A/N: Chapter Rated M for the first scene. Needless to say, Sam's a walking mess but of course won't admit to it. This is the last chapter for Part 1, so enjoy. I'll be working on Part 2 in the future - probably finishing it prior to posting to prevent such a long wait between chapters again. Reviews are love. THANK YOU to everyone that stayed with me along this long journey!

THANK YOU ALSO to my good friend Beaignu for being my beta throughout this adventure.

Chapter 24: Road to Recovery

Three Weeks Later

Sioux Falls, SD

The air was stifling. Deep down, maybe as far down as his subconscious, Sam knew he should be fighting to escape; but his muscles refused to comply. He couldn't even vocalize the distress. The whispers in his head grew louder suppressing any thoughts of rebellion.

"You've made a lot of progress in the last twelve hours Sam," Pryor said softly from somewhere above. Sam could hardly hear the words but he did feel fingers running through his sweat-dampened hair as his head rested against the top of the doctor's bare thigh. Even with the haze clouding his mind, he could see Pryor leaning comfortably back against the headboard. The older man's words continued, "There is something else I'd really like you to do for me Sam…. something we haven't tried yet."

Sam's muscles twitched alarmingly but he was compelled to stay perfectly still. He could only watch from outside his body as Pryor tilted his head further against his thigh so Sam's lips slowly made contact with the older man's engorged penis.

Sam shot up from the covers, breathing hard and feeling like he might vomit. It took a moment for his mind to grasp that he was no longer in the mansion - he was safe at Bobby's house. And that realization set off the pain in his shoulder… again. The only time the sigil would not burn was when Sam was caught in one of the hellish nightmares like he had just come out of. It was only satisfied when Sam was trapped by his 'owner'.

He glanced around then, suddenly very self conscious and was relieved to find Dean was not in the room.

Sam placed his feet on the floor, getting ready to dress himself. Judging by the amount of sunlight blazing in through the window, he had slept in much longer than usual. He slid on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt from the day before. Thankfully, his cast had come off a week ago so he no longer had to fumble with that on top of everything else.

It was time for another day of researching that ownership spell.

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Life at the Singer residence had been fairly average despite all the chaos they'd been through weeks earlier. The boys had decided to take a break from hunting until Sam was more physically ready for that challenge - he had lost so much weight but was slowly gaining his muscles back.

Dean and Bobby had spent a good deal of time working on cars in the salvage lot. Sam was mostly moping around the house, reading up on lore. None of the hunters seemed real keen on talking through what had happened to Sam. Sam himself just felt awkward and uncomfortable about the whole situation, so not scratching the scab was fine with him.

"Quit scratching at it Sam." Dean commented once again, annoyed every time his little brother scraped at the damn sigil on his shoulder. He dropped a few plastic bags on the kitchen table - their weekly grocery list completed every Monday.

"Relax Dean, it's not gonna hurt nuthin'. It's not like it'll scratch off and I'll bleed to death or anything." Sam retorted wearily. Tired of the constant ache the damn thing kept giving off.

"Yea, well the scratching will tear up your skin eventually. Besides, you already told me it doesn't help with the pain so there's no point to scratching anyway."

Sam got up to leave the room. Tired of the same argument nearly every day. Dean motioned for him to pause. "And here's your 'Spiced Hazelnut' hair dye Princess."

Sam caught the box. "Don't call me that." He snapped sharply before retreating to the bathroom. It was time to cover up the blonde hair again.

Bobby happened to be heading inside at that exact moment, wiping the oil off his hands with an old dirt rag. He shot Dean a scolding look. "What'd ya do this time ya idjit?"

"Aside from breathe? You got me." Dean shot back with a shrug before sitting down at the table. He began fidgeting with the items in the bags, slowly, methodically removing them so they could be placed in the cupboard. "Ya know Bobby. I just feel like there's this huge elephant in the room that nobody wants to address."

"That's because there is ya moron. Gonna feel like that for a long time. Ya know, not that I mind you boys bein' here but maybe a hunt would be good for both of you. Clear out some air and focus on something other than Sam's 'Hell'."

Dean sat quiet for a minute, making sure he could hear running water in the bathroom. "You know, with Pryor in jail, I had thought Sam would feel better."

"That's the whole problem Dean. That sigil is gonna cause your brother pain as long he's away from Pryor. We can't fix that short of a witch. From what Sam told me, it was some pretty powerful spell-work - nothing the kid's ever heard of before; and from what he tells me, he hasn't found anything to reverse it in all my books. I haven't found anything either. We may need a witch."

"Where the Hell are we gonna get a witch Bobby? They aren't exactly best friends with hunters."

Bobby sighed, "I'm working on that part. Hoping to get a lead soon but until then, you gotta ease up on your brother's quirks."

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Sam shut off the water for the shower just as it began to run cold. He mussed up his newly brown hair with a towel, just catching all the water droplets. He was getting tired of seeing the blonde. It practically burned its way through the hair dye and needed to be dealt with every week. It was well worth the hassle though just to feel a little like himself again when looking in the mirror.

As traumatized as he was, he didn't want to think about what had happened. He just wanted things to get back to normal - back to hunting like before. He glanced at his shoulder in the mirror and new the only redemption from his Hell would be the removal of that damned tattoo. Dean was right though; he really did need to quit scratching at it.

Maybe... Sam's jaw clenched as he tried to review his memories of how the curse was applied. Together with what he had researched, he determined he was going to have to share this burden with others, with strangers, even. It would need to be a witch, to boot.

*** SPN SPN SPN ***

Part 2 Preview.

"Kyra. Whatcha need?" Her voice was rushed and winded. Bobby picked up on that right away over the phone.

"It's Bobby. Got a question for you. Is now a good time?" He questioned.

"Well as good a time as any, 'Uncle'." Kyra ducked down behind some wearhouse crates, waiting on the pending explosion. "Just ran into a lil chupacabra problem in the glades. Odd place for one to be I know, but he'll be gone in a minute."

"Ah," Bobby groaned, "Tell me you didn't use explosives. I told you not to use explosives."

"Just a little C4 is all," Kyra replied and braced herself as the small explosion shook the building. A moment later, goat sucker guts came raining down in a hail of debris. "Oh, that's why… I'm bringing an umbrella next time."

Bobby rolled his eyes and pinched his fingers at the top of his nose. He could just picture the mess. "It's like you never listen at all."

"I do sometimes." She retorted distractedly while picking a stringy piece of chupacabra skin off the front of her tank top. "Whatcha need? I'm assuming this isn't a social call."

"I've heard you have some contacts in the witching world and there's some kind of convention coming up in your neck of the woods. Think you can do an old man a favor?"

Neither of them suspected that Dean was eavesdropping just outside the kitchen. From the sounds of it, Sam and him would be taking a little trip down to Florida.

A/N: So the last two chapters were kind of short. I expect for things to pick up with more detail in Part 2 where my OC Kyra gets more spotlight time. You'll get more of Pryor's situation as well. I just got very excited to get through Part 1 after all these years. Again, thanks to all who have stayed with me. I hope you enjoyed the story so far. I'm looking forward to some reviews, so please leave a little love. Thanks!