... I APOLOGIZE IF THE FIRST COUPLE OF EPISODES SEEM IFY BUT I PROMISE THEY ARE IMPORTANT TO THE PLOT

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AUTHOR'S NOTE I'd like to give special mention to Alex Megan who was kind enough to help me filter my ideas and her writing is INSPIRING to say the least and EVERYONE should read her work because it's simply perfect!

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Supernatural

Season... ?

"DISC" 3

Epispode 10

"Firebug"

Chapter 1

TWO YEARS, TWO AND A HALF MONTHS AGO... ... ... ... ...

Adam's last memories were of Dean driving up and his thought of "Holy shit he's got some balls." Then he thought Dean was possibly the coolest person ever for just pulling up into the middle of a full on angel battle.

That was it. Then in a flash a rush of air filled his lungs and his eyes flew open revealing himself to be in the same place he remembered last standing covered in mud.

It was a rainy night with a chill in the air and Adam laid there dazed before realizing he needed to find shelter.

He wondered what had happened. He knew by what he'd learned about Dean from just a few minutes of knowing him that his oldest brother would have not just left him there. From what Adam remembered Sam was cool to but Lucifer had been ridding him last time he saw Sam and Michael had been intent on killing him.

Adam was starving, cold and confused as he wondered around the streets of Lawrence.

He was getting weak from hunger and he fished through his pockets finding that he had no money or I.D. . Taking into acount his apperance he couldn't just walk in somewhere and ask for help, because he looked like a hobo. So Adam had no choice but to dig into the first dumbster he came across in hopes of something decent to eat.

Finding a loaf of bread that was perfect other than being a day past experation Adam was grateful that people were wasteful and that they usually took food forgranted.

Unfilled by the bread Adam climbed back into the dumbster.

"Sift through the garbage till you find gold" Adam thought. It was one of the things his mom had told him was something he'd have to sometimes do in life and it held all to true now.

Coming across a crumpled up newspaper Adam pulled it out jokingly thinking to himself "Let's see what my horoscope says." But it was the business section and Adam almost tossed it aside if not for the date catching his attention. August 21, 2011, Adam reeled from the shock the last date he was aware of knowing was over a year ago.

"What happened to me?" Adam thought as he climbed out of the dumbster and put his still grumbling stomach on the back burner. He needed answers.

The only place he knew to go was Bobby Singer's house and that was two states over and he had no way to call anyone even if he did know their numbers. So Adam had no choice but to find a homeless shelter that would take him in till he found his bearings.

A month later Adam had managed to get a little money to his name and some halfway decent clothes and he headed out to Kansas with the hope of finding Dean.

All he found was the still smoldering remains of Bobby Singer's home and no signs of how it'd burned and no signs that either Bobby or Dean were even still alive.

Adam had no choice but to go it alone with his questions still unanswered.

With no other place to go Adam went home and found that he had never been reported dead although he had been reported missing as several of his friends had been worried sick about him since the discovery of his mother's body had made the news.

It was easy for a while for Adam to just live the life he'd left behind but slowly the knowledge he had of the "things" that exsisted in this world began to eat at him. With the thought that Sam, Dean and Bobby were dead he couldn't ignore the fact that there may be no one to defend the world against those "things".

So one day without warning, even to himself, Adam packed up a gym bag of clothes, gathered what money he had, put the rest of his belongings in storage and hit the road to take up the mantel of the brothers he assumed were dead.

Over time Adam learned to use the knowledge he had gained when Michael had ridden him to fight the same kinds of monsters, demons and spirits that his brothers had once taken on and he felt that if they could see him wherever they were they'd be proud.

As the next two years passed Adam started to take note of the increase in supernatural activites. Of course he chalked it up to the deaths of the only three people in the world that he knew had been fighting the beings that cause such activity.

Adam had little time for small talk when he worked and even less time for the gossiping television sets that were in the cheap hotel rooms he had taken to living in. He didn't know that if he had just turned on the T.V. a couple of times that he would have at the very least seen some signs that he wasn't alone in this war after all.

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Dean woke damp with the sweat that had soked him during his nightmare.

He he had been dreaming of Sam's life and of how the souless version of his little brother moved HIS Sammy's token of love from the door panel of the Impala because that part of him hadn't wanted Dean to find it.

That part of Sam didn't want Dean to know how his REAL Sam had felt.

Then the dream had changed to Sam's nightmarish time in hell because at the time souless Sam was topside Dean's Sam was still being tortured and therefore his existance had been split into the two forms equally and Dean was seeing both sides again.

He hated it.

How HIS Sam had suffered and felt unloved for a million years.

How he had been tortured with Dean's very real words of "If I didn't know you I'd want to hunt you.", "That means you're a monster Sam.", "I don't think I can trust you anymore.", "I don't believe... in you. I mean I don't know whether it's gonna be demon blood or some other demon chick,or what, but I do know they're gonna find some way to turn you. .. You're angry, you're self rightous. Lucifer's gonna wear you to the prom man it's just a matter of time."

GOD those words had caused his Sammy actual physical injury in hell every time he had relived them a visible slice would appear on random parts of his body in simbilance of the way those words had cut in to him.

Dean lay there wiping the sweat from his face. He felt he couldn't stand right now for the weekness his body felt after reliving some of the worst times in his brothers life for the fifth night in a row and it was beggining to cost him sleep.

Dean had a hard time dealing with the fact that the only memories Sam had of him were what hell's version of him had been like.

Reaching to the small figure of the amulet that rested on his chest Dean clutched it hoping for assurance that he would get HIS Sammy back someday.

Laney stirred awake an raised up onto her elbow "He doesn't need to remember his life before, just start giving him something worth remembering now." she muttered sleepily.

"What?" Asked Dean startled by remark that seemed to come from nowhere.

"I can still see blips of your thoughts." Stated Laney, pointing her index finger to her head and she huffed "For five days I've been seeing your thoughts and feeling your emotions at random."

"You're just telling me this now?" Dean asked sounding almost alarmed but then he hushed his voice to keep from waking the sleeping Sam.

"At first I thought I was kinda losing it." Laney said with a shrug. "And when I realized I wasn't I didn't want to make a big deal out of it.", "Till tonight cause honestly you're losing sleep and it's starting to mess with MY head."

"Exactly what have you been picking up?" Interupted Dean suddenly feeling invaded.

"Oh relax I said at random and only blips and I've already seen your whole life anyway I can't exactly control it so it's not my fault..."

"What exactly have you been picking up?" Dean asked again but now he just felt hollow because: Yes he had been seing replays of what he had experienced when he had lived Sam's life in his nightmares. BUT during the day and sometimes even at night he could hear Laney's thoughts and feel her emotions at random as well and it was stuff she was presently thinking or feeling not just some latent memories of what he had seen from her life nearly a week ago.

Laney cocked her head saying "Really?", "You to huh?", "I'm SO glad it's not just me." as she exhaled in relief.

"Stop reading my mind." Dean ordered.

"Can't control it. Remember?" Said Laney.

"Well try." Dean ordered again.

Laney rolled her eyes and thought "Trust me I wish it were that easy." but she said "I'll work on it but you have to do the same." instead.

"Oh I spent enough time in your noggin as it is kid. Trust me I don't want to see what you've got going on up there." Dean retorted but he was thinking "I wish I could do that with Sam just see what he's really thinking right now."

Laney shrugged and turned to face away from Dean and tried to force herself back to sleep.

Both of them were never going to acknowledge that they had just read each other's minds and that since they could see each other's minds they both knew it by the way their own thought had popped into what the other had been thinking. They had tried to mask the subtle little startled looks of realization that had appeared on their faces because neither one of them knew how to handle this without just going into denial.

And it didn't get any better. ...

The next morning Laney was scouring the internet for any new jobs to work and Sam was out making the food run.

Dean was sitting on his bed brooding as he played with the amulet for probably the millionth time since he had put it back around his neck where it belonged only three days ago and he was thinking: "Why did the souless version of Sam not want me to find this?"

Laney could hear what Dean was thinking and she tried to tune him out because even if she did have an answer to his question he wouldn't listen to her.

"You think you're so smart." Huffed Dean.

"Excuse me?" Said Laney sounding annoyed, but she didn't look up from the laptop screen as she tried to keep the door of ignorance safely shut. She just wanted to at least be able to pretend she had no idea what he was reffering to and keep working. Denial, denial, denial.

"I know what you were thinking Miss Genius, Miss Oooh Look At Me I Have Nine Doctorites!" Dean chidded. "Well go on Princess give the dumb commoner his answers since you know EVERYTHING!" But now Dean was yelling and it had wound up with him throwing the first thing he could find across the room.

"I thought we were staying out of each other's heads." Laney responded calmly not even looking up as the remote to the television flew past her and shattered but not before it clicked the T.V. on as it hit the wall.

Both the plastic shrapnel flying mere inches from her face and the T.V.'s suddenly coming to life didn't phase Laney as she turned to Dean rolling her eyes as she said calmly "You know if I did have an answer then you'd have an answer to because even if you couldn't read my mind I'd tell you if I so much as thought I knew something that could help Sam get back his memories of you.", "I mean I think after seeing MY WHOLE LIFE you'd know you could trust me!"

"But I can't." Dean thought even though visibly he nodded.

"REALLY?" Laney nearly shrieked coming to a sudden stand her look became nearly insane as she clutched her temples as she yelled "I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!", "AFTER EVERYTHING?"

Then a flash of how Dean had nearly trusted that demon chick named Ruby and how she had been the one to lead Sam into breaking the final seal and then how even an angel of the lord had betrayed them, suddenly it was all to clear as to why Dean couldn't give into trusting her.

Well at least he didn't completely hate her anymore so that was a start. So Laney reeled in her temper and just shrugged away the hurt that she felt with Dean's continued distrust.

Laney swallowed hard and simply stated "Sorry." even though she didn't really know what she was apologizing for because none of this was her fault. She sat back down and refussed to look at Dean as she kept willing "Stay out of my head." in a chant over and over again.

Dean got it he couldn't block her thoughts either and it was just his stress that made EVERYTHING Laney might say or think a confrontation right now.

He felt how his distrust genuinly hurt her feelings and he could see her saint like understanding "click"into place as she "heard", ""felt" his reasoning and he cursed both her and himself that it made him feel uneasy that she could just forgive his being a complete dick.

Right now Laney was alternating between "Star Spangled Banner" and "This Land Is my Land" in her mind just trying to block Dean's thoughts from her mind and vice versa. But she could tell by the annoyed look on Dean's face that she could at least chose better music and she switched to between ACDC and Metallica because she knew what kind of music Dean liked.

Dean grinned because of the fact that Laney had enough consideration to at least "think" of music more to his liking and got that she was just trying to be a friend through whatever THEY were going through right now.

"GOD I'M AN ASS." Dean shouted at himself and he saw the little upturn on the corners of Laney's mouth and the slight (but still undeniable) nod of her head that told him "Oh yes you are." but she had managed to keep Dean from actually hearing her think that. All Dean could do was laugh inwardly and think "Progress."

Sam came in with three styrofoam containers of food and divied out everyone's portions.

"The styrofoam will probably taste better than the eggs." He said as he sat Laney's in front of her and he gave an apologetic shrug.

"Ah don't worry about it I like styrofoam." Laney joked and gave Sam a comforting pat on the shoulder.

Dean smiled because he could see Laney genuinely cared about Sam it was him that was the messed up one in this trio and he realized it was HIM that was the third wheel not Laney and it suddenly made him jealous.

Laney didn't have to know Sam's life or mind and she still got him and she was still genuinly his friend no matter what and that pained Dean in the debths of his soul that he couldn't have that with his own brother.

Laney gave Dean a sad look that said she was still regestring his thoughts so Dean just shut down and tried not to think at all.

"You're going to have to talk about it sometime." Laney thought but she was projecting it to Dean, making him hear her but she was being gentle so not to make him angry again. "Just know I'm here and I really do care."

Dean shrugged, it was hopeless to even try to keep her out, she could get in whenever she wanted and they both knew it.

Sam saw part of the mental exchange from Dean's mind and knew it had something to do with him and that it had made Dean upset.

"I'm sorry I can't remember." Sam said looking at Dean sadly and then he let his eyes drop guiltily to the floor "I think I wish I could more than you sometimes, because I want to feel the way I know I should and I just can't feel it Dean."

The memory of the words that souless Sam had once said hit Dean at his core. Sam didn't feel it, didn't feel what they were to each other and it hurt Dean to realize that Sam may never get that back.

Both Sam and Laney could hear and feel Dean's despair and it hurt their hearts as well.

"Well I think I've fond a job." Laney said just for the purpose of breaking the akward moment.

She pointed to the television as the report of a ninth fire over six states was making it look like a serial arsonist may be on the lose.

"Kind of seems to human to be OUR kinda thing." Stated Dean.

"Well the patterned nature makes me think it's worth looking into." Laney replied.

"Where do we go?" Asked Dean in a huff that really said "Fine you win."

"Well the last fire was reported from Belfry, Montana we can track our firebug from there." Said Laney with a knowing smirk.

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Chapter 2

It was definatly to human to be their kind of thing and it was clearly obvious of that when the trio searched the latest crime scene but Laney still insisted that they track this arsonist.

"You're just trying to give us some kind of distraction from "THIS" Dean pointed at his head and let out a frustrated "THING" "Whatever it is!"

"No I really think we need to find this arsonist because their work is sloppy and if we don't catch up to them then they're gonna get caught by the authorities or worse."

"What?" Asked Dean confused, cause apparently he couldn't see EVERYTHING Laney was thinking after all.

"YOU CAN'T tell this WAS OUR kind of gig?" Asked Laney in a "DUH!" type tone.

"Even you just admitted that a human set this fire and possibly the others!' Exclaimed Dean in frustration.

"Yes a HUMAN "SET" the fires but "what" were the victims? AND WHERE are the bodies of the "people" who were "supposedly" in the buildings that have been lit up?"

Dean's mouth gaped open as he formed the words "You mean...?"

"Another hunter like us? Yes." Said Laney finishing his question and answering it all in one.

She would have been annoyed with anyone else for being so thick in the skull but she knew Dean was losing sleep so he wasn't exactly the sharpest tack right now and she hadn't meant to sound condesending.

"Sorry." She stated raising her eyebrows.

"I think whoever did this is probably a newbie who doesn't know how to cover their tracks yet. We need to find them because we need as many people like us as we can get out doing what needs to be done."

Dean mulled it over in his head. Laney had a point. There was no telling how many people "in their line of work" was left and they couldn't afford to let even a new and sloppy hunter go to waste with impending doom just lurking around the bend and all.

"When we do find them we ARE NOT bringing them along. Said Dean. "We just give them some pointers and send them on their way. I've already picked up one to many strays as it is."

If only he knew. ...

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The trail led southwest and it started to go cold just outside the Idaho state border.

"Well looks like whoever it is, is on their own cause I'm not going on a wild goose chase after some civy who took up the life." Stated Dean in a grumpy manner. The lack of sleep was starting to make him moody.

"Just keep going at least till we get a few towns over. Maybe the trail will pick up." Said Laney with as commanding a tone as she could safely manage with Dean in this state without making him snap.

"Why?" Dean growled.

"Just call it a hunch." Said Laney with a shrug.

Sam leaned forward and said "Just give it a chance Dean."

He knew he was outnumbered so he just drove like he was told.

It was kind of soothing the way the road sprawled out beneeth them and for a moment Dean was mesmorized.

Then for a brief second his vision went black as his eyes closed he felt the car going to the side of the road and he could hear someone say loudly "Pull over I'm driving! You need to rest!" Then suddenly that same person yelled "DEAN LOOK OUT!"

Dean's eyes flew open just in time to see a motorcycle going off the side of the road because he had nearly run it and it's rider down.

The motorcycle slid sideways and it's rider was thrown into the grass.

"WHAT THE HELL'S YOUR PROBLEM...!" The rider excalaimed as he came to a stand and turned around to face the car that had nearly killed him.

"Oh thank god he was wearing a helmet and pads!" Exclaimed Laney as she rushed from the car to the aid of the rider.

"Sir are you hurt?" Laney asked as she tried to get the man to face her.

"No." The man choked out. "I thought.." "For a second I thought.."

Then the man fell to his knees with a shaky breath and Laney caught him before he fell to the ground unconsious.

"Sam I need you to move up front he needs to get to a hospital fast! Laney yelled as she hauled the rider toward the car.

Sam moved to Laney's seat as she shoved the rider into the backseat and climbed in over him.

"Dean are you okay to drive?" Laney asked. "If not you need to let Sam and we don't have time to argue."

Dean slid out and let Sam take the wheel because he was shaky after what had just happened and he could feel how the lack of sleep had really messed him up.

"Just be careful." Said Dean with a scowl at Sam as he climbed into the passanger seat.

Sam rolled his eyes. Somehow he knew what this stupid car meant to Dean. It was like it was the most important object on the face of the whole planet or something like that.

Dean didn't mean to but he drifted off again and it was Laney's "OH MY GOD!" that woke him with a start.

Laney had removed the rider's helmet and got the shock of her life. She knew this face from Dean's life but the last time Dean had laid eyes on him he had been falling into the cage with Sam.

Laney looked up to see Dean's equally shocked expression. He looked like he thought he'd just lost his mind as he saw Adam's face for the first time in nearly four years.

"How is this possible?" Laney gasped, because she knew from what she'd seen of Dean's life that Death wouldn't have done this and the angel Castiel had seemed to have his own agenda for bringing Sam back and that angel had most likely just left Adam to rot in hell.

"I don't know." Said Dean as he tried not to hurl.

"Sam pull over first exit you see with lodging." Dean ordered.

Sam hadn't been phased by Laney's shocked scream or the thoughts that he had seen blips of from Dean's mind. His one focus had been getting to a hospital.

"But Laney said..." Sam said slowly.

"Change of plan!" Both Dean and Laney yelled together.

"Alright!" Sam yelled back angry that he couldn't understand what was happening or why there was a change of plan. All he could pick up was it had to do with something he couldn't remember once again.

Sam pulled into the first hotel that came into view. Dean jumped out of the car before it even came to a complete stop and ran into the manager's office to get a room.

"Would you please tell me what's going on?" Sam asked as he ran his fingers through his hair in fustration.

"It's your brother." Laney replied.

"Dean was freaked yeah but this guy needs..." Sam started to say.

"No Sam THIS is your brother Adam." Said Laney as she shifted Adam so she could get get him out better as Dean ran over called out the room number and sped ahead of them to get the door open.

Laney gathered Adam and pulled him from the car got him onto her shoulders and carried him into the room leaving Sam and Dean's mouths hanging open.

Laney laid Adam supprisingly gently on to one of the beds.

She moved swiftly stripping down Adam despite Dean's protest and she started ordering for the two gawking brothers to do something besides stand there and gripe.

It took all of fifteen minutes on autopilot for Dean to remember that Laney was a genius that had medical degrees and she knew what she was doing so he snapped to and put more effort into trying to help her save his youngest brother.

"Okay he's got a nasty concussion and a fractured rib but he'll be fine." Laney said giving Dean the assurance she knew he needed after she had assessed and treated all of Adam's injuries.

Four hours later...

Dean was extremely fidgity and Sam looked confused as hell and Laney was feeling a sinking feeling and she needed to say what she feared.

"There is NO WAY this was a coincidence!" Laney said gesturing to Adam.

"Running into Sam, then you, now Adam. It can't be just coincedence to not only run into three other hunters in less than a year when I WAS SO SURE that I was the only one left, but to run into three and have them all be brothers!", "Tell me I'm not thinking crazy when I feel like something's going on here!"

"Oh what so now you suddenly don't trust US!" Dean retorted "You've seen MY WHOLE LIFE and you know almost everything that's going on in MY HEAD!"

"Well ditto bub!", "I should have just left the second you and Sam had your bodies back!" Laney shouted feeling scared.

"What is this all about?" Asked Sam.

"My destiny." Laney fumed trying to calm down because she knew this wasn't the brothers' faults that fate had thrown them together.

"What about your destiny?" Asked Dean because now he was genuinly confused and he couldn't get a read on Laney's thoughts.

"I'm supposed to have the child of a man who's the decendant of an unbroken line of hunters AND vessels and all three of you are HUNTERS AND VESSELS! GOD WHY DIDN'T I SEE IT BEFORE NOW?" Laney shrieked.

"Unbroken since Adam and Eve. Yeah I saw that from your life and you realize our dad didn't become a hunter till after our mom died from seeing mine so... What's your issue all the sudden?" Asked Dean.

"Your dad became a hunter after your mom died but that doesn't mean he wasn't born from a line of hunters just like your mom. What if your mom was born from a line of hunters AND vessels to?.. That makes you and Sam born from a pure bloodline JUST LIKE ME!"

"And where does Adam fit into this crazy theory of yours? He doesn't even have the same mom! AND from what I've seen of your life there was only the child of ONE last part of the pure bloodline left other than you... So what are you freaking out about?" Dean asked, but he was starting to get worried to, because: What he knew about angels, demons and destiny and how far those things would go to make everything fall into place.

Dean stood there in simple disbelief of everything that had happened and suddenly everything Laney was rambling about made sense.

"Look no need to freak." Dean shrugged giving his pattented "don't give a crap" look to hide his terror inside. "If that's true then destiny's already derailed because: I know FOR A FACT that even before you had this suspicion that YOU, NEVER, would have been with either me OR Sam in that way and you kind of need to go THERE before a kid's even made. And now that we KNOW that it's even a remote possibility that WE may be a part of that stupid "special" bloodline, whatever it is also, we know it can NEVER go there between any of us and you so it shouldn't be a problem."

"I should still go just to be on the safe side." Said Laney looking depressed. "I mean if you'd been awake you'd understand. It was like one second he wasn't there then the next POOF he was there like SOMETHING put him in OUR path. WE were meant to find him!"

"HE could have been who we were already looking for and your imagination's just running away because of finding out who he is. Said Dean looking weary.

"I KNOW what I saw and YOU, KNOW by the way I yelled that I hadn't had much more time to react than you did before he just "appeared" in front of us! I DO NOT think that HE'S who we were looking for!" Laney shouted and she went for the door thinking "Just go! Stop explaining yourself and GO! You ARE NOT obligated to stay anymore you should have left a week ago right after Sam at least knew who he was to Dean! Just let them sort out their own mess. They're not YOUR RESPONSIBILITY!"

"Please don't leave." Dean's mouth hung open in shock at the words that had just come from his own mouth and the fact that he meant them. The fact that he was practically ready to beg to make her stay.

He had two brothers one that couldn't remember HIM but could remember a version of him that hell had conjured up, that still didn't fully trust him. And one with... who knows how many issues he'd have when he woke up?

Dean knew he couldn't do it alone: NOT with the sleep he was losing, NOT EVER. Because how was he supposed to deal with possibly TWO mental cases without Laney who at the very least kept Sam halfway sane and would possibly know how to help Adam as well if he had problems? He NEEDED her to STAY and pride went out the window as he let his pleading tears fall for all they were worth.

Laney froze, her hand lingering on the doorknob, she heard Dean's thoughts, felt his despair. She had PROMISED he could trust her NO MATTER WHAT and she had almost failed him and Sam BOTH.

"Damn it." Laney groaned as she pulled her hand reluctantly away from the door and in to huddle in on herself as a shudder ran through her. Because in the back of her mind, she KNEW this was going to end badly and that she was going to wind up regretting her stubborn refusal to break a promise.

Dean let out a relieved sigh. He had to give Laney silent props for staying because he DEFINATLY would have BOLTED had he been her. Apparently she was tougher, braver than even he knew.

Sam just sat there quietly reeling from finding out HE may be a part of Laney's destiny and the fact that it had almost caused her to leave. What was so wong with him that made the possibility of being destined to be the father of her child a bad thing?

Dean heard Sam's thoughts and in turn Laney heard Dean's and now she was sorry and she went down to Sam's eye level saying. "Oh god Sam, you're my best friend in the ENTIRE universe, there isn't anything wrong with you. There's something wrong with MY destiny. I was just scared about how it felt that WE were ALL being manipulated somehow."

"I'm not going ANYWHERE I PROMISE and I probably would've realized I was being an idiot, turned right around and come back if I HAD left." Laney finished giving Sam a look that begged forgiveness.

"Just don't leave me please." Sam begged with tears in his eyes and it made Dean's heart sink because even after everything Sam was still afraid to be alone with him. Laney pulled Sam into a comforting hug and rubbed his back soothingly.

Dean could see she REALLY WOULD HAVE COME BACK for Sam if she HAD taken off, because she cared about him and that fact plus her promise is why in the end she had stayed. Maybe Laney did deserve his trust after all.

"Why is this so hard?" Dean asked whoever might be listening that had control of things like destiny and the only response he got was a shrug from Laney as she thought "I'd like an answer to that myself."

The hours ticked by and Adam remained unconscious which made Dean keep shooting worried and expectant looks at Laney despite her continued reasurance that his brother would be okay.

Dean kept fiddling with the amulet like he thought the thing might disappear at any moment and he silently willed himself to keep calm.

Laney could feel Dean's tension and she could see Sam's confussed restlessness and she felt helpless as all she could do was pray Adam would wake up soon.

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It was nearly dawn and everyone had finally fallen asleep besidesLaney who was beggining to suffer from Dean's sleep loss as well as her own but she still did her duty in keeping vigil over Adam.

She checked his pain response which was good and his pupils retracted properly when a pen light was shone into them. So far Adam was doing as well as could be expected even if he had been in the care of a hospital. Of course a concussion and fractured ribs were nothing compaired to the wounds Laney had trained herself to mend.

Laney checked Adam every fifteen minutes, quietly resigned to her task and taking great care not to wake the others as she did her work.

When Adam woke with a start Laney shushed him and gave him comfort as she quietly explained what had happened.

She covered everything careful not to leave out any details so that he wouldn't be confused and Adam simply sat there with a slack jawed look on his face as Laney's words filled his mind.

And Adam thought "This is supposed to keep me from being confussed how?"

Laney smirked at the look on Adam's face and how it reminded her of the looks that Sam and Dean both gave when they were to tired, to bumfuzzled to understand anything.

Adam smiled back because just something about Laney told him he was in good hands and that she would be there to help with the hard stuff as it came up.

Adam looked over to his soundly sleeping brothers and his smile grew. Just a little over two years ago he had been certain they were both dead and now they were just mere feet away and he didn't know why but he felt Laney was the miracle that led to them finding each other.

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Close to noon Dean was finally able to open his eyes finding himself waking to the pleasing smell of breakfast. He could get used to this breakfast every morning thing.

He looked over to the empty bed Adam had been occupying and over to Sam's empty chair.

Laney came from the restroom holding a wet rag out to Dean saying kindly "Wipe your face it'll help wake you up."

Dean did as he was told and Laney was right. He actually even felt refreshed for a change. "Where are the others?" He asked trying not to let the slight panic he felt show in his voice or demiener.

Laney gave him a soft smile and passed him a tray of food as she said "Outside talking. I figured... They have a lot in common so maybe it would help them both."

That stung. For all intensive purposes Adam was a complete stranger to Sam besides what he had seen of him from Dean's life and that hadn't been a lot. But yet Sam could be alone with Adam and still couldn't trust Dean who had raised him. It hurt beyond what words or thoughts could express.

Laney got it but it couldn't always be about Dean. Sam needed to heal in his own time and Adam was just as bad off as Sam because of what memories of the cage had been recently slipping through. Right now they needed each other no matter who's feelings it hurt.

Laney knew Dean was to prideful to accept comfort when offered but she wrapped him in a hug just the same because whether he wanted to admit it or not he needed someone to.

Dean was paralyzed by Laney's arms around him and he felt himself give in to her embrace and for a second he forgot about destiny as he realized he really could fall for her. And that explained everything right there, his hostility, his distrust. ALL his attempts to harden his heart to her were because he had liked her from the start and he hadn't wanted to feel the pain that came with loving someone like that again.

Laney felt Dean's shift in emotion and she pulled away thinking "We both know why we can't have anything between us so we both need to come to grips with that or this is never going to work."

Dean nodded as he knew that whatever he was feeling right now was probably rigged anyway and therefore probably not real. He wondered if he could be strong enough to weather the storm he now felt inside him and if his brothers would be so easily dooped by destiny into falling for Laney.

Sam and Adam came back in. Sam seemed to carry himself a little taller and Adam seemed calmer than when he first had everything laid on him this morning.

Sam looked at Dean differently because even though Adam hadn't known much about his brothers he had given Sam everything he needed to see Dean as someone he cared deeply about once again.

"It was the coolest thing! I wish you could remember! He drove right up to a full out battle between arcangels and he did it just to let YOU know he was there! It was SO awesome!" Adam was dripping with admiration for Dean as he told of how Dean had just strolled right into the middle of an apocolyptic battle just to get through to Sam. Adam told of Dean's valiant attempt to save him from the "Green Room" despite how he had acted like an ass that thought he and Sam hadn't mattered.

"I don't know a lot about him. But what I DO KNOW is that he would do almost anything for family and for whatever reason he'd go the extra leg of the race and do ABSOLUTLY ANYTHING for YOU Sam! You have no IDEA how lucky you are to have someone like that in your life." Adam wasn't just pouring on the honey for dramatic effect he was being honest and genuine with his pride in Dean. For whatever reason that shear no holds barred honesty made Sam know that he had been missing what was right in front of his face for the better part of four months. Dean loved him had given his life for him and he'd do it again in a blink.

Sam still didn't remember his life before his memory loss but he did feel Dean again. He felt his love for Dean, his trust for Dean and his faith in Dean flood back into him and with no bad memories other than what his nightmares and the fuzzy memories of Dean's life had held to dampen them they were overwhelming and he wept like a child knowing real love for the first time.

Dean could see the change in Sam and he could only stand there like a deer in the headlights as Sam charged him and pulled him into the tightest hug he'd ever been wrapped in.

"I'm so sorry Dean." Sam whined "I'm lucky to have you as my brother and I wish I could take back all the hurt I know I've caused in your life. I wish I could remember, I wish I could give you back the brother you miss. I know I'm not the same as the Sam you knew but I do love you."

"Can that be enough?" Asked Sam as he sobbed into Dean's shoulder.

Dean was breathless. Both from the crushing strength of Sam's grasp and the shock at the change in Sam and how he'd just let the dam of emotions break while being completely honest and heartfelt. It was the first time since they were children that either of them had actually said the words I love you. "It's okay Sammy." Dean said as soothingly as he could between his cracked voice and his own tears "I love you to man... That'll always be enough."

"Looks like I can do chick flick moments more often than I thought." Dean thought with an inward laugh "And apparently I can do them well." as he obseved Adam and Laney's tears.

Dean just held Sam for the longest time and it let both the brothers finally get it all out. Thirty something years of bottled up emotion for Dean was apparently enough to dehydrate an elephant because when he finally let go of his little brother, Sam's shirt was soaked to wringing wet from Dean's tears.

Dean's eyes were red and puffy and even though he hadn't been awake for more than two hours he was exausted. He looked at the beaming Laney and thought playfully "Oh shut up!"

Laney laughed and told Dean to go ahead and take a nap cause he needed it and she could hold down the fort for a while.

It wasn't very often Dean Winchester REALLY cried or just let someone hug him but it was practically non existant that he said the words I love you to ANYONE out loud and yet he had just done all three because he really would do ANYTHING for Sammy.

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Chapter 3

It was obvious that Dean would go back on the cranky words he had let lose with two days ago as he actually asked Adam to come along.

Adam was all to thrilled to pack away his things and go on the road with Sam, Dean AND Laney even though she was a stranger.

Laney turned out to be right about the trail of the "arsonist" picking back up and the news was proof that they were going in the right direction and that they weren't far behind whoever was working "their kind of gigs".

Whoever this rookie was, had at least some decent enough talent to evade capture for so long. Of course that was partly because only a hunter or a creature would know the one missing piece of the puzzle that some of the authorities still weren't privy to.

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Glenns Ferry, Idaho. ...

A small desolute town of no more than a couple hundred people. If "people" was even the right term to use anymore because by the looks of it this was yet another town infested with what Brian Carter had come to know as Demon scumbags that kidnapped and sold people for fun.

He had been trailing these bastards all across the continent and burning the lackies they left behind when they cleared a town. Brian knew his work was getting attention of the media and that it would probably bring the demons down on him eventually.

"Let it." Brian thought because he felt he had nothing much to live for other than the hunt anyway.

Just a little over three years ago he was happy. He and his wife Susan had just moved into what was supposed to be their dream house. Now Brian wished he had fought tooth and nail to keep his family out of Stratton, Nebraska, even if it had caused a divorce. Because at least that would have been better than the alternative.

EVERYTHING went to hell in a hand basket when he and his wife had found that their dream home had turned into a nightmare.

That night they found out about the reality of the things that "go bump in the night" and he just couldn't leave it alone.

He had ranted about how they couldn't just sit around knowing what existed out there and do nothing while their children grew up in a world where monsters were real.

All Brian used to hope for was that someday Sausan, Kate and Danny would get that you couldn't just walk away from something like this once it was on your radar, at least not without feeling like the lowest organism on the planet and that they'd forgive him for dragging them into this life. That someday never came as he found that his work had hit home. His family was gone and it was because of him.

That's how Sarah had eventually snagged him and pulled him into her web just like she had with so many other people.

Now Brian only lived for following orders, for drinking, for the hunt.

Most jobs he had to work were usually simple salt and burns. Till a little over a year ago when droves of demons started to come out of the wood work, settling into whole towns and auctioning off humans in that area.

The demons had been smart, stayed to smaller towns, stayed off the radar of bigger game but not off the radar of the underground hunting parties that Sarah had formed all on her own.

Right now no one wanted to hunt with Brian because he was a mean drunk and he was reckless.

But at least reckless was more fun and it obviously got the attention of the demons he was after. Every time he got close to getting on top of their location they'd tuck tail and run, always keeping him a good distance from putting a stop to the bloodshed they caused. Untill now and Brian relished that he had finally caught up to them in time to actually save some.e lives for a chang

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Adam told Dean about how he had woken up in Lawerence, Kansas and how six months later he had taken to hunting because he was sure that he was all there was left to fight.

"Turns out it's a common theory." Dean joked and gestured toward the sleeping Laney as he said " She thought she was the last of us to. Till she found Sam then ran into me anyway."

"Yeah about that... Adam said. "Laney explained everything to me... And I mean EVERYTHING and it's just a lot to take in. It seems..."

"Like a set up?" Dean finished Adam's sentence. "Yeah Laney freaked for the same reason. Damn near left because of it."

"Well can you blame her?" Asked Adam. "I mean look at what she knows about her destiny and tell me it doesn't freak you out in the slightest that she and Sam BOTH have demon blood in them AND that they have such a close conection."

"It honestly freaks me out a little when it's put like that. But I KNOW Laney and I know she doesn't feel THAT WAY about Sam. Dean replied.

"Yeah. But how does Sam feel about her? In fact how do YOU feel about her Dean? Don't think I can't see the way you've been looking at her." Stated Adam in a "You should know better" type tone.

"Okay MAYBE I like her. But it's JUST as a FRIEND!" Said Dean in his own defense "And IF it was ANYTHING more I still wouldn't be stupid enough to act on it and neither would she IF she EVER felt that way about ANY of US!"

"I just hope you're right." Adam whispered.

"So do I." Dean thought as he smiled and nodded and he hoped beyond hope that both Laney and Sam were out enough to not hear his thoughts.

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Laney woke well rested for the first time in nearly two weeks and she had forgotten how good it felt to have a real good deep sleep.

She yawned as she stretched and apologized to Sam for bumping in to him. For an old car the Impala was a suprisingly gentle ride and actually quite comfortable to sleep sitting up in.

"That's my baby." Dean thought lovingly as he gave the dashboard an admiring pat.

Laney smiled because after seeing Dean's life she knew this car had not only been his and Sam's real home for the better part of their lives but it had also been their refuge in so many ways when times got really tough.

Sam tried the feat of stretching out to but he had forgotten his size and Laney had to duck into a ball to avoid his gangily limbs.

"Sam stay on your side of the car." Laney said in a mock whine. "Dean he's to far over in my seat. Make him scoot over. ... Are we there yet?" She goofed off smiling.

"Don't make me pull over you two." Said Dean with a laugh. And for the first time in a while he was actually having fun again.

Adam smiled because he knew Laney was just trying to give tham all a distraction from the monotony that came with almost always being on the road. He could get why Sam and Dean liked her.

Sam shifted groggily and said in a sleepy slur "Mm..ss..ory."

"It's okay." Said Laney with a playful poke in Sam's side "I'll get even."

"Stop that tickles!" Sam yelped as Laney caught just the right spot in his ribs. "Not fair!" he huffed in a laugh.

"Okay knock it off back there!" Dean laughed but now he tried to make his tone stern and failed as he finished with "I mean it this time!"

Sam was in probably in the best mood Dean had seen him in, in years and it made his heart swell as Sam actually joked back "Whatcha gonna do if we don't?"

"I'll pull over and let Adam kick both your asses!" Dean threatened with a grin at Adam.

"Yeah come on guys I get one more knee in the back of my seat and I'm gonna flip!" Said Adam playing along.

"Now that's what a road trip with your family should feel like." Dean thought with a grin as everyone finally settled down to being the hardened dangerous hunters they could really be. But he caught Laney's momentarily lit up expression and her elated emotion as she realized she had just been included to the equation of Dean's family.

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Chapter 4

As the Impala pulled into Glenns Ferry, Idaho the four occupants of the car noticed how quite and still the whole town was. And it was the middle of the day on what should have been a decenty busy main street of the town.

The feeling that hung in the air was ominous. Trouble was brewing they could sense it, they had no idea what they'd just drove themselves into.

There was a car in the road in front of them, the driver's side door looked like it had been ripped off the car. When Dean inspected the scene he found the engine was running but there was nothing but sticky red blood in the driver's seat.

Dean cut the engine and let the eerie quiet envelope him as he gestured for the other three to join him.

Laney was the first to make it to flank his side and keeping low she started to search the car.

"What are you doing?" Dean asked.

"This is the only car on the streets besides ours." Laney replied. "Don't you think that's weird?"

Dean looked closer now, the door torn away, the blood in the seat. A person had been ripped out of this car and most likely killed and whatever done it hadn't even bothered to clean up the mess when the rest of the town was devoid of signs of life and practically spotless.

He nodded for Laney to hurry.

Laney found guns in the trunk, ammunition shells filled with rocksalt and iron pellets, newspaper clippings about strange deaths and disappearances.

"This is a hunter's car." Said Laney flatly as she handed Dean the proof.

"You think this..." Dean started.

"Is who we were following?", "Yep." Laney replied.

Sam came up keeping low like Laney had done and Adam was right behind him both had confussed looks on their faces.

"What do you think's with the town?" Adam asked.

Dean was pretty sure he knew EXACTLY what was going on. The last town he had seen this desolate was over run with demons and a sickening feeling flooded him as he realized somewhere in this town people were probably being auctioned off to the sick tortures of demons.

Laney saw Dean's thoughts and she shot him a look that plainly telegraphed her worry.

Sam turned pale as something flashed in his mind and Dean saw it. The awful memory of being in a cage. Dean had no time to react as Sam's eyes became unfocused and his knees buckled making him lurch forward.

Laney had seen Sam's thought register into Dean's mind and she had turned just in time to catch Sam before he hit the ground. Dean was there beside them in as flash grabing Sam's face in his hands, looking to Laney he paniked yelling "Do something!"

"I need yo to move him away!" Laney shouted to Adam and once Adam pried Dean away she gently laid Sam to the ground on his back. She checked his pulse and his pupils before gathering Sam up and getting him into the backseat of the Impala.

"He's fine. He just suffered a flashback." Laney stated giving Dean a pat on the back and she guided him to the Impala and said "These demons need to be stopped. I can take Adam and we can handle it. You should stay here with Sam."

Dean nodded because he knew Laney was just trying to give him what he needed.

Laney grabbed two bagpacks of supplies, guns and ammo fom the trunk of the Impala and tossed Adam his share of the gear.

Adam followed at Laney's side. He didn't really know anything about this girl and yet here he was following her blindly into a den of demons. From what he did know about her he liked her enough to be friendly but he wasn't so sure about just giving in to trusting her with what could be his life. Adam decided to rely on just his instincts and kept himself tense and on the edge for if things went south.

Laney didn't know Adam but she knew herself and she knew what she was doing and she had to trust that in the end Adam knew what he was doing well enough to get the job done.

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It was the first time in nearly six months that Dean had been alone with Sam and he had no idea what to do or how Sam would act when he woke up. All he could do was hope Laney would get back soon.

It mortified him that he was actually hoping that someone else would take care of Sam because right now he felt so inificient.

"Please hurry, get this job done and get back. Sammy needs you." Dean thought and he hoped Laney could hear him.

Laney crouched down outside of the City Hall. She had seen from Dean's life from when the demons had taken him and Sam that the demons seemed to have a preferance for buildings of authority as close to the center of a town as possible.

There were guards posted at the entrances and Laney could see the hideous demons that were wearing the bodies of six formidably sized men.

It wasn't going to be easy to get in there.

Adam took cover beside Laney and followed her line of sight.

"Crap." Adam whispered. "How do we get through?"

"I don't know I'm working on it." Laney hissed sounding slightly agitated that Adam would be dumb enough to speak with demons less than a few yards away.

Dean's thought hit Laney and she knew he was freaking out.

"Just stay calm. If he wakes up keep him calm. It'll be okay." Laney willed to Dean with her mind.

She felt Dean prod her thoughts again with "Just hurry."

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Things were a blur for Adam, Laney was just to quick and fluid to keep up with. When she was in the thick of a fight she was really something to see.

Adam did his best to show her up and it became like a sick competition to him as he tried to exceed her pace in proof of his manliness. He was six years her elder and acting like a teenage boy.

Laney took no notice of his juvenile behavior or she would have chastized him for being cocky and reckless. She had other matters to attend to.

Six demons in oversized suits would have been to much for even strong, seasoned hunters to handle fighting single handidly let alone be able to manage exercising any of them while being attacked.

But Laney was doing just that.

Sam had come to and was a little afraid at first but when he saw that DEan hadn't left his side something about that made him able to get his bearings and he and Dean had rounded the bend to join the fight when they got the show of a lifetime.

Adam had been knocked unconcious and Laney was up against six black eyed freaks and she was giving them all she had.

Her stance was firm as one of the demons shoved her, so firm that she just slid back with out losing her footing. She advanced again a shot of rock salt to one's chest and whirling fury of hits and kicks to others, knocking them back one at a time as she drenched one with holy water and exorcised it while the others were coming off the rebound and still trying to advance.

One by one she widdled them down while managing to keep them away from the vulnerable Adam.

When the pile of lifeless men lay at her feet she looked to be in a haze from the battle as she moved with finess readying herself for the onslaught of demons that had started coming from inside the building.

There were hundreds, the hunters were easily outnumbered and Laney still seemed unphase by the odds.

Because now she was in her element.

Dean knew she had done this before from what he had seen from her life and he had seen some of her skills from the mirror maze. But right now what he was seeing topped the ricter scale of awesome.

An innocent girl turned into a battle hardened war goddess right before Dean's eyes and it was hard to remember she was still the same girl that had just been playing around in the backseat just hours before.

Even demons with decent mojo met their demise. Laney got thrown around a bit and come back a little off kilter but she kept coming back, relentlessly.

Dean had his fair share of fight on his hands and he had lost track of Sam in the mess of demons everywhere. He tried not to panic and just focused on trying to get out of this alive.

As hard as they fought it was beginning to seem hopeless. Laney grabbed Adam and pulled him away as she screamed for Dean they needed to fall back.

Dean charged ahead instead, refusing to retreat without Sam.

He wasn't going to lose Sam again. Not now

Sam came careening around the corner, jumped into a roll to dodge away from some demons and threw something to Laney.

Laney caught the hilt of Ruby's knife. She was in that zone of having no other choice other than to use it because if she didn't the four of them would be killed or worse.

Without a killing weapon Laney was more than efficent at suduing enemies but give her something lethal, with no choice but to use it and she became a different animal altogether.

Demons fell into bloody heaps as she danced through the fight and became a formidable force of death and destruction.

When all of their foes laid dead Dean looked to Laney and didn't like what he saw in her eyes.

She was breathing hard and at first glance she looked like a maniac covered in all that blood. But her eyes told the story of a crushed spirit, she had just been forced to kill countless innocent people and the guilt that clouded her eyes and swarmed her mind was enough to break Dean's heart.

"You had to." Dean willed to her with his mind "If you didn't we all would've died."

Laney nodded though her thoughts didn't change and she moved blank faced through the carnage as she tried not to see the faces of the dead.

Dean told Sam to stay with Adam and he moved to follow Laney.

Once inside the building the two of them searched the rooms and found several frightened civilians. Even saving these people didn't sway Laney's self judgement. She just gave hollow instructions to the people on how to get to safety.

When they reached the basement the found a man tied by his wrist from the ceiling. He had been bled out.

"I know this guy." Dean gasped. "We thought his family's house had a vengeful spirit but it turned out it was a girl and her brother that had been reduced to animals by the way they were raised."

Laney nodded cause she remembered that bit of Dean's life and how much it had bothered him that he had, had to kill two humans that were only acting on instinct.

"What's he doing here?" Dean asked as he cut the man down.

A quick glance around the room told that the man had been tortured before being bled.

"I think he was our hunter." Said Laney flatly. "Looks like they were trying to get some kind of info out of him."

"Sometimes demons just torture for fun." Dean replied.

Laney shook her head saying "I don't thinkthat's the case here. I think he knew where others like us are."

"What makes you so sure?" Dean asked.

"Because your life." Laney answered "That list of names the demons were working with. The way the demons seem to be so interested in finding hunters. There has to be more of us. Maybe he knew where to find most of them"

Laney gathered together everything she could find from the demons' stock of books, papers and anything else that looked useful from the building and carried it all to the car before coming back to help Dean with the fallen hunter.

The four stood and watched as the fire consumed one of their own and they tried to find their own ways to get past the fact that they had been to late to save him.

As the Impala pulled away from Glenns Ferry Dean could see a replay of the fight in LAney's head over and over again.

Adam had rushed into things and his bravado could have got him and Laney killed.

Dean knew Adam was a good hunter or else he wouldn't have survived this long. BUT he knew that as John Winchester's son he had inhereted their father's arrogant, competitive, stubborn and reckless nature and it needed to be toned down before it got someone hurt.

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