1. Brother Rising (4.01)

"Oh, fuck me!"

Twenty-year-old Andrea Moss quickly loads another rock salt bullet into her Smith and Wesson 4006 and spins around, pulling the trigger at the black-eyed Demon coming her way.

"Felix, cover me!" Andy shouts, and her white Samoyed launches herself at a second demon, tearing at the Demon's throat with her teeth. "Nice one!"

A sound comes from behind her and she spins around again, right into a blond demon's fist. Her gun slides across the dirty floor of the barn as she falls to the ground, the Demon lunging forward to wrap his hands around her throat. She struggles for a moment before her hand finds the Demon's face and engulfs it in a bright white light, allowing her to breathe again.

There was a scream and suddenly a girl's voice shouts, "Where the fuck you think you're goin'? Get back here, bitch. No one hurts my Andy."

"Felix . . ." Andy groans.

"Just a minute, Andy," Felix says, and Andy turns her head just in time to see a naked redhead slam a bloodied demon to the ground. "So, Mr. Demon, what's new?"

"I ain't tellin' you nuthin'!" it shouts as Andy slowly gets to her feet.

"The fuck you aren't," Felix growls as the Demon tries to scramble away. "Whaddya know about the Winchester brothers?" The Demon's black eyes widen and Felix grins. "Come on, my girl Andy has been hearin' some interesting' things from the Angels lately about Dean Winchester. Something's goin' down in Hell an' we wanna know what. Capisce?"

The Demon starts to shake its head when Andy appears, pointing the muzzle of her gun between it's eyes. "Alright, alright!" the Demon shouts. "Apparently some rogue Angel went into Hell a few hours ago but no one knows what he came out with."

Andy glances over at Felix. "Must be Dean. I heard they were cookin' up somethin' big for him after he died."

The Demon stares at her. "You're talking about Dean Winchester . . . aren't you? Are you-are you saying that an Angel is pulling Dean Winchester out of He-"

"Bye," Andy says cheerfully, pulling the trigger on her gun and blowing the thing's face off. However, the next thing she knew she's blinking awake in her powder blue '78/'79 AMC Pacer, a friggin' crick in her damn neck. She groans.

"Well, howdy there partner, nice tah know you're still livin'," a voice says from the driver's seat.

Andy turns and blinks back sleep to see Felix, driving down a desolate road, all dressed up in a yellow sundress and cowboy boots. "Hey, Fee," she mumbles, "what's up?"

"On our way to pick up Dean Winchester I believe."

"Awesome," Andy says, rubbing her temples. "How long was I out for this time?"

"Well, Dean was buried in Illinois, right?"

"Right. So?"

"We're in Pontiac now."

"What? How is that possible? We were just in Tennessee."

"True. But, come on, you know I've got a lead foot."

Andy suddenly sits up, squinting out the windshield. "Whoa, what the hell is that?"

Felix slows the car and squints at the figure walking in the distance, flashing a smile at Andy. "Well, looks like we've found Dean Winchester."

They pulled up beside Dean a few minutes later and Fee rolls down her window so Andy can grin at him. "Hey there mister, we've been lookin' for ya."

His green eyes flick between the both of them. "Yeah, and who the fuck are you?"

"I'm just the one pickin' you up after your nice joyride in Hell, Dean. Fee, get the door wouldja." Felix reaches behind her to pop the door open for him, and Andy cocks her head at it. "Get in, Dean, and we'll explain on the way."

"The way to where?" he snaps.

"That abandoned gas station up the road," Felix says simply. "Now, come on, Mr. I'm-So-Special-I-Got-Pulled-From-Purgatory, we don't got all day."

Andy watches as Dean rolls his plaid shirt around his hand and slams it through the window of the gas station. After opening the door, he instantly crosses over to the little mini mart fridge and pulls out a bottle of water, gulping it down. However, when he walks over to the newspaper stand and picks one up, he's shocked at what he sees.

"September."

"Thursday, September eighteenth," Andy says, and Dean's green eyes snap to hers. "Yep, you're readin' that right. It's not a typo."

"But that's four months ago," Dean replies.

"You died four months ago," Andy tells him.

Dean drops the newspaper to race for the bathroom, and when Andy doesn't hear any retching sounds she knows he's not getting sick, but she can still hear the water running. She walks slowly towards the door and opens it to see him pulling up his shirt. "Whoa, hot bod," she jokes but he doesn't seem to hear her. His expression changes in the mirror and Andy realizes he's hallucinating from the way his eyes dart across his chest, probably imagining the slashes that had once been in his skin. She crosses over to him as he drops his shirt, pausing for a moment before turning his left shoulder to the mirror and pulling up his shirt sleeve to reveal a large, raw handprint that had been branded into his shoulder. "Holy shit," Andy breathes and Dean jumps, dropping his shirt sleeve.

He frowns at the brunette in the mirror. "How long you been there?"

"Long enough to see your swanky new tat, my friend," she replies.

"Where's your friend?" Dean asks.

"She's gathering supplies. Ya know, food, water and junk like that."

"Oooh, hey, Andy, come look," Felix's voice calls out. "They have Busty Asian Beauties on the magazine rack. And what a rack it is, holy shit."

Andy's face flushes with embarrassment as Dean chuckles. "Fee, I thought I told you not to look at stuff like that." She races out of the bathroom, Dean on her heels, to find Felix flipping through the adult magazine as she sits on the mini mart counter.

Snatching it from the redhead's hands, she shoves it into Dean's, who grins and goes, "Awesome."

Andy rolls her eyes at him, hands on her hips as she stares at Felix. "Well, what do you have to say for yourself? When we laid down the rules, that was one of mine. You broke it."

"You have rules about reading saucy magazines?" Dean asks in surprise, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, excuse me, Dean Winchester, for not wanting my girlfriend to read trash like that."

Dean's green eyes go wide. "Girlfriend? You two are lesbians?"

Felix nods, dipping her head to kiss Andy on the lips. "What, you weren't planning on asking either of us out, were you?"

"N-no, I-Forget it. Just . . . forget it." He moves behind the counter and hits a button on the register, snapping his fingers in satisfaction when it pops open. But, just as he starts to pocket the cash, the tv to his left flicks on to show only static. "What the-?" he mumbles, and glances over at the girls, who look just as confused. His hand reaches out to shut it off-only to have the radio to his right turn on, crackling with white noise.

Felix scrambles off the counter, her eyes wide. "What the fuck is going on?"

Not wasting another moment, Dean instantly grabs a carton of salt off the shelves and begins to pour it on the windowsill. A high-pitched, single tone begins and he claps a hand over his left ear, continuing to pour the salt with his right hand. Felix drops to her knees, clutching her ears in pain, and Andy stumbles backward at the sudden disorientation. As the sound continued, the carton of salt falls from Dean's hand and he drops to his knees, groaning in agony. A second later the window above his and Felix's head shatters, showering them with pieces of glass, and they drop to the floor.

Andy presses her back into the wall as she slides down it, the voice speaking in her head much too loud. "Please, Castiel," she moans as more glass shatters around them. "Please, stop."

Then all of a sudden it's quiet, the high-pitched tone now gone, and Dean looks up, green eyes wide.

"What . . . was that?"

"What on earth are you doing?"

Dean rolls his eyes, punching in the numbers of one of Sam's cells as he lifts the receiver to his ear. "What does it look like, Andy? I'm callin' Sam, gonna have him come get me."

"He's not gonna pick up," Felix says as she flips through a National Geographic magazine.

"And why not?"

"'Cause they're all disconnected."

"We're sorry. You have reached a number that has been disconnected," comes the automated voice, and Dean purses his lips before slamming the receiver down.

"Told you," Felix sings. "We've been trying to get a hold of him, too."

"Oh, shut up," he snaps, inserting another coin into the slot and lifting the receiver again. He dials another number and it rings once before being picked up; the voice he hears on the other end sounds like heaven.

"Yeah?"

"Bobby?"

"Yeah?"

"It's me."

"Who's me?"

"Dean."

The dial tone immediately sounds off in Dean's ear and he hangs up the phone, popping in another coin to redial Bobby's number.

"Who is this?" Bobby all but growls.

"Bobby, listen to me," Dean says.

"This ain't funny. Call again, I'll kill ya."

The dial tone sounds again and Dean lets the phone drop from his hand, turning to the girls with a dejected look on his face.

"Well you can't expect Bobby to be all warm and cuddly, Dean," Andy tells him. "You've been dead for four months."

"Yeah, I know. I just . . ." He runs a hand through his cropped brown hair with a sigh. "I just thought if he heard my voice that he'd-ah, no, forget it."

"Personally I think you'd have better luck seein' him face-to-face," Felix says absently, flipping her magazine upside down and squinting at it as she brings it closer to her face.

Dean glances over at Andy with a grin and she shakes her head. "Oh no, nuh-uh, no way. I think Bobby has quite enough issues right now without you showing up at his door."

"I can hotwire cars, ya know."

"Dammit, Dean, I said no." Dean puts on his best pouty face and stuck out his bottom lip. "Fuck you and your puppy dog eyes, Dean Winchester-I mean it. No is my final answer." He stares at her with those big green eyes, and she can feel her resistance breaking down. "Alright, fine," she says after a moment. "We'll drive you over to Bobby's."

"Yes! Alright!" He grins boyishly, bouncing out of the phone booth as he heads for Andy's car, and shouts over his shoulder, "Felix, you comin' or what?"

"Shotgun!" the redhead shouts, racing after him, and Andy laughs as they begin to argue over who's going to sit in the passenger seat.

Hours later, as soon as they pull up in front of Bobby's house in Sioux Falls, South Carolina, Dean flew out of the backseat of the AMC Pacer and up the stairs of the porch, the girls quickly following behind him.

"He's gonna freak out," Andy hisses at him.

"He'll know it's me," Dean shoots back as he knocks on the door. It opens a few seconds later to reveal a five-foot-eleven stocky man with a beard, wearing a green trucker cap and black plaid button-up shirt over a red t-shirt, jeans and boots. Dean smiles cautiously at the evident suspicion on Bobby's face. "Surprise."

Bobby stumbles back. "I, I don't-"

"Yeah, me neither," he says, stepping through the doorway. "But here I am." The next thing he knows, Bobby lunges at him with a silver knife and Dean grabs his arm, twisting it as they crash into the living room before the older male quickly breaks the grip to backhand Dean. "Bobby, it's me!"

"My ass!"

As they stumble into the kitchen, Dean grabs the closest thing he can find and shoves a chair between them, holding up his hands in defense."Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait! Your name is Robert Steven Singer. You became a Hunter after your wife got possessed, and . . . You're about the closest thing I have to a father. Bobby! It's me."

Lowering the knife, Bobby slowly walks forward to place a gentle hand on Dean's shoulder-right before lunging with the knife, Dean quickly disarming him.

"I am not a shapeshifter!" he exclaims.

"Then you're a Revenant!" Bobby snaps, and Dean shoves him away, grabbing the knife.

"Alright. If I was either, would I do this-with a silver knife?" Dean rolls up his left sleeve and grimaces as he slice his arm above the elbow with the knife. A line of blood appears and Bobby's eyes widen.

"Dean?" he mumbles.

"That's what he's been trying to tell you," Andy says, exasperated.

Bobby glances over his shoulder at the twenty-year-old with a quizzical look, but quickly turns back to Dean and rushes forward to grab Dean in a hug. Dean hugs him tightly, relief on his face. "It's . . . it's good to see you, boy," he says when they part.

"Yeah, you, too," Dean replies.

"But . . . how did you bust out?"

"I don't know. I just, uh, woke up in a pine box and-"

"Wait, Bobby!" Andy cries, but it's too late.

The holy water splashes Dean in the face and he sputters, "I'm not a Demon either, ya know."

"Sorry, can't be too careful." Bobby grins sheepishly, tossing Dean a towel as they move further into the house. "And who the heck are these two?" Bobby snatches a book from Felix's hands and grumbles, "Don't touch what ain't yours."

"Oh. Um, Bobby, this is Andy and Felix." The girls flash smiles at Bobby, who eyes them skeptically. "They picked me up after I . . . after I came back."

"And they're Hunters?"

"You bet your ass we are!" Felix exclaims with a grin.

"Fee! Seriously, stop," Andy hissed, and sticks her hand out toward Bobby with smile. "Sorry, Felix doesn't how to talk properly. I'm Andrea Moss and, yes, we're Hunters."

"How come I ain't ever seen you before?" Bobby asks.

She shrugs. "Ehh, Fee and I like to do our own thing."

"Plus, Andy has problems with authority," Felix adds, and the brunette shoots her a glare.

"No, I do not, Fee."

"Yeah, you do."

"Lesbians, please, calm yourselves," Dean jokes.

"But this don't make a lick of sense," Bobby says.

"Yeah, you're preachin' to the choir."

"Dean. Your chest was ribbons, your insides were slop. And you've been buried four months. Even if you could slip out of hell and back into your meat suit-"

"He'd look like a Thriller video reject," Andy says. "That's correct."

"What do you remember?" Bobby asks him.

"Not much. I remember I was Hellhound's chew toy, and then . . . lights out. Sam's number isn't working either. He's, uh . . . he's not . . ."

"Oh, he's alive, as far I know."

"As far as you know?" Andy says curiously. "What the hell does that mean?"

"You don't know?" Dean asks her. "You're the one who told me his cell was disconnected."

"That's 'cause I've been tryin' to get ahold of him too."

"And why have you been trying to get ahold of Sam?" Bobby wonders, sitting down on the couch.

"He's a Winchester. When a Winchester who isn't dead drops of the face of the earth for four months people tend to notice. We've also tracked him to a series of Demon killings where the human vessels come out of it alive."

"Seriously?" Dean says in surprise, and glances over at Bobby. "You know about this?"

"Look, I haven't talked to Sam in months, okay?"

"You're kidding. You just let him go off by himself?"

"He was dead set on it," Bobby shrugs.

"Bobby, you shoulda been lookin' after him."

"I tried. These last months haven't been exactly easy, ya know," the older man says. "For him or me. We had to bury you."

"Why did you bury him anyway?" Andy asks. "I thought Hunters were big on the whole salt and burn thing. Ya know, a proper Hunters burial."

"Sam . . . wouldn't have it," Bobby replies.

"'Betcha you're glad Sam won on that one, eh Dean?" Felix laughs, and he nods. "But why?"

"He said Dean would need his body when he got him back somehow. That's all he said."

"What d'you mean?" Dean asks suspiciously.

"He was quiet. Real then he just took off. Wouldn't return my calls. I've tried to find him, but he doesn't want to be found."

"Same here," Andy tells them. "We couldn't seem to get a bead on him either."

"Oh, dammit, Sammy," Dean mumbles and rubs his chin.

"What?" Bobby asks.

"Oh, he got me home okay. But whatever he did, it is some bad mojo."

"What makes you so sure?" Andy says.

"You guys shoulda seen the grave site. It was like a nuke went off. And then there was this . . . this force, this presence, I don't know, but it blew past Andy, Felix and I at a fill-up joint. And then this." Dean strips off his jacket and pulls up his shirt sleeve to reveal the brand.

Bobby snaps to his feet. "What in the hell?"

"It was like a Demon yanked me out. Or rode me out." Felix snickers and Dean shoots her a glare.

"But why?" Bobby asks.

"To hold up their end of the bargain, I suppose."

"You think Sam made a deal with a Demon?" Andy says.

Dean glances over at her and shrugs. "It's what I would have done."