Hey guys! sorry it's been so long. I've been in Yosemite for the past while with no access to the internet. BUT! I did handwrite a lot of chapters so all it's gonna take is typing them in. :) Enjoy! And please review and tell me what you think!

CHAPTER 13

"So I've been doing a bit of research." Sam finally popped up from behind his laptop. The harsh computer light illuminated his face in the early morning gray. Clouds overhead suggested rain. Maggie huffed as she glanced out the window and into the world.

"We noticed." Emma returned with a smile. As Maggie scrutinized her friend, she saw a slight lift of her shoulders and a wider smile. That was a product of Sam's easygoing smile and boyish charm. Even Maggie thought he was adorable, and she usually went for boys with unnaturally colored hair, and more piercings than herself. But that was just her. Emma, on the other hand, preferred decent guys but she was more of a love - excuse her - screw 'em and leave 'em kind of gal. Sam wasn't her type, yet Maggie could tell she was comfortable around the guy. Almost like a sibling aura about them. Emma switched over to Sam's booth side, looking like a child compared to the tall man. Maggie smirked into her coffee.

"Just got off the phone with Bobby," Dean's voice floated through the diner as he came back and sat next to Maggie, "He said he's never heard of ghosts deflecting iron,but he'll let us know if he finds anything. Also, Emma, he wants you to call him." Emma lifted an eyebrow and made a huffing noise, leaning back in her seat, like a child forced to call her father. He was closer than he thought.

"Cool." Maggie nodded her head and stifled a yawn.

"Sam's got some info." Emma reported as she slid the laptop from him. She opened a new tab on his browser and began typing.

"Right," Sam said. "So this girl, Annie Bennett, was abducted by a Henry Gullan when she was a kid. Her body was never found, but they did find some of her things in a cabin that he owned - about a mile away from the campground. He confessed."

"They have no idea where her body is?" Dean asked. He handed the waitress their menus.

"No, butt hey do believe that her body was burned during hte fires a couple yeas ago. Went through that whole area."

"So," Maggie cut in, "Annie is obviously trapped here. It's probably not her body. Maybe it's something she owned. But that seems unlikely considering the second spirit. I think he's her tether."

"So... one spirit keeping another on Earth."

"Exactly. I think we can help a lot better if we go after his bones first." Sam and Dean nodded, impressed.

"What?! Sorry, Mags." Emma exclaimed incredulously. She turned the computer around tos how a mug shot of a middle aged man. "That's him, right? That's the spirit."

"Looks like he got into a fight with some Rogaine. Shit." Dean remarked and smirked. "But yeah, that's him." there was a pause. "Why?"

"The son of a bitch is still alive."

"People are sick." Emma spat out as she and Dean crossed the parking lot. They were headed toward her truck to go to the Ranger's office. "I mean really. Compared to some of the stuff I've seen, just by sick and twisted humans, we're not all that different from demons. At least you know right off the bat they're evil." Dean thought about Ruby.

"I think we're real different from demons." Dean disagreed as he climbed into the passenger's seat. Emma started her truck with a roar. Dean looked at her, impressed.

"8-cylinder." Emma said with a grin. "But look around. Parents beat their kids for Christ's sake." By the crease in her brow, Dean could tell she had hit a little too close to home.

"I dunno, Emma." Dean made a face, suggesting how unsure he was. "People can be great. Good food, good music. Strip clubs. Families. Metallica? C'mon. We're awesome!" Dean gave her that boyish grin and she tried not to acknowledge the pounding in her chest.

Emma gave in, only because she didn't want to bring him down. "This is true. Especially the strip club part." she rolled her eyes.

"See, that's your problem." Dean said as he fiddled with the radio. Emma scoffed and Dean only smirked wider. "You gotta look at the glass of beer half full." Emma didn't bring up the way Dean sometimes looked at his hunting knife, sitting all alone. Ad Dean began to drum his feet to Paradise City as they raced down the road she also didn't bring up that it was a little difficult to look at a glass half full when it was shattered, or live in the now when her watch kept going back.

The drive to the Ranger's station was filled with the occasional argument over the radio or the way Dean called Emma babe, but mostly the sound of humming from one or the other was the only sound. Neither of them spoke of the kiss, even if they were both thinking about it. Emma loved silence.

"Stop fiddling with your collar." she scolded Dean as they walked across the clearing in the forest toward the little visitor's station. The parking lot was a bit further than necessary. Dean had a sneaking suspicion this was to force people to hike. He wondered how Emma was doing it in heels. Emma was wondering the same thing.

"I can't breathe in this thing."

"Well hi there, folks!" A ranger in a wide brimmed hat and a wide, toothy smile approached with something of a skip in his step that made Emma and Dean grimace. "What can I do ya for?" Emma blinked a couple of times.

"Hello. I'm Agent Marsh and this is my colleague Agent Black. We're here investigating the -"

"Oh yes. The poor souls in the campground. I've always thought all along there was something fish about their deaths. And I'm not just saying that because there's a lake. Everyone says it's a rabid bear but I know what's really going on here."

Emma was curious. Dean smiled encouragingly. "What do you think is going on, Mister...?" he looked for a nametag.

"Max," the ranger clarified, "and I think it's them terrorists. What a better place and time to attack this country than here while our fine citizens are eating s'mores." Emma, for a moment, was going to laugh out loud before she realized he was serious and masked her laughter with a series of coughs. Dean gave her a couple of thumps on the back as he smiled understandingly at Max.

"Y'know, Max, I'm not supposed to be saying anything but..." he leaned in close toward the ranger. "we have been looking into terrorism very seriously. Camping is the American thing." Max nodded his eyes wide. "Right Agent Black?"

Emma hoped her face wasn't too red. "That's correct. Which is why we came here to see you, Max. We have suspicions that there may be some activity going on on the restricted property up the hill. We were wondering if you could grant us permission to check it out." Max's eyes widened even further.

"Golly gee. Right in my own backyard... but you're the feds." he said, "can't you just do whatever y'all want?"

"We prefer to stay as close to our true selves as possible when we're investigating." Emma replied, cutting off Dean's stuttered reply. "A civilian would come talk to you first - and are we not simple people with a plastic ID and a bit more training?" Max looked like he was about to shed a tear.

"Absolutely, you are absolutely right." he nodded vigorously. he nodded vigorously. "I'll make sure my rangers know you're allowed to be there. Good luck and Good speed, Agents." With that dramatic display, Max turned and walked off into the woods.

Dean and Emma stood there. Emma looked amused and Dean had his mouth hanging wide open. There was a few seconds of silence before Emma lost it and started laughing. Dean stood shocked for a second as she laughed hysterically into his chest. Dean knew that he actually would know what to do better if she was crying. "Stop, I'm gonna pee!" Emma shrieked into his shoulder. Dean found himself laughing as well.

"I'm not doing anything," he said through laughs and pushed Emma back to see her face was bright red against her yellow hair. In alarm, Dean reached forward and brought his hand sharply across her cheek.

Emma's face immediately fell, and she stood still, blinking rapidly. "Wow..." Dean said as he chuckled awkwardly, "You okay there?" Emma frowned a little bit, her cheeks red with a blush. It was the girliest thing Dean had ever seen her do, and it made him fiercely protective and kinda turned on.

"Yeah that was just... wow that was really funny. Jesus." Dean smiled and they both took off toward Emma's truck, still chuckling as the rain came down on their heads.

"You guys are gonna meet us there, right?" Emma said into the phone as she wrung out her hair. They were standing at their campsite, Dean and Emma in the tent, on the phone with the other two. "Okay let us change and we'll be on our way. Ten minutes. Love ya too. Bye." Dean could hear Maggie's shrill laughter on the other line and he smiled as he shrugged off his jacket and let it drop by his sleeping bag. Emma was doing the same. The two of them awkwardly made eye contact as they stood in the tent together, rain making sounds against the top of the tent. Dean smirked.

"This is kinda hot." he said, and Emma groaned as she pulled off her skirt and her jeans on in record time. Dean couldn't have seen anything even if he was looking.

"Shut up, Dean." she said pleasantly as she pulled on a heavy rain coat from her duffel bag and pulled it on over her button up shirt. "Let's go."

"So it's not the spirit that's keeping Annie around, so then what is it?" Dean wondered out loud as Emma drove her car through the dirt roads through the rain, that had subsided the further into the forest they got, through the burnt forest, toward the cabin that somehow still stood.

"It could be anything," Emma groaned as she paused her singing along to I Drive Your Truck and hit a rock at high speed. Dean was jostled in his seat, and he made a face. "4 wheel drive." she said in a smile. "It could be the cabin, something of hers, it could even be her body."

"I agree with Maggie," Dean said, "I don't feel like it's her body."

"I'm willing to bet it's the cabin." Emma replied as they pulled up behind the Impala. Sam and Maggie were standing outside on the dry ground as Emma and Dean climbed out of the truck and walked over to them. "Y'll alright?" Emma asked. Sam smiled and nodded, holding up a few bags of salt.

"Got it all," he said. Emma smiled and Dean took one of the bags of salt. The two men went inside, and Emma and Maggie followed, cans of lighter fluid in their hands. Emma pocketed her gloves, and began spraying as they followed the boys' scattered salt, boots crunching on the ground. "We better hurry before the rain comes." Sam said. As Emma walked behind Sam, spraying her lighter fluid, something caught her eye. It was a little doll. Dirty with age, and its dress was ripped. She stopped walking and reached out to take it into her hand.

You'll protect me, won't you Mary? You're my best friend. Please don't let him hurt me tonight.

The wall of pain that came with the doll made Emma back up a couple steps and drop the can onto the ground with a dry sob. Pain that was not hers, and yet in so many ways it was, rose in her chest like bile and she collapsed against the wall. Dean, Sam and Maggie immediately turned at the sound of the pained voice, and Dean was the first to rush over, even ahead of Maggie. "Emma?" he asked worriedly. He took the doll from her hand and pocketed it, putting one hand on either side of her face. "Emma, babe? Come on back. Come on." Without warning, Emma's face was in his chest, and her body was shaking. His hands went up and down her back and he motioned for the others to keep doing what they were doing. Maggie looked doubtful, but followed behind Sam.

"Oh my god." Emma gasped as she leaned back, her chest contorting under her hand as she put one hand over her heart. "Wow that was so powerful. There was so much pain in that doll." Dean shifted uncomfortably.

"You're not hurt, right?"

"No, I'm fine. That was just, wow." She felt her bottom lip start to tremble and her eyes fill up with tears that she furiously whipped away. "We need to burn this place to the ground. I'm surprised it's not a breeding ground for evil by now."

Dean smiled a little bit as Sam and Maggie came back.

"Boom badda boom!" Maggie said, smiling. "Let's torch this fucker."

"You wanna do it?" Dean asked Emma in her ear, and she nodded.

The match was dropped, and before they knew it, the cabin was on fire. The four of them rushed out the open door right as the explosion shook the ground and sent them all onto the ground. Maggie felt her head hit a rock and let out a curse. The joy they all felt was short lived, though, when the little girl came to stand in front of them. Emma looked up and immediately brought herself up onto her knees.

"You freed me..." Annie said, a smile on her face. Emma smiled and nodded, unable to speak. "Thank you." Dean reached over and squeezed Emma's shoulder. Sam hugged Maggie under his arm. "Now, I can make him hurt." Emma's smile fell as they watched her disappear into the forest. Dean met Sam's eyes.

"Shit..."

"AGENTS?!" They all heard a scream just in time for Max to come flying into the clearing. The rain was beginning to fall. They were not worried about the cabin. "I came as soon as I heard the explosion. Did you get the terrorists?!"

Thanks for reading! Lots more coming!

Please please please review! I've loved all the feedback I've gotten so far but I would honestly love more. Give me hot and cold feedback! I want to hear it all. What do you wish I could do differently? What would you like me to continue doing? Thanks so much!