Motel Room, 08:14AM

I glanced over towards Dean as his phone began ringing on the nightstand between his and Sam's beds, neither of them waking at the sound. "Dean." I called over to him, getting no answer. "Dean!" I tried again, this time louder, but he still didn't move, dead asleep. I sighed and pushed myself up from the chair I'd been sitting in, crossing the room slowly and picking up his phone. Sam blinked open his eyes as I got closer to them, seeming to sense that there was someone standing over him, narrowing his eyes in slight confusion, looking to still be half asleep. I frowned down at the unknown number calling and gave a small shrug to Sam before I flipped it open. "Hello?" I answered.

"Max?" I felt my stomach drop, the phone almost going with it, at the sound of the familiar, deep voice at the other end of the phone. I moved to sit down on the edge of Sam's bed, completely lost for words, the shock of it silencing me. "You there, Max?" The voice pressed when I didn't say anything, sounding a little concerned.

"Dad?" It came out as a whisper, my voice cracking slightly at the word. Sam seemed to wake up properly at that, sitting up straight and watching me intently, a surprised look covering his face, his eyes wide.

A small sigh, maybe in relief, came from the other end of the phone. "Hey, honey." He answered. His voice was soft, a lot softer than it usually was when he called. Something about that perturbed me slightly.

"Dad, are you okay?" I asked him, needing an answer to the question the three of us had been asking ourselves for so long. "I thought you were-" I stopped myself before I could say anything else, not wanting to get back into those kind of thoughts again.

"I'm fine." Dad answered calmly, a reassuring tone in his voice. "I'm alright." I breathed out a laugh, feeling as though I could cry with relief, I'd been so scared that something awful had happened to him, and it had only been when he'd gone missing that I realised how much I needed him, just to know that he was okay.

Before I had the chance to answer him, Sam grabbed the phone from me, holding it to his own ear, an impatient frown on his face. "Dad?" He pressed, not even waiting for a response before he continued. "Are you okay? Where are you?" He asked him quickly. "Dad, are you hurt?" I moved to sit on the edge of Dean's bed, placing a hand on his shoulder and shaking him slightly. He stirred a little, opening his eyes slowly to look up at me. "We're fine." Sam said down the phone. "Dad, where are you?" Dean's eyes snapped open as he sat up straight. "What, why?" Sam frowned, clearly not liking whatever it was that Dad was saying to him, but then again, when did he ever?

"Is that Dad?" Dean asked me, his voice quiet as he looked between me and Sam slowly. I gave a small nod, my eyes never leaving Sam.

"You're after it, aren't you?" Sam pushed him, his voice intent. "The thing that killed Mom." Dean and I looked between each other at that, our frowns matching each other's. "A demon?" Sam said, a look of shock and consternation on his face. "You know for sure?"

"A demon?" Dean repeated, watching Sam curiously. "What's he saying?"

Sam didn't answer him, his attention fixed solely on whatever Dad was saying to him. "You know where it is?" He asked after a couple of seconds. "Let us help."

"Give me the phone." Dean said, his tone hard.

Sam only continued to ignore him, a deep frown on his face. "Names?" He pressed. "What names, Dad - talk to me, tell me what's going on." Sam looked like his was becoming desperate, clearly about to get into an argument with him. "No, alright?" He snapped. "No way."

Dean shook his head, obviously becoming impatient with him. He reached out and grabbed the phone from him, holding it to his own ear. "Dad? It's me." He said. "Where are you?" He paused for a few seconds, listening to his answer. "Yes, sir." He said quickly. "Uh, yeah, I got a pen." He muttered, grabbing a piece of paper from the side table. "What are the names?" Sam shook his head, looking nothing but pissed off at the whole situation. "Yeah, alright. Yeah, bye, Dad." Dean finished as he hung up the phone, putting it down on the side table and looking between me and Sam slowly, letting out a deep breath.

"Now what?" Sam eventually broke the tense silence between the three of us, none of us wanting to be the first to react.

I didn't have a clue what to say, I had no idea what had been said, no idea what was going on, and I didn't want to ask. Dean just looked up at him, and then back at the piece of paper in his hand before shrugging. "Now, we're going to Indiana." He muttered, getting to his feet and moving over towards the table, grabbing his bag from one of the chairs without saying another word.

I glanced back from him to Sam, praying to god that he wouldn't argue about it. I couldn't sit through another one of their arguments about Dad. For once, he didn't say a thing. He didn't seem at all happy about what we were doing, but Sam sighed and shook his head, not saying a word against it. For now at least.

That night, 12:23PM.

Sam made a turn onto the empty highway, a concentrated frown on his face as he drove, his mind clearly elsewhere. His hands held a tight grip on the steering wheel, his knuckles almost white, clearly holding back something he wanted to say. I could see it in his face, all day he'd been holding back his protests of going to Indiana, not wanting to start a fight, but the closer we got to it, the further away we got from Dad, the harder he seemed to be finding it. "Alright," He sighed, the first one of us to speak in over half an hour. "So, the names Dad gave us, they're all couples?" He asked, glancing to his side at Dean.

Dean looked up from Dad's journal for a second and nodded. "Three different couples, all went missing." He answered, looking back to the pages on his lap.

"And they're all from different towns?" He went on. "Different states?"

"That's right. You got Washington, New York, Colorado. Each couple too a road trip cross-country, none of them arrived at their destination, and none of them were ever heard from again." He explained.

"Well, it's a big country, Dean." Sam countered, not seeming at all concerned about it. "They could've disappeared anywhere."

"Yeah, could've." Dean muttered. "But each one's route took them through to the same part of Indiana, always on the second week of April, one year after another after another."

"This is the second week of April." Sam stated, frowning as something seemed to finally occur to him. "So, Dad is sending us to Indiana to go hunting for something before another couple vanishes?"

"Yahtzee." Dean nodded. "Can you imagine putting together a pattern like this? All the different orbits Dad had to go through? The man's a master." I glanced over at Sam, he was starting to look beyond annoyed. He cleared his throat before pulling over the car to the side of the road and turning off the engine, sitting back in his seat. "What are you doing?" Dean pressed curiously, glancing back at me for a second, a frown on his face.

"We're not going to Indiana." Sam said simply, his tone blank.

Dean just raised an eyebrow at him, still looking confused. "We're not?" He pressed.

"No," Sam shook his head. "We're going to California." I sighed to myself, knowing exactly where this was headed, and there was no way it was going to be good. Everything Sam had wanted to say to him since we'd gotten that phone call was about to come out, and Dean was going to lose his temper. "Dad called from a payphone, Sacramento area code."

"Sam," I warned, speaking up in an attempt of getting him to shut up before it all ended in a fight. "Don't."

"Max," He retorted, his patience clearly wearing thin, stopping me before I had a chance at saying anything else. "If this demon killed Mom and Jess, and Dad's closing in, we've gotta be there." He reasoned, his voice calm. "We've gotta help."

"Dad doesn't want our help." Dean said, his voice remaining steady, despite how frustrated he was obviously becoming.

"I don't care." Sam said flatly, his tone hard, clearly not willing to give in any time soon.

Dean sighed heavily. "He's given us an order."

"I don't care." Sam repeated firmly. "We don't always have to do what he says."

"Sam, Dad is asking us to work jobs, to save lives." Dean countered, his voice gradually rising as be became more and more defensive about it. "It's important."

"I know." Sam argued. "I understand, alright, believe me, I understand. But I'm talking one week here, to get some answers. To get revenge."

Dean sighed, shaking his head, not at all convinced. "Alright, look, I know how you feel-" Dean began, getting no further before Sam cut him off sharply.

"Do you?" He snapped. Dean looked a little taken aback by Sam's tone. "How old were you when Mom died? Four?" Dean didn't answer him, just looked at him. "Jess died six months ago, how the hell would you know how I feel?"

Dean didn't respond to that, looking determined not to rise to it. "Dad said it wasn't safe, for any of us." He reasoned. "I mean, he obviously knows something that we don't, so if he says to stay away, we stay away."

Sam scoffed. "I don't understand the blind faith you have in the man." He said flatly, briefly looking back at me. "Either of you. I mean, it's like you don't even question him."

"Yeah," Dean countered, seeming to be finally loosing his temper. "It's called being a good child." His voice was angry now, sounding like he was all too willing to have this fight with him again. Sam looked beyond pissed at that comment, not saying another word before he climbed out of the car and slammed the door closed behind himself, his actions being closely mirrored by Dean. I groaned to myself and pushed myself to get out of the car, walking around to the trunk where Sam was already pulling out his stuff, Dean standing there and watching him in disbelief. "You're a selfish bastard, you know that?" Dean continued at him, not seeming to want to calm the situation down at all. "You just do whatever you want, don't care what anybody thinks."

Sam shook his head at him, turning to face him. "That's what you really think?" He pushed.

Dean just nodded. "Yes, it is." He replied simply.

"Well, then this selfish bastard is going to California." He said flatly, throwing his bag over his shoulder before turning to walk away in the opposite direction.

Dean raised his eyebrows, looking a little surprised by his actions. "Come on," He called after him. "You're not serious."

"I am serious." Sam yelled back over his shoulder, his voice hard.

This was going to get out of hand, I knew they were both stubborn enough to go through with this. "Guys, come on," I tried, taking a step forwards and looking between them. "Pack it in." As usual in these situations, they both completely ignored me.

Dean rose his voice again. "It's the middle of the night!" He yelled. "Hey, I'm taking off, I will leave your ass here!" He threatened. I shot him a look but he just looked away, not seeming at all phased. "You hear me?!"

Sam stopped walked and turned back to face him slowly. For a second, I thought he was going to come back, but the look on his face said something different. "That's what I want you to do." He said flatly.

The two of them stared at each other for a few seconds, waiting to see what the other one was going to do, not wanting to be the first to react. As always, when Dean and Sam got themselves into a fight, they both seemed to completely forget that I was even there. Dean was the one who cracked first, taking a step back and shaking his head. "Goodbye, Sam." He said blankly, pulling the keys from the trunk of the Impala before slamming it closed and walking around the car to the driver's seat, pulling open the door and looking over at me expectantly, as if he was unsure why I hadn't already done the same thing. "Max." He warned, his expression telling me not to push him any further.

I glanced back over to Sam who simply shook his head at us and turned, walking away down the road. "One minute," I said to Dean, who climbed into the car and pulled the door closed forcefully behind himself. I sighed and turned my attention to Sam, who was still walking away, never looking back. "Sam!" I yelled, having to jog a little to catch up to him. "Sam!" I yelled again when he didn't stop. "Dammit, don't ignore me!"

He stopped walking and took a breath, turning around to face me, his expression hard. "What?" He asked flatly, he looked nothing but pissed.

"Sam, don't be childish." I muttered, nowhere near enough patience left to have this conversation with him. "Get back in the car."

"No," He argued, I swear, they were like a couple of kids sometimes, if I could reach, I'd slam their heads together.

"Sam," I warned, becoming quickly frustrated with them. "Get back in the damn car."

"I said, no." He repeated coldly. "I'm done with this."

I shook my head at him, sometimes I just couldn't understand the logic that went through his head. "And what are you gonna do, huh?" I pressed. "Dad doesn't want us with him, what part of that are you not getting into your head?" Sam just looked at me, not bothering with an answer. "The second you get there, he's going to tear you a new one for bailing on us, and then he's going to send your ass right back here. And that's if you even find him, I mean, you know as well as I do, he could be halfway across the country by the time you get there."

"Max," He sighed heavily. "I don't care, I'm doing this."

I nodded slowly, taking a step back from him. "Alright, you know what, Sam, fine. Go." I muttered. "I am so sick and tired of trying to keep this family together, of the fighting and - you wanna bail again, go ahead. Have a nice life, Sam." I turned to walk away, stopping after a few steps and taking a breath, immediately regretting what I'd said.

"Max." Sam pressed, his voice a little softer than it had been.

"I'm sorry." I turned back and looked up at him. "I just - please, come back, okay? When you find him, come back. Don't disappear like the last time."

"Yeah," He nodded slowly. "I promise."

I nodded and let out a small breath, turning away from him and heading back to the Impala without looking back. I climbed into the passenger seat, refusing to look at Dean, keeping my eyes fixed on the road ahead, my head rested against my fist. "Maxie," Dean began softly. I could hear it coming, the lame ass apology, then he'd blame Sam, then he'd blame himself, then he'd try and reason that this was the right way. I didn't want to listen to it.

"Don't, Dean." I said flatly, before he had the chance to carry on. "Just, don't." I sighed heavily as he started the car again, closing my eyes and eventually falling asleep.

Impala, 09:34AM

I woke up the next morning, feeling someone lightly shaking my knee. "Hey, Maxie," I stirred slightly at the sound of Dean's voice, not wanting to open my eyes. "Wake up."

I slowly opened my eyes and looked up at him for a second, rubbing my eyes as I sat up and looked around. He was pulled up outside of a cafe somewhere in what looked to be a pretty quiet town. There was an apprehensive smile on his face, much calmer than the last time I'd seen him. "Where are we?" I asked him, not wanting to give him time to mention either the fight, Sam or Dad again.

"We're here." He announced brightly, sitting up straighter from where he'd been leaning towards me and looking out of the window ahead.

I rolled my eyes at him, he now clearly thought that I was still pissed about the night before. "Thanks, Mr Specific," I said lightly. "Where's here?"

"Burketsville, Indiana." He said, looking over at me with a small smile.

"Ah," I nodded slowly. "Why didn't you say so?" He watched me for a few seconds, looking like he was waiting for me to say something else, like he thought I was going to have a bitch at him or something over Sam. "C'mon," I said, opening the car door and stepping out. "Let's get on with it."

We crossed the street, climbing the few steps to the porch of the cafe. There was a guy sitting in a chair outside of the door, watching us closely as we headed towards him, a wary look on his face. "Let me guess," Dean began lightly, gesturing to the sign above the cafe's door. "Scotty."

The guy followed where Dean had been looking, his eyes pausing at the sign for a second before he returned his attention to us. "Yep." He replied simply.

Dean nodded. "Hi," He smiled. "My name's John Bonham-"

Scotty narrowed his eyes at him, not looking at all convinced by his words. "Isn't that the drummer from Led Zeppelin?" He pressed, raising an eyebrow at us.

Dean looked completely taken aback by that. I covered my small laugh with a cough, earning myself a scowl from Dean. "Wow, good.. Classic rock fan." He laughed nervously and smiled again, feigning innocence. "Anyway, this is my, uh, wife.. Sara." I glared up at him as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders, digging his fingers into my shoulder tightly until I kicked him in the foot.

Scotty narrowed his eyes suspiciously, not looking at all impressed with us. "What can I do for you two?"

Dean cleared his throat and pulled a couple of papers from his jacket, both missing persons posters, and handed them to him. "We were wondering if, uh, you'd seen these people by chance?"

He looked at them briefly, shaking his head immediately. "No," He answered flatly. "Who are they?"

"Friends of ours." Dean muttered, taking the posters back from him and returning them to his jacket. "They went missing about a year ago, passed through somewhere around here, and we've already asked around Scottsbery and Salem-"

"Sorry." Scotty cut him off flatly. "We don't get many strangers around here."

Dean nodded slowly, clearly giving up on him, and smiling a little to himself. "Scotty, you've got a smile that lights up a room, anybody ever tell you that?" Scotty just looked at him strangely, me hiding a smirk while Dean stood there and chuckled to himself. "Never mind, see you around." He nudged me in the arm, the two of us turning and heading back towards the Impala.

I glanced back at him, seeing him watching after us, the suspicious frown holding on his face. "Something seem off about him to you?" I muttered, looking back to Dean.

Dean scoffed, looking back at him and nodding slowly. "Uh, try everything." He paused at the door to the Impala, looking off behind me somewhere. I turned around for a second before looking back to him and raising an eyebrow. "You wanna check the store over there?" He asked, nodding over in the direction of it. "You know, I get the feeling that Mr Sunshine back there could've been lying." I laughed to myself, nodding as we crossed over the road and headed towards the store Dean had been talking about. He walked inside first, acting casual as he absently glanced over the shelves on his way to the counter. I watched him walk ahead and pulled my phone from my back pocket, occasionally glancing up at Dean to make sure that he wasn't paying attention. I sighed, seeing Sam hadn't bothered to call or leave a message, I wasn't actually sure on whether or not I'd been expecting him to, or whether I really wanted him to. But the fact that he'd just left in the middle of the night on a road in the middle of nowhere, I thought maybe he'd have dropped one of us a text, just to let us know that he was alive. I opened up a blank message, staring at the keypad of my phone, no clue what to say, so instead I closed it and went to my contacts, scrolling down to Sam's name. I was pretty sure that he hadn't called Dean either, and Dean still seemed too annoyed about the situation to have called Sam. My thumb hovered over his name for a second, thinking maybe it would be better if I had chosen to text him, make sure that he was okay without having to talk. But then I thought against the whole thing, if he wanted us, I was sure he'd call himself. I sighed and shoved my phone back into my jeans, heading towards Dean. "Right, honey?" He spoke up a little louder, turning to me.

"Huh?" I snapped out of my thoughts and glanced up at him, there was a light smirk on his face, eyebrows raised in my direction. "Oh, sure, right." I muttered, giving a small smile, no idea what any of them had been talking about.

Dean rolled his eyes and turned back to the woman he'd been talking to. "You sure they didn't stop for gas or something?" He pressed, looking from her to the guy standing beside her, I assumed her husband. The man showed the picture to her, to which she simply shook her head.

"Nope." He said, giving Dean an apologetic smile. "Don't remember them, you said they were friends of yours?"

"That's right," Dean nodded. "Came to our wedding, didn't they, sweetheart?" He looked down at me, clearly doing his best to contain his laughter, seeming all too amused by the situation. I just shook my head at him, a small smirk on my face as I elbowed him in the ribs.

"Did the guy have a tattoo?" We turned at the sound of a new voice, a young girl walking down the stairs behind us carrying some boxes.

Dean glanced back down at the missing posters and nodded. "Yeah, he did." He answered, raising his eyebrows questioningly.

The girl placed the boxes down on the counter and looked down at the picture, turning back to the couple at the counter. "You remember?" She said to them. "They were just married."

The man frowned, seeming to suddenly remember something. "You're right." He said slowly, looking intently at the picture. "They did stop for gas, weren't here for more than ten minutes."

Dean raised his eyebrows at me, obviously sensing something was suspicious about that. "You remember anything else?" I pressed, looking between the three of them.

"I told them how to get back to the interstate." The man answered. "They left town."

Dean nodded. "Could you point us in that same direction?"

"Sure." He smiled.

Dean took the turn out of town and onto the highway, increasing the speed of the car as we followed the directions that we'd been given back at the store. "Do you have any idea what we're looking for here?" I asked him, looking up at him and cocking an eyebrow.

"Yeah, course I do." He said, glancing over at me like I was crazy for even thinking otherwise. I continued looking at him, a small smirk growing on my face, giving him a knowing look. Dean's mouth twitched, a small smile breaking out. "Not a clue." He added, shaking his head slowly.

"Idiot." I muttered, laughing to myself. Dean didn't say anything, just punched me in the top of the arm, his eyes never leaving the road.

I turned at the sound of something in the backseat, glancing over at Dean for a second before reaching back into his bag, looking through his clothes for the source of the sound. "What the hell?" He muttered, looking between me and the road in confusion. I grabbed the EMF meter from his bag, raising an eyebrow at him. He pulled over the car and glanced out of the window behind me, through the trees, narrowing his eyes. We simultaneously climbed out of the car and walked into the orchard, looking around the trees slowly. "What's going on?" He muttered, more to himself than to me. "I swear to god, if we find a ghost haunting a freaking apple orchard.." He trailed off, shaking his head slowly.

We slowed down as we came to a clearing in the trees, a huge, ugly ass scarecrow, hanging from a post in the middle of the orchard. Dean pulled his face at it, shaking his head slowly. "Dude, you fugly." He commented. I let out a laugh, watching him as he narrowed his eyes and moved to grab one of the sets of ladders that were scattered around the trees, before he climbed up it and put himself face to face with the scarecrow. He pushed back it's sleeve, showing the design of a tattoo on it's arm, exactly the same one that had been on the missing guy's arm. Reaching into his jacket, he pulled out the missing poster to compare them, glancing back up at the scarecrow. "Nice tat." He muttered, climbing back down.

I shook my head, that was beyond weird. "What the hell?" I said quietly, taking a step back from it.

Dean simply shrugged his shoulders. "No idea." He answered. "C'mon, let's get out of here." He took a hold of my arm and pulled me back with him, eyeing the scarecrow warily as we headed back to the car.

We drove straight back to town, Dean slowing the car down before he pulled over in the gas station, glancing around slowly before he climbed out, followed by me. The girl from the store was standing by the pumps, giving us a smile as we approached. "You're back." She commented brightly, looking between us slowly.

Dean nodded. "We never left." He said lightly.

"Still looking for your friends?" She questioned.

Dean nodded. "You mind filling her up there," I noticed him narrow his eyes at the nameplate necklace she was wearing. "Emily?" She nodded and grabbed one of the pumps, beginning to fill up the car.

Dean looked from her to me, nodding his head slowly. I gave him a look and cleared my throat. "So, you grew up here?" I asked her casually.

Emily nodded slowly. "I came here when I was thirteen. I lost my parents. Car accident. My aunt and uncle took me in."

Dean forced up a smile. "They're nice people." He commented.

Emily smiled at that. "Everybody's nice here." She said lightly.

"So, what, it's the perfect little town?" Dean pressed, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, you know, it's the boonies. But I love it. I mean, the towns around us, people are losing their homes, their farms. But here, it's almost like we're blessed."

Dean nodded slowly, looking at me for a second before turning back to her. "Hey, you been out to the orchard?" He asked curiously. "You seen that scarecrow?"

"Yeah," She answered, nodding her head. "Creeps me out."

"Whose is it?" He pressed.

"I don't know." She shrugged. "It's just always been there."

"Huh." He didn't say anything for a couple of minutes, suddenly seeming to notice the other car parked up outside of the garage, narrowing his eyes. "That your aunt and uncle's?" He asked, nodding over at the car.

Emily glanced back over her shoulder, seeing what he was getting at. "Customer." She answered simply. "Had some car troubles."

Dean frowned. "It's not a couple, is it? A guy and a girl?"

Emily nodded at him. "Mm-hmm."

"Right," He gave a small smile, clearly not sure on what else to say.

The three of us stood there in an awkward silence for a couple of minutes, not really sure on what to talk about. "So," Emily began, looking between the two of us slowly. "How long have you been married?" Dean and I both looked up at her, narrowing our eyes, obviously having had the same thought. "It's a small town," She added with a shrug. "People talk."

"Hm," Dean nodded slowly, not looking too impressed with that. I just wondered how boring a town had to be if me and Dean were the talk of it, we'd literally spoken to four people since we'd been there, and Dean had only told one of them that we'd been married. "It's been uh, you know, couple of years.." He muttered, trailing off and looking down at me for help.

"Yeah," I forced up a smile. "But you know, feels like so much longer."

Dean just glared at me, shaking his head to himself, a smirk on his face. Emily smiled brightly before she leaned down and pulled the gas pump from the Impala. "Thanks." Dean said as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a couple of twenties, handing them over to her. "Keep the change." He muttered, turning to get back in the car. She smiled and gave us a wave as Dean drove out of the station and back to the road. "Well, that had to be the most awkward moment of my life." He said, letting out a small laugh as he turned a corner.

"Tell me about it." I agreed. "So, what now?" I pressed, glancing up at him for an answer.

Dean let out a long breath and shook his head slowly. "Lunch?" He suggested brightly.

I rolled my eyes at him and nodded before he pulled up outside of the grouchy guy's café. We walked inside casually, finding it empty aside from the one couple sitting at a table in the middle of the room, Scotty standing beside them. He looked up as we walked in, a look of irritation almost immediately washing over him, not looking at all thrilled to see us there. "Oh, hey, Scotty." Dean grinned at him as he nudged me in the ribs, a small smirk playing on his face as he moved to sit at the table directly behind where the couple were sitting. "Can we get two coffees, black?" He looked between us and glared, Dean flashing him an innocent smile, I assumed just in an attempt to piss him off further, before he walked off to get it. "Oh, and some of that pie, too, while you're at it." He called after him, the smirk remaining on his face. He cleared his throat and glanced at the couple on the table beside us. "How you doing?" They both turned to him and gave a smile. "Just passing through?" Dean pressed curiously.

"Road trip." The girl answered, smiling at us.

"Hm, yeah, us too." They both nodded, Dean pausing with an answer as Scotty walked back into the room, refilling their drinks.

"I'm sure these people want to eat in peace." He commented simply.

"Just a little friendly conversation." Dean smiled, still playing the innocent. Scotty just glared at him as he walked away, clearly becoming more and more agitated with him. "Oh, and that coffee, too, man. Thanks." He smirked to himself. "So, what brings you to town?"

"We just stopped for gas," The girl answered. "And, uh, the guy at the gas station saved our lives." She smiled.

Dean glanced at me and shook his head. "Is that right?" He replied, his voice light.

"Yeah, one of our brake lines was leaking." The guy she was sitting with said, turning to face him. "We had no idea.. He was fixing it for us."

"Hm, nice people." muttered Dean, an underlying tone of suspicion in his voice. They both nodded at him in agreement. "So, how long till you're up and running?"

"Sundown." He replied.

"Really," He paused and thought it over for a moment, frowning at me. "To fix a break line." The guy nodded. "I mean, you know, I know a thing or two about cars, I could probably have you up and running in about an hour, I wouldn't charge you anything." He offered.

The girl offered an awkward smile, shaking her head slowly. "You know, thanks a lot, but I think we'd rather have a mechanic do it."

"Sure. I know." He paused and sighed, glancing up at me for a suggestion. I shook my head at him, knowing what he was going to try next, but he did it anyway. "You know, it's just that these roads. They're not real safe at night."

The two of them looked between each other, uncomfortable frowns on their faces. "I'm sorry?"

"I know it sounds strange, but, uh" Dean cleared his throat and shrugged a little. "You might be in danger."

The guy at the table looked from him to me, an annoyed and defensive look on his face. "Look, we're trying to eat. Okay?"

"Yeah," He muttered, a disappointed frown on his face as he sat back in his seat. "You know, my brother could give you this puppy dog look, and you'd just buy right into it." The two of them exchanged a look, seeming to be worried by Dean's behaviour.

"Nice try." I muttered, sitting up straighter with a sigh. Dean just shook his head, looking out of options.

We both looked over towards the door as the bell rang above it, the Sheriff walking inside, glancing at us before his attention moved behind us as I heard Scotty walking in. "Thanks for coming, Sheriff." He said, shooting us a look as he passed. He went toward him, whispering something in his ear, both of them looking over at us. The sheriff walked towards us and paused by the side of the table. "I'd like a word, please."

Dean shook his head at him. "Come on, I'm having a bad day already." He complained.

He leaned down, face to face with Dean. "You don't want to make it worse." He warned, looking from him to me briefly, a hard glare on his face.

Dean sighed heavily, part frustration and part exhaustion, before he nodded slowly and pushed himself up in defeat, turning to the door of the cafe. I followed him outside where we climbed into the Impala in silence, the Sheriff getting into the squad car parked behind it. "I already hate this town." Dean muttered as he started the engine, setting off down the road.

The sheriff followed us to the edge of town, apparently to make sure that we would actually leave, before he slowed down and turned his car around, leaving us and heading back to town.

That night, 11:55PM

"Hey, I told you, you could've stayed at the motel room." Dean said to me as we walked through the thick trees. The sky was pitch black, the air cold, the ground damp - it all around sucked. I was exhausted and we were in the middle of an orchard, looking for something that we didn't have the faintest idea how to kill. Like, how was that smart? And we still didn't even know what it was. "I could've handled this one." He added brightly.

"Yeah, right," I shook my head at him and carried on. "Like I'm gonna let you wander around here on your own to be skinned by a scarecrow."

Dean scoffed, a smirk spreading over his face. "Why, Max, I'm a little offended." He said, holding a hand to his heart. "Do you doubt your husband could outrun something that hangs off a pole all day?"

I paused for a second, letting out a laugh. "I don't know, Dean." I looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. "I mean, you remember that stripper in Tennessee? She caught you pretty fast, even in those shoes."

Dean just looked at me, shaking his head. "I thought we weren't talking about that little.. incident." He muttered, pushing me in the shoulder with a grin.

"I'm just saying, Dean, the thought of the look on your face when she slapped you - or when you tried to hide from her behind me, was a little embarrassing." I said, failing to hold back my laughter.

Dean, too, laughed, shaking his head as he did. Before he had a chance to answer the sound of a panicked scream came from behind us. We both turned, looking between each other before running in the direction of it. "Who's there?!" A guy yelled out through the darkness.

We soon found and ran towards the couple, the same couple that had been in the cafe with us earlier, coming to a stop in front of them. "Get back to your car." Dean instructed, his voice hard. We all turned at a sound behind us, seeing the, in Dean's words fugly, scarecrow thing moving towards us. "Go, go!" Dean pushed, the two of us backing away quickly, cocking the guns, shooting at it. The bullets didn't seem to do anything useful, the scarecrow just keeping at it, never even slowing down. "Go!" He yelled, finally giving up and accepting the fact that we couldn't kill it.

We turned and ran, not stopping until we came to a clearing near the road, we looked back, seeing that it had now disappeared. "What - what the hell was that?!" The guy panted, looking around through the trees quickly.

"Don't ask." Dean and I answered at the same time.

The Next Day

Dean and I followed a professor down some stairs towards his office, now pretty sure that it was a pagan god that we were dealing with here and not a spirit. He'd looked a little taken aback when we'd asked to talk to him about pagan lore, maybe even a little suspicious of us, but agreed anyway. "It's not every day that I get a research question on Pagan ideology." He commented as he unlocked the door to his office, glancing back at the two of us curiously.

"Well," Dean shrugged innocently, like he thought nothing of it. "Call it a hobby." He muttered.

He frowned slightly and headed inside the small room. "But you said you were interested in local lore?" Dean just nodded, not bothering with an answer. "I'm afraid Indiana isn't really known for its Pagan worship." He said flatly, looking between us again, something seeming to be a little off about him.

"Well, what if it was imported?" Dean went on, like, real smooth. "You know, like the Pilgrims brought their religion over. Wasn't a lot of this area settled by immigrants?" The professor narrowed his eyes at him, but nodded slowly. "Like that town near here, Burkitsville. Where are their ancestors from?" He pressed curiously.

"Uh, northern Europe, I believe, Scandinavia." He moved towards a bookshelf and took down a couple of large books. "There are hundreds of Norse gods and goddesses."

"Hm," Dean nodded, no longer looking at all interested. "Well, we're actually looking for one in particular. Might live in an orchard."

"Woods god, hm? Well, let's see." He opened the larger of the two books and flipped through a few pages.

"Wait," On one of the pages, Dean and I looked between each other, clearly having the same idea. "What's that one?" I asked him, nodding down at the page.

"Oh, that's not a woods god, per se." The professor said simply, looking like he wanted to move on from the subject.

"The V-Vanir?" Dean read, glancing up at the professor who nodded. "The Vanir were Norse gods of protection and prosperity, keeping the local settlements safe from harm. Some villages built effigies of the Vanir in their fields. Other villages practiced human sacrifice. One male, and one female." He looked up at me and nodded before glancing back to the professor, pointing down at the picture. "Kinda looks like a scarecrow, huh?" He added lightly, turning back to the book. "his particular Vanir that's energy sprung from the sacred tree?"

"Well, Pagans believed all sorts of things were infused with magic." He explained, now looking less than impressed with us.

"Hm," Dean nodded. "So what would happen if the sacred tree was torched? You think it'd kill the god?"

The professor laughed awkwardly. "Son, these are just legends we're discussing."

"Oh, of course." Dean smiled, nodding. "Yeah, you're right. Listen, thank you very much."

He shook both our hands, frowning a little. "Glad I could help." He said as we turned to the door.

I jumped back as the sheriff appeared behind the door, slamming Dean in the face with the end of his rifle. Dean dropped to the ground unconscious, both the professor and the sheriff walking closer to me. I sighed heavily, there was no way I was getting out of this with Dean, there was only one way I could get out of this. I punched the sheriff hard in the face before doing the same with the professor, while they were both momentarily distracted, I made a run for the window, climbing out of it and running out onto the street. I stopped and looked back, Dean had the keys to the Impala, and my phone was in the car. I sighed and turned, running back to the motel room before either of them could come out after me.

I ran back into the motel room, closing the door and locking it behind myself with a deep sigh, turning and leaning my back against it. I looked around slowly, no clue what to do. I was starting to get the impression that we couldn't trust anybody in this town, all of it starting to make sense. They all seemed to be in on this thing. My eyes fell to the phone on the nightstand between the two beds, the only idea that I could manage to think up now was to call Sam for help. I crossed the room and took a seat on the edge of the bed, picking up the phone and dialing Sam's number. It rang a couple of times before he answered it. "Hello?" I could hear the confusion in his voice at getting a call from an unknown number.

"Hey, Sam." I answered quietly, not sure on how he was going to react to me telling him that Dean had been kidnapped by a bunch of people intent on sacrificing him to a scarecrow, or the fact that I'd left him there to be kidnapped. "It's me."

"Max?" He breathed out a sigh. "What the hell's going on there? I've been trying to call you and Dean all day." There was the sound of clear relief in his voice, giving away that he'd obviously been worrying about us. "Are you okay, I mean-"

"Sammy, they got Dean." I cut over him. "We, uh, we went to see this professor about this scarecrow thing, and then the sheriff showed up and knocked him out, I'm telling you, they're all in on this thing. So, I didn't have a choice, Sam, I just ran. There was no way we were both getting out of there, but now I don't know what to do, I just.." I trailed off and took a breath, not knowing what else to say.

"Alright," Sam said calmly. "I'm on my way to you, just, don't go out into the woods before I get there, okay?" He pressed. "I won't be long, I promise."

"Sure." I answered as I hung up the phone, running a hand over my face. I realised, I didn't have a clue where he was, whether he was with Dad or not, if he had called Dean or not, nothing. I got to my feet, pacing around the small room, my hands on my hips. I glanced out of the window, it was already starting to get dark, I didn't have time to wait around for Sam to get to me. I walked out of the motel room and out over the parking lot, looking around slowly. The streets seemed pretty quiet, not many people around. I pulled up the hood on the hooded grey jacket I was wearing under my leather one, keeping my head down as I walked into the town, looking nowhere but the ground in front of me. I paused as I came to the store where we had been earlier asking Emily's aunt and uncle about the victims, seeing a woman who looked around thirty working behind the counter. I sighed and pushed open the door, heading over to the counter, praying I wasn't about to be busted.

"Hi," The woman smiled, she didn't look the type to sacrifice anyone to a scarecrow god. But then, how were you supposed to tell? "How can I help you?" She added brightly.

"Hey, uh," I paused for a second, not sure what I wanted to say, looking around the store slowly. "Is uh, is Emily around?"

The woman shook her head. "No, you missed her by about ten minutes, she left with her aunt and uncle."

"Right," I sighed heavily, getting a horrible thought about where they were taking her. It made sense now, why they'd all been so interested that we had been a married couple, which Dean should probably have known would end up getting us killed. They'd planned to use the couple who Dean and I had met in the café, but we'd helped them to get away. And then they'd planned to use me and Dean. But I'd gotten away. And now they were going to use her. I glanced back at the woman and nodded, giving her a small smile. "Thanks anyway." I muttered as I turned and walked out of the store. I glanced up and down the street, deciding the only thing I could do now was go to find Dean.

One hour later

It was completely dark outside by the time I'd walked to the orchard, the wind now bleak and cold. I headed off the road and through the trees, looking around slowly for any sign of Dean. I couldn't remember which way we had walked, or where abouts I was, it all just looked the same in every direction. I carried on, walking deeper into the trees, coming to a stop after a few minutes and letting out a deep breath. I heard the sound of a twig snapping to the side of me, turning and narrowing my eyes through the darkness, seeing nothing. "Don't move." A voice snapped from behind me. I closed my eyes at the sound of guns being cocked and turned around slowly, holding up my hands as I did. The sheriff, Emily's aunt and her uncle all stood there, guns pointed right at me.

"Where is he?" I asked flatly, looking between the three of them for an answer.

"It's too late." The woman said coldly. "You are not going to mess this up for us now."

Before I had a chance to answer her, or even think up an answer, she pulled the trigger on the rifle.I felt the bullet pierce through my skin, hitting me just below my ribs. I stumbled back slightly, feeling the burning hot pain right through my stomach, the dampness of my blood seeping through my t-shirt. The second my knees hit the ground, I heard the panicked shout of Dean calling my name from somewhere in the distance. I hit the ground, lying there, feeling myself getting tired. I heard the sound of footsteps walking away from me after a few seconds, opening my eyes and looking around myself slowly, seeing no one. I rolled over onto my back and looked up at the black sky before I pushed myself into a sitting position, groaning at the burning pain in my stomach, my vision blurred a little. I blinked hard and stumbled to my feet, taking a breath as I staggered forwards slightly, feeling nothing but sick. I was loosing blood and I was getting more and more dizzy, my surroundings beginning to blur into one. I stumbled slightly, about to hit the ground again when I felt strong arms catch me, pulling me back to my feet and turning me around, their hands gripping my shoulders. "Sammy?" There was a concerned frown on his face as he looked down at the bloody hand I held over my stomach, the bloody now soaked right through my t-shirt and through my fingers.

"Hey, hey, you alright?" He said quietly, pulling my hand back gently to get a better look at my stomach, he lifted my shirt and sighed lightly, putting it back and turning back to face me. "Jeez, Max, we've gotta get you out of here." He made a move to pull me along to the road with him, but I grabbed the front of his shirt to stop him.

I shook my head, taking a step back from him. "Sam, we need to find Dean first, I'm alright." Sam shook his head, looking like he was about to argue with me. "Sam, they're going to kill him, we need to find him."

Sam sighed and nodded. "Alright, come on." We began walking through the trees, heading towards the direction that Dean's voice had sounded from earlier. After a few minutes, we came to the clearing where Dean and I had been earlier that day, finding Dean and Emily tied to trees, their backs to us. "Dean?" Sam pressed, running around to him.

Dean sighed, looking overjoyed to see him. "Oh, oh, I take back everything I said, I'm so happy to see you." He said brightly, relief clear in his voice. "Where's Max?"

"I'm here." I answered, heading around to begin untying the ropes around Emily's wrists.

"How'd you get here?" Dean asked as Sam began untying him.

"I, uh," He paused. "I stole a car." He muttered.

"Haha," Dean laughed. "That's my boy!"

I smiled and walked around to the front of the tree as Emily's ropes came loose, pulling her up with the hand that wasn't covered in blood. "Oh my god." She said quietly, her eyes fixed on my blood soaked t-shirt, shock clear in her voice. "Are you okay?"

Dean's head snapped up at that, immediately pulling his hands free and getting to his feet. "Dean, I'm fine." I said before he'd had a chance to say anything.

He lifted my shirt and looked over my stomach, clenching his jaw. "Who the hell shot you?" He demanded, his voice low.

"Uh, guys.." We all turned to see Emily looking off somewhere in the distance. I followed her gaze to the empty post where the scarecrow had been hung earlier, the ropes that held it swinging in the breeze.

"Alright, so, this sacred tree you were talking about," Sam began, looking over to Dean. "Let's find it and burn it."

Dean shook his head. "Nah, in the morning." He muttered. "Let's just shag ass before Leather Face catches up." Sam and I nodded, Dean grabbing me around the arm before the four of us began running through the trees quickly, looking around for a way out. We stopped as we came face to face with Emily's aunt and uncle and a couple of other people from the town, all pointing rifles at us. Dean shook his head, taking a step forwards, clearly unphased by them. "Alright," He began, looking between them slowly. "Which one of you inbred psychopaths shot my sister?" He said, a threatening tone in his voice.

Emily's uncle frowned at him. "Your what?" He asked. "I thought you said she was your wife?"

"Your what?" Sam called from behind us, sounding completely lost, looking down at me for an answer.

"Please," Emily said quietly. "Let us go."

Her uncle offered her some kind of sympathetic smile, that only made me want to punch him more. "It'll be over quickly," He said, like that would be some kind of comfort to her. "I promise."

She shook her head and took a step back, tears in her eyes. "Please."

"Emily, you have to let him take you, you have to-" Before he could get another word out, the scarecrow appeared behind him and stuck it's sickle through his stomach, the blood pouring out. Both his wife and Emily screamed at the sight, before the scarecrow grabbed her aunt and dragged them both away into the darkness. We looked around but there was nothing, no sign of anyone else around us, everyone that had been with them already having ran away in fright. The four of us stood there for a few minutes, not saying anything to each other.

Sam eventually cleared his throat and took a couple of steps forwards. "C'mon, let's get out of here." He said quietly. We followed him back to the road where he had parked the car he had stolen, all getting inside in silence.

30 Minutes Later

Dean headed inside the motel room first, followed by me and then Sam. He pulled off his jacket and tossed it down onto one of the beds before turning to me, looking me up and down slowly. "Alright," He began, his voice soft. "C'mon, sit down." He said, pulling the first aid kit from his bag and setting it down on the table quietly. There was a concerned frown on his face, mixed with a look of discomfort as he clearly hated having to do anything like this to either me or Sam. He always over thought the situations when we got hurt, thinking them to be much worse than they already were. Dean saw blood coming from one of us and he freaked, he'd always been the same.

"Dean, I'm fine." I tried to cool the amount of unnecessary worry in his voice, offering him a small smile, but Dean was hard to convince in situations like this. I pulled off my own jackets and dropped them down onto the same bed as Dean's before moving to lean against the edge of the table and pulling my shirt halfway up my torso, tying it in a knot at the side. "Just, take it out." I muttered, looking down at him expectantly. I grimaced slightly at the sight of the blood covering both my stomach at the waistband of my jeans on one side.

Dean let out a deep breath and took a seat in the chair in front of me. "Alright," He said quietly, more to himself than anyone else, handing me a bottle of whiskey with a smirk. "You ready?" He pressed.

"Mm-hmm." I nodded slowly, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. "Just, get on with it." I said flatly.

"Yes, ma'am." He muttered sarcastically, taking a couple of seconds before he started. I gripped to the edges of the table, my knuckles eventually turning white with the force, and tried to concentrate on anything other than the piercing pain in my stomach. "Gotcha." Dean suddenly announced, holding up the bullet to show me with a grin, like I really wanted to see it. "Be done in a minute, Maxie, promise." He added, his voice turning soft again. I nodded slowly, trying not to pay attention while he patched it up, eventually having it cleaned up with a plaster holding over it. "There you go," He said lightly, looking up at me as he got to his feet. "Good as new."

I looked down at it and nodded, giving him a smile. "Thanks, Dean." I said lightly.

"Don't worry about it, kid." He nodded. "You still lost a lot of blood there, means you need to eat something." He said, picking up his jacket as he made his way to the door again. "I'll be back in a few." He smiled, pulling open the door and leaving the room.

I let out a small groan as I sat down at the table, resting my head against it for a few seconds. Sam sighed and dropped into the chair opposite mine, I could feel his eyes were fixed on me, watching me closely. I sat up straighter and looked at him, seeing the stern look on his face. "I told you to wait for me, Max." He said flatly. "You realise you could've gotten yourself killed out there tonight, right?" He pressed, he didn't sound impressed. In fact, he sounded annoyed.

I gave a small shrug, smiling at him innocently. "I didn't." I replied simply. "You came back."

Sam nodded. "You needed my help." He answered simply. "Wasn't exactly gonna leave you, was I?" He looked down for a second before returning his gaze to me. "Besides, I promised you."

"Yeah, thanks, Sam." I said quietly, giving him a smile. It wasn't like I'd actually doubted that he'd come back eventually. Because the first time he'd done it had been to escape the life, now he seemed to be pretty okay with it, at least for now. I was sure that a part of that was purely a mission to get his revenge on the thing that killed Jess and Mom, but some of that also seemed to be that he liked it. After all this time, he was finally starting to seem to be accepting the job. Something I hadn't expected at the start.

We both looked over towards the door as it swung open, Dean walking inside with a smile on his face. "Honey, I'm hone." He grinned, kicking the door closed behind himself and placing the large bag of food down on the table.

I rolled my eyes at him, letting out a laugh. "Dude, I think you're enjoying being married to me way too much." I smirked. Sam just stared at us for a minute, shaking his head to himself with a short laugh.

"Yeah, yeah," Dean muttered, looking between us with a smirk.

The Next Morning, 10:46AM, Bus Station

We'd picked Emily up the next day and taken her back to the orchard with us, eventually finding the right tree and burning it, before we drove her to the bus station. We stood and watched as she climbed onto a bus, pausing at the front window to look back at us and smile, giving a wave. Dean and I waved back, smiling as she turned and took a seat. "Think she's gonna be alright?" Sam asked as the bus pulled out of the station.

Dean nodded slowly. "I hope so." He answered lightly.

"And the townspeople," He pressed. "They'll just get away with it?"

Dean shrugged. "Well, what'll happen to the town will have to be punishment enough." He answered simply, turning and heading back to the Impala. "So, can I drop you off somewhere?" He said, looking over at Sam.

Sam seemed to think it over for a few seconds, shaking his head slowly. "No, I think you're stuck with me." He smiled.

Dean stopped by the car, tilting his head to the side. "What made you change your mind?" He asked curiously.

"I didn't." He answered. "I still wanna find Dad. And you're still a pain in the ass." Dean and I both nodded at that, Dean noticing and punching me lightly in the arm with a smirk. "But, Jess and Mom - they're both gone. Dad is God knows where. You and me. We're all that's left. So, if we're gonna see this through, we're gonna do it together."

Dean didn't say anything to him for a couple of seconds, just looked at him. "Hold me, Sam." He said quietly. "That was beautiful." He placed a hand on Sam's shoulder, who hit it away with a laugh.

"You two should be kissing my ass," He said flatly, looking between us. "You were both dead meat back there before I showed up."

Dean laughed, shaking his head. "Yeah, right." He muttered. "I had a plan, I'd have gotten out." He smirked. "Either that or Maxie would've thought something up."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Right."

The three of us laughed, climbing into the Impala before Dean set off down the road, things seeming like they were finally going right for a change. Sam and Dean were getting along again, we knew Dad was okay, or at least alive, and we'd survived another hunt without dying - things were good.

Hello again XD So I want to thank you again for all of the amazing support that I have with this story, I cannot explain to you how much it means to know that you guys actually like it and that you keep reading and reviewing and PMing and favouring and following and everything! I appreciate it all so much!
Hope you enjoyed this chapter, Scarecrow is one of my favourites in season one, I love it! So as always, feel free to PM me with anything, if you want to know more about this story or anything, or if you want to give a suggestion for this story or a request for a oneshot, I completely welcome them! I've had a couple which I'm writing now so you can watch out for them too ;-) But thank you again, thanks for reading! :-)))