So sorry for the wait. I broke my computer and it took FOREVER to be fixed. With any luck, though, this story will be updated semi-regularly (I am in college after all…I have my limits). When I was planning it I only sorta came up with the beginning and the end and forgot to plan the middle, so it might take me just a tad longer than you would like, but bear with me. Anywho, enjoy.

Chapter Six

They stopped at a McDonalds somewhere in Tennessee many, many hours later, wearily trudging out of the Impala and through the snow to order some food. Once seated at the table, Max studied her two companions. "You've changed," she stated around a mouthful of French fries. "A lot."

Tony glanced at her, raising his eyebrows. "Anthony DiNozzo and Logan Cale are two completely different people. And I've been Tony a lot longer than Logan."

Max nodded slowly, almost sadly. "And you?" she asked, turning to Dean.

He paused, his eyes growing haunted. "It's been an interesting couple of years," he muttered in reply.

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah. I gathered that." She bit into her burger, staring at the two men that had influenced her life so much. They really had changed. Tony seemed worried about his team, and Dean seemed concerned about his brother, and they didn't seem to be too pleased about leaving them.

Tony glanced up at Dean over his Big Mac. "Where exactly are we going? I'm going to have to inform my boss."

"Overprotective much?" Dean grunted.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Maybe. But he's a good guy. So, where are we going?"

"South Dakota," Dean replied with a shrug. "My friend Bobby is a Hunter who will be willing to help us out. He's like an uncle."

"Okay," Tony said. "You have a computer? I'm going to need to get in touch with Gibbs as soon as we find a place with free wifi."

Dean nodded, standing and throwing away the trash. "Sam's computer is in the Impala. You'll have to break into it though," he said as they left the restaurant. "He has it password protected. Thinks I'm going to change his homepage to porn or something."

"I wonder why," Max deadpanned, rolling her eyes.

Dean merely grinned.

Tony rolled his eyes, rubbing at his arms as they walked through the snow back to that classic car. He was cold, didn't have any of his stuff, and was tromping through snow. If he got sick, Gibbs would kill him…and knowing his luck. Well, he wasn't going to go there. "How long do you think it will take to get to your friend's?"

"Not terribly long," Dean replied, unlocking the door. "Why?"

Max shot him a look, rolling her eyes. "We're going against Manticore, Dean. If they decide to let out that pulse…"

"Then I won't have to worry about the Apocalypse," Dean whispered. "Right." He stepped on the gas and no one really noticed if he exceeded the speed limit.

Meanwhile, Sam had joined the NCIS crew back at the bullpen. Gibbs was glaring at the young H.A.U.N.T. agent, although Sam couldn't seem to understand why. Sighing, Sam rubbed at his temples, glacing at Gibbs, Ziva, McGee and Abby. Jenny had disappeared into MTAC not long after the ghost invasion. She was, apparently, trying to get more information on Manticore, probably to make sure they wouldn't set off that electromagnetic pulse.

"Okay!" Sam finally snapped. "Stop staring at me and tell me what you want!"

"Where's your brother taking my agent?" Gibbs growled.

Sam rolled his eyes. He honestly wasn't very intimidated. After seeing what he had (along with already having died) there wasn't really all that much that could scare him. Unnerve him, yes. Scare him? That one took a little more effort than a growling ex-Marine. "I don't know," he replied. "My guess is somewhere nearer to Seattle. That's where this whole Manticore escapade thing went down last time."

"And where were you during this 'escapade'?" Ziva questioned.

"Stanford," Sam sighed with an absent wave of his hand. "Pre-law."

McGee raised an eyebrow. "You went from law school to…fighting ghosts?"

Sam shrugged. "Went back to. Family business and I didn't really have a choice."

"You always have a choice," Abby said fiercely. She blinked. "Although, don't get me wrong, I think your job is awesome."

"No choice," Sam said, giving another shrug, but this one more weary. "A choice between letting a demon kill everyone you love or hunting him down is no choice at all."

Tony's computer beeped and McGee moved towards it. "It's a set of coordinates, Boss," he said, frowning at the screen.

Sam looked over his shoulder and sighed a relieved sigh in the recognition of the numbers. "They're going to Bobby's."

"And this Bobby is…?" Ziva drawled.

"A friend," Sam replied. He paused. "And I suppose he's a H.A.U.N.T. agent as well."

"You suppose?" Gibbs grumbled from behind his coffee cup.

"Hey! Give me a break!" Sam snapped. "I'm new to this whole thing!" he ran a hand through his hair, glancing over to where the window had been boarded up. He had never actually seen Dean use his abilities outside of a full-on fight before, and it was slightly disconcerting. That he could jump from the fifteenth story of a building and survive… Easily.

It was almost scary, actually.

"So…" Abby said, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "I know that Gibbs said we had to wait. But that's boring and I feel like we should be doing something."

Sam nodded slowly, drumming his fingers against the desktop he was leaning against. "Vampires," he muttered. He shook his head. "Dean has Dad's journal, but I've dealt with them before."

"Obviously," Ziva muttered. "As you seem to know them."

Sam shrugged again, wincing at the memory of the last time they had gone against Kate's coven. It wasn't a pleasant memory, but by far not the worst. Which said something about the lives the Winchesters led. "Dead man's blood."

"What?" Abby blinked.

Sam looked at her. "Dead man's blood. We're going to need some. And a crossbow." He snapped his fingers and swore in frustration. "Crossbow is in the Impala. Well, we'll have to meet up with the others eventually."

Sam ignored the stares, going over everything he knew about taking down a vampire. And then he went through other creatures as well, just to be on the safe side. When his cell phone rang, however, he pulled it from his pocket, frowning at the unfamiliar number. "Hello?"

"Sam. Where's your brother?"

Sam scowled. "Castiel. What do you want?"

"I want to know where your brother is, Sam. I can't track him and I'm unable to get into the building you're in."

Sam's eyes narrowed. He had only put a protection around the building to keep out anything harmful. Specifically: evil. Castiel was an angel…or so he said, and he couldn't get into the building. It wasn't adding up.

"We're busy," he said shortly.

"Sam! The seals—"

"You're an angel," Sam said snappishly. "Take care of it yourself." And he hung up, grumbling all the while as he placed his phone back in his pocket.

Abby was practically jumping up and down. "You just talked to an angel?"

"And hung up on him?" McGee added.

Sam shrugged and found he was getting annoyed of doing that. "He's annoying. I'll deal with him later." He turned back to Gibbs. "Do you need to get your boss's permission to leave? Because I think we should probably head to Seattle. Or South Dakota."

Gibbs blinked at him and then turned to Ziva. "Get the plane tickets to Seattle. On it," she said, turning to her computer. He nodded and focused on McGee.

"Uh…" McGee faltered for a moment and then blinked in realization. "Gather all information that Tony got for us. On it, Boss."

Gibbs nodded and stalked up the stairs to MTAC. Sam stared after him, as Ziva and McGee scrambled to fulfill their tasks. He turned to Abby. "Is he always like that?"

"Oh don't let that fool you!" Abby said cheerily. "He's really a big teddy bear!" McGee and Ziva shot her incredulous looks. "A really growly teddy bear?" The computer-savvy agent and Mossad officer glanced at each other and then shrugged.

Sam sighed, shaking his head and running a hand through his hair. With any luck, they could get to Seattle before some like the end of the world happened…