Dean and Sam headed to South Dakota after getting a phone call from Claire asking for help on a case. They never missed an opportunity to visit, but it was usually limited to stopping by if they had a case in the area or nearby, and when they briefly stopped in to pick up the kids for a weekend at the bunker. Jody had really helped them out the last few years by letting all three of the kids live with her, but now she had Alex and Claire too and they knew she was struggling.

They didn't want their kids growing up in motels and moving around constantly like they did. They wanted to keep them with their mothers and family, and they did for a long while, but one by one Dean and Sam became the only real family any of them had left. They thought about moving them into the bunker and trying to make a go at being a normal family, or as best as they could manage, but Jody intervened and offered them up another solution. It wasn't easy, and they often wondered if they were doing the right thing.

Sam had Luke, who was twelve and born when Sam and Jess were twenty two, a few months before the end of college and a few months before Jess' untimely death. The circumstances surrounding her death and Luke's life echoed that of Sam's first few months on earth. Sam gave Luke to Jess' parents and went on the road with Dean in an attempt to give him a normal life. When they passed, Luke only had Sam left, and lately Sam had been thinking more and more about bringing the kids to the bunker.

Ben was fifteen, and it took him a long time to forgive Dean for leaving, and for what happened to his Mom. Although it wasn't Dean who killed her, his lifestyle contributed to it and they all knew it. Ben didn't want to be with Dean, so living with Jody was an easy choice for him, even if it wasn't an easy one for Dean. But, now that he was fifteen he wanted to be with Dean, and Dean wanted them to be together too.

And, then there was Maggie. She was Dean's sixteen year old daughter. Her Mother was a witch, and Dean and her told Maggie the same story. They were young and in love, real love that they found because they both had secrets they were dying to tell people. They understood each other, and the world they lived in, but their families didn't understand their relationship and it ultimately kept them a part.

Dean didn't even know about Maggie until she was twelve and she tracked him down. She was only able to do that because he put roots down with Lisa. Her Mother was killed by a hunter, and when Dean went back to that life it was hard for her. He pretty much dumped her at Jody's with the boys, it didn't make things any better for their relationship, but Maggie bonded with Jody and they leaned on each other. And then, she bonded with Alex and Claire and now she didn't want to move to the bunker.

Ben and Luke had good relationships with their dads, and if Maggie was being honest, she wanted that with Dean. She just resented the fact that she had to choose between the two homes, like she was a child of divorce. It was hard for both her and Dean, that bond didn't come naturally and they were still working on it.

Dean and Sam had tried their best to keep their kids out of hunting. Maggie wasn't all that interested, she was good at research, but she wasn't much of a hunter. Dean taught her self defense and she knew the basics of how to protect herself from most things, but it was just enough to survive or help in an emergency and he was glad she didn't seem to express much interest in the actual fighting of it. Or, so he thought, but a part of him knew that was too good to be true.

Dean and Sam tried to keep Ben and Luke out of the hunting lifestyle and on the "normal" life path too, but it wasn't easy. They were trained too, they didn't go on hunts and they didn't work on cases, but that still didn't keep them from asking questions and wanting to be involved. They were much more interested in it and they knew they would probably end up just like their Dads.

Jody had just picked Alex, Maggie, Ben and Luke up from school. Usually, Maggie drove them all, but her car was getting some work done. Dean and Sam had given her one of the cars from the bunker to make things easier for everyone. It gave Jody a break with school drop offs and pickups, and it made visiting the bunker on weekends easier.

They were all unaware Claire had called Sam and Dean, so they were surprised when they pulled into the driveway and saw the impala. Jody, Alex and Maggie knew enough to be concerned about the situation, but the boys were excited that their Dads were inside. It could have been a nice surprise, sometimes they did that, but usually when they showed up unexpected red flags went up.

"Why would they be here?" Alex asked.

"I don't know," Jody said. "I didn't throw up the bat signal."

Maggie shrugged. "Don't look at me, I didn't call them."

She was a little jealous when she watched how easily Luke and Ben bonded with their Dads and were able to immediately greet them. For Maggie, it always felt like she was at an arm's distance with them. They did the best they could, and she knew that. They called every night and any weekend they didn't have a case they'd spend together, but sometimes you needed more than that.

"Well, there goes the neighbourhood," Jody said as she walked into the house and hugged the guys. "Hi."

"It has been too long," Dean said as he hugged her too.

Dean reached out for Maggie after he hugged Jody and she went into his embrace. She wanted him around more, she just didn't know how to tell him. "Hi Dad," she said quietly.

"Hi baby," he kissed her head and smiled as they separated.

"Is everything okay?" Jody asked.

"I called them," Claire said. "About the monsters you refuse to believe are monsters."

"Oh you've got to be kidding," Jody sighed and rolled her eyes. Claire followed the rest of the kids out of the room. They had a tendency to leave whenever Claire started in with Jody about monsters. It was easier to just stay out of it.

Jody turned to Dean. "If you would have checked in with me I could have saved you a trip." She said.

"Well, we figured we owed you a visit," Dean said.

"Kid update?" Sam asked her as they followed her into the kitchen with the groceries.

"Four out five," she shrugged. "Can you guess who's causing the trouble?"

Dean nodded. "Claire," he said. "Ours are good though?"

"Yeah, for the most part," she shrugged with a grin. "A few things here and there, but mostly its normal teenage behaviour. I could use the backup with Claire, though. So, settle in and I'll get dinner ready."

The table was even fuller than it usually was, but there was plenty of food to go around. Jody sat at one end, Dean at the other. Alex, Claire and Maggie sat on one side, and Sam sat with the boys on the other side. For the most part the girls picked at their food while the boys devoured it, no surprise there, but it had been a while since Sam or Dean had a home cooked meal and it showed.

"This is amazing," Dean said. "You eat like this every night?"

"It's just chicken," Jody shook her head with a smirk.

"Can we get to the case?" Claire interrupted. "Three people are missing."

"There is no evidence that shows they didn't just skip town on their own." Jody argued.

Alex rolled her eyes when Claire talking about monsters and reached for Jody's wine glass. "Hey," Jody said. "Put it back."

Maggie reached for Dean's glass, surprised that he didn't object. "Really?" she asked with a grin when he didn't stop her.

Dean shrugged. "You won't like it."

"No," Jody said and Dean took the glass out of her hand.

"Guys," Claire said seriously, attracting their attention. "There is something out there."

"We've hunted on less," Sam said, weighing it out.

"What else you got?" Dean asked.

"I'm working on it," she mumbled and looked down, picking at her food. Dean frowned as he watched her and then glanced at Maggie, who was also acting a little suspicious. She was being quiet, too quiet.

"Claire did catch a werewolf," Ben smirked.

"Turned out to be a German Shepard with rabies," Alex corrected.

"There was a vampire, too." Luke said.

"A councilwoman into some R rated stuff," Jody clarified.

"Wow," Dean said. "You've been busy."

"I've been hunting," Claire said.

"Also known as menacing innocent people," Jody said. "Claire has a whole string of assaults racked up, the only reason she's not sitting in jail right now is because I'm the sheriff."

"Fine, I've been wrong." Claire admitted. "But, this time I know there's a monster."

"Can we stop talking about monsters and hunting?" Alex said. "What about real life?"

"Real life?" Claire mocked. "Fine, let's get real. When are you and Henry heading up to Jody's cabin to screw yourselves silly?"

Things got incredibly awkward from there and Maggie avoided eye contact with Dean as Jody tried to have a sex talk with Alex at the dinner table in front of everyone. Maggie figured Jody thought it was easier to talk to everyone at once, but it wasn't a fun conversation, other than her Dad and Sam being more uncomfortable then all of them combined, which was slightly amusing.

"Nice ambush in there," Dean said to Jody in the kitchen. "Thought we were going to be helping you with monsters not birth control."

"Welcome to my world," Jody said. "Don't get me wrong, I love those kids, but I am hanging on by my fingertips. The last guy Claire pegged as a monster, she held a sword to his throat."

"Honestly, I thought it would be Alex with the adjustment issues," he said.

"It was rough going there too," she said. "But, this year everything clicked for her."

"Yeah, I know, I barely recognized her." He said.

"But even there, I feel like I should teach her things and talk to her like a Mom," she said. "But I'm not their Mom, any of them. I didn't raise these kids. I don't have that kind of history with them."

"Well, we can talk to Claire, get her settled down," Dean said.

Jody sighed. "It's not just Claire busting heads."

Dean frowned. "There's more?" he asked. "If it's one of ours, you let us know, we'll get them back in line."

"It's Claire, she started college but she hasn't been to classes in weeks, she doesn't have any friends," Jody said. "She spends all her time trolling for cases and reading lore."

Dean's frown deepened. "That doesn't sound good."

"You know, I have nothing against hunting, but if she's hiding in it because she has nothing else, I'm worried about her being so lonely," she said. "You trust me with your kids to keep them out of this, and the more Claire gets involved in it, the more I see her pulling in the others, especially Maggie."

"Ever since we found Claire and we saw what happened to her after Cas took her Dad away," Dean shook his head. "Sam and I keep wondering if we're doing more damage being away from them. We wanted them to have a normal life, but having a part-time Dad isn't normal."

"You're a good father, Dean." She said.

"Am I?" He frowned. "I talk to them on the phone a few times a week, visit a few times a month, and show up to discipline them when one steps out of line. That's basically how I was raised, and it's not enough. I keep telling myself I'm doing the best I can, but I don't know if that's true anymore."

"You know I love those kids, and there is always a place for them here, but don't be thinking you'll hurt my feelings," she said. "I understand you have to do what's best, and if you want my opinion, I think the boys need more from you two."

"And, Maggie?" He raised his eyebrows.

"I think she wants more from you, but she's having a hard time asking for it," she said. "I see her and Claire talking about hunting and sometimes I wonder if she's trying to get your attention."

Dean sighed. "I hope not."

OOOOO

Claire and Maggie were the same age, both had lost their Mother's and had their Father's lives consumed by the supernatural life. Claire wanted to hunt, but Maggie was more interested in the research aspect. Her Mother was a witch, a good one, and she was starting to teach her when she was killed. However they came to be, they actually made a pretty good team and they had secretly met up a few times to take down some low level supernatural beings. Claire was badass and fearless, and Maggie was smart and strategic.

"This is the stupidest thing we've done," Maggie mumbled to Claire as they approached the police tape. She flashed a fake badge as she held up her camera. "Forensics."

The officer stepped aside and held up the police tape, letting them duck under it to examine the scene. Claire turned and grinned. "Well, it worked." She said.

"Of course it worked, it was my idea." she said. "Your idea of junior FBI agents would have gotten us laughed off the scene."

"Yeah, well, we didn't all grow up Winchester with hunting hard wired into our DNA." She said.

Maggie smirked before turning serious as she looked down at the bodies. "Well, that's not normal."

She snapped a few photos to make it look convincing as Claire eavesdropped on some of the detectives to get the story. "They think it was an animal attack," she said.

Maggie shrugged. "Technically, it is."

"Yeah, well, what animal just takes the heart? We'll stake it out and go tonight," she said. "I've got some silver blades, no bullets though."

Maggie had a bad feeling about this hunt and she was right. Things started going south pretty fast when two werewolves showed up, instead of just one. They were losing, so even Claire was never happier to see Sam and Dean crashing the scene. Maggie had her back turned and took a last ditched effort and tried a spell, moving some furniture around, effectively taking one out and saving Claire before the other one knocked her across the room in an effort to stop her.

"Hey, hey," Sam said as he rushed to her side, kneeling down to check her out as Dean fired silver bullets into both werewolves. She had cut her arm on some broken glass, but it wasn't deep enough for stitches. "You're alright. It's going to be fine."

"What the hell are you two doing?" Dean roared as he glanced from one girl to the other.

"Hunting," Claire said, trying to downplay the events. "Note to self, silver blades are not enough against pure bread werewolves jonesing for those human hearts."

Maggie looked to Dean, leaning a little more into Sam for protection. "It was stupid," she said. "We thought we could handle it."

"You're damn right it was stupid," Dean snapped. "Get in the car, now."

He walked off and she looked up at Sam, who nodded and pulled her to her feet. "We'll clean it up," he said. "Go take care of your arm."

It wasn't a pleasant drive back to Jody's, and Maggie and Claire were glad it wasn't a far drive. After Claire was locked out of the case she found in town, she found another one a few towns over and she convinced Maggie to tag along. She figured if she had Maggie with her it would look less suspicious, but she never factored in that Dean and Sam would be more watchful of Maggie.

Dean was pretty angry as he drove, he glanced at Maggie in the rear view mirror a few times but she was avoiding making eye contact with him. She knew the best thing to do when he was like this was to just stay quiet. That wasn't Claire's style, but this time she decided to follow suit.

When they got to the house the girls bolted from the car before he even had a chance to put it into park. Maggie headed to the bathroom to clean and bandage her arm, but Jody stopped Claire in the kitchen. She figured that Sam had given her a heads up of what they had been up to. Dean and Sam weren't far behind them, and the boys were in the living room playing video games.

"How's your arm?" Sam asked, leaning against the door frame with crossed arms.

"Just a little sore," she mumbled. "It stopped bleeding."

"Let me see it," he said. She took the bandage off and let him clean it out. There was some glass stuck inside, but he was being gentle. "You know you shouldn't have been out there without us, right?"

"I know," she sighed. "But, I couldn't let Claire go alone either."

He raised his eyebrows at her. "You could have been killed."

"I don't know what you want me to say," she mumbled. "I know I shouldn't have gone, I know it could have turned out worse, pointing all that out doesn't fix it."

Sam sighed and finished wrapping his arm before he put his hands on her shoulders. "I love you," he said as he kissed her head. "Don't scare me like that again."

Maggie let Sam guide her back out to the dining room where Dean was standing with his arms crossed as Jody talked to Claire at the table. Sam sat down at the table with them, Maggie lingered in the doorway and Dean headed into the kitchen to grab a few beers. He needed to talk to Maggie about this, but it wasn't going to be easy.

"It's late," Sam said as he nodded at Ben and Luke in the next room. "Go on to bed, boys."

"Maggie, sit down," Dean gestured for her to sit down across from him as he joined the others at the table. "We need to discuss some things."

"So, Claire was trolling for cases, you found one, you lied and you put yourselves in danger," Jody said. "Did we get that right?"

"Pretty much," Claire nodded. "It was obvious it was a werewolf."

"You want to explain to us what was going on in your head back there?" Dean asked Maggie. "Where did you get the idea you could hunt on your own?"

"They had no idea what they were dealing with," Claire answered for her. "They thought it was an animal attack, but the body had a missing heart."

"How did you even get on scene?" Sam asked.

"Maggie," Dean directed the question when Claire was about to answer again.

"I took my camera and said we were forensics," she said. "Claire made some badges. She was going to go with or without me. I didn't know what to do."

"You call us," Dean said shortly. "This wasn't a moment of opportunity, you were working a case and you could have called us at any time. You should have, and you know that."

"Yeah, I know." She mumbled. "I guess part of me wanted to see if we could do it."

"You're not ready, either of you." Sam said. "You both proved that tonight. You don't have the experience to go it alone."

"What was the plan?" Dean asked more calmly. "If we didn't show up, what would you have done? Because, from where we were standing you two were about to be the next set of victims."

"No, we weren't," Maggie sighed as she glanced at Claire. "I had a spell, a few of them actually."

"Excuse me?" Dean frowned as he exchanged a glance with Sam. "Listen, I know your Mom taught you some stuff, and it's a part of who you are, but if you're going to practise magic, or you want to, you need to tell us."

"What were you going to do?" Sam asked, he was more shocked than angry like his brother.

Maggie looked from Sam to Dean to Jody before she spoke. "I know a few pyro spells, and telekinesis, and healing. Those are the first things I was taught, all for defense, but it was stronger tonight when I was in actual danger."

"Okay," Jody nodded. "When did you start practicing?"

Maggie shrugged. "I never really stopped, but I guess I started getting back into it about a year ago." She said. "I didn't tell any of you because I didn't want to make it a big thing."

"We don't want you getting used," Dean said. "Hunters get witches killed. I don't have to tell you that."

"You mean hunters kill witches," she said.

"No, I mean helping hunters has gotten witches hurt or killed," he explained. "We've seen it happen, and I don't want to see it happen to you."

"Yeah, I know." She mumbled.

"You know what, girls," Jody said. "I think we need some time to talk alone."

"I'll be in to talk to you in private later." Dean said, nodding toward the hallway and wanting to leave it at that. He knew not to push her, she didn't respond well to that, she responded better to concern and comfort, as opposed to the tough love he was raised on.

Sam watched them go before he turned back to his brother. "She's going to keep testing her abilities," he said.

"I know," Dean nodded.

"She already has quite a bit," all three of them jumped at the sound of Castiel's voice. They would never get used to him just popping in. "I keep an eye on Claire, her and Maggie have hunted before and she has used her magic to get them out of some situations."

"And, you didn't think to tell me about it?" Dean frowned.

"Or, me?" Jody asked.

"I wasn't aware you didn't know about it, you knew Claire was hunting," he said. "Maggie's Mother's family is powerful, she's powerful. She could be useful."

"I'm not using my kid as a weapon," Dean said shortly.

"She could save you," Cas argued. "And, it's good to have a witch in your corner."

Dean was silent, he wasn't changing his mind, but he glanced at Sam and was surprised to see him shrug. Dean raised his eyebrows at his brother. "We'd keep her safe," Sam said. "And, he's right, there may come a time when we need her."

"Are you kidding?" Dean frowned. "Why don't we just take Luke and Ben on our next hunt while we're at it?"

"That's different," Sam shook his head. "She could help."

"I want to help," Maggie reappeared in the room with Claire, they had heard everything and were obviously listening.

"This is not a discussion," Dean let his voice drop into that Winchester famous growl. "You lied to us. You've been hunting before today?"

"Yeah, a few times," she said quietly. "But, it wasn't a big deal."

"Maggie," Dean warned and shook his head.

"How many times have you died, both of you?" She argued. "How many times did you almost die?"

"Enough," Dean snapped. "This is not a discussion. You are not hunting, not now, not ever."

"Why are you always pushing me away?" She said and he could hear the hurt in her voice before she disappeared out of the room.

"Dude, not cool," Claire said. "If it makes you feel any better, I talked her into it every time and I'm pretty sure she only came to make sure I didn't get killed. Whenever the case was a bust, she never came. All those times I was wrong, she didn't come."

"How many times were you right?" Jody asked.

"Only like four or five," she said. "It was all low level stuff too, a few ghosts, a lone vamp, and a demon once, that's when Maggie used her magic. She's good at this, like really good."

"Thank you Claire," Jody nodded and she disappeared down the hall and into her room. "This is what I was telling you, I feel like she's trying to get your attention with hunting."

"Dad," Luke appeared in the hallway wearing plaid PJ bottoms and a black t-shirt.

"What's wrong, buddy?" Sam asked, as he turned in his chair.

"Maggie's crying in our room," he said. He shared a room with Luke, and the girls shared the other room. "Ben said to get Uncle Dean."

"Go talk to her," Sam said to his brother.

Dean left the table and headed down the hall to the boy's room. He was still upset about the situation, but he was angrier with himself for not being involved enough in his daughter's life to catch this and know what she has been up to. Luke had left the door open a little and he paused to listen to his children. Maggie had changed into yoga pants and one of Dean's old hoodies, it made him smile to see her wearing it. She had thrown her hair up and taken off her make-up, which was good because Luke was right, she was crying.

They were sitting on the floor between the two beds, and Ben had his arm around his sister. Maggie was crying less now, she seemed to have settled down at bit, but Dean could tell from her voice and red eyes that she had been crying pretty hard. Now, she was just tearing up a bit and wiping at her face as she sniffed.

"Why do you go with Claire anyway?" Ben asked.

"So, she doesn't get herself killed," she said. "She gets in over her head and if something happened to her it would destroy Jody."

"It would destroy Dad if you got killed," he said. "He doesn't want us hunting right now."

"He doesn't want us hunting at all, Ben. I don't even think he wants us," she said miserably. "He dumped us here so he could keep hunting, and now he probably hates me."

"He doesn't hate you." Ben shook his head. "Remember when he wasn't hunting, and I found the guns in the garage? He got so mad, and I thought he was mad at me, but turned out he was just scared."

Dean took that moment to walk into the room. Listening to that conversation was breaking his heart. Ben got up to leave the room, but Dean waved him off, gesturing for him to sit back down. He dropped to the floor, sitting across from them. Maggie wiped at her face when he came to sit down, trying to hide how upset she was.

"I'm not pushing you away from me," he explained. "I'm trying to push you away from hunting."

"It doesn't feel like that," she said.

"I'm trying to keep you safe, and this isn't easy for me, being away from you two," he said. "Lately, I've been wondering if maybe we should move you guys to the bunker permanently."

"I like it here," she said. "I just wish you were here too."

"Me too," Ben nodded.

Dean sighed. "I'm going to talk to Sam, and then we'll all talk about changing our system."

"Maybe you should only hunt during the week," Ben suggested. "Then, we'd at least be together every weekend."

"That's what this started as," Maggie said. "It never worked out like that. You never pass up a case unless something is going on with one of us."

"Is that why you've been hunting?" he raised his eyebrows at her. "You knew I'd find out sooner or later, and that I wouldn't be happy about it."

"I don't know, maybe I wanted you to find out, because then you'd show up here," she admitted. "I'm scared, and Jody's gun and Claire's sword can only protect us from so much."

"Hey," Dean frowned and shook his head. "I'm not going to let anything happen to any of you."

"How can you protect us if you're not here?" She asked.

"So, you want to learn more spells to protect everyone?" Dean frowned with a nod. "You still should have told me."

"Dad, you're not here enough," she said. "The older you get, the more unstable your magic becomes if you don't practice. It builds, I need to harness it."

"You're sixteen and I'm still your Dad, whether I'm here or not." He said as he glanced at Ben. "That goes for both of you, you don't keep things from me, you got it?"

They nodded and Sam walked into the room with Luke and closed the door behind them. Dean rose and pulled both Ben and Maggie up with him. "It's late," he said. "We should all get some rest."