AUTHOR'S NOTES: I know it has been forever since I've updated this story but with all my other projects, this story got kinda back-burnered for a while. But I'm working on this now and I will be taking out my anger and frustrations about the current season of 'Supernatural' on Sam and Dean. Well, Dean will be getting it now and Sam will be getting it later on.

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CHAPTER SUMMARY: The Winchesters find out that the ghost Dean saw at his school is more dangerous than they thought.

When Dean and Sam got home from school that afternoon, they found a message on the answering machine from Bobby Singer—a hunter friend of their father's.

"Dean, I did some digging on that ghost you told me about. Call me back, kid."

"What ghost?" Sam asked, looking at his brother with a mixed expression.

"It's nothing, Sam," Dean assured Sam quickly. Once the kid was in his room and doing his homework, Dean went outside with the cordless phone and called Bobby. "Hey, Bobby," Dean said, when the older hunter came on the line. "What's up?"

"You doin' okay, kid?" Bobby asked, sounding concerned.

"Yeah," Dean replied, shrugging. "I'm good. Hey, about that ghost-?"

But Bobby cut the kid off quickly. "You said the girl went through you?"

Dean didn't respond at first as he picked up on the worried tone of Bobby's voice. "Yeah, why?"

Bobby let out a long sigh on the other end of the line. "Because I dug up the kid's history—she died due to a heart condition which her parents ignored until she had a massive heart attack."

"This book on local hauntings one of my teachers loaned me said that she died at the school," Dean threw in, thinking that it was so cool how Bobby was just talking to him like another hunter. But when Bobby didn't say anything for a moment, Dean's gut started twisting. "Bobby, what is it?"

"This ghost has a pretty cold MO," Bobby explained. "How long ago did you see her?"

"About a week ago," Dean replied, now starting to worry a bit. "Bobby, what is it?"

"This kid curses her victims," Bobby explained. "She blows through them and in about 24 hours, you're cursed."

"Cursed how?" Dean asked, looking at the house. He thought of his little brother and his dad and what they would say when they found out. "Bobby, what do we do?"

"Sit tight, kid," Bobby assured Dean. "I'll be there in the morning. We'll figure this out together, okay?"

Dean muttered something in response and hung up the phone but as he turned to go back inside, he stopped as his legs suddenly felt like they'd been turned to Jello. Before he could even call out to Sam, Dean fell to the ground as his legs gave out.

The next day, Bobby got to DC and found Sam and Dean on the Pediatric floor of the Waterford County Hospital. Looking in the room and seeing Dean lying in bed, the gruff, older hunter let out a breath. "Balls!" he muttered as he went in and closed the door. Looking at the two boys, he asked, "What happened?"

"Doctors don't know yet," Sam said, quietly as he sat on the edge of his brother's bed. "I found Dean outside in the yard. He could barely walk—said his legs were really weak."

"Okay," Bobby said, nodding slowly. "Well, I'll go see what I can find out. I'll be back in a few minutes." But just as he turned to step outside, Bobby was surprised by a doctor coming into the room.

"Are you the boys' father?" Dr. Nate Grant asked as he looked at Bobby.

"Uh, no, I'm their uncle," Bobby corrected. "Their dad's out of town right now. He's a federal agent."

"You need to get a hold of him as soon as possible," Grant replied.

Dean's complexion paled and he swallowed before he asked, "What's wrong with me?"

Grant didn't respond to the question but instead he said, "It really would be best to go over everything when your father's here, son."

"Yeah, well right now I'm the best you're gonna get," Bobby snapped, his temper getting the best of him. "So again—What's wrong with Dean?"

Grant paused for a moment and then withdrew the file he'd started when Dean was admitted. "Dean came in with muscle weakness and a slight decrease in motor function in his legs. We're waiting on the results of the blood tests, spinal tap, and muscle biopsy but given the circumstances and the medical history we've mostly ruled out an infection or injury but more serious diseases and disorders such as cancer, muscular dystrophy, or multiple sclerosis are still possibilities."

Bobby repressed the urge to clock the doctor in the face especially after seeing the shell-shocked looks on Sam and Dean's faces.

Ever since he'd started at her school, Corey had never known Dean not to show up for class all day.

Something was wrong—she knew it. And when she saw Sam sitting outside by the buses looking like a lost puppy someone had kicked, Corey knew there was something seriously wrong. "Where's Dean?" Corey asked, as she went over to Dean's little brother.

"In the hospital," Sam said, quietly. He looked like he'd been crying and even though it was a cool day, he wasn't wearing a jacket. Wiping his eyes, he said, "Something's wrong with Dean but the doctors don't really know what it is."

Corey gave Sam a small smile and sat down next to him, putting an arm around his shoulders. "Hey, it'll be okay, Sam. Okay?" After a moment, she heard Sam mutter something about a ghost. Thinking that she'd misheard, Corey asked, "What did you say?"

Sam wiped his nose on the sleeve of his jacket, not even thinking about lying at the moment or how it would sound to Dean's girlfriend. "That stupid ghost did it. She ran through Dean and now he's—"

"What did she look like?" Corey asked, quickly, as she thought back. It was something she hadn't even thought about in years.

"I don't know," Sam replied, surprised at the question. "Dean didn't say." After a moment, he looked at Corey. "So… you believe me? Why?"

Corey didn't say anything for a minute or two but then she said, "Because I think I may have seen it too… a couple years ago, right before I was diagnosed with lupus."

In a quiet corner of the cafeteria of the hospital, Bobby sat with Sam and Corey as the young girl related her experience with the ghost of Kimberly Manners.

"It was late October and I was getting my things out of my locker," Corey said, not looking at Sam or Bobby. "I felt someone grab my arm really tight but when I turned around there was no one there."

Bobby nodded thoughtfully and asked, "How long after that did you start having symptoms?"

Corey shrugged as she thought back. "Maybe… two weeks. It started out as joint pain and the rash on my face."

"What do you think, Bobby?" Sam asked, curiously, looking at the older hunter. "Is this like what happened to Dean?"

Bobby thought about the cases for a minute or two before replying. Corey Adler fit the victim profile—if only because she went to Whitman Middle School—and the timing fit between when Corey saw the ghost and when the doctors diagnosed her with lupus.

Of course, the doctors were still trying to figure out what was afflicting Dean. So far, all they'd been able to determine was that Dean was experiencing muscle weakness and decreased motor function in his legs. "It sure looks the same, Sam," Bobby admitted.

"So if that girl caused all this," Corey asked, thinking. "—does that mean there's a way to undo it?"

"Maybe," Bobby said, although he wasn't sure if salting and burning Kim Manners' body would work in this case. "It's possible, but no guarantees."

Corey nodded, understanding what the older man was saying. While there was a chance that dealing with the ghost could potentially fix Dean and her, it was probably a good idea to take a pragmatic approach.

It was late that night when John finally got to the hospital and stepped into Dean's room, waking Bobby who was parked in a chair in the corner.

Bobby quickly got up and shooed John out of the room, silently closing the door behind them.

"Bobby, what happened?" John asked, not sure of what else to say.

But before answering John Winchester's question, Bobby snapped, "Didn't you check to make sure the boys' schools weren't haunted?"

"Excuse me?" John said, not quite sure what to make of the other man's question.

"I mean, I didn't think you were that much of an idjit," Bobby went on. "What next? You move into a haunted house?"

"I didn't realize I was supposed to check schools for ghosts," John snapped back. "I thought all this stuff was behind us until Dean told me there was a damn ghost at his school."

Bobby was about to say something else when he stopped, seeing a doctor in her mid-30's heading their way. "Sorry, doc. We'll try to keep it down," he said, quickly, expecting a comment about being too loud.

"Actually, I was hoping we could talk about your nephew, Mr. Singer," the doctor replied before looking at John. "Are you Dean's father?"

"John Winchester," the former hunter replied, holding out a hand to the young doctor.

"Dr. Laurie Hughes," she said with a smile as she shook John's hand. "My specialty is diagnostic medicine. I heard about Dean's case and I may know a little about what's going on."

John and Bobby shared the briefest of looks before Bobby said, "We're listening."

Laurie paused for a moment before looking at the few nurses milling about the floor and then said, "Let's go to my office."

Once John and Bobby were sitting down opposite Laurie, she said, "I know how crazy this is going to sound, but this is the story my grandfather told me. 52 years ago, a 13-year-old girl died at Whitman Middle School from a heart attack. She had a heart condition but didn't know it. After she died, she started haunting the school."

"We already know that part, doc," Bobby interjected. "Tell us something we don't know."

"Like how you know about all this," John said, keeping his expression neutral even though he was confused at why this woman believed that there was such a thing as ghosts.

Laurie leaned back in her chair and let out a breath. "My grandfather was a doctor back then. He was mostly a general practitioner but he also doubled occasionally as a medical examiner. He worked Kim Manners' death and shortly afterwards, he noticed some odd cases popping up."

Bobby's expression didn't change but his eyes narrowed at that. "Odd how?"

"'Odd' like…" Laurie paused and finally shrugged. "Over the past 50 years or so, there have been 30 students and 13 faculty members at Whitman Middle School who have been diagnosed with some serious illness or disorder. Multiple sclerosis, cancer, autoimmune diseases, muscular dystrophy… Two 13-year-old students were actually diagnosed with Huntington's and I can't even begin to tell you how insane that is. I mean, we're talking about a degenerative disease that doesn't usually hit until someone's in their 30's."

"And everyone affected saw our ghost?" John asked, amazed. How had he never known about this before now? He could have stopped this and saved who knows how many people.

Laurie sighed again and shrugged. "No… sightings of the ghost of Kim Manners are up in the mid-hundreds, actually. Seeing her doesn't do anything to you. But if she touches you… that's what does the real damage."

Thinking about Dean again, John felt the question popping up in his head again and after a few moments, he asked, "So what's wrong with Dean?"

At first, the young doctor didn't say anything, but both Bobby and John noticed that Laurie was slowly tapping one finger on a file sitting on her desk. The name on the file was Dean Winchester. Looking at John and Bobby, Laurie said, "The good news is that it's not cancer or anything potentially terminal."

"And the bad news?" Bobby asked, not really wanting to hear the answer.

"The bad news is that Dean's muscle weakness is due to a degenerative condition," Laurie went on. She slid the file forward and when John took it and opened it to read the reports, she said, "It's called tibialis posterior atrophy." She knew that the words wouldn't mean anything to the two men so she continued. "Basically, the muscles in Dean's lower legs are going to get progressively weaker."

John didn't know what to say to all this but at the same time his mind was spinning with questions. The most pressing question being—what would happen to Dean now? "So… how is this going to progress?" he asked, handing his son's file back.

Laurie seemed to slip back in to 'doctor-mode' as she replied, "Well, first we want to test and see how bad the muscle weakness is. Then we'll go from there."

Rubbing his face with one hand, John pressed on. He wanted to know what was going on with Dean first. How bad could this condition get? Would Dean eventually be completely unable to walk? And if that happened, how would they deal with it? "Well, give us the rundown," he said, finally. "How bad can Dean's condition get?"

"If the weakness in Dean's legs is very minimal," Laurie explained. "—then for the time being, we just keep an eye on him. If the weakness is more pronounced, we'll start with having Dean fitted for leg braces which will give him additional support. If that works, we'll just keep monitoring his condition." She knew what Dean's father and uncle really wanted to know and she'd be lying if she didn't say that she was stalling. "When Dean's legs start getting bad, we'll most likely have to have him start using crutches to walk in addition to the braces." Looking at John and seeing the question in his eyes, Laurie added, "And yes… eventually, the muscle weakness will necessitate the use of a wheelchair."

xxxxx

Dean was still asleep when John re-entered his son's hospital room and sat down next to the bed.

Bobby had gone to check on Sam, saying that it would be better if John told Dean what was going on.

Rubbing his face with one hand, John couldn't stop berating himself for not being more careful about picking Dean's school. But that was just the latest way he had been a crappy father.

"You're not a bad father," said a young nurse as she came into the room to check on Dean. She was blonde and pretty with hazel eyes that reminded John of Dean's. The girl smiled gently at John's look and added, "Working in Pediatrics, you get used to recognizing the guilty parent look. You know, the parents who blame themselves for what's happened to their kids. You've got it in spades."

John didn't say anything as he just watched his older son sleep but he was surprised when the nurse sat down on the other side of Dean's bed, giving his a pointed look. "You don't know what I've done," John said, quietly. "I can't even begin to count how many times I've screwed up with Dean and Sam."

The nurse shrugged lightly. "Well, you can worry about what has happened or you can start thinking ahead. Try and deal with what's in front of you." Catching John's glare, she went on. "My great-mother, grandfather, uncle, and cousin on my dad's side of the family died of cancer. My Dad's relapsed twice and I just went back into remission last year. I can blame my dad's genes for making me sick, or I can do my job and help other families and kids who are sick." Standing up, she added, "Instead of sitting here brooding, maybe you should be trying to fix the problem."

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A few minutes later after checking on another patient, Roberta 'Ruby' Dawes watched John Winchester walking quickly towards the elevator. The demon using her as a meatsuit was happy to see the hunter leaving the floor, but Ruby the Nurse was upset. She hated the thought of poor little Dean Winchester sleeping while his dad went to destroy the ghost that cursed him.

Kim Manners was buried in a small cemetery just outside Manassas.

After bugging Bobby for almost an hour, John had finally convinced the other man to join him in burning the kid's corpse.

As the two dug up the casket, Bobby groused again, "I can't begin to tell you how wrong this is. Digging up a kid—a KID!—just ain't right."

John didn't reply even thought a part of him did agree with Bobby. "Yeah, well, maybe we'll luck out and putting the kid's ghost down will fix Dean… And maybe Casey and everyone else this thing has hurt."

Bobby stopped digging for a moment and leaned on his shovel, giving John a look. When John stopped as well, Bobby asked, "You really think you're gonna get that lucky?" Seeing his friend shrug and resume frantically digging, he said, "And what if this doesn't work?"

"That's not an option," John snapped angrily. "This has to work—this has to fix Dean."

"But what if it doesn't?" Bobby pressed. He threw down his shovel and waited for John to face him. "What happens if you can't fix Dean? Look, I love those boys like they're my own. But this ain't your usual curse, okay? And whether you want to admit it or not, this is probably something that ain't just gonna be fixed by a salt and burn."

John remained silent and continued digging.

After a few minutes, Bobby sighed and grabbed his shovel before also resuming his digging.