As you may have noticed, the thing I love most about writing this is the conversations. Pure action chaps are so much more difficult and I love the interaction between the characters when they're doing the most supposedly normal things.

So yet again, I have a game plan but got so carried away with the chatter that it went on and on…I don't care and I hope that you enjoy but it means you'll be waiting to find out what happens next. Hee hee
We find out more about the hunt but there's still a way to go. I went lighter on laughs but you get the 'family meeting', something I introduced in Hope and it kind of caught on, I like the idea that Dean's the general of this mini-militia!!

I wrote this and then went out and got hideously drunk with an elderly man called Nigel which is when I had the genius idea to proof read it and post! God, I hope i don't regret this tomorrow!! xx
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As the sun came up the house was finally quiet and its occupants exhausted. Brooke was bleary eyed as she fed Lily who seemed undisturbed by anything as she suckled hungrily. Sam had finally passed out covered in old pieces of paper and photos with Dylan's head resting on his outstretched arm, Bobby snored gently in one chair as Dean occupied the other, his head back and mouth open even as his hand stroked his sleeping wife's back. The others were all propped or lying on the floor. Cole was the first to stretch and yawn as he blinked at the bright light shining through the curtains.

"You ok?" She asked him quietly.

He looked down at his sister who had her head in his lap and shifted her so he could get up. "Yeah." He popped his neck muscles with a loud crack and she winced. "I'll get coffee."

"You're an angel."

As he left the room Dean's head snapped back up and he looked around him wondering where he was. He glanced down at Bonnie who was sleeping on his lap and hugged her closer in the cold room. "Everyone still alive?" He asked Brooke.

"Yeah, good job with that, the Winchesters live to see another sunrise." She smiled.

"I think it's safe to go up now, get a couple of hours decent sleep…we have a lot to cover before nightfall."

"Sam's shattered; it's not good for his body to be awake so long."

Dean frowned over at his younger brother and had to agree as Cole walked in with a tray of coffees setting them down on the low table in front of Dean. Cole picked one up and wafted it under Bobby's nose rousing the old man who coughed and sat up. Slowly everyone started to awaken as the smell filled the room.

Cole leaned over the bed and grabbed Dylan under the arms lifting him up in one swift movement. "Is it over?" Dylan asked as he laid his sleepy head on his cousins' shoulder.

"For now." He said reassuringly as he held him steady with his right arm and bent to pick up a mug. "I'll stay with him, don't worry." Cole told his Aunt as he took him back up to their room.

Dean shifted uncomfortably feeling his cramped muscles come back to life as he struggled to stand with Bonnie still in his arms.

"Are we going to bed?" She asked.

"You are I'll come up in a bit." He told her as he motioned to Johnny with his head.

Still in his short silk robe Johnny got hold of her. Bonnie let go of Dean and wrapped her arms around her friend so he could carry her up the stairs. Dean watched them go and flexed his arms trying to get some blood flowing back in them before taking a hit of coffee.
Everyone was gone and he stood watching his sister-in-law who cooed at the baby in her arms, it looked pretty amazing and his wisecracks about her breasts were absent for a change. He felt sad he'd never seen and would never get to see his own wife doing something so sweet and natural and imagined that Sam loved to sit and watch them together. He blinked and wondered what had gotten into him, it wasn't unusual for him to wake up and think of boobs but not in this way.

Sam was still out for the count after a long night spent reading and Dean was proud of the fact that although Sam wasn't able to hunt as normal he still managed to take control of the situation and come up with the goods on their vengeful spirit.
Right at that moment though he needed someone to look after him and Dean was ready to step up to the plate as always.

"You're exhausted." Dean said to Brooke putting down his mug. "Why don't you go up and sleep, I'll stay here."

She looked over at Sam. "You're sure?"

He gave her a look. "C'mon it's me."

Brooke rearranged her clothing then leaned down to kiss Sam before getting up and surprising Dean totally by kissing his cheek too.

"What's that for?"

She shrugged. "Just for being you, thanks Dean."

He frowned and watched her leave before he started to clear up all the papers on the bed and put them into piles at the side ready for later. He went to the kitchen next to get some warm water and supplies for the task ahead. They had all fallen asleep far too fast after all the excitement and Sam hadn't been turned in a while which could cause untold problems they wanted to avoid.
Looking after someone who was bedridden was hardly glamorous at the best of times and Dean figured he'd had his practice in the beginning and could spare Brooke as much as possible, after all she still wanted to be attracted to her husband when he was better. He knew she didn't mind looking after Sam but no matter how old he got, Dean would always see it as his job and it didn't bother him one bit.

He sat down on the side of the large bed next to his brother. "Hey." He shunted Sam's shoulder. "You think you can just sleep all day?"

"What time is it?"

"Time for ghosts to stop rattlin' their chains and for Hunters to get to work."

"Another ten minutes." He groaned.

"Dude, I'm not writing you a sick note so suck it up...here, check your notes maybe you'll see something new." He thrust a random notebook at his brother not really caring what it contained.

Dean couldn't be more sympathetic but he'd never let it show as it wouldn't make any of this any easier for Sam to deal with. Dean always distracted him somehow when it came to the grim realities of dealing with the stuff Sam couldn't do for himself any more and his brother was grateful for it.

Sam bent his arm behind his head and looked at his scrawled handwriting. "Half of this is barely legible." He squinted.

"Maybe you need glasses." Dean smirked.

"I don't need glasses." He answered tersely. "Right, so we know this Jericho guy hates women that can only be because of his wife so we need to find out something about her."

"And there's nothin' in any of these boxes?"

"I looked through them all, gotta be public record but God knows where they got married."

"You think he killed her?"

"Maybe she killed him, who knows?"

"I can get Cole and Hope to go check the archives at the library they know where it is, Bobby and Johnny can do records."

"Great. Do you have to go to the hospital?"

"Nah, thank God…no dialysis so I can stay here."

"You don't have to stay for me." He glanced around the notepad.

Dean refastened Sam's sweatpants and looked up. "Who says I'm stayin' for you?"

"Yeah right."

Dean grabbed the pad and put it down now that the worst part was over. "I always kinda thought living in a haunted house would be cool and now there's all that whiskey and money?" He whistled as he pulled Sam's sweatshirt over his head.

"That gold isn't ours."

"Sure it is."

"Knowing our luck it's cursed, we should just give it to charity."

"Nice one, let's curse the widows and orphans instead. Get real." Dean undid the Velcro holding the brace and looked to see if his skin was chafed.

Sam breathed a sigh feeling free for one blissful moment.

"That bad?"

"I wasn't built for wearing a corset."

"Oh I dunno, it does wonders for your cleavage."

"Hilarious. Ouch!"

"Ok, we have a live one." Dean found the beginnings of a sore and turned Sam over in one movement so he could clean it. They both knew it was possible that one small blister could be life threatening and Dean tackled it the same as he would with anything that hurt his brother; brutally.

"God, could you be a little more gentle Dean?"

"You're an ungrateful bitch." Dean said as he cleaned it and then poured antiseptic ointment on the area before blowing it dry quickly.

"And you're a sadistic jerk." He replied, "How does it look?"

"It's a pimple but you should stay off your back for the rest of the day." He said slapping his shoulder standing up to give it a chance to breathe. "You want juice before you brush your teeth?"

"I want coffee." He whined knowing it was bad for him.

"Juice it is then." Dean said with a shit-eating grin as he went to the kitchen with the garbage he had just amassed.

He came back a minute later and handed Sam some juice with a straw. "Thanks."

"We got a couple of hours to get some sleep I think it could be another long night. I sent Brooke up to get some shut eye."

Sam looked up at him. "I appreciate you not making her do this for me ya know?"

"And ruin that illusion of brooding mystery she has of you? Don't mention it." He shrugged taking the half empty cup setting it down on the side. Even when Sam had been in hospital Dean had done everything for him knowing that if the roles were reversed he wouldn't want some stranger or even his own wife to be messing about with his body in such a demeaning way.

"So you'll be making this house call every day?" He asked hopefully.

Dean shoved his hands in his pockets and smiled gently. "Yeah who else?"

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When Dean awoke a couple of hours later he saw Nitro staring into his face and groaned. "You wanna go out?" He rolled over and saw Sam still sleeping and got up to open the front door. He frowned when the key wouldn't turn and jimmied it a little. Raising his eyebrows at the dog who looked like he was crossing his legs he tried it again.

With his heartbeat gently quickening he walked quickly to the back door which he knew wasn't locked and tried it. "Shit." He moved to the windows and tried those too but they wouldn't budge. Grabbing a tea towel he wrapped it around his knuckles and shielded his face as he punched at the glass. He shook his fist in shock when it refused to give then looking around he spotted a rolling pin which no Winchester would use for any other purpose and went to smash the pane of glass with it. "Damn!"

Nitro sensed his change in mood and began to bark. "Chill out, no need to panic just yet." He quickly checked a few more windows but wound up back in the kitchen with an ache in the pit of his stomach.

Dean grabbed an empty cardboard box they had used for groceries and lifted the dog into it. "Shit in that." He muttered before running back into Sam's room.

His brother was still on his side and Dean shook him gently. "Sam….Sammy?" He whispered loudly.

Sam opened his eyes groggily. "What's wrong?"

"We're locked in." Dean looked at him in all seriousness.

"What?!" He asked suddenly wide awake as he went to sit up but then remembered he couldn't.

"I guess we underestimated the bastard."

Now that Sam was awake Dean needed to check on the others but there was no way that he was leaving him alone. He spotted an old coal skuttle made of copper by the fireplace and picked it up along with his gun, going out to the hall he started to bang one against the other deafeningly.

"Wakey wakey! Family meeting time!!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. "Three minutes!"

Dean stood by the bed as they all obediently started to appear in their nightclothes like the Von Trapp children on DEFCON 5. He turned and saw Sam counting them all in a silent roll call until they were all there assembled like fresh recruits. Johnny hunched Bonnie higher in his arms and Dean rested a hand on her head as he passed noting that Johnny was wearing pants for once.

"Drop and gimme twenty." Dean yelled at them. "Just kiddin. At ease."

Everyone grabbed some space with Brooke and Dylan automatically taking the bed. Nitro was the last to appear and looked relieved as he sat at Bobby's feet whilst Dean paced nervously at the foot of the bed.

"As you know we've come across a hell of a lot in our time but sometimes even I see somethin' new."

"What's happened?" Bobby asked leaning forwards.

"This Jericho dick apparently doesn't like to sleep during the day and he's put us on lock down."

"What does that mean?" Rita asked.

"It means he won't let us leave the house." Brooke replied like she was more pissed off than worried.

"What?"

Dean went to the window and threw open the curtains, it was a large bay and he put a knee on the window seat and punched the window with his fist. He turned and looked at them. "Like I said, lock down."

"That takes a hell of a lot of power." Bobby said.

Dean raised his eyebrows in agreement. "It could be worse." He calmed them. "We're all here together and we're armed with everything we need to take this sucker down."

"Only we can't salt his bones even if we do know where they are." Cole added.

"Right. The way I see it we have to come up with some other way of dealin' with this so we have to figure him out." He indicated the boxes and laptop. "We have more than enough resources to screw him over but we have to stick together so no one even pees without someone watchin' their back and…" He looked at Bonnie. "If you even think of pulling a Brooke and goin' into labor I'll give you to him myself, I mean it"

Johnny put a protective arm around her. "I'll inform my womb of your orders Herr Commandant." She saluted with a smile.

"Cute." He replied "Ok, here's what we know so far…this place was built by some whack job called Jericho who has some serious self-esteem and power issues. He likes to torture girls and that makes him a pussy in my book and like all pussies he's running away from a fair fight which makes it tougher for me to get him."

"Well then it's simple." Hope said. "Stick me in the dungeon and let me do it."

Dean laughed. "Yeah, cos that's why I raised a daughter."

"Well isn't it?" She frowned.

"Believe it or not I don't want my kids to wind up as cannon fodder to the unsouled masses. We need to find out more about what happened to get him so pissed off, then do this the right way. "

"He called me a whore." Rita suddenly spoke up.

No one said anything for a moment and Dean felt all eyes on him.
Bobby looked up at the ceiling whilst Dean coughed into his hand diplomatically. "Thanks for the news Rita, anythin' else?"

She shrugged. "He doesn't like fake tits."

Johnny sniggered and Dean rolled his eyes. "That's not just him sweetheart. I don't even have airbags in my car let alone stuck to the front of my missus."

"I was just saying."

Dean looked at them all with a sigh. "Ok, so we can all get breast implants and live here forever with an angry spirit, or we can try to come up with a Plan B."

Hope raised her hand. "I vote we use me as bait."

"Noted and rejected."

"On what grounds?"

"On the grounds of: kiss my ass. Next!"

Dean turned when Dylan piped up. "Do we have anything that belongs to the man?"

They all looked at one another and Dean shrugged. "Don't know."

"If we find something then I can tell you what he wants."

"Really?" Bobby asked.

"How?" Rita looked confused.

"Dylan's psychic." Johnny told her.

"Oh."

"Can't you just read his mind?" Johnny asked.

Dylan looked at him like he was mad. "Duh, he's dead!"

Johnny held up his hands. "Color me retarded."

"Or something that belonged to his wife would work too."

"There's nothing in the boxes Dean." Sam told him. "Did you leave anything intact in the attic?"

"Surely everything here belonged to him?" Johnny asked.

"It has to be a personal item, something he treasured." Sam answered.

Dean stared at him. "Like…er treasure maybe?"

"That would work," Dylan said excitedly. "I wanna see the treasure!"

"You're not going down there Dylan." Sam told him.

"Well I can't bring it up here."

"Why not?"

"Cos he built a chamber out of it and unless I melt it off the walls Sam then it's not happening."

"You're kidding?"

"Dude's got a solid gold speakeasy down there, its pure class." Dean grinned.

"I have to see this," Johnny sat up with a gasp. "If we get rid of him we can throw in a disco ball and have a house warming party, it'll be sooo cool!"

"Hold ya horses!" Bobby raised a hand. "I don't get any of this. Why ain't he doin' anythin' I mean, he's locked us in but hasn't made a move."

"Like I said he's scared." Dean shrugged.

"Don't flatter yourself." He sighed and thought for a second. "I hate to say it Sam but Dylan's right."

"No. I won't let him go down there." He shook his head.

"Me and Cole'll go with him, he'll be safe." Dean shot back.

Sam looked at him. "Dean, I know you'd protect him with your life but that's not the point. Women were killed down there he doesn't need that in his head."

Dylan knelt up on the bed and looked at Dean. "Chairman overrules though right? You make the final decision."

"Not this time Dyl."

"Why not?"

"Because he's your Father and no one overrules that." He replied sternly.

"This sucks." He sat back.

Dean exhaled, "Well, personally I think I'll look great with fake tits…how about the rest of you?"

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"We're not getting anywhere just sitting here." Cole said eventually. "I'll go back up to the attic and see if I can find anything old that might have belonged to this freak."

Hope stood up. "I'm coming with you."

Dean wanted to stop her but she had recovered from her bout the previous night and he had let her loose to be her own person, he couldn't take that back now. "Ok, but you don't turn your backs on one another for a second."

"Got it."

"Is it always like this?" Rita asked suddenly.

"Not all the time." Bonnie lied.

"When Hope was born?"

"I was exorcising a poltergeist in the White House." Dean smiled taking a seat on the bed.

"Right." She said believing him. "Bonnie's thirtieth?"

Dean frowned and looked at Sam. "Wasn't that the Wraith in Missouri?"

"Nah that was your first anniversary, her thirtieth was the Devil baby in Chicago."

Dean shuddered. "Oh yeah."

"So when was the doppelganger?" Johnny asked.

"The kids' tenth birthday." Bonnie said.

"Uh-uh" Dean came back. "I missed that for an exorcism in Utah."

"Right...the doppelganger was later that year."

"Wow." Dean sat back. "I haven't been around for anythin'."

"My fortieth was pretty awesome." She winked.

"Apart from the fight ya know…?" Dean was getting seriously bummed out and that was the reason he thought mother-in-laws should be banned.

"Well, you always said you wanted a hero kid, just a shame you have to share him with everyone else." Rita wasn't accusatory for once but actually being quite sweet.

"Like Lois Lane." Johnny added cheerfully.

"Yeah, I'm a regular superhero." Dean muttered. "Christ have I let you down that much?"

"Someone get me a Valium." Bobby said.

Rita reached into her pocket and threw a plastic container at him. "There ya go."

"I was joking woman!"

Rita stared him down and Bobby almost flinched. "Well excuse me for being helpful but I don't joke about pharmaceuticals."

There was an awkward silence for a minute and you could almost imagine crickets chirping somewhere. Dean checked his watch a little pointlessly and Johnny suddenly found a piece of lint on his sweater to be hugely distracting.

"Maybe we should send Rita back down there." Dylan said in all innocence. "If she can scare Grandpa then between that and her bobbies the ghost might just choose Hell."

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Cole and Hope came back a short while later and everyone greeted them with exaggerated enthusiasm.

"What did we miss?" Hope stared at them.

"Nothing, what have you got?" Dean jumped to his feet happily as Cole put the wooden crate on the floor and they all looked at it.

"I brought everything I could find that looked old enough but I don't know what's his."

"I can tell you!" Dylan bounced off the bed like it was a trampoline and landed next to the box.

"Wait!" Sam said. "Don't touch anything yet."

"Why?" Dylan asked.

"Just someone show me first ok?"

Dean might not be as much of a worrier as his brother but he wanted to back him up on this because if he was the one crippled and his family went against his wishes he would be pissed to hell. Dean picked the box up and set it down next to Sam and started to pick some of the objects out of it and lay them out as Dylan bounced next to him like a Springer Spaniel on acid.

"I'm gonna feed you some of that Valium in a minute if you don't slow down." Dean told him calmly. "Take it easy, the spirit's not going anywhere and neither are we apparently." He set the box back down on the floor and made Dylan sit quietly between his parents on the bed. "Now this is your Dad's speciality so just listen to him ok, no wisecracks."

Dylan sat on his hands obediently and looked at the objects in front of him like they were going to jump up and bite him.

"Everyone be quiet." Sam said a little needlessly as they all stared fascinated.

Sam took a breath, he hadn't honed his skills like his son, his were born out of fear and adrenaline like Dean's whereas Dylan's were more instinctual, if his son thought he could do it then Sam believed him.

Sam tried to look at him but it was pointless. "Dean, I have to sit up…I can't talk to him like this." Dean didn't argue for once and went over to him.

Dylan lost some of his self-assurance as he watched his father put an arm around his Uncle who slid his arms under him picked him up and lifted him higher on the bed like it was perfectly normal. No one else seemed bothered though as Brooke leaned across and put the pillows down for them. Dean lowered Sam's head and looked at him. "That ok?"

Sam nodded and turned to Dylan who stared back. "If you want to do this then don't focus on me, focus on the task."

"Ok." He said in a little voice.

"Right, clear your mind and just look at the stuff on the bed…don't pick something up unless it wants you to."

Dylan looked at the objects in front of him; there was an old doll, a piece of embroidery, a lace dress, a hairbrush, a pipe and some men's shoes along with various other random objects many of which he didn't recognize.

He started to run a small hand over each one in turn tuning out everyone else in the room. Sam longed to put a reassuring hand on him but knew it would just distract him so he sat and waited.

Dylan seemed to be veering towards the men's objects until his right hand suddenly moved and he picked up the hairbrush and plucked it off the bed holding it to him with his eyes closed. His little fingers pulled at the horse hair bristles and he suddenly pulled one hand away and looked at it. Hanging between his index finger and thumb was a long blonde hair they had to strain to see.

Dylan looked at his Father and Sam thought his concentration had broken before realizing with a shock that he was able to maintain a normal conversation whilst still seeing what was in his minds' eye.

"It's all because of her…" He said calmly holding the hair. "She's got a funny name…Demelza?" He shrugged. "He was mad with her."

"What did she do wrong?" Sam asked gently.

Dylan suddenly looked like he was going to cry. "She couldn't give him a little boy."

Dean looked at his wife and felt his heartbeat quicken.

"Did they have little girls?"

Dylan nodded. "They didn't last long, he liked the first one but when they kept coming he got mad."

Sam gulped. "Did he hurt them?"

"Uh-huh."

"Don't go there Dylan, tell us about Demelza."

"She was really pretty." He smiled. "Lots of men liked her."

Sam glanced at his brother. "Was there another man?"

"Yeah," He inhaled suddenly. "He really liked her."

"Did her husband find out?"

"Not until the little boy was born."

Sam wanted to stop it but Dylan seemed calm enough. "What happened to the little boy?"

"He put a hand over his face when he was born…" Dylan demonstrated and tears sprang out of his eyes.

"Why did he do that?"

"Because he was brown." Dylan's chest rose and fell quickly. "His Daddy tried to save him…he was too late, but he killed the bad man instead."

"I don't blame the guy." Dean said as Sam glared at him.

"What did the little boy's Daddy do to the bad man?"

"He took him downstairs to where Demelza was and then he hurt him for a long time like he hurt her and all the others."

"So his father was the good guy?"

"That's not what the judge said. Demelza's real mad about it."

"She's mad about what happened to her?"

"About everything, when they hung him she killed herself and now…she's here too."

"We got two spirits? Well that's fantastic…domestic violence from beyond." Dean whistled.

"Were they buried?"

"Demelza and the man were but the other one's still downstairs."

"Where?" Dean pushed.

Dylan shook his head, "I don't know…he never told anyone."

Sam took the brush gently in his hand and went to reach for his son. Before his hand got to within a centimetre of him there was a blast of energy in the room and Dylan was picked up from the bed and thrown across the room.

"NO!" Sam yelled.

Dean moved but his reflexes weren't fast enough as he saw his nephew fly head first towards the old marble fireplace.

Sam watched it in slow motion from the bed and his heart literally stopped as he realized Dean wasn't going to reach him. His hands went reflexively to his face and although he saw a flash of movement all he heard was a loud crash. He felt physically sick and refused to open his eyes even when he felt Brooke bolt off the bed.

"Dylan!" She shouted.

Sam lay back with his eyes still covered not wanting to look.

He heard a cry of pain but it wasn't from his son, everyone was still moving all around the room in panic. Sam kept his eyes shut and prayed silently until he heard a little sob.

"Sam?!" Dean shouted. "Here ya go." Dean walked over and thrust Dylan at him quickly before going back to the end of the room.

Sam held his son and breathed a sigh of relief as he kissed his hair.

When he finally looked around he saw them all crowded across the room and noticed that the mirror over the mantle was smashed and there was blood on the broken shards. Everyone was bent over a figure on the floor and Sam hated the relief he felt that his son was safe.

"Are you ok?" Sam kissed the top of Dylan's head.

Dylan nodded as he sobbed into his chest. "Cole protected me."

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More soon!