A/N: First off, I want to apologize to Sam. Oh, you poor dear boy! If I had known how utterly painful and horrible a concussion was, I never would have given you one! Well, to be fair, I probably would have, but I would've felt REALLY bad about it lol! :P That's part of the reason it took so long to update, although I've also been sick, and my little sister's been in and out of the hospital, and I've been spending time with my family and boyfriend, not to mention school stuff… Basically, I've a whole slew of excuses, but I'll stop making them and get to the story. Please, please, please review! Enjoy! ;)

I'd Follow You Anywhere

Chapter Seven

Sam stared at his brother, eyes wide and expression haunted. "What?" he asked. "What did you just say?"

"It… it's Dad." Dean turned his attention away from Sam and spoke into the phone again, his voice tense and urgent. "Dad? Dad, can you hear me?"

Sam put a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Dean, it can't be Dad," he reminded Dean.

"I know that, Sam, I ain't stupid!" Dean snapped, but Sam was able to see a wild glint of something akin to hope in the back of his brother's eyes. It was a deeply hidden gleam, so deep, in fact, that Sam imagined that even Dean didn't know it was there. Sam understood that Dean wanted desperately for their father to still be alive somehow, but it was impossible. Sam felt the same twinge of hope, the what if burning in his mind no matter how much he tried to oust it. It simply couldn't be John Winchester.

Dean slammed the phone shut, glowering. "Dammit, Sam!" he cursed. "He's gone!"

Sam closed his eyes briefly before answering. "Dean, I don't think he was ever there in the first place. We need to calm down, think this through rationally—"

"I am calm, dammit!" Dean spat, and Sam briefly entertained the idea of smoke coming from his brother's ears.

"Yeah, you're the picture of serenity," Sam said sarcastically. Dean grimaced, but did actually manage to somewhat smooth over his expression and lower his voice.

"I know it's not really him, Sammy," Dean admitted, and Sam didn't quite have the heart to correct his brother with an emphatic "It's Sam," so he just sat and listened to Dean working through what had just happened. "I mean, it can't've been, but, crap, Sam – you didn't hear his voice like I did. I mean, there wasn't any malevolence, nothing to distrust about it, you know?"

"Except that it was the voice of a dead man," Sam said in what he hoped was a reasonable tone, but judging by the fire that lit in Dean's eyes at the mention of John Winchester as just some "dead man," Sam had failed spectacularly at his effort to keep things neutral in the haphazardly parked Impala.

"You don't just not believe that it's Dad," Dean snapped angrily. "I don't think that you want it to be him, either."

Sam's mouth fell open in indignation. "How could you say that, man?"

"You've never gotten along with Dad, and you've been so hell-bent on me talking about my feelings and getting over his death. I can't believe I didn't see it before – you're glad he's gone. You've never liked having his authority over you, and now that you're finally free of it, you can't stand the thought of having him back. You're pathetic, you know that?"

Sam stared at Dean, his heart racing madly in anger. He opened his mouth furiously to respond, but Dean cut him off. "Sorry to disappoint you, Sam, but I'm not so sure that it wasn't Dad."

Sam was so shocked that he didn't respond to Dean's prior insult, instead addressing his brother's crazed statement. "You're kidding me. Dean, whatever's going on here, we're now being targeted. There's no way it could be Dad, no matter how much either one of us wants it to be. I – we – can't afford for you to get sucked in by this spirit, or whatever's doing this, now."

Dean didn't respond for several moments, but when he did, it nearly broke Sam's heart. "I'm going to find out what's going on, and if that was Dad's spirit somehow contacting me, then I'll find him, with or without your help. So if you're not going to help me find him, you can make your own way back. Get out."

Sam's breath hitched in his throat. Was Dean seriously kicking him out of the car? Now? Something was seriously screwing with his brother's head, and Sam knew that he had to figure out what was going on before Dean became the next cliff diver or bog body. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself so that he could help Dean, when something outside of the car caught his eye. It was a flash of blue fabric disappearing into some trees on the side of the road. Sam could have sworn that he had seen a glimpse of silky blonde hair tailing the blue before they had both faded into the trees.

Transfixed, Sam held out his hand to his brother, indicating that Dean should wait. Heart and head pounding in sync, Sam opened the Impala's door and slowly rose from the seat, closing the door as quietly as he could behind him. He was still a little dizzy from the concussion, but he managed to make it across the roadside ditch with minimal stumbling, climbing up victorious on the other side. He was so focused on the strange vision that he had seen earlier that he nearly leaped back into the ditch in surprise when he heard the engine of the Impala roar back to life, and a squeal of tires indicating that the car had sped away.

Shocked out of his stupor, Sam spun around to see his brother's baby speeding around an upcoming curve and out of sight. Sam stared in shock as his ride disappeared. Dean had actually left him stranded on the side of the road, and with a concussion, no less! Sam tried to remind himself that something wasn't right with Dean, but as his head gave yet another painful pulse, Sam couldn't seem to find any empathy for the older man at the moment.

Growling angrily at his brother's betrayal, Sam gave one last glance to where he had seen the disappearing form and made his way back through the ditch and on to the road, preparing himself for the six-and-a-half mile walk back to the motel.

If some vengeful spirit pretending to be their father didn't get to Dean first, Sam was going to kill his brother.

Dean arrived at the motel in record time. He had made the drive from the curb where he'd stopped after the (literally) haunting phone call to his temporary place of residence in record time. He didn't really even remember much of the drive home, other than the anger at Sam he had experienced, and the warring hope and disbelief at having heard John Winchester's voice from his cell phone.

About a mile from the motel, Dean began to realize that he might not should have driven off without Sam, even if he had given the kid a fair warning beforehand. After all, Sam did have a concussion, and even though Dean was seriously pissed at him right now, if something were to happen to his little brother because Dean had stranded him, concussed, on a Louisiana back road with some mysterious monster on the loose, chances were that Dean would never forgive himself. Still, he couldn't bring himself to turn around and go back for Sam, because he found himself recalling how relieved and happy his father had sounded on the phone.

No, not his father. Sam was right, Dean decided as he pulled into the motel's parking lot. As much as Dean wanted it to be his father, there was too much weirdness going on for his father's apparent return from the dead to be true. Dean told himself this, several times, in fact, but he couldn't shake the thought that maybe, just maybe, John had managed to evade death or retract the deal he had made for Dean's life. Or maybe he had never actually died in the first place. Maybe he was really there, alive and in need of Dean's help.

And Dean was back to being furious at Sam again.

It wasn't until he had plopped down onto the tattered couch in the motel room that he truly realized what an idiot he was for leaving Sam, especially when he heard the tell-tale pitter-patter of what could only be rain drumming down on the tin roof of the motel. "Crap," he groused, glancing at his watch and realizing that Sam hadn't had enough time to walk back yet, and tried to convince himself that he needn't worry about his brother, and that he hadn't done anything wrong in driving off without him. Dean resolved to give Sam another half hour, and if he wasn't back by then, Dean would drive out after him.

Fifteen minutes later, though, his plans were changed when his phone rang again. Upon hearing the ringing sound, Dean froze, suddenly terrified to answer the cell phone, afraid that he would hear his dad's voice again, but also yearning to hear it. With shaking hands, he reached for the phone and flipped it open, not bothering to look at the caller ID. "Hello?" he answered, hoping that his voice wasn't shaking too much. He hated feeling so emotional, so vulnerable.

"Dean? You tell that idget brother of yours that if he calls me asking for advice, he damn well better pick up when I call him back with information!"

"Bobby," Dean said, surprised. He pulled the phone back to check the screen, and sure enough, one of Bobby's many numbers was on the screen.

"Yeah, who else would it be?" Bobby snapped. "Where's that brother of yours?"

"Sam?" Dean asked, surprised. Sam had had his phone on him when he'd left the car; his brother always kept it on his person in case someone – like Bobby – needed to get ahold of him.

"No, your other brother," Bobby replied, sarcasm dripping from his words. "He called me early this morning about this case you're on. You two shoulda called me sooner. It took nearly six hours' worth of digging, but I think I found something, and it ain't pretty. You boys need to watch your step out there, and stay together. You're dealing with one nasty S.O.B."

Dean felt his insides grow cold at Bobby's words. He hadn't had any idea that Sam had called Bobby this morning, but it was just like him to call for help and not tell Dean about it, because Sam didn't tell Dean much of anything these days – except to open up about their father's death. Dean jumped to his feet even as Bobby warned him about whatever it was they were facing, and grabbed his keys from the coffee table where he had tossed them upon entering the room.

"You said you couldn't get hold of Sam?" Dean asked as he hastened out the door and through the rain to the Impala.

"No, but I figured he'd be with you. Where's he at?"

"Bobby, I think I might have made a big mistake…" Dean admitted, trailing off as he started the car and peeled out of the parking lot.

"What did you do, y'idgit?" Bobby groaned.

"I might have… kind of… left Sam on the side of the road half an hour ago… and it's raining and he hasn't come back yet."

Bobby cursed. "Can I ask why you did this stupid thing?"

"You can, Bobby, but I doubt you'll like the answer," Dean hedged, not really in the mood to get lectured any further by the man. When Bobby made an impatient noise in his throat, Dean relented. "I got angry at him because he didn't believe me when I told him who had just called me."

There was silence for several long moments on the other end, and Dean concentrated on peering through the pouring rain for any sign of his brother, although there seemed to be no trace of the man. When Bobby spoke, his voice was resigned. "Lemme guess," he said. "You got a call from your father, didn't you?"

Dean gasped. "How the heck did you know that?"

"Because," Bobby sighed heavily, "that's just the way that these things work. It's set its sights on you, and probably your brother too, because you've become a threat. Chances are, Sam is going to be seeing some people from his past, too, and with the two of you apart… together, you stand a chance of staying grounded, but apart… Dean, you've got to find your brother, now."

Dean's voice was surprisingly steady as he asked, "What exactly are we dealing with, Bobby?"

"A spectre," Bobby responded dully, "and from what you've told me, a nasty one at that. Now, do exactly what I tell you, and you and your brother might just live to see another sunrise."

A/N: Dun dun dun! :) Woooo, that was fun to write, and it's so incredibly great to be back ! I'll definitely be updating again in the very near future, so be on the lookout for more – this is exciting, for me too! Please review and I'll update soon! :)

~Emachinescat ^..^