I should hide under a rock for how long it took me to get to this chapter and I sincerely apologize. I have no other excuse than I go where the muse takes me. I do want to thank you all for the PM's though letting me know you were still interested in the story and I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint.

Thanks to Tessa for being my Beta, my friend, and my partner in crime ;)

Chapter 54- Blow Out The Candles

"Vegas."

Dean didn't even look up from his magazine as he shook his head, "No."

Damn it, how was I supposed to give him the puppy dog eyes if he didn't look at me? I mean really, we were just sitting in another crappy motel room with another broken television and an already empty case of beer. My life was boring. Okay, sigh, I suppose boring wasn't the most horrible thing in the world. Being a Winchester, boring was more like a summer vacation than anything but still. It had become excruciatingly obvious to me that I would miss my next birthday. I didn't think hell would exactly bring me cake or presents though I'm sure there would still be some kind of fire I could try and blow out to make a wish.

What to wish for though? The obvious would be to get out of the pit and be able to come back and harass my annoying yet loyal brothers. Don't get me wrong, that was high on my list but right now my only wish was to find Bela. That bitch was like trying to capture the wind in your hands and give it to someone else. I had gone just about crazy searching for her after we left Mayberry and while I haven't given up I needed something else to distract me for a bit.

"C'mon," I whined, bouncing on the bed acting like a child. "Why not?" I dragged the last word out before pouting and crossing my arms. Sam rolled his eyes as he went back to whatever he was doing on his laptop and Dean simply turned the page of his magazine. "You guys are killing me here." I threw myself back onto the bed and stared up at the stain-filled ceiling. "That's it. You don't love me anymore."

Still silence.

I groaned, pushing myself up and snatching a room key off the table. "Fine. You two want to drive me insane then you win, got it? You win and now I need a very large drink."

Fingers tapped across the keys of the laptop and Dean once again only turned the page. A thought occurred to me and a smirk just started to pull at the corner of my lips but before I could even move my hand to grab the keys to the Impala, Dean spoke up. "Don't even think about."

"You guys suck, you know that?" I tossed the room key back on the table and sat heavily on the small couch next to Dean, trying to see what was so interesting about the magazine he was reading. When I got a full frontal view of Miss November I scrunched my nose and looked away. "Thought you were into busty Asians not pale redheads."

He finally closed the magazine with a deep sigh and glared at me. "Don't you have friends or something you can go annoy?"

"Nope." I answered, crossing my legs to show him I wasn't getting up anytime soon. "I still say we go to Vegas. I mean we don't have a case, Bela is probably on the fucking moon or something besides Bobby is like, the fucking king of 'Where's Waldo', if he can't find her the bitch is probably dead, and it's not like we haven't driven farther for less. 'Member when we drove all night so you could go to that fucking concert and we only made the last hour anyways…c'mon it's my dying wish."

"How many dying wishes do you get?" Sam asked, his fingers still typing furiously over the keyboard.

I snorted and shifted in my seat. "As many as I fucking want. I'm dying, remember. And I did it for you. That's pretty selfless if you ask me. And I want to go to Vegas."

SUPERNATURAL

I was excited when we checked out of the motel room the next morning and I figured that maybe Dean had caved but I should have known better especially when I noticed the direction we were going. I had tried to whine about it, throwing a Becca sized fit, but Dean just hushed me and turned up the music.

Eight hours, two rest stops, and a half of box of cookies later, we were in a town that could fit inside a hotel in Las Vegas. "This is not Vegas."

"We went to Atlantic City and you ended up with a tattoo and turned Sam into a Samantha. Why the hell would we go to Vegas?" Dean questioned, turning down another local street while Sam gave directions on where to go.

"Because what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas."

I knew my argument was futile by now but it didn't mean I couldn't pout. What good was dying if you didn't get a few perks out of it? Okay, so there was the hot guy with the Harley last week but come on a girl just needs to have some fun once in awhile. Dean turned up the music to purposefully drown out anything else I had to say and I sunk further into the seat. He could only do that so many times before I was going to get physical and whack him in the back of the head. I am a grown adult stop trying to drown me out like I'm a five year old having a temper tantrum. We drove past an old, pretty huge, house that had metal fencing surrounding it to keep people out and Dean got this creepy, overly childish, smile on his face. Maybe I wasn't the only one who wasn't acting her age.

He turned the music down and glanced at me in the backseat through the rearview mirror. "This is the Grand Canyon. So much better than Vegas."

I blinked, just staring at him in confusion, before I turned my attention to Sam. "The hell is he going on about? Pretty sure we're no where near Arizona."

"It's the Morton House," Sam explained and when no recognition washed over my face he continued. "Every four years, supposedly, this becomes the most haunted place in America. Some call it the leap year ghost. It returns at midnight just as February 29th begins."

"Wait, so you found me a hunt instead?"

Sam gave Dean a look with a smug smile, "Told you she wasn't going to go for this."

"Are you serious?!" I smiled and even reached over the seat to hug Dean from behind who patted my arm. "This is awesome! What do we know?"

Dean smirked, throwing Sam an 'I told you so' look, as I rested my arms on the front seat, fully interested and ready to jump into the case. Sam, on the other hand, shook his head, muttering under his breath about how weird and deranged we were. I'd take a hunt any day though. I felt like it had been so long since we were actually on a good old ghost hunt. Recently, it had all been demons this and Ruby that and it was exhausting. This? This was exhilarating.

Sam sighed as he recited what he had already found out about the house. "Cops have gotten pretty fed up with people trying to spend the night in the house so they've fenced it off. Anyone who does spend the night is never seen or heard from again but only on a leap year."

"And that's Friday!" I realized, having to bite my bottom lip to keep my excitement in.

"Still don't think this is a great idea," Sam commented. "We need to do more research before we go barging in there not knowing what we are going up against."

"Well, I don't have another four years to wait for this thing to come back," I smiled as I leaned back in the seat, "So, you research all you want, Sammy, but Friday we're having a sleepover with Casper."

SUPERNATURAL

"Did you bring the bolt cutters?" Sam whispered to Dean as we stood in front of the fence at the Morton house with a huge sign on it that said No Trespassers.

It was a sign to keep the rest of the population out but to a Winchester, it might have well said Welcome. I tossed my bag of 'supernatural fighting weapons' to Sam who grunted as it hit him in the stomach, barely catching it before it fell to the ground. "Where's your sense of adventure, Sam?"

My fingers curled around the links in the fence as I started to pull myself up, climbing it with ease. If there was a fence climbing section in the Olympics, I think Dean and I would give them a run for their money. My shirt snagged on the barbed wire at the top, ripping it and the flesh of my stomach, before I landed on my feet with a thud. Sam was wearing his usual bitch face as he tossed my bag over and Dean landed next to me a few seconds later.

"Coming, Sammy?" Dean almost taunted.

I don't know if it was because this was a good old ghost hunt or what but everything felt normal again for the first time in a long time. Well, as normal as it got for a Winchester. While Dean watched Sam climb the fence a little less gracefully than he and I did, I zipped my jacket so neither of them saw the ripped shirt or the small trace of blood. The last thing I needed was either of them to rethink this hunt. It wasn't even deep enough to need stitches. We were going into this house and we were going to go hunt a ghost.

The wooden steps creaked beneath our feet as we ascended the stairs and it seemed that the quieter we tried to be the more the warped wood groaned at our presence. Dean stepped aside and motioned for me to pick the lock. Well, hot damn I wonder if he's going to let me run this whole hunt. He was right. This was better than Vegas. I squinted my eyes to be able to see in the dark before realizing it was no use. I'd have to rely on the sound and feel so I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and stuck the small metal pick into the lock. It was looser than I expected it to be and my face scrunched in confusion.

"What's the matter?" Sam questioned, easily picking up on my expression.

I pulled the set out of the door and stuck it in my pocket. "I think it's already unlocked."

Dean shook his head, "The length the cops are going to keep people out, there's no way this door should be unlocked."

I looked from Dean to Sam trying to fit the pieces together in my head. It could mean one of two things. That we were going to walk into the house and there was going to be someone there or we were going to walk into the house and find another dead victim. Either way, we were going into the house.

We heard what sounded like voices on the other side of the door and all three of us brandished our guns. Dean silently mouthed out the count of three and as he did so I opened the door, my brother's flooding into the room like trained professionals and me following behind with our flashlights and guns aimed in front of us. It was almost a choreographed dance for the number of times we had done it in the past and it was moments like this that I truly felt like there wasn't anything that could bring us down. We were a solid unit, knowing what the others moves would be before they did it, and feeling as though we could take on the world.

There were a couple of guys with cameras standing in the dusty living room and our flashlights seemed to surprise them as much as their being there annoyed us.

"Freeze!" Dean yelled and I had to bite my bottom lip so I wouldn't bust out laughing at their worried faces. "Police officers! Don't move!"

Sam must have seen they were about to be sick or something as the three of us charged the room because he put his gun away, keeping his flashlight on their chests so he wouldn't blind them. "Alright. Alright. Alright. Take it easy, take it easy."

"Let's see some identification," Dean barked at the men standing in front of us.

He was having way too much fun with this and that just wasn't fair so I stepped between my brothers and waved my gun at them for emphasis. "C'mon. Let's see some I.D."

"What…are we under…under arrest?" one of them asked as his hand shook, handing his license over to Dean who inspected it. The hell he was looking for I have no clue.

"And yours," I motioned to the other man in front of us.

He just shook his head though, refusing to cooperate. "We are unarmed."

"We aren't," I snapped back, waving my gun a bit.

Sam tried to discreetly elbow my side and cleared his throat, a silent warning that I was having too much fun with this. We were supposed to be believable without drawing too much attention to ourselves and on occasion, Dean and I took it too far. Sue us. We have to have some fun.

"Oh, god. Oh, god," the guy that handed his license over to Dean mumbled under his breath like he was about to shit his pants any second. I almost thought about firing a bullet into the floorboards by his feet to see if I could get him to pass out when Dean spoke up.

"Want to explain that weirdo outfit, Mister, uh, Corbett?"

Oh, hey, scaredy cat has a name. A weird name but a name nonetheless. Before our newly named Corbett could speak up the other man pointed at me.

"I know you."

I tried to swallow down the bile that rose in my throat at the thought of this dude knowing me. Let's be honest, the only people I really ever knew were people I slept with and there was no way I was ever that drunk. "Yeah, sure you do. Give me some identification."

"You're the one that broke my camera."

"What?" This was all starting to not be fun anymore. They needed to leave so I could hunt my ghost. "I don't know what you're talking-"

"Yeah, ho- whoa, hold on a second. I know all of you guys. Yeah," he cut me off and Corbett looked as confused as I felt. Okay, maybe the name was growing on me. You know what, Corbett? I don't think I'm even going to give you a nickname unlike Numb Nuts here who is starting to piss me off.

"Holy shit," Sam breathed out, realization washing over his features. Dean and I both stared at him waiting for an explanation because there was no way I remembered Corbett or this Numb Nuts. "Uh, West Texas…the…the Tulpa we had to take out. Those two goofballs that almost got us killed…the hellhounds or something?"

Tulpa, Tulpa, Tulpa…why wasn't any of this ringing a bell? When the hell did we take out a Tulpa? Think, Leah. Think!

"Fuck me," Dean cursed beside me and tucked his gun back inside his jacket. Great, well I'm so happy that everyone remembers these idiots because I still have no freaking clue who either of them are.

"Yeah, we're not hellhounds anymore, okay? It didn't test that well," Numb Nuts responded to Dean, his whole stance a lot more cocky now that he knew we weren't actual cops. Go ahead buddy, underestimate me. I'm not a cop. I'm a Winchester.

Poor Corbett looked like he was going to have a coronary at any minute, "Ed, what's going on?"

Numb Nuts had a name…Ed. Sorry, Ed. I like Numb Nuts better. Right now Corbett is still my favorite but not by much. You all need to leave so I can have my sleepover with Casper that Dean promised me.

"They're not cops, buddy. No, not at all." Okay, Ed, enough with the cocky attitude. I glanced over to Sam, pleading with my eyes to hurry this along or I was going to end up shooting one of them just for fun. Sam rolled his eyes. Asshole.

Dean handed Corbett's license back to him and studied Numb Nuts. "Ed, Ed, you had a partner, too, didn't you…a different guy?"

How the hell does he remember Numb Nuts had a partner? I can't even remember the dude standing in front of me nevertheless some Tulpa we were supposed to have taken out. Maybe I should start my own journal like dad had so I can remember this shit. A surge of pain washed over me at the thought. There was no reason to make a journal when I wouldn't be around to write in it. No, I'm not going down this depressing road of death and despair. Tonight was supposed to be a good night and damn if I wasn't going to keep it a good night.

I hadn't been paying too close attention to what Dean and Numb Nuts were talking about but I did hear him as he said, "He's running around, chasing ghosts."

"No, he better not be," I snapped, reminding Numb Nuts that I was still in the room. "That's my ghost! Don't let him go messing it up. Go fetch him so you can leave."

I could almost feel Dean sighing beside me. "Okay, well, listen, she's right you and Rambo need to get your girlfriends and get out of here."

"Alright. Listen here, Chisel Chest, okay? We were here first. We've already set up base camp. We beat you."

I bit my bottom lip again to try and hide my smile. I knew that was the wrong thing to say to Dean, especially when this was technically my birthday present and my last one at that, Dean wasn't going to let some idiots ruin that. "Psst, Corbett," I got his attention, his poor eyes as wide as saucers as he took everything in. "You might want to move."

"They were here first," Dean repeated to Sam over my head and Corbett wisely took my advice, moving out of the way.

Numb Nuts wasn't as smart as his friend and nodded, "Mhm." Dean grabbed the front of Numb Nuts' shirt before he even had a chance to blink and slammed him up against the wall, knocking the air out of his lungs. "Oh God."

"Ed?" Dean's voice was deadly and calm, making me even shiver a bit remembering the times he had used it on me. Numb Nuts swallowed hard, his Adam's apple moving at the motion, and waited quietly to see what else Dean was going to say. "Where's your partner?"

"Up-upstairs," Numb Nuts stuttered out and Dean released his hold on him.

Dean ran a hand down his face in frustration. "What are you doing in the Morton house, Ed? On leap year…what are you thinking?"

"We're here to spend the night, okay? It's for our TV show."

"No, no, no, no!" I snapped, stepping towards Numb Nuts who was now smart enough to take a step back as I advanced on him. "You are not spending the night here. Go sleep in a tree, or on the street, or in a damn volcano for all I care but you and your little Scooby-doo gang needs to get the fuck out of this house. You're ruining my birthday!"

Corbett spoke up, his voice trembling a bit to the point it was hard to direct my anger at him. "Happy birthday but nobody's ever spent the night before."

"Uh, actually, yeah they have," Dean corrected him as Sam pulled me back a little by the shoulder. Don't worry, Samuel, I wouldn't hit Corbett, only Numb Nuts.

"Uh, we've never heard of them." There Numb Nuts goes getting sassy again. Go ahead, see how fast Dean puts you through a wall this time.

"Yeah, you know why? 'Cause the ones that have haven't lived to talk about it!" Dean snapped.

I checked my watch, it was getting closer to midnight and we weren't any closer to getting these idiots out of the damn house. If they ruined my present I was going to shoot them. "Sam, just show them what you found so we can get on with this please."

"Look," Sam pulled out a stack of papers he had insisted on researching before we stepped into the house and showed them to Numb Nuts and Corbett. "They are missing-persons reports going back almost a half century. John Graham stayed on a dare. Gone. Julie Wilkerson. Gone. There are tons more. All of them came to just stay the night through, always on a leap year. The only body they ever found was the last owner, Freeman Daggett."

Numb Nuts flipped through the papers Sam had handed him, his brow furrowed as he read. "These look legit."

"They are legit. Look, Ed, we ain't got much time here, buddy. Starting at midnight, your friends are going to die," Sam tried.

"And you'll ruin everything," I muttered, shrugging when Sam rolled his eyes at me.

It looked like we might have been getting somewhere with Numb Nuts and Corbett when three people came running down the stairs. I immediately pulled my gun, forgetting for a moment that Numb Nuts said his partner was upstairs and Sam pushed it down.

The one with short black hair sounded like he was on speed or something. "Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! Guys! Guys! Oh my god! Oh my god! We got one! Corbett! Corbett, we saw one! We saw one!"

"Get outta here!" Numb Nuts exclaimed. Great, now they were never going to leave. Cue pout.

"It was a full apparition! It was like a class four. It was a spectral illumination! It…" the man was about to continue when the chick butted in, barely containing her excitement.

"It was amazing!"

The short hair dude seemed to have just noticed my brothers and me, his face contorting to a look of disgust. "Hey, aren't those the assholes from Texas?"

Oh, so this must be Numb Nuts partner. So wonderful to know he remembers us too when I still have no clue who any of these people are. We shall name him Thing Two.

"Yes," Numb Nuts confirmed Thing Two's suspicions.

"Alright," Dean commanded the attention of the room and he received it as always. "Let's have this reunion across the street, guys."

"Crap. What are you guys doing here?" Thing Two asked, looking between the three of us.

No, we weren't going to do this again. We weren't going to go through the twenty questions only for them not to leave and for Dean to have to toss every one of these dipshits out of here. We didn't have time for it and every second we stood around arguing was another second we weren't hunting Casper.

"Come on, come on. We'll get you ice cream…our treat. What do you say? Let's go," Dean tried to push them in the direction of the door but no one budged. The fuck is wrong with these people, you were just offered free ice cream but instead you are choosing to stay put and destroy my night. If Kate was here she'd take us up on the free ice cream.

The chick was over by the computer, plugging in her camera and typing a few things, ignoring us completely. "Look at this. Look, look. Ed, Ed. No. No. Look at this. Okay, honest-to-god proof, alright?"

"What kind of reading did we get?" another man asked and I stared at him trying to come up with a nickname but none came.

"Who are you?" I couldn't help but ask.

He looked at me and for a second I didn't think he was going to answer, "Uh, Spruce." Spruce? What ever happened to easy names like Bobby, Debbie, Ricky…yeah, no, Spruce isn't going to work for me. Tree it is.

Thing Two stepped behind the table to watch the footage they had gathered. "It was 10.9. It was almost 11. I came out, and I was like, 'What's going on?' and I was like - wait, watch this. Oh! He got blasted. It was crazy."

Fucking hell, I shared a look with my brothers and I knew they saw it too. The thing that this chick and her crew had captured on camera was definitely not our ghost. We stepped off to the side and I sighed. "Looks like I'm not getting a chance to see Casper tonight, am I."

"Think we were off on this? I mean, that was just a death echo," Sam asked both of us and all I could do was shrug. I mean it wasn't often that we were wrong but it did happen. It was even rarer that Sam's research wouldn't pan out but I guess there was a first time for everything.

Dean's eyes moved back and forth as he tried to think of what else it could be, "Yeah, but what's it doing here? Did anybody get shot here?"

Sam shook his head, "No, not that I could find."

"So, maybe it's still Casper?" I offered up my two cents because at this point we were just grasping at straws.

"What's a death echo?" Tree asked, a camera pointing in our direction, invading our private conversation.

I went to move to smack the damn thing out of his hands when Sam spoke up, "Look, we got a problem here. That ghost ain't it."

"What's a death echo?" Tree repeated, impatiently with a bit of relentlessness.

Dean motioned for me to answer and I let out a long sigh. This sucked. This wasn't the time for Hunting 101 this was time for them to all leave. "Echoes are trapped in a loop, okay? They keep replaying how they died over and over and over again, usually in the place where they were ganked. It's about as dangerous as a scary movie."

"So maybe the echo's not dangerous, but maybe something else is," Sam added.

"You're right," Dean agreed, done trying to get these assholes to understand reason. We were prepared to spend the night not to have to babysit the Scooby-doo gang. "Alright, we need to get out of here, guys. Come on. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Pack it up."

"Guys, time is running out!" Sam checked his watch.

None of them were actually moving though and the chick stood in front of the laptop like she was ready to guard it with her life. Bitch, I could snap you like a twig. Get moving. "What about all of our equipment? What are we gonna-"

"Lots of fun. Let's go," Dean cut her off.

"We got more material. We got all kinds of stuff. We'll make you guys recurring guest stars," Thing Two pleaded with us.

And I think that was the moment I lost the last morsel of patience I had. "Listen here, Thing Two and company, I'm about to make sure you're all seeing stars unless you get your fucking asses out of this house in the next ten seconds." They didn't move. "Oh for fuck's sake, are you really going to make me count? One…two…three…" I pulled out my gun again ready to shoot the floorboard if they weren't moving by the time I hit seven. "Four…five…"

"Wait! Wait!" Numb Nuts yelled over my counting, "Where's Corbett?"

Oh fuck. My eyes scanned the room as if he would suddenly appear and I let out what seems like the millionth sigh that night. "Look, we'll find Corbett and give him money for your ice cream but now it's time to leave. There's no time to play hide and seek in the damn Morton house!"

Numb Nuts shook his head, "No man left behind." There was a scream from somewhere in the house and my insides twisted. That wasn't just any scream. That was the scream of seeing something supernatural and then that supernatural thing either killing or kidnapping you. I've heard that scream way too many times in my life and I could kill these idiots for not listening sooner. "That was Corbett."

"That was Corbett!" Thing Two agreed and I think I even saw a flash of fear over his face. "Corbett!"

"Corbett! It's okay!" The chick yelled as they all went running up the stairs in search of their friend, ignoring the protests from me and my brothers.

We could hear their footsteps above us and I leaned against the railing of the stairs. "This fucking sucks."

"We'll just get them to leave and then you can have your sleepover with Casper and run around here like some lunatic with Dean, okay?" Sam tried to sound like that plan would be easy and I glared at him.

"One problem. It's midnight."

SUPERNATURAL

The Scooby-doo gang was talking around their equipment trying to see if they could find Corbett on any of the surveillance cameras they set up while Sam was having a little temper tantrum. "Well, it's 12:04, Dean. You good? You happy?"

Dean shrugged his shoulders, unfazed by the whole thing. "Yeah, I am happy."

"Let's go hunt the Morton house, you said, It's our Grand Canyon," Sam, poorly, mimicked Dean's words. "We should have just went to Vegas like she asked but no," he dramatically dragged the word out, "we have to find a hunt because you two are so sick and twisted I'm sure you should be wearing straightjackets."

"Hey, free hugs," I smirked but it seemed to only infuriate Sam further.

He grabbed a wooden chair that was close by and smashed it against the front door, "You got two months left, Leah. Instead, we're gonna die tonight."

"Don't be a Debbie Downer, Sadness Sam," I rolled my eyes, done with his tantrum, because this was supposed to be a fun night. One where we didn't talk about my deal, or hell, or Bela, or anything fucked that was going on in our lives at the moment.

Dean blinked, "Sadness Sam?"

"First thing that came to mind, I didn't have a lot of time to prepare."

Sam smashed another piece of furniture against the front door and I wondered if maybe I wasn't the only one with anger issues. The noise captured the attention of Tree though and with his trusty camera in hand, he started over to us. "Whoa! What the hell is going on guys?"

"I'll tell you what's going on," Sam stepped in his direction and for a brief moment I actually thought he was going to hit him but he just got in his face like the Sam I knew. "Every door, every window, I'm guessing every exit out of this house…they're all sealed."

"But w-why are they sealed?" The chick stuttered out, finally looking like this was scaring her instead of being exciting.

"It's a supernatural lockdown, okay? Whatever took Corbett doesn't want us to leave, and it's no death echo. This is a bad mother, and it wants us scared," Dean once again took the lead.

The chick stepped closer to Thing Two and I almost threw up in my mouth. Ew. Don't tell me she actually likes that douche nugget. "Or it just wants us."

"Uh, guys, the camera's fritzing again," Tree informed us.

Numb Nuts seemed to agree, "Whoa. Whoa. Guys, the EMF's starting to spike. This is a big one!"

"Everybody, stay close. There's something coming," Sam told the group.

"Yeah, don't die, I'm not in the mood to save anyone tonight," I added and Dean whacked me in the back of the head. Well, excuse me, but you were thinking it don't tell me you weren't.

An apparition appeared in front of us and we collectively let out a 'whoa'. The man seemed to just be standing in the middle of the living room, looking through us as if we weren't really there at all.

"Is this the same echo you guys saw earlier?" Dean asked the Scooby gang.

Thing Two shook his head, not taking his eyes off the apparition, "No, it's a different guy."

"Multiple echoes? What the hell's going on?" Dean turned to Sam and me who were just as confused as he was.

I sighed and dropped my head a bit, "This is just fucking awesome."

Dean walked toward the apparition, waving his hand in front of its face. "Uh, hey, buddy! Hey. Hey. Wake up. You're dead! Hello!"

"What's he doing?" Thing Two questioned and then again this time with even more fear, "What's he doing?"

I patted Sam's shoulder to let him know it was his turn to take the floor and teach Hunters 101 because I was done. He threw me his infamous bitch face before he started to explain. "It's rare, but sometimes you can shock an echo out of its loop if you can talk to the part of the ghost that's still human, but usually you have to have some kind of connection to the deceased."

Dean continued to yell at the thing while the Scooby gang whispered among themselves as if they were watching a three dimensional movie. A bright light started to shine on the apparition and then there was the sound of a car horn approaching. The apparition flew backwards as if hit by an invisible vehicle and then it was gone.

"Where the hell did it go?" Numb Nuts questioned.

SUPERNATURAL

We took our little group lesson on a field trip to the second floor to see what we could find. They all followed us like mindless minions and I almost wanted to randomly scream to see how many would jump. The thought alone made me giggle and Sam shot me a look over his shoulder. Oh, lighten up, Samuel I didn't actually do anything.

"Dude, there's no records of any of this here. No one got shot here. Obviously, no one got run over by a freaking train," Dean spoke to Sam as they led the group and I trailed in the back to make sure no one got left behind.

Sam said something to Dean that I couldn't hear and then reminded the group to stay close. The chick, whose name I think I found out was Maggie but who knows, almost stepped on the back of their heels she was so close to them. "Did the echoes take Corbett?"

"Yes. No. I don't know. We don't know what's doing what here; that's what we're trying to figure out, okay?" Dean answered her question but was clearly tired of having a shadow not that I could blame him.

Sam jumped into an explanation about death echoes and I tuned it out, peering into the rooms we passed. I don't know why Dean thought it was okay to pass all of them without checking but clearly he knew where he was going, or he liked to think he did. Thing Two opened the door on the right as I opened the one on the left and let out a scream that could have pierced my eardrums if I was any closer. He nearly tripped over me as I moved to see what it was and, admittedly, I let out a scream of my own that had both brothers running back to us, ready to fight.

"It's just a rat, dude," Tree shook his head.

Thing Two shivered in disgust, "I don't really like rats. They're gross. Rats are like the... rats of the world."

I smiled at my brothers, "I have to agree with him on that one."

Dean grumbled something under his breath I'm sure I would have hit him for if I had heard it and pushed his way back to the front of the group. Sorry, old one, but let's put you on a plane and see how happy you are. We continued through the house until Dean led us into a room full of stuffed animal heads on the walls as well as file cabinets. Good job, you found his office.

Sam held up a broken framed certificate that he almost stepped on, "Freeman Daggett, house's last owner, officially commended for twenty years of fine service at the Gamble General Hospital."

"He was a doctor?" I asked as I started pulling the filing cabinets open and shuffling through them.

"Janitor," Sam answered. Okay, then.

The rest of the Scooby gang watched as we searched Daggett's den for anything that would give a clue. Useless is what they were. It seemed my brothers and I were all finding the same kind of things; army rations, pamphlets on how to survive when under attack, and Dean found a box that was locked.

"Oh, come on, guys. This is ridiculous. I mean, how the hell is this supposed to find Corbett, huh? We should be digging up the friggin' floorboards right now," Numb Nuts spoke up as he just watched Dean fight with the locked box.

Dean, as well as Sam and I, ignored him as he busted the box open and started to thumb through the contents. "Crap. Crap. Taxidermy. Okay. You said Daggett was a hospital janitor?" Sam nodded and Dean made a face like he was about to be sick, "Ew. Got three toe tags here; one, death by gunshots, train accident, and suicide."

Sam and I shared a look before simultaneously gagging, "Ew." You know what? I agree with that look on Dean's face. Someone find me a bucket I think I'm going to hurl.

"What?" Numb Nuts questioned and when I looked around at the Scooby gang no one was catching on. Dear God, did we really have to spell it out for these idiots?

"Well, that explains why all the death echoes are here," Sam grimaced and the Scooby gang was still clueless. "They're here because their bodies are here…somewhere in the house?"

Still nothing. For the love of… "You all are straight dumb. Daggett brought the remains home from the morgue. To play."

It was almost comical to watch the realization wash over their faces and I really thought Thing Two was going to puke on Numb Nuts' shoes. "Ew! Ugh!"

"That's nasty, dude," Tree kept recording but I could see his face turn a bit green.

"Harry. Harry, I got an 8.6 and climbing fast. Something huge is coming. Look. Something big is coming," Numb Nuts held the EMF so that Thing Two could see. "It's past 11, you guys."

"What? Nobody move!" Dean shouted as the lights flickered, cameras fritzed, and it dropped a good ten degrees. "Hold on. Hold on. Stay quiet."

The whole room fell into silence and then went pitch black. The next second there was a cold hand over my mouth and before I could even think to get out of the hold, I was pulled into unconsciousness.

SUPERNATURAL

I swear I could hear It's My Party as I started to come to and when I finally blinked my eyes enough to focus I saw that I was tied to a chair in front of a table set for a birthday party, complete with a cake that had more mold than icing. There were two corpses on my right, one on my left, and Corbett at the other end of the table. The room was so dark I had to focus really hard to see if Corbett's eyes were open or if he was even still alive.

"Corbett. Corbett. Hey. Corbett, hey," I tried to get his attention without bringing Casper back to join the party.

He shifted as much as he could in the chair and I saw him trying to see who was calling his name. "You're one of the cops, right? Or not cops?"

His voice was like music to my ears. If he was alive then we could still save him. "Not a cop, that's for sure. I'm Leah. Hey, you got to keep listening to my voice, okay? I'm right here. I need you to stay awake."

"Don't listen." The voice of Daggett made my skin crawl and I sent up a silent prayer that he was more like Casper than anything else. He wasn't. He picked up a large knife or maybe a rod and made his way closer to Corbett, ignoring me all together for the moment. "It stops hurting, so don't worry."

"Corbett, stay with me. Stay with me, you got it? I'm right here. Hey. Stay with me," I pleaded with him but it was no use so I tried begging with Daggett instead. "Don't. Don't touch him. Take me. Take me!" He didn't seem to hear me though as I saw the weapon make its way out of the front of Corbett's neck. I could hear him gurgling on his own blood for a moment before it was silent again besides the music playing softly in the background. Corbett was dead. "No. Corbett! No! Corbett!" I found myself crying over his death though I had just met him a few hours ago. Tears blurred my vision but I could still see Daggett making his way towards me. "Get away from me!"

"This won't hurt," he tried to placate me but all I could think about was the knife going through my neck like he did to Corbett. I closed my eyes and waited for the sharp pain I was sure would come at any second. "It's okay. It's okay. Relax. Relax."

But I couldn't. How was I supposed to relax when I knew my trip to hell had just been pushed up to the next couple of seconds instead of the next couple of months? I swear I could about feel the flames of hell licking at my skin when there was an elastic string put under my chin. I opened my eyes, thinking that he found a different way to kill me, and realized he had put a party hat on my head.

"I've been waiting for some more friends. I get lonely. But you're coming to my party, aren't you?"

"Kind of didn't give me a chance to say no," I answered and I hoped that my sarcastic reply didn't make him change his mind about killing me but it spilt from my lips before I had the chance to stop it.

I could just make out the weapon that was still in his hand and I bit my bottom lip to keep the tears in. "You'll stay a good, long time. I've been waiting to talk to someone."

"Oh, buddy, get yourself a shrink."

SUPERNATURAL

A single tear slipped down my cheek and just as I was about to pathetically beg for my life like when I had just told him to take me instead of Corbett, the door opened and my brothers stormed the room. Dean shot Daggett in the chest with rock salt making him disappear as Sam untied me from the chair. Dean went to check on Corbett but I stopped him.

"Don't, it's too late." He cursed under his breath and when he turned to look at me his eyes went to the top of my head. I pulled the party hat off and threw it at him. "This was not the birthday I was expecting!" We filed back out of the small room and into the basement. Well at least now I knew where I was.

"What's this Daggett guy's problem anyway?" Tree asked and I have to say I was a little surprised to see him still filming.

"Loneliness," I replied and my heart kind of went out to the ghost even if he did just try to make me a permanent member of his party. How sad of a life he must have had to have no real friends? There was literally not one single person that would come to his birthday party. Now, I'm not Miss Popular by any means of the term but I had my brothers, Bobby, Jo, Ellen, Becca, Kate, Sadie…I was actually quite lucky.

"What, he's never heard of a real doll?" Dean questioned as his eyes scanned every inch of me searching for any injuries.

I sarcastically put my arms out to the side and even turned around so he could see I was in one piece. "No, no, no, Daggett was the Norman Bates, stuff-your-mother kind of lonely. I mean, that's why he lifted these bodies from the morgue, threw himself a birthday party, except they were the only ones who would come. Anyway, so, at midnight, he sealed them in the bomb shelter and went upstairs and o.d.'d on horse tranqs."

Sam made a face I wasn't sure I could describe if I tried. "How do you know that?"

I shivered as I thought about the conversation we had, "Because he told me."

"Oh. Yeah. Okay, so now that he's dead, what? Same song, different verse, trying to get people to come to his party?" Dean even looked a little disturbed by the whole thing and that was saying something because we have seen and heard some really twisted stuff in the past. Like there was this one chick who used to tie…actually, I think I'll keep that one to myself.

"Pretty much, yeah. Stay forever. It was kind of sad if he wasn't trying to kill me." Dean moved up the stairs and started working on the door that apparently had gotten locked. Sam stood next to him and they both rammed the door with their shoulders trying to break it down. "You know, I say we still go to Vegas. This turned into one hell of night and I was promised a hunt." Dean seemed to use my words as more of an incentive to get the hell out of the basement so he didn't have to listen to me and I noticed Tree was recording every word we said and every move we made. "Seriously? You're still shooting?"

"It makes him feel better. Don't ask," Sam grunted as they slammed against the door again.

Tree turned the camera to me as I took down my hair to retie it, "Hey, can I ask you something?"

Every bone in my body was screaming no but apparently my mouth had a different agenda, "What?"

"Earlier, you and Sam, he said you had two months left?"

I didn't dare glance in my brothers' direction as I pulled the last bit of hair through the tie. "Yeah, it's complicated. A while ago, Sam…No. No. No. I'm not going whine about my fucking problems to some fucking reality show where women around the world will either pity or hate me for saying it."

"Is it cancer?"

"Imma shoot you."

He took a step back and I rolled my eyes. Good. You should be scared of me asshole. He took the camera away from his face and watched the back of it for a minute. "Ah, hell, guys. Getting your ghost-role thing. Something's coming."

Sam tossed me his shotgun loaded with rock salt bullets and I easily caught it, aiming it for when Daggett showed up. Sam continued, with more perseverance now, to work on the basement door as Dean descended the stairs ready to back me up if need be.

Daggett appeared behind Tree, knocking him and his precious camera to the ground. I shot without thinking twice about it and he disappeared again. Tree groaned as he pushed himself off the ground. "Oh, relax. You're fine."

"Uh, guys..." Tree gets our attention just a second too late and the next thing I knew I was being thrown across the room, my back colliding with an old refrigerator. Dean was thrown in the opposite direction and as Sam tried to make it down the stairs to help, Daggett tossed him back up. Daggett made his way towards Tree when Corbett appeared behind him. He lunged at Daggett and there was a ball of bright light before they both disappeared for good this time.

SUPERNATURAL

We all sat in the garage of Numb Nuts' house as their show came to an end, watching our night at the Morton house on their laptop that they were going to put online. I used to think I'd pay money for a ghost to go after these idiots and as it turns out I got it for free. I don't know how well Dean and Sam were paying attention but I know for me it was nice to see that my ass really did look good in those jeans and the camera definitely did not add on ten pounds. It also warmed my heart a bit to actually get to see the concern and worry on my brothers' faces while I was at the ghost's birthday party. I knew they would come for me, they always would, but to see what they went through before that happened solidified in me their need to protect me.

It was then I realized that it was okay if I went to hell. I would do it again in a heartbeat if we were being completely honest because they were the two people that meant the most to me and the lengths someone will go for their family means everything.

A clip they had recorded before the hunt came on the screen, showing Corbett packing the truck with a goofy smile on his face. "I don't know what to say."

"Say what comes to mind. This is one of our confessional moments, Corbett, so confess. What did you think was going to happen tonight? What do you think is going to happen on this trip?" the man recording prompted him and I realized it was Tree.

We watched as Corbett got a far off look in his eyes before his smile grew, almost taking up his whole face. "I think tonight, I really do, I think all of our dreams are going to come true. Does that sound stupid?"

"Kind of does, yeah."

I looked up at the ceiling, making sure to keep my head level so no one could see I was trying to blink back the tears. Our job as Winchesters wasn't to hunt down evil it was to protect the innocent and this was a job we had failed. At least in my book it was. Yes, the ghost was gone. Yes, there wouldn't be the worry of another thrill seeker dying on leap year. But at what cost? Corbett was an innocent young man that had his whole life ahead of him. It should have been me, the one with two months left, and not a lifetime of memories that were waiting to be made. He was the one that saved us.

In Memory of Alan J. Corbett, 1985-2008 King of the Impossible

The movie ended and we all sat there in silence for a few seconds trying to digest what we just saw. I don't know about Dean and Sam but I could go for a very large drink right now.

"So?" Numb Nuts broke the silence, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet with excitement. "Guys, what do you think?"

I was about to whip around and give this fucker a piece of my mind and maybe a piece of my fist to his face and a knee to the groin when Dean shrugged. "You know, I kind of think it was half-awesome."

I'm sorry. Old one say what? He had to be joking, right? I sent him a death glare that I hoped was fiery enough to melt those old boots into the concrete floor when I noticed the expression on his face. He wasn't serious. He hated it just as much as I did.

Breathing out a sigh of relief, I almost laughed when Maggie smiled. "Half-awesome? That…that's full-on good, right?"

"Yeah, um, I mean it's bizarre how you all are able to honor Corbett's memory while grossly exploiting the manner of his death. Well done," Sam commented as we stood from the metal chairs we had been sitting in. God, I loved my brothers. Sometimes.

Dean slipped a bag full of magnets next to the hard drive and I could honestly smile again without forcing it. This was the justice Corbett deserved. "Yeah. It's a real tight rope you guys are walking there."

We went to leave when Numb Nuts' words stopped us from opening the door. "Nah, that's reality, man. Yeah, Corbett gave his life searching for the truth, and it's our job over here to share it with the world."

"Right. Well, um, our experience, you know what you get when you show the world the truth?" Sam questioned, getting as annoyed as I was with these fucks and that said something.

"A straightjacket. Or a punch in the face. Sometimes both," Dean answered Sam's question as my hand curled into a fist.

Thing Two scoffed, "Oh come on, guys, don't be 'facer haters just because we happen to have gotten the footage of the century."

"Oh yeah," Numb Nuts nodded.

I couldn't help it and before I knew what was happening, my fist connected with the side of Numb Nuts' face, sending his glasses flying in the air. "Now you just need the straightjacket."

We walked out to the Impala and I flexed my fingers, shaking out my hand. I expected Sam to scold me, give me another lecture on 'using my words and not my fists', and for Dean to roll his eyes the whole time but it never came. Sam nodded to my hand, "You put your weight behind it?"

"Yeah," I hesitantly answered, wondering if he hit his head at all in the last twenty-four hours.

"Good," he nodded to Dean over the roof of the Impala. "We clean?"

There were screams of anger coming from the garage and we got into the car before any of those assholes could come after us. Dean smirked as he turned the key in the ignition. "Electromagnet wiped out every tape and hard drive that they have."

"The world just isn't ready for the Ghostfacers," Sam shook his head as Dean pulled out of the driveway, tires squealing behind us at the car fishtailed for a moment.

"It's too bad. I kind of liked the show," Dean commented, not bothering to stop at the sign as he made a right.

Sam nodded in agreement, "It had its moments."

I cleared my throat and started singing their theme song, my brothers joining in a few seconds later, "Ghost, Ghostfacers. We face the ghosts when the others will not. We're Ghost, Ghostfacers. Stay in the kitchen when the kitchen gets hot. Ghost. Ghostfacers. We face the nightmare, we face the dread. Ghost, Ghostfacers."

We might not have our own theme song, our own television show, or working out of someone's basement but we had each other. We had memories with no pictures, music with no lyrics, and truth with no justice. It might not have been the birthday present I had in mind but it was another day I got to spend with my brothers and that was a gift all in itself.