Here's the next chapter. I hope that you continue to enjoy the story. I'd love to hear what people think about it.

Thanks so much for reading!

Dean and Samantha had only stayed on the highway for another hour before they saw a turn off for a motel. Without discussion they had checked in and set up their gear. The doors and windows were salted, the first aid kit was in the bathroom and their favourite weapons were within reaching distance.

Samantha had booted up the laptop and had spent the last hours reading through every email that she had ever received or sent to Broderick. It was pure luck that she had saved most of them when they first started emailing each other. Samantha had felt that it was safer to save them in a separate folder on her laptop in case Broderick turned out to be someone untrustworthy. Over time it had become a habit to read the email reply and put it in the folder, never to be looked at again.

Reading them over again, Samantha was becoming more and more certain that Broderick was Sam. Nothing writing in any single email would have given it away but looking at them together it painted a pretty clear picture.

As the picture seemed to come into focus Samantha found her anger rising with it. How could her uncle have been so close to them without giving her father some peace of mind? Samantha could almost see red as memories of her father's muffled sobs through the thin walls of the random motel room bathroom every May 2nd filled her ears. Was Sam so selfish that he had never thought that Dean had needed him all those years? It was clear now that Sam had been in contact with his niece but never had tried to help his brother.

She hadn't ventured to tell Dad yet, for he had retreated into a tentative calm that Samantha was dreading to break.

When they had checked in Dean had gone to get them food, then proceeded to clean every weapon in their arsenal. For the past hours he had sat on the edge of the bed closest to the door, meticulously taking apart each gun and cleaning them thoroughly. He had barely moved since he had settled and Samantha had wondered if he could even see the weapons in his fingers or was his mind far from here. He had only spoken a few simple sentences to Samantha, but she knew that the emotions he was holding at bay were not directed at her. All of his thoughts were focused on her uncle, but even so he seemed to have fallen into a quiet contented state.

Sighing to herself, Samantha turned toward her father, where he was sharpening the fifth knife in a row.

"Dad?" Samantha started with uncertainty. Dean's head shot up, his gaze heavy and cold. Maybe his state of mind was not as calm as I thought? Samantha thought to herself wryly. She tried to get her words organized under her father's hard stare, it was going to be difficult not to upset her father any more than he already was.

"What is it Samantha?" Dean's voice lashed out as Samantha tried vainly to calm the whirl of emotions that had sprung up under the unfamiliar coldness in her Dad's eyes.

"I think I've gathered all the information that Broderick told me about himself. I...uh..." Samantha breathed deeply for a moment. "I think he's always been Sam." she finished in a voice that sounded more sure than she truly was.

Dean blinked back at his daughter for a couple of moments, then it seemed as if he finally saw her discomfort because the stony look drained away leaving him looking tired and older than he was.

He scrubbed a hand over his face, then lifted his head to meet Samantha;s nervous gaze. "Why do you think that, Sammy Girl?"

At the nickname Samantha almost sagged in relief, this was the father she had always known and relied upon. "Well..." she started as her attention focused on the notes she had made on the motel stationary. "First of all he said that he was a hunter and that he had been raised in it by his father."

She looked up at Dean, he nodded his head encouragingly for her to continue. Reading the next couple of lines Samantha continued. "He told me once that he had lost many people to hunting over the years. He said that it was not the life he always wanted and but that it was what he was destined to do."

At the word destined Dean's eyes hardened, memories of how they had fought against their destinies being pulled to the surface after years of being dormant.

Samantha saw the change in her father and continued on quickly. "Lastly he told me once that you had to make decisions to protect your family and that he had made some that he regretted because he missed his family."

Dean blanched at those words, as if he didn't know how to deal with these details from the brother that he now saw had abandoned him. He looked at Samantha questioningly.

Nodding in return to the silent question Samantha motioned for her father to come over to the table. "See it's right here." as she pointed to the line in the specific email. "We all have to make sacrifices for our family Samantha. I've made some that I've come to regret. I miss my family terribly but I will do have I have to if it keeps them safe."

Broderick/Sam's words had touched Samantha at the time but now they started a feeling of longing inside her chest. A grasping need for her family to be whole, for her father to smile again. Looking up over her shoulder she caught a glimpse of wetness in the corner of Dean's eyes as he turned away from her and his brother's words.

"Oh and one more thing," Samantha added to give her father a moment to regain composure. "I looked it up, Broderick means brother."

Dean chuckled to himself. He mumbled something about being a geek as he shook his head sadly.

"I think your right Samantha, I think that it must have been Sam contacting you." Dean spoke as he made his way back to the bed without turning to face the young women. "You said that you've been talking to him for four years. What did you talk about?"

Samantha leaned back in the chair and studied the watermarks on the ceiling. "Well he contacted me originally about a paper I wrote in a mythology class about pagan gods. Then once he told me he was a hunter we talked about lots of stuff, from hunting to school, I guess."

She moved to open a new web page on her computer, sneaking a look from the corner of her eye to see her father's reaction, but he was simply nodding.

Pulling up her email, Samantha froze as she saw that there was another email in her inbox, a new message from Broderick.

"Dad!" she called as she opened the message noting that it was only a lone video. Dean was by her side in a second at the panic in his daughter's voice reached him. He stilled as he was the email, simply stared at the screen before reaching out with determination to press play.

The box remained black for a couple of moments then the picture cleared to show Sam sitting in the same position as before. Dean couldn't stop the sharp intake of breath at the sight of Sam face. He didn't seem any worse then the original picture but the sight was still not promising.

Sam was not looking at camera, instead he was set on a person who seemed to be standing out of the camera frame. Samantha had a delusional thought that the person would probably burst into flames under her uncles dark stare.

After a couple of moments the focus of Sam's hate stepped into the picture. It was a middle aged women with stringy blond hair and a doughy face. Her eyes were charcoal black all the way through, and she smiled at the camera in a menacing way.

Dean's hands clasped and unclasped as if they were imagining what they would do to the demon who was keeping his brother away from him.

"Hello Dean and little Samantha. My name is Monika or at least that is what this sorry excuse of a person was once called. " She said in a voice devoid of feeling that sent a shiver of dread down Samantha's spine. "Surprised to see that this long lost family member was never really lost? I bet you were a little confused by the first email, so I thought I would send you this as an explanation. I found out that Samuel here has been alive from 26 years, watching out for his family from a far, without ever telling them that he was okay."

"It's Sam." came the painfully raspy voice of her uncle, though his expression did not show weakness. A chuckle that oddly enough sounded like a sob came from Dean at those words, but Samantha did not tear her eyes from the screen.

The demon ignored her captive and continued on. "I'm a follower of Lucifer and things have been hard for those of us who wanted him to succeed since you screwed everything up Dean. Now Lucifer has blessed me with a chance to have a little pay back. I'm guessing that Samuel never wanted you to know that he was alive but I feel like you Winchesters deserve a family reunion. So I'm going to tell you where we are then you will have 24 hours to come and get Sam or I will send him to hell," the black eyed lowlife sneered at the camera, "for good this time."

Dean cursed under his breath never taking his eyes off of Sam's image.

"We are at an abandoned warehouse in Lawrence, Kansas because I thought it would be fitting. I suggest that you don't waste time and make..."

"I'm sorry Dean." Sam cut Monika off, straining towards the camera, his only connection to his brother. His mask of disdain broke away to in his desperation for Dean to listen. "I never wanted to hurt you. I didn't mean this to happen, but you can't come. Protect yourself and protect..." Sam's words were cut off in a gasp of pain as a new slash peeled across his chest. Sam bit back his cry and glowered at the demon who had inflicted it.

Dean moved closer to the laptop as if he could help Sam if only he could reach him.

Satisfied that Sam was not going to interrupt her again, Monika turned back to the camera. "Come to 152 Clark st. In Lawrence. Your 24 hours starts now. Sam will be waiting." Dean gave a small cry as the screen went black cutting him off from his brother.

Without a word Dean started moving. They were luckily about 6 hours away from Kansas and another 2 from Lawrence. That would still leave them16 hours to come up with a plan and save Sam, Dean thought while he threw the weapons back into the duffel game.

"Come on Samantha, we need to move fast." He said as he retrieved the first aid kit from the bathroom.

Samantha had not moved from her place by the table, her green eye staring straight ahead with a confused look on her face. She blinked and moved her attention at her father's words. Her brow furrowed in concentration, then she stood and moved to block the doorway.

Dean moved to step around his daughter and go pack the car when Samantha moved with him. She followed when he went to the left as well.

"Samantha?" Dean asked as a note of disapproval crept into the question. They didn't have time to waste.

"What are we doing Dad?" Samantha asked quietly.

"We are going to save your uncle."

"Why?"

The question was spoken in such a hunched voice that Dean almost did not catch it but it drove a spike into his heart. Samantha looked uncomfortable at her father's hurt gaze, she rocked back on her heels nervously.

"This is obviously a trap and we are going to run head first into it. Why are we risking everything for him? He told us not to come, you heard him. What has he done but leave us all these years?" She ask as the anger from before grew in her heart. For her whole life she had looked up to this man and his fall off her pedestal was bringing everything that she believed about life down with it.

Dean stared at his daughter, his eyes told her that what she had just done was unforgivable.

"He is my brother, our family. That is why we will be going to save him." He said in a way that showed that this matter was not debatable.

Never in her life had her father looked at her with such loathing. All because she no longer saw her uncle in the same manner as Dean did. Samantha could almost feel her world crash down around her and with it came a pain so strong that there was not other course then to fight back.

"I don't see why the hell he's so important to you!" She screamed in her father's face in a way that she had never before dared.

Anger sparked in return in Dean's eyes. "You've will never understand because you never had a brother!" he screamed back with such intensity that Samantha inadvertently took a step back.

In that instant all that fight slipped away and all that was left was raw fear. "No Dad, the only person I've ever had is you." she kept her eyes on the floor, knowing that this conversation was becoming too emotional than they were normally used to. She fought back the tears that were forcing their way to the surface. "I can't lose you."

Dean closed his eyes briefly. What was he doing? This was Samantha, his daughter and here he was treating her like the enemy. She was simply trying to protect the only family she had ever known. Of course she would be worried about their safety in this, but she didn't understand that he had to go. It was Sam.

Calmed down but not ready to forgive her words against his brother yet, Dean sighed. "Your right that this is trap and I can't have you hurt. So you're staying here, I'll go get Sam."

Samantha jaw dropped and she stared at her father in horror. "No Dad you can't go alone.." she started in a rush but Dean cut her off.

"I have made my decision Samantha. I will be able to act better if I know that you are safe." Dean gently moved her away from the doorway. He pick up his fallen duffel bag and opened the door then paused. He turned back to Samantha. For a moment he watched her, his eyes full of love that the Winchesters were not known to vocalize. Then before Samantha could try to change his mind, Dean pressed a kiss to her forehead before he turned to disappear into the darkness.

Samantha stood in the doorway staring at her father's silhouette until the impala rumbled out of sight, all the while undisturbed tears slid down her cheeks. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that this may be the last time she saw her father alive and this knowledge was eating away at the last bit of hope she had left.

Closing the door, Samantha moved to lay down on the bed. She could call her father to come and pick her up, but it would waste time, he needed to make it to Sam in time. She knew that they needed to try to save Sam, even her anger against him couldn't cloud that truth.

Dad probably wouldn't even come, not now that he thought she was safer out of the whole fight. Dean had always made it clear that Samantha's safety came before everything else, well I guess not before Sam. The thought made Samantha sick with guilt before it had fully formed, she was being unfair. She knew how much her father loved both her and Sam, he should never have to choose one over the other.

Samantha draped her arm over her eyes to block out the eye light of the bedside lamp. She had to find a way to help save her family. Maybe she could steal a car and follow her father? He would probably need help and Samantha would never forgive herself if he died because she was not there to watch his back.

Sure in her decision Samantha sat up in bed and sprang back in shock. For standing in the centre of the room was a solemn man, is suit and trench coat were rumpled from years of wear.

Samantha paused for a moment for her heart to find it's way out of her throat back into her chest before she smiled at the familiar figure.

"Hey Cas."