A/n: Sorry it's been so long, I was super busy with my Xmas story, my gift stories, and of ccourse just the holiday in general! Anyways, I'm back with the next chapter! There will probably be two more after this.

Thank you so very much LilyBolt for always being there for me, for the reviews, and for being my friend. Thank you miXiZ for your friendship and support and reviews, and also to jojospn and guest for all of your reviews and support.

Thank you to anyone who takes time to read, review, follow, and/or favorite.

Ch5

The next morning, Dean awoke at the same time as the motel room door opened. Sam emerged holding a paper plate in his left hand as he tucked away the room key into his sweatshirt pocket with his right.

"Morning," he greeted hoarsely.

"What're you doing up?"

"Breakfast, thought you might be hungry when you woke up. Got you some pancakes, side of butter, syrup, and bacon. Sorry, there was only one piece left by the time I got down there. I practically had to arm wrestle an eight year old for it," Sam explained sheepishly as he handed his brother the plate of food. Dean eyed it then him.

"You probably only really had to turn and cough on them. How're you holding up?" He asked suspiciously. Sam frowned and shrugged as he sat on his own bed.

"Fine." The older man's eyes hardened as they met the younger's. "I mean I'm not great, but I'm ok." Dean picked up the plastic fork and began to butter his pancakes.

"Where's your breakfast?" He asked as he began to cut into his short stack.

"I uh, I had a piece of toast," he answered. "So, should we compare notes?"

"Yeah, you first."

"Well I learned that Shannon wasn't alone when she died. Turns out that she was sneaking off to meet up with a boy, Ryan Richards. had no idea, but apparently her sister is like Sherlock Holmes. She figured it out, but promised to keep it between them. Of course things changed when her niece was found dead."

"And have you talked with lover boy yet?"

"No not yet. Figured I would do that today after I got some rest, you know?" Dean nodded and stuffed his mouth with a fork full of pancakes. "What about you? Dig up anything at the morgue?"

"Uh no. Nothing. No signs as to why they died or how. I mean, we don't even know that this is our kind of gig."

"People are dropping dead and we have no clue as to why. No scratches, marks, puncture wounds, missing organs, nothing. That sounds like our kind of thing," Sam countered.

"Alright so all we know is that Shannon mysteriously died and she was having a randevu the day she kicked the bucket." Sam nodded in confirmation. "Great. Well, I guess that means the next step is to go talk with Romeo."

"Right, I'll get my suit," the younger man said as he got to his feet. A cough sprung from him and he quickly covered his mouth.

"No, I'll go. We need answers and a monster, you stay here and work your geek magic. Besides, you really think anyone is going to let you into their house looking and sounding like a cold and flu commercial?" Dean finished up his breakfast and then climbed from his bed to throw on his FBI suit while Sam got to work setting up his laptop at the little table. The older brother picked up the Dayquil and handed it to the younger man. "Take your nasty ass cold juice, drink lots of water, soups are on top of the microwave. Call me if you find anything, or need anything."

Sam watched his brother before clearing his throat. "Hey Dean? Thanks." The older Winchester looked over at him.

"For what?"

"I know you're mad that I'm not at the Bunker in bed resting, but thank you for letting me stay and help."

Dean gave a half hearted smirk.

"Have you seen the weather? Thank it," he teased.

"Be careful out there," Sam replied with his own grin.

"Thanks mom." With that, the older brother disappeared, closing the door behind him.

The weather was no better then it had been the previous day and Dean was now worried about his best friend. He wasn't sure how much experience the angel had had in driving in harsh weather. And Sam. He didn't seem much better, but with the exception of his voice almost completely gone, he didn't appear to be much worse either. Dean just hoped his health wouldn't drop more before he was returned to Kansas, or at all for that matter.

Dean pulled up to the address Sam had given him several minutes later, and once again was forced to face the rain. Maybe they should keep at least one umbrella in the car. His suit was still slightly damp from yesterday, and he wasn't sure how many more trips into this weather it could stand before it looked like he used it as a bathing suit. He couldn't wait to get out of it and into his nice dry heavier jacket.

Dean killed the engine, flung his door open, and as professional looking as possible, he hurried to the front door. This time when he knocked, the only thing he heard inside were footsteps. He sighed in relief at the lack of canine greetings as the door cracked open. The face of a young boy who couldn't be any older than twelve popped into view, his deep blue eyes staring up at Dean.

"Yeah?" He addressed him.

"Ryan Richards?"

"'S my brother," the boy answered.

"Is he home?"

"Is he in trouble?" Concern flickered in his eyes.

"I'm Special Agent Seger," Dean reported as he pulled out his fake badge and showed it to the boy. "I just have a few questions for him about the death of Shannon Turner." The boy nodded sadly.

"He's really shook up about that. Won't talk to anyone." Trying his best to keep himself patient, Dean tried to switch into a more Sam-like tactic.

"I know this must be tough for him, and I'm sorry for his loss. However this is important, it could help explain what happened and help me to prevent it from happening again." Dean may not be gifted with puppy dog eyes, his gift was more so charm with the ladies, but when he really tried, he could at times be convincing enough with the right person. The boy nodded again.

"Come in, just take off your shoes by the door and be quick. Mom will be back from the grocery store soon and she would be pissed if I let someone in." Dean wanted to say "finally," but instead kept his cool and thanked him, quickly letting himself inside out of the pouring rain. "I'll go get Ryan, hold on a sec."

Dean kicked off his shoes and by the time he had made himself at home on the couch, the boy returned with a rather cross looking older boy who could only be his brother. The resemblance was so uncanny that if it hadn't been for an obvious age gap, they could have been identical twin. With of course some difference. His eyes were the same deep blue as they looked over at Dean who popped up from the couch to take on a more professional look.

"Ryan?"

"Who wants to know?"

"I told you, FBI," his younger brother whispered.

"Wasn't talking to you Jacob, go to your room." Reluctantly the younger brother obeyed and left his brother alone with Dean. "Let me see your badge."

It's not uncommon for people to demand that Dean show him that he was what he said he was. Once again, he pulled it from his hidden pocket and displayed it for the boy. After a long moment of silence as the deep blue eyes searched the item, he spoke again. "What do y'a want?"

"To know what happened in the wetlands when you were out with Shannon Turner." The boys arms feel from his chest and his face turned white, as though he were back there again on that night. Dean stood a while waiting for an answer, but when he didn't get one, he pressed further. "Did you see anything? Did the air get colder? Anything?" Ryan continued to stare and despite wanting to slap him across the face to bring him back, Dean didn't. Whatever it was, it was something that terrified him enough to go from snarky attitude, to silent and vacant.

"I-I didn't-I don't know."

"You don't know? You don't know what?"

"I only saw..." The boys deep blue eyes grew darker and more distant as they stared ahead of him. Dean imagined that that was a similar look he use to get when he would be overcome with memories of being in Purgatory.

"HEY!" He yelled, causing Ryan to jump and shake his head. "Did you see anything?"

"I didn't get a clear look. I-I just saw...scales. Big scales."

"Like an alligator maybe?"

"No, I've seen lots of gators and this ain't one. It was...huge!"

"It was huge, but you didn't see anything but scales? What about its eyes? Hey! Focus Ryan," Dean shouted snapping his fingers in front of the boy's eyes as they started to go for miles again. "Were they animalistic? What color?"

The boy shook his head.

"Didn't see. Just scales." Ryan could only repeat about scales, nothing more, and with Dean growing increasingly frustrated and the Mark once again throbbing and itching on his skin, he decided to call it quits. He wasn't getting anything more out of this guy, he just had to hope Sam had worked his geek magic and found something back at the motel room. Dean thanked Ryan for his time, only just to keep up the FBI charade, handed him his card in case he could think of anything else, and excused himself from the house.

Back in the Impala, Dean began to search his pockets for his phone, thinking it may be a good idea to check and see if his brother had called. When they came up empty, he realized he must have left it in the room with Sam. Cussing under his breath, Dean sped off back to the motel.

XXX

Sam was starting to doze when he heard a phone go off. He grabbed for his cell, only to find it wasn't ringing. Confused, Sam looked over on Dean's bed and saw his brother's phone lit up and vibrating. The name Cas was displayed on the screen as Sam answered the call.

"Cas?"

"Dean! I seem to be having some vehicular complications. It's going to take me longer than I thought to get to Florida."

"It's Sam." The other end of the line went silent. "Hello? Cas?"

"Disregard this message." With that the call dropped. Sam looked at the phone then returned to his spot at the table. It didn't take long for him to process what the call from Dean's best friend had meant. Sam wasn't stupid. Anger swirled inside of Sam's belly as he sat staring ahead of him, clenching his jaw and shaking his head.

XXX

"Hey," Dean called out as he entered the room. Sam didn't look up from the screen but grunted at him. "So, you find out anything?"

"Yeah as a matter a fact I did. Cas called, he's having car troubles and he's going to be late getting here." Sam's hazel glare burned into his brother.

"Sam-"

"I can't believe you! You called Cas to come get me, even after everything."

"You're sick."

"Broken record Dean," Sam growled.

"Yeah well, if you would have just listened to me in the first damn place, you wouldn't have to hear it." It fell silent as Sam sat glaring at his brother who in return shrugged off his soaking suit jacket.

"I'm not going."

Dean sighed and threw his head back closing his eyes before turning to glare at Sam.

"I'm not fighting with you about this anymore," he said calmly. He turned his attention to the mini fridge where he pulled out a bottle of El Sol, popped off the lid, and took a drink. "What did you find out?" He asked as though he wasn't being stabbed by his brother's eyes. Sam huffed and shook his head, slamming his laptop shut. "Don't be a bitch Sam," Dean replied still ignoring his brother's death stare and taking another sip.

"Stop being a dick, Dean."

"Oh, that's mature," he scoffed.

"Yeah well, you aren't yourself. Or practical." Dean opened his mouth to rebutle, but Sam didn't give him a chance say anything. "This thing is killing people Dean. Killing them so fast that I don't think they even see it coming. They're just dropping like flies and no one knows why. In what part of your brain does it make sense for you to just go off and hunt this thing alone and with no idea on how to kill it?" Sam's eyes grew soft and began to mist as his voice grew calmer. "I don't know what I would do if you-" He stopped and swallowed, trying to keep back tears and his voice from shaking. They sat in silence for a bit, Dean not pushing Sam or making any remarks and Sam still too lost in his tragic thoughts and memories of the last time his brother had gone off to fight something strong on his own. "You aren't going out there alone, Dean. It's as simple as that." Sam reached over to hand Dean his cell that had been left behind earlier. "Now, call Cas." His voice, although still hoarse from being sick, was surprisingly strong.

"Sam-"

"Call Cas, or I will."

Dean sat staring at Sam. What good was it to continue to argue? He knew his little brother was pig headed, he knew that no matter what he did, he would find his way to Dean again. Not to mention Cas could be a bit of a push over, so even if he was able to come get Sam, since he no longer had his full angel powers, he knew Sam could overthrow him. And he also knew that he would.

Reluctantly, Dean scrolled through the names until he selected the angel's. It rang twice, then Sam heard the gravely voice muffled on his brother's phone.

"Hey Cas, I hear you're having some car trouble," Dean started casually. Sam couldn't make out what the angel was saying exactly, but it sounded panicked. "Yeah, yeah-I know he knows Cas, that's actually why I'm calling you." Dean looked over at Sam in one last attempt to convince him to change his mind. His brother returned his look with a stern glare and a slight head nod as to say 'go on, tell him.' The older brother sighed and rolled his eyes. "Look, just worry about your car, don't worry about coming for Sam. Alright?" More rather agitated muffled words were said. "I know, I know-Cas! I know! Just, cool your jets huh?" This time the words sounded confused. "No I know you don't have any jets, I just-relax, ok? Just don't worry about Sam or coming to Florida. Focus on you right now, ok?" Softer this time. "Ok, good. Thanks again." With that Dean ended the call. Sam nodded in approval.

"Alright, now we can focus on the case. What did you find-" his sentence was interrupted as a cough sprung from him. He didn't try to hide it this time, but covered his mouth with his arm. "Sorry," he said clearing his throat. Dean gave him a look of instant regret for having called the angel off. "It's alright, just a cough." Sam reassured him when he noticed his brother's look. "What did you find out at the Richards house?"

"Scales."

Sam looked at his brother as though there was more to be said. When there wasn't, he spoke.

"Scales? As in lizard scales? Alligator scales? Snake scales?"

"Huge scales," Dean quoted.

"That's it?"

"That's it."

The younger brother frowned. "Huh."

"Yeah, big help. Definitely worth the run around in the rain," the older man said sarcastically.

"Scales. Alright, I'll see what I can come up with."

"So goose egg for you too so far?" Sam nodded. "Wonderful."

Hours ticked by before Sam exclaimed, clapping his hands. Dean who had been half asleep on his bed watching Western movie reruns bolted up with a shout of his own.

"What?! What?!" He asked turning to look at his brother. A proud smile was on Sam's still too pale face. "You find something? Or was it just really good porn?"

"I have a possibility."

"A possibility?"

"I didn't think they were real, but all the symptoms and the lack of description, makes perfect sense."

"What?!" Dean repeated.

"Did you pack Dad's journal?"

"Of course I did. Why?"

Is there anything in it about Basilisks?"

A/n: Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.