Chapter 1

"You sure you're okay Dean?"

Dean rolled his eyes towards the ceiling and gritted his teeth. If Laney asked him if he was okay one more time, he was going to scream.

"It's just a scratch," he said.

Laney gave him an exasperated look and walked over to the bed to check him out again.

Dean wiggled and swatted her hands away.

"You know, you'd think that you might be a little more appreciative. You were nearly filleted like a fish!"

"It's a scratch!"

"It took almost forty stitches to close. It was more than a scratch," countered Laney, shivering at the memory of all the blood he'd spilled.

Dean saw the shadow that passed over her face and finally relented, allowing her a bit more fussing.

She pulled up his shirt and lifted the bandage. She pressed around the edges and inspected it for a moment before she was satisfied. "Looks good," she said. "No infection."

"I told you."

"You're such a pain in the ass," said Laney, with a half-hearted smack to the side of his face.

"Yeah, well I think you're the one who should be resting. You're getting a cold."

"I am not."

"Yes, you are. I can hear it in your voice."

"I'm not getting sick."

"Yes you are."

"No, I'm not."

Sam watched the whole scene with great amusement. Ever since Dean had been patched up and released from the emergency room, Laney hadn't given him a moment's peace. He understood her fear. There had been a whole lot of blood. But even though Dean really was perfectly fine and had been injured worse before, much worse, she was in overdrive.

And she was totally getting sick.

He heard it in her voice that morning before they'd left for their hunt. If Dean was up to it, Sam was sure he'd have Laney in bed, under the blankets and drinking her weight in orange juice and plying her with Vitamin C and any other cold remedies he could think of.

Sam yawned loudly, interrupting Laney and Dean's little spat. He'd had just about enough. "I'm starving, how about you guys?"

Dean's eyes lit up. "Me too. You and Laney should go down to that burger place we saw down the road. Supposed to have the best bacon cheeseburgers in West Texas."

Laney shook her head and frowned. "I don't think you should be left alone."

Dean rolled his eyes for the millionth time that evening. "I told you I'm fine. The ER doc said I'm fine. I'm going to watch some crappy television and have a beer."

"You're not supposed to mix alcohol and pain meds. I think you should lay off the beer."

"Yeah, well I think you should really go."

"Why?" she protested, "Sam doesn't need me to go get food with him."

"Because you're getting on my damn nerves!" Dean finally snapped.

Laney set her mouth in a hard line and turned quickly away.

"Fine," she muttered. "Let's go Sammy."

She took off out the door without a backwards glance.

"Terrific," muttered Dean, with a sigh.

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"Let's walk," said Sam. "It's not far."

Laney shrugged indifferently, still feeling stung by Dean's outburst. She couldn't help being worried about him. The injury had turned out to be fairly minor, nothing a day of rest and a few more days taking it easy wouldn't take care of, but at the time, when she'd run up on him, doubled over, arms wrapped around his stomach and blood trickling from between his fingers, she thought she was watching her big brother die, and the experience had left her feeling shell shocked and vulnerable. She always knew it was a possibility her brothers could get killed on a hunt, but a large part of her still operated under the idea that Dean was invincible. He'd always been there to protect her since birth and she found it hard to think that one day he might not be around.

"He really is okay," Sam said softly, breaking into her thoughts.

Laney glanced up at her brother. She smiled wanly. "Yeah, I know."

"Really?" he asked, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "You don't look like you believe it."

"Scared me," she said quietly. "If anything every happened to you guys..." She visibly shivered.

Sam nodded in understanding. He'd had a few tense moments himself. But it was par for the course when hunting. He had to remind himself that Laney had missed a lot of the injuries the boys received over their years of hunting. For the most part, this was fairly new territory for her.

Sam pulled her closer to his side and decided a change of subject might be in order. "Thanksgiving is only a couple of weeks away," he said smiling.

He caught his sister's first real smile of the day. "Yeah, I know."

"Any ideas for this year?"

"I'm still thinking about it," she said, still smiling. Every year for Thanksgiving Laney got to pick what they would do. Sometimes it meant driving clear across the country to check out some bizarre attraction, like the world's largest ball of twine, and sometimes it meant a bucket of chicken and old black and whites on a motel television. Whatever it was, she always put a lot of thought into it. Even though Sam had missed out on the last few years, she'd always found some way of including him.

"I'm sure whatever you decide will be good," said Sam.

Laney squeezed her brother's waist, appreciating that he was trying to get her mind off of Dean.

She abruptly stopped walking and stood in front of her brother. "I love you Sammy," she said. "You know that, don't you?"

Confusion marred Sam's face. "Of course I know that."

Laney sighed. "Good. I worry sometimes."

"About what?"

"That you might think I don't love you or care about you as much as Dean."

Sam shook his head in amusement. He knew very well how much is sister loved him.

"The relationship you and Dean have is little bit different. I mean, he's always been more than your big brother, he's been more like your parent since the day you were born. So just because you two have a different relationship doesn't mean I don't think you care about me the same. You've always taken good care of me too. When I was away at school, you always let me know you were thinking of me and how much you loved me and you never let me forget that I had a family who loved me. Yow know, I don't think I've ever told you how much that meant to me."

Laney put an arm around her brother's waist and started walking again. She sighed happily.

He smiled and tousled her hair. "If anything, I always worried that you thought I walked out on you when I went away to Stanford."

"Nah, I've never felt that way. Not really." she said with a smile. "I still hope you can go back."

"That life seems so far away," Sam said, softly.

"It's still what you want though right?"

"Honestly, I don't know anymore. Doesn't seem like I have much choice these days."

"I know what you mean," agreed Laney, solemnly.

Sam knew she did. He leaned down and placed a kiss on the top of his sister's head. She sighed contentedly. She was going to have to thank Dean for throwing her out of the room. It was nice to have a bit of time, just her and Sammy. She was going to have to make a point to spend more time together, just the two of them.

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"Food will be ready in about fifteen," said Laney.

Sam nodded. "I'm going to hit the bathroom. Don't go anywhere."

Laney rolled her eyes but smiled brightly at her brother. With all the differences between her two brothers, they had one common trait; they were both fiercely overprotective.

She took a seat at a stool near the bar while she waited for their food. She considered calling Dean. She wasn't completely over the hurt feeling. And she wanted to make sure he was okay. And there was the added benefit that it would annoy him further; she wasn't above calling him to get a rise out of him. Sometimes it was fun to poke the bear.

With a devious chuckle, she pulled out her phone to dial her brother when she was hit with a pulse of energy.

Laney quickly put the phone in her pocket but got up slowly and nonchalantly from the stool, eyes scanning the room for the threat.

Demon.

Laney made her way towards the restrooms when Sam came flying out of the men's room. "We've got trouble," he said.

"Yeah, I know," Laney said with a sigh of relief. With Sam at her back, she felt sure they could handle whatever trouble had found them.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the exit doors.

"Sam, where are we going?" she asked. "We need to see what's after us."

"What about Dean?" he asked, urgently. "He's alone and not a hundred percent."

Laney's eyes widened. Sam had a point. Dean was hurt and while he wasn't completely helpless, he might not be able to fight off serious trouble on his own.

"You're right, let's go," agreed Laney.

Sam pulled her through the door and led her to the back of the building and the parking lot.

"What are you doing?" she asked, when he stopped abruptly.

A sudden thought popped into her head. "Sammy, how did you know there was trouble?"

"I saw some sulfur," he said, slowly, not looking back at her.

"Are you sure?"

"Oh, I'm sure," he said.

Laney took a step back, struck by the odd tone in his voice. "Sammy?"

Sam suddenly wheeled around, grabbing her hard by the arms. He cocked his right arm and before Laney could even react, he punched her hard in the face, sending her crashing to the ground, lights out.

"Sorry you little bitch, Sammy has left the building."

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Dean reached for his phone and dialed his brother. His siblings had been gone for over an hour. There was no way it should be taking that long to get dinner from just down the street.

Dean cursed when the call went to voicemail. He knew Laney was probably upset because he'd snapped at her. He didn't mean to hurt her feelings. He just didn't like being fussed over, especially over a minor injury. It was supposed to be the other way around. He fussed over her. That was the natural order of things in his world.

He'd wanted some time alone and a little breathing space. But this was getting ridiculous.

Dean dialed his sister this and really became worried when she didn't answer. She'd learned back in Georgia that ignoring his calls wasn't the smart thing to do. That was almost two months ago and she'd grown and matured as a hunter faster than he could have imagined. She was good. Damn good.

With a curse, followed by a groan when he moved a little too quickly and felt the pull on his stitches, he heaved himself up from the bed, pulled on his boots, grabbed the keys and headed to look for his brother and sister.

And when he got his hands on them, he was going to give them a piece of his mind.

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Laney came awake very slowly. Despite the disorientation, she was very aware of the demon she sensed in her presence. And Sammy, Sammy had punched her?

No, she couldn't be remembering that right.

With great effort she peeled her eyes open. One of them anyway, the other one was swollen shut and she felt pain and pressure throughout her whole face. She'd been clocked pretty good.

"Wake up, little sister. It's time to play."

Laney followed the voice until she was looking almost straight up. Right into the hazel eyes of her brother.

"Sammy?"

"Oh come on, I thought you were the great demon detector. You can't tell?"

Laney bit her lip and winced. It was swollen and sore. She shook her head slowly. No way, it couldn't be.

"I know what you're thinking. It can't be. I thought we got rid of her. Sorry, kiddo. I'm back and if you thought I was pissed before..."

"Meg?"

"None other," she said.

Laney studied Sam's face closely. What made him Sam; the warm, sensitive eyes, always filled with compassion but tainted by the pain of loss; the dimpled smile that came rarely, but when it did, was special. All of it, everything that made up the brother she loved, was gone. It was his face and his body and his voice. But it wasn't him. Meg's eyes were cold, hard, flat and evil. Laney felt a more fierce hate than she'd ever felt before in her life.

"Get out of my brother, you bitch," spat Laney.

"Now, now, you really should watch your language," she said. "Besides, I kind of like my new suit. It's going to be real helpful for what I have to do next."

Laney couldn't help it. Her body trembled in fear. The last time she'd been in Meg's presence, she'd been methodically tortured and cut up. Most of the physical scars had faded away, but the mental ones? Those weren't going anywhere soon.

"Relax," said Meg. "You get a stay of execution until I'm done with some business I have. Then I'll be back to play some before I take you to the boss. You are quite the prize and I'm expecting a good reward, just not before I have some fun with you."

Meg knelt down in front of Laney. "I'm not sure how long I'll be, could be awhile. But I'm sure it will be long enough for you to think of an apology."

"In your dreams, you demon bitch," said Laney, spitting right in her face.

Sorry Sammy, she thought.

Meg reeled back, wiped her face and slapped Laney hard, sending her and the chair she was bound to crashing to the floor.

Laney yelped in pain. Meg's face was right in front of hers. "You'd better not do that again. I won't be so nice next time."

Laney peered into Meg's black eyes. "Sammy? Are you in there? Can you hear me? You can fight her. Please, fight her."

For a moment Laney thought she got through to him. Meg paused and looked at her before throwing her head back and laughing heartily.

"Nice try...baby."

Laney felt a tear fall.

Meg rolled her eyes and yanked Laney up from the floor. "Spare me the tears."

Meg removed Laney's restraints and pushed her into the bathroom. She was able to see a small supply of food stashed in a corner.

"This is your new home for the forseeable future."

Laney shook her head. "No."

"Oh yes."

Meg grabbed a cuff with a long chain attached and tied it around the bottom of the toilet. She left just enough slack for Laney to be able to move around, but not enough to make it to the door. She attached the shackle to her ankle.

"You can't leave me here. I'll just scream until someone finds me."

"You can try," said Meg. "But this motel has been abandoned for years. Lucky for you, there's still running water. But that's about it. No one is going to find you until I want you to be found."

"Don't hurt him," Laney whimpered. "Don't hurt Sam."

"Hurt him? Sammy is the golden boy. I promise, not a scratch," Meg knelt down towards Laney's face and tilted her chin up. "Can't say the same for you though."

And with that Sam – not Sam – turned around and slammed the bathroom door shut. Laney heard the rustling of a lock and then furniture being pushed up against the door.

She didn't even bother to scream. Left in the total darkness of the windowless bathroom, she sobbed and silently beg for Dean.