Nice opening chapter. A still broken Dean, hiding in a bottle but can still turn it on for a chick. Wonder who the chick will be and wonder how Dean will cope with whatever comes next.

Author's Response: Yup: there are no easy fixes for this kind of trauma, unlike what you might read in other stories! And the PTSD that unfold is a parallel to S4 PTSD also...

I'm so glad that Kathleen wants to see the conclusion to this crazy adventure of the Winchesters'. I hope Bobby and Sammy can get free from their inprisonment and save Dean and Kathleen. I look forward to reading the next installment! 

Author's Response: Yup... Kathleen is sort of conflicted at this point but finally accepts that she now has an emotional investment in Dean that means she can't just walk away...

Kate,

WOW!!!!!!  Excellent Chapter.

i wanted to jump in this chapter and wrap my arms around Dean.  the way you described what he went though.  

He finally got to confront Lee which is what he so needed to do.  

great job

Renee

Author's Response: You're so right, Renee: he needed to do this, and has all along needed to do it. And he came to a really important realization: that it was the betrayal that really damaged him more than the attacks... but that his real brother would never betray him in that way. And of course that is a parallel to the fact that Sam does betray him in S4... :-(

Well, holy crap, I was right. The wendigo is a Bender but I didn't see he was that Bender. Poor Dean, he really needs a hospital, I hope somehow they can get out of there and get him to one. This chapter really was nailbiting!!!

Author's Response: Yup: I thought it would be a neat twist to have it be the original Gabe! Adds a whole 'nother level to its use of the word 'kin'...

“But that would mean show tunes,” she sighs...  Yep!  she's seen that before.  Glad she hasn't lost her sense of jumor.  It's these little quips that make the story so realistic.  Dry humor seems to replace despair in most people's lives.  You have a lovely balance in your characters that make them very human!

“Jesus, this must be what it’s like to have kids,” she says under her breath...  Oh yeah!  Art imitates life.  A beautiful mother's insight.  Kathleen will be much more appreciative of her dog from now on.

Eight foot fuckin’ nine, Sammy. Dad’s got me wearin’ your hand-me-downs. It’s fuckin’ wrong…  This was a true gem!  That would have to be the final insult to being the older but shorter brother.  Laugh riot!

Bobby taling about his son and what it meant to him to have a second chance with Sam and Dean was a beautiful poignant insight into the older hunter's life.

Hilarious conversation between Sam and Bobby as they discuss how to get out of the cellar.  They're as good as Martin and Lewis.  Especially funny when Sam expects an old man with bad knees and a 6'4" adult on his shoulder to bounce at the knees.  Yeah, right!

The root cellar?!  You are kidding me!  How ironic!

Author's Response:

Cackles... yup, the root cellar! Irony can be pretty ironic, huh?! Ans poor Dean is limping in the oppsote direction... :-O

I'm so glad you liked Sam and Bobby... I've really tried to play up their bond too in this story... I wanted it to be significant that Bobby pours his heart out to Sam when you might expect him to do it with Dean. I think my favorite bit in that banter is "like we discussed...".

Not much more to go! :-(

Fantastic update, Sam and Bobby were so close, i thought that they were miles away, but now Dean's gone wandering off and it looks like he's in trouble, very exciting chapter, can't wait for more.

Author's Response: Thanks dude! Next chapter should be a humdinger! ;-)

Didn't expect them to be in the root cellar, glad Kathleen found them but is she or Sam hurt badly?  The part where Dean was talking nonstop from the drugs was funny, as was Kathleen's "this must be what it’s like to have kids”.  Having had a bad reaction to a prescription before, I felt bad for Dean, it's scary when you don't seem to have control over your body.  What's Lee going to do to Dean!?  Awesome chapter as always.

Author's Response: Thanks dude! Glad you liked! Next chapter should post next week…

Your story is one of my all-time-favs. So well written, can`t wait for the next chapter. You really are a professional..

Author's Response: I really appreciate that... am in a bit of a turmoil over these stories, tbh, since another writer has accused me of stealing the ideas for them from her. Needless to say, it isn't true. So it is wonderful to get comments like yours and I so appreciate it...

Great day, you are giving me a heart attack reading this story!! Poor Dean! He's seeing Lee's ghost and now he's literally trapped! Holy cow! How in the world are they going to get out of this mess. Perhaps Bobby can free himself because it looks like he is going to have to! Fantastic chapter!!

Author's Response: Yes! Cackles... after 'what if Missy got out of the closet', 'what if Dean had stepped in the beartrap in Wendigo' was my next-best plot bunny! >:)

Great day! I hope Kathleen talked some sense into Sam, because he is blaming the victim here. I hope Sam can rescue Bobby and the others if any of them are still alive. I'm really worried about what Dean will do once he hears the wendigo, will he try to run? And what does the wendigo want exactly with Dean. I'm still of the opinion the wendigo has something to do with the Bender family. Poor Kathleen, she is really holding the bag here.  Looking forward to more!!


Author's Response: Kathleen is great isn't she? I love her and will be sorry to get to the end of this story because of that. Don't feel too mad at Sam... blame the victim is a very common psychological response people use to rationalize things like this, and if I had been writing this story in reverse I would have had Dean saying this in Sam's place. And you could be right about the wendigo! ;-)

Showeee, that was a hard chapter to read.Having Sam,Kathleen, and Bobby actually here Dean's rape in surround sound was so chilling. I'm glad that Dean was out cold (and hopefully not hearing any of it). It really shows them why Dean is the way he is. They can't stand hearing it so how in the world did Dean survive the whole ordeal? I hope this gives them a whole new perspective of Dean's mind. I'm wondering if the Wendigo is still tied in with the Benders? Did they know of it? I'm really looking forward to reading the next part!!

Author's Response: Thanks hun! Yup, the fact wendigos can mimic was a bit of a gift to me for this story! And of course it makes for much delicious angst for Dean…

Superb chapter!  I love how you started off with Kathleen's ramblings.  Her situation is so crazy and difficult it would make anyone a little nutty.  Still, through it all she's thinking clearly as far as her next step.  Had to smile when I found out Dean was listening to the entire monologue and didn't even flinch when she aimed the gun on him. 

He sniggers, just barely. “Got to stay frosty, Kathleen.” He raises an eyebrow. “And when you have a killshot, you damn well take it,” he snarks wearily. “You don’t talk yourself out of it. Fuckin’ amateur.”  Dean Winchester at his finest, berating someone for not killing him.

“You just lay there and let me point that thing at you. Jesus, you’re nine kinds of crazy, Dean. How did you know I wouldn’t pull the trigger?”

He shrugs, slowly, painfully, like even that slight movement is a huge effort. “I didn’t know.”

“And still you lay there?”

“And still I lay here.”  Brilliant and certifiably crazy.  Yous consistently bring out Dean's winning personality.

“I could have been gay for all you knew.”                         

“I would have cured you of that, you can bet on it,” he retorts.  So many thoughts went through my head!  At first I had to laugh.  Then I found myself wishing to be in her place.  Can you just imagine the tricks he'd use to make her straight?

“Fuck-me boots…” he says wistfully. “Please tell me you still have them…”

She’s tapping her fingers on the seams of her pants. “Well, you’ll never know, will you?”  I loved this entire exchange, could see the wheels in Dean's head turning and I was almost surprised his body didn't betray him as he envisioned Kathleen in those boots.  So does she still have them?

I notice that Dean calls her Kathleen now instead of Hudak.  Nice change up to the familiar since they've become intimately acquinted with one another.

 

Author's Response:

Yup: there is a resigned bravado to Dean now but thought it was important to show that Kathleen is feeling pretty hopeless at this stage too, after the adrenaline rush has died down. I also wanted to get over that she has sort of been seeing/reacting to Dean through Bobby and Sam’s eyes but now is starting to react to him on a much more personal level, which ties into this resignation and the fact she won’t leave him even though she could probably maek it out safely if she did.

But… will he let her go with him? >:) 

Kate,

yeah another great chapter.

Sam and Bobby together; they need to find a way out.

I love how Kathleen finally exploded at Dean and how you had Dean remind her of what Bender could do to Sam what he did to Dean.  Got her moving.

hope the next chapter will be up soon.

Renee

Author's Response: Thanks Renee… Kathleen’s explosion is really a symptom of her growing sense of hopelessness at her ability to save Dean… she knows he won’t leave his brother out there! Hope to get C17 up for next week…