Title: Born Again

Author: Twilight

Feedback: Always welcome

Rated: PG-13

Summary: Dean is going out of his mind and Sam…Sam's just gone.

Notes: Parts of this story is based on a documentary I saw a year or so ago. The story is completely plotted and outlined and I began it before I saw many episodes into season five. I would say this takes place mid season five, somewhere before Abandon all Hope and then goes AU.

SNSNSNSN

Part One: The Rapture

"Damnit, Bobby." Dean spoke urgently into his cell, "where the hell can he be?"

Bobby's tinny voice came back over the line, "I wish I knew, kid…I got the word out to everyone I trust, but that's really a crapshoot, plus the pickings are slim…You call your angel yet?"

"I tried," Dean ran his hand up and over his tired eyes. He had been going non-stop for days with little sleep and running on adrenaline. The lumpy bed under his ass was really feeling good right about now. "I left a hundred messages, but the son of a bitch won't answer."

"Well, ya know how I hate to be the voice of reason, but are you sure Sam just didn't take off?"

He was almost ashamed to admit that the thought very briefly crossed his mind, but Sam had only been back with him for a few months and they already decided that they were better off together and deep down, Dean knew…Sam wouldn't bail on him.

"I mean, he just found out the devil's literally in the details…might just need some space and it ain't like you too have been all sunshine and picnics."

"No way, Bobby!" Dean jumped up, frustrated, but he didn't mean for his words to come out so defensive. He was hopping mad, but not at Bobby and not really at Sam either. His brother had disappeared four days ago, but Dean knew something or someone lured Sam or just plane took him.

He paced to the window and looked out at the darkness beyond for the hundredth time in as many minutes, hoping to see his brother in the parking lot, a bag of burgers in his hand. But he saw nothing and could hear Bobby breathing on the other end of the line and knew the man was giving him a chance to get his emotions under control. "Besides, I'm more worried about who or what took Sam…it's the only thing that tracks, Bobby. It's like he just fell off the face of the freaking earth."

The old man was moving around in his chair. Dean could hear the wheels rolling and then something metallic clanking together. "I should be there…"

"No, Bobby," it wasn't that he didn't want Bobby to come. "I really need you working your contacts, looking for any patterns."

"Dean…"

"Listen, I'm staying put for awhile longer…I don't feel right about leaving the motel just yet." Dean really wanted to get out there and take a better look…but he couldn't bring himself to leave the last place he and Sam were together. Besides, he had some more people to question. "And then-" when he turned he nearly ran into a solid wall wearing a trench coat. "Holy hell!"

"What? Dean!"

"What the hell did I tell you about that, Cas…it's Cas, Bobby…I'll call ya back." He heard the man telling him he better be sure he did before he snapped the phone shut. "Where the hell you been?"

"I came as soon as I could, Dean." The angel stumbled to the bed and plopped down. "I've been busy, you know."

Dean didn't give a rat's ass about what Cas had been up to, his mission to find God, or whatever.

Jesus, they had been busy killing evil, dodging demons and angels too and Cas had been out on a fools mission.

From the look of him, it didn't look like the hunt was going good.

"So, do you know…"

"I do not," Cas told him, before he could even get his whole question out. "You know I can not see your brother, so I do not know how you think I am even going to be of help."

If he didn't think punching the bastard would break his hand, Dean would haul off and lay good one on the angel of the Lord.

"Listen, I get your looking for your daddy and all, but my brother is missing. We got all the heavenly host looking for us both and the bad guys want Sam in a bad way, so excuse me if I can't care about where your God might be."

"Dean…"

"No, you don't get it…I don't care, Cas. The only thing I care about is missing, so forget your search and help me!"

"Okay."

Just like that…"Okay?"

"Yes, Dean, okay. I will help you on what I can and still continue my own search. Tell me what happened." Cas straightened up on the bed and waited for Dean to flop down on the bed across from him.

They sat looking at each other for a beat or two so that Dean could get his thoughts together. The days were starting to blur together. "Okay, so on Wednesday…no, Tuesday we had just finished a hunt, nothing major for once…just a haunting. This guy fell from a ladder, while doing some work on his house and next thing ya know a bunch of men in town showed up dead. They all connected back to the dude some how."

Was that crap even important?

They salted and burned the sucker, but not before he took out a slew of his cheating wife's lovers. Seems the guy came home early and decided to fix the siding on the house near his bedroom window. Fell off when he saw his wife doing the bump and grind with some other dude. Turned out the misses had a few other guys on the side too.

But they had left that place and just drove…not really heading anywhere and ended up in a small town in Wisconsin. He had checked, made a few calls, talked to the wife again, but no one had seen Sam.

"Dean, I can not read your mind anymore."

He nearly jumped, zoning on his thoughts and forgetting he was suppose to be giving Cas the details. He was tired, really tired but also knew that sleep would be a memory until he found his brother.

"Right, sorry…anyway we drove and ended up…well, here…where ever here is."

"Wisconsin." Cas supplied and Dean was going to give him hell, but the angel looked so genuine.

"Right…so the next day…Wednesday, after we cleaned up and rested some, we decided to look for a new hunt, but we didn't find much." Dean glanced at the local and national news papers still spread across the little table in the kitchenette and the laptop that still had the pages that Sam had been searching up and open. "Sam was getting…cagey, so he decided to go on a dinner run…I guess I was more tired then I thought, cause I drifted off to sleep before he got back."

"So he did come back?"

He couldn't help the flush of his skin, the mini heat wave as the answered, because it was his fault he took a nap while Sam was being abducted by God only knew what. "No ah…by the time I woke up it was maybe an hour later. I ah, took a shower, not thinking much of the fact that Sam wasn't here. I figured he was having a beer or something…he does that sometimes."

"Does Sam often consume alcohol while he is supposed to be getting dinner?"

"What? No, no…just sometimes the kid needs a break." From reality, he silently added. "Anyway I gave it some more time and then I got a little worried, so I waited a little more."

"If you were worried, why did you wait?"

Cas' question made him break out in a cold sweat, because he had been asking himself, kicking himself for not calling earlier. Even if Sam's phone had gone to voicemail, he would have a better time frame.

"It's just…guys don't do that…I just thought he needed some time to himself." Because Sam was looking a little worn around the edges, a little beat down and then there was the fact that Satan wanted his meat. "I thought I'd give him another hour and then I called. The phone must have been off because it went right to voice mail." Which meant that the cell company couldn't track it either, because that was one of the first things Dean had tried when he realized his brother was in trouble.

"It took another hour, after leaving a few messages on his voice mail before I decided I needed to go out looking for him and really, I thought I would find him in some dive, drunk off his ass, but when I got to the parking lot I forgot that Sam had taken the car."

"Then how did you transverse the roads?"

He hadn't realized that he wasn't looking at the angel until the word transverse cam out of Cas' mouth. "Really?"

"What?" and he couldn't help the small smile that slipped, because he could swear that sometimes Cas just said shit like that to get a rise outta him.

"Anyway, eventually I boosted an old Ford from a few streets over and cruised all the bars I could find. No one had seen him. It was too late for most places to be open, but I tried the coffee shop and a bookstore chain…but I came up empty. I was outta ideas, so I just cruised the streets, looking for the Impala, but I didn't find anything. It was after two in the morning when I found a minimart to get gas. It was on the edge of town, off the interstate and on a lark I asked the cashier if she had seen Sam and was floored when she said he was in earlier, she put the time about half an hour after he had left."

"Did the vehicle need gas?"

"No, not really. We had about a quarter of a tank and the girl said that she wasn't sure if he was even going to get gas. He came in and headed to the back to get a bottle of water and then doubled around to pick up…" he was a little surprised when a lump lodged itself in his throat and he needed to swallow before he could get out the word, "pie."

The angel canted his head and his bright, blue eyes seemed to bore into him, but Dean shook his head and cleared his throat. "She ah…she said he put the stuff on the counter and was about to say something when his phone rang. He excused himself to take the call and then he just walked out, leaving the stuff and getting into the car. He made a right outta the station and I followed that road for miles, but didn't see any sign of Sam or my car."

"Then how did it get outside in the parking lot?" Cas asked, looking toward the door to the dingy room.

"I looked up and down every road in the damn county. The sun was just coming up when I saw her. She was on the other end of town and facing back toward the motel. At first I thought maybe she had broken down and Sam had been forced to walk, although I didn't know what he might have been doing on that side of town, or why he didn't just call me…but when I got in her, she started right up.

I left the Ford and looked for signs that Sam was on foot. I spent most of the day looking at that road and a few adjoining, but I couldn't see anything that would make me think Sam was out there near the road. No tracks, no skid mark to indicate a car accident…It was almost evening by the time I came back to the motel hoping to see Sam sitting on the bed you are sitting on, but he wasn't here. I got a hold of Bobby and he pretended to be the Feds to get access to the surveillance tape at the mini mart and the traffic cams, but he only saw what the clerk had already confirmed and once Sam was through town, heading the other way on the road I found the car, Bobby lost traffic cameras, so we don't know why Sam turned back toward the motel."

"You mentioned Sam's phone."

"Yeah, I called the company pretending Sam was under aged and missing and got them to turn on the GPS. Turns out they couldn't find a signal and that his phone had been turned off shortly after he had gotten that call. Bobby called them later to get the number of whoever was calling, but the number is disconnected…or it never was."

"So you are thinking it's something supernatural then…"

He really didn't know. It was just damn weird. Why would Sam be at that gas station and not at the burger joint that he said he was going to pick dinner up at? And the burger place employees claimed never to have seen Sam.

Who was on the phone and what was it that got Sam to drop everything and head out in a hurry? Dean had seen the footage and his brother looked…worried. And with all these dead ends, how the hell was Dean gonna find him.

"I don't know, man…nowadays we are on everyone's hit list. That's why I need your help."

Cas stood suddenly and Dean wanted to kick himself for jerking. It was just that he was so tired.

"When was the last time you have slept?" and it was eerie, cause damn if Cas didn't hit the hammer on the head again. He had grabbed some cat naps when he could, but Red Bull and fear mostly kept him going day and night.

"You sure you aren't reading my mind?" he asked, knowing his reflexes and the question was a little slow.

The angel stood studying him before he answered. "You know I do not have all my powers, Dean."

And he wasn't sure if that was the answer to his last question or Cas' way of saying he didn't think he could help with the search for Sam.

"But I do know that you look like a strong wind would blow you up."

"Over," he said automatically.

"Over where?" Cas countered and instead of laughing Dean felt like maybe he could cry and that wasn't good, because Dean hated crying.

"I will help you," and when he looked up, cool fingers touched his head. For half a second he thought that Cas was taking him somewhere and then he was instantly pissed when he felt his body letting go and starting to slump to the side.

He was sound asleep before his head hit the mattress and didn't feel the angel picking up his feet and taking off his shoes or covering him with a blanket.

"But you need to rest first." Cas said, sitting back on Sam's unmade bed.

Dean didn't know that all through the night the angel watched him sleep, didn't know that Cas had taken any calls when his cell rang, didn't know that the angel had spoken to Bobby in the early morning.

But when he finally did wake up after three the next day he knew he was gonna punch the bastard whether it broke his hand or not.

TBC