Chapter One

May 28th, 1978

"I'm pregnant," seventeen year old Mary Campbell told her parents while sitting at the kitchen table. It was just something that had come out while they were eating dinner; she hadn't even told the father yet.

"What?" Mary's mother - Deanna - asked in shock. "Who...who's the father?"

"It doesn't matter," Mary said.

"Of course it matters," Mary's father - Samuel - said. "He owes something to you and that damn baby, and you are going to get married to that boy."

"I don't want to get married, dad," Mary said calmly.

"Susan across the street told me about her niece, who was sent to one of those homes," Deanna began. "We could send you to one of those when school lets out and tell everyone you're at a summer school program to get ahead of school faster."

"A home?" Mary asked.

"If she's not going to get married, that might as well be where she goes," Samuel said before standing and walking out of the room.

"I'm sorry, Mary, but you need to go," Deanna said gently.

"Women are having kids without having husbands, mom," Mary argued. "I don't have to go to a home for this; it's more common now."

"Not in this house," Deanna said. "Your father wants to keep up a reputation with his friends, and you having a baby out of wedlock isn't the way to do that."

1996

Mary crawled out of the back of the moving truck, holding another heavy box. She was handing all she could without the help of Dean. Speaking of which...

"Dean!" Mary called as she walked toward the front door of the house she was moving into with her seventeen year old son and his girlfriend. "Where are you?"

Suddenly Dean was running down the stairs and hurrying to grab the box in her arms.

"Sorry, mom," he apologized. "I was showing Lisa the room we planned for the nursery."

Mary sighed. "Well, why don't you let her look and help me with this stuff. You and I aren't the ones with a huge belly blocking our way."

"Hey!" Lisa called from the upstairs window. "My belly isn't that huge!"

"Of course not, baby!" Dean called back with a smirk. He turned to his mother. "She's sensitive about her stomach right now."

"She better get used to it," Mary commented. "My body was never the same after I had you."

"I hear about it all the time," Dean said. Mary laughed before heading back into the truck to get more boxes while Dean carried the one he had taken from her inside of the house.

"E...Excuse me..?" a small voice from behind her asked. Mary turned around to see a small boy with unruly brown hair standing at the end of the truck. "Do you need any help unloading your truck?"

"I guess we could use all the hands we could get," Mary answered. This kid didn't look a day over twelve. "My name's Mary Campbell. What's your name?"

"Sam Winchester," the boy - Sam - answered.

"Winchester?" Mary asked.

Sam nodded. "Like the rifle."

Mary nodded, deciding to keep certain thoughts to herself as she handed the boy a light box.

"So, Sam, you live around here?" she asked as she took a box herself, guiding him into the house.

"Yes, ma'am, right next door," he answered.

"Mom!" Dean shouted, interrupting the two of them. He ran downstairs. "Where do you want me to - oh, hello...Who's this?"

"Dean, this is Sam Winchester; he lives next door," Mary introduced. "Sam, this is my son, Dean."

"Hi," Sam said.

"What did you want, Dean?" Mary asked.

"I wanted to know where to put this box, but I'll figure it out myself," Dean said.

"Just put all the boxes you don't know where to go in my bedroom and I'll sort them out later," Mary instructed. "And hurry up and help us with the truck or Sam and I will get all of it."

"Yes, ma'am," Dean said with a laugh, walking back upstairs with a box."

"How old is he?" Sam asked Mary as they walked back to the truck.

"He's seventeen," Mary answered. "How old are you?"

"Thirteen." Mary could have sworn he was younger, but didn't mention it.

"So, Sam, do your parents know you're out here helping me?" Mary asked.

"Uh huh," Sam answered. "My dad told me to come out here and help you when we saw you out the window."

"And I thought it was just you being nice." Mary smirked.

"I am nice!" Sam exclaimed with laughter.

"How about after these boxes, we'll go into the kitchen and I'll make you some cookies for helping me?" Mary suggested.

"But you're just moving," Sam said. "Don't you still have the stuff in boxes?"

"Well, luckily for you, I've got all the cooking supplies in one box and had my son's girlfriend unpack it," Mary said. She walked into the house with Sam after closing up the moving truck. The rest of the items in there were big furniture that she needed Dean's help with - and she knew that would take some prodding.

Twenty minutes later Mary was successfully feeding the Winchester boy cookies that she knew he would like. She then wrapped up the rest of the cookies and handed them to him.

"You give these to your folks," Mary said.

"I thought we were supposed to be the ones giving the housewarming presents," Sam responded.

"You'll just have to catch us later." Mary smirked, sending the boy off next door. She sighed a little bit.

Mary couldn't be sure that Sam Winchester was the son of John Winchester, her high school boyfriend. He could be a completely different Winchester, but what were the odds that she would return to Lawrence, Kansas after years of being away and see a boy named Winchester?

August 5th, 1978

"Mary, please don't fight us on this," Deanna said as she dropped her daughter off at the convent. "Once the baby is born, it will be adopted by a nice couple, and then you can come home."

"I don't want the baby to be adopted!" Mary exclaimed. "This is my baby and I want to keep him or her!"

"Well, I'm sorry, Mary," Samuel spoke up. "If you had just told us the name of the father months ago, we could have had the two of you married and you could have kept the thing. You don't get that option anymore."

"I get whatever option I want!" Mary shouted. "I'm not giving my baby away!"

"If you don't do this, you can't live with us," Samuel said sternly. "I won't have you ruin our reputation with this. You either give it away or you leave the state."

"Fine," Mary said. "I will; and I'll raise my baby in a much better home than you raised me!" She grabbed the suitcase her parents had packed, but her father pulled it out of her grasp.

"You're not taking anything that we've paid for," Samuel said.

"Fine." Mary walked away from the convent and promised that she would never go back. Not to the convent and especially not to her parents.

1996

"Hey, mom," Dean said as he walked to the kitchen table, where Mary was having her morning coffee. She hadn't expected her son to be up just yet. It was six in the morning and ever since Dean had gotten his GED, he barely woke up this early anymore. He usually slept until seven.

"Hey," Mary greeted. "Is Lisa still sleeping?"

"Yeah," Dean answered. "She said the baby's been keeping her awake more, so she was up half the night with stomach pains."

"Maybe she should see the doctor?" Mary suggested.

Dean nodded. "She made a doctor's appointment with the OB a couple blocks away before we moved."

"Sorry for dragging you two here," Mary apologized. "I know you had your lives in Ohio. Your friends, your doctors, your plans...I'm sorry."

"Hey, it's okay," Dean said, placing a hand over his mother's. "You're my mom, and we're just kids. We can't live on our own yet."

"I did when I was your age," Mary mentioned.

"Well, I guess I don't have the determination that you did when you were my age." Dean smirked and let out a small laugh.

Mary smiled. "You're stronger than you think. With that, and my support, I think you and Lisa will be just fine. My point is that I'm sorry I moved your lives just because of...well, my personal feelings."

"Yeah, why did we move, by the way?" Dean asked.

"I felt like it was something I had to do," Mary said with a small sigh.

"Is that something a secret from little old me?" Dean asked. "You know we never keep secrets from each other."

"I wanted it to be a surprise for when you turned eighteen," Mary started. "And I thought he might want to meet his grandson."

"He?" Dean raised his eyebrows. "You mean...my father...?" Mary nodded. "Why didn't you mention this earlier?"

"I told you I wanted it to be a surprise," Mary answered. "Besides, I figured that you might want to, and if you didn't, at least I knew where he was if you did."

"Are you even sure that he's still in the state?" Dean asked. "I mean...you said he was a military man."

"He was," Mary said. "But...he's not anymore; I don't think."

"You find him?"

"I'm not sure if I did," Mary said. "Don't get your hopes up or anything, but I think I might have."

"Well..." Dean trailed off. "If you find him for sure...I'll meet him."

"You're ready for that?" Mary asked. "I want this to be your decision; not mine."

"Yeah," Dean answered. "Besides, you're obviously supportive about it. My whole life I thought you might be jealous if I wanted to hang out with him just because he's a dude and you're not."

"Great way of avoiding the word 'chick' when referring to your mother, by the way." Mary smirked. "I figured you'd get all sentimental with expecting a baby. I was."

"But your family wasn't around," Dean said.

"No, they weren't." Mary sighed. "When they threw me out, I tried to stay with an uncle of mine, but when he found out I was pregnant, he wouldn't take me."

"I would've taken you if I was your uncle."

"...That just sounds weird, Dean."

"I know." Dean laughed.

September 17th, 1978

"Mary, come to the back please," Mary's manager - Jennifer - said. Mary did as she said, walking around the bar of the diner she had been working at since she left Kansas. She was currently staying in Columbus, Ohio.

"What is it?" Mary asked when she reached the back room.

"Mary, how far along are you?" Jennifer asked.

"Five months, why?"

Jennifer sighed. "I was just told by the big boss that when the baby's born...you can't live in the back room after the baby's born."

Mary, having no place to go, had shown up to the diner after she left her home and begged for a job. When they discovered she had been sleeping in the back room, they allowed her to stay there as long as she gave up a bit of her salary as rent.

"Where am I supposed to go?" Mary asked. "I'll have a baby, I have no place to live."

"Where's the father?" Jennifer asked.

"He's gone," Mary answered. "Not involved in this at all."

"We're giving you until the baby's born to find a place to live," Jennifer said. "I think that's enough time to find a place nearby."

"I can't afford to live anywhere else," Mary said. "I can't afford to take care of a baby and pay for rent."

"It's not the diner's fault that you're pregnant, Mary," Jennifer said. "I'm sorry, but we've been generous enough, and we'll continue to allow you to stay here, but we can't have a baby living here. Maybe if you got rid of-"

"I'm not getting rid of my baby!" Mary shouted. She then calmed herself. She couldn't lose this job. "I'm sorry. I'll find a place by the time the baby is born."

Jennifer had a mind to fire Mary simply based on that outburst alone, but decided against it. She would give the teenager the time she needed to find a place to live.

"Get back to work."