It had been awhile since Caleb had the chance to sit back and breathe, not since before his catastrophic arrest for kidnapping and a host of other charges, and then being sent to jail. It had been something that he missed dearly, getting the chance to sit down and enjoy a cup of his treasured coffee before the morning rush hour began. As the searing hot liquid burned down his throat, he sighed deeply and looked down at the two or three job applications that were spread out before him. Ever since he had been fired from his original job at a construction plant, he had been combing the papers in pursuit of a job that would satisfy the courts.

It was frustrating when he was doing everything on his end to keep his end of the bargain, and potential employers weren't giving him any breathing room to make the process easier on him. The most pressing concern, obviously, was that he would be sent back to the detention center if he didn't show that he had a job soon. Dawn was doing everything she could to help him, even going so far as to recommend a couple of placement agencies that could further him in his efforts to find a job to please the judge in his case.

He was brought out of his fevered thoughts by a grunt of greeting from Bobby, who had come downstairs for breakfast. Usually Caleb did the cooking in the house, but he had been desperately trying to reclaim the precious sleep he had lost over the last two or three months, and had left that chore up to Bobby.

"Morning," Caleb prompted, when Bobby didn't make any move to acknowledge him verbally. It was how they all felt in the mornings: tired, grumpy, and resistant to the idea of starting a new day.

"Hi," Bobby said finally, clearly deciding to face the music of another day.

"Sleep well?" Caleb remarked with a raise of an eyebrow.

Obviously he hadn't, or the older hunter was clearly not the morning type of person. Either option was likely, and truth be told, all of them were trying to catch up on the sleep they had lost during the last chaotic few weeks of hell they had endured.

"It was sunshine and daisies," Bobby finally admitted, as he grabbed a cup of the coffee that Caleb had made, and sat down across from him. "You?"

"Can't complain," Caleb said, as he scrubbed a hand over his face. "Where are the kids?"

"Still sleeping like bats. I checked before I came down," he added, seeing the anxiousness start to reappear in Caleb's face. It wasn't enough just to assume they were sleeping, not when a demon was hellbent on using Sam as the ringleader in his twisted demonic war against humankind.

"Good."

"Can't be too careful," Bobby added, catching the nervousness in Caleb start to die down a little once he had been assured that the boys were safe for the time being.

"Hell no," Caleb said with a weak laugh. "Not when Yellow-Eyes is still out there, still planning his next move."

It was the only positive to possibly going on the run with the boys: it would be harder for the demon to keep track of them if they kept constantly moving around. It was a last resort for the guys, but it was something that was looking more and more appealing by the second.

"Right. So what's all that?" he asked, finally noticing the plethora of job applications that had taken up residence over most of the dining room table.

"Job applications."

"You still haven't found one?"

Caleb shook his head, as he cupped his hand under his chin. "Nope. Call it a wild guess, but employers probably don't want a convicted child abductor on their payroll."

Obviously there was more to it than that, but the normal observer wouldn't understand that, and that was what was so hard for Caleb to come to grips with. Unless Dawn could pull off a miracle reversal and get the charge dropped, he would have a serious felony charge on his record.

"There's circumstances to consider," Bobby said carefully. "They have to know that you would never-"

"They don't have to know anything," Caleb disagreed, shaking his head. "All they know is that they have a guy applying for a job, who just happens to have a felony on his record. Not exactly the kind of PR they want to promote."

Bobby nodded, not able to deny the logic in their decision, even though it was disgusting when he was reminded of the fact that his friend hadn't even done anything, but all the company saw was his conviction, and the fact that he had been charged with abduction.

"Still, they have to give you a chance. You can't go back to jail just because no one is willing to give you a chance."

"I don't know," Caleb said with a sigh. "Hopefully something will come my way soon."

He wanted to believe a judge would choose not to punish him based on the fact that a perspective employer refused to grant him a job, but he wasn't holding his breath.

"Is Dawn trying to-"

Whatever Bobby had been about to say, was cut off by a scream and a crash from upstairs. Giving each other a split second look of panic, they both bolted up the stairs in the direction of Sam's bedroom. Throwing it open, Caleb immediately went down to the floor where the trembling child lay.

"Sammy," Caleb gasped, as he mentally checked him over for any injuries. "Are you-are you alright?"

Sam nodded, his small body heaving with terrified sobs as he silently watched Bobby move around his room, checking for any threats that may have been unseen to the naked, human eye. As he brought a shaking hand up to his eyes to wipe away the tears, he glanced back over at Caleb.

"I fell-"

"Are you hurt?" Caleb pressed.

"I hit my head on the floor."

Caleb shook his head in amazement; for a second he had been scared to death of the demon making another appearance.

"Was it a vision?" Caleb asked, as he glanced over at Bobby, who finally seemed assured that there weren't any demonic forces hiding inside his room.

"Y-Yes," Sam choked.

"Was it the demon?" Bobby asked. "Did you see him-?"

"Bobby," Caleb interjected, looking back over at him and shaking his head.

Now wasn't the time to be interrogating him about what horrors his mind had managed to dredge up. The only thing that mattered to Caleb, was that he was safe and relatively unharmed except for a sore head.

"I saw him," Sam nodded. "He was showing me things-"

"What things?" Bobby asked, while Caleb gave up on trying to halt his questioning, and instead settled for holding Sam close, trying to offer as much comfort to him as he possibly could.

"He-he," Sam trailed off in a series of sobs, as he turned his head into Caleb's chest.

"It's okay," Caleb soothed, as he wrapped his arms around his trembling form. "Bobby, this isn't the time to be grilling him."

"We have to know."

"I know that, but it needs to wait until he's had time to calm down."

The idea that the demon had, once again, managed to pay another visit to Sam's head, was absolutely horrifying to Caleb, but he was determined not to press the already traumatized child, and instead wanted to wait until he had calmed down before they started questioning him.

"Alright," Bobby said uncertainly. "Sam, are you doing okay, kid?"

Sam nodded, still having trouble catching his breath as he allowed Caleb to give him another hug. "Y-yeah I'm okay."

"You're safe," Caleb whispered. "It's going to be okay."

At least he could promise him that. He knew Bobby had taken the time to make sure their place in Minnesota was safe, and while that didn't completely eliminate his fears, it still went a long way in calming down the frantic racing of his heart, and the horrific thoughts that his brain seemed determined to host.

"I was so scared."

"You must have been," Caleb agreed, as he carefully stood with the child still in his arms. "You ready to go downstairs and get some breakfast?" he asked softly.

"Okay," Sam said, before dropping from Caleb's arms to walk on his own.


For the rest of the morning, Sam was silent. He quietly ate the breakfast Caleb offered to him, without much to say other than the automatic "thanks." Even when Dean came downstairs and attempted to tease him like he normally did, he rebuked most of his older brother's efforts.

"What's wrong with him?" Dean whispered to Caleb, as he helped him clear the plates away from the table.

"Your brother had another...visitor this morning."

"Visitor?" Dean repeated blankly, his eyebrows drawing together into a confused line.

"Yellow-Eyes," Caleb softly supplied, as he cast another glance over at Sam. Bobby was leaning toward him, obviously telling him some joke because he could see Sam smile faintly, but nothing like the usual megawatt smile he usually produced.

"He was here?" Dean demanded incredulously.

"Well, in his head, but yes," Caleb said, shaking his head. "He fell out of bed this morning. That's what got our attention," he added, looking over at Bobby, who had finally managed to elicit a laugh out of the nine-year-old.

"Is he okay?" Dean whispered, as though he seriously doubted it, especially when he was reminded of how none-responsive his brother had been at the table.

"He's okay," Caleb assured him. "He's a little freaked understandably, but he seems to be fine other than that."

"If Bobby hadn't installed those wards-"

"I know," Caleb said, as he and Dean glanced over at Sam again, worry clearly etched onto their faces at the idea of what could have happened to him. "We were lucky this time."

"Yeah. This time."