*I like my new job. (: Just wish it didn't take up so much time. But on with the story!*

Once Rob and Sam came to the house they were currently staying in, Rob settled Sam on the bed, and immediately cuffed his ankles, undid the rope, and undid the handcuffs so now only his ankles were restrained.

"I have the file for you. Start looking at it now then get some sleep. I would like to head out for this by tomorrow night. The sooner we catch this thing the sooner this will all be over with. I'll be back with food."

Rob left the room. Sam reached down and checked the cuffs on his ankles. They were just handcuffs, but he still didn't have anything to pick them with, and the railings at the foot of the bed were too sturdy for him to brake. He started looking around the bed and even on the floor for anything he could use. Nothing so far. He closed his eyes and fell backwards onto his pillow, throwing his arm over his eyes in frustration.

"Dean, I need you…" He only whispered his plea, making it into a prayer almost.

Rob came back with a tray of food and a folder. Sam only lifted his arm to take a peek. He noticed Rob was being his normal self, well normal for Rob. He was somewhat cheerful again as he laid the tray on Sam's lap, then sat in the chair next to the bed. Sam was actually hungry, so he sat up, and started picking at his food.

"Ok so this case is a weird one." Rob started to explain as he opened up the file. "The ghost of Dr. Manhein has been spotted still living in the house he disappeared in…"

"Wait, he disappeared in his own house?"

"That's what the report says. His neighbor heard and saw him enter his house at around 9pm carrying something large. Next thing you know he heard screaming coming from the good doctors house. When the police arrived they saw the doors were still locked, no forced entry was found, no drag marks, not even footprints leading away from the house. They searched the whole house and there was no sign of the doctor. They can't figure out what happened to this day and this happened 6 years ago."

While Sam was eating he was actually thinking about this one. If it's one thing he enjoyed it was a good murder/mystery, and now he got to live it head on. Well first he had to figure it out, then he had to live it. The second part wouldn't be as much fun considering he would be bait and not a detective, but right now he didn't have a choice.

"Any thoughts?" Rob asked.

"Here wait, let me see the file."

Sam put his fork down and Rob handed him the file. After a few minutes of flipping through pages and making mental notes, Sam started talking outload.

"Ok so he was a Botanist. He was a well-known botanist actually. Once respected in his field until he came up with the idea to create some kind of plant-human hybrid. After that he was known as 'Mad Man Manhein', lost all his funding, was fired from Yale, and became some sort of a hermit. If only we knew what he was carrying into the house that day it might be a clue. Although I'm pretty sure what he was carrying was dead so, maybe not. Maybe someone the doctor knew came to the house, he let him in, he was murdered, hid the body in the walls then…maybe they were still in the house when the cops came, but hid well enough so the cops wouldn't find him, and after everything died down he made his great escape."

Rob couldn't stop staring at Sam. He loved the way his brain worked, and even had a smirk on his face while Sam was talking. No wonder John and Dean kept Sam close the way they did. The kid was a gem.

"In the reports over the past 6 years, it states people young and old have seen him in the windows, heard strange noises and voices coming from inside, the cops were even called several times but once they showed up all activity stopped and everything was quiet." Rob said.

Sam looked at Rob with a perplexed look on his face.

"It doesn't say anyone died because of this 'haunting', actually this whole thing sounds like a bad urban myth. Are you sure there's even a ghost and not some ramblings of a bored small town with nothing better to do? It sounds like the doctor just, I don't know jumped state to start over while leaving all his possessions. Are you looking to capture the spirit of the doctor?"

"Yeah, yeah I am." Rob responded confidently.

"Well tell me you at least went to the place to do an EMF reading to make sure this was an actual ghost 'thing' and not just a bored town being…well bored."

Rob sat back and crossed his arms.

"Uh no. I didn't do an EMF. There were a lot of sightings from a lot of people to make me believe this was the real deal."

Sam made a laugh/snort noise and smirked at Rob.

"Do you know how many people say they saw AND have proof of the lochness monster, or bigfoot, or aliens for that matter? It becomes almost a mass hysteria and in a small town like this it spreads like wild fire."

"How would you know this is a small town?"

"We are either in a small town or, a big city and we are in the outskirts. I haven't heard any cars or trucks driving by. I would assume you would want your privacy. Kidnapping is kind of something you want to keep secret."

Sure Rob made sure to black out any mention of the town before giving the files to Sam, but Sam had to have figured out by the witness's accounts of what happened, the number of elderly people that 'saw' the ghost, and many other small tiny details that Sam could put together.

Sam huffed and looked at the file again.

"I honestly don't think these accounts are anything to go by. An EMF needs to be done or else you're wasting my time with trying to catch this ghost."

Sam was really starting to grow on Rob. Rob being an only child never had someone to interact with, sure at one point he had his dad, but it wasn't the same and he knew it. Bouncing ideas off of his father was almost impossible, and forget giving him any kind of sass like Sam has been giving Rob the whole dam time.

Rob kept smiling at Sam, and Sam was starting to grow restless. He quirked an eyebrow up.

"What are you looking at now?"

"Wasting your time trying to catch this ghost?! Kid in case you haven't noticed, we have a little time to waste." Rob waved his hand towards Sam's cuffed ankles. "I would rather get this whole thing done sooner rather than later, but I also want it done right. So tonight while you're…hanging around, I am going to go to the doctor's place, and scan it with the EMF reader. I'm almost positive this ghost tale is the real deal, but I wouldn't want to 'waste your time.' " The last thing he said in a mick voice.

Sam gave a great 'bitch face' as Rob stood up, walked to the bathroom, grabbed a couple of pills and a glass of water, and gave them to Sam. He made sure the kid drank them down before crossing his arms again.

"I know the pills make you tired, but maybe I should tie you to the bed some more. Just so you don't get any cute ideas and try to escape. I know how that brain of yours works. By the way are you done eating?"

Sam nods yes. He watches as Rob crosses the room and grabbed 2 more pairs of cuffs before sitting on the edge of Sam's bed. Rob takes the tray of food away and places it on the table on the other side of the room.

"You have to go to the bathroom?"

Sam shakes his head no.

"Alright then lie down."

Sam does as he's told and lies down. He knows if he doesn't then Rob will certainly make him. Rob takes each individual wrist and handcuffs it to the railings on either sides of him. He tests them out, then stands up.

"That should do it. Now I'm going to look at the house quick, and I should be back soon. I may not be as smart as you are, but I am an excellent tracker. I would find you before you found help and trust me, it won't be pretty."

Rob walks over to the bedroom door and opens it, but before walking out he looks back at Sam.

"We will decide what to do in the morning. If this ghost doesn't pan out then I'll simply find us another mad doctor. See you in the a.m. Sammy."

Rob walks out the door and closes it tight.

Sam rolls his eyes. "It's Sam you asshole." He manages to say somewhat under his breath. He struggles with the cuffs, but again they are too tight. Time for plan B. He shifts his body a little to reveal the plastic fork he put down to read the file. Rob didn't notice he put it on the bed beside him instead of back on the tray. Now all he had to do was shimmy that fork to his hand, and just maybe he could get it just right as to pick the handcuff. He had all night to do it after all, which was good because from his position he would need all night. Sam sighed and closed his eyes. He wanted to talk to Dean, needed to talk to Dean. He still can't believe he yelled at him and said all those horrible things to him the last time they spoke. He didn't mean to direct his anger and frustration at Dean, it just sort of happened. He swears he will buy his brother the biggest pie man has ever seen next time he sees him as an apology. But for now, he has work to do with this fork. If his father and brother taught him anything, it was how to escape using whatever was around you at the time, and he finally had the opportunity and he wasn't going to let it go to waste. He knew if he did manage to escape that Rob would most likely indeed find him, and Sam knew he would be hurting for a long while afterwards, but he had to at least try and escape.

~*SPN*~

Dean asked all around the bars of Springfield if anyone has seen Rob. He's been to about 50-80 bars, he's lost count by this time. He knew he had to be careful, if anyone was to actually know Rob they could tip him off, and Dean would be that much further from finding Sam.

So here Dean was, in a dingy bar, at 11pm. His five o'clock shadow was starting to become a little more than facial stub, and he was exhausted. He sat down on a bar stool, and ordered a beer. He didn't even want to hit on the semi-attractive waitress serving him. Right now he was on his own, and it stressed him the hell out. Once he found Sam he would straighten everything out with his dad again, but until then the man could stay mad at him for all he cared. From a very young age he was given one job, protect Sammy, and right now he's royally messing it up. He ran his hand through his short hair, and started on his beer. He had a photo of Rob in front of him, and also a photo of him and Sam together leaning on the hood of the impala with his arm around him. He remembered that day, and a smile actually came across his face, which caught the attention of the bar tender.

"Hey handsome what's so funny?" She asked in a more curious way than seductive. Dean looked up, and became serious again. He coughed a little and looked at her, ignoring her question.

"Hey miss I'm looking for someone."

Dean held up the picture of Rob. The bar tender took a good look at it and smiled.

"Oh yeah hey, that guy came in not too long ago."

Dean perked up right away, but he knew he had to play this off.

"Well miss I'm with the F.B.I and this man is missing. His family is worried about him and I told them I would bring him back alive. Now this also means that I need your discretion, do you understand?"

After hearing 'F.B.I' the woman became serious and nodded her head 'yes.'

"Ok great. So I have some questions to ask. Did he happen to have a young kid with him when he came in here?"

"No, we don't let any kind of kids in here. He was alone."

"Did he say anything to you? Where he was staying by chance?"

"No nothing like that. One thing that stood out to me was he was talking about ghosts, and this was before he even started drinking mind you."

"Can you tell me what he might have said? Please his life might be at stake."

'oh yeah, this guy's life was at stake alright. ' Dean thought but kept to himself.

"Something about a white woman or a woman in white, I don't know. Also he asked me about a certain lake monster and also something about a doctor."

Ok the woman in white Dean knew about, but the other two?

"Lake monster hu? What did you tell him?"

"I told him I knew nothing about a lake monster. Hate the water. But the doctor on the other hand, I know of a myth about a doctor that lived in town years and years ago. He just disappeared and no one knows what happened to him. I'm not very much into ghost stories, but boy this guy was."

"Ok so did you hear anything about a certain lake? Or did you give him the name of this…doctor?"

"I didn't remember the doctor's name, just that people called him 'Mad Man' something or other."

"Thanks miss. You helped more than you know. If you happen to see him again don't mention I was looking for him."

"Of course not."

Dean saw the scared look on the woman's face. She was most likely trying to hide something illegal she did, so hopefully she'll keep her mouth shut. Dean paid his tab and spotted her a good $20 as a tip. He quickly got up and left. He had to get back to his motel and look up this lake and doctor.

~*SPN*~

After a while Sam actually managed to shimmy the fork to his hand, bend it with his fingers, and pick the lock! If it's one thing Dean taught him it was to be dam resourceful, and Sam was now glad that he listened to everything Dean had once told him.

With one wrist free he was easily able to un-do the other 3 cuffs restraining him to the bed. He knows this whole ordeal took him hours, and most likely Rob was already back, but if he was he showed no signs of it, and he didn't come up to check on Sam.

Slowly so that he didn't make any noise, Sam made his way to the boarded up windows. If only he could get one off with the nail stuck in it, then he would have a pliable weapon. He had to do this without drawing attention to himself.

He tried and tried to get the wood off, but it was held in there to dam tight and wouldn't even budge an inch. Next step was to look around the room and see what he could do. The next thing that caught his eye was the small table and chair. At least he could hit Rob over the head with the chair and make a mad dash.

Sam grabbed the chair, and hid behind the door. He had to wait for Rob to come upstairs willingly, then once he opened the door he would smash it over her head with all his might.

Standing there with the chair he was becoming tired. He shouldn't have taken those pills, but he was still in pain from the bridge incident. He just had to stay awake and alert enough to follow through with his plan. He had to get back to his family.

R&R please

Btw I know I said this was a hunt chpt. Sorry. We're getting places though.*