AN: Ok, hopefully this flows smoothly, it looked good as I was writing it (honestly). Enjoy!


"Hey Buddy, how are you feeling?" John asked as he tried to keep the knowledge of how this looked out of his head. He looked at Dean briefly and saw the concern in his younger brother's face and had to agree; Sammy didn't need to hear any of that.

Dean was about to go to Sammy when the younger boy took a shaky breath and sat up until his legs dangled over the bed and his hands rested on the edge of the bed. Before anyone had a chance to say anything else, he reached over and took the journal, holding it tightly to his chest as the tears started to flow again. Now that his brothers knew what happened, it was only a matter of time before they left.

"Sammy, I'm sorry I looked, I just needed to know that it wasn't hurt too bad, and then I noticed what it said. I really am sorry Sammy; I promise I won't read any more of it until you tell me its ok." Dean pleaded; sure that he knew what was going on in his baby brother's head and praying that it wasn't too late to change it.

As Jim stood to the side helpless to think of a solution, he heard the phone ring in the living room and took a chance in answering it, hoping that it was someone with some sort of good news.

"Winchester residence."

"Jim? It's Josh. Look, I've run into a problem and need some help. Normally I'd call someone else given the boys' situation, but I really need your special expertise."

Jim sighed knowing exactly what the other hunter needed. Nodding, he silently agreed that Joshua wouldn't have called unless he was in a deeper mess than he had planned.

"Of course. I know where you were supposed to be, you still there?"

"Pretty much. Once you hit town, just find the motel at the end of town, they'll point you my way."

Hanging up the receiver, Jim didn't need hunter's instincts to know that he wasn't alone. Turning, he saw John stare at him harshly and knew that this wasn't the way to get the boys to trust any of them at the moment.

"So, you're out of here, huh? Well isn't that just great. You're the one who kept insisting that we weren't alone in this, and now – what, you're off some other damn crusade?" John asked with controlled anger. He hated that he'd trusted so many people to help them with this whole fiasco, but now wasn't the time to second guess himself. "Do what you have to do, just do us all a favor and stay gone."

"John, it's only for a few days. Joshua's run into a…"

"…a problem. Yeah, so I heard. Look, you help him and we'll make sure this demon doesn't do something like… oh, I don't know… kill us – how's that?" John demanded as he turned around and walked back into the bedroom, ignoring the man who was trying to explain why he was abandoning his little brothers. Pulling Sammy into his lap he held the smaller boy tight. "Don't worry Sammy, we'll be fine."

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John had other things to do besides be underneath an Olds that he'd already repaired the week before, mainly making sure that his little brothers were doing as well as they pretended. Really, did they think he was that stupid? Ok, so it was nice not having arguments over every little thing, and it was great not having the phone ring once a day to inform him that Dean had done something to one of the other students, but really – this was getting to be too much! They had less than a week left before they all went before the judge again and the only progress that seemed to have been made is that Dean wasn't getting caught fighting.

Sighing, he rolled out from under the car and looked at the clock knowing that he had just enough time to get cleaned up and pick up Sammy from school before rushing him over to his appointment with the court appointed shrink. After washing up and hanging up his coveralls, he placed the ticket order onto the desk along with the keys and waved 'bye to his otherwise engaged boss.

It didn't take long before he was on the road and that left a few minutes to allow those unwanted thoughts to run through his head once more. The memories of that night when he and Dean found Sammy's journal buried was something that he always tried to push past, but those were the very ones that loved to pop up at any unguarded moment. The look his baby brother gave him after he realized that they took his journal was something he never wanted to see again. Worse yet, the look in Sammy's eyes since then actually broke his heart; as if the kid knew he was alone in the world and he just had to get used to it.

Reaching the elementary school before he knew it, John stared at the building for a moment before making his way to the office where Sammy was already waiting.

"Hey Buddy, ready to go?" he asked as he signed the log out sheet before taking his brother's backpack and walking out the door behind the smaller boy. He knew this was tough on Sammy, but some things just had to be done; visiting a shrink about a condition that wasn't going to improve by conventional means was one of them.

"I'm telling you what I saw John! Whatever it was told Sammy to be quiet and now he can't talk – what more do you want?" Dean yelled.

"Come on… you really think that this demon put a whammy on our little brother? What would it gain from that?" John asked as if trying to calm a wayward child, which did nothing for that particular brother's mood.

"Obviously what it's already gotten – Sammy not talking!"

John watched as Sammy got into the Impala and quietly buckle his seatbelt. It was a normal thing to do, but for some reason it made him feel sad because there was a time that even buckling a seatbelt was a noisy affair for the littlest Winchester.

"Hey Sammy, I was wondering if you'd like to grab some burgers for dinner after this session? We can go to the Burger House and get a bag full of greasy burgers and fries before breaking out the ice cream." When John didn't get an answer, he knew that his little brother was already lost inside a session with the doctor that hadn't even taken place yet. "Don't worry kiddo, it's going to be fine – you'll see."

It was half way into the session when John knew something was wrong. He'd always given Dean a hard time about knowing exactly what Sammy needed before the squirt did, but sometimes it was so obvious even a blind man could see it. He looked over at the receptionist and wasn't surprised that she was once again engrossed in a romance novel, effectively ignoring him. Taking full advantage of that, he walked through the door and down the short hall until he came to the office of Dr. Trevor. He hesitated only a moment to decide whether or not to knock when something he heard caught his attention.

"The very fact that you are the only one to escape unharmed is remarkable to me Samuel. I mean, the chances of that are… well, let's just say they're astronomical. So, how about we drop this charade and get down to business. I know he wanted something from you, what was it?" the doctor asked before he slammed a hand against the desk. "Tell me! My time and patience is running out with you, I want answers and you will give them to me today or else. You know that you're not the only special one here Samuel, tell me or I'll show you just how special I can be!"

"What the hell is going on here?" John demanded as he burst through the door. As he looked into the room he saw the so called doctor towering over his little brother who looked scared enough to do certain things that he hadn't done since he was three. "Cristo!" he yelled and knew they were in deep crap when Dr. Trevor's eyes changed to dark black, exuding the hatred he'd obviously been harboring in his soul for so long. Not hesitating any longer, John doused the man with holy water while at the same time grabbing Sammy's arm and pulling him away from the room.

As both Winchesters ran out of the office they heard Dr. Trevor screaming. "You think you've won? You'll lose everything as soon as Judge Anderson hears about this. You'll lose a brother, and my master will gain a son if he chooses!"

John couldn't remember the drive home, not the neck break speed, not the honking of horns blasting at his erratic driving, not even the close call between the Impala and Widow Macpherson's shopping cart, his only focus was the trembling bundle in his lap that he didn't dare let go of. Somehow they stopped in the driveway without incident, but that was all they could account for the last several minutes, the rest were a blur of disembodied sounds and pictures.

"Sammy, you ok kiddo?" John rasped out as he finally started to feel his heartbeat slow. He knew that he wouldn't get a verbal answer, but he had been hoping for something… more. Seeing that his baby brother was still terrified, he decided not to press the issue for the moment even though a ton of questions were racing through his mind. How long had the doctor been possessed? Why didn't Sammy try to fight the man off? What did he mean about his master gaining a son? There were too many possibilities and at the moment all he wanted to do was get Sammy inside where it was safe before he attempted to figure out what else was going on.

"John!" Dean yelled as he raced out the door. "Judge Anderson's on the phone and he's wondering why you took Sammy out of his session with Dr. Trevor."

At the mention of the doctor's name, Sammy tensed up like a bow and started rocking in the confined space of his big brother's arms. He knew now that he would never be safe again, no matter what happened, and that scared him more than anything – his brothers would do anything to make sure he felt protected.

Opening the car door, John slowly edged out of the seat careful not to hurt Sammy in the process. Something was definitely going on with his little brother and he was going to find out what. "Dean, if the judge is still on the phone tell him I'll be right in, we need to talk about what that quack was doing to our little brother." Seeing the shocked look on Dean's face, John lost his patience. "Go Dean – now!"

It took only a minute to get the brothers together at the phone and while Dean was anxiously waiting to hear about what had happened, Sammy just wanted to find someplace to crawl into and hide.

"Your Honor, I'm sorry it took me so long to get to the phone, I had to calm Sammy down before I could even get him out of the car." John explained, wondering exactly how he was going to tell the judge what was going on without sounding like a complete lunatic and losing his brothers anyway.

"John, you have to understand that forcibly removing Sam the way you did puts me in a very precarious situation. Dr. Trevor is one of the best psychologists in the area and although his mannerisms are sometimes grating, he gets excellent results. Now I'm sure you had your reasons for taking you brother the way you did, but threatening…"

"Wait… I didn't threaten anyone sir, he was yelling and towering over Sammy. He scared my brother so bad he's still shaking." John exclaimed, hoping to get through to this man, this judge who held his family in his hands.

The sigh that echoed through the phone line didn't alleviate John's worries, but it was the following statement that had him more confused than ever.

"Ok, I'll see what I can do John, but you need to listen carefully. There can be no more interference from you. Any other judge in my position would have already rendered his decision and after the reports I've been getting these last couple of weeks, I'm sorry to say it wouldn't have been in your favor. If you can show me marked improvement with Dean's behavior and Sam's school work, I'll do what I can."

Puzzled, John hung up the phone and looked at Dean. "You haven't got into anymore fights, right?" he asked, before he looked at Sammy. "Hey kiddo, you're still making those ridiculously good grades, right?"

"The only fights I've gotten in are the ones I've told you about, and I haven't been called on them." Dean said while trying to figure out what he heard a moment ago. "John, what did he mean by the reports he's been getting the last couple of weeks? What reports?"

"I don't know Dean, but I have a feeling that they're not doing us any favors. Stay here with Sammy; I need to go up to the attic, ok?" John asked as he made his way to the hall. It didn't take long to climb the small ladder into the attic and as he looked around he felt an overwhelming feeling of sadness. This was where his parents had stored most of their keepsakes and it was a place that he and his brothers would hang out during those rare times that they didn't want to be bothered by the neighbor kids, to just be brothers just to themselves. Taking only another moment to look around, he forced himself to open the small panel in the ceiling and gather the items he had put there shortly after his parents died. Everyone assumed he paid off the house after his parents' death, but that wasn't the case, he'd been making the payments out of the insurance money, but he wanted to make sure that if something big came along they were ready. He hated to think that this might just be that something big.

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He looked into the mirror and thought with disgust about how frail this particular host really was, but there was nothing he could do about it now. The disappointment in not being able to find out what Azazel had said to the Winchester brat was muted by the knowledge that he was only a step away from having full access to the boy and it was enough to keep him imprisoned in the body of the arrogant psychologist named Dr. Trevor. Now if he could just get the rest of his allies in place, then everything could fall into place.

Reaching for the phone, he once again sneered at such an irritating device and punched in the numbers that would connect him to the one he needed to speak to the most.

"Midtown Garage"

"Did you do as I asked?"

"Of course, no one suspects a thing."

"I expect everything to go according to schedule, be ready."

Leaning back in the chair, he allowed himself to smile knowing that it was only a matter of time before the last obstacle was removed and he would have a clear path to the remaining Winchesters – and ultimately a clear path to his master's favor.