Episode 2 Season 12 Finale Tag to Part 1
AN: The moment I've been waiting for had finally happened. Mary explained herself. And I finally understand why she did what she did. I can forgive her, and maybe even like her a little for it.
Dean was the first to break the hug. His leg was killing him. He needed meds, but first he needed to sit and take the pressure off his injured limb. He started to hobble to the couch as Mary and Sam came up on either side of him, intent on helping him get to his destination a little easier.
Dean shook his head. It was automatic. He was so used to taking care of himself and Sam that he shied away when he was offered help. "I can…."
Mary gave Dean her stern 'mother look,' and, surprisingly it still worked. Dean stopped talking. "I'm your mom, Dean. And I'm missed out on a lot of this. Just humor me and let me help you. I know you can take care of yourself. That obvious. But…just let me do this for you. Okay?
Dean nodded.
Sam and Mary gathered the things they would need to repair Dean's leg wound as Dean drank to prepare himself for the pain that was awaiting him. Sam cleaned and sewed the wound up.
Mary reveling in the skill and light tough he had. It belied his huge hands and large statue.
"John taught you well, I see." Mary said as she helped Sam clean up after he was finished.
"Dad taught us to survive." Sam retorted.
Mary detected something there. She looked at Sam.
"There were times I wanted just a dad. Somebody to just throw a football around with. John never…he never did that with us." Sam explained. "It was all about hunting."
"He was doing what he did to protect you. I'm sure." Mary replied.
Sam nodded. "Yes. And he wanted two perfect little soldiers. He had one in Dean. But, I didn't comply. We butted heads…all the time…over everything." He paused. "I wanted to just leave hunting behind and have a normal life. If that was what he and Dean wanted, that was fine. But why did I have to be involved?"
Mary waited. She knew Sam was not done.
"Dad just wanted…at first, I thought he was so against me leaving the life just because I wanted so bad to leave it." Sam paused and shook his head. "But Dean told me it was because he knew that these creatures knew me. I had hunted most of my life at that point. Dad was afraid for me to be off by myself because he though these monsters might come after me if they knew I was alone. Dean said he would come and check on me periodically while I was at Stanford. I assume Dean told you about Sanford." Sam knew that Dean and Mary had talked. He just didn't know what they had talked about. Then she Jessica was killed, I…."
"Who's Jessica? Dean told me that she was your girlfriend and that he had met her. But that was about it." Mary asked. Dean had told her a lot about their lives. But, he had not gone into detail about Jessica. It was just not his story to tell.
Sam cleared his throat before he began. "Dean came to my dorm room one night. At Stanford. He was…worried. Dean said Dad was missing basically. He had not heard from dad in a couple of weeks. He wanted my help to go find him. I didn't want to leave. I told Dean not worry about Dad. He always came back. He would come back this time. But…Dean seemed really worried. And he had never been that concerned before, so that convinced me. Jessica was my girlfriend, my steady serious girlfriend. I told her I was leaving. I would be gone the weekend and that I would be back. We were going to leave the next morning. That night, I laid down and I got woken up. Jessica was…she was on the ceiling, just like you were." Sam paused, his voice catching as he spoke.
Mary took her Sam's hand and squeezed it. Her heart broke to see the pain in his eyes.
"I wouldn't…I couldn't move. The place was on fire. Dean, I don't know how he knew. But he came in and dragged me out. I just…. She just…we were going to get married, Mom. I had bought an engagement ring and everything."
"Do you know…?" Mary started.
Sam nodded. "The same one, Azazel."
Mary just looked at Sam for a moment. Then it hit her. She didn't remember if she had ever known the demon's name. But the fact it had come after Sam again made her angry.
Sam noted her anger. "He's dead. We got him."
Mary nodded. "Good, I'm glad."
Sam and Mary had taken seats on one of the other couches in the living room as they kept an eye on Dean. He had finally fallen asleep and seemed to be resting.
"I kinda get why you didn't tell Dad what you did that night. I do. But, he was from what people have told us and then from what you've said; he was such a s different guy from what…from the one you married, Mom. He was paranoid, worrying about us all the time. He felt like he had to turn us into soldiers to make sure we would survive." He paused again. "I told him once, I think I was 7 or 8 years old, that there was a monster under my bed. He handed me a gun. What dad hands their elementary school age kid a gun? Most people thought he was bat-crap crazy, looking for things that don't exist. Asking questions about things that don't exist. Everybody who had known you two as a couple started to shy away from him. And then we started moving around the country hunting monsters, trying to find out what got you. We were living in motel rooms for weeks at a time. Most of the time Dean was left to look after me, when we were young. And we would be by ourselves for up to a week sometimes. Then he would come back, pack us up and we would be off to another hotel or motel in another town. We…."
Mary was shocked. She, in her worst nightmares, could not imagine that John would have turned out that way. She thought, the John she knew, the man she loved, would just carry on. He would remarry and give Sam and Dean a mother. He would never let her boys forget her. But he would give them as normal a life as possible. Nothing like this. She was mortified that John had chosen this path. Well, no, that was not quite correct. She could see that path as a choice he might make. She had just thought that the chances of him making that choice were slim. She had been very, very wrong.
"Sam, I had no…."
Sam cut her off. "Dad became…obsessed at finding out what it was that got you. Everybody thought it was just a fire. Everybody accepted that. He didn't. He kept insisting that there was more to it. And I don't know how many people he told that you were up on the ceiling. But, I know…it was not believed. And if they didn't think him crazy before he made that statement. They sure did afterwards. Then he met up with a few hunters in a bar one night, and…."
Mary shook her head. She couldn't hold back the tears as she looked at her son. "I am so sorry."
Sam shook his head. He knew he should be angry at her. But, he and Dean had been back and forth, so much, with this type of self-sacrifice-for-the-greater-good. It was no surprise that it had started with their own mother, before they were even born. It actually explained a few things.
Sam started to chuckle.
Mary looked at her son in confusion.
Sam just shook his hand. "That is a long, fantastic, story for another time." He said as he headed over to Dean, who was just waking up.
More Episodes To Come!