Payment in Kind

Disclaimer - I do not own anything you may recognize from Supernatural. As this is a crossover with the Thunderbirds - movieverse, I also do not own that. However, I have written a few Thunderbird stories, included 19 interconnected stories that started not long after the movie and finished ten years (well, the last story was 25 years after the second to the last) later. In that decade, the boys married and started families. So I created an AU of sorts and this story, for the most place, will take place in that AU. The three oldest sons will still be married to the same OCs but the younger two will not yet be married and will not have children. This is a slight variation as the youngest son, in my stories, married right out of high school. The rest of the details will come in the story but this part is important to know. Sammysgirl1963 has been after me for a while to write a Supernatural story and a crossover with the story I know best seemed to work. This is how I was drawn into Supernatural. Under the Thunderbird stories, there is a great one called In At the Death. I was so intrigued by the characters of Sam and Dean that I started to read Supernatural Fan Fics. Then I rented season one from Netflix. Then I bought Season One and started watching reruns of season two (it was summer). THEN I bought season two and watched the season premire of three. I pre-purchased season three and my husband and daughter know not to bug me when "the boys" are on. I hope everyone enjoys this.

Chapter One

Sam Winchester stood silently on the dock, looking at a fishing boat come about. The men had already disposed of their catch and he could hear them chatter happily about their plans for their off time, many of them anxious to get back to their families. Sam had family, the only family that had really been there for him. But Sam was reluctant to go back to the latest motel room the Brothers Winchester was calling home.

Dean. Dean was Sam's big brother. Dean had practically raised Sam. Their mother had died, murdered by the demon Azazel when Sam was six months old. Their father had tried, but as he became more and more obsessed with finding and killing Azezal, it had fallen more and more on Dean's shoulders to care for a young Sammy. It was Dean who had sheltered Sam, always putting his little brother's needs and interest first. When Sam had died, murdered, because of the evil they hunted, Dean had even sold his soul to bring his brother back to life. Once Sam had found out, he had struggled for the year Dean had left to reclaim his brother's soul and save him. Instead, Dean had been ripped to shreds by that demon-bitch, Lillith's, hell-hounds. Dean had been plunged into the pit of Hell for four months before the angel Castiel pulled him out at God's command.

And now Sam had learned that Dean had lied to him. He did recall his time in Hell. Everything. But Dean refused to talk about it. He said Sam could never understand. But Sam did. Sam had lived through four months in Hell, because that was what his life was without his brother, knowing that Dean had died to save him. And the sad part was, Dean hadn't really had to save him. Yes, Sam had died. Stabbed in the back and dying in his big brother's arms. But Sam hadn't gone to Hell. Sam didn't doubt in the existence of God and all his angels. He didn't doubt there was a Heaven. While Dean had been pulled from Hell at the will of the Almighty God himself, Sam had been pulled from Heaven by his brother's obsessive need to "look after Sammy, take care of Sammy". And just as Dean would never talk about his time in the pit in order to once more protect his baby brother, Sam would never tell Dean that the one time he had been at peace had been snatched from him by Dean's deal.

A man and a woman sat in a simple, non-descript car, watching Sam Winchester. Unlike the car, the couple would have stood out. The man was just over six feet, with chestnut brown hair and deep brown eyes. His face was strong, matching his athletic form. The woman was a few inches shy of six foot, slim and attractive, with curly jet black hair held back with a large clip at the base of her neck and eyes so dark a brown that at times they were nearly black. Both were attractive, with an air of intelligence and a look of determination on their faces. The man looked down at the file on the woman's lap.

"You sure that's him?" The woman nodded, slipping the folder marked "FBI – For Official Use Only" under her seat.

"Samuel Andrew Winchester, age 25, son of Mary Campbell Winchester who died in a house fire in Lawrence, Kansas on November 2nd, when her youngest son was exactly six months old. She also left behind a husband, John, an ex-marine and auto mechanic and a son, Dean Michael Winchester, who will be turning thirty soon. Reports indicate that something seemed to snap inside John Winchester at his wife's death. He came to believe something supernatural was responsible for the tragedy. A few months later, the family abruptly left Kansas - some say to escape the memories; other because they thought John was afraid that his obsessions would cause the authorities to take his sons from him."

"Grief does funny things to people, Kate." She raised an eyebrow at him before responding.

"Scott, your father built up a secret rescue organization. He has helped save thousands of people. John Winchester spent the next two decades, dragging his sons all around the country. He committed credit card fraud repeatedly and made pool hustling into an art form. His oldest son is cut from his mold. Samuel, on the other hand, has a genius level IQ and was all set to go to Stanford Law School when his brother showed up. According to friends of Sam's from Stanford, his girlfriend, one Jessica Moore, also a student at Stanford, said Sam was supposed to go retrieve their father from a "hunting trip". No indication of him doing so, but a street camera near the apartment the couple shared showed Sam returning at night a few days after he left with his brother. That same camera caught Dean whipping his car around and racing back to his brother's apartment. The same apartment that burned up a few moments later, killing Ms. Moore. Sam Winchester only lived because his brother dragged him from the burning building."

The man called Scott nodded, taking Kate's hand and running a thumb over the gold band on her left hand. With his own left hand, he tapped the steering wheel, his matching wedding ring making a small sound at each tap. "Anything on what happened to John Winchester?"

Shaking her head, Kate pulled out a slim electronic notepad. "Officially, no. Unofficially, a family answering the Winchesters' description was admitted to a hospital following an unsuccessful meeting with an eighteen wheeler. Sam was not badly injured, John had some more serious injuries including a concussion and some cracked ribs. But Dean was in a coma and not expected to make it. One doctor even surmised that he may have been injured prior to the crash but his father and brother denied it. Then, suddenly, Dean awakens, apparently with no lasting injuries. John, however, soon drops dead. The doctors said his heart just gave out. Scott, the man was around your father's age and had the strength and health of a man who was of an age with his own sons."

"Like Dad," Scott grinned.

Kate allowed herself a small smile before becoming serious once more. "Scott, there was no reason John should have died. But, if what some people who follow the supernatural believe is true, the man may have made a deal with a demon. His life, his very soul, and his son is miraculously healed. Healed to go on with the fight, healed to continue to protect the younger son. Keeping Dean alive would save both sons." Tapping on the screen with a stylus, she continued. "Now, at this point the information becomes even more sketchy. Dean Winchester supposedly was dead, having been killed by police months before he nearly dies in the accident. Later, he turns up in Baltimore and then he supposedly committed a bank job in the mid-west. Unofficially, he was reportedly fighting demons, ghosts and shape-shifters through all of this. Officially, who knows what the hell was going on? Two years after the man we believed to be John Winchester died of heart failure – no reports on what happened to the body, by the way – a pair answering to the brothers' description was reported at the scene of what can only be described as a blood bath in a town called ironically New Harmony, Indiana. CSI believes one of the men was killed; DNA matches Dean Winchester. Someone thought they saw an older man with a person answering Sam Winchester's description leaving with a body but most eye witness accounts of the event is discounted as being from people too traumatized to know for sure what they saw."

Scott watched the young man bow his head, the weight of the world seemingly on his shoulders. "So according to the unofficial sources, Dean is dead."

"Or he was." Allowing a humorless chuckle, Kate looked at her husband. "Some are saying Dean died, only to be brought back. Some say by God's hands, some say by evil's."

"Which do you say?"

Thoughtful, Kate watched Sam before turning back to Scott. "I don't think evil wanted Dean Winchester alive and walking the Earth. Alone, either brother is a formidable opponent. Together, they may be the greatest team of hunters ever."

Scott nodded as he unbuckled his seat belt and opened the car door. "Well, Dad always says hire the best. What do you say, hon? Let's offer the brothers the job."

As Kate pulled a small handgun from her purse and slipped it into her jacket pocket, she mimicked her husband's motions and got out of the car. Walking around the front of the car, the couple began to make their way to where Sam stood, lost in thought.

Sam raised his head and shivered in the cool ocean breeze. He needed to get back to the motel before Dean returned with their food. Turning, he nearly ran into the couple.

"Sorry," he muttered and tried to go around them.

"No problem, Sam."

Sam froze at the woman's voice, turning to look her over. She was beautiful, no doubt, with an air of intelligence and competence that he would usually find very attractive. The man beside her had the fierce, protective mode that he had always seen in his brother. But…who were they? "I'm sorry, do I know you?"

Pulling out her weapon, Kate yanked Sam closer. "Not yet. Don't worry, if I wanted you dead, you already would be. Now come with us." Seeing Sam's eyes dart around, she gave a cool smile. "No, Dean hasn't come looking for you yet Sam. But he will. In fact, I'm counting on it."

Forcing Sam into the back of the car, Kate climbed in next to him. As Scott drove off, Sam felt his cell phone in his jacket pocket. Dean would be able to track him as long as he had his cell phone with him. Moving it so it was on vibrate, Sam hoped that his captors would not realize he still had his electronic leash.

Catching her husband's eye in the review mirror, Kate suppressed a grin. Between her experience as a FBI agent and Scott's in helping to raise four younger brothers, they missed very little. They knew Sam still had his cell phone. And Kate had meant what she said. They were counting on Dean Winchester tracking down his kidnapped brother. It was essential that both Winchesters understood that this was the only way. Because without the help of the brothers, their own family's happiness was being threatened. And they would do whatever it took to protect their family.

A/N - this chapter was unbeta'd as my usual beta is super busy. I have asked someone else to help. I hope to post once or twice a week, and I hope my usual readers are pleasantly surprised at my early posting. But the boys were whispering in my ear and I have to do what the voices in my head tell me to. - Reviews are love, and I need love...CC