DPOV

Sam was fast asleep, laid out on the back seat, while Liz was curled up beside me, leaning against her door. I sat behind the wheel, parked off the road and behind some bushes, looking over some papers in front of me, using a torch to help me see what I was reading.

Sam stirred. "What are you doing?"

"What's it look like I'm doing?" I asked without looking away from my work.

"Like you're looking for a job."

"Yahtzee."

Sitting up and rubbing his eyes, he looked over at me. "We just finished a job like two hours ago."

I shrugged. "Adrenaline's still pumping, I guess. So, what do you think..." I showed him the papers. "Cedar Rapids, Tulsa, or Chi-Town?"

He let out a frustrated sigh. "I am all for working. I really am. But you got us chasing cases nonstop for like a month now. We need sleep."

"Yeah, we can sleep when we're dead," I mumbled, getting back to reading.

"You're exhausted, Dean."

"I'm good," I insisted.

"No, you're not. You're running on fumes, and you can't run forever."

Putting the torch and papers down, I turned to him. "And what am I running from?"

"From what you told Lizzie and me," he answered shortly. "Or are we pretending that never happened?"

Ignoring his question, I picked a case myself. "Stratton, Nebraska. Farm town. A man gets hacked to death in a locked room inside a locked house. No signs of forced entry."

Sighing, knowing there was no way he was going to get an answer from me, he shrugged. "Sounds like a ghost."

"Yes, it does."

With yet another sigh, he flopped back down to get back to sleep.

EPOV

I couldn't wipe the smile off my face as I hurried up the porch stairs of the large farmhouse, lifting my hand to open the door with my mind effortlessly. Entering the house, I came to a stop in the foyer as I took it all in.

As Sam and Dean came to stand beside me Sam looked down at me, confused and amused. "How can you be excited so excited? It's like you're addicted to hunting lately."

I gave a short and simple shrug. "You don't get it, Sam. Things were slow before. Now there's constant action. I love it."

We'd been busy for the last few weeks since I'd joined the Winchesters again. Tristan hadn't come back from Canada yet, so I'd spent all my time with the brothers. We'd gone from case to case, hardly stopping for breaks. Hell, we'd only just finished a job less than twenty-four hours ago.

Sam did have a point though. I knew he was running on fumes, and Dean was barely keeping up his I'm-perfectly-fine-there's-nothing-to-see-here bullshit. But I was fine. Give me a couple of hours sleep here and there, a few decent meals, and I was as energetic as ever. Of course, I had a secret weapon...

My pills.

When Tristan had given them to me, it was because I'd been dealing with the loss of Dean. Since then, I'd kind of become dependent on them. They helped me focus my attention, energy, emotions, everything. They made me feel good.

The fact I'd started taking more of them... well that helped too. Before I would take one or two a day. Now, it was more like five or six. They just made me feel so much better about everything.

Walking into the living room, I ran my finger over the mantle above the fireplace.

"Boy, three bedrooms, two baths, and one homicide. This place is gonna sell like hotcakes," Dean joked.

Continuing through, we headed for the kitchen, each of us moving to check the cupboards. As I opened a few, I found nothing. Literally. Not even a speck of dust.

"Hey, check this out." Dean caught Sam's and my attention as he knocked on the wall where there appeared to once have been a hole which was now covered.

I moved over to it, running my hand over the painted drywall covering the old hole. "We thinking a dumbwaiter?" I asked, turning to Sam.

He nodded. "All these old houses had them."

Dean looked between the two of us, mumbling something under his breath that I didn't quite catch.

"What?" Sam asked him.

"What?" Dean repeated, playing dumb.

"You said-" Sam started, but cut himself short. "Never mind." Shaking his head, he left the room, Dean and I following him.

We looked in all the rooms, finding nothing in all of them. When we finally reached the bedroom where the murder had taken place, we were surprised to see how perfectly clean it was.

"Well, no bloodstains, fresh coat of paint, it's a bunch of bubkes," Dean noted.

Sam- with his EMF reader out- nodded to the machine in his hand. "Needle's all over the place."

Heading over to the window, Dean took a look outside. "Yeah. Power lines."

"Great," Sam sighed, putting the EMF reader away.

I walked over to the closet, smiling at the brothers as I opened it. Turning to take a look inside, I let out a startled gasp at what I found.

"What is it?" Dean hurried over, followed by Sam. They looked over my shoulders and into the closet, seeing the doll head on the floor. "Well, that's super-disturbing," Dean noted, stating the obvious.

"Think it got left behind?" Sam asked.

Dean and I looked at him questioningly, but it was Dean who spoke. "By who? Unless Bill Gibson likes to play with doll heads."

The sound of a car approaching the house caught our attention. The three of us moved to the window to see a car and a moving truck headed this way, coming down the driveway.

"Uh-oh." Sam basically covered how I was feeling.

"I thought you said this place was still for sale," Dean commented as we watched the vehicles park.

Sam shook his head. "Apparently, it's not."

DPOV

Liz, Sam and I hurried down the porch steps and moved over to the man who was stepping up to us. It was obvious he and the woman were married, the two kids theirs. As for the other guy, my money was on uncle.

"Can I help you?" the father asked us.

"Hi. Are you the new owner?" I smiled.

"Yeah." the father nodded. "You guys are...?"

"This is Mr Stanwyk and Miss Walker. I'm Mr Babar," I introduced as the three of us pulled out some badges. "County code enforcement."

The father looked at the badges, confused. "We had the building inspected last week. Is there a problem?"

"Asbestos in the walls, a gas leak," Sam answered shortly. "Yeah, I'd say we got a problem."

"Asbestos?" The mum stopped unpacking the car as she stood with her daughter and the uncle. "Meaning what?"

"Meaning until this house is up to code, it's uninhabitable," Sam explained.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." The father shook his head, not liking that answer. "You're saying we can't stay here?" He gestured to the house.

"It's a health hazard." I shook my head at him. "You don't want to."

The uncle stepped forward then, just as unhappy and disappointed as everyone else. "Hold up. We just drove four hundred miles."

"There's a motel just down the road," I noted. "Till this gets cleaned up, I suggest you stay there."

The father crossed his arms over his chest defiantly. "All right, and what if we don't?"

"Well, you get a fine or you go to jail." I shrugged. "Pick your poison."

Looking up at me, shaking her head, Liz took a step closer to the father. "Look, I understand that this is an inconvenience and that you and your family want to get settled into your new home. But this place isn't safe right now, and if you stay, you'll be putting them in danger."

I didn't know how she did it. She could be the biggest bad-ass I knew one moment, outsmart Sam the next, and to top it off, she could be gentle and understanding. It didn't matter what the circumstances were, chances are she could empathise with people and get on their good side.

Looking from Liz to Sam and I, and then to the house, the father sighed. "One night." He turned to his family. "One night, and I'll take care of everything, ASAP, I promise."

"Yeah, you do that," I mumbled to myself.

The daughter's jaw dropped at her father's decision. "Another motel? Awesome, Dad. I hope this one has hooker sheets, like the last one."

Wow, harsh.

SPOV

We stood at the front door of Mrs Curry's trailer. She used to be the victim's- Mr Gibson's- cleaner. She had apparently found the body, so if there was ever anyone to go talk to, she was it. Hopefully, she could shed some light on what we might be dealing with.

"What did the room look like when you found it, Mrs Curry?" I asked as Lizzie, Dean and I stood outside the trailer home, looking at Mrs Curry through the security door.

"I already told the local boys, there was blood everywhere."

"And Mr Gibson?" Dean questioned. "Where was he?"

"Everywhere."

Dean, Lizzie and I shared a look before I turned back to Mrs Curry, going on with the questioning. "How long have you been cleaning Mr Gibson's house?"

"About five years."

"So, you knew him pretty well," Dean commented.

But Mrs Curry corrected him. "Well, not really well. He was real private. Not the easiest man. Not that I blame him."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"His wife dies in childbirth. Daughter hangs herself in the attic twenty years later. I'd be bitter, too," she explained. "I think I got some pictures." Pushing off the wall by the door, she disappeared around the corner for a moment before coming back. "Here." She opened the door and handed the two pictures over to Dean.

"Thanks." Dean nodded to her as Lizzie and I leaned to take a look. One of the pictures was of a schoolgirl, and the other was of a man and woman in front of the farmhouse. "Can we keep these?"

Mrs Curry shrugged. "Suit yourself."

Looking away from the pictures, I turned back to Mrs Curry. "Now, why'd the daughter kill herself?"

"I don't know. That was before my time."

"Did you ever notice anything odd in the house when you were cleaning it?" Dean asked as he tucked the photos into the pocket of his suit.

"Like what?"

"Did any of the lights flicker? Things move around? Did you feel like you were being watched?" Lizzie elaborated. "Anything out of the ordinary."

"No." Mrs Curry shook her head. But after a moment she frowned as if remembering something. "Well, maybe there was one thing."

"What's that?" I asked, hoping she might have something that will help with the case. So far, we didn't have much.

"Well, sometimes, I thought I heard like a... rustling in the walls."

"Like a rat?"

She gave a short nod at Dean's question. "Yeah."

"Must have been some big sons of guns out there, huh?" he chuckled lightly.

Mrs Curry shrugged. "Wouldn't know. Never saw any."

"Do you happen to know where Mrs Gibson and her daughter were buried?" I asked.

"They were both cremated."

EPOV

We were headed back to the farmhouse. After talking to Mrs Curry, we couldn't decide who's ghost we were dealing with. Only way to actually get rid of this ghost then, was to search the house and find whatever was keeping it back.

"Crap." Dean sighed as he pulled up on the road, looking over at the house. The lights were on. The family had stayed. "So, what now?

Sam shrugged. "We could tell them the truth."

Both Dean and I turned to him, surprised. "Really?" we asked at the same time.

Sam gave a short laughing, shaking his head. "No, not really."

"Well, then we wait." Dean turned to look over at the house again. "Once the lights are out... we'll do as much as we can. But there's no way we can just leave them on their own."

Sighing, I leaned into the seat, resting my head back as I pulled out my pills and took two. If we had to wait, I wasn't going to do it with nothing in my system.

It wasn't long after that when we all heard a scream.

Before I even had the chance to sit up again, Dean had Baby running, and speeding for the driveway.

...

Dean pounded his fist on the door. A moment later the uncle opened it. We didn't even wait before we barged past him and into the house, heading for the living room where the rest of the family were. The daughter was freaking out while everyone else was freaking out.

"We heard screams," Dean explained as we came to a stop in the room. "What's going on?"

The father turned on us. "Oh, you three! Did you touch my daughter?!"

"What?" Dean frowned- as did Sam and I. "No."

"Who are you guys?" the father demanded, clearly not believing him.

"Relax, please," Sam told them. "You have a ghost."

The father rolled his eyes. "A ghost."

"I told you!" the daughter exclaimed.

"It's the girl!" the son added.

But the dad clearly wasn't having any of it. "Both of you, relax." He turned back to Sam, Dean and I. "What are you guys playing?"

"Your family's in danger," Dean tried to explain. "You need to get out of the house now."

As if on cue, all the lights in the house turned off, leaving us in the dark.

"What the hell?" the uncle spoke from behind the brothers and me.

"Nobody move!" Dean yelled, needing to keep everyone together.

But at the sound of a dog crying out in pain, the son called out. "Buster!"

Then, without hesitation, the dad ran off, headed for the front door.

"Does no one understand the meaning of, 'Nobody move'?" I rolled my eyes, following as everyone else ran after the father.

Listening out for the dog's cries, calling out his names, all of us run down the porch steps and around the house, only to come to a halt as we neared the vehicles. On the ground as a dark, wet trail that led to the truck. On the back of the truck, in big, bold, bloody letters were the words, 'Too Late'.

"Buster!" the little boy cried out again.

The father turned to his family. "Go back inside. Go!" Once his family were gone, he turned to Dean, Sam and I.

"We are not the bad guys, but you're in danger," Dean tried to explain once again.

Sam nodded. "First thing's first. You got to get your family out of here."

DPOV

We'd gathered the family from inside the house and brought them back out, headed for the cars as I told them what to do. "Head to the motel I was talking about. You'll be safe there."

"What are you two gonna do?" Brian- the father- asked.

But before I could answer, we reached Baby and came to a stop. "Oh, no! Oh, come on! Oh, come on!" All her tires had been slashed.

Sam hurried around to look in the trunk. "Dude, the guns are gone. So is the... basically, everything is gone."

Ted- the uncle- came around from checking the truck. "Truck's no good."

Brian moved to take a look at his car as well. "Both tires slashed."

Frustrated and pissed, I yelled out. "What kind of ghost messes with a man's wheels?!"

The daughter- Kate- was freaking out. "What's going on? What's going on?" she asked, looking around frantically before she suddenly screamed. "She's there! She's there!"

Susan- the mother- hurried over to Kate. "Where?!"

"She was right there in the woods!" Kate pointed out at the tree line surrounding the house.

Sam and Liz came over to stand with me, my voice low. "What's a ghost doing outside?"

"I don't know." Liz shook her head.

"You want to stay and find out?" Sam had a good point.

"Everybody inside," I ordered.

Ted turned to me, the look on his face telling me he thought I was nuts. "Are you crazy? We need to get the hell out of here!"

"In what?! This ghost is hunting us! Everybody back inside now! Move!"

EPOV

In the dining room, Sam and I moved around the family on opposite sides, pouring salt down to make a circle, to keep everyone safe.

"Whatever's outside, it can't get in this circle," Dean explained as he crouched down by the fire in the fireplace, iron rod in hand. "As long as the salt line is unbroken, this is the safest place to be."

"Safe from ghosts?" Brian still didn't believe us.

"Yes, as a matter of fact," Dean answered shortly, getting annoyed.

I didn't blame him really, but it's not like we didn't deal with non-believers like this all the time.

"Okay, I'm not listening to this anymore." Brian moved to grab his family and leave. "Come on. I got to get my family out of here. Let's go."

Dean stood with a frustrated sigh. "Nobody's going anywhere until we kill this thing."

"Sir, please." Sam got in Brian's way. "This is what we do. Just... trust us."

"You hunt ghosts?" Danny- the son- asked, a small smile playing on the corner of his lips.

As much as I could relate to the excitement he felt, I also felt the need to do whatever it takes to keep the kid from thinking this is a way to live. Sam and Dean, they were pulled into the life just like me. Through tragedy. Living like this was hard, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

"That's right." Dean nodded. The look on his face told me he felt the same way.

Danny's smile widened. "Like Scooby-Doo?"

Dean chuckled lightly. "Better."

"You saw her outside, right?" Sam asked Kate as he pulled out the photos we got from Mrs Curry. "Okay. Does she look like either one of the girls?"

Kate took a quick look before pointing to one of the pictures. "Her. She was paler and a lot dirtier, but that was her."

Danny took gave the pictures a glance as well. "That's the girl in the walls."

Sam turned to Dean and I. "So it's the daughter?"

"That girl in the picture... she- she's dead?" Susan asked.

"She, um... she killed herself. In this house." I explained. It's not like you can give that kind of news gently. Looking behind me, I noticed the brothers talking in hushed tones a few steps away.

As I moved over to join them, I heard Sam. "Unless her spirits just attached to something inside the house."

"She hung herself in the attic, right?" Dean asked, looking from his brother to me.

I nodded. "Yeah."

"You two want to babysit? I'll check it out," Sam offered.

Before Dean or I could answer, Ted came over to us. "Look, I don't care who hung themselves where. Maybe something is going on here, but-"

Dean cut him off, "It's a spirit, man."

"No, it's just some backwoods hillbilly bitch, and I'm not about to sit around here waiting for her to go all Deliverance on my ass."

"Well, nobody's leaving the house."

"Stop me." Turning, Ted started to leave.

Dean grabbed Ted and pushed him against the wall. "Listen, man. I've got a gun. You don't get your ass back in that circle, you're gonna have yourself a third hole," he warned before letting him go and stepping back to Sam and me.

"Dude, you don't have a gun," Sam noted, voice low so no one else heard.

"And?" Dean shrugged. "I'm not letting that bastard or anyone else die tonight."

Sam looked a little concerned for his brother. "You cool?"

Dean gave a short nod. "Go."

With one last look at his brother, Sam then left to head for the attic.

Once Sam was gone, I stepped forward to rest a hand on Dean's shoulder. "You sure you okay?"

"I'm fine, Liz," he assured me.

...

Dean and I were pacing in the circle while Brian, Susan, Kate and Danny were huddled together, and Ted was playing with the salt. I was watching him though, making sure he didn't ruin the line. If he did, I'd make sure he regretted it. There was no way I was letting his family get hurt.

"Hey, Fonzie." Ted stood and turned to Dean, a smile playing on his lips. "Question for you." He gestured to the circle. "This indestructible force field made out of salt... have to be kosher stuff, or what?"

Susan rolled her eyes. "Knock it off, Ted."

A moment later, we all heard the sound of something rattling and moving...

"What was that?" Kate asked, voice shaking with fear.

All eyes were scanning the room, waiting and watching until we saw it. A door opened as a girl stepped out of the shadows. She was practically skin and bones, skin grey, hair a tattered mess.

"All right, everybody stay calm," Dean told the family as he and I stood in front of them protectively. "She's a ghost. She can't come in the circle."

We watched as the ghost continued to move closer, step by step, taking her time. As she neared the salt, I waited for her to stop. But when she didn't, when she crossed the line, even I started freaking out a little.

"I thought you said ghosts couldn't cross the circle," Kate cried out.

"They can't." Dean lifted his arm to pull me behind him protectively. "She's not a ghost."

"Shoot her!" Ted yelled. "Shoot her!"

"Yeah, about that..." Dean turned to me as the girl screamed and lunged for us. "Go, go, go!" He turned back to her in time, grabbing her arm and keeping her at bay. "Take them! Move!" he yelled.

I didn't hesitate, knowing Dean had a better chance of fighting the girl off than the family did. While he dealt with her, I took the family to the porch. "Split up, into groups. Hide and don't move until we come find you," I ordered before turning and running back into the house.

Dean was fighting with the girl, who apparently had a knife I hadn't noticed before. She pushed him to the ground and lifted the weapon, going for the kill.

"No!" I screamed, throwing her across the room.

"Lizzie?!" Sam hurried down the stairs, catching my attention for the briefest of seconds, but it was long enough for the girl to disappear.

Bamby