AN: I hope you all enjoy this one although there isn't a bunch of action in it... that'll come later. Take care!


Maxwell Winchester and Josephine Taylor were married in June 1967 less than a month after Max returned home from Vietnam. After taking the money he had saved while in the Marines and putting a sizeable down payment on a little house across the street from a park and within walking distance to one of the neighborhood schools, they walked two miles to the local Chevrolet dealership and drove away in a brand new Impala. It was something they both had wanted, and neither could say no to the other. So the small indistinct house and the shiny black car were the two possessions that that Winchester's started to build their family with. Eight years later after working for a couple of garages during the week and hunting nightmarish things on the weekends and evenings, Max was let in on a little secret by Josie; seven and a half months later Jonathan Winchester was born. Four years later another son, this time Dean, came into the world allowing history to repeat itself once more with the arrival of Samuel four years after that.

The house itself was a small two bedroom home that was usually filled with kids of all ages and it was never a surprise to find a parent knocking on the door to see if their child was planning on returning home – ever. Max and Josie never really cared about material things but always made sure their boys had decent clean clothes, good food on the table and plenty of excitement to keep them sharp. The neighborhood kids thought the Winchester's were awesome with some of the items that were nightmarishly cool quietly displayed in their home, while the neighbors tried not to think about them at all. They had a good life with laughter and love and none of them thought to ask if maybe it was a little too perfect.

Little Sammy had only been in school for a week – a week! And he was already starting to freak the teachers out. There had been talk of bringing in a counselor to make sure there wasn't anything wrong with the kindergartener, but what really had them all in a fit was the fact the child wouldn't back down from what he was saying. The pictures he drew in class was bad enough, but the stories he told were beyond frightening and a lot of the other children refused to play with him. Finally getting wind of what was going on; Max and Josie took their baby boy to the side and asked about his drawings and stories only to be shocked when their little boy admitted that he dreamt them. Knowing that this was serious, they immediately took Sammy to a friend of theirs where she simply looked at them as if they were crazy and said, "Well of course that precious boy is psychic, didn't you know?"

Although life didn't really change in the Winchester household, it definitely became more interesting. When the boys weren't in school they were helping their parents help other people; everyone had their part. John had started hunting several years previous, while Dean would research and Sammy would help pack everything that the family would need to take care of whatever entity was out there. The only difference was, a lot of times Sammy could tell them if they were on the right track keeping the number of mistakes down to a minimum. The older boys had always taken great care of their baby brother, but after finding out how special he really was they doubled their efforts to make sure he was safe; they all knew that someone coming into their gifts that early would eventually catch the eye of something that they normally hunted. So, life continued with hunts, school, PTA meetings, part time and even some full time work and everything seemed to work in a smooth manner. Unfortunately, the universe often does not like a smooth path, often it likes to shake things up with just enough chaos to remind us what we had in the first place shouldn't be taken for granted.

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John watched Sammy sleep but knew that it wasn't peaceful; he hadn't been gone so long not to be able to tell the signs of a nightmare moving in. As he watched, he could see the trembling increase and knew that it was only the beginning. Dean had warned him not to wake him suddenly since it only increased their baby's fear of whatever it was he was seeing, so now he waited and prayed that whatever it was wouldn't be so horrible, wouldn't traumatize his brother even more.

Taking a moment to look around the room he noticed that only a few things had changed. A new soccer trophy was prominently displayed on the dresser showing that Sammy might be small, but he was quick. An Honor Roll certificate hung on the wall by the door with a Second Place red ribbon tacked to the corner telling him that Dean was more proud of his accomplishments than what he wanted to let on. What got his attention the most though was the leather bound book on the bedside table which he couldn't remember seeing before. As he reached for it though he heard a distinct growl coming from the doorway making him turn suddenly as if burned.

"Get away from that, it's Sammy's!" Dean grounded out from clenched teeth as he walked in with a glass of juice and a bottle of medicine.

"Ok, I'll leave it alone. You going to tell me what it is though?" John asked, wondering what was so important that his little brother was willing to go a couple of rounds with him about it.

Dean looked between his big brother and his baby brother before deciding he'd allow this question to be asked, after all if John didn't know what it was then he'd continue to snoop. "It's a journal of Sammy's visions. Mom and Dad bought it for him after you left and wanted him to start keeping track of them. They thought it would help him focus more on them instead of missing you. Now though he's just been drawing what he sees instead of writing."

Shocked, John sat there and let the new information sink in. His parents kept a hunting journal that they used to keep information about the creatures they encountered, and it was something that they often went back to when new or outdated information was brought to their attention. It never occurred to him that they should have been doing the same for Sammy.

"Has he… I mean, did he…"

"Every time he woke from a nightmare he'd write what he saw, and in the morning we'd sit down and talk about it. It used to drive me nuts being woke up a couple times a night, with the lamp on and Sammy writing furiously in the damn thing; now I just wish he'd do something besides…"

The conversation was quickly cut short when Sammy bolted straight up out of bed with wild eyes trying to pull in more air for his distressed lungs. Although no sound came out of him, the sweat that soaked his dark curls was more than enough proof that whatever he saw had truly terrified him. What concerned his brothers the most however wasn't the issue of the nightmare itself, but the fact that he suddenly scrambled into Dean's lap as if he was three again, and hung on for dear life.

"Hey Sammy, it's ok buddy. Hey, look at me…" Dean started while holding out the juice and bottle to John. Having his hands free allowed him to pull his little brother further into his lap and stroke the damp hair while continuously rocking Sammy until his tremors eased. Pulling back just enough to look into his brother's eyes he asked, "Need the journal?" Seeing the nod, he reached over and grabbed the book and pencil allowing Sammy a moment to calm himself before resituating himself on the bed.

As they watched their baby brother draw out his nightmarish vision, neither older boy could help but wonder what would happen if someone from the 'normal' community ever got hold of that book.

The sound of knocking pulled both John and Dean out of their thoughts, sending them into the living room wondering if it was more well wishers, or something more sinister. Opening the door they instantly knew their fears were well founded.

"Hello, I'm Jerry Munsfield and I'm with the Department of Children's Services, I need to speak to you about your brothers."

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It took two hours for Mr. Munsfield to leave and another hour and a half to calm Dean down enough so he wasn't trying to break everything in the house. It hadn't been a total surprise, or at least it shouldn't have been, but somehow having someone come to you face to face to insist that there was a 'nice family willing to take your brothers into their home' really slammed everything back into focus. There was no way he was going to let his family get torn apart even further, not while he was still living anyway. After sending his brother in to check on Sammy, he reached for the phone and dialed a very familiar number.

"Starlight Inn, how may I help you?"

"Robert Singer's room please."

"Thank you."

"Hello!"

"Bobby, do you think you and Jim could stop by, we have a problem and I need to sort a few things out."

"Sure Johnny, we'll be right there."

John hung up the phone and shook his head. He wondered if he'd ever be John to the other hunters instead of "Johnny" or his favorite "Johnnyboy". Looking towards the hallway he knew he'd had an audience and wasn't disappointed in seeing Sammy standing there clutching his journal, looking more like the toddler he used to be instead of the kid he was now.

"Hey kiddo, you alright?" he asked and watched as the wide eyes in the pale face looked around first before Sammy nodded hesitantly. Smiling, John opened up his arms and waited until his baby brother was firmly secure in them before speaking again. "We're going to be alright kiddo, you'll see."

They stood there for a few minutes until they heard Bobby's truck pull into the driveway. Pulling only slightly away from each other they knew that there wouldn't be any need to open the door, the hunters knew to walk in. When they turned around they saw the two men and knew that they weren't in this alone.

Jim Murphy was a tall slender man with a kind face and weary eyes. He'd seen too much but kept hunting since he really had no idea what else he could do. Now though he was watching a good family get torn apart and it made him angry that he didn't have a spell or ritual to counteract the effects that the boys were feeling now.

Bobby Singer looked more like a grease monkey than demon expert but he knew his stuff and people from all over the place would seek him out for his knowledge. Now though he wished it was something as easy as a demon; he had books, herbs, incantations to take care of most demons he'd come across, this was something else all together and he had no idea what to do about it.

"Hi Bobby, Jim… what are you doing here?" Dean asked from the doorway. After the visit from the guy trying to take him and Sammy away, he hadn't wanted to be around anyone for a little while.

Smiling, Jim knew that Dean was feeling more than a little lost, anyone at the funeral could see that. The whole hunting community was feeling the loss of the Winchester couple and secretly worried about the outcome of their boys. "Johnny says you boys have a problem, we're going to sit down and try to fix it."

As they sat down at the small table in the kitchen Jim and Bobby watched as Sammy sat in between his brothers clutching a book close to his chest. They had been told about the vision journal and thought it was a great idea, if for no other reason than for the boy to have an outlet of some sort. Now though as they watched the three remaining members of the Winchester family, they were at a loss as to just how they were going to help.

"The state is already trying to get their claws in Dean and Sammy, and I need to know how to keep that from happening." John said without preamble and pointedly ignoring the wide frightened gaze of his baby brother.

The older hunters took in what was said and groaned. This was worse than they thought.