A/N: I am so so so SO sorry this took so long to get published. Back in October I went to the Supernatural Chicago convention, and my cousin and I made a centerpiece for the contest which took up most of my free time. (We made a mini motel room. lol) Then after the Con I got sick a few times and the holidays got in the way. And then when I finally got it finished two weeks ago, my good friend nej47 pointed out a huge mistake I made, so the ending needed to get re-written. No, it didn't take two weeks to fix it, but I ended up not feeling well at all until this weekend.

So, again, I appologize and will try to get the next chapter posted sooner than this one. Unless, of course, life gets in the way. Also, I owe a HUGE thank you to nej47 for helping me and encouraging me to get this chapter done. You rock! :D

Chapter 5: Theories and Tests

It didn't take much for Dean to convince Ryan to trust him, because the kid was desperate for some help. Dean followed the young man outside to a well used, navy-blue car that was parked next to his Impala.

"I had to put the shoebox in the backseat…" Ryan explained wearily, still unsure if he was doing the right thing. As he went to unlock the car door he paused. "You know what… I don't think I can do this."

Dean sighed and looked inside the car at the shoebox. When he saw the little air holes he knew exactly what Ryan wanted to show him. "Let me guess. Your brother and sister shrunk, right?"

Ryan suddenly looked up at Dean with surprise. "How did you-?"

"Because the same thing happened to my brother," Dean explained. "But like I said before, I think I might be able to help them." He nodded at the car. "Can I see them?"

Without saying a word, Ryan nodded his head and unlocked the door. He opened the door and carefully unbuckled the seatbelt that was covering the box. "I didn't want to risk the airbags going off so I had to put them back here," he spoke quietly. With a deep breath, Ryan slowly pulled the lid off of the shoebox.

Dean leaned forward, peering into the small box. He heard a pair of gasps before he spotted them. The two kids were huddled in the corner. Shayla had her arm protectively in front of Timmy, holding him back as they both stared up at Dean with wide eyes.

"Hey, it's okay," Ryan spoke softly, trying to reassure his younger siblings. "Dean's going to try to help us out."

"Yeah, everything's going to be fine." Dean gave them a friendly smile, even though he wasn't really sure if that was true.

*~*~*~*SN*~*~*~*

"After that we had a pretty long talk about what you and I do," Dean explains, rubbing his brow.

"So… You told them everything?"

Dean shrugs. "Just enough. Didn't feel the need to fill them in on the whole end of the world part," he says before he drinks some more of his beer.

Sam nods in understanding and then his face falls into one of question. "How did Ryan find out?" He watches as Dean looks down at him confused. "How did he know that they shrunk?" Sam clarifies.

Now it's Dean turn to nod as he turns in his chair to face his brother. "Ryan and Shayla got into a fight about school or something—I don't know—and then she just shrunk right in front of him like you did. You should have seen him. The poor kid was panicked that she was going to vanish out of sight." Dean lets his eyes wander, knowing all too well how the kid felt. Just standing there, watching your sibling shrink down until they were only a few inches tall, and not being able to do anything, but watch and stare confused and scared out of your mind. One second everything is normal and the next the person standing right in front of you starts dwindling away before your eyes and you are completely helpless. But, at the same time you don't want them to find out just how scared you really are, so you try to stay calm.

"And how'd they find out about Timmy?" Sam asks, bringing Dean back out of his thoughts.

Dean smirks a little. "Ryan heard something scurrying around in Timmy's room. At first he thought it was a mouse. Apparently, Timmy somehow trapped himself inside of a shoebox. Ryan didn't let him out of it until he came to us." Dean shakes his head. "We never should have let him out of that shoebox. I swear that kid is like the Tasmanian Devil."

After Dean finishes catching Sam up on how they reunited with the Warren kids, he goes back to researching on Sam's laptop. Sam on the other hand is left to do nothing but sit and give his brother some suggestions. Turns out everything Sam comes up with; Dean had already looked it up days ago.

An hour and a half later there is a knock on their motel door. Dean goes over to the door, checks the peephole and unlocks the door. "Hey, Bobby," he greets the older hunter.

"Dean. Where is he?"

Dean thumbs towards the table and closes the door after Bobby enters the room.

"Hi, Bobby," Sam greets the elder hunter with a weak wave.

Upon seeing Sam, Bobby shakes his head. "Don't you two ever know how to stay out of trouble?"

"Apparently not," Dean replies and plops down into a chair at the table, resting his arm on it for support.

"So, you finally know, huh?" Bobby addresses Sam.

"Yeah, I guess," Sam shrugs. "How long have you known?"

"About your Incredible Shrinking Man act? Since Dean called me up six days ago, complaining that you were calling him a giant. Although, I gotta admit that I never thought I'd have that conversation with him."

"That makes two of us," Dean grumbles.

Sam looks over at Dean with a smirk, but Dean doesn't look happy. In fact, his older brother looks upset and worn out. Sam wrinkles his brow wondering what exactly is on Dean's mind.

"So, you two ready to check out the park or would rather just sit around here all day twiddling your thumbs?"

Now Dean smirks a little.

Half an hour later, Sam is in his brother's pocket again, as Dean and Bobby walk along the same trail that the boys had taken a week ago. His little head is poking out as he struggles to keep his grip on the thick fabric.

"This is where we met up with the kids," Dean informs Bobby. "After that Sam and I split up."

Both Bobby and Dean look down at Sam. "Which way did you go?"

Sam looks around and points to the left. "Over there, along that small trail."

"Looks like it's not that old," Bobby comments.

"Yeah, you're right," Dean says as they both walk closer to the path. "Kinda like a short cut somebody took and eventually it just got worn down to look like a trail." As he starts walking towards the trail, Bobby stops him.

"Do you really think that's a good idea to go through there? What if the same thing happens to you while he's in your pocket?" Bobby glares at him.

Dean looks down at Sam, who in turn looks up at him. After taking a moment to consider what Bobby had said, Dean carefully reaches inside his pocket and pulls out his brother. "Take him," Dean says as he carefully hands Sam over to Bobby, both hands carefully cupping his brother until Bobby holds out his hand.

Once Sam was in his palm, Bobby moves his hand over to his breast pocket and lets Sam crawl inside of his coat. As soon as Sam is safe, both hunters lead the way through the trail. Sam points out which turns he took before and eventually leads them to the area that they had spotted the rabbit.

"This is where we found Timmy," Sam explains.

Dean takes a look around. There are trees all around them. Not as many as the other parts of the woods, but just enough. The ground is covered in a layer of grayed leaves and dead twigs. There really wasn't much to see.

Without saying a word, Dean and Bobby split up, both taking different sections of the woods, looking for any clue that will help them. As he is walking, Dean can't help but wonder why Sam called Ruby. The way his brother acted afterwards didn't help Dean's worry any. Sure she may have saved Sam's life, but was she really doing it for him or does she have another reason that they don't know about? Unless Sam knows something and he's not telling me. Wouldn't surprise me at this point with all of the lies he's been telling me. Dean sighs and shakes his head. Dammit Sam.

Looking down at the ground, Dean notices something not too far from where he was walking. As he walks closer he makes out what looks like a small rodent that was chewed up and torn to shreds. Dean is about to walk away, but something else among the blood and dirt draws his attention. Crouching down to get a better look, Dean reaches out and picks up the tiny red thing in his hand. He holds it in his palm as he brushes the dirt off of it and finally realizes what it is.

"Hey, Bobby! I think I found something!" Dean calls and stands up, still examining the little thing. He nudges it with his finger, turning it over to get a good look at it from every angle.

"What'd ya find?" Bobby asks as he walks up to Dean.

Dean looks up at Bobby and then down to his pocket where Sam's little head is poking out. He holds out his hand and shows them. "It's a coat."

"Where did you find that?" Sam asks.

"Down there. I think the owner got chewed up by a wild animal."

Bobby looks at the small mess and nods in agreement looking disgusted at the site.

"Dean, bring it up here for a second," Sam nods towards the coat.

Without saying anything, Dean obliges and watches as Sam looks the blood stained coat over. He digs his tiny hands into the pockets and finds a wallet, pulling out a driver's license. "Leslie Harris."

"That explains why she didn't show up for her job interview," Dean concludes as he remembers talking to the young woman's boyfriend, who had been worried sick about her.

"And that confirms what happened to the missing people," Sam concludes.

Dean drops his hand at once and looks at Sam annoyed. "Yeah, thanks, Captain Obvious, I kinda figured that out, oh, six days ago."

Sam looks taken aback as Dean pockets the tiny evidence and looks away.

"Dean, you said he just got his memory back, he doesn't know what you have and have not done this week," Bobby reminds him, but Dean just shakes his head.

"Right. Forget it." Dean scratches the back of his head and glances at Sam for a moment, his face hard. He knows he shouldn't snap at Sam, but every time he looks at him Dean can't help but think about all of the lies and that phone call he had walked in on days ago.

Dean sighs and walks away from them, trying to clear his mind. Before he realizes where he is going he finds the spot where Sam and the kids had fallen down into the small pond. He looks down at the car-sized pool with moss and ferns growing all around it. As he looks at the clear water he notices something glowing at the bottom of the water. Dean squints his eyes, trying to get a better look. "What the…?"

"Dean?" Bobby asks as he walks up the young man's side. "What is it?"

"I think I see something down there," he points into the water.

Bobby immediately spots the same thing. "What is that?"

"I don't know." Dean starts to carefully make his way down the steep incline, grabbing trees to keep him steady. Behind him, he hears Bobby following him.

Once they get to the bottom, Dean walks over to the pond's edge and leans in closer to get a better look. "It looks like some sort of rock or something." Dean examines the area around the pond. Nothing else seems odd or out of place. In fact Dean doesn't spot any other rocks in the area.

Sam looks on from Bobby's pocket as he, too, examines the rock. "Do you think that caused the shrinking?"

Bobby is about to answer Sam's question, but when he notices what Dean's been doing he starts to get a little weary. "Dean, what are you doing?"

"I'm looking for a stick or something. The water isn't too deep, and that rock isn't that far from the edge. If I could find a stick, then maybe I could pull it out and-"

"And what?" Bobby challenges.

Dean looks up at both of them. "We can't just leave it in there! What if a little kid comes along and shrinks down? Oh, wait, that already happened."

"But, Dean, if you're not careful the same thing will happen to you," Sam says. His voice soundly surprisingly sincere, which throws Dean off. It had been a while since the last time he had heard true sincerity in his brother's voice.

Despite being a little relieved by Sam's reaction, Dean shakes his head. "There's only one way to get it out, and you KNOW we have to."

Bobby stays silent, but Sam quickly speaks up again. "Dean, don't do what I think you're about to do, alright? We'll just go back to the car and get a shovel-"

"We?" Dean snorts. "Don't you think you're a little too, well, little to be carrying a shovel. Sorry, Sammy, but I don't think there's much you could do besides come along for the ride."

"You know what I mean, Dean. Just leave the rock and we—YOU can come back for it WITH a shovel."

Dean shakes his head. "Sorry, but I can't take the chance of this happening to somebody else. No way."

"Fine. Then Bobby and I can wait here while you go back-"

"No."

"Dammit, Dean," Sam finally snaps. "Why not?"

Dean looks down at the rock in the water and then back to his little brother. For the first time in what feels like forever, Dean's face softens. He knows his brother is worried about him, but at the same he knows he has to do the right thing. "Because there's only one way we can know for certain that that rock is behind all of this."

"Dean, are you sure about this?" Bobby asks, feeling uneasy about this new plan.

Looking down at the rock for a moment, Dean sighs. "Not really, but what other options do we have? You KNOW I have do this, Bobby. Besides, we don't even know for sure if that rock is a part of all of this. For all we know it could just be a regular rock and we'll look like idiots for poking at it with a stick."

Bobby looks down at Sam, both knowing Dean is right. "Fine," Bobby says looking back at Dean. "Just try to be careful."

Without another word, Dean moves closer to the edge of the water, crouches down, rolls up his sleeve, and quickly dips his hand inside the water. His fingers hesitate for a second before he finally wraps them around the palm-sized rock.

Sam silently watches his brother pull the rock out of the water. Even though a part of him knew Dean was right, Sam can't help but feel that something is wrong. You know what's really wrong? The fact that you are currently riding inside of Bobby's coat pocket! THAT's what's wrong!

Dean flips the rock over and notices some engravings on it. Only, they aren't carved into the rock, they look more like they are embedded into the rock naturally. "Well, it's definitely something." Dean turns around and walks the short distance over to Bobby and Sam, holding his hand out for them to see.

"I'd say so," Bobby mumbles, being sure not to touch the rock.

"We should probably start heading back, then. If that's what caused me and the kids to shrink, then we have about half an hour to forty-five minutes before Dean shrinks down," Sam reminds them.

Dean pockets the rock and looks at his little brother. "So do you want to ride in my pocket or stay where you're at?"

Sam snorts. "Are you kidding? You're contaminated. With my luck I'll shrink further if I'm in your pocket. Or you'll shrink, I'll stay the same size and the pocket will rip."

Pursing his lips, Dean considers this for a moment. "Good point. If I shrink down I'd rather not have your gigantor ass fall on me, even if it was proportionately the same size."

Bobby rolls his eyes and gently pushes Sam back into his pocket as he turns around to start heading back to the car.

About twenty minutes later Dean, Sam and Bobby are all back at the motel. Standing by the window of their motel room, Dean's busy doing some research on the victim they found in the woods. He's currently on the phone with Leslie's boyfriend, trying to get more information out of the guy, while Bobby is flipping through one of his books trying to find the symbols on the rock.

Dean set the rock down on the table for them to look at after they had gotten back. As they studied it, they couldn't find anything else odd about it, except that it was smooth, pale in color and the imprinted symbols were redder than the rest of the rock.

As Dean listens to what the guy has to say about his late girlfriend, Dean looks over his shoulder at Bobby and realizes the older hunter has stopped researching. Instead, Bobby is sitting at the table with Sam sitting on his closed laptop. Both hunters are staring at him intently, waiting for him to shrink down. Dean understands why they are watching him, but he still can't help but be unnerved by their stares.

Dean clears his throat and turns back to the window. "Right, well, thank you for your time. Call me if anything else comes to mind, okay?" Dean nods to the answer and hangs up his phone. He takes a moment to look out the window and to the woods across the street from their room. As he watches the world outside he wonders if this will be the last time he'll be able to look out a window without needing help from somebody else. Better take advantage of your size while you still can. Speaking of which… Dean lets out a heavy sigh as he turns around and heads to the bathroom. He's just about to walk through the door when he hears Bobby call after him.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Uh… The bathroom. Why is that a crime?" Dean looks over at Sam to make a face, but he sees that Sam's glaring at him with tiny hands on his miniature hips.

"What for?" Bobby looks at him suspiciously.

Dean chuckles a little. "Do you want me to go into detail or would you rather I draw you a picture?" When he sees that nobody else is sharing his amusement, Dean finally throws his hands out to his sides and explains, "I have to take a leak, okay? Figured I'd do it in a toilet while I still can."

"That's what I thought," Bobby says with a nod. "Do you really think it's a good idea to relieve yourself when you have no idea when you're going to shrink?"

"What if you shrink and fall in while your… you know?" Sam says, making a disgusted face. Although, deep down he's very grateful that that didn't happen to him.

Dean glares at them both. "I'll be fine." After walking into the bathroom, he turns around to close the door and looks across the room at his action figure-sized brother. "By the way, thanks for that mental image, Sam." As he's about to close the door he hears Bobby again.

"Don't lock that door, unless you want to be stuck swimming in your-"

"Again, thank you for the mental image!" Dean yells through the door.

A short while later Dean opens the bathroom door and jolts in surprise seeing Bobby standing RIGHT there, leaning against the frame. "Seriously?" Bobby just shrugs.

"Better safe than sorry."

"Right." Dean shakes his head and walks over to his bed where he lays down, stretching his legs out. "So, how much longer do we have to wait?"

"Any minute now," Sam says once he gets Bobby's attention to pick him up and carry him over to the nightstand. Bobby lets Sam hop off of his hand onto the wooden surface, where he walks over to the edge of the nightstand and sits down. He looks up at his big brother, wanting to be there for Dean when he shrank, knowing full well how nauseating and disorienting it is after you shrink down.

"Awesome," Dean sighs. He settles back into his pillow, arms crossed over his chest. "Wake me after I've been downsized." Right as he gets comfortable and ready to drift off, he feels a firm nudge hit his foot. He opens one eye and sees Bobby glare at him. "What?"

"I'm not your babysitter," he grunts as he walks back over to the table and tries to get comfortable in one of the cheap chairs.

"So you're just going to leave us after I shrink?" Dean inquires, knowing that his old pal would never do that to them… At least not long term, anyways.

Bobby opens his mouth, realizes that Dean is right and sighs, looking away. He goes back to flipping through the old book as they wait.

Dean cracks his eyes open after a few minutes and looks at his watch. Only ten minutes have passed, so he readjusts his position and tries to sleep again.

A while later he opens his eyes. Looking around the room, Dean realizes that everything is the same and he still hasn't shrunk. "How long is this supposed to take? It's been" –he goes to check his watch again—"an hour. Shouldn't I be his size by now?" Dean says pointing to Sam who is now sprawled across the pillow next to Dean.

"I don't know," Bobby says as he shakes his head in confusion. He's still looking at the pages of his second book. "But, that definitely caused the shrinking."

Dean and Sam both sit up, intrigued with what Bobby had just said. "You found the symbol?" Sam asks, sounding hopeful.

"Yeah," Bobby says in frustration. "But there isn't much in here about it, only that it's a part of a diminishing ritual."

"Then how come Dean didn't shrink?"

Dean frowns at Sam's tone and looks down to his right. "Gee, don't sound so happy, Sam."

Sam looks up at his brother. "I didn't mean it like that. I was just wondering, that's all."

"He does bring up a good point," Bobby remarks as he studies Dean. "You haven't felt dizzy or strange or anything, have you?"

"No," Dean shakes his head.

"Maybe you have to ingest the water?" Sam suggests with a shrug. He looks from Bobby and up to Dean who is looking at him puzzled. "Bobby said the rock was a part of a ritual, not the whole thing. And when I fell into the pond with the Warren kids we all got water in our mouths. So, maybe, the rock curses the water somehow, which would explain the time delay for the shrinking. It would need time to absorb into your system before it can take effect."

Dean shrugs. "Maybe. Doesn't matter now that we know it's the cause of the shrinking." He looks down at his baby brother. "Sorry, Sammy, looks like you're gonna be the only human action figure around here for a while."

Giving his neck a break, Sam looks at the massive bed before him. His shoulders droop as he wonders if his long legs will ever reach the end of the bed, while his head stays at the headboard. And here I used to think they made these beds too small. Sam sighs and hangs his head.

Edit 2/4/13: So it seems that none of my line breaks got posted in chapters 3, 4 and 5. I tried figuring out how to add them back in, but it wouldn't let me. I finally figured out a way around it and fixed all of the chapters. I appologize for the error. Honestly thought they got added in. :)

Also, I'm still working on this. Already started the next chapter and I'm considering adding a cover photo. Not sure yet on the photo thing, though. No guarantees.