Hunted- Part 1

Mae's eyes fluttered open. "Dean?" she asked, her voice hazy with sleep and shadowed with uncertainty. Her eyes, still half-closed, flickered over his face, seeking answers he wasn't sure he possessed. "Everything okay?"

His smile softened as he traced the curve of her cheekbone. "Everything's perfect," he lied smoothly as his eyes searched hers for any signs of mistrust or doubt. She watched him for a moment longer before her eyelids grew heavy again.

Mae snuggled closer to him in the motel bed and he shifted to allow her to curl against him, resting her head on his chest, her leg sliding over his waist. "Mmm...then let's go back to sleep."

Despite his reassurances, Dean knew that things were far from perfect. But maybe there were a few things they could do to make it better. He would have incredibly happy to go to Mae's house. Her house didn't lack for comforts, despite being in the middle of almost nowhere. There were worst places to lay-low and maybe enough room to give them all the space they needed. Mae's bed was more comfortable than any motel they could find.

Whatever Mae thought was off between them must have changed. Or she stopped caring enough because she wanted to get laid regularly again too. He supposed, for the time being, it didn't much matter which was true but he hoped it was the former if they planned to spend a couple of weeks sequester in her house. At least then, they could keep having fun.

He ran a finger along the soft skin of her arm. God, she was amazing, he thought. He could happily lose himself with her. He didn't deserve it, he thought, but he longed for it. He knew she'd give that to him. He wanted nothing more than to enjoy every pleasure her body offered. He knew she'd give that to him too. He could distract her a while with some regular couple things. Some time away from the job could help them and it would calm her worries. Maybe Sam's too.

For now, Dean would let her bask in this illusionary peace. As Mae rested safely in his arms, Dean lay awake staring at the ceiling, planning their next move in his mind. They'd head to Montana, stock up on groceries, maybe some movies, maybe a game, something to fill their time. And they'd hole up for a while. Maybe between here and there, they could find an occult bookstore and get a few books Sam could spend time trying to research whatever he wanted. Maybe it wasn't a great plan but he didn't care. It was certainly better than going from motel to motel.

After a while though, Mae stirred and shifted off his chest. She lay her head on the pillow next to his, turned to face him. As her gaze met his, a small frown formed on her face. She was always perceptive, almost to a fault, and Dean knew with that look; she was reading him again. But there wasn't any judgement there. She tapped the tip of his nose in her finger. "You think too loud."

He turned to his side to face her in the dim light of the room, looking straight into her questioning eyes. "Just about how beautiful you look when you wake up."

She let out a small laugh, pushing at his shoulder playfully. "Charmer," she muttered under her breath, but the smile on her face didn't lie.

"Yeah, well... It's my job," he replied, reaching to her, and playing with a lock of her wild, red hair with his fingers. "C'mon, you should go back to sleep babe."

Mae stared at him, her big stone blue eyes sparkling with an undercurrent of amusement and curiosity. Her lips curled into a subtle smile that only served to spark the wildfire of desire in him. Did she know the effect she had on him? Surely, she must.

"I'd love to but I'm awake now."

"Well, maybe we should have breakfast in bed?" He continued, a mischievous glint in his eye.

Mae's eyebrow arched at the suggestion. "What? Jerky and a beer?"

He let the hair fall from his grasp and he traced the swell of her breast with his fingers. "I could run out and get somethin'."

"I didn't think you'd be so eager to play house, Dean," she murmured, her voice a soft purr that sent shivers down his spine, managing to combine comfort with a thrilling hint of seduction.

"What can I say," Dean shrugged, his gaze falling on her bare chest, only slightly obscured by the white sheet before he looked back up at her face. "I'm... I don't know, kinda happy."

"Oh, kinda happy, praise from Caesar!" Mae giggled as she reached out to stroke his chin.

"C'mon, just let me... just..." Dean trailed off, his words melting into a contented sigh as Mae's touch sent shivers down his spine.

"Hey," her voice was softer now as she scratched at his jaw gently, causing his eyes to drift shut in pure bliss, "I want you happy, even if it's just kinda, and especially if I can do anything to make you happy. But," she said after a long pause, "we should probably get outta bed if we're gonna eat."

"No, I think I wanna keep you in bed. I have ideas." Dean protested with a grin. "I mean, unless you're feeling more exhibitionist than normal."

Mae laughed and ran her fingers through his hair. "You're ever hopeful, aren't you?"

"Mmm," Dean murmured as he slid closer to press a kiss to her throat, then one slightly lower on her chest. "I don't know about that. I don't like the idea that another guy might get to see how hot you are under all your bulky clothes." He paused and looked up at her with adoration in his eyes. "I don't wanna share you."

She rolled her eyes but a playful glint lighting up her eyes. "So you wanna keep me your dirty little secret, then?" Mae asked coyly, drawing circles on his chest with the pad of her finger.

"Damn right," replied Dean, pulling her closer against him, warmth radiating from her as one of her bare legs slid against his. A wave of tenderness washed over him and he kissed her again, this time on the lips.

"Well then Mr. Secret-Keeper," she said, breaking away finally with a playful slap against his chest and promptly swinging her legs off the bed, "I really am hungry. I think it's high time we get some breakfast."

Dean watched as she slid from the bed, her toned body delightfully exposed, except for her boring, white briefs. She was as bewitching in the morning light as she was under the cover of darkness. The thought of breakfast held no appeal compared to the sight before his eyes. He rose from the bed and wrapped his arms around Mae from behind, burying his face in her neck. "Who needs breakfast when I have you?"

She spun about in his hold and smiled up at him. "Promises, promises," she said in a teasing tone that made his heart stutter. "But you're the one who promised breakfast and I want waffles."

"Let's work up an appetite." he punctuated with a sweet kiss on her collarbone before catching her lips in a searing kiss, which was rapidly becoming heated.

"Dean," she warn, playfully even as she let him lift her off her feet and wrapped her legs around his waist, "You're gonna regret this later when I'm sweaty and hangry."

He chucked and nipped at her jaw line. "Mmm... Worth it."

Both pleasantly gratified, Mae had rolled off Dean but he didn't let go of her. He couldn't bring himself to break contact just yet; while he didn't regret a second he spent with her, he was finally hungrier than he was horny now. Dean held Mae close, nuzzling into her neck as their breathing slowed. He knew he should get up, take a shower, start the day even though it would have been far nicer to just spend it being lazy with Mavis.

"We really should get some food," Mae murmured, though she made no effort to move either.

Dean pressed a kiss to her shoulder.

They lay tangled together, skin against skin. "Mmm, in a minute."

Finally Mae sighed, running a hand through Dean's hair before rolling out of his embrace. "Come on. Food, you love food."

Reluctantly Dean let her go and sat up in bed, instantly missing her touch. He watched as Mae grabbed some clean clothes from her duffel bag, admiring every curve and angle of her body. She caught him staring and shot him a wink.

"Perv," she teased.

Dean grinned. "Can you blame me?"

Mae just laughed and headed for the bathroom. The sound of running water followed soon after. With a sigh, and Dean got up and dressed. "I'll go get us... waffles," he said to the bathroom door, before slipping out to the cool air of the morning.

Dean thought he might as well check on his brother. Maybe the night alone had given him enough space, enough time to cool down a little. Even if he hadn't, he probably wouldn't turn up his nose at breakfast. At the door to Sam's room, Dean knocked.

There was no response but Dean waited a few moments before knocking again. "Sam?" he called out, but silence answered him back. A worried feeling crept into Dean. He gave one more knock, unanswered before he looked cautiously over his shoulder. He slipped his lock-pick out of his coat pocket, making short work of the lock and stepped inside the room.

"The hell..." Dean muttered, scratching his head. The room looked completely untouched, as if his brother had left almost as soon as they had checked in. He hastily pulled out his phone and dialed Sam's number and he checked the bathroom and closet, only to be greeted by the monotonous tone of his voicemail. He left a message, telling his brother to call him or Mae back. It didn't ring in the room, so he either had it on him or it was ditched somewhere.

Shaking his head slightly, Dean hung up and shoved the phone back in his pocket. He hadn't left a trail or any sign of where he had been or where he was going. A surge of anger pulsated through him at Sam's recklessness. But beneath that anger simmered worry.

There wasn't anything the room could tell him.

Mae sat on the edge of the bed, dressed but drying her hair with a towel when Dean returned. She looked up at him, her brow furrowed in confusion. "Hey! Where's breakfast?" she questioned, her stomach grumbling in protest. But any further teasing she planned died on her lips as she took in the serious expression on Dean's face. "What's wrong?" she asked cautiously.

"Did Sam say anything to you?" Dean's tone was sharp and urgent, causing Mae's concern to rise.

"Like ever? When would he have said something? While we were sleeping, screwing, or just now when I was in the shower?" Mae replied with playful intensity as she tried to calm Dean down.

"I'm not joking around here."

"You've been with me since we got here." She stood, letting the towel fall to the bed. Mae pressed a hand to his cheek. "What's going on Dean?"

Because he didn't want to be comforted by her right hen, Dean started to pace. "Sammy's missing. He's not in his room," he revealed, his worry palpable.

Mae's mind raced as she tried to make sense of the situation without most of the information she needed. "What? Did anything seem out of place? Was the room messy? Neat?"

"No. No, it was... untouched. He wasn't there. Maybe he didn't even sleep there. I don't know." Dean explained, his anxiety palpable.

"Okay, let's think," Mae said calmly, watching Dean work himself up. "Maybe he got hurt and went to the hospital? Maybe he left a note for us?"

"I already checked everywhere," Dean replied, frustrated. "He's just gone."

Mae bit her lip, trying to come up with a logical explanation. "He's gone off on his own before," she reminded Dean, hoping to ease some of his worry, "Maybe he just..."

"He'd tell us and you know he would."

He would if he wanted them to know where he was. Since he didn't, it either meant he didn't leave of his own choice or he wanted to give himself a head start. He had to know Dean would do whatever it took to find him. "If he didn't' want us to follow..."

"You think I haven't thought of all this?" He snapped at her, "Sorry, Red. I just...this feels different. Something's wrong," Dean insisted, his pacing becoming more frantic.

Mae's brow furrowed as she looked at Dean, concern etched on her face. "You think someone took him?"

Dean shook his head, a moment of panic flickering across his features before he composed himself. "No... no."

Her eyes narrowed in thought as she tried to come up with a solution. "Have you tried calling him?"

"Of course I have," Dean replied, his agitation clear in his voice. "But he's not answering."

Mae searched through her mind for any other possible places Sam could be hiding or seeking refuge. "Okay well...there aren't that many places he could be. Maybe Bobby's? The Roadhouse?"

Dean continued to pace back and forth as Mae watched him, feeling a mixture of worry and frustration building inside her.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking too," Dean finally admitted, running a hand through his hair, "I told him. About what dad told me. So he's pissed at me now.'

Mae nodded in understanding, knowing how difficult their father's ultimatum must have been for both. It made more sense why Dean thought Sam hadn't been taken or attacked. Dean let out a heavy sigh.

"After everything with that demon virus?" Mae couldn't help but point out the unfortunate timing of their father's words.

Dean clenched his jaw, guilt, and frustration evident in his voice. "Yeah," he repeated bitterly.

"Might have been better to wait on that one Deany," Mae said, teasing evident in her voice as she tried to pull him out of his worry enough to do their real work here.

"You think I don't know that? You think-" Dean cut himself off, realizing that they were wasting precious time arguing. He ran a hand over his face in exasperation. "Okay, let's focus on finding Sam right now." The urgency in his tone was undeniable, and Mae knew they needed to act fast before it was too late.

"Agreed. You know, if he's looking for more about other psychic kids, he'll probably try to talk to Ash." Mae said decisively, picking up her leather jacket off the bed and slipping it on.

"We didn't find any others with the last search."

"But maybe Sam isn't the start of the pattern. He could be an aspect of it. We think we know what we're looking for but we could be missing a key piece because Sam doesn't fit that pattern. Or he does. But maybe Ash could find something similar. Or maybe there's something that fits potential psychic kids."

Dean closed his eyes and made an exasperated huff through his nose. He knew she was right, knew in the grand scheme of things that they had to consider all those things but it would do little to locate Sam. And he didn't care about any other kids or even the demons then.

Mae reached her hand up to touch him but dropped her hand back at her side. "I'll call Bobby," Mae said instead. "see if he's heard anything and get us packed up too."

Dean nodded, rubbing his hand anxiously over his chin. "I'll check with Ellen. And see if there's any security footage in the parking lot or maybe the manager saw something."

Mae pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed Bobby's number as she moved towards the bathroom door. She pressed the phone to her ear, hearing the customary rings before Bobby picked up. Dean watched her for a moment before he pulled out his own phone and dialed the Ellen.

As they both began their separate conversations, promising to share any information gained, Dean felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Sam had a head start on them and he could genuinely be anywhere. This was their best guess of what he had planned but there were far worse things that could have happened to his brother.

After the quick call with Ellen, Dean went to the front office, just to see if he someone had seen anything out of the ordinary. He came up empty there too, at least with any provable trail of where Sam was or when he left. When he started heading back to the room, he saw Mae at the Impala, packing their bags away in the trunk. When the calls were complete, Mae and Dean looked at each other. "Bobby hasn't heard anything from Sam," Mae said, trying to keep her voice neutral.

Dean shook his head, "He hasn't called the Roadhouse or showed up there yet either." His tone dropped solemnly again as he looked at Mae, "We have to find him. We can't just... wait."

Mae nodded in agreement. "We won't," she assured him, "I think we head to the Roadhouse. If Sam is looking for people, Ash can probably find them...someone. If he's digging up more info on what these demons are planning, or maybe even the virus, he'll probably go to Bobby's."

"Yeah, I think you're right. The desk clerk wasn't on last night so he didn't see anything but did mention one of the other guest's car was stolen."

"Well...Sam could steal a car. Stupid to steal it from here but... you know, he's not the best criminal out there." Dean smirked a little, for just a moment. Mae touched his arm before she stood up on her tiptoes to kiss his forehead. "Hey, we won't stop until we find him."

Dean's call to the roadhouse simply came to early since it took several hours for Sam to arrive at the Roadhouse. It wasn't dark yet but there were still enough people inside that Sam's entrance drew their attention. He ignored that as he walk toward Ellen, who smiled at him knowingly as he approached. "Sam," she said while she cleaned a glass behind the bar.

"Hey, Ellen." Sam gave her a sheepish grin. They hadn't left the roadhouse last time on the best of terms and there was no getting around how awkward all of this felt. "You don't seem that surprised to see me."

"Well, your brother's been calling, worried sick, looking for you."

"Yeah." Sam agreed, "Figured he might."

"What's going on between you two?"

He hardly had the time to cover it and this certainly wasn't the time or the place to share all those details. "So, um, how's Jo?"

Ellen nodded, knowingly with a hint of frustration. "Well, I don't really know."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I haven't seen her in weeks." Ellen explained, annoyance and remorse in her voice. "She sends a postcard now and again."

"Well, what happened?" Sam asked, leaning against the bar now.

"Well, after she worked that job with you boys she decided she wanted to keep on hunting. I said "not under my roof", and she said "fine"."

Sam genuinely felt bad for contributing to the situation between the mother and daughter. But that didn't change the fact that he still had work to do. "So I'm probably the last person you want to see right now."

Ellen chuckled. "Oh, don't get me wrong. I wish I could blame the hell out of you boys. It'd be easier. Truth is, it's not your fault. Sam. None of it is. I want you to know that I forgave your daddy a long time ago for what happened to my Bill. I just don't think he ever forgave himself."

"What did happen?" Sam asked softly.

Since turnabout was fair play and she was in no mood to rehash any of that with Sam now, she changed the subject with the shake of her head. "Um, so, why did you come here, sweetie?"

He didn't press. He didn't even really need to know the exact details. "I need help."

Ellen went to the back of the Roadhouse and roused Ash. Back in the bar, the three stood together. Ash looked around furtively, scratching his chin. "
What am I looking for, Sam?"

"Other people, other psychics, like me." Sam said. "As many as possible, and I need a nationwide search."

Ellen shook her head. "But I thought there was no way to track them all down. Not all of them had nursery fires like you did.

"Well, no," Sam conceded, "but some had to. Start there."

Sam waited at the bar, drinking a beer, and wondering how much more time he'd have before Dean and Mae found him. After less than an hour, Ash emerged from his room, paper in hand. "Done, and done," he announced as he approached Sam

"That was fast." Sam said, appreciatively if not a little surprised.

"Well, apparently," Ash said leaning on the bar before sitting down next to Sam. "that's my job. Make the monkey dance at the keyboard."

"Just tell us what you got, Ash." Ellen said.

"Four folks fit the profile nationwide. Born in '83, mother died in a nursery fire, the whole shebang."

"Four?" Sam was disappointed, hoping for something more obvious. "That's it?"

Ash listed the names as he checked out the people walking around the bar. "Sam Winchester from Lawrence, Kansas, Max Miller from Saginaw, Michigan, Andrew Gallagher from Guthrie, Oklahoma, and uh, another name. Scott Carey." He tossed the paper on the bar top.

"You got an address?" Sam asked.

"Kind of. The Arbor Hill Cemetery in Lafayette, Indiana. Plot four-eighty-six."

"So he's dead?"

"Killed," Ash clarified. "about a month ago."

"Killed how?"

"Stabbed. Parking lot. Fuzz don't have much, no suspects."

Sam took a last drink of his beer as the other man spoke, while Ash eyed the not quiet empty glass. "All right. Thank you." Though he was disappointed, at least it seemed like they didn't have tons of psychic kids to find, at least not that matched this pattern.

As Sam got up to leave, Ash slapped him on the back. Once Sam was out of his eye-line, Ash picked up Sam's half full beer and started starts drinking it.

"Where are you going?" Ellen asked, concerned.

"Indiana."

"Sam?" She warned, "I've gotta call Dean, I've gotta let him know where you are."

"Ellen. I'm trying to find answers, about who I am. And my brother means well, but he can't protect me from that. Please." It was only a matter of time before Dean and Mae tracked him down. They were smart and knew him too well for them to spin their wheels very long looking for him. Dean already guessed he would come to the Roadhouse after all.

Reluctantly, Ellen agreed with a nod.

Sam knew it was only a matter of time before Dean and Mae either got the information out of Ellen, or more likely Ash, or figured this out on their own. Until then, he was going to keep searching. That brought him to Scott Carey's house. His parent's house actually, where he sat in the living room, talking with Scott's father.

"You said you went to high school with Scott?" Mr. Carey asked.

"Uh, yes sir, I did." Sam lied, "I just heard about what happened, I'm so sorry."

"Scotty was a good boy. He changed a lot since you knew him."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"It started about a year ago with these headaches. And then he got depressed, paranoid, nightmares."

Sam knew all too well what that meant, as if he had any doubts about Scott being another psychic. "Nightmares? Um, did he ever talk to you about his nightmares? What he saw, or..."

"No, no. He closed up with me. I tried to get him help, but nothing took. He'd just lock himself in his room for days."

"You think maybe I could see his room?" Sam asked.

Scott's room wasn't much to get excited about. It was rather depressing. There was a bare mattress on the bedframe, with a sleeping bag on top, bookshelves full of books, CDs, and cassette tapes. On the bedside table, there were several bottles of pills. Sam picked one up, reading it, and then looking behind him to check if the coast was clear, pocketed the bottle. He walked over to the closet and shoved the clothes over to the side, revealing an abundantly creepy collage of yellow eyes cut from photos and magazines.

Sam found a motel in Lafayette, the Blue Rose Motel. He supposed he should have picked a different place to stay; it was most definitely somewhere Dean would find him. He also wondered if he couldn't call his brother, perhaps send him on a different trail. But Dean was too good at tracking down a lead for that to work.

For a minute, as he walked across the parking lot, and the feeling that someone was following him over came him, he wondered if they hadn't found him. As he reached the door however, poised to unlock it, he turned and grabbed the figure following him. It certainly wasn't Mae or Dean but a young woman. He pushed her against the window. "Who are you?"

"Please!" the woman said, "You're in danger."

Inside Sam's room, Ava paced as she spoke with agitation. "Okay, look, I know how all this sounds, but I am not insane and I am not on drugs. Okay? I am normal, and this is way, way off the map for me."

"All right, all right, just, just calm down. Okay? What's your name?"

"Ava." She replied.

"Ava?"

"Ava Wilson."

"Ava, I'm Sam Winchester, all right? Now, you were telling me about these dreams of yours?"

She turned away, trying to make sense of it enough to tell this complete stranger what had been happening. "Uh, yeah, uh, okay, about a year ago I started having these, like, headaches, and just, nightmares, I guess. And I really didn't think much of it until I had this one dream where I saw this guy get stabbed in a parking lot."

Ava had no idea how significant that was. But Sam did. "When was this?"

"Uh, about a month ago. But, anyway, a couple of days later, I found this." She took out a newspaper clipping, handing it to Sam. It read "LOCAL MAN STABBED TO DEATH IN PARKING LOT" with a picture of Scott Carey.

Ava continued. "I saw this guy die, days before it happened. I don't know why, I don't know, it's just for some reason, my dreams are coming true. And last night I had another one."

He kept his face passive but knew full well what she was experiencing. "Okay."

"About you. I saw you die."

"How did you find me?" Sam asked.

"Oh, uh, you had motel stationery, and I Googled the motel, and it was real, and so I just thought that I should warn you."

"I don't believe this." Sam said, mostly to himself.

Ava knew how insane it sounded and she wasn't sure why she expected him to believe her. "Oh, oh, of course you don't. You think I'm a total nutjob."

"Wait, no, no, no," he clarified, "I mean, you must be one of us."

"Sorry, one of, one of who?"

"One of the Psychics. Like me. Look, Ava, I have visions too, all right? So we're connected."

Ava laughed, wondering why she even went to find this guy and try to save him. "Okay, so, you're nuts. That's great."

"Okay, okay, look." Sam knew it sounded crazy, maybe it was crazy but this young woman was almost certainly dealing with the same thing he was. "Did your mother happen to die in a house fire?"

"No, my mother lives in Palm Beach!"

"So you don't fit the pattern either."

Ava frowned, confused.

Mae and Dean took turns driving east, not stopping for anything other than gas and bathroom breaks until it was dark. They'd hit Nebraska first, then South Dakota. It would have been pleasant to have time alone, if they weren't looking for Sam and if Dean wasn't worried about his brother. So far, they hadn't heard more from Ellen or Bobby. Sam too continued to ignore their phone calls and texts. The longer it went on, the more irritated Dean got.

Dean let out a heavy sigh, the weight of his words sinking into the silence between them. He rubbed at the back of his neck, feeling the tension building in his muscles. "I shouldn't have said anything," he muttered, regret evident in his voice. "Why did I think he would act any differently? If I had just kept my mouth shut..."

"What?" Mae asked. "We'd know where Sam was but…you'd keep acting more and more recklessly until you got yourself or us killed because you have to toughen yourself up?"

Dean scowled but couldn't argue with her logic and he knew there was no point in dredging up the argument about his behavior again. "So what should I have done? Keep lying to him?"

"Maybe you shouldn't have told him. Or maybe you could have found a different way to tell him." Mae's expression softened as she placed a comforting hand on his arm. "But Sam was already worried about what his powers meant, what the Yellow-Eyed Demon told him, and hearing that your dad thought he might turn evil? If it wasn't this, it was going to be something else that caused him to…do whatever he's doing. So, you know..."

"What?" Dean prompted, his voice more strained with worry than he wanted.

Mae pressed her lips together for a moment. "You know as well as I do... it's not like Sam doesn't have a shit ton of resentment built up with your dad. So learning the last thing he does before he dies is tell you that you might have to kill your own brother, on top of this other demon shit... I mean, it's enough to mess anyone up. It messed you up and you're not the one with freaky devil powers."

"I guess. So what would you have done?" he asked, tapping his fingers against his knee.

Her gaze flickered away for a moment as she thought, wanting to give him an honest answer, before returning to look at the side of his face. "I don't know that I would tell your brother all that until... I don't know, there was more to go on."

"It wouldn't eat you up inside?"

"No." Mae's tone was firm, but there was a hint of hesitation behind it. "But I have a distinctly different relationship with your dad than you do."

"Yeah, that's for sure. Maybe it woulda been easier if he'd asked you. If he had, what would you have done?" He glanced over at her, hopeful but not knowing exactly what he wanted her to say here.

"If John told me to kill Sam? I mean, I'd have told him to get fucked."

Dean barked out a laugh, not expecting that response. "That would have gone over awesome."

She shrugged. "It's not like we were on great terms or anything and it had been years since I saw or even spoke to Sam." She sighed a little. "But after I got done being pissed off, then I would have asked why."

"But you'd do it?"

"No, not without proof. And I don't think we have that even now. How much did John know about your brother? But he thought there's really that much of a risk? I mean, when you told him about Sam's visions... he didn't exactly seem surprised, did he? Just annoyed that you didn't tell him sooner. That's weird, right?"

"I guess it is." Dean agreed with a furrowed brow. "Kinda seemed like he just wanted…"

Dean couldn't or wouldn't finish that statement. Mae wasn't sure if it was because he didn't want to say whatever he was thinking out loud or if he couldn't even think about it any further.

Mae unbuckled her seat belt and slid across the seat. She rested her head against his shoulder as she put her hand behind him, pushing his jacket and shirts out of the way to touch the bare skin of his back as her arm warped around him. "You're not in the wrong here Dean. Even under the weird hunter rules we live by, you've done everything you could. And clearly John knew more than he told you or any of us."

"What's your point?" Dean asked, feeling a mix of emotions swirling inside him, as her skin grazed his but he had all these other uncomfortable thoughts crossing his mind.

"If your dad was so worried about Sam… why didn't he take care of it? Why didn't he at least tell you sooner... or tell someone?"

"Who could he tell? Who could he trust not to...just kill Sam?" Dean wasn't sure that was what his dad would have wanted anymore at this point either. Maybe the issue was there was no one their dad trusted to take Sam out.

"Bobby. Me. Instead..." she sighed, "he puts yet another impossible ask on you. An order. After-he gives up his soul to save you but leave you with this burden?"

"It's not that simple." Dean stated firmly, defending his father even if he wasn't totally sure from what.

Mae put her hand on his knee, rubbing a small circle over the worn denim. "Dean, baby... I'm not trying to trash your dad here, okay? Or you. Even you have to admit this is messed up and not because of you or Sam or me."

"It's not like I don't-I know it's messed up, okay? All of this is messed up and I don't understand how Dad could've... left all this for us. It was just shitty."

"I know it's shitty and I'm sorry." She said softly.

Dean's intention wasn't to make her feel bad or use her to process his feelings. "You didn't do anything to get us in this situation."

He felt her shake her head against his shoulder. "I'm sorry this happened to you. I'm sorry you're in this situation. I'm sorry that someone who was supposed to take care of you didn't take care of you the way you deserved. And I'm sorry that you feel like you have to deal with it all by yourself. Don't..."

"Don't what?" Dean heard the tears in her voice and he wanted to comfort her at the same time she was trying to comfort him. But he was also worried about what she might tell him.

"Don't lose the good parts of yourself to do this thing your dad told you to do." Her heart ached at the thought of Dean sacrificing himself for this. On some level, him losing his life was an easier idea than him having to become whoever he thought he needed to be to deal with this.

"C'mon, don't you think...don't you worry sometimes that dad was right? That whatever is going on with Sam is taking him down the road to something evil? Who's gonna stop him if it isn't me?"

"We will."

While he didn't hear any doubt in her voice, he knew it wasn't that simple. "Only one of us can pull the trigger. I'm not gonna turn you into a killer too."

"If it comes down to it, and he gets powers like those freaky twins or that, what was his name, the telekinetic one?"

"Max Miller."

"Yeah...well, I don't know that I can fight telekinesis but I couldn't be mind controlled. And if Sam does go evil, or this virus is involved... well I might be the only one who can actually do something about it."

Dean considered for a moment and he came to the uneasy conclusion that she was probably right. If Sam's powers went that direction, he wouldn't be able to do anything to stop him, even if he was willing. Mae might have had a fighting chance, although she had no control over it yet. Aside from the other psychic kids, she was the only other person they'd met who showed some kind of resistance.

"You know," Mae continued, "sometimes I wonder if that's what your dad really intended."

"Why do you think that? He didn't even know about your...whatever is going on with you."

Mae scoffed, rubbing her cheek against his shoulder. "Do you know that for sure? The man had his secrets. He didn't give you a heads up on Sam. And he knew better than anyone exactly what happened between me and him, and why. So why call me and ask that I check up on you both? Maybe he thought things were bad enough between us that I'd figure out that something wasn't quite right with Sam and just.. take care of it for both of you."

"You think he could do that?"

Mae took a breath. "I think... it's not impossible. We won't ever really know. I just wonder what didn't John tell you?"

Dean didn't want to think about it and accelerated. Fortunately, the question didn't hang between them in the dark and quiet very long. His phone rang. He hoped it would be Sam but knew it wouldn't be that simple to find him. "Hello?"

"It's Ellen."

"Hey, have you heard from Sam?" Mae shifted, sitting upright, and pulling her hands away from Dean.

"I have," Ellen responded, "but he made me promise not to tell you where he is."

"Come on, Ellen, please." Dean was unable to keep the annoyance and worry out of his voice. "Something bad could be going on here, and I swore I'd look after that kid."

"Now Dean, they say you can't protect your loved ones forever." Ellen reminded him. After a short pause, she continued, "Well, I say screw that. What else is family for? He's in Lafayette, Indiana."

Relief washed over him. "Thanks."