A/N: Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there. I hope you have a great day. NC

Chapter 3

Dean stepped from the pawn shop and squinted in the bright sunlight for a moment before making his way back to the black truck and his father. He hefted himself into the passenger seat and sighed.

"Any luck?" John asked his eldest son.

"They did have it, but it was sold a couple of days ago," Dean replied with a huff that they had missed it by a couple of days. "And no, the owner wouldn't give me the name of the buyer."

"Damn!" John spat as he slapped his hand into the steering wheel in anger. "Guess you know what that means."

"A little B and E tonight," Dean offered knowing they needed that name. While John drove from the pawn shop, Dena's thoughts drifted to his little brother. He didn't like not knowing what was happening to him or that he was safe.

"Let's get some dinner and come back after the place closes down," John told him. "It shouldn't be too hard to get in and get the information we need."

"Sure fine," Dean mumbled as he stared out the side window at the passing scenery. He took out his cell and brought up the tracker app to check it. No one knew that he had turned on Sam's GPS app on his cell a long time ago and knew where he was. The dot was still showing in Columbia, Missouri which was a little over four hours from their location. He wasn't sure what was there and wondered if Sam had just decided that was far enough away from their father. He still planned on heading out as soon as this hunt was over, find his little brother, and kick his ass for leaving without at least talking to him about it.

"Did you hear me Dean?" John questioned when he didn't answer his question.

"What? Whatever? It's fine with me," Dean quickly tried to recover. He had no idea what he might have agreed to.

John looked over at Dean and frowned for a moment before pulling into a diner parking lot. He knew Dean was worried about his brother, but he needed his head in the game right now.

"You know Sam can handle himself; there's no need to worry about him," John told Dean. "I need you to focus on the case here."

"I am," Dean choked clearing his throat before continuing. "I am," he said stronger before getting out of the truck and waiting for John.

John didn't say anything about his son's mood and led them toward the front door of the diner. They waited for the hostess to seat them, give them menus, and let them know their waitress would be with them shortly.

The meal was mostly eaten in silence as father and son kept their thoughts to themselves. The food was good, and Dean finished it off with a large slice of pie and coffee, while John just had coffee. They paid and headed back out to go stake the pawn shop out and wait for it to close.

After John found a place to park where they could see the shop, he spoke to his son.

"Why don't you go check the back out and see how secure the place is?"

"Okay," Dean nodded, hopping out and absently strolling down the sidewalk before slipping down the alley between the buildings. He checked to be sure there was no one around that would see him as he moved silently down the shadowy alley until he found the back door for the shop.

He just had time to duck into a recessed doorway out of sight when the door opened the owner of the pawn shop stepped out and locked it behind him. Dean watched the man lumber down the alley in the opposite direction thinking he was heading for his vehicle. He waited another fifteen minutes to be sure he wasn't coming back before moving from his hiding spot to the back door.

Once he checked out the alarm system, Dean went to work disarming it and picking the lock for the door. He slipped through the door and closed it behind him, freezing as he surveyed the dark interior. He pulled out a small flashlight and turned it on letting the beam play over the backroom. There were shelves and boxes stacked with items filling the room.

When no other alarm sounded, Dean carefully made his way toward the front of the store. He shielded the light as he eased into the main room of the shop. He quickly moved to the counter where he had seen the book the owner had referenced when he pulled it out. Dean squatted and began to leaf through it until he found the transaction. He found a pen and paper and scribbled down the name and address of the buyer. With that done, Dean put I back in place and headed back toward the back door. Once he was outside, he fixed the alarm and made his way back down the alley toward where John was waiting on him.

"Any problems?" John asked when Dean got back into the truck.

"Piece of cake," Dean replied holding up the scrap of paper.

"Find out where it's at so we can find the watch and destroy it."

"On it." Dean pulled a map of the town from the glove box and looked up the address. He gave John directions and sat back watching the roads signs as John drove. It took them nearly an hour to find the house located outside of the town limits.

"Is this the right place?" John asked as he slowed to let Dean read the name on the mailbox. He looked down the driveway but couldn't see the house.

"Yes, it's the same name and address," Dean replied.

John backed up enough to pull onto the dirt driveway and make his way down it, dodging potholes along the way. The driveway was long and finally opened onto a large clearing that had a house sitting in the middle of it with a barn and outbuilding sitting off to the side.

The house was a one story, wooden structure with a porch that stretched the length of the front of it. It was painted a medium shade of green with darker shutters. There was a blue sedan parked in front of the garage. John parked and they got out looking at the house for a moment before walking toward the front door.

"Let me do the talking," John told Dean when they stopped at the door. He rang the bell and stepped back waiting for someone to answer the door.

It wasn't long before noises could be heard on the other side of the door as locks were opened and the door was pulled open by a man younger than John.

"Hello, can I help you?" he asked cautiously glancing between John and Dean.

"Sir, I'm US Marshal Phillips and my partner Marshal Walker," John introduced them and pulled a badge from his pocket to show the guy. "Are you Mr. Vince Ford?"

"Yes, that's me. How can I help the marshals?" he asked.

"It seems that you purchased a gold pocket watch from a pawn shop a couple of days ago," John started.

"Yes, I did."

"That watch is part of an ongoing investigation that we're working on. Would it be possible to see the watch and determine if it is the right one?"

"Well, I guess that would be okay," Ford replied unlocking the screen to allow them entrance into the house. "What kind of crime are we talking about?"

"I'm not at liberty to talk about the case Mr. Ford," John told him.

They were led into a living room with a large fireplace on one side and sofa, chairs and entertainment center on the other side. They took a seat on the sofa.

"I'll go get the watch," Ford offered stepping from the room for a few minutes before he returned with a small box that held the watch. "Here you go. Umm…I will get it back won't I?"

"We can't tell you until the case is over," John answered. He took the watch from the box and looked at it for a moment. On the back was a name etched into the metal and John nodded to Dean it was what they were looking for.

Dean suddenly became tense and stood up as the temperature in the room dropped so low he could see his breath. He looked around the room as John stood up too.

"Hey man, what's going on?" Ford asked in a panic. He gasped in shock when a figure began to appear in the doorway leading to another room. It wavered and shimmered until it became corporeal.

Before John or Dean could react, the spirit appeared in front of John and grabbed the watch from his hand. John was thrown backwards and collided with the fireplace as Dean lunged at the spirit trying to get the watch. He too was knocked to the side and fell over the sofa, landing hard on the floor.

"What…What are you?" Ford cried out as he tried to back away from the stranger. He turned to run and felt himself being tossed to the floor.

John was able to stagger up and snatch the watch from the sprit and throw it to Dean before being attacked again. He cried out in agony as the spirit lashed out leaving long gashes down his chest and slammed him back into the fireplace. Blood began to stream down his face from a deep gash on his head and he crumpled to the floor.

Dean quickly pulled out a mini blow torch and dropped the watch on the bricks of the fireplace. He lit the torch and held it to the watch, watching as it began to glow red when it finally began to melt. The vengeful spirit wailed and screeched as his body suddenly began to burn until there was nothing left but ashes.

"Dad!" Dean yelled running to his father. He turned him over and saw the blood coating the side of his face and the wounds on his chest. "I need to get you to a hospital," he told him grabbing him under his arms and helping him to stand.

"What happened?" Ford slurred as he tried to get up from the floor and looked toward Dean with blurry vision.

"Forget what you saw man," Dean told him. He stumbled to the door and went outside trying to keep John on his feet long enough to get him to the truck. Once he was in the passenger seat, Dean dug for the first aid kit behind the seat and quickly put pads of gauze over the head wound to try and stop the flow of blood. He pressed field dressings to his chest and wrapped an ace bandage around it. "Okay, I'm taking you back into town. I saw signs for the hospital."

Dean jumped into the driver's seat and threw gravel as he headed back for the main road. The truck bounced and jarred them with each pothole he couldn't be bothered to avoid. When he finally got to the paved road, Dean gunned the truck and sped into town as he begged his Dad to hang on.

A/N: The hunt didn't go as planned for the Winchesters. Dean has to take care of his father. Thanks for coming on this journey with me. I do like reviews/comments. NC