You guys responded well, so here's the third installment. Please remember to leave reviews. Those help me get the chapters out more than anything. i love reading where you're at and knowing how you feel about what's happened so far and what your theories are. It gets me excited to get the next chapter out for you guys.

Day of the Dead

Chapter One: Comin' Back Down

THEN

"Sam, I promise to love you for the rest of my life, come apocalypse or soullessness, demons or wraiths. I promise to always have your back with a sharp blade and a loaded gun. You're my best friend, and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you."

"Elena, I promise to love you and only you for the rest of my life. Hunter's aren't supposed to get happiness, they're not supposed to get this. But I've been rewriting the rule book for years. You're my happiness, and I don't plan on letting you go ever. I love you."

"By the power entrusted in me by my Father, I pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss—"

Cas was cut off by the creaking of the doors of the church. Everyone pulled a gun from where it was hiding and aimed it. No one else was supposed to be here. The man walked forward, out of the sunlight. Sam and Dean took a step back, nearly falling over. They couldn't believe what they were looking at. It was impossible. It couldn't be. Dean took one small step forward, swallowing hard.

"Dad…"

NOW

"Dad…" Dean didn't want to believe what he was looking at. His father was dead, he'd salted and burned the bones himself, years ago. So what the hell was he doing standing in this church?

"Hey Dean." John walked down the aisle. Before he made it halfway Dean was to the first row of pews and opening the bag he'd stashed there.

"You brought hunting tools to my wedding?" Elena hissed.

"I'm always prepared." He pulled out a flash of holy water and tossed it to Sam. He grabbed a silver knife and salt. Sam kept his gun on John while he splashed him with the water. When he didn't cry out from a burn Dean threw the salt. Again, nothing happened. "Hold out your arm," Dean ordered. John rolled his eyes but pushed his sleeve up, exposing his arm to Dean. Dean took the silver blade to his father's skin.

"Are you done?" John asked, pulling a bandana out of his pocket and wrapping it around the cut. He looked up at Sam and Dean and smiled. "It's good to see you." He pulled Dean in for a hug and then moved to Sam.

"Dad…what are you doing here?" Sam asked. "How?"

John shook his head. "I don't know. One minute I'm sitting down to a family dinner with Mary and you boys in heaven, the next thing I know I'm outside of this church." He glanced over at Castiel, Dalia, and Elena. "You want to tell me what's going on here?" he asked.

Sam reached out his hand for Elena and brought her forward. "Dad, this is Elena Richards—well, Winchester now. We just got married."

Elena held out her hand. "It's an honor to meet you." She smiled as John shook her head.

"And this is Dalia." Dean put his arm around her when she stood next to him. "We're not married, but she's pretty damn special."

Dalia shook John's hand as well, leaning into Dean. "So you both found girls huh?" He crossed his arms. "Are you still hunting?"

"Of course we are, Elena and Dalia are hunters." Dean couldn't believe his old man would actually ask him that. Like they would ever really give up the life. They'd tried that before. They always got sucked back in. "Dad, this is Castiel…he's an angel."

John nodded his head. "We've met before." He sighed and looked at Cas. "Do you know how I got back here?"

Castiel shook his head. "No, but I intend to find out." Cas put his hand on Dean's shoulder. "I'll be back as soon as I can." He disappeared.

Dean looked between Sam and John. "Should we go home?" He grinned, looking at his old man for the first time in years. "You'll love the place." He pulled the Impala keys out of his pocket and tossed them to John. "I'll even let you drive."

They piled into the car, Sam, Elena, and Dalia in the backseat, John and Dean in the front. "So, tell me what you've been up to." John said as he drove in the direction Dean directed him.

Dean looked back at Sam. "Well…we just got Dalia's soul back from hell… Before that she died sealing the Titans back in Tartarus and came back as a demigod."

John rose an eyebrow and looked over at his son. "I'm sorry, a what?"

"A demigod," Dalia said from the backseat. "Aphrodite brought me back to life after I died and gave me the power to tell if people are soulmates." She shrugged her shoulders. "I didn't remember anything when I came back either. Ended up making a deal with the King of Hell."

"What about you, Elena?" John asked. Dean watched him, not sure what was wrong, but something was off.

Elena shrugged looking up at Sam. "Well…I was pregnant the first time we tried to get Dalia's soul back…I ended up getting hurt and losing the baby." She frowned a little. It was still a fresh wound. It still hurt to talk about it. Sam kissed her head and rubbed her back.

Dean directed John into the bunker's garage and climbed out. "What is this place?"

"It must have been, hell, I don't know six years ago, maybe?" Dean looked at Sam for confirmation but Sam just shrugged his shoulders. Things tended to blur after a while. "Grandpa, your dad, came forward in time. He ended up bringing this demon named Abadon with him. She was a knight of hell. That's why you never saw him again," Dean explained as he led his father inside. "He didn't just leave you, he came here. We met him. He died trying to stop Abadon." He unlocked the door to the bunker and started down the stairs. "He was a Man of Letters. They're kind of like hunters without all of the hunting. This," he said, turning on the lights, "was theirs."

John looked around at all of the artifacts and books filling the library. He was slightly impressed. "We got the key from another Man of Letters and moved in," Sam told him as they walked down the stairs.

"You boys have been busy." John looked around and settled on the boys. "Very busy."

"You have no idea." Dean smiled and headed towards the kitchen. "I'll get some beers."

"Dean, Elena and I can get them. You just stay here." Dalia kissed his cheek and pulled Elena with her into the kitchen.

John watched them go, waited until they were out of earshot before he pegged his boys with a hard look. "What the hell do you two think you're doing?"

"What?" Sam started.

"You've got a girlfriend?" he demanded, looking at Dean. "And hell, Sam you're married? Didn't I teach you two anything? Those girls sound like they've been nothing but distractions and trouble from the minute you've met them." He crossed his arms, shaking his head as he leaned back against the table. "You two should know better after the way I raised you. The people you love only die."

"Dad, they're good hunters," Sam said crossing his arms. Here we go, he thought. John hadn't been back more than two hours and they were already at each other's throats. He could tell Dean was picking up on it to from the way he tensed beside him. "Elena helped us take out a dragon, and Dalia…she's been to hell just as much as we have." He shook his head. "They were hunting before we even came along."

John glared at Sam. "It doesn't matter. You should have finished the case you worked with them and hit the road. We don't make roots, we don't make families."

Elena and Dalia had entered the room and heard John. Elena crossed her arms, walking to stand beside Sam. She'd heard stories about John. Sam tried to play it off, but she knew how much of a jerk John could be, especially to his kids. "You may be Sam's father, and my father-in-law," she said. "But I'm not going to put up with your bullshit. Just because you're too bitter to have a relationship, doesn't mean Sam and Dean shouldn't."

Dalia leaned on the table, taking a drink from her beer. She was watching Dean, studying him. He was standing ramrod straight. She'd heard the same stories Elena had. She knew how Dean acted around his father. He was the good little solider who followed orders. She didn't know what was going to happen with John here, but she was worried about Dean.

John looked at Sam. "I can see you picked one with a mouth to match yours."

Sam glared, taking a step forward, his fist balled, ready to strike. Dean stepped between them, glaring at them both. "Seriously?" he demanded. "You just got back and you're already going to lay into Sam?" He turned and looked at his brother. "And you, I remember, when Dad died you felt so guilty. Can you wait a day before this shit starts?"

Sam backed down, stepping back. He wrapped his arm around Elena and led her back to their room without another word to John. Dalia handed Dean a beer when he walked over to her. "I'm sorry," he whispered. He knew she probably wasn't happy with John after that comment. At least she was holding it in. She wasn't causing issues.

She shrugged her shoulders and handed a beer to John. "So, John, any plans now that you're back from the dead?" she asked. She wanted to try to keep the peace for Dean. She was furious for John, but she was going to try for Dean. She'd caused him enough problems lately.

He shrugged, taking a swig of beer and sitting down at the table. "I'll probably just move in here with the boys."

Dalia nodded. "We've got plenty of room."

"We?" he asked.

"Dalia and Elena live with us, Dad." Dean sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Why don't I show you what room you can have?" John nodded and got up, following Dean down the hall. Dalia watched them go and sighed. Things were about to get a lot more complicated.

xXx

Later, after John had gone to bed, the others were sitting in the library. Sam and Elena were looking for any strange phenomenon that had happened recently, especially around the area where John's bones had been. Dean was nursing a beer, sitting beside Dalia who kept running her fingers through her hair. "Dean." They looked over at Castiel.

"Any news?" Sam asked.

Castiel sighed. "Yes, but you might not like it." He walked over and sat at the table across from Dean. "No one in heaven knows how John was brought back to life. It shouldn't have happened. Whoever was in charge when it happened either did it, or they left their post." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "We're not sure what went wrong."

Sam took a drink of his beer and looked back at the computer sitting in front of him. "Well, we've been looking pretty much since we got back. We can't find anything either."

Dean looked over at Sam. "What do you mean you've been looking?"

"Dean, don't you want to know how this happened? I mean, this is weird, even for us."

"No, I don't want to know. Dad is back. Can't we just leave it at that?" He started pacing the length of the table. "I mean c'mon man, he's back from the dead. You're just pissed because he told you the truth and you didn't want to hear it."

"And what truth is that, Dean?" Elena asked. "That me and Dalia shouldn't be here right now? That Sam and I shouldn't be married?" She crossed her arms, leaning back in the chair.

"Yes."

"Excuse me?" Dalia asked, leaning forward.

He looked at her, struggling. "That's not what I mean. I'm glad you're both here." He scrubbed his hands over his face. "I'm just saying that he has a point. Everyone close to us dies. Hell, Dalia you died and Elena lost a baby."

Dalia got up and finished her beer. "I'm sleeping in my old room tonight." She walked down the hall. Dean flinched when he heard her door slam shut.

He sighed and sat back down, rubbing his eyes. This was supposed to be a happy day. Sam and Elena got married, their dad was back from the dead. So why did he feel so shitty? He glanced at his phone when it beeped. He sighed and opened it. "Dad found a hunt," he said with a small smile. "He wants us to be ready to go at oh-six-hundred."

Sam rolled his eyes and closed his laptop, standing up. "Good to know nothing's changed." He took Elena's hand and went back to their room.

Dean looked at Castiel. "You got something to say too?" he asked.

Cas sighed and looked at him. "Just…be careful, Dean. We don't know what we're dealing with yet."

"Yeah." Dean finished his beer and walked down the hall towards the bedrooms. He knew Dalia was mad at him and he didn't want to let her go to bed that way. It only meant she'd be worse in the morning. He went to her old room and walked inside. She was already in bed, her back to him. He quietly kicked off his boots and climbed in behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. He buried his head in her hair and breathed in deep. "I'm sorry," he whispered. He didn't say it often, but he meant it when he did. "That came out wrong."

She sighed and turned to look at him. "That's not the point, Dean." She looked up at him, her crystalline blue eyes filled with worry. "You and Sam have told us how many stories about your dad? He and Sam are always arguing, he doesn't explain himself to you, he just expects you to straighten up like a good little solider and follow orders."

"What's wrong with that?"

She cupped his face and kissed him lightly. "You're not a soldier, Dean. You're his son. He should treat you like one."

"He doesn't know any other way."

"If he wants to keep Sam in his life, and you want to keep me in yours, he should learn." She laid her head against his chest. He sighed and held her. She was right and he knew it, but he didn't know how to stand up to his father. On the rare occasions that it happens it's just because he can't take it anymore. He kissed her head. The hunt in the morning was going to be an interesting one. That was for sure.