A/n: Thank you so much to everyone who reads, reviews, follows, and/or favorites this story. Thank you miXiZ, SparksFlyAngel, Guest, and of course LilyBolt for your recent reviews.

Chapter 4

A Week Ago (Lawrence Kansas)

"Dean, can you please grab that-no not that one. The blue one, yes that one there. Thank you love." Mary crossed off 'beans' on her list, looked down at the items in her shopping cart, then back up at the rows of cans again. "You know, we might want to make it two." Dean snatched up another one and tossed it in. "Now we need some milk and butter." She started walking down the aisle with her eldest and the shopping cart in tow, his eyes running through all the food as he did. Grocery shopping was never smart when hungry, but he had promised to come over and mow the lawn, and run errands with his mother and stocking up the fridge happened to be one of them. As he strolled along, he picked up some chocolate pudding that had caught his eye and as stealthy as possible, he placed it in the cart before picking up his pace to catch up to Mary.

"I promise I'll make you a nice BLT when we get home," she said as though she had read her son's mind.

"Well hell, I can never say no to that. Extra bacon?" He asked hopefully reminding Mary of a much younger Dean. She chuckled and stroked his cheek.

"With extra bacon." He made a victorious gesture as he walked around to add milk into their cart.

"Mary Winchester?" The woman turned towards the voice with a look of shock followed by a smile.

"Missouri! How are you? Oh my God it's been awhile," she greeted, pulling her old friend into a hug.

"Too long if you ask me," she responded putting her hands on her hips. "How are you Mary?" Mary's smile faltered slightly but she quickly returned it.

"I've been...ok. Some days are good and some are...well...I miss him." Missouri reached out and grabbed her hand.

"I know it's hard, but you're a strong woman Mary Winchester." The mother nodded as tears began to well up in her eyes. "Oh Missouri, you've met Dean, right?" She asked wiping at her face and turning to her son. The woman's dark kind eyes fell on Mary's eldest.

"Look at you," she laughed. "You grew up handsome, and you were one goofy looking kid." Dean frowned and opened his mouth to retort, but she went on before he had a chance. "And your other boy? How's he?"

"Sam's doing great! He's away at college studying to be a lawyer," Mary beamed. Missouri smiled back, but something about it made Dean feel uneasy.

"Oh that's wonderful, good for him. The world could use a lawyer with a heart."

"That's our Sammy," she laughed. "Listen, this week I'm swamped, but I would love to get together some time for some coffee or lunch or something and catch up."

Missouri nodded.

"That would be lovely. You have a nice day now Mary, Dean, don't be strangers." Mary hugged her old friend one more time then continued on with her shopping, turning down the next aisle. As Dean moved to follow, he was stopped by a hand on his forearm. His eyes fell to it and then up at its owner with a start.

"Dean, your brother Sam is in trouble," she blurted out. Her kind eyes were full of desperation and fear as she spoke.

"What?" Dean asked alarmed.

"I'm not lying, and don't call me a ding bat," she snapped defensively.

"Whoa whoa whoa. I didn't say that."

"You were thinking it." The young man stared at the woman in disbelief rendered momentarily speechless. "I know you and your daddy never believed in me and that you too strongly thought I was just some fake trying to cheat your poor mother out of her hard earned cash, but listen to me. Your brother, he's in California, right?"

"How did you-"

"I'm psychic, boy, pay attention," she responded. "Sam is in danger."

"What kind of danger? How do I know you aren't yanking my chain?"

"I don't know exactly. I can only feel that something's not right. I didn't want to worry your mother, she's got enough to worry about as it is. She needs this trip she's taking, it'll do her good." She paused and the fear drained from her eyes, leaving them sympathetic. "I am sorry for you however." Dean's brows furrowed.

"Why are you sorry for me? What are you talking about?"

"There you are," Mary reappeared and rejoined them. "The faster we get the this done, the sooner I can feed you." She paused noticing the troubled look on her son's face. "Dean, what's the matter love?"

Dean found himself unable to respond to her and seeing the look of concern on the mother's face, Missouri stepped in.

"We were just talking about your youngest. Dean was saying how he misses him." He shot the woman a glare and then looked over at his mom who was now looking at him sympathetically.

"Oh sweetheart, I know it's hard, for all of us. But we are so happy and so proud of our Sammy."

The young man grinned and nodded.

"Well you two have a lovely day," Missouri smiled.

"You too, I'll call you later," Mary called back. With her friend now gone her attention was back on Dean who still looked as though something was bothering him. "I know it's been a little over a year since we've been able to see him, but Thanksgiving will be here before you know it. I'm sure we can pitch in and help fly him down for the holiday," she replied cheerfully. Her eldest son shook himself out of his shock and gave her what he hoped was a convincing grin.

"Sounds good. I'm suppose to start picking up some extra hours in the garage, should be able to put a dent in a plane ticket."

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Now

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"Try me," Liz replied challenging the older Winchester brother.

"Ok, um, I was warned by a psychic," he responded matter o' factly.

"You were warned by a psychic?" He was right, she didn't believe him. This guy certainly didn't look like the kind of person who would fall for that kind of money pit, unless he did in fact have a screw lose which was something that she was starting to think was highly likely.

"And what did this psychic tell you Mr. Winchester?" He took a moment, but the sincerity was never gone from his eyes as he spoke.

"That my brother was in trouble."

"I see, but she didn't tell you about the wedding?" Liz inquired. The question made the man's jade stare soften once again for just a moment and she was given the impression that he was no stranger to manipulating his face to mask his true emotions.

"No, nothing." The woman nodded and scribbled down some more notes on her pad of paper. The room was silent with the exception of the pencil at work.

"Did they tell you what kind of trouble?"

Dean shook his head.

"And you believed this psychic?" She tried to keep any judgmental tone from lacing through her words as she questioned him.

"Some lady tells you your brother's in trouble with a big 'just seen a ghost' look in her eyes, and you just shrug that off? I'm not saying I completely believed her, but I'm also not saying that I was willing to take the chance she may have been wrong either."

Liz watched the young man carefully as he spoke. Looking for any indicators he wasn't speaking truthfully from his attitude or body language.

"How would you describe your relationship with your brother?"

He scoffed, giving Liz an answer even before he opened his mouth."It's complicated."

"Complicated how?"

"What, you don't know what complicated means?" Dean snapped.

"I mean how come it's complicated? What makes it so?"

The young man shifted in his seat uncomfortably.

"Things just...snowballed I guess you could say. Sam's into books and studying and being successful and I'm into girls and cars and living the life that makes me happy."

"So how do the activities and goals you pursue in make things complicated How is that 'snowballing?'" Liz asked with a knitted brow. Dean licked his lips.

"Well like I said, I like girls. Sam's prom night, I had seen his prom date through beer colored glasses so to speak." The woman's brows went up and her mouth formed a silent O. "Sam never forgave me for that, and from that day on, he never trusted me around his chicks. Which makes sense that he never told me about Hot Legs," he mumbled the last part to himself.

"Anything else?"

"Well, then there's Dad..."

"Your father?" She asked. Dean's eyes grew distant. "Mr. Winchester? Hey!" He shook his head as his gaze come back to the present. "What about your father?"

"Nothing."

"It's something."

"It has nothing to do with this."

"Maybe it doesn't have anything to do with Jessica Wincester's death directly, but it could have to do with a motive on your part."

"Look lady, you aren't a therapist and I don't do walks down bad memory lane. I didn't kill her. I already told you, the house was on fire when I got there. What do you think I set the house on fire so that I could look like a hero and be on my brother's good side? Damn the consequences and lives that may be lost? Why don't you stop wasting your time with me and Sam and start doing your damn job and find who's responsible!"

Liz's jaw tightened and she kept her gaze fixed on the young man in front of her.

"That's precisely what I'm doing and right now, I can't say that the odds are in your favor. Hero or not," she challenged. Liz rose from her chair and collected her pencil and paper. "Someone will be in shortly to see you to a holding cell until further noticed." With that, she marched off back to the room where the other Winchester boy was currently. Dean may no longer be willing to cooperate, but the younger one had so far. It was more likely she could pull what Dean was clamming up about, through Sam.

A/n: SparksFlyAngel, sorry about your heart and good memory/eye on Brady :-)

Guest, I'm glad you want to read more despite being sad for Dean.