( CHANGELINGS )

      "You've been following me since Lincoln." Sam says.

      "Not much gets by you, huh? Saw your little girlfriend walking into a clothing store. I guess she ran out of panties." The woman, Ruby, takes a plate, squirts a mound of ketchup into it, and starts eating his fries. "These are amazing. it's like deep-fried crack. Try some."

      "That knife you had. You can kill demons with that thing?" Sam asks.

      Ruby continues eating. "Sure comes in handy when I have to swoop in and save the damsel in distress."

      "Where did you get it?" Sam asks.

      "Skymall."

      "Why are you following me?" Sam asks.

      "I'm interested in you." Ruby says.

      "Why?" Sam asks. "I have a girlfriend."

      "Because you're tall. And I love a tall man. And then there's the whole antichrist thing." Ruby says.

      "Excuse me?" Sam asks.

      "Generation of psychic kids, yellow-eyed demon rounds you up, celebrity death match ensues. You're the sole survivor."

      "How do you know about that?" Sam asks.

      "I'm a good hunter." Ruby says. "So, yellow eyes had some pretty big plans for you, Sam."

      "'Had' being the key word." Sam says.

      "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's right. Ding-dong, the demon's dead. Good job with that. It doesn't change the fact that you're special... in that Anthony Michael Hall E.S.P. visions kind of way." Ruby says.

      Sam looks at her firmly. "No. That's stuff's not happening anymore. Not since Yellow-Eyes died." He says.

      "Well, I'm thinking you're still a pretty big deal. I mean, after all that business with your mom." Ruby says.

      "What about my mom?"

      "You know, what happened to her friends." Ruby watches his attempted poker face. "You... don't know. You've got a little bit of catching up to do, my friend. So, why don't you look into your mom's pals, and then give me a call and we'll talk again? And, by the way, you do know there's a job in this town,right?"

MOTEL ROOM
[ ☼ ]

      Sam and Elena are about to walk into the Motel room when she stops him. "Hey. What's up with you?"

      "Nothing." Sam says.

      "I just feel like you're not telling me something." Elena says.

      Sam turns the doorknob. "I'm just really tired, that's all." He says. They walk in and see Dean. "Hello."

      "Dude, there is a job here." Dean says to Sam.

      "Really?"

     "Yeah. You know that one freak accident we read about in the paper?" Dean asks. "There's four more that never even made the paper, all in this Morning Hill gated community. People falling off of ladders and drowning in their jacuzzis all over the neighborhood."

      "That is weird." Elena says.

      "Yeah, something's up. Something these nice, big gates can't protect them from."

SUBURBAN HOUSE
[ ☾]

      Katie's Mom is dozing, with the book The Historian on the pillow. "Katie. What are you doing?"

      "Play with me, mommy." Katie days.

      "Okay. Sure. Yeah let's, um, let's play." The Mom says.

      "Oh, good. I love you, mommy."

      "I love you too, sweetie." The Mom says.

      "I'm hungry, mommy." Katie says.

      "Yeah."

ANOTHER SUBURBAN HOUSE
[ ☼ ]

      Sam, dressed in a dark suit and posing as an insurance agent, is speaking to another young mother. Elena is also there in a sleek black dress. "So, once again, I'm very sorry to disturb you. We just really want to expedite that life-insurance policy." Sam says.

      "Of course. Okay." The Mother takes them around back, where a ladder leans against the wall. "This is, um, where he fell."

      "I see. Now, how exactly did he-" Sam starts.

      "He was just inside changing a light bulb. Must have lost his balance." She says.

      "Were you here when this happened?" Elena asks.

      "No. I was out. Uh, the only one here was our daughter, Dakota." The Woman gestures inside, where a Creepy Little Girl is looking out at them. Something dark red is smudged on the window.

      "Okay. Okay. well, uh, I think that's all we need. We'll get out of your way now." Sam says awkwardly.

      "Thank you." She turns and goes up the steps with Sam behind her. He sees a strange bruise on the back of her neck.

KATIE'S HOUSE
[ ☼ ]

      "Thank you, mommy." Katie says sweetly.

      "You eat. Mommy will be right back." Frazzled almost to the point of breaking, Katie's Mom enters the bathroom and shuts the door. She leans over the sink.

      Katie begins pounding on the door. "Mommy?" She asks.

      "Just-just give mommy a second." The Mom says.

      "Let me in. Mommy! Let me in. Mommy! Let me in! What are you doing?! Let me in!" Katie yells. "Let me in! Let me in! Let me in! Let me in! Let me in!"

      "Give mommy a minute."

      The pounding and rattling continue to build, until it stops suddenly. Mom goes out to the front door, where a middle-aged woman is holding out a gift basket. "Aren't you just the cutest thing?" She asks Katie.

      The Mom takes the basket. "Oh, thank you. Uh, Katie, could you put these in the kitchen, please?" Katie takes the basket and goes to the kitchen.

      "Katie seems okay, considering." The Woman starts.

      "She's fine. Yeah. Um, look, I'm-" the Mom starts.

      "And you-how are you doing really?" The older Woman asks.

     "I'm fine. look, we're fine. Um,this isn't a good time."

      "I wasn't sure if you were keeping the house or selling. We at Cicero Realty would like-" The Woman starts.

      "Look, I told you, it's not a good time!" She shuts the door and goes back into the kitchen, where Katie greets her.

      "I want ice cream. Mommy. Ice cream, please."

      Ben is sitting sadly on a park bench. Dean sees him, goes over and sits next to him. "Hey, Ben." Dean says.

      "Hey. You were at my party." Ben says.

      "Yeah. Yeah, I'm Dean. Everything okay? Something wrong?" Dean looks over to a group of boys that are playing with a gameboy-type thing. "Is that your game they're playing with?"

      "Ryan Humphrey borrowed it, and now he won't give it back." Ben says.

      "Well, you want me to go..." Dean starts.

      "No! Don't go over there! Only bitches send a grown-up." Ben says.

      Dean looks impressed. "You're not wrong." He says.

      "And I'm not a bitch." Ben says.

      "Is that Humphrey? The one that needs to lay off the burgers?" Dean asks and Ben nods, smiling slightly. Dean leans in conspiratorily.

      Later, Ben walks across the park to the group of boys. They are all bigger than he. "Ryan. I'd like my game back, please." Ben says.

      "Take it back." Ryan says threateningly.

      Ben looks back at Dean, nervous; Dean gives him an encouraging thumbs-up. Ben looks back at the bully, then turns as if to leave.

      "See? Told you guys he was a-" Ryan cuts off as Ben turns back suddenly and kicks him hard between the legs.

      Ryan crumples to the ground, and Ben takes the game back. He goes back to the bench and a grinning Dean. "Thanks. Dude, that was awesome!" Ben yells.

      Lisa, who has seen the end of the exchange, yells at her son. "Benjamin Isaac Braeden! What's gotten into you?" She asks.

      "He stole my game." Ben says.

      "So you kick him? Since when is..." Lisa looks at Dean, who is still grinning. "Did you tell my son to beat up that kid?"

      "What? Somebody had to teach him how to kick the bully in the nads." Dean says.

      Lisa looks really angry. "Who asked you to teach him anything?" She asks.

      "Just relax." Says Dean.

      "What are you even still doing here? We had one weekend together a million years ago." Lisa says. "You don't know me. You have no business with my son."

      "Lisa." Dean starts and gets up.

      "Just leave us alone." Lisa and Ben begin to leave, but Ben pulls out of her grip and runs back to give Dean an impulsive hug. "Ben!"
  
      "Thanks." Ben runs back to Lisa and they leave.

KATIE & MOM'S CAR
[ ☾]

      Mom is strapping Katie into her car seat, which is made difficult by the fact that Katie keeps touching and petting her. "I love you most in the whole wide world, mommy." Katie says.

      "Um, me too, sweetie. Come on, hold still." Mom checks the mirror and sees a monster in the backseat. She turns around to look but Katie looks normal.

      "What's wrong, mommy?" Katie asks.

      "Nothing, sweetie."

      "Are we going for ice cream now?" Katie asks.

      "Yeah, we're going for ice cream." Mom finishes strapping Katie in, and gets in the driver's seat.

      She drives the car to the edge of a lake, gets out, and rolls the car in. Katie turns and watches Mom as she goes down.

      Mom returns home and goes inside, slamming and locking the door behind her. In the kitchen, seated over a puddle of water, is Katie. She is dripping wet.

      "Can I have the ice cream now?"

MOTEL ROOM
[ ☾]

      Sam and Elena are at his computer, doing research. Dean enters. "Something's wrong with the kids in this town." Dean says.

      "Yeah. Tell me about it." Sam is looking at several documents on Changelings. "So, what do you know about changelings?"

      "Evil monster babies?" Dean asks.

      "No, not necessarily babies."

      Dean realizes something. "The kids. Creepy, 'stare at you like you're lunch' kids?" He asks.

      "Yeah. There's one at every victim's house." Elena points out.

      Later, Sam and Elena are seated on the bed doing more research, as Dean prepares a kerosene torch.

      "So, changelings can perfectly mimic children. According to lore, they climb in the window, snatch the kid. There were marks on the windowsill at one of the kid's houses. Looked to me like blood." Sam says.

      They continue talking in voice-over as the scene shifts to Katie's house. Mom is asleep, with a bottle of pills on the bedside table.

      Katie stares at Mom, brushes back the hair from her neck to reveal an 'odd bruise'. Her face morphs to look kind of like the flukeman from X-Files, and she leans in to Mom's neck.

      "The changeling grabs a kid, assumes its form, joins the happy fam just for kicks?" Dean asks.

      "Not quite. Changelings feed on the mom: synovial fluid. The moms have these odd bruises on the back of their necks. Changelings can drain them for a few weeks before mom finally croaks." Sam says.

      "And then there's dad and the babysitter." Elena says.

      "Yeah. Seems like anyone who gets between the changeling and its food source ends up dead." Sam says.

      Dean holds up the torch. "And fire's the only way to waste them?" He asks and Sam nods. "Great. We'll just bust in, drag the kids out, torch them on the front lawn. That will play great with the neighbors. What about the real ones? What happens to them?"

      "They stash them underground somewhere. I don't know why, but if it's true, the real kids might be out there." Sam says.

      "We better start looking." Dean says. "So, any kid in the neighborhood is vulnerable?"

      "Yep." Elena sighs.

      "We gotta make a stop. I want to check on someone." Dean says.

      "If the real kids are still alive, we don't have time." Sam says.

      "We have to."