Diner, 09:45AM.

I pushed open the glass door to the small and almost full diner, looking around the room slowly before seeing Dean sitting in one of the booths, an empty plate in front of him and a pen in his mouth as he focused on reading the newspaper on the table. I headed towards him, running a hand over my tired face as I did, I'd slept all night and I still felt exhausted. "Morning." I mumbled as I dropped down heavily into the seat opposite from him, looking down at the paper and raising an eyebrow, realising I didn't have the energy to even attempt to find out what he'd been reading about. There was an article circled, I guessed something we'd be checking out once we left town.

Dean looked up at me as I sat down, a small smirk forming on his face. "Oh look," He grinned. "She lives." I could almost see the amusement in his smile, knowing without asking that I looked like some kind of half dead zombie.

I scoffed at his comment and let out a short laugh. "Yeah, thanks for grabbing breakfast without us, bro." I said lightly, reaching out for his half empty cup of black coffee and taking a drink. "Real sweet of you."

Dean shrugged. "Well, you both looked like you could do with the sleep." He reasoned, leaning back in his seat and looking over at me seriously, an expression he seemed to have been using a lot recently.

I smiled briefly, not wanting to get involved with that conversation again, looking around the room casually. "Hey, you know the waitress over there is totally checking you out, right?" I smirked at him, rolling my eyes at the smug grin spreading over his face as she headed over towards our table. He gave me a knowing look before turning his attention to her, a smile playing on his face. Right at the point Dean was deliver her some god awful pick up line, Sam walked into the diner, heading over to the table. I could see in his face, with the way his body was tensed, how stressed out he was.

I looked from him, back to the waitress who didn't seem far from bending over the table so Dean could get even more of a view down her shirt, and rolled my eyes slightly. "So, can I get you anything else?" The waitress asked brightly, a small smile on her face, her attention fixed solely on Dean.

"Just the check, please." Sam muttered as he took a seat beside me, barely giving her a second glance.

"Okay." She said, turning and walking away from us, a slight hint of disappointment on her face.

"You know, Sam, we are allowed to have fun once in a while." Dean said lightly, pointing over at where the waitress was now standing by another table. "That's fun." Sam didn't bother to give him an answer, just looked at him until Dean accepted he wasn't getting a rise out of him and caved, a slight sigh escaping him as he picked up the newspaper and moved it in front of us. "Here, take a look at this." He continued brightly, the smile returning to his face. "I think I got one." I glanced down at the circled article, skimming over it before looking back to Dean. "Oasis Plains, Oklahoma, not too far from here.. Some guy died from something.. I don't know.." He trailed off and shrugged, taking a drink of his coffee. "That's Sam's department."

Sam pulled the paper closer to himself and read the article properly. "So," He began after a couple of minutes of silence. "Basically, this gas company employee, Dustin Burwash, supposedly died from Creutzfedt."

Even Dean, who was supposed to have read the article, looked lost at that. "He died from what?" I asked, looking between Dean and Sam, raising an eyebrow.

Sam just looked at me, like I was supposed to know what the hell that meant. "Human mad cow disease." He answered simply.

"Mad cow?" Dean repeated, frowning slightly. "Wasn't that on Oprah?"

Sam raised his eyebrows. "You watch Oprah?" He asked, a note of disbelief in his voice. I let out a slight laugh, Dean shooting me a look, warning me to keep my mouth shut. He looked back to Sam, seeming unable to think of anything to say to that.

"So anyway," I began, changing the subject. "This guy eats a bad burger, why is it our kind of thing?"

"Well, mad cow disease causes massive brain degeneration. I mean, it takes months, even years, for the damage to appear." Sam explained, looking back down to the paper. "But this guy, Dustin, it sounds like his brain disintegrated in about an hour, maybe less."

I nodded slowly. "Okay, that does sound a little weird."

"Yeah," Dean agreed. "So, it could be a disease, or it could be something much nastier. But we ain't gonna find out anything sitting here, are we?" He said as he pushed himself up, dropping some money down onto the table before making his way over towards the door, Sam and me following him.

04:30PM, Oasis Plains, Oklahoma.

Dean pulled over the Impala, coming to a stop outside of the gas company building. There weren't many people around, just a couple of guys who gave us an odd look as we climbed out of the car. I followed Sam and Dean over the grass towards where a guy was leaning against the back of his truck. "Travis Weaver?" Sam asked as we got closer.

He looked between us slowly and nodded. "Yeah, that's right." He answered.

Dean smiled at him. "Are you the Travis who worked with uncle Dusty?" Sometimes I wondered why people never questioned us when we said stuff like that.

He raised an eyebrow slightly. "Dustin never mentioned you." He stated.

"Really? Well, he sure mentioned you." Dean continued. "He said you were the greatest."

Sam and I both nodded at him. "Oh, he did?" He smiled. "Huh."

"Listen, we wanted to ask you, what exactly happened out there?" Dean pressed.

"I'm uh, I'm not sure. He fell in a sinkhole, I went to the truck to get some rope, and, uh.. By the time I got back.." He trailed off shaking his head slowly.

"What did you see?" Sam questioned.

"Nothing. Just Dustin.. And he was bleeding, from his eyes and his ears, his nose.. But that's it." He answered.

"So, you think it could be this whole mad cow thing?" Sam asked curiously.

"I don't know. That's what the doctors are saying." He didn't sound convinced by what he was saying. Sometimes I felt sorry for people like him. Who knew deep down that something horrible had happened but were forced to accept an explanation to it that they didn't really believe.

"But if it was, he would've acted strange beforehand, like dementia, loss of motor control.." I didn't even know how Sam knew stuff like that. "You ever notice anything like that?"

"No, no way. But then again, if it wasn't some disease, what the hell was it?"

Dean shrugged. "That's a good question." He muttered.

"You know, can you tell us where this happened?" Sam asked him.

"Yeah." Travis nodded slowly, pushing himself off of his truck and heading off in another direction. The three of us followed him until he came to a stop at some police tape, set up in a square around a hole in the ground. "This is it." He said quietly. "I'll leave you to it."

"Sure, thanks." Dean answered, watching him walk away before we ducked under the tape and looked down into the hole. "Huh," Dean muttered, looking up at us. "What do you think?"

I shrugged, shaking my head without an answer, looking up at Sam. "I don't know." He commented. "But if that guy, Travis, was right, it happened pretty damn fast."

Dean reached into his jacket and pulled out a flashlight, shining it down into the hole. "So, what?" He asked. "Some sort of creature chewed on his brain?"

Sam shook his head. "No, there'd be entry wounds. Sounds like this thing worked from the inside."

"Alright, well it looks like there's only room for one." Dean said, a smirk spreading over his face as he looked down at me.

"Oh, no way." I said, taking a step back and shaking my head. "Not gonna happen." Dean just looked at me, the smirk holding on his face while he raised his eyebrows at me. "Why should I go?"

"C'mon, Maxie, you're the skinniest." He grinned. "You'd fit down there easily."

I scoffed, shaking my head. "Dude, it's hardly a small hole, you or Sam could get down there easy."

Dean rolled his eyes at me. "You're such a girl, Max." He muttered, turning to Sam. "You wanna flip a coin?"

Sam just looked at him, a frown forming on his face. "Dean, we have no idea what's down there." He protested.

Dean sighed lightly and moved to pick up some rope from the other side of the tape, ducking back under it and peering down the hole again. "Alright, I'll go if you're scared." He said with a smile, glancing up at him. "You scared?"

Sam shook his head at him. "Flip the damn coin."

Dean chuckled to himself, reaching into his jeans pocket for a coin. "Okay, call it in the air, chicken." He flipped it, Sam catching it easily in midair.

"I'm going." He said flatly.

Dean held out his arms slightly, raising his eyebrows. "I said I'd go."

Sam only shook his head, taking the rope and beginning to tie it around his waist. "I'm going." He said again.

Dean raised an eyebrow at me, then let out a small laugh. "Alright." He answered.

Sam sighed and finished tying the knot around his stomach, looking down the hole again. "Don't drop me." Dean rolled his eyes and smirked down at me.

We waited a few minutes, giving Sam a chance to take a look around before Dean looked at me and shrugged slightly. "Hey," I called down to Sam. "You found anything?"

"Uh, maybe, pull me up." Dean pulled the rope while Sam climbed his way out, holding out his hand and showing us a dead beetle. "Found this." He muttered. For a minute, I thought he was kidding, but his face remained serious. He looked from my clueless face to Dean's. "C'mon, I'll explain in the car." He said, turning and ducking under the tape, heading back to the Impala.

We climbed into the car, Sam still not having said anything. As Dean started the car, I looked over Sam's shoulder at the dead beetle he was now examining in his hand, a curious frown on his face. "I don't get it." I eventually said, realising that no one else was going to.

Dean looked away from the road for a second to Sam. "Yeah, you found some beetles, in a hole, in the ground." He stated. "It's shocking, Sam."

Sam rolled his eyes. "There were no tunnels, no tracks. No evidence of any other kind of creature down there. You know, some beetles do eat meat. Now, it's usually dead meat, but-"

"How many did you find down there?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him, a smile playing on my face.

"Ten." He said flatly.

"It'd take a whole lot more than that to eat out some dude's brain." Dean countered.

"Well, maybe there were more." Sam argued.

"I don't know," Dean muttered. "Seems like a stretch to me."

"Well, we need more information on the area, the neighborhood, whether something like this has ever happened before." Sam said to us.

"I know a good place to start." Dean answered, a small smirk on his face. Sam and I both looked out of the window, seeing what Dean was getting at. There was a sign for an open house, the garden outside decorated with red balloons. "I'm kinda hungry for a little barbeque, how about you?" He grinned as we passed another sign. Sam only looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "What," He asked defensively. "We can't talk to the locals?"

"And the free food's got nothing to do with it?" I muttered from the backseat, letting out a laugh.

"Of course not. I'm a professional." He smirked.

Sam rolled his eyes at him. "Right."

Dean grinned as he pulled over the car, the three of us climbing out and heading over the street towards the house. "You know, growing up in a place like this would freak me out." Dean commented as we crossed over the lawn to the front door.

Sam frowned a little. "Why?" He asked.

"Well, manicured lawns, 'How was your day, honey?', I'd blow my brains out." Dean said lightly.

"There's nothing wrong with normal." Sam answered, sounding almost defensive over it.

"I'd take our family over normal any day." He replied.

Sam didn't answer him as we came to a stop at the door, Dean knocking lightly and waiting. The door opened, a guy smiling as he looked between them. "Welcome." He said brightly.

"This the barbeque?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, not the best weather, but.." He trailed off. "I'm Larry Pike, the developer here." He introduced himself. "So, you two are interested in Oasis Plains?"

"Yes, sir." Dean answered enthusiastically.

"Let me just say, we accept homeowners of any race, religion, colour, or.. sexual orientation." I couldn't help but laugh at that, apparently drawing attention to myself from Larry as he looked behind Sam to me, seemingly having not realised I'd been there.

Dean just looked from him to Sam and shook his head. "We're brothers." He said flatly. "Sam and Dean." He said pointing between them. "And this is Max, the sister."

He looked a little embarrassed, Sam smiling slightly. "Our father is getting on in years, and we're just looking for a place for him."

"Great, great." Larry grinned. "Well, seniors are welcome, too. Come on in."

The three of us followed him inside of the house and then outside to the backyard. There were people all around the garden, talking to each other or walking around. "You said you were the developer?" Sam pressed, looking at Larry.

"Eighteen months ago, I was walking this valley with my survey team, there was nothing here but scrub brush and squirrels. And you know what, we bulit such a nice place to live that I actually bought into it myself. This is our house, we're the first family in Oasis Plains." He said as he came to a stop beside a blonde haired woman. "This is my wife, Joanie." He introduced her. "This is Max, Sam and Dean."

"Hi there," She smiled at us. "Nice to meet you."

"Tell them how much you love the place, honey. And lie if you have to because I need to sell some houses." Larry said to her, the three of us laughing awkwardly. "Will you excuse me?" He added before smiling at us and walking away.

"Don't let his salesman routine scare you, this really is a great place to live." I took a step over towards the table beside us, picking up a brochure for the housing estates, flipping through random pages like I was remotely interested. I thought back to what Dean had said, I think that growing up in a place like this would've freaked me out, too. I couldn't imagine doing the same thing every single day of my life. Same job, same house, same routine. I'd be bored out of my mind after a couple of weeks of it. After the way we'd grown up, I didn't think I'd be able to hack living somewhere like this. And sometimes, I didn't get how Sam thought he could either.

I glanced up as a very energetic looking woman, her hair pulled back in a tight bun, headed over towards Sam and Dean. I listened to what was going on behind me, as the woman got closer. "Hi, I'm Lynda Bloome, head of sales." She grinned at them.

"And Lynda was second to move in," Joanie said to Sam and Dean. "She's a very noisy neighbor though." She said lightly as she turned and headed off in the way her husband had gone.

Lynda laughed slightly. "She's kidding, of course." She said, looking between them. "I take it you two are interested in becoming homeowners?" She asked.

"Well.." Dean began, looking around uncomfortably.

"Y-yeah." Sam answered for them.

"Well, let me just say that we accept homeowners of any race, religion, colour, or.." She paused for a second, I smirked, knowing what was coming, seeing the look on their faces. "Sexual orientation." She finished brightly.

Dean looked down and chuckled slightly. "Right." He muttered. "Um, I'm gonna go talk to Larry." He said, looking up at Sam. "Kay, honey?" He added, smacking Sam on the ass as he passed, leaving Sam and Lynda in a clearly uncomfortable silence.

I laughed to myself, shaking my head as I walked away, earning me a glare from Sam as he stood there being talked to about steam showers. I looked around the garden slowly, looking for anyone who looked even a little interesting to talk to, someone who wasn't in their forties or trying to sell us a house. My eyes fell to a teenager, seemingly standing and laughing to himself about something. I walked up behind him, my curiosity getting the better of me, seeing him laughing as a tarantula crawled slowly towards the hand of the woman Sam was talking to. "Having fun?" I asked lightly, making him jump.

He turned quickly to face me, looking like he'd realised I wasn't there to say anything about it. "Didn't see you there." He said.

"Yeah, I can be quite sneaky." I smirked. "What's your name?"

"Matt." He said with a smile. "You?"

"Max." I answered, looking back to the spider. "Who's your friend?"

Before he had a chance to answer, Sam pushed Lynda lightly out of the way and picked up the spider, taking a couple of steps towards us. "This yours?" He asked him. He looked from Matt to me, my smirk fading slightly at his glare. "How old are you again?" I didn't answer, just rolled my eyes at him.

Matt reached out and took the spider from Sam. "You gonna tell my dad?" He asked.

"I don't know," Sam answered. "Who's your dad?"

Matt scoffed. "Yeah, Larry usually skips me in the family introductions." He muttered.

"Ouch. First name basis with the old man," I commented. "Sounds pretty grim."

"Well, I'm not exactly brochure material." He said flatly.

I smiled a little and shrugged. "You ever get the feeling that the people they put in those brochures are pretty boring anyway?" Matt smiled at that, nodding slowly.

"Hey, just hang in there alright?" Sam said to him. "It gets better, I promise."

He scoffed again. "When?"

"Matthew." We all turned at the sound of the sharp voice, seeing Dean and Larry heading over the lawn towards us. "I am so sorry about my son and his.. pet." He said to me and Sam, clearly annoyed.

"It's no bother." Sam said lightly.

"Excuse us." Larry muttered, shaking his head as he and Matt walked away.

"Remind you of someone?" Sam said to us. Dean and I glanced over at where Larry was yelling at Matt. I sighed, knowing exactly where this was heading. Dean only looked back to Sam, a confused frown on his face, clearly not getting it. "Dad?" He pressed.

Dean shook his head. "Dad never treated us like that." He said flatly.

"Well, Dad never treated you or Max like that, you two were perfect." He muttered. "He was all over my case." Neither of us said anything to him, Sam's eyes remained fixed on Dean's. "You really don't remember?"

Dean shrugged. "Well, maybe he had to raise his voice, but sometimes, you were out of line."

"Right." Sam scoffed. "Like when I said I'd rather play soccer that learn bowhunting." He stated.

"Bowhunting's an important skill." Dean countered.

"Whatever." Sam mumbled, rolling his eyes at him. Dean only shaking his head.

"How was your tour anyway?" I asked Dean, changing the subject before either of them had a chance to think up something else to say.

"Oh, it was excellent." He said sarcastically. "I'm ready to buy." Sam and I both laughed a little. "Think I might have found something though. Looks like Dustin Burwash wasn't the first strange death around here.. About a year ago, before they broke ground, one of Larry's surveyors dropped dead while on the job. Get this, severe allergic reaction to bee stings."

"More bugs." Sam said quietly.

Dean nodded. "More bugs." He repeated.

"Awesome." I muttered. "So now what?"

Dean shrugged. "I dunno." He said, looking around slowly. "But I vote that we get out of here." Sam and I both nodded at him, turning and heading back towards the house.

It was already getting dark by the time we left, the air now cool and the sky a dark grey. Sam drove the Impala through the quiet neighborhood, I presumed looking out for a motel, while Dean looked through Dad's journal. "You know, I've heard of killer bees, but killer beetles?" He flipped another couple of pages and shook his head. "What is it that could make different bugs attack?"

"Well, hauntings sometimes include bug manifestations." Sam suggested.

"Yeah, but I didn't see any evidence of ghost activity." Dean countered.

"Well, maybe they're being controlled somehow?" Both Sam and Dean looked back at me. "You know, by something.. or someone."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "You mean, like Willard?"

"Yeah," Dean said lightly. "Bugs instead of rats."

"There are cases of psychic connections between people and animals," Sam said. "Elementals, telepaths."

"Yeah, that whole Timmy-Lassie thing. " He paused, clearly thinking it over for a few seconds before something hit him. "Larry's kid, he's got bugs for pets."

"Matt?" Sam frowned but then shrugged. "He did try to scare the realtor with a tarantula."

"You think he's our Willard?" Dean asked, closing Dad's journal before looking back to Sam.

"I don't know. " Sam answered. "Anything's possible, I guess."

"Ooh, hey. " Dean suddenly said. "Pull over here."

Sam slowed down the car and pulled into the empty driveway of one of the houses, looking around slowly. "What are we doing here?" He asked Dean who was already climbing out of the car and heading over the driveway.

"It's too late to talk to anybody else." He called back, reaching down and opening up the door to the garage.

Sam raised his eyebrows at him. "We're gonna squat in an empty house?" He pressed, a note of disbelief in his voice.

"I wanna try the steam shower, come on!" Sam still didn't move. "Come on!"

Sam shook his head, reluctantly starting the car and driving into the garage, sticking his arm out of the window as he passed Dean and punching him in the stomach. Dean pulled the garage door down after us and smirked, like he was proud of himself for thinking it up. "Dude, seriously, this has got to be a whole new low for us." I said to him, shaking my head as Sam and I climbed out of the Impala.

Dean only laughed. "C'mon, Maxie, we've sunk so much lower than this in our time." He smirked. "Remember when we went to Vegas for your twenty-first?"

"Or Nevada? I mean, you remember the mess you got us into the last time we took a hunt there there?" I smirked up at him.

Dean grinned, giving me a knowing look. "Alright, let me set the record straight here, I thought that the cop was a prostitute."

"Right," I rolled my eyes at him. "Course you did."

Sam just looked at me, then at Dean, shaking his head slowly. "I don't even want to know." He said as he turned and opened the door that led to the house. Dean punched me lightly in the arm, letting out a laugh as we followed him.

The next morning.

I glanced up from the magazine I'd been reading as Sam walked into the room, looking serious about something. His eyes scanned the room quickly before pausing at me. "Where's Dean?" He asked.

"Uh, I think he's in the shower." I answered with a shrug, I hadn't seen him in over an hour now.

Sam only frowned. "Still?"

I shrugged again, putting down the magazine as Sam headed out of the room, following him. "What's going on?" I asked, heading up the stairs after him.

He stopped at the bathroom door, banging on it with the side of his fist. "You ever coming out of there?" He called through the door.

There was a small bang from inside. "What?!" Dean yelled back through the door.

"Dean, a police call came in on the scanner." Sam called, looking down at me and shaking his head impatiently. "Someone was found dead three blocks from here, come on!"

"Hold on!" There was the sound of more movement inside the bathroom, followed by Dean pulling open the door, steam pouring out through the gap. I couldn't help but let out a laugh at the sight of him. He stood at the door, eyebrows raised, with a towel around his head and another around his waist. "This shower is awesome." He grinned.

Sam rolled his eyes, looking like he was hiding a smirk of his own. "Come on." He said, turning and heading off downstairs.

Dean looked down at me, raising an eyebrow. I shook my head and laughed. "Dude, you're such a girl sometimes, you know that?" He smirked and flicked some water at me before closing the door in my face.

30 Minutes Later

The three of us climbed out of the Impala, seeing Larry standing on the street, talking to someone on the phone. We looked towards the house where some paramedics were bringing out a body bag, heading towards the ambulance waiting on the street. He finished up his call as we got closer, giving us a small smile. "Hello," He said lightly. "You're, uh, back early."

"Yeah," Dean answered. "We just drove in, wanted to take another look at the neighborhood.. What's going on?"

Larry looked slightly uncomfortable. "You met, uh, Lynda Bloome at the barbeque?" We nodded slowly. "Well, she, uh, passed away last night."

"What happened?" Dean pressed curiously.

"I'm still trying to find that out. Identified the body for the police." He sighed slightly, glancing back at the house. "Look, I-I'm sorry, this isn't a good time now."

"It's okay." I gave him a weak smile.

"Excuse me." He turned and headed off down the street.

"You know what we have to do, right?" Dean said to us once Larry was far enough away that he wouldn't be able to hear us.

"Yeah." Sam answered. "We gotta get in that house."

"See if we have a bug problem." Dean finished.

We headed around to the back of the house, climbing over the fence and up the side of the house, getting inside throught the bedroom window. We walked further inside towards the bathroom where the outline of Lynda's body was drawn on the floor. "This looks like the place." Dean muttered. Sam and I stayed where we were as Dean crouched down, picking up a towel lying on the floor, quickly dropping it again when he saw that it was covered in spiders. "Spiders." He stated. "From spider boy?" He suggested.

"Matt?" Sam muttered. "Maybe."

Dean sighed and stood up again. "Well, I say we find him and we have a little chat with him."

Impala, 3:30PM

"Guys, you realise here that we're kinda stalking a kid, right?" I said, looking ahead out of the window at the school bus we were following. "It's kinda creepy."

Dean only laughed to himself, shaking his head. "Well, you are a creep, Maxie." He smirked. "Everybody knows that."

"Yeah, says the guy who's driving after a school bus." I muttered, rolling my eyes at him.

He pulled over the car to the side of the road as the bus came to a stop, Matt getting off and walking away down the road. "Isn't his house that way?" Dean said, pointing in the opposite direction to which Matt was walking.

"Yup." Sam answered him lightly.

"Huh." Dean muttered. "So where's he going?"

None of us said anything as we climbed out of the car, heading over the road and following where he walked through some trees. We walked for a few minutes before eventually catching up to where he was standing, looking like he was examining a grasshopper. He turned at the sound of us heading up behind him, looking between us slowly. "Hey, Matt." Sam said lightly. "Remember us?"

"What are you doing out here?" He asked curiously, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"Well, we wanna talk to you." Dean said brightly.

"You're not here to buy a house, are you?" He said slowly. We all shook our heads. "W-wait.. You're not serial killers?"

"No, no.. I think you're safe." Sam assured him.

"So, Matt," Dean began. "You sure know a lot about insects." Matt just looked at him, obviously not following. "Did you hear what happened to Lynda, the realtor?"

Matt nodded. "I hear she died this morning."

"Mm, that's right.." He answered. "Spider bites."

"Matt, you tried to scare her with a spider." Sam continued slowly.

Matt paused, looking between the three of us slowly. "Wait, you think that I had something to do with that?"

"You tell us." Dean pressed.

"That tarantula was a joke, and anyway, that wouldn't explain the bee attack or the gas company guy." He reasoned.

"Wait," I said, raising my eyebrows at him. "You know about those?"

"There is something going on here. I don't know what.. but something is happening with the insects." He sighed and looked over his shoulder. "Let me show you something." He grabbed his backpack from the ground and turned, heading off in another direction.

"So, if you know about all this bug stuff, why not tell your dad?" Sam asked as we followed him through the woods. "Maybe he could clear everybody out."

"Believe me, I've tried, but, uh, Larry doesn't listen to me." He answered glumly. "You know, mostly, I think he's just disappointed in his freak son."

Sam scoffed. "I hear you."

Both Dean and I looked up at him at that. "You do?" Dean pressed. Sam turned and gave him a look before turning back ahead.

"Matt, how old are you?" He asked.

"Sixteen." He muttered.

"Well, don't sweat it, because in two years something great's going to happen." Oh god, I could see what was coming here. And there was no doubt it was ending in an argument. "College. You'll be able to get out of that house and away from your dad."

Even for Sam, that was harsh. I wouldn't have blamed the kid for telling Sam to shove it himself, he knew nothing about Matt's life. Dean shook his head. "What kind of advice is that?" He asked Sam. "Kid should stick with his family."

Sam sighed, shooting a glare back at Dean. "How much further, Matt?" He asked.

"We're close." He answered, turning and continuing walking. Sam shot another glare back at Dean, and then me, like he was warning me to keep my mouth shut too, before he followed him. Dean simply shook his head again, clearly pissed off, before carrying on. "I've been keeping track of the insect populations," Matt went on. "It's, um, part of an AP science class-"

"You two are like peas in a pod." Dean commented, shooting a look at Sam.

Sam only ignored him. "What's been happening?" He pressed.

"A lot. I mean, from bees to earthworms, beetles.. you name it. It's like they're congregating here." He said. "I don't know why."

"What's that?" Sam asked. We all turned to where Sam was pointing to a dark patch of grass a few feet away. We headed towards it, finding hundreds of worms.

"That's gross." I muttered.

Dean stepped forwards, creating a hole where the worms were before crouching down and picking up a stick, poking around in the hole. "There's something down there." He muttered, tossing the stick to the ground. He made some disgusted expression as he stuck his arm into the hole, feeling around for a few seconds before pulling out a human skull and looking up at us.

"What the hell?" Matt said quietly, looking between us.

"Something's going on." Sam said. "We need to find out where those bones came from.

One Hour Later

Dean pulled over the Impala outside of a local university, the three of us climbing out of the car and looking around slowly. Sam went to the backseat and pulled out the box of bones we'd found, covering them with his jacket before we headed off towards the building. "So, a bunch of skeletons in an unmarked grave." Sam stated.

"Yeah, maybe this is a haunting." Dean suggested. "Pissed off spirits? Some unfinished business?"

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "Question is, why bugs? And why now?"

"That's two questions." Dean muttered. Sam ignored him, carrying on walking. I looked up at Dean, he was clearly holding back something that he wanted to get off his chest, like he was trying to stop himself from saying it. "Yeah, so with that kid back there," He began after a few seconds. "Why'd you tell him to just ditch his family like that?"

"Just, uh.. I know what the kid's going through." He answered, not looking phased by Dean's tone.

"How 'bout telling him to respect his old man?" Dean countered. "How's that for advice?"

I sighed, every damn time Sam mentioned Dad it ended in this. "Dean, come on." We stopped walking, Sam and Dean now staring right at each other. "This isn't about his old man. You think I didn't respect Dad. That's what this is about."

"Just forget it, alright?" Dean answered, looking as though he was sick of the same fight too. "I'm sorry I brought it up."

For a second I thought they were done, but then Sam carried on. "I respected him." He said flatly. "But no matter what I did, it was never good enough."

"So what are you saying? Huh?" Dean pressed. "That Dad was disappointed in you?"

"Was?" Sam repeated. "Is.. Always will be."

Dean shook his head. "Why would you think that?"

"Because I didn't wanna bowhunt or hustle pool - because I wanted to go to school and live my life, which, in our whacked out family, made me the freak." He answered, sounding slightly resentful.

"Yeah, you were kinda like the blonde chick in the Munsters." Dean said lightly.

"Dean, you know what most dads are when their kids score a full ride? Proud." Sometimes I wondered if Sam ever got tired of repeating the same lines over and over. I loved him, but sometimes when he acted like he was the only victim in all of this, it wound me up. "Most dads don't toss their kids out of the house."

"I remember that fight." Dean answered, turning defensive. "In fact, I seem to recall a few choice phrases coming out of your mouth."

Surprise, surprise, Sam chose not to answer that part. "You know, truth is, when we finally do find Dad.. I don't even know if he's gonna wanna see me."

"Sam, give it a rest, will you?" I finally spoke up. Both Sam and Dean looked down at me, seeming shocked. I never got involved in these types of conversations, I always left it to them. But this whole thing was getting out of hand and it wasn't about to stop anytime soon. "Dad was never disappointed in you, never. He was scared." I never understood how Sam hadn't been able to work that one out for himself.

Sam frowned at me. "What are you talking about?"

"He was afraid of what could've happened to you if he wasn't around." I said seriously, looking him straight in the face. "But, you know, even when the two of you weren't talking, he used to swing by Stanford whenever he could." The slight smirk on Sam's face faded. "To keep an eye on you, make sure that you were safe."

Sam actually looked surprised at that. "What?" He looked from me to Dean, who nodded. "Why didn't you tell me any of that?"

Dean shrugged. "Well, it's a two way street, dude. You could've picked up the phone." Sam just looked between us sadly. "Come on," Dean eventually said. "We're gonna be late for our appointment." He said as he turned and headed over towards the doors, me following him.

Impala, 11:45PM

"Dude, what exactly is the plan here?" Sam asked Dean as we drove through the quiet neighborhood. "I mean, if that guy was right, and Larry really did build this neighborhood on cursed land, then every year about this time, anybody in Oasis Plains is in danger." He said, looking at him for an answer. "And then he said the sixth night, which is tonight." Dean didn't answer, just kept driving, looking like he was trying to think it though. "If we don't do something, Larry's family will be dead by morning. So how do we break the curse?"

Dean shook his head. "You don't break a curse." He said flatly. "You get out of its way. We've gotta get those people out now." Before either of us had a chance to suggest anything, Dean pulled his phone from his jacket, dialing a number and holding it to his ear. He seemed to have a pretty one sided conversation with Larry, claiming that there was a gas leak before he was obviously busted, panicking slightly before hanging up.

"Give me the phone." Sam muttered, taking it from him and calling another number. He waited a few seconds before someone answered. "Matt, it's Sam." He paused, cutting Matt off with whatever he was saying. "Matt, listen to me, you have to get your family out of that house right now, okay?" He paused again. "You've gotta make him listen, okay?"

Dean pulled a face at that. "Give me the phone." He muttered, grabbing it from Sam. "Matt, under no circumstances are you to tell the truth, they'll just think you're nuts." He didn't wait for Matt to answer before he carried on. "Tell him you have a sharp pain in your right side and you've gotta go to the hospital, okay?" He hung up the phone and shoved it back into his jacket. "Make him listen? What are you thinking?"

He drove down the street and quickly turned the corner towards their house, seeing Larry looking out of the window. The second he saw the car, he headed outside to us. "Damn it, they're still here." Dean muttered. "Come on."

We all climbed out of the car, heading over to him. "Get the hell off my property, before I call the cops." Larry yelled, looking beyond pissed.

"Dad, they're just trying to help-" Matt began, getting no further before his dad cut him off.

"Get in the house!" He shouted at him over his shoulder, his eyes never leaving us.

Matt turned to us. "I'm sorry." He said quietly. "I told him the truth."

"We had a plan, Matt." Dean said, holding out his arms a little. "What happened to the plan?"

"Look," Sam tried again, his voice urgent. "It's 12AM. They are coming any minute now. You need to get your family and go, before it's too late."

"Yeah, you mean before the biblical swarm." He answered skeptically.

Dean, who was obviously becoming more and more impatient, look a step towards him. "Larry, what do you think really happened to that realtor, huh? And the gas company guy? You don't think somethin' weird's goin' on here?"

"Look, I don't know who you are, but you're crazy." He said, shaking his head at us. "You come near my boy or my family again, and we're gonna have a problem."

"Well, I hate to be a downer, but we've got a problem right now." He argued.

"Dad, they're right, okay?" Matt protested. "We're in danger."

"Matt, get inside! Now!" Larry yelled back at him.

"No! Why won't you listen to me?!"

"Because this is crazy!" He said, his voice frustrated. "It doesn't make any sense!"

"Look, this land is cursed! People have died here. Now, are you gonna really take that risk with your family?"

"Wait." Dean suddenly said. We all went silent, looking around slowly. "You hear it?" From somewhere nearby, there was a loud buzzing sound, getting louder and louder.

"What the hell?" Larry said quietly.

The bug light on the porch suddenly made a cracking noise, killing several bugs all at once. "We're screwed." I muttered, looking to Dean for an answer.

"Oh my god." Larry suddenly said. We all turned, seeing millions of bugs flying towards the house, blanketing the sky.

"Everybody in the house!" Dean yelled. "Go!" We all ran inside, Dean slamming and locking the door behind us. "Okay, is there anybody else in the neighborhood?"

"No, it's just us." Larry answered, looking up as his wife came into the room.

"We need towels." Dean pressed, looking between them. Larry ran to the closet, grabbing a handful of towels before handing them to Dean.

"Okay," Sam said urgently, turning to Matt. "We've gotta lock this place up, come on - doors, windows, fireplace, everything, okay?" He said as Dean and I pressed towels at the bottom of the doors.

Millions of bugs then began collecting on the doors and windows, covering the entire house. The six of us just stood there for a couple of minutes, unsure of what to do. "So what do we do now?" Larry eventually said.

"We try to outlast it." Sam answered quietly. "Hopefully, the curse will end at sunrise."

I followed Dean into the kitchen, watching him search through the cabinets. He pulled out a can of bug spray and grinned, heading back to the living room. "Bug spray, seriously?" I smirked.

"Trust me." He grinned. "Alright, I think everybody needs to get upstairs." Dean said. Before any of us had a chance to move, hundreds of thousands of bugs came through the fireplace and into the living room, swarming around us. He pulled out a lighter and held it with the bug spray, making it flare up. "Alright, everybody upstairs! Now! Go!" He yelled.

We all ran upstairs and into the attic, Sam pulling the door closed behind us. We'd only been in there a couple of minutes when sawdust began to fall from the ceiling, the buzzing from the other side becoming louder. "Oh, God, what's that?" Jonie said quietly.

"Something's eating through the wood." Dean muttered. "Everybody get back. Get back!" We moved back as the bugs chewed a hole through the ceiling and swarmed into the room. I wasn't sure how long we'd been in there, but suddenly, the sun came up. The second the sunlight shone through the room, the bugs began to leave through the hole in the ceiling. Dean looked to me and frowned, obviously as confused as the rest of us. We took a step forwards, seeing the bugs in the sky, flying away from the house.

The next morning

On the way back from getting breakfast, Dean drove by Larry's place. He was outside, placing boxes into a moving van. We climbed out of the Impala, crossing over the street towards the house. "What, no goodbye?" Dean asked lightly.

"Good timing." He smiled. "Another hour and we'd have been gone."

He shook our hands, looking between the three of us. "For good?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," He answered. "The development's been put on hold while the government investigates those bones you found. But I'm gonna make damn sure no one lives here again."

I smiled and raised an eyebrow. "You don't seem too upset about it."

"Well, this has been the biggest financial disaster of my career, but.." He glanced over at where Matt was carrying out a box of garbage. "Somehow, I don't really care." He smiled. Sam headed over to him, Dean and I staying where we were. "I wanna say thank you, again, I mean, you saved our lives last night."

"Yeah, don't mention it." Dean smiled.

"Well, you know, if you ever need anything - deal on a house or something.." He said lightly.

Dean and I only laughed. "Think it's a while before we'll be looking for a house." Dean smirked, shooting me a look. I grinned and nodded, glancing up as Sam headed towards us again.

I looked over at Larry and Matt as we headed over to the car, smiling slightly. "I wanna find Dad." Sam said, looking between us.

"Yeah, us too." Dean answered him, climbing into the Impala.

"Yeah, but I just.." He gave a slight shrug. "I want to apologize to him."

Dean raised an eyebrow at him. "For what?"

"All the things I said to him." He sighed and shook his head. "He was just doin' the best he could."

"Well, don't worry, we'll find him." Dean assured. "And then you'll apologize. And then within five minutes, you guys will be at each other's throats."

Sam laughed. "Yeah, probably." None of us said anything for a few minutes. "C'mon, let's get back to the motel." He muttered.

Dean nodded, starting the car. "Let's."

One hour later

"You seem to have been in a good mood these past couple days." Dean commented as he walked out of the bathroom, a curious frown forming on his face. We both knew without him saying it what he was getting at.

I sighed heavily, I couldn't take this again. The same accusation and disbelief that I seemed to be getting from him every single day now. There had been a time, not all that long ago, that he would have believed anything that came out of my mouth. All I'd have had to say would be trust me, and he'd have done it. But we didn't seem to be like that anymore, at least not when it came to this. And I knew that was my fault, I was a liar and we both knew it. But what I didn't get was why he was so bothered about it, why he hadn't given up yet. "Dean, would you just get off my case for five freaking minutes, please?" I snapped. I didn't even understand why I was so irritable, maybe because I was so tired. I didn't know what was going on with me anymore.

Dean opened his mouth to argue with me, looking like he was geared up to have a serious fight about this, but he didn't have the chance to say anything before Sam cut in, an impatient frown on his face as he looked between us. "You know what, I am so sick of this." We both looked at him, he usually took a step back on the rare occasions that Dean and I would fight, not wanting to get involved, leaving us to get everything off of our chests before he tried to fix anything. But now he just looked pissed. "The two of you need to sit down and just talk whatever the hell this thing is out." He added, looking from me to Dean expectantly.

I shook my head slowly. He acted like we hadn't tried before, but every time we'd even gotten close to having a serious talk about it, one of us had changed the subject, pushing it off as if neither of us wanted to be the first one to admit that we had a problem. I know that I didn't. Because Dean and I had barely ever had problems before, it had always been the two of us against everything else. When Sam had left, or dad had disappeared, or any fights that had gone on, whether that had been Sam and Dad, Sam and Dean, Dad and me or even Sam and me, it had never been between me and Dean. And now, I was lying to him, he was yelling at me, and that wasn't us. It wasn't how we were supposed to be. And honestly, that scared me. "Sam-" I went to argue with him but Sam simply shook his head at me.

"No." He cut me off before I had the chance to continue. "Max, you're taking pills that you're adamant you don't need, and Dean, you're forcing her to take this crap without having the slightest idea what it's doing to her." He shook his head and looked between us, lowering his voice slightly before he carried on. I could see in his face that he'd been wanting to say this for a while. "I just don't get it. I mean, you two were pretty much joined at the freakin' hips at one point, you could talk about anything with each other, so what happened - Why not this?"

I sat back in my chair, my arms folded over my chest, he obviously wasn't letting it go this time without getting some answers. "Because Dean doesn't listen." I answered him flatly, now avoiding looking at either of them. I knew if I looked up at Dean, all I'd see in his face would be the frustration, maybe even anger, at the whole situation.

Dean scoffed. "Because you're a liar." He retorted, his tone disgruntled.

"No, Dean, I have to lie to you," I was becoming as riled up as he was now, the tension rising, both our voices becoming gradually louder. "You just don't seem to be able to get it into your head, I cannot take those pills anymore."

"Anymore?" He repeated, raising his eyebrows at me. "Max, you haven't even tried taking them in the first place, how the hell can you know they don't work unless you try them?!" He was fully angry now, his face hard, voice pure exasperation.

"Of course I tried them, Dean!" I rested my hands on the table, pushing myself to stand up, taking a step towards him. "You asked me to take them, so I took them. The same way that I do absolutely everything that you ask me to. No question." That was the only thing I didn't get, I know I'd lied about it, but that was only after he'd refused to believe I'd been taking them in the first place, when I had. I sighed lightly, looking away from him to the floor. "You know what, Dean, I'm not having this conversation." I said quietly, turning my back to him and grabbing my jacket from the back of my chair. "Not now, not ever." I could feel tears in my eyes, I just wanted to leave.

"I want to know what happened." Sam's words stopped me, my hand still rested on the door handle, my eyes fixed on the wood in front of my face. "Because Max, whatever you say here, I gotta admit, Dean's right." He spoke slowly, like he was apprehensive about how I was about to react to him. "You can tell me whatever you want, and I'd normally believe you - but we all know that the day Dean sends you to see a doctor, is the day that he's desperate and out of options."

"You're siding with him?" I smiled and nodded, turning around to face him and giving a slight shrug. "Of course you are, thanks, Sam." I threw my jacket the short distance to the closest beds, leaning back against the door, folding my arms over my chest.

"I'm not siding with anybody, all I want is the truth." He continued, his voice calm. "I mean, I'm getting one story from you, and another one from Dean," He stopped and shook his head, he looked conflicted. "How the hell am I supposed to know whether or not you need to be on them? Neither of you will talk about it, not to me, not to each other."

I didn't answer him, unable to think of a response. Dean suddenly took a step closer to me, his face serious. "Go on, Max. Why don't you tell him, huh?" He pressed, there was a knowing expression on his face, like he was almost sure this was all about to go his way. "And this time, why don't you tell him without twisting it around to make yourself sound like you're fine, or like you can handle this, because you and I both know what you were like, and you can stand there and lie all you want, but we both know that you can't." His voice was intent, his eyes fixed on mine until I couldn't hold his stare anymore.

I looked away from him, shaking my head slowly while I thought about it. "Dean, please," It was a lame attempt, but I knew deep down that there was no stopping him this time, everything was about to come out.

"No," He shook his head slowly. "You're telling it to Sam like you've just had a couple of bad days, Max. How can you not see how screwed up you really were, hm?" I didn't answer him, now looking nowhere but the floor. "You scared the hell out of me, and that is why I need you to take them, because you scare me, you really do. And I can't take you being like that again, Maxie."

"I don't wanna feel like this anymore. They make me feel crap, I don't feel like me when I'm on them." I tried to explain it the best that I could, not even sure that I was making sense to them in what I was saying. "I feel depressed, like there isn't any point. I mean, they make me feel exhausted, all the time. And I can't take this world getting any darker than it already is. I just- I can't." I took a step forwards and dropped back into the chair I'd been sitting in, leaning my elbows against the table and my head in my hands.

"Dean," Sam pressed, his voice quiet. I could pretty much feel them both watching me, unable to bring myself to face them. "What happened?"

Dean sighed deeply, also taking a seat at the table, taking a few seconds before he said anything else. "We'd just finished a hunt, a werewolf thing in Indiana, and then Maxie, she uh, she went missing." He spoke slowly, like he was giving me the opportunity to cut in whenever I wanted to. "Dad ended up coming down to meet me, we had no idea where she'd gone - and then, out of nowhere, couple of weeks later, she came back. And she was possessed." He paused, obviously struggling for words. "Some stuff happened-"

"I tried to kill him." I cut in, realising that Dean wasn't going to say it himself. "I almost beat him to death, Sam. I shot him. I killed people. I killed kids." I stopped and ran a hand down my face, trying to keep myself calm. "I heard a little girl begging for her life before I killed her. Dozens of people, innocent people, begging not to be murdered. And none of it goes away, ever. I can still hear it, feel it.. All of it. No matter what I do, it just doesn't stop."

Dean's POV.
September 15th, 2005, 10:20PM, Motel Room.

I looked over as the door to the motel room swung open, my eyes going wide when I saw that it wasn't Dad. "Max?" I breathed out, complete shock drowning my voice, feeling a mixture between relief, concern and confusion. She nodded at me as she pushed the door closed behind herself, pulling off her jacket and dropping it over one of the chairs casually, like she hadn't been missing for two weeks. I got to my feet, narrowing my eyes at her. "Max, where the hell have you been, we looked everywhere for you."

Max paused, turning to face me, a small smirk spreading over her face. "We?" She repeated, there was something in her eyes that unnerved me. "You mean, Dad's here too?"

"Yeah, he came back once he'd finished the hunt." I thought back, remembering how pissed he'd been when I'd called him. Pissed at me for letting her go, pissed at Max for bailing, but I'd thought more pissed at himself for leaving us alone. "Maxie, he is beyond pissed with you, what happened?"

She shrugged slightly. "Nothing exciting." She answered lightly.

"Nothing exciting?" I shook my head at her, not believing what I was hearing. She wasn't stupid, she must've known what she'd put us through just leaving like she had. Something wasn't right with her. "Max, you've been missing for two weeks. I thought you were dead." My voice became louder as I thought back to the complete feeling of fear when she'd first gone, every awful thing that could have happened to her replaying in my head. "You've been missing for two weeks, you're going to have to do better than that. A lot better."

"Dean, listen to me, quit worrying, okay? I'm fine." She said flatly. "Where's Dad?"

I shook my head. "Why are you so bothered about where Dad is?" I asked slowly, something wasn't making sense. She wouldn't leave the way she had unless something was really wrong. Or something had happened. "What's happened to you?" She even looked different. Her face was cold, her eyes cold and emotionless, the way I'd never seen her look before. And then it made sense. It wasn't her. "What have you done with her?" I grabbed my gun, aiming it straight at her. She only laughed, not looking at all phased. "You're not my sister."

"Hm," She looked up at me and grinned, her eyes turning black for a second. "Not anymore."

I glanced down at the gun in my hand, realising how useless it was going to be. "Get out of her, now." I warned, trying to sound confident, ignoring how cornered I could really be here.

"Nah, you know what, I kinda like it in here." She smirked. "I can hear everything that goes on inside her head, Dean." I rolled my eyes, acting like none of it bothered me. She took a step towards me and punched me hard in the face. It caught me so off guard, I stumbled back slightly with a bloody lip. Instinctively, I raised a fist to hit her back, pausing and taking a step back before I did, because she was still in there somewhere. Whether she could feel it or not, I didn't know, but there was no way that I was about to hurt her. I don't think I could. "You know she only stayed for you, right?" She smirked as she threw another hard punch to my face. "She wanted to leave your ass just like Sammy did, but I guess she thought you were too pathetic to survive on your own. This is your fault."

I pushed up a smirk of my own, glaring down at her like it didn't affect me, taking another punch to the face. "Shut up." I muttered.

"You know she's in here, right? Screaming at you. Begging you to help her." That was something that I could believe, if she was in there, then there was no way in hell I was about to fight her. Sometimes in life, you just had to take it. "I can hear feel her, wondering why her big bother hasn't saved her yet. But I'll tell you what, she's going to feel me snap every single one of your bones. And then she's going to do the same to Daddy."

I shook my head. "How about I knock that smartass right out of your mouth?" I muttered.

She only smirked harder. "And just for that, I might even go and find little Sammy." I didn't answer that, just held her stare. "Dean, Dean, Dean. You're not going to hurt her, you wouldn't dare. I mean, just look at yourself, you've already proved it, you're not going to hurt your baby sis, you don't have it in you."

"I'm warning you, get the hell out of my sister or I swear to god I will march down to hell myself and slaughter every last one of you." I threatened, taking a step forwards and glaring down at her. "Trust me, we are not people that you want to mess with."

She paused for a few seconds, looking like she was seriously thinking that one over. Then, she raised a hand and sent me flying back into the wall with a thud, landing on the floor with a groan. She smirked and crossed the room towards me, kicking me in the chest over and over, crouching down and punching me in the face again. "You Winchesters, you think you're so tough, he's never going to find that demon, Dean." For a second, I didn't know what she was talking about. And then it hit me, Dad. That's what he'd been doing while he'd been away, looking for the demon that killed mom. "He's going to be dead by the end of the night, all of you are." She smiled a little, punching me in the face again. I could barely even feel it anymore, every punch and every kick just merging into one big pain that hurt everywhere. I could taste the blood in my mouth, feel the splitting pain in my ribs, I knew my face was covered in blood, and somehow, I was more worried about her. "You're all going to hell, Dean. Just. Like. Mommy."

I would've snapped at that. Enough for me to find the strength to punch her hard in the face, whether it was Max's body or not, I would've done it. But before I had the chance to even move, the motel's door swung open. Dad walked inside, taking one look between us before pulling his gun, aiming it straight at Max. She stood up and smirked, taking a step towards him. "Dad, don't!" I managed to yell, my voice cracked. His eyes flickered from her to me, a confused frown on his face. "It's still Max, she's possessed."

Dad looked from her to the gun, coming to the same thoughts I had earlier and slowly putting it down on the table, picking up his journal, his eyes fixed on her. Before he even had the chance to do anything, she pulled a gun from the back for her jeans, pointing it behind herself towards me. "Stop right there, John." She warned. "Before you even think about it, one word of latin comes out of your mouth and a bullet goes right between his eyes."

He slowly put down the journal again, facing her straight on. I shook my head slightly, making a move to push myself up, now pretty sure that my ribs were broken. Max turned to me, a grin on her face. "Don't even think about going anywhere." She muttered, pulling the trigger on the gun with a grin. I felt the sharp, burning pain hit me right below my neck, just to the side of my shoulder, the deep red blood, pouring from the wound.

I saw Dad make a move to her, grabbing the gun from her hand and slamming down on the table, throwing a small flask of holy water at her. I heard him chanting something in latin, banging and crashing that sounded like they were fighting, but he kept going. I fought to stay awake, needing to know that they were okay. I heard Max scream, a horrible, blood chilling scream before the sound of a body dropping to the floor with a thud. And that's the last thing I remembered happening before I blacked out. Blacked out with no idea if they were okay, if Max was even alive.

Yes, I know I'm totally evil for that. But, there will be more about their past in the next chapter, including some major Dean/Max feels, tears and hugs and some bro/sis stuff, because I know you love that ;))
Also, I apologise for it taking a couple of weeks for me to update, I've been super busy with my college work and stuff, but I'll try and get the next chapter up sooner! And again, thank you so so much for the support, means the world! :-)