Catching Up
Chapter 2 – Wendigo

Sam searched wildly around for the source of the voice. "Come out you son of a bitch," he growled to the thin air.

"Sam?" It was Mary. She appeared at the kitchen doorway, concern written all over her face. "Are you okay?"

Sam took a breath and cut his eyes upwards to the ceiling before meeting his mother's gaze. "I'm fine mom, it's just been a rough couple of days."

"And seeing Jessica's death didn't help," Mary came forward and hugged her younger son. "I'm so sorry you lost her."

"Me too," Sam pulled away. "But I'm better now. Is the second episode queued up?"

"You want to continue?"

"Absolutely," Sam insisted. "Let's just get some more drinks and we'll head right back."

"Okay," Mary patted his cheek gently. When they returned to the study, Dean and Cas were going through the other DVDs.

"Looks like you come in during the fourth season dude," Dean was saying. "We've got a long way to go."

"We'll get there all the same," Cas said calmly. He noticed the other two come in, "Are you alright Sam?"

"Fine Cas, thanks," Sam assured him. "What's the next episode?"

"Wendigo," Dean read off. "Sam and Dean follow the coordinates in their father's journal and land in Colorado, where they investigate the disappearance of several campers. Man I really do miss cases like this."

"I look and see if there are any cases nearby," Sam promised. "I don't want us going too far with the Men of Letters still hanging around. What are the odds they are just going to let us go?"

"Good point but it would be nice to do a pick-up job while we figure that situation out," Dean hit play and the recap of the previous episode played before the title card. The show opens with some guys camping in the woods while something apparently stalks them in the dark.

"Oooohhhooohhh," Sam wiggled his fingers in the air. "Could this be a cheesier slasher flick beginning?"

"Maybe we should turn off the lights and grab some blankets?" Dean smirked. "Actually," he hopped off the couch just as the second man was taken and the lights in the study turned off. Dean sat back down with a wink watching the final person almost being attacked before it switched to TV!Sam at a gravesite.

"That's eerie, this was a dream," Sam said. "How the hell did they get that right?"

"How the hell did they get anything right?" Dean countered dubiously. "Speaking of cheesy horror, Carrie much?"

"Dude shut up," Sam shook his head.

TV!Sam and TV!Dean were in wildlife office and Ranger Wilkinson came in. "I always did love it when the information just fell into our laps." Mary mused. "You'd think officials would be more discreet but nah."

"Okay we have to go hunting with mom," Dean declared.

"Dean, this is an honest query." Cas interrupted. "How many IDs did you have initially?"

"More than enough buddy," Dean answered. "Pretty sure I could've snuck into Fort Knox if I wanted to."

"Waste of time," Mary said dismissively and Sam and Dean stared. "I didn't actually get it in, my great uncle did. The story is in one of my father's journals."

"That would've made a sweet bedtime story mom, just saying," Dean threw out there. In the show, the boys met Hayley and discussed her brother's disappearance. They uncover the attacks occurring every twenty-three years and met with Mr. Shaw.

"Corporeal," Dean grinned. "Why did you stop talking like that Sammy? I was learning something."

"Like anything ever stuck," Sam shot back. "You used that word for three days straight after this case but never bothered to find out what it actually meant."

"I could figure it out, given the context," Dean explained. "Besides you were strung so tight, one of us needed to lighten the mood."

"I had good reason to be," Sam countered. "I just wanted to find dad and whatever it was that killed Jessica. I don't know, I guess I thought I'd feel better once it was over. I was wrong but still…"

"Hunts rarely ever help," Mary said sagely. "I get the feeling this guide is going to be a pain in the ass." She nodded to screen where they joined Hayley to begin searching the ridge.

"I wish I had begun working with you sooner, I could have easily taken care of this," Cas commented.

"Why don't angels become more involved?" Mary asked.

"We are the shepherds of man, we tend but do not interfere. In life, death, the natural order, we could not change it. I'm not exactly the standard-bearer for my kind Mrs. Winchester. In fact I'm fairly certain I'm the example of exactly why angels shouldn't become involved."

"Aw Cas don't beat yourself up, your Grace was in the right place," Dean comforted his friend. "What Cas is trying to say mom is that most angels are asses who don't really give a crap. In Cas's case, he full-on rebelled against heaven to take our side."

"That's…something," having no real response, Mary returned her attention to the screen.

TV!Dean and Roy were locking horns and everyone in the room simply rolled their eyes. Hayley confronted TV!Dean before finding her brother's campsite and TV!Sam figured out that it was an Wendigo. "Ah the hard part, getting people to understand that their lives are in danger. Despite the insurmountable evidence, they never believe you," Mary recalled. "Oh look, I was right about the pain in the ass." The group in the show had settled into camp and the brothers were having their talk.

Dean snorted lightly, "Screwed to hell, get it Sammy?"

"You did not just…" Sam laughed against his will.

"One must always have a good sense of humour about eternal damnation," Cas deadpanned and that was saying something coming from him.

In the show, the wendigo was circling the camp and Roy admitted that 'it was no grizzly'. "No shit Sherlock," Dean remarked. Roy was killed in a fraction of a second and everyone winced. TV!Sam and TV!Dean teamed with Hayley and Tommy to take down the Wendigo and begin tracking it only to realise it had lured them in and snatched Hayley and TV!Dean.

"The trick with a Wendigo is to keep moving," Mary told her sons. "It naturally moves extremely fast, often overshooting where it needs to go. That's why it darts around so much. Obviously it's adapted its hunting skills to work for it but often the prey needs to be stationary to get caught. As long as you keep moving the Wendigo will constantly have to recalculate where it needs to go."

"So why didn't it get us while we were standing in the clearing earlier?"

"My guess is too many people," Mary reasoned. "It does have to stop to take its prey and that leaves it vulnerable to injury if not death."

"You seem quite calm for someone who just saw their sons abducted by a creature," Cas observed.

"They're sitting right here Castiel," Mary affectionately tousled Sam and Dean's heads. "Everything we're seeing here was in the past and though I don't like it, at least I know they're alive and well."

"Thanks to my ingenious use of resources," Dean beamed.

"Dude you dropped some candy, it's not like you survived the Oregon Trail," Sam said derisively. Good one. That voice was back and Sam nearly jumped out of his skin. He looked around the room but no one else was there.

"You alright man?" Dean asked.

"Yeah fine," Sam settled back into his seat. Pointedly ignoring everyone's concerned eyes, he watched his television self and TV!Dean about to square off with the monster. The fight in the mineshaft and TV!Dean was there just in the nick of time, to put the creature down and save them.

"Against my better judgement, I have to say you boys are good hunters," Mary said. "A little rough around the edges but this is the beginning after all."

"One of the few times everything ended well," Sam said softly only to become sour as TV!Dean flirted with Hayley. "She's right, must you cheapen the moment?"

"Yeah." Dean gave him an 'obviously' look. They watched the ending and Dean nodded, "Drive off like a couple of bad asses, I'm actually digging this show. The music is good. Who's up for the next one?"

A/N: I AM! I AM! I hope you all are too. The next episode is one of my absolute favourites. Until next time, ENJOY! R&R PLZ!