if you don't obey me…" Brian trailed off and walked three feet from where'd he'd already been standing to a door directly behind him. A door Dean had failed to notice before. It looked to be a closet or something.

Dean struggled and fought when the door was opened and he saw what was inside.

"You bastard! You mother fucker! I'll kill you!" Dean raged. Jack was blindfolded and bound to a chair. She was covered in bleeding lacerations and bruises, from what little he could see in the poor lighting. She wasn't wearing anything but torn jeans and a bra that's strap was torn and hanging heavy with her blood across her chest.

He hadn't heard before, the room must have been soundproof, but now he could here incoherent muttering coming from her, punctuated by whimpers and what sounded like humming.

"She's been singing and talking to herself for hours." Brian said fondly stroking a finger down her cheek, across her jaw line and then down to her collarbone.

"Don't you touch her!" Dean screamed at him. He looked above him at the beam, wondering if he could force it loose by swinging his full weight back and forth.

"If you don't listen to me, I'll hurt her, in ways you can't imagine and I'll make you watch every second of it." Brian threatened.

"Dean?" A faint voice asked. Jack lifted her head from where it had been tucked against her chest.

"Jack! I'm here, don't worry, I'm here now." Dean said rapidly to assure her.

If anything it made her panic more.

"Gone crazy, making me hear things...what I want to see…." She mumbled to herself in a cracked voice that alternately made Dean want to grab hold of her and hold on till she believed that she hadn't lost her mind and reach out and kill Brian slowly and painfully with his bare hands. He promised himself he'd do both soon.

"No Jackie, I'm right here. I'm right here." Dean shouted raggedly.

"She's claustrophobic, did you know that?" Brian asked weaving his hands through her hair and jerking her head upward exposing her throat. Jack fought weakly against the hard grip.

"Yeah I did." Dean lied through his teeth. Brian grinned at him with such a malicious twinkle in his hard eyes that Dean was suddenly afraid what he'd do. Dean was at least fifteen feet from him and Brian was pressed so close to Jack that he could cut her throat or shoot her with the gun(her fucking gun) in his hand. Instead he pressed a kiss to her throat and let go of her.

"I'll kill you." Jack said suddenly with raw clarity and hatred. "If you hurt them I will make you beg for death."

'That's m'girl.' Dean thought proudly, hearing that deadly gravel rough voice coming from Jack.

Brian responded by slamming the door closed again.

"Now for the other one, Sam, right?" Brian said walking across the room. "I'm not an idiot, I'm well aware that he followed us here or tried to anyway. I know these woods better than anyone. What do you want to bet I find him before he finds me?"

He was out the door before Dean could tell him what he'd do to him if he touched Sam.

"Jack." Dean called out working to keep his voice level. "Jack can you hear me?" Dean mentally kicked himself a second later. How the hell would he hear her if she said yes?

Two days. She'd been stuck in this cabin being beaten and tortured for two days. Why didn't she burn the place to the ground? Did he threaten to hurt him and Sam if she did? It was the only reason he could think of for her deciding not to use them. Maybe it was survival, if she burned the cabin around her, tied to a chair, what was the guarantee she'd get out alive?

"Jack don't worry, Sammy's coming, he's going to get us out of this shit." Dean said. His fingers were starting to feel numb.

He bit his lip and looked up at the rope and the beam. If he could lift himself up he could get to the knife up his sleeve. He'd have to getting a sure grip and the rope first to pull himself up. Dean looked down at floor scanning for any kind of leverage, even the smallest thing. He sees instead a bloody molar almost directly under his left foot, next to a puddle of blood.

"Gonna kill that bastard." Dean said to himself for the umpteenth time. Best thing was, the dude didn't count as human anymore. He wouldn't have to be but it was always better when the thing terrorizing small town America was a monster, made things less complicated.

Enough procrastinating he chided himself(Damn he was starting to think in those foofy Sam words now). Dean tore his eyes from the tooth and stretched his arm muscles as much as he could, then wrapped his left hand around the rope little by little and pulled himself up. Dean strained and groaned, trying not to swing his legs and throw himself off balance.


Dean's here. Dean is right out there, a few feet away and Sam is coming. Jack held on to Dean's words for dear life. When she first heard him she didn't believe her ears, she thought she'd lost her mind or that it was another part of Brian's twisted game. But listening to him she started to believe he was there. Brian wouldn't know the nuances of Dean's voice. And no one but him and Billie ever called her 'Jackie'.

When Brian closed the door on her again she started to feel the cold panic overtake her again. She beat it back, listening to Dean assure her, tell her that he was right out there and asking if Jack could hear him. That clinched it that it was Dean and not a figment of her overtired, stressed brain. Only Dean would ask if someone in a soundproof space could hear him. Jack took deep breaths, tried to stay calm, tried to keep in control if her emotions.

She heard a loud thud and Dean cursing up a storm in the next room. Jack tensed automatically when she his hard, rapid footsteps made their way across the room.


Dean pocketed his knife and rubbed his back where he collided with the floor on his way down. He got up stiffly, practically running the short distance to the closet door. Grasping the doorknob Dean coached himself to be carefully with her once he got her free. She was scared, hurt badly and disoriented. Spent fuck knows how long inside a makeshift sensory deprivation chamber. He closed his eyes and opened it.

Dean choked back a gasp. Jack looked even worse up close. Brian had cut symbols into her skin, anything that wasn't bloody was bruised. Her rip cage had the imprint of a fist in it and the skin was misshapen along the ridges, something was broken in there. Dean knelt down in front of Jack's chair, composing himself before doing anything else.

Although blindfolded she could sense him reaching for her because she flinched back from his hand.

"Its okay, its just me." Dean said softly, leaving his hand where it was in front of her face. She was breathing hard through her mouth, blood dripping from the inside.

"I'm going to take the blindfold off so you can see me." Dean said. He waited for what sounded like an affirmative mumble from her to reach behind her head to untie the cloth. Jack blinked, wincing at the sudden light after hours of darkness Dean smoothed down her hair and stayed absolutely still while her eyes adjusted enough to focus on him. The whole right side of her face was black and blue, puckered at the jaw where he guessed she'd lost her tooth and that eye was almost completely closed over.

"Hey." Jack whispered when she saw him. "Have a nice fall?" Dean laughed, swallowing back the emotion there.

"You don't know how happy I am to see you." Dean told Jack. He grabbed the arms of the chair and slowly pulled her out of the closet so he'd have enough room to cut her bindings. Jack's left hand was twisted at an odd angle in the ropes, like she'd tried to free herself but it only did more harm than good.

Dean took out his knife, slipping it carefully under the rope and sawing through. He didn't know how much time they had. Jack needed a doctor badly and the soon-to-be-dead bastard Brian could come back at any moment. He felt along her wrist, gently applying pressure there. It didn't feel like it was broken but it was badly sprained.

"I didn't know you were claustrophobic." Dean said, coming back around to start on freeing her feet. He didn't expect any answer, he just wanted to say something to keep them both clear headed.

"Embarrassed? I hated telling Sammy I didn't like to fly. Kid still won't let me live that down." Dean forced a self deprecating laugh. Her feet were all cut up too. None of symbol carvings were too deep, but they bled like a mother fucker and looked painful.

"I'm gonna pick you up now Jack." Dean said tossing the bits of rope aside. Jack cradled her left hand close to her chest, nodded weakly at him.

"Careful." He said more o himself than her when he slid his arm under her knees and the other under her head so he could lift her out of the chair. Jack hissed at the movements, slamming her eyes closed. She started humming to herself again. Dean bit into his lip trying not crush her with his hold on her body. He recognized the song and started singing the words softly, staying on the ground till she adjusted to not being bound down.

When Dean felt her breathing even out a little bit he got to his feet adjusting his arms so she'd fit comfortably against his chest. He walked to the work table, not missing how Jack started to tremble when he neared it, and plucked an unused knife from the wall.

"Dean, wait." Jack said suddenly when they were at the door. Though he hated to leave through such an insecure point, there was no other exit.

"We'll be out in a second, Jack." Dean said.

"We can't." Jack said forcefully. He paused and looked down at her. Jack stared back at him seriously.

"If we leave now, he'll snatch someone else and finish the ritual." Jack said. It had only just occurred to her. He'd do just that, not caring who he destroyed and when he changed he'd come gunning after her and the boys as his new self.

"I'm finding it a little hard to care about that now." Dean barked without meaning to.

"Have to kill him before we go to the hospital." Jack said closing her eyes.

"Oh I plan on doing that, but you need a doctor first." Dean argued. "Maybe if you burnt the place down he wouldn't be able to finish the ritual." He suggested.

"Can't, prick put a binding spell on me." Jack answered remorsefully.

"You got nothing you need to feel sorry about Jack. It isn't your fault he did that." Dean said following her line of thinking. "We have to get out of here, Jack. I don't want anyone else dragged into this either, but I'd rather feel bad about that than have you die on us."

"Not gonna die Deano." Jack smiled weakly. "Promise."

"I'll remember that." Dean replied. He opened the cabin door cautiously.

"Why did he leave you there?" Jack asked changing the subject.

"I think its what you said to him. Think its the same reason he put that spell on you and trussed you up like that." Dean said.

'Why's that?" Jack asked cracking her eyes open to look at him.

"Cause he's afraid of you." Dean answered with a razor blade smile that made him look about the most dangerous she'd ever seen him.

Dean poked his head out the door first, looking through the snow and shadows for any movement.

"Dean?" Sam's urgent whisper cut through the air.

"Sam." Dean called out low with a rush of relief. Sam's head peaked around the side of the cabin.

Sam slipped out of his hiding place when he saw Dean looking out the door. Dean waited till Sam was there to open the door more, revealing Jack in his arms. Sam gaped at the condition she was in and rushed to shuck his jacket and lay it carefully over her.

"God, what the hell did he do to you?" Sam asked moving a piece of hair off of Jack's swollen eye.

"We need to get her to a doctor." Dean said.

"He went in that direction, I was watching him from behind the cabin." Sam said pointing straight ahead of them.

"Tell me you know some way out of this place besides that way." Dean said,

Sam nodded, leading the way around the back. He kept in front of Dean and Jack feeling every protective urge in him go on high alert. Sam led to the path he discovered when he was waiting for Brian to disappear into the forest. He had no doubt that this was a trap, lulling him into a false sense of security.

Sam had Dean's guns tucked into the band of his jeans, was ready to fire his own at the first sign of trouble. He hoped with everything that he had that Brian popped out of the shadows at them. He wanted to empty all four rounds in the guy and then go to work on him. Sam's teeth were grinding at the thought of what he'd like to do to the man. Fury and concern for Jack warred with each other.

People he cared about were always getting hurt. It always stunned him when it happened though. There wasn't any getting used to it. He didn't get shocked by dead bodies, monsters, the blood of strangers. But he would never get used to seeing Dean hurting or Jack bleeding. He'd never get used to seeing the people he was closest to in pain. It wasn't something that made any logical sense to him, that such strong people wouldn't be unbreakable.

TBC……

AN: Showdown in the next chapter and the obligatory angsty fluff of the heroes taking care of their own. Who else got all weepy when they saw In My Time Of Dieing? I'm heartbroken people. Give me reviews to cheer me up!