AN: Thanks to all my readers and followers, especially Kathy, DearHart, iwokeuponthewrongsideoflife, and Persephone Lupin for their kind reviews.

"Thank you all for ridding my forest of that evil beast. I am in your debt." The woman's voice was deeper than Dean expected, warm, resonant and rich. She bowed shallowly at their small group.

"You are most welcome," Cas said formally, "But who are you and why have you brought us here?" The angel seemed completely unperturbed by the woman or the strange circumstances, merely curious.

"Castiel, Mary, Sam and Dean," the woman said slowly in greeting, nodding at them in each in turn. Her tone was dignified but friendly. Dean didn't like that she knew their names, it made him nervous, but he kept silent. He could feel her power and the tell tale signs of magic from across the clearing. He could practically taste it in air. Should she choose to, Dean had no doubt that she could kill them all with little effort.

"I brought you to my home because I wish to show you my gratitude." Farryn swept her hand in an elegant motion and the outline of a circle appeared at the edge of the glade. Although it was no more than a glimmering outline on the ground, Dean suddenly had the impression of a vast throne room and of other structure invisible to the human eye. The vision faded quickly, leaving only the ring of trees surrounding the glade and the glowing circle, but the brief glimpse had been impressive.

"You're a fairy," Sam blurted quietly. Cas turned in Sam's direction slightly, a frown on his face.

"No, she's an angel," Cas said.

"Actually I am both," the woman said with a hint of amusement in her voice.

"How is that possible?," asked Cas intently. "I have never heard of an angel fairy hybrid." When she spoke again, Dean could feel her words in addition to hearing them. The magic was so thick in this place that it seemed to press up against his skin. He would feel a lot better with a weapon in his hand. Pulling his gun seemed like a stupid idea so he had to satisfy himself by rubbing his palm along the seam of the leg of his jeans. A quick glance at Mom showed that she was as uneasy as he was.

"You are very young angel, there is much you do not know. My father was Barachiel, prince of Heaven, chief of your order. My mother was Aoife, a warrior queen of Faeire. I am the only one of my kind, so I chose this place as my home when the world was new. I grew this forest to protect my glade and my tree." With a loving smile, she turned to look at the great oak. It's leaves rippled as if waving hello and she turned back to them with an unnatural calm. Cas seem shocked by her pronouncement, but Sam took half a step forward and then bowed awkwardly.

"We are honoured that you have, uh, shared your home with us." Dean could almost see Sam's big brain filtering through everything he knew about fairies and angels in an attempt to get them out of this dangerous situation.

"Thank you Sam Winchester," she said with a regal nod. "Tonight you and your companions performed a great service by destroying the creature that was polluting my forest with its evil. I wish to show my gratitude with a gift." Despite the cool night, Dean felt a trickle of sweat slide between his shoulder blades. He couldn't remember very much about fairies, despite having had a close encounter a few years back. But he did remember that gifts were a double edged sword with the fey folk. He didn't think that his worry showed on his face, but she turned to him as if she had read his thoughts.

"Worry not, Dean Winchester. To alleviate your concerns, I shall give my first gift." She drew up to her considerable height. "I gift you with my name. As you know names are powerful and by gifting you with mine, you can be sure that I mean no harm to any of you. I am Farryn Greyweb." As the woman said her name, a bell-like sound seemed to echo across the clearing and a force seemed to ripple across the clearing making the hair on Dean's arms stand on end.

"You truly honour us with your name, Farryn Greyweb," Sam said humbly, bowing again toward their host. Leave it to his brother to place peacemaker, but it seemed to work as the air no longer crackled with energy and Farryn seemed pleased with Sam's gesture. Cas also bowed and Dean felt it prudent to at least dip his head in her direction. Farryn turned towards Mom.

"Mary, you are only recently returned to this world." It wasn't a question, but Mom cautiously nodded anyway.

"My gift to you is to give you time with a person of your choice who is in Heaven." Mom seemed startled enough to ask a question.

"I, uh, I don't understand what you mean." Dean could see Mom's hands tightly fisted around the hem of her jacket.

"My nature provides me with a unique ability. I can bring forth a soul from Heaven to this glade so that you may interact with that person." Lady Farryn waved her hand again and a large glowing sigil formed underneath their feet. The sigil was large, encompassing all of them, and it was extremely intricate, each whirl and symbol seemingly made of the same shimmering light that had guided them to the glade and hung like fireflies in the air. Dean inched towards the edge of the sigil, and he could feel invisible energy hum by his elbow, forming a barrier. He didn't know exactly what was going on, but he figured they weren't leaving here until they had receive their gifts. Forcing his attention away from the ring surrounding them, Dean caught the last of Mom's question.

"And it will really be my husband John?" A hopefully note had crept into her voice and Dean cursed internally. It hadn't been so long ago that Mom had considered killing herself, albeit to save him and Sam, but seeing Dad might only make her more eager to go back to Heaven.

"Yes," Farryn replied with her unsettling calm. "I can bring the soul of John Winchester to this glade and you will be able to interact with him as if he were still alive. You will only have a quarter of an hour with him, and you may not leave the circle. Is that your choice?" The part-angel, part-fairy's words had a ring of finality to them. Dean tried to catch his mother's eye to warn her to be careful, but Cas drew her attention first.

"Mary," Cas said in his most gravelly voice casting a troubled look at Farryn. "Before you decide, you have to understand that the John Winchester who shared your heaven is only a simulation, just as the child versions of Dean and Sam were not their real souls. Your husband's true soul lived for 23 more years before he died. He is in his own Heaven."

Although a number of emotions crossed her face, Dean had no idea how to read them. He was glad that Cas was trying to look out for their Mom, but thinking about seeing his Dad again was a heavy idea. Dad had died for him and that fact was something he still struggled with. He found himself holding his breath until Mom turned to their solemn host and began to speak.

"Is Castiel right, my Lady?" Mom asked simply.

"Yes, it is the true soul of your husband that I can bring forth should you choose." Farryn answered.

"So it will really be John, correct?

"Yes," said the fairy/angel woman succinctly. Mom took a deep breath and squared her shoulders.

"Then yes, I accept your gift and I choose to see my husband, John Winchester." The formal words, though no louder than Mom's usual speaking voice seemed to hang in the air for a moment, like a rung bell. Then Farryn gracefully bent and touched the exact centre of the sigil, leaving a glowing fingerprint. Then she glided back towards the huge oak, and standing before it, made a complicated motion with her hands. The tiny finger mark blazed to life, shot upward and grew in intensity until the light was almost painful. Dean wanted to see what would happen, but he was forced to close and shield his eyes. Then, just when the brilliance seemed to much to bear, with a final pulse, the light disappeared.