AN: I own nothing of Kripke's creation or of the CW. Hope you all like it anyway!

He knew someone was watching him, it was a feeling that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, and he didn't like it at all. He thought he had gotten away from always looking over his shoulder, always wondering what lurked around the next corner, now he guessed he was wrong. As he stepped off the curb to walk across the street, Sam Winchester tried to bring his previous good mood back. His advisors had insisted his Law School interview was only a formality, and that in fact he was on the short list for acceptance. Between that, and the fact that he had finally saved enough for the engagement ring he bought his girlfriend Jessica, he had been on a natural high the whole day.

He had managed to let himself into their apartment without making a sound in case she was home, and snuck into the kitchen pantry to hide his surprise on the top shelf where he knew she would never find it. Tonight he would ask her to marry him, he had everything planned out from Jess' favorite restaurant that they could never really afford; but with him working on most weekends they were able to get a couple of meals under the table. This was a special occasion though and his boss had already promised them a night to remember. Everything was set, and all he had to do was wait for Jess to get ready so they could enjoy their time together before heading out for their night on town.

Listening for any sign of her, he let out a slight sigh in relief that he had in fact beat her home. Just as he was walking back into the living room, he heard the door knob rattle. Thinking it was Jessica; he flung open the door fully expecting to catch her by surprise but stood there and looked stunned at the person on the other side. His brother Dean looked as if he'd lost his best friend, and it wasn't a good look on him.

"Dean?" he asked, wondering what had happened to make his older, if not shorter, brother look as if he was about to collapse.

"Hey Sammy… we need to talk." Dean said calmly as he made his way into the apartment and towards the kitchen. He returned with two beers in his hand and held out one towards Sam before flopping onto the couch and propping his feet on the coffee table.

Sam watched his brother make himself at home and he couldn't help but wonder what was going on. The last time he had seen Dean, they had a fight which resulted in Dean promising never to darken his doorstep again… or that he'd just lost his brother and to enjoy his new life… either or, it really didn't matter now. Now his concern was what had his brother on his doorstep insisting that they needed to talk.

Sighing, he walked over until he was standing in front of Dean, encouraging his brother to spill it without coming right out and saying it; he had things to do, and Jess was going to be home at any minute, there was no way he could explain his brother to her.

"Dad's dead." Dean stately plainly, flatly, not taking his eyes off the beer bottle.

The silence grew heavy in the room, but it was still several minutes before the words penetrated the shock that had engulfed him. Finally though, the shock gave way to anger and he let it loose. "Come on Dean, don't give me that crap! How'd you find out, huh? I doubt if Pastor Jim would have told you, not that you would have asked. How'd you know that this was the exact day that I'm going to ask Jess to marry me? TELL ME, DAMNIT!"

Dean looked up then slowly and kept his eyes on his little brother. "I'm sorry Sammy, I didn't know… really." There was a pause before he spoke again, his voice heavy with sorrow. "So, she a geek girl like you, or did you manage to get a chick who can see past your nerdiness?" Dean tried to joke, but it fell flat leaving both boys in silence again.

The sound of the door opening brought both their gazes towards the blonde woman who walked in trying to balance her latte, keys, mail, and book bag as well as talk on her cell phone. "Yeah, I know Becky… look, I gotta go, we have company… yeah yeah, we'll see… uh huh, bye."

Jessica was one of those women who knew when she should just leave a situation alone. However, at the moment it was her Sam who seemed to be in the middle of just such a situation, and she wasn't going to let anyone put him in one. "So Sam, who's this?" she asked, trying to disengage her keys from the door while looking over at the man on the couch.

"Jess, this is Dean." Sam said stiffly, not really wanting to introduce his future wife to the liar he now knew his brother to be.

Looking between the two men, Jess suddenly blurted, "Wait, you mean your brother Dean?" she asked, clearly excited to finally meet him. Suddenly though, she realized that something was wrong, and that this wasn't the time to socialize. "Uh… I'll leave you two to talk. Sam, if you want I can go out with Becca and some of the girls tonight."

Shaking his head, Sam didn't want anything to interfere with his plans; he'd waited too long for this moment and nothing, not even his brother's poor taste in practical jokes were going to keep him from it. "Give us a little bit, then we'll head out, ok?"

Watching her leave the room, both Sam and Dean contemplated what to say next. Dean was feeling worse, and Sam was getting angrier. Finally though the youngest Winchester had enough and broke the silence.

"Dean, enough with the gag, tell me why you're really here." Sam said, tired of being at odds with his big brother. He really needed to get this settled before it was time to leave.

Dean looked at his little brother and knew exactly what was going on in his brain, but there was no way he was going to lie to the kid, not when they finally found out what happened to their mother, and what was happening…

"Look Sammy, I know you don't believe me…I get that, really, but I wouldn't lie about this. Dad's dead, and it was because of that damn thing that killed Mom. Now I need you to come with me so we can fill you in on what we found out…"

"Who's we Dean?" Sam asked, feeling more open about the possibility that this wasn't just some poor excuse for a joke, but still not wanting to truly believe that…

"Bobby, Caleb, Joshua, and Pastor Jim are in town. Dad called them in for backup, but…" Dean couldn't finish. He'd seen the remains of their father, and it wasn't pretty; the demon had torn him apart… slowly. Now they needed to convince Sam that it was time to come home, to finish this so they all could carry on with their lives. They needed Sammy home so he could be protected, and not driven insane like the others.

Sam paced across the living room floor before he turned back around. "Look Dean, I have plans and honestly, what you just told me… I need to wrap my head around it."

Dean nodded, he had suspected that would be his brother's answer, he definitely had the Winchester stubborn streak. Holding up his beer, he nodded, "Ok Sam, I understand, you need to accept that Dad's really gone. How about we meet up for breakfast at that little café across the way in the morning?" he asked as he watched Sammy think about it then nod. "Great! So drink up Sammy boy, you know how I hate it when a beer's wasted."

Smirking, Sam clunked his bottle to Dean's then took a large gulp of it, not noticing the aftertaste until the room had already begun to spin, by that time it was already too late and his limp body was heading for the floor.

"Sorry about that little brother, but we really need to talk to you."

He heard muted sounds and wasn't that surprised to find out his brother was one of the people behind it. What did surprise him was the fact that he had trusted Dean of all people not to pull this on him. Sure it wasn't like he'd been kidnapped on his wedding day, but still, an engagement was pretty close… right? Opening his eyes, he tried to suppress a groan due to a headache the size of Mt. Rushmore, but it didn't seem to help; they knew he was awake anyways.

"Sammy… hey buddy, come on open your eyes." Dean said, watching closely for any residual damage the drug may have had.

"How much did you give the kid, boy?" Bobby said gruffly, also watching to make sure that nothing was damaged beyond repair.

"Dude, are you kidding me? I knew he wouldn't drink the whole thing, I had to put it all in there…"

"WHAT!" the collective voice sounded out and echoed through the sparsely furnished room.

"Would you all please shut up!" Sam groaned as he tried desperately to keep his eyes open without forgoing his lunch. "God, you all sound as insane as he does at the moment."

Silence reined for several moments giving Sam the blessed time of peace. He didn't know where he was, but he saw that everyone Dean had mentioned was indeed there, making him worry that maybe the other thing his brother said was true.

"Yeah Sammy, its true… Dad's dead, the same demon that killed Mom killed him and now he's after you."

"Huh… Dad's after me?" Sam asked stupidly, knowing that wasn't right, but he couldn't get his thoughts to line up like little ducks when he was taking a test. 'Huh… duck, that would be good for dinner…wait, does the restaurant serve duck?' he thought, ignoring the worried looks on the other men's faces.

"Ok Sasquatch, upsy daisy… looks like you have an appointment with Mr. Toilet." Dean said as he maneuvered his brother to the bathroom and forced him to vomit. "Honestly bro, I didn't plan on this happening when I spiked your drink." He said, as he then propped his little brother up on the edge of the tub. "You ok now?" he asked, suddenly concerned when Sam paled drastically.

Sam looked at his brother and their conversation sudden slammed back into his brain making him feel nauseous all over again. "Oh God… Dean… it's true, Dad's gone?" he asked, tormented by all that it could mean. Seeing his brother's nod he felt himself tear up and there wasn't anything he could do about it, suddenly too tired to fight it.

Dean watched as Sam held his head in his hands and silently cried. There was no point in pretending it wasn't happening, and there was no point in stopping it; once he finished, Sammy would pull himself together and be able to deal with the other news they had to deal him.

Jessica was worried, it wasn't like Sam to leave without telling her, much less disappear like he had. She'd already called all their friends and they were as worried if not more so when she mentioned that his brother was there before Sam was gone. At first she chalked it up to paranoia, just a remnant fear from a long time ago that resurfaced, but as the time ticked closer to when they were supposed to go out, she became terrified because she knew he wouldn't stand her up tonight…not any night, but especially not tonight.

She knew that he was keeping a secret, and it had drove her crazy for awhile until she managed to get Pete drunk and he spilled the beans about how Sam had been saving money to buy the best engagement ring he could, and was planning on proposing as soon as he found out about Law School. Suddenly, it all made sense; the extra hours at the restaurant and book store, the impromptu trips to the mall 'just to window shop', and even the way he'd started rubbing her fingers when they held hands had been different. So there was no way she was going to believe that after all that he would walk away voluntarily… something happened, and it involved Dean.

"So it was a demon?" Sam asked quietly, trying to pull the remains of his dignity back together.

Dean nodded, "Yeah, but Sammy, there's more and you have to hear us out. It's big and its bad, but we're here and nothing's going to happen while we're around, got it?"

Puzzled, Sam looked at his brother and nodded that he understood the meaning, but not the reasoning. He followed Dean out of the bathroom and got a good look around the room. Pages of information were tacked up along the walls, and he recognized his father's work. With a slight smile, he went to one wall where hand written notes were on post-it's hanging on photos and maps. Turning to the others he motioned to the pages around the room, "So this demon leaves a trail?" he asked, hoping they could figure out where it was heading next so they could deal with it.

"Not so much a trail as a calling card, its how your dad knew it was going to be here." Jim said while taking John's journal out of a bag and flipping to one of the last pages. "It's all here about what he figured out, the patterns and the suspected why. Sam, it's not easy to read, but you need to know what we all are up against."

Sam took the journal and looked at Dean; he suddenly understood that his brother had already read it. Sitting on the edge of the bed he began to read the notes that his father had so painstakingly wrote, each line bringing a new level of dread into the pit of his stomach until he was finally finished and felt as if he'd been hit by a truck. "Is this for real… I mean, maybe…"

"It's real Sam, I'm sorry to say that, but it's the truth. This isn't the first time this demon has done this, and those it's gone after have been driven mad and turned to killing others with some sort of psychic phenomenon that usually develops in their early twenties. Your daddy saw the connection with a couple of cases that happened almost thirty years ago, then he kept looking for more and he found them – you being one of them." Bobby said sadly.

"Look Sammy, I know this is hard to take, but we got confirmation from a demon that didn't want to be sent back to Hell and it started volunteering things that we hadn't even suspected before. This demon means business; he wants to build an army and is going to use a human child as the leader…"

"Demons lie Dean, you're know that…hell, you taught me that!" Sam exclaimed, not wanting to listen anymore, not wanting to hear about how he was the reason their lives had been so screwed up for so long.

Bobby knew that was coming, he had his doubts at first too, but then there was the other children that had been found and it took on a whole other meaning. "Sam, we all know this is a shock, hell boy, we've had time to process it and we're still trying to come to grips with it. But we can't sit here with our thumb up our asses pretending we don't know what's coming."

Sam looked around while still grasping the journal and finally asked, "So what are you planning with the kids if they show any psychic ability? Are you going to shoot first and ask questions later, or has the game plan changed since I've been gone?"

Dean looked at the others puzzled, they hadn't really thought about it except to try and find these kids and make sure the demon didn't get hold of them if at all possible. Now his brother was asking questions that he didn't know the answer to and he had to wonder why these particular questions. "Look Sammy, we know we usually go for the whole 'if it's supernatural we kill it' type thing, but these are people… we don't kill people."

They watched as Sam started pacing, clearly agitated by something then stopped dead and asked, "What time is it?"

Confused by the change in direction this was going, Jim started, "Sam we understand that this…"

"Damn it… what time is it? Is it after midnight yet?" he demanded, ignoring the shocked look on the other men's faces. "If it's before twelve I have time to explain, if not then I don't. Now… is it midnight!?"

Looking at his watch, Dean nodded in confirmation. "Yeah dude, right at, why?"

Sam rushed towards the door, "I have to get back, the demon's going after Jess!"

They had followed Sam's insane speed across town in awe that he still remembered how to hot wire a car, especially at the speed he did it. When they stopped in front of the apartment building they could see the unnatural orange and yellow glow coming from Sam and Jess' home, but they also saw that Sam was racing headlong inside without a care for his own safety.

Seeing what his brother was doing, Dean chased in after him determined to keep his little brother as safe as possible. He heard Jim on the phone calling for emergency services and by the time he got up the stairs he was starting to hear the roar of the fire over his brother's screams. As he called out for Sam, he raced through the apartment and saw his brother frozen in the middle of the room staring at the ceiling in horror. Already knowing what he'd find, Dean raised his head and witnessed his brother's nightmare; his girlfriend on the ceiling, bleeding and burning to death. Galvanized into action, Dean pulled Sam harshly out of the apartment and outside clear of the firemen who had just arrived.

As they stood there and watched firemen one by one run into the building with their hoses and by the time the flames were extinguished, Sam felt as if his life had passed before his eyes; his other life anyway. News had spread in the midnight hours and every one of his and Jess' friends had come by to make certain they had heard wrong, that Jess wasn't dead in a fire; only to leave heartbroken once more when the news was confirmed. Sam stood there and spoke to the Dean of Students and accepted his condolences and assurances that whatever he needed to just ask and he'd take care of it personally. Sam stood with his brother and family next to him in silence. When he spoke it was with an even tone that told more about his state of mind than anything else.

"I dreamed this would happen, it's why I chose tonight to propose. We were going to go to a fancy restaurant, then on a carriage ride I arranged, and after we were going to spend the night at a friend's beach house. I thought it was just a nightmare, but I just wanted to make sure… you know?"

Dean and the others stood silently, feeling the pain that was emanating from the youngest Winchester, knowing that no words would comfort him now. They listened to the commotion coming from the men who were now packing their gear and loading the trucks. Once the rescue crews left, Sam walked back into the building leaving the others behind. When he returned, he held two things in his hands; a small wooden chest and an even smaller ring box. Opening the trunk of the Impala he carefully placed the chest inside and took a moment to open the small box which held a solitaire diamond ring, as flawless as he could afford. The others had to admit, the kid had taste. Suddenly the lid snapped shut and the box was tossed lightly towards Dean.

The hunters looked at Sam's resigned expression and knew that even though this is what they wanted, this wasn't how they wanted it to happen.

Closing the trunk lid with a snap, Sam said firmly, "Come on, we got work to do."