AN: I hope you all like this one, don't forget to let me know!
The hospital was quiet which cast an eerie feel to it, but still allowed Taylor the sense of peace that he'd be able to tell if something was amiss. Then his phone rang… again, and tossed all of that out the window when he was informed that their little brother ran off to who knows where to do who knows what. One thing for certain though, the kid wasn't in his right mind.
Looking over at Dean he was surprised to see a pair of green eyes watching him carefully as if to judge whether or not he'd get the truth out of him. Standing there in the middle of the room, he allowed the scrutiny mainly because he knew that if he didn't then Dean wouldn't believe anything that was about to come out of his mouth.
"Where's Sammy?" Dean asked quietly, already suspecting that something had happened while he was taking his nap. Frustrated, he was determined to leave the hospital just as soon as he could put his own pants on, the shoes and shirt could wait, but he'd be damned if he was going to go traipsing around the area in a hospital gown with his ass hanging out. Although, now that he thought about it… wait, no this wasn't the time to think about giving the girls a show. Something was going on and he was determined to find out what it was.
Taylor really didn't want to have to tell Dean about everything that had been going on, but he now saw that he didn't haven't have a choice. Taking a deep breath, he jumped in with both feet starting with Dean's car accident and ending with Sammy taking off. He knew that Dean was worried, especially when he had gotten to the part about Mandy surprising Sammy and the kid retaliating, but he wasn't expecting the reaction that he witnessed; Dean Winchester was crying, as in actual tears streaming down his face with such a hopeless look on his face that even Taylor was ready to toss in the towel at the sight of it.
"Where did I go wrong Taylor? How could this have happened?" Dean asked while trying to pull himself together. "I have one damn job to do; keep Sammy safe, and I can't even do that right! Dammit! We have to find him. If he's that freaked, who knows what he'll do." He said as he swung his legs off the bed and willed the room to stay in one position for more than a second at a time. After a few minutes he was able to gather his remaining reserves and stand up. Feeling Taylor's steadying hand, he walked to the closet and grabbed his pants just as the door opened and a puzzled Celia walked in.
"Hey guys, good to see you up and around Dean. How's Sam? I saw him head this way looking upset, I thought I'd check on him. I take it he's in the bathroom?" she asked, then at their confused expressions couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong, is he sick?"
"Celia, when did you see Sammy?" Taylor choked out, having a really bad feeling about what she was about to say. At her confirmation, he heard Dean curse and he had to agree with him, this wasn't good, especially if the kid only heard a part of their conversation. "Ok, Celia call down to security and see if he's actually left yet and if so how long and in which direction. I'll call Stephen and Joseph to let them know that he have a lead. Dean, you get dressed without falling down and I won't argue about you coming with us, but you even stumble and the deal's off."
Knowing that there was no arguing with the man, Celia took off to make her phone call all the while praying that they could find Sam quickly. She had no idea what was going on, but she knew that if these men were scared then so should she.
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Feeling as if he'd been hit hard in the gut, Sam took off back the way he came. It was now more evident that he had been fooling himself. He was truly alone now and didn't have any idea what to do about it. He had allowed himself to believe that he actually was a part of the family, but now he truly realized that he had just been pushing himself onto people. Not worrying about his destination, he continued to walk away from the hospital, away from his life, away from his brother; everyone would be better off anyway.
It was getting late and he suddenly became aware that he had no idea where he was going or what he was going to do, but the unrelenting feeling of exhaustion just wouldn't let him go. Seeing a cab, he flagged it down and gave the address of the only other place he knew he could stay without people looking at him like he was some sort of freak. It didn't take as long as he thought it would before the driver was stopping and letting him know that they had made it. Quickly digging out the fare, Sam stepped out of the cab and walked towards the house and let himself in not caring that he left the door unlocked and partially opened. He was tired, he needed to sleep, he needed everything to go back to the way they were before he finally understood just what type of thing he really was. Not bothering with the fire, he laid down and closed his eyes praying for release.
The only sound that could be heard throughout the house was the sound of the light rain hitting the windows. It normally would have been a calming sound, but right now it just reminded him once again of how alone he really was. Determined to make sure he didn't do anything else to hurt anyone, he thought about what he could do to make it up to everyone but nothing seemed to be right. He thought about how Mandy and Taylor would never forgive him, how Dean would always wonder where he went wrong, how Stephen and Joseph wouldn't be his friends anymore. As those thoughts ran through his head, he failed to notice the chills starting to snake through his body as his temperature started to climb. So caught up in what he was sure was truths, he failed to notice the flaws in his logic which would have clued him into his true state of mind. Locked into his misery, he failed to notice the door slowly swing open and a shadow creep into the house content in watching him until he fell into a fitful sleep.
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It was bad enough that they knew Sammy was missing, but to add to that it had started raining close to midnight and they had no idea where their little brother was or if he was alright. Now once again Mandy was able to toss things into a frightening perspective and none of them were pleased that they hadn't thought about it themselves; Sammy had forgotten his backpack. No backpack, no meds, and none of them could piece together the last time they had seen him take any.
Fear seemed to be the main course for the rest of the night for the Musketeers as they were sure they had checked over every place and friend that they knew their little brother had been to within the past few months. The first place they had gone had of course been the new rent house that was to be occupied in a couple of day, but not seeing any sign of Sammy, had quickly crossed it off their list. They had even banged on Paul's door since they knew the man had been to their apartment, they had decided to return the favor, however when there was no answer, they all were frustrated as well as a little freaked that the possibilities were endless as to what had happened.
Now they all were in their living room trying to regroup and reevaluate their list. The Colonel had been called in hopes that maybe Sammy had called him, but to no avail. Paul's Supervisor's were called in the attempt to find out exactly what the other man had wanted with their little brother as well as to find out his location, but was told that the Detective was out on a case and wouldn't be back in until morning briefing, leaving the Musketeers' blood running cold. They knew that their leads were drying up fast and with no sign in sight it would just be a matter of time before the trail was cold and the thought of them never finding Sammy was something that they all fought to keep at bay.
After a long night of phone calls and neighborhood searches, they all were in the kitchen trying to piece together another possible search grid when the doorbell rang giving each of them a moment of hope until they saw who it was and Dean lost all sense of composure.
Grabbing the man by the jacket, Dean pulled him into the apartment and started his litany of questions. "Where the hell is Sammy? What did you do to him? Do you have any idea what I'm going to do to you if you've done anything to hurt him?"
Paul stood as still as he could as Dean continued to slam him against the wall. He had no idea what Dean was talking about or why everyone else was looking at him with disgust, but he knew what he was there for and he was going to get it one way or another. "Look, if you're done trying to bash my skull in, maybe we can sit down and try to figure this out." He said while trying to rein in his own temper.
"What are you doing here, we know you're not here to fill out a missing persons report… it hasn't been forty eight hours yet." Taylor said suspiciously as he stepped closer to Dean to show that the guy wasn't dealing with just one pissed off Musketeer.
Nodding, Paul knew this was going to be hard, but from what he'd already witnessed, the brothers were extremely close and the only way to gain their trust was to be brutally honest with them. "Normally that's true, but I talked to my CO and explained the situation. After pulling Sam's file, he agreed that we need to find him now."
"Why the change in policy?" Stephen asked, then answered his own question with despair, "You want to claim him unstable, don't you?"
Knowing that he was about to get into deeper water, but not knowing how to get himself out of it, he agreed. "It's only so we can expedite the search, that's all. Look, I know him well enough to know that he wouldn't have just taken off from you guys unless something happened. Honestly though, my boss was actually looking at one of you for this… you know, the whole 'it has to be hard dealing with someone with as many problems as he has.' I went to bat for all of you because I saw how you are with him, he's your little brother who's gone through horrendous times and now you're all doing the best you can to pull him out of it. The only way I could get moving on this so quickly and not start bringing you guys in for questioning was to agree that Sammy's unstable. Once we find him, then we can figure everything out to make sure it doesn't come back to bite him in the ass. Right now though, we need to work together and…"
"Work together? You're kidding right? Do you have any idea what you've really done? Your visit scared Sammy so bad that when someone walked into the apartment he attacked! You want to help him… stay out of our way, got it?" Dean growled, and shoved Paul towards the door. He would have pushed him again if it wasn't for the words that froze their blood.
"We suspect there's a pedophile in the area, and I'm worried that he might already have his sights on your brother."
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Sam's dream were confusing at best and terrifying at worst. He couldn't understand why he was hot one minute, then cold again, and how can someone feel rain on their head in a dream? He was truly too tired to tell what was really going on, and the sudden warmth didn't seem to help his confusion any. It wasn't until he thought he heard someone whispering soothing words that he thought that maybe his brothers had found him and that everything from before was just a nightmare and that right now was real. If so, then he could sleep, he knew his brothers wouldn't let anything happen to him. Content in that knowledge, he ignored the niggling of doubt creeping around in the back of his mind and let himself relax enough to sleep.
Smiling, the shadow watched as the boy slept on. It had been risky making his move so soon, but the opportunity was right there and there was no way he was going to let it pass. He knew the rules, the laws, and knew that the police would wait the standard forty eight hours to look for him, possibly even treat him as a runaway. Yes, that would be even better, since as a runaway, the officers would still look around, but would keep it closer to family and friends even frequently visited places leaving other 'persons of interest' alone. Sighing, he knew that the boy before him was damaged, which made him more perfect. He would show the boy how good it could be with two people; that not everyone would throw him out like garbage. Yes, the boy was damaged, but he could also tell that the boy was pure in his heart, not like the others. No, the others were awful cretins who didn't deserve the chance he had offered them. That would change now though as he made sure the boy would be cared for.
Leaning over the prone figure he started to stroke back the dark hair and murmur comforting words happy to see the boy relax and fall once again into blissful sleep. He would wait until his prize woke on his own, then he's begin the training needed. Looking around the room he saw all the things he needed at his disposal. Yes, tomorrow would be soon enough to begin.