Sorry I was a little too busy to type, enjoy chapter 7 - TA

A/N: This is the chapter you asked for. Darn hard to write, but hope you like it.

(Updated: Sorry PK, hated it. So I replaced it with this one.)

The OneThat Got Away

By Nomi

CHAPTER SEVEN

On Little Brothers and Moms

In a little log cabin next to a river, four people were having a heated argument as a woman tried unsuccessfully to mediate the quarrel. Then she stilled, her eyes looking left and right, as she strained to hear beyond the macho male voices. A quick and sharp yell from her cut through the meaningless arguments, and four pairs of eyes turned on her. Listen, she told them. Listen, she whispered fearfully, and they did. They all did and heard.

THE SUDDEN SOUND OF SILENCE…

Dean strained his ears, hoping to catch a cricket's call or an owl's hoot, but there was nothing. His heart sped up a little, and breathing grew heavier. It's coming, he knew. And he lost the only weapon they had that was capable of killing the demon. He was afraid. But he was used to it. This particular emotion was a familiar friend to him; after all, he grew up with it and lived with it ever since he was four.

A tiny movement drew his attention. It was Frank; the teen was clenching his fists to tightly, it shook. He focused on the face and saw a grim and determined expression. He looked into the eyes and saw a lost and terrified teen caught in a situation that he was totally unprepared for. It occurred to him then that whatever quarrel he had with that teen just minutes ago was now totally and utterly irrelevant. He could not even remember what it was all about! There was other more pressing and relevant issues to handle. That teen… Frank, he amended, had guts, was cool under fire, and was a darn good shot.

He recalled the hair-raising car chase from Elm Street:

They barely managed to make it to his car, piled in, and he drove off. Even in the midst of running for their lives, no one else drive his baby! Frank and Sam was in the back seat, with Laura between them. He glanced at the rear view mirror and saw the demon chasing after the car. He also saw the shocked expressions on all the Hardys faces when they realized the demon was gaining on them on foot.

His younger brother was still actively trying to shoot the possessed human to slow it down. Sam kept missing because he kept swerving the car left and right to prevent the demon from latching onto his car. That was when Frank reached out, plucked the handgun from a rather dazed Joe's hand, took a careful aim, and fired. Frank's shot was true – it hit the creature in the chest. Unfortunately, an ordinary bullet had little effect on the possessed. And the creature continued his chase as if nothing happened leaving Frank staring, eyes and mouth opened wide in disbelief. Dean yelled for Sam to pass his shotgun over to the elder Hardy, but it was too late. The creature took a flying leap and landed on the roof of his beloved Impala with a loud 'THUD' denting the roof.

He swerved left and right again, trying unsuccessfully to fling the creature from the car roof. The maneuver failed. Then the creature broke the rear window and reached in for Laura. That was when Sam again threw some liquid over the creature and it screamed and sizzled. Another sharp turn threw the creature off the car just off Cromwell Street…

"What the hell was that?!" Frank turned to ask them after he ascertained that they were no longer being chased. Joe and Laura, as Dean could see, were still in shock.

"A demon; and it'll be after us again soon," Sam replied, his eyes still glued to the road behind them.

"Now kiddo, we don't have much time. We need to find a place where we can hold off that demon till dawn…" he asked the Hardys. It was a logical move. They knew this place; he and Sam did not. "… somewhere fairly isolated so we have the space to fight without worrying about other innocent casualties. Preferably a small sturdy wooden cabin in which we could do some fortifications…"

"How about the Hoopers' holiday cabin in Southhaven forest? It should be quite isolated there at this time of the year," Frank suggested automatically, clearly still a little dazed from the entire incident. "And the Hoopers always leave a spare key in the flower pot next to the window."

And that was how they all ended up here in this particular log cabin. Dean knew some adults would have peed in their pants facing what the Hardys faced in the last few hours. Frank managed to keep his cool, took time to aim with a steady hand, and actually hit that demon. Dean felt a grudging respect for that teen.

THE SILENCE GREW EVEN LOUDER IF THAT WAS POSSIBLE… ONE COULD ALMOST HEAR THE SECONDS CRAWLING PAINFULLY BY…

Dean turned his attention to the younger Hardy. It was easy to see that Joe drew part of his strength from his big brother. Dean remembered observing how the younger always calmed down after catching his brother's eyes or after receiving a reassuring smile from Frank. Yes, the Hardy brothers were close. It was clear to Dean that Joe looked up to Frank. It made him wonder, for the briefest moment, if he commanded equal respect from Sam? Then he pushed that thought away. It was irrelevant. He loved his kid brother, and that was what mattered.

And talking about kid brothers… He had ascertained the younger Hardy was definitely one of the 'special children'. How Joe fit into the whole hellish picture, Dean had no idea yet at the moment. Now that he recalled that conversation, he could see that Joe was still looking a little sick from that revealing chat:

"… yeah, that was how Mom died, pinned to the ceiling and burnt to death on All Souls Day twenty-two years ago…" Dean told the Hardys, and watched them paled at the implications as the tale unfolds.

"The demon, Azazel, had a plan to take over the human realm. He prepared a crop of 'special children' with psychic abilities, pitted them one against the other, until only one was left standing. And the demon had the 'leader' he needed to lead his army. He almost succeeded in opening Hell's Gates. A few of us hunters fought at the heart of the giant Devil's Trap built by Samuel Colt over a hundred years ago in Wyoming. We killed that 'leader', Azazel, and managed to close the gate, but not before a couple hundred of the demons escaped," Sam continued with the narration.

"What do you mean by psychic abilities," Joe asked, the slightest quaver to his voice.

"Visions, telekinesis, astral projection…to name a few," Sam answered.

Dean saw that Joe looked a little sick; he supposed it wasn't everyday that one learnt that he was part of a demon's plan to take over the human realm.

"One other thing about all those 'special children'; all their mothers were killed on All Souls Day in the year of their birth," Dean added before turning towards Laura. "Yet for some reason, you lived. Did something happen the year Joe was born?"

"Yes…on All Souls Day that year, Fenton was on late shift. He came home to find the nursery in shambles, Frank and Joe asleep in their respective cots, and I was on the floor unconscious. I had no memory of what happened. Medical tests showed I was not sexually assaulted. What happened that night was a mystery…" Laura recalled.

Dean hid his disappointment. They lost the Colt. Whatever helped Laura survive that night could possibly help them out of this fix tonight. Except that they had no idea what it was.

"You mentioned those psychics were pitted one against the other…then why wasn't Joe taken then?" Frank asked.

"Good question. We were all twenty-three. Joe's only seventeen. Do you think there might be a second crop of children out there, Dean? Perhaps even multiple crops?" Sam asked. "And there is still the question of the demon that's doing all the killings now…"

"Wait a minute, you said all psychics were dead, including the one that became the leader," Frank cut in and gestured at Sam. "Then why is he still alive?"

"Yes, he died and I got him back," Dean said cryptically. "There are some things you don't want to know, kiddo. Enjoy your teenage years while you can."

That was the end of the civil discussion. Frank started to bagger him about what happened and about Sam, and he refused to answer. He knew how easy it would be to succumb to the temptation of making deals with demons; he now understood why his own father never taught him that. There was some knowledge that people were never meant to have… Frank would never find that bit out from him, Dean swore.

THE SILENCE WAS NOW ABSOLUTE… EVEN THE AIR STILLED AS IF THE NATURAL SEA BREEZE HAD ALSO DECIDED IT SHOULD TAKE COVER…

His heart was beating even faster now, and he felt like he was being suffocated. Sweat forming on his brow, and a couple of them started to streak down the side of his face.

Dean turned his attention to his kid brother next. The kid brother he would willingly go to hell for. He noted then that Sam was looking at Laura with a strange expression on his face. No, not really a strange expression, Dean realized, but one of childish yearning for something that could never be his. Laura had given Sam a taste of what it was like to have a mother, and Sam liked it. He recalled that little scene – something he could tease Sam about later.

"Ouch!" Dean heard Sam yelped as he hammered just a little too hard on the nail and hurt his fingers.

And Laura was there next to Sam, her feminine hands reaching out for that injured finger.

"It's bleeding. Over to the nursing station…NOW," Laura said in a stern voice, and glared at Sam until he docilely moved towards the chair she indicated. He could hear the two Hardy brothers snickering in the background. He supposed there was something about the image of a five foot four woman bull-dozing a six foot four giant to do her bidding.

Kids, both of them, Dean groused. But a part of him envied them. They had what he lost.

So Sam sat there on that chair letting Laura fussed over that bleeding finger for a moment before she finally put that Band-aid on. Then she handed his kid brother a mug of hot chocolate, and watched him finished every last drop. Dean could tell that Sam enjoyed that experience tremendously from the way Sam's eyes kept going back to Laura whenever she wasn't watching.

Like the way Sam was surreptitiously watching Laura even now, his eyes dark with resolve. And Dean knew then that Mrs. Hardy had won over Sam's heart without even trying.

Then, he noted that Sam's fingers had started to twitch. The silence had started to weigh down on Sam. Another quick glance at the Hardys told him the unnatural quietness had started to affect them as well.

And Dean realized what was happening. They had unintentionally let the sudden silence and their own fear take over. That had to stop right now! They had to start doing something, to distract themselves, before their fears get the better of them.

And how could he forget about his duffel bag? Dean berated himself.

Dean moved and reached for his bag, and the spell of the suffocating silence was broken. He reached in, removed a couple of shotguns andtossed them at the Hardy brothers. That was followed by a sack of bullets.

"Paintballs?" Joe asked, shocked.

"Not paint, holy water – call them holy bolts," he returned with a smirk at Frank's and Joe's flabbergasted expressions…

Dean reached down and started to load his own shotguns when he saw that little plaster and bandage on his arm and hand and remembered:

He had just finished sealing a window with salt when he turned around to see Laura standing before him.

"Sit," she ordered, her hands pointing straight at the chair just a few steps away.

"I've got some more things to do, lady," he protested and she pulled him by the arm towards the wooden chair. "We have to be prepared before the demon gets here…"

"And it will be my pleasure to unleash you on the demon when it arrives," Laura countered smoothly. "But first, I must make sure you live long enough to face that demon."

Next he knew, he was pushed firmly onto the chair, and Laura was applying antiseptic to the cuts and scratches on his arm. For a moment, he was stunned. Then the old memories returned, so quickly he could not stop them. Images of a little boy seated on another chair crying flashed by. It was him at the age of four, and his mother was putting a Band-aid on his knee. There, all done, his mother crooned. Now, that wasn't so hard, was it? And you're such a brave little boy…and brave little boys deserve a reward…here's a candy bar for you, his mom told him with a smile…and then he was happily sucking away at his candy bar. That was the last candy bar from his mom, and the only one he could remember…

"Now, that wasn't so difficult, was it?" Laura said as she finished bandaging his arm. "And here's some hot chocolate to warm your stomach before you get back to work. Don't worry, your brother and my sons are capable enough to know how to board the windows without you standing over them."

And he drank every last drop, as Laura stood over him, watching him with draconian eyes.

Mothers! He muttered as he gulped down the hot chocolate, and then returned to work. He did not miss the smile of satisfaction on Laura's face. He made sure she heard him grousing, but she merely raised her brows, as if daring him to face her one on one. He chickened out, if he wanted to be honest about it, and slunk back to work. He would never admit it to anyone though, not even Sam.

Still, something warmed his heart. Mothers…

It was the hot chocolate! Dean told himself as he climbed onto the table to start sketching his first Devil's Trap on the ceiling.

Dean looked at the worried and frightened mother before him and the Band-aid on his arm. The demon got his mother. Then he was young and weak. But he was no longer that little terrified four year old boy. The demon would NOT get this mother, Dean told himself. She would live…

He reached for her hand, gave her a firm reassuring grip, and was about to say something when…

BANG!

Something hit the door with such force, the entire log cabin shook under its assault. Five pairs of eyes zeroed in on the door.

BANG!

The doorframe shook. Dean and Frank noted that cracks started appearing on the walls around the door. They exchanged a glance and positioned themselves behind the table with their guns trained on the door.

BANG!

The wooden door started to splinter, but the salt line held. Sam and Joe moved further away from the door and towards the back of the cabin, careful to keep Laura in between them.

BANG!

A long crack started to appear on the ceiling, breaking the Devil's Trap that was sketched onto it. Dean saw what happened and cursed. There goes their first trap! He signaled Frank to move further back away from the door. There they waited for the demon to burst in.

They waited.

And they waited.

Nothing happened, and five pairs of eyes started scanning wildly at all the barricaded windows around them.

What was that demon up to? Each of them wondered unfailingly.

Then…a soft demonic laughter echoed through the cabin.

"Oh Sammy, Joey, I see the two of you are coming along quite well... I am most pleased," the demon called out.

"Too bad mommy still has to die…" the demon snarled.

An instant later, the door was ripped from its frame, the salt line broke, and 'Martin' stood at the threshold, his eyes glowing a bright yellow…

---xxxSUPERNATURALxxx---