here goes, another chapter. thank you all once again for the great reviews, they really make my day. this is more an info/set-up chapter, sorry for the lack of action.

NOT ALL AS IT SEEMS

Chapter 9

Sam sat in the motel room, laptop on the table before him. Jake had been playing quietly on one of the beds, entertaining himself with a few of the toys Sam had salvaged from Kerri's attic. Something was different, more than just a Changeling, and Sam knew it. He couldn't quite place it, but he still knew that there was something else going on. He looked over to Jake again, smiling as the little boy rolled a toy train around the bedspread, calling 'all bored' every few minutes.

Oh yes, he was a very, very good kid, and Sam could see that his brother had become quite enamored with him. Dean was good with kids, hell, better then most, and that was something that had always amazed him about his older brother. Little kids just gravitated towards him, and Dean always did the same. Sam didn't know if it was the fact that his big brother had practically raised him, or that Dean had a tendency to act a little childish himself. Whatever it was, it was always something comforting to see. It was just so natural, so normal, and so not like what their lives normally were.

Sam needed that little bit of normal, more then anyone knew. He needed to see that life was more than darkness, more than demons, that there was more to wake up to than never ending sorrow. It was what kept him going, what kept him breathing, what kept him from falling into the void that surrounded him. Dean just laughed it off as the 'apple pie life' but to Sam it was much, much more. It was something to fight for, something to look forward to, to believe in. And it was something he could feel slipping away from him. But here, now, in Valley with Kerri, with Jake, normal seemed to be making an appearance, and it lifted a terrible weight from Sam's shoulders.

Ever since he had learned of Evelyn's death, he had been unable to concentrate on anything else. She had been so close to him, had been through so much with him, grown from a child to a teenager with him, and now, now she was gone. And in her wake, she had left a gaping hole in is heart. She had been a good person, and a great friend. Fate had taken a lot from her, but she had fought it, that was, until he and his brother had left. To Sam, Evelyn was normal, she was safety, the memory of her pulling him back in time, back to a place where he wasn't afraid. But now, that memory was darker, dampened by her death, by the fact that someone else he had cared about was lost in the darkness.

Sam was brought out of his memories by the sound of his phone, Jake also looking up at the ring. "Hello?" Sam asked, smiling at Jake as he turned back to his train.

"Dude, Sammy, we've got so much to go over." Dean's voice crackled back, trepidation lacing his words. Something big had definitely gone down.

"I take it your meeting with the mom went well."

"Sammy, you're not even gonna believe it."

"Are you gonna tell me, or just build up the suspense?"

"Not over the phone, we'll be there in ten. The kid still there?"

"Oh no, he went out for coffee on his big wheel."

"Bite me."

"Oh course he's still here, Dean. Where the hell else would he go?"

"Just, keep an eye on him. Double up protection symbols, too."

"Dean, what's going on?"

"Just do it." And with that, the call ended.

Sam just stared at his phone, his thoughts drifting back and forth between his brother's words, and Jake. What could have happened to freak Dean out so badly, and why in the world did he think Jake had left? The younger Winchester pushed himself out of the chair, stretching his back before moving to his duffle. He had laid the usual protection charms and symbols around the room, but he knew that, for Dean to be that freaked, it had to be something big. So, Sam decided, he was going to go all out.

Fifteen minutes later, Sam stood in the center of the room, scanning the small space again. He was more that certain that nothing was getting in there now. He had laid out every charm he had at hand, and worked every spell and ritual he could think of to keep unwanted things from their 'home'. It was the best he could do short of turning the small room into a fortress, and the young man still had no idea what he was trying to keep out. Maybe Dean had learned something about the Korrigan? Kerri's house was strongly protected, after all, maybe the pair had found some loophole that allowed the thing access to protected spaces?

The sound of the impala's engine broke him from his thoughts a few minutes later; both Dean and Kerri looking like they had seen a ghost upon entering the room.

"What is it?" Sam asked, now more unnerved than ever. Something very, very big was going down, and he knew that he was currently out of the loop.

"Did you see anything, Sammy?" Dean asked, checking the symbols around the room before peering through the curtains, surveying the parking lot and road beyond.

"No, what would there be to see?" Sam asked incredulously, his eyes drifting over to Kerri.

If Dean was acting strange, Kerri was on another level entirely. She was still standing by the door, her eyes locked on Jake, a strange mix of sadness and fear dancing across her eyes. He had never seen her look quite so lost, quiet so distant. She was always more closed off than most people, but this was something different, it was almost as though she was afraid of Jake.

"Dean, what's going on?" Sam asked, his concern growing with every moment. They hadn't been gone more than an hour, but in that short time something had changed.

"Big, big problems." Dean began, finally moving towards Jake. He lifted the little boy up, searching his eyes. Sam couldn't for the life of him figure out what his brother was looking for. But the way he was studying Jake clued Sam in that it was something he really, really needed to know.

"Dean, what?"

"I think we figured out why Jake didn't see the big bad monster."

"Alright. Care to clue me in, or just scare the hell out of me?"

"When Jake was six months old his mom said that there was this weird man in the park." Kerri broke in, her eyes still locked on Jake, her voice small and forced.

"So." Sam began, though he already knew what she was getting at. But it couldn't be, it wasn't possible. "Lots of people hang out in parks."

"No one saw him but the mom. And Jake always threw a fit when he got near him." Dean began, resting Jake on his hip as he moved around the room. At least he had come to the decision that the kid wasn't gonna spas out on him, Sam thought. "Plus, the mom said it was like Jake had a sixth sense about people."

"Come on, Dean." Sam began, needing to figure this out, needing to find an answer other then what they were all thinking.

"Come on, what, Sam." Dean snapped.

Sam just looked at Jake again, his mind racing, all while little Jake sat in his brother's arms, not a care in the world. Could it really be, after all this, after everything they had gone through, everything that had happened, that they would stumble across not just any kid in the forest, but this kid in particular.

"There has to be another explanation. Just, let me check into it, alright." Sam stated, rubbing his hand over his face. This had to be something else, just a strange coincidence. They couldn't save him from a Korrigan just to know that they would lose him again to something else.

"Like what, Sammy?"

Sam couldn't believe how badly Dean was taking the news that Jake was who he was. Yeah, their lives had been turned upside-down, he and Evelyn having been through hell because of something they couldn't control. But still, Dean's reaction caught Sam off guard. It was almost as though someone had told him that Jake had a terminal illness, like the child was doomed no matter what. It was heartbreaking to say the least, and Sam didn't know what to say to the older man.

And Kerri, she seemed to have shut down completely. She was still staring at Jake, her eyes haunted, body shivering. If Sam didn't know any better, he would have said that she was afraid of him. Or, more specifically, afraid of the man that had been in the park over a year before. He could see it in her eyes, sense it rolling off her in waves. The Yellow Eyed Demon was someone Kerri was very, very much afraid of.

Sam shook himself. They weren't even sure that that was what it looked like, and they were in the middle of another hunt. Their first priority had to be the Korrigan, had to be the family; they could deal with anything else that came up later. Besides, if Jake's future was already set for him, the least they could do was let him enjoy his present, let him be a kid for just a little while longer.

"We can't worry about that now." Sam spoke a few minutes later, earning himself a death glare from Dean. "I mean it."

"So what are we supposed to worry about?"

"The Korrigan. Look, that thing's still out there looking for Jake, and the Changeling at the house is gonna hulk out in a few days. We have to finish this hunt, then we can worry about whatever Mrs. Robinson saw."

"Whatever she saw. We know what she saw, Sammy."

"No, we don't, Dean. She saw a man in the park."

"That no one else saw." Dean growled, his emotions boiling over. Sam knew that the news was upsetting, knew that Jake would be plunged into a world of darkness if it was true, but Dean's anger was still a surprise to Sam.

"Maybe no one came forward, Dean."

"Yeah, because that makes sense."

"Why are you biting my head off about this?"

"I--." Dean faltered, shifting Jake to his other hip. "I don't know."

"You don't know?" Sam asked, eyebrows arching. How could Dean not know why he was lashing out. And then it hit him. Dean and Kerri's fight earlier, Dean and Kerri's attitudes now; it was Jake. Rosie had shown signs of her abilities as a baby, even though he knew they wouldn't fully develop until she reached her twenties. And now, it could be the same with Jake. But, Sam knew, that that would confirm all their suspicions, and he didn't know if he could accept that.

"Jake." Sam whispered after a few tense moments. He didn't want Jake to be like him, didn't want the little boy to be one of the special kids. But the more and more he thought about it, the more he knew it to be true. It all made sense, Dean and Kerri's heightened emotions, the stranger in the park, and even the Korrigan. There was a reason why neither Sam nor Jake had seen the monster, a reason why it was unable to project images into their minds. They were both psychics, and, by some weird rule of the supernatural world, that made them immune to tricks of the mind.

"Jake what?" Dean asked, still holding the toddler tightly. It was almost like he was afraid to put him down, afraid that he could be snatched away under their noses.

"Jake's doing it."

"Doing what, Sammy? Use your college words."

"Bite me."

"See, was that hard."

Sam just shook his head, glad that his brother had at least calmed down a little. "Jake's magnifying your emotions. That's why you two were fighting earlier."

"I thought the kids didn't get their powers till later."

"No. I think they have kind of like a weak version of it when they're little, then it goes away and comes back full strength at twenty two. I mean, when I met Rosie, her mom said it was like she could read minds."

"But you and Ev were normal."

"Really? I mean, when you really go back and look; were we?" Sam knew he was pushing his brother, knew his remarks weren't what Dean needed to hear at that moment, but he also know that there was no way around it. Sam didn't remember much about being a very small kid, and he certainly never paid attention to things like psychic abilities. But, if they went back over everything, he was more than certain that he and Ev showed signs of it all their lives.

"You were perfectly normal, Sam." Kerri's quiet voice cut through the room like ice.

Sam had only heard her voice that sharp once before. At that time he hadn't realized how out of place it sounded, hadn't remembered how light, how solid she normally was. But now he remembered her, now he wasn't standing in a dusty room, staring at pictures of a life he had forgotten; and the chill in her voice shook him to his very core. It was at that moment that Sam realized just how much things had changed.

"Look." Sam began. They needed to get back on track, needed to take care of the problem at hand before they worried if he and Ev were normal or not as children. "Special kid or not, he's still got a Korrigan after him, and that family still has a Changeling. We need to deal with that first."

"Yeah, alright." Dean mumbled, sitting on the empty bed, Jake still in his arms. "You find anything else out?"

"No, still drawing a blank at how to get the thing."

"So, walking in there and grabbing him is still our best bet."

"It's our only bet, didn't say anything about it being the best."

"And me getting tossed around by it isn't enough to give it away?"

"Dean, you getting tossed around isn't the answer to every problem."

"How do you plan on doing this?" Kerri's stony voice broke through. It was as though she was lost, her body rigid, eyes hauntingly vacant. Sam could see how much strain this entire hunt was putting on her already depleted strength; and now the news of what Jake really was seemed to take away the small bit of her that was hanging on. In that instant, Sam knew, that there was much more at stake then the safety of a family.

Kerri had already lost everything to the fight against the Yellow Eyed Demon, had already watched as her family turned to ash, he life drifting away on tendrils of smoke. And now is seemed as though it had all come back to steal away what little bit she had left.

"What do you mean, how do we plan on doing it?" Dean asked, his mind slowly coming back from the abyss he had fallen into after finding out about Jake.

"Well, I would assume you guys are gonna go try to get the Changeling."

"Yeah, tonight."

"If you remember, leaving me with Jake isn't the best of ideas."

"I know. You're coming with us."

"Come again?" Both Kerri and Sam asked in unison.

Sam knew this hunt was risky, and now with Jake's possible ties to the Yellow Eyed Demon it was on an entirely different level; but he still didn't believe that bringing Jake with them was the best of ideas. Then again, leaving Jake with Kerri wasn't the best of ideas either.

"They'll stay in the car. Look, Sammy, I can't go in there if I'm wondering what's going on back here."

"But, what if that thing attacks the car, that's gonna grab the neighbors' attention."

"What else are we supposed to do? I mean, I'm open for suggestions, Sam, but from where I'm standing, there aren't many."

"I'll stay in the car with Jake, you and Kerri head into the house for the Changeling."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because, I'm older and I said no."

"Dean, that's not gonna work right now."

"These Changeling's are like babies on steroids, and if you haven't noticed, Kerri's not really in the best of shape to get tossed around."

"But she's healthy enough to go toe to toe with a Korrigan? It's the lesser of two evils, Dean."

"This sucks." Dean began, punching the bedspread.

Sam knew what his brother meant, hell, one look at Kerri and everyone would know what he meant. She was still suffering the effects of the painting, still recovering from the gunshot wound that nearly cost her her life, and now she had a concussion to add to the list. She was fading fast, he could see that, but they had no other options. He and Jake were immune to the Korrigan, Dean and Kerri weren't. So, it made sense that he stay with the kid, even if no one liked that idea.

Besides, the Changeling was all of two feet tall; and no matter what amount of superhuman strength it had, his brother and Kerri should still be able to handle it.