AN: I am currently writing another story entirely, but this one wormed it's way into my brain and wouldn't leave me alone until I had it out. My apologies to those who have been following along on my other story...I promise I'll get back to it now!

"Case closed. That was a piece of cake. Hey, Sammy, Krissy and the kids are only about an hour away. You wanna drop in on them? See how they're doing?" Dean lowered himself in behind the wheel of the Impala and rifled through the cassette tapes.

"Check on Krissy? Yeah we could do that." Sam looked at his brother with suspicion.

Dean glanced over. "What?"

"That just doesn't sound like you is all." Sam said. "You tend to be more of the stay-out-of-their-lives type."

"Well, you know they're hunting. No way they could stay away." Dean started up the car, cranked up the tunes, and pulled out onto the road.

"Still..." Sam still doubted Dean's sincerity.

"Fine. Garth called. Said there was something hinky going on a couple towns over."

"Really? What's up?" Sam pulled out his laptop, ready to get right on it.

"He didn't say. Said he already had guys on it, but wondered if we could check on the kids since we were familiar faces and all."

"Okay. Sure. Sounds good." They drove in silence for a bit and then Dean chuckled. Sam looked over at him, waiting to be clued in. Dean chuckled again. "What? What's so funny?"

"I've got the perfect way to announce our arrival. We'll give them a little test."

"A test."

"Yeah! See how good they've gotten. We'll see if we can get the jump on them." As Dean said this they rolled past the two story house the kids lived in. He parked down the block a ways and laid out his plan to Sam. Sam went along with it. Mostly because that was easier than trying to talk Dean out of it.

They peeked in some downstairs windows and saw Krissy and Josephine sitting in the living room watching tv. Aiden was nowhere to be seen. The house was an old Victorian with a porch that wrapped around three quarters of it. Along the side of the house, Sam gave Dean a boost up to the roof over the porch and then made his way to the other side of the house. There, he rattled a window and then made his way to the back door. He gave the girls a second to respond to the window and then picked the lock and let himself in the back.

Upstairs, Dean had quietly let himself in an unlocked window. He quickly surveyed the upstairs and found no one. He pulled his gun and made his way downstairs as quietly as he could.

"You guys are too easy." Sam said, walking up behind the girls and pointing his gun at them. They turned and smiled sheepishly at Sam, but before they could say anything, Aiden slipped a knife to Sam's throat and asked him to drop the gun. Sam chuckled. "Nicely done. Where were you? We didn't see you."

"I was in the dark room. We made one in one of the closets."

There was a click and a gun was to the back of Aiden's head. "Drop the knife, Rambo." Dean said.

Before anyone could respond to that, there was a tap of the barrel of a sawed off shotgun on Dean's shoulder. "Who are these dumbasses?" Krissy and Josephine got smug looks on their faces. Everyone froze and time seemed to stand still.

Dean did a short spin move and in the blink of an eye had disarmed the unknown kid of his weapon and had it poking in his chest. "Who's the dumbass, dumbass?"

Krissy stepped in, raising her hands to their chests. "Okay. Okay. Will all alpha males please take a step back and relax? Dean, this is Garrett. Garrett, this is Dean Winchester and his brother Sam."

Garrett raised his hands in surrender and took a step back. "So these are the infamous Winchesters." He smiled and stuck his hand out. "Nice to meet you. Garrett Ramsey."

Dean hesitated, looking at Krissy. She smiled a smug little smile and he sighed. Instead of shaking his hand, Dean just handed Garrett's shotgun back to him. "Yeah, pleasure's all yours." Turning to Krissy, Dean put on his big brother face. "You were supposed to be being good, not go on a recruiting drive."

Sam sighed at his brother's lack of manners, offered a smile, and stepped forward to shake Garrett's hand. "I'm Sam and, yes, he's usually like this."

Everyone put their weapons away and had a seat in the living room. "So, Garrett, what brings you here?" Dean asked.

"Garth hooked him up with us." Krissy offered.

"Yeah. I had been hunting with my father and uncle while taking some online college courses, but I'm flying solo now."

"Really. Why's that?"

"Well, Uncle Ted died in a car wreck about a year ago and a vamp got my dad, oh, about seven months ago now. Garth hooked me up with these guys. Gave me a roof over my head in exchange for keeping an eye on them and helping out with any legal jams they might encounter, paying bills, etc."

"Sorry about your loss. How old are you if you don't mind my asking." Sam said.

"Twenty two and I'll have my business degree at the end of this semester."

"How are you guys doing with bills and food? You look like you're doing ok." Dean observed.

"We're actually doing alright." Josephine said. "I've starting taking a few online classes, myself. We all have part time jobs as well as our business. We've only had to run a few scams."

"Business? You guys run a business? What do you sell, tee shirts out of the basement?" The kids looked back and forth at each other, none readily giving up the info. "I'm not gonna like this am I?" Dean ran his hand down his face. "Well...someone lay it on me."

"Four Calling Birds Paranormal Investigation and Extermination." Aiden offered. Dean and Sam just sat there for a moment. They exchanged a look and Dean rubbed his face again with a sigh.

"You...you're public?" Sam asked shocked.

"Yup. We credit old man Tanner for our start." Aiden continued.

"Credit? Blame more like." Dean mumbled under his breath.

"We helped him out with a poltergeist and he just couldn't keep his mouth shut." Aiden explained.

"And since so many people had seen evidence of his poltergeist...it wasn't long before others were coming to us for help." Josephine finished.

"We needed some extra income and old man Tanner inadvertently gave us the means." Krissy said with a shrug of her shoulders. "We don't advertise and Garrett's age adds some credibility."

Dean couldn't believe his ears. "Let me get this straight. ... You are charging people to help them. To save them."

"We regularly take cases for Garth and anything we find on our own at no charge. The only time we charge is if they call the business number and ask for us." Krissy eyed Dean for a moment. "Don't you sit there and tell me you wouldn't do the same!"

"That's like a good Samaritan stopping to help you out with a flat tire and then turning around and asking you for fifty bucks!" Dean answered.

Krissy crossed her arms and made a face at him. They had a stare down for a moment when Sam finally broke it. "He's just upset he didn't think of it first."

"Damn straight!" Dean grinned.

"We're careful, though. We won't take any cases that involve killing. Such as vamps and the like. We don't need the cops bugging us." Garrett said. "We turn those ones down as soon as we realize what we're dealing with and then go back on our own time to clean it up."

Dean was nodding his head. "Smart."

The group fell into silence then. "So...you guys staying the night? We definitely have the space if you need a place to crash."

"That would be great." Sam answered before Dean could say no. He didn't want another night in a crappy motel if they could have real beds and showers here. He also knew Dean would just as soon drive through the night to the next job and he could use a good night's rest.

Dean gave him a sideways glance. "How much will it cost us?" He asked as he got up to dig out the car keys.

"Very funny. Let me go with you and help with your stuff." Krissy answered, standing herself. Garrett offered Sam a drink as Dean and Krissy headed outside.

They walked to the car in silence. As Dean rummaged through their stuff in the trunk he asked, "So, how are things really? You guys really doing ok?"

Krissy smiled. Dean never turned to see it, but she knew, underneath his gruff exterior, he really did care. "We're fine. Really. I've missed you guys too." She leaned over his bent form and gave him an awkward sideways hug.

He immediately stood up and held his hands out. "Whoa! What's with the chick flick crap?" He reached into the trunk grabbed a bag and shoved it at her, knocking her off balance. She smiled and took the bags he threw at her and they walked back to the house in companionable silence.

Krissy showed them some rooms they could use and where the bathroom was. Dean spent the remainder of the evening cleaning their weapons and talking weaponry with Aiden and Garrett. Sam did some laundry, spent some time on his laptop, and then turned in early.

The next morning Dean and Sam were greeted with a large pancake breakfast. They all sat around the table laughing as Aiden told a story about one of their more humorous cases. Dean's cell rang and he looked down at the display. "I should take this. Be right back. Save me some of that sausage!" Sam watched as Dean got up and went out to the next room. He smiled at the kids but was really listening in on Dean's end of the conversation.

"Aiden, did you see what Alex did yesterday?" Krissy asked.

"Hey Garth, what's up?"

"Yeah, you mean at lunchtime?"

"Yeah, we're free. Whatcha got?"

"God, it was hilarious! I can't believe he did that!"

"Three missing hunters? Seriously?"

"Wait what happened?" Josephine asked.

"You think the hunters were being targeted or..?"

"Alex stood up on a lunch room table, turned on some music and serenaded Jesse Turner. It was hysterical!"

"Okay. Yeah, we're on our way."

"Jesse? Cheerleader Jesse? What did Matt do?"

"I think we can handle it, Garth."

"Matt threw Alex over his shoulder and carried him out of the cafeteria. The whole place was a riot. So funny!"

"Fine. Whatever. We'll keep in constant contact if it'll make you happy."

Dean flipped his phone shut and came into the kitchen. Sam was already standing up. "Well. Hate to break up the party, but Garth wants us to look into something a few towns over. We gotta roll."

Sam hugged Krissy and thanked her for letting them stay. Josephine jumped in and hugged him in too. "Anytime." Krissy answered. "Next time, though, feel free to just ring the doorbell. Okay?" Sam chuckled.

Dean held out his hand to Garrett. "Thanks for doing what you're doing here, man."

Garrett shook his hand. "It's no problem. It's a two way thing. We're helping each other."

"Well don't you let anything happen to these kids or it'll be you I come looking for." Dean smiled while he said it but the look in his eyes was serious and Garrett caught the look. He swallowed nervously and nodded his head.

Dean turned to Aiden and held out his fist for a fist bump. "You keep up the training and look out for those girls as well."

Aiden looked at Dean's fist and smirked. "Seriously?"

Dean shook his fist a little. "Hey. You never leave a Winchester hanging..." Aiden rolled his eyes but bumped fists with Dean. "Ha! There you go! You guys ever need a hand give us a call. If we're able, we'll help you out." Garrett nodded his head in acceptance of the offer. Dean turned to Sam. "You ready to go, bro?"

"Let me go grab our stuff." Sam hustled upstairs.

Krissy came over and hugged Dean. "Thanks for stopping by."

Dean hesitated and then hugged her back. "Yeah well... we only stopped by because Garth's mother hen feathers were all ruffled. We'll let him know you guys are just fine." Dean stepped back. "Take care of yourselves and don't do anything stupid."

Before Krissy could answer, Sam came down the stairs with their bags. "Ready. Let's go." Sam smiled at Krissy. "Thanks again." And as quickly as they had blown into their lives, Sam and Dean were gone.