What about us?
What about all the times you said you had the answers?
What about us?
What about all the broken happy ever afters?
What about us?
What about all the plans that ended in disaster?
What about love? What about trust?
What about us?

SWAP MEAT

Housatonic, MA

Beth's POV

I stared at a picture on the wall, one of the woman we were visiting, Donna, and her husband and daughter. They were smiling at the camera, arms wrapped around each other, the teenage girl in a baseball uniform. It was a bittersweet photo to me, reminding me of all the photos of me and my Dad, that I'd thrown in a box and left in storage at Bobby's. This girl was about the same age I had been when my Dad died, and she had been experiencing problems that we fixed.

Looking around the room, I saw a home that was not unlike any of the others where we ran to the rescue of simple, ordinary families. It was stuffed full of furniture that was mismatched, yet clearly loved - two sofas facing each other across a coffee table, a sideboard with mementos from the family - special china, trophies, framed photos, and little knick-knacks. It reminded me a little of our house in Blue Earth, except that we hadn't really had a chance to make that our own - it still housed much the same furniture and belongings that had been Pastor Jim's before his passing. The few months Dean and I had spent there, before going after Sam again, hadn't been enough for us to put our personal touch on it. Truth be known, I wasn't even sure what that was beyond hunting, it had been a long time since I'd lived in an actual home.

Dean and Sam were perched on a sofa opposite the girl, Katie, both quite keen to be here. Donna walked back into the room from the kitchen, and put a pitcher of lemonade and some cookies on the coffee table between the two sofas, taking a seat beside her daughter. Sam leaned forward a bit as soon as everyone was settled. I watched them from the corner of my eye, how they gravitated to Donna almost like a moth to a flame. She'd been a mother figure to them when they were really young, and Dean couldn't have driven fast enough to get here once we received the call.

"So, how long has it been?" Donna asked, smiling through tired eyes. She had to be in her early fifties now, long curly blonde hair tinged with grey, a few smile lines either side of her eyes. She was happy here, with her family, she was not someone cut out for monsters.

"The summer before 6th grade," Sam said.

"Mmm, I remember. You assigned yourself your own reading list," Donna said with a smile. Dean chuckled next to Sam on the sofa, looking back at me.

"That's right," he said. "I forgot about that." He inclined his head, gesturing for me to join them on the couch. He had been keen to introduce me, of course Donna had known about me - from John - but we'd never met in person.

"Your mom happens to be the best babysitter we ever had," Sam said to Katie, who smiled at her mom like she was seeing her through completely different eyes. I walked around the side of the sofa, and Dean scooted over to make space for me, smiling as I squeezed in beside him.

"Well, when I was a maid at the Mayflower, out on the interstate – long before you were even an idea, a little while before Beth joined them…" I smiled as she looked at me. She definitely knew more than she'd let on in the phone call. Had John filled in people on our situation when I joined them? All I knew is that by the time I'd joined them, I was almost sixteen, Dean was almost eighteen, so they'd no longer needed babysitters - Dean had been in charge when he was gone.

"Their daddy used to pass through town and leave the boys with me while he went off to... work. One time, he was gone for two weeks," Donna continued.

"Sounds about right," I said, raising an eyebrow at the boys. Sam's mouthed twitched, he'd never been happy when John left any of us for any extended period of time. Dean was silent.

"Two weeks?" Katie asked, looking incredulously at us.

"Mm-hmm. Oh, he'd always come limping back. He loved you boys," Donna said, smiling at Dean and Sam. Sam smiled, but squirmed a little on the sofa next to Dean, the latter's face was completely unreadable, like he didn't know what to say or do with that information. It was another bittersweet thing for the boys, especially Dean, to hear about how much John had loved them, all of us, from strangers… when he'd never said it to us.

"Did you know what he did all that time?" Katie asked. Donna shook her head, her smiled tinged with a touch of irony.

"Little Sammy kept trying to tell me. Of course, I didn't believe him" Donna said, Sam chuckled. "Not at first, anyway. In fact… I was surprised to hear you were all … in the business, when I called. And I'm very sorry to hear about your Dad."

Dean nodded solemnly, taking my hand and squeezing it, still silent.

"We're just doing our best to follow in his footsteps," I said softly, seeing Donna's eyes flick to our joined hands. She opened her mouth, as if to say something, but then Sam spoke.

"Katie, our dad, um, happened to be an expert at getting rid of ghosts. And now, so are we."

""That's why I called. They can help us." Katie smiled, still hesitant, and then looked up as her dad came into the room carrying two large suitcases that looked stuffed.

"Sounds like you guys got yourself a poltergeist," Dean finally spoke.

Peter put the suitcases down on the ground and then straightened up, nodding at Dean.

"Started a month or two after we moved in."

"Yeah, first it was, uh, just bumps and knocks and scratches on the walls. And then it started breaking things," Donna supplied.

"And then it attacked Katie?" I asked gently, looking at the girl. Donna nodded, glancing at her daughter.

"That was two nights ago," Peter said.

"Can you show them, honey?" Donna asked. Katie paused for a moment, and then pushed aside the crocheted blanket on her lap, standing and lifting her shirt so we could read the words cut into her skin. They were jagged, red, angry looking.

"Murderd Chylde," Sam said thoughtfully. I frowned at the spelling, that was old world… whatever was in this house, it was from a long time ago. Katie pulled her shirt back down and sat on the couch again, pulling the blanket back across her legs and looking uncomfortable.

"Katie, everything's gonna be fine. I promise," Dean said, leaning forward and looking at her with a very calm, determined expression. Katie nodded, smiling tentatively at Dean.

"Why don't you guys take yourselves a little vacation, and we will take care of the rest?" I said with a smile.

Donna sighed with relief and nodded. "Thank you."

As we left the house, she pulled me aside and looked at Dean walking down to the Impala. "John told me about you Beth," she said, "I used to call him and ask how the boys were. They were important to me."

"Yeah," I said, a sad smile playing on my face. "They have that effect on you."

"It's good to see Dean settled," Donna said, I gazed at her curiously.

"I wouldn't call him that," I said with a wry laugh.

"But he is, when he looks at you," she said. "You've done wonders for him. He was an angry young man when I saw him last. He's… calmer now, and it's clear it's because of you."

I'm the angry one now… I thought sadly.

"Do you think about settling down?" Donna asked, her eyes dropping down to my wedding ring. "Starting a family?"

I was almost thrown by the question, I didn't know what to say.

"I… uh... " I glanced at Dean, who was leaning on top of the car, watching us talking. "We talk about it, sometimes. The job can be… pretty demanding."

"I'm sure," Donna smiled. "Well, I'm glad you're all doing so well, and you're here to help us. Thank you again. And think about what I said… you kids deserve to have a place to call home."

I smiled, nodding and then skipped down the steps to meet the boys at the car. Dean tossed a curious look at me, and I rolled my eyes, dropping into the passenger seat as he got behind the wheel. Sam leaned forward from the backseat, grinning at me.

"Getting the protective mother speech?" He asked, and I snorted, shaking my head.

"Something like that…" I said, glancing at Dean. He was already starting the car and pulling out into traffic. "She thinks Dean should buy me a house, get me barefoot and pregnant," I joked, but it fell on deaf ears. Dean sighed, looking over at me with an expression I couldn't quite read. Sam sensed the discomfort and chuckled, but then leaned back and pulled out his laptop, starting to do some searching.

"I'm starving," I said after a moment, "how about we stop somewhere, grab a bite to eat, and go over the case." Dean nodded, still silent, and before long we were at a burger chain.

Dean's POV

Seeing Donna again had been … different. She looked good, and seemed happy. She had settled down, got a life to be proud of. The conversation she'd had with Beth as we'd left… it had been in the back of my mind since Oklahoma. Beth had been willing to give it all up, just like that. Lucifer, the Apocalypse… let it all go and move back to Minnesota - quit hunting, have a family, live a life that was not all life or death.

I was recalling a similar conversation I'd had with her, what seemed like a lifetime ago. Something I'd said to her when I'd found out that Mom had never wanted her kids raised as hunters. I'd looked at Beth after that conversation, and I'd known. I didn't want that for our children either. And I knew we would one day have them, angelic prophecy or not, it was just a matter of when.

It was only the fact that I couldn't give her that right now , which had kept me from saying agreeing to Beth the few days earlier. Now was not the time. Sure, we'd be happy for a short while, we might start a family, but with Lucifer on the loose? Who were we kidding? Gabriel had this whole prophetic annunciation thing going on with Beth, giving her all these worried thoughts about whether or not we were in control of our lives, but at the end of the day, that angel was a few crayons short of the box. He certainly had another thing coming if he thought I was giving over my body to Michael.

A kid in a very patriotic red, white and blue star spangled uniform brought a tray of food to the counter, just as Beth walked around the corner from the restroom. I smiled at her, and then the kid called out our order.

"Uh, two bacon burger turbos, large chilli-cheese fries, uh, and a Health Quake Salad shake?" He had that in hand, and raised an eyebrow at Beth, holding it out to her.

Beth smirked and took it. "Does this look like something I'd eat? Really?" The kid's eyes dropped down to run the length of Beth's body, and I frowned. He was totally checking her out! I rolled my eyes, stepping in and taking the tray from him.

"Yeah, uh…really. I know... but hu it's not hers," I said, shaking my head. Beth grinned, and led the way back to the table where Sam was sitting. She dropped the tall, plastic cup with a lid in front of Sam, while I put the tray and our food on table. We both sat opposite Sam, and started to unwrap our food while Sam applied dressing to his salad, putting the lid back on and then started to shake it vigorously. I stared at Sam as he continued to read the screen in front of him, shake shake shaking. After a moment he stopped, looking questioningly at me.

"Oh, you shake it up, baby," I said, rolling my eyes. He smirked and then started to shake the salad some more. I looked down and started to dig into my burger.

"You know, poltergeist aside, Donna looked pretty good, don't you think?"

Sam stopped shaking and stared at me, a little smile on his face. "Dude, don't tell me you've still got the hots for our babysitter."

"Ooooooh," Beth said, elbowing me. "Thought you liked brunettes?"

I tossed her an incredulous look, and then looked back at Sam. "What? No. That's weird," I said, even though he'd been right. I had always kind of liked her. I chucked, and then got back to my original point.

"I'm just saying that she, you know, she – she's – she's doing good. You know, with her husband, her kid. This whole Amityville thing being thrown at them, and they're hanging tough."

"Yeah," Sam nodded, looking thoughtfully down at his salad.

There was always one thing standing in the way of me retiring from hunting, and giving Beth the life I was starting to think she wanted.

Sam.

If we could just convince him that he should give it up…

"You ever think that you'd want something like that? Wife, rugrats, the whole nine?" I asked, hoping my voice sounded light and breezy, not like it was a loaded question.

Sam paused for a moment, looking from me to Beth, and then shook his head. "No, not really my thing anymore."

"What about you guys?" He asked.

I opened my mouth, glancing over at Beth and seeing her hesitate, her burger raised halfway to her mouth.

"I mean, you guys did it once," Sam said. "You could go back to Minnesota… have a couple of kids … get real jobs."

I snorted at that thought, but couldn't deny… it was so tempting. I knew what I'd do too… it was clear as day. It hurt me to say, but I would follow in Dad's footsteps there, I'd become a mechanic.

"You see us with real jobs, Sammy?" Beth asked after a moment.

Sam looked sadly at Beth. "Yeah, I can."

"Yeah, well. I wouldn't call a couple of months retiring," I said dismissively. "Maybe a nice vacation, but it was hardly enough time to see if we liked it." I glanced sideways at Beth but her face wasn't giving anything away. "First things first, what do you got?"

Sam's face briefly frowned at me, and I had a moment to consider that maybe he was pushing us toward going back to Minnesota. Well that was all well and good, but it was because of him we weren't there right now, which made me want to smack him upside the head. Fortunately, he didn't comment, and instead looked back at the computer, getting down to the job.

"Uh, well, that house of theirs, it's old – really old. Um, hundreds of years. And I found a legend. It's unconfirmed, but still…"

"Saying?" I asked.

"Supposedly, in the 1720s, the house was owned by a guy named Isaiah Pickett," Sam replied, turning his laptop around to show us a website titled Witchcraft with a lot of text and grimson scene of a hanging woman. "Legend has it he hung a woman in his backyard for witchcraft – a woman named Maggie Briggs."

"1720's would fit with the way child was spelled," Beth mused, and I looked sideways at her - I'd barely even noticed that.

"Okay, so an angry ghost witch?" I asked.

"If it's true," Sam said, "that still doesn't explain what 'Murdered Chylde' means."

Hmmm.

"No, or where the bitch is buried," I pointed out.

"You know, I mean, it's a long way back, but I can see if I can find something in the town records," Sam suggested.

I nodded. "It's worth a shot," I said before taking a big bite of my burger.

Later That Night

Beth's POV

The town records, as it turned out, were in both the library and the town hall. The record storage had been moved around the mid 1700s but the archives stayed in their original location, meaning they could have been in either place. Dean had joined me in the library for a while; then, growing restless, he'd gone back to the motel to clean the guns.

As I was walking back to the motel, my phone rang. It was Dean. I answered with a smile, my step quickening just a little to get me back to the motel faster.

"Hey, miss me?" I asked.

Dean groaned. "Always," he replied. "How's things coming along there?"

"I'm done, there was nothing, most of the records I had were pre-1700s. I took a bit of a look through court records, unsolved mysteries, arrests… that sort of thing for something about a murdered child. But there was nothing that caused a big enough stir to make headlines."

"Yeah well, that was a bit of a reach, could mean anything," Dean replied.

"Yeah." I mused. "Would have been nice to have it handed to us though."

Dean laughed and agreed with me. "Where are you?"

"Not far now," I said, "you want anything?"

"Food!" Dean said. "I'm starving!"

I laughed, thinking about his grumbling stomach. "I'll grab something on the way."

"Great, thanks. Hey, have you heard from Sam?" He asked.

"No, why?"

"He was on his way back like an hour ago, he didn't find anything either, but hasn't turned up yet."

"That's not like him," I said, stopping. "I shouldn't be too much longer, if he's not back by then, we'll go look for him." I hung up and started to look around for a safe place to cross the street. The place we'd eaten earlier was still open, I could see the lights still on…

"Ow!" I felt a sharp pain to my neck, reaching up to feel a feathered dart sticking out of my skin. "What the...?"

Everything around me started to blur, I felt my legs give out beneath me. "No…" Then everything went black.

Some Time Later

Beth's POV

I woke up to the sound of beeping machines, and the chatter of a couple of people nearby. I sat up, feeling my neck, and a fresh wave of pain through my body, and groaned. What had just happened? Where was I?

As I looked around, I saw my arm attached to a heart rate monitor, I ripped it off and swung my legs over the edge of the bed, hearing the machine start to screech in protest. Whoops. Nurses from the station outside came running into the room, and then startled when they saw me.

"She's awake!" One of them, with blonde hair swept up into a messy bun atop her head, said. "Okay honey, just take it easy, you've had another seizure."

"Another seizure?" I asked, feeling confusion settle down on me. I'd never had a seizure in my life!

"Yes, it must have been a bad one this time, your sister found you not far from the library," said the other nurse, this one with gentle brown eyes and beautiful chocolate skin, approaching me with a kind smile. "Have you been taking your medication?"

"Medication…" I murmured, looking around. What the hell was going on here? "I, uh…"

"Don't worry, your parents will be here shortly," they said to me. I blinked.

"My… my parents?"

"Of course, honey. They're worried sick about you!" Said the blonde. As if on cue, a dark haired man, mousey haired woman, and a young teenaged girl all clamoured into the room, speaking at once.

"You gave us a scare darling!" Said the woman.

"Are you okay?" Asked the man.

"You were supposed to meet me at cheerleader practice!" The girl said, frowning at me. "I'm missing Robert's party because of this!"

"Erica, your sister has just had a seizure, have a little compassion," the woman said, coming to brush her hand across my forehead. I flinched backwards, and stood up, moving back against the wall.

"Uh," I said, looking around at the complete strangers. "There's been some kind of mistake. If you could just get my phone… I need to call Dean."

"Dean? Who is Dean?" The man asked, looking to his wife for an explanation.

"We don't know anyone called Dean," the girl, Erica, said - her eyes narrowing at me in what seemed like a warning.

"Look, why don't we just take you home, the doctor says you're fine. You'll feel better in the morning," said the woman.

"No, I… I can't."

"Come on angel," said the man, raising his hand toward me. I stared at it, then looked up at him, feeling my stomach drop as my eyes met a mirror against the back wall.

I was staring back at a frightened looking version of… Erica. Wait what was going on here? Who was that?!

I gasped, and the sound stopped everyone in their tracks.

"Are you okay...sis?" Erica said.

"You're my twin?" I asked, looking at her.

"Yeah, half my luck," Erica sneered. "Will you just get dressed and stop being a pain?"

"Erica, be nice to your sister," The man said. "If we get home soon, you can still go to Robert's for an hour, if you want." I watched the girl's mouth drop open, and then she glanced at me, her eyes narrowing as she closed it.

"No, that's okay. There's fashionably late, and then there's just lame," she countered. "Come on Nora, let's go home."

What the hell was going on here?

I nodded at them. Anything to keep the peace. "Okay, I uh… I just need some, privacy?" I said, gesturing to the hospital gown I was still wearing.

"Of course!" The man said. "We'll be right outside, okay angel?"

"Okay," I nodded.

As soon as they were gone, I started rummaging through the clothes that were in the closet, pulling on underwear, jeans, and a … ugh… knitted sweater. I fumbled around, looking for some kind of ID… seeing a bag, and then pulling out a wallet.

"Nora Prescott. Seventeen years old…" I murmured, looking at the photo ID, and the face staring back at me. I'm in someone else's body! What the hell is going on here?

I looked down at a phone in my bag, black, sleek, and swiped my finger across the screen. It came to life, no password. Phew. I dialed Dean's number immediately, listening to it ring out until voicemail.

"Dean!" I whispered urgently into the phone. "It's me, Beth. Something weird is going on. I'm… well I think I'm in some seventeen year old girl's body! Call me back right away!"

Panic clutched at my heart. I didn't like this at all, but if I was going to get to the bottom of whatever was happening, I'd have to play along.

I flipped through the phone, looking for clues, opening up the last text 'Nora' had received, from someone called Gary, a love heart emoji next to his name. I frowned, opening it, and felt my stomach sink.

Hey. It worked. Now it's your turn. The girl is at the library, feel like some extra homework?

I hit dial, hearing the phone ring and then someone answered.

"Hello?"

I'd know that voice anywhere.

"Sam?" I asked.

"Uhhhh," his voice cleared, and then deepened. "Yes, this is Sam?"

"Sam, thank god, Dean's not answering his phone! Where are you?"

"Uh, huh? Who is this?"

"Uh, this is gonna sound weird, but it's Beth..." I said, holding my breath. He paused, and then he cleared his throat.

"I think you have the wrong number. Sorry." He hung up. I stared at the phone in disbelief and rang back. This time the phone went to voicemail.

"Sam, what the hell? Why did you hang up on me? It's Beth! For God's sake, something is going on. Why do you have the phone of someone named Gary? Call me back, I think… I think I'm in the wrong body." I was whispering, because saying it too loudly might make it real, and much as I already knew it was real, I was still holding out for this being a bad dream.

"Angel?" The man was back, peering tentatively around the privacy curtain. "Are you ready?"

It wasn't hard to smile at the genuine care in his voice. I pushed back the fear and anxiety in my chest and nodded at him, dropping the phone into my bag. "Let's go…" I said. "Dad."

He smiled at the 'Dad' and I breathed a sigh of relief. This was insane! But the only way I was going to get any answers was to play along. I had to figure out just what had happened to Sam, and this mystery Gary.

Dean's POV

I was fuming as I got back to the motel. Underneath it all, I was worried though. It was one thing for Sam to go dark on us, disappear to corners unknown and do his own, sulky little emo thing. But Beth? I'd been ringing her phone for the last hour, and taken to the streets looking for them. There was no sign of either of them anywhere near the library or town hall, or on the streets to and from there.

I felt sick to my stomach.

So when I walked into the motel room and saw Sam, I was ready to lose my head.

"Sam!" I yelled, seeing him startle back from the bathroom door.

"Huh? Oh, hi," he said.

"Hi?" I asked, frowning at him. "Hi? Where the hell have you been? Beth's missing and…"

"No she's not," Sam cut in. I stopped short, listening. There was water running in the bathroom.

"Is she in the shower?" I asked, confused. "Wait, were you… were you just watching her?" My mouth dropped open and Sam seemed to blush.

"What?! No, of course not man," he said with a shake of his head.

"Well what are you doing loitering around the bathroom then? What the hell is wrong with you?" I asked, but the feeling of relief that Beth was okay, that she was here, was enough to settle my mood. I shoved past him, and into the bathroom, seeing her out of the shower, reaching back in to turn off the water.

I sucked in a breath at how beautiful she always looked, especially like this, and reached out to pull her into my arms, burying my face into the back of her neck. "You had me worried sick," I murmured into her skin.

Beth yelped, and pulled away, looking at me in surprise. "Oh, Dean!"

"Yeah, who else?" I asked, frowning at her.

"Sorry!" She pulled up the towel she was holding around her body. "You surprised me, I don't want you to get all wet."

I grinned at her. "Well… you know…"

"Dean I got us food!" Sam called out from the motel room and I sighed. I was hungry. I let my eyes linger on Beth a little longer, she seemed to be holding her breath. I thought about how I'd like to make her lose it, and sighed in frustration.

"Later," I said. "When he's not around." Her eyes widened a little and she nodded her head. Satisfied, I walked out into the room where Sam was holding out a bag of food.

"I picked up some food. Bacon burger turbo, large chilli-cheese fry, right? Sorry, man. Really. I-I just –I ran into Beth at the burger place and we… lost track of time. We didn't mean to freak you out," he said.

I looked at the food and then grabbed it, nodding. "Thanks. Don't know why it took you both two hours, but thanks." I started to rummage in the bag, grabbing a fry and putting it in my mouth.

"Oh, you're gonna want to eat that on the road," Sam said, I frowned at him.

"Why?"

"The maid came in, saw that," he gestured to the guns I'd been cleaning, all laid out on the bed, "and now they're all kind of freaking out." I stared at him. How dumb could he get?

"Why'd you let the maid in?" I asked. That was like rule number one, douchebag.

"It just happened," he said with a shrug.

"Whatever," I said, shrugging. "I got to hit the head, and then we'll take off… Beth! You done in there?"

Beth opened the door, walking out in fresh jeans and a blue shirt, buttoned down. She had tied her hair back in a braid because it was still wet.

"Yeah, yeah I'm done," she said, moving to the bed and looking at her phone.

"All right. I-I'll be outside," Sam said. I pushed into the bathroom and went about my business. I was already tired from chasing these guys all over town, and hungry, and now we had to change motels? What the hell?

Sam was sitting in the passenger seat when I got there. I hazarded a look at Beth, slouched in the back and frowned.

"Yeah, okay," I said, wondering what was bothering her. "You guys ready?"

"Absolutely," Sam said. "Hey, can I drive?"

Okayyyyy.

I looked at him, raising my eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah!"

I sighed. Well it would be a good opportunity to get in the back with Beth and have a chat to her, see if I could figure out what was bothering her. "Yeah, okay, I guess."

I got out, Sam hurried around to the driver's seat, climbing in, while I moved to the back seat, settling next to Beth and looking at her.

"Hey, you okay?"

Beth nodded, glancing at me, but seeming to lean away from me slightly. I took her hand in mine, softly massaging it, and looking at her with a bit of worry.

In the front seat Sam was fiddling with things, and then started the car.

"You know," I said to Beth. "I know we've had a lot going on… and… well, that last case brought up some stuff."

"Don't...don't worry about it," she said to me. That's when I really started to worry.

"Yeah, but… we probably still need…"

"Oh this is so sweet!" Sam exclaimed suddenly, and revved the hell out of the car, vroooom vrooooooom! And I startled, looking over the seat at him.

"You want to get the lead out, Andretti?" I asked, frowning. What the hell is wrong with him? "Come on." I watched him put the car into reverse, and leaned forward. "Reverse," I pointed out to him. Sam started to put his foot on the gas, and I cried out. "Reverse!"

The tires squealed as the Impala shot backwards, I gasped as we hit something, spinning around to see a dumpster. Full bags of trash fell on the trunk of the car, leaving a mess. I growled and turned back to Sam who was sheepishly looking at me in the mirror.

"It's in reverse," I said, dropping Beth's hand and getting out to look at the damage. A few scrapes, nothing too bad. Sam joined me, apologetically glancing at me, his eyes a little wide.

"I am really, really sorry," he said.

"Shut up!" I snapped, moving around him and reclaiming the driver's seat. Sam jumped in the front and with a troubled glance at Beth, still in th eback seat, I peeled away from the curb.

This night could not end fast enough.

Nora's House
The Next Morning
Beth's POV

I had hidden myself in my room as soon as we got home, calling Dean's second phone, then his third. I tried John's phones, and my emergency one. They all rang out.

By morning I was starting to think I was caught in a nightmare. I was staring at myself in the mirror, seeing a mousey young girl with a round face, shoulder-length wavy brown hair and green eyes and freckles, staring back at me.

"Dean, I've called every phone we got," I said into the last voicemail. "Where are you? So, this is gonna sound crazy, really crazy, but, um – I think I'm in the wrong body." I chuckled almost hysterically at the thought. Oh god, I'm losing it! "I uh… I could really use your arms around me right now, telling me it's all a bad dream. Call me the hell back!"

I hung up and dialled the motel's number. "Hello, uh, could you please connect me to room 102?"

"102? Uh, nah, man, those guys checked out middle of the night," the man on the other end said.

"Wait… guys. Did they have a girl with them?" I asked.

"Yeah - pretty thing, long legs, leather jacket.."

I sighed, thanking him and hanging up. What was going on? I stared in the mirror a little longer, sighing again. "Who are you?" I turned and looked around the room. Whoever I was, I was into something I shouldn't be. Now, if I was a teenage girl…. Aha!

I moved forward, flipping up the mattress of the bed, and finding a leather bound diary. I picked it up, dropped the mattress and sat heavily on the bed, flipping it open to the last couple of entries.

I'm only doing this because Gary thinks it's cool. I don't like the Satanic crap, it scares me to death. We are meddling in things we shouldn't be. If my parents founds out I'd be soooo grounded. But I do it to be closer to Gary. Today we….

I scanned ahead through the boring day to day drivel until something else caught my eye. Dated three days after the last one, Nora seemed to be having her doubts.

I thought all this stuff was just grandstanding, but it's not! We were in Trevor's basement, doing a ritual - Erica had even come along, Trevor had convinced her. He's got it bad for her. I didn't like including her, she's going to ruin everything. But something about four of us, I think made the difference. Having a fourth person to speak the incantations as we prayed. Because SOMETHING HAPPENED! Gary started acting strange, and speaking in a different way. It was like he was possessed.

I stopped, taking a couple of deep breaths. Oh god, oh god. They were summoning demons! Stupid, stupid kids! There was more, about a bounty and mention of Dean…. I felt myself physically pale. I had to get out of here! I stood up, looking frantically around the room and then went to the window. It overlooked a garden below, with a slight overhang, I pushed the window up when I heard the door behind me.

"Going somewhere sis?" I spun around to see Erica looking at me, her eyebrow raised. Did she know what was going on?

"Uh, me, no… just needed some fresh air," I said, shaking my head.

"Yeah, okay," she said, nodding. "I wasn't expecting to see you back here so soon."

"Uh, yeah, I guess not huh?" I shrugged. I had no idea what she was going on about.

"I told Trevor this wouldn't work, stupid idiot," she said. I bit my lip, just nodding. "How long were you in there? Like an hour, tops?"

"Something like that," I said, "I don't really remember."

"Gary is probably home by now too, we'll have to check in with him in the morning. But it doesn't really change the plan, not really."

She was watching me very carefully, almost as if she was waiting for me to slip up. But I'd read Nora's journal. I didn't really know what was completely going on, but I knew enough. I knew Dean was in danger.

"No, we'll have to find another way," I nodded. "We should talk to Trevor too, fill him in."

"Yeah," Erica nodded. "Yeah, we should. Anyway, I was just getting you for breakfast, come on. We'll finish quick and then I arranged to meet Trevor before school."

Dean's POV
That morning

I hadn't slept all that well, by the time we'd checked into another motel, settled in for the night, I'd fallen fast I woke up, I found my arm around Beth, instantly I was turned on. I started to wander my hand down her stomach, glancing over my shoulder at Sam, who was still snoring in the bed nearby. Perfect.

Beth tensed as my fingers danced along her abdomen, and I heard her take a sharp breath. With a grin, I nuzzled in closer, pressing my erection in against her shorts, rubbing myself against her while I pulled her closer. My hand slipped up under her shirt, circling her nipple, and I heard a soft moan as I gently tweaked it.

"Morning sugarpie," I whispered in her ear, turning her face around so I could kiss her lips. She didn't kiss me back right away, but then she opened her mouth and I deepened it, my tongue moving in against hers as my fingers trailed firmly back down over her stomach and into her shorts… she squeaked a little in surprise, her eyes widening as I hesitated, my fingers pressed to her hot, semi-wet, folds.

"Shhh, you want to wake Sam?" I asked, frowning. "You're so tense," I added, kissing down her neck, my thoughts turning a lot more erotic. I grinning, and sucked a little more firmer on her skin as I added, "I can help with that."

"Dean… what are you… I mean… are … we… I don't know…"

I slipped a finger snuggly in against her clit, rubbing soft, slow, tantalising circles around it and feeling her instinctively respond.

"Ohhh, my God," she moaned softly. "But I…"

That was enough to encourage me, I silenced her complaints with a kiss, moving her on to her back as I ground my body against hers and started to move on top of her. She lay there, watching me, her hands stilled beside her body; I chuckled. "You want me to do all the work this morning?" I whispered. "Because I'm okay with that…"

I started to kiss my way down her stomach, pulling off her shorts as I went. She stared at me, her lip trembling, and I grinned up at her. Her eyes flicked toward Sam, and I knew what she was worried about. I didn't expect to see her eyes widen. Glancing in the same direction, I saw Sam awake, staring at us.

"Oh man!" I groaned, rolling off Beth and throwing the covers over us while she pulled her shorts up. "What are you… watching us now?" What the hell was going on with him? First the bathroom, now this?

"What?" Sam asked, sitting up, looking a little flustered. "No… no! Of course not. I uh… didn't want to interrupt?"

Beth glared at him, jumping out of bed and running into the bathroom, I looked after her and sighed. I frowned at him: even if they were just another innocent moment where he happened to walk in on Beth, or us, it wasn't like him to be acting like an awkward teenager about it.

"You have stupid timing, you know that? And you could have given us some indication that you were awake dude, normally you'd be complaining and whining til the cows come home!" I growled under my breath, getting up and knocking on the bathroom door. "Beth?"

"Y-yes?" She asked, cracking it a bit.

"You want the first shower, or can I…" I closed my eyes, feeling my arousal still tight in my boxers. I really needed a cold shower.

"All yours," she said, opening the door for me.

"You know you can join me…" I offered with a grin, but she shook her head.

"Uh, no. No, I'm okay," she said. I felt disappointment slam against me. She was acting so strange. We'd had a couple of rough days after killing the wraith, but I'd been hopeful that we were moving beyond that. I couldn't help but think about the passionate sex we'd had in the mental hospital… and nothing since then, and it was driving me crazy. Having Sam around during this critical time was really starting to feel like having Dad back again! I didn't want to look at the fact that maybe, just maybe, the anger she'd been talking about was starting to negatively affect our relationship.

"Okay," I nodded. "Well I'm gonna… and then… we better get going," I said. She stepped out of the bathroom, steadfastly avoiding me. I frowned and then decided to get on with it, closing the bathroom door behind me, leaning on the basin and staring at myself in the mirror. Did she really hate me that much that she couldn't stand to be with me?

All I do is fail.

I faced the shower in resignation and turned it on, setting the temperature to cold. As the blast of chilled water hit my body I felt myself respond appropriately, and then my mind turned to the case. One person I didn't want to fail was Donna. We had to get to the bottom of whatever was happening in her house.

Half an hour later I was ready to get on the road.

"So, uh, where we going, anyway?" Sam asked.

"To work," I said. "The case?"

"Oh, right. Yeah – the case. Of course. Where, uh, do you want to start?"

I stopped at the side of the car, looking across the roof at him. "Well, since you couldn't find where Maggie Briggs was buried, now we have to do an all-day tombstone roll to see if we can dig her up." I thought I saw Beth shudder next to Sam. What was this opposites day? I knew she didn't like digging up graves, but finding them had never been a problem.

"Wait. M-Maggie Briggs? You mean, like – like, the witch Maggie Briggs?" Sam asked excitedly.

"Yeah Sherlock," I said, gaping at him. Where the hell was his head?

"Yeah, she's in the basement," Sam said.

"Come again?" I asked, looking at him. As of 8pm last night he'd had no idea where she was. "W-what basement?"

"Isaiah Pickett's house. Okay, there's this legend that he hung her, but he didn't. The real truth is that she was carrying his illegitimate child, and he killed her and then buried her in the basement," Sam said.

"The murdered chylde," I said thoughtfully. "That would explain the scratches. How do you know all this?"

"Oh, I've done all kinds of research on it," I felt my eyes widen. Like when?! He quickly shrugged, and looked a little sheepishly at me. "I mean, you know, last night."

Huh. Well I guess I had kind of crashed early last night. Made sense.

"Yeah. Nice work... I guess," I got in the car, Sam and Beth following, and started her up. Rock 'n Roll Never Forgets came over the speakers from the tape in the deck. I smiled, but glanced over at Sam, realising that if I didn't turn it down he was going to whinge and complain all the way to the other side of town. I reached out to twist the knob and Sam frowned at me.

"Aw, man, turn it up!"

Say what?

"Seriously?" I asked.

"Hell yeah!" Sam said. I looked in the rearview mirror at Beth, she met my eyes and I raised my eyebrow at her as the music got louder. She smiled, just a smile, but at least it was better than nothing. I'd take it.

Beth's POV

"Dean!" I muttered into the phone for what had to be the thirtieth time. "Someone has stolen my body. And there's more. You need to call me! The girl right next to you is not me!" I hung up the phone a little more forcefully than I should have and glared at the screen.

"Check your damn voicemail. Damn it," I cursed. I looked up and saw Erica coming out of the diner carrying two cherry cokes.

"Nora?" I heard the name and remembered to turn.

I found myself looking at a red-haired boy - his hair short and curly, piled atop his head. He had on a checked shirt, with a green jacket, white stripes across the chest. Despite the fact that he appeared a little nerdy, he had that kind of confident, self-assured look about him. He frowned slightly, looking at my phone as Erica strolled up to us casually.

"Who were you calling?" He asked me.

"Uh, no one," I said. "They didn't answer."

"Seemed a little annoyed at them," he said, crossing his arms and looking at Erica.

I shrugged, and Erica smiled handing me the coke. I smiled back at her, feeling a little uneasy, but I couldn't explain why. They were staring at me, and I sighed, shrugging at them as if to say "what?"

"So, the plan is we get to school," Erica said. "See if we can find Gary, and then see where this whole thing went wrong, okay?"

"Yeah, sure," sneered the boy. "But I don't know why I wore off, it doesn't make any sense!"

"Trevor, this stuff isn't like… I don't know… mathematics. There's no rule book," Erica said, looking back at me. "Right sis?"

"Uh, yeah… I guess," I said. "All kinds of variables can come into play…"

I lifted the coke to my lips and just as I went drink from it, I felt a familiar pain in my neck. I reached up to feel the same dart from the night before, and looked at Trevor and Erica in alarm.

"Told you it wasn't her," Erica said. "She hates soda."

"Yeah well, let's get her out of here before someone sees her, then we'll find Gary."

With a gasp I realised that I'd been tricked, and then everything went dark.

Later That Morning
Donna's House
Dean's POV

I was hoping we weren't going to have to smash through a cement floor to get at possible bones. Sam's research had better be spot on before I started demo work. As it was, it didn't look as if Donna or Peter had spent much time in the basement at all since moving in a few months earlier. There was no light when I flipped the switch by the door, obviously a globe needed replacing - or sign of something more, which was not always fun. Pulling out my maglite, I sighed, looking back at Sam and Beth and then starting down the stairs.

Cobwebs lined the railing and all the corners of the room. This place was creepy, I was surprised no one had reported issues before now with ghost activity. Then again, maybe they had, who knew why the previous owners had sold.

As we reached the floor, I saw dirt and let out a little sigh of relief.

"Boo-yah!" Sam chuckled, trailing after me and aiming his gun every which way he looked. "Master chief is in the house, bizatches!"

"Are you all right?" I asked, stopping to look back at him.

Sam stopped what he was doing and nodded. "Yeah. Fine."

I looked at Beth who was crouching down in front of a patch of green in the centre of the room.

"Well, I'll be damned," I said.

"Willow Moss," she said, looking up at me.

"Yeah, right. It's, uh, supposed to grow over witches' graves, right?" Sam asked. I looked at him incredulously. How did the dude not know that?

"Uh, yeah," I said, rolling my eyes. I dumped the bag I was carrying and leaned down to pull out a shovel. Beth stood up, moving to lean against a wall as I started digging. After a while, I was starting to feel like we were getting somewhere. It was a shallow grave, and before long I was seeing bones.

Bingo!

"Hey man, I'm really sorry about this," Sam said out of the blue. I tossed another shovel full of dirt to the side and scraped over the bones.

"Sorry about what?" I asked.

Suddenly Sam was propelled backwards through the air. I turned to see him crash into some old shelving.

"Sam!" I dropped the spade and ran across the room, helping him to his feet, Beth right next to us. Sam grabbed her arm and looked at her in a panic.

"Let's get the hell out of here!" He said.

"Wait, wait, wait. We still got to burn the body, you idiot. Come on," I said. As I took a step toward the bones, I felt myself lifted through the air, my turn to fly and hit the wall. Next to me, a woman appeared, matted hair, old-fashioned dress with a dark apron, and crazy eyes glaring at me as she stalked toward me. I reached around for a gun, but I had nothing. I had a moment to think 'oh shit' as she rushed toward me. I braced, waiting for the impact, and then she exploded in flames!

Sam was standing over by the grave, the lighter fluid in his hand as a fire burned in the grave I'd just dug up. He turned to look at me, a big smile across his face. "Dude, that was sweet!" He exclaimed.

What the hell was wrong with him today?

Later That Night
Local Bar

Beth was still perplexing me. It was like she'd flipped a switch overnight. It had to be the Ruby thing. It just had to be. I glanced sideways at her, throwing her a smile as the waitress brought us another round of drinks and started clearing the table of the empty shot glasses we'd just been drinking.

"Here you go, guys," she said with a smile.

"You know, do me a favour, sweetheart," I said, looking to see if Beth reacted to the term… she didn't. "Uh, would you bring me a cheeseburger with extra bacon? And fry an egg on top of it, would you?"

"Absolutely," she practically beamed at me. Normally Beth would smirk at me, as if to say 'I told you they all fall over you' when that happened, but tonight… nothing. I frowned. Maybe her capacity for forgiveness had finally broken. I didn't like the thought of that.

"Oooh, that - that sounds good," Sam said, nodding quickly. "Ditto." The waitress looked at Beth questioningly.

"Oh, me?" Beth asked. "I'll uh, I'll just have a caesar salad, thanks." I raised my eyebrow this time.

"Be right back with your order," the waitress smiled.

I looked from Sam to Beth, curious. It wasn't the first time Beth ordered salads, or Sam burgers for that matter. But it wasn't common...that was for damn sure! "Okay, who are you and what have you done with my family?" I asked.

"W-what do you mean?" Sam stuttered, glancing at Beth.

"Bacon cheeseburgers now?" I asked, turning to Beth. "Salad?"

"I don't know," Sam replied, with a grin. "I eat them, don't I?" I looked at Beth, she was wide eyed and skittish.

"I … just wanted a salad," she said after a moment. "Is that okay with you?"

"Yeah, I guess." I said with a shrug. Sam threw Beth a perplexed look, one that I agreed with, and then raised one of the whiskey shots I'd ordered.

"Anyways, we are celebrating," he said.

That was true enough. I nodded, lifting my own glass. Beth quickly followed suit. "Another one bites the dust. Nice work today."

"You too. I had a, uh, really awesome day, man. Seriously." Sam quickly downed the rest of his glass and put it down. "Whoo! Sweet." Beside me Beth choked a little, but recovered. Must have gone down the wrong way. Maybe I could cheer her up with a favourite drink.

I waved at the waitress while she was passing. "Hey can we get a cherry coke for my wife? Cheers."

"Sure thing!" The smiling girl hurried back to the bar and placed our order with the bartender.

"A really awesome day?" I questioned, turning my attention back to Sam.

"Yeah. Why not?" Sam asked.

"It was a random, D-list ghost hunt. That's – that's awesome to you?" I asked.

"I can't be in a good mood?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, I guess…" I said, trailing off and looking from him to Beth. "No, actually. It's not really your style Sam," I countered, and I waited for Beth to agree with me. She didn't.

"Well, then, it's a new me," Sam said, his eyes darting around as he shrugged. "I mean, come on. Why shouldn't I be happy? I've got a gun, I'm getting drunk, and…" he pointed his finger to his face. "I look like this."

What the hell?

"I don't know." Sam sighed. "You ever feel like your whole future is being decided for you?"

"Uh, yeah, Sam, I feel like that a lot," I said. Like all the damn time. Especially when it came to Sam… it had always been look after Sam. Never anything about what I wanted.

"No matter how much you fight it, you can't stop the plan. The stupid, stupid plan. So, I don't know. I guess it's, uh, it's just nice to do a little ass-kicking for a change, that's all." Beth was glaring at Sam, as if she wanted to hit him. I had a moment to wonder what that was about before the waitress came back with the cherry coke, and Sam chuckled, sitting back a little.

"Uh, you know what? I – I'm drunk," he chuckled after we were alone again. "Sorry. Just – just forget it."

"No, no," I said after a moment. "It's all right. It's, uh… I'll drink to that," I said, lifting another glass and he followed suit. I chinked my glass against his and downed it, Sam following suit. I felt a moment of weirdness, but in a good way, looking at him. "Wow, you know, is it just me, or are we actually drinking together?"

"We don't do it that often, huh?" Sam asked.

I scoffed, thinking about all the times he'd left me and Beth to drink alone. "Yeah, you could say that."

"Well, we should," Sam said. "You're a good guy, Dean."

"Oh you are drunk," I chuckled. I glanced at Beth again, who took a sip of her drink and screwed up her nose.

"You don't like your drink?" I asked. Beth pushed it away from her and frowned.

"No," she said.

"She hates cherry coke," Sam said as the waitress brought our burgers and put them in front of us, then a salad in front of Beth. Sam picked up his burger while I mused at his comment, and took a big bite, groaning in appreciation.

"Enjoy," she said, smiling at Sam.

"Mmm! The bread alone!" Sam said around a mouthful of food, moaning again.

"Since when don't you like cherry coke?" I asked, completely confused at Beth's answer.

"No, but I mean it, you really are a good guy." Sam said, cutting in. Beth shrugged at me, and started to stab her food with a fork.

We'd listened to Sam chatter away about the food all through dinner, Beth's answer about the coke still niggling at me. She had not been herself for a good 24 hours, in fact, neither had Sam. I watched them both closely, both looked normal… maybe they were just having an off day.

After a moment, Beth excused herself from the table to go to the bathroom. Sam got up to go to the bar, and I finished my third beer, thinking about what I might want to drink after that. I was anxiously wanting to talk to Beth alone, get to the bottom of what was troubling her. She was taking an awful long time in there…

I turned to see Sam talking to a woman at the bar who was clearly picking him up, and he was going for it.

"Love that jacket on you, by the way," she said as they started to walk toward the door. Sam turned to smile at her, primping like a peacock.

"Thanks," he said. "Actually, the whole outfit is new."

I frowned, since when was that old get up, 'new'?

Sam stopped at the door after Crystal walked out ahead of him, giving me a thumbs up. "We're gonna do it!" He whispered loudly to me, and then he was gone.

Okay, that was NOT normal.

I heard a splutter beside me, and saw Beth standing a few feet away, staring at the door.

"Where is he going?" She asked, her face pale and clearly upset.

"Uh, well, seems to me he's off to get himself some action," I said, watching her reaction.

"What? Why?" She asked, looking from the door to me.

"Well, because he probably hasn't been laid...well, since our last night with Jo, I'm guessing." It had not been that long in terms of Sam's abstinence and that's what was worrying me. Sam did not pick up random chicks in a bar. Beth most certainly didn't get upset when he actually did leave us alone for an evening.

"Hey, come on, let's get out of here," I said, shrugging into my jacket and dropping a hundred dollar bill on the table, waving at the waitress. She saw me and waved back, and I slipped my hand around Beth's waist, guiding us out into the open air.

We weren't far from the motel, so we walked in silence most of the way until I stopped in front of a chapel.

Beth looked at me curiously as I nodded toward the lit up stained glass windows. It was something that never went ignored by her.

"Church is open," I said, "you want to go in?"

She hesitated, but then nodded, opening the gate and stepping through into the little courtyard that led to the front.

"You know," I said, stepping in behind her. "I was thinking about what we discussed a few days ago. About Minnesota…"

"Oh yeah?" She asked.

"Yeah, I was thinking… maybe we should go back. Settle down…" My voice trailed off as we stepped inside the church foyer. The doors into the chapel were open, a dozen candles lighting up the room beyond. Beth looked at me, troubled, and then turned to walk further into the church.

I looked at the holy water in the font we'd just passed. It was still. Beth hadn't even touched it. With a frown, I followed her as she walked slowly down the main aisle toward the altar.

"We could give Patrick a little brother or sister," I said deliberately. Waiting for her to turn, to glare at me.

She didn't.

Dammit, Beth!

I cursed under my breath as she replied to me. "Y-yeah… maybe we should Dean, if you want," she replied. I stalked toward her, and before she could turn, I wrapped my arm around her neck, cutting off the air supply.

She gasped, and beat at me with her hands, but she didn't have the skills to get out of the headlock. She flailed against me until, after a moment, she collapsed in my arms. I looked down at her unconscious body and sighed.

"Yeah… you are not my wife," I said.

Trevor's Basement
Beth's POV

When I woke up, I'd been alone in the basement, tied up to a chair. I struggled, but there was certainly no getting around it, these knots were tight. After what had seemed an eternity, but probably only an hour or so, I heard voices, and a body being dragged down the stairs. I looked up and saw a young boy, the same age as the others, unconscious and being carried by both Trevor and Erica.

"Put him over by her," Trevor said, gesturing to an empty chair next to me. They dropped the boy on the chair, and Erica grabbed another rope, moving to tie the boy.

"What's going on?" I asked, looking at Trevor. "Why are you doing this?"

The boy next to me came to with a start, looking around wildly.

"Hey!" He shouted. "What the hell's going on?!"

"You can scream all you want," Trevor said loudly. "No one can hear you! My parents are out of town!"

He turned away and punched a number into the phone, waiting for someone to answer. I bit into my lip, looking at Erica as she went to lean against a couch, looking over at both me and the new kid, her arms crossing.

Trevor began speaking into the phone. "Gary?"

Gary? Was it the same number I'd dialed yesterday. Fair chance, maybe I could get some help!

"Hey, hey!" I said, struggling against the ropes futilely. "Listen to me, Sam! Sam! They've got me, they've…" I gasped as Erica stepped forward and slapped me.

"Shut up."

I glared at her, swinging my head back around to look at her. For my so-called twin, she was a bitch, and she hit hard too. I started to see that she was probably responsible for driving some of this situation. How had Nora gotten caught up in this mess? I wondered how they had Sam's phone, and then looked around the basement. Lots of space, was he here too?

"I don't know what you've done to my brother, but I am going to rip your…"

"Beth?" The boy said next to me.

What?!

I looked sideways, frowning. "Yeah?" I took in his round, pale face, slightly sweaty from exerting himself against the bonds holding him.

"Beth is that you?" He said, leaning forward. How did he know my name? I'd just been screaming for… oh no. Oh no no nonono.

"Sammy?" I whispered, looking at him in horror.

"Yeah," he said. "What the hell is going on?"

"Where are you?" Trevor said into the phone, ignoring our conversation. After a moment, he spoke again, "well, where's Dean?"

"Dean!" Sam said beside me. "Beth, what's going on?"

"You don't want to know," I groaned, pulling at the bonds again and then slumping back. "Dammit, these are tight."

"You're welcome," Erica sneered at me.

"I take it you have been having an out of body experience since last night too?" I asked, looking at the kid next to me. He nodded and then scowled at the pair of them.

"It's been a crazy night... I had to pretend I was drunk to get his parents to go along with my sudden amnesia," Sam said.

"Yeah, well that explains why you hung up on me when I called you," I said, biting my lip. "It wasn't you, it was this other guy."

There was a loud sigh from the other side of the room and Trevor was glaring at nothing in particular, looking as if he was ready to rip somebody's head off.

"Well where's Nora?" Trevor asked, pausing to listen to the answer, and then, "you left her alone with him? You mean you haven't killed him yet?"

"What? Wait, wait, wait, wait. W-what do you mean? Kill Dean?" Sam asked next to me.

I felt my pulse starting to race, and I looked anxiously at Sam. "They've been after Dean all along."

"What?!" Sam asked incredulously.

"How do you know about that?" Erica asked sharply, stepping closer.

"Look, Gary, we got problems here. For one, I'm looking at your body right now – with this other dude in it," Trevor said. "And we got Nora's body here too, and Dean's wife in it!"

"Yeah, he's been in your house. He's hanging out with your parents," Trevor said. "Nora had a seizure after the ceremony… Erica found her and they took her to the hospital, then…"

Trevor stopped talking, listening to the boy on the other end of the phone.

"Just hurry up and kill the son of a bitch already, would you?" Trevor snapped. Pausing, then finishing with "yeah, you better. Now go find Nora, get her to help!"

He hung up the phone and turned to look at Erica, who was shaking her head in disdain at him.

"I don't think he's gonna do it," Trevor said.

"Just relax, this is Gary we're talking about," Erica said, her arms crossed over her chest as she watched him carefully.

"What the hell is going on here? How do you know who Dean is?" Sam asked beside me.

"Everybody knows Dean. He's Hell's most wanted," Trevor said. Sam looked at me.

"Oh, no. No. Have these idiots been talking to demons?" He asked. It was so weird seeing this young kid talking to me with Sam's vocal mannerisms. I nodded, and Trevor looked over at us.

"Oh, right. We're the idiots," Trevor said with a smirk.

"They're in deep," I said to Sam. "There's a price on Dean's head…"

"What?!" Sam exclaimed.

"They think they can collect on it," I finished. "It was all in Nora's diary." I saw Erica roll her eyes. She turned to Trevor and shook her head.

"Oh my stupid, sweet sister. She would write about that," Erica said.

"You're just kids," Sam said, pulling on his bonds.

"Yeah, you have no idea what you're messing with," I added.

"How the hell did this happen?" Sam asked, looking at me, but Erica was getting bored and clearly wanted to talk.

"About a month ago, we were down here," she started, but Trevor cut in.

"Erica!"

"What? We're not allowed to talk about him?" She snapped. "You heard her, Nora already wrote about it in her diary, she knows." Erica turned back to Sam. "We were down here, goofing around with that book." She gestured to an old leatherbound book resting on a table nearby.

"Um, I wouldn't exactly call praying to our dark overlord 'goofing around.'" Trevor interrupted. Erica rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Don't be a loser, Trev," she said. "Anyway, all of a sudden, the lights flickered and Gary went into this weird trance." She crossed the room and started to page through the book, stopping when she came to a loose sheet of paper. "He closed his eyes, picked up a pencil, and drew this."

She picked up the paper in the book, and walked over to hold it up in front of us. It was a hand drawn, almost perfect. replica of Dean's face.

"And you know what's really weird? Gary can't draw." Trevor added.

"This is bad, Sam," I whispered, Sam nodded beside me, but was as powerless as I was to do anything.

"He said he heard a voice in his head. The demons were putting out a bounty on this guy," Erica continued.

"A bounty?" Sam groaned, looking urgently at me.

"Yeah, every witch or Satanist in the country knows about this. You have it coming. But Gary – Gary's the one who spotted you," Erica said.

"And the "Freaky Friday" crap?" Sam asked.

"Another spell from the book. Gary's idea – go in Trojan horse-style. Nora thinks he's really smart," Erica said, glancing at me.

"That is, if he has the beanbags to go through with it," Trevor said. "I'm starting to think we should have sent you instead of Nora into this one's body," he stopped to point at me.

"Listen to me. You are making a terrible mistake. We're talking about a demon deal – killing somebody. This isn't a game. You're crossing a line you won't come back from. Believe me," Sam said.

"Is this what you want, Erica?" I asked, looking at her. "You might hate your sister, but… do you really want to rot beside her in Hell for all eternity? Because that's where you're going if you make a deal with demons."

Erica looked at Trevor, a little rattled.

"What?" Trevor asked.

She hesitated, putting her have on her head. "Nothing… I…."

"Erica, don't tell me you're actually listening to these jerks."

"I don't know. M-maybe. I-I mean, what if they have a point?" She asked, looking at his with the first troubled expression I'd seen on her face.

"I'm not lying, Erica, this is worse than black magic. You're messing with your souls," I countered, seeing her waver just a little.

"I don't believe this. First Gary, now you. I can't – you know what? Fine. You want something done right…" Trevor spun on his heel, and picked up a black book from an altar nearby.

"What, you're gonna – you're gonna go kill Dean yourself, tough guy?" Erica taunted.

"Don't have to. I can do this," he held up a book I was very familiar with. I'd studied it while Dean was in Hell, looking for some way to break him out. He had it open to a book about demon summoning.

"N-no, no. Y-you can't be serious," Erica said.

"I'm calling up one of these bad boys, turning these punks over, and getting paid. Dolla, dolla bills, y'all!" Trevor said.

"No!" I exclaimed.

"I-I really don't think that that's a good idea," Erica said.

"It's not. It's a very, very bad idea," Sam cut in, looking at me, distressed.

"No one asked you," Trevor sneered at him.

I exchanged a worried look with Sam, and sighed. Dammit Dean, look at your voicemail!

Trevor moved quickly, setting up familiar ingredients in preparation for the summoning.

"Don't do this," Sam said, imploring him with his eyes. "I'm begging you."

Erica was starting to crack. She looked from us, to Trevor, fear in her eyes. "Trevor, I think they're right," she said. "I mean, I only did this for Nora, you said you needed a fourth to help... "

"You did this for Nora?" I asked, looking at her.

"You don't understand," Erica said. "Nora… struggles… she wanted help with getting Gary to notice her…"

"Hey," Trevor retorted. "You want to get into Vassar, don't you?" She glared at him. "You have your reasons to be here, and they have nothing to do with your sister."

"Trevor, please, you have to stop this - it's crazy!" I spat out as he finished gathering everything together.

"You're gonna get us all killed!" Sam added. He ignored us, turning back to the book.

"Ad ligandum eos pariter eos coram me!" Trevor said in a grand voice, throwing down the powder in his hands. I saw Erica fall to the ground in a faint, and looked at Sam.

"Oh no," I said, renewing my efforts to bring loose of the ropes holding me.

Trevor looked up, frowning. "Maybe I said it wrong," he muttered, turning around seeing Erica slumped against a wall nearby. Her head was down, hair spilling across her face. For all intents and purposes she appeared as if she was asleep, but Sam and I knew better.

"Erica?" Trevor asked, stepping forward and going to shake her shoulder. It happened so fast, one minute he was at the altar, the next he was right beside her.

"No!" Sam shouted.

"No, no, don't touch her!" I joined in.

"Erica, you okay?" Trevor asked. As his hand came into contact with the girl, her head rolled back, eyes as black as night, and I felt the bottom of my stomach drop.

"Sammy…" I whispered.

"I see it," he said.

"Oh yeah," said the demon inside Erica, grinning at Trevor who stumbled back in shock. "I'm peachy!" She climbed to her feet, advancing on the boy, and watching him with a curiosity. "So, what'd you call me here for, Skippy? Unless... it's dinnertime?" She licked her lips and giggled.

"What?" Trevor asked, frowning. "I-I... n-no. Uh, we have Dean Winchester."

This got her attention. "You do?" She asked. "Where?"

"Trevor, keep your mouth shut," Sam ordered him. But the boy was beyond convincing.

"You have no idea what you're doing," I added. "She doesn't care about you, or your…"

"The Cloverleaf Motel over on Route 6," Trevor said, ignoring me. The demon smiled, nodding happily to herself before spinning to look at us.

"Dude!" Sam cursed.

"Sam?" She turned to look at him. "Is that you in there?" She asked, walking closer and peering at him. She watched for a moment, and then laughed at the sight. "Well, aren't you just 98 pounds of nothing."

"The kid is a moron. He doesn't have any idea where Dean is," Sam sneered.

She laughed. Looking at me. "Why is she tied up?" She stepped closer, and grabbed my chin, wrenching it upwards. I glared back at her and she chuckled to herself. "Well, well, well… if it isn't Mrs Dean Winchester herself, how interesting."

"Let her go!" Sam snapped.

"Isn't this a pickle for you guys?" She asked, laughing to herself. "Now tell me... if Sam's in this body, who's in Sam's?" She got straight to the point, and just like that the opportunity was clear. Sam's body - Lucifer's vessel.

"A dangerous warlock. Named Gary," interjected Trevor.

"You mean to tell me you've got Dean Winchester and Sam Winchester's meat suit? An empty vessel just waiting to be filled. And you're handing them both over to me?" The demon asked, looking back at Trevor.

"Uh, y-yeah. I guess," he stammered.

"Well... I got to hand it to you. I'm impressed," she smiled.

Trevor seemed pleased with himself. "Thanks. Um, so if you don't mind my asking... there's a reward?"

I rolled my eyes. "He's gonna get himself killed," I muttered to Sam, who nodded next to me.

"Him and us both," he agreed.

"Sure. My undying gratitude," the demon answered Trevor.

Trevor chuckled wryly. "What, are you serious?"

"Be quiet, you idiot!" Sam snapped.

"Consider yourself lucky, kid," the demon said, turning away from Trevor and advancing on us, a satisfied look on her face. Trevor's face contorted into rage behind her, and he took a couple of steps forward, steeling himself.

"Um, wait a minute! We worked our asses off here, and, uh, I want my reward!" The demon stopped, turning to stare at him. Trevor swallowed nervously, completely ignorant of the danger he was in, adding, "...please?"

The demon chuckled, nodding. "Okay. I'm sorry. You're right. What can I get you?"

She walked up to him, and Trevor started to ramble, as if he was sensing the thin ice he was walking on.

"Well, h-how about a million bucks?" He said.

"Oh, for God's sake, Trevor, just shut up and run!" I yelled at him.

"A million doesn't buy you much these days. Why not make it 10?" She replied.

"Okay, $10 mill. And I want... I want Mindy Schwartz to fall in love with me," he added.

Smirking, the demon shook her head. "Love... money. Sticking to the basics. I can respect that…" She paused for a moment, contemplating, and then tilted her head to the side. "But here's my counter." Without hesitating, she punched forward, driving her hand into Trevor's chest. He gasped, and then spat out blood as she pulled back, ripping his heart out of his chest.

I grimaced, turning my head to the side as Trevor fell lifeless to the ground. "Dammit, you dumb boy."

The demon turned to smile at us, licking the blood from her hand.

"Yep. Tastes like moron."

She turned to look at us, a wicked smile on her face, and I felt the blood drain from mine.

Motel Room
Dean's POV

Beth… or whoever she was, was still out cold by the time I got back to the motel. I put her on a chair and tied her hands behind her back, while I flipped through my phone. Nothing. No notifications, nothing. Someone must have deleted them, I glanced over at Beth and sighed - had to be her.

That didn't seem right. Even on a good day I had one or two from someone. Who was this soul, person, whatever inside Beth's body? Whoever she was… whoever was in there… that wasn't Beth. I was starting to think that the same situation might be happening with Sam. Which begged the question - where were Sam and Beth? There was a tightness in my chest that I didn't like at that question, but, one thing at a time. If Sam and Beth were in trouble, they would have tried calling me.

I picked up the phone on the desk, and dialed into my voicebox.

The phone beeped once, and then an automated voice announced, "you have 61 messages."

Shit!

The phone beeped, and the first message was from a voice I didn't know, but had to be Sam. "Uh, this is gonna sound crazy – really crazy – but I think, uh, I think I'm in the wrong body."

The next one was Beth, but again, didn't sound like her. "Dean! It's me, Beth. Something weird is going on. I'm… well I'm in some seventeen year old girl's body! Call me back right away!"

I stared at Beth, my Beth, as she started to regain consciousness, the voicemails cycling through.

"Dean, the guy right next to you is not me!" Sam again.

"Dean, check your friggin' voicemail. Damn it." Sam.

"Why aren't you answering your phone Dean? Where are you?" Beth.

The panic in her voice set me off. She wasn't even in her own body, and I'd…. I'd been… oh I didn't even want to think about what I'd nearly been doing with whoever that was this morning. No freaking wonder she'd been acting strange!

"Dean, I've called every phone we got, Where are you? So, this is gonna sound crazy, really crazy, but, um – I think I'm in the wrong body. I uh… I could really use your arms around me right now, telling me it's all a bad dream. Call me the hell back!"

I closed my eyes, pushing all my feelings down deep, shutting them behind a door. It had only been 24 hours, that was nothing, I could fix this. I would fix this! Whatever this was.

I hung up the phone, looking at the familiar brown eyes.

"All right, sister. Either you start talking or we are going to very quickly stop getting along," I said, glaring at her. "Where are Sam and Beth!?"

"Oh, my God," she said, tears welling in her eyes. "Please, don't hurt me. Please! I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry!"

I heard a rattle at the door, and looked up. Sam, or whoever was currently inside his body, was back. Thinking quickly, I hurried across the room to hide behind the door.

"Gary!" The girl in the chair called out. "Gary help!"

The door opened, and Sam walked in brandishing a shotgun. He saw Beth tied to the chair and hurried toward her.

"Nora! What happened?" He asked.

Nora?

"He did!"

She looked up, giving away my position, but it was too late. As Sam turned around, I punched him head on.

"You're not Sam. Who the hell are you?" I asked.

"Ow!" The guy exclaimed, reaching for his nose. I punched him again for good measure, and then hauled his semi-conscious ass up on the chair. The fact that I could do that alone, meant that it wasn't Sam. Neither he nor Beth were showing any understanding or knowledge of self-defense, it was like they'd never been in a fight in their lives.

"Hey, pull it together, champ," I said as I tied Sam's hands behind his back.

"I don't want to die. I don't want to die," he moaned.

"Where's Sam, and Beth?" I asked, looking at them. He looked up at me, seeing the steely resolve in my expression, and seemed to cave right in front of me.

"In my – my friend's basement. His parents are out of town," Sam, or whoever he was… Gary I presumed, answered.

"Parents?" I asked, looking at them. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen," he replied, the girl next to him nodding. Beth's message had said something about being stuck in a seventeen year old's body. I frowned, that took some serious mojo to achieve. Beth and I had been body swapped once before, and that had taken the power of a Trickster... I didn't like the idea of having to track that son of a bitch down to undo this if these kids had no back-up plan.

"We're so sorry, please, j-just… please let us go." The boy said.

"Seventeen?" I said, curious. "Huh." First thing was first, I had to get to this basement and find out what had happened to Beth and Sam. I was going over all the options in my mind when, suddenly, I was hit with the familiar feeling of being propelled through the air. I flew backwards, body out of my control, hitting a nightstand and slumping to the ground. I hurt… everywhere.

"Erica?" 'Beth' asked, looking at our new arrival. I looked up long enough to see her eyes turn black. Oh shit!

"Not at the moment," the demon replied.

"You do not want to do this," I said, stumbling to my feet. I gasped, feeling myself slammed against the wall this time, my arms and legs pinned to the wall.

"Silence!" Commanded the demon, glaring at me. "Don't want to do what? These kids are heroes," she smiled. Her power held me, even though I fought against it, as she untied the ropes holding both Gary and his friend.

"Boy, you earned your dessert tonight, kiddos. Tell me – what is it you want? Anything."

"Anything?" Gary asked, beside him the girl looked hesitant.

"Lay it on me," the demon said with a smile.

"I want to be a witch. For real. And really powerful," Gary said. I rolled my eyes. Was this kid for real?

"Mm. Good choice. I get it. No daddy, no M.I.T, No plan. You get to be big and strong, and no one can tell you what to do anymore." She stopped to nod at him, smiling as if she was his best friend, then continued, "there's just one small formality first. You got to meet the boss."

"No!" I cried out.

"The boss?" Gary said, hesitating.

"You know – your Satanic majesty, or whatever the kids are calling it these days," she said waving her hand around in the air.

"The… the Devil?" The girl asked next to Gary.

"Mhmmm," the demon nodded.

"Gary, I don't know about this," she said, looking at her companion. "This is… this is starting to scare me."

Gary looked down at her, then at his hands, then back at the girl. It was the weirdest thing seeing Sam reach out to stroke Beth's face affectionately before saying, "It's going to be okay, Nora."

"Okay, Gary, Nora, you gotta listen to me… you need to run. Now." It was not lost upon me the irony that demons had control of the two vessels needed for the Apocalypse right now. And the soul inside one of them was a complete freaking moron!

Gary hesitated, and the demon tilted her head at him. "What's it gonna be kid?"

"Uh... no. O-okay. Um, it's okay. I... don't really want to bother him," Gary said.

"Oh, but he's gonna want to meet you," she replied. She reached up a hand and stroked along Sam's cheek. "Relax. It'll be easy. He's just gonna ask you one little question, and all you got to do is say "yes". And then, you get your reward."

"She's lying," I said.

Beth's POV

After Erica had left, Sam and I had each other to rely on to get ourselves free. We shuffled the chairs about to face our backs to each other, and I was able to loosen the knots holding him as they'd been tied a lot less thoroughly. Once free, he'd gotten to me, and we were out.

"Did you hear which motel?" Sam asked, and I nodded, starting to run.

"Yes, come on!" I hurried, my body feeling way less strong that I was used to. Behind me, Sam, in Gary's body lagged behind, struggling to breathe.

"Are you okay?" I called out, stopping.

"Asthma!" He yelled. "Go! I'll catch up when I can."

He didn't have to tell me twice. I turned down an alley and ran until I felt like I might throw up, and even then I didn't stop. I had to get to Dean. By the time I reached the motel, the door to the room was wide open, and Erica was standing in the middle of the room. Dean was stuck to the wall by her power, and in front of her, facing out, were - oddly enough - Sam and myself.

I slipped silently into the room, seeing Dean's eyes flick to me. I held my finger to my mouth telling him to keep quiet, he nodded, tilting his head to the duffel open on the bed. It was mine, and had Ruby's knife.

I hesitated, this was Erica, but … we were talking about a demon who knew where Dean and Sam were. I couldn't afford to let them get away and bring Lucifer here. I snatched up the knife and then threw myself at her, bringing the knife down in a stabbing motion. She spun, grabbing my arm, and her attention wavered. I saw Dean fall to the ground as she turned her anger toward me, tossing me across the room.

"You're persistent, I'll give you that," she said, grunting as Dean tackled her from behind. She flipped him off her, landing a blow to his stomach, I knew from experience that it felt like being smashed with a sledgehammer. He grunted, and fell to the ground, and she continued to kick him in the gut over and over. I stumbled, trying to get up, the bitter taste of blood in my mouth. The demon was grunting, laying into Dean.

Black.

Faint.

I was going to throw up. I looked up, Gary - in Sam's body - was watching… just watching, and then he made a decision.

"Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus," Gary started to say.

"What was that?" The demon asked in surprise, stopping her assault on Dean.

"Uh, nothing," he said, pulled Nora behind him.

"Were you trying exorcize me?! You little piece of crap!" She reached out and grabbed Gary by the throat, lifting him off the ground.

"Spiritus, omnis satanica potestas," I continued the ritual, standing and wiping a hand across my mouth where I was bleeding. The demon turned to me.

"Omnis incursio infernalis adversii," Gary said, following in perfect sync.

"Omnis congregatio," Dean chimed in. We had the demon surrounded, she didn't know which one of us to attack.

"Et secta diabolica, ergo, draco maledicte," I said.

"Ecclesiam tuam securi tibi facias libertate servire," Gary said.

"Te rogamus. Adios, bitch!" Dean finished, and nothing happened. I smiled, because he did it every time.

"Uh, it's "adinos."" Gary corrected him. With that final word, black smoke poured out of Erica's mouth with a scream, and emptied down into the floor, leaving the girl gasping for breath.

Dean stumbled to his feet, moving across the room to take me in his arms. I coughed, groaning as I leaned against his chest.

"Beth?"

"Y-yeah…" I said.

Dean pulled me into a fierce hug, squeezing tightly, just as Sam - in Gary's body - wheezingly reached the motel room door.

"Oh thank god," Dean said, kissing my forehead. He looked at me, and then frowned, turning to look at Erica. "Are there - are there like two of you?"

"Twins," I said with a laugh, nodding.

Dean's POV

"Oh man, this is doing my head in," I muttered, looking between the two identical girls. The sister, now free of the possession had passed out and was lying on the floor, Gary and Nora (in their borrowed bodies) crouched over her in concern.

"Tell me about it," the strange voice, who spoke like Beth, said. "Are you okay?" She asked, reaching out to rub some blood off my face, her expression full of concern. I looked down. It just wasn't the same, I needed her back in her own body.

I was hurting, and wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed with her for a week. "I'll survive," I muttered, shaking my head. "But not with you looking like that," I added with a grin. I looked over at the three kids and scowled.

"Okay, Einstein," I said to Gary. "You need to fix this, now." The kid swallowed hard and then nodded at me.

Before long, we were back at Trevor's house. I grimaced at the figure of Trevor, his heart ripped out of his chest, and together with Sam and Beth, in their borrowed bodies, we collected the ingredients from the basement and went upstairs. Better those kids didn't see the results of their actions. It was going to be hard enough explaining it to the police, but they would have to do it. We were going with the simple, but effective story of the kids showing up to visit Trevor, and finding out that he was dead - clearly a part of some Satanic ritual.

Erica was awake, and in shock - rocking in place on a couch as she ignored everyone around her. I watched as Gary and Nora sat opposite Beth and Sam, placing the ingredients in the middle of them.

"Animae domum redeant," Gary started. I watched carefully. I didn't know this spell, but I caught snippets of the Latin, and Beth who was fluent seemed calm and relaxed. "Fas atque nefas instauretur. Potestate et auctoritate, sic fiat." He dropped some powder in the bowl in the centre, and it burst into flames, flaring up a good foot.

As the flame died down, I looked to Beth, asking, "so, we good?"

She smiled, and nodded, jumping up to her feet and hurrying toward me. I closed my arms around her, pulling her to my chest and breathed a deep sigh of relief.

"Yeah, we're good," she murmured into my shirt, her arms squeezing me tight. I grimaced at the pain shooting through my ribs from that one small movement, but it was worth it. It was so worth it.

Sam stood up and looked at himself in the mirror, nodding to himself. "Oh man, it's nice to be back," he said, turning to pat himself down.

"Yeah," Gary sighed. "Awesome."

"So…" I cleared my throat, and Beth pulled back to look in the same direction. "Gary."

The kid grimaced, and shrugged his shoulders at me. "I know- my bad."

"'My bad'?" I scoffed, approaching him with a desire to pick him up by the scruff of his neck and just… shake him. "Kid, 'my bad' ain't gonna cut it," I continued. "See, if you were of voting age...you'd be dead. Because we," I stopped long enough to point to Beth and myself, "would kill you. So either you straighten up and fly right or we will kill you. Are we clear?"

"Crystal," Gary said, looking at me in horror.

"Good," I said. I turned back to Beth and slipped my arm around her, leading us out of the room.

As we reached the car, I stopped and pulled her into my arms again. "Oh my god that was too close for comfort."

"You have no idea," she replied, burying her nose under my chin. "I thought I was going crazy… and … and…" she started to shake, no tears, just full body shudders as I pulled her in close.

"Hey, hey… we've been through worse," I said softly, kissing her head. "You're okay, I'm here."

"But you weren't Dean!" She said, looking up at me. "I was a … freaking teenager, trapped in a teenager's life, with no power of my own, no way to get to you, to convince people…I've never felt so … powerless, not even when I was seventeen myself," she said. "Not since…"

"Since your Dad…" I filled in the blank, brushing the hair out of her eyes and tucking it behind her ears.

She nodded, biting her lip. "I've always been grateful, but... Dean I was fifteen when … you guys saved me, you … you saved me."

"Beth," I said, resting my hands on her shoulders and looking into her eyes. "You're okay. We're both okay."

She closed her eyes, taking a couple of deep breaths as Sam, Gary, Nora and Erica exited the house. I looked sideways at them and then back at Beth. "Come on, let's get these kids home, and then we can talk."

Nodding, Beth climbed into the passenger seat, sliding across to the middle while Sam herded the others into the back seat, then sat next to Beth.

We were going to drop them all at Gary's house, let his parents figure it out from there.

As I pulled up at the curb, I saw Gary sigh, and then he slowly climbed out of the car, followed by the rest of us.

"Crap," Gary said, looking up at the lights on the front porch.

"Gary, take it from someone who knows – chin up, man. Your life ain't that bad," Sam said.

"Uh, you met my parents," he said to Sam.

"Yeah. So what? It's your life. You don't like their plan for you, tell them to cram it. Rebel a little bit. In a healthy, non-Satanic way, of course," he stopped, looking at Nora and Erica who had moved over to stand on the sidewalk, waiting for Gary.

"Gary, do you know why Nora's into witchcraft?" Beth said out of the blue. The kid looked at her, confused.

"What do you mean?"

"She doesn't like Satan, you moron. She likes you," Beth said.

"Really?" Gary asked. "You think?" He turned to look at her, she was deep in conversation with Erica. Gary's facial expression turned thoughtful, as did I imagined my own. I thought about the way Nora - in Beth's body - had looked at Gary leaving the bar earlier that night, with another woman. She'd looked betrayed. Suddenly everything made sense.

"Yeah, dude. She does," I agreed with him. Better hope she's the forgiving type…. I thought to myself.

"I'm telling you, kid – I wish I had your life," Sam said. That got a surprised look from me. Really? Like, really? From where I was standing, and everything he'd said, Gary's life sucked. I wondered if Sam was starting to rethink the whole settling down aspect … and it gave me… hope? I frowned, turning away and looking at Beth. There was a feeling I hadn't experienced in a while.

"You do?" Gary asked Sam, who nodded. The boy beamed back at Sam, and said "thanks."

"Get out of here," Sam said with a chuckle, seeing the kid in brighter spirits. Gary turned, hurrying to meet Erica and Nora, and they all turned to make the walk to the house together.

"That was a nice thing to say," I said to Sam as we got in the car. Sam climbed in the back, leaning forward to rest his arms on the seat in front of him.

"I totally lied. That kid's life sucked ass," Sam said.

Beth was staring out the window at the kids as they were met at the door by Gary's mother.

"Nora's life wasn't all that bad," she said softly. "She had a family who loved her, and her Dad... he kind of reminded me of my Dad."

I smiled at her, but Sam was shaking his head. "All that apple-pie, family crap? It's stressful. Trust me – we didn't miss a damn thing."

Huh.

That feeling of hope turned to dust as quickly as it had risen. I tried not to let it show on my face, didn't want to give away that I wasn't feeling as determined about our course of action as I let on. And Sam was wrong: Beth was missing it - she's had that growing up. Mother or not, her dad had done everything to give her a good life, a life free of hunting. She had to be missing it, even if just a little in the quiet moments.

"Or we don't know what we're missing," I said quietly, seeing Beth turn to smile sadly at me. Sam missed the look, sitting back in his seat, while I turned on the car. I hadn't forgotten that I promised her a chance at that family "crap" back when we'd found ourselves trapped in 1973. Then we'd just gotten caught up in the hunt, like always. Times moves on but everything stays the same.

I hit the stereo power and 'Rock 'n roll never forgets' came over the speakers, loud and clear. Sam growled and threw his hands in the air.

"Oh, come on, man. Turn it down!" He called out, and I chuckled, adjusting the volume.

"Welcome back, Kotter," I said, rolling my eyes.

It was official, he was back. Beth reached across the bench seat to take my hand as I dropped it down from the stereo, and then scooted a little closer so she could lean her head on my shoulder. It felt good to have her back most of all.

Beth's journal (later that night before prayers)

I can't get a handle on my emotions. The wraith said that I'm angry, and I am. I confessed it to Dean, and it felt good to get it off my chest, even though I feel so guilty saying it. But after this whole experience of body swapping with a teenager, I don't know what to feel. The emotions are still there, but they're overshadowed by more than anger. Love, need, fear, terror… it's all mixed up into this big ball of what I suppose Dr Fuller was correct in calling co-dependence. I can't take this anymore, being separated without choice. Hell, The Underworld, Heaven's green rooms, padded cells in mental hospitals, and now in body. I have never felt so powerless than being unable to reach him like the last 24hrs. I'm not sure I can effectively hunt like this. Am I putting us in danger? How do I sever my emotions so they don't get us killed? Can I? Do I even want to? Moments like this I wish my Dad was here, he always knew what to say.

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Song for this story is What About Us by Pink

What I love most about how I'm writing this series is the opportunity to tell the story solely from either Dean or Beth's point of view. I think it gives a really good chance to explore thoughts and feelings that we don't see in the show (I try to give a bit of a fresh take on the canon version so we're not just stuck reliving the same old episodes with one extra character :D)

Sam will get his day when Bubbles90 and I get around to publishing his story, which will parallel this one, telling his version of events for different things. Want to know what he got up to in Chicago, while Dean and Beth were recovering from Ellen and Jo's deaths, and hunting a wraith? That will be told later on in his own story! We're still a ways off a final product, but it's coming, and we hope you are going to enjoy that story as much as you are liking this one.

As always, thank you for the fabulous feedback. Please keep reading and reviewing - it keeps me motivated to keep going.