11 October 2008

The Impala pulled into a parking space up the street from Luke's Diner. They looked in the windows and saw that it was fairly busy. Sam looked at his brother, "Well the diner is still there, still called Luke's, stands to reason that Luke is still in town."

"We'll go in and see." Dean smiled, "Maybe this time we can eat there. I hear they have great pie."

"Dean, when did you hear that?" Sam sounded exasperated.

Dean shrugged and grinned, "All small town diners have great pie."

Sam looked at him, "Not true; Apple Creek, Ohio? You said the pie was a stale, frozen one."

"Yeah, but…"

"Wallace, Idaho? The pie there had more than one hair in it." Sam was starting to enjoy this.

"An exception…"

"Forsythe, Georgia? The diner had pie, sure, and it might have been good, but the place was so dirty, we couldn't eat it off the plate or use the fork. Didn't we get sick just from drinking the coffee? How does that happen?"

"Sam!" Irritated, Dean turned and got out of the car. Smirking a little, Sam followed. They paused for a moment and looked around at the little town. From their memories, they could see that nothing much had changed, except the décor. It had been early spring the last time they were there and now there were Halloween and fall decorations all over the place; around the gazebo, in windows and along the sidewalks, everywhere, except in front of the diner. As one, they turned and crossed the street to enter Luke's.

Dean went through the door first. A young Asian woman was clearing a table near the door and she glanced up at the new arrivals. She only saw Dean and wondered where she'd seen him before, but she smiled at them and turned away to continue her work. Dean vaguely recognized her as Rory's friend, the one who had figured it all out.

"I'll have this table cleared for you in a minute, if you can hang tight."

Dean and Sam stood there waiting while she efficiently cleared the table. When she was done, she looked up at the men again. She was surprised when her attention turned to Sam. "Dean! I didn't see you! What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in Canaan, today?"

Sam remembered the girl as well, so he smiled at her and softly said, "I'm not Dean. He is."

The dishes she was holding fell from her suddenly nerveless hands. The crash was loud and surprising and many of the patrons turned around to stare.

"Sam and Dean Winchester?" She whispered.

They nodded.

Keeping her tone low, she leaned toward them and said, "I heard you were dead!"

Dean was surprised by that, "What?"

She nodded; there was still a shocked look on her face, "Last spring when I saw Angelina, she told me you were dead."

"When was that?"

"March, I think; I cried for a week! So did Rory and Lorelai! We'd already heard about John! I'm so sorry."

At the mention of their dad, both boys were suddenly saddened. It had been two years since he'd died, and the boys still missed him.

"Lane!" A bellow was heard from the back room. Luke came in and started yelling when he saw that Lane hadn't even begun to clean up the mess she had just made. "You need instructions on how to clean up broken dishes?"

Lane jumped a foot when Luke started yelling and she turned and ran to get the stuff to clean up the mess. Sam and Dean sat down at the table she had just cleared.

As she passed Luke, she stopped and whispered in his ear, "It's Sam and Dean Winchester. You need to call Lorelai and Rory."

Luke started at that, he remembered the girls' reactions when they heard the boys had died. "They're dead!"

"Apparently not," She got the broom and dust bin and swept up the mess.

As she passed him again with the mess for the trashcan in the back room, he stopped her again, "How?"

"I don't know. I haven't had a chance to talk to them."

Luke nodded. He'd never had a chance to talk to the boys when they were there seven years ago. He'd heard about the uncanny resemblance between Sam and Dean Forester, though. He moved over to the table and nodded at them. He refused to stare like an idiot at Sam, so he just looked at his order pad. "What'll you have?"

"How's your pie?" Dean was smiling devilishly at his brother.

"It's excellent, I have…"

"No hair? Clean dishes? Made fresh?" Dean never looked away from his brother's face.

Immediately, Luke was infuriated. He glared at Dean, "What the hell are you talking about?"

Dean just turned and gave him a smile, "Just making a point to my brother here… I'll have a bacon cheeseburger and fries and apple pie, if you've got it. A cup of coffee, too."

Luke nodded, still irritated, and turned to Sam. "And you?"

Sam was wearing an irritated, bitchy face that he was directing toward Dean. He looked up at Luke, "A Cobb Salad and coffee, please."

Luke nodded and stalked away.

Lane was still handling the other diner customers, but the crowd had thinned out and she had time to examine the brothers. She could see something was seriously wrong with them. Despite Dean's smile, they both looked hopeless, worn-out, and dispirited. She felt she could tell the difference between Dean Forester and Sam Winchester now without trouble.

As she finished a table and moved to the kitchen, she paused at their table. "Please don't leave until I can talk to you."

They nodded. A few moments later, Lane brought out their food and served them. "We need to warn Lorelai, our Dean and Rory."

"Are they okay?"

"Oh sure, It's just… they were really torn up about your dad and then you…" Lane was fidgeting with her order pad. "Well, I'll let you eat in peace."

The diner was empty by the time they finished their meal and they waited while Lane wrote up their check. Dean and Sam both moved over to the counter to talk to Lane.

She smiled nervously at them. They had changed a lot in the last seven years and were more than a little intimidating. Dean was tall and Sam, like Dean Forester, had grown a couple more inches. She was surprised to see that Sam was taller than his older brother. They were both broader in the shoulder, too. They had clearly matured into men, but it was the look in their eyes that had her really uneasy.

"Luke called Lorelai and she's going to be at the inn the rest of the day. She wants you to go there. She'll put you up. She's calling Rory and Dean."

"We can't afford the Independence Inn."

"Oh, she's not at the Independence anymore; it burned down. She owns her own inn now; The Dragonfly." On the back of a blank order page, Lane drew up directions to the new inn. "Don't worry about paying, she'll give you the same deal she gave your dad every time he visited. She knows she owes him and you."

Dean took the directions with a shocked look on his face. "He came here more than once?"

Lane was surprised, "You didn't know?"

The boys looked at each other and turned again to Lane, "No." They spoke in unison.

Lane nodded, "He was here after Dean's father called him when Rory went into labour. He was here again for about three or four days around the time Rand turned six months old. After that, he never came back. Apparently, he would call Lorelai and check in once in a while, though. Did you know he was Rand's Godfather?"

"Rand?"

"Rory had a baby boy. She gave him a huge name!" Lane was smiling, "Randall Richard Gilmore Forester. It's okay though, he's growing into it just fine. He turned seven a couple of weeks ago."

Dean was reeling from the news that John had been here without him knowing. He turned to Sam, "Why did he keep that a secret?"

Sam just shrugged. At the time of John's visits to Stars Hollow, Sam had been in his first year at Stanford and dealing with the knowledge that he was cut off from his family.

The boys walked back out to The Impala and got in. Dean just sat there a moment. Sam took a deep breath. He had an idea, "Dean, remember after the accident with the semi, Dad told you the secret about me. He knew then what I found out months later. Yellow Eyes visited me in my nursery on my sixth month birthday and," Sam took another breath, "he bled into my mouth; fed me his demon blood. Yellow Eyes told me it was me he came for, not Mom."

Dean turned to look at him and nodded. "We never knew for sure why the Imps attacked Rory and Dean, but Dad and Bobby had a theory that whoever ordered the attack wanted the baby to be born."

Sam nodded, "We know a sixth month birthday is significant in some way. Dad came back and – and – I don't know… maybe he was here to protect the baby somehow."

Dean started the car and put it in gear. "We have to find out what happened and check on that kid. Hopefully, Dad was successful."

"What do we tell them?"

"Well, we'll tell them the demon we think is responsible is dead. That's news they have the right to know. But whether we tell them the rest… I don't know." He glanced at the directions and pulled away.

Michel was standing at the front desk and glanced up when he saw Dean enter. "I think you are lost." He spoke with a snooty, French accent. He noticed Sam come in behind Dean.

Dean and Sam had not had to deal with Michel the last time they were in Stars Hollow, so his comment caught them by surprise.

Dean raised his eyebrows and glanced around, "This the Dragonfly?"

Michel looked back down at his paperwork, dismissing him, "It is."

"Then we aren't lost." Dean growled.

Michel decided to ignore him and looked up at Sam. "Your mother-in-law is in the kitchen."

Sam decided that this guy was a dick and started to walk past him without correcting him; Dean followed.

Michel didn't know who the scruffy guy with Rory's husband was, but was still certain he was lost. He didn't really care, though, so he went back to his work, again.

Sam looked around and found the dining room. It stood to reason that the kitchen was beyond it.

As he approached a likely door, it opened and Lorelai stepped out. They nearly collided and Sam reached out to grab her arms when she stumbled back.

"Oh! Dean! How'd you get here so fast?"

Sam just smiled at her and didn't say anything.

Lorelai's eyes went wide with surprise, "Sam?"

He nodded.

Lorelai looked behind him and saw Dean.

To their complete surprise, Lorelai grabbed both Winchesters and gave them a fierce hug. "Oh! I'm so happy to see you!"

When she let go, she turned and opened the door behind her. "Hey Sookie! Now's your chance." She turned back around to the boys and smiled, "She never got the chance to see you the last time you were here. She never really believed us when we told her how much you and Dean, our Dean, looked alike." She moved away from the door and whispered. "We never told her or Luke the real story. They still think drugs were involved and John was a private investigator we hired."

They nodded. So far, they hadn't said anything.

Lorelai looked at them and smiled, "Come on, we'll get you settled, Rory will be here soon and Dean will be here in about an hour."

Finally Sam spoke, "The guy at the front desk called you my mother-in-law. They got married?

Smiling, Lorelai nodded, "A year ago last month."

Just then Sookie came out of the kitchen. The boys turned to look at her and Dean grinned. He couldn't resist her smile, it was infectious. He was a sucker for dimples.

"These are John's boys? Ohhh, they're so handsome! And big! Boy, every time I talked to John, he just couldn't stop talking about you guys. I feel as if I know you!" She reached up and hugged Dean and then moved over and hugged Sam. Neither one of them could explain why they felt so comfortable with her. After she hugged Sam, she grabbed his face and examined it. "You look just like him! I don't believe it and I'm seeing it with my own eyes!" She giggled.

She pulled back so she could look at both of them, "Now tell me your favourite breakfast and I'll have it for you in the morning! No wait! Let me guess!" She turned to Dean, "Blueberry pancakes?"

He smiled and nodded.

She turned to Sam. "I think, for you, a Southwestern Egg White Omelet."

She was a good foot shorter than Sam and he looked down at her. He was a little thrown, but he nodded and gave her a slight smile.

"Great! I am an excellent Southwestern Egg White Omelet and blueberry pancake chef. Well, not together! I cook some of each… oh well, you'll see. You'll love it! I'll have it for you when you come down, okay? Okay! Good!" Laughing, she turned around and moved back into the kitchen.

Smiling, Dean looked at Lorelai, "What was that?"

Lorelai laughed, "That was a Sookie. She's an amazing chef; she's also co-owner of the Inn." She turned again to the front desk, "Come on, I'll get you checked in."

Dean reached out and stopped her. "Uh, do we have to go on the books?"

Lorelai looked troubled, "Does this have anything to do with your being dead?"

Sam and Dean both nodded.

"Well, we'll check you in as Sam and Dean…"

Dean supplied a name for her, "Rudd?"

She nodded, "Okay… it's just that everyone here in town knows you're Winchesters."

Sam piped up at that, "Everyone thinks our dad was a private investigator, right?"

Lorelai nodded.

"Tell them we are, too. Tell them… tell them we're undercover."

Lorelai laughed, "Okay. Small town. Everyone will go along with it." She quickly moved to the front desk and nudged Michel out of the way. "We need a suite or a room with two queens."

"What does Rory's husband need with a room?"

"That's not Dean."

"What do you mean, that is not Dean? He looks just like him." At that moment, Michel decided he didn't care, "Anyway, we are completely booked."

"No, we aren't."

"Yes. We are."

"Michel, have I introduced you to my good friends Sam and Dean?"

Michel looked at Lorelai with surprise, "You just said it wasn't Dean!"

Lorelai pointed to Sam, "That's not Dean." She then pointed to Dean, "That's Dean." She pointed back to Sam, "That's Sam. They're my good friends; they're John's sons."

"Oh! They are good friends of yours?" He gave them a big, fake smile. "They are John's sons? That is different!" He lost his smile and turned to Lorelai, "We are still booked up."

"Michel!"

"Fine! We can put them in the Bridal Suite. The Anderson/Jeffrey's party cancelled their wedding. The Groom ran off with the Matron of Honour."

"Michel, the Bridal Suite only has one bed! And that's not true! The Groom ran off with the Best Man."

"Whatever. We are booked solid."

Lorelai looked at her reservations. "Move the Gillespies into the Bridal Suite and include a bottle of champagne and comp their dinner for their trouble. Have housekeeping help move them and then clean their room quickly. Sam and Dean can have it." She looked up at the boys, "It's a room with two queen size beds. Is that okay?"

They both nodded.

Michel looked defeated. He moved back to the computer, "Fine, what is their last name?"

"Uh… Rudd"

"I will need identification and a credit card."

Lorelai looked nervous, "I'm comping their room… here, I'll do this. You go and get the Gillespies moved. Only you will be able to sooth them if they get mad."

Michel smirked, "This is true." He left.

Lorelai sighed, "I'll finish this. It'll be awhile before the room is ready; why don't you go into the parlor. I'll send Rory in when she gets here." She pointed to a room at the front of the inn. "We can have privacy when everyone gets here."

Sam and Dean nodded and turned to go into the room. Dean leaned into Sam, "What a dick!" he whispered. Sam just nodded.

Rory entered the inn with a baby carrier in one hand and a little boy holding her other. Sam and Dean had seen her coming through the front window and had moved to the door to greet her.

"Daddy!" The little boy had launched himself into Sam's arms the minute he saw him. Only Sam's well honed reflexes made it possible for him to catch the little boy.

Dean was surprised to see that the little boy looked a lot like Sam when he was that age. It stood to reason, though, since Sam and the child's father were identical.

"Uh… Rand?" Sam was supremely uncomfortable holding the little boy and tried to set him down, but Rand just clutched his neck tighter. Sam quickly got used to the child hugging him, though.

When her son let go of her hand, Rory turned to see where he was going. She was a little surprised at the men standing in the doorway. It still astounded her how much her Dean and Sam Winchester looked alike. Even their hair was the same. She moved over to them quickly. She first hugged Dean and then handed him the baby carrier. Then she turned to Sam. She giggled a little at the look on his face, but she noticed that he was hugging her son as tightly as Rand hugged him.

She reached up and put her hand under her son's arm. She spoke gently, "Rand? This isn't Daddy. This is a close friend of ours, his name is Sam and your daddy and he just look alike."

Rand pulled away to look at Sam again. "You aren't my Daddy?"

Sam shook his head, "No, little man, I'm not."

Rand made motions to get down, "Sorry."

Sam put him down and smiled. "That's okay. I've never had a better greeting."

Rand smiled shyly at him and turned to his mother. "Can I go see Aunt Sookie?"

"May I…"

Rand rolled his eyes, "May I go see Aunt Sookie, please?"

"Go ahead, one cookie, though."

"Awww!" He ran off.

Rory watched him for a moment and then turned to the men behind her. She hugged Sam and then just studied them for a moment. Dean smiled at her as he held up the baby carrier, "What's this?"

Rory smiled back at him. "That's our new daughter Christina Barbara Gilmore Forester." She took the baby carrier from him.

"That's quite a handle."

Rory grinned at him, "She can take it; we call her Gilly. Rand came up with it."

Sam and Dean had never had occasion to hold a baby, so they were naturally nervous when Rory took the carrier into the parlor and uncovered, unsnapped and unstrapped the little thing. Then she pulled out the tiny girl and held her up for them to see. She laughed at their expressions. "Relax; I'm not going to have you hold her; although I'd pay good money to see it. You know, your dad was the first non-family to hold Rand."

Dean looked at her, "I heard he was Rand's godfather?"

She nodded sadly, "We had Rand baptized in a Catholic Church. It was Lane's idea. John thought it was a good one. He said anointing Rand with holy water would help. He never explained that, though. Lane is his godmother."

Wanting to change the subject, Dean pointed to the baby and asked, "How old is she?"

Rory laughed again, "Seriously? Okay, she's 12 weeks old today.

Sam's mind calculated quickly and he smiled at her, "She get started on the honeymoon?"

Rory laughed, "Close, we never tried not to get pregnant and it just happened pretty quickly."

Dean nodded. He'd spent his entire sexual history trying hard not to get anyone pregnant, so this was a foreign concept.

Sam, Dean and Rory sat in the parlor for awhile and talked; catching each other up on their lives since they'd seen each other seven years ago. Rory was impressed to hear that Sam had gotten a full ride to Stanford, but disappointed when he told her that he'd left.

Both boys were impressed that she had managed to stay on track and go to Yale despite everything.

The boys did not tell her what they had found out about Sam and Yellow Eyes and of course, they didn't tell her about Dean dying and being in Hell. They were still dealing with the ramifications of that fact themselves. They didn't tell her about the angel Castiel, either.

There was a short interruption when Gilly woke up and needed some motherly attention. Rory took her out of the room to change and nurse her. Normally, she would have stayed in the parlor and just closed the curtains and door, but she didn't want to freak out the Winchesters.

While she was out, Lorelai came in with cups of coffee and cakes and cookies compliments of Sookie. She stayed until Rory returned and then left again. She was dealing with Inn business so that she would be free for the discussion when Dean got there.

It was a little over the estimated hour before Dean arrived; Rory met him at the door and led him into the room where the Winchesters waited.

Dean Forester had also gained more inches during the intervening years and he still looked exactly like Sam. They both had longish hair and it was still the same colour. Dean's eyes, however, weren't clouded with weary sorrow and despair. When the two men looked at each other, they were aware that at least one thing was different.

Dean smiled at the Winchesters and reached his hand out to shake, "Man, I am glad to see you. The girls were very upset about your death. I admit it threw me, too."

The Winchesters smiled and shook hands with Sam's double. Sam sat down and grinned at him, "I guess it's up to me to make the obligatory quote 'The reports of our death have been greatly exaggerated.'"

Rory groaned at that and then asked, "Yeah, but why? Why did Angelina tell us you had died?"

Dean answered that one, "Because in the eyes of the law, we did."

They gave a very brief description of what happened, but skipped the truly frightening part at the end about Lilith.

After they told their story, Rory shook her head, "That just leads to more questions, doesn't it? You should write this down."

"God, no!" Dean shuddered, "I would hate to see our story in print."

Lorelai came in at that point, "Finally, I'm free. We can talk in here. The guests are out and about or in their rooms, dinner is still a couple of hours away and Michel has been given instructions that I can't be interrupted." She handed Sam a key, "Your room is ready."

She sighed as she sat down and then smiled at the boys. "I am genuinely happy to see you, alive and well, but why did you come here? Lane called and told me that you never knew that John came back for more visits. So I don't think you're here to follow up."

The boys looked at Dean, "What about your parents?"

Dean smiled, "They're at a Parent's Weekend with Clara at her college. She's a freshman at Duke." He grinned at Dean, "She's gonna hate that she missed you."

Dean Winchester blushed a little at that; he remembered the little girl and her crush. "Yeah, well, tell her hello for me." Then he rubbed his hands together and looked at Sam, who was smirking a little. He decided to start with the most important part, "We have news about the attack on Rory and Dean. We think we know who ordered it and if we're right, we can tell you he's dead."

In an effort to stay calm, Rory and her Dean clasped hands, "How do you know?" Rory voice was trembling. She cleared her throat, "Are you sure?"

Sam answered her, "Not 100%, no, but… lets say we're... 98% sure it was him."

"Why?" Dean voice was low and urgent. "Why did they attack us and cause Rory's pregnancy?"

"I don't know why."

"Then how do you know it was him?"

"It was something he said to me." Sam was looking at the ground, and then he glanced at his brother. Dean just shrugged. Sam sighed, "He told me he was looking for the best of my generation. And then he told me there were other generations. He never explained that."

At that, all three Stars Hollows residents were clamoring with questions and Sam held up his hand. "Wait a minute! We still only have conjecture." He stood up and started to pace a little. The room didn't allow much movement, though.

"When we got here, Lane told us Dad had been here two more times and that he called after that."

Lorelai nodded. "Before he left the first time, he told us he would be back to set up safe areas for the baby. Randy called him the minute he found out Rory was in labour. She was still working on that when he arrived. He couldn't have been far away."

Dean pulled out his dad's journal and opened it. "When was Rand born?"

"September 25, 2001"

Dean looked at the journal and found the pages leading up to that date. He looked up at Sam, tapping his finger on one of the pages, he said, "Dad and I were in New England that whole month. I remember that! He kept finding little hunts in this area. Some of them weren't even very serious. He just kept us here. Finally, one night he took off. He called me from the road and told me he would be back soon." Dean rubbed his face, "He left me stranded in a hotel, near a bunch of bars, restaurants and a movie theatre. The hotel was a lot better than usual. He left me stranded, but he knew he was going to have to do it. He wouldn't tell me what he was doing or why he did it. When he came back, he still wouldn't say anything."

While Dean was talking, Sam sat down and took the journal. He flipped through some of the pages before and after that time. Then he started to go back farther, to the April they came here; and then he looked even further back. When he looked up at Lorelai, he had a perplexed look on his face. He held up the book, "Was this the journal he was using? Do you remember seeing this book?"

Lorelai shook her head, "No, he had a smaller one. Both of the times he was here alone; I only saw a small notebook." She nodded her head at the journal in Sam's hands, "I think I remember that one from your first visit though. He was using it when he talked to Dean."

Dean knew his brother had discovered something in the journal, "Why are you asking that, Sam?"

"Because, if you look at this journal? And all of Dad's notes about the thing that killed Mom? They stop just before our first visit here in April 2001."

Sam and Dean looked at each other for a moment. They realized their Dad had known as early as 2001 that the thing that killed mom hadn't come for her, but for Sam. "Jesus" Sam rubbed his face. "What else did Dad keep from us?"

While this drama was played out in front of them, the Gilmore-Forester trio waited. They knew there was more and were waiting for Sam and Dean to continue.

Dean was thinking hard, "Later, we need to call Bobby. See if he has that other notebook, Caleb's and Pastor Jim's were also probable places he could have kept it. If that's the case, then it's probably long gone. It wasn't in the truck when we went to retrieve it in Lincoln."

Lorelai was getting impatient, and she waited as long as she could, then she couldn't take it any longer "What is it? Why is that notebook so important?"

Sam smiled apologetically, "We don't know." He turned to his brother again, "What were you and Dad doing in March 2002?"

Lorelai chimed in again, "John arrived here March 23rd." She blushed when everyone looked at her. "I don't… really… know why I remember that."

Rory looked at her mom, "Sure you don't."

Dean smirked and looked at the journal again. "I was given my first solo hunt that week! It was a simple salt and burn, but Dad didn't go with me. He told me he was gonna wait at the hotel and that's also the week he gave me The Impala! We were in Illinois. The hunt was in Gary, Indiana. When I got back, Dad had the truck."

Dean Forester chimed in. "A truck? Was it a big black GMC?"

"Yeah," Dean looked at him curiously.

"He got that from Gypsy." Smiling, he looked at the others, "She'd bought it in a sheriff's sale. She lost it to John in a poker game. Everyone was surprised, because Gypsy was hell at poker."

Dean laughed, "I've always wondered how he'd paid for that. He had a pink slip and everything."

Getting back to the point, Dean looked at Rory and asked her, "Wasn't that the week of the fire?"

Sam and Dean both looked up at that. They had a sinking feeling in their stomachs. In unison, they both said, "Fire?"

Lorelai, Rory and Dean looked at them, but Lorelai answered, "There was a fire in our house. It took out Rory's bedroom, part of the upstairs, the kitchen and some of the porch."

Sam looked at her intently, "Where were you? Where were Rory and the baby?"

"John asked us to leave the house the day before. Come to think of it, the fire happened on Rand's sixth month birthday…" Lorelai was watching their expressions. "He took us to Angelina's house. We stayed there three days. He wouldn't even let us leave when we were called about the fire. When we came back, we lived at the inn for about three months, while the house was fixed. Is that important?"

Sam and Dean looked at each other; Sam answered, "Maybe… we don't know. When you were at Angelina's, was there a fire there? Did you leave Rand alone at any time?"

Lorelai shook her head, "John told us to keep Rand with us at all times. He and Angelina painted signs all over the room we were staying in and in front of the doors to the house; he lined the entire house, every window, every doorway, every possible entrance with salt…" She looked at Rory, "Rory or I were holding Rand almost constantly. Rand was wrapped in a blanket that John had brought that had… he called them sigils, painted on it in fabric paint. We still have it. Gilly sleeps under it at night."

Rory stood up; then she handed the baby to her mother and turned to look at the Winchesters. "What's going on? I can tell you're keeping something from us. I need to know!"

Sam stood up and took her arms. He looked into her eyes and said, "There are things we aren't telling you. Believe me, you don't want to know. But we are going to tell you as much as we can." He urged her to sit back down.

He looked at his brother, who just nodded, "The demon, we call him Yellow Eyes, came to our home and killed our mother on my sixth month birthday." He looked at Dean Forester, "On the actual day of your birth, Dean."

He ran his hands through his hair, "He killed our mom in a fire that started in my nursery."

Lorelai was horrified, "Oh God! Rory was the target?"

Sam rubbed his hands together, this next part would be hard for them to hear, "No, neither Rory nor our mom was the target; I was, and… Rand was."

Dean Winchester had been watching Rory and was ready when she started to run for the door. He grabbed her and brought her around to face him, "Don't go running for that boy. All you'll do is scare him. We looked at him when you guys came in and he looks just fine. From what Lane said, he's healthy, smart and strong. We didn't see anything that would say otherwise. It sounds like Dad had the baby locked down. I don't know of anything that can pass all those wards."

He gave her a gentle, little shake, "Calm down." He smiled at her and moved her back over to the chair she'd been sitting in beside her husband.

Sam had been watching his double, but Dean just sat there in shock. Finally, he looked at Sam with a devastated look on his face. "What did that demon want with you?"

Sam shook his head and whispered, "I don't want to tell you. I will if I need to, but not right now."

The Winchesters stopped talking for a moment to give the others a chance to process everything and then Dean spoke next, "What did our dad do while he was here?"

Rory and Dean were looking at each other and holding hands. Lorelai answered, "Uh, when John arrived the first time, Rory was still in the Labour and Delivery room. Rand hadn't arrived yet. He went into the room and set some symbols around. He gave Rory a rosary and told her to hold onto it."

Dean Forester spoke up then, "He gave one to me as well. He also tried to draw something on the floor, but it wouldn't work. The hospital staff wouldn't let him."

Lorelai continued, "We told him we weren't Catholic, but he said it was a powerful deterrent. Rory and Dean were still wearing the charms John had given them before he left the first time."

Dean perked up at that, "Charms?" He nudged Sam with his elbow and they both pulled back their shirts. "Did they look like this?" They showed the others their tattoos.

Everyone nodded, Dean Forester gave a small smile, "I have one of those, Dad took me and we got it done when I turned 18. My mom cried for a week."

Dean Winchester smiled a little, "Where'd you put it?"

"We didn't think it would matter where it was, so I put it on the small of my back. He got one, too; same place. Mom was not amused; especially when he took Clara to get one before she left for school. My older sister refuses a tattoo, so she has my charm. Dad had a gold one made for Mom and she wears it on a long chain under her clothing. It's a pentagram and she doesn't want anyone to see it."

He glanced at Rory, and then turned back around, "I can't talk Rory into having it done. She still wears the charm."

Rory was once again holding her daughter, quietly she said, "Tattoos hurt." She had tears in her eyes as she looked at the Winchester brothers, "Can you tell if Rand was… if John was successful in protecting Rand?"

Dean looked at Sam, and then turned to answer her, "I don't know. We can see."

Rory looked at Sam, "Did someone protect you?"

Sam didn't answer her and wouldn't look at her either.

Quietly she asked him, "Did you kill the demon?"

Dean answered her, "I did; in May of '06.

Sam looked up then, "I'm so sorry. We should have contacted you right then. I didn't remember until two days ago."

Dean looked at his brother, "A lot has happened between then and now." He laughed a little bitterly, "A lot."

Sam was rubbing his forehead as if he had a headache and then he stood up. "I need a break." He got up and walked out of the room.

Dean looked at the others, "He, uh… he gets headaches sometimes. I'll go see if he's alright." He left the room to follow his brother.

Lorelai looked at Rory and Dean, "Let's stop here. I want to go see Will and Bess and Luke. Maybe take a shower. Rory, you need to be careful how you are with Rand. Dean's right, you'll only frighten him if you freak out. There's no reason to think John wasn't successful." She stood up, "I'll go peel him away from Sookie and bring him to you, okay?"

Dean found Sam walking to The Impala. "The car's locked, you want something from it?"

Sam shook his head, and then he stopped and turned to Dean, "God! What if he wasn't successful? What if whatever is in me is also in that little boy? What do we do?"

"We deal with it and we help them deal with it. Maybe nothing will come of it. Yellow Eyes is dead. Your visions haven't returned have they?"

"Visions are the least of my problems Dean! I feel unclean… diseased… this will never be better! That bastard ruined my life! I can't –" He choked a little.

"What?"

"I can't stand it if that little boy has been damaged the same way."

"Sam –" Dean smiled at him a little, "Have you ever been hugged by a child before?"

Sam didn't look at him as he shook his head.

"It's something isn't it?"

Sam nodded. There were tears in his eyes. "Dean and I are identical. That's maybe what my own son would look like since Rand looks so much like his dad." He choked the next sentence out, "That's the closest I'll ever get to having a child of my own."

"Come on, Sam, you don't know that."

"I would never risk –"

"What? Getting close to a woman? Maybe trying for that apple pie life?"

"I would never risk passing it on… and I don't get to have the apple pie life, Dean." Sam tossed the key to the room to his brother and turned and walked away. "Don't follow me."

Dean watched his brother go. He knew that Sam was probably right; he also knew he wouldn't get it, either. He went to the car for their gear and then went back into the inn.

Sam came back after about an hour and he lay down on the bed. He still looked upset and Dean let him know what they decided.

"Lorelai, Rory and Dean left. They thought they'd heard enough for today and asked if we could pick it up again tomorrow."

Sam just nodded.

"I told them we could. We still need to know what else Dad did that year, and see if we can…"

Sam nodded again.

Dean smiled at him, "Are you hungry? Apparently, Sookie left instructions that we were to be fed dinner and treated especially well. She likes us."

Sam looked at him then, "Yeah, we can go eat." He got up and went into the bathroom. When he came out, he looked at his brother, "I'm not very hungry, but I'll join you. Can we talk about something else, though?"

"Sure, Sammy," Dean turned to leave the room.

"Dean…"

Dean turned to look at him.

"Do you think you could contact the angel, Castiel? Maybe he would know…"

Dean looked at him with regret, "I don't know how to contact him. He just appears."

Sam looked unhappy about that, he nodded, and followed his brother out.

AN: The title has nothing to do with any sort of structure.
Thanks,
Sali.