Thanks so much for the incredible reviews...they mean so much! I'd write more, but I'm still a bit numb from last night's episode. Sammy!!

Anyways, I hope you enjoy part four!

A Mother's Love

Dean paced nervously in front of the Trinity Public Library. In just a matter of minutes he would be reunited with his beloved Impala. Despite Sam's assurance that the car was in tip top shape, there'd been a strange quality to Sam's voice that had caused Dean's stomach to twist into painful knots. He'd trust Sam with his life, but his car….well, that was an entirely different story!

Dean stopped pacing as his ears picked up the familiar roar of the Chevy's engine. "That's it. Come to Daddy." he muttered. As ordered, the shiny black car turned the corner and came to a stop in front of the library.

Dean darted down the library steps and stood on the curb, his hand touching the hood before Sam had fully stopped the car. Dean started at the front of the car and worked his way back. Bent at the waist, he checked for any new dings and dents. His face was so close to the car that if he'd wanted to, he could've laid a big fat kiss on the shiny metal. He ignored Sam's slightly nervous stare as he continued his careful inspection.

"Well?" Sam asked once Dean had straightened back up.

Dean held up a hand and bent to check the tires. Sam rolled his eyes, but wisely kept his mouth shut. Dean made one more pass around his car before giving a satisfied nod at his brother.

"She looks good. Now, give me the keys." Dean held out his hand.

Sam once again rolled his eyes as he tossed the keys over. "Yeah, and I'm the control freak."

"Shut up and get in. There's a diner down the road. Let's grab a bite, and you can fill me in on what you found out." Dean said as he opened the door. He slid behind the wheel and sighed. "It just feels so right."

"Dude, you were only apart for, like, an hour!" Sam said incredulously.

Dean ran his hands around the wheel. "Seems like a lifetime." He laughed at Sam's expression and headed for the diner.

Half an hour later Dean was digging hungrily into a big, juicy cheeseburger. "Say what you want about these tiny one horse towns, but they sure do cook up a mean burger." He took a swipe at the juices than ran down his chin.

"So are you going to tell me what you found out or not?" Sam asked impatiently, taking a sip of his soda.

Dean put down his burger and pulled a wrinkled wad of paper from his jacket pocket. "Right. So, we definitely have ourselves a ghost. Wendy said it appeared to her about two weeks before she, uh, you know." Dean broke off uncomfortably.

Sam looked down sadly. Neither one wanted to mentioned out loud the tragic end that had befallen the little girl. A death in any case is horrible, but when it's a child, it's almost too much to bear.

"Anyways, the ghost said her child was 'wrong'." Dean continued.

Sam's forehead wrinkled in confusion. "Wrong? Wrong how?"

Dean shrugged. "Somehow the ghost convinced Wendy that Becky really wasn't her child. Well, she really did have a daughter named Becky, but the girl wasn't her." Dean frowned. This wasn't coming out right. "Ok, what I mean is, it was her but it wasn't." Dean tried to come up with a clearer explanation, but his words came out all jumbled. Just as he began to sound like one half of the famous Who's on First? skit, Sam jumped in.

"You mean an imposter?" Sam asked, sounding more than a little confused.

Dean snapped his fingers. "Exactly. The ghost basically said the only way to get her real daughter back was to kill the imposter."

Sam sat back in the booth. "So, that's what Jenna meant."

Now it was Dean's turn to look puzzled. "Huh?"

Sam shook his head and gestured for Dean to go on.

"So while you were out joyriding in my car, I headed over to the library to see what I could find out. Turns out this little town has quite the local legend." Dean paused to take another monster-sized bite of his burger. After washing it down with a swig of beer he continued. "Fifty years ago a woman named Hannah Eagan choked her ten year old son to death. Of course, she claimed she didn't really kill her son. She said it was a monster that had taken the place of her son, and that the only way she could get him back was to kill the monster." Dean raised his eyebrow. "Sound familiar?"

Sam's eyes had a faraway look as he processed the information. "And now it's happening all over again." Sam focused back onto Dean. "What happened to her?"

"She was killed by one of the locals before her trial even began. They say her dying plea was for someone to go and save her son from the 'monsters'." Dean made air quotes with his fingers as he said the last word.

Sam nodded his head appreciatively. "You found all this out in an hour? I'm impressed. I don't suppose you found out where she's buried?"

Dean shuffled through the copies he'd made at the library. He pulled out a copy of a newspaper article about the murder and handed it over to Sam.

"She was put in an unmarked grave in town. About ten years later her son had her exhumed and buried her on the family property. Want to guess where that might be?" Dean asked with a twinkle in his eye.

Sam put down the paper he'd been skimming. "Let me guess. A cabin in the woods." he answered dryly.

"How'd ya guess?" Dean said through a mouthful of fries. He was beginning to wonder if anyone was actually laid to rest in regular cemeteries anymore. It seemed anyone who was anyone was buried in a cornfield or in the woods.

"Great. Nothing like a little salt and burn in the woods to bring one closer to nature." Sam began to hand the paper back to Dean.

"Wait a minute." Sam said, pulling the paper back. "Her son? There were other kids?"

Dean shrugged. "Well, unless the kid came back from the dead a decade later, he must have had a brother. I don't know. I didn't get that far."

Sam's hazel eyes continued to devour the words. "There's no mention of a brother anywhere."

Dean snatched the paper back. "There was a brother, there wasn't a brother...it doesn't really matter. We know who the ghost is and where she's buried."

Sam bit his lip. "Maybe there's more to this than just a ghost."

"What do you mean?" Dean's eyes open wide as he realized where Sam was heading. "Oh, come on. Shape shifters?"

Sam set his shoulders defiantly. "It makes sense! Maybe Hannah was trying to warn Elaine and Wendy that the same thing that took her son also took their kids."

Dean rolled his eyes. Sam just had to make a conspiracy out of everything. "No one took her son, Sam. She was a crazy lady who killed her son, and has convinced two completely sane women to try and do the same. End of story."

"Or it could be something else entirely." Sam stubbornly retorted.

"Dude, it's a horse, not a zebra."

Now it was Sam's turn to stare wide-eyed across the table. "Excuse me?"

Dean quoted one of his father's favorite sayings. "When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras."

Sam folded his arms across his chest. "I know what it means, Dean." he snapped.

"Come on, we've got a simple haunting, and you're trying to turn it into a haunting with shape shifters and God knows what else." Dean softened his tone and did his best not to sound condescending. "Look, I did the research, and it's just a simple case of a whacked out person who is trying to cause even more havoc in death. And it's up to us to put a stop to her before anyone else is killed."

Sam seemed to accept Dean's words, although he still wore a slight pout. Time to change the subject. "What about you? What'd you find out at the Donovan's?" Dean gave the elderly waitress a polite nod as she laid the check on the table.

Sam took a sudden interest in his french fries, pushing them from one side of the plate to the other. "Not that much, actually."

Dean waited for Sam to elaborate, but the younger Winchester continued to play with his food.

"And...?" Dean prompted, gesturing for Sam to continue.

Sam lifted his head slightly but kept his eyes cast downward. "It seems that Elaine saw the ghost, too."

"So you got the husband to open up?" Dean asked, still not quite sure what was bugging Sam.

Sam shifted uncomfortably. "Not exactly."

For the next ten minutes Sam recounted every detail of his visit to the Donovan's, including the unfortunate tearful conclusion. At the end of the tale Sam's cheeks were pink with embarrassment while Dean's were flushed from holding in his laughter.

"You made a little girl cry? Dude, that is so wrong." Dean stifled a laugh behind the back of his hand.

Sam clenched his jaw but didn't respond. Dean was far from done. It was his right as a big brother to torment Sam as often as possible. It wasn't often material like this was just handed to him on a silver platter. Who was he to pass it up?

Dean leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially across the table. "Hey, here comes the waitress. Wanna trip her?"

"OK, enough!" Sam said loudly, eliciting a triumphant laugh from Dean.

"Sorry, man. It's just fun to see good ol' Sappy Sammy screw up for once." Dean continued to chuckle at Sam's sour expression.

"I didn't screw up." Sam countered hotly. "I confirmed that Elaine saw the ghost. Although..."

"Although what?"

Sam frowned. "Something Jenna said bothers me."

"Bothered you? You weren't the one bawling. For once." Dean cracked.

Sam gave no response to the teasing. Dean could see something was really bothering Sam, and he did his best to turn serious. Although part of being a big brother was relentless teasing the younger sibling, the larger part was trying to fix whatever might ail the kid, physically or emotionally. He apologized and pushed his plate to the side, giving Sam his undivided attention.

"Come on, Sam. Talk to me." Dean used the back of his hand to lightly smack Sam's forearm.

Sam finally looked at Dean. "What she said about her brother being gone. About the boogeyman taking him away. I don't know, man, it's just…" Sam trailed off, worry lines creased his forehead as his frown deepened.

Dean sighed. He hated seeing his little brother so troubled. "Sammy, she walked in on her mother trying to murder her little brother! It doesn't take a psychiatrist to see that the boogeyman represents her mom. And technically her little brother did go away; he'll never be the same after what he went through. Jenna's just trying to deal with something no child should ever see." Dean rationalized. Despite his best efforts, he could tell his words brought little comfort.

Sam still looked troubled. "Maybe. I don't know. Something about Stevie just didn't feel right."

And we're back to the shape shifter idea, Dean thought, resisting the urge to slap himself, or Sam, on the forehead. "His own mother stabbed him with a broken mirror! Of course he's not alright! That doesn't mean he's the creature from the black lagoon!"

Sam sullenly shoved what had to be an ice cold french fry into his mouth and mumbled an unintelligible response. It wasn't exactly a sign of submission; more like a temporary truce.

Dean grabbed the check and pulled out a wad of cash; the latest spoils of a successful poker night. After dropping several bills on the table he laid out their gameplan. "Ok, so here's what we'll do. First we get out of these costumes, then we head out and burn that bitch up. We'll stick around a few days just to make sure everything's back to normal; maybe swing by the Donovan's one more time. Sound good?"

"A few days? You really think you can last that long in a one bar town?" Sam's eyes began to get a bit of their mischievous sparkle back.

Dean gave a one shouldered shrug. "As long as the Thirsty Turtle has a steady supply of whiskey, I can handle almost anything."