What if nobody died?

"So, this cannery is what everyone has in common?" Dean asked, when Bobby and Rufus joined him and Sam out on the dock.

"Seems to be," Bobby answered.

"OK, then. Let's check it out," Rufus suggested.

They headed into the cannery keeping an eye out for they knew not what. Suddenly the door came open in front of them and Gwen walked out.

"Dean?" she asked. She hadn't seen either one of them since they had found out Samuel was working for Crowley.

Dean ignored her and looked past her into the room she had just exited. Samuel was standing there. Dean drew his gun, marched in and said, "Welcome to next time."

Sam was right behind him and stepped between his brother and his grandfather and brought down Dean's gun arm.

"I take it you guys know each other," Rufus said, feeling like he was being left out of something.

Bobby wasn't sure who this joker was either, but based on Dean's reaction, he'd be willing to take a guess.

"He's our grandfather," Dean answered Rufus, confirming what Bobby was thinking.

"Awkward family reunion," Rufus muttered.

"What's going on?" Gwen asked. She knew Dean wasn't thrilled when he found out Samuel was working for Crowley, but Samuel had told her Crowley was dead. She was still unclear as to how you killed a demon, but since they had stopped capturing creatures, she had no reason to doubt him.

"Didn't he tell you?" Dean asked. "He sold us out to Crowley. Handed us right over."

"Is that true?" Gwen asked Samuel.

"No. He's lying."

Sam rolled his eyes. True he didn't remember any of this, but he was sure it happened exactly the way Dean said. Plus, Cas had told him that story also.

"Sam, would you get out of the way so I can shoot him?" Dean asked.

"Actually, come to think of it, this is a switch. Last time one of you boys pulled a gun, it was Sam, and Dean stopped him," Samuel noted. He wondered what Sam's angle was. He didn't do anything without a reason. Usually a pretty cold-hearted one.

"Well, that was my mistake," Dean said. "Won't let it happen again."

"Dean," Sam said, in the tone he reserved for when Dean wanted to kill someone.

"Seriously Sam? He tried to kill us!"

"Yeah, well, we've all done things we regret," Sam reasoned. It was true. He wasn't just talking about being soulless. He had started the Apocalypse, drank demon blood, drained an innocent woman of blood while she watched. He could go on and on.

"The question is, does he regret it?" Bobby asked.

"Look, we're here to fight a monster. I assume you people are, too. Maybe we should just do this and stow the family therapy for later," Samuel said.

"Fine. We'll split up," Sam said. "Samuel and I will go together.

"What? Why?" Dean asked.

"So, if you meet up with him I can keep you from killing him," Sam answered. But the truth was he wanted to talk to him. Find out about his lost year.

"Fine. Come on, Gwen," Dean said and pushed out the door, not checking to see if she followed. After a quick glance at Samuel, she did.

"We'll go the opposite direction," Sam said.

"Guess that leaves this way for us," Bobby said.

SSS

Five minutes later, an alarm sounded and all the doors in the place slammed shut.

Sam tried to open the door of the room that he and Samuel were currently in. It wouldn't budge. "Guess we're stuck here for a while."

"Guess so," Samuel responded. Sam made him nervous. He always had. He could never understand how something so cold and unfeeling could have come from his Mary. He had assumed it was the Winchester in him until he had found out about the lack of soul.

"So, tell me what I did when we were hunting together," Sam said.

"What?" Samuel asked.

"Dean got me my soul back, but I can't remember from before. I had one memory. It was pretty bad. I need to know what else I did."

"I thought you seemed different," Samuel admitted. "What was the one thing you remembered?"

"The arachni hunt."

"That was pretty bad," Samuel said. "You just shot all those people in cold blood."

"I know. Believe me when I tell you that that's not like me at all." At least he hoped it wasn't. Who knew if there was residual evil if you lost your soul and got it back? Not like it happened to a lot of people.

"So, you really want to know what else you did?" Samuel asked.

"Yes," Sam said. He knew Dean would kill him if he found out that he was asking about this. Talk about scratching a wall. But he had to know.

"I don't know if there's much point into going into specifics. Let's just say you never cared who got in the line of fire as long as you got the job done," Samuel said.

"Why didn't you try to stop me?" Sam asked. That had been the burning question he had had since remembering that one hunt. Sure, he had actually done all the bad stuff, but Samuel had just stood by and watched. Maybe made a snarky comment. Nothing to either try to stop Sam, or at least stop working with him.

"I needed to get the job done, too. You know I was working with Crowley to get your mother back, right?"

"Right," Sam said. He had learned the hard way not to work with demons. Too bad Samuel hadn't been able to learn from his mistakes.

"Well, as cold as you were, you were a great hunter. I'd never seen any better, and that's saying a lot. I guess I was willing to do whatever, too, to get Mary back. The same way that Dean would do anything for you, I would do anything for Mary."

"Well, as guilty as I felt for Dean selling his soul for me, imagine Mom's guilt of her sons being sold for her."

"I know you're right. I've had a lot of time to think in the last couple of months and if I had it to do over again, I would tell Crowley to take a hike the second I met him."

Sam nodded. It was a start.