Mary picked up the package of blueberries and laughed as Dean reached out for them, his face alight.

"Boobey!" he declared. Mary cracked up at how it sounded like he was saying 'boobies'. A couple of older women gave her a stern look. She ignored them. Dried up old fossils. She'd have to tell John about this later. It would be good to hear him laugh again.

"Blueberries," she said to Dean, emphasizing the consonant sounds.

"Boobey," Dean said, nodding and smiling. "Dean like boobey!" He reached out to the box and squeezed. There was a popping sound and the box of blueberries exploded open, berries flying in all directions.

"Dean!" Mary exclaimed. He giggled at the berries rolling all over the floor. "You're a menace to society!"

She got down on her knees and started scooping up the errant fruit, swearing creatively under her breath. A hand came down on her shoulder and she whirled around, grabbing the wrist and twisting it behind the owner's back.

"Ow, ow, ow!" the man yelped in pain. He was wearing a shirt with the name of the store on it and a badge that proclaimed his name as Len.

Mary let go immediately and covered her mouth with her hands. "Oh, I'm so sorry," she gasped.

He gave her a shy smile. "You don't take any prisoners, do you?"

"Momma, bad," Dean said, tugging on her shirt. She looked down at him and his eyes were wide and shimmering with tears.

She brushed her knuckles against his cheek. "I'm OK, sweetie."

"No," Dean said, shaking his head. He eyed Len nervously. "Bad."

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "He's a little shy around strangers." It wasn't true, actually Dean was a happy, social child and she'd never seen him behave this way before. But she was embarrassed and what else could she do?

"It's OK," Len said. He was cute, actually. Short dark hair, and soulful brown eyes, tan skin and a hint of dark stubble. "What's his name? How old is he?"

"Dean, he's thirteen months," Mary said.

"Wow," Len said. "Nice to meet you, Dean. I'm Len." He held out his hand and tried to shake Dean's but her boy pulled away in terror.

"I'm sorry," Mary said. "I really am."

"It's OK," Len said. "Really. I'll clean up this mess. You go get a fresh box of blueberries."

"Boobey?" Dean said.

Len snorted, throwing his head back and giving it the fully belly laugh. "Oh my God," he chortled. Dean was staring at him curiously as he laughed. He turned a confused look on his mom and she grinned at him. Slowly, a smile started to spread across his face.

"Boobey!" he declared. And then he started to giggle. Len was weeping, he was laughing so hard. Mary couldn't help but join in, Len's amusement was infectious.

"Oh," he said finally, when he'd regained his composure. "He's adorable."

"I know," Mary said, looking fondly at her boy.

"Go on," Len said, shooing her away. "I've got this."

"Thank you," she said. Biting her lip, she knew she should just walk away. But he seemed like such a nice man and surely it wouldn't hurt… "Can I buy you coffee? To say thank you?" she blurted out.

He blinked in surprise and then smiled. "Sure. Uh, my shift here ends at 3pm." He checked his watch. "Or is that too long to wait?" His smile faltered a little.

"No, it's fine," Mary assured him. "I've got several more errands to run. There's a coffee shop across the street. I'll meet you there at 3?"

"Deal," he said.

Mike walked into the garage's small office, pinching the bridge of his nose at the pain that threatened to crack open his skull. Things weren't looking good for the business. Two more regulars had announced they were taking their business elsewhere. Neither one had come right out and told Mike it was because of these rumors about John, but he could tell by the shifty way they couldn't meet his eyes that they'd heard. Lawrence was a small, conservative town in a conservative state. Rumors like this spread like wildfire and if they didn't do something soon, they'd burn their business to the ground.

There was a man standing out in the workshop and Mike frowned in confusion. The only cars in there were Mrs Jacobs' Oldsmobile again and Mike's own Ford pickup that needed a new timing belt.

He opened the office door. "Can I help you?"

The man turned around, and Mike almost gasped. He'd never seen such blue eyes on anyone before. They looked almost unnatural. The man was barely a man really, more like a boy. Mike wondered if he was still in school. If so, his father really needed to have a word about his hair. It was longer than some girls wore it these days.

"My name is Michael," the blond said.

"Are you John's Michael?" Mike blurted out.

Michael looked startled. "He talked about me?"

"What? No, I mean, he mentioned you. Once." He sounded like a babbling idiot. He was struck by, despite being clearly male, how much Michael resembled Mary which was just plain weird when he started to think about it.

"I understand that the business is not doing so well," Michael said.

"Well, we've had a bit of a rough patch," Mike allowed. "No thanks to you."

"Me?" Michael said, sounding surprised. But it didn't quite ring true.

"You must have heard the rumors all over town about the two of you. Not that I would care," he added hastily when Michael's eyebrows dived over his nose. "But John's got a sweet little boy and his wife is a terrific woman. I'd hate to see them hurt."

"I see," Michael said. "And these rumors are hurting the business?"

"Yes," Mike admitted. He didn't know why he was telling this to a total stranger, but Michael gave off this aura of trustworthiness. He found himself wanting to tell him everything.

"Very well," Michael said. "Perhaps I should leave town. If I am not here, people cannot make up stories about me."

Mike furrowed his brow. Before this man had walked into the garage, the idea that John Winchester of all people would risk his marriage, his reputation and possibly in a town like this, his life, seemed insane. But there was something magnetic about this man. Mike had never had a gay thought in his life, but as he stared at Michael's mouth he found himself wondering.

Michael cocked an eyebrow at him as if he knew what Mike was thinking. He turned and walked away and Mike let out an explosive breath, his entire body quivering. He swallowed hard and headed for the restroom.

"And finally, we return to our top story. Police are appealing for witnesses in the mysterious disappearance of three students from the University of Kansas. Corinna Sheridan, Gregory Fishman and Jamie Teel were all friends from high school and decided to car pool in Jamie's silver Subaru Outback. They left their homes in Salina on Saturday morning and were expected to call their parents when they arrived in Lawrence. But when they didn't check in that afternoon and still hadn't made contact by Sunday morning, they were reported missing to Salina police. A witness came forward saying the group bought gas at this E Crawford St gas station at around 11am, but no other sightings of the three or the vehicle have been reported.

"Family and friends of the three students say that they were all excited to start the new school year and there's no reason why any of them would want to intentionally disappear. Police say that none of their bank accounts have been touched since Saturday. If you have any information on any of these missing persons or have seen the silver Subaru with the tag HIP 844 to call the number on your screen."

Mary turned it off, her mouth turned down. Three college kids, vanished without a trace. Once, she'd have convinced herself it was a case, spent hours trying to track down whatever monster had snatched them and hope she could bring them home. After retiring from the hunting community, she'd come to realize that not all monsters had fangs and claws, or could be stopped with salt and flame.

The phone rang and Dean toddled towards it and picked up the receiver. "Hello," he said. The person at the other end must have been speaking because Dean's expression was what Mary called his listening face. Mary held her hand out for the phone but he turned away from her. "No. Mine." She could still hear the voice of someone on the other end.

"Give it here, Dean," she said firmly. He hid it behind his back, a cheeky smile on his face. She pulled a face at him and he dissolved into giggles. She snatched the receiver from his hand.

"Hello? Sorry about that."

"It's OK," Gina said, laughing. "How are you, Mary?"

"Good," she said. "John and I still have our moments, but things are better than they were. At least he's cut back on the drinking and the business has started picking up again."

"That's great," Gina said. "Look, I know John was mad that Jerry moved his service agreements to Darryl Cropper, but it really was just a business decision."

"I know," Mary sighed. "It's fine, it was just a blow at the time. Half the time we're barely breaking even on that place."

"Well, that's why I'm calling," Gina said. "Jerry's friend from college, Hank Bisset, is moving back to Lawrence. He just got D.I.V.O.R.C.E.D."

Mary struggled to remember the name. It sounded vaguely familiar. "Wait, was he the guy who got arrested with Jerry at the anti-Vietnam demo?"

"That's him. He's opening a pizza delivery restaurant, right here in Lawrence," Gina said excitedly. "So I convinced him that he should have his delivery vehicles serviced by John and Mike."

Mary's mouth dropped open. "Gina! That's fantastic. Thank you so much!" She paused. "What did Jerry have to say about it?"

Gina cleared her throat. "He's probably gonna come by and ask if John will work on his trucks again. Darryl's work is OK, but he's so busy the scheduling is a nightmare. I mean, if John and Mike will have him back."

"Of course they will," Mary declared. "Gina, this is so great!" Dean had gotten bored and returned to his toy fire engine, one of his favorites. He started making siren noises with his mouth. Mary covered the mouthpiece. "Shh, baby. Mommy's on the phone."

Dean turned and pouted at her and then returned to his playing.

"Would you and Jerry like to come over for dinner?" Mary asked impulsively.

"We'd love to," Gina replied. "I'll bring dessert. My famous peach cobbler."

"Terrific. Would tomorrow work? John usually gets home around six."

"Definitely. We'll see you then." Gina hung up and Mary smiled. She turned her attention back to her son, who was holding his truck in the air as if offering it to someone.

"What you doing, baby?" she asked.

"Fire truck," Dean said. "For the man."

"What man, sweetie? There's no man here."

"That man there," Dean said, pointing to the space in front of him. Mary wondered if he'd developed an imaginary friend.

"Well, I don't see him," she said. "What's his name?"

"Michael," Dean said. He put the truck down. "Bye bye."

"Oh, did he leave?" Mary asked. Dean turned to her and grinned. She was so blessed, she thought.

"Dink!" Dean declared.

"OK, honey, let's get you a drink," she said. "But what do we say?"

"Dink?" She leveled a look at him and he giggled. "Pwease?"

"OK, good enough," she said. She got up and walked into the kitchen, holding out her hand to Dean who determinedly tottered forward and grabbed it. His walking was really coming along well, and she was sure he'd be running soon. He seemed to want to run, like he had too much energy and needed to expend some of it. "How about some lunch, too?"

Dean cocked his head at her. "Nana."

"You want a banana?" He nodded enthusiastically. "OK, how about some toast and peanut butter, and a banana?"

"Yeah!" he exclaimed. And then he turned his head slowly to look at the back door. It was a peculiarly controlled action for such a young child. He waved.

"Who you waving at, baby?" She grabbed Dean's sippy cup from the cabinet and opened the fridge. She selected the apple juice and poured some into the cup.

"Michael. He gonna go talk to Daddy." Dean accepted the proffered drink and sucked on it happily.

"Is that right? Does he know Daddy well?" Mary asked.

"Yeah. They play cowboy and horsey, just like me and Daddy."

Mary stared at him, puzzled. "What do you mean, sweetie?"

Dean chewed on his lip. "Daddy is horsey, and me cowboy." He did a funny little jumping dance that Mary recognized as miming riding a horse.

She laughed. "OK. Well, maybe Michael will come by and play horsey with you later."

Dean frowned at her. "Only Daddy can be horsey."

"Oh," she said. "Well I'm sure he'll be back to play something else." She pulled out bread and peanut butter from the pantry and began making Dean something to eat.

The reins Gina had recommended for Dean were a Godsend. Now that he was walking more confidently, he'd become quite the explorer and had sent Mary into a panic more than once when she'd turn her back for a second and he'd disappear. The reins kept him within her sight but allowed him a small amount of freedom which he seemed to enjoy.

Len, the friend she'd made at the grocery store, had just been promoted to assistant manager and he was talking to one of the shelf stockers when Mary approached the dairy fridge. He patted the other man on the back and then turned a charming smile on Mary.

"Well if it isn't my favorite customers," he said. "High five, Dean" He offered up his hand and Dean smacked his palm against it before bursting into a fit of giggles.

"How are you, Len?" she said warmly. Since their first meeting, they'd had coffee every week after she'd done her shopping. They'd discovered a mutual love of detective novels and had a friendly rivalry going over the Lawrence Journal Sunday crossword.

"I'm good. How did you get on with this week's puzzle," he asked.

Mary grimaced. "That was a tough one. Have they hired a new puzzle-setter?"

"Maybe," Len said. "You're right, it was hard. I barely got halfway through before I gave up."

Mary laughed, unfolding her copy from her purse. "Then I win." Dean tugged at the reins and she drew him in closer, handing him his toy bear. He sat down on the floor beside her feet and began talking to Bear.

Len was gaping at the puzzle she'd handed him. "You only missed two clues?"

She shrugged. "We don't know if I got all the answers right."

"Which ones did you skip?" Len mused, scanning the puzzle. "Thirteen across, Imitate round dance, finally leads to disaster. 10 letters. No, I didn't get that one either." His eyes jumped to the other missing answer. "And seven down. Craft in which wives seldom excel. Six letters." He grinned. "I got that one. Vessel."

Mary snatched the crossword back and glared at it. "Dammit, you're right."

Dean looked up at her. "Dammit!" he repeated, laughing.

Mary wanted to kick herself. "No, Dean," she said gently. "That's a bad word."

"You said it," Dean objected.

"I know, honey, but I shouldn't have, OK?"

"OK," Dean grumbled and returned his attention to Bear.

Len was peering at the puzzle again, a strange look on his face. "Huh."

"What is it?" she asked.

"I don't know. It's just, normally these things don't have much of a theme. But doesn't this one seem quite… Biblical?" He looked embarrassed. "I was never much of a one for Sunday School."

"Ah!" Mary exclaimed as inspiration struck. "I've got it! Thirteen across is APOCALYPSE!" She snatched the puzzle back and scribbled in her answer. She looked up at Len, grinned broadly and then on some strange impulse, leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. He flushed and their eyes locked.

"Mary," he whispered.

She backed away, her eyes frightened. "I should go. My friend Gina is coming over for dinner, so I've got to be back by four."

Len nodded, giving her an awkward smile. "Will I see you next week?"

Mary fumbled her keys as she was fishing them out of her purse. "Uh, maybe. I dunno. I'll call you." She hurried away, flustered and confused. Len watched her leave and then leaned back against the wall. Another man, short with dark hair and a well-tailored suit came to stand next to him.

"You scared her off," he observed.

"She scared herself off," Len said. "She'll be back. Sooner or later, her no-good husband will backslide into his bad habits and I'll be here to pick up the pieces."

Crowley frowned at him uncertainly. "You seem very sure of yourself."

"I'm sure of her," Len said. "Tell your mistress everything is proceeding according to plan."

"I will," Crowley said, giving him a mock salute. "We'll be in touch. You'll be well rewarded if this works."

Dinner was a success, even if Mary privately thought her pot roast was not as good as her mother's. Gina's cobbler was as delicious as ever, and even John had praised it, though he wasn't a big fan of sweets.

The bumps in the road of John and Jerry's friendship seemed to be behind them. Gina and Mary went through to the living room with their wine while John went outside with Jerry so that they could smoke.

"I'm surprised Thomas didn't wake up in the middle of dinner," Mary said.

"He's much better now," Gina told her. "It was the damndest thing, but I read this article in Southern Living magazine about energy flows and some mystic Asian thing called feng shui, that you can use to rearrange your furniture to ensure the energy flows in the right way."

Mary gave her a skeptical look and she laughed. "OK, I know it sounds weird. But I moved Tommy's crib and toy box and so on, and it seemed to work. Now he sleeps through the night, every night."

"Interesting," Mary said. She frowned and gazed at her friend for a moment. "Gina, does Thomas have an imaginary friend?"

Gina shook her head. "Not as far as I know." She gave Mary a knowing look. "Is this about Dean?"

"Yeah," Mary said in surprise. "You knew about this?"

"I didn't think anything of it at the time," Gina said, sounding defensive. "Last time Dean stayed over at our house, he mentioned his friend Michael. I couldn't figure out who it was, none of the kids in our library group are called Michael. In fact, the only Michael I know is Mike Guenther, John's business partner. And everyone calls him Mike, even his wife."

"It's probably nothing to worry about," Mary said, taking a sip of wine. "I mean, plenty of kids have imaginary friends and they all grow up to be fine. It's just the sign of a healthy imagination, I figured."

"Right," Gina said, drawing out the sound. "That's why you're fretting about it, because it's so normal."

"OK, OK," Mary said, holding up her hands. "I surrender. Yeah, it's odd, OK. It's hard to explain, but this doesn't seem like a typical imaginary friend."

"Why do you say that?" Gina asked.

"Have you seen Dean interact with 'Michael'?" Mary asked.

"No," Gina said. "I only overheard him chattering to Tommy about it, and I asked him who Michael was."

"What did he say?"

"He called him the yellow man who visits Daddy's work." Mary's eyes widened. "I asked him why the man was yellow, and he said his hair was yellow."

"He means blond," Mary said.

"I would think so," Gina said. "So I assumed it was someone John and Mike knew. Kids can overlay all kinds of fantasies even on real things and people. My brother Derek was convinced my Auntie Julie was a werewolf when we were kids."

Mary knew she was supposed to laugh at this point, so she did, but her heart wasn't in it. Julie Amsing had been a werewolf. Mary and her dad had killed Julie two weeks before Mary graduated high school.

"Werewolf," she said scornfully.

"Can you imagine?" Gina chortled. "He also claimed the school gym was haunted. He had an active imagination, that's for sure." Well, he'd been wrong about that. As far as Mary knew, there was nothing supernatural about the school.

"What's he doing these days, anyway?" she asked.

"Who knows," Gina said, her face sobering. "He hasn't been in touch since Dad died."

"I'm sorry," Mary said.

Gina gave a careless gesture. "What can I do? He knows my door is always open to him." She blanked her face for a moment and took a mouthful of wine. "Did you hear that story about the college kids that went missing?"

"It was on the news yesterday," Mary recalled. "Have they found them?"

"Not exactly," Gina said. "They found the car, though, abandoned at Stull United Methodist Church."

Mary couldn't keep the look of alarm off her face. "Opposite the cemetery?" she asked.

"Yes," Gina said, looking concerned. "What is it?"

"Nothing," Mary denied. Gina gave her a stern look. "Stull's got a nasty reputation, OK?"

"Really? Like drug addicts hang out there or something?" Gina asked.

"Didn't you hear the stories, growing up?" Mary asked.

"What, you mean that silly article in the university newspaper back in the seventies, about the Devil appearing in Stull twice a year? Come on, Mary, you don't believe in that nonsense that do you?"

"The article might have been silly, but my mom and dad always warned me to stay away from that place," Mary said. "And Father McKinley, God rest his soul, told me there was a Gate to Hell there. He died when I was in fourth grade, so the rumors about Stull didn't start with some college paper."

Gina was looking seriously disturbed. "Mary, they're just stories. Why would there be an entrance to Hell in Stull of all places? Why would the devil bother coming here? Surely there are more fun places for a fallen angel to hang out."

"I don't know," Mary said. "But this whole thing is starting to give me the creeps. Let's talk about something else. Didn't you say Linda Ashbolt is expecting again?"

"So how are you and Mary doing?" Jerry asked, sucking on his Marlboro and squinting at John.

"OK," John said. "Things are looking up on the business side at last, partly because of you, Jerry."

"I fucked up," Jerry said bluntly. "I'm sorry, John. I shouldn't have said what I said."

"Yeah, well, it's all water under the bridge," John said, a little stiffly.

"Your Dean's growing up to be a fine boy," Jerry said contemplatively, taking the hint to move the conversation on.

"Yeah," John said, smiling. "He's a great kid."

Jerry eyed him speculatively. "Ever think about having another?"

John shrugged. "Maybe. Mary said she wanted Dean to be a bit older before giving him a brother or sister."

"Gina's pregnant," Jerry said.

John stared at him, and then broke into a huge grin. "Hey, why didn't you say anything at dinner?"

Jerry winced. "It's early days. You know Gina lost two babies before Tommy was born?"

"No, Jerry, I didn't. I'm sorry." John supped at his beer, unsure what else to say.

"Yeah, we'd almost given up hope of her ever carrying to term," Jerry said. "So when Tommy was born, he was like our little angel from Heaven. I don't know what it'll do to Gina if she loses this one too."

"I guess it's God's will," John said.

"Sure it is," Jerry said. "But my Gina's been through enough. Can't it be someone else's turn?"

John gaped at him, horrified. Jerry flushed in shame. "I've had too much to drink," he said.

John patted him on the back. "It'll be OK, Jerry. You've just gotta have faith."