To Hell And Back

by belladonna78

Sequel to "Hell to Pay", and the fourth installment of my Supernatural fanfics. Check out my stories and AN for more info on where to start. This is Season 4 - How far will Beth and Sam go in order to save Dean's soul from Hell and be reunited with him? Dean/OC. Slightly AU but mostly follows the Supernatural show with my own spin. Rated MA for smut. Please read and review!

19. After School Special

Yeah, we grew up on the same street
A small town under the hill, yeah
But dreams get lost and buried down
Deep inside the soil there, yeah

All day all night
Keep pressing rewind
All day all night
I remember
All day all night
Keep pressing rewind
All day all night
I remember

We were young, we were wild
We were halfway free
We were kids on the run
On a dead-end street
Looking back in the rear view mirror
You know the view used to be much clearer
But we'll laugh and we'll cry
Till there's no more tears
And tonight can we just hold on to those 18 years
18 years

Some ran down the highway
To chase away their ghosts
Some are frozen in the same place
This time inside their bones

---

AFTER SCHOOL SPECIAL

---

12 years ago
St. Louis, Missouri

Beth's POV

"Humperdink," I said in Dean's ear, leaning over his shoulder as he started scrawling names on to a notepad.

"I like it," Dean said with a nod, "What's it from?"

"What's it from?" I asked incredulously, reaching out and taking a handful of chips from the bag on the table. "Are you for real?"

Dean simply looked at me with a blank expression and I rolled my eyes, glancing at Sammy who was chuckling away to himself on the couch.

"Laugh it up fuzz ball," Dean said and that just made me laugh.

"Hmmm, think Solo is too obvious?" Dean asked and I smirked, nodding.

"Only more so if you were to use Skywalker," I commented with a grin.

"Right, so we have Humperdink to run with," Dean said with a frown. "Somehow I don't think Dad's going to like having the name Humperdink, you know."

"Better than Buttercup," I said with a grin, taking a drink of coke from the can in my hand.

"Buttercup?! What the hell?" He asked, shaking his head.

I sat down next to him with a grin and watched as he neatly wrote out the credit card application in front of him.

"Use the Indiana PO Box, we're closest to that," I said and he nodded, filling in the details. I watched him as he wrote, a fine frown of concentration crossing his brow. Dean's handwriting was neat and easy to read, something I really admired about him. He took the time to make sure that his journal, correspondence, anything that was likely to get read by someone else was legible. John was the same, his journal filled almost cover to cover with his tiny box like writing.

"What?" Dean asked, noticing my stare.

"Nothing," I said innocently, smiling at him.

"Yeah right," he muttered, tossing me one of his charming smiles.

I shrugged and took another drink of my coke, not giving in to the look he was giving me, trying to intimidate me to talk.

"Tell me," Dean urged and I grinned at him, raising my eyebrow again in a teasing manner.

"You have really pretty handwriting," I said and Sam laughed when he heard my comment, causing Dean to exclaim in protest.

"Do not!"

"Yes you do!" I said with a crazy giggle, shrieking and running across the room as he stood up with a threatening gesture.

"Come over here and say that!"

"Nuh uh," I said, shaking my head and bouncing on the balls of my feet nervously. Dean stopped and rolled his eyes at me, turning back to the table.

He finished off the application and signed it with a flourish. "There," he said. "Let's get this in the mail."

I hesitated, wondering if it was a trick, it was nearly always a trick.

"Stamp?" He asked, holding his hand out to me. I hesitated again, but reached into my jacket and pulled out the little roll of stamps I'd put in there earlier.

I took a few steps toward Dean and tossed them through the air to him. With a victorious cry he jumped at me, tackling me to the bed and landing us in the middle. There was a distinct, ear splitting crack as something underneath us gave way and I felt the bed totter, tumbling lopsidedly to the floor.

Sam burst into laughter while Dean looked a little panicked, still pinning me to the mattress as he glanced around the room.

"Damn!" He said, looking down at me, our faces just inches apart as he held me down. "That was your fault cherry pie," he said with a grin.

"Me?!" I asked incredulously. "You're the one who tackled me!"

"Yep, and you made me do it, therefore… your fault." I groaned at his logic and shook my head.

"Damn, Dad is gonna be furious," I muttered, trying to sit up but nearly bumping heads with Dean.

"Yeah…" Dean agreed, rolling over and sitting up with a sigh. "How we gonna explain this one?"

---

Present Day
Iowa City, Indiana

Beth's POV

"How we gonna explain this one?" Dean asked and I suppressed a giggle at the state of the bed in front of us. The legs had completely given way when he'd picked me up over his shoulder and then tossed me on the bed. I'd gotten a little sassy at him and then pretty much said I didn't believe he could put me in my place when he'd threatened to do that.

Now we were looking at the remains of the bed before us and Dean started to chuckle.

"Hey, kind of like that time in St Louis…" he said and I sniggered, shaking my head.

"Man, that was bad," I groaned as he flashed me a smile. I glanced around the room and then chuckled.

"What?" Dean asked, looking up from the devastation that was at our feet.

"At least we didn't break the table," I commented, gesturing toward the small two seater table and chairs in the corner. Dean laughed and ran a hand across his face.

"True… geez babe, I really didn't need the visual of why Bobby's table got broken…" he added with a groan.

I laughed shortly and then wrapped my arms around his waist, saying, "Awwww, let me take your mind of it then." I trailed my lips across his and slipped my tongue in to meet his, drawing a soft moan from deep within his throat.

The door to the room swung open and Sam came walking in with a duffel bag and his laptop, he was also reading a paper and juggling a bag of food in his arms. As he stepped into the room he looked up and then stopped in his tracks, looking from the trashed bed to where I was standing with my arms wrapped around Dean.

"What the hell happened here?" He asked, raising an eyebrow and dropping his bag at his feet.

"Uh, structural issues, yeah," Dean said. "Very dangerous." I nodded and giggled a little, breaking away from Dean to take the bag of food from Sam.

"You know what? I don't want to know," Sam said with an over exaggerated sigh. I grinned and kissed him on the cheek before turning and walking away to the table.

"What did you bring us Sammy?" I asked, starting to rifle through the bag. I raised my eyebrow and pulled out a few rolls with ham, lettuce, and other salad items. "Really?" I asked, glancing over at him. "Do we look like rabbits?"

Sam laughed and tossed a couple of bottles of water at me. "Would do you good to eat something healthy once in a while. God knows you hump like rabbits," he grinned at me and I gasped in mock offense.

"Sam!"

Dean burst into laughter, shaking his head and grabbing a sandwich, peeling the plastic wrap off it and taking a huge bite. He grimaced, chewing the food more out of sheer hunger than desire and then gestured to me for a bottle. I uncapped it and he washed his mouthful of food down with a third of the bottle, gasping.

"We'll get something better later," he winked at me and I smiled, noting Sam roll his eyes at us.

"Well, you can do it sooner rather than later, I've found something to check out," Sam said, tossing me the paper that he'd been reading. I looked at the paper and noticed an article about a girl who had attacked another girl at school and claimed she was possessed.

"Huh, could be something, it's only half an hour away, you want to go check it out?" I asked, looking up at Sam after reading the article to Dean.

"Already did," Sam said. "While you were… breaking the bed." He smirked at us and Dean shrugged, reaching into the fridge and pulling out a beer.

"And?" He asked after taking a long drink.

"I think she's telling the truth," Sam said. "I mean, the way she talked about being there mentally but not physically – kind of sounds like demonic possession to me." I shivered at the thought and subconsciously felt myself touching the back of my neck where my anti-possession tattoo lived. My other hand brushed against the rosary under my top where there was an identical charm attached to it.

You could never be too safe, I told the boys whenever Dean teased me about having the charm still on my rosary. I just didn't want to take it off, we had a long history together now, and it was a constant reminder that if I'd listened to my Dad a little more, maybe he'd still be alive, because I would have been wearing it the day I got possessed. I no longer took things like that for granted.

"Kind of?" Dean asked, breaking my distraction and drawing my attention back to the conversation.

"She didn't see any black smoke or smell sulphur," Sam said. Dean frowned and shrugged.

"Maybe it's not a demon. I mean, kids can be vicious," he suggested.

"Well, I mean, we're already here. Might as well check out the school," Sam said and I glanced back down at the paper, reading the name of the school in black and white.

"Right, the school…" I said, glancing up at Dean who raised his eyebrow at me.

"What?" Dean asked.

"Truman High," I said and Dean almost choked on the fresh gulp of beer he was taking.

"Truman High? Home of the Bombers?" Dean asked. I nodded.

"What's your point?" Sam asked, looking at us in confusion.

"Nothing," Dean said with a shrug, but his eyes watched me carefully. "I mean, we went there, like… for a month, a million years ago. Why are you so jazzed to go back?"

"I'm not," Sam insisted. "I just think it's worth looking into."

I shrugged at Dean and looked over at Sammy. "Yeah, okay." My mind was racing with a lot of memories starting to flow back to me about our time spent at Truman High. Some bad, some good, mostly bad from that time.

"All right," Dean said with a smirk. "Well, what's our cover? FBI? Homeland Security? Swedish exchange students?"

Sam smiled at the pair of us with a cheeky look in his eyes. "Don't worry. I got an idea," he said with a simple nod and I already felt nervous just wondering what it was he was thinking.

---

12 years ago
Truman High School
Fairfax, Indiana

Beth's POV

We'd arrived over the weekend, today was Monday and it was the first day at our new school. Dean was sitting in the front of the car, checking out the school and people wandering by as John eased the Impala into the curb. I fidgeted in the backseat, playing with the new Sony Walkman that the guys had gotten me for my birthday three months earlier. I turned it off, but I left the headphones on like I was still listening to the mixed tape Dean had made me a month ago.

Dean's head turned to look out the side window, and sitting right behind him I saw his mouth turn up a little as he smirked, shaking his head slightly. He adjusted the collar of the brown leather jacket John had given him, shook his shoulders a little, and opened the door, easing out in one smooth motion.

Sam, on the other side of me sighed and opened his door, clambering out with his backpack and walked slowly around the back of the car, his shaggy long hair hanging in his eyes as he moved like he was being walked to the gallows.

I swung my legs out of the car and bounced to my feet, then leaned back in to kiss John on the cheek. "Bye Dad, see you soon!" I grinned at him and he smiled back at me.

"See you Bethie, be good, keep your brothers out of trouble," John cautioned me and I nodded, flashing him another smile.

I backed out of the car and Dean slammed the door shut as I turned to face the old school looming before us. I adjusted the red sweater I had on under my black leather jacket, also a birthday present, this one from Cole, and looked down at my black leather boots tucked under simple blue jeans. I nodded at my appearance, flipping my long dark hair behind me and readjusting the headphones.

"Thanks Dad," Dean said, tapping the top of the car and John pulled away, leaving the three of us alone, again.

Sam came to stand next to me with a miserable look on his face and I crouched down in front of him, using my fingers to push his hair out of his eyes. He was in great need of a haircut.

"Got your lunch? Books? Butterfly knife?" I asked him with a smile. Sam sighed at me and nodded.

"Yeah, Beth."

"You okay?" I asked, glancing up at Dean who was watching us with a frown on his face.

"Sure," Sam said with another sigh.

"Sammy…" Dean growled at him and Sam's mouth twitched sadly as he looked up at our big brother. I stood up to stand next to Sam as he squinted and shrugged.

"Look, if you don't count Dallas, this is the third school we've been to this year, and it's only November," Sam said and I exchanged a look with Dean before turning back to Sam. "I'm just sick of always being the new kid. Least you guys have each other." Sam was referring to the fact that since the incident in Dallas where I'd nearly been raped in the bathroom by a group of uppity rich kids, John had changed all my paperwork to make me out to be the same age as Dean – we told everyone we were stepbrother and sister.

"You'll be fine," Dean said dismissively. "If anyone gives you any trouble, you let me know," he added with his usual unspoken promise to take care of our little brother and any issues that might come up.

"Sammy, Dad said this hunt will take him two weeks, tops. As soon as he gets back, we're out of here," I said with a smile.

"To another school," Sam said with sigh. "Awesome." He pushed past us, leaving us standing on the path leading up to the school. I turned to watch him trudge up the steps and into the school, glancing over at Dean as Sam disappeared into the crowd.

"Think he's gonna be okay?" I asked, worried about how down Sam had been lately.

"Yeah, of course. He'll be fine," Dean said dismissively, but he was staring in the direction Sam had walked with a pensive look on his face that told me he was just as worried about Sammy as I was.

"Yeah, okay," I said, nodding and Dean pulled the headphones off my head, hanging them around my neck.

"You know what happened at the last school," he warned and I rolled my eyes.

"Stuck up cow," I said. "It wasn't even on…" Dean snorted and shook his head.

"Yeah I know, but let's not have a repeat where I have to go steal your precious belongings out of the confiscation lock up, huh?" He asked, and I grinned at him.

"Why? You afraid your skills are slipping?" I asked as he put his hand at my lower back and started to guide me toward the steps.

"You wish sugarpie," he said with a short laugh.

We found our room and the teacher waved us up to the front of the class, putting us on display for all the other students to give us the once over. Dean had his hands in his pockets and was looking around the room disinterestedly, though I knew he was assessing each and every person there. I shifted self-consciously from foot to foot, waiting for this part to be done and dusted.

"Class," said the older female teacher, standing to the left of me and Dean. "Say hello to our new students Dean Winchester and Beth O'Sullivan." The class just stared at us. If words could kill, we were in no danger of dying any time soon.

"Beth, is there anything you'd like to tell us about yourself?" She was looking at me expectantly and I felt my mouth go dry, and my tongue felt too big for my mouth.

"Uh, no, thank you," I managed to stutter out and she smiled at me while I felt myself starting to blush furiously. I hated this kind of attention.

"Dean?" The teacher asked, repeating her question.

Dean smirked, towering over both me and the teacher. He turned to look at her, giving her a self-assured look with his trademark raised eyebrow and shook his head. "Not really sweetheart," he said, and I felt like elbowing him for his attitude.

"Take your seats," the teacher said, the smile falling from her face.

oOooOooOo

Sam's POV

Leaving Dean and Beth at the front of the school I quickly found my classroom and waited at the front for the inevitable initiation where I was put on display like some kind of freak and everyone was made to act like they cared that I was now walking among them.

A young male teacher, who introduced himself as Mr Wyatt made small talk with me while the regular students filed in and took their seats.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please say hello to Sam Winchester," Mr Wyatt said. I kept my head down, staring at the floor as everyone chorused their greetings back to me.

"Is there anything you'd like to tell us about yourself?" I was asked and I shook my head.

"Not really," I said quietly.

"Okay," Mr Wyatt answered. "Uh, grab a seat," he added, and he patted me on the shoulder in an encouraging manner.

I trudged down the aisle in the middle of the room to the first empty seat I saw, swinging my backpack up on to the desk. My butterfly knife fell out of the side pocket on to the seat and I gasped, grabbing it quickly and hiding it in my jacket. A gasp and the bug-eyed look I was getting from a dorky looking kid wearing thick-rimmed glasses next to me told me that I hadn't been fast enough: he'd seen the knife.

"Whoa…" He breathed, looking at me. "That's yours?" I nodded, not saying anything. "Awesome!" The kid added with a smile.

"All right gang," Mr Wyatt said, starting to wipe the chalk off the blackboard. "Essay assignment."

"Awwww!" The room chorused back at him and I sensed the kid next to me leaning over before I heard him.

"Hey… I'm Barry," he said nervously to me. I looked him over, he seemed like a nice kid, probably got picked on for his glasses, but there wasn't anything he could do about it.

"Sam," I said, nodding at him. He half smiled and turned to face the front, nodding to himself.

"Okay, now, I want three pages of your most memorable family experience. Just a reminder, though, this is going to be worth half your final grade…" Mr Wyatt said. His voiced faded a little as he spoke and I found my attention drawn to the big kid sitting behind Barry. He had curly brown hair and the self-assured air of a bully around him. My suspicions were confirmed when he reached forward and started flicking at Barry's ear.

I turned in my seat, turning to gaze steely at him. "Leave him alone."

"Shhhh," the kid said to me. "I'm going for a record," he told me and he continued to flick at Barry's ear while the other boy tried to ignore him and not cause a scene.

"I don't care what you write about, or even how you write about it. I'm looking for the brutal, funny, maybe even painful truth," Mr Wyatt droned on, and I half listened so I would know what I needed to get started on tonight when I got back to the motel, but my focus was on the bully.

"I said, leave him alone," I reiterated, turning to face the kid. He sneered at me, his round red cheeks puffing out in indignation as he looked at me.

"You want to take his place… midget?" He asked.

I smirked, giving him the once over. I could take this pompous little prick with one hand behind my back, he didn't scare me.

"Yeah," I said with a smirk. "Sure."

"Okay, everybody," the teacher said, turning back to face us. "Any questions?" No one bothered to speak, so he turned back to the board and continued to speak while I stared down the bully with a cold hard look that I knew would have him backing down any minute. I wasn't disappointed as the boy shifted uncomfortably under my gaze and then sat back in his chair, falling silent.

oOooOooOo

Dean's POV

Beth elbowed me softly in the ribs as a chastisement for the sweetheart comment I'd directed at the teacher, and then she pushed ahead of me into the sea of desks. She walked with a self-assuredness that I knew was all an act, her head held high as she glanced about looking for an empty desk she could sink into and hide herself away at. She never liked the public displays teachers put us through when we got to a new school, and I noticed that the last couple of times we'd been to new schools she had adopted the simple "not really" answer to the inevitable question where we were asked about ourselves, it was just easier that way. I started to think that it hadn't taken long for her to become just as jaded about school as Sam and I were.

My eyes locked with the crystal blue sapphires of a pretty blonde sitting up straight and watching me with a little smile. I threw her my knee weakening grin and then walked past her, not looking back, but feeling her eyes on me as I stared at nothing in particular on the back wall while waiting for Beth to find a seat.

Beth claimed a seat to her left, a couple of chairs behind the blonde, and with her bag at her feet, she leaned down to start pulling out her books as I took the desk beside her and slouched back, rolling my eyes at her. She flashed me a smile and pulled out her pens, ready to start taking notes. I shook my head in amusement at her due diligence and then heard the teacher addressing me.

"Dean…where are your books?" She asked, her eyes peering down at me.

I smirked again, looking down the aisle at her. "Don't need 'em sugar," I said. "Not gonna be here long enough anyway." The blonde turned to look at me out of the corner of her eyes and I smiled to myself, already interest and it was only the first class, too easy. I glanced over at Beth who was shaking her head at me and I winked at her. I'd take her for a run later and we could check out some of the area, we could find the library for Sammy, he'd be happy then. I found myself looking forward to it.

As the teacher started to talk about whatever it was we were supposed to be learning that day, Beth started taking notes, listening intently to what she was saying. I shook my head at her, she was like a combination of Sam and me when it came to school, she paid attention in class and took the notes, but once school was out, she was all about the play and not the homework. I leaned across to Beth, pulling at her hair and chuckling. "Brown nose," I teased her and she sniggered, poking her tongue out at me before turning back to the front.

"Mr Winchester," the teacher said, seeing me talking to Beth. "Something you need assistance with?"

I rolled my eyes and sat back in my seat. "Nope, sweet cheeks, all good. Just telling Beth she can take notes for the both of us," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. Not for the first time this year was I happy that I at least had Beth on these school orientations, together we were able to figure school out and take care of Sammy. Now that she was through the worst of things, everything just seemed to flow a bit better.

---

Present Day

Beth's POV

I adjusted the blazer I was wearing over a pair of straight legged jeans and ran a hand self-consciously through my hair. Being back in the school was bringing back a lot of memories for me, and while a couple brought a smile to my face, the majority of them were like Dean's; things I'd rather just move on from and forget.

Sam had gotten himself a position as a janitor and was off scouring the halls. I was an interim school counsellor, and I just hoped that I wasn't going to have to actually counsel anyone, Lord knew I wouldn't have the faintest idea what to say to some of these kids. Dean he set up with a position as a substitute PE teacher, and that's where I was headed, to check in on him. We still didn't like the whole separation thing, but this job called for it, I figured I would just avoid my pretend job as much as possible and loiter near the gym.

I grinned to myself as I saw a flash of red cross the hallway and into the gym a good twenty yards down from me. Oh this was going to be fun.

When I reached the gym I leaned casually in the doorway watching the scene unfold before me. Dean was strutting around the gym in the tightest red shorts I had ever seen, and never thought I'd see Dean in, with an equally as tight white polo shirt pulling across his chest. He had finished off the look with white socks pulled up to his knees and a red head band around his forehead. He looked ridiculous, but at the same time I couldn't help but eye off his ass as it filled out those hot little red shorts.

I smirked, thinking back to the time we'd trekked out into the wilderness after a wendigo a few years back. Haley, the girl we'd been hiking with at the time had made a short remark about Dean's attire for a rescue mission in the middle of national park, and Dean had quipped that he didn't wear shorts. I grinned, if she could only see him now. I thought about taking a photo and sending it to her, but keeping in touch with people from our past wasn't generally a habit.

Dean blew on the whistle that was hanging around his neck, and then turned to address the collection of students before him.

"Today, you will have the honour of playing one of the greatest games ever invented," he said loudly with an air of importance. "A game of skill, agility, cunning. A game with one…simple…rule…" he leaned down and picked up a ball that was resting at his feet, and as he straightened, he looked at the kid in front of him, saying, "…dodge." I watched, stunned, as Dean pulled back his arm and threw the ball he was holding straight at the kid, hitting him hard in the stomach.

"Ugh!" The kid exclaimed and I cringed, raising a hand to my eyes and shaking my head.

Dean took a step back, saying "Sorry," in a very unapologetic tone before strutting like a peacock down the line of students. One young boy put up his hand as Dean approached him.

"Uh, Substitude Coach Roth…?"

"Yes?" Dean asked, stopping in front of him.

"Ms Boudreaux never let us play dodge ball," he said hesitantly, his hand still waving in the air.

"Well," Dean said, flashing a grin down the line of students. "Ms B's in Massachusett's getting married, so we're playing."

"She says it's dangerous!" The boy exclaimed as Dean raised his whistle and blew sharply on it, causing the kid to jump.

"Take a lap!" Dean ordered and the kid stuttered.

"But…" Dean blew the whistle again and this time the kid took off at a slow jog around the court. I cleared my throat and raised an eyebrow as Dean's gaze locked with mine. He grinned and then started to walk toward me, stopping to throw a bag of balls to the kids as he moved.

"Go nuts!" He declared as he continued to walk in my direction.

"Having fun?" I asked with a grin as he reached my side.

"The whistle makes me their god," Dean declared with a chuckle and I once again shook my head at how ridiculous he looked, tight shirt or not.

"Right," I said with a smile. "Nice shorts." I lifted up my phone and snapped a photo of him, waggling my eyebrows at him suggestively.

"Mmmm," Dean said, shifting a little uncomfortably as he looked me up and down. "You could use a pair of these shorts," he commented and I saw the front of his shorts twitch as he clearly thought about that.

"Easy tiger," I said with a grin, "Your class doesn't need to see their God in all his glory," I commented, leaning in to speak softly in his ear. Dean groaned and pulled back, trying to adjust himself without being obvious.

"Well, talking to me like that isn't going to help. Maybe you need a pair of those baggy overalls you were so taken with back in '96?" He asked. I laughed and crossed my arms over my chest, scowling playfully at him.

The door opened behind us and Sam came wandering into the gym, rolling his eyes at the pair of us in a stand-off.

"Find anything?" Dean asked him, turning his attention to our little brother.

"I've been over the entire school twice. No sulphur," Sam declared and I nodded.

"Yeah, there was nothing in the women's toilets either."

"No sulphur, no demon. No demon, no case." Dean said pointedly.

"I don't know," Sam sighed with a shrug. "Maybe I was wrong."

"Well, it happens to the best of us," Dean said with a nod. "I say we hit the road, huh? But after lunch – it's sloppy joe day," he added with a grin. There was a shout from behind us and Sam grimaced painfully as he looked over our shoulders. Spinning around I saw the kid from earlier running past us holding his nose, clearly the latest victim of one of the greatest games ever.

"Good hustle, Colby," Dean said in a booming voice. "Walk it off!" Sam looked incredulously at Dean's tough love attitude and Dean primped, looking pleased with his gym class teacher act. I had a moment to think that it might be a good thing for the students that we were leaving before we'd even gotten started.

oOo

Sam grumbled as Dean pulled him off to the cafeteria on our way to lunch. I waved them off and smiled. "Grab me something, I'm just going to the bathroom," I declared, walking down the hallway and away from the guys.

Suddenly a group of students came running out of the classroom in front of me, and a teacher had her arm around a student, his hand wrapped in a cloth. Everyone was screaming in a panic and I saw blood dripping down from the towel.

Looking back into the classroom I saw a tall, weedy looking kid fall to the ground as students continued to run past me. He was covered in blood splatters, his hands covered in red. As he fell to the ground I ran over to check on him, recoiling in horror as a black goo started oozing out of the boy's ear.

"What happened?" The boy said softly to me and I looked down at him with a frown. Damn. Sam had been right, this was one of our cases. I felt sick to my stomach, I hadn't seen ectoplasm like that in nearly ten years, the last time I had, I'd nearly been killed by the spirit causing it.

oOooOooOo

Dean's POV

I found Sam and Beth in the hallway checking the lockers with an EMF reader. Beth was talking on the phone and Sam turned to me as I swung through the doors at the end of the hall.

"How's the nonviolence assembly going?" Sam asked as I reached them.

"Apparently, shoving a kid's arm into a Cuisinart is not a 'healthy display of anger,' " I declared, watching as Beth nodded and then hung up her phone, turning to look at me.

"So, the kid had ectoplasm leaking out his ear?" I asked and she nodded, swallowing and walking over to me.

"Yeah," she said. I felt my heart stop for a moment, thinking about the time I'd nearly lost her to a spirit that leaked ectoplasm. She seemed to be thinking about the same thing.

"Which only comes from a seriously pissed off spirit," Sam said, interrupting my line of thought. "It's got to be ghost possession."

"Yeah, but that's pretty rare," Beth chimed in, her brow furrowing a little in concern.

"Yeah, but it happens. I mean, they get angry enough, they can take control of a person's body," Sam said.

"All right," I said with a nod as Beth shrugged. "So, what, we got a ghost in the building?"

"Yeah, but where?" Sam asked. "I mean, there's no EMF. Maybe we could find out who it is, at least. You know, check and see if somebody died bloody around here or something."

"Way ahead of you," I said. "I had to break into the principal's office to get this…" I said as I pulled out a piece of paper from my jacket, and then I winked at Sam. "Oh, and FYI little brother, three of the cheerleaders are legal. Guess which ones?"

Sam looked incredulously at me and shook his head. "No."

I rolled my eyes at him and looked back down at the paper in my hands. "So, there was only one death on campus. It was a suicide back in '98. Some kid named Barry Cook," I read and Sam grabbed the paper from me, turning it and reading the text almost urgently.

"Sam, what is it?" Beth asked, placing a hand on his arm.

"I knew him," Sam sighed, looking at Beth. "How did he die?"

I reeled from the knowledge that had a connection to when we were here, and then shrugged. "Uh, he slit his wrists in the first-floor girls' bathroom," I said.

"That's where…"

"Right where the chick got swirleyed to death, exactly," I said with a nod. "So what? This ghost is possessing nerds?"

"And using them to go after bullies, yeah," Sam said softly.

"Well, does that sound like Barry's M.O?" I asked.

"Barry had a hard time," Sam said, looking down at his hands.

---

12 years ago

Sam's POV

I was walking down the hallway when I saw Barry coming toward me. A student bumped into him and Barry's books went flying across the floor, scattering everywhere. No one stopped to help him, no one even gave a second glance. Hurrying forward I helped Barry in collecting his books.

"Thanks, Sam," Barry said to me with a smile.

"Great school," I muttered, feeling angry at the cruelty that was ever present no matter where you went.

"I don't care," Barry answered, stacking his books in front of him. "Three years and I'm out of here. I'm going to Michigan State. They got the best vet program in the country."

"Do you like animals?" I asked curiously. It wasn't often I met kids our age who had a plan about what they wanted in life.

"They're a lot nicer than people," Barry said as I helped him to his feet. He wasn't wrong there.

oOooOooOo

Dean's POV

Amanda had the most kissable lips I'd tasted in a long time. I wanted to drink her up. It hadn't taken more than a few days to convince her to join me in the janitor's closet and we'd been in here for the better half the last few weeks. I smiled and claimed her lips again, slipping my tongue out to flick it across her lower lip, she hesitated and pulled back, throwing me a coy little smile. Oh I liked it when they played hard to get. I grinned at her and slipped my hands around her waist, pulling her in against my body.

"So tonight I'm thinking you, me, a bucket of popcorn, extra butter…" I said invitingly as she rested her hands on my chest and smiled.

"Mmm, kinky," Amanda smiled, kissing me softly again.

"…and the midnight screening of I Spit On Your Grave at the Cinedome," I finished. Amanda groaned, closing her eyes and sighing.

"I can't," she said, looking at me apologetically. "I have a curfew…at 11:00."

"So?" I asked.

"So if I break it, my folks will ground me for a month," she said. I rolled my eyes and scoffed at her.

"Yeah, parents," I said, leaning in for another kiss. "Terrifying."

"Mm-hmm," Amanda agreed with a chuckle. "Well, when's your curfew?" She asked around my kisses. I pulled back and grinned at her again, shaking my head.

"I don't have one."

Amanda laughed sceptically, looking into my eyes, and then seeing the truth there she stopped and her mouth dropped open in amazement.

"Your parents just let you stay out all night, don't they?" She asked. She didn't know the half of it. I could, didn't mean that I did, most nights I was home with Beth and Sam, but she didn't need to know that.

"My Dad's out of town on a job. It's just me, Beth and our brother," I said.

"For how long?" Amanda asked.

I leaned in close to her, teasing my breath across her lips. "A couple of weeks," I said.

Amanda shook her head, frowning and pulling back. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, we got a pretty sweet setup at The Pines," I said.

"The motel?"

"Mm-hmm. HBO, magic fingers, free ice – it's great," I said.

"Really? Just the three of you? Where's Beth's mom?" Amanda asked.

"Huh?" I questioned, not expecting the question.

"Well, you said she's your stepsister right? Where's her mom?" It was the first time I'd been asked that after all this time, but I shrugged, going with a half lie.

"She died, in a car crash, last year. We're all she's got now," I answered, and Amanda looked at me.

"That's so sad."

"Beth's a tough cookie, she's fine," I said with a shrug.

"And your Dad really just leaves you guys alone for weeks at a time?" Amanda asked again. What was her problem?

"What? I do whatever I want, whenever I want. It's perfect." I said, leaning in to kiss her again.

"Yeah, I guess…but… don't you miss your Dad?" Amanda asked. I almost laughed in her face, but that wouldn't have been very cool. Lately the only thing I missed was the hunt, these schools were seriously boring me to death, and the only thing that made them half way bearable was Beth and the times when I found a nice hot chick to kiss in janitor's closets. This moment of family history was starting to bore me.

"So… no movie?" I asked, raising my eyebrow at her.

"No, sorry," Amanda said apologetically.

"That's okay," I said with a shrug, preparing to play my wild card. "I'll just take Beth, she loves scary movies."

"Beth?"

"Yeah, she's been bugging me to take her out to a movie for weeks anyway," I said, pulling back and opening the door, stepping back into the hallway with Amanda. She looked at me and I saw the momentary flash of jealousy pass across her face. Worked every time.

"We can go another time," I said with a shrug.

oOooOooOo

Sam's POV

Barry and I were walking down the hallway when the janitor's closet opened and I saw Dean and a pretty blonde girl slip out.

"Yo, Sammy!" Dean said to me with a grin and I nodded at him. I kept walking in the other direction while he started to trail after the girl.

"That's your brother with Amanda Heckerling?" Barry asked, casting a gaze back at Dean. "He's cool."

"Yeah. He thinks so," I muttered, shaking my head.

"Dean!" I heard Beth's voice echo down the hallway and stopped, hoping it wasn't another repeat of what had happened in Dallas. Dean shouldn't have been in the closet with another girl, he should be with Beth, those were the rules, and he had to protect her. I looked back and saw Beth scurry down the hall from the room she'd been coming out of.

"Who's that?" Barry asked.

"That's my sister, Beth," I said, watching as she caught up with our brother and they got into a discussion about something. Dean rolled his eyes at her and slipped his arm around her shoulders, and they started to walk in the direction they'd been headed. I breathed a quiet sigh of relief, nothing was wrong.

"She's cute," Barry said.

"Yeah, I guess," I said with a shrug. I didn't see Beth as anything more than a sister, but I was starting to wonder if she didn't have a little crush on Dean. I pushed it to the back of my mind, dismissing it as the ridiculous statement that it was. Who on earth would like Dean like that after spending all day every day with him?

I turned back toward the room we were going to and started walking again. The boy from the other day, whose name was Dirk, was walking toward us and he stopped in front of me, blocking my path.

"Hey, tough guy. I been looking for you. Still want to take Barry's place?" He asked, nodding at the boy next to me.

"Get out of here, Barry," I said. Barry scurried back the way we'd come.

"I'll go get a teacher," he said and Dirk made like he was going to go after him. I reached out, putting my hand against the kid's ample chest and he turned back to me, his fat red face up in mine.

"You want to go?" He asked menacingly.

"I'm not gonna fight you, Dirk," I said.

"Why not? You chicken? Come on!" Dirk egged me on as the crowd parted around us, creating a clearing, and the entire hall of students suddenly stood still.

Dirk shoved me in the chest.

"Come on!"

"No," I said, shaking my head. He grabbed me by the shoulder, this time punching me with a right hook, and I fell to the ground, listening to the startled gasps of the kids around me. I stayed on the ground, looking up at Dirk who was smirking.

"Get up! Get up! Come! Get up!" He urged me, and I felt the rage rising inside of me. Too many times I tried to quench it so that I didn't hurt anyone. I was trained in hand to hand combat, and that came with a responsibility. I couldn't use it just to hurt someone because they were egging me on to fight, I wasn't Dean. As Dirk continued to yell at me my breathing came out harder and faster, and I started to wonder if Dean's way wasn't better. I jumped to my feet, spinning around.

Mr Wyatt suddenly pushed through the students milling around and shouted, "Hey, get back! Get back. That is enough." He said to Dirk who turned and shoved he was back through the students. Mr Wyatt followed him and I simply watched them go.

oOooOooOo

Beth's POV

"Dean!" I called out when I spotted him and the blonde girl, Amanda, from class. He slowed down his walk, turning to look for me as I hurried across the hallway from where I'd been waiting in the hopes of running into him.

"Hey Beth, what's up?" He asked as I reached his side.

I looked up at him a little sheepishly and he raised an eyebrow. "What have you done?"

"Me? Nothing!" I said a little too quickly. "It wasn't my fault…"

"Oh boy…"

"I was just listening to my Walkman, coming down the hallway minding my own business when this door opens and bam! Stupid old Mrs Cherry steps out right in front of me with her coffee. Of course I run into her, and the coffee goes everywhere, my books go flying, and she's suddenly acting like I'd assaulted her or something…" I cringed, leaving out the fact that it hadn't been the music playing loudly in my ears that had distracted me, it had been Carl, the football quarterback, who I'd only just left. "Anyway… she kind of … confiscated my Walkman… completely unjustifiably I might add!"

Dean smirked at me and glanced over at Amanda who was staring wide-eyed at me. "Are you serious?"

I groaned internally, I was never going to live this one down. "Yeah. So uh, give me the uh… you know. I can totally get it back myself." I said, reaching into his jacket and feeling around for the lock picks. Dean grabbed my wrist and pulled it back out from under his jacket, shaking his head at me.

"Ixnay on the ock-pick-lay," he muttered at me and I sighed. He chuckled at my pouty look and slid his arm around my shoulders, starting to lead me down the hallway with Amanda.

"Don't worry about it, I'll get it back for you before school's out, okay?" He promised and I beamed up at him.

"Thanks Dean! You're the best!" I said and I slipped my arm around his waist and hugged him to me. I loved how he looked after me, I never wanted him to stop.

"Yeah, yeah… just don't forget it." He said, steering me into the classroom where we had History next. "Hey so you want to go see a midnight showing of I spit on your grave tonight?" He asked as Amanda took her seat and we moved further toward the back, sitting side by side at our desks.

"Of course! But why aren't you taking Amanda?" I asked, casting a glance down at the blonde who seemed a little lost in her thoughts. She and Dean had been spending a fair amount of time together. I would have been a little jealous but I'd kind of found a nice guy who was paying 'the new girl' all kinds of attention that I was enjoying.

"She has a curfew, big mean parents," Dean said and I smiled.

"Well, least she has parents that care about her," I said quietly.

"Hey, Dad cares about us!" Dean snapped and I looked up, nodding.

"Yeah, yeah I know Dean, that's not what I meant. I'm just saying… oh forget it, let's just go have some fun tonight? Popcorn with extra butter?" I actually liked the idea of spending some time with Dean during the evening, we hadn't really seen that much of each other in a few days.

Dean smiled at me and nodded. "You got it sugarpie," he said with a grin.

I settled into my seat and pulled out my books, looking up as the teacher walked into the classroom. We were studying Ancient Rome, I smirked, piece of cake.

"Now class, I expect nothing less than 1500 words on this essay, and it will make up for half your grade for the semester…" Mrs King said to the groans of students everywhere. I laughed softly and raised an eyebrow at Dean.

"Wonder if she wants it in Latin?" I joked and he sniggered.

"Well at least it would be authentic," he said with a wink.

---

Present Day
Cemetery

Beth's POV

"Well, are you gonna say or am I?" Dean asked, grinning over at me under the pale moonlight of the half moon above us.

"Say what?" I asked curiously, looking up at him.

"Come on, you're losing your touch baby," he said at me. I shook my head in confusion at him.

"Let's see…" Dean said, striking a pose with his hand on his hip. "How does it go? 'Man I hate night time, and graveyards, it's just… creepy!'" I laughed at his impersonation of me and nodded.

"Uh huh, you forgot to mention the dirt," I said. Sam sniggered and shook his head, it was the first time he'd said anything since we'd dug up the grave we were currently standing around.

"Well I'm just saying babe, haven't heard you complain at all tonight," Dean grinned.

"Maybe I'm growing up," I said with a laugh. "Or maybe we've encountered so many demons lately the thought of a good old ghost hunt is preferable."

Dean sobered and nodded, leaning over to kiss my cheek quickly.

"But I still hate graveyards and night-time, and getting dirty!" I said in my usual whiney tone reserved only for grave digging. Dean chuckled while Sam poured fuel over the salt I'd already dumped on the body. He lit a match and held it while he looked down at the body in the grave.

"So long, Barry Cook," he said, tossing the match in.

Half an hour later we were driving down a dark road, Sam and Dean in the front while I stretched my legs in the back seat. Sam was looking pensively out the window and was in his emo mopey mode.

"You all right Sam?" Dean asked.

"Barry was my friend. I just burned his bones," he said quietly.

"Well, he's at peace now, Sam," I said, leaning forward and squeezing his shoulder.

"Maybe if Dad had let us stay just a little while longer, maybe I could have helped the kid, you know?" Sam asked, looking back at me.

"You read the coroner's report, same as us," I said. "Barry was on every anxiety drug and antidepressant known to man. School was Hell for that kid. His parents had split up. He just wanted out. It was tragic, but it's not your fault."

"To tell you the truth, I'm glad we got out of that town," Dean said from where he was staring at the road. "I hated that school." His eyes cut back to me and locked with my own, and I saw a hurt lingering there, one that was an old wound we both carried. One that we had tried to let go and forgive for over a decade now.

"It wasn't all bad," Sam said.

"How can you say that after what happened to you?" Dean asked, looking over at Sam.

---

12 years ago
Truman High

Dean's POV

Sammy was sitting on the bleachers in front of me having just told me what happened while he was with a friend in the hallway. I was livid, I was beyond angry, and it was tempered with a bit of anxiety because Beth hadn't touched based with me in hours. It wasn't like her to at least come by and say hello for a few minutes before skipping off again. I felt a little strange because this was the first time we hadn't been joined at the hip since Dallas, and the week where we'd been in Houston, and Dad had pulled me out of school to help with a hunt.

"That kid's dead," I muttered to Sam.

"Dean…" Sam cautioned, rolling his eyes.

"I'm gonna rip his lungs out!" I felt the rage and worry boil through my body, my heart was racing and I needed to take it out on something, might as well be the kid that had just had the balls to hit my little brother.

"It's not a big deal," Sam said, trying to calm me.

"Not a bit deal? Sammy, look at yourself," I said, pointing to the bruise that was starting to form on his face. "If Dad was here…"

"He's not," Sam pointed out.

"Well I am! And as soon as I'm finished with that dick…"

"Shut up, okay?! I don't need your help," Sam said and I stopped.

"That's right, you don't," I said, nodding at him. "You could have torn him apart. So why didn't you?"

"Hey guys!" Beth's voice startled me as she jogged up behind me with a big grin on her face. The grin soon fell once she caught sight of Sammy's face and she rushed forward, fussing over him.

"Sammy, what happened?!" She asked, brushing her fingers over the bruise and looking at him closely.

"Nothing, I'm fine," Sam said.

"It wasn't nothing, some kid punched him, and now Sam is refusing to defend himself," I said, waving my hand disgustedly in the air.

"Why?" Beth asked, looking at Sam.

"Because I don't want to be the freak for once, Beth. I want to be normal," he answered her, and I saw her nodding sympathetically and sighed.

"So taking a beating – that's normal?" I asked, and Sam had no answer for me. Beth stood up, her big brown eyes meeting mine with just as much concern as I was feeling.

"Any word from Dad?" She asked, and there was the unspoken communication between us that sometimes happened. We both knew he was overdue.

I pulled my cellphone out of my pocket and glanced at it again, knowing it was a futile gesture.

"He called this morning, said he's going to be another week at least," I said and she bit her lip. "We weren't supposed to be here this long."

"At least you've got Amanda," Sam said. "She's cool."

"Dude, she wants me to meet her parents," I said, looking over at Beth. "I don't do parents."

Beth sniggered and patted me sympathetically on the shoulder. I found myself shifting a little toward her.

"Well that's what happens when you get a girlfriend," Beth teased me, but there was a flash of something else in her eyes that I didn't quite catch. She glanced down and when she looked back, it was gone.

"Yeah… right." I said, not having an answer for that. "Well here," I pulled her Walkman out of my other jacket pocket and handed it to her. "Try not to lose it again."

"Oh my god you're the best Dean!" Beth exclaimed, throwing her arms around my neck and kissing my cheek. I laughed and hugged her back while Sammy chuckled, watching the embrace. "What would I do without my big brother?" She asked, squeezing me tightly again and it was almost as if she didn't want to let go. She slowly pulled away, her eyes meeting mine, and I smiled at her.

"Well, that's what big brothers are for, right?" I asked, feeling a stab of something else ripple through my stomach as she flashed another smile at me. She was beautiful, there was no doubting that, and that dickhead Carl had been hanging around her for the last week or so. I'd let it go when she told me to back off, she was fine, but when I looked at her sometimes, it wasn't with the big brotherly concern I should have been feeling. It was with something more. I pushed it out of my mind. Dad would kill us, and besides, it would pass – my feelings for girls usually did, and Beth was one I would never want to hurt with a passing fancy.

"Right," Beth said with a grin, turning to put her arm around Sam's shoulders.

"So, it's just the three of us again," I said as Sam smiled up at Beth. "What's for dinner tonight?"

"Oh, nothing for me, sorry Dean," Beth said and then giggled at my raised eyebrow. "I have a date!"

"A date? With who?" I asked shortly.

"Carl, silly, who do you think?" She asked, rolling her eyes at me.

"Carl… right, of course, what was I thinking?" I asked mockingly. Beth gave me a stony stare and I sighed.

"Look, Beth, don't you think… maybe… perhaps you shouldn't be going out on your own after what happened in Dallas?" I asked.

"Dean, I appreciate the concern, I do. But that was months ago and I can't stay locked up in a motel forever. You get to go out and have fun, why can't I?" Beth asked. 'Because I don't want you to' I thought and then instantly cringed, running a hand across my face.

"Listen, guys, I'm gonna go back to class," Sam said, interrupting us. "I'll see you at the motel later."

"Okay Sammy," Beth said with a smile, waving him off as he didn't wait for an answer and started walking back toward the school

"Okay," I said, nodding at him and waiting until he was out of hearing. I turned to Beth who was watching Sam with a distracted look on her face.

"Listen, you're right, you're big enough and strong enough to handle puny Carl," I said with extra emphasis on the puny. "But what about movie night?" I had kind of been looking forward to it.

"That's not until midnight!" Beth said with a laugh. "I'll be back way before then."

"Oh, well okay, cool," I said, shrugging and trying to hide my relief. Beth saw it; she always saw it. Slipping her arm around my waist she smiled her brightest smile up at me, holding me next to her.

"I know, I miss you too Dean," she said. I sighed and put my arm around her shoulders, kissing her forehead.

"You really are growing up," I whispered as I held her close to me. One day, regardless of what she promised, she was going to find someone who really treated her well, and that was the day I was going to lose her. Carl was just a reminder of what was to come in this weary, drawn out existence of ours. Everyone I cared about was destined to leave me eventually.

"I'm not that grown up," Beth said softly. "I still need you Dean."

I sucked in a breath, revelling briefly in the touch and hearing her tell me she needed me.

"Yeah, I need you too Beth," I said.

She smiled at me again, pulling away and starting to walk toward the school. "I'll always need my big brother!" She called out. "Someone has to keep bailing out my belongings when they get confiscated!"

"Oh yeah?! I told you to be careful with that thing, I ought to take it off you myself!"

Beth shrieked and started to run faster toward the school and I laughed, giving chase, it was good to play. We hadn't done it in a while.

oOooOooOo

Beth's POV

Carl had parked at the top of the lookout in his Chevy Cavalier and was currently kissing his way down my neck, his hand tracing a path down my collarbone and resting at the side of my right breast.

"You're so beautiful," he murmured in my ear, nipping softly at my earlobe and drawing a moan out of me. I ran my hands along his arms and tried to relax as he increased the pressure in his touches, a thumb sliding out to tease my nipple to a hard point through the bra and thin shirt I was wearing. He groaned as he felt me respond to his touches and his other hand slid around my waist and under my top, stroking along the soft, warm skin at my back.

"Take this off," he said, starting to pull at my top and I hesitated.

"What?" He asked, pulling back to look at me. He tugged at his own t-shirt and it came off easily over his broad shoulders. "Come on, we don't have to do anything you don't want to, I just want to be close to you," he said. "Let's get in the back."

"Yeah, okay," I said, feeling my stomach start to churn. I looked over at the seat. It looked a hell of a lot more comfortable than where we were right now. We'd spent the last week making out, it only seemed natural to take this a little further.

Carl started once more kissing me softly, brushing his lips back and forth across mine. I broke away with a smile and then got out of the car, climbing into the backseat. Almost as soon as I had turned to face Carl, he pounced, pushing me back against the seat.

"Hey! Take it easy big boy," I said with a laugh, but my stomach was tight with fear. Memories of Dallas, and then Houston flooded into my mind, and I felt a panic wanting to take hold.

"Sorry," Carl said, easing back a little, but not getting off me. He slipped his knee between my legs and used his forearms to hold his weight above me. One hand brushed the hair from my eyes and he looked at me with lust. His lips claimed mine again and he moaned as he slipped his tongue into my mouth. I took in a deep breath through my nose and tried to relax. I had to get through this, not all guys were going to try and rape me.

I melted into the kiss, moaning softly as his tongue flicked lightly across my own. He felt good, too good. His cock was hard beneath his jeans and pressed into my thigh as he started to grind against me.

"God you're hot," he said between kisses. "You know, I've never felt this way about another girl before."

"I really like you too Carl," I said, kissing him back and running my hands along his bare back. He groaned again and pulled my shirt up. I wriggled out of it and felt his hands unclip my bra, tossing it to the floor. He leaned down, sucking my left nipple into his mouth and I moaned loudly, arching to his attention.

"Mmm, you like that? I'm going to make you feel all kinds of good baby," he said as he released my nipple, kissing his way back to my neck. His hand slid under my skirt and I tried not to tense as his fingers lightly traced along my thighs.

"It's okay Beth," he said, his hand coming to lay between my thighs, pressed up against my panties. "We don't have to do anything you don't want to."

I nodded, and swallowing hard I eased my legs open just a little in encouragement. I was sixteen years old, maybe it was time to have a little fun, Lord knew I hadn't had a guy interested in me like this since I'd started travelling with the Winchesters.

The Winchesters. My mind naturally ran to Dean and how he'd been looking after me all this time. His big, beautiful green eyes and quirky smile. We had a movie date later on tonight, I hadn't seen much of him in weeks because he'd been with Amanda so much. I felt a little stab of jealousy as I thought of the pretty blonde. Well, I had my own blonde, right here, right now, if Dean could play… so could I.

I arched my hips a little as Carl's hand slid behind the thin fabric of my panties, and he slipped a finger in against my centre, stroking first through my labia and then up, finding my hard little nub. He groaned when he felt how hard it was, and circled a finger around it.

Everything felt warm and I lay back, relaxing as he stroked along me, my thighs trembling at his touch. He slipped out of his jeans and I felt him guiding my hand to his groin, pressing it against his hard erection and rubbing my hand along its length. He was long, and thin, and groaned as I touched him.

"Oh yeah, you feel fantastic baby…" Carl said. "Keep going…"

I followed his direction and then gasped as he slid his boxers down over his hips, and I was suddenly rubbing along his bare skin. I wasn't a stranger to stroking a guy's cock, I'd even had a few times where I'd given a head job to my old boyfriend Travis a year ago in the cinema, but that seemed like a lifetime ago now and I suddenly felt unsure of myself.

He took over, his hands on my body again, stroking along my skin and then I felt him slipping my panties off and he resumed his long, almost urgent circling of my clit. I moaned but the frantic pace he was starting to set was off putting. I felt myself starting to have doubts, but I was also very aware that I was in a fairly compromised position.

"Carl…" I whispered, getting his attention. He mistook the word for encouragement.

"Wow… you are wanting this, aren't you?" He asked, smiling as I gasped at his touch, arching again.

"Aren't you?" He asked. "Say it."

I stopped, frowning at him and he continued to stroke along me, keeping a steady pace of arousal.

"What?"

"You're a little slut, aren't you Beth?" Carl asked, and the word was like a knife to my gut.

"What?!" I asked, trying to sit up and clamping my thighs shut, his hand still pinned between them.

"You want this, you want me to take you right now, you're practically begging for it," Carl said and this time I saw red. I shoved at him forcefully with my hands until he was sitting back on his heels, and I scrambled to sit up.

"Like you don't," I muttered, covering my breasts up and turning my head as he tried to kiss me again.

"Oh, I do Beth, I do. But you… you're hot for it, you …"

"Take me home," I said, sucking in a breath and blinking back tears that were more of shock than anything else.

"What?"

"I said, take me home," I reiterated, turning a hard stare to him.

"No," he said, shaking his head.

"No?" I asked, "Well I'm not staying here, Carl."

"Whatever, you'll give me what I want… you're just playing hard to get… you know you…"

He didn't get to finish, I lashed out with a palm to his nose, just like Dean had been teaching me, hearing the snap of bone as the force of my punch connected with his face. Carl cried out in agony, clutching at his face while I scooted out from under him, grabbing my shirt and bra from the floor.

I quickly pulled the shirt over my head again, running to the front and grabbing my bag from the front seat.

"You little bitch!" Carl roared, clambering after me. I spun on my heel, holding a hand out in front of me.

"Just stay away from me you jerk!" I called out.

"Come on, Beth. Get in the car," Carl said and I shook my head, backing away.

"Come on, you're not going to walk all the way into town," he smirked.

"Want a bet?" I asked, thinking about Dean and how he'd be waiting for me. "Just don't try anything Carl, or when I get to my brother, he's going to come and pull you apart."

"Yeah I don't think so," Carl said, rolling his eyes at me.

I didn't wait for a response, I turned and started to jog down the road toward the main highway. Moments later there was the sound of a car starting and I ran into the safety of the trees, hiding as I watched Carl's car spin in the dirt and race down to the road. I stopped, finally feeling like I was at least a little safe. Slipping my bra back on, I ran a hand through my hair and took a deep breath. Boys, what the hell?

oOooOooOo

Sam's POV

English was coming to an end. I waited for all the students to wander out into the hallway before following them with Barry.

"Mr Winchester," Mr Wyatt said as I started to walk past the front desk. I stopped and looked at him. "Can I talk to you?"

Barry hesitated next to me and then shrugged. "Um…I'll wait for you outside," he said, and I nodded at him.

I turned back to Mr Wyatt, waiting for the inevitable lecture that came anytime Dean or I got into a fight. "Look, if this is about the fight, I didn't start it," I began.

"Oh, no, it's not about the fight, Sam," he said with a smile. He looked at some papers he was handling and sat down at the desk bringing him to the same eye level as me. "You know this assignment was nonfiction, right?" He asked, and I realised he was holding my essay.

"Yes, Mr Wyatt," I said with a sigh.

"So you and your family killed a werewolf last summer, huh?" He asked with another smile. I didn't respond, what was the point? He had no idea what we did, they never did. "Why would you write something like this, Sam?"

"It doesn't matter," I said with a shrug. "As soon as my Dad gets back, we're leaving, so you can flunk me if you want to."

Mr Wyatt looked a little surprised, and shook his head at me. "I'm not flunking you," he said, passing me my assignment back. "I'm giving you an 'A'. Now, aside from the werewolf, is that really how you'd describe your family?"

"Yeah," I said quietly with a nod.

"Well, your brother is… quite a character. Your sister is very caring. And your father … he seems, uh, driven." I smirked, probably one of the nicer words I'd used for Dad. "Anyway, it's good Sam. It's really good. Have you ever thought about pursuing writing?"

It was my turn to look surprised. "I can't. I have to go into the family business."

"Family business?" He asked.

"Yeah, my, aaah- my dad's a mechanic. So I have to be a mechanic, too."

"Do you want to go into the family business, Sam?" Mr Wyatt asked.

"No one's ever asked me that before," I answered truthfully, feeling an ache start in my chest. My eyes burned, but I took a deep breath and pushed my emotions back down into my gut.

"Well?" Mr Wyatt prompted for an answer.

"More than anything, no," I said softly.

"Well... I don't want to overstep my bounds here, but... you don't have to do anything you don't want to do," Mr Wyatt said. "Look, I mean, I know what it's like. I come from a family of surgeons, and that wasn't me. So, you know, I traded in the money and prestige of being a doctor for all the glamour you see around you." He gestured to the beat up old classroom and sniggered.

"But the point is... there may be three or four big choices that shape someone's whole life, and you need to be the one that makes them, not anyone else. You seem like a great kid, Sam. Just live the life you want to live."

I nodded, taking what he'd said and filing it away for later. I'd been giving this a lot of thought lately. Beth and I had been talking about it, how she was worried I wasn't very happy. I'd confessed to her that I maybe didn't want to be a hunter and she'd cuddled me and told me that she'd help me do whatever I wanted to do.

More than anything I worried about Dean. He had always been the one looking out for me, it was like his job. I wondered about what he'd do if I decided to do something other than hunt. Was there maybe something he'd want to do other than hunt? Or was he really happy with our life? He hadn't been very happy for a few years, and I thought back to when I'd spent some time at Uncle Bobby's while Dad went looking for Dean who was lost on a hunt.

Ever since then Dean had thrown himself into the hunts, into the girls, into anything and everything. Yet, he seemed more unhappy than ever – I knew my brother, better than anyone, and I saw how it was eating him up inside and he never talked about it. Kind of how it was doing the same to me. It was only when Beth joined us earlier in the year that things had started to change.

Dean was happier, I was happy to have a sister and a friend, she was like a little ray of sunshine. Although she had her ups and downs, she was generally in a cheerful mood and I had asked her if she thought about doing anything else when she left school. She had automatically shaken her head and said she would do whatever Dad thought was best for her, and if that meant hunting, she was in. It made me think that maybe if she and Dean were going to stay hunting, perhaps I could have something more. Maybe I could get out.

---

Present Day
Truman High

Sam's POV

Dean eased the car into the curb in front of the school and I had a sense of dejavu from when we'd first arrived here all those years ago.

"We came back here so you could talk to a teacher?" Dean asked with a raised eyebrow.

"He's a good guy," I said, brushing off the look he always gave me when he thought I was being sappy and sentimental.

"Well, whatever. Go have your Robin Williams 'O captain! My captain!' moment. Just make it quick," Dean said, turning up the radio and sitting back in his seat, glancing back at Beth with a grin, obviously amused by his analogy.

I rolled my eyes and got out, catching a smile from Beth who was staying out of it. I quickly entered the building and was making my way down the hall toward the English room when a young girl seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"Excuse me, sir, can you tell me how to find room 305?" She asked.

"Sure," I said, nodding. "Um… head down the hall, take your first right, and it's the third door on the left," I answered, gesturing in the direction with my hand. The girl watched me, almost eerily, before smiling and inclining her head.

"Thanks, Sam," she said. I frowned, how did she know my name? Without warning she pulled out a knife and I tried to step back but she was too quick, stabbing me in the chest with the blade. I groaned, clutching at the stab wound and stumbling away from her.

"You got tall, Winchester," she said to me. For a girl of short stature, she knew how to fight. Lashing out with a kick, I felt her foot connect with my groin, and doubled over as a searing pain rushed through my stomach and up. Another high kick and she connected with my nose. I spun around, unable to react in time. I hit the ground hard, groaning, and I reached into my pocket for the vial of salt I had there.

The girl was approaching me and I quickly unscrewed the cap, pouring a handful of salt into my palm. As she reached for me, I spun around, grabbing her around the neck and forcing the salt into the girl's mouth and holding my hand until she swallowed. The girl struggled, her head bobbing up and down in my hands, and then a black shadow was cast forcefully out of her body. It bounced against the floor and hit a banner hanging from the ceiling before disappearing. The girl collapsed into my arms and I fought not to moan at the wound in my chest.

oOooOooOo

Beth's POV

We'd parked down by the stream, and I was using the first aid kit to patch up Sam's stab wound. It was deep, but not large, and there didn't seem like anything a hospital could do better than I could. I taped up the wound with gauze and Sam groaned as Dean handed him a bottle of whiskey.

"Trust me," Dean said. "This will help." My angry husband started pacing, his face contorted into an enraged expression. "That ghost is dead. I'm gonna rip it's lungs out!" He glanced over at Sam and I looking at him, and shrugged at my raised eyebrow. "Well, you know what I mean."

"It knew my name, guys. My real name. We burned Barry's bones… what the hell?" Sam asked.

"Well, maybe it wasn't Barry," I said, standing up and accepting the beer that Dean offered me before turning to the Impala and starting to go through a file. "Maybe we missed something. We just have to go back…" Dean cut me off with an exclamation and I looked questioningly at him.

"No way," Dean said, shaking his head. "How did we not see this before?"

"What?" I asked, crossing to look at the file.

"Check it out – Look, Martha Dumptruck, Revenge of the Nerds, and Hello Kitty – they rode the same bus," Dean said, pointing out a couple of details in the file.

"So maybe the bus is haunted?" I asked.

"Well, that would explain why there's no EMF at the school, but not the attacks. I mean, ghosts are tied to the places that they haunt. They can't just bail," Dean said.

"Unless this one can," Sam said, standing up and walking toward us. "Dean, there's lore about spirits possessing people and riding them for miles, then whenever they leave the body, they're bungeed back to their usual haunt. But until then, the ghosts can go wherever they want."

I nodded, he was right. "So a spirit just grabs a kid on the bus and walks right into Truman?"

"It's possible," Sam said.

"Great. Ghosts getting creative… well, that's super," Dean complained, reaching into the cooler and pulling out a beer of his own.

oOooOooOo

Dean's POV

Sam was at the back of the bus with the EMF meter, Beth and I looked around the front, but the place was clean except for the EMF that was spiking off the charts.

"Definitely ain't clean," Sam said.

"Here, ghosty, ghosty, ghosty! Come out, come out, wherever you are!" I called out, hoping that a little taunting might give us what we needed.

"Man, I don't get it. No one ever died on this bus," Sam said. "And it's not like there's a body hidden in here."

"Yeah, but a flap of skin, a hair, even a hangnail… something has to be tying the ghost to this place. We just have to find it," Beth said patiently, searching through the seats one by one.

"Yeah," Sam said as I turned and started going through the papers at the front of the bus.

"Driver got a new driving permit. Issued two weeks ago," I said, looking up.

"Just before the attack," Beth said, looking up.

"Yeah. Name of the bus driver is Dirk McGregor Senior., 39 North Central Avenue." I said, reading the details out to them both.

"McGregor?" Sam asked, standing up.

"Yeah, why?" I asked curiously.

"I knew his son," Sam said. I stared at him incredulously, feeling like I didn't even know my own brother.

"Did you know everybody at this school?" I scoffed.

---

12 years ago

Dean's POV

It had been getting late by the time Beth showed up at the motel and I had been getting worried. She came waltzing through the door in a hurry, looking a little worked up and angry.

"Hey where you been? We're gonna be late!" I said, sitting up on the bed where I'd been watching the television. Sam stirred in the bed next to me at the sound of voices, but didn't wake up.

"Don't ask!" Beth snapped, throwing her shoes in the corner of the room and stomping her feet.

"Freaking uncomfortable shoes!" She cursed, and reached into her duffel for her Doc Martens and putting them aside. I watched as she rummaged through her bag further, pulling out a pair of baggy jean coveralls with a red long sleeved turtleneck. She walked into the bathroom and disappeared for a few minutes. When she emerged she was transformed from her date. Gone were the shoes, skirt, and tight-fitting shirt. Instead she looked comfortable in her baggy coveralls with her hair pulled back in a ponytail.

She pulled on her boots with a sigh and I frowned.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked, seeing the dejected angle of her shoulders.

"Nothing," she said, shaking her head.

"Yeah, try that again sister," I said, standing up and walking over to her. "What's going on?"

Beth's eyes welled with tears and she impatiently brushed them back with her hand. "Boys are such jerks!"

"What?" I asked, grasping her shoulders and turning her to face me. "Was it Carl? Did he try something?!" Beth nodded and I felt a white rage flash through me. "I'm gonna kill him!"

"No, stop… Dean. He didn't hurt me," Beth said, grabbing my arm as I started to walk for the door. "I'm just… I'm more… I thought he liked me!" She let out a little sob and I grabbed her, pulling her into me and holding her tight.

"Oh Beth, I'm sorry," I murmured into her hair as I soothingly rubbed her back. She buried her face in my chest and shuddered, wrapping her arms around my waist. After a few minutes she took a deep breath, pulling back and sniffling.

"Come on, we're gonna be late," she said, taking my hand and starting to pull me toward the door.

"We don't have to go," I said.

"I want to go, it'll be good to go out with a nice guy for once," she said with a smile. "Even if he is my brother." I chuckled and kissed her forehead.

"Well, I'll never hurt you, that you can count on," I promised her and she beamed a smile up at me.

oOooOooOo

Beth's POV

The horror movie was a good excuse to cuddle up to Dean in the dark theatre and eat buttered popcorn to my heart's content. He'd already been out once for a refill and we were ploughing our way through the second helping. I giggled as he fed me another couple of jelly beans from the bag we'd brought, and then I took a sip of my drink.

"Thanks Dean, I needed this," I said to him as the movie came to an end and we sat in the back watching the credits roll and people start to filter out.

"Anytime cherry pie," he said, slipping an arm around my shoulders.

I yawned and leaned in to him, resting my head on his shoulder. "Man, tomorrow is gonna be a long day!" I said with a chuckle, glancing at my watch which was telling me it was almost two in the morning.

"We could just skip it," Dean suggested. "Maybe spend the day hanging out at the arcade?"

"Hmmm, what about Amanda?" I asked teasingly and Dean rolled his eyes at me.

"Clearly we're not joined at the hip," he said.

"Could have fooled me the last few weeks… you've practically ignored me since we got here!" I said, cringing internally at how that came out.

"Jealous?" Dean asked with a grin and I pulled back to look at him.

"Maybe," I said honestly, and he flashed me a surprised look. "What? You think I'm going to go from hanging out with you everywhere we go almost a whole year and then not miss you when you find someone to make out with?"

Dean frowned and then looked down at his hands. "Yeah, I guess you're right," he said quietly before his eyes met mine again.

"I don't mind that you're seeing Amanda, Dean. I just wish you had a little more time for me too."

"Well, we've hung out with you a few times," Dean said, and I raised an eyebrow at him. "We have! You even made me watch that movie… what was it? The Princess Bride?" He insisted, rolling his eyes. Truth was, he'd actually enjoyed it, though he thought Westley was whipped.

"Yeah okay fine, once a week at most," I rolled my eyes. "I'm not used to coming in second best." I pouted my lower lip out, knowing how it always made him waver. He laughed, shaking his head at me.

"Well, you don't have to worry about it, okay? I'm gonna get rid of her," he said.

"I didn't say you had to dump her!" I said with a laugh.

"Nah, I told you, she wants me to meet the parents. I don't do parents. She's too close, better she get hurt now than later on," Dean said, standing up and pulling me to my feet beside him. "Come on."

We walked in silence out of the Cinedome and along the sidewalk back toward the motel.

"So I was thinking…" Dean started.

"Did it hurt?" I teased and he looked at me with an unimpressed expression.

"Haha."

"Sorry," I smirked, then gestured for him to continue.

"I'm going to give her a reason to break up with me, I think it'd be better if she thinks I'm an ass, rather than just some guy who had to leave because his Dad got back into town." Dean said.

"Awww, you don't want her pining after you?" I asked mockingly, draping an arm theatrically across my forehead like I was going to swoon.

"Haha, Beth. You gonna help me or not?" Dean asked, looking at me seriously.

"Of course I'll help you, just tell me what to do," I said, watching as a grin spread across his face.

"Oh boy…" I gulped. "Why do I suddenly feel nervous?"

oOooOooOo

Sam's POV

School was finishing for the day and as I left the hallway out into the common area I saw Dirk push Barry to the ground.

"Got to watch where you're going , man," Dirk said to Barry who was keeping his head down.

"Leave him alone, Dirk," I said, walking up to him.

"You never learn, do you, midget?" Dirk retorted. There was a murmur from the kids standing around and I smirked, I was getting sick of this game.

"Get to the bus, Barry," I said to the boy who was getting off the ground. He ran off leaving me with Dirk. I raised an eyebrow at him, almost daring him to try something. Nothing was said and I started to follow Barry when I felt Dirk shove me in the back, I fell to the ground to the gasps of the kids watching.

"What's the matter? You scared?" Dirk asked in a loud, challenging voice. "Don't worry. I'll go easy on you this time. Come on, Lose-chester. Let's see what you got. Come, freak! Freak!"

The word freak being shouted at me set bells off inside my head, it was the one thing I had been trying to avoid while here, and even when I tried to be normal, I was labelled the freak. I jumped to my feet, swinging around and shoving Dirk back a couple of steps.

He looked surprised and then his face set into anger as he swung in right arm clumsily toward me. He didn't stand a chance, we'd been training to be in fights for years, this was just a bully who used his size and aggression to intimidate kids who were smaller than him.

He swung at me a couple more times, and each time I dodged, connecting with a return hit, my fist pounding on his soft flesh under the jacket he wore. I was angry now. I clocked him with a right hook and then an uppercut, he flailed back and as I rounded him again he started to go down, groaning. He was struggling to stay upright and I helped with that, kicking him in the back of his knee and bringing him to the ground.

He looked defiantly up at me and I could hear my dad's voice in my head telling me to finish him, don't let them get back up, teach them a lesson because it's the only way they'll ever learn. With another hard punch to the face I knocked Dirk on to his back against the hard cold cement.

"You're not tough," I said, standing over him. "You're just a jerk. Dirk the jerk." I said with a snigger.

"Yeah that's pretty good," another kid said, hearing me. "Dirk the Jerk!" The nickname picked up and pretty soon the kids surrounding us were chanting it over and over as Dirk lay on the ground panting, and red faced from exertion. As the kids taunted him, I watched as he got to his feet and walked away quickly, never looking back.

---

Present Moment
Dirk Senior's House

Beth's POV

Dirk Senior's house was simple and neat, comfortably furnished and he waved us to the couch, asking, "So, you were friends with Dirk?"

"Yes sir," Sam answered. "In High School."

"I don't recall Dirk having many friends at Truman," he said. "Here, sit. Sit down."

He took a seat in the armchair opposite us while the three of us sat on the couch. I sat in the middle, pressed a little closer to Dean, our thighs touching as he took my hand and then looked over at Dirk Senior.

"When did, uh, when did Dirk pass?" He asked gently.

"He was eighteen," Dirk replied.

"What happened to him?" Sam asked, his eyes full of concern.

"Well, there was, first drinking, then drugs, and then too many drugs. And then he just slipped through my fingers," Dirk admitted, looking sorrowfully at his hands. "It was my fault. I should have seen it coming, you know?" He glanced up at Dean and I, and we nodded, urging him to continue. "Dirk, he uh, he had his troubles."

"What kind of troubles?" I asked.

"School was never easy for Dirk," the man answered. "We didn't have much money, and well, you know kids – they can be cruel. They picked on him."

"They picked on him?" Sam asked incredulously and when I glanced at him he seemed surprised.

"They called him poor and dirty and stupid. They even had a nickname for him – Dirk the Jerk." His eyes were red as he tried to fight of his tears. I glanced at Sam and his jaw clenched, he looked away to the window quickly and I saw him shaking his head slightly. "And after what happened to his mother, he…"

"His mother?" Sam asked, looking back sharply at Dirk Senior.

"Yeah, Jane, my wife. She died when Dirk was thirteen. Cancer. I was working three jobs, so it fell to Dirk to take care of her. And he was a great kid. He made sure Jane got her medicine. He helped her, cleaned up after her. But, you know, you - you watch somebody die slow, waste away to nothing... it does things to a person. Horrible things." His head dropped and I felt Sam tense beside me.

"I didn't know about his mother," Sam said softly.

"He – he wouldn't talk about her, not even to me. Lot of anger in that boy," Dirk said.

"I'm sorry," Sam said. Dirk had been looking at his hands, and as Sam said this, he glanced up, smiling and nodding sadly.

"Well, we'd really like to pay our respects, Mr McGregor. Um, do you mind telling us where Dirk is buried?" Dean asked.

"Oh, he wasn't. I had him cremated," Dirk said.

"All of him?" Dean asked without thinking and I elbowed him in the ribs.

"Well, I kept a lock of his hair," Dirk said, frowning slightly at the question.

"Oh, that's – that's nice…" Dean said, staring him right in the eye. "Where do you keep that?"

"On my bus, in my Bible," he said, telling us even though it seemed like such an odd question. Dean nodded and I smiled at the man.

"Well, thank you for your time, Mr McGregor, we're very sorry for your loss," I said, standing up and stepping away from the couch. The boys stood with me and Dirk saw us to the door. At least we now knew where we had to look.

oOooOooOo

Dean's POV

We learned that the bus containing Dirk's bible was currently being used for an afterhour school sporting trip. It was on its way back to the school campus by the time we caught up with it. Zooming ahead, I hit the brakes, skidding to a stop and together Beth and Sam jumped out of the car and tossed a spike strip across the road.

The headlights of the bus were bearing down on us and I cringed slightly as it ran over the strip, the tires bursting and making sounds like a cap gun. Screeching to a halt, we approached the bus with our guns drawn.

Within seconds the bus driver opened the door and was stepping down off the bus. Sam walked up to him, cocking his shotgun.

"Dirk!"

"Winchester. What are you gonna do, shoot me?" The driver responded, clearly not himself. I used the distraction to sneak around the back of the bus and come up behind the driver. As I got close enough, I swung the rope I was carrying around him.

"Don't need to. That rope is soaked in salt water, Dirk," Sam said. "You're not going anywhere."

Beth stepped up on to the bus, looking in at the startled expressions of the team. "All right, everybody stay where you are. You'll be okay." I stepped up behind her and started rummaging through the glove box as she spoke.

"Aren't you the PE Teacher?" The coach asked when he saw me, and Beth turned a raised eyebrow to me.

"Not really," I said with a grin. "I'm like 21 Jump Street. The bus driver sells pot. Yeah." I had finished going through the glove box and looked at Beth.

"It's not here," I said, stepping back outside.

"Where is it?" Sam asked the driver.

"No way you'll ever find it," he smirked.

"Where is it?!" Sam yelled, holding his shotgun up to Dirk's chest and pushing him against the bus.

"Sam Winchester. Still a bully. You, you jocks... you popular kids... you always thought you were better than everybody else. And to you, I was just Dirk the jerk, right? Now you evil sons of bitches are gonna get what's coming to you." Dirk said through the mouth of the driver.

"I'm not evil, Dirk. I'm not. And neither were you. Trust me. I've seen real evil. We were scared and miserable, and we took it out on each other - us and everybody else. That's high school. But you suffer through that, and it gets better. I'm just sorry you didn't get a chance to see that... you or Barry." Sam said, and Beth stepped down off the bus, resting her hand at the small of my back and looking on with concern as she watched Sam talk.

"Nothing is gonna get better for me. Not ever." Dirk said.

With a sudden display of strength, Dirk broke through the ropes that were holding him and advanced on Sam. Stepping back he fired the shotgun twice and the driver reeled back, hitting the side of the bus. The spirit was on the move as a heavy set quarterback climbed out of the bus and attacked Sam from behind, pushing him to the ground and starting to throw a series of punches, hitting our brother in the face. I fired a salt round at him, but it didn't work, maybe there hadn't been salt in the gun, or maybe I'd missed?

"Beth! Find the hair!" I shouted and she nodded, running up to the driver and started going through his pockets while I ran back into the bus, going through the compartments again. The boy continued to pound into Sam as I jumped down the steps again and reached for my gun.

Beth let out a little triumphant cry and pulled the lock of hair out of one of the driver's boots. She flicked her lighter and set it on fire without thinking twice. The boy fighting with Sam started to scream and then fell on top of Sam as the spirit left him.

I helped Beth to her feet and she leaned heavily into me with relief while I wrapped my arm around her.

"Uh, little help?" Sam asked and I chuckled at the sight of him crushed under what had to be 250 pounds of muscle.

"He's giving you the full cowgirl," I commented and Beth sniggered next to me, shaking her head.

---

12 years ago

Beth's POV

Dean and I were hiding in the janitor's closet, there was the tiniest amount of light shining in through gaps between the door and the hinges. He shifted beside me, listening out for Amanda and his hand brushed along my arm. I was suddenly hit with the awkwardness of the moment. Dean slid his hand around my hip and stepped in to me and I giggled apprehensively, chiding myself. I was meant to be sixteen, not six!

"Jesus, what are you giggling about?" Dean said.

"I don't know, this is weird, isn't it?" I asked, distracted by the warm hand touching me.

"Yeah…" He said quietly, looking down at me. I stared up at him, licking my lips nervously.

We heard Amanda's laugh echo down the hall and Dean leaned in, his breath brushing across my lips. I couldn't help myself, I giggled again and he looked at me in exasperation.

"Are you going to help me or not?" He whispered.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," I said, steeling myself, and looking up into those hazel eyes. I could do this. I could totally kiss my brother, nothing wrong with this scenario at all. If only I could tell that to the butterflies in my stomach. I thought about how John would kill us if he could see us right now, and that helped to sober my mood.

"Okay, let's do this," Dean said quietly, looking at me.

"Okay," I replied with a nod, tentatively placing my hand on his hip as he moved in closer. He leaned in to me, tilting his head to the side and then I felt a tiny thrill as his lips brushed across mine, tentatively at first and then starting to press a little firmer as he ran his tongue along my upper lip.

I gasped in surprise, not expecting that, and felt myself respond in kind, my tongue hesitantly brushing against his as I reached up and placed a hand at the back of his neck. He moaned, actually moaned, and it sent a rush of jitters down my stomach and further. Suddenly he didn't seem so much of a brother to me.

I moaned myself and started to push against him as he slipped a hand around my waist pulling me into him and kissing me harder. There was a knock at the door and I felt my heart drop, damn, I didn't want this to end. Dean kept kissing me like his life depended on it, and when there was another knock he pulled away for five seconds.

"Five more minutes Jerry!" He called out and then claimed my lips again, his tongue sliding in to meet mine.

The door to the closet opened, flooding the little space with light and Amanda gasped, seeing us locked in a passionate embrace.

"Amanda, hey!" Dean said, turning to look at me. "We ah... we..." He stuttered deliberately, he wasn't looking for an excuse on this one, he wanted her to get angry. "Gettysburg address, 1863… right?" He asked, before turning back to Amanda.

"History test next period. We're studying," he said.

"I knew something was going on between the pair of you," Amanda said quietly, shaking her head and walking away.

"Come on, baby," he said, stepping out into the hallway with her. "Nothing is going on, she's my sister!"

"Really Dean? Because neither of you act like brother and sister when you're around each other. Maybe you should rethink that statement," I shifted uncomfortably at her words and started to consider them seriously. Dean and I had been a lot closer lately, but we'd never been accused of being anything other than siblings.

"Baby, don't be mad," Dean said, avoiding the accusation.

"Look, I'm not mad Dean. I just wish... I wish you could have actually had that kind of a connection with me. I thought maybe… underneath your whole "I couldn't give a crap," bad-boy thing, that there was something more going on, that you felt something like that for me. Like the way you are with your …so-called sister. Like you are with Sam." Amanda stopped and looked at him, sighing. "But I was wrong. And you spend so much time trying to convince people that you're cool, but it's just an act. We both know that you're just a sad… lonely little kid. And I feel sorry for you, Dean." I could see Dean prickled at the comment, but it was what he'd been trying to achieve, so he took it.

"You feel sorry for me, huh? Don't feel sorry for me. You don't know anything about me. I save lives. I'm a hero. A hero!" He said as she walked away. I looked out of the closet as all her friends stared back at him like he was a jerk.

"What? What!" Dean said exasperatedly. He threw his arms up in the air and I bit my lip. They turned and walked away and Dean stared silently after them, still bristling at the comments Amanda had thrown his way.

"Hey," I said and Dean turned to me, sighing. "You okay?"

"Yeah, hey, mission accomplished right?" He said and I nodded, but there was an underlying discomfort there. I tucked my arm through his and gave him a smile.

"She doesn't get it Dean, she never would. You know more and more I see that we don't belong in this world; how could we?" I said. He nodded, and put his arm around my shoulders in a brotherly fashion.

We walked along the hallway together and he chuckled.

"What?" I asked, looking up at him.

"Well, you know, we're totally going to end up old and alone like Dad at this rate, but who on earth would ever get the life we live?" He asked. I shook my head with a smile.

"Yeah… it's not looking good is it? But hey, you'll always have me. You know what they say, in for a penny." I answered. He smiled and nodded, kissing my forehead.

"Dude, I wouldn't bother," Carl's voice sounded behind us and Dean turned an icy gaze to the boy whose nose was now sporting a cast for the break I'd caused. Carl smirked. "You're not gonna get anything out of her man, totally frigid," he said and I felt Dean's arm tighten around me.

"You know you need to watch your mouth," Dean said to Carl, who laughed.

"Or what?" Carl goaded. Dean stepped forward and I held my free arm up to his chest, stopping him.

"Or I'll do more than break your nose, you stupid prick," Dean threatened.

"Let it go, Dean. He's not worth it," I said, and I felt him bristle but he didn't progress.

"You come near her again, and you'll wish you hadn't," Dean said angrily to Carl, who just laughed.

"Man, I got everything I wanted out of her, she's all yours." He turned and walked away, leaving me gaping.

Dean's pocket started ringing and he pulled the cellphone out of it. "Dad?" He asked immediately. We all knew it wouldn't be anyone else. He looked down at me, relief in his eyes when he heard John's voice. "Finally!" He said. I had to agree, we were way overdue for a change, this school sucked. He hung up, looking at me.

"Time to go?" I asked, and he nodded.

"Yeah, we'll meet him at the motel. Let's find Sam, I can't wait to get the hell out of here, this place sucks." Dean said.

oOooOooOo

Sam's POV

I walked down the hallway, and this time it was different. The students around me clapped me on the back like I was a hero, and I heard a chorus of encouragement as I passed.

"Good job buddy!"

"Sam, great job with Dirk the jerk!"

I kept walking, a smile on my face as people patted me on the back and told me how great I was. I walked past Dean and Beth who were standing near some lockers in deep conversation and I noticed that Dean looked a little upset. They smiled over at me when they saw I was watching and I nodded, continuing down the hall toward the exit. I felt good.

Ten minutes later Dean and Beth came out from the school and caught up to me.

"Hey Sammy!" Beth said with a smile, giving me a hug. "Heard you stood up to a bully today!"

"Yeah," I said with a smile.

"Good for you little brother," she nodded.

"Well, Dad's on his way," Dean said, looking along the road. "He'll be here soon. We're gonna go back to the motel and pack everything up, he wants to leave right away. You stay here and tell him where we are when he arrives, okay?"

I nodded and settled in on the bench near the steps. "Okay Dean," I said.

"Maybe Beth should stay with you?" Dean suggested and I rolled my eyes at him.

"I don't need a babysitter Dean!"

"Okay, okay," Dean said, throwing his hands in the air. "We'll be at the motel, wait right here until Dad arrives, all right?"

"Yeah, all right Dean."

---

Present Day
Truman High

Sam's POV

When I found Mr Wyatt, he was alone in his room grading papers. I knocked on the door and entered when he looked up and waved me in.

"Uh, Mr Wyatt?" I asked hesitantly.

"Yes."

I took a couple more steps into the room, suddenly feeling a little lost for words. "You probably don't remember me, um, but my name is Sam Winchester, and uh… I just wanted to thank you."

"For?" He asked, looking quizzically at me.

"I was a student here, and uh, you gave me some advice once," I said.

"Winchester, right," Mr Wyatt said with a smile, standing up. "Right. Yeah. You, uh – you wrote that horror story." He held his hand out to me and I took it, shaking it with a short laugh.

"Yeah. Yeah, I did. Yeah it's kind of all been one long horror story."

"What do you mean?" He asked curiously.

"Nothing. Sorry," I said, shrugging.

He nodded, looking down, and I could see how the years had played at him, wearing on him. He still had the same kind eyes though.

"So, what was this advice? I might need to plagiarise myself down the line," he asked with a laugh.

"You told me that I didn't have to go into the family business. You said I could make my own choices."

"So you've managed to do your own thing, then, huh?" He asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, for a while, yeah. And I think I went to college because of you," I said and he looked impressed. I nodded again. "But, you know, people grow up."

"Yeah," Mr Wyatt said with a kind smile.

"Responsibilities…" I continued. "But still, um… you took an interest in me when no one else did. That matters, so thank you."

Mr Wyatt nodded and peered at me carefully. "Well, you know, the only thing that really matters is that you're happy. Are you happy, Sam?"

I didn't have an answer for that.

---

12 years ago
Motel Room

Dean's POV

Beth jumped in the shower as soon as we got back to the motel, something about not knowing when she'd get the chance again if we were hitting the road soon. I changed into a pair of sweatpants, looking through my bag for my favourite t-shirt, but it was missing. I sighed, and went through Sam's bag too – nothing. Beth's bag was over by the other bed and I contemplated searching it, but the last time I'd done that she'd ripped me a new one. I'd just wait until she was done; I flopped on the bed and turned on the TV flipping through the channels.

Ten minutes later she emerged from the bathroom wearing a towel wrapped around her.

"Hey, there's still hot water if you want a shower too," she said, seeing me half undressed.

"Nah, I'm good." I said, looking over at her. She looked a little sad, and her eyes were a little puffy like she'd been crying.

"Are you okay?" I asked, she nodded but not very convincingly.

"You want to try that one on me again?" I asked, and she sighed, coming over to lie down on the other bed, pulling a pillow under her chin as she looked over at me.

"Seriously, do all guys your age only want one thing?" She asked, and I knew immediately what was bugging her.

"Pretty much," I said, and she rolled her eyes.

"Hey, you didn't do anything wrong Beth," I said to her. "Just because we all want it doesn't mean we get it." She looked at me curiously.

"Have you?" She asked a little shyly.

"Have I what?" I asked, avoiding the question.

"You know!" She laughed, raising an eyebrow.

I raised an eyebrow back at her, assessing her. Why did she care?

"Maybe…" I said with a cocky grin.

"Really?" She asked. I nodded. She looked thoughtful, and then glanced down at her hands.

"Beth, don't be in a hurry, hey?" I looked at her and my heartbeat sped up a little. I shifted uncomfortably at the feelings that were stirring inside of me; they had been coming up for months now. I knew I shouldn't indulge them, and that kiss, it had been a really bad idea. I should have gotten some other girl to do it, because it was all I could think about now, the feel of her lips against mine, the thrill when she'd actually responded to my taking the kiss deeper – a soft little moan that had escaped her throat - that had been unexpected.

"Don't take on anything that jerk said to you," I said out of the blue, and she looked up at me with her big brown eyes. "You're beautiful, and any guy would be lucky to have you." She blushed at and looked down again, smiling.

"You think I'm beautiful?" She asked, looking at me shyly.

"Well, yeah… you know, in a totally… brother … not weird way…" I said, completely lying my ass off.

"Of course," she laughed and shook her head at me.

"Now would you please put some clothes on before Dad shows up and completely reams us a new one?" I asked her.

Of course, the door opened at that exact moment and Sam entered with Dad. He took one look at us both on the beds, half dressed and I sucked in a breath.

"Hey Dad," Beth said, sitting up on the side of the bed, completely missing the look from him. He glared at me and I sat up with a shrug, while Beth rummaged through her bag. She grabbed some clothing and walked back into the bathroom to get changed.

"What the Hell is going on here?" Dad asked as soon as she was gone.

"What? Nothing!" I said, frowning at him.

"Didn't look like nothing. I get back and the pair of you are half naked, lying around on the beds, staring all moon-eyed at each other?" Dad frowned at me, clearly displeased.

"You are totally over-reacting Dad, nothing was going on, we were just talking about school." I said, grabbing a new t-shirt out of my bag and pulling it over my head. It wasn't the one I wanted to wear, but suddenly finding that other shirt wasn't a priority.

"Yeah, maybe, but I think it's time we started to lay down a few rules about this whole arrangement." He said.

"Dad what are you talking about?" Sam asked, shaking his head.

"Never you mind Sammy, this is between me and Dean, and Beth." Dad said. "Get your things and go wait in the car." Sam frowned and crossed his arms, looking at us both facing off.

"Why do I always have to wait in the car?" Sam asked in a whiney tone.

"Because you're the youngest, that's why," I snapped at him, just trying to get him out of the room before Dad blew up at the rest of us. He didn't need to get caught in the middle here.

Sam let out a huff and grabbed his things, walking out the door and slamming it behind him.

"I don't know what the hell you're playing at here Dean, but that girl is off limits, you hear me? She's your sister, and you better start acting like it!" Dad said, I rolled my eyes at him.

"I haven't done anything wrong Dad! Just ask her, just ask Sam! Man, you are totally riding my ass over something that I haven't even done!" I snapped back, angry.

Beth came out of the bathroom, and I shook my head at her. She glanced between the pair of us, looking a little confused.

"Okay, here's the deal," Dad said, his voice softening a little with Beth in the room. "You guys are teenagers, I know what it's like, hormones running wild and all the rest. But I can't have you guys entertaining any thoughts… you're brother and sister, and that's it."

Beth and I glanced at each other and nodded, she bit her lip a little and I frowned. What the hell was that about?

"You both need to promise me, promise me that you will honour my wishes. I don't care if you want to go see other kids outside of this family unit, but we are a family, I need you to act like it. I need you focused on protecting Sam, and each other. Not confused by feelings that are completely hormone driven," Dad continued.

"Yeah, we get it Dad," I said, running a hand through my hair. "But you know, this is completely ridiculous, nothing is going on."

"Totally not," Beth said, shaking her head. "Dad… you need to trust us."

"I do Bethie," Dad said, smiling at her. "I do trust you, I just need to make it clear what I expect, okay?"

She nodded and Dad looked over at me, his eyes said anything except trust where I was concerned.

"Do you promise? You're my children, both of you, you are brother and sister, and you'll act like it, you'll protect Sam, you'll look after each other?" He said.

"We have been doing that since the day Beth joined us Dad!" I said exasperatedly.

Dad frowned, and then sighed. "Yeah I know, but just promise me now, today that you'll keep doing it. Let's make a pact."

I sighed and looked at Beth, who shrugged and raised her eyebrow at me. "Yes, sir," I said. "Whatever you say."

Beth nodded, looking over at him with a smile. "I promise, Dad. You can count on me."

Dad looked between us again and then nodded. "Okay, get your things, we're leaving," he said, turning and leaving the room.

I looked over at Beth and rolled my eyes. "Really? What are you doing with my favourite t-shirt on?" I asked and she chuckled.

"I like this shirt," she said, spinning around in it. "It's comfy!" I crossed my arms and shook my head at her.

"Okay, you can wear it today. But I want it back tomorrow!" I said and she grinned at me, skipping up to kiss me on the cheek.

"We'll see," she said and turned to grab her bag off the bed. I tackled her to the bed with a laugh and forced her to face me.

"No 'we'll see' about it, I want it back or I'm gonna take it off you myself," I said with a grin. She struggled against me, but I had her pinned. Suddenly I realised that I'd have to stop all this for a time, unless I wanted to get us both in trouble. Damn. All I wanted to do was kiss her again, and now we were under strict orders to keep it platonic. Life had suddenly just gotten about a hundred times more complicated.

---

Present Day

Beth's POV

While Sam was at the school we took a little drive, and found ourselves parked outside the motel where we'd stayed when we'd last been here. Dean stared at the door to the room we'd spent the better part of a month in and sighed.

"Hey, what you thinking about?" I asked, but I had a suspicion I already knew the answer.

"Us," he said. "And that day."

He didn't need to tell me what day he was talking about. I knew. I sighed softly, reaching a hand out to stroke it along his face.

"It's in the past Dean, we can't change it," I said and he nodded, turning to me with conflicted eyes.

"I knew then," he confessed and I felt my jaw drop open. "I knew I loved you, even then. And then Dad…"

With a nod I slid across the benchseat until I was pressed up against him. He slipped his arm around my shoulders, pulled me in to rest my head against his shoulder, my lips pressed up against his neck.

"I knew too," I murmured softly, closing my eyes. We said nothing for a good long while.

"It's okay," I said finally, pulling away after planting a kiss against his skin.

"Things could have been so different," Dean said quietly.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, maybe we could have done something with our lives, started fresh, like Sam did when he went to college," he said softly.

"You mean give up the hunt?" I questioned.

"Yeah, maybe… I dunno," Dean said with a shrug.

I smiled and kissed him again, resting my head on his shoulder again.

"Well… we all make mistakes, Dean. It's what we do with the rest of the time we have left that matters," I whispered.

"Yeah," Dean said with a nod. He kissed my forehead and then started the car up.

"Come on," he said. "Time to go find that wayward brother of ours and make sure he's not gallivanting off with some demon, or worse."

I chuckled, nodding, and I realised that this was the story of our lives. Sam. With that promise John had made us make, we'd sealed our deal, willingly or not over a decade ago, longer for Dean. And protecting Sam was a mission we would see through until the end, regardless of where it took us.

---

AUTHOR'S NOTES

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Song for this chapter is: 18 Years by Daughtry

I was talking last week to one of my best friends from high school, and he reminded me of how when our group of friends (6 of us) turned 18 we committed to being 18 Til We Die thanks to Bryan Adams' song… now, 18 years on, we're feeling our age! LOL I sent him the song 18 Years and he agreed that it was probably a little more like us these days… it's beautiful, but kind of sad LOL

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If you want a little insight into why John was totally over-reacting to finding Dean and Beth in the motel room, check out EarthhAngel's story How To Save a Life , specifically Chapter 8 and POV of Cole at 19 years old where John is off on a hunt during the time the kids are in school and then calls in at Bobby's.

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I hope everyone had a good Easter, I had a long weekend which was awesome, and able to get settled into the house a little more. And I got to spend some time with my one month old niece and her 5yo sister, and my little brother and sister, first time in a long time – it was awesome!

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I have no idea what's up next with the story… I think it's Sex and Violence. There is a big original piece that I've been wanting to write for some time, but I haven't managed to even make a start on yet. It'll feature after On the Head of a Pin so I probably should get a start on it!

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Thank you so much to everyone who left comments and reviews for the last few chapters, I think I've managed to reply to everyone if I could do so. Getting a review really makes my day and shows me how much you value the time I put in to the story, so I thank you for taking the time out of your day to share your thoughts with me.

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Brianna – in response to your question(s), I know they talked about Dean being a born again virgin after getting back from Hell, in the show, but because of Beth it didn't really work into my storyline in quite the funny way that it did in canon. They'd already more than crossed that bridge by the time it was mentioned in canon, so I just glossed over it because I don't see how it's that relevant. After all, it's not like sleeping with Beth (mentally) is a new thing, he'd still remember what it felt like etc. (unlike a girl who would physically FEEL it in a different way). I've spoken with my guy friends and all of them agree it wouldn't exactly be a big deal. But I guess if you want to keep score, then yeah, Dean took Beth's virginity, and now she's technically taken his. And, the reason I didn't respond immediately was because your privacy settings don't allow me to reply via PM and I can't PM guest reviews either, so you had to wait until I had something to post before I could reply... in future, change your settings if you want a faster reply ;) Relax girl... I know Dean's virginity is a big deal, but don't give yourself a coronary over it ;)

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I also need to say that I was completely disappointed in the shower scene from the most recent Season 9 episode LOL Believe me, when I get to that scene, it'll be a whole lot better, but still as heart breaking Poor Dean, I'm very worried for him.

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Okay, hope you enjoyed this episode, it's been one of my favourites to tackle. Please make my day and leave a review!