MOTEL ROOM
♪ Heat of the moment ♪
Sam and Zach's eyes snapped open and they sat up in bed.
♪ Telling you what your heart is ♪
"Rise and shine, Sammy, Zach!" Dean called as he sat on the other bed and tied his shoes.
Sam and Zach frowned. "Dude. Asia?"
"Come on, you two love this song and you know it," Dean replied.
"Yeah, and if I ever hear it again, I'm gonna kill myself," Sam said.
Dean turned up the volume. "What? Sorry, couldn't hear you."
♪ It was the heat of the moment ♪
Dean started bopping along and Sam shook his head while Zach rolled his eyes.
♪ Heat of the moment. Heat of the moment. Showed in your eyes ♪
In the bathroom, Dean gargled loudly.
"Whenever you're ready, Dean," Sam said.
Dean pulled out a black bra. "This yours? Zach, is this yours?"
Sam and Zach glared.
Dean laughed, rummaged in the bag and pulled out a gun. "Bingo."
He went past Sam and Zach to the door as Dean asked, "Now who's ready for some breakfast?"
DINER
The door chimed as Sam, Dean and Zach entered.
The cashier gave Mr. Pickett some change. "Drive safely now, Mr. Pickett."
"Yeah, yeah," Mr. Pickett replied.
The cook in the background called, "Order up."
Sam, Dean and Zach found a booth.
At the counter, a waitress said, "Can't stay unless you order something, Cal. You know the rules."
Cal passed her some change. "Some coffee."
Dean noticed a poster on the wall. "Hey. Tuesday. Pig-in-a-poke."
"You even know what that is?" Sam asked.
A waitress, Doris, walked up to their booth. "You boys ready?"
"Yes," Dean replied. "I'll have the special, side of bacon and a coffee."
"Couple waffles and a coffee," Zach told Doris.
"Make it three coffees and a short stack," Sam said.
"You got it," Doris answered.
Dean looked at his brothers. "I'm telling you, Sam, Zach, this job's small fry. We should be spending our time hunting down Bela."
"Okay, sure, let's get right on that - where is she again?" Sam retorted.
"Shut up."
"Look, believe me, I want to find her as bad as you two do. In the meantime, we have this." He pulled out some papers.
"All right, so this professor."
The headline on the newspaper clipping read 'MISSING - DEXTER HASSELBACK LAST SEEN IN BROWARD, FLORIDA'
"Dexter Hasselback was passing through town last week when he vanished."
"Last known location?"
"His daughter says he was on his way to visit the Broward County Mystery Spot," Zach answered.
Dean turned over a flyer, which had a large question mark and the words Broward County Mystery Spot on the front and E=MC², A=R² and F=GM1M2/R2² below the lines Dean read aloud. "Where the laws of physics have no meaning."
Doris arrived with a tray holding three coffees and a bottle of hot sauce. "Three coffees, black, and some hot sauce for the-" She gasped as the hot sauce fell off the tray and smashed on the floor. "Whoops. Crap! Sorry. Cleanup!"
STREET
A dog barked as Sam, Dean and Zach passed.
Dean grabbed the Mystery Spot flyer from Sam's hands. "Sam, Zach, joints like this are only tourist traps, right? I mean, you know, balls rolling uphill, furniture nailed to the ceiling, they're only dangerous to your wallet."
Sam glanced at him. "Okay, look, I'm just saying, there are spots in the world where holes open up and swallow people. The Bermuda Triangle, uh, the Oregon Vortex-"
"Broward County Mystery Spot?"
"Well sometimes these places are legit."
"All right, so if it is legit, and that's a big-ass if, what's the lore?"
"Well-" Zach began.
Dean collided with a blonde girl who was carrying a stack of paper.
"Excuse me," the blonde girl said.
Zach continued. "The lore's pretty frigging nuts actually. They say these places the magnetic fields are so strong that they can bend spacetime, sending victims no one knows where."
"Sounds a little X-Files to me," Dean commented.
Sam, Dean and Zach passed two movers trying to get a desk in a door.
"Told you it wouldn't fit," the first mover said.
"What do you want, a Pulitzer?" the second mover retorted.
"All right, look, I'm not saying this is really happening, but if it is, we gotta check it out, see if we can do something," Sam told his brothers.
"All right, all right, we'll go tonight, after they close, get ourselves a nice long look," Dean replied.
MYSTERY SPOT - NIGHT
The hallway was neon green with a black double spiral painted on the walls and door. The door opened, revealing Sam, Dean and Zach with flashlights. Sam pulled out the EMF reader. Dean and Zach shined the flashlights around and up onto a table, lamp, and ashtray attached upside down to the ceiling.
"Wow. Uncanny," Dean noted.
Sam examined another table with a wine glass and a poultry dinner, this one at an angle to the floor. The brothers moved on.
"Find anything?" Dean asked.
Sam was still holding the unresponsive EMF meter. "No."
"You have any idea what you're looking for?"
"Uh, yeah." Dean and Zach raised their eyebrows. "No."
Dean and Zach shook their heads and shined their flashlights around other parts of the room.
"What the hell are you doing here?" the owner demanded.
Sam turned to look. Dean and Zach pointed their flashlights and handgun at the voice. The owner had a gun aimed, shifting between Dean and Zach. Dean pointed his gun elsewhere.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, we can explain," Dean said.
The owner pointed the gun at Sam. "You robbing me?"
"Look, nobody's robbing you, calm down," Sam told him.
The owner pointed the gun back at Dean and Zach. "Don't move!"
"Just putting the guns down," Dean said as he moved to do so.
The owner fired a shot. Dean fell.
"Dean!" Sam and Zach yelled, rushing to him as he struggled to breathe. "Hey!" He looked at the owner. "Call 911."
"I-I didn't mean to-" the owner stammered.
"Now!"
The owner left.
Sam and Zach hugged their brother close. "Hey, hey, oh, no, no, no, not like this..."
Dean went still and his eyes closed. Sam and Zach watched, devastated.
MOTEL ROOM
♪ Heat of the moment ♪
Sam and Zach's eyes snapped open and they sat up in bed and stared around.
♪ Telling you what your heart is ♪
"Rise and shine, Sammy, Zach!" Dean was sitting on the other bed, tying his shoes.
Sam and Zach stared at him, then at the clock radio.
♪ The heat of the moment. Showed in your eyes. ♪
"Dude. Asia," Dean stated.
Sam and Zach kept staring, breathing hard. "Dean."
"Oh, come on, you two love this song and you know it." He turned up the volume. Sam and Zach stared after him.
BATHROOM
Dean gargled loudly and annoyingly. Sam and Zach drank some water, swished, and spit.
Dean noticed Sam and Zach's lack of reaction and spit out his mouthful. "What?"
"I don't know," Sam and Zach replied.
"You all right?" Dean asked.
"I think I-" He paused. "Man, Zach and I had a weird dream."
"Yeah? Clowns or midgets?"
DINER
The door chimed as Sam, Dean and Zach entered.
The cashier gave Mr. Pickett some change. "Drive safely now, Mr. Pickett."
"Yeah, yeah," Mr. Pickett replied.
Sam, Dean and Zach found a booth. Sam and Zach were staring around, bewildered.
"Can't stay unless you order something, Cal," a waitress said. "You know the rules."
"Cal passed her some change. "Coffee."
Dean noticed a poster on the wall. "Hey, Tuesday. Pig-in-a-poke."
Sam and Zach glanced between Dean and the poster. "It's Tuesday?"
"Yeah."
Doris walked up to their table. "Are you boys ready?"
"Yes, I'll have the special, side of bacon and a coffee," Dean said.
Sam stared for a minute. "Uh, nothing for me, thanks."
Zach shook his head. "Yeah, nothing for me, thanks."
"Let me know if you two change your minds," Doris told them.
Dean looked at his brothers. "I'm telling you, Sam, Zach, this job's small fry. We should be spending our time hunting down Bela."
Sam and Zach stared after Doris.
"Hey," Dean called as he snapped his fingers at Sam and Zach. "You two with me?"
"What?"
"You two sure you're both feeling okay?"
Sam sighed. "You don't - you don't remember? Any of this?"
"Remember what?"
"This," Zach answered. "Today. Like its - like it's happened before?"
"You two mean like déjà vu?"
"No, Sam and I mean like, like it's really happened before."
"Yeah. Like déjà vu."
"No, forget about déjà vu," Sam argued. "We're asking you if it feels like, like we're living yesterday all over again."
"Okay, how is that not dé-"
Sam, in an angry tone, said, "Don't, don't say it! Just don't even..."
Doris arrived with a tray with one coffee and the hot sauce. "Coffee, black and some hot sauce for the - oops! Crap!"
Sam noticed the hot sauce wobbling on the tray and caught it as it fell. Doris gasped. Sam and Zach stared at the bottle in his hand and gave it back.
"Thanks." Doris put down the bottle and left.
"Nice reflexes," Dean commented.
Sam and Zach didn't say anything.
STREET
The dog barked as Sam, Dean and Zach passed. Sam and Zach stared back over their shoulders.
"Sam, Zach, I'm sorry, but I don't know what the hell you're both talking about."
Sam glanced at him. "Okay, look, yesterday was Tuesday, right? But today is Tuesday too."
"Yeah. No. Good. You're totally balanced."
Sam frowned. "So you don't believe me or Zach?"
Dean laughed and collided with the blonde girl.
"Excuse me," the blonde girl said.
Dean turned back to Sam and Zach. "Look, I'm just saying that it's crazy, you know, I mean, even for us crazy. Dingo ate my baby crazy. Hey, maybe it was another one of your psychic premonitions."
"No, no way, way too vivid. Okay, look, we were at the Mystery Spot, and then-" Sam cut himself off.
"And then what?" Dean asked.
"Then Sam and I woke up," Zach replied.
Sam, Dean and Zach passed the movers.
"Told you it wouldn't fit," mover one said.
"What do you want, a Pulitzer?" mover two shot back.
"Wait a minute!" Sam exclaimed. "The Mystery Spot. You two think maybe it-"
"Maybe what?" Dean asked.
"We gotta check that place out, man, dude. Look, just, go with me on this, okay?"
"All right, all right, we'll go tonight, after it closes, get ourselves a nice long look."
Sam and Zach realized what he'd just said and whipped around. "Wait, what? No."
"Why not?"
"Uh. Let's just go now," Sam decided. "Right now. Business hours, nice and crowded."
"My God, you're a freak."
Sam and Zach looked at him. "Dean."
"Okay. Whatever. We'll go now."
Dean walked a few feet ahead of Sam and Zach and looked to his right as he entered the street. A car slammed into him from his left.
"Dean!" Sam and Zach called, rushing to him. "Dean, no, no, no."
Dean had blood on his face and was barely moving. Sam turned him over and picked him up. "Come on, Dean."
Mr. Pickett leaned out of his stopped car. Sam and Zach stared at him, then back at Dean.
"Hey," Sam and Zach called again. "Dean." Dean wasn't moving. "Dean. Dean."
MOTEL ROOM
♪ Heat of the moment ♪
Sam and Zach's eyes snapped open and they sat in bed and stared around.
♪ Telling you what your heart is ♪
"Rise and shine, Sammy, Zach!" Dean was sitting on the other bed, tying his shoes and Sam and Zach stared at him.
♪ The heat of the moment. Showed in your eyes ♪
In the bathroom, Dean gargled loudly. Sam and Zach watched him.
DINER
"Hey. Tuesday. Pig-in-a-poke," Dean said.
Sam frowned. "Would you listen to me and Zach, Dean? Because she and I are flipping out."
Doris walked up to their booth. "Are you boys ready?"
"He'll take the special, side of bacon, coffee, black, nothing for me or the other guy, thanks."
"You got it."
"Sammy, I get all tingly when you take control like that," Dean teased.
Sam and Zach glared at him. "Quit screwing around, Dean."
"Okay, okay, I'm listening," Dean said. "So, so you think that you're both in some kind of a what again?"
"Time loop."
"Like Groundhog Day."
"Yes, exactly like Groundhog Day," Sam confirmed.
Dean nodded. "Uh-huh."
"So you don't believe me or him."
"It's just a little crazy, I mean even for us crazy, you know, like, uh-"
"Dingo ate my baby crazy?"
"How'd you know I was going to say that?"
"Because you said it before, Dean, that's Zach's and my whole point."
Doris returned to their booth. "Coffee, black and some hot sauce for the - whoops! Crap!" Sam caught the hot sauce and handed it back to Doris without looking. "Thanks." Doris put the hot sauce down and left.
"Nice reflexes," Dean commented.
"No. Zach and I knew it was going to happen," Sam said.
Dean thought for a moment. "Okay, look, I'm sure there's some sort of an explanation-"
"You're just going to have to go with me and Zach on this, Dean, you just have to, you owe us that much."
"Calm down."
"Don't tell me to calm down. I can't calm down. I can't. Because-"
"Because what?"
Zach met his eyes. "Because you die today, Dean."
Dean frowned. "I'm not gonna die. Not today."
Sam glanced at him. "Twice now he and I've watched you die, and we can't. We won't do it again, okay? You're just going to have to believe us. Please."
"All right. I still think you're both nuts, but okay, whatever this is, we'll figure it out." Sam and Zach nodded.
STREET
The dog barked as Sam, Dean and Zach passed.
Dean collided with the blonde girl who said, "Excuse me."
Sam, Dean and Zach passed the movers.
"Told you it wouldn't fit," mover one said.
"What do you want, a Pulitzer?" mover two retorted.
Dean frowned. "And you think this cheesy-ass tourist trap has something to do with it?"
"Maybe it's the real deal, you know?" Sam guessed. "The, the magnetic fields bending spacetime or whatever."
"I don't know, it all seems a little too X-Files for me," Dean replied.
"Well Zach and I don't know how else to explain it, Dean!"
"All right, all right, we'll go tonight after they close, get ourselves a nice long look."
"No, no, no, no, no, we can't."
"Why not?"
"Because you-"
"I what?" Sam and Zach said nothing. "I die there?"
"Blown away, actually," Zach answered quietly.
"Huh. Okay, let's go now."
Dean started forward. Sam and Zach rushed after him and grabbed him before he ran into the street.
Mr. Pickett's car zoomed past. "Stay out of the way!"
Sam, Dean and Zach stared after the car.
"Wait, did he?" Dean wondered.
"Yesterday, yeah," Sam and Zach answered.
"And?"
"And what?"
"Did it look cool, like in the movies?"
"You peed yourself, Dean," Sam told him.
"Of course I peed myself. Man gets hit by a car, you think he has full control over his bladder? Come on."
Dean carefully looked both ways before crossing the street.
MYSTERY SPOT
"Boys, I can't tell you how much I appreciate this," the owner said. "We could use all the good ink we can get."
"How long have you owned the place, Mr. Kopiak?" Sam asked.
"My family's been guarding the secrets here since you don't want to know when."
"So you'd know if anything strange happened."
"Strange? Strange happens here all the time. It's a Mystery Spot."
"What exactly does that mean?"
"Well, uh, it's where the laws of physics have no meaning."
Sam and Zach's tones were angry. "Okay, like how?"
The owner grinned. "Take the tour."
"The guy who went missing, Dexter Hasselback, he take the tour?" Dean questioned.
The owner frowned. "Uh, uh, hold on a minute, what kind of article is this?"
"Just answer the question," Sam replied.
"The police scoured every inch of the place. They couldn't find that man. I never seen him before. We're a family establishment-"
Zach got in the owner's face. "Listen to me. There is something weird going on here. Now do you know anything about it or not?"
"Okay. Look. Guys. Um. Give me a break. I bought the joint at a foreclosure auction last March, all right? Hell, I used to sell bail bonds." Sam and Zach stared at him, stony-faced.
"Okay, Kojak, dude, let's get some air," Dean suggested as he steered Sam and Zach outside.
STREET
"I hate to say it, but that place is exactly what I thought," Dean said. "Full of crap."
"Then what is it, Dean, what the hell is happening to us?" Sam asked.
"I don't know. All right, lemme just, so, every day I die."
"Yeah."
"And that's when you wake up again, right?"
"Yeah."
"So let's just make sure Dean doesn't die," Zach reasoned. "If he makes it to tomorrow, then maybe the loop stops and we can figure all this out."
"You think?"
"Worth a shot," Dean replied. "I say we grab some takeout and head back to the motel, lay low until midnight." Sam nodded. "All right, good. Who wants Chinese?"
Dean started walking and got two steps before being flattened by a falling desk. The movers, one holding the other end of the snapped rope and the other up in the window, and Sam and Zach stared.
MOTEL ROOM
♪ Heat of the moment ♪
Sam and Zach's eyes opened and they sat up in bed and stared around.
♪ Telling you what your heart is ♪
Dean was sitting on the other bed, tying his shoes. Sam and Zach stared at him.
♪ The heat of the moment ♪
Sam and Zach laid back and tried to breathe.
♪ Showed in your eyes. It was the heat of the moment ♪
DINER
"I still think you're both nuts, but whatever this is, we'll figure it out," Dean said.
"Thanks," Sam and Zach replied.
"So. Uh. You're both stuck in Groundhog Day. Why? What's behind it?"
"Well, at first Zach and I thought it was the Mystery Spot," Sam said. "Now we're not so sure."
"What to we do?"
"Try to keep you breathing, try to make it to tomorrow," Zach told him. "That's the only thing Sam and I can think of."
"Shouldn't be too hard."
"Yeah, right, Dean, Sam and I've watched you die a few times now and we can't ever seem to stop it."
"Well, nothing's set in stone. You said I order the same thing every day, right?"
"Yeah," Sam replied. "Pig-in-a-poke, side of bacon."
Dean turned to Doris, who was standing by the window to the kitchen and talking with the cook.
"'Scuse me, sweetheart," Dean called and Doris turned. "Can I get sausage instead of bacon?"
"Sure thing, hon," Doris replied.
Dean turned back to Sam. "See? Different day already. See, if you two and I decide I'm gonna die, I'm not gonna die."
Doris brought over Dean's food.
"Thank you."
Dean stabbed a sausage with his fork and bit it. Sam and Zach grinned. Dean started to choke.
"Dean," Sam and Zach called. "Dean?"
MOTEL ROOM
♪ Heat of the moment ♪
Sam and Zach's eyes opened and they sat in bed and stared around.
BATHROOM
Dean poked his shampooed head around the shower curtain. "You mean we can't even go out for breakfast?"
"You'll thank us when it's Wednesday!" Sam yelled back.
"Whatever that means." He disappeared behind the shower curtain.
MOTEL ROOM
Sam and Zach looked out the window. They heard Dean yelp followed by a thud.
♪ Heat of the moment ♪
Sam and Zach's eyes opened.
Dean bit into a takeout taco. "These tacos taste funny to you?"
♪ Heat of the moment ♪
Sam and Zach sat up in bed.
Dean plugged in an electric razor and was electrocuted.
♪ Heat of the moment ♪
Sam and Zach's eyes opened.
MYSTERY SPOT
Sam was breaking down the walls with an axe. Dean grinned at the owner, who was duct-taped to a chair. Zach had his arms crossed.
"Everybody's fine, nobody's gonna get hurt, okay?" Dean reassured. "Sammy?" Sam stopped and turned. "Maybe you should drop the axe and let this guy go, what do you say?"
"Something's gotta be here," Sam said. "I intend to find out what." He went back to swinging the axe.
"Place is torn up pretty good, dude. Time to give it a rest."
"NO! I'm gonna take it down to studs."
Dean stood as he said, "Sammy, that's enough, give me the axe."
"Leave it, Dean."
"Give it."
"No, you give it."
"Let it go."
"No."
"Let it go, come on!"
"Dean, leave it, please-"
The owner was splashed with blood.
"Dean?" Sam and Zach called.
There was a thud. The owner tried to yell through the duct tape.
MOTEL ROOM
♪ Heat of the moment ♪
Sam and Zach's eyes opened.
DINER
The door chimed as Sam, Dean and Zach entered.
The cashier gave Mr. Pickett some change. "Drive safely now, Mr. Pickett."
"Yeah, yeah," Mr. Pickett replied.
Sam bumped into Mr. Pickett as they passed.
"Can't stay until you order something, Cal," a waitress told him. "You know the rules."
Cal passed her some change. "Coffee."
Sam, Dean and Zach sat down in a booth. There was a man at the counter with pancakes and maple syrup.
"Hey. Tuesday. Pig-in-a-poke," Dean said.
Sam put a set of keys on the table.
Dean and Zach looked at them, then at Sam before asking, "What are those?"
"The old man's," Sam replied. "Trust me, you don't want him behind the wheel."
"You boys ready?" Doris asked.
"Uh, yes, we are," Dean answered. "I'll have the special, side of bacon and a coffee."
"Hey Doris?" Sam called. "What I'd like is for you to log in some more hours at the archery range. You're a terrible shot."
"How'd you know that?" Doris questioned.
"Lucky guess."
"Okay, so you think you're caught in some kind of what, again?" Dean asked.
"Time loop."
"Like Groundhog Day."
Zach shook his head. "Doesn't matter. There's no way to stop it."
"Jeez, aren't you two grumpy," Dean noted.
"Yeah, we are," Sam shot back. "You wanna know why? Because this is the hundredth Tuesday in a row Zach and I've been through, and it never stops. Ever. So yeah, we're a little grumpy. Hot sauce."
"What?"
Doris arrived with the coffee and hot sauce. "Coffee, black, and some hot sauce for the - whoops! Crap!" Sam caught the hot sauce and slid it across the table. "Thanks."
"Nice reflexes," Dean complimented.
"Zach and I knew it was going to happen, Dean," Sam told him. "We know everything that's gonna happen."
"You two don't know everything," Dean protested.
"Yeah, we do."
The brothers spoke in unison. "Yeah, right. Nice guess."
"It wasn't a guess."
"Right, you're a mind reader. Cut it out, Sam. Sam." They leaned towards each other simultaneously. "You think you're being funny but you're being really really childish! Sam Winchester wears makeup. Sam Winchester cries his way through sex. Sam Winchester keeps a rule by the bed and every morning when he wakes up he-"
Dean threw up his hands. "Okay, enough!"
"That's not all," Sam said. "Randy the cashier? He's skimming from the register. Judge Myers? At night he puts on a furry bunny outfit." Judge Myers, overhearing, knocked over his glass. "Over there, that's Cal. He's gonna rob Tony the mechanic on the way home."
"What's your point?"
"His point is he and I've lived through every possible Tuesday," Zach said. "We've watched you die every possible way. He has ripped apart the Mystery Spot, burnt it down, tried everything we know to save your life, and we can't. No matter what we do, you die. And then we wake up. And then it's Tuesday again."
STREET
"Dog," Sam and Zach said.
The dog barked as Sam, Dean and Zach passed.
"There's gotta be some way out of this," Dean stated.
"Where's my dang keys?"
They passed Mr. Pickett who asked, "Where's my dang keys?"
"Excuse me."
Dean collided with the blonde girl who said, "Excuse me."
"She's kinda cute," Dean noted, putting out a hand to stop Sam. "Hey. All the times we've walked down this street, I ever do this?" He went back to the blonde girl. "'Scuse me, miss."
"No," Sam and Zach said.
The blonde girl gave Dean one of her missing posters.
"Hundred Tuesdays and you two never bothered to check what she was holding in her hands?" Dean questioned and Sam shrugged as Dean held up the flyer. "It's the guy who went missing."
Sam stared at the name DEXTER HASSELBACK under the picture from the newspaper clipping. "Yeah?"
"That's his daughter back there."
Sam grabbed the flyer and he and Zach ran after the blonde girl. "Ma'am?"
The dog growled and barked at Dean.
"Hey buddy!" Dean greeted. "Somebody need a friend? Good boy-aaah!"
MOTEL ROOM
♪ Heat of the moment ♪
Sam and Zach's eyes opened.
DINER
Dean was eating and Sam was on the laptop, Zach next to Sam. Behind them, the man with the pancakes was reading a newspaper. He had a thing of pink syrup next to his plate.
"So the police report says Dexter Hasselback is a professor, but that's not all he is," Sam said.
"What is he?" Dean asked.
"Zach and I talked to his daughter. Guy's quite the journalist. Columns in magazines, a blog." The man left. "He writes about tourist attractions. Mystery Spots, UFO crash sites - he gets his kicks debunking them. I mean, he's already put four of these places out of business. Here."
Sam turned the laptop to face Dean and Zach. Onscreen was the biography of the author of the blog "The Hasselback report" with a picture of Hasselback and a headline Dean read aloud.
"Dexter Hasselback, truth warrior? More like a pompous shmuck you ask me," Dean commented.
"Yeah, tell me about it. I mean, I've read everything the guy's ever written, and he must have weighed a ton, he was so full of himself."
"When'd you have time to do all this research?"
"Come on."
"Right."
Sam packed up the laptop and they got up. Dean laughed.
"What?" Sam asked.
"I just, it's just funny, you know, I mean, this guy spends his whole life crapping on Mystery Spots and then he vanishes into one," Dean said. "It's kinda poetic, you know, just desserts."
"You're right, that is just desserts." Zach nodded his agreement as he and Sam noted the man's abandoned plate with a partial pancake and pink syrup.
"What's wrong?" Dean inquired.
Sam watched the man by the diner windows. "Guy has maple syrup for the last hundred Tuesdays, all of a sudden he's having strawberry?"
"It's a free country," Dean replied. "Man can't choose his own syrup, huh? What have we become?"
Zach shook his head. "Not in this diner. Not today. Nothing in this place ever changes. Ever. Except me and Sam."
MOTEL ROOM
♪ Heat of the moment ♪
Sam and Zach's eyes opened and they sat up in bed and looked around.
♪ Telling you what your heart is ♪
"Rise and shine, Sammy, Zach!" Dean called as he sat on the bed, tying his shoes.
♪ The heat of the moment. Showed in your eyes. ♪
DINER
The man was eating pancakes with maple syrup. Behind him, Dean was eating and Sam and Zach were watching the man.
"So you two think you're caught in some kind of what, again?" Dean asked.
"Eat your breakfast," Sam and Zach said.
The man left and Sam and Zach followed.
"What's in the bag?" Dean wondered, following them.
STREET
The man walked down the street. Sam and Zach grabbed him, slammed him into the fence, and both put the tip of a wooden stake at his throat.
"Hey!" the man cried.
"We know who you are. Or should I say, what," Sam said.
"Oh my God, please don't kill me."
"Uh, Sam? Zach?" Dean called.
"It took us a hell of a long time but we got it."
"What?" the man asked.
"It's your MO that gave you away. Going after pompous jerks, giving them their just desserts - your kind loves that, don't they?"
"Yeah, sure, okay." The man glanced nervously at the stake. "Just put the stake down!"
"Sam, Zach, maybe you should-" Dean began.
"No!" Sam yelled. "There's only one creature powerful enough to do what you're doing. Making reality out of nothing, sticking people in time loops - in fact you'd pretty much have to be a god. You'd have to be a Trickster."
The man frowned. "Mister, my name is Ed Coleman, my wife's name is Amelia, I got two kids, for crying out loud I sell ad space-"
"Don't lie to us!" Zach yelled. "We know what you are! We've killed one of your kind before!"
Ed Colman shifted into the Trickster who said, "Actually, buckos, you didn't."
"Why are you doing this?"
"You're joking, right? You chuckleheads tried to kill me last time. Why wouldn't I do this?"
"And Hasselback, what about him?" Dean questioned.
"That putz? He said he didn't believe in wormholes, so I dropped him in one." The Trickster laughed. "Then you guys showed up. I made you the second you hit town."
"So this is fun for you?" Sam retorted. "Killing Dean over and over again?"
"One, yes, it is fun. And two? This is so not about killing Dean. This joke is on you, Sam, Zach. Watching your brother die, every day? Forever?"
"You son of a bitch," Sam and Zach retorted.
"How long will it take you to realize? You can't save your brother. No matter what."
"Oh yeah? I kill you, this all ends now." He inched the stake closer to the Trickster's neck.
"Oh-oh, hey, whoa! Okay. Look. I was just playing around. You can't take a joke, fine. You're out of it. Tomorrow, you'll wake up and it'll be Wednesday. I swear."
"You're lying."
"If I am, you know where to find me. Having pancakes at the diner."
Sam and Zach looked at Dean, then back at the Trickster. "No. Easier to kill you."
"Sorry, kiddos. Can't have that." The Trickster snapped his fingers.
MOTEL ROOM
♪ Promise me I'll be back in time ♪
Sam and Zach's eyes snapped open and they sat up in bed and stared around.
♪ Gotta get back in time ♪
"What, you two gonna sleep all day?" Dean was standing by the bathroom sink.
"No Asia," Sam and Zach realized.
"Yeah, I know. This station sucks."
♪ On a roll of the dice ♪
Sam and Zach stared at the clock radio seeing WED and gasped. "It's Wednesday!"
"Yeah, usually comes after Tuesday," Dean replied. "Turn that thing off, will you?"
Sam grinned. "What, are you kidding me? This isn't the most beautiful song you've ever heard?"
"No. How many Tuesdays did you two have?"
Sam threw a long-sleeved shirt over his T-shirt. "I don't know. Zach and I lost count. Hey, wait. What do you remember?"
"I remember you two were pretty whacked out of it yesterday and then I remember running into the Trickster. But no, that's about it."
"All right. Pack your stuff, let's get the hell out of town," Zach told him.
"No breakfast?" Dean asked.
"No breakfast."
PARKING LOT
Dean pulled a shotgun from the secret compartment and put it in a duffel bag. He closed the compartment, put the bags in the trunk and closed it. He heard someone behind him.
"You sure we should let the Trickster go?" Dean questioned.
Dean turned to face the person. It was Cal; not Sam or Zach. Cal was pointing a handgun at Dean.
"Gimme your wallet," Cal ordered.
Dean said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, buddy, just relax."
"I am relaxed!"
"Okay, all right, nobody wants this to end the wrong way, let's talk about it a sec."
MOTEL ROOM
Sam and Zach were packing. Their heads snapped around when they heard a gunshot. "Dean!"
STREET
Cal ran around the corner. Sam and Zach hurried down the motel exterior stairs. Dean was on his side on the asphalt, blood on his shirt. Sam and Zach ran to him.
"No, no, no, no, no, hey, hey, come on, not today, not today, this isn't supposed to happen today, come on-" Sam begged before realizing he wasn't moving.
He and Zach closed their eyes and waited, but nothing happened. They opened their eyes. Dean was still dead.
"I'm supposed to wake up," Sam and Zach said.
SIX MONTHS LATER
ROAD - CAR
Sam was at the wheel. Zach was in the passenger's seat.
A phone rang and Sam's voicemail sounded. "It's Sam. Leave me a message."
As Bobby spoke, Sam and Zach shines a flashlight around and fired a gun.
"Sam? It's Bobby. Heard about that demon thing you and Zach took care of in Death Valley. Nice job. Been about three months since we talked, though. Be nice to hear your voice. Give me or Lily a call. We're here."
MOTEL ROOM
Sam opened the door to the room. He pulled off his over-shirt, revealing his blood-soaked T-shirt. He cut through the bloodstain to reveal a bleeding wound. He poured hydrogen peroxide on it and went into the hole with a pair of tweezers and pulled out the bullet. He stitched up the wound.
Later, Sam and Zach were eating.
"Sam? Bobby again. Look, I'm worried about you. Lily's worried about Zach. Tell him to turn his damn phone on."
Sam and Zach both cleaned a gun, facing a wall of maps and newspaper clippings and security-camera stills featuring the Trickster, arranged in neat lines with none overlapping.
"Just tell me you're not sitting alone somewhere obsessing over this damn Trickster. Call me or Lily, Sam, Zach. We can find it together. No one man should take something like this on alone. You two hear me? By the way, that vampire nest in Austin, hell of a job."
Sam sat up stiffly and made the bed with military precision. He went into the bathroom and brushed his teeth.
"Sam? It's Bobby. Lily and I found him."
MYSTERY SPOT
Bobby was kneeling on the floor as Lily turned the pages of a book, which was in the dead center of a chalked diagram with three candles and three bowls of mysterious substances. Sam and Zach entered the room behind him.
Bobby stood. "It's good to see you, boys." He hugged Sam and Zach, who didn't respond, and pulled away.
"What are we doing here, Bobby, Lily?" Sam asked.
"Well, it's the last place we're sure the Trickster worked his magic," Lily explained.
"So?"
"So you want this thing? Dad and I found a summoning ritual to bring the Trickster here."
"What do we need?"
"Blood."
"How much blood?" Zach questioned.
"Ritual says near a gallon. And it's gotta be fresh, too," Bobby replied.
"Meaning we have to bleed a person dry."
"And it's gotta be tonight. Or not for another 50 years."
"Then let's go get some." Sam and Zach turned to leave, but Bobby didn't move. Sam and Zach noticed and turned back.
"You break my heart, kids."
"What?"
"I'm not gonna let either of you murder an innocent man."
"Then why'd you bring us here?"
"Why? Because it was the only way you'd see us!" Lily cried. "Because we're trying to knock some sense into you! Because we thought you'd back down from killing a man!"
"Well, you thought wrong," Sam retorted. "Leave the stuff, we'll do it ourselves."
"I'm not gonna let either of you kill a man," Bobby said. "Nor will Lily."
Sam shouted, "It's none of your damn business what Zach and I do!"
"You want your brother back so bad?" Bobby asked as he leaned down and pulled a knife from his bag, holding it up to Sam. "Fine."
Sam eyed the knife. "What are you talking about?"
"Better me than a civilian." Bobby held the knife out to Sam.
"You're crazy, Bobby. I'm not killing you."
"Oh, now I'm the crazy one. Look, Sam, I'm old, I'm coming near the end of my trail. But you can keep fighting. Saving folk. But you two need your brother. Let me get him back to you."
"Bobby-"
"You, Dean and Zach, you boys are the closest thing I have to family excluding my daughter. I wanna do this."
Sam took the knife. "Okay."
"Good." Bobby turned around and fell to his knee, glancing to Sam. "Just make it quick." Sam waited. "Do it, son."
"Yeah, okay, Bobby," Sam said, pulling a stake from his shirt. "But you wanna know why?" Sam grabbed Bobby around the throat and shoved the stake through his back. The tip came out Bobby's chest. "Because you're not Bobby."
Sam twisted the stake and blood spurted from the wound. Bobby went still and fell forward. Sam let out of him, then stared at Bobby's corpse. Nothing happened.
"Bobby?" Sam and Zach called. "Bobby! Bobby!"
"Dad!" Lily screamed.
Bobby's corpse and Lily vanished. The stake fell over, then shot over Sam's shoulder into the hand of the Trickster. Sam and Zach turned to him.
"You're right," the Trickster replied. "I was just screwing with you. Pretty good, though, Sam. Smart. Let me tell you, whoever said Dean and Zach were the dysfunctional ones has never seen you with a sharp object in your hands. Holy Full Metal Jacket."
"Bring him back," Sam and Zach ordered.
"Who, Dean? Didn't my girl send you flowers? Dean's dead. He ain't coming back. His soul's downstairs doing the hellfire rumba as we speak."
"Just take us back to that Tuesday-er, Wednesday - when it all started. Please. We won't come after you, I swear."
"You swear."
"Yes."
"I don't know. Even if I could-"
"You can."
"True. But that don't mean I should. Sam, there's a lesson here that I've been trying to drill into that freakish Cro-Magnon skull of yours."
"Lesson? What lesson?" Sam and Zach asked.
"This obsession to save Dean? The way you three keep sacrificing yourselves for each other? Nothing good comes out of it. Just blood and pain. Dean is your weakness. And the bad guys know it, too. It's gonna be the death of you, Sam, Zach. Sometimes you just gotta let people go."
"He's my brother."
"Yup. And like it or not, this is what life's gonna be like without him."
"Please. Just - please."
"I swear, it's like talking to a brick wall. Okay, look. This all stopped being fun months ago. You're Travis Bickle in a skirt, pals. I'm over it."
"Meaning what?"
"Meaning that's for me to know and you to find out." He snapped his fingers.
MOTEL ROOM
♪ Promise me I'll be back in time ♪
Sam and Zach's eyes snapped open and they sat in bed and stared around.
♪ Gotta get back in time ♪
"What, you two gonna sleep all day?" Dean was standing by the bathroom sink brushing his teeth. "I know, no Asia. This station sucks."
♪ On a roll of the dice ♪
Sam and Zach checked the clock radio and saw it said WED. "It's Wednesday."
"Yeah, usually comes after Tuesday," Dean replied. "Turn that thing off."
Sam threw off the covers and he and Zach grabbed Dean into a hug.
"Dude, how may Tuesdays did you have?" Dean asked.
"Enough," Sam answered. "What, uh, what do you remember?"
"I remember you two were pretty whacked out of it yesterday. I remember getting up with the Trickster. That's about it," Dean said.
Sam and Zach nodded. "Let's go."
"No breakfast?"
"No breakfast."
"All right, I'll pack the car."
"Wait, you aren't going anywhere without me or Sam," Zach said.
"It's the parking lot, man."
"Just - just trust me."
"Okay. We go together. Sammy, Zach, you two okay?"
Sam, dressed, zipped a bag clothed. Zach shouldered his bag. Dean opened the door, then turned back.
"Hey, you two don't look so good," Dean noted. "Something else happen?"
Sam said nothing for a moment. "Zach and I just had a really weird dream."
Dean nodded. "Clowns or midgets?"
Sam looked up. Dean grinned. Zach stared blankly. Sam and Zach tried to smile and the former picked up his bag. Dean left. Sam and Zach followed, stopping at the door to look back at the unmade bed. Sam turned off the light and closed the door.