Dean's eyes were burning; he should have stopped to rest hours ago. But, he was going somewhere he wanted to be, no, needed to be, really badly. He took a quick glance at his younger brother, who was just as tired. Sam had his head back and his eyes closed.

They had been working non-stop, even losing track of time and place. It was Sam who realized how close they were. They hadn't been there in months, a year? At the revelation, they looked at each other and without another word, Dean took the next left and drove toward the interstate.

They recalled the first time they met her.

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She said, "Bobby, you told me children. These are babies!"

Dean peeked from behind Bobby's leg without letting go and looked up at the woman. 'I'm not a baby', he thought to himself as he gave her the best or worst scowl available to a five year old. He didn't speak aloud.

She reached out and Bobby handed Sam to her. Dean squeezed Bobby's leg tighter and raised his face toward him without ever taking his eyes off his brother. He didn't think he liked her but, then she smiled at him and it all changed.

That was the first memory Dean had of her so, of course, since Sam was too young, it was Sam's memory too.

She had come to Bobby in answer to his emergency call. John had dropped the boys off and other hunters needed more of Bobby's attention than he could comfortably divert from young Sam and Dean. So, he had put out the call and she was close enough to help.

She wasn't a hunter but, she was in the life. Her husband and brother had been killed and since then, she had made a life for herself doing for other hunters what she had once done for her family.

She was only forty miles away when Bobby called. At first, she was unaware of whose children he had at his home. She didn't have any of her own and she never hesitated. She knew John Winchester's story, of course, and although they had never met, she wasn't sure how she felt about the life he had made for them.

She cradled the baby, Sam, in her arms and noticed how Dean's eyes followed. She smiled at him. He was a beautiful little boy.