Revelations 2: Lost and Found

by everfaithful

Sequel to Revelations: Johns death revealed two secrets, not just one. Sam is willing to sacrifice it all to give his brother a chance at life, a real life, But Dean isnt willing to let that happen.

2. Chapter 2

A/N welcome back! It took us a little longer to get this chapter out than we had thought but I hope people think its worth the wait. People have voiced concerns about the additional brother, and the boys being separated. Let me assure you Jack isn't going to interfere with the brothers dynamic and you know they cant be apart forever. Its all about the journey to getting them back to where they need to be.

I hope you enjoy the continuing story, and please let us know what you do and don't like. The only way we know is if you tell us, so please R&R!

"You're the only one I know who goes into a bar hoping for a deep and meaningful conversation." Dean said, shaking his head, laughing. "But you want to swing up to New York next then?"

"I tend to only go to bars for 2 reasons, neither of which is picking up girls." Sam said with a laugh as he drank his beer. "Looking however is always an option."

"Sometimes I have no idea how we're related." Dean said, shaking his head. "But at least we're both looking, right? That's male bonding at its finest I think."

Sam laughed again. "I'm just not the one night stand sort of guy. I want more from a woman. " He shrugged. "You, however, are a man whore." He teased. Dean wasn't that bad... Not really. It just seemed that way if you didn't know him. Dean was just trying to find what he was missing.

"Hey I'm just enjoying myself is all. Figure after everything we've been through, you know the shit I really can't talk about to pretty much anyone, the least I deserve is the temporary company of a beautiful willing woman." Dean said with a smirk. "Anything more than that, I don't know, then I have to start telling her shit. Then it goes back tot he same pattern where I tell her the truth, she thinks I'm lying, we get in a fight and I drive off. Way too dramatic for me."

"You know she believes you now. No reason you can't ... I don't know... Swing by and see her sometimes. There has to be something to hunt in the general direction every now and again." He liked Cassie. Thought that she and Dean would be good for each other if Dean could just settle down a bit. Other hunters had homes. Some even had families that were more normal than theirs had been. There was no reason Dean couldn't have a woman that meant more than getting his rocks off.

Dean laughed. "Yeah, okay." Dean said. "I like my life, thanks though. You can keep the white picket fence for yourself." Because Sam was stubborn enough to get what he wanted, if he wanted it. Dean, he had memories of the white picket fence in Kansas . And he remembered all too harshly what it felt like when the white picket fence burned to the ground.

Sam barely kept the bitterness out of his laugh, or the sadness out of his eyes. Dean had spent a lot of time through out their childhood trying to convince Sam that it wasn't his fault that his mother was dead. That it was the demon's fault. Even their father jumped on that bandwagon when it was shoved in his face that Sam felt to blame. But now they knew it wasn't true. He was to blame. The demon had answered that question honestly. Logic played it out clearly. Any woman that Sam loved, or could be loved by, would be taken from him by the demon. Sam had no more chance at a white picket fence than he did anything else he really wanted in life. " Yeah. I can tell." He said to the first statement, leaving the latter alone. They were out to have fun. One last boys' night out, just the two of them before it was over.

"Come on... I'll let you beat me at pool before I kick your ass at darts." Sam said with a grin.

"Let me win? You couldn't beat me if you tried." Dean said with a laugh. He'd been hustling pool since he was a child, strange all the things their father had taught them!

Sure, he could also make a point on head shot with one hand using a gun, but darts, Sam had a chance at beating him at. "Come on, if you're a really good boy, I won't even take your money."

"Considering it came out of your wallet to begin with... Take away if you think you can." Of course the actual cash funds were an almost communal thing most of the time even if divided up between them. So it was more of a running joke than any actual theft. Just another of the many things they had been taught through the years in order to survive. Sam had other funds squirreled away that he had been putting back for this run. A little extra cash off the cards here and there that he had turned into travelers checks. Not impossible to trace but he would have to know about them first and then where they were purchased.

Sam had been doing this since the first time he had tried to flee from Dean. It had been several months since then, and he had been careful, figuring if Dean's optimism paid off before Sam's desperation took control, it was a nest egg for lean times. If not... Well... It meant that he wouldn't be taking half his brother's ill gotten but necessary cash flow with him.

He knew he had no choice really, this was the only way, but he still felt like a heel. Especially when Dean was enjoying himself so much. When the weight of it all wasn't resting so obviously on his shoulders, when his eyes didn't show the strain. But Sam knew it was there, and that it would break him one day, even if the demon didn't kill him first.

And Dean was enjoying himself. He felt lighter, today was a good day. Sam wasn't all melancholy and talking about how things would just be easier if...(fill in the blank for whatever stupid idea Sam had at any given time on that subject). Sure, tomorrow was going to be tense. Right now, it wasn't. He was at a bar, having a good time, and even his brother seemed to be having a good time. That was enough for the moment. For Dean had learned the hard way to just appreciate moments. Because moments were the only thing that ever really happened.

He kicked Sam's ass at pool. Then a few other patrons (building up their cash reserve, always important), and nearly beat Sam at darts. At least that's what he'd say. He'd also use the excuse that he was drinking more, and Sam was taller.

"Come on, Sasquatch. If we're going to meet the mysterious brother, you definitely need your beauty sleep." He said with a chuckle as he gave their waitress an extra tip. "In case we come back tomorrow." He said with a wink. She gave both the brothers an amused look but pocketed the cash. Because, well, cash was cash. And she was off tomorrow night anyway!

"Y'all come back now." She said with her sweet smile.

"There is a happy college boy in this town somewhere, waiting on her to get off work."

Sam said as they started the walk back toward the hotel. That thought strangely pleased him. That there were people content and happy in their lives. People that would never know that they lived in danger every day. Would go for moonlit walks with their lovers in the park without packing silver and holy water. "This was fun." He said, nodding to himself. That thought pleased him as well. He had succeeded in one task at least.

"Yeah it was. We should, I don't know, make a habit of it, don't you think?" Dean said. Because tonight had been fun, felt like they were normal brothers without the fate of the world resting on them. "Even if we might be a trio at times, we should do this again."

"Yeah. I would like that a lot." And he would, if it were possible. Right up there with a home and a family of his own. Maybe even a career that didn't involve killing things on a regular basis. They were all wonderful beautiful things to want, that were never going to be. "Here's hoping Junior has similar thoughts."

"And if he doesn't, well, there's still two of us, right?" Dean said, letting an edge of hope invade his voice, as if things would someday calm down and they could pretend to be normal in the stifling confines of their completely abnormal life. Maybe one day.

"Always." Sam said. And in his own way he meant it. So long as Dean was safe, then there was two of them. He couldn't guarantee his brother's safety if he were there. He didn't know what that catalyst would be that would drive him to become a monster. To go from a human being to a creature of nothing but shadow, anger and rage. "You know... no matter what happens..." He said looking over at his brother.

"Absolutely." Dean said. Refusing to acknowledge the undercurrent. Because that would open up a whole discussion that had no place tonight, since it was a good night. "So, how about a hair cut before we meet Junior, so he doesn't think you're just a weird looking girl?"

"Over my dead body." Sam said as always. "Just because you look like a girl with long hair doesn't mean I do." Sam said. "Probably cause you're short... Or maybe it's that whole fat lip thing you have going on." He teased, letting it drop. Dean would know what he had meant later, and it was good. He had said that he loved his brother in that strange lack of saying it way Winchesters had. They had both learned that particular language from their father who rarely spoke of things such as love unless one of them was near death. And even then... It was different.

"Fine." Dean said. "Samantha." He cracked with a grin as they returned to their hotel room. "Come on, let's sleep this off, then be bright and bushy tailed for Junior."

"Whatever you say, shrimp." Sam said returning the smile and heading straight for his bed. He was genuinely enjoying himself but keeping up the appearances was exhausting, and he had been doing it for quite some time. He had tried to make Dean understand, to talk to him about it but Dean was determined to make it disappear under the carpet. He couldn't deal with it. Not that Sam blamed him. No one in their right mind would be able to deal with what their father dumped on him. Probably what drove his father half insane as it was. "Good night, Dean."

"'Night Sam." Dean said as he climbed into his own bed. It was a tiring day, trying to figure out what was going on in Sam's head. And he was no closer than he had been before. It was something, though. That much he knew. But he rolled over and went to sleep. The next day would be just as tiring, if not more so.

Which was why he was glad he was rested (as much as he ever was) when he woke up the next morning. And threw his pillow at Sam. "Come on. Time to get up." He said as he headed off into the shower.

Sam pretended to fuss as Dean went into the shower first but took the opportunity to make sure anything he absolutely couldn't leave behind was packed. Then sat down at the computer and started to go through the files, deleting anything that could lead his brother in the right direction when he woke the next morning.

This was tearing him apart inside. This was forever. There was no turning back this time. It was too dangerous to stay. Sam remembered all too clearly what Maggie had been like. The only times he had ever seen real fear in Dean's eyes was when Maggie was around. Or when flying but... That had been about Maggie too really. He had seen his father broken and lost because of what had happened with Maggie.

Sam would become like her one day. He would turn into something evil and twisted. Something made of shadows and hate. If he were near his brother when that happened, who knew what he would do? Hell, he had tried to shoot him once already. What would he do next?

Dean's mind was clear. Sure, the weight was still there. Sure they were meeting the long lost brother this morning. And still, it was clear. So he showered, brushed his teeth and dressed. Today was a normal day. Lots of people all over the world were meeting their half siblings for the first time right now. That was normal. Unusual, but normal. Probably what Sam needed.

"Your turn." He said, coming out. "Even left you hot water. Because I'm an awesome brother."

Sam looked up at Dean and smiled, laughing a little. "Yeah...right." He said although that old look was there in his eyes. The one that had been there when they were little. This was his brother, and brother meant so much more to Sam than it did to anyone else out there in the world, he was certain. Brother was father and mother, best friend and teacher. Brother was his security blanket when the nightmares came. Brother was hero. More than their father, more than any superhero worshipped in childhood. Yeah, he was an awesome brother.

God it was going to be hard with out him.

Sam showered quickly and dressed. All of his hopes for Dean rested in him bonding with this new brother today. So from now until the point that Dean passed out in his bed, snoring in deep sleep, that was Sam's project. Nothing else mattered. Because like most heroes... Dean needed to be needed.

"Okay." He said stepping out of the bathroom. "Food first? Or drag him off to breakfast and coffee on neutral non demon controlled territory."

"We'll get something on the way." Dean said, digging through his bag until he came up with the address. "Just in case we can't convince him to leave the demon controlled territory." He said with a chuckle. "That way we don't pass out from starvation." He grabbed his keys and the motel pass card. "Now or never I guess."

Sam made a show of considering those two options before heading out the door of the hotel room. "Grab something full of fat and calories on the way." Sam said, both being great comfort food... Stress management food. The sugar binge would come later that night.

"Sounds good." Dean said as they headed to the car.

------

Ben was smoking, he must have been on his third pack of the day by now. But he looked at Jack across the living room. "You don't have to do this." He reminded him again. Sure, Jack had all the protection in place. Two buffers for two people, his girlfriend and Ben. Jack could handle this. The question was, did he really want to?

"I know." Jack said. He had considered that option through the night. Just saying no. Sorry, too little too late. Not your fault but not going there. He had. But he remembered his father when those two had been out in the wasteland. Remembered the sad and desperate man that stood sentinel waiting for any sign that those two would come back. It hurt. John had wanted nothing to do with him. Didn't even bother to tell his brothers he existed until just before he died. That was strangely a slap in the face. Not that he could explain to anyone why he felt that way. But it was. One final rejection by his father. It was okay for the brothers to know about him now because John would no longer have to deal with him even from a distance. "I want to." He said taking a deep breath. "Not saying I'm signing up for the Winchester fan club or even expecting more than a polite visit. But if I don't, I'll regret it later in life."

Ben nodded. He had to give Jack's brothers credit. They had sought him out. That meant something, whatever John's failings were. "All right. Then I promise I won't set them on fire." He said with a quick grin.

"Eww." Kaylie said, coming in from the kitchen. She'd made coffee. And pastries. And barely stopped herself from making little swans out of the napkins. Because when

she was nervous she reverted back to high school Home Ec. And she was nervous for Jack, even if Jack wasn't going to show it. "Okay, my father's been running the barbeque smoker for the past week. The last thing I want to smell is burning flesh of ANY kind." It had taken a lot of faith on Kaylie's part, but she'd come to terms with what Ben was. Fiery flashes of temper (luckily not against her personally) had helped convince her of course.

Jack laughed at that. "No need to flambé the hunter boys. I am sure they will be ... Less than flame worthy. Not sure I have any other expectations than that." They had loved their father that was a certainty. If nothing else their trek across the wasteland to save him was proof of that.

He drew in a deep breath when the door bell rang. "You ahm... Want to get that because if I jump up every time the door bell rings I am going to be insane before they get here." His first sign of nervousness.

Ben looked at Kaylie. "You can get it. Because if it's another freaking girl scout selling cookies, there will be fire." He said. Besides, Kaylie looked nice and harmless, and for the most part she was.

"Oh fine." Kaylie said. "You know, I don't even live here." She reminded Ben.

"You're still doing the dishes. You dirtied them." He shot back. Because if there was one thing he hated, it was kitchen work of any kind.

Kaylie opened the door and just stared at the two men on the door step. "Um...wow." She said. Wow at the coincidence. They had better be Jack's brothers, because she certainly wasn't going to appreciate being followed to her boyfriend's house from her job.

"Okay. Thanks." Dean said, confused, but checking the address again. It was right. This was the house. Unless the demon had tricked them, because Ben hadn't looked too happy with the idea in the first place. "We're, ah, looking for Jack Hsaio."

"Oh!" Kaylie said. "Yeah, you're expected. Come on in." She said.

"Hi." Sam said actually blushing a little now. "I don't imagine you're helping Jack with his spelling homework." He said, making light of his own embarrassment. If you couldn't laugh at yourself, you had no business laughing. This actually boded well, as far as Sam was concerned. A friendly, sweet and seemingly intelligent girlfriend usually meant the guy was all right. Well either that or a total jerk he would have to save the girl from later, but she didn't seem the type to be with that sort of guy.

He let the young woman lead them inside and to the dining room table. He nodded to Ben, in greeting, and looked at Jack. He could see Maggie in him, but he could also see their father. In fact he looked a hell of a lot like their father in spite of the faint oriental cast of features. "Ahm... Hi." He said extending his hand. "I'm Sam and this is Dean. " He

didn't know how much Jack remembered of their brief meeting. He knew that they didn't remember anything of it.

Jack rose and took his hand. "Hi." He said in return, barely stopping himself from introducing himself like a dork. There would be no confusion on who he was. "Ahm... Have a seat. Kaylie has been cooking since oh... What? 6 this morning?" He asked her with a grin, and nodded toward the pastry all over the table.

Sam looked like someone he might like, someone he would talk to if they ran into each other on campus. He seemed approachable and friendly. He had that fluffy puppy look to him. Dean however... Dean carried himself like a hunter. It wasn't something you could really describe when asked. There were men of all sorts that walked confidently. Less, but still not a small portion carried themselves as though they were deadly and didn't comprehend fear. There was a balance between wary and dangerous in a hunter. Something in the eyes more than anything else. Although this one... This one didn't scream predator. This one didn't make his hackles rise... Yet.

Jack extended his hand to his eldest brother, meeting his gaze, just in case he was wrong. Just in case this was a wolf in German Shepherd's clothing. Jack wasn't about to be prey In his own home. "It's good to meet you again. I ahm... Don't remember the first time. I remember that I did but not the details." He admitted.

"Hi." Dean said, greeting him with a firm hand shake. He was uncomfortable. Because he didn't have any expectations on this meeting, didn't have any plan. And contrary to popular belief, most of the time Dean wasn't comfortable winging it. He wasn't comfortable with ambiguity.

But at least there was more of their father than his mother in the young man's face. And stature. That had been one of Dean's fears, that this youngest brother of his would be a dead masculine ringer for Maggie. He probably would have walked out.

"I don't remember either." Dean said. "Then again, I heard I got knocked on the head pretty good, so..." He shrugged as he and Sam sat down. "So...wow. This is...weird."

Jack laughed a little at that. "Yeah, it's pretty awkward." He said. "I heard that John passed on. I'm sorry to hear that." He was sincere about that. No matter what hurt he had felt from John's apparent rejection (which he thought he was beginning to understand now that he knew the truth about his mother.) "And you know... Eventually I will have questions about him and what have you. But this isn't about my parents... I have reasons to be angry with our father and you have reasons to ... Hate my mother beyond all reason." He said more than a little uncomfortable with saying that little bit. He still had trouble reconciling the evil monster he had just learned that she had become with the woman who had loved him more than apparently her own soul. "This meeting isn't about them... It's about getting to know each other. " He hoped that stopped any potential conversations about his mother. Because to him... At least emotionally, she had never changed. She had been a good woman and a loving mother and anyone that pushed

anything different would probably find out the hard way whether or not he could handle himself in a fist fight.

"Yup." Dean said with a nod. "So...where do we start?" They didn't hand out guides to this sort of thing. His foot tapped a little until he realized his leg was jiggling and he consciously made it stop. "Guess I should apologize first off. We kinda hit on your girl last night. Does it count if we didn't know she was attached? Especially to our long lost brother?"

Jack raised an eyebrow at that. "Well that isn't exactly where I saw the conversation going but... Okay." He said and glanced over at Kaylie to make sure that they hadn't been obnoxious to her in the process. "If she doesn't have any complaints we're good." Jack said. "So long as you don't make a habit of it." He said with a faint laugh. Somehow he didn't see that happening.

Sam smiled a little. "So... I guess we're at a loss on how to go about this. There are so many things to ask that I don't even know where to begin."

Jack nodded. "I know. Same here. Okay... Ahm... Okay... You know about Kaylie... How about you two? Girlfriends? Wives... Other partner type people?"

Kaylie shook her head slightly, they weren't a problem. The normal friendly, flirtatious but not overbearing customers. The ones she usually forgot about as soon as she clocked out.

Dean poured himself some coffee. Caffeine would be good, help calm the nerves, right? "Ah, nope. Not from me. I'm kinda anti relationship, way too much time on the road."

"My ahm... " Sam said taking a deep breath. "Ah... Jessica was killed a while back. I haven't gotten involved with any one since that. Not ready." He said honestly. Although it had been long enough that it wasn't so much mourning Jess (even if he did still miss her terribly) but fear of the demon killing someone else special to him. Someone he would see as in the way.

"I'm sorry." Jack said "Was it because of the hunting?"

Sam shook his head. "No, I had quit hunting and was going to college at that point. "

"Oh! Jack's going to college now." Kaylie said.

"He is." Ben said with a nod, with pride. Jack had turned out well, surprisingly. And Ben, for his own ego and sanity, liked to think that despite the circumstances, he had something to do with it.

Jack nodded and took a Danish. "Yeah. I am majoring in business" He said. He still hadn't decided if he were going to be a business owner or go to work in an office somewhere with an expensive suit and stock in Maalox. He would probably go into business for himself. He was far too hands on to sit back and just push papers around.

"I was pre-Law." Sam said following his younger brother's lead on the pastry. There was always room for sugar. He looked over at Dean. "Dean is in the family business. I know that has some bad memories for you... And I get that but... We don't go after things until people start dying. "

Jack thought about that a moment. He had friends other than Ben who were what most people would consider monsters. Demons. Undead. And most of them left the normals alone. Kept to themselves, and didn't bother anyone. They lived like humans. So long as

that sort of creature were safe from his brothers he could deal with that. Didn't mean he was going to go and hand them a medal anytime soon or join the hunter of the week fan club, but it did make it a little easier to sit at the table with them. "Fair enough." He said with a nod and looked over at Dean. "You look like you want to duck for cover any moment."

Dean rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled. "That obvious, huh?" He said as he finished his coffee. He was still pissed at their father. For knowing about this for so long and not telling anyone until it was time to lay the entire world on Dean's shoulders. Not that he knew what it would have been like had John let them know. Ben seemed hell bent (weird turn of phrase with a demon) on keeping Jack apart from that sort of life. He cleared his throat and stood up, going to the walls where pictures were hanging. Because he felt better if he could move. He looked at a few of them. The requisite school photos with the goofy haircuts and missing teeth. Graduation photos, sports photos, prom photos. "So how does it work? I mean, he hasn't aged in a million years." Dean asked.

"Everyone thinks I'm a plastic surgery addict." Ben said with a laugh.

Sam laughed at that one. "You should work on that perpetual surprised look a little more." He said pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Yeah it didn't start being an issue until a few years ago." Jack said. "Until then they just thought he aged well but 20 years of the same face goes beyond aging well. " They had moved once in that time and changed the story to half brother from uncle.

"Yeah, give it a few years. We'll be changing the story again. This time he'll be MY uncle." Ben said with a laugh.

"And she knows?" Dean asked carefully, gesturing to Kaylie.

"That they're not really half brothers, or uncle and nephew, and that Ben is actually a strip club owning fire throwing really slow aging demon?" Kaylie said with a smile. "Yeah. I know. It's weird, but I'm all right."

"Strip club?" Dean said with a grin. "Okay Sam, that moves Ben into the realm, the very very small realm, of creatures other than human that I like." Lenore, a vampire, had moved into that realm by not killing Sam. Or humans for that matter.

"Okay... So Lenore had to not kill me... Twice... For you to like her, this guy owns a strip club and that's good?" He teased. "Nice... Real consistent. " He laughed then, shaking his head. "You have a real weakness for strip clubs."

"Is that a family trait?" Jack asked. "I thought it was environmental."

"I think it's a family trait." Dean said with a laugh. "Just means we have more than our allotted share of good old red blood I think."

Kaylie rolled her eyes. "Nice." She said. "But watch this. So, Ben, I saw a sign that you have an opening for an exotic dancer."

Jack gave her a long suffering look. "Baby, we've had this conversation. I'd be in a fight every night if you took that kind of job. It's hard enough with you working in the bar."

He wasn't jealous. Just over protective. Some guy would try and break the no touching rule and Jack would show him what touching was all about. He knew it, just as surely as he knew which way was up, and Jack hated fighting.

Kaylie laughed. She had no intention of working in a strip club. She liked the job she had well enough. It was just fun to give him a hard time. "The tips are good." She said in reference to her job. "Just ask them."

"And here I thought my club had the perks of beautiful women dancing around naked." Ben said. "Good to know it has some other good points. Besides seeing the faces at PTA meetings." The two he had attended in all of Jack's school career.

Dean chuckled as he looked at pictures, and came across one of Jack and Maggie, his blood running cold even as he paled a bit. Sam was right, he had very few real fears, and Maggie was one of them. "I'm going to...ah...go check on the car." He needed air, as he walked out and took a deep breath.

Sam looked after him worriedly and started to follow after but Jack motioned for him to sit back down.

"I'll go."

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea." Sam didn't need to be a genius to sort out why Dean was suddenly heading out in a near panic.

"Sure it is. Kaylie, why don't you entertain my brother here while I go make sure the other one doesn't bolt?" He said with a lopsided smile and started out the door after Dean. "Sucks how some things just refuse to let go, doesn't it?"

Dean didn't expect to be followed. And if anyone was going to follow him, it would probably have been Sam. To try and convince him to go in right now and stop embarrassing him or something. Covering up the undercurrent of concern of course. But it wasn't Sam, it was Jack.

"Yeah. It does." Dean said. "I can't even fly. Which is why I have a kick ass car, so I have a good excuse. But your mom's off limits, remember?" His rule, not Dean's.

"The woman that was my mother... Isn't the same woman that hurt you. " Jack said. "My mom died somewhere in that whole transformation process. She has been dead to me for 14 years. So... If we can keep it to that demon as a separate entity from my mom... We're good." He pointed out. "Can't fly, huh?" He said. "I'm... Claustrophobic... Anything that presses in against me and it's like I can't breathe all over again. Doesn't even have to be threatening and I'm shaking and not sure if I am going to puke or suffocate first."

"So the hunters did a number on you." Dean said, remembering what Bobby had told them. "And the demon who used to once be your mom, well, wasn't pleasant. What a family reunion this is turning out to be." He shook his head. "But you're good? I mean, not good as in good versus evil good, but you know, good? Settled life, college, pretty girlfriend good?"

Jack smiled. "I'm good. I really am. Ben has been a great father to me. I guess in a way he always was. Even without the fiery demon business, you wouldn't think a hard drinking strip club owner would be a good parent, but he really was. What about you? Are you good? Other than the panic attacks at seeing her face, and inability to fly."

"I'm...hanging in." Dean said. "Our family's a mess. Straight out, we're a big mess. You, the son of Dad and your mom, raised by a demon...you're probably going to end up the most well adjusted one. Everything's messed up, it was probably the worst idea to come here, you could get dragged into this, and you don't deserve it."

"I don't get dragged anywhere I dont want to be." Jack said firmly. "I doubt very seriously your world will give me much trouble with Ben around. He seems to have made me his mission in life. As for well adjusted. Kaylie may disagree with that assessment."

"Hey, I meant well adjusted comparatively." Dean said with a chuckle. "I don't know, man. Jessica, Sam's girlfriend. Was killed by a demon. The same one that killed our mom. Who's been killing all these other moms, to go after the children. Had a hand in Dad's death, I'm sure of it. So we're traveling around hunting this thing." Because no one could argue that it wasn't evil. "Along the way we help people when we can, but that's our main goal I think. To destroy the son of a bitch. Been doing this basically all of Sam's life." Dean had a four year reprieve, when he was a child. Up until that fateful night. "Dude, I'm one of America's Most Wanted because of a shape shifter. Sam's been possessed, we run credit card scams and hustle for money. You want to write us off, now's the time."

"So, you always beat around the bush like this, or do you have your direct moments too?" Jack sighed and leaned against the wall. "Ben is good to me, and he is my family, but he isn't my blood. Eventually everyone needs that kind of connection in their lives. So... Right now... Not writing you off. The feds come pounding on my door I will probably kick your ass, but No... Not writing you off."

"Dude, you can stand in the line of people waiting to kick my ass." Dean said with a laugh. "Believe me, it's actually pretty long." Because he was cocky. And blunt. And could usually be counted on to say the wrong thing at any given time. "You're all right. So far. Nearly feel guilty about forgetting about you for fifteen years." He would, if it was his fault. But head trauma, not his fault.

"Nah, don't. You weren't the one who should have remembered me." Jack said. Or come looking after he was 18. Anything. Hell if the man could find the ritual to summon Ben, he could have found a way to make contact. Not that Jack was going to say a word about

that to Dean. Was neither his fault nor his problem. "So, is Sam really that easy going or is he putting on an act with the new guy?"

"He's putting on the act." Dean said. "Though he is the more normally social one of us two." Dean said and ran a hand over his hair. "Sam's going through...some problems. Dad was big into just confessing right before he died. He's ah...not quite like me. Visions, he's psychic boy wonder."

"Fun. That can't be something ahm... Hunters... Think of as normal... And by that I mean the generic run of the mill blowing up houses with little boys in them hunters...not the ones that pick and choose targets. He's keeping that hidden right?" For Jack such things were normal. Psychics, witches, demons, vampires... They all slid in and out of Bens strip club from time to time and they all seemed to be useful to the avuncular demon. To him there was no Supernatural. There was only the common and the hidden.

"Yeah, he's keeping it hidden." Dean said. "Has to, because of the type you just mentioned." Had a run in with one of them already. That was enough for him. "Dad wasn't even like that. How we hunt...we follow media reports, weather signs, even some star signs. Once we pick out a pattern...disappearances, mysterious deaths, then we act. Blowing up houses? That's not us." He felt the overwhelming need to assure Jack that he wasn't a 'bad' hunter.

"If you had been... Ben would have never allowed you to find me. He has a nose for that sort. " And tended to flambé them slowly for good measure. "So this whole psychic thing is getting to him, huh? What is it John confessed that has him all... Never mind... Prying too soon. " He said knowing he wouldn't want to give up all of his secrets this fast. He shouldn't ask them to do so.

Dean's eyes were sad. And haunted. "Yeah, well, I'll tell you eventually. Just not right now." He said. "You kidding? I just told Sam all of what Dad told me. I've known him all his life, I just met you." He said with a chuckle.

"I understand." Jack said. "I have this war I fight on a daily basis. The need to know vs. the need to keep everything to myself. I don't get offended at being told to mind my own business. But not to put too fine a point on this...you look like what ever it is, it's killing you inside. If talking's not your answer... you need to find what is and get to it. " Even at 20 Jack knew that warm and fuzzies weren't the answer to everything or everyone.

"Yeah, so I keep getting told." Dean said with a sigh. "But that's also a family trait, I think, that war of yours. Dad was an expert at it, with a lot less trouble than I'm having." He'd kept the secret about Sam, the secret about Jack, seemingly so effortlessly for years and years. Just another way Dean would never measure up to John Winchester, no matter how hard he tried.

"Sometimes that whole secret keeping thing isn't a good thing. I know I was taught from three on to keep my mouth shut because there are hunters where you least expect them, or because if anyone found out I wasn't actually Ben's nephew or brother, they would take me away to live with strangers. It was survival... makes it hard to live in the normal world... and like it or not... we all have to live in the normal world. It's the only one we have."

"Yeah, we do, don't we?" Dean said with a chuckle. "Okay, meltdown over. Promise. We should save Sam from your girlfriend. For your own sanity. Because she's probably taken the opportunity of you not being in there to tell him all sorts of embarrassing tales."

Jack groaned. "And you know she will be coming up with things I have forgotten all about too." he said as he turned to lead the way back inside.

Sam was pleased. He liked that they were outside talking for so long. It was a good sign. Bonding just a little... it meant that Sam could hope that Dean could fall back upon Jack when he was gone, so that Dean wouldn't be alone. Dean didn't do alone well at all.

Kaylie was busy filling Sam in on Jack's life. Complete with photographic evidence. School dances, sports events, hanging out with friends, along with the embarrassing stories to go with it. They seemed like nice enough guys, even with the hunter thing thrown in. But they were mobile, and she was trying to fill Sam in on everything before he left, because then Jack might never see them again. They'd forgotten him once (of no fault of their own), and she was trying to make sure that didn't happen again.

Ben was offering commentary from the sidelines, keeping an eye outside. He could understand why Dean freaked out, he'd seen what Maggie had done to him when he was sixteen. But he didn't want it taken out on Jack.

But the brothers walked back in. "I'm good." Dean said to Sam's questioning look.

Jack took a seat and looked over at the photo album Kaylie had dug out. "You live to embarrass me, don't you?" He teased. "I swear it's a female thing. She feels the need to make up for all the missing females in my life in that department. Always knew there was a reason I grew up in an all male house hold. Because Ben over there is smart and hates to be embarrassed as much as I do."

"Definitely smarter than you." Ben said. "All possibly embarrassing photos of myself are hidden."

Dean chuckled and looked at one of the pictures Kaylie was currently showing off. "Ooh, nice hair cut." He said.

"That was my fault. He wanted a trim, and I, well, offered. Obviously hairdresser is NOT in the cards for me." Kaylie said with a giggle and tousled Jack's hair. "It grew in fine though."

"Yeah, two days later Ben gave me a buzz cut so that it would come back in even. She is a much better waitress than hair dresser... Although she will decide upon her major eventually and waitress won't be in the cards either." Jack said with pride.

"You know, those two are sickening." Dean said to his brother with a roll of his eyes. Then again, he could see Sam and Jessica like that easily. Back in the day anyway. "I had to cut Sam's hair when we were younger. Obviously he's an ungrateful brat and is in some sort of hair rebellion."

"I look 12 with short hair." Sam protested. "Like some terrible mutant 12 year old. It was bad enough when I was a mutant 12 year old. I don't need to do it again thank you." He said with a laugh.

"It is kinda fluffy there." Jack said. "Could always tame it or something. Maybe with a whip and chair?"

"Oh... Go out side together for 5 minutes and you come back in here and gang up on me. I see how it is. Don't you think it's a little late in life to make me feel like a middle child?"

"Nope." Dean said with a laugh. "I'll definitely take all the help I can get."

"There is two of you. One could always hold him down...?" Kaylie suggested with a grin. "Told you you should have tipped more."

"In your dreams." Sam said. "Besides, I tipped very well last night and it was Dean that made the smart assed blonde comment. Not me."

"Oh really." Jack said raising an eyebrow. Kaylie had told him they hadn't been obnoxious so he wasn't worried about that. But he figured it could get a little mileage. "What comment was that... After all... I'm still an undecided party here... Baby of the family can go either way you know."

"Oh you know, just a blonde comment." Dean said.

"He applauded me for my ability to form complete sentences, then questioned whether or not I could spell." Kaylie said. "So I don't know, I think some torture or something is required."

Dean laughed. "I didn't say you couldn't, just wondered if you could. That's all. I'm completely innocent of any wrong doing whatsoever."

"Since when?" Sam demanded.

The rest of the day went much as the morning had, much to Sam's relief. It was another

good day spent with Dean. Another memory to look back on and smile. He was sorry that he wouldn't get the chance to know Jack better but was glad that he had gotten to meet him just once. The guy didn't need another relative going dark side and ruining his life.

Or ending it.

They ate dinner out with Jack and Kaylie then Jack dropped her off at home and met up with his brothers at Ben's strip club, where Sam allowed himself to become the target for their teasing. Only now at 2:00 am was he making a show of having had more to drink than he actually had and letting Dean help him into the hotel room.

"Dude, you're such a lightweight." Dean said with a laugh as he got Sam into bed. Took off Sam's shoes and threw a blanket over him. In the morning he'd be puking, but right now he was half passed out. Which left Dean time to shower, shower off the cigarette smoke from the club and restaurant that was clinging (half of the reason why Sam might be puking in the morning). He made sure to leave the toilet seat up and put an extra pillow in the bathroom for Sam.

Then he crawled into bed. Today had been a good day, a lot better than expected. Their little brother was...normal. Normal and happy. Cute girlfriend too. Demon guardian who owned a strip club, well that had benefits also.

"Night Sam." He said as he turned off the light, popped a couple of Tylenol to ward off a hangover and fell asleep.

Sam lay there, not moving, almost not breathing. It hurt too much to breathe. This was it. If he got out of this bed and moved toward the door... That was it. No more nights out on the town, no more joking around, no more hunting with his brother. He would be on his own for the rest of his life. But his vision had made it plain what would happen if he stayed. He would turn... And he would kill his own brother slowly and painfully. He had risked too much staying as long as he had. But Dean had been so insistent that he could save him. But the truth was he couldn't. No one could.

Sam quietly got out of the bed and slid his shoes back on. He left his cell phone and lap top on the table, then picked up his carefully packed back pack and slipped out the door. "I'm gonna miss you. " he said feeling his eyes well up. But he set his jaw and blinked them back furiously as he started walking.

Dean woke up and grimaced. All the Tylenol in the world wasn't staving off the headache he had. So he went to the bathroom to get more. Sam was gone, Dean figured Sam was off to get coffee. In which Sam could be nominated for sainthood. So he went back to bed and pulled the blankets over his head.

The minutes ticked by and his mouth was unbearably dry. Cotton mouth sucked. He got back up with a groan and went to the ice bucket. Which was empty. Wonderful. So he put on his boots and a t-shirt, not bothering to tie them and went to the ice machine. Getting back to the room, he saw the Impala was still there. He looked around, there wasn't much in walking distance in the way of coffee.

"Shit!" He said and stormed back into the room. Sam's bag was gone. Sam was gone.

He threw on his clothes and drove over to Jack's house, knocking on the door.

"What?!" Ben demanded as he opened the door. "It's early." He said.

"It's eleven o'clock." Dean said. "I need to talk to Jack."

Jack winced as he stepped into the living room and looked at the door. "Any thing before 3 is early to him... Come in side and close the door before you blind me with the sun light there. " He said as he fought back his nausea. "Coffee is this way... Where's Sam?"

"I don't know." Dean said. "He's gone. Like, took his bag and left. Left me the car, but he left."

"Tone it down." Ben grumbled as he went back to his bedroom and shut the door. He ran a nightclub for a reason. Because he liked the night, wasn't too fond of the day.

"Well, he's a charmer." Dean said as he helped himself to some coffee. "So Sam left. And I know why. Which means now I have to tell you."

"Okay." Jack said and handed Dean a cup of coffee. "Come on upstairs to my room, he won't hear us up there or at least he can't complain as much if he does." He said and started to lead the way up to his room. He tossed the blankets back in a boyish attempt at making the bed enough for company and sat down on it, indicating Dean could have could have the chair at his computer desk. "So what is going on that has Sam so freaked out that he just... Runs off in the middle of the night?"

Dean took a deep breath as he sat down in the chair. "Dad was possessed. Well, twice. But the first time he was possessed, it was to conceive Sammy with Mom. You know, sorta like how your mom came into being." Dean said, staring into his coffee. "Then right before Dad died, he told me. Told me about you, how Sammy came into the world. And that I had to watch out for him. If I couldn't save him...then I'd have to kill him. I'd have to kill my own brother because there was this chance he could turn out like your mom did. And...he won't let me save him."

Jack took a deep breath. "It's because you can't." He said gently then held up his hand to get Dean to let him finish "When Ben told me what had really happened to my mother, I grilled him for hours about it... Did what research I could. It's something Sam has to figure out how to fight. It's not a monster you can slay or a spell you can cast. It's all on Sam. He probably knows that."

"I don't care what he knows." Dean said. "He's my brother. And I promised I'd watch out for him. And he goes and pulls this? All for some misguided reason on not hurting me or something? So, if you're up for it, I figure, since you're on break from college and everything, maybe you're up to a little bonding. You know, when we find Sam we can both beat the shit out of him."

Jack thought about it. This was no small undertaking. But he could tell that Dean wasn't going to be able to do this alone. This was that breaking point that he had seen coming. Ironic that Sam was probably doing this to protect his brother. Hell, Jack would probably do the same in his place. "Okay. I have to tell Ben and Kaylie. Neither of them are going to be happy about this I hope you know. So be prepared."

"I'm not forcing. I'm just asking." Dean said. "So if it's a major problem, you know, I'll just call when it's all over. You know, after I kill him. Because I think this time, I just might." He couldn't expect anything, after all, he was just the brother who had popped up out of nowhere. Couldn't expect anything from that.

"Remember what I said about not being drug anywhere I don't want to go? Remember that. Cause for now I am going." He told him. "I can't guarantee that I will be along for the entire journey, but for now... I'm in. just warning you to expect explosions." He said as he downed the rest of his coffee.

"Angry girlfriend or fire demon. Huh, yeah this could get messy." Dean said. "Can I wait in the car? Or go pack up the hotel. Hey, are you any good with computers? He left his lap top...I can surf the internet and that's about it." His mind was racing as he tried to figure out what Sam was up to. The last time, he'd only found Sam because Sam called him. But the time before that, he tracked Sam down. So far his track record was 50-50.

"Yeah, I'm good with computers... Well... I'm no hacker or genius but I am fairly good with them." He grabbed a duffle bag and tossed a few changes of clothes inside. "Damn this feels like running away from home." He said as he went into his bathroom and tossed in a shaving kit. He handed the bag over to Dean. "So take this, go pack up the hotel, I will deal with Ben and Kaylie, and then we'll sort out where to go from here. "

"I'm definitely hiding in the motel if you have to 'deal' with them." Dean said as he took the bag. "Hey Ben, loved the club!" He said on the way out.

Ben grumbled a bit more and came back out, going for the coffee. "Damn kids." He muttered. "Eleven o'clock's not early!" He said in a sing song mocking voice. "It is if you got in at six. And now I'm talking to myself."

"No... Now you're talking to me... Might want to sit down." Jack prefaced. "I'm going on a road trip." That was a good way to start. Yes indeed. A very good way to start.. Get the explosion out of the way and over with.

Ben sat down and gulped the coffee down. "I'm sorry, run that by me again? I must finally have a hangover or something. Or I'm still sleeping. You didn't say road trip. As in leaving with the brother you just met."

"Yes... As in road trip with Dean... Yes you have a hang over. Sam took off on him last night. He wants company while hunting him down to beat the crap out of him." He said trying to make light of it.

"I don't get hangovers." Ben said as he looked at Jack. "Again, this is where you tell me you're kidding. Thought you weren't joining the Winchester hunter fan club?"

"This isn't a hunter thing. This is finding a guy who isn't thinking clearly and is carrying around a lot of pain before he does something stupid. Have a little faith will ya?"

Ben looked doubtful. "Fine. You're an adult, I can't stop you. I mean, sure I could transport you to some place you wouldn't find your way out of until after Dean Winchester forgets about this idea, but that would be wrong. Right? I'll just sit here and back Kaylie up on whatever she says. That's less evil."

"Right cause guilt trips are supposedly a good guy thing." Jack said rolling his eyes. "I'm not going to be gone that long. I refuse to be gone that long. I have things I need to get done before class starts again. And I am not going to sneak off and become a hunter. Okay?"

"No it's not okay." Ben said. "For Pete's sake, you're taking off with your brother to find the other brother, and neither of you know where he is. And I think I know why he's taken off to begin with. This is really, really not okay with me."

"Because he's like mom and doesn't know how to deal with it." Jack said with a frown. "Nice... Anymore secrets you're keeping from me, since you obviously knew that one too?" He asked staring at the man who was like a father to him. "Cause right now... Starting to feel like I should start questioning everything."

Ben lit a cigarette. Jack was a grown man. This was supposed to be easier once he was a grown man. He'd dealt with the Maggie thing. The puberty thing. The sleeping with Ben's strippers thing. The trying to figure out how to ask a girl out thing. This? This wasn't something he ever expected to deal with.

"Actually I didn't know until right now. I had suspicions, ever since they crossed the wasteland. Because they crossed the barrier, only someone like me, or your mom, or Sam could cross that barrier. You and Dean, no chance. But on the other hand, people like me, your mom and Sam, we didn't have a chance of getting that freaking water for John." Ben sighed. "I had suspicions, didn't know for fact. And how was I supposed to tell you about suspicions I might have had about a brother you didn't know about, and I honestly never counted on you ever meeting in the first place? Look, believe it or not, I did the best I could. I probably messed up a million times along the way, but you didn't come with an instruction manual." Why was he feeling like a bad 'father' right now?

Jack sighed. "You didn't screw up any more than any other parent in the known universe." He said, feeling like a heel for having jumped him about it. "And I know this is disappointing you, but I would be disappointing myself if I let him go off on his own. He came to me for help, Ben... To me."

Ben shook his head. "Fine." He said. "I can't stop you. And you know to call me if you run into deep trouble, I don't care if Dean says he can handle it. You call."

"I'll call. I have no idea what Dean can or can't handle, trust me I'll call. " He said. "So backing me up when I get into deep trouble, does that count with Kaylie too?" He asked as he went to the phone to call her.

"Absolutely not." Ben said, taking a long drag off his cigarette. "You're on your own with her. It probably won't go over well. Can't imagine my wife would have taken it well, no...I know she wouldn't have. Screaming, yelling, broken pottery...silent treatment..." He said with a chuckle, thinking of his Abby, gone before he'd taken Jack, but still always forefront in his mind.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Not feeling the love here." He said as he dialed Kaylie's number. "I could tell her over the phone but I think she would kill me when I come back if I did that. Would save some of your dishes though."

"Then go tell her at her house, she can break her mother's dishes instead." Ben said with a laugh. Both of them lived with their parental figures, because they were both in school. And both insisted on paying for it themselves (though Ben had been more than willing to foot the bill) so that was one less expense right now.

Kaylie checked the caller ID. "Hey." She said. "I was just about to call you, in hopes I'd catch you in a hangover." Because they were rare, and fun to tease him about.

"We need to talk." Jack said. "Wanna meet me at the Starbucks over here?" He was not looking forward to this. Public wouldn't protect him, but it might protect the dishes.

"Uh...sure..." Kaylie said, a bit uneasily. Mind racing on where this conversation would go. Of course, the actual reason for it, she'd never think of. Just all sorts of other reasons. "Give me fifteen and I'll be there."

"Knew you were a smart kid." Ben said with a chuckle as he made another pot of coffee. "I'll have the first aid kit ready."

"I'll probably need it. I just hope she forgives me for this. But hey.." He said as he pulled on a pair of shoes. "It's probably just gonna take a few days. I'm not expecting anything major. I'm sure Dean can find him." He headed out the door, grabbing his keys and wallet on the way.

He was there waiting for her when she arrived, sipping at hot chai and eating a Danish. He ate when he was nervous, and this made him nervous.

Kaylie grabbed a latte before sitting down. Mocha. Because it was kinda chocolate, and this seemed like one of those times when she'd need chocolate. "Okay." She said with a nervous smile. "What's up?" Her best friend once had her boyfriend call her because they needed to 'talk.' It ended up with her crying her eyes out as Kaylie passed tissues to her newly single best friend.

"Okay... Not sure how to say this other than to just say it and hope you don't get mad. Cause Ben thinks you are going to get really mad." He told her and ran his hand through his hair. "Dean showed up at my door this morning worried half to death. Sam has disappeared. Taken off actually. He wants me to go with him to try and track him down. I said yes."

"Okay." Kaylie said as she backtracked her mind. "So you're not breaking up with me for some unknown reason." She said slowly. "Instead you're getting into a really old car with a man you just met yesterday to go look for another man you just met yesterday because he decided to run away...even though at 23, it really can't be considered running away. But because you're NOT breaking up with me, I'm supposed to be, I don't know, happy?"

Jack looked at her in absolute confusion. "Breaking up? Who said anything about breaking up with you? Why the hell would I break up with you when I love you?" He shook his head. "Sam has been going through a lot... He shouldn't be out on his own... That whole depression thing believe it or not. I can't just turn my back on him. "

"It's a girl thing...it would require multiple viewings of Beaches and the Ya-Ya Sisterhood to even start to understand it." Kaylie said. Though she felt like laughing a bit. "Jack, they're your brothers. I get that. But you don't even know them! It would be like some chick coming off the street and telling me to get in her car we have to look for someone. If I even THOUGHT about doing that, you'd be pissed beyond all reason. I get that these are your brothers. I do. It just...it just doesn't make sense."

"I know... I know it sounds insane, but could you ever really look me in the eye if I didn't try and help? I know I couldn't." He told her. "And I told him I wouldn't be able to do this indefinitely. If it gets crazy, Ben can come get me. I'll call and text you all the time."

Kaylie drank her latte. It was still a bit of a chocolate moment. Dean may be his brother, but she was female. She could read him a bit better on a different level. And Dean was Trouble. Probably part of his charm and whatever attraction he held for other women, but he was still Trouble. Not bad evil trouble, but Trouble all the same. The kind that bad evil trouble followed. And now he was going to take the man she loved on a road trip.

But she sighed. "And Starbucks was to make sure I didn't throw things or scream, huh?" She said with a smile. She might have, if she wasn't in public.

"Yeah... " He said, returning her smile. "For the record... If I were ever insane enough to break up with you? So not the way I would go about it. In fact if I ever act like I am going to break up with you...make sure I'm not possessed okay?"

She laughed. "Okay." She said and finished her latte and slipped into his lap, her arms around his shoulders. "But you just tell that brother of yours that if you don't come back in one piece, I'm going to rip his balls out through his throat and make him wear them as pretty little earrings, okay?"

"I will tell him that." Jack said chuckling a little at the imagery. Big bad demon hunter bested by tiny waitress, film at 11. "So... While I am gone, I need you to take care of Sophie for me." He said handing over the keys to his car. It wasn't anything fancy or even original. It was just a car. His only car ever, which wasn't saying much. He'd only had it 4 years. Had named it after a dog he had years ago that decided to take the phrase go play in traffic literally. Ben had thought it was a bad omen naming a car after something that had met its end being hit by a car. Jack thought it was more of a talisman against it. The original Sophie had taken the hits already after all.

She took the car keys. "Okay." She said. "You'll absolutely have to hurry back because you know I'm going to fill it with girl music. And stuffed animals. You know, to keep me company while you're gone." As pathetic as it sounded, they'd really never been apart for more than three days. And even then it was filled with phone calls and text messages.

"Just don't have her painted pink. Or any other girly color." He said. It didn't matter that Sophie was what he referred to as a P.O.S. Car. She had dents and dings, and scratches in her paint, which was some early 90's idea of cool that didn't age well in the salt air of Corpus Christi. "So why don't you drive me over to their hotel, then you and Ben can plot how you are going to make me pay for taking off like this." He laughed. "Don't give me that look, you know you would anyway. I may as well accept my fate."

"Oh lots and lots of kissing up is definitely required." Kaylie said. "Or I could just sit here and keep you pinned." Then she laughed as she got off his lap. He could easily pick her up, even if she was sitting on him. That wasn't much of a threat. "I'm going to worry, you know that."

"I know." He said. "But I will call or text or email every day. If not more often, okay? I'm gonna be fine. We're looking for my brother not some great white whale, okay?" Even if Dean seemed to have a touch of Ahab about him. Something driving him hard, and barely on this side of sane. Sam picked a hell of a time to freak out and vacate.

Jack led the way back out to his car. "Hang out with Ben sometimes. He won't admit it but he's gonna get lonely with me gone. Remember how he was while I was gone for 2 weeks last summer?"

"Yeah he was unbearable." Kaylie said with a laugh. "My mom made him her project, she nearly redecorated his house. I really thought he was going to start shooting flames. But I'll check on him and let you know how he's doing. I'm like the middleman or something, cause I'll be reporting to him on you as well." She was not okay with this, it still didn't make any sense to her, but she couldn't stop him. She'd throw fits at Ben and her friends of course, but she couldn't talk him out of it. She knew him too well when he got his mind on something.

The young couple took their time about their goodbyes in front of the motel. But eventually Jack said a reluctant farewell and went to knock on Dean's door. "So any clue where to begin other than not here?" He asked.

Dean was going through Sam's cell phone. "Laptop's over there." He said. "He made a couple of calls, but I think he's trying to throw me off, since you know, he left it here and all. Or he left it here to make me think he was throwing me off, but really headed over that way. Or he left it here knowing I'd think he was trying to throw me off when in fact he went there, but he didn't knowing I'd think that." Dean sighed. "My head hurts now."

"You're making my head hurt." Jack said. "Okay... Tell me about him." He asked as he sat down at the computer and started to pull up the Internet history "I'm flying blind as far as helping with this." He gave Dean the information on the last three places Sam had looked up. "These two have repeated hits over the last few months."

Dean wrote the places down. "Sam is...he's petitioning for martyrdom. Don't get me wrong, I love the kid. And if you tell him I said that, I'll kill you. But he's got it in his head that everything is his fault. The demon that killed Mom and his girlfriend has plans for him, so he said. So everything is his fault. I've nearly died twice...once I'm pretty sure I WAS dead, and that's his fault too. Obviously I only get hurt protecting his stubborn overly fluffy head, but never mind that he's wrong. He's smart as hell, great hunter. Good fighter. Way too serious most of the time."

"So he has run off most likely to keep you safe from if he actually turns like Mom did." Jack said with a sigh." Has he mentioned any plans for... I don't know... Redemption or something...Some way to protect himself from his other father?" Jack had some experience dealing with Fallen. At least in terms of his 'grandfather' he knew in retrospect how manipulative they could be. Saving Jack time and again from hunters was just a way to keep his mom close until the time that she turned.

It was Dean's turn to sigh as he finished packing. "He thinks if he keeps the scales balanced toward the so called good, he'll avert his so called destiny. The more people he saves, the better chance he can 'change,' I think that's how he put it." Dean said. "So we hit those places you found, see if they've had any fluffy haired puppy boys saving people."

"Okay. Sounds good." Jack said. "The closest is a place in Arkansas. We'll hit there first." He said as he pulled up the directions up on the computer then wrote them down. "Does he know you call him a fluffy haired puppy boy?"

"I also call him bitch." Dean said. "Goes along with it I think." He said with a chuckle. "I don't know, we have our own language, worse than twin speak or EVP really." He went out to the Impala and checked the trunk. Some of Sam's weapons were gone, and Dean was relieved at that. That Sam wasn't out there without anything to defend himself. And that he left enough for Dean to do some work on his own. In case it came to that.

"This thing is seriously old. How do you keep her on the road all the time?" He said putting the lap top into the back seat. "Oh, Kaylie sent you a message. Something about ripping your balls through your throat and making you wear them as earrings if I don't come back in one piece. She was pretty emphatic about it. "

Dean laughed. "Yeah, I can see that." Dean said. "So I'll get you back in one piece. I like my balls where they are. And this is a 1967 Impala, best ever made. Been rebuilt and refurbished, they don't make them like this anymore. Certainly nothing like what you're driving. This is good old American steel, no fiberglass to be found anywhere." He sighed as he got behind the wheel and turned it over, the purr and growl of the engine filling the silence for a moment. "It was Dad's. From before he even met my mother. My childhood was spent in that back seat as we drove from place to place, hunt to hunt. Now my adulthood is spent in the driver's seat. No matter what Sam says, that counts as stability."

Jack shook his head. "I don't remember much of our running." He said honestly. " We moved a lot, usually she would call the demon to take me someplace safe while she took care of the hunters and found us another place to live. Since living with Ben I have only moved once, and that was because someone was asking too many questions. " He didn't know if he would agree with Sam or Dean more in the debate about stability.

"We changed schools more than some people change their underwear." Dean said with a laugh. "It was...unusual. But we made it through. I don't know what it would be like to live in one place for that long. I might go crazy or something. Gotta tell you though, surprised Ben and your girl didn't talk you out of this. Because this looks nuts on paper."

"Oh they tried." He said. "But I wouldn't be able to look at my self in the mirror if I didn't go along for a little while. I'm hoping we find him soon, otherwise the two of them are going to kill me." Jack laughed a little. "I called her and told her we had to talk, and she thought I was breaking up with her. Ben is half convinced I am going to become a hunter."

"I don't know, it is the family business." Dean said with a shrug. "You know, saving people. Hunting things. It's a rush man, really is. But okay, we won't do any hunting. Except for Sam. Besides..." He said leadingly, "you probably don't have any skills anyway. Weaponry, fighting, casting..."

Jack gave him a look. "I have skills. Just no practical application experience. And I like it that way. I know you two do this to help people. I want to believe that, but my mother was a demon, the man who is for all intents and purposes my father, is a demon. My best friend growing up was half demon. I can't look at it as black and white as you do. I am sure it's quite a rush. Not one that I need in my life."

"Yeah, well, my best friend is Sam." Dean said solemnly as he drove toward Arkansas. "So I really appreciate you helping me out here. It's the weirdest thing, and hard to explain, but I don't know. It kills me when he does this, I don't care what his rationale is."

"I'm sure its not any easier on him. At least you know he cares. So how do you track things down?"

Sam hurt.

It wasn't a physical pain, not really. He wished it was. It would probably hurt less. He had thought it would be like going to college or fleeing in search of the other psychics. It wasn't. This was almost like when their father had died. It was final. There was no turning back, because if he did, if he went back or let Dean find him, then his vision would become a reality.

He would kill his own brother.

So Sam had slipped out of the hotel room in the dead of night, had taken a bus over to the high priced night club district and there he had stolen a car. A very expensive car. This wasn't transportation to the next town, this was the very high price for his new identity. He had disabled the GPS easily enough and bypassed the security system in short order. All skills they had learned for other purposes, but they served him well here. Not that he liked it at all. Not one little bit.

He had driven through the night and the next morning to Baton Rouge . He had spent months setting up this deal. Earning the man's trust, and in turn the man earning his own. It was almost noon when he pulled into the back alley and up into the garage doors.

The man stepped forward, and walked around the car as Sam got out, taking his bag with him. "This will do nicely." He said with a nod, this will do nicely indeed. He turned to look at Sam. "Anything in that bag you don't need. It can be traced; set it down over there."

"There are a few things."

"Nothing." The man repeated and stood there staring at Sam. "You are paying to start your life over, and paying handsomely. But if you aren't going to do what I say you may as well dig up a bikini inspector ID and expect it to work for you."

Sam couldn't help but smile at that one. It had worked actually. But that was a different time, a different life. "Weapons. I have weapons I want to keep."

The man scowled at him. "Fine we'll go through it once we are done with everything else." He had done this legitimately for years until he became disgruntled with the program he was working for. He could remake a man in a matter of hours. This particular man was going to take some work. He was tall, with easily recognizable features. He carried himself like a boy still.

"Go with Henry, and he will find something more suitable in the back closets. Choose three changes of clothing, and it had better be nothing like you have on now. Sam doesn't exist any more. He dies here in this warehouse."

Sam shuddered at that but he was right. Sam followed Henry to the back of the warehouse and started going through the clothing there, Things that fit his long, lean yet broad shouldered form weren't common but he found his requisite three changes of clothing. No flannel, no army tee shirts, no layers, no baggy jeans. Henry shoved him into an almost tailored look that seemed close in and uncomfortable at first. He had to stand differently, for it to be a comfortable fit. He selected a longish coat, to make up for the lack of layers. Some place to hide the weapons he always carried.

They trimmed and darkened his hair, It wasn't short and he didn't look twelve, it was merely tamed. They gave him fake glasses. No prescription, just something else to shift his features.

The man looked him over once more when he stepped out and nodded. "Wear jewelry, something that looks sentimental. Ring, pendant. Pick it out at a pawn shop so it looks worn, grow facial hair." He told him. "Your name is Sean, Sean Michael Talbot. Your birthday is today, 24 years ago, originally from Austin , Texas ." He told him as he handed him a worn looking Social Security Card, two credit cards, Voter's registration card for Baton Rouge, and an Albertson's savings card. "Those cards have $500 limits. Your credit is moderately good, but not perfect. Now let's get you in front of the camera. Need one for the driver's license, and one for the passport."

The process was done an hour later, and he walked out of the warehouse quite literally a new man. He carried a different bag filled with his gear and changes of clothing. His first stop was a used car lot, where he picked up an inexpensive truck. There was no AC and the stereo was mono, no tape or CD. But he could work on it and with minimal modification he could turn the tool case into a weapons locker.

He set his bag in the weapons locker, and locked it up, then got into the driver's seat and sighed heavily, leaning his head back against the head rest and closed his eyes. "You can do this," he frowned, "Sean." He said the new name aloud as though that would give it weight and meaning. "It's just another con, you can do it." He started the truck, and turned on the radio, finding an oldies station, for a bit of the familiar in his strange new life, and hit the freeway.

He didn't go far, another hour down the road when he took an exit for a one horse town that he had never heard of before. He was hungry. Dinner the night before had been a long time ago. It seemed a life time ago.

He pulled onto main street and found the one and only diner in town. He entered the restaurant and settled into a booth.

A red head at the end of a long shift gave him a tired smile as she handed him the worn, one page laminated menu. "Meat loaf's the special." She said. "It's not bad, but I'd go with the barbequed chicken if I were you." She said. She recognized the long traveled, road weary look. Usually the only reason people stopped here, was that they were hungry, before they kept on passing through.

Sam smiled at her a little sadly. "Chicken it is. Don't suppose there is a motel close by. I'm not picky." He said, figuring this was the least likely place Dean would come for a day or two at least. Give him time to get his bearings, maybe fix up the truck a little. Time to try and become Sean Talbot. Who ever the hell he was.

"There's a motel attached to the diner." She said as she wrote his order down on her pad. "It's not much, but the rooms are clean and it's quiet." She laughed a bit. "Everything around here is quiet, come to think of it." She wrote down coffee, he looked like he could use some. Actually he looked like he could use some whiskey, but he also looked like he was still driving.

"Yeah? How much for a room? I've been on the road too long today." He said. He didn't think he would ever be picky about the hotel rooms he stayed in. He doubted this one would have a kitchenette being attached to the diner but for no longer than he planned to stay here that would be fine. Too long in one place would make him too easy to find.

Oh yeah, this one was running from something. But most everyone here in town was. One thing or another. A life they hated, disappointments...ex lovers who turned out quite opposite of what you thought...She wondered idly what he was running from. Not that it mattered. Just idle wonder.

"Forty for a night." She said, about the room. "Doug should be back soon, he can set you up." The owner and manager of the diner and the motel.

"Great, sounds good." He said with a tired nod. Sleep. He needed sleep. He had been up more than 24 hours straight. Maybe with a little sleep he could sort out where he was going. What he was going to do with his life. Was he going to still be a hunter, or was he going to disappear into small town America and hope he could keep away from any and all that knew him.

She gave him a smile and went to put in his order with the cook, bringing over coffee. When Doug, a heavy set middle aged man with a red face and a halo of graying hair came in, she sent him over to Sam. Doug eased his body heavily into the chair with a soft grunt.

"You want a room I hear?" He asked, his brisk tone honeyed over with the dialect of the area.

Sam looked up from his coffee. "Yes, sir." He said with his usual politeness. Some things wouldn't be changed no matter what new persona he built around himself. "Been on the road too long. Just wanna be somewhere not moving for a few days." He smiled then. It was true. They had been traveling for the better part of two years with out much hope of stopping ever. A few days in a town small enough that even the supernatural avoided it would be just what the doctor ordered.

"I know how that can be." Doug said with a nod. "Well, they're nothing fancy, but at least they don't move. Cash only." It was a small town, and friendly enough, but he wasn't about to be scammed by an out of towner. He'd been scammed once before, and that was enough for Doug. He didn't believe in repeating his mistakes. "My wife comes by every morning at eleven to change over the beds, for an extra charge you can have your laundry done too. There's a microwave and a fridge in there, cable. No loud parties, no disturbances. A lot of folks use them as efficiency apartments, and they gotta get up for work the next day." The extra charge being five bucks, but the motel wasn't the money maker for him. Neither was the diner. He was a carpenter by trade actually, but he just pulled several roles in the town, like many other people.

"Sounds great. I'll take it for a week. Oh... I have some work I need to do on my truck... Is it okay if I do that here or do I need to find another place to do the work?" He knew some places frowned on that. Had watched his father argue with enough hotel managers to know. He would have to go get tools but he needed them anyway.

There would be no parties. Unless Sam sitting in front of the TV with a bottle of tequila and bag of limes counted as a party. He wasn't stupid. He knew the first little while was going to be rough. That was why he needed to stay put until it passed. So that he didn't make stupid mistakes.

"Nah, that's fine. Just no big pounding in the middle of the night." Doug said. "We got a junk yard across town, that might help depending on the work you're doing." Most people stopped in town with the fear that their vehicle wouldn't make it to the next town. That wasn't unusual. It was a small enough town that it was under the radar of just about everything, but close enough to the interstate that they got a fair amount of people passing through. At least during tourist season, which was ending. Doug dug into his pockets and pulled out a large ring of keys, he didn't have pass cards or anything. Good old fashioned keys. "Let's see..." He said, going through them. "You can have room four."

Sam nodded and did the math in his head for a weeks stay at the motel plus laundry service every few days, and pulled out 300 from his stash of actual cash. "I don't know what tax is here. " He said sheepishly and took the key when offered to him. An old junk yard near by would help a lot. The engine was running fine but he wanted to get underneath and work on the suspension and breaks. With the right work done under there even that old truck could be made to do tight maneuvers when needed. That and the weapons locker he needed to create. "I'm Sean by the way." He said trying on the new name. "Sean Talbot."

"Well, it's sure nice to meet you, Sean." Doug said, shaking his hand. The money covered the week and the laundry. "I don't do tax, I guess it's included. Just too messy if you start dealing with cents and percentages. So this is good. So you can get your breakfast here, it's included. We have a general store right down the street."

Jack shifted uncomfortably in the passengers seat. "You really spend all of your time in this car... like this? Are you permanently numb in the ass cheeks? Cause my god I can't feel mine anymore. "

Dean chuckled. "My ass is fine." He said as he switched tapes over. "I've spent more time on the road than you, you know, since Dad didn't have that whole teleportation thing going on. From the time I was four. This car right here, nothing like it." But at least it had been an hour since Jack had last called his girlfriend.

"Well I gotta agree... There is nothing like it." And his backside and lower back thought it was an amazing torture device, but he was smart enough to keep those thoughts to himself. His oldest brother tended to obsess on the car. "So any idea what Sam was talking about in his notes here?" He asked and started reading out loud the notations.

Dean listened. "Sounds like he was investigating a case." Dean said. "I don't know, maybe he was giving himself something to do, a purpose or some such. We did the same thing when we were looking for Dad."

"I guess that's promising for us being on the right track. I understand leaving the cell phone but why the lap top? You would think he would want his research with him... And can we pull over at the next rest stop? I'm getting a cramp in my leg."

Dean gave him a look and pulled over. There really weren't rest stops on the paths he traveled, just wide shoulders where he could pull over. "I don't know. He snuck off in the middle of the night, maybe he only grabbed what he could easily grab." He suggested. Though the lap top thing was bothering him too. "We'll see how far we get then get a motel somewhere. Guess I should at some point see if you can drive this beast. She's picky you know."

"Sure." He said with a nod as he got out and walked off the cramp in his leg. He fished out the bottle of anti-inflammatories from his pocket and took two. He had been healed as a child, but the body was a funny thing. A bone could knit, and be for all intents whole, tendons and ligaments could heal, but pain didn't seem to care. He was lucky. He knew that. That he had lived through the blast and the fall, that he had survived long enough for his mother to sacrifice her soul to keep him alive a little while longer, that the spell had worked. So many times in that process that he could have died. One misstep along the way could have left him crippled, or stunted. His lungs or heart could have been compromised for the rest of his life. Instead he was healthy and could do what ever he wanted to do. So long as he could tolerate the bad days. The days when the pain seemed to radiate though his body in that dull burning ache, punctuated with sharp twinges. He was grateful that Ben was fixated with warm climates. His senior trip to Aspen had been an experience in pain tolerance. Old age was going to seriously suck. "Picky huh... Friend of mine has a car that he says is picky but all that's wrong with it is that he has handled it rough for so long that it's got ... Steering issues. "

"No, she's picky." Dean said with a laugh. "Some days she wouldn't even start for Sam. He swears she's possessed." He sat on the hood with his M&Ms. He knew stiffness, and pain, and watched his youngest brother walk for a minute. Sure, whatever deal Dad cut with the demon brought Dean back to the realm of the living. And the doctors couldn't find anything wrong with him, but some days it just hurt to get out of bed. "Pop the trunk. Black bag on the right hand side, all sorts of anti inflammatories, antibiotics and pain killers." They lived a rough life, and hospitals weren't always an option.

"Thanks" Jack said. Sitting still was hard for him, and he had been doing it for hours. He got into the trunk and found the black bag. He took a couple of flexeril for the stiffness, figuring the ibuprophen he had just taken would work for the swelling. "Well... Maybe she knew he was gonna run and didn't want it to be with her. " Possessed car... So long as it was friendly... No skin off of Jack's nose, although he figured Dean to be the sort to freak at that concept.

"Yeah I can see that." Dean said with a chuckle. "He's not the best driver in the world anyway. But we're a walking pharmacy and armory. You name it, we got it or can get it." He sobered for a moment. "A few days before Dad died, that demon that we've been hunting...sent one of his lackeys at us. Plowed a semi right into the passenger side of the car. I was already in bad shape, the attack didn't help. Spent a few days in a coma, doctor said I was basically a vegetable. When I woke up, and then when Dad...you know..." he cleared his throat. Meaning when their father had died. "We, ah, we cleaned out their pharmacy on that floor." And smuggled their father's body out. "So we've got enough for a while. Even some heart stuff in there somewhere." From his other near death experience. Oxycodone, nitroglycerin.

"Ben's idea of pain medication is vodka. Fortunately he knew doctors that were in the know about... You know... So he didn't really have to explain the scars with no medical file to back them up. Some of them are literally witch doctors so I spent a lot of time gagging down herbal teas when I was little. " He shook his head. "Well," he said figuring now was the time to make light of the conversation. It was getting too heavy and in uncomfortable ways. Demons vs. Hunter ways. "Well... You may have been broken into many pieces more often than I have... But I did it first." He said with a grin.

"Dude, I was on life support. I completely top you." Dean said with a laugh. "You might have been near death, but damn had there been a black out or a fried circuit, I'd be haunting my car right now. Worst part, the nurses weren't even cute!"

"I survived a bomb and a long fall into a basement at 3 years old. And had to be held together by demonic life support. So trumps a car crash at 26. And if Dad had been a little more willing to kill her back then or if you two were better at escaping I would be serious dead."

"Okay, you can't hold the failed escape attempt against us. We were a lot younger then." Dean said. Leave it to people with Winchester DNA to make a joke out of life threatening and nearly life ending situations. "Believe me, we've gotten better at it." He tossed the keys at Jack. "Come on, since I'm still fully awake and all, let's see if you can handle the Impala."

"Hold it against you?" He asked laughing. "Nah... Kinda glad you two sucked at it. Wouldn't be here otherwise. " He said catching the keys. Jack got into the car. "Okay." He said as he adjusted the seat. "Let's try and get along here." He told the car. "So that we can find Sam and get Dean to stop freaking out." Dean tried to not think about it, Jack could tell, he was trying. But he could also see his eyes, and that undid every bit of covering up he could do. He was worried about Sam, yeah, but he was also somewhat lost with out Sam. And that was something Jack didn't understand having grown up fairly normal and as an only child.

Dean started laughing. "I'm telling Sammy when we find him that you talked to the car." Dean teased. "He thinks only I talk to the car." Of course, Sammy also accused him of tucking the car in at night and reading it articles from a car magazine as a bed time story.

"No wonder the car doesn't like him... He ignores her." Jack said and started the car, pulling it out onto the highway. "Anything that is well loved and cared for has a ... I don't know... Essence about it. Don't know if I would call it a true consciousness or not... Not arrogant enough to claim to know... But they definitely have personalities, and they know if they are being dissed."

"Thank you!" Dean said with a chuckle. "Finally someone who agrees I'm not nuts, right baby?" Though the 'baby' he was referring to was NOT Jack. He pulled out the directions again. "Okay another hour, then we'll get a motel and see what we can dig up on Sam."

Jack nodded. "Okay. Any reason you are taking the back roads everywhere? We could have been there like 3 hours ago on the freeway" He asked as he got settled comfortably behind the wheel. He wasn't sure he could handle much more of Dean's music but at the moment he wasn't going to complain. Dean was too on edge and Jack didn't know him well enough to push buttons yet.

"Remember when I told you I was one of America's Most Wanted?" Dean said with a chuckle. "Well, I wasn't kidding. We did a job in St Louis, evil shape shifter. And he wore me for a little while to go commit some torture and murder. Nice guy, really. So once they figured out I wasn't dead, well...and there was this bank robbery thing...another shape shifter. Man, I have no luck with shape shifters. So, major popular road, more chance of getting pulled over, carted off to jail, extradited, possibly executed...definitely puts a crimp in the plans. So, yeah. Back roads."

"You two are about a mess, you know that?" He said with a laugh. He could handle driving. It was a cool car, he had to give him that much, and he totally got being into something that intently, but he had a feeling Sam was right... The car was replacing a steady girlfriend in Dean's life. He had seen that sort of thing before. With cars, dogs... surf boards. Fortunately Jack had a girlfriend. A home. And eventually gainful employment. It might have been an accident of fate that he wasn't living their life with them, riding along in an old Impala running from the law and a very powerful demon. But it was an accident he was grateful for. His brothers would never see old age. If they had children they would probably never see them, or even know they existed. It was a lonely life. Good cause or not, it wasn't one that Jack was cut out for.

"Yeah, we are." Dean agreed with a chuckle. There really wasn't any arguing with that. They were a complete mess, but they worked. Against all odds, for some reason they worked. At least when Sam wasn't pulling stupid stunts like this. "And we're always entertaining in one way or another. Strange, though, aint it? That you're the one raised by a demon who owns a strip club and has a girlfriend with violent tendencies...at least toward me...and you're the normal one?"

"That should tell you something." Jack said with a grin. Mostly that life was unpredictable. But at the moment the fact that Ben had managed to raise him to have a normal life was a point of pride for Jack. Not that Dean would understand. He could perhaps comprehend the level of hatred Jack felt for every other hunter on the planet except for his brothers. But he couldn't understand it. That hatred had deepened when he had learned the truth about his mother. Ben had never said that it was Jack's fault that she had made the decision she had in order to save him. And he wasn't Sam... It wasn't natural to place blame on himself for things he didn't actually do. Yes he knew that his mother had free agency and had made the choice on her own, but he knew that the only alternative was to watch him slowly die, gasping for breath like a fish out of water. No parent would make that choice. No... His mother's descent and eventual demise lay at the feet of the hunters that had blown up their home. The ones that had kept coming after them time and again, driving them into a world made of shadows.

Dean chuckled. "Yeah, I guess it should." He said as his fingers drummed on the dashboard. "Okay, take a left up here, we'll get a place and see what we can find out. Unfortunately, you have to fill the cute puppy boy role. Kinda like good cop, bad cop. But I aint a cute fluffy puppy, and I'm the oldest. So I've decided."

"I look like Bruce Lee and John Wayne had a love child and you want me to be the fluffy puppy boy? How about you play the pouty pretty boy role and I play the bad cop role?" He said with a laugh. He followed Dean's directions and pulled into an amazingly cheap motel. "I think there might be one with bigger roaches down the block... Could be cheaper but they might charge by the ounce on the critters you carry out with you though."

"Believe me, I've stayed in worse." Dean said with a laugh. "And how about we call that girlfriend of yours and ask her who she thinks makes the cuter one?" He teased. "Brush your hair down, you'll look sixteen. You get fluffy puppy boy. Besides, older people see me, and they think trouble, lock up the daughters and the booze."

"Gee, wonder where they come up with such an instinct with you." He said with a laugh. "Look... Not sure why we need a fluffy puppy, unless you are looking for stand in Sam... Which I'm not."

"I know you're not a stand in for Sam." Dean said patiently. "Though, kinda, you are, since this is a two man operation. Anyway, someone other than me has always filled the role of the one they want to take home to dinner and fatten up before tucking into bed. Except, you know, when I was with Dad, and then that was my role, but truthfully, it never worked out very well."

"You make it sound like we're grifting." He said as he got out and grabbed his bag. "We're just looking for our brother who had a day's head start on the road trip." He said. "Can't imagine it would take that much subterfuge."

"To flush Sam out? Oh yeah." Dean said. "Believe me, us, the way we were raised, if we wanted to disappear and never be found, we could. The only disadvantage that Sammy has is I know everything he knows. That's it."

"Then maybe we want to go at things differently." Jack suggested as he motioned for Dean to go about getting them a room. "If you know everything he knows... Then he is going to know how to counter that better than anyone. "

Dean went and got a room and came back with the key. "So we go around saying "come out, come out wherever you are?"" He asked. "He's gone to ground, I know it." The more he thought about this, the more complicated it got. Meant Sam had been planning this for a long time, which pissed him off. And hurt him. That in a way he'd run off his own brother.

"I didn't say that." Jack said as Dean led the way to the room. "Just obviously he is trying to avoid being found by you. So the things you normally do aren't going to work. I am sure there has to be some other way that he isn't going to defend against. "

Dean looked around the room. Yup, the normal room he and Sam would get stuck in. Looking like it was decorated by an out of work, half mad set director from 70s pornography. But at least it was clean. "Okay, so he hit this town a couple of times on his computer. Could be a set up to throw me off track, maybe not. Anything about this town spike some interest?"

Jack settled down with the computer. "He made a lot of notes about local disappearances. Could this be a hunt he was working on instead of a destination?" He didn't want to go on a hunt. Had promised Ben that he wouldn't. Nothing would disappoint Ben more than for Jack to become a hunter. It would be a betrayal after all the man had done for him.

Dean stopped and went to look at the computer. "No. No, no, no. Fuck you, Sam." Dean said as he started to pace. "Dad did this, when he disappeared on me. Ended up sending us on a treasure hunt of jobs and cases, each one we thought we'd catch up to him. Only one of them had he even been near. And Sam...Sammy was more pissed off about it than I was. And he pulls this?"

"Because he knew it would work. Cause it would give you something to do instead of looking for him." Jack said with a sigh. "Come on. Lets go get a few beers and a steak, and see if we cant figure out what else he could be up to right now. You know him better than anyone... We'll find him."

Dean gave him a sharp nod as he grabbed the keys off the table. "Sounds good." He said. But he still couldn't believe that Sam would pull this. Actually, he could believe it.

Jack brought along the lap top even though he doubted it would be useful for finding involving Sam. He suspected his genius brother had made sure of that before he pulled his disappearing act "I know this isn't going to be a popular question, so bare with me and don't deck me for it, but is it possible that he was slipping... You know... Into the darkness "

Dean stopped and glared at him. Hard. The patented Winchester glare. "I should punch you for that. No it's not possible." Dean snapped and ran a hand over his face. "Okay, from what I've gathered, the...slip into darkness...comes from having to make some sort of choice. With your mom, it was to save your life. Sam hasn't had to make any choices like that. Last time I was in a coma, Dad settled that problem all on his own. Sam's a good guy. It's going to take a BIG thing for him to take that step. He's not all dark side. And he's not going all dark side as long as I'm alive, got it?"

"First... Don't even threaten in passing to hit me. You don't know me well enough to do that. Second I didn't say he was a bad guy. And so far as we know he didn't make any choices. Obviously he has been keeping quite a lot from you. Maybe there have been temptations you don't know about."

"It's not possible." Dean said firmly. "End of story. He's not dark, he's just misguided and definitely overdue for a time out. Now are we going to go eat and work on other theories or not?"

"Well I guess I know why Sam left now." Jack said with a frown as he looked down. "Not that I am saying he has actually gone all dark and shadowy, cause I'm not but if you shut him down on this as much as you just have me, he probably thinks you'll be his first victim when he goes cause you won't see it coming until it's too late." He got into the passenger's side and closed the door.

Dean stared after Jack for a moment. Damn, was he right? But he shook his head and got into the driver's seat to find somewhere to eat. "I promised Dad I'd save him." Dean said. "Because I can't kill him. No matter what, he'll always be Sammy and I can't kill him. It would be like killing myself and no one should have asked that of me." He said quietly. "So maybe I'd miss signs because I'm so bent on saving him."

"You're right. No one should have asked that of you. It's eating you alive. Even I can see that and I don't know you. " Jack pointed out. "So maybe you might want to cut Sam a little slack when we find him. I get the feeling he's doing this cause he loves you. He practically worshipped you when we were kids." Jack was starting to remember bits and pieces of the time they had all spent in the shadows. "I doubt that has changed."

"I don't know." Dean said. Worshipped? Maybe when they were kids, in that normal little brother way. He couldn't see it now. Or Sam wouldn't be fighting him so hard on this issue. Wouldn't be taking off like this, making Dean chase after him. Because if he honestly thought Dean wouldn't chase after him, then deep down he knew Dean less than Jack did. "I'll try to cut him a little slack. I'll only hit him once, how's that?"

"It's a start." Jack said with a laugh. "So anyway, where is the last place on earth you would look for Sam Winchester?"

"That's the problem. He's better at blending than me. Kid can go anywhere. He's done the nomadic hunter thing with me and Dad, and he did the college thing at Stanford." Dean said with a sigh. "I ever tell you he graduated from Stanford? He was preparing for law school when Dad went missing, and then his girlfriend was killed."

"Stanford huh, not too shabby." Jack said. He hadn't even thought about Ivy League schools. Just never occurred to him. But Jack was a man of simple dreams and ambitions. Stanford was for a man who wanted more, and wanted it bad enough to work for it. "So he is smart, determined, and he isn't one to just settle for what he can get easily.""Yeah, that's Sam. So, I don't know, maybe we should check Wall Street first." Dean said with a laugh. It was going to take a bit to figure it out, find a place to start looking. "So what's Sam got in that file anyway?" Because that's who he was. "You can stay back, don't worry. Not asking you to do that." Knowing his feelings on that subject. "I'm just interested."

Jack gave him the ground work that Sam had laid out for Dean. "Missing children. Says it's between the ages of 6 and 10. Kids go out to play and just never come back inside. Doesn't seem to matter what social class or how diligent the parents appear to be.. the kids just up and vanish.""Huh." Dean said as they pulled into a diner, and got a table. He took a couple of napkins and a pen and started making charts and graphs of the disappearances. Getting a copy of the local newspaper and writing more things down. They didn't hunt blindly if they could help it. That was one thing their father had beat into their heads. Preparation. Preparation. And preparation. He looked at what he had done and nodded. Starting to find a pattern already. "Yeah, so we'll ask around, see if anyone's seen Sam, but I doubt it. I don't even know what he's driving these days. Were it up to him, probably some little foreign job, which makes me think he's driving an old truck instead."

Jack nodded. "Makes sense. How far would he go to reinvent himself?" He asked. He remembered the ever changing last names when he had been little. He had 5 in one year once because they just kept coming. His mother had worked very hard to cover their tracks each and every time. Never staying put in one place was easy, but making your way through life was another matter entirely."Hair style, clothing, maybe grow a goatee or something." Dean said. "Might affect an accent, I'm telling you, the guys in the witness protection program couldn't do any better than what we know. And that's with saying that he didn't get outside help. Which I hope he did, because we can track that." Somehow. It was at least a string of hope he could grab onto. All the while making his notations. Because Dean could multi task with the best of them. "He'd stick to small towns, until he gets his bearings. There's just, you know, a million of those. And then maybe go lose himself in the big city. He wouldn't go anywhere where he might be recognized as Sam, so Palo Alto is out." Then Dean made a list of places he knew Sam wouldn't go. "So a fifty mile radius around all these places. Narrows it down a bit more."

Jack took the list and looked it over, along side his menu. "Where's our FBI profiler when we need one?" He asked, not even sure where to begin looking on the list Dean made up for him. "Do you think it will take him long to get his bearings?" He set down the menu. "For all of that... How many connections do you guys have for that kind of outside help?"

"A bunch." Dean said. "I have a glove compartment full of fake IDs. But he wouldn't use any of our connections. So we're back to square one on that one. I'll ask around, see who people would recommend if they were going rogue. But what he wants more than anything is to be normal. That's where you come in. Because you're normal. Got the normal life, the normal girlfriend, the normal education, and compared to us, the normal household. So what does a normal guy do?"

"A normal guy... gets a job, gets a place to live, makes friends." He said. "That's going to take money. People don't hire a guy with no address, not at a real job. Sam strikes me as the type that is going to want a real job, not an under the table job. That's also going to take a social security card, a driver's license, at his age either a college record or an employment history... who ever hooks him up with this new ID is going to have to be top of the line. Homeland Security is making it hard to pull of an identity switch out there."

"Okay, so we're going to need the top of the line identity man." Dean said. "Which means Sam's been saving up for this for a while, because they don't come cheap." He said as he paused. The waitress took their orders and brought over some coffee. "I'll put in some calls, see who I can dig up." He jotted that down on the 'Sam' sheet and smiled politely at the waitress when she came back over with more sugar. He gestured at the front page news, which was the missing kids. "Seems like city life keeps getting closer and closer, doesn't it?" He said.

The waitress sighed. "Yeah. People used to leave their doors unlocked." She said with a shake of her head. "Now no one even goes to the playground. Those poor kids...and those poor parents. One of them is my neighbor, never seen such attentive parents. Then the kid goes up and disappears. People are saying it's them woods, but that's just superstition. Almost think there's a predator on the loose. You read about it all the time, those sickos that kidnap kids for their own deviant needs, or sell them to Thailand or something..."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Dean said. "Enough to keep you up at night."

Jack watched Dean work the waitress for information. He was casual about it, as though he really were just another traveler. It was a little creepy. Impressive, but creepy none the less. How could he tell what was and wasn't the real Dean? He wondered if his brother even knew.

Dean chatted with the waitress a bit, letting the story develop that they were on their way to meet their middle brother up at college and stopped off for an oil change and some gas. A bit close to the truth, and completely innocuous also. Then the waitress brought over their food and left them to tend to other customers.

"What?" Dean said as he peppered his food and poured on the ketchup. "You're looking at me like you either want to bolt out the door and straight back to Texas or ask for my autograph."

"Does it always come that easy?" He asked. "Sliding into a persona, charming everyone around you?" He could see where it would be necessary. A necessary survival skill, and if his mother hadn't lost herself to the darkness he would probably be as good at it as Dean was.

He was certain that once he got to know the man, it wouldn't be so strange to him, but they were strangers with the same genetics at this point. It was disconcerting not to know who he was talking to. Other than an over protective big brother.

"Depends." Dean said with a shrug. "If I'm at a bar, and I'm just looking to get laid, and I'm talking to a girl who really doesn't give two shits what I'm saying as long as I put out...absolutely no guilt." He said as he cut his steak. "Little old ladies, they get me. Usually I let Sam talk to them. He doesn't even really need to pull a con, just bat his ridiculously long girlie eyelashes and ask for a cookie. That waitress, not really. By the end of her shift, she'll have forgotten all about me."

"Do you ever really connect with anyone?" He thought that would be about the loneliest life around, to be surrounded by people and none of them knew you. Pretending to be something you're not. No wonder he didn't want to lose Sam. Sam was probably the one who came closest to knowing Dean, and even then, Jack wouldn't lay odds on it being as well as either brother thought it was.

"You know, I did once." Dean said, thinking of Cassie, her face flashing before his eyes before he banished it. "Course then I had the bright idea to come clean about everything, and then, well, she left me." He said with a chuckle and a roll of his eyes. "Women. So other than that, it's just been Sam, and Dad. Course now Dad's gone. Guess that's why I'm looking for Sam. Because logic says I shouldn't. He's an adult. He can go off by himself. Just...if he does, what's left of me, you know? So Kaylie knows everything, then?"

"Maybe you should figure out what's left of you while we hunt him down. " Jack suggested. "And yeah... Kaylie knows everything. We've been together since ... Well... I've never been out with another girl, let's put it that way. I couldn't get serious about her without telling her the truth."

"Well, glad to know there are some people who can take it well." Dean said. Truthfully, he wasn't sure he wanted to figure out what was left of him. The answer might scare him. He had far too much invested in his family for it to be any other way. Maybe he truly was pathetic, in that he just couldn't be alone, even if he were just in the room with a family member. Was that the price for his lifestyle? The never ending con, the constant moving, the fluid identity? Yup, he was so much better off just not knowing. "Besides, it's Dad's fault that Sam and I...shit what was the word someone used once...symbiotic. He was a strange, broken, fearless man.""

"I remember when you two were missing... Out in the darkness... He just stood there at the window staring out at the gateway. For three days he stood there waiting. Staring. Barely speaking. " Jack had felt so insignificant in the face of that. He had tried so hard to stay at his side and wait for them as well, because that was what his father was doing and he had wanted that man's ... Acknowledgement... More than anything at that time. His mythical, absentee father had been in his presence and he had been nothing to him. Something he couldn't even look at.

"I still don't remember anything from then." Dean said. "I don't know, maybe I need another knock on the head. Which is coming, because I tend to get knocked around a lot." He said with a chuckle. Sure, Jack had been raised by a demon, and spent his early life in and out of a shadow dimension, but Dean didn't think that Jack was ready to hear the whole truth about John, and what he'd done to ensure that Sammy stayed safe. And in the light. Because he knew Jack's opinion of their father wasn't very high, and Dean wasn't ready to hear that. Bad enough he always had to hear it from Sam.

Jack chuckled. "A hypnotist might be easier on your head and more likely to work. Of course they may not like what they find out." He didn't hate his father. His mother had never taught him to hate the man. But there was a good deal of resentment and pain from the one meeting they had the chance for. And some he supposed for not saying anything sooner about him to his brothers.

Dean laughed. "Yeah I can see that session now. Sure, I remember my brother now, course I also remember crossing a demon wasteland to get a bottle of enchanted water...you'd come break me out of the loony bin, right? Because I'd definitely be locked up for thinking my childhood was some deranged version of a Grimm's fairytale..." He said as he drifted off then wrote down two words on his napkin. Hansel and Gretel. "Damn, that was obvious."

Jack gave a quizzical frown. "What's obvious? That your child hood was deranged? " He asked with a laugh. "Hate to tell ya pal, but you and I... We've had it lucky compared to some people I know."

"Nah, my childhood was actually pretty cool." Dean said. "Oh some parts sucked, but I had some fun. No, this thing I'm working on that you don't want to know about." Meaning the case. Because, Dammit, he couldn't just go to the next town. Not when some messed up spirit was taking children. He didn't care how distasteful Jack found the idea, he could wait in the hotel room.

"I know you're disappointed that I don't want to go into the family business with you." Jack said. "But you can talk to me about it... Just in case I have to go out there and scrape up the remains or something."

"Okay." Dean said. "Hansel and Gretel. Most people think its a parable to tell kids not to go off on their own, especially into dark woods. And most of all, never go into a strange person's house, especially if its made of gingerbread. But Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, they knew more than they were letting on. They just dressed it up for public consumption." He turned the napkins over so Jack could look at them. "Hansel and Gretel. So far we've got eight children missing over a period of seventeen months. Four boys, four girls. Each pair was taken within a week of each other, then things calm down. Parents let their kids go out to play. But the spirit is hungry. So it starts again. It's probably not eating them as we think of it, but it's eating them. Even spirits have a preoccupation with the occult properties of human flesh. So that's what I've got so far. It's been three days since the last boy was taken, six months since the last girl was taken. I've got a window of opportunity here."

"okay... " He nodded. He could accept this. Something that preyed upon children didn't deserve to be left in peace." So how are you gonna go about all of this?" He had no clue how hunting was done. Normally he wouldn't want to know. But this was something his brother was going to do, something that could be dangerous and he was he only one around to know what happened.

"I've got the locations of all the kids when they went missing." Dean said, sketching them on another napkin. "This is the last kid, all around those woods. So I'm going into the woods, seeing if the son of a bitch is hungry. Doubt it'll come after me right out, you know, me being male and all grown up, but it's going to deal with me one way or another." He finished his food and drank his coffee. "So twilight is the magic hour." He looked at his watch. "Which means I've got forty minutes to get you tucked into bed. You're not expecting a story or anything, are you?" He teased. Because Jack was the youngest.

Jack laughed. "Nah, I'll go back and see if Kaylie is on line. Leave my cell free incase you need me." He said as he finished his meal.

"Dude..." Dean said with a laugh as he settled the bill. "You've talked to her more than you've talked to me today, and I've been sitting right next to you. But if you're going to talk to her, tell her you're still in one piece. No daredevil stunts, no forced orgies...I've been a very good boy."

Jack laughed "I will let her know that your balls are still off limits" he said.

Sam had spent the day shopping instead of sleeping. He had needed tools, to work on the truck, another computer and more than three changes of clothing. Especially since none of what he had picked up along with his new identity was something he wanted to crawl under a truck in. He would be making minimum payments for a long time on the new credit cards but that was in some strange way reassuring.

It was normal. He wasn't part of the hunt anymore, so he couldn't very well justify burning the fake cards anymore. It wouldn't be part of fighting the good fight then... It

would be fraud. Strange how his mind still made those distinctions. He locked up the tools in the trucks took box and took everything else into the hotel room with him.

Including a bottle of Tequila and a bag of limes.

He locked the door behind him and lay down the salt lines. He put the pistol under his pillow, almost reluctantly making sure that the safety was on, and scattered the other weapons about the room before heading into the bathroom to take a shower. He wished it were as easy to wash away the last vestiges of Sam Winchester as it was to wash away the road dirt. He worried about his brother. He missed him too. Missed the sound of his brother yelling at him to leave him some hot water, missed his ragging on him about porn and his taste in music. But he knew that he had made the right choice. If he had stayed he would have wound up killing his brother. The visions had been clear on that point. Even if every step he took to prevent it had only changed the ways and means of it all... He had still been the one to take Dean's life, because Dean hadn't been able to save him and he had refused to kill him.

He dressed in a new pair of sweat pants and a floppy tee shirt, figuring he could at least be comfortable at night, even if he had to suffer with discomfort through the day. He started flipping through the channels until he found an old movie that was worth watching, telling himself that at least he could watch what he wanted now. He poured the first of many tequila shots, and opened up the shiny new laptop. This at least was going to be fun. Ash wasn't the only one that could make a computer do back flips. He just ... Wasn't as speedy about it, and certainly wasn't up to taking on the government, and somehow he thought Ash was.

He had to create a web presence for Sean Talbot. He also had to back it up with an education which was easier to forge than a work history. Sam didn't want to spend what was left of his human existence running. He didn't want to spend it on his back under a car or in the back of a small town greasy spoon. That meant he had to have been a professional student all this time.

He opted for IT. It was basic in most companies. Didn't require an MIT diploma. So Sam arranged for it to be from some community college near a naval base. He knew what it was like to have a marine father, so he kept that part of his new persona. Besides, being a military brat made it easier to believe he had never been in one school for long, and why no teacher really ever remembered a Sean Talbot.

He set up an email account, Chat programs, started to hang out on a few of the boards. Stretching Sean's legs in a safe environment.

Missy, the waitress from the diner, had a room across the small dusty courtyard from Sam. The courtyard was littered with weather worn, but still feasible, lawn furniture surrounding a make shift fire pit and a grill. Sam right now, or Sean as she knew him, was the only one using the motel as an actual motel. The rest of them used them as efficiency apartments. Doug provided a fair rate, and Missy had it taken out of her

paycheck, for room and board.

She'd been here one month. And in that one month she'd thought she'd finally shaken off the bad vibes that were attached to her past. The ones that followed her, and chased her. She wasn't old, but she was no longer young. Auburn hair was cut in a shoulder length bob, and she no longer wore make up. Highlights had been washed from her hair, and she no longer walked with the stature of someone proud, or even someone glad to be alive. Right now, as tears poured down her face, she wished she wasn't. It seemed the only way to make it all go away. Was to just let him in.

The man pounding on the door, arms spotted with tattoos. Characteristic blue ink marking him as the felon he was. A beefy hand attached to an even beefier arm was pounding on the door. "Stacey! Open this door, baby! Don't make me break it down! I just wanna talk!"

Stacey, she thought she'd left that behind too. New name, sorta. Once upon a time her parents had named her Anastasia Melissa, quite a mouthful for a girl. She'd gone through Ana, Anne, Stasia, Lisa, Lisse, Stacey, now Missy. Still trying to escape. She thought she'd escaped him as a frightened scream broke free from her throat as he rattled the door. She leaned against it, as if to hold it up, a steak knife clutched in her hands, hands too small and inexperienced to know what to do with the steak knife, but it provided a weak sense of security.

Sam had been ignoring what had sounded like a typical domestic dispute for a few minutes now. He had learned as a kid not to let himself worry about things going on between other people. Normally they didn't want your help. But the scream was something different. He could never ignore the sound of someone screaming. That took it from dispute to someone being in danger, and that brought him to his feet, and out the door.

"Dude, it's late, go home." He said trying to approach it calmly at first. It couldn't hurt to try and defuse the situation before getting physical. He had paid for a week after all and he didn't want to be evicted when he hadn't even gotten the chance to sleep in the bed yet. So he tried to defuse the situation, even though the looks of the man before him screamed that it was just not going to be possible. In fact he would be lucky if he wasn't trying out that brand new insurance card he had in his wallet. Or in jail.

Oh well.

The man looked at him, looked him up and down and dismissed him. "Aint it past your bed time?" He sneered before pounding on the door. "Stacey! The neighbors are complaining! I think you better let me in now! I forgive you baby! The time away let me think for a while, and now let me in and we'll talk about it."

"I'm calling the police!" She shouted through the door, which just increased his pounding.

"You do that and you'll be a dead bitch before they even come! Now I'm trying to be nice here!" He shouted.

"Call 'em anyway." Sam said as he landed a punch at the back of the man's head, sending the front of his head into the door. It was a sucker punch, but Sam had never been taught to fight fair. There was no such thing as a fair fight with monsters, human or supernatural. There were fights that you won, and fights that they carried you out of.

He grabbed the man by the collar and pulled him out into the court yard, figuring this was far from over but he wanted the fight away from the woman's door. He was depressed, half drunk, and a Winchester . Which meant this fight was going to be better than a week's worth of therapy toward what was ailing the 24 year old.

The man grunted as he was pulled away from the door, his forehead had a nice split in it that was dripping blood into his eyes. That's what he blamed the stumble on. The blood in his eyes made him stumble through the courtyard until he got his bearings and took out a butterfly knife. "Gonna give you one chance, boy." The man said, wiping his eyes with his sleeve. "Go back to your room, this is a conversation for grown ups, doesn't concern you at all."

Sam almost laughed then. He stepped in closer to the man, grabbing and twisting the hand with the knife as he landed another punch to the man's face with his free hand. "You should have gone home while you had the chance. "

"Oh! My nose!" The man cried, holding his bleeding nose with his free hand as he tried to get his other hand free. The one with the knife that he was not afraid to use. "You son of a bitch! I'm going to kill you."

Sam took the knife out of his hand and closed it before he thumped the mans head with it. "Take a number." He said as he stepped in closer. "I have laid bigger things than you to rest where they never find the bodies. You come anywhere near that woman again, and you'll just be another statistic."

The man looked like he was going to take a swing, but he limped off, holding his nose. Next was heard the gunning of an ill maintained engine and squealing tires.

"I've moved thirteen times in the last eight years." Missy said from behind him, standing at her door, arms folded across herself as she wiped her face. "Twelve times guaranteed I'd find the worst guy out there and take him home. Was hoping thirteen would be lucky for once and they wouldn't follow me."

"You like your life here?" He asked her, as he tucked the knife away. One more weapon he wouldn't have to buy. "If you do... Then don't run anymore. " He smiled a little. "And don't settle next time. You can do better than that."

"Thank you." She said. "I hope you stop running someday." Because like always recognized like.

"It's not people I'm running from." He said. He wasn't running for his own sake. "Get some rest, Missy. I'll see you at breakfast." Sam told her as he started to walk across the court yard.

Somehow, Missy had the feeling she'd be sleeping a little easier tonight. For one night at least, she could sleep, since her latest problem was probably licking his wounds in a bar or someplace. Or maybe left town, lest anyone find out he got his ass kicked so easily. "Good night, Sean."

Sam went back to his room and closed the door. He tossed the knife on the table before going to clean up and sliding in between the sheets and closing his eyes to sleep.

Jack had called Ben briefly once Dean had left, figuring he had a few minutes of available time before his assistance might be needed. He was frustrated with Sam. He figured he knew why the man had done it but it was hard to see how tore up Dean was over it. No matter how much Dean tried to cover it.

It felt good, it really did. A complete release of energy. He sent the boy he'd found alive off running toward home, and distracted the spirit. A little too well, as it turned out, but the little boy was safe from harm. Dean, on the other hand, he was never safe from harm. Hard to be when he kept putting himself on the frontlines. Hell, in front of the front lines in fact. Right in the heat of it. He got thrown around, had to pull a branch out of his side...but he didn't feel much until the adrenaline wore off.

Right about the time he stumbled back to the hotel room. Actually he didn't start stumbling until he got to the hotel room. And he planned to blame it on ill laid carpet actually.

"Hey." He said to Jack, shrugging his jacket off carefully. Any bruises or obvious injuries he might have had were covered with wet leaves, mud and bits of bark that clung to him. "How's the family?"

"Family is good... With the exception of the man I am looking at. You look like you brought the forest home with you, and you smell like blood. Where are you bleeding?" He asked calmly as he went to get the first aid kit.

"Ah, leg, side, face, inside of my cheek." Dean said with a chuckle as he kicked off his shoes. "It was a rough and tumble one, gotta love those. Won't know the real damage until I shower." He said, carefully removing his shirt to leave in a pile by the door with the rest of his mud caked clothing.

"Shower is probably a good idea." Jack said, shaking his head. "But that's it, no more going out to hunt it down?" He asked, grateful he hadn't gone along. It had been bad enough telling Ben that Dean had decided to follow through on the hunt that Sam had laid out for him. The fact that the thing was killing children made it a little easier but there had still been talk of enabling, and that if they weren't going to focus on Sam, he should come home. He understood Ben's point of view, having been probably hurt worse by hunters than he himself had, but Jack's thing was children. You didn't mess with children. This time the creature had deserved it. But that didn't mean that he liked it.

"All done. Kid's home, probably thinking it was all a bad dream. Creature of the woods is gone...all's right with the world for at least a few hours." Dean said as he made his way to the shower. Oh this was not going to be fun. This was a tequila and percocet moment. Nothing life threatening, but definitely comfort threatening. But he showered as quickly and fully as he could and appraised his wounds in the mirror. "Dammit." He said. One of them needed stitches, and he couldn't reach it. "Hey, you ever put in stitches before?" He asked, digging out the suture kit.

"Ah, no...stitches usually mean a doctor, man. Let's get you in the car and I'll drive over there." He said, looking at Dean like he had sprouted a second head. "What happened that you need stitches.. never mind, I don't want to know."

"Got thrown into a tree." Dean said with a careful shrug. "And no hospitals, I don't have the best experience with them. Besides, remember? America 's Most Wanted? I think I'm number seven or something. Come on, dude, I can't reach it myself and it's easy." He said, handing Jack the suture kit.

"You do realize I don't even sew my own clothing." Jack said as he took the suture kit. "This is going to look like a 6 year old did it." He told him as he opened the kit and looked at it. "I can't believe I am doing this. So there is no way to clear your name at all?"

"Sure. Just convince the authorities that it wasn't me, that it was a shape shifter who looked like me that killed those people. Course, I killed the shape shifter, so once they accept that shape shifters exist, they'll probably charge me with murder for that too." Dean said with a shake of his head. He took the kit and threaded it up and then found a bottle of tequila and started drinking. "Okay, it's easy, just gotta connect the two flaps of skin. If I scream, you went too deep with the needle, got it?"

"Anyone ever tell you you're a masochist?" Jack asked as he started to work cautiously stitching up his brother's side. He didn't shake while going about it but he might as well have given the uneven stitching, although to his credit Dean only had to protest once out of 5 stitches. In fact, Jack was worse for wear than Dean when all was said and done. "I knew there was a reason I didn't go to med school."

Dean chuckled and handed him the bottle. "You look like you could use this." He said. He'd long ago stopped being affected by putting in stitches. He'd first stitched up his father under Pastor Jim's watchful eye when he was nine. Kinda lost its 'eww' effect after that. "Okay, so Sam probably sent us off in the opposite direction of where he went, the bitch, so we've gotta rethink our path." Especially since he only had a few more days of guaranteed help.

Jack took the bottle in hand. "You know, if we don't find him before I have to come back to school, you can come back with me, we can research through the week and head out on the weekends. I only have one early class on Fridays." He said, not figuring they were going to stand a snowball's chance in hell of finding Sam that quickly.

"Yeah it does look pretty hopeless right now, doesn't it?" Dean said with a chuckle as he pulled a shirt on. Bruises faded, so did scars. Pain came and went. This was just another night in the life of Dean Winchester, even if Jack didn't completely know that.

He couldn't, obviously, or he wouldn't have even suggested...with a straight face no less...that the idea of a demon who hated hunters, and a hunter who didn't especially have a love for demons, in the same town knowing of each other would be a good idea.

Besides, he'd seen the toll that this life could have on Sam. He took off, didn't he? There might be one little brother at least that could have a normal life.

If all Sam wanted was a normal life, that was fine. He could have at least let Dean know where he was, or even if he was okay.

"If we don't find him, then I'll have to keep looking on my own, is all."

"What happens if you get hurt out there on your own?" He asked in turn, feeling very angry with Sam in that moment. Jack had always wanted to know his brothers.. to have them actually be brothers not some one out there that shared genetics, and Sam seemed to think it was something disposable. He knew that there was more to it than that but he had just had to stitch his brother up. Jack wasn't used to this. This wasn't normal even for Jack who did not live as normally as Dean seemed to think. He did live with a demon after all. "You gonna run around with open wounds on your back?"

"All bleeding stops. Eventually." Dean deadpanned then grinned. "Dude, it was a joke. I'll be fine. It's not like I've never done this on my own before. But the offer is appreciated, it really is. I'd probably swing by for a beer and a lap dance anyway." He did want to get to know this new brother, just Sam had mucked up the issue with his disappearing.

"Okay, seriously not funny. You better swing by, and you better keep in touch." He told him. "I mean, I don't have to hear from you as often as I do Kaylie but in case you hadn't noticed, I ahm," he laughed, "have separation anxiety, at least that's what I call it. I have an almost pathological need to keep in touch with people I care about."

"Aw come on, it was a little funny. And you couldn't possibly hear from anymore as much or more than you hear from your girlfriend unless they were in your head." Dean said with a chuckle. "I get the separation anxiety. I did drag you off on a search for the jack ass brother after all."

"Guess that happens when people die or leave all around you. Ben's been a constant but it's not the same as, well, you know." He didn't know how to explain it without coming across as one of those whiners that figured their parents were responsible for every little emotional hiccup they had in their lives. That was the last thing he wanted to turn into.

Dean took the bottle and took another swig and looked at his brother seriously. This younger brother who a week ago was a complete stranger. They wouldn't have recognized each other even if they were walking side by side down some random street. "So everyone leaves you too, huh?"

"Yeah." He said with a sigh. "Except for Kaylie, and I am surprised I haven't run her off by constantly checking up. It's not that I think she is going to find someone else or anything, I just can't imagine what she sees in me. Ben, well, love the man to death, but the fact of the matter is he promised my mother he would take care of me when she couldn't, so he is stuck with me until I have no idea when that promise is done, been kind of expecting him to take off any time since I graduated high school. And that isn't to say that he doesn't care about me because he does, it's just...once it's done, it's done, ya know."

"No idea what she sees in you either. She is way out of your league." Dean said with a chuckle. And luckily way too young for Dean. He was reminded painfully just how close he was to thirty when he shifted onto the bed and tried to find a comfortable spot. "Well, you're kinda stuck with me. I'm kinda like a rabid pit bull when it comes to family."

"Good, 'cause you know I will be calling all the time once I go home. Although I promise it won't be more than three, four times a day tops." He teased. Dean had given him such a hard time about his phone time with Kaylie. Although to be honest it was a good thing they had one of those plans where they could talk to each other for free, otherwise his phone bill would rival his tuition.

"You're just as much a girl as Sam." Dean said, shaking his head. "Phone time, making fun of my car, that whole girlfriend thing..." He chuckled. "But good for you. Besides, she's gotta be in withdrawal from you, won't have time to call me once she gets her hands on you."

"Hey I wasn't making fun of the car, I was making fun of you. It's not the cars fault you have a crush on her. Jeez, you're gonna give her ideas and then you'll be doing all the driving . But I am telling you, man, girls are much better, trust me."

Dean laughed. "Yeah, okay. I forgot, you being the wiser brother and all." Dean said. He had no problem with girls. He liked girls. A lot. And they liked him for the most part, in the short term. "Hey, cut me some slack, the car has been my one constant in life."

"You have a car, and I have a demon, well two out of the three of us have something. Could be worse I suppose, given our parents it could have turned out a lot worse for all of us." Jack said. They could have all wound up in foster care, or living on the streets literally, or taken by something far worse than his mother ever could have dreamed of being. Given the world they came from, the Winchester boys led a charmed life.

"I guess the only thing I can hope for is that somewhere in this whole mess of things, Sam might be a step closer to having something." Dean said with a sigh as he popped a painkiller. If the medical community only knew how many painkillers Dean could take and still function at his personal level, they'd be shocked. And possibly try to put him in rehab.

Jack wasn't too keen on Sam at the moment. He didn't know him, but the more he learned about Dean the more he wondered if Sam hadn't been just a little too spoiled over the years by an older brother trying to make up for the lack of parents in the boy's life. Sam seemed to take a lot for granted. Like the fact that his brother could survive this life without him. The fact that Dean was talking about it just being that Sam wanted a normal life, that was just pissing him off.

"Who knows?" Jack said as he shut down the computer. "Let's get some sleep. I foresee a long day on the road tomorrow."

The man looked across the desk at Sean Talbot. And then glanced back down at the piece of paper in his hand. A simple resume, a scanty one at that. Listing schools for the most part. But he was used to that. He often got new graduates, and preferred them. No bad habits from other employers to break.

His hair was a little shaggy, but the man knew that was style for kids these days, even if he wanted to take clippers to each and every one of them, much like the first day of boot camp for Viet Nam. Other than that he was clean cut and very presentable.

"All right." He said with a nod. "You can start training today. We'll give you a small subsidy for moving expenses," normal par for the course, enough to set the new grads up with a crappy apartment and some food, "and we'll go from there."

"Thank you, Sir." Sam said as he rose to his feet and extended his hand. He didn't make any promises about not letting him down, he couldn't. For all he knew he would be on the run again before he got his first paycheck. But he had to try. It wasn't as though he could really run from himself, or the demon. It hadn't worked before. All he could do was stay away from his brother so that his vision never came to pass. He got the information on who to report to and how to get there and made his way there. Fortunately it had been long enough that he was answering to Sean now as quickly as he would Sam. He was comfortable in his new identity even if lonely.

It had been a long time since he had held a regular job. Even then it had only been part time while in school. So his first day had been hectic, even if not very taxing. He spent his lunch hour going through the classifieds looking for an apartment, and making calls to view them.

The landlady showed him a studio fifth floor walk up, in not that great a section in town. But it was cheap, and it was clean. And relatively close to his job. "Security deposit, first and last month's rent." She said. It wasn't the right part of town to deal with background checks, but she liked to keep her bases covered, at least monetarily.

"Of course." He said as he fished out his wallet and gave her the money. "I appreciate you letting me move right in. Getting tired of diner food and motels." he said with a smile. He made sure that he could park his truck out back. It was easy to get to the alley from the fire escape. Sam liked a quick escape. He chatted with her a little while longer, breaking out what Dean would call his puppy dog eyes.

The puppy dog eyes worked, as they usually did. The landlady was completely won over, and even made a note to herself to bring this nice young man a casserole later. It was so nice to see young people who remembered their manners, not to mention were ambitious enough to try and make a life for themselves outside of mommy and daddy.

"Well, if you have any problems, you just ring me up and let me know." She said with a smile, leaving him alone to try and settle in, not noticing the shadows that were falling along the hall.

"I will, thank you." He said as he closed the door and then quickly went about making the place secure. Or at least as secure as it could be made. Salt along points of entry, brick dust right behind it. Then came the weapons. Ones that wouldn't leave the apartment until he moved out. He had only taken a few from Dean, when he had left. He hadn't wanted to cripple his brother's supply. As such, he had made purchases along the way. The weapons locker concealed in his truck bed was full, and he had enough in his bag to scatter about the studio sufficiently. He had learned to hide them well over the years, while keeping them in easy access.

Then he called in an order for pizza, and settled down with his lap top. He had been checking things out on line, following his brother's progress on the clues he had given him. Making sure there were no John Does fitting Dean's description along the way, keeping watch on the most wanted list, making sure his brother was still on it. All those things that told him Dean was still alive and free, doing what he lived to do. Doing what he did better than anyone Sam had ever met save for their father.

The pizza delivery guy came to deliver the pizza, and when Sam handed him the money, he looked at Sam. Seriously, darkly. "You can't escape." He said, with eyes suddenly gone black. Not THE demon, but one fairly close. "And you can't protect anyone. Silly boy."

Sam's dark eyes narrowed as he looked at the possessed delivery boy. "You are so not getting a tip." He said with a sigh, glancing up and down the hall way, before speaking softly in latin, just loudly enough for the demon to hear.

The man clutched at himself as he struck out at Sam. "You fool...you should have killed Dean when you had the chance...you've had lots of chances...the heart problem, the asylum, the life support, while he was sleeping...he is your Achilles' heel because we know what you would give for him."

Sam stepped backwards. "Then you should be happy I didn't." He hissed through clenched teeth. "And I never will. " He resumed the latin then, fishing the holy water out of his jacket pocket, setting the pizza aside.

The man fell to his knees, screaming an unearthly howl. And released a black cloud of smoke before he collapsed. He looked at Sam in confusion.

"Oh man..." He said, holding his side. "How'd I get here?'

"Dude, don't party so hard next time." Sam said. "You need a drink of water or something?" He asked looking the man over, making sure he wasn't going to die of some old injury. that was the last thing he needed his first night in the new apartment. Demon visitation he could deal with, dead pizza delivery guys, not so much.

"Nah, I'm good." The man said, recovering and shaking out his head. "Wow, I musta partied like something else, I don't even remember waking up this morning." Never mind going to work! "So, yeah, enjoy your pizza or something."

"Thanks, man. Drive safe... " Well his good deed was done for the day. Although he didn't like the though that the damned demon was lying in wait for him to order frigging pizza. But he had been right about one thing, he couldn't run from them. Couldn't hide.. so why bother? As long as Dean was safe and far from him, it was all going to be fine.

In it's own miserable sort of way.