Jacob lounged on a cushioned bench in a lobby on the second floor. With his ban from the top floor in place, there was little he could do but wait. With that in mind, he'd found the bench in what looked like the waiting room for a law office and settled down. No one was around to tell him off, so he had his feet up on the bench, long legs stretched out across it.

He hadn't heard much of anything so far. If the others needed him, they'd have come to get him. No one else was in the building that he'd seen, and he had a pretty good view of the front walk of the building, if not the door itself.


Up above Jacob's head, in the ceiling itself, Sam and Dean had managed to find their way into the vents that ran throughout the building. It wasn't a fast process, a fact that grated at Dean even as they ran along the metal flooring. The tell-tale clang! of their footsteps rang around them. If the situation was less dire, they wouldn't go so fast and take the risk of being heard.

But it was dire, and Chase and the others were relying on them.

Every time they came up to an opening to the rooms below, Sam would lean over the edge to scout out the room. Dean stayed back, away from the disorienting distances until it became absolutely necessary for him. His jaw clenched as he watched Sam check their third vent. This was taking too long.

Sam started up the run again, and they were silent. Guilt was heavy over both brothers. Sam for freezing and costing Dean his attention on the others, Dean for running without knowing for sure Chase was behind them.

A fourth vent came into view, and Sam was leaning over it before Dean even caught up to him. The stiffness in Sam's shoulders went down a little as he spotted a friendly face. "Jacob!" Sam called through the slits, waving a hand to try and catch his attention.


Jacob heard his name before he saw Sam's waving. He sat up straighter and glanced around the room. He checked what vents he could find until the barest motion in one drew all of his focus and he smiled faintly.

The tall human heaved himself to his feet, and even though his friends were above him, he still checked the floor out of habit before striding towards the ceiling vent. He looked straight up, his face only a foot or two away from Sam. "Hey, guys," he greeted. He saw the flicker of motion in the dim vent as Dean presumably caught up.

"Chase get everything translated for ya?" he asked hopefully. His eyes flickered past Sam once or twice, searching the low lighting for his friend's small form. He wouldn't blame him for hanging back from the opening, but all the same he hoped to hear how things had gone upstairs while he had to sit things out. The vents were too dark to see much aside from Sam, who leaned down close to the opening.

Sam grimaced. The last thing he wanted to do was face Jacob and tell him they'd lost his best friend from childhood. The same went for Dean, his face shadowed as he hung back behind Sam, fingering the barb on his hook for a distraction.

"Yeah, he translated," Sam confirmed. "But there's a problem." The thought of staying in the ceiling for telling Jacob what had happened to Chase was tempting, and Sam was tense at the thought of being in Jacob's hands if he got upset.

It was Jacob out there. They could trust him, even if he got mad at them. Sam knew that, but he couldn't stop the instinctive nerves that rose up. The encounter with Bobby Loran had left Sam with a fear he couldn't rid himself of easily.

"Mind giving us a hand?" Sam asked, pushing through his nerves. Chase needed help now, and there wasn't time for him to waste.

The traces of a smile on Jacob's face faltered and flickered out like a candle. He was certain that he'd have heard Chase chime in by now, and there was a sinking feeling in his gut despite all his attempts to stay optimistic. "Yeah, sure," he answered, distracting himself from his worry with a temporary fix.

He lifted both hands up to the vent to cup them safely beneath the opening. Sam and Dean wouldn't have to jump down more than an inch to reach his palms, and when they did he would make sure to keep them secure there. They put a lot of trust in him every time they walked onto his hands, and Jacob never ever wanted to betray that trust, no matter how intense a situation might get.

If Chase wasn't with them, there had to be a reason for it. He barely refrained from asking aloud what had happened. Instead, his eyes said it all as the worry in them steadily grew. Jacob kept his hands steady for the small brothers in spite of it.

Sam was first through the slits, squirreling his way expertly through to drop down the inch of distance to land on the pliant surface of Jacob's palm. Once he touched down, he twisted around and crawled to his knees, helping Dean through the vent and praying his older brother didn't chance a look at the ground that was so far below them. Jacob was tall, and they were suspended far above even his head.

When they were both safely down, and certain that their hooks or thread hadn't caught on the edge, Dean punched the surface of Jacob's palm to let him know they were ready.

It was all too soon before they were brought down, suspended in front of large brown eyes that were full of worry and concern. Dean couldn't meet Jacob in the eyes, heat rising to his face in shame as he stared down at the skin under them.

Sam took a breath to steady himself, trying to push away any trepidation about the thought of being in Jacob's hands while they gave him the bad news. They were safe.

It still took a second before he could find his voice. Chase was waiting for them, and they needed to get Jacob up there. "Jacob, you need to get back to that room as fast as you can," all spilled out of Sam's mouth the second he got started talking, like a dam bursting. "There's two guys that went in there and they grabbed Chase and the zhi ren and we think they're leaving but we don't know because we couldn't go after them we're too small."

Jacob's brow pinched and his shoulders bunched up as the worry seized him. He didn't know what zhi ren meant, and he didn't know what all had happened. Everything else lost focus as the revelation that his best friend of almost a decade was in danger.

All because he'd suggested they bring him in on the case.

There was no time to worry about the ashamed looks on Sam and Dean's faces. He turned to make a beeline for the stairwell, and though he momentarily regretted moving so quickly with such small passengers, he had to get up there. He had to try to help his friend. Sam and Dean were shifted as hastily as he dared to one hand and held close, with his chest as an extra wall for support as he all but threw the door open.

Why wasn't I watching the stairs?

Why didn't I listen closer?

Why did I call Chase in the first place?

The accusing thoughts assaulted him as he hurried up the stairs. He made sure that he never jostled Sam and Dean enough to send them tumbling off of his hand, but at the same time he moved with as much speed as the narrow staircase allowed him.

When he reached the top floor, Jacob threw the door open. It slammed against the adjacent wall and swung free, the only sound in the oppressively quiet hallway.

It was empty, and there was no sign of Chase or whoever had taken him, save for the agitated dust swirling in the air illuminated by the last light of the sun.

Jacob tilted his head down to look at his hand, still tucked close to his chest. "What do I do?"

Down on Jacob's hand, both brothers were huddled close together for safety. It was the first time Jacob had needed to move so fast with them standing on his hand the entire time, a helpless feeling for them.

They couldn't help.

They were too small, and because of it they'd watched one of their friends be taken away.

Dean clenched his hand into a fist, and, ignoring Sam's cry of surprise, punched it right into Jacob's chest. All of his bottled-up resentment over their size went into that blow, helping him clear his mind. "Dammit! " Dean shouted in frustration.

"Hey, hey, hey," Sam said, grabbing Dean's shoulders and pulling him away from Jacob's chest before any more blows could land. "C'mon, there's always something we can do. It isn't like Trails West, where there was no way to go looking for people when they vanished."

Dean took a deep, shuddering breath, squeezing his eyes shut. "This is all my fault," he practically moaned. "If we'd just stuck closer to the walls, or I kept a better eye on him when we heard them coming…"

"Dean," Jacob said wearily, trying to draw Dean out of his mire of self blame as though he wasn't thinking through a hundred things he could have done differently, too. "A lot happened just now, we don't need to think about blame." He sighed and, once he was sure Sam and Dean were secure on his palm, lifted it away from his chest so he didn't have to look straight down at them, and they didn't have to look straight up.

Before speaking, Jacob dragged his free hand down his face and scanned the hallway. There really was no one around, and hardly even a sound greeted them. Just like that, Chase was gone.

"Security cameras," he said suddenly. "There aren't any in the building but maybe there are some watching the outside, we could see where they went? Maybe?"

Jacob's voice was practically a whisper. In an effort to avoid deafening the brothers in his mounting worry, he preemptively lowered his rumbling voice. It was tight with nerves and real fear that his best friend could well and truly slip beyond their help if he didn't figure something out in time. Chase was counting on them.

"That might work," Sam agreed, leaning a hand on Jacob's thumb. "We both saw them, so we can ID them if you get them on screen."

"Or…" Dean's voice was hesitant and that got Sam's attention immediately. Dean didn't do hesitant. He was the most confident person Sam knew.

Once Dean knew he had their attention, he went on. "That sense I've got. I can try and find him, just like I did with Jacob, right? It worked then, why not now? Chase has his inhaler on him."

"Just… be careful?" Sam asked, his face etched with concern. There were shortcomings to Dean's ability, just like to his, and he hated to see Dean push himself. One time Dean had tried to track their father, he'd ended up in pain for an entire day.

In response, Dean just pinched the bridge of his nose, scrunching his eyes shut in concentration.

Jacob couldn't help but stare. Normally he avoided it, because he knew it wasn't polite or comfortable for the brothers, especially with Sam's knack. Even Dean probably felt a little bit of that unsettling notion of being watched when a human stared at him. Jacob never wanted to make them uncomfortable.

This time, his worry for his friend had thrown him for a complete loop. Chase had never once dealt with anything supernatural until he met Sam and Dean. He had trusted Jacob to help him learn and figure everything out in his first case. He had trusted Jacob when he said it would be safe, that they'd look out for him and all he needed to do was translate a few words.

They had to get him back. Anything could happen to him.

The moments stretched out around them, everyone motionless and staring at Dean as he focused on their lost friend. Sam's frown dug grooves onto his face as he realized it was taking too long.

Dean had locked onto Jacob's bead in half the time.

Sam grabbed onto Dean's wrist. "It's not working, is it?" he demanded in a hush out of habit. When Dean didn't respond, he yanked the hand away. His eyes blew wide. "Dean!"

Dean's brow was furrowed in pain instead of concentration, and a trail of blood ran down his face from his nose. Sam grabbed onto his shoulders and shook him to break his concentration. "You can't lock onto Chase, remember? You need to try for his inhaler."

Blinking his eyes open, Dean groaned, slumping into Sam's arms. Both brothers fell to their knees in Jacob's hand when Dean sent them both off balance. "If you think it's so easy, you do it! I don't see a handbook lyin' around that's all about how our Wonder Twin powers activate!"

Jacob frowned faintly and his thumb curled inward to briefly graze against Dean's back. He couldn't do much more for him. Dean was too small for Jacob to be able to check on him and make sure he was okay. He could barely even see the trail of blood on Dean's tiny face.

"It's okay, Dean, we'll figure it out," he murmured, his eyes distant. He tried to think of potential plans of action, but his imagination was much better at supplying thoughts about what could happen to Chase. He could be hurt in a million different ways, and he didn't have any of the advantages that Sam and Dean did.

It left a queasy feeling in Jacob's gut to know that Chase could simply be kept, trapped like an animal for someone's entertainment. Bobby Loran had nearly done precisely that to Sam and Dean.

"We just ... we should get out of this building and regroup. We'll grab Dean some water and think about what else we can do," he determined, though he glanced at the brothers for their thoughts on the matter. Jacob, despite his size, was far from being the leader of their odd group.

Sam let Dean lean on him, putting a hand protectively on his back. He remembered the last time this happened, when Dean had first tried using his knack to find their father. They had been so hopeful after it turned out that he was able to track the Impala all the way to Bobby's, what was a little farther in the world if it found their father?

Instead, Dean had just about put himself to bed for days with a splitting headache.

"Objects, not people," Sam murmured a soft reminder. He met Jacob's eyes. "I think that's the best plan. Dean needs time to recover from this, or he'll be useless." And helpless, Sam knew. Unable to get even himself out of danger if he didn't let himself rest.

" 'M fine, Sammy," Dean protested, trying to pull himself free only to find his attempts thwarted by a single arm. "Bitch."

"Jerk," Sam shot back out of reflex more than anything.

Jacob nodded. His thumb brushed against Dean's back once more before he tucked his hand close so they could brace against his chest if they needed to. He couldn't let his worry for Chase override the fact that he had other people to look out for just as much.

He gave the hall one last forlorn glance before turning and exiting. His footsteps receded down the stairs and left the darkening hallway in silence. Until they got Chase back, the case was forgotten.


A/N:

Being the bearers of bad news is always a rough job, after Sam and Dean promised to keep a close watch on Chase.

Gonna be a short break in posting at the end of this month, I will be leaving the state for a short family vacation (It'll be an entire hot mess of a time with how many people are coming in my husband's family)

Next: July 12th, 2023 at 9PM


Adding in this author's note for all my followers here, and will keep it on all chapters going forward:

If the worst happens and fanfiction shuts down, you can find all my stories on both archive of our own and deviantart, posted under the nightmares06 account. You can also find our story tumblr, which contains a ton of information and answers that are only posted on that site, along with artwork for the stories and future plans we have. That can be found under the brothersapart tumblr account. I can't put links in chapters, but googling "Brothersapart tumblr" should bring it right up!