Sorry for the delay, the computer has been playing up, hope you enjoy this chapter,

Lorraine answered the door to Mathew and welcomed him with a hug; Mathew would usually baby-sit for Lorraine whenever she had a lot of studying to do.

"Thanks again for doing this," they walked though the lounge room and into the kitchen,

"Anytime, you know that,"

Mathew gave Dale an approving look, Lorraine rolled her eyes, "this is Dale, where both doing the same course" she introduced him, Dale had already showered and shaved his face, looking closer to the 22 years he was, he had also volunteered to stay up all night to keep watch, and despite the redness of his eyes, Lorraine had to admit he was rather cute.

As far as Lorraine knew the ghost didn't show again last night, and the morning came bright and clear, evidence of the storm gone, bar the leaves and branches that scattered outside, Joanne had already hesitantly left for work a few hours ago, but not before making Lorraine promise to call her as soon as anything happened, Joanne had actually already called Lorraine three times since she left to check up on things,

Mary toddled up to Matt and he picked her up, the little girl giggled loudly as he threw her in the air then caught her again, Mathew doted on Mary as if she were his own, and in a way he was the only father figure Mary has known, which tore at Lorraine's heart that Dean was missing out on this precious girl, even more so that she was the reason why.

"I shouldn't be too long; we just have a bit of research to do," Lorraine told him as she tried to put Mary's jacket on her, finally winning the struggle

"take your time," he said to her, "where going to have fun aren't we Mary, just the two of us, at the park," he spoke to Mary in a babyish voice, Lorraine didn't know much about this ghost they were up against, so it seemed Dale didn't either and she hated the thought of letting Mary out of her sight at all, but Lorraine knew that if they wanted to defeat this ghost, she needed to get as much research done as possible with no interruptions but without causing any suspicion from Matt, she couldn't exactly tell him he couldn't take her to the park like he did every time he looked after her,

"Just make sure you keep an eye on her," her voice full of apprehension, even though she knew that he would, "and keep her warm," Mathew looked at her skeptically as Lorraine kissed Mary on the head,

"I'll have her home in time for Dinner, nice and full of lollies and chocolate" Matt joked as he and Mary left.

"Is that Mary's father," Dale asked, when they heard the front door shut

"No, that's my best friend," she laughed as she led him up the stairs and into her study, "Mary's father isn't around," she added hoping he would leave it at that. She wanted to avoid the subject of Mary's father as much as possible,

ڳ

The low rumble of the engine was drowned out by the heavy metal music that seeped from the speakers filling the car with a rhythmic thump, thump, thump, Dean only half listened to the music, every now and then bobbing his head to the beat, or joining in with a chorus, He looked at his brother curled up on the front seat, his eyes closed, even thought the sun had been up for a few hours, he wanted to wake him, it was his idea to head out straight away the least he could do was stay awake during the trip, but he let him sleep, at least this way he could drive without his brothers persistent questionings that he couldn't answer to himself, let alone to Sam, but he did think about it constantly, he thought now about the last question Sam had asked him, trying to get his head around an answer, he bit into the chocolate bar that he had brought at the fuel station when they had filled the car up, he had been doing this job for so long, living by his 'love 'em and leave 'em' policy, and he was fine with it, so why the hell was Lorraine a constant thought in his mind, he looked at the sign on the side of the road that told him they where fast approaching Cedar Falls, he took in a deep breath then let it out loudly, He was sure that Sam would find some way or another to see Joanne, which meant that either he would have to avoid Lorraine or see her again, not wanting to do either, but at the same time wanting to do both, he hit the steering wheel with his open palm, wishing that he could think about something else, they didn't know much about the case they were heading to now, except that some women had gone missing, and that there was a storm, either incident on its own wasn't much of a concern, but with the two put together it could mean anything from ghost to demon, he rubbed his eyes with his fist, and tried the shake the heaviness from them, he had been driving for the last eight hours, and he was starting to feel the effect

"Sam, you awake," he hit his brother with the back of his hand,

"What Dean," Sam answered dryly, his eyes still closed,

"You gotta drive man," Dean told him as he pulled the car over to the side of the road, "my eyes are about to fall out of my head,"

"Alright," Sam said sitting up in the chair, letting out a groan as he stretched his arms above his head

"Sleep well?" Dean asked once, Sam was behind the steering wheel, and they were cruising down the road again,

"Yeah," Sam replied

"Good," Dean smiled, as he shuffled around in the seat until he was comfortable "wake me when we get there," Sam let out a chuckle, as he ejected the tape and tuned in a station on the radio, "what do you think you're doing,"

"House rules, Dean" Sam laughed "house rules,"

ڳ

"You know you're lucky you're not dead," Lorraine chastised Dale as they sat down in front of the computer, she had grabbed an extra chair from the dining room table for Dale to use, as she made herself comfortable in the swivel chair "you had no idea what you were really up against, and no idea how to defeat it"

"I know, but seeing that thing and what it did to my mum, you know there was nothing left of her, the police couldn't find any 'foul play'" he pulled a face as his fingers went in the air "they told my dad she must have just run off with someone, it tore him apart, if it wasn't for my brother, I don't think he could of handled it," he replied lowering his head

"Does your dad know what you saw," Dale shook his head sadly, and then looked up at Lorraine

"I didn't really understand it myself, he was going through a hard enough time as it was, I didn't need to throw this on him too, after it happened he couldn't stand living here anymore, to many painful memories, him and Blake moved over to North Dakota" Lorraine though about Dean and Sam then, they were lucky, in a sense, that they had their dad there with them, this bloke was doing it on his own, She had to give him points that he had managed to keep himself alive this long,

"So I take it he doesn't know what you're doing now," they were waiting for the computer to warm up, Loraine had brought it second hand from the local pawn shop, it took a good 10 minutes to warm up but once it did she had no problems with it,

"He thinks I'm working in California," Dale told her, a droll smile on his face

"What have you been doing for money," Lorraine asked curiosity getting the better of her, she doubt that there was some Hunter's guidebook out there with a section on Credit card scams,

"I do odd jobs every now and then, and soup kitchens are great when there's no work around, but at least I've managed to survive"

"I've heard of some doing credit card scams,"

"I never even thought about that," Dale laughed "I'll have to keep it in mind," his eyes turned dark as he looked around the room that Lorraine used as a study with a sad longing in his eyes, it was right across from Mary's room as it was where she spent most of her time when she first started her course, as well as the desk she had also put a small two seater lounge, next to an overstuffed bookshelf, which contained a variety of book ranging from Psychology to Myth and Legends with a few fiction books for pleasure reading "you know this use to be my room," Dale said tonelessly,

"We can go somewhere else if you like, the library's computers are a lot slower, but not too many people go their either," she told him

"Nah, that's alright," he replied giving the room another quick glance, then getting up he walked over to the bookshelf, pulled out a book on Japanese Folklore "just brings back a few memories, that's all," Lorraine smiled sympathetically, as Dale flicked though the book idly, then replaced it on the shelf

"So, how old is your brother," Lorraine felt a tingling in stomach that told her that she might of worked out what the connection with the case was

"He'll be about 4 now," he gave a slight frown, confirming her suspicion "wow; I never really thought about how long it's been, why do you ask"

"ok, so here's the thing, these things usually work in a patten, Your mum, Pat, Jess, Me we all have young kids," Dale nodded with acknowledgement "I'm betting that maybe all the others did too" She smiled mischievously, dale looked at her with puzzlement, then she turned back to the screen, "now I'm going to show you something really special, that you have to keep secret," Lorraine opened up the Police database, and typed in her magic numbers,

"How do you know all this," Dale asked

"What the computer or the ghost stuff" Lorraine replied, as she waited for the Police database to accept her code,

"The ghost stuff," Dale replied

"I meet these guys just over two years ago," Lorraine told him, "they have been hunting for a long time, there mother was also killed,"

"By a ghost," Dale asked

"No, a demon," Lorraine noticed the look of anxious astonishment on his face

"So what happened," he asked inquisitively

"Uh, they never told me much about it but I know their dad started tracking it, about 23 years ago,"

"Has he found it yet?" Dale looked like a little kid, eager to hear the end of a fairytale he was hearing for the first time.

"Yeah," Lorraine smiled mournfully "well, not him, but the boys did, there dad died just before I meet them,"

"Demon?" he asked, Lorraine nodded slowly "You think I'll ever get rid of this one," he looked a little distressed

"Oh, I think so, I'm sure these guys that are showing up will be able to help" Lorraine said reassuringly,

"Good, cause I don't think I would like to do this for the rest of my life," he said, and Lorraine thought of Dean again and wondered how he felt about doing this job for the rest of his life.

"ok, so dating back 15 years over 200 women filed missing, 125 in Cedar falls, and 93 including Jessica and Patricia in the right time frame, only 56 with children with the cases closing when police found no evidence of 'foul play,' she told him as she skimmed thought the reports, The phone rang, Lorraine answered it and assured Joanne they were still ok, then hung up the phone, and started to read though the files, eliminating the ones that that didn't fit the profile.

"Ok, and what about the computer stuff," Dale smiled, the darkness gone from his eyes as quickly as it had appeared,

"That!" Lorraine returned the smile, "you can thank Matt for,"

ڳ

"So we gonna stop in for a visit," Sam asked from behind the wheel of the impala, Dean knew he was referring to Lorraine, he rolled his eyes and started out the window

"This isn't a social call, were here on business" Dean answered as they passed the "welcome to Cedar Falls" sign, he had managed to get a couple of hours sleep, and felt as refreshed as he possibly could on two hours sleep "what else did Bobby mention about this case"

"uh, nothing besides, what that young bloke he meet mentioned, it might not even be the same thing, but it beats staying at Bobby's" Dean nodded in agreement

"So what's you take on it," Dean asked, "you think where dealing with some spirit, or runaway's,"

"I don't know, but I think it's worth checking out anyway," Sam replied, as they drove through the town,

"You seemed pretty eager too,"

"Dean, it's taking woman, in case you forgot Lorraine and Joanne are women," Sam told him, "and they live in the area," Sam had pretended to sleep most of the drive here, they hadn't had a chance to continue the conversation that had been interrupted with this case,

"and that's the only reason," Dean challenged his brother cautiously, he still couldn't understand why he wouldn't talk about Joanne's daughter, or, even though he didn't have anything against single mum's, why he was still so interested in her,

"And what that's not reason enough," Sam retorted, Dean didn't reply "Ok, well I thought that first we'd check out the locals, see if we can't get any stories, then see what the cops have to say"

"Sounds good, where do we start," Dean's voice was low and dreary,

"I think our best bet is over there," Sam pointed out the large group of women standing near a play set, only half paying attention to the children on the swings,

"Housewives, really, again," Dean groaned

"Who loves gossiping more than housewives, or we could start with the giggly teenagers," Dean nodded, Sam did have a point, both of them opting for housewives over giggly teenagers Sam pulled the car over, but before they could head over to the group, Sam's mobile rang and he answered it, Dean waited until Sam finished his call, he looked around the small park, taking in the group of woman huddled together, as far as he could tell Lorraine wasn't among them, there were just as many kids on the play equipment, older children pushing younger ones on the swings, a few were building sandcastles in the sand that was just damp enough from last nights storm to form something that resembled a wonky anthill, to Dean's surprise he even spotted a couple of teenagers trying in vain to get kites off the ground and into the air,

"that was Bobby," Sam told him as he snapped the phone shut and shoved it back in his pocket, "he says that young bloke, Dale, is here somewhere, he called Bobby last night, but hang up before bobby could arrange a meeting place, he's been waiting to see if he'd ring back, the kid called on a private number so booby couldn't call him back, so he said be on the lookout for a young kid who looks like a 'moron'" Sam and Dean laughed, they walked over to the group of women, stopping within hearing distance of the conversation,

"I heard she was having an affair," one of the ladies said to the group all of them too absorbed in the gossip to notice that the boys where standing there, exchanging could-be-possible expressions

"Poor, Adam, he must be so devastated," said another

"And I heard Patricia was doing the dirty with a bloke over in Nashua" Sam was listening contently, Dean rolled his eyes, listening only half so, as he looked around the playground for a more interesting and reliable source, he knew that Sam would fill him in on what he missed,

"And those poor children" one of the women added,

"Mary, no, don't put that in your mouth," Dean turned to the noise and saw a man running over to a little girl who had just picked up a snail, and now had it heading in the direction of her mouth, Dean got to Mary just in time to save the snail from its fate,

"Oh thank you, so much, her mother would kill me, she's pretty picky with what this one eats, I myself don't mind French cuisines" Dean shared the joke as Mathew picked up Mary and started to clean her hands with a wipe, He looked at Sam, who was now standing among the woman, taking down notes a small note book, Dean recognized the little girl to be the same one from the photo in Lorraine's hotel room,

"Cute kid," Dean said, and he meant it, the little girl's bright hazel eyes looked at him

"I know, but I can't take any credit," Mathew replied, "I'm just the uncle"

"So you hear about these woman going missing," Dean flashed his badge,

"I know, it's just devastating isn't it," Mathew gave Dean a sweet smile, and Dean started to feel a little uncomfortable as he realized the man he was talking to was gay, and looking at him in a way that would make Marilyn Monroe blush, Mathew noticed his discomfort, and decided to lay the gay act on thick, more than he loved a man in uniform, or with a badge, was finding a man uncomfortable around him "I feel sorry for all those little kids,"

"The kids?" Dean cleared his throat, causing Matt to smile again,

"Well the woman who ran off; they left their kids behind," he told him, Mary had now started to squirm in Matt's arms, she had spotted something that was more interesting than this conversation

"And what about this little one, her mum run off," Dean queried, afraid that Sam had reason to be concerned about Joanne,

"Oh, no, she's at home studying, I'm sure Lorraine would die before leaving this one" Dean was sure his heart stopped beating for a minute, or he had misheard the man he had been so sure that the child belonged to Joanne he hadn't even thought of the possibility that Lorraine was her mother "and what about her dad,"

"He's not around, never has been, they broke up just after Lorraine found out she was pregnant,"

"So you, um, think they ran off," he asked a lump had formed in his throat and it was almost a struggle to get the words out, still trying to get over the shock of this little girl, the more he looked at her the more he could see the similarities, he tried to work out how old the little girl was, and came to the conclusion that unless she was big for her age, Lorraine would have had to of conceived her either just after she ran off, or possibly before, he almost didn't hear Matt's reply as the beat of his heart began thudding in his ears, he looked at the girl again, she was smiling at him now, as if she was confirming his suspicions,

"That's the rumor, but I don't really know these women, Lorraine does though, she'd definitely be able to tell you more, I could give her your card if you want," Matt couldn't resist letting his eyelashes flutter a bit, Dean didn't notice the gesture he was still trying to digest this new revelation,

"I'm sure we'll get round to talking to her soon enough, thanks for your time," Dean said and walked off, the group of women, noticing the black clouds that where making their way over the town, broke out as each called to their child and headed back to their houses, Sam looked around for Dean and noticed him walking back to the car, then he noticed Mary,

"Dean," Sam called after him, "this can't be good," he added to himself

"Just get in the damn car," he growled, Sam did as he was told and Dean took off before Sam had even shut the door

"Dean slow down," Sam tried to tell his brother

"I'm gonna kill her," his voice was deep and laced with anger,

"Your gonna kill us Dean, calm down," Sam gripped the dash tightly, causing his knuckles to turn white,

"How the hell could she not tell me," he ignored his brother, a few minutes later he pulled up outside Lorraine's house, he saw the green Ute in the driveway but he didn't care who it belonged to, he was going to get some answers.

hope this chapter was ok, please reveiw yada yada yada